The Missionary Review of the World — January 1928
MISSIONARY SECRETARIES OF THE PAST FIFTY
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Write for the January Sales Booklet 51!J5fi c Cutcheonl!§ FIFTH A VENUE AT FORTY, NINTH ST. DEPT. No. 20 NEW YORK COMING EVENTS CHRIST WAS A lIISSIONARY Student Volunteer Convention in De- "Christ was a home missionary in troit, December 28th to January 1st. the house of Lazarus." •** "Christ was a foreign missionary The Federation of Women's Boards of when the Greeks came to Him." Foreign Missions will meet in Atlantic "Christ was missionary to the rich City, N. J., January 6th to 10th. when He opened the spiritual eyes of Zaccheus." * ,. * The Foreign Missions Conference will "Christ was a missionary to the poor when He opened the eyes of the hold its annual meeting in Atlantic City, blind beggar." Jariuary 10th to 13th. "Christ was a Sunday-school mis- * .. .. sionary when He opened up the Scrip- The Day of Prayer for Missions, now tures to men." a world day of prayer, will fall this year "Christ was a children's missionary on February 24th… .. * when He took them in His arms and blessed them." The third National Conference on the Cause and Cure of War will be held at "Christ was a city missionary when Hotel Washington, Washington, D. C., He taught in Samaria."
from January 15th to 19th. Nine na- "Christ was a medical missionary tional organizations with an estimated when He healed the paralytic." membership of ten million women are to cooperate. "Even on the cross Christ was a .. * .. missionary to the robber and His last command was a missionary commis- The Home Missions Council will hold sion." .. .. .. its annual meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, January 23rd to 24th inclusive.
A Church Comity Conference will be held in Cleveland, Ohio, on January 20th to 22nd under the auspices of the Home Missions Council, the Council of Women for Home Missions, and the Federal Council of Churches.
Please mention THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD in writing to advertIsers. DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor JANUARY TABLE OF CONTENTS FRONTISPIECE-SOME MISSIONARY SECRET.RIES O}~ THE LAS'l' HALF CENTURY PII(JC A FEW COIlfPARllSONS OF THEN AND NOW …………………. ROBERT E. SPEER 5 The remarkable growth of the missio'nO'l"y entcrpri8e~ in the llunt1}(~r 01 miB8iO'llarie~ and mission 8taticms, the money contributed, the influence oj mis8ions at 1J,ome WIlli abroaa, ana the quantity IMlri quality oj mAeaionary literature, a..e 8ct lortn in th/' Burvey.
HISTORY IN THE MAKING-JUST FIFTY YEARS AGO ……………………… . 11 QuotationB from the fir8t number oj the RmvIEw show some 01 the striking events ancl notable miaaltmar.eB oj that day.
FIFTY YEARS OF BIBLE TRANSLATION AND CIRCULATION . . . . . . . . ERIC M. NORTH 12 The wonderfuZ inc'reaac in oircuZation Of the Scriptures bringing them within the reach of n£ne tenthe 01 the worrd's population as 8hown by the RC1(J Secretary oj the A.merican Blbie Society.
TURKEY FIFTY YEARS AGO AND NOW …………………….. CHARLES T. RIGGS 13 An eUJceeding~y intere8ting art10le by one who was oo'rn itt Turkey and has been a mi8sionary there tor over thirty yearY's. He reveale the changes that ha(l)c taken place-quite as remarTiiable as tJwugh accomplished with the aid of AJaddin'r Lamp.
A MISSIONARY HISTORY TEST. . . . . . . . . . . ……………. BELLE U. BRAIN 21 SOME MISSIONARY LEADERS OF FH'TY YEARS AGO ……………. R. P. MACKAY 23 The veteran Oanadian missionary gccretarry records some remhtiscenccs oj the O'fcat executvves 01 the lU-8t ha,l! century_ A VIEW OF .JAPAN THEN AND NOW ………………….. WILJ"IAM ELLIOTT GRIFFIS 25 The author oj ((The Mikado Empire" who jiritt went to Japa.n over fifty years a,go, gives tome graphic cQlntrasts seen in hi8 recent visit to thnt empire.
FIFTY YEARS OF CHURCH GROWTH IN AMERICA …………… HENRY K. CARROLL 35 The greatest religious statistician in America- recalll' some oj the conditions oj half a century ago and shows the signs of progress antong the churches at the present day.
GROWTH OF MISSIONARY COOPERATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JA"ES L. BARTON 39 The Senior Secretary of the American Board, one oj the leading miL's10nary erxccutivcs in AmeNca… dcsC'1"ibes 'What has been. accompUshea in mi8sionwry cooperation.
MISSIONARY EDUCATION FIFTY YEARS AGO AND TODAY …….. HARLAN P. BEACH 47 The well-known author' and llrat ed'uoationa! Beorctary of the Student Volunteer Move- ment deaoribea 80me al the anlMlgea that have taken p!Me ;n the la.t hall oentury In method8 01 mi88ionary eduoatWn.
THE EVANGELIST AND HIS WORK …………………•.. JEAN KENYON McKlllNZ[Jl AFRICA FI'FTY YEARS AGO AND NOW …………………….. WILSON S. NAYLOR The author of "Daybreak 1ft the Dark Continent!) points out some remarkable develop- ments Of the Zast half acntury in emp hwat1 on., mi81!ionary occupation, trade antd in· dui'tries, politics and religion.
GERIfAN PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN 1877 AND 1927 ………….. JuLIuS RICHTER 62 Some interesting contrasts in tni88ionary activitie8 among Protestants in the country whose missions were 80 hard hit by the Great lVa·r.
METHODS FOR WORKERS: MISSIONARY EDUCATION IN THE Loc ..!. CHURCH ••••••.•.••. URS. E. H. SILYERTHORN 63 WOMEN'S BULLETINS: FOREIGN ~hSSlON BULLETl~ • . . • • . . . . • • . • . • • . . • • • • EDITED BY ELLA D. MACLAURIN 71 .
HOME MISS[ON BULLETIN •••••••••..•••.••••.•.•• EDITED BY ,B'LORENCE E. QUINLAN 74 WORLD·WIDE OUTLOOK ……………………………………………….. . 77 BOOKS WORTH READING ………………………………………………. . 94 TERMS: $2.50 a year. ($2.00 in clubs of five.) Foreign postage, 50 cents. Single copies, 25 cents. Published monthly. Copyrighted, 1928, by MISSIONARY REVIEW PuBLISHING COMPANY, INC. All rights reserved.
THE MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY, Inc.
ROBERT E. SPillER, Pre8idcnt WM. 1. CHAMBERLAIN, Vice·Pre8'idcnt DELAVAN L. PnlRSO.N, SeoretM1l WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer Publication Ollice, 3d & Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. 25c a copy. $2.50 a year. Editorial and B~~~.~.?r~cBltr Fifth Avenue, Entered as second·class matter at the Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under Act of March 3, 1879. PERSONALS A Gift that MRS. ANNA HARLOW BIRGE who, with Pays an Income her husband, J. Kingsley Birge, saved many lives in the Smyrna massacre of Are you interested in missions? 1922, has been honored by the erection of a tablet to her memory in the Protestant Are you able to give as much as Episcopal Church at Bristol, Conn. you would like?
•*• Why not consider a gift from your capital that will pay you an income possibly DR. S. G. INMAN, secretary of the Com- larger than you now have? mittee on Cooperation in Latin America, has recently returned from a visit to No investment can be found which is Mexico where he delivered a series of more secure than an Annuity Agreelectures on International relations before ment of one of the Mission Board. of the National University in Mexico City. the Methodist Episcopal Church. The lectures were open to the public, attendance including students and profes- For further information write: sors as well as representatives of the Morris W. Ehnes, Treasurer, Board 01 ror~ign diplomatic corps in Mexico City. Dr. Inman also assisted the rector of the Misions 01 the Methodi,t Episcopal Church, 150 university in organizing a Round Table Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y., or somewhat after the Williamstown Conference idea, which discussed for a week W. J. Elliott. Tr••,urer, Board 01 Home Mis,ion, with great profit Mexican-American questions. and -Church Extension 01 the Methodist Episcopal Ch "reh, 170 I Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pa. *** Protect Yourself DR. HERBERT WELSH, for forty-five Against Loss years President of the Indian Rights Association, has recently become President Let Your Gift to Foreign Missions Emeritus. He has served without remuneration, supporting himself mean- Pay You a Life Income while as an artist. Annually he has walked from Washington, D. C., to his Th" Annuity Gift Piau guarantees the a':lsohome in New England, a distance of four lute safety of your principal. It relieves YOII of hundred miles. He has invested largely uncertainty and changing values of invested of his time and strength in work for the Indians and has secured the funds for funds, and pays you a definite income of from carrying on the Association. 4~% to 9% per year *** for the rest of your life REV.•JOHN TIMOTHY STONE, D.D., for seventeen years pastor of the Fourth Gifts amounting to over one million two hun- Presbyterian Church in Chicago, has dred and fifty thousands of dollars al'e now declined the presidency of McCormick held by the Board as a reserve fund guarantee- Theological Seminary. ing annuity payments. During the fotty years in which the Annuity Gift Plan has been in * ** operation annnity payments have always been made promptly. MISS MAUDE ROYDEN, of London, is expected to arrive in New York early in Proteet yourself a~rainst loss from January for an American lecture tour, unwise investments and at the in the course of which she will address samE> time do your part in spreadthe National Y. W. C. A. Convention in ing the gospel in foreign lands. April. For further information, write **• Emest F. Hall, Secretary, Department vi Annum•• DR. W. G. LANDES, for the past five years General Secretary of the World's BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS Sunday-School Association, has resigned and accepted the secretaryship of the of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. Sunday-School Association of New York State. 1!I_______l_5_6_F_'_·f_t_h _A_v_e_n_u_e_,_N_e__w_y_o_r_k______-I.~ **• BISHOP EBEN S. JOHNSON, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is reported t<.> have arrived at Capetown, South Africa, after walking 1,000 miles, unarmed, through trackless country and motoring 2,000 miles through lion-infested country.
*** DR. AMOS R. WELLS, for thirty-six years managing editor of the Christian Endeavor World, has been succeeded by R. P. Anderson.
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LI, No.1 January
A FEW COMPARISONS OF THEN AND NOW BY ROBERT E. SPEER, New York H ARDLY anything can be ward missions is now? How much more difficult than a trust- less easy is it to say what it was worthy comparison of the a half century ago. A few statistical present and past. It is difficult statements are not ·difficult. In enough to diagnose and describe 1877 there were 21 foreign mission accurately our own period, but organizations in the United States.
whether we rely on memory or go' Now there are 122. Then there back and examine the records of were 1,228 foreign missionaries, the earlier time it is yet more dif- but many of these were mission- ficult to judge justly and accurately aries to the American Indians.
the earlier day. Again and again Now such work is deemed home we ourselves or others indulge in missions and there are 13,000 some generalized judgment of com- American foreign mIssIOnaries.
parison between the present and Then the total contributed to the past which a very little investi- foreign missions by the churches in gation shows to be unjust, as for the United States was $1,800,000.
example, the idea that the founders Now it is $40,000,000. But who can of the Foreign Mission Enterprise interpret these figures, and say, for had no social conception of their example, whether foreign missions task and were ruled alone by the then held a deeper or shallower idea of saving individual brands place in the devotion of the Church from an eternal burning. But often than now, or whether the giving we form and express the judgments then represented more or less and it is not so easily shown that sacrifice and prayer than today?
they are wrong, though wrong they Changes for the Better are, and a later generation mis- judging us in some other way There have been changes, some justly condemns us for our error unmistakably for the better, some here. apparently not so but offset still by It is easy to say that fifty years compensating gains. Of the clear ago the attitude of the Church to- changes for the better one is cerward Christian missions was thus tainly the development of the work and so. But was it? Who knows of Christian women. Our separate what the attitude of the Church to- w 0 men's foreign missionary 5
organizations came into existence come of p39,971 as compared in the early seventies, and since with 493 missionaries and an inthen the number of women foreign come of $1,292,511 today. The missionaries has outdistanced the growth from almost nothing at the number of the men. In 1877 there conclusion of the Civil War to the were only 72 single women mission- great undertakings of today is aries from the Presbyterian Church clearly seen in the following figin the U. S. A. as compared with ures for the Southern Presby- 129 married and single men. Now terian, Methodist and Baptist there are 407 single women as com- Churches.
Foreign Mission- Foreign Mission Income Income aries in 1877 aries in 1927 1877 1927 So. Presbyterians 37 499 $55,121.00 $1,333,780.00 2,247,928.89 So. Methodist ……….. . 18 470 71,772.68 1,606,948.05 So. Baptist …………. . 12 513 40,967.94 pared with 621 men. In the Metho- It was out of a heroic birth and dist Episcopal Church there were through heroic devotion that the 18 women in 1877 under the Southern churches achieved this Women's Foreign Missionary advance. Of that birth and the Society as compared with 451 men missionary spirit of it, Dr. M. H.
and women under the general Houston, long a missionary in Board. Now there are 734 women China, and one of the Foreign Mis- of the Methodist Women's Foreign .sionary Secretaries of the Southern Missionary Society and 1,054 men Presbyterian Church, spoke in an and women under the Board. address in Philadelphia in 1884 at A remarkable change is in the the Centennial Celebration of the growth of medical mission work. Presbyterian Church: Fifty years ago there were 6 "In the Church South, from the day medical missionaries of the Presby- on which she first took up her independterian Church. Now there are 123. In 1877 women's medical work had ent task, Foreign Missions have been hardly begun. There was one recognized as the imperial cause. When Presbyterian and one Methodist woman medical missionary as com- in that day she found herself girt about as with a wall of fire, when no missionary had it in his power to go forth from her bosom to the regions beyond, the first General Assembly put on record the pared with 19 and 18 respectively. solemn declaration that, as this Church In many of our American now unfurled her banner to the world, churches almost the entire de- she desired distinctly and deliberately to velopment of foreign missions has come within the last half century. inscribe on it, 'in immediate connection This was naturally the case with with the Headship of her Lord, His last the churches which resulted from command, ~'go ye into all the world and the division of our country in the preach the Gospel to every creature," regarding this as the great end of her organization, and obedience to it as the indispensable condition of her Lord's promised presence.'''
civil war. The slavery division rent three of our great churches. In the decade 1907 to 1917 no- Happily it did not rend the Protes- where was the foreign missionary tant Episcopal Church. In 1877, growth more notable than in the however, the Protestant Episcopal Southern churches.
Church had founded most of its It is perhaps true to say that foreign missions but it had only fifty years ago foreign missions had 265 missionaries and an annual in- no such place in general public
A FEW COMPARISONS OF THEN AND NOW
thought as now and that the far- the cause of Christianity and the reaching influence of missions was advancement of civilization, have not then so clearly discerned. In made for you a record of which many lands the work was just be- you have every reason to be proud."
ginning or was stilI very humble The Hon. John W. Foster says in and obscure. The churches were "American Diplomacy in the few and the number of Christian Orient," "Up to the middle of the converts small and there were as last century the Christian mission- yet no great conspicuous institu- aries were an absolute necessity to tions such as hospitals and colleges. diplomatic intercourse." And Sir The total number of American Ernest Satow, British Minister at foreign missionary hospitals was Peking, said at the opening in 1904 approximately forty and the only of the Anglo-Japanese Museum in notable one was the institution in Tientsin, that "of the many classes Canton under Dr. Kerr. There was of people who come to China the not an American missionary col- missionary was and is most use- lege or university in Japan, only ful." There were contrary voices, two incipient colleges in China, like John Sherman's, when he was only one in India, two in Turkey Chairman of the Committee on and none in' Latin America. Foreign Relations in the Senate.
Governments and Missions Perhaps today sentiment is not very different from fifty years ago.
The attitude of governments to There are men who think Christian missionaries was various. In China missions an unwarranted intrusion S. Wells Williams was the real and there are other men of the mind in our American legation; opinion of the Hon. Cyrus Woods, he had been a missionary and in American Ambassador to Japan at spirit and character was one all the time of the earthquake who said his life. The best mind of the recently that our missionaries in American and British Governments the Far East are of course preach- a half century ago was expressed ing the Gospel of Christ, but they in the letters of the State Depart- are also doing an important work ment to Dr. Williams when he re- in addition to that. They are tired. Mr. Fish, the Secretary of presenting and representing our, State, wrote: "I feel that the serv- best ideals and are the true inter- ice is losing one of its most trusted preters of our best thought and officers, one whose name and repu- point of view to those who have no tation have ever reflected credit means of understanding it other- upon the position and upon the wise. They are our true ambas- country whose officer he was, and sadors. When China becomes whose high personal character will stabilized they will be more neces- long be remembered with respect sary there than ever before. Our and with admiration." And the of- Japanese Exclusion Act has made ficialletter of the Department said, them essential in Japan. And "Your knowledge of the character among Englishmen, Sir Arthur and habits of the Chinese and of Wilson, one of the foremost British the wants and necessities of the authorities on the Near and Middle people and the Government, and East recently declared, "There is your familiarity with their lan- no greater influence for good in the guage, added to your devotion to Persian Gulf than the Christian
missions; no Europeans are so uni- for building up a missionary work for the Church, that the Church will be adeversally respected as are the mis- quate to sustain when they are gone. sionaries, and those who decry There is no remedy for this state of things, but greater faith in the Church foreign missions do less than at large, and profounder and unusual sense of the duty of extending the kingjustice to themselves and harm to dom of Christ, and a corresponding liber- ality." our good name." The report of 1877 of the Metho- Some people assume that there dist Board of Missions laments the is more criticism of the foreign hindrance of debt but of the Methomissionary enterprise today than dist Mission Committee held in in the past. On the contrary there is probably, in the midst of much November in 1877, the Christian Advocate said: criticism, just and unjust, far "When you receive this issue the Mismore general understanding and sion Committee will be on the eve of opening its annual session. This comsympathy today than ever before. mittee has in hand the most vital inter- ests of the Redeemer's Kingdom on earth. The Churches and Missions A single mistake may retard the evan- gelization of a continent for half a gen- Fifty years ago the claims of eration. The world is open before us. God is calling us forward. History demforeign missions were theoretically onstrates that no victories are won with the flag at half mast. Our committee is clearly recognized and acknowl- largely composed of men of lay expe- rience. Some of them are trespassing edged by. the churches, but the upon uncovenanted time. Many of them are approaching that period when pruvoice of the churches dwelt on debts dence is felt to be the better part of valor. Pray God that in their wisdom and burdens and on the few men they may order an advance along the whole line. who supported the work. The "At the meeting of the General Mis- Presbyterian General Assembly of sionary Committee, Mr. Thomas Price, Philadelphia, entertained no thought of that year in considering foreign retreating. He said he was surprised to find unbelief in the office, when the cry missions declared: before the churches was, 'Go forward.' He thought the r-.'port showed us on the ·"It has not been unknown, to those ascending, not the descending scale. Let curious to learn all they might know the churches see that we were confident about the affairs of the Cause, that the and advancing and they would catch our support of the work of Foreign Missions, spirit; but if they saw us retreating, under the care of our Board, comes very what could they do but follow? largely from a few individuals. If these were removed by death, or were their "And with regard to the appropriamany resources to shrink up, humanly tions, both home and foreign: speaking, the affairs of the Board would be crippled in a way that only years of "Dr. Fowler asked whether the Miseffort could repair. These benefactors sionary Society is run for the sake of the belong to the generation that is passing treasury, or in the interest of the away, and the Church may not long en- churches under Divine providence." joy the liberality of all of them. Few as they have been, fewer are rising to take The cause had not then laid hold their places. The Church ought to be grateful, that these benefactors have actually on the life or wealth of been spared so long. It has been longer than was needea, by the churches, to de- the churches. There was in 1877 velop the thousands of smaller fountains of liberality into steady and reliable but one ordained foreign missionsources of income for this great work of the Church. This ought to have been ary to each 40 ministers in the done, and done so well, that these benefactors of the past and present might home church among the Presbycontemplate the day of their departure with calmness, as far as these interests terians as compared with 1 to 24 are concerned. today, while the total gifts to "But, as things have been, and are, they must often feel, and others must foreign missions were seventy-five feel with them, that they have perhaps had a faith beyond their generation; and that they have been chiefly responsible
cents per capita as compared with English Governess at the Court of Siam-A. H. Leonowens. $2.03 today. The Oldest and Newest Empire-W.
The foreign missionary concert Speer. Social Life of the Chinese-Justin was an institution and a power in Doolittle. many churches in the seventies. Siam;. Its Government, Manners and and it lasted on for some years Customs-No A. McDonald. – afterwards. Once a month the Indian Journals-R. Heber.
China and the Gospel-W. Muirhead. church prayer meeting was turned Protestant Foreign Missions – T. Christlieb. into a "Concert of prayer for Mis- Among the Turks-C. Hamlin. in sions" and month by month the Life, Wanderings and Labours whole world was passed under sur- Eastern Africa-C. New. Forty Years in the Turkish Empirevey and the church publications E. D. G. Prime.
were drawn upon for news items Four Years in Ashantee-F. A. Ram- and letters from the field. Many seyer and J. Kuhne. Life of Alexander Duff-G. Smith. of these pUblications c a l' r i e d Recollections of Alexander Duff-L. B.
monthly concert departments and Day. Life of William Ellis-J. E. Ellis. specialized month by month on Mary and I: Forty Years with the presenting the assigned country Sioux-So R. Riggs. and information regarding it.· This Life of John Coleridge Patteson-C. M. Yonge. institution has disappeared and is Life and Times of David Zeisbergeratoned for as well as may be by E. DeSchweinitz. our modern mission study class. Heroes of the Mission Field-W. P. Walsh. But is this holding its ground? Memoir of Ann H. Judson-J. D.
Missionary Books, 1870·1880 Knowles.
Memoir of the Life and Episcopate of George A. Selwyn-H. W. Tucker.
It is interesting to recall the mis- Crowned in Palm-Iand-R. H. Nassau.
sionary books which appeared in Religions of China-J. Legge. the decade 1870 to 1880. A few of Indian Wisdom-M. Williams. Hinduism-M. Williams. these were: The Land of the Veda-W. Butler.
Last Journals of David Livingstone. Conflict of Christianity with Heathen- Twelve Months in Madagascar-J. ism-G. Uhlhorn. Mullens. How I Found Livingstone-H. M.
Stanley. Forty Years' Work in Polynesia-A. Through the Dark Continent-H. M. W. Murray. Stanley. Life in the Southern Isles-W. W. Fell. The Foreign Missionary – M. J. Foundation Laying Knowlton. There were almost no union or On Missions-F. M. Muller. cooperative missionary undertak- The Great Conquest-F. F. Ellinwood.
Christian Missions-J. H. Seelye. ings half a century ago. The first These for Those: Our Indebtedness to of the great world missionary con- Foreign Missions-W. Warren. ferences was held in London in Medireval Missions-T. Smith. Our Life in China-Helen S. C. 1888. Prior to that there had been Nevius. the Liverpool Conference in 1RSO, Twenty Years Among the Mexicans- the Mildmay Conference in 1878 M. Rankin. Daughters of Syria-E. M. Thompson. and on the field, the Shanghai Con- Women of the Arabs-H. H. Jessup. ference of 1877, the Allahabad Con- Romance of Missions-M. A. West. Woman and Her Saviour in Persia. ference in 1872-3 and the Calcutta History of Protestant Missions in In- Conference of 1882-3, and the dia-M. A. Sherring. Osaka Conference of 1883. There Indian Missionary Manual-J. Mur. was, however, a great body of solid, doch. quiet work going on. Men of great The Mikado's Empire-W. E. Griffis.
ability and devotion, many of them There was need of such subscholars, were mastering languages stantial foundation laying. In and founding the churches: to America the study of comparative name only a few American mis- religion had not yet beg;un and sionaries, Hepburn, V e r b e c k, there was little general accurate Davis, Greene, Williams, Thomp- knowledge of the background and son, Harris, Lambuth in Japan; conditions of the foreign mission Nevius, Mateer, Goodrich, Shef- task. Today there is a very wide field, Ashmore, Baldwin, Corbett, general knowledge but it may be Fulton, Yates in China; Forman, doubted whether it has advanced Newton, Hume, Ewing, Thoburn, very far in its accuracy or ade- Clough, William Taylor, in India; quacy. We have today many of Bliss, Hamlin, Shedd, Wilson, Jes- the same misapprehensions both of sup, Watson, Lansing in the Near the non-Christian religions and of East; Chamberlain, Lane, Simon- Christianity which we had fifty ton, Drees, Trumbull, in Latin years ago. And it would be easy to America. Then in the Secretary- duplicate from the literature of ship at home were N. G. Clark, that time almost every missionary Cobb, Murdock, Reid, Ellinwood. and anti-missionary view current There are no better men serving now. The important question is the cause today abroad or at home. one of proportion and tendencies. Does the cause have less or more If there were no great interde- hold upon the conscience and heart nominational conferences in the of the Church? Are the convicseventies, there were, none the tions which sustain the enterprise less, great missionary occasions. weaker and weakening or stronger The annual meetings of the and strengthening? Is the work American Board were events. of the missionary conceived now in Mark Hopkins was then the Presi- different terms from fifty years dent of the Board and the foreign ago? It is easy to answer yes or mission meetings in many of the no, but it is not easy for one to denominational conventions and as- form a really competent and unsemblies were marked by notable biased judgment. The next fifty or presentations of the cause. It was even twenty-five years will have to in 1881 that the Ely Volume was answer for us. Our own conviction published, at that time the greatest is one of firm and dauntless concontribution yet made to the litera- fidence and hope. ture of missions.
HENRY WARD BEECHER ON MISSIONS-FIFTY YEARS AGO I T IS thought by some that the spirit of missions is dead. Dead? It does not even sleep. What is the spirit of missions? Mission means "sent forth." When the sun forgets to send forth its light and warmth. and shed summer upon the face of the dying winter; to throw its influence abroad over all the earth. then will divine love in the human heart forget its mission. Mission means benevolence; mission means brotherhood; mission means that spirit which, looking over the earth, recognizes that God made all mankind of one blood. And that knowledge it is that is to make us blessed. Let us realize it. Let the world have its legacy, its birthright, at last.
in the Making-Just Fifty Years
Notable Events Recorded in the January-February Issue of the REVIEW 1878 The first nurn/Jer, edited by Rev. Royal G. Wilder, was published in Princeton, N. J.
The aim-to help develop foreign missionary interest, and to double the amount of giving, praying, going and working in the Cause of Christ.
*** Rev. George L. Mackay of Formosa reports, as a result of five years' work, eleven helpers and eight students, eight Christian chapels with daily preaching, seventy communicants and a hospital.
*** Under the ministry of the Rev. John G. Paton the entire population of two islands of the New Hebrides, Aneityum and Aniwa, are reported to have abandoned idolatry, with its cruel and bloody rites, and to have embraced Christianity.
*** As a result of Henry M. Stanley's journeys three missions have been established in Central Africa-C. M. S. at Uganda, on Victoria Nyanza; the L. M. S. on Lake Tanganyika; the Scotch Presbyterian Mission (with Robert Laws) on Lake Nyasa.
*** The Queen of Madagascar has liberated all the slaves in her dominions by public proclamation. * ". * A mission established at Fort Wrangel, Alaska, by the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions.
*** Interdenominational missionary conferences held in Shanghai, China, and in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
*** A wonderful Christward movement reported among Spanish Jews in Oran, Algeria. Church thronged every Sunday.
*** Missionary semi-centennial celebrated in the South Sea Islands. The king of Friendly Islands (Tonga), issued royal proclamation, order- ing the anniversary of the Wesleyan Mission to be observed as a public holiday.
*** English Wesleyans report that in the Fiji Islands, formerly noted for ~annibalism, now bells ring at a certain hour each day when all the families engage in family prayers-each in its own home. There are 1,621 native Wesleyan preachers in the Islands.
*** A religious revolution in Mexico, caused by a controversy between the Church and State; confiscation of $20,000,000 worth of Roman Catholic Church property; establishment of civil marriage laws; abolition of monastic orders.
*** American Baptist mission in India, under Rev. John E. Clough, re- ports 522 baptisms since March 1, 1876; and 105 in a single day.
*** Alexander Mackay of Uganda Mission, Africa, reports slave caravans passing his station every day with almost 100 children in chains.
11
total number of Protestant foreign missionaries reported
all lands was 2,110. (Today 29,188.) *** The number of ordained foreign missionaries of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions 120. (Today they number 409; total missionary force 1,606.) *** Among the missionaries who recently sailed for the mission fields are named: Rev. George William Knox to Japan (Presbyterian); Rev. Robert McLean to Chile, South America, (Presbyterian); Miss Hattie Noyes to South China (Presbyterian); Rev. W. L. Curtis to Japan and Rev. Thomas D. Christie to Turkey (American Board).
Fifty Years of Bible Translation and Circulation BY ERIC M. NORTH, Ph.D., New York AB8ooia<tc Scorctm'Y of the American Bible Society T OWARD that new Pentecost where every man shall be able to read the Bible in his own tongue, the last half century records striking progresS. .
At the beginning of the period, some portion of the great source book of spiritual truth and life had been translated into 380 languages and dialects. In many of these only one or two books of the Bible had appeared, but in the following fifty years the whole Bible was printed in 42 of these languages and the entire New Testament in aU additional 24 of these languages.
Not only have these languages been thus enriched by the completion of the New Testament or the whole Bible, but in these fifty years some part of the Bible has been translated and printed in 470 additional languages and dialects in which no part of the Scriptures had previously been printed. In twenty-two of these, the whole Bible appeared, and in sixty-four more the entire New Testament.
Among the languages in which the entire Bible appeared in complete form for the ftrst time within these ftfty years are Japanese, Korean, nine Chinese dialects (each spoken by millions of people in that populous land), Modern Armenian, Ruthenian, six of the major languages of the Philippines, Siamese, as well as many in the languages of Africa, of India, and of the islands of the sea.
Several notable revisions or new translations have appeared in the fifty years. The revision of the Authorized Version of 1881 and 1885, and the American Standard Revised Version of 1901, the "Union" version in Chinese, the Spanish Version Moderna, the Portuguese so-called "Brazilian" Version, are examples among many.
The kingdom of Christ has been advanced by these fresh conquests of the world's languages. But, translation and publication are not enough. The Book must be placed in the hands of the people. Figures are not available for estimating the whole circulation of the Scriptures in the year 1877. In that year, however, the two great Bible societies, the British and Foreign Bible Society and the American Bible Society, issued a little over three and one half million copies of Bibles, Testaments and integral portions of the Bible. In 1927, the issues of these societies reached a total of over twenty million copies.
These are great achievements-yet, how much, how much remains undone!
12
TURKEY-FIFTY YEARS AGO AND
BY REV. CHARLES T. RIGGS, Constantinople MissionaTY of the American Board of Commissioncr8 tor Foreign j[issiotls.; 189fJ- T H E first missionaries to advance on the western front as Turkey sailed from America well, till in January, 1878, they in 1819, and the first stations agreed to an armistice at the very were established there about one gates of Constantinople. The hundred years ago. The missionary hastily drawn-up Treaty of San situation therefore of 1877 may be Stefano in March was superseded taken as representing the result of in July by the Treaty of Berlin, by approximately the first h a I f- which Roumania, Serbia, Montecentury of missionary effort, and negro, Bulgaria and E a s t ern as such, may be compared with the Roumelia won varying degrees of situation today after a little over independence, and the regions of a century of work. Kars and Ardahan were ceded to Political Conditions Russia. It was. a terrible disaster, and only the iron hand and ruthless The decay of the military power absolutism of Abdul Hamid pre- of Turkey marked the disintegra- vented complete internal disrup- tion and downfall of the Ottoman tion.
Empire. The year 1877 was most Compare all this with the situa- significant in this decline. Turkish tion of 1927. Turkey has again degeneracy, checked by foreign gone through a military struggle, aid during the Crimean War, had lasting from 1911 to 1922, in which appeared again in the reckless ex- she has lost Tripoli in Africa, travagance of Sultan Abdul Aziz. practically all her European terri- But, in the ominous phrase of cur- tory, all the Aegean Islands but rent parlance, Aziz "was suicided" two, also Arabia, Mesopotamia, in 1876; and after a few months Palestine and Syria, while she has Abdul Hamid II came to the regained Kars and Ardahan as the throne. Serbia however had de- price of friendship with Russia.
clared war, June 30, 1876, and all In the process, T u r key has the efforts of the new Sultan to banished the Sultan and Caliph, restore peace were unavailing. with the whole Imperial family, Much against his own inclination, and has assumed the name and he granted a Constitution, and as- form of a republic, with a briT- sembled a Parliament, but dis- liant military genius, Moustafa missed it again in a few weeks, and Kemal Pasha, as President. By banished his progressive Grand the practical elimination of the Vizier, Midhat Pasha, in February, Armenians and Greeks, Turkey is 1877. Russia declared war on left to the Turks, except for the Turkey April 19, 1877, and the still considerable populations of eastern fortresses of Kars, Arda- Kurds, Circassians, Lazes, Yuruks, han, and Erzroum fell in rapid Jews and others. The country is succession. Despite the heroic de- now intensely nationalistic, and fence of Plevna, in the Balkans, moderately but surprisingly prothe Russian armies continued to gressive, with a small and well- 13
trained army, practically no navy, descriptions in Cyrus Hamlin's and its capital removed from Con- "Among the Turks," published in stantinople to Angora. The capit- 1877, and Henry O. Dwight's ulations with foreign powers have "TurkisR Life in War Time," pub- lished in 1878. Abdul Aziz by his 'TURKISH WOMEN OF YESTERDAY extravagance and his ministers by their incompetence, had so hopevanished, and Europe treats with lessly increased the foreign debts Turkey on a basis of equality. that in 1875 interest on the public Turkey has apparently no terri- debt absorbed half the revenue of torial ambitions, but is determined the Empire. At length, in 1881, to be mistress in her own house. an International Commission took over the administration of the How hopeless the Christian mis- Ottoman Public Debt, thus ending sionary leaders of 1878 were as that chaos. Public health was at to any progressive spirit among the a low ebb, and serious outbreaks Turks, is shown by the following of cholera, plague, and other disexcerpt from the Annual Repo:L"t of eases were common. Not only Constantinople Statistics for that Moslem women, but except in the year. It is in such utter contrast larger cities their Christian sisters, to the actual facts of today as to be now an anachronism. It says: THE PRESENT-DAY RULER OF TURKEY, "As to the Turk himself, it should AND HIS DIVORCED WIFE ever be borne in mind that all reform for him must begin and pro- were carefully veiled; the women's ceed from without. If left to sections on steamers and horsecars himself, what he has been he al- were jealously screened off, and ways wiIl be; but it is the prayer woman was generally regarded as of many that he may not be left to little above a chattel. In 1877 there himself, and it would seem as if God were hearing the prayer." God has, however, answered that prayer in a very different way, and not through foreign intervention or control.
Social and Economic Conditions Demoralization and anarchy of a most trying sort followed the Russo-Turkish war. Read the vivid
TURKEY-FIFTY YEARS AGO AND NOW
were two short lines of railway ex- past fifty years that it is hard to tending east from Smyrna, to grasp all the advance that has been Kassaba and Aidin respectively, made. The discovery of several completed in 1866, and two from soft coal deposits; the introduction Constantinople, one northwest to of electricity in the larger cities Philippopolis, and the other south- for lighting and transportation; east to Nicomedia, completed in the construction of through lines 1872. There was no connection of railroad which now connect Conwith the European railroad system. stantinople with Palestine and There were a few steamers plying Egypt, and with Vienna and Paris; on the Bosphorus and a few en- the formation of banks and ingaged in coastwise traffic. The surance companies, and the intropostoffice and telegraph facilities duction of agricultural machinery as well as the development of were largely under for e i g n mines-all this has stimulated the management. In the homes of the A GROUP OF TURKISH WOMEN 'l'ODAY IN 'fFllTI CONS~'ANl'INOPLE COLLI!JGE FOR WOMEN people there were few kerosene commercial life of the country.
lamps; most people used home- But even greater and more radical made tallow candles, and charcoal have been the changes in social in braziers, or mangals, was the life, due to the emancipation of ordinary method of heating the women; higher ideals of family houses of the better classes. Ex- life CUlminating in the abolition of ports and imports were very few polygamy; and more sanitary indeed, and there was no big busi- methods of living, stimUlated by ness. As examples of what civiliza- better medical knowledge and the tion could mean, the homes of the passing of fatalism.
missionaries were places of much Educational Conditions curiosity and attraction, the great .
marvels of which were the cabinet Fifty 'years ago, the Turkish organ, the sewing machine, and the Ministry of Public Instruction was str.angely un-Turkish dress of the a young and inexperienced orgatli- foreign madama. zation. The first government reg- Social and economic conditions Ulations for public education had have changed so gradually in the been formulated in 1860. It was
T RANS P ORTAT ION OF YESTERDAY IN TU RKEY-. DONKEY CARAVAN not until 1868 that the first institu- appreciated or largely developed. tion of higher education on really On the other hand, four Amerimodern lines, the Galata Serai, a can colleges had been established lycee on French models and with in Turkey previous to 1877, Robert French supervision, was estab- at Constantinople, Armenia (afterlished by the Ottoman Government. wards Euphrates) at Harpout, Not until 1901 was the Imperial Central Turkey at Aintab, and the University' organized at Con- Syrian Protestant at Beirut. These, stantinople. In 1877, the vast with a combined student registramaj ority of Turkish schools were tion of over five hundred, were doeither primary schools in the inga great work, giving to the mosques for the smaller children of young men of the land a liberal the district, or else medreses, or education along American lines, theological schools, where young and with the Bible holding a men were trained in Mohammedan central place in the curriculum. theology, or the Koran and the There were many schools for girls, traditions, for a life of religious of elementary or high school leadership. Only the first elements grade, though the first college for of mathematics were taught, girls, now called Constantinople history and geography were closed Woman's College, was not raised books. Even the Koran and the to the rank of a college till 1890. traditions were rather memorized Three theological seminaries, at than explained or understood. Marsovan, Harpout, and Marash, Many persons with good powers were training young men for committed the entire Koran to leadership in the evangelical memory, earning thereby the title churches. of hafiz, or keeper. By rare ex- Probably the most encouraging cl!ption, an occasional woman 'could feature of the reforms instituted read; but public opinion generally in Turkey by the new republican classed women as incapable of regime is the attention being given education, and Turkish girls were to education. Not only have wellnot allowed by the GoveJ,"nment to managed high schools for both boys attend the American schools, nor and girls been established by would their parents have any de- Turks, but a Normal School for sire to send them there. Condi- men and another for women are tions among Armenian and Greek training teachers for all the lower girls were better, but even there, schools. The various departments female education was not highly of the Turkish University have
been raised in their standards, and, in educational and charaCter-build- most surprising of all, all branches ing standards. Although since the have been opened to women as war Euphrates and Central Turkey well, and we now see Turkish Colleges, as well as those at Merzi- women, unveiled, sitting side by foun, Sivas, Marash and Van have side with the men in the courses in been unable to reopen, the two col- law, medicine, arts, etc.; and leges at Constantinople and Inter- Turkish women have been admitted national College at Smyrna have to the bar, and are practicing gone on uninterruptedly, as has medicine. Government inspectors Beirut University, no longer with- examine carefully into the com- in the bounds of Turkey. And petence of the teachers, and the there are today high schools for grade of their diplomas, or certif- boys functioning in Tarsus and icates, and also into the sanitary Constantinople, and high schools conditions, air and light facilities, for girls in Smyrna, Constanti- program and schedule of the nople, Brousa, Merzifoun .and schools. Turkish history and Adana, besides a prepa.ratory Turkish geography are required school for both sexes in Constanti- subjects in every school, and must nople. All are full to capacity, and be taught even in foreign schools a very large proportion of the by Turks only. A larger proportion pupils are Turks.
of the Turkish national budget is A thorough and drastic revision spent for education than was the of the educational laws of the case before the war. country has given more emphasis There are many French schools to nationalistic training and to the today in Turkey, and a few British; Turkish language, and has com- but the American still hold the lead pletely secularized all schools. As TRANSPORTATION TODAY IN TURKEY-THE "IRON HORSE" AT STAMBOUL STA'l'ION 2
AN OLD-TIME FlUE DEPARTMENT IN CONSTANTINOPLE a result, the study of the Koran, thus in contrast to the direct rewhich was central in all Turkish sults, in the establishment of primary schools, is forbidden, as is churches and schools and the transthat of the Bible in the curriculum lation of the Bible into the various of the mission schools. These languages: (a) The religious and American schools, however, are not moral influence of the preaching, only still known as Christian in the market-place, in Greek and schools, but have a very real and Armenian churches, etc. (b) The influential Christian atmosphere, organization of Sunday schools and and in spite of restrictions they Bible classes in Gregorian congreare doing a valuable work. Besides gations, more enlightened views, this, voluntary extra-curriculum and less superstition. (c) Changes Bible study is sometimes feasible. of sentiment and practice in moral In a number of instances American questions; less of falsehood, promissionaries have been teaching fanity and obscenity, and a better English classes in Turkish schools, observance of Sunday. (d) Inat the request of the Turkish creased interest in education, with authorities. While it has been colleges as an outgrowth, and the found best to transfer theological adoption of missionary textbooks. training to points outside the (e) An increased newspaper circucountry, a beginning has been made lation. (f) The civilizing influence in the line of agricultural training of the missionary's home, his and industrial work in Turkey. ' wagon, his sewing-machine, etc. In 1877 there were in the empire Religious Conditions including Bulgaria, 132 mission- aries in four missions; 90 churches An article published in 1877 with 5,000 members, 285 places of gave the following six as the main worship and 25,000 adherents, and indirect results of missionary ef- 10,000 pupils in mission schools. fort up to that time, placing them
1!l28] 'rURKEY-FIFTY YEARS AGO AND NOW
PART OF A MODER" FIRE D~]PART)!ENT IN S:'.IYRNA , ASIATIC TURKEY It will be convenient to survey all political or civil functions, and the changes of the last fifty years are recognized merely as the chief in the religious status of Turkey priests of their respective com- under three heads, taking respec- munities, with dioceses practically tively the conditions in the an- limited to the 200,000 Greeks and cient churches, in the evangelical the 70,000 Armenians of the city churches, and among Moslems. of Constantinople, though there (1) Gregorian and Orthodox are a few thousands of Armenians Churches. In 1877 the old Patri- in various parts of Anatolia. By archate organizations of the the exchange of populations, car- Armenian and Greek Churches, as ried out under the supervision of authorized by Mohammed II, the the League of Nations, there are no Conqueror, in the 15th century, Greeks left in Turkey outside that were still religio-political, and each city. And while the Greek and millet, or nationality, constituted Armenian communities still have an imperium in imperio, having its their school systems, these can no own tax-gathering system, its own longer include religious teaching.
courts, its own schools, and even (2) Evangelical Churches. Of its own police. Further, the Ecu- the 5,000 members and 25,000 ad- menical Patriarch of the Greek herents of the Protestant churches Orthodox Church claimed spiritual of '1877, hardly any remain in control over the Orthodox com- Turkey outside Constantinople. In- munities in Roumania, Bulgaria, deed by 1910 it was estimated that Serbia, Montenegro and Greece, as about 100,000 claimed to be Prot- well as Turkey; and in theory he estants, and the 140 churches en- was higher than the Patriarchs of rolled nearly 15,000 members. And Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria or today the four churches in Con- Russia. Today these Patriarchs at stantinople are all that are left, Constantinople have been shorn of with the exception of two or three
weak and apparently temporary the sheriat, or Moslem law based organizations in other towns. Yet on the Koran and the traditions, the disaster is not nearly as bad has been wiped out, and modern as these figures would indicate. courts, based on the European For the awful explosion that hurled codes of law, set up in their places.
the mangled remains of these And a Moslem professor of psy- churches out of the country, has chology in the Turkish University led to the formation of Evangelical brings to his class the Gospel of churches, communities and schools Matthew, and reads them the in France, Bulgaria, Greece, the Beatitudes, recommending these as Caucasus, Syria, and Egypt; and the foundation of all ethical teach- among these Greek and Armenian ing! The Koran, regarded hereto- refugees in Syria and Greece, the fore as untranslatable because of missionaries have started colleges the sacredness of the language, has and high schools to train the been translated into Turkish and is leaders of the future. So that while freely circulated. Most of the pil- the Evangelical community in lars of Islam – the five daily Turkey has dwindled terribly, its prayers, the annual fast of Rama- vitality is proven by the vigor and zan, the pilgrimage to Mecca-are deep spirituality of its continuation being neglected or disregarded. It work in many other quarters. is indeed a day of change.
(3) The Mohammedans. In 1877 In Conclusion the Moslem world recognized the Sultan with a sort of awe as the In 1877, the Mission Boards in Shadow of God on Earth, Caliph of America were still suffering from all Moslems, and head of their re- the religious demoralization follow- ligious life. In 1924, the Caliph, ing the civil war; and retrench- already shorn of every vestige of ment and diminished salaries political or civil power, was given affected the work in Turkey. More- just two hours to get ready his per- over the demoralization and the sonal belongings, and was shipped anarchy following the war of 1876- out of the country with his whole 8 in the Balkans seriously inter- family into permanent exile by his fered with missionary work. This fellow-Moslems. A whole volume has its parallel today, in the up- waits to be written on the story heavals following the world war, of Turkish emancipation from the both in Turkey and in America, as religio-civil control of Islam. The well as elsewhere. Yet the mission- change is so far-reaching, and its ary work went right on then, and possible consequences so amazing, is going right on now. These fifty that one can hardly yet visualize years have seen famines and pesti- it. The once-dreaded soltas, or lence, earthquake, fire and sword, students in the Moslem schools of the terrible massacres of 1895, theology, no longer exist, and all 1909, 1915, and 1922; the Turco- these theological schools, or med- Italian, Balkan, Second Balkan, reses, are closed. So too the dervish World, and Greek wars, and other orders, those mystics of Islam, great calamities. But the Kingdom have been disbanded and their of God, which is the rule of our places of worship closed. And the Divine Master in the hearts of men, entire system of Moslem religious is marching on, and will win the courts, for the administration of allegiance of all nations.
on Recent Missionary
PREPARED BY BELLE M. BRAIN, SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK WHAT IS YOUR SCORE?
T HE following twenty questions mHY be used to test your knowledge of the recent history of missions. Grade yourself and your friends by the percentage of correct replies. Twenty correct answers score 100 per cent, ten correct answers fifty per cent, and so on. The answers will be found on page 70, but do not consult them without first attempting to answer the questions. You will be interested in your score.
1. What young Scottish weaver girl became a famous missionary to Africa and was decorated by King George V for "meritorious service"?
2. What famous medical. missionary served as best man at a White House wedding?
3. What famous missionary to Africa worked "in the long grass" for twenty-two years before taking his first furlough?
4. What missionary, still at work in the Philippines, was the first Protestant missionary to the Islands?
5. What great pioneer missionary organization celebrated its bicentenary in London in the first year of the twentieth century?
6. At the centenary of the Haystack Meeting in Williamstown in 1906 what change was proposed in Mills' famous motto, "We can do it if we will"?
7. What ex-president of the United States laid the cornerstone of a missionary school in the heart of Africa?
8. What young Christian convert in India took the vow of a, sadhu soon after his baptism and has preached the Gospel throughout India and in many parts of the world?
9. When and where was the National Missionary Society of India founded?
10. What medical missionary, whose father and grandfather were both medical missionaries, is at the head of the Woman's Medical College of South India, at Vellore?
11. What Christian Tsimshean Indian has been appointed successor of William Duncan, founder of New Metlakahtla, Alaska?
12. What two missionary martyrs, one in the nineteenth century, the other in the twentieth, bore the same name?
13. On the centenary of what event was a "Day of Prayer for the Moslem World" observed at Tokat, Turkey?
14. What threatened extinction to the cause of Christ in China in the closing year of the nineteenth century?
15. What American missionary, president of a Christian college in India for thirty years, was made a "Knight Commander of the Indian Empire"?
16. What Methodist missionary who contracted leprosy early in her career in India, is still at work among the lepers of Chandag Heights?
17. On what occasion did three great statesmen, a past, the present. and a future president of the United States, appear on the same platform in behalf of foreign missions?
18. Who was the first famous missionary to win a martyr's crown in the twentieth century?
19. What missionary to Alaska was the first white man to reach the summit of Mt. McKinley?
20. Why is September 2, 1905, called the "Birthday of New China"?
– -, 21
GREAT MISSIONARIES OF THE LAST HALF
(1) R ev. JlIme~ C. Hephnrll, 'M.n., 11Ii Rfol ionll.l',Y of tllC Pl't'sh.Yt(~ l'jall Chul't'h (U. ~ . …) , .Tapan. 1841 to 189~.
( 2) Rev. •lohn W. Butler, D.D.. llli i:'sioJl: II",r Ill' jl14~ Ilethotli:st 1'~p i ~{ 'l Pil l (,hnn: h (North), Mexico, 187'1 t o 1!)]~ .
( 3 ) R ev. Ja coh Chamberlllln, M .D ., nl1 ::;8 101lI11',:,' uf the I~t!fo nlU.'tl Clllll' clL ilJ Amerh-u. India , 1800 to 1908.
(4) J. Huds on Taylor. M.n.c.S .. Chin a Inland ~"fission, 1854 t o 1!)05. (5) R ev . John G. Pa ton, D.n., Scotch llIissioliary of the Presbyterian Church. 'l'he New liebrides, 1858 to 1906.
22
MISSIONARY LEADERS·OF
YEARS AGO BY REV. R. P. MACKAY, D.D., Toronto, Canada PHILLIPS BROOKS divided century and the beginning of the leaders into three classes, men twentieth, has been called the of strong personality, men of Brotherhood Era. In quick successuperior knowledge and men who sion Brotherhoods multiplied, have some indefinable thing, called largely under denominational holiness. The latter are the saints names. They express the universal who constitute the reinforcements hunger for fellowship, inspir,ed by of history. The saints have not al- the fellowship of the Elder Brother. ways had strong personality, or . Amongst the brotherhoods may commanding intelligence, although be classified mission conferences, many of them have been eminently although, more inclusive, they are gifted in both respects. But they interdenominational and i n t e r- had something more effective, and national and their objective is the have been the salt of the earth. brotherhood of the world.
They blazed the path. Their ex- "One far-off divine event ample kindled the faith of the To which the whole creation moves-"
Church and inspired her devotion. That is the larger patriotism not The world knows it not, but they confined by any geographical are the true leaders and will be boundaries nor by personal conrecognized in the end of the day. siderations. It recognizes that God Where are they? Everywhere, "hath made of one blood all nations scattered in every land and clime, of men to dwell on the face of the the hidden ones, who but oc- earth."· casionally have been heard speak In March 1860 there was held in out of the darkness. Golaz, of the Liverpool a General Conference on French Mission to Senegambia, as foreign Missions at which were well as his wife died within a year present one hundred and twenty- after their arrival. His farewell five missionaries, members of Miswords were, "Do not be dis- sion Boards and a few of their couraged if the first laborers fall principal supporters. Membership in the field. Their graves will mark was confined to the British Isles, the way for their successors who but proved a great inspiration. will march past with great strides." Missionary information was then Such messages, and they are not so widely distributed as now.
many, are infectious. They are the The multitude in Jerusalem kept motive power of Christian activity silence as Barnabas and Paul deand enthusiasm and have tempted cIared the wonders that God had many followers. The saints are an wrought amongst the Gentiles at undying race. In modern times their hands. So at the Liverpool they have become better known. Conference, all gave reverent at- Organization has assembled them tention and their hearts burned and brought them into the light. within them as they heard reports The end of the nineteenth of the Lord's doings in many lands.
23
Seventeen years later the impres- Legge the sinologue of Oxford, Dr.
sion grew that the time had come Hudson Taylor of China, and Dr.
for another conference. Mission A. C. Thompson of the Prudential work had been greatly extended, Committee of the American Board.
workers native and foreign had These are but samples. They multiplied, mission interest had were a distinguished assembly, all deepened amongst old and young, of whom, either because of experi- liberality had developed, and the ence on the foreign field or as Church was coming to recognize administrators, are entitled to be the evangelization of the world as recognized as leaders.
her responsibility. It seems invidious to discrimi- The time had come when Boards nate by special reference when all should consider questions of comity are so worthy. How inadequate and 'cooperation, the qualifications characterization must be! Who can of the missionary and the cultiva- portray the lives of Krapf or Jud- tion of the native pastor with a son or Livingstone or Henry view to greater efficiency. It was Martyn-men who lived in faith of supreme importance t hat and died on their knees-yet like foundations be securely laid and Moses saw the promised land only the accumulated experience of all from afar. As well try to describe missions be brought to bear to the the heroes of the eleventh of He- advantage of all. Accordingly on brews who subdued kingdoms and the 20th of June 1877, exactly fifty wrought righteousness. It is one years ago, a number of men in- thing to see and hear these men in terested in missions met in the conference, in friendly surround- Committee' Rooms of the British ings but another thing to see them and Foreign Bible Society under down in the mine amid the dark- the Presidency of the Earl of ness and brutality of heathenism.
Shaftesbury. They, after discus- With respect to all only two or sion, agreed that a conference be three can be even named within the called in the autumn of 1878 and limitations of our space.
preparations were begun. The The Earl of Shaftesbury, Presi- Conference met in Mildmay Park, dent of the Conference, was so North London, on the 21,st of notable a philanthropist that his October, 1878, and unlike the 1860 name became a household word.
Conference had large representa- He explored the slums of the tion from Europe and America. It British metropolis so as to be able was a select assembly, amongst to speak from personal observation them many recognized leaders, on the social conditions of the such as the Earl of Shaftesbury, working classes. He refused to Sir Wm. Muir, and Robert N. join the administration of Sir Cust of England, R. W. Dodge of Robert Peel, because of Sir Beirut, Dr. Andrew Watson of Robert's opposition to the Ten Egypt, Dr. Bliss of Constantinople, Hour Bill, which afterwards cul- Eugene Stock of the Church Mis- minated in the Factory Act of sionary Society, Dr. Donald Fraser 1874. He was for forty years and Dr. Oswald Dykes of the President of the Ragged School English Presbyterian Board, Dr. Union. He was a principal pro- Fleming Stevenson of the Irish moter of Reformatory and Refuge Presbyterian Mission, Dr. James Movements and of the Y. M. C. A. He was ever at the service of any said that he handled a correspond- philanthropic movement he could ence of 10,000 letters a year, and touch helpfully. How appropriate- toured mission fields, all in addi- ly was such a man, although not tion to the claims of the pastoral himself a missionary, chosen to care of a large congregation in the preside at a conference assembled homeland.
to "consider the largest philan- Such were the men, that under thropic movement in the world. a great sense of responsibility con- Dr. James Legge was there and sulted and waited and prayed at was then sixty-two years of age. the Conference of 1878. Other He went to China in 1839 and be- great assemblies succeeded, such as cause of closed doors spent the the London Convention of 1888, the first three years in Malacca, in New York Convention of 1900, the charge of the Anglo-Chinese col- Edinburgh Convention of 1910, lege. He then went to Hong Kong and the Panama Congress of 1916.
where he lived for thirty years. The latter two were more highly Missions in China were then in organized and discussions were their infancy. He became impressed guided by carefully prepared re- with the importance of mission- ports of commissions on the sub- aries having a knowledge of jects under consideration, which Chinese culture and began a trans- reports were in the hands of the lation of the Chinese Classics, members. They constitute a scien- which was completed only a few tific library on the principal aspects years before his death in 1897. In of the foreign mission enterprise.
addition he wrote the "Life and In addition to these periodic con- Teachings of Confucius" and the ferences, so comprehensive and "Life and Teachings of Mencius." important, must be named the not He also wrote on the "Religions of less important annual conferences, China" and other books fitted to which enjoy the benefits of the equip missionaries for their work. larger and also include a wider In 1876 a chair was established in constituency in the churches Oxford University on Chinese represented. Memories of the early Language and Literature, which years of the Foreign Mission Con- Dr. Legge filled for the remaining ference of North America will be twenty years of his life. sacred so long as memory lasts, be- The only other name that can cause of the revered leaders who be mentioned here is Dr. Wm. were in evidence in these days, who Fleming Stevenson, although it have now passed to their reward.
seems a crime to pass over such They were not in evidence in the men as Pastor Gosner, Dr. James sense of being obtrusive, on the Stewart of Livingstonia and Hud- contrary, their disposition was son Taylor, for they were all g-reat to stand in the shadow. An out- leaders. What a plethora of gifts standing characteristic of these and graces God has conferred upon annual conferences has been a the foreign mission enterprise! It beautiful spirit of modesty and surely has His special approval. self-effacement. These gatherings .Dr. Fleming Stevenson was an- have never been troubled with the other Pastor Harms, in zeal for rising member, who feels it to be the evangelization of the world. He his duty to express himself on spoke and wrote and labored. It is every subject that comes up. Nor
was' the Conference afHicted with new mission movements, amongst the assumed modesty that refuses students, women of the Church, to speak when a contribution might the foreign department of the Y.
be made. "Behold how good and M. C. A., and the young people's pleasant it is for brethren to dwell organizations. They all came in his together in unity." There have al- day and he gave them his approval ways been present men who had and benediction. Alongside of Dr.
labored in the field and could give Ellinwood there lingers in memory flesh and blood to discussions that a sweet savour of the presence and were always in danger of becoming life of Dr. Henry N. Cobb, who for abstract and intangible, whilst twenty-seven years served as Sec- others of long experience in ad- retary of the Board of Foreign ministration had developed almost Missions of the Reformed Church intuitional sagacity in dealing with . in America. He was a man of delicate problems. singular winsomeness of character, One thinks instinctively of such having a gentle courtesy that never men as Dr. F. F. ElIinwood, Dr. forsook him, in the midst of earnest Judson Smith, Dr. Henry Mabie, discussion and under weighty re- Dr. Henry, N. Cobb, Dr. A. B. sponsibility. He carried with him Leonard, Dr. John Gillespie, Dr. a sense of the Unseen which was J as. S. Dennis, and others who evidenced in the life of the Con- have entered into their rewards. ference.
Probably all who were present These leaders of a half century in those early conferences would ago have been followed by others approve of giving Dr. Ellinwood a who have been for a generation first place. He gave thirty-seven recognized by all the churches as years to the foreign mission work large contributors by pen and of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. voice, and who, happily, are still A., and during all these years was with us, and their bow abides in recognized as a leader in the strength.
highest sense. He had prophetic Carlyle said, "As I take it, uni- vision and scientific accuracy in versal history, the history of what thought and presentation, and an man has accomplished in the world, open mind for new suggestions. is at bottom the history of the great He welcomed the developments of men who have worked here."
Nothing could be more unequivocal than the missionary commission . "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Yet while century followed century, this explicit command was almost wholly ignored. Learned and orthodox divines occupied themselves with proving that the words did not mean what they said. It was only as the opening of the seas brought the non-Christian people into closer relations with Christendom that the words found an entrance into the general mind of the Church.
It is only in attempting to apply the law of Christ to the whole of our social and national life and in seeking to evangelize the whole world, that we shall become rooted and grounded in love, and so be strong to apprehend the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of Christ which passes knowledge, and be filled with the entire fullness of God.
~"'rom flll old CO:DY of The P1'csbvtcrfwn Foreign Jli8eiQna1'Y
A STREET SCENE IN YEDDO (TOKYO) FIFTY YEARS AGO A VIEW OF JAPAN THEN AND NOW BY WILLIAM ELLIOTT GRIFFIS, L.R.D., Pulaski, New York Author of "The Mikado's Empire/J Eta.
RETURNING to Japan ~fter spire a renewal of earnestness and fifty-seven years when I first ever to compel imitation of meth- saw the Mikado's Empire, I ods.
am divided in my thoughts between When the writer, as educational the poetic or prophetic license for pioneer in the service of Matsu- "a nation born in a day," and the daira, a daimio, or local lord of actual sight of "what hath God prominence and power in the wrought." feudal system, reached Japan in Especially wonderful seems the 1870, he was himself the vanguard transformation of this nation since of a great host of "hired foreign- the Japanese were not raw heathen ers." It was with no ethnic or re- when American missionaries first ligious prejudice against Japan or landed. They were polished in the the Japanese that he came. Besides arts of refinement. For over a some study of the non-Christian millennium they had been shep- systems of the world-man's own herded within one of the oldest and attempts to find God-he had had most highly organized religions of two years' close acquaintance with the world. This was true, even Japanese young men who had come though the vitality of Buddhism to America and to Rutgers College had been eaten into and was in the for study. He learned to appraise, last stages of decay. The Chris- partially at least, the civilization tianity that entered Japan in 1859 that could produce such youth, at was nonpolitical and free from once refined gentlemen and eager coercion, but was destined to in- pupils.
27
The first two students from was he also, who, in large measure; Nippon were sent hither by an in- helped to make that "beautiful new qUIrmg native Japanese, who, Japan that was brought from be- after obtaining a Bible in Chinese yond the sea" by the messengers (easily read by this erudite of the Gospel. During his nearly scholar) found the Christ. He at forty years of service to the people, once desired his two nephews to from beggar to mikado, none ac- "come and see." A few months knowledged so generously the more later this forerunner of Christian- admirable features of Japan's civi- ity was assassinated for his two lization. None so read the thoughts Christlike beliefs: first, that of her sons, even before they were expressed, or saw with more pene- trating gaze their dire spiritual need, than did this cosmopolitan missionary, of varied attainments . but of single aim. In all my con- tacts with men, 1 never knew one of a richer culture, in that with all his varied learning his life motto was to en ("this one thing I do").
In picturing what I actually looked upon in the Japan of 1870, which now only a few score living natives of Nippon have seen, I have no wish to offend any of my Japa- nese friends. Some of them today find jt hard to believe my story.
Our own distant ancestors passed through similar stages of progress.
I do not mean to say that Occiden- tal persons or things borrowed from the West have exclusively OLD TIME FOX WORSHIP IN J APAN made "the beautiful New Japan." Praying for Goodluck, Harvests, Etc. Nor on the other hand, dare I give Japan's million of outcasts-vic- to the Japanese the sole credit of tims of religious hatred-should be reforming their own nation. uplifted to citizenship, with its "What hath God wrought" is the rights and privileges, and second, thought that ever dominates my that conscience should be free, that mind. is, Christianity be tolerated. In this year of grace and in the era of Sho-wa, after those eras of It was Yokoi, modern Christian- "enlightened civilization," and the ity's first martyr in Japan, who following one of "Great Righteousstarted the procession of passion- ness," neither in Christian nor in ate pilgrims to the republic beyond any pagan society would it be the sea. It was Guido F. Verbeck, proper to give too realistic a picthe American missionary, who ture of what relates to the human showed the way and directed the sexual relations; whether these be recruits to the Cross until their considered in philosophy or in numbers reached thousands. It fact. To say nothing of the former
1[)28] A VIEW OF JAPAN THEN AN!) NOW
polygamy, or of the legalized and the field of sexual relations. But rampant and still lingering con- "more land yet needs to be poscubinage, or of the prostitution sessed." still too common, or of the vile literature, the theatre and the Certain of the special features of popular festivals showed what is the system of licensed prostitution revealed in the first chapter of Ro- peculiar to Japan, such as the sale mans and all ancient history. The of daughters to the bawdy houses phallic emblems were almost every- by parents, or the rent of sisters by where visible, in wayside shrines brothers to obtain an education, I and in sculpture green with the shall not describe. Many of these moss and lichened with the cover- features were too repulsive and ing of centuries. They were al- horrible. most daily restocked with the emblems freshly cut out of wood or chiseled from stone, to say nothing of the prayers newly written on paper and pendant or pasted on them. Hope,ful of speedy reform might the situation be, if shrines for prayer-often agonizing in the case of the childless wife, dishon- ored because of barrenness-but the vileness went further even to childhood in the home. In the toy shops, besides articles in ceramic ware of several forms and uses, one could see the same degrading em- blems in crockery, wood or paste- board, reproduced with unblushing realism and disgraceful accuracy.
Let not the Christian of Aryan A BUDDHIST' AT A PRAYER WHEEL stock exult in spiritual pride when, IN JAPAN if he has read history, he must know how, not in India nor in A bill is now before the Diet to ancient Rome only, this form of abolish, after five years' probation, bestial worship long lingered. To this whole damning system of the tell how in Japan this cult- female slave traffic, so degrading breeder of a train of moral dis- to Japanese womanhood and so naeases, the degradation of women, tionally disgraceful. Yet there are of family wretchedness, and chron- Japanese who wonder why their ically preventive of that personal social system-a heritage from the purity which the religion of Jesus ancient Chinese world, is so little requires-is to tell a varied story, respected by foreigners. for in recent years it is to the credit of young Japanese that some have indignantly denied what the The sights which first greeted writer here records. In no field of my eyes as I made my initial morals has true, Bible Christianity journey in January of the year made more signal triumphs than in 1871, from seaport to capital, dis-
gusted me; but when repeated in at Nagasaki, when was there a August, 1872, in company with my public hospital in Japan-even sister, the first American lady in while leprosy and bodily diseases the government school, the result, and insanity, with none to "minin her case, was nervous prostra- ister to a mind diseased" were tion. Several days in bed were shockingly (to an alien) common? necessary for recuperation. In Dr. James C. Hepburn's ini- The medical science of Christian tial dispensary, in 1871, I often saw lands has banished the scabby heart-rending sights-cases of disheads of the children and the prev- ease and disorder in every limb and alence of small pox, then universal. organ frightfully numerous, and The tens of thousands of babies often too far gone for hope were wearing the yellow flannel cap, fearfully trying, even to one who as significant of this contagious dis- a soldier in the civil war had seen ease, are no longer visible. The many forms both of maiming, of number of persons deformed be- malformation, and of disordered cause of syphilitic disease was then natural products. Like a rainbow v~ry great. Yet on this horizon of of hope for the future of Japan was sexual relations the light is break- the semicircle of native young men, ing. A veteran missionary of 1926 future physicians, following this tells of his hearing with surprise American doctor in his rounds, givand for the first time, in a sermon ing earnest heed to both his diagby a native preacher, reference to nosis and his therapeutics. a lover and his betrothed. The latter would actually reform his All honor to the medical men of bad habits, "on account of his love Japan! Yet it was the followers for and identification with his be- of the Great Physician who first in loved." Subjects never publicly their country, imitated His extalked about in the pulpit are now ample for the masses. It was these given close approach to Ephesians Christians who organized and 5: 25, while romantic and Chris- trained the first corps of female tian mutual affection are taking nurses. Today to the returning the place of unions that were of pioneer, Japan's social and physold enforced under the traditions ical ulcers and toxic disorders of parental despotism. Who, a half "glare by their absence." century ago, expected to see or hear of such a thing? The storm Yet it is not the material adraised over "The Japanese Bride," vance, or the visible triumphs of a little book, written by a native science and industry, that do most preacher, would be but a zephyr impress him. There, as one of the now. Its simple truth now dis- "beginners of a better time," as an turbs few. educator and teacher in chemistry and physics and the initial pro- Japan's progress in public hy- poser of technological schools, he giene, science, and medicine is a had come to Japan to begin. It is matter of common fame, and the the things absent that he thinks of, physical improvement of her peo- and upon which he congratulates ple is creditably great, surprising his Japanese friends and the Amerthe returned former foreign resi- ican missionaries. The old hatred dent. Yet, except probably as in- of foreigners-scores of whom troduced by the Dutch physicians were assassinated or wounded in assaults and some of whom I
A VIEW OF JAPAN THEN AND NOW
helped to nurse back to strength Christ's sake. Very few, if any, again-has passed. From the first, are now the survivors of that I found that the real Japanese are winter scene, as a recent visit a lovable people. The religious which I made to Urakami, near bigotry, even to torture, murder Nagasaki, shows. A Christian and exile, which I witnessed, has church, a noble edifice, built by the passed into oblivion. The anti- Roman Catholic Christians now Christian edict, denouncing death tells the story of Japan's change of to all of "the corrupt religion heart. Near by a monument in called Christian"-then always oc- gilt letters catalogues the various cupying the central place on the places of banishment and tells the public notice-boards, set in the number of martyrs.
chief public thoroughfare of cities Yet today how glorious the conand at ferries and in villages, has trast! In thousands of churches, disappeared. tens of thousands of believers are In 1871, even in the far interior free to worship God in their own · of the mountain region of Echizen tongue and way, while in the province, over a hundred "Kiristans" (Christians) were torn from their homes in the south, hun- dreds of miles distant, and on their way to ban- ishment and imprison- ment. All of them, men, women, children and in- fants, were robed in the red dress reserved for criminals. Over them A N OLD ·'l' BlE ANTI-C HRISTIAN SIGN BOARD IN JAPA N was the menace of death Decr eeill g' Dea th to Christiulls Ilnd the Christia ns' God after torture. Yet for no other schools, churches and gatherings crime than believing in Jesus and of young and old, their faces show keeping their lives pure from an expression very different from idolatry and sensuality, they were that of five decades ago. It can thus hunted down like wild beasts be best described, without an atom and banished for four years from of exaggeration, as the radiance of their homes. With the promise of morning after night. A new meanfreedom if ever they recanted, not ing comes into the manifold vocabone of them denied their Lord. ulary of what tells the story of the My own experience with these rising sun-of which daily fact, of exiles was peculiar. For simply their country's name, and of the trying to communicate with them poetic metaphors naturally therethrough my interpreter-even by from springing, they are so proud. a look of sympathy from one they To hear them sing Christian knew was a fellow-believer-I was hymns is thrilling. To address rudely pushed away. Even for them, even through an interpreter, this "cup of cold water," I have is an inspiring privilege. To heard from Catholic friends that preach to educated Japanese in my name was held in honor for one's own mother-tongue is rapyears by these sufferers for ture. By happy experiences in A.
D. 1927 I know that this is true. leper asylums and other institu- Whether in Japanese social life, tions of Christian birth and nur- the letter and the spirit of the laws ture. Some of the private compa- or in the etiquette of daily life nies of Christians rouse memories that borders on, or is infused with and stir emotions. At times it is moral purpose, the advance of impossible to resist the dynamics Japan within half a century means of memory and the often startling nothing less than revolution. A evidences of the power of God few days ago, in the military manifested by those long kept in (Nijo) castle in Kyoto and in the spiritual famine, but now guests at room in which feudalism and re- the table spread in what was once action had had for centuries their a wilderness, with one's cup run- centre, I stood on the spot where, ning over.
in 1869, the new era and the new Let me give one instance that career of Japan began. There the touched me most deeply. It was young emperor (born on the day not in the crowded halls, full of that Commodore Perry received his eager young men and women gath- orders to sail for Japan to unite ered either for worship, or to Orient and .Occident in brother- listen eagerly to the stranger from hood) took oath "to seek for talent beyond seas who was their old and ability throughout the world to friend. It was in the town of help lay again the foundations' of Beppu, in Kyushu, to which place the empire." Because of this I thousands resort for the healing came to Japan and saw the feudal waters and even for the hot sands system abolished, a half million and brine warmed by subterranean swords rem 0 v e d from the volcanic power, that the incident samurai's daily costume–Japan's was related from which an influen- precedent for world disarmament tial Christian society sprang, called -the semi-caste system abolished "The One Sheep Society."
and the eight classes melted into A young Japanese afflicted with one body of loyal citizens; popular tuberculosis, who had for years education demonstrated to be more made a manly struggle for life, effective for good government and only to be given up by the ablest social order than steel weapons, in physicians, was touched to the addition to being "the cheap de- depths of his soul by the Scripture fense of nations"; and the creation narrative of the shepherd seeking of an appetite for fact and truth, the one stray lamb. The finding including religion, that will not be with rejoicing over the one stray satisfied until Japan is a civilized creature touched the invalid so nation, even according to the high- deeply that becoming a Christian, est standard of the Occident. his spirit inflamed others and hence They give a returned veteran their name. Yet this single circle teacher and civilizer plenty to do, of Christians is today typical and when he returns to the field where representative of groups of hungry he labored as a young man over a souls all over the Japanese Em- half century ago. Not only pire. This term, "empire," means churches and Sunday-schools and Korea and Japan, and Oh, that other evidences of Christian power there might be more from our own and influence was I invited to see, land, consecrated messengers who but also hospitals, dispensaries, hear the good news that the Shep-
A VIEW OF JAPAN THEN AND
1'HE PLACE OF CHRISTIANITY IN JAPAN 1'ODAY A Scene at the Fiftieth Anniyersary of the Aoyama J 0 Gakuin-a Methodist Girls' School of One Thousand Pupils in Tokyo herd of Souls is ready and willing This reconnoissance and judg- to seek and to save the humblest- ment of a pioneer of '70 makes not merely the strong and those hesitancy in obeying the Christ's able to give Him lifelong service, command seem to him nothing but even the les;;er ones, the hope- short of rank treason to the Mas- less incurables, the bedridden and ter.
all, even the weakest and, humanly Despite the resthetic charm of speaking, most worthless, who look the Japan of 1870, it was, to me, a to Him for salvation and feel their scene of darkness, when I saw the need! abominations of heathenism, the Yef'a'Caleb's word is needed. It cruelty of many of the customs, is not only tru~ that there is "yet and the persecution and exile of much land to ·be possessed," but men, women and children, made equally so that '!we are well able to outcast so for conscience's sake.
possess it." Let not prayer, or How thrilling seemed the glory literally, missions, cease. God for- and the beauty of the Japan, that is bid that allY of us should be among so largely Christian in our day a cowardly and fearful minority and year! I was asked to make two like that which despised Caleb, or hundred or more addresses in side with the languid or too easily schools, colleges and before all sorts satisfied majority of church mem- of organizations, probably seven- bers, who think the work is done, eighths of them Christian as- or in need of no reinforcement. semblies, schools, colleges, social 3
gatherings with pastors and fellow that Japan will become as a true Christians-from aged veterans to Christian nation. Never let it be smiling girlhood and boyhood. I forgotten that the natives of Nippon went into churches to hear delight- desire to do things tactfully, and to ful singing, to see young men and change manners and customs with- women taking the vows of loyalty out hurting the feelings, especially to Jesus. Yet all the time I felt how of the aged. This fact has very cold and uninspiring are mere much to do with their discussions statistics, compared with the of reform, of even in their carrying human warmth of friendship, of reforms to their conclusion. In a appreciation, of a brotherhood that word, Christianity is slowly but melts the barriers of language or surely making a new nation. This of national peculiarities. Not only may not be visible to the round-the- by close personal contact with world tourist, who spends a few Sunday-schools, worshipping con- days or hours on the soil and per- gregations and listening audiences, haps writes an article for the but by the spirit of editorials and magazine or newspapers, it may news articles in the papers, by the be with iIIustrations, which what- change of manners and customs, ever they do illustrate, do not ex- by the public and private celebra- press the truth.
tions of Christmas and even of In brief, the Christianity that is other Christian holidays, was I slowly transforming society in profoundly impressed. At times Japan cannot accurately be ex- I felt like pinching myself in order pressed according to the proceed- to bring myself back to reality. I ings of a mustard seed that kept asking myself, "Is this the becomes a great tree, with either land where life for a native was the fowls of the air warbling in very,Unsafe for him if he were a their branches, or with crowds of Christian? Or, is it the place newspaper reporters, notebook in where men scowl at you because hand, admiring the growth which you were a foreigner? Can this be has been so sudden and so impres- the country where the name of sive.
Jesus was publicly maligned in Yet when one thinks of the in- government proclamations, or visible influence of the Gospel when uttered, turned people's faces leaven, transfprming the flour jnto pale with horror?" delicious bread, which nourishes In place of the old atmosphere life and gives strength, he is thank- and tokens of government disap- ful to the Master for the two proval and even of danger to life parables instead of one only.
and limb, there is now absolute Let me close with a grateful ap- freedom of conscience. A lady can preciation of God's mercies.. In travel unattended, through the 1850, as a six-year old child, I saw length and breadth of the Empire. the launching of Commodore The horrible things today "glare Perry's flag ship at Philadelphia.
by their absence," and improve- Today I have the invincible convic- ments, social, moral, spiritual are tion that Japan will not only be a found on every side. There is not great Christian nation, but will only a tone of tolerance towards profoundly and blessedly influence Christianity, but a feeling very the whole mother continent of thinly veiled and deeply desired Asia.
YEARS OF CHURCH
IN AMERICA BY REV. H. K. CARROLL, LL.D., Plainfield, New Jersey Formerly oj the United States Census Burcau oj Religious Statistic8 T HE beginning of the last half authority. In fact, ministers and century period was not unlike laymen were turning aside from the present in some aspects. the old faiths in England, Scotland It was a time of much discussion as and the United States. Prof. Goldto orthodox Protestantism. De- win Smith, in 1879, said "three scriptions of moral and religious fourths of the strongest and most conditions were pessimistic and original minds among the younger predictions of the downfall of graduates of American colleges" Evangelical Christianity were con- are said to hold views "diametricalfident and sweeping. Archbishop ly opposed to the accepted faith of Hughes, of New York, Roman Christianity." Catholic and. natural foe of Protes- In short, fifty years ago Evantantism, declared in mid-century gelical Protestantism was, accordthat it had "lost all central force ing to its critics, in a bad way, and and power over the masses of man- the churches were "filled with men kind." Rev. F. C. Ewer, of the who are very much at sea in regard Catholic party in the Protestant to their religious beliefs." If these Episcopal Church, issued a volume were the actual conditions the in 1868 to prove Protestantism a Evangelical churches could hardly failure, and returned to the charge be expected to preserve themselves ten years later with even greater from disastrous losses, to say nothpositiveness, picturing it as ing of being able to report a net in- "drowning in torrents of skepti- crease. And yet, as a matter of cism which itself had let loose." fact, the gloomy prophecies not A Catholic periodical demonstrated only were not fulfilled, but the by statistics to its own satisfaction period turned out to be one of great that by 1900 it would have scarcely prosperity for the Protestant ten million members-its number churches, as I shall presently in 1880. Unfortunately for the show. But today new prophets prophecy the churches seemed bent arise, some in the Evangelical on increase instead of decrease and ranks, nominal friends, who, unreached nearly 14,000,000 by 1890, mindful of history, renew the old' with ten years left of the century. predictions which proved baseless Henry Ward Beecher, the brilliant a half century ago. These prophets preacher of Plymouth Congrega- seem convinced that Protestantism, tional Church, Brooklyn, spoke with its numerous divisions, will be fifty years ago of "the drift of overthrown if a new crop of educated thought-in science, in enemies, within and without, can art and in philosophy-away from manage to bring it about by sweepchurch life." Some were losing ing and unsupported statements. "veneration for the Church and its The Atlantic Monthly, which beordinances." Others were unsettled gan the last half century with the in: their views of the Bible and its lugubrious statements of Prof.
85
Goldwin Smith, already quoted, a net gain of 7,778,1~9 (or 77%) published an article in the present in the twenty years. The great year by an Episcopal rector of New error in the prophecies of the mid- Jersey, in which the language was century seers of the nineteenth hunted to find epithets to describe century was that they forgot to and characterize Protestantism. estimate the power of the promised The author sought the strongest presence of Christ with his Church adjectives and yoked them in pairs as given at His ascension: "Lo, I in his evident purpose of enmity. And yet his own standing is in a am with you alway even unto the denomination the first word of end of the world." whose name is and has been from the beginning "Protestant." What But we have twenty-seven years could be his hope for his own of the half century under conchurch and people if the future sideration to add to the record of the Evangelical bodies, seemingly should bring in his apparent de- in such a bad way according to the sire? critics at the beginning of the period. The reports of 1927 can- In 1880 the grand total of com- not now be anticipated so that we municants .of the Evangelical must take those for 1926, a year churches of the United States was more than the first quarter of the 10,065,963, distributed as follows: twentieth century. The Evan- gelical bodies had in 1926 a total of Baptist bodies …………. . 2,452,878 29,239,223 communicants, the net growth in twenty-six years of the Congregationalist … . 384,332 present century being 11,076,378. In the whole period of the. half Disciples of Christ … . 591,821 century, from 1880 to 1926, lacking fonr years, Protestantism added to Dunkards ………….. . 60,000 its membership, 19,173,260, (or a Protestant Episcopal 338,333 growth of 191 % ) . In other words it multiplied itself not far from Reformed Episcopal ….. . 9,448 three times in the forty-six years.
Friends, Orthodox (estimated) 60,000 What a triumph for Evangelical Protestantism! Its vigorous and Evangelical Association …. . 112,197 aggressive life has as yet suffered Lutheran, 5 bodies ….. . 950,868 no eclipse. It has outlived all its critics both from within and with- Methodist, 12 bodies …….. . 3,574,485 out, and goes on its quiet way preaching a saving faith to the mil- Mennonite (estimated) ….. . 50,000 lions of the United States and spreading the same conquering Moravian …………….. . 9,491 Gospel over the whole world, fol- lowing everywhere the bright star Presbyterian, 10 bodies ….. . 937,640 of hope, conscious of the abiding presence of its Lord and Master. Reformed (Dutch) ……… . 80,208 It should be understood that the liberal and non-orthodox bodies of Reformed (German) ……. . 155,857 Protestantism are not included in the Evangelical list. Counting Adventist, 2 bodies ……… . 85,570 Unitarians, Universalists, Chris- United Brethren in Christ .. . 157,835 Church of God (Winebrenner) 30,000 Other bodies, five ………. . 25,000 10,065,963 This table, from Dr. Dorchester's "Problems of Religious Progress," in which the Christian Church is not named, shows an increase for the ten years, from 1870, of 2,392,- 567. In the ten years following 1880, the same list of churches had grown to a total of 13,826,527, or a net gain of 3,760,564 in the decade. Protestantism instead of being stranded in 1900, as the Catholic journal predicted, had become a host of 17,844,102, and liad
FIFTY YEARS OF CHURCH GROWTH IN AMERICA
tian Scientists, Latter-Day Saints, Church, South, passed both Gen- etc., the grand total of Protestant eral Conferences, was ratified by Christians today would be 30,087,- the annual conferences of the first 144. named body, but failed constitu- Protestantism is frequently re- tional approval by the latter.
proached for its divisions; but Two branches created by a divi- while many of these are unneces- sion of the Evangelical Association sary and insignificant it is better (Methodistic) have reunited in the to have them, 'With liberty, than to Evangelical Church, the F r e e quench the spirit of freedom. Baptist Churches have now been Moreover, the past half century has absorbed in the Northern Baptist been a period of lessening sectarian Convention, the Evangelical Prot- feeling and of growth of the spirit estant Church has united with the of interdenominational fellowship, Congregational Churches, and comity, cooperation and union. The other plans of union are on foot.
Old School and New School Presby- The reproach cast upon the divided terians were reunited in 1870 and state of Protestantism has been since then the Presbyterian Church greatly lessened by the cessation of in the U. S. A. has received bodies interdenominational controversy, of Cumberland and Welsh Presby- by the great increase of comity and terians into union with itself. In cooperation and by the further fact, the Lutheran group, three general often overlooked, that many if not bodies formed the United Lutheran most of the branches are small and Church, some years ago, three obscure and not a few are declin- Norwegian Lutheran s y nod s ing and gradually approaching ex- created the Norwegian Lutheran tinction.
Church, and still other branches It will be interesting to not a are planning union. In the Metho- few, perhaps, to scan the accom- dist group the Methodist and the panying table giving all groups and Methodist Protestant Church were bodies in the Evangelical list of reunited in 1867, under the title denominations having 100,000 com- of the latter body, and a plan of municants and upwards. There are unification of the two largest divi- fifteen of them and they represent sions-the Methodist Episcopal 28,703,449 of the grand total of and the Methodist Episcopal 29,239,422.
Commun1~cants Gains in 46 years Methodist (15 bodies) ……………………. 8,968,288 5,393,803 6,218,017 Baptist (14 bodies)……………………… 8,670,895 1,673,076 Presbyterian (9 bodies)………………….. 2,610,716 1,637,411 1,162,691 Lutheran (17 bodies) .. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 2,588,279 834,836 Disciples of Christ (2 bodies) . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 1,754,512 533,697 Protestant Episcopal…………………….. 1,173,679 310,959 252,796 Congregational …………………………. 918,029 145,235 95,974 Reformed (3 bodies)…………………….. 547,024 96,768 United Brethren (2 bodies)…. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410,631 65,321 Evangelical Synod of N. A.* …………. 332,667 10,414 Evangelical Church (Meth.)………… 208,171 38,763 Brethren, "Dunkards" (4 bodies) .. … . . .. 156,768 Adventist (5 bodies) …… . .. . . .. .. . .. . 150,891 Christian Church* ………………… 114,136 Friends (3 bodies) . . .. . . . . .. .. .. . . . . .. . 98,763 28,703,449 '" Gain covers last 36 years.
In the same fifty-year period, fraction over twenty-four in every (covering actually 46 years) the hundred now. That is an encourag- Roman Catholic Church has ad- ing growth. vanced, taking the figures given by Sadlier's Catholic Directory, from But what about the alleged ina Catholic population of 6,367,330 crease in unbelief; in apostasy; in in 1880, to a Catholic population in heretical opinions; in indifference 1926, according to Kenedy's Of- to the Church; in heavy losses of ficial Catholic Directory, of 19,483,- members; in decline of the 296, an increase of 13,115,966. In spiritual life? other words, the Roman Catholic population has been multiplied by The churches need to be aroused the figure three in the forty-six to the importance of applying years. It is interesting to note that remedies to prevent the gross the increase in the Evangelical list losses from becoming net losses. of the Protestant division is not The Evangelical churches all had far short of the same figure. The net gains in 1926, except in one Catholic population has been multi- instance. Pastors and committees plied by three and a little over; wanted to reduce apportionments the Evangeiical membership has to be raised and they pruned the been multiplied by a little short of rolls, instead of trying to arouse three. Considering the large Cath- slack members and find and bring olic gain by immigration in the back the strays. Does anyone period, it is remarkable that the doubt that these losses can be pre- Evangelical increase should fall vented in large measure? If the only a little short of the Catholic churches had spiritual vigor suffigure. ficient to win new members in 1926 so as to make good unusual losses The Evangelical strength in com- and show a net gain, cannot they m u n i can t s, according to Dr. do as much or more in 1927? If Dorchester, constituted one in the tide of spiritual life has fallen every five of the population in 1880. is it because Christ and the Holy How is it now? It is now a little Spirit have deserted the churches, more than one in each 4.1. It is, or is it that the churches have therefore, gaining on the popula- failed to seek the help of the Altion. Where there were twenty mighty and ever-living God in Communicants in every hundred of their warfare against the foes of the population in 1880, there are a righteousness?
Denominational Missions A Union Fifty Years A go (From THE MISSIONARY REVIEW, Vol. I, Page 29, 187~) One subject attracted more or less remark in the (Shanghai) conference. We allude to the idea of a union among converts in our foreign missions, which shall ignore or submerge the denominational distinctions of Christendom. In this conference, one missionary maintained, "It was surely not to be desired that the many different denominations represented (by the missionaries present) should be reproduced here. About eight Presbyterian societies are working in China; why should not the churches they have gathered, be organized into one body?"
AT THE SHANGHAI MISSIONARY CONFERENCE IN
GROWTH OF MISSIONARY COOPERATION BY REV. JAMES L. BARTON, D.D., Boston, Mass.
secretary oj the American Board of OommiS8ioner8 for Forei{Jn Mi88io-ns FIFTY years ago foreign mis- subject of investigation through a sion boards were not thinking committee, I, with my colleagues, in terms of cooperation. Each will feel compelled to withdraw, board had its particular field and since that points to interference its own denominational responsi- with what to many of us is a mat- bility with no thought that these ter of conscience." The proposal could be shared with any other was withdrawn. This statement board. may explain why a missionary It is a significant fact that for magazine like the REVIEW did not the first half of the life of the MIS- feel that the time had come for a SIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD general discussion of this topic and "Comity and cooperation" had no for the first twenty-five years of its place; in fact, when in the late existence did not print any article nineties, a member of the Foreign upon this subject on which we now Missions Conference proposed that p1ace so much stress. Prior to the a standing committee upon comity opening of the present century and cooperation be appointed to there was little thinking and plan- investigate and report at a subse- ning in terms of interdenomina- quent session, a prominent mem- . tional cooperation. The "Encyclo- ber and an executive officer of one p::edia of Missions," published in of the leading missionary boards 1904, has an article upon comity said: "If that topic is made the but none upon cooperation. The 39
comity article is theoretical with It came out at that time that in almost no reference to experiences October, 1853, there had been held on the field. a union religious gathering in We will here consider briefly this London which gave an entire day subject, so vital to the progress of to the missionary problem. The the kingdom, in the general order next general missionary confer- of the growth of interdenomina- ence, almost wholly British, was tional thinking and consequent ac- held in Liverpool in March, 1860, tion among leaders. We begin which continued for five days with with national interdenominational 125 members present. Eighteen conferences, voluntary in character years later, in October, 1878, one and 'for the purpose of united year after the launching of the prayer, Christian fellowship and MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE general information. These gradu- WORLD, a more general mi~sionary ally merged into delegated confer- conference was a~sembled in Mildences with an increasing measure may Park, a suburb of London, of administrative functions and ·re- which held eleven sessions; Thirty- sponsib:lities. four missionary sociEties, eleven of them non-British, were repre- 1. Cooperation Among Boards at Home sented by 158 delegates.
Twenty-three years before the A conference of still greater sigfirst number of the MISSIONARY nificance and much more large:y REVIEW OF THE WORLD was issued, attended was held in London in a union missionary convention June, 1888. This was the first at- was held in the city of New York. tempt at a missionary conference Alexander Duff, that noted pioneer that should include all countries Scotch missionary who had served and all Protestant missionary soin India for twenty-five years and cieties. It was called to celebrate who commanded the admiration of the centenary of modern Protes- the Christian world, was upon a tant missions. It continued for ten visit to America. All communions days and was largely attended.
held him in such high esteem that a Dr. Pierson, the Editor-in-Chief convention was called in New York of the REVIEW, was a delegate and on November 4 and 5, 1854, "to made a full report. Fifty-three unite in cordial love and sympathy missionary societies of Great Brit- the friends of missions and to ex- ain, fifty-eight of the United States, cite them to higher effort for the nine of Canada, eighteen of the conversion of the world," etc. continent of Europe and two from Nearly three hundred evangelical British colonies were represented. clergymen were in attendance as While the British comprised the delegates. largest attendance, there were one Prior to this convention there hundred and two representatives was held in New York City in May, from the United States, thirty 1854, a union interdenominational from Canada and forty-one from missionary conference at which the Continent of Europe. This there were present eleven mission- London conference is reckoned as aries, eighteen officers of mission- the fourth general interdenomina- ary societies, and one hundred and ' tional and international missionary thirty-one other persons. The ses- conference. sion lasted one and a half days. The fifth General or Ecumenical
GROWTH OF MISSIONARY COOPERATION
Missionary Conference was held in "Resolved, That it be the sense of the New York in 1900. This is too re- meeting, composed of missionaries and cent to call for further considera- representatives of missionary boards and tion here. N one of these five gen- societies in Europe, America, Germany eral conferences left any organization or took action that instituted and Scandinavia, that the executive comany continuing cooperation. Each mittee of the Ecumenical Conference in consisted of an assembly of officers New York, and the corresponding comand friends and foreign miEsionaries from many different boards mittee in London, Germany and Scandiand communions met to hear re- navia, should be requested to consider the ports of the progress ot'the King- question of appointing an international committee, who by correspondence or conference, or both, shall deal with cer- tain practical questions of cooperative work on mission fields, and shall make known the results of their deliberations to the societies which have been repre- sented in this conference."
AN .BfF.H1C'AN INTFJIlJ)};NOMINA'rIO"'AL ~IISSj(L",I{Y gXF.(,UTlVI~R· CON[,'I'JHFJNC]<; AT GAHVEN CITY, KJ<]W YORK, IN 1913 dom in which all were interested, The REVIEW, after quoting the "to pray together to their common above in June, 1900, said: God through their common Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and to "For some years we have advocated discuss some of the principles and publicly and privately the creation of an phases of the work in which all interdenominational and international were essentially agreed." In each board and bureau combined . . . as a case there was nothing except the sort of Committee of Arbitration . . . printed reports to carry the work We believe that some such arrangement bevond the time of adjournment. might command such confidence as to re- move all occasions of overlapping, inter- However, at the close of the New ference, alienation between brethren York Ecumenical Conference a working on the same or contiguous group of 200 delegates met in one fields." of the New York churches and after some discussion unanimously Ten years elapsed before a step passed the following resolution: of this character was actually taken.
In September, 1892, the Council of the Presbyterian and Reformed
Alliance met in Toronto, Canada American boards and societies and and there decided to call a general has become a recognized force here conference of all Protestant boards at home in the operations of all and societies in Canada and the mIssIOnary organizations. This United States. This conference Foreign Missions Conference and was held at the Presbyterian head- its incorporated executive commit- quarters in New York City on tee named "The Committee of Ref- Ja.nuary 12,1893, when twenty-one erence and Counsel" have become different missionary boards and powerful agencies for promoting societies interested in foreign mis- comity among various communions sions were represented chiefly by in this country and have created a officials of the boards. The general spirit of fraternal cooperation questions discussed bore upon poli- which is of lasting worth' to 'the cies and methods employed in all cause of foreign missions through- departments of missionary activ- out the world.
ity. At that time a committee was While the Foreign Missions Concreated to call and prepare for a ference of North America was. future conference of like character. pa~sing through its period of de- The committee was instructed to velopment there appeared in Eusecure, if possible, for the next year's conference a representation rope the Quadrennial Bremen Continental Missionary Conferfrom all of the mission boards of ence, the German and Continental North America. . The organizing Executive Committee, the North- ern Lutheran Missionary Confergenius of this conference was W. ence including Sweden, Norway, Henry Grant, a layman of New _Denmark, and Finland and the York. This gathering, which soon took the name of the Annual Con- Netherlands Missionary Conferference of the Foreign Mission Boards of North America, has held ence. This last conference was annual sessions from that day to formed in 1886. A similar conferthe present and has become, in ence has been organized among the place of the former voluntary ,mISSIOnary societies of Great body, a delegated body, with an an- Britain and Ireland with an execunual budget of' some $85,000. tive committee corresponding to This budget is largely supplied by the Committee of Reference and appropriations made by the for- Counsel of the North American eign mission boards of North Conference.
America. In 1908, through the cooperation With one or two exceptions all of the national missionary commit- of the mission boards of North tees of Germany, France, Scandi- America are members of this con- navia, Great Britain and North ference and share in its delibera- America, plans were set in motion tions and benefits. It occupies for a world missionary conference permanent headquarters, with a at Edinburgh, Scotland, in June, p~id staff, and possesses a foreign 1910. This was a purely delegated misqions reference library not ex- body, each of the cooperating mis- .celled and sc!trcely equaled any- sionary societies of the world hav- where in the world. It has a body ing a fixed quota of representa- of standing committees which act tives. Only the 1,200 delegates in the general interests of all were admitted. The sessions con-
tinued for ten days. Upon the last conferences, themselves delegated day, by a unanimous vote of the bodies and acting in the interests entire conference, it was decided of foreign missions without regard that "A Continuation Committee to sectarian differences. Already should be appointed to perpetuate national missionary councils have the idea and spirit of the confer- been organized in China. India and ence and to embody it in such fur- Japan and in the Near East. This ther practical action as should be international missionary body, crefound advisable." This was the ated by the different local conferfirst effective endeavor to mobilize ences of Europe and America and make effective the spirit and functions in a non-sectarian capacsentiment of a world conference ity as a clearing house for all forfor cooperation and to make the eign missionary operations.
AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL LAYMAN'S MISSIONARY MOVE:IENT DINNER, APRIL, lllO movement interdenominational, in- The Committee on Cooperation ternational, and permanent. in Latin America was a child of the Foreign Missions Conference of The Continuation Committee, North America in 1913. It concomprising members from all of sists of representatives of mission the European and American mis- boards and denominations carrying sionary, conferences, met annually on mission work in Latin America. until the great war. Soon after Its object is the unification and cothe close of the war a delegated ordination of missionary work in international body was created of Latin America. The various notae'ghty members, each member re- ble conferences already held in ceiving his appointment from one South America under its auspices of the national or regional mission- are another demonstration of the ary conferences. This Interna- rise and power of international and tional Missionary Council is now interdenominational movements the only international and interde- which have had their origin within nominational body made up of the last quarter of a century. members appointed by the official
II. Cooperation in Mission which all are involved and inter- Administration ested. Each Council has an Execu- tive Committee and a secretary In the missionary field, even in with a central office and staff. the seventies, missionaries of vari- Nationals of the country are memous boards occupying the same bers of the Council. area formed local conferences for mutual understanding. These as- In nearly all mission countries semblies were given much to there has been mutal agreement prayer and fellowship and to the delimiting the territory of each consideration of local mission prob- mission board operating in the vilems and to the question of cooper- cinity so as to prevent overlapping ation. In the early seventies such and to remove the appearance of conferences were in operation in competition. Perhaps as a c1ear- Japan and extended to India and cut and distinct example of this other countries, resulting in some method of delimitation we may areas in a regular monthly gather- cite Mexico and the Philippine ing of the local mIssIOnaries. Islands where the entire country Questions of cooperation were dis- has been so divided between varicussed and qften settled. Within ous missions that no two missions the last fifty years these station cover the same territory and there conferences have become a large is no part of the country for which factor in cultivating a good under- some board is not held responsible, standing and in promoting cooperation and in developing a spirit of One of the most notable of misfraternity and mutual confidence. sionary conferences on the field The National Councils of China, was the Centenary Conference in Japan, India and the Near East, China in 1907 to commemorate the already referred to, are represent- arrival of the first Protestant mis· ative of the missions operating in sionary in that country. Conferthe country and act in matters in ences of a similar character have been held in Japan, India, and THE wrUDENT VOLUN'l'EER MISSIONARY MOVEMENT CONVENTION, DES MOINES, iV20 South America as well as in other schools and kindergartens. In the countries, not to mention the many support and direction of each one held by Dr. John R. Mott, acting of these one hundred thirteen under the auspices of the Continu- institutions from two to twelve dif- ation Committee of the Edinburgh ferent organizations cooperate.
Missionary conference and the In- There are eleven of these schools ternational Missionary Council. in which more than six bodies co- These all have been powerful operate. One mission board is agencies for creating good under- cooperating in forty-eight union standing and promoting coopera- enterprises, another in forty, an- tion. other in twenty-four. The co- When the constituents of the operating societies are in all of the boards and the mission boards great missionary countries of the world, as England, Scotland, themselves felt free to discuss Australia, the United States, union operations in the mission Canada, Sweden, Germany, Denfield, there was a rapid increase in mark, Finland, Ireland, Norway, cooperation in schools, coUeges and New Zealand, etc. universities. There seemed to be fewer obstacles to organic coopera- These union institutions are tion in the field of education than in located forty-six in China, twentyevangelistic operations, although two in India, twelve in Korea, there has appeared little difficulty seven in Japan, six in South in the practical working of many America, five in Africa, four in union theological and Bible schools. Mexico, three in the Philippines, Many of the institutions of learn- two in Jamaica and one each in ing created and controlled by a Australia, Ceylon, Madagascar. single mission and board have Melanesia, the Near East and united with one or more missions Porto Rico. It is a significant fact operating in the same area form- that theological and Bible schools ing a single union school. The command the fullest measure of boards at home supporting theS(~ cooperation, there being fifty-three such union schools in the mission mISSIOns cooperate in general field. Colleges and universities management and support or com- come next' with thirty-eight to bine in creating an incorporated their credit: Some of these'wlion interdenominational board of con- educational institutions afe well trol, comprIsmg representative known, such as Peking, Nanking, members of the cooperating boards. West China Union and Shahtung During the first twenty-five Universities in China; Ludhiana years of the present century there Woman's Christian MedicalEfOI- have been organized and are now lege, Madras Woman's Christian in operation one hundred thirteen College, Vellore Women's Medical union educational enterprises in College, Madras Christian College fifteen mission fields. These in- in India; Women's Christian Col- stitutions include theological lege, Tokyo, Japan; Chosen Chris- schools, universities, colleges for tian College, Seoul, and a list too both men and women, medical long to enumerate here. These schools, nurses and teachers train- have become thoroughly estab- ing schools, academies and high lished and" are powerful institu- schools, as well as some elementary tions, back of which stand from
four to twelve missionary boards churches have made their own in Europe and America. creeds and fixed their governing It has been more difficult to regulations. In many fields like bring about cooperation in direct Japan, China and India the various church work than in other areas Methodist bodies, also the Presbyof action. Ecclesiastical connec- terian and Episcopalian, and tions with the supporting churches Lutheran have united in their field at home have created bonds dif- operations.
ficult to sever, from the standpoint There has been considerable both of the fields and of the discussion especially recently re- boards. garding the formation of a national Within the last quarter of a church in China which shall bear century there has been much con- no name that will identify it with sideration in some countries of the any existing denomination.
subject of a national church. In This question of national India this desire eventuated in the churches in mission fields is un- South India United Church, in settled at the present time but yet which the various churches or- it is impossible to see that it is of ganized .through the effort of supreme importance and one that missionaries of the various Pres- must receive serious consideration byterian and Congregational in the near future. When we con- boards working in that part of template the marked progress India united. These churches in- made in cooperation in foreign clude a large constituency. They missions in the last twenty-five continue to receive help from the years and note how it has extended, boards in the form of annual it seems probable that the next grants in aid and in the service of quarter of a century may bring missionaries. A similar union about such a union of the churches church has been organized farther that Protestantism will present a north and is called the United united front in its approach to the Church of North India. These non-Christian world.
MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF MISSIONARY EXECUTIVES AT THE HAGUE IN 1913
A YOUNG PEOPLE'S MISSIONARY MAGAZINE FIFTY YEARS
MISSIONARY EDUCATION FIFTY YEARS AGO AND TODAY· BY PROF. HARLAN P. BEACH, F.R.G.S., Madison, N. J. , Author 01 Geography atl·d Atlas oj Christian Missions" Etc.
T HE Christian Church was function it would normally have doing no union work in the been to inspire their students with education of its constituency the missionary knowledge and in 1877, and very little as denomi- fire, were quite commonly of the nations. Women's missionary type thus described by Dean O. E.
societies were doing something in Brown of Vanderbilt University: training their children and a few "The course of work given in our srnall groups among the women. school in 1877 was practically all Boards were sending out into their in the field of dogmatics, Greek churches returned missionaries and Hebrew, ecclesiastical history who told stories of the darkest side and homiletics. . . . In fact, so of "heathen" life, and the most dis- far as I can gather, at tbat time creditable aspects of their re- attention was pretty. largely cen- ligions; and then in bright tered upon qualifying men to win contrast something of their efforts out in doctrinal and ecclesiastical to remove this cloud of gloom as controversies of the day, rather seen in conspicuous converts. than men qualified for seeing and Theological seminaries, whose serving the world-wide purpose of * No attempt can be made in this brief article Christ and His Kingdom." In a few seminaries, sparks of missionto give in detail the work of all the educational ary intarest were seen. Thus at institutions, missionary boards, periodicals and Princeton, while "no announcement special llterature for educating the Church and was made in the catalogue of any its students in missionary matters. Though we have corresponded with the societies and :lnsU· ~Y:!~tl~n i~lc~877e~~ddl~2~, ~;it~dS!p;~e ~A~ not permit us to go into particulars as to all the work reported. No mention at- all is made kind of a course bearing directly of what the banner missionary cburch of Chris- on the work of missions," its protendom, the Moravian, was doing for lnform- A~f~~~B frg;i~e~:c~s t¥:e t~::~e~bi~o~a~~i~~ f~fe~re fessor of theology had been a mismembership of thnt Church is found on these sionary in India, while other profields. Because of the limited response from fessors had been officials in the :a~doP~fnth~i7e:'~~k?e:~8 t~~~rc~iir trJ~h1~f i~ Presbyterian Foreign Board, and more appropriately be. "Missionary EducatYon in North Americn Fifty Years Ago and Today." -H. P.D. hence presumably had mentioned 47
the subject incidentally in the brethren in the foreign field, and a classroom. Yale had on its college fixed purpose to promote the confaculty, Professor S. Wells Wil- version of the world"; yet we see liams, who gave in 1877 lectures on no statement of specific courses of the "Religions of China." Union such study. Boston University in New York was giving no lec- School of Theology is more specific tures on missions, but one exercise than any seminary catalogue we a month was devoted to the Concert have seen. In its 1877 issue we of Prayer for missions, attended find courses for second-year men by both faculty and students. on "Present Relations of Principal Religions of the World; Christian From "The Oriain a.t1(t H~etory 01 M't8IJWn8,JJ llj[jl Halieutics, or Theory of Mission- A 8AMPLE !IlISSIONARY ILLUSTRATION ary Labor; Relation of this Science to Pastoral Theology; and Keryk- The Shil)Wreck of a. Missionary and tik, the missionary form of Homi- letics." Senior year courses in- His Family (A steel engraving) clude lectures introductory to Hindustani, Chinese, Arabic or Andover's pioneer Society of In- other Oriental language; an introquiry held more frequent meetings, duction to the Sacred Books of but faculty members were rarely Buddhism,' Confucianism and Ispresent and relatively few of the lam ; comparative soteriology and students. Drew Seminary's cata- ethics, of all religions, and a twologue for that year says that "it hour course on comparative reliaims to give suitable prominence gion throughout the year. Let this to those kinds of instruction which suffice for seminary instruction in are needed (1) by students pur- missions in 1877. 'posing to go as missionaries to foreign fields, and (2) by ministers at Specific information as to the home, who ought always to have work of two denominations will an intelligent sympathy with their serve as samples of several others. The oldest of our missionary so- cieties, the American Board, al- ready had a Woman's Board, con- cerning the activities of which at that date Miss Seabury writes: "I have found the revised constitu- tion of the year 1877-78. It con- tains this: 'Article VIII. Recog- nizing the duty of educating our children and youth in the spirit of Missions, the Society willencour- age the formation of Mission Cir- cles as follows: We desire to help in sending the Gospel to heathen children, that they may learn about Christ, who died to save them. We promise to give one cent a week to the missionary box, and to come together once a month to work £61- the cause, and to hear about Mii's:
1~28j MISSiONARY EDUCATION FIFTY YEARS AGO AND TODAY
sions.''' Moreover, to inform chil- educative process was that of the dren and young people, sets of famous Scotch missionary, Dr.
pictures and pages in periodicals Alexander Duff. At the close of were published. his fruitful life, 1874-78, he was If the Board just mentioned was agitating three great movements: a leader at this time, the Methodist He planned to establish a mission- women were a close second. Of ary lectureship for theological col- the educational status of that leges; to found a Missionary In- denomination then, Dr. North stitute for educating foreign mis- writes: "We tried to observe Mis- sionaries; and he desired to start sionary Sunday in the Sunday- a missionary quarterly, with Canon school. Every Sunday-school was organized into a Missionary So- ciety. Every class, in a well organ- ized school, had its organization- chiefly a treasurer-and I think there was often more enthusiasm than now. But with it all, there was a rather haphazard process of conveying information, and sys- tematic study-I do not know as there was any." Supplementing such work, several of the denomi- nations published in their mission- ary periodicals many interesting articles and letters from the fields, of the same nature as furloughed missionary addresses. And then came in 1877 the advent of a great interdenominational periodical, THE MISSIONARY REVIEW!
At this approximate date two events in Europe greatly furthered, or gave the formative idea, of mis- TYPFl OF n.LUS'l'RATION USED FIFTY sionary education. In Germany, YEARS AGO Dr. Gustav Warneck in 1874 established Europe's famous Allgemeine A Missionary in China Showfng the Folly Missions-Zeitschrift. Before that of Worshiping Idols decade was over, he and likeminded scholars convened the first Mis- Tristram as editor. His first obsions Conference "to infuse into ,iect was temporarily accomplished, German pastors a bUrning enthusi- the second only partially, and the asm for Missions." The inspiring Quarterly did not appear until and scholarly gatherings of this under other auspices The Interna~ and other similar conferences and tional Review of Missions came in the training by Dr. Warneck of his 1913. How far Mr. Wilder was in- Zeitschrift contributors were the fluenced by Dr. Duff in founding ob,iect-Iessons of all missionary ex- his more popular periodical in perts of that time. 1877, I do not know. Parentheti- cally we note that the Church Mis- The other important step in the sionary Society last year was cele- brating the fiftieth anniversary of 4
the founding of its famous Uganda combined embodiment of the best Mission. Its marvelous success in thought and leadership of thirty- transforming Uganda is largely four Boards, both Home and For- due to native effort through send- eign.
ing abroad throughout the country This Movement, fathered by Dr.
Negroes carrying black-boards and F. C. Stephenson of Canada, had reading sheets and conducting an hardly begun its wonderful work educational campaign afield. there, when Wishard, Brockman, Turning from 1877 to the work and others in the States saw its to-day, we pass without more than possibilities, and so twenty-five mere mention the starting of the years ago this organization, known Student Volunteer Movement's then as the Young People's For- mission study classes which had its ward Movement, sprang into ex- imitators in 1900 in what is now istence. Its present-day principles the Central Committee on the are thus summarized by its ener- United Study of Foreign Missions, getic Secretary, F. D. Cogswell: and the Young People's Forward (1) Training for leadership is dOne Movement, now the Missionary in five training conferences located Education Movement established at Ocean Park, Maine; Asilomar, twenty-five years ago. It was our Cal.; Seabeck, Washington; Blue purpose at this point to summarize Ridge, North Carolina, and in the the work of missionary education parent conference center at Silver as carried on by the various large Bay, N. Y. At these sylvan re- Boards, but responses from these treats eager leaders from the friends are so voluminous that an thirty-four fostering Boards-and entire issue of THE REVIEW would more denominations than that- be required for the purpose, and gather for intensive training, in- that is impossible. As we look over struction and inspirational and in- these letters and accompanying forming addresses. Interspersed literature, the most effective seems with this laborious program is an to be the educational work of the abundance of sports, hikes,boat- United Presbyterians under the in- ing parties, pageants and assorted defatigable Miss Milligan, the fun of a high order to relieve the almost equally commendable pro- strain. The textbooks for the com- gram of the Protestant Episcopal ing year are studied under the best workers, under the Sturgises, that teachers, missionary plays and of the American Board, directed by pageants are tried out, teaching of Miss Seabury, of the Methodists, different grades of scholars is originally so eminent in this cause taken up. At these central train- and still thoroughly alive, under ing centers, those under twenty Vickrey and others and the educa- years are not encouraged to attend, tional work of the Presbyterians, as scores of denominational con- so long planned and directed under ferences, miniature replicas of the Professor Sailer, but now under "Big Five," provide for younger other leadership. These and a delegates.
score of other almost equally admi- (2) The Movement aims to in- rable educational schemes must be crease and strengthen correlation passed by to consider the work of between the programs of Religious the Missionary Education Move- Education and Missionary Educa- ment (M. E. M.), which is the tion. As the former has always
1!J28] MIsSIONARY EDUCATION FIF'1'Y YEARS AGO AND TODAY
emphasized grading of church books of the allied women's organi- schools and methods of teaching, zation, the C. C. U. S. F. M., whose so the M. E. M. conferences and senior book this year was published objectives are becoming framed on in a 100,000 edition and its junior those principles, with the project book in a 25,000 edition.
method central, largely as worked Missionary education among out by Professor Archer of Yale students varies antipodally from and by the New Haven churches. that in 1877. Owing to changes in This makes the life of children and student attitude and their interest youth of mission fields more vivid in race, industrial, nationalistic, and creates realistic contacts be- and war problems, mission study tween the peoples of these fields. of the old sort is temporarily Its "Projects in World Friendship" eclipsed, and the M. E. M. now and "World Friendship Through holds the place of leadership which the Church School" further illus- the Volunteer Movement held for trate their idea. decades. In the colleges, Ohio (3) The M. E. M. continues that Wesleyan has missionary courses cooperation between interdenomi- as part of its curriculum. Theolognational bodies which was begun ical seminaries almost invariably in 1919, when the women of Home have one or more courses directly Missionary Boards went into part- or indirectly bearing on missions; nership with it in the pUblication while some have missionary deof home missionary textbooks, a partments, Yale, Union (New plan which to a certain degree was York), Chicago University, Drew, followed in connection with certain courses of the Central Committee Pacific School of Religion, Hartof the United Study of Foreign ford, for example; while institu- Missions. Close relations with the tions like Dr. White's Biblical Student Volunteer Movement and Seminary, the Disciples College of Missions-this year intermittedthe Christian World Education have done a large work in mission- Committee of the College Y. M. and ary instruction. Princeton, Union Y. W. Associations are also being and Chicago University have prostrengthened. vided suites of rooms for fur- (4) A beginning of international loughed missionaries and their cooperation, begun just before the World War, is again being fostered families, so that their varied through the biennial visitation of courses are used as a postgraduate American and British delegates, school of missions. These instituand promises to become an inter- tions and such a wonderful perinational bond of great significance. odical, scientifically considered, as The International Review of Mis- How wide-reaching the M. E. sions, are doing the more formal M.'s work is may be seen in the education in missions for the latest catalogue of publications. churches, and are atoning excel- with its more than 250 titles of lently for the years of ignorance textbooks and helps of every de- as to the missionary enterprise of scription, covering all varieties of the last century. THE MISSIONARY educational projects for the use of REVIEW OF THE WORLD still leads three-year-olds up to adults. Its in the interdenominational, popu- issues in 1926 numbered 429,561, lar education in missions of the to which must be added the text- English-speaking world.
Evangelist and His
BY JEAN KENYON McKENZIE The evangelist is a man who practices the presence of God and who is the servant of man for Christ's sake, being all things to all men that by some means he may come into spiritual contact with his fellow and so be free to communicate to him the things of God.
Evangelism is the act of faith by which the evangelist, energized by God, lives his life, and does his service, and tells his good news, in spiritual contact with his fellows.
The method of evangelism is born of time, place and circumstance. It is in the field with an agricultural people, and of one temper at the time of planting and of another temper at the time of harvest; it would take account of drought, of famine, of abundance. It is shaped by industrial conditions and mechanical conditions. It is a shoemaker's method and a doctor's method, the method of a teacher, and a minister, and a mother. The method of evangelism is shaped to every interest of its immediate circumstance and is immediately colored by the circumstance and the genius of the individual or the group addressed. It is inconceivable that evangelism should speak in the same accent to the old as to the young, to the robust as to the dying, to the primitive animist as to the scientist.
It nnlRt deal realistically ,,,ith the fact of the present and root itself iu the past and projert itself into the future, of the man addressed. It must make a friend of every fact. It must never be resigned to a limitation of territory; it must bless the hand of man and penetrate the mind of man. It must preeminently and forever address the soul of man in the dialed of the sou1, taking account of conscience, of sin, of the universal concern with the mysteries of life, of death, of the hereafter, of the unappeased loneliness of the human heart. It must answer these immemorial questions in the manifold Word, and feed the religious hungers of man with the Bread of Life.
The heart of the evangelist is faithful. It is unchangeable in its obedirnce to Christ's example of loving service, to His concern with the more abundant life of man, and to his command to preach the Gospel. And the aim of evangelism docs not change-it is ever tho determined effort of the servant of Christ to bring human life into the knowledge of Christ, under the control of Christ and into the spirit of Christ.
There is a supernatural blessing attends upon the creative act, in faith, of evangelism, for Christ has promised His attendanoe upon it, even unto the uttermost parts of the earth. By His very own promise, nothing of such effort shall ever be lost.
52 t L_j ':- I I ..
, 1 L-.- r -o UNOCCUPIED MISSION PIELDS IX AFRICA 'l'WI~N'l'Y YEARS A(W AFRICA FIFTY YEARS AGO AND NOW BY PROF. WILSON S. NAYLOR, Appleton, Wisconsin Dean of Lawrence CoUcge.. Author uJ "Dull',rcok in the Dnrk Continellt" wnd "The Life of Bi8/tOP Hartzell" (In prepru'ation) I .T HAS been said that the ex- expected to need and if that proved . pIorations of David Living- insufficient to draw more without stone riveted the attention of limit-but to find Livingstone. the world upon Africa and that his Those months with the great death at Ilala in 1873 set the world missionary explorer changed Stanon the march to Africa. If that is ley's whole outlook upon life. His a fair statement, then Henry M. experience in exploration with Stanley led the vanguard. He Livingstone also greatly interested spent some months with Living- him in the problem of Africa so stone in the region of the Great that he was logically the man to Lakes, and was under the commis- prove in a conspicuous manner the sion of James Gordon Bennett for truth of Livingstone's insistence the New York Herald and Daily that the possibility of opening the Telegraph to take aU the money he darkest recesses of the Continent to 53
the light of civilization – Chris- trayals of lakes, rivers, mountains, tianity, commerce, science, govern- and plateaus, as are mapped for ment-was feasible. For this pur- any continent.
pose Stanley again entered Africa Civilized Government from the east in 1874. When after nearly three years of indomitable In all of Stanley's seven thoucourage, in the face of incompara- sand six hundred miles of travel ble hardships, he came out at the from Zanzibar to the mouth of the mouth of the Congo in 1877, fifty Congo, which at the average rate years ago, great impetus was given of seven miles per day required to African exploration. Before the more than thirty-th'ree months, he year 1877 scarcely more than eight per cent of the Continent had been never saw sign nor semblance of explored. Today scarcely that civilized government nor a single much remains to be accurately mission station. Today officials of platted on the maps. Prior to European governments 'dispense 1877 Dean Swift's doggerel was a order and justice not only along his line of march but throughout the Continent and mission stations range along the entire route that he took and are multiplied in like manner throughout the central re- gions. In 1877 ninety-seven per cent of the Continent was under native control which more often than not was barbarous and sav- age. Today ninety-seven per cent of the Continent is under mandates to civilized governments which more often than not are exercising MOFFA'l' PREACHING IN AFRICA their powers with consideration fair characterization of the knowl- and with vast benefit to the natives.
edge of inland Africa. Intertribal wars and commercial "Geographers on Africa's maps slavery are suppressed. The baser Put savage beasts to fill up gaps forms of savage life such as canni- And o'er uninhabitable downs balism, witchcraft, and human sac- Place elephants for want of towns." rifice, while doubtlessly occasion- ally indulged in, by no means are ~xcept for northeast, northwest and south Africa only the costal prevalently practiced. Stanley's plains for a few miles inland were experience on the Congo gives a known with accuracy. The geog- vivid picture of cannibalism prior raphy of the Niger was known; to his transcontinental journey.
the Nile and the Zambezi had been Day after day his caravan was pur- ascended for half of their length; sued down the river by multitudes the Congo to the cataracts; the of natives in confidence of realiz- Great Lakes and mountains had ing their blood-curdling slogan, been discovered but the vast cen- "meat, meat, we shall have meat tral plateau, covering ninety per today." So that wliile he had to cent of the Continent, was a "fea- buy his way through the tribes east tureless blank." Today African of the Great Lakes, he found it maps give almost as accurate por- necessary here to fight his way
AFRICA FIFTY YEARS AGO AND NOW
through these cannibal regions. with the Cape to Cairo route and lIis only alternative was "to walk branch lines radiate for various quietly into their cooking-pots and distances to every point of the compass. Motor bus lines are far submit to dissection and the proc- more numerous, good roads are be- ing maintained and projected, peresses of digestion." * Livingstone sonal cars are multiplying under the ownership of traders, governvisited a tribe on the upper waters ment officials, managers of busiof the Congo whose custom was for the children to kill their parents at the first signs of decrepitude and eat them so that the family strength should not be dissipated- a savage application of the theory of the conservation of energy.
It is a far cry from this condition to the reports that the children of some of these man-eaters are today members of the various missions that sprang up in the wake of his exploration, heads of exemplary homes, Christian traders, farmers, teachers, evangelists, preachers, government officials, foremen of gangs in mines and factories, en- gineers, telegraphers, and artisans of various kinds. Today under the various civilizing influences old age is coming to its due in honor, reverence and devotion.
Abyssinia on the east coast is the only portion of the Continent today that is independent of power- ·· ful foreign influence with more or less civilizing results. LIVINGSTONE'S BODY GUARD Travel· in Africa Susi and Chuma, who Carded His Body to the Const Half a century ago travel in ness enterprises, missionaries and Africa was afoot, by hammock, by natives. Even airplane routes have canoe or occasionally on oxback. Today one can travel in comfort been established. from the Cape to Cairo by train, In 1877 the transportation of lake and river steamers and motor bus. Stanley's journey of seven goods was on the backs or heads of thousand six hundred miles requir- native porters. It required three ing over thirty-three months, can hundred and fifty-six for Stanley's now be made by train, motor bus. caravan and very few that started lake and river steamers, in one with him from Zanzibar saw the month. Trunk railways from both mouth of the Congo, such was the east and west coasts make junction toll demanded by arduous toil and sickness and battles en route. To- day tons are transported by rail- • Quoted from Holman Bentley by E. W. ways, steamers, and trucks, where Smith, in The Ohurch M -i8SiQnary . Review.. De· cember, 1925. pounds were carried before 1877.
The result is reflected in the rapid ago. Not only do the cable and teledevelopment of exports and im- graph offer almost instant knowlports which have multiplied a thou- edge of the world outside, but sand fold in the last fifty years. dwellers in central Africa, both European and native, can listen in Communication and Commerce on the best programs given in the auditoriums of Europe. This is all Methods of communication to- suggestive of the increasing possiday offer a great contrast to those bilities for the present more reof fifty years ago. Then even on mote sections of the Continent. the coast these methods were intermittent, widely separated, irregu- In 1877 trade was confined to h~r, and uncertain. The natives the coastal ports which of course had runners within each tribal ter- were for the most part fed by the SECURING AFRICAN LABOR FIFTY YEARS AGO-A SLAVB CARAVAN ritory or to friendly adjacent native populations of the hintertribes or they transmitted mes- lands-ivory, palm nuts, mahogsages by signal fires and drum taps. any, gold, and unfortunately Now, mail routes are maintained "black ivory" or slaves, bulked by all of the means of transporta- largely in the freight lists. It is tion cited above. In addition, the significant that the Statesman's telegraph, telephone, wireless, ra- Year Book for 1875 gives statistics dio and airplane furnish Africa to- for only Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, day with facilities of communica- Liberia, Cape Colony and Natal, or tion within its own boundaries and five small sections of the Continent. with the rest of the world such as The latest issue of the same publi~ were not in existence anywhere in cation masses an array of statistics the world fifty years ago. That is, for the entire Continent and for a the Continent of Africa is supplied great variety of exports and imwith better and more rapid means ports, expenses and revenues inof communic~tion than America volving a commerce of immeasurand ·Europe had a half century ably greater proportion than that
AFRICA FU'TY YEARS AGO AND NOW
SECDRING AFRICAN LABOR TODAY–AN INDDSTRIAL SCHOOL of a half century ago. For in- to be literal fact-mountains of stance, in 1875 Algeria's total ex- copper. The Katanga mines will change of goods amounted to $500,- be the largest single producer in 000 per year; in 1925, $7,500,000, the world. or fifteen times as much. "From the large uranium mine The other countries listed in very recently discovered, there was 1877 show a similar or greater in- furnished, in 1925, eighty per cent crease in 1925, but these all com- of the radium product of the bined represent a small percentage world, though this amounted to of the continental trade. There- only twenty-two grams. On the disfore, the increase of commerce in covery of these radium-producing the Continent as a whole is mani- deposits the price of radium fold more than the ratio suggested dropped one half. Mme. Curie visin the comparison of the trade of the countries fifty years ago and ited these mines personally." * now where organized trade was established in 1877. Ninety-eight per cent of the dia- monds of the world are said to Resources and Industry come from one mine-Kimberly- in South Africa. Four billion dol- The copper fields of the Zambezi- lars of gold have also been ex- Congo Divide now outrival any ported from Africa dUring the last similar ore beds in the world. Liv- fifty years. Within the last half ingstone heard of the mountains of century cocoa-f has become a factor "malachite" when near this section in 1855. Later explorers found it *- .Tohn M. SPl'jllgCl'. ;'Christian Conquests in ~hO~k .C19§7~" Methodist Book Concerll, New t Eclwln W, Smith, Church Mi8sionary Re- view, DOlwtnJU)I'l If)~!),
THE BEGINNINGS OF AN AFRICAN MISSION CHURCH AND SCHOOL in the commerce of Africa until it was below the dignity of man exnow totals about two hundred and erted themselves with glee was betwenty thousand tons per year, cause they had the incentive of more than half of the world's sup- wages that would enable them to purchase what they wantedply. Cottont began to be grown in calico, beads, gewgaws, and may- Uganda in 1904. Within a score hap, gin. This illustrates the phiof years the crop amounted to fifty- losophy of labor the world overone million pounds per annum with an adequate incentive. So long as the value of seventeen million dol- the African could get all that was lars. It is estimated that East in the field of his vision with little Africa has ninety million acres or no work, he reclined on his easysuitable for the cultivation of cot- going philosophy that manual labor ton. was for women and slaves, war and intrigue were for men. Today tens Fifty years ago the typical na- of thousands of Africans are voltive African might have been cited unteering from all over the Contias proof that we humans "are all nent for work in the diamond fields, as lazy as we dare to be." Today in the gold, copper, tin and coal Emerson's proverb is in danger of mines, and on the plantations that disproof by the sons of the same are beginning to multiply throughnative Africans. In the early part out the central regions. of this last half century the construction of the Stevenson road for The African is proving an apt twenty-five miles through the most pupil in the art of expert farming and stock raising, and is showing luxurious, entangled, dense tropical more zest for accumulation of jungle reinforced by a forest of property at the expense of labor large trees, was achieved entirely within the first fifty years of the by native laborers who sang at opening of the Continent than our their work, and the reason that these men who had inherited gener- proud Anglo-Saxon Or Nordic an- ations of the tradition that labor
AFRICA FIFTY YEARS AGO AND NOW li9
cestors exhibited in their first five gelists, who are back of the exhibihundred years of exposure to other tion of the most rapid development than their native barbarism. that any continent and people has ever known. Cicero advised a fellow countryman not to buy the Angio-Saxon Health and Education captives from the Isle of Briton, offered in the Roman marts, be- A half century ago Africa was cause they were worthless even as considered to be the white man's slaves. It was a proud Britisher grave; and not without warrant, who pointed to the bust of Cicero for very few could endure the clion one end of his mantlepiece and mate for many years in succession. then to the bust of Roger Bacon on At that time missionary and trade the other with the remark, "See stations were confined to the what that man says of this man's coastal lowlands, rank with the ancestors." The African is even poison of decaying vegetation, A MODERN NATIVE-BUILT CHURCH IN AFRICA-AT BLAN'l'YRE yet a child with his go-cart; give fetid with tropical heat, infested him time-five hundred years, or with mosquitoes, enervating, deeven less, to demonstrate his full- bilitating. Now the vast ranges of orbed native abilities. Today they the central plateau are found to be are the instruments. for rushing healthful for the white man as well their Continent into the complexity as for the black. Ranges of mounof civilization manifoldly faster tains rise from two thousand to than any other continent has ever five thousand feet above sea level; been driven. Aside from the heavy the nights are always cool; the labor for a multitude of companies days are often salubrious. Missionin every line of physical endeavor, aries, traders, managers of comthey are the clerks, accountants, mercial interests, government offoremen, machinists, telegraphers, ficials are rearing their white printers, engineers, typists, gov- families there, and they know no ernment officials, teachers, evan- more of malaria-the scourge of
the coastal plains-than is experi- years over two hundred additional enced in any country that is being areas have been projected and de- "broken" to civilization. Children veloped to a magnitude far beyond have grown to manhood and wom- the proportion of anything at- anhood in these central regions in tempted' previously. The total perfect health without knowing staff at the present time is over six any more of a physician's care than thousand foreign and forty-three they would have in America or thousand native helpers in the Europe. Even on the coastal Protestant mission work in Africa.
plains medical discoveries and sani- Nearly, if not quite, five thousand tary improvements have contrib- of the six thousand foreign work- uted greatly to healthful conditions ers and an equal, if not greater, during the last fifty years. proportion of the native helpers Before 1877, excepting in Egypt represent the increase during the last fifty years. According to the and South Africa, little more than latest full statistics* the Protestant the most elemental education was Christian community is repregiven to either blacks or whites on sented by 2,629,427, with 28,824 the Continent. Now there are places of worship.
seventeen thousand schools includ- Sir Harry Johnson, the British ing various grades – elemental, administrator in Central Africa high school, industrial school, col- confirms the significant words of lege, medical school, theological seminaries, with a total enrollment w. T. Stead. "South Africa," he of over a million pupils and students. Many natives with savage says, (and it is applicable to the and even cannibal parents are entire Continent) "is the product themselves educators. of three forces–conquest, trade, and missions, and of the three the first counts for the least and the Christian Missions last for the greatest factor in the No reliable general statistics are expansion of civilization in Africa. to be found for Christian missions in Africa prior to 1877. Except in Missionaries have been every- Egypt and South Africa, mission- where the pioneers of empire. The ary activities were confined to the frontier has advanced on the coastal plains and the toll of death stepping-stones of missionary graves."
was frightful. In the book of The African Himself martyrs many of its supreme illustrations could be drawn from the The status of the African himhistory of African missions. With self, fifty years ago and now, is the the utmost courage and self- most important consideration. To abandonment, thousands have him is the weal and woe of all the given themselves with sublime de- changes that have come to the votion to replace those who have Continent, his home. His age-old fallen in the cause and themselves traditions have suffered change all too speedily followed. wherever the many and powerful outside influences have touched Prior to fifty years ago only him. His ideas and customs of sixty-two centers of work had been family life, community life, inopened in Africa and most of these dustry, government, intertribal were operated in limited areas on the coast. During the last fifty • "Yorld Missjonary Atlas/' 1925,
AFRICA FIFTY YEARS AGO A:ND :NOW
relations, religion, are on the scrap men afterwards. These Africans heap or are in gradual transforma- are great home lovers and they do tion to something new; Tens of not voluntarily stay away from thousands of men who have never home many months at a time. dared to cross the boundary of Therefore tens of thousands carry their own tribal territories, except back to their homes the new ideas for war, are now going as far as and impressions, some beneficial, two thousand miles to mix and some deleterious. Let us hope, in mingle with thousands of others line with Victor Hugo's suggestion, of similar inheritance, experience that since the nineteenth century and traditions, from as far in made a man of the African, the every direction and from scores twentieth century may go far toof different tribes and languages. ward making a civilized world of They can never be the same Africa.
A Missionary Appeal-Fifty Years Ago Quotation from THE MISSIONARY REVIEW, Vol. I (Pages 6-7), 1878 But how are Christians to be reality, love for souls a ruling pasbrought to understand and feel sion, and this spiritual life flows their obligation and privilege in out in currents full and strong this matter? enough to embrace the world.
We have little faith in the elo- Where this true life exists, all quence of agents and secretaries. that is needed to give its currents Dead bodies may be galvanized in- proper direction is informationto involuntary action, but remove facts as to the state of the heathen the machine, and they are dead without the gospel, and facts as to bodies still. For this work we the new life imparted to them by must have life-life that is endur- the gospel, when it becomes the ing, spontaneous and exhaustless, power of God to their salvation.
or fed from an exhaustless source. In case of Christian men and For this reason, we commend the women possessed of their spiritual policy of those boards and socie- life in growing and healthy vigor, ties which dispense with all special and also of the facts referred to, agents, and rely on the pastors of we do not believe it possible for the churches to teach their people them to spend their time and on this, as on all other questions of money in worldly luxuries and duty. If there is life in the body, pleasures, or even in costly there will be action. If there is churches and appointments for true spiritual life in the soul, it their own taste and comfort, leavwill show itself. The same ele- ing the heathen to perish in their ments of the Gospel which iricul- ignorance and sin. The very escate love to Christ and care for sence of such spiritual life is love one's soul, say, love your neighbor, to Christ and souls. Its failure to and make a neighbor of every reach and bless the heathen is needy soul in heathendom. proof positive of a deficiency of Let pastors look well to the this spiritual life, if not of the Water of Life, till devotion to total absence of this essential ele- Christ in their hearts becomes a ment.
PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN
AND 1927 BY PROF. JULIUS RICHTER, D.O., Berlin, Germany Author of HA History of Missions in lndia/J Etc.
A HALF-CENTURY ago the other parts of Germany and prob- Germans were in the midst ably nine tenths of the pastorates of the interesting attempt are united in the common endeavor to incorporate foreign missions to popularize the missionary cause.
in the regular church life. Up In 1884 the colonial era started to that time two typical forms a new chapter of German missionof missionary propaganda, the ary work. Not only all the greater Missions/est and the Missions- missionary societies began new enstunde, were exceedingly popular terprises in the German colonies, among the Pietists, but they were but several new societies were looked upon somewhat askance by started. the official Church and her leaders. About the year 1875, an excep- In connection with this deepentional galaxy of brilliant men, like ing missionary interest the foreign Professor Dr. Gustav Warneck, missionary cause began to .enter Professor Reinhold Grundemann, the universities. At first, in student Missions-inspektor Fabri, Dr. circles a Volunteer Missionary Michael Zahn, Missions-direktor Movement was started and held Karl Graul and others, by their quadrennial student university inwisdom and eloquence opened the stitutes with increasing influence. way so that gradually the convic- In 1913 more than 800 members attion became general that foreign tended the institute. Then missionmissions are an integral part of the ary professorships were founded, church life. with Professor Gustav Warneck himself as the first to occupy the Three events particularly con- chair of the Science of Missions in tributed to this happy change. In the University of Halle. Other 1874 Dr. Warneck started the chairs were founded at Berlin, Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrijt, Leipzig, and Tiibingen or profesthe leading ecclesiastical mission- sors of church history or of ary periodical of Continental Eu- comparative religion were commisrope which now for fifty years has sioned also to give courses in fortaken a very active part in all eign missions. public discussions of missionary affairs. It has given out watch- The war and its aftermath were words, it has clarified the minds, it a terrible check for the Gerhas created sound public opinions. man mission life. We have been In 1879 Professor Warneck thrown back fourteen years at a founded the first "Missions-Kon- time when world development in ferenz," an assemblage of the all spheres of life is advancing at pastors of the province of Saxony an unprecedented pace, but during for the purpose of infusing into the last five years it has been pos- their souls a burning enthusiasm sible to engage in reconstruction for foreign missions. Similar con- with admirable enthusiasm and ferences have been started in all commendable results.
62 MISSIONARY EDUCATION IN THE function as a Christian. Dr. Ralph E.
LOCAL CHURCH Diffendorfer defines missionary educa- By MRS. E. II. SILVERTHORN, New York tion as "The Christianization of all our contacts." It is the formation of Missionary education' in the local attitudes so dominated by the will of church does not happen. It must be God and interpreted by the life and earnestly prayed over, intelligently spirit of Jesus that they create a planned for, thoroughly promoted, Christian skill in living. This includes carefully carried out and faithfully all our contacts-those between fam- followed up. ily, neighbors, classes, nations, races. Experience proves that a well- These things being true, how care- organized, correlated, adequate pro- fully the curriculum of Christian edugram of misSionary education can be cation and mIsSIonary education carried on year after year in small should be selected and correlated; how rural churches as well as the larger skilfully adapted to the needs and churches in the cities. Spasmodic ef- characteristics of the age groups in forts are not sufficient. Education is a the church and the church school; with cumulative and continuous process. what thought and preparation the ac- Since missionary education is an in- tivities of the children and youth tegral part of the process of Christian should be guided; with how great a education, giving an outlet for Chris- sense of responsibility the formation tian service and expression, it follows of attitudes and habits should be safethat a school of missions once a year guarded. We deplore the lack of misor five missionary minutes in the Sun- sionary interest, giving and service in day-school once a month are far from our churches. Then why in the name adequate. of all that is practical, educative and resourceful do we not make a study of Missionary education is not merely the educative processes and make use to give us knowledge of mission fields, of them and the excellent texts, matheir problems, methods, results, im- terials and helps that the Missionary portant as that all is for the Christian Education 'Movement and our denomito know definitely and intelligently. It nations provide for all groups and all is to give us that fruitful type of ages? Sometimes it seems as though knowledge that will set us to solve a polite name for our difficulties were problems, meet difficulties, give our- "inertia." The developing of an adeselves in loving brotherly service. The quate curriculum for missionary edufurther objectives of missionary edu- cation and the efforts, time, thought cation are to develop right attitudes, and prayer needed to apply it, to work ideals, habits which fruit in true it out, look like a big task-and it is Christian conduct and life, thus -so it daunts us. We therefore go on preparing us for skill in Christian deploring the situation but practically living. Some one has said that Chris- doing little more than making spastian education is the practice of the modic stabs at it. Whereas if we Jesus way of living and there can should really begin now this educative be no different definition for mission- process with our children and continue ary education. The final objective of it with our youth, the next generation missionary education is to train the would see a Church developed that individual so that he may effectively 63
understood the world purpose of the unity and cooperation of this plan.
Christ; that was committed to it; and The mast satisfactory times to hold that was skilled in carrying it out. such a school have been found to be in Here are some practical suggestions the fall closing before Thanksgiving, that are worth consideration. In every in January, in February or in Lent. church there should be a missionary If a School of Missions is to be undercommittee or where there is a Council taken the following sequence of planof Religious Education, a related De- ning should be considered.
partment of Missionary Education. 1. Create a desire for the school. This can be a comprehensive or a 2. Advertise it well. simple organization, depending on the 3. Promote it thoroughly. size of the church. If possible, all de- 4. Organize it carefully with a good partments and organizations of the chairman and well-chosen committees. church and church school should be 5. Staff it' with trained teachers, included in its personnel, with children chosen if possible from your own groups. and youth from their respective or- 6. Undergird it with prayer. ganizations as well as leaders, super- 7. Plan for definite service activities intendents and ather adults serving on as tl;te outcome. the committee. The chairman should be a missionary enthusiast, well- If it seems impossible to organize informed on missions, on methods and materials for missionary education, or a School of Missions (note the verb one who will inform himself on these :'seems"), then plan for study classes subjects. Sometimes this chairman in the Women's Missionary Society, in men's organization, in organized Bible classes in the church school, in the young people's society at times best should be the pastor, sometimes not, suited for each group. Whatever is but it is to be hoped that the pasto!' left undone, be sure that missions are will be the moving spirit and he should presented regularly and educationally always be consulted, and be at least an in all departments of the church officer ex-officio. This committee should school.
plan the program for six months or a The following accounts of mission- year in advance for the various de- ary education actually carried on in partments of the church. This program various churches will prove suggestive should be flexible allowing choices, un- as to methods and types of missionary rler guidance, of objects, activities, etc., education that have been successfully by the members of the departments. developed in churches of different There should be a definite understand- types and sizes. If others have done ing that the children and youth on the this you can too, even though you may committee are to be consulted, and in not have succeeded in the past. Here turn report to and consult those groups are some suggested elements for a which they represent. If such a com- program of missionary education in a mittee seems an impossibility then the church: various departments of the Sunday- 1. Cun'ioulmlL of Missionary Education schools should have their own commit- –carried on through the year tees to select such curricula and relate for each department of the them to the regular courses of the Church School: church school. Worship. Prayer, hymns. Schools of Missions, Schools of Study. World Friendship, or "Church Night" Stories. have been found excellent methods to Handwork. enlist a majority of all ages anrl Projects. groups in a church to study missions Play. together, meeting one night a week for Activity. four to six weeks during a stated Service, period of the year. There is an en- Dramatizations. thusiasm and impetus that comes with 2, Schools of Missions, Church Night, or Schools of World Friendship- all ages and groups.
HJ28] METHODS FOR WORKERS
3. The E1'otherhood: The Pasadena Plan: Read what can Missknary programs. be done through interdenominational Missionary speakers. cooperation for a whole city. Note the Missionary reading. good organization, preparation and Missionary forums. publicity. Other outstanding elements Missionary study classes. are the spiritual returns as well as Missionary visualization. definite Christian community and Missionary service and activities. world-wide service.
4. Women's Missionary Society: Pasadena City-Wide Sehools of Missionary programs. Missionary study groups. Missions Discussion groups. Missionary reading circles or indi- That mission study may become a vidual reading. community interest has been demon- Projects for missionary service. strated through the development of City-Wide Schools of Missions in Pas- 5. Young People: adena during the last four years. It Missionary study classes. is the purpose of the following para- Missionary reading. graphs to show how this has been Missionary forums. made possible. Missionary dramatizations. Projects for missionary service. In January of 1924 the first city- wide effort on mission study was held 6. Children's Week-Day Activities: under the direction of the Pasadena Daily Vacation Bible School and Board of Religious Education, a coop- week-day religious instruction. erative organization of Pasadena Study classes. churches which for a number of years Handwork. had been developing a community in- Games of other lands. terest in various phases of religious Stories. education. Prior to this time a num- Projects. ber of Pasadena churches had con- Service. ducted Schools of Missions, held at various times and with various de- 7. Visualization: grees of success. In the fall of 1923 it Bulletin boards. was suggested that it would make a Stereopticon. greater impact on the community if Pictures. these annual Schools of Missions were Curios, maps, posters, charts. held simultaneously. The idea met with favor on the part of the churches 8. Missionary Dramatics: and resulted in the development of the Plays. city-wide plan. Church committees on Pageants. religious education, official boards, Impersonations. women's missionary societies, young people's societies, and Sunday-schools 9. Missionary Reading Campaigns. have all worked together to make the plan successful. 10. Missionary Library, well selected, widely and discriminately used. During the autumn representative leauers from the churches meet at the 11. Missionary Prayer Meeting Pro- call of the School of Missions Commit- g'rams. tee of the Board of Religious Educa- tion, to make plans for the winter's 12. Guidance and planning for: work. Early in December an Institute is held to train the teachers who ha;e • a. A church-wide curriculum of already been selected by their churches missionary education. to lead the various study classes. This b. The development of Missionary Institute convenes three afternoons Intercessors. c. Well-planned activities and service adapted to age groups. d. Stewardship in all its implica- tions. . e. Intelligent and sacrificiaJ giv- ing. . J: A program growing and en- larging yearly.
13. Missions from the Pulpit.
14. Missionary atmosphere c rea ted throughout the church.
15. The Home: wholesome missionary atmosphere, right attitudes, ideals and habits developed through stories, play, precept, practice. S
and evenings from 4 : 30 to 8 : 30 p. m., reached in this plan of mission study with the following program: exceeds the number of adults, a very From 4: 30 to 5: 00, Devotional Period. favorable fact for future world friend- 5: 00 to 6: 00, Informational ship.
6: 15, Classes. Each church has charge of its own Supper. arrangements and selection of teach- ers. The office of the Board, however, 7: 00 to 7: 30, Assembly Period. stands ready to assist. Each school 7: 30 to 8: 00, Departmental Classes.
The Informational Classes in the plans special Assembly features. Movperiod before supper take up the out- ing pictures, slides, pageantry and spestanding subjects for the year, both cial speakers are all arranged for and home and foreign, and give the back- can be secured through the Board ofground so much needed by the teachers fice. Several very interesting social of all grades. The supper hour is used affairs have been planned by individual for fellowship, and is followed by the churches to include members of other Assembly Period held around the races, and many contacts have been tables.. At this time various features made between the children and young of the program are discussed, and people of the various races in the comsome special speaker used. The depart- munity, which has apparently develmental classes after supper are for oped a very wholesome feeling of leaders of the various age groups as friendship. Several pastors have confollows: Kindergarten, Primary, Jun- ducted an International Night some ior, Junior High, High School, Young Sunday evening during the school. People and Adult. In these classes ma- Some years the "City-wide Plan" has terials and methods for the particular culminated in a community pageant age groups are studied. There is also participated in by all of the churches. a class in dramatics. During the The newspapers have given a great time of the Institute a community deal of space and one paper has set School of Missions' hymn is chosen, aside a weekly column for news items the churches agreeing to feature this from the School of Missions. Comhymn and to urge their constituencies munity publicity, such as street car to memorize it. The hymn is chosen advertisement and special bulletins, is with reference to its suitability to the handled through the office of the subject for the year. Board, which also provides uniform enrollment cards, prints the special Following an intensive program of hymn and prepm::es such mimeopublicity the schools are opened simul- graphed material as is needed for the taneously the second or third week in conduct of the schools. January. The following statip.tics are It is the desire of the Board of Reavailable: ligious Education that these Schools 1924-16 churches; attendance, 2,627. of Missions (or Schools of World 1925–20 churches; attendance, 4,195. Friendship, as the majority of 1926-22 churches; attendance, 5,006. 1927-24 churches; attendance, 4,750. churches now call them) should be productive of something more than The drop in attendance in 1927 was study. When specializing on Japan it due to heavy rains. With 24 churches was possible to establish in a very firm enlisted in the campaign the interest way a bond of friendship between the was greater than in any previous year. Japanese Christians and the American The average attendance in the various Christians of the community, and to departments is high, the lowest, in the assist in raising money and securing Beginners' Department, 75%; and the equipment for the new Japanese Union highest varying between the Junior Church. In 1925 when Race Relations and Young People's Departments, was studied, a Continuation Committee ranging from 93% to 97%. The num- formed by representatives from all ber of young people and children adult classes worked out a permanent
METHODS FOR WORKERS
branch of the Southern California In Philadelphia Council of International Relations. It The Presbytery of Philadelphia sets is the purpose of this local branch to up each year an Institute to train the promote racial good-will in Pasadena, local church leaders for the Church and to do what is possible in a practi- Schools of Missions. A cooperative cal way to spread the Gospel of committee representing all of the re- Brotherhood. The result of the citywide study of Spanish-speaking people sponsibilities for Missionary Educais a Pasadena interdenominational or- tion organized this work, dividing the ganization for Christian work among city into three districts with an ofthe 3,000 Mexicans in the city. This ficer in charge of each. The Institute work is carried on under the comity is held early in the fall for this trainplan and is supervised by the Method- ing. As a result of this tho!:'oughist denomination to which this district going piece of preparatory training has been assigned. The various twenty-eight churches reported that churches of Pasadena contribute funds Schools of Missions were actually held and volunteer workers. Before the during last fall and nine more were mission study six volunteers were giv- held during the winter. It goes withing service mostly from one church. out saying that local leadership is be- The last report shows sixty-seven from ing developed by this plan, and the a large numQer of churches, giving churches are reaping the benefit of time in three Mexican Sunday-schools, this special stimulation. The First and in children's work, and boys' and Presbyterian Church of Kensington girls' clubs in three Christian centers. has a membership of five hundred and eight, and the Gaston Church records Churches have come to feel these two thousand one hundred and twenty- Schools of World Friendship a vital three members, showing that Schools part of the year's program. In many of Missions can be carried on with cases the deans and teachers are se- equal success in small or large lected eight months in advance and are churches. Why not? It can be done. frequently sent as delegates to the Given a Leaders' Training Class in the Missionary Education Movement Con- Presbytery, for four evenings, where ference at Asilomar. The schools have methods of all kinds are carefully prealso proved valuable in leading up to sented and the result is a fine School the Easter ingathering, and have de- of Missions. With Miss Rachel I. veloped in some churches a very real Judd as the guide, will you visit the responsibility for the spread of Chris- First Presbyterian Church of Kentianity throughout the world. For sington and listen to her, as she tells Pasadena the city-wide movement is their story?
doing two things-in the first place it is providing a common channel It was only the end of November but already one poster in the main hall of through which churches of all creeds the church announced the "Annual School and various races may join hands, and of Missions," beginning on January 15th.
in the second place it is presenting a Each succeeding week. brQught with it a new poster, until by Christmas every united Protestant effort. one, young and old, was looking forward The community at large, even those to a good time together. It is at this who are not connected with churches is time that organization begins. A com- mittee for active work is formed. This developing an interest, and it is sur- committee consists of the pastor and rep- prising the enthusiasm with which resentatives from all departments of both children and older people look 'church and Sabbath school. Previous to this time, competent teachers have been forward each year to this event in the secured and are prepared to meet their life of the community. classes with inspiring information and MARGARET B. COBB, far-reaching vital questions for discus- sion. Now the committee must go out to Executive Secretary, Pasadena pather in the already interested students. Board of Religious Education. Enrollment cards are distributed in all
the Sabbath school departments and in rolled in the school. A marked inall organizations connected with the crease in missionary giving was atchurch. These cards are signed and held tributed to the influence of this school -$800 for the first half of the year as by the Secretary of the Organization against $715 for the entire previous (;ommittee, until one week before the year.
opening of the school, when they are Gunton Temple, Washington, D. C., handed to the teachers. Wednesday eve- ning, January 15th, has arrived and at 7: 45 p. m. we find our School of Missions has assembled for devotions. This wor- seems to have come to the fore without ship period lasts twenty minutes, during striving for a prominent place. The Woman's Missionary Society is not unwhich time the pastor or some other in- usually large, nor are its members of terested person takes us very close to the missionary call and field. The assembly is dismissed, and in an orderly way we unusual ability. The !!ecret, if secret enter the intensive study period which there be, of their success is simply occupies forty minutes. We have in our that all work together. Cooperation may be considered the strongest point. school six classes-adult men, adult The pastor, Rev. Bernard Braskamp, women, young women (Westminster is a thorough missionary man. In Guild), young people, intermediate and preparation for our School of MissioJls every organization in the church is junior. A five minute warning bell, then lined up and our pastor preaches ina closing bell calls us to the assembly spiring missionary sermons. For four consecutive weeks our Thursday night room, for a closing period. At this time, prayer-meetings are turned into a the secretary reports the class attendance and total enrollment. Ofttimes in our closing period; we have an impersonation, or a dramatization hearing on our study.
Four weeks of searching together bring us very near to the mission field and we find ourselves ready to carryon. School of Missions. Some years our By way of contrast let us now look pastor is the teacher while at other into a School of Missions in a very times he takes a very inconspicuous large church, the Gaston Presbyterian part. He simply cooperates. Every Church of Philadelphia. Much the class in the Sabbath Sehool is a missame plans are carried out here, with sion study class during this time. All seven classes for the various types and expect it for it is a well-established ages of people. As their School of custom. The treasurer of the Sabbath Missions progresses, we find each Schcol pays for every book used. We Wednesday evening brings something are happy in our study lind expect to new. Now it is a stereopticon lecture, continue doing our very best, not be- then will follow a stirring address cause of praise for results but because from some missionary on furlough and we feel that it is of the greatest im- on the closing night, a bright attrac- portance that this work should be done tive missionary sketch is presented. and done thoroughly, so that we may This general plan is carried out in be intelligent about our missionary nearly forty churches in Philadelphia task and prepared to carry it on Presbytery and pastors and people wisely.
alike are deeply stirred by the need at We use as many novel ideas as poshome and abroad. Why not? sible. Last year we dramatized "Our ANNA AGNEW ROBERTS, Templed Hills." No one woman did S"nodical Secretary for Mission- this work but clippings from the book ary Education for Pennsylvania. were memorized by those taking part.
At Gunton Temple Presbyterian They represented a visiting rural so- Church ciety from near-by Maryland.
This Presbyterian Church (U. S. Success is sure to come if there is A.) in Washington, D. C., has been one sincere love for the Master, for His of the honor churches for the past work, and cooperation in every branch two years in mission study records in of the church life, with good preparapresbyteries of its class. The church tion, organization and promotion.
membership is 675 and 60% were en- LIZZIE M. WARMAN.
At Dallas, Texas sions. Often the support of a home Plan of the Church School of Mis- or foreign missionary or a parish sions of the East Dallas Presbyterian abroad has been assumed when the Church (U. S.) Dallas, Texas; Dr. need became known and the desire for cooperation was aroused. Merwin A. Stone, pastor. We begin with supper and allow In Mr. Stone's church volunteers for fifteen minutes between supper and foreign service-some of whom are the first teaching period. Last year now in the field-were one of the we gave this time to the young people fruits of several of these annual who impersonated scenes from the Schools of Missions. Let us not be book they were studying-"Young satisfied merely to build a program Islam on Trek." We met for four con- no matter how well planned, nor secutive Wednesday evenings and had merely to organize and carry through two classes for women, one for men, a well-attended School of Missions. one for young people. The closing We must keep in mind that these are period was given to a study on stew- not ends but means to an end-that as ardship with the entire school partici- a result of our program, study and pating. We felt that the school was classes and Schools of Missions, and quite worth while, and thought the sale of the fruitful knowledge acquired, of books especially good, a majority of some real changes must have taken those enrolled, purchasing the texts. place in our thinking, attitudes, giv- We closed promptly at nine o'clock ing, life. Increasingly the modern each school evening. Promptness in educator tests the worth of his work beginning, observing the time limits not by what the pupils have learned to of periods and promptness in closing think or to feel, but by what they emphasize the school idea and tends become. for the success of a School of Missions. "Changed or confirmed conduct, con- The publicity attempted is also a trolled conduct, is the final test, in so school feature. Publicity, if good, does far as this shows-as in the last much to arouse interest in the school. analysis it must-the attitudes and Our publicity consists of two-minute standards of the learner. This conspeakers at all the church services for duct aim forms an outstanding criteria four weeks before the school begins. for curriculum selection. How will the Announcement cards are also sent out selected body of facts function in the and registration secured by solicita- life of the child? How will they ention at all church services two weeks able him to change undesirable habits previous to the opening of school. We to desirable ones? How will they help also had printed in large type at the to confirm right attitudes he may altop of the church folders an announce- ready possess? How will they assist ment of dates of school for four Sun- him in controlling his conduct so that he acquires the ability to live skilfully. days in advance. For the child who learns his Father's MARY B. STONE. world and its needs, the child whose The Result. sympathy, love and loyalty have been These reports have failed to indicate stirred, must work out his new imthe outcome of these Schools of Mis- pulsEs in actual sharing and friendlisions. Some results can not be tabu- ness; he must react in deeds; he must lated in statistics for they are such show himself a brother, a helper, else imponderables as deepened prayer and it were better for him that the impulse spiritual life, changed attitudes new habits formed, character growth, and has never come." * more intelligent interest. In many cases such' study has resulted in more In Dr. Sailer's helps for the leaders of "The Adventure of the Church," he says: consecrated stewards, more intelligent • "Missionary Education of .Juniors." by and more generous giving for mis- g~~~Ude Hutton, Missionary Education Move·
"The Mission Study class questions and problems before the Chris- tian Church and to act accordingly. In 1. Is not an exercise undertaken to get credit for the local church. our present Missionary Education de- velopment we are in danger lest we 2. Is not to supply a program for a achieve nothing but transient enthusiasm series of meetings. or intellectual stirrings and assents with- 3. Nor to maintain a tradition. out a suited deposit of habit and result- ant action that spring from deep convic- 4. Nor even to keep alive interest. 5. But to help people make up their tions, the outcome of study and thought." minds on some of the most important Answers to the Missionary History Test (Questions on page 21.) 1. Mary Mitchell Slessor of Calabar, "The White Queen of Okoyong."
2. Dr. Wilfred T. Grenfell, the wedding being that of Francis B. Sayre (Grenfell's former assistant in Labrador) and Miss Jessie Wilson, eldest daughter of President Woodrow Wilson.
3. Dan Crawford, author of "Thinking Black."
4. The Rev. James B. Rodgers, Presbyterian missionary at Manila.
5. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (Church of. England) organized at Lambuth Palace, June 17, 1701.
6. "We can do it and we will."
7. Theodore Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the African Inland Mission school at Kijabi on August 4, 1909.
8. Sadhu Sundar Singh, son of a wealthy Sikh in Northern India.
9. On Christmas Day, 1905, in Carey's historic library at Serapore.
10. Dr. Ida Scudder, daughter of Dr. John Scudder 2nd and grand- daughter of Dr. John Scudder 1st.
11. The Rev. Edward Marsden, a regularly commissioned missionary of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.
12. John Williams, "Apostle of the South Seas," killed by cannibals on Erromanga on Nov. 20, 1839; and John Williams, vice-president of the University of Nanking, shot by a Chinese soldier at Nanking on March 24, 1927.
13. On the centenary of the death of Henry Martyn which occurred at Tokat on October 16, 1812.
14. The Boxer uprising which cost many lives of missionaries and Chinese Christians and destroyed much mission property.
15. Rev. Sir James Caruthers Rhea Ewing, D.D., LL.D., D.Lit., K.C.LE., president of Forman Christian College at Lahore.
16. Miss Mary Reed, who has given more than forty years of serv- ice among the lepers of India.
17. At the Ecumenical Conference on Foreign Missions, New York City, in 1900. Ex-President Benjamin Harrison presided; President William McKinley welcomed the conference in behalf of the nation; Theodore Roosevelt (then governor), voiced the greetings of the State of New York.
18. James Chalmers, the "Great Heart of New Guinea," who was murdered by cannibals, with his young colleague, Oliver F. Tomkins, on the Fly River, New Guinea, on April 8, 1910.
19. The Ven. Hudson Stuck, Archdeacon of the Yukon, a Plotestant Episcopal missionary.
20. On that date the old system of literary civil service examinations was abolished.
GwOMEN'S
WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN EDITED BY MISS ELLA D. MACLAURIN, 419 FOURTH AVE., NEW YORK AMERICA'S EXAMPLE IN LAW wish is that we may fail in enforc- ENFORCEMENT BEFORE ing this Amendment. These groups, THE WORLD notably in the wine-growing countries By MRS. WILLIAM EDGAR GEIL of Europe are dominated by self in- President of the Pedcrntion of Woman's Board. terest. Yet we sometimes fail to real- ize how much larger are the groups o! Poreign Missions, North America Among the many exhibits at the throughout the world who actively Sesqui-centennial held recently in sympathize with us, and because of Philadelphia some of the most inter- kindred aims long for successful enesting were to be found in the Hall forcement in this country.
of Friendly Relations. There on one We are all familiar with the great side of the room were two large re- advance of temperance in the northern lief maps. The one on the left showed countries of Europe, culminating in the economic condition of the world prohibition in Finland, but we do not one hundred years ago, and it depicted know so much about the alignment of very clearly how, in those days each the new Balkan States. There is a nation was a practically self-sufficient strong movement for temperance in unit within itself, while the map on each of these seven governments, led the right showed the economic rela- in some cases by the students and tionships existing in the world today. youth of the country, and in others by This was indicated by an intricate net- the Federation of Labor. Near Vienna work of lines crossing and recrossing there is even a prohibition village each other, and binding the nations where more than five hundred families together by trade and commerce. This live at present, and more homes are map signified to me, however, some- constantly being built. Indeed it is thing far deeper than mere economic claimed that there are only three counrelationships. It seemed to symbolize tries in the world at present, Spain, all those spiritual forces which are Portugal and Greece (all of them winebinding nations together; all the fears growing countries), where there are and hopes and longings for justice and no restrictions against alcohol.
right relationships of peace and honor. I wish to give two concrete illustra- It is no exaggeration to say that tions expressive of this sympathy and the eyes of the world are fastened hope. Both of them come from Orienupon us just now as we are endeavor- tal students. The first is an appeal ing to carry out the gigantic piece of from a youth of Persia to the youth of legislation in the Eighteenth Amend- the United States: ment, called by some the greatest so- "America is the laboratory in which cial experiment of modern times, but the success or failure of Prohibition defined even better by Dr. Jefferson as must be worked out. If America looks the greatest piece of idealism ever con- back the world will consider the experceived of by any nation. iment a failure and, in the face of such facts, no other nation will adopt Pro- Of course there are large groups hibition. throughout the world whose greatest 71
"But strong is our conviction that It is said that these organizations have America will not turn back. Once a membership of 10,000,000 women. having lighted the torch she will bear it aloft and other nations will come Senator Borah's subject was, "The and receive fire from it so that in the Eighteenth Amendment and 1928." time to come the whole world shall be In no uncertain terms he set forth the lighted." importance of upholding the Constitu- tion in all its parts_ "Nullification is The other appeal is expressed as a not revolution" he quoted and added, prayer which is uttered by a group of "No, it has not the courage of revolu- Christian young women in India who tion; nullification is cowardice." The are students at the Women's Christian Eighteenth Amendment as a part of College in Madras. This is the prayer the Constitution must be enforced. which they offer very often on our be- There is only one way in which it can half: be enforced and that is by placing the control of the machinery of govern- "Our Heavenly Father we beseech ment in the hands of those who believe Thee to grant Thy strength to this in the law. Upon the President rests nation in its conflict with the evils of the task of enforcing the law. In the strong drink, that the resolve which year of Presidential election with this has been nobly made may be nobly question uppermcst in the minds of kept." the voters it is essential that any can- didate declare with candor his posi- Surely these appeals should give us tion that voters may vote intelligently. stimulus and courage to go forward Some position, some policy, some proin our glorious task of making the gram is essential to fair dealing with United States a law-abiding nation. the electorate.
LAW ENFORCEMENT "The women alone in this fight ean bring the political parties to the sup- Sunday, November 13th, was ob- port of this constitutional amendment. served in many communities through- It is within your power and so great out the land as a day of prayer for the an opportunity to render service to welfare of the nation, for moral and constitutional government will not spiritual revival. come again to those now living.
The New York Women's Committee "The Constitution of the United for Law Enforcement arranged a States is the guarantee of our counmeeting in Carnegie Hall the night of try's greatness. It is national unity, November 12th addressed by Senator national progress, and national glory. William E. Borah. The great hall While the people have a perfect right was crowded. On the platform was from time to time to modify or amend Mrs. Peabody, the chairman of the it, yet in the language of the father of National Committee and moving spirit our country, 'The Constitution which of the nation-wide rally, and with her at any time exists, until changed by an were the presidents or other repre- explicit and authentic act of the peosentatives of the nine affiliated wom- ple, is sacredly obligatory upon all.' en's organizations: Our Constitution has survived the vicissitudes of political parties. It has Federation of Women's Boards of For- triumphed over internecine strife. It eign Missions. has conquered the passions and out- lived the ordeals of civil war. It will Council of Women for Home Missions. not now surrender to the liquor Young Women's Christian Association. traffic. General Federation of Women's Clubs. Woman's Christian Temperance Union. "The Eighteenth Amendment is the National Council of Women. issue. The people will support it." International Order of King's Daughters. Lend-a-Hand Society. Mrs. Henry W. Peabody read the Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher following action taken by the Federa- Associations. Democratic Women Law Enforcement League.
FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN
tion of Woman's Boards of Foreign Our Duty to Youth: Mrs. Robert Missions: E. Speer, President of the National Board of the Young Women's Chris- "As members of our respective po- tian Association. litical parties we will vote only for such presidential and other candidates The Rights of Children: Mrs. Wil- 3S show through public pledges and liam Tilton, National Legislative private performances that they uphold Chairman of the Parent-Teacher Assothe 18th Amendment. ciation.
"We shall require all platforms and The Example of Ameriea to the candidates to stand unequivocally for World: Mrs. William Edgar Geil, the support of the Constitution of the President of the Federation of Wom- United States. an's Boards of Foreign Missions of North America. "We shall require clean records of every administration, Federal, State, Mrs. Henry W. Peabody, the Naand Local, of enforcement honestly tional Chairman, presided, and in a carried out, free from bribery, pat- few telling sentences showed the situaronage and corruption, by men who tion with regard to the Eighteenth are for the law and are given suffi- Amendment and the penalty of broken cient power to be able to fulfill their law. duty. If this means making the 18th Amendment an issue in the 1928 elec- ANNUAL MEETING OF THE FEDtions then we are prepared to make it an issue. ERATION OF WOMAN'S BOARDS "We recommend that church women OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF traveling abroad and expecting the protection of the Flag shall remember NORTH AMERICA their sacred obligations still to uphold the Constitution and observe the January 6-10, 1928, Haddon Hall, law as citizens of the United States." Atlantie City, N. J.
A CALL TO PRAYER Theme-"Increasing Power for In- creasing Obligations." A wonderful meeting was held in the Park Avenue Baptist Church on Sun- Verse-"Tarry ye in Jerusalem until day, November 13th, at four o'clock ye be endued with power from on high." when the leaders of nine national women's organizations met together The Executive Committee meeting, and each, in three minutes, presented Saturday, Jan. 7th, 10 a. m. and 2 p. m. the following topics: Saturday Night at Eight o'Clock-Mrs. Allegiance to the Constitution: Mrs. H_ A. Lavell, M.A., Toronto, presiding. D. Leigh Colvin, Vice-President of the Four young women from China, Philip- Women's Christian Temperance Un- pines, Japan, Syria, will speak on "In ion. creasing Obligations"-presenting pres- ent-day situations in these countries. The Example to Our Foreign Population: Miss Jessie Ogg, representing Sunday Mornin.q- A Retreat, from the Council of Women for Home Mis- 10: 30-12: 30. The me, "Increasing sions. Power." Leader, Mrs. D. J. Fleming.
Law Enforcement and the Commu- Sunday Ajte1-noon-Program under nity: Dr. Valeria H. Parker, Presi- the auspices of the Federation of Womdent of the National Council of an's Boards of Foreign Missions and the Women. Foreign Missions Conference, will be in charge of young people. The Responsibility of Ameriean Women: Mrs. John Dickinson Sher- Sllnday Evening-8 p. m., Miss Mabel man, President of the General Federa- Rae McVeigh and Mrs. Charles K. Roys, tion of Woman's Clubs. recently returned from trips in the Ori- ent, will speak on "Our New Obliga- tions," as visioned through their recent contacts.
Monday Morning-Theme, "Creative Cooperation." "Outlook," Mrs. William Edgar Geil. Trends in International Friendship-New Fellowships in Prayer. Widening- Channels of Education. Mis- sion Study-Christian Literature. Union Colleges.
Monday Afternoon-"New Situations lard Eddy will lead the five worship on the Foreign Field;" "National Issues periods. at Home;" Report of Finding Committee. Leader of discussion, Miss Gertrude Tuesday Afternoon – An important Schultz. session of the Foreign Missions Confer- ence and the Federation of .Woman's Monday Eveninu-"Spiritual Implica- Boards of Foreign Missions will consider tions of Our Task." Mrs. Katharine Wil- Home Base Problems.
WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BULLETIN EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN, 105 E. 22ND STREET, NEW YORK OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD JEWS Such widespread antipathy must, of course, have very real causes. It By JOHN S. CONNING would not be difficult to make a cata- log of Jewish faults to account for this What shall be the attitude of the radical incompatibility. But, as Burke Christian Church in America toward has said, you cannot bring an indict- Jews? This is the question which is ment against a whole people. There forcing itself upon the attention of is another side of the shield. In spite this generation with ever-increasing of ill-will and continuous repression insistence. The Jewish problem will the Jews have manifested an indominot down.' It is up for discussion in table spirit, a strength of character, almost every civilized land. It is up and a high idealism which command for discussion in America. Publicists respect and admiration. Even if Jews and statesmen are dealing with it from were as bad as they are painted, that various angles-racial, social, eco- would be but an additional reason why nomic, political. The stream of books, we should seek to bring them into pamphlets and magazine articles issu- contact with the redemptive love of ing from the press bears testimony to Him whose primary mission was to the important place which it occupies "the lost sheep of the House of Israel." in current thought. The existence of Certainly it is not for the Christian a pronounced antisemitic propaganda Church to encourage or foster hate is evidence of how acute it has become against any people, especially against in certain parts of the country. the race of Jesus. Instead it is her bounden duty to rebuke intolerance But the Jewish problem is funda- and teach her members the Christian mentally a human, and consequently a attitude toward a people to whom we religious problem. The Jews are just owe a great debt. We might thus hope folks like ourselves,-in spite of pe- that in time antisemitism would cease culiarities of race, custom, and tradi- and the Jewish people be given opportion. But because of their exclusiveness and refusal to assimilate with tunity of knowing and appreciating people about them, they are never understood. Ignorance begets preju- the Christian spirit. In face of the dice, prejudice breeds suspicion and example of the Founder of our faith hatred, and these in turn breed injustice and persecution. In almost this is the least that should be exevery land today, even though more brutal forms of assault have ceased, pected of the Church which is called the Jew suffers some sort of discrimination. In this respect America is no by His name. exception. Exclusive clubs, hostelries, and communities are closed to him. The Jewish problem is at bottom, Even where he is tolerated he is sel- however, a spiritual one. It will never dom really liked. And with a sensitive be solved until some way has been people mental suffering is even harder found to help Jews to recover those to bear than physical. spiritual values in their faith which give a meaning to their history and set a goal for their idealism. The Jews have spiritually lost their way. The
HOME MISSION BULLETIN
problem of the Church is to help them the part of all Christian churches to find it. Today, with the rapid disinte- understand Jews and discover in some gration of Judaism, the drift from the way a really effective Christian apsynagogue, the lowering of moral proach. The hopeful aspect in the standards, the cry of earnest souls for present situation is the active and satisfaction, the Church must anew widening interest of Christians in take to heart her responsibility for the Jewish people. Everywhere there is a spiritual welfare of the Jews. growing conviction that Christian Yet in undertaking this task it is churches have lost the Apostolic per- useless to ignore the peculiar difficul- spective, that in their zeal for evan- ties that attend it. No haphazard gelization of many races they have methods or preconceived ideas will passed this people by-the most virile, serve. There is a traditional antago- resourceful, intellectual, and resilient nism to Christianity not easily sub- of them all. With this deepening con- dued. Doctrinal difficulties impose se- viction has developed a sincere deter- rious barriers. The persistent in- mination to study afresh, in the light justice and ill treatment of professing of results of modern scholarship and Christians rankle in Jewish hearts. missionary experience, this most com- Racial pride makes it difficult for plex and intricate problem.
them to believe that their own faith is If there can be brought into our not supe~ior to every other. Long American life an era of Christian contact with Christianity has led to good will and friendship for our Jew- adoption of defensive measures which ish neighbors, we may look forward the Church has found no adequate with confidence to the time when they means to meet. All this is not to say will render hearty allegiance to that that Jews have not been won to the Hebrew of Hebrews, that Man of men, faith of Christ. There has always who is the one hope of a distracted been a path from the synagogue to the world and "the glory of His people church. That path is trodden today Israel."
by more Jewish feet than in any pre- This report by Dr. Conning and information ceding century. Yet the Jews, as a ('oIl(,prniug" many othpr interf'sting phases of people, are still unevangelized. The racial :l.1ld rpligious rplationships are included religion which has brought race after in thp Annual Report of the Council of 'Vomen race under its sway has not yet won fnr Home Missions, 105 E. 22nd St., New York that race with which it has been long- City, which will be SPIlt free for postage to any place in the United Stutes or Canada.
est in contact and from which it has WORK AMONG SPANISH. sprung. SPEAKING PEOPLE'"
Since the Edinburgh Conference of Weare carrying on Protestant work 1910, at which work for Jews received in 391 different centers: 144 in Caliscant consideration, the world has fornia, 110 in Texas, 62 in New Mexpassed through the horrors of the ico, 26 in Arizona, 28 in Colorado, 10 Great War. In that cataclysm Jews in Kansas, the others scattered suffered untold barbarities. They are throughout Florida, Illinois, Indiana yet reaping its aftermath. Grinding and Michigan. There are 330 churches poverty and starvation are the lot of and missions, 33 social or medical centens of thousands in Eastern Europe. ters, 28 mission schools; total number It is a time of striking changes in of points reached: Presbyterian, U. S. Jewish life, such changes as they have A., 98; Methodist Episcopal, 93; Bapnot faced for centuries. The Pale has tist, 56; Presbyterian U. S., 48; gone, the Ghetto walls have fallen, and Methodist Episcopal, South, 46; Conin the strain and stress of the times gregational, 26. Other denominations the Jews are thinking new thoughts engaged in work are the Friends, and are venturing out on unfamiliar Nazarenes, United Brethren, Protespaths. The time seems ripe for a wholehearted, sympathetic effort on *From Report of Commission on Religion, El Paso Conference,
tant Episcopal, Christran, Disciples, Church have been most heartening. Cumberland Presbyterians, F r e e One man, converted two or three Methodists and Adventists. In Cali- months before his return to Mexico, fornia the Methodist Episcopal Church wrote back asking for a hymn book…. exceeds all others; followed by the He had gathered friends and neigh- Presbyterian, U. S. A., and Baptist. bors in his little house in Mexico and In Texas the Presbyterian Church, U. was earnestly seeking to teach them S., carries on the most work with the the good news which he had learned Methodist Episcopal, South, Southern in the United States. This constant Baptist, and the Presbyterian, U. S. crossing and recrossing of the line has A., following. The Presbyterian, U. a direct bearing upon our missionary S. A., leads in New Mexico with the enterprise." Methodist Episcopal, Congregational, United Brethren and Methodist Epis- Along the border itself this intercopal, South, following. national aspect of work is even more pronounced. Many border missions INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS have extended work into Old Mexico. In some cases Mexicans from across Results of our work appear on both the line attend mission schools and sides of the line. Individuals who Sunday-schools in the United States, have been in touch with it return to and in other cases separate organiza- Old Mexico, by the thousands, and are tions are maintained in Mexican bornow living in' many different comm)l- der towns. The recent emphasis upon nities, engaged in many occupations, the necessity of all ministers in Mexincluding teaching in public schools. ico being of native-born Mexican stock Only recently, representatives of sev- has necessitated slight adjustments in eral home mission agencies visited one this work, but in most cases has not of the new developments in Old Mex- caused serious embarrassment to it. ico only to find that the teacher in It would require a wizard to trace out charge of the public school with its and identify all the various influences four hundred pupils had previously for good which are set into operation lived in Los Angeles, had been in by this work which, in the very nature touch with our Protestant work there, of the case, must transcend national had received medical help for her political boundaries. mother in one of our Protestant dispensaries. Needless to say, the atti- FWn.lRE OF THE SOUTHWEST tude of such an individual was one of pronounced friendliness toward us and Mexicans who come to us do not our work; her influence among her come because they are enamored of the pupils will tend to create international United States, but rather because it and interracial understanding rather offers larger opportunities than Mexthan prejudice. ico has been able to offer. Their chil- dren born in this country, growing,up A relatively recent Presbyterian, in the public schools, with an easy fa- U. S. A., report says: "During the miliarity with the English language, past two years there has been deter- find themselves at home here; and mined effort upon the part of the and they and their children's children Mexican Government to repatriate the will remain with us and will help to Mexicans, the railroad fare being paid make the America of the future. In by the Government to those who were many sections of the Southwest they unable to pay it themselves. In two will determine it absolutely and in a months the entire membership of our multitude of our communities their church at Morenci returned to Mexico. influence will be greatly felt. We are Such migrations are discouraging, yet doing more than ministering to a few the reports which have come from newcomers. We are helping to delittle interior towns in Mexico as to termine the future of our own civilithe activity of members of the Morenci zation.
f,V'ORlD-WlDf
GENERAL cludes the entire Bible in 144 forms of The JerusalelD Mis.ionary Conference speech, the New Testament in 138 F ROM March 24th, through Easter more, and at least one complete book of Day, April 8, 1928, two hundred Scripture in 311 others." Basil men and women, representing Chris- Mathews, commenting on this book, tians of every nation and race, will as- says: semble on the Mount of Olives, outside To translate the sublime flights of St.
Jerusalem, for a meeting of the Inter- Paul's soaring spiritual genius, the pronational Missionary Council, the mem- found inexhaustible truth of the Sermon bership of which has been enlarged for this me.eting by increasing the repre- on the Mount, the towering majesty of sentatives from mission fields. Two Isaiah's vision, the stormy thunder of thirds of the 'delegates are to be nationals from India, Africa, China, Jeremiah's denunciation, the superb Japan and other mission lands. The poetry of the Psalms and the dramatic declared purpose of the meeting is "to gain help in regard to those needs intensity of Job into the tongue of stonewhich are felt to be deepest and most age Papuans, tribal Central Africans, pressing in the hearts, lives and work" nomad Turanians or hunting Esquimaux -that is surely an enterprise before which angels might quail, but which men and women have achieved and in achiev- ing have opened infinite new horizons to imprisoned spirits.
of articulate Christian groups around the world. In other words, the J eru- New Social Research Institute T salem meeting promises to define HE International Research Insti- tute has been organized by the Conafresh in terms acceptable to this generation and consistent with conditions tinuation Committee of the Universal and demands in every great mission Christian Conference on Life and area the aim, character and scope of Work which met in Stockholm in our foreign missionary enterprise. August, 1925. Dr. Adolf Keller, now The following subjects have been listed European Secretary of the Federal for the study and discussion of Jeru- Council of Churches of Christ in salem delegates: America, has been loaned to act as (1) The Christian Life and Message in director, with offices in Geneva. He Relation to non-Christian Systems. outlines as follows the tasks of the In- (2) Religious Education. (3) The Re- stitute: lation Between the Younger and Older 1. To make a scientific study of social Churches. (4) The Christian Mission in and industrial facts and problems in the light of Christian ethics, so as to gain a the Light of Race Conflict, Industri.al Developments and Rural Needs. (5) In- clear understanding of the application of Christian principles to those problems, ternational Cooperation.
and to formulate the axioms which Telling "The Immortal Story" should regulate the conduct and attitude of Christians in relation to them. THE quoted words form the title of the 1927 report of the British and 2. To become a center for the correla- Foreign Bible ociety, which states: tion of all Christian social work and for "At the beginning of the present cen- the cooperation of all socially active tury the versions published, or circu- Christian organizations in the various lated, by our Society numbered 363; communions and countries. they now number 593. The list in- be 3. To serve as a center of information through which there may facilitated an exchange of experience, methods and 77
data which would be serviceable to the membership of 961,754 Which, with the churches in their social work. addition of 43,960 members in Canada, The Institute will therefore combine sCie!1tific social research with the pro- makes the total. The 1,581 AssociamotIon of social service work in the churches. tions in the mUenmitbeedrsS. taOtepsehraatvieng45e3~- 048 voting The significance of this organization is emphasized by The American penditures of the Associations in the Friend, which points out that, while the churches of America and Great United States and Canada, together Britain are familiar with the idea of Christian SOcial service, on the Con- with their state and national agencies tinent "the prevailing religious thought is Eltill individualistic and and services abroad for the past year, pietistic." were $57,125,000 compared with $54,- 161,000 a year ago, and $21,919,000 ten years ago.
A Protestant Charity l'ederation NORTH AMElRICA ANON-SECTARIAN federation of charitable societies was recently A Metropolita.n Church Campaign organized in New York City with twenty-four directors. It is entitled AMOVEMENT to try to win to the the Federation of AgenCies caring for Christian faith every man and Protestants and is to function in the woman of Protestant heritage in New same manner as the great Roman York City who is not already a mem- Catholic and Jewish organizations in ber of a church was launched at a New York. The officers elected on meeting of the Greater New York November 30th were James H. Post, Federation of Churches in November. President; William H. Gratwick, Instead of evangelistic mass meetings, Vice-President; Walter E. Frew, this is to be a campaign of visitation Treasurer. evangelism. It will begin on March 11th and close April 6th. Lay mem- A New Hotel for "Hoboes" bers of every Protestant church are to go two by two, to call on a person not T HE McAuley Water Street Mission, a church member but whose child is in New York City, has recently dedithat particular Sunday-school or has cated a new $100,000 home at 314 some other general affiliation with Water Street to care for the unforthat particular parish. The 450 clergy- tunate and the outcast Who come into men, representing every leading contact with the mission. The home is Protestant denomination, who were named the John Markle Home, after present at the meeting adapted unani- its donor, a coal merchant. It is a mously a resolution that such a move- lodging house in brick four stories in ment should be undertaken. A survey height and contains a large assembly of the community is to precede the hall, rest rooms, shower baths, dining visitation by volunteer workers and is room and kitchen, and dormitories for to be in the nature of a religious seventy-five men. Last year the miscensus. sion fed over 20,000 unfortunates and provided free beds for OVer 9,000 men.
1,000,000 Y. M. C. A. Members Flood Sufl'erers Want Bibles FOR the first time in the history of APPEALS have been issued to meet the North American Young Men's Christian Association Movement the .tl. many different needs of the peototal membership for the United States and Canada has exceeded the ple whose homes were devastated by million mark. The present figure is the Mississippi floods. A special need 1,005,714. The official roster for the is thus described by the American United States shows a total of 1,581 Bible Society: "From Scores of homes duly recognized Associations with a and from those who are seeking to re- establish the spiritual ministries of
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
the damaged churches, come appeals were represented. Mr. Perkins says: for Bibles; particularly for Bibles "As I approached the tabernacle, the containing pages for the family rec- Indians were singing 'Since Jesus ord, in order that the Book of books Came Into My Heart,' and wonderful may be speedily restored to its place singing it was. The missionary in the household, and the family rec- preached ably upon Christ's resurrecord be again entered while the old and tion. About 400 Indians attended the damaged records are stilI in mind. For service. The majority of the old Inthis purpose, the Society is issuing dians could not understand English, so 3,500 well-bound Brevier Bibles with the minister spoke through two inter- Family Record, especially inserted. preters, one for the Kiowas and one Owing to the destitute circumstances for the Comanches. The younger Inof many of the families, the distribu- dians have all been to school and can tion of these wiII have to be without read and write and understand Engfinancial return. It has only been lish. Later, at an experience meeting, made possible by additional gifts to one old warrior held up a crooked the Society, more of which are walking-stick and said: 'Before I was needed, as this year's budget for converted, I was crooked like this grants is already very low." stick.' Then he compared himself to a wild broncho harnessed up with a big The Indian on tlhe Nickel tame horse (the big horse was the missionary). He said he woud try to FlEW people 'know that the represen- kick out of the harness, but the horse tation of an Indian on the "buffalo would hold him steady until he was nickel" is a likeness of a real person, 'broken' and fully converted."-Misliving now. StiII fewer know that he sions. is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is fifty-four Missionary Stores in Alaska years old, John Two-Guns White- Calf by name, whose father, White- REV. S. H. GAPP, D.D., of the Calf, was a recognized chief and a Moravian Church, has recently leader in the Blackfeet tribe, ruling returned from inspecting the work the whole northern part of Montana. carried on in Alaska by his denomina- Chief White-Calf once captured two tion. Of one aspect of it he writes: guns from another tribe, and "Two- "Our missionary force is unanimously Guns" was thereafter prefixed to his and decidedly of the opinion that the title, which he, in turn, gave to his Mission must not yet retire from secuson. Since White-Calf's time the lar business in connection with its Blackfeet have had no wars, and John stations. Modern business methods are Two-Guns has never engaged in war- impossible. There are no industries, fare. Like most Indians, John Two- no factories, no agriculture, no stock- Guns worshiped the Great Spirit raising. Currency practically does not manifested by the sun. Not until he exist. Barter stilI prevails. The nawas fifty did the Christian Church tives bring dried fish or fur to the succeed in gaining him as a member. store and get in return such things On Easter Sunday, 1923, he was bap- as their simple manner, of life detized and received into the Church. mands. An unscrupulous dealer has the natives at his mercy. A mission- Oklahom.a Indians Hold Meeting ary storekeeper can do for the natives what others can not do. He can teach T AST summer one of the veteran coI- them not to waste their credit by L porteurs of the AmeriCan Bible foolish buying. He can and does have religious conversation in' the store; Society, G. A. Perkins, was sent to at- indeed, he may there deal with people tend the West Oklahoma Iridian Bap- whom he might otherwise not meet tist Association, held with the Elk personally." Creek Kiowa Indians. The Kiowas' and the Comanches and a few other'tribes
LATIN AMERICA is thus increasing in our churches, among both old and young. An in- Orientals in Latin AlILerica. creasing number of our young people are becoming educated, and in propor- AMERICAN Congregationjllists re- tion to the extent of the education, port that the Japanese among they are taking a fuller and more efwhom they work in the United States ficient part in the evangelization of are keenly interested in the Japanese these outlying districts, where almost colony in Sao Paulo, Brazil, perhaps eighty per cent of our people live." fOlty thousand altogether. A Japanese pastor went from New York to "Friendship Bags" for Mexico that region and is supported by J apanese merchants in N.ew York. He is T HE Federal Council announces that in touch with the secretary for Brazil the Committee on World Friendof the Committee on Cooperation in ship among Children, which carried Latin America, Professor Erasmo through so successfully the project of Braga, and through this source have sending "doll messengers" to Japan, come reports of the progress of Chris- now proposes that "friendship school tian work among these Japanese. bags be sent to the children of Mexico. These bags, according to the announce- Southern Methodists formed an un- ment, will be sent by day schools and expected tie when Miss Bertha Sunday-schools, by special groups of Tucker, formerly a missionary in all kinds in the various religious or- Korea, was sent to Matanzas, Cuba, ganizations, and also by individual and found a colony of Koreans work- children and adults. The bags, which ing upon the estate of a German will be made of durable fabrikoid, dec- Protestant near the city, many of orated with a design which includes whom were Christians. There are two the Mexican and American flags, are hundred of them in this one colony, to be especially manufactured for the about sixty of them Christians. They Committee. Those who participate in have a pastor, a teacher for the school the project will add certain articles to in which there are twenty children. be bought or made, and will send the It is a church which the Koreans have bag by parcel post direct to Mexico kept up entirely themselves. They City. The Friendship Bags will be ofspeak only Korean, so many of them ficially distributed in the schools on for years have never heard a real Mexico's Independence Day, Septemgood gosllel message. Yet they are ber, 16, 1928, which day is observed still holding together in a little church in all public schools. The project may of their own. be undertaken and the bags sent to Mexico at any time between January A Chapel Car in Porto Rico 1 and July 30, 1928.
REPORTING in general on the de- A Costa Rican Carpenter velopment of the work carried on by American Baptists in Porto Rico, ACARPENTER was one of the first G. A. Riggs writes in particular of the Protestant converts in Heredia, impulse to evangelism given by a Costa Rica. A writer in The Latin chapel car. He says: "The car is Ame1"ican Evangelist says of him: under the direction of Rev. Daniel "He had been interested through the Echavarria, one of our most compe- visits of one of the students and when tent pastors. In the first five months' the chapel began to go up we gave him service more than 600 declared their work. During this time he was conpurpose to accept and follow Christ. verted and has been giving a splendid Hundreds of Bibles, New Testaments, testimony ever since. When the work and religious books have been sold to in the chapel was finished he found it the people, many of whom would other- impossible to find work in the town. wise have had no opportunity to secure them. . . . The spirit of evangelism
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
The word had gone forth that there cial and political intercourse with the should be 'no work for the Protes- foremmlt nations of the world, has tante,' and our brother was refused in come a clear perception of the tremen- one place after another. Howeyer, dous handicap from which they have prayer changed things and now he gets suffered through the imposition of a as constant work as the average car- foreign ecclesiastical system, adminis- penter; indeed his steadiness of char- tered in the majority of cases by un- acter and honesty are being recog- scrupulous foreign priests." He ap- nized and thus he is finding that the peals for a campaign of "aggressive, Gospel is profitable for this life as well insistent, persistent evangelism," and as for that which is to come. It re- says: joiced our hearts to see his faithful- The days are drawing to an end when ness under trial. Now he is winning liberty to preach the Gospel in Latin America will obtain. The case of Mexothers." ico and Ecuador is perhaps the "last call"
Tra.ining Lea.ders for Colombia to action. Will the Church of Christ now respond? .
THE Colombia Mission of the Pres- byterian Church in the U. S. A. has A Sermon in a Brazilian Store A decided to establish a school in its N ITINERATING trip' brought Rev. Harold H. Cook, of Ponta evangelistic itineration department where only evangelical boys and girls Grossa, Southern Brazil, to Imbuia, will be received. The school is to be where the Gospel had not yet been on a farm and the young people will be preached. Mr. Cook writes: "The 'pop- given a chance to work for their edu- ulation is almost entirely made up of cation. The ideal that will be held Poles and Ruthenians. I had with me before them will be the teaching pro- just one gospel in the Ruthenian lan- fession for the girls and the preaching guage (the last of a packet received profession for the boys. The teachers from the Scripture Gift Mission) and are necessary for every village where this I left with a blacksmith. At Im- the Board's work is established be- buia, the merchant to whom I had a cause the public schools are in the letter of introduction received us very hands of the priests and only Catholic cordially and, failing a better place, children can attend. There are funds offered us his shop for a meeting.
also for the establishment of a theo- Later the folkl> gathered. Surrounded logical seminary, and the establish- by the multifarious collection of goods ing of this industrial school will pre- to be found in a country store, includpare students for the seminary work. ing, unfortunately, the ever-present Pinga (a native drink); with sad- Religious Law in Ecuador dlelY, sausages and other things hang- A LAW has recently been put into ing from the ceiling, the audience sat force in Ecuador which prohibits on boxes, sacks, borrowed benches and the entrance of ministers of religion chairs, while the Gospel was preached of any denomination. This new law for the first time."
further provides that the religious bodies already in the country shall not A Conference Center for Brazil P take any fresh steps to extend their ARTLY by gift and in part by pur- chase, a tract of some 500 acres of work. This drastic measure will necessarily restrict seriously the growth of land in Brazil has been secured by rep- evangelical work. Commenting on the resentatives of different evangelical situation, a writer in the L<Ltin Ameri- organizationl>, both national and mll>- can Evangelist says: "There can be no sionary, for the development of a va- question about the fact that the Latin cation, conference and training center American peoples are fast. shaking off for Christian workers of all churches.
the shackles of Rome. With modern The tract which has been named Jor- education and with intimate commer- dania, is splendidly located at an alti- 6
tude of about 5,000 feet and is readily evangelical schools has increased, and accessible by a trip of eight hours or it is possible for the great majority of less from Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo the schools to be closed administraand other evangelical strongholds in tively. If the law was put in operation the most thickly settled section of the against the Roman Catholic schools or country. The Brazil Sunday-School the state schools a greater proportion Union is looking for $1,000 with which would be compelled to close. The evanto purchase a share in the project, gelicals have no redress. Everyone with a five acre section of land, and knows that the law is not impartially put up a single building which would administered, but the Directory fortemporarily house its interest in this bids public discussion. The steady conference center, destined to play a pressure of the Directory's policy big part in the future evangelization makes the work of the evangelical of the country. churches increasingly difficult, but the ministers and people faithfully stand EUROPE together,. and refuse to be intimi- dated." Hebrew Christians in Europe New French Testament THE following letter from Sir Leon Levis()n is quoted in the magazine APARIS publisher expected to have published by The Hebrew Christian Al- ready for the Christmas trade a liance: "I sometimes wonder whether library edition of the New Testament, you in America fully realize the tre- bound in ordinary paper covers with mendous thing you have accomplished a wood engraving on the outside. Acin creating the International Hebrew cording to the Bible Society of France, Christian Alliance. . . . Since the it is felt that an edition of the New recent conference the whole of Russia Testament presented in the form of has been organized and committees the secular French books and handled have been formed in most of the Jew- by the book concerns not specializing ish towns in that country with a in religious works, will attract many national committee supervising and new readers and give new impetus to encouraging the work and coordinat- the propagation of the Gospel in ing all the Hebrew Christians in that France. It is almost impossible to find land. This has given to many of them the Bible on sale in France, except in a new uplift and a bright outlook. . . . special bookstores. Many university We have also organized Alliances of professors in Paris and elsewhere, rec- Hebrew Christians in Hungary, Aus- ognizing the value of Bible study to tria, Poland, Palestine, Sweden, Nor- the younger generation, have written way and Switzerland, and while in the Society of the interest with which some of these countries there is a they await the new publication. It is great deal of suffering prevalent hoped that it will help to introduce amongst the Hebrew Christians, yet courses of Bible study in the programs the outlook, generally speaking is very of universities and coIJeges. It is also bright." expected that in those countries where French culture is eagerly welcomed, Religious Educa.tion in Spain such as the Balkans, Turkey and Egypt, an edition of the Testament THE Spanish Directory has done all presented in the new format will at- in its power, says Evangelical tract many readers. Christendom, "to interfere with the freedom that existed to give evangel- German Sunday-schools ical teaching in evangelical schools. On finding that the decree ordering all AFTER studying Sunday-school work teachers to have government certifi- on the Continent, James Kelly, cates could not be put in practice, its General Secretary of the Scottish execution has been postponed, but the Sunday-school Union, reports that the pressure of local authorities on the
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Protestant churches in central and Students in Czechoslovakia southeastern Europe are recovering slowly from the effects of the World THE past year has witnessed the or- War. He says of Germany, however, ganization and consolidation of "the most important feature is a re- a student movement in all the univerturn of Protestantism to a po~ition of sity centers of the Czechoslovakian strength and influence. The churches Republic. A summer conference, of Germany were so disrupted by the whose carefully prepared program political and economic consequences of concentrated attention on "The Stuthe peace that for a considerable time dent and Christianity," is thus retheir progress was at a standstill. The ported: "The normal close of the churches and missionary agencies are year's work would have been a sumtaking up their tasks once more with mer conference of the 'Akademicka enthusiasm, and Sunday-school work, Ymca,' as the new movement is called. particularly in the southern countries, Its leaders felt, however, that the situand organized by the Free Church ation was ripe for an even broader Sunday-school Association, has made venture in Christian unity among stuvery rapid progress. During the last dents and decided to undertake a contwo years several important confer- ference which would bring together ences for the development of teacher- members of all Christian organizations training work have been held, and one working among students in the coungreat convention." try, of whatever nationality or confes- sion. The group of 154 students and Endea orers' CODlDlunion Service leaders in attendance represented seven nationalities, gathered from all ONE of the most significant fea- parts of the republic, and was made up tures of the recent European of eight Catholics, five members of the Christian Endeavor convention in Czechoslovak National Church, sixteen Budapest, which was reported in the Orthodox, ninety-six Protestants, one November REVIEW, was the great com- Jew and twenty-seven not members of munion service, which brought to- any church." gether around the Lord's table men and women of widely varying faiths- AFRICA faiths, too, between which there has not been too much fellowship in the Evangelizing Egyptian Moslems past. In Christian Endeavor they found a common platform, quite apart ONE member of the United Presbyfrom creeds, on which they could meet terian Mission in Cairo gives most with their Lord, and the meeting pre- of his time to instructing Moslem insented one of the greatest demonstra- quirers. Two were baptized early in tions of fellowship in Christian En- the spring of this year, and three deavor that has ever been seen. others are almost ready for baptism. Lutherans and members of the Re- Some eight or nine are regularly atformed Church of Christ sat at the tending daily classes for instruction. Lord's table with Wesleyans, Congre- A special feature of the work is the gationalists, Baptists, Quakers, and weekly meeting for Moslems held in Presbyterians. Rev. James Kelly, the Ezbakiya mission house in Cairo, president of the European Christian conducted by Kamel Effendi Mansur Endeavor Union, presided, and was (a Moslem convert), and attended by assisted by two leading ministers of some 200 regularly. An opportunity the Reformed and Lutheran churches, for questions is given at the close of while thirty-three ministers of differ- the meeting. The power of the Holy ent denominations carried the ele- Spirit is evidently present, and time ments to the communicants. Once and again Moslems have risen and conmore Christian Endeavor proved to be fessed that the message given has rea worth-while promoter of friendship. moved their difficulties and that they realize that Christ is the Son of God and the Saviour of the world. For
some time Kamel Effendi has been group. The workers on the several holding a weekly meeting in the club stations were remembered with symfor young men at Tanta, and, at the pathy and regard, for the many who request of the pastors, has held meet- had recently gone on furlough these ings for Moslems in various parts of boys prayed, that they might be given the country. new strength and be enabled soon to return to the places left vacant. Then African Missions Unite came earnest petition to the Lord of the harvest to call many musungus THE Abyssinian Frontiers Mission, (white people), who knew things of the organization of which last God, to this field of labor. This was spring by Dr. T. A. Lambie, formerly not all. One went on to pray for the of the United Presbyterian Mission, unsaved white people, that they too was reported in the REVIEW, has now might come to know the Lord. Touchjoined forces with the Sudan Interior ing? It touched one white man there. Mission. The circumstances which led Only recently in heathen darkness himto this union are thus described in a self, here was one native who now letter signed by Dr. Lambie and his could pray for some who have had the associates: Word long years but have not heeded.
Rev. Rowland V. Bingham, General Di- English Government and Missions recto.r of the .Sudan Interior Mission, recently returned from a missionary I N AN article on the new situation journey round the world. While in in Tanganyika Territory, East· Af- Australia and New Zealand he was used rica, the Church Missionary Outlook .of God to stir many for the evangeliza- says that the present political condition .of Africa, and the prospect of tions are, on the whole, favorable to Anzacs joining the ranks of the S. 1. M. missionary work. The introduction by became imminent. There was need, how- the Government of "indirect rule"-an ever, to face the great cost of sending entire reversal of the former German Australasian wo.rkers to. the further side policy-should ultimately benefit the of Africa. Realizing that the burden of missionary cause. The government Abyssinia was his as much as .ours; that policy of cooperation with missions in God had prDvided in our Field Directors education seems to be creating a more the experienced and cDnsecrated leader- friendly attitude on the part of ofship SD essential to. opening up a new ficials towards missionary work. It work; that Abyssinia and its frontiers is being realized that after all the adprDvided an .open do.or easy .of access ministrator and the missionary are from Australasia; and that our doc- striving for the same end-the uplift trinal and financial basis were the same; of the African people-though from realizing these facts Mr. Bingham ap- different points of view. The one canproached us with a view to uniDn-a not do the other's work, nor can either uniDn which wDuld achieve many h.ome afford to be independent of the other. econDmies and the speedier acc.omplish- It is a tremendous gain to have the ment .of .our CDmmon task. Government officially recognizing, as they are, the need and importance of Africans' Prayer for White Men religious teaching in the schools and according it an equal standing with ASUNSHINE prayer meeting, made secular subjects.
. up of seven African workers and King's Son an African Pastor two European ones, is described by E. A. Winsor, of the African Inland Mis- THE African Christians at Galansion. He speaks of the earnestness gue, Angola, in the West African with which these African Christians Mission of the American Board have prayed for their awn people, but says recently decided that a native pastor that on that Sunday morning the bur- who will devote his entire time to the den of their prayer was for white people: They prayed for the absent station head. They p'-ayed for the two with them in that hour. They prayed for the others on the station. But again their thoughts reached out to a larger
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
church activities must be supported by is, however, forming rapidly and sevthe church. The choice of a pastor eral Turks have recently accepted has been made, the man selected being Christian baptism, and openly pronamed Chiuale, one of the fi st to make fEssed their faith in Christ. An ilpublic confession in the region of lustration of the disharmony between Galangue. His father is a member of the constitutional rights and public the church and was once king of the opinion appeared in connection with section in which he resides. The new statements made by Hashim, a student pastor, who is thirty-five years old, in Robert College. In 1926 he was was a man of good standing in the brought several times before the community even before he became a courts because of his Christian pro- Christian. Now, as then, he holds the fEssion, but the law was upheld, and confidence of the people to a marked he was released. In the newspapers' degree. His people know his history editorial comments little or nothing and listen to his words earnestly. Rev. was said against Hashim, but much Henry C. McDowell hopes to devote was said against the Y. M. C. A. as a time to this new pastor regularly; for, proselyting agency. This bitter critiof· a necessity, his training has been cism suddenly ceased one day, and limited. "I am most anxious for all nothing was printed thereafter. It the friends of Galangue to remember was learned that the cessation of dis- Chiuale in their prayers," writes Mr. cussion of the subject was the result McDowell. "He, under God, will play of direct word from the Angora aua large part in the history of this re- tholities. Hashim is now in America. gion." Turkish leaders apparently expect the time to come when the Turkish people THE NEAR EAST will tolerate the change of a man's re- ligion from Moslem to Christian with- The Fixst Census in Turkey out danger of violence.
THE recent census in Turkey, the Western Education in Turkey first in the country's history, as was stated in the announcement of it ONE of the younger members of the in the July REVIEW, fixes the popula- Turkey Mission of the American tion at approximately 14,000,000. Board, Lee Vrooman, recently took a Constantinople leads the big cities trip into the interior to study the with 850,000, females preponderating, effects of Westernization there. He while Angora shows a population of says: "One result of the trip is the 75,000, of which 49,500 are males and placing of books translated by our 25,500 are females. Figures as to publication department in eight dif- Turkey's population have long been ferent libraries. The teachers begged unavailable because of the inadequacy that more books on American educacf the counts taken during the reigns tion be 'made available in Turkish. It of the sultans. The latest previous is to be hoped that by translating key figures made public were issued by the books we may affect the whole educa- Ministry of Health at the end of tional policy in this fluid time. For 1924, placing the population at 13,- educationally this is a time of growth 357,000. and experiment. One of the most striking results of Mustapha Kemal's Religious Liberty in Turkey revolution is the new attitude toward education. The group of men gathered ABSOLUTE religious liberty in round him intend to have the schools Turkey is guaranteed by the Con- Westernize the country. In order to stitution of the Republic. This does keep the teachers up-to-date, summer not mean that the people as a whole institutes are put on in important cenapprcve this provision, nor that they ters and attendance required. We would regard such a provision in case should grasp the full significance of some Turk decided to become a Christian. The sentiment toward toleration
men and women meeting together to and retaliation; they believe in love work on the problems of Turkish for enemies and nonretaliation. Moyouth. There is a tremendous gap be- hammed permitted four wives and tween that and the historic seclusion himself took nine; they believe in of the harem. Furthermore, the monogamy. In the law of Islam, the schools are progressively being made thought of evil is not sinful, but in coeducational." their code the thought of impurity is impure, and thought of revenge is D. V. B. S. in Syria and Palestine murder. Their code permits women to go unveiled. . . . Perhaps most sig- THE Daily Vacation Bible School nificant of all is their comparative rat- made its fi~st appearance in Bible ing of Jesus and Mohammed. Jesus lands during the summer of 1926. A is to them one, and the chief, of seven special grant from the American angels who were before the world, and Christian Literature Society for Mos- the agents by whom God accomplishes lems made it possible to publish the his purposes for mankind." manual for the movement in Arabic. This book is not a translation of Eng- Persian Christian Leaders lish material, but was written by Rev. S. N. Alter, Ph.D., of Aleppo, and was AFTER attending an all-Persia prepared with local conditions and local children in mind. Schools were .t. Christian conference in Ispahan, conducted in Ramallah, Palestine; B-eirut, Syria; Shweir, central Leb- made up of about one hundred deleanon; Minyarah, northern Lebanon; gates-Moslem and Jewish converts, Sidon, Syria; Nabatiyeh, inland from Armenians, Chaldeans, English and Sidon; Alma-esh-Sha'ab, near the Americans-Rev. Charles R. Murray, Palestine border; and Jezeen, in south- of Meshed, writes: "I had never fully ern Lebanon. During the following )ealized before, that there are Persian winter different persons spent consid- Moslem converts possessed with aterable time in preparation of much- tractive platform presence and conseneeded literature. A grant of $100 crated Christian lives and ability to from the International Daily Vacation organize their addresses that would Bible School Association made it pos- command the clese attention of large sible to print limited editions of vari- city congregations at home. There is ous books which were used in 1927. even far greater hope for the Chris- The work is under the general direc- tian Church of Persia in the near fution of the Bible Lands' Sunday- ture than I had even dared to look for. School Union, which represents all the There are now Persian leaders of keen evangelical churches missions working mind and secure faith, and they are in Bible Lands. beginning to feel deeply their own re- sponsibility for the evangelization of "The People of the Truth" this nation. More and more they are growing open in their preaching. THE members of what is described There must soon come a great change by Rev. John Elder of Kerman- in the religious life of this country. shah, Persia, as "the most friendly Islam in Persia today cannot but give and approachable of any of the local way before Christianity if lived truly Moslem sects," call themselves by this by the members of the Christian name. Mr. Elder says of them: "While Church in Persia." they are commonly classed as Moslems, they actually can more accurately be New Station in Iraq called a Christian sect. In their ethical teaching they believe in Christian THE United Mission in Mesopotamia principles at practically every point has recently opened work at Hillah, where these differ from Moslem ones. about five miles from the ruins of Mohammed taught and practiced war ancient Babylon, and Rev. and Mrs. A. G. Edwards are the missionaries who have been sent there. The former
1928J WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
writes of having had many visitors, a meeting.' We assured him that his and says: "They have given us a village was down for a meeting the splendid opportunity, but I began to next week, but only after we had promfear that there would be no time to get ised to stop that evening did he move out into the bazaars. Within the past out of the road." two weeks we made the attempt. The first day we stocked up with tracts, and Hinduism Fifty Years Hence found that, instead of having trouble in getting people to take them, we were ACONVERSATION between Rev. nearly mobbed in the rush to get them. Charles B. Hill, D.D., of Ajmer, We know that some of them were torn Rajputana, and a Hindu in an imup as pestilential, but many have been portant government position, is thus read. In three days, we have distrib- reported: "He said to me, 'Padre, uted nearly 3,000, and then when I what do you think will have happened had to make a trip to Baghdad, Moal- to Hinduism fifty years from now?' lim Mikhail gave out several hundred Not having met him previously, I felt more. At a neighbor's house, we are I had to be cautious in my reply, and told, a handful of tracts were read in said, 'I presume Hinduism will reform turn by all of a large number of guests. herself from within, as abe has done The reception is encouraging, espe- before, and thus adapt herself to the cially in this nest of fanaticism." new conditions.' To this he replied, 'I beg to differ with you. Fifty years INDIA AND SIAM hence Hinduism will be practically ex- tinct.' 'Why are you so pessimistic?' Hold-Up to Demand the Gospel I asked. His answer was that Hindu- ism could never survive the light THIS is the title given to an experi- which science was giving to the ence of a certain Methodist mis- world. 'Moreover,' he said, 'every sionary in North India on an itinerat- succeeding year finds Hinduism more ing tour. The story goes: "One little powerless. I am stronger than Hinvillage we had decided to leave until duism.' That phrase, 'I am stronger the last, our plan being to take the than Hinduism,' expresses the attitude very farthest and work closer back to- of the intelligentsia of India today. It wards camp every day. The fourth does not at all mean that they are morning as we were driving through abandoning Hinduism for Christianthis village a man planted himself ity. Rather, does it mean that they squarely in the road in front of the will become a people without religion, car and blocked our progress. 'What unless the Christian West presents do you mean by getting in front of the Jesus Christ as the only hope of satiscar in that way?' demanded the motor- fying their hearts and their intellects." driver angrily as he brought the car to a halt within a foot of the man, Gandhi'" Views on "Mother India" 'you might have been killed.' 'What do you mean,' retaliated our highway- K ATHERINE MAYO'S boo k man, 'by driving through the village "Mother India," has been much day after day and never stopping? I discussed in the United States, but it and my family are Christians.. From is the subject of heated discussion in all the surrounding villages the news India. Indignation meetings have has reached us of the wonderful meet- been held in many centers to protest ings you have held. Each day we against what is considered the overhave swept our courtyard clean and in- emphasis by a stranger of the worst vited in our non-Christian neighbors, features of Indian life and an ignorbut you rush on by us and never give ing of its best qualities and the forces us a thought. I promised them I which are working for social betterwould stop you today, and now not a ment. In: his paper Young India step will I budge out of the road until Gandhi calls the book "A Drain Inspecyou promise to come to my house for tor's Report," and says of it, "While I
consider the book to be unfit to be volting and repugnant" and declares placed bef~re Americans and English- that. they "make Islam a laughing- men (for it can do no. good to them), stock in the eyes of other religions."
it is a book that every Indian can read He is fortified in his action by the with some degree of profit." While opinion of a number of Shiah savants he does not make the charge, made by and theologians who have denounced many Indians, that the book is British the practice in unequivocal language.
propaganda against self-government The Indian Witness, a Christian paper, for India, he says that Miss Mayo has comments: done "an atrocious injustice to Ameri- The Nizam's action is not without preccans by having exploited her un- edent. In Iraq legislation along the doubted ability to prejudice without same lines is already in force. But so warrant their minds against India." far as we know no legislation on this He urges his own people, however, to "ubject has preceded the Nizam's :firman read the book, and to "let it act as a anywhere in India. It is to be hoped that spur to much greater effort than we enlightened public opinion among Moshave put forth in order to rid society lems in British India will call for action of all cause of reproach." to stop the practice throughout the land. The custom ought not to be tolerated by The British in India Mission either public opinion or law in any civi- lized land.
HIS organization (formerly known Modern Schools in Afghanistan Tas the Anglo-Indian Evangelization T Society) has had as its main object for HAT the new king of Afghanistan is looked upon as "a champion of the past fifty-seven years "the main- a representative form of government" tenance of gospel ordinances of an un- is asserted in The Contemporary Resectarian nature among the outlying view, which continues: "Old condigroups of the British in India." tions do not obtain in Afghanistan, Partly through its own specially ap- notably in the practice of the way of pointed and supported agents, partly government at Kabul and in the efforts through enlisting the help of mission- of H. M. King Amanullah Khan to aries, it does much to keep fortnightly have modern education imparted to his or monthly services going at remote people. It has, for instance, been acplaces. In recent years, the chief ac- knowledged that in order to bring tivities of the Mission have been on Afghanistan abreast of the times, the railways of India, where evangel- European methods of instruction are ists have been stationed on various to supplant the mosque institutions as systems. Work is also done among the primary schools. The scope of the planters in Assam, Mysore and else- Habibiah College at Kabul has been where, as well as among the Europeans considerably enlarged for the study of engaged in coal mines, gold mines, and arts, whilst the military academy in mills, and soldiers and civilians in Herbia is attracting the cream of the lonely and distant places. Afghan race. Apart from the various Cruel Moslem. Pra.ctice Forbidden government-aided village schools and traveling instructors, a great deal of T HE Nizam of Hyderabad, the prin- attention is also being bestowed on cipal Moslem state in India, has adult education, and recently a school :again, as often in the past, shown an of political economy has been organ- 'intelligent and progressive spirit. The ized for members of the diplomatic common Moslem practice of beating service. Young Afghan boys are also the breast and back with chains and receiving training at Kabul under planks studded with poi?te~ barbs German and French tutors, so that during the Moharram grievmg, has when their turn comes to proceed been strictly forbidden by him. In his abroad for further education, they firman the Nizam describes the sight may profit by following lectures in ~f these self-inflicted cruelties as "re- European languages. A large number
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
of advanced students are already tians will rejoice at every good service studying at Berlin, Paris, Rome and they may perform, but when they have Moscow, and more will be sent as soon done their best, both ex-slaves and ex- as these return after graduation. A masters will still need Christ. Bud- few have also been sent to England." dhist missionaries may elevate the standards of living, economic, moral Growth. of the SiaDlese Church and spiritual, for the residents of the REV. PAUL A. EAKIN, of Bang- distant Triangle and in doing so may kok, Siam, writes that the church perform a great deal of what Chrisin that country has passed through the tians regard as duty, but upon Chrispioneer stage, and to a very large tian people will still rest the obligaextent through the paternal stage, but tion of preaching Christ as personal that the latter is being replaced by Saviour from sin now and as eternal what he calls the fraternal stage. He Lord."
continues: "In some other fields, while CHINA the national church has assumed control, and has become self-supporting, it "The Church of Christ in China" has depended largely upon the foreign missionary for the work of propagat- THE first General Assembly of the ing the Christian faith. From all pres- Church of Christ in China, coment indications it seems that this will posed of Christians in the churches not be the case in Siam. Many na- fostered by the Presbyterian, Re- formed, Congregational and United tionals have gone out from the Brethren Missions from America, Siamese church as missionaries to the Europe and Australia, held its sessions Tai people in China. In the south a in Shanghai, Oct. 1st-11th. Rev. A. missionary society or board composed R. Kepler, General Executive Secreentirely of Siamese Christians is tak- tary of the Assembly, writes: "That ing up its task with a determination to these nation-wide representatives of lay firm foundations. This is surely Chinese Christians at a time when revolution has made nerves taut and an indication that the church in Siam nationalism has intensified convictions is not only alive but healthy. A could face for eleven days the difficult church which is so interested in propa- tasks of church organization with comgating itself must be an active plete harmony, good-will and enthusichurch." asm throughout, shows that the Chi- Buddhist Missions to Ex-Slaves nese people, widely scattered, can unite THAT certain Burman Buddhists provided the fusing pOwer is potent are contemplating sending mission- enough. . . . The Church of Christ is aries of their faith to work among the keenly desirous to maintain a full quota of missionaries. They earnestly recently-liberated slaves in the Tri- desire those who have withdrawn to angle of Upper Burma was reported to the West to return as soon as possible. the Burma Christian Council last The conviction of the General Asmonth by U. Maung Kin, editor of The sembly is that the missionary should Sun, Burma's leading Burmese paper. be loaned by the Mission Board to the "This," comments The Indian Witness, Church, should carryon his work published in Lucknow, "adds one more within the Chinese Church, under the to a long list of instances of mission- authority of the Chinese Church and ary work undertaken by non-Christian on a basis of complete equality with groups in obvious response to the ex- the Chinese leadership." ample afforded by Christian missions,"
and it continues: "Buddhist missionaries can do a great deal for the liber- Missionaries Asked to Keep Vote T ated slaves and also for the ex-slave- HE Irish Presbyterian Mission in Fakumen, Manchuria, is cooperatholders, whom we hope they will not entirely neglect. Right-minded Chris- ing to the fullest degree with the Chi·
nese Christians, according to Rev. F. city. Since attending the meetings, he W. O'Neill, who says: "At our synod had become convinced that they did last month an important forward step not know much about the very things was taken. In future the location and they were opposing. He said they work of missionaries is to be under the were led into the movement by out- jurisdiction of synod. The practical siders. But he had become curious to method of carrying this out will be know more about Jesus and the lives through a policy committee of Chinese of His followers. "There must be and foreigners. At a meeting of this some power in a religion," he said, committee a motion was proposed by "that brings you from your country me and seconded by D. T. Robertson, across the sea and helps you to live principal of Manchuria Christian Col- here even against oPPoSition. I want lege, that missionaries give up their to know more about that power your voting powers in synod. (This had Jesus gives. May I come to see you already been agreed to in principle by in your home and learn the truths of conference). But the Chinese mem- His message?" . bers of the committee declined to ac- cept the motion. They would not Chinese Methodist Convention accept our offer to give up voting powers. And it was, so far as one THE Board of Foreign Missions of could see, not .mere courtesy, but their the Methodist Episcopal Church real desire." has authorized the Chinese Methodists to hold a convention at an early day, Work for Chefoo Factory Girls which shall be made up of representa- tive ministers and lay members, and ALETTER from Miss Alice Hunt of which shall be absolutely free, without Chefoo, quoted in China's Millions, the embarrassing presence of anyone says in part: "Though there is great from America, to express itself upon unrest and turmoil in other parts of the many problems which have grown China-and even in this province of out of the recent political situation. Shantung-yet here in Chefoo all is Commenting on the value of such a quiet so far and we are able to con- conference, in view of the way in tinue our work unhindered. Doors are which Chinese Christians have carried wide open for the preaching of the on the work in the absence of the mis- Gospel; the people are very friendly sionaries, Secretary Diffendorfer says: and ready to listen. At present we are going to ten factories every week; two Many Chinese, previously unprepared of them have two rooms full of women for these heavy responsibilities, in the working, so that means twelve meet- face of opposition and persecution, under ings. We also have school visiting and conditions of poverty and boycott, have classes. Recently when we were at a shown a marked degree of responsibility, factory in a near-by village, the women loyalty and efficiency. The Board of For- begged us to stay on and tell them eign Missions urges that everywhere in more." China these gains in leadership and re- sponsibility be conserved as the basis of Does Jesus Live Today1 self-control and self-administration of church matters with every oPllortunity A BAPTIST young woman mission- for the Chinese to express themselves ary in a large city in West China fully with reference to ecclesiastical or- recently met a young man in the street ganization and supervision, rituals, of who thus addressed her: "Do you be- worship, creedal statements and the lieve Jesus is living today, and do you whole outward expression of the Chris- believe He has a message that can help tian religion, that they may be true to my country and my people in this pres- the genius of the Chinese people." ent hour?" He continued speaking and she learned that he was an officer Chinese Student Honesty in the Anti-Christian Society of that AGROUP of Christian students in Hunan Province who formed themselves into a preaching band after their school had been seized by Com-
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
munists was referred to in the No- Christ preached this doctrine and that vember REVIEW, and a striking speech it is contained in the Bible." by one of them was quoted. The Christian character of another of these JAPAN-KOREA young men is evident in the following story: "Hwei-chien had the distinc- Japan Sends Dolls to ADLerica tion of being sent as a delegate to a Y. M. C. A. conference, and as usual, FIVE million Japanese children money was given for traveling ex- joined their sen (pennies) to send penses. On his return, Hwei-chien to America an extraordinary Christhanded in his expense account, which mas present, and some sixty "Doll apparently was satisfactory. However, Ambassadors of Goodwill," one from after several months, Hwei-chien him- each prefecture of the Empire, made self became dissatisfied with his re- by the most expert doll artists in the port. His conscience was troubling world, arrived in San Francisco Nohim over a matter of $1.30 which he vember 26th, "in time," as one Japahad come to feel was spent on his own nese announcement put it, "to be account rather than on necessary ex- placed on Christmas trees in America." penses. He therefore came with In each prefecture a separate farewell restitution. Handing in a sealed en- was given to its own little ambassador, velope, he explained the ·situation and then the whole party had a farewell intimated that more than the amount reception on the Emperor's birthday. in question would be found; 'for,' he and was placed on public exhibit. The said, 'I must be punished for my mis- dolls are thirty inches tall, and their take.' The treasurer of the church extensive wardrobes are made of the took the envelope, and when he opened most costly and beautiful silk, speit he found it to contain $10.00! Truly cially woven, designed and dyed. A a heavy penalty for a struggling Chi- special envoy, Mr. Sekiya, accompanied nese schoolboy to impose upon him- the little ambassadors, in order to deself!" liver them in appropriate form to the Committee on World Friendship COlRDluuist Literary "Tricks" among Children of the Federal Coun- cil of Churches, which was responsible ALETTER from a missionary in for the 13,000 Doll Messengers of Hongkong is thus quoted in the Friendship which went to Japan from London Christian: "Here are two the United States last winter. tricks that the Communists have been up to: Communist literature is banned Kanamori'. OalD.paign through the Post Office in China at present. The Communists therefore REV. PAUL KANAMORI of Tokyo counterfeited the wrappers of the Re- who has become widely known ligious Tract Society and sent out throughout the Christian world betheir propaganda under the regis of a cause of his "three-hour sermon," has Christian concern. This was discov- recently returned to Japan after a ered, with the result that the R. T. S. three-year trip around the world. A had 5,000 packages of their own pub- letter from him, from which the follications confiscated. It naturally gave lowing extracts are taken, describes the R. T. S. a bad name. . . . The his present plans: "The native Japa- Communists found that in a certain nese church organized by the Oriental gospel in Mandarin a chapter began Missionary Society, under the superand ended at the beginning and end of intendency of my dear friend, Rev. J. page five. They'bought up these gos- Nakada, has at present 149 churches pels, extracted this chapter, and put in scattered all over the country, sufa chapter of pure Communism.. To ficiently large in numbers and strong anyone knowing nothing about the in spirit to carry out my 'Million-Soulcontents of the gospel it appears that Saving Campaign' in Japan. Perhaps some might say that my ambition is too wild, and that I am aimin~ at an
impossibility, but I don't think so. I in an uncle and neighbors for a con- don't think saving a million souls in sultation. They decided that she had Japan at the present time is an im- become possessed of a fox demon and possibility. I think if we have faith in beat her cruelly. When she seemed God and believe that He can and will almost lifeless they put lighted incense do it, and do not doubt in our hearts, sticks in her nostrils and about her this saving of a million souls will body. The old grandmother became so surely be realized." excited that they thought the fox de- mon had gone into her and subjected Trainin&: Japanese Business Girls her to the same treatment. Both JAPANESE young women have been women died almost immediately and going into business in such large the police started an investigation. numbers that for several years com- mercial schools for girls have been Training Japanese Ministers A conducted for them under government CHALLENGING opportunity and responsibility for Christian misauspices. There are also three private non-Christian commercial schools for sions is seen by S. H. Chester, writing young women in J apan~one in Na- in N ew Japan, in the student popula- goya with a five-year course and en- tion of the colleges and universities of rolment of about one thousand, and Japan. He says; "In Tokyo alone, the two smaller institutions in Tokyo. estimated number of students in gov- Two other large commercial schools at ernment institutions runs into thou- present have coeducation. A Chris- sands many of whom are women. Their tian commercial school for women, reaction from native superstition has however, is a newer thing. For sev- chiefly been, not towards Christian eral years there have been shorthand ideas, but towards materialism and and typewriting classes in other Chris- atheism. The Japanese Church has de- tian institutions for girls, and in some veloped a few religious leaders, quali- cases girls have been allowed to take fied to command the attention of these such training in boys' schools, but not university men, but this is not the until recently have Christian commer- case, unfortunately, with the rank and cial institutions been opened for file of the Japanese ministry. To sup- women. ply a really capable ministry is the most urgent need of the hour."
Superstition in Japan ORTY people were recently burned HLong Thankful Yea.rs" in Korea Fin the old ceremony of walking over R burning coals to insure health and EV. JAMES S. GALE, D.D., of Seoul, thus describes an inter- long life. Japanese papers gave an ac- view with one whom he calls "an count of the serious results of the cere- Oriental saint": "As I was about to mony at a Nara shrine. Priests and leave Korea, there came a caller, a geisha were the principal sufferers. white-bearded, kind-faced old man.
Salt is thrown on the coals just before 'We've met again,' said he. 'Thirty-five the ceremony but this time there years ago you gave me a Chinese New seems to have been too great economy Testament and said, "Read it. It in applying it. All who attempted the tells you all your heart would like to rite burned the sales of their feet so know; tells of Him who made the severely that they had to be carried world, the Lord who loves you." I away in great suffering, on litters or read it. I accepted it, and now after the backs of others. In the same paper all these years He is more than ever was an account of the putting to death the peace and satisfaction of my soul.
of a mother and grandmother in an at- Long thankful years! And you are tempt to drive out evil spirits. A the one who first told me.' 'But how farmer's daughter noticing a great come you now to Seoul?' 'Why, I change in her mother's behavior called heard you were going away and I've
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
made the journey (200 miles) just to London Missionary Society, the L. M.
see you, say thanks and good-bye.' S. agreed to a transfer of all the mis- Tea" s were in his eyes as he spoke. sion property and the plantations in 'We shall not meet again,' said he, 'till eastern Papua to a new organization, we see the wonders of the heaven land.' representing America, Great Britain A prayer we had together and Chun, and Australia, on the basis of the re- in his old-fashioned white dress, payment to the L. M. S. of about turned and was gone, away into the $48,000, to be paid over a period of far north." three years, the British and Australian friends assuming responsibility for Koreans Refuse Increase of Pay one half the amount and· American DR. BERCOVITZ, who is in charge friends the other. The L. M. S. de- of the Presbyterian hospital in cided eight years ago that it could not Andong, Korea, tells of the devoted continue the work with the plantations spirit manifested by the Korean mem- and other industrial features which bels of the hospital staff, whose pay are considered essential to its success.
should have been increased at the end They, therefore, leased the property of the fiscal year. The hospital books, for ten years to the Kwato Extension however, showed a deficit, and though· Association. New Guinea Tidings small increases were offered a staff comments: "Mr. Abel and his fellow- meeting was held, at which the state workers have been laboring under of affairs was explained. He says: great handicaps from which relief is "They looked the matter square in the now in sight. No wonder that they face and saw the deficit and then one thank God and take courage."
by one they rose to their feet and one said that, even though his increase was A Filipino Youth Movement T only Yen 2.50 he could not accept that HE Protestant Youth Movement of the Philippines was inaugurated in much from the hospital, when it was doing its best for people of his own 1926 at a convention held in Manila at race. He wanted to make that a do- Thanksgiving time, attended by delenation for six months and at the end gates from all over the Islands. 'The of that time, if we could better afford aim in establishing the movement was it, and the deficit was less, he would to reach at least 50 per cent of the accept the increase. Another said that students in the high schools and colthere was 'no such custom' as to re- leges of the Philippines with a vital, ceive an increase of salary under those evangelical message by the close of the conditions. He also made a donation year 1928. The platform of principles to the hospital for six months. Others adopted by the convention is called spoke of this as work in the Kingdom "The Decalogue of Protestant Youth." of God, and the least they could do was Rev. Charles R. Hamilton, D.D., to make a donation of the increase in writes: "It is believed that this messalalY for the next six months, and so age will find a response in the hear.ts it went right down the line. Those of thousands of the students of the who were under special contract and Philippines, and that it gives a fairly did not receive increases also volun- adequate statement of the purpose and tarily cut their own salaries." aims of the evangelical forces in this land. It is the endeavor at the present ISLANDS OF THE SEA time to get this message before the Reorganization for New Guinea great body of high school and college AT a conference held in London dur- students throughout the country, that .tl. ing the summer between the rep- they may see what it is to which we resentatives of the New Guinea Evan- call them, and become familiar with gelization Society, the Governing Com- the condensed content of the Christian mittee of the Kwato Extension Asso- message. This is to be presented to ciation and a special committee of the all the high school students."
WORTH
Any books mentioned in these columns will be forwarded by us on receipt of price.-THE REVIEW.
Chinese Religious Ideas: A Christian Val- far as Dr. Bruce in his ascribing per- uation. Rev. P. J. Maclagan, Ph.D. Pp. 239.' London: Student Christian sonality to Chu Hsi's account of God, Movement. 6 shillings, net. 1926. he aglees that this Confucian philos- opher made love a central virtue in his The outgrowth and equivalent of the ethical system. American Student Volunteer Move- The volume differs from most disment, the British Student Christian cussions of the Three Religions in its Movement, has published a number of emphasis on the religious ideas antevaluable volumes. This is one of the cedent to Lao Tzu and Confucius, in best. It is written by a former mis- . the chapter, "The God of Your sionary to China who has contributed Fathers," who is fittingly set forth as to our knowledge of China's Three Re- one finds him described in the early ligions in the "Encyclopredia of Re- Books of History and in some of the ligion and Ethics" and elsewhere. Odes.
This volume, which is the latest in In his treatment of Taoism Dr. Macthe Duff Missionary Lectureship, not lagan injects helpful ideas as parallels only gives valuable information con- to some of Lao Tzu's cryptic sayings cerning Chinese religion, but also fur- and Chuang Tzu's "Mists of Chaos." nishes frequent hints as to the mis- His universalizing certain of the sionary use of their truths, and warn- teachings of Confucius and Mencius ings against an undiscriminating quo- must be appreciated by the Chinese tation of similar phrases or doctrines writers of today, such as Ku Hung- without showing their inadequacy. ming and Dr. Chen. Nevertheless, Dr.
In the final chapter, "The Presenta- Maclagan does not so embellish and tion of the Gospel," and in the preced- misconstrue these faiths as to cut the ing chapter on "Chinese Ideas of Sal- nerve of Christian missions. The vation," he dwells most upon Bud- great teachers of China are not disdhism, having previously pictured paraged, but Jesus Christ is always Confucianism and Taoism with ful- pre-eminent.
ness and clarity. An entire chapter is The volume is especially valuable for devoted to "The Philosopher Wang: young missionaries, ranking with A Chinese Protestant," who was neg- Professor Soothill's "Three Religions lected by both Professor Giles and of China." H. P. B.
Dr. Legge. This original thinker so influenced Japanese leaders that they Changing Foreign Missions. Cleland Boyd injected his spirit into the New Japan McAfee. 288 pp. $2.00. New York: of 1854. Another point of emphasis, Fleming H. Revell Co. 1927.
which is usually omitted in treating As Lecturer on the Joseph Cook Confucianism, is brought out in a Foundation in 1924-25, Dr. McAfee vis- chapter devoted to "Chu Rsi: A Con- ited Syria, Egypt, India, Siam, China, fucian Schoolman," whose thirteenth Korea and Japan. There he observed century commentary on the classical the application of missionary prin- books has been so generally adopted ciples with the eye of the keen ob- that some scholars claim that modern server and the sympathetic friend. It Confucianism should be called "Chu- may be doubted whether any other cianism." While he does not go as book on this subject presents a clearer 94
BOOKS WORTH READING
and fairer statement of the problems veloped during long contacts. It of the mission field and the principles opens with the story of early Buddhist by which the workers are seeking to missions to China and the inner de- solve them. A particularly valuable velopment of Buddhism during the chapter is entitled, "When the Workers early centuries. Chapter three sum- Differ." It contains a noble appeal to marizes the popular story of "The the Christian consciousness and the Journey to the West" and reveals how sweet reasonableness of workers who certain aspects of Buddhism and the are so likely to misunderstand one an- Chinese religions have coalesced.
other. This appeal applies with equal Then follow chapters on the Masses force at home and abroad. The chap- for the Dead, the Pure Land School, ters on "The Essential Missionary the Buddhist Pantheon, Buddhist Lit- Message" and "Unchanging Realities" erature, Monastic Life, Pilgrimages are particularly keen and compre- and Present Day Buddhism.
hensive. The closing chapter on The book gives a picture of certain "Some World Contributions" reveals aspects of Buddhism, and is accurate a statesmanlike view of world politics in details and catholic in its interpre- and a Christlike view of world prob- tations. It leans somewhat toward lems, social and moral. c. C. A. ritual. The masses for the dead are widespread but the question arises Truth and Tradition in Chinese Buddhism. whether they have not been developed Karl Ludwig Reichelt, trans. from the Norwegian by Kathrina Van Wagenen in China at the expense of other sides Bugge. Pp. xiv-333. $3.00 Mex. Com- mercial Press, Shanghai, China. 1927. of Buddhism. The Pure Land Sect Heretofore most of the works on offers a short cut to salvation and Buddhism have described the Hinayana, or "Smaller Vehicle" which hence is very popular, but has it not started in India and is now found in Ceylon, Burma and Siam. The Ma- taken away from that heroical emphahayana, a "Greater Vehicle," now found in China, Korea and Japan, has sis on the morals of Buddhism? received little. attention. The present work deals with this latter, which is a Among the many interesting bits in living and expanding religion of the Far East. the book is the Taoist-Buddhist story The author has been a missionary of of Jesus translated from a Chinese the Norwegian missionary society in China for almost twenty-five years. He work published in 1701. While an was professor in the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Shekow and was earlier source is possible the vocabu- interested in Buddhism. He studied the lary points to a modern origin. Buddhist works, visited their monasteries and gathered about himself a Buddhism is awakening in the Far group of young monks who became Christians. The Buddhists seemed to East. No other religion has so many him to be especially near to the Kingdom and a few years ago he decided to resemblances to Christianity and for devote himself entirely to work for Buddhists. He opened a mission at that reason its concepts and back- Nanking which has been blessed by remarkable success. ground should be studied thoroughly The book is the result of a long ex- and sympathetically. L. H. perience with Buddhists in different parts of China and Japan, a study of "A Joy Ride Through China" for the N. A. their sutras and an appreciation de- C. Cora E. Simpson, R.N. Published by the Kwang Hsueh Publishing House, 44 Peking Road, Shanghai, or 740 Rush St., Chicago.
The General Secretary of the Nurses Association of China here de- scribes her varied experiences on a series of journeys to promote the work which she has at heart. Few travellers would have called her experi- ences by such a euphonious title.
China has had doctors-of a kind- for millenniums, but she never had nurses. The surgeon had often to de- pend on his "boy" or amah to help him
in the hospital or even in the operat- history at any given time by this ing theatre; no Chinese girl-student vision of the throne of grace and Him would demean herself to tend the sick who sits upon it. people. After the introduction, which dis- Miss Simpson and her coadjutors cusses the author (John) and the obare changing all this and many hos- ject (to exhort the Church to measure pitals in China are staffed with as in- up to the divine ideal) there are eight telligent and as handsome a bevy of lectures, one on the opening twenty nurses as can be found anywhere. verses, and seven on the seven letters The author tells something of the hard to the churches. Each lecture is pretask of training nurses and how to ceded by a "Prefatory Chapter" of tackle the work in the spirit of a joy- explanatory comment upon the Biblical ride. text, and a free translation of that section. The friendly criticism we "The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, a Reap- offer is that in these translations the pearance," being the first of four com- effort to make the meaning plain is panion volumes devoted to the exposi- at the cost of too great "wordiness," tion of the Revelation. First volume, and this is true in spots of the lec- "John to the Seven Churches," by W. tures themselves. J. McKnight, D.D., pastor of the First Reformed Presbyterian Church, Bos- Only let us, by reading "the words ton. Hamilton Bros., publishers, of this book" catch the vision of the Boston, 1927. Pp. 321. With Bibliog- Son of Man that John had, and that raphy and Index of Greek words and we need for ourselves right now. phrases. F. L. There are many books on the Apocalypse, but this is well worth study. It NEW BOOKS is written in popular style and opens up golden nuggets of truth in unsus- The Le01lard Hunts Alone-Travel, Mispected places. The author is a com- sions, Adventure on the Congo. Conway petent scholar and has had the efficient T. Wharton. 144 pp. $1.25. Fleming H. advice for years of Rev. R. J. G. Mc- Revell Co. New York. 1927. knight, D.D., of the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Pitts- Memories of the Mission Fields. Christine burgh. To him Apocalypse means "re- 1. Tinling. Foreword by F. B. Meyer. appearance" and he holds that Jesus 158 pp. 3s 6<7. Morgan & Scott. London, was actually seen by John, as by Paul. England. 1927. $1.25. China Inland By the instruction of the Spirit, "he Mission. Philadelphia. 1927. was able to read the historical present with an insight of a kind with God's." More Things to Make: Some Suggestions on Handwork. Compiled by Margaret La This last book of the Bible shows Trabe Martin. 54 pp. Is: Church Mishow the principles of the whole Word sionary Society. London, England. 1927. of God are projected into history. All events through the centuries, so inti- Our Jewish Neighbors. .fohn Stuart Con· mately connected, flow out of that ning. 154 pp. $1.25. Fleming H. Revell fountain. This book is an anticipatory Co. New York. 1927. statement of how all that God has revealed will be verified as time moves The Pallid Giant. Pierrepont B. Noyes. 300 on. The Church is shown the ideal, or pp. $2.00. Fleming H. Revell Co. New "contract," which Christ wants her to York. J927. realize. The Rosary. Cornelius Howard Patton. 160 Dr. McKnight says that we ought to pp. $1.50. Fleming H. Revell Co. New read the Apocalypse with a mind un- York. 1927. trammelled by chronological considerations, for expositions based upon such Thamilla "The Turtle Dove": A Story of have wholly failed. Rather, the uplift the Monntalns of Algeria. Ferdinand comes when we interpret Christian Dncheme. Translated by Isabelle May and Emily M. Newton. 247 pp. $1.75. Flem- ing H. Re'l"ell Co. New York. 1927.
Was Jesus In:tluenced by Buddhism! Dwight Goddard. 249 pp. Charles R. Cummings. White River .function, Vt.
Wall:tlowers. Temple Bailey. 350 pp. $2.00. Penn Publishing Co. Pittsburgh. 1927.
The Missionary Review of the World — June 1901
A TONSORIAL ARTIST IN
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
Old Series. } JUNE. I New Series. VOL. XXIV. No.6. 1 VOL. XIV. No.6.
SOME OONVERTS OF THE MISSION OENTURY.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
"My word shall not return unto Me, void." There is no such assnrance for any message of man, however wise, weighty, and worthy. Even such a sage as Socrates was compelled, by those who thought themselves the very vestals of the altar-fires of wisdom, to drink the fatal hemlock. But God's word has a peculiar promise, because God's power is in it and behind it. ;Hence our great care is to be that the message be a Divine one, conveyed with as much purity as possible, and by an empty and clean vessel; and then trust Him to prove the excellency of the power to be of God and not of us.
In nothing have the missions of the nineteenth century given us a greater witness to God than in the power of the pure Gospel over all sorts of men and women. Infields, overgrown with rank and deep-rooted superstitions, vices, and gigantic evils, the story of the cross has proved equal to the uprooting of all these growths and the planting of God's own trees of righteousness in their stead. The greatest successes have often been given to the most unlikely fields and workers, as tho to show that it was God's Spirit, and not human might or power, that was the efficient cause of such results.
To illustrate these statements adequately, the whole field of mis- sion work wtmld need to be explored. But brevity forbids this. We can only instance a few representative examples, selected almost at random, premising that not in converts only do these fruits appear, but in native teachers and preachers, evangelists and pastors; and, best of all, in native churches that have reached that maturity of growth which is marked by three signs: self-government, self-support, and self-propagation.
Henry Martyn's solitary convert in India was Abdul Messia'h. In 1809-10, Martyn was at Oawnpol'e for eighteen months as missionary chaplain, among a mixed multitude of the poor and the dishonest. 'Jeering Moslems looked down from the kiosk on the wall of his com- pound, smoking their hookahs and sipping their sherbet, but there
was one of them who reached a point where he could no longer join in their sneers. It was Sheikh Saleh, a moonshi of Lucknow, keeper of the king's jewels, a jealous and zealous follower of Mohammed, who had been shocked by a recent exposure of Moslem cruelty and treachery. Just. at this time, when his faith in the religion of the Koran was shaken, in contact with the saintly Martyn, he got a glimpse of the purity of God's law and the simplicity of salvation by the cross, and felt that he must find out from the sacred book of the Christian more of this teaching.
He got a place on the staff of translators. He read the Persian New Testament through, and the spirit of God wrought through it the old miracle of a changed life. He followed Martyn to Calcutta and was baptized into a new name: Abdul Messia'h-servant oj Messiah. He won over the head physician of Bhurtpore, and, after preaching and disputing in Meerut, left him to care for Christian natives, and himself went farther to regions beyond. After Martyn's death, Charles Simeon got a letter, referring to Abdul Messia'h: Could Henry Martyn look down from heaven and see his convert with the translated New Testament in hand preaching to the listening throng, it would add fresh delight to his holy soul.
When, forty years later, T. Valpy French gave grounds for going to Agra, he said that there this only convert of Martyn had fallen while carrying on Martyn's work, and that there was need of reinforcements lest that sacred work should fail. This it was that led the beloved French to that same field, where he wrought for forty years.* KA:hfIL ABDUL MESSIAH.
Curiously enough there is another, a Syrian convert from Islam, who, after conversion, took the name of Abdul Messiah-servant of Messiah-Kamil Aretany, who belongs to the last, as Saleh of India did to the first, decade of the century. In 1890 he called at Dr. Jessup's study in Beirut, and inquired after truth, and in 1892 he died a martyr to poison. Islam has proved such an impregnable fortress that such a conversion becomes an epochal event. He had got hold of a copy of the Greek Testament, but his father had taken it from him, and he had gone to Dr. Jessnp to seek his help in the further knowledge and understanding of the book. When he found the light~ he not only avowed it, but began to let his light shine among his Moslem friends. Even his father now hated him and led in his persecution. Undismayed, he finally joined the Arabian Mission at Aden. His passion for souls made his labor a rest and his death a martyrdom. He made the Koran itself the arsenal and armory whence he drew his weapons for assault on Islam and his tools for Christian work; searching and comparing Mohammed's book and God's book, • Life of Henry Martyn, 286, 543. Life of French, i: 19.
SOME CONVERTS OF THE MISSION CENTURY
he used both with a sagacity seldom paralleled. His methods are worth study as successful in a field where there has been so much comparative failure. He refuted the errors of Islamism, and vindi- cated his study of the Christian Scriptures and obedience to them, by quotations from the Koran itself, a singular instance of consecrated knowledge and tact.
For example, he pointed to the commendations of the character of Christ, and of His relations to Old Testament prophecy; he quoted the precept of the Koran that one is to "prove the truth to be such and bring to naught what is naught tho the impious were averse to it." He vindicates the intelligent and conscientious obedience to • truth, quoting again from the Koran, and showing that he that knows the truth and heeds it not is "like a donkey laden with books," as the Koran says. He defies his opposers to find a sentence in the Koran, abrogating the Old and New 'l'estaments, and gathers from that book all the precepts and counsels and concessions that can be turned to account in favor of the Gospel of Christ. It is a case of David, cutting off Goliath's head with the giant's own sword. And, withal, his spirit was so genuine, his manners so winning, and his courage so awe- inspiring and contagious, that even controversialists were silenced or compelled to admire and approve. Even the fanatical Moslems were moved to forbearance if not to toleration, At last he encountered at Busrah the Turkish soldiery, and with them there was no open door for argument. Death to the apostate was their blind motto, and they obeyed it with military precision and decision. Kamil sank under a brief and painful illness, which gave every symptom of poisoning. And the subsequent secrecy and suddenness of his burial, the refusal of an autopsy, and the concealment of even his grave, gave color to the suspicion of malice and hatred as conniving at his death.
Kamil had been but two years a convert, but he had lived long enough to prove three things: first, that a Moslem may be converted to Christianity; second, that such a convert may be made from the most learned and cultured classes; and, third, that a true wisdom in deal- ing with souls demands what has been called "the line of least resist- ance" to the heart and conscience. In moving forward to attack a false faith, we lose nothing by the generous recognition of any measure of truth or virtue which the adversary represents, and in Kamil's case the Koran proved the armory whence he drew some of his most effective weapons in the controversy with its professed adherents.
When Kamil fell a victim to the treachery of the foes of Christ he left behind him a stainless record. He was not only a convert from the false prophet to Christ, the atoning sacrifice and Savior, but he was in all respects a model of Christian courtesy, consistency, charity, and sacred enthusiasm.* .. Kami!. By Rev. H. H. Jessup, D.D. Westminster Press, Philadelphia.
The Rev. Mr. Graham, of Tokushima, has given an account of a Japanese Christian, Tosab·uto Oshima, baptized in 1889, in his seventysecond year.
This case is remarkable for the esteem in which this old man held the word of God. When, in old age, failing sight threatened to deprive him of the privilege of reading the precious book, he actually set about making with his own hands a copy of the New Testament, in characters large enough for his own use. lIe began with Matthew, in 1890, and by great labor in th1'ee or jour years carried the work to completion. It embraces twenty volumes-an imposing library, "eloquent in its story of devotion to the Savior, in whom he learned to trust after more than threescore and ten years in heathen darkness." The body of the text is in black ink and the headings of chapters in red, to assist the eye. Frequently the Ohinese and Japanese characters are introduced, side by side, to aid in grasping the meaning. If he has no iutimation beforehand of the subject of the sermon, he carries all the volumes to the service, and, when the chapter is announced, searches out the needed portion, finds the place, and follows the public reading of the Scriptures. His character is held in highest esteem, even those who speak harshly of others always referring to him in terms of appreciative praise.
THOKA)fBAU, KING OF BAU.
He was a cannibal of Fiji, especially intelligent and gigantic. When Mr. Oalvert went to Viwa, this chief's conversion was especially the object of his prayers. He sought to win him, and yet by warning and reproof to be faithful to him. But the king saw that to countenance the new religion would be to renounce his own injustice and wrong-doing, and he clung tenaciously to his idols.
When his father Tanoa died, Thokambau hastened to carry out his father's last injunction, that his wives should not fail to attend him to the spirit world, and, notwithstanding the presence of Mr. Watsford, a missionary who hastened to the Bau to stay the slaughter, he persisted in strangling the fiye victims. Wars followed, in which the king sustained reverse after reverse, and was then brought near to death with an acute and painful disease, Mr. Calvert, always faithful to duty and opportunity, seeking to show him that God was dealing with him.
At last Thokambau yielded, and on April 30, 1854, the big death drums, which had been the signals for cannibal feasts, now sounded for the assembly to worship the true God. More than three hundred met, and among them Vu ni VaIn (Root of War), who, with his large family and circle of relatives, bowcd to adore the God of the Ohristians. The joy of the missionaries was overflowing.
Thokambau evinced his sincerity by enjoining strict Sabbath-keep-
SOME CONVERTS OF THE MISSION CENTURY
ing, and himself attending preaching and prayer services. His little boy of seven had learned to read, and the father, at the age of fifty, humbly submitted to be taught by his child. In 1857 he was baptized, was publicly married to his principal wife, and dismissed the rest at great sacrifice of wealth and influence. His baptism was public, and was accompanied by an open renunciation of the devil and all his works, the world and the flesh, and by solemn vows of self-dedication. He then addressed the assembly, and before his court confessed the sins of his former life.
Words fail to convey what all this meant. 'l'his man had considered himself a virtual ueity, and had received from his subjects virtually divine honors. He now took a humble place as himself the subject of the Almighty King, and his confessions and humiliations were made in presence of a congregation in which were gathered husbands whose wives he had dishonored, widows whose husbands he had murdered, those whose relatives he had strangled and eaten, and children of parents whom he had slain·, and who had vowed to be avenged on him. Before such an audience he acknowledged himself a bad man, and the scourge of the world. lIe was deeply moved, and so we~e his hearers. He took a new -name, Ebenezer, in gratitude for the help hitherto received of God, and his queen was baptized as Lydia. Henceforth he took no backward step, and his chaplain, Mr. Nettleton, bore witness that he had never known a Christian more devoted, earnest, and consistent than King Thokambau.
He made overtures of peace to his foes, unmoved to angcr or revenge by the most insulting reproaches. His last act was to cede Fiji to the Queen of Great Britain in 1874, in connection with which event he sent to Queen Victoria his war club, in his heathen days" the only known law of Fiji." This relic, graciously received by the queen, can be seen in the British Museum, together with his carved Yanggona bowl, mounted on four legs, which had been so long associated with grossest habits of intoxication.
'rhis royal convert died in 1883, after a beautiful Christian life of over a quarter of a century. His life was as eminent for piety and serviceableness after his conversion as it had been for tyranny, licentiousness, and cruelty, before. At his death his house was, according to ancient custom, torn down and cast into the sea, and his great canoe drawn up on the beach never again to ride the waves. But, so long as the memory of the Fijians retains anything, the transformation of the King of Bau will not cease to be a miracle of grace!
Krishna Mohan Banerjea, a, Kulm Brahman, converted, became the editor of The Inquirer, and, in the native Christian community of Bengal, until his death, was the recognized leader. In 1871, out of Dr. Duff's forty-eight educated converts, nine were preachers, ten catechists, seventeen Christian teachers-thirty-six directly connected
with Christian and missionary work-the other twelve being government servants and medical men.
The Karens have become in Burma the great evangelizing force, and the despised "wild men" are not only influencing but actually evangelizing the dominant race itself that had held them in slavery.
Liang-a-fa, Milne's Chinese convert, became a distinguished preacher and a man of wide influence. He was exiled for his faith, but after the treaty of Nankin came back to Canton and resumed work.
Joseph Hardy Neesima, whose conversion was the opening. of a new era in Japan's history, was from his own reception of Christ inflamed with a desire to bring his countrymen to Christ. His institution, the Doshisha, or the Single-Eyed institution, was the final outcome. When he died in 1890 the whole empire was moved by his death.
Samuel Crowther, the slave boy of the African coast, was in 1827 the first pupil enrolled in the Fourah Bay College at Sierra Leone; he became a missionary to his own Yoruba people, and thell: received his own mother as the first convert into the native church. Afterward he became Bishop of the Niger, and was actively at work for Africa's redemption till his death, December 31, 1891..
TWO NOTABLE JEWISH CONVERTS.
A notable convert from the Jews was Israel Saphir, of Hungary. His young son, Adolph, became one of the most distinguished preachers and apologetes of the century, and from his London pulpit sent forth such utterances as have had in their way no parallel in our time. His accomplished pen has likewise given to the world the finest book on "The Divine Unity of Scripture," ever issued. The father had a bitter struggle before yielding to the claims of the Messiah, but the evidence was overwhelming, and he said to his wife: "I am convinced that Jesus is the Christ; and, tho I see nothing but starvation staring us in the face, I must go and confess it."
Joseph Rabinowitz, the lawyer of Kishenew, no sooner became a convert to Christianity than he became not only a witness to Christ, but the founder of a new movement, known as "Israelites of the New Covenant." 'This man's case is perhaps the closest approximation to that of Saul of Tarsus since the days of the" Acts."
Nathaniel Pipper, a native of the colony of Victoria, was baptized in 1860, after thirty-six years of labor by missionaries among the aboriginal tribes of Australia, during which the natives had defied all power of Christianity to even civilize them. Various missionary societies had made the attempt in vain, and when at length this solitary convert was won, the surprising event was thought to call for a public celebration, aud a meeting convened, with the governor in the chair.* * Gospel Ethnology. S. R. Pattison.
SOME CONVERTS OF THE MISSION CENTURY
What an unwritten history of tears and fears and prayers and hopes crystallizes about the names of jirst converts in various fields! Ouriously enough, seven years has been the average period of appal" ently fruitless toil before the first fruits have been gathered, tho in some instances the unfruitful period has reached to twice, thrice, 'and, in one memorable case, to jive times seven! The names of these con· verts are well known to all lovers of missions. For example: Carey's Krishnapal, in 1800; Pomare, of Tahiti, in 1810; Tsai-a-Ko, of the lonely Morrison, in 1814; Moung Nan, of Judson, in Burma, in 1819; Kho-Thah-Byu, first of Karens, in 1828; first Dualla convert, baptized by Saker, in Cameroons River, 1849; Nai-Ohune, first of Siamese, 1859; Nathaniel Pipper, first of Australian aborigines, 1860.
If those who doubt the Gospel's universal adaptation and power to save would study missions in all lands their doubts would soon vanish. They would read the story of Catherine Ruyters, the Hottentot, who died in 1848, at the age of llO, not baptized till she was a hundred years old, but revealing a remarkable Ohristian character; they would follow Samuel Crowther, the slave boy, till he became Bishop of Sierra Leone; Moshesh, the great Basuto chief, baptized in 1869, and Molet· sam, another chief, converted about the same time, both wonderful trophies of grace; in Uganda, in 1886, Bekweyamha, another chief, daring martyrdom for Christ; Oupido, the notorious Hottentot sinner, a liar, blasphemer, outlaw, and drunkard; Africaner, Moffat's great trophy; Lin Kise Shan, the opium smoker and libertine of Hankow; Yang, the Buddhist priest; Sawa and Sudziki, the Japanese; Myat Kyan, of Burma; Wiru, first of the Papuan youths of New Guinea, and Aruako, changed from a robber and murderer to a Gospel preacher; Kauhumanu, the Sandwich Island regent; Taraaere, the high-priest of Rarotonga; Paten Jacobs, the Chippewa Indian; Deacon Guergis, the Kurd; and thousands-nay, tens of thousands-like them, gathered in all lands, to prove that the Savior of men, uplifted, draws all men to Him.
The missionary converts of the century have set us a noble example of evangelism. They have been emphatically heralds of the Gospel, witnesses for Christ, and winners of souls. It is of the very genius of Ohristianity that every believer shall also be a proclaimer of the good tidings and a laborer in the world' field. He is to regard himself not as a part of the jield, and dependent therefore on others' tillage, but as a part of the working force himself to till the world field. "Each new convert was to diffuse among his friends and relations the inestimable blessings which he had received." So says the historian Gibbon, who, as a historian, could not but see and record that early disciples regarded this as a most sacred duty and, he might have added, privilege. Gibbon saw also that herein lay the secret of the rapid missionary march of
the all-conquering Gospel, "converting, advancing, aggressive, encom- passing the world," as Max Muller says, who also gives a general law of the hightest importance: The missionary religions are alive; the non-missionary are dead. There is nothing which so marks the mis- sionary wOlk of the century as genuine as the consecrated activity, the irrepressible activity of converts. While the total force of the foreign churches in heathen lands approximates twelve thousand (one- third of whom are women), the force of native workers is from four to five times as large, and of these probably four thousand are ordained.
A NOTE OF WARNING.
In closing this too hasty review of the century's converts, we can not but sound one note of warning: The temptation is perpetual and most 8Ubtle to recleon success foo much by mere nwmerical standards. Of this we must beware. It is a fundamental and fatal mistake. To emphasize this serious danger, we here give two strongly contrasted cases, one showing. how" converts" may too hastily be "made," bap- tized and counted, and the other showing what It difference is made in character and life by a thorough conversion and regeneration.
Baptism, as William Duncan taught his simple Metlakahtlans, is like the label on a can of salmon-it is meant to signify, and vouch for, the quality of its contents; but sectarians and ritualists hasten eagerly to clap on the label without due care to the life, whether or not it corresponds. A certain "bishop" in one single day converted and baptized a sick Indian chief of a heathen tribe. While in health he had stoutly refused even to be taught of Ohristians. But, being smitten with a disease which his native doctors could not cure, after a short inter- view with the bishop, wanting, as he said, to be saved–that is, healed- he seemed ready to yield to the bishop's advice, was baptized, and gave up his medicine-rattle to the bishop. The incident furnished a fine subject for a sensational story of conversion, and the rattle was flourished before the Indian spectators as a trophy.
But, after the bishop left his" convert," his illness grew worse.
He had not been' saved,' after all. He therefore sought again heathen counsellors, and they blamed him for giving up his rattle charm, as a medicine man. Superstition readily and rapidly regained the upper hand, and he made up his mind to demand his rattle and give back to the bishop his baptismal water. So a cup of water was at his request put by his bed. At the bishop's return, the chief,. the baptized shaman, demanded his rattle with a clamorous threat, and it was returned; and, as the bishop left, the dying Indian flung at him the cup of water, crying out with curses, "Take back your baptism!" So much for "baptism" without the "new creature."
1901]' SOME CONVERTS off' THE MISSION CENTURY
Compare with this, one of William Duncan's own converts, Legiac.
Legiac was a fierce barbarian, chief of all the chiefs of the Tsimchians. He was a brutal murderer, and boasted of the number of human lives he had taken and the human bodies he had devoured. He had previously attempted to assassinate Mr. Duncan himself. Aflame with drink, and in a furious rage, he had drawn his knife, and was about to make a thrust when he suddenly cowed and slunk away, his arm falling as if paralyzed. The fact was he had at that moment seen Clah, a faithful native teacher of Mr. Duncan, step behind Mr. Duncan and raise a revolver, and Legiac saw that his knife-blade would be no match for a bullet. Though foiled at that time, he had ceaselessly harrassed and persecuted Mr. Duncan and his followers. But the grace of God touched him, and, like Africaner, the African outlaw, he was transformed from a lion into a lamb. He became a witness of the faith which once he destroyed, and, when baptized, like Saul, he chose the new name, Paul. Here is his simple testimony at baptism: We must put away all our evil ways. I want to take hold of God. I believe in God the Father, who made all things, and 'in Jesus Christ. I constantly cry for my sins when I remember them. I believe the good will sit near to God after death. I am anxious to walk in God's ways all my life. If I turn back it will be more bitter for me than before. I pray God to wipe out my sins, strengthen me to do right, pity me. My prayers are from my heart. I think sometimes God does not hear me, because I don't give up all my sins. My sins are too heavy. I think we have not strength of ourselves.
Legiac completely abandoned all his evil ways, became a simple citizen of Metlakahtla, gave up his prominence as a chief for a simple place among the brethren, and was an industrious carpenter and cabinet-maker, and a very exemplary Christian. When struck with fatal illness away from home, he dictated to his daughter his dying message to Mr. Duncan: I want to see you. I always remember you in my mind. I shall be very sorry if I shall not see you before I go away, because you showed me the ladder that reaches heaven, and I am on the top of that ladder now. I have nothing to trouble me. I only want to see you.
So died the once haughty and desperate Indian chief, peacefully and like a child. * Who can look at the story of the century and the roll of its converrts, and not exclaim, "What hath God wrought! "
* Story of Metlakahtla. By Welcome, Pp. 12, 4C
A BRIEF STUDY OF AFRIOA.
BY REV. THOMAS MOODY.
American Baptist Kongo Mission.
Africa is roughly divided into North, Oentral, and South Africa. 1. North Africa is mostly under British and French rule. England has access to the Sudan by way of the Nile from the Mediterranean, and by the Niger from the west coast. This is, roughly speaking, a territory of six thousand square miles, with a population of about sixty millions. France has access to the Sudan by way of Algiers in the Mediteranean, and also from Senegal on the west coast. A very successful missionary work has been carried on in Egypt by the United Presbyterians. 'l'hey commenced work in 1860, and from that time to the present the Lord has wonderfully blessed their undertakings. We are told that from the beginning to the present time the church membership has numerically doubled every five years, and they now have in church fellowship five thousand seven hundred persons. 2. South Africa is a country embracing three million sqllare miles, with about fifty million people. '1'hese are mostly under British rule. Portugal holds the east coast and Germany the west coast of this part of the continent. This portion of the country is covered pretty fairly with missions. Nearly all denominations are working here, and are organized into unions and assemblies; besides doing work among the white population, they are also doing some work among the native peoples. Several societies of Europe and America have work in this region. 3. Oentral Equatorial Africa. Here we have a section of country stretching from ten degrees north of the equator to ten degrees south of it, containing about forty million square miles, and an estimated population of fifty millions. It is the worst section of the world for white men to attempt to live in. This country is occupied by Germany on the east and also on the west coast; the British also are on both coasts. The Portuguese are on the west coast, and also the French are on the west coast and the Kongo. Independent Kongo State is in the center, with the king of the Belgians as its sovereign. Roughly speaking, one out of every three who go from Europe or America to this country dies or returns home; the others are usually able to stay for several years. The Ohurch of England Missionary Society labors in Uganda, on the east coast, and God has wonderfully blessed the work from the days of Mackay till now. They have passed through persecutions and revolutions and trials of all sorts, but their work has spread as far as Toro, at the south of the Albert Nyanza. '1'here is a church there
A BRIEF STUDY OF AFRICA
now.. of five hundred and sixty-three members, where five years ago there was not a single Christian. This work was started by the Uganda native evangelists. At the present time they have over two hundred out-stations and seven thousand church members. This work was begun in 1876, as the result of Stanley'S letter to the London Times and the New York Herald, in which he appealed for some godly, practical missionaries to come out and teach king Umteza and his people the way of life.
The British Congregationalists are laboring at Lake Tanganyika, and the American Congregationalists at BengueIIa, on the west coast. 1'he British Wesleyans have a grand work at Sierre Leone, where they have labored for years, and now they have one hundred and fifty outstations and twenty thousand church members. 'The Basel Missionary Society is laboring at Lagos and Camaroons, where they have ninetyseven missionaries and eight thousanQ church members.
In all Africa there are two hundred missionary societies at work, and they enroll half a million church members and a half million adherents.
4. '1'he Kongo Independent State. Here we have a section of country of a million square miles, or as large as the United States east of the Mississippi River, with about twenty million inhabitants. The following is the missionary force working there: SOCIETY. Stations, Missionaries. r.&':,i'~~~s.
English Baptist…………… " ………. . 12 45 500 Kongo Bololo Mission …. , ……………. . Free Church, Sweden. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . 6 25 Christian and Missionary Alliance ……… . Southern Presbyterian, U. S. A………… . 7 25 1,500 Disciples of Christ……………………. . American Baptist Missionary Union …… . 4 10 2 10 200 1 5 9 30 2,900 Totals …………. , ………… ' ., .. tU 150 5,lDO These stations stretch from the mouth of the Kongo to Stanley Falls, a distance of fourteen hundred miles inland. Between Stanley Falls and Toro is a distance of four hundred miles before we have another link in the chain of missions across Africa.
The Congregationalist Bololo missionaries are working on the Lulanga River, the Southern Presbyterians on the Kassai. Both these rivers are on the right bank of the Kongo, and empty into it far in the interior".
God has wonderfully blessed these Kongo missions. Their work was only begun in 1878, the year following Stanley's descent of tha;t mighty river, and now, in that country where life was not safe, there are Christian towns-towns which are as Christian as any we can find in America; and all this has been brought about in the last
few years ! We thank God and take courage, knowing that he that has blessed, will bless.
A word more about the Sudan and the northern portion of the Kongo. Here we have a vast country occupied by European governments and traders, yet up to the present the missionary has not entered it. Here is a vast territory of four million square miles, a country as large as our own, all open and waiting for the Gospel. How long shall they be kept waiting? Ethiopia is stretching out her hands unto God, and shall we not embrace this opportunity? ]'01' four hundred years Europe and America stole Africans and made them slaves. At the present Europe has possession of eleven-twelfths of all Africa; only Liberia and Abyssinia are left. Do we not owe them something-the best thing we have: the Gospel of the Son of God?
THE NEED FOR INDUSTIUAL MISSIONS IN AFlUCA.
BY WILLIAM L. THmIPsoN, M.D.
Missionary of the A. B. C. F. M., at Mt. Silinlia, East Central Africa.
A few years of missionary work in Africa makes many things appear in a very different aspect. '1'he difficulties and trials which were at first dreaded have vanished, while others not anticipated have come into prominence. It is as when one views a mountainrange a hundred miles away, and then on arriving at the spot finds little resemblance to what he beheld from a distance; objects that appeared in bold relief have vanished, while others not seen before now fill the vision.
Both these viewpoints are necessary to one who would have true knowledge, and to ideas gained from a distance is due the failure of many a missionary project. Societies have been formed and missionaries sent out to the interior of Af~ica, bearing sealed orders from those who have never sct foot on the Dark Continent. Other boards follow the wiser coill'se of basing directions upon representations of workers on the field. A still nearer view by .those who direct the work in Africa would result in a clearer apprehension of conditions and needs and better methods of work.
It is difficult for one not familiar with pagan character through daily contact to realize how great is the gulf between paganism and modern civilization, or -even to apprehend in what that gulf consists. Some regard it as essentially a difference of race, and consider any attempt to bridge the chasm as hopeless, as much so as would be an attempt to change the color of the skin. And yet to one who studies closely their mental and moral activities, the conviction is unavoidable that the similarities are fundamental, the differences, like the color, are only superficial. Like many other Africans, a lad named Barnabas Root was born a heathen negro, was brought to America
THE NEED FOR INDUSTRIAL MISSIONS IN AFRICA
while still a youth, graduated with honor from Knox Oollege and Ohicagt> Theological Seminary, and commanded the respect and esteem of all who knew him.
We are not disposed to deny the importance of heredity, but we believe that the differences in character and conditions due to the differences of environment during a l~fetime are of much greater importance to us, and that were these changed, civilization might replace barbarism in a single generation.
Altho the African is so different from us, and his ideas so foreign that we can at first scarcely understand him, yet, as we become familiar with him, we al'e surprised to find how many and striking are the similarities to civilized men. The essential characteristics are much the same. While the Africans are almost universally deceitful, yet they can appreciate and re~pect candor and truth. SE'eming EaRLY MISSIONARY DWELLINGS AT MT. SILINDA.
to care only for the things of time and sense, they yet believe in an unseen spirit world, whose inhabitants they fear and to whom they offer gifts and prayers.
Altho they live almost like animals-in such a way that we would think all sense 'of modesty would be destroyed-yet they have their ideas of propriety which they are ashamed to violate. Many suppose that the savage is free from the trammels of fashion, but this is a mistake. The most irksome and painful performances are cheerfully endured in obedience to its mandate, and the rules of thcir society are as imperious as are those of Europe. But altho we find the same mental faculties present, their relative development differs in many respects from that of other races. It is difficult to decide just how far .the varying manifestations are the result of constitution and to what extent of education. They are undonbtedly a musical race.
414 Their voices are melodious, and they sing a great deal. 'l'hey also manufacture a variety of musical instruments, and oftentimes their performances are pleasing even to civilized ears. While their society puts a premium on cruelty and deceit, there is evidence that their moral sense condemns these vices.
Those who have never lived among the heathen of Africa are apt to underestimate the extent to which the demoralizing influences of civilization affect the work of the missionary. Many think of missionaries as contending only with pagan ignorance, superstition, and vice. We forget that since Africa has been partitioned among the civilized nations unscrupulous greed and the vices of civilization cqntend for its possession.
Too many, perhaps, think of pag-an Africa as a fallow field in which the good seed of the Gospel can be sown and left to spring up and bring forth the good fruits of Christian civilization by natural development. It is, rather, a field full of rocks and tares which needs constant care with all the latest implements to cultivate it properly. If the fallow-fielll theory of African missions was ever true, that time is past. If there was a time when we could let a civilization develop under the influence of Ohristian principle, that time was the same in which civilization was growing up among us. Unless the pagan receives our civilization as a source of strength and uplift, he must be crushed before its power in the hands of the unscrupulous and vicious, who are pressing in from all sides, ready to debase and defraud the helpless native for the gratification of their lust and the satisfaction of their greed. The African has fallen among thieves who are stripping him of even what little morality the restraining power of his dark superstitions has given him. They are surrounding him with the vices which only trained intellects could devise, and are robbing him of even that animal comfort which Nature has bestowed upon him. Unless we are ready to act the part of the" Good Samaritan," to turn aside from the pursuit of our own selfish interests, and to attend to the needs of those who may be as repulsive to us as the Jew was to the Samaritan, to give our time and strength and money, and provide inns-Christian schools and hospitals-for the sick neighbor, the thieves will complete their work, and the African will continue to be the prey of the slave-holder. The spirit of slavery is by no means dead; its forms of oppression may change, but its grasp does not relax.
"Knowledge is power." The African is ignorant and, therefore, helpless. If white men defraud or abuse him, he regards it as hopeless to c.ppeal for redress to the kinsmen of his oppressors, for he knows of no justice stronger than the ties of blood. He has nothing to offer for- the" redemption of his soul" but a iittle brute force; and if he essays to withdraw fr.om all unwilling service, he does not know
THE NEED FOR INDUSTRIAL MISSIONS IN AFRICA
that his" house is his castle," and those who desire to make gain of him will not inform him.
It is true, as one has said, that the principal ailment of the heathen is sin, and that the Gospel is the only remedy. A physician may rightly diagnose a disease and know the remedy, but if he fails to study thoroughly into his patient's case and to adapt the form of the prescription to the patient's condition and constitution, he may utterly fail.
It is to be expected that t}:le work will only be begun by foreign agents, and will then be carried on by native converts. But what constitutes a beginning? Can we expect the savage, with bow and arrow, to fight the modern army with heavy cavalry and rapid-fire Maxim guns? No matter how gallant or loyal he may be, he will inevitably be annihilated. But if Africa is to be saved by the African, he must be prepared to meet not only paganism, but also the onslaughts of civilized vice and crimp.. To establish the work thoroughly we must give them the advantage of the best in modern civilization as well as Christianity-power as well as purpose. Knowledge without purpose is power which will prove a "savor of death unto death" rather than of " life unto life." Without power the purpose must fail.
To carryon the work of civilizing and Christianizing Africa it is not necessary that the native have political independence, but he must have independence of character and personal rights. To this end he must be civilized so that he can meet civilized men on an equal footing, anel he must also be able to maintain himself in a civilized life, by being acquainted with civilized arts and industries. Hence the ,:mportance of industrial training.
The need of such training has been overlooked and underestimated by many, largely because its universal importance in civilized lands renders it so easily attainable. In America and England almost any child learns ·without effort what would seem to the savage mind mysterious and complicated operations. In America ind.:tstrial training is considered of secondary importance, because its universal importance renders it an all-pervading influence. In pagan Africa the case is quite different. Unless special effort is put forth to give the native industrial training, he remains quite ignorant of civilized _ industries and does not realize his need. As a result we might see per- sons who, having made some advancement in literary culture, still remain quite ignorant of the simplest industries of civilization, such as using a spade or a plow, an ax or a grindstone, building a fire in a stove, washing dishes, sweeping a room, or even shutting a door!
Consider the situation of such a person when he comes into contact with civilized men, who seek to deal with him on a commercial basis. Whatever knowledge he may have acquired has never been put into practise, or is not sufficient to enable him, a black man, to take a posi-
tion as bookkeeper or salesman. If he seeks to do unskilled labor (handling a spade or a wheelbarrow would be skilled labor in pagan Africa) he can earn only the wages of a naked savage upon which to support himself as a civilized man. Moreover, his assumption of superiority in dress and intelligence will, with the average employer of native labor, subject him to abuse and ridicule rather than to increased respect. Thus the mentally elevated African is forced to admit that his unlettered, savage brothers are better off than he. Industrial inefficiency soon forces him to relinquish his civilized garb, 01' his effort to continue it results in an even more disreputable appearance than that of the raw heathen.
Under these circumstances, what are the prospects of this man becoming a savior to his people? Missionaries so clearly apprehend the necessity of some industrial training that they do their utmost, NATIVE DWELLINGS IN EAST CENTRAL AFRICA.
with the meager facilities llsually at their disposal, to give some training, tho they are often little qualified to take up this branch of education.
We are also prone to forget the influence of industrial training upon the devolopment of intellectual and moral charac.ter. It gives a practical character to the mental activity. The sense of power, which the control of nature gives, develops self-respect; and the responsibility connected with handling tools and machinery tlevelops st.ability and earnestness.
It may be suggested that they learn these branches from those who come to Africa for secular purp.oses, so that the missionary may c,)nfine his attention toteaching religious truth. But those who CO'Ile to Africa from secular motives, in their short-sighted thirst for il1lmediate profit, do not seek to impart that knowledge to any extent. They employ natives for years as beasts of burden, apparently wit: out any thought that they can ever be anything higher. Moreover, it
THE NEED FOR INDUSTRIAL MISSIONS IN AFRICA
is the common experience that natives under the influence of white merchants and traders are not only not elevated but are positively taught the vices of civilization and often cursed with its loathsome diseases. Thus their degradation is intensified. But give the native a trade or a useful civilized occupation, with sterling moral principles and a knowledge of his rights and obligations to civilized society-his right to his home and his duty to discharge the functions of citizenship-and he can demand the respect of those who covet his services, and even appeal for redress when wronged.
But can we expect these barbarians to become civilized in a generation, when it has taken ages to develop civilization among us? I believe the only chance for the African to become civilized is to adopt -not develop-civilization. The opportunity for a slow development is past. And if it were possible to leave this race to develop its own resources, would this be the natural course ? Would it be in accordance with the Golden Rule? Can we love our neighbor as ourselves and refuse to share with him the blessings which God's providencenot we ourselves- has brought to us. That would be saying to him "Be ye warmed and filled" while we refused to supply his need? Would it be wise for a farmer to continue to reap his grain with a sickle or thresh it with a flail when his neighbor is using the selfbinding reaper and steam thresher because, forsooth, he thinks it fitting to wait until his own brain has developed these things for himself rather than appropriate the results of another's genius?
I believe that civilization is soon to flourish in the Dark Continent. It will not spring up as an indigenous plant, but will be transplanted from the other continents. 'the barriers are giving way before civilization. At last malaria,. that mysterious, elusive, hidden foe to the entrance of the white man into the tropical continent, has been traced to its lair. The weapons for its annihilation are fast being forged in the world's scientific laboratories. Whether the civilization of Africa is to be a Christian civilization that will reach down and lift up the African, or a godless civilization that will crush him still lower in the mire, depends on the Christian Ohurch.
Unless we are ready to raise the African to a position of intelligence and efficiency such that he may know something of his rights and have the ability to enter the competition of the nations for life and liberty, he is doomed. Until our work for the African shall have produced leaders who know the rights and privileges of civilized man, and can teach their fellows how to Iive in association with civilized man and maintain themselves in a civilized existence by means of civilized industries, we can never expect our work to become self-supporting or self-propagating to any great extent. We may carry it forward for a hundred years, and if we fail in this matter we have but to leave it to see it gradually fail and die. Education, then, and such educa-
tion as shall raise the people out of barbarism into civilization, must be included in our plan for the redemption of Africa.
Industrial education is not the most important part of mission work, but it is indispensable, and our work in Africa has failed at this point. In building a wheel it would be foolish to discuss which is the most important -the hub, the spokes, or the rim.
We must have them all. The hub of mission work is spir- itual and moral instruction; the spokes are literary or intellectual training; but we must have as the rim and the tire ind ustrial training, to make a stable, durable wheel which will roll the car of true civilization from one end of the Dark Continent to the other.
The Lovedale Institute is often referred to as preemin- ent for its use of industrial training. Its results should go far to dispel opposition to this form of effort, but it is not a prodigy of missions- A.N AFRICAN SA.WMILL. an exception to what should be the rule. It is, rather, a conservative outcome of an imperative need, the very least that the necessity of the case could accept as satisfactory. The lesson from this experiment is that all this and much more in the same line is required to meet the needs of Africa.
The arguments against industrial training for the African would apply with equal force against literary schools and colleges in any mission field. And the arguments which justify the support of schools and colleges with missionary money in any mission field apply with equal, if not greater, force in justification of industrial training for the African. Africa not only needs missionary mechanics, but also the missionary business men, missionary lawyers, and missionaries in every avocation to be "living epistles, known and read of all men."
There is another view of the question which is well worthy of our consideration-namely, its relation to economy of mission force and funds; to the question of self-support or self-help of African missions.
The East Central Africa Mission of the A. B. C. F. M. was estab- lished over seven years ago in the highlands of Melsetter, Rhodesia.
THE NEED FOR INDUSTRIAL MISSIONS IN AFRICA
This site, two hundred and fifty miles from any civilized base of supplies, was chosen for its healthfulness and suitability as an educa- tional center for the people among whom it was proposed to work. The average good health of the American missionary force, as well as the growing school and church, suggest that the siLe was well chosen. But it is very difficult for one who has never experienced life so far removed from civilization, with its numerous facilities for all sorts of work, to realize what it means grappling with nature wholly untamed. Before going out to Africa the writer had spent four summers as an apprentice to a carpenter, and had helped to build ten or twelve houses. He had been reared on the wild frontier and had seen farms hewn out of the forest, and yet he found himself quite unable to esti- mate the work invoh"ed in establishing a civilized home in a pagan community with few of the helps which civilization has developed. Nor have six years of earnest effort by any means been sufficient to overcome the difficulties of the situation. We still lack the facilities for giving the industrial training which we believe to be so necessary.
A great deal of "skilled labor" must be done on a mission station in Africa, whether there be any skilled workmen to do it or not, unless the missionaries are to live like barbarians. It is difficult for the inexperienced to realize the amount of time and effort that is unavoidably devoted to this department. Missionaries do not write much about it, for they soon learn that this is not what their frij:lnds wish to hear about. There is an unbounded power going to waste in unnumbered waterfalls and swift-flowing streams, whic~ might be employed more directly, or, still better, converted into electricity. Then, too, the possibilities of using the power of the wind are immense. The question should always be, not:. Will the development of these resonrces bring money into the treasury? but: Will it save money to the treasury in proportion to results accomplished? In our mission the cost of building our house has been several times what it would have been with proper facilities. We have had to pay enormous prices for getting lumber sawed by hand, which is very unsatisfactory when obtained, because so rough and uneven. We have had to pay the prices of experts to bunglers. Our work demands skilled mechanics, not only for these economic ends, but also and especially for the work of teaching the heathen. We have spent thousands of dollars transporting goods at ten dollars per hundred-weight on head~ of human beings. With a traction engine, a saw-mill and flour-mill, and some supplementary machinery, some apparatus to facilitate the making of brick and tile, and a consecrated skilled artisan and engineer to take charge of these things, our building material might have been produced at perhaps one-quarter the cost and twice the value. Our buildings might have been erected in one-fourth of the time. The medical department might have had a hospital and dispensary instead of remaining house-
less and homeless, and the school might be on a better footing. The same may be said of all the departments of the work.
Of course to have provided these facilities at the start would have involved greater outlay than has been made, but if we had had them then we might by this time have been better housed and otherwise provided for, and might have sold to our neighbor settlers enough lumber, brick, tiles, and other products to have .largely paid for our industrial plant. Coffee and tea plantations might have been started, furnishing great opportunities to bring natives under our influence. Such plantations might, by this time, be beginning to make a financial return.
In the work so far we have had to make brick and tiles by hand, saw lumber with pit-saws, and do various necessary things with little or no experience in these industries. We have had to use mud for mortar, with the result that our houses have been soaked through by rains and greatly injured. We have had to hire poor help at high prices, with money that might have supported an efficient coworker. We have had to cultivate the soil with hoes instead of plows and harrows. And we have had to take time to do all these things in an inefficient manner, while the work for which we had received special training and were sent especially to do has been neglected.
Would it not have been much wiser and, in the long run, more economical for the churches of the United States, whose work this is, to have provided the means in the beginning to have started the mission on a basis of efficient self-help? Then, is it not a matter of some importance that missionaries should not be discouraged and disheartened by being obliged Jor years to work in such antiquated, inefficient ways?
All missionaries to pagan Africa must experiment, because they have to deal with new and untried conditions. If we are to avoid experiments, we must steer clear of pagan Africa altogether. But if we must experiment, shall we not do it thoroughly, with a view to obtaining the best results. Should we leave the work of civilizing the pagan to the enemies of Christ? Even if they would do it, they would at the same time contradict in word and in life the Gospel message. If wc refuse to accept the experiment of civilizing as well as Christianizing Africa, as it presents itself to us to-day, we may, at some future time, find that conditions have changed. Possibly we may find the work of civilization accomplished in some degree, but we shall have to meet a deeper, more hopeless moral degradation. More probably we shall find that paganism has held its own, side by side, with an incoming civilization, but its" blackness of darkness" has been intensified by the adoption of all the vices which nnprincipled, base tho civilized, men can offer them.
A NATIVE VIEW OF CHRISTIANITY IN SUUTH AFRICA
A NATIVE VIEW OF CHRISTIANITY IN SOUTH AFRICA.
BY REV. JOHN L. DUBE, OHLANGE, NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA. Superintendent of the Zulu Christian Industrial School at Ohlange.* It is seldom that the natives of South Africa have an opportunity of expressing to the world their own impressions of things spiritual or material. Foreigners who come here and write for the public gather their information from Europeans, and seldom take any trouble to find out what. the natives think on the subject. Since the British-Boer war began there have been many expressions ~s to the ou tlook for Ohristianity under English rule. Some of these be- came the laughing-stock of our people, who have from youth been associated with Ohristian work in JOHN L. DUB~.
British colonies.
In dealing with this subject two questions naturally come before me: Have the missionary societies and all Ohristian organizations up to the present been progressive? Has the colonial life been a help or a hindrance to Ohristianity? We can judge the future largely by studying these two questions.
As to the missionary work and the English churches now at work under English rule, any prominent missionary would say that their method has not been a progressive one. He would tell you that we have attempted to build a good foundation for the future Church in Africa by getting a few natives and teaching them the funda- mental truths of the Gospel. I have noticed this, and have ques- tioned whether it is the business MRS. DUB~. of God's people to spend much time 'teaching the doctrines, or to teach the convert that his duty is to tell his heathen brother the • Mr. DubG has recently started an industrial work for his own people. The purpose of it is to uplift them industrially, mentally, and spiritually. The mission is governed by a board of trustees in South Africa, and there is an advisory board in America. The treasurer of this board is Mr. Louis Stoiber, 722 Broadway, New York City.-EDIToRS.
story of Ohrist and His saving love. I do not see any use in teaching strictly denominational doctrines to the natives just emerging from heathenism.
The slow progress is not the fault of the missionary alone, for the African is slow to learn. He has inherited this from his ancestors. Even the white people coming to Africa begin to lose the energy they tJossess in colder climates. The native goes slowly, and often without energy. Human nature is to be reckoned with in the progress of a people. I believe that Ohristianity is the only power to awaken in the mind of the African the uplifting influences which will inspire him to seek higher ideals and purposes. 'l'heir own beliefs keep their mental and moral powers in an aimless condition, without any higher desire than to herd sheep and cattle and to have as many wives as they can support. The English colonial churches take but very little interest in mission work among the natives. Those coming from England or America, where they have been members of missionary societies, find no such societies in the churches here.
I was once surprised to hear a minister say: "A mission Kafir is worse than a raw Kafir. He is not fit for work, and he finally relapses into heathenism." It is true that an educated native seeks better paying occupation than merely herding cattle. One who has had his faculties sharpened by attending school and by manual training will seek to compete with the white man, and the white man does not like it. As to going back to heathenism, a few such cases have been known, but the number is very, very small.
You ca.n not judge the Ohristian natives by what you see in the city. There is a law which requires every native to dress when he comes to the city, but the majority of natives who come to these cities are heathen, and wear clothes only from necessity. As soon as they go back to their homes they take off clothes and put on skins. The Ohristian natives come from mission stations, and have Ohristian influences about them. 'l'hey very seldom go back to heathenism.
The limited progressive spirit on the pa.rt of missions, and the lack of missionary interest on the part of the colonial churches, are to be considered in the outlook for the future. '1'he forward movement seems to have the sympathy of all since the war began in South Africa. God's people here seem to have been asleep. Oh! that the Holy Spirit may awaken us all, and that we may go on and labor till the Master come! Much good work has been done, but not what the army of the Lord might have done.
Has the colonial life been a help or a hindrance to Ohristianity among the natives? The first impression one gains of the treatment of natives would occur within a few minutes of landing in Natal. It is a little better in Oape Oolony. We have what we call "rickshaw men," who pull the rickshaws. As soon as you land in Natal you see
A NATIVE VIEW OF CHRISTIANITY IN SOUTH AFRICA
these men with their rickshaws.• crowding one another in their solicitations for patrons. They are usually not at all disorderly beyond being anxious to secure customers. You would then see the police hitting them freely with sticks. The same thing is seen in railroad stations and in the streets when there is a crowd. I remember, particularly at the reception of Lord Roberts in Durban, when the rickshaw men and the other natives were wholly peaceful and inoffensive, but the police used their sticks on them promiscuously. 'l'his shows that the law of Natal permits peaceful natives to be treated in a manner which the whites would resent. Is not the British law supposed to be founded on Christian principles?
One finds by residence here that the Kafir is generally regarded as a beast of bur~en, and that the master or mistress only tries to get A FIELD OF PINEAPPLES IN NATAL.
out of him as much work as possible for fifteen shillings per month ($3.75). The native usually tries to do his best without murmur or complaint. 'fhe native heathen woman often seeks work in Durban or other cities. She prefers a situation as nurse, for then she can be out in the air with the children. They are not generally good housekeepers, and consequently have a bad name among the white mistresses. I have seldom met a master 01" a mistress who has taken an interest in the spiritual well-being of native servants. They seem unable to understand their responsibility toward servants; the rude shanties, called rooms, in which they make even their women servants sleep, prove this. The irritability of temper caused by lack of understanding each others' ways prevents sympathy, and, taken altogether, the harmony which might exist with moderate tact is lost.
1m. DUB~'R HOME IN BOUTH AFRICA.
The native has a magnificent physical development. He is cheerful, good-tempered, and child-like, but is easily led either for good or evil. His contact with the whites does not improve him, and their .influence on him, as a rule, has not elevated him. Sympathy is lacking, and a sense of responsibility as to his future state is ,remote rather than present even with some best-intentioried people. The custom of employing warried natives as house servants for only six months'service is most annoying to the white mistress. When the six months is up the servant returns ,home to visit his family in the kraa~s. This custom may, I think, account for lack of sympathy or any care for the servant's future. The native naturally wants to visit his family at least once in six months, but can not some way be provided which will not separate the natives for so lon g a time from their families? The outlook for the future may be affected seriously, by the solution of this question.
The field for missionary labor is very great right here among the ZUlllS, and what must it be when the great colonies of Orange River, Transvaal, Rhodesia are considered? The lot of the native under the Boer seems to have been one of slavery, robbery, and injustice. He has been ranked lower in value than a beast of burden. When the British liberty and sense of justice are opened to them in the new colonies, a larger population of natives will be found settling in these new resorts. The Christian spirit of missionary enterprise will have an opportunity which it should not be slow to seize.
Many thousands of natives go from all parts of Africa to work on the mines at Johannesburg, and there can be no doubt that this city
A NATIVE VIEW OF CHRISTIANITY IN BOUTH AFRICA
influences the whole of South Africa. If the natives here can be Christianized, their influence will extend to the remotest parts of the land. If the influence of Johannesburg is evil then the native question is also for the worse. Great and good work has been done at this spot. But white miners oppose any reforming of native people, on the ground that the native may SOllle day oust them from skilled labor, and that Christianizing them is a stepping-stone to this. Any JiJnglishman who is afraid of native competition is not worthy of the race to which he belongs. Have we not heard enough about the native being lazy, worthless, and not to be depended upon, or trusted to do important and responsible work? If this is true, why do white men fear his entering the field as a competitor? The 'reason that Christian natives have a bad name, among the lower class of Europeans especially, is that he does not submit to being treated like a dog. If he despises menial labor, he ought to be taught the nobility of service, and the white man should set him an example in this respect. Industrial training is useful in teaching the nobility of labor. We honor the man who works and we despise the idler.
This great and difficult problem will doubtlessly be solved by the natives who are Christianized and taught trades. A white man will usually respect a black man who can turn out as good a piece of work as he. Until the hearts of men are so filled with the love of Jesus Christ that they regard all men as brothers, the white will never give the black a fair chance. Is the African to be won for Christ? Immense populations will settle here in the next ten years from all parts NATTVF TRUSTEES OF THE ZULU CHRISTIAN INDUSTRIAL lIfISSION.
.of the world. What will be their influence upon the native? If Jesus Christ could only come quickly and reign, what a blessing to men! How He would provide a way to realize the beauty of holiness and peace. The field is great, the missionaries few, and the earnest Christian citizens are but a handful-a" remnant." How to influence men aright when the passions are aroused by what the white man calls his rights is beyond the solving of anyone in this world, and God only can prepare a way for us natives. Oh! that the Christian Church would flood South Africa with Christian missionaries, and give sufficient money to establish institutions where natives may be trained as leaders to combat the evil influences which we fear! This land is a great land of sorrow! Heathen and Christian, Boer and Briton, native and foreigner, capital and labor assimilation, federation, self-government, and many other problems will give rise to much bitterness and treachery. Were it not for our faith in God, who is able to cause the wrath of man to praise Him, the outlook would be gloomy indeed, but our hope is in the everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace.
RELIGION IN THE HIGHER SCHOOLS OF JAPAN.
BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Japan is always doing something novel. Often there is a curious imitation of some Western methods of investigation which seems odd enough, because the precise intent is not apparent and the inquiry itself conducted on a basis that seems out of place; and yet all these reveal the state of mind of a people that, in less than forty years, has revolutionized everything, aud sometimes revolutionized the revolu- tion.
An instance of this curious application of Western scientific methods of inquiry in the department of sociology, including relig- ion, comes to hand in an attempt to formulate a series of questions addressed to students in the higher institutions of learning concern- ing their religious proclivities and the extent of tbe influences through several channels which have tended to their religious mental status. It is an unusual line of investigation, and was, or rather is, being conducted in a somewhat eccentric way.
It appears that Dr. Motora, with fifteen other gentlemen, whether in an official or unofficial capacity we do not happen to be informed, though we suppose it to have been with the authority or under the sanction of the educational bureau, addressed a .set of questions to . the students of the universities and higher and middle schools on the subject of religion. There could scarcely have been recognition of any authority to make the investigation, since of the two thousand
RELIGION IN THE HIGHER SCHOOLS OF JAPAN
(1,998) students in the Tokyo University only one in five filled out the blanks with answers. In the colleges of Law and Engineering only one in eight responded; one in five in the Oollege of Medicine; less than one in four ill the Oollege of Science; a fraction over one in three in the Oollege of Literature, and one in two in the Oollege of Agriculture. In the high-schools about one in three and a half, except in the medical departments of this grade of institutions, wh8re the replies were made by about one in five. In all other schools and colleges about one in six of the total enrollment sent any answers at all, the Nobles School and the Kyoto University standing at the bot- tom of the list, from the former there being no response, and from the latter only three from two hundred students enrolled.
Perhaps it will be well to state the five queries, answers to which were solicited. They were as follows: (1) Do you believe in religion? Are you at liberty to believe it if you wish? (2) Have you any desire for religion? (3) HavtJ yon at any time believed in religion? If so, and 'You have relinqnished that belief, state your reasons for this course. (4) If you believe in no religion, what do you depend on for regulating your daily conduct? Do you dislike religion? If so, why? (5) If you do not believe in religion yourself, do you recognize its necessity for others? If so, on what ground?
It must be remembered that these questions may have suffered in translation in the form in which they reach us. We do not know if they were sent out in Japanese or English or both. As they stand, they are not well illuminated-at least, for Western readers-and we have queried what per cent. of higher-grade students in America would attempt to answer them on call, or give intelligent answers if they tried. What ambiguities surrounded these questions that may have prevented the students of Japan from complying with the application we do not know but in part. Some people would recognize Oonfucianism to be a religion, and others esteem it only an ethical system, and some Shintoists may have been influenced to reckon that cult outside the pale of religion, since, for reasons, the Shintoists had recently sought to have Shinto taken out of the department of religion in its relation to the State. These may have colored the answers given to the very first question, "Do you believe in religion?" Still it is significant that of the students in the universities, colleges, and high-schools of a land who made rflply at all, two-thirds should have answered this question unequivocally in the negative. Question four, "If you believe in no religion, what do you depend on for regulating your daily conduct? " is a crucial question on the supposition that there must needs be some ethical base or society could not exist. But here, too, the Oonfucianists might be puzzled to answer, for if they said they accepted the teachings of Oonfucius they must decide whether Oonfucianism is to be catalogued as a religion.
After all deductions are made, however, it is significant that two out of every three of the higher student class declare they are without belief in religion of any kind. It is possible that this is only an index that Japan is in a state of transition, religiously. When men swing away from the traditional faith of their ancestors they are given to stop for a season in infidelity or indifference to all religion, and later to find new moorings. The only religionists among these students, who seem to hold fast to the religion of their ancestral faith, are Buddhists, and they do so because they are attracted by what appears to them, a philosophical element they find in it. The small number who registered themselves as Christians, only seven per cent. of the whole, are snpposed to be extremely "liberal ,. Christians or "free~ thinkers," who file up with rationalists, and profess Christianity as least encumbered with superstitions.
It is rather a hopeful sign that only one in eight, however, pro~ fessed that they had no desire for religion. They were deterred from all religions alike by the inconsistencies and insincerity of the professors found among them all. It is something that the majority of non-religious students were professedly kept from accepting any from intellectual difficulties. There is some hope among men who will at least investigate with some tolerable openness to conviction, now or later on. The younger of the students were influenced by the evidences each religion had to present, and were disposed to find a basis in authority, while the more mature were more anxious to find a basis in the reasonableness of the claimant religious systems. It is still another ground of hope that many who accepted no religious system acknowledged the claims of conscience-a slight recognition, fit least, of the existence of some ethical authority, some unwritten but not unstudied law of ethics as needful to control human conduct, without which society mnst go to pieces. A native newspaper of Japan concludes that the facts exhibited, but in a fragment in this report of these sixteen gentlemen, show that some new' methods should be sought after in the presentation of religion to young Japan.
It would be interesting to be able to follow this subject through original Japanese literature, or even a wider range of European thought of those in Japan nearest to the investigation; but we have not observed as yet communications to the press of Christian countries on this curious attempt to test the religious drift of tbe educated and educating classes of Japan, aud have been shut up to what has appeared in English periodicals of Japan, and have chiefly followed the very limited and rather incoherent statements of the gentleman, whoever he is, who acts as editor of the "summary" of the literary and religious periodicals of the empire in the Japan Mail. We wish he could have given a more systematic and exhausted presentation of the subject, seeing what he has given is hintful and helpful
THE PHILANTHROPIC SIDE OF MISSION WORK
beyond all that we have found elsewhere. We have not ourselves been able to present all the points of interest and value in what we have learned from all sources on this topic for want of sufficient space, and the Japan editors are probably no more exempt than we are from press limitations.
THE PHILANTHROPIC SIDE OF MISSION WORK.
BY REV. JA!fES SIBREE, M.A., ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR. Missionary of the London Missionary Society; author of" Madagascar."
The great mid of Christian missions is without doubt to make known to all mankind the Gospel of the grace of God, that Gospel which brings salvation. To save the soul from death through faith in Him who is the Savior of all men-this is the high aim and great justification of all missionary effort; nothing short of this will ever satisfy the true servant of Christ.
But this supreme object of Christian missions always has been best accomplished in connection with efforts for the temporal good of the people among whom missionaries labor. Our Divine Lord" went about doing good," healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and cleansing the lepers; so did His apostles,· for the Gospel has "the promise of the life that now is" as well as "of that which is to come." Indeed, did Christianity not bring temporal as well as spiritualblessings we might well doubt its Divine origin, alld whether it was really adapted to mankind.
Missionary work brings good to heathen peoples in many directions, and exerts a beneficent influence as the great civilizing, educational, philanthropic, and healing power in many parts qf the world. It is easy to show that Christian missions are well worthy of the support of all true philanthropists, whatever may be their theological beliefs or non-beliefs, for nothing else has had a hundredth part of the influence which missions have exerted in alleviating the ills that afflict humanity. On this ground alone we might claim the hearty sympathy and generous support of everyone "that loves his fellowmen."
I.-CHRISTIAN MISSIONS ARE A GREAT CIVILIZING INFLUENCE.
This is of course most clearly seen among tribes in a low state of culture, such as the Polynesian and Melanesian races, the peoples of Central and South Africa, the aboriginal tribes of Hindustan, the Eskimo and North American Indians, but it is not altogether confined to such peoples.
Throughout the Christianized islands of the Pacific many of the useful arts and manufactures have been taught by European and American missionaries, such as the working of metals, improved
methods of house-building, various handicrafts, the planting of pre- viously unknown fruit-trees and vegetables, together with the pro- duction of nuts, roots, dyes, and fibers of commercial value. All this has of course opened up trade, and is employing large numbers of white immigrants in various ways. John Williams was the first to construct a sea-going vessel at Raiatea, and the story of his ship- building is one of the most romantic episodes in Polynesian mission history.
In the earliest missions in the South Seas, Christian artisans were a very considerable force. In Madagascar, carpentry and improved methods of metal work, tanning and leather-dressing, the manufacture of bricks and tiles, the use of roofing slates, the making of soap and numerous chemical products, useful in the arts, were all due to artisan missionaries. It has been the same in other countries. In Madagascar, the erection of four stone memorial churches by Lon- don Society missionar'ies produced a school of native workmen, by whose subsequent labor frnd teaching a town of wooden and rush buildings became at length filled with brick and stone structures, many of them of considerable architectural merit. In South Africa missionaries have not only been architects but engineers; they have made tunnels by which water has been brought to irrigate extensive districts formerly dry and barren, while in New Guinea they have constructed piers and harbors.
Industrial Schools are carried on at many mission stations, a nota- ble example of such work being the Scotch Presbyterian colony at Lovedale, South Africa, where artisans of all kinds have been trained. In numerous places the printing-press has been introduced, and the various processes in the manufacture of books have been taught to natives, who have become very skilful and expert workmen. Missionary ladies have taught in Madagascar the manufacture of lace, which now gives employment to a considerable number of Malagasy women; and the same beautiful art was taught by missionaries' wives to Hindu women and girls in Travancore, with the same results. Photography, first introduced by missionaries, is now carried on as a profession by many Malagasy young men, and their productions are tasteful and artistic. These are but a few examples merely of work done everywhere by mission agency.
With regard to the civilizing effects of Christian missions both in . Polynesia and South America, one of the most striking testimonials .to their value was given by the late and eminent Charles Darwin in his" Voyage of a Naturalist Round the World," and although it has often been quoted, it may again be given here. Mr. Darwin says: Those who attack missionaries forget or will not remember that human sacrifices and the power of an idolatrous priesthood; a system of profligacy unparalleled in any other part of the world; infanticide, a
THE PHILANTHROPIC SIDE OF MISSION WORK
consequence of that system; bloody wars, in which the conquerors spared neither women nor children-that all these have been abolished; and that dishonesty, intemperance, and licentiousness have been greatly reduced by the introduction of Christianity. In a voyager to forget these times is base ingratitude; for should he chance to be at the point of shipwreck, on some unknown coast, he will most devoutly pray that the lesson of the missionary may have extended thus far.
Abundant confirmation of this could be given from the books of many naval officers and travelers, especially those written by Robert Louis Stevenson, Miss Gordon-Cumming, Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop, and by one of the most recent travelers in Polynesia, Mrs. David, in her charming book on Funafuti.
In the whole group of islands, barbarism, savagery, and cannibalism have been swept away, the people have been civilized and enlightened, and commerce and industry have been greatly promoted. The beginning and the moving power of all this has distinctly been the work in the great island of New Guinea and other Melanesian islands, and in the interior of Africa, and the same results are being produced.
H.-THE GREAT EDUCATIONAL AND ENLIGHTENING FORCE.
Every Christian missionary is a teacher, and the school is as indispensable a part of the mission station as is the church for a long time in the early stages of mission work. Teaching adults has to be_done, and it is marvelous how some have learned to read, even in old age; but of course the great hope of all missions is the young people and the children; and so the establishment of schools, the training of teachers, and the preparation of school books are matters which demand a large portion of the time and strength of missionaries. To teach reading becomes thus an indispensable first step in mission work, and many of the most eminent missionaries have themselves spent much time in teaching children their alphabet and first reading lesson.
It would be difficult to give full statistics as to schools in connection with missions. 'The reports of the recent Ecumenical Missionary Conference in New York supply more perfect information on this head than is elsewhere available. Mission schools are num bered by thousands, and scholars by hundreds of thousands. Not only are primary and elementary schools an invariable accompaniment of missionary work, but more advanced edncation in high schools and colleges is carried on in every mission field. The most perfect development of such work is probably to be found in India, where Dr. Duff so strenuously promoted the education of Hindu youths in English; but it is hardly less prominent and successful in Syria, in Egypt, in Burma, and in Japan.
Ignorance has never been regarded in Protestant missions as H the
mother of devotion," but rather as the enemy of true religion; and their motto has always been: "Let there be "light." It will surprise many who look askance at missions to glance through the pages of Dr. James Dennis's book on "Christians Missions and Social Progress," and to see the magnificent group of buildings of the Christian college at Madras, with its eight hundred students, or those of the Protestant college at Beirut, or those of the mission colleges at Bombay and Ongole and at Serampore and Calcutta. In these countries, with their ancient literature and culture, Christian educational work takes the highest position, and prepares thousands of YOlJ-ths for the government service and for commercial life and the learned professions; and even if it does not make them all professing Christians, does exert Christian influences which are slowly but surely changing native society. In countries which have emerged from lower stages of civilization, high-schools and colleges stand out prominently in their present state of advance, and are usually the only means of obtaining superior education.
In many countries, as throughout Polynesia, Madagascar, New Guinea, Africa, and North America, missionaries have been the first to reduce numbers of previously unknown. languages to a written form; to investigate the structure and affinities of these languages, and to prepare grammars and dictionaries for their study. In these directions most valuable service has been done to philological science, and evell in countries with a written language already existing and an ancient literature, the peculiarities of these languages and the treasures of these literatures have been opened to the learned of Europe by works such as the Chinese Dictionary of Dr. Morrison, the Chinese Classics of Dr. James Legge, and the writings of Dr. Edkins of China.
In close connection with education and school-work is the formation of a literature; and here again Christian missionaries have been writers of books wherever they have been allowed a few years of uninterrupted work. In countries like Madagascar, Samoa, Fiji, and many others, almost the only literature the natives have had is that put out by the mission presses, and both their religious and their secular knowledge is largely due to this agency. This literature includes in many languages science hand-books, histories, and periodicals. Regarding it only as a masterpiece of literature, and an elevated teacher of morals, it is an immense boon to mankind to have a book like the Bible translated by missionaries into not less than four hundred of the languages of the worlu.
III. THE PRINCIPAL PHILANTHROPIC AND BENEFICIENT AGENCY.
Those who hold missionary effort in slight esteem often completely ignore the fearful evils connected with heathenism everywhere, not
THE PHILANTHROPIC SIDE OF MISSION WORK
only among degraded and savage peoples, but almost as much so in countries with an ancient civilization, like the Asiatic races.
A very terrible and saddening catalog of cruelties inflicted, wher- ever the Gospel has no influence, might be made, and fully bears out the truth of the ancient saying: "'1'he dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty."
It is hardly necessary to allude to the state of barbarous races like those of Polynesia, Melanesia, Australia, Africa, and elsewhere; the savage character of their wars, the practise of cannibalism, the prevalence of infanticide, the degradation of women, the fiendish tortures often inflicted upon captives, the wholesale slaughter of victims at great festivals and at the funerals of the kiugs and chiefs-all these are well known, but they are constantly forgotten or ignored by those who sneer at Ohristian missions. The pleasing fiction of peoples living in a state of paradisical simplicity and ignorance has no foundation in fact, and many who lived in islands of the most enchanting beauty were being gradually destroyed by their vices and their intestine wars. But the need of Ohristian effort and teaching is not less great in more civilized countries like Ohina, India, Burma, and Siam. Here we find women degraded, and polygamy a recognized part of social life; infanticide of girls is as prevalent in Ohina as it was in Polynesia, and it is undoubtedly still very prevalent in India. Child-marriage and widowhood in India is still too little restrained by British law, and brings untold mIseries to thousands of Hindu girls. Suttee, or the burning ~live of widows, was also practised in that country until, about sixty years ago, it was abolished by the English government. The Ohinese and other southeastern Asiatics are fearfully ingenious in devilish tortures inflicted upon criminals. The foot-binding of girls is a gigantic curse to half the population of Ohina, and the neglect of the poor and the sick is a marked feature of heathenism everywhere. To this black list of crimes may be added the practises of self-torture and of suicide, the latter especially in Japan, Ohina, and even in India, and also in the farther East. There is also the prevalence of slavery, with all its horrors and cruelties, in almost every heathen country.
It may be affirmed that Western civilization, apart from Ohristianity, hardly touches any of these evils; in fact, it has sometimes condoned some of them, even patronized them, for fear of disturbing native society. Thus, the East India Oompany compelled its servants to assist in worship of filthy and obscene gods, and thus earned for themselves the contempt of both Hindus and Mohammedans. It has for long protected slavery for reasous of self-interest, and it was the Ohristian feeling of England, roused by such missionaries as William Knibb and the persecution of the martyred John Smith, of Demerara, that, after years of toil, forced the abolition of the slave-trade and
then -of slavery. It was this that encouraged the humane Lord William Bentinck to abolish suttee, and eventually obliged the Indian government to prevent self-murder under the cars of Jagarnath.
Christian missions have, in every country where they have been carried on, also put down, or largely mitigated, most of the terrible evils and cruelties attendant upon heathenism. Cannibalism, infanti- cide, sanguinary wars, and the enslavement of women have been abolished in whole groups of islands in the Pacific; and, altho the work to be done in the great Eastern nations and in the African continent is still overwhelming, similar efforts have followed in communities where the Gospel has been received among thousands of Africans, Hindus, and Chinese. A movement against the foot-binding of girls is gaining strength in China; the conscience of the Hindus is being awakened to the cruelty of child-marriage and widowhood; and, of course, among the native churches, infanticide, polygamy, divorce, and neglect of the sick and poor are passing away before the merciful and benignant influence of the Gospel of Christ. Impurity and cruelty and injustice are replaced by chastity and benevolence and upright dealing in proportion to the full acceptance of the teaching of Christianity. Slavery passes away, the opium-eater is delivered from the tyranny of the poisonous drug, the laws are humanized, cruel punishments are abolished, and even war loses much of its barbarity under the same influence.
In every country the Christian missionary has been known as the friend and protector of the native races against the greed and lanugrabbing of unscrupulous Europeans; and the names of David I,ivingstone and Dr. Phillip, of John Mackenzie and John Moffatt, will long be remembered as conspicuous examples of those who have endured obloquy and abuse for their efforts to get justice for the colored peoples of Africa.
But perhaps no branch of Christain effort has so clearly shown the beneficent and merciful spirit of the Gospel as the medical UJork which is connected with every Protestant missionary society. It is well known that in heathen countries charms and superstitious practices, often most absurd and extravagant, generally take the place of medicine; surgery, as a rule, is almost unknown, and in its stead the unfortunate patients are often tortured in various ways in addition to the suffering they are already enduring. This is the case not only among barbarous peoples, but hardly less so in civilized countries like India and China. Western science, under the guidance of Christian benevolence, has brought no greater blessing to the heathen world than in alleviating the suffering by European medicine and surgical treatment, and no Ohristians so fully carry out their Master's commission, "Heal the sick, and say to them: The kingdom of God is come nigh to you," as do medical missionaries. A• large number of the
THE PHILANTHROPIC SIDE OF MISSION WORK
agents of missionary societies are now thoroughly qualified and trained doctors, both men and women; there are many educated lacHes engaged in the work of nursing; and numbers of other missionaries have sufficient knowledge of medicine and surgery to do much to help their people, in the absence of fully qualified practitioners.
Accordingly, we find in numerous towns mission hospitals and dispensaries; many natives are thoroughly trained to act as physicians and surgeons, and native women as nurses, especially in the ailments which are peculiar to women; many leper asylums have been formed for the alleviation of tile sllffering arising from that terrible scourge of leprosy, and in several countries small yet valuable libraries of medical and surgical hand-books have been prepared for the instruction of native students. It need hardly be said that in all cases medical aid is given in conjunction with religious teaching, and constant efforts to lead the sufferers to the Physician of Souls. It would be difficult to estimate the immense amount of suffering relieved and the number of lives saved by the self-denying labors of medical missionaries and nurses. The records of the thousands of cases treated in every mission dispensary, and the hundreds discharged cured from every mission hospital, may give some idea of the good done, but they can not adequately describe the blessings which such institutions have brought to the heathen world.
We submit the above facts to the candid judgment of all who are humane and compassionate, and who desire to see true civilization extended, ignorance dispersed, and the barbarities and cruelties of heathenism replaced by the mercy and kindness which the Gospel so constantly inculcates. We may fairly claim, without possibility of contradiction, that nothing in the history of the world has ever exercised such a powerful influence in all these directions as missionary effort. The only thing to regret is that it is yet so inadequate, compared with the overwhelming needs of suffering hnmanity. But when it is remembered that those who support missions abroad are invariably those who are also working most zealously and giving most liberally for all religions and benevolent efforts at home, and are, as a rule, not wealthy, it is not to be wondered at that the needs of the great world of heathenism are yet so imperfectly supplied. But in view of what has been here advanced, we are bold to ask for the hearty support of all philanthropists to Christian missions, as the greatest civilizing, educational, philanthropic, and beneficent influeaee at work among mankind.* *Those who care to study the.llUbjeet more in detail should consult the work of the Rev.
James S. DenniS, D.D., entitled C!lwi6ti4n Missions and Social Progress : a Sociological Study of FOI'eign Missions. Nem YQl'k, 18!J7, 1899. Of this book two volumes are published, but a third (besides a voluuleof 1ItaUIrtics) is in preparation.
BRINDABAN, THE UNHOLY CITY OF TEMPLES.
BY REV. W. ROCKWELL CLANCY.
Allahabad (India) Methodist-Episcopal Mission.
Brindaban, the birthplace of the god Krishna, is a city of a thousand temples, and is one of the great shrines of Hindustan. It is built on the banks of the sacred Jumna, the sister of "Gunga Mai," " Mother Ganges," and hundreds of thousands of Hindus make a pilgrimage to it every year. Muttra, another sacred city, is only six miles distant, and the two cities are connected by a railway which was built to carry pilgrims to Krishna's city. This city of temples has the reputation of being one of the vilest on earth. Krishna's reputation is bad, and his devotees are like their god. One day I was talking with one of Krishna's followers, and asked him what he thought of the conduct of his god. He said that Krisna could not commit sin, for a god was above law; but that if he should do publicly what his god did he would be sent to prison. Radha, the woman whose name is associated with Krishna's, was the wife of a cowherd, from whom Krishna stole her. "Radha-Krishna" is repeated daily by all the worshipers of this god. Krishna's followers give themselves up to the vilest orgies during the great festivals held in honor of the god, and the temples equal in grovelling sensuality those of ancient Babylon. What heathenism was then it is now; time has not changed it. Thousands of Hindu widows go to Brindaban and devote themselves to the god in the temples.
Many of the temples are wonderful buildings. One of the largest was built and endowed by the great Seth of Muttra, who is called the Rajah of Brindaban, one of India's richest men, whose" hundies" are as good as Bank of England notes. His great temple of cut-stone and marble, with its golden pillar, cost·a fortune, and its endowment supports a thousand Hindn holy men and women.
But the splendor of this temple is eclipsed by the magnificent temple built by the Maharajah of Jeypore. I visited this temple several years ago, and was shown over it by one of the Maharajah's native officials in charge of the work of construction. The architect and all the workmen were natives; the materials used were the finest stone and marble, inlaid with precious stones.
The men who built the world-famed Taj Mahal, that" dream in marble," at Agra, have worthy successors in the men who built the Maharajah's te:r;nple at Brindaban. The splendid pillars which support the roof of stone are of the finest Jeypore marble. The temple was longer in building than Solomon's, and its cost has been a heavy tax on the revenues of the kingdom. In the heart of this temple city is a splendid temple of red sandstone, which, for some reason unknown to the present generation, has lost its sanctity and is little used. At
1901;] BRINDABAN, THE UNHOLY CITY OF TEMPLES
the north end of the temple stands a small shrine, which is visited by a few people. The story is that during a Mahommedan invasion this temple was desecrated, and was then forsaken by the god. It would make a grand cathedral for Ohristian worship.
The greatest festival of the year in honor of Krishna, and lasting several daY6, occurs in March, and thousands of Hindus from aU parts of India crowd the streets and temples. On the great day of the feast the building in which Krishna's great car is kept is opened; it is closed all the rest of the year. On this great day the – brickwork is broken down from the archway, a cable is fast- ened to the car, and hun- dreds of people draw the car into the open amid the shouts of thousands.
Radha and Krishna, in gorgeous array, ride upon the car, royal bands from native states march before the car, and a guard of honor from the armies of native princes opens a way through the dense crowd; hun d red s of priests surround the car or follow in procession, while a hundred thou- sand voices shout" Radha Krishna Ki Jai!" (Vic- tory to Radha-Krishna.) The great car rolls RAJA., BRINDABAN. slowly down the broad street to the garden of the gods, half a mile away. The garden is reached at noon, and then all the people pass out and leave the god to revel with gods and goddesses who may visit him. The gods revel in the garden, while their followers revel in the streets and temples.
Lewd songs, descriptive of the character of Krishna, are sung by men and women, and obscene jests pass from lip to lip. The women enjoy the liberty of these great religious festivals. In the afternoon the procession reforms and the car is drawn back. At night fireworks and revelry amuse the thousands. This great festival offers a good opportunity for Christian work, and a large number of men and women from various missions meet at Brindaban to preach Christ to
the multitude.' Through the kindness of the Raja of Jeypore a large palace on the banks of the Jumna is set apart for the missionaries during this festival, and for several hours during the day and even- ing the Gospel of Ohrist is preached to thousands who had never before heard His name.
One day, several years ago, we were all seated at breakfast in the . palace, when some one noticed a large number of monkeys coming out of the ladies' apartments. They had gone in quietly when the ladies had left, and each one had taken some article of clothing. They were soon in the tops of the trees or on the pinnacles of temples tearing to pieces ~hat they had stolen. No one would dare to touch one of these sacred animals, of whom there are thousands in and around the temples, sharing with the priests the offerings of the people.
Twelve years ago there was not a Ohristian in Brindaban or the surrounding country. To-day we have a dispensary, with a lady physician in charge, and an able staff of native preachers and Bible- readers. Our native Christians live in the city and suburban villages, and Christ is preached daily in the city of Krishna.
SELF-SUPPOR'l' IN MISSIONS.* BY REV. E. H. VAN DYKE, SHIZUOKA, JAPAN.
Dr. H. G. Underwood and his colaborers in Korea have developed a work which must provoke our admiration if not even our envy. Out of one hundred and eighty-eight org~mized churches one hundred and eighty-six are reported as entirely" self-supporting." A review of this work was presented to the recent Ecumenical Oonference in New York under the attractive heading, "An Object Lesson in Self- Support," and seems to have made a great impression on that body; and yet, if I mistake not, not one of those one hundred and eightysix "entirely self-supporting" churches maintains a regular and settled pastorate. Is this, then, the kind of self-support we are to fix upon as our ideal? I trow not. I am not criticising. These incidents have not been cited in the spirit of criticism. I recognize the fact that while there is but one Spirit and one Lord, there are "diversities of administrations" adapted to various lands in the various stages of their development. My object is to get at a clear and satisfactory definition of self-support, a definition that we can all accept as standard-fix as the goal, the fin is of mission enterprise; and also to fix the fact firmly in our minds that in our common nomenclature of ·missions the term .self-support is used only in a * Among the excellent papers read at the General Conference of the Missions of all the churches in Japan, of which we were favored with advance copies at our earnest request, was one by Mr. Van Dyke, which we would print in full if our space admitted of it. We have waited months already in the hope of making room for several of these papers. We now furnish this extract from Dr. Van Dyke's paper.-EnrroRs.
SELF-SUPPORT IN MISSIONS
relative or restricted sense. For how can there be absolute self-support in mission work? Does not the very word MISSION preclude such an idea? When an enterprise becomes absolutely self-supporting, does it not from that point cease to be a miss1:on enterprise? What, therefore, we commonly call self-support in missions represents the operation of a principle)' not the thing itself, but an attempt to reach it; or, at best, an approximation. What, then, is self-support, and what a self-supporting church? Or, in other words, what is the ultimate object and aim of missionary labor in reference to any particular land or people? Must not the answer be, To establish in that land an absolutely self-maintaining, self-governing, and self-propagating church; no transplanted exotic, but growing naturally from the native soil and drawing its life from its own roots. I trust so. Having thus reached a clear view of the object before us, let us proceed to consider some of the best means of attaining it.
That a too free use of mission funds in the erection of buildings, and a hasty and unfortunate selection of native agents as evangelists and pastors, have had an injurious effEct upon the work in general, and in many instances cut the nerves of effort leading to selfsupport, is beyond all question. That a strong and natural reaction has set in is equally true. But allowing ourselves to become overalarmed, is there not serious danger of being carried to the other extreme? Is not the steadiest spot in a ship its center? Is not the safest position the mean between two extremes? Because an infant loses its appetite from being overfed, shall we abandon it to its own resources? Because, in some instances, the churches we have built, being too large, too expensive, or too foreign in their construction, have benumbed the incentives of the natives toward self-support, shall we cease altogether to build or assist in building churches and chapels with mission funds, and say to the infant church, Provide ye your own houses of worship such as thy soul loveth, and according to a plan that seemeth to thee good? Because some natives called by men but not of God to be evangelists and pastors have proven themselves unworthy, imparting to those among whom they labored a mercenary spirit, and thus blocking the progress of self-support, shall we say to the native churches: "Go therefore now and work, for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks"? Will not the inevitable result be bricks withont straw, a body devoid of the cohesive element-the very bone and sinew, necessary alike for its defence as for vigorous and aggressive effort? Is there no mean between excessive help and an impractical demand for self-reliance?
One high in authority ill mission circles at home, writing on the subject of self-support, quotes with"approval the statement that" The English pound and the American dollar have done more harm to the cause of missions than all other obstacles combined." To me this
statement seems to he both untrue and pernicious. Let that sentiment prevail at home, and there is no mistaking the result. It is not the pound or the dollar, but the persons who misuse them that should be blamed. Because an apprentice boy in the carpenter's shop makes bungling work, shall the tool-chest be removed from him altogether? Because we missionaries, through lack of knowledge and untempered zeal, the result of inadequate training for this particular sphere of work, have turned out some unseemly work with these fine instruments-the English pound and the American dollar-shall they be taken from our hand? Nay, verily! "Let patience have her perfect work," and soon we shall be using thorn far more adroitly under the stern tutorage of experience. It must be clear to every thoughtful mind that money and native agency are two of the most potent earthborn factors in the propagation of the Gospel in non-Christian land. But we must never forget that they are earth-born, and must needs be sanctified ere they can be made meet for the Master's use. If any one losing sight of this fact, and in lieu of the Spirit's power, begins to lean on and trust in these metallic and carnal agencies, there will be a sad curtailment of what is expected of him. It is not the nse of money, but thennwise use of it that has done the harm. It is not so much the amount of money expended in missionary enterprises as the way it is expended; not so much what we help (i.e., what line of legitimate work-educational, evangelistic, building, or industrial, etc.) as how we help; not so much paid native agents as the kind of native agents that determines the results for good or ill. Thus I affirm my conviction that the right nse of the English pound and the American dollar, together with the right kind of paid native agents, even as evangelists or pastors, form the very best of earthly means in the promotion of self-support.
A NEW IDEA IN DEVELOPING SELF-SUPPORT.
BY REV. CHARLES S. SANDERS. American Board, Aintab, Turkey.
When, in 1847, Dr. Azariah Smith laid, at Aintab, the foundation of the Central Turkey Mission of the American Board, self-support as a missionary policy was almost unknown. True, Abbott was working it out in the Bassein Karen Mission, but against much opposition. Support of institutions on the foreign field was taken as a matter of course.
Dr. Smith seems, like Mr. Abbott, to have been somewhat ahead of his time. During the very first month he led the congregation to contribute for their own necessities. A few weeks later the church was formed. In the temporary absence of Dr. Smith, Dr. Schneider presHed on the little church their responsibility for the salvation of
A NEW IDEA IN DEVELOPING SELF-SUPPORT
the city. The entire church became a preaching agency. On Dr.
Smith's return he pressed on them their responsibility for the entire region. 'l'he little church of twenty-four members and congregation of less than a hundred accepted the responsibility. As a result of their efforts, within three years the Bible was being read, and there were inquiries ill most of the centers now occupied by the Central Turkey Mission and some beyond, as Diarbekir and Malatia. The flourishing work we now see is the result of the diligent watering and cultivation of the seed then so faithfully sown, later sown, or by churches growing out of that effort. No wonder so faithful a church was signally blessed. It soon saw sister" churches organized in the neighboring cities, and in 1856 one of its members was ordained its first pastor, the church assuming his entire support.
The work developed rapidly. Now we have a strong body of thirty-two churches (some with several congregations), six thousand and five church members, and a good educational plant, culminating in the college and theological seminary for young men, and also a college and three high-grade boarding-schools for young women.
One feature of the work, however, has been less fortunate. The.
churches at the centers have come to be very strong. They have developed better, it may be claimed, because of the missionary estab- lishments there. Doubtless; yet it must not be forgotten that they were chosen as centers because of their greater promise. Almost all the churches at the centers have been self-supporting and self- governing for a long time. With these churches have developed many which are not yet independent. Some of them are fairly strong; others are very weak, but must be kept up becanse they are in centers of population where it is possible for strong churches to be developed. If the evangelical churches are to be a power in the country we must hold these places.
The great difference between the two classes of churches may be easily understood by a comparison: Average membership Members about Self-supporting churches 11 4,372 397 Non-supporting churches 21 1.633 78 Only organized churches have been enumerated. Were several congregations also in the list the average of the weak churches would be considerable lower.
It is this class of churches which constitute our problem. Up to the close of 1899 the work among these churches was very fairly maintained, our insufficient appropriations being supplemented from other sources. These sources finally failed. Naturally this was a very important question at the last session-in 1900-of our annual gathering. ~l'he question of self-support had often been raised by
mISSIOnaries and discussed by them directly with the independent churches. The pastors of the independent churches had also often spoken of the problem, but informally. The great advance this year consisted in the part taken by the strong churches, they federating themselves with the weak churches, so that all shall work together for the accomplishment of the great end-self-support as a body, even if not attained by each individual church.
The action taken was this: They organized into a home missionary society, to which every church shall contribute. This society-nominally all the churches, but the strong churches are the responsible parties-proposes to the board to turn over the entire financial responsibility for the non-self-supporting churches, giving them a sum, including present appropriations, something like what we received from all sources three years ago, to which they will add a very substantial collection from the churches. 'rhe proposition is further that each year the sum shall be reduced by one-sixteenth the original sum, until finally the mission shall cease to be at any expense for evangelistic work.. The churches shall increase their gifts year by year as the board diminishes its appropriations. Some of the churches will be developed to self-support. Those that can not be thus developed will then still be carried, but not by foreign money. So far as evangelistic work is concerned, the board will be released from financial responsibility. It will also have been accomplished not by force, but with all parties to the transaction in a very happy unanimity.
There are different ways of getting at self-support: (1) The short-cut method, according to which no help is given any way. In counties where maintenance costs little endeavor, this is the best way; but when mere support of the body takes nearly the labor of an entire day, this method can hardly succeed. There is not time enough for study, and without an educated ministry there can not be a strong church. (2) The old method, whereby congregations were generally helped and demoralized. The missionaries under pressure from home decree a reduction, try. to get churches to accede, but carry it out anyway. The former unwise leniency, however, makes it usually impossible to make the transition without the display of improper feeling on the part of the church. (3) The correct method, whereby self-respect is cultivated from the very first and money used as little as possible, and withdrawn as quickly as possible consistent with the training up of an educated ministry. With a self-respecting church the members are as eager as the missionaries to get beyond the need of foreign aid. A member of the native churches thoroughiy in earnest in the matter can do more than a missionary i~ carrying out self-support.
His people more readily listen to him, and appeals to their self-respect mean more from him. When the missionary makes such appeals there is always more or less the feeling that such appeals. are a duty on his part, and do not necessarily mean anything.
One of our churches, most enthusiastic in the matter of self- help, became such through the efforts of one of its members. His motto was: "God deals bountifully with those who deal bountifully with Him." A few years before the massacres he lost half his very considerable property at a stroke, and told the writer he had the hardest temptation of his life not to halve his subscription for church expenses. He withstood the temptation; and his business so prospered that ere two years were passed his losses were more than made up. When he approached the members of the congregation to speak about giving, no one could make any objection to him, because his own course was well known, and through his efforts the church was kept up to a very high standard of self-help.
It is the same when a pastor is especially interested in this matter. It can not be said of him that his pressing the question is a matter of course and for the benefit of the home treasury. When an earnest pastor presses this matter it makes a wonderful difference with the congregation.
There is, however, the danger of pressing so hard as to cause discouragement. Of course, we must carefully distinguish between the careless, who are not doing what they can, and the earnest ones, who are really doing their very best. Too much pressure in the latter case may easily result in discouragement. The wisest method of developing self-support is that which aims at drawing out all the native latent energy and is satisfied with this, leaving the question of supplementary grants, when once this has been attained, to be decided by circumstances and not by a rigid proportion to the native funds.
When, however, the proposal comes, as it does now, to the American board from a responsible hody within the mission, the value of the proposal is obvious.
It gives the board an opportunity to honorably terminate its responsibility. 'fhere is nothing intended that looks to abandoning its work. It is committed to a responsible body with strong churches behind it. There will probably still be touring missionaries, but they will no longer, as far as the churches are concerned, represent the board, but be simply evangelists, and have business relations only so far as committed to them by the local home missionary society. The change proposed r€lates only to the evangelistic work. No modification is now proposed in other lines of activity.
Should it be possible for the board to accept the proposalthe only difficulty is the question of funds-it relinquishes responsibility under circumstances which will make it perfectly right to
refuse, under any circumstances whatever, to become again responsible. We are bound to develop our churches until they can stand alone. When this is accomplished under circumstances which give a reasonable probability of their being able to take care of themselves, our responsibility is at an end-much more so when, as in this case, reasonable probability becomes practical certainty, and the work is committed to a resjJonsible body.
Its value as an experiment in the problem now becomes so important, and the termination, in a way honorable to all parties, of the older missions. We who are on the field do not consider it an experiment if the conditions are fulfilled. The Board, in whose experience the proposal is abRolutely unique, of course considers it .an experiment, but a very important proposition. Is it not probable that in the working out of this experiment valuable experience may be gained with which to meet the problem just mentioned? Under its working the present appropriation of the board-the meagerness of which so distresses its officers-would in a few years cover all necessities. For a little while, however, some extra expense would be entailed, and so it is impossible for the board in its present financial condition to accept the proposal.. Extra expense for us would mean less appropriated for some other mission as much in distress as we are-a thing not to be thought of.
The territory covered by our Mission includes 'farsus and Antioch, the birthplace and the center of activity for years of the Apostle Paul, through whose efforts in their further development our race became Christian and our fathers came into the kingdom. It is this land that appeals to us for a little extra hclp for a few years in order that they may then stand alone and help others in that land of the earliest Gentile churches.
A TOUR IN MOROCCO.
BY CHARLES }fENSINK, TANGIER, MOIWCCO. Missionary of the North Africa Mission.
Leaving Tangier one February day, four travelers, iucluding one lady missionary, started for an itinerating trip inland under the most favorable circumstances-good roads, good horses, excellent weather, and good spirits. We encamped six times between Tangier and Mekmls, at each halting-place bore witness for the Lord, and left behind portions of the Word of God. Being Ramadan (the mon th of the Mohammedan fast), our guides were not as active as they would have been at other times. This caused us to be a day longer than necessary on the road.
At Meknfts we were most warmly welcomed by members of t.he Kansas Gospel Union, who entertained us in a most bro,therly way.
A TOUR IN MOROCCO
Meknas, like all other towns of Morocco, has seen better days. It must have been a beautiful place in the days of its glory. There are signs of activity, wealth, and good workmanship; these have now given place to slothfulness, poverty, and lack of skill. Beautiful arches, broken-down bridges, gigantic crumbling walls, gardens, and some good buildings-all speak of a departed glory.
We held several open-air meetings whfln we had the opportunity of preaching the Gospel to those who had seldom, if ever, heard the message of salvation in Ohrist Jesus. Sometimes as many as a hundred persons gathered around us, listening attentively.
We found everywhere some who were willing to listen, but there always appeared some adversary to oppose the claims of Ohrist and to exalt those of Mohammed.
Let me give an account of one day's work in Meknas. Directly after breakfast and family devo- tions we went to the horse- market to buy an animal for our work. We found none suitable, but we made the acquaintance of some people to whom we had an opportunity of telling of the love of God in Ohrist Jesus. In the afternoon Mr. Barnard, of the British and Foreign Bible Society, A NEGRO MINSTREL IN MOROCCO.
and Mr. Bolton and my- self went into the town again to sell portions of Scriptures and to witness for Ohrist. We stood at a corner of two streets, near an olive shop. One of our number bought a few olives, while I began to recommend the study of God's Holy Word. Some copies were pro- duced, which were handed round for the people to examine. We soon had a good congregation. Many listened, but some shouted: "Don't pay attention to what he is saying I" One Arab among the company with an honest face, and apparently a mind of his own, took a book and read from its pages. Mean while some one shouted: "Have nothing to do with him nor the books I" Others said: "Let him witness I" (The formula of witnessing is" There is no God but God, and Mohammed is the prophet of God.") I replied that I was quite will-
ing to witness, and while all listened intently I said, in a loud voice: "There is 110 God but God, and Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World!" They said: "That is not altogether right; do it again!" "There is one God and one mediator between God and men-the man Christ Jesus." Many said: "That is not right, either! Away with him! Away with the books!" Our Arab friend all the time stood by, holding in his hand the Book of Genesis and a Gospel bound together. " No! no t ,. said he, "it is all true enough what he has said, and I'm going to read this Book." Meanwhile, in the sight of all, he put the Book into his bag under his outer garment.
During our stay in Meknas we had several similar meetings. We met some intelligent Moors-among others the judge of the town and his son, who were both amiable, and, on leaying, the judge accepted a complete Bible and asked me to see the various texts which I had quoted during the course of our conversation. He was much impressed with John xiv: 5, 6, and I. Tim ii: 5.
There is a small community of Jews in this place-not numerous nor as clean as in most European capitals. The lowest, poorest, and dirtiest class of Jews I ever met live in Meknas! They need help in every way. They are on a very low scale, both morally and educationally. I understand that it is common among them to marry girls as young as six, seven, or eight years of age. Boys of eight or nine years speak language even more vulgar than that of the men. What can we expect from such a state of things bu t immorality, oppression, and ignorance almost incomprehensible. These ancient people of God are degraded and downtrodden.
Missionaries among the Jews would find here ample scope for work. It would cost more self-denial than meeting them in some other cities, but it would be a great labor of love and mercy. "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into His harvest."
From Mekl1l1s we went to Fez, the capital of Morocco. The road was excellent, but after being eleven and one-half hours in our saddles we were very glad to rest. Traveling in Morocco is not easy under the most favorable circumstances.
On nearing Fez I rode on in front, as it was nearly sunset, in order to keep the gates open for our party. Two of the Gospel Union missionaries were there to meet us, and kindly took us into their home, where we stayed for three weeks.
About five minutes after I arrived at the eity gate a Moor walked up to me and said: "Mensink, 'Christ died for our· sins according to the Scriptures.' I am a Christian. I could not forget that text. I know it says in the Koran that Christ did not die and that He was not crucified, but this text has overthrown my belief in the Koran and Mohammed." This man had been one of our congre,
gation whom we gather into a shelter on Sunday mornings in Tangier, to whom bread is given and the Gospel preached. Many destitute ones have been clothed, fed, and the Word of Life offered to them. I had occasionally given a verse of Scripture, and made them repeat it over and over again until some of them learned it. This man had evidently remembered the Word, and it had taken root in his heart.
About fifteen years ago the Bible was little known in this country, but to-day it is all over the land-from uorth to south, from east to west. There is uot a town in Morocco where the Bl'itish and Foreign Bible Society has not done a noble work, and also in a great number of the villages. 'fhousands have read it, and upon a few it .has had the desired effect. Some of the colporteurs have carried the Bible as far as the Atlas Mountains both to Jews and Moors.
Two days after reaching Fez this man from Tangier was present at a little prayer-meeting, where he bowed his knees to Jesus and prayed aloud. One could hear that it was not the first time he had prayed to God in the name of Christ.
Fez, like Meknas, has seen better days.; the state of affairs is anything but flourishing in the capital of the Sultan's dominion. Trade is bad, a great number of houses and stores are in ruin, and there is not one good street, tho there are some beautiful buildings.
There are at present seven missionaries in Fez. Four ladies of the North Africa Mission of England are doing a noble work. The other three are of the Gospel U:nion, U. S. A. These have only been in Fez a short time, but have already made many friends.
A Moorish lad of eighteen or twenty years of age, evidently one of the students of the Mohammedan university here, bought a Gospel from Brother Barnard, and made a hero of himself by burning the book in the sight of all the bystanders. This action was applauded by some and denounced by other Moors, who said it was a sin to burn the Word of God.
From Fez we went to a small town named Sefroo, of about three thousand inhabitants, one-third of whom are Jews. We had some difficulty in getting a resting-place in this town. The innkeeper refused us a room. The kaid (governor) was away to visit the sultan, and the khalifa (assistant governor) had orders not to let foreigners come to the place without a letter from the governor of Fez.
The khalifa sent a soldier to know if I had a letter of introduction. To this I sent answer that I and my animal would wait at his door until a shelter was given us. Finding that I persisted, thekhalifa asked me in and we talked together. I told him that it was my custom to travel without letters of introduction, and that I had visited most of the towns of Morocco and was nowhere refused a place. Aftersome conversation he became quite kind and polite. Dinner being ready, they invited me to partake. Three Moors and myself sat on the
ground around one huge dish of rice and mutton. According to Mohammedan custom, we said, "In the name of God," and dived our hands into the dish. Being very hungry after the ride, I enjoyed the food very much. The meal being concluded, some tea was served and we parted. The khalifa sent two soldiers to show us a resting-place.
'1'he people in. Sefroo are very kind, and willing to listen to the story we had to tell. At the corner of a street I began to talk to one man, and each passer-by stayed to listen, so that very soon we had about a hundred around us. Nowhere did they listen so well as in this little town. Several portions of the Word were distributed.
Returning to Fez, we came by the way of a cave village, or little town, called "BahaIil" (the fool): The Moors have awarded this name to the inhabitants of the place, who claim to be descended from the early Christians. Men and women came around-the women not veiled, as in other towns of Morocco, though they are staunch Mohammedans.
On the 18th of March we left Fez for Tangier, where we arrived on the 26th of March, praising the Lord for all His goodness.
THE" REGIONS BEYOND" MISSIONARY UNION.
To evangelize the" regions beyond," to carry the Gospel where it has never yet been heard-such was the aim of Dr. and Mrs. H. Grattan Guinness, who founded this union twenty-eight years ago. The East London Institute, originally planned to train workers for other societies, gradually gave rise to independent missions, of which there are now four.
The Behar Mission has only recently been started at Motiharee, in the extreme north of the province (Bengal Presidency). Many missionaries are at work in th~ large towns along the Ganges River; but in the up-country districts of this great agricultural province twentytwo millions are still unreached. The four workers will therefore have a large parish. Allowing a fortnight for preaching in each village during the dry season, it would take the average lifetime of two men to evangelize only the seven hundred and twenty-eight hamlets of their own police district-a mere fraction of Behar.
Three workers who have been laboring more or less independently for some years in the Argentine Republic, South ~merica, have now come under the R. B. M. U., and one other has since joined them. There is liberty of religion in this country, but a debased Romanism and great spiritual darkness prevails, both am~mg the Spanish-speaking people and the foreigners who are colonizing the country. Oolonel Suarez and Las Flores, two small inland towns; are occupied with dayschools and Sunday-schools, as well as Sunday services and visiting. Some young men walk 01' ride twenty-four miles on winter nights to
THE" REGIONS BEYOND" MISSIONARY UNION
and from the church at Colonel Suarez, and the number belonging to the International Bible Reading Association has nearly reached one hundred. From one point of view Peru is perhaps the most interesting of the R. B. M. U. mission fields. Article IV. of the Constitution abso- lutely prohibits any public worship other than the Roman Catholic.
Under these circumstances it is exceedingly difficult to carryon any evangelistic work at all. The most hopeful method is by Bible and tract distribution, which is being done by two men. The pioneers of this mission, after untold difficulties, repulses, and persecutions, have, with God's help, been enabled to establish a permanent station in Ouzco (the Oity of the Sun). At Trujillo, in the north of Peru, three other missionaries are settled.
Seeking to reach the people along the line of least resistance, these workers have discovered three means of exerting influence. Mr. Stark ha,; been enabled to contribute articles to the leading liberal news- papers. On his departure lately the editor publicly thanked him for his unsparing efforts for the well-being of Trujillo. A Bible-class of educated young men meets every week (of course privately), of which the number has risen steadily from ten to thirty-five. 1'he third method of access is by means of the photographic studio and English art and science depot in Ouzco, which gives our workers a legal footing in the town. More than this, it brings them into hourly contact with all classes of the population, including the clergy. Everyone who enters is invited to accept a tract or a Gospel, and in this way as many as one hundred Gospels have been distributed in one morning, and twice as many tracts, most of them having been asked for by the recipients.
The Kongo Balolo Mission in Oentral Africa is the longest established of the R. B. M. U. missions, and therefore the best known. There are now five stations on the south side of the Upper Kongonamely, Bonginda, Ikau, Bongandanga, Lulanga, and Baringa-besides two transport stations on the lower river and a staff of forty workers, including the officers of the mission vessel, the Pioneer, and the little steam-launch Evangelist. At Lulanga and Baringa the na~ive church has yet to be built up, but at each of the three other stations there is a Ohristian community of about thirty to thirty-five souls, as well as about the same number of inquirers and day-schools, with one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty on the rolls. Visiting is regularly carried on in the neighboring villages, and evangelistic journeys to the more distant towns. 1'hus the Gospel is gradually being spread far and wide. But the influences of heathenism are terribly strong; the native Christians themselves need our constant prayers that their spiritual life may be built up, and that they may know the keeping as well as the saving power of Jesus, and thus become faithful witnesses among their benighted countrymen.* *The greatest material need of this mission at present is in connection with the steamer service. The old Pioneer is fast wearing out, and is, besides, altogether inadequate to the needs of our ever-extending work. To cope with these, the" Livingstone" Memorial steamer is being built at Chiswick at a cost of £5,630, and it is hoped to send her out at the end of the year. A skiUed carpenter and a qualified engineer are also needed.-EDITORS.
SOUTH AMERICA AS A MISSION FIELD.* BY REV. THOMAS B. WOOD, LL.D., LIMA, PERU.
For Thirty-one Years a Missionary in South Africa_ I. SOUTH AMERICA'S PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT.
1. Proportion of surface available for dense population.-It has no great tracts under perpetual snow, like North America, Europe, and Asia; nor any great deserts, like those of Africa, Asia, and Australia. Some day, therefore, its average density of population must be greater than that of any other grand division of the globe.
2. Extent of surface available for immigration.-South America has about seven million square miles. At least six million are suitable for immigrants-double the available territory of the United States. It has in all about half as many inhabitants as the United States; thus, it is one-fourth as densely populated as this country. No other tract of good land exists that is so large and so unoccupied as South America.
3. Accessibility to immigration.-Its coasts are aU compassed by steam navigation, already well-developed and second only to that of Europe and the United States in their most densely populated districts. The interior is nearly all accessible through rivers, the greatest on earth, with navigation established for thousands of miles.
Its railway systems connecting the water ways with every part of the territory are well under way. The Pampas are being covered by a net-work like that of the United States. The Andes have been crossed at three points-the highest railway passes in the world-one of them having an elevation of 15,665 feet. The Ishmian canal and the intercontinental railway will augment this accessibility.
4. Welcome accorded to European home-seekers.-The time was when the United States could boast of this above all other countries. Now, however, its population has become so dense as to offer resistance to the incoming tide. The ten young republics of South America are now absorbing the emigration as fast as it can arrive, and are vying with each other to attract it.
5. Kinship with the United States in physical conditions and resources.-The two America8 are twin continents. The Andes and the Rockies are parts of our grand chain of highlands.· The Alleghanies and the Brazilian ranges are detached portions of one system. The intervening table-lands in the two continents correspond exactly. South America has the advantage of a ciimate that makes all parts of it available and all its coasts accessible. Its low latitudes are offset by its great altitudes, giving it, over most of its area, a temperate zone that is wholesome and inviting for Europeans. Their mineral and agricultural resources-all their facilities for developing human welfare-are practically identical.
6. Hence the following results: (1). The streams of emigration from Europe are now turning from North America to South America. (2). That continent, in the near future, will be the home of teeming millions from the densest parts of Europe, who will assimilate one with another, and with elements already there, and will develop a new and mighty people, precisely as has happened in the United States. (3). This movement will progress on a scale unknown in history. The European influx * Condensed from South Ame.-ica, edited by Rev_ H_ P. Beach, and published by the Stu- dent Volunteers, 3 West 29th Street, New York.
SOUTH AMERICA AS A MISSION FIELD
into the United States never reached two per cent. of the population in any year, and never averaged even one per cent. through any decade. It has averaged two per cent. perannum forthe last twenty-five years in the southeastern countries of South America. The twentieth century will witness there a movement of migrant humanity of which the nineteenth century movement to North America will prove to have been but the beginning. (4). To evangelize this new development of the highest types of mankind is the work of missions in South America.
II. SOUTH AMERICA'S MORAL DEVELOPMENT.
1. Moralhomogenity in all its parts.-Ithas two dominant languages, but they are so closely related that they seem merely dialects of one. It has ten nations, but their frontiers are crossed by currents of thought and feeling, and by movements of immigration as freely as by the rivers and the winds. The uprising for independence swept the entire length of the continent in the space of a few weeks. Important movements in any part agitate the whole. Everywhere the Latin civilization and culture are dominant, as are the Roman Catholic religion and North American republican government and free institutions. No other territory so vast has such uniformity of moral conditions.
2. Feeling of close kinship among all nations.-1'hey all have the same historic traditions, the same political and social aspirations, the same peculiar tendeI;lCies, and, withal, a consciousness that they form a family of nations whose interests are common and whose destiny is one. And this has come to pass despite segregation, disunion, and conflict among many sovereignties springing into existence all over the continent at about the same time, with no bond to unite them. It is the result of a mysterious providential tendency innate in those peoples, binding them together for good.
3. An all-prevailing aspiration to imitate the United States.-Those ten nations have copied our constitution, our laws, our political methods; they have introduced our school systems, and imported teachers from here to work them; they have made a study of our whole "mode of existence," as they call it, on purpose to seek to reproduce it among themselves.
Alas that, unlike the United States, they have neither the Gospel nor the moral power that goes with it! As a result of this, their efforts to imitate our "mode of existence" have thus far failed. It seems as tho God were preparing them to receive from us the one thing needful, and then through it to enter into our inheritance of moral blessings.
4. Freedom from old-world domination.-In North America, Canada is under European sovereignty; so, too, is Australia. But South America is almost wholly free. Only the Guianas-three small colonies -and the Falkland Islands remain subject to foreign powers. Unfortunately her freedom is vitiated by the lack of moral power among the masses of the people, so that they find adequate self-government impracticable, and their independence often seems to be a curse rather than a blessing.
5. Hence: (1) South America is the largest field in the world for sweeping moral movements in the near future. The multiplicity of free sovereignties facilitate the starting of a new movement which may find the ground untenable at some points, but easy to hold at others. The homogenity of the mass facilitates extending a movement when once
started on good vantage-ground. The kinship of the several peoples aids a well-advanced movement to become universal.
(2) It is, perhaps, the grandest field for expanding the moral develop- ments peculiar to the United States. North American influences every- where else meet resistance in tendencies from which South America is free. And in its freedom South America is eager to accept those influ- ences.as conducvie to its highest aspirations. Alas, for the great moral drawbacks that interfere as yet, and will continue to interfere, till over- come by the moral power that accompanies the Gospel!
(3) It must one day stand as the largest half of God's New World of human welfare. To make this possible, and hasten its consummation, is the work of missions in South America.
III. SOUTH AMERICA'S MORAL DRAWBACKS.
1. Priestcraft.-This was forced upon it at the point of the sword, and maintained by the fires of the Inquisition, with no Protestantism to protest against it nearer than the other side of the world. In recent years a woman was burned alive by a priest in the rerublic of Peru. Only a few years ago a missionary completed a term of imprisonment in Brazil for writing against sacerdotal abuses. Prelates and priests, monks and nuns, exert an influence that is all-pervading. The ethics of Jesuitism dominate and vitiate every sphere of human activity in South America. Abominations of every sort are sanctified in the name of Christ.
The priesthood as a class deserves all the curses that Christ heaped upon the priestcraft of his time, with new chapters still more scathing, for the new abominations of the confession-box, pretended infallibility, enforced celibacy, the prohibition of the Word of God, and the ancient abomination of image-worship, from all of which the scribes and Pharisees were free. Were it not for this drawback reformatory movements in Church and State and all society would be swift and sweeping, regenerating the South American people. * 2. Swordcraft.-Taking the continent at large, it is never free from wars, often having two or three going on at the same time. This never will cease until the masses of people are evangelized. South America is the most colossal example that ever was of religious unity, and the most striking example of bloody discord. Military and ecclesiastical conspiracies combine to keep politics in confusion and make impossible the progress after which these peoples aspire.
3. Failure of supposed remedies for the moral drawbacks.-The hopelessness of this situation is appalling. Noble efforts to remedy it have been made by the best minds and hearts of those countries, but in vain. Good constitutions have failed. They can not stop the waste of blood and treasure, much less the general demoralization, the prostitution of patriotism, or the insiduous dominancy of priestcraft. Good laws have failed. They can not impart the moral power which is lacking to carry them out. Good schools have failed. They can not make their • Lest the above statements may appear bigoted, the words of an Encyclical Letter of Pope Leo to the clergy of Chile, issued in 1897, areaddnced: "In every diocese ecclesias1ics break all bounds and deliver themselves up to manifold forms of sensuality. and no voice is uplifted to imperiously summon pastors to their duty. There is assassination and calumny, the civil laws are defied, bread is denied to the enemies of the Church, and there is no one to 'interpose. . • . As a rule, the priests are ever absent where human misery exists, unless paid as chaplains, or a fee is given. "-H. P. B.
scholars able to do as well as they know. Railroads, steamboats, telegraphs, telephones, electric lights, and other inventions have all failed. Not a soul has been regenerated by them. They happen to abound most where wars have raged worst in the last decade. Immigration has failed. The children of the immigrants grow up as natives in the atmosphere that makes the natives what they are, and their condition remains hopeless.
All these good things will help in the grand transformation that is to come with the evangelizing of the masses. They are helping already wherever the Gospel is being strongly pushed in. But without the one thing needful they have no uplifting power. They present in South America a combination of failures so unique and on so vast a scale as to stand without a parallel.
4. Exclusion of the one thing needfuL-South America is a pagan field, properly speaking. Its image-worship is idolatry; its invocation of saints is practical polytheism. And these- abominations are grosser and more universal there than among Roman Catholics in Europe and the United States, where Protestantism has greatly modified Catholicism. The religion of the masses all over the continent alienates them from God exactly as in ancient and modern heathenism.
But it is worse off than any other great pagan field in that it is dominated by a single mighty hierarchy, which augments its might by monopolizing the Gospel, not in order to evangelize the masses, but to dominate them and to make their evangelization impossible. Withal there is a mysterious slowness in evangelical Christendom to bring pressure on South America. "This seems due to a lack of knowledge of its moral conditions.
IV. NORTH AMERICA TO THE RESCUE.
South America stands in the following peculiar relations to Protestant lands: 1. It is situated nearest to North America of all great mission fields, but it is more remote from Europe than are many others. The two America's, isolated from the rest of the world, and joined one to another, have a manifest responsibility each for the other. The people of the United States have not yet awakened to this great fact.
. 2. It welcomes influences from the United States as t:rom no other field, while it is freer from European influences than almost any other, especially those where European sovereignty is extending. It is one of the signs of the times that superhuman power is working on those masses of huinanity, preparing them for their moral regeneration in kinship with the United States.
3. North American churches have commenced operations at strategic points, tending to evangelize the whole continent. European churches are largely leaving that continent alone. Oh, that the American churches would open their eyes to the singular duty and opportunity that God has reserved for them in their own hemisphere I 4. Gospel work in.South America is a success, singularly encouraging, destined to do in the future for those ten republics what progressive evangelization has done, and is doing, for the United States.
The pioneering has been done, all over the continent, mainly by the American Bible Society, whose work in the two Americas makes it the first and noblest of societies. The signs of the times point to the coming
SOUTH AMERICAN MISSIONARY STATISTICS (CONDENSED).
"-d '" =0 '" ci t~ .'!s!l, ,; zlfg'j ,,~ .~ '");1 ""","~" '" 00 ".0 Il..~ "''''""Ol "'" '"'0:: """0O0l C~ """'"0…, "" " ,…., " ."., """" 2. .~ rIlO " " "" S'"l OC ",0) L – NAMES OF SOCIETIES. 0) …. .r: .0..0 ,; ss1..:,! '01 "… 000 "O~ ..!..<",;, Ol "''' .,d,0- …~., 0… ~ oj O~ 0 ",0 0""0;'"":" ~ '.0 :g2 …, s0)~~ ,;1;] >'" ,",.~~ z 0 "'.0 ~…, -0 A " r~ I l "Ol -rIl -<i~ – …. – – – – – 08 Q 1. American Bible Society Arg. Rep. (1864), Venez. (1888). 3…. 4', 3 …. Brazil (1876), Colo III b i a 16 9 22 420(?) 650 (1) 3 (1888) ………………… . 4 …….. 4 …………. ..
2. American Church M. S. Brazil (1889)…………….. . 27 36 68 2! 44 2,855 1,427 …. 7 …. 2,785 388 317 3. Am'n Seamen's Friend Chile, Arg. Rep., Uruguay .. 12 37 33 Society………… ..
4. B. of F. M .. Presbyte· Chile (1873), Colombia (1856), rian Church, U. S. A. Brazil (1859), Venez. (1897).
5. B. of Missions M. E. Church (South)…… Brazil (1876)………………
6. "Help for Brazil" Mis· sion ……………… Brazil (1893)……………… 6 8…. 5………. (1) 7. B. and F. Bible Society Arg. Republic (1821), Brazil. 3…. 15 2 ……………… ..
8. British Guiana E. In· dian and Ch inese Mission ………….. British Guiana (1873)…….. 20…. 19 4…. 771 …….. ..
9. Canadian Church M. S. Auxiliary to No. 32 ……………………………. .. 10. Christian and Mission· Arg. Republic, Brazil, Chile, ary Alliance……… Venezuela, Ecuador…… 10 8 20 8 16 300 …….. ..
11. C h r i s t ian Missions British Guiana (1827), Vene· (" Brethren ")……. zuela, Peru, Uruguay, Ar· gentine Republic… ……. 16 18. .. . 12 ………………. .
12. E. West Indian Wes· 12 …. 120 6 …. 4,212 3,986 …. leyan Meth•. Con….. British Guiana ………… . 12 16 25 11 71 1,990 146 38 13. F. M. Presby. Church, 3 2 …. 2 ………. . U. S. A. (South) …. Brazil (1869) …………… .. 42 21 7 2 …………… . 70 14. First·Day Adventists .. Peru…………………… . 28 13 1,012 40 (?) . 15. F. M. Bd. of the Bapt. Con. Ontario and Quebec ………….. Bolivia (1898) …………… .
16. F. M. Bd. of the Sev· Arg. Rep., Uruguay, Para· enth·Day Adventists guay, Brazil, D. & B. Gui· ana, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia……………….. .
17. F. M. Board Southern 9 11 19 8 45 1,922 172 …. Baptist Convention. Brazil (1882) ……………. . 212 …. …… 1 4 2 …. 99 18. F. M. Com. Presb. Ch. (1) Canada (Eastern) …. British Guiana (1897) ……. . 7 5, … 3 …. 32 …. 20 …. 24 …… 19. Gospel Union ………. Ecuador (1896)………….. . 1 …. …. 1………
20. Guiana Diocesan Ch'h Society ………….. British Guiana (1852) ……. .
21. Helgelseforbunder …. Argentine Republic (1898).. .
22. Independent B apt i st 1…. 1 ……… . Mission ………….. Peru (1898)……………… . 1 1 1 1 3 …. .. 23. Int'l Com. Y. M. C. A .. Brazil (1891)…………….. . 2 ………………… .
24. Int'l Medical M. Ass'n. Argentine Republic…….. .
25. Londonderry S. Am. .. …. …. 5…. 198 …. Faith Mission…….. Affiliated with No. 10……. . 7 4…. 19 …. 4,579 1,655 425 27 47 18ll 26. Miss'y Pence Ass'n …. Brazil (1898), Arg. Rep. (1891) 27. M. S. of the Meth. Epis. Brazil (1836), Arg. Rep. (1836), Church………….. Chile (1878), Peru (1887), Uruguay (1889), Paraguay 28. Moravian Missions….. British Guiana (1738), Dutch … Guiana (1739) …………. . 46 44 46 22 18 8,301 2,737 .. …… 29. Regions Beyond M. U. Peru (1893), Arg. Rep. (1899). ~ 7 …. 5 …. (?) …… …. 30. Salvation Army……. B. Guiana, Uruguay, Arg. Rep………………….. . 76 7 21 14 8 ……
31. Soc. for the Prop. of the 9 …. 9 …. 993 …….. .. Gospel in Foreign 13 2 5…… (1) …. Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . British Guiana (1835) …•…. 30 2~ 10 10 4 . ….. 1,028 15 32. So. Am. Evangelical Venezuela (1895), Brazil, Arg. 1 1…. 1 ………………. . Mission…… ……. Rep., Bolivia (1899) …….• 33. South American M. S. Fuegia and Falklands (1844), Chile (1894), Pa raguay (1888), Arg. Rep. (1896) ….
34. Venezuela Mission….. Venezuela (1896) •..•.•••..••.
35. Wesleyan Meth. So· 2…. …. 2 ………………. . ciety (West Indies) .. Colombia ..••.•…….•…..
———1———- ——– — — —- Totals ……….. .. ………………. " ……… 460 318 68e 224 27130,46911,989 868
A SOUTHERNER'S VIEW OF TUSK~GEE
of great sweeping revivals. All the work thus far is providentially preparatory to them.
5. Hence: (1) South America offers a most excellent opportunity for North American evangelism to extend its domain without competition, and work out result.s on the widest possible scale. South America calls on North American Christians, as a most imperative Macedonian cry, "Come over and help us."
(2) To preempt this larger half of our own hemisphere in the name of God and human welfare; to transform this wilderness of priestcraft and swordcraft, and bring it to the glorious possibilities of Christian development; to give the saving truth to the millions already there, and to the multiplied millions that are coming, such is the mission now before the churches in our great southern twin continent.
A SOUTHERNER'S VIEW OF TUSKEGEE.* Since the Civil War a great deal of money has been squandered on the education of the negro by excellent people throughout the North, whose benevolence was only exceeded by their ignorance of conditions South.
That part.icular brand of education did not better the condition of the mass of its recipients. They were not fitted to compete in the occupations that require book-learning, and they had grown to despise what they might have done well. They fell between two stools, and swelled the list of idlers and criminals. 1 shall not discuss Mr. Washington's work at length. All the world knows about that. While at Tuskegee I did not see anybody studying Latin or Greek, but I saw carpenters and blacksmiths and brickmasons and farmers and tailors and barbers learning to work by working. Twenty-eight industries are taught. The students built thirty-eight of the forty-two buildings on the grounds, and they made the brick. Most of the students work their way through school. The graduate has a trade and a common-school education.
My conclusion was that, whether those students attain a high degree of skill in their several lines or not, with the habits of thrift, industry and right living they acquire there, the percentage who fail to make useful citizens will be exceedingly small.
But the point of special interest to me was the attitude of the white people in the vicinity of the school. In order that you may get my point of view I will say I was born and brought up not far from Tuskegee. My father was a slaveholder, my grandfather was a slaveholder, his father was a slaveholder, and I was probably a slaveholderthat is, a black boy was born on our place on the same day that I was, December 30, 1864, and by custom was considered my property. The Emancipation Proclamation had been issued, but I believe the lawyers now agree that the legal title to the black boy was perfect, at that time. He and I have never quarreled about that.
For those of your readers who have not lived, South it will be hard' to realize the significance of the little word mister down there. Mr. carries with it recognition of social equality, and the Southern white man, does not use it in addressing a colored man. He will even claim relation.. , *Condensed from Harper's Weekly.
ship with the colol'ed man to avoid Mr." "Uncle" and "aunt" are com. mon, and I know hundreds of Southern white men of high standing who will affectionately call a black woman "mammy," but would feel dis. graced if they had said "Mrs."
Prominent citizens of Tuskegee were telling me about Mr. Wash· ington and the school. All spoke in terms of highest praise. I asked what they called the principal and members of the faculty when they met them. This question was distinctly embarrassing. One man said he did not" call" them-j ust said" good·morning." " But," I insisted, "why do you dodge? If you can't say Mr., why don't you say Bill, or John, or Booker?"
With an air of "taking the bull by the horns," a bluff old gentleman" said: "Well, I'll tell you how I feel about that. I've known Washing. ton and the school from the start-about twenty years. I probably know as much about him as anybody, and all I know is good. In my opinion, he has the best school in the country, white or black. At most of our white colleges, as far as I can see, a big percentage of the boys spend their ti~e learning how to wear their hair long, and play football. and smoke cigarettes, and spend their daddies' money. ",Ve don't have any such foolishness here. They are all busy doing useful work. Both teachers and students are orderly and well·behaved. They don't try to make white people get {)ff the sidewalk, and they get more of the side· walk than those who do try. We have never had a case from there in our police court. They go right to work and make an honest living when they leave the school. Now when I meet the man who has done all this, I can't call him' Booker,' like I would an ordinary nigger, but, thunder! I can't call a nigger' Mr.,' so I just say' Professor.'''
Habit and tradition still forbid the use of the word, but Mr. Wash· ington has caused those Southern white men to feel Mr. The Northern , white man would have glibly said Mr. from the first, but the Northern white man doesn't know what it is to feel Mr. in the Southern sense. The next generation will have no trouble with the word if the feeling spreads.
When President McKinley was about to visit Tuskegee a year or so ago, the local reception committee, composed largely of white Demo· crats, arranged for Mr. Washington and the Governor of Alabama to ride in the carriage with the President. It was reported that the Gov· ernor had said he would not ride with a nigger. This was not true, but it was believed in Tuskegee at the time, and there was considerable feel. ing about it among the whites. The committee consulted Mr. Washing. ton, and he urged tha,t the matter be arranged with an eye to harmony regardless of himself; he gave the committee to understand that it was "not essential to his happiness to ride in that carriage; he did not assert any rights; he did not claim any privileges. The committee realized that Mr. Washington was neither plaintiff nor defendant; that the matter was "up to" the committee. Those people down there aver· age high in generosity and sense of justice. Here was the President of the United States coming to their town to visit the leading institution of the town and its principal; and, solely on account of his race, this man, whose character was above reproach, was to be denied an honor to which he was clearly entitled. They decided it would be an outrage. There was a meeting, and, after serious discussion, it was declared to be the sense of the meeting that Mr. Washington should ride with the Presi-
THE THREE CLASSES OF CHINA
dent; that the Governor should also be invited to ride in that carriage, but if he didn't see fit to do so, he might ride in another carriage, or go to the devil, at his discretion.
Just before leaving Tuskegee I had the pleasure of sitting around a fireside with a roomful of good white citizens. I told them Professor Washington had shown me many courtesies since I had been in Tuskegee, and that I expected to see him in Chicago soon; that I wanted to know from them-all Southern white men-how I, a Southern white man, should treat Professor Washington. One man suggested I should take him out and show him the stock-yards; another proposed the theater; another a dinner at a restaurant. A middle-aged man, a deacon in one of the leading churches of Tuskegee, said: "I respect Washington, but I don't ask him to my house here, nor even to our church, but this is on account of conditions over which neither he nor I have control. If I were in your place, living in Chicago I would take him to my house, and seat him at table with my family, and give him the best I had." After the ice was broken the others present unanimously assented to this.
I shall neither attack nor defend the social attitude of the Southern white man toward the colored man, but let me emphasize a fact: Mr. Washington has already accomplished what all the books, all the oratory, all the incendiary talk, martial law, civil-rights bills, amendments to the Constitution, have not done and never will do.
He has not carried a chip on his shoulder. He has not made a specialty of waving a red rag at every bull he chanced to meet. By the gentle methods of Jesus, Booker T. Washington has succeeded where Cresar would have failed.
THE THREE CLASSES OF CHINA.* BY M. PITON.
There are three parties now to be met with in the Chinese empire. First, that of the literati. This is the most intensely Chinese of all; it is also the most consistent with the principles on which the whole history of China has rested until this day. Hatred of the stranger, absolute, fierce, and implacable, this is its word of command, or, still more exactly, it is its ground of being. If China allies itself the least in the world with these dogs, it is the end of China.
Then there is a middle class-the class of businessmen, of workingmen, and petty annuitants. These, it is true, do not in the least love the foreigner, but then they do love money. To gain this, they think, it will not do to bring the Europeans and Americans down upon them too hard. Discoveries and civilization, they believe, procure indisputable advantages to those who know how to avail themselves of them. Let us then, they reason, take care not to break openly with them; let them settle among us, and let us turn their energies to our account.
Unhappily, these foreigners reason the same way, in reverse order. They detest the Chinese; they despise them with aU their heart; but they ask nothing better than to make use of them and of the riches of their country in order to heap up handsome profits. For this they find * Condensed from Le Missionaire.
railroads indespensable, and these involve two inevitable consequences: among themselves, competitions which sometimes result in scandal; among the people, profanations which lead to the worst excesses. The railway companies assail the government with claims which would be very droll if they were not perfectly sickening. The question is, 'Vho shall obtain the most exorbitant and most profitable grants? It is a thoroughgoing steeplechase, in which the Russians strive to distance the Engiish, while the French claim at least an equal share with the Germans. Each one, in short, has no other thought than to take for hi~self the best and largest piece of the cake, leaving to his neighbor the smallest and worst; above all, cynically plundering China, treating her territory as a conquered country, promising and keeping no prom- ises, threatening without having the means of accomplising the threat.
And yet one would have China bow admiringly before the marvellous civilization of Europe! Then, too; the railway lines can not but cross and overthrow many tombs. These are encountered everywhere. There are no burying-grounds in the Celestial empire-at least, in the parts occu- pied by our missionaries. Take any landscape whatever, toward what- ever quarter you may look you are very probably surrounded by tombs.
The reverence felt in every country toward these is, in China, multiplied ten-fold by the force of ancestor-worship. To destroy a tomb, is to attack a whole family, to violate the reverence due to ancestors, to commit a sacrilege, and to render one's self guilty of a blasphemy.
Moreover, the lay of the land brings out t.he well-known sign of the green dragon or of the red tiger. This also is sacred. Would you drive a railroad through these venerated lines, behind which there lie entrenched whole ages of superstitions?
Here the third class, the common people, takes the field, and stretches out the hand to the literati. Little do they care for the progress of civilization. Ignorant and violent, they are easily influenced by the higher class, and willingly lend them their arms in hunting down the foreigner, or else, confounding all the rich in a common hatred, they form themselves into rebel bands, into corporations of bandits. Among them the secret societies find their most dangerous and sometimes their most numerous members. We find them, for instance, in their famous Trias, an association of the partisans of the Tong dynasty, a body whose emblem consists of three points, mysteriously disposed in the letter ex- pressing the dynasty. They are genuine Chinese Free Masons! Some- times these partisans fight with one another; often they will fire upon the regular soldiers; but above all are they ready to turn their blows against the strangers, and are wild with eagerness to burn their posses- sions. Assassins ready for everything, they may' bE'come terrible in- struments in the hands of the literati. Officially they are disavowed when their murders become a little too compromising; but underhand they are encouraged, and their work is thought worthy of every Chinese that loves his country. .
EDITORIALS
EDITORIALS.
Achievements for the New Oentury. and the spread of missionary litera- ture. As the new century has now fairly opened, it would be well to consider 10. The revival of the monthly what its great achievements should concert, or a stated service in all be. 'Ve venture to suggest tweh'e the churches for the study of the that the Ohristian Ohurch should mission field and prayer for the put before all disciples, and work work. steadily to accomplish: 11. The preparation of chen.p, at- 1. The occupation of all now tractive, and illustrated missionary neglected fields, such as South books for the children of the church. America,and especially the Amazon River district, the Asiatic fields 12. The large increase of the sup- (Tibet, Siberia, Arabia, etc.), Africa, port of individual missionaries in especially the Sudan, from the the field by individual churches, it Khong mountains to the Nile val- being considered a part of every ley, etc. church life and equipment to have not only a pastor at home but a 2. The evangelization of the Mos- missionary abroad. lem world, as yet scarcely invaded by the evangelical forces. Misleading Statistics.
3. The multiplication and ener- Trustworthy statistics are very getic prosecution of Jewish mis- desirable. It is frequently stated on sions, especially in the great centers the authority of such statisticians of Jewish population. as Dr. Dorchester that out of the 90,000,000 or so in the United States, 4. The promotion of a far higher 18,000,000 are church members, or standard of giving and praying, the one in .five. Now, as three-fifths of education of the children of God this population are children under in stewardship and intercession. twelve, and therefore not properly reckoned among church members, 5. The cultivation of economy it follows that of every two perand cooperation between different sons above twelve, one is a church denominations, in order to prevent member-which we beg to decline both overlapping in work and in- to believe. Evidently our statistics terference in work in the same need thorough revising. fields. Missionary Losses in China. 6. The development of native churches with the three great marks Mr. J. 'V. Stevenson, of the of a complete and vigorous church China Inland Mission, has comorganization: self-support, self- puted the whole number of Protgovernment, and self-propagation. estant missionaries and their fami- lies who were killed, or died from 7. The earnest prosecution of injuries received, in the recent home missions, and particularly the troubles.' He makes the total numcare of the populations in great ber: Adults, 134; children, 52cities on the frontiers. 186 in all, of whom 98 were British subjects, 56 Scandinavians, and 32 8. The better training and equip- Americans. That there should be ment of missionaries, and the in- so many Scandinavians is due to crease of the number of self-sup- their sphere of action, being chiefly porting laborers and sympa,thetic in Shansi and the Mongolian borvisitors of mission fields who go at der. Sir Robert Hart's contention their own cost. that the Boxer rising was a popu- 9. The increase of missionary professorships and lectureships in colleges and seminaries of learning,
lar movement that spread all over fith John, ofthe London Missionary Ohina was unsound, for only in Society, who forwards the govfour provinces were any mission- ernor's letter, adds that the sociearies put to death; 157 lost their ty's thirty houses of worship in a lives in Shansi and over the Mon- single prefecture which had been golian border, this being the work destroyed by the Boxers, would be of Yu Hsien; 17 in Ohi-li, 11 in rebuilt by the close of the year. Ohe-Kiang, and one in' Shantung. The Ohurch in Ohina has come out The victims in Ohi-li were killed in of the furnace transfigured; her and near Pao-tingfu. converts in general showed a splen- did fidelity. Dr. John described The empress-dowager's order for the reception of his associates on the extermination of foreigners their return to their station up the was sent to all the provincial capi- Yangtse, hundreds of miles from tals, and it is remarkable that the any foreign force. Not only were only notable loss of life was in one the missionaries hospitably reprovince — Shansi-and the con- ceived with many demonstrations tiguous Mongolian border. South of welcome, but the local officials of the Yang-tse there was no out- volunteered to indemnify them for break of the Boxers. Yuan Shih- their losses, saying that better prokai, who was sent to succeed YU tection in the future would be pro- Hsien as Governor of Shantung, moted by payment of indemnity has shown great firmness in pro- for the past. The missionaries tecting the missionaries and in rated their loss at less than the acsuppressing the Boxers in Shan- tual amount, with a view to the tung. The men most to be com- moral benefit of moderation. Such mended-because even if they a thoroughly attested fact disposes broke the Yang-tse compact they of the assertion that the Ohinese need not have feared that foreign are generally hostile to the miswarships would menace their capi- sionaries. tals-are Tuan Fang, the acting governor of Shensi, and K wei The New Orleans Oonference. Ohun, the viceroy of Sze-chuan. It must never be forgotten that The General Missionary Oonferthese viceroys and governors dis- ence, held in New Orleans April obeyed the empress dowager's 24-30th; under the auspices of murderous edict at the peril of the Methodist Episcopal' Ohurch, their lives. was second only in interest to the Ecumenical Oonference held last The Outlook in Ohina. year in New York. In our July number will bea valuable article A letter from the Governor of on the subject by our special corre- Shantung, addressed to the repre- spondent. Domestic as well as sentatives of American and British foreign missions were discussed, missionary societies, says: and many able missionaries and students of missions took partin You, revereud sirs, have been preaching the conference. in China many years, and without exception exhort men concerning righteousness. Your A New Weapon Against Hinduism. Church customs are strict and correct, and all your converts may well observe them. In A very remarkable discovery has establishing your customs you have been been made in the Hindu sacred careful to see that Chinese law was observed. books, which suggest a new possible How then can it be said that, there is disloy- weapon for the demolition of alty? To meet this sort of calumny I have heathen 'practices and superstiinstructed that proclamations be put out. I purpose hereafter to have lasting peace. Church interests may then prosper, and your idea of preaching righteousness I can promote.
Tho Yuen-Shi-Kai's good faith may be open to suspicion, Dr. Grif-
tions. "Out of thine own mouth Chinese with insuperable conceit, will f judge thee." dogmatically asserted the indigen- Dr. Griffis writes as to recent ous origin of everything in the critical studies: Chinese civilization, polemically asserted a chronology of millions of The British scholars, no more years, and demanded belief in an hampered by Hindu traditions than Christian scholars ought to be by actual historic record of Chinese events for over five thousand years. Jews, began the critical study of the Vedas. No words, commanding Now this stronghold of falsehood is shaken and is ready to fall. Critithe death of a wife by burning, were found in the laws of Ml1nu or cism shows the worthlessness of the in the V ed~ts. In a great con tro- Chinese records, as history, beyond 1200 B. C., the almost absolute deversy which ensued between a pendence of Chinese origins upon native pundit and Prof. Horace the civilization of the Mesopota- Hayman Wilson, the former did, mian region, and the utter baselessindeed, cite a text in a book of a ness of most of the superstitions particular sect which might justify which claim to found themselves the practice of suttee. Professor upon the ancient texts. S("holar- Wilson showed, however, that this ship is daily separating ancient text was of very uncertain canoni- truth from later accretions.
city, and that on the other hand Statistios in South India. then was a line in the Rig- Veda which, when rightly read, directed A change in one word in our a widow not to burn herself, but notice of Dr. Jones' excellent pamphlet on the triumphs of the asked her, after attendance upon the funeral ceremQnies, to return to her home and resume her custom- Gospel in South India, gave misary duties. He further proved that sionary statistics for the world in the substitution of one word (rather place of statistics for India. The correct figures for South India a single letter) in a text, actually corrupted by cruel men, had led to this horrible custom of burning (Madras Presidency and the Affili- ated States) were, in 1899, 27 sociewomen alive. The word agnah (fire) ties; 911 missionaries; 1,055 native had been substituted for agreh helpers; 159,797communicants; 608,- (house), making the ancient text, following the directions for crema- tion-" Let the widows go up into 878 adherents; 17,450 students in the dwelling "-read "Let the widows go up into the.fire." . mission schools.
Thus Prof. Wilson had the honor The missionaries of the American of demolishing, beyond the power Board now in the United States were called to confer in Boston, on of reconstruction, one of the most horrible growths of superstition and fraud, carried on in the name April 24th, on the advisability of of religion, ever known, perhaps, in reopening the work in North China. Ten men and two women missionthe history of the world. Prof. aries were present, three having Max Muller was able, furthermore, to bring forth a text from the Gri- hya Sutra which actually desig- already returned to the field. One nates the person who is to 'lead started the following day, and five away the widow from the funeral or six are to leave in September. pyre, thus essentially enjoining the While the disturbed state of the preservation of her life.
Dr. Griffis further maintains: 'country may make it unwise to Such critical study is yet, under reopen aU the interior stations im- God, to do a mighty work for the mediately, the missionaries believe enlightenment of China, and the that before long peace will reign, bursting of the bonds forged by and there will be increased opporpriests and not by Buddha. In the Middle Kingdom the old colossal tunities for missionary work.
edifice of hoary tradition made the Donations Aoknowledged. universe come forth by atheistic evolution out of matter, taught the No. 234. Ramabai's work in India…. $ 4.00 dualism of all nature, filled the H 235. U H " H . . . . 80.00
RECENT BOOKS ON MISSIONS AND MISSION LANDS.
Up FROM SLAVERY. By Booker T. Washing· buildings being almost wholly the ton. Portrait. 8vo. $1.50. Doubleday, product of student labor! Mean- Page & Co., New York. while Mr. Washington has person- ally risen to such heights of de- This is the autobiography of the served popularity that he was in- most conspicuously gifted and use- vited to make one of the opening ful representative of the colored addresses at the great Atlanta In- race of America. He is a sort of ternational Exposition in 1895, and successor of, and improvement on, recflived from Harvard the honor- Fred'k Douglas, as the champion ary degree of A.M., the first repre- of the negro. He has already done sentative of his race ever so hon- . more than Mr. Douglas, for he has ored by that university. His school not only compelled the respect of has been visited by the legislature the whites, North and South, by of Alabama, and by the President his sterling personal worth, but has of the United States and his cabalso given proof that he holds the inet. key to the situation, and has discovered and applied the best All these are but subordinate method of elevating the negro, and incidental features of a really and making him indispensable to great career, the master characterthe well-being of the country. istic of which is that the man him- self has shown himself a man of Mr. Washington's life-story must such singular force of mind, be appreciated by reading it; no strength of purpose, capacity and brief outline of its contents can do sagacity, that he is actually solvit justice. Here is the story of a ing the most difficult problem ever man who was born in slavery, before the republic, and is exhibitforty-two or three years ago. Up ing the qualities of a statesman to the year 1872, when he was about and a sage, as well as a man of afthirteen, he had no training, and fairs. The book bristles with good was giving no promise of his future sense and magnanimity of motive, beyond a desire and determination and will surprise and delight the to get an education. Then he went reader. to Hampton Institute, with no money and no friends, but was ad- THE GOSPEL IN NORTH AFRICA. By J. Ruthermitted by dint of simple persever- furd and E. H. Glenny. Illustrated. ance-g1'it. There he received an Maps. 8vo. 248 pp. Percy Lund, Humpheducation, struggling heroically ries & Co., London. against every discouragement. Nine years later, when twenty-two This interesting volume is in two years old, he undertook to found parts: first, Mr. Rutherfurd's acan industrial school at Tuskeegee. count of the history and condition He found there nothing to begin of North Africa; and, second, the with but a lot of people eager for mission work in that region, by knowledge. He got contral of a Edward H. Glenny, secretary of the shanty and opened his school with North African mission. Both of 30 students, himself the only teach- these authors are capable and reer. Now he has ],100 students, liable. Their book covers a theme with 86 officers and instructors, about which comparatively little is and 40 buildings, with 2,300 acres known. North Africa is yet to the of land, and the property value is bulk of disciples a terra incognita. half a million dollars, inclusive of Here the countries and peoples of endowments, all but four of the the northern part of the Dark Con- tinent are presented to the reader
RECENT BOOKS ON MISSIONS AND MISSION LANDS
with excellent and rare illustra- two languages and partially actions, and Mohammedanism is de- quired a third; taught in the Gospel scribed, its origin and growth, and the children of Europeans, Eurapeculiar features. Mr. Glenny gives sian women and children, her the origin of the North African mis- own Mosl€m attendants, Kashmir sion, from the visit of Mr. and Mrs. school-boys, and Zenana women, George Pearce to Algeria, twenty- Hindu and Moslem. five years ago, to the present. The methods of the work, its results, ABYSSINIA. Through the Lion Land to the and summary of the various Court of the Lion of Judah. By Herbert missions, are followed by a full Vivian. Illustrated. Maps. 8vo, 342 pp. index. There is every indication of $4.00. Longmans, Green & Co., New York. great care, and the book is packed full of information and its fine Abyssinia is nominally a Chrisspirit is what might be expected tian country, but in reality knows from the known character of its not even the meaning of the term. joint authors. Menelik, the king, is Eaid to be the descendant of the Queen of Sheba, IRENE PETRIE. By Mrs. Ashley Carus-Wilson. but he has never sought wisdom Illustrated. 8vo, :144 pp. $1.50. Fleming from Him who is greater than Solo- H. Revell Co., New York. mon. The Ethiopian eunuch was the first Christian convert men- This is the story of a cultured and tioned from this part of Africa, but consecrated young woman, who he has few descendants in faith or gave her life to labor in Kashmir, disposition among the subjects of with, however, but a brief experi- the Negus. The land can scarcely ence in the actual work, of but four be said to be open to the Gospel or years. She was a student volun- even to foreigners. Comparatively teer. The introdudion is by Robert few have entered it, and still fewer E. Speer. Mr. Bugene Stock called have resided there. her the "most brilliant and cultured of all the ladies on the Church Abyssinia is, however, an ex- Missionary Society roll." ceedingly interesting country, and the people should be won to Christ. If there be any fault in the book Mr. Vivian shows us how in that it is that we have to read through land we may see how men lived and seventy-one pages before she is seen thought nearly forty centuries ago, in Lahore, and it impresses us that for these people still have the charthere is room for no little condensa- acteristics and customs of Bible tion. There are nearly 350 pp. and kings and patriarchs. He claims 11,000 words. Had the story of this only to give impressions of the land short life been more briefly told it and its inhabitants, but they [.are would reach many more readers, the impressions of a skilled and and perhaps accomplish more good. careful observer, who speaks can- But the story will be read with in- didly and conservatively of the terest especially by young people things which he heard and saw. who have similar work in view. It After an historical introduction, supplies an example of how the Mr. Vivian takes us with him on most gifted may find in mission his journey from Aden to the court work a field of attractive service, of Menelik. If the book does and presents a fully yielded soul, nothing else, it can not fail to into whom the world has lost its terest the reader in the land and charm and the work of Christ is people which it describes, and will all-absorbing. There were but also convince every true Christian thirty-four months of tireless labor, of the great need and opportunity yet within this period she mastered of giving them the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Abyssiniabs
have many noble characteristics, ECU~ENICAL MISSIONARY CONFERENCE, NEW and need only to have Christian YORK, 1900. Two volumes. Svo, 1,042 pp. $1.50. The American Tract Society. New light and life to make them the York. Religious Tract Society, London.
foremost nation of Africa. The first fifty pages of this report give the connected story of the The illustrations are a feature of inception and organization of this great meeting. Then follows a surthe book, which is probably the vey of the field. In the second volume appear the various admost readable and one of the most dresses and papers given, not in order of delivery, but in a more conreliable on the subject. * venient order of topics. The Ap- pendix embraces detailed program, THE SANDS OF THE SAHARA. By Maxwell statistics, and an especially valuable Sommerville. Illustrated. Svo, 162 pp. bibliography, the most compre- $2.00. J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia. hensive and complete we have yet seen. The first edition (25,000) is The Sahara is not all desert, as already about exhausted. There ought to be many more editions many people imagine, but contains called for, since no student of mis- sions, lay or clerical, can afford to many large fertile tracts of land be without such volumtlS, encyclo- pedic in proportion and contents, which support a numerous popula- and so cheap as to be within easy reach of all. tion. There is little doubt that Monthly Missionary Bibliography. some day modern science will find THE LAND OF TH., MOORS. Budgett Meakin. a way to utilize much of the terri- Svo. $5.00. The Macmillan Co.
tory that is now unoccupied, tho THE GOSPEL IN NORTH AFRICA. J. Ruther- furd and E. H. Glenny. Illustrated. not by the chimerical schemes for Maps. 8vo, 244 pp. 48. North Africa Mission. ~oDdoD. making it a great inland sea. CALABAR AND ITS MrSSION. Rev. Hugh Gol- About one-half of Prof. Sommer- die and J. T. Dean. Illustrated. 12mo, 400 pp. 58. Oliphant, Anderson & Ferville's book is taken up with get- rier, Edinburgh.
ting us to the desert by way of NATIVE LIF" IN THE TRANSVAAL. W. C. Wil- loughby. Illuetrated. 38.6d. Simpkin, Sicily and Algeria. The remain- Marshall & Co., London.
ing half deals intelligently and in- ALONE IN AFRICA. Mme. Mathilde Gay. 12mo, paper, 78 pp. 18. James Nisbet & terestingly with the Sahara and its Co.,. London.
inhabitants. It isa land of mount- THROUGH SIBERIA. J. Stodling. Illustrated. 8vo, 317 pp. $6.00. E. P. Dutton & Co., ains and sand-wastes, of oases and N. Y.
villages. A railway extends a WITH THE TIBETANS IN TENT AND TEMPLE. Susie C. Rynhart. Illustrated. 12mo. short distance into the country $1.50. Fleming H. Revell Co, from the north, and will ere long IN TIBET AND CHINl3:SE TURKESTAN. Capt. H. P. Deasy. Illustrated. 8vo, 420 pp. be extended to many other impor- $5.00. Longmans, Green & Co.
tant points. A YEAR IN CHINA. Clive Bigham Illus- trated. 8vo, 234 pp. $3.50. Macmillan Prof. Sommerville describes the Co.
people as mainly Mohammedans. CHINA A:I'D THE B0XERS. Rev. Z. Chas. Beals. 12mo, 158 pp. 600. M. E. Munson, New They trust largely in talismans for York.
deliverance from the evils of this AUSTRALASIA AND NEW ZEALAND. A. W. Jose. 16mo, 164 pp. 40c. Macmillan Co. life, and look to observance of TEN YEARS OF M,SSIONARY LIFE IN BRITISH prayers and fasts for salvation in GUIANA. Rev. W. T. Veness. 18. S. P. C. K., London. the life to come. The people are of many classes-the farmers, living in oases; nomads, merchants, and robbers. Camels are, of course, the usual .beasts of burden, and, with the date-palm, make life pos- sible there.
We earnestly hope that this vol- ume will turn the attention of mis- sionaries to the need of evangeliz- ing these people so iIiaccessible to us, but by no means inaccessible to sin and its consequences. *
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
AMERICA. Swiss-French, 2 Syrians, and representatives of other races. Oldest Home This is the diamond The good repute of the college is Missionary jubilee year of the shown by the fact that a graduate Society. Con gre ga t i onal of an Italian university, who has Home Missionary come to this country for his future home, has chosen this school as the Society, and plans are already being best place for him to perfect his formulated to raise a large sum of English. It is fitting that the Italmoney for a worthy celebration. ians in attendance this year should The society was organized on April be aided in the study of their native 1, 1826. and was the first of the language, and that this accomsocieties for home work. Formerly plished Italian scholar should be it embraced the Presbyterian work put in charge of those studies. It of the same kind, and 5,500 churches is interesting that, as this man have been organized by the society, comes from Italy, a call from there of which 1,500 are Presbyterians. also comes to know if the college has a man suitable to go to Rome Growth of The latest compila- and engage in the work of the .Y. M. C. A. along American lines. Social tion of the lists of -Congregationalist.
Settlements. social settlements of the world shows that there are 107 in America, 38 in England, 5 in Scotland, 5 in France, Fruit from Rufus Herron, an Tuskegee. Alabama negro who 2in Japan, 1 each in Germany, Hol- who was born a land, Austria and Moravia, India slave, and who can neither read nor write, has recently contributed and Australia. London has 30, $10.00 toward the support of a newly established school for white New York 27, Chicago 17, and Bos- students in his state, and a few days later contributed the same ton 11. Sir Walter Besant, as the amount toward the support of Tus- kegee Institute for colored students. highest authority on London life, This man owns several' hundred acres of land and good live-stock, and Bishop Potter, with few peers all acquired by his own industry and that of his wife. They give as a diagnostician of social condi- all the credit for their thrift and prosperity to the inspiration which tions in New York, and a host of they have received from the 'I:us- kegee Negro .Conference, at-which other social workers are all on they have been regular attendants ever since Booker T. Washington record in praise of this form of established it ten years ago.
altruistic service.
A Polyglot In the French- Indian Schools In an address lately Institution. American College Should given in Washing- at Springfield, Mass., are over 100 students this be Christian. ton, Rev. James year of ten different nationalities, from countries as far apart as Garvin, a full-blood Japan and Turkey. The majority are French, for whom the institu- Indian pastor among the Sioux and tion was originally founded; but those founders builded better than Poncas, and teacher in Santee N01'- they knew. It is preeminently the "foreigners' " college. This mal School, said: "The government year there are 22 Italians, almost double the number of previous years. There are 17 Armenians, 8 Greeks, 7 continental French, 2
schools are not exactly what is sions are sustained by the memrequired, the trouble being that the bers of our mission. During the State and the Church can not be past fourteen ryears about 500 of combined. The present system is our 1,700 Chinese converts, resident something like the following: An members, have given $19,000 for Indian enters clad in blanket and the Chinese work here in their own paint. He is placed in a washing- country. We have trained in all machine, and in more or less time about 50 preachers and workers in is turned out at the other end clad the field, not only here and in in a white man's clothes, highly China, but in other parts of the polished shoes, and a high standing world. The converts of other decollar. Most of them talk good notninations are working along parrot English. But what is the similar lines. lasting effect of this on the mind? When discharged they generally Mission Work A glimpse into the go back to their old ways, and some in Labrador. difficult conditions are soon worse, since they are educated. What is needed is heart under which miseducation. The only way to accom- sionary work is carried on in Labraplish this is by mission schools, dor is given by one of the Moravian where a Christian training can be brethren. A member of his church given in addition to a bodily and had passed away, and, in order to mental betterment. Send the In- conduct the funeral service, the dian to a school where his soul, missionary had to set out early in mind, and body will all be educated the morning and travel two full equally, and the much-mooted days through the snow to the house , Indian Problem' will be solved." of mourning. On the third day the little company started for the Chinese in Rev. Jee Gam, a churchyard, the coffin being placed America. C ongregat' onal on a sledge, and the mourners fol- lowing in similar conveyances, missionary among drawn by dogs. In the lonely his countrymen upon the Pacific churchyard, situated near an abancoast, says: "Scattered up and doned trading-station, a number of down this coast there are, prob- fishermen from the bay had assemably, not far from 100,000 Chinese, bled, and here the body was laid to and 75,000 at least of these are in rest under snow and ice, the scene the territory of the United States. on that desolate shore lending pecul- Many of these are on ranches, in iar impressiveness to the blessed commanding camps, or so situated message of everlasting life for those as to be difficult of access to the who die in the Lord. missionary unless the work is greatly increased. Wisdom Hid When the Rev. in Eskimo Adolph Stecker, of Those who have already become Ramah, Labrador, Christians among them, either at our mission or other missions, num- registered in the visitors' book, ber about 6,000. The number of February 4, 1901, he added these missionaries of all denominaLions two words, K ujalidlarpogui ovanetnow engaged in this work is about sung-narlaurapia. In other words, 125. With reference to the organi- glad to have been. here. What zation of the work connected with philosophy is buried in these two our California mission, we have Eskimo words, Ratwengiisiarthe Chinese Congregational So- mariisainarnngnangigalloarupciety, and the World-Wide mis- talonet K ujalijutiksakaisainara- lloarpoguelle. When dug out, they
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
assure us that "altho we can not the secret of the dislike evidently be well off at all times, neverthe- felt by non-church-goers to what is less we always have some reason to called "organized Christianity." be thankful."-Linden Hall Echo. Perhaps the fault largely lies in the exclusiveness and the deadness of EUROPE. their services, in the cold and formal welcome so often shown to Catholics in It seems to be quite strangers, and in the comparatively Great Britain. commonly supposed low level of Christian character attained by the majority of the that the population members. There is clearly some- ()f Ireland is almost exclusively thing wrong. The church should Roman Catholic, but this supposi- become an attraction instead of a tion does not rest upon facts. One hindrance to the Gospel. A. T. P. of our exchanges publishes the statement that there are about Work for The annual report three times as many Protestants in Sailors. of the Glasgow Sea- Ireland as there are Roman Cath- men's Friend Soolics in Scotland, and almost as many as there are Catholics in Eng- ciety (organized in 1822) says that land and Wales. The Protestant during 1900 over 133,000 visits were Episcopal Church of Ireland has made to the rooms, and 1,525 religmore than 600,000 adherents, and ious services held, with an attendthe Presbyterian Church has nearly ance at the indoor meetings of over 500,000 supporters. 106,000. There had also been regular visitation of the wives and families Increasing The Br i tis hand of the sailors, and each Sabbath morning tracts were taken to 3,300 Demand for Foreign Bible So- homes. Special services had been attended weekly by about 700 Bibles. c i e t y reports an children. Parcels of good reading were put on board over 2,700 out- extraordinary in- ward-bound ships, and during 1900 assistance was given to stranded crease in the sales of Malay Scrip- sailors, and 1,150 lodgings were provided for them. The society tures from Singapore. In the past has 8 paid missionaries constantly at work, besides 120 voluntary few years the sales have averaged workers. The ladies' auxiliary in- cluded 25 women, who visit the about 3,500 per annum, and in 1899 widows of seamen and distressed families of seamen. At present 200 they were even less. But last year widows are on the roll.
the number of copies sold exceeded Zenana Bible A few weeks since and Medical a meeting was held 11,000, and several new editions Mission. in the Egyptian have had to be printed in conse- Hall of the Man- quence. In Japan the sale of Bibles sion House, London, to celebrate the jubilee of the work of the Zeand portions of Scripture last year nana Bible and Medical Mission. In opening the proceedings the was 137,422 copies, as against 98,439 lord mayor expressed his gratifica- tion that the society had so worthy the previous year. a record of fifty years' noble and Simultaneous 'The recent Simul- Mission. taneous Mission in Britain, while be- lieved to be productive of untold good in the churches and between the churches, was confessedly only a very partial success as regards drawing in the outsiders, for whom it was mainly held. This fact should be an incentive to the ministers and members of. the churches carefully to examine themselves, and their methods of work, to find
glorious service. He recalled the "We have always felt the greattime when the mission was in- est admiration," says the Journal augurated, when there were no lady des Missions Evangeliques, "for medical missionaries, and very few the remarkable efforts of the Engnative Bible women. The obstacles lish and Norwegian missions in in the way of Christian mission- Madagascar to adopt French metharies who wished to reach women ods of teaching. Noone has reand children in their homes seemed joiced more than ourselves to see insuperable. At last this society the colonial government recognize was formed, and now maintains the amazing progress they have efficient high-schools for girls at made in this respect. It is indeed Bombay, Lahore, and Panchgani, a touching sight to see missionaries and. assisted similar schools at of age and experience becoming Poona and Benares with qualified scholars again, in order that their teachers and funds. It also main- influence in Madagascar may be in tains numerous elementary schools harmony with the French spirit." at its mission stations. The attendance at these schools exceeds 3,000 At the recent teachers' examinagirls, of whom l40are being trained tion at Antananarivo, out of 187 as teachers. At the 3 hospitals successful candidates 138 were maintained by the society, contain- Protestants, and only 49 Roman ing 125 beds, about 24,000 patients Catholics. Of. the Protestants, 57 were treated annually, while the were connected with the Paris total number of attendances at the Society, 46 with the London Misdispensaries alone amounted to sionary Society, 22 with the Nor- 65,000.-London Christian. wegian Mission, and 13 with the Friends.
Centenary When two or three The Swiss The story of this "Mission mission is very in- Funds yea r s sin c e the Romande." teresting, and ofC. M. S. Church Missionary shows how the little Swiss Church of the Canton de Society was nearing Vaud has rapidly gained the very front rank among missionary its hundredth anniversary, re- churches. July 9, 1875, the 2 first missionaries of the Church reached quests were sent out for special the selected location in the Trans- vaal, to which they gave the name gifts, and now it is able to report of Valdezia. Until 1883 it was known as the Mission Vaudoise; that in response $1,061,285 have in but in that year the Free Churches of Neuchiitel and Geneva entered all been received. No specific sum into missionary alliance with the Free Church of Vaud, and the miswas named, tho it was suggested sion received the name it now bears. Year by year the work grew, and about $1,000,000 should be forth- its remarkable development has re- . acted in signal blessing to the coming. One donor sent $25,000, Church at home. Twenty-five years ago the Church numbered one $10,000, one $7,000, and fourteen about 3,900 members, and raised for all purposes about £7,500: now gave each $5,000. More than half the membership is about 5,000, and came in sums of $50 or more.
Protestant A pleasant gather- Conference ing was held in in Paris. Paris last February, when the collectors of the Paris Missionary Society were invited to hear addresses from Messrs. Sibree, Peill, and Huckett, of the London Missionary Society, all of whom were in Paris at the time, perfecting their knowledge of French.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
the total contributions about £10,- heathen are not all pleased with 500. At the close of five-and- the fact, they are at least obliged twenty years the condition of the to own it. These blacks, afortime mission is as follows: In the so idle, have learned to work; last north, in the Zoutpansberg district, year they made up among them a there are 4 stations, Valdezia, Elim, sum of 45,000 francs, largely gath- Mhinga, and Shilouvane; in the ered at mission festivals and for southwest, Pretoria; and in the mission undertakings. When a southeast, in Portuguese territory, chapel is to be built or a school- Antioka, Laurenco Marques, and house, or a catechist's dwelling, Tembe; while a ninth station was to they give days' work, witilOut pay, be opened to the north of the latter and a great part of the materials. three, on the coast. At Elim there There are among them 266 native is a medical mission, and at Shilou- helpers, of whom 24 are ordained vane a training-school for evan- pastors.-Le Missionaire, Geneva. gelists. The European staff, in- cluding 17 wives of missionaries, Fruit-gather- The German socie~ numbers 48; the baptized Chris- ing in Ger- ties at work in for- tians, 1,028; the catechumens, 1,713; and the scholars, 1,854. The in- man Missions. eign lands reaped come of the society last year was an abundant har- £7,420, of which the Free Church of Vaud contributed £2,956; Neu- vest during the last year. Excluchatel, £1,886; and Geneva, £1,736. sive of baptized children of native Christian parents, 16,212 heathen The Basel The Basel Mission converts joined the church by blt'p- Mission. was founded in Sep- tism. Of this number, the Rhenish Society reports 4,456; the Gossner tember, 1815. Its Society, 3,119; Basel, 2,224; Berlin, restricted and timid beginning con- 2,089; Hermannsburg, 2,074; Leipsisted in training missionaries for zig, 812; Moravians, 602. societies alreadyfounded elsewhere, and when it decided to fly with its Gospel Protestantism in own wings, and to establish stations on the Gold Coast, it sowed with Growth in Ualy is increasing. graves for a long time. One day they were on the point of forsaking Italy. There are now over this murderous clime. A single laborer remained, who asked to be 20,000 communirecalled to Europe. "Remain, " said the committee to him, with cants in the Waldensian churches. an authority which faith alone could justify. He remained. The The Free Church has about 3,000 churches of the Gold Coast are today flourishing; they represent a members; the Wesleyans have total of about 17,000 Christians, and among every 25 or 30 inhabitants 1,800; the Methodist Episcopal, one is pretty sure to find one Christian. There is even here and there 1,500, and the old Catholics about a province in which the proportion is 1 to 7, and in the district of Akor- 600. All of these bodies own church pong we find a Christian community of some 1,600 souls. Christianity buildings in different cities in Italy, has there become a power; if the and spend large sums for buildings and schools.
Protestantism There are some 6,- in Russia. 000,000 Protestants in the land of the Czar who enjoy religious liberty with the stipulation that they must be born of Protestant parents, and must not proselyte. Preaching in 9 languages is heard every Sunday in the Protestant churches in St. Petersburg. For 100,000 people
there are in that city 32 clergy, 18 tons (!) of Seriptures per annum parish churches, and 5 chapels. will be carried gratis. In 1899 Rus- There are also city missionaries sian donations in money to the so- who visit the soldiers, the hospitals ciety amounted to £582. The vast -to see if there are any Protestants provinces of Siberia are opening up among the patients-and the pris- each year more rapidly to colonists ons. A Deaconess House was from Southern Russia. Its great founded in St. Petersburg in 1859, iron road is creeping on eastward after the model of Pastor Flied- to touch the Pacific Coast. Transner's. There is a Young Men's and lations of the Gospels are being a Young Women's Christian Asso- pushed forward in several new lanciation, the latter numbering nearly guages spoken among the more re- 500 members. Lutheran soldiers in mote Siberian tribes.Ve can the Russian army are not forced to praise God that His word has such attend the Greek Church. "Rus- free course over the dominions of sians do not like people to change the Tsar.-Bible Society Reporter. their religion-they think that to do so shows a lack of any strong ASIA. conviction. They are, in fact, perfectly tolerant to the Protestant Beirut "Press" When the British religion, and intolerant only when and the government publicit touches the Greek,Church." Arabic Bible. ly announced its in- The Bible This immense em- tention to recon- in Russia. pire stretches from quer the Sudan by sending an ex- Poland to Port Ar- pedition to Khartum, the Syria' thur, and includes nearly 140,DOO,- miss'ion foresaw a great increase in 000 of people, among whom the the demand for the Scriptures as British and Foreign Bible Society soon as the Sudan was open. The distributes the Scriptures in over 70 manager of the Pl'es8 was at once different languages and dialects. directed to proceed to London in The society's total circulation in order to purchase a large and mod- 1899 was 578,000 copies, half of ern printing-machine to be used which were either complete Bibles exclusively for Bible work, the old or New Testaments. Both Church press, having been used for nearly and State in Russia show warm forty years, showing signs of dissosympathy with the society's work. lution. Two years elapsed while Nearly 80 colporteurs are employed, the machine was being built, transwho find a warm welcome in vil- ported to Beirut, and set up ready lages from the Russian clergy, and for work. During those two years in barracks from the Russian offi- the English expedition had pushed cers. Many of these colporteurs victoriously up the Nile, and rereceive free passes on the railways opened the Sudan into the heart of and steamboats, which form the Africa. The new press was solmain .arteries of the empire. It is emnly dedicated to its noble work, cheering to learn that the society's and when thE' year 1900 opened the privileges and exemptions in Rus- Press had in hand orders from the sia have been recently revised, con- Bible societies for over 40,DOO,OOO firmed, and somewhat extended. pages of the Scriptures, more than For instance, Bibles in any quan- can be printed and bound 'in a yea1' tity are transported free on all and a half. Since then other orstate railways, but over each pri- ders have come which will swell vate line not more than nineteen the output of 1900 beyond any year's work in the history of the mission. To enable the mission to
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
respond to these demands the Press Two of the students are second building has been rebuilt and cousins of the Shah, 1 is a mollah, greatly enlarged in the interest of 3 are seyids. On Commencement economy of production. These are day, each of the 2 graduates devery tangible proofs of the fact livered orations in both Persian that the Bible is to-day the most and English, and the United States sought after and best-selling book Minister, Hon. H. W. Bowen, prein the Arabic-speaking world-one- sented them with valuable books. eighth of the human race. The school sang "Joy to the World" in Persian, the doxology A Visit to Rev. J. L. Potter, and "America" in English.
a Persian a Presbyterian mis- Effects of Early in the year Famine and the British govern- Magnate. sionary, writes thus in the Herald and Plague. ment in India at- tempted the huge Presbyter of an interview with the task of taking a census of the popugovernor of one of the provinces: lation of that vast country, vast in area and in array of human kind. My first call was on his higness, the In 1891 the total popUlation was 287,223,431. Now it is found to be prince governor. After we were 294,000,000, but this includes the millions of people in territory not somewhat settled I wrote him a in the empire in 1891, and hence not included in the former census. little note in Persian, requesting From various sections a loss is re- ported; for example, in the central permission to call upon his high- provinces of 1,000,000, where a gain of 1,500,000 might have been exness. In reply he sent a kind note, pected during the decade, in Odey- poor a loss of 840,000, Bhopaul of which may be translated as follows: 800,000, District of Banda 124,000, and Bombay City, 50,000, etc. o highness of holy title, 0 honorable one (may his glory increase). The brief, respected, The Students Robert P. Wilder of India. writes in the Interfriendship-freighted epistle arrived and was eollegian: " India inspected. For as much as your mind was desiring the happiness of this individual, has five universities modelled after which. by the visit of Your Excellency, will the University of London. These be gained, I was very pleased at this design are merely examining bodies, and, of yours. Therefore I give you the trouhle tho not themselves places of in- struction, determine in a high of announcing that two hours to sunset to- degree the courses of study in the day, let them (i.e., you and your train) take 115 arts and 40 professional colleges the trouble of coming, for this friend is await- containing 19,000 students. If we ing the visit. There is no further trouble. include the training-schools for Your friend, IMAn-,-DoULEH. masters, industrial schools, schools of ad, law, medicine, engineering At the time appointed I went to and surveying, we find in this empire 4]2 higher institutions of the government house, and was learning, with 31,884 students. There are, in addition, 840 highushered into the hall of audience. schools for boys with 183,993 pupils, and 1,922 middle English schools The prince received me very gra- ciously, and, taking my hand, drew me to a chair close by his side, and for an hour we conversed together.
Twice I asked permission ttl with- draw lest I should weary his high- ness, but he desired me to tarry longer. In the course of the inter- view I had an excellent opportunity to explain to him the Christian method of salvation, to which he listened with attention and appar- ent interest.
A Mission The American School school for noys at in Persia. Teheran had an attendance of 66 last year: Armenians, 41; Moslems, 22; Jews, 2, and 1 Parsee.
with 155.841 pupils, making a total an inspiration not only to the of 3,174 institutions with 371,718 native Christians but to missionpupils. aries as well. His chief work is in connection with the Association in The Intercollegiate Young Men's Calcutta. Christian Association is also at work in this student field, having In China there are 1,746 walled 32 separate student associations cities. Missionaries are only to be with a membership of over 1,400. found in about 247 of these, leaving There are in addition in 22 city 1,500 unoccupied. In only 88 villages associations, 816 past and present and unwalled towns have stations students. Several city associations been established. have not reported; so the full number of present and past stu- Latest List The Chinese Redents in connection with the Young Men's Christian Association of of Martyrs. corder for March India is over 2,200. gives this detailed statement of the number of mission- Hindus Bishop Thoburn has aries' lives lost in the Boxer out- Flocking to intelligence fro m break: Christ. Gujarat that two Society. Adults. Children. Totals.
China Inland Mission. 58 20 78 missionaries, both Missionary Alliance.. 21 15 36 conservative and careful men, American Board.. … 13 5 18 English Baptist…. .. 13 3 16 within the limits of three days Sheo-yang Mission… 11 2 13 American Presbyte- 3 8 rian.. ………….. 5 recently baptized 1,800 persons; Scandinavian AlIiand they affirm in addition that at ance…………… 5 o 5 least 10,000 more are fit to receive Swedish Mission… .. 3 1 4 the ordinance, if only proper per- Society for Propaga- o 3 tion of the Gospel. 3 sons could visit them. British & Foreign 3 Bible Society. . . . . . 2 5 A Specimen Hon. K. C. Ban- 134 52 186 Convert. urji, the president of the College Asso- Another enumeration classes the ciation in Calcutta, is one of the sufferers according to nationality, most influential men, European or native, in India. As his name, thus: Banurji, indicates, he belonged to the Brahmin caste, the priestly Adults. Children. Totals. class. Mr. Banurji was converted as a college student, under the in- British………….. 70 28 98 fluence of Dr. Duff. If Duff's work had never accomplished anything Swedish ….. "…… 40 16 56 more, the expenditure of effort and money would have been more than American……….. 24 8 32 justified. Mr. Banurji is a barrister and a specialist in philos- 134 52 186 ophy. In addition to his legal practice he lectures in two or three A third classification presents the different law schools and at times lectures in other colleges on philos- same figures, arranged to their ophy. He also edits a Christian paper and has all his spare time locality, under the name of the occupied in Christian work-public speaking, Bible classes, and per- provinces in which they suffered: sonal work. HE is an example and Adults. Children. Totals.
Shan-si.. .. .. .. … .. 112 45 157 Chih-li ………….. 13 Che-kiang .. .. .. .. .. 8 4 17 II 11 Shan-tung. " .. " .. . 1 0 1 134 52 186 How One A missionary of the Christian London Missionary was Tested. Society wr i te s: " The power of a Chinese parent is absolute. I have known of children, even of full age, being deliberately put to death. It is almost certain that so super-
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
stitious and passionate a woman pox and other maladies, that the as Shao's mother was only restrain- ed from such an extreme step by smells are unbearable, that the foul the fact of his being a diligent and capable worker, whose earnings all slush of the narrow alleys is over came into her hands. But short of killing or disabling him her cruelty the boots, that the foreigner is was extraordinary. The constant destruction of his beloved books rudely jostled by thousands of dirty was a trifle. Whenever the whim seized her she would, often even coolies, that the explorer may be without pretence of provocation, beat him until he could scarcely knocked down or hurt by loaded walk. 'Lie down,' she would say, 'I want to beat you.' 'Why?' wheelbarrows going at a run; in 'Because I wish!' And, incredible as it may seem, the full-grown man short, that it is generallyabomin- would lie down upon his face, while the unnatural vixen with a stout able." But, having persisted in her bamboo gratified her passion. Truly an extreme illustration of the desire to inspect native Shanghai, Chinese ideal of filial submission! It must be remembered, however, she is able to write, "I did not that the woman had only to bring a charge of having struck her take back small-pox or any other against him in the court to compel the magistrate to put him to death. malady; I was not rudely jostled by In spite of such trials, Shao not only stood firm as a consistent dirty coolies, nor was I hurt or Christian, but developed so much zeal and ability that he became one knocked down by wheelbarrows. of the first class of student cate- chists in Tientsin. Just how he The slush and the smells were there, managed to arrange matters at home I do not know." but the slush was not fouler nor Chinese in Mrs. Bishop, in her the smells more abominable than Shanghai. book, "The Yang– in other big Chinese cities that I tse Valley and Beyond," says that "to mention na- have walked through. Its tive Shanghai in foreign ears polite seems scarcely seemly; it brands crowds of toiling, trotting, barthe speaker as an outside barbarian, a person of odd tendencies. It is gaining, dragging, burden-bearing, bad form to show any interest in it, and worse to visit it. Few of the shouting, and yelling men are its lady residents in the settlement have seen it, and both men and one imposing feature. Few women, women may live in Shanghai for years and leave it without making and those of the poorer class, are to the acquaintance of their nearest neighbor. It is supposed that there be seen. The streets, narrowed by is a risk of bringing back small- innumerable stands, on which are displayed, cooked and raw and be- ing cooked, the multifarious viands in which the omnivorous Chinese delight, an odor of garlingpredom- inating. Even a wheelbarrow-the only conveyance possible, can hardly make its way in many places. True, a mandarin sweeps by in his gilded chair, carried at a run, with his imposing retinue, but his lictors clear the way by means not available to the public."
Conquered Mr. Gilmour was by Kindness. one day abused in an eating-house in Ta Ch'eng tsz, Mongolia, by a man who called him "foreign devil" and accused him of stealing human hearts and eyes. The landlord interfered. and was about to beat the aggressor when Mr. Gilmour restrained him. "But the man has< abused you these three days."
"Oh no," replied Gilmour, "he Chinese? " Our brethren they are, has abused the devil. I am not the but brethren lost and gone astray, devil. I am Ching Y a Ko (his whom we should seek, find, and lead Chinese name). He has abused back into the Father's house. That those who steal hearts and eyes. is what missions are doing. Who- I have never done these things, so ever scoffs at this, or even says it he must be abusing some other concerns him not, is worse than a person." The listeners were per- heathen-nay, as bad as Cain, who suaded that there must be som~ said: "Am I my brother's keeper?" thing in a religion which could -Missionsblatt fur Kinder. lead a man to bear insults in such a manner. The eating-house man China has been trying to purfrom that day decided to become a suade the world for many centuries Christian, and was afterwards bap-' to count her out of the nations, tized.-Chinese Recorder. but God "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell Good Read the following on all the face of the earth."- Cromer. Thoughts {rom lines carefully, and Tea-parties Rev. J. A. Wil- China. consider who can in Japan. bourn wri tes, in have written them: Spirit of Missions: How beautiful is the conception which the "One evening a month there is ancients formed of the deceased! They spoke what the Japanese boys want to call of them as of those gone home, but of the a 'tea-party'-for the catechist to dead as wanderers and pilgrims. To leave get acquainted with the scholars. home and not to return thither is to be home- About 60 of them quite fill np the less. If a man is withont home, the whole Japanese room. There are hymns world condemns him. But the whole world and a prayer, with speeches on rehas lost its home, and no one knows it. There ligion by the catechist and Chrisis one who leaves his home village, turns_his tian students, and one in English back on parents and kindred, roams about by one of the foreign clergymen, in the whole world, and knows not how to while all are free to express their return; what sort of man is that? Certainly views. Cakes and tea are passed the world will despise him as an evil vaga- around, and the meeting then lasts bond. And here is another, who holds con- as long as the company care to verse with the wise of his time, displays entertain themselves with amusing understanding and capacity, values his good speeches or songs. Men are comname, and makes much of himself; what sort paratively easy to get at, but of a man is that? Assuredly the world will women and girls seem especially hold him for a man of insight and under- inaccessible here, and, as the standing. And yet both have lost their home, Japanese express it, are very' difaltho the world despises the one and extols ficult.' Buddhist training for genthe other. Only the Holy One knows who is erations, and life in a locality where really to be praised and who is really to be there has been a railroad for only despised. a very few years, have bred in them a conservatism which is not easily Are not these wonderful words? overcome. We must remember so wonderful and deep that they that their mothers gave their hair might very well stand in the Bible? to form the ropes in the Kyoto Who has uttered them? An an- temples. When the congregation cient Chinese sage who lived several in the church numbers 75,' there hundred years before Christ! Verily may be 20 women." we see here that Paul has said justly of the heathen, that the work of the law is written in their heart, inasmuch as their conscience witnesses to them, accusing or excusing them. Will man 'yet say: "What have we to do with the
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
AFRICA. painfully. If you push them with a stick you move hundreds of them The G. S. Fisher, of the roped together by means of their legs, and then you have to move Scriptures Gospel Union, with out of their way very.quickly, for they dart about looking for the for Morocco. he a d qua r ters at enemy, and if they find flesh in go their strong pincers. When the Kansas City, ants are on the march two thick writes: "We are hard at work in lines are formed across the path. Morocco in making a translation In these lines the ants are several deep, and are often piled one upon of the Holy Scriptures into the another so that they form a tunnel, Morocco colloquial. "Ve have now the two lines meeting in the center. the text for the Gospel of Luke al- Between the lines are the females, most ready for' the press, and are hurrying on in thousands, and the egg-carriers, etc. When the last in correspondence with the Ameri- of the procession has passed the can Bible Society concerning its soldiers fall in behind and march on publication. until quite suddenly the path be- comes free of them, tho the track Lions and Bishop Peel makes of their caravan is still plainly to Ants in East the following state- be seen, and often has two little walls on either side of it, made of Africa. ments concerning numerous grains of earthheaped to- the serious draw- gether by the protecting regiments. Sometimes we had to dance over backs to work in his diocese: "Of the lines of siaf1I, when the crealate lions have been forced upon tures had been a bit disturbed, and the public mind because of the sometimes to run quite fast for 10 awful experiences in Kiu and or 12 yards. They easily turn any Kima, on the Uganda Railway, but person out of a house even, when I doubt much whether any of the they find entrance in numbers." general public know the tragedies which are being enacted in the up- Good News We quote from The country and forest-begirt villages. from the JJfiss'ionary, the 01'- In Kauna, for instance, since :March, 1900, or thereabout, 5 persons have Upper Kongo. gan of the Presbybeen carried off, 4 adults and 1 terian Ch urch, child. Only 1 of the 5 was rescued, a woman, who recovered from South: "Dr. Snyder has kindly her wounds and is now a living sent to the mission rooms a copy witness to the terrible shock of of the program used at Luebo, being in a lion's jaws, dragged and Christmas. It consists chiefly of bumped along, while waiting for a songs and recitations. As we look slow and horrible death. God gra- at this neatly printed program of ciously kept us in the little forest an entertainment held in the' Presclearing, and sent us on our way byterian Church of Luebo,' what a full of thankfulness to the next marvelous transformation does it stage, a camp amid long grass on a represent! Eleven years ago Lapshigh ridge overlooking a valley ley and Sheppard had just left us thick with vegetation, and facing in Nashville to go into that then the range of small hills of Chonyi, unknown wilderness and plant their Jibana, Ribe, and Buni (near to first station.' It was not till more this is Rabai). Villages were nu- than a year later that they finally merous on the way. During the tramp from Rabai to Jilore, and from Jilore to Mwanzai, we had frequently to step over long ropelike masses of the dreaded siafu, ants which bite ferociously and
penetrated far up the Kassai and ber 28,282; the native clergy 24; began their clea;ring at the present and the native Christian lay (male station of Luebo. This was 1,000 and female) teachers 2,026. In the miles in the heart of the Dark Con- course of the year 3,180 adults and tinent. The people were wholly 1,124 children were baptized; and savage, some of them cannibals. the bishop confirmed 2,233 candi- They had never heard of the true dates. The greatest increase in God, had never heard of a Bible, and development of the work has and had only a spoken language. taken place in Taro. In the pre- Now, however, there is a neat vious year the number baptized church building, crowded to over- there 'was 153; last year 292 were flowing every Sabbath, and some admitted into the church by bap- 400 of the worshipers are communi- tism-an increase of nearly 100 per cants. There is a large Sabbath- cent. The number of native teach- school, and before us lies the pro- ers at work has risen from 50to 126.
gram of the Christmas exercises of Toro as a Bishop Tucker visthis school, printed on a press now Rival to ited Taro for the in operation in the town, and which Uganda. fourth time in Dewill soon be printing the word of cember last. He God in the language of this people. On January 5th, Dr. Snyder wrote describes his visit as "a time of that on the previous Sabbath 26 most wonderful experience." It is new members were added to the only four years and a half since he Luebo church, making a total of baptized the. first converts there, 116 communicants added during and yet on December 20th he was the year. At the time of his writ- enabled to confirm 356 candidatesing there were still 36 in the cate- men and women. On Christmas chumen class." day 428 communicants gathered at the Lord's Table. At the children's Lovedale as a As showing how service, which was held at the same Center of widespread in time in another building, some 600 Light. South Africa is the children were assembled. Every influence of this week-day morning at least 1,000 famous school, the Christian Ex- souls are gathered together for in· press states that last year no fewer struction.
than 128 pupils (of whom 25 were .A Cumbersome A new treaty has young women) resorted thither Currency. recently come into from beyond the limits of Cape force in Uganda, Colony; from Bechuanaland 35, Basutoland 31, Natal 23, Transvaal under which the land of the coun- 17, Orange River Colony (once Or- try has been redistributed, and a ange Free State) 15, and Rhodesia 7. hut tax of Rs. 3 enforced. The great bulk of this tax is being paid Great Growth Not wit h s tan d- in cowri-shells, the currency of the in Uganda. ing the interruption country, at 800 to the rupee, which to reading and means 12,000 to the pound sterling. These are being poured into the teaching by reason of the new land capital by the million. A writer in settlement and the imposition of in Mengo Notes says: the hut tax, Bishop Tucker is able to report "real progress" in the "When we remember that 20,000 church during the year" in almost (one bundle) weighs 70 lbs., and every department." The native that a million weigh 1 ton 11 cwts. Christian adherents (i n c Iud i n g 1 qr., and yet are only worth £83 those under instruction) now num- 6s. 8d., we get a faint idea what it must mean. The next thing will
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
be to decide what to do with them Rev. L. P. Hills are expected to to get them into circulation again. take up this work. It will be seen One suggestion is to pay the salaries that work has been commenced on of the chiefs in shells, wholly or three islands, and there are on the partially. Now imagine the Kati- field 6 regular missionaries and 2 kiro (Prime Minister) receiving a more expected, besides 4 married note something like this: women. They have 3 native evan- gelists and report 19 members and " 'Sir, I beg to inform you that much interest. your salary, due to-morrow, will be paid to you on application at H. An Anomaly Some inconsisten- M. 's Government Offices, Kampala. in New cies of the Maori P.S.-You are requested to bring Zealand'. women of New Zea- with you the necessary 240 men to land were presented carry the shells.' This is what it would amount to, and each man by Mrs. E. J. Bartol, in an address would have a load of 5 stones before the new Century Club of weight. If it should ever happen Philadelphia, recently. Mrs. Bar- that the king should get his £1,500 tol has twic!} made a tour of the a year in shells, he would need 900 world, and while in New Zealand men to carry them." visited many of the remote native villages. It is an interesting inci- ISLANDS OF THE SEA. dent on an election day, she says, to find a baby carriage outside the Presbyterians The Board of For- polls and the husband and wife both in the e i g n Missions of inside voting. Within the memory of people now living these saIne Philippines. the Presbyterian women have been transformed from Church transferred frowsy squaws into intelligent voters. The New Zealand women the Rev. and Mrs. J. B. Rodgers are not as handsome as the men, from Southern Brazil to Manila. and strive to improve their appear- On the first Sunday in May, 1899, ance by tattooing their lips and Mr. Rodgers took part in a Spanish eyelids with a charcQal made from service in a private house, and with kauri gum. Horticulture is their the exception of slight interrup- favorite occupation. tions regular services have been held from that date. They have Sunday in This narrative from now services in four different places the South an eye-witness is in Manila. They are held in the Pacific. bot h interesting English, Spanish, Tagalo, and Chinese languages. The attend- and significant: "On ance is encouraging but exceed- Sunday morning, June 25th, at dayingly uncertain, ranging from 1 to break, ,~e reached Fakaofu, one of 100 persons. The Rev. and Mrs. D. the Union group. After the morn- S. Hibbard arrived in Manila in ing service we held a Christian En- May, 1899, and Dr. and Mrs. J. A. deavor consecration meeting. They Hall in January, 1900, and the Rev. call themselves the 'Company of L. P. Davidson in February. Two Endeavorers for Jesus.' Over 100 families opened a mission in Iloilo, were present, all seated on mats on on the Panay Island, in March, the floor, with their Bibles and 1900. There also services are held hymn-books before them. After in 4 languages, with encouraging the opening hymn 2 members, midresults, especially among the Chi- dle··aged men, led simply and revnese. Plans are perfected for the erently in prayer, and then we.had opening of a new mission in the city of Dumaguete, on Negros. Land has been purchased and plans are made for an industrial school, and Dr. and Mrs. J. Inglis and the
the roll-call of 96 active members. MISCELLANEOUS. One old woman I remember well. Her face was lit up with heaven's A Good Rev. E d war d own brightness as she spoke of the Program for Bright, when he love of Christ for her and her de- Every Church. was Home Secresire to follow Him closely. There was an old chief, too, who, when tary of the Amerihis name was called, humbly and can Baptist Missionary Union, adsimply said, 'God be merciful ~o vocated the following features as me, a sinner.' Many took part III essential to a system which should the prayer-chain, and the whole develop the giving of the people meeting was characterized by a for missions: reverence and earnestness I have not seen excelled anywhere." l. A monthly missionary sermon by every p?,stor. Gospel Fruit The A u s t r a I i a Ii 2. A missionary periodical in in the Methodists h a v e every family. South Seas. fallen heir to the 3. A stated contribution from work opened by the every Christian. English Wesleyans in the islands named below, and expended on it 4. A penny-a-week collection in $82,700 last year. These statistics every Sunday-school. have just been gathered: 5. A missionary concert of prayer ~ I .. co <P '" '" '" 1 Misssionaries. in every church.
81 I to … ;:'l .. ::; '" Native lIlinisters. The Boys' This is a legislative Missionary body in a Presby- -2: g;)-'" I: C:~-HO"'" l' Catechists and Teachers. Congress. terian church in 0; <:OOO-l~c;,~ Oregon which is worth having, for they have just sent the $25 for the second year's support of their boy Paul in Mar- sovan six months befo1'e it is &ue! "Vith it comes $5 for a Christmas gift.
They have a speaker, a clerk who keeps the journal of Congress, a librarian, and chaplain. The speaker, with the advice of clerk and chaplain (who is the pastor cf the church as well), appoints four committees. Every boy must be upon one committee. The speaker and the chaplain are upon all. The committees are "Ways and Means," "Work," " Fun," and "Help."
Congress meets every second Tuesday, and spends forty-five minutes in' " Work" and forty-five in "Fun." Each boy is a repre- sen"ative in Congress from some missionary land, taking some mis- sionary hero for his hero and for his character. When they had a sale for $25 they cleared $60. This
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
money was used, in part, for the Special In his "~y ~is support of an orphan 'in Armenia; with the remainder they purchased Training for s io n ar y Appren- a missionary library. Missionaries. ticeship," Bishop Our Vantage- An article in the ground. Missionm'y Herald Th 0 burn empha- for ~arch states sizes the necessity for this with that the vantage-ground for mis- sionaries in the twentieth century great force. .. It would have been is: The wide enlistment of forces; the larger knowledge of the peo- well for most of us if we had ples and nations to which the Gos- pel is sent; the ease of communica- been detained at home six months, tion of most fields; the possession of apparatus for speedy work; the or a year, and put under a special greatly added light as to the best methods of conducting missions. instruction for our work. Our An Era of There has been ignorance of India and of the Giving. "preacher talk" about "hilarious real nature of missionary work giving," hut it seems to have be- was very great, and ought to come an actual experience with Andrew Carnegie and Dr. Pearson. have disqualified us for an imme- There has been no sense of grudging about it. To use a colloquial- diate appointment to the misism, "They have slapped down the money" with an ecstacy of delight sion field. A brief time spent in at the opportunity. The spirit of these men is contagious. ~en of special preparation would have wealth are taking seriously ~r. Carnegie's statement, "It is a dis- been time well spent, and would grace to die rich," and will follow his example of giving while they have enabled us to begin our work live. Then giving is giving and not leaving. 'Every work that much more intelligently, and prosmerits money wiII receive it. Here is ~ characteristic paragraph from ecute it more successfully than Dr. Pearson: we were able to do. The tradi- .. Now when a lot of old fellows who have money read about my tional custom-for it is still the giving away some they just naturally can't stand it until they do the custom-of making a hasty search same. They get kind of jealous, you know, and want to be talked when a missionary is needed, and about. It's a good thing to wake them up and get their livers to act- laying hands 'suddenly' on some ing so that the sap of benevolence can have a chance to flow through raw youth, and sending him off to them. Now, nothing wiII do this but the incentive given by some his life-work with little or no rich old fellow like myself, who is willing to set the example. ~y, knowledge of the country to which but this giving is great fun."-Associatio Men. he is going, and little or no prepa- ration for the peculiar duties awaiting him, is unjust to the work and sometimes cruel to the candidate. "
A Hard Blow at the Critics.-The late Robert Louis Stevenson said: "I had conceived a great prejudice against missions in the South Seas, but I had no sooner come there than that prejudice was at first reduced and at last annihilated. Those who deblaterate against missions have only one thing to do-to come and see them on the spot." What word in the entire sweep of the L.nglish tongue is so good as that?
The The North German Phraseology of ~issionary Society the Club. having published an address on "Pro- testant ~issiom: in China, and their latest Accusers," ~issionary'
Geireihrremarks that on his voyage New Guinea. We mourn the inback from China he was present at jury thus inflicted upon one of the a talk between a German-Austrian best fields of the London Missionofficer, a Catholic, and a Danish ary Society. Mr. Tomkins only lady. The officer was decrying the joined the mission about two years missions (apparently the Protestant ago. Mr. Chalmers is one of the missions) in the wonted style. best-known missionaries in the "The whole missionary business Southern helI!isphere, receiving his is of no account. The few Chris- first appointment as long ago as tians are a worthless rabble; they 1866. cheat the missionaries, lie to them and steal from them, and then take Mr. Chalmers was born at Ard- French leave of them. The mis- rishaig, Argyllshire, alld became a sionaries themselves live well in member of the United Presbyterian China, a c com p lis h little, and, Church in 1860. He was appointed coming home, tell shuddering to Rarotonga, and sailed from Lonstories about their privations and dort in the John Williams in Januoutrage.. suffered by them, only to ary, 1866, where he arrived in May, make an impression on credulous 1867. Having been appointed to people." When asked, "Do you New Guinea he lett Rarotonga in know that you have sinned against May, 1878. the ninth commandment?" he owned that he did not know what After some preliminary labors, the ninth commandment said, or, Mr. Chalmers (accompanied by his as the Lutherans and Catholics brave young wife) began his now count, the eighth commandment. famous journeys among the hostile He had to own that he .had never tribes of the great island. He made acquaintance with a mis- traveled unarmed, trusting to Him sionary, male or female, still less in whose work he was engaged. ever visited a mission-station! Many years afterward he· was able The perplexity and mortification to say: "Only once in New Guinea of this competent judge of Chinese have I carried a weapon, and then missions were great. In excuse for we had spears thrown at us." Mrs. himself he said: "I hope you will Chalmers had the happy art of not take it ill, but when one goes drawing the savages to her, and day. after day to the club he can thus inspiring confidence and pernot help taking up the phrase- sonal regard. As the months ology of the club." " Phraseology passed, native lips, failing to pro· of the club!" That is one of the in- nounce the missionary's name, fallible sources out of which our called him "Tamate" (Teacher); opponents drew their information ! and as they came to love and trust -Allgemeine Missions Zeitschrijt. him, they spoke of" Maino" (peace) as following his steps. At length OBITUARY. lie was called in to settle native quarrels, and to· arbitrate in mat- Rev. James A telegram from ters of difference between contend- Chalmers, of Sydney, N.S.W., on ing tribes. Hence an English New Guinea. April 21, announc- naval officer was able to testify: "Everywhere' Tamate's ' influence ed the sorrowful is supreme;" and the conceptions news that Revs. James Chalmers of Teacher u,nd Peacemaker were and Oliver Tomkins had been mur- combined in the native ideas of dered by natives on the Fly River, the missionary and his Ille~age.
The Missionary Review of the World — January 1897
IV. Plate ill. Plate IT. Plate
MECCA CERrrIFICATE.
This Certificz(te is gIven to Moslem Pilgrims to Mecca and is Considered by them as good as a Passport to Heaven.
(See page 32.) MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.R VOL. xx. No. 1.-0ld&riu.-JANUARY.-VOL. X. No. 1.-NI'IDlJtJtriM.
BUILDING FROM THE BASE.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
Rev. William Haslam, in his remarkable book, "From Death Into Life," tells us about an elderly Cornish woman who had been taught the deep things of God, and who, observing that he was trying to promote a higher standard of active Christianity without due care to lay right foundations in holy living-asked him one day as be past, "Now, Mr. Haslam, are ye goin' to build your spire from the top'! "
The question was like an arrow that is not easily dislodged. He could not get that thought out of his mind. "Have I begun at the beginning? Am I building from the bottom or absurdly attempting to construct from the top down?" Such were the questions he found himself asking of his own inner self, until he was compelled to make a new start, and lay the broad, deep and firm foundation of all holy serving in holy living and holy praying. This experience suggests the title of this paper, in which we purpose to discuss the radical need in mission enterprise of a reconstruction from tlte base upward.
This conviction and conclusion have not been reacht without much thought and prayer. If a bit of personal history be not an indelicate intrusion in an article meant for the public eye, the writer would here confess that it is now thirty years ago since, as a pastor in New York State, he turned his attention deliberately and persistently, first to informing himself and then to informing and arousing the church npon the great cause of missions. Since then, with growing absorption, both tongue and pen have been put at the Lord's service in this world-wide work. Books and pamphlets have been written by the score, missionary sermons and addresses delivered by the thou. sand to an aggregate audience, singularly expanding year by year under guidance of a strange Providence which gave unexpected
FROM THE BABE
opportunity to be heard across the sea; for ten years the writer haa been addressing every month fifty thousand people who at least read the MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD: and these are bnt a few of the ways in which the editor of thit! REVIEW has been compelled to watch the progress of missions for more than a quarter of a cen- tury. Without claiming any undue capacity for observation, saga- city in discernment, or accuracy in judgment and induction, the calm conclusion reacht after thirty years of study of this theme and of active participation in the actual machinery of missionaryenterprjse, is, that at no time during the llalf century now closing have missions to the heathen been at greater peril of utter collapse! Wide doors are open, immense fields invite, some soil calls for the ,sower, while 11arvests demand the reaper; we never knew so well how much territory there is to be possessed. and how deep is the need of mankind; never had the church such opportunities and facilities, never such large numbers and wealth at her disposal: and yet, with doors open wider than ever, and candidates offering in unprecedent£d numbers, the giving of the people of God is so utte]'ly inadequate and disgracefully disproportionate, that where every divine sign of the times is a call for rapid adyance and expansion. our drums beat a retreat, and our boards loudly call for retrenchment!
And-what is, to our view, most fraught with risk,-there is a growing apathy about the whole question of a world's evangelization, which seems to argue a decay at the very root of missionary enterprise. The canses of this we cannot for ourselves either doubt or deny. On one hand there is laxity of doctrine, which, at least, leads disciples to induJ,ge a vague" eternal hope," like Dean Parrar, that the heathen are not really lost without Christ: and on the other hand there is a laxity in practice, which leads to a practical recognition of all religions as belonging to a universal brotherhood of faiths, and to the fellowship of their representatives as entitled to our" Christian charity", forgetful of the famous proverb quoted by Dr. John Ryland to Robert Hall, that "charity is an angel while she rejoiceth in the truth, but a harlot when she rejoiceth in iniquity," embracing those whom she should rather pity and weep over.
These pages are devoutly consecrated, not merely to the news of missions, but even more particularly to the problems of missions, to the principles and practices on which depends whether there shall be any news to announce save that of defeat and disaster. And so, in the faith and fear of Him whose stewards we are, we make no apology for the candid examination and outspoken testimony which are necessary if we are either to guard against errors or secure lasting advance. And the firm persuasion controls the editor; that if anything can be done to secure a broad, strong, firm basts in a holier, diviner life in the church, the whole structure of active evangelization will take new
BUILDING FROM THE
proportions and dimensions, and grow up toward completion and con-. summation, like the Temple of old, noiselessly, symmetrically, cease- lessly, without buildiug into it one false element, misplacing one stone,.. or timber, or reshaping by human tools of worldly wisdom or inven- tion any of the blocks which a Divine architect has hewn in his own, quarry.
Let any prayerful and candid disciple survey without prejudice the- present status of the Ohristian Ohurch and the so-called Ohristian world", and as in the sight of God, calmly ask himself whether from such con- ditions a true self-sacrificing apostolic type of evangelism can be ex- pected. Look at the church pervaded by sectarianism, sacramental- ism, ritualism and Romanism, and an even more fatal secularism. Be- hold the awful lack of gospel preaching, the reckless extravagance thatreigns and practical denial of stewardship, the low level of piety, theprevalence of prayer]essness, and the encroachment of virtual infidelity_ See the church confronting the world with its more than thousand million unconverted souls, scattered over a wide unevangelized territory, with its unoccupied and neglected fields continental in breadth;. yet unable to grapple with the awful problems of society, conscious of a widening gap or gulf between itself and the world, yet nnable tobridge the gulf, while the intemperance, licentiousness and anarchy of society takes on a more and more revolutionary aspect. Then turn to the history and progress of missions, the triumphs and successes of the past century, the encouragements of God's promise and prophecy, the providential access to all nations, and the heroic examples of faith and consecration that are our incitements to holy effort-as well as the large body of converts and the larger communities of adherents which are the visible planting of the Lord-and then let anyone tell us why missions stand at such a halting place on the way, unless it be becanse vital godliness has been suffered to decay.
There is to our mind but one possible conclusion, which we dare to, emphasize by repetition: namely, to build up missions so that thestructure shall risk no collapse, we must look well to the base-in the individual as well as the collective church-life. We mnst press homO" on the believer the demand for personal holineRs. The word of God mnst be r{'stored to its supreme place as the inspired, infallible testimony of God; the personality and power of the Holy Spirit, the indispensableness of Ohrid to human salvation, the nniversal priesthood of believers and the need of a simple and spiritual worship, the call to'
separation and selfdenial for Ohrist, and the neglected hope of the Lord's coming,-these and like truths must be preacht, taught, driven home to ihe conscience-until God's people are brought into personal, living, loving sympathy with Himself.
When Rev. Dr. Aleyander MacLaren, of Manchester, spoke at the Jubilee of the Free Ohurch of Scotland, he thrilled and awed his hearers by a characteristic treatment of "Spiritual Dynamics." And in course of that grand speech he shewed how. wide reaching is thlt range of spiritual truth, by an illustration which had the force of a demonstration. He set before his audience the image of a compass, with one foot firmly set in the true center, and the other describing a circle which, while that center was preserved, could not possibly err in its width or range of circumference.
The persuasion grows upon us that the first necessity in our mis· sionary theory and practice is to get the truth center and fix there the point of our compass, and then, however wide the circle of our activity, we shall always be right, scriptural, spiritual; and, on the contrary, if we have not the true center and do not keep it, our best enterprises, by whatever name called, will be more or less failures.
It is a most markt fact that, thus far in history, all the great .epochs of missionary activity have been circles with one center: a revival <oj E'IJangelical pietYj and even within these have been only smaller "circles with a uniform center: PRAYER. In other words, all wider or ,smaller enterprises which have been of a true missionary character .have been a circumference whose one center has been a new approach ':1;0 God in believing supplication and intercession. For example, John Wesley unconsciously founded a great missionary movement known as Methodism, whose results already are five and a half million of adher· "ents, but all this can be traced back to a holy club of four that met in Lincoln College, Oxford, one hundred and seventy years ago, for cui· . tivation of holiness and prayer. The great revivals that swept over ,ine United States and Britain between 1830 and 1860 were all the ,result of prayer that began with a few burdened souls. So of the 'China Inland Mission, which leapt into life under the inspiration of 'one man's supplication. The Bristol Orphanages, with all the work ,of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution and kindred work of missions in all lands, may be traced to that one apostle of prayer, George Miiller.
It seems too plain to need demonstration that, if we are to sweep a wider circle of missions around the now unoccupied territory, and have it a real achievement rather than an apparent and superficial advance, we must be sure that the compass of our plan plants its foot in the firm pivotal center of believing prayer and the higher holiness that is bound up inseparably with such devout and privileged communing with God. And for this reason we propose to give in consecutive pa· pers in this REVIEW a series. of half-historic sketches of certain con- spicuous spiritual movements of the last half century, from which we may learn some great lessons of God. We believe that the effect will bit to shew that all real advance in missions is due, uniformly, to an advance first of all in the standard of holy living, and that eTen this is quite as uniformly due to a new power of prayer. .I There has been no time within the memory of men now living, when the crisis in missions has equalled the present for critical and pivotal interest. There are three factors that now combine to consti- tute this a new and critical emergency in the work quite beyond any previous exigency, both in its importance and its appeal: namely, the vastness of the area, both open and unoccupied; the inadequacy of the available force for occupation ; and the apathy exhibited by the Ohurch at large, especially as shown in the insufficient standard of giving, and in the indifference which allows retrenchment to go forward where every condition calls for expansion.
These convictions are not held bj the writer of this paper without a wide constituency of sympathetic souls. Much residence abroad and travel on the continent has revealed a general unrest and dissatisfac- tion among God's people, a common consciousness of this need of a highe:a: standard of holiness, and a drawing into closer fellowship on the part qf praying'souls, to the utter disregard of all previous barriers of separation and exclusion. Never before, since apostolic days, has there been such a fraternizing of believers who have been pent up within high sectarian fences. Close limits that have restrained many Baptists from communing at the Lord's table with nnimmersed believers, and the close limits that h~ve restrained many Anglicans from acknowledging any ordination as valid, except that of prelatical bishops, and have kept many conscientiously from ever attending a dissenting place of worship -even such high walls as these have not been high enough to keep apart disciples who, in yearning for a deeper spiritual life, have found in other disciples an answering yearning, as in water, face answereth to face.
In this um:on of all disciples in common prayer and self-surrender to God for holy living and serving, is to befound the most significant sign of the times. It suggests the one practical solution of the problem of missions, if indeed it be not the hope of solving all the perplexities of our Ohristian life. Certain it is that wherever, and so far as these movements have prevailed, the whole state of the church has felt a new and reforming power at work. Prayer meetings have multiplied and become mighty: preaching has taken on' new gospel tone. and new Holy Spirit power: giving has become more spontaneous and liberal, and missionary candidates have offered in unprecedented numbers.
The result of this "Oxford movement" which ,a few years later found a center in "Keswick" teaching, so-called, and which is to form the subject of the first paper in this series, are far wider in range than most of us realize. One who is as well qualified to speak 8S any other observer, and who, at seventy years of age, gives his calm judgment, writes me thus in a letter not meant for publication, and so the more valuable as a testimony. He says, "I think that perhaps the results were larger in Germany than in England. A German theo- logical professor told my brother that, as Justification by Faith had -once been establisht in German theology, so now sanctification by faith has likewise been largely accepted as a doctrine by theologians there. I hear from various quarters that a great impulse has been given by this wave, to missi01~ary work, the dedication of Ute will, the central thought of it all, leading to this form of service in large numbers of cases. "When Mrs. Catharine Booth was dying," he continues, Il she said to Mr. Edward Clifford, who was much with her, that the Oxford- Brighton mOTement was one of the principal means of the establish- ment of the work of the Salvation Army, or rather an aid to it. It brought the very great number of the upper classes who have been ef- fectually reacht, into sympathy with the Salvation Army, the central power of which was the same-a completed consecration and a full faith. Curiously, therefore, the' High Church' were greatly reacht at one end, and the' Free Methodists' at the other. And yet more curiously, it was the means of forwarding the agnostic' Peoples' Church' through an attendant at Brighton, who, in a full joyous sense of a yielded will, and full trust, feeling the force of the historical difficulties in Ohristianity, tho he seemeJ. to be as earnest, sincere and consecrated and true in heart as ever, felt led with the same sort of personal devotion to making a church for the large class of morally good men among the working classes whom he found seemingly incapable of Christian faith (in its historical sense), and formed congregations out of such. I have conferred with many such men, and all acknowledge that the spiritual leverage-shall I say-power to immediately and greatly move souls is wanting. In one of George Macdonald's novels he makes the typical 'broad' doctrine curate effect only a modification of a carpenter's cynical views of life! Sudden and effectual conversions-the ordinary work to be wrought by evangelical preaching-is not in it, though he had the novelist's choice.
"From my present standpoint, the essence of Christianity lies not so much in doctrine, even historical, as in the surrender of the will and effectual realization of the real Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of Christ: and whenever I attend public services I burn to have these things proclaimed in power and souls brought out of that misery -of a quickened conscience while yet there is a divided heart-into the joyous obedience of a realized sonship. This is the truth which has formed (the church within the church' in all the ages-the inner church which instructed Luther and the great apostles of the faith,- (lven while some of them rejected the form it took." * This is one testimony out of hundreds which we hav;e collected, to * See the new" Catherine of Siena," by Talbot. the effect on mission work at home and abroad of this school of teach- ing, the central peculiarity of which is that it seeks to bring the believer into close and vital contact with Ohrist as a sanctifier, and as complete master of the surrendered will. Is not the final solution of our present problem of missions, is not the only hope that the work of a world's evangelization will ever be carried forward as it ought to be, found in the increast holiness of God's people, and in the real surrender of the will to Christ as Master, which at once establishes the bond of sympathy with Him, and makes obedience natural, implicit, immediate, delightful?
We feel that we are working down past the accidents and super- ficial attendants of the difficulty to its very root. Missions languish because the whole life of godliness is feeble. The command to go everywhp.re and preach to everybody is still unobeyed, because the will is not lost by self-surrender in the will of God. There is no right giving because there is so little right living, and, because of the lack of sympathetic contact with God in holiness of heart, there is a lack of effectual contact with Him at the Throne of Grace. Living, praying, giving, and going will always be found together, and a low standard in one means a general debility in the whole spiritual being. We must come to feel and acknowledge this. And for this reason, that our readers may be brought into more sympathetic contact with this flood-tide of spiritual sympathy and power which is now sweeping quietly over two continents, we shall, from the best sources possible, get accurate information on these subjects, and spread this before those who commune with us through these pages. We shall first trace the history of the Oxford-Brighton movement; then of the Keswick Oonventions, which are, in a sense, its successors; then look at the Newport Revival in Monmouthshire, England, singularly contemporaneous, yet independent; and we may afterward, to complete both the record and the impression, refer to the distinctively missionary movements like those of the Ohina Inland Mission and the Missionary Alliance which are the indirect outgrowths of the deepening spiritual life to which we refer.
The first of these successive articles, immediately following this, on the genesis of the" Oxford Movement," is prepared by one who, tho modestly withholding his name from publication, was intimately, and from the beginning, both an actor in, and an observer of, what is here put on record.
May the God of all truth and grace add His blessing to the simple, humble effort to build up from the base a new and growing interest in the work to which our Lord gave Himself and appointed us-the Evangelization of the world.
TlIE GENESIS OF TlIE "OXFORD MOVEMENT."
THE GENESIS OF THE "OXFORD MOVEMENT" FOR THE PROMOTION OF SORIPTURAL HOLINESS.
The spiritual history of the coming decades in England can be pre- dicted largely from the spiritual currents among the younger men of the universities. The" High Ohurch" or " Puseyite ., tidal wave was rightly called" the Oxford movement." The" evangelical impulse," given mainly by Charles Simeon, was similarly called "the Oambridge movement." Succeeding, or parallel to this last, was a radical highly Calvinistic impulse through the unorganized body called "the Ply- mouth Brethren." In the well-known book, "The Fairchild Family," by Mrs. Sherwood, one may find the evangelical teaching prest to its extreme and least attractive forms, and in the numerous and widely circulated publications of the" Plymouth Brethren" will be found the teaching of the strongest doctrines as to implicit literal" obedience to the Word," or Scripture, combined with strictest Oalvinistic statements as to the forensic condition of the believer, as an unalterable complete state of grace. The influence of this latter teaching ex~ tended through both the Establisht Church and most of the dissenting bodies, far beyond the limits of the unorganized Plymouth Brethren themselves, who, without formal membership or denominational system, met" to break bread," as they termed the act of communion.
In the seventies, the first generation of these three forms of revival was passing away, and the successors, who had not shared the deep I'lpiritual crisis in which the High Church, evangelical and Brethren movements originated, found themselves with forms, either of ritual, or of doctrine, which, dulled by use, failed to meet their spiritual needs as they had supplied those of their predecessors. There was a felt lack of, and a great hungering for a personal righteousness, which shonld really meet their too often starving spiritual natures. Taught that they wpre sacramentally complete by absolution on one hand, or judicially, forensically, perfect. by forgiveness of sin on the other, they yet found themselves unsatisfied, with no well of living water within, as promist in Scripture. They lived with a high standard of holiness, yet under frequent or almost constant sense of condemnation for transgression. They exaggerated the doctrine, often exprest in the words "black but comely;" or. as they would state in prayermeetings, they were "from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot bruises and putrefying Bores;' while yet forgiven saints, and by imputation "whiter than snow," and ready for heaven itself. Their supposed judicial standing and their lives of practical failure, were in startling' contrast.
In this condition of mind numberless tender-hearted Ohristians found a sorrow which nothing reacht. They felt that they were by their failures continually grieving the One in all the univers-e whom they loved best, and they suffered constantly renewed sorrow. Saved, as they believed, for eternity, from the penalty of sin, they were yet in many respects under its acknowledged power. It was not gross sins, but sins of pride, anger, temper, censoriousness, evil thoughts; and they even sometimes felt that some around them who made no. Christian profession were more free from failure than themselves.
In 1873 a series of papers written in America appeared in a London weekly, now named The Christian, which called attention to a neglected part of scriptural teaching. This teaching was that Christ came to save His people from their sins, and not from the consequences of them only; that in the Epistles His offering of Himself was more often stated as for their sanctification than even for their justification; that" He gave Himself for us that He m;ght purify unto Himself a people," etc. "Who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, shottld live unto righteousness." This was felt to be more than judicial pardon and imputed righteousness. One part of the Gospel had been fully preacht, pardon to the sinner, forgiveness to the repentant transgressor; but its complement of a practical, continuous victory over temptation equally provided in the Gospel had been overlookt. A false humility, while boldly claiming pardon for sins, overlookt its correlative victory over sin.
These "views" in The C'hristian deeply affected great numbers of spiritual Christians, and when, in 1873, they were emphasized in meetings, beginning in the rooms of the London Young MelY's Christian Associations, many were greatly changed by them in their attitude as to faith and personal consecration, and consequently in their lives.
What was taught was simply that a completed consecration of will and a completed trust in the Word of Christ would bring the Christian into a realization of the promises of victory over sin, and into sustained communion with God; that the only normal condition of the "believer" was that of full belief; of the" child of God," implicit obedience. That as a bird cannot rise on one wing, so in both full trust, and full obedience alone could a disciple find the promises of victory over sin a continuing reality.
What gave effect to this teaching was the steady insistence that bere and now, even while this simple truth was being preacht, the- Christian should yield his too often divided will, give np some doubtful or consciously condemned idol or practice, and commit himself to an unreserved trust and obedience. Often it was like death itself t() renounce something more or less clearly known to be evil. "I would die if I gave it up," said a popular preacher, referring to an unhallowed indulgence. The reply was, "Life to a Christian is not a: necessity; obedience is. The early Christians preferred death to dis· -obedience, and so must you." ~'he agony almost of death was in his -countenance as he said, "Then I renounce it." The battle of Waterloo is said to have depended on the possession of a small cottage as a key to the contest. It was often some small matter in which tlte will was entrenched, and till this was yielded full trust was impossible; ;and, conversely, often till a full trust was exercised the yielding was impossible. How near they often were to the Rock and knew it not! A man descending a well by a rope found himself at the end of the line, and soon his strength began to fail. He could not climb up, and to let go would be, he supposed, to be dasht to pieces. At length he ,could hold on no longer, and dropt. The distance to the rock was- three inch8s! How often have we seen the spiritual counterpart of this scene!
Words can but imperfectly describe the joy and spiritual power which came through the extr-nsion of these meetings to thousands of dergymen and religious teachers, and to Ohristians in less conspicuous conditions. By the liberal kindness of Samuel Morley, the Member of Parliament for Bristol, a leading Oongregationalist, a series of breakfasts were given in London in 1874-75 for ministers, which were ..attended by twenty-four hundred preachers, mostly at breakfast-tables of thirty or forty in a morning. Oontinuous meetings of a few days at a time were held in London and the provinces and in various cities on the Oontinent, and in 1874, in response to the request of a number of young men at the University of Oambridge, the late Lord Mount Temple opened his country seat, "Broadlands," widely known as the residence of the late Lord Palmerston, for a meeting of ten days. This was by private invitation, and so great was the blessing found, that it was felt that another and larger meeting must be convened. This resulted in a meeting at Oxford of clergymen of the Establishment, as well as preachers and members of the various churches, about a thousand in number gathered from all parts of England. At this "Oonvention" many pastors were also present from the Oontinent; and similar meetings were held later in France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, and Germany, which were crowded, sometimes the addresses being repeated twice in the same evening to as many as .six thousand hearers. Everywhere the same remarkable results in the revival of the Ohristian life were realized. In France, Theodore Monod, in Switzerland, Pastor Stockmeyer, and in other countries -others held similar" conventions" or "retreats" upon the same model.
In 1875 a yet larger meeting of ten days was held at Brighton, .attended by about six thousand persons, among whom were about two hundred and fifty pastors from Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Holland, and France, and also by the venerable Bishop Gobat of Jerusalem.
And now, after twenty-one years, there are still held annually in England, ten" retreats" or " conventions" on a similar plan of three to ten-day continuous services. The one at Kendal, establisht by the Rev. Canon Battersby, is widely known. The one at Guilford collects about five thousand persons annually. From many countries on the Continent continual reports come of continuous blessing still attributed to this movement. At Nancy, for twenty years a pastor has held a weekly meeting as a remembrance and continuation of the blessings received at Brighton.
This spontaneous, unorganized movement, so far as is known, never resulted in a change of the Church connection of a single individual from that in which it found him. It gave him power to work in the sphere in which he already lived. The establishment of a new denomination was confidently predicted by some, but its announced object was not a change of either doctrine or organization, but a revival of living faith in truths already accepted, and in full practical obedience within spheres already found.
It was without public emotional expression. The writer cannot recall any indication of physical excitement, not even a single Amen! spoken aloud. Those who led it, it happened, did not need any pecuniary support, and with little mention of needs for rents of halls and traveling expenses of Continental pastors, there was a surplus of many thousands of pounds of voluntary contributions, while no portion of a guaranty fund of twenty-five hundred pounds was required. Seventy ushers waited on the meetings at Brighton, held in several languages, from seven o'clock in the morning almost continually till ten at night. The civic corporation gave three large halls and many rooms for the purpose free of charge.
Among other results, a great and continuous impulse has been given the missionary movement, through the completed obedience and faith of Christians attending these "consecration meetings."
It would not be well to close this notice of the movement without stating what is nat meant by the teaching above described. Everywhere an anxiety prevailed among good Christians lest it should mean what is termed" sinless perfection." Perhaps our danger lies more in sinful imperfection, but yet it is an honest anxiety based on occasional fanaticisms. The wine of the Kingdom, like earthly wine, proves sometimes too much for ill-balanced souls. It was interesting to see persons coming to these meetings full of the expectation of hearing "sinless perfection" preacht, and then to see their surprise as a speaker opened with the words, "Perhaps no one has ever accurately defined and limited the term Sin. If it be the coming short of the absolute holiness of the Divine, I sin in every breath I draw." Such hearers would look in surprise at one another, and the speaker would continue: "But if continuous, conscious trespass be made the necessary inevitable condition of the Ohristian; if he, by the law of his exis"tence, as a follower of Christ. must continuously and inevitably grieve Him whom he loves best in all the universe; if the fence between sinners sinning and saints obeying be thrown down; if Christ did not die to redeem us all from iniquity, and pnrify ns unto Himself, to 'save me from my sins, then is the Gospel a failure as regards this life, and the will of God is not our sanctification. Yet no one can claim deliverance from sin in any other sense than victory over known, dis- covered sin. Had we the insight of angels, we could not take one step in our confused .surroundings without conscious sin. But from known sin, from discerned evil, one may find deliverance in Christ. And as we walk in the light and in obedience. each day shows us more of evil to be avoided. In to-day's light yesterday's sin of ignorance may become one of knowledge to be now conquered. No wise person will boast that he has not sinned for such and such a time. But he may say, that to the utmost of his trust is his victory over known sin; and that so far as he does not trust, in so far he fails. In such a life, the momen t of confession of sin is the moment of realized pardon, and also of power to avoid its repetition."
"Wherein, then, does your present life differ from the former experience?" we are askt. It differs, first, in that we are not expect- ing to sin, that we are not making a provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof. And that the courage of faith, that secret of vic- tory, and the coincidence of our wish or will with what we as yet know of God's will, makes a habit of victory and obedience.
You claim an undivided allegiance to your country, entire loyalty .. to your wife, complete affection for your children-is it impossible to have, as to the totality of your condition, equally trne relations to God? Must you be partly a rebel, an adulterer, indifferent to your children? Nay, even tho there be momentary failure, the trend of your being, the habit of your life, the current of your existence, may -nay, mttst-be henceforth allegiance, loyalty, love. Then you no longer are under law-a sense of compulsion, a contest of inclination, but your will, now completely yielded, becomes henceforth that of God• .. I worship Thee, sweet Will of God, And all Thy ways adore, And every day I live, I learn To love Thee more and more."
SOME OF THE DEEPER THINGS.
BY REV. F. B. }fEYER, B. A., LONDON, ENGLAND.
The only hope for any of us to realize the life which is life indeed is: first, To discriminate between the workings of the flesh and that of the spirit; and second, To consign the former absolutely to death.
The workings of the flesh are very insidious, because they are the outcome of the I-life. "In me-that is, in my flesh," sald the apostle
BOllE OF THE DltEPElt TIDNGS
(Rom. 7: 18). The flesh is mej the me-life; the life in which self is prominent; which is prompted and inspired by self; the final end and efficient cause of which is self. And beeause our personality is so ubiquitous and energetic, the presence and power of the flesh is infused into all our life.
The only true test of discrimination between these two principles is the Word of God, because it is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing to the 'dividing asunder of soul (which is the seat of the self-life), and spirit (which is the seat of the Christ- life). Bathe in the Word of God, let the blessed Spirit use it perpet- ually, and you will become sensible of the manifold workings of the flesh in regions where you had not suspected it.
The flesh assumes base passionate aspects. It The works of the flesh are manifest, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, enmities, strife, drunkenness, revelling, and such like" (Gal. 5 : 22). At any tllAvern, in the streets at dark, in the cell of the jail you can see its works by the myriad; and in the beginnings of Christian life one is conscious that, tho restrained from outward manifestation, there is still the un- hallowed, inward impulse in such directions.
But t7te .fles7t may also be present il~ our efforts after sanctification. " Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the fl<l:3h ?" (Gal. 3 : 3). It would appear that in Galatia there was a sc11001 of perfectionists, who were attempting to secure perfection in the energy of the self-life. And, indeed, to take an illustration from what is known as consecration teaching, in which people are incited to give themselves again and again to God, how much there is of the resolves and determinations 'of the flesh! Do you suppose that a man 'I who has really entered into an act of consecration will need perpet- ually to repeat it? And will it be needful for him to maintain him- self therein by the incessant exercise of his own energy? 'J'rue holi- ness, as true consecration, must be wholly of God, through Rim, and to Rim. "Of God, are ye in Christ Jesus, who is made unto us ••• sanctification."
The flesh may also be energetic in Ohristtan work. The apostle clearly indicates this when he says that he did not after the flesh plan his coming to Corinth so that "there.should be the yea yea and the nay nay" (2 Oor. 1 : 17). How much of our Christian work has been along this line, suggested by the flesh, wrought out by the flesh or self-energy, and tending to the glorification of ourselves! And, therefore, much of it is wood, hay, and stubble, to be burnt up, altho men have admired and praised it.
Much of our work has been begun at our own instigation, and after the plans have been made, we have turned to God, asking Rim to help and bless; whereas we should have let Him guide and lead, being iatisfied to stand beside and hand Rim the implements, or to lie deep down beneath the roadway, trampled under foot of men, the wire that carries His messages.
How memorable is that incident in Hudson Taylor's life, in which God said to him: "Iam going to evangelize inland China, and if you will walk with me, I will do it through you!" This is the way in which we think when we have learned to consign the self-life to the death.
Bnt it is only as we live in constant fellowship with the Word of God, as illumined by the spirit of God, that we come to detect these workings. The man who has breathed pure air will know in a moment when he is inhaliRg poisonous miasma; and the purer the air he has breathed, the quicker he will be to detect the worse.
And as we detect it in ourselves, we shall sorrowfully detect it in others. Perhaps it is well that we should do so, because it reminds, humbles, and warns us. "I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal" (1 Cor. 3 : 1). And the word carnal is the Latin equivalent of the Greek word rendered flesh. They were certainly Christians, for he speaks of them us beiug babes in Ghrist, but they were as certainly dominated by the self-principle, and so in the most elementary stage of Christian experience.
The carnal, self, or flesh-life is indicated by (1) the inability to receive the teaching of the epistles; (2) the presence of jealousy and strife; (3) the sectarian' spirit, which set up one teacher against another, instead of going behind the servants to the Master; (4) the inability to withstand impurity (1 Cor. 5); (5) and all this is not inconsistent with the possession of many wonderful gifts (1 Cor. 12).
When people are in this state it is useless to present the deepest truths of the Christian life. They must be rebuked and shown their error, and led into that position which is presently to be described, in which once and for all the self-life is consigned to the cross beneath the curse of God, an execrated and abominable thing.
The next step towards the attainment of the true life is to see what God thinks of the life of the flesh. It is somewhat of a shock to the believer when he comes, so to speak, for a second time on the cross of Jesus. At the first he saw the Savior dying there for him, and came away thankful, not suspecting that there was a deeper vision possible, reserved for those who had eyes to see. But whenever that deeper vision is vouchsafed, he sees the likeness of his sinful flesh there in the dying Lord (Rom. 8 : 3). It is as if a man were suddenly to see a crime, akin to something in his own life, tho long hidden, adjudged in another, doomed to die, and led to the scaffold. Of course there was no sin in Jesus, no taint or touch of it. He was "that holy thing." But in Him there was, the apostle says, the likeness of sinful flesh, and God's curse was on it, for it is written, "Curst is everyone that hangeth on a tree." Thus we reason with ourselves: if the likeness of our sinful nature, as born by the holy Savior, was so abhorrent to God that He nailed it to the cross beneath His curse, what must not its reality ana essencebe, as it dyes our nature, tinctures our holiest moments, and enters. into the vitals of our being. God help us! No flesh may glory in His presence, but life hitherto has owed all to the secret energizings of this heaven-cured principle.
Cain's offering was made after the wisdom and in the energy of the flesh. He brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. Without doubt it was beautiful to look at, luscious to taste, but it could not be accepted. And all that emanates from the pride ftnd ambition of our nature is equally abhorrent to the holy God; nor could lIe endure it, if it were not for the precious blood of Jesus, who ever lives to intercede.
My reader, will you pause here and acknowledge the justice of this enactment of God's infinite holiness! In the Old Testament, where Amalek was the type of the flesh, Moses said: "'fhe Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation." In the New Testament, Paul said the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be.
Do you see that you have been consorting with a felon, well drest tho he may have been, and that much of your religious effort has been instigated by his suggestions? Can that which has originated in a. felon, whom God has arraigned and consigned to the crOSE, be acceptable in His sight? Ah! it is a bitter, bitter discovery to see that so much that we have prided ourselves on has been what Israel's sacrifices were (Isa. 1 : 12-15).
The next step is to 1mite O1trselves with the death of Christ. " If we have become united with Him by the likeness of His death" (Rom. 6 : 5 [R. V.]). "They that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof" (Gal. 5 : 24 [R. V.]). There comes a definite, never-to-be-forgotten moment, in 8, man's life, when he definitely unites himself by the choice of his will with the death of Jesus to sin. This is already his position in the sight of God, as he is viewed in the Lord Jesus; but he accepts it definitely and finally as his own.
"My God," he says, " I see what Thy thought of the flesh is, that it is an accurst felon. I accept that judgment of it henceforth, and I desire that no part of my life may be dominated by its unholy influence. I cannot do it to death, or die to it, by my own resolve, but I will it to be so, and in the power of the Eternal Spirit I offer myself to live henceforth in the energy of my risen Lord. I would be crucified with Him, that so long as I live, my life may be one of faith in the Son of God, receiving from Him life on life." It is an awful moment when the soul takes this step. Never again to live on its own plans; or obey the promptings and suggestions of its own restless will; or tolerate the promptings of appetite aud selfwill. It seems as tho the very ground were giving way under the feet, and the grave yawning to receive. Did our blessed Lord feel this when He finished His holy and beneficent ministry among men, and took the path for Oalvary? But as the soul goes down into the grave, it sings the song of resurrection hope. Listen as the words come up from the vault: .. The Lord ia alway8 before my face ; For He i8 on my right hand, that I81wuld not be m01!/Id: Tlierifore my heart i8 glad, and my ioTlfjue 1·tjoices; Moreover my jle8h alBo shall dwell in hope ; Because Tlwu wilt not leave my Boul in Had~, Neither wz'lt TluJU give Thy Holy one to see C()rruption. Tlwu makest known unto me the ways of life; . Thou shalt make mefull of gladne88 with Thy countenance."
Have you ever definitely arraigned your self-life as a felon, and adjudged it as an accursed thing to the cross? If not, I pray you to do it. It need not take long, but it should be done solemnly and irre- vocably. You do not realize all it may involve, but you can safely leave yourself in the hands of Jesus. Remember, however, not to do it in the energy of your own will. If you do, at the first summons, the crucified will descend from the cross. No, you have only by faith to accept a position, already fixt and assigned in the purpose of God, and in the death of Jesus, and then to trust the Holy Spirit to make real in your habitual experience that which is real in the purpose of God. Ascertain what God has done with the flesh principle in the person of Jesus, and ask the Holy Spirit to make this objective fact a ~ubjective experience.
It is impossible to live this life apart from the infilling and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Unseen and eternal facts are too recondite and far away to be matters of experience, unless we yield to the Spirit, become filled by the Spirit, live and walk in the Spirit. We must saturate our spirits in the contemplation of these great mysteries of identification with Jesus in His death; but we mltst also receive the Spirit continually, as the unshuttered windows receive the light, that He may not only explain t.hem to the inner heart, but may make them blest living experiences! Oh, give the Spirit time! T-lie asoak in His gracious influences! He will take of the things of Ohrist, and reveal them. Fear not, only trust Him, and be still.
What then, may 'We expect? Some would say the death of the self-life. But I am persuaded that in this they greatly err, and lead many astray. It is not a scriptural expression, and it is not true to Christian experience. I grant that we may be instantly and forevermore delivered from known sin, and the very desire for it may be taken away and turned to holy loathing. But the self-principle is not eliminated from our inner life. It is not dead, but we are to reckon ourselves dead to it, trusting the Holy Spirit to make our reckoning good (Rom. 6: 11; Gal. 5: 16, 17).
Supposing a woman is divorced from her husband, because of his cruelty and unfaithfulness, and marries again, this time to a nol1le man, whom she devotedly loves. The moment of the divorce is the moment of her liberation, and from that moment she reckons herself dead to him. He may sometimes solicit her to return, but his solici- tations fall on deaf ears. There is no effort even in refusing them, because she is so occupied and satisfied with her new true love. And if the drunken sot comes too near or threatens her, she only gets closer to her beloved, and puts him between them. The former hus- band is not dead, but she is dead to him.
What may 10e expect? I answer, a quicker appreciation of the promptings of the self-life, at ever lower depths. So that we shall detect its presence where we never dreamt to find it. But whenever we are conscious of its presence, we shall know and judge it, and consider that all its strivings were included in the hideous felon-life which we have definitely put away. Then we shall turn to the Holy Spirit, and ask Him to deal with it. We need not fight it; if we do, we shall fail; if we try to help the Holy Spirit to fight it, we shall fail; if we antagonize it by our righteous wrath, we shall fail-we must hand the matter over to the Holy Spirit. He will deal with it in unknown depths. We may hear the sounds of the awful strife, but we must stand still and see the salvation of God.
Who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Bozrah, this that is traveling in the greatness of His strength! It is the living Christ, who by His Spirit has dealt with our enemies alone. His own arm brought salvation.
This, so far as I can understand it, is the process. We detect the presence of self; we arraign and adjudge it to be included in the feJon from which we have been divorced; we then hand it over to the Holy Spirit. He delivers us from it, and gives us more and more of its opposite in Jeous. And as this process is continued two or three times, the suggestion itself is apt to drop right out of our life. We may be tempted in other ways, but not in this. I do not say that this is invariably the case; but I suspect it will be your experience, if you live and walk in the Spirit.
When at Northfield, Mr. Moody showed me a tree in which grafting in three kinds of apples had been performed. He said that every bud beneath the graft was at once nipped off, so that the energy of the plant might not expend itself in its own growth, but ascend into the graft. He said that after nipping off a bud in the same place once or twice it ceased to appear, tho the natural life of the plant might break out in other places. This seems to be a true analogy. You may therefore expect deliverance from the suggestion to certain forms of sins, but beware of the manifestation of the self-life in other forms, more subtle, and deeper.
Still there is no need to be constantly living in apprehension of such things. Reckon yourself dead to them, in the flash of a moment, and do not think of them further. Hand them over without surprise or alarm to the Holy Spirit, and leave them there. But, as the habit of your life, be occupied with Jesus, reckon yourself alive unto Him, let all the love and desire and attention of your nature be toward Him. This will be in proportion as you abide in the Spirit, because it is His delight to take of the things of Christ, and reveal them to those who hunger and thirst.
It is thus that Jesus is formed in 1M. My beloved friend, the late Dr. Gordon once said: "In the part of New England where I spend my summer holidays I have seen a parable of nature. Two little saplings grew up side by side. Through the action of the wind they crost each other. By and by the bark of each became wounded, and the sap began to mingle, until, in some still day, they became united together. After they were firmly compacted, the stronger began to absorb the life of the weaker. It grew larger and larger, while the other grew smaller and smaller. And now there are two trunks at the bottom, but only one at the top. Death has taken away the one; life has triumpht in the other. There was a time when you first were united to Jesus Christ. But how is it now? Has the word been accomplisht in you, 'He must increase, but I must decrease?' Has the old life been growing less and less, until it has almost disappeared, and the life of Jesus bclcome all in all?" This beautiful illustration may help you to understand how the self-life decreases and Jesus increases. This is the process: " All of self and none of Thee, Some of self and some of Thee; Less of self and more of Tltee, None of self and all of Tltee."
It may be aslcet, ltow does all this affect the outward l{fe'! In one sense it leaves it unchanged. The merchant still goes to his countinghouse and store; the wifu still attends to the duties of the home; the clerk is still found at his desk; the child iiJ at the school; and yet there is a difference The old life is lived from a new standpoint; it is no longer I, but Christ; no longer self-enthroned, but love, love to Jesus and love to all mankind. The life I now live in the flesh is a life of faith on the son 0f God, who loved me a:J.d gave Himself for me.
There is new tenderness between husband and wife, because the love of God flows through each to the other. There is new obedience
THE GOSPEL AMONG THE RED MEN. 19
on the part of the child, because the meek and lowly Jesus is living: through its yieldecl heart. There is new punctuality and diligence in attendance on and performance of daily duty, because the old fitful wayward life is abandoned, and Jesus is within, who for thirty years lived in the carpenter shop at Nazareth.
Do not fear, then, to surrender your own life to the death; Godwill give you something infinitely better, even the life of His Son,.. which will rise up like a fountain, and pour through all the channels of your being.
My friend, Mr. Gregory Mantle, in The Way oj the Oross, tells of 8> district on the Amazon which was rich in gorgeous foliage, but heavy with malaria and fever. There was no alternative but to cleanse it by fire, and for three months fire raged through the valley, destroying the rich aud beautiful growth, until a desert lay bare to the sun, where myriads of flowers had lifted their cups to his rays. But after a while the whole territory was covered with an extremely rare and exquisite Hower, that excited the rapturous admiration of all beholders; so, as Dr. Matheson sings: "We lay in dust life's glories dead, And from the ground there blossoms red Life that shall endless be."
THE GOSPEL AMONG THE RED MEN.* BY REV. EGERTON R. YOUNG, TORONTO, CANADA.
"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose."-Isaiah xxxv: 1.
The prophet is looking down to the time when changes will be made in moral wastes, such as our forefathers accomplisht on this continent when they changed the great forests into these splendid farms and beautiful homesteads. Similar transformation will bewrought in Ohrist's kingdom. "The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopt. Then shall the lame leap as an hart, and the tQngue of the dumb sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert." Those{ same transformations, which you have seen in your missionary work. in towns and cities, the missionaries have been permitted, under God'S' blessing, to see in the lands of paganism.
We labored among the wild Indian tribes away up in the heart of the British territories, a thousand miles north of St. Paul. They were the most northern tribes of Indians on the borderland of the Esqui..
• Oondenst from Th6 Nortlifleld Echo~8, August Conference Number, 181l6. maux people, away from civilization, so far away that the nearest post office was four hundred miles distant; we received our daily paper there twice a year. We found hundreds of Indians wandering through those vast forests as hunters and fishermen. They lived in a land so remote from cultivation that the word « bread " was literally unknown in those days, and the petition, « Give us this day our daily bread,"
had to be translated, "Give us something this day to keep us in life."
I have seen Indians eighty years of age who never saw a loaf of bread, .
or a cake, or a pie. When my wife and I went out there we lived as they did; we lived on fish twenty-one times a week for months together, and for weeks together we did not average two good meals .a day. For years we did not begin to live as well as the thieves and -murderers in the penitentiaries of Great Britain and America. But ~.it was a blessed work, and we were happy in it.
We have the Bible translated for our Indians, it is the work of one "of our missionaries, Rev. James Evans, who invented what are known '..as the Syllabic characters. He found these people wandering on the borders of the Great Lakes and ALPHABET. rivers, fishing, hunting in the vast forests for bears and other ani- mals, and looking all the time for (a) SYLLABICS. game, as they were ever on the go. The thought occurred to him to invent a simple way of teaching ~e these Indians to read, so that they might be able to use the Bible for Ape themselves. The result of it was this invention, each character is Qte a syllable,-in all thirty-six of them. 'l'hey are represented in r '1 eha eM .j eM L ehi the accompanying cut, which gives both the Iudian characters qka p M d ko b kit and the English sounds. As soon as the characters were graspt we ,f ":0 nil ~ n~ used to turn to the· first chapter of the book of Genesis, and begin :tma. E m~ L IDa. to read. Now, I want to paint a picture, to take you with me to a ," ·i.• ! ""' '-. sa .-~ s~ 6 yA '~ y~ * a, as in far. l;>and that has never seen a mis- sionary, never seen a Bible, never heard the Savior's name, and I want to show you how we teach them to read on a first visit, which lasts only a few weeks. We have no schoolhouse, no school-books, no pencils or paper. We have only a few Bibles, which that magnificent society (the British Bible Society) now sends out to us. After I have preacht to them for some daysl and have gained the good will of most of them, * I say, "Would you not like to learn to read this book?" "Yes." I cannot go and get a sheet of paper, slate and pencil, and begin teaching them, but here are great granite rocks near by, and I take a 'burnt stick from my camp fire, and with that burnt stick I make the characters shown in the cut: A, E, 00, AH, MA, ME, MOO, MAH, etc. Then I say to the people, "Now say as I do," and just as a primary teacher gives a lesson to her children in A, B, 0, so I begin, " A, E, 00, AH, MA, ME, MOO, MAH." By and by a fellow gets out his flint and steel, lights his pipe, and repeats, A, E, 00, AH; but I can't say auything against the pipe, for one dare not be cross with them. We go over it again and again; I point to the letters in turn and say, a What is this? " They are unknown sounds to them, but I write down a character and ask," What is that?" They look at it and shout, "MA." I put down another, and ask, "What is that ?" "NE." I write a third: "What is that?" "TOO." I have written the word in Indian,-Ma-ni-too-thre.e characters, but I have not combined them yet, and they don't know. I say, "What is the first?" "MA." "The second?" "NE." "The. third?" "TOO." Then they combine them,-Manitoo.-Whylthey drop their pipes and put up their hands, and open their eyes in wonder. It is worth starvation and suffering, it is worth any amount of hardship, to see the ray of intelligence darting into the eyes of hundreds of these Indians, as for the first time, God, the name of God, becomes visible to their eyes there on the rock, made with a burnt stick from the camp fire. Manitoo, God. They have heard Him iLl the thunder, in the blizzard, and in the storm. But to them here is a new revelation. There is Manitoo on the rock, and they can hardly believe their eyes. Then, when the excitement is over, I write: J[anitoo Sa-kee-e-wa-tvin, "God is love," and that is a revelation. So I go on, and on, and on; no more smoking pipes. Most intense iuterest is excited, and we talk and talk until my mouth is dry and my strength exhausted, and then we go off and sit around our camp fires and have something to eat, and come back again.
In less than three weeks some of those Indians can read the Word of God in their own language. Just as soon as these characters and some simple sentences have become familiar to them, we turn to the first chapter of the Indian Bible, and with those characters on the rock, and we begin, "Ma tva eke misturn ne sa Manitoo." "See God in the book just as He is on the rock," they say. They catch the idea at once. Thus slowly we go through the verse. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." To a people that have been in darkness and ignorance there is a lot of information in that first verse. "Who put those stars in the sky; who caused the warm sun to greet • The old conjurers hate me because they know that my success means the end of their terrible rule over the people. the eyes and fill up our creeks with fish again?" Thus had they talkt ,as they groped in darkness. " Now we know: 'In the beginning God >created the heaven and the earth.''' Some of them thought their -education was complete at once,-they knew all about it now, and I have known a boy to jump up and run away six miles and bring his :father, pulling him along to show him the book which tells how those things, talkt about by their old people before the camp fires, had been ,accomplisht. In some of our villages eighty per cent. of our people Qver eight years of age are now reading in their own tongue the blessed :Book. In spite of the many hardships and trials, God is blessing the work grandly.
Not very long ago the governor of our colony sent out one of his >commissioners to meet the Indians with supplies, in accordance with the treaty. This commissioner sent word to one of our Ohristian Indians to bring his people to a certain point, as he would be there to distribute their annual allowances. The Indians were on hand at the time appointed; they brought nothing from their distant camp fires, i{)r they expected to receive abundant supplies to feast upon. But the day came, and the big white commissioner did not arrive,-and it is an everlasting disgrace when government representatives break word with the Indians. The commissioner did not come the first day, Qr the second, and the Indians were hungry. They went to the big .chief and said, "Pakan, our wives and children are crying for food,- here are our supplies, the gift of the Queen to us, and her servant has :not yet come to distribute them. Will you open them and give us enough to satisfy us?" "Oh, no, my children, I have never broken a word of treaty and I don't want to now," replied the chief. The next day no white man appeared, and the third morning those young Indians' eyes began to look ominous and flash out something that boded trouble. They went to the chief and said, "We must have food for our hungry ones." His answer was, "Have patience a little longer, my people," and he called on an Indian who had a splendid horse to accompany him, and, mounting his own, away they went as :fast as they could, to find and 1mrry up the dilatory commissioner. About noon they met him coming along with a large retinue of friends and servants. In those days that country abounded in game, and these white men had gone out for a good shooting time. As Pakan Tode into the camp at noonday he found them preparing to stop there, because not far off was a spot that seemed full of game. Pakan said to the commissioner, "You have broken your promise to my people. You were to have met them three days ago. Don't stop here,-come cQn and distribute the supplies, for my people are hungry." "Oh, Pakan, I am glad to see you," replied the white man," you are the .chief. I would like to have you dine with me, I hear you are a great hunter. Oome with us this afternoon and show me your skill in huutiug." "No," said he; "you have broken your word. The peo- ple are hungry,-come on at once." " Oh, no; I am going to have some shooting." Pakan said, "When are you coming?" "I will come to-morrow." "Oh," said Pakan, "to-morrow is the Sabbath, and we have been taught to keep the Sabbath." The commissioner answered, "My religion won't prevent me from distributing the food on Sunday." Pakan looked at him. He is one of the finest specimens of·a man I ever saw. He bravely replien, "I don't care what your religion will allow you to do, mine says, 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,'-and, hungry as we are, unless you come and dis- tribute the food to-day, we will not take it until Monday." The man quailed before him, and at once some subordinate was sent back with him. Before they left the commissioner said to the chief," I shall come along to-morrow, and we will have our usual annual talk about Indian affairs and the distribution of money." Pakan replied again, "To-morrow is the Sabbath, and we will have no treaty talk to-mor- row," and away he rode. The next day the white man came on to the Indian encampment. He expected the Indians to meet him, hundreds of them, with firing of guns and waving of flagE', but not one came to receive him, and no guns were fired; the only wigwam where the flag was flying was the place where the people met together three times a day to worship God. l'he commissioner sent out his criers for a council, but not one Indian responded. He sent for Pakan to come and dine with him, but Pakan said, "I dine with my own family on God's day whenever I can,"-and he refused the invitation. It is a great thing to dine with the ambassador of the Queen, yet this godly Indian refused the honor on account of his respect for the Sabbath day.
Now I want to give you an incident that is practical, and that you can use when advocating the Sabbath as a day of rest. When Mr. Evans induced a large number of Indians to become Ohristians, he said to them, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." In that country is the greatest fur trading company in the world, the Hudson Bay Oompany. They have been there since the reign of Oharles the First. All the goods are taken through that part of the country by brigades of boats. Until lately they carried all their goods from distant places by Indian brigades, who bring Qut as the exchange cargo boat-loads of furs, which are shipt to London. Before these Indians became Ohristians, they traveled every day alike. When our mission was establisht, all the missionaries went in for the observance of the Sabbath day. At once there was opposition from the Hudson Bay Oompany. They argued, " Our summer is short, the people have to work in a hurry, and to lose one day in seven will be a terrible loss to UB, and you missionaries must get out of the country if you are going to interfere with our business." There was downright persecution for years,-but there is none now, for it was found that the brigades , of Indians who traveled only six days, and quietly rested on the Sab- bath, made the journey of perhaps fifteen hundred miles, without a single exception, in less time, and came back in better health, than those who traveled without observing the Sabbath. So the Hudson Bay Oompany opposes us no more. They say, "Go on, missionaries, ana the Lord bless you."
When traveling in the winter we had to dig holes in the snow, and there cook our fat meat, and make a kettle of tea, and then try to go to sleep, until sometimes the snow piled npon us, during the fierce blizzard storms, so that we were completely covered, and if you were out hunting you could tramp right over us, little dreaming that a missionary and three dog-drivers were asleep there under the snow. I did not take my wife on those winter journeys, but in the summer months she sometimes went with me. We were paddling along one day and we came to a sand bar, where we went ashore, and while the Indian boatmen were cooking the dinner, my wife and I walkt along the beautiful beach. Soon we saw a number of Indians coming along in their birch canoes. I saw that they were some of myoId friends whom I intended to visit on my return journey. As they came along in their canoes from a distant point, I noticed one old fellow who had not the strength and skill of the younger fellows, and so his canoe lagged behind. I said to my wife, "My dear, go down and talk to that old rndian,-his name is Benjamin Oameron. Get him to talk to you of what he knows of Ohristianity, and r will talk to the others." So my good wife went to him where he landed, and, as she under- stands the language like a native, they sat down on the rock, and chatted. When dinner was ready she did not care to come. She seemed very unwilling to leave the old man. She replied to my call, " Oh, I would rather talk to this old man; it is such a blessing to hear him tell of what God has done for him. It is a greater privilege than eating my dinner." Finally she came with me, and as we walkt back she talkt about Benjamin, and her face lighted up with interest. When she stopt I said, "I am glad that you think so much of him; I think just as much of him as anyone, but listen: he was once a cannibal and ate his first wife." " Ugh!" she exclaimed, "can it be possible; well, I am glad that I didn't know it before I talkt with him or I am afraid I shouldn't have so enjoyed the interview." Years ago that old Indian went out in the woods with his wife for their winter hunting. They put out their traps and snares to catch the wild animals that wandered there through those northern forests in the cold and the snow,–":but they were not very successful. The deer did not come as usual, so when there came a day that food was scarce, the man became discouraged and one day he up with his rifle and shot his wife dead. He put the body out on a staging where it froze as solid as marble, and, when other supplies failed, he went to that, and during the winter he ate his own wife. Years after, the missionary came along with his Book. At first Benjamin was very shy and distant,-"No! no I-tho book is for you white people. Not for us." "Oome now and listen,-it is for you." He said, "No," but finally he became interested. Those Indians have wonderful traditions and stories, and I used to match their tales with Bible stories. Some of the Indians are huge fellows, over six feet tall, and they pride themselves on their stature. As they talkt about their height, I would say, "Listen,-I have a book that tells about a man as tall as if one of you were seated on the shoulders of the tallest among you." "Oh! what a story ; what talk is that, missionary?" " Well, come and listen." Then I talk to them about Goliath, and get them interested, and the Gospel follows. In my work among these people I found one reason at least why those stories were in the Bible. Benjamin would not listen, but he became interested in stories, and then he listened to the Gospel. Then he was in 'a state of despair as he thought of his great crime; his head hung down, his face was sad. "Oh!" he said, "if you had only come before I shot my wife, I might have had a chance, but don't tell me that the Holy Spirit is so kind. that the great Father is so kind, and that the Son Jesus is so kind, as to look down and notice a man who shot and ate his wife." "Why yes, I do believE!' He can save you." "Oh.• no, no; I thank you for your words, but I am sure you must be mistaken. He surely will not stoop so low." "Yes, He will." Then I think of the passage "beginning at J erusalem." Ohrist said practically, "Go find out my murderers and offerthem salvation." So I do not despair, and such a blessed Ohristian does Benjamin become that when my wife first met him, mature blessed Ohristian woman as she is, she, nevertheless, felt that she was a child to sit at his feet, and listen to his blessed words. If you should go to that land, and should want to get a maguificent pair of reindeer horns or splendid bearskin, there would not be a, better man than old Benjamin to guide you to where you could shoot what you desired; but he would not let you be with him five minutes before he would say, " Are you a Ohristian? Do you love my Savior? Is His love in your heart? If so, give me your hand, I am glad to shake hands with one who loves this blessed Savior who so loves me."
Blessed work! May God give us a missionary spirit, and whether it is in home missions or in foreign work, church work or prison work, let us do what we can, and remembtll' Longfellow's words, so applicable in these blessed days:- .. Out of the shadows of night The world rolls into the light; It is daybreak everywhere."
TRYING TIMES IN MADAGASCAR
TRYING TIMES IN MADAGASCAR.* BY REV. W. E. COUSINS, ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR.
Madagascar is now a French colony, the Chamber having on June 20th, 1896, by 312 votes to 73, past a bill declaring this change. The tri-color now meets the eye at every turn. It is hoisted in all the ports, and in almost every important town throughout the country. In some places the native flag still flies side by side with the French colors, notably on the Queen's palace of Manjakamiadana, the most prominent building in the capital; and this combination of the flags not unfittingly symbolizes the actual condition of the government of the country. Ranavalomanjaka III. is still Queen, and has her Prime Minister and her court, and keeps up much of her former state; but Frenchmen are now at the head of all government departments, and the French Residency bulks more largely in the minds of the people than does the royal palace of Manjakamiadana. All respect is shown to the Queen, and a definite sum has been allotted to her from the national revenues, and she probably possesses fuller liberty in all minor matters than she did formerly. But it is perfectly well knowu that the administration of the government has past into the hands vf the French, and in every department they now exercise the controling power.
In many ways French rule has already effected many changes and improvements. The things that first strike the attention of an old resident returning to the country are the new roads, the free circulation ·of French money, the use of mules instead of native porters, the pres- ~nce of many French troops, and the gangs of Chinese coolies now to be seen near the coast engaged in road making.
'rhe mule road from Tamatave to the' capital, a distance of more than two hundred miles, is a wonderful achievement. In less than a year from the taking of Antananarivo the French have effected what the natives have failed to do during the many centuries they have been in the land. In the more mountainous parts of the country the road is carried round the slopes of the hills, and all the steeper ascents ,.of the old route are avoided. Streams are bridged, and all swampy places now have well-constructed causeways running across them. No bridge has yet been built across the Mangoro, but a large ferry boat is used to carry the mules across. Canals are being dug to con- • Having recently returned to Antananarivo after nearly two years absence in England, J: wish to give a,n account of the present state of this island and of the prospects of Christian work under the new regime. W. E. C. nect the line of lagoons near. the coast, and it is believed that soon steamers of light draft will pass from near Tamatave to Maromby, a third of the whole distance to the capital.
Oonvoys of mules are constantly employed in carrying stores from post to post, and in these convoys one sees with pleasure a prophecy of the time when human beings will cease to be beasts of burden in this land, and the thousands of able-bodied men who now spend their lives on the roads as porters will be set free to cultivate the soil or to engage in other works that may increase the wealth and prosperity of the land.
Another welcome change' is the free use of French money. Till recently the five-franc piece was the only coin in use, and it was cut into small pieces for change. A pair of scales was always required in making payments, and much loss of time and temper occurred. Now from Tamatave to Antananarivo a traveler need not once handle the scales or touch a piece of the old cut money.
A less welcome change is the presence everywhere of the soldiers of the Republic-Frenchmen, Algerians, Senegalese, Dahomeyans, and others. This is, of course, only natural, seeing we are as yet only ten months distant from the close of the war; but it is nevertheless a cause of no small trouble and annoyance to the natives. Many of the villages now have a neglected and deserted appearance, the people having left in large numbers for more remote and quiet places. These soldiers are a constant reminder that the land has been conquered; and tho, on the whole, friendly relations are maintained between them and the natives, they are at times overbearing and unjust in their dealings with them. This evil, we may hope, will gradually disappear; but it is my opinion that for years to come a strong French force will be needed to keep order in the land. What has been taken by force of arms must, tm other influences have had time to work, be held by the same power.
In my paper publisht in the June, 1896, number of this REVIEW, I quoted a statement from the correspondent of the Standard newspaper to the effect that fifty Frenchmen would be more than sufficient to prevent any outbreak against the French. This, no doubt, seemed probable at the time; and so far as the capital and its immediate neighborhood are concerned, it might be true still; but, alas! even three or four thousand l!'rench troops do not seem enough to maintain order in the outlying districts of Imerina. For many weeks past there have been daring outbreaks of rebellion, nominally at least, against the French rule, or rather perhaps against foreigners, and the changes their presence inevitably brings. There is, no doubt, among the rural population a strong anti-foreign spirit, and this has been turned to ac- {lount by all who are ready to rejoice in disturbance for the sake of the plunder they may obtain. On the borders of this central province of Imerina, there have been for many years bands of· lawless men, who have, at times-especiaLly in the cold and dry season-raided the country, shooting down the men, driving off the cattle, and carrying the women and children into slavery. Thus the evil is an old one, but it has been growing to more formidable dimensions during the past twelve years, the bands of raiders having been largely increast by deserters from the army. These bands, taking advantage of the political excitement caused by the downfall of the late Prime Minister, and receiving encouragement from e,il disposed persons generally, have for months past been committing serious depredations all around. In every case they have proclaimed a crusade against Christianity, aud have declared themselves adherents of the old heathenism. Pastors and evangelists are the special objects of their hatred, and some of these have died a martyr's death, while scores of others have had to fly for their lives. About four hundre.d churches belonging to the London Missionary Society have been burnt; and many others belonging to the Roman Catholics, the Anglicans, and the Norwegian Lutherans have been similarly destroyed. We can, just now, with sad hearts repeat the words of the Psalmist and say: "They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land." No distinction is made. Christianity and the presence and predominance of foreigners are considered to be so closely connected, that everything that has to do with Christian worship is to be destroyed. A French priest, Father Bertier, who was trying to aid some of his opprest and frightened people, was brutally murdered at AmbOhibemasoandro. About a dozen other Europeans, mostly Frenchmen, have also been killed. At Antslrabe a party of Europeans were besieged in the Norwegian mission house by many hundreds of the rebels; but they were bravely defended by a few French soldiers and some of the Malagasy militia, and were finally rescued by the French Resident of the district and a native governor.
This widespread movement may have in it some rude elements of patriotism and a wish to be free from a foreign yoke; but, on the whole, it is rather, I think, to be regarded as a last dying struggle of the old conservatism and heathenism against all progress and change. In the meantime, whatever may be its true explanation, it is a sonree of untold suffering to thousands of quiet, law-abiding people. The full tale of the miseries of the past few months will never be fully known. From our district alone no less than eighteen hundred have been obliged to flee. The capital is full of such refugees. Happily many are earning a livelihood by joining the gangs of road-makers so largely employed just now. We never saw so clearly, tho in words we often acknowledged it, how light a hold the Christian religion has had on the minds of thousands of the country people. Much in the past history of the country explains what is now taking pl~ce, as multitudes only gave up the observances of the old religion because the Queen and the leading people of the land led the way.
This outburst of persecution and lawlessness is just now like a. thick cloud hanging over the land. But, on the other hand, I see much reason for thankfulness and hope. Not a few of our friends have proved faithful in the hour of trial, and again in the annals of the Malagasy Church fresh names are being added to the noble army of martyrs. Instances are constantly coming to light in which native pastors and others refused to save themselves by taking a heathen {jath, preferring to lay down their lives rather than to bE, false to their Lord.
There is also much reason for thankfulness for the quiet way in which Christian services are being maintained lind general missionary work is being carried on in Antananarivo and its neighborhood. Changes, it is true, are coming over the land. Evils will arise from many sources, and the young esp':lcially win be exposed to fresh temptations. Strong drink may be obtained more easily than ever. And the presence of thousands of French soldiers brings with it well-known moral evils. But in this nearer district, and in other older centers of teaching, the Christians, as a whole, are true to their profession.
The well-timed visit of MM. Langa and Kruger as delegates from the Paris Missionary Society has been of immense service to the cause of Protestantism. The Jesuits, not unnaturally perhaps, sought to take every advantage of the French victory; but it has now been shown clearly to all our native adherents that there are loyal ~nd enthusiastio Frenchmen who are not Roman Catholics, and who can preach the Gospel to our nathre congregations in all the simplicity to which they have been accustomed. There is reason to hope that the Paris Society will undertake permanent work in thi8 land, and its cooperation will be warmly welcomed by the London Missionary Society.
I am much imprest by the q!1iet, matter-of-fact way, in which our people generally accept French rule. I have heard no word of bitterness from them. Indeed, recent events have distinctly tended to throw them into the arms of the French, as their only defenders against these bands of marauders. Already it is becoming apparent to the people, that altho French rule will involve some things distasteful to them, it will also bring many solid advantages. The fine roads now being cut through all the main districts of the 'capital are an evcrpresent indication of French energy. Another clear gain is the promptness with which public business is now transacted. The French judges are also making it clear that justice will be administered with strict impartiality to all classes. A young Hova, who holds a position in one of the courts, said to me a few days ago: "Now for the first time the old ideal of our ancesters, that' the rich should possess their own, and the poor should possess their OWll, ' is becoming a fact of daily experience." The care and strict impartiality of the French Judge who presides over his court, he described as being worthy of the highest praise. It is becoming evident that the government will not be carried on in future for the benefit of privileged classes, but for the good of the whole people.
M. Laroche, the Resident-General, is himself a Protestant, and makes no secret of his religious position. But as representative of the French Republic he allows no distinction to be made on the ground of religion, and many important government offices are filled by Pro- testants. An illustration of the feelings of the native Protestant Christians toward him is to be found in the fact that in the large public meeting of the Congregational Union of Imerino on April16th~ a resolution was past expressing satisfaction with his policy.
An important proclamation on the subject of religious liberty was publisht May 15th, the text of which reads as follows: " Nous garantirons la liberte de conscience et de la liberte des cultes. Cette liberte a ete proclamee en France il y a un siecle; nous en affirmons ici, non moins haut que chez nous, Ie principe. Les protestants, les catho- Iiques,les diverses communions, leurs ecoles, jouiront d'une egale pro- tection sous nos lois: et il serait contrarie a nos moours d'en favoriser une, a plus forte raison de la persecuter." There is, then, no immediate danger to be feared from the action of the French Government. Still, the ol1tlook just now is, it must be confest, a somewhat gloomy one. We see much of our work apparently destroyed; and our people scattered. But we thank God for what remains, and we believe there are in Madagascar a sufficient number of true Christians to prevent the final destruction of our work~ even in the more remote country districts. We believe that, as soon as these disturbanMs are brought to an end, and order and peace are once more restored to the people, earnest and well-directed efforts will be made to gather together the scattered. sheep, to rebuild the burnt churches, and to "strengthen the things that remain," which to all outward appearances just now, indeed, look to be "ready to perish."
[Later .Notes.] **** The general condition of things in Central Mada- gascar remains much as it was two months ago. In some parts the people seem inclined to settle down quietly under their new masters; but church burning still goes on in other districts, and fresh out- breaks of rebellion are constantly reported. Just now, (Sept. 18), the Vakin-Ankaratra district (in the southwest) is in a very disturbed condition; the whole of Vornizango and much of Marovataua (in the northwest) are virtually in rebellion; and the small French force in Ambatondrazaka, the chief town of the Antsihanaka province (in the northeast) is reported to be surrounded by a large body of the socalled rebels. Whenever French troops meet these bands, they are, of conrse, victorions, and no French post has been taken by them. Bnt unfortunately these would~be patriots and deliverers of their country from a foreign yoke prove themselves to be only common marauders and robbers, and the poor defenceless people must either feign obedi- ence to them, or suffer the loss of all they have. A new French general has just arrived, and fresh troops are said to be on their way" so that some more decisive action may soon be taken. That the French will ultimately succeed in reestablishing order, no one, I suppose" doubts; but the process is a tedious one, and in the mean time hun- dreds of our country people are snffering greatly.
Bright spots may, however, be discerned amid the prevailing gloom. In the Betsileo district, for example, where the Jesuits have been trying hard to frighten the village people and make them believe that their only chance of safety under French rule lay in becoming Roman Catholics, the Resident, Dr. Besson, who for a time manifested an unaccountably bitter spirit against the L. M. S. Mission, has now issued a most satisfactory proclamation of religious freedom, and onr people are relieved from the fears to which they had been yielding. At the same time M. Langa, one of the special envoys of the Paris Missionary Society, is visiting the Protestant churches in the Betsileo district, and, we believe, his presence and his message will do much to quiet the minds of the people.
Another cause of rejoicinK just now is, that our Stone Memorial Church at Ambohipotsy, which has been occupied by French soldiers since the bombardment last year, has now been vacated. The people generally, and particularly the congregation using the building, are delighted to have this proof that the authorities do not intend to place any hindrances in the way of those who adhere to the Protestant form of religion. Two suburban churches are still occupied by French troops, as well as a schoolroom, and several country churches. We hope that these, too, may soon be restored to their ordinary uses.
It is a noteworthy fact that not a single Roman Catholic church has been occupied by French soldiers, showing how difficult it seems for even those who profess to be strictly impartial, to treat Protestants and Roman Catholics alike.
Our country work has, of course, been sadly hindered by recent events. More than five hundred of our churches have been burnt. But in and around the capital all ordinary mission work is being carried on much as usual, tho many congregations are reduced to a third of their former numbers. In our educational work, on the contrary, there are signs of advance, and our college and the high schools were never so well attended. Young Malagasy are now beginning to see some of the material advantages of education, and, of course, they are eager to learn the French language, which bids fair to lead to good appointments of various kinds.
lIIECCA CERTIFICATE
THE MECCA CERTIFICATE.
The following is a description by Dr. H. II. Jessup, of Syria, of the ~ertificate given to Mohammedan Pilgrims to Mecca.
The copy of this certificate, from which our frontispiece for this month is reproduced, was given by an aged Mohammedan pilgrim in the Beirut quarantine to a physician who had attended him in sickness in 1893. It is a duplicate copy which he had, and which had never been signed by the Sheiks of Mecca or by the Shereef of Mecca. This certificate is especially interesting in the inside view which it gives of the character and tenets of the Mohammedan religion.
PLATE I.
The Arabic verse at the top of the page is from the Koran "Sura el Bukr" or "The Cow"-(Chap. I ; 198); "And when ye go in procession from Mt. Arafat, remember God near (El Mashaar el Haram) the holy monument."
The words at the bottom of the certificate read as follows: "Praise to God who has granted us the privilege of the Holy House, and the well of Zemzem, and the Mukano (station of Abraham) and the station of the Prophet, may Allah pray for (or bless) him and grant him peace! . . . After this preface we testify that the Hajj . . . has performed tllC llOly pilgrimage at the lawful time according to the holy law and continued clad in pilgrim garb. Ihram, persevering and praying upon (by the intercession of) the Propliet, may the Lord bless him and grant him peace! ; until he entered Mecca and entered the House of the Haram by the gate of Es Salam, and went around the (Kaaba) Raj going and advancing, and went to Mount Arafat, on tbe west side, and joined the "rush" to lluzdalifa, and gathered the stones, and spent the night in it (Mina) until dawn and went to Mina all(~ tbrew the seven stones at tIle pillar (Cairu) of Akaba ; then returned to Mecca and performed the Towaf of the visit; then returned to Mina and remained there the appointed days, and hurled stones at the three Cairus (Jemeat) and completed the Haj and the 'Omra. Our standing or witness to this was on the – – day of the year 130 – '- and I call God to witness to this, and He is the best of witnesses."
Then follow places for the names of four witnesses. At the right-hand upper corner of this page is the representation of the Mosque of Muzdalifa and tents of the Pilgrims; to the left of this the Mosque of Nimr near Mount Arafat and below it the Mahmals of Syria and Egypt, i. e., palanquins carried on camels, surmounted by flags. 'ro the right is Mount Arafat, a sacred mountain about 12 miles northeast of Mecca, which, in Moslim tradition, is said to be the place where Adam and Eve met after the fall. 'rhey were in the Celestial Paradise in the skies. when one day, while walking too near the border, they stumbled and fell over the edge, so tumbling down into this world. This is the Moslem idea of the "Fall." Adam landed in Ceylon and Eve at Jeddah on the Red Sea. He was 200 years search. ing for his wife; but at length he set out westward, stepping sixty leagues at a step, and wherever his foot touched the ground, a city sprang up, until at length he met Eve at this mountain, " Arafat-hoo, she recognized him," hence the name of this mountain. At the foot of this mountain, the Mohammedans believe that Abraham offered a ram in sacrifice instead of his son Ishmael (who, according to the Koran, was the favored son instead of Isaac). Here every year each pilgrim offers a sheep as a commemorative sacrifice. The Bedawin Arabs from Arabia come together in thousands at this time, bringing their vast flocks of sheep, which are sold to the pilgrims, each one of whom, if able, is to buy and sacrifice a sheep. Formerly the offal of these . thousands of slaughtered animals poisoned the air and produced pestilence. The governor of Mecca now has great trenches dug to receive this offal. In 1893, when 100,000 pilgrims visited Mecca, and 50,000 died of cholera, these trenches were filled with the dead bodies of the pilgrims. Hundreds dropt dead along the road from Mecca to Arafat, and while writhing in the contortions and agonies of the cholera convnlsions, no medical aid was askt or provided. The devout pilgrims only said "Niyalhoo," "happy man-he has died at Mecca."
The three pillars of Mimi, which are also represented here, are ancient pagan shrines. At each one every pilgrim must hurl seven stones at the devil.
Near this is pictured the Mesjed or Mosque of Taif, the altar of Ishmael, the Dome of Abd-el Kader in Baghdad,.and at the extreme right the DO-llle of "Our Lord" Hassein al Kerbela, where thousands of corpses of deceast Persians are brought yearly to be buried. It is northwest of Baghdad and lies in 'furkish territory.
Then we notice the birthplace of Mohammed, of Ali ibu Abi Talib, of Abu Bekr, and Fatimeh, and the Tomb of Amina and Khadijah; also two bell-shaped hills, Jebel Thowr, and Jebel Noor.
PLATE II.
At the top of this page is a verse from the Koran (Sura III: verse 90).
"Verily. the first house appointed unto men to worship in was that which was in Becca [Mecca] blessed and a direction to all creatures."
This page contains the quadrangular court of the Mecca Haram, within which is the circular colonnade, enclosing the Kaaba or Beit Allah, the House of God. 'fhis Kaaba was, in the days of Pre-Islamio paganism, a pagan temple, and was adopted by Mohammed as a. sacred shrine, out of deference to the time-honored superstitious reverence of the Arabian people, especially the citizens of Mecca. According to Burckhardt, its sides are 18 paces by 14, its hight from 35 to 40 feet. It is oovered yearly with a Kiswet or vail of black brocade, adorned with a broad band embroidered with golden inscriptions from the Koran; it has also a richer curtain for the door.
The old Kiswet is removed on the 25th day of the month before the pilgrimage, cut up into small pieces, and sold to the p'ilgrims for charms.
At the southeast corner of the court is the famous Black Stone, or Rajr el Asswad, a meteoric stone set in the wall, about a span long, which is reverently kist hy every pilgrim seven times, as he makes the seven-fold circuit of the Kaaba. The Moslems claim that this stone was given by Gabriel to Abraham. It is no doubt a meteorite, which fell from the skies in ancient days, and was regarded as divine as was the "image which fell down from Jupiter" (Acts 19: 35): Mohammed, as a concession to the Pagan superstition of the Meccans confirmed the kissing of the Black Stone as a religious rite of Islam. The fiery Omar, when askt, why he kist the stone, said" Verily, I know that thou art a stone; thou doest no good or harm in the world, and if it was not that I saw the prophet kiss thee, I would not kiss thee"-(Mishkat ul Masabih, Book XI : ch. IV. pt. III.) Modern intelligent Mohammedans, when askt why they kiRs the stone, reply, " God knows, we do not."
Below the representation of the Kaaba is depicted the famous station of Abraham, a stone 20 inches long by 15 inches wide. It is in the shape of a basin, and iR buried in the earth. The naTDe of Abraham is connected with it from the tradition that he first built the Kaaba.
Below this may be noticed the famous "Beer Zemzem," Well 01 Zemzem, or Well of Hagar, which is claimed to be the water which Hager saw, when Ishmael was dying of thirst. The Moslems ascribe miraculous virtues to its tepid waters, and the manufacture of bottles or jars for carrying the water to distant countries has developt into quite a trade. The curb of the deep well is on a level with the pavement, and as the vast procession of pilgrims comes to the spot, the keepers of the well draw up a bucket, the pilgrim drinks a little, and the rest is poured over his body, and runs back into the well. One can imagine the state of this water when ten or twenty thom:and pilgrims have been washt in it 1 Prof. Hankin, of London, analyzed the water and publisht the result in the the British Medical Journal of June, 1894, as follows: Total solids in a gallon _______________________________.___ . _.259. Chlorine . _________________________________________________ 51. 24 Free ammonia parts per million ______________ : ___________ • __ 0.93 Albuminoid ammonia _______ . ___________________________ . _.. .45 Prof. Hankin says that this water" contains an amount of solids greater than that in any well water used for potable purposes."
Even when cholera is raging, the same use of this well is con· tinued; no wonder that it becomes the means of conveying and increasiug the cholera germs among the unfortunate pilgrims, so that the European government have urged the Sultan to enforce a reform, cleanse this water, and protect the lives of the pilgrims.
Around the circle are the praying places of the Malikis. the Hanafys, the Hanbalys and the Shafi-is, the four great sects of Islam.
Around the quadrangle are 20 gates, such as Bab-su-Nebi, Gate of the Prophet, Gate of Abraham, of Peace, of Abbas, of the Mare, the Mule,Safa,* of Farewell, of Wisdom, etc., etc.,-besides various>- shrines.
PLATE III.
On the third page are represented the Holy Places of El Medizel,,_ the tomb of Mohammed.
The Koranic passage at the top reads as follows: "Said the prophet, may God bless him and grant him peaceI Who visits my' tomb, has my intercession."
The large dome in the upper left-hand corner is the tomb o:t Mohammed. Around the page are drawn the mosque of Fatimeh,.. mosque of the Strength of Islam, the mosques of Hamzeh, Abu: Bekr, Ali and Silman, the tomb of Othman, and various other shrines~ PLATE IV.
This page contains the Holy Shrines of Jerusalem. The Haram-es- Sherif, or the quadrangular area once occupied by the temple of Solomon, occupies the centre of the page. The verse of the Koran at the top is from Sura XVII. : .. Praise be unto Him who transported His servant (Mohammed) by night from the sacred temple (of Mecca) to the farther temple, the Mosque El Aksa (of' Jerusalem). "
'1'he Mosque commonly knowu as the Mosque of Omar, is here> • styled "Beit el Mukdas" or the Holy House. Under the dome in thS' black circle is the" Rock of God," or the" Suspended Stone." Every visitor to thill Mosque is startled at finding within it, surrounded by' the iron railing, an enormous naked rock. 'rhis was very probp,bly thssummit of Mount Moriah. Moslem traditions say that when Mohammed made the famous "Mi'raj ., or midnight journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and started to ascend to heaven, this rock followed him until he kicked it back with both feet, leaving the prints of his. two feet in the rock, which has ever since remained suspended in the air! 'rhe two footprints of the prophet are pictured below the rock.
Below this are the Scales of "Mizan," in which all men's deeds are· to be weighed at the last day, together with the shears which cut off the life of men. Men's good deeds are to be placed in one scale-pan· and their evil deeds in the other. The good deeds are the Moham-· medan good works, viz.: (1.) To repeat the Oreed or Formula. "Tnere is no God, but God, and Mohammed is his Apostle." (2). To give alms to the poor. (3). To pray five times a day. (4). To keep. the fast of Ramadan. (5). To make the pilgrimage to Mecca. If one observes these outward rites, his good deeds will outweigh any possibleevil deeds. The Arabs have a proverbial saying, "If a man has been to Mecca once, well and good; if twice, have an eye on him; if three· timeR, have nothing to do with him, he has become so holy that he is; dangerous," i. e., he has laid up such a stock of religious merit that ha,~ can commit any amonnt of sin with impunity. At the bottom of this fourth page of the Oertificate is the great'; Bridge of S~'l'aat, of vast length, the width of a hair, and sharp as a, razor, over which every mortal must walk barefooted. At the right..
* The Hills of Safa and Merwah, a short distance outside of the Heram, beyond th&o Bab Safa, are two hills, Sata and Merwah, on the top of which in Pre-Islamic days stood two stone idols. worshipt by the Pagan Meccans, When they accepted Islam, it was on condition that these two sacred hill-tops continue to be visited as a part of the holy pilgrimage. So to this day, every Mohammedan pilgrim, however grave, learned and dignified, must run seven times from the top of Safa hilI to the top of Narwah hill, as did the old pagan Arabs. When m askt, why do you do this? they reply, • Allah knows, we do not." This is another instance of the adoption and adaption by Mohammed of the superstitioDs of paglUlism order to.. win the Meccans to his cause.
THE ENTRANCE OF ECUADOR
of it is the pit of Jehenaam or hell, and to the left Jenneh or Paradise. A nazatdous feat it is to make the journey, since on it depends one's eternal destiny.
Arouud this area are pictured the tombs of David, Solomon, Moses aud Jacob, and in the right-hand upper corner is seen Jebel, Tool' Sina, or Mount Sinai.
This Oertificate is the Moslem's passport, as it were, to Paradise. It gives one in brief an epitome of Mohammedan faith and practice. Islam is a religion of works, of human merit. There is no way of salvation by a Redeemer. 'l'hese 200,000,000 of Moslems sorely need to be taught the true way of life, even salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, their true prophet, priest and king.
THE ENTRANOE OF EOUADOR.
BY GEO. S. FISHER, DIRECTOR OF THE GOSPEL UNION.
A few days of tossing on the sea, a short ride across the Isthmus, -a calm journey down the coast and "Over the line," four days of travel on mule-back, toiling up the mountains, a wet, cold night in a shepherd's hut on old Chimborazo, 14,000 feet above the sea, a day and a half by stage and I arrived in sight of Quito-a city whose history is shrouded with a record of licentiousness;murder, rapine, torture, igno- rance and superstition-all that cruel Spain, the unscrupulous priests and inhuman rulers could make it; but the streams have washt the blood away, the rocks are dumb, and she still lies at the feet of old Pichincha, fair and beautiful, and, thank God, I believe that for her ,the first rays of light are streaking the mountains and the morning dawneth when there shall be here sounded out the true and glorious 'Gospel of the Son of God.
A few mornings after my arrival I climbed the mountain for a short distance and sat down to pray to the Great Oreator and to look . over the city. Though 10,000 feet above the sea, Quito is situated in "I" valley almost surrounded by mountains, and three or four snow- "capped peaks are to be seen on a clear day, among them the lofty 'whitened head of Catopaxi, some 18,000 feet high. It is not now an ;active volcano, but sends forth enough light steam to form a cloud ;that appears to sit upon its brow like a silvery plume. 'rhe city: con- tains 60,000 people, and is built very compactly, the streets are paved, and. fountains where the drinking water is obtained, play in all the principal pIazzas, while numerous streams of water run through tha city underground. The climate is quite cold, plenty of rain falls, and hail is not infrequent. But a few hours distant hot valleys are reacht, while wheat, corn, potatoes, etc., are raised in other parts, so that th!3 markets are well supplied with eatables, which are gener- ally sold very cheaply. The best restaurant in the city serves meals- about five courses-for twenty cents, and house-rent is quite reasonable. Wool abounds, and some very good, but coarse, cloth is manufactured. Almost the entire work of the city is performed by the Indians, and their powers of endurance are marvelous, but they are poorly paid, and are kept in ignorance and poverty.
Perhaps one-fourth of the city is occupied by churches, convents, etc.-one of the churches with its attachments covering nearly two entire blocks, and is enclosed with a.great high wall. From the days of the killing of Atahualpa, king of the Incas, by the Spanish troops, to the present time, the Indians have been treated very much as were the children of Israel under Pharaoh. 'fhe Catholic religion has been supreme, the Bible is almost unknown, and the priests have become rich and wanton, and are the fathers of many of the inhabitants. I have met here one of the chief priests of the Cathedral, who, it is believed, poisoned the Archbishop, because he spoke against their evil practices-at any rate, the Bishop drank the communion cup and fell dead. Sermons are no longer preacht, but dozens of bells seem never to cease their clanging, calling the people to their idolatrous worship. Images are to be seen almost everywhere, and feast days to certain saints are most numerous. Processions march the streets, men with lighted candles, and the priest, arrayed in his vestments-walking under a canopy carried by a boy-on his way to administer "Extreme Unction" to the dying, while men take off their hats and women fall upon their knees on the pavement. This very day I saw a number of horrid looking images carried about the city, before whom, I suppose, some time or other, the faithful are to fall down and worship. Nuns have been paid by the government to teach the Indian children, but only attempted to instruct them so that they could read mass. Many of the people live together as man and wife without being married, because the priests charge such an exhorbitant sum for performing the marriage service. All sorts of means are used to obtain money from the now poverty-stricken people. Collections are taken up in a silver box with a crucifix attacht, the people kiss the image and drop their money in the box-even the dead are not at rest, for, unless the grave rent is kept paid up, the remains will be exhumed and carried to the burn pile. I do not wonder that in his day Luther's soul was moved within him until he was forced to cry aloud. Oh, that to-day our God would help us confess our own sin-the sins of the professing Christians of our own land, and then cry mightily for the desolate blinded people of this country, tottering fast into the grave and utter darkness forever.
Some thirty years ago, under the reign of President Morena (The Tyrant), a large number of foreign priests were brought into the country to help him, "Hold the people." He was finally stabbed as he came out of the Cathedral, and from the date of his death, about 1880, until a year ago, there has been no strong or lasting government. The liberals desired many changes and struggled a little, but the priests and church party were so firmly entrenched, that there seemed to be no possible means of gaining a victory. But our God had heard the cries of the poor down-trodden people, and was making ready his Chariot of Deliverence. His ways are not our ways, but He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him.
Something over a year ago Japan, then at war with China. wisht to buy from Chili the warship "Esmeralda," but under some treaty or international law she could not sell to her without probable tronble. Ecuador being considered a small obscure nation, it was suggested by Chili that the ship take the Ecuadorian flag and be sold as her vessel.
The President, the Governor at Guayaquil and the Consul at New York entered into the agreement, and, it is said, received $400,000 for the sale of the Ecuadorian flag, as the transaction was termed. In some way the action became known, a revolution was started at Guayaqui! and the President was obliged to flee. The old Government being conservative, i. e., for the clergy, the liberals of course now came to the front. A" Hnnta," or meeting of the leading men of Guava- 'quil, was called and they decided to send for Gen. Alfaro, who had been fighting for liberty for many years, but for some time past had :been exiled in Oentral America, and proclaimed him "Jefe Supremo."
He came at once, bringing with him Gen. Franco, who had also been <exiled as a liberal. From Quayaquil Gen. Alfaro marcht with his troops up country, taking the cities as he went, without very much of a struggle, occupied Quito, the capital. His officers and soldiers then began the work of taking the different provinces and cities, and an ;·election was soon ordered for delegates for a convention to reform the ,(}().nstitution and elect a president. There are no real elections in any _part of South America-the ruling officer simply reelects himself with :the aid of his troops, or designates some friend for whom the few votes …-are cast, and Gen. Alfaro's men were, of course, all elected. Trouble, however, arose at Ouenca in the south, and the General was obliged to go once more to battle. After qnite a severe fight Ouenca was taken and the couutry quieted. '
On taking hold of the country Gen. Alfaro at once stopt the pay- ment of state money to the church-perhaps a million sucres per year, -or $500,000. He also found that the priests were the strong enemies of his party, and were using their vast wealth and power against the .:government, he therefore confiscated some of their property, and they were pretty thoroughly driven out of the Oriente and the province of Manibe, and a number of them were exiled. Three o'clock in the morning was the regular time f(r confession and mass, and as few peo- Jlle but women attended at this hour, aud the priests were probably using the churches for immoral purposes, he ordered that the churches should not be opened until five o'clock. 'fhe Archbishop instrncted the priests to stir up the people against tlie government, until he was 'in a measure silenced, and he now pretends that his life is in danger, :and that he has left his palace and is in hiding in the city. U ndoubt- >edly the priests and church party understand that a change has taken . place, but the conservatives have much of the wealth of the country, and the priests are never known to give up.
Gen. ]!'ranco is next to Gen. Alfaro in command of the troops and is stationed in this city. He is supposed to rule with a much stronger hand than the President, and he is much feared. He has placed the !City under martial law, and the whistle of the sentinels day and night >on nearly every corner, the concerts giyen by the two military bands, -with soldiers attacht, the marching of the troops through the streets, all tell the people thflt a ruler is in their midst. A short time ago a ~onspiracy was formed to assassinate him, but it was discovered, the 'head man apprehended in the morning and shot at 4 P. M. This tCaused quite a stir, and Mr. MorIa, the head government minister, and ·>others resigned, but the general seems not at all disturbed and walks or rides in the streets with a friend or two, and holds the key to the <city. Both Gen. Alfaro and Gen. Franco have received me very kindly, ,and offered any assistance in their power.
I have found here a small grammar of the Quichua language, ;printed in Spanish, and have had a short conversation with a nun who has been in the Oriente for seven or eight years as a teacher for the Indian children. Archidona, the capital of that province, is over the eastern range, and some seven or eight days distant, but there are no roads, and a person must walk or be carried on the backs of Indians. That town is, however, only two or three days from the Napo river, at a point where it can be navigated by small vessels to its confluence with the Amazon, The country is supposed to be healthy, and parts of it inhabited by tribes of wild Indians who speak dialects of their own.
I find quite a number of people who are now openly opposed to the church and the priests, and while I believe that during the past years brave, wise, Holy Ghost laborers could have lived here, and possibly with much persecution disseminated a good deal of Gospel, I can now see no reason why God's chosen workers should not come here very soon. However changable the people may be, and whatever may in the future befall the present liberal rulers, our God still sits upon the throne, and He is well able to care for'His own so that they may glorify His Son in life or even in death.
'rhe Gospel Union, with headquarters at Kansas City, Mo., has already undertaken a work for this country. Laborers are now at Guayaquil. Brethren pray for us.
* *** At the annual summer Bible School of the Gospel Union held at Orete, Neb. (July 17-25, 1895), it pleased God to pour out upon the Christians there assembled an unusual spirit of prayer for the evangelization of the world. Without premeditation they were led to pray especially for the opening up of South America to the Gospel and the sending forth of missionaries to that land. 'l'he interest culminated in an all-night prayer-meeting and an offering of money, jewelry, etc., amounting in all to about $150.00 for the opening of a new mission in the Neglected Continent. To human eyes this was the beginning of the work which has now resulteu in the sending of four missionaries to the hitherto closed country of Ecuador. We say to human eyes, for in the councils of God the work had been begun before our prayers were offered. It is well known that by the Constitution of Ecuador all forms of religion, save the Roman Catholic, are prohibited from being preacht or taught, and the fanaticism of the Jesuit priests, by whom the country is overrun, had served to re-enforce the law and make the preaching of the Gospel there exceedingly difficult and dangerous, if not impossible; and the result has been that there has never been any settled Protestant missionary work undertaken in the country. There have arisen, however, from time to time in Ecuador some who have opposed this policy by pen and sword, and who have attempted to bring about such a revolution in the government that the Constitution might be so revised as to grant religious toleration; but this liberal party has been hopelessly in the minority, the conservative element controlling both the mass of the people and the wealth of the country, while behind it was the tremendous power of the Jesuit priesthood. But God was working for Ecuador. Almost simultaneously with the Kansas Bible School a revolution was inaugurated which has gone forward until Gen. Alfaro has been elected, the first liberal president of the Republic; the Constitution has been. revised, and we have now every reason to believe that religious tolera- tion has been granted. It seems to us that under such clear leadings of the Providence of God, there is nothing for us to do but to send out missionaries as rapidly as God may permit us to do so. The faith of the people ill
THE THREE YEARS' ENTERPRISE
the Jesuits is shaken, the doors are opened inviting Protestant missionaries to enter, and now is the time to move forward before the country shall settle back into infidelity and atheism, or invite the priesthood to resume control. Delay at this time may mean (as in the case of others of the South American countries) a relapse into a condition worse than that from which it is now emerging.
THE THREE YEARS' ENTERPRISE.
In an appeal issued with reference to the approaching completion of the first hundred years of the Ohurch Missionary Society, the committee say in part: "On April 12th, 1899, the Church Missionary Society will have completed its first century. 1'he O'lle hundredth year (April 12th, 1898, to April 12th, 1899) will be its second jubilee year, and wiU call for an observance markt by still deeper thankfulness, and still greater largeheartedness in offeriug to the service of the Lord. • . . While we would praise Him for His blessing. the attitude of all His servants should be one of deep humiliation on account of the inadequacy of their efforts, and of the neglect by the Church, as a whole, of His solemn command to preach the Gospel to every creature, to make disciples of all nations. That after the lapse of nearly nineteen centuries since that command was given, at least one half the present population of the world should never have heard that there is a Savior for them (to say nothing of the myriads who have died without hearing such glad tidings), is a fact that should humble the Church in the dust; and no joyful commemoration should be allowed to canse it to be forgotten for one moment.
"For this reason, the committee desire to turn the thoughts of the whole society to the consideration of the great and world-wide work of evangelization. . . . The committee accordingly propose to devote all the attention that can be spared from the constant demands of current work during the three years to two great objects: "I. A comprehensive review of the Society's position and met/zods, particularly in the mission-field-tho not excluding its home administration-with a view to the detection of weak points, the correction of errors, the application of the experiences of one mission to the circumstances of another, the more effective distribution of forces, the inauguration of such fresh plans as may conduce to more stable and lasting results. • . . In particular, to give careful attention to the position and needs of the native Ohristian communities called out of heathendom through the Society'S instrumentality; for the evangelization of the great heathen nations will not be accomplisht by foreigners. . • . "II. A large increase in the SoC£et.lf's evangel1:stic forces,. and this with three great objects in view-viz.: first, the strengthening and consolidating of the existing missions of the Society; secondly, the extension of its operations, both in present work and in regions beyond; thirdly. the promotion of the spiritual life of the native Christian communities, with a view to more active and fervent evangelistic effort on their part.
"But there are two essential requirements for the taking of whatever measures may prove to be desirable-viz.: more missionaries, and more means for their maintenance. And with a view to these, the committee propose the following steps: "1. To foster and extend in every possible way the Society's existing agencies, old and new, for spreading and deepening missionary zeal and interest. • . . "2. To seek fresh opportunities of reaching various particular classes of the community. (Men, women, boys, girls, students, and children.) • . . "3. To open communications with several organizations already at work among some of these classes, such as the Church of England and Church of Ireland Young Men's Societies, the Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations, the Girls' and Young Men's Friendly Societies, the Children's Special Service Mission and Scripture Union, etc.; not with any idea of their specifically helping the Church Missionary 'Society, but rather that the Society may be able to help them in the efforts already being made by them (or some of them) to awaken a missionary spirit among the classes for whose benefit they exist. "4. To take fresh steps for the circulation of missionary informa- tion, particularly of the latest current intelligence. The committee propose to issue a monthly letter, containing the latest missionary news, in such It form that it may, if desired, be read as it stands from the pulpit at a Sunday or week-day service. . . . "5. To encourage definite and believing prayer, private, or in the family, or in social or parochial meetings, by supplying friends with topics for prayer, either in the above-mentioned letter or separately.
"6. The committee fully hope that the general interest aroused by these and other plans to be specially developt during the three years will, if inspired and directed by the Holy Spirit, give such an impulse to missionary zeal and interest as will call forth immediate and numerous offers of service. . . . If in the seven years from October, 1887, to October, 1894, the Society did, without realizing it at the time, send out additional missionaries in such numbers that, at the end of the seven years its staff had actually doubled, surely in the coming three years a similar advance may be lookt for, itthe Lord pour out upon his people the spirit of self-sacrifice. . . . "7. The committee consider that the sending forth and the main- tenance of these immediate recruits should be a principal purpose of the new and special freewill offerings which many friends will wish to make during the three years. No object will so surely call forth liberality and self-denial as the sending out of more missionaries for the evangelization of the world. The committee therefore propose to ap- ply to the support of the new missionaries not otherwise provided for, and of any development consequent upon their going out, snch of the centenary or second jubilee offerings as may be made in the following ways: "(a) The committee invite their friends to adopt St. Paul's direc- tion in 1 Cor. 16: 2, and to 'lay by them in store,' Sunday by Sunday, some additional weekly contribution, however small, over and above their ordinary subscriptions, toward the support of the three years' reinforcement; such offerings to be paid in from time to time, either through the associations or direct. "(b) The committee recommend the adoption of the plan of rais- ing additional contributions for the support of individual missionaries, either as personal substitutes for service, or as 'our own mission- aries' for individual parishes or branches of the Gleaners' Union or other bodies, . . .
"The committee will remind their friends that while they rejoice to continue the policy of faith to which they believe God led them €ight years and a half ago, and to send out all qualified missionaries in full trust that He who has called them will provide the means for their support, they are bound to combine effort with faith, and to seek new methods of increasing the funds; and as the income, notwith- standing its unexpected growth in the last few years, is still insuffi- ,dent for the upkeep of the existing staff and machinery, the com- mittee do not doubt that the plan of utilizing the interest which the Society's second jubilee or centennary will arouse, and of employing the funds that will be contributed, primarily for the increase of the Society's evangelist.ic forces, will command general approval. '1'he ,committee do not contemplate the formation of a great centennary fund. To name a figure for such a fund would be either to cause dis- appointment if it were not reacht, or to limit the liberality of God's people if it were reacht. But as the year of the second jubilee ap- proaches, the committee will issue a list of special objects, other than the three years' reinforcement, to which special thank-offerings can be .appropriated. . . • " 'l'he committee earnestly desire that the three years should be a period, not only of progress on the part of the Church Missionary ;Society, but also of a general advance in thc whole Church toward a deeper realization of her responsibilities to her Divine Master for the fulfilment of His great command. In several ways these and succeed- ing years will be a period of centennaries. In 1898 the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge will celebrate its second centennary; in 1901 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel will celebrate its second centennary; and in 1904,the British and Foreign Bible Society its first centellnary. In addition to this the close of the nineteenth cen- tury itself is suggestive of solemn considerations. It is true that if the Christian era should date four years further back than the com- mon reckoning, as is generally believed, 1900 years since the birth of our Lord will be completed this year; but still the very change from the .expression nineteenth century to twentieth century will be a natural occasion for review of the past and preparation for the fu ture. . . .
"The committee do not at present put forth any suggestions for the observance of the Society's second jubilee itself. . . . What is needed is that every member and friend of the Society and of the missionary cause should (1) intend to move forward, (2) actually move forward, and (3) feel and know that he is moving forward; that he is not to-day where he was yesterday, and will not be to-morrow where he is to-day. And this applies to prayer for missions, to the study of missions, to the exercise of influence upon others in regard to mis- ,sions, to the dedication of our substance to the Lord's service in mis- sions, to the daHy 'submitting' of 'ourselves wholly to His holy will and pleasure,' ready to go where He sends us and to do what He bids us. It is little indeed that any of us can do; but if every individual Christian will do that little-not the little he is doing now, but the little he can, if he will, do besides-in prayer, in influence, in offerings, in personal service-then the Lord will do great things for us whereof we shall be glad."
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The General Missionary Outlook. less than three quarters of a century. It took the whole of the first hundred BY REV. GEORGE W. PECK, L.L.D., years after the birth of Christ to gather 500,000 Christian adherents in the whole BUFFALO, N. Y. world, and now we are gathering over 100,000 converts each year in the for- For our sakes, rw doubt, tltis is written: eign mission fields alone. Surely, our that M that ploughetlt sltould plow in, God is marching on. hope; and that he that thresheth in hope JJhould be partaker of his ltope. (1 001'. In the year 1800, before the era of D : 10.) foreign missions began, there were 200,- 000,000 Christian adherents in the whole Theodore Christlieb remarks at the world. The next ninety years of this beginning of his" Universal Survey of great missionary century showed an in- Protestant Foreign Missions," that it is crease of total adherents to Christianity of 270,000,000. Thus, on the average, "a hope inspiring review. * * There Christianity expanded more than 30 times faster during eaeh decade of the breaks upon us, in our days, and grows missionary century, than it did during more and more complete, the age of each decade of the previous eighteen universal missions." centuries.
Other authors of perhaps wider per- What are the facts with reference to sonal observation, tho no better stu- the United States? In 1750 evangelical dents of the theme, agree that the times church membership in the U. S. inin which we are permitted to live, are cluded only one out of every 13 of the unparalleled in their missionary enier- population. At the end of 42 years the prises, and it has come to be recognized church membership included only one that, ., the Church that is not mission- out of every 18 of the popUlation. Durary in its spirit must repent or wane; ing the next 25 years five great missionthe pastor who is not should reform or ary boards were organized in the U. S. resign." largely for work in foreign fields. Since that period evangelical church member- Reliable figures are not always avail- ship has increased in the U. S. from able. I have selected some from Den- one out of every fourteen to one out of nis, Pierson, Todd, Gracey, Christlieb, every four and one-half of the popula- Adams, Gordon and others of our best tion. That is to say, while we have authors, and from our current periodi- been plowing and reaping at the rate (lals and reports. of 100,000 converts a year in the foreign field, our home church membership has Take the year 1825 as our first land- increast from about seven per cent. to mark. There were then only 60,000 nearly twenty-five per cent. of our popu- Christians in all the mission churches of lation. the world. The annual rate of increase was then so small that it was sometimes As an encouraging feature of this cona question whether the diminutive re- denst exhibit, the rapid spread of the sults justified such prodigious efforts. English language and the wide circula- tion of the Scriptures are interesting In 50 years from that time the annual items. In 1800 the English language increase of Christians in mission fields was used by only 24,000,000 of people, was equal to the previous sum total, 60,000,.and in 70 years from that time the annual increase of Christians in mission churches was 100,000; from a few scattered converts each year to over 100,000 converts each year, in a little but in 1890 it had become the vehicle of tend the Savior's kingdom throughout thought for over 115,000,000, outstrip- the habitable world. The Orient will ping its nearest competitors among the furnish the material for the proper in- Russian, German, Spanish and French terpretation of the Scriptures, as within tongues by more than 35,000,000. As a that Orient these were almost exclu- consequence the Bible of our own splen- sively confined for 4500 years. Hun. did vernacular, by far the widest dreds of its cities, towns, rivers, moun· medium of communication between tains, and present inhabitants, are living' the Christian forces of to·day, very witnesses of the truth of the inspired naturally follows the" King's English" word, and will reward extended tours to every nook and corner of the world. for independent investigation in the The Bible is also publisht and circu- interests of Biblical interpretation. The lated in more than 350 translations into stamp of scientific accuracy and appro· languages spoken by 1,400,000,000 peo- val which these lands and people give ple, so that its present annual circula· to the geography, hi2tory, botany, tion exceeds 6,000,000 copies, and its geology, topography and ethnography total circulation during this missionary of the Bible, are so satisfactory to the century exceeds 256,000,000 copies. honest and industrious inquirer that he cannot help regarding them as necessary Here we discover a mighty mission- links between the distant past and the IIry force at work. By competent au- living present. thority it is estimated that not more than 8,750,000 copies of the Bible were These statements give only a faint issued from the time of }loses up to idea of our real indebtedness to the 1804, a period of thirty-six centuries. Orient. The Christian world should From 1804 to 1896, less than one cen- pay, without further delay, its indebted· tury, more than 256,000,000 copies of ness to the fatherland of the prophets the Bible were issued. With the Bible and apostles by saving their unregen· in the hands of the people, ancient erate successors. Educated natives in apathy gives way to modern missionary the east recognize the most perfect activity, and as our tireless presses and adaptation of our religion to all their increasing agencies continue to sow the needs, and this is proving to be a collagospel seed, we will continue to plow teral encouragement of prime importand sow, to r<':ap and thresh in hope of ance. Keshub Chunder Sen, one of glorious rewards. the most learned Hindus, made use of the following forcible language ;- The objection is frequently made, that .. When I reflect upon the fact that it is a waste of time and money to at- Christianity was founded and developt tempt to force the religion of the west- by Asiatics in Asia, my love for Jesus ern world upon the people of the Orient, becomes a hundred-fold intensified." whose habits and customs are so widely different from our own. The Outlook in India.
This, indeed, when our Lord Him- REV. H. F. LAFLAMME, COCONADA, Belf was an Asiatic, and when Chaldean INDIA. shepherds, watching their flocks by night upon the plains of Shinar, were Tho the statement that 15,000,000 of the first to hear the glad tidings of the population of India can read and great joy to all people. Our religion write English has been repeated, it is was born and cradled in the Orient. very wide of the mark. Not that many, It was preacht and practist in the Ori- altogether, can be considered literate in ent in its prestine purity, by the Son of anyone of India's many vernaculars. God himself. The comparison, as regards literacy, between the United States of America Mesopotamia, Egypt and Arabia, and and India, of each 1,000 males, and indeed all the adjacent lands, were laid under contribution to solidify and exthe same number of females, stands choicest troops, and about 12,000 or thus:- more of her pickt men in the railway Malu. Female,. and civil service of India, to preserve The literate in U. S. A. are 725 406 and administer that empire, besides the "India " 109 6 large staff of native officials, then surely That makes but 5 per cent., or 14,- it seems a very reasonable request to 500,000 of the people who can read and ask that 5,800 ordained mis~ionaries, write any language. Out of that num- with a large number of single ladies, ber only 537,811 speak English. Ex- should be engaged in the conquest of <lIuding from this last total the English that continent in the name of tile Lord residents, such as troops, civil servants, Jesus.
traders, the handful of missionaries, etc., the residuum l'epresents the Eng- Outlook in India. lish-speaking natives, who number only 388,032. Tho this class make REV. D. O. FOX, POONA-, INDIA.
themselves heard thro the press, and on What is the outlook for the conquesi 'he platform, the attention of enlight- of India for Christ? This is a very ened Christendom thus drawn to them interesting question. A beginning has is ont of all proportion to their influ- been made towards this end. There is ence and importance. Superstitious, an army of hundreds of workers in the idolatrous, degraded, ignorant India. land. Tllousands of converts are with her teeming millions sleeps on un- gathered into the Christian fold every conscious of their very existence as far year. But what are these anlOng the as any significant effort on their part millions that fill this great empire.
to enlighten her is concerned. These workers were never more con- India's eternal hope lies in the mis- scious that they are face to face with sionary of the cross. Her peoples' il- opposing forces that no human power literacy makes tle colportage campaign can overcome.
a feeble factor in her evangelization. There are two elements at work in That same limitation, while calling India which, together, give promise of loudly for Christian schools as a relief. wonderful results. 1st. There is Ii places them as an immediate and rapid growing spirit of oroeneal among the evangelizing agency largely out of the missionaries of nearly all the different count. Native agents, in greatly mul· denominations. This oneness that tiplied numbers, fired with a holy zeal, comes from love to God and to one an- prepared and sent forth by native other, is becoming a marked feature churches, will be the final efficient fac- among them. It is a cause of grea'
tor. But these are war times. Those joy to all. They freely and heartily vast millions are dying at the rate of unite in missionary conferences, a11- twelve millions a year. They can- day prayer-meetings, camp meetings, not await the preparation of even the district conventions and Bible read- effective native agent. The 800 or- ings. 2nd. There is a united cry going dained foreign missionaries from Pro· up to God all over the land for the gift testant Christendom are entirely inade- of the Holy Spirit. They study the quate. Tile immediate, emphatic, urgent Scriptures with reference to this expe- call is for 5,000 more ordained mission- rience, and are seeking it in all their aries from the warm heart of Christ's meetings. In this they are following people. and a large contingent of select the apostolic practice. As in apostolic Christian women to meet the peculiar times, so now in India, there is coming needs of India's secluded womanhood. the Divine power that follows the bap- If the Queen-Empress of British Do- tism of the Holy Spirit. The resulta minions needs to keep 73,000 of her will be glorious. Outlook in Burma, Previous to the war with Japan, BY REV. DAVID GILMORE, RANGOON, China's principal attention and fears BURMA. had nrenfwerietnhcaestobeceenrtaprianctdii(s~taalnlty nations When I left Burma last March, the but demon: prospects for missionary work-at least strated that her nearest neighbor is an for the work of the American Baptist- ambitious and powerful enemy. In were generally regarded as brighter order to cope with this enemy, China than ever before. The most significant has no alternative but to accept heartily feature is the changed attitude of the and sincerely those western inventions Burmans towards the Gospel. The and sciences that have helpt make the Baptist mission has in the past been Island Empire such a mighty force in blest with great success in Burma; the Far East. but this success has been principally Many things seem to indicate that among the Kavens, a non-Buddhistic race. The work among the Burmans a new era is dawning in "the Land of Sinim." The recent visit of Li Hung (who are Buddhists), while equally Chang to Europe and America has doubt· faithfully done has, until recently, had less much significance. Li is regarded comparatively meager results. But as the leader of the progressive party in now all over Lower Burma it is noticed China. His numerous, practical ques· that the Burmans are much more ready tions while in this country, show that to listen to the Gospel. The number of he sought information which he hopes those desirous, or at least willing, to em- to turn to good account in his native brace Christianity, is steadily increas· land. It is highly probable that west· ing, and many more Burmans are being ern inventions will soon be introduced baptized now, than was the case five into China as never before, and that years ago. railways will be built for military pur· poses primarily, but ultimately for Other important signs are: the great general use. increase of Bible reading among the Christian Kavens, due to the introduc- Recent letters from China indicate an tion of a cheap and portable photo-en- increasing interest in western affairs graved Bible; the extension of work and in Christianity, despite the riots of among Telegus and Tamils by the Bap- last year, and the deplorable Kucheng tists, who for the past two years have massacre which, on August 1st, 1895, had a missionary devoting his whole deprived the writer of eight valued time to this work, and the organization fellow-workers of the Church Missionof a Conference by the American ary Society of England. Yet from that Methodist Episcopal mission in Lower region, and also from the scene of the· Burma. The Methodists are evidently riots in West China, there come cheering determined to take up work for the reports, which betoken the dawn of a natives with the same energy they have brighter day of opportunity. shown in their Eurasian work in Ran- Rev. G. B. Smyth, President of the. goon. Anglo-Chinese Oollege, connected with the Methodist Episcopal mission at The Outlook in Ohina. Foochow, writes: BY REV. M. C. WILCOX, PH.D., FOOCHOW, "There are many signs of a great.
CIDNA. awakening of interest here in things.
During the last few years China has foreign. Large numbers of people are been making history far more rapidly attending the churches. Over 100 have, than ever before. The recent war with joined Tieng Ang Dong (a leading- Japan, in which China lost every battle, Methodist Church) on probation since, will doubtless prove a greater benefit, conference. Of course, it would be a in the sequel, to the larger country than mistake to suppose that all this isa relig· to the smaller. ious awakening. • • • I think thegreater part of it is not. It is rather a two million who have heard, more or less, to accept the Gospel offer, and feeling that the future belongs to the how shall the forty thousand Protestant Ohristians of Japan be helpt to fuller foreigners. or to those who learn their faith and larger work? Il'his is th9" great Japan problem. secrets. . Some of the new America has its problem of the massstudents at the college are from some of es ; but in America it is the problem of persuading the two out of every three' the most important families in 'the city. who are not members of evangelical churches, to accept Christ and the One is a nephew of the Au Kuang Christian life. In Japan, it is persuad- ing the nine-hundred and ninety-nine of magistrate, another is a grandson of the everyone thousand.
Chek Kiang Taotai." Here the two refuse Christ, not from ignorance, but from deliberate choice. So much from one whose statements There the nine-hundred and ninety- nine do not choose because they do not are sure to be sufficiently conservative. yet know of the Christ.
I will now quote from a missionary Suppose the case reverst, and the United States to be in the condition of who is sufficiently optimistic, but prob· Japan-circled by isolation and steept in heathenism for twenty-five hundred ably not too much so in view of all indi- years, all the people Buddhists, Shinto- ists, Confucianists, Atheists or Panthecations, Rev. W. N. Brewster, of Ring- ist8,-a large part of them all of these at once,-our present material civilizahua, China: tion-railroads, telegrafs, school-system and the like, all gotten from abroad .. Weare growing as rapidly as we within the past thirty years. Then suppose that only thirty-five years ago have men to shepherd the people. The missionaries from Asia began cOming to 8uch an America to make us acquainted, people and the officials are in general for the tirst time, with the Bible and Christianity, and that to-day-carrying very friendly. . . . Ringhua mis- out the proportioDs,-there were but 800 of those Japanese and Chinese men sion, when organized separately from and women working for us as Christian missionaries, and but 65,000 of our the Foochow Conference, will have over 65,000,000, who call themselves Protes- tant Christians, while over nineteen 5,000 members and probationers. . • . twentieths of the rest had never heards word of Christian teaching. What our A missionary's life, if anything. is one problem would be in such a case is the problem of Japan to-day. Prayers and of faith; he 'sows in hope.' The black- sympathy are needed for the Japan missionaries and Christians, who are ness of the heathen night enshrouds facing these difficult minor problems. But we must not let these obscure our him like a pall. Even though he report view of the 181'ge problem. It is not re- trenchment and withdrawal of mission- 1,000' converts in a single year, what ary help, as some have suggested, but deeper sympathy and more earnest are these to the thousand times 1,000 souls in his district that are, to all ex- cept the eye of faith, as far from Christ as ever. . . . You ask me, 'Watch- man, what of the night?' 'The morn- ing cometh.' It is here."
The Japan Problem.
REV. c. A. CLARK, MIYAZAKI, JAPAN.
Japan has come to the "problem" stage. Problems great and grave have arisen; problems of education, of property, of theology, of cooperation; problems calling for great wisdom and patience and wakeful nights and earnest prayer, and above all, for Christ-like love.
But the compound problem, which towers above all these problems, and makes them seem small, is: How shall we get t.he Gospel m~ssage into the ears and hearts of the forty million people who have never yet heard a lisp of it, aud how shall we persuade the .other prayers, and renewed and continued bloodshed as a consequence of stirring effort, and still larger offerings of men up Buddhist wrath by attempting a and money, for years to come, that are house-to-house visitation and distribu- needed to help in solving the great prob- tion. It was well known that among lem of Japan. these two-hundred thousand people, mostly Buddhists, two thousand Bud- Do the Japanese desire this help? A dhist temples and five thousand priests, few may not. But anyone who knows there would be some opposition; but the feeling of the great mass of the the committee did not hesitate. All Evangelists and Christians will not were eventually surprised at the mild- hesitate to say yes, vcryemphatically. ness of the opposition. The work was While the spirit of indepcndence is begun by presenting to the ~rarquis strong. and sometimes is manifested in Tokugawa and the four officials of conspicuously unpleasant ways, yet all Chokunin rank, well bound copies of but the very few realize thut Japan the whole Bible. Neat, well-bound must have outside help for" long time copies of the New .Testament were preto come, to accomplish the evangeliza- sented to fifty-four officials of Sonin tion of the nation. Let us not forget rank, and to gendarmes and police inthe great problem! spectors cheaper editions of thc New Testament were givcn, and with each Bible Distributi?ll in Nagoya, Japan. copy of the BibJe and New Testament special letters of explanation were pre- In the spring of 1895, the missionaries sented. With but one or two excepresiding in Nagoya, together with some tions, the officials received the commitof the native workers, representing tee with great cordiality, and many of four denominutions, resolved to under- them seemed glad to iuquire about take the work of putting one copy of a Christian customs, etc. Portions of portion of God's Word into each of the the city adjacent to the respective fifty thousand dwellings in this city. churches were apportioned to their Dr. W. N. Whitney of the Scripture workers, and the work of house-to- Union greatly encouraged and sub- house visitation began. In some insta~tially aided this work. A' repre- stances priests went in advance of the sentative working committee was ap- workers and threatened the people, if pointed by the contributors to the pro- they should take copies of the Word. ject, fifty thousand copies of the four In other cases the distributors were Gospels, twelve thousand five·hundred closely followed, and all the portions of each, were specially ordered and left were gathered up for destruction. printed for this work, the Bible So- In some cases doors were barred in the cieties' agent making a reduction of face of the workers. In one section, 50 per cent. of the retail price. Sys- covering several blocks of the most tematic preparations were made to be- wealthy people of the city, an agreegin the work of distribution. A brief ment was made that no one there would tract, introductory and explanatory, receive these portions of Scripture, and was printed, and 11 copy of it put into in some instances priests required the each portion of the Word. This tract people to sign documents to the same singled out and called special attention effect; but no violence has taken place. to important passages. The committee From 2 per cent. to 40 per cent. of the held regular meetings, and the different offers made were refused, but the avcrphases of the work were fully discust_ age will not cxceed 4 per cent. or 5 per Some Christian friends came to the cent. In many instances people apmeetings of the committee, and made peared glad to get the Word, and inwell-meaning but discouraging speech- stances of direct good are known to es, declaring the undertaking danger- have followed this work. The spirit of ous, and one Christian pastor predicted inquiry has increast and some per- draw the" color-line," for they" shade sons thus found are now attending the off" into all the colors which" flesh is churches_ Some small, isolated por- heir to."
tions of the city still remain to be Nominally Romanists, the majolity workt, but 'the main portion has been pay little, if any, respect to religion.
covered, and the remaining portions of They are given to vice rather than the Scriptures have been divided among crime, are weak rather than wicked.
the four missions represented-the Some regions are priest-lidden, others Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal, have very few, and some no priests at lIethodist Protestant, and the Church all. Northern Colombia is counted of England. mostly as "liberal" in politics and Some of the workers have met with religion.
rich experiences, and in this way alone Baptisms are frequent; confirmations the work has paid well. ThG borders rare; church going still rarer; and "con- of Zion have been enlarged and her fession," even once a year, at Easter, is bulwarks strengthened perceptibly in practically almost abandoned in this this city within the past twelve months, region. :Marriage is made costly by to which good work the distribution of "The Church," hence is rare, save Scripture portions has undoubtedly among the rich; but there are children contributed no mean part. Much prayer none the less. Two-thirds are illegiti- has accompanied this work, and while mate. "Extreme Unc,tion" is beyond we may never be able to tabulate re- the reach or the desire of the masses.
sults, sure it is that He who has made a It costs too much to die in the arms of dennite promise as to the fruitfulness of "The Church." Hence the many die His Word, will see to it that great reo unshriven. Twenty dollars is the sults follow. Hundreds who would priestly tax for a funeral. Hence there otherwise never have seen the true is seldom any ceremony other than a Word of God, have had at least one thorough-going "wake," accorded by chance to read some of its truths, and the neighbors, who carry the defunct 'have had the importance of the subject in noisy, irregular procession at night, brought home to them. with lighted lanterns to the grave.
To the entI that those friends who With only ten per cent. able to have felt interested in this work may read, with frequent revolutions, with know what has been done, and in the few or no houses, and all too little hope that others into whose hand this home purity, and with little or no relig- writing may come,will unite with us in ious spirit, the spirit of "faith and a Nagoya in prayer that the Word which sound mind," in the vast majority-it has thus been distributed, may long is not surprising that public morals are continue to burn 'its truths into the "at low ebb," while "progress" does hearts of this people, this brief report not come within the "list of possibili- is respectfully submitted, by order of ties, " Indeed, tokens of retrogression the Committee. are too evident on every hand, save D. S. SPENCER, Pres., where foreign interests and enterprise A. R. MORGAN, Sec. employ and develop native resources.
Nagoya, Japan. In a word, Rome and heathenism have long ago formed a "close-joint"
The Outlook in Oolombia. partnership, under the now ancient BY REV. THEODORE S. POND, style and title of "Pope and Pagan."
NEW YORK. The fruits of this union in Colombia This "RepubHc " (?) has a population and all South America are exhibited to of 4,000,000. A mixture of European angels, devils and men on a scale at races with Indians and negroes, result- once colossal and continental.
iDg iD a people where it is impossible to In the midst of this thick darkness, covering the people of Colombia, there Greater Strategy in the Orient. are three little points of light discernible. BY REV. D. C. CIIALLIS, SISTOF, BUL- GARIA. There is represented in that needy country just one missionary society. The flnal settlement of the Eastern The Presbyterian Board of Foreign Mis- Question involves more than the arbi- sions has two ordained missionaries tration of war, or the machinations of in the capital, Bogota (150,000 in- European diplomacy. It depends rather habitants), four ladies and one native on the action of forces whose field is helper. There is one higher school for humanity, and whose measure is the girls, with preparatory department. march of the ages. Unconscious racial Another higher institute for boys and instincts independent ofmere selfishness, young men. These schools are well at- and more potent than ministers or gene- tended. There is one church edifice and rals, are the plane wherein a "Provi- book deposit and a congregation of 150. dence that shapes our ends," finds its Another point of light is the station peculiar field of action.
at city of Medellin. (60,000 (1). One The steady advance of Russian power ordained missionary, his wife, and a in all those regions is not mainly owing native lady assistant-a school house to the skill of her diplomats, or the size for a day·school and for meetings; of her armies. Her people are but a books for sale. part of a great race whose" stream of A third point is Barranquilla, at the tendency" overleaps and ignores all the mouth of the Magdalena river, the chief labors of diplomatic map-makers.
port of the whole country. (40,000). From the fifth century onward we Her-e are two ordained missionaries, find the Slavic race, slow.going but their wives and three ladies; two steady, healthy, patient, industrious schools for girls, one for boys and and prolific, has possessed all of Eastern young men, in training for native help- Europe. Huns, Tartars and Franks ers; no place of worship save a school- have successively invaded and fought room. This board can do no more now. over these lands. The "unspeakable II There is only one ordained missionary to Turk has settled in a darkening cloud, every million of souls, and there are only like locusts of the Apocalypse. But all four hundred (400) evangelical work- these have past or are passing away ers-both native and foreign-to the 37 without disturbing the stately move- million of the Southern Continent. ment of the mass. Freed from ancient Comment is struck dumb. despotism and the blighting influence Since the last revolution not a tithe of medieval priestcraft, the Slavic race of the .common schools are sustained; will be to the East what the Anglo- not a press in the whole country is Saxon is to the West.
wholly at disposal of the mission. There Mohammedanism is a mighty force, is not a hospital worthy of the name, but it is built on fanaticism and not on nor a refuge for the 27,000 lepers who racial instinct. Blood is thicker than live unsegregated from the people of water and more potent than the foam of Colombia. fanaticism. Diplomacy will exhaust its Not the merchants of the world, not skill and play out its little game.
the gold hunters, not the naturalists,cer- Fanaticism will "foam out its own tainly not Rome, ubiquitous and domi- shame." Russian autocracy and Turk- nant, has neglected this country (among ish atrocity will be alike forgotten, but the very richest in natural wealth), but the Slavic race, civilized and evangel- the Church which has the Everlasting ized, will possess the land, and, joining Gospel to preach, has past by on the hands with the Anglo-Saxon, will other side and has made of South encircle the world with a girdle of America, ., The Neglected Continent." peace. The Outlook in Turkey. .. Another subject for deep sympathy is the condition of the many innocent'. It is not prudent to append names of men, unjustly imprisoned. They are contributors from within the Turkish charged with having caused the Empire. The Ohristian, of London, massacre, and the impression is that collates whole columns from corres- they will be sentenced to long imprison.· pondence received at its office. We ments, if not to death. A!llong these:.' could readily do the same, but prefer to prisoners, (perhaps 150 in all), is thegive a few extracts from the budget of good pastor of the Church, with the: TIle Christian. assistant teacher and the beloved! doctor, full of good works and faith~ 0< • The attitude of the Turkish who, like Paul, is rejoicing in that he Government has never been so antagon. is countecl worthy to suffer for Christ. • istic as it is now. Leading Turks . . The people are like poor frightened confess that Protestant teaching is loyal sheep. It is pitiful to Bee how terrifie<l to the Government, but that it also they become at the slightest rumors. opens the eyes of the people, and leads Threats of further massacres are comthem to think for themselves, which is mon. We wonder how long a Governnot co~patible with the Turkish poli- ment so thoroughly corrupt and so< tical system. Protestants are not hopelessly bankrupt can hold out. God allowed to rebuild their burned chapels only knows when and how the en<t and schools without permission from will come. . . . Our spirits have been the Sultan himself, and such permission greatly refresht by visits from the Red there is no hope of receiving. We Cross agents.'" have never had such discouragements to face as now. As compared with a We also quote a late editorial of TluJ year ago, the work seems to be in Christian, to wit:- ruins. Many of the best men in all our congregations have been cut off. "The dark midnight that has hung Every congregation is impoverished, over Turkey for so long seems touched and the people are still living in the with light at last. While rumors of fear of another massacre, but we know further massacres are still coming in. that this is God's work and He will yet there is at the same time a belief that bless it. Pray for us. the powers are really working towards a mutual understanding. The latest H 'There is a mighty battle being advices contain repeated hints that fought between the false prophet and England has led the way in making the Son of God, and although we are certain overtures to Russia that may" sure that Christ will conquer in the lead to such interference with the SuI-. end, it often seems that the victory is tan, as will bring his power for mischieV being long delayed. We are trying to to an end. What these proposals a1"6.·' help the people to set to work, but does not yet appear; but that they are.' what can the multitudes of widows at least being made seems pretty cer·· and orphans do? There are no factories tain. The agitation that has moved; for spinning, weaving, stocking-mak- this country from one end to another._ ing, etc. When there is no market so together with the Czar's visit, appear to! far in the interior, the condition is be the primary causes of the new direc– desperate. Had it not been for the tion which affairs are taking. If we' relief last winter thousands would have have succeeded in proving that the. died, and the prospects of this winter moral sense of Europe was not dead,_ are even darker. We dare not look but sleeping, and in rousing it to action: ahead, but only lean hard on God How we have done a good work. It would. we wish that some one would come and however, be a mistake to think that the start an orphanage here for the many battle of humanity and justice has yet orphans. been won. All the resources of diplo,… macy will fail, unless the nation shows Not long after, on a Saturday, Miss a determined and watchful attitude." Stevens was astonisht beyond meas- The sentiment in America must be still further stimulated to furnish moral ure to see this priest standing in her support to our own Government at Washington, in enforcing the rights of own room, and to hear him say, "Jesus American citizens in Turkey. " Eter· nal vigilance is the price of liberty."- has conquered me." I thought, said [J. T. G.] Miss Stevens, I had seen heathenism in A Mighty Miracle. all its repulsiveness, but never had I BY REV. A. w. RUDISILL, D.D., MADRAS, seen anything that quite equaled this, INDIA. and I confess I trembled. He offered Miss Stevens-" Evangelist Eliza- beth,"-entered a Imtcher shop in a her his beads and askt for baptism. village in the suburbs of Madras, dis- tributing tracts and talking to the peo- With her customary prudence she said, ple. Among them was the priest of the village; near by was his temple. "Not now. Wait awhile_ Think what He was a periodical worshipper at all the chief temples of that part of the this will cost you, and if, aner a timo .country, having treasure of some de- scription in each. About him was his you still desire it, I will arrange for your yellow priestly robe; on his neck the priestly rosary; on his arms strings of baptism." beautiful beads; on his forehead the sacred ashes, in the center the round Not less was her surprise on the fol- . crimson mark, a sign of his devotion to the god he worshipt. He was known lowing day to have him approach her . as a subtle dialectician by some of the leading missionaries of Southern India, in church, and taking the rosary from with whom he had disputed for many . years, but this poor woman was not his neck, and the beads from his arms, worthy of such honor, and he listened in contempt. Had he not taught the say meekly, "What hinders my being :people that he himself was a god? .Had he not seen them prostrate at his baptized to-day?" :feet? Elizabeth read the third and fourth verses of the first chapter of After a brief sermon by the native Isaiah, then kneeling, asked the Holy Spirit to do his work. The priest pastor, Elizabeth conducted him to the accepted her tracts and read them, and they kindled in his heart a fire of altar, and the sight was that 01 a fierce indignation. A few days after he poured upon one of our native preachers tiger following a gentle lamb. 8. volley of abuse, and vehemently at- tackt the Christian religion. The Miss Stevens washt from his brow the preacher answered him never a word, but when the priest had spent his fury, sacred ashes; the man tore away tho read to him the first chapter of 1st John, and kneeling, wrestled with God for crimson disk and threw it on the floor. the man's conversion. The priest was visibly affected. Askt why he took such a step, why he renounced the religion of his fathers and cast away his priestly inheritance, he answered, "Christ is my Shep- herd." He was baptized, receiving at his reo quest the name of "John." In the parsonage he exchanged his yellow priestly robe for a cloth of pure white, and in this garment, emblematic of the clean linen in which the saints auvve are arrayed, he went away.
In the afternoon Miss Stevens found him sleeping in the shade with his Tamil Bible, which she had given him, lying near his head. He wakened and at once began his work, preaching with great power from the text-" Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world."
Anxious to say nothing that would not accord with the truth, he would tarn and ask in Erglish-" Am I right'! "
He was right in all he said; he waa the Savior's mouthpiece. He is now preaching and teaching a village school, and is one of Miss Stevens' distributors of tracts.
Waa it not "A Mighty Miracle?"
FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
IlI.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
BY DELAVAN L. PIERSON.
Monthly Topics for 1897.* DECEMBER.
JAN-:JARY. Syria and Palestine. The Jews. The General Outlook. Educational Missions, FEBRl'ARY. A Glance at the World ofMission& The Chinese Empire. EDITOR-IN-CillEF. Tibet and Formosa. Confucianism and Taoism. As the field of survey for this Jpen- The Opium Traffic. lng month of the new year is the world, and this issue as a whole is taken up MARCH. with the conditions of this world-wide work, we content ourselves with a few Mexico. additional comments upon general mat- Central America. ters of practical interest and import- The West Indies. ance. City Missions. Foreigners in the United States. The first thing that strikes us in the outlook is the almost unprecedented APRIL. 'Unrest in the nations. Seldom have we known a year within the life-time of India. Burmah, and Ceylon. this generation, when the world was in Hinduism and Brahmanism. so unsettled a state, and there was such 'Woman's Work. a common feeling of uncertainty. N(} political crisis since the first gun was )lAY. fired upon Fort Sumpter, thirty-five years since, has created an excitement Siam and Laos. so intense as the last presidential cam- Malaysia. paign in the United States. In Africa, Unoccupied Fields. Madagascar, Boerland, The Sudan, Buddhism. The Kongo Free State, in fact, almost Work Among the Lepers. every partof the Dark Continent, has had an upheaval during 1896. In Japan lUNE. there has been the most serious and alarming crisis since the Gospel was Africa and Madagascar. first preached. In China, India, Turkey Fetichism. and Armenia, Spain and Cuba, the The Slave Trade. Philippine Islands-all over Europe- The Freedmen in America. in almost every quarter of the known world, some peculiar form of disaster JULY. or struggle, some alarming crisis, war, massacre, financial depression, political The Islands of the Sea. entanglement, which threatened serious Arctic Missions. results, or actual revolution, has charac- North American Indians. terized the last twelvemonth. Work Among Seamen. The Liquor Traffic. While, in the Master's work, discour- agement is never in 'order, it must be AUGUST. confest that in most parts of the mis- sion field there has been no markt ad- Papal Europe. Romanism. Bible Work.
SEPTEMBER.
Japan and Korea. Shintoism. Japanese and Chinese in North America. Medical l'Iissions OCTOBER.
Turkey, Arabia, and Persia. Russia, Siberia, and Greece. The Greek Church and Eastern Sects. Islam.
NOVEMBER.
South America. Frontier Missions in North America. Mormonism. Younl'" People's Work.
ber• Articles intended for insertion in the num- devoted to these topics should be in our bands at least two months in advance. vance, and in many cases, our missions where a vast population is as yet have with difficulty held their own. accessible only to Greek priests, and It may be well to give a few exam- imperfectly reached even by these ples of the history which the past year ignorant and superstitious men.
has been writing, and to call attention 3. Arabia, with its nomadic tribes once more to the crisis which the world- and shrine of the False Prophet. In field now presents. fact we may say of that whole territory Glancing first at the field as a whole, which may be called Mohammedia-or the outlook for the new year is one, first the territory of Moslem power, which of all, of appalling destitution. We must reaches from the west coast of North not shut our eyes to the vast unoccupied Africa to the borders of Tibet – it is area which after nineteen centuries like Jericho, yet to be encompassed by still confronts us in the world-field. the hosts of the Lord, for the first There are two massive oriental Em- time.
pires, India and China, each in itself a 4. 'fhe Sudan, reaching from the world, which together embrace one-half Kong mountains east to the Nile valley, the entire human race. Yet, among 3,000 miles long and 500 miles broad, these seven hundred millions, all that is held under the sway of the crescent, has been done is thus far insignificant. and has a popUlation equal to that of J. Hudson Taylor, twenty-five years the United States and Great Britain com- ago was driven to the organization of bined. It is just beginning to be the "China Inland Mission," by the entered by missionaries.
impulse of a resistless passion to reach 5. The central portion of &uth eleven vast provinces of the celestial America, sometimes called Amazonia, empire, which up to that time had not with at least 10,000,000 natives, is an- one resident Christian Protestant mis- other of the unevangelized spiritual sionary. In India, each of the great deserts of our globe.
native states has heen nominally occu- Even in the best manned mission pied by one missionary or more, but fields, the laborers are few. Out of all many of the smaller states have yet to Protestant Christendom, with fifty mil- be entered by preacher, teacher or lion church members and four times healer; Nepaul alone being shut to the that number of adherents, the total mis- Gospel. Bengal's non-Christian popu- sion force, including women and medi- lation exceeds the whole popUlation of cal missionaries, is not over 10,000. If the United States, and Bahar. with a we include in the total force at work all population as large as England, has but the converted native helpers, the whole thirty missionaries, one-half being number is about fifty thousand, or one women. The Decennial Conference laborer to every 20,000, supposing them held in Bombay in 1893, solemnly ap- all to be equally distributed, without pealed to the Christian Church to help regard to grade or sex. The great meet "an opportunity and responsibil- Tabernacle in London could accom- ity never before known." modate the entire male force of mission- Yet, entirely outside of these two aries now sent out from the churches of <colossal empires, there lie at least five Christian lands.
great territories which may be marked As to the money supplied in 1897 for as yet unreached by the pure Gospel. the world-wide work, it has been 'Three of them lie in Asia, one in ,liberally estimated at fourteen milllion 'Africa, and one in South America. dollars, or, perhaps 2,800,000 pounds 1. What Illliy be called "Inner Asia" sterling. Yet the incorM of the Pro- -the Central Belt spanning the very testant church membership-not to heart of the continent, including Tibet mention the vast capital accumulated and reaching to the Chinese Sea. and invested-reacht at least, in 1897, 2. Upper Asia, or Russian Asia, the sum of fifteen thousand millions of dollars. So that less than one dollar in REVIEW, but it is a strong and urgent a thousand found its way into the presentation of the wants of that great mission treasury I empire, addrest to their feIlow·students whom they would draw to the field as Missions among the Mohamrnedarui sowers and reapers. have made very little progress during the past year. In fact, the dominions The statistics of the Madras and BOID>" of the crescent seem to be the most im· bay Presidencies, of the centr~l and pregnable of all fields open to Christian northwest provinces, Bengal, Rajpu. missions. tana, and the Punjab, are given sepa· rately and carefully, some of which are Korea presents features of great in· of permanent interest and value, and interest. A fair beginning is making in which are here condensed. The census evangelizing that land, and what is of 1891 is made the basis of estimates. needed now is a large band of devoted men and women to take possession of The Presidency of Madras was the this field. There is room for three first in order of occupation. The num- thousand workers there to·day. ber of native Christians in southern India is 865,528, having increast in a Tibet seems about to be opened to decade more than 22 per cent., while Christian effort. A band of very the population increast but 15 per resolute and self'sacrificing men and cent. The Christians are one in 40 of women are on the borders of this land, the population, but 1 in 12 of the mastering the native language, and graduates is a Christian. Yet even in preparing to push towards the very this comparatively well·workt field- capital itself when it can be done with Madras and vicinity-at least 32 work- any measure of safety. And a native ers are at once needed, and students are Tibetan has recently embraced the especially helpful in the effort to re.ach Gospel and proposes to devote himself the educated classes. to its proclamation among his own people. Outside of Madras, the destitution is in some cases appalling. In one dis- In Japan there is a net loss in memo trict there is but 1 missionary to bership of Protestant churches of over 40,000, in another to 50,000, in another 500, in fact, a general decline in bap· to 100,000, and in others but 1 to tisms and Sunday.school attendance, 250,000, 380,000 and even 500,000! etc. The gifts of native converts faIl $10,000 below 1895. And the worst of In the Bombay Presidency, there are it is that these statistics do not misrepre· 21 colleges and schools, only one under sent the real state of things. It is quite Protestant Christian control; and out of too obvious that in spiritual state there 3,189 students only 35 are Christians. has been a very noticeable lowering of Bombay City has 47,000 Parsees, a com- the level of piety, of which the defec· munity especially inviting to educated tion of the Doshisha-the institution Christian students. In the Poona dis- founded by the lamented Neesima-is trict are nearly 1,200 villages without a one conspicuous sign. And yet the more resident Christian. Kathiawar has 3 devoted missionaries, instead of losing missionaries to 3,000,000. Kutch, equal heart and hope, believe that all this is to Ugunda in popUlation, never yet had . only one of the inevitable reactions one messenger of the cross. In Wadh- which come in spiritual work, and which wan a missionary writes: are foIlowed by an even more markt advance, as in the case of sea·tides. .. The people listened splendidly, They have never heard before, in Bome Rev. Robert P. Wilder and his asso· cases, in others possibly once. There ciates in the Student Volunteer Move- are hundreds of villages of aboriginal ment in India and Ceylon have issued races as reachable as the Fijians were, a very stirring "appeal for India." It and with little or no religion to destroy. is entirely too long for the pages of this In a few years these wilt have beeome Bra1.manised, and then work among them will be like knocking our heads thought of the masses, we ought to be against a stone wall. A government official of the district entreats us to send prepared to whiten the fields of India men there, promising every assistance in his power, an'l we cannot move. with a snow-storm of lively penetrat- Why? For want of men. We could keep two or three men busy at nothing ing and attractive leaflets. '1'0 accomelse than translating and writing. The Bible revision is not expected to be plish this, experts should be set apart finished in any one's life-time, and all for lack of men. We have one man to to the task. do the work of a minimum of six in Sm'at alone." We append the closing paragraphs: Of the central provinces, Balaghat The picture is a dark one, taken by missionaries on the spot, and taken for has a solitary worker who believes no us volunteers. One of the workers part of India promises speedier or better asks for "European Knights of the Cross," and adds: " It's cbivalry for results. Chanda has a popUlation of Christ that is wanted in the hearts of over 690,000 without one missionary. young men at home." Nearly all the native states in Raipore are unoccupied. In Hoshangabad, a Are you to disappoint these dear population of over 3,000,000 is entirely faithful workers? They are only 1,600 among a population more than untouched. four and a half times that of the These are some of the specimens of United States, and nearly ten times that of England and Wales. Eight facts with which the twenty pages of and a half millions die annually.
this appeal are absolutely crowded. The We close with the words of that repetition of this destitution would be friend of Western students, Rev. A. J. monotonous, but it is the monotone of Gordon, D.D.: ., I have long since misery, which can be tedious only to ceased to pray, 'Lord Jesus, have the selfish. This pamphlet is aflame compassion on a lost world'! I rewith facts, which ought to make the member the day and the hour when I dullest disciple arouse himself and ask, seemed to hear the Lord rebuking me Lord, wilt Thou not send me to reach for making such a prayer. He seemed to say to me, 'I have had compassion these untaught millions? upon a lost world, and now it is for you The close of the appeal lays great to have compassion. I have left you to fill up that which is behind in mine stress on the power of Christian litera- afflictions in the flesh for the body's ture. There are now 15,000,000 of sake, which is the Church. I have given my heart; give your hearts.''' persons in the Indian Empire who can read and write, and about 1,000,000 "When I say llnto the wicked, 0 wicked man. thou shalt surely die, and leave school every year. Here is a thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way; that wicked man shall great field to be sown with the products die in his iniquity, but his blood will I of a sanctified press. Books and tracts require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if are like bullets which strike far beyond thou warn the wicked of his way to the range of a hand to hand con- turn from it, and he turn not from his tact. For example, Rev. J. F. Ull- way; he shall die in his iniquity. but man's book-" Dharmtuta," or "Re- thou has delivered thy soul." Ezek. 33: 8-9. ligions Weighed," carried by a Hindu ascetic into a village of Behar, -The Twenty-Seventh Annual Meetproved the means of establishing a Christian community there. A Chris- ing of the Inter-Seminary Missionary tian coaly bequeathed Rs. 100 for the Alliance at Chicago, November 12-15, spread of three little books, which he highly valued, as they had been the 1896, was attended by six hundred means of bringing him to Christ. theological students, and was es- After his death they were found under his pillow. If we wish to alter the teemed one of the best, if not the very best annual meeting the Alliance ever held. The culminating consecration meeting on Sunday afternoon will be remembered specially for Mr. Studd's recital of his personal experience; and all realized a great spiritual uplifting under Dr. A. '1'. Pierson's address, Sun- day evemng.-J. '1'. G
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
., Few events of the past year have The A. B. C. F. M., venerable and been more remarkable than the revolu- beloved as it deservedly is, feels with tion in Ecuador, of which we heard a other missionary agencies the backward vivid description by George S. Fisher setting of the missionary current in the of the gospel union, who returned from churches. The total receipts for the there in November. His stirring ac- year were $743,000, including the count of the sudden and marvellous up- money raised for the debt of a year heaval, the singular connection of the ago. But the fact is that those who Japanese Chinese war with the events have the conduct of mission Boards in Ecuador, the first free convention, move in these days with timidity and etc., we have printed in allother de- apprehension, having little confidence partment, in which the details are pre- in the solid backing of their so·called sented to our readers. constituency, which alas! proves too The Review of ReVie1JJ8 remarks of often rather a deficiency. In raising this the Ottoman Empi1'e: "It is like a debt, the special committee thought best smouldering heap of burning refuse. chiefly to solicit from individuals, not It reeks all over with smoke, and some- churches, which is itself a significant fact. times when the wind blows it bursts Is it not humiliating that the world-wide· into flame. But as no one can say on work of Christ should have to go to what side of the rubbish heap the wind Christians one by one, and beg money will play, so no one can predict where to pay a debt and prevent a collapseI' the flame will appear. All the pro- The amounts given by individuals are vinces smoulder with discontent, and also significant. Beside the large gift every now and then, under some un- of Mr. James, $4,500 came from seven seen influence, that discontent leaps persons, twenty-four gave $500 each, forth into active insurrection. Lately and there were about a hundred gifts it was the turn of Crete, where there of $100 each. It is safe to say that has been bloody work by the Turks in $50,000 came from about 250 persons, Canea. apparently by way of reprisals so that they paid the bulk of the debt. for the insurrectionary movement of This surely is abnormal, and no steady the Christians in the hills. It is more advance can be hoped for in this work dangerous to kill Greeks than Arme- of the whole Church, while there is so' nians; Crete, moreover, is accessible to unequal distribution of pecuniary supwarships, and the Sultan has therefore port. been sternly told that Europe will stand no nonsense in the Mediterranean. It As usual, the Report of the meeting is rather hard upon the local Mussul- in the November issue of the Herald mans, who will feel themselves most is a small library in itself, and contains cruelly deprived of privileges which most interesting matter. Dr. Barton's their brother True Believers enjoy to paper on Japan, the discussion on the the full in Anatolia; but necessity knows no law, and however disagreeable it may be, the Sultan will have to stop the massacre in Crete."
The eighty-seventh annual meeting crisis in Turkey, led by Dr. Smith, and of the" American Board," held in To- the resolutions on the Armenian q ues- ledo, 0., in October last, Dr. Storrs tion presented by President Angell, pronounced one of the best and most were among the special features of the inspiring ever held, tho Rev. S. N. meeting, which gave it a very markt Packard, the preacher for the meeting, character. Hon. E. O. Wheeler, after a remarkt that the Board "has never fine speech, brought down the house been placed by the churches sustaining with tumultuous applause as he con- it in so grave a position as to-day, des- cluded by saying: pite the favorable showing in the treas- "I can see but one thing to do under urer's accounts." the circumstances, which is to send a fieet and armed force to Turkey to en- people and negroes to be instructed or force our treaty rights. boarded within the same building, or be taught in the same class, or at the same " We ought to be ready to send men time, or by the same teachers! It has to seize Smyrna until our righteous been well said that to find such a law- damages have been paid. such a relic of barbarism-even getting countenance, not to say becoming an "The European governments could enactment, in a state legislature, makes have no reason to interfere with our one wonder whether he is dreaming or actions. We have unselfish interests at not, and if not, what country it is he is 1!take." President Angell's resolutions living in. This atrocious law~ was re- were similar in tone; commending the ferred to in a prominent Christian news· steadfastness, courage and faith of the paper in mild terms of condemnation, American missionarieR in Turkey, and and at once a citizen of Virginia, a sub- pledging the Board to stand by them in scriber to that paper, wrote an indig- maintaining their work. They recite nant letter, in which the following that nearly $200,000 worth of property paragraph is found; belonging to American citizens in Tur· key has been destroyed, their houses "Stop senging me your paper. I do burned, themselves attackt and im- not believe that God ever intended the -prisoned, and in some cases driven from negro to be a companion or associate of their homes; that the government has our race, either on this earth or in '<iemanded redress of these injuries and heaven." punishment of the offenders, but has ,obtained neither, and that these violators And this man calls himself a Chris- 'of treaty rights indicate a purpose to de- tian! stroy the whole fabric of Chlistian civilization which has been erected with so In the October issue, 1896, the editor much toil, sacrifice and cost. refers to Mr. Dimbleby's calculations as to the "end of the Gentiles" The President of the United States is and the doom of "Turkey." No part urged to insist upon the issue by the of the intention was to sanction Mr. Turkish government of the proper" ex- Dimbleby's theory, but only to call equatur," that our consuls may securely attention to it as of interest in the study occupy, under the flag of our country, of "prophetic history." We have since the posts which our government assigns received a very elaborate and learned to them, and in the interests of justice pamphlet, "Astronomy and the Bible," and in accordance with treaty rights, by a fellow of the Royal Astronomical administer with authority the duties of Society, in which the author sharply the office. contests Mr. Dimbleby's theory and contends that it is far from trustworthy. We have seen another singular evi- This pamphlet is publisht, at three ,dence of the caste and race spirit which pence, by Parker Brothers, Sheffield, largely dominates people in the South, England, and will richly repay study. ,and perpetuates the hateful and baneful Tho anonymous, it would not be influence of slavery in keeping the difficult to guess at the authorship, for colored man down. the "speech" of the writer "bewray- eth" him. The Sheats Law, which has recently 'been declared unconstitutional by the All the hopes of the Ritualists and 'Supreme Court of Florida, has been well of Mr. Gladstone have been completely 'pronounced "infamous" as a statute. disappointed, for the Pope has decided It was passed at the instigation of the that "all ordinations made under the State Superintendent of Public Instruc- Anglican rite are invalid." Rome detion of Florida, and gives his name an cides that the cbain of succession was infamous immortality. It provides that it shall be a penal offense for white broken by the Anglican Church in the make a contribution not only to the sixteenth century, and that the only record of .mission work, but to the way in which the Ritualists can enter solution of problems of missions, he the Church of Rome is by conver8Wn. takes a concrete and typical case with So that the Pope has placed the Church which he is personally connected, and of England, the Episcopal Church in presents through it the great questions the United States, and the whole Ritual involved, and the helps which his own party in the same position, with respect observation and experience have to Rome, as the Presbyterian, !fetho- collated toward their successful answer. dist, Baptist and other non-Episcopal An index of twenty-five pages puts all denominations. the contents at the disposal of the reader, and superb illustrations and The representative of the highest maps complete one of the most Ritualists, the Holy Cr088 Magazine, attractive and useful books we have said lately that such a decision by the seen on India. Pope would stop all movements in the direction of Anglican reunion with The copies, we hear, are getting Rome for generations, and called for scarce, and it is not to be wondered at, prayer from all Ritualists that it as the sale has been uncommonly rapid. might be prevented. But the decision Our own hasty glances have kindled a was given, and the Ritualists' strong de- desire to examine more closely into a sire for recognition by Rome looks as if volume that, as Bacon would have said, they were somewhat doubtful of the is to be not" tasted" only but" chewed validity of their own ordination. and digested."
Meanwhile the following notice ap- Those who are tempted tf) compropears in the list of deaths in the Public mise with false faiths should read the Ledger, of Philadelphia: "Smith.-A manly utterances on page 356, where Requiem }Iass for the repose of the soul is shown the double drift on one hand of Miss Hannah P. Smith will be offered toward unduly magnifying the ideals at St. Clement's Church, Twentieth and of false religions, and on the other Cherry streets, on Tuesday, at 7.30 toward lowering the importance of the A. 1'1:." This should be put alongside distinctive features of the true faith. of the Pope's decision as a sign of the Dr. Stewart shows also the result, re~ times, showing the Romanizing drift of ducing all faiths to one dead level of a section of the Episcopal Church of common-place, or blending them in a Pennsylvania. The church mentioued resultant ideal, which is simply a subin this notice is not under the jurisdic- limated form of natural religion. tion of Archbishop Ryan, but is still of His words are a tonic to weak unquestioned standing in the Protestant souls. Hear him protest, that the Episcopal Church. strength of Christianity lies in its uniqueness, and between it and every Notable Books on Missions. other non·Christian system the confiict is irrepressible; and that, to parley, We might have embraced in our barter or compromise will end in dis- " Survey" a notice of some of the grand aster. Here are thirty chapters of solid contributions made to the permanent meat, that will make strong men literature of missions, during the year stronger, and wise men wiser. 1896, not a few of which are entitled to a special commendation. There has been issued now on both sides of the sea a life of Robert "Life and Work in India," by Dr. Whitaker McAll, founder of the McAll Robert Stewart, pUblisht by the Pearl Mission, in Paris. It contains a frag- Publishing Co., Philadelphia, is one of ment by himself, and a souvenir by the fullest, most painstaking and com- his wife. With portraits, facsimiles, plete books of the year, in its special and illustrations. 8vo, cloth, $1.50. department. As the author seeks to " Heroic toils, sanctified by self·sacri- ".A Cycle of Cathay," is Mr. W. .A. fice, defy description. One may as Martin's book on China, spiced with well try to put on canvas or into poem personal reminiscences of one who for the subtle aroma of a flower as to five and forty years studied the Celestial embody in the printed page the still Empire both as a missionary and as an more subtle charm of a spirit like that employee of the Chinese government, of Dr. McAll. But what can be as well as president oithe Imperial Colpreserved is here to be found, and as lege. Whatever Dr. Martin bas to say, the reader traces the life story, may it always commands an audience, and his heart be set on fire with a living this volume is a suitable platform from coal from off God's altar. Such a life which to reach the multitude. This is vocal, and its perpetual command is, book is very racy and readable. It is full of intelligence and humor and sanc- , Go and an thou likewise.' .. tified common sense beautifully blended.
This charming life is written with George Smith, LL.D., has once more sympathetic ink, for it was from the put the world under tribute by a maspen of a beloved wife, who was herself terpiece of biography in the Life of magna par8 rerum. She not only Bishop Reginald Heber. (London, Jno. shared her husband's toils, but her own Murray.) This accomplished author, have equaled his in heroism and self- who has done more than any other man sacrifice. This book is sure of a wide of his time, to provide a library of miscircle of readers. sionary biographies-the man who has given us Carey and Martyn and Wilson F. H. Revell Co. have sent forth a in such attractive setting, now tells the new illustrated edition of John G. story of the poet missionary bishop of Paton's autobiography. It is a bene- Calcutta. The laborious and prolific diction. The aroma of heaven is about pen of Dr. Smith has left its mark its pages, as about the saintly man everywhere through this life of Heber; whose story it tells. nothing here is slovenly or superficial. The style is befitting the subject, and "The }Ussionary Pastor," from the that is all that need be said. The sad same publishers, is meant to aid a pas- story of his death in the bath at Trichitor in developing missionary interest nopoly is superbly told, it is a poem. and activity in churches. It is one of the fine group of helps which the Stu- The .Armenians are still in sore need dent Volunteer Movement has created, of our sympathy, prayers and pecuniary or is creating. Rev. James E . .Adams assistance. The time has not come for is the editor, and R. J. Kellogg the us to fold (lur hands with the thought delineator of the charts. There are five that we have done our duty. Thouchapters which respectively discuss sands are in danger of perishing and are missionary methods, meetings, classes, in need of immediate help. literature and charts. That on the charts alone would well compensate for We acknowledge with thanks, the the price (75 cents). receipt of $5.00 for the persecuted Russian Stlmdists, from Mr. George W. "General Gordon," by G. Barnett Cross, of New York, and 50 cents from Smith, is another of Revell's noble se- W. C. Dixon, of Berwick, Pa., for the ries of missionary biographies. Brief, .Armenians. covering but 160 pages, it puts succinctly the story of this unique Christian It is said that the French Governsoldier, who has the strange record of ment contemplate excluding from their heroism in three continents, into read- colonies all missionary workers who are able and useful form. We can safely not natives of France. This would commend this life to the study of the be a great blow to missions in North young especially, who cannot read this story of rare self·sacrifice without feeling a desire to emulate it. Africa, Madagascar and other French course of scriptural, practical and spiritual preparation; and no honest colonies and protectorates. We can student could pass through this course of study without being much enricht only look to the Almighty either to thereby.
prevent it, or to overrule it to His glory. 'l'he school is under the presidency of the editor of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW. Rev. John :M:cNeil of Australia, the and the wise and careful guidance of Rev. l!'. L. Chapell, who gives it his author of one of the most helpful books whole time as Iiesidcnt Instructor, per- sonally conducting the classes in Bib- of modern religious thought, " The lical and Practical Theology and Exe· gesis. Those who best know his work Spirit-Filled Life," has recently died in recognize him as a man prepared of God for this sphere. Among the instructors Melbourne. He was a most devoted is also Rev. Dr. JamesM. Gray, a man of rare scholarship and consccmtion, who and successful evangelist, and his sud- gives valuable instruction on the Syn. thesis, History, Inspiration, Interprets- den death created a solemn pause in the tation and Use of the Bible. The med· ical instruction under Dr. Julia Morton rush of city life, and deeply imprest Plummer includes two courses of lee· tl!res – one on Physiology and Hy- even the most thoughtless. He was a gIene, and one on Obstetrics. There are classes in New Testament Greek man who lived as loudly as he spoke, and Christian Song, lectures on various Biblical and MiSSionary subjects, and and his death will be keenly felt. evening lectures for those who cannot attend during the day. The Missionary Training School as a The tuition being ,free, the expenses Feature in Modern Church Life, of the school are met by free-will offer- ings. An accomplished lady in Boston writes: "In these days it is prest 'rhe school is thoroughly inter-de· upon the ChriEtian consciousness as nominational, yet it stands unequivo. never before that· the King's business cally for great vital truths of Redemp- requireth haste'; many are hearing tion ; it emphasizes the supreme author- and heeding the call to a separated life ity of the Holy Scriptures; the neces- for service in home and foreign fields; sity of the enduement of the Holy and still others hunger to be enricht in Spirit; the Lord's Coming, the nature the Word of God, unto new measures and need of the times in which we are of blessing and usefulness, while abid- living; and the urgent duty of heralding •in the calling.' Hence has arisen ing the Gospel throughout the whole a new need, which is to be distinctly world. recognized as a part of this great new quickening in Christian work," The eighth year opened last Octo- ber. For further information any who Hundreds of earnest young men, and wish may address Dr. Chapell, of Clarwomen, with some perhaps of riper endon and Montgomery Sts., Boston, years, have come to their hour of self- or the Editor·in-Chief of this REVIEW. dedication, to be met by a new problem-that of PREPARATION. How and George Muller has tql.d the story of where are they to gain the necessary equipment for the work to which God his c0nversion. He was a worldly is calling them? young man, not vicious, but utterly in· Even if they had the time and money and technical education to pursue a different to his soul's salvation. In his theological course, that would not meet the need I and they might have sought own words, .. he never read the Holy in vain for more condenst and practical course of preparation, had not God Scriptnres, never thought about the con· wonderfully gone before them in 1esponse to this providential demand. cerns of his soul, never in the least de- Several Training Schools have thus gree sought to care about God." He come to be, among them the Boston Missionary Training School, begun was in this state when he was in college seven years ago through the faith, prayer and labor of Rev. A. J. Gordon, in his twenty·tirstyear. One of hisfel· D.D.,-its President until his death,- since which time his name has been low students askt him to go to a little given to the School that it might thus stand as a living memorial of him. prayer-meeting at the house of a trades- Here is offered, to men and women man which was attended by four pious 4Ilike, free of expense, a two years' students. In that little prayer-meeting It is with thanksgiving that we look he heard of the way of salvation forward to the speedy agreement for through the Lord Jesus Chr.st, and settlement by arbitration, of all disputes for "the first time he saw what a between England and the United States. wicked, guilty sinner he had been, walking without a thought or care The British and Foreign Bible Soci- about God." He sew himself ,. dead ety has issued since 1804, 147,363,669 copies, while 73 other societies have in trespasses and in sins," and the pious issued more than 257,000,000 Bibles, students pointed out to him the grace of Testaments and portions. God which would pardon so guilty a sinner as he, because Christ had died in According to the eightieth annual rehis stead, making a propitiation for his port of the American Bible Society, the sins. He had gone into that little prayer- total issues of the Scriptures for the year amounted to 1,750,283 copies, and meeting careless and forgetful of God; during the eighty years of its existence, he went out rejoicing in theforgi,eness 61,705,841 copies, circulated in nearly of his sins. Those foul' pious students one hundred different languages and who kept up that prayer-meeting have dialects in all parts of the earth. More gone home to glory, but the good which than one half of its issues in 1895 went they did in their humble faithfulness into the hands of the pagan, the Moabides. In fact, they originated in hammedan and nominally Christian Halle a sort of holy club like that of a people outside of the United States; 383,000 were sold in China alone. The century before in Lincoln College, be- society expended during the year gun by John and Charles Wesley, $503,500.52. George Whitefield, etc. They rest from their labors and their works do follow The outrages committed in the Kongo them. It is well to hear stories of con- Free State in the name of civilization version in which God's pardon and seem incredible in this age of enlighten- God's grace are points on which em- ment, and a Baptist missionary declares phasis is laid. Too little ~s perhaps the treatment of the Kongo natives by said, even in talking to sinners, of God's the government agents to exceed in cruelty anything known, instancing the forgiveness of sin. seizure and execution of one of his hear- ers simply becau8e he had brought in no How shall we meet the present exe- rubber tltat day__ and in another village gency of the mission field except by a several persons slaughtered by the sol- diers because the villagers had not sucmore United Church? ceeded in collecting the amount of rub- " At the battle of Doornkop two men ber required to be paid as taxes to the State, and upon which the white agents were about to fire on one another at received, until recently, a percentage. short range, when they simultaneously Last year a Belgian c~ptain, on the redropt their rifles. Each recognized the fusal of some native porters to carry a other. They had been at school together__ store of ivory taken from a trader, on Rnd so they realized their brotherhood the ground that they were not employed in the very madness of battle. And are by him, ordered his soldiers to fire, and not all combatants brothers, if only they killed more than a hundred of tlUlm. In would recognize the fact? When men the United Ser1Jice Magazine, a British of aU nations learn their true relations officer who in 1894 volunteered for serunder the Prince of Peace, they will vice in the Kongo State declares, as to find it as impossible to fire on a human the white officials, that their" boasted being-tho a stranger-as these two work of civilization is murder, rapine, friends did at Doornkop when they recognized each other at the fateful moment."
A true recognition of the brotherhood of humanity would make impossible war between nations, and still more impossible between Christian na- tions. plunder and cruelty in the most awful "To show that when I have once degree ever reacht." These barbarities past, I cannot be caught." are perpetrated also on the black subjects of other countries, particularly We do not see statues standing on those of Great Britain, who are induced the highways to remind us of our opby false I epresentations to go to Boma as portunities for doing good and being contract laborers, but forced to serve as of service to others, but we know that soldiers on distant expeditions, and in- opportunities come to us. They are stead of being sent home at the ex- ours but for a moment. If we let them piration of their two years' contract, pass, they are gone forever.-Selected. kept until woru out with service, then turned into the bush to becomefood for In 1867 the tirst diamond ever found cannibals. Of such conduct it is well in South Africa was picked up by a said that it is an outrage not only upon hunter out of a heap of shining river humanity but upon international comity pebbles. This was near the banks of of the grossest kind; and if the blacks the Orange River, a little above its concan be controled only by such out- tiuence with the Vaal River. Then a rages, the work of civilizing Africa diligent search for diamonds began in would better be abandoned I all the surrounding districts. In 1870 diamonds were discovered in consider- The present crisis in the mission tield able quantities near where the town of exceeds for grandeur of opportunity Kimberley now stands. A rush of and for failure adequately to meet it miners soon filled the neighborhood, any crisis of previous history. and from that time onward Kimberley has been the center of the diamond-get- In one of the Greek cities there ting industry, though there are other mines scattered here and there to the stood, long ago, a statue. Every trace west and south of it. of it has vanished now, as is the case -A young church composed of Zulus with most of these old masterpieces of in Johannesburg, under the charge of genius; but there is still in existence an Rev. H. D. Goodenough, has made a epigram which gives. us an excellent remarkable record in the matter of selfdescription of it, and as we read the support. Over two years ago a chapel words we can surely discover the lesson was built, largely by the natives themwhich those wise old Greeks meant selves. During the first year a debt of that the statue should teach to every $500 was paid, besides meeting the curpasser-by. rent expenses, and on April 1, 1895, there was a balance in the treasury of The epigram is in the form of a con- $85. For the year ending April 1, 1896, versation between a traveler and the the receipts of the church were nearly $1,200 and came within about $70 of statue. meeting all the expenditures, including the salary of the native preacher and a "What is thy name, 0 Statue?" house for him, together with the cost of a class-room and some furniture for the "I am called Opportunity." chapel. Mr. Goodenough writes of a plan for establishing a new station eight "Who made thee?" miles from Johannesburg, at a railway and mining center where already a lit- " Lysippus." tle chapel bas been secured. The spiritual work does not suffer in the "Why art thou standing on thy midst of the material prosperity. .
toes? " .. To show that I stand but for a moment " .
•• Why hast thou wings on thy feet? "
"To show how quickly I pass by."
" But why is thy hair so long on thy forehead ?"
"That men may seize me when they meet me."
"Why then is thy head so bald be- hind?"
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, D.D.
Extracts and Translations From Foreign touching the essence of idolatry, we are surprised at the peculiar reserve with Periodicals. which he handles idolatry before the heathen. We find in him no irritat- 1. ing attack, no scornful or mocking word. He says on the Areopagus of BY REV. C. C. 81'ARBUCK, ANDOVER, Athens: 'Being then the offering of MASS. God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or MISCELLANEOUS. stone, graven by art and device of men.' How earnest and yet how meas- _H The attitude of Missions toward ured are these words. They contain the heathen religion as such is, on prin- the whole truth, and yet refrain from ciple, that of utter repulsion. Above all injurious speech. That' the God- all is this so ever against the abomina- head d welleth not in temples made with tion of idol worship. Young mission- hands,' Paul may have said in Ephesus aries cannot avoid a shudder when they itself. But, in the theatre, the town first become witnesses of this evil thing clerk expressly bears witness that Paul dragging down human dignity into the and his colleagues had uttered not a dust. 'They are indignant in spirit,' word of blasphemy against the god- like St. Paul at Athens. The horror dess. We nowhere find an intimation grows, the deeper the insight which they that Paul ever addrest the popular obtain into the impelling motives of masses gathered to the May feast this madness, which is for our thoughts around the temple of Diana. Indeed, utterly incommensurable. Idolatry is of the whole situation, as portrayed in demoniacal nature, and its demoniacal the Acts, appears to exclude this. background is its power. St. Paul This implies a momentous admonition concedes to the enlightened Corinthians to the missionary practice of to-day. that an idol is nothing, but intimates H my views on this point contradict Ii with sufficient clearness that this noth- wide-spread practice, this only urges ingness is only relative, that the idols me to emphasize them the more. They are only a nullity to those who have are well-weighed. I should deem myfound in the one God the Father and in self not to have spoken in vain, if only the one Lord Jcsus Christ the being of in this one point I can find hearing in all things, their life, maintenance and influential missionary circles. Is it defence. None the less do there stand judicious to attack idolatry in direct behind the idols dark powers and in- and public preaching? to scourge its visible realities, whose might the Corin- folly, to mock and scorn the idols? thians have discerned, when they 'were Young missionaries, especially, are apt carried away with these dumb idols, to do so, often with great zeal, not seleven as they were led.' 'Our wrestling dom provoking thereby dismal and is not against flesh and blood, but riotous scenes. Are those who provoke against the principalities, against the these scenes martyrs of a good cause? powers, against the world rulers of this I think this most difficult province darkness, against the spiritual hosts of ought to be vigorously interdicted to wickedness in the heavenly places,' young missionaries. Idolatry, unqueswrites the Apostle in view of the tionably, must sometimes be openly as- Ephesian idolatry, and of the magical practices which in Ephesus were connected with idolatry. But notwithstanding such a fragment of the Apostle
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
sailed. Where do we find the right proclamation of truth would be a far model? In Paul's speech on the more effective fOfce."-Pastor STOSCK, Areopagus, with its chastened, prac- in AUgemeine Mis8ion8 Zeitschrift. tically deeply earnest temper. But for this there is needed great spirit- -The collective German Protestant ual ripeness, deep knowledge, and, missions (Moravian, Basel, Rhenish, I may well say-an illimitable compas- Hermannsburg, Leipsic, Bremen, Goss- sion. Idolatry is a deep, unfathomable ner, Berlin I, Berlin III, and some wretchedness. Should the wretched be others), have 700 ordained missionaries, mockt in their wretchedness ? They and 300,000 native Christians. In 1894, know their misery and feel their the total outlay was 4,800,000 marks. chains. With all idolatry there is con- joined a deep sense of unhappiness. -" Pastor Dr. LEPBIUS, who himself They are aware of its demoniacal has traversed Asia Minor and Armenia, background. In the doctrinal books of and has everywhere instituted the most the true religion there are heartrending careful inquiries, has come to the con· testimonies to this. That this con- clusion that up to October, 1896, a' sciousness is also living in the people is least 65,000 Armenians have been killed, a conviction easily gained by confiden- at least 100,000 forced into the profestial intercourse with some of the more sion of Islam, and 500,000 reduced to reflecting heathen. When we scourge the greatest misery, 2,500 towns and the madness of idolatry we tell the peo- villages laid waste, 568 churches and ple nothing new. They know better monasteries destroyed, 282 churches than we that idolatry is folly. The turned into musques, 21 Protestant Apostle in Ephesus might easily have preachers and 170 Gregorian priests, bebeen tempted to mock at the delusion cause they would not deny their faith, that the wretched doll, which, under cruelly murdered. But the most terri; the name of Diana of Ephesus, was ble is the outraging of women and girls. idolatrously reverenced by millions, had 'No quartering of soldiers, but that the fallen from heaven. The story was Christian maidens of the village are quite as ridiculous as any Indian legend. every night allotted by the officers to That Paul did not do this, is, I think, their men; no massacre, in which the an admonitory law for the missionaries murder of the men is not at once folof all times. Testimony must, unques- lowed up by the violation of the women tionably, be borne against idolatry, but and girls.' The most hideous abominalet it be done in the right place and at tions are simply unreportable. And for the right time. Not in the neighbor- all this the government of the Sultan is hood of temples or at idol feasts, where answerable. But his accomplices are passions are excited to the uttermost. the European governments, who have And let attacks be not too frequent. promist to care for the safety and reo The missionary centre of gravity is not ligious freedom of the Armenians, but found in the offensive, but in the posi- who do not venture to intervene."- tive attestation of salvation in Christ. Calver Mission8 Blatt. By means of the new the old will fall. as the new germs in the oak tree push -"The Church Missionary Society off the withered leaves, which, tena- missionaries last year baptized 7,000 ciously adherent to their place, no win- heathens, adults and children, 3,000 try storm had power to detach. The being in Uganda. The whole number faith in the Living God and in Jesus baptized by Protestant missionaries Christ, whom He hath sent, will bring seems to have been about 60,OOO.-Muidolatry to its fall. Much precious time ,ion8-Freund. and noble capacity is squandered in disputations, in place of which positive -" A speaker in the General Assem- bly of the Church of Scotland lately aI· ledged that travelers like Mrs. Bishop
GENERAL MISSIONAHY IN'fELLIGENCE
and Miss Gordon Cumming had exposed the earth, and to the very utmost of her the failure of Foreign Missions! The power strengthening others.' "-C. M. latter lady at once wrote a vigorous let- Gleane'!'. ter to the chief Edinburgh paper, the Scotsman, protesting against this mis- _U 'On all sides we see a change in representation. She wrote:- the temper of the people from what it 'Mrs. Bishop and I were merely travelers wishing to see various phases was in years gone by,' writes the Rev. of humanity with the smallest admix- ture of European influence; conse- W. Wallace, of Krishnagar, Bengal. quently we by no means sought the company of mission workers. It has • The antagonism to Christ has given been entirely in consequence of what we have each seen of the awful needs way to a most persistent attempt to in- of heathendom, and of the amazing transformation of whole races, who have corporate Him into Hinduism. It is heard and accepted the Gospel message, that we each have become most em- attempted to be shown in public lec- phatically mission workers. tures that He took His itneaicthifnro~- mfrHomis 'Mr. Menzies' words prove that he India, having traveled cannot have read my books, as it would be impossible to find a more emphatic twelfth to His thirtieth yeur. His testimony in favor of missionaries, or more startling instances of successful teaching is extolled as that of a true missions than the wonderful and true histories I have recorded in " Fire "Yogi." One of the Gospels has been Fountains of IIawaii," "At llome in Fiji" and "A Lady's Cruise in a versified and published in the vernacu- French Man of-War." And altho my "Wanderings in China" and "Two lar. More than this, a translation of Happy Years in Ceylon" tell of less fruitful mission fields, assuredly they the whole Bible into the vernacular has' also tell of encouragement. been commenced by the Hindus them- 'As regards the testimony of Mrs. Bishop, I can only suggest that Mr. selves at their own expense, and the Menzies should send to the Church Mission House, Salisbury Square, Lon- Gospel of St. Matthew has already been don, E. C., for a copy of the magnificent speech delivered by her some years printed and published with a Hindu ago in Exeter Hall, which so stirred that vast assemblage, and hundreds of commentary. These are amongst the thousands who have since read it in print, that many have thereby been chief, but are not the only signs of the awakened to a sense of their own grave responsibility in having so long neg- influence of Christianity on India, and lected the last Commandment of their Lord-that all who call Him Master, witness to the immense indirect effect should bear their part in making known His message of Love throughout the of missionary and other Christian effort world. Mrs. Bishop has herself, for some years past, devoted her own life in this country. Seeing such signs..we and marvelous energies to establishing Medical Missions in remote corners of may well go forward. knowing that tho our Lord's way may not be ours, yet our labor shall not be in vain in Him. '"
-C.M. G.
-" At Jabalpin, in the Central Prov- inces of India, a Brahman Pundit, pos- sessing a government teacher's certifi- cate, was baptised last year. His old father came with tears to try and dis- suade him, and warn him of the danger he ran in confessing Christ. But he answered, •It was a serious matter that the Innocent should have died for my sins, but it is a small matter for me to die for such a Savior's sake. Besides, He now lives to defend me, and no one can touch me without his permission. Even if that man should lift his club to fell me, Christ can arrest the blow and save me. But if He should not, I can but die and go to Him."'-C. M. G.
-The Christian Patriot, of :M:adras.
ENGLISH NOTES
quoted in the Flvangelisch·Lutherisches regeneration through God's spirit the Missionsblatt, remarks of the so-called Indian people cannot be helped. Will Indian Congrees, which is now we not bestir heart and hands to help almost wholly in the hands of the bring this to pass." Hindus, as follows: "The native Christians have more and more with- English Notes. drawn themselves from the Congress, because it has not kept what it has BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS, M. A. promised. At first it proposed (1) to join together in one great body politic The Church Mis8ionory Society.-Th6' the peoples and social classes of India, work done in Uganda has brought which are now in part widely separate, about immediate results which must (2) in every sphere of the national life surely encourage Bishop Tucker and his of India, intellectual, moral, social and helpers, and enable them to go on in their political, to work towards a gradual labor. regeneration. Has it kept its word? We answer emphaticaily, No I The During the Bishop's sojourn of eight separation of classes and castes in this months in Uganda, over 2,000 candiunhappy land is as great as ever. And dates have been confirmed-with reas to the second object, the Congress spect to the work the Bishop says: expressly declares that it means to set " When we consider the amount of inaside the impro;:ement of moral and struction given to the candidates for social relations, and to confine itself to baptism, and then afterwards to those political activity, in order to acquire who offer themselves for confirmation, for its members greater liberties and I am lost in wonder at the amount of rights and a reform in the administra- work our native and European brethren tion of India by agitation both here and have been enabled to get through in the in England. For this latter end it preparation of these candidates. It will maintains in England, at great cost, a easily be realized what an enormous restanding 'Reform-Committee.' sponsibility the existence of between 2,000 and 3,000 communicants casts The Missionsblatt adds: "In view of upon the ministry of the church, and these soaring aspirations, the Christian what claim they have for pastoral overjournal calls the attention of the orators sight. It is this thought which, tho of the Congress to the crying social in itself a ,very solemn one, yet fills my maladjustments, which demonstrate healt with thankfulness, when I think the unripeness of the Indian people for of our three native pastors and five napolitical independence. It exclaims to tive deacons ordained on Trinity Sunthem: 'While you smite your breasts day. With the increase of the flock and, in "the holy name of humanity," God gives us a corresponding increas& Ch,lTIl equal rights for Indians and of pastors." B""f)'1s, you do not stir a finger to help tpe do'Vn-trodden Parias out of their Sierra Leone affords a vast field of unwretched condition, or to lighten the occupied labor-thirty-nine fortieths of yoke of your women, and to illumine the protectorate have not as yet been the darkness of their ignorance.' It touched by any missionary society, and ends with the incisive remark: 'So every district is now easy of access and long as we bear on us the visible brand open to missionary work. of slavery, of slavery to slothfulness, superstition and other sins, it is our first Mr. William Humphreys shows that and chiefest duty first to reform our the great need in Sierra Leone at the own community.' present time is that some European leaders come among the native Chris- "All these endeavors and movements tians. There are many belonging to show ever anew that without a religious the native churches who are willing and ready to go to the interior of the dis- trict with some person or persons at
ti8 GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
the head; a great work is already being Jesus far and wide. )l.'[r. W. M. Bel- done solely by natives; they support cher writes encouragingly about the liberally several mission stations, and work at Liang-Chau: "There will be send many of their own missionaries. an abundant harvest here some day. At the present time there are over 30,- That God has much people in this city (JOO native Christians. It mUDt be borne is my firm belief. This last Sunday or .in mind that Sierra Leone represents a two our little room has been packt, and district as large as Scotland, and much sometimes the quietness was intense- 'lIlore thickly populated, so the number the people hanging on the word breathof Christians is small in comparison less. It cannot end there. God is in with the number of Bouls needing our midst, and the day is not far dis- ,Christ. tant, when the reaping will begin"
Londqn Miasiona/I"!/ &ciet'U.-The city Baptist Missionary Society .-As in ·<Jf Peking was one of the first to open India, so in the interior of the Kongo its doors to European missionaries, but Free State, one of the chief obstacles to altho work has been carried on there for the spread of Christianity is the con- some thirty.five years, the progress is duct of nominal Christians. Central slow. Now is the time of sowing- Africa is the theatre of violence and the reaping shall be hereafter. crime, of lawlessness and rapacity, of in- humanity and desolating wickedness. Still there is progress, altho it is small, The Belgian officers of State give the both in the East and West cities. In poor overburdened natives a bad idea of the former, the street chapel is regu- Christian white men, and thus the work larly open for four or five hours every done by the missionaries is hard, and day throughout the year for the preach- the results few and far between. ing of the Gospel, and it is always well filled. Too much importance, however, The illness of the Rev. n. Wright cannot be attached to this, for it is one thing to listen attentively, and quite Hay, which necessitates his rctum to another to yield the heart to the influ- England, causes great regret and anxiety ence of the message. to the MissionaryCommittee, as well as unspeakable sorrow to Mr. Hay him- "In the West city the work of daily self. " Alike in the Cameroons and at preaching in the street chapels is car- Dacca, among the semi-savages of ried on with encouraging results, the Africa and the educated Hindus, Mr• . congregations being good and attentive, Wright Hay has wrought nobly and ,but here again, as in East city, the sueeessfully in the Kingdom. We unite '..' time for believing' seems not yet." in the prayer that he may be restored to perfect health, and in years to come Ohina'8 Millions.-We have already excel his former self in efficiency of heard of 526 baptisms during the first service." half of this year, and there may be some still to report from the more distant Work in Shantung ProvinC6, N. W. stations. We mention this for the en- Okina.-A new dispensary was opened couragement of all who are interested recently in Po-shan, the Rev. A. W in the progress of the work. A large Wills working as dispenser as well as proportion of these received into the preacher. He writes: "On the morn- church were in the province of Cheh- ing of the 29th inst. over 300 patients Kiang, but we expect ere the year closes filled the chapel and courtyard. Being to learn of many more being baptized anxious that none should be disap- in other parts of the field. pointed, I commenced before 6 A.1'I., and continued till past 8 P. M., when A new station has lately been founded the last patient was seen. at Liang-Chau, far distant from most other existing ones, and likely to be the "The Sunday before I left, I had the means of extending the knowledge of pleasure of baptizing nine men and five us women, who were afterward received taking right at once to the Eternal into church-fellowship at the Lord's Goodness Himself. It provides us not table. I tried to press on them' to live only with the way, but with the life a& in deed because of Christ, who lives in well; with the rail as well as with the them (for he only truly lives who lives engine. I am yet to be taught by for God, and in his life and work reveals "Comparative Religion" of some other his Master's image). Thus reflecting religion !hat doell likewise.-Kanzo: Him and following in His footsteps, Uchimura in "Dia1'l1 of a Japanese.
who shall say what that little group of Convert."
now forty-eight Christians might ac· -A brave Commis8aire of the Free complish, by shedding around them State, who had himself suffered from upon the darkness the light of His fevers almost to the point of death, and knowledge and glory!" yet had refused to return even for a The Rev. W. B. Frame writes short furlough to Europe, answered, cheeringly of the results he has seen in when inquired of as to whether a diffi- his missionary journey on the Kongo culty existed in Belgium to secure up country. He tells a pleasing inci- officers for the Kongo, "Our King shall dent which occurred during his expe- never lack volunteers."
dition. "One night, on my way up -At a recent convention a young country, I was sitting outside my tent, woman of German birth, doing home when some of the carriers gathered mission work among Germans, strnck round and requested that I should read the key-note of "cooperation" when the Bible to them. They did not know she said: "I hardly know whether I English and I could not read in Kongo, should say I am a foreign missionary. 80 that the request was beyond me. But doing home mission work, or a home you can imagine how pleased I was to missionary doing foreign missionary hear them start up the hymn, 'All hall work, It is all so mixed up, you see." the power of Jesus· name.' After singing That is just the kind of "mixing up" a few verses, one of their number offered that ought to be found in all our work. prayer. It was no passing whim, for night after night six or seven of them -Mr. Yong Kay, ~ young Chinese, met for prayer before lying down to giving an account of his work among rest." his own people, says: "I visited the But a few years ago they had known Chinese missions under Dr. Pond in nothing of the Savior, now He is known, California. One man came in and· said: 'If Chinaman goes to heaven, r loved and worshipt by many.
not go.' ' But there are wicked China- THE KINGDOM. men in hell, do you want to go there?'"
"Ask of me, and I shall give thee the The old man did not kn()w what to heathen for thine inheritance, and the say.
uttermost parts of the ea1,tli for ilil; -The president of the Chicago Tele- possession. " phone Company has done a good deed -Christianity is more and higher in permitting physicians to use all his than heathenism in that it makes us telephone lines free, whenever they keep the law, It is heathenism plus wish to communicate with the healthlife. By it alone the law-keeping department.
becomes a possibility. It is the spirit -A pastor has been discovered WilO'· of the law. It of all religions works for years has not "begged" once for from inside. It is what heathenism missions, bas not even passed the has been searching and groping after " basket" or the "hat," neither has he with much weeping. It not only shows taken a solitary "collection." He has us the good, but it makes us good by simply given opportunity at each ser- Statistios of the Missionary Sooieties of the [THESE tables Include only Missions to non-Christian and non-Protestant peoples, and so they Japanese in the United States. The figures are derived almost wholly from annual reports, and leave the fewest possible blanks, and hence where official figures were not at hand, conservative Missionaries. Native Laborers. <l ~:3 NAMES 0 .. SOCIETIES. .§~ ,O>ill.<Si od d ".<"'-~dI<l <I•l od oS ,,0: E-<~ <Il s <Il " -g . .~.~ '" A§ f.98 .~ >. .; ~Sil~Os .13 ~~ ~ ~"'~ ….. ..g..s. ""d ..0.:. <Il 0: ~ 0 '-< E-<:g il I0i<"~'0…l. "B 0 0 – – – – – – —- – – – – – – – – – – American Board …..•…•.•••••• " •…•.. 1810 $743,105 178 19 179 177 583 227 2,951 Baptist Missionary Union…•••…•.•….• 1814 632,954 162 24 159 127 472 250 2,645 Southern Baptist Convention …..••••…. 1845 108,151 36 0 31 13 80 34 109 Free Baptist ….•…….•••••……•••••… 1836 34,913 6 1 6 12 25 7 216 Seventh-Day Baptist ..••••••••..•.•..•••.• 1847 11,065 1 0 1 8 5 1 4 Christian (Disciple) ..••••••••••….•..••.. 1875 92,596 19 8 22 12 56 0 66 American Christian Convention ..••••.•.. 1886 4,500 4 0 2 1 7 2 18 Lutheran, General Council ••…••••…•••• 1869 19,000 7 0 7 3 17 2 147 Lutheran, General Synod…••..•.••..•••. 1837 52,000 11 0 6 7 24 2 442 Methodist Episcopal ……..•••••.•……. 1832 889,283 230 44 224 296 794 415 8,475 Methodist Episcopal, South.•….••••….. 1846 240,802 53 1 49 5 108 114 271 African Methodist Episcopal. .. , •..•••…. 1876 6,940 6 12 12 8 33 0 7 Protestant Methodist ….••.•.•….•••.••. 1882 14,711 50 4 8 12 4 9 Wesleyan Methodist .•••………..•…… 1887 3,000 4 2 8 2 11 0 1 Protestant EpiscopaL ………•..•….•… 1835 395,298 93 9 23 16 141 66 420 ss.~,392 214 '1 Presbytel"ian •. , •…….•………..•..•.. 1837 43 223 188 668 180 2,101 Presbyterian, South.. • . . • . . . . . •• . . • . . . . .. 1861 142,499 60 10 58 21 149 81 151 I Cumberland Presbyterian …..•…•…… 1820 31,875 7 0 71 12 26 5 25 United Presbyt~rian……. •.•••••• … 1859 122,939 85 1 34 29 99 23 649 Reformed Presb. (Covenanter) ……….. 1856 20,250 6 27 6 21 0 37 Reformed Presb., General Synon……… 1836 6,000 5 0 5 2 12 0 28 Associate Reformed, South…………… 1879 8,413 3 0 8 3 9 4 5 Reformed (Dutch) …………………… 1886 154,139 28 4 28 20 80 33 364 Ref0!'!!led (German) …………………. 1878 80,000 6 1 51 2 14 12 39 German Evangelical Synod …………… 1ss.~ 12,124 7 0 0 11 0 49 Evangelical Association ……..••…….. 1876 9,100 2 0 0 4 14 46 United Bretbren …•…………………. 1853 23,111 26 10 :1 6 48 18 30 S ociety of Friends .••.. , ………………. 1871 82,661 11 34 11 19 75 9 82 Canada Baptist…•..•………………… 1873 30,252 11 0 11 10 32 11 172 Canada Baptist (llaritime Provinces) …. 1880 16,500 7 0 7 5 19 3 46 Canada Congregationalist ……………. 1881 5,600 1 0 1 2 4 0 4 Canada Methodist •……….•………… 1873 123,573 28 24 45 15 112 26 59 Canad:1 Presbyterian •…. …………… 1844 116,714 32 15 37 43 127 7 243 …. 669,160 92 413 170 272 947 33 441 — — – — — — — – – – – :TwentJ'-flve Other Societies …….•……. – – Totals …………………••….•.••… …. $5,693,020 1,396 672 1,392 1,33t> 4,825 1,538 15.347 1 United States and Oanada for 1895-96.
omit work done in non-Catholic Europe, while covering that in behalf of Indians, Chinese, and relate in the main to 1896, tho sometimes the year includes a part of 1895. The aim has been to estimates have been made.] Countries in which Missions are Sustained.
– – – — – — —— ———— 3,504 1,21)2 43,013 2,957 131,000 1,060 52,619 Africa, Turkey, India, China, Japan, 3,117 1,131 121,849 6,41<1 350,000 1,138 'Micronesia, Mexico, Spain, Austria. 10,000 189 128 3,801 735 31 27,622 Africa (Kongo), India, Burmah, Assam, 241 13 743 68 1,610 101 China, Japan, France, Russia, etc.
851 1 China, Japan, Africa, Italy, Mexico, Brazil.
3,375 India (Bengal).
9 1 38 7 140 5 110 China (Shanghai).
122 26 912 94 2,000 20 784 China, Japan, India, Turkey.
20 6 261 31 800 4 12 Japan (Tokyo, etc.). 1,800 105 164 198 5,283 150 4,500 210 1,900 India (Madras). 43,560 1,506 466 13 7,888 1,870 15,000 5,870 India (Madras), West Africa. 68 4,269 560 356 4,270 121,929 5 4~,874 China, Korea, Japan, Africa, S. America, 254 2 Mexico, Italy, Bulgaria, Malaysia. 379 106 16 55 18,000 1 2,889 3,984 137 257 China, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, American 40 12 30,882 70 800 490 Indians. 2,804 36 680 4 West Africa, West Indies. 11,586 331 21 10 243 41 600 15 90 Japan (Yokohama). 582 S 12 8 276 o 50 4 30 Africa (Sierra Leone). 6,040 165 561 208 1,985 252 12,000 2 4,598 Greece, Africa, China, Japan, Haiti, in- 675 15 28,486 dians. 2,769 877 805 3,099 105,000 1 1,361 6,230 9 India, Siam, China, Japan, Korea, Africa, 300 45 993 519 7,000 27 200 Syria, Persia, S. America, Mexico, etc. 3,446 77 51 8 185 85 1,800 4 China, Japan, Korea, Africa, Greece, 26 2 Italy, Mexico, Brazil. 2,137 40 3,240 169 Japan, Mexico. 9,534 90 748 270 1,141 19,912 16,132 Egypt, India (Northwest Provinces).
58 8 28 500 590 Northern Syria, Asia Minor.
40 24 272 1,000 60 India (Northwest Provinces).
14 14 39 600 !lO Mexico (Tampico, etc.).
444 259 404 18,000 6,125 China, Japan, India, Arabia.
53 56 256 3,000 211 Japan (Tokyo, Sendai, etc.).
60 13 240 2,227 1,182 India (Central Provinces).
50 21 118 1,780 8 Japan (Tokyo, Osaka).
78 856 600 25,000 700 Africa (West Coast, Sherbro, etc.).
157 40 77 1,800 834 Mexico, China, Japan, Jamaica, Alaska.
204 80 453 10,000 1,178 India (Telugus).
65 12 20 500 80 India (Telugus).
8 1 9 100 105 Africa (West Central).
171 25 85 6,000 2,500 Japan (Tokyo, etc.), Indians.
370 99 350 10,000 7,338 China, India, New Hebrides, West in- dies. 1,3881~ 7G8 20,000 3,200 20,1421 6,1)49 315,287 25,5691 901,648 5,875 212,271 vice to present a thank-offering for the the liquor trade." Good; so mote it Lord's work, with the accompaniment be. of a brief prayer for a blessing upon the gifts_ -"The Devil's Foreign Missions" was the startling but suggestive title of -Here is a case of Christian comity a paper concerning the liquor trade in which for sheer novelty is well nigh West Africa, read at a recent meeting of startling, Rev. C. R. Baker, rector of Student Volunteers. But then, not only the Church of the Messiah, in Brook- are liquor dealers missionaries of Satan, lyn, lately said to his congregation that but slave stealers as well, and all godsomewhat recently a man and his wife, less sailors, traders and travelers from members of that church, had gone to Christian lands. North Carolina to live. They found themselves in the midst of a community -Mr. John R. Mott has reacht this of 250 persons who were absolutely conclusion concerning a branch of miswithout church privileges of any kind. sionary work: "We confess that we They learned that the people were started on this tour somewhat disposed Baptists by preference, and that they to look upon educational mission work had a small building which could be as less important than directly evangelused for services. The man wrote to istic work. A careful study of the the rector and asked for his advice, question in four or five mission counwhether he should try to organize an tries has led us to attach the greatest Episcopal church or to resuscitate the possible importance to educational mis- Baptist and get it in running order_ sions. No country has done more to Dr. Baker at once ad vised him to re- deepen this conviction than India. organize and set going the Baptist Without doubt educational missions church by all means, and a collection have opened a larger number of doors was taken up to buy hymn books. for the preaching of the Gospel than any other agency. They have furnisht -Dr. Jacob Chamberlain says: "I the most distinguisht and influential have compared the annual average ex- converts. They have done more than pense of running three New York City all else combined to undermine heathen churches with the annual average ex- superstitions and false systems of bepense of carrying on the Arcot Mission lief_ They are to-day the chief, if not since it was established 40 years ago, the only, force to counteract the influand it is less than that of these ence of the secular character and tenchurches. And note what has been ac- dency of the government institutions of complished. There are now 8 mission learning. In the interest of the ultimate stations; 100 village congregations; 24 success of the missionary enterprise we organized churches with 4,910 members believe that educational missions would and 1,861 catechumens. There are 120 be abundantly justified, if they were schools with 2,992 pupils, of whom doing nothing but teach science, his- 2,200 are not Christians; also 16 girls' tory, philosophy, ethics, and political schools with 1,343 pupils; 4 Anglo- economy, in their right relation to vernacular schools, where 1,000 young Christ." men are taught; 6 training schools with 322 boarding pupils. And yet the -A recent number of Harper's average yearly cost of all this work is Weekly calls attention to the $101,000 less than it costs to support 1 New raised at a meeting in Old Orchard last York City church." summer, and to the collection of- $112,000 at the meeting in Carnegie -Says the Wine and Spirit Gazette, Hall, New York, and says that in the which ought to know: "There is sixteen years in which Mr. Simpson everywhere a growing prejudice against has been connected with the Christian Alliance, he has raised about $700,000 for missionary purposes. The editor western part of that empire as has then observes as follows: .. No doubt hitherto been impossible. The im- most of the people who gave it got portance to India and China will be their money's worth. The satisfactions great, both commercially and poli- of religious enthusiasm are very great. tically. The other is to be projected People who don't understand them from the Mediterranean coast to undervalue them. If.a woman keeps Timbuctoo, through the oases of the a carriage, they can see, or think they Sahara. As a preliminary, the French . can, that she gets a handsome return government is organizing an expedi- for her money. But if, instead of a tion to secure control of the larger carriage, she keeps a missionary, they oases, especially that of Touat. With think her unthrifty, and believe her to a completed railroad to the central be imposed upon besides. They are Sudan, central Africa will be within stupid, these worldling~. The chances easy reach of Europe The western are that the woman with the missionary Sudan, too, cannot but feel the effects gets more true and substantial satisfac- of such an enterprise. tion oui of her investment than the woman who keeps the carriage." -This item and the three which fol- low are based upon Dr. Dorchester's -Certainly, this is strange reading The Problems of Religiou8 Progress, and from the Antipodes.' The Methodist, of give a cheering outlook for the future Australia, says: .. Fiji returns a native of Christianity. In A. D. 1500 there membership of 30,704, while the whole were 100,000,000 ,Christians in the of our New South Wales districts world; in A. D. 1600 there were 125,- can only return 10,549. Fiji has 803 000,000; in 1700 there were 155,000,000, churches and 447 other preaching and in 1800 there were 200,000,000. In pIsces, while our own district returns 1830 the number had grown to 228,- show 416 churches and 481 other 000,000; in 1840 to 300,000,000; in preaching places. Fiji has adherents to 1850 to 342,000,000 ; in 1876 to 374,000,- the number of 97,254, while our own 000; and in 1880 to 410,000,000. Thus list, including the children, only runs it will be seen that while Christianity to 83,940. And finally, Fiji raises for gained 100,000,000 in the first fifteencenthe general funds the sum of £4,512, turies of its history, and another 100,- which is nearly double the amount 000,000 in the next three, the entire result raised in New South Wales (and which of the progress of 1800 years had been includes a legacy account of £324), and more than doubled before the end of which almost equals the contributions the eighth decade of this century. And from the combined colonies of New it is safe to say that the two closing dec- South 'Vales, Queensland, South ades will add at least 50,000,000 to the Australia, Western Australia, and number of Christians in the world, Tasmania." bringing up the grand total to 460,000,- 000 (including Greek and Roman -Railway extension is playing a con- Catholics). stantly increasing part in the development of countries hitherto almost un- -Or, consider the increase of popukllown. Of such the great Trans- lation in the countries under Christian Siberian Railway has hitherto attracted governments. In 1500 the population the most notice; but two others are of such countries amounted to an aggredestined to be of great importance. gate of 100,000,000; in 1700 it was 155,- One is to connect British India, through 000,000; in 1830 it was 387,788.000; upper Burmah, with the large and and in 1876 it was 685,459,411. The fertile province of Yunnan, in western proportion of this increase which has China, and then open up the entire been made in countries under Protest- ant governments is remarkable. In 1500 the population under such as were E. Willard gave these facts and figures Roman Catholic governments was 80,- reJating to the status of her sex in this 000,000, and under Greek Church sway land. Twenty five States have given about 20,000,000. In 1700 the popu- the educational ballot to women; 1 lation of countries under Roman Catho- (Kansas) has conferred upon them the lic rule was 90,000,000; under that of municipal ballot, and 3 (Wyoming, Greek Church 33,000,000, and under Colorado and Utah) have made them Protestant dominion, 32,000,000. In 1830 full citizens. Forty-three per cent. of the figures stood thus: Roman Catho- the 400,000 teachers in this country are lic governments, 134,164,000; Greek women. Out of 451 colleges and Church, 60,000,000; Protestant, 193,- universities in this country only 41 are 624,000. In 1876 the population of coun- closed to women; the rest are coo tries under Roman Catholic govern- educational. Besides these there are ments was 180,787,905; under Greek 143 schools of the higher educational Church, 96,101,894; under Protestant, standard, with 30,000 students. One- 408,569;612. fourth of the fellowships of the University of Chicago are held by -Looking at the area of the earth, we women. notice similar progress. The latest computations fix this at 52,062,470 -The October Student Volunteer square miles, of which Christian nations gives a capital program for a missionary have under their control 32,419,915; meeting with " The Better Half of Our and the pagan and :Mohammedan, 19,- Mi8sionary Force" as the topic, Ps. 624,555; or, the earth is three· fifths lxviii : 11, 12, revised version, as a motto Christian, and two-fifths pagan and text, or if preferred, woman's ministry Mohammedan. Dividing the Christian in the Gospels, especially prominent ia nations, we find under Protestant gov- Luke, may be taken as the Bihlico,l -ernments, 14,337,187 square miles; basis. "Let one person briefly prepare under Roman Catholic, 9,304,605, and the way by calling attention to the fact under Greek Church, 8,778,123. The .that woman is nume'l'walill the st'l'07lge8t acquisition of territory by Great Britain f'Mw'l' in the mission field to-day. is a momentous fact, which has a direct World statistics do not show this, IlS bearing upon the subject of the progress scores of missionary societies do not of Christianity, and is without a parallel count in the wives of missionaries. in history. She bears rule over one- Place on a board in tabular form the fourth of the surface of the globe, and statistics of 1894-95. The United one-fourth of its population. Her pos- States: male missionaries, 1,469; sessions abroad are 60 times larger than female missionaries, 2,043. Canada: the parent s.tate. She owns 3,500,000 males, 119; females 116. Great Britain: square miles in America; 1,000,000 males, 2,991; females, 2,238. Germany: each in Africa and Asia, and 2,500,000 males, 550; females, 399. Total for in Australasia. And even these figures these and all other societies, wives being take no account of the British posses- omitted in many cases, males, 6,275 ; sions in South America, or of the im- females, 5,219. In supporting and praymense area in southern and central and ing for missionaries, therefore, we are northern Africa, which approaches to praying and contributing mainly for 3,000,000 square miles. the work of missionary women." Then follows an address giving reasons why WOMAN'S WORK. woman's work is important, and an- other presenting the phases of her -In her annual address of the twenty- work, such as: (1) literary work; (2) third convention of the National her medical work; (3) educational Woman's Christian Temperance Union, work; (4) evangelistic work; (5) the recently held in St. Louis, Miss Frances missionary wife and mother. UNITED STATES. ernment in the training of the Negro -We reprint the following from the and the Indian for American citizen- Golden Rule: " The Minnesota Prison ship in the Hampton Normal and Association is a noble philanthropy Agricultural Institute, in full view oj which we hope will be taken up and the beach smote bU the prow of the first copied throughout the nation. It is Dutch slave sMp in 1620."
one thing to place criminals in even the -Again says Mr. Mayo: "Out of best of our modern reformatories and the new South, burdened with the final train them to a life of useful industry social problem of humanity-the deand to a liking for it, but it b quite monstration that all races of men can another thing, after these criminals are dwell together in a republic, in freedom, discharged, to obtain work for them at order, mutual appreciation, alld muall, let alone to place them in situations tual helpfulness-is to come the final where their past will not be constantly decisive proof that the Christian rethrown up at them, and the scorn and ligion is the one power, and the Divine distrust of their fellow men drive them Man the one leader, whereby the awful back into their old sins. It is to meet distinctions and repulsions in our huthis difficulty that the Prison Associa- manity, before which paganism, secution has been formed. It will have larism, science, and culture stand branches in all the counties of the aghast, may be reconciled in the King- State, and its agents will seek out good dom of God on earth. places for deserving prisoners after their discharge, and endeavor in all proper -The New York Evening Post sugways to maintain their newly aroused gests that some of the journals that manhood." give criminal intelligence so conspicu- ous a place in their columns, make 8 -If the intermittent Indian fighting canvass of their readers in respect to and the brief contest with the Barbary their preferences in regard to crime. It corsairs be disregarded, the United guarantees that "the pUblication of the States have had only four years and a answers which would be received . . .
quarter of international war in the one would prove most attractive reading,"
hundred and seven years since the and that they would "help to sell the adoption of the Constitution. Within paper" containing them, and so accom- the same period the United States have plish the chief purpose of the "new been a party to 47 arbitrations, being journalism." It proposes, as very suit- more than half of all that have taken able for sending out, the following place in the modern world. questions: Some of them were of great magnitude.. " (1.) Do you prefer crime to any the four made under the treaty of other variety of news?
Washington being the most important "(2.) What is your favorite brand of that have ever taken place. Such is the crime?
language of President Eliot, in the "(3.) How do you like best to have October Atlantic Monthlu. your crime written up?
-In his masterly historical produc- "(4.) Do pictures of the criminals tion, Public Schools During the Colo- add to your enjoyment of it? nial and Revolutionary Periods in the United States (Report of the Com- "(5.) Would you like a paper filled missioner of Education, 1893-4), well entirely with crime? does Rev. A. D. Mayo exclaim: "Most amazing of all the wonders of Ameri- " (6. ) Would you like your crime on a separate sheet, or mixed with the other news of the day?"
can history is the spectacle of new Vir- -In the Greater New York, with its ginia striking hands with the N oIthern population of 3,200,000, only twenty per Christian people and the national gov- cent. of its inhabitants are American by birth and parentage, and the New Tuesday I would have very poor les- Yorkers of New York descent are bare- Bons, and the excuse was, •I had to go- ly one in eight of the entire population. to religion class last night and I did not The number of those' born in foreign have time to study.' These religion countries is forty-two per cent. of the classes have been formed in every ward whole. There are 700,000 persons of and all through the surrounding coun- German parentage in Greater New try, and it is probably the same all York, and nearly as many of Irish; through the State. Yet, after spending 100,000 of Russian, and as many of so much time in their so-called religion Italian, and 300,000 of other foreign classes, they know simply nothing parentage. There are more Germans about God's word. During the year, I than in any city in Germany except found that there was scarcely one of the Berlin; more Irish by twice than in pupils who came to our school for the any city of Ireland. Large portions of first time last fall, who knew one of the the population cannot speak or read the Commandments. " English language; vast numbers of them never saw the Constitution of the -Members of the Christian Alliance United States or of the State of New have purchased the property of the York, and have little or no knowledge Rev. Ross Taylor, and 14 acres, at of their history or form 01 govern- Nyack, N. Y., for a mission home. It ment. is understood that the purchasers will spend $50,000 in improvements the first -The summary of the New York year. The plan comprehends the en- City :Mission Society's work during the larging of a stone building on the proppast summer is given as follows: Num- erty, so that,it will have 100 rooms, for ber of services, 4,440; aggregate atten- the purposes of the home; the erection dance, 294,228; number of persons re- of another large building for educaceiving communion, 7,937; baptisms, tional purposes, in connection with the adults, 106; children, 478; number of work of the Alliance, and buildings for persons confirmed, 233; marriages. 35; an orphanage and an auditorium. burials, 202; visits made by missionaries, 56,972; papers distributed, 69,252; -By invitation of the president and books distributed, 21,676;. scholars, students, Booker T. Washington, the 30,691; number of children cared for colored principal of the Tuskegee Instiin the day nursery, 14,097; number of tute in Alabama, delivered an address children in the kindergarten, 20,198; in- recently before the faculty and students dustrial school, aggregate attendance, of Trinity College in North Carolina. teachers,595; scholars, 11',307; number Altho Trinity College is an old southern of women and children sheltered in"St. white college, and this is the first time Barnabas's House, 1,407; number of he was ever invited to address a southlodgings furnisht in St. Barnabas's ern white college, Mr. Washington says House, 33,413; number of meals fur- that he and the half-dozen colored citinisht at St. Barnabas's House, includ- zens who accompanied him were treated ing those sent to the day nursery at with the greatest courtesy, and his ad- God's Providence }[ission from the dress was received with markt enthu- Huuse, 117,787. This mission is under siasm. As he left the college grounds Protestant Episcopal care.-Observer. the students assembled on the campus and gave him their college yell in a -Speaking of the vigilant watch care most hearty manner of the Mormons in teaching their peculiar doctrines to the young, a teacher -The Qhurch of God (Winebrensays: "It seems to me the Mormons are nerian) has sent out its first missionary. doing more than ever to teach the chil- Miss Clara Landes of Iowa sailed from dren their doctrines. Frequently on Boston in November for India. She will be located temporarily at Midnapore, but the plan is to start a new sta- part of the Northwest Provinces, the tion in the near future. Punjab, eight districts of the central provinces and two districts of Upper -Rev. Jee Gam lately sent the fol- Burmah, which was not irrigated this lowing note and postscript, which ex- autumn, the crops are in a seriously plain themselves: "On behalf of the damaged condition. In addition the Congregational Association of Christian prospects of the crops in parts of Bom- Chinese of California, I enclose a check bay cause anxiety. Rain is now imfor $50.00 to the credit of the Jubilee probable and a famine is inevitabl0, un- Fund, as an expression of gratitude for less sufficient rain falls in Oude, the the noble work that is being done by Northwest Provinces and the Punjab. the American Missionary Association There is also considerable distress in for them and their countrymen. other affected areas, which are about the same as in 1877. "P. S.-I inclose also a mite (a postoffice ordeT for $5.00) as a personal of- -Then, after professing Christianity, fering in appreciation of the same ser- converts are subjected to such ill-treatvice." ment as goes far to deter others from joiningher ranks. III-treatment assumes -From 50,000 to 100,000 Armenian various forms. Sometimes our people children by the massacres of the last are turned out of employment, sometwo years have been left either half or times they are kept from getting water wholly orphans, and it seems to be a at a public well, sometimes troublesome part of the Turkish scheme to rear lawsuits are brought against them and them up in the faith of Islam. To save they are involved in debt, sometimes them from this fate and help them in they are compelled to do more than their destitntion, a noble plan is on foot their share of work for government to care for them in asylums. The officers, and that without pay, some- Congregationalist affirms that: " Ten times they are unjustly put upon the dollars will provide home, clothing official lists of rogues and are conseand food for one orphan for five quently exposed to arrest and much months, or until the trying winter is suffering, sometimes they are falsely over. Five dollars will house and accused of crime and thrown into clothe one orphan for a year. Three .prison, sometimes they are cruelly dollars will house one orphan for a beaten, sometimes they are deprived of year. One dollar will house, clothe and their property by force or fraud, and feed one orphan for two weeks." treated with the greatest indignity, sometimes they are kept from prose- ASIA. cuting their own trade, sometimes a private wrong is done them, and in- India.-Just as the buffalo has been stead of obtaining redress, they are exterminated from our great western punisht as tho this wrong had been plains, so lions are disappearing from done by themselves to the perpetrators. India before the rifle of the hunter and -Rev. Robert Stewart. the ax and plow of the farmer. In Kathiawar, whose forests have fur- -By thEllast report of Lodiana Presnisht one of the last retreats of the re- byterian mission it appears that 566 tiring king of beasts, an attempt is be- were received to the church last ing made to save the animals from com- year. There are 19 ordained native men, plete extinction by prohibiting lion 15 licentiates, 23 Bible women, 20 hunting during a period of six years. churches and chapel buildings where It is said, however, that the gradual services are held, 10 hospitals and disclearing away of the forests will in it- pensaries in which over 90,000 patienta self result in the extermination of the were treated. lions.
-The Viceroy of India cabled to London, that over most of Oude, a large -A remarkable man, named David, 200 miles, will enclose nearly 46,000,000 has arisen in Southern India. He goes of souls. Our students can easily reach about preaching the Gospel, and thou- this grcat mass of humanity. We sands flock around him. India has have sent out from the seminary 301 never seen such crowds surrounding a preachers, 196 women, and 61 trained preacher of the Gospel, and especially a teachers, who also act as evangelists colorcd preacher; we hear of 8,000 or and pastors." An American woman has even 10,000 people being present. And offered Dr. Scott a donation of $1,000 in he has found out that what is essential is aid of dormitories for the seminary on that a new spirit first should, of all, come condition that another friend or friends over our native churches, in order that will duplicate the sum. thousands of witnesses should arise for their Savior, instead of one. He -Next to the venerable Dr. Elias has recently gone through most of the Riggs, of Constantinople, the senior great towns of India, and everywhere missionary of the American Board on his message has bcen with power. "Is the field is Dr. S. P. Fairbank of the there nothing unsound in the move· Marathi mission in India. Mr. and ment?" I hear many anxiously ask. Mrs. Fairbank sailed the same year for We do not trouble ourselves greatly India that Dr. C. C. Baldwin did for thereat. We know by experience at China, and have recently celebrated home that, when God sends a blessing, the 50th anniversary of their arrival at people spin out discussion about how Bombay. much per cent. of it is sound and how much unsound. till all has gone happily China.-That this Empire is to profit to sleep again, and thc guardians of by the knowledge pickt up by Li Hung soundness often first of all.-Evan- Chang in his recent round-the-world gelisches Missions Magazin. trip, is made evident by his appointment to the office of president of the Tsung- -We learn that the Rev. A. Man- li Yamen, or chief minister of foreign waring baptized at Nasik Aug. 2, affairs, a position usually reserved for a somewhat notable convert, viz. imperial princes. This will require Li Professor Pandit Gopal Chundra to remove his residence from Tientsin Sastra. He is the son of Rao Bahadoor to Peking. Gowree Sankar, a wealthy landlord and influential merchant. The pandit isan -In writing of the evangelistic Oriental scholar, and was at one time a efforts in connection with the Tungmagistrate of the second class. He has Cllo hospital and dispensary, Dr. J. H. traveled widely in India, and has Ingram says he has often thought that visited Burmah,Ceylon,Aden, and even the want of clocks in China will Tibet as a preacher and teacher of certainly be one of the means by which Hinduism. He attributes his conver- God will save many souls. Onc of the sion to the Bible only. He says, "It most satisfactory l'esults of the past is the Book through which God speaks year has been tile opportunity for work to man; by constantly reading both among the women who come to the the Testaments I have been able to dispensary. They frequently arrive understand the True Religion and the very early, as they have no means of Only Meditator."-Ohurch Missionary telling the time at home, and they are Intetligencer. usually so anxious for treatment that they err on the safe side and appear an -Some of the statistics in connection hour or two before dispeI1sing time. with Bareilly Theological Seminary One of the Bible women talks with the are very encourgaing. Dr. Scott early comers while they are waiting for writes: "A circle drawn about the the doors to open, and seed is sown in seminary as a center, with a radius of the waiting-room from day to day which sometimes bears visible fruit. The opening for medical work among with me. When we came before him I Chinese women is evidenced by the knelt down real low, but the dear man,. increasingly large numbers flocking to he rise from his seat, come and assist the hospital and dispensary. Of the me up, and" bless you." He want to 10,000 treatments given the past year shake hands with me, and we did. We over one-third have been to women. sat down while he askt me all about the family from father down to my -In describing the superstition of youngest sister. He said he wisht to China before the English Baptist Union appoint me to represent our dear China at the recent annual session of that in the World's Congress of Representr.- body, Rev. Timothy Richard, of tive Women in London in 1898! He Shanghai, said that only five years ago gave three big books-histories of the he saw a procession headed by Li Hung World's Congresses. Chang going to the river to propitiate the god of the river, through neglect of Sept_ 27.-This afternoon Li sent his whom, it was believed, the river was secretary to me to get father's full name overflowed. He saw the god next day and address, and say he is going to -it was it snake fifteen inches long. write father just as soon as he reaches Tientsin. He commanded me to learn -The Chinese physician, Dr. George Mandarin thoroughly, and keep on my Mark, who was in attendance upon Li English also, because he desires me to Hung Chang in his journey around the go to Peking and see him just before world, is a member of the Second going to London in 1898, and when we Presbyterian Church in Canton. Dr. come back we must carry the report to- Henry baptized him and recommended him at Peking, and there he will prehim to the government school in Hong sent us to the Ell1press of our China Kong, where be was found when also. By and by, when we are through Viceroy Li instituted a search for young in this world, we will go to see our Chinese who were qualified to take a heavenly Father, who is the" King of medical course in English at the Tient- kings and the Lord of lords," hand in sin school, which Li establisht. hand together, and report our work be- Young Mark was chosen and did him- fore His throne. self great credit, and has been under the patronage of the Viceroy ever Korea.-The Rev. Eugene Bell, of since. He has the confidence of the Seoul, expresses the opinion in Th6 Canton Christia.ns. His wife, also a Ohristian Observer (Southern Presbymcmber of the Second Church, is terian), that no other mission field in daughter of a Bible woman now dead. the world, after the first decade, could -Ohurch at Home and Abroad. give the church at home so encourag- ing a report as Korea. The church -There is much more than a touch membership was increast last year by of romance about these quotations from abuut sixty-one per cent. At the decenthe diary of Miss Marguerite Wong, a nial meeting last fall 42 congegrations Methodist Christian Chinese young were reporting as worshiping reguwoman, who crost the Pacific in the larly every Sunday, 6 churches as same steamer with the greatest of ministered to by native pastors, and Chinamen: 445 persons as enrolled in Sunday- schools. Several houses of worship Sept. 16.-Li is very sensible, and have been erected entirely with najust dresses and acts like any ordinary tive funds, and native Christians have Chinese gentleman. I rather like him. contributed liberally to the erection He don't put on any airs, as I thought of others, the contributions for this he would. and other purposes baving averaged last year more than one dollar per mem· Sept. 17.-This morning the Viceroy sent word that he wisht to see me at ten o'clock. I askt Miss Hartford to go up ber. The Presbyterian church in Seoul, nearly five times the area of the origI- erected last winter, exclusively with nal .. Fatherland." If German acquisI- native funds, has been found too small tion continues at this rate for three to accommodate the crowds. years its African domain will be in ex- cess of that of Britain, provided always -Mrs. Underwood of Seoul has re- that Britain does not continue its work cently written as follows: .. Work is of annexation. In the 12 years from very promising here all the time. Last 1884 to 1896, France has acquired week was the king's birthdaJ, and some rather more than Britain, her accessions Koreans said they thought we might being 2,726,000 square miles; which is have a prayer-meeting on that day. Mr. to say that her foreign possessions are Underwood seized the opportunity and rather more than five times as great in tho only three days remained for prep- 1896 as they were in 1884. Then it is aration, he got out a tract for the occa- to be remembered that Italy has got a sion, had 10,000 copies printed, also a foothold in Abyssinia, that the Kongo hymn, .. God save the King," to the Free State, covering an area of 900,000 tune of America, and obtained the use square miles, virtually is a protectorate of the largest government building in of the European powers, and that Seoul, and advertised the meeting to Egypt, tho nominally ruled by a native pray for the king. He taught the Viceroy, is really a British dependency. school-boys to sing the hymn, engaged Except the Sudan, now in process of speakers, had the hall draped with subjugation, nominally to Egypt, but bunting, conducted a service at our really to Great Britain, there is no conchurch in the morning, had an audience siderable area of Africa that now is not with the king after dinner, and theu under control of Portugal, Italy, Gerwent to the celebration, where fully many, France, or Great Britain.-lnter 2,000 people were assembled, the larg- Ocean. est meeting ever held in Korea. Methodist and Presbyterian missionaries and -Bishop Tucker wlites thus of a ser- (lonverts were there, several members vice in Uganda: "My heart was very of the cabinet and highest officials were full as I spoke to these dear men of their on the platform, and one of them ad- work, and as I pleaded with the condrest the audience. The singing was gregation either as Chrietians to be grand, and hundreds of voices joined faithful to their God and Savior, or 6a reverently in the Lord's Prayer. It was unbelievers to- 'come to Christ. ' Very thrilling to us who have watched the nearly 500 communicants gathered work from the first. The tracts were around the table of the Lord, a congreaskt for before they were ready to dis- gation in themselves. What wonders tribute them, and there was great strife of grace I Acongl'egation ofsome 3.000 in the crowd to get them. or 4,000 souls, 466 communicants, 3 native priests, and 5 native deacons or- AFRICA. dained, and later in the day 22 lay readers set apart for their special work, -'An illustration of the rapidity with was it any wonder that one almost which the interior of Africa is opening broke down from time to time, or that to the world is the recent transmission one's heart was filled to overflowing of a telegram from Blantyre in the with thankfulness and praise to God? " Shire district, Central Africa, to a missionary secretary in Edinburgh in about -Rev. J. Roscoe, now in England, three hours. speaks of 500 churches in Uganda and 600 teachers at work, of whom 400 are -In one year Germany has added volunteers, and of 56,000 readers under 1,000,000 square miles, mainly of Mri- more or less regular instruction. C8Il land, to its possessions. This is
The Missionary Review of the World — March 1895
CHA.RLES HADDOX SPL'ROEON. JAMES ARCHER SPL'RGEOX
THJll REV. A. J. GORDON, D.D., of Boston, one of our editorial statI, died February 2d, at 12.5 A.M. Fuller notice of this great loss must be reserved for the next issue.
THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVill. No. S.-Old Serie8.-MAROH.-VoL. VIII. No. S.-NetO &riel•.
THE WORLD-WIDE MINISTRY AND MISSION OF CHARLES H. SPURGEON.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-OHIEF.
Some great events, like vast mountains which seem to defy the ordinary law of perspective, scarcely diminish in importance as they recede into. the distance; they still loom up, in grand proportions, when years have passed.
The death of Charles Haddon Spurgeon is one of those momentous losses to the Church and the world which appear rather the. more deplorable after the lapse of years. In fact, it took time to get the true measure of the meaning of this disaster. Like the giant redwoods of Cali10rnia, which are seen to best advantage after they have fallen and lie in colossal grandeur upon the ground, Spurgeon was best measured after he fell ; and thus far the loss is, humanly speaking, absolutely uncompensated by any adequate results of good wrought through it, and the disaster seems, to our limited vision; wholly irreparable.
That God, being both wise and good, wisely meant this unto good, is to a true believer beyond dispute ; but the goodness of this particular dealing and discipline is not yet apparent. In common with many others, we have asked ourselves, again and again, whether there be a single beneficial outcome which can be traced to this strange providence; but we can only fall back blindly upon the assurance that" all things work together for good," and remember our Lord's mysterious words, " What I do thou knowest ~ot now, but thou shalt know hereafter."
Meanwhile, it may be well to look backward and scan this man's service to his generation, and learn under what a debt one consecrated life may lay the whole world.
I. As a preacher of the Gospel, Charles H. Spurgeon had a world-wide mission and ministry.
It would seem as though the pulpit of our day could ill spare him. Among all the modern preachers he stood, facile princeps, without superior, if not without rival, in the apostolic simplicity and unadulterated purity of the Gospel he preached. He felt that somehow and manyhow the message
Tlm WORLD-WIDE KINISTRY 01' CHARLES H. SPURGEOlf. , [¥arch
of salvation had come to be corrupted with so much of man's invention that the chaff was hopelessly mixed with the wheat. Practically, his whole ministry was a sieve, by which he sought to separate man's traditions and fashions from God's teachings and practices. In this respect he seems to us to have had no competitor for tlie peculiar crown that must ever rest on his brow. For forty years he preached, on an average, probably more sermons, without repetition, than any other man of his generation; his published sermons already reach more than two thousand, and yet it would be difficult to find one that does not contain, somewhere or in some form, the essential, vital seed of the saving message. In fact, he early formed the deliberate purpose that such should be the law of his ministry.
He was, in the pulpit, a preacher rather more conspicuously than a teacher-that is, he magnified his double office as herald and witness rather than the quite different province of expositor and instructor. The Divine Master preached" with authority, and not as the scribes," who systematically expounded the Scriptures, but made no direct, authoritative appeals. Spurgeon had a lofty conception of his office as an ambassador, who, while he acts within the limits of his instructions, carries all the authority of the Royal Master whom he re'presents.
He was a born preacher. He had the genius homiletical, if ever a man had it. Such crystallization of thought into striking and radiant analytic forms; 'such piercing insight into spiritual truth; such facility and felicity, both of diction and of illustration ; snch homely thrusts at practical errors and needs; such natural action and effective gesticulation; such memory, imagination, logic and love, an on fire with passion for souls I-has there been any like combination since the days of Wesley and Whitefield? and did he not largely unite in himself much of the power of both these two men?
Spurgeon had the genius of soul-saving, which outranks all mere homiletical faculty. He was withal so sound in the faith, such an apostolic believer, holding. by a grasp so firm and sure all the facts and truths of redemption, that, like a great steamer, he swept smaller craft in his wake. Serenely calm in his conviction, he soared into the lofty realms of unclouded assurance, like an eagle, resting on sublime wing in high altitudes, while the storm of " higher criticism" and scientific irreverence was waging far below. You heard him and you said, "That man believes something." Like Goethe, men feel the need of convictions; as for doubts, they have enough already. Spurgeon gave utterance not to negations, or even mere opinions, but to unalterable positions and convictions; and there was something marvellously refreshing in the experimental vigor and vitality of his preaching. It was a testimony: the whole man was behind it, aitd in the man, as in Burke, there was something finer than he ever said; his very manner bore conviction to the hearer, who felt himself to be in the presence of one who knew God face to face as a. friend, I The preacher at the Metropolitan Tabernacle had no doubt of the fact or of the guilt of sin. Human depravity was to him no inversion of brain cells, or abnormality of nerve ganglia, no mere misfortune or "fall for- ward." To him man represented a revolted pr-ovince with all its functionaries involved in the ruin j as Robert Vaughan suggests in his " Hours with the Mystics," reason, conscience, imagination, will, understanding, desire, all at the service of a usurper, sin: the ermine of the judge, the verdict of the court, the song of the poet, the books of the student, the vessels of the merchant, the sceptre of the will, all perverted to the purposes of Satan. Spurgeon saw the awful arm of treason lifted against God, with the very weapons He had forged turned against His rule j and to him the preacher'S office was to lead back to allegiance, so that the decisions of the court of conscience should be in accord with the Divine common and statute law, so that the understanding should burn its magic books and renounce its magic arts, and the imagination become the aid to faith, the aspiration fix its gaze on the future, and the will use its golden sceptre as God's viceregent! This generation has not known, in any other pulpit, forty years of such plain dealing with sin and salvation, such undeviating, unfaltering testimony to the truth. What shall we do without him!
II. Spurgeon had a world-wide witness as to simplicity of worship. The service which he rendered was in this respect also an invaluable one. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians represent permanent sects in the Church of God j the ritualists, the rationalists, and the secularists we have always with us j and, of them all, the ritualists are not least to be feared. Formalism substitutes rites for righteousness and ceremony for sanctity. It is a suggestive historic fact that, whenever the glory of the Shekinah gets dim, the wax tapers of formalism begin to make the darkness visible, and a multitude of outward symbols and ceremonies becomes the substitute for spirituality and devoutness. It was but a few years since that an aged and venerable clergyman of the old school, whose deep attachment to evangelical truth revolted against the encroachments of a Romanist ritual in the Jnglican body, was importuned by his son, who had joined the extreme wing of the ritualists, to preach in his " chapel of ease." He did so after much urging, but caused no little consternation when he announced his text, " Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic /" and then proceeded to show the utter, hopeless lunacy of modern ritualism and ceremonialism. The Metropolitan Tabernacle, with its simple, apostolic worship, is, after forty years, the standing monument to apostolic practice. There is nothing to interfere with the pure worship of God and the impression of gospel truth. No attempt at art, even in the architecture j everything severely but not repulsively plain j no choir nor organ, not even responsive reading j no pictures nor statues, nor even startling colors in furniture or garniture, to draw off the mind through the eye. God alone is exalted there. This is another form of missionary service which the departed pastor of the Tabernacle rendered to the whole Church. It is a witness that the largest church auditorium in the world may be kept full during forty years, without any meretricious secular or questionable aids, aecessories or attractions, by simply holding up Christ as the· Saviour of sinners, and worshipping God in the spirit.
Who does not bless God, in these degenerate days of decaying faith in the perfect trustworthiness of the,Word of God, and in the supernatural working of God by His providence and Spirit in human affairs, for one man whose faith in a fully inspired Bible and a miracle-working Spirit never once flagged, and who thus dared to trust himself to a simple inspired message and a plain spiritual worship! When he fell, it wAs not only as when a standard-bearer falls, and another'strong, brave arm is needful to carry the flag onward, but as when a vessel loses her anchorage, and all anxiously look as the anchor drags to see whether there be some other secure holding for the fluke lest the ship dash against the rocks! How few had, like him, so firm and immovable a basis of conviction and confidence, that from it others might swing, assured of something certain, in days of general doubt and denial ! With what a trumpet-tongue he. echoed what " God hath spoken," as one who, like Elijah, stood before his Master and received His message from His mouth! He was a modern seer, and' in him the spirit of prophecy revived and the days of the open vision returned. He was also, like Elijah, a reformer of abuses, by vehement protest and unsparing ridicule shaming Baal-worship, and repairing the altar of the Lord which had fallen down.
III. Spurgeon fulfilled a world-wide mini,~try by the product8 of hi8 pen.
Thus he indefinitely widened his pulpit and enlarged his audience. That pen was a sword of the Lord and of Gideon, so mighty, keen-edged, sharp-pointed. Thus, while, from the pulpit and platform in Britain during forty years he is believed to have reached by his voice an aggregate of twenty million hearers, by his pen he addressed ten times that number. It became a sort of omnipresent and immortal preacher, for it went into all lands and told to every creature the story of the cross, and its voice is still heard in thirty languages and dialects from the sunrise to sunset. Being dead he yet speaketh. His printed sermons, commentaries, books, and tracts command the most cosmopolitan congregation in the world, numbering millions. The master work of his authorial career is "The Treasury of David," which is to-day instructing hundreds of thousands in their study of the Psalms. How it was possible for a man who was so constantly preaching as he was, and preaching new sermons, to be making books without end, and books of such quality as well as quantity, is still a mystery even to those who know the achievements possible to the genius of Industry. His book notices and reviews in the" Sword and Trowel" were, in the writer's judgment, the most briefly comprehensive, acute and accurate~ witty and wise, judicious and telling, that this generation has afforded. They revealed a capacity and a sagacity that in thiS line haVE)
PASTORS'
(Founded by C. II. Spurgeon, 1856.) PULPIT OF METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, ON OCCASION OF THE FUNERAL OF C. H. SPURGEON. CASKET OF OLIVE-WOOD.
(From Phooograph. Copyright in Great Britain by G. M. Miller. 13 Cambridge Terrace. Belgravia. London. England.)
THE WORLD-WIDE MINISTRY OP CHABLEB H. SPURGEON
no rival It was no wonder that they became to thousands an authoritative oracle.
IV. This world-wide mission of Spurgeon is seen also in the benevolent institutions which he founded and fostered.
Probably the most conspicuous contribution to missions at home and abroad, of any man of this generation, unless it be George Miiller, is to be seen in the general work of this" Kelvedon lad." He was the originator and inspiration of the Pastor's Oollege, which has sent forth nearly one thousand students, one hundred of whom have gone to their reward, while seven hundred and thirty are still actively busy in God's work, six hundred and fifty of them being Baptist pastors, evangelists, or missionariefJ., who for the past quarter century have instrumentally added to the Church over one hundred and eighty thousand souls! The Stockwell Orphanage has five hundred boys and girls in training for Christian lives of service, and has been sending out thousands whom it has prepared for society j and the Almshous68 provide homes for the old and needy, while missionary enterprises at home and abroad, whose name is legion, attest the broad sympathies of the aggressive man of God, who, as Macaulay said of Goldsmith, left nothing untouched and adorned whatever he touched.
Nowhere did Charles H. Spurgeon prove a failure. AB is promised to the man who is planted by the river of God, and takes into the very roots of his being the Word of God, whatsoever he did, prospered. His success in every sphere was so marked that he seemed specially fitted for everything he undertook. He was evidently in league with God.
How long and how vigorously his work will survive him is yet a problem. As to the Orphanage, it seems established on permanent foundations j it is always full, and has thus far always been supplied with needed funds from its strong hold upon popular confidence and sympathy.. It is painful to see it stated that the Pastor's College has had to reduce its number of students by three eighths, and that the Sunday offerings applied to its support are not nearly iIp to the former standard. It is to be hoped that this, if true, is but a temporary decline. After enjoying weekly contact with the students in that Institution, for two college years, and lecturing to them every Friday,' the writer can bear witness that, for average ability, soundness of doctrine, and aggressive spirit, he has never known any equal number of young men in any other theological seminary. They do not wait to grad. uate before they engage in work j they are a power for God even during their period of training, and Britain, not to say the church everywhere, owes to them a debt that is incalculable, for their persistent advocacy of sound doctrine and apostolic church life.
Mr. Spurgeon found necessary, in the multitude of his arduous labors, to commit in part, to other hands, much of the administrative duties con. nected with these institutions. A quarter of a century ago he called to his aid his only brother, James Archer Sp:rrgeon, who, until the very death of Charles, largely relieved him of these cares; and with characteristic generosity Charles, both in conversation and correspondence, always did ample justice to his brother's administration. In fact, one of his best friends thinks that he so unduly magnified the services and influence of others that he minimized his own. Certainly he remarked to the writer more than once, that his brother JaLles had sacrificed himself to his usefulness, and that the public did not know how largely he had thns been laid under obligation, both by his brother's capacity and sagacity. Without attempting to recall his exact words, he left upon me the impression' that many of the plans and measures of which he was the public exponent and expression were really due to the careful thought of that younger brother, hinting, half playfully perhaps, that there was more than one case in history where" Aaron" had acted as the spokesman and mouthpiece of " Moses," and got credit which was due to him. But, when all allowance is made for James Spurgeon's efficient help, it is transparently plain to all who were intimately linked with Charles Spurgeon and his work, that his own "mind" was behind his own" mouth" in all that implies actual origination of benevolent work. He was not a man who could ever be servilely dependent upon any other person for guidance or control. He bore the popular title of the " governor," and he earned it. He was by nature an autocrat, bnt in no offensive sense, and shaped the policy of the institutions which he founded. If, like Pharaoh with Joseph, he made any other, ruler, he still remained on the throne, and greater than all his helpers, always chief, never subordinate.
Such was the man whose death at Mentone, three years ago, January 31st, 1892, set millions mourning. Great as he was, he was at the same time so genuine, simple, humble, childlike, unpretending, gracious, urbane, sympathetic, that we know not which most to admire, his public ministry or his personal manhood. How few have been in the home so winningly good who have been in th~ world so influentially great! combining such an imperial sceptre of influence with such private and domestic virtue! He showed what one man can do to make the whole world better; and no arithmetic can do justice to the colossal dimensions of his actual achievement. The children trained in the Orphanage, and the preachers trained in the College, have been widely scattered seed which has greatly multiplied the harvest of his sowing; and the evangelistic and colportage work, whose inspiring source he was, added indefinitely to the sphere which belongs to his life and work. Nor must we forget, in estimating his immense service, that book fund, jointly administered by himself and his wife, which dis· tributed so many thousands of volumes among needy clergymen and other readers.
In heaven, says Swedenborg, "instruction is committed not to memo ory, but to life. " Here we have an example of such a principle without waiting for the heavenly sphere. We look from this man to the timid apologists for Christianity, the half.hearted servitors of a secular religious. ness, the sensational pulpit declaimers of the day, and we wonder whether,
AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIA'l'ION
like Lucius in the "Golden Ass," they have not got hold of the wrong witch-salve. When Fotis gave him the mistaken unguent he extended his arms, swayed to_and fro, expecting to be metamorphosed into a bird and soar aloft j but, instead, he found his hands and feet growing horny. hairs shooting from his thickening skin, and the suspiciously long ears appearing, which betray the ass. Have modern preachers got hold of the devil's magic ointment instead of the Spirit's" eye salve" and Divine chrism 1 Are they looking for a metamorphosis which will never come, because they have mistaken human learning, oratorical graces, worldly popularity, for the true anointing which is from above? and are they really moving on a terrestriallevel, like four-footed beasts and creeping things, while professing to discourse of celestial things like soaring and singing larks?
Who shall enable us to learn the lesson that every man may be a missionary, if he knows the missionary Spirit as his indwelling guide 1 Whether in the heart of China or Africa or India, or in the pulpit of a great city of Christendom, or in the humblest workshop of a tradesman, every God-sent man does the God-appointed work. :FrolU the outset every such man is, like his Master, about his Father's business, and 'can say at the end, "I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do." The Church and the world need missionaries, and the need is imperative and immediate j but no need so great exists as that of men and women who in the calling wherein they are found therein abide with God, and whose life is, like John the Baptist, a perpetual voice of witness, a living epistle of the power and grace of God, read and known of all men.
THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.
The American Missionary Association has for nearly a half century been engaged in evangelistic and educational work among the negroes and poor whites of the South and the Indians and Chinese of the West. This Association has 42 common schools and 36 graded aiJ.d normal schools in the South. In New England the illiterate population over ten years of age is less than 6 per cent j in the South it is 27 per cent. The illiterate element of the colored population is 60 per cent, and over one third of the population of the South is of colored blood. The industrial, intellectual, and spiritual training of the negro is the hope of the race which is waiting to prove either a terrible curse or a great blessing to the land in which we live.
The number of Indians in the United States (exclusive of Alaska) is now only about 225,000. The red man is coming to appreciate and desire the benefits that flow from Christianity. In spite of the bright outlook, the Association has been compelled, by lack of funds, to cut down by one half their work among these, the "nation's wards." Two new churches have been established among the Indians during the past year, and Christian Endeavor work is especially successful. Chinese converts returning to China are preaching the Gospel largely under the auspices of the " Chinese Missionary Society" of the Pacific coast. There are 21 schools on the Pacific coast, carried on by the American Missionary Association, in' which schools 34 teachers have taught 1201 Chinese pupils, leading 197 of these pupils to tUi'll from the worship of idols, and 173 of them to profess faith in Christ. THE GROWTH OF THE LEADING AMERICAN MISSIONARY SOCIETIES.
BY ROBERT E. SPEER.
The last few years have witnessed a large advance in the comprehensive, comparative, and exact study of missionary administration, both at home and abroad. Questions which were deemed suborrlinate at first are assigned now a more prominent place. In the desire to establish as soon as possible a native church in each land, there is no longer among wise missionaries the inclination to sacrifice the independence and virility of the people by the use of methods which will secure the desired result at the expense of this sacrifice; while at home by closer correspondence and annual conference those charged with the administration of the missionary organizations are comparing experience, studying and classifying facts, and endeavoring to settle at least some general lines of definite policy, which shall secure the more spei)dily in each mission field the establishment of a self-supporting, self-propagating native church. The hope is entertained by some that the settlement of such general lines of policy or of principle would set free time, men, and means for a wider and more purposeful attempt to evangelize the great populations as yet untouched.
The difficulty in such a study as that suggested, the necessity for which is obvious, is that the material for it has been inaccessible. Each missionary society has published reports, but they have been designed to give general information and to arouse interest rather than to throw light on more or less technical questions. Moreover, the modern missionary enterprise is still young, and it lIas required some years to develop its problems. Besides, the missionary work is to so large an extent simply the influence of individuals upou individuals, that the existence of the wider questions of method amI policy has been often naturally overlooked. The conferences of the missionaries of China, at Shanghai, in 1877 and 1890, and of India, at Bombay, in 1892-93, and elsewhere at less striking meetings, have helped and are helping to settle some general principles upon the field, while the meetings in New York, the last two winters, of representatives of the missionary societies at home have both encouraged the study of the relation of the control of the appropriations to the determination of policy and method, and furnished some material for the stud; of this and other questions.
At one of these conferences it was desired to present a summary of the growth of the leading missionary organizations of America, showing by decades the development of the work of each organization. It was not possible to gather the material in time, and it has not been possible to secure complete accuracy at all. What it has been possible to secure is of sufficient value to present to the readers of the REVIEW, as giving the most complete available statement of the growth of our missionary work. The tables, at the end of this article, are made out for eight of the ten missionary organizations of our country which have annual incomes of over $100,000. They have been furnished by the societies themselves, with additions in some cases from tlie printed reports. These statistics are probably less trustworthy, as they are less complete, than those obtainable regarding the home churches. Especially in the early years the figures are not to be too confidently relied upon. For the sake of comparison, however, they can probably be trusted. Aside from the picture of prog- ress presented in these tables, they are valuable as throwing light on scores of subordinate questions.
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was for- mally constituted September 5th, 1810, at Farmington, Conn., and was incorporated by the Legislature of Massachusetts on June 20th, 1812. Its original plan probably contemplated association only with the New Eng. land Congregational Churches, but in 1812 eight commissioners were added from the Presbyterian Church, in 1814 one from the Associate Reformed Church, in 1816 one from the Reformed (Dutch) Church, and subse- quently one from the Reformed German Church. In 1838 the "Old School" Presbyterians withdrew; in ] 857 the Reformed Church withdrew, taking the Amoy and Arcot missions, and in 1870 the" New School" Presbyterians withdrew, with whom the Persia, Syria, Gaboon and several Indian missions were handed over to the Presbyterian Church. These facts must be borne in mind in studying the accompanying tables. (See Table I. at end of article.)- The decrease in the number of missions and stations not already ac_ counted for, between 1852-72, was due to the transfer or cessation of missions to the Indians, and the removal of the Sandwich Islands from the category of foreign missions in 1871. From 1872 to 1882 the number of ministers in the Congregational Church increased nearly 20 per cent, while the number of ordained foreign missionaries ~ncreased about 14 per cent. From 1882 to 1892 the number of ministers increased nearly 33t per cent, while the number of ordained foreign missionaries increased only about 14 per cent. During the last two decades the numbers of women missionaries have increased, respectively, 33i per cent and 25 per cent; ordained native helpers, over 50 per cent and 33t per cent; other native helpers, 125 per cent and more than 33t per cent j schools, 116 per cent and 24 per cent; scholars, 120 per cent and less than 50 per cent; contributions from home Church, 8 per cent and 77 per cent; while the communicants increased at home 23 per cent and 65 per cent, and the communicants abroad 120 per cent and 105 per cent. The large number of women native helpers is most striking. The present missions of the American Board are in Africa, Turkey, India, Ceylon, China, Japan, Micronesia, Mexico, Spain, and Austria. The report for 1892 includes a medical man and his wife and ten theological students in the Sandwich Islands. The missionary work of the Methodist Episcopal Church grew out of the efforts in 1816 of John Stewart, a negro, among the Wyandotte Indians. The Missionary Society was organized April 5th, 1819, "to diffuse more generally the blessings of education and Christianity, and to support and promote missionary schools and Christian missions throughout the United States and territories, and also in foreign countries." In 1844 the Methodist Episcopal Church (South) separated from the Church North, and established its own missionary society. Dr. Baldwin says of the tabular statement that it does not include the work of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society, though the missionaries of that society are included in the column headed " Women." "Stations" are not reported in the same way as by other societies. The number given is Dr. Baldwin's estimate. The home and foreign missionary operations of the Methodist Episcopal Church (North) are not separated, but the table gives only the foreign work. No small part of this work, however, is in Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Bulgaria, and Italy. Accordingly a line has been added giving the statistics for the foreign work with European countries excluded. (See Table II.) One is impressed at once with the large number of native helpers reported here, 4325 in all, or 2919, excluding Europe, an increase of over 300 per cent since 1882, while the figures of 1882 are an increase of nearly 250 per cent over those for 1872. Of these helpers 1391, or nearly one half of those from non-European fields, are reported from North India. Schools show an increase of 130 per cent from 1882 to 1892, and of 166 per cent from 1872 to 1882. Scholars increased about 190 per cent from 1882 to 1892, and about 150 per cent during the preceding decade. Of the 35,616 scholars in non-European fields in 1892, 19,571, more than one half, in 697 schools-6 of them high schools-were reported from North India. The Sabbath-school reports are the most complete presented by any society, and show a steady and remarkable increase. It is interesting, again, to note that of the 59,748 scholars, 32,133 are in North India. Under communicants are reported both members and probationers. In the fields outside of Europe 23,753 members were reported in 1892, 8820 in North India, where there were also 16,203 probationers. In this column the increase has been over 300 per cent from 1862 to 1872, about 150 per cent from 1872 to 1882, and less than 133 per cent from 1882 to 1892. Another striking feature of this table is the large amount reported in 1892 as contributed by the native church, $339,318 or *157,159 excluding Europe. This is reported as collected for benevolent and missionary societies, self-support, building, repairing, and local purposes; *62,680 of this amount having been given by the non-European fields for self-support, $23,642 by South America, $6429 by Mexico, and *31,363 by North and South India.
The missionary work of the Presbyterian Church began in 1741, with the appointment of Azariah Horton, a member of the Presbytery of New York, to work among the Indians on Long Island. David Brainerd was the second missionary. In 1763 the Synod of New York assumed the responsibility for the Indian work, and in 1800 the General Assembly took up the work systematically and carried it on till 1818, when the United Foreign Missionary Society was formed, consisting of the Presbyterian, Reformed Dutch, and Associate Reformed churches, "to spread the Gospel among the Indians of North America, the inhabitants of Mexico and South America, and other portions of the heathen and anti-Christian world. " In 1826 all this work was transferred to the American Board. In 1831 the Western Foreign Missionary Society was formed by the Synod of Pittsburgh, which surrendered its work to the Board of Foreign Missions established by the General Assembly in 1837. From 1838 to 1870 the Old School churches worked through this Board, and the New School churches through the A. B. C. F. M. The Southern Presbyterian Church withdrew from the Old School in 1861 and began at once its own missions. (See Table III.) It is interesting to note that in 1852 one Presbyterian minister out of 28 was a missionary; in 1862, one out of 36 jin 1872, one out of 37 ; in 1882, one out of 35 ; in 1892, one out of 28. One Presbyterian out of 1512 went to the field in 1852 ; one out of 1779 in 1872 j one out of 1314 in 1892. The number of medical missionaries is much larger and of more steady and rapid growth than that of any other society. The last two decades native helpers have increased 80 per cent and 87 per cent. The small number of schools in comparison with the reports of the other larger societies is significant. The earlier statistics of Sabbath-school scholars are unreliable, as are also the reports of native contributions. Communicants have increased during the five decades since 1842, 900 per cent, 55 per cent, 500 per cent, 300 per cent, 75 per cent. Between 1882 and 1892 a number of missions among the Indians was transferred to the Board of Home Missions. It. will be noticed how far short the annual expenditure upon mission work has come of keeping pace in its increase with the amount expended by the Church upon herself and at home. These figures, telling the growth of the work of the Presbyterian Board, can be better appreciated by noticing that its missions are located in the main in the most difficult and unresponsive fields, and that its report is not helped by anyone field of phenomenal fruitfulness.
On May 18th, 1814, in consequence largely of the missionary cam~ paign of Luther Rice, Judson's companion on the voyage to India, a convention of 26 clergymen and seven laymen, representing the Baptists of 11 different States and the District of Columbia, met in Philadelphia. This meeting resulted in the formation of a Triennial Convention. Mrs. Judson's visit to the home land in 1823 gave this movement its greatest impulse. In 1845 the Baptists of. the Southern States withdrew in consequence of the reply made to the demand of the Alabama Baptists, by the Acting Board, "that if anyone should offer himself as a missionary, having slaves, and should insist upon retaining them as his property, the Bo~rd could not appoint him." As a result of this separation the Baptists of the Northern States formed, in 1846, the American Baptist Missionary Union. (See Table IV.) Mr. Merriam, Editorial Secretary, in sending this table, states that " the statistics of the society in former years were not gathered in such a manner as to allow of all the columns being filled out. " The figures giving the number of communicants and the amount of native offerings, and the Sabbath-school scholars, include the European fields of the Union, as the published report for 1892 gives the members of the churches in the non-European fields as 83,597, the contributions of the native churches as $59,921. 82, and the Sabbath-school scholars as 15,347 in 615 schools. The missions of the Union are in Burma, Assam, among the Telegus in India, in China, Japan, and Africa. The success among the Burmans and Telegus has been wonderful, and the report can be understood only in the light of the facts regarding those two missions. All but $4602.45 of the amount given by native churches was given by the Burman churches, which numbered 30,253 members. In these churches were more than one half of all the scholars reported as in schools. 47,458 members were reported from the Telegu Mission, with 7190 pupils in schools, but only $2468.28 in contributions; 21,329 communicants were reported from Ongole alone, while of the 10,971 baptisms in 1891, nearly half, 5379, were reported from Ongole and Cumbum, two Telegu stations. The Assam, Chinese, Japanese, and African missions reported in 1892, 182 foreign missionaries, 5886 communicants, 1130 additions during the year, and native contributions amounting to $2134.27. $197,371.15 was expended on these missions, and $276,159.05 on the Burman and Telegu fields.
The Methodist Episcopal Church (South) organized a home and foreign missionary society in 1846 at its first General Conference. In 1866 the home work was separated from the foreign and given to a separate board. In 1870 the two were again united, but separated in 1874. At present, however, they are united. There are five missions-one in China, two in Mexico, one in Japan, and one in Brazil. In 1870 the colored members of the Church were organized into an independent Church. In the following table the returns for 1862 are the samA as those for 1860, as the work was interrupted during the Civil War. (See Table V.) The small number of ordained missionaries in proportion to the large home ministry will be noticed at once, one out of every 242. In the past ten years ordained natives have increased 600 per cent, and women helpers even more; communicants over 200 per cent; Sabbath-school scholars over 400 per cent; pupils in day-schools about 200 per cent, while the gifts of the home Church have more than doubled. From the report for 1892 it would seem that about one fourth of the amount stated as given by the Church for the cause was expended in home missions.
The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church was formed in 1820, and in 1835 was reorganized so as to " comprehend all persons who are members of this Church." There are now five missions-China, Japan, Haiti, Africa, and Greece. In the table the figures for 1882 alone contain the statistics of the work in Mexico. (See Table VI.) The first most striking fact is the slow increase of ordained missionaries. The number was in 1872 the same as in 1842, and increased only 25 per cent the last decade. Native helpers and schools show a steady increase; schools a larger proportionate increase than scholars. The increase of missionary offerings has not equalled the increase of expenditures upon the Church at home.
The Board of Foreign Missions of the United Presbyterian Church was the product of the combination of the Boards of Foreign Missions of the Associate and Associate Reformed churches, which were united in 1858. The Board was formally incorporated in 1866. For a number of years it had missions in Trinidad, Syria, and China, as well as in Egypt and India. These last two are its only missions now. (See Table VII.) It will be noticed at once how greatly the growth of the last decade has exceeded the growth of the two preceding decades. Missionaries have increased 100 per cent, native helpers 300 per cent, Sabbath-school scholars nearly 300 per cent, communicants 600 per cent, native contributions only 34 per cent. Two facts stand out with special clearness : one the concentration of work of this Board; the other the emphasis upon schools, which increased 233t per cent the last decade, scholars increasing 130 per cent. More schools are reported than those of the two preceding societies combined j but there are also as many communicants and 50 per cent more native contributions, while the annual expenditure is less than half that of either of the others.
From 1818 to 1826, as has been already intimated, the Reformed (Dutch) Church in America was associated with the Presbyterian Church in the United Foreign Missionary Society. In 1832 the Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church was chosen by the General Synod, but it operated through the A. B. C. F. M. until 1857, when the Arcot and Amoy missions were transferred to it and it began its independent work. The Japan Mission was established in 1859. These three are the only missions of the Board. (See Table VIII.) One minister out of 22 is a foreign missionary in the Dutch Reformed Church. Communicants have doubled during each of the reported decades. Native contributions show a proportionate increase.
It is to be regretted that because of sickness or lack of needed help the officers of the Southern Baptist Convention and of the Executive Committee of the Southern Presbyterian Church were unable to have table'.! prepared of their work. In 1891 their receipts were respectively $113,522 and $112,951 ; missionaries, 97 and 100; native laborers, 66 and 50; communic3Ilts, 2377 and 2072 ; native contributions, $2157 and $2850. The origin of the separate work of these two bodies has been already indi- cated.
The comments offered upon these tables are merely suggestive. The statistics are not accurate enough for purposes of close argument or inference. They are important as paving the way for more reliahle reports by showing their value, and they are of utility for comparative study, their inaccuracy being of such a general character as not to disqualify them for this use. It is needless to say that they are not a statement of missionary success or failure. Obedience and obligation cannot be stated in terms of mathematics. The tables do, however, suggest some interesting consider- ations.
1. Schools are not inconsistent with evangelistic results. Whether as partial cause or as effect, the missions from which the largest numbers of communicants and baptisms are reported report also most schools. Of the 1188 schools reported by the A. B. M. U., 491 are among the Burmans and 533 among the Telegus. In Northern India where the Methodists report one third of' their members, excluding Europe, there are more than one half of their schools. The United Presbyterian missions show from 1882 to 1892 the largest increase of schools, and much the largest pro- portionate increase of communicants. There is a large number of mis- sions, however, where a large increase of communicants has not accom- panied a strong educational emphasis.
2. There has evidently been great absence of uniformity and agreement in pushing self-support. The altogether inadequate statistics given by some, and the small amounts often where the reports are accurate, indi- cate the need of a thorough study of this subject and a more vigorous policy at home and abroad. Great harm has been done by wrong begin- nings. Is it certain that in the many new missions right beginnings are making now ¥ It is striking that the United Presbyterian missions report nearly as large native contributions as all the missions of the Presbyterian Church (North). The American Board and the Methodi!>t Church have apparently adhered most closely to wise policy and attained the best gen- eral results. The Karen Bassein Mission of the Baptists, with 116 self- supporting churches and only 2 non-self-supporting, needs to be held up before all other missions.
3. Taking the figures as given in these tables for 1892, in the Congre- gational Church one member.in 1183 was a foreign missionary; in the Presbyterian, one in 1314; in the Reformed Church, one in 1426; in the United Presbyterian, one in 1843 ; in the Baptist, one in 2190 ; in the Methodist (North), one in 4614 ; in the Protestant Episcopal, one in 8970 j in the Methodist (South), one in 13,477. One minister out of 22 was a foreign missionary in the Dutch Reformed Church; one out of 26t in the United Presbyterian; one out of 27 in the Congregational j one out of 28 in the Presbyterian; one out of 55 in the Baptist (North) ; one out of '11 in the Methodist (North) ; one out of 176 in the Protestant . Episcopal; one out of 242 in the Methodist (South). Upon all these figures the action of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1866 is a startling commentary. The General Assembly " beli~ves that no good reason can be shown for so unequal a division of the ministerial force as exists at present, 2484 ministers remaining here among a population of only five or six millions, nearly all whom already know what they should do to be saved, while we give 83 ministers, 17 of whom are natives, to the many hundreds of millions who have never yet heard of Jesus and His salvation. The Assembly therefore recommends to all its young ministers, as well as candidates for the ministry, to give a new hearing to the calls which are coming in for laborers for this wide- spread harvest-field." The amount expended at home in 1892 by the Baptists and the South- ern Methodists is not given, but of the other churches the United Presbyterians gave one dollar to the work abroad for each ten dollars spent at home ; the Dutch Reformed, one for each eleven dollars; the Presbyterians, one for each fourteen dollars ; the Congregationalists, one for each sixteen dollars; the Methodists (North), one for each twenty-one dollars; the Episcopalians, one for each forty-eight dollars.
The average gift per member of each Church was as follows: Congregationalist, $l.27 ; Dutch Reformed, $l.19 ; Presbyterian, $l.13; Baptist, $0.67; Protestant Episcopal, $0.50; Methodist (North), $0.28; Methodist (South), $0.22.
In 1891 the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church (North) gave $263,660.69. This should be added to the $622,912 given by the Misbionary Society of the Church. On this basis, the average gift of each member was $0.39, and the Chnrch gave one dollar to the work abroad for each fifteen dollars expended at home. The figures for the Baptist Church (North) are on the basis of a membership of 850,- 000, given as the constituency of the A. B. M. U.
4. It will be observed that no women medical missionaries are reported prior to 1882. In 1892 the A. B. M. U. reports men and women together. The other boards report 30 women. 123 medical missionaries in all were reported, nearly two fifths of them by the Presbyterian Board. 2172 missionaries are reported, excluding medical and ~uropean Methodist missionaries, 841 of whom are men and 1331 women. In the last decade medical missionaries increased in number 200 per cent; in the preceding decade 100 per cent. Missionaries of all classes have increased in the last four decades 75 per cent, 54 per cent, 34 per cent, and 29 per cent. In 1852 they had decreased 14 per cent as compared with 1842. In 1862 there were 352 women to 376 men. In 1892 there were 1331 women to 841 men. Which of the twain loves most ~ It is desired that the purpose of setting forth these statistics should not he misunderstood. They arc not intended to show missionary results for the purpose of vindicating the work of the missionary agencies. No such statement can be properly or adequately made in this form. They are not meant to stimulate the passion for results statable arithmetically-a passion already responsible for no little detriment to the real interests of the work. "If we were to attack missionary bodies," says the London Spectator, "it would be for their attention to results, for their sordid counting of converts, and for their consequent disposition to attack perishing races like the Polynesians, and their reluctance to concentrate effort on a race like the Arab, which might furnish us with teachers acceptable throughout the whole continent of Africa." The tables are offered for the consideration of the intelligent friends and students of missions.
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS. ~ ~ :j
~l ~i~r~ c~~~- ~~~~':s. SCHOOLS. SCHOLARS. J i~ ~~ —- — ~,,' g tl t)j ._~s~.=::~ i i ~'&! __ I J_! I ~ ! ~, nJq ]} ~ J l~ JJ .a '0 .; -rn !~ :8::1'a3 . '3l .. BOARDING. D.I.~. .~&::I :§;j~] ~.a …. 00.<:1 li ~~ i 1842.. …. ~ .. …. 26 85 166 179 151,i …….· 4[ 30 61S1 738 386 ~ !………. ………….. 21,26111 …….. $318.396 $27,548 1852.. …. . ….. 26 111 184 2111 43 202 27 783 485 484 22,595 …… …….. 22,061…………….. 301,727 35,386 :~;;; ~~;.;;:'~ ~~:: :1:::: :: : :1 ::::: ~ ::::::: ~::I:::::: :::::1 :::~ ::: 1882.. 3,713 881,697 20 82 155 261 8 2 148 488 1,OM 104 8069821 2,210 1,688 ~ …… ……. 19'7551 …….. $4,024,720 454,Oil 34,961 1892.. 4.886 625,97520 95 *183 329 18 4 200. 624 1,380 141 4,259 2,832 35,715 12,020 …… 5O,805, 40,338 $104,566 8,445,000 794,R75, 55.981 • Of whom 11 are medical men.
THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH (NORTH.) 1842. . 4,186 1,C68,525 1 1 23 4'1" …. …. …….. 1 ………………….:..:.:,…… 1 20 731 1,257 …….. ………. $27,755' ….. ..
1852.. 4..';13 728.700 4 18 29 20 1……. 26 … 1 18….. …… 517 …. 3;753'" ………….. 1~:~ :::::::: :dI62. e,655 ~42,906 7… 63 60 2 …….. 152 20 2 31…… 987266 31 544 16,127 …. , … ……… 373,825 …… .
1872.. 10,242 1,458,441 12 … ' 2(J'{ –"- 39.979 $182,997 ………. 327.327 ….. ..
~ 1882.. 11,028 1,710,204 15 .. 103 5,329 9,125 339,318 13,146.975 622,912 about5% 49,395 157,159.. ……. .. ………. .. . m =: .: ~:: :~.9~~ ~,~:~~ ~Il~ 1201 II. .. 810 …. ~12.'9i3 . 4 180 …… …… 426 18,971 1,151 54,097 112 2 5 504 291 .. 498 ;,:,,:,:,,:,_.._• ~~ ~Ig 3,~~ ~~~ !~ t~.~ ~:~~~ I ~:~ l~k~ BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
1842.. …. .. …. 10 12 31 80 1 . . . . 9 …. 5 13 174 27 475 2 …… 44 ……….. …, $58,185 $11.291 >-3 1852.. 2,0l~ 210,199 19 80 71 64 4 .. 2 25: 1 17 33 348 211 2,067 69 …… 80 487 S350 1,108,277 144,923 14,178 ~ 595 1.600.733 176,911 16.801/ ~ 1862.. 2.807 302,706 21 58 77 65 7 .. 2 821…. 18 82 327 192 4,025 248 …… 486 681 1872.. 4.341 466,14728 64 116 136 10 33 409 7 12 81 258 447 8,750 1,221 …… 965 4.208 2,575 9,738,5611457.21,2 81,542 • 1882.. 5,022 585.29128 91 142 238 16 2 84 683 52 47 224 636 1,247 12.743 5,438 …… 4,834 16.484 6,199 8,782,535 576.798 24.836 .~ -=189=2.;..;……:6"',04:.:l)~.,–'81)!,258 27 11~2'~"-_350='–'34'-"-..::1=2:…::165::::..-=1!;c.234=..::1=29::.:……:..70"'-~686=-=-..::1:c::.826=..;1:..c,8:::2::.6……:1::,:7:;:.82'7::.:..:_=S,!.:.109;:::.::.:,•:.:..;.:,•:.:.J'–=26=,393=~80~,=479~-.:::;38~,73=1c..:l~3.'.:,4::.;73,zO~I::..7~98~1!::.~::::92::……:::56::!.:::305~ …
BAPTIST MISSIONARY
., MBDI- ~ ., CAL MIS- Z .c IONA· RIllS. '0 1>,- —- — ] i i~trl ~…. 1jE ~ ~ FORBIGN NATIVE SCHOOLS. SCHOLARS. .]ooS:=o~~.c' ,00:= .~~ MISSION- HELPERS. ._0 ~.ll~ ARIES. ai '0 b §~ oai Oil +>0:= .0c . § ~~ llo il'~ .8.d 'C 0 -<~ .$~".~,..,ocg=, ''i"0Ei:=i g "<ll ~:8 Sli! 8j ,.~£,.~=c ai ai a 'tl oj: BOARDING. DAY. '§ ,., >l 0:= ~ :§0);1 .c a — — – – – – – – -~- ~ – – – -~ -1- – – – ._—- a — — — — – – – – ~o§."~ .S ';j gQ3 +>0:= '0' ~ .S a ~ .c ~~ 8 ~ ~ '0"" !Xl ~ ~ .!l ~ "'OIl r;; ~ ~ 0 1;;.-q li! !! ~ ~ A 0 .~ ;":' ~~ -I<I ~ <ll <ll 0 0 <ll ~ _. !Xl C!l 0 – _ _1_- 1842.. . ……•..••… …. ………
1852 . . . . . • . . . • • . . • . . . . . • —-'- ~~I:::: .::., ::::I···~95 ::::::1··· ..~:1~~·····1:::::::: :::::. :::::::. 1862.. .•…. ….•••..• 6 18 38566 30,129 $5,000 ..•••..••. 885,192 $14,052 216,000 38,785 1872.. ..•… .•…..•.. 9 21 46 57,512 ….••• 1…….. .. 30,235 1882……………… 6 33 73 94,879 .•.•…..••••••… 30'~,584 108 •.•• 91 421 …. 190 473……. •.•.••••••.•••..•…. •.• …….. …… ….. ..
I …..A-. .-….J.- …….. .••••• 78,187 163,881 244,360 $6,518,388 569,173 49,125 1892.. 8,000 850,000 7 73 144 229 15'" 243 1,023 180 1,188 …•.. 22,284 BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH (SOUTH.) t~~:: 6:800 .. oili:ssi "i .. OJ "'2 :::::: :::: :::: :::: …..j :::: :: .. ·····2 :::::" :::::" ······37 ······ii '0 "1 ……4;; …. •..2 :::::::: :.:::::::: :::::::: "$2,652 1il62.. 8,137 U9,068 1 1 5……. … …. …. 1…. …. …… … .. ….. .. . .. . .. . .. … . a. 1872.. 8,366 645,793 1 2 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , 323 1 21 8 1 20 11 …….. ………. … …. 2,266 9 2 40 79 ….. .. .. .. . … $8,010. 11,538 1882.. 9,914 867.385 3 18 18 6 2 1 9 42 3 8 84 128 105 528 388 43 1,288 1,856 $911 .. ……. 129,754 7,132 1892 .. 11.849 1,293,866 6 111 49 43 2 2 59 81 34 20 1'9 846 355 1,721 974 225 6,561 6,709 12,123 $2,286,791 289,869 20,811 DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
-1842 .. 1,107 ………. 6 10 11 14 …. …. a 5 …… …………. ……………. …… …….. 26 …….. ………. $29,279 $8,476 "3 1852.. 1,605 67,200 3 5 10 ~ 11 …. …. 9 21 52 -'- …….. ……. …….. $330,533 41,048 3,462 1862•• 2,079 ……… 5 10 13 102 r;; 15 13 5,364 1872.• 2,952 224,995 5 52 11 11 1 …….. 4 34 17 -'-"- -"- 421 ……. 22,015 ~ 1882.. 3,496 842,590 6 149 19 12 …. 14 184 65 4 8 150 405 13.060 ~ 1892 •. 4,229 556,140 5 223 24 260 75 ……, 285 50,576 19.613 1,240 940 724 ……. 5,544,574 110,7a~ 26 3 …. 44 11 29 80 2,129 :::::: 572 2,551 1.756 33 4 1 57 26 44 4,082 2,297 $5,212 11,749,043 173.848 33 80 836 3,567 8,496 13,218.919 275,600
OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN
FMOlR~~E~IGNN- ~M:R~DiI~C~A-L NAT1VR SCHOLARS. '" … .; 1>1.l; '~ . Il HELPJ:RS., SCHOOLS. ~ +gai.al Q;I Q) 0 5 -~"O. . o"'-C,,S~ .~.0r_5. ~§ -.,… rdca _ -.5~~ t~l ~ • -~ ,.fl,," -8~ ) " :.530~ 1 –1– aa ~.<:IQ,);:::fQ,)::r ~lO<lj ",.<:I .~~~ oi!l. —- —- B~~:~. S ~z'O:::::l o&o!::,.1a1·l s~….~;~ "<:l d ro.,,a~1.~. ~ DAY. .sttl 1l0P d i ~ :s"o '~§ " ":g 'E il l ~:_E I ~oS .a<5:I ~o ~o ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ (3~)i1~ £ l ~ __ ]!"'" l~'" 0:1 : _ iEL187:.l.. :~~~ ::~~:5i~:~ :::6 ::i~ ::.::~ :::: :::::: :::~ :::: :::: :::: :::::~ .:.::.:T1:':":::0:0 :::::: :::::: :::: :::::: :::::: :::::::: ::~~~:~~~ :ii~:~i~~i~i~~:: 72,896 4 12 7 2 8~…… 18 789:.:: 494 $2,123 789,436 51,694 i% 584 19 2 …… ooT' 75 • 1,464 2,214 1882. 719 84,573 1 2 77 15 13 . . 00 00 00 00 8 189 00 00 3,42611,351…. 2,555 1,565 23,272 852,253 77,872 2% 1892.. 796 109,0181 2 207 30 26 2 24, 494 253 •••. ",., •. 7,8221 3,061i 241 9,751 10,445 30,511 1,171,652 114,636 2% BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE REFORMED (DUTCH) CHURCH.
MISSIONS IN THE WEST INDI.!
MISSIONS IN THE WEST H:DIES.
BY REV. W. J. MORNAN, JAMAICA.
THE FIELD.
The term West Indies is used to designate the several groups of islands scattered over the Caribbean Sea between North and South America. The largest islands are Cuba, with an area of 43,000 square miles, and about 2,000,000 inhabitants; Haiti, or San Domingo, with a population of 1,500,000, and somewhat smalIer in size than Cuba; Jamaica, having an area of 4300 square miles, and a population of 600,000. Then come Puerto Rico and a multitude of small islands and cays, making up about 100,000 square miles of area and about 5,900,000 inhabitants. At the time of their discovery, in 1492, most of these islands, and particularly the larger ones, were densely peopled by the Carib Indians. They were soon, however, exterminated by the fearful cruelties inflicted on them by the bloodthirsty Spaniards. The horrible details of this wholesale butchery are recorded in the works of the famous Las Casas and other contemporary writers. By the end of the eighteenth century, chiefly as the result of the different wars between England, France, and Spain, the latter had lost all her West Indian possessions except Cuba and Puerto Rico. The island of San Domingo had become independent, one part forming the Spanish-speaking republic of San Domingo, and the other the Frenchspeaking republic of Haiti. The rest of the islands now belong to various European governments, England having the lion's share. She possesses Jarp.aica, Barbadoes, Trinidad, St. Lucia, the Bahamas, etc. The extermination of the aborigines in the way already mentioned led to the necessity for bringing other laborers into these islands. Hence, the origin of the horrible slave trade between the West Coast of Africa and these fair isles of the sea. As one traces the history of that bloody and accursed system, he feels devoutly thankful that so far at .least as this part of the world is concerned, it is a thing of the past. The population of these islands now consists chiefly of black and colored people, the descendants of the African slaves, with a fair proportion of whites, both creole and European. In the year 1838 slavery was abolished in all the dominions of the English Crown, but still existed in the Spanish colonies until about twenty years ago. The glorious act of 1838 was, however, the direct result of ~issionary operations, and thus leads us to consider very briefly THE HISTORY OF MISSION WORK.
The first direct mission work attempted in the West Indies was by the Moravians, who in 1732 began work in the Danish islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix. Their work extended in a short time to Barbadoes and other islands. In 1754 Jamaica was reached. '.!.'he first efforts of this liociity were rendered almost fruitless, from the bct that they settled their stations on the slave-owning estates and fens, and thus they were really under the power of the cruel planter. This society has, however, made great progress and done really useful work in later years, and nowhere is it prospering more than in Jamaica. The next work attempted was by the Wesleyans. Dr. Coke began work in Kingston in the year 1792, where a chapel was opened, but after a short time was closed until the year 1815. Since that time if progress has been slow, it has been sure. Some of their mission workers stood boldly by the side of brethren of other denominations as the champions of negro liberty. This society is to-day doing a blessed work. Its churches and chapels are found all over the island. The same is true of its schools. They are also doing good work in the Bahamas, Turk's Island, Haiti, Trinidad, St. Vincent, etc. The Baptist Missionary Society commenced work in Jamaica in 1814, and has stations in San Domingo, the Bahamas, Turk's Island, and Trinidad. The missionaries found the people in slavery, and from the first took the side of the oppressed. The battle of freedom was stern and cruel, but it was fearlessly fought out and won. We can do no more than mention in this connection such names as Knibb, Burchell, and Phillips, who when they failed in the fight in Jamaica returned to England, and by voice and pen helped to rouse the English people until the House of Commons passed the Act of Emancipation. From that day to this the Baptist churches have passed through many struggles, but they are to-day among the foremost leaders in all that tends to the true, moral, and social advancement of the people. The principles for which the missionaries contended are now being recognized by the government, the press, and the people generally as wise and right. In the year 1842 the Baptist churches in Jamaica became independent of the English society, and have since then supported their own pastors and founded a missionary society of their own, the object of which is to preach the Gospel in needy parts of Jamaica, in Haiti, Cuba, Central America, besides helping the parent society to some small extent in its work in Africa. The Baptists took the lead in the work of raising up a native ministry, and for the last fifty years their Calabar College has been educating their ministers and teachers. Nearly every other society is now following their example. The London Missionary Society also has a few stations in Jamaica, but they have never developed nor extended their work. The United Presbyterian Church of Scotland is also laboring in the West Indies, its missions being confined to Jamaica, Trinidad and Grand Cayman. All these different denominations have an interesting history of their own in the West Indies, but this brief notice must suffice. We now pass to consider PRESENT MISSIONARY EFFORT.
The unevangelized fields in the West Indies are Cuba, Haiti, and Puerto Rico. The first and last are Spanish colonies, and the second consists of two republics, one French and the other Spanish. The prevailing religion is Roman Catholic, but there are, especially in Haiti, many forms of Mrican superstition, while many among the more educated classes have embraced atheistIc views. As the direct result of Romish influence the people are corrupt and demoralized. Sin can be paid for, and the hope of heaven purchased for a gold piece. The writer knows whereof he affirms when he declares it as his solemn conviction-a conviction forced upon his mind by an intimate knowledge of the people, both in Cuba and Haiti, that the people in these lands have " no hope" and are " without God in the world." The population of Cuba and Haiti is about 3,500,000, who are for the most part slaves to a cruel, avaricious, and immoral priesthood. Several missionary societies are at work in these islands. In Haiti the Jamaica Baptist Missionary Society has stations at Jacmel, Cape Haiti, Port de Pais, St. Mar-c, Port Liberti, besides some out-stations. The church at St. Marc is now self-supporting, and therefore independent of the missionary society. There is also an independent Baptist church at Port au Prince, under the care of Rev. Lucius Hippolyte, M.A., who is a graduate of Colgate University. The work has been carried on for many years under great difficulties and with very little apparent success. Still the brethren have labored on, and there are many hopeful signs which give promise of the future reaping of a good harvest. The Baptist brethren in the island have lately met and formed a Haitian Baptist Union, and it is hoped that the union will prove useful in strengthening the Lord's work. The Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society has several flourishing stations on the island. At J acmel, Port au Prince, and Cape Haiti they have labored with zeal and success for many years. It seems a pity that the work should now be at a standstill by the home society gradually withdrawing help from the West India Conference. The English Baptists have a station at Puerto Plata, in the Republic of San Domingo, the Mrican Methodist Episcopal Church has some stations, and work is also being done by the Episcopal Church of the United States j but with regard to these last-named missions the writer has no information as to their present position and prospects.
The people of Haiti are warm-hearted, kind, and hospitable, passionately fond of liberty, and very jealous of their free, republican institutions. They are, however, deep down in the mire of superstition and sin. Political and religious liberty do not exist in anything but in name. The mass of the people are grossly ignorant, and are thus easily imposed upon by the few who are to some extent educated. The present ruler of Haiti has many qualities which might have made him a wise and liberal ruler, but the strong opposition of the Romish Church, and the many plots against his government, have so acted on him as to make him suspicious, stern, and cruel to a terrible degree. With all his faults, however, he favors Protestant missions, and though himself a Roman Catholic, sees in the spread of our principles the only hope of his country's political and social regeneration. In the neglected country places the people are devotees of Vaudoism, fetichism, and other heathenish beliefs and practices. Cuba, the largest of the West India Islands, was up to a few years ago entirely without the Gospel, and a large part of it is stilI unevangelized. The people are crushed and oppressed by the Church and government, and are thus dissatisfied and anxious to throw off the Spanish yoke, yet have neither the unity, courage, nor resolution to do so. The Church is supported by the State, and until about the year 1875-a remarkable year in the history of missions-was the only creed allowed to be preached in the country. In that year religious toleration was proclaimed, and since that time various societies have done work in Cuba. At first there seemed very little hope of success. The interesting story of the conversion and subsequent call of Rev. A. J. Diaz to labor in his native land has already been told in the pages of this REVIEW. He and his staff of workers are doing a noble work in Hava.na and other cities and towns in the north of Cuba, and the work is making rapid progress under the fostering care of the Southern Baptist Convention. Several churches have been formed, with which are connected large and flourishing day and Sunday-scho:>ls. The Episcopal Church also has stations at Matanzas and in Havana, and their work has been attended by much of the Divine blessing.
About four years a.go the Southern Presbyterians began work in Havana, but after a time removed to Santa Clara, an inland town of 15,000 inhabitants. Here a congregation has been gathered under the Rev. E. P. Collazo, and good work is being done in the day and Sundayschools. The Methodist Episcopal Church, also about four years ago, began work in Havana, but the writer does not know what amount of success has attended their efforts. In the year 1886 work was commenced by the Jamaica Baptist Missionary Society at Cienfuegos, on the south side of the island, but after several years' work the mission has been temporarily abandoned. The society, however, has the satisfaction of knowing that its agents have preached the Gospel to large numbers in Cienfuegos, and numbers of Bibles and Testaments as well as Gospel tracts have been distributed. At the last meeting of the General Committee of the Society, in February, 1894, the following resolution was unanimously passed: "That it be an instruction to the Managing Committee to seek to secure a. suitable agent for work in Cuba, and if such an agent can be secured and the funds of the society permit, to resume missionary work in that island during this year." For lack of funds nothing has been done. There are stilI many large cities and towns in Cuba without a single Protestant missionary, and if Cuba is to be evangelized to any great extent, the number of workers must be multiplied fully fifty times.
A WORD ABOUT THE DIFFICULTIES.
The difficulties of the work are many and great. Haiti is a much more ready and inviting field than Cuba. The chief difficulty in Haiti is the frequent OCCUI'l'el!Y6 of bloody wars, which, while they continue, throw everything out of order, and if Cuba were to become independent in her present moral and intellectual state, the same bitter strife and bloodshed would be snre to prevail. In Haiti the people are more liberal in their ideas and institutions. They are kind and hospitable, and the stranger is readily welcomed. This is not the case in Cuba. The men are easily reached in the restaurants, cates, and clubs, where they idle away much of their time, b~t foreigners especially find it hard to get into the homes of the people. Their own priests are not allowed to visit them, except when dying to administer the last ordinance of the Church, and the foreign missionary is not expected to visit either. If he is a single man, it will be impossible for him to do much of this work. He stands a better chance if he is married.
The expense of mission work is very great, both in Cuba and in Haiti. Living is expensive, and rent is very high. To do effective work a chapel of some kind must be provided. The people with the ideas about worship which they have been taught do not believe in going to the parlor of a private house to hear the Gospel. It must be in some consecrated building. Then burial of the dead is another difficulty. All the cemeteries are in the hands of the Church, which will allow no heretic to be buried in consecrated ground. The law provides for the erection of public cemeteries in connection with every town, but as most of the town councils are controlled by the Church, they find various means of evading the law. In Haiti this difficulty does not exist, as all the cemeteries are public.
The missionary has also to contend with the enormous power of the Church of Rome. She is rich and crafty, and does not fail to employ all the powers at her command to prevent the spread of the Gospel. The priest, although despised, is feared, and has very much more power than would at first sight appear.
The greatest difficulty, however, is indifference. We have often heard it said that people in these islands are crying out for the Gospel. This is not the case. The people have no appetite for a spiritual religion which demands a" repentance toward God" and" faith which worketh by love." The great majority are perfectly satisfied with Romanism, which panders to their depraved nature and carnal appetites. They flock to mass on the Sabbath morning, to the cockpit or bull-ring in the afternoon, and to the theatre at night. These difficulties are no plea or excuse for neglecting these mission fields. The Divine command is not, " Go where it is easy," or " Go where the people want you and where converts can be easily won," but" Go ye"-oh ! that the Church would hear it-" into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." This is our business with regard to Cuba and Haiti, as well as anywhere else, and we earnestly pray that it may be speedily done.
THE CENTENARY OF A GREAT MISSIONARY SOCIETY
THE CENTENARY OF A GREAT MISSIONARY SOCIETY.
BY REV. EDWARD STORROW, BRIGHTON, ENGLAND.
One hundred years ago there were but two missionary societies in England: the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, founded in 1701, and the Baptist Missionary Society, in 1792; but the missionary spirit had been slowly awaking, and this led to the desire for the formation of a society on a basis sufficiently broad to include earnest men of all denominations holding the principles usually called evangelical.
A small group of such persons had, in 1793, established the Evangelical Magazine, and in the number for September, 1794, there apPelJ,red a long and able letter, written by Dr. Bogne, a Presbyterian minister at Gosport, calling attention to the subject. It produced a profound impression and led to various private conferences, and on November 4th the first concerted meeting, with a view to the formation of a society, took place in the city of London. Eight ministers were present, and at that gathering the Society really had its birth, though at a later period it was formally inaugurated. It Was resolved to issue in the following month an appeal inviting practical co-operation and aid.
Among other statements it said: "That something may be done with effect, it is hoped that not only evangelical Dissenters and Methodists will be disposed to unite in instituting a society, but that members of the Established Church will also favor us with their kind c-:l-operation."
This circular discovered the affectionate willingness of a considerable number to stand forth in this work, "and after various meetings of a deliberative character a letter was issued, signcd by ten leading ministers, calling a series of meetings to found the Society. The preparatory meeting was held on September 21st, 1795, at the Castle and Falcon, Aldersgate Street, when there appeared a very numerous and respectable assembly of ministers and others whose aspect indicated seriousness, ardor, and harmony worthy of so great an occasion." 'it " On the three following days six sermons were preached in some of the largest chapels in London, followed by several business meetings, and a general meeting on Friday the 25th, at which the Society was definitely inaugurated by the election of a treasurer, two secretaries, and 32 directors, and the 'plan' of it adopted. Of this it is only necessary to say that it was called simply the Missionary Society, and its sole object defined to be ' to spread the knowledge of Christ among heathen and other unenlightened nations.'" CongregatlOnalists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and members of the Countess of Huntingdon's connection united in this movement. The leaders were influential and eminent in the churches to • .. An Introductory Memorial Respecting the Formation of the Missionary Society ;" .leo, .. A Blatory of the London Missionary Society." By the Rev. W. Ellis. Vol. I. This hlatory. unfortu. utely. Wile never completed. which they belonged; great harmony prevailed in all their deliberations, the meetings were crowded, and the impression produced extended far and wide.
The sphere for the first mission had previously been considered, and " it was unanimously resolved that the first attempt of this Society shall be to send missionaries to Otaheite or some other islands of the South Sea; and also that missions may be as early as possible attempted to the Coast of Africa, or to Tartary, or to Surat, on the Malabar Coast of India, or to Bengal, or the Coromandel Coast of India, or to the Island of Sumatra, or to the Pelew Islands."
The first mission was soon commenced. On July 27th, 1796, thirty missionaries-four ordained ministers, the others artisans-were designated for this work, in the presence of a large congregation, ten ministers of different denominations engaging in the service. The missionaries sailed for Tahiti in the ship .Duff on August 10th, and reached their destination on March 6th, 1797, the first evangelists ever sent to any of the numerous islands of Polynesia.
The Society had many influential, united, zealous friends, and as these passed away, others like-minded were found to carry on the work so well begun. This will be seen from the foIIowing statement of the missions it successively established. In 1797 missionaries were sent to the Foulahs near Sierra Leone; in 1798 to Bengal and to the Cape of Good Hope; in the following year to Newfoundland; in 1804 to Surat, on the West Coast of India, to the South and East coasts, and to Ceylon; in 1808 to British Guiana and the West Indies, and the first Protestant missionary 1.0 China in 1811 ; in 1813 to Java and the Mauritius; in 1815 to Malacca, and in 1816 to one of the Greek islands; to Madagascar in 1818 and Siberia in 1819. New Guinea was occupied in 1871, and Lake Tanganyika, in Central Africa, in 1877.
Some of these misbions were small and isolated, and for one reason or another were in time abandoned, but the foIIowing great spheres are now occupied by the Society, and have in every instance expanded from single stations to groups, usually of extended influence.
After more than fourteen years of toil and alternate hope, disappointment and danger, the Gospel triumphed in TAHITI AND THE ADJOINING ISLANDS, and after a few years of quiet, successful toil, a great extension of the missions was caused by the splendid zeal of John Williams, who between 1822 and 1839, when he met a martyr's death on Erromanga, placed missionaries and native evangelists on a number of islands, some of them far separated from each other. The Society now occupies the Harvey, Samoan, and Loyalty groups of islands, and a number of isolated ones, like Nine or Savage Island. Most of these are so entirely Christian that no remains of idolatry are to be seen, save. as memorials of a dark and barbarous past; but the influence of the Society has extended far beyond its own spheres. Its romantic and remarkable successes drew attention to the Pacific, and led to the occupation of many islands by other societies, and with such marked results as are seen in Fiji, the Sandwich, and other islands.
One most satisfactory issue of the Polynesian mission was the com. mencement of the NEW GUINEA MISSION in 1871.
Christianity had so triumphed in many islands, and converts had approved themselves such reliable pastors and evangelists, that two experienced missionaries and a number of native volunteers were appointed to begin a new mission, or rather a series of missions on the southeast coast of New Guinea, the largest island in the world with the exception of Australia. The climate is unhealthy and the people are degraded and treacherous, and a large number of the Polynesian evangelists have been invalided, died of disease, or been slain, but volunteers have been found to occupy even positions of peril, and now one hundred and eleven native agents, with seven European missionaries, are spreading light and truth from many stations and with marked success.
The four or five small stations in INDIA at the beginning of the century have grown into twenty-five, with a yet larger number of out-stations.
Nearly two thousand miles intervene between Almora, in the Himalaya, and Travancore, near Cape Comorin. In the latter little kingdom is the most flourishing of the Society's Indian missions, with its fifty-three thousand converts, a number found only in four other parts of India within the same area.
In CHINA, as in India, it has been hitherto a time of sowing rather than of reaping.
The evangelization of by far the two greatest empires in the world, each dominated by intricate and specious systems of superstition, the outgrowth of remarkable race idiosyncrasies, and therefore congenial to the genius and character of the people, is inevitably a slow and stupendous task. Nor have Christian people yet grasped the conception of what the conversion of a vast empire means, either in its arduousness. duration. or splendor. The London Missionary Society, in both these supremely important fields, alike through education, literature, and preaching, has all through the century borne a most conspicuous part. It has missions in some of the most important cities of China, as Canton, Shanghai, Amoy, Hankow, Tientsin, and Peking; and it has had an exceptionally large number of eminent and learned missionaries, but with all other societies it has to regret the small number of converts and of reliable native helpers.
In MADAGASCAR the Society has had its greatest trials and triumphs, if fidelity in suffering even unto death and the number of its converts alone be considered. The mission began with disaster. * Then followed some eleven years of steady work; then years of repression and persecution, * Mr. Be'f8n and Mr. Jones were the pioneer missionaries. Within a few weeks the former, With hill wife and child, and lIlrs. Jones and her child, died. even unto death, and then a glorious outburst of Christian fruitfulness and of freedom to worship God. The Society has now more than 346,000 converts there who form 1200 Christian congregations, and are ministered to by 1061 native ordained ministers and a yet more numerous company of preachers; but great as these results seem, the wonder is justified that after such zeal and propagandism, as the long years of persecution revealed, the results have not been greater.
In AFRICA the early promise has not been realized. The missions have had such men as Vanderkemp, Phillips, Moffat, and Livingstone, and at one time were more numerous in South Africa than now. The Society set ~ fine example by sending some of its missionaries far into the interior, but the churches, the communities, and the native ministry have not grown in strength and number as much as might have been expected. CENTRAL AFRICA has cost some precious lives, and many difficulties have occurred in the prosecution of the mission, as indeed has been the case with all the missions in that vast region; but the worst apparently has been surmounted and the signs of coming blessing seem clear.
In the WEST INDIES during the middle half of the century the Society had several important stations throughout Demerara, Berbice, and Jamaica. Some years since these were supposed to be qualified for self-support and were left with but partial aid, so that now only one missionary represents the Society in the West Indies.
The only missionary in MONGOLIA belongs to this Society. It has been prosecuted with singular devotion for twenty-five years by one missionary chiefly, with but partial results, and now has but two.
Gertainfeaturelof the Society's history and of its present position, as indicated in the table with which this paper closes, are noteworthy.
The first event of importance in its history was the conversion of King Pomara and a considerable number of his subjects in Tahiti and one or two neighboring islands. For some years the missionaries saw no fruit to their labors ; opposition threatened; some of the missionaries withdrew from the islands ; the directors at home became discouraged ; the abandonment of the mission was suggested. This led to a time of special prayer. There came tidings of great joy, of victory for the Christian party and of many conversions. It was a great crisis in the Society's history, and the issues were very remarkable in the increase of enthusiasm at home and the extension of missions in Polynesia and elsewhere.
The visits of John Williams to England from 1834 to 1838, after eighteen years' splendid service in Polynesia, and of Robert Moffat, from 1839 to the close of 1842, after twenty-three years of African romance, did more to kindle missionary enthusiasm than the visits of any two men have ever done. Both were remarkable men in pCl'Sonality, power of speech, and resourcefulness. Their lives abroad had been romantic, perilous, enterprising, and successful. They had thrilling stories to tell, and told them well. Heroes they were without knowing it, for they were simple and humble, but inspired by missionary enthusiasm, and they inspired others. Wherever they went there were crowded audiences, and the impressions they produced were profound and enduring. From that time the position and reputation of the Society were distinctly raised.
Another marked event was the resumption of the Madagascar Mission. After ten years of successful seed-sowing the protecting King Radama died. His queen succeeded him. Then for nearly thirty years, more systematic and severe methods were used to extinguish Christianity than has been seen anywhere else during this century. For more than twenty years the missionaries were exiled; but when the queen died it was seen that the five or six score Christians there were at the beginning of her reign had grown to many thousands! The Society which had begun the work and watched over it all through the dark days sent at once a large band of missionaries, and has ever since made Madagascar one of its principal fields. The story of that long persecution through fine, imprisonment, slavery, and death in its most terrible forms, endured with wonderful fortitude and ending so gloriously, ranks as the greatest triumph of this Society.
It was a marked advance in its policy when in 1871 it commenced the New Guinea Mission, and in 1877 the one in Central Africa. It is sufficient here to point out that both were pioneer missions on a large scale, among races far removed from all Christian influences, in most unhealthy regions, and entailing a permanent heavy annual expenditure. Since both these movements were undertaken in obedience to public desire, it was expected that they would elicit a corresponding enthusiasm and liberality; these, though considerable, have not equalled expectations, and this has caused some of the most important missions in India and China to be inadequately sustained for some time.
It was in some degree a consciousness of this neglect which led three years ago to the initiation of what has been well called theforward movement. It was resolved to increase the European staff of agents by one hundred before the centenary was complete.
This meant an increase of one third in agency and about one fourth in annual outlay. Almost one half the missionaries have been sent out, and some advance in the income has been made, but not to the extent hoped for and needed. To the deep disappointment, therefore, of many this movement is suspended, not without hope that it will be resumed and completed before the close of next year.
The Society has been fortunate in its foreign secretaries. Only one can here be referred to, though Dr. Mullens, as missionary, author, and secretary, is worthy of high honor, but Dr. Tidman was in the latter position for twenty-seven years. He was called" the prince of secretaries," nor was he unworthy of the name. In bearing he was a courtly gentleman. His power to influence others was great. He had large administrative ability and insight. His reports and speeches were ~models of explicitness, force, and persuasive eloquence, and his devotion to the Society undoubted.
The general features and policy of the Society are worthy of notice. It has remained faithful to its original principle of undenominationalism.
In the course of time Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and others have drawn off from it, not through strife or controversy-for of these there has been singularly little throughout its history-but from a belief that organizations on a denominational basis would gain a largcr amount of sympathy and support. The Congregationalists have not had such a desire, and remaining loyal to the Society, it has largely come into their hands. It is to their honor that they have never desired to make it exclusively their own, or to call it by some new name. Hence it is that, being wishful to maintain the undenominational, and, as they jndge, nobler feature of the Society, they have been at pains to associate Presbyterians and others with themselves in the management of its affairs, and never decline to send a non-Congregationalist into the mission field if he is judged to be suitably qualified. Such there now are and always have been.
It has been honored by the services of an unusually large number of eminent missionaries. It has sent out more than one thousand agents, and an unmmal number of them have been men of more than average ability as scholars, evangelists, and organizers, and not a few have attained to the first rank in the missionary band of worthies.
It will be admitted by almost all acquainted with th~ history of missions during this century that Vanderkemp, Morrison, Phillips, Williams, Moffat, Ellis, Mullens were eminent missionaries, and that few societies can present an equal number of men so distinguished.
And it may be claimed for the Society that it has faithfully and efficiently carried out the purposes for which it was formed.
It has had its difficulties. The missionary cause is nowhere so popular as it should be. Christian people for the most part give it but a lukewarm support. Affairs are keenly watched and unkindly criticised continually, questions of extreme delicacy and difficulty have to be dealt with.
The directors at home and the missionaries abroad are not invariably wise or good-natured or companionable. Disaster comes, success does not. To sustain missionaries in unhealthy countries and among savage and unfriendly men, decade after decade, is no light task. Popularity is desirable, but its demands are not always reasonable, and societies, like individuals, are tempted to enter on courses that promise much, but end in embarrassment, perhaps disaster.
This Society has passed through these various experiences, and it speaks well for its leaders, and suggests that it has been guided by God, that its course has been so free from disaster, and so generally distinguished by able management, nobility of policy, and aim and great success. To prosecute the missionary enterprise in countries so wide apart as the West and East Indies, China and Africa, Polynesia, New Guinea, and Madagascar, and among races differing widely from one another and from ourselves, for periods extending over twenty years almost to one hundred, without any great breach or mistake or failure at home or abroad-not without struggles and discouragement, indeed, but with a history marked at each decade by progress upward and onward-is ample evidence of the administrative powers of the secretaries generally, the sagacity and high character of the directorate, the ability, consideration, and zeal of the missionaries, and, above all, the presence and blessing of God. The following summary will show the high position of success and efficiency it has attained, though it leaves unrecorded much that has been accomplished. There are, for instance, several churches and congregations in the West Indies and South Africa which were planted and mustered by the Society, and then-too hastily-left to themselves. So, too, there are many more in Polynesia, Madagascar, India, and China, related to it, but receiving no aid, or if they do, giving in return as much or more than they receive.
The total income for the year 1893-94 was £141,369, but of this amount £26,903 was raised at the mission stations. It will be seen that while the foreign missionary number 258, the ordained native ministers are 1476, and the other native preachers 6758. Is there any other society that derives so large a proportion of its income from its own mission stations, or has so large a number of native agents, in comparison with the number of its European missionaries 1 GENERAL SUMMARY FOR THE YEARS 1893-94.
DAY SCHOOLS.
s§ STATIONS~.~a).a "'- ~ iii~'5alz!'" ",,,,m '" ~"~,f"- SUNDAY I Boys. GIRLS. LOCAL ~.~ '~fl SCHOOLS. CONTRI- AND OUT-:=~ 'Es ~~'~" :rs."""", Z":'"§ STATIONS. ~ .; .;, BUTIONB. ~.2 o.~ ~~ -< '0 ~ ~.~ '0'" ~~ j~ .0g 0 – – – – – – – – – – No. Schol- '0 ." .'0g – – – ars. w. – ." w" . w. — — w" . – — — I £ s. d.
1. China …… 45 21 8 9; 5,017 3,370 11 605 57 1,691 28 1,225 3.116 19 8 2. North India 20 17 9 39 701 2,381 36 1,661 58 4,279 50 2,442 1,620 3 0 3. South India 34 15 15 121 2,036 15,822 1,858 161 6,501 37 3,061 577 12 2 4. Travancore. 11 3 22 28:1 6,730 53,147 …6.2 374 13,000 38 4,552 1,942 19 4 1,061 5,879 63,020 283,738 119 16;368 441 36,931 7,3;l6 12 8 23 1,211 227 7 1…. …. …. …. … … ………………. n 5. MadagaScar 326…. …. '37,497 o 2 …. 6. Africa ….. 25 . … •. W~""'… , …..•.. 2,421 4.291 3 230 ~j34'045 8. Polynesia… 22 4 361 266 14,267 42,046 280 13,323 302 8,156 221 5,438 4,246 1 0 Totals… 190 -;- 1,476 6,758 94,192 404,795 1,416 71,769 37554,215119,067-;-; Local Contributions * …………………………………………. £19,067 8 5 School Fees. …… ……………. …….. …….. …….. ……….. 7,635 12 9 Totalraised at Mission Stations ………………….. ,…………. … £26,903 1 2 – – – – N.H.-These statistics are necessarily incomplete owing to insnfficient returns, … ).IIultipl;r b;r jive to jUlcertain approximately the n1ll11ber of dollara,
A. MODEL WORKING CHURCH IN THE WORLD'S C.A.PITAL
A MODEL WORKING CHURCH IN THE WORLD'S CAPITAL.
BY REV. JAMES DOUGLAS, M.A.., BRIXTON, LONDON, ENGLAND.
The recent celebration of Pastor A. G. Brown's fiftieth birthday is a seasonable occasion to put in brief form a record of his East End labors j and, if possible, supply a graphic sketch not only of the man, but of the church over which he presides, and which we have ventured to designate a model working church in the world's capital. It is given to few men to do such a work as the East End Tabernacle monuments, and to do it in face of conditions which tax to the utmost not only the frailness of the flesh, but the willingness of the spirit. No man can be insensible to his environment j and when the environment lacks lustre, when year in and year out it is one unvarying round of monotony and of care, when the scene does not change and there is no poetic gleam to relieve the dull prose of prevailing existence, when the tide of poverty and distress seems rather to rise than to sink despite the inflow of liberality and the increase of social schemes, it is no wonder if at times the hrave worker grows weary, and the temptation to faint be well-nigh insupportable. With such an environment as this, which we have only sketched with a light hand, Pastor A. G. Brown has for twenty-eight years labored for God. During that period he has known many a juniper-tree, and though a man of strong physique has more than once all but touched breaking point. His fiftieth year, however, finds him strong, sanguine, and jubilant. "Never," said he to us, "have I had so much to encourage me in my work as now. My wife's health causes me constant anxiety, but the work flourishes, and our meetings were never so fruitful as of late. The jubilee year is the best that has yet been. "
With the exception of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Mr. Brown's church has a larger membership than any in London. But it is not the size of this work, great though it be, which most impresses us, as the manifestly live description of it. Drawn mainly from the dreary work.a-day world -the pleasure grounds of the" sweater"-and from strata more deeply sunken still, the church which meets in the East End Tabernacle exhibits all the features of a corporate body. This church is cohesive. It is a unit. There is the charm, the felt presence of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. These people have come in their multitude for worship, fellowship, and testimony as partakers together of the same grace and heirs of the same glory. They are not there because magnetized by some sensation or befooled by some flaming poster. Mr. Brown abhors the arts of sensationalism, and has held on his way, employing no means to reach the masses save those which the simplicity there is in Christ and sworn fidelity to the Gospel justify. And not only has he reached them in a way which sensationalists might envy, but he has held them when reached, and raised vast numbers of them, throuih the operation of the Spirit, into newness of life, so that the church itself is become a hive of Christian activity-a model working church in the world's capital.
One of the assumptions of the times is that the power to draw is the be-all and end·aIl of ministry. This power certainly may, on the best of grounds, be made the subject of definite petition and endeavor; but if it stands alone-and the case is by no means hypothetical-it only serves the more to mirror forth the poverty that is there. In such a case the pulpit is only another form and expression of the performer's art. The show of numbers is but a show, and only in a complimentary sense may the aggregate be reckoned a church. Strictly construed, no church exists which is worthy of the name where there are no uniting bonds of the Spirit, no mystic tie of love, no oneness of soul, no responsibility mutually shared, and making all hearts pulsate with a common aim. But Mr. Brown's success is not of a nominal description. It is not a mere instance of drawing ability, but of edifying force, and of the cumulative effect that is ever the mark of the Spirit's infused grace and life. How much greater than mere attraction is assimilation; and how much superior to the art of massing diverse units is the sacred science which, by the magnetism of Christ's cross, supersedes the nominal in Christianity and makes the living oneness of professed believers to be declared !
In many respects Mr. Brown reminds us of the late C. H. Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, by whom he was baptized on June 21st, 1861, and in whose college he was subsequently trained for the Gospel ministry. The affection uniting these two eminent servants of Christ was one of the closest description-a point to which we have made feeling reference elsewhere. Like Mr. Spurgeon, Mr. Brown has the faculty of incisive utterance. He can be and is aphoristic. There is not with him, indeed, the same varied flow and many-sidedness of touch, for he is not, to the same extent, an all-round man; but there is quite as quick sympathy; there is the like readiness to see a good point and state it with as keen a relish; there is as strong passion and noble-minded scorn, the same play of genial humor when the fit is on, and that wondrous power so effectual in crushing souls into the depths of concern-we refer to the power which some preachers have in solemnizing the conscience, as if the last trump were being sounded in the ear. The likeness between the two men is all the more patent to those who have known both intimately, in that it is founded on individuality. It would be ,absurd to speak of Mr. Brown-and, indeed, we have never heard the allegation made-as an imitator of Spurgeon. A lover of him he was. As he observed to the writer of this sketch on the great funeral week: "The world can never be the same to us again, now that he is gone-never quite." But imitation of any man has never been Mr. Brown's role, any more than it ever was Spurgeon's. 'The individuality, in this case, is far too strong, and clearly cut, and impetuous to admit of any form of imitation's falsification. Like the illustrious departed, Mr. Brown is large.souled; and having the blend of the lion and the eagle, combined with a warm human heart, touched with Christ's compassions, he needed scope. In the populous East End of London, which we can hardly think of without a shudder, he has found it; and there in the fulness of his powers he labors still, the hand of the Lord being with him, and only the marks on head and feature to tell of the deep fellowship with Christ's sufferings he has had.
Within the limits of the British Isles we know of no man who has had such success, we will not say in winning souls, although that, perchat;tce, is true, but in that more arduous and difficult work still, their unification in church life and action. He certainly has obtained the gift of wisdom, so as to compact the converts won into a fellowship and make them coherent in spirit and service. 'What are his methods ~ With what lever is this result attained ~ The inquiry may be answered in one word, PRAYER. His Saturday evening prayer-meeting is not the least of London sights, and is one of the most instructive of them all. Into this weekly gathering of over a thousand on an average, the pastor throws himself heart and soul; and like pastor, like people. Together they meet to pray as if it were (which, indeed, it is to them) the most serious and influential business of life. Hence, were the leader questioned as to the secret of the blessing given, he would doubtless reply: "Prayer is the secret of it–prayer as embodied in a praying church. There is no getting on without prayer. I cannot myself get on without it; and how can I preside over a living church unless I can get them to feel the vital need of prayer. It is useless preaching, unless such Christians as I have around me hold up my hands in prayer. And so with all our machinery. What is machinery but dead incumbrance unless impelled by Holy Ghost power ~ Far better throw up our many works of service and attempt nothing at all, if we are not minded, from a sense of utter incapacity, to pray every agency in the field in'to instruments of power."
" Restraining prayer we cease to fight, Prayer makes the Christian's armor bright; And Satan trembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees."
Such an answer, however, always implies more than lies on the snrface. The prayer of power never stands alone, and is seldom found in company with the invertebrate in doctrine, or the dim in spiritnal insight. In considering the work achieved in this case, we have to remember that the flock are fed with the strong meat of doctrine-Calvinistic dogma some would call it-and that thc utmost care is exercised to increase their stamina for walk and service. Doctrinally Mr. Brown stands where C. H. Spurgeon stood, combining with a solicitude to save that never wavers a recognition of the elective purpose of the Father that never falters. He cedes nothing to modern thought, and is a vigilant censor and unsparing opponent of downgradism in every form. A few sentences may here be cited from this year's letter to his many helpers within and without his immediate fold: "Darkness and sin abound, and a grievous apostasy from the truth is spreading over the land. The Word of God is being assailed from every quarter, and the Holy Writings that Jesus loved and believed are being degraded to a mere human literature. We want no one to help us under any false impression, and therefore we think it only honest to avow that to us the Bible is the Word of God from beginning to end. Jesus Christ is to us the highest of all critics. He has stamped the Old Testament Scriptures as true, and declared them to be all they claim to be. If He was mistaken, a13 some tell us, we elect to be mistaken with Him. The very supposition is blasphemous. Within sight of where we sit is the window of the room in which dear Spurgeon breathed his last. He has gone, but his witness against the ' down grade' still lives. In all parts there are faithful souls that sigh and cry, as he did, because of the apostasy of the age. Pray God that they may be multiplied, and that England may once again honor the Bible, that has been the secret of her prosperity in the past."
The principal, as it is certainly the most difficult part of the work attempted by this church, concerns the systematic effort made to reach and win over the masses of lapsed population lying at their doors. It is quite certain that the spirit of hearing, in London generally, is not what it was a· generation or two ago. Supineness, indifference, and positive aversion have more than kept step with the aggressive tactics of late years. But there is an importunity in practice, as in prayer, that is not to be denied ; and it is by unweariedness in well-doing this church has sought, and still seeks, to compass her ends. In addition to nine missionaries, who do curates' work under their leader, and systematically visit all the houses of the adjoining streets within a given area, there are many volunteers, who contribute in similar ways, so that no one, even though he be, to use Whitefield's expression, "a devil's castaway," need remain in the dark or perish from lack of knowledge. We subjoin the figures as regards one street, which may be taken as a specimen of many more: Number of houses …..••••………… … 27 " " families…. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 " "adults ……………………. 412728} 600 " " children .•••.•……………….
Six hunared persons in twenty-seven small houses, and out of this number twelve make profession of Christ. The only comment made in connection with this enumeration is that the street in question" is decidedly better than many in the neighborhood."
All the year round this visitation work goes on, and is regarded by pastor and people as the very framework of their life. During 1893, 18,587 visits were paid, each visit being made a business of, a distinct form of Christian enileayor, colloquially known as "button-holeing." Relief, which is largely called for, is strictly based on the knowledge that accrues from a visitation that is in daily process and that searches into the darkest corners. The verdict of experience is that promiscuous relief " results only in good things being squandered, and lying and vice being rewarded." In other words, it is " a curse rather than a blessing." The Benevolent Account, under the head of "Mission Fund Expenditure for 1893," amounted in all to £2301 Os. lId. The varied items constitute a miscellaneous and lengthy assortment. Let it suffice to state that in addition to what is required for homes (Sea-side and Girls'), mission chapels, and mission halls, salaries of missionaries, boarding out children in country, medical attendance, and midwifery, etc., there were given in relief during the past year 3908 garments of various kinds, comprising all sorts of male and female apparel and baby clothes j 7432 loaves of bread j 3390 Ibs. of meat j 34 cwt. of rice j 157! Ibs. of tea j 2096 tickets for groceries j and 25,755 free tickets for soup and puddings.
As a specimen of the rich return that is sometimes given in recompense for a little help to one of the least of these-His brethrim-we may cite Mr. Brown's story of a half-crown bedstead: "One chair, one low box for table, two little stools, two large pieces of sacking laid on the floor for beds. No mattress, no pillow, no blanket. Nothing.
" The place, however, was beautifully clean. There were husband, wife, four children, and another daily expected. The husband was formerly in business for himself, and once a member of a Congregational Church. For twelve years, however, he had not been inside any place of worship. He said, • I got out of communion, and I've never been in since.' A little help has done wonders. We began with the half-crown bedstead, purchased at this nominal price from a friend. Some one gave a mattress, another gave some chairs. The last gift was a table, a great treasure. They have also been helped with clothes and in other ways. The husband now has work, and in company with his wife attends regu. larly at the Tabernacle. The half-crown bedstead was a blessed invest· ment. "
Of a more pathetic character is the incident inscribed ., Two Little Coffins: " It was November 9th that, hearing ofthe trouble of Mr. Ilond Mrs. D., I ran in. What a contrast to the festivities going on in the city! (Lord Mayor'S Day.) The youngest, aged one year, was just laid out, and another child of four was dying. Father was out of work, mother bewildered, and four other children in the room. The child of four died almost directly, and two little coffins were placed side by side. On the day of the funeral I went in. There stood the father, and the two little eoffins were before him on the table. He remarked, 'I feel stupefied, six children already in llford Oemetery, and these two will make eight. Five still left, one a soldier in foreign parts j I'm crumpled up.' I took up my Bible and read from 2 Sam. 12 : 16-23, reminding him that God had made it gloriously possible for him to see his children again. We knelt by the side of the two little coffins, and poured out our souls in prayer. The mother has since been ill, but finds comfort in the Lord. They now attend the sanctuary and are happy in God."
What "Darkest England" is like is not unknown to this church, whose aim is to bear the torch of Gospel light into the interior of the heathenism at her own doors. The following extract from the diary of one of the female missionaries speaks for itself : " Are you a Christian ~" Mrs. E.: "Oh, yes, Miss j I hope so." " Then you mean that when you die you know you will be safe ~" " Oh, no, Miss j I wouldn't like to say that j I ain't fit for heaven." " How do you hope to get fit ~" " I am sure I don't know." " Are you a sinner ~" " Oh, yes, we are all sinners j at least not all, I should say that three out offour was a sinner. " Richard Baxter confessed that as he grew older his views of what constituted the Christian's chief duty underwent a change, and that the call to rejoice in the Lord, to live in the Divine sunshine, and to reflect. it, became the foremost requirement of all. We trace much to the influence of Divine sunshine in this East End work. Without an abounding flow of spirits, through the realized grace of God, it would be impossible for pastor or people to hold on, hemmed in, as they are, by life's struggle in its bitterest form, and saddened by sights to which there is no getting used. But the grace of joy, like Atlas, can bear earth's pillars up. What is done by this church is done cheerily. Little is attempted in the minor key. The major key of assurance is struck. Public houses are stormed, loafers importuned to come to the house of God, the sinfnl and despondent reanimated by those who have ceased to tremble for personal safety or to ask with quavering voice: "Am I His? or, am I not ?" This feature of gladsomeness is not without its effect on the sad and wretched world around. The spiritually starved get the impression that a feast awaits them. It is the language of the heart that can best persuade j and when joy prompts the utterance, chords long dead vibrate once more. Prayer must be lived as well as spoken j and to the degree that faith inspires it, will it prove aggressive in action. The work in the East End Tabernacle is a present-day witness to this fact. It is by no means a question altogether of the preacher's drawing power. There are many co-operant units whose object it is to help into the sanctuary those who, apart from tho persuasive zeal of the loving-hearted, would never find the way. Thus every Sunday evening a large contingent is withdrawn from the gin palaces and the street corners to hear the Gospel's joyful sound, and from this class numbers are taken to sample forth afresh the greatness of redeeming love. We close this sketch with a brief reference to the pastor's jubilee, which was held on his fiftieth birthday, July 18th, 1894, and took the form of an open-air festival in the spacious grounds of Harley House, Bow Road. Some sixteen hundred had tea in the open air, the day being everything that could be desired. Among the crowd were many men of note whose service in the Gospel has obtained for them a place in the line of apostolical succession. America was represented by Dr. Chase, of Philadelphia, and Dr. Lorimer, of Boston, and England, by Christian workers in various fields of enterprise. Mr. Thomas Spurgeon was the first speaker, who, having to leave early, anticipated, in a few words of hearty greeting, the meeting that was timed to begin at 6.30 P.M. Mr. John Marnham, of Boxmoor, having been voted to the chair, alluded to the special tie which bound himself and family to the brother whose jubilee they had met to celebrate. Many years ago Mr. Brown had come unknown and unexpectedly as a guest into his family, and as a result of his visit four of his children had been brought to make an open confession of Christ. It was no wonder, then, that no name was more honored and welcomed in his household than that of Archibald G. Brown. Haying called for three hearty cheers for the pastor, the chairman then asked him to speak. Mr. Brown's words were full of references touching and quaint. All day long letters and telegrams of congratulation had been pouring in upon him. His two daughters, missionaries in China, Mrs. Woodward and Miss Gracie Brown, of Shanghai, had not forgotten their father. Of these, one sent word that she would have liked to have sent a telegram, " only it would look so unlike a poor missionary." (We may mention here that Mr. Brown's third daughter, Miss Lucie, is destined for China also, being engaged to Dr. James Bennett, missionary-elect of the L. M. S.) Mrs. Spurgeon did not fail to send her best greetings by telegram from 'Westwood, while a deacon had shown his leanings in the wish, " May your translation to the golden city be delayed as long as possible." The letter, however, which had touched him most was from the first he had ever baptized, when, but nineteen years of age, he began his work at Bromley, in Kent. Since then it had been his joy to baptize between five and six thousand. Mr. Brown's address concluded in these words: " I cannot tell you how much I joy and rejoice over all the goodness of God. All day long it has been my one thought, what a glorious God I have, what a marvellous Master, what a splendid Saviour! Oh, the mysteryof love that He has let me stay so long in His service!" Many took part in the subsequent proceedings, including the Rev. J. T. Wigner, the Rev. E. H. Brown (the pastor's brother), Mr. Pinney, who represented the church, and told of the harmony that prevailed and the friendship binding the deacons and the pastor-a tangible expression of affection being shown in the gift of £250, the acceptance of which by the pastor was now asked-the Rev. Henry Bone, of Hackney, a Wesleyan minister, and Dr. John C. Lorimer, of Tremont Temple, Boston. The evening
MEXICO AS A MISSION FIELD
shadows were lengthening ere the meeting closed, but the gathering was slow to break up, for it was a day of days, an Ebenezer which bore this inscription : " Grace all the work shall crown Through everlasting days, It lays in heaven the topmost stone, And well deserves the praise."
MEXICO AS A MISSION FIELD.
BY REV. SAMUEL P. CRA.VER, D.D., PUEBLA, MEXICO.
It happens not unfrequentIy that we become so interested in distant affairs that we quite overlook those that are near at hand. This seems to be especially true in the work of missions. Undoubtedly the Church at large, in the United States, knows vastly more about the great mission fields of Asia and of the South Sea Islands than about Mexico, the nearest foreign field. Indeed, with a large element in the Protestant churches of to-day, who see nothing but bigotry and fanaticism in those who labor for the overthrow of Romanism, there is a question as to the need, or the right, of establishing Christian missions in a country that for centuries has professed the Roman Catholic religion. Scarcely ever does one hear Mexico, South America, or Italy named in the pnblic prayers for foreign missions, except it be at missionary concerts, when these countries furnish the theme. The reason for this manifestly consists in the fact that the Church does not fully realize the appalling need of Roman Catholic lands.
For the purpose of throwing a few rays of light on the claims of Mexico as a mission field, let us observe some of the salient features of the case.
1. The religious condition of the people. As is well known, the Roman Catholic religion had an absolute and undisturbed hold upon the Mexicans from the time of the conquest in the sixteenth century till the middle of the present one. It was imposed upon the people largely by force, partly by fraud, and in part through the earnest efforts of zealous missionaries; but by whatever means introduced it gained a powerful hold upon the hearts of the people, and for three centuries they were moulded by the priesthood with all the pliability of the clay upon the potter's wheel. No other country better represents the fruits of Romanism. But the Romanism of Mexico differs quite widely in its external manifestations from that seen in the United States. This is not because the Mexican article is a counterfeit or a corruption, but because the American type has been changed and largely Protestantized outwardly. With all the Pope's increasing interest in the United States as' his" favorite country," he addresses the members of the Mexican Church as his" predilect children. " They are true Roman Catholics.
However, the influence of Protestant thought, and especially of scepti- cism, began to make inroads into this country some fifty years ago. The Bible, without note or comment, was introduced in the wake of the American Army in 1846-48. As a consequence of various influences a strong reaction against sacerdotal tyranny set in, affecting favorably the political life of the nation and resulting in religious toleration, but not directly favorable to an improved moral state. On the contrary, it is quite possible that the general moral condition of Mexico is even worse than it was under the complete domination of the clergy, though there has been great advancement in the intellectual life.
But the masses of the people are still in a lamentable state of ignorance. In the cities and larger towns probably from 30 to 50 per cent can read and write, but in the rural districts and small villages the proportion of readers is exceedingly small. In some parts of the country there are large villages where only one or two persons in the whole population can read 'and write.
Of course such a condition of intellectual stagnation affords a splendid field for the growth of superstition. Rome has maintained this condition, and has pandered to the appetite for the marvellous and silpernatural, until a wonderful mass of childish superstitions exist among the people. One of the most recent manifestations of this is seen in the frequent appari- tions U) of the Virgin Mary. Within the last eighteen months there have been several such in different parts of the country, some of them on the broad, thick leaves of the maguey plant, from which the national beverage, pulque, is extracted. Presumably the Virgin has made these apparitions in the interest of the liquor traffic, thus consecrating this drink.
Naturally enough a people so steeped in superstition would also be idolatrous, not merely in the sense of a refined and elevated form of saintworship, but also in a gross and sensuous devotion to material idols. Certainly it would be difficult to find a country not semi-barbarous where idol-worship is more common than in Mexico. Intelligent Catholics confess that the masses worship the material image.
The writer once had a conversation with a well-educated young priest on this subject, and in answer to the question if it were not true that the people worshipped images, he said: "Oh, of course they do. I have the proof of that right here in my church. We had an ugly, dirty, black, old Christ [referring to the image]; and I had it replaced by a new one, white, handsome, and well-painted; but the old women are not satisfied. They want the dirty, black, old Christ they have always had. Oh, certainly they worship the material image." When asked if he did not know that that was idolatry, he said: "Most certainly it is." "Then," said I, "why do you not labor to destroy it, for you know that idolatry is wrong ~" "Oh," he replied, " I am doing all I can to break it up. I say mass in the morning with the new, white Christ, and in the afte~ noon we have the rosary with the old, black Christ. I do this so that the people may not think either of the white or the black, but only of Christ / /" This is a practical illustration of the kind of efforts generally made by the priests to destroy error-a multiplication of the evil in question, both by precept and example.
In this city, one of the most pious in the country, I recently witnessed an exhibition of the trust in images that was new to me, -and was certainly quite novel. A fire broke out in the corner grocery just across the street from our mission property, near midnight. The professors and students from our school joined actively with the neighbors and the fire department to extinguish the blaze. Before much had been accomplished, however, and while the flames in all their fury were bursting out of the doors, I saw a man run up several times and throw some little objects in the fire. My first thought was that they were little bombs or firecrackers that he was playing with, though they made no report. What was my surprise to learn that they were fragments of a family saint, which the wife of the shopkeeper was breaking in pieces and having thrown into the flames in order to extinguish the fire / / This blind devotion to images has filled the churches and the houses of the people with objects of worship of every variety, from the six-cent, horribly printed wood-cut, to the chaste and beautiful, life-size sculpture, clad in silk and velvet, with diamonds and precious stones to the value of a million dollars.
While the Laws of Reform vigorously forbid all forms of public worship outside of places dedicated to that purpose, where the authorities are not vigilant, images are carried about the streets in procession, and are taken from house to house to receive special homage, or to lend their aid in soliciting funds for the Church.
Among many of the ignorant people there is found the strange belief that they can oblige the saints to grant their prayers by inflicting punishment upon them. This is practised in numerous ways, such as locking the image up in a box, turning its face to the wall, or hanging it, head downward, in a jar of water.
But, perhaps, the idolatrous character of the religion of Mexico is not its-worst feature. The exaltation of the priesthood seems to me to be even worse. While image-worship simply places an inoffensive block of wood in the place of the Creator, this elevates a wicked, corrupt man, often a black-hearted criminal, to the position that only God should occupy. Indeed, it goes to the extreme of making the priest superior to God, inasmuch as he commands, in the celebration of the Eucharist, and God is obliged to obey. This doctrine is clearly and unequivocally set forth by Liguori in his instructions to the priesthood. Furthermore, the priest is supposed to have power, not only to pardon and save in this life, but his authority extends to the world of spirits, so that he can obtain release for souls in the flames of purgatory. To be sure he cannot accom- plish this last feat without being paid for it. There are many ways of obtaining the necessary funds for this purpose, one of the most novel that I have seen being that of a "raffle for souls." In this city one can fre- quently see on the church doors large posters announcing the result of the last raffle for souls, giving the names of the lucky ones who drew prizes in the spiritual lottery. The plan is simple. Tickets are sold for twentyfive cents each by number. People buy the tickets, specifying at the time the name of the deceased for whom it is purchased. The drawing takes place, and the souls holding the winning numbers receive the benefit of the masses for the dead during a specified period.
The religion of Rome so sets the priest between the soul and God, that, in the general belief of the people, the salvation of the sinner is completely in the priest's hands. No matter how wicked and corrupt he may be as a man, his sacerdotal acts are holy and efficacious. His bless- .ing and absolution open the door of heaven; his curse and excommunication turn even earth into a hell. The blind confidence in the power of the priest is shown in a thousand ways. One instance will serve to illustrate. A young man, given to the usual vices of such in this country, was shot down in the street. Before the priest could reach him to hear his confession, the dying youth had lost the power of speech, but his friends found great comfort in the fact that at the last moment he had pressed the priest's hand. To such people, of course, the Bible is an unknown book, and even when told that God's Word prohibits certain acts, they will answer by saying, " But the curate says they are right," and to the devout Romanist the curate's word has greater weight than God's. The expression " priest-ridden" has a terrible significance as applied to Mexico, and one that no American Protestant can fully comprehend unless he has lived in a papal country.
2. The moral state of Mexico. The moral condition of a people holding and practising such a religion may be imagined; to be known in its fulness one must live for years among the people. There is a varnish of politeness that is very attractive, there are traits of character and some customs that are very beautiful; indeed, there is much to admire in the Mexican people, even under the full influence of Rome. But beneath all the attractiveness, affability, politeness, and other excellent qualities that many have, there is found a lack of moral principle, a rottenness in the moral conceptions, and generally a looseness in practice, that must be personally known to be appreciated. Between the strict Roman Catholicism that makes marriage a sacrament and yet declares concubinage a preferable state for the priest, condoning it in all ranks of the clergy, and the loose ideas of the family tie, engendered by the modern French scepticism which abounds among the educated classes, the pz:actice of the sterner virtues is exceedingly rare. A corrupt and vicious priesthood sets the example of uncleanness, and the people, unrestrained by their religious convictions and living under a southern sky, follow madly the unholy example of their spiritual leaders.
Indecency in the ordinary habits of life and vileness in speech and manner are general characteristics of the masses. The sanctity of the Christian Sabbath is utterly unknown. The Lord's Day is observed as a "feast day," in which the ordinary labors of the farm and shop are largely suspended, though very many work on without regard to it. But the markets, groceries, saloons, and in many places dry good stores, do their most thriving business on that day; while every form of amusement, such as theatres, circuses, bull-fights, cock-fights, balls, etc., find it frequently better than all the rest of the week combined. Indeed, buH-fights seldom occur except on Sunday.
Liquor-drinking is almost universal, and there is an alarming amount of drunkenness. The Church is utterly powerless to restrain this vice, since very many of the priests are sadly addicted to it. Sundays and religious feast-days are specially notorious as times for drunken carousals. There exists no public sentiment in favor of temperance, except such as is the outgrowth of Protestantism.
This brief outline of the religious and moral state of the Mexican people will suffice to show their great need of the Gospel in its purity and with its purifying effects. Surely no unprejudiced observer could doubt the necessity of giving such a people a different religion from the one they have had for centuries, inasmuch as it has completely failed of accomplishing the great object for which true religion exists. Truth mixed with error is often more damaging than error pure and simple; and Romanism, though holding in her possession all essential truth, has so buried it beneath error and superstition, that she doubtless constitutes a greater barrier to the evangelization of Mexico than would pure paganism. She has demonstrated her utter inability to lift the people to a higher moral plane than that they occupied in the days of their old pagan religion. Indeed, it is doubtful if they are as moral now as they were at the time of the conquest, if we may trust the Catholic historians of that period.
Mexico, then, has claims as a mission field on the purely humanitarian principle that would lead to the evangelization of any other country, because of the social and moral benefits that result from the introduction of the Gospel. This claim is reinforced by the fact that, though very religious, her people do not possess the true religion of Christ, and are confiding in rites and ceremonies that cannot save. Furthermore, in the midst of her millions of superstitious souls, there are multitudes who yearn for a purer faith and a more consoling religion than that which leads through purgatorial fires. These waiting, thirsting souls stretch out their hands to receive the water of life by our help.
More than any other field Mcxico has claims upon the Christians of the United States; because of proximity of territory, similarity of governmental forms, the practical import of the Monroe Doctrine, and the absence of organized effort on the part of English and European Chpistians in behalf of Mexico's evangelization. The missionary societies of the Old W orId give all their attention to the mission fields on that side of the globe, while Mexico and the other Spanish-speaking countries on this continent are left to be evangelized by Americans alone. Surely this noteworthy fact shoulu appeal urgently to the Church in the United States, since, in the Providence of God, this seems to be a field peculiarly and exclusively our own.
lNTERNATtoNAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEV. J. T. GBACE~ D.D.
The Barrows :Leotureship in Oaloutta. influence" of the Chicago University, and to secure "the promotion of the [J. T. G.] highest interests of humanity, " and "the enlargement of the kingdom of Mrs. Caroline E. Haskell has present- truth and love on earth." ed to the University of Chicago the sum of $20,0:)0 for the founding of a "Lec- We have endeavored to make the ex- tureship on the Relations of Christianity actest summary of the benevolent intent and the Other Religions." The pro- of the generous donor, setting down posal is that six or more of these lectures naught that might color or mar the be delivered in Calcutta, India, and, if purpose or the benevolence. The exe- deemed best, in Bombay, Madras, or cution of the plan is guarded with a some other of the chief cities of Hin. suggestion that correspondence be first . dustan where large numbers of educat. had with the leaders of thought in India, ed Hindus are familiar with the English to secure "helpful suggestions" in its language. These lectures are to be de- scope and conduct. livered annually or biennially by leading Christian scholars of Europe, Asia, The Ad'/Jance says this lectureship will and America, "in a friendly, temperate, demand consummate fitness and ability conciliatory way." The management in the lecturer among a generation of of the lectureship is to be in the hands non-Christian educated men as familiar of Drs. Harper, John Henry Barrows. with the English language and literature and George S. Goodspeed and their suc. as with their own, but thinks the previous cessors in official relation in the Chicago experiences of President Seelye, Joseph University. She names Archdeacon Cook, and Dr. Pentecost show what Farrar, Dr. Fairbairn, Professors Henry kind of hearing will be accorded to such Drummond, A. B. Bruce, George P. lecturers. It says the editor of the Fisher, Francis G. Peabody, Bishop Potter, and Dr. Lyman Abbott as the ]J}vangelwal Review, for thirty years a. type of lecturers it would be desirable to secure. She intimates, without typi- missionary, has thanked Mrs. Haskell cal names, that representatives of other for her noble gift, and that a leading religions might be selected in Asia, be- Christian lawyer of Calcutta writes that cause "Europe and America wish to he believes such a course of lectures hear and ponder the best that Asia can will be highly appreciated in India. give them." As she acknowledges the earnest wish" expressed by Mr. P. C. On the other hand, Rev. James H. Mozoomdar" that a lectureship similar Messmore, D.D., editor of the Indian to the one Mrs. Haskell founded in the Witness, doubts if any good will come Chicago University should be founded of it. Dr. Messmore is noted for his in Calcutta had more or less influence disregard of conventionalisms which in inducing her to found this lecture- cannot stand the test of the seve~est ship in Calcutta, named in honor of Dr. common sense. He has a wide ac- John Henry Barrows, presumably it quaintance with all shades of Oriental would be that class of Asiatic lecturers thought, language, and literature ; his that might be selected. Her hope is sympathies and mental grasp are alike that thus " a new golden bond between broad. He has had more than a third the East and the West" may be estab- of a century's experience in every phase lished, and ., the extension of the benign of missionary labor in widely separat- ed parts of India, among the most learn- ed and the most illiterate, the richest and the poorest, and with people of all castes and of no caste. Dr. Messmore recognizes the noble cial and appreciative, and we quote the generosity which impelled the founder of this lectureship to this proposal, but whole article: hopes she may be induced to withdraw the gift and turn the money into « SIR: Mrs. Haskell's gift is certainanother channel. He expresses fear lest IV a very generous one, and as such is unwise lecturers be sent, who will do worthy of all praise. But I am inclined mischief. He dreads any attempt to to think that her generosity might have repeat on a small scale the Parliament been better directed. The object of the of Religions, and affirms that the mis· lectures is to present the great questions sionaries of Bengal" are almost unani- of the truths of Christianity, its harmomous in declaring that the Parliament nies with the truths of other religions, did great harm," and says he has seen its rightful claims and the best methods on the pages of almost every religious of setting them forth. The presentation paper in India within a year some refer· of the truths of Christianity and its ence to the injury it has done and is rightful claims is just whatIndia needs. likely to do in India to thc cause of The people of India are perishing for Christ. His suspicions of the possible lack of knowledge of these things. And tenor of the lectureship are based on its the discussion, at fitting opportunities, being an outgrowth of that Parliament. of the best methods of setting these He gives several reasons why such a truths and claims forth is very instruc· lectureship must fail of success as a tive ; but it seems to me the fitting opcourse of apologetics. An attempt to portunity will hardly be found when magnify the good in the heathen relig- the lecturer stands before a large body ions would be made in the presence of of educated Hindus. The discussion of their debasing and demoralizing rites, the best methods is rather a subject for and of the vices which these engender; lecturers and preachers than for such an while an attempt to set a heathen relig- audience. ion in its true light before a heathen audience would inevitably antagonize " But Mrs. Haskell seems to lay spe· the hearers. Missionaries, he says, have cial stress on the harmonies between not found it wise to do either. Besides, Christianity and other systems of religafter being asked to meet Hindus and ion, as the third paragraph of her let- Mohammedans in a friendly way to as· ter indicates ; and I presume that the certain what they and we have in com- lecturer also would' in a friendly, temmon, he wants to know what we are to perate, and conciliatory way' lay much do with that portion of Christian doc- stress upon these harmomes. As the trine which is essentially antagonistic Hindu religion prevails in this country, to all other faiths. Shall we say the the lecturer for India would attempt differences are small and unimportant? chiefly to set forth the harmony between All honest attempt at comparison be· Christianity and Hinduism. It may be tween Christianity and other religions, that I am slow in perceiving analogies, he declares, only serves to bring out the or that I need more study, thought, snd essential antagonism between Christian- experience, but during thirteen years ofity and all other faiths. close contact with Hindu thought I have failed to find many striking resem· As editor of the Indian Witness, Dr. blances between these two religions. I Messmore invites an expression of the have found a few superficial resemviews of any of the older and more ex- blances; but when a system has several perienced missionaries in India in his philosophies to start with, and has such columns, that they may be forwarded to flexibility, plasticity, and power of ab- Dr. Barrows. sorption that it is able to borrow some- thing from every religion with which it Rev. J. Parson, of Lucknow, makes comes in contact, and able to incorthe first contribution. The tone is judi. porate with itself the worship of every kind of god, idol, hero and demon, and every form of superstition, it would be strange indeed if in such an ' encyclo- predia of religions' some superficial re- semblances to Christianity were not found. But, while its teachin&, with regard to God, man, responslbility, duty, sin, righteousness and the way of salvation differs in almost every part from Christian teaching, the real har- monies must be very few. And the more philosophic the form of Hinduism, the fewer the harmonies seem to be.
Yet this would be, I suppose, the form ~ in which lecturers to the educated by means of which this end is to be classes would seek for harmonies. I secured. The agency is twofold, a scarcely think that much good will be committee consisting of the president done by lectures which chiefly set forth or principal of the Chicago (Baptist) the harmonies between Christianity and University, and its two Professors of Hinduism. The effect would be to Comparative Religion. The duty of magnify the superficial resemblances this committee will be to administer the and to confirm the Hindus in their con- funds and to appoint the lecturers, Who viction of the truth of their own relig. constitute the second part of the agency. ion. If they dealt with the many "These lecturers are described as sharp contrasts between the two sys- 'leading Christian scholars of Europe, tems as well as the few slight harmo- Asia, and America.' 'Such Christian nies, and demonstrated the superiority scholars as Archdeacon Farrar, Dr.
of Christianity, more might be accom- Fairbairn, Professor Henry Drummond, plished ; but this would lead to contro- Professor A. B. Bruce, Professor Fisher versy, which is generally to be depre- of Yale, Professor Peabody of Harvard, cated. The Christian lecturer or preach- Bishop Potter, and Dr. Lyman Abbott er, as a part of his equipment for his of New York.' Of these eight, the first work, needs to study and understand four are men in good ecclesiastical the doctrines and practices of Hindu- standing in British churches, and all ism, not in order that he may in his pub- four are able evangelical Christians, poslic work compare the two systems and sessed of popular gifts. 0 f the remain- point out the few slight similarities and ing four I cannot write with the author- the many great differences, but that he ity of personal knowledge or indeed to better understand the Hindu mind and any great extent of their work or of mode of thought and know what truths their reputation.
to emphasize. I believe that the less he " I have no doubt the professors of compares the two systems publicly the Congregational Yale and undenominamore successful his work is likely to tional Harvard are good and able men. be. 'rhe prospect of these lectures does Professor Fisher has done yeoman sernot awaken in me much enthusiasm." vice in the defence of Christianity ; and I have read only what is good of the Rev. K. S. Macdonald, the editor of labors of Bishop Potter and Dr. Lyman the lffDangelica~ Review, to whom the Abbott. What we want are men of Advance refers, held a very much more ability, who know their Bibles and who will make an honest, diligent effort to favorable opinion of " The Parliament study the other religions, and who will of Religions" than did Dr. lIIIessmore. faithfully represent in their lectures He contributed, in response to the call their mutual relations' in a friendly, for expert opinions, an article which temperate, conciliatory way,' and in a , fraternal spirit,' so as to win the hearwe quote in part, the omissions having ers to a favorable interest in spiritual no necessary rele vancy to the imme- truth. diate issue. Dr. Macdonald said: " I believe these men and men of their " SIR: I am asked to supply 'sug- stamp will do all this. I therefore gestions with regard to the importance of this effort to bring about a better heartily welcome the scheme, and say God-speed to it. I also express my urtderstanding between our Western hearty thanks to Mrs. Haskell for her Christian civilization on the one side, splendid gift to the young men of India. I like the scheme specially for the promiand the representatives of the various nence it gives to religion, and more esfaiths of India on the other.' pecially to tke Christian religion; the " 'The effort' here referred to has beginning, middle, and end of it is taken the form, in the words of the Christianity-the interests of Christian- donor, of ' $20,000 for the founding of ity advanced in connection with the a lectureship on the rdations of Ohris· study of the science of c.>mparative retiamty and the otfter re~igions.' This is ligion.
to be the subject-matter of the lec*ures. " Science, true science, must always , The object is equally clear-' So pre· be the handmaid of true religion. senting Ohristianity to others as to win Neither the Bible nor Christians are their faTJorabw interest in its truths.' afraid of the study of any science, still Here we have the means and the end so less of the study of comparative relig- described that there ought to be no mis· ion.
understanding as to either. "However vile the superstition or " There is a third point of undoubted idolatry may be, we need not hesitate importance in the scheme which must to take any truth of God, wherever not be forgotten. That is the agency found, and use it in God's service and for the extension of His kingdom, as ed to most thorough, scholarly pres- Paul did the words of a heathen poet (used in a hymn to Jupiter) or the in- entation of this entire field. Missionascription of a heathen used on an idola- ries have forged the very weapons trous shrine. which these lecturers must wield, and " I hope and fondly believe that Mrs. they have not neglected to test the util- IIaskell's very liberal gift to India may ity of this entire line of approach. Sir be greatly blessed in bringing about the William Muir's" Testimony Borne by ends and objects she has in view. His the Quran to the Christian Scriptures" own Brahmo co-religionists have not very great faith in Mr. P. C. Mozoom- is but a single illustration of attempts dar, but he is infinitely superior, I be- to reach the people from the standpoint lieve, to Prophet Balaam; and as God of similarities, and in that case, even greatly blessed the vaticinations of the from that of obligation imposed by their latter, I have no doubt He may greatly bless that uttered wish of the former to own Scriptures. Dr. Ballantyne was which Mrs. Haskell refers. I am told principal of the Government College at with some emphasis that Dr. John Benares when he published his" Chris- Henry Barrows was greatly taken in tianity Contrasted with Hindu Philosoby both Mr. Mozoomdar and Viveka- nanda, who told his audience that he phy," bilingual (Sanskrit and English), honored the Hindu Rishls as • perfected with plactical suggestions to missionabeings,' and that some of,the very best ries, in which he advises them to do of them were women I I Does he dare just what is now hinted at-" cast about tell us what the Vedas say of these!
"I cannot say that I am very sorry for points of agreement, with a view to conciliation." Yet he himself did not that Dr. Barrows believed the delegates confine himself to the correspondencies. from Bengal. It proved Dr. Barrows but in a masterly way deals with the has something of the love of which the apostle writes-the love that' believeth all things and hopeth all things.' " contrasts" in his" Exposition," ., Evi- " I shall cordially welcome Dr. John dences," "Natural theology," "Myste- rious points in Christianity," and in the Henry Barrows as the first of the Bar- " Analogy of religion to the constitution rows lecturers, and I hope the missionaries of Bengal will join in that welcome."
It is not certain that either of these and course of nature." He held, withal, writers have apprehended the scope of that no man was fit to make the con- these lectures, nor Is it clear that the ciliatory approach who was not thor- founder or Dr. Barrows have themselves oughly furnished for the ai1tagonisms any definite concept of what they would of controversy.
realize. It may be time enough to dis- When Mr. Banerjea was professor in cuss it when the proposal can give an Bishop's College, Calcutta, he published account of itself. If it were intended his" Hindu Philosophy," with a view simply to found a department or chair to suggest such modes of dealing with of Comparative Religion In the Calcutta it "as may prove most effective to the University, similar to that in the colleges Hindu mind." Has that book been at home, the proposition would not con- equalled, not to say surpassed, by any cern us. But it is apparently designed modern treatise or Jecture from that to be an auxiliary missionary agency, standpoint? .Tohn Brande Morris pub.
and that brings it within our purview. lished as long ago as 1843 a volume to There is underlying the proposal the which the University of Oxford award- idea that something new is to be tried. ed the prize offered by the Lord Bishop But Banerjea in Calcutta, Dr. Ballantyne of Calcutta, treating of the best mode in Benares, Dr. Wilson in Bombay, and and best arguments with which to deal Dr. Mitchell all over India, have not with" learned and philosophical Hin- left the people inexpert in these com- dus." This author omitted the evi- parisons, to say nothing of the Bengal dences of Christianity, or H how far it Asiatic Society's Journal, the Calcutta might accommodate itself in the re- Review, the Friend of India, and other moulding existing heathen rites," be- abJe periodical literature largely devot- cause there would be" want of delicacy in treating them before heathen." Is However delicate the task, we venthat not conciliatory enough? ture to say that there is incongruity be- tween the task set the lecturers and the Where can one learn so much of what typical names mentioned. Dr. Ballanthere Is to compare or to contrast be- tyne was right when he said that no tween Christianity and Hinduism as in man was furnished for making advances Nilakantha Sastri Gore's" Exposition in the way of conciliation but he who of the Hindu Philosophical Systems," understands both the errors of oppowritten in the same broad, frank spirit? nents and the means of confuting them; It can scarcely be said that the results " for," as Bacon says, "there is no use of magnifying harmonies have been en- of confutations when we differ about tirely satisfactory. principles and notions themselves, and even about the forms of proof." Hindu- India affords the greatest museum of ism may not always call for confutation, religions on the globe. Its people are while conciliation is essentially based experts at discriminating variations, on knowledge of contrasts and the ave· similarities or contrasts of religious nues to harmony. It seems that therethought. Brahmoism, which Mr. Mo· fore a class of lecturers might be selected zoomdar represents, is itself the result who had given large attention and proof an attempt to formulate the Absolute found study to the subject. Dr. Hoopin religion by compounding the good er, of Allahabad; Dr. Miller, of Madfound in the several faiths of mankind. ras; Dr. Kellogg, of the Punjab; But India has gone about as far in that Monier Williams, George Smith, or John line as it cares to go. and a modification Muir would symbolize the class of able has set in, as is seen in the differentia- scholars who would know how to contions of the various Samajas. Where ciliate Brahmans; and Dr. Washburn, Rammohun Roy and Mr. Chunder Sen of Constantinople; Dr. Jessup, of Sycould not lead Hindus in a revolt against ria; or Dr. Wherry, of Chicago, might Hinduism, Dr. Barrows is sure to fail. at least" know what they were talking about," to Moslems. He who dreams of making converts to Christianity by pointing out similari- But what about the Asiatic lecturers ties and harmonies reckons without his hinted at, who are to give us what '. Euhost, whether among literate or illiterate rope and America wish to hear and ponpeoples. Buddhists of Japan have der," and from whom we are to readopted almost all forms of Christian ceive "the best that Asia can give" 1 usages, such as Young Men's Christian .Mr. Mozoomdar would not be admitted Associations and Christian marriage to represent Brahmanism, but Absolutservice-ring and all. A native gentle- ism like that of Theodore Parker; and man has just contributed some hundreds we have little to add to our facilities of dollars to erect a "Young Men's Buddhist Association Hall" in Madras. for evolving that. The best that Mr. A sort of neo·theosophic :Buddhism in Ceylon has established a Buddhist Vivekananda would have to give would .. Christmas," with early morning be barred out by Brahmans, who decarols, in the evening carrying trans- clare him an impostor, and whose moral parencies lettered " Glory to Buddha in character is openly assailed in the press the highest, on earth peace and good of India. The genuine Jain Buddhist, will toward men." They have a Bud- Virchand A. Gandhi, has already given dhiat catechism, Buddhist Sunday- the" best" he has. The writer listened schools, and, in one centre, Buddhist to him in a church on a Sunday evenclasB meetings! The fact is, that these ing "preach" (save the mark I) to an communities will take any amount of audience which fortunately knew little correspondencies and make a metemp- or nothing of the esoteric meaning of sychosis of heathenism, but not Chris- the words he used any more than they tianity, nor any respectable substitute did of the prayer ill which he said he for Christianity. did not want anything, and had no petition whatever to make, having nothing such a course would synchronize with to do but meditate on the Divine. That the Winter-mission movement in Great was consistent Buddhist philosophy, Britain, which provides for sending lec- based on the belief that the only way to turers and evangelists to work during reach Nirvana was by training one's the cold weather of India among the self to believe that personality was English-speaking natives, Christian and Maya, never to be got quit of but by non-Christian. Mr. McNeal is now in quenching every desire. India, reaching audiences similar to those It is not merely esoteric philosophy, which greeted Dr. Pentecost. There is however, that should be comprised in a large field for learned lecturers in uni- these comparative studies; we would versity and other cities, and for skilled need to know their sacred Scriptures. evangelists of renown, among the ever- But when Dr. Ballantyne commenced increasing English-speaking communi- this line of comparative study there ties of India. A strong Christian lec- were no Vedas in the hands of Brah- tureship pronouncedly expository and mans, nor are there to·day, except in the apologetic of Christianity, conducted by translations of Western Orientalists. It able men like Dr. Barrows and other is difficult to suggest what department eminent divines of the class whom Mrs.
of the" best" they have that is not ac- Haskell names" in a friendly, temper- cessible to us far and away beyond what ate, conciliatory way," would command we could acquire from any Orientallec- the utmost attention and respect of all turer in any series of lectures. Will classes in India, and exert a powerful anybody name a solitary contribution to influence for the "promotion of the the thought or literature of Brahmanism higbest interests of humanity and the not well known and understood before enlargement of the kingdom of truth by scholars, or by any who choose to and love."
seek the knowledge in anyone of the hundreds of libraries in the land, that The Need of a Medical Missionary is to be found in the ponderous volumes Oollege. of the Parliament of Religions? As the source of contribution to our stock BY REV. A. P. HAPPER, M.D., D.D.* of knowledge of Oriental faiths, com- All persons praying and laboring for mend us to the vast stores of literatures the conversion of the world to Christ already extant, rather than to the ex· have rejoiced in the great increase in the pedient of a necessarily limited com- number of missionaries who have gone pass of a few lectures, even by the apos- to non-Christian countries during the tles of those faiths of whatever renown, last twenty-nve years. The most mark- delivered on the other side of the globe. ed increase has been in the number of If the generous founder of this lec. medical missionaries who have gone out tureship and those who administer it in connection with the leading mission- could, on the other hand, see their way ary societies of the various churches.
clear to provide for the strongest possi- This increase is made manifest in vari- ble, straight-out course of apologetic ous ways. In 1849 there were 39 medi- lectures, avowedly intended to present cal missionaries in all lands, of whom Christianity as the ultimate truth, then not one was a lady physician. In 1894 they have named ideal lecturers, and the number of medical missionaries is there is no room for doubt about the stated to be 400, of whom 80 ale lady generous reception they will receive, pbysicians. At the Volunteer Conven- and the influence they may exert. Then tion at Cleveland, 0., in 1891 the num- they will be on the platform occupied, * A melancholy interest attaches to this paper, when in India, by Dr. Joseph Cook, Professor Seelye, and. others of the class as it was the subject of correspondence with Dr. alluded to by thfl Advance. Be~ides, Happer and ourselves only a few days before his death.-J. T. G. ber present who were studying medi- Some $400,000 were subscribed toward cine preparatory to going as medical the funds of the association, largely by missionaries was 25. At the Volunteer the princes and men of wealth in India.
Convention at Detroit in 1894 the num- As the lady physicians connected with ber of volunteers who are studying this association cannot teach the Gospel medicine for missionary service was 72, of Christ to their patients, they can- which is nearly a threefold increase in not meet the spiritual needs of the suf- three years. Beside these, 100 dele- fering multitudes. In Africa and the gates at the Conference, still in their isles of the sea the need of the people collegiate course, expressed their pur- for relief .from bodily ailments is the pose to study medicine in order to be same, or even greater, than in China medical missionaries. During 1893, 160 and India.
persons, young men and women, applied 2. The second reason is that now all to Dr. Dowkontt, medical director of the missionary societies are willing to the International Medical Missionary employ medical missionaries, whereas Institute of New York, for information but a few years ago only a few societies and aid to obtain medical knowledge wished to employ them. Those who for mission service. Only 16 of the have gone from the International Med- number could be received into the insti- ical Missionary Institute have gone out tute for lack of pecuniary means. in connection with some fourteen differ- In the continued enlargement of mis- ent societies. During the last ten years sion work in non·Christian countries, 78 of those who have been with the the number of those who will study Institute for a longer or shorter period medicine with the view of mission ser- have gone to the foreign field. Of vice will rapidly increase with each suc- these 20 have gone out in connection cessive year. The reasons for this in- with the Presbyterian Board of Foreign crease are these : Missions, 14 in connection with Baptist 1. The need for medical missionaries societies, 13 in connection with Congre- is much better understood now than gational societies, 10 in connection with ever before. The character of the medi- Methodist societies, 5 in connection with cal practice in non·Christian lands and Presbyterian societies in Canada, and the consequent sufferings of women the other 16 in connection with the and children are now widely known Episcopal, the Reformed, the Southern among Christian people. In China Presbyterian, the China Inland, and there is only one missionary physician other missionary societies. A few years to each 2,500,000 of the population. In ago the medical missionaries were near- the United States there is one physician lyall from Great Britain and the United to every 600 people. In China there are States. Now they are of many nationali- 100 missionary physicians to 300,000,000 ties. Those who have gone out from of the population; and in the United the Medical Missionary Institute were States 118,453 physicians to 65,000,000 born in twenty different countries.
of people. But the strong reason for the belief In India the readiness with which the that there will be a still greater increase women came to the lady missionary of medical missionaries In the near fu- physicians for medical treatment led to ture is this: There is a growing convic- the organization in 1886 of the National tion among the special promoter.10f for- Association by Countess Dufferin, wife eign missions that, in order to secure of the then Viceroy of India, for supply- the best results of efforts to spread the ing medical aid to the women of India. Gospel, it is necessary to follow more The association is composed of the high- carefully the example and commands of est dignitaries of Church and State in our Lord and Saviour. Our Lord went Great Britain and India, with Her Maj- everywhere healing the sick. And His esty the Queen Empress as patron. command, when He sent forth the twelve apostles and the sennty diseiplee, was: senice can pursue medical studies at a " As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom moderate pecuniary expense. Most of of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, those purposing to study medicine for cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast this service are possessed of small out devils: freely ye have received, means. In the performance of missionfreely give" (Matt. 10 : 7, 8). It is ob- ary duties they will receive simply a vious that in order to heal the sick the support. This fact precludes any of missionaries must study medicine. It them from borrowing money to meet is, in connection with this subject, a the expenses of their medical education, most important fact that it is only in expecting to refund it from subsequent Christian lands that a rational and bene- income. There is not a single medical ficial treatment for the diseases of the missionary college in the United States human system is known. In all non- where missionary students can pursue Christian countries the treatment of the medical studies and obtain a diploma. sick and suffering, and especially of There are many medical colleges in this women and Infants, is useless and bar- country, but the fees for lectures and barous. tuition are very high. They vary from $100 to $200 in different institutions for In order to carry out the command of each year of the four years' course for our Lord more efficiently, ~nd to com- each student. In the best colleges they municate the blessings of salvation and are $200 a year, which makes $800 for a of healing to the 1,000,000,000 of the course of four ye,ars. This sum is pronon·Christian nations, missionary socie- ldbitory to many young men and womties need to increase their medical mis- en who are desirous to obtain a medical slonariesfou1fold. This increase is not education for missionary service in forimpracticable. The number of medical eign lands. missionaries has been increased during the last forty.five years te1lfold without The facilities provided for those wishany special effort. With the increased ing to engage in medical missionary interest in the cause, and when men and work to obtain the requisite preparation tDOIM1l. physicians are both so greatly are in strange contrast with the facilineeded, the present number can by spe- ties which are provided for those precial effort be increased jivefold. The paring for other kinds of Christian need of this increase of medical mis- work. Every Christian denomination sionaries was expressed in 1890 by the has theological seminaries in which Shanghai General Missionary Confer- ministers are trained for their life work ence, composed of 432 missionaries in without any expense for tuition, and China. as follows: where facilities are provided forlodging and boarding at moderate expense. .. On behalf of these destitute masses, Similar facilities Bre provided for young therefore, we earnestly plead with the men and women who are preparing for men of wealth in the home churches, Christian work in connection with that they will c:msider the claims of Young Men's and Young Women's these suffering ones, and will largely Christian Associations. There are quite aid the reinforcement of the noble staff a number of mission institutes for trainof medical missionaries already in the ing young men and women for evanfield" (Records of the Shanghai Confer- gelistic work in home and foreign lands; ence, page 54). in Bome of them tuition is without charge, and in some a nominal sum is It is a most obvious and important in- charged, and in all of them facilities for quiry, How can the churches best facili- lodging and boarding are provided at tate this increase of medical missiona- reduced charges. Thus for all classes riel! ? This increase can be most easily of Christian workers ample provision effected by the endowment of a medical has been made for their instruction and missionary college. at which those who desire to study medicine for missionary training without tuition fees. and with cal college. As the money is to be colfacilities :for lodging and boarding, eJJ- lected from all churches, it will not come cepe for those preparing for medical mis- heavily upon anyone denomination. sionary service. These same facilities And this is not a great sum for the are provided for a large number of stu- whole Christian community of America dents in many colleges and academies to raise for so necessary and important without regard to the question whether a purpose. It can be made clear to all they are preparing for Christian work who will give the subject a few minor not. utes' consideration, that the money saved in the education of the young The query naturally arises, Why and men and women who will attend the how is it that no provision has been college will, in the course of a few years, made for assisting medical missionary amount to more than the whole sum of students to get the necessary education? $500,000. It is so simply because the need for such provision has been but recently From the facts stated above and other felt. and because the attention of the indications it is a most probable surmise Christian community has not been es- that, if there was a medical missionary pecially called to this need. This urgent college endowed and fully equipped to need, arising out of the increasing num- give first· class instruction to missionary ber of medical missionary students, has students, the number of students who only be~n felt within the last few years. would attend its classes would be from The need is jivefold greater now than it .two hundred and fifty to three hunwas fi ve years ago; and it will be dred. greater every successive year. We conclude with the words of the There is a purpose now to provide Shanghai General Missionary Conferfor this urgent need by raising money ence, already quoted. They say: "We to endow a medical missionary college, earnestly plead with the men of wealth and thus secure a charter of incorpora- in the home churches that they will tion from the State of New York which consider the claims of these suffering will enable the trustees of the college masses, and la1'Uely aid the reinforceto hold property for the college, pro- ment of the noble staff of medical misvide the necessary lecture-rooms, labora- sionaries already on the field." tories. and dissecting-rooms; to engage professors, build dormitories, and secure The World's Woman's Ohristian Temall the facilities and appliances neces- perance Union, sary to afford a first-class four years' course of instruction to the students for Mrs. E. W. Greenwood, the superinmedical mission service at the smallest tendent of this organization, has issued expense compatible with a proper re- a circular to which Miss Frances E. gard to health and efficiency. It is the Willard asks us to call special attention, purpose of those that are laboring to announcing the third biennial conveneffect it that the college shall be inter- tion of the World's Christian Temperdenominational and decidedly evangeli- ance Union, to be held in connection cal and evangelistic. The trustees are with the annual meeting of the British to be composeil of men chosen from Woman's Temperance Union in Londifferent denominations. As the doors don, June 14th-21st. May 18th and of the institution will be open to the 19th are specially set apart as days of students of all evangelical denomina- praise and prayer for this work. As tions, application will be made to the this movement has a distinctly missionmembcrs of all these denominations for ary feature in heathen lands, we cheercontributions to provide the $500,000 fully make this mention. Perhaps we endowment. This is the sum necessary can make no comment so good in any to secure the incorporation of a mediother way as by quoting the following search.light of this noble army of wom: from the address of welcome to Lady en! We, who are more directly en- Henry Somerset by Mrs. Joseph Cook gaged in the education and evangelizaat the meeting of the Woman's Board tion of the non-Christian races, know of Missions in January in Boston. what it is to have our work hindered by just the vices which our sisters of .. It is often said that the English- the Woman's Christian Temperance speaking race has become the missIon- Union are fighting to overthrow." ary army of the world: but while, in some small measure, we have carried We are grateful to Rev. Henry D. the Gospel to non-Christian lands, we Porter, M.D., Pang Chuang, North have also carried other gifts, for which China, for the "Records of the First the native races owe us anything but Shantung Missionary Conference at gratitude. Ching-Chow Fu, 1893" (Presbyterian Mission Press, Shanghai, 1894). The .. Commerce has gone with Christian- photographs of the pe1"BOnnel of the ity, sometimes in advance, and has Conference quite surprises us with the taught nations of practical total abstain- number of missionaries in Chinese dress. ers the Anglo·Saxon vice of strong This Conference grew out of the recomdrink, and, for purposes of gain, has mendation of the Committee on Union pushed the opium traffic, with an in- appointed by the General Conference at difference to the bodily and spiritual Shanghai, 1890, urging missionaries to ruin of their victims which seems posi- unite in local conference or as!lociatively fiendish. tions. The object was to secure a better comprehension of the several methods .. In view of these facts, it is not sur- of work and mutual encouragement. prising that rum-cursed Africa and Forty-one delegates, representing nine opium·cursed India and China, not dis- missionary enterprises in Shantung and criminating between Christianity and one in Honan, were present. They commerce, for both are represented by were Presbyterians, Baptists, Methowhite men wearing European dress, dists, and China Inland folk from Great should in the bitterness of their souls Britain, Canada, and the United States, cry out to us, , Is this your Jesus way? representing a Chinese membership of Then we want none of it ! ' 8354, with 184 clerical and medical mis- sionaries, men and women. Thirty "You know what two of our brave pages are given to the" Causes of Pov- American women did in India in un- erty in China;" eighteen pages are veiling the secret haunts of vice in con· given to an essay by Dr. Porter on nection with the British army. Lord "Physical Healing as a Means of General Roberts, Commander-in-chief Grace." of Her Majesty's forces, claimed to be ignorant of this defiance of British law; CHINA. but these American women, under the auspices of the World's Union of Chris- The Rev. John Ross publishes in tian Women, and proceeding with the the Chinese Recorder a very interesting skill of practised detectives brought communication of the chief Taoist priest forward abundant proof of the exist- of Mantchuria. The priest is intimateence of legalized vice in the army, and ly acquainted with the Christian Scrip- Lord General Roberts, who had doubt- tures, and is, therefore, qualified to ed their word, was obliged to make bring out points of doctrinal coinci· them a public apology! dence. As Victor von Strauss has shown, Taoism, sadly degenerate as it .. Thank God that we have lived to is in practice, is in doctrine, unlike Consee the day when the world is so open fucianism, strongly theistic. and Christian women are so alert that it can now be said that there is no closet so remote that the skeleton of any wom· an's wrongs can be hidden from the
J!'lELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
I1I.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
Mexioo,* Oentral Amerioa,t West Indies,t Oity Missions.§ BY D. L. PIEliSON.
MISSIONS IN MEXICO. distribution at Brownsville, Tex. In 1866 she opened a school at Monterey, The republic of Mexico has an area of and finally, in 1869, Rev. Henry Riley 767,000 square miles and a population of opened a mission in the City of Mexico about twelve millions, of whom about itself. It was in 1872 and 1873 that the 19 per cent are pure white, 38 per cent missionary societies of the Presbyterian, are Indians, and 43 per cent are of mixed Methodist, and Congregational churches blood. Of the two latter classes only a finally entered the field.
small percentage can be called civilized. The States of Tabasco, with a popu- The country is divided into twenty· lation of 104,747, and Camp@che, with seven States, two territories, and one 94,000, and the territories of Lower federal district. The republic was California and Tepic, with populations founded in 1857, but was not in full of 31,167 anrl131,019 respectively, have power, and religious freedom was not as yet no Protestant missionaries sta- enjoyed until 1867. The Bible was first tioned among them. Presbyterians introduced into Mexico in the wake of alone are stationed in Yucatan, Guerre- the army of General Scott in the war of ro, and Chiapas ; in Queretaro,Tlaxcala, 1845, but it was not until fifteen years and Oaxaca only the Northern Meth- later that any persistent attempt was odists; in Sonora and Sinalao only the made to carry the pure Gospel to our American Board; and in Coleina only next-door neighbors, enshrouded in the the Southern Methodists. The other darkness of a corrupt Romanism which States are occupied by two or more so- was practically paganism. Miss Melinda cieties.
Rankin began a work for the Mexicans The statistics of the work in Mexico in 1854, establishing a centre for Bible are as follows: i'" J]gI~_! -. -~- ~ . I"'l~ .; 1 .. j'~ !~ ~ ,,- m ~ .5l11 ","'<1 .~ 0> 'E:: ';3 <:l ..0… .~ ~ 1! "0 " -C~5 "8 §.~ Z 8- .0…. !:i SOCIETIES. ;j.; al~ ::;;: . ai .~ 0 <1. ..>t:0I ='0.a<1:~I' o S ~It.! ~'ij .~~…"~. rd ~ <:l 0 .t:I. ~~ '~; -tE =~= ~.: ..2:!J:r"n ~~ e§ll ~ ~:a ~ § , "<'1".>''"' .Eo> ~!l -e".t:I o § ..;s::>!-0! ~ s<1.> ~o 0 .~= !eln.!le<n1.> OE-<O 0 ~ "".t:I 0 <",<:1l."> ~o en 8 ——- A. B. C. F. 111.. …….. 1872 5 21 7 .. 7 7 1 9 i413 578 108 415 …2.5 168 $843 Baptists (South) …….. 1880 11 39 10 .• 9 6 5 .. 1487 1,163 277 375 182 2,600 Church of Jesus (lnde· l?endent EpiBcopal)… 1873 4 29 1 3 …….. 4 6 …. BOO …….. ………… -'- . ….. 3 •. …. 4 61413 ., 465 Frlends ………•. ,., … 1871 2 26 ….189 350 M . E. (North) ………. 1873 9 32 10 2 10 1015 26 72 28 2,430 349 1,648 120 2,725 9,012 M. E. (South)……….. 187314 115 18 1 12 7181 .• 2087 8,808 277 3,25415 1,327 4,7(y{ 3,495 Presbyterian (North)…. 187211 44 10 .• -'- ~ –'"- 1,168 12 30 150 85 4,512 271 ……
P resbyterian (South) … …. 1 51 2 .. 1 … 3 8 .• S ., 450 …. . 250 2 •• 2 79 146 1 1 •• 1 2 •••• ….. PrQsbyterian (Cumber.). 24 …4..1.8 .. .6.8.5 Reformed Synod…….. …. 2 11 2 .. 1 1 2 .• 2 6 226 32 159 . … 27 106 * Literature: "Mexico," by H. H. Bandelier; "Moravian MI8Iions," Andrew Thompson, D.D . "Mexico iu Transition," William Butler, D.O.; .. The 'Native Religions of Mexico and Peru," :j: .. Story of.Diaz, the Apostle of Cuba," George W. Lasher, D.D. See also p. 179 (present issue). Albert Reville; "Twenty Years Among the Mexicans," Miss Melinda Rankin. See also p. § '" Encyclopredia of 'Missions," L, 294; ~ Municipal Reform Movements," W. 11. Tol- 198 (present issue). man. See alBo p. 191 (present laBue). t .. Central America," H. H. Bancroft; We do not give the totals under this ized Indians. There"are at present fears table because of the incompleteness of of a war between this republic and the record. There are, however, at Mexico, owing to a disputed boundary.
present 10 Protestant societies laboring It is hoped, however, that the question in 87 8epamte stations in Mexico, besides will be settled by arbitration, and thus which there are colporteurs of the Ameri- prevent bloodshed and the interruption can Bible Society. The number of for- to the work of God which would eign missionaries is 184 and of native necessarily accompany the war.
workers, 542 : churches number 388 and Honduras is controlled by Roman ~ongregations, 489: there are 16,860 Catholics, and only a few of the Mos- communicants and over 50,000 adherents kito Indians on the eastern coast are 10,668 Sunday-school scholars, and 7455 reached by the Moravian missionaries.
pupils in day schools; 12 Christian In British Honduras the Wesleyan papers are published in the Spauish Methodists have 6 stations, 24 chapels, language. 6 missionaries, 240 native agents, and Missionary work in Mexico is carried 2040 communicants. The American on in the face of many and great diffi- Bible Society also has agents here.
culties, among which are the ignorance, Salvador tolerates all religions; but indifference and immorality of the there are at present no Protestant mi8- people, the opposition of the Romish sionaries laboring there. The popUla- priests, and the spread of infidelity. tion is composed of aboriginal Indians Much has been accomplished, however, and those of mixed Spanish and Indian besides the actual conversion of souls blood.
to God. (1) Congregations have been Nicaragua is also untouched by mis- established where the Gospel is preached sionary effort except by the Moravians, weekly to over twenty-five thousand who labor among the Moskito Indians people; (2) nearly two hundred schools on the eastern coast, where they have have been established where pupils are 15 foreign ordained missionaries, 4 or- enlightened in things temporal and spir- dained and 66 other native helpers, and itual, and men and women are given a 5573 members (of whom 900 are com- theological and normal training ; (3) a municants), at 12 stations. There is large amount of evangelical literature also a church at Greytown, south of the in the form of papers, tracts. Bibles, Moskito Reserve. The work of the Mo- and books are scattered throughout the ravians has also lately extended into land. Nicaragua proper, where religious free- CENTRAL AMERICA. dom has been declared. The work has, however, been greatly hindered by the The statistics of the countries of Cen- political complications between Nicatral America are" as follows: ragua and the Moskito Reserve. The Area. Population. Nicaraguans, contrary to treaty, still Guatemala…. " •••46,800 sq. m. 1,460,017 occupy the Reserve, and the Moskito HonduraS ••••.•.••.46,400 .. 431,917 Indians look to England for protection. British Honduras•• 7,562 81,471 The presence of the soldiers at Blue- Salvador. . . . ••• . •. 7,225 777,895 fields causes unrest and disorder. Many Nicaragua •••••.•. .49,500 282,845 of the Christians have left, and some Costa Rica ……..37,000 245,780 In Guatemala the Presbyterian Board churches are on the verge of ruin.
(North) is the only society at work, and Lamplight services have been aban- has in Guatemala City two ordained mis- doned, as no decent woman cares to sionaries and their wives, one native walk the streets after dark. All this in teacher, one church with 49 communi- what was lately the most orderly and cants, and one school with 45 pupils Christian community in Central Amer- (boys). Nearly half of the population ica.
of this republic is composed of uncivil- In Costa Rica Rev. J. H. Lobez, of the Jamaica Baptist lIIissionary Union, cemetery has been pnrchased, a girls'
is doing a good work at Port Limon, high-school established, and a free hos- where he has gathered 80 communi- pital started. There are now 24 mis- cants. The Central American Mission- sionaries, Gchurches and stations, 2582 ary Society of Dallas, Tex:., has 2 mis· members, 7 Sunday-schools, 1000 schol- sionaries with their wives and 1 unmar- ars. Persecutions innumerable have ried lady missionary in this republic, followed Diaz all the way, but last year and the American Bible Society has 2 there were 150 baptisms. This work is agents at work. in connection with the Baptist Church In all there are in Central America 6 (South). The Jamaica Baptists,and the societies at work in 22 stations manned American Bible Society also carryon by 28 ordained missionaries, with over work in this island.
7f5 native helpers and over 3000 com- In the republic of Hayti* there is an municants. estimated population of 800,000, mostly negroes. The moral and intellectual THE WEST INDIES. condition is low in the extreme. Work is being carried on in Hayti and San These islands were first visited by Domingo by the Jamaica Baptists, the missionaries in 1734, when two Mora- English Baptists, the Consolidated vians landed in St. Thomas to preach American Baptists, the Protestant Epis- Jesus to the wretched slaves. Accord- copal, the African !!ethodlst Episcopal, ing to the latest reports, these heroic and and the Wesleyan Methodists 01 Eng- indefatigable evangelizers are repre- land. These societies have gathered sented by 50 European toilers of both about 2400 converts.
sexes, and have now in their churches Puerto Rico, a Spanish colony with 17,336 communicants and over 40,000 an area of 3550 square miles and 806,- adherents, with about 16,000 children in 708 negroes and mulattoes, is largely the schools. In British West Indies, dominated by Roman Catholics, but the with over 1,000,000 inhabitants, 248,000 Colonial and Continental Church S0- are regular attendants at Protestant ciety has one clergyman laboring there.
worship, about 85,000 are communi- One is wont to think of Jamaica as a cants, and 78,600 children are receiving thoroughly Christian country, at least In instruction in 1123 day schools. the ordinary sense of the word. But it Cuba, the largest of the West India is not so.t The island has about 650,000 Islands, is 790 miles long, 28 to 127 miles wide. Of its 2009 miles of sea-coast, only * War against Hayti II now threatened by one third is accessible. Snow is never Spain, owing to the removal of funda by tbe seen, but it rains every month,so that the President from a bank In which Spanlah capitalheat is never extreme. Rivers run ists are interested. across the island. north and south. In the six provinces is a population of t Pastor Warneck Bays, on the other hand, in 1,631,687. The Spaniards hold all the theAllgemdns1&aloM Zdtachrift, that "Jaoffices, the Creoles are planters, and the maica, with its 610,579 negroes and mnlattoes, negroes are the laborers. Over 10,000 maybe termed a trnly Protestant Island, although foreigners live there. The work in Cuba there are st!1l200,OOO uot converted. The Church of England has 116,224 adherents, the Baptists 115,000, the l[ethodlats about 70,000, the Presby- teri8IlS about 30,000, the Moravians 17,300, and under Rev. A. J. Diaz has grown to other denominations, together, about IlO,OOO to wondrous proportions. In two years 60,000. All the evangelical miBSions are seeking after the organization of the first church to traiu an educated native ministry, and to make 1100 were baptized. In a single year the congregations, as far as possible, financially independent. The people are making steady they contributed $4610. In 1889 a advance In Christian knowledge and life. handsome theatre was bought and U In the Bahama Islands, the 47,500 inhabitants turned into a church, and the lower parts rented for stores and offices. A may be regarded as all connected with the Evan- gelist Protestant Church. Some are Anglica.nll, lIome Baptillts, and IOlae WeileY&nil. Thouah "" all I t j ~i ~ ~§il•l…~9.l8'l ui g I !.; '0 0 03 11 1 1l~ ..8 o:ll«.!: r~'L"l .;.lugi~ .g i ~ ai3 rLl~ SOOIlilTIlilS. .; 'E·g ~ 0; Fields Occupied. ~o:l$:;:l'g'; ~ ,;;'i.0e; ~ 0 Ill, $rLl o:l" 2a1 ~ en 0 ~ 3g~ d 0 w A 0 – – – – – – – – —– …….. …. .. –"- …….. Jamaica, Barbadoes, S.P.G…………. 28 85 oo. …. 4,715 Triuidad, etc.
Consolidated Ameri· …. …. . …….. C8U Baptist…….. …. Af r i c a n M . E . . . . . . . . 1 '6 '5 1 …. ….. …….. Haiti. 7 4 5 149 131 190 Haiti sud SlID Domin· go. Protestant Episcopal 23 1 .0 •••• 13 34 11 405 150 218 Haiti. Presbyterian (Can' …. … ada) ………….. 5 6 •• 4 2 48 …. 573 23 4,324, Trinidad. BaptistM. S …….. 99 3 3 …. 116 5,168 3,920 loo'Trinidad, San Domin· go, Bahamas, Ja· maica. west!:ian Methodist. …. 1015 .. …….. ;.2 512 3,130 80 Bahamas. 10 :: "iii 29 3,432 2,176 Jamaica. Uni Methodist.. ' 9 10 ioo 26 3,470 9,083 … 9;i99 Jamaica, Trinidad. Scotch LT. Poo ……. 69 11,647 )(oravians ………. 55 59 .. "" 34 789 53 17,540 14,924 16,731 J amalea, TrInidad, . J St. Thomas, etc. ……. . ft:D1alca Baptist Un· …. …. – '.0. 441 …. 177 39,005 …….. …….. Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, lon …… Costa Rica.
inhabitants, of whom 650,000 are col- of England, the English Baptists, Wes· ored people. There are also some 12,000 ,leyan Methodists, United Presbyterians, or 18,000 coolies and Chinese. But and Moravians. Roman Catholics num- the total baptized membership of all the ber 12,500.
Christian churches, including the Catho- Of the total popUlation of 5,500,000 lics, falls under 150,000. Where are in the West Indies, there are about 600,- the remaining 400,000 souls, and what 000 Protestant adherents.
are they? They belong to no church Other societies laboring in the West and own no minister. They are sunk Indies are the Religious Tract Society, in vice and dirt, in ignorance and super. the S. P. C. K., Ladies' Negro Educa- stition. They stand little higher in the tional Society, Jamaica Church Ladies'
mental and moral scale than their ances- Association, besides 13 "home mil:sion- tors in darkest Africa. Truly here is a ary" societies in the islands themselves.
mission field in the fullest sense of the word. There is a Jamaica Baptist CITY :MISSIONS, Union, with 177 churches, 39,065 mem- One third of our ;population dwells bers, and 21,709 children in the schools. in our cities. They are the peril and The other denominations are the Church hope of our country, for in them an- poor, they In great part maintain their own archy, riot, and corruption breed, and in c1lUrches ; the Baptists do so entirely. them also our religious, intellectual, and .. The little Antilles are also in great part Chris· political life and work find their centres of operation. tianlzed. In the Danish Islands of St. Thomas, at. Jan, and St. Croix, with a population, to· In New York are nearly 400 philangether, of 32,700, there are 18,000 Protestants and 12,000 Roman Catholics, the former belong- thropic societies (besides churches), ing chiedy to the Church of England and the including five distinctive missionary Moravian brethren. The northern part of the societies, employing 100 missionaries. little Antilles-Antigua, Guadaloupe, Martinique, etc.-has about 100,000, aud the eastern part-St. In London there are over 100,000 Lucia, Barbadoes, Tobago, etc,-about 215,000 paupers, 38,000 homeless adults, 80,000 Protestant Christians. and in Trinidad there are wandering children, and 80,000 faIlen 10,000. In Tobago there has been instituted,ln women. Over 1000 benevolent institurecent years, by the Roman Catholics, a bitter tions are at work, including 39 missionopposItion mission to that of the Moravian ary societies. brethren."
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The Maroh of Events. hundred cars remained for two weeks tied up in a city of a million people. THE TROLLEY STRIKE IN BROOKLYN. Brooklyn is not alone in the risks run. which began on January 14th. and was scarcely" broken" for two weeks, was It is reported that the President of Peru, interesting and alarming, not in itself General Caceres, planned to use dyna- mite cartridges instead of powder, and, only, but most ot all as the indication had not the scheme been disclosed in and type of that deep-seated, widespread time, a fearful panic would have resultpopular unrest and readiness for riotous ed among the revolutionary forces. outbreak, which is one of the most start- The revolutionary committee test all ling signs of the times. Without any their munitions before use, as a necesdisposition now to discuss, or, above all, to decide the merits of the case, there sary safeguard. But what has science is a TENDENCY TOWARD ANARCHY done in making possible such uses of which demands prompt repression, and giant explosives I which must receive from all statesmen Ilnd philanthropists, all Christian lead- We think well to add a description of ers and patriotic citizens, the most conditions in Paris, as furnished by the earnest and patient and humane con- correspondents of the New York Times: sideration. When multitudes of men not only paralyze the commerce of a " People who saw the vast crowd gathnation by refusing to work its locomo- ered in the early morning to be near tive system, but forcibly resist any the walled·off scene of the Dreyfus attempt to get others to work it, and degradation, say with a shiver that they deliberately proceed to destroy the very never comprehended before what a means of locomotion, to break up cars Paris mob in the Reign of Terror must and cut motor wires; when both police have been like. Last year's new press and soldiers are called out, and clubs laws seem onl, to have aggravated the and rifles are brought into requisition abuses at whlCh they were aimed. It almost in vain, it is time to consider is impossible for the courts to take cogwhither we are tending. nizance of a hundredth part of the in- suIts and libels, daily hurled at the Presi- Last autumn the republic narrowly dent, the Premier, and everybody else escaped a civil outbreak which threat- in authority. The old era of denuncia· ened to become a revolution, in the com- tion is in full swing again. When the plications of the Pullman car employes Chamber decides that a certain ignorant with the public interests. And we have blackguard, who is in prison for abuse just been, again, in the tbroes of another of the President, and who has been electdisturbance – thus far local- which ed a deputy meanwhile by the Gobelins might have involved a much wider terri- district of Paris merely as a contemptutory. General Master Workman Sov- ous affront to the Chamber, shall not ereign, of the Knights of Labor, sent be released, this fellow is allowed to out word to the strikers: " Stay out till write and send out from prison a violent victory comes," and had only to say attack on the Government, and the the word to merge the local strike into papers are permitted to say that the maa sympathetic movement of all allied jority in the Chamber voted as they did, labor organizations. under ministerial threats to prosecute them for blackmail and embezzlement. No little complaint was made, and Unhappily, every fresh step of the justly, because the Brooklyn Board of prosecutors breaks into some new sewer Aldermen virtually joined the strikers of political or journalistic corruption, so by attempting to hinder the companies that these wholesale denunciations seem in engaging new employes, and so fifteen to the masses to be true enough, and the turbulent wing of socialism goes on doubling and trebling its hold on the Parisian proletariat."
At the same time, in Italy, where political parties were' preparing for a general election, the socialists boldly selected as candidates a number of those who as rioters in Sicily had been scn- arm ammunition, 16,957 koku of rice, tenced to imprisonment. specie and coin to the amount of 1,000,- 000 yen, 3326 tents, 18 sailing ships and THE JAPANESE-CHINESE WAR still steamers, and a quautity of other things, continues, and attracts universal atten- the value of the whole, including the tion and interest. fortresses and dockyard, being about 80,000,000 yen." In January, Japanese newspapers reported the King of Corea assassinated, As TO MADAGASCAR, a despatch from while others asserted that he had been Port Louis, Mauritius, January 11th, prostrated with epilepsy. A despatch reported the French bombardment of from Yokohama said that the new Co- Fort Farafatra, four miles inland from rean administration failed to raise an internal loan, the native capitalists re- Tamatave, on December 28th. The fusing to take part in the movement. Hovas defended the fort, replying to the French fire with well-directed shots The N()'/)oe Vremya, of St. Petersburg, says, in a leader on the Eastern from the seven guns comprising the war: "If the friendly and peaceful armament of the fort. But they were representations of Russia's 'diplomacy eventually defeated, and retired with be not considered she will be compelled heavy loss. to support her claims on Corea with force of arms. " SLAVE TRADE IN TRlPOLI.-TheBrit- ish and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society The Japanese movement on Wei-haiwei is said to have caused a panic in has received intelligence that under Tientsin and Pekin, and the Chinese Turkish rule the buying and selling of peace envoys were ordered to expedite young boys and girls-chiefly the latter the negotiations with the Japanese Gov- -is still regularly but secretly carried on, ernment. the Turkish officers of the Army of Oc- cupation being involved in it with the Simultaneously with the departure of the Oharl68ton, January 21st, from Na- wealthier Arabs. gasaki for Chemulpo, the flagship Baltimore lett for Chifu to support the ABYSSINIAN WAR. -General Baratieri YorktO'l/Jn, which has become the asy- has telegraphed that on Sunday, Jannlum for all the American missionaries ary 13th, he made an attack upon the on account of the Japanese bombardment of Teng Chow Eu and theoccupa- Abyssinians under Ras !langascia, and tion of the Shantung promontory. after severe fighting, the Italian troops were victorious. A large number of The capture of Wei-hai-wei would destroy the last refuge of the Chinese Abyssinians were killed and many taken fleet, and in all probability the fleet it- prisoners. The prisoners attribute the self, and the last chance of China again acting on the offensive. The United victory of the Italians to their use of Press correspondent at Tokyo wrote, the explosive, ballistite. January 8th: There were 10,000 Abyssinians en- "In addition to two first-class for- gaged in the fight, while the Italians, tresses and a dockyard with all appli- with their native allies, numbered only ances, as well as a great tract of terri- 4000. Ras MQngascia, who had expecttory, China has lost in the present war ed his dervish allies to make a simulflghting ships aggregating 13,346 tons, taneous attack, crossed the river Belesa and valued at 11,000,000 yen ($5,500,- in the face of the Italians at eight o'clock 000 in gold). in the morning. Under the fire of the Italian machine guns, the Abyssinians "Of these vessels three were cap- suffered heavily, and soon retired. T~ey tured by the Japanese; the rest sunk or renewed the attack later, concentratmg burned. Among other spoils taken by their efforts on the Italian .tiank. At the Japanese are 607 cannon, 7400 stand this juncture the Italians were joined of rifles, 2,601,741 rounds of cannon by 3800 men under General Arimonde, ammunition, 77,458,785 rounds of small- who had made a forced march of fifteen mileR. The Abyssinians then tIed in disorder. Two days later General Bara- tieri telegraphed to the War Office from Massowah that the necessity for the fm-
'1895·1 2Hl
mediate reinforcement of the Italian tions of the sins of !ydney society, and troops in Africa is most urgent. It was that the voice of this nineteenth-century decided to despatch several battalions of prophet has been heard thundering troops to Africa without delay. against selfishness, snobbery, swindling, swilling, slandering, sensuality, Sad- REPORTS FROM SUM.-News came duceeism, sweepstakes and other sports from Bangkok, Siam, January 10th, that ruin the soul; and that, along with that a meeting of nobles took place at these thrilling diatribes, there haS been the palace the night previous, when:a the fullest presentation of Jesus as the petition was signed requesting the king Saviour and helper of men." to appoint a crown prince. It was rumored that the son of the second queen Next he appears in Calcutta, where would be appointed, he bein~ the eldest special services were arranged in Febof the blood royal. He is now in Eng- ruary, beginning with the 6th of that land, receiving his education. month, and to continue for three weeks. The plan was to have a large tent on As TO THE ARMENIAN MASSACRES, the maidan, in which the services will on January 11th, the Speaker of the be held. The pastors of the English House of Commons published in Lon- churches in the city invited him. It don a letter from a correspondent in will be a rich treat to missionaries and others to hear the original and q uicken- ing expositions and illustrations of this Scottish Spurgeon.
Constantinople, who claims to have seen CHINA. -The presentation of the copy the reports from the consuls in Vau, _of the New Testament to the Empress Erzeroum, Sivas, and Diarkebir, and Dowager by the Christian women of they confirm the most horrible accounts the empire has been followed by an already received. He adds: order from the Emperor for a copy of "Concurrent reports came from both the Old and New Testaments. The Catholic and Protestant missionaries Bible has at least gained an entrance into in the Sassoun district. The troops the palace; may this not be the means called out against the Armenians have of the Word of God gaining an entrance returned from the scenes of conflict to into the heart of the heathen emperor? permanent quarters. They boast of their deeds publicly. Their statements A personal note from a friend in have been forwarded to Constantinople. Shanghai says the Society for the Diffu- One soldier declared that with his own sion of Christian and General Knowlhand lie ripped up twenty married edge among the Chinese is beginning to women. Another boasted that he took make an impression on the upper classes part in a massacre in a church, and that of China. A few weeks ago the Vicethe blood flowed in a large stream from roy of Oentral China, Chang Chih Tung, the door. The soldiers believe that the sent a donation of 1000 taels to help in Sultan ordered the massacre, and ap- this work, which equals about 1500 proves of it." Mexican dollars.
Meanwhile it is rumored that the Porte THE TWENTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL is considering administrative reforms to MEETING of the Woman's Board of be introduced in all the provinces con- Missions was held in Boston, January cerned in the recent massacre; among 16th, and the programme was brilliant them, the recruiting of the gendarmerie with talent. Miss A.bbie B. Child prefrom the Christian as well as the Mus- sented the report of the Home Departsulman population, the appointment of a Mussulman governor for the first three-year term and Christian governors for all subsequent terms, which would be five years each.
JOHN McNEIL, THE EVANGELIST, ment; Miss Ellen Caruth, the report of the treasury; Mrs. E. E. Strong, the has been in Sydney, New South Wales. survey of missions in European, Cen- tral, and Eastern Turkey, and the Of his visit, a correspondent in the Syd- Marathi Mission, India; Mrs. John O. Means, the missions in Western Turney P1'tUloyte1'ian says: key, Mexico, Austria, and the Madura Mission in India; Miss Lucy M. Fay, " It is a matter of profound thankfulness that Mr. McNeill has been able to attract audiences of such dimensions to listen to the most scathing denuncia-
EDIT.oRIAL DEPARTMENT
the missions in Africa, Micronesia, and ' required. The grandest of these·is the Ceylon; and Mrs. Joseph Cook, the Emperor Wilhelm Memorial Church, missions in China, Japan, and Spain. costing 2,340,000 marks, .of whiCh sum In addition to this fourfold survey, Miss the royal family had contributed 23,000, Blakely, .of Marash, in Central Turkey, and the Emperor has recently again and Miss Noyes, of Madura, and Mrs. added 30,000.
Logan, of Micronesia, and Mrs. De For- THE BIBLE IN UGANDA.-In Uganda, est, of Japan, made missionary addresses, a cOUl).try where nothing was known of and Lady Henry Somerset also added Ohristianity twenty years ago, the work the attraction of her presence and a spe- of the missionaries has produced the cial addr.ess. The morning and after- most pleasing results. The demand for noon were thus profitably occupied Bibles and New Testaments is most exwith a variety of exercises which made traordinary. According to the Presbyweariness impossible. This women's or- terianer, Chicago, 10,000 copies .of the ganization has probably accomplished Gospels have been sold there within five as much to promote missions, by prayer, months, besides 25,000 .other books percirculation of cheap literature, system- taining to Christian literature. Curiousatic giving in small amounts, and gen- ly enough, the Catholics evince the same eral cultivation .of a holy enthusiasm, desire to read the Bible as the Protesas any missionary .organization in the tants. Bishop Hirsh, the chief of the world. May God give it a new year of Catholic mission at Uganda, writes: increased prosperity and efficiency I " I am compelled to acknowledge that DR. CYRUS HAMLIN corrects, in the we will be forced to print a translation of the New Testament, which is being interest.of history, the statements attri- spread by the Protestants all .over the country. We cannot prevent .our peo· buted to Dr. Jessup in .our December pIe from reading it, for everyone, with the exception of the women and issue, page 942 : aged people, wishes to learn how to read before being baptized. We are " The first evangelical church in Syria therefore busy with an edition of the was not the first in the Turkish Empire. New Testament, with commentaries by The setting up of the first printing- the Fathers of the Church." presses in the Turkish Empire is incorrect by more than a century. If the first WHAT A CONTRAST, it has been said, missionary presses are meant, it is again between 1792 and 1892 I-a contrast incorrect. The first were at Smyrna. which proves the splendid progress of The founding of the first day and board- the missionary enterprise, and which ing-schools, and the first college in the should inspire all its friends with elation Turkish Empire, should read simply in and confidence. In 1792 not 190 mis- Syria. The mission in Syria is limited si.onaries-4 .only in all Africa, 12 only in by the Arabic language, and has no con- India, but not one in China, or Japan, or nection with other parts of the empire. Burma, or all Central and Western Asia; In all the above particulars, as well as in m.ost others, they labored for themselves alone, and Syria should take the place of the Turkish Empire, in which, entirely unknown to them, various institutions had come into existence. "
THE BERLIN CHURCH BUILDING S.o- with not 50,000 reliable converts around CIETY, .organized five years ago to pro- them, or 50 of these converts to give vide places of worship for the churchless them efficient aid. Now there are 3000 thousands of the German capital, start· ordained missionaries, with 2500 lay and ing out with 20,000 marks, has expend- lady coadjutors, with no fewer than ed 10,000,000 marks in the erection of 30,000 native evangelists, one sixth .of churches. Thirty new churches have them .ordained, and for the most part been erected by the German Protestants well tried and trained. Around them in the city of Berlin during the past five have been gathered a native Christian years. It is estimated that fully 50 are population of 3,000,000, far in advance of their heathen neighbors in intelli· ly in West Africa. His death is a severe gence, morals, and enterprise. blow to African missions. He was less REv. WILLIAM CAREY, grandson of than forty years old, and married about the historic leader of the same name, twelve years ago the daughter of the wrote to the editor a very gratifying Rev. Peter Walker, formerly of the letter. He says: "I have watched Gaboon, West Africa. The workmen with great interest and the deepest ap- fall. .We believe that the Lord carries preciation your splendid advocacy of on His work.
the claims of foreign missions, and I We learn also that Mrs. George Mul- have long coveted that best of maga- ler is dead. The particulars we have zines, the MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE not learned, but it must be a very heavy WORLD." blow to her venerable husband.
Mr. Carey expresses a desire to pos- THE tenth anniversary of the Young sess the back volumes, and hints that, Men's Institute of the Y. M. C. A. of like his illustrious grandsire, he is" mis- New York City was held January erably poor," and so keeps up the apos- 15th. William M. Kingsley, Esq., pretolic succession. The editor is glad to sided. Cleveland H. Dodge, Esq., Presiadd that the publishers felt, that if any dent New York City Y. M. C. A., and. man should have a free grant, it is Wil- William Dulles, Jr., Esq., Treasurer of liam Carey's grandson and namesake, the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Misand accordingly the request was grant~ sions, made short remarks, and the aded, and the bound volumes furnished. dress of the evening was delivered by JAPAN.-A recent letter in the OlvriB- Edward M. Shepard, Esq.
tian InteUigencer, describing the three The annual report made by the Sec- religions-Buddhism, Shintoism, and retary, Dr. D. E. Yarnell, showed that Confucianism-says it is reported that the Institute work had made consider- there are about 72,000 Buddhist temples able progress during the past year, the and 56,000 priests and monks who, in membership, enrolment in classes, etc., spite of dissensions among them and being larger than ever before.
exposures of their immorality by news- The following are part of the statistics papers, they still hold the confidence of contained in the report, which may in- the people. Shintoism is of native terest many readers: origin, and its chief doctrine is that the 1893. 1894'
gods made Japan, and that the emperors Membership, December 31st… 656 662 are their lineal descendants, all of whom Average Attendance at Rooms. 180 183 are therefore objects of Divine rever- No. Volumes in Library…… 1,701 1,790 Membership In Gymnasium …. 327 345 ence ; it urges, with great emphasis. Average Attendance, Bible loyalty and patriotism as the foremost Class…………………… 17 28 duties of the Japanese. There arei9i,- Average Attendance, Prayer ao 000 Shinto shrines, with 14,500 officiat- Meeting .. _.. .. .. .. .. .. …. . 26 Average Attendance, Men's ing Shinkano. Meeting.. .. •.. .. … .. .. .. … 80 78 PRESIDENT WARREN, of Boston Uni- Depositors' Savings Fund….. 189 181 versity, has proposed the foundation in his city of a museum of all religions. Amount Deposited.•••……..$8,185.95 $7,418.90 Di1Ierent Men in Evening Clas.e8. ……………….. 425 463 In it would be collected religious books, Total Enrolment………….. 617 665 examples of the furnishings of altars Current Expenses ………..,11,827.45 811.779.79 .'lind shrines, religious relics, em blems, IT is a new proof of the expediency idols, and other objects illustrating the and desirability of every man becoming character or history of the different re- the administrator of his own gifts by ligions of the world. bestowing money in his own lifetime, THE REv. A. C. GOOD has died recent- that so many legacies are ultimately perverted from their original purpose. the waste places of the earth; and it is What are known as the Gifford Lec- suggested that in connection with such tures, as provided for by the will of a a season of prayer there be previous Scotch judge, were to be upon the sub- instruction, especially as to the nature ject of Natural Religion; but the lec- of prayer, its privilege, its necessity, ture course has been so perverted as and the place which it holus in God's to antagonize Revealed Religion. For plans for world-wide blessing. We example, the last incumbent of the lec- believe that the one great dependence tureship, Dr. Pfliederer, of Berlin, a of the Church of God for all success in well-known theologian of the rational- our missionary work is an increased istic school, assailed the orthodox beliefs spirit of united prayer. of the Scottish people, and repudiated as .. pale negations" the modified state- AMONG BOOKS to which we desire to ments of modern Scotch professors. call attention are the following: Men of all shades of opinions have, like Dr. Rainey, raised the question, whether "James Gilmour and His Boys," by the university at Edinburgh, in accept- Richard Lovett, published by the F. ing the administration of the lecture- H. Revell Company. The book is ship, anticipated that the deed would partly biographical, partly a series of prove susceptible of such interpreta- adventures, and partly a story of toils tion. Dr. Charteris, of the Established and trials endured for Christ. It con Church, objects to the university giv- tains Mr. Gilmour's charming letters to ing the lecturer a chance to attack the his boys, James a!'d Willie, respectively Bible, and even the liberal Dr. Dods nine years old and seven years old. It comes forward to attack the rational- is sufficient to say that it is as fascinatism of the lecturer. It is to be regret- ing a book as might be expected from ted that a like perversion has even its lamented author. characterized the Bampton Lectures, which for 110 many years have been an Another book, "Kin-Da-Shon's Wife," invaluable series of apologetics. an Alaskan story, by Mrs. Eugene S. Willard, also published by F. H. Revell, HAYTI.-It is probably unknown to is a presentation of the condition of most people that in that island horrible society and missionary effort in Alaska, cannibalism still prevails. Spenser St. surrounding practical facts with the ro- John in his book, "Hayti; or, the Black mantic drapery of fiction. Republic," published in 1884, says that families actually celebrate family feasts, Dr. Henry C. Mabie's record of Eastat which they devour some of their own ern travel, under the name of "In Brightoffspring or the members of the family est Asia," has already reached l!o sixth circle. edition, and it is not surprising. The home secretary of the American Baptist WE have long been suspicious that Missionary Union is a man of winning the week of united prayer observed in manners and great intellectual force, January hall not only been perverted as well as an observing eye. It was a from its original purpose-namely, for- blessing to missions to have such a man eign missions-but has declined in spir- visit Oriental stations; and this book, itual power and effectiveness even as to of less than two hundred pages, fully the church life at home; and we have and beautifully illustrated, is the familmany intimations, through correspond- iar but fascinating story of Dr. Mabie's ence with brethren, that there is a desire, tour. No one will read it, without feelsuch as was expressed at the late De- ing a deeper interest in the mission work cennial Conference in Bombay, for a of God throughout the world; and it season of united prayer specifically for will be found as interesting as a work the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon of fiction.
Miss Annie W. Marston has written a plea for Thibet, under the name of •• The Great Closed Land." It is published superstitions, and religious condition.
by S. W. Partridge, of London, and is Probably no other European was so strikingly like Dr. Mabie's book, though well fitted to write this book as the au- not so large. It is indispensable t;) those thor, and it is the result of first·hand who wish to obtain an accurate account knowledge and observation.
of that hermit nation which seems just " Among the l'[aoris," by Jesse Page, is also from the press of:F. H. Revell, emerging from long seclusion.
" Woman in Missions" is a book pub- and tells of the daybreak in New Zea- lished by the American Tract Society, land, with the labors of Marsden, Sel- containing the papers and addresses wynn, and others. Revell is publish- presented at the Woman's Congress of ing a Missionary Library of small books Missions in Chicago, 1893. Dr. E. M. which present in a brief and very at- Wherry has lovingly compiled and edit- tractive form thc great subject of mis- ed it. It contains seventeen papers or sions.
addresses on various forms and phases "A Dispensational History of Re- of woman's condition and work. It is demption," by Dr. E. P. Marvin, of one of the few valuable contributions Lockport, who appears to be both au- to the subject of woman's mission and thor and publisher, is a new and tren- ministry for Christ, a subject that yet . chant exhibition of biblical teachings as dcmands a much larger and nobler treat- to the true relations of the Church and ment than it has ever yet received. the world. Though not professedly a Akin to this is "The New Woman- missionary treatise, it indirectly teaches hood," by James C. Fernald, published much truth with regard to the way and by l!'unk & Wagnall.3, which, though not spirit in which missions must be car- specifically upon the subject of mis- ried forward, especially in that portion sions, is another helpful discussion of which treats of the Christian dispensa- woman's condition, and adaptation to tion, which has already extended over service in the kingdom of God. nineteen hundred years.
"Our Work," by C. B. Ward, for PALESTINE.-It is difficult to get at eighteen years a Methodist missionary in India, published by E. J. Decker the exact truth, as to the state of the Company,Chicago, outlines fifteen years of devoted service among the Hindus, Holy Land. One who ought to know in dependence upon God both for grace and for material support. It will quick- assured us lately that the incoming of en the faith of any reader. Jews to the country is now strictly pro· We are glad to see that the Revell Company have issued an illustrated edi- hibited, and yet here is what the Lontion of Dr. Davis's" Biography of the Rev. Joseph Hardy Neesima." Hav- don Spectator recently published: ing already called attention to the life of this remarkable pioneer in Japanese " The Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, education, it only remains to say that in a letter to Friday's Times, gives some this American edition is a great im- facts which show that the Jews are provement in every respect upon the pouring into Palestine. About one hunprevious edition, and another of the dred thousand Jews have entered the indispensable books in a complete mis- Holy Land during the last few rears, sionary library. and' the arrival of a vaster host is Immi- nent. ' 'Noone,' he goes on, ' can pos- "Among the Matabele," by David sibly forecast the next seven years of Carnegie, published by the London Re- Jewish immigration.' If the bishop's ligious Tract Society, gives a brief but view of what is going on is correct, we very satisfactory account of the Mata- are face to face with a fact that may bel, tribe, their arts, crafts, weapons, revolutionize the politics of Mediter- ranean Asia. Already the railways are opening up the countr.v between the coast and Jerusalem and Damascus, and if a Jewish immigration onalargesca1e is added to this, Syria may become once more one of the most important places in the East. The idea of the Jews again possessing a country is a very curious one."
GENERAL MISSIONARY lNTEI,LIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY BEV. D. L. LEONARD.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign ing of the systems for which they are Periodicals. content to abjure Christianity. For in- stance, in the neighborhood of the mis- BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, sion station at Cotta. Colonel Olcott suc- ceeded in stirring up the Buddhist priests MASS. to such hostility that for awhile the at· tendance at the Christian schools was INDIA. sensibly diminished. In the village of Udumulla, under this influence the -The Ohurch Mi8sionary InteUigencer priests opened a rival school, and proremarks: "Miss Gordon Cumming ex- nounced a very singular form of expresses surprise at the curious craze"in communication against all who should favor of Buddhism which has broken persist in sending their children to the out of late years in Europe, and criti- mission schools. Such offenders were cises the attractive pictures drawn by to be fined a rupee and a half, and were !esthetic dreamers in their English or ,further admonished that "the dhobie German studies of the realities of Bud- shall not wash their clothes; the native dhist life and worship. She remarks doctors shall not attend any of them in in one chapter : sickness; the devil dancer8 8hall not per- form demon ceremonies for them (l), and " 'There is, unfortunately, no doubt the astrologer8 shall not con8ult the planet8 that Buddhism has received a real im- for them on the birth of their c7tildren, or petus from the example of certain fool- concerning marriages andother important ish Europeans, who (most assuredly events I"~ lacking any personal knowledge of THE MASTER whom they so dishonor) have " 'We need scarcely wonder that thrown in their lot with the teachers of those who have escaped from this deso-called theosophy and esoteric Bud- based system are proof against a.ll argudhism; systems which those who un- ments of the theosophists. Colonel Olderstand them best classify as " Bedlam- cott did his utmost to persuade a Budite balderdash," "blatant humbug," dhist priest who had become a Chrisand" impudent imposture." tian to resume the yellow robe. When he had exhausted his arguments, the " , I would shrink from quoting such ex-priest replied, with more force than expressions regarding any phase of true polish, "I am not a dog, that I should theosophy or " Divine knowledge," but return to my vomit. Pray spare your the leaders of this society in Ceylon pity. If you can believe that there is (well aware that there could be no fel- no right, no wrong, no soul, no conlowship between seekers after knowl- science, no responsibility, no God, no edge of God and the atheistic system of judgment, you need for yourself all the Buddhism, which does not acknowledge pity you possess, and more." any God) were wise in their generation, and adopted as their title the Parama- " 'Yet it is to this system that so wignanartha, or Supreme Knowledge great an impetus has been given even in Society. Consequently it embraces Europe and America by the agency of whatever may be the individual ideal so beautiful a writer as Sir Edwin Arof highest good, whether it be how nold, who, in his passionate admiration best to enjoy this world and how to get for the good and noble, depicts things on in it and get wealth, or how best to not as they really are, but as he would attain to Nirvana and the extinction of have them to be; for truly what he calls all desire. the "Light of Asia" has most practi- " , I think the European disciples of these schools would be rather startled were they to realize the practical work-
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
cally proved to be only bewildering (long missionary of the Basel Society in darkness. South India) has gone home has deeply " , Surely such an ovation as was ac- moved the hearts of those to whom he corded to him by the Buddhists when had become dear in India, and ours he visited Ceylon in 1886 was doubtful among them. What a rich and fruitful honor for a Christian. At one Buddhist tree! How far abroad this tree extend- college near Colombo well-nigh three ed the refreshing shadows of its boughs, thousand assembled to testify their laden with fruit! A tree planted by gratitude to the poet who has painted the water brooks of everlasting life I their leader in colors all borrowed from Deeply as he is missed, keen as is the the life and teaching of Him who is the pain felt at his loss, yet both are miti- true LIGHT OF THE WORLD. The hon- gated by the remembrance of a life so ored guest was placed on a raised plat- full and rich; indeed, in view of the form beneath an honorific canopy, while eternity into which he has passed over Buddhist ecclesiastics robed in yellow in blessed slumber, the joyful conscious- satin chanted chorals, litanies, and an- ness that this full, rich life is not con- thems in Pali and Singhalese, Sir Edwin cluded, but has entered upon the stage replying in Sanskrit. of glorious perfection, disposes us rather " , One of those best acquainted with to a sense of thankfulness. God be practical Buddhism in Ceylon describes praised for all that he, in Christ, was it as " the most cunningly devised sys- permitted to offer and to be to so tem of atheism and negation, of idol many !"-Oalwe·r jUissionsbZatt.
worship, tree and serpent worship, and -" Hinduism no longer has a really pessimism which has ever held the sure hold on many, as it is easy to dishuman mind in bondage;" a system cover from repeated expressions of the exactly answering to the awful scrip- people to us, and I believe that, in stilltural summary" having no hope, and ness, God is preparing a transition of without God in the world." the masses into Christianity. "-Mission- ary CHRISTIAN SCHLESCH, in Dansk Mis- " , Can anything more pitiful be con- aiona-Btad. ceived than that human beings born within the pale of the Christian Church can deliberately sacrifice the privilege – " If God taught the Old Testa- of individual personal communication ment mi5sionary compassion, by calling with the ever-present Almighty Friend, to his attention that in ' Nineveh, that who cares for each one of us, in ex- great city.' there were' more than six· change for an utterly irrespongive nega- score thOl:sand persons that cannot dis- tion-a theory of perfection only to cern between their right hand and their be attained through self·conquest, at left hand,' what thoughts mnst the which poor weak human beings are ad- census of India inspire, which shows vised to aim through ages of lonely us living within its range almost as lifelong struggles extending over many many children under five years of age transmigrations, without one prayerful (45,000,000) as there are men, women, look to the Divine Helper who alone and children in the whole German Em- can keep our wayward wills from wan- pire!
dering after all manner of evil? And " This vast population of 287,000,000, all this in order to gain the cessation of among which the British power is so their individual life.' " firmly established as to be able to take -" The Moravian Mission in Leh, a census that offends so many deeply Tibet, has borne its first fruits in the rooted prejudices, is not held in obedibaptism of a young man last Good Fri- ence by numbers. In all India there day. "-Ohurch Missionary Intelligenccr. are only 247,790 Europeans and Eura- sians. The whole army amounts only – " The news that dear Papa Gundert to 218,230 men; the police to 143,524.
GlllNEKAL MISSIONAl'tT INTELLIGENCE
" India is not a land of cities, but of independently of thtit there is a Chris· villages. Only 27,200,000 dwell in tian profession which, in spite of much cities. shortcoming and of our miserable di- visions, does lay hold of the heart and " The late census of India gives the mind of England, and the red cross in number of Animists as 9,000,000. This our banner which we still hold is not is simply the worship of spirits, con- merely a symbol, but a great and ceived as localized or ubiquitous, a re- blessed reality. But if this is true of ligion mainly of superstitious terror. the society we call the nation, how The religious condition of the lower much more is it true of the society we castes of Brahmanism or Hinduism dif- call the Church, which is humanity fers but slightly from this. Grouping centred in God in the Lord Jesus the two classes together, we have an Christ lOur Church can never be sat- aggregate of about 50,000,000. This isfied with enjoying God's blessings at mass, relatively inert, will become the home, and diffusing them over human- prey of the Brahmanist revival or of ity here, unless we take hold of the Islam, unless the Christian mission lays blessed opportunities which God has hold of these elements. It ought to do given us, and diffuse them all over the this, without neglecting any of the world, which is a coudition of the other elements of Hindu society; but strength and vitality of the Church at alas 1 how little the Christian Church home.-Bishop BARRY, in Olmrcl. Misyet comprehends the grandeur of the sionary Intelli,qerwer. task which Jesus has confided to her as her true reason of being l"-Professor MISCELLANEOUS. F. HERlIIAN KRUGER, in Journal des Mi88ions. -" A.lmost all French writers have exalted the Renaissance at the expense -A. Christian preacher having lately of the Reformation, maintaining that discovered a cobra nearly paralyzed by the former was broader in its views a flood in which it had been caught, than the latter, and that it brought to asked leave to kill it, but the people mankind a completer liberty. The facts would not consent. The Bombay Guar- do not sustain this view, The nations dian suggests that the cobra will do which embraced the Reformation are well to guard itself against possible evidently in advance of those which redangers in the future from intrusive mained satisfied with the Renaissance. Christians by taking out a government This is because the Reformation inlicense to poison people. In that case volved a moral force which was lacking the interests of the revenue will secure to the Renaissance. And moral force it not only against being attacked, but united with education is the enduring even against being spoken of dispar- foundation of national prosperity. Thc agingly. Reformation was a return to the Gos- pel, and the Gospel, being superior to THL UNITED KINGDOM. the traditions of classic antiquity, can- not fail to bring forth better fruit."- -" I say that England is truly a EMILE LAVELEYE, quoted in El AbQgado Christian nation, independently alto- Cristiano Ilustrado (Mexico). gether of the national profession of Christianity, which is embodied in the -" The Allgemeine Missions·Zeitconnection of the national Church with schrijt for September contains an inthe State-of which I hope it is not ir- teresting and very learned article on relevant to ask you-it has been bound the attitude of the Lutheran Church in up with some of the most glorious Germany toward missions to the hea- . things in the life of England in the past then in the seventeenth century. It ap· -to ask you to pray that the bond pears that in the first half of that cenwhich God has so blest may not be broken in our time. I say that quite
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
tury it was seriously maintained by viewed as SOUls destined for immortal- German divines that the command to ity and needing the illumination of go into all the world was only given to faith, but as so many strong arms to be the apostles, and that the diffusion of trained to work, not for themselves, but the Gospel among all nations was no es- for their German masters, and princi- sential aim of the Christian Church. pally through the mediation of the mis- This naturally exposed the Lutheran sionaries. The negroes or other natives Church to sharp attacks from the side are to be virtually, though not for- of the Church of Rome, which was then mally, slaves, and the missionaries are beginning her career of missionary required to serve as the chief slaveactivity. It is interesting to learn that drivers. Of course there is no objecan Englishman, John Drury, was the tion to their throwing in a little religion first to endeavor to awaken the mission- by way of amusement at odd times. ary zeal of Germany in the year 1650. Indeed, this is allowed to be necessary, He was followed in 1663 by the great in order to give them a hold upon the German advocate of missions, the Baron people. Justinian von Welz. Welz was treated So far as we have observed, the Geras a dreamer and a fanatic by the ortho- man missionary societies have set themdox divines of his day, and during the selves firmly against all these claims of rest of the century a sharp struggle exaggerated Germanism; but Superinwent on between the advocates and the tendent Merensky appears to be rather enemies of missions, ending at last in carried away with them. Of course he the victory of the missionary idea. The abhors all slave-holding proposals, and whole story is an additional proof how would have the spiritual good of the indifference to foreign missions belongs people uuhesitatingly put first; but he to an order of things which must pass seems to insist that German missionaries away when a church or an individual shall bend themselves to promote among awakes to full consciousness of the their converts German ways, in society supremacy of Christ. "-The Ohronicle. and in religion, and apparently in every- thing else. The appeal which he makes -The Moravian Church, with its to our Lord's action in Israel ought, as usual mild wisdom, raises a firm pro- the Moravian brethren remark, to show test against Superintendent Merensky's him the contrary. Christ confined Himstrange position, that missions ought self personally, for obvious reasons, more and more to put off their inter- within Israel; but under the Jewish national and put on a strictly national envelope this Gospel is addressed to aspect, and that only when this change universal man. The Missionsblatt well is thoroughly accomplished will mis- remarks that Herr Merensky has nothsiims be perfect I A more absolute re- ing to say of His death for the world, versal of the hands upon the dial of nor of His last command. Christ mentime, a completer contradiction of the tions the nations, thereby implying that advancing history of mankind, and His messengers are to respect their above all of the kingdom of God, it peculiarities, but not that they are stubseems as if it would be difficult to find. bornly to adhere to their own. If the The truth is, that the Germans seem as missionaries cannot, for this end, lay yet to be fairly intoxicated with their aside much of What is very dear to, new colonial ambitions. Every German them, they seem to have forgotten what abroad, traveller, scientist, or mission- their Master laid aside when IIe came ary, is clamorously required to make on earth. himself an instrument for the propaga- As the Blatt remarks, to impose on a tion of Germanism; that first, Chris· newly converted people, of a race widetianity and everything else apparently ly removed from that of the missionaafter that. The natives are not to be ries, the peculiarities of a long national
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELJ.IGENCE
and religious development, largely un· youths cheer the missionaries by their intelligible to them and often incongru- constancy.
ous, seems a strange way of settiqg home the Gospel of all nations. Let -A visit has been paid to the Sesse this be carried out, and soon the mis- Islands by Mr. G. L. Pilkington and sionaries of each nation would become the Rev. E. Millar, who left Mengo in incapable of working outside of the July last for that purpose. On 14 of dominions of their own country. How the 27 islands there arc churches;' one then about China and Japan and other each on 10, two on three, and three on one-19 churches altogether, The popugreat independent governments'! The Brethren remark that their own lation on these islands is estimated as Church has never denied her German 75,000, of Whom 5450 afe returned as origin and her prevailingly German readers, 76 as baptized, and 161 as cate· character. The remembrances of the· chumens. There are 21 native teachers lands of Luther and Huss are dear to working on these islands, sel'.t by the her, and she conveys them into the vari- Church Council.
ous lands into which she has spread. -About the same time that Messrs. But this is spontaneously, and only so Pilkington and Millar went southward far as is consistent with the national to the Sesse Islands, Mr. R. H. Leakey character and remembrances of converts went northward to the province of and members. Whatever German flavor Bulemezi, and after spending six weeks may adhere to the Gospel which she there, he writes of having visited nine preaches she is not ashamed of, but it places in that province where there is the Gospel and not the particular local were churches, and he knew of several flavor of it which she has at heart, and others. which she thinks that all Christian mis- sionaries ought to have at heart. She -At Namukozi, in Tingo, 22 adult does not go forth to convert men to Mo- converts have been baptized. The Rev.
ravianism or Germanism, but to con- H. R. Sugden says: "The Church was vert them to God. full" and there were great rejoicings.
In matters concerning missionary -The success in Kikabya, a district principle we might do worse than to in Kyagwe, is most marked. This distake Herrnhut for our Oathedra Petri. trict is under a Christian chicf named Tomasi. The Rev. G. K. Baskerville British Notes. found at the chief's country place 32 candidates for baptism whom the chief J'lY JAMES DOUGLAS. himself had instructed. The district under this chief is about 50 miles long. Olturch Mi8sionary Society. – The Mr. Baskerville spent 34 days in the news concerning Eastern Equatorial disl,rict visiting the towns, which were Africa is particularly full. The re- " all gardens," walking 80 miles, and motest station at Nassa, on Speke Gulf, each day delivering two addresses. At is a very isolated one, being 600 miles Namiliti 10 persons professed to yield from Mpwapwa, with no mission sta- their hearts to the Saviour. There is tion between, and about 280 miles from every prospect of a glorious reaping Uganda, on the opposite coast of the time in this region. Victoria lake. Two missionaries, the Rev. E. H. Hubbard and Mr. J. P. Nickis- Society for the Propagation of the Gos- son, labor in this dark region, and see on pd.-We have not hitherto noticed the all sides trust in charms, thc practice of work of the Society for the Propaga- witchcraft, cases of robbery and even tion of the Gospel, which, in addition murder. A congregation of over 200 to the Church Missionary Society, is sus· has been gathered, and several native tained by the Churc. of England. A
BRITISH NOTES
brief notice of the work of the Society puzzling out. In particular the pres- for the Propagation of the Gospel in ence or absence of the article was very Ramnad, South India, may serve to hard to understand, but some forty- sample the doings of this society. For three rules clear it all up.
the purposes of administration the mis- -The work on the Upper Congo is sion is divided into six pastorates or dis· making .strides, but chiefly thus far tricts, all of which are under the charge among the women and children. There of native pastors. These districts are: are now six dialects reduced to writing Ramnad, Keelakarai. Pamban, Raja· by the missionaries on the field belongsingamangalam, KiJanjani, and Parama· ing to our various societies. gudy. In the Ramnad district the Chris- tians are mostly members of the Valyar -The Baptist Union of Backergunge caste, a tribe of hunters who live to a and Furidpore, Eastern Bengal, have great extent in the jungle, earning their just celebrated their fifteenth annual Iivelihuod by hunting, fishing in streams, gathering. The proceedings were of an and cutting down firewood. The Keela· enthusiastic description, and large and kal"ai district is the largest in the mis- representative audiences heard the Gos- sion, containing 1500 Christians aDd pel forcibly preached for three evenings catechumens. In Rajasingamangalam with unabated interest.
there are 448 Christians and 81 catechu- -At Turki, the Rev. Robert Spurmens. Of these the majority came geon, of Barisal, reports the baptism of from the Roman Church, which has two men, the first·fruits of the Gospel in been at work in this district from the that place. One was eighty years of sixteenth century with only nominal re- age, a Boigaree, and, therefore, a begsults. It is found that the most unsatis· gar. He came to beg, but found the factory of all Christians are those who pearl of great price, and discontinued have joined the Society for the Propa- his old life. Often he spends the night gation of the Gospel mission from the saying over the texts or hymns he has Roman communion, and that it is.better learned, and is much in prayer. to reap directly from heathenism than from Rome's half·way houile. The Wealeyan Mi88ionaru Society.-At Kilanjani district numbers 940 baptized Yemkapalli, near Kundi, some earnest Christians and 200 catechumens. TheEe Christians were baptized some- months are made up of Idaiyars and Maravas. ago. They have let their light shine, The Idaiyars follow the calling of shep- and have sought the evangelization of herds. but the Maravas, until changed the villagers. As the result the mis- by grace, are robbers and thieves and sionary and a party of workers visited given up to devil-worship. In the mis- the village to enroll those who had re- sion district of Paramagudy there is but solved to become Christians. The peo- little success save among the pariahs in ple quickly gathered, and clamored for the villages. The systematic working permission to attend the meeting. The of this entire mission dates from Mr. Rev. A. S. Dharmiah preached, setting Billings's arrival in 1873, who, under forth the way of salvation through a God, has done grand work. System, crucified and incarnate Saviour, and faith, perseverance, and achievement showing the uselessness of bathing in are conspicuous features of the last sacred rivers for the remission of sins.
twenty years' labor. At the close, 11 persons of the Mala community came forward as candidates Bapti8t Misaionaru Society.-On the for baptism, and boldly gave their testi- Lower Congo the Rev. W. Bentley re- mony before the people. One said he ports that he has just completed the ap- had prayed to Siva, but got no answer pendix to the Congo grammar and syn· to his prayers. He was glad that he tax, a work which has required much had found Jesus had died to save him.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTEJ.LIGENCE
Another, a man of sixiy years, said he power to get wealth." Let us pay God had worshipped Siva according to the His due. traditions of his fathers, but the visits of the preachers had enlightened him. -There.is no better proof, says the After hearing these and other testimo- Journal of Education, of the essential nies, 1.1 persons were received into the barbarism of even the most civilized Ohurch of Ohrist by the rite of baptism. nations of the world than is afforded by a comparison of the money they expend The Ohristian Literature Society for for the maintenance of physical sulndia.-Tbe report of this society, of premacy as against the expenditme for which the Rev. James Johnston is the mental improvement. In some tables enthusiastic secretary, shows much recently compiled, the amount per capprogress in the diffusion of Ohristian ita expended by various governments books and tracts throughout the great for military and educational purposes is peninsula. "India is now the best set down as follows: educated of the non-Christian countries of the world." Among its 300,000,000 Military. Education. there 14,000,000 or 16,000,000 of readers France…………………. $4 00 taught in most modern methods of Eu- England……………….. 372 S 70 rope, with all the impulses which mod- Holland ……………….. 358 ern science and literature are fitted to Germany ………………. 2 30 62 impart to the mind. In the interests of Russia ………………… 204 64 this class, 1,133,115 volumes were print- Denmark ………………. 1 76 42 c;j ed last year. The Rev. G. H. Rouse, Italy…………………… 152 03 of Caicutta, cites an interesting case of Belgium……………….. 1 38 94 conversion through one of the tracts Austria …………. ~ …… 1 36 36 published in Bengali by this society and Switzerland……… …….. 82 4 written by himself. United States…. ……….. 30 32 46 THE KINGDOM. 185 -" Millions come from the millions." The millionaires are few in number. and II milliQn dollars from a million people is better than a million from one man.
-The total wealth of the richest -The Rev. F. B. Meyer, of London, family in the world, the Rothschilds, tells of one whose income is $10,000 per is said to amount to more than $2,000,- annum, who lives on $1000 and gives 000,000. This great mass of property the remaining $9000 to the cause of fordoubles itself every fifteen years. eign missions. Another, whose income is $10,000, Who lives on $1200, and -Let us call things by their right gives away the remainder. A governnames, especially when they relate to ess who earns $500 gives $250. An. the kingdom of God. Therefore, well other, who has a comfo·table compedoes Rev. J. B. Donaldson suggest: tence, remains in business, all the profits " Weare accustomed to talk of giving of which he gives. to the Lord's work. That is a great mistake. The giving is from the other -Says the Nashville Ohri8tian Adparty. The silver and gold are the '!locate: " A woman in Florida, recent- Lord's. We only dig it up. Thecattle ly deceased, bequeathed the Board of upon a thousand hills are His. We only Missions a ten-acre orange grove, twelve herd thcm. The wheat does not germi- acres of rich hummock land, and two nate by our power. The sun does not town lots. Two women give $800 towshine at our bidding. The rains do not ard building a church in Osaka, Japan. fall at our word. The soil is not fertile A local preacher sends us $200 for misthrough our wisdom. Our opportuni- sions, and a little child ten cents. A ties and faculties to make money are all missionary returns $250 to the treasury, gifts from God. He giveth thee the proposing to meet her own expenses… -The Bishop of Carlisle, speaking at -Our missionaries perform a double the farewell meeting of three mission· service, since they not only introduce ary bishops in Exeter Hall, referring to Christianity, but also compel false faiths the death of Bishop Hill and so many of to decency and the performance of good his party, said: " Are we tempted to works. Therefore Mr. Ford, of the say of lives laid down like this, To what Syria Mission, spoke wisely when he purpose is this waste? Let us not take once said that he was going up the up words from the mouth of Judas.'·- mountain to open two schools at a cer- The Gleane1'. tain point. "How is that f" .. I shall -The superintendent of the Life Sav- open one, and the priest will open aning Service reports that in the last year other."
380 vessels in distress were aided; on. -For some reason the missionary board. these vessels were 4054 persons, periodicals for January are especially of whom 3933 were saved and only 61 full of interesting matter. Among them lost: 658 persons were succored at the is the Ohronicle of the London Missionstations, and 83 persons were saved who ary Society, which gives an account of had fallen from wharves and piers. a tour through some of the Samoan Islands. and of the jubilee of the Malua -" There is no near and no far, but Institution for Training Teachers. The just one r<Jund world of lost and perish- Presbyterian Assembly Herald must also ing souls to be rescued and saved be mentioned, which is a paper rather through the world's Christ." than a magazine, published by Rev.
-In ref"rence to the missionaryen- R. S. Green. at Syracuse, N. Y., at a terprise, there are at least three kinds price merely nominal; is only in the of Christians-those who are merely midst of its first year, and each month parochial in their sympathies, those who serves up a large amount of excellent are narrowly patriotic, and those who reading relating to the work both abroad are really recumenical. The parochially and at home.
minded limit their regards to what they -According to the newspapers, there can actually see around them. For is a proposition on foot in Chicago to them even England has no existence make use of the phonograph in familreligiously. Only a little less limited in iarizing candidates for the missionary view are those patriotically minded souls field with foreign languages. The idea to whom all foreign work is " outland· is to do away with the necessity obligish." God wants us recumenically mind- ing young missionaries to spend three ed, and as English Christians belonging years in learning the language of the to a world-wide empire it is specially people among whom they are to work. our duty so to be.-The Oltlroniele. Foreigners will talk into the phono- -True heroism was displayed by the graph, and then students will use it to soldiers at Hong Kong at the time of become familiar with the sound and ac· the recent plague. They voluntarily cent of the strange tongue. The first assisted the authorities in disinfecting machines will be placed in the Young the houses of the people who had per- Men's Christian Association building, ished, with the result that one officer and others will be distributed among and one man fell victims to the disease. prominent churches.
They died to save men's lives.- U. P. -Says the Independent: "It is an In- Magazine. teresting fact that the wife of Field- -On the corner-stone of the London Marshal Oyama, Japanese Secretary of Temperance Hospital, laid by Sir Wil. War and Commander of the Second frid Lawson, is this inscription: "In Army in China, is that lovely and Chris- humble dependence on Almighty God tian lady known lnber girlhood in New for cure in the treatment of disease." Haven, where she was a member of the family of the late Dr. Leonard Bacon, and but at the beginning of her term of and at Vassar College, where she was service, she was left a widow. Since president of her class, as Miss Stemats 1858 she has been stationed at Thongze Yamakawa. We can testify from our as a quasi pastor of the church and own remembrance of her that she was superintendent of cvangelistic labors in an extremely lovely girl." all the region around, with divers col- porteurs, Bible women, teachers, etc., WOMAN'S WORK. looking to her for counsel.
-Life and Light has been examining -Though woman's work in connecthe records of the American Board, and tion with the London Missionary Sofinds that women began to organize for ciety began a full century since, and missionary giving as early as 1812 ; finds was carried on by such as Mrs. Moffat, also that during the first ten years about Mrs. Ellis, Mrs. Mullens, 11rs. Mault, Mrs. one tenth of the receipts are acknowl- Kennedy, Mrs. Smith, and Mrs. Wardedged as from women. A.mong the vari- law, it was not organized and pushed ous items are such as these: "The Fe- until since 1875, and even ten years later male of Color, $5 ; the Indigent Fe- only 27 had been sent out. But now male, $3; the Aged Widow, $5; the the number in the field is 72, and no less Pious Lady, $10; the Unknown Fe- than 103 have borne a part. Says the male, $1; Lucy, $1; the Little Girl, Quarterly New8: " Our present actual .06; the Poor Woman, .50; the Elder- band of workers is distributed over the ly Lady, .75; the Pious Females, $2 ; ficld, which is the world, in the followthe Two Children and Hired Girl, $3 ; ingproportions: 35inindia(17inNorth the Servant Girl, .40; the Two Widows, India, 15 in South India, and 3 in Tra- $1.25, and many other ' Female Friends vancore), 22 in China, 6 in Madagascar, of l'Yfissions,' whose names are written 2 in South Africa, and 4 in the South in heaven. We have a glimpse of sac- Sea Islands. There has been a propor- Tifice~ in the gift of a gold watch, in the tionate increase in the number of our avails of gold beads, a bracelet, a neck- nati'OO female agents during the past ten lace, and other jewelry, of a chaise, years. Our girls' schools now number and of 10 cents, a premium obtained in 375, with some 56,753 scholars." Sunday-school. " -In a recent Pacijic Advocate Mrs. -Mrs. Capron's history illustrates Sue H. Cousland gives a graphic dehow a foreign missionary is made by scription of "our mission compound" home missionary prayers. Her father, in Swatow, China, ineluding the schools, Dr. Hooker, a saintly man, said to his the hospitals, and the printing estabdaughter, about to be married to Mr. lishment. We can almost see and hear Capron, to go with him to India: what is going on in that busy hive. " How came you ever to think of going abroad as a foreign missionary~" feel- YOUNG PEOPLE. ing the bitterness of the separation. " Why, father," she replied, "I do not -The Y. M. C. A. has 42 organizacount it strange. I have heard you tions among colored young men, of pray for missions all my life, and now which 26 are in colleges. 1 am going to answer your prayers."- Life and Light. -Says the Young Men'lI Bra: "Dr. Charles A. Eastman, the Indian secre- -A recent Helping Hand contains an tary of the International Committee, inspiring account of "one woman's was born in Minnesota, in 1858, of threework" in Burma, relating to the forty- quarter Indian blood, of a notable famfour years' heroic endurance and most ily of the Sioux tribe. At the time of fruitful endeavor of Mrs. Murilla B. In- the Minnesota massacre (1862) he was galls. While scarcely out of youth, carried off by an uncle and grandmother into Manitoba. Until sixteen he lived zeal rises higher and they have had a wild life, and never saw the inside of more experience they will do far better.
a house. Then he attended Indian mis- -The last year closed with 37,002 sion schools for three years, later sev- societies of Christian Endeavor, of eral preparatory schools, finally entering which 30,662 are in the United States, Dartmouth College in 1883, and gradu- 2347 are in Canada, and 3993 in foreign ating in 1887. In the same year he en- lands. During the last quarter 1293 tered the Boston University School of had been forme4. The members aglIedicine, from which he graduated in gregate 2,223,800. 1890, and was immediately appointed government physician at Pine Ridge -On Christmas Day everyone of the Agency, South Dakota, and remained 1200 convicts in the Kentucky penitenthere until his resignation in 1893 to tiary recei ved a letter from the Christian enter upon the practice of medicine in Endeavor societies of Louisville. 'l'hese St. Paul, Minn." letters were of a religious nature, quite long, very interesting, and no two were -A. Young Men's Hindu Association worded alike. Many of the prisoners has been started in Madras to rival the have signified their intention of answer- Y. M. C. A.., and one of the local rajahs ing the letters. is said to have proIl}ised 5000 rupees for a building. -The Young People's societies in the German Baptist churches of the East- -The students of Knox College, To- ern States organized a Union last Sep- ronto, have a missionary society which tember at Buffalo, which now contains sent out 29 of their number last summer 1405 members. They raised $1818 for to do pioneer work in various sections current expenses last year, and $1013 for of the Dominion, and raised $2115 of benevolence.
the $5935 require.1. -Rev. A.. A. Fulton (Presbyterian) -A. Methodist Christian Eudeavor writes from Canton, Ohina: "Four Society in Oshkosh, Wis., has issued a Christian Endeavor_ societies in three programme for the current year, with years, by use of two cents per week these as the topics of missionary meet- plan, have reached 27,000 patients and ings: preached to more than 100,000 persons January-New Year's Day in Heathen in 1114 villages. If every society in Lands. our Church used this plan, we should February-An India Social. have $250,000 per year."
March- Thank-offering Service. UNITED STATES. April-Our Pioneer Missionaries.
1tlay-A China Social. -According to Dr. Dorchester: June-Young People, or Light-Bear- " The growth of New England during ers in Mission Lands. the last fifty years has been largely by July-A. Journey to Korea. the foreign immigration. The Roman August-A. Japan Social. Catholic population amounts to 1,004,- September-Korea and Missions. 605. The actual membership in all non- October-Missionary Heroes. Catholic bodies is 764,722. To find the November-Social. population of the Protestant bodies, he December-A Conversation: Mission- multiplies the membership by three and ary Heroines. a half, which giTeS 2,676,527 as the -Though the Epworth Leagues fell non-Catholic adherents. The Protestant far IIhort of the large sum called for in and Catholic populations make 4,943,- their Thanksgiving offering for mis- 527 in a total population of 4,700,745.
sions, the total is yet something more -A.s the year was closing the J!Jvan- than $30,000. When their evangelizing geli8t gave a long article to the public charities of New York City, including at Martin's Creek, near the spot where the Out-Door-Poor Department, the stood the cabin built by him, and occu- various hospitals, the idiot asylum, pied two years from 1774. It was here almshouses, workhouse, morgue, etc. that much of his memorable journal Last year the Commissioners of Chari- was written.
ties and Corrections were allowed -In California there are 4 Japanese $2,295,675, and ask $3,397,551 for this churches, with 316 members. Thirtyyear. But besides, $888,519 were grant- four were added during last year. ed to 98 other institutions of a private There are 822 pupils in school and 544 or sectarian character. in the Sunday-school. The contribu- -In connection with Hospital Sun- tions were $3323. The church and the day it was stated that this same city Young Men's Christian Association contained about 10,000 hospital beds for have contributed $500, the church payall kinds of bodily ills, about one half ing the regular assessment to the Synod of them supported by public funds, and and the General Assembly's Fund, supso rapidly have these institutions mul- porting in part an evangelist, and givtiplied within ten years that the annual ing aid in charitable work in this councost has risen from $274,035 to $840,831 try and in Japan. The Christian Assolast year. ciation numbers about 100 members, and it gave $100 to furnish accommo- -The Children's Aid Society main- dations for a branch mission of their tains 21 industrial schools; 7 night countrymen near Chinatown. schools; 1 farm school; 7 lodging- houses; 4 summer charities; a laun- -The American Board has 36 physi- dry; iii dress-making, sewing-machine, cians in the field, of whom 15 are or- and type-writing school; a boys' print- dained and 8 are women. In all, from ing s~op; free reading-rooms at all the the first 89 have been sent out, and 34 lodging-houses, and at 219 Sullivan were graduates in theology as well as Street and 247 East Forty-fourth Street. in medicine.
the total number of children under the -The Disciples (Christians) have decharge of the society during 1894 was cided to extend their foreign missionary 38,811, and the receipts were $402,234. work by establishing a mission in some In all, from the beginning nearly 100,- part of Africa. 000 have been supplied with homes in the country. -The Presbyterian Church has 1622 -This notice and exhortation is taken communicants in Africa; 6476 in China; from the Sailor's Magazine: "New 1795 in India; 4826 in Japan; 141 in York Christian! Do you want to at- Korea ; 4512 in Mexico; 2697 in Pertend earnest religious meetings? Go sia; 1907 in Siam; 1972 in Syria; 4109 to the Sailors' Home, 190 Cherry Street, in South America; 553 in Canada, and on Saturday night; to the Mariners' 49 in Guatemala. Over 31,000 mem- Church, 46 Catharine Street, on Sun- bers abroad makes this quite a cosmoday night; or, not to mention others, to politan body. Library Hall, Cob Dock, Brooklyn Navy Yard, on Thursday night, at half past -In December last the United Brethseven o'clock. The secretary was glad ren sent forth 6 missionaries to help on to see about 200 naval seamen present the work of evangelization and educa- tion upon the West Coast of Africa.
at the Navy Yard meeting on Novem- -The Presbyterians have two homes ber 8th." for the children of missionaries in -December 5th a monument to David Wooster, 0., the Livingstone, with 19 Brainerd was dedicated by the Y. M. rooms, and the Westminster, with 23.
C. A. of Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. The chilrlren of 5 families were found in them last year, and already 8 chil- -The society last named is fortunate dren have made application to entel' above most in having an editorial secre- during 1895. tary possessed of the rare and royal gift EUROPE. of speaking the solemn truth, of a sort which is disagreeable to not a few, with Great Britain.-The Rev. W. all courage and plainness, but always Hughes, Colwyn Bay, North Wales, in love and tenderness' (suaviter in modo, is director of the Congo Training Insti- fortiter in re). As, for example, in the tute, whose object is " to give religious December InteUigenCf!r to the laggard and industrial education to the most givers who would have the society repromising of the African converts in the trench.
, United Kingdom, and to establish sim- -The East London Institute, since ilar institutions as branches in Africa." its founding in 1872, has trained and Of the latter 5 are already founded. sent out 821 men and women, who are For this work £5000 are required. now toiling in 40 different countries.
-The Aged Pilgrims' Friend Society The number of departures last year was in London is something quite unique. 60, divided among a half score of mis- Founded in 1807, it aims to give pen- sionary societies.
sions of 5, 7, and 10 guineas each to the -The members of the Salvation Army needy of both sexes who are not under do not wear their ~niform in foreign sixty years of age. Several homes are fields; they enter into the life of the provided for these veterans. Some 6000 people, wear their clothes, eat their in all have been ministered to, and 1315 food, live in such houses as those innames are now on the books. The an- habit whom they would reach, and in nual cost is about £10,000, and the ag- all possible ways renounce their old gregate of expenditures is upwad of national identity and assume that of £240,000. natives of the land in which they work.
-The China Inland Mission has -In the January Central Africa (Uni- " urgent need for 100 consecrated men. versities' Mission) Rev. W. H. Wood- Existing stations are calling for rein- ard has a paper of admirable tone forcements, and God is opening new npon " Associate Missions and Family doors which there are no workers to Life." As is known to most, the soenter." ciety which he represents appoints only celibates to service, and all " stand so- -Eugene Stock, editorial secretary cially on the same level, receive the of the Church Missionary Society, has same allowances, live in the same house, been giving in two carefully prepared eat at the same table." Having no famarticles in the InteUigenCfJr some of the ily ties to fetter, all may move at once results of his research into the sources " at the bidding of the bishop." "The of missionary income. He finds that, climate alone, perhaps, might make in England at least, it is not poverty married life almost impossible." Therewhich hinders giving, nor is it affluence fore" it was not economy alone which which prompts to the exercise of this determined the system. " However, grace. Instead, it is well·nigh the rule though the ad vantages are so great. he that the most able bestow the least, does not claim that this is the only while the least able make large offer- legitimate or excellent way of carrying ings. He concludes that in almost on evan¥elizing work. every case it is not wealth but work which tells, vigorous, persistent effort on the part of clergymen or laymen, or -The Children's Fresh-air Fortnight both in co-operation, and supplies fig- scheme, directed by Mr. MacKeith, of ures in abundance to SUbstantiate his Glasgow, has received a second gift of conclusion .. £2000 to purchase and furnish a home for scrofulous children. Although not measures, the Turkish Government is distinctly evangelistic, the scheme is in- the greatest Mrs. Partington on record. "
cluded in the operations of the Glasgow -" Converts" from the Oriental United Evangelistic Association, and churches must needs be examined most sprung out of the work for the children carefully as to motive and aim before carried on in the Tent Hall on Sunday being received. For not a few are afternoons. prompted to become Protestants from merely selfish impulses, or to spite some· ASIA.
Islam.-Last year was for Robert body. Thus Rev. W. S. Nelson, of College" one of the most trying through 'l'ripoli, Syria, tells, in the Independent, which it has ever passed, through the of a man who was eager to turn Presby- prevalence of cholera, the great earth- terian, though grossly given to strong quake with its destruction of life and drink, and ready to withstand the property, and the serious political Maronite Church with" guns and pis- troubles in Asia Minor. Nevertheless, tols."
the work was in many respects more -Dr. Jessup is able to make a de· satisfactory than ever before. The total lightful setting forth of the Christian number of students was 200, represent- comity which prevails, whereby the ing 10 nationalities, among them 68 Presbyterians are left to themselves in Armenians, 65 Greeks, and 44 Bulga- Syria, and the Church Missionary Sorians. Improvements have been made ciety has exclusive possession in Pales· in all departments, and the preparatory tine, and neither will receive disaffected department has been entirely reorgan- members belonging to the other. ized. Funds are needed for a separate building for the latter. India.-Miss Phillips, of Balasore, Orissa, says: ., I am sure you will think -Tbemission press in Turkeyis kept I have abundant reason for making a in constant embarrassment by the ab- thank offering when I tell you the Lord surd fears of the government. "All has permitted us as a family to give the manuscripts must be submitted to 166 years of service to India. This in- examination at Constantinople before cludes the time given by father, mother, being printed. Some are rejected or brother, and 5 sisters, and when added returned in a mutilated condition, while to the time of 2 brothers-in·law and 1 those accepted are kept a long time and sister·in-law makes a total of 206 the printing delayed. Books that have years."
received the sanction of the government -A.n interesting sign of changing may be seized and destroyed at any time times in India was furnished in a Mo· upon a foolish pretence, as the coloring hammedan educational and social conof a map in a geography. Two men ference, held at Ahmedabad in OctOber. were imprisoned and their books con- The fact was brought home that if they fiscated, not for selling their geogra- are even to hold their own in the fuphies, but for procuring them for the ture, the education of their children governors at their request." must go beyond the mere learning of -The petition of 300,000 Christian the Koran by heart. A result of their women has brought to light a new ex· present defective education is that, out ample of Turkish justice. A Mr. Mah- of 1000 subordinate clerks in the collecdissian has been banished for life to an torate of Ahmedabad, only 2 are Mooasis in the desert of Sahara for trans. hammedans. A. notable feature of the lating into Turkish a portion of Scrip· conference was that Mullahs and Moulture referring to the coming of the king- vies advocated female education.
dom of Christ. " In attempting to stem -Anna Thompson writes to the the tide of Christianity by such petty Ohri8tian Advocate: "The Maharajah of Baroda has issued a notification to than 500 villages and mohallas, with 6 the effect that within his territories no Conference members and probationers, new liquor shops shall henceforth be 4 local elders and deacons, 14 local opened without the sanction of the min- preachers, and 60 exhorters; with 8 ister. .Ai3 for the existing shops, if five churches and chapels, 4 boarding- sixths of the house-owners and inhab- schools, 3 training-schools, 3 mission itants of any village or town would homes, 1 deaconness home, 1 hospital represent to the minister their wishes and dispensary, book shops, reading- that the liquor shops be closed, the min- rooms, prayer-rooms, and almost every ister, if he sees no objection, will give form of mission work in constant prog- the necessary sanction. " This same ress. There is a Christian community Hindu ruler" has schools for the low of nearly 4000, a membership of 2752; castes as well as high, and for zenana nearly 4000 are in Sunday-schools, and women and widows. Board, clothing, 1400 in the day schools.
books, etc., are furnished the low castes -Mr. Goodwin writes from the Gond free of charge. Industries of all sorts Itinerancy of the confirmation of 6 men and farming are taught to the boys. and 3 women, the latter being the first Sewing, fancy work, and cooking are of their sex to join the Church. One taught to the girls and women. He of them walked 45 miles to be present, also has fine libraries for his people. " another 60, and the third 63 miles, while -Near Calcutta there is a school some of the men travelled even further.
which is taught by a Brahman, and -The Darjeeling Newareports 78 bapthough neither teacher nor scholars are tisms at that station (Church of Scotoutwardly Christians, a Christian visitor land) last year, and a roll of 706 baphad an address presented to him by the ized persons, and in Kampilong 1243 school, in which" Our dear Lord .Tesus native Christians, of whom 113 were Christ" was spoken of. The school has baptized in 1894. a banner for use on festival days, bearing the device "The Brahmanical -At a recent conference in Calcutta Hehool, ' •and bearing beneath thc words, one of the members pointed out the ex- "Looking unto Jesus." The teacher pensiveness of wine; and that in native has invited one of the Calcutta missiona- congregations either cow's milk or the ries to come and address the pupils milk of the cocoanut should be used at every Sunday, on which day this Brah- the Lord's Supper. We know of the man patsltula is turned into a veritable celebration of this sacrament not long Sunday-school. ago where a fresh cocoanut was broken and the liquid used, and it was a season -The Jntelligence,,·(C. M. S.) has this of refreshing, where the presence of God appreciative word: "We are sincerely was manifest. The point is certainly rejoiced to notice the evidence of bless- well made that we should not teach our ing which has lately attended the work native church expensive habits in con- of higher education in India of the Free nection with worship. It must be taught Church of Scotland. We thank God to support itself; and we should not especially that the work of Dr. Miller burden ourselves in our efforts to force and his colleagues at the Madras Chris- it up to that goal.-Indian Witne88.
tian College has been fruitful in two im- -Another Hindu temple has been portant baptisms, Mr. Chethar, an M.D. " captured" by the Salvation Army at and B. L., and a Vakil in the High Court, Cape Comorin. The people of Checkad, and the other in Bombay, Mr. Narayen after removing their idols. handed over G. Velinkar, M.A., LL.B., one of the the building to be converted into a barprofessors in the college." racks. This makes the fourteenth -The Methodist Agra district has 8 which has been given up in like man- large circuits, with Christians in more ner -Can it be that our ever-staid and ful field for mission work?" He said: decorous brethren of the Canada Pres- "The most hopeful of all, I think. byterian and (Dutch) Reformed churches There are no caste prejudices, none of are actually stealing the thunder of the secret hostility which is so formid- General Booth? For we read in their able a barrier to Christian progress in papers of a "Christian mela" at Rut- India. The Chinaman is an open lam, Central India, where "we had a enemy or an open friend. He does not band composed largely of native instru- belong, like the Hindu, to a subject ments, besides a bass drum, cymbals, race, obliged to cringe to the conqueror, concertinas, etc. ; we also had banners While all the time he nurses a hidden inscribed with mottoes in Hindi, mount- enmity. The Chinese hates all foreigned on bullock carts in which also were ers, and is not afraid to say so. When our Christian boys. Thus equipped we he is gained to Christianity, he makes a marched through the streets, stopping stanch and loyal convert. The rate of at each street corner to proclaim the progress in China within the last twenty Gospel message that Jesus died to save." years has been amazing." Also in the Arcot mission, "the musical processions, station by station as -Surely missionaries in Mongolia are they arrived, were very grand with not carried to the skies on flowery beds banners and ribbons, and in vain did of ease. Thus 1I'lrs. Parker writes in they attempt to excel each other in sing- Ohina'8 Millions of a journey: .. We ing ; to an unprejudiced ear they were left Chao-Yang for a visit to Lan-Pei all equally rnstched and well sustained Tze-Fu, where we had reason to hope throughout. Each station was con- that there might be an opening for misspicuous by its own flags, the big greet- sion work. Our party consisted of the ing banner indicating the name of the old preacher, two boys, my husband, station. The prettiest flag was carried and myself. We had two carts, and by the members of the Immanuel's Mr. Parker rode his horse. No little Bajanai of Palmaner. " Well, if the preparation is required for such a jour- Name shall be honored thereby, and ney, and on the backs of the carts were souls shall be saved, who shall "for- strapped our provision box, medicines, bid" them? books for sale, magic lantern and slides and a tin of oil, a box containing kitch- China.-Rev. Henry Blodgett, re- en utensils, a small earthenware cookcently returned from Peking, says of Li ing stove and a quantity of charcoal; Hung Chang: "He believes in the While the insides of the carts were Western world civilization without the packed with onr boxes of clothes, the Christian religion, and, had he had his provender for the mules, a bag of cash, way, the Chinese would have been edu- a basket, teapot, etc., and over all these cated in the arts of modern warfare. our bedding. I was stowed away in The defeat of China, he says, came one cart packed in with pillows and from a supercilious disregard of the bedding, while the old preacher followed advance of the world in warfare. Rev. in the second, and the boys and drivers Charles Fenney, an American mission- occupied the shafts," etc. ary, teaches the English branches to the children of Li Hung Chang, who be- -The case of blind Ch'ang, of Manlieves that in the arts and sciences the churia, is the subject of an interesting rest of the world long ago passed article by C. F. Gordon-Cumming. China." Mr. Webster, of Moukden, says of this man's itinerary labors: " Blind Ch'ang. -The Rev. T. G. Selby, who has with little knowledge, but with a heart spent twelve years as a missionary in thrilled to the core with the truth which China, was asked: "From your ex" he knew, had in three months done perience, do you consider China a hope- more and better work: for the kingdom of heaven than half a dozen foreign from the infant Church who are go~g missionaries would have done in as out as evangelists support themselves many years. And this is only one of in part by their own earnings, and it is the many proofs that China must be expected that by next year one or more evangelized by the Chinese." young men will be supported in this -Miss F. M. Williams, of the China form of service by the Church, which Inland Mission, writes of " three Christ- is not a year old. Some members give mas days," beginning with 1891, and nearly one fourth of their earnings, behow, with but 8 souls redeemed at first, sides doing something for their parents the number rose to 38, and finally to 86. and friends."
-Mr. Currie, of the West Afri- AFRICA. can Mission of the American Board, -There are 3743 members and proba- writes: "About a week ago a man tioners in the Methodist Episcopal was brought here by night in a mis- Church in Africa. In Liberia there are erable state. He told a story of hav- 3260. In Bishop Taylor's missions there ing been poisoned with a glass of rum are 483, of which 86 are in Angola, 14 given him at the ombala of Kepoko, on the Congo, and 383 in Liberia. The and there was abudant reason to believe 383 are distributed as follows: Beaboo, his story true. Another trader has 22; Barraka, 29; Brooks, 29; Garra- begun to build within three hours' jour. way, 28 ; Grand Sess, 75; Sass Town, ney from here. He plans to put up a still, we hear, and that will make the 200. fourth place within a radius of four -The report comes that erelong the hours' journey from this place where Congo Free State is to become in full rum is distilled. What the harvest of form, what from the first it has been in all this civilization (1) will be God only fact, a colony of Belgium. That is, the knows."
little kingdom of 11,400 square miles and -From henceforth, it appears from something over· 6,000,000 inhabitants is late intelligence, British South Africa, to rule and undertake to civilize the with Cecil Rhodes as the ruling spirit, Congo Basin, containing 1,000,noo is to include the entire vast region exsquare miles and a population, say, of tending from the states already estab- 25,000,000. Though the right to do lished in the south northward across this may be hard to define, yet the re- . the Zambesi, and including Nyassala.nd suIt is almost certain to be for the bene- and the west shores of Lake Tanfit of mankind. ganyika, or from about 25" south lati- -Mr. Dorsey Mohun, United States tude almost to the equator. Fort Salis- commercial agent to the Congo Free bury, nearly in the centre, will be the State, who has recently returned to ca.pital of this empire, and British Cen- Washington after two years in Africa, tral Africa will disappear from the map.
declares that 20,000,000 people in that -M. Coillard, the veteran missionary region are eaters of human flesh. He of the Paris Society on the Zambesi, retells a horrible story about surprising a fuses to take the furlough which has village one day when a big cannibal been earnestly pressed upon him by the feast was in progress, and also describes directors. " Your invitation, " he writes, how he saw 14 persons buried alive in " did not cause me a moment's hesitaa grave with the dead body of a great tion, so clearly did I see the path of chief. duty. Thanks to God, I have enjoyed -The Baptist Miaaiona1'1J Magazirw excellent health since my last illness.
says: "Some young Christians in our In a few days I shall complete my six- West African Mission are examples in tieth year. To return to Europe would the matter of benevolence. The two be to close my career finally, and it is natural that I should feel the need of on his shoulder, a miscellaneous assortavoiding this contingency. And then ment fastened to either end of it-viz., let me tell you that when I look on our a lantern, saucepan, frying-pan, and small band and the needs of our work; small kettle, a galvanized pail, to serve when I think of all our losses and all the double pUrpose of water-can and our rebuffs, of the little we have done, wash-hand basin, and a picnic basket, and of all there is yet to do ; of the im- containing two plates, cup and saucer, mensity of our field of work, which we knife, fork, and spoon, and a small ourselves scarcely know as yet, I feel quantity of pepper, salt, tea, sugar, that to leave would have been a deser- butter, bread, and cake. The third tion, and I would willingly have an- luggage ·carrier had a tin box on his swered the committee in the words of head, containing' school prizes; for, the the hero of Ugands: 'You call me annual examinations being recently conback to Europe! Send us first ten cluded, I was going to give the prizes workers, and then I will come to help to the boys and girls of eight schools." you to find ten others.'" -JournaZ des ~Vi88ionB Jl}vangeZiques. -The Australasian Methodist Mis- sionary Society has fallen fortunate -In Uganda, a field entered only a heir to the English Wesleyan work in few years since, so rapid and widespread Fiji and Samoa, and besides has carried is the enlargement of the work that al- the Gospel to New Guinea, New Britready 100 native laborers are in the ain, and to the Chinese in Victoria and field, all supported by natif!/J contribu- New South Wales. The last report tells tions. And the plan is to secure as of 974 churches (buildings) and 568 many more, and then let each company other preaching places; 26 missionaalternate between three months of evan- ries ;76 native ministers; 80'catechists ; gelizing work and three months of 10,095 local preachers, teachers, class stlldy. leaders, etc.; 33,376 native members and 6205 on trial; 2018 schools, with -In keeping with the experiment 40,875 pupils: and 118,817 attendants mentioned above is the fact that Mr. on public worship. JQhnston, the British Commissioner for Central Africa. looks for the salvation -The Malua Institution, Samoa, held of that .region by the introduction of its jubilee last September, and the Lonfarmers and traders from India. His don ahri.~tian sums up thus the etory conviction is due to the success of a of fifty years: "Here is a school which colony established on the Shire River. did not cost the missionary society a Again, Indian soldiers are better fitted penny to build, which has supplied by nature and environment for the labor nearly every village in Samoa with a of keeping order than are either pure teacher who has had a careful training Europeans or pure Africans themselves. for four years, so that he can either Thirdly, in minor official posts they preach or teach. Some 1200 students will work for less wages and will stand have been trained for pastors and schoolthe climate far better than the whites. masters, and some 700 women have been trained by the missionaries' wives. ISLANDS OF THE SEA. Moreover, many of these went as mis- sionaries to the New Hebrides and the -According to Miss Bliss, a mission- Loyalty Islands, and some died a marary, modes of travel in the interior of tyr's death. To the northwest of Madagascar are still in a primitive state. Samoa there are 11,000 people who She says: "Six bearers were carrying have been won from heathenism by me in my palanquin, and three people Samoan teachers. The jubilee is to be followed with my luggage: u woman marked by the building of a hall to aewith my stretcher and box of bedding commooate 1000 persons." on her head, and a man with a bamboo
The Missionary Review of the World — November 1894
CAREY, AS PROFESSOR IN FORT WILLIAM COLLEGE
ATTENDED BY HIS PUNDIT.
(From the original painting in Regent's Park Bapt. College, London. A rare picture and best likeness extant.) MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVII. No.11.-0ld8erie8.-NOVEMBER.-VoL. VII. No. H.-New 8erie8.
THE HOMES OF CAREY.-II.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
SERAMPORE was the last of Carey's earthly homes, and is still fragrant with his footsteps and memory. There he and his co-workers constituted a Christian community very nearly resembling that of which we read in the Acts of the Apostles, and more recently illustrated in the Unitas Fratrum of the Moravians at Herrnhut.
In Ward's journal, January 18th, 1800, we read: "This week we have adopted a set of rules for the government of the family. All preach and pray in turn j one superintends the affairs of the family for a month and then another. Saturday evening is devoted to adjusting differences and pledging ourselves to love one another. One of our reso- lutions is that no one of us do engage in private trade, but that all be done for the benefit of the mission." .
About seven months later a further and fuller entry reveals not only the happy working of this brotherhood, but a few more details of method.
Six o'clock was the rising hour j eight, the hour for family worship and breakfast. They were then printing three half-sheets of 2000 each a week. At twelve noon they met for luncheon, and dined at three. After dinner there was a brief conference, when each contributed some thought on a text or a question of spiritual life. At seven tea was served. There was Bengali preaching once or twice a week, an experience meeting on Thursday evening, and on the first Monday of each month there was a meeting two hours before breakfast to pray for the salvation of Bengal heathen. At night prayer was united for the universal spread of the Gospel. Unanimity and brotherly love prevailed. We give these minute features because every little circumstance pertaining to this Serampore brotherhood is significant.
Five years later that famous" agreement" was formed which was to be read publicly at every station at their three annual meetings-namely, on the first Lord's Days in January, May, and October. That document, already published in full on pages 748-750 of the October issue of 1892 is worthy
THE HOMES OF CA.REY
of study. We question whether outside of the Acts of the Apostles any document can be found· that sounds more like an inspired covenant. It might have been composed by Paul and Peter, James and John, for their own guidance in the first missions of all Church history. It is marked by seven marvellous features : Faith in God, love for the Gospel, passion for the souls of men, a prayerful spirit, a cheerful self-denial, entire devotion to their work, and a singular spirituality of aim. It might well be printed and circulated for universal use in all mission stations of the world.
The home of Carey at Serampore was early made blest by three great events : The baptism of Krishnu Chundra Pal, the first convert; the publication of the first New Testament in Bengali; and the appointment of Carey to the professorship in Fort William College.
That first convert was, like his new·found Master, a carpenter. Mr. Thomas had set his dislocated arm and found him already burdened with sin; and he had pointed him to the only Saviour. Not only he but his family also declared in favor of the Gospel. A few weeks later an event was recorded whose influence on the whole future of India no words could express. Krishnu and Gokool, another convert, the two being of different castes, broke through the iron barriers, and partook of a meal in common and with Europeans. So important was this act, that, like a " love feast," it was preceded by prayer. Thomas and Carey, after seven years in India, thus beheld the first signs of a coming triumph, and exclaimed, as though in the inspired parallels of a prophetic psalm : " The door of faith is opened to the gentiles I Who shall shut it ?
The chain of caste is broken! Who shall mend it ?"
No sooner did the rumors spread that the institution of caste had thus been invaded, than among the natives excitement and disturbance arose. A crowd of more than two thousand gathered, who cursed the daring violators of ancient customs, and dragged them before a Danish magistrate, who, however, commended instead of condemning them. Krishnu was then indicted as violator of a marriage contract between his daughter and a man to whom she was betrothed, but again the charge was squashed, on the ground that the consent of the girl had never been given to the contract; and so the wrath of man was made to praise God, for two new les- -"Ons were taught the Hindus: First, that caste could be broken with impunity ; and, second, that women, and even girls, had some rights touching marriage which man is bound to respect.
Krishnu's baptism took place on the last Sabbath of the year 1800 together with that of Felix Carey-the first convert and the eldest son of Carey going together to the river. Many Europeans, Hindus, and even Mohammedans were present, as also the governor of the district. Felix was baptized after the English formula, and Krishnu after the Bengali. In
18M.] Tim HOMJlS OF
the afte1'lloon the Lora'!!I Supper was for the first time cerebrated in Bengali. What It Lord'!!I Day that was for India!
The !!light must have been a spectacle to angel8 88 well a8 men, and the Lord had planned the whole occasion in His wisdom as a typical event, forecasting things to come. It was worth waiting seven years to gather in one such ear from this harvest field. It must be remembered that Krishnu's baptism was a formal and solemn renunciation of all idols.
That first convert was the author of the communion hymn, with whose English version we are so familiar : .c 0, thou my soul, forget no more The Friend, who all thy misery bore ; Let every idol be forgot, But, 0 my soul, forget Him not."
The publication of the first Bengali Testament was an event scarcely less momentous. Carey had gone to India impressed with the conviction that no work was more important as a handmaid to the preaching of the Gospel than the translation of that Gospel into the native tongues of India.
We often forget as we speak of missionaries that the printed Bible is the greatest missionary in the world, and that the Bible Society is the greatest of missionary societies. The Bible never dies or grows old or feeble j it is as young after thousands of years as ever j never is prostrated by disease, never acts indiscreetly or proves unequal to the strain of work, never dabbles in politics, or enters into unhappy marital alliances, or commits any other of the thousand mistakes of fallible mortals.
As early &s 1796 Carey had put on record his belief that the translation of the Scripture8 i8 one of the grandest aids to missions, and his opinion is 8ingularly verified in the fact that no missions have ever been permanently useful and successful unles8 the Bible ha8 thus been given to the people. If there be any 8ervice singularly rendered to the Oriental peoples by Carey which makes hi!! work unique, it i8 his remarkable success in bringing the vernacular Bible into contact with one sixth of the world's population. When on February 7th, 1801, the New Testament appeared in the Bengali dialect, a special meeting for thanksgiving was held, and that day stand!! out and apart &8 memorable, &8 when Dr. Hepburn presented the Japane8e with the Scripture8 in their own tongue. This was but the beginning, however, of Carey's work a8 a translator.
Within two month8 of landing he had begun on Genesi8, and soon was doing a chapter a day. A8 he translated he read what he had written, to hundreds of the native8, to find how far it wa8 intelligible and accurate. His greatest difficulty was the incapacity of the language to t3Yp1"6SS spiritual ideas, but the plodder again triumphed. Before the close of 1795 he began hi8 great grammar and dictionary. By the middle of 1796 he had almost completed the Pentateuch and the New Testament. By March, 1797, the New Testament was ready for final revision, and published in
HOMES OF CAREY
1801. In 1309 the Bengali version was completed. This was but the beginning rather than the end, and however much he owed to the help of his colleagues in the mission, it still remains true that the Bengali, Hindostani, and Sanscrit he translated with his own hand. In 1825 he stated that the New Testament would shortly appear in thirty-four languages, and the Old Testament in eight (beside versions in three varieties of the Hindostani New Testament), and of these he had translated several and superintended an !
In 1812 fire ravaged the mission press, destroyed fonts of type, valuable manuscripts, thirty pagM of the Bengal Dictionary, and all the materials gathered for years for the dictionary of all languages derived from the Sansclit. The total loss was $50,000, yet God so interposed that the friends at home in fifty days made up the whole loss so tar as money could repair it.
At the time ~ Carey's death the Scriptures entire or in part had been 't8suedinjorty languages or dialects, and within nine years nearly 100,000 volumes, including 31,000,000 pages, had passed through the mission press. No wonder that in 1875 Dr. Wenger said: "It passes my comprehension how Dr. Carey was able to accomplish one fourth of his translations. " It still remains a mystery how one man could have done such a work, and he an apostate from the awl !
The third conspicuous event referred to is Carey's appointment to a government professorship.
This naturally followed upon his pioneer work as a translator, for the new Bengali Testament pointed to the man who had in so short It time done so great a work as the fit candidate for such an appointment. At first Carey feared that such a chair in the college might collide with his work as a missionary, but that apprehension was removed; and, in fact, it was as a missionary that he was appointed. For thirty years Carey held his chair in Fort William College.
He began teaching Bengali, afterward Sanscrit and Mahratta; and when he rose from teacher to professor of the three languages, and his income was some $4500, he unselfishly reserved for his own use less than a thirtieth part of this sum, turning all the rest into the mission treasury, an example of self-sacrifice that reminds us of John Wesley.
What a hold Mr. Carey had on both his colleagues and pupils may be inferred from his appointment, four years later, as the Moderator in the Annual Disputation, when he was selected also to give the address to the viceroy. In that address he referred to his vocation as a missionary and to his desire for the evangelization of the natives. Lord Wellesleyexpressed himself as greatly pleased with the address, of which he " would not have had one word altered;" and added, as to Carey's expressions of regard, " I esteem such a testimony from such a man a greater honor than the applause of courts and parliaments!" And yet this was the man who twenty years before had been a cobbler at Hackleton, unknown to the world.
MEMORIAL CHAPEL, HACKLETON, ENGL,Um
CHAPEL, PARK ST., NOTTINGHAM, ENG. (Where Carey, May 31, 1792, preached the sermon on Isaiah LIV: 2, 3, which led to the organization of the Baptist Missionary Society, at Kettering, in October following.)
THE HOllIES OF OARBY
The necessity for brevity, as well as the purpose of these papers on the Homes of Carey, leads to the passing over of the incidents of the Serampore experience, such as the mutiny of 1806 and the complications to which it led. Suffice to say that, in this crisis, when missionary work was threatened with curtailment and suppression, Carey acted with mingled courage and caution. Enemies of missions were active, and a prohibition was actually issued by the governor-general against the services held in Calcutta, and an order for the removal of the mission press; but in answer to prayer God wrought deliverance.
Then, in 1813, came the debate in England over the renewal of the East India Company's charter, in which Mr. Marsh made himself so infamous Bnd Wilberforce and Wellesley made themselves so famous. Mr. Marsh set Carey and his" fellow-apostates of the loom and anvil and awl" in the pillory, as " renegades from the lowest handicrafts" and" tub preachers" I The struggle issued, however, in the restriction of the company's power and the enlargement of the missionaries' freedom.
The whole story of Carey's residence and experience in Serampore is a romance of reality. It bears and invites closest examination, but our space forbids. But it must be noted how CALCUTTA became in a sense another of Carey's homes. The importance of a place of worship and Gospel teaching in that city led to the building of a chapel in Lal Bazaar, wh~ch was opened on New Year's Day, 1809; and as Carey's duties as professor took him regularly to Calcutta, he took a prominent part in the services; and so this marvellous " plodder" filled up all his time with a variety and multiplicity of duties seldom equalled by the most industrious men. To all his other work his passion for souls led him to add itinerating preaching tours.
Near the end of 1807 his wife died. She had been a great source of trial, both by her physical and mental ailments, but her husband showed his tender heart and noble spirit in the patient and considerate manner in which he bore his depressing burdens. For twelve years her condition was distressing, yet he did his work with an insane woman in the next room.
The next year Mr. Carey married his second wife, Miss Rumohr, who proved as great a help as his first wife had been a hindrance. When after thirteen years of married life she also was removed by death, he bore testimony that during all this time their conjugal happiness had been as great as was ever enjoyed by mortals. She was sympathetic, educated, consecrated, and most helpful to him in his work as a translator, habitually comparing the English, German, French, and Italian versions, and persistently working at any difficulty until it was removed. Only eternity can tell how much Carey's ultimate triumphs as translator were owing 1;,<> her help, whose kingdom came not with observation.
We must pass by all that the cobbler of Paulerspury wrought as a general benefactor of mankind. The first great reform that he sought to effect was the abolition of child sacrifices at the Gunga Saugor anniversaries. At this spot, where the Ganges meets the sea, sacrifices were held to be specially meritorious, and so thoroughly hAve these practices been discontinued that a native Hindu lately in this country has had the effron- tery to deny that they ever existed.
The Suttee immolation of widows likewise owes its abolition in great part to Carey. He sought to arouse the British conscience on the sub- ject. It was found that 400 cases took place' within 30 miles' radius of Calcutta j and at last Governor Bentinck decreed the entire cessation of this abomination, and when the Brahmins insisted that their consciences taught them that widows should so burn on their husbands' pyre, his calm response was: "Follow your conscience, but an Englishman's conscience teaches him that everyone of you that abets. such a crime should pay the death penalty." When the proclamation was issued Carey received a requisition to translate it into the vernacular, and the. order reached him on Saturday afternoon. He felt the matter to be so urgent that all other duties were laid aside, and before the Sabbat4 dosed. the proclamation was ready for circulation. The benevolent institution for instruction of Eurasian children, the leper hospital, the first vernacular newspaper-these are some of the blessings directly traceable to William Carey.
His services to science as a botanist and naturalist remind us of David Livingstone, whom in many respects he closely resembled. He acquainted himself with geology, agriculture, horticulture. The Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India owed itll origin to him, as also the Serampore College, which under his presidency took root in the soil of Iudia.
Over forty years William Carey made his home in the land of the Vedas, and this long stay was unbroken by any visit to England. During his last days he received many notable visitors, and none of them had a more vital connection with his life and labors than Alexander Duff, who became in a very important sense his successor. Dr. Culross tells the pathetic story of the recall of Duff, as he was leaving Carey's room on one of the last, if not the last of these visits, and how Carey said: "Mr. Duff, you have been speaking about Dr. Carey. When I am gone say nothing more about Dr. Carey, but about Dr. Carey's Saviour."
And so in June, 1834, sixty years ago, in his seventy-third year, this prince of missionaries to the Hindus, and one of the six greatest missionaries since Paul, left the land of the Ganges for the LAlm OF GLORY, the last, the _best of Oarey'8 home8.
We close these imperfect notes upon the life of this remarkable man by a quotation from Robert Hall, who, fifteen years after Carey's departure for India, succeeded him in the Harvey Lane Chapel at Leicellter.
Robert Hall referred to William Carey all that " extraordinary man, who, from the lowest poverty and obicurity, without assistance, rose by dint of unrelenting industry to the higheit honors of literature, became one of the first of Orientalists, the first of missionaries, and the instrument of diffusing more religious knowledge among h~ contemporariei than has
CAREY'S HOUSE AT LEICESTER. THE PULPIT IN HARVEY LANE CHAPEL
(In the cen!er.) (Memorial 'rable! (0 Caley, Uobert Hall, etc.)
A GENERAL VIEW OF ECUADOR
fallen to the lot of any individual since the Reformation-a man who united with the most profound and varied attainments the fervor of an evangelist, the piety of a saint, and the simplicity of a child."
A GENERAL VIEW OF ECUADOR.
BY ALEXANDER McLEAN, LATE CONSUL OF THE UNITED STATES AT GUAYAQUIL.
Ecuador, as its name indicates, is an equatorial country. The observatory in Quito, its capital, is exactly on the line, and has an elevation of over 9500 feet. To most of us, Ecuador is a small tinted spot on the western side of the map of South America, profusely ornamented with feathery markings supposed to represent mountains. There are many mountains there; but the markings on the maps indicate neither their size nor position.
The most westerly point of Ecuador and of South America is Cape San Lorenzo. It is 80.55° west, Greenwich time. This is the meridian that marks the boundary line between Ohio and Pennsylvania. The boundary line between Brazil and Ecuador is 68° west, or on the meridian of Bangor, Maine. The width of Ecuador is, therefore, about equal to the distance between New York and Chicago. Its coast line on the Pacific is about the same length as between New York and Charleston, S. C. The area of Ecuador is about 218,000 square miles. This ~bout equals the New England and Middle States and Ohio.
There are nine States or provinces in Ecuador, each with a governor and a separate legal existence. The form of government is said to have been copied from the United States, but it is a poor copy. The defeated party in a presidential election usually appeals to the sword. When they are successful there is a revolution ; when they are not it is simply a rebellion.
The country is transversed in a generally north-and-south direction by the Andes and the Cordilleras. Between the two main ranges lies a hilly plain called the inter-Andean plateau. East and west of the giant ranges there are other mountains, which gradually give way to plains on the east along the Amazon, and on the west to the Pacific Ocean.
The country has the greatest diversity of climate, ranging from the heat of a tropical swamp to the bleak cold far above the line of vegetation. Every vegetable product may be found by ascending the mountains, from the rank growth on the sea-shore to the stunted pines neal' the ice line. Every shade of humidity may be found as a constant in some part, from the rainless plains on the Peruvian line to the daily showers on the north. The rainy season moves up and down the coast over 16" of latitude. When it is farthest north the southern line of rain is at. Esmeraldas, in the northern part of Ecuador. When the rain belt is farthest south its northern bo~dary is at . Esmeraldas, hence its rains. The trade winds, in passing from the south Atlantic, yield up the last drop of water in crossing the Andes. The icy crown being fed by this moistnre, forIllB glaciers that move down the mountains and feed the streams. Many of the snowy crowns rise from 1000 to 7000 feet above the line of vegetation, and the constant accretion from snow and rain as the winds sweep over these mountains below the dew point maintains an endless supply of water in the streams. These streams become rivers. In Chili and Peru there is no western current such as blows from the Pacific across Colombia and Ecuador. The Andes cut off their clouds and rain from the east winds, and consequently in those countries there is no rain. In Ecuador one end of the country has six months' rain, while the other end has a dry season, and vice versa. A section of the country would show two immense ridges averaging 12,000 feet in elevation, with the inter-Andean plateau averaging about 9000 feet, and two sections sloping to the Pacific on the west and to the Amazon valley on the east. The eastern section is the largest. It is inhabited by Indians still uncivilized, who have their own language and are practically unknown to white men or their commerce. The western section is the smallest and most important. The littoral contains three States, known as the maritime provinces. These are Esmeraldas, Manibi, and Guayas. The States east of them are very mountainous, the towns in them having an elevation from 8000 to nearly 10,000 feet.
Thus we have a country containing mountains that may be measured in miles instead of feet, the largest of rivers, vegetation irrigated by neverfailing rivers and fecundated by a vertical sun, producing results unequalled since the coal period-a country with.. diversity of contour and beauty of landscape second. to none. It is not strange that Baron von Humboldt and other savants ha.ve gone there in search of scientific facts, nor that Church, the painter, went. there to catch the. coloring for his sunset in the tropics.
rr:he inter-Andean plateau is the wheat belt. Its elevation is equal to the 40° that separate us from the equator. Apples, peaches, strawberries, and most of the fruits that are familiar here grow there in abundance. Viewed from the mountains, its tilled fields recall Central New York. It was the home department, the District of Columbia of the Inca Government, the civilization that preceded tho Spanish conquest. It was one of the sections that was visited by priestly vandalism. Its records and build- ings were destroyed. Here and there remains of Indian labor still exist, and in some things it shows that they had advanced {arther than their conquerors have done to this day. They had good roads; and the only road in the country to-day is one built by the Indians, which can be followed from Quito to La Paz, a distance of more than 1500 miles. The Indian cement in which the paving stones were laid has outlasted the stone.
The mountains are massed in central ECUlldor as they are nowhere else. From many of them thirty tall peaks can be seen in a single glance. Only two of them are known outside of the c.ountry-Cotopaxi and Chim.- borazo. Cotopaxi is a volcano. It IS 19,500 feet high. lis snow crown is 4400 feet high, and above that the rocky mouth of the crater lies bare. '1Jhe crater is 1500 feet deep, and the smoke is visible at a great distance. A few years ago, during a period of activity, Captain Murdoch, of the steamer Oasma, passed through a shower of its ashes a hundred miles at sea, and the fine dust fell on my piazza in Guayaquil. Chimborazo is visible from Guayaquil in clear weather, and is always a surprising sight, especially when the sun has dropped below the horizon, and its rays still toueh snowy Chimborazo with a rosy glow. Sangay, a mountain south of Chimborazo, has flowed ever since the Spaniards landed. Its faint boom at intervals of ten minutes can be heard in Guayaquil during the stillness of the night, though it is nearly a hnndred miles away. Pichincha, north of Cotopaxi, with Quito resting on its shoulder, is a triple-headed extinct volcano nearly 15,000 feet high. The average elevation of Quito is about 9500 feet. From its streets eight snow-capped mountains can be seen. The streets are paved, but hilly, and the city is picturesque. Streams run through the city, supplying an abundance of melted ice water from the glacial mountain tops. There are a great many churches, convents, and monasteries. It is said to have more priests in comparison to population than any other city in the world.
From the mountain section numerous rivers reach the coast, each with branches like trees. The towns are all on waterways, and so are the dwellings. In the interior most of the travelling and visiting is done in canoes. Roadways are supGrfluous in the maritime provinces. The principal river is the Guayas, and the principal city is Guayaquil on its banks, sixty miles from the sea. It is as much the front door of the nation as New York is of the United States, though there are numerous small seaports. Where the muddy waters of this big river rush past the city it is a mile wide, seven fathoms deep, with a tidal rise of fourteen feet and a current that runs seven miles an hour. The entrance to the river is a broad gulf dotted with islands and bordered with swamps. Here Nature hides her fevers, as she does her wounds, with new creations of beauty. The sea- ' weary traveller sees bright patches of greensward inlaid in black.green frames of dense mangel trees, fringed with graceful palms and undulant bamboos. Confluent rivers open up new reaches for the vision into the ,bosom of virgin forests, and the houses of rancheros and haciendados give 'glimpses of anew, strange life.
When the eye begins to weary of the leafy panorama, a turn in the 'river reveals the city. If seen first in the evening, the effect is charming. The river front is a broad street, with a league of white buildings which ,appear to be a succession of arches. The street is abundantly illuminated with gas and electric light, and having houses on one side only, and no Ipiers to impede the view from the river,. a visitor is very favorably impressed.
Experience and familiarity destroy much of the favorable impression. The city is o"er a league in length and more than a mile wide. It has a river on tlie front and a broad estuary behind it. The citizens are mainly native creoles. The business and government are carried on by them. They are descendants of Spaniards and natives. They are white, with varying shades. The working population is pure Indian. There are a few colored people and a few Zambos, a mixture of Indian and Ethiopian. There are fewer foreigners in Guayaquil than in any of the other large ~ities of South America. In the whore country there are not a dozen Americans. The creoles are mteIligent, and sharp commercial people. They are a small minority of the total population. In the absence of an actual census only approximate tota1s can be given. It is believed that there are 100,000 white or nearly white natives, three times as many halfbr~eds, and about 800,000 Indians.
The educated white men are merely nommal Roman Catholics. The half-breeds are more ignorant than the whites, and their bigoted zeal is proportionately greater. The Indians are practically without religion, though they conform to'a limited extent to Catholic forms where they live in towns. The tribes living in the eastern end of the country are indescribably uncivilized. A tribe living on the west coast, occupying the Cayapa valley, a territory about the size and shape of the State of Delaware, have never been conquered by the Spaniards, and refuse to recognize any government. They will not allow white people to settle in their territory.
The country is sparsely settled, and the churches are all in the towns. Roman Catholicism is the State religion ; none other is allowed. Heretics visit the country at their own risk. They are only tolerated. So far as I know there has only been one attempt made to establish a mission in the country. In 1878 Bishop Williams, a Methodist missionary who has a theory, paid a visit to Guayaquil. He resolved to send a missionary there. His plan was to send a minister to open a school. The children were to receive primary instruction in English; their parents were to pay for the service, and thus a self-supporting station was to be established. About a year later Rev. Mr. Price arrived in Guayaquil. He was provided with a boxful of primary school books. He could not speak Spanish. The laws of the country did not authorize the importation of heretical books. He had trouble. and delay in getting his books out of the custom house. Before he got them he contracted the fever peculiar to the coast, and narrowly escaped with his life. His errand was not popular. There were no English-speaking children in the city except my own, and I did not need a missionary.
Some years ago an attempt was made to pass a freedom· of-worship bill, but it failed by three votes, although a strong pressure was brought to bear on Congress through the Foreign Department. One of the lawmakers who voted against the bill said" he was in favor of it, but did not think the country was ripe for it. An ignorant' and bigoted people and priesthood would create trouble. If foreigners were allowed to enter they would build churches, and the rabble would destroy them and probably kill some of the worshippers. This would embroil the nation with nations more powerful. We recognize the fact that we would be better off if we had a good many Americans here, because of their energy and enterprise; but we have those that are here, and we must do the best we can with them. "
The educated minority would gladly get rid of the priests; and on one occasion, in Guayaquil, the Jesuits were forced to leave the country. There is no public record of the number of priests, though every priest is on the national pay-roll. Each province has a bishop with an ecclesiastical staff, and there is one archbishop. A tax of 10 per cent is collected on all agricultural produce for the bishops, and an added 7 per cent for rectors. The curates are paid $75 a month. In Guayaquil there are said to be about 200 priests, ranging from the well-to-do to the barefooted mendicants. The mendicants go through the market, and if the hucksters do not see them coming the best fruits and vegetables go into the basket, and the unfortunate venders have to be content with a scant blessing.
Services begin in the churches at three o'clock in the morning. Each church has a chime of bells. Each bell has a separate rope and ringer. The object of each ringer is to make as much noise as possible. They run up and down the scale with a rhythmic clangor. There is not a bell in the city that is not cracked except the clock tower bells on the cathedral and market.
In providing for their wants the priests charge for every servic~. Mass for the dear departed is too dear for the lower classes, and a mass is frequently split up as the lottery prizes are. If a man or woman cannot afford a whole mass he can get half of it, or any lesser percentage, if he can find others willing to subscribe. Then the mass is said for Tom, Dick, and Harry, and-others. The others can fill in the blanks. The churches have no pews. The women go to church accompanied by a servant. The latter carries a priedieu, and the worshipper kneels on it. The men, generally few in number and more interested in the worshippers than in the service, stand during the mass.
The Sundays are holidays. Cockpits are owned by the city; and I have seen priests in uniform-they all wear uniforms-hetting in the ring. The theatres are open on Sunday evening. The hull ring in Guayaquil was open on Sunday afternoons until recently, when the growth of the city made the land more valuable for building purposes. The devout worshippers rose in time to take in early mass, in order to have morning, afternoon, and evening free for pleasure.
The funerals are a large source of priestly revenue, and they form an interesting spectacle. They are always held at night. When the family can afford it, the priest, with assistants and attendants, marches at the head of the procession. When thE: priests have an out-of-doors function, they march in the uniform worn at the altar. A canopy is carried over them, and a guard of soldiers with fixed bayonets march on each side of them. The mourners carry lanterns with candles in them. The extent of the grief is supposed to be shown by the number of mourners. Indians carry the lanterns, and receive fifty cents apiece. The cross-bearer is preceded by a man ringing a bell. Every house must show a burning candle or lamp as the funeral procession passes: The church orchestra marches behind the priest, playing a dirge. The poor people who cannot afford a priest or an orchestra hire handorgans, and sometimes the music is set for dancing. By playing slowly it has a sufficiently doleful sound. One man carries the organ on his back, and another, who walks behind, turns the crank. They never keep step, and frequently the man behind loses his grip on the handle. This adds to the funereal character of the music.
It is useless to speak of the character of the priests. There are some good ones. They have charge of all the schools, and in two of the cities they have hospitals. At Quito there is a school of science conducted by Jesuits, and it is fairly well managed. In Guayaquil there are two large· schools, one called the boys' college, the other for girls. The education imparted is superficial, and more time is spent in learning the saints' calendar and Church history than in acquiring useful knowledge. The white people are given to hospitality, and their manners in public are perfect.
The Indians are stupid and degraded; the stolidity of their ignorance is beyond comprehension~ It is a disgrace to the Spaniards and their descendants that the Indiaus grow worse instead of better; that, with centuries of history behind them, their conquerors have accomplished nothing for the unfortunate aborigines. Not only have the Indians been neglected by the Roman Catholics, but the negroes have been allowed to return to the condition they lived in before they were removed from Africa. After emancipation many years ago negroes flocked to the rivers Santiago, Mimbi, Cachati, and Bogota, and formed villages, aJld to the number of 2000 live as savages. Playa de Oro, one of these negro settlements, showil a nude population, ignorant and bestial, a disgrace to the nation.
In Guayaquil and the larger towns the men wear light clothing made in Parisian styles. The women wear trailing dresses and French shoes, but no hats. The mantilla serves in place of bonnets. The Indians are fully attired with trousers and a hat. A poncho is added in cool weather. The Meztizos-descendants of whites and Indians-are the artisans. There are scarcely any manufacturers. The carpenters, masons, painters, and paper-hangers are all of the mixed race. The absence of wheeled vehicles make public porters a necessity, and they are all Indians. They carry their burdens mainly on their heads. Every white person has a retinue of servants-a Plan to do errands, a cook, a washerwoman, a house servant, and their retainers constitute the retinue. The cook has no stove. There are no chimneys in the country. The kitchen fire is made in a box filled with sand. The cooking utensils are made of earthenware, and the fire is fed with charcoal. Several children, usually the cook's family, are required to fan the fire. Ladies do not go to grocery stores or the market; these errands are attended to by the errand man. He is given a daily allowance, and spends as little of it as possible. That makes a constant feud between him and the cook. The utter lack of cleanliness keeps white people out of the kitchens, and the service is wor.se than can be imagined. Living for white people is expensive, while for the Indians $3 a week suffices for a family.
The houses in the maritime provinces are built with heavy hewn timber frames. The walls are made of macerated bamboo covered with adobe, and papered inside and out. The lower story is smaller than the upper story, the piazzas projecting over the sidewalks to the line of the curbstones. The white people live in the upper stories; the lower stories are used by Indians and negroes, or for stores and storage rooms. The stores are small and well filled, but each store requires one or more storage rooms. There are no glass windows. The store fronts are all doors, and when they are open the entire interior is on exhibition.
'rhe heavy timbers of the buildings are required to support the weight of tile roofs and to steady the houses in earthquakes. In the colder mountain sections the walls are lower on account of more frequent earthquakes, and are built of stone, adobe, brick, or mortar and broken stone. The broken stone and mortar make the best wall for earthquakes. Th~ mortar and stone are moulded in layers in situ, and when they harden the wall may crack in all directions, but the broken stone dovetails the cracked wall together, and it will not fall.
From the isthmus down to the southern end of Chili is 4867 miles. Only the 417 miles occupied by Ecuador is closed to missionary effort. That will be closed so long as heretics are at best only tolerated, not allowed. There are 4450 miles open to the missionaries; but there are no missionaries for the 9pening. Out of a total of more than sixty seaports on that coast, only five have missionaries.
South America extends from 15° north of the equator to 55° south of it, and has every kind of climate and country that we have from the West Indies to Labrador; every degree of intelligence in its population, from bright, keen business men and diplomats, to the hopeless Indian in his unspeakable wretchedness. It has well-built, beautiful cities with large populations, like Buenos Ayres, that is drawing near to a million souls; Lima, which approximates Boston, and a number of cities over the hundred thousand line, besides thousands of smaller cities, towns, and villages. It offers every age and condition of mankind for missionary work, and every kind of climate. .But somehow there are not many takers for the offer&!. Well has this been termed the NEGLECTED CONTINENT.
THE PROSPECT
THE PROSPECT.
BY CHARLES C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
Is it certain that Christianity will always continue to prevail, or even to exist in England. and America, active as it now is in and from these countries 9 Why should it be certain ~ The Church is not more firmly established among us than she was for generations in North Africa, from which, nevertheless, she has been swept out, almost to the last shred, for some eleven hundred years. Mormonism, uniting a vileness far exceeding that of Islam to an organization compared with which that of Rome, so much dreaded by us, is loose and flaccid, and filled with immitigable malignity toward Christianity, already prevails in one great mountain commonwealth, and holds the balance of power in several others, showing no signs of decline, however much it may yield for the moment to invinci- ,ble necessity, as to the practice of its social tenets. As much more dan- gerous than Mormonism as an impalpable malaria is more dangerous than an armed host, the subtle poison of necromancy fills our whole atmosphere. We do not mean the mere opinion that the departed sometimes manifest themselves to the living, which of course has no doctrinal significance, but the belief that truth and duty are to be henceforth discovered by magical consultations ot the dead. This system detrudes Christ from His unique- ness of place in the universe, blots the Creator out of view behind a murky , cloud of wavering ghosts, is found to unhinge all the principles of right and wrong, to profane and dissolve the sanctities of home, to give sensual passion the sanction of an imagined command from above, and parts the life of its victims between a fatuous confidence and a ghastly fear. We plume ourselves on our enlightenment above our ancestors, yet the only difference between us and them is, that they believed in sorcery and utterly abhorred it, while we believe in sorcery and toy with it, and compliment it, and even sometimes (happily as yet but seldom) invite the pontiffs of its dark rites into our own pulpits.
As to Christ in public life, we have ceased to expect, a few States excepted, any mention of Him even in religious pl'oclamations, except in the date, from which we should be ready any day to see His name thrust out. Now it is either true that all authority is committed to Him in heaven and earth, or it is false. If it is false, why do we any longer call Him our Lord! If it is true, why do we consent to have Christian men in public trust unchristianized in their public acts 1 It is well to shrink from being persecutors, but it is unmanliness and cowardice to allow others to persecute us out of the public and private expression of our public and private faith. Better that these pagan proclamations should cease than that they should be afraid to return to the time when they witnessed that they were addressed to a Christian people.
Of course the hereditary enemies of the Christ of God are not slow to find their acconnt in all thi!!. They are helped in this by th~ senseless divisions of Christians, who to gain a point against one another are not ashamed to call in the help of the common foe. We have seen lately, quoted with evident glee in a Christian journal, a sneering declaration from a Jewish journal, referring to the proposal that the projected Cathedral of St. John the Divine shall serve also as a national mausoleum. The Jewish writer mockingly says that the American people are not likely to be found on intimate terms with St. John the Divine. Now, seeing that the American people, as a whole, are as yet; at least, a Christian people, as the Supreme Court has of late emphatically affirmed, this taunt on the part of the Jewish hater of the sublime apostle would be an intolerable insolence, were it not for his evident hope that the identification of the nation with Christ may yet be undermined and exploded. Viewed in that light, we cannot fairly call it anything more than a legitimate manoouvre of war.
This writer says that Jonathan is too genuine a man to be a saint, or, it seems, to have anything to do with saints. The evident, and evidently intended implication, is, that the apostles were not genuine men. The apostles are now exalted above the scourgings of the Sanhedrim, but the true inheritance of mocking hate has not departed from the sons of the Sanhedrim.
A Jewish lady, also quoted, with somewhat effusive appreciation, in a Christian journal, gives a really noble description of our Lord's life on its human side, but with an evidently settled determination to ignore the absolute incompatibility of this admiration with the continued rejection of His unmistakable claims to spiritual supremacy, as well over His brethren of Israel as over the world. Christianity, she declares, has no power of compelling Jewish conviction. The Inquisition, she says, could never make them Christians, and all the mild but zealous efforts of Presbyterianism have failed to secure a single honest convert. If she had consulted Mr. Henry C. Lea, she would have been reminded that the Inquisition never undertook to make the Jews Christians. It exercised jurisdiction (apart from cases of insult offered to Christianity) only over those who had already accepted baptism. Accordingly, as Mr. Lea shows, conversions from Judaism were at a stay between the setting up of the Inquisition and the banishment of the Jews from Spain. However, passing over this, and coming to the present, we see that this lady describes the one hundred thousand free accessions of Jews to Christianity within this century as having all been feigned. According to her, such men as Neander, Caspari, the elder Delitzsch family, Rabbinowitz, Rabbi Frye, Bishop Alexander, Bishop Gobat, and a thousand others like them, have all been hypocrites alike! Purity of life, long and unpretending labors, and that unfailing benignity which is the surest sign of sincerity, all go for naught with her. She cannot possibly know the heart, but having, by a sheer exercise of proud resentfulness of will, set it down as an axiom that no Jew can honestly become a Christian, the most luminous demonstrations of character no longer signify anything to her. Of courSE this assumption of hers is reflected upon all the past, for if the Jews of the first century could honeatly own Jesus for the Messiah, it is plain that those of the nineteenth century can.
" He that despiseth you, despiseth Me." Christ, through all the ages, has awed and daunted men. Therefore they have been wont to express boundless admiration of Him, and have contented themselves with con- temning those who believe on Him. This attempt to worship the Foun- tain and abhor the stream is curiously illustrated in a heathen oracle given, I believe, in the third century. Some pagans who were disquieted by the rapid advance of the Church asked of some shrine-perhaps Delphi itself -what they were to think of this new sect. The answer was to this effect: "The foolish people are hopeless of cure, but that pious soul is exalted to heaven." All such attempts, continually renewed, have every time hopelessly broken down. Christ's claims of spiritual supremacy are too indissolubly combined with every word and deed of His to be detached. We must either own Him for the Head of Israel and of man, or say frankly that He deserved His doom by an insane and impious arrogance. Far more logical and far more permanently sincere than thesc attempts at an impossible division was the frank brutality of that Jewish convention held in Paris some years ago, which was described as greeting with storms of applauding laughter every repeated reference of the scoffing president to "the Christ whom you have crucified." Here, still more than in honeyed words through which the underlying hatred and contempt will still exude, is to be found the really animating instinct of the Judaism of to-day.
We are very much disquieted over the Jesuits. We have good reason. They are only some twenty-five thousand avowed members, but their de- voted adherents are innumerable. "Their mission," says the Catholic priest and philosopher Gioberti, " is to diminish the amount of intelligence in the world," and faithfully have they discharged it. They repress intel- ligence where they can, and where they cannot they try to dwarf and dis- tort it. They wisely allow such a proportion of wisdom and spiritual inde- '" pendence even within their own order as to put a fair face on matters, but never forget their essential aim. Now, there /lre said to be twelve million Jews in the world, rather than seven. The vi"st bulk of them, we have good reason to believe, are simply desirous to earn an honest living, or to practise their religion without standing in anybody's way. Many of them are illustrious members of Christian States with whose faith they have not one thought of tampering. But seeing the uncommonly high percentage of mental ability and keen activity of character found among them, as well as of high culture, and the length of life belonging to them as a people, and assuming that there are five hundred thousand Jews in the world whom the inevitable inferences of their religious position, and the ages of cruelty which they have suffered during the barbarous times and among the barbarous races of Christendom, have kindled into invincible hatred, surely this half a million may well be expected, in annihilating effectiveness, to leave the Jesuits far out of sight. The Jesuits, indeed, first began to be the objects of dread and dislike when, about 1580 or 1590, their ranks were largely filled up with Spanish Jews. Wherever the Jews can obtain influence in Freemasonry, thElyare expected as of course (and they seldom disappoint the expectation) to turn it to ends of deadly animosity against the Church. On the Continent generally, but especially in Germany, they have long been wont to direct the press, which, as is known, they largely control, into bitter hostility toward every form of earnest Christian activity, especially toward missions. Their increasing control of the land gives them increasing rights of patronage over the parochial clergy, which they are not slow to use for the same end. Their increasing control over press and purse in this country is proceeding with no slack pace.
By the stealthy action of a heterodox council, the whole Church once, !lays Jerome, " suddenly woke up and found itself Arian." But let us not imagine that the world will ever suddenly wake up and find itself Christian. Weare not told that wilen Satan discovers that his time is short he becomes meek, but that he " hath great wrath." The Church, until these our Ameri.can days of rosewater and self-lauding optimism, has always believed that the victory would not come without a counter-incarnation of the devil; and in what race may we better hold it likely to come about than in that mighty and central people of mankind, which has been honored to receive the incarnation of God ~ It is promised that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against the Church; but neither could they prevail against her Lord, yet for a little while they swallowed Him up. There is therefore nothing in this promise to assure us that what the fathers succeeded in accomplishing against the Head, the sons may not succeed in accomplishing for a little while against the body. Infernal skill, availing itself of the contingencies waiting at every turn in a time when the very foundations of the world seem to be out of course, may, as in narrower ranges they often have done before, effect sudden reversals and overturnings of the most disastrous completeness. They will not be lasting, but they may be tremendous while they last. In spite of all our busy zeal, it is true that, in face of the sly encroachments of Antichrist, the note of a large part of our somewhat too dapper and smirking Christianity is, as an honored friend has said, " utter nervelessness. "
,.ur" And when those things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."
PRESENT ASPEOTS OF MISSIONARY WORK IN TURKEY
PRESENT ASPECTS OF THE MISSIONARY WORK IN TURKEY.
BY A RETURNED MISSIONARY.
There are two points of view from which the m"lssionary problem in Turkey may be regarded. From one, we regard simply the actors as solely responsible for their acts and ready to justify them; from the other point we try to detect the many forces that often lie out of sight, which inspire the actors, and are often as efficient as they are obscure, and to most persons entirely unknown.
From the first point of view, the Turkish Government has entirely changed its policy toward American missions. In former times persecution came from Armenians or Catholics, who regarded their interests as compromised by our work. The Turkish Government regarded all Christian sects as equally ghiaouT8, and entitled to the same treatment. A Sheikh-ul-Islam gave this decision in a " fetva" as the dictum of the law.
Furthermore, in the beginning the Muzlims were inclined to friendly decisions in favor of Protestants, because of their rejection of picture and saint-worship, which is an abomination to the true Muzlim. This would still be the natural inclination of every Turk but for other influences.
A few years ago-perhaps six or eight, varying in different placesthere began to be manifested a spirit of repression toward our Protestant schools, churches, colporteurs, and every branch of our work. There have been exceptions to this conrse. Wherever there has been a governor of common sense and a spirit of justice-and there have always been such here and there-the old way of ey'ual justice has had its course. But repression has steadily gained, and it weighs heavily upon every department of Christian activity; and this spirit of repression has grown into a policy of very active opposition. Schools have been closed, churches have been shut, and colporteurs arrested, all on flimsy pretexts which only served to show the animus of the reaction ; and yet Turkey claims to be a civilized State!
In this process of annihilating missions, Turkey ignores the pledges she has given to Europe. In the celebrated royal rescript called the Hatti- Scherif of Gulhane, and in the still more celebrated Hatti-Humaiyoun of the Peace of Paris, the Sultan expressed to Europe the principles which were to guide his administration of government. These have been and are uniformly disregarded and trampled upon; and yet Turkey claims to be a civilized State!
The testimony and the oaths of Christian snbhcts are not allowed in the courts of justice (1) j and yet Turkey claims a civilization superior to any Christian State !
The governm~nt condones household slavery and polygamy and the manufacture and sale of eunuchs. The highest officers of state are part and parcel of this infamy; and yet they proudly claim that the Ottoman Government is an example of freedom and liberality to all the governments of Europe.
The Turkish Government crushes the schools of its Armenian subjects and forbids their emigrating to more enlightened countries, thus reducing them at once to ignorance and slavery. If a young man escapes and obtains a foreign education and citizenship and returns, his passport is his condemnation. He is imprisoned, beaten, his property confiscated, and he dies in utter wretchedness. As bribery universally governs the admin- istration of law, and as law is often the caprice of the judge, efforts on behalf of the wretched are of little use, unless backed by power. But the government coolly claims a place among the ciVilized nations of the earth!
For some strange political purpose this seems to be accorded.
In this effort to efface American missions there is a gross violation .of treaty rights. American citizens are to have all the rights, immunities, and privileges of the most favored nation. Have any Catholic missions been disturbed ~ Are the schools of the Jesuits closed, 'or in any way embarrassed ~ Are their books seized and confiscated Y Do Frenchmen have books of science, law, medicine, history, in the French language, seized at the port of entry, on their way to some Jesuit college, and never returned 1 American missionaries suffer these things, and any mild re- monstrance of our Government is treated with great politeness and absolute neglect.
The promise of indemnity for property destroyed is very easily and ,readily made, and very seldom fulfiJIed. The Turkish Government makes sport of these promises. As they mean nothing and cost nothing, they are the cheapest way of settling a difficulty; and they encourage the out- rages which may be the secret object of the government.
In these strained and unhappy conditions the missionary work pursues its way with all patience and hope and trust in God. In some places there are manifested more earnest effort and real progress. Some of the smaller and feebler churches, weighted down with destructive taxes, often gathered without giving any receipt, so as to be exacted a second time, thus driving the people to the famine point, have been almost blotted out.
They are unable to support even a teacher, and the missionary funds are so crippled that such places must be abandoned. In a few cases the enemy is accomplishing his purpose of effacement. In other places the work grows strol!g by trial. It is the old contest between " the gates of hell" and the kingdom of Christ. .
A very unfortunate influence, having no connection with the missionary work and utterly abhorred by it, has come in to embarrass it, and in some places to produce great evils. It is the revolutionary plot of the IIuntcha- gists. This absurd and wicked movement has its centre at Athens, and its branches i~ London, Paris, and Worcester, Mass. Its object is to establish secrGt revolutionary and insurrectionary coteries all over tme em- pire, wherever there is an Armenian population, large or small. They' profess to be secretly providing arms and ammunition, so that when oppor- tunity shall favor an effective blow may be struck. The leaders of this plot collect large sums of money from the poor Armenian laborers in this and other countries, and make them believe that it is all spent for arms and transportation. The Turkish Government is aware of all this, and it is not probable that a single rifle or a package of ammunition has belen introduced into the country. The contributors are, however, made to believe that every dollar goes right home in so much rifle or powder.
There are about 2,500,000 Armenians in the empire. They are all scattered in small bodies over the empire; they are entirely unarmed; they are unused to arms j they are a peaceable, industrious people j they could nowhere assemble an armed force j the roads are all in the hands of the Turks j they are all armed and used to war. The first attempt at a rising would be wiped out in blood. The more intelligent complotters admit this, but reply, The Turks, when thus excited, will commit such bloody outrages upon innocent, unarmed men and women and children, that Russia, in the name of humanity and with the approbation of the whole world, will march in and establish justice. So these complotters, by their own confession, do intend to excite the Turks to such a slaughter of the innocent Armenian people-among them their own fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters-as shall strike with horror the civilized world, and call the armies of Russia into Asia Minor. Was ever a plot so insane and wicked ~ But the Turkish Government is fully aware of the whole foolish scheme. In case of the least sign of a revolutionary movement, those en- gaged in it will be very summarily dealt with, and many of the innocent will suffer with the guilty, b~t any general mob vengeance will be sup- pressed with an iron handhy the government. '
The complotters have used every means which craft and malice can invent to involve the American missionaries and the Protestant Armenians in this revolutionary scheme. For a time they succeeded in making tho Turks believe in their guilt. It is now, however, generally understood that all such schemes are abhorrent to the missionaries and to the Gospel of Christ. Then they, the complotters, turn and accuse the missionaries of being friends of Turkish oppression and hostile to the Armenians.
If now we seek, from onr second point of view, the underlying reasons of this ihange, they are not difficult to find. They do not lie upon the surf~ce, and they are generally overlooked. Those who regard Turkey as an entirely independent empire, having its own inherent policy and carry- ing it out, 80S France or Russia does, fail to apprehend the condition of things. The Ottoman Empire exists by the jealousies of Europe. Its diplomats study the contending or the co-operating forces of the great powers, and shape their own course accordingly. They do ~t consider themselves able to oppose the united demands of such powers as France and Russia unless they can bring in other powers able to cope with them.
That the Turkish Government is pursqing a particular course is no proof that it does so of its own motion or choice. It goes whither it is driven; and the present Sultan shows great skill and sagacity in playing off the designs of one power against those of another, so that they cancel each other, and he remains free and undisturbed.
With regard to Protestant missions in Turkey, it need hardly be said that the Catholic missions have from the beginning been their most vigor- ous opponents. The Catholic missions were old and well endowed and numerous when Protestant missions entered the empire.
France, whatever government she has had, and whatever religious or irreligious policy she may have had at home, has always powerfully sup- ported Catholic missions abroad. Her patronage has been open and pro- nounced. The Ottoman Government would never dare to show hostility to Catholic missions or a Catholic missionary. But Russia has a far greater influence in Turkey than France has. She is the patron and de- fender of the Greek Church in Turkey. She abhors the entrance of Prot- estantism into the empire. Her ambassador, M. de Boutineff, declared to our missionary, Dr. Schauffier, that" the Czar would never allow Prot- estantism to set its foot in Turkey.". The teacher Mesrobe was condemned to Siberia by the Czar Nicholas for the crime of co-operation with mission- aries. Nicholas incited Sultan Mahmoud, in 1839, to expel the missionaries from Turkey, as he, the Czar, had expelled all English missionaries from Russia. The SuIta'n's death and the consequent changes spoiled the game.
Th~ next move, under the instigation of the Czar, was through the ,Catholicos of Etchmiadzin, who induced the Armenian Patriarch, in 1846, to utter the great anathema against the Protestant Armenians. The Czar hoped by this to efface Protestantism. It led, on the contrary, to its legalization in the empire.
The Crimean War was hastened, in 1853-55, not merely to get Constantinople, b~t to destroy the hated faith which so much annoyed and alarmed Nicholas. Has Russia of late grown liberal and tolerant? Is she not still persecuting the Stundists, the Menonites, and the German Protestants with relentless rigor ~ Is it the united influence of France and Russia that has turned the Ottoman Government against missions? There is the power that lies back of all the injustice, hostility, and outrages of the few past years.
The infamous Huntchagist revolutionary movement is purely a Russian invention. It is similar to movements among the Bulgarians in 1877 ; not that any Russian will acknowledge this. The same plots that he supports with money and secret agents he often denounces publicly: It is weakness to be deceived by her deceptions.
The aspects are cloudy, and there is no prophetic spirit to reveal to us the future ; but we believe in Him, and we trust in Him, who is " Head over all things unto the Church," and who will put all things under His feet. The resources of Divine Providence in baffiing the plans of Russia are not exhausted.
TBlI: INDIANS IN THE trNITBD !TATB8
THE INDIANS IN THE UNITED STATES.
EXTRACTS FROM THE" MONATSBLATTBR FUR OFFENTLICHE MISSIONSSTUNDBN"
FOR MARCH, 1891, TRANSLATED BY JULIA H. STRONG.
A nation may be in such a position that another nation is intrusted to it. Weare speaking now of America, and of the poor redskins in the United States, who are expressly acknowledged t;y the American Govern- ment as its prote.q~8 and foster-children, but are repealedly treated with anything but a shepherd's faithfulness and a rather's love. We will not rehearse the sins of the earliest 1mmigrants in this direction, especially in the beginning of the format.ion of the American States. It must be ad- mitted, however, that not much could be done for the Indians by these first immigrants, even with the best inclination. They had so much to do for themselves with the cultivation of the soil, the laying out of the settle- ments, the clearing of forests, and tllen, as the emigrations from Europe became all the time larger and more various, so much, too, with the regu- lation of their civil and State relations, that, on the whole, they must have been glad if the Indians only left them in peace. True, had the settlers been nothing but Eliots, Penns, and Zeisbergers, then indeed all would have gone otherwise. But they were not exactly ; and then comes the consideration that formerly the Indians had still room enough to rove in the mighty forests and on the gigantic prairies of their old home, and to lead according to ancestral custom the wild, free life of the warrior, hunter, and sluggard. How hard it was, then, to reach them with school, sermon, agriculture, and civilization!
Everything has changed since then. There are now no longer little groups of settlers who are surrounded and endangered by numerous Indian ,bands, but, on the contrary, small groups of Indians who are hemmed in ,and pressed on all sides by the whites. Already utter want and the lack of former occupation point them to agriculture, to cattle raising, to the learning of trades, and to a civilized life altogether. Naturally it would be much easier to instruct and educate them than ever before.
Officials are constantly changing in America, according as, at the Presi- dential election, the one or the other of the political parties has conquered. Under President Grant, only such persons were appointed as Government agents on all the Indian reservations where missions exist, as were proposed by the respective missionary societies. But since 1880 this excellent arrangement has been set aside; and so every few years new persons come to these important positions-persons who wish and do just the opposite to that which their predecessors strove after; yes, persons who generally think only of themselves, not of their wards, the Indians.
All this has lately come again clearly to light through the recent Indian insurrection, which raged in December, 1890, and January, 1891, and came within a hair's breadth of becoming a great general Indian war. The Americans themselves do not conceal the fact that their officials bear the principal blame. Thus writes, for instance, the New York Journal of Oommerce: " The situation is a grave one. . .• It seems finally positive that the red man must be exterminated, as he will by no means adapt himself to civ- ilization. As for the rest, the palefaces are greatly to blame in the sup- pression of the Indians. Our Indian policy is truly not suited to fit the poor savages for useful members of human society. The officers who are intrusted with the oversight of the Indians and the management of the agencies are in most cases quite incapable, and many times dishonest also, while they sell for their own profit a great part of the provisions, articles . of clothing, etc., intrusted to them for their proteges. These officers let the poor redskins with their families starve and freeze, * and treat them brutally besides. After all, it is not surprising that the free sons of the desert become rebellious occasionally under such circumstances. Instead of disarming the Indians, letting them have ample maintenance, and edu- cating them for agriculture or other employments, the poor people are fur- nished with good weapons, munition, and horses, nominally so that they may gain their livelihood by hunting buffaloes, which have long been ex- terminated, however, while they are left otherwise to be hungry and to freeze-a peculiar method on the part of our Government of ~aring for those placed under its protection, the descendants of the original possessors of this country!"
But indeed the Americans are not alone to blame. Even this last uprising, with the disturbances which preceded it, is explained substan- tially by the deep-rooted heathen superstition of the Indians and by the ab- solutely wicked resistance of many to the Gospel and civilization. The soul of the insurrection was the now fallen Sioux chief, Sitting Bull, who in 1881, when also taken prisoner as the leader, had sworn vengeance on all whites, and defiantly proclaimed his lasting opposition to all at- tempts of the Government for the spiritual uplifting of his tribe. But was he not then a great chief, who was cheated by the whites out of his power and his rights ¥ No, on the whole he was no chief in the true sense of the word, but only a leader of so-called medicine-men or sorcerers, and that he had so great influence over not only the Sioux, but other tribes formerly living not exactly in friendship with them (Arapahoes, Apaches, etc.), is accounted for by the fact that many were afraid of the mysterious supernatural powers which superstition ascribed to him. And he was not the only medicine-man who, as the peculiar representative and champion of the old Indian heathenism, called the companions of his faith and nation to battle against the palefaces. For instance, we hear of one, Short • This statement Is somewhat overdrawn. But this is true, that the Government appropriated for the year 1889-90 full 8150,000 less for the support of the Sioux Indians than in the previous year; and this even after new treaties had been concluded with them, and the representatives of the Government had promised:that the previous supplies of provisions, etc., should not be cnrtaiJed J Bull, who is reported to have repea.tedly performed with his followers the so-called spirit or dream dance since last summer. At these dances there are purely heathenish proceedings. F4'st a tall tree is brought to the place designated by the medicine-man, and newly planted there. Then the chiefs of the tribes taking part (Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, and Crows), splendidly adorned with finery and paint, seat themselves under this tree, while the rest of the Indians, from about five hundred to one thousand in number, begin to revolve around them swiftly iu a circle. Mter some time they become dizzy. Then they turn about and whirl again in the opposite direction, and this continues, alternating to the right and left, until they are no longer able. At intervals the c~l1 resounds, " The buffaloes are coming back j the buffaloes are coming back!" Each dancer is armed with four weapons consisting of leather thongs, with stones twisted into them, and with these he beats himself about the head from time to time to hasten the beginning of the longed-for stupefaction. With the same aim they knock their heads against the ground, or against each other. Now begins in certain ones that swoon during which the spirits, and through them the Great Spirit, communicate to them revelations of all sorts. They fall to the ground, and remain lying until consciousness returns. The dances of last fall and winter almost gave rise to hopes in regard to a curious mingling of heathen and Christian ideas. The seers stated that the Son of God had appeared to them and revealed that He would soon appear as their avenger and helper in need; then the earth would tremble, out of two high mountains great streams of lDud and earth would pour themselves out with fearful uproar to bury the whites, together with their streets and cities, which disfigure and pollute the earth, as well as all the redskins who imitate the palefaces; then the forest would grow again, buffaloes, antelopes, and deer return, the whole country resume its original aspect and be given back to the genuine Indians as their inalienable possession. The faithful children of the Great Spirit ought, therefore, to be only fearless and not yiel<i to the whites in anything j when the Messiah came, he would richly reward them.
" Sometimes it happens that one lies several days in the trance, and the longer time this is the case the greater weight is laid on his prophecies. Sometimes those returning to consciousness believe they have been turned into animals, and conduct themselves correspondingly ; indeed, even the others treat them as that which they pretend to be, and one is said to have been killed as a buffalo and eaten!" (Allgemeine Zeitung, 1890, No. 353.) Bishop Hare, one of the warmest friends of the Indians, and one best acquainted with them, sees in this whole movement a desperate effort of heathenism to regain its authority, made doubtful through. the Gospel. " In South Dakota," says he, "the work of schools and missions has made great progress, and the whole Indian district is sown over with chapels and school-houses. Civilization was continually spreading; and this has provoked the heathen party. Compressed on one side by the advancing whites, belabored on the other by those of their own race progress~vely disposed, they seem like hunted deer, and what many missionaries lIave expected for some time has happened : heathenism b.as come to new life, and even civilized Indians have been carried away by the national and patriotic element in this movement. Many, however, are by no means pleased with the affair, and unless some unseen chance happens, this whole Messiah craze will soon have evaporated like so much other fanaticism. "
Meanwhile the insurrection has been quelled by force of arms. A quantity of soldiers, also six Christian Indians, who did police duty for the Government, a Catholic missionary, and some other whites have thereby lost their lives. The number of insurgents who were killed is not inconsiderable. But the dreadful Indian war, which many feared, has not made its appearance ; and this is owing, above all, to the mission-so experts assure us. The really Christian Indians under regular religious training have kept quite aloof from the whole uprising, as well as from that fanatical hope of a Messiah. How different the result might have been if the Gospel had not already taken so deep root among the Sioux! And we in Europe sometimes underrate the results of the mission to the Indians. The Protestant Episcopal Church alone counts among the Sioux 9 native pastors with 40 helpers, and 1700 adult church-members, who in the last year alone contributed $3000 for the purposes of the Church and mission; and the Congregationalists have similar numbers (6 churches), and the Presbyterians (15 churches with native pastors and 1100 communicants). The churches of the last two denominations have even established a Dakota Home Missionary Society, which about two years ago numbered 913 members and raised $908, which deserves all recognition, especially when one thinks that full half of this sum was earned through the diligent sewing of the women and girls, and that here are no large gifts and legacies from wealthy friends of missions.
In all there may be among the 250,000 Indians of the United States 60,000* members of evangelical churches. It may indeed be said, that is not much-at all events, not much in proportion to the effort expended and the monstrous sums of money which have already been applied to the conversion of the Indians. That is true, It costs, foolishly speaking, $1000 on an average to " convert" an Indian; but how much does it cost to kill an Indian ~ That is much dearer still ! We are almost afraid to speak it out, but it has been estimated that every Indian who was killed in war cost the Government $1,000,000 ! and when one hears that just in • According to The Gospel in all LandI of 1887, In December, 1886, there were, "not Including the tlve wholly civUlzed tribes, 80,544 evangelical church·members, 14,550 men 8Ild 15,994 women, with 155 church bllildings." These tlve" civilized tribes" are the Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles, together 64,000 souls, all settled in the Indian Territory, and all summed np as the" Union Agency." "These are increasini. and are almost all OhriltiaM. (Near them live about 15,000 almost whollY heathen Indians.") the years 1872-82 $223,000,000 were expended for Indian wars and all kinds of measures connected with them, one may well believe that computation in a certain sense corresponds with the truth. Even the last little winter campaign against Sitting Bull and his confederates cost several millions.
Yet since Grant's administration the Indian policy has taken a decidedly friendly and benevolent turn. Every year the Department of the Interior, under the superintendence of the President, gives out through a special Indian Commissioner and his sixty agents the great sum of from five to seven million dollars to supply the Indians with food, clothing, household utensils, farming implements, medicines, physicians, and 8chools. An extraordinary amount is done for the last-named object-partly through the support of mission schools, partly because the Government itself establishes schools and pays teachers. The sums which have been granted for this have steadily increased from 1877-87 (in 1877 it was $20,000, while in 1887, $1,211,415); the year 1888 showed a slight fall ($1,179,916), but 1889 brought a significant rise, and for the year 1891 full $1,842,770 was granted. * True, in this matter of Government schools great mistakes have been made, so that the cause of missions has not been furthered by them, but in a measure hindered. For instance, so excessive emphasis has been laid on English, that the Indian children, it is said, could not get religious instruction at school in their native tongue. But that became better lately since Dr. Daniel Dorchester became the Inspector of Government Schools and General Morgan the Indian Commissioner. Moreover, there is an Indian Rights Association and a Society for the Protection of the Indians, which last seeks to accomplish that the redskins may continue to keep their old division into tribes. their common ownership of land, and their old languages-there are counted more than fifty Indian lan- guages, with two hundred dialects. t Many missionary societies wish the same; but in general now the public opinion, and quite decidedly the Government's policy, is that the Indians should simply be made American citizens, and no longer occupy any separate position in social and judicial relations. They still possess in their one hundred and thirty-three reservations about one fortieth of the whole surface of the United States, but it is mostly unfruitful, and also poor in game. In late years laws have been made according to which the land shall be no more a communistic possession of the tribes ~s such, but shall be divided among individual families, but it must remain entailed for twenty-five years, because it otherwise would pass over too soon into the hands of the whites (the so-called Dawes Bill of 1887). According to the agents' reports, 75,000 Indians are ripe for this change.
• Translator's note: PM Review Of Reviews gives the appropriation for education of the Indians for 1892 lIB $2,300,000. t According to a statement of the Indian Bureau, there are 65 languages which are said to be aa dUferent from one another lIB Hebrew and Chinese, and again each of these has several dialectssometimes up to 2O-which are related to each other somewhat as Italian and French are, or as Ger· man and Dutch. With this agrees another statement, according to which there Were in the year 1885, of those who could speak English to some extent, 28,000; of those who could read either English or Indian or both, 20,500, and of those who wore the European dress, 66,000. The number of children in the Government schools had risen in 1890 to 16,000 (including an average daily attendance of 12,000). If it goes on so, and the Government should really reach its aim, there would be at length no " American Indians," but only "Indian Americans," just as there are Irish, English, German, and other" Americans."
Whether this is perhaps the only possible solution of the Indian ques- tion, or only another form of the extermination of the Indians, we will not inquire into here. We have already gone" altogether too far in the prov- ince of politics and large numbers. Now we will make a visit to an Indian reservation in Dakota in the company of a young missionary teacher. We are standing before a block-house whose front has a door in the middle and a window on each side of it. -We knock at the door. A loud, " Ho I" sounds from within, and we enter. Chairs are not at hand, and, after the hand-shaking is over we take our place on the seat of honor- i.e., on a wooden chest standing against the wall. The master of the house smokes a long pipe, and near him sits his wife, idle, too, while another inmate of the house is baking bread and her husband splitting wood. This last is a Christian, but the smoker is an inveterate heathen. The baking excites our attention : a dough is prepared of meal and water, which is rolled out and then cut in cakes half an inch thick, so large that they quite cover the bottom of the pan which stands on the sooty hearth, half filled with steaming fat. The cook lays the cake in the pan, turns it until it is browned on both sides, and then takes it out. It looks quite inviting, and might well arouse our appetite if the surroundings were less repulsive; but the board with the dough stands on the floor, and there, too, lie the dogs aU about the fireplace, while the frying-pan is put down on the bed, the original color of whose coverings is no longer distinguish- able for downright dirt.
But we must not lose too much time in looking around: Three little girls are waiting for the instruction we are to impart to them. The matter in hand is the Dakota ABC. According to the Government order, it is true, no more Dakota can be taught in the schools, but they cannot forbid us from going from house to house and teaching the little ones in their ,mother-tongue. Now the lesson is over, and we read a passage from the Bible j if one of the women is able, she must also read a few verses j then we conclude with prayer.
And now on to another house. A man is standing before the door unloading firewood. He speaks pleasantly to us. Then we knock, and we hear an English " Come in. " We enter and find the marr's daughter, her husband, and a young male relative. The Jast two seem perfectly Qaptivated by the old delusion that work is a disgrace-at least for the man. They are doing nothing. However, the young wife il!l busy sewing gay beads on to moccasins, and has begun to learn to read, and it is now our task to hear her reading-lesson. They are all heathen still.
But our next aim is a Christian home. How different an atmosphere meets us here, although it~ too, is only a r,ude blockhouse, in which stove, table, cupboard, water-cask and beds stand close together! The grand* mother is ironing clothes. The mother needs all her energies to keep the numerous troop of children in order. One of the larger boys is bringing in wood; but at our entrance all becomes still. A Dakota Bible is taken from the shelf, and we and the young housewife read a verse in turn. The grandmother says the prayer.
And now we must begin the return journey to the mission station. We see children sliding down-hill, some on mere boards, others on little sleds that they have made themselves. They call out a cheery greeting to us, and for a long time we hear their merry laughter. * But what is this firelight that flashes in the fast increasing darkness 1 We draw nearer and perceive two old heathen women, who have been collecting brushwood, and are turning something back and forth over the flames. "What are you cooking there~" "A dog which we have killed." "What are you going to do with it~" "Why, eat it, of course!" "Dog-meat tastes good, then 1" "Certainly." "But not so good as beef, though~" " Oh, much better!" "Better than pork, too ~" " Yes, indeed!" "Do you go to church sometimes ~" "No." "Well, ~ome then next Sunday." An indifferent" perhaps" is the only slightly hopeful answer.
So much from the mission teacher. With the incessantly progressive settlement of white heathen, the Indians come more and more under influences which they are unable to withstand. Many reservations already are surrounded by towns quickly springing up, which, with their liquor-shops and their population, often consisting only of unruly menfolk, furnish a constant danger for the redskins of both sexes. True, there exist strict laws against the sale of firewater to the Indians ; but they are evaded. Then, too, there are not wanting whites who render assistance to heathenism, and take an impious delight in destroying the fruits of missionary labor. Moanya time a young Indian has been well educated at Carlisle or one of the other excellent institutions of learning, and has returned full of good resolutions, but has been ridiculed at home to such a degree by the old heathen and these godless whites, intimidated and tormented with all sorts of temptations, that finally there is a great fall. If such young people wish to work diligently, • The question has been raised whether Indian children really laugh. A lady teacher tell. the following in answer to this qnestion: Once a icholar had placed a frog in the drawer of the teacher's desk-just as European children sometimes playa roguiih trick on their teachers-but the laughing did not come till <Q'ter SChool. When anyone laughs aloud hefore others, it Is said, "That's the wlI¥ the whites do J" Indian diCorum torbid81t ' some one says: "The (iovernment is pledged to look out for our support, there's no working here." If they want to keep to their good Christian customs, reading books, writing letters, etc., then they are told: "Educa- tion is only for the whites; how ridiculous when an Indian wants to ape the paleface!!! I" or, "Do not trust the whites, they want to take away our old customs, so that we shall be no longer Indians, and then they will not need to keep the old treaties I" Sometimes a white man arranges an Indian dance, and offers some youth who has had a Christian education a complete costume for the dance, a horse, and who knows what besides, if he will only take part in it; and so many a one discards the European dress and shares in the barbaric war-dance, if it be only to show that he is not effeminate or estranged from his tribal companions I But if this happens once, then all is-lost.
But indeed the Spirit of God can work wonders. There is, for example, a former hero of the Sioux tribe, the celebrated Anawagmanei.e., he who rides ahead at a gallop. He had attained so great eminence through his fierceness and bravery, that, according to the custom of the Dakotas, he enjoyed the so-called heroes' freedom-i.e., he could do what he liked without being punished for it, or even called to account. Who would have thought that such a one would have been converted 1 But 10, the unexpected happened. About the year 1841 he was baptized by Missionary Riggs as the first full-blooded Indian from the Sioux tribe, and named Simon. There was an end of the wild warrior's life. He dressed as a European, planted potatoes, and sowed wheat. 'The consequence was that young and old pointed at him with their fingers as a man who had made a woman of himself; but Simon did not let himself be disturbed thereby. He remained a quiet and industrious Christian; but there came another enemy, brandy, which was brought to his neighborhood by whites greedy of gain. Simon became a drinker, and only after ye~rs of vicious life he returned repentant and really reformed to the congregation of Christians. But his shame was so great, that only after long persuasion on the part of the missionary did he venture to ask formally to be received again. That was thirty-five years ago; and now for a long time he has been one of the most estimable officers of the church, and for more than twenty years an acknowledged preacher. When the Sioux in 1862 were preparing for bloodshed, and it came to war, among the chiefs at the camp-fire he always spoke for peace, or at least for the humane treatment of the enemy; indeed, he saved the lives of some whites with danger to his own. When the venerable old man was present some years ago in the character of delegate to the great Presbyterian General Assembly, he was received with enthusiasm, and lionized.
Of those five Indians who were killed by the insurgents in December, 1890, as faithful servants of the Government, one, Little Eagle by name, was a wild heathen until he came under the influence of the mission, and then through the happy death of his little son was led to the Saviour. From
THE ANGLO-SAXON AND THE WORLD'S REDEMPTION
that death-bed was written from Grand River, Dakota: "Harry Little Eagle has died like a hero, after suffering unspeakably for four months without his faith ever wavering. As long as he was not too weak, he prayed and sang continually, and bore witness for his Master. When he could speak again on the evening before his end, he thought God had given him his voice again, so that he 'might speak to the people,' and this he did. 'I am going home,' he said j 'God will give me there a greater work than here. Do not weep j you must compose yourselves, and then let my message reach all.' Then he prayed: '0 Father, save a great work for me with Thee. I have lived but a short time and not known Thee loug, and I have suffered much. So I have not been able to do anything for Thee. Grant me, therefore, that I may do something for Thee above. I would like to become a fellow-worker with Thee.' Then he continued: 'Tell Winona that she is strong, tell her to go after the lost, some will believe and be saved j tell her not to be tired of working for the people.' To the question whether he were not afraid of the dark waters through which he must soon pass, he replied: 'Oh, no, only home soon! that is my desire,' and to his father he said: 'God will send you a comforter. I will help prepare the places for you and mother, and the brothers and sisters. I will wait for you.' "
That was in December, 1885. Little Eagle, who had already known about Christianity, was deeply moved, and III the following January he came out before his Indian companions with a decided testimony. When he died he was a deacon in a Congregational church.
So the Lord has His own also among the Indians. In fine, many of them are nearer the kingdom of God than we think. A Chrischona brother, who is a preacher in Texas, and also works among the Indians, wrote once: "I must say that the heathen Indians are readier to accept the Gospel than many Germans."
Yes, truly the first become last and the last first in the kingdom of God. May the Lord help us all to keep what we have-keep, but not keep back for ourselves, but give out further. This is the true purpose of missions.
THE ANGLO-SAXON AND THE WORLD'S REDEMPTION.-II.
BY REV. D. L. LEONARD, OBERLIN, O.
What has thus far been suggested concerning the mission of such signal Importance to the heathen world, and to which the English-speaking people are called, has related to the original endowments bestowed, to the long course of preparatory traming, and the final sending forth into all lands under the impulse to trade, to colonize, and through statecraft and war to take possession in foreign parts. And all this was evidently meant, though not of men, to be but a stepping-stone to the more rapid and more efl'ectual extension of the kingdom of heaven to the ends of the earth. Thus much accomplished in providential ways most remarkable, at once as never before, as well as with a significance and imperativeness such as never before could be so well appreciated, the Divine "GQ ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature" sounded out in Anglo-Saxon ears. It was just a hundred years ago, when the infant American Repub. lie was beginning to cast off its swaddling-clothes, when England was entering the vacant areas lying under the Southern Cross, was sending her pioneers to occupy the southern tip of the African Continent, and making ready to marshal her forces to reduce the Hindu and Mohammedan to her sway-it )Vas in that hour that, after having burned for years in the breast of an Anglo-Saxon" cobbler," the sublime and inspiring idea of world. wide missions began to find potent expression in deeds. When Carey founded his Baptist Society, modern evangelization, in the sense of a movement possessed of propagating pow.er, had its birth and entered upon its blessed and glorious course. In his person was raised up the chiefest apostle since Paul; for he was an originator and founder whose work led directly to results more momentous, more varied, and wrought out in a vaster theatre than those of perhaps any other man. At least the life and deeds of no other have been felt so widely and so profoundly in so brief a time. When forty years later he was called to his reward, the flame of missionary zeal which he had kindled had spread to every Protestant denomination, in Britain not only, but upon the Continent and across the Atlantic.
Not only are modern missions, in the sense defined above, under God of English origin, they have ever since remained and are found to-day in English hands-that is, the bulk of the money is derived from this source, and the bulk of the men and women engaged are of the extantrepresentatives of the conquerors who landed on Thanet about the middle of the fifth century; and this not by any means wholly because Britons and Americans together so far surpass all. other Protestants combined in both numbers and wealth. The average of intelligence is higher, of spirituality, and of generous and fervid missionary zeal; and even more, as a result of the abundant civil and religious liberty enjoyed the individual fills a far broader and loftier sphere. It is granted fully and heartily, with rejoicing and thanksgiving, that with only individual cases of consecration and devotion in mind, and of shining gifts laid upon the altar, there is no difference in favor of the Anglo-Saxon. Names not a few of immortals that are Dutch, German, and Scandinavian, spring easily to the lips, and some of them rank among the most eminent. There were as great missionaries before Carey was born as have appeared since he died; and yet more, at various points no church in Christendom has ever approached the Moravian in measureless love for the most degraded and loathsome of mankind. The only claim is that to English-speaking people has been committed by far the larger portion of the herculean task of discipling all nations. That thiS fact may the more forcibly appear, let us take up in order the great mission fields, meantime making no invidious comparison between brethren of different speech and ecclesiastical name or custom, and glad exceedingly to find that in so many cases without jealousy, or evil feeling of any kind, they dwell lovingly side by side, each only provoking the other to good works. • Let us glance first at India, one of the greatest of mission fields, a8 well as the first to be entered. The Danish Lutherans were the pioneers for the Gospel, and the consciences of King Frederick and his chaplain were pricked because for a century Tranquebar had been in possession, and hitherto no herald of glad tidings had been sent thither. The British churches, too, were lax exceedingly in proclaiming the word of life in a region where their traders had been gathering riches during almost two hundred years. Evangelizing solicitude and zeal in behalf of the Hindus were born in the breasts of certain Christian servants of the East India Company, whose daily lives were in close connection 'with the abomina- tions of idolatry. Among these was John Thomas, and he it was who turned the thought and conviction of Carey away from the South Seas and fixed them from henceforth upon the masses of Bengal and the Decc~n.
From that day to this, just in proportion as British dominion was enlarged and the relations between the ruling and the subject population became more intimate, British gifts of money have increased, and the number of men and women engaged in teIling the saving story of the Cross. In keeping with the highest spiritual fitness of things, India has been regarded as the portion of the world especially assigned to the Christians of the United Kingdom, and a due percentage of prayer and toil have there been bestowed. Next, to this vast and needy field, came Judson, Newell, and their company from America, and led hither largely by the presence of their brethren from the mother country. Since by Act of Parliament in 1833 free course has been given to missionaries, with full legal protection, one denomination after another has sent forward its representatives until almost all .are found bearing a part. The German Lutherans, too, have shown their sympathy by nobly coming up to the help of the Lord against the mighty,; but of the 808 ordained missionaries, all but 141 are con- nected with either British or American societies, and a much larger pro- portion .of ordained natives and lay preachers; of the communicants 146,863 out of 171,070, of native Christians 470,727 out of 533,565, and 99,598 out of 102,013 pupils in the schools." Of the 65 societies engaged, all but.9 are in Anglo-Saxon hands.
Of all mission fields Africa with its 12,000,000 square miles is the largest, as ,t is also by far the neediest and most difficult. The first to take Christ-like pity upon these millions of hapless creatures were the Moravians, who dispatched Schmidt "to tell the joyful news of salvation some twenty-five years before the birth of Carey, and the next to follow was the London Society, which sent Vanderkemp in 1799, with the English Wesleyans not many years behind. For more than half a century the .pestilential and deadly West Coast, a stretch of some 4000 miles, was the chief scene of missionary toil. Naturally, evangelizing zeal went hand in hand with the anti.slaveryagitation. While American Christians bestowed especial attention upon Liheria, a government set up and fostered by American influence, British Christians expended their consecrated energies rather upon Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast, where British civil authority was paramount. When Livingstone crossed to the north of the Zambesi, and sent out his trumpet call to his countrymen, in the great Redeemer's name, to take possession of the region of the Great Lakes, they responded with enthusiasm, and have held it without rivals ever since, except that of late two German societies have entered German East Africa. American missionaries are in a large majority upon the Congo, which Stanley, the American, had opened to the knowledge of the civilized world. The Paris Society witnesses for Jesus among the Barotse and in French Congo, while one German society maintains a staff of heroes and heroines ready to die if need be in the German Cameroons, and five in the neighborhood of their cousins, the Dutch Boers, of South Mrica. In Egypt and the Barbary States almost to a man the missionaries are Anglo-Sa~ons. Of the 47 organizations at work in Africa, 18 are American, 14 are British, and 14 are Continental.
The realms of Islam are left to be redeemed almost entirely thus far by English-speaking peoples. In Palestine there is co-operation from various other sources, but in Syria the bulk, both of seed-sowing and reaping, is done by the Presbyterians of the United States, who are also well-nigh alone in Western Persia, while the Congregationalists have the sole stewardship of Eastern, Central, Western, and. European Turkey. The Church Society and various others are doing what they can in the dominions of the Shah and Arabia, as well as watching and waiting for a door of entrance into Afghanistan.
The East Indies are mainly under the sway of the Netherlands, and next to nothing has been accomplished for the Gospel except by the Dutch and their German kindred. More than once Anglo-Saxons have endeavored to bear their share of the burden of seeking to save the lost, but have always met with a jealous fear, and hindrances from the authorities so many as to be practically prohibitory. Excepting the work of the Propagation Society in Northern Borneo, all souls rescued from the dominion of Satan in the large residue of that island, in Java, Sumatra, Celebes, King William's Land, in New Guinea, etc., are trophies belonging to the Netherlands Society, the Rhenish Society, and other Reformed and Lutheran bodies.
The West Indies were entered first by the Moravians in days remote when the degraded African slave found few to have compassion, nor have they ever ceased here to toil and suffer for the sake of Christ's little ones. At various times in various islands, American Christians have labored, and yet, since British rule has been so prevalent, as from no other source British money and men have wrought for salvation, the Establishment, Baptists, Wesleyans, Presbyterians and others, uniting heartily to undo so far as possible the unspeakable damage to minds and souls by centuries of slavery.
Crossing now to the neighboring continent, we cnter a mission field which, with an exception or two, is purely American. It is as though in the realm of religion also, by common consent on both sides of the Atlantic, the" Monroe Doctrine" was considered to be in binding force, and "IT so all European c1mrches must stand aloof, not meddling in New orld matters. Here. too, as so often elsewhere; the fact of neighborhood and pllysical contact, of intimate political relations and resemblances, play an important part. Our form of government is republican, and gaining the impulse from us, from our southern border to Cape Horn not a crowned head is to be found. They envy our freedom, our intelligence, our general prosperity and happiness. Perhaps overabundantly and unwisely, they have copied our institutions. For mutual advantage between them and us important commercial compacts have recently been made; but whatever the cause, the striking phenomenon is evident to all eyes, that the religious forces for the redemption of Spanish America are destined to go forth from the United States. Even British Christians are careful not to poach upon our preserves. The exception hinted at is this. The Moravians early established a mission in British Guiana, and for more than a century and a half, in spite of terrible drawbacks, have held on until their adherents are numbered by tens of thousands. The next missionary attempt was made under the sublime faith and persistence of Allen Gardiner, and at two or three points near the southern extremity of the Continent is still maintained by the South American Missionary Society, which is in English hands. The same organization and a few others are doing something for the benefit of Englishmen resident in various cities, and the British and Foreign Bible Society is present and active here and there through its books and colporteurs; but otherwise in all the various States the toilers are all Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, etc., from the northern half of the hemisphere, with the American Bible Society as easily first for importance.
Efforts for the Christianization of the American Indians, though early taken up by the Moravians and still carried on in the West aud in Alaska, are nevertheless assigned for substance wholly to the great missionary race under view; and somewhat curiously, by national boundary Jines they are divided into two portions. While Canadian societies are zealously endeavoring to plant the institutions of the Gospel among the aborigines of the Dominion, the more numerous section, whose homes are within the limits of the Union, are spiritually cared for by the citizens thereof.
Our next-door neighbor over sea to the west is Japan, which also constitutes, as it should, a field for evangelization well-nigh exclusively American; for when that empire was sealed against communication with the entire world outside, circumstances compelled our Commodore Perry by a threatening show of force t6 secnre the opening of its gates to com- merce, to Occidental ideas and institutions, with Christianity among the rest. Among the 31 organizations engaged in the evangelization of these islands, only 7 are non-American, and 2 of these are Canadian, while only 2 are other than Anglo-Saxon. , As for China, so ponderous and with area so extensive, the London Society was the first to lay siege, with Morrison as its imperturbable and indomitable agent. When cannon were found necessary to break down the obstacles which barred the entrance, it fell to the lot of Britain to supply the powder and gunners (alas! and for shame! that opium held so prominent a place in the business), and again later, though then with other European nations at her back. Since the interior has thus been made accessible, Christians from both sides of the Atlantic have been pres8ing in and pushing here and there, until almost all the nineteen prov- inces hold at least a few messengers of mercy and grace from heaven. At the Shanghai Conference held in 1890 reports were given of the work of 41 societies, of which 20 were British, 17 were American, and only 4 were Continental. With a division !Similarly made, the force of foreign agents was 724,513, and 59 ; the native helpers, 872,771, and 86; and the com- mnnicants, 21,068, 13,572, and 2647. Evidently the Anglo-Saxon is especially called to go np against this great Goliath of heathenism.
A closing glance is now turned toward such o£ the Islands of the Sea as have not already passed under view. Taking the impulse from the dis- coverieJ of Captain Cook, the London Society led in the grand campaign against idolatry and barbarism in the South Pacific, and soon through the Word and the Spirit wrought wonders of righteousness in Tahiti and Samoa; the Wesleyans came after to Tonga, from whence the flame of revival leaped over into Fiji to consume everywhere loathsome iniquity, and to shed far abroad the light of life. In the Hawaiian lsl/mds and in Micronesia salvation came to thousands under the labors of godly men sent forth by the American Board; the Church Society and the "W~esleyans addressed themselves to the evangelization of New Zealand; the Presby- terians of Scotland, Nova Scotia, and Australia laid siege to the New Hebrides; in Madagascar, after long years of sharpest persecution, the London Society, the English Friends, and the Norwegian Lutherans shared in a glorious and blessed Pentecost through which tens of thou- sands were brought into the kingdom of heaveil. Therefore also, aside from Malaysia, the islands were gh'en to Anglo-Saxon disciples to be won for Jesus and eternal glory.
Two suggestions among others force themselves upon the mind after even such a brief and partial review as the one just given; and first, how evident and how impressive in history is the hand of God! "A mighty maze, b~t not without a plan. " There is no drifting, and no accident. There is no adequate scheming either on the part of the most gifted and mighty men; but, above all and in all, though intimately connected and blended with a thousand other things, in spite of many tremendous opposing forces, the irresistible fiat of the Most High, His design so vast and sublime, moves forward down the ages and among the nations. The lost world's redemption from night to day, from sin to holiness, from death to life, has been decreed and is well under way. It is for this that states and empires have been exalted and cast down; for this, though all unwittingly, have kings ruled, and statesmen plied their craft, and armies joined in bloody strife; for this have the earth's circumference been explored, and the secrets hidden in the recesses of boundless continents and oceans; for this, too, have modern science and mechanical skill brought forth their stunning marvels. The world is to be evangelized! For eighteen centuries the Anglo-Saxon was under Divine tuition, in preparation for the performance of his peerless part in preaching the everlasting Gospel unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people; and behold, at the end of the nineteenth the call has been heard, the mission has been accepted, and a great army of Englishspeaking men and women are scattered everywhere abroad, with ardent love and zeal fulfilling their lofty commission !
And, in particular, for every true disciple of Christ in America and Great Britain, what solemnity, what inspiration, are in the thought! Who are we that we should be thus ordained, and set apart, and inducted into an office of such infinite moment to the uncounted millions of humanity ~ If we are unfaithful and derelict, for the vast majority there is no hope. Alas for the frequent shortcomings and transgressions of the past j indifference or prejudice, instead of passionate, self-sacrificing love; thronging to distant regions, seeking riches and dominion rather than lost souls; not to evangelize so much as to enslave and debauch; carrying less the Gospel of salvation than strong drink and the deadly vices of civilization; and multitudes of God's people even yet heedless and callous in this stupendous matter, if not also unbelieving and scornful; giving pennies where much gold and silver are at hand, and most sorely needed; sending scores into the world-field to sow and gather, when the urgent demand is for toilers by the ten thousand !
Nevertheless, the gates of entrance into the whole wide world stand open most invitingly. " Come over and help us!" is the universal and piteous cry. The outlook is encouraging in the extreme; for the time that has elapsed and the number of the toilers engaged, the harvest of the century is amazingly large. At no point has defeat befallen the Lord's host, but everywhere victory has crowned the standards of the cross. It is now well established that neither error, nor ignorance, nor superstition, nor the grossest degradation of savagery can stand before the onset of the Gospel of the Son of God, when uttered from anointed lips, when the efflorescence of a loving heart and of a life hid with Christ in God. So, as the second
1894.J OBS'fACLES TO MISSlON"'BY SUCCESS IN
century of modern missions is about to dawn, in tones more imperative and more thrilling than ever before, the heavenly call sounds out: Lo, I am with you! Inti) all the world! To every creature !
OBSTACLES TO MISSIONARY SUCCESS IN KOREA.
BY C. C. VINTON, M.D., SEOUL, KOREA.
It is easy to attribute to Satan any failure of the Gospel message to convert those to whom it is made known. No simpler explanation can be found of the indifference of a whole people than to say that they are the servants of the devil, and that he refuses to give them up. And yet these statements, accurate as they may be, furnish no explanation apart from an analysis of the methods the great tyrant employs to retain his supremacy. Such an investigation, in its general features, I am about to undertake for the Korean field.
Before entering upon an enumeration of obstacles which exist, it may be well to name such as are not encountered by Christian workers here. Thus. it is known to some that there has been no sparing in this conflict of that great spiritnal weaponl prayer. I am thinkmg now not so much of the missionaries here as of those who hold the ropes at home. There are church households and home altars from which unceasingly the prayer of faith goes up that God will save Korea. There is an old blind woman, unlettered, infirm, almost bedridden, who sits lonely day by day at the hearth of her humble home, patiently enduring physical pain, knitting the weary hours away, repeating again and again to herself in the beautiful language of Luther the words of the Book she knows so well, and praying many a prayer for the salvation of Korea. There is a mother and grandmother of missionaries, now past her fourscore years and ten, long herself a noted foreign missionary, the honored friend of missionaries in many lands, whose intercession for Korea- is surely not unavailing. There are men of business and of means whose special gifts for Korea are the accompaniment of many prayers on her behalf. There are boys and girls in. their early teens and younger who send out the message, ' , We are praying for you and for Korea." In daily effort, in discouragements, in successeR, the mIssionary is conscious of these prayers and of their answer. Securely, wonderfully they bear him up. Their authors, equally with himself, are accomplishing the evangelization of Korea, and without them a chief obstacle would still lie in his path.
Again, the inhabitants of Korea are not ignorant savages. On the contrary, they share equally with the Chinese the benefits of the oldest in existence of the world's civilizations, and they are quick to acquire man~ of the arts of our own progressive system. True, the fashion of their clothing has not cbanged for either sex in centuries j yet they accuse us, perhaps not incorrectly, of immodesty in ·dress; and they are quite as far removed as ourselves from the traditional garb of aborigines. Unacquainted though they are with the intricate devices of foreign trade and banking, they have serviceable equivalents for not a few of them. Their trade guilds are as highly organized as those of Antwerp or London, proportionately as wealthy, as absolute each in its own sphere. Labor here is more highly "organized" than in Europe or America, the strike as potent an evil, the " walking delegate" no less active. Benefit organizations, burial societies, loan and co-operative associations, exist in manifold forms. Korea has no men of science, no sciences; but she adopted many centuries ago the literature of China, and throughout her borders letters are the patent of respectability. In every audience the missionary gathers there are sure to be some to whom both tjinsa and enmoun are familiar. He has no difficulty, therefore, in securing readers for the books he brings forward. Even the coolie is not unlikely to display the accomplishment, and in many households the girls as well as the boys are taught to read. So that our educational work would be unjustified were it not for the need of building up a generation from childhood in the broad training of Christian enlightenment.
We have still another advantage in the fact that there is no State religion. All classes are ardent devotees of ancestral worship, and profess to be ruled by the precepts of Confucius; but these at the utmost constitute a selfish superstition and not a system of religion. The queen and many of her ladies, as well as not a few officials and commoners, contribute large sums to maintain the Buddhist shrines and monasteries that abound. A propaganda of reformed Buddhism from Japan has lately been begun in the southern provinces. Shintoism exists. And among the higher nobility and in other ranks Roman Catholicism claims a powerful fonowing. These facts go to show how far from an attitude of persecution is that of the present regime toward invading faiths, and how far from imposing a standard of belief upon its subjects.
The most formidable obstacle at present standing in the way of missionaries to Korea is the want of the Scriptures in the vernacular.
To him who would preach Jesus there is seldom difficulty to obtain hearers. He has but to go out upon the highway and ask a question or offer a book to any passer. Street preaching, though nominally prohibited by government, has met no interference for years. But with most in a given audience curiosity is and remains the only ground of interest. As a rule, the remarks of the erowd relate only to the dress and peculiarities of the speaker. Those who ask questions regarding the subject of discourse soon turn away and apparently dismiss it from their thoughts forever. Here and there, however, some listener goes so far as to buy a book, to accept the loan of one, or to promise to call at the missionary's house. The infrequency with which such promises are fulfilled indicates how much of our effort must be looked on as sowing for a long-distant harvest time. Among tIle books most constantly circulated are several catechisms, epitomes of Christian teaching in thc form of question and answer j Griffith .Tohn's "Exhortation to Repentance j" Milne's "The Two Friends," and certain others, favorites wherevcr known. These are all summaries more or less simple of the essential truths of salvation, and are for the most part translations of tracts long popular in China. Excellent in themselves, it is futile to expect that anyone or even all ot them together can compare in convincing power with the Holy ·Word of God itself.
It is, furthermore, indispensable to the upbuildmg of converts that t.hey should enjoy the privilege of studying directly the teachings of Christ and of the apostles as recorded in the New Testament. To scholars, it is true, the entire Bible is available in the Chinese character, as tra·nsl-ated by the missionaries in China. But not nearly all the inhabitants of Korea belong to the class known as scholars, and but a very.small proportion of those who have gone through years of drilling under the parrot-like method of Oriental instruction, and have learned to call off the characters in a singsong tone of voice, can read them understandingly. Moreover, with rare exceptions, women are wholly excluded by their ignorance from the benefits of a Chinese text, while facility in reading the enmoun, or native character, is readily acquired by natives in a few weeks' time.
About the period when the first Protestant missionaries entered Korea, Rev. John Ross, of Manchuria, issued a translatiou of the New Testament effected by Koreans who had crossed the border, and had studied the tenets of Christianity under him. This consisted largely of a transliteration of Chinese words into the enmoun character, and contains, besides, so mauy purely northern expressions, as to be almost unintelligible to those in other regions. In fact, it seems to strike the ordinary Korean much as does a sentence in Highland Scotch or in the Yorkshire dialect upon the ear of an American newspaper reader. While it has indisputably been the means of making conversions, it is so far from the ideal as to be practically ignored by local workers.
So it resulted that five years ago a committee was formed, somewhat after the manner in which the same task was undertaken in China, for the purpose of providing a serviceable translation of the Scripture!::. It is not to be laid to their charge that they have as yet effected nothing of permanent value. The difficulties prove almost insuperable. Compared with the other languages of the East, Korean is asserted by all who have more than a superficial knowledge of it to excel in perplexities. The question of terms is not easily resolved. And second to none other is that of employing a vocabulary of simple Korean words. As in India, Syria, and elsewhere, our teachers are necessarily taken from among those literati to whom pedantry is a second nature, and in whose eyes words are the more admirable according as their etymology is more recondite. Under the guidance of such men it is difficult to approach the noble simplicity of scriptural diction j and the failure of much of the translation work that has hitherto been attempted in Korea ·lS due to such anmfusion of 'Chinese terms as renders it comparable to the Latinized phraseology of a scientific treatise when contrasted with the pure Anglo-Saxon of Addison. For such reasons as these the efforts of the committee to provide a translation of the Bible have been uniformly unsuccessful. And among the portions of Scripture that have been rendered into Korean in one quarter and another, none has yet reached the plane of ready comprehension by the ordinary native mind.
A tentative text of Mark and of Luke have for some years been sparingly circnlated, but both are far from satisfactory. And beyond these the only means the Korean Christian or inquirer has of reading the Word of God is to seek it in a foreign tongne.
Deprived thus of the power to place the inspired Word in the hands of the people, shall we wonder that the missionary still looks to the future for the harvest of souls that forms the inevitable sequel to such abundant prayer for Korea?
Closely connected with the fact that our assistants are nearly all from a class that holds itself above the people is the further fact that, almost without exception, they try to keep the plane of our work also above that of the people. In this they adhere to the characteristic idea of their nationalism. Perhaps I ought to say lack of nationalism. For, in all that is highest of a nation's individual life-in literature, in religion, in philosophy, in government, in arts and sciences, and in all the essentials of her social system-Korea has alwaYR chosen to sit at the feet of China. In this she has been both gainer and loser. While in all these departments she has received the best China had to give, yet she has completely stultified her own national development. To the missionary this imports chiefly that he finds none of those elements of manliness which are both the effect and the ground of Christian training.
Among the social institutions she shares with her patron is a modifie<l feudalism, a system whereby the toiler and the trader are adjudged unworthy to share the higher privileges of the aristocracies. These aristocracies are two in Korea-an aristocracy of rank and an aristocracy of learning. It is to the latter that our language helpers necessarily belong. And being the first to receive Christianity from us, they seem to share a not unnatural inclination to retain its benefits within their own caste. This inclination is manifest in the dominant influence they exercise oyer the literature we prepare, an influence by which tracts and treatises so often take on the obscure phraseology of a semi-Chinese vocabulary instead of the plainness and simplicity of speech we had intended. In conveying the verbal message by public preaching and private explanation there has too often lurked behind their words the subtle implication that the Church was an intellectual community, whose teachings were above the grasp of common people, and that such were unwelcome there. This is becoming less and less the case. The Church has enlar~ed her bounds. Those who f@r a time monopolized her privileges have been mote rightly taught by the Holy Spirit. Yet enough of the clique spirit remains among competent personal helpers to form even now a serious obstacle to the progress of Gospel work.
The attitude of the ordinary Korean mind toward religious questions is not one of vacancy. If the nation has no religion, at least it has a legion of superstitions. Every locality, mountain, river, plain, tree, rock, is peopled with spirits, whose influence extends to crops, traffic, birth, death, marriage, and all the other events of life for whoever comes within their proximity. To their devotees no act of importance can be undertaken til they have been cOllSulted, and calamiues, being their complaint of negleet, are to be retrieved by offerings to them. Although some of the better class profess to be uninfluenced by these beliefs and dreads, their emancipation is but partial. Spirit worship enters as a prominent factor into the daily life of every native of the land.
But aside from these local and general superstitious, the people, both high and low, are bound by the thraldom of a far more oppressive system of spiritism. Among the oftenest quoted and the most commendable of t.he precepts of Confucius are those which inculcate a reverential regard for the memory of one's progenitors. In course of time the observance of these precepts has degenerated into a system of absolute idolatry, wherein a man may receive but slight consideration during life, may be starved and abused and ignored by a degenerate offspring, but nevertheless at death becomes deified into an object of the highest veneration, and thereafter is worshipped at stated times in the form of an ancestral tablet both at the domestic shrine and at the grave. So exacting are the demands of this cult, that the living often forego the absolute necessaries of life, even running deeply in debt in order that their ancestors may appear to suffer no neglect. To this practice all social relations for the living are subordinate. And so all-pervasive are its obligations, that he who ignores them is speedily visited with the extreme of social ostracism. Not only is he cut off from the amenities of friendly intercourse, but he can find no employer, no employment from others ; none will buy from or sell to him ; he is cut off from the use of the village well; his animals are stolen or killed; the officials exact from him an undue proportion of the communal taxes, and in a thousand other ways he becomes the object of petty persecution. Because of his supposed unfilial conduct he is likely to suffer repeated beatings at the hands of the other members of his own family, his entire possessions to be confiscated by them, and, proving obdurate, he may be expelled from the clan or even slain. Nearly all these persecutions have been borne by converts to Christianity, and the dread of them is a powerful restraint upon many who would otherwise seek baptism.
Its slavery to ancestral worship is the great curse of this people. Around it as a national principle they rally as do Americans about that of personal liberty. But, in contrast to the latter, it is an essentially selfish principle; an adherenee to it has completely ohviated the possibility to its citizens of individual action. As members of the family clan all live and die, and only such as break away from social ties are able to enter into the freedom of Christian privilege.
In some quarters an obstacle to the reception of truth lies in the peryerted teachings of Roman Catholicism, which has long had a firm footing in Korea. It is said to number at present about thirty thousand converts in the several provinces. It is not to be supposed that many of these have received any spiritual training. They form, to all intents, simply an extensive organization whose members fmpport one another in forcing others to yield to them in temporal affairs. They have such a bad name among other classes that not a few refuse Protestant books until assured that they have nothing to do with Catholicism.
Another group of obstacles exists in the social· customs of Korea. Family life is thoroughly patriarchal. Marriage is almost obligatory; the unmarried state a shame to either sex. Male children are esteemed because they perpetuate the ancestral line and maintain ancestral worship. Female children at marriage are transferred to the family of their husbands, and therefore are lightly esteemed by their parents; while the wife who brings forth only daughters is likely to find herself soon replaced in her spouse's affection. Young people take no part in the choice of their partners. Women of the better classes rarely leave thcir homes. Those seen upon the streets all belong to the lower orders. The wife is never looked upon as a companion by hoI' helpmeet, and, if she belong to a respectable class, pal!lses her life in the seclusion of the women's quarters.
Such conditions inevitably preclnde the possibility of home life as we enjoy it. The domestic circle is to the Korean an incomprehensible phrase. The Christian household is an innovation which revolutionizes the very basis of society. This is inevitable. Weare often told that missionaries must not interfere with social customs, but only preach Christianity. Yet Christian homes are a prime essential of the ChriEtian Church, and the Christian home involves much at direct variance with Korean views. It is therefore incumbent upon the Christian teacher to inculcate the abandonment to some extent of native usages and their substitution by those founded on Christian precepts.
Rather an after-problem than an obstacle to conversion is the question of self-support by converts. The time has passed when all can find employment among foreigners. It has not yet ceased to be the case that nearly all baptized in the capital make early application for positions as personal teachers, and this mainly for the reason that it is impossible for them to continue in their old pursuits and still practise Christian morality. But even here not a few are developing a self-reliance in these matters that bids fair in time to produce a self-supporting Chnrch.
Another phase of the work problem, however, is qnite as important, though less puzzling. Labor is boked on as degrading in Korea. There
A REMARKABLE EXAMPLE OF. MORALITY VS. CHRIS'l'IANITY
is consequently a large class whose claim to be "gentlemen" interferes with any pursuit which might afford a livelihood in the absence of inherited wealth. But Korean custom recognizes a hospitality so wide that whoever establishes himself in the guest-room must be supplied with food, fire, even clothing, until such time as he chooses to depart. Now the infusion of grace to withstand such customs is a labor the Holy Spirit alone can accomplish. But they place the missionary in many a position of doubt, and they make it more difficult than we are apt to appreciate for converts either to accept or to maintain the labor standard established by Scripture.
Other obstacles might be named, but these suffice. Korea is still within the grasp of the arch· enemy, and he is even now tightening his grip upon her. Yet with greater certainty she is being prayed away from him j and what I have written may serve some as an indication upon what lines prayer is most specifically needed.
A REMARKABLE EXAMPLE OF MORALITY VB. CHRISTIANITY.
Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy was a public-spirited Parsee merchant of Bombay, a man of fine business ability and great will force, who died April 14th, 1859, aged seventy-six, worth $4,000,000. In 1822, at forty years of age, he gave proof of a remarkable munificence, releasing debtors from jail by assuming their debts, and for thirty-six years his beneficence never slackened. He gave over $1,500,000 away in promiscuous charity, utterly indifferent to class or creed j and, in honor of his patriotism and munificence, he was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1842 and presented with a gold medal bearing her image set in diamonds in 1843. The hospital at Bombay bears his name, a monument to his noble charity j the Grant medical college was endowed by him, which furnishes India with skilled medical practitioners. He established at Bombay an asylum for the education and support of poor Parsee children. No man ever contributed more to the prosperity of the Presidency of Bombay j and Lord Elphinstone, the governor, said that besides the great works which endear his name to future generations, his private-almost secret-charities divided the weekly bread to thousands of his fellow-creatures. His wealth was gotten by sagacity, industry, and integrity, and giveu with wisdom, discrimination, and sense. And yet Jejeebhoy for three quarters of a century confronted the Christian religion as he beheld it in the East Indies, and persistently and obstinately clung to the superstitions in which he had been born and nurtured.
He died as he had lived, a Parsee, a Persian fire-worshipper j he adhered to the Zend-Avesta and rejected the Bible, and day after day did just what Alexander the Great did before him-went down to the sea beach and bowed in worship before the rising suu. With all his noble, patriotic, humane, and philanthropic impulses he was born and bred an idolater, and
WOMAN'S WOHK IN AMERICAN MISSIONS
his morality throughout had a pagan type and spirit. His liberality of creed was nothing more than the toleration of indifferentism; his charity was the indiscriminate generosity of a lavish disposition; his religion was a mechanical and blind allegiance to the tradition and superstition of his race. But, far as his morality was from even the pretence of piety, it was jnst as good a substitute for Christianity as that of any man who, like him, confronts and rejects the claims of Christ. The prospects of salvation of snch as Jejeebhoy, trained in paganism and imperfectly acquainted with Christianity, are nevertheless to be preferred to those of the most enlightened moralist who, in a Christian land, under the noontide blaze of a Christian civilization, born and bred in such an atmosphere, lives and dies in neglect of Christ! Depend upon it, that is a spurious morality which does not prepare the heart for the cordial reception of Christ when the soul becomes intelligently conscious of His character and claims !
Pygmalion was a celebrated statuary of Cyprus, of whom it was told in mythology that into a beautiful ivory statue which he had made the gods breathed a soul. 'We may have the form of godliness, but, however externally attractive, it lacks the power; cold as marble, lifeless as ivory, it lacks a soul! Oh, for some servant of God mighty in prayer to stand, like the prophet of the iron harp, over this valley of dry bones and pray with prevailing power, " Come from the four winds, 0 breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live." Then, when men have felt the renewing Spirit of God, when they have thrilled with the consciousness of that true love toward God and goodness which is the inspiration and vitalization of all highest morality, they see that all other morality is but the form, the skeleton of godliness, needing to be clothed as with sinew and muscle and cuticle, needing to be pervaded with the life blood of God, needing to be inspired with the breath from His nostrils; then, instead of lying dead and listless in the valley of indecision, irresponsive to the claims of a pure and perfect sovereign, and indifferent to the dying love of the ineffable Son of God, these dead forms shall become living men, standing erect in a holy uprightness, and moving responsive to the call of the Divine Captain as a part of the triumphant army of the living God!
WOMAN'S WORK IN AMERICAN MISSIONS.
BY MRS. ETHAN CURTIS.
One of the greatest gifts granted to huma:n nature is the gift of teach. ing. Christ left few sermons. but He taught daily for three years. Teaching is peculiarly woman's gift. It is not the college, but the mother, that makes the man. Macaulay claims, not Cambridge, but that most motherly of matrons, sweet Hannah More, as his inspirer in literature. Who made the Wesleys-Oxford or that magnificent mother ~ Much of our American missionary work must be done by women. To do nothing but preach to a degraded people is to sow seed on stony ground. The first work is to prepare the soil. This is the teacher's task. Preaching may lead to the conversion of souls. but only teaching will permanently uplift humanity. This is teaching: to arouse the young, to guide the old, to sweeten home and to soften hatred, to direct love aright, to add truth to truth. until shrunken souls shall -expand, enlarge, grow-grow in the gTaces of gentleness and ,gentility, grow in the love of right and righteousness, grow into the grandeur of God and Christ. The Mormon work is largely that of women teachers-. Through them those girls are learning the nobility of true womanliness; those boys, the sanctity of womanhood. The curse of our country once was slavery; the corruption of our country to-day is Mormonism. Every sin against God demands a ransom, as the sin against heaven demanded a Redeemer. Our best and bravest died for slavery. Mormonism, that sin against women and home, demands not deaths, but lives.
We women at home are in fault. We pay a pittance or nothing to this cause, and then think that our duty is done. This is a 'work for country and for Christ. Have we patriotism? Have we religion ~ Then let us open our purses wide enough to take love in and give money out. Shall we not have our share in the redemption of the Mormon cities of our land 1 •The degradation of woman, the degeneracy of man, the captivity of the chlId-these are some of the evils of Mormonism. Would we be saviours ~ Then let us do this work-do it g~nerously and gladly.
A second work, peculiarly' woman's, is the training of the black and benighted children that slavery has made, our inheritance. They do not specially need preachers. The gifts of fervor, of faith, of fluent speech was theirs, even in their days of doom ; it is still theirs in their days of deliverance. But these people need training, they need watchful care, they need schools. There is an old, old debt to this kidnapped and con- quered race. What an awful debt has America! Those centuries of un- requited toil! This can only be paid for in labors of love. Other mis- sionary work may be a duty; this is a debt.
All over this continent there once roamed another race; bred to the forest, the brutality of the beast became their symbol of manhood; re- venge was justice j might was right; cruelty was their crecd. Yet these men had souls. Once the image of God had borne its impress on their hearts. Often they heard the speech of the mighty God spoken by the " awe-inspiring tongue of nature." These rhythmic words they have left lisping 0' er our land, from States and territories and cities, from rivers and lakes and cataract, from lofty mountains and lowly vales, until American geography becomes a new revelation-the revelation of the red man's search after God, the revelation of the Indian's soul, a soul born in beauty, but lost in brutishness. What are we doing for the Indians? They are the nation's wards. Once four of these braves walked from the wintry snows of Oregon to the summery settlement at St. Louis, asking for" the white man's book of heaven." What a longing for immortality! This race has loves' as well as revenges. Eternity is theirs as well as ours. We have almost swept them from this land. Shall we likewise sweep them from the heavens overhead? No j let us care for the fragment that re- mains-care for them as Christians should care for souls.
In the very heart of our rich Eastern mountains dwells" the American highlander," or " poor white. " 'Ve leave them there almost without free schools, but not without strong drinks. They are Americans of sturdy European ancestry. They know not God and fear not man. Poverty has pressed upon them ; ignorance has weighted their souls j yet their home is in the richest region of our Eastern States. Ignorance, combined with wealth, is the most dangerous dynamite that humanity can furnish. Their morality is not our morality. Shall we allow these, our own race, to rest in fifteenth-century darkness, while we are basking in nineteenth-century light? They have physical prowess and mental shrewdness, but they lack moral training. They need Christian teaching. They have furnished us with brave generals and brilliant statesmen. They may yet furnish to America that monstrosity of genius-brilliant intellects with bad breeding, aspiring brains and degraded souls. Christian patriotism calls for teachers to implant truth, honor, uprightness, to carry Christ into these homes. This is duty to the future. Free schools would be a farce among this free and fearless people. They need Christ wrought into their lives. They need the highest law, God, to guide them into the lesser laws of truth. They need us, our prayers, our purses, and our women, to teach them to walk in the ways of the Lord, to live Christ.
One step from these and we reach our own class aud kind-the home missionary churches and Sunday-schools. These people are taught a knowledge of books in our public schools; but they need preachers and pastors. They are scattered all over these States, in city and in country, in the deserted East and the growing West. They are of two classes-our native-born Americans and the foreign immigrants. America is to-day the chosen land .. of earth; it is the chosen of the European capitalist; it is the chosen of the downtrodden and the oppressed of all nations j above all, it is the chosen of God. Here every religion that offends not against moral law, which has become State law, has a right to an existence. Europe, Asia, and Africa are coming to us in larger numbers than we are caring for religiously. More than half a million yearly of the neglected children of European nations seek our shores through the gates at Castle Garden. In a generation they will be Americanized. Shall we not also Christianize them? Their children may be our rulers; and those who cannot rule from the President's chair may rule in a more absolute way from the polls. In one sense, Europe sends us of her best blood-the healthy, wholesome, peasant races, as no deformed person, no debased nor diseased being, no pauper, no criminal has a right, by law, to land from the steerage on our shores. It is something to have a vigorous physical basis for Christian work. Our government furnishes them with public schools; we are to furnish them with churches and Sabbath-schools. If we leave them in the slums of our cities, they will sink to lower depths of degradation than the poverty of Europe provided for them. Dare we give them Bibleless schools and no Christian culture? I,et us give them our Sabbath, our church, our socialism (the brotherhood of Christ).
Then there are our old churches, once the perennial springs that fed our cities, but now almost deserted and neglected. In them are souls whose eternity is a sacred matter. Children are growing up in these communities that should be gained for Christ. There is the West, growing in all worldly ways. Should we not help them to grow into Christ, the Redeemer? Besides all this are the new churches of our cities. Other missionary work may be a gift-this is an investment. God might have done all this work by His omnipotence, but He has chosen us to be His messengers. Let us show proper gratitude for the privilege by faithfully performing the duty given to us.
The finest history of the last fifteen years ends with these words on America: "She has tamed the savage continent, peopled the solitude, gathered wealth untold, waxed potent, imposing, redoubtable; and now it remains for her to prove, if she can, that the rule of the masses is consistent with the highest growth of the individual; that demo~racy can give the world a civilization as mature and pregnant, ideas as energetic and vitalizing, and types of manhood as lofty and strong as any of the systems which it boasts to supplant." America can do this and more. But the Church must bc her right hand, and that hand must be welcome with gifts to all who seek her shelter, to the oppressed of the Old 'Vorld, to the neglected of this new land. America must first of all do the missionary work that lies within her own domain.
INTERNATIONAL DEPAR'l'MENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The War and Missions in China. toriallty." This can, however, be only accomplished by conceding "mixed BY REV. S. L. GRACEY, D.D., LATE UNITED residence" and the rights of all nation- STATES CONSUL, FOOCHOW, CHINA. als in all parts of the empire. Under existing circumstances these privileges You ask: What are Japan's motives· would have to be granted to the Chinese, in precipitating the present Waf with as well as to other peoples; but the Ohina! Japanese are very much afraid of giv- It is not easy to answer this beyond ing them these privileges, as they are what is already widely recognized. A altogether too close to them geographi- few things may be said, howe~er, on cally, and they would soon be overrun the ultimate aim of Japan, though how by the undesirable coolie class. This fa! European nations may interfere no fear has long stood in the way of prog- one can say. ress in this movement. Now, if she 1. Japan cares a little about Korean can humiliate Ohina, Japan might re independence and autonomy, and fuse her great neighbor the pri vileges would gladly help the little" Hermit she would accord to Western nations; Nation" to shake off her strong Ohinese and with Ohina suing for peace, Japan neighbor, who has always regarded her, conld dictate her own terms of treaty as she still does, as a dependency, reVISIon. This is a large element in which relation Korea recognizes, at Japan's action. Japan is intent upon least to a degree which leads her still entering the great family of nations on to pay tribute to Ohina. terms of equality. This appears in the 2. Japan's internal dissensions have utterances of her statesmen and t.he lead- been growing more and more serious; ers in her liberalist papers. If she can and the Sat·clw government has thought show herself competent in bearing arms, it well to consolidate the nation by a she can make the nations respect her; foreign war. hence she sends her invitation to the S. The Japanese probably hope to United States and other governments, humiliate Ohina and to gain possession asking that they send a competent mili- of Bome of her" buffer" territory. This tary representative to accompany her might be Korea, if Japan succeeds in army and see how sbe conducts her moving her army on to the Ohinese warfare. She is parading before the capital before the rivers and harbors nations to demonstrate that she is freeze up in November. If she is not wortbyand well qualified to enter the successful in this, she doubtless will great confederation of States on the transfer the seat of war to the south, same footing as others.
and be heard flom at Formosa, toward It is well known that there is a strong which she has long cast covetous eyes. conservative element in Japan bitterly 4. But the more direct, though appar- opposed to granting foreigners rights of ently remote, moti ve iniluencing Japan's residence and the transaction of busi- actions at this timc is the ~ining of ness, in all parts of the empire; but prestige with Western nations in the on no other terms can she secure the consideration of Japan's demands for abolishment of ext.ra.territoriality. I new treaties, and to secure thege privi- have no doubt Ohina would gladly close leges without making concessiOilS to the W!lr without any further struggle, Ohlna, which Japan may feel forced to and grant (if she could save her face) make to others. Japal'l)g desirolls of all that Japan lIas claimed up to tllis securing the abolition of" extra· terri- time in Korea; but to that Japan would not, probably, listen. She will insist battle cries of the rebellion were sound· that China now accept the arbitrament ed in the phraseology of the old He· of arms, and if she can defeat Japanese brew Scriptures, so they prefer to be· aggression, she may yet be able to dic- lieve that the adoption of foreign retate her terms of peace; but this is ligions means the adoption of foreign doubtful. Japan is much better pre· poUtj,cs. Many of their leaders know pared for war than is China, and has that England subdued and controls long been prepating for this struggle. India, and then Burma, and has been Supplies of all kinds have been stored moving in a mysterious way toward at convenient places in readiness for her Thibet. They know of Russia's trans· army; maps and surveys have been continental railroad now being built, made, and bridges' prepared exactly and have heard rumors of encroach· adapted to her present work. ment of that great power on her north· ern boundary and Korea. They see The condition of affairs is now such France allowed by the great powers to that Western nations may at any day steal about one·third of poor, little, become involved in the struggle. If weak Siam, and know that she is schem· Japan should attempt to seize Korea ing for territory on the western border· and make it a dependency, she must lands of China. They are aware of the reckon on Russian interference. Other efforts of Western nations to portion out nations would also be concemed, to the continent of Africa among themsuch an extent, at least, as to protest by selves; and it is not surprising if, with armed intervention. Russia only waits some concern, if not alarm, they become a favorable opportunity and excuse for suspicious of those countries, and ask proceeding to secure for herself a har· what are the intentions of these same bor or harbors on the Pacific coast is powers regarding the Middle Kingdom. open all the year round, as Vladi vostock An attack on foreigners is liable to occur is virtually closed for four months of at any point at any time, instigated by the year. This may prove her oppor· the literati, who find ready tools in the tunity to annex some of the territory of " bullies" and" roughs" in almost any Korea, which would supply splendid locality. These latter can easily inflame harbors, such as Fusan and .Port Laza· the people against Christians by circureff. lating handbills and posters of the most ridiculous, but inflammatory character. Again you ask: What will be the The people generally are so ignorant 'fY"obable effect upon miBmOna1'Y operationa and superstitious that they readilyac. in Ohina'! cept and credit thelle stories; there is always plenty of material to excite to From my acquaintance with the Chi· deeds of violence and looting with the nese thought concerning foreign mis· prospect of booty. This with the almost sionaries, I am led to fear serious em- certain immunity from punishment by barrassment to such work. This is lax or indifferent officials where foreign based upon the fact that all foreigners, missionaries are concerned supply conand especially all foreign missionaries ditions for riot and violence which are in that country, are suspects. The igno- always present. With a foreign invader rance and deliberate misconception of on her soil the people will be more than the purpose of the foreigner in China is ever antagonistic. If Japan is successsomething phenomenal among nations. ful and a rebellion should also be in· The most common delusion of the peo- augurated b.v the Kolao Hui and other ple is that all foreigners are there with Chinese organizations against the prespolitical designs, looking to the acquisi. ent dynasty, no one can predict the tion of Chinese territory. The fact that changes that may occur in the next few the Taiping rebellion was led by men months. who claimed to be Christians may account for this in part. The Tartar rulers and litcrati remember that the Christ and the War in the Ea.st. Cross nurses at once. The Christians BY REV. J. H. DE FOREST, D.D., AUBURN- feel that the eyes of the whole nation DALE, MASS. are on them; and if they go through [Dr. De Forest, after twenty years service In this time, showing their loyalty by thefr Japan, in connection with the American Board, havl1lg recently returned to this conntry, kindly sacrifices, it ought to end forever the answers for us four qnestions concerning affairs in Eastern Asia.-J. T. G.] baseless charges against them.
2. What wilt be the effect of the war on OhriBtian work there' .
1. What i8 the 8pirit of the JapaneIle Mr. Kozaki, President of the Doshisha Okristiam in f!iew of the war' Universitr. writes me: .. I believe we You may have heard that Christian- shall suffer somewhat in our work for a ity, which makes Christ more than fa- while; but I hope in the end it will ther and mother, and puts His authority prove a blessing to our work and to our above that of all others, has often been country. I believe the present war will charged with a tendency to foster a bring our nation up to the front of the spirit of disrespect toward parents and civilized world, and may possibly en- of disloyalty to the Emperor. Indeed, able us to take our place among the the prevailing thought among armyoffi- great powers, and so our responsibility cers Is that Christianity is haldly con- in the future will be much greater."
sistent with loyalty. Christian leaders Also a letter from one of the gradu- have splendidly replied to these charges ates of that institution says: "My heart in their publications and on the plat- is burning now with my most sacred form. And now that war is declared, and Divine desire of doing s~mething the Christians are as sure as Buddhists for the good of my dear land. My de.- and Confucianists and §!J!ntoists are termination is to die in the line of duty that Japan was forced to this extreme rather than live in safety away from step by the long-contiuued double deal- that line. Let us hope the war will lead ing of China in Korea. They believe to a second awakening-a spiritual this is a thoroughly righteou8 war, and awakening of the whole nation."
in some cities they gather every morn- And yet direct Christian wOlk can- ing at five o'clock to pray to the God not fail to be checked. The necessities of Justice to guide Japan to victory and of life have already greatly increased in to make her helpful in giving light to price, and it will be very hard for self- oppressed Korea. The last Tl!e Ohris- snpporting churches to carry them- tian says that such men as Mr. Honda, selves. Most unfortunately at this time, the ablest of Methodist orators, and our Board is heavily in debt, and has al- President of the Methodist College in ready cut down grants for direct evan- Tokyo, Mr. Miyagawa, the leading pas- gelistic work, and apparently will have tor of the Osaka churches, Mr. Ibuka, to cut down even more in the coming one of the strongest of Presbyterian year. It will require extreme self-de- leaders, and others are addressing most nial on the part of the native Christians enthusiastic audiences, who can hardly and of the missionaries to save the work be kept in order over the words gi sen, a!ready in hand in its entirety; and I righteous war, A private letter tells earnestly hope the Christians of the how Mrs. Joseph Neesima, with the old United States, in spite of wide financial Samurai spirit with which she went into distress here, will do all they can for the battle of Wakamatsu, has gone to their missions in Japan.
Hiroshima in charge of nursing work S. What do foreigner8 out there think there, and how the Doshisha Nurses' of tltis war 1 School offered ten Christian nurses. There are foreigners and foreigners All were refused at first, but after- in the East. As a rule, we may say ward the governor of Kyoto accept- that the majority of foreigners in the ed four of them to go with the Red open ports of Japan are generally opposed to the government, and are often all Asia in the path of progress, and cruelly unjust in their judgments of the always standing ready to encourage natives. At this critical time, when the them in trying to recover their real inwhole nation is all aflame over the war, dependence as a nation by revised some English papers are found publish- treaties that acknowledge her judicial ing the statement that the Japanese are and tariff autonomy. extremely conceited, and they hope they will not get the victory, as it would 4. What toil/, the war accomplish for set them up so higb that there would Korea and China' be no getting along with them. No Japanese editor's life would be safe an It will give the nation of twelve millhour were he to publish such things; ions a chance to become an independent yet there are foreigners who take ad- State. If this fail, she will probably vantage of their consular jurisdiction to come under some kind of protection print such hostile sentiments on Japan- from progressive Japan instead of reese soil I No wonder the Japanese hate maining under the reactionary and with perfect hatred the exterritoriality stultifying policy of China. that has limited her title to an independent State. But the greatest blessing to be looked for will probably go to China. Aggres- But there are other foreigners who sive war from her little neighbor will believe that aliens in a country at war awaken her to a recognition of modern should be gentlemanly, and should thought and modern methods of intersympathize as far as possible with the national intercourse. It will force her people and the government, or else to a stronger internal policy, so that should have the good taste to keep still. there can be a well-organized national 'rhey dislike exceedingly to see any un- army in the place of ner almost worth· generous advantage taken of their ex- less provincial" braves," and so there tra-territorial position to defame the can be railroads, telegraphs, and postal people. systems worthy of a great power-a necessity to the existence of a central Then, there Is the large missionary government. This war will do much body of five hundred men and women to compel China to have an educational in Japan situated far more favorably system that shall break down the superthan those in China, who are already stitions and shall open up the resources being driven from their places in the in- of the empire. And all this will begin terior, having their chapels and homes to break the force of that unfortunate destroyed, and in some instances being anti-foreign sentiment that exists all murdered by mobs of excited Chinese. through the land. God hasten the day I do not know positively how all our when China shall move forward ! brethren in Japan feel about the war, but so far as I do know they either be- Korea. and Early Missionary Work. lieve that though there was hardly provocation enough to justify war, there DY REV. G. II. APPENZELLER, D.D., is more of right on the side of the Japanese, or they feel with the Japanese SEOUL, KOREA. that the war was inevitable, and was forced by the way in which China re- Korea is the peninsula in the eastern peatedly used Korea to insult Japanese part of Asia prOjecting down from Manofficials there, and to drive the Japan- churia and lying between Japan and ese from the peninsula. I often think China. It contains with the ten thouthat a part of God's plan for us mis- sand islands over which the king claims sionaries is to use us as a body of for- to rule one hundred thousand square eigners, always showing sympathy with miles. The population is estimated the intense desire of a Japanese to lead from twel ve to sixteen millions. These, like those of ancient Gaul, are divided into three classes: first and highest is the Yang ban-gentleman, aristocrat, official. He makes pretensions to knowI· from Nagasaki, Japan, Bnd on the 23d edge of the Chinese character, and de- arrived at Chemulpo. He at once pro- spises manual labor. The second is the ceeded overland, a distance of twenty- (Jhougin, or middle class, composed five miles, to Seoul, where he was weI· mostly of third·rate officials, clerks, comed by General Foote at the United merchants, and artisans. The third States Legation. He began his work of grade is formed of the farmer and coolie exploring the country. After forward- class down to the butcher, who stands ing to a prominent member of the Ko- lowest in the social scale. Woman is rean Government a letter indicating his held to be inferior to man, as she is in object and proposed plans of work, he all Asiatic countries. She is the mother was notified by him to a personal inter- of her husband's children. As a child view, during which he was informed she must be obedient to her father; as that his letter had been submitted to a wife to her husband; and as a widow the king, and that he cordially approved to the oldest son. of it. . In communicating this decision The country, which, because of its of the king, the officer said that while mountainous character, has been likened there existed strong opposition to that to a sea in a storm, is rich in mineral form of Christianity, which in former resources, well watered, and the valleys years had occasioned serious trouble in fertile. The climate is hot in the soutb, Korea, the Government had no objec· while in the north snow lies on the tion to Protestantism and would not ground from three to four months in the place any obstacle in the way of Prot- year. Seoul, the capital of the coun· estant missionaries. As far as the writer try, is a walled city with a population knows, the Methodist Episcopal Church of 150,000 inside the wall, and an equal was the first to be recognized by the population in the suburbs. The royal Korean Government as a helper in the palace is in the northern part of the career of reformed progress on which city. The king is an absolute monarch. she had cnlisted. We may say here He is assisted by three ministers and the that our mission has up to this time re- presidents of eight departments of State ceived the support of the Korean Gov- -Finance, Rites and Ceremonies. War, ernment to the extent of not placing Public Works, Punishment, Registra- obstacles in the way, though the Gov- tion, Home and Foreign Offices-the ernment has at times restricted, with last two having been added since Korea professed friendly interest, the move- has had relations with foreign nations. ments of the mission.
The country is divided into eight proV'- The relations between China and Ko- inces, presided over by governors; and rea have been intimate, if not at all into 364 districts, presided over by mag- times pleasantly so, for centuries. The istrates. annual embassy from Seoul bearing Korea has entered the family of na- tribute still makes its long and winding tions. She made her first treaty with way over the thousand miles between the United States in 1882; Great Brit- Seoul and Peking. It always had its ain, Germany, Russia, and France fol- full quota of merchants and adventurers lowing a few years. later in the order in addition to those directly connected named. The Royal College was found- with the mission. Many of them came ed in 1886_ in contact with foreign missionaries in The Rev. R. S. Maclay, D.D., veter- Moukden, Peking, and Tientsin. They 'an missionary of the Methodist Episco- heard the truth, received Christian pal Church of China and Japan, was books, and when stranded, as in some .the pioneer in missbn work in Korea. cases they were, received help. In t~ He was the first Christian missionary to way the Rev. John Ross, of Moukden, enter the open door in the Hermit Na· came into contact with many Koreans.
tion. On June 19th, 1884, he sailed He was so impressed with the J)ecessity of doing something to brin~ the Gospel American Minister in Seoul stating that to them that he employed several Ko- since our departure from the capital he reans, two of whom afterward became had received from the Korean Foreign members of our Church, to translate Office, by order of his majesty the king, the New Testament into their own a dispatch stating that it is well known tongue. lIe succeeded in translating to the Korean Government that Amerithe whole of the New Testament, and cans residing in Korea are engaged in thousands of copies, mostly of the Gos- different ways in disseminating the docpels, have b3en distributed among the trines of the Christian religion; citing people. Korea had been entered from the fact that it is objectionable to the China, and not a few in the northwest- Government, not authorized by the ern province of Ping-an had some knowl- treaty, and demanding that it shall edge of the Christian religion. cease. His aid as the Minister of the United States was invoked to this end, Our missio.naries in Seoul heard soon and it became his duty to request that after their arrival of the work done we would refrain from teachiug the from Ohina. Reports came of men who Christian religiou and administering the wanted instruction and baptism. These rites and ordinances to the Korean peobecame louder and louder, but it was ple. This was a temporary obstacle to not untn the spring of 1887 that a visit our work. The meetings in the capital could be matle to those regions beyond. were suspended and the men travelling In April and May of this year the writer in the country returned home. Their undertook this journey of nearly two prompt acquiescence had a very good hundred miles to Pyeng Yang It was effect upon the Government and enmost intelesting-the first ever, under- abled them after the lapse ot a few taken by a missionary in that directian monthll to reopen their work. -and was productive of good. Fifty miles from Seoul is Sungto, capital of A Word from the Front. the country during the last dynasty. This is a city of 75,000, situated in the BY REV. DAVID S. SPENCER, NAGOYA, midst of ginseng farms. Ginseng is famous in China for its medicinal quali- JAPAN. ties, and large quantities are sent there annually, the revenue of which is said You want to know how thiugs appear to amount to $200,000. Thence the to us here at the opening of the war beroute layover rough mountains through tween China and Japan, lind what we the magistracies of Kim Chun, Pycng are doing. Stating the matter as briefly San. SeHung, Pong San, Hwonl" Chow, as I can, the pre"ent conditions are as and Choung Hwoa, all important cen- follows: Cbina has disregarded the extres, where Christian work can and press stipUlations of her treaties with ought to be inaugurated. Japan, and has so managed to control things in Korea-virtually exercising After journeying two weeks we ar- suzerainty over her, and securing from rived at Pyeng Yang, a thousand years her tribute-that Japan has at last reago the capital of Korea-the city belled against this in defence of what founded by Ki Tya, the founder of she considers her national safety. She Korean civilization-situated on the asks China to do the right thing, and west ~ide of the beautiful Ta Tong China replies w.ith contempt. She asks River, and famolls for having murdered China to join her in reforming the govthe crew of and burning the General ernment in Korea, so as to secure the Sherman. It is now the capital of Ping- rights of her citizens residing there and an-Do, and is a busy, bustling town of the safety of the oppressed classes in 75,000 people. Here we found a dozen Korea, and China refuses, at the same or more meu interested in the new faith. time landing troops in Korea, contrary to treaty stipulations. Japan Itt once We, however, received word from the puts several thousand troops into th41 agreed at all, the people being deterfield-that is. into Korea-and does it mined to oppose everything pro'posed with so much of ease and rapidity as to by the Government; but nOW all other completely dumbfound old China and considerations are laid aside, and all Korea as well. This was done to pro- parties, without respect to political tect her nationals residing in that land. color, unite for the defeat of China and Both nations seut gunboats; and the the glory of their Japan_ News now J apauese, finding China unwilling to co- comes to hand that China is determined operate with her in the political refor- to fight to the bitter end-though just mation of KOl'ea-ascheme upon which how much dependence may be placed Japan embarked in 1873-resolves to upon this'statement is not clear-and undertake the task alone, and begins to that an army is marching down from treat directly with the Korean Govern- the North on Korea to meet the Japanment. When that government is about ese. On the other band, the talk of the ready to agree to the terms of Japan Japanese is an army to march againSt and reform her system, relieve the op- Peking 'Diu, Tientsin, and the war cloud pressed, and protect the subjects of darkens. 'fhe fighting thus far has other nations, China interfered, and the been on Korean soil and waters, but Koreans were unable to carry out the there is probability that it cannot be agreement with Japan on account of confined there. In Japan all is excitethe pressure brought to bear by China. ment. Flushed with victory at the Japan then stormed and took the Ko- start, the people see nothing but vicrean palace; and the king at once issued tory sitting upon their banners, and not a proclamation declaring the indepen- to meet with signal defeat might welldence of Korea, deposing five promi: nigh spoil them for further reasoning. nent officials who were opposed to re- Large numbers of horses are being purform, and submitting to the plans pro- chased, raw recruits are being drilled, posed by Japan. This was on July transport ships are busy putting men on 23d. On the 25th three Japanese men- the field of action, and the whole looks of-war were met in Korean waters by warlike indeed. What may be the outthree Chinese men-of-war and a trans- come no one knows. It will surely inport ship, lind the Chinese ships, ac- terfere with mission work in three councording to the most reliable reports yet tries, and may involve other nations in to hand, fired on the Japanese ships the horrors of war. We are trying to under a flag of truce. This opened the steady the Church through this trial, battle, and the transport-an English and earnestly ask the prayers of our ship called the Kowslting, with 1500 men home friends to unite with ours, that out -was sunk, one Chinese man-of-war of all this may result a broader way for was taken, and the others put to fiight the Gospel of His Son. much injured. An engagement on land followed-probably on the 29th and The Asiatio War-Our Exchanges. 30th-and in this the Japanese, according to reports, were completely success- The historic causes of the present ful. When the fact of these collisions became known, Japan at once declared war in Asia have been so repeatedly and war against China. This was on August 1st; but it happens that on the clearly put in the secular press that it very same day China declared war against Japan. So we are now in the does not seem worth while to traverse throes of war. The Japanese are milch excited over the matter, and the nation them here. Added to the purely hisis now a unit. For a long time the Government and the people have not toric features is th&' statement of Mr.
C. Meriwether, in the Re'Diew of Re- views, that the thriving trade which bas sprung up of late years between Japan and Korea gives Japan a very practical He interest in the peninsul&. says: " Privileges have been granted, depots or not, we cannot say ; it is teared by established, and warehouses built. The those who have Korea's best interests at foreign commerce of Korea passes large- heart that the deadening, corrupting inly through the hands of the Japanese. fluences of China will be greater than Her motive for interfering in the com- ever over both officials and people in plications of Korea is neither senti- that little kingdom." He further says mental nor philanthropic, but merely that Korea, being the vassal of Chins, seI1ish. " explaius China's policy, but acknowl- edges that China is handicapped by the Japan urges other motives, such as loss of some of her most eminent statesthat no great power like Russia should men who had had years of European be allowed to get hold of Korea; that experience. Marquis Tseng, who had Japan is playing the part toward Korea eight years of service in Europe, died that America did to Japan herself in forc- just after retuJDing to China four years ing her out of her seclusion; and that, ago. His successor died a year later, having opened the land, she ought to and now the ex-Minister to Great Britpatronize it still farther, chaperoning ain, France, and Italy, Haueh Fuit into independent existence. ch'eng, has just died. This deprives China of able and modernized leaders, It now appears that Japan, besides which she sorely needs at this juncture. furnishing herself with modern armaments, has for some years past carefully The Ollureh Jruaionarg Intelligencer, matured the detail of her present cam- the able organ of. the Church of Eng. paign. The country is said to have land Missionary Society, acknowledges been carefully surveyed and the depth it is difficult to foresee at present how and breadth of rivers measured; and the war will affect Christian missions. the 8pectatQr'8 correspondent affirms As to those in Korea, it says they are in that .. pontoon trains made accurately too early a stage for there to be much to measure have been lying in the Jap- danger to the converts, and the misanese arsenals ready for tJansport when sionaries will be sufficiently safeguardthe moment of action should arrive." ed by their respective consuls. "After It was thus that within a week " troops, the war is over," it adds, " Korea is alarms, stores, alubuIances, equipment, most certain to be more accessible to and even charcoal, firewood, and water" Ohristian effort than has been hitherto were landed in Korea. the case." It does not forget that Ko- rea is ouly the battle-ground of Japan The Ohinese Recorder says: "What- and China. "How will the conflict ever the result of these movements may affect missionary operations in these be, we hope they will tend to the up- two empires 1" he asks. "Will the lifting and development of Korea." It nationsl pride of Japan be eventually quotes a Korean correspondent of the humbled, and greater freedom be ob- North Ohina Daily New8, who asks: tained tor the spread of the Gospel, or .. Is it strange that the people should will their spirit of independence be inrise in sheer despair to free themselves tensified t In China much depends from a set of men whose only aim is to upon Li Hung Chang. That great vicefatten themselves ou the blood of the roy is a friend of progress and of Westpoor; whose sole business is to torture, ern ideas. Failure would discredit him, banish, and kill anyone who dares to and perhaps bring a reactionary party differ from them; whose whole policy into power; signal success, on the other is to be an abject slave to a foreign hand, might lead the Chinese to take up power that they may be an absolute a haughty foreign attitude. Doubtless power at home 1" The editor of the whatever the event, the flercenesa of Recorder thinks it diftlcuIt to understand man shall turn to God's praise." Japan's attitude, but says: "Should Japan fail in this endeavor [to aid Ko· The Presbyterian Church of England rean reformation], whether it is Wna fide I ltlonthlll Meuenger, after treating the was ready to send a dozen of ,its memsubject of the war in general, acknowl- bers to the front. He thinks, .. with edging the difficulty of saying just what the entire nation on ,fire with zeal about the real cause of it all is except that the war, it will be exceedingly difficult Korea, being subject to the suzerainty to stimulate any lively interest in of China, and Japan having the right Church and evangelistic work. The to march troops into the peninsula to pro- educational work of the various mistect Japanese residents, of whom there sions will also be likely to suffer in the are many especially in Seoul, difficulty same way and for the same reasons." was certain to arise sooner or later, says, "Our concern in this place, with this William Elliot Griffis, D.D., author useless war, centres round its probable of " Korea the Hermit Nation, ,. writing effect on missions." The editor thinks in the Oltristian Intelligencer, says: the actual outbreak of war has intensi- "The issue of the conflict, I am infied the anti-foreign and anti-missionary clined to helieve, will be the indepenfeeling which had been before exhibit- dence of Korea, and the influencing of ing itself in the peninsula. After men- China, through the leaven of Western tioning the riots at Tung-kun and Shek- civilization introduced by the Japanese, lung, a native Christian having been to an extent unsuspected by the ultrakilled at the latter place and the Pres· Confucianists. Furthermore, I cannot byterian church destroyed, he says, but believe that ultimately the Gospel H Nor will the war do anything but will have freer course in all Chinese hinder missionary progress in Japan and Asia when the war clouds shall have China. The war fever in Japan is un- blown away." favorable to the spread of the Gospel." He thinks the disfavor into which Li a T Ite li.ristian (London) says: .. The Hung Chang has fallen a serious detriment and serious peril to all missionary war between China and Japan is a strikwork. His downfall would mean the ing example of the fallacy of the sayfall of a "great protector of mission ing, ' If you would have peace, prepare work all over China." . for war.' These two countries have been emulating European nations in The Missionary Record of the Church building fleets and arming soldiers, and of Scotland says: .. The Hermit King- now are unable to keep from employing dom has only recently been opened up them against each other. Like children to trade and taken possession of by mis- with a new toy, they cannot refrain sions, arid the people of Korea have not from using them to see how they work. proved easy soil for the sowing of the Experience is showing them some Gospel seed." It thinks one result is dreadful results-civilization delayed, certain: that the public attention will debt incurred, bitterness and anger crebe directed for some time to come to ated, social confusion and poverty those regions of the East. though it is spread through the country, the mind impossible to forecast the" course or and ambition of the people turned to the period of these hostilities." unfruitful objects, in addition to the sacrifice of thousands of lives. In the Rev. J. L. Atkinson, writing in Tlte presence of such a calamity as this war, Independent, says the calling away of which will retard Eastern development Christian workers and givers will in- for many a year, we can only comfort evitably embarrass and retard the prog- ourselves with the thought that God's ress of all Christian work. In Kobe, as kingdom, like leaven, is working bein other cities, a committee of three pas- hind and in spite of all the mistakes and tors has been elected by the Christians sins of men." It refers to the fatal in· of the several denominations to raise juries received by Rev. James A. Wylie, funds for the Japanese Red Cross So- Pre~byterian missionary at Lill.O Yang lHety. The. Doshisha Nurses' School from Chinese soldiers marching to Ko· rea, attributable to the jealousy wldo. makes Chinese think Christians have the post of chief priest of a temple oniy instigated the Japanese to this war, and to graduates of such schools as the to expect other like calamities to follow. Government may appoint. He recog· nizes, however, that Japan has now no Japanese Notions of Religious Liberty. State religion, hence he is bothered about what religions ahould be studied One cannot faU to be interested in the in this college. He is, however, clear great undercurrents of thought in a that the only creeds to· be included should be Buddhism and Shintoism. country like Japan at a time when all This he thinks clear, from the fact that thought is cast up for remOUlding. The the Government has a Bureau for the Control of Temples and Shrines in the arguments concerning religious liberty, Home Department. Christianity has in some cases, are uni9,ue. For in- not yet been publicly acknowledged, stance, a Shintoist, wrIting against and is only tolerated. He is confident that this question of religions will in Christianity, claims that it does not the course of a few years come up become within the definition of religions fore the Imperial Diet. to be tolerated under Article Twentyeight of the National Constitution de- But the chaotic condition of the Jap· fining religious freedom. He says the anese mind on the subject of religion very foundations of society in Europe is something to wonder at. Rev. H. and in Japan are based on quite differ- Loomis, writing in the Japan Evangel- ist, reports a movement to found a new ent principles. In the West a State, he religion based on the teaching of the says, is composed of peoples descended Japanese cult which holds to the Divine from different ancestors, and hence the origin of the Mikado, and the superiornecessity of separating the temporal ity of the Japanese people, which is to be an eclectic of Buddhism, Shintoism, from the spiritual power and to accord and all other religions-to be superior perfect freedom of religious belief. But to anything in the world. Mr. Loomis the condition in Japan is quite unlike reports a determined Buddhist opposi- tion to the growth of Christianity. this. Japanese are of common ancestry, and the teachings of imperial ances· "New Aots of the Apostles." tors constitute their religion, and upon these is based the National Constitution. Too late for the mention in this num- He declares it to be a mistake to inter- ber that it deserves, comes what will pret the Constitution as ll11owin~ free- readily be conceded to be the ablest dom to religious beliefs which Will not work that has yet come from the pen acknowledge this .. precious national of Dr. A. T. Pierson, editor·in·chief of this REVIEW. The title is .. The New institution." Japan can "concede no Acts of the Apostles; or, the Marvels necessity of religious freedom in the of Modern Missions." It contains the sense in which the Western nations use series of lectures delivered in Edinburgh the idea." The Religious WorZd (Shnk and elsewhere in Scotland on the foun- Yoki) is a magazine started early in dation of the" Duff Missionary Lecture- ship." TheMail and EaJpreu says it is 189<1 with the object of attacking all re- " not surprising that these stirring lecligions. From a different standpoint of tures by Dr. Pierson before large audi- ences in Scotland, while he was occupythe Shintoist it reaches the same con- ing temporarily Mr. Spurgeon's pulpit clusion. It declares that "religious in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Lonliberty is very important; but as Chris· don, have been received with marked tianity influences men to turn against favor at home and abroad." The pocket the principles on which the National map showing the religious condition of Constitution is based, freedom of faith the world is a fine specimen of cartogwith respect to the Christian religion raphy, and prepared at great expense of . ougM to be prohibited." . money and labor. New York: The Baker & Taylor Company. Mr. Inouye Enryo, a graduate of philosophy from the Imperial University, who subsequently travelled in America and Europe, is vouched for by the Japan Daily Maz7. as" now one of the foremost thinkers among the Buddhists of Japan." This gentleman has been proposing methods for the improvement of Japanese priests in " knowledge and morals," in which he thinks them just now sadly deficient. He proposes the founding of a union college in the 1m· perial University with Government, the college itself to be under the immediate supervision of the Educational Department of Government, which shall grant
FIELD OF ~ONTHLY
III.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
South America,* Home Missions,t Young People's World THE NEGLECTED CONTINBNT. set sentinels and slept with our weapons South America has an area of about at hand. When measuring. if we saw 7,000,000 square miles, or nearly twice that of Europe; its population is, smoke we fell back on our main body, however, only 35,000,000, or less than that of the British Isles. The con- and any signs of Indians made us adtinent is divided into ten republics and British, Dutch, and French Guianas. vance with redoubled caution. In the Of this political division only British and Dutch Guianas can be called toldo (Indian village) of the chief, near Christian. Into the remaining countries the crOS8 has been carried, but the the Montelindo River, our horses disap- Gospel message is practically unknown. The people are in almost pagan dark- peared, and while a portion of our party ness; and though the governments are one by one breaking away from the sought them, the remainder, who were papal yoke, the priests still have great power over the masses. in camp, were surprised by a company The number of Protestant missiona- of naked Indians, painted and adorned ries (men and women) laboring in South America is 330, representing 17 mission- with feathers, who certainly had no ary societies, and reporting about 20,000 communicants. Ecuador and Bolivia peaceable or friendly intentions. Tohave as yet no Protestant missionaries; Peru and Venezuela have but one each. day this spirit of hostility has entirely There are still at least 30,000,000 people in t:!outh America as yet untouched by disappeared. I made my present sur· missionary effort. vey with Indian assistance and have not The Public Land Surveyor of the republic of Paraguay, in a letter to the carried a single firearm. At night we President of the Republic, says; "I am surprised at the security and tranquil- slept tranquilly at whatever spot our lity with which we can now travel in the interior, thanks to the effective measures labor for the day had ceased, no watch' taken by the missionaries of the South American Missionary Society to Chris- being set, and several times in the vicintianize the savage Gran Chaco Indians. The last time I traversed the same ity of strange Indians whom we met on ground, five years ago, Hook with me fifteen selected men, aU armed with Rem- the road. We sought the villagell in· ington rifles and revolvers, and I never allowed anyone to go alone to seek water stead of avoiding them as formerly." or to explore our road. At night we The surveyor concludes by commend· *We regret that the main article on this subject haa for some reason failed to reach us in ing specially a "fair, delicate, and time for publlcatiou. (See" The Neglected Continentt published by F. H. Revell Co., young English lady, who, in connec- New YorK.) See rueo pp. 208 (March), 302 (April), 593 (August), 807 (present Issue), tion with others, has for some time been *t See pp. 74 (January), 844 (present i8sne). fearlessly visiting these savages. giving See pp. 38, 71 (January), 649 (September). them her medical and surgical skill, in- structing them in civilization, and teach· ing them from the sacred words of the Bible how to live; with the sole desire and hope of lifting them from the sor- row and degradation of heathenism into the happy and pure life of Christian- ity. "
South Ameri,an Oannibala.-In Gui- ana and on the Orinoco we still find Caribbeans, who have the distinction of ha ving furnished the name for the terri- ble custom of eating human flesh. Can- nibal comes from Oaribs oOr aOniabrii8b,alt.ehs~ corruptions of Galibu or name of the inhabitants of the Antilles when Columbus arrived there. On the upper Amazon, between this river and the borders of Bolivia, live the Tupis Guaraniens, who manifest a liking for human flesh. Cannibals are common in Australia; the Papuans, Kanakiens, and Battakiens being the most distinguished. Cannibalism is, however, considered the main trait of the New Hebrides. There are more human flesh·eaters in Africa This is only a fraction of the strictly t1la.n anvwhere else. bome missionary work done by this de- Cannibalism is not a sign of a low nomination. In addition to this. $314.- state of civilization. for many cannibal 531 were contributed for colleges and races stand higher in culture than those ministerial education last yt'ar; for the who abhor the custom. Many canni- freedmen, Indians, and Chinese. through bals live in regions full of ordinary the American Missionary Association. food, but they prefer human flesh as a $157,989; for church building. $102,- delicacy, the men forbidding their wives 069; for Sunday-schools. $63:890; by and slaves to eat it. In northern Aus- legacies (to be divided among f>lwh of tralia it seems that the dead are eaten. the societies named above), $678095 ; Herodotus tells us that it was the cus- miscellaneous, $749,541 : making a totul tom In India for the young to kill the of $2,644.939. old and eat them. to insure their future The PreSbyterian Churcb, North. salvation; and we are told that the old contributed in 1893 for home missions folks desired to be killed before they "proper," $977,823; for collc/les and grew too old and less appetizing.-Lit- ministerial education. $292,810; for tll'Mg Digest. church building, $172,732; for Sun- day-schools. $131,325; for the freed- STA.TISTICAL NOTES ON HOME MISSIONS. men. $105,743 ; and miscellaneous, $1,- It is neither reasonable nor righteous 025.695: a total of $2.706,128. to put much emphasis upon the distinc- 'l'he Methodist Episcopal Church. tion between home missions and foreign North, contributed last year for r1omesmissions, as though the two phrases tic missions $691,188; the Presbyterian stood for realms separate and distinct. Church. South, $410.214; the Disci- They overlap at various points, and oc- ples, $425,000 i and the Protestant Epis· cupy much common ground, especially copal Church nearly as much. The in America. to which hosts are flocking total for these six denominations is at every year from well·nigh every land least $7.250,000. Various other deunder the sun, and within whose limits nominations have given well according are gathered millions of Romanists and to their numbers and wealth, and alfreedmen, and a vast mixed multitude most all have made some offerings for of Jews, Mexicans. and Mormons, Ind- the furtherance of the Gospel upon the ians, Chinese, and Japanese. We must frontier and elsewhere. Probably $8,- save America and save Christendom in 000.000 would be a conservative figure order to save the world. It is fitting, for last year's contributions to home therelore, that a magazine whose chief missions from the churches of the United office is to urge forward evangelizing States. An army of not less than 10,000 work abroad should call frequent at- missionaries was sustained (wives not tention to the progress of the kingdom included), who held regular services in not less than 15,000 localities. at home. Something of the magnitude of the It would by no means be straining a task providentialll thrust upon the point to include in our survey the l~rge churches of the Umted States, and some- donations made to the Tract SocIety, thing of the zeal with which it has been the Sunday-School Union. and the varitaken in hand, will appear by taking ous denominational publishing houses, note of the following figures. First let whose books and papers make so might- us ~1ance at the doings of a single or- ily for Christian intelligence and for gamzation. the American (now the Con- righteousness. The numerous hospitals gregational) Home Missionary Society. and asylums, and forms of relief for the Its annual income is about $700,000, and bodies, minds. and souls of men, are not the total receipts since its formation in to be excluded from the catalogue of 1826 are upward of $16.000,000. Last things done to strengthen and enlarge year its more than 2000 missionaries the kingdom of heaven at home. And were scattered over 47 States and terri- finally. at least a fraction-one fourth tories, and ministered to 3930 churches or one third-of what is denominated and congregations. By 218 of these "home expenses" in connection with the Gospel was preached in foreign sustaining the means of grace is postongues: 97 in Swedish and Norwegian, se;osed of a direct missionary value. 54 in German,23 in Bohemian,16 in Six years ago Dr. Dorchester gave to French, 8 in Polish, and not omitting the Christian public some carefully pre- Danes, Welsh, Italians, Spaniards, pared statistics relating to Christian Finns, Armenians. and Jews. The con- beneficence. Taking these and bringversions reported were 10.798; 119 inl" them down to date, we learn that churches were organized. and 81 houses within seventy-five years not less than of worship were built. Sunday-schools $130.000,000 have been contributed in were supplied for 164,000 scholars. this country for 1I0Jrm missions.
EDITORIAL
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The editor lately enclosed a check for· barityand cruelty, as the result of LIle $15, in payment to a missionary con- existing war fever. Rev. James Wylie, tributor for ail article. He was sur- a Scotch Presbyterian missionary, died prised, and gratified to receive a letter from injuries which he recel"ed at the retuming the check, and adding: .. It hands of Chinese soldiers at Liso-Yang, is a pleasure to me to tramfer thiB north of New Chwang, as they were amount to 1/our fund for Bending the RE- marching to Korea.
VIEW gratuitously to missionaries and other, who may be unable to pay for it. .. Chinese Characteristics," by Arthur I uteem the REVIEW as an indispensable II. Smith, who was for over twenty help to 6'IJe'I1I Btudent of mission8. So years a missionary of the A. B. C. F. M.
rapid and marceUouB ha'D6 become the ad- in China, has just been issued in a sec- t1ances of our Lord'Bkingdom in all partB ond edition, revised and superbly illus· of the earth that only through BUM a me- trated, by F. H; Revell Company.
dium a. thi8 enterprising periodical can Some years ago, when the fi~t edition anyone k$eppace with the 1l7lCOUragement8 of this remarkable book fell under our and opportunities of modern miBsions." eyes, it was at once seen to be one of We acknowledge this amonl!t with the few books which combine rare in- deep appreciation. But it missionaries sight into facts with clear and forcible can and will do such noble deeds, forms of statement. A reading of the .. Where are tlt8 nine 1" present edition confirms and emphasizes all previous impressions. The tiUes of The present Chinese-Korean-Japanese the chapters hint the unusual graphic war engages the thoughts of all friends power of the author. He treats of the of missions, who naturally watch with Chineee Disregard of Time and of Ac- profoundest interest the development of curacy, the Talent for Misunderstand- this struggle for supremacy in the ing and for Indirection, Flexible Inflexi- Orient. China moves like an unwieldy bility and Intellectual Turbidity, Ab- elephant, while Japan rather resembles sence of Nerves and of Public Spirit, of a sword-fish, darting here and there Sympathy and of Sincerity, Indifference with celerity and sagacity, and dealing to Comfort and Convenience, Contempt deadly blows. The battle of Ping Yang for Foreigners, Social Typhoons, Mu- seems to have been one of the few awful tual Suspicion, etc.; and the quaint, disasters of modern warfare, and inflict- paradoxical, problematical suggestions ed a tremendous defeat on the Celes- conveyed in these headings are the key iials. Foreigners in China are becom- to the startling antitheses, humorous ing alarmed for their own sa.fety in such portraitures, acute observation and Inar- a Ievolutionary state of affairs; and vellous sagacity of which every chapter there are signs of a wider complication is a thesa.urus. The book is most de- in the political world. Russia and Eng- lightful reading, and will be found most land. Germany and France, and even fascinating. It is a mirror of Chinese other nations may be involved unless characteristics, as its name indicates.
pacific relations are soon established. Within its pages we have found a vol- Meanwhile, prayer to the God of na- ume of aphorisms and sa.ge sayings sel- tions-is the one remedy. Let us hope dom embraced in such a book. It bris- and pray that the end may be a wider tles with points, like a porcupine. The and more effectual door to all these na- Confucian theory of morals is, .. The tions now in the crisis of conflict. prince is the dish: the people the One of the devoted missionaries in water." .. The Chinese Government is a China.has fallen a victim to Chinese bar· cube; when it capsizes it simply falls on some other face, and is the same as it al· Pastor Archibald Brown, of London, ways has been." "The Chinese display found his friends rallying very heartily the 'force of conservative inertia.'" at the late celebration of his fiftieth " Every Chinese village is built on the birthday. There must have been near plan of a city without any plan." two thousand people at the garden " They reduce poverty to a)cience, " etc. party held in the afternoon in the These are some of the thousand brill· grounds of Harley House. Pastor iant and forcible ways of "putting Thomas Spurgeon, Dr. Lorimer, of things," which show the author to be a Boston, and others delivered hearty ad· master of the art. This book will have dresses there and at the evening meet· a wide sale, and deserves it. It is a pic- ing in the East London Tabernacle. ture gallery. Its words are outlines Ths "old paths" are by this grand and colors both; and its pictures are man preferred before all modern im· framed beside, set in every way fitting provements. Mrs. Brown suffers from forms. a protracted illness, but the pastor is to be congratulated that, with.two daugh- The death of the Rev. Adolphe C. ters already in the mission field, he is Mabille, missionary at Morija, Basuto- shortly expecting to bid farewell to anland, who entered into rest on Sunday, other, who is also going to " the regions May 20th, 1894, in his fifty-eighth year, beyond." We hope soon to have an should have had ampler notice. For article more fully setting forth the some time Mr. Mabille had been suffer- twenty-eight -years' work of this noble ing, overworked and utterly exhausted ; missionary-spirited London pastor. but the news of his death came as an unexpected shock. The loss to South The following, from an English fur- Africa, not to speak of Basutoland, is unspeakable, and cannot be calmly esti- niture dealer's catalogue, is significantmated yet. Those who best knew him say that, as 8 spiritual force, there was ly suggesti ve : no superior to Mr. Mabille south of the Zambesi. "Absolute simplicity and abo No. 685D. solute solidity of character, French fineness of nature and long experience, The" Christian" easy-chair, a burning zeal for souls and restrained shape much liked, s~uffed and sobriety of statement, perfect knowledge of the Basuto character and lan- fiuished, wry 80ft. £1 15s. guage, were among the elements that gave Mr. Mabille his position of influ- Hon. John W. Foster, ex-Secretary of ence and eminence, a position he was State, who has returned lately from an entirely unconscious of and never arro- extended tour in the East, during which gated to himself. But if he was uncon- he visited many missionary stations, and scious of it, others were not. And to had much sympathetic intercourse with all this is to be added the sense of per- missionaries, had an interview with the sonal loss, which his colleagues will feel secretaries of the various mission boards hardly more acutely than those who at the Methodist Mission rooms, New have met Mr. Mabille beyond his own York City, on August 8th. He spoke mission. The unspeakable bereavement in most glowing terms of the work in in his own home, and to that lonely soul progress in India, China, and Japan, who holds God's outpost in the distant and urged the churches to awake to its Barotse valley, and who was more than importance. He regards missionaries brother to the dead, is for prayer and safe as at ordinary times, notwithstandnot for print." ing the war.
During the meeting of the Interna- tional Missionary Union, at Clifton Springs, N. Y., Mr. and Mrs. Osborn gave an outline of the course of train- ing at the Brooklyn Union ItIissionary Training Institute; and in reply to tor, India, recently opened to Christian questions, Mrs. Osborn made some very workers.
sagacious remarks. For example: " Miss H. P. Almey. besides having 1. Better judgment of the fitness of charge of a girls' school, was intrusted cBndidates for mission work can be with the biblical instruction of native formed by living with them than by any preachers and Bible women in the Tel- ugu field. number of recommendations. 2. Well-rounded character is in de· " A young woman in Japan, besides mand; and a training school furnishe3 teaching in a schoo~ has a class of Buda good oppJrtunity for correcting in dhist priests in Bible study.
otherwise good characters grave faults, " Another, iu Hayti, has established which would otherwise be exhibited to two Protestant girls' schools; and the the heathen. resident Wesleyan missionary begs for S. Biblical and medical instruction is more worker~ of her stamp. given, the latter being found especially " Of the fifteen who have gone to Af- valuable for pioneer workers. rica, one is a preacher in Zululand, two 4. Training in industries is under· bave died, and all but one of the re- taken, to help candidates to become gen- mainder are working there among sav· erally helpful in the mission home and age tribes. Some noble young women field. have stood alone for years on their sta- 5. Candidates are helped toward ac- tions, among cannibals, holding up the quaintance with the people to whom light of life. Nearly all of these work- they are to go, studying their history, ers have their church and school in their language, habits of thought, customs, houses; some have formed outside churches of scores of members cona.nd rules of etiquette. This Brooklyn Institute is in its tenth verted from the raw heathen.
year, and glancing at some of the "Miss Annie Whitfield, of great results, Mrs. Osborn said: "The first promise, a worker in Africa seven missionary sent in 1886 at the call years, is now principal of Monrovia of Bishop Thoburn, aftor engaging Seminary.
in English work among the seamen "Rose A. Bower, M.D., ha3 !!pent in Calcutta, evenings, and acting dur- several years in Africa, and sails in a in~ the day as foreman in a mission few weeks for BaUundu. prInting house, was Bent to Amusol. " Mr. A. L. Buckwalter, a carpenter Here he has gathered and organized a by trade, has built one seminary, re- native church, superintended the build- pabed others, and bOllses, etc., and has ing of a leper asylum, and is to build been appointed by Bishop Taylor as his immediately a church for the lepers and financial agent in Liberia. Aftf;lr men- a home for their untainted children, tioning his general ability, he says of also a boarding-Bchool for girls and an- him, 'Noone can get upa quarrel with other for boys. As he is the contractor, this holy carpenter.'
it saves a great deal to the mission. He "Mr. William Swope, at Irangila, preaches in Hindustani and Bengali, and on the Congo, has secured self·support. expects to learn Santhltli. His young Nothing has been received at his station men students, after their daily Bible for a year but what the mission there lesson, go in bands into tile surround· has paid for. This superintendent ing villages to preach. Mr. Handley writes that he 'is delighted with his Bird is in Coimbatore, India, where he success on all lines. ' has two boarding and two day schools " Tbirty.seven have gone to Japan, in his own' compound' or yard, which China. Assam, Burman, India, Africa, he superintends by the aid of his wife, Bulgaria, Hayti. and Mexico.
and gives J:3ible lessons in schools of " The demand for these trained workother societies besides evangelizing, va- ers has been much greater than the supcations, over a large tract. ply."
"Miss Helen F. Dawlly, of blessed The institute has twelve superior memory, founded an Anglo-Indian or· teachers, who give their services. This phanage, which, previous to her death, enables the superintendent to offer bibli- she bequeathed to the M. E. Church. cal, ethical, theological, musical, linguis- Rev. J. E. Robinson, her presiding tic, and meliical courses for II. very small elder, said. 'She was one of India's sum-$125 will pay a studtmt's full rarest missionaries. If the institution charges; but worthy applicants who are had never sent bnt Miss Dawlly, it has needy are received for $50 per year. the paid for itself.' necessary balance being met by volun- "Miss Hattie Kemper is at the head tary contributions; in extreme cases a of the Christian Girls' School at Morada- year's instruction can be had for even bad, India. Dr. Batstone and wife are $25. The founders have given their pioneer missionaries in the state of Bus- services in founding and superintending this institution; but there is a limit and Fuhkien,30,ooo. There are al80 to what one individual can do. Those in Koko·nor and the southern part of who wish fuller information may apply IIi in all at least 300,000. This is, of to Mrs. L. D. Osborn.13l Waverly Ave- course, a very general estimate, as the nue, Brooklyn, N. Y. count is by the. thousand, and, in most cases, by the ten thousand. It makes the whole number about 20,000.000.' ' .. As Dr. Happer says in his letter, From Canton, China, May 31st, Henry and says very truly, and his rernsrk ap- V. Noyes writes: plies to his own estimate as well as the .. In the May number of the REVIEW estimates of others, • There is no reli- Dr. Happer refers to a paper of mine able census of the population, and therepublished in the Cltinese Recorder, and fore any statement of the number is only to point out what he styles an' error ' – an estiinate.' " thILt I give the number of Mohammedans in China as 20,000,000. "My article expressed no opinion A Woman's Congress of Missions was whatever of my own; did not eveu held in San Francisco, April 26th, 27th, hazard a conjecture. I simply gave and 28th, 1894, under the auspices of the estimates of the two following very the Woman's Mission Boards of eight high authorities: different denominations of the State.
"1. The late S. Wells Williams, The committee who arranged all of the LL.D., author of 'The Middle King- work was composed of delegates from dom,' and for more than forty years both home an.d foreign societies, includresident in China. His rare knowledge ing city mission and the reformatory of China and its people. and his pains- work of the Salvation Army. Three taking care to be rigidly accurate in all meetings each day for three days were that he published, are too well known held in one of the largest churches, and to need remark. were well attended. The subjects of .. 2. P. Dabry De Thiersant, who in the first morning's papers were con· 1878 published in Paris a work., in cerning .. The Individual;" .. The two volumes, on • Mohammedanism in City." The topics being: .. A Mind to China,' incomparably the most exhaus· Work;" .. City Missions;" "Kindertive treatise on the subJect that I have garten;" .. Deaconess Work;" .. The met with during a residence of twenty- Problem of the City." eight years in the country. P.M. topics were concerning" The .. He had exceptional opportunities of State;" .. The Nation." SUbjects, obtaining information, havmg been con- .. Our Land for Christ;" .. The Chapel sul-general and charge d'affaires from Car;" .. The Indian;" .. The Freed· France to China. He tells us that his man;" .. Japanese;" .. Chinese." published work is the result of fifteen The second day's topics took in .. The years of patient research, assisted by World," and embraced Asia, France, many mandarins and Mussulman priests. isles of the sea, Jews, liquor traffic and .. The estimates of both these authors missions, the written Word. need of miswere published several years after the sions. medical missions, yesterday and crushing out of that >Mohammedan re- to·day of missions, etc. bellion, to which Dr. Happer refers as One afternoon was given up to misso destructive of life. sionaries and converts in native coS- tumes from Siam, India, France, China, .. I now quote from my article: … In regard to the present strength Japan. of the Mussulmans in China, Dr. Will- ThA second evenin.r was conducted iams says that north of the Yang·tsze by Young Peoples' -societies. King's River there are at least 10,000,000. Daughters, Christian Endeavorers, Boys' " • P. Dabry De Thiersant more par· Brigades, etc. ticularly gives statistics as follows ror Many committee meetin~s were held the whole of China and its outlying ae· from week to week preceding the Conpendencies] : Kansuh, 8,350.000; Shen· gress. Preliminary meetings were held si; 6,500,000; Yunnan, 3,500,000 to in several towns, and they were full of 4,000,000-thi8 includes the savage enthusiasm, as were several of the meettribes who dwell on the frontiers of ings held in the city preparatory to the Burmah; Shansi and South Mongolia, Congress itself. 50,000; Chihll, 250,000; Shantung, 200,000; Hunan and Hupeh, 50,000; Kiangsi, 4.000; Kiangsu and Nganwui, Mr. E. F. Williams writes from Can- 150,000; Kwangtung, 21,000 ;.Kwang. si, 15,000 ; Kweichau, 40,000; Szchuen, ton, May 11th, as to the Central China 40,000; Honan, l?00,000; Chenkiang Convention of the DIsciples: ,. The work of our society in China is ness as a good soldier. Another brother of comparatively recent date. The re- was beaten at the door of the magis· ports made at the late annual meeting trate's yamen and robbed of his clothes, show, however, a very encouraging yet rejoiced that he was counted worthy progress. We have 22 missionaries dis· to suffer shame for the Christ's sake. tributed at Shangbai, Nankin, Wuhu, it is most cheering to be able to record Chu-cheo, and LUh-hoh. There are also such instances of devotion to the faith. six out·stations, and much itineration is "Much time was given during the done through large districts otherwise convention to the discussion of the so· unevangelized. At Nankin is a boys' cial, political, and industrial relatiolll! boarding-school with 30 pupils; ground of the Chinese Christian. Heatheni!lm has been purcbased for a similar school Is so interwoven with the every-day life for girls. There is also a large hospital of the Chinaman that It is very difficult accommodating 100 patients, and two to sar how far a Christian is permitted dispensaries in connection with it; and to jom with his relatives and friends in last year there were 8479 visits made family and social gatherings, at wedfor medical attention. The number of dings and funerals, and on other cerein·patients was 355. Conversions were monial and festive occasions. It was reported from all the stations. One of felt, however, that the Church should the most interesting cases occurred on provide some snbstitutes for the heathen the island of Tsung-ming. An 01:1 man festivals, which relieve the monotony of of seventy-three years, for fifty years the year for the ordinary Chinaman. A high.priest and leader of a vegetarian recommendation to this effect was adopt· sect, and who had gathered a following ed. In this connection the old question of 160 disciples, abandoned his lucra- of ancestral worship came under retive post that he might find in Christ view, for it is a lJOCial as well as a. the peace which he craved. Although religious institution. The majority he had, according to popular belief, ac- thought that so far as it is an exprescumulated a vast amount of merit, he sion of tender reverence for the memo became alarmed at the prospect of death. oryof the dead, it should be encouraged When he heard that a chapel had been -i.e., that without prostrations or offeropened at Tsung.·ming he travelled two ings the graves mi~ht be visited and reo days' journey to hear the Gospel, and paired, and that rehgious services mi~ht on reaching the place fell upon his be held at the time of the Ts'lng-mlDg knees, asking for instruction. festival, which occurs nearly at the "One of the most fiourishin~ out- same date as our own Easter, and that stations is in the Chu cheo dIstrict, thus the heathen festival might be transwhere a little village called Ytl-ho.tsz formed as Easter was in England.
has almost entirely abandoned idola- "Missionaries are dceply Interested try. The native Christians there have in the relief of the working classes of bought a piece of ground, and, with China and the general improvement of aid from other OhinelJlJ Christians, have the industrial situation, but they are built a little chapel. It is a mud hut more particularly concerned to provide with a thatched roof, but answers its employment for those who by becoming purpose. A 'prophet's chamber' is Christians are deprived of their former also provided for the missionary on his means of support. Such are idol·mak· weekly visits. Though all these Chris- ers. manufacturers of incense and fire- tians are poor, they did a great deal of crackers, Buddhist and Taoist monks, charitable work during the year among fortune·tellers and geomancers. and all their destitute neighbors. The faith of who have been disowned by their famisome of the recent converts at Nankin lies or expelled from the various me· has been very sorely tried by severe chanics' guilds because they cannot persecution. One woman, threatened recognize the patron idol. It was with death if she should become a thoueht that many simple industries not Christian, did not fear, nevertheless, to reqUIring a large outlay of capital could own her Lord; and though her hus- be introduced from abroad with profit band has pursued her with brutal and to the people generally and to the bene- relentless cruelty, she still holds fast fit of the unemployed Chri~tians. Such her faith and hope, and rejoices in tribu- a plan would greatly relieve the mislation also. One brother was dragged sionary, who cannot refuse help to a. into the street by a rope fastened to his needy brother, and who yet shrinks neck, and, after being beaten, was from placing any more native Christhreatened with death if he did not leave tians in the service of foreigners. The the city within three days. His rela- Chinese brethren took an active part In tivea, however, were ke}Jt from execut- these discussions, and showcd their sym· ing tWs threat by the interference of the pathy with the last· named project in a o1icials ; and the old man endures hard· very practical way."
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELI,IGENCE. ,[November
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED llY BEV. D. L. LEONARD.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign undoubtedly the missionary SCHWARZ.
Periodicals. He stands out as 1 model for all mis· BY REV. C. C. S'rARBUCK, ANDOVER, sionaries. In him we find conjoined all these qualities which a missionary MASS. can any way desire-living faith, spir- INDIA. itual energy associated with childlike -The Indian Witnes8 holds that mis- humility, dignity of demeanor, vigor- . sionaries coming out in later ages ought ous health, great skill in the acquisition not to suppose thE'Y cannot learn new of foreign tongues, an irresistible elo· languages, at least if they have been quence."
used to it. It instances Miss Tucker, -" The offer of five lakhs of rupees of the Punjab, who, at sixty, has for a public library and hall in Bom· learned Urdu, has successfully passed bay, made by a Parsee lady, is pro· a difficult examination in it, and now phetic of the day when the in:fluence of speaks it :fluently and writes it readily. Indian ladies of rank and wealth and -The Moravian brethren have as yet education shall be felt in Indian society few converts in their Thibet mission; in some degree, at least as is the case in but the uneasiness which the Lamas Christian countries. Indian history and other Buddhists begin to show furnishes numerous proofs of the force over against the Gospel is a negative and capacity of Indian women, and sign of interest which has its encour· those who have had opportunity of inagements. It shows that the message timate acquaintance with Indian ladies is taking hold of them in spite of them- of the better class in our own times give selves. Thibetan Buddhism is triply emphatic testimony to the intellectual inaccessible, for it is organized as no· force and strong purpose of Indian where else. The Lamas have no God, women. Indeed, there are many rea· but their compact bOdy has made itself sons for believing that the moral and a god to the people, and therefore has intellectual force of the two sexes is not, like even Brahmanism, a Divine less evenly balanced in India than in power above itself by which it may be Europe or America; and when Indian judged. It awes the people by 1 con- women come out of their seclusion and stant and omnipresent incarnation. of get Into touch with the world's progthe only God known to it, the only God ress, they will exhibit a virility of whom it supposes able to guard it character that will contrast rather sharpagainst the throngs of demons before ly with the effeminacy of the average whom it trembles. Indian as we know him."-Indian Wit.
neS8.
-The Moravian Mission, it must be -The Parseesof Persian descent and remembered, though Tibetan, is within Zoroastrian religion concede to the fethe jurisdiction of India, and therefore male sex a social dignity not unlike that at liberty to work. which they enjoy in Christendom.
-It is well, ever and anon, to refresh -" The question often occurs: our memory, in India, of those "re- Should we, as missionaries, introduce, formers before the Reformation," the 'inculcate, and accentuate our Western missionaries who preceded Carey. Of denominational or sectarian differences Schwarz, the MacedQnier remarks: "The among this people ? Of course we must brightest star that has ever shone in the give to our students some ideas of missionary firmament of Tranquebar is church government; and it is natural
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLA'fIONI!
that we should emphasize the excellence affording thus a mystic reference to the of that of our own adoption or heritage. Trinity. Such a division required Beven Still I apprehend that there are few dan- for the second table. This was found gers to which at least a certain class of by separating "Thou shalt not covet our missionary brethren are liable (anu thy neighbor'S wife," as occurring in through them their divinity schools) Deuteronomy, from the inferior objects than that of unduly enlarging upon and of desire, a division supported by the magnifying the importance of eccles!· repetition of the verb belore these last.
asticalforms and symbols."-Rev. J. P. The unequalled authority of St. Au- JONES, in Harve8t Field. gustine gave to this division of the becalogue an undisputed precedence -In the Harve8t Field (Madras) the in the Western Church until the Ref- Rev. S. Paul, C. M. S., speaking of the ormation, even over Jerome, who, old Tranquebar Lutheran Mi!!sion, of agreeing with the-Eastern Church, pre- Schwarz and others, says: "The mis- fers the division of Philo, JosephUS, and sionaries of that period copied to some Origen, which is the oldest of the three.
extent the methods of the Romish priests Of course, the division had nothing to who had preceded them. The mission- do with image worship, which did not ary policy of that period is thus ex- prevail in Augustine's time. At the pressed by the Rev. W. Taylor in his Reformation the Lutherans adhered to • Memoir of the First Centenary of the traditional Western enumeration, the Earliest Protestant Missions at while the Reformed reverted to the IIadras ': • Not many years ago, in elder Philonian division, which has al· catechizing some very aged people, I ways prevailed in the Greek Church.
observed them repeat the command- As the short popular catechisms of the ments on the Romish model, wholly Roman Catholics and Lutherans only leaving out the second, and dividing give the first sentence in each of the the tenth into two. They told me that two longer commandments, it results this was the old ·fashion ; but the new from this that what we call the second fashion was to introduce the second and commandment does not appear, which keep the tenth entire. . .' I wonder has led to the erroneous and calum- at the good missionaries being subser- nious charge that the omission is to vient to Roman Catholic prejudices cover up image worship, and that the around them.''' We take the liberty tenth commandment has been arbi- to wonder, in our turn, that Mr. Tay- trarily dissected to make up the num- lor should have written about a Lu. ber. The Lutherans, though they allow theran mission in entire ignorance of of images in their churches, venerate the fact that the division of the Deca- them no more than ourselves; and both logue with which he finds fault is just they and the Catholics endeavor to have as much the I~utheran as the Roman the young people go on to study the Catholic. Before the year 400 the West- larger catechisms, in which the Deca- ern Church, supported by some Jewish logue appears in full. Mr. Taylor's traditions, had become inclined to fuse elder parishioners, therefore, as he ought in one What we call the first and second to have known, were simply dividing commandments [differing from various the Decalogue as Martin Luther did, rabbis only in including also the clause and as Lutheranism, prevailingly at .. I am the Lord thy God," which the least, does to this day. The· novelty Jews in question detached, except that lay in their having finally accepted our these rabbis gave the clause" I am the English and Reformed enumeration.
Lord thy God" as the" first word," and, AFRICA. therefore, did not divide the tenth as the first .. word"]. This gave the com- -The bishop of the Unitas Fra..trum, mandments of the first table as three, who has been visiting South Africa.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
writes of the communion on the even- -iI. Junod, of the French-Swiss ing bef{)re Good Fdday at Elim very Mission in S0I1I.11 Africa, writes: .. Our near the southern point of Africa: Christmas festi val was truly blessed ; " There was assembled in the church a we have had eleven baptisms, and the communicant company of some three confessions of sin of each of these neo- hundred and fifty persons, neatly at- phytes were very clear, sometimes al- tired, chiefly in white. Powerfully most exaggerated; one needed to have swelled up the mebdy of our well- not over-delicate ears to hear these known communion hymns, translated elderly women detail their former aber- from German into the language of Hol- rations. You cannot doubt, when they land. These colored people, despised acquaint you with their pagan habits.
even to this day, on whose necks many tbat their entrance into the Church has whites would be glad to see the -yoke of changed their lite completely. The slavery reimposed, in whom they refuse moral transformation induced by the to allow any capacity of independent G03pel is verily miraculous. Theft, thought or action-to see these colored falsehood, adultery, and contentiousness people here as equal associates at the are the four great sins of which they table of the Lord, and to discern in their accuse themselves, and which have midst the blessing of Christian fellow- largely vanished from their moral life.
ship, as well as in the congregations at But the enormity of their past faults home, what a revelation of the glorious hides from the eyes of most the remain- grace of God r On such occasions we ing sins of the heart, and the great ma- are overcome by a sense of fervent jority of our Christians are not hard to thanksgiving toward the Lord of the persuade that they are now free from heathen, who has so richly blessed and sin just because sin to tbem has such a yet blesses the work of missions. And gross pagan sense. This innocent self· even though this work in great part satisfaction must not be confounded consists in a steadily intensifying con- with pride or culpable self-flattery. It test against sin, yet this contest is no is an effect of ignorance; but it is only fruitless one, but one to which the too natural to our sable Christians, and strength of God assures the victory." I strive hard against it, being persuaded -M. Coillard remarked that l'[ackay, that the inward condition of spiritual in describing Uganda and litesa, paints, development is self-distrust, as well as without knowing it, the Barotsis, and trust in Christ. I endeavor. therefore, paints witb the hand of a master the to transform this naYve satisfaction with portrait of the Barotsi king, Lewanika : themsel ves into a more enlightened faith .. The same duplicity, the same degra- in the power of the Holy Ghost. What dation, the same unspeakable corrup- a delicate task to guide tbesc infantine tion, the same tyranny and pusillanim- souls of young and old I but itisin fulity, the same contradictions of char- filling it that we become conscious of the acter, the same medley of good and grandeur of our ministry, which is to evil, the same contempt of human life, guide immortal sonls to truth and holiand I may add emphatically the same ness. " – Bulletin Mi8sionnaire.
inf!(!Curity of persons and goods. Ba- -The Evangelisch- LutherniscllB8 Mi8- rotsiland is a little Uganda. Our ex- sionsblatt gives a very engaging descrip- periences, it is true, pale by the side of tion of the great East African moun- those of the heroes of Uganda. We tain Kilimandjaro: "Beginning from have not yet been adjudged worthy of beneath, where the mountain.slope the martyr's crown; nevertheless, we softly rises out of the desert plain, the have suffered. The very existence of tropical forest zone formed of mimosas, the mission has hung but by a thread. then up to two-thirds of the range, Nevertheless, the thread has been in the around its whole southern and eastern hand of God."-Journal dl!8 Mis8ion8. declivity, the so-called zone of culture.
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
Here wc cross into the inhabited and mood in which the worker must stand well·tilled Djrt.qga district. The disin· before his work. Now I can only sar tegrated lava soil, richly watered by that the journey I have taken has done countless brooks that run d.own from me t1ti8 service: that, on the one hand, the mountain and are utili7.ed by the it has cured me of false idealism, afford- keen-witted inhabitants for irrigation, ing me an inside view of the often a,p- gives to these declivities an astonishing palling reality; but that, on the other fertility. The sedulously cultivated hand, it has none the less awakened in fields teem with maize, beans, bananas, me a deeply rooted and unconquerabJe while tobacco and sugar-cane are also idealism of a higher kind, an enthusi- largely cultivated. The chocolate- asm no more to be quelled, for the mis- brown Djagga negroes dwell close to- sionary work by giving me to see, as gether in hive-shaped huts. We find something beyond doubt, something to here chiefly distinct, well-fenced court- be grasped with the hand, this one yards, yet there are also some villages. thing. Here you have to do with a A.ccordingly, excepting a somewhat ex- work of God, which, with irresistible tensive uninhabited gap on the northern inner energy, welcomes seemingly in- edge, the whole foot of the mountain surmountable hindrances."-Bishop C.
bears the aspect of a huge, thoroughly BUCHNER (lIoravian), in Allegefl1;eirw cultivated garden, interrnpted here and MiB8ions-zeitschrift.
there by moist, green meadows and at- -Bishop Buchner says that the Engtractive copses." lish in South A.frica are just lords; but that they know perfectly well where This favored region has drawn to it their interests are crossed by their care various tribes, out of whose intermixture of the people, and are careful to stop have been developed "the Djaggas, a there. They discourage all national handsome and intelligent race. They feeling in the Caffres, all teaching in have also a greater measure of energy the vernacular, all respect of the people and courage than the negroes in the for the authority of their chiefs. They plain. Already, in a good many skir- do not like to have the Caffres taught mishes with our countrymen, they have farther than just so far as will leave shown themselves no despicable foes, them still good laborers for the whites. so that Major von Wissmann, after an They are still to be instruments, though expedition against one of their chiefs, no longer slaves. They carefully guard was obliged to own that they were the against the possibility of their coming best fighters he had met with in Af- rica. " to be of any public account. This Eng- _" I must acknowledge that before lish policy, however, even so, is too con- my journey to South Africa I enter· siderate of the good of the blacks to tained various erroneous views far from please the Dutch Boers. Among these agreeing with actual conditions cou- the Bond, guided by a highly capable cerning the work in the heathen world, leader, Dr. Hofmeycr, is now really in views which I may summarily describe control. Its motto is not " Africa for as the issue of that false idealism which the Africans," but" Airica for the Afri- has more or less controlled the greater canders"-that is, for the African-born part of our missionary literature even whites. They appear to aim at ulti- to this day. To be healed of this costs mate independence of England, and at something. Many a missionary who, the reduction of the Caffres into abso- during the healing process, has for a lute dependence, virtual slavery. Prac- while sunk into pessimistic dejection, tically they regard the blacks as not can tell a tale ot this And yct the heal- human beings, but a mere bastard off- ing is needful; indeed, its result for spring of the devil, and therefore resent, the patient himself is highly satisfac- all serious endesvors of the missionaries tory, for Bober and yet entlmsiastic is the as much as Las Casas shows that thc
GENERAJ. MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
Spaniards of his day resented the efforts give me drink. How He loves me! I of the Dominican and Franciscan mis- could not do without my Savionr." sionaries, whose work they interrupted and broke up in every vexatious and -Mr. G. McConnell, who has been hateful way. visiting the villages around Ho-tsin, Shansi, tells of the bold stand of a con- Of the 1,150,237 colored Oapelanders, vert named Nei, who, when urged to only 392.362 are Ohristian; 757,875 reo go and burn incense at the family grave, main openly heathen. Of the Chris- refused, saying that he now believed in tians, all but 17,275 are Protestants. Jesus, and could not worship his anc~s tors anymore. For this he was dragged The bishop describes the rich abun- out of his house and beaten along the dance of religious life, and notes as the village street until some one interposed two great goals of present effort, its and released him. He is very happy development into completer ethical through it aU; is constantly singing form, and its actuation into greater in- "Onward Go," and is very anxions to dependence of personal action. This learn more of the truth. Other two applies more particularly to the mixed, brothers named" Tuau," one a teacher Dutch-speaking population of the West. and the other a tradesman, have also destroyed their idols and seem really English Notes. desirous of following the Lord.
BY JAMES DOUGLAS. -Mr. Easton, Superintendent of the province of Shensi, writes: " Roughly (Jhina'8 Milliona.-In an article on speaking, there are about seventy new ,Shantung, North China, Mr. Alexan- believers attending worship and desir- der Armstrong, ,F.R.G.S., writes en- ing instruction in nine or ten places. couragingly. Beginning work in 1879, God is working, and we need believing. the China Inland Mission has gone lyand earnestly to follow up the work." steadily fo~ward. Many souls have been saved, and great and growing blessing Ohurch Missionary Society.-In an has been given to all the work, which is article in the Ohurch M'Uisionary Intel- taken as a prophecy and a promise of Ugencer Bishop Copplestone deals with what that same Gospel may reasonably the Neo-Buddhist movement and Bud- be expected. in the fulness of time, to dhism generally in Ceylon. 'The former accomplish for all China. he regards as an anti-Christian mission organized by Western scepticism, root- -Mrs. C. H. Polhill-Tumer deals ed in pride and difficult to approach; with the certainty and uncertainty at- the latter as demon-ridden-a world taching to the sowing of the Word, and haunted and beset by the supernatural, points the moral that He would have us breaking an atmosphere heavy with fears and suspicions. In connection .. Undepressed by seeming failure, with Buddhism as in vogue, Karma is Unelated by success." beside the mark, and Nirvana is not in the calculation. Merit and demerit are This counsel is illustrated by the con- shadowy matters compared with the version of an aged and bed·ridden Chi- pressing and urgent realities over which nese woman, whose case seemed all but the demon and the sorcerer preside. 'hopeless. Yet how quickly did this This system has gi ven shelter to the parched branch bear buds, blossoms, basest superstition, while failing to and almonds I .. My Saviour I my Sa- teach-Jr, rather, by its endless births viour I He has been talking to me and without personal continuity, undermin- telling me how He loves me, and died ing-the idea of moral responsibility. for me on the cross; He is always with me, beside me here; and He is so good. -Bishop OIuwole gives an account I tell Him when I am in pain, and He of his first confirmation tour in West eases me; I tell Him when I am thirsty, and immediately He sends some one to
ENGLISH
Africa, which, while bringing him into About thirty or forty miles from Pahline with the difficulty of the work, en- tsze-naw, in the King-shan district, there ables him to appreciate the blessing is a group of twenty or thirty villages; which thus ftLr has rested upon it. In and scattered over these there are about by far the greater number of the sta- one hundred candidates for baptism, tions the good work is steadily gaining and among these there are fifty or sixty ground. The station at Ikija-once the whom Mr. Hiung regards as perfectly scene of the faithful labors of the late satisfactory. As this result has been Rev. Charles GoUmer-is a prominent secured by no direct agency, and is a exception. There a total collapse is clear case of the indirect effect of misthreatened. At Ake eighty-two candi- sions, the finger of God is the more dates were confirmed. A membcr of clearly seen. Dr. John has already bap· this Church, Jacob ~'adipe, subsequent- tized a candidate from these villages ly preached before the bishop in Igbore who came to Hankow for that purpose; church. "I sat," writes the bishop "in and from him, as well as from Mr. amazement under the sermon of this Hiung, he learns that their houses are heaven·taught man. There was no perfectly clcar of every trace of idoladoubt that he constantly fed on God's try, that they are meeting regularly for Word, and that the Spirit opened his worship, and that a Christian school understanding that he might under- has been opened among them. He stand the Scriptures. He certainly hopes, with Mr. Bonsey, to visit the spoke as one mighty in the Scriptures, place erelong and give shape to the and as one conscious of a special mes- movement. sage. " Among other news of interest Dr. -A Brahmin Sadhu and his wife John reports tIle baptism of six adults have been baptized by the Rev. W. at Hankow, one of whom is a B.A. in McLean, of Agra, and received into the Confuciitn school, who became a church fellowship. His name is Yu- convinced and confirmed Christian simhanna Atama Gir. When quite a young ply throngh reading missionary books. men he had deep religious convictions, "He has," says this missionary, "an and it was to find peace for his soul he exceedingly good knowledge of the joined the ascetic Badhus. Their filthy truth as it is in Jesus; reads everylives horrified him at last, and he fied thing he can get hold of missionary from them in dismay. Seven years ago literature, and masters everything. May he had a copy of John's Gospel given God keep him from falling and make him, and after reading a few chapters, him a blessing to His people." felt he had at last found the Word of God. Longing for more of the Scrip. -Work is recommenced in Mongolia, tures, he' received a year after Luke's the station at T'a Tzu Kon having been Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. reopened by the Rev. J. Parker and his He next longed to meet and talk to wife. Some thirty-three persons have some Christian teacher; and in the vil- gi ven in their names as inquirers, but lages outside Agra at length met Mr. of these only one is a Mongol. Mr. McLean. He soon found the pearl of Parker is sanguine. He says: ., There great price, and has gladly given up all are many encouraging signs. I almost to follow Jesus. dare to hope that the harvest of dear Gilmour's sowing is close at hand; but LondiJn Mi88ionary Society.-Dr. Grif- out here one has not to be too jubilant, fith John, of Hankow, China, sends but quietly hopeful and thankful. I this month most encouraging news of have more faith than ever that we shall the progress of the work in King-shan, reach the Mongols; and I am praying a district adjoining Tien-men. Mr. earnestly that the one Mongol inquirer Hiung, a natiye helper, is his informer. we have may be sincere and fully re- ceive the salvation which is of God."
MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE. [~()vember
In addition to the above, the Rev. demned their sin. There are maDY to- W. E. Macfarlane writes from" The day who keep money for themselves Palace of Truth," a Mongolian viIlage, which ought to go to foreign missions, as to mission work and prospects among saying very piously, "corban," which the Mongols. His reception at times by interpretation is, "'l'here are plenty was worse than chilling, amounting to of heathen at home." – Repo-rt of Fureign acts of overt hostility. Gratified to find Mission Oommittee, Synod of Indiana. in those Mongolian parts a few specimens of genuine Chinese Christianity -A member of the Southern General which won his respect, he also fonnd Assembly, speaking of the disproporthe Chinese more amenable than the tionate amount of time con~umed on a Mongols to Christian appeal. From the judicial case, remarked that fifty years Chinese 'he had a few inquirers, but of missions were worth a cycle of eccleonly one from the Mongols, and this a sitistical hw.-The Mi8sionary. case of poor promise. "The Chinaman," he says, "is far more roady to -The leaders of the Univerzlties' accept the truth than his more timid Mission once thought the only way to and ignorant brother the Mongol." make the people receive the Gospel was And again he says, "In fear of their to preach sermons and to be perpetually prince, and in the grip of a vast and arguing. The history of the mission powerful religious system, enslaved by has led them to belie'l'e not so mucu in superstition and corrupted by vice, the talking as in being and living. They outlook for the Mongols is anything but wonld win the tribes by being Chrishopeful." tians in the midst of beathendom.-.Re- port for 1893. THE KINGDOM. -Let those wh1' :lenominate the -" Every Quaker," said George Fox, world's conversion a wild scheme re- " ought to light up the country for ten member who devised it_ Let those who miles around him." Nor is the obliga- look upon missionaries as enthusiasts tion by any means confined to the Re- reflect whose command has made them ligious Society of Friends. such. Let those who believe the na· tions can never be evangelized consider -At the Louisiana Baptist Conven- whose power and veracity their incretion there were congratulations over the dulity sets at defiance.-.David Abed. fact that the white Baptists of the State had increased beyond the 30,000 mark. -" The greatest movement of the One good brother arose and said: " Yes, twentieth century will not be a commerbrethren, we are very many, but not very cial one, nor yet a military one, but the much." nations of the West will invade the East with great armies of Ohristian missiona- -The great commission, " Go preach ries, backed up by the wealth of Christhe Gospel to every creature," is also a tendom. We must arouse ourselves to flreat permission. meet them."-Buddhist Magazine of Japan. -The scriptural mode of contributing to the Lord is jid'st to give our8elves, -Dr. Talmage says of his motive in as the Macedonians did. Having given taking his trip around the world: "I ourselves, it will be easy to give the waut to see what Christianity has acsmaller things, such as sil ver and gold. complished; I want to see how the mis- sionaries have been lied about as living -In the time of Christ some kept in luxury and idleness; I want to know money for their own use which ought whether the heathen religions are really to have been given to the support of an as tolerable and as commendable as they aged father, calling it " corban." They were represented by their adherents in did it religiously, too, and felt justified in their selt-deception. But Ghrist COD- the J"arlh,meut of Religions; I want to see whether Mohammedanism and Bud- figures for China: 100 missionary phy- dhism would be good things for trans- sicians for 300,000,000 people, against plantation to America, as ha~ agai n been over 118,000 physicians to the 65,000,000 argued; I want to hear th" Brahmins of our Americau population. pray." -The American Board has issued a -Rev. H. G. Rice has been telling, pamphlet, prepared by Rev. E. K. in the Herald and Presbyter, how the Alden, which contains testimonies from " foreign fever" (alas I that the gracious 14 representative physicians, connected epidemic so seldom befalls) struck the with missionary work in different parts Crawfordsville, Ind., Presbytery some of the world, presenting their views of years since; is still raging, and has car- the importance of medical work as a ried off divers noble men and women part of missionary service. It is many who were ripe for the translation, but a day since so much of so great value could not well be spared. Strange on this great theme has been packed to say, this "complaint" has passed within so small a space. through various forms or phases, such ,as the Persian fever, the India fever, WOMAN'S WORK. and others like the Siam, Africa, Mex- ico, and Chili. So far Dr. Koch and -Nancy Jones was born a slave, re- the scientists have not discovered the ceived her education at the Le Moyne bacillus which is at the root of the mat- Institute, Memphis, Tenn., and Fisk ter, though already 33 "victims" can University. Nashville; eight years ago be counted. Well, blessed are all these she went out alone to Africa as a mis- departed ones. sionaryof Ule American Board to join Rev. B. F. Ousley and wife, also col- -Bishop Caldwell, after forty-two ored, and has been a teacher of the na- years of mission work in the Madras tives ever since. When, last year, the Presidency, gave this testimony in mission was moved from the East Coast, 1879: "I have had some experience iu 300 miles back to Mt. Selinda, she made the work of conversion myself, and the toilsome journey on foot. The ,;tfishave tried iu succession every variety sionary Herald for July has a letter from of method. Let me mention, then, the her pen. remarkable fact that during the whole of this long period, not one educated -Miss Dhaubal Fardoujee Banajee, high-caste Hindu, so far as I am aware, an eighteen-year-old Bombay girl, has has been converted to Christianity in succeeded in getting one of her pictures connection with any mission or church, hung in the Paris Salon. She won some except through the Christian education prizes in India from the Bombay Art received in mission schools. Such con- Society, and decided that she would verts may not be very numerous. and I rather be an independent person, accordregret that they are not, b'ut they are all ing to Western standards, than to marry that are. " And Rev. W. R. Manl,Y has and live in the Indian fashion. She is recently written several most excellent the first Indian woman to go to Europe articles in The Standard, Chicago, on to study art. Who can tell what a fact the g.reat value of such schools in India, like this means for India? And then even for non·Christian pupils. there is Cornelia Sorabji, who at eight- een was a professor in Bombay Univer- -Dr. Happer says that the number sity, and since has been a distinguished of medical missionaries at work in the student in Oxford University, taking a heathen world has been increased dur- course in law. ing the last forty-five years tenfold, and that without any special efforts. The -The October-December Mission proportion of such missionaries to the Studies, published quarterly by the home supply is, however, shown by the women of the Lutheran Church, Gen- eral Synod, in speaking of " what some women h&ve done," recalls how Mrs. Stew&rt a legacy of $111,500, from Va~ Arsdale and Mrs. Romeyn, of New other women legacies amounting to Brunswick, N. J., befriended two Jap- $41,673, and in contributions, $11,504. anese students, and how another elect lady on Andover Hill took Joseph Nee- YOUNG PEOPLE. sima to her home and heart, and so wrought mightily for the evangeliza- –The Young Men's Era has been per· tion of Japan. forming a good service by publishing from the pen of L. L. Doggett, of Ber· -Wellington Seminary, South Afri- lin, a history of work for young men in ca, a sort of Mount Holyoke, is for Germany, and another without name white girls, daughters of colonists, mis- relating to the beginning and growth sionaries, and others_ It began with 40 of the Y. M. C. A. in Holland. pupils, and there are now 4 similar in. stitutions with 750 pupils; 500 gradu- -Among the colleges which sustain ates are teaching in di lferent parts of missionaries in the foreign field these South Ardca, and 25 are doing definite may be named ,: Ann Arbor, Amherst, missionary work among the natives_ A Brown, Cornell, Oberlin, Wellesley, and Woman's Huguenot Missionary Society, 9 Presbyterian colleges and seminaries. established soon after the seminary was started, has now grown into a Missi,)ll- -Secretary Baer, in his annual reary Union for South Africa. The edu- port, termed the more than 2,000,000 cational work receives the strong en- Endeavorers in the world, " Ilnthusiasts, dorsement of the English, Dutch, a 'd Christian enthusiasts," and explained by French colonists, and grows in impor- first giving Oscar Wilde's definition of a tance as South Africa bids fair to be· cynic: " A man who knows the price come the strategic point for the en- of everything, but the worth of nothlightenment of the whole continent. ing," and followed by an Englishman's definition of an enthusiast: "the op- -Rev_ Robert Hume, setting forth in posite of the cynic, and hence must be Heathen Woman's Friend the gain for defined as one who knows the worth of Hindu women in twenty-five years, something, and the price of nothing." specifies these particulars: in education, occupation, influence, control of -This comes from the Presbyterian Ilelf, and spiritual life. missionary headquarters: " Our Chris- tian Endeavor societies have taken hold -The Methodist Church has 445 dea- of the foreign work with great zeal, and conesses employed in Christ-like service, they are actually supporting 80 foreign and divided by countries as follows: missionaries through this board. It is In America, in 29 homes, 307 ; in Ger- noticeable that in the year ending April many and Switzerland, 106; in India, 30th that branch of giving was the only in 6 homes, 18, and outside of homes, one which had an increase over the pre- 12; in China, 2. The property owned ceding year. for their uses is valued at $804,908. The number of religious calls made last -It will be remembered that a littla year was 122,534. more than a year ago news came from Madagascar, where up to that time no – The women of the Methodist Endeavor societies were known, that Church, South, have 37 missionaries 32 had been quietly formed. Secretary among the Indians, in Mexico, Brazil, Baer has just received another letter and China: 48 teachers and helpers; from Rev. W. E. Cousins, of the Lon- 55 native teachers; 52 boarding and don Missionary Society, who reports a day-schools, with 2793 pupils, and up- growth from 32 to 91 societies, with a ward of 600 women under instruction. membership of 3377.-Golden Rule.
-The Presbyterian Board of Home -During the past year the net gain Missions received last year from Mrs. in the Epworth League has been 4000 chapters, making the present tota-l sovan, Brusa, etc. Donativns were re- 16,000, including the 3000 chapters of ported during the year of $62.48 to be the Junior League. A feature of the divided between the Okayama OrphaJl- work is the es~ablishment of orphan- age in Japau, a school in Nanking, ages.' The league in Chicago supports China, Rnder the care of a daughter of the Children's Rome of that city. one of the Turkey missionarie.s, and tlre -The leagll.e of Scovill Avenue New West Education Commission in Church, Cleveland, 0., reports: Fami- this country.
lies visited, 1198; 197 baskets of provi- UNITED STATES. sions, 8 bags. of flour, 450 pounds of meat, 288 garments, 2 comfortables, 5 -" The time would fail me to tell pairs of shoes given to needy persons; of" all tlle good and beautiful things 4 sick persons supplied with medicine, done nowadays for the pODr, the unfor- and a doctor sent to 1 ; 6 tons of coal, tunate, and the afflicted. But by these besides helping a number of families eloquent names a part will be suggest- pay their rent, and rendering financial ed: Nathan Strauss's milk and bread assistance to a number of others; a and coal depots ; the Tribune Fresh Air wagon load of provisions sent to the Fund; the Outlook's Working Girls'
Deaconness Home on Thanksgiving Vacation Fund; the various fruit and Day with $3 in money; 3 plants and flower missions; the Boston Floating 53 bouquets sent to the sick, and 187 Hospital; the barge of St. John's Guild, persons who are aged, sick, Of infirm which last year took 44,750 weak and visited, etc. ailing women and Children down New -The United Presbyterian Institute York Bay; the Sanitarium Association recently held heartily resolved as fol- of Philadelphia, which ministers annulows: "That we recommend a larger ally to 100,000 children; the Ohicago acquaintance with missions by a more Daily News' institution for sick babies diligent and systematic study of mis- in Lincoln Park, etc.
sionary literature relating to the work -According to the government re- both at home and abroad, in our own port of immigration, these were the communion and in the world at large. additions to our popUlation received Aside from the reports in our own from foreign countries during last year Church papers, we suggest the MIS- and the year before. The reckoning is SIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD as the from June 30tlr : 1894. 1893. most helpful current literature on mili- 37,504 59.627 sions, and express the hope that every Austria-Hungary………….. . 5,576 8,751 local society will take and circulate Denmark…………………. . 3,645. 5,343 Frauce ………………….. .
among its members one or more copies. Germany……………..•…. 59,829 96.313 We further recommend that all our so- Italy…………………….. . 43,959 72,403 cieties or unions make the subject of Netherlands ……….. . 2,882 8,114 missions one of more earnest and con- Poland….. … …. . ……. . 1,552 13,659 RUBsia, except Poland……..• , 37,572 43,657 secutive prayer, and that they keep mis- Swedenand Norway. ,..•…… 27,337 53,872 sion work before their members as a Switzerlaud•••••.•… , …….. . 3,445 5,252 personal duty." England and Wales••••••..••• 30,537 47,387 Scotland••.•…………••….. 7,235 12,144 -The Missionary Children's Mission- Ireland………………….. . 33,867 49,165 ary Society, organized by the children All other countries………… . 16,965 22,229 of the missionaries of the Americ!n Total…….. …..•..••.. ..•. 311,404 497,986 Board in Turkey, recently held its six- -According to a Birmingham, Ala., teenth annual meeting at Constantino- despatch, the International Migration ple, when 23 members were present. Society has made a contract with anAf- Reports were read from the different so- rican steamship company for the trans- cieties all over the field-Cresarea, Mar- portation of 5000 colonists annually to Liberia. The first steamer was to leave 13 under appointment. The number of Philadelphia early in October, and touch native helpers is 135, of whom 45 are the coast as far as New Orleans, and ministers and 53 teachers. The total from there go to Liberia, touching at number of communicants added by bap- Havana. tism was 560. Three missionaries are -Dr. Sheldon Jackson not only sup"ported by individuals, 37 by single pushes the various kinds of missionary churches, 9 by groups of churches or toil with all his might in Alaska, but societies, 2 by Ladies' Presbyterial makes substantial progress in improv- unions, and 2 by Presbyteries. An ing the material condition of the nations elder in Asheville, N. C., has recently by supplying reindeer by the score and assumed the entire support of Rev. hundred. W. H. Sheppard, the first colored South- ern Presbyterian missionary to Central -A recent London Ohristian gives a Africa. portrait and biographical sketch of Dr. Ge.orge D. Dowkontt, of New· 'York, -The Reformed (Dutch) Church has who is editor of the Medical Missionary missions in China, India. and Japan, Record, and is tugging with a resolution and this year adds an Arabian mission, which cannot fail.to secureftinds for a which a few years since was started by fully equipped medical missionary col· the Rev. Messrs. Zwemer and Cantine lege, where men and women can be upon the Tigris. Notwithstanding the tIained for the ministry of healing. financial pressure, the Board received $106,571, an average of $1.05 per mem- -At the various conventions of the ber. It has 16 stations, 209 out· stations, Missionary Alliance held during the 26 missionaries, men, 25 married women sun;tmer, at least 300 persons offered missionaries and 17 unmarried, 38 nathemselves for service, and the gifts and ti ve ordained ministers, 376 other native pledges reached an aggregate of $70,000. helpers, 6226 communicants, of whom Rev. A. B. Simpson's sermon on the 508 were received in 1893, 1'9,970 pa- Macedonian Cry, at Old Orchard, 1I'lass., tients treated in its hospitals. etc. was followed by a " collection" of $40,- 000. From one man came one fourth -The corner-stone of the new nationof that sum. al headquarters for the Salvation Army has been laid on Fourteenth Street, be- -For the missions of the Episcopal tween Sixth and Seventh avenues, New Church up to the middle of July the York City. On the second floor will be treasurer received from 2216 Sunday- a large auditorium seating 3000 people. schools a little more than $56,000 on A huge iron emblem of the Army will account of the Lenten offering. surmount the building, which will be -Dr. John F. Goucher is said to be ready, it is expected, for occnpancy by the most liberal supporter of ioreign January 1st, 1895. The whole cost is missions in the Methodist Church. His expected to amount to about $350,000, wife and he support 173 foreign schools, land included.
at a yearly expense of $12,975. -Yet again doth Mohammed go to -The annual report of the foreign the mountain which will not go to him; missions of the Southern Presbyterian for we learn, from North and West, that Church shows that the total receipts the" leading Roman Catholic Church were $143,774, a gain of $9874 over the of Minneapolis has a Bible class of 60 previous year. Of this $8388 was a members, which has been in existence special contribution from the children over a year. The class handle their own for the Congo boat. Work is carried Bibles [Hail. horrors, Hail I], and de- . on in Africa (Congo), Brazil, China, cide what part of it they will study Cuba, Italy, Japan, Korea, and Mex- under Father Keene's leadership. They ico. There are 130 missionaries, besides are also preparing a Roman Catholic hymnal. The son· of a St. Paul elder and women in Cairo, Alexandria, and has the work in charge. It will be in along the Nile.
English, of course, and will develop -This is a fragment of the record congregational singing. 'It is a con- made by the Student Volunteer Miscession to the people ; they were bound sionary Union: "Two years and a few to have it,' is the explanation," months old, it has 690 members in vari- ous colleges, and 85 in missionary insti.
EUROPE. tutes, 75 already in the field, and 75 per Great Britain.-A party of 109 boys cent of its in· college members are prefrom Dr. Barnardo's homes, being the paring to follilw. Its travelling secre· third similar party for the current year, tary has visited 80 colleges, held 143 left Euston in August for Liverpool en meetings for students, of whom he has route to Can"da, where they are to be been brought into touch with 17,800, placed out partly on the industrial farm his journeys totalling to 14,700 miles. of 10,000 aeresin Manitoba in connec- Miss Hodges, the travelling secretary to tion with the homes, and partly in situa- the ladies' colleges, has also done good tions with farmers throughout Ontario. work, visiting 31 colleges, 20 schools, Including these, the institutions have holding 20 meetings, and l'eaehing 2000 now sen! out to the colonies 7029 boys students. " and girls, all of them tested and trained and of approved character for honesty, -The Scottish Free Church reports decency, and industry. Of these less for 1893 missions in India, Kaffraria, than 2 per cent have failed to conduct Natal, Livingstonia, New Hebrides, themselves satisfactorily beyond tr l Syria, and South Arabia, with 239 staseas. tions ; 60 ordained Europeans, 13 or· dained natives, 11 licensed natives, 650 native teachers, and a total of 1108 -Mr. F. S. Arnot has sailed once Christian agents; 44 organized churches more for Africa. Various things con- with 7727 communicants, 6300 baptized curred to make him feel that his pres- adherents, and 295 admittted on profes· ence was required. Messrs. D. Craw- sion last year ; 387 schools of all grades ford and Thompson must speedily be re- with 23,839 scholars; and received on lieved. Besides, he hopes to mark out the field from government grants (£15,- a new and shorter route from the East 392), school fees by natives (£19,950), Coast to Garenganze. His friends, on and contributions, a total of £39,249.
account of his health, sought to dis- The Continent.-A Paris corresponsuade him from returning, but he felt dent of E1langelical Ohristendom writes: that he was called to go and that "In France scarcely 5,000,000 out of prompt action was urgently called for. the 40,000,000 reputed Roman Catholics -The friends of the late Miss C. 11. may be said to be worthy of the name; .Tucker (A. L. O. E.) propose a most the rest are non·church-goers, unbeliev- fitting memorial in the shape of a fund ers, atheists, and anarchists."
of £500 to be expended by the Christian -There are in Spain representatives Literature Society in republishing her 87 works for Indian readers, and trans- of 14 Protestant churches and societies, lating them into a much larger number and they report 20 foreign male and 29 of languages of India. foreign female missionaries, 41 Spanish pastors, 37 evangelists, 3600 communi~ -The Religious Tract Society has cants. The American Board and the issued the" Life and Work of Mary American Baptist Missionary Union are Louisa Whately, who for thirty-three the only American societies at work.
years (1856-89) gave herself with won· The others are from England, Scotland, derful devotion and energy to edttca- Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, Swe- tional and evangelistic toil for children den, and Holland. -Says Professor G. H, Schodde : " As from Kaiserswerth, was recently openat present constituted, there are no ed. The old hospital, inaugurated by fewer than 46 different State churches Dr. Theo. Fliedner in 1851, is no longer in the 26 States composing the German adequate; the hew establishment, con- Empire. Though States have been con- structed according to the fullest requiresolUated in recent years, churches have ments of modern hygiene, provides ac- commodation for 60 inmates. The not been. ot these 24 are Lutheran, Pasha of Jerusalem was among the distinguished personages who attended 10 are Reformed, 7 are a union of these the opening. two, and 4 are cor;LQo'erate. There is no bond of union save in the Eisenach -Is fuel really so alarmingly scarce 'Conference, which meets once in two in Syria that the Catholic bishop must years, and has no legal or executive needs order the Arabic version of lfr. powers. The State Church of PI ussia Spurgeon's sermons to be employed as holds about two thirds of all the Ger- food for flame? If so, lie should be inman Protestants, " formed that we have excellent coal enough and to spare. -Rev. David Baron writes of a recent tourfor Bible distribution: "From -The Sultan of Turkey is setting an Budapest I went, accompanied by Rabbi example which ought to shame many oj' Lichtenstein, by Danube steamer, all us, since he is sending out Mohammethe way to Orsova. The five days on dan missionaries to Africa at his own board, going and returning, was one expense, for the avowed purpose of of the most interesting experiences in checking the Christian advance in that my life. A large proportion of the pas- continent. Evidently he does not think sengers were Jews, and we stopped at the missions to Africa have been fail- 42 stations in Hungary and Servia. We ures. spoke and reasoned with different groups from morning to night, and -Some of the friends of the late after lying down in our berths we Theodore Child have raised over $700 would hear them discussing among to be used for a memorial. It has been themselves what we had been saying sent to the American Presbyterian misabout Christ. Again and again every- sion in Tabriz, Persia, where Mr. Child body in the large saloon, Jews and Gen- was cared for during his illness with the tiles of all classes, were around us for cholera. Probably it will be used tf) hours, eagerly listening or discussing establish a hospital-room or bed, to lie with us the claims of Jesus. We took known by his name. with us a supply of New Testaments in Hebrew, German, and Hungarian, but -Rev. H. CarIess, accompanied by a our stock in the last two languages was medical student, left J uHa at the beginexhausted long before we returned to ning of May on an itinerating tour. Budapest. " They visited Kashan, Sultanabad, Buru- jird, and NejifiLdild. At the last-named -When the trans-Siberian railroad is place 52 Mohammedans and Babis atcompleted it is said that a tour of the tended the l::lunday-morning service. world can be made in forty days. Altogether the tour lasted forty-two days. ASIA. India.-Indians are spoken of as Islam.-In Jerusalem, the "Holy though because all are alike Indians, City," there are said to be 135 places therefore all are Iudiaus and alike. But where liquor is sold I the Spaniard in character, history, lan- guage, religion, does not differ from the -The new hospital at Jerusalem, Englishman, or the SCDtchman from the founded by the German Evangelical native of Naples more than the Marathi Church, and carried on by dea(lonesses from the Bengali, the Ooriya from the Hindustani, or the Madrasi from the their lips, or lick the ftngers, lips, or Sikh.-Sir AuckZand OoZvin. bowl.
-The English flag in India has gi ven "- Well does Mr. Powers reply to Mr.
Christianity its first chance to meet Gandhi: "No one who has lived in an Islam on fairly equal terms. Were the .Asiatic community and observed the same freedom granted in Turkey the treatment of women and otheI domestic conflict hetween the two systems would animals, whether kept for breeding or soon be quite as earnest as it is in the industrial purposes, will be imposed on Punjab.-lndian Witness. for a moment by the implication that -In 1892, 2963 persons were killed the Hindus abstain from flesh from moby wild animals, and 19,025 died from tives of humanity. • .. Their averthe bite of poisonous serpents. The sion to killing cows is pure superstigovernment paid 107,974 rupees for tion. • .. Now, if abstaining from the destruction of 15,988 wild ani- meat fosters the belief that there is a mals, and 9741 rupees for the destruc- god under a cowhide, it is the duty of tion of 84,789 snakes, and 81,668 cattle missionaries to eat meat three times a were killed by the wild animals and the day, if thereby they may help to consnakes.-Dnyanodaya. vince the dupes of Brahmin superstition that beef is diet and not deity." -Mr. H. J. Scudder, of the .Arcot high school, speaks of the Palar .Ani- -It is said that an elephant has been cut, a large dam of solid masonry, a taught to "take up the collection" in mile long and some 8 feet high, built some ,of the Hin~u temples. He goes across the Palar or Milk River, to direct around with a basket extended from the water into half a dozen or more his trunk.
channels for irrigation purposes. The -It appears that we must not forget water thus saved is stored in over 50 that, as a miss10nary writes, " the wom- huge reservoirs, from which it is drawn en of India are not all shut up in ze- as occasion. demands. Mr. Scudder nanas, and unapproachable to men; by justly adds that" the fact that thou- far the large majority in Central India sands of lives have been saved and thou- are free to move about and hear what- sands are yearly helped by this project, ever is going on. Only the few, and is but one of the many lasting testimo- these of the wealthier classes, are shut nies to the benefit of English rule in up in zenanas. To be sure, the women India." are not as easily reached as the men; -For twenty-three hundred years they do not stand as far forward in the the Buddhist priests of Ceylon have crowd, nor are they so ready to ask quesmet once a fortnight for solemn confes- tions; but, nevertheless, round their sion of their sins. Kneeling in the doorways, on the verandas of their chapter-house in pairs, each on a little houses, and on the outskirts of the mat of brown paper, they tell their crowd, many hear just as eagerly and faults to one another in a low voice. to just as much advantage."
Seated then in two long rows, the senior – .Another beheld this strange specta- priest at the head, the rest kneel down, cle: "It was one morning, and within bow to him, and ask him to absolve the temple of the sun god in Hazari- them from their sins. He does so, and ba)!;h. I was passing along the road, .they in turn absolve him. This form and had just reached a large tank, where is repeated very tediously for each people bathe themselves and wash their priest present. .Among the 227 rules in clothes, when I heard the voice of a man regard to which they must make con- singing in the adjoining temple. We ap- fession are many important matters, and proached and entered the door. There, also many trifles, as that in eating they lying on the ground before his idol god, .should not put out their tongues, smack banging his head on the floor, was a man. He was singing most earnestly, was Miss Dr. Halverson, who has since and his voice was not nnmusical. Pres- endured the fury of a mob.
ently he rose, and standing on one leg -Abont August 17th Rev. James before the idol, began to 8prinkle it Wylie. of the United Presbyterian.Miswith water. After this he rapidly sion in Manchuria, without the least walked round the outside of the temple provocation, was assaulted by Chinese singing ar the time, and then again re- soldiers, was kicked, beaten with clubs, turned to his position before the idol. and hacked with knives, so that he died Shortly after this he raised from the soon after, the officers meantime merely ground a little brass lota in which were looking on. curds, and left to offer these curds in another temple to ::IIahadeva or Shiva. – Whatever else may result from the This was part of his morning's work be- lamentable war in Korea, it cannot but fore going to the Kacherri, where he is further the progress of Christianity and employed as a Government clerk." Western civilization in each one of the three countries immediately concerned. China.-When a medical missionary in Southern China went tirst to his sta- -Dr. Corbett, of Ohefoo, writes: tion, and began his works of healing, " Lost Sabbath evening 40 persons rehe was called "the foreign devil:' mained to an after meet,ing, saying that Now he is known as "the angelic heal- they had resolved to accept Jesus as er from beyond t he seas." their Saviour and hereafter live Chris- tian lives. Since January 6th, 46 have -Several Chinese temples have a bell been added to our church on profession at the entrance, so that each uevotee of faith. Lately, on a journey in the as he passes in may announce his arrival interior, a widow of eighty-two asked to the deity. A good idea, certainly. £;)r baptism, together with a son aged fifty-eight and another forty. A man -When babies in China are a month aged seventy-nine also asked to be bapold they have their first birthday party. tized. Their heads are shaved, and they are dressed in no end of clothing, just the s!lme shape as grown-up people's, con- -On last Ohristmas Day Rev. Mr.
sisting of trousers and jacket, and a cap Lam, a Southern Presbyterian mission- which so completely covers them that ary of Chening Chow, returneu from you can only see part of a tiny face. 51 days' itinerating in the country. About four o'clock the guests arrive. puring that time he had travelled over All are supposed to give a present-a 400 miles, walking 330 ; visited all the toy, clothing, or a piece of silver large cities and dozens of villages, wrapped in red paper. When any of preaching, selling books and medicine our Christians ]111ve a "party" of this to the sick. He was assisted by 5 nakind they invite the missionaries, and tive helpers, 4 preachers, and 1 doctor. we have to eat all kinds of funny things, They thoroughly canvassed his parish, such as birds'-nest soup, whIch is very which consists of 15 counties and 5,000,- good, sharks' tins, and eggs that have 000 people. They were everywhere been buried for year3 and have turned kindly received and well treated. In black, using, of course, not knives many places much interest was maniand forks, but chopsticks.-Oh~1dren'8 fested. The district of the other mis- World. sionary, 1'[r. McLaughlin, is still larger, and equally open to the Gospel. There -Lilian F. Reeves has been writing 6re no other Protestant missionaries. for the Paciflc some most entertaining letters full of ineidents which occurred Japan.-The mother-in law of the to her and other women while on a mis- Mikado was recently ill, and though sionary tour in the interior 225 miles up IlBving 423 physicians in attendance, river from Canton. One of the party she recovercd. A Buddhist priest said that the cause of her illness was the iu- jority in favor of the- following resolu- troduction of railways I tlons: 1. It is a virtuous custom of -The old nobility of Japan is called Japanese women from olden times to the Samurai, of which there are about remain at home and to apply themselves 200.000 members. The order is gov- to their domestic duties. Should they erned by 60 dukcs, and each family has be employed in the government service a coat-of-arms which belougs to it and the consequence would be the neglect which no one else can use. The lead- of domestic affairs, and a possible dis· ing priuciple of t11e Samurai is patriot- turbance of family relationship. 2. ism to the death. Women are by nature passionate and difficult of control. 3. Women, being -Japanese patriotism is marked. It devoid of the power of judgment, are is said that all news of victory over the… unsuited for postal affairs, which re- Chinese sets the population wild with quire knowledge of an abstract and inenthusiasm. The supply of volunteers ductive character. 4, 'While it is of for war service exceeds the demand. primary importance in postal affairs to Japanese professional wre3tlers, of strictly observe.. secrecy, the want of whom there are many, have offered caution in women entirely incapacitates their services to be formed into an or- them from undertaking this responsiganization of "strong men," and a bility.-John L. Dem'ing, Yokohama. Japauese newspaper "estimates that Nishinoumi, the champion, would be a AFRICA. match for nine and two thirds China- men." -In Tunis, Sidi Ahmed, a recent con- -Patriotism ranks high among the vert from Mohammedanism, after envirtues, but even patriotism may be in during much persecution, was arrested excess, or may degenerate into an in- on baseless charges of such insanity as sane and criminal passion. As witness made it unsafe for him to go at large, the action of the Tokyo Presbytery in and was held for two days; but then the recently deposing from the ministry French authorities. finding he was of a Rev. Mr. Tamura, a gifted, consecrated sound mind and had done nothing in man, and only because he wrote" The the least culpable, secured his release.
Japanese Bride," published by the Har- -Not long since Mr. T. E. Alvarez, pers, which sets forth some of the ideas of the Church l'[issionary Society, ac- and customs of his countrymen that are companied the Governor of Sierra Leone, by no means what they ought to be. by the latter's invitation, on a tour to The truth of what he said is not called Fahba, a town some 200 miles In the in question, but it was unpardonable interior. Five hundred out of the 600 disloyalty to tell it to the world. What miles covered on this journey were made the Christian .. world" thinks of this on foot.
absurd ebullition of unrighteous wrath -According to Belgian statistics, is seen in these phrases which are ap- there were imported into Congo State plied thereto: "Ecclesiastical proceed- last year 18 cannon, 71)44 rifles, 1,119,- ing;" an " ecclesiastical earthquake ;" 898 cartridges, 3,553,470 caps, and the "ecclesiastical guillotine, " etc. 1,783,710 litres<about 445,927 gallons) of Well might the missionaries protest. brandy. It is much to be feared that -A recent debate at the Postal and life-giving forceR were not sent in either Telegraph School shows very fairly the quantity or quality at all to match the present status of woman in Japan. The deadly weapons and deadly drinks.
subject of debate was the question as -The Bakalanga live in constant fear to the employment of women in the of witches. One day a poor cripple, post-offices and telegraph offices. The came to the missionaries and asked for result of the debute was a strong ma- work. But what could they give him to do, for both his hands were cut off? and the others in couples to the Sese His wish to be herdman was granted. Islands. He was once healthy and strong. One day a man came to him, asking assist- .ISLANDS OF THE SEA. ance in getting a girl for a wife. He refused. A short time after the other -One contrast between now and fifty man died, and the witch doctors ac· years ago, when it was decided to un- cused the now cripple of having caused dertake mission work, is the decrease in his death. A relation of the dead man the population of the New Hebrides. went and cut off the young man's ears, When the Geddies landed on Aneityum nose, and upper lip. His head looks in 1848, the population was about 4000, now almost like the skull of a dead per- and Rev. John Inglis estimated that it son. must have .been at one time 10,000 or more. In 1880 it was reduced to 1200, -A careful estimate, based on all and in 1893 to 710. availahle sources of information, brings out the total weight of diamonds ex- -The Christian world will not forget ported from South Africa down to the Dr. Paton as he returns to the New end of 1892 at 50,000 carats, or some- Hebrides, the scene of his remarkable thing over 10 tons I The value of this toils and triumphs. Not many mis- mass of gems would be, roughly, about sionaries have been permitted to bestow $350,000,000. If heaped together, they such large measures of blessing both would form a pyramid 6 feet high on a in the field and also upon the churches base of 9 feet square. of America and Great Britain.
-Mrs. French·Sheldon, who a year -We need not be at all surprised to or two since pushed her way far toward learn that, excited by a political trouble the interior of the Dark Continent, and in Fiji, at the instigation of their chiefs, who says she "hates the word mis- some of the natives have returned to sions," is to found a state about 600 their old-time devil worship, or " Luve miles north of Zanzibar, and on either Ni Wai," as a way out of the difficulty, side of the Juba River for some 450 the pretender saying he had received miles Inland. She has heard from 3000 revelations from tIle old gods of Fiji. Americans who are anxious to go, and During the revolt they raided several thinks that $50,000 will suffice for lay- towns, massacring people and mutilat- ing foundations. Some time next year ing and eating the dead, after the cus- the pioneers will be on their journey. tom of fifty years ago. This was the first act of general cannibalism since 1876. -The Bishop of Nyassaland told an interviewer that of 9 missionaries who -In view of the large number of sailed with him in February, 1893, 4 Japanese at the Hawaiian Islands, and have died and 2 have been invalided. also of the long acquaintance of Rev. O. H. Gulick and wife with the native -Dr. Laws says: "On the shores of Hawaiian people, it has been deemed Lake Nyassa, a few years ago the habi- advisable -that, though still connected – tation of cruelty, there are now Chris- with the Japan Mission, they should re- tian schools with 150 teachers and 7000 main on Hawaii. In a recent letter scholars. " from Honolulu, Mr. Gulick says: "We have now 9 Japanese preachers and -In response to an appeal put forth evangelists, very valuable men, labor· during Lent at Mengo, Uganda, by the ing for their countrymen in these missionaries, 25 men and youths offered islands, the most of them supported by . themselves for evangelistic work, and plantation funds for the benefit of the 13 of the number were solemnly dis- laborers. Of these 9 men, 4 are on Ha- missed by the congregation at Easter, 3 waii, 1 on Maui, 2 on Kauai, and 2 on going to one of the Bavuma Islands, Oahu."
The Missionary Review of the World — October 1889
THE EVANGELISTIC EARL
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XII. No. lO.-OldSerie.._-OOTOBER.–VoL. II. No.IO.-NewBerie..
I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS. SHAF'l'ESBURY, THE EVANGELISTIO EARL.
[EDITORI.A.L.-A. T. p.] WREN Oonstantine, in 330, resolved to build the New Rome on tht> site of Byzantium, he was himself marking out the boundary lines on a scale of more than twice the magnitude of the old city. One of his followers ventured to remonstrate against so iDl.practicable a scheme as to inclose within walls such an extent of territory. But the founder of Oonstantinople replied, {( I am /ollowinJ Him who is leadinJ me."
When we laid down those two imperial volumes* in which Mr. Hodder has so graphically portrayed the most many-sided life of the century if not of history, we felt overwhelmed by the magnitude of the scheme on which that life's activities were projected. But the coster~ earl built more wisely than he knew. He followed One who led him, and who had for that life a sphere so wide and so varied in its service. The story of such a man is peculiarly valuable at this crisis of history. It illustrates what a single man can be to his own generation directly, and to all coming generations remotely, by simply giving himself to every work in the spirit of a true evangelism. We are reminded of Admiral Foote, who, when the King of Siam came on board his flagship to dine with him, asked a blessing on the food; and when the king said, "You do just like the missionaries," the Ohristian commander beautifully replied, "Yes, I, too, am a missionary."
It is well worth while to glanp~ at this career of an English nobleman, whose nobility was less that of the garter and the escutcheon than of the Ohristian and the universal benefactor. We may learn from it one grand lesson: that he who hallows life with a consecrated missionary spirit and purpose may work out a truly missionary service wherever he goes and whatever he does. Shaftesbury had the marvelous power of· turning every employment and environment into a new opportunity for evangelism. In even so unlikely a place as the Houses of Parliament he preached the gospel. His pen and his tongue were constant tonics and stimulants to the work of missions both at home and abroad. Robert Morrison in Ohina, William Oarey in India, Robert Moffat in Africa, Eli Smith in Syria, Justin Perkins (."Life of the E~rlof Shaftesbury." by Edwin Hodder. 2 vols•• 8vo. London.) in Persia, Adoniram Judson in Burmah, never did a more thorough missionary service than did Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury.
During a public life spanning a period of more than fifty years he was identified with more organizations and measures for the uplifting–of humanitythan any other man who ever lived. Though heir to titles and estates, he found no man so poor and degraded, no child so filthy and repulsive, no place so dark and dismal, as to dishearten him in his errands of mercy. Wherever he went he found existing evils which were a disgrace to a Christian civilization. The condition of the insane patients in hospitals, of wage-workers in factories and mines, of dwellers in tenement-houses and lodging places for the poor, of the outcast population in towns and cities, of bootblacks and chimneysweeps, drew out the sympathies of his soul. But he neither wasted his energy in remonstrance, nor exhausted his emotions in sentiment, but he set himself personally to reform every abuse and to remedy every evil. Michael Angelo cQrrected one of Raphael's mistakes, not by criticising his work, but by simply sketching another wall-figure on a larger scale, and writing over it, "ampUus"-broader. Shaftesbury likewise criticised" by creation rather than by finding fault." And, in all his herculean labors, among the seats of the highest or in the slums of the lowest, one purpose moved him: loyalty to Christ and the gospel.
So absorbed and engrossed was he in his mission for humanity that he seems almost omnipresent. To-night he is at the vagrant's hidingplace, the Victoria Arches under Holborn Hill, rousing the poor sleepers from their damp bed of rotten straw filthy with vermin, and leading them to the Ragged School, to sit by their side and by loving counsel stir in them hopes and longings for a true life. To-morrow, at Exeter Hall, he takes the chair and thrills a host of veterans who are holding a council of war, in the interests of the life-long conflict with human wrongs; he inspires new zeal, kindles new enthusiasm, provokes new emulation. Again he stands in the midst of five hundred acknowledged criminals, without weapon or guard, and calmly and courteously advises them how to get out of the clutches of evil habits and into an honest livelihood. Yet again, in the House of Lords, he draws aside the veil, and discloses to the peers of the realm the actual, factual tragedies enacted daily within a few squares of Westminster Cathedral, or among the operatives in the foremost factories of the land. That tall, pale, thin, careworn man puts his shoulder to the wheel where others would think humanity hopelessly bemired, and instead of waiting for some Hercules to come and help him, lifts with all his might. And that one man carries through Parliament scores of relief bills, in the face of opposition, and what is worse-inertia. He shortens hours of labor, secures sanitary provisions and educational opportunities, better wages, better homes, and whatever else can improve the condition of the poor working-people. There is nothing, near or far, that is wrong, oppressive, unjust, unmerciful, in which he is not personally interested. He does not, like Mrs. Jellyby, look past the misery at his side to dream of some philanthropic scheme in Boorioboola Gha ; nor, like too many other small souls who claim that "charity begins at home," does he exemplify the sordid selfishness that begins at home and stays there.
No wonder that when, as the autumn leaves fell in 1885, his bier stood in Westminster Abbey, a nation wept. Throngs of the common folk leave scant room for the simple funeral cortege to pass through the streets. There they stand-the men with bared head and mourning badge on the coat-sleeve; the women with crape on the bonnet and tears in their eyes; artisans and seamstresses, factory hands and flower girls; they come -from homes, refuges, asylums, tmining-ships, ragged-schools; costermongers and bootblacks, reformed criminals and reclaimed women, stand without. Within the great Pantheon of England's dead, royalty and nobility, dignitaries of church and state, the leaders and the literati, lords and ladies, crowd to pay the last honors to the illustrious man, who, being human, like Terence, counted nothing human as alien to himself. When before was there ever such a burial sceue? where prince and peasant met in an equal sorrow, and where on the same coffin there lay side by side ~he flowers sent by a crown princess and by London's flower-girls!
To give a complete review of such a long and laborious life would consist neither with our space nor our aim. But, if we may get some point of view from which to command the whole horizon, we may get some conception of the bolder, more conspicuous features of an almost limitless landscape; and so we shall seek to discover some secrets of the power and success of this singularly consecrated life, which is perhaps the greatest lesson on missions which the nineteenth century has yet taught us. We incline to emphasize it the more because it illustrates the great fact that the sphere of our service is comparatively inconsequential. Not where we go, but how we go, is the all-im- . portant matter. He who has within him the love of Christ and the love of soul!':, the divine enthusiasm of humanity, the passion to do good, cannot be placed amiss. He will transform any work into a divine ca.lling.
Shaftesbury was a man of one idea. Early in his career he laid down the law which ruled his life, that the English nation's best policy was to declare Christia.n principles the basis of its government and the law of the land. That was his" one idea." He determined, whether that declaration was openly made or not, to regard it as a fact that Britain was a Christian land, and that everything unchristian and inhuman should, at leaFA, g~ I?ol!lvelled to face the light of investigation and exposure. One of the Erskines used to call God to witness that he had done his best to bring on a definite issue between Christ and the adversaries of the truth. Shaftesbury did the same in his parliamentary career. He compelled what was wrong to confront exposure; he tore away every curtain of concealment. He compelled those who claimed to be virtuous and defenders of right to see what was vicious and unrighteous, and then disregard it if they dareu. As Voltaire shamed papal France out of persecution for religious opinion, he shamed even political partisans and demagogues into righting great wrongs. He first went himself to explore abuses; then he set himself to expose them; and, with characteristic intensity, tenacity and pertinacity, he held on to his manly and godly purpose till he wrought reform. He believed in the double power of light-to reveal and heal, to expose and transform; and was confident that life would follow light.
Costermongers especially interested him. They constituted a community by themselves, and the donkey is a member of the family with family privileges. Poor and improvident and untidy, they needed help and comfort, and he called himself a coster, bought a barrow and donkey, and then lent them to those who had none. He mingled with the costers, joined their society, and insisted that, when they communicated with him by letter, they should not forget the honorary titles, "K. G." and" Coster!" He encouraged them to Sunday rest, and by donkey shows and prizes stimulated a wholesome pride in the care of their beasts. The costers loved him; and on one occasion presented him with a fine donkey duly decorated. With rare tact he rose to receive the gift, and, with arm around the donkey's neck, said that he would ask no epitaph beyond this, that "with a patience as great and a resignation as unmurmuring as his, he might have done his own duty;" then, as the donkey was led from the platform, he humorously begged the reporters to state, that" the donkey having vacated the chair, his place was taken by Lord Shaftesbury." This scene of itself is a revelation of the man: his singular simplicity, sagacity, tact, freedom from all lordly airs; his remarkable union of a dignified manhood with a flexible adaptation to his environment, are all here exhibited and exemplified.
The best part of such a life is found in what it stimuZates others to do. In 1861 he plead for an asylum for the middle classes. Thomas Holloway then formed a resolve to found such an institution; and twenty-five years later the" Holloway Sanatorium" was opened by the Prince of Wales. Another of Munchausen's "frozen tunes" had thawed out into the music of action.
Nothing is more important in this life of many-sided philanthropy than the fact of his soundness of doctrine. There is a current impression that laxity of doctrine and the '" enthusiasm of humanity" are somehow linked; that orthodoxy is narrow, unsympathetic, uncharitable; and that it is the liberal thinkers who a,re the liberal givers., Here is a standing refutation of the idea that a man must be a heretic to be a worker for men and a winner of men. The Earl was from deepest conviction an old-fashioned believer, and belonged to the extreme wing of that evangelical party from whom have sprung the great philanthropic movements of the century. His orthodoxy was of no compromise pattern. He held to the total depravity of the human heart, the need of the new birth and of simple faith in the inspired Word and the atoning blood; he believed in prayer and Providence, in the resurrection of the dead and a coming judgment. His theology had three vital points; a divine Christ, an atoning sacrifice, and a coming kingdom. Notwithstanding its unpopularity he believed in the literal return of Christ as the only hope of humanity. To him all things move toward that event. The world cannot be saved by human agency. We may and we must preach this gospel "for a witness in all the world; and then shall the end come." For all this misery "the only remedy is in His r6turn, for which we should plead every time the clock strikes! "
Shaftesbury's identification with the poor was not formal but real. When in 1860 the Ragged Schools of London presented him with their testimonial, he replied that he would rather preside over the Ragged School Union than command armies or sway empires.
Nothing in the character of this superb man attracts more than his habit of discriminating if at all in favor of the most degraded and destitute: To have seen him at St. Giles' Refuge, talking to ragged, barefoot, homeless boys, drawing out from them frank confessions as to their vicious and criminal habits, kindling in them new hopes of an honest and industrious life, and planning for them a way to such a goal-this was to see him at his best. For thirtytwo consecutive years he presided and spoke at the meetings of the Ragged School Union. It was his habit to look at every question from the point of view of the poor and the outcast. The shoeblacks, like the costers, called him" our Earl;" ragged urchins and half-starved gamins during one winter were fed with 10,000 basins of soup and bread, made in his own house and sent to supply their needs. He had boundless faith in the power ofthe gospel to uplift, save and sanctify. In the worst and lowest h(sawa genIi of good that could be made to grow into a heavenly plant.
He was an aristocrat by lineage but a democrat by principle. He believed with Burke that the condition of the common people is the condition of the commonwealth. We may call the great lower stratum of society "the masses," as though it were only an aggregation or conglomerate of dead matter, but these masses have marvelous powers to heave and shake and cleave the upper crust. There the volcanic fires burn and thence the earthquake shocks come: The base of the pyramid is much broader than the apex, but if it be laid in the marsh or the quicksand the whole structure sinks. Sbaftesbury's tastes, like F. W. Robertson's, were with the elect aristocracy; but, like him, his principles were with the mob. His great aim was to lift the common people to a higher level, and, because the only way to find a solid fulcrtlm for his lever was to get down to their plane, he would not accept any honor or office which put them at too great a distance. When, in 1855, Pal- merston urged him to take a place in the ministry of the realm, he answered: "I cannot satisfy myself that to accept office is a divine call; but I am satisfied that God has called me to labor among the poor." Of one-half of bis life that sentence is the key. When again, in 1866, Lord Derby urged him to accept a high office, he said, "1,600,000 operatives are still excluded from the benefits of the Factory acts, and~ so long as they are unprotected, I cannot take office. "
Much of his public work bore directly on evangelism. As late as 1855 he found an unrepealed law, forbidding gospel teaching and worship in private houses where, besides the family, over twenty per- sons were gathered. Under such an enactment any religious gathering, not under the protection of the established church, might be dispersed as an unlawful conventicle! Shaftesbury moved for the repeal of this relic of barbarism. He presented the facts: millions of non-church- goers; all the churches together unable to cope with prevailing immorality and infidelity; the need of using every agency to per- vade society with the gospel; and he showed now if literally construed that law would shut up every Bible class, Sunday school, cot- tage lecture and ragged school, and make the 25,000 annual meet- ings of the Oity Missio)1 unlawful.
Of course he met opposition. Indifferentism said the decree was a dead letter; he replied that a dormant reptile is not dead, and may be warmed into life when occasion serves. * Ecclesiasticism fought him, but he insisted that" permission" to breathe is no more absurd than permission to pray or praise, teach or preach; and that, with no limits save those demanded by public morality or safety, every Englishman . should enjoy his right to worship God when, where and how he pleased.
He was a man of many sympathies. The unity of his purpose was not more conspicuous than the multiplicity of his. labors and interests. If he was narrow at the point, he was broad at the blade. While he was fighting the "Improvement Oompanies," that, while displacing old tenements by newer houses, drove the poor into overcrowded dwellings or compelled them to lodge at a great distance from their workshops or else pay excessive rents, he could originate a sanitary commission in connection with the war in the far EaRt.
*Lord Brougham. Florence Nightingale equally with the sewing girl called llim " our leader." The tortures to which chimney sweeps were subjected in hot, sooty and narrow flues; the sufferings of children while training for the circus-shows; the snares lai'd for the vIrtue of young girls- all these drew out his sympathy. .
Shaftesbury's evangelism was of the individal sort, private and personal. Never did he lose a chance of bringing the subject of religion before either a community or an individual. There are some people who are forever talking about evangelizing the masses, but who never attempt the work of winning souls one by one. Somebody quaintly says that the priest and Levite who passed by the wounded man were on the way to preach to the masses and could not stop to take care of one man even if he were dying.
He protested that in a country where 100,000 souls were every year added to those who had neither church, pastor, nor sacraments, and 500,000 persons were absolutely without any religious instruction, the church that restricted evangelism, nay did not lead in evangelism, would soon die of dry rot, if not by divine judgment. .That sentiment is one text from the Earl's life that might well be cut in stone upon the walls of every church building in Christendom!
Of course such a man took the lead in every effort to evangelize the cities and gather in those who go to no church. He rejoiced when thousands thronged Exeter Hall and thousands more went away un- able to get in,' during the special services held there for non-attend- ants. When the metropolitan theaters were opened for Sunday even- ing meetings, he was there often, Bible in hand, facing the motley throng; and he, like Ezra, "read in the Book of the Law of God distinctly, and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading."* The study of Scripture was his habit and delight. He searched the Word of God and knew how to use it. He was appalled at the prevailing spiritual destitution of the people, and put forth every effort to supply it.
His self-oblivion was the fruit of a cherished principle and a culti- vated habit of self-forgetfulness. He esteemed nothing his own, ex- cept his conscience. To pride he became b.,y simple habit an alien.
He helped a hobbling old woman to his place in the carriage while he mounted the box and drove up to receive military honors as Lord Lieu- tenant of his county; or bent to kiss the little girls who won the prizes at the hllillble flower shows; or went into the worst districts to carry toys to poor little children, or read and pray at the bedsides of the dying.
The Countess was a noble helper to the Earl. He said with tearful emotion that in every crisis of his life when timidity or infirmity • prompted him to hesitate, she always and promptly said, "Go for- "Neh. viii. ward and to victory!" From the time when in 1833, a few years after his marriage, he set before her, and in no rose-colored tints, the career of self-denying service to which God seemed to call him, she never wavered. She bade him follow his dnty, and resign honors of state and comforts of home, yea, even intellectual culture, to place himself on the side of the children of want and woe. And so he did!
One additional fact must be noted. The primal inspiration of all thIs heroically unselfish life came not from his parents, nor wife, but from Maria Millis, a humble nurse, who, before he was seven years old, taught him to pray, to study God's Word, and to love the poor. To her he attributed that first touch that set all the chords of his being vibrating at the story of the cross, and the old watch which she left him as her legacy was the only one he ever wore. When his heart was attuned to such a key, it needed only an occasion to waken life-long harmonies; and that occasion was furnished when, at fourteen years, he saw a pauper borne to burial in a rude coffin by staggering drunkards, who actually let their burden fall, and then cursed and swore. Not a mourner was following the bier, and the thought of flinging It human being into a hole without decency or humanity, simply because he was a friendless pauper, set his heart-chords trembling; and henceforth they never ceased vibrating in that minor key. Just before his death he said, « I feel age creeping on me, and I know I soon must die. I hope it is not wrong, but I cannot bear to leave this world, with all the suffering in it."
Of his activity in promoting the" Water-cress and Flower-girls' Mission;" the" Flower Shows," where prizes rewarded the faithful care of household plants; the reform of lunatic asylums, factory abuses and sanitary science; in espousing the cause of chimney-sweeps and workers in mines and collieries; in relieving the sufferings of the blind, the crippled, waifs and orphans; in fighting opium and Sabbath labor. we cannot speak in detail. His life illustrated the inexorable law of vicarious suffering. The disciple is not above his Mastel', who" saved others; Himself he could not save." His dedication to the cause of the friendless poor was costly; it cost pain of body, and more exquisite pain to his sensibilities; it left on his face the lines of care, it marked him as an old man when yet in life's prime. His was an alabaster flask of ointment very precious, bnt he broke it lavishly upon the feet of his Lord, and of His poorest and least creatures.
Of course Shaftesbury was tL habitual giver. He despised the selfishness that expends itself in ample indulgence and then seeks to atone for a life of luxury by "munificent bequests." He said there is no such thing, but there are munificent donations. He could not keep money in the face of human want, and only his frugal habits kept him from insolvency. He knew no value in money save its power to confer good; and he held that to put it to an unselfish purpose stamps
WILLIAM CAREY. '729
on human coin the image of God and makes it pass current for heaven's own merchandise.
Shaftesbury, in preparing addresses, always followed a few rules. He neither wrote nor trusted to notes. He gathered and arranged '~acts and quotations. By investigation and then rumination he made himself master of his theme and its great outlines, and then trusted to the inspiration 01 the occasion. In the House of Lords, where the very atmosphere stifles enthusiasm and affords no inspiration, he sometimes, though rarely, committed a speech to memory. But he used to say that how a speech begins is of little moment, but not so how it ends; and he often committed to memory his entire peroration. But his life was one grand oration. The golden pen of heroic action, held in the hand of sublime resolve, wrote out its sentences in living deeds. No wonder it was grandly effective. Its echoes may still be heard and will long stir to similar action like the clarion peal of a trumpet along the lines of battle.
WILLIAM CAREY.
B~ JAMES M. LUDLOW, D.D., EAST ORANGE, N. J.
ONE hundred years ago this sign hung over acottage in aNorth- amptonshiro village: "Second-hand..shoes bought and sold. William Carey." Within sat a cobbler, twenty-eight years of age, careworn, burdened with the support of himself and a sickly, half-crazed wife. On a pile of leather chips, the leaves held open by lasts and awls, were books in Hebrew, Latin, Greek and French, which languages he was trying to master. On the wall was a map which he had rudely draw~ and scribbled over with the statistics of the world. Some years later Lord Wellesley, the English Governor-General of India, hearing this man commend his course, said, "I esteem such a testimony from such a man a greater honor than the applause of courts and Parliaments."
The evolution of such a life from insignificant obscurity to worldfilling influence and renown is a subject of study for this age. It was an evolution, not a change through mere environment, for we can detect the germ of that great after-life in its earlier years.
Carey was born in 1761, the son of a poor weaver. His early education was such as, with his marvelous powers of observation, he picked up from men and things. When a mere lad his garret-room was stocked with specimens of bugs and botany. As Solomon in more elaborate address, so the ragged boy whose genius for discovery led his playmates to call him" Columbus," "spake to them of trees, even unto the flower that springeth out of the wall; he spake also of beasts and of lowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes." He devoured the few books that came in his way. For language he had such a natural gift that he learned to read F'rench in three weeks from a French translation of an English work, and that without grammar or dic- tionary. But though a genius, he had no natural endowment of piety. He learned to lie, and once he stole. He was converted at eighteen; married at twenty; cobbled, peddled shoes and studied during the week'days, opened a school at night for those poorer than himself, and preached for the Baptists on Sunday.
There were no foreign missionary meetings, magazines, or interest in those days. But, bending over his Bible and his last, the cobbler student felt himself swayed by the conviction that the church must go to the heathen. At a meeting of preachers he brought up the subject. The presiding officer, as wise as his age in these matters, rebuked him: "You are a miserable enthusiast; nothing can be done before another Pentecost, when an effusion of miraculous gifts, including the gift of tongues, will give effect to the commission of Christ as at first." But the Pentecostal effusion was already in Carey's soul, and it almost took the form of the gift of tongues, such was his marvelous facility for acquiring languages. He sent out from his cobbler shop a pamphlet, which, as it was the first, is still about the best missionary prospectus in the English language. Its chief suggestions were united prayer and a penny a week from every communicant. His genius in putting the matter and his devotion to the idea soon won him some grand friends, among them the distinguished Andrew Fuller. They at once started the" monthly concert" of prayer for missions, which is still observed so largely in England and America. In 1792 Carey preached a grand sermon, a direct result of which was the fouuding of the Baptist Missionary Society. As the chief projector of this grand scheme, the devoted man did not hesitate to offer himself as its first missionary.
He stndied his maps. Iudia, with its hundreds of millions, seemed to be the most needy, and, at the same time, the most promising field accessible, in that the English flag was already there. Fnller eloquently'described the meeting where Carey volunteered. ,. We saw there was a gold mine in India, but it was as deep as the center of the . earth. Who will venture to explore it?" "I will go down," said Carey, "bnt remember that you must hold the ropes." "We solemnly engaged to him to do so, nor while we live shall we desert him," was the pledge with which the little band practically launched the scheme of modern English missions.
Taking John Thomas, who had once been in India, as a medical helper, Carey sailed in 1793. That vast land was then without a ray of clear Christian light, except that which lingered with the reme;nbrance of the German missionary Schwartz, and the glimmers in the homes of certain English army and civil officers. The land was divided between the various forms of Hinduism in its densest superstition, its most horrid crnelties, and the equal bigotry of Mohammedanism. The British influence being that of the camp, the trading station or the political office, showed the vices of Christian lands rather than the virtues of Christian life. The East India Company dreaded the attempt to evangelize the land lest It should awaken the religious prejudices of the people and imperil their gains. Such was the hostility of even English merchants that the missionaries were denied passage to India in an English boat, and sailed in a Danish ship. Arriving at Calcutta, they were not allowed by the East India Company to engage in religious' work. For five mohths they lived in abject poverty. Carey finally went inland, built a bamboo house in a neighborhood infested with tigers, hired out as an assistant in an indigo factory, and while thus engaged studied the Bengali language, talking the gospel in it as fast as he learned the equivalent of the sacred words. He set up in a corner of the factory a rude printing press, to which he was so devoted that the natives thought it was his god whom he worshiped. On this he printed with his own hands portions of the Bible as he translated it.
Able to earn some money in the factory, the self-sacrificing man declined to receive any salary from the friends in England. He soon fell a victim to the fever. His children sickened; one died. The insanity of his wife developed into actual mania. But he worked on without abatement of zeal. Beside his house he built a chapel and preached to the natives, though such multitudes came that they congregated outside more frequently than inside. He visited two hundred villages, everyone he could reach in his boat, which was his sleeping place and his library; for all the while he was studying Sanskrit, the mother tongue of the various Indian languages. He saw that the Bible must be laid beside the Shastras of the Hindus; that it, the divine light, could evangelize India-he could not. This great soul thus faced the immense problem of making himself to India what Ulphilas had been to the Goths, and Jerome to the Latin world, giving those vast millions the Bible in their own tongue. In the meantime the letters of Carey to friends in England electrified the home church with his own spirit. To his personal influence we trace the formation of three great missionary societies: the London Missionary Society, representing various denominations of dissenters; the Scottish Missionary Society, representing Presbyterianism, and the Chu1'ch Missionary Society in the Established Church. Individual Christians, too, caught Carey's enthusiasm. After reading the account of his project, Robert Haldane sold all his possessions, and gave $200,000 to establish a similar work in Benares, which, however, was prevented by the cruel timidity of the secular authorities.
Soon Carey was joined by those grand men, Marshman and Ward. The East India Company not allowing them in their bounds they settled in Danish territory at Seram,Pore. On Christmas day, 1800, after seven years'labor, Carey baptized his first native convert, Krishna Pal, whose hymn translated by Marshman has become an heirloom of aU the modern church: " 0 thou, my soul, forget no more The friend who all thy sorrows bore; Let every idol be forgot, But, 0 my soul, forget Him not."
Krishna was a high-caste Brahmin; he became a gifted preacher, and with his own private fortune built the first house of Ohristian worship for natives in Bengal.
The same year witnessed the publication of the entire New Testament in Bengali, a work which made Oarey's reputation as the foremost of Oriental scholars. The British Government now found it necessary to establish a college at Fort William for the instruction of their own officers in the languages and" literature of India. There was one man only in India, or the world.. if we except Lord Oolebrooke, who could fill its chief chair. Oarey became a professor, but really he became the university. One who had seen him at work writes: "Here was for nearly a whole generation a sublime spectacle-the Northamptonshire shoemaker training the governing class of India in Sanscrit, Bengali and Marathi all day, translating, too, the Raynayana and the Veda; and then, when the sun went down, returning to the society of the maimed, the halt, and the blind, and many with the leprosy; to preach in several tongues the glad tidmgs of the kingdom to the heathen of England as well as of India, and all with a loving tenderness and patient humility learned in the childlike school of Him who said, 'Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?' "
It was in lR04, when Oarey had thirty years of life still before him, that the Governor-General of India declared· that he esteemed the commendation of such a man a greater honor than the applanse of courts and Parliaments." The occasion of this praise was a notable one. In a brilliant assembly of European officers and native scholars Oarey had welcomed Lord Wellesley in a speech in Sanskrit, at the time an almost unknown tongue to Europeans. It was an exploit of a great genius, at which the Sanskrit scholars of to-day marvel, although they have the aid of Oarey's dictionaries and grammar, and more recent works based upon them, with which to acquire that language, while Oarey had to make these tools for himself. That the following thirty years of such a man's life would be of immens@ influence we could predict, but the full greatness of his work no man can estimate. With the corps of scholars he brought about him he rendered the gospel into between thirty and forty different tongues, and thus brought it within the reach of over three hundred millions of human beings to whom it had been unknown. It was a beautiful custom of these translators, when a volume was. completed, to place it on the communion table and dedicate it to the service of Ohrist. And why not? It was the offering of intellect and heart and body, of which the volume was the product. But Oarey's work was wider than this, although this alone would have warranted the praise given him at his death by Robert Hall, as "the instrument of diffusing more religious knowledge among his contemporaries than has fallen to the lot of any individual since the Reformation;" if not that of another who pronounces him "the most honored and the most successful missionary since the time of the Apostles." (Dr. John Wilson.) We can only indicate the side work of this wonderful man. He was distinguished as a botanist and edited the journal "Flora Indica." He founded the Agricultural Society of India. He made the first dictionary of Oriental languages. He translated parts of the Hindu sacred books and made Europe fa- miliar with the Eastern religious thought. He established the first dis- tinctly Ohristian college in heathen lands, having won the patronage of the King of Denmark. He started the first newspaper in the East, the Samaohar Darpam. His was the first clear and potent voice which the British authorities heeded, in suppressing the cruelties of infanticide, the murder of widow-burning, and the living sacrifice to Juggernaut.
Oarey died at the age of seventy-three. At that time English mis- sions had become established in India, and all sects recognized him as the divmely appointed pioneer. When on his sick bed the Metropolitan Bishop of India, the highest official of the English Ohurch in the land, visited him, and bowing his head by his pillow asked the dissenter's ben- ediction, feeling that no ecclesiastical honor could equal the blessing of one whom God had ordained to be the great apostle of modern mis- sions. The learned world went into mourning when the news floated to the universities of England, Germany and America that Oarey was no more. 'rhe secular authorities did .well to recognize his departure as if he had been one high in political or military life, by dropping the flag to half mast, for he had accomplished more for European influ- ence in India than any single man who represented only the State. But Oarey himself seemed during his life to be the only one who was ignorant of his greatness. The humility of this sublime iloul was beautifully illustrated during his last illness. Dr. Duff, then a young man, visited him. As he was leaving the chamber the sick man re- called him, and said, "Mr. Duff, you have been speaking about Dr. Oarey, Dr. Oarey; when I a~ gone say nothing about Dr. Oarey- speak about Oarey's Saviour."
Where ninety years ago Oarey was the only ordained Protestant missionary are now about seven thousand. That single convert, Khl'lshnu Pal, has a goodly following of two-thirds of a million. This is the commentary on Carey's early sermon that led to the establish- ment of the society which sent him out as its first missionary. His text was Isaiah liv.: 2, 3. "Enlarge the place of thy tent," etc. Un- . der this he made the two points-the heart lobes of his own life: 1. Exped great thing8 from God. 2. Attempt great things for God.
VIEWS AND PRACTICES OF THE ZULUS
RELIGIOUS VIEWS AND PRACTICES OF THE ZULUS.
BY REV. LEWIS GROUT, WEST BRATTLEBORO, VT.
WHEN I received my appointment to labor as a missionary among the Zulus in South Africa one of the Secretaries of the Board in Basion expressed to me the wish that I would give special attention to the language of that people, as little or nothing had been as yet done in that direction. In following out this request, I found it necessary to go directly to the more intelligent of the Zulus, if I would have genuine samples of the language as they speak it, since among themselves they had neither a book nor even an alphabet with which to write or print one. Having learned the language, as best I could, from their best speakers, I set about getting from them the needed material for preparing a Zulu grammar.
Among the extended sketches of various kinds which I wrote out verbatim from the lips of SGme of the older and best informed that I couid find among them, a good number had respect to their religious views, their divinities, their modes and objects of worship. These objects I found to be the spirits of their departed friends, the shades of their ancestors, and especially the ghosts of kings and other men of rank and renown. Of these they speak as the amahlozi (singular, ihlozi). To these they are wont to ascribe eyerything, good or. evil. For the good, they are praised; for the evil, they are propitiated by sacrifices. Sometimes the departed spirit is spoken of as reappearing in the form of a snake, whenever the departed thinks it necessary to commune with those he left on earth. Sometimes, or at least among some of the tribes, the divinity or shade is spoken of as an itonga (pI. amatonga), a defending or preserving power. And sometimes the departed spirit is spoken of as an isitunzi, a shade, the soul after it has left the body. Ask the people about the end of man, where he goes when he dies, and they generally reply that he becomes an ihZozi, and goes off to live somewhere under ground, there to build and abide with his ancestral friends.
The ordinary and more formal method by which the people are accustomed to communicate with their divinities, the spirits of the departed, is through the inyanga, doctor, medical priest, or diviner. It would take long to describe the way in which he prepares himself for this most important profession; nor is it necessary. From the artful, ambiguous language he employs, when his services are required, one would think he must have studied the ancient Delphic oracles. In case of sickness, death, loss of property or other great calamity, a deputation is sent, with a cow or other present, to consult this medical priest, the inyanga, and find out the cause and cure of the sickness or the calamity. If the present is wanting or insignificant, the doctor or medical diviner is quite likely to excuse himself by saying that the divinities are not at home to-day, and so nothing can be done till they return. If the deputation comes again, on the morrow, and brings the desired cow, they will find the divinities at home and the doctor ready for service.
The following is the substance of an account of going to inquire of the inyanga (priest), in a case of sickness, first taken, as above described, from one of the older and more intelligent of the Zulus, and then translated from his own words, with some condensation, into English: When sickness comes, someone takes something and goes to the priest to inquire about the sickness. When they arrive at the priest's, he comes out, sits down, passes the compliments, and remains silent for a time. Then he says, Come, let us go yonder. What have you brought? They say, Sir, we have brought nothing-here is a trifle. Then he says, Come, speak, that I may hear; smite (the earth with your rods), smite ye, that I may hear. They say, hear; he says, sickness. They say, hear. He says, it is in the chest; and the people say hear. He says, it is the lungs; they say, hear. H{f says, his paternal shade wants something. They say, hear. He says, it is the shades of his ancestors. His ancestral shades say, why is it that he (the sick man) does not care for us? Why does he no longer recognize us, since we have preserved him from his infancy? The people say, hear. Will he never build a large kraal for our sake? Why does he not recognize us? Then the people say, There, that is it. And he says, they ask, Why is it that no offering is made to them by the slaying of an animal? Then the people say. there, that is just it. Then he says, smite again, that I may hear; and they say, there, there, he is coming nearer to the seat of the difficulty. Then he says, his paternal shades are angry with him; he is diseased, he is sick; the shades are calling him. And the people say, Who told you?- hear. Then he says, Should an animal be slaughtered, he will recover. They say, hear; he says, the shades require that particular cow of theirs.
And so, when he has finished, the people give him the present which they brought, and go home. Arriving at home, the people there at home say, come now, tell us, that we may hear the words of the priest. What did he pretend to say? How did he inquire and perform? Oh! the priest performed thus: He came and followed the omen of the occasion; he came and said, he is sick, he has a disease, he is called by the shades of his ancestors, who reproach him, saying, Why is it that he acknowledges them no longer? since, long ago, they went and delivered him from great suffering, while other people died? and have they not delivered him from great evil? Why, then, does he not continue to acknowledge us and give us what we require?
And now the sick man admits it all, and says: Oh, since that which they require is thus required by themselves, who can refuse it?
then the people say: Oh, yes/ ~s lOU sa,!, who could refuse a thing when it is thus demanded by the owners themselves? How can the priest be mistaken, since he has gone so evidently according to the omen? Do not ye yourselves perceive that he has run according to the omen? Then let them have their cow, the very same which they have demanded, and then we will see whether sickness will leave me. To this they all assent. And now some one goes out, and when he has come abroad without the kraal, all who are within their houses. keep silence, while he goes round the kraal, the outer inclosure of the kraal, and says: Honor to thee, Lord. Offering prayer to the shades, he continues: A blessing, let a blessing come, then, since you have really demanded your cow; let sickness depart utterly. Thus we offer your animal. And, on our part, we say, let the sick man come out, come forth, be no longer sick, and slaughter your animal, then, since we have now consented that he may have it for his own use. Hail to ~hee, 0 King! glory! Come, then, let us see him going about like other people. Then he goes back into the house, takes a spear, goes out with it, enters the cattle-fold, comes up to the cow, gives it a stab, and as the cow bellows, saying y-e-h, he says, Yes, an animal for the shades ought to show signs of distress; it is all right, just what was required. Thus the offering is made. But if the sick man fails to recover, he goes to his neighbors and says; How is this, that I have slaughtered my cow, which was said to have been required by my pa~ ternal shades, and yet I have never recovered? And they say: It cannot be so; there must be some mistake; it must have been just a device of the lips to get a man's cow. If it had been required by the shades, then why has the sick man never recovered? The priest has been fabricating a lie. He does not know how to inquire of the oracle. Let us go to another priest.
So they go to another priest, salute him, and say: Hail, friend, good news. And he says: What present have you brought? And they say: We have brought a present, so and so. And he says: Oh, the shade is not willing; he is absent. Then the messengers return, and go to another, a.nd after the usual salutations the priest proceeds to inquire of the shades as to the trouble in hand, its nature, cause and cure, as did the other priest. After a long-continued consultation, much smiting, and hearing, and reporting, the priest comes out to say: The sick man's paternal shade is calling him to an account, saying, Why does he abuse me by acting in this manner? I am weary. The shade of }lis mother compla.i.ns also, and says to her son, What art thou doing there yonder? I am displeased with you. The deputation returns and reports to the sick man: The priest says your father demands that particular cow, thy favorite, and says, Since the cattle are mine, being given to you by myself, why have you never made me a decent offering? To this the sick inan replies: Oh, since the owners themselves decide thus, why, what can I say? so, then, let them have an offering, and then I will see whether or not I shall recover. Perhaps beer is included in the offering, with the understanding that some might like beef and beer. Then some one goes out, and there talks, while all within keep silence and listen to what he says, to wit: o ye dwellers below, shades, ye our fathers, there is your cow; we of- ferthe same. Now, then, let this your sick one recover, let disease depart from him; the cow is already your own. Then he goes back into the house, gets a spear, and stabs the cow; and when she bellows, he says, Let your cow ~ry, then, and bring out the evil which is in us; let it be known abroad, then, that it is your cow, which is reqUIred by yourselves. Thus it is slaughtered, thus it dies, and the rest of the cattle are put out to pasture, while this remains dead in the fold, and is left alone for a time. Then they dress it, cut it up, and put it away in a hut by itself for the night. The sick man takes the gall, pours it upon himself, and says: Yes, then, good work is this; let all evil come to an end. The contents of the larger stomach of the slaughtered animal are also strewn upon the house and the premises of the sick man. Noone is allowed to open the hut while the beef is there, until they are ready to take it out, lest the shades be disturbed in their feasting upon it. On opening the hut in the morning, a portion of the beef is said to have oeen consumed. The rest is brought out, cooked and eaten; all the neighbors having gathered to have a share in the feast. As they take their leave they thank the man for the rich entertainment they have had, assure him that it was a very fine animal, an offering with which the shades ought to be satisfied, and express the wish and hope that the sick man may soon recover.
One party, of whom the writer inquired, put it in this way: When they are sick they slaughter cattle to the shades, and say: Father, look on me, that this dise3se may cease from me; let me have health on the earth and live a long time. They have a long talk (with the shades) in the cattle-fold, and praise the spirits, saying: Hail, friend, thou of such a place, grant us a blessing, beholding what we have done, what an offering we have made. You see this distress; may you remove it, since we have given you our animal. We know not what more you want, whether you still require anything more or not. May you grant us grain, that it may be abundant, that we may eat, of course, and not be in need of anything, since now we have given you what you want. Yes, for a long time have you preserved me in all my going. Look here; you see I have just begun to have a kraal. This kraal was huilt hy yourself, father, and why should you now be willing to diminish your own kraal? Build on, as you have begun; let it be large, that your offspring, still here above, may increase, increasing in knowledge of you, whence cometh power.
If one is on the point of being injured by anything, and yet escapes, he says: I was preserved by our shade, which was still watching over
THE NEW ERA OF COLONIZATION
me. Perhaps he slaughters a goat in honor of the same, and puts the gall on his head; and when the goat cries'out for pain of being killed, he says: Yes, then, there is your animal; let it cry, that ye may hear, ye our gods (ye of ours) who have saved me. I myself am desirous of living on thus a long time here on the earth; why, then, do you call me to account, since I think I am all right in respect to you? And while I live I put my trust in you, our paternal and our maternal gods. The writer's informant says they slaughter only goats and cattle, and, not sheep, because sheep never cry when they are slain. They want something which will cry when it is about to be slaughtered.
THE NEW ERA OF COLONIZATION AND ITS BEARING ON CHRISTIAN PHILANTHROPY.
BY F. F. ELLINWOOD, D.D., NEW YORK. NONE can look upon the progress of civilization by the powers of Europe with greater interest than the friends of missions. The question how the dark places of the earth are to be brought under civil government, through what agencies this is to be done, and under what Christian or unchristian influences they are to be placed, is one of the greatest moment as affecting the progress of Christ's kingdom in the world. The spread of that kingdom has from the earliest ages been more or less connected with the great enterprises of colonization. The occupation by God's chosen people of the countries lying on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, considered as a radiating point of influence upon the nations of the world, was of vast consequence. The dispersion of the tribes of Israel through the Babyl~nian Empire, until in the time of Esther the exiled people, with their knowledge of the true God, were represented in aU its one hundred and twenty provinces, greatly enhanced their influence. The numerouS' Greek colonies that were formed in the East, carrying with them that language which became the vehicle of the New Testament revelation, became still another factor in the spread of Christianity. The enforced dispersion of the early Ohristian believers by persecutions at Jerusalem was in the same line. The extension of the Roman arm!:! over all Europe furnished also highways for the messengers of Ohrist, and the settlements which were extended to Spain, Gaul and Britain became centers al1d sources of Ohristian influence. The occupation of the North American Oontinent, and, later still, various portions of the East, by the Anglo-Saxon, has started great forces, whose results we are not even yet prepared to estimate. How, then, can the student of the Bible and of the history of Christian civilization look without deep interest upon the great movements which are being made just now by Britons, French, Germans, Italians, Portuguese and others for the possession of hitherto uncultivated regions of Africa and the Islands of the Sea. It is an encouraging consideration for all those who love the cause of missions that side by side with the small and inadequate work of prelchers and teachers are the great movements of God's providence. The most important element in the missionary work is the fact that by obeying the great commission of our Saviour the church comes into the sweep of those vast and omnipotent forces which move the world by divine behest.
We do not overlook the many and serious hindrances which have been interposed by commerce, especially the contact and influence of those evil-minded men who resort to all mission fields with sinister aims. We do not forget the almost disheartening discouragements of the opium trade, and the still more devastating liquor traffic; but rising high above all these are the supreme purposes and powers of Him who has promised to be with His people" alway, even unto the end of the world."
It has been a matter of just pride throughout Protestant Ohristendom that the Anglo-Saxon has had so prominent a place in the colonization of the waste places of the world. Leaving Southampton one finds the Briton dominant in the great natural Fortress of Gibraltar; he is also at Malta, and at Oyprus, with his stores and naval equipments. He is dominant in Egypt, in Natal, ,and Oape Oolony ; he has established a British Empire in the heart of the Asiatic Oontinent ; Australia, New, Zealand, Fiji, are under his power and influence, not to speak of Singapore, Hong Kong, and various smaller island groups of the Pacific. Wherever British power has obtained a footing a degree of permanence is found in the institutions of government. of education, of economic and political enterprises. The Bible, the school, the eleemosynary institution spring up ; the work of missions by Protestant or Oatholic is impartially protected, though it is fair to say that in India particularly it was by a long and hard lesson that British authorities were taught to deal justly with the missionaries and their converts as against the popular demands of prevailing heathemsm.
It has often enough been said' that the Spanish and the French have never proved to be good colonizers; that on this continent the Spani!3h saw their powers swept away as a result largely of their own blundering, and as a reaction against their remorseless rapacity and oppression. The French colonies on this North American Oontinent were largely lost by the mistakes or weaknesses of bigoted French sovereigns; and where their influence still prevails, as in Lower Oanada, stagnation, the handmaid of superstition, is still too palpable to be hidden.
But a change seems to have come, The Germans, not hitherto inclined to colonization, and the Italians, occupied until within a recent period with their struggles against French ambition, Austrian tyranny, and papal repression, have only just wakened to the spirit of 740 THE NEW ERA OF COLONIZATION. [OCT., colonial enterprise, and a good beginning certainly has been made in Abyssinia. Among those explorers who in the last two decades have helped to open the secrets of the Dark Continent are found names like Caserta and Piaggia, who are proving themselves worthy of the raceof Marco P<>lo and Carpini.
Some recent events have seemed to indicate that possibly Great Britain is in danger of losing her laurels. It is claimed that the splendid opening of Zanzibar, which was accomplished by the enterprise and humanity of Great Britain, under the lead of Sir Bartle Frere, has virtually been snatched from her grasp by Germany; not by force of arms but by a more vigorous utilization of the advantages which were gained when Sultan Borgash had been compelled to treat for the suppression of the slave trade. And now Germany is in possessian of a vast territory which is a key to the,Great Lake Region.
The Egyptian campaign of Great Britain five years since was brilliant and worthy of the British arms, so far as it went. But in the wretched delays and indecision which resulted in the sacrifice of General Gordon, and in much of the policy which has been pursued since that time, there seems to be a lack of that energetic and humane statesmanship which has so long been the glory of the British flag.
A recent editorial article in the New York Tribune condemns, very justly, we think, the short-sighted policy which has been pursued in connection with what it calls the massacre of the Dervishes in the Nile Valley. It justifies the measure as a necessity, but one which when once accomplished should have been followed up by such measures as would prevent a like necessity-for just as soon as another horde of blood-thirsty fanatics can be gather6ld in the desert, it may sweep down the Nile and again fill the whole country with disorder and alarm. It complains that Dongola, Khartoum and the Soudan are still left to govern themselves, and with such a rule one cannot tell what to expect. At the time of Gordon's death the capture of Khartoum would doubtless have been justified by the European powers; now it may be a question. But certainly some measures should be taken to establish authority and permanent peace along the upper Nile, and not only destroy the slave trade, but afford protection to those more peaceful tribes which have so long been devastated by fanatical raids. The fact that Massowah, and other coast towns of Abyssinia which have come under Italian rule, have increased their population more than tenfold in a half dozen years, affords evidence that what the people of all that vast region most desire is stable government and protection. What more significant refutation could be given to those recent pleas which have claimed that Africa should be given over to the superior control of Islam?
The article referred to gives English rule in Egypt much credit over against its failures and mistakes in the Soudan. It has done much to relieve the burdens of the Khedive's subjects; the fellaheen have been delivered from the injustice of arbitrary conscription; the military budget has been rescued from spoliation and extravagance ; taxation has been reduced, and the floating debt has been paid; the system of enforced labor on public works has been' abolished; progress has been, made in irrigation; prisons have been reformed, etc., etc.
But with all this a damaging contrast is still drawn between these results and those effected during a corresponding period of French occupation in 'l'unis. "There," says The Tribune, "the public debt has been refunded at a low rate and carried up to par; surplus revenues have been obtained; a new and radical land system has been introduced; new industries have been established and old occupations revived; commerce has been doubled; municipalities have been created and law courts opened; school-houses have been built and the French language is rapidly spreading through the country. All these results have been accomplished because the French Government, having conquered the country, has justified its continued occupation of it by governing it well, and civilizing it without delay." An important qualification of this contrast must be admitted in the fact that in Tunis capitulations have been withdrawn and a French protectorate has been construed as excluding other EUl'opean nations; while in Egypt the reverse is trne ; international complications have hampered the English at every turn, and the permanence of foreign occupation has been left in doubt.
But the question is : Are these evils insurmountable? In a strategic point of view Egypt is tenfold more essential to African civilization than Tunis. More important than all tho Barbary States together is the Nile; it is the key to the Soudan and all Eastern-Central Africa, and it is along the line of the Nile and the connecting links of navigation through the Lake Country that the fatal blow must be struck to the African slave trade. There is, therefore, a power of motive in connection with diplomatic progress in Egypt far greater than can be found in any other country now waiting the influence of humane I I statesmanship and philanthropy. When Cardinal Lavigerie appeared in London with his stirring appeal for an international movement aimed at the suppression of the African slave trade, whose atrocities he so eloquently portrayed, there appeared in some of the London papers an expression of surprise, amounting almost to a sneer, that a French Catholic should deem it necessary to exhort the countrymen of Wilberforce and Clarkson on the subject of human slavery. Nevertheless, the verdict of Christendom seems to be in favor of Lavigerie; it justifies the pertinence if not the necessity of his appeal. 'rhe horrible traffic goes on, and whoever may be to blame, it cannot be said that anything like adequate efforts are being made on the part of any of the great powers for its suppres-
INTEREST IN MISSIONs
sion. But individual efforts are being put forth, and men of benevolent impulse are associating and conferring with reference to the subject, and it is to be hoped that the sympathy of Christian people on both sides of the A.tlantic may be awakene(j. in this great matter.
There is now in this country a gentleman from London (Mr. Francis William Fox) who is most deeply interested in the establishment of a line of police stations extending from Suakim on the Red Sea to Berber, the most easterly'point of the Nile, thence to Khartoum, and up the Nile to the Lakes, Victoria, '.ranganyika, Nyassa, etc., to the' mouth of the Zambezi. This would complete a cincture which, it is believed, would sever the roots of that foul cancer which Livingstone caned the" great open sore of Africa." Mr. Fox is encouraged by the prospect that a meeting will be held in New York in October which will enlist some of our influential classes of citizens in favor of the project which he has at heart. There should be found a hearty sympathy with it on the part of all friends of missions and all others who love humanity.
'rhe time seems to have come when the Government and people of the United States should begin to cherish a more active interest in the great geueral movements of the world and should seek to exert an influence worthy of their power.
The policy of avoiding" entangling alliances" with other powers has been carried to the verge of absurdity and contempt. When Mr. Kasson in the Berlin International Congress on the affairs of the Congo cast his influence against the introduction of liquor into the African Free State, he was reprimanded by our Secretary of State. When Earl Granville, moved by the reports of devastation produced by the trade in liquor and firearms in the Pacific Islands, sent a circular note asking the great powers to unite in repressing it, France, Austria, and even Russia, gave a favorable response, while Secretary Bayard humiliated the United States by a shuffiing declinature.
It was doubtless well for the infant Republic when scarcely recovered from her long struggle with Great Britain to avoid an entangling alliance with France, over which the clouds of a European war soon gathered, but to parade that old threadbare doctrine as a pretext for standing aloof from every joint enterprise of humanity in these days of our security and strength is to bring on us the contempt of the na":' tions. We certainly have had something to do with slavery, and if now we can make atonement by helping to sweep it from the face of the earth it is worth the effort.
-~—- INTEREST IN MISSIONS.
[The following brief and pertinent thoughts come from a source which entitles them to more than ordinary consideration.-EDB.] THAT the interest in missions is on the increase is manifest in this country by many signs which cannot be mistaken, some of them of a character which may be called in question by the" wise and prudent," but all indicative of life and vigor. I have seen not fewer than five new missions to Africa alone started within the last twelve months by as many new organi- zations, besides fresh efforts by old societies. This tendency to start new and independent schemes is one of the signs of-vital energy welling up from the spiritual quickening of new life in numbers of the churches, too exuberant to be kept within the old limits and forms of church order, and too independent and self-conscious to be restricted by the rules of our old societies. That many of these enterprises will fail in accomplishing what their ardent but inexperienced originators so earnestly aim at is painfully cer- tain to anyone familial' with the history of missions. But we cannot but follow them with interest and not a little hope. They have a vitalizing ten. dency and are the signfl of a rising tide of missionary life inside the churches out of which they have sprung; and they help to get us out of the ruts in which all old institutions have a tendency to run. We shall learn many a lesson from the failure of some and the success of others.
Another hopeful sign of the increasing interest in missions is the interest with which not only enemies but friends are sifting and in no measured terms denouncing the missionary methods and operations of. the past and present. The impatience for tangible results, even where unreasonable, is hopeful and expresses the intensity of desire which gives rise to impatience.
The long series of lessons by "a missionary" in the Ohristian, and fol- lowed up by vigorous lessons in the Wesleyan Times by "A Friend of Mis- sions," have led to a great discussion in the recent meeting of The Wesleyan Oonference in Sheffield.
Neither of these writers, when stripped of the lions by means of which they made a loud voice widely heard through the important organs in which their strictures appeared, were found to be men of weight or experience', but both have arrested attention, and we doubt not good will come of their ill- advised utterances.
The charges brought against the missionaries of the writer's own church, as well as those of all societies, in the Wesleyan Times were so severe as to compel all the missionaries of the denominations in Southern India to sign a memorial to the Conference, demanding a searching investigation of the charges made, or that they might be recalled. The writer, who turned out to be a young man who had only been a little more than a year in the mission field, and had cost the society seven or eight hundred pounds and had never done a stroke of work, charged his brothel' missionaries with living in the greatest luxury and fashion; keeping their butler and coachman and fine -clothes for presentation at the mimic courts of the viceroy and governor, and with a retinue of servants which would outnumber those of a merchantprince in England or America. And this without any adequate explanation of the climatic and social conditions of life in a country like India, which compel and facilitate a mode of life very different from what they would desire, if life is to be maintained and health preserved for the Master's work.
Of course no man who knew anything of the facts of the case attached the slightest value to such baseless and cruel charges; but as there are many of the warmest friends of missions who knew little or nothing of these facts, the missionaries did well to demand an inquiry. They were ablv defended in the Conference and an unanimous vote of confidence pa;sed, but it remains to be seen whether they will be satisfied with the resolution. It is expected that they will insist on a thorough inquiry by an influential deputation, and it will be for the interest of missions that their demand be complied with.
One outcome of the discussion is most satisfactory. Mr. Hugh Price
THE CHRISTIANIZATION OF MONEY
Hughes,in whose paper the accusations appeared-a true-hearted missionary, equally able and ardent as an advocate of missions at home and abroad- urged the church then and there to resolve to raise £20,000 as an addition to the income of her foreign mission income.
One unpretentious outcome of the Missionary Conference in London of last year is the resolution of the" Christian Vernacular Education Society"
to devote its efforts in future to the preparation of a Chriatian literature for India. The great need for this was strongly expressed at the Conference by missionaries from all parts of the mission field. The constitution of the society precludes the extension of their operations beyond India, but as this includes a popUlation of 200,000,000 it is large enough for a beginning. The Secretary of the Conference, Mr. Johnston, has been induced to take the work in hand and important results are looked for. A WATCHMAN.
LONDON, Aug. 16, 1889.
THE CHRISTIANIZATION OF MONEY. BY REV. W. HARRISON, CHARLOTTETOWN, P. E. I., CANADA. THl? rapid increase of wealth among the present progressive peoples of the earth is a fact which stands broadly out in the times through which we are passing. In some of the leading nations this growth has assumed proportions of an extraordinary character, and is compelling recognition in quarters the most representative and infl.uential. Mr. Gladstone, everywhere recognized as one of the highest financial authorities of the age, stated recently that the present income of the English nation is more than five thousand million dollars a year, and that more money had been made in England and Scotland in the last century alone than from the days of Julius Cresar to the year 1800, and more money had been made from 1850 to 1870 than from 1800 to 1850. The annual savings of the country are estimated at six hundred and fifty millions of dollars.
In the United States the unprecedented expansion of the nation's money capacity has been one of the growing wonders of the times. The President of Rutgers College, Dr. M. E. Gates, from extensive and reliable data, reck- ons the wealth of the country at fifty billions of dollars, and the daily increase at six millions. The marvelous development of the wealth of the United States, by decades, has been officially reported as follows: 1850……………………………………………. $ 7,135,780,228 1860……………………………………………. 16,159,616,068 1870……………………………………………. 30,068,518,507 18BO…………………………………………… 43,642,000,000 1887, say ……………………………………….. 60,000,000,000 Government officials estimated some years ago that the annual income of the entire population was a little over seven billions of dollars. Having ascertained a fair and reliable showing as to the financial resources of the two leading nations of the world, it is now in order to approach more directly the subject which this paper has specially in view.
How far, then, has the process of converting some fair proportion of this enormous wealth to definitely Christian objects been achieved? What are the present demands, and the prospects for the future? As an example, we select the following statements, exhibiting as they do the present extent of Christian liberality in the United States. The figures have been carefully prepared, and are sufficiently correct to enable us to form a pretty definiteconelusion as to the present-day religious application of the wealth now in the hands of Protestant Christendom. Our firm opinion is that the current givings of the Christian popUlation of the American Republic to deflnitelyreJigious objects are above rather than below the average of the other nations coming under this classification. Bearing this in mind, the present attitude of Protestant Christendom toward this question of money comes into view and suggests considerations which will claim in the near future a deeper and wider attention than they have ~et received. Taking the total wealth of the UnIted States for 1887 at sixty billions of dollal's, it is in place to inquire as to what proportion of this vast wealth is now held by the members of the evangelical churches, and to what extent this proportion is applied to purely Christian uses and ends.
Dr. Dorchester, awidely recognized authority on the special lines we are now discussing, has stated the matter as follows: "Having submitted the above inquiry to many thoughtful persons, they all agree that the share of the nation's wealth possessed by the members of the evangelical churches may safely be estimated at their pro rata share numerically.
•• For instance, if the communicants of these churches in 1880 were one- fifth of the whole population of the United States, their wealth may be safely estimated at one-fifth of the total wealth of the country."
Figuring on this basis, the total pro rata wealth of the churches named would stand as follows: 1850………………………. : .•.••…•…………. $1,084,803,490 1860…………………………………………… 2,693,269,344 1870…………………………………………… 5,202,184,274 1880.. .. ………………………………………. 8,728,500,000 1887, say ……………………………………….. 12,000,000,000 Before pt'oceeding to inquire as to what proportion of this enormous wealth, now in professedly Christian hands, passes over in some form into the treasury of the Lord, we call attention to the powers and responsi- bilities of wealth in general. It is almost impossible to overestimate the immense influence which the money-power of the world carries within its strong and imperial gt·asp. To say that it constitutes one of the principal in- struments by which the aifait-s of the age are turned is simply to state a fact which is evident to all. This agency of wealth, which holds in its hands the golden scepter of such a wide and varied dominion, becomes increasingly powerful as the march of civilization proceeds j and, other things being equal, the people possessing this money-capacity in its largest • form, carry that by which they can make themselves a felt and command- ing figure among the nations of the earth. Without this universally- recognized and almost sovereign power very little of all the vast and com- plex machinery of the age can be worked a single day; the grand stimulus and attraction to the busy and toiling millions of the race would be re- moved, and one of the prime forces now pushing onward the material, political, social, and ever-multiplying improvements of the age would sink out of sight. The value of this one item of money in all the departments of this constantly expanding century is increasing with such marvelous rapidity that the financial condition of a people has become the index to their prosperity, and their influence and authority in the councils of the world are largely determined by it. National bankruptcy means na.tional impotency, deterioration and decay, and all the proud pages in the past history of that people suffering such financial ruin cannot save them from being stripped of those qualifications which are regarded as among the prime passports to honorable rank among the powerful, progressive nations of the time. Financial supremacy involves responsibilities of the most in- fluential kind; it may become a far-reaching and beneficent power, or a ruler of the most tyrannical and despotic kind. If, then, in the realm of • commerce, and in all the multiplied departments of national life, the money question is such a mighty engine in the way of motive, influence, and achievement, it is .surely worth while to inquire as to the moral bearings and possibilities of this universal and princely power. If the great secular .enterprises of the age and all the splendid lind myriad-sided machinery of this nineteenth century are bare impossibilities without the aid of gold, it is quite in place to ask as to what part God intends that this money-power of the age should take in the enlightenment and evangelization of the world.
It is safe to say that never before did the money question occupy so much of the attention and prayerful solicitude of the Christian Church as at present, and never before did the moral and religious capabilities of wealth stand out so distinctly and vividly as they do to-day. It is becoming more and more evident that the very agency which is the grand essential in all the secular movements of the world, and without which they would immediately collapse, is also one of the divinely-appointed instruments by which, in the hands of a consecrated church, many of the great spiritual undertakings of the period are to be sustained, perpetuated and brought to their predicted and beneficent consummation. The broad outline of that plan which contemplates the capture of this world for truth and righteousness is coming into greater clearness, and the responsibilities of wealth in connection with the realization of that plan cannot now for a single moment be pushed out of sight. Gradually the importance of money as a necessary power·in the establishment, support and universal diffusion of Christian agencies has been coming to the front; and, so far as the evangelization of the millions of heathendom are concerned, all at once, or nearly so, the financial question has rushed up to an unexpected, indisputable and burning climax. This climax is the undoubted result of God's providential hand in the history of His church, a searching test and challenge of His people's sincerity, and marks a comparatively new stage in the onward march of that kingdom which is yet to win for itself a final s~premacy over the mind and heart and conduct of this fallen but redeemed world. When we state that the Christianization of earth's 1,000,000,000 or hitherto unreached pagans has been 'educed largely to a matter of dollars and cents, we are but stating what is rapidly becoming the deep and powerful conviction of all branches of the Church of God. The appeals for a larger liberality, coming as they do from every quarter, and marked by such intense urgency and such a weight of sacred obligation, only confirm too well the somewhat startling statement just made. We now return to the inquiry raised in a previous part of this article as to the proportion of wealth now in Christian hands which is being applied to objects of a purely religious character.
Just here it is well to recognize the fact that the grasp of Ohristian principle on the money power of the world was never so great as at present. It is estimated that the amount contributed annually by the Christian population of all lands for religious purposes of every kind is about two thousand rnillionsoj dollars, being an average tribute of about $1.50 for every man, woman and child on the face of the earth to-day. At the Evangelical Alliance, held at Washington in 1887, it was affirmed that "Probably since 1850 more money has been raised by the Protestant churches of Christendom for purely evangelizing purposes, aside from current church expenses and local charities, than was raised for the same object in all the previous eighteen centuries." This is clear when it is remembered that the aggregate receipts of the Protestant Foreign Missionary Societies of Europe and America, from their origin to 1880, calculated on the basis of numerous data.. cannot be less than $270,000,000, of which nearly or quite $200,000,000 have probably been raised within the last 30 years. The increaiile in contributions to home missions and the various local charities is just as striking. Taking the givings for all pUl'poses of Chl:istian benevolence during the past 50 years, it will be found that there has been a very substantial improvement in this direction, and in this increase we have but the commencement of that process which must finally result in the Christianizing of those vast treasures of wealth in which there slumber moral and spiritual possibilities of the sublimest kind. Let the demands for a larger consecl'atioB of the money ability now possessed by the church be presented to the Christian intelligence of the age with all the force of an ever-increasing obligation, and let the issues be clearly stated, and our conviction is that the deeper fountains of generous and grateful emotion will be stirred and a new era of a more Christly appropriation of our temporal possessions will then be inaugurated. While, however, recognizing the marked advance in the amounts placed in the treasury of the church, and the wider and more earnest recognition of the doctrine of our individual stewardship, we must not overlook certain facts which still stand out with painful prominence and call loudly for the immediate and solemn consideration of the whole Church of God. The time for congratUlation over the victories of Christian principles as they relate to the capture of the money power of the church has not yet arrived, as the following statements will plainly show. That there is a lamentable deficiency in the givings of professing Christians ii clear when we look at theil· comparativelyinsignificant contributioni toward those divinely-appointed agencies which are. working for the evangelization of the world. The figures which are to follow will at once show this matter in its true light, and bring out the fact that large numbers of communicants are at present doing little or nothing in helping forward the most important undertaking in which the church is now engaged. It is from this cause of an utterly inadequate appropriation of the wealth now in possession of the evangelical churches that the highest designs of God are hindered, and the measureless blessings of the Christian redemption are being held back from the larger half of the human race today.
Lest we should be charged with a too passionate and extravagant statement as to the inferior response now made by the church at large to the pressing claims for foreign missionary effort, we ask attention to the following significant facts. We select, as fair examples, the amounts contributed by the Protestant churches in the United States for home and foreign missions during the past 30 years, viz.: FOREIGN MISSIONS. HOME MISSIONS. TOTAL.
1850………………… $ 675,000 $ 587,123 $1.232,123 1860………………… 1,075,070 1,450,479 2.525,549 1870………………… 1,753,T06 2.472,246 4.225,952 1880………… .. ……. 2.600,000 3.389,845 5,989,845 When we come to compare these figures with the membership of the evangelical churches, we find the amount per member very small indeed. Taking the averages for the same years and the givings for the two objects named will stand as follows: MEMBERS. AVEIU.GIll PER MEMBER.
1850………………………… . 8,529,988 3458 ce.n.ts. 5,240,554 68 .. ~~.:::::::::::.:::::::::::::::::: 6,673,396 59~ .. 10.000,000 1880 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
It is, however, when we come to analyze the contributIons for foreign missions alone that we are almost startled by the infinitesimal giving in the dil'ection for which so much sympathy has been aroused, and apparently so much effort has been expended in recent years. We are at first incredulous and are ready to declare that there must be some serious miscalculation somewhere; but a little patient examination of the bare facts will convince tlul most skeptical that the money capacity of Christian communities has just been touched and nothing more. "The annual expenditures of the Protestant church members in the United States fOI' religious purposes of every description at home are about eighty millions of dollars, while for foreign missions the amount is about four millions of dollars. While the need is from five to six hundred and fifty times greater in the heathen world, we spend twenty times as much in our own work at home. This eighty million is expended for the Christianizing of sixty millions of people, 01' an average of one dollar and thirty-three cents each, while the four million dollars are expended for the spiritual welfare of eleven hundred millions of utter heathens, or one-third of a c~nt each." The average contribution per communicant, throughout Christendom, for the conversion of the myriads of totally unreached pagans does not amount to fifty cents each per annum. In some of the wealthy British churches it is as low as twenty-five cents each, and the Continental churches range from two to six cents per membet'-always excepting the little Moravian Church, which stands out a conspicuous example to all the world of the splendid results which may be achieved by a willing and consecrated people." In 1888 it was ascertained in England, that out of seven thousand titled members of the nobility, including all branches of the Royal family, only about five thousand dollars altogether was given for missions. (MISS. REV., April.) One-tenth of a cent per day, or one cent in ten days, is the present average contribution of the membership of the Christian Church throughout the world for the recovery of a thousand millions of heathen to a knowledge of that gospel which we deem to be the bearer of boundless blessings to our race. And the fact is that the real average is much less than one-tenth of a cent per day, foritis to be borne inmind that quite a number give to the cause of missions who are not included in the membel'ship of any of the churches. It is therefore evident that many professing Christians are doing absolutely nothing. or next to nothing, toward the advancement of those missionary agencies to which has been committed a duty and responsibility of the most momentous and solemn kind.
We have now reached a stage in our investigation which enables us to arrive at an estimate of the amount contributed to definitely religious objects, both at home and abroad, by the Evangelical communities in the United States for a single year.
Taking the aggregate wealth of thp. nation at sixty billions of dollars, and allowing that one-fifth of this amount is III the hands of evangelicalchurch members, and that the annual giving by this part of the population to Christian purposes of every description is something below one hundred millions of dollar8, we reach the conclusion that about one per cent. of the gross total of twelve billions of dollars is about the extent of the Christian liberality of one of the most religiously progressive nations of to-day. The percentage or church membership of the total population of the United States is larger, we think, than of any of the other great nations that can be named. We do not claim absolute cOl'rectness for our statements; but as an approximate showing of the present whereabouts of the gold power of the age in its relation to Christian influences and claims, we believe the representations here tabulated to be within sight of the facts as they now stand. We have selected the United States as a fair example of the other Protestant nations, and if there is a difference we are of the opinion that the higher average of Christian liberality will be in favor of the nation selected as the basis upon which our calculations and inferences in this article are largely drawn. From the above conclusions, drawn from a pretty wide outlook of the facts within our reach, it will be quite clear that the Christianization of the money ability of the professedly Protestant peoples of the century is a work only fairly commenced, and that extensive territories of wealth now in possession of the evangelical churches stil1remain to be brought into subjection to the dominion of the Son of God, whose suffering, hindered cause cries out as never before for that financial help which a thoroughly-consecrated church cannot long withhold.
'!'he present givings, especially to the work of foreign evangelization, are out of all proportion with the urgent, burning demands of the hour. There is no lack of money-our preceding statements have placed this beyond a doubt-but there is lack of deep, intelligent conviction respecting the claims which God has upon us and ours, and an apparent unwillingness to face the dollar-and-cents question upon which there is now laid in the religious opportunities of the age the solemn emphasis of unparalleled importance, and which the providence of God is every day pushing to the front. So evident and wonderful al'e the present day moral and religious possibilities of money that to ignore them is simply to come into collision with one of the plainest purposes and plans of God as to the means by which the message of redemption should be published to the race. No subtle reasoning, no manipulation of the conjurer's hand and no "paralyzing cant of an unfelt devotion" can for a moment substitute fOl' generous, enlarged Christian giving any other agency that can accomplish the work which a consecrated wealth alone is fitted to perform. The main difference between the financial position of Christian and heathen peoples is explained, very largely, on theological grounds alone. But for the undoubted and now grandly historic advantages secured by the movements of Chl'istianity among the leading nations of the world, is it probable that those nations would possess the unequaled money capacity they now enjoy? For what great cause, then, has God, through various means, poured this river of gold into the coffers of His peopIe? Is it that they may live only in pleasure and ease, transform the world into a brilliant saloon, and abandon themselves to selfish luxury, while teeming millions of their bl'ethren are dying for lack of knowlede:e and passing into an eternity for which they are ill-prepared? Surely the end to be a.ccomplished by this agency of wealth is something nobler than this. The finger of God points most distinctly to this higher object, and the most ordinary intelligence can now see what that object is. The citadel of human selfishness must be captured, 01' the mterests of Christ's kingdom must be cramped and betrayed before a perishing world. The battle has already commenced, and one of the grandest triumphs possible in the near future is the destruction of this giant of selfishness within the church and the consecration of some fair proportion of her immense treasures to the' cause of the gospel and a shipwrecked humanity. The sincerity of Christian men and women is being tested before the gaze of watching multitudes, and the religion of a spurious sentimentalism can no longer pass unchallenged in this time of reality and need. With the late Dr. Bushnell we may say that "the great problem we have now on our hands is the Christianizing of the money power of the world. What we wait fOJ' and are hope-
HISTORICAL OUTLINE OF MISSIONS AMONG THE JEWS
fully looking to see is the consecration of the vast money power of the world to the work aud cause and kingdom of Jesus Christ. For that day, when it comes, is the IJIorning, so to speak, of the new creation."
HISTORICAL OUTLINE OF MISSIONS AMONG THE JEWS.
BY RBV. B. PICK, PH.D., ALLEGHENY, PA.
(Concluded frOm page 673.) BUT we return again to Germany, where, with the eighteenth century, a 'new era commenced for the mission among the Jews. The first quarter of the eighteenth century was a period of great religious excitement in Germany, owing to the indefatigable labors of Spener and A. H. Franke (especially by the" collegia pietatis" of the former), which quickly spread far and wide, among high and low, poor and rich. The Bible, which had been entirely neglected and forgotten, was taken in hand and read again; and how extreme the desuetude into which the word of God had fallen may be gathered from the fact that Spener had to procure a special order from the elector for the practical explanation of some part of the Bible at the universities. A fruit of this new life in the church (for it was a complete regeneration) was the foundation of the University of Halle. Bible and missionary societies were also called into existence. Nor were God's ancient people forgotten. An interest for the Jews was evinced to a degree exceeding anything known in former periods of the church. It seems as if rulers, magistrates, professors, the clergy had been alike ani- mated with zeal for the conversion of Israel, for we find that Reineccius, in one of his works published 1713, says: "The general topic of conversation and discussion of the present day is about the conversion of the Jews." This new-born zeal for the Jewish cause was so great that we are told that many Christians learned to read Jewish-German in order to make them- selves better acquainted with Jewish books and more efficient for conversion with Jews. Prof. Callenberg lectured on that language and had an auditory of 150 persons. The Rev. John Muller of Gotha, who very often came in contact with trave~ing Jews, and took a lively interest in them, wrote a tract .for the Jews, entitled "The Light at Eventide," in dialogical form, which was in- tended to prepare the Jewish mind for the reception of Jesus Christ the Mes- siah; and through the extraordinary exertions of Dr. Frommann, a physician and Jewish convert, it was published in Jewish-German for wider circulation among the Jews. This tract produced the greatest sensation. For soon it was not only reprinted and translated into Hebrew, but also a German (1'736), Dutch (1735), Italian (1732), French (1748), and English translation was published, the lattel' by the" Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge" in the year 1734, and it is still used for missionary purposes. Even Roman Catholic priests took an intereflt in its circulation, and sent subscriptions for promoting it to Prof. Callenberg. This tra.ct is the more remarkable be- cause it became in fact the foundation stone for the well-known Oallenberg .Institution, or Institutum Judaicum, established in 1728, the object of WhICh was the conversion of the Jews, and also of Mohammedans. This institution, however, was closed in 1792. But the interest in behalf of God's ancient people was not confined to Germany alone; it also spread beyond the continent, for the well-known Jewish missionary, Stephen Schultz, tells us in his" Leitungen des Hochsten" (iv. : 74), that when he visited England in 1749, he was told that there were many laymen in London zealous for the conversion of the Jews. Next to Spener we must mention the early efforts made by the Moravian brethren. It was in the year 1738 that Leonhard Dober, who had established the first mission amongst the negroes in the West Indies, felt an ~arnest desire to labor for the conversion of the Jews. For this purpose he repaired to Amsterdam and hired a lodging in the so-called Juden-Hork. In 1739 Samuel Lieberkuhn succeeded Mr. Dober in Amsterdam, who devoted himself entirely to the service of the Jews. On account of his knowledge of Hebt'ewand his lov,e to Ist'ael the Jews called him "Rabbi." For 30 years Lieberkuhn labored among the Jews with great success.
The CallenbergInstitute, as we have seen, was closed in the year 1792, but in the providence of God, soon another way was to be opened for the mission among the Jews. It was only a few years after the first great thunder-clap of the French Revolution,. when three German stUdents, in whose hearts God had begun a work of grace, were assembled together, for mutual consultation and direction, in a room in the metropolis of northern Germany. They were pondering in their minds what they should do, and whither they should go, that they mig-ht be successfully employed inthe cause of missions. Berlin, their native metropolis, was at that time the stronghold of rationalism, the center of religious infidelity; and evangelical religIon, or pietism, was above all things hated and almost universally spoken against. Where, therefore, were the three German students to go? Pastor Jaenicke, and some few other pious Christians in Berlin, who had established a seminary where six or seven students were trained for missionary enterprise, were often in the greatest straits for want of funds. Their cause met with little sympathy, and they were almost in despair, when one day help came in time of need from another great metropolis, with a demand for three missionaries to occupy an important missionary post amongst the heathen tribes of Africa, This was in the autumn of 1801. Our three students went to London, in oi'der to enter the service of the London Missionary Society, and one of these was a Christian Israelite, C. G. Frey by name, who died some years ago in our country, a member of the Baptist denomination. During his stay in London it was put into his heart to visit his brethren after the flesh. He found them in a state of total darkness and bondage, worse than that of their fathers in Egypt. He spoke to them of Christ and His salvation. He engaged a few Christian friends to feel a concern for their spiritual welfare. He made known to thE' directors of the London Missionary Society his earnest deRire to be permitted to preach the gospel to hiS own brethren, This application was favorably considered by the directors; they acceded to his request, and some three years having been consumed in the needful preliminary preparation, we find him in 1805 commencing in earnest missionary work, under the auspices of the London Missionary Society. It was soon, however, discovered that the work required distinctive and peculiar machinery. Accordingly after the brief existence of a few years in 1808 a separate society which contemplated Jews exclusively as its object, the present "London Society for Promoting Christianity Among the Jews" was founded in the begining of 1809. The main promoter of this society was the nobleman Lewis Way. It was in the year 1808 that Lewis Way, while riding with a friend of his in Devonshire, passed a park where some very fine trees attracted their attention. His friend told him that the owner of this park in her last will forbade the cutting down of these trees, until" the Jews would again have come to J erusalf)m." These words so deeply impressed themselves on the mind of Lewis Way that he never forgot them. From that day he devoted his large fortune as well as his talents to the conversion of the Jews. At first the newly constituted society was composed both of churchmen and dil:lsenters. In 1815. by an amicable arrangement, the dissenting members retired from its management, and its liabilities having been discharged by Way's munificent donation of £10,000, it entered on the present phase of its existence as a Church of England Society on the 11th of March, 1815. In the year 1814 the Duke of Kent, the father of Queen Victoria of England, laid the foundation stone of the Episcopal Chapel, in Palestine place, in which up to this day divine service is held in different languages. This society, which was so small at the beginnin,!(" has not ouly its own printing establishment of Hebrew Bibles, tracts, etc., but has also its stations in Europe, Asia and Africa, occupying, according to the annual re- port for 1889, 37 stations,* with a staff of 138 laborers, of whom 84 are ~hris tian Israelites. We have now reached that period in the history of the Mission among the Jews from which time on the mission work is carried on systematically. In speaking of the missionary societies we must commence with England, as the mother-land of the present Protestant Jewish Mission.
A. Great Britain and Ireland.
1. The London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews. This society has stations as follows: in England 6, in Holland 2, in Germany 8, in Austria 3, in Russia 2, in France, Roumania, Italy, European Tur~ey, Persia 1 in each, in Asiatic Turkey 5, in North Africa 3.
Of the many missionaries of this society we mention some few Christian Israelites as Mich. Sol. Alexander, afterward first Protestant Bishop of Jerusalem, Christ. F. Ewald, D.D., M. Marjoliouth, S. H. Deutsch, H. Popel', Henry A. Stern, D.D. (for many years a captive of King Theodor of Abyssinia), J. A. Pieritz, ChI'. W. H. Pauli, J. A. Hausmeister, F. J. Rosenfeldt, Joseph Wolff (father of Sir Drummond Wolff, the English states- man),tetc. 2. The British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews, founded in 1842 by Ridley Herschell, a Christian Israelite, father of the present Lord Chancellor of England, with 6 stations in England, 5 in Germany, 3 in Russia, 2 in Austria, 1 in Italy, 1 in Turkey, 1 in Palestine.
3. The Jewish Mission of the Presbyterian Church of England, founded about 1871 with one station in London.
4. The Parochial Mission to the Jews' Fund, founded in 1879. 5. The London City Mission, which for the last twelve years also employs missionaries among the Jews. 6. The MildmayMiS'Sion to the Jews, organized in 1876, with the purpose of preaching Christ to the Jews everywhere, and of distributing the Hebl'ew New Testament (Salkinson's translation).t 7. The Barbican Mission to the Jews, located in the eastern centpr of London, and founded in 1879 by Rev. P. Warschawski, a. Christian Israelite. 8. The Jewish Mission of the Church of Scotland, founded in 1841, with stations in Constantinople, Salonichi, Beyrout, Smyrna, Alexandria. 9. The Jewish Mission of the Free Church of Scotland, founded in 1843, with stations in Amsterdam, Breslau, PI'ague, Budapest, Constantinople, Tiberias. One of the most prominent missionaries of this society was the Rev.
• For details concerning some of the stations, as Patestine, Poland, and Tunis, see my arts. in McClintock & Strong.
t With the exception of the first, compare my biographical sketches of these men in McClintock & Strong's Cyclop.
:I: On the different Hebrew versions of the New Testament see my arts. Hebrew Version a.nd Sa.lkinson in McClintock & Strong's Cyclop. Dr. Charles &hwarz,* who on Sunday morning, Aug. 1, 1858, while in silent prayer in a pulpit at Amstel'dam, was stabbed by a fanatical young Jew, without, however, being killed. • 10. The Jewish Mission of the United Presbyterian Church, founded in 1885.
11. The Scottish Missions to the Jews, founded in 1887.
12. The Jewish Mission of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, founded in 1841, with stations- in Europe and Asia.
Altogether these societies have a staff of 312 missionaries scattered over 81 diffel'ent stations, as follows: England, 214 missionaries on 55 stations.
Scotland, 71 " "17"
Ireland, 27 '! "8"
312 81 B. Germany.
Owing to the influence of Lewis Way, who came to Berlin in 1818, there was founded in 1822 : 1. The Berlin Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews. The late '
Prof. August Tholuck was for many years the secretary of the society; and one of its earliest missionaries was the Jewish Christian, Jacob Brerling.t Since the year 1859 this society receives the church collection taken up on the tenth Sunday after Trinity throughout the Kingdom of Prussia. It has 3 missionaries.
2. The Rhenish-Westphalia Society for Israel, founded in 1844, has 4 mis· sionaries.
3. The Evangelical-Lutheran Central Association for the Mission among the Jews in Saxony, Bavaria, Hessen, etc., founded in 1849. Its main seat is Leipsic, and the soul of this association is the venerable Dr. Franz Delitzsch, whose masterly Hebrew translation of the New Testament has become the best means for the mission among the Jews. Another means fOl' furthering the interest in God's ancient people are the so-called Instituta Judaica, ,first organized after the pattern of Callenberg's institute by Mr. Faber in 1880 while a student at Leipsic, and now to be found at almost all universities of Europe. In this" Instituta" the students hear of the Jews and the mission among the Jews, and thus the future ministers of the gospel are interested in behalf of Israel.
4. The Wirttemberg Society for Israel, founded in 1874. Altogether we have in Germany 13 missionaries on 6 stations.
C. Switzerland.
In Switzerland exists the Society of the Friends ofIsrael at Basle, founded in 1830. D. Netherlands.
In the year 1844 the missionary of the London Society, Mr. Pauli, inter- ested some friends of Amsterdam in behalf of the Jews, ,and a society was formed under the name: 1. De Nederlandsche vereenigung tot medewerkung aan de witbreiding van het Christendom ender de Joden. The object of this society is to care for the Jewish Christians of the London Society.
2. De Nederlandsche vereenigung voor Israel, founded at Amsterdam in 1861. It has 2 missionaries. 3. Christelijke Gereformeerde Zending onder Israel, founded in 1875. It em- ploys 1 missionary• .. See my art. in McOlintock & Strong's Cyclop.
t See my a.rt. in I. c. of E. France.
In 1885 the Rev. Gustave Krueger of Gauber, in the middle France, started a monthly, Le Relled d'l81"ael, and by means of this paper he reviv~d the interest in Israel. F. Scandinavia.
1. Centralkommitteen for Israelsmissionen, founded in 1844 at Stavanger, in Norway. This formed the nucleus of other societies. At the instance of Prof. Caspari, himself a Christian Israelite, a Central Committee was formed in 1865 at Christiania, which regulates the finances of the different auxilia- ries. Not having a missionary itself, the Committee supports the different 'missionary societies in Germany and Russia.
2. Foreningen for Israelsmission, founded in 1876, with its headquarters at Stockholm. It employs 4 missionaries at 2 different stations.
3. Svenska Missionsforbundel, founded in 1877, has 2 missionaries at 2 stations.
4. Forening fer Israelsmissionen, founded at Copenhagen in 1885.
Thus in Scandinavia 6 missionaries are directly employed at 4 stations to work among the Jews. G. RU8sia.
1. The Jewish Mission in St. Petersburg, founded in 1881.
BeSIdes, there is an asylum for Jewish girls at St. Petersburg, founded in 1884, where they receive a Christian education. Some of these girls are now employed as deaconesses.
2. The Baltic Mission among the Jews, founded in 1870.
3. The Mission of Paster Faltin in Kischinew, founded in 1860.
4. The Mission of Joseph Rabinowitsch at Kischinew, founded in 1883.
In Russia are directly employed in the mission among the Jews 8 mission- aries at 5 different stations. H. Nortk Am-ema.
In our country different societies exist for proclaiming the gospel to the Jews. The oldest is that of the Protestant Episcopal Church, which com- menced missionary work as early as 1842. Since that time the work has been carried on directly and indirectly by differ,ent denominations or indi- viduals.
It may be safely stated that there exist at present about 50 missionary societies, with about 400 missionaries. Taking the number of Jews scat- tered over the world at about 6,400,000, we have 1 missionary to 16,000 Jews. We have thus far sketched the mission among the Jews as carried on by the Protestant Church, but our sketch would be incomplete were we not to speak in a few words of the mission of the Roman Catholic Church.
Starting from the prinCiple that" extra ecleaiam nulla eat salu8," i. e., outside the church (of Rome) there is no salvation, the Church of Rome re- garded the Jews also as an object of her special interest. But there were not wanting such Jews, strange as it may appear, to whom the Church of Rome had an especial attraction, and who, when once a member of that church, exerted their influence upon their former co-religionists. This cen- tury is especially rich in such conversions. Thus, in 1876, died at Prague Johann Emmanuel Veitk, * cathedral dean, who belonged to the order of the Redemptorists, and for some time one of the most celebrated preachers of St. Stephen's in Vienna. In France especially the Church of Rome re- ceived large accessions from thEe' synagogue at Paris. David Paul Drach,* a rabbi, joined the church in 1823 with his son and daughter. The son be- came a priest, the daughter a nun, while the father acted as Librarian at ~ See my a.rts. 1. c. the Propaganda in Rome, where he died in 1865, highly honored by popes – and the French Government. By word and writing he labored for the conversion of his former co-religionists. He was the ·means of bringing many Jews into the Church of Rome, and in 1828 Drach could write that" never since the destruction of Jerusalem so many Israelites have adopted the Catholic faith."
One of Drach's spiritual children was Jacob, afterward Maria Paul Francis Libermann, who was baptized in 1826, and received holy orders in 1841. He founded the" Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Mary" for the conversion of the negroes. Cardinal Pitra, his biographer, cannot speak highly enough of this priest, who died in 1853, and whose beatification the congregation of rites in Rome had decreed a few years ago. Especially important for the mission among the Jews was the conversion of Theodor, afterward Maria Theodor Ratisbonne, son qf the rich president of the Jewish Consistory at Strasburg, who. in 1827, joined the Church of Rome. His conversion he owed to Louis Bautain, author of "Philosphie du Chrisiianisme." Besides Ratisbonne, Bautain was also the means of the conversion of Isidor Goschler, afterwards director of the Collegium Stanislaus in Paris, and Jules Lewel, afterwards prelate and superior of St. Luigi dei Francesi at Rome. Ratisbonne received holy orders in 1830, and for many years he acted as director of the fraternity" of the Sacred and Immaculate Heart of Mary for the Conversion of Sinners," till the turning point in his life came in 1842, when his brother Alphons became a convert to the Church of Rome, owing his conversion, as it is said, to the; appearance of St. Mary. Alphons, who had joined the Jesuits soon after his baptism, wrote his brother, asking him to establish a Christian institute for Jewish children. On the very same day Theodor was notified of the sickness of a Jewish lady. He had the joy of converting her before she died. Her two daughters he took under his care. In the same week another Jewish lady brought her ,three daughters to him, and these five girls he put temporarily under the care of the Gray Sisters. Ratisbonne now went to Rome to get the papal authorty for his new activity. Pope Gregory XVI. blessed him and appointed him" Apostolic Missionary" for Israel. Pope Pius IX. granted to him in 184'7 important privileges. In the meantime his brother Alphons had received holy orders, and through the efforts of his brother he was permitted to leave the order of the Jesuits in order to assist Theodor. In 1855 Alphons conceived the idea of founding a similar society at Jerusalem. In 1856 he commenced his labors there; in 1862 the monastery and in 1868 the" Ecce Homo" church was completed. In 1874 he erected a similar institute for boys. Both brothers are dead. Theodor died in 1884, January 10, and a few months later, May 6, his brother died. Their work is still carried on in different parts of the world. Of those who were baptized by the Ratisbonne brothers, one Hermann Kohen, afterward Augustin Maria, joined the Carmelites in 1849, and died in London as prior of the Carmelite monastery. A sermon of Hermann Kohen was the means of converting the painter, Bernhard Bauer, who also joineti the Carmelites and became the confessor to the Empress Eugenie of France.
The noblest representatives of the Romish mission to the Jews are the two brothers Augustin and Joseph Le1nann, both converts from Judaism and both priests and canons at Lyons; the former doctor and professor of theology at the university; the latter apostolic missionary. Both joined the Roman Ca.tholic Church in 1857. Their special work is mainly literary, and by means of their writings which they publish from time to time to
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY MAGAZINES
endeavor to impress upon the Jews the truth of Christianity. When the Vatican Council was assembled in 1870, the two brothers came before that assembly to plead the cause of their Jewish brethren. In fine, it may be said that whatever efforts the Church of Rome makes for the conversion of the Jews, they are to be traced back to France. It were an easy matter to bring before the reader a galaxy of Christian Israelites, who have distinguished themselves in church and State, t9 prove that the gospel is still the power unto salvation to the Jew first; but in spite of all it must be acknowledged, with a modern writer of the Church of England, when he says: "Missions to Jews I know are not popular; I suppose they never will be fashionable; but for men or women professing the faith of Jesus, the question' can never be, Are they popular? nor even, Are they what I like? The only question must be, • A~c they right?' Are they according to the mind of Christ? St. Peter and St. Paul must ever remain to us two of the greatest interpreters of Christian duty. Where they are both, there seems little room for us to differ from them. The whole life of one was spent in winning Jews to the Saviour; and if the whole life of the other received a different mission, it WaH from no lack of earnestness or zeal in thiS behalf. His most impassioned prayers were for this work, even when he was not in person permitted to take a leading part in it• .. Our own sweet church poet, George Herbert, has caught some little of this fervor of St. Paul, and in his own quaint way pleads earnestly to God for the welfare of Israel, the actual nation of the Jews. I cannot do better than close with his lines, which may appeal to some whom words of mine would hardly reach: ". Poor nation, WhOSA sweet sap and juice Our scions have purloined, and left you dry: Whose streams we got by the Apostle's sluice And use in baptism, while ye pine and die, Who by not keeping once became a debtor, And now by keeping lOSe the letter.
Oh that my prayers I mine, alas I o that some angel might a trumpet sound At which the Church, falling upon her face, Should cry so loud until the trump were drowned, And By that cry of her dear Lord obtain That your sweet sap might come again l' "
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY MAGAZINES.
BY REV. CRAS. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
The Evangelisch.Lutherisches Missionsblatt says: "That the Hindus have, in fact, gone astray is proved by their religion, Brahmmism. This religion lays claJm to our deepest interests, not only because it is the most magnificent or the most huge and monstrous heathen system of religion that exists, but also because in it is revealed the greatest energy of heathen religiousness, consuming itself in seeking and striving after peace. The religiosity is a salient trait of the Hindu character. There again appears their relationship to the Germans, of whom the depth of feeling with its disposition to meditate and ponder, its longing for peace, is characteristic. Even yet, although the long dominion of heathenism has externalized aud ossified everything, the whole life of a Hindu, from his birth to his burial, nay, long after his burial, is controlled by his religion. And the whole people have devoted their energies to adorning their religion as magnificently as possible. The whole land which they inhabit bears the stamp of religion, it is a La.nd of Temples. If now we look away from the blinding glitter and noisy pomp of the idol worship and ask, • What is the real essence and aim of the Hindu l'eligion. the answer is: Self-redemption.' ..
"The ancient Greeks," says the Missionsblatt, "contended for their freedom, the Romans, for universal dominion-but the Hindus, for the prize of communion with God. The former two were great in combat with the outward foe, these took up the strife against the foe within, their' sin,' and set their life at stake, to control it, or as they express it, 'to bind the unruly ape in the heart.' True, the spiritual energy of the old penitents is now almost vanished, but yet there is in the people and in individual per. sonahties, a ~emnant of this intense impulse after self-redemption and the effacement of sin, which still breaks out afresh at the idol-feasts, under the force of great calamities, 01' at other times. Indeed, in this our own time, when the preaching oCthe word of God knocks at their hearts, when the youth of India have been brought in contact with European education, this religiou8 spirit of the Hindus has first-since of old-come to a revival. There is stirring among the people a spirit of inquiry and seeking, which implies a longing for something better. In some places, especially in the larger towns, the religious question has become so burning a question that it is dealt with even by the heathen.. in lectures, discussions and dissertations. And thus the missionary in India, almost everywhere, where he opens his mouth to bear testimony, in the markets, as in the streets, on journeys, as at home, in shops and offices, by day and night, finds people who are ready to enter with eager interest upon a religious conversation, even though it were only to ad'ance objections.
.. What a mission, to bring to so religiOUS a people the gospel, which alone has the power to bring to wounded souls refreshment, which sets forth the true whole burnt-offering of the God-man as the only way to redemption, and offers the true and complete communion with God, without requiring the dissolution of the individual personality'"
The province of Tanjore, comprised in the Kauvery Delta, is the most fruitful province and the corn, 01' rather the rice, granary of South India. This" Waterla.nd" is, year by year, twice overflowed by the Kauvery and fertilized by its fine mud, so that it yields a rich double harvel'lt. Every spot of this belt is cultivated. Six thousand and twenty-five settlements lie strewn iIi the river delta, concealed in thick groups of trees, only the pagodas rising out of the dense green wood which surrounds them, for the land is full of pagodas and shrines, almost oeyond any other. "Water from above, water from beneath, and mountains neal' at hand," these according to the Tamil minstrels, are the choicest blessings of a land; their land, accol'dingly, belongs to the pre-eminently favored lands. Hot and yet free of fever; fruitful, yet only when irrigated and tilled in ihe sweat of the brow; rich in rice, cotton, sugar-cane, indigo and palms, in herds of cattle, but also in snakes and scorpions; covered with populous cities and villages, devoted to idols and serving them in numerous pagodas; securing to its inhabitants a certain seclusion, which favored the peculiar development of their national life, but yet more aCcessible to intercourse with the world abroad than most other regions of India; this is the character of the land of the Tamils.
.. The Tamils, a race highly endowed, of rich sensibilities, joyous, laborious, distributed into many branches. although, in the middle classes not belonging to the Aryan, but to the Turanian or Scythian stock, nevertheless, soon assimilated the Aryan culture in a remarkable degree. Although they hold fast to their ancestral usages and to the rigorous division of castes, yet. being the most mobile and mo~t disposed to wander of all the Hindus, being found diffused over all India, and indeed beyond it, they have the most quickly unclosed themselves to foreigners and the most generally appropriated the Englishculture. Among the 14 millions of this race Protestant missions soonest found entrance and bave had the greatest success."
Madras, the capital of South India, has 400,000 inhabitants, of whom 39,- 094 are Christians, and 50,000 Mohammedans..
Islam and'the gospel are rivals for the dominion of India, and this fact gives to Christian descriptions of Mohammedanism an occasional pungency which is a refreshing contrast to the fantastic idealizations of Canon Taylor. This, from Missionary Baierlpin, is much to the point. It is easily verifiable throughout, with some tempering down, and may fairly be styled" Moham- medanism in a nutshell."
"Mohammed became at last convinced that Abraham, at all events, must have had the right religion. But the Jews had corrupted his religion. Therefore God sent Jesus, to restor~ the religion ot Abraham. Bnt the Christians had not understood Christ, and had become idolaters 01 him.
Therefore God had now selected him to restore the religion of Abraham. He bimselfwas a proph· et of God and the last. God has no mother, no wife, and no son. He Is alone, a great unit. That the Divine being, One, can yet be Triune, as already Indian philosophers, lIf1teen hundred years before him, had dimly conceived. this high thougbt could find nO place in his unlearned hea!!. So then he made his God, his Allah. into a wooden unity, and therefore immovable. It is trne, he repeats Incessantly, in place and out of place, tbat God Is compassionate, but in fact there is no move· ment in the inner being of his God. Believers, i. e., those who believe his prophet "-more proper- ly his apostle -" Mohammed, and honor him according to the prophet's precepts, are rewarded by him with Paradise, which is full of shady trees, springing founts, and beautiful young women, named houris. All others go straight to hell. The women of the Mohammedans have no access to their mosques "-not true of all mosques-" and no" specified" place in Paradise; there are women there already. There i~ a Kismet, a Fate, and this is absolutely unalterable. With this fate man is born into this world. And in this neither prayer nor mercy makes a change. The service of God consists in the repetition of certain forms of praise and other sentences at certain precisely appointed times of the day, towards a certain point of the horizon, Mecca. the position at each prayer, whether standing, kneeling, crouching, or lying prostrate, being also imperative. Of a conversion of the heart to God there is no mention, no more than of a love of God to man, and therefore there can be no mention of a love of all the heart and all the mind to this stllf, cold cipher, one Allah. And therefore among the Mohammedans "-so far as respects any influence from their reUglon-" there is lacking all love to men, all true humanity, such as extends to whatever is called Man. Robbery and murder are the order of the day, and among no people do children so orten rise a/(ainst the parents, as among the adherents of this false prophet."
True, in the main, though needing here and there som.e softening down.
'fhe Journal des Mission8 Evangeliquea for November, 1888, has an interesting article on the various ways of training missionaries. Among us, of course, and largely in Great Britain, the ordinary colleges and seminaries. Buton the continent, where so few university men become missionaries, the societies have to depend on training-schools of their own. We select a few facts. The Moravians, who have sent out among the heath~n about 2,300 missionaries, male and female, have a theological college at Fairfield, near Manchester, in England, under the care of Rev. R. Elliott; a German seminary at Gnadenfeld, in Prussia, under care of Rev. P. Beckel'; at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a college and seminary under care of Rev. A. Schultze and Rev. J. F. Hamilton. "The great Moravian Society indicated its methods from its very beginning. Its purpose was to send, above all, into the bosom of the pagan world, faithful witnesses of the Saviour, capable of ~laking Him known and loved by the heathen, whether they were artisans, like its heroic pioneers, potters like Dober, or carpenters like Nitzschmann. The society, nevertheless, now lays out 9,000 francs a year for the }:reparation of its missionary workers."
The Baptist College in Regent's Park, London, appears to train indifferently pastors and missionaries, comprising the classical and divinity course into a shorter time than ours. The London Society has no training.school. Nor has the Wesleyan Board. The Church ·Missionary Society, of 1,000 missionaries sent abroad has received only 200 fl"om the universities, and has trained 500 in its own Islington College. Most of the lesser English societies get tkeir missionaries where they can, a good many, probably, from the East London Missionary Institute, founded in 1872 by Rev. Grattan Guinness. This has already received 800 pupils, of whom 506 are now at work.
.. On the continent of Europe the method followed has been altogether different; not only had Wala.eus, as early as 16%2, a missionary college at Leyden. and the Dutch Society one of its own at Berkel, in 1810, and a.fterward, since 1821, at Rotterdam; but the Basel80ciety, founded in 1815, and that of Paris, in 1822, were established in the expectation that their first duty was to train missionaries for the great societies which had arisen before them. The example of the aged Jaenike, of Berlin, whose missionary school was closed after hi. death, in 1826, doubtless infiuenced the Berlin Society, which opened it.. institute in 1829 or 1830. Pastor Gossner, finding the new mission hou!/> of the society too sumptuous,left it, and toward 1840 trained his laborers in his own seminary or missionary school. Barmen opened its house in 1833; that of Hermannsburg began in 1841l with 12 pupils; the school of Reval was opened in 1882, and in 1884 pastor Janssen commenced a prepara.tory school for the Lutherans of Eastern Friesla.nd. Leipsic, in fine, which had wished at first. to recruit its missionaries solely among the pastors graduated from the universities, has been obliged by the Ia.ck of laborers to reopen its missionary semInary in 1879. We do not speak of the seminary of Neuendeltelsau, which prepares pastors for the colonies• .. As to the High Church Society (S. P. G.), it maintains or assists 28 theological seminaries where ecclesiastics are trained either for home or abroad. The Danes, in 1875,amalga.mated the two semina.ries intended to supply native pa.stors to Greenland."
The Journal has a letter from M. Henri Bertschy, of South Africa. Speakmg of his school he says: .. My neighbors, the Ba-Thlokoa, have sent some boys, but turn a. deaf ear whenever I raise the question of girls. • They have no need of knowing how to read,' they say to me. 'Let them once get a better educa.tion tha.n their husbands, and they would soon refuse to be married to pagans.' The fear of these people is, that in learning to read theirdaughters might possibly come to be converted and no longer choose to be bought by a heathen for twenty or thirty head of cattle. • Our daughters,' they say, • they are our bauk; it is on them we reckon to brinll' us cattle.' From that position you cannot move them. The daughters of the Ba-Thlokoa, then, will not come to schoQI until their parents shall have been converted. Is not this an illustration of the fact that Christianity will have to precede civilization?
.. Twice this past year the chiefs, especially Nkoebe, have demanded that we should hold prayer-meetings to obtain rain. The first was in September, at sowing-time; then again about New Year's, when the intense heat seemed likely to spoil the crops which had been doing well thus far. Both times the rain came while we were assembled, which bas been a veritable benediction."
Our Moravian brethren are disturbed lest it should be supposed that their mission work has everywht're transformed itself into a simple pastoral care of converts already secured. M. E. A. Senft, in a letter addressed to the Journal des Missions for November, 1888, points out some inadvertences of statement in a recent artice of The Journal. "For instance, the article in question, speaking of Greenland, forgets to add that God, and tha~ very lately, has brought to our brethren a whole troop of pagans from the east coast, hitherto inaccessible to our missionaries." In South Africa, again, the work" at various points" has passed into a home missionary stage, but not at aU of them. So, inSurinam, the work has largely become one of purifying Christian communities from ayet remaining pagan taint. "Butanother vast missionary field remaiJ;ls open before us at Surinam, and we have this very year been using all our strength to meet this work. In the ranks of our missionaries this marching order is heard ever more resoundingly: 'The Bush country for the Saviour! Let each one strive his best to accomplish this end.'"
The West Indies are the eldest mission field of the Moravians. Here, as they themselves say, "the mission work, properly so called, has long since reached an end." "This mission, numbering 44 stations, is in a fair way of coming to ripeness of age, and of forming, by the side of Germany, England and the United States, a fourth province of the Church of the Unity. It already has its normal schools, and its school of theology; and a considerable number of its parishes are served by native pastors."
There ar€ at present 3S6 hrethren and sisters in the missionary service of
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
the Moravian Church, 28 being- natives. There are, besides, 145 native evangelists and 1,468 native helpel's of various kinds.
The Moravian missionary stations, by industry and commerce, have thus far been able to contribute toward the annual expenses of the work from $130,000 to $150,000. Friends at home have, therefore, only needed to contribute, at most, about $95.000.
H.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Afrlca.-At a recent enthusiastic gath- what is meant by Arab power in Africa., East ering in Liverpool to bid God speed to the and Central. For generations the Arabs have intrepid African missionary, Graham Wil- been the skilled traders with the natives; they mo~ Brooke, who has made three unsucceSS_ have traveled in powerful companies, and they ful attempts to reach the tribes in tbe Cen- have made some localities in the interior almost tral Soudan, and IS now en routefor the same entirely their own. It is they, not the natives, region, via the Niger and Sokoto, a stirring who are at the bottom of the opposition to re- address was made by Mr. J. Spencer Walton form work, western enterprise and the canse ou mission labor iu South Africa. This in- of civilizatiou generally ou the east coast and in defatigable herald of Christ, who is proceed- the interior. German policy on the east coast ing under the auspices of the Cape General has greatly irritated the Arab traders; and Mission, to undertake evangelization work they have been in various ways taking their re- in that portion of the globe, asserted that venge. Of conrse, they are opposed to the en- Englishmen in South Africa had been a tire movement which is represented by the greater curse than a blessing. The track blocka.de ; but somehow the British element of the white man has been followed by abom- contrived so to manage things that the peace inations in the garb of religion. It waR this was not seriously distnrbed. fact which rendered missionary effort abor- ti"e. Denominational rivalry was likewise The Arabs haveso long had things their own frequently a cause of hinderance. Every way in East and Central Africa that they takeit one seemed to be trying to plant his own ill to 1lnd themselves beset by a policy and by special little ftower in bis own littledenomi- forces which mean the extinction oC their nefar- national ftower-pot. For the success of ious trade. They are engaged in a kind of missions it was necessary to sink sects and death-strnggle. Germans. French and English multiply undenominational lines of action. on the east coast are all pledged to a. strict Missions were primarily for salvation and blockade. so far as slavery and the introdnction •. only secondarily for education. of 1lrearms and otber weapons of war are con- cerned. Tbe repressive force of this arrange- On the 9th of March last the Cape General ment can bardly be overestimated. Tbe Congo Mission was launched, which, without con- Free State schemes tend in the same direction. sideration of sect. was seeking to spread the The railroad, which is to connectthe lower and gospel thronghout every part of Cll.pe Col- the npper Congo, will have the effect of opening ony. In SWll.zilll.nd, where there was a up the whole interior of Africa to civilized splendid race of natives Il.nd a chief well trade, and to bring it under civilized in1lnences. di$poRed to white people, a visit from a mis- The African slave-trader is well aware that his sionary was unknown:· It was a deplorable special business is doomed. In a few years revelation that of the 12,000 nativesworking from now it will be dead. Hence his despera_ in the mines at Kimberley not a hundred tion; but his desperation will not prevent the were Christians. In that town alone in the inevitable. Tbe poor African has suffered long. year 1888 no less than 580 natives were picked We already seem to see the dawning of a better np dead by the slaughtering evil of intoxi- day for that unfortunate rsce.-Xnil and Ex- cating drink. Mr. Wll.lton himself had preBB. eounted by the side of the ra.ilwa.y from Cape Town to Kimberley a broken brandy -The Imperial British East African Com- ftask every 25 yards. The natives, who pany. The first general meeting of this com- ftocked to these mining industries compara- pany WIIS held In London, June 6, and from the tively sober in habit, returned to their reports then given we gather some definite krll.~ls drunken and irredeemll.bly depraved. statements in regard to what the company pur- In the gold-mining centers the same havoc poses to accomplish. As yet little trading has was being wrought among the native tribes. been attempted, and it Is not expected that any With pll.ssionate fervor the speaker ap- pecuniary proftts will be reallzed at once, but pealed for the sympathy and prayers of the the directors of the company are con1ldent entire Church of Christ.-Our Englisl. eorre- that in due time good returns will be secured. BpOfIdent. :Mr. Mackehzie. who has been in charge on the East Coast of Africa, declares that tralllc is -The Arab Traders In Centra,l Africa. It is capable of enormous development, and that it diftlcult for the reading public to understand is the purpose of the company to establisa itself by planting stations, first along the cORst, -Another African Hero. The heroes are and then toward the interior, so that the na- not all recognized by men. Some do ".reat tives shall be under kindly control, and be en- things out of sight. and the world is long in couraged to raise those prodnets which wlll discerning them. The following para;:-raph stimnlate trade. Mombasa will be the port. describes a man evidently of heroic mold, and it is amrmed that before long this place though it is not wise to make comparisons will rival Zanzibar in its commerce. The ad- to the disparagement of such men as Livdress of the president of the company shows ingstone and Stanley: plainly that it i. expected that Mr. Stanley on returning from the interior will come to the .. Rev. James Scott, Free Church mission- East Coast through the territory of the British ary of Natal. speaking in Edinburgh lately, company. A project has been presented for declared that the greatest African hero, the construction or a railway, to be built in surpassing Stanley and even Livingstone, sections, Victoria Nyanza being the objective is Mr. Alexander M. Mackay, of tbe Church point; several caraVans having already been Missionary Society, who thirteen years sent out to the north and northwest,one ofwhich since went out to Uganda, in Central Africa, will establish a station at Lake Baringo. This and though left long alone has never ceased East African Company is composed of leading to work. He has reduced the native language commercial and philanthropic men, who have to writing. and printed the 1J0spei of Mat.. in mind what has be<on accomplished for Brit- thew with his own hands." ish interests by trading companies in India and North America, and their hope is to open Chlna.-The Chnstian College in Can- Africa to British commerce. It is proposed to ton. Rev. A. P. Happel', D.D., writes us that increase the capital from £250,000 to£1,OOO,OOO. he has hopes that ground will soon be pro· -MiB8. Herald. cured for the college, as the Viceroy of Canton has at last designated a plot of gronnd which -Mahdists and Abyssinians. To the Lon- he was willing to have sold for that purpose. don Time. the Secretary of the British and The attendance on the college is BOW as great Foreign Anti·Slavery Society recently commn- as can be accommodated, there being 66 scholnicated a letter from Herr Flad, the well- ars in attendance, and the work is em inently known German missionarY, which fully con· satisfactory. Tbe hours for recitation lire from firms the fears that have been expressed that nine till four, and on Sabbath the scholars are the recent defeat of the Abyssinian army by expected to attend religious s.rvice In the Mohammedan Mahdists or dervishes, will be chapel. We notice that this latter requirement the early addition of Christian Abyssinia to the has been made the object of criticism by the list of countries desolated by the African slave Canton correspondent of The Ohina Mail, who trade, unless such a result is speedily averted says that this renglous featnre of the work wlli by the proposed Conference of the Powers. be likelv to cause suspicion and keep desirable The dereat and murder of the Abyssinian King, students from attending; in the same letter he as will be remembered, was one of the sad states that the college is fnll to overfiowing. events of the last year. It followed successful and thns proves the futility of the objection. invasions of Abyssinia, and the slaughter and As the college is avowedly a Ohristian one, we enslavement of large numbers of AbysslDians do not see how the "venerable Professor" can do in 1885 and 1886 by the Mabdists; and their de- otherwise than fu1fill the trnst placed In him by feat by King John and his people in 1887. With striving to do everything In his power to his own commuuication Herr Flad transmitted .. proselytize" the stndents who attend. a letter from Christian Abyssinians, which is a most earnest and pathetic appeal for help from In anSWer to nnmerous inqniries whicli have their fellow Christians, and such help as wUl been made of ns, as to the conrse of stndy prevent their enslavement and the entire deso- and expenses necessary for a stndent in the lation of their country. Very pertinently these college, we give the following facts: The 8es· people, whose liberties and lives are in such im- sions of the college co.nmence on the 15th of minent danger, inquire of ChrIstians in other the Chinese first month and close on th" 15th of lands, after depicting the desolation of their the twelfth month, with a vacation in summer own; the selJing of thousands of people into or not, as may seem best in the future. The slavery, and the cruel butchery of other thou- charge for tnition is $12 a year. The stndents sands," Why should fanatic and brutal Moslems form a club and board themselves, the cost of be allowed to turn,a Christian land like Abys- which is about $2 a month. The students bave sinia into a desert. and to extirpate Christi· to snpply their own bed-room fnrniture (in their anity from Ethiopia f" They close with this case very simple) and clothes and bOoks; the earnest plea: .. For Christ's sake make known cost of these varies according to taste, but $50 our sad lot to our brethren and sisters in Cbris- in gold wUl cover all these very comfortably. tian lands, who fear God and love the breth- The course of stndy inclndes three years of a ren." While Abyssinian Christianity may not preparatory conrse and the regular four years' be witsout spot, Abysslnians are God's men college course in addition. As soon as ground and women.-N. Y. EvangeUst. can be procured and the necessary buildings erected, the attendance on the college wlll easily be 200, as many have al'plied who cannot now be accommodated. In spite of the number. Unfortunately the year's accounts lack of accommodation, Dr. Happer writes that closed with an adverse balance of £1,500. he will always find a place for any of the students from the Sabbath schools in this country It appears from the return presented by the who may wish to return to continue their stud- Paris Council that the ladies conducting the Ies In this college.-Chi1le86 Evangeli8t. work In the various homes fulfill their duties with economy and marked efficiency. The home and France.-Miss Leigh's Paris Romes. institute, Washington-house, 18 Rue de "Milan, in- A shower of congratnlations greeted Miss Ada augurated with a view to befriend young men Leigh, the dlstingnished fonndress of the as they enter Paris had received 70 of these British and American mission homes and Chris- from Great Britain, the United States, Canada, tian associations in Paris, who was lately mar- and New Zealand. It is regrettable thatasnm of ried at the English Embassy in the French £8,000 has still to be paid to completl the paycapital to Dr. Tarver Lewis, the Bishop of On- ments upon the land. A special appeal Is being tario. It Is the intention of this esteemed made to raise £500 for the purpose of increasing Christian lady, so widely known in Europe and the accommodation for the Exhibition. The read- America, to visit annually the institutions ers of the MISSIONARY REVIEW Ol!' THE WORLD which have 00 long enjoyed her able superin- will not fall on visiting the World's Fair at tendence and direction. In her absence the or- Paris in 1889 to visit some of the Institutions, ganizations will be uuder the mauagement of including the British Free Episcopal Church, a an assistant who hasbeena co-worker with the Brlhsh Orphanage and Homes for British GovprinCIpal npward of fifteen years. The many ernesses established by the unremitting exerfriends who are acquainted with the noble work tions of Mrs. Lewis.-OurEnglish CO'I'reapondaccomplished by Mrs. Lewis will join in the ent. wish expressed by the Bishop of Ontario that her residence on the other side of the Atlantic may Indla.-Child Marriage. It is intended not Interfere with the progress and continued shortly to select a child-wife for Scindiah, who benefactions of the movements identified with is himself 8 mere child. The marriage will be her name. A pleasant feature in the bride's celebrated during the next cold weather. In cortege, and eminently characteristic of her life- the case of a feudal minor subject to direct mission, was the presence of a number of Government infinence it has been suggested bright-eyed, rosy-faced children from the Or that the Government shonld endeavor to disphanage. These little girls dressed in dark-blue countenance such a marriage. The antiCipated cloth frocks, mantles, and hoods, with posies In union will be nsed throughout India as the their breasts evoked a compliment on their strongest argument for maintaining such charming appearance from Lady Lytton, who abUSES. with her danghters attended the wedding cere mony. After the marriage, at which the Bishop A Times' Calcutta telegram of July 7th conof Quebec officiated, accompanied by the Hon. tains the following intelligence: "Application Hector Hare, the Canadian CommiSSioner in has been made to the Bombay High Court, on Paris, and other Canadians, the Bishop of behalf of the child-wife of Holkar's son-in-law, Ontario and Mrs. Lewis received their friends to direct a new trial on the cbarge of cruelty. at the Orphanage erected in the Boulevard The case was adjonrned. A Bombay news- Bineau. paper announces two marriages. In oue case the bride was aged two years and in the other The importance of the operations in which 15 months, while the bridegroom was 30 years Mrs. Lewis has been engaged may be realized old. Pundita Ramabai is giving a series oflecfrom the report which has just been read at the tures to thronged andlences on female educa- 17th annual gathering held at 77 Avenne Wa- tion." gram. Around the Chairman, the Bishop of ,Quebec, were observed the Countess of Lytton, -In May lastthe city of Bombay WaS honorthe Bishop ofOntario, the Revs. R. McAn, and ed with the first public lecture ever delivered in T. de Carteret, Drs. Chapman and Barnard, Mr. India by a native lady. Doctor Miss Ratanbai Sewell and other infiuential friends. The re- Ardeshir Malbarvala lootured in the FrlLmjee port stated that during 1888 no less than 401 Cowasjee Institnte to a crowded audience, young women had beeu received into the home, which IDcluded 200 native ladies. Lung phy~i making an aggregate of 5,229 since It was ology was the subject dlsconrsed upon in a opened. Situations to the number of 196 had modest, able, and Interesting manner. The been obtained by means of the free registry. lady's courage and ability were cordially The applications from governesses had been greeted. 3,080 and for governesses 912. The home for young women employed in' shops, 26 Faubourg -To meet the growing evil oCleprosy in India St. Honor6, had been full, while its outdoor the Government has decided to introduce a bill members numbered over 500. The governesses' giving district magistrates power to order the and artists' in~titute and home had been re- arrest ofany leper fouud begging or wandering moved to larger premises at 153 Faubourg St. about without means of subsistence. Such Honore, and Its members were more than 200 In lepers may be detained in a retreat for life or until their discharge Is sanctioned, and if they escape may be re-captured by the police. No rdlreat will be sanctioned unless provision is made for the segregation of the sexes. The every denomination in Bengal, the Pnnja!,., the local governments may establish retreats, make rules for the management, discipline, aud in· Dekkan, Bombay, and Madras Presidencid8. spection of them with any moneys placed at their disposal for hospitals, dispensaries, and We bave stayed in tbeir bouses, lived close to Innatic asylum., and complete religions freedom will be assnred to lepers in such institutions. them for many months, bave known the details Contrary to tbe returns made by the sanitar· of their expenditure, and I can bear unqnallfied ians of India that leprosy was decreasing, to which the past apathy of the Government is testimony to their self-denying economy and simtraoeable, the eminent civil service officer, the Hon. Sir H. Ramsay, of Kum;J.on, in the Hima- plicity of living, and to the ricbes of their liberlayas, considers that the outbreaks of leprosy are rapidly multiplying in that empire. ality to the poor'in times of famine. Nothing can The condition of these poor creatnres is mis- be more unjust or ungenerous than to charge erable, turned out from family, village, and all that makes life dear. "If there are objects on them with' self-indulgence,' 'luxury,' or 'worldearth;' writes Dr. Pringle,formerly for SOyears Surgeon-Major to Her Majesty's Bengal Army, liness,' of any kind. The' gulf' between them .. that claim Christian charity more than others it is theBe lepers. Now help has come, and the and the' station people' is tbe gulf between ~he Jubilee of the Empress of India, • The Maha- Ranee,' will ever be known as the 50th year of church and the world. Men like Dr. Duff, or the rule of her who desires to be known, not only as the defender of the faith, but'" the fol- Mr. Hislop, of Nagpur, may occasionally be lower of Him who had compassion on the leper and whose religion welcomes tbe leprous out- sought after by high otlicials fortheir knowledge cast cf otber religions with' Come unto me, and I will give you rest. ' or their gifts, but very few civil or military offi- " The last of the tbree great orders promul- cers, and .till fewer ladies, ever visit a missiongated in the Punjab of old, viz., • Burn not widows, kill not infant girls, bnry not (alive) ary's family unless they are one with them in lepers,' bas now not only its fulfillment, but adequate provision supplied for carrying It into the faith. Missionaries are not • in society.' effect with love and mercy, and henceforth tbe bomeless, friendless, religionless leper will find They have neither time nor inclination to be so. a home and a friend, and, if he will believe it and accept it, a religion which will take him I never met a missionary at Government House. just as he is." I never beard of one staying with a Governor, Dr. Pringle read a mastetly paper, Jnne 12th, before one of the most influential assemblies except Mrs. Ingalls, ortbe Burmah mi.sion,witb ever gathered in London on" The Increase of Leprosy in India, its Causes, Probable Conse- Lord and Lady Lawrence. At tbe same time, quences and Remedies." their own houses were always open to anyone In this connection we should not omit an expression' of gratitude to the promoters of mis- seeking their society, their bospitality genersions who bave sent ministrants to the 135,000 lepers in India, chiefly from Scotland and Ire- ally taking the'form of evening tea. They were land, for the last 15 years. The stations may be traced on the leper maps of India, and also on universally respected by the natives who knew those of Burmah and Ceylon. them, and hy all those Europeans who kept -From Bombay a painful case of suttee by opium is reported. The wife of a wealthy aloof from them. I have not spoken of tbe real Brahmin, in order not to survive her sick bus- band, whom sbe was ,nursing, committe!! sui- hardness they endure in teaching, hazaarpreach- cide by taking opium,-Our English {Jorre- spondent. ing in the hot winds, and in itinerating often on '
-Missionary Life. The widow of the late foot. As one instance, all the Basle missiona- ' General Colin Mackenzie writes to Tlte Ohm- tian (London) a8 follows: .. Dear Sir: Allow ries engaged in the revival among tke J nlus in me to confirm the testimony of Miss McInnes (in your issue of May 31), as to the' simplicity of 1870-71 were invalid from the hardships they life' and devotion to their great work of Indian missionaries. DUring more than thirty years went through. Faithfully yours, my busband (General Colin Mackenzie) and I were intimately acquainted with missionaries of I., HELEN C. MACKENZIE."
-India would seem to be practically unedu- cated. The total number ofscbolars in schools and colleges of all sorts is only three and a quarter millions, or one and a half per cent. of tbe entire population. These are mainly confined to the cities and towns; and out of 250,000,000 in all India,less than 11,000,000 can read and write. A census of tbe illiterates in the various conntries of the world, recently publisbed in the Statistische MonatsBchrift, places the three Slavic States of Roumauia, Servia and Russia at the head of the list, witb ahout 80 per cent. of the populatiou unable to read and write. Of the Latin-speaking races, Spain heads the list witb 63 per cent., followed by Italy witb4S per cent., France and Belgium having ahout 15 per cent. The Illiterates in Hungary number 43 per cent., in Austria 89, and in Ireland 21. In England we find 13 peT cent., Holland 10 per cent., United States (white population) 8 per cent., and Scotland 7 per cent" unable to read and write. When we come to the purely Teutonic States 'we find a marked reduction in the percentage of illit- erates. The bighest is in Switzerland, 2.5; in the whole German Empire it is 1 per cent. ; in Sweden, Denmark, Bavaria, Baden and Wur- temberg there is p~actically no one wbo cannot read aud write. -The latest and most baseless accusation humanity in the bresBts of their oppressors. brought against PrQtestant missions in India Debarred from carrying on the ordinary trades is found in a home paper. and is to the effect oflife, they have been compelled In many inthat the natives were so afraid of medical mis- stances to earn their living by debased occupa. sionary ladies that they would not admit them tions. Taught by bitter experience to feel how to their houses, and other ladies had to be sent unequal they Invarisbly are to cope with the for. The well-knowu truth is that missiouary aggressions of the Mnssnlman population, they ladies made the Lady Dnfferiu movement possi- adapt their speech and conduct to their unforble. They entered India when very many Enro- tunate condition. They passively submit to peans regarded them with disfavor. and proved the vilest Insults, whilst the petty acts of perseby successfal practice in many parts of India cution gradually become habitnal on the part of that the ladies in the zenana could be reached. the Mussulmans. A :Mussulman child may They were gladly received by the natives. The with impunity pull a Jew's beard snd spit into first lady doctor who came to India landed in his face. The poor Jew makes no complaint, 187(), and came to India as a missionary. So and his resignation, taken as cowardice, is not far from exciting fear or suspicion, she gained calculated to act as a deterrent. It is impossiimmediate access to royal houses, and when ble to form a conception of the sentiments of a Lady Dufferln landed In India this medical lady Persian toward a Jew. Taught by tradItion was established in the capital of a Rajpoot and custom to despise the Jew, as being an inprince, and was not only generously'supported by fidel and an impure and defiled creature, it is no him, but had full liberty to carryon her mission- wonder that the Mussulman acts toward him ary work in whatever way she chose. Here and in a disgraceful manner. The word "Jew" is there a noudescrlpt without missionary creden- considered as a term of disgrace, and is never tals may have failed, but as a class the medical used by a Persian without an apology for giving mlsslouary ladies have been eminently success- utterance to it. Their cry for help will assur- edly not fall ineffectually upon the ears of their ful, aud but for them neither India nor China brethren in lands where the blessings of educawoald have had a medical lady. or a female tion have rendered our co-religionists peaceful student in a medical school, to the present and prosperous. day.-India Witness (BmnlJall.) Russla.-Daybreak among the Kirghlz. -Christianity in India.-It is the peculiar To Russian civilization the varied tribes and distinction of India that it has beeu the peoples of Central Asia have readily assimilated; theater of four great religions-Hinduism, the Kirghiz alone have hitherto remained 0 b· Buddhism, Mohammedanism and Christi- stinately wedded to their semi-barbarism. Evianity. The first three have each had many dence, if not overwhelmingly strong, indicates centuries of opportunity, and yet Christian. a tendency to adapt civllized customs and the itv has done more for the elevation of In- elements of education. 'A century and a half ago dian societ,, in the last fifty years than the Kirghiz, who at that time inhabited nearly duringall the long ages of their domination. one·half of Central Asia, surrendered them- Neither Buddhism nor Mohammedanism selves willingly and without bloodshed to the made any serious impression upon caste, domlnstlon of the White Czar. The Russians neither W80S 80ble to mitigate the wrongs have persistently, by every rational means, which h80d been.heaped on women; Moham- striven to remove antiquated prejndlces and the medanism rather aggravated them. The eradication of Kirghiz superstitions. Not until horrors of the suttee and the murder of fe- recent years have Ru.sian persuasions issued maleinfants, those bitterest fruits of super- in Imore than partial success. When the free stition, were left unchecked till the British schools were instituted and tolerance toward Government, Inspired by Christian senti- religion and language exercised the children ment, branded them infamous and made shunned the doors. As determinedly the Kirgthem crimes. Eveh the native sentiment of hlz declined to allow their young men to accept India. is now greatly changed, and the gen- vacancies offered to them in the Rnssian cadet eral morality of the better classes is raised corps. Latterly, however, the Rnssian authora.bove the teachings of their religion.-Dr. ities have overcome the scruples of the Kirghiz EUinwooa, in Ohurch at Home and Abroad. parent. by the gift of premiums. The induce- ment has been successfuf in attracting to the PerSla.-The Jews. Several representa- schools numbers of boys. An earnest endeavor is also being made to break through the pretives of the aggrieved have approached the Per- viously impenetrable wall of prejndice which sian Shah' now visiting in London. The Armin- excludes all female children from the advanians, the Engli.hJewsand the Parseesthere res- tages of educational training and discipline. It ident, have presented addresses. Thefollowing is reported that the wife of s Kirghiz chief i.interestlng just now touching the cruel op- named Galschevskaya has finally overborne all pressiou of the Jews in Persia: :Mr. Morris native opposition, and, with the permission of Cohen of Bsgdad writes in the last report of the Government, a few months ago opened a the Anglo-Jewish Association that centuries of school for young girls in the little town of Jrgis. persecution have not failed to stamp their effect Already she has succeeded In bringing together in deep. broad characters upon the Persian Jews. Despised and persecuted, they are unable to commaud respect, or to arouse feelings of 15 girls. These are entirely the daughters of United States.-From The Exa.miller native Sultans. There is likelihood of tAe we gather some facts respecting Rev. Grattan lady's example being followed shortly by the Guinness, head of the great London Institute establishment of similar schools in more popu- for the training of missionaries, who has been lous centers. The girls attending the Irgis • traveling for months through Mexico and the School are described as wonderfully good Southern States: pupils. In spite of much criticism abroad of the From MeXICO he went through Texas. Lonisi- Russian manner of treating the popular senti- ana, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and ments and traditions of the subjected Central others of the States. His purpose was to visit Asian races there is no donbt that the Rnssian the oolleges for colored students. In a single Government is becoming more permeated with month he addressed 3,000 colored stndents, re- the princjples of educational rights and relig- ceiving offers of service for the Congo missiou ious liberties. ·More acquaintance with the in- from thirty of them. Dr. Guinnes8 finds that ternallife of the Emph'e of the Czar as shown a new movement is begun among the million in Dr. Lansdell's writings proves that Russia colored Baptists-as he puts it: .. Africa in in her own way is a civilizing not less than a America is beginnin::- to move towards Africa conquering power in Central Asia.-Our Eng- beyond the seas." After seeing the colored lish Correspondent. I people, Mr. Gninness went among the white Syrla.-Dr. Lindsay, of the Free Church chnrches, taking with him his bright Congo ofScotland, is now visiting the missions of that boy, N'koiyo. N'koiyo nsed to be at Ilarley church in India, and he gives in The Free House nnder Mr. Gulnness, bnt is now stud,.
Ohurch Monthly an account of the Syrian Ing in one of our Sonthern institutions. Mr.
Christians who dwell chiefly in Travancore. Guinness's plea was that indlvidnal chnrches One authority states that there are about 100,000 should support each a miasionary on the Con- of these Syrian Christians. Dr. Lindsay re- go in connection with onr Missionary Union, gards them as probable descendants of the bnt in addition to what they at present are Nestorian Christians who were banished from doing for missions. Nine Baptist churches in the empire by Theodosius. The Church Mis- Phlladelphia promised to support ten fresh sionary Society of England has labored among missionaries on the Congo. The American them, and oftentimes with promise of much Colonlzation Society has promised to transport snccess, but while there has been a reforming all these missionaries free, and Mr. Guinness party among them, the majority hold very has secured a suitable house in Monrovia, LI- rigidly to some of their ancient tenets. Dr. beria, where the missionaries can wait until Lindsay now reports that the reform party, they can be sent to the Congo. He will be which is headed b~ the Bishop Mar Athana- bnsy:in September seeing to the start of these sius, has endeavored not to secede from the new miSSionaries, and In October is to be at aucient church, but to secnre an evan- the opening of the new missionary college In gelical reformation within it. The chiel Boston. Mr. GlJlnness shows how great pleas- points they insist upon are: The repudiation of nre he takes in thus forwarding the work of prayers to the Virgin or paints and tor the our missions on the Congo in all his letters.
dead; and of the doctrines of transubstantia- His is a crusade for missions wisely and eco- tion and the mass, and of compulsory fasting. nomically condncted, and carried on without They protest also against various superstitious any llourish of trumpets, or appeals (or help rites, such as kneeling before the cross, the for his personal expenses.
lighting of candles for forty days at the graves The first Congo-Balolo mission party sent of the dead, and the offering of sweetmeats at out by Mr. Gninness and the East London In- the temples. They demand that worship shal! stitnte to the Congo above our farthest sta- be in the vernacular, and that the old Syrian tion, arrived safely at the mouth of the Congo.
litnrgy be translated into Malayalam. They In 1878 the first Congo missionaries (establish- desire to be associated with other Christians, Ing the mission which has since been conveyed and especially with evangelical Protestants. to the American Baptists) arrived. There is a This reform party is engaged in a protracted wonderful contrast between then and now.
lawsuit with the nnreformed section for cer- As the missionary party reached the Congo'. tain property belonging to the chnrch, the mouth, they found every provision made for courts hitherto in their decisions having fa- the comfort oC arriving missionaries, wnereas vored the old party. The reformers are antici- ten years ago the pioneers had to endure many pating defeat in their suit, bot are building discomforts. Shortly after this party of Congochurches, and are resolnte in their purpose to Balolo missionaries arrived, they wlilre met by maintain evangelical Christianity. It seems a representative of Dr. Simpson's (ol New that the impulse that led to this reformation York) faith-healing missi01l". She talked in an is dne to the" work of the Church Missionary Indignant strain of the "awlul country," the Society, and to the Christian College at Ma- "terrible people," that '.' It was not right for dras. Mar Athanasius, the present leader, ladies to go to snch a place," and mnch more was a student in the Madras College-Miss. In the same strain. The next morning an Berald. Irish woman connected with the American
MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE FROM ALL PARTS
Methodist· (Bishop Taylor's) mission met the it wa.s committed in lta.ly a.gainst one Jew- party and gave them the bright side of the pic- ish child. Many become sick. and some die tnre. She was fnll of enthusiasm for the work in the school away from home and kindred.
on the Congo. After remaining five days at Those who live to gradnate become" camp Banana, the Congo State steamer took them up Indians" again,little better for· the" edu- to Boma. cation" they have received at the expense -The Indian political problem as viewed of the GovernmeQt.
by a missionary. A life of fifteen years Our present policy is unjust in pauperiz- among the Indians has shown me some light ing the Indians and then making their pau- on the Indian problem which it seems to me perism an excuse for invading family rights.
importa.nt to bring before the citizens of on the plea that their children must be the nation which is trying, vainly thus far, taught to support themselves. And the to solve it. I lived among the Ottawas in Indians' hearts are broken and our money Michigan more than two years before and is spent in vain. To educate Indians under nearly five years after their reservations present conditions is to enable a few of were opened to the white settlers. I have them to support themselves and to leave the been more than eight years among the rest to fall back into pauperism.
Sioux on reservations in Dakota and Mon- .I refer to the Government plan of whole- tana.. I have seen the working of both poli- sale education. There a.re mission schools cies a.nd become convinced that the follow- where a limited numberof Indian youth can lng truths contain the key to the solution of obtain a better educatiou than in Govern- the problem: ment schools. The supply of those who ob- I. The Indians are men and cannot be tain this higher education is not equal to saTed without recognizing the rights of the demand. But graduation at a Govern- ma.nhood. The longer they are trea.ted a.s ment school gives no assurance of self.sup- children the inore childish they become. port.
They are sinking deeper in pauperism. At The only wa.y in which the reservation this a.gency it costs the Government as system benefits the Indians is by enabling much to support them as it did when there the agent to keep liquor away from them.
were three times as many. If the traffic in liquor was suppressed 2. What they need is not speciallegisla- among white people, their settlement among tion in their behalf, but the protection of the Indians would not be an injury, but a laws securing equal justice to all men. The benefit.
Government appropriates money to feed 3. A homestead should be given to every them, but that does not teach them to earn Indian, and the rest of the reservations their own living. The Government under- should be open to other settlers. As far as I ta.kes to give their youth an education, both know their feelings, the Indians would be literary and industrial. A few learn to read glad of the change. There would be district and write English to a very limited extent. schools, a.nd their children would not be ar- Some have acquired considerable skill in rested like criminals and put into boarding some kind of work. The Government hires schools by force. Partly by cultivating a.
a few laborers, and the rest are left to eat little land for themselves, and partly by the bread of idleness, as before. Thefavored working for their white neighbors, they laborers receive wages, a.nd the rest get could sup·port themselves and dispense with …bout rations enough to save them from be- Government rations.
ing sta.rved to death. The Government sets 4. All distinctions of race should be abol- apart reservations to protect them from the ished and the laws a.dministered impa.r- intrusion of white people and keep out set- tially. A crime against an Indian should is tiers who would give them employment. meet with the same pnnishment as when the The India.ns are induced to scatter with a victim a white person.
view to farming, and the oilly result is that How will these principles solve the Indian their time and strength are consumed 10 problem? Apply them, and the Indiaus will coming to the agency for their rations. solve it themselves. They are made of Children are educated by forcibly kidnap- human nature as well as we, and all they ping them, in utter disregard of parental want is a fair chance, equally with our- rights, theanthorities thus repeatedly com- selTes. GEORGE W. WOOD, JR., mittin&" the crime which a.roused the indig- Presbyterian Missiona.ry. _, nation of all Europe a few years-a-g-o.-w-h-en—-F-OR-T-P-EC-It AGENCY, MONTANA. ilL-MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE FROM ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD-FIELD.
Mrica· of May .49 converts were baptized at the A. B. M. U. Station of Ranza Mauteke. P ALABALA, CONGO FREE STATE, On the 4th of JUDe one young man was bap- 12 June,1889. tized at Underhill Station of the Eng. Rap.
EDITORS MISSIONARY ReVIEw.-On the 25th Missy. Socy. At Lukunga Station of A. B. M. I write the above notes about Bishop Union 4 were baptized on Jnne 9th. At Banza Manteke Station of A. B. M. Union 20 were Taylor's work, not to clog the wheels of the baptized on June 11th. gospel chariot, but rather that the truth By the steamship .Afrikaan the Congo Balo Mission party from London arrived lBay be known. I long to see chnrches essafely; there were two ladies and six gentlemen In the party, all of whom are new tablished-I care not by whom they a.re to the country except the leader, Rev. J. McKittrick, who was for some years in the built up-Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist A. B.M. Union and held the Equator Station of the A. B. M. U, for some time., or otherwise, so long a.s h the Kingdom"
By the same steamer three new mission_ comes, and men are led to follow Jesus. aries came for the A. B. M. U.-Misses Gordon and Royal and Rev. W. A. Hall. But people are giving" gospel money" to The Portuguese mail of 26th May brought what professes to be the cheapest and best four returning and six new missionariesone for A. B. M. U., five for the Eng. B.M. mode of spreading the knowledge of God, Socy. and four for the· Swedish M. Socy.- total for May,21. (3 American, 4 Swedish, and what can be seen at a glance tobe a tail- 1 German and 13 British.) ure on the Congo up till nolO. A new station has been opened by the A. B. 11. U. at Bwemba (Nchumbiri's) fully At Oivi. the base station, no school is es- 200 miles above Stanley Pool. tablished and no one can speak the' lan- Rev. J B. Murphy reports from Equator Sta.tioll that, though there are no known guage. Messrs. White and Ra.smnssenhave conversiuns, the people are inquiring about the gospel and seem very much interested. both worked hard and' are able to converse, There has been fighting amongst some of and to tell of Jesus, in the native language. the Interior tribes, the people themselves saying that since the white men sold them At Kimpoko, I believe, no practical knOWlguns there has been much more lighting. The Statewiselyforbids saleofrifleand capguns. edge of the language has been attained by Good reports as to health and work come any of those established there, yet they from all the A. B. M. U., B. M. S. and S. M. S. stations. have been there for over two years. Mr.
Bishop Taylor's steamer is still in transitu Burr works very hard and earns a good deal and will not probably fioat this year, and if things go on at present rate it will not float by hippopotamns shooting. The two ladies next year. at Banana no doubt do a good work; there In Congo Free State there are four points held by the Bishop's people: (1) Near Bana- the natives understand a good deal of Eng- ns-Misses Kildare and Collins. (2) Oivi (houses built by State)-held by Mr. and Mrs. lish and Portnguese languages. Mr. Burr Teter and Mr. Briggs. (3) lsangila-only a grass hut for temporary purposes-lIessrs. can almost support himself with his gnn, White and Rasmussen. (4) Kimpoko (State houses)-Messrs. Burr, Harrison and Elkins bitt nODe of the others attain "self support," and Mrs. Elkins. No other places are held by the Bishop'8people, though I see repeatedly and even if they were to do so, they, like longer lists of stations. Mr. Burr, wonld be almost completelY cut The list of,missionariesof the Bishop Tay- lor mission, as recently published in the olf from school work and evangelistic ef. pamphlet he edits, Is also incorrect. The names of two trader8 (Evans of Mayumba fort. Yours in the Lord's work, and Fontaine of Banana) are given as .. mis- slonaries;" and fnrther, the reason given JOSEPH CLARK, Missionary of A.B. M. U. for delay of trarurtt of the .Anne Paylor is in- complete and incorrect. LUCKUNGAN, CONGO, June 10, 1889. Forty-flve converts were baptized at It is now over nine years since I came to Banza Mantike (A. B. M. U.) on 2d of this this country, and I have no desire for a month. Fifteen new mission!l.ries and fonr ," better fleld." I love Africa and my desire returns arrived here during the past month. is to see the Cross of Christ planted In A new mission, to work among the Balolo, every village. I daily pray for the spread have arrived on the Congo under the leader- of the knowledge of the name of Jesus, and ship of Mr. J. McKittrick, who did elfect- 1 daily work for that end. ive work and ~ained considerable expe- rience a few years ago while working nn~er theL.E.M. Nearlyall members of the Bishop Taylor mission have either died, gone home, or connected themselves with other missions here. Self-supporting missions are regarded as a failure, and we are very sorry for this; the Bishop is going to !rive it another trial; we wonld rejoice greatly if he suc"eeds, but we ha.ve no ground to hope.
CHAS. JAMES LA1i'J'IN.
Ohile.
AN appeal to Christians for prayer in behalf of Chile: We, the Chile MisSion, assembled Cor oonsu!ttr tlon and prayer concerning our Master's work in Chile, unitedly call upon our fellow-cbrls- tians here and in other lands to join us In c0n- certed and continued prayer to the God of all grace for a special blesSing npon His work here. We gratefnlly acknowledge past blessings, The work of this latter is largely among the and are thankful for the achievements and cou· cesllions of a liberal government, for the marked Chilians. In connection with its work are five spirit of tolerance recently shown toward the propagation of a pure Christianity among this Chilian churches, three schools, one theolOgical people, for the preachim; of the gospel many years to the foreign communities on these department, seven foreign missionaries, three shores and more recently to the Chilians and to a few Indian trihes, for the many copies of the Chilian ministers, besides other helpers and Scriptures scattered among various classes, for the seed sown by tracts and papers in thousands teachers. Among the special indications of of human hearts, for the little companies of be: lievers here and there who have not been God's providence are the rapid movements of ashamed to own the name of Him who called them luto His own marvelous light, for those the past few years toward religious freedom in 'Who have been led by the Divine Spirit to consecrate themselves to Chr istian work in Chile the spirit of the people and in governmental for all the manifested tokeus of the presence and power of God in Christian life and work, acts. The Evangelical Union, which issues this and, finally, for the providence of our Father overall. appeal, has recently received articles ofincorpo- Yet, while mludful of these things, we cannot ration granting the right to hold property, libshut our eyes to the pressing needs around us, and we are constrained to ask you to become 'erty of worship and permission to propagate fellow-helpers In prayer with us in the work oC the gospel of Christ in Chile. Romanism has the Reformed faith throughout the country_ blighted these shores and Inthralled this people for centuries. A reaction is taking place; but, Other tokens of providential favor are seen in excepting In a few Instances, it is not toward the religion of the Bible. The great trend is the large number who now gIve the gospel a toward infidelity and indill'l'rentism. The naturaI'frnlts of hoth are seen in the confused and hearing, and in the Cact that sever..l ChllIans sad state of opinion and practice regarding religion and morals. It would be possible to men- have just entered upon or are in the active tion facts which would prove how important it I. to have a pure gospel preached in Chile. preparation for the gospel ministry. This progressive people, once brought to love and obey Jesus Christ, would show that divine The demands of the hour may be expressed trnth conquers slu and brings to a more perfect development qualities naturally excellent. In- by two wordS, immediate occupation qf the fiuences adverse to a true religious life are felt also by foreign Christians residing here. Yet entire j!eld and a gracious and mightll outit is cause for gratitude that so many avoid these dangers, and, by engaging in Christian pouring oj the HollI Spirit. Pray that the meswork, by consecrated giving, and by their sympathy and prayers do promote the blessed gospel sengers of Christ may be speedily sent to the in Chile. Stili let prayers ascend that their nnmber may be increased, that foreigners and large colonies of foreign peoples on these Chilians may become, under the blessing of our covenant God, trne sons and danghters of the shores, to the dominant Spanish Chillan race King. and to the untonched aboriginal tribes. Nor The present is a time of opportunity. A beginning has been made and special indications can we pass by the fields north ofus, the United of Providence have been vouchsafed. The agencies at work in Chile are the following, States of Colombia and Pern, in which there are viz.: thirteen Protestant churches among the foreign communities, five boarding and day very few laborers; also Bolivia, Ecuador and schools and three Spanish preaching stations under the Taylor Mission of the American Venezuela, almost entirely unoccupied. Plead Methodist Church, a seaman's mission in Valparaiso harbor, the ValparaiSO Bible Society with our God that these nllglected fields may employing several colportenrs, a mission to the natives of Terra del Fuego under the care or immediately hear the gospel. Pray that the the South American Missionary Society of England, and the Evangelical Union or Chile Mis- Spirit may convict of sin this whole people. .1011 of the American Presbyterian Church. Pray that He may make fruitful the widely scat- tered seed. Pray that he may give courage to confess Christ and to openly avow allegiance with.His chnrch. Pray God that He may conse- crate more Cully to Himself the Chilian and for- iegn Christians, that the testimony of a whole- handed and whole-hearted service may aid the witness of God's truth. Pray the Lord of the harvest for godly native ministers, teachers and other workers, and for a marked enduement of the spirit of Christ upon His mmisters here, both Chilian and foreign, for harmony, for wis- dom, for love, for power. Pray for the church of Christ in ChUe that it may be powerfully re- vived. Pray for the Christians of Protestant Europe and America that they may appreCiate their vast responsibilities for money, men and practical interest, also their wonderful oppor- tunities for 1WW undertaking and carrying out our Lord's gre..t command to disciple all na· tions. The one comprehensive blessing which we de&lre is the presence of the Holy Spirit working in all the plenitude of Hisl(race and power.
Dear brethren, what is to be done must, be done quickly. This generation is fast passing away. May we all quit ourselves like men, praYIng while we labor 'and laboring while we pray, as those who look for the Lord and His divine approval.
Those who are willing to nnite in a weekly observance of prayer in behalf of ChUe and the other darkened papal hnds of America are re- vations is to have nothjng to do with Christians as servants, when they can get Hindu or Moquested to send their names to any member of hammedan domestics. I do uot agree with the , Old Colonel' in his sweeping denunciations of the Evangelical Union. These are not Intended our native Christian brethren in. India. But I am compelled to admit, that he has often pracfor publication, but that we may be encouraged tical experience in support of his views.
by the knowledge that some are joining us in .. The low state, moral and social, of these • Portuguese Christians,' Is the direct historical this requeet, and that we may be able to com- result of a system of conversion without educa- tion. The Roman Catholic authorities have municate with them iu the future. themselves perceived this; and in our day they are second to none in their efforts to educa&e Rev. J. M. .Allis, Casilla 912, Santiago, Chile. the people. I would speak of the existing Catholic missions and missionaries in India " S. J. Christen, "6tH, " with the highest respect. • • • " W. H. Lester, 231, "The fact. however,remains that the low social and moral status of their converts is the histori_ " W. H. Dodge, 202, Valparaiso, " cal result of the old-world methods of conver- sion without corresponding efforts at education " J . .F. Garvin, 904, on an adequate scale. These methods have now been abandoned for more enllghteued ones " W. H. Robinsou," Copiapo, by the Roman CathOlics in India. "
" W. B. Boomer, Ooncepcion, " Iu comparing the number of converts'by the Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries we In session at Valparaiso, Chile, January, I88)' ought never to lose 'Sight of the fact that not only were the former 300 years sooner in the 1 These. iii: 1,2. field but that they had the Nestorlan Mis- sions on which to draw for many of their England. early converts. as all were called who left the weak and unprotected followers of the early FROM REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, F.S.S. church for the powerful church of their Portu- guese conqnerors who did not scrnple to nse Roman Catholic Missions in In- strong measnres for their conversion. dia. It is also necessary in speaking of the increase KDS. 011 THill MISSIONARY REVIEW 011 THE WORLD: of Roman Catholic converts in India, to em- Dear Sirs.-Your correspoudent in this Jlhasize the fact that the Increase is largely due to the natnrallncrease of the mnch larger numconntry, who happens to be a namesake of ber with which the comparison is made. mine, and for whose communications I find myself credited, has in your July Issue given the I am, dear sir, most truly yours, nnmber oC Roman Catholics in India derived JAMBS JOHNSTON, F. S. S. Cram their orgau, Illustrated Catholic Missions. The numbers are probably near the truth; but India. certain quotations from Sir W. W. Hunter as LETTER from a Methodist misslOnto the comparative cost ofPopish and Protestant ary in Monaffarpur, India: missions, and as to the self-denying way in which the agents of the former carryon their I read in THE REVIEW a short time ago an work, are apt to mislead, when not accompanied account of the Lady Dnfferin Hospital, by other passages from Sir William's writings. opened at Darthanga and built by the Ma.- harajah. I see the building often and enjoy The following passages are from one of his the hospitality of the lady in charge, who is most recent ntterance., as to the character an East Indian from Madras. Already the of the converts made by the Roman Catholic enterprise is a success; the wards are filled Chnrch ; and as they may not COme under your and much good is being done. Miss R., an correspondent's eye, and will certainly not be excellent Christian lady, told me of a very given In the nlustrated Oatholic Missions, I successful treatment in removing a cataherewith give them: ract from a native lady, who, after years of darkness, has returned to her home and Referring to the danger of the withdrawal of people. It is great misfortune that theladies Protestant schools and co~leges, Sir William engaged in these hospi tals, by a stipulatIOn says: accepted by Lady Dufferin, "annat converse with theIr patients on the subject of Chris- "The Roman Catholics in the sixteenth and tianity. Either these institntions in time seventeenth centuries made the great mistake must pass into the care of ladies of an of converting without educating. Their con- acknowledged creed or the Christian la,di!llil versions were on an enormous scale, and they must stullif,y tb/lm.,, VIIS, have left behind a hereditary caste of Christians, numbering abont one and one-third million of the two millions or native Christians in India. It is not too much to say that the native Christians thus left behind by the rapid conversions of Roman CatholiCIsm were for long a reproach to Chrlstiauity. It is these' Portnguese Christians' who have given rise to the popular idea in India, that a native Christian is a drunkard and a thief. There are many thousands of exceptions to this rule. But the rule Is so general that an 'Old Colonel' .when he Writes to the Time8, usnally speaks of it as universal. Yet the class of Englishmen represented by senior military officers are both truthful and accurate ~lls~rvers,. and the ~eneraI rllswt Of th,eit obse~- The field which our ehurch. the Methodist "The mission on which I started has proved successful beyond my expectations. Episcopal, has just entered has been occu- Our friends will be glad to know that we have begun a, mission in Jerusalem, and ba.ve -appied-for some years by the members of the pointed a missionary. Not only was I myself actively occupied during the whole period Gossner Mission. For want of men and of my stay at the ]'[oly City, but I also en- gaged a. Hebrew convert to continue the funds it ha.s for several years been almost work as an evangelist among the 30,000 Isra- elites at Jerusalem. I am sure that your at a standstill. The mission has bnt two earnest prayers will go up for this new branch of our work. There are in other cities men, one of whom is to be removed to an- of Palestine 50,000 more of God's ancient peo- ple, making 80,000 in all, or more than in the other field. A 1l0urishing Zenana mission days of Ezra and Nehemiah, for then there Were only 50,000. 1 may add that the number a.nd a press, which aided the mission greatly, is constantly increasing and that there are signs of renewed prosperity. I believe the have both been abandoned. Lord is preparing the land for the people and the people for t{ie land; for just as the Provision has been made by which we curse haB been fulfilled so all the bleSSings foretold by Israel'" prophets shall assuredly hope soon to put half a dozen native helpers come to pass and be fully realized." From Paris he writes: "Many of you will know in this field. It will be something of an ex- that three years ago I was enabled, with the aid of Pastor Hirsch. to start a work among periment with us, as we have only one the Hebrews of this city. I am anxious While here to strengthen and enlarge the foreign missionary to represent the work. work." It has been assisted by the contri- butions of Mr. Freshman'S little Hebrew There is but one town in Lirhort, and that Christian Churoh and congregation of St. Mark's Place, from which have also ema· is where We have established ourselves. nated, directly or indirectly, missions to the Jews in Philadelphia and Chicago. besides Here we hope soon to have a dispensary incipient work in PIttsburgh, Des Moines. Toronto and other cities, as opportunities with a lady doctor in charge, a very mnch have offered, by Mr. Freshman personally,or by missionary converts from the little needed auxiliary to mission work. mother in St. Mark's Place, ten or more of whose sons are already in the field or pre- Your accounts of the increasing interest paring in theological seminaries.
taken in the Lord's work, and your own United States.
eO'orts to create and foster this interest, [COMMUNICATION from Dr. L. P. Brockett: Corrections in article on are very encouraging to us. We are satis- ·'Madagascar."] fied that the Lord will make known and EDS. MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD: I glorify Himself among the nat'ions, but we have received from foreign sources some communications in relation to my article on ask, When will the church be willing, nay, " Madagascar" in the May and June num- bers of your REVIEW, and I beg leave to make anxious, to give the millions of India an op- a few not very important corrections sug- /!rested by t,hese criticisms that your many portunity to see the light and enjoy the readers may not be led into even trivial er- roneous impressions. blessings of our glorious gospel? May article, p. 352, lines 22 and 23, for We have a station as near Mt. Everest as "lemurs" (which helong to the monkey fam- ily) read "'emeers" (which belong to the we can get in the plains of India. When not Same natura.l class and order as the monkey which they replace in Madagascar.) obscured by clouds and mist it can be dis- Page 858, line 28, for" the great province tinctly seen, and appears to be but a few of Imerina • • • is the larl!"est of all the provinces," read" which is the chief of aJl miles distant,while it is not less thau eighty. the provinces."
Bishop Thoburn, our recently appointed Page 858, line 8, for "and the Bt!tsileas"
bishop of India and Malaysia, has just ar- rived. On the 7th of January he presides at his first conference, to meet at Bareilly.
northwest provinces; on the 17th he will meet the Bengal Conference at Allahabad, and on the 31st the South India Conference at Bombay.
Hoping you may be Interested in a few items from these gatherings. I will endeavor to send them to vou as early as I can obtain them.
We trust you have every encouragement in your noble work. We join in prayiug that yOU may he aided, both by the Lord and by the church, for you need grace,and you cannot work without means. Tell the churches in America we are waiting on their prayers; our eyes are lifted unto Him who has promised to hear and answer prayer. Yours very sincerely, (Rev.) H. JACltSON.
Syria..
THE FRESHMAN JEWISH MISSIONS. [REV. JACOB FRESHMAN writes to his congregation in New York of the enterprise for Jerusalem for which he has been for some months absent, as follows:1 read .. the Betlmmena and the Betsimisa to be prepared. based on the best codes of raka." England and America.," read .. caused a re- vision of the MallloG"asy laws to be prepa.red. June article. p. 425. line 24, for "1863." read approximating them in some degree to the "1868." Sa.me line, for .. in Imerlna. " (the codes of Western nations." land of the Hovas) read" iu the island of llada.gasca.r. " Page 428. line 11. for" the Scriptures" read .. religious books." Same page. line 14. for Page 425. line 29, "they had only the New .. she greatly multiplied copies of the Scrip- Testament in their own langua&-e, and the tures " read" she greatly promoted the cirtranslation of'this was not perfect." The CUlation of the Scriptures." and refer to the following toot note should be appended to new note on page 425. this page : Page 428. line 25. for .. to the levying of * .. The New Testament and the Psalms taxes" add" to diminish the burden of the jarwmpoana or per90nal service." had been translated and circulated prior to 1834, and 5,000 copies of the former and 6,000 In the note at the foot of P. 428. line 12. of the latter had been put in the hands from the bottom. for" spent three and a of the natives. The Old Testament had half months." read .. spent thirty·eight also been translated and a small edition da.ys" printed in the summer of 1835; but in Februaryof that year the Queen (Ranavalona I believe these are the only pa.ssages or I.) had prohibited her subjects (under pen- phrasesrequiringcorrection or modification altyof death) from reading or having in to which my attention has been ca.lled. I their possession copies of the Scriptures or will add two verba.l substitutions which I any religious books, and had caused a vigor- ha.ve noticed. Page 433, line 21. from bottom ous search to be made for them, a.nd the of page, for U voice" substitute ., utterpenalty to be inforced fer the possession of auce." and eighteenth line from bottom. for even a ~ingle leaf. Under these orders "voice" substitute "sound." nearly every copy of the Old Testament and many thousands of the Psalms and New Tes- L. P. BROCKETT. tament were seized and sent to England and BROOKLYN. July 25. 1889. their retnrn prOhibited. No other New Testaments were to be had till 1869, when the Letter from New Jersey: British and Foreign Bible Society sent a revised edition of 5,000, and in 1871 an edition MARLTON, N. J., July 8; 1869. of the Old Testament. Even these editions, DEAR DR. PIERSON: I was greatly pleased with through revised, were not perfect. and a your suggestion that the church should undermore thorough revision ha.s just been com- take to evangelize the world within the present pleted. It was a stray copy of the first edi- generation. I have been impressed for seversl tion of the entire Scriptures which was years with the same thought. that the world placed at the side of the Queen when she could be evangelized before llJOO. Four years was crowned." ago I expressed this thought to Bishop Taylor of Africa. He replied: .. I think it can be Page 426, mnth line from the bottom, for done in 20 years." In conuectlon with this I .. the coronation oath was adminis$ered to have been forcibly and sometimes pa.infully imher with her hand on the sa.cred volume," pressed that the average church co,uld and rea.d .. as she a(!dressed her people, on this should support two pastors: one at home, her corona.tionday, she stood with her hand one abroad, and the weaker churches. paying upon the sacred volume." from $400 to $700 salaries, should unite, two or more of them, in supporting a foreign pastor, Page 427, second line. for" and united with whUe the richer churches should multiply one of the mission churches " read hand their pastors abroad as the Lord should prosper united with the Independent Palace them. And all this without diminishing in the Chnrch." least their annual contributions to the general cause. This cmdd be done if properly set before Pa.ge 427, line 6, for" the beautiful Mala- the churches and urged upon them. Their gasy marble" read u the massive Ma.laga.sy missionaries could be under the supervision of granite." Line 23, for" a beautiful marble the parent boards of their respective denomichurch " rea.d u. a bea.utifulgranite church." nations. But such a worl< needs a pioneer, like yourself.to travel amongthe churches, aud also A note may be appended as follows: through the press to stir them up. Why not. dear Doctor. tske this upon your shoulders as, *.. There is a very fine Malagasy white a part of the precious burdeu you are carrying for the swift subjectiou of the world to our marble, used to some extent n Madagascar Lord ? Very sincerely yours. for building, but the churches and palaces of the capital were either built of hard na· W. MaK. BRAY. tivewood,painted whlte,of a native granite Psstor M. E. Church. which.' from excess of felspar. is nearly white. or of tae native blue rock, a gra.y or [A remarkable movement is on bluish basalt abounding in that vicinity. foot in Kansas, in response to Dr. H. The fioors of some of the palaces are of white n&'tive marble."
Page 428. line 5, for" caused a code of laws
"'~' ;:"y"''''
7'12 INTERNATIOll'AL DEPARTMENT. [OcT.; Grattan Guinness's appeal for the and others carefuUy explain to the pastors and Soudan district. We willingly give business mell that the associations are not going place to this circular, and trust it into a general missionary work, but ouly take will lead to similar movements else- up the work of sending pionee~s to prepare the way of the Lord, and open up lIelds for the where.-EDS.] church societies and others.
TOPEKA, KANSAS, July 17, 1889. We advise that a committee of from three to DEAlI FmENDS: At the last meetiug ofthe State five be appointed from your association for Executive Committee, after careful aud prayer- the Soudan Pioneer Mission. That the officers ful consideration, the following resolution was be a chairman, set'retary and treasurer. unanimously adopted, viz: RetlolfJed, That the State Executive Commit- Sample blanks, with electro map of Africa, tee approves the appointment of missionary will be furnished at an early day. committees bylocal associations for the purpose of aiding the Soudan pioneer missionary move- A number of good men have volunteered to ment or other pioneer missionary enterprises. go, and Kansas will probably send from five It was also agreed that some member of the to eight men to the Sondan about October 22d State Committee should be designated as a -immediately after the State CODvention. member for the Soudan Pioneer Mi.ssion, who should act for and represent the missionary Asking your earnest prayers and hearty cobands ofour associations in this State. operation in this great work, we are, on be- We should be glad to have the secretaries half of •• every creature,"
Faithflllly yours, JAlIIES D. HUSTED. Chairman. GEO. S. FISHER, State Secretary.
IV.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
CONDUCTED BY J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
How Shall Returned Missionaries Render attentions for which he has, orshould the Best Service to the Oause of Mis- have, no desire as being more his sions While at Home? due than to home workers for Christ. Any seeming complacency in being BY REV. GEO. W. WOOD, D.D. lionized he should avoid by'a care- ful cherishing of his conSCIOusness FIRST by being in spirit, manners that many a laborer at home is more and conduct an honor in the highest approved of his Master than himself possible degree to the missionary deserves to be. name. The cause of missions receives damage from anything in the Secondly, if the missionary is at missionary which tends to excite home for nefded rest and restoration suspicion as to his motives, and of health, let him, next to spiritual lower respect for him as a man. culture, make it his first aim to be- Whatever helps to raise him in the come able to return speedily to his estimation of intelligent Christians work abroad. If he is at all an efand other candid observers as a man fective public speaker, the demands of intellectual ability, good sense, upon him will be incessant for labor firm principle, broad and generous beyond his strength. Whether the sympathy, charity and other traits call come from secretaries of socieof the best style of Christian char- ties and boards, or, in more numeracter, brings advantage in every way ous cases, from pastors and others to the object which he seeks to pro- in the churches, he must Jearn, when mote. A model missionary is a he ought, to say No, and insist upon crown of glory and a tower of it. If his desire to excite interest in s~rength to "the cause" which he miSSIOns, or his inability to resist represents. pressure. leads him to prevent the physical recovery for which he came Especially, and in all ways, should home, or much to delay it, he makes the foreign missionary show him- a mistake which is harmful to "the self in accord, as a fellow-worker, cause." with every form of evangelistic and benevolent activity in the great Thirdly, in order to render the best home field. He sometimes receives
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT. 7'78
service to the cause of missions Butin respect to the pen, as also to while at home, the returned nlis- the voice, we do well to resolve that sionary must well consider his pecu- .. every missionary returned from liar adaptations and circumstances. his field, and so withheld from his work abroad on account of impaired "Not all men can do all things." health, should be subject explicitly to the advice of his physicians in ':!. witty correspondent of the New undertaking any missionary service York Evangelil;lf, "Ambrose," once at home." Giving lectures and wrote: "Missionaries are of two mll-king addresses from the pulpit, classes-those that can talk, and in Sunday-schools, and in missionary those that can't talk." Now, we and ecclesiastical meetings, may well know some scholarly and other men employ such measure of strength as in our own country who nevel' went a judicious physician will approve. abroad, who are very useful in their In rendering this service, let not own proper spheres, but who have zeal override judgment; and let care not the gift of eloquence; and some be taken not to harm by mistakes in who can be interesting and instruct- the manner and length of speaking. ive to auditors of'a certain kind, and Missionarielll are like other public yet fail when called to face audi- speakers, needing to know how to ences of a dIfferent sort under differ- begin, what to say and what not to ing circumstances. David Living- say, and how and when to stop. stone was not a Dr. Duff in speech, Painfully conscious of my own defibut hewas David Livingstone never- ciencies, and that I can present mytheless. Some men can do better self not so much an example as a than they can describe, and some beacon, may I not, nevertheless, recan use the pen more effectively than mind my brethren and sisters, with, the tongue. Ready writers may do myself, that the three s's are an exmuch for missions through the cellent general rule, viz. : "Be short, press. They may do this not only by spirited, spiritual" 'I " Spiritual," sketchy and more elaborate articles not in the way of cant, sanctimoniin magazines and the religious press, ousness, affectation of piety, faith, and by books, but by watching op- self-denial, but from the spirit of 'portunities for useful statements Christ in the soul of the speaker, that will be welcomed by conductors which cannot but pervade aU his utof local newspapers and secular city terances; "spirited," from depth of journals. Some missionaries abroad, conviction and feeling, not of a and some when re~urned, have, by spurious oratory, and this, though thei.r facile pens, communicated in- it may cost effort; for often the formation of great value to thinking missionary is so exhausted from minds, and, bringing honor to them- feebleness, the fatigue, it may' be, selves, have honored and aided" the of traveling. and the social intercause" to which they are or were course with kind Christian friends, devoted. The late Rev. Dr. Robert not always considerate in their de- Baird repoded that M. Guizot said sire to entertain and heal' from the in his hearing: "If ever the world visitor from a foreign land, how can is to be well informed respecting he help being dull? But let him be itself, it will be done through the as spirited in the best sense of the efforts of missionaries." Of the con- word as he can; and th€'n, unless he tributions of missIOnaries to several is to be the only speaker, and is debranches of science, and to general SIred to occupy more time, let him knowledge and literature, the most for the sake of his hearers and himgratifying appreciation has been ex- self, and efficient service "to the pressed by men of highest eminence in learning. cause," be short, above all; never The Anoient Ohuroh of Persia. a.nd its spoiling a meeting, and vexing the Reform. arrangers of a programme and those who are to follow him by overrun- BY REV. J. H. SHEDD, D.D. ningthetimeallowed to him I Learn THERE were present on the day of to speak, if, you must, with your Pentecost, Parthians and Medes and watch in your left hand, and don't Elamites and the dwellers in Mesoforget to look at it in season and potamia, devout men from the Car obey its monitions I East and forerunners of the great church of Pt'rsia that flourished from Unless one is a Christian Daniel the days of the Apostles for twelve Webster, like Alexander Duff, he centuries, and that planted its misdoes well not to occupy much time sioJ:s in Eastern Persia, Turkestan, in a missionary address by discussing China and India, while Europe was scriptural principles of missions; still a wilderness. The fruits of these this may better be reserved for other missions were all destroyed 600 years times or left to other speakers. Mis- ago by the exterminating sword of sionary facts are eagerly asked from Tameriane, except the Syrian Chrismissionaries. Let these be selected tian community on the Malabar to illustrate principles. The most coast in India; the monument of unprofitable thing that a mission- Singan fu in China and a few similar ary can do is to scold the churches. relics. There are extensive grave_ He can quicken consciences by yards on the western borders of touching hearts in well-selected, China, recording on the tombstones truthful narrations concerning con- the fact that they buried their dead verts in missionary fields or Chris- in Christian hope. tian supporters at home. The church which sent out these missions, now commonly called the Much of the returned missionary's Nestorian, has dwindled, from Mosmost effective service when at home lem oppressions and inward decay, to may be rendered in prayer-meetings a little more than a hundred thouand social circles, in which, without sand souls. Half as many more of obtrusion, he may, by suggestions, the same race and language are anecdotes and illustrations, give en- united to the Church of Rome. largement of thought, and make a This remnant of the oLd Syrian 01' favorable impression in relation to Nestorian Church was first reported missionary topics. He will some- to the Protestant world in 1830 by times find himself in company with Messrs. Smith and Dwight, Ameridisbelievers in missiom; and thus, can exploring missionaries. Their by exhibition of the Christian spirit, report was so favorable that the tact in parrying an objection or a American Board soon after began a sneer, self-respecting dignity and mission to the Nestorians. The first knowledge, refuting assertions of missionaries were Rev. Justin Perignorance, he may worthily defend kins and Asahel Grant, M.D., very the cause against assailants. By noble and enthusiastic pioneers. communication of information in an Others of like spirit followed them, easy and natural way he may, in and since the mission was begun in personal intercourse, be useful in in- 1835 a strong station has been maincreasing interest in the cause in pas- tained at Oroomiah, and unwearied tors and private Christians, and es- efforts have been made to promote. pecially in helping the young to be- a revival of pure Christianity. The come recruits for its service abroad means used are the translation of or at home, and "he that winneth the Bible into the spoken language souls is wise." of the people. the introduction of a. Christian literature, the teaching of ~ possible nearer the currup.t churches thousands to read in schools and of Greece and Rome. .
Sabbath schools, the training of But we anticipate. Let us llrst teachers and ministers, the preach- mention the nature and history of ing of the gospel everywhere and the the reform in progress and then planting of a reformed church with add a few thoughts on the opposi- its congregations and schemes of tion, difficulties and hopes that at- beneficence. tend it.
In 1841, thefirstpl·inting-press ever The Nestorian controversy carries seen in Persia began its work at us back to' the decisions of the coun- Oroomiah in printing the Bible. From cil of Ephesus, A.D. 431. Nestorius 1846 to 1851 there were remarkable was condemned on two charges. (1.) revivals in the mission schools and For refusing to call Mary theMo- in some of the village cong-regations ; ther of God. In this certainly no also severe persecutIOns by the Nes- Protestant would accuse him of torian Patriarch and the Persian heresy. (2.) For saying that there Governor. In 1855 the Reformed com- are not only two natul·es, but also munion was begun, twentyyears after two persons in Christ. Students in the founding of the mission. In 1870 church history recall to what con- the name of the mission was changed troversies the Greek words uVUla, to The Mis8ion to Per8ia. In 1871 the lJ1r6U'T'autu, and 'TrpOUoJ1rov and the corre- work was transferred to the care of sponding terms in Syriac gave rise.
the Presbyterian Board. Since then The difficulty of definition and of ad- it has enlarged its sphere to embrace justing their meanings to each other not only Nestorians, but all the other gave the opportunityfor endless mis- peoples-Armenians, Jews and Mos- understandings. Nestorians have al- • lems in half of Persia and a large ways held to the true diTinity, the part of Kurdistan in Turkey. Sta- true humanity and the true incarna- tions have been established in Tabriz, tion of our Lord. In their contro- Teheran, Ramadan and Salmas, and versy with other churches on the a station in the mountains of Kurdis- term Mother of God we are their al- tan undertaken. lies. The same is true of many In 1838, three years after the Amer- other points at issue between them ican missionaries, French monks be- and the papacy. The unscrlptural gan their work on the same field. dogmas and practices of the Greek, They have for the basis of their opera- Armenian or Latin churches, such tions several thousands of the Syri- as the refusal of the cup to the laity, ac-Persians who are nominally at- purgatory, confession, the mass as a tached to the Church of Rome. They real sacrifice of Christ and image have fought the Protestant reform worship never entered this church.
at every step and with all the weap- The errors of the fourth century ons that the Romish hierarchy know and some later ones are found, but so well how to use. In 1885, fifty the people are not bound by the years after the Americans entered councils and traditions nor are they the field, the Archbishop of Canter- under a hierarchy as the other cor- bury, at the request of some ecclesi- rupt churches. They hold the Bible astics and in pity for the old Syriac as the full and only rule of faith.
Church, determined on an Anglican They have a liberal spirit toward all mission, and in 1886 he sent out his who teach the Word of God. They agents from Protestant England to- confess that the teachings of the oppose the Protestant mission in American missionaries agree with Persia and to confirm the people in the primitive doctrines of· their their formalism and bring them if church and that errors have crept 776 INTERNATIONkL DEPARTMENT. [OcT., into their system inlater times which deacons, all of whom had received orshould be reformed. dination in the oldchurch, metin con- ference with the -missionaries. The The missionaries in 1835 were wel- first of these conferences was held in comed by the people, and for many 1862, and adopted a brief confessiml, years an honest effort was made form of government and discipline. to reform the old body without de- Some things were taken from the stroying its organism. This effort canons and rituals of the old church, failed. God was pleased to pour out others from the usages of Protestant His spirit, many souls were renewed, churches. The confession and rules and a new church was gradually were enlarged in 1878, and the name formed for the following I'ea- adopted was" The Evangelical Syrisons: (1) Per8ecutions. The patriarch ac Church." The missioitaries and did all in his power to destroy the the evangelical bishops have someevangelical work. He threatened, times joined in the ordination serbeat and imprisoned the teachers vice and it would be difficult to draw and converts, and thus did his ut- the time when the Episcopal ordinamost to alienate the spiritually mind- tion ceased and the Presbyterial beed and to drive them from his fold. gan in the Reformed body. (2.) Lack of discipline. Theconverts could no longer accept unscriptu- The relation of the American misral practices and rank abuses that sionaries to the old ecclesiastics has prevailed, and it became evident been somewhat different from that that there' was no method of reform- found in other missions to Eastern ing those abuses and practices. The Christians. The patriarch in office missionaries and converts alike gave fifty years ago was at first very up the hope of such reform. (3.) Lack friendly to the missionaries. and perof teaching. The converts asked for sonally aided them. Later he did all better care and for purer and better in his power to break up the mission. instruction and means of grace than His most able brother, DeaconIsaac, they found in the dead language and however, accepted the evangelical rituals of the old church. The sepa- doctrines, and till his death, in 1Be5, ration, however, was made in no spir- was the foremost man in the Reformit of hostility or controversy. There ed communion. The Patriarch now was no violent disruption. The mis- in office h&8 taken the attitude of sionaries published nothing against neutrality, with frequent indications the policy or ecclesiastics of the old of fairness and friendliness to the church. Their efforts were not to mission work. proselyte, but leaven the whole people with the Scripture truth. The The next in ecclesiastical rank is new life was not forced into a western the Metropolitan, the only one left of mold, but left to adapt itself to the the twenty-five mentioned in the peculiar character and wants of the thirteenth century. The present inpeople. cumbent, recently made distinct avowa16f the scriptural character of The method was guided by Provi- the Evangelical Church, and expressdence. The conveJ't:;, were first in- ed a strong desire to come to an unvited to unite with the missionaries derstanding with it. Of the bishops, in celebrating the Lord's Supper. As three have united with the reform the numbers increased, and societies and died in the Evangelical Church_ were formed in the sevel'al villages, Of those remaining, the two in 01'00native pastors were placed oVll'r miah, to the extent of their ability, them. In time these pastors and oppose th,e light, beca.use their deeds their elders, and the other preachers, are evil. The three bshops in Kurdincluding bishops, presbyters and istan are friendly, and give their influence in favor of the mission instructed in Bible truth by a l'eg'eu- schools. Alarge numberof the priests erate church that rescues what is.
or presbyters of the old church, in most precIOus :from a system that Persia. at least, joined the reform decayeth and waxeth old and is movement, aRd as large a proportion ready to pass away. The members of the deacons. In Kurdistan, fur- of the Reformed Church revere and ther from the mission station and in- love much the history of their fath- fluence, the number is smaller. In ers and appeal to their examples of all, nearly seventy of the presbyters zeal and piety; and desire to conserve have labored with the mission as their true doctrines and their virtues.
teachers, preachers or pastors, more The preaching p~aces vary some- than half of whom continue. Many what with the season of the year, others acknowledge that the reforms numbering about 120 in the winter of the Evangelical Church are scrip- and somewhat less in summer. The tural and sal.utary, but for worldly roll of ministers shows 40 fully or- reasons adhere to the old party. dained, several of whom are mission- These facts as to ecclesiastics (and aries iII distant parts of Persia and similar facts might be giveIl: as to in Russia. There are 30 licentiates or the leading laymen) show that many preaching deacons, 87 elders and 91 leading minds of the people have been deaconesses of the congregations.
enlightened by the missionaries and In some places the reform has gath- toiled with them for the reform of ered nearly all the population with- the whole people. Still more has in its influence, and in many places the work been for the common peo- it is not unusual to find half the pop- ple. The mission has been true to its ulation in the winter services. Many aims to embrace the whole people in blessed seasons of awakening and its plans for spiritual and temporal refreshing from the Holy Spirit have improvement. The medical work been enjoyed. In all, over3,300 have has been for all, and also the relief been received to church fellowship, in time of famine. In civil affairs of whom two-thirds are living and there is no Protestant community, the others passed beyond the veil.
alld any relief obtained through mis- The people are poor in worldly sionary influence is shared by all. goods but are able to do much for The schools are open to all alike, and their own support and to spread the as barriers have given way before the gospel. In a few congregations all increasing light, whole villages, and the expenses are paid by the people every house in them, have been open and in all they share according to to the Christian workers as truly as their grace and ability_ All con- can be said of any community in tribute to a missionary fund from America. which the native board pays one- The Evangelical Church has its fou'rth of the expenses for advance Mission Board that meets mont~ly, work. Thus the foreign work has and by combining funds and counsels become to the church of Persia a with the missionaries a system of home work and upon this native pastoral care and itinerant labor isin church is laid the responsibility of operation which enables the forty- winning the land for Christ a.nd of five preachers in the Persian por- preaching the gospel to every crea- tion of the field to carry the gos- ture. The American missionaries pel statedly to every hamlet. In go hand in hand in helping the na- Kurdistan the same system is ex- tive Christians to realize their re- tending,annually. The earnest hope sponsibilities and privileges, to plant and aim is to see this people brought and train self-supporting and ag- fully under evangelical influlO'nce and gressive local churches. There is a system of education that Mussulmans have regarded Chrisembraces 120 village schools, in- tians as unclean infidels, worthy only creasing in number as the demand of contempt and violence. After all increases, an orphanage,. a female the ages of contact with nominal seminary and a. college with indus- Christians, the true religion of Christ trial department and medical class, is now, for the first time, revealed to as well as the COUl'ses in science, Persian Mohammedans. This revelanguages and theology. To fro-, lation is made in the translated Word vide books a printing press is con- of God, and still more truly in the stantly at work, and to meet the lives and worship of true Christians. needs of the sick and needy, a dis- There is a purity in Protestant worpensary and hospital have long been ship, and a manhood and intelligence attended annually by thousands. and character of love and integrity To complete the agencies needed to in Protestant Christians WhICh IS inevangelize the Nestorian field a new deed a revelation. Christians are no station for the mountains has been longer to be despised, but they are to organized and the labors of a tnedical be respected and trusted, and it is and an ordained missionary begun, the turn now for Mussulmans to assisted by native helpers, and these stand on the defensive and to listen, labors much blessed in the winter and of some to accept of Christ in the past. face of persecution and threatened death. From the door of the sepul- The question is often asked, What cher the stone of a corrupt and idolis the effect of this reformation on atrous Christianity is rolled away. the faiths and peoples about us? In The way is fast preparing and the reply the reflex influence on the old evangelical Christians in the midst of church is as marked as upon the Ar-. the Moslems are the leaven for the menians in Turkey. The leaven is rapid dissemination of the gospel. working in the old body and some of the congregations have preaching For fifty years this work of Amerand Sunday schools, and we may ican missionaries, in the reformation hope, many truly enlightened and of the Syriac-Persian Christians, has renewed souls. been recognized with gratitude by all who look for the kingdom of The tide of Roman influence was God in Persia. In one of the leading fast overwhelming this remnant of cyclop::edias the opinion is expressed Nestorians a generation ago. Now that" probably no Christian mission the tide is turned and Protestants of modern times has been so satisfacare on the aggressive everywhere. torily conducted and so decidedly A large body of living Christians, happy in its influence and results." with the Bible in their hands, are not This is an extreme statement, for the only able to hold their own but are missionaries are fallible and have constantly advancing, and thus is made many mistakes; but notwithsecured to the true faith a body of standing all mistakes the Great Head Christians as important to Persia of the church has wonderfully owned and Kurdistan as the Waldenses are and blessed the effort. Multitudes of to Italy. It is planting the batteries souls have been saved and a true and of the ChristIan faith at a strategic lasting reformation begun. point far within the enemies' country. An awakening among God's It was to be expected that the Roancient people in the land of their man Church would oppose such a long captivity has already begun in work and would set up her rival mismany places. sions. But it was not to be expected, and is greatly to be lamented, that The effect on Islam is more impor- the Archcishop of Canterbury has tant still. For hundreds of years the followed in the s~eps of Rome, and ',zation. ~he Ritualists have l'allied has sent his mission, consisting of the opposition to close the mountain foul' English priests, to arrest the valleys against aU missionary work, Protestant reformation in this old and exclude evangelical teaching Eastern" church, to turn back the from every church and house. The progress of free thought and turn all effect is to stir up a great deal: of bad movement, not to the New Testa- feeling and some violence, that ren- ment type of Christianity, but to the der very difficult a work that before corrupt church of the sixth and sev- was easy and to retard the true enth centuries which God permitted reformatIOn, that was so rapidly and Islam to smite. quietly advancing before the Angli"
This new mission of the Archbishop cans came. What an infatuation of Canterbury, planted by the side of and fatal errol' to array missionaries the American mission, and in rivalry of the same race and speech against with it, is greatly to be deplored for each other before Moslem rulers I many reasons. In trying to drive back the evangel- 1. It disregards aU mIsslOnary ical work, this is done. It is equal comity. If the English Church had folly to expect to affect Islam favor- led the way half a century ago in ably by perpetuating the corrupt and exploring the field and planting a semi-idolatrous forms of Christian- mission for the Nestorians, Ameri- ity in the East. There is no hope can Christians would not be there that the Moslem will ever turn to to-day. But in God's providence the that Christianity he has abhorred in pioneers were Americans; and now the Eastern churches. There must the toil, the meeting of the brunt be a purer and more spiritual religion of Roman and Moslem opposition, than worshiping- of crosses and the work accomplished, and the keeping of fasts. No greater dam- blessings God has given are not re- age can be done to Christianity in garded in the least. The Anglicans the eyes of Moslems, and no greater coolly step in and claim the field. advantage given" to Islam, than for The American mission is an obstacle Englishmen to come to Persia in the to be brushed away, otherwise the interests of the formalism and idol- field is entirely unoccupied and open atry of Oriental churches.
to a mission from the Anglican 3. 1t is an effort in thE! direction of Church to the "Old Syrian Church. Rome. The Nestorians in their an- England has been known through- cient books and modern thought out the East as the bulwark of fail' know nothing of the exclusive play and of Protestant missions; yet claims of prelacy and apostolic suc- here the agents of England's primate cession, nor do they accept the coun- are using the power of England to cils after the first General Council of trample on the claims of a Protest- Nicea. They in some sense have ant mission and to destroy its work. been the Protestants of the East in Protestant Episcopalians" of New greater sympathy with Protestant York are aiding the archbishop in teaching than With Roman. Now this great mistake and wrong to the come these Anglicans to warn them cause of Christ in Persia and Kurd- against all Protestant heresy, to tell istan. them that Presbyterians have no 2. It is an effort of obstruction and church, nor ordination nor ordin- reaction, and must do great harm to ances, and to teach and exhort them the real missionary work. Painful to drive out all such heresy, to mul- discussions and the clash of hostile tiply their prayers and ritualistic parties take the place of the peaceful worship in a dead language"; to en- work of enlightenment and evangeli- force the binding nature of fasts and traditions and saints' days; to teach Both papist and Anglicans ask them the efficacy of baptism to secure re- to regard NestorlUs as an arch-heregeneration,of the Eucharist to convey tIc and the patriarchs and fathers of atonement, of the priests to sacrifice, theil' church in Persia as outside the and of the bishops to convey special true church and faith. The efforts apostolic grace; and of the councils to change the fossil churches of the to pronounce the creed which it is East or to revive them in any way necessary for aU Christians to be- but by the simple gospel have been lieve. This mild form of Romanism failures. They have a tenacious has really the very essence of the conservatism that clings to the tragreat apostasy of all the corrupt ditions of the past and renders illuchurchel!<-the ap~stolic succession; sive the dream of the reunion of the priestly nature of the New Christendom by any method of con- Testament ministry; the sacraments cessions. The effort of Rome for as necessary and initial means of centuries, and of the Anglicans saving grace; and the councils as among the Copts and in other parts authoritative interpreters of the Holy of the East, tell the same story. A Scriptures, whose dogmas are bind- case in point is that of the Syrian ing. On this basis they wish to re- Church in Travancore, South India. form the Nestorians away from the Rome tried her hand of persecution real faith of their fathers and lead and failed. This church is a branch them to accept what is called the 01' offshoot of the old Nestorian Catholic Apostolic Church. But Church, using the same rituals and such unscriptural teaching, so fal' as language, and like the Nestorians it is accepted, has the same effect in lapsed into corrupt practices and was Persia as elsewhere. It lulls the dead to all spirituality rather than sou1 to trust in forms instead of deeply heretical in doctrine. Prior Christ, blunts the conscience and to 1886 the Church Missionary Sohardens the heart. It is the same ciety persisted in trying for eighteen old story: "My people have com- years to resuscitate this old church, mitted two evils; they have fOl'- and the effort ended in complete saken me, the fountain of living failure. Then the plan was adopted waters, and hewed them out cisterns of separating from the corrupt body, that can hold no water." and since then a true Protestant church of thousands of members has· 4. The effort in the end must be in been gathered. vain. After all the evil it may accomplish, or the goad, if God so over- Thus, in Persia, the current evanrule it, it must result in failure. It gelical reform may be obstructed lacks the vital elements of true very seriously but cannot be stopped, evangelism as found in the Word of by the ritualists. The words of Dr. God. The theory is very seductive Perkins, written twenty-one years no doubt to the Archbishop and ago, are still true. "The progress of those of like mind, that the true om' work is steadilyonward,and prob- method is to preserve the old organi- ably as rapid as would consist witb zation, and that gradually thepeopJe its highest prosperity. Theprogress may be taught to express their creed is not always a uniform current. It in the same words as other churches resembles a succession of circling of apostolic succession and all at last eddies caused generally by obstacles become one. But beautiful as the in the stream, but sometimes by the theory is, the practice is full of dIffi- accelerated speed of the current, culties. The Anglicans are so near which but for these self-regulating the papists that the people fail to see checks might bring' on the work the difference in their teaching. serious disaster. Such eddies are
THE J(ONTHLY CONCERT 01' lIUSSloNs. '181
often the best missiona.ry regulators, the true evangetic~ refOlim has correcting mistakes and undue haste doubled itself in the past ten years. and giving our converts occasion and We may expect history to repeat i ttime to examine the foundations of self, and the time to be near when the their faith." One of these eddies is heralds of salvation from Persia will now formed, but the river of salva- again evangelize theTartartribes,and tion flows on. Under God's blessing enter Thibet or China from the We8t.
V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D.D.
Persia. a.nd its Missions. Koords, between Semnite and Shi- PERSIA and Assyria in Eastern hite sects of Moslems-victims of Turkey-the country occupied by the rapacity and persecution on every Nestorians-constitut(>s one of the hand-seem to represent the tradi- most interesting mIssion fields in the tional lot of suffering and outrage world. It is the Original cradle of which for centuries have character- the human race. If it does not in- ized the country. 4-nd yet there is clude the site of Eden, it certainly nowhere a more beautiful land.
embraces the resting-place of the .. About two-thirds of the country," sa.ys Ark of Noah; and it still has repre- the late Justin Perkins, D.D., .. the westsentatives of the descendants of ern portion, lies In Turkey, cOlllprlsing Shem, Ham, and Japheth in the much of AssyrIa. or modern Koordista.n ; various nationalities now found in and the eastern third is in old Media, the the country. It is the land of northwestern province of modern Persia.. Abraham, and of Job, and of Jonah. now called Azerbijan. The forlller portion The ashes of Mordecai and Esther is physically one of the wildestand roughest lie buried at Hamadan. It was in regions on the globe, abounding in scene'll this land that Daniel became instru- of llt&rpall8ing grandeur and sublimity, and mental in one of the greatest moral ts inhabited by the not less wild Koords, revolutions ever wrought in any among whom, and in proximity to WhOlll, nation by a single man. The Magi are many of the Nestorlans dwell. till lately believed to have come from there to subject to lawless extortion and violent Bethlehem, and according to tradi- plunder from those redoubtable neighbors. tion are buried there. The evangeliza- The Nestorians betook thelllseives to these tion of Persia began with Daniel. mountams at an early period, as'an asylum Nebuchadnezzar IS held to have been from deadlypersecution,havlng less to fear. a true believer. Great empires and a.dvanced civilizations ha.ve arisen in the violent outbursts ot Pagan and Moand passed away on this broad field. Nineveh and Khorsabad are repre- hammedan fanaticism, from the savages of sentatives of their buried grandeur, the mountain" than from the 1II0re civilized while thousands of ancient inscrip- inhabitants of the plains on either side. In tionsfound on rocks and tablets con- the lull of persecution, during the few past stitute their epitaph. centuries,they have gradually spread them- selves down into Persia. The Persian part The country has been rendered of their country is one of the most beautimetnorable by many of the great ful on which the sun ever shone,consisting conquests which have affected the of several of the most charming Persian destiny of the whole human race, plains; bounded on the east by the Lake of and it has been invested with pathetic Oroomiah, which is ninety miles long and interest by mournful captivities of thirty miles broad, while the towering Jew~ and others, in various ages. ranges of Koordistan rear a lofty. snflW- Even in our day the Nestorians, liv- capped barrier on the west. Oroomiah, ing between Persians and Turkish lying on the middle section of the lake, and separated from other plains by bold ridges that run transversely from the higher moun- tain ranges quite to its margin, is the larg- est district occupied by the Nestorian•• and is the principal seat of our missionary operations. The atmosphere of all that region is so clear that the naked eye with ease traces objects distinctly, at th", dis- tance of a hundred miles, which woul4 ha.rdly be visible one-fourth that distance best, and when drought is added, in America, and'readlly descries 'Celestial thousands must perish. bodies, seen elsewhere only by the aid of a telescope. Indeed much of Persia, under "Still worse," says Rev. J. H. its brilliant sky, is so fair a .. to be al- Shedd, " there is no Joseph in Persia most fairy; abounding in luxuriant fields, to make any systematic provision for vineyards, and orchards, and smiling with such a crisis. There is no public chantasteful gardens of bright and fragrant flow- nel of supply. On the contrary, the ers,studded wlthgurglingfountainsand sha- tender mercies of the wicked are dy arbors, and vocal with the notes of warb- cruel. The king sets the example Iiug nightingales and other musical birds." -locks up his granaries, and with- holds every kernel of wheat except Famine often wastes the land, es- at famine prices. Every nabob and pecially the Moslem districts, and its land-owner who has a stock on havoc must ever recur at intervals hand follows this example. Rapacuntil there shall be such a govern- ity and cupidity rule. Money is ment as shall protect and encourage coined out of the sufferings of the irrigation, instead of speculating in poor. The imbecility, avarice, crubreadstuffs while the people perish. elty of the ruling class are sometimes The government is an absolute des- beyond belief. Depravity is satanic. potism, in the hands of a Sultan or Persia is ruined by depotism, mis- Shah. He has two chief ministers rule and cruel feudal oppression. -one a sort of deputy executive in peace and in war, and the other a "No lover of humanity can regard lord high treasurer. The latter of such a land but with feelings of these is much more diligent than the profound pity. We long for the day' former. There is vastly more of tax when civilization will build highgathering t.han of civil or military wa:ys and railroads by which charity protection. The sole end for which at least can be conveyed to the famthe Persian Government exists is the ishing. A proper system of roads, collection of the revenue-the fleec- and one or two railroads in Persia, ing of the people. Large portions would make such famine impossiof the land, confiscated from time to ble. The country has natural retime, belong to the sovereign, and sources which only need developing are farmed out on terms well-nigh to make her, as in ancient times, a ruinous to the tenant. Even where great nation. Places supplied with property belongs to the subject, itis water yield every kind of fruit and taxed to the last degree as a starting grain in abundance. These beautipoint, while the successions of sub- ful, favored districts can be exrulers and collectors make still fur- tended. By opening again the anther drains upon the moiety that cient water-course, by sinking artemust save the laborer's family from sian wells, by proper aqueducts for absolute want. The whole burden the mountain streams, irrigation can of taxation thus comes really upon be greatly extended, and the rain the laboring class. Added to this supply increased. But before this extortion is the constant uncertainty physical renovation comes, and war as to whether the planter will be and famine cease, there must be a pe"mitted to reap his crop at moral renovation. At present the all. Downright "o1:Jbe"y of fields or earth itself, under a despotic govel'nhouseholds by the retainers of petty ment and false religion, is cursed for chiefs is of frequent occurrence, and man's sake. It refuses to yield its the poor are liable any day to be de- harvest for the use of man, because prived of their very last resource. man refuses to yield himself to the Agriculture and other industries so glory of God." discouraged and paralyzed, barely sustain the lives of the people at the There is reason for the degradation and real moral darkness of to the fteld that she was ftJled with love but she could not 10Te these women, and' these people for the last three had to be converted over again. and hum- ble herself before God to labor with them. centuries. They have been crushed They act like monkeys, chatter and gig_ gle, and take hold of every part of one's by invasion and slaughter and con- dress without any sense of shame. When- ever a son marries he brings his wife tolais stant tyranny, and subjected to the father's house. If a man have twelve sons. all the families will be under one root, and immediate contact of all the sen- as there isbut one room under that roof the suality and debasement of the domi- in state of affairs may be imagined. No won- nant Moslem races. der the word home is unknowB Persia. When the women gathered in she asked We add a few words as to the per- them if they could read. They a.nswered, • We are women.' She told them she was sonal and domestic life of the Per- a woman, but could read, and might she read to them? Arter reading one of the sians. Mud or clay huts are their parables, she asked them if she should sing. They had never heard anyone sing, and did houses; with one room, the oven in not know what it meant. She sang.' Hap_ py Day,' and they laughed and giggled and the center, a hole in the roof to let feU down and rolled, but when their children laughed, the mothers took their sandals. out smoke. Privacy and cleanliness shod with iron, from their feet, and drove them from the house. Surely this was a are impossible. hard place, hnt she did not give it up. A school was established there. She visited Mrs. Rhea, many years a mission- it after some time, and found the children able to reply to her questions, heard them ary in Persia, thus graphically de- sing sweet sacred songs, and the ·bright boys in one winter learned to read. There scribes social life : were openings for sixty such schools, and the entire outfit. books, house and al1 of .. The mud-wall houses, wit.hout windows each would not cost more than 560. She visited the villages,. meeting from two ot or chimneys, would not be used by Chris- six hundred women. When she looked these women in the faces and found them han~ tians for pig-cities. The children are so ing on her words, she felt herresponsihilit;. and not daring to use the words she ha.d prescantily clad that less clothing would ren- pared for them, she instead would read from the New Testament without comment. der them more comely. what they have Whole days they would stay and listen to the talk, and linger late Into the night, and serving onlyas a nest for vermin. The sad- when exhausted she told them to go for she eyed. depressed women are beasts of bur- must sleep; they went saying,' We'll come a.ga.in in the morning.'" den, and are classed with t.he donkeys,and as The Nestorians are of the old Sethey pass by. donkey and woman alike hid- miticstock. Dr. Gl;antbelieved them den by their loads, it Is only a glance at the relics of the lost ten tribes. They rep- feet that tells which is the beast and resent the oldest 8eet of Christians, which the human. Oroomiah is a walled and claim origin from Thoma8, the city and the ditch about it filled with stag- Apostle, and an army of 160,000 marnant water poisons the air so that nearly tyrs In one province 1,500 years since. all the children die, and yet the heathen governor, when a. missionary suggested They have a remarkable missionary history-patiently enduring persecuthe draining of the ditch, said it should tion, and remaining spiritual in the midst of prevailing worldliness. be done • to-morrow,' and has let years pass with it still untouched. The traveler Gibbon says, once theirl¥1mbers exsees by the way the desolate Mohammedan ceeded that of the Greek and Latin graveyards, with never a trace of love in communions. They derive their name them, the tombstones bearing the emblem from Nestorius,$ho was condemned· of whatever craft the sleeper followed, the mud-walled vel{etable fields and unfenced grain fields, the plows of the pattern found on Egyptian monuments, and drawn by twelve yoke of oxen.
.. Entering the first house we found an earthen fioor, a bit of mattinp for a sbeyat~ and a woman baking bread. She sits hole in the ground the size of a barrel, with coals at the bottom. She takes a piece of the leavened dough. passes it from hand to hand, and kneads it on a cushiouat her side until she has a cake three-fourths of a yard long, half a yard wide, and half an inch thick. Then she throws It into the hole, it catches on the sides. and is baked in an in- stant. The baking done, the missionary can have religious services, a.nd sends out for the women to come in. These women are not attractive."
Mrs. Rhea thought when she went out for heresy by the Council of Ephesus gospel from Persia, Syria and India.
A. D. 431, and who died in painful among the barbarous nations inhabit– exile in Lybia. Though holding some ing the deserts and remotest shores peculiar vie",s in regard to the of Asia. In particular the vast em- '
Trinity, his real offense was'his early pire of China was partially enlight- Protestantism. He refused to call ened by their zeal and industry, with the Virgin Mary the "Mother of the light of Christianity." From the God," and he opposed many of the fifth to the ninth century the Nesto_ corruptions of the church. " His rians had churches among the moun- followers, though greatly debased, tains of Malabar in India, and in the stIll reject all image worship, con- vast regions of Tartary from the fession to priests, the doctrine of Caspian Sea to Mount Imans and purgatory, etc. Altogether the Nes- beyond, through Chinese Tartary, torians number about one hundred and even in China itself.
and fifty thousand, of whom one- Early in the eleventh century a third are in Persia and two-thirds Mogul Prince in Cathay (Northern in Turkish Koordistan. They stand China) was converted to the faith, in the rela.tion of oppressed ten- and taking at his baptism the name ants toward the Mohammedans of John, gave his royal influence to among whom they dwell, being cul- the Christian cause. Some of his tivators of the soil, and artisans in successors also were at least nomi"
the more common and useful me- nally Christian, a son-in-law of Pres- chanical trades. One continuous tel' John, the well-known Ghengi8 people, while living in the two con- Khan, gave his support to the Chris- tiguous Empires of Turkey and Per- tians as late as the early part of the sia, they partake much of the re- thirteenth century. But toward the spective local peculiarities of the two close of the fourteenth century the parts of their country; those in the sword of the Moslem Tamerlane de- Turkish portion, Koordistan, being stroyed the Tartar churches and rude, untutored, bold and defiant, overthrew the Nestorian Christianity and those in the mild and sunny in the principal seat of its power.
clime of Persia possessing nlUch of It was not till thec1oseof the fifteenth the blandness and suavity common century, howe vel', that some un- to all classes in that ~enial country. kndwn persecution and massacre de- They are a noole race of men; manly stroyed the Nestorians in China.
and, athletic, having fine form8 and good There is still found at Si-ngau-fu, in complexions. They are al80 naturally a Northwestern China, a large stone 8hrewd, aeti'IJe, and intelligent people, tablet, giving an account of the faith yet remarkably artleH3, affable, and, 11,08- and history of the Nestorians. It pitable, and peculiarly accesswle for presents their doctrine of the Trin- mi8sionary purp08es." ity, and some account of the books of That which gives to the Nestorians the Old and New Testaments, and a peculiar interest is the missionary records their progress for 140 years.
character which they have once The ancient glory of the Nestorian borne, and which it is to be hoped Church is gone. "Ichabod" is written they may bear again. The Oriental upon it. Tamerlane in the fifteenth churches as a whole were not as act- century slaughtered them. Seven- ive in the spread of the gospel as the • ty thousand heads were piled up at Latin Church; but the Nestorians Ispahan and 90,000 more in the city were an exception. "In the East," of Bagdad. The church itself became says Mosheim, "the· Nestorians, locked up in death spiritually.
with incredible industry and perse- Messrs. Smith and Dwight found verance labored to propagate the among them: 1. Liberality to othet sects. 2. Rejection of confessional. ran, Ispahan and Hamadan are in this 3. Reverence for Scripture-though, district. locked up in Syriac, they knew little of its contents – but endless fasts Henry Martyn was the pioneer in and the doctrine of baptismal regen- this land of Esther. In June, 1811, eration, etc. Christian work in Per- he rode into Shiraz, already broken sia must begin with Nestorians, for in health, for eleven months work- Mohammedans could not be led to ing at a Persian translation of the Christ while a dead church is among New Testament and Psalms, subsethem. But the early history of the quently, for four months at Tabriz, Nestorians of Persia bears upon the with raging fever he then ~tartedfor question of their future relations England, and died at Tocat; but that to Tartary, and even China. Why New Te.tament is still doing service may they not again be useful in car- for the Master. rying the gospel even to Mongolia and Korea? They have physical Rev. Justin Perkins and wife were energy and hardihood; they are the first missionaries of the American capable of a high civilization; and Board, and reached Tabreez August their susceptibility to the power of 23, 1834; in October, 1835, joined by religious truth has had numerous Dr. and Mrs. Grant, all together proattestations in modern as well as in ceeded to Oroomiah : ancien t times. "We arrived," says Mr. Perkins, It is this view of their character " in a furious rainstorm. The tardy and position that gives to the mis- jomers had no place ready for us to sion among the Persians a peculiar lodge; so we sat down among them interest. They are at the western in an open room, upon the shavings, gateway of China and India. They of which we soon kindled a fire to I are stationed along a great high- dry our drippmg garments; and, way of nations which must ere long Bending to the market for bread and be opened. They are, moreover, kebab (boiled meat) we ate our repast in the center of Asiatic Mohamme- there, and afterwards laid our8elfJes danism, where they only wait in sore downfor the night on the same shafJings, dIstreSS for some great overturnillg with as lively gratitude and joy as often in the providence of God which shall swell the hearts of mortals. The 20th give them ~overnmental protection of November was long observed by and tHe conditions of prosperity. us as our Pilgrim8' Day. Meanwhile it is our duty and privilege to promote among them the "Having the broad, common resurrection of a dead and buried ground of Scripture on which to meet Christianity. the Nestorians, and the most ready access to them, we at once addressed We need greatly to extend the ourselves to the work of their ameliwork among the Armenians as well as oration and salvation. For, while among the Nestorians. They have their knowledge of the Bible was so elsewhere shown themselves pecu- vague and meager, they cherished liarly accessible. The largest com- for the sacred oracles a reverence pact body of the Armenians, about amounting almost to adoration. Dr. 10,000, is found in the district of Grant soon acquired a commanding Salmas. Its center is Tabreez, where influence over all classes, by his skill- 5,000 Armenians reside among 130,- ful practice of medicine and his ac- 000 Mohammedans. The other great tive devotion to their welfare. At·menian region is 400 miles farther east. This is a captive colony whose "The missionary work soon took history has been most tragic. Tehe- the three-fold form of education, the press, and last, but pre-eminent, oral preaching.
"The first missionary school was commenced in January, 1836, in a 92 whom she had led to· Ohrist! _ cellar (apt emblem of the moral state In 1845 a revival simultaneously al·ound), for the want of a more broke out in the boys' and girls' comfortable place, it being winter, schools. Mr. Stoddard, the boys' with seven small boys. It was the teacher, called to say to Miss germ of our flourishing Male Semi- Fiske that four or five boys were nary. The number of pupils soon seeking Jesus and found her with increased to fifty; and from learning jive girl8 who were in the same spir- theiralphabeton manuscript cards at itual condition. the beginning they rapidly advanced, till they have long graduated with The conversion of Deacon Guergis very respectable attainments in lit- took place in this revival; and he be- erature and science, a remarkably gan the work of an evangelist among familiar knowledge of the Holy the Koords,continued uptohisdeath. Scriptures, and most of them with His history-converted while on a considerable acquaintance with the- visit to his daughter at the girls' ology as a system. From this semi- school-is a religious romance. His nary have gone forth nearly a hun- spontaneous, self-denying, and per- dred graduates, about sixty of whom severing labors among the cabins of are able and faithful preacher8 of the the Koordish Mountains deserve to g08pel, not a few of them partaking stand high on the annals of Christian much of the holy unction of the sainted devotedness. In 1849 another revival Stoddard, under whose self-consuming blessed the mil!lsion, which spread to toil8 and prayers they were trained. the village of Seir. I have" never Other8 have gone forth hopefully pious, seen even in Holyoke such scenes," who, in other avocations, are hardly l688 wrote Miss Fiske. usefulco-laborer3 in the work of evan- gelization. Dr. Grant came from Utica, N. Y., and his wife was pioneer of female " About two years after open- education in Persia. She began with ing the male seminary, a few little four girls in a barn; after two and a girls formed the nucleus of a female half years of labor, she died at 25 seminary. The term Topsy would years of age, so revered that she was then not inaptly have described the char- "buried by the bishops in the church acter and appearance of th08e little girls; and they dug her grave with their not that they were black, the people are own hands." Dr. Grant then gave nearly as light as ourselves; but for un- himself up to journeys, going unat- cleanline88, disorder, and propen8ity to tended among the Koords, daring mischief. Yet in a few short years all perils, and surviving the great those same individuals appeared edu- slaughter of 10,000 mountaineers cated, intelligent, refined young la- only a year or two, he died, leaving dies; and what is yet far more, de- a name like precious spiees for its voted, active Christians. About a fragrance. Ten years later came the hundred pious young women have harvest, which was in part owing to gone forth, who, in the various re- the power of Mrs. Grant's death, as a . lations of wives, and mothers, and testimony to the pure faith of Christ. teachers, are doing a work not at all second to that of the graduates of the Justin Perkins was a tutor in Am- Male Seminary, for advancing the herst, and was carried to the vessel gospel among their people. 20 miles on a bed. "We shall soon throw him overboard," said the cap.- Miss Fidelia Fiske left South Had- tain. But the Lord had for him 36 ley, Mass., to found this new" Hol- years of work yet. After wintering yoke" in Persia; and 13 years after at Constantinople he arrived at Ta- she sat down to the Lord's table with bris and was welcomed by Patriarch Mar Johanan, the earnest friend of
EDITORIAL NOTES
the mission. Next year he, with the church, and constitute an exam- Dr. Grant, was stationed at Oroo- ple of great encouragement to those miah, birthplace of Zoroaster, and whose future labor shall be bestowed seat of ancient fire worship. Oroo- on the same field. The work of grace miah is like Salt Lake Valley in fea- in Persia in connection with missiontures, with a salt sea and a clear air, ary effort has been very remarkable. through which Jupiter's moons are Eleven or twelve revivals of great seen. Dr. Perkins' dying words were, power have been experienced in the " How will even Heaven be Heaven, high schools at Orcromiah and Seir: where there are no Nestorians to be Some of the most apostolic men and led to Christ." What passion/or souls! women have been numbered among the native preachers and other This mission to the Nestorians has Christians. The work of Mr. Stockbeen favored by the presence and la- ing, Miss Fiske and others in the bors of some of the most devoted of schools was pre-eminently a work of all the laborers who have gone to the prayer. It constituted a power beforeign field. The names of Stod- fore which even the ~ild Koorddard, Stocking, Lobdell, Crane,Coch- armed to the teeth and "breathing ran, Rhea, with a goodly number of threatheningand slaughter," became heroic and devoted women, must transformed to a lamb. ever be embalmed in the memory of VI.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
ONE of the editors was calle,d to sity has ta.ken a great stride onsit as a member of the Examining Committee when, in May last, Dr. ward. P. F. Ellinwood conducted in the chambers of the N. Y. University These classes are not composed of his examination of his classes in comparative religions. This chair ordinary men. They include pastors, as is generally known has recently been erected and when it was deter- professors and students in theologimined to have such a department, the Regents could find no man in cal seminaries and medical colleges, this country more admirably adapted to fill it than its present accom- etc. In ten years similar courses of plished incumbent. study will be established in all the Dr. Ellinwood had for years been a close and careful student of the theological sohools, and perhaps uni- Oriental religions when called to this new lectureship in the university. versities. It would be well if the Thus far he has had splendid men in his classes and may well feel proud younger ministers would take up of their attainments and his own success. He has two courses of these studies, not only as a means of perhaps twenty-five lectures each. At the late commencement ten men re- qualifying them for service, but as a ceived the degree of Ph.D. in consequence of their attainments; and diversion, for the subjects are fascifrom what we heard of their recitations we were satisfied that in the nating in interest. Dr. Ellinwood erection of this chair and the election of this instructor, the univer- has had rour professors in his classes, taught by correspondence. He fur- nishes copies of abtracts of lectures, references to books, etc., for cognate reading, etc.
One of the best features of the course is the requirement that each student present a weeldymonograph on some salient matter of the course.
This makes all the knowledge his own, and gives it fixedness of im-!
pression and crystalline form. We have asked Dr. Ellinwood to furnish for these pages a series of articles on BuddhiSm, etc. A. T. P. MR. MOODY has issued an "AN- the English Bible, and all matters NOUNCEMENT " to the public of his pertaining to practical evangelism new training school at Chicago. and missions; and, by offering abun- dant opportunities for actual work There is a. very marked growth among the neglected masses of the of interest in mission work both at people, to apply the practical test of home and abroad. The problem of both fitness and willingness to serve evangelizing our great cities is espe- God and souls; and so sift out the cially coming to the front and de- chaff from the pure grain. manding a practical solution. The Lord of the harvest is likewise send- Applicants for admission to the ing forth laborers into His harvest. Training School must furnish writ- Never has there been so·wide-spread ten certificates of their church mema desire among both young men and bership and character, and forward women to get at work for Christ and them to F. G. Ensign, Esq. Much souls; and we are glad of this new attention will be paid to musie as a. training school. most important help to evangeliza- tion, and the aim will be to furnish All workmen need training, both evangelists, home and foreign mis-. inthe theoryand practiceoftheircall- sionaries, lay readers and parish vising. No demand of our times is more itors and pastoral helpers to train imperative than the need of a train- more efficient Sunday school teaching school for Christian workers, ers, consecrated singers, and workwhere they can learn how to work ers in every department. We see and at the same time put their knowl- no reason why every great sectIOn edge to the test by engaging in of this country, if not every great work. Doing is one way of learn- city, should not be furnished with ing. such Training Schools. Chicago is the metropolis of our great Nortb- Our colleges and theological semi- west, easily reached from all parts of naries are sending out mer;. equipped the United States and Canada, and is for leadership, fitted to plan and a grand place to make a start. conduct the campaign. But hundreds of volunteers, who have nei- A.T.P. ther time nor money for a full course of education, are asking how they The Turkish Government and American can get ready to do the humbler but Schools; equally needful work of the common soldier in the ranks. THE following is a translation of the order we referred to in O1,lr last To help meet this want this train- issue, for which we are indebted to ing school for both men and women The Missionary Herald.-EDS.] will open in Chic3go, on Sept. 26, and continue the year through. In- TRANSLATION OF VEZIRIAL CIRCULAR OF RAMAstruction will be furnished free to all students, who will be thus at no ex· ZAN 16,1306 (MAY 16. 1889) • pense except for board, which wili .. The American Legation has made comcost from $4 to $6 a week. Every plaint that although the programmes and morning will be spent in study under the ~eachers' certificates of the American the best trainers which this country schools in the Vilayets were transmitted in and the world can supply. The af- accordance with the special law at the time ternoons will be spent in visiting the schools were opened, yet the offi cial pafrom house to house, and the even- pers containing authorization have not been ings in evangelistic meetings of va- given, and the teachers' certificates have rious kinds. It is the purpose of this also been detained at the Government of- Evangelistic Training School to fur- fices; and that on the occasion of investinish the best practical instruction in gations after eight or ten years had passed, nothing contrary to law having been ob- served in the schools, the schools have been closed solely on account of the absence of permits or of teachers' certificates, and further. that the reopening of suchlschools en sionaries to such wild and troubled counters much difficulty. regions. Assigned first to the most northern outpost of the Livingstonia. .. Although it is known that some of these Mi.ssion of the Free Church, he conschools have been closed fol'lawful reasons. quered the difficuties of a warlike it is not permissible for schools opened of tribe with a strange language, reold to be closed arbitr!trlly and when no cir- ducing it to writing and giving them cumstance or conduct contrary to law pro· a literature, building and teaching' duces a necessity. Hence, hereafter, when them to build, suffering with the >!chools newly to be opened have conformed hardships of inferior food and cloth. to the special law, permits will be given to ing, tramping the wilderness baretheir directors by the ViJayet Government. foot, rising from the bed of fever to and the certificates of the teachers, after bury a dead companion. Yet his letverification, will be returned to them to be ters are always cheerful, and often kept. And it there is a reason which de- even humorous, and he was always mands the closing of schools which have on the lookout for an advance movebeeuopened of old, the matter will be report- ment of some kind. ed to the Ministry of Public Instruction a,nd the necessary steps will be taken in accord- A year and a half ago the Arabs ance with the answer which is received. raided Lake Nyassa. Mr. Bain and This course will .be pursued toward other six other Europeans defended Kaforeigll schools also." ronga for a week against the'heavy Arab fire. Durmg a lull in the Arab James Alexander Bain. war came the time for his first fur- lough. He was terribly weakened ANOTHER of the brave young pi- by the pain and anxiety of fever, oneers in Central Africa has finished pestilence and war, and started for his course. He has laid down his home; but a few days' I'est at the life fora bottom foundation-stone for mission headquarters before starting a future civilization to rest upon. improved him so much that he de- The' names· of such men should be termined to let others have the furmentioned with honor among us, al- lough and stand by the natives though their fields of labor may be another year in answer to their far from sight and sound of our pitiful pleading as they knelt upon busy, noisy marts. Such names as the shore after he and his baggage Rev. James A. Bain will be sought were on board the steamer. He out and prized by those who a ought to have come homll, as It century or two hence shall search seems, for that year of fever and for the forces which molded the anxiety for the poor people forced states and institutions which shall him to confess in his last letter that then be the pride of Central Africa. he was "shattered in mind and A half-dozen great names are known body"; and the end followed very and honored by all, but after these soon. are a company of missionary pioneers, not so very numerous, by With God and a few such men as whom the early, diflicult and re- this to fight with them, the poor sponsible work is done. Among Africans will soon be able to rise out these may properly be named this of their deep woe and make peace to eighth in a line of north-of·Scotland be their government and righteousministers, who has justsuccumbed to ness their magistrates. the fever at Bandawe, Lake Nyassa. W.J.MUTCH He was educated at thl' Gymnasium, Old Aberdeen, at Glasgow A Misa.pprehension. University, and at the Free Church D~nity School in the latter place. "A MISSIONARY" takes to task one He was ordained in 1883, and soon of the editors, on the ground that in sd out for Lake Nyassa.'
His life was a heroic one, even beyond the measure o~ ordinary mishis little book, "The Crisis of Mis- Christian!!, not even the Moravians, sions," he "ignores the place and are brought into prominence, much power of intellect in missionary less any individual. God alone is ex- efforts," and suggests that, "won- alted. To have magnified the power derful though the results of the last of educated intellect or denomina- half century of missionary opera- tional organizations, or sanctified lit- tions have been, there is little rea- erature, would have been to call at- son to doubt that if all the mission- tention away from the glodous Cen- aries" were men who stood on a ter about whom all the history of higher intellectual plane, etc., the modern missions so conspicuously results would have been much revolves. . greater. ,The writer of that book-more conscious of its defects than any of Now the author of that book, with- its critics-still feels confident that out caring to defend either .himself the God whom he specially sought to or his book, would simply say to "A glorify in that sketch of missionary Missionary" that nothing was far- developments has especially owned ther from his thought than to ignore the humble effort. Only so can he or depreciate the power of sanctified account for the unusual sale, which intellect in missions. So long as must now have reached some twenty William Carey, Dr. Duff, Dr. Liv- thousand. There has been an undue ingstone, as well as Mrs. Grant, tendency to write up missions as the Fidelia Fiske, Drs. Riggs, Stoddard, work of the church and the triumph Fiske, Eli Smith, Bishops Patteson of organization. This may glorify and Hannington, Schwartz, Cyrus the church, but it dishonors the Hamlin, William Goodell and a Master. And it is strange that any legend of others are inseparable from of us can forget how little a time has missionary history, such ignoring elapsed since Dr. Ryland rebuked and depreciation are out of the ques- Carey for his holy enthusiasm; since tion. Sydney Smith shot his arrows of rid- icule into the nest of sanctified cob- But it is a little surprising to the lers; since the Scotch Assembly de- author of this book to find so many nounced missions as impracticable intelligent brethren who have appa- and absurd and dangerous, and the rently read" The Crisis of Missions" A. B. C. F. M. timidly ventured to without discovering the main object, send foul' men to the foreign field. which, like a thread, runs through We can only say: "What hath GOD the entire argument, viz. : to demon- wrought!" strate that the whole work of modern missions is conspicuously a work of Weighty Words. God'8 providence and grace. The purpose of the writer was to show NEARLY fifty years ago the vener- that when the whole church was able Heman Humphrey, D. D., wrote asleep and practically denied all obli- these stirring words to one of the gation to a dying world, God moved three sons whom he gave to the in a most remarkable manner and ranks of the Presbyterian ministry. aroused a sluggish Christendom- The names of these sons were John, that by astounding developments He Zephaniah M. and Edward P. We precipitated a crisis upon the church, echo the wish that these words could and prepared the church for that be copied. framed and hung on the crisis in a measure, and that now, wall of every pastor's study through· by marvelous signs and signals, He out the church. They describe the is inciting to a new spirit of holy en· one great want, the one hope, also, terprise. With such a motive guid- of the cause of Foreign Missions in ing the writer, no denomination of our time, and show the quarter from galion, and will make the salvation of the heathen a subject of prayer every Sabbath which deliverance must arise: day, from the beginning of the year to the end of it. Tnese, my son, are some of the "Those great Christhn enterprises which ways in which you can make your influence are the glory of the present age will have felt to the ends of the earth. to the end of imperative claims upon you as a, minister time, and through everlasting ages. and a Christian. You may not be called upon by your Divine Master to go and set IN the June REVIEW the editors up the standard of the cross on a heathen shore, and the utmost you can give will be published a letter from Rev. Fred. S. but a· mite in comparison to what is de- manded for the conversion of the world. Curtis, of Japan, that he says was But remember, my dear son, that God will hold you responsible for whatever influence intended to be a private letter, and in you can exert to bring up the church to the standard of her duty. The ministers of which he wrote with the freedom of that glorious gospel which they are com- missioned to preach at home, and which first impressions, unguarded as they must be preached to all nations before they can be converted, have it in their power to would not have been if meantforthe do more toward raising the necessarll funds than any other class of men-might I not add, public eye. We had supposed the more than all other classes put together. Perhaps this would be extravagant; but let letter to be at our disposal, and beg anyone consider the position which pastors occupy, the access which they have to the pardon if we have overstepped the hearts and consciences of the whole Christian community, and the influence which bounds of privacy. Mr. Curtis says they actually wield in all the religIOus movements of the age, and he may perhaps that at the time theJapanese tongue be convinced that I should not be far out of the way. Point me to the churches which did not seem to him so difficult to atare doing most in proportion to their abllity for the spread of the gospel and, without tain as he had supposed; but that knowing the names of their pastors, or ever having heard of their moving a finger, I am further study shows him that the preparejl to say that it is greatly through their influence, or that of those who imme- language is no easy one to master. diately preceded them in the sameofllce. If ministers were to do their whole duty, and He was then studying under a bright exert all their inflnence, I have no doubt that the contributions of the church would young Japanese, who proved very be doubled in a skort time. much more helpful than the average .. Do you ask me how this mighty influence is to be exerted? I will tell you. If you teacher, and what had seemed before have a truly benevolent and missionary s!,irit yourself, you will infuse it into others. an ini?urmountable barrier began to You will press the subject upon tlie members of your church inprivate conversation; seem a comparatively easy task to you will advise and persuade them to take religious magazines and newspapers; you overcome, and in this somewhat will Induce as many of them as you can to attend the monthly concert; and in order to elated frame of mind he wrote, but make it as interesting as possible, you will diligently collect and arrange the latest not for the somewhat critical pubmissionary intelligence; will exhibit maps of various countries and stations where the lic eye. He says the language is light begins to shine, and will lay yourself out so thoroughly in preparing for the con- hard, and requires very close study cert, as not only to show how deeply your own to g~t hold of it, and th~t his use of' heart i. interested in the cause, but to make wery Christian feel that he sustains a great it thus far has been confined to cerlos8 tn staying away. You will also frequently plead the cause of the Bible and of tain formulre for baptism, etc., and missions, with all the eloquence of which you are master. before your 'IdIole congre- a moderate use of it in colloquial forms. We owe this explanation to one who is a soncin-Iaw, and who therefore wrote with family free- dom. A. T. P.
Dr. Dorohester on Romanism.
DR. DORCHESTER presents figures to prove that While the Catholics in the sixteen years from 1870 to 1886 increased four-tenths of one per cent., the evangelical population- by which it is presumed he means the Protestant-increasedtwelveand five-tenths per cent. He believes that, instead of the 20,000,000 Cath- olics which the Sun predicts will be
lIlISSIOSARY wORK AND S'I'A'I'ISTlCS. [OC1'
found in this country in 1900, the used very carelessly and actually evangelical population will then be mislead and deceive. For instance, eighty pel' cent. of all the inhabi- take this paragraph: "One hun· tants. Dr'. Dorchester calls atten- dred years ago the world's population to the amazing discrepancies be- tion was rated at 731,OOO,000,ofwhoro tween the figures of two Catholic 174,000,00:) were Chdstians. No IV Year-Books, one published in New the population has doubled, anu the York and the other in Mil waukee. Christians trebled." According to Sadlier's, for instance, estimates the that there are now 522,000,000 Chris- VathoIic population ofthe diocese of Hans in the world. In other words Hartford at 35,000, while Hoffman's every third person, taking the whole puts it at 200,000. population together, is a Chris- tian! Speaking of figures, they may be VII.-ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK AND STATISTICS.
Moravian Missions.
THE Moravian Almanac for 1889 gi~'es the Cull statl~tics only for the year closing Dec. 31. 1887.
Receipts.
I.-FROM MORAVIAN CONGREGATIONS AND SOCIETIES.
1. In fne German Province ………………………………. £ 924 110 2. British ……………………………….. 1.177 8 7 3. •• American" ………………………………. , 2,252 Ii 1 4. West Indies and Surinam.. . .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. . .. .. 229 6 2 £ 4,582 16 e n.-FROM: FRIENDS OF OTHER CHRISTIAN CHURCHES.
1. In the German Province ………………………………. £5,124 1 7 2. British….. …………………………… . 1,995 9 3 3. American…. ………………………. :…. .. 68 17 5 £1,188 8 3 m.-Legacles ……………………………………………………………. 2,205 2 2 IV.-InteiestCromendowments …………………………………………….. 2,009 5 11 V.-From mite societies…………………………………………………… 707 9 10 VI.-Interests. more received than paid… …………………………………… 109 18 6 Total receipts………………….. .. ………………………………..£16,808 1 4 Balance deficiency on the year's account…………………………. ….. …. …. a,390 4 8 Total. ………………………………………………………………£20.193 6 0 Expenditures.
I.-For the several missions ………………………………………………..£ 8,948 10 10 n.-Tralning of missionaries……………………………………………….. 868 6 3 m-Snstentatlon.
Pensions to 150 recipients ……………………………….£5,975 I) I) Less interest of sustentation Culids……………………….. 3,759 17 8 £11,215 l~ 1 lV.-For edncation.
1. For 239 children at school. …………………………….£5,880 15 I) 2. Apprenticing. etc. (65 youths, 48 girls). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. 1,417 2 1 – – – £6,797 17 10 'V.-Expenses oC management……………………………………………… 1.707 0 6 'VI.-Grants in aid and offtcial journeys. .. .. .. .. .. .. …. .. .. . .. . .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. . .. .. 165 18 6 Total expenditure ………………………………………………….. £20,193 6 0
OF MORAVIAN MISSIONS. =~
~ o~ !£ :o=~..~~ -~"-"aJt;.::::~. ~• . Z~ ;g ~ IS 5 ~'t1 rn !R f g ~ ~-g tI:: ~~ ~ :§ ~.£a: gtt3 . -5 .
cq g : : . 1 MISSIONS. ~.9 ~.a ~ -g . E~ :o~ § g ~00 t .g ~E ~ ~ C':I W .~ = = :=.~~ ~~ ~ ~ :g. ;g g :g. ~ :=§. ~ CD ~ d< ….. 0 ~ e!P-c. ~ ~ Go) l;tl 00 421-771 -az – -6- -17 –.-.- Greenland……………………………… ·d Z A d .::I "0 :;:: Z ~ 0 ill 0 ~ Il< Eo< ttl .0~ ..: Eo< 396 -1091-2tl2- —a4 – -"- . – -.-:::- –.-.- E: Labrador.. .. .. … .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . 6 40 60 480 223 121 427 6 208 4 Eo< ~ Alaska………………………………….. 16 2 Ul North America………………………….. . 5 9 12 80 31 6 108 17 19 s· 4 .<:i 27 12 275 5,792 I 2,739 215 I 7,259 68 6,459 68 23 2,6g4 I 2,020 860 ~ West Indies (West) Jamaica ……………… . 20 ~ West Indies (East) ………………………. .. 5 .2 6 50 1,239 125 59 ' 824 7 388 7 5 511 488 70 ~ St. Thomas and St. Jan …………………. .. 3 3 3 73 1,363 340 63 661 3 460 365 87 :>0 St. Croix……………………………… ..
~ Antigua…………………………….. , .. .. 9 13 6 136 3,482 ] ,220 127 2,634 14 1,629 23 15 1,316 1,160 175 Zo St. Kitts ……………………………….. .. 4 3 .2 70 1,480 841 146 1,572 7 354 16 6 707 1,309 98 til i'" Barbados ………………………………… . 4 4 2 47 1,525 242 59 1,415 20 2,362 29 9 598 175 61 3 2 ~ Tobago ……………………………….. .. 2 62 1,124 336 27 1,257 5 437 5 7 267 883 50 I'il :Demerara ……………………………… .. 2 2 27 341 34 4 293 .2 179 3 2 111 126 28 N ~ Moskito Coast………………………….. . 12 20 4 33 490 1,036 320 1,448 10 545 10 10 630 50 36 ~ Surinam ……………………………….. .. H n m ~~ ~~ U~ 46 3 271 6 South Africa (West) …………………….. . U ~ 6 ~ ~ ~ ~~ m~ 42 6 45 174 9 South Africa (East)……………………… .. 12 18 3 123 877 294 1,117 1,007 15 683 21 6 220 20 Australia……………………………….. . 2 6 31 10 23 48 2 24 2 24 23 2 j .
~ C_e_ntr_al_A.s_ia_…………………………….. – -3- – -8- – -.-. – -.-. – – -11- – -4-.-.-..- – -2-7 – 18 – – -661 – _ 1 – – 1 – – – 1 – – – ~ Total……………… ………………….. 127 288 48 1,613 29,707 16,722 5,908 31,869 223 18.280 310 ~8 7,653 I 6,446 I 1,006
ORGANIZED :MISSIONARY WORK AND STATISTIOS
The statistics tor the North American Indian Mission and of that in St:Thomas and St. .Tan ~ essentially those of the previous year on account ofincomplete returns.
Each number of tbe Moravian Almanac contaius an account of some special branch of work That for '89 describes tbe work among the lepers, wbicb has been carried on for 67 years. It commenced at Cape Colony in 1822. and was continued until 1867, when it was handed over to the care of the Government Chaplain of the English Church. .Tust before that, in 1865, the Leper Home at .Terusalem was established and that is still continued under the special care of ten German and two English sisters.
Seventh Day Baptist Missionary Society.
BlIPORT FOR YEAR ENDING SEPT. 20. 1888.
Receipt•• Balance Sept. 12, 1887 …………. .. $24735 Donations and interest………… . M,633 01 Received on Loans•…••……….. 3,800 00 Total. .. .. .. .. .. .. . ….. .. …. $12.680 36 ExpenliitureB.
:Mission expenses………………. $9,700 98 Paid loans ………… , .. . .. ….. . .. 2,800 00 Cash in hand,Sept. 20, 1888………. 179 38 Total……………………. $12,680 36 The foreign work of the society is carried on in China. by one missionary and wife with a la.dy physician at Shanghai, reinforced during the past year by another missionary. There are 5 native teachers and helpers, 2 schools with 36 scholars, 3 preaching pla.ces, 1 church with 2S members, 5 of whom were added during the year. Total number of patients treated 4,220, of whom more than half paid their fees.
There is a.lso some work in Holland and among the .Tews in New York City.
American Baptist Missionary Union. J I -~..:~..:":~"?:~..:~..~..:I . "
REPORT FOR THill YEAR ENDING MARCH 31, 1389. This year closes 75 years of the organic Receipts. life of this society. and the report makes special reference to the fact that the society Balance on hand April 1, 1838…… $248 91 was founded and celebrated its jubilee a.mid Donations……………………… 183,475 83 scenes of distress and anxiety, in marked Woman's Bap. For. Miss. Societies 96,754 4S contrast with this a.nniversary. Then Lega.cies ………………………. 51,60827 follows a retrospect over the last 25 years. Judson Centennial Fnnd……….. 38,000 00 Income of Funds………………. 19,773 75 :Miscellaneons…………………. 6,465 07 Government grants in aid, etc., India and Africa……………… 7,068 51 Total receipts………….. $398,394 77 Ballnce against the Union April 1,1389……………………… 8,173 56 Tota.l. ………………….. $406,568 38 Expenditures.
For the Missions………………. $355,197 79 Annuities from Funds. •.•.•.•…. 11,486 97 Publlca.tions ………………….. 2,261 75 Executive and Agf'ncy Dept…… 32,971 12 General Expenses. Rent, etc…… 4,650 70 Total …………………..$406,568 33 Special attention has been paid to educa- Liabilities. Loans on call…….. 82.150 21 tiou, and the founding of high-grade colle- Less cash on hand…………….. 814 97 giate and theological schools in Burmah. Siam, Japan a.nd Europe. Four new mis- Total deficit……….. $1.335 24 'sions in Sweden, Spain, Japan and Africa The statistics are 00 in<;omplete that it is Ihave been started. Among the more notice- scarcely just to give them. So far as can able items in the growth of the work are the be made ont from the report they are as increase of the members in the South China follows: Mission from 30 to 1,150; in the Telugu Mission from 31 to 30,659. The number of mis- I ~!!:~:s: sionaries actually sent to the foreign field during the time has been 347, including mis- g0,31=.~… ~1_'.~1"~ gCtlD. sionaries' wives and unmarried women. I···.~ II ….~ ….j…..~ …~. .German Baptist Brethren. I ~ ~t-l~~ Sta.tions. REPORT FOR YEAR E~DING Al'RIL 2, 1889. THE Missionary Committee report in regard I . . I ~ ~ "'~ Outstations. to foreign work that the expenses have been $1,055.54, expended entirely in Denmark and ""I ~ I ~ 0) ~P'J..:( 1 M l,SSi onar.les Sweden, where 5 evangelists have labored, holding 75t meetings. TwentY-illght conver- !.1l1 CO"",.", I Missionaries' Wives. sions are reported. The same committee have charge of Home I I a; :=~ …'" Other Female Missionaries Mission work and church erection. The total income for the three pnrposes was I.. "'''' I <;:Ordained Native Preachers. $6,237.16. I ..: ! ~ ~"' Other Preachers and Helpers. Baptist General Associa.tion of the Western States and Territories. I"'… I ~s: Churches.
THIS society carries on its foreign work in I ~~I,8i«1i81i ,Members. Africa in connection with the Baptist Mission- ary Union. It bas two missionaries on the I I i «1",~~ Baptized. Congo, who act under general superintendence of the Mission of the Union, but receive their I lSI ~~: ~ Pupils. support from and make their reports to their own Society. IIContribntions.
The Oonsolidated American Baptist The report calls special attention to the Missionary Oonvention fact that one-third of the annual receipts came in during the last months of the year. is engaged in no active work at present, Simply and nearly one half of that during the last holding on' to its legal existeuce and guarding two days. The result has been that tile its ouly foreign interest at Port au Prince, Board has had to borrow money and carry Hayti. A native Haytian, a man thoroughly' a heavy interest account. This ought not trained in this country and Paris, is ready to to be. Better late than never, but better take charge of the work there as soon as the still, never late. way may open. An earnest appeal is made for the re-es- Southern Baptist Oonvention. tablishment of the Japan Mission inaugn- rated in 1859 but never really established on REPORT FOR YEAR ENDING APRIL 30. 1889. account of the death of the first mission- Receipt,.. aries by the loss of the ship in which they .ailed. Balance of April 30. 1888.. ., •….• $3.609 63 Donations (total income)…….. .. 99,023 75 Bills payable (borrowed money).. . 46,50000 Loans and interest…………… . 45126 Total………………. $149,584 64 Expenditures. For Missions………………….. $87.188 32 Executive and Agency Depts….. 14,931 35 Borrowed money repaid.. . . .• . . . .• 46,500 00 Loans.. .. .. .. .. .. …. .. … .. …. .. . • 150 00 Balance cash In Bank…………. 814 97 Total……………….$149,584 64
PltoGRESS OF 1l1SSlONS-MONTllLY BULLETIN. [OCT., r
VIII.-PROGRESS OF MISSIONS: MONTHLY BU~LETIN.
Afrlca.-Arabs in East Central Africa. prospering at Nyassa.. The Free Church of Scotland has opened a. new station at Mal- Tidings from a mission of the Free Church indu, on a high plain at the north olthe of Scotland in Nyassaland indicate that lake. Malindu is surrounded by 17 villages, though the Arabs are by no means over- embosomed in gardens of magnificent bacome, their vower is decreasing. These Ar- nanas. abs are cruel and treacherous; they shoot down the natives without any compunc- -Along the valley of the Nile from Alexan· tions; villages have been destroyed and drla to the first cstaract are 79 mission stations parents and children killed; but at the lat- and 70 Sabbath-schools. numbering 4,017 ter part of April matters were quiet. No scholars, while the day and boarding-schools news bas been received from missionaries have over 5,200 pupils. There has been an in· on Lake Tanganyika, the road between that creasing demand for Bibles, 6,651 having been lake and Nyass.. having bAen closed by tbe sold the last year, with 8,933 volumes of relig' Arabs. A letter from Dr. Kerr Cross at ious literature and 17,179 educational books. Karonga. April 20, gives much credit to Captain Lugard, who has so managed his 150 – TheCongo Railway. Th~Beglan Chambers poorly armed natives tbat they had pre· have voted a snbscrlption of ten million francs vented the Arabs from advancing, and had toward the cost oCthe Congo railway. This does saved many natives from massacre. Dr. not mean that Belgium and the Congo Free Cross had been driven from his home in the State are to come into any political relations, highlands, but at Karonga they were hold- bnt the subscription is made iu the luterests of ing two services on the Sabbath, at one of Belgian commerce. A Zanzibar mercirant has which they had 600 people present. contracted for the transport along the Congo of the material for the construction of the rail· -Congo MiSSIOn. Mr. Richards, of the way.- AmericanBa.ptistMissionary Union, reports that the work at Ba.nza Manteke, the place -A new station on the upper Congo River whereso many converts have been baptized, has been opened by the American Baptist Mis· is still prospering. The young church has sion. It Is 170 miles above Stanley Pool. Lieut. been greatly tried by persecution as well as enant Taunt, U. S. commercial agent on the by sickness and death. Notless than twenty Congo, says this is the only mis&ion oli. the river of those baptized have died, and the fatality which has been successful. has been a great stumbling-block to the heathen,whohave asserted that the sickness -A navigable channel has been discovered was sent by their gods because t,hey have in the delta of the Zambezi River, Southeast been neglected. This has prevented many Africa, by which vessels can enter the main from accepting the Christian faith. The river. This will greatly faciliate the advance of heathen are bitterly opposed, and would missions and civilization in that region. take the lives of the Christians if they could. Recently 17 were baptized, and others are Chlna.-One of the missionaries of the asking for the ordinance, and the knowledge of the truth is spreading'far and wide. China Inland Mission, a Scotch gentleman worth a million, is living in China on twenty·five cents -Mr. F. S. Selous, the South African trav- a week, using all his fortune in the work. eler, in his recent expedition. visited the French mission on the Zambezi, where he -In Pang-Chuang, a missionary from North found the families of Messrs. Jeanmairet America teUs the story of a mission there, al· and Jalla at Sesheke. He says that the most entirely depending on the work of a mission has passed through the greatest slugle woman. She seemed to have inspired the difficulties, and that their situation is rar women, for some of them are said to sit up half from agreeable. They are shut out from the night working, in order to rsise sufficient communication with the outward world, funds to build 8 chape. .They have already col· t"" receipt of letters depending entirely lected $15. upon chance travelers or merchants. The crocodiles devour all thAir domestic ani· -American Citizens. Our miulster in China mal… The kindness of the missionaries is officially reports that there are in China 1,022 having great effect upon the people. but American citizens resident within the empire, Mr. Selous says that the Barotse valley is of whom 506 are entered as missionaries, though in a deplorable condition on account of the the 400 resident in Shanghai are not classified as periodical inundations of the Zambezi, and to their occupation. The extension of the Tient· the fevers Which reeult therefrom. sin and Tonshan railroad to Tung·cho has reo ceived the imperial sanction, and It is expected -Stanley puts the population of Africa at thst notwithstanding aU opposition to Its con· 250,000,000. strnction work will be Immediately begun. The journey from Tientsin to Peking can then -In the midst ofserious dangers, says the be accomplished by rail in,three hOUrs, instead Presbyterian Messenger, the missions are of as many days, as now.
-Work among the Hakkas In Southeru China Is very encouraging. Says a missionary : " The Hakkas will be evangelized sooner than
PROGRESS OF MISSIONS-MONTHLY BULLETIN. 797 any other Chinese." Tbeyare devoted to let- quelled the riotous spirit, and the Car was pulled ters, and are opposed to foot-binding. as usual. .
-The English Presbyterian missionaries in -In addition to the number of convertD China, after 17 years' persistent effort, have which are reported, and the considerable number Becured an eutrance into the important city of of secret disciples among the men, it is believed Chiang-pu, and arrangements have been made that there are thousands of women in the zena- for building a church there, the cost of which nas ofIndia who are Christians. They are un- (about $3,000) is to be met by Rev. A. Gregory, able to declare their faith, but the inlluence of one of the missionaries to occupy the new their Christian lives will be powerfnlly felt in station. , their homes.
Cuba.-The Roman Catholic Bishop of -The income of the British Government In Havana appealed to the Governor of the Island to close the cemetery which the Baptists had India last year from the opium monopoly was opened in that city, but the Goverument in Spain has decided that the Baptists were acting $30,000,000. according to the laws, and may have their place ofburiaI. -Mr. George Muller is stUI In India, where he has been preaching and addressing a large number of meetings, calling upon the uncon- verted to turn unto the Lord, and inciting England.-The report read at the ninth Christians to increased love and good works. annual meetiug of the Church ofEngland Zenana Missionary Society held on May 3d stated that the -A wonderful work of grace is in progress European missionaries of that society in home connection number 105, that there are 57 assist- at Sealkot. Some four years ago the Scotch ant missionaries in local connection, and 507 native agents. Four new stations have been Mission began to baptize inquirers among the opened during the year. The Committee reported also the acceptance of the following calls low caste people In the villages. The IIrst year for new work: A normal school for female teachers at Amritsar ; a boarding school for the the missionaries registered about 80 baptisms, village girls in the Krishnagar district; a boarding-school for Christian girls at Kandy, in Cey- the following year about 400, the next year near Ion; and the establishment, in conjunction with the Church Missionary Society, of the Buchanan 700, the next nearly 800-that is to say, about Institution for training female workers in the Diocese of Travancore and Cochin. The gen- 1,900 baptisms in less than four years, all in one eralillcome of the society is the largest ever received, being 24,866l., an increase of 1,688l. district. Neither is there any abatement of the The total expenditure was 25,802l., an increase of 1,240l., 28. 2d. In addition to the general in- wonderful movement now. The opening month come, there was 2,7861. from various sources. of the year witnessed nearly 200 baptisms, and -Great Cities and their Dangers. Thirty years ago in Great Britain 24per cent. of the it is hoped that a harvest of 2,000 will be gathwhole population were occupied in agricultural pursuits. Now, ouly 14 per cent. of the ered in before a new decade opens on us. population are so occupied. -The Moslems of Delhi have opened a sem- inary in which preachers are taught all the ob- jections of Western infidels against Chri.tianity that they may go forth to oppose the Christian preachers in town and country.
-A few years ago the offerings at the temple at Monghyor, India, amounted to $50,000, dur- ing the two days of the annual festival; now they are only $20,000. The priests say to the missionaries, H You are the reason. Your preaching and your books have taken the fear of us and of our gods from the hearts of the people."
Ireland.-High Ritualism is not con:/in- -The Madras Bible Society, the largest of ed to England. The" Protestant" rector of Donegore,Ireiand, Rev. J. Hunt, has recently the Indian auxiliaries, was established in 1820. advocated the efficacy of the masses for the living and the dead, the supremacy of the Under its auspices the entire Bible has been trans- Pope, and has stated that he believes that the only church in the country which has lated into the Canarese, MalayaJam and Telugu real orders is the church of the Roman obedience. languages, the New and parts of the Old Tesla- ment into Decanl Hindustani, and the Tamil Bible has undergoue revision. It also publishes the New Testament in Tolu, and portions in Koi, Konkani, Badaga and Sanscrit. In t888 it distributed by sale over 130,000 copies. In ad- I ndia;-A fact ofsignificance in India is the dition to the central depot at Madras branch appointment oftwo native Christians in Travancore as magistrates by the Maharajah. Former- depots are maintained in the principal Mofnssil ly magistrates had religions as well as secular duties, and conservative Hindus raised an out- towns, while some 60 colporteurs either supcry against the innovation. A protest was signed and seut to the Maharajah, stating that ported or aided by the society's fonds are emunless the Christians were dismissed the petitioners, who were of the high castes, wonld not ployed to sell the Scriptnres chielly in the pull the car at the coming car-festival in Padmarabapuram. Ii. serions revolt was threatened. country districts. Distribution is also effected but the native sovereign held his ground and among the natives of South India, resideut in Burmah, Ceylon, South Africa, the Mauritins, the Straits Settlements, the West Indies, British and Dutch Guiana.
-Mr. Caine, M.P., sends a letter which speaks of a most remarkable movement in
'798
PROGRESS OF MISSIONS-MONTHLY BULLETIN. [OCT., Banares. A meeting was summoned In that tures concerning the trne Messiah are exgreat center of Idolatry in consequence of what pounded to them. Some Rabbis, says Mr. had been said In the British House of Commons Feingold, have become convinced of the trnth on the liquor traffic in India. A distinguished of the New Testament. Brahmin, who had been trained in a mission college, and is the head of a large Hindu Judaism and Ethics.-There isno doubt that brotherhood, took the chair. Throughhis pow- the more thonghtfo1 adherents of Judaism are erfnl inlluence the caste of Ahlrs, and other gradually drifting away. They do not care to smaller castes, have, as the result of t·he strong carry out the ceremonlallawbecauge it does not feeling of the meeting, decided to prohibit all speak to their hearts. and since this Is all they liquor drinking in their caste regulations. By have been tanght of their religion, if they neglect the inexorableness of such regulations from 40,- it, there seems to he nothing left. Their souls 000 to 50,000 of the people of Benares have be- cry aloud for truths that shall sustain them in come total abstainers. The drink-sellers are their hour of trial and temptation, that shall now appealing for a reductiou in the price of teach them how to live and how to die; and all their licenses on the ground that the sale of that is given them is more or less unmeaning liquor is stopped. Such a unique movement rites. Will not those who love their ancient among idolaters ought to furnish a lessou to our faith, who feel that its doctrines embody all the statesmen. elements of a morally beautiful life, come for- ward now when ,danger threatens it, and zeal· Japan.-" The Independent" says: "A ously labor to show forth its more spiritual trnths P-Jewish Messenger. Japanese Christian church In Seto recently had occasion to build a house of worship. The -There are 47 organizations engaged In the building was completed in May; then it be- evangelization of the Jews, with 377 workers came necessary to report It to the Government and 195 stations. At least 150 of the mission· for registration. Hitherto every church build- aries are converted Jews. ing in Japan has been registered as private Kore~.-Progress of the Gospel. The property in which Christian service would be work in Korea has been abundantly blessed of held. No recognitiou being given to Christi- God. The country was opened to the world by anity, its churches could not be registered as treaty in 1882. Dr. Allen, the first missionary, arrived in 1884. Others, Including the two Chisuch. But as the Constitution makes all re- nese missionaries from the Fnh·Kien native ligious equally lawful the pastor, Mr. Kato, church, followed In 1885. In July, 1886, the and the local omcial, agreed that there was no first convert was baptized. In the autnmn of reasou for not registering this as a Christian 1887 the first church, a Presbyterian, waS orchurch, exempt from taxation, with all the ganized with ten members. In February, 1888, rights and privileges of a Buddhist temple. a union week of prayer among the natives was Such a request had never gone up to the Gov- held. In May, 1888, "the check In Korea" apernment before, but they decided to try it. It peared. In J o1y, 1888, all signs of the .. check, • was granted immediately. So this little coun- as far as the land Is concerned, have disaptry chapel is the first building ever registered peared, and it is stated that during the past year in Japan as a Christian church." (1888) the chnrch in Korea has mo1tiplied five- fold-there are now over 100 Christians In the -In Japan, in 1714, the number of temples laud. Ei~ht native Korean workers spent a was 395,087. The latest enumeration, made month just before the close of the year at two years ago, showed that the whole number Seoul, in receiving instrnction and praying for had been reduced to 57,842. the power of the Holy Ghost, before returning to their homes and work. Doring their month's -Bishop Fowler has just made an extensive stay there were 28 applicants for baptism, 19 omcial tour of Japau. He reports an encouraging vitality in missions, and a disposition on the helng received. part of leading men to embrace, or at least encourage, Christianity. Russla.-Twelve hundred converts have -In Nagoya, with a population of 350,000, heen baptized in the Baptist Mission in Russia he found 8 vigorous church only three years the past two years. The mission is principally old, and in tbe past year Increased from 35 to among the German colonists in South Russia. 70 members. One of these is an eminent law_ There is also B snccessful mission in Roumania yer' another 8 physician trained in German methods, and a third is an in1luentlal editor. and Bnlgaria. The Mayor of the city said to him: "I have observed the reform wrought III Christians. I Scotland.-The mission of the Free think if Christianity were established over the city, and accepted by the people, it wonld Church of Scotland on the Lake of Gallilee, make government easy, and the people much in Palestine, IS prospering. A liberal friend better. I will do all I can to help yonr work." of the ca.use in Scotland has promised $6,500 to build another house for the mis- JeWS.-Jews in Paris. Mr. Solomon Fein- sionaries at Tiberias. This is chiefly a med· gold, Jewish missionary in Paris, writes that ical mission. his work is marked by tokens of encouragement. Many Jews visiting the Exhibition find Syrla.-Dr. George E. Post, in an article their way to the mission room, where the Scrip- on the outlook in Syria, says: .. Little by little the light is stealing in. Men of all re- ligious opinions are inclining to toleration.
PROGRESS OF MISSIONS-MONTHLY BULLETIN
The Bible is being circulated among the bodies-Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopalilln. masses. The number of readers is multI- Quaker, Roman Catholic-which have received plied. Those who believe are bolder, but at Government support since General Grant's first the same time more discreet. Those who administration under the contract system. This do not believe are forced to concede that is done on the ground that the Government canthe Bihle is the source of religious knowl- not sustain sectarian institutions. The system edge, and the referee in all cases of donbt was a mere makeshift, and it must be abandoned. or dispute. Those who are far from the The purpose to abandon it, however, is not spirit of the New Testameut claim to be original with General Morgan. It was broached evangelical. Everything is ripening for a under the Cleveland administration and was grand demonstration of the power of the one of the things for which Mr. Cleveland was Holy Spirit." roundly abused. The Government cannot, of course, abolish the mission schools of these re- Tu rkey.-A concession has been gran ted ligious bodies. Tiley have a perfect and equal by the Sultan of Turkey for the constrnc- right to maintain them, but not under cont~act tion of a railway between Jaffa and J eru- with the United States.-Springjield RepubUsalem; and a still more important railway scheme has been approved by the Imperial can~ Conncil, and only waits the sanction of the Chancellary and the signature of the -The Indian Industrial School recently Snltan. That scheme includes a line from established in Tucson is one of the most Acre (Ptolemais) to Damascus, running pro:nising Institutions in Arizona, and althrough Galilee, crossing the Jordan near though it has been organized only about the waters of Merom, and passing by the one year it has 70 Indian boys and girls. all at>cient Cresarea – Philippi, leaviI!g Mt. of whom appear to be making remarkable Hermon on the left. The projector craves, progress in conforming to the habits of civalso, the sole right to run steamers on the ilized life. Sea of Tiberias. -The Roman Catholic Plenary Council ot1884 authorized a revision and rearrangement of the -The total imports of Damascus for 1888 Catholic prayer-book. This work has just been were 83,056,670, against $1,991.215 for the pre- finished, and will shortly take the place of the vious year; and the total trade rose to $4.- books which have been in use hitherto. It is so 746.825, against 83.698,585 for 1887. The only arranged that the entire service of the mass for industries intheprovince worth noticing are every Sunday iu the year can be followed by the bitumen wells on the western slopes ot the congregation just as it is said by the clergy- Mt. Hermon. for which a concession has man. Every page in proof sheets was sent to been granted netting 65 per cent. to Govern- every Catholic bishop and archbishop in the ment, and 35 per cent. to the contractor. United States, and, 8S issued, it will have the unauimous indorsement of the hierarchy.-The United States.-Departure of Mis- Independent.
sionaries.-A memorable meeting, on the oc- -There are 1,000 Christian Cbinamen concasion of the departnre of a large number of nected with the Congregational missions in Calimissionaries to different parts of the world fornia and Oregon.-Spirito! Missions. under the care of the A. B. C. F. M.. was held in Boston August 29th. The missionaries -Chan Chu Sing, a converted Chinaman, has number 49 in all, of whom 19 are return- been licensed as a local preacher in the Methoing to fields of labor which they have already dist Episcopal Church, and will engage in misoccupied, some of them for a long term of years, sion work among his own people in Los Anwhile 30 are going out for the first time, several geles, Cal. of them 'being chUdren of missionaries. Of the whole number, 20 are going to Turkey, 8 to -Missi.mary Interest in America. Rev. Japau, 17 to China and 4 to India. One of the H. Grattan Guinness is still in the United new mi.sionaries is a granddaughter of the Rev. States, and (writes Mrs. Guinnees) is being William Goodell, D.D., of Constantinople, graciously prospered in his efforts to belp whose life was spent in planting the institutions poor Africa. After completing his tour in of the gospel in the Turkish Empire. Ohio, with Dr. Ashmore, he traveled 'West to Kansas, taking Nkoiyo, the Congo -The appropriations of the American Bap- youth. with him, and held missionary tist Missionary Union for the year ending March meetings in the towns of Marion, Pea- 31, 1890, amount to $402,785.71. Much new body, Newton, Arkansas City, Wellwork is provided for, and the schedule is more ing-ton. Wichita, Hutchinson, Florence.. nearly in accordance with the estimates from Emporia, Aveline and Topeka. Many the missionaries than for many years. noble-hearte<l Western pioneers were led in these meetings to volunteer for mis- -Non-partisan Indian SChools.-It is an- siona.l"Y work in Africa. A neW mission nounced that Commissioner Morgan has deter· was founded, bearing the name of .. The mined to substitute as rapidly as possible on the Soudan Pioneer lIission." and a branch es- Indian reservations non-partisan puhlic 8chools tablished, with enrolled members, secreunder the supervision of the Indian Bureau, for the schools under charge of several rrligions ta.ry ll~ treasurer. ¥>. ~Qh Wwn. This work promise~ to spread over the entire of the press is a. significant element In the State of Kansas. Arrangements have been advance of Christianity. made for Mr. Guinness to visit Kansas City, and also to address the assembled sec- -The Home Mlasionaryworkwhlchlssusretaries'lf the Y. M. C. A., in the States of tained by the women of the Presbyteria.n Nebraska and Minneseta. There is an church, and which consists largely in the earnest missionary spirit awaking in the eataltlishment of Christian schools, is meet- West, and the prospect of the utilization of ing with great favor. The new buildings at its pioneer energies in the work of opening Tucson, Arizona, a.nd Albuquerque, 'New the dark Soudan to the light of the gospel. Mexico, aJ:e complete a.nd in use. The work among the" Mountain Whites" in Western Miscellaneous.-The iastissue 'lethe North Carolina is rapidly developing, and annuaistatement in regard to Roman Cath- just now promises great enlargement. The olic missions has just been sent out from school nea.r Asheville has done good work, the Propaganda press, and from it we but the necessity has constantly been felt gather that in Ireland the Roman Catholic for,one of a higher grade, where girls of fine estimated number of Romanists is 3,792,357, promise might continue their education. with 3,251 priests and 2,547 chapels. In This is now made possible by special England the Roman Catholic population is gifts from parties who have visited the stated to be 1,353,455, with 2,340 priests and region and examined the work done. The 1,261 chapels, and in Scotland 338,643 Ro- gifts already made are as follows: One manists, with 329 priests and 295 chapels. of $35,000, two others of $10,000 each, and It is not by any means likely that these fig- several of $2,000 and $1,000 eacb. A beauures have been understated, and they may, therefore, be taken as a fair basis for any .0 tiful and extensive property, now known as comparative statement with reference to the spread of- Rowanism in these islands. the Oakland Inn," just Ioutslde the And yet many Christians" see no cause to limits of the city of Asheville, has been fear that Popery will ever gain ground in secured and will be devoted to the pur- England again"! poses of a higher Christian education.
-In heathen countries Protestants occupy -john Newcombe, of the English army, 500 separate mission fields, containing 20,- went out to Cumbam as a missionary of the ()()() mission stations, supplied by 40,000 mis- American Baptists, unordained, and unsionaries. In these 20,000 mission stations trained as a clergyman. La.st year he bapthere are 500,000 Sunday-school scholars- tized 1,400 converts. In three or four years an average of 25 to each station. In the he has gone over a. circuit of 3,400 miles 20,000 Protestant mission stations there are preaching a.nd baptizing. 1,000,000 of native communicants, or an average of 50 to each station. There are -The Bishep of Moosonee (says The Church., also 2,000,000 of adherents who are friends Worker) exercises jurisdiction over an area of the evangelical faith and hearers of the as large as Europe, extending all round the gospel preached from the Bible-an average Hudson's Bay territory a.nd reaching up to of 100 to each station. the North Pole. The distances are enor- mous, and the shortest way to the northern -Missiens and the Eastern question. An part of the diocese is to come to England English' officer of distinction said: .. The first, and then go out in the yearly ship American missions alone are doing more for which enterslHudson's Bay. The Bishop the satisfactory settlement of the Eastern has everything to do for himself, and Is a question than all our governments. By their &,ood printer, bootmaker, carpenter, brickcontact with peoples of all nations they are layer, etc. He ha.Il been a worker in that teaching them mutua.l interest, respect and far-away locality for nearly forty years. confidence, and so doing mOre than any other force to make the whole world one." -These are years ofdAstiny. We aremak- ing history. The first century of Christian- -The mission press is a. power rea.ching ity was proved by miracles. This latest cenfar beyond the personal infiuence of ihe tury of Christianity is proved by achievemissionaries. Portions of the Bible, .. Peep ments. We must work faster or we wil gQ of Day," hymn books, tracts, and sermons down. God haa planted this nation and translated and circulated among the na- gil'en Christianity here the J:'l'eatest opportives give evidence of the patient study of tunity. The way to bring more money to intricate languages, and these will bear this society is to plant wider. Fill the land fruit an hundred fold. The Religious Tract with your publications. Money must come Society also has a part in the foreign field; or the missionaries ca.nnot &,0 out. W. want besides scattering the good seed abroad, men equal to the work. We want strong, its own enormous circulation is largely in- earnest men. God is here working out the creased by the issues from foreign depots. problem of the ages with us. If we trust in In Java the" Union for SpreadingChristaln the Lord God omnipotent all will be well.- Literature" aids in the propagation of the Dr. Goodell on. Home Mission•• sospel, and in most mission fields the work -Persecution ofdissenting Christians seems to be increasing in ali the countries of Cen- tral and Eastern Europe. Their rapid prog- ress has alarmed the clergy of the estab- lished churches, and they are putting forth every ell'ort possible to suppress them.
The Missionary Review of the World — May 1888
THE SUPREME QUESTIONS OF THE HOUR
MISSIONARY REVIEW .OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XI. No. 5.-0Id Series.-MAY.-VOL. 1. No. 5.-New Series.
I.-THE LITERATURE OF MISSIONS.
THE SUPREME QUESTIONS OF THE HOUR.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. p.] As we study missions we are more and more convinced that the defect in our methods is radical. There is something wrong, and it reaches down to the very foundations of our system; otherwise there would be a greater and grander onward march and a more speedy and glorious success. Let us be ,honest with ourselves and with God, and handle this subject with ungloved hands.
The supreme questions of the hour, in respect to missions both at home and abroad, are these two: How can missions be prosecuted vigorouslyand efficiently? How can missions be supported generously and systematically?
1. As to the prosecution of missions as an enterprise of the church. Any worldly man who is considering the question of his calling in life from a purely secular point of view will ask four subordinate questions: 1. As to the character of the business he proposes to pursue: its honesty and honorableness, its effect on his own physical, mental and moral well-being. 2. As to the opening for such a business: whether there is room for it, where he proposes to prosecute it, and a reasonable prospect of its success. 3. As to the profit of such a business: whether whatever capital he has can be· best invested in that particular way, as to quick and safe and large returns. 4. As to the associations of such a business: whether they are like to be congenial, helpful, stimulating, harmonious, and especially if a partnership in business is involved in the proposition.
Missions must be regarded as the business and the only business ever yet divinely committed to the believers as individuals and as a collective body. "Follow me, and I will make you FISHERS OF MEN." No other calling is legitimate unless it is in harmony with this; any other calling is legitimate if in it we may abide with God and carryon God's work. Let every believer get this fixed in his mind and heart: whatever his employment may be, his business is saving souls, or more exactly stated, bearing witness for Christ. He is responsible not for results, with which he has nothing to do, but for his work as a herald of good tidings.
Now apply to this life-vocation the four tests heretofore stated. 1. The character of such a business is of the most exalted possible order. Beside it everything else, however lustrous, dims and pales. The most colossal schemes of human enterprise are small beside this which embraces the whole world and reaches forward into a limitless eternity! What is all making money to making a human being godlike? What is all the triumph of art in comparison to modeling of character? It is architecture, painting, sculpture, poetry and music, aU in one, and elevated to a spiritual sphere! Consider such a life business in its effect on the 1vorker, the heroism of endeavor and endurance, self-sacrifice and self-oblivion to which it inspires; the atmosphere of influence with which it surrounds character, the transfiguring halo with which it invests common mortals-nay, the transparent spirituality which refines away all the grossness of materialism and carnalism. Go read of Ziegenbalg and Zinzendorf, Krapf and Schwartz, Carey and Moffatt, Martyn and Morrison, Dober and Duff, Harms and Eliot-the illustrious host who~have burned with the quenchless fire of missions-and tell us where will be found the like of such characters? Where the glory and joy of such reward? 2. The opening for such a divine vocation is especially inspiring, for it is purely of God. Fifty years ago the world was like the sealed jar in the tale of the genii. Now the seal is broken, and forth in the form of a colossus that strides from pole to pole comes the gigantic opportunity that challenges us to make it our servant to do our bidding in great achievement. Again we hear Prince Albert thunder out, "Find out God's plan in your generation and do not cross that plan, but fall in unto your own place in it." Has God a plan in this generation? If so, what is it, and how am I to know it? By every sign and signal God has shown -the men of this generation that his purpose is the immediate evangelization of the 1(Jorld. Behold him, while the church is yet asleep, arouse here and there a heroic soul to dare to go, like Jonathan and his armor-bearer, to attack the strongholds of the enemy. B~hold him, when the church is yet but half awake, go before the little missionary band, and as they shout the gospel message at high walls and closed gates he makes the barriers fall and within thirty years flings wide the two-leaved portals of every leading nation on the globe to the entrance of the gospel. He who doubts providential interposition in missions is blind. Nothing like it has ever occurred in human history. The cleaving of the Red Sea or Jordan, the tumbling of Jericho's walls, the defeat of Amalek, were not as conspicuous miracles as the opening of modern doors of access to an people, because these modern miracles have been on a larger scale and repeated through a half century. Obstacles are out of the way that were as broad as continents, as high as the Himalayas, and as hard as adamant. Facilities of approach have been provided in a succession of discoveries and inventions unparalleled in history-the mariner's compass, steam, the telegraph, the printing press, all the new machinery of human progress can be made available to carry us and our instrumentalities to these open gates and occupy the vast fields of labor. And besides all these openings God has by his grace so proved and approved the work that a whole series of miracles of another ,order may be seen following up the wonders of his providence by even greater wonders of his grace in the transforming of souls and even of society. Men have seen the deserts blossom as the rose, with the excellency of Carmel and Sharon; instead of the thorn the fig tree; instead of the brier the myrtle tree; the obvious planting of the Lord-God's own husbandry-that he might be glorified.
3. The profit of such a business as winning souls, who can estimate it? There is another capital to be invested besides the capital of money. Brains as well as brawn, mind and morals, gifts' and graces, time and talents, acquisitions and accomplishments, the inherited and gathered riches of human character – knowledge, love, speech, life-tell us, young man, young woman, you who wish to serve your own generation by the well of God, where will you find such opportunity for the investment.of your intellectual, moral and spiritual capital? Do you want to make your life tell for God and man? Do you want to wield a sceptre of far-reaching and deathless influence? Do you want to multiply yourself a thousandfold, to make your tongue and your pen a redeeming factor in human history? Here is your chance. On our border lands of civilization new empires form in a quarter of a century. A desert tract to-day is a hamlet to-morrow, next year a thriving village, within five a flourishing city, within ten a radiating railroad center, within fifteen a capital of a new state, and so on, marching with gigantic strides to the imperial control of vast territories with teeming population. The clay is on the wheel; you may go and sit at that wheel as the potter and mould that plastic society, now in the crude lump, into vessels for God. Here are old empires now opening to a new civilization; the Orient welcoming the Occident, asking for the western schools, manners, inventions, and taking with them the western faith because it is inseparably interwoven with the western civilization. Here is a new set of conditions, such as the world now sees for the first time: nations like Japan asking you to come and teach them, casting away hoary super- , stitions and effete faiths to take whatever you will bring, and jn danger of taking something worse than what they cast away in the craving for something new and fresh. While you hesitate the devil pushes his army of skeptical and infidel teachers and books into the new openings and threatens to sow the tares before the Lord's people get in the wheat! While you are looking about at home, waJting for something to turn up, you are losing the greatest opportunity for the investment of your mental and moral capital ever offered to the sons of men! You can shape a nation, perhaps a continent, anew before you die!
4. The associations of such a business are nothing less than divine. Human companionships of the most ennobling character, but beyond and above all the rest, fellowship, partnership with God! « Lo I am with you always" is a promise that can be enjoyed only by those who at home and abroad are engaged in the work of missions. The assurance is the divine reward and encouragement of the herald of the gospel, the cross-bearer, the witness. The business you are invited to take as your vocation, employed, engrossed, absorbed the Son of God. It drew him to these foreign shores, it made him to assume our nature and become of kin with us, learn our language, and suffer our cruelties and scorn, and fall a martyr, that by his blood he might buy the way for us to heaven! Ohrist Jesus was the pioneer in foreign'missions, the first Ohristian martyr and the leader of the host of heralds. Partners who share work share profits. No man hath forsaken all to go on this errand for Ohrist and with Ohrist who receives not a hundredfold here and now, and in the world to come both the gift of eternal life and the jru'it of his toil, which is the added wages for his work. Tried by this fourfold test, this business overtops all other in its claims and in its charms! Those who have heartily undertaken it would not exchange it for all the honors and dignities and coffers and crowns of earth. They prefer the fiery furnace, with the Son of God as a companion, to the throne of a world without him. The very self-denials of the work are an attraction, since they imply a fellowship with his sufferings; to be crucified with him is only next in bliss to being glorified together.
Such are some of the motives to the immediate and energetic prosecution of the work of missions. It is but too obvious they have never yet grappled with the convictions, affections and consciences of the bulk of disciples. Think of it. It is now 1850 years since Jesus ascended, his last message being, « Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." For fifteen centuries the church lost sight of her duty, until she even disputed and denied the obligation itself, and sneered at the few fanatics who would obey the great commission; and now after all this millennium and a half of lost time, worse than lost, while the world has been gaining on us, outstripping us, vastly outnumbering us, until the task of evangelization seems like an impossibility, we still send only about 5,000 missionaries into the whole field and'spend only about $10,000,000 a year on the work, while in this country alone $100,000,000 are spent every three months on popular amusements alone, and many times that sum every year on strong drink! The Ohristian churches, counting only the evangelical and reckoning only the more intelligent and consecrated members, could put one million workers in the field by giving to the Lord's special work one out of thirty church members, and could put at their disposal $1,000,000,000 yearly by laying aside systematically one-tenth of the average income of those members! Are we not jCistified in saying that there is something radically wrong about the methods in which our missionary enterprises are prosecuted, or rather are not prosecuted? The church is but just half awake, rubbing her eyes from her long sleep; they need to be washed with the milk of the word and get fully open to the duty, the privilege, the opportunity of modern missions. Never was sueh a business, never such an opening, never such returns, never such a divine partnership possible to the children of God! Let the church wake up and gird herself for the work and win, and seeing her white-plumed leader in the van of the fight, press on to get by his side and bear the flag of the cross to the summits of the citadels of the enemy!
1. But as yet we have not touched, save in passing, the obher grand factor in this problem of missions, namely, their systematic ana'generous support! This is even more shameful than the lack of vigor and enterprise in pushing the work itself. To think of crippling foreign missions and home missions too by withholding adequate support from self-denying servants of God already on the field; obliging them to retrench when every voice of God sounds the word, "expand j" compelling them to hesitate and halt in the very face of such magnificent opportunities; begrudging them the pittance which keeps them from starvation, and helittling their heroism by showing a lack of appreciation! This is the crown of our dishonor.
We take up the latest printed appeal of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, as an example. The brethren that are in charge of this work we know-know intimately-and we dare affirm that there is not a more capable, conscientious, careful body of administrators of such a trust anywhere to be found thau the four men who as secretaries conduct this work in behalf of a church of nearly 800,000 members, and representing more wealth than any other like number of Christians in this country, with perhaps one doubtful exception. At the last general assembly in Omaha it was determined in view of the loud calls of the foreign work that at least one million dollars should be raised this year, which is only about one and one-third dollars per member, or a little over one-third of a cent. daily! The secretaries, notwithstanding this enthusiastic vote and the imperative needs of the work, did not venture to layout the expenditures upon any such scale in advance; and yet, with but two months·left to finish the fiscal year, again they trumpet forth their note of alarm, that nnless the church they represent redoubles its fidelity and increases its gifts, this year cannot close without repeating the disaster of debt! In this appeal these brethren will say: "This Board is not a producing capitalist. It can assume no obligations of its own. It is only a board of trust for the receipt and disbursement of whatever the churches may give for their great work of foreign missions. But the Board is so circumstanced· that its grants must be made or pledged in advance. The general assembly, instead of ordering a halt, called for more than $200,000 advance. The actual pledges made by the Board in June last were far short of the amount which the assembly named, and yet even at that lower figure, there will be a heavy debt unless a more adequate supply of funds shall soon appear!"
And such appeals as this have been chronic. Year by year, not only this Board but other similar societies have been compelled to appeal to their constituencies importunately and repeatedly to help them out of the slough of debt. On the one hand they are distressed by the needs and openings of the vast field abroad, and on the other hand by the slow, sluggish movements or lack of movements on the part of the church at home! Pity. indeed-shame, indeed-if we are to be embarrassed by the very opportunity that God gives us ; if we dare not ask for other open doors because we cannot enter those now open; if we dare not reach out a helping hand to those who entreat us for aid, because our hands are now more than full; if we dare ,not ask for more workmen because we do not know what to do with those now offering or even already on the field!
We deliberately say, after much thought and prayer over this matter, that something is radically wrong in this matter of the financial support of missions. Our methods are either unscriptural and unspiritual, or else they are defective in their application. God certainly does not need our money; it is for our sake that he uses us as almoners of his gifts. We need the discipline of unselfish giving, and the church will never grow in the grace of giving until she recognizes the fact that no believer ever puts God under any obligation by the most" munificent donation," as though" he needed anything." We must from the bottom rebuild both the science and the art of giving. We must learn for ourselves and teach others, that 1. It is a privilege to give, rather than a duty. To scatter is to increase, to give is to get. The richest growth comes by the most heroic pruning. It makes one comparatively omnipotent and omnipresent to use money aright-multiplying his power and his presence a thousandfold.
2. The giver can sanctify the g{ft, however small or insignificant, by his unselfishness and magnanimity of motive. A cup of cold water in the name of a disciple cannot lose its reward. It becomes a great gift by a great motive and spirit in the giver. Whatever is done in His name is divine. Give what you can, when you can, where you can, but give it cheerfully; give a cup of water, a mite, a kiss, a word, a smile, grandly, nobly, as a disciple. That way of giving swells the gift, and God will use it grandly. 3. The altar sanctifies the gift. Put on God's altar as such, the humblest offering acquires dignity. We should study to' give discrim- . inatingly, to the worthiest objects, not carelessly or indiscriminately. Money may be thrown away and lavishly wasted on nothings, while the greatest objects appeal in vain for our aid. Where can be found any altar so sacred as that of missions? The Lord himself laid himself on that same altar, the first grand whole burnt-offering, and any gift laid there is made divinely sacred by his sacrifice.
4. God values the little gifts from the many more than the greater gifts from the few. For the church to depend upon large donations from a comparatively few is not God's way. It is bad alike for the many and for the few. The many learn to lean on the few, and the few become self-complacent and self-righteous as though the progress of the church depended on their munificence. God's way is not that other men be eased and a few burdened, but that there be equality, i.e. a sharing of responsibility according to ability. " Organize the littles," make many little rills unite in one great river. The Women's Boards both teach and illustrate this lesson: they have gone straight on, giving more and more, and yet the immense sums they gather are all the aggregate of small and regular gifts.
5. Giving does us little good until it comes to the point of downright self-denial. The tithe system may answer for the minimum, but never for the maximum of our gifts. It is obvious that one hundred dollars from a man whose income is a thousand is a very much larger proportion than is one thousand for him who gets ten thousand, or ten thousand for him who has one hundred thousand a year. In one case the man has 900, in the next 9,000, and in the last 90,000 dollars left for his own expenses. The fact is that all these rnathematics of giving are sadly, radically misleading. The ethics of giving reach higher, hut we need some higher plane than either. Shall we call it the (Esthetics of giving? We need to apprehend the beauty of giving. It is the highest of the fine arts. We ought to be enamored of it as of the most resthetic productions of the artist, the sculptor, the architect, the mu- SICIan. Then giving will not need to be urged; there will be rather need of restraining the people from bringing, as Moses dia. The man or woman who learns to give in the right spirit forgets all about the duty, in the privilege, and the absence of life's necessities would bring no such distress as to be cut off from this lztxury. To illustrate and enforce this truth, we add to this article a few facts from history and biography. First, we recall a fine tribute of Bishop Ooxe to one of his old parishioners, Mr. Lee: "He was an instance of religious principle and system as regards tithes and offerings. For years it was his habit to set apart a most liberal portion of his income as the Lord'sportion. Hence giving was to him a great pleasure and a mere act of stewardship. If an object struck him as a good and valid claim on him he said, 'My only-task is to reckon how much of the Lord's portion should go to this object in view of others. Hence,' said he, 'the visit of a good man 1;0 solicit aid is a source of pleasure to me. 1 say to him, If you have a good cause I've something for you; you must help me to judge how much.' Sometimes he would say to one calling on him, 'I've money for you, but this morning. I've no time; please state the case in few words, and if 1 find it a just claim on me I'll gladly do something; only, 1 am sorry to say, 1 can give but five minutes to the matter.' Often, in such case, the five minutes would send the laborers away $50 or $100 richer, and cash in hand. Once a solicitor said, 'Mr. Lee couldn't give me anything this time, but he told me why so kindly and so satisfactorily that his very refusal has done me more good than some men's contributions.' At a crisis in the early history of St. John's church he came to me and said, 'If they will go on and pay the debt 1 will give $5,000.' 1 said, 'You can't afford it.' He answered, 'I intend to sell my house and live in a plainer one till 1 make it up.' And he did so! When Christmas came he enabled me to give a Christmas turkey to everyone of my poorer parishioners. Henry IV. of France, who wished that 'every peasant in his kingdom might have a chicken in his pot every Sunday,' did far less than Mr. Lee by way of personal sacrifice to make the poor man's heart rejoice over his Sunday meal. When prevented from attending the Board of Missions he would send a check equal to what would have been his expenses in attending. 'I can't go, but that will do more good than my presence.' "
Next, we remind our readers of the famous story of the origin of The Order of the Iron Gross. Frederick William III., the father of the present king and son of the great Frederick of Prussia, was the providential prompter of a simple and sublime testimonial of the pure patriotism of his subjects and their readiness to come up nobly to the help of their country in the time of its greatest distress. At the call of their king to pour their gold and silver ornaments into the public treasury and to receive in their stead iron ornaments of the same form, the people cheerfully and nobly came forward, stripping themselves of their bracelets, necklaces, rings, brooches, crosses, earrings of gold, and jewels, casting them into the treasury, and receiving only in exchange similar articles, beautifully worked in bronze and bearing the inscription, " I gave gold for iron, 1813." Hence arose the "Order of the Iron Cross." What an interesting instance of the confidence of subjects in the wisdom and valor of their king! And how impressively does it demonstrate their patriotism and willingness to make any sacrifice for the liberation and glory of their country. They were ready to surrender all their luxuries for the relief of their oppressed nation. Hence, as long as the war lasted, gold ornaments were never worn, and the beautiful Berlin bronze ornaments became more admired and more highly prized throughout Europe than were the most costly jewels before the war.
What if the disciples of- Jesus would but form a new Order of the Iron Cross, and cheerfully sacrifice their superfiuous ornaments to supply the needs of his poor, destitute ones! We should not know what to do with the money! And yet our sacrifices would not have touched our necessities or even our comforts; we should have got only so far as the women when they gave their burnished metal mirrors to make the brazen laver.
Our last illustration shall be the story of Princess Eugenie and her jewels. Eugenie of Sweden has a name already immortal for her selfsacrificing, sympathetic friendship for the poor and suffering. It is now many years ago that she was ordered by her physicians to go to an island off the coast for her health. On that island she found a large number of wretched cripples, many of them hopelessly incurable. She could not be happy until she had done something for their relief. She devoutly prayed God to put into her own heart his own thought about the matter and show her his will concerning this thing.
Then the thought came into her mind which has now made her famous. She would build a home for those poor cripples, where they might have loving nursing and sisterly care. Their number was so great that the house must be large and costly, and she knew not how to raise the necessary funds. Then another thought came into her heart. She wrote to her brothel', the king, asking his c~nsent to sell all the crown jewels that belonged to her and to use the proceeds of the sale for God. The letter was baptized in tears and hallowed with many prayers that the king would accede to her request.
At first he thought Eugenie must be crazy. These jewels were heir- . looms'; they had come down to her from past generations. Who had ever heard of such a preposterous notion, that a royal princess should part forever with her precious family treasures to build a hospital for cripples! But there was one phrase in her letter that her brother could not forget. Her whole plea was "for OMist's salce." And at last he wrote a reply giving his consent. The princess, happy in the sacrifice, sold her jewels and finished and furnished the hospital.
.And not only so. Her sublimest gift was the gift of herself. Into 'the home she had built she went day after day, God's ministering angel to those deformed and loathsome cripples. One day a poor woman, at whose bedside day after day she had thus been a visitor, was drawing near to death. Eugenie had been wont to sit by her, holding her hand and pleading with. her to accept Jesus as her Saviour. And now as the last hour had come she raised herself in bed, bent over the princess' hand, and caressing it said, "Lovely princess, I bless the Lord for sending you to this island, for but for you I never should have learned to love Jesus and my soul would have been lost." Then she fell back and expired, but the hand of Eugenie was covered with the tear-drops from those dying eyes. Eugenie, looked down at her hand, saw those grateful tears glistening upon her hand in the sunlight, and lifting her eyes to God said, ., 0 my Saviour. I sold my jewels for thee, bu,t I see them all restored, and hOtv much more beautiful they are titan lJ)hen Iformerly owned them!"
THE OPPORTUNITY OF THE AGES
Let our giving to missions be wholly reconstructed. Let as awake to the fact that we have not yet begun to learn the divine lesson of self-sacrifice. Our luxuries must be surrendered in view of the destitution of a ptlrishing world-yes, even our comforts, our very necessities must be diminished and sacrificed in the face of the extremities of those who must perish for the want of bread.
THE OPPORTUNITY OF THE AGES.
By JACOB OHAl[BERLAIN, !lI.D., D.D., OF M~DANAPALLE, INDIA.
INDIA is the home of one-sixth of the human race. Reaching from Oape Oomorin, within eight degrees of the Equator, north 2,000 miles to the peaks of the Himalayas, and from Afghanistan through 1,800 miles to Indo-Ohina, we have a country inhabited by 252,000,000, and equal to about one-half of the area of the United States.
The people are not homogeneous. There are forty languages spoken in India; many are very ancient and polished. The Sanskrit, in which the Vedas were written, rivals even the Greek in fullness, power, and beauty, and is stiU the language of ritual in all India, being to the Hindus all that Latin is in the Romish Ohurch. The people are as different as their languages; not of one cast of countenance, not of one ethnological descent. The religion of the people of India is one- Brahmanism or Hinduism-with the exception of the descendants of the Mohammedan invaders of some seven centuries ago. Of these, 40,000,000 remain in India still, and are Mohammedan. .
Let me remind you what Brahmanism or Hinduism is. Their ancient Vedas, the most ancient of which is believed to have been written about the time of Moses, teach, in the main, a true conception of God· and man and sin and sacrifice. But though they have these ancient Vedas and these purer ideas of God, there came later the teaching and the practice of polytheism and idolatry, until what once was light in Asia has become darkness.
As the purer religion of the Vedas degenerated, their purer morals gave place to sensuality, corruption and vice. As a physician I have treated many thousal!ds of patients, from the Rajah to the beggar, and I say that there is no such thing as purity or virtue among them.
And I have this from the confessions of their best men, that" there is not a family that is not tainted with the impure disease." Honesty in dealings is scarcely known, and is not expected in trade. And al- though their Vedas, poets and sages call on the people to main- tain truth as their choicest heritage, yet there is no truth among the people. A common proverb among the Telugus is, "If a man tells the truth, the town will soon become too hot for him." I was once preach- ing in a Telugu city; said I, "You Hindus tell a lie as often as you tell the truth." "What, sir I" said a Brahman right before me, "do you say that we Hindus tell a lie as often as we tell the truth?" " Yes," said I, intending to staud my ground. "Sir," said he, "we Hindus tell ten lies for every truth we utter." That time he certainly told the truth.
Hinduism has two chief bulwarks in this generation: caste and the endowed temples. Caste is a religious distinction. It is not a social distinction, but one of birth; for Brahma created each caste by a different creation, they hold. 'fhe Brahman claims that he is holier than the rest, and if we yield to caste we must allow him to say to the rest, "Stand by thyself, for I am holier than thou." If we give place to caste, we can no longer proclaim, "As in Adam all died, even so in Christ shall all be made alive," for they hold that there were a dozen Adams. Caste is so firmly rooted that I have known of a Brahman that died by starvation when there was food placed by his side, because that food was cooked by one of a lower caste. "Better die," said he, "and reach heaven, than eat that food and live, and lose caste and lose heaven," Caste, then, is the adamantine chain which Satan has wound around these people to hold them back from embracing the truth.
The second great bulwark which supports the system is its myriads of endowed temples. They dot every hilltop and every plain, endowed in former ages with rich lands-the choicest of the fields. AU the revenues of those lands go to the support of the priesthood, who carryon the ceremonies of the temples. If Christianity prevails the Brahmans will cease to reap those revenues. By this craft they have their wealth, and they lock arms to defend their ancient system against the missionary. I had a discussion in the Mysore country, in a city where no missionary had been before, with the chief priest of that region, the president of their theological seminary, where were seventy young Brahmans studying under him for the priesthood. He, surrounded by his disciples, had come to meet us in the market-place, and the discussion lasted hour after hour. He had been pushed to the wall; but darkness coming on he said there was no time to discuss further then, but he would renew the discussion the next evening.
At noon the next day, when all the people were indoors at their midday meal, he stole out of the northern gate of the city, and, coming around through the rice fiel~s and behind the trees to our tent, asked if he might come in and let down the curtain. " Certainly." " Is there anyone within hearing besides yourselves?" " No ; all our people are away at their dinner." At once his whole mien and appearance changed. "Sirs," said he to us, "what you said yesterday was utterly unanswerable. I did the best I could to defend my own posi- I tion, but I am not going to meet you again. What you said is so pure, so holy, so good, it appeals so to the highest needs and desires of men, that it seems as if it must be divine, it must be true. At all events, it is a better religion than ours. But, sirs, we Brahmans canuot afford to let you succeed. Look at our position. . We reap the rich revenues from all these temples. Weare treated as demigods by the people. At every festival we receive rich gifts. Weare looked up to and worshiped. But let your system succeed, which teaches that there need be no human mediator between God and man but Jesus Ohrist, and we Brahmans drop from our high pedestal down to the level of what we are worth, and you know what that means as well as we do. We Brahmans can't afford to let you succeed. We have got to fight you." And fight us they do.
How then is such a system, defended by the power of caste and of an endowed priesthood, to be overcome? We missionaries try to follow our Master in the oral proclamation of the gospel to the people, carrying it to them in the highways and the byways, in their towns, their villages, their hamlets; at their markets and their fairs. We take our tent and pitch it by some central village, and preach in that and each of the surrounding villages within a radius of say three or four miles, reaching perhaps forty to eighty villages, before moving on. We mount upon some platform and gather the people together, and preach to them of Ohrist and his salvation. In our part of the country we gather them by the voice of song. The eighteen millions of Telugu people are a very musical people, and their language is a language of poetry and song. They have old tunes by the hundred, weird and sweet and pleasant, which they have sung through twenty generations in the praise of their gods. We, anxious to seize the devil's choicest weapons to thrust him with, take these tunes of theirs and marry them to Ohristian words, and set them afloat again through the country in tracts with the gospel message put into their style of poetry, and adapted to their choicest tunes. They, curious to see how the new words fit the old tune, will often sing until they sometimes sing the gospel message into their understanding, and the love of Ohrist into their hearts. And on in the night, mingled with my sleep, I have been conscious of hearing songs of redeeming love sung by Hindus who had that day, for the first time, heard of the Redeemer, Jesus. Thus with preaching and with song and with tract and Scripture scattered as we go, do we canvass the country sowing the seed of the kingdom, and the seed is taking root.
We are reaching the people also by medical work. Many of us are physicians as well as ministers. We have gathered in thousands from all the villages around simply by the knowledge that if they came their diseases would be healed. They have come from thousands of towns and villages in all directions. They hear the Bible read; they hear the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Ohrist; they listen as we raise ~he voice of prayer to him who made us and who can save us; they go back to their homes; they take with them the tickets on which are printed a concise statement of Christian truth, and thus the truth is being scattered where we have never set foot.
Our schools present the truths of Christianity. Heathen pupils come to them with the understanding that they will study what the Christians do. Everyone of them studies the Bible, and so we initiate the young into the pure teachings of the religion of Jesus; and we have girls' schools now, which are filled with the highest caste of Hindu young women. They all read the Bible, learn our Christian hymns, study our catechisms, and come to a knowledge of the truth in these schools; and thus we are reaching the secluded zenanas everywhere. Then we have our Anglo-vernacular schools, high schools and Christian colleges, with which we reach young men preparing for the universities and help them on their way through those. In everyone of these schools the Bible is studied as a text-book in each class every day. In December, 1883, I received a very singular petition from Vayalpad, the county town of the adjacent county. There were no Christians in that county. The petition was brought by a special 'messenger and signed by the chief men, not one of whom was a Christian. They petitioned me to receive under my charge the Anglo-vernacular school which they had established the year before for teaching their sons, and to introduce the Bible as a text-book in every class every day.
Much surprised at the tenor of the request, I went out at once to see them and see if they were in earnest. A meeting was summoned of all interested in the school. I read this petition to them. I said: "If this school is placed under my charge, it will be my aim to present the highest truth that man can conceive of to all the pupils. With that understanding, do you wish me to receive the school? The head mas- ter of the school, a Brahman, not a Christian, but who had himself been educated in a mission school, spoke first, telling of what he had learned in that mission school, how he had learned to reverence the Bible, and how anxious he was that these, his pupils, should be under biblical instruction. By experience he knew what the Bible did for one, even though he did not become a Christian. Then a native judge, . the judge of four counties, spoke. He was a high-caste native gentleman and finely educated. His speech was so remarkable that when I reached home I wrote it down in English. He said : "I was not educated in a mission school, but I have many friends who were and who studied the Bible daily in school. I have witnessed its effect upon their lives. I have read the Bible myself privately a great deal. I have come to know the pure and beautiful morality it inculcates. Nothing in our Vedas can compare with it. Let your sons study the Bible. They need not become Christians; but if you want your sons to become noble, upright men, put this school under the charge of the missionary and have the Bible taught in it daily. I have but one son. On him all my hopes are centered. I am able to send him where I please for his education, but I want him to be a noble, earnest man. I have therefore sent him to the Madras Christian College, and there he studies the Bible with the missionaries every day." • By unanimous vote the school was placed under my charge. The Bible from that day was introduced in every class, taught by our cate- chists, and as I examined the school from month to month before I came home I found there was no lesson learned with more avidity, no examination passed better than in the Bible. Thus are we reaching the young men of India. But they seek, as did this Hindu judge, to obtain the morality of the Bible, the nobility of character which its precepts give, without embracing Christianity. They forsake their old religion. They neglect their ancient scriptures. They sip at the fountain of the Bible, but alas, they do not take the Jesus of the Bible to be their Saviour. Fearful danger lies before them.
Thirty-five different missionary societies laboring in India, with their 658 ordained missionaries, have been diligently working, sowing the seed and preparing for the harvest. The Scriptures in twenty-five languages have been scattered throughout the hundred thousand towns and villages of India. These gospels have gone into ten thousand vil- lages where there is no missionary, no native assistant, and not a Christian. We have indeed made the people dissatisfied with their own system, but we have not yet given them Ohrist. Said a Brahman to one of our missionaries visiting that village for the third time in ten years: "Sir, you come just often enough to make us dissatisfied with our old religion. You shake our faith in our ancient gods. You do not come enough to explain your religion to us, so that we can intelligently embrace it. Either keep away entirely or come and bring us to your God and Saviour."
And there was truth in what he said. 'rhe mass of intelligent men all through India have lost faith in their old religion, and now Satan comes in to reap the harvest. 'rhey are dissatisfied with their ancient system, and he brings in the books of John Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer and Huxley, and men of that class-yes, and of Bradlaugh and Mrs. Besant, and of Voltaire and Thomas Paine. The writings of these are scattered all through India, and presses run night and day casting off pages by the million for the poisoning of these awakened Hindu minds.. Anything opposing Christianity, no matter how vile, will be published by them and scattered through the country broadcast.
The whole nation is on the eve of coming out of Hinduism and going into-what?
" Sir," said a Brahman priest to me, "I have never seen a missionary. I have never seen your Veda. But one of our townsmen went to your hospital and was cured, and brought a little ticket which you give your patients, on the back of which was printed a statement of your religion. That is all I have ever seen. He told me what he had heard of your preaching at the hospital. That is all I have ever heard of your religion. We Brahmans have been reading that gospel ticket. It has shown us that Hinduism is not the complete soul-satisfying system that we imagined it to be by pointing out a nobler way. We have talked it over. Sir, Hinduism is doomed. It must go by theboard. Now I have come eighty mile'tto ask you, What are you going to give us in its place?"
I tried to tell him of the pure religion of Jesus Christ, which we were going to give them in the place of Hinduism; and as I talked with him, said I to myself: "Am I telling this man true or false? Are we going to give to these teeming and now awakened millions-are we going to give them the religion of our Jesus? Or are we going to awaken them and dissatisfy them with their own system and then leave them to drift out into skepticism or rationalistic deism or black agnosticism? That is what they are drifting to, and that does not interfere with their caste and the enjoyment of the revenues of the Hindu temples. Shall we let them go out into that realm of darkness? Shall the ruins of Hindu temples be built up into temples for Satan, or into temples of the Most High God?"
THE TIME FOR ACTION.
There is a "tide in the affairs of men" in matters spiritual as well as temporal. That tide in India is now at its flood. If it recedes, the advantages that we now have will never again be offered. There is not a province where Hinduism stands firm on its ancient basis. There is not a caste or a creed whose ranks do not show gaps made by those who have deserted them and enlisted under the banner of King Immanuel. The thirty-five missionary societies now in India are coming together for the conflict. The strategic points have been gained. Plans for the final attack are matured. The enemy are weakening and are dispirited. Already do we see them on their citadels prepared to let down the flag and surrender if a vigorous' assault be made. But, alas! our forces on the field are still too weak to make that assault.
But can the men and the sinews of war for this stupendous battle be obtained? When Lincoln, in the early daya of the war, issued his call for 75,000 volunteers, the cable told us that the roll of 75,000 was filled; that word had to be sent out to stop the enrollment, as so many more offered. Then the men and women of the North said, "Send them into the field. We will raise the needed funds." And right royally was the promise fulfilled.
We must have an army of 75,000 to conquer India for Christ! The privates for the army we will enlist there. We must have 5,000 "West Point officers" within five years to lead that army. 'rhoy must be men from America and Europe, trained for the conflict in the older Chris- tian lands. There has been no greater msplration in this century than . the springing forward within the past twelve months of 2,500 young men and women in America enrolling themselves thus as volunteers to go to the front if God shall open the way. "Is it possible for the church to send out and support such a great number of new recruits?" That question is born not of faith, but of fear. Behold God's triangle! He has created the opening bj; his marvelous providences. By his Spirit he has called for these volunteers, and they have responded. The apex of the triangle only needs the funds. The silver and the gold ate the Lord's. God's triangle is never incomplete. In the name of our Immanuel, I ring out the caU for 5,000 volunteers for tMs glorious warfare!
There are in India 60,000 young converts to be trained for the work. They have not the life, the energy, the spiritual earnestness for the work of saving other souls that we have longed to see in them. Their piety, their endurance under persecution, their devotedness to Christ, we do not question. But they have not inherited the capacity for organized vigorous effort. '.rhey do not know how to touch their fellows. We need in India the life, the fire, the method, which the Y. M. C. A.'s are giving to the young men in America. We need organized effort all along the line.
In our great cities in India there is abundance of material to work upon and to work with. Our colleges, our universities, our schools, all give abundant scope. Send us out one of the best-trained General Secretaries, trained in the school of failure as well as in that of success, that we may know that he will endure. He need know no language but English, for his labor should be given to laying the fouudations all through India, not among the people of one language, and for such work the English is sufficient. Let him be a man of experience, of spiritual power, of hop@fulness, of tact. With him send us five younger men to be general secretaries in the five capitals of India-Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, Allahabad, Lahore. They will need to learn each the principal vernacular of his presidency.
When out upon a tour in 1879, in a county where there was not a Christian, a native official, high in office, in caste, in social position and in wealth, sent a message to me saying that he would like to come and see me privately for the treatment of an ailment. I found that he had some trifling ailment, the treatment of which was dispatched in a few moments; he had used the little ailment merely as a cover to talk with me about Christianity. He said to me in substance: "Sir, I am not a Christian. I am still regarded as a devout Hindu. I still perform enough Hindu ceremonies to avoid suspicion. But in my heart I dare not deny the claims of the Bible. I see the power of Jesus Christ in the lives of hisfollowers so distinctly that I cannot deny his divinity. He is not yet my Saviour. Caste, wealth, position, family, all hold me back. But even now I never allow him to be spoken against in my presence. I have long been reading the Bible in secret. The more I read of Christ and ponder over his life and teachings, and the power to conquer sin that comes from embracing his religion, the more do I feel that in the end I shall have to accept him at any cost as my personal Saviour. But how can I do it and bring ruin upon my family?"
That was six or eight years ago. He has not yet come to the Saviour ; and there It.J"e thousands in this position all over India. They are not being reached. They need not polemics, but a loving, feeling presentation of the gospel of Christ.
Five hundred years before Christ, India was groaning under Brahmanical sacerdotalism, priestcraft, polytheism, idolatry, and caste. Buddha arose as a reformer. With the modicum of truth which he presented to them, teaching them that there was one God, that no human mediation was necessary between God and man, that all men constituted one brotherhood, that service for others was man's highest glory, he fired his disciples with zeal, and they went forth with him to conquer India to their new-found faith. Kings became the nursing fathers of the new religion. A prince of the royal house of Magadha, with his associates in the work, went down through India, and crossed to Ceylon, and all Oeylon was converted to Buddhism. Other disciples went around the northern end of the Bay of Bengal and converted all Burmah to Buddhism. They entered Siam, and all Siam and its monarch embraced the faith. These Buddhist missionaries, climbing up the ascents. of the Himalaya Mountains, went through Nepaul, and all the Nepaulese became Buddhists. They went over into Thibet, and Thibet became and remains Buddhist. They passed on into Siberia; into Ohina, and two hundred millions of its people embraced their faith. ~'hey crossed over to the island empire of Japan, and the standard of Buddha was planted there.
Let this history be to us a prophecy and an inspiration. Give us the men and all the agencies God has put in our power, and we can, by God's blessing, bring India to Ohrist within this onr generation. The Hindu converts will repeat the history of the past; but with new zeal, aided by a power that Buddha's disciples knew not. Again will they sweep through Nepaul and Thibet. Again will they traverse Siberia to its northern limit, and sweep over northern Ohina, conquering not for Buddha, but for Ohrist. The Mohammedan population of India, thus converted, will sweep northward and westward through Arabia and the Turkish Empire, and joining with the missionary forces already at work bring their coreligionists to Ohrist. The Japanese, now so rapidly and grandly enlisted under the banner of Christ, having then through their vigorous home missions completed the conversion of the islands of Japan, will sweep across through Korea and on through Siberia, to meet the advancing Hindu army of Ohrist. And the Chinese contingent, starting northward from Canton and Swatow and Amoy and Foochow, gathering force from the other coast missions and the Inland Mission, will complete th!;l conquest of Ohina, and all Asia will have been brought to Ohrist. Then upon the high mountains in East- will ern Asia will those three armies meet, and together plant the royal standal'd of King Immanuel, and from those united hosts go up the shout, "Hallelujah! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."
THE MIRACLES OF MISSIONS
THE MlRAOLES OF MISSIONS.-No. III.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. P.] THE "WILD MEN" OF BURMAH.
WHEN the missionaries first landed in Burmah they were not even aware of the existence of the Karens or Karians or wild rnen, a rude race inhabiting also Siam and parts of Ohina, dwelling in jungles and mountainous districts, and numbering from 35,000 to 40,000. They reckon themselves by families, and though a family should number hun- dreds of souls it has but one house. Their government is primitive and patriarchal. They wear but little clothing, generally a long sleeveless shirt of coarse cotton. It is now sixty years ago since these obscure people were discovered by the Baptist missionaries. They were oppressed and virtually enslaved by the Burmans.
While their Burman oppressors turned proudly away from the cross, and clung the closer and the more resolutely to the follies and absurdi- ties of their atheistic idolatry, these humble people emerged from their obscure hiding places and not only heard the simple message of the gospel with a strange gladness, but bore the tidings from village to village till hundreds had been baptized and added to the church of God. Wherever the missionaries went the good news had preceded them, and in even the most remote, retired and untraveled quarters they found some who, like Simeon, were waiting for more light and prepared for its reception. Side by side with preaching went the mission schools. By lessons in language and science, as well as in the faith of Ohrist, these devoted men and women sought to lead the young from the vanities, idolatries and superstitions of their ancestors, and displace the , doctrines of Gautama by the teachings of Jesus. The printing press was also brought into requisition. Within ten years after the mission was begun fonts of type were prepared in each of the Karen dialects, and thousands of copies of books, tracts and portions of the Scriptures were published. The natives speaking the several languages soon learned to print them and became valuable helpers both in producing and distributing the issues of the press.
It may be worth while to trace at least the grand 9utlines of this wonderful history of modern gospel triumphs. When in 1828 Mr. Boardman removed from Maulmain to Tavoy there lived in his family a middle-aged man who had been a slave till the missionaries themselves purchased his freedom. Already a convert to Ohristianity, soon after' their arrival in this stronghold of Gautama with its two hundred Bud- dhist priests, this poor Karen was baptized. His name was Kho-Thah- by-u. He was the first Karen convert; his turning to Ohrist was the turning point in the history of the degraded race to which he belonged, and the work begun in his transformation was ~he auspicious forerunner and foretaste of a success which has in all Christian history scarce any superior or even equal as a demonstration of divine power. These "wild men," upon whom even the Burmans looked down with haughty contempt as servile inferiors, weaker in body and mind than their oppressors, the victims of intemperance and disgusting vices, were cruelly trodden under foot and virtually enslaved by the Burmans, who forced them to till the land, pay exorbitant taxes, and do all kinds of slave labor. To escape their persecutors they became half-nomads, wandering into remote and inaccessible regions that they might not be kidnapped and reduced to bondage. Though they had some crude belief in deity, and a future state with its awards, they had neither a definite religious faith and form of religion nor a priesthood. Yet these were the people whose unbounded enthusiasm in receiving the gospel has proven that none are so low that the good news may not at once reach to their deep degradation and accomplish their moral uplifting and utter transformation. Soon after Mr. Boardman settled at Tavoy, Ko-Thah-byu brought to him several Karens of the city. 'l'his first convert not only evinced a true and deep interest in Christ, but a passion for other souls that proved how the degraded pagan may not only be converted, but take up the work of winning souls with avidity and constancy.
At one of the Karen villages, twelve years before, a traveling Mussulman had left a mysterious book, which he told the Karens was sacred and entitled to divine honors. The superstitious party who had charge of it knew nothing of its contents, but wrapped it in muslin and enc~sed it in basket-work of reeds covered with pitch, like the Nile cradle of Moses. The mysterious book became a deified obJect and religiously venerated. The keeper himself became a kind of high priest and sacristan combined, and it was vaguely believed that a treasure had been sent them from a.bove which some future messenger would claim and explain. When Mr. Boardman came to the village he was visited by the guardian of the holy book to ask concerning its character. He could give no opinion till he should examine the book. So the keeper of it returned to his own village and came back after several days bearing the revered book and followed by a numerous train of interested people, all eager to know Mr. Boardman's verdict concerning this unknown volume. The wrappings were removed, and an old, torn, worn-out copy of The Book of Oommon Prayer and Psalms was revealed. It ,was an Oxford edition in English. Mr. Boardman, like Paul at Athens, told the people they were, in their way, very religious, but their devotion was misplaced. They had been ignorantly wor- shiping an unknown god, and he took opportunity now to declare to them the messa;ge of the true God. ." That book," said he, "is a good book, and teaches of the true God in heaven." The docility of the people was amazing. These Karens seemed to feel the sin of having given to a mere book the homage due only to God, and during the two days of Mr. Boardman's stay received with deep interest his instruction. The aged keeper of the book saw that his office and dignity were at an end and laid aside his sorcerer's fantastical dress and wand which had been for twelve years the sign and sceptre of his authority and influence.
In 1831 Mr. Boardman yielded to solicitation and began to visit the Karen villages, accompanied by the devoted Kho-Thah-byu. First of aU they went to the village of Tshick-Koo, the repository of the" sacred volume." The journey was through a country where the very hills and mountains were monuments of idolatry-every height was crowned with a pagoda.
Three days' journey brought him to Tshick-Koo, where he not only found a cordial welcome, but a zayat had been built in anticipation of his coming, and it was large enough to accommodate the whole population of the small village. There at once he preached, Kho-Thah-byu being his interpreter to such as were ignorant of Burman. Not only was he heard gladly, but some stayed all night at the zayat to hear him and the next day crowded about him with presents, and at the end of the second day five came for1vard to receive baptism, one of them the old sorcerer himself. Wherever he went he was received with great hospitality and frequently found candidates for baptism who had first heard of Christ from the lips of Kho-Thah-byu. This itinerant experience of ten days determined him to form a grand plan of comprehensive missionary operations, embracing preaching tours among the villages and establishment of Christian schools.
In 1829 the famous Tavoy rebellion scattered the little band of Karen disciples, broke up the schools and destroyed the mission premises, but when Mr. Boardman returned the fugitives came back from the jungles and new power attended the preaching of the word. There were those verging upon old age who traveled fifty miles by hard and perilous paths to apply for baptism. Kho-Thah-byu went often over the mountains to bear the gospel message, and from these distant homes, some of them on the borders of Siam, there came to the missionaries Karen inquirers who had been first reached by these disciples, who, scattered abroad, went preaching the word. On one occasion Kho-Thah-byu brought back forty of his countrymen.
Mr. Boardman's health gave way and he saw that his end was near. These simple Karens in the villages roundabout, fearing that he would not be able to visit them as he had promised, came to Tavoy and bore him ona cot upon their shoulders to the zayat they had builtior his use on the banks of a beautiful stream, where the sloping mountainsides were lined with Karen villages. There he found about fifty can- di@tea for baptism. With the aid of Rev. Mr. Mason and native disciples the dying missIonary examined the candidates, and at the sunset . hour his cot was placed by the riverside and the first Ohristian baptism: ever known in that district was celebrated in that mountain stream by Mr. Mason. This was Mr. Boardman's" closing scene "-fit close to the labors of a devoted missionary. They attempted to bear him back to Tavoy, but he died on the way, and his tomb is in the midst of what was once a Buddhist grove and beneath the shadow of a ruined pagoda. Its simple marble slab bears an epitaph which reminds us of Ohristopher Wren's memorial in St. Paul's cathedral, "If you seek his monument, look around you."
The next prominent stage in this wonderful work among the Karens was the gathering of these scattered converts from the villages into a community by themselves, in order that they might be provided with schools and other means of religious culture and growth quite impracticable in their scattered condition. This docile people accepted Mr. Mason's proposal, and about the year 1833 actually abandoned their homes, and a site was chosen for a new Ohristian town. It was the site of a former settlement known as "the ancient city," but only tradition of its former condition survived. The new settlement was called Matah, city of love, almost the Karen equivalent for Philadelphia. Fifteen years wrought there marvelous transformations: there might be found, forty years ago, a flourishing church, Ohristian schools, a.nd a happy, harmonious people, their nomadic habits having given way to a settled life of trade, industry, and agriculture. Heathen vices had already been displaced by neatness, cleanliness, decency and ordl(r. They began to support not only their own families but their own schools and the institutions of the gospel. The history of the wonderful changes wrought by the gospel among the "wild men" of Burmah we cannot trace further. Both in manners and morals, in manhood and hvusehold life, the Karen became unrecognizable after tHe gospel had touched his mind and heart.
When Mr. Mason in 1832 visited the fields of the beloved Board- man's labor, he came to the villages under the jurisdiction of Moung So, the chief, who early sought the missionaries at Tavoy, and he beheld with astonishment the changes already wrought. Hear his own words: " I no longer date from a heathen land. Heathenism has fled these banks. I eat the rice and potatoes and fruit cultivated by Ohristian hands, look on the fields of Ohristians, and see no dwellings but those of Ohristian families. I am seated in the midst of a Ohristian village, surrounded by a people that love, talk, act, and in my eyes look like Ohristians !" And this was over fifty years ago• .At Dong-Yahn the lamented Eleanor Macomber, in December, 1836, found the poor Karens, slaves of drunkenness and all the most loath- SOIJle vices of heathenism. With the aid only of two or three natives she maintained at her own dwelling daily prayer and Sabbath worship and opened a small school. Before the close of the .first season tw~lve Karens; rescued out of their low and degraded paganism, were baptized and formed into a church of Christ. By September of 1837 native preachers were in charge of the church and schools, and Dong-Yahn was the seat of a flourishing Christian community, from which Over a wide district crowded with Karens the ligbt and life of the gospel was extending. Her influence on the women and girls was such that scarce a home in the numerous villages of the jungle had not felt the power of her Christian womanhood to uplift and transform female character; and when in 1840, after less than four years of labor, she was called to her reward, the wilderness had already begun to bloom like Eden and the desert like the garden of the Lord. Persecution broke out, and the poor victims fled in every direction, but they held fast their fai~h, and like primitive disciples preached it when scattered abroad.
Among the most fascinating stories of missions is this triumph of the Christian faith in the wilderness of Burmah. It was propagated by Karens, who themselves had only just heard it and had scarcely learned to read the Gospels-men" persecuted and despised by cruel priests and superstitious despots"-yet that gospel took possession of hundreds of Karen hearts and homes and lifted a whole people to a new plane of domestic and social life and started them on a new career! What hath God wrought!
But the work thus begun has grown with a rapidity seldom paral- leled. In 1878 the fiftieth anniversary of the conversion of Ko-Thah- byu was kept by jubilee gatherings and the consecration of the Memorial Hall that bears his name. The Karens themselves built it for school and other mission purposes at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars. It rep- resented twenty thousand then living disciples, converted from demon worship, maintaining their own churches and schools, besides twenty thousand more who, in the faith of Jesus, have died and gone to be with him in glory.
At the dedication of this Hall four veteran native Karen pastors and hundreds of others were present. 'fhe hall measures 134 feet on its south front, 131 on the east, and 104 on the west. It has a splendid audience room 66 by 38 feet, and with a fine gallery. Along the east side is carved in Karen, "Behold the Lamb of God," etc., and on the west side, "These words . . . thou shall teach diligently unto thy children." What a work may this hall see done in fifty years to come!
He who would realize what the gospel has done for the Karen slaves must go and stand on that" gospel hill" and see Ko-Thah-byu Memo- rial Hall confronting Shway-Mote-Tau pagoda on an opposing hill, with its shrines and fanes. Here is the double monument of what the ; Karens 1(Jere and are. Burmah has not only taken her stand among· the givers, but in 1880 ranked third in the li!:St of donors to the Bap- tist Missionary Union, only Massachusetts and New York outranking her! Burmah gave $31,616.14! and of this amount the Karen churches gave over $30,000! Fifty years ago in idolatry, now an evangelizing power! And not content with this, they set about raising another $25,000 to endow a normal and industrial institute! Their liberality puts to shame the so-called benevolence of our Ohristians at home. We give out of our abundance; "the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abound unto the riches of their liberality."
In the Government Administration Report for British Burmah for 1880-81 there is a glowing tribute to the American Baptist missionaries, followed by the statement that there were then attached ,to their communion" 451 Ohristian Karen parishes, most of which support their own church, parish school and native pastor, and many of which subscribe considerable sums for missionary work." The report adds: "Ohristianity continues to spread among the Karens, to the great advantage of the commonwealth, and the Ohristian Karen communities are distinctly more industrious, better educated and more, law-abiding than the Burman and Karen villages around them. The Karen race and the British Government owe a great debt to the American missionaries, who have, under Providence, wrought this change among the Karens of Burmah."
In connection with these gospel triumphs the name of that first Karen convert can never be forgotten. First in the Burmese Empire to embrace Ohristianity, afterward pastor of Maubee, for many years he preached the gospel to his despised and oppressed countrymen. The servant of Ohrist, the apostle of the Karens, whose conversion was the pivotal point in the history of a whole people, was a poor degraded Karen slave!
Sau Quala was one of the first converts among the degraded Karens. From the lowest state the gospel raised him, with a rapidity that no civilization ever knew, to a noble Ohristian manhood. His' first impulse was to tell others of Jesus. He helped to translate the Bible into the Karen tongue, for fifteen years guided the missionaries through the jungles, and then himself began to preach and to plant new churches. In one year he had formed nine, with 741 converts; in less than three years the nine had grown to thirty, with 2,000 converts. He did his work without salary, and when the English Government offered him a position, with large compensation, he at once declined, though his poverty was such as prevented him from taking his lovely wife with him in his missionary tours! This one man, whom no bait of money or position or personal ease could win to leave his holy and unselfish work, is an unanswerable proof that a power higher than man works in Ohristianity. And yet there are those who "do not believe in missions !"
WOMAN'S WORK FOR MISSIONS
WOMAN'S WORK FOR MISSIONS.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. p.] PAUL writes to the Philippians of those "women which labored with him in the gospel;" mark the phrase, "who labored with me in the gospel"- tTwtjO).1)tTav – were my co-athletes, fellow-gladiators, al':! though the life and labor of the gospel were an arena and they were his fellow-combatants, destined to the crown of life!
God fitted woman constitutionally for a high service in the gospel. Woman is pre-eminent above man in her sentimental, emotional and religious nature, and so it is that she holds the very keys of the domestic ~anctuary in the opportunity to form youthful character. She has marvelous capacity for teaching and for endurance. She is especially fitted to care for, sympathize with and reach her own sex. Hitherto in our denominational schemes she has been quite too much neglected and her work almost altogether ignored. But now the time has come when her capacity and sagacity, her intelligence and her consecration, bid fair to constitute her the leader of the modern missionary host. When we think of Augustine and his mother Monica, Ohrysostom and his mother Anthusa, Basil of Ooosarea and his grandmother Emmelia, Gregory of Nazianzen and Nonna, Theodoret and his mother, no marvel that Libanius, the pagan rhetorician, exclaimed in amazement, "What women these Ohristians have!"
Let us not forget how much woman can do for the rising generation by fostering in them a spirit of consecration to the work of God in evan- gelizing the world. The Scriptures * tell us to whom the world and the church are indebted under God for the labors of Timothy: "I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice"; "from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures." Here is the double secret: not only a pious education, but a pious ancestry transmitting an aptitude for a religious life, almost as though faith and devotion of soul to Ohrist were become hereditary, like the curse of a sinful character.
Put in contrast to the exclamation of Libanius what Napoleon said: "France is lost for want of mothers." There was a .boy at Athens, according to the old story, who used to boast that he ruled all Athens. and when asked how, he said, "Why, I rule my mother, my mother rules my father, and my father rules the city." But there is a reverse side to this statement. The mother shapes the character and influence of the child, the child determines the future man and woman; and so in the hands of the mothers God puts the character of the whole generation that in thirty years is to give shape to society. As we trace * Compo 2 Tim. i. 5, and iii. 15. great rivers to their sources we find a point in every stream where by the palm of the hand you may divert the current to any direction. At that point in the stream of human life God puts the mother.
We wish, however, to magnify especially woman's work for the conversion of woman in pagan countries, and in the organization of her own sex in Ohristian lands for missionary effort. Let us remember that she can especially understand and appreciate the condition of her own sex, and the elevation to which the gospel of Ohrist has brought her and can bring her degraded sisterhood elsewhere, and again that she alone can have access to the women of pagan countries. The severe restrictions of the seraglio, harem, zenana, forbid a mau to approach Eastern wives and mothers, even in capacity of a physician. There are perhaps four hundred million women who, if reached at all, must be reached by Ohristian women.
Jerome in his letter to Otesiphon says that Simon Magus founded his heresy by the help of Helena, a prostitute. Nicolaus of Antioch, the founder of all impurities, led about troops of women. Marcion also sent in advance to Rome a woman for his greater pleasure. Apelles had Philumena for a companion. Montanus first corrupted Prisca and Maximilla with gold and then polluted them with heresy. Arius, that he might deceive the world, deceived first the sister of his prince. Donatus was aided by the fortune of Lucilla. The bliud Agape led the blind Elpidius, and Galla was allied to Priscillian, and Justinian and Theodora were associated.
Even so has God ordained woman's work for the conversion of the world to be the grpat auxiliary to man's endeavor.
A student at Auburn inquired, "Shall I go to the heathen married or single?" Dr. Eli Smith replied, "By all means, married. 1. Because a single man must depend on another missionary's wife for home comforts, etc., which is unfair. 2. Because the question is not whether he shall take care of her, but she of him. 3. Because a single man in the East is looked, upon as corrupt. 4. Because woman proves the equal, if not the superior, of man in Ohristian work." He might have added, Because nothing more influences the heathen mind than the exhibition of what Ohristianity makes woman and home life.
Woman's work in the conversion of the world may be considered from four points of prospect.
1. The womanly nature and character. 2. The relation woman peculiarly bears to Ohristianity. 3. Woman's identification with her own sex in pagan lands. 4. Woman's opportunity and responsibility in the education of children. Woman sets us the example of self-sacrifice. The Roman maidens gave their tresses to make bowstrings for the Roman soldiers, in the second war with Oarthage. The Tyrian girls gave their long locks to be woven into cables to defend the city against Alexander. The women of Ephesus contributed their jewelry to restore Diana's temple. From the day that the hosts of women gave their polished metal mirrors to be cast into the mould for the brazen laver for the tabernacle, women have been our examples in the heroism of self-denial.
Woman's nature gives predominance to love. Now religion is more than anything else a matter of the affections. Although there can be no holy living without first a basis of conviction or belief, there may be this basis without any structure of godly character resting upon it. Not until the heart is touched by the truth and our love responds to our faith does true union with God begin, and the building of a renewed nature surmount the basis of belief. Hence when the affectional nature predominates we may naturally expect to see the noblest developments of piety. From the beginning of Christ's ministry until now women have been largely in the majority in the number of the followers of Jesus, and distinguished alike for their service and their suffering in his cause.
The elements of womanly character, therefore, indicate her peculiar fitness to co-operate in the conversion of the world. She is confessedly prominent and pre-eminent in her sentimental, emotional, affectional and religious nature.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary, before she could read, used to go into the castle chapel and bow before the crucifix and place her little golden crown before the thorny crown. Whatever power woman may manifest in intellect, and whatever prominence she may exhibit in purely intellectual faculties and functions, no one will deny that her affectional and emotional nature is especially rich and exuberant.
Women have been pre-eminent in literature, like Martineau, Browning, Bronte, Beecher, Edgeworth; in art like Hosmer and Bonheur; in science like Somerville and Mitchell; in humanity like Patton and Nightingale; but the pre-eminence of women in direct and indirect missionary work is greater than all. The life of Harriet Newell has made many a missionary. Mrs. Grant and Fidelia Fiske in Persia, the three Mrs. J udsons in Burmah.• Mrs. Krapf in Africa, Mrs. Bushnell at the Gaboon-these are a few specimens of the heroic women who have thrilled the world by the exhibition of their consecration.
The woman of Samaria gave an early example of woman's power as a preacher. What preaching that was! Evangelical, experimental and consistent, earnest, simple, practical, effective. True; she was uneducated and unordained. She inquired of Jesus, .then told of Jesus, and so brought to Jes"iIs, directly and indirectly.
Great is the service rendered by woman in the evangelization of mankind. From the very beginning of Christ's ministry we find women following closely in his footsteps, ministering to him of their substance and sympathy, love and devotion. At his death there stood by his cross the three Marys-Mary his mother, Mary wife of Cleophas and mother of James and J oses, and Mary of Magdala; and Salome wife of Zebedee, and many other women who came up with him from Jerusalem. And again at the sepulchre we find two of the Marys and Salome very early in the morning bringing spices and ointments for his embalmment.
Subsequent to Ohrist's ascension we shall find woman still p;ominently engaged in spreading the conquests of the cross.
Acts ix. 36 : At Joppa there lived Tabitha or Dorcas, a woman full of good works and alms deeds which she did, and at whose bedside stood all the widows weeping and shewing the coats and garments which she had made for the poor while she was with them; and so abundantly did God recognize her service to the saints that Peter was sent to restore her to life. Acts xvi. 13 : When Paul visited Philippi he went out of the city on the Sabbath day by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
There it was that Lydia, the seller of purple cloths from Thyatira, heard the wQrd, whose heart the Lord opened, and who, after her baptism and that of her household, manifested such a grace of hospitality, saying, "If ye have judged me faithful to the Lord, come unto my house and abide," constraining Paul and Timotheus and Silas.
The last chapter of Romans is a chapter of farewell messages. rrwenty-seven persons are mentioned particularly and by name: with special salutation and commendation. Of this number nine are godly women. "Phmbe, our sister deaconess of the church at Oenchrea, who hath been a succorer of many, and of myself also;" "Priscilla, my helper in Ohrist Jesus,'~ who with her husband Aquila actually took Apollos, who though converted, eloquent, and mighty in the Scriptures, was a raw recruit, and "expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly;" "Mary who bestowed much labor on us;" " Junia, of note among the apostles." Ohrysostom regards this as meaning of note as one of the apostles.
Paul describes the good works of the godly woman: "If she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the affiicted, if she have diligently followed every good work" (1 Tim. v. 9, 10). All this both evidences Ohristianity and advances it; the pious discharge of motherly responsibility, the exercise of Ohristian hospitality, the ministry of humble service to the weary and afflicted-all this constitutes a method which the humblest woman can follow for the furtherance of Ohrist's gospel. A modern example of fellowship in missionary service may be found in a Vermont mother, following her son Henry in all his work in the missionary field with her prayer, becoming a participator in every visit, discourse, and journey, about four weeks after.
Well may woman be devoted to Ohrist. Ohristianity was the first great step in her elevation to her true rank and place. Even Judaism treated woman with comparative contempt. The Talmud abounds in insulting references to the female sex, classing women with slaves and idiots. 'Whoever will read such works as "Women in Persia," by Laurie, or" Woman in India," by Rudolph, or "The Women of the Arabs," by Jessup, can see what woman is and always has been, independent of the uplifting power of the religion of Ohrist. Well might woman, when apostles fled, the danger brave, last at the cross and earliest at the grave of Ohrist, for all that she is in social position as well as spiritual hopes she owes to Jesus.
Weare sometimes told that it is civilization, not Ohristianity, that has rescued woman from degradation and elevated man in morals. It is a great mistake. When Rome was in her highest state of civilization she was in her lowest stage of morals. Ohina has been a civilized nation for centuries, but the Ohinese women have no educational facilities and no social status above that of a slave; the girl babies are heartlessly murdered and the wife and mother is a mere chattel. No; civillzation without Ohristianity is incapable of purifying man or elevating woman. Ohristianity is the great purifier and elevator. Let us thank God for it, seek more of it, and rejoice more in it.
Woman's work for the conversion of the world is a natural result of her conscious indebtedness to her Saviour and his salvation. Woman feels her indebtedness to Ohristianity for what she is. Man owes to the religion of Ohrist all that he is spiritually as an heir of heavenly hope. But woman owes even her social and domestic dignity and liberty to the gospel. Independent of the influence of Ohristianity, what has she been everywhere and in every age? The slave, the tool, the victim of man. Education even in the Garden Oity of the Orient was the badge of the courtesan. Degradation and thraldom were the universal law of her condition. When Ohrist condescended to be born of a woman and call a Jewish maiden mother, he elevated her sex to a new dignity; I henceforth her social progress began. Paganism had treated her with contempt, as it does still. You insult a Turk by inquiring after the welfare of his wife and daughters, and to bury a female child alive car- ried no twinge of suffering to a parent's heart.
Tryphena and Tryphosa and Persis still labor much in the I~ord. They love his service and the service of souls. God bless the women of this day of missions for their widespread effort to inform the mind, inspire the heart, move the conscience, in the direction of missions I It is now held that the new version of the Old Testament gives a clear authority for women's foreign missionary societies by its rendering of the eleventh verse of the fifty-eighth Psalm: "The Lord giveth the word; the women that publish the tidings are a great host." Their separate organizations are not twenty years old, yet they have overspread the earth. The great uprising of young men and women, unprecedented in human history, who knows how far it is traceable past all the nearer impulses to the remoter cause-the training at the.
knee in the nursery. Go forward, godly women! God has given you the rare gifts and graces, the emotional, affectional fervor, the warm sympathy, the heroic sacrifice. Penetrate the harems and zenanas of the Orient; set up your schools and touch the child heart; build up the Ohristian home in the very centers of pagan, Mohammedan and pa.pal superstition and degradation. Gather your dimes till the mites make the millions; scatter yourtraets till the knowledge of the facts has penetrated even the lowliest home and humblest heart. Leave the stereotyped methods behind while you devise larger and more liberal things. The Lord is with you. May he give you yet more abundant grace and wisdom and success!
In 1883-84 the following list of women's organizations was published by Mr. Wilder. It might now be greatly enlarged: Woman's Union Missionary Society, New York. Organized in 1861. Income, $44,779.
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, Philadelphia. Presbyterian. Organized in 1870. Income, $138,778.
Woman's Board of Foreign Missions, New York. Presbyterian. Organized in 1870. Income, $43,219.
Woman's Presbyterian Board of the Northwest, Chicago. Organized 1870. Income, $59,134.
Woman's Presbyterian Board of the Southwest, St. Louis. Income, $3,646. Woman's Baptist Missionary Society, Massachusetts. Organizf:'d in 1870. Income, $63,424. Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of the West. Chicago, 1871. Income, $30,419. Woman's Board of Missions of the A. B. C. F. M., Boston, 1869. Income, $137,949. Protestant Episcopal Woman's Auxiliary, New York, 1871. Income, $18,179. Boxes, $131,617. Freedmen and Indians, $30,362. Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of M. E. Church, New York, 1869. Income, $143,199. Woman's Missionary Society of M. E. Church South, Nashville, 1878. Income, $52,652. Woman's Missionary Society of M. P. Church, Pittsburg. Income, $2,135. Woman's Board of Foreign Missions, Reformed (Dutch), New York, 1875. Income, $20,573. Woman's Missionary Association of the U. P. Church, Dayton, Ohio, 1875. Income, $9,689. Cumberland Presbyterian Board, Evansville, Ind., 1879. Income, $8,860. Lutheran General Synod's Woman's Home and Foreign Missionary Society, Baltimore, Md., 1879. Income, $18,825-for two years. Woman's Board of Missions, Church of the Disciples, 1875. Income, about $14,000. Woman's Missionary Society of the Evangelical Association, 1884, Cleveland. Income, $1,220. Free Baptist Woman's Missionary Society, Danville, N. H. Income, $5,712. Woman's Foreign Missionary Association of Friends. Income, $3,000. Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of Presbyterian Church in Canada, Toronto, 1876. Income, $10,381. Woman's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of Ontario, Toronto, 1877. Income, $2,500.
We add a selection as in the line of this paper: "Woman occupies a conspicuous place in the primitive church. This will· be evident if we simply mention some of the feminine names which appear in the New Testament records: Anna, Apphia, Chloe, Claudia, Damaris, Dor-
DAVID BRAINERD
cas, Elizabeth, Eunice, Euodia, Joanna, Julia, Lois, Lydia, Martha, Mary of Bethany, Mary of Magdala, Mary of Nazareth, Mary of Rome, Mary the mother of Mark, Mary the wife of Cleopas, Persis, Phoebe, Priscilla, Rhoda, Salome, Susanna, Syntyche, Tryphena, Tryphosa, etc. Moreover, there are many women on whom the Lord bestowed signal favors, but whose names have not come down to us ; for example, Peter's mother-in-law, th~ widow of Nain, the daughter of Jairus, the woman with the issue of blood, the Canaanite mother and daughter, the woman with the eighteen years' infirmity. Once more, there are the many anonymous women who tried, in one way or another, to serve the Lord J.esus; for example, the woman at Jacob's well, the penitent adorer in Simon's house, the widow with her two mites, Pilate's wife, the wailing women on their way to Calvary, the praying women of the upper chamber, etc. Indeed, it.may be doubted whether any secular history so small as the four Gospels wal> ever written in which the womanly element so largely prevails as in the life of Jesus the Christ.
"Nor is this surprising. For, first, woman's distinctive temperament makes her, if one may so say, a natural believer in Jesus Christ. He is emphatioally 'the seed of the woman.'
u, Not she with traitorous kiss her Saviour stung, Not she denied him with unholy tongue; She, while apostles shrank, could danger brave, Last at his cross, and earliest at his grave.'
"Secondly, woman owes an incalculable debt to Jesus Christ. His birth marks the turning point in woman's history. Hitherto, as in heathen countries to this day, she had been the victim of man's caprice, cruelty, lust, scorn and tyranny. EYen the Hebrews themselves, although taught from the beginning to reverence woman, had been wont to regard her as man's handmaid rather than his equal; in fact, a Jewish morning prayer prescribes that a man shall bless God for three things, namely, that he was not born a Gentile, a slave, or a woman. But when the fullness of the time came, and God sent forth his Son to be born of a woman, as well as under the law, then was woman herself emancipated and restored to her·paradisal equality with man. Henceforth, at least in the realm of the spiritual life, there was to be neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female; for all are one in Christ Jesus. It has been so ever since; wherever Jesus Christ has been best known, there woman has been most honored. Woman owes everything to the Son of Mary."
D A V I D BRA I N E RD.
[EDITORIAL.-J. M. s.] HAVING sketched the Life and the Oharacter of this extraord~nary missionary saint, it only remains for us to touch upon the matter of his expulsion from Yale Oollege and vindicate his memory from the asper- sion cast upon his good name by that unjust and cruel act, and offer a few remarks suggested by his life and experience. .
His expulsion was as high-handed a measnre as the annals of college discipline can produce. Viewing it even from this distance of time, it fills us with amazement and indignation. If we were a member of the Faculty of that venerable institution, we would not rest until that iniquitous measure was expunged from its records. Sure we are that no unprejudiced mind, possessed of the facts of the case on which the act was based, as carefully stated by President Edwards and also by Brainerd himself in his journal and letters, can come to any oth~r conclusion than that the college authorities erred in expelling him in the first instance for so slight an offense; erred in inflicting the severest academical punishment in their power for a word spoken in confidence to two 01' three college mates and intimate religious friends with no malicious intent; that they erred again in refusing to accept his very humble and penitent confession and restore him to his standing; and again erred by their strange and relentless persistency in refusing the request of a large number of the most distinguished clergymen in the colonies, that Brainerd might be allowed to take his degree with the class from which he was expelled the year before. Had his alleged offense been tenfold more serious than it was, we cannot see how the~r conduct in this instance could be justified, especially in view of the peculiar circumstances of the case and the fact that the offending party had made a prompt and manly acknowledgment. But the offense in fact was a trifling one, and one that the o.:ffended tutor and the faculty of the college ought not to have laid to heart or made a serious fuss over. If the authorities of Yale or of any other college in the land to-day should expel a student for such an Qffense, a cry of shame and indignation would ring throughout the land.
The offense consisted of two particulars: The first a hasty and foolish remark, reflecting on the piety of one of the tutors, made in private to two or three fellow students and overheard and reported by another student who happened to overhear it. The other item Was in going to a religious meeting in the town when the college had forbidden attendance on such meetings. That 10as the whale of the offense. It seems scarcely credible to us in these days. The last item must be ruled out. For no college rulers had a right, legal or moral, to enact such a rule. It was a high-handed assumption of power, and was a fling at the promoters of the great religious Revival which then agitated and divided New Haven and many other parts of New Englaud. And whether the other offense-the words applied to tutor Whittlesey-were true or false, there was, as all must admit, a great deal to excuse or palliate the offense in the spirit and occurrences in the life around him at the time the words were spoken.
A great religious movement was then on foot. Whitefield and other apostles of the new evangelism had fired the hearts of multitudes. Excitement ran high. The revival had shaken the town of New Haven and the mass of college students had come under its power, Brainerd among the rest, who entered into the work with all the intensity of his earnest nature. « Ministers of long standing," and churches without number, were divided in regard to these « New Lights," as they were .
called. Extravagances and evils, according to President Edwards'
testimony, mixed with much that was good. A censorious spirit was rampant. Whitefield himself publicly judged and denounced ministers of standing and experience, and many leading churches also, for their supineness or opposition-so much so that the pastor of Northampton, while sympathizing with the movement and throwing the great weight of his example and preaching in favor of it, deplored the excesses of intemperate zeal, and specially exposed and condemned the. censorious and self-righteous spirit which characterized a portion of its promoters.
Even Whitefield himself he censured and personally rebuked!
Surely, when old and staid ministers-ministers of learning, piety and recognized standing-were led away for the time being from the meekness and sweet gentleness of Christ, and in speech and manner, in preaching and praying, implied that all who were not of their way of preaching and praying-all who cast not out devils after their fashion -all who failed to enter heartily into their measures, or who dared to oppose them, were hypocrites or graceless professors-the young and zealous sophomore who had caught the contagion and entered 'into the excitement and took an active part in the revival, which changed the character of the college and numbered many of its students among its converts, might have been pardoned the hot, thoughtless words spoken in private concerning the lack of piety in one of the tutors who had just been "pathetically" praying before the students! What college law was broken? What was there in the nature and extent of the offense to call for college discipline ? Were there not many palliating considerations in the times and in the circumstances of the case? Would not a reprimand have been all that the offense called for? On what principle of justice or fairness could they visit upon him, a student too of blameless virtue and exemplary piety, condign punishment, blast his future prospects and consign him to disgrace, so far at least as their action had effect? Fortunately it did not seriously injure the character of Brainerd, even at the time, or lessen the high esteem in which he was held by his friends, while it served to rally to his support many of the most eminent ministers of his time, and called forth great sympathy and interest in his career, not only over all New England, but also in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. And God so overruled the matter that, beyond all question, it was one of the chief causes which led to the establishment of Princeton College.
The first point suggested by these memoirs that is worthy of careful consideration by all the friends of missions at the present time relates .to the methods and the machinery of missionary operations. We do not propose to discuss this important and vital question here, but simply to note the example of this eminent Christian and missionary and the results of his labors. Brainerd literally obeyed the ascended Lord. He went forth with the Bible only in his hands. He gave himself to prayer and to the preaching of the Word of God, to catechetical instruction, to direct efforts to convert souls and train them for Ohrist. He at once began to preach to these untutored, uncivilized, degraded barbarians the central trnth of Ohristianity, the cardinal doctrines of the Ohristian system -the very same doctrines which Jonathan Edwards then preached in Northampton, and which Dr. John Hall preaches to-day on Fifth avenue in New York Oity-and he preached them with the same distinctness and discrimination and directness and urgency and application; and the same results followed! He had to preach through an interpreter. He labored under a thousand disadvantages. But he honored God's word, God's method of saving sinners, and he preached and prayed with faith in the efficacy of the gospel and the Holy Spirit's power; and the effect, the fruit, was the same at Kaunaumeek, and Orossweeksung, and at the Forks of the Delaware, as at Northampton, and in New York Oity, and in primitive times.
Have we not, in these days of weak faith and decay of spiritual life, departed quite too far from the apostolic idea and practice in our missionary endeavors? Are we not making organizations, schools, civilizing influences, machinery, and merely human devices, altogether too prominent? Is not the natural, if not the inevitable tendency of such a policy to unduly exalt the human element at the expense of the divine'! And is not the effect to weaken our hold on God, to lessen the felt necessity of prayer and the Holy Spirit's omnipotent energy? Is it not precious time lost? are not energies wasted? and is not the time of harvest delayed?
Ohrist understood perfectly the conditions and necessities of the case, andthe nature and adaptability of the gospel to its end, when he commissioned the disciples to go and teach all nations. And we know how the disciples understood his message, and how they obeyed it; their one uniform and universal method among Jews and Greeks and Romans, alike among barbarians and in civilized communities, was to preach Ohrist and him crucified, and to organize and gather the converts into Ohristian churches on the simple basis of the gospel. They knew nothing about our modern theories and accessories. We do not find the slightest trace of any of these modes or machinery in the primitive church's effort to evangelize the world. And human nature is the same to-day as then; and the condition of the heathen world is essentially the same. And yet we have drifted into a totally different method. We have come virtually to put civilization, education, preparation, before and in place of the gospel. It is not "the foolishness of preaching" so much as it is the perfection of appliances and constructive agencies and civilizing forces that is the church's main reliance today for the evangelization of the world, both nominally Ohristian and heathen! The Indians to whom Brainerd ministered were exceedingly ignorant; their social and moral condition was of the lowest order. They were simply savages. And yet the gospel, as preached and expounded to them by this single young isolated missionary, whose heart was all aflame with the love of God, and who spent hours every day on his knees in prayer, was made mighty through faith in God for their salvation. The grace of God achieved in four short years among that degraded race as signal and as glorious a triumph as it achieved under Whitefield and Edwards among the civilized and educated whites. No one can trace the history of God's converting and transforming grace at Kaunaumeek and Orossweeksung-note the operation of gospel truth and of the Holy Spirit's influence on these ignorant and degraded sinners, and especially such manifestations of power and grace as are recorded in Ohapter X. of Brainerd's memoirs-and doubt for one moment the sufficiency of the gospel in the hands of the Spirit of God, when wisely and faithfully preached in faith and with importunate prayer, to tr3.nsform and elevate any people, however depraved and degraded. 0 for the simplicity, the faith, the whole-heartedness, the reliance on the teachings of Ohrist and" the witness of the Spirit," which characterized the early Ohristians, and which characterized the life of Brainerd! 'l'he chl1,rch ?rmst yet come to this, or the" millennial " age, for which she has prayed and waited so long, will prove only a pleasing dream. Maya renewed study of the life and example and achievements of this illustrious missionary help to bring it about!
A second remark. Brainerd and his co-workers on the same field- Eliot, Horton, Sergeant and Edwards-really solved for us in theory the. Indian Problem, and we have been almost a century and a half in finding it out! Had the work which they began among and in behalf of the aboriginal tribes of North America been continued and prosecuted to its legitimate end; had the policy which they clearly marked out and inaugurated in their treatment of the Indian race-viz., honest dealing, evangelization, education, teaching the industrial arts-had this Ohristian policy been recognized and pursued by the United States Government and people in their subsequent dealings with them, what untold millions of treasure had been saved the nation! what bloody wars and frightful massacres had been averted! The long dark record of injustice, cruelty, perfidy, treaty-breaking-the strong oppressing the weak, high-handed unrighteousness in the sight of Heaven and the civilized world-had not been written.
At length, blessed be God, the truth which these missionary pioneers clearly perceived and exemplified in their teaching and lives begins to dawn upon the American mind. The gospel of Jesus Ohrist, the church, the ministry, the school, Ohristian society and civilization, are coming at length to be recognized,by the Ohristian church at least, as the only forces and methods to settle this perplexing question, which has so long overmatched alike the wisdom of statesmanship, the resources of military genius and power, and the humanities of philanthropy.
If our Government, which has so strangely blundered and so grievously sinned in the past in its Indian policy, will now at least keep its hands ofi and not sufier evil-minded or pig-headed officials in our Indian Bureau to Jlerpetrate monstrous stupidity and outrageous interference and injustice at the dictation of political intrigue; if the policy and trend of our missionary efiorts in behalf of the Indian established by Eliot and Brainerd and Edwards, and kept steadily in view ever since by those who have sought their elevation, shall not be interfered with, the practical solution of the Indian problem is nigh at hand.
. We bless God to-day for such a noble life, for such a saintly char- acter, and for such an example of Ohristlike sacrifice and toil in the glorious cause of human redemption as we have been contemplating.
That life, that character, that example are calling to us to-day-call- ing by the printed page which perpetuates his wondrous, burning testi- I I mony; camng by those earnest soul-wrestlings and prayers, which God witnessed and heard in the American wilderness five generations ago; calling by those displays of almighty and regenerating grace which he was the occasion and the instrument of displaying among the heathen and savage tribes of this new world; calling by the tongues of prophets long dead, by the sacrifices and the triumphs of modern missions, and by the hopes and expectations of the church of God, to awake out of sleep and take hold of the work of the world's conversion in dead ear- nest! The appeal is made to 1l8, of this generation, as truly as though an angel were flying through the midst of heaven summoning the sacra- mental host of God's elect to be up and doing, to go up and possess the land, to thrust in the sickle and reap, to "stand and see the sal- vation of God." The prayer of the church for more than eighteen hundred years has been, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." And the apocalyptic angel has joined in the grand chorus, "Even so come, Lord Jesus! Amen." The souls under the altar that were slain for the word of God are crying, " How long, o Lord, holy and true! " The earth groaneth and travaileth in pain for her redemption hour. The nations which sit in darkness stretch forth their hands unto us and are struggling upward toward the light.
There are signs too in the heavens, and commotions on the earth, and stately steppings of almighty power and converting grace in the providential world, which plainly indicate that Ohrist the Lord is speedily coming to take to himself his great power and assert his king- ship over aU and establish his millennial reign on the earth.
The preparation of long ages is now complete. Prophecy has closed its testimony. The promises are world-embracing. Discipline, waiting, training, developing, laying foundations, have had their day and done their assigned work. ~he time for ACTION has now fully comethe time for a combined assault on the kingdom of darkness, the time for a grand aggressive movement all along the line. The trumpet is sounding to the charge! In the name of the Lord of Hosts, lift up the banner of righteousness and fling to the breeze the all-conquering standard of our Immanuel. Long since the church had her marching orders: "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature !" Why hesitate? Why wait for other manifestations?
Young men and maidens! can you look on the stirring scenes which this world presents to y()U to-day-the world in which the Eternal Son of God has planted the cross, the symbol of omnipotent love and divine sacrifice, by which he is to conquer and reign over a redeemed uni. verse-can you view these scenes and events and not long to participate in the glorious struggle and the glorious conquest? Ye Brainerds and Henry Martyns and Careys and J udsons and Livingstones, ye Harriet Newens and Mrs. J udsons, this is the day for such as you to come to the front and assert your Ipission and fire the heart of the sacred brotherhood with flaming zeal, holy enthusiasm, and a self-denying spirit-the day to emulate the faith, the heroic spirit, and the sublime self-sacrifice of Paul and Peter and John and the other primitive disciples.
Weare approaching the close of the nineteenth century; and what a century it has been, especially the latter half of it, in the way of change, development, progress, achievement! Stirring events are transpiring before us every day. Divine providence is writing history with a rapidity and on a scale of magnitude unparalleled in the past. And have these things no significance? Have you no personal interest in them? Is not God speaking in them all to you, to me, to every disciple with'loud and solemn voice? And especially the young men of this generation, are they not" brought to the kingdom" at a momentous crisis in the world's history? Is not human life to-day, measured by its opportunities, its responsibilities, its possibilities, worth a hundred lives in ages gone by? Did ever a generation have such opportunities to distinguish itself in the grand march of human events? Was ever such a cry heard from so many lands, and from the isles of the sea-from India and from Africa, from China and Japan and Mexico-from so many races and nations and peoples and tongues, saying, "Come over and help us," as noUJ resounds throughout Christendom?
If we will not respond to these wondrous providential calls-these calls of the Spirit of God, these calls of a groaning and perishing world, going up day and night to heaven like the sound of many waters-we shall be thrust aside, and the kingdom, the work, the honor and the victory will be given to others. For, CONVERTED TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST this world will be. God has purposed it. Prophecy proclaims it with a thousand tongues. Divine promises without num·
THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN JAPAN
bel' are the pledges of it. All the instrumentalities and facilities necessary to its accomplishment are ready. All over the earth prayer is continually ascending for the hastening of th~ work. Ohristianity was never such a living power in the world as it is. to-day, despite the unbelief and wickedness of the times. The Anglo-Saxon race-the race of progress and dominion, the custodian of Ohristianity-which nnmbered but 7,000,000 when the Pilgrim Fathers replanted Ohristianity on these western shores, numbers to-day 100,000,000, and is marching on to universal snpremacy ; while the achievements of the last seventyfive years in the missionary field are on a scale of grandeur unparalleled in the history of the church, not excepting even the apostolic period. A few decades of years will decide the momentous issue; will flood the earth with supernal glory, or witness the going down of the sun of human hopes in a night of darkness that shall have no morning!
THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN JAPAN.
[For prudential reasons the writer of this interesting paper prefers not to give his name, but we assure our readers that it comes from a source which entitles it to the highest consideration.-EDs.] THE Japanese follow the West in politics as in all else. Already there are two parties, with leaders, organs and programmes. For years the strife has been hot; it will reach a crisis in 1890. Both parties profess their devotion to Western ideas and civilization; the strife is as to the European country that shall furnish the political model. Shall the new parliament be German or English in its powers? The Imperialists are in power. They command all the forces of government-the public purse, the army, the police, the signature of the Emperor. The Liberals are in opposition. They have neither public power nor wealth, and must depend upon enlightened sentiment. The extreme radicals are supposed to place some reliance on dynamite.
The Liberals state their case somewhat as follows: For some years after the revolution of 1867-68, which resulted in the overthrow of the Shogun and the re-establishment of the rule of the Mikado, the men of new Japan acted in harmony, All agreed that Western civilization must be adopted, and all desired complete reform. Great things were accomplished even in politics, and a constitutional development was begun that would eventually place Japan abreast of the most advanced of the free kingdoms of Europe. There was complete freedom of the press and platform, and both were widely used for the enlightenment of the people. Local self-rule was, to some extent granted, and both town and provincial assemblies were formed. A national parliament was promised. So far there was agreement. But dissensions arose. Some of the statesmen thought the pace too fast for safety. Absolutist tendencies became manifest, and a desire to replace the feudal despotism with a powerful and centralized imperialism. Some of the J,iberals protested, and were silenced or forced to resign. Thenceforth the development of the new imperialism was more rapid. In 1876-77 was the Satsuma rebellion, led by General'Saigo. It was not directly connected with liberalism and was personal in its origin, but its repression was followed by stringent political measures. One by one the political rights already granted were curtailed or abolished, and an open tyranny was established. Freedom of the platform and of the press was overthrown. Political meetings were broken up by the police, and public speakers were hurried off to prison at the will of petty officers. The privacy of the mails was invaded, and spies entered the homes of suspected r~iberal leaders. The press was intimidated or bribed, justice was corrupted; there was false imprisonment of political opponents and no hope of redress. The powers of the local assemblies were so reduced that men of position refused to enterthem. The governors of the provinces were given great powers, and became the mere creatures of the Tokio executive. The police and army were strengthened and force became the ruling policy. Taxation became more and more oppressive, the administration WaS grossly extravagant-in short, all the evils of political tyranny followed. The government has finally agreed to establish a parliament in 1890, but it will be a parliament with little power to benefit the people, since every change during the past ten years has been in the direction of centralization and personal government. The events of December, 1887, are only the last in a long series, and show that the right to petition has ceased to exist. The ministry stands between his Majesty and the people, and the most moderate petition is refused a hearing. Nobles and men influential in the restoration of the Emperor are denied all access to him if their politics displease the men in power. The Liberals sum up their charges in an adjective an~ call the government Russian.
The Imperialists are ready with their reply. The men in power are not reactionists; they are not tyrannical nor intolerant. They are the very men who have been most instrumental in the advancement of Japan. All the progress of the past is owing to their wise statesmanship. They are not even conservatives; they are leaders of young Japan. In other lands governments are goaded to reform by public' sentiment, but here reforms have been in advance of popular demands. The nation follows, the government leads. The story of the past fifteen years is the all-convincing evidence of good faith. It must not be forgotten that a few years ago Japan was feudal, and even now the ignorant people know nothing of politics. Surely England is too advanced to be a safe guidE' at once for Asia. Men who can lead Japan from Asiatic feudalism to German constitutionalism in a single generation are not tyrants. Progress is as rapid as safety will admit. The promise of a parliament in 1890 is enough to satisfy all reasonable men. The leading Liberals are carried away with crude ideas of English politics. They have no experience of practical government, and have no notion of its responsibilities. The radicals are dangerous and must be repressed. If the press and platform were not controlled, the people would be inflamed by irresponsible politicians. Most of the people are content, and the agitators are only a handful. It is better to repress a few and thus preserve the peace. Oertain of the radicals plot, and men who play with edged tools must not complain if they are hurt. The government is repressive only as freedom is abused to the injury of the people.
Missions have nothing to fear from either party. The present government is friendly and has afforded every protection to miSSIOnaries. It has shown its good feeling iIi very many ways. It regards the Ohristianization of Japan as inevitable and as a part of the adoption of Western civilization. It naturally desires that religious work be kept wholly distinct from politics. The Liberals are not less friendly. Some of their leading men are already professed Ohristians and all desire the rapid extension of the religion of Ohrist.
The severely repressive measures of last December are used as an argument to strengthen the position of those men who are opposed to the abolition of extra-territorial rights in Japan. It does not seem to us that the question is involved at all. The argument is that the government is irresponsible and not to be trusted. An imperial rescript can change the laws without notice, and there is no guarantee that the modern system of legal procedure will endure.
The objection would have a show of force were there any party in the empire desirous of re-establishing the old system of Asiatic and feudal Japan. Extra-territoriality is justified when Europeans dwell in barbarous and hostile lands. In Ohina and Turkey the system is necessary if foreigners are to dwell in those lands at all. In Ohina judicial procedure is crude and cruel, and in Turkey the Ohristians have no rights that Moslems are bound to respect. When foreigners first went to Japan the same system was the necessary condition of residence. N ow all is changed; the law is no longer Asiatic, but has become European, and no one.desires a return to the old ways.
The men in power rightfully refer to the history of the past years as proof of their earnestness in the adoption of Western civilization. And as to guarantee, the treaties will be guaranteed by all the safeguards of treaties made between J:ltrong and weak powers. There is no danger that the stability of the laws, that are the very reason for the abolition of the present extraordinary rights, will be endangered. 1'he Japanese proposals guard our rights in fullest measure. Oertainly no debate within Japan as to the European model that is to be accepted there can justify the treaty powers in refusing a simple act of justice. As Americans we naturally sympathize with liberal politics and regret absolutist tendencies. But much as we prefer England to Germany, the questions at issue now in Japan in no wise alter the fact that foreigners in Japan should henceforth submit to Japanese laws.
THE MISSIONARY CAUSE. [M.A.Y
THE MISSIONARY CAUSE.
[One of the most powerful appeals ever made in behalf of missions was recently made by Canon Liddon in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. We give a few extracts from it.-Ens.] "IF when Christians had been free to do their best for their Master's cause, missionary enterprise has at any time slackened, it has been because the real nature of the claims of Christ has been lost sight of. Missionaryimter- prise is at once wasteful and impertinent if the Christian religion, instead of being necessary for every child of Adam, is only suited, we will say, to the . Western world at a particular stage of civilization. And if all religions are partly true and partly false, and the choice between them is to be settled, not by recognizing any universal necessity of man or any decisive proof of a clear mandate of God, but by considering what is called the' genius' of a par- ticular people, then Christianity has been mistaken in a vital manner and from the very first. If we have not lost part and lot in the spirit of St. Paul we should not deem the antiquity and vast empire of Buddhism, or the aggressive and more modern religion of the false prophet Mahomet, any rea- son which should deter us from doing what we may to rescue races, some of them more highly endowed by nature than ourselves, from the tyranny of these and other errors. Be the genius of these people what it may, we, like St. Paul, are debtors both to the Greeks and to the barbarians; we owe the gospel to them, but especially do we owe it to that loving and gracious Saviour, who, without any claim or merit of ours, has called us out of dark- ness into his marvelous light, and has bidden us go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
"It is urged that missionary work, like charity, should begin at home. 'Look at your great cities! '-so an anonymous correspondent wrote only last week-' Look at London before you busy yourselves about the needs of dis- tant populations.'
" A religion issuing from the mind and heart of the Universal Father must be adapted to the needs of everyone of his rational creatures; and to say that there are any stages of their development for which it is less adapted than some false creed which would fain support it is to deny that our Lord Jesus Christ is what he claims to be-the Saviour of the world. But are those who thus object to Christian missions always and entirely sincere? Is it not the case that when the church takes their advice and is enabled to restore Christian faith and life in a particular English parish, district or diocese, to something like a primitive standard of fervor and excellence, she is apt to be cautioned against thinking too much of any such success, while two- thirds of the world are not Christians? And yet if we ask them to help For- eign Missions they plead their absorbing interest in Home Missions' To such critics we cannot afford to listen. Time flies, and our Master's bidding is plain and imperative. Some of you will remember an occurrence which took place during the Second Punic War. It has often been referred to as showing how from very early days the Roman people possessed what is called the instinct of empire. When the victorious Carthaginian general, Hanni- bal, was in the heart of Italy, and threatening Rome itself, the Senate dis- patched a fleet and army to Spain that they might, by laying siege to Sa- guntum, deal a deadly blow to Hannibal in his rear; and this bold venture w-as abundantly justified by the result. Now every heathen land is the Sa- guntum of the Christian Church, and if it be true that some spiritual Hannibal is ravaging possessions which had long owned her sway, or even
THE DESERTED MISSION
threatening ruin in this or that of her ancient homes, still she owes the gospel of salvation to all the world.
"It is sometimes said that England best does her duty to heathen lands by conferring upon them the blessings of civilization, by which is meant all those material improvements in human life which European science and industry have so largely multiplied. Certainly it is not my duty or my inclination to depreciate these great advantages; but, unhappily, our civilization is accompanied by an alloy of evil which we cannot ignore. We cannot forget what has been the moral meaning of the sale of some British drug, or of the arrival of a British ship's company at a pagan port, or of the methods of capitalists in savage lands. There is no need further to lift the veil. All those who have looked into these matters must know that England owes a debt to more pagan lands than one, not merely that of the glorious gospel, but also some sort of moral reparation for evils which those who bore her name have too often carried with them into pagan lands and homes.
"I ask you to give your generous support to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. . . • With a history that now approaches the completion of its second century, it has necessarily done more than any other body for the expansion of our portion of the kingdom of Christ . . . and you will not, we feel sure, be found wanting in an effort which must command the sympathy of every man and woman who sincerely believes that through our Lord Jesus Christ alone is there real approach to the Father of spirits."
THE DESERTED MISSION.
PROF. HENRY DRUMMOND of Glasgow, in a lecture on "The Heart of Africa," before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, gave a striking illustration of the peril which besets missionary life in that deadly climate. As his boat swept along the beautiful Lake Nyassa he noticed in the distance a few white objects on the shore. On closer inspection they were found to be wattle and daub houses built in English style and whitewashed. Heading his boat for the shore he landed and began to examine what seemed to be the home of a little English colony. The first house he entered gave evidence of recent occupancy, everything being in excellent order, but no human form was to be seen or human voice heard. The stillness of death reigned. He entered the school-house. The benches and desks were there, as if school had been but recently dismissed, but neither .teacher nor scholars were to be seen. In the blacksmith shop the anvil and hammer stood ready for service, and it seemed as if the fire had just gone out upon the hearth, but no blacksmith could be found. Pushing his investigations a little further he came upon four or five graves. These little mounds told the whole story and explained the desolation he had seen. Within them reposed the precious dust of some of the missionaries of Livingstonia, who one by one had fallen at their posts, victims of the terrible African fever. Livingstonia was Scotland's answer in part to the challenge which Henry M. Stanley gave to the Christian world to send missionaries to eastern equatorial Africa. When that intrepid explorer, after untold hardship, had found David Livingstone, and during months of close companionship had felt the power of that consecrated life, he blew the trumpet with no uncertain sound to rouse the church to her privilege and responsibility in central Africa. But it was not till the death of the great missionary explorer that the land which gave him birth resolved to send a little army of occupation to the region which he had opened to the Christian world. On the 18th of January, 1875, at a public meeting held in the city of Glasgow, the Free,
ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK
the Reformed and the United Presbyterian churches of Scotland founded a mission to be called Livingstonia, and which was to be located in the region of Lake Nyassa, the most southern of the three great lakes of central Africa, with a coast of eight hundred miles. Although founded by the churches just named, it was understood that it was to be regarded as a Free OhUl'ch mission, the others co-operating with men and means as opportunity offered or necessity required. The choice of location was most appropriate, not only because Dr. Livingstone had discovered that beautiful sheet of water, but because he had reqnested the Free Church to plant a mission on its shores. The first company of missionaries, which included also representatives of the Established Church who were to found a separate mission in the lake region, after immense toil and severe hardship, reached the lake via the Zambesi and Shire rivers, October 12, 1875. They selected a site near Cape Maclear as their first settlement, and as soon as possible put into operation the various parts of the mission work they had been commissioned to prosecute-industrial, educational, medical and evangelistic. From the first the mission met with encouraging success,. becoming not only a center of gospel light to that benighted region, but also a city of refuge to which the wretched natives fled to escape the inhuman cruelties of the slave-traders. As the years rolled on, however, it was found necessary to remove the main work of the mission to a more healthful region on the lake, hence the desolation seen by Prof. Drummond, the work at Cape Maclearbeing now mainly evangelistic and carried on by native converts. The mission still lives and comprises four stations, one of which is situated on the Stevenson Road, a road constructed at a cost of $20,000 by ~n English philanthropist, and intended to promote communication between Lakes Nyassa and Tanganyika. An additional station is soon to be occupied in the uplands southwest of Cape Maclear.
It is still the day of small things with the mission so far as tangible results are concerned. In the annual report submitted last May but one organized church is mentioned, with a roll of nine communicants. The missionaries write in a hopeful spirit, however, both as to their work and their health, and the friends of the mission at home are encouraged at the outlook, and have recently completed arrangements by which the support of the work for a third term of five years is assured. They are not discouraged by the fact that already some $200,000 haye been spent upon the mission, exclusive of the expense of constructing the Stevenson Road and of efficient help rendered without compensation by the African Lakes Company. They are determined to push forward in the noble work of evangelizing the lake region of Central Africa. Livingstonia, therefore, so far from being a deserted mission, gives promise of being a power for good to the dwellers by Lake Nyassa who are sitting in the region and shadow of death.
II.-ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK.
Missionary Society of the Methodist third year from the union of the Ohurch (Oanada). Methodist Church of Canada, the Methodist Episcopal Church, the REPORT for 1886-87 (sixty-third an- Primitive Methodist Church, and the nual report), being the thirteenth Bible Christian Church. year from the union of the Wesleyan "The General Board of Missions Methodist Church of Canada, the submits this report with feelings of Wesleyan Methodist Church of East- devout gratitude to the Head of the ern British America, and the Meth- church, who has crowned the work odist New Connexion Church, and the of the society withabundantblessings, Montreal Conference ………….. . 22,490 86 and with cordial acknowledgment of Manitoba Conference…………… . 28,626 13 the liberality with which the fund Nova Scotia Conference………… . 5,930 10 has been sustained. Having now New Brunswick and Prince Edward passed the $200,000 line, it is hoped that the church will make this the Island Conference ………… :… 6,56923 starting point for a grand onward Newfoundland Conference……… . 10,64793 movement, and the board suggests Mount Elgin Industrial Institution .. 3,125 28 that the motto for the present year Sundries …………………….. . 16,132 16 shall be, 'A REVIVAL IN EVERY Cost of management ………….. .. , 8,942 53 CONGREGATION, AND A QUARTER OF A MILLION FOR MISSIONS.' The re- Total expenditnre……………. $189,286 15 ligious reports for the past year are Balance, being excess of income full of interest and encouragement. In almost every department there over expenditure for the year. . . . . $12,588 19 has been substantial growth, and there is a spirit of hopefulness about $201,87437 most of the reports which promises well for the future." Balance, deficit June 30,1886……. $13,58i 41 After a very full and detailed state- Balance brought down, net deficit.. $999 22 ment of operations, covering some 350 pages, the following summary is The ,General Baptist Missionary Society. given: THIS small but venerable society INCOME FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, '87. made its seventy-first annual report June 29, 1887. It sustained a great loss Toronto Conference, including mis- in the death of Rev. John Buckley, sionary districts …………….. . $46,588 71 D.D., their senior missionary, after more than forty years of devoted ser- London Conference ……………. . 16,27002 vice. His death is greatly lamented, and it is proposed to raise a "Buck- Niagara Conference ………….. .. 24,69641 ley Memorial Fund" for a twofold object: 1. The support of a native Guelph Conference ……………. . 18,14663 minister; 2. The establishment of a scholarship' in the Mission High Bay of Quinte Conference ……… . 19,16905 School.
Montreal Conference ………….. . 32,707 18 The chief mission of this society is in Orissa, a district containing over Manitoba Conference………….. . 5,463 42 9,000,000 souls.
Nova Scotia Conference ……….. . 11,687 03 The general statistics of the mis- sion, March 31, 1887, were as follows: New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island Conference ……………. . 7,985 16 English missionaries (male aud female) 17 Native ministers. …………………… 23 Newfoundland Conference …….. . 5,104 10 Ministerial students… …. …. .. …… .. 3 Mission stations……………………. 16 Legacies…………………….. .. 1,868 30 Mission chapels……………… …….. 14 Mission churches…… .. .. .. .. . .. . .. .. .. 9 Lej(acies ,!mltted from Mission Church members…………………… 1,306 Rooms List: 1. Rev. Wm. Shaw, Total native Christian community….. 3,366 devise acc., 1 year's interest ….. . 1800 Baptized since the commencement of 2. Duckworth legacies, Brantford. 2000 the mission …………………….. 2,162 Donations on annuity………….. . 1,500 00 FINANCES. The committee are concerned to Indian Department …………… .. 9,04798 report that the debt, which at the commencement of the year was £696 ForJapan……………………. , 1,103 00 17s. 7d., now stands at £1,197 9s. 10d.
Miscellaneous ………………… .. 67735 The total disbursements for the past year have been……….£8,147 4 II Deduct unpaid subscription, $202,052 34 The total receipts for the past Toronto district, 1885-6.. $Ui 00 year have been ……………. 6,949 14 8 Deduct amount charged to Leavin~ a balance due to the miscellaneous income acc. bank of………………….. £1,197 910 in error……………. .. 163 00- 178 00 Thus the balance due last year $~1,87434 of ……………………….. £69617 7 Balance brought down, surplus. . . . . $12,588 19 Has been increased this year by £500 12 3 This ~iffel'ence arises from a de- Balance, net deficit …. ; . .. .. . .. .. ..- -9-99 -22 $13,58741 EXPENDITURE.
Torouto Conference, including mis- sionary districts …………….. . $52,00057 London Conference……………. . 9,87266 Niagara Conference……………. . 4,30854 Guelph Conference …………… .. 9,454 60 Bay of Qulnte Conference ….. , … . 10,219 56 creased income and an increased ex- 97; 4 local preachers; 180 Sunday- , penditure, the latter having been oc- schools, with 935 officers and teachers casioned by sending out a new mis- and 12,255 scholars; 25 churches val~ sionary, by extra payments on ac- ued at $207,652; 4 parsonages valued count of passages, by grants for print- at $24,175; present indebtedness on ing Scriptures and tracts, and by church property, $101,832. The colgrants for schools. For some years, lections had been $576 for missions, however, the ordinary expenditure $88 for church extension, $35 for has been in excess of the income, Sunday-school Union, $40 for Tract hence the balance against the society Society, $44 for education, $37 for has gradually increased. American Bible Society, $68 for Women's Foreign Missionary So- Southern Baptist Home Mission Board. ciety, $7,404 for pastors, presiding elders and bishops, $254 for confer- THE work of the board during the ence claimants.
past conventional year has been as Poreign Mission Work of the Reformed Ohuroh in the United States. follows: OUR Board of Foreign Missions cel- Missionaries.. . •.. .. .. • . . .. . ••. . .. • 251 ebrates its year of jubilee in 1888. Places occupied. .. . .. . . . .. .. . . . . .. 822 Ten years ago we had no mission in Baptisms …………………….. 3,923 the foreign field, but we carned on Received by letter. .. .. … . .. .. . … 2,319 the work of-evangelization by giving Rev. Benjamin Schneider, D.D., and Total additions. . . … . . . . . . .. 6,242 318 our means to the American Board of Snnday-schools reported.. . . . . . . . . . Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Teachers and pupils. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,031 In the year 1878 the Spirit of peace Churches constituted. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 began a gracious work in our vener- Houses of worship built.. . . . .. .. .. 62 able General Synod at Lancaster, Pa., which gave us, among other THE EXPENDITURES $86,827 05 precious results, our present promis- 35,270 15 ing foreign mission in Japan. A com- Have been for missions………… parison of our men, means and re- Our missionaries have raised for sults with those of other boards fur- nishes abundant reasons for praise houses of worship built upon and encouragement. their fields oflabor.. .. . . .. . . . . . . Rev. AmbroseD. Gringis the senior Total. . …. .. . . . . . . . •. . . •. . . • $122,097 20 missionary of our church in Japan. This sum represents actual work done for the His recent return to America has had Baptists of the South. a very refreshing influence on our people. The Reformed Church in The board calls for an increase of 50 the United States forms a part of the per cent. on the receipts of last year. Union Church of Christ in Japan. We have three principal centers of "God has so enlarged the sphere of operation-Tokio, Sendai, Yamagata. our labors that nothing less than this will enable us to do what is im- At Tokio the work is mainly evanperatively demanded of the board." gelistic. The church owns a very handsome parsonage at '28 Tsukiji, The Switzerland Methodist Oonferenoe. and supports the Bancho and Nihon Bashi Missions. THE German and Switzerland Conference of the Methodist Episcopal At Sendai we have a flourishing Church was organized in 1856. At girls' school, with 70 pupils, and also the conference held in Zurich, Switz- a theological school for the training erland, June 24-30, 1886, the confer- of young men as evangelists. ence was divided into two conferences, one to be known as the Germany Conference and the other as the Switzerland Conference.
The last session of the Switzerland Conference was held in Berne, Switzerland, April 23–27, 1887, Bishop Ninde presiding.
The statistics reported showed there were 4,638 members, an increase of 238; 996 probationers, an increase of The students are doing good work thing gave promise of further adfor the Master, some thirty souls vance. During the fifty years now having already been won for JesU!; closed five connections of mission through their personal efforts. A churches have been formed under the large school building and residences jurisdiction of no less than eighteen for the missionaries will be erected annual conferences. on a large lot during the summer. The native Christians have recently The missions of 1837 are to-day purchased a fine Buddhist temple, represented, as nearly as can be ascerwhich ~will be used for church pur- tained, by 1,959 circuits, 10,919 chapposes and for the training school. els and preaching places, 2,592 minis- ters and missionaries, and 430,247 At Yamagata the Rev. J. P. Moore members. is acting as professor in a native cooperative boys' school, with three The society operates in almost ev- Christian native teachers. The school ery part of the world. In 1836 the work here promises to be a great suc- expenditure of the society was 4%, cess. One hundred and fifty students per cent. of its expenses in Europe; will attend the spring term. The citizens wish to raise $30,000 for the 12~ in Asia; 11%: in Australasia; 17 school and make it one of the best in the north of the empire. in Africa, and 38 in America and the West Indies. During 1886 the corre- A congregation has already been sponding percentages were: Europe, organized which will become the cen- 15%; Asia, 27%,; Australsia, 0; After of a number of out-stations. rica, 21; America and the West StatiBtiCG.-Number of married missionaries, Indies, 574' 4; lady teachers, 2; native preachers and helpers, 13; churches and ont-stations, 16; com- The gross income for 1886 amountmunicants, 1,000; receipts for the year 1887, $2,000. ed to £135,259. In addition to this £7,922 was received and disbursed by ALLEN R. BARTHOLOMEW, the ladies' auxiliary, and is not in- Secretary. cluded in the general treasurer's ac- count. Total amount for the year was £1~,182 ($715,910).
Wesleyan Missionary Society. FINANCIAL REPORT.
THE seventy-third annual meeting HOME REOElPTS. £. 8. d. of this society was held in E~eter Hall, London, May 2, 1887. It was Mission House donatioll!l, suhscripan occasion of special interest, not tions, etc.. ………………… 3,864 13 11 only because of the advent of a national Jubilee but also because it Home districts,includcloses a "century of missions." ing England, Wales, When the society published its first Scotland and Zet- £. 8. d. report in 1818 it had 82 mission- land ……………. 82,987 3 0 aries in charge of 109 stations, with 23,473 enrolled members. The income Ditto, Christmas offerfrom ordinary sources was £18,434. ings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,655 14 5 At the close of 1836 the society reported 64,691 members, under the Ditto, juvenile asso- ciations. . . . . . . … . .. 11,149 0 1 care of 306 missionaries, aSSIsted by 100,791 17 6 1,955 paid agents and 3,1li6 gratuitous helpers. These were grouped in 180 Less expenses and recircuits. The total income of the wards. . . . . . … . . . . . . 6,239 16 7 society from all sources was £75,526. – – – – 94,552 0 11 The expenditure exceeded £70,000, and there was in the hands of the Hibernian Missionary Society, in- treasurers more than £11,000. Every- 19 g cluding Christmas offerings ….. . 4,833 18 :- Dividends on investments …….. . 5,~ Interest on centenary grants…… . Lapsed annuities …………….. . 2,600 0 0 Legacies …………………….. . 12,760 10 9 Loans repaid ………………… , 139 0 9 Indian Famine Fond, for orphan- ages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445 15 3 RFreont~ Centenary Hall…………. . 50 00 Stratton Extension Fund for the Transvaal………………. . 1,500 0 0 Total home receipts …………. 126,995 10 8 FOREIGN RECEIPTS.
Mission Districts auxiliaries… . . . . . 6,668 1 3 Total ordinary receipts . . . .. . .. 188,663 11 11 EXTIlAORDINAlIY BECEIl'TS. To which add the excess or aver· £. B.d. age on legacies carried- to Lega- 6,853 6 I> Contributions for speCial missions cy Reserve Account……. : … . in Upper Burmah, Central Africa, £. 8. d. China, India, etc……………. 1,431 1 7 Total expenditure ………….. . 141,345 19 10 From which deduct ordinary and Ditto, for St. Vincent Hurricane. Distress Fund………………. 165 4 10 extraordinary receipts for the year.. . .. .. .. .. •.. .. .. .. •. …… 185,259 18 4 Total income……………….£185,259 18 4 Leaving a deficiency on 1886 ac- PAYMENTS. count of.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 6,086 1 6 General expenditure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138,145 1012 To which add the debt of 1885.. •• 4,682 18 5 Onaccountofs~eCialmissions, etc. 1,596 6 5 Ditto, Ladies Auxiliary Com- Leaving a total deficiency of.•••..£10,768 19 11 mittee……………………. -' 250 16 10 Total……………………..£134,992 13 5 Presbyteria.n Ohuroh in Oanada..* FROM the report made to the Thirteenth General Assembly, held at Winnipeg, June 9-17, 1887, we glean the following items: FOREIGN )[lSSION FUND-WESTERN DIVISION.
. – Receipts.
Balance from last year ……………………………… _………. : …… . $8,25820 Total receipts for year. _.. _………………………… _……………… . 49,817 13 Balance ……………….. _………………………………………. . 2,906 43 $55,98176 E:r!penditure. I. Northwest……………………………………………………… $9,71078 II. Formosa- Salaries and expenses, hospital, etc. …………………………… . 22,528 87 m. India- Payments ……………. _………… _…………….. $16,806 00 Miss Oliver, outfit, passage, etc…………….. _. __ .. _… 1,030 00 Miss Wilson ………………………. __ .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. 800 00 Misses McKellar and Fraser.. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 00 Rev. R. C. Murray, special………………………….. 5000 IV. New Hebrides, Trinidad, etc.- 19,286 00 From W. F. M. Society, 1885-6 ……………………… . $600 00 do. do. 1886-7 ………………. ;…… .. 80000 On account of Rev. J. Gibson's salary………………. .. 97222 2,872 22 Chinese work on Pacific Coast………………………-……………… .. 6400 Jonathan Goforth………………………………………………….. . 1000 Expenses of committee, secretary aud convener ………………..•….•..•• 01054 Printing and advertising ……………………. , ………"……………… . 4680 Proportion of general expenses and salary of agent ……………………. .. 620 00 Balance of interest …………………………………………………. . 228 60 Interest per Mrs. J ……………………………………………….. .. 21000 $55,98176 It is gratifying to report that the receipts for the several schemes of the church have been in almost every case in advance of last year's receipts.
We subjoin a comparative statement of receipts for the last three years : Home missions.. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. 1884-5. 1885-6. 1886-7. Stipend augmentation……………………….. …… $81,960 10 $82,276 46 $82,83190 Colleges …………. _…………………… __ ……. _.. 23,721 S6 Foreign mission ………..-………………. __ .. , _. … . . 22,45994 80,57498 Widows' Fund……………………………………. 8,499 88 8,404 99 5,95791 38,773 71 38,881 70 49,81718 Rates……………………………………. 4,685 41 4,065 77 4,868 37 Aged aud Infirm Ministers' Fund .. _. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,994 20 2,24150 2,304 65 5,658 59 t 10,026 89 7,630 ('fI .. Rates……………… ……. 1,292 CR'I 9,08748 1,91045 7,138 05 8,83991 French evangelization……………………………. _. *6,347 41 3,000 40 8,120 11 3,287 ('fI 3,372 84 Manitoba College….. …….. ……………………… 3,196 49 3,806 fY1 Assembly Fond.. .. .. …………………… … …….. .
Total………………….. _……… _… $127,987 92 $185,081 62 $150,910 CR'I * The report is so elaborate aud embraces such a variety of subjects, that is is diJllcnlt to giva in briefspacelln intelligent view of the Assembly's mission work.-EDs. t This amount includes several special contributions and donations. :1= 'l'I!llI'!e amQunt~ 40 not InclUde the amounts received at Montreal or Halifax.
CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL tloTELLIGENCE
FOIlEIGN lIHSSIONS-EASTElIN DIVISION. $16,363 34 Cr. 17,21704 By total receipts .. : …………………………………………………………. . $853 70 Dr.
To balance dne May 1, 1886………………………………………. 0 .. • $719 64 " total elq)enditnre ……………………………………………. 0 • • •• 16,497 40 Balance due treasurer . . . . . . . . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 0 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
III.-CORRESPONDENCE and GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.
An Appeal to the Ohurches from Student ministry go to the foreign field, and out of each 100,000 communicants in America only twenty. Volunteers for Foreign Missions. one go to the foreign field.
It is our desire to place before the S. The reflex irifluence Of foreign. mis8ions on the spiritual life of the home church. Many churches some of the reasons which minds ask the question, Does not this uprising mean a decline in the work at home f A proml. have led us to decide- nent evangelist of our country, 0 when asked what he thought of it, replied, " I rejoice, for it 1. First and foremost, our Lord's command, means revival at home." The week of prayer "Go ye into all the world and preach the gos- was suggested by missionaries in India. Though pel to the whole creation." Does" go" mean carried out with reference to foreign needs, the stay ? ~nd does" preach the gospel to the whole first week in January has become a time of spiro creation" mean keep repeating that gospel to a itual awakening at home. few while two·thirds of onr race have never o The missionary movement, starting among the heard the name Jesus? Instead of regarding the world as the field, have we not been practic- stUdents of Cambridge University, was followed ing •• high farming," cultivating certain sections by floods of blessing in Great Britain. The forto the highest degree, and anowing the vaster eign missionary work started by Pastor Harms tracts to go to waste? Has not the church said of Germany resulted during the remaining sevof each sncceeding ,generation, "Send the mul- enteen years of his pastorate in a continuous retitudes away?" Or, at best, has it not, in re- vival at home and the addition of 10,000 to that sponse to the words of the Master, "Give ye one church. Two divisions of the Baptists in them to eat," continned to feed the first three or the United States were about equal in memberfour frows over and over again, allowing the ship; after seventy years the anti-missionary masses beyond to die of starvation? section had 45,000, wbile the missionary Baptists numbered two and a half millions. Truly, 2. Because the needs of the foreign ./leld are "the religion of Christ is a commodity, of which 80 mIJAJh greater. Our heart's desire and prayer the more we export, the:more we have at home." to God for America is that it might be saved, "There is that seattereth, and yet increaseth ; but we go because the need abroad is a thousand· there is that withholdeth more than is meet, and fOld greater. This is so in some countries from it tendeth to poverty." Let it be our earnest a purely numerical standpoint. In the United prayer that there may be such an outlet of men States there is one minister to 700 people; in and money from this country as shall lead to an China one ordained missionary to 1,000,000. Of inlet of blessing from heaven. the 200,000,000 of Africa, 140,000,000 have not been Wuched by Christian teachers. The United 4. Because of the" pre8ent crisis." The fields States has 80,000 preachers. while India, with are white, the harvest must be gathered at once five times the population, has but 700 ordained or be lost. Are we alive to the fact that the hosts missionaries. of evil are rushing forward to gather these golden sheaves f The Mohammedans are at work in Says one: "But two thousand two hundred Africa. Thousands of the aborigines are yieldhave offered to go." "What are these among ing to them because Islam appeals to the sensuso many Y" China alone would swallow them ous and is propagated by the sword. If we deup, and adding them to her present farce, includ- lay, the present difficulties of evangelization will ing the native ordained ministers, there would be at least dOUbled. For" Mohammedanism, so then be but one man to 175,000 people. If you would get an approximate idea of what that far from being a stepping-stone to Christianity, means, eliminate from the United States the is one of the very strongest fortresses of unbe· great mass of her Christian institutions, her lief. Converts from Mohammedanism are comschools, hospitals, churches – the church and paratively few." A missionary who has labored S. S. workers-in a word, take away her whole twenty·six years in India says: "India is now Ohrl8tian atmosphere. Throughout the length ready for our work, and if this crisis is not met and breadth of the land seatter but 343 ministers with a few thousand converts and adherents, and by the cburch at least two or three generations you have Ohina in miniature. will paos before an equal opportunity can again be offered." Do not fear that our country will be depleted; for only one and three-tenths per cent. of our From Brazil the word comes: U This land is ready; thousands would accept the gospel if dying at the rate of a hundred thousand a day, they ouly had preachers." One writes concern- and Christians are giving to save them at the ing China: .. A thousand missionaries are worth rate of OM·tenth Of a cent a day." Every tick of more if sent now than ten thonsand ten years the watch sonnds the death-knell of a heathen from now." As for Japan-it is melted and soul. Every breath we draw, four souls perish, ready for moulding. What skatl the mould be? never having heard of Christ. Christianity or infidelity 1 You may help us also by prayer. "Helping 5. The whole world can be evangelized in the together by prayer." Oh for some five hundred present generation. "Let us go np at once aud Elijahs, each one on his Mount Carmel crying possess it; for we are well able to overcome it." nnto God I Then we should soon have the The Earl of Shaftesbury says: "During the lat- clouds bursting with showers. " There shall be ter part of these (eighteen) centuries it has been showers of blessing." "I will pour . . . jlood8 in the power of those who hold the trnth, hav- upon the dry ground." . . . Oh, for more ing means enongh, having knowledge enough, prayer, more constant, incessant mention of the and having opportunity euough, to evangelize mission cause in prayer, and the blessing will be the globejifty time8 ()'/)er." Listen to the dying snre to come. words of the veteran missionary, Simeon H. Calhoun: .. It is my deep conviction, and I say WE have received the following it again and again, that if the church of Christ letter from Rev. John Crawford, were what she ought to be, twenty years would pastor at Morristown, N. J. : not pass away till the story of the cross would be uttered in the ears of every liviug man." ])ear Editors: Will you give us in THE MIS- Bot mark more recent testimony. It is ginn by SIONARY REYI'EW the present status of Pllstor one hundred aud twenty missionaries in China, Harms' mission work? In" Praying and Workrepresentatives of twenty-one Protestant socIe- ing" I can find no sequel to Fleming Steventies. They say, "We want China emanCipated son's account, and Harms' work is a wondrous from the thralldom of sin in this generation. inspiration for us pastors. Indeed, Dr. Steven- It is possible. Our Lord has said, 'According son's course in promoting missionary interest at to your faith be it unto you.' The church of home, as a campaigner for that cause, has greatly God can do it if she be only faithful to ber great aroused me. But I can find very little of detail commission." This statement comes from mis- concerning him. In my conference I have been sionaries who are acquainted with the discour- trying to engage some of the men as lecturers in agements, who know the dilIiculties. "missionary concerts." If we could hear of such work as Stevenson's we would be much Money is wanted for this work. There is need quickened. With great relish for THE REVIEW for the millions and for the mites. All cannot on its new departure. go, but all can give. There are two colleges in Canada-Knox and Queens-Princeton College, REPLY. New Jersey, three theological seminaries in the United States; each has jdecided to support a The Hermansburg Misl!lional'Y Sograduate in some foreign field. ciety's last report to which we have access was that of 1886. Rev. Louis Are there not enough churches, each of which Harms, its originator, died in 1865. will give enoagh money to support at least one Rev. Egmont Harms is now secreof these men 1 Eighty-five people each contrib- tary, and may be addressed at Heruting twenty-five cents a week will pay the sal- mansburg, Germany. The income of ary of a missionary and of his wife. Thonsands the society was, in 1886, $48,500; it of churches, Sunday-schools, young people's so- employed 219 missionaries and native cieties, and Young Men's Christian Associations helpers, of whom 40 were ordained can support one, two or three missionaries apiece Europeans, 50 laymen and 42 women, -if they will. Single individuals can each hold likewise Europeans; and 25 were naa representative abroad. A student about to be tive ministers and 62 native helpers. admitted to the New York bar has pledged to There were 4,680 native communisupport a friend as soon as he enters the foreign cants and 12,120 baptized persons. field. Can you not yourself give enough money Two hundred and sixty communito support at least oUll missionary? cants represented the gain of the year. South Africa is the chief field Is there one law of self·denial for the mission- of this society, and the work is prinary disciple and another for the disciple who cipally among the Zulus. Mission " stays by the stuff? " Is it a time for Christians work is however prosecuted in India, to hoard money? Is it a time for thinking only Australia and New Zealand. The of society and fashion, for spending money on society feels the need of the remarkrich eating and dressing, while the world is waiting Cor the gospel and the eyes of the dying are able inspiration communicated to its fixed on us? Is it not a time for close economy, for handling our substance as stewards of God? Out of every dollar given to the Lord's work we spend niuety-eight llI'!lts at borne. "The heathen are work by Louis Harms. He was a illustrated by a native artist. It is produced very uncommon man; it is no dis- handsomely in a small volume by the American paragement of his successors to say Baptist Mission Press at Rangoon. A copy has that his enthusiasm was contagious. been, through the courtesy of the translator and His fire burned so bright and hot that superintendent of the press, Mr. F. D. Phinney, everyone about him took flame. He sent to Prof. W. C. Wilkinson, who is advised was one man among a million. It is that copies of the volume may be had from a marvel that the work survived at Scribner & Welford, importing booksellers in all when it lost such a head. But it New York. will ever stand as a proof and illustration of what one man can lead one Oft' Duty. church to do, composed of the middle class, rept'esenting little if any THE missionary is also a man. He has his wealth. It was all accomplished by moments of relaxation. It may seem to afford faith, prayer, gathering of the littles, readers an idea of how much a missionary's life and self-giving. may resemble the life of his brother minister at home if we print here a list of books lately Letter from Mrs. J. O. Braq, Gen. Seo. given, by the way, In private correspondence by of the Amerioan MoAll Assooiation. a missionary In India, that he had been reading as a diversion and replenishment of his mind. I SEND you a few items regarding the McAll We simply print the list as throwing a light of Missiou, takeu from letters just received from reality on what to the imagination is often a Paris. Perhaps the oue thing for which we are dimness of romance: the most thaukful is the Intelligence that ten new stations have been opened lately in the "I am to-day reading 'Charlotte Bronte,' by provinces. These stations are very nearly self- Laura C. Holloway. We have been reading supporting, the mission being responsible for 'Sartor Resartus,' 'A Tale of Two Cities,' the rent of the halls only. The French pastors 'French Revolution,' 'Never too Late to Mend,' and their people provide the speakers, pay the 'IHeart of Midlothian,' 'Vanity Fair,' 'Woman running expenses, etc. This seems like a long in White,' 'Mrs. Browning's Poems.' To-day I step in advance. received Dr. Smith's 'Modern Church History.' I notice that Dr. Fisher is publishing a Church A letter dated Paris, Jan. 3, 1888, says: "The History." work this winter has surpassed our expecta· tions. We have never had so large and so good Prom Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, audiences, and never such signs of regeneration and salvation being wrought in the halls. . . . CHINA INLAND MISSION, At Bonne Nouvelle we have lately adopted the LONDON, Feb. 17, 1888. plan of asking all friends who wish to be privately talked to concerning their souls to remain DEAR DR. PIERSON: I have not yet had the after the meeting Tuesday evening. There are pleasure of seeing your January REVIEW, but always as many as 25 or 30 young men who re- have had a card from your pnblishers telling me main, and 80 women. The sight which the hall it is ont of print and will be forwarded later on. presents from 9 to 10 O'clock is beautiful." .•• The February No. came to my hand yesterday, At Rue Royale we are also much encouraged. and though only able to glance at it hastily I feel The hall is more than full on Sunday afternoons. profoundly thankful that such a periodical has (This is the street leading from the Place de la been brought out. Concorde to la Madeleine.) My friend Mr. Reginald Radcliffe of liver- " In general it may be said that there seems to pool tells me he has mentioned to you the probhave been a wonderful outpouring of the Holy ability of our being able to pay a hasty visit to Spirit In the mission, as the renewed consecra- the States, and perhaps to Canada, together. I tion of the workers and many conversions think that I shall very likely come over In time testify." , to attend Mr. Moody's Northfield conveution, and bring with me a clergyman-a member of Buddhist Literature, the Church of England-who is shOrtly going to China, and whO, like myself, will be refreshed [Note from Prof. W. C. Wilkinson.] and helped by coming in contact with onr breth- ren in America who are animated by the same READERS who may like to take a fresh taste spirit. of the real quality of Buddhist literature at its best have now a new opportunity to gratify I presume we shall see yon at that conventhemselves. Mr. L. Allan Goss, inspector of tion or otherwise, and if any suggestions occur schools In Burmah, has translated from the Bur- to you that would be helpful to a stranger and mese version of the Pali text the " Story of We- also helpful to the missionary canse, I shall be than-da-ya," a Buddhist legend. This has been very thankful to receive them.
From our most recent Intelligence from China the water is retiring from the fiooded districts, partly from lessened influx and partly probably from improved egress Into the Yellow Sea; and the Imperial Government is most manfully and nobly coping with the distress. The spiritual progress of the work in China is in Peking, then there is one ordained minister to very encouraging, aud we are grateful to God for answers to prayer, the 103 new missionaries every r5O,000 people. " , having gone out during 1887, and our income having been raised as we asked God, and antici· In 184:~ the population was estimated to be pated by £10,000. 330,000,000. On this snpPosition, notwith- Letter from Dr. A. P. Happer. standing the immense loss of life by wars, re- CANTON, CHmA, January 31, 1883. DEAR EDITORS: The statistics of the missions bellions, famine, and pestilence, there has been in China have been partially made up for the year 1887. These show the missionary workers an increase in the population of 32,000,000. in China to be 489 men, 820 wives, 231 single women, in all 1,040, of whom some 400 are or- The statistics ,above given state the number dained ministers. There are 175 ordained native ministers, 1,816 native workers as preach- of church members to be 32,260, which may imers, colporteurs, Bible women and teachers of schools. There are 32,260 adult church mem- ply that the members of their families nnmber bers, 13,777 pupils in Christian schools. The contributions amount to $38,236. say 150,000. It may be supposed that two or These statements compared with those of 1886 three millions of the people may have such a show the increase to be as follows: Of men mis- knowledge of the gospel as would enable them sionaries,43 ;.,of wives, 4; of single women, 74 ; making 121 in all. Of native ordained ministers to accept of Jesus Christ as their personal the increase is 35 ; of native assistants, 20. The increase of communicants is 4,260; of pupils iu Saviour, and that a larger number have some schools is ouly 198 ; of contribntions is $19,862, which sum is double the amount of contributions knowledge of Christianity. On these supposithe preceding year, and is more than $1 for each tions the efforts of the Protestant churches member. These statements will be gratifying to all the during these 46 years to propagate the gospel supporters of missions and call forth thanksgiv has not been sn1llcient to reachune-tkird of the ing to God for his rich grace and mercy. It is to be noticed the great increase in the number increase of the population during these years. of foreign laborers; this is much greater than in any previous year, and of this increase it is to be The accepted time for the life of one generaremarked that 74 are single women, nearly double the number of the increase of men. They tion is 33 years. During these 46 years more everywhere find ready entrance to the homes of the teeming millions of women and girls who are than one whole generation of the population of in all the darkuess of heathenism; there is room for hnndreds more of Christiau laborers in this China has passed away. If then the efforts of populous empire. the Protestant churches have ouly reached 1888 Let the churches cousider these facts and arouse themselves to the greatness of the work t::'on one-third of the increase of the people, and to be done. In the year 1842 China was partially opened to the introduction of the gospel by a whole generation and more has passed beyond the treaty England made with China at the close of what is known in history as the opium War. all hnman effort to reach them, when will the It was still more fully opened to the gospel in 1858, at the revision of the treaties with Western present measure of effort by the churches fulfill nations, when toleratiou to Christianity was granted and missionaries were permitted to the command of our Lord and Leader to preach propagate the gospel in all parts of the country. natives to profess it and to assist in its propaga- the gospel to every creature? May the leaders tion without hindrance, according to the stipnlations of the treaties. It is now 46 years since of God's sacramental hosts devise the means God in his providence opened this populous land to his people, thus preparing the way for them to for carrying out these orders of the Captain of carry out the command to .. go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." In our salvation, and may all the host follow ont ol)edience to his command there are now some 400 ordained ministers here laboring for this ob- these plans to a complete accomplishment of the ject. If we accept the recent statement of the population of China proper to be 882,000,000, as work, and until the knowledge of God covers given by the secretary of the Russian Legation the whole earth even as the waters cover the sea I Letter from Rev. G. W. Ohamberlain.
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL. I HAVE read with much pleasure and profit your editorial on the" Apparent Waste of Missions," in the March nnmber of THE REVIEW. Simon- ton, our first missionary to Brazil, was perhaps the most able man that our churCh' has ever sent to Brazil. He died after seven years' services, at the age of 33, when he seemed to be indispen- sable to our work. Yet he lived to see three chnrches begun-Rio, Sao Paulo, ann Brotas. To-day these three have a membership of 491, 47 of whom were added on profession of their faith last year, an increase of over 10 per cent. They contributed toward their own snpport last year the sum of $3,300.00. The Presbytery of Rio, which Was composed at the time of Simon- ton's death of these three churches, has now on its roll thirty-three. This year they will (at our next annual meeting), in combination with the fourteen or fifteen churches of the Southern Presbyterian Chnrch Brazil Mission, form the Synod of Brazil, and enter, 21 years after Simon- ton'8 death, upon an era of self-propagation and increasing self-snpport, whose results in the next 21 years it is difficult to forecast. At Sao Paulo, where Simonton died In 1867, we now publish the ImprelUla Evangelica, a weekly re- foreducation, and in furnishing a number of exligious paper, of which he was the first and cellent text-books in the Siamese langnage. aolest 'editor; a monthly Missionario Juvenil They are, however, mainly used for fitting native (organ of the young people's missionary society young men for positions as clerks and translators of the chnrch and school at Sao Paulo), self- in the government service. They are not aVRilsustaining, and third, Revista das M"1.8soes able for the traiuing of teachers of good eduea: Nacionals, edited by one of our native ministers tion and ability, nor for the preliminary educaon behalf of the Society of National Mission!- tion of native ministers. It is believed toot a self-sustaining and stimnlating by its monthly suitable institution of the kind here suggested reports all the churohes of the presbytery to would receive extensive patronage from wealthy self-snpport. The school which I began in 1872 Siamese princes and nobles, as well as from the as a parish school has grown from a primary to king himself, wbose gifts in aid of Christian edua school of over 200 pupils, embracing normal cation have been frequent and liberal. It is not elasses of both sexes and a department for intended at present to expend a large snm of training our theological students. We have eight money in organizing an institution beyond the native pastors (two others have gone up to the present demand, but it is proposed so to organ- General Assembly of the First-born), and sev- ize it that it shall be able to keep pace with the eral candidates under care of the presbytery. needs of the people, and in time to become an The Synod of Brazil will have on its roll the institution like Robert College in Constantinople, ,names of at least 12 native ministers, besides 21 doing efficient work for the country of its locaforeign missionaries. tion.
Bhaisdehi, Betul Diat" Oent. Prov., India. It is proposed to establish a Christian high school in Siam for the purpose of giving native • J anusry 24, 1888. young men a plain, practical education, such as will fit them for usefulness in any honorable EDITORS OF MISSIONARY REVIEW. – I pmise employment, but especially with a view to pre· God that he has led you to take npthework which pare them for teaching, with the ultimate design of raising up a native ministry which can be dear R. G. Wilder was, compelled to lay down. supported by the people. It will be a school for May he grant you grace and spiritual power to the training of native Christian workers. In undertaking this work it is not considered addo mighty things for Christ's glory in the visable to erect buildings in the outset, which would require nearly two years of valuable responsible place in which he has placed you I time, but rather to rent the necessary buildings I am thankful that you have started a .. fund" for the present, expecting that after the school has made a reputation and its work has become to send THE MISSIOlS"ARY REVIEW OF THE favorably known, a more desirable location can be obtained, perhaps as a gift from the king, and WORLD to the 3,000 young men and women in considerable aid can be secured in the way of contributions from Siamese gentlemen of wealth the United States aud Great Britain who have and liberality, and from foreign merchants residing in Bangkok. devoted their lives to the missionary work. The school is to be organized under the care I hope that you will also start another fund to and control of the Presbyterian Board, which send THE REVIEW to all missionaries now will have charge of all property belonging to the actually laboring among the heathen who are school, and direct the general policy to be fol- lowed and the expenditnre of the funds connot able to pay for it. As a rule, among this trihuted, being assisted by a board of advisers residing in Siam. The Bible will be a text-book class are laborers in self-supporting missions for all classes. Daily stndies in both Siamese and English will be required of all students, and so-called independent or faith missionaries. translating each language into the other. In addition to this the course of study will in- There are also beloved brethren under some or clude instruction in mathematics and the nat- ural sciences, mental and moral philosophy, and all of the boards who on account of the demand normal methods of teaching, being similar to the course given in onr best normal schools, and for the education of their children or other de- equivalent in mental discipliue to the· course in mands are not able to pay for THE REVIEW, a first-rate classical academy.
though they would much like to have it. One It is estimated that S15,Coo will be sumcient to way to sustain the zeal of this goodly army of establish this institution ou a permanent basis, with a prospect of becoming self-snpporting young men and women who have devoted their after a few years. It is proposed to raise this snm in advance, and to place it in the haeds of lives to the mission cause is to keep the fire of the Preilbyterian Board, to be expended by them III sending out and snpportin~ three teacher~ devotion and enthusiasm burning in the hearts of the laborers already out in the harvest field.
God bless you and wondrously endue you with power from on high I Yours in Christ, KORKOO MISSION. ALBERT NORTON.
Ohristian High School of Siam.
[Letter from Rev. J. A. Eakin.] EDITORS OF MISSIONARY REVIEW. -In the opinion of the missionaries in Siam and also of the Pres. Board of Foreign MiSSions, the time has come to found in Slam a school which will ultimately grow into a flrst,class educational establishment for that country. The government schools which have been established there have Ilolje a 1500d work in exciting a popular delIsnd and providing the necessary equlpments for the rather tban God·s will? "Herein is my Father school. Of this sum $10,000 has already been glorified that ye bear much fruit. " secured, mainly in large contributions, and it is hoped the remainder wilrsoon be offered, so that But has not God for each child that sense of the work may be begnn as soon as possible. This nearness to him which. comes from special diboard has elected Rev. J. A. Eakiu, who was for rection? God does send special impressions, four years a teacher iu the Kiug's school iu Bang- but should we lean On these except as confirmkok, to be principal of the Christian high scbool, ing God's word f Is not what we term a special and authorized him to solicit fnnds for this pnr- call simply God's hand reaching down to help us pose. The board also cordially recommends to acknowledge onr "bigh calling in Christ this school to the churches as a suitable object Jesus? ,~ for memorial offerings during the centennial year, and the Executive Committee of the Cen- If in Christ Jesus should we not find our mistenary Fund have placed it On their list as one sionary call as easily as the Crown Prince finds of the special causes for which contributions are his heirship to the throne? If challenged for requested. onr right to seek a missionary life, we can per- haps point to the hour or circumstsnce through There are special reasons for urgiug the begin- which we realized our bigh calling, bnt if not ning of this enterprise at the present time. this, directly to Onr high calling. "He that_ winneth souls is wise." "Follow me." U I 1. The Siamese are entirely dependent On the come to s~ek and to save the lost." "Ye shall Presbyterian Cburch of this couutry for the be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in Judea knowledge of the gospel. No otber denomina- and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of tion is laboring for their evangelization. the earth." Accepting this Bible missionary call, we can extend it and say to a brother 2. Tbe present missionary force is altogetber Cbristian, "It is your privilege to be a missioninsumcient. In Siam proper there are only four ary just as much as mine." .. Let him that ordained missionaries and four or five native heareth say come." It is your privilege to seek preachers for a population of six million souls. a neglected field, unless hindered. "Go ye into the highways and hedges." Tbis choice <I. Tbe situation of affairs iu Siam is remarka- will not diminish daily guidance or nearness to bly favorable for tbe successful planting of such God. A fixed purpose to enter Canaan was tbe a school. The king has promised to establish a reason of the guiding pillar and cloud. Tbose system of national scbools throughout the coun- who lean bardest and are asking God to try. He has intimated his willingness 1.0 employ shape every hour of life mnst be those who be- Christian teachers in these schools. Here, tben, lieve that the Cbristian's calling is to carry life is our opportunity to prepare Christian young to those in the sbadow of death. This convicmen for this work, and so mould the future edu- tion leads to close walking with God. .. Go " cation of the entire kingdom. Tbe opportunity and" 10 I " (Matt. xxviii. 19, 20) were linked by is ours now. It will soon pass away from us un- Jesus. less it is improved. Contributions may be seut to Rev. J. A. Eakin or to the treasurer of the Oh that the spirit of God~may so fill us that Board of Foreign Missions, marked for the we shall seek Christ'S'last command, yea have it Christian High School of Siam. our cbief desire to "preach the gospel to the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, and bring Have Not IOommanded Thee'l .deliverance to captives." We sball then, like a certain young man, be willing to .burn the im- [Letter from Miss Grace E. Wilder. plements of our former pursuits. We shall, like Concluded from p. 285, April No.] him, follow even wben a prophet says, Go back. Three times was the temptation repeated, but ONE has said," Where our Father has written every time the young man answers, .. As the out for us a plain direction about anything, he Lord liveth and as my soulliveth I will not leave will not of course make an especial revelation to tbee." Is this fixedness of desire rewarded f us about that thing." Doubtless in his great When they had passed over Jordan Elijah says, love he does help our weak faith by special Ask what I shall do for thee? "Let a double providences. Bnt God forbid that we insist on a portion of thy spirit be upon me," was the special providence before we obey such a clear young man's request. revelation as that to carry the gospel to every creatnre. His desire must stand still another test. .. Thou hast done hard in asking, nevertbeless, Some are saying, My concern should be, not the if thou see me when I am'taken from thee it conversion of souls, not the evangelizing of this shall be so unto thee." Tbis condition involved world, but the doing God's will, accomplishing not only intense desire but a firm purpose. He his purpose for me. Does not this imply that must keep watch constantly. Tbe great future his purpose for me is an exception to his re- of Elisha-the power with which he performed vealed purpose'· for his cbildren? Did the early twice as many miracles as Elijab-was con- Christians make a mistake that all interpreted ditioned upon eager seeking for his Master's God's will to be the extension of Cbrist's king- spirit. dom f In the space of 8 year the Thessalonian church made the gospel known througb the re- Our prize is the mind flf the Lord Jesus and gion of Macedonia and Achala. Is this ambition the power of the Holy Spirit, by which we are to do greater works than he did. The condi- prime minister, summoned Dr. Thompson and tion of our receiving it is, "Go ye into all the his medical aSSistant, Rev. Mr. Cooper, and the world and preach the gospel to every creature." writer, to an audience. It was a glad day for ns and an important one in the history of this mis- A Remarkable Letter from Siam. sion.
[The following was written and published by After ascending the mountain we were invited us in another magazine some months ago, but is to seats in a ball occnpied by several princes, worthy of a place in this REVIEW. We give it among them the Minister ofEducation, the king's only in part.-EDs.] private secretary and the Minister for Foreign Affairs. We were hardly seated before the THE past fifteen days have been busy and joy- princes began to qnestion' us regarding the ful Ones for the missionaries at Petchaburi. The Christian religion and the nature of our mission. king of Siam, with hundreds ofprinces, ministerb They pnt many searchiug questions about the of state, nobles and soldiers, has been in our creation, atonement, forgiveness of sins, miracity, the king resting in his palace on the top of a cles, future life, etc., thus giviug ns a good opmountain, one mile from our home; the plains portunity to preach Christ to them. One of the below covered with soldiers and followers in princes stated that he was a reformed Buddhist, camp; the river in front, "bove and below our that he discarded the supernatural from Bnddhhome, filled with crowded boats. We have had ism, and tbat he did not regard Bnddha as a god, daily preaching of the gospel to good audiences, but simply a great teacher, and received only and at 0 night through the sciopticon, Bible pj.c- his moral teachings. We learned from the tures have drawn large crowds to hear the life prince that tbis view is rapidly gaining adherents of our Lord. Ouro.homes. schools and hospitals in Siam. Our conversation lasted for one hour were visited by princes and nobles, who encour- and a half, and was enjoyed by all. After this aged us in onr work, some of them in a very pleasure we were conducted to the palace and substantial way. met at the door of the drawing-room by the king, who, after grasping our hands, warmly in- We conld not help noting the contmst between vited us to chairs, and at once began questionnow and former days. Not many years ago, ing us regarding our work, relieving US of no when tbe king passed along the highways, the little embarrassment, and showing us that inpeople were compelled to fall upon their faces stead of being summoued to a formal audieuce and did not dare look upon his Majesty. Now we were to have a familiar talk on mission work. the king rode ont to the villages and through The king at first expressed his gratitnde to Dr. the streets, halting now and then to speak with Thompson for the surgical aid given the marines the people. Crowds greeted him along the way, who were injnred by the gunboat explosion, and and large companies visited him daily at the then for his medical work among the people, palace. His Majesty had many kind words for assuring him of future aid and urging him to them. On one occasion about two hundred aged carryon the work to the best of his ability. He women sought him at the palace, carrying with then told ns of his joy at seeing and hearing of them offerings of fmits, sogar, sweetmeats, flow- our schools over the city, asked many qnestions ers, etc. The king received them kindly. Ad- coucerning our plans and told us of his plans for dressing one old lady, he said, "Well, grand- a system of public free schools for his country, mother, when your king comes to visit the which he hoped to establish at an early day. prOVince, are yon filled with fear or does it give you joy?" The old lady answered, "Your He then called the Minister of Education, and Majesty's visit fills us witb joy. Why, before told him that if the missiouaries should apply for your Majesty arrived we took three meals a day, text-books or other aid for the mission schools but since your arrival we have been so happy ill' Petchaburi, he mnst grant them freely. Then that we take but one meal a day, and are satis- turning to ns he said: "I wish to place yonr fied." The king laughed heartily land replied, schools-as to aid from the government-on a "If that is the case I shall come frequently." plane with the government schools." We ex- His Majesty sent these (as well as all who sought pressed to him the gratitude of the Board of him) away rejoicing over liberal gifts from his Foreign Missions for liberal aid and encourage. hand. ment received from him in the past, and also for the liberty granted the missionaries in their la- Shortly after his arrival the king rode throngh bors. The king replied, "During our reign we the streets, and on noticing our little school- always have encouraged and will in the futnre houses expressed his joy, and inquired of the encourage the American missionaries, being prime minister of Siam and the governor of fully persuaded that you are deeply interested In Petchabnri as to the extent of the school work, and laboring for the good of the people." IDs number of pupilS, how it was sustained, etc. Majesty then bestowed upon Dr. Thompson a These otllcials having visited our schools were handsome silver medal, to his medical assist- able to give the king considerable information. ant a well-filled purse, and the Rev. Mr. Cooper The next day the royal physician visited our and the writer beantiful presents, saying, "These hospital and inspected it. That night he report- are tokens of my appreciation, and they will ed to the king, who intimated that be would be serve to keep this occasion in remembrance." glad to have a report from the missionaries re- After taking ns each by the hand and wiehing nB gardiug their )Vork, its needs, etc. We there- success iu our work, he withdrew. fore prepared reports, and they were presented to him, and on the following day he, through his But this was not all. The Jing's private sec- and family, and otherwise animadretary handed us two letters-one from the queen verting on Bishop Tayloll's scheme, addressed to the ladies of the .mission, and one which he adjuges to be a failure and from the king addressed to the gentlemen. The a folly. We have not much occasion former read as follows: "Her Majesty the to discuss the case now, as it has queen has been informed of the work of the lady been largely presented by the secumissionaries in the girls' school and of your de- lar and religious press, but we doubt sire to establish a home for aged women. This if this brother's testimony is worth so work has produced great joy and gratitnde in much notice. Discussion of methods her Majesty's heart, and it is her pleasure to grant s generally wholesome, and this the sum of sixteen hundred Iicals ($960) to aid may" provoke" to good works. Ceryou. Her Majesty prays that the work may be tainly there are formidable obstacles carried on free from difllculties, and ever pros- to Bishop Taylor's plans, but it is per." The king's letter read as follows: "His rather early to summon them for Majesty the king has been informed of the medi- judgment. cal mission work in Petchabnri, and deems it a great pleasure to aid in this department of your China.-Professor Joseph Edkins work. His majesty feels that it is proper taup- of the Educational Department at hold this work, because it is one of vast benefit Peking, and one of the foremost ta his people. He therefore takes pleasure in authorities on the language and litergranting the sum of twenty-Cour hundred licals ature of China, has traced an inter- ($1,440) for the purpose of enlarging your hospi- esting connection between the Pertal buildings. His Majesty asks that you labor sian and Chinese calendars. Instead to complete this work, and that it may be firmly of fire, air, earth, and water, the established and ever prosper." Thus the day Chinese hold to five elements, omitbrought us the good wishes of the king and ting air, and adding wood and metal. $2,400 to help in the Master's work. The system of five elements has not been discovered in India or Babylo- GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. nian archreology, but is the basis of the Persian calendar, in which five Africa.-The opening of Central angels, corresponding with the spirits Africa to commerce is working great. of the five elements, preside over the changes among the people. They months and over the days of the are rapidly laying aside their native week. The date of its entry into clothing, arms and implements, and China is referred to the Ria dynasty, adopting those brought in from civ- or about 2100 E.C.. so that Persia ilized lands. People that four years must stand for one of the prehistoric ago asked the traders for beads, trink- Bactrian empires. During the Chow ets and brass l'ods, now ask for guns, dynasty, one thousand years later, cloth and-rum. The Hakka or high- the Chinese had an increased knowlland people of Kwangtung province, edge of the elen)ental philosophy, China, furnish more literary men to and elaborated it to suit their own the National Academy than any other counting and their own tastes. But class. They are the people in South- the modern Chinese calendar was not ern China who do not bind the feet completed till 140 B.C., when the of their women, and their character route to the Caspia.n was opened, and is vigorous and independent. The King Fang, the philosopher of that American Baptist Missionary Union period, received clearer ideas of the has a mission a few years old among Persian system than had previously this interesting people. been known in China. The fitting of the five elements to the months and – Bishop Taylor Criticised. A days, which is characteristic of the brother by the name of Waller, who Persian and Chinese calendars, was joined Bishop Taylor's Congo mis- not expanded to its modern fullness sion in the capacity of cook for the in China till 140 B.C., after which steam yacht, has returned to this country and attained notoriety by allowing himself to be "interviewed" by the secular press, and giving out that he was not suitably provided with necessaries of living for himself followed the construction of the an- the annual address. .A large company nual calendar as now established in of native gentlemen were present, the empire. together with one European lady and less than ten European gentlemen. England.-Fifty Years of the Brit- Oratorically the lecture was labored ish and Foreign Bible Society.-.At and the sentenceslabyrinthian. Theothe late anniversary of the British logically the lecture was pantheistic, and Foreign Bible Society, the presi- theistic, and occasionally Christian. dent, the Earl of Harrowby, in his His views of God were in harmony address from the chair, referred to with the gospel according to Spinoza. the progress of the society's work On the question of sin he was more within the reign of Queen Victoria. orthodox, declaring that Theodore The story is most cheering; Parker erred in saying "every fall is a fall upward." Mr. Mozumdar's " Fifty years ago our receipts were plan of salvation is opposed to Mat- £100,000; now they are nearly £225,- thew the Evangelist's, but in hal'- 000. Fifty years ago that great test mony with Matthew the peculiar son of the interest taken in this noble of a well-known .Arnold of Rugby. work – the auxiliary societies – The lecturer spoke of the ills of idolamounted at home to jl,370; now atry and the" demon caste." For they are over 5,300. If there is any this we praise him. He frankly conproof of the spread of the interest fessed that the present state of his taken in the circulation of the Bible, branch of Brahmoism in Calcutta that is one. .Abroad you had 260 was" anarchy," and affirmed aU the auxiliaries and bl'anches fifty years evils of hatred, jealousy, falsification, ago. You have now 1,500. Fifty etc., of his people. We regret this years ago, what was the issue of the fact, but do not think that Mr. Bible and portions of it from this Mozumdar's closing invocation to our great society'? The annual issue was Saviour and aU the prophets of his 600,000; now it is about 4,000,000. pantheon can stem the tide that has The cheapest copy of a book half a set in. Theism has no conservator century back was issued at about two but Christianity. Hindu or Brahmo shillings; now the price is sixpence. pantheism is only refined or figurative The cheapest Testament then was idolatry.-The Indian Witness. tenpence ; the cheapest now is Lord Shaftesbury's, and the price is a -British rule inIndia has not resulted penny. .And that not done by any in the removal of the hateful customs grinding of the people who produce which prevail in reference to marthese works. In how many tongues riage. Parents continue to contract and languages were the Scriptures marriages for their children. One bad circulated fifty years ago? In 136. feature of such marriages is illustrat- That figure is actually doubled, for ed by the story of two sisters in a now they are circulated in 280. Fifty zenana school at Serapore. These years ago 14 fresh languages of Eu- girls resemble each other, but one has rope had been honored by Bible pub- ugly scars on her face which disfigure lication. Now the Bible has been her. It is said that the father intends published in 12 fresh languages in to repeat Laban's fraud on Jacob. Central.Asia and Siberia, 12 in India, The expectant bridegroom will be 14 in China and Mongolia, 19 in the told by his parents that, the bride is Pacific, 30 in .Africa and 30 in .Ameri- aU he can desire (they will have seen ca. That surely is a most marvelous the scarless sister); but whlln the marriage actually takes place the record. disfigured girl, duly veiled, will be India.-The town hall lecture of seated at the lad's side, and not till too late to draw back will he see her Keshub Chunder Sen used to be the event of January in Calcutta. Last Saturday Mr. P. C. Mozumdat· gave face. Of course, as Leah was hated, undertake a humanitarian work for so will this Hindu girl be when she the relief of Hindu child-widows. becomes a wife. No government, She does not propose to do this on however paternal, can succeed in in- any pronounced Christian basis, as suring happy marriages, but the she thinks that would be fatal to the wrong we have instanced ought not attempt, in the present state of to have the semblance of the sanction Hindu prejudice. She seeks to found of British law. and sustain a school and home at a cost of $25,000, and estimates that -A Hindu Husband's Creed. The $5,000 w:ill meet the expenses of fifty Hindu idea of marriage is curious. scholars. At a public meeting in A man both day and night must keep Boston, Dec. 13, an association was his wife so much in subjection that formed to assist her, and a constitushe by no means be mistress of her tion drawn up under which friends own actions. If the wife have her might co-operate, and an organizaown free will, notwithstanding she is tion was effected. Among the offiof superior caste, she will go amiss. cers we find Rev. Edward E. Hale, A woman shall never go out of her D.D., Rev. Phillips Brooks, D.D., house without the consent of her hus- Miss Frances E. Willard, Dean Rachel band, and shall pay proper respect to L. Bodley, M.D. A board of nine trusher husband's father, the spiritual tees, aided by an advisory board in guide and her guests, and shall not India, controls all business matters. eat until she has first served them " Ramabai circles" are being formed with victuals (if it is medicine, she throughout the country. The cormay take it before they eat); a wo- responding secretary lis Miss A. P. man shall never go to a stranger's Granger, Canandaigua, N. Y. Of the house, and shall not stand at the benevolentintent of this society there door, and must never look out of the can be no question. It distinctly diswindow. If a woman, following her claims being a missionary movement. own inclinations, goeswhithersoever she chooses and does not regard the Mexico.-The General Assembly of words of her mastel', such a woman Evangelical Mlssionaries in this reshall be turned away. If a man goes public, held in the City of Mexico on a journey, his wife shall not di- January 31 to February 3,1888, was vert herself by play, nor see any pub- attended by nearly one hundred mislic show, nor laugh, nor dress herself sionaries-male and female-l'eprewith jewels or fine clothes, nor see senting eleven different Protestant dancing, nor hear music, nor sit at churches. Many visitors were also the window, nor ride, nor behold any- present, besides six of the eight inthing rare or choice, but shall fasten vited speakers from the United well the house door and remain pri- States. The meeting occupied six vate; and shall not eat any dainty nights and three whole days, and invictuals, and shall not view herself cluded social reunions, devotional exin a mirror; she shall not exercise ercises, written essays, oral discusherself in any agreeable employment sions, sermons, and addresses. The during the absence of her husband. subjects embraced in the programme covered many points of prime interest -The Ramabai Association. The and importanGe to the evangelization learned Sanskrit woman, Ramabai, of this country, and were ably treated has for a year or more attracted in the essays and discussions. Work public attention in this country. was assigned to fifty persons, nearly Ramabai was baptized in the Church all of whom met their allotments, of England. She is one of three high- and many of those who had no specaste Brahman women who have cific tasks took part in the exercises been known to make their way to and discussions. The following sta- America. She is very desirous to tistics were presented, which will be sacrifices, of the blood feuds that exread with interest: All of the States isted among them, of the rule folof the republic occupied except Cam- lowed by all of keeping alive two peche and Chiapas; number of cen- children, and no more, in everv famtres of operation, 86; congregations, ily, and of the whole aspect of"life as 393; ordained foreign missionaries, something fearful. All this has been 48; assistant foreign missionaries, changed through the influence of 44; foreign lady teachers, 43; whole Christianity. The spiritual work has number of foreign workers, 123; na- been most interesting. To see a peotive preachers ordained, 81; native ple who once were cannibals partakpreachers unordained, 65 ; native ing of the Lord's Supper has been teachers, 96; other native helpers, truly delightful. At the New Year's 49; total native workers, 273; grand gathering it has been the custom for total of foreign and native workers, all the members of the church at Rar- 442; church societies, 17'7; communi- atonga to assemble together for worcants, 12,135; probable adherents, ship. Looking around upon this 26,967; training and theological gathering, the family history of all schools,10 ; pupils in same, 66; board- known to him, he had seen the bread ing schools and orphanages, 15; pu- administered by one to a man whose pils in same, 503; common schools, father that man had murdered, or the 71; pupils in same, 2,187; total reverse. The work of evangelization under instruction, 2,492; Sunday- in these islands has been done almost schools, 199; Sunday-school teachers entirely by the natives whom it has and officers, 367 ; Sunday-school been Mr. Gill's object to train for scholars, 4,187; total membership of this purpose. It is wonderful what Sunday-schools, 5,306; publishing they have done. Hundreds have houses, 8; papers issued, 10; pages sacrificed their lives to carry the of all kinds of religious literature is- gospel to their brethren. Sixty of sued since establishment of presses, Mr. Gill's own church have been killed 49,471,295; church buildings, 73; ap- while acting as missionaries. proximate value of same, $257,900; parsonages, 39; approximate value -French Policy in the South Seas. of same, 93,260; educational build- France is quite liberal in religious ings, 16; approximate value of same, matters at home, but she has a very $147,200; value of entirfl publishing different policy for her colonies. In outfit, $39,500; total value of all mis- her colonial policy she is almost as sionary property, $599,251; churches intolerant as Spain; indeed, quite so. and chapels built without aid from It is true that the Spanish governor Home Boards, 16; receiving partial of Ponape, one of the Caroline Islaid, 19; martyrs, 62; native preach- ands, seized and imprisoned, on the ers, sons of former workers, 2; for- most absurd charges, a missionary of eign workers, sons and daughters of the American Board; but the govmissionaries, 3; foreign workers, sons ernor-general promptly gave the misand daughters of ministers in the sionary redress and removed the home field, 9. offending official. What French in- tolerance is capable of was seen a South Pacifico-At a recent meet- few years ago in the case of Mr. in London, Rev. W. Wyatt Gill, a mis- Shaw of Madagascar, and has been sionary from the South Pacific, gave a illustrated more than once in the statement of work there and its re- Loyalty Islands, over which, unhapsults. His work since July, 1851, has pily, the French protectorate has been among eleven islands of the been extended, since missionaries of Hervey group. He spoke of the con- the London Society began many dition of the natives at the time-of years ago to make Cllristians and their love of revenge and human civilized beings of the savage population. The Loyalty group lies between or his banishment was his having New Caledonia, the French penal roused the wrath of his coreligionists colony, and the New Hebrides, where by declaring on a public occasion his French influence has been asserting belief that the Messiah came in the itself to the discomfort of the mis- time of the second temple. This consionaries, and with the manifest in- viction doubtless remained rooted in tention of seizing the islands. Hap- his heart, but does not seem to have pily, English protest has prevented become a living power within, until this. On Mare, one of the Loyalty one day at Tomsk, where he had group, the Rev. John Jones of the gone to meet his family, he founa a London Missionary Society has been tract containing Rabinowitch's conlaboring since 1853. He has wrought fession of faith. He at once entered a wonderful work among the natives, into correspondence with the writer, and is one of the most popular men and procured more of his writings. in the Western Pacific. Mr. Jones These were read by some thirty of has, by order of the governor- the Jews at Tomsk, and Scheinmann general, been expelled from the expounded to them what the Talmud island. This is the news which his and other Jewish books say about society has received. There are no the Messiah. "The scales," he says, particulars, but it is thought that the " fell at once from their eyes." In expulsion was caused by his protest the letter in which this passage ocagainst the introduction of convicts curs, Scheinmann asks Rabinowitch from New Caledonia into Mal·e. Two for a New Testament, only one copy years ago Mr. Jones's church and of which he had ever seen, and which schools were closed by a decree of no one in Tomsk knew what it was the governor, but they were re- about! All the books and tracts opened by permission of the French which were sent to him, except the consul at Noumea. There are Cath- New Testament, he distributed among olic priests on the island, and they his brethren in Siberia and Poland. have, it is said, been waging a relig- And there is reason to think that they ious war against Mr. Jones. It may are being read to good purpose. be that their influence has helped to Schienmann seems to be devoting his bring about Mr. Jones's expulsion. energies to the propagation of his Whether English influence will be so newideas. He has published several exerted as to secure his reinstate- letters, in one of which he calls upon ment is a matter of doubt.-Method- the Jews to "take up the New Testaist Review. ment, the true Thora, which Jesus, the Son of God, and our Master, has Siberia.-A Judmo-Christian move- taught us, and give yourselves to the ment has begun in Siberia, analo- study of it day and night." The New gous to that which for two or three Testament is being read by the Jews years has been proceeding at Kisch- as it never was before.-Chronicle of nieff, in Southern Russia, under London Miss. Society. Joseph Rabinowitch. It owes its institution to a Polish Jew, one Jacob- – The Oldest Missionary Journal. Zebi Scheinmann, who, on the The present volume of Periodical ground of utterly false accusations, Accounts relating to the missions of was banished to Siberia in 1874. He the church of the United Brethren settled at Irkutsk, where he set up in will complete the century of their business, and at the end of five years issue. In 1790 the first number of found himself in possession of a cer- this oldest of missionary journals was tain competency. In his native land "presented to an that pray for the he had heard about Jesus Christ from coming of the kingdom of Christ one of his 'friends, the late David and take an active share in its pros- Levinsohn, and the indirect occasion perity." Since then successive vol-
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT•
. umes have followed at intervals of Bureau of Information, where mag- about two and a half years, until azines and leaflets on all flelds and by more than thirty now stand slde by all evangelical denominations are side. In anticipation of the approach- kept for consultation and sale in ing hundredth year of the issue, the cheap form. A catalogue of these latest volumes have increased from publications, with their prices, can be ten to twelve quarterly numbers. had on application by enclosing 5 The present one will therefore (d. v.) cents in stamps to Maryland Baptist extend over three years, and its last lfission Rooms, 10 E. Fayette st., number will be published in Decem- Baltimore. ber 1889, so that a new volume will commence in 1890, the centenary -Prize for Essay on Missions. One year of the venerable publication. of the recent graduates of Hanover College' offers to the students a prize -A Missionary Training School in of $25 for the best essay on "The Philadelphia has been opened at 4045 Relations of Missions to the New Ogden street by Mrs. W. B. Osbdrn, Civilization in the Orient." This a former missionary in India. It is prize will be continued for at least two conducted on the basis of faith and years. prayer, and aims to put a course of preparatory study within the reach -Missionary Intelligtmce. Two of the humblest and poorest who are thousand secretaries of district mis- seeking to go abroad as miSSIOnarIeS. sionary meetings are now furnishing the daily and weekly papers of the -Mission Repository. In compliance country with missionary intelligence. with a resolution adopted by the last Never was such an amount of infor- Maryland Baptist Association, there mation distributed as is being sent has been established in Baltimore a forth now.
IV.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D. D., OF THE "INTERNATIONAL MIS- SIONARY UNION."
Islam in West Africa. with those who were authorities on this subject, such as Rev. Dr. Blyden, THE writer had the good fortune then professor in the Liberia College, when in Sierra Leone, West Africa, and Archbishop Crowther of the some ten years or more ago, to have Niger, enabled him to collect what a letter of introduction to Muham- was then and is still esteemed valumad SanusL who presented him with able information on this subject, just an illuminated manuscript, written now attrar.ting attention afresh. by himself, of an original Arabic composition by Sheikh Omaru-al- The measure of Moslem bigotry Haqq, a native of Futah Toro, West and fanaticism did not seem to be Africa. It is an acrostic poem, with equal in all parts of the coast. preface on the letters contained in Bishop Crowther said that in conververses 9, 10 and 11 of the 63d Sura of sation with Moslems along the the Quran. Being on a tour along Niger, on which river lies a portion the West Coast of Africa, partly of his diocese, and where, as on some with a view to study local Muham- of its lower tributaries, he has bemedanism, as far as opportunity come familiar with Moslems, he had might allow, this interview ana con- never met with a stern opposer of tribution were specially valued. Christianity among them. He could Little incidents of this nature, and a not say whether this WaS becau:se of peculiar good fortune in falling in theil' apprehension of the purer moral teaching of the Scriptures, or purchase of them, establishes less bigbecause they were ill informed con- ogtry than elsewhere we do not say. cerning the Quran, and surprised to The Moslems of India do this from a find how much more the Christian variety of motive; sometimes with a missionary knew of it, than they view to endeavor to prove their corthemselves. He said he had in a ruption and disagreement with the number of instances given the Quran. The Wesleyan missionaries Christian Scriptures to Moslem chiefs about Sierra Leone have made a someand moulvis, but never met with an what vigorous attempt to reach the obstinate disputant of his teachings Moslem community in that quarter, in connection with the present. The and at the time of which we write, had Emir of Nupe accepted from him an just held a soiree with them on an ap- Arabic Bible in the presence of his pointed evening, when seventy Moscourtiers, and a copy was sent lems were present. Working among through him to another king. The them was a Rev. Mr. Schafira, a Jew head messenger of the Emir solicited who had been under instruction in a copy like that given to his master. Palestine with the view of becoming a He also presented a Bible to an old rabbi, and after his conversion was priest, keeping an Arabic school at educated in the Missionary College at Lokoja, who had solicited it a long Islington, England. Many Moslem while previously, but to whom it had chiefs had called upon him, and a large not been given through fear that it number of Arabic-speaking Moslems was his purpose only to put the book from the interior purchased Bibles of to poor use, by taking scraps of the him. :Qr. Blyden informed us that paper and writing on them some many Moslems came from a long dis: verses of the Quran and selling them tance in the interior for the purpose of for superstitious uses to the people. learning of Christianity in its relation The native preacher under the to Islam. In November, 1870, one Bishop read selections from the came to him from Kankan to inter- Arabic Bible to merchants who came view him, bringing a manuscript copy to certain trade centers to sell ivory. of the Quran and many other elegant Arabic manuscripts. Kankan is nine Bishop Jayne of the Episcopal days from Musardu and six from Church had added similar testimony. Footah. He said that the Moslem priests are found all through Central Africa, In some other localities the bigotry from the borders of Egypt to the At- is objectionable enough. A missionlantic Ocean, zealously prosecuting ary at Lagos said, that whenever in their mission, yat exhibiting none of preaching they speak of the sonship the bigotry and fanaticism usual to and divinity of Christ, the Moslems Islam. present cease not to repeat the Sura of the Quran which says, "God does Rev. Mr. Day of the Lutheran Mis- not beget, neither is he begotten." sion at Muhlenburg said that Moslems He affirmed that the priests were dilof the Mandingo, and Vei tribes fre- igent to keep the people from listenquently came to his house and spent ing to their preaching, advising them hours in reading the Christian Scrip- in their public services to avoid the tures for the purpose of comparing Christian missionary, and refused to them with the Quran. The Liberia hold conversation with them, consid- College has distributed copies of the ering them enemies. An active con- Scriptures among Moslems of the troversy among them the year prenorth and northwest portions of Li- vious, respecting the authorship of beria and beyond, toward Boporo and Jallaloddin's Commentary on the Musardu, and found no disposition to Quran would have resulted in bloodreject them. How far this willing shed but for an appeal to the Lagos acceptance of the ScriptUl'es or the Government. Rev. Mr. Picot, the fourths of the additions were from account of whose journey to Kumasi conviction and not by natural inis more thrilling than Stanley's of crease by birth-rate. his travel over the same route, says he met a Moslem priest at Houssa The African Moslems appeal' to be who said his native place was Stam- great travelers. Dr. Blyden met at boul [Constantinople], and that he Toto Korie a young lad, bOl'n in had been traveling two years, all of Mecca, while his mother was on a which time had been occupied in pilgrimage at that place. Newlyreaching Houssa. He conversed converted Moslems often go from the freely about the nature of the road, desert of Bornou or Lake Tchad, to and the countries through which he the great collegiate mosque at Cairo, had passed, and entered into a vigor- and return. They go long distances ous defense of Muhammedanism. for the purpose of securing education. One young negro Moslem is told of, That the Qill'an is studied in towns who was accustomed to send orders from seventy-five to three hundred to Trubner of London for books, who miles from Monrovia, and by the went two hundred and fifty miles to Veis and Mandingos much nearer, is be instructed. A copy of the Quran well accredited. At Boporo, Man- was found in the interior which dingo, and other places many travel- proved to be of Liberia origin. It ers testify that the muezzin calls reg- was written on coarse folio leaves of a ularly five times a day to prayers, ledger, such as is used in the customand it is not to be called in question, houses. It was written by a negro. that mosques are to be found from It was imperfect, comIIlencing with Senegal to Lagos, but they are not to the 19th Sura. The Muhammedans be imagined to be fine specimens of appeal' to have shrewdly stationed Moorish architecture, modeled after themselvE's in influential towns near St. Sophia of the Levant or The the coast, and generally in those com- Pearl at Delhi. The Moslem is too manding the trade from the distant zealous to wait till he can construct interior. They have succeeded in an elaborate edifice, and often his impressing the people that their re- "mosque" on this coast, is not dis- ligion is peculiarly adapted to the Aftinguishable from his ordinary house rican. A missionary who had been of bamboo, wattled and lined with laboring in the interior for two years mats, covered with its thick straw said that on urging Christianity he thatch. Still it is his "mosque," be- met with two common answers: cause it is set apart as his place of first, that Christianity was good for prayer. Such is the mosque as found ., 'Merican man," but no good for in Liberia. "country man." The other came from Moslems, that "Christ is the Dr. Blydeninformedus that during white man's Saviour; Muhammed is his travels in 1872-73, on the explor- the black man's." To what extent ing expedition for the Sierra Leone Islam has proven a blessing to the Government, in every large pagan West African negro, is quite too large town he found one intellectual Mos- a question to discuss in a fragmentlem acting as prime minister to the ary way, and the testimony gathered chief and directing his policy. He by the writer can itself only be conlearned that the chief advisers of the sidered fragmentary. King of Ashantee are Moslems from Sokoto, and this was true also of One should be slow to disparage Da,homey. The Rev. JamesJohnson, any agency which ameliorates the now archdeacon, a native clergyman cruelty or the degradation of any of the West Coast, thought Muham- portion of mankind, yet after the medans were numerically increasing most assiduous inquiry made of misabout Sierra Leone, and that three- sionaries, merchants, sailors, explorers, among Europeans of several na- and his fetish may become bewitched tionalities and negroes of several and powerless. It can be befooled.
tribes, the writer reached the con- He will whip it and throw it away clusion that the balance between the or exchange it for a better. The in- blessing and the bane of Islam in evitable gree-gree may be seen every- West Africa as compared with those where, hung on doors or trees to se- of fetishism or Christianity had not ~ure good crops. Only the rich can been struck. As to the demoraliza- afford a good many. .Anything may tion of the natives by rum, there become a fetish, and the Moslem of- seemed to be much testimony that fering his superstitious charms sim- many non-Moslem tribes, like the ply asks the negro to substitute Quran Pessahs and Barline people. were not Suras as a fetish, for tigers' teeth, cats'
more given to the use of intoxicating clawsor alligators' scales. The Qu- liquors than were the Moslems about ran fetish becomes the most popular Musardu, and even among those like because supposed to be the most pow- the Kabyles of North Africa. erfu!' But all that, leaves the heart It is claimed by some along the of African heathenism untouched.
coast, that the Moslems work with Re'. Mr. Picot makes special mention wiser adaptations to native preju- of these men in the journal of his visit dices, customs and idiosyncrasies to Coomassie. When he found one than the Christian missionaries do, of these lIoslem teachers, with his and their success is quoted in evi- manuscripts and his beads, he asked dence of the statement. But Islam if he was not ashamed to be deceiv- has been for a thousand years gradu- ing the people by giving them these ally spreading over the northern half scraps of paper, telling the people of Africa, and has held the country they were capable of protecting them of these Mandingos since the days of against evil. The man suddenly pre- the Norman '(onquest, and that of tended not to understand the language the Foulahs and of Lake Tchad for spoken, but the people made sport of six hundred years, yet there are large him, and he confessed his deception.
tracts not conquered by it to this As to the unity of the godhead taught day. Mr. Boswell Smith speaks in by Islam, that is an article of faith his" Mohammed and Mohammedan- from end to end of Africa among the ism" of "whole tribes laying aside entire negro popUlation, and this devil worship or the immemorial fe- compounding with the superstitions tish, and springing at a bound, as it of existing heathenism, or overlaying were, from the very lowest to one of it with another without any im prQve- the highest forms of belief;" but ment, does not look much like Mr.
from facts learned all along this coast, Smith's description, of the African that seems to be quite a rhetorical laying aside the immemorial fetish statement. After more than a thou- and springing at once to the highest sand years of effort to subjugate these form of religions belief.
pagan tribes, the Bornous, Fulahs, Muhammedanism, if it has added Mandingos and Jaloofs, who profess any to the limitations which the Af- Islam, have done little more than rican's povel·ty imposes in most cases abandon some of the rites of pagan- to the practice of polygamy, has in efism, while their belief in some su- fect left it in principle and practice perstitions is said to be intensified•. intact. Rev. Mr. Adcock, Wesleyan A Moslem negro offered for sale to missionary on the river Gambia, the writer,alarge silver locketor box, properly put this part of the case for said to contain selections from the the whole coast, when at a breakfast Quran, to be worn as a charm to meeting in London he said: ward off evil. The gree-gree does the "We have no difficulty in getting members. same thing for the native African, The difficulty is to keep them out of the chqrch, We could have thousands of members if we stra.tes to these heathen, the secret would allow them to come iu with a wife ou and strong power in Christianity that each arm, aud many other things which we do binds together all who truly love and not permit. We never have to refuse the sac· serve our Lord Jesus Christ. rament because people do not believe in the per sonality of the devil; they believe in it a great Much to our astonishment there deal too much." has recently come a proposition from Mr. Joyama, the former president of Affairs in Japan. the Imperial University, to place all schools of the middle grade underthe BY REV. H. LOOMIS, AMERICAN BruLE care of Protestant missionary bodies.
AGENT, YOKOHAMA. The reforms and improvements which have been inaugurated by Mr. ONE of the many encouraging and Mori, the Minister of Education, delightful features of Christian work have been important and helpful, in this land, is the unity of spirit that but the claims on the government prevails among all the followers of are so many and varied that it is Christ. found impossible to do all that is felt to be needed. In this emergency it The prayer of Christ is being an- is urged that suitable preparatory swered here in the manifestation'of a schools would be found, by calling in oneness of heart, so that even those the aid of the missionaries and givof different folds mingle together as ing them the charge of this branch one flock and followers of the same of educational work. This is a mere Shepherd. As evidence of this, a suggestion, but it comes from one social meeting was arranged for all who knows of what he speaks, and the theological students in Tokyo. whose opinion will have weight in It was held in a sort of park near the the minds of those who are to decide center of the city, which is a popular such matters. Possibly such a thing place of resort for all classes of people. is not wholly feasible even should it A meeting was recently called in meet with the approval of the proper Tokyo by the various pastors, in Japanese authorities. It would inwhich the question for discussion volve large expense on the part of was, "What is the present need of the missionary bodies, and at present our respective churches?" none of them seem to have surplus funds, even if there was a willingness A monthly meeting for prayer and to devote their income to an almost conference was arranged; it was well distinctively educational work. But attended and exceedingly profitable. the suggestion is an important indica- At the recent gospel meeting held in tion of what has been accomplished Tokyo under the auspices of the Epis- by the missionaries in this land in the copal mission, were Bishop Bicker- work of educa.tion. Of course no steth of the English church, Rev. such proposal would have been made Dr. Verbeck of the Reformed mission had not the work hitherto done atin America, Rev. Mr. Honda of the tracted the attention and won the Methodist church, and Rev. Mr. approval of those who are best qual- Hashimo of the Congregational or ified to judge. Mr. Joyama is not an Independent body. As Bishop Bick- avowed Christian, and has therefore ersteth was unable to speak in Jap- no religious bias that would lead him anese, he was assisted by a Presby- to take this step. The 'proposition terian interpreter. It is reported shows the confidence that the leadthere were one thousand persons ing men in Japan have in the charpresent. At a similar service recently acter of the missionaries, and of their held in Nagoya the speakers repre- ability to conduct such a work even sented the Protestant Episcopal and better than the Japanese themselves. Methodist Episcopal, the Reformed and the Presbyterian churches. The general influence of such unity is most beneficial to all, and demon- It will not surprise us if we see in to missionaries on a number of forthe future a flocking of the young eign fields, to secure an expression of men of Japan tothe Christian schools opinion on the importance of musical as the most desirable place to secure a training as a part of the preparation complete and thorough education. of persons for service abroad, and re- There is no question but what the fu- ceived such responses as to lead him to ture of Japan depends on the training make most liberal proposals to miswhich the present generation of schol- sionary boards, or to intending misars receives. sionaries themselves, for special edu- cation at his institution, in any or all There is a most blessed work now branches of music. This paper was gomg on in the various schools, es- presented at the meeting of the pecially in Yokohama and Tokyo. At International Missionary Union last the Ferris Seminary forty-five con- August, and a general discussion was verts are reported among the girls entered into, which gave a good with no extra effort or excitement, deal of information to those present. one after another has come out bold- Perhaps nothing was more striking lyand joyfully on the Lord1s side. On than the diversity demanded by the a recent Saturday it is said that more several fields oflabor in the character than fifty letters were sent by these of the music to be used. Rev. Mr. new converts to their homes and Chandler of South India, said three friends in all parts of the land, courses were open to the missionary: asking permission to profess their First, to teach the English system, faith in public, and pleading with one which imposed no end of labor in and all to repent of their sins and fol- teaching. Second, to translate hymns low the Saviour. In the Methodist and sing them; but in India the peo- Protestant school there has also been ple knew nothing of our scale and great interest of late, and on a recent nothing of harmony, and even the Sabbath forty-five persons received reduction of native airs to notation baptism. had to be done by ear, and then they could not get them as the natives did. In the school at Ayoma, in Tokyo, If the natives tried to sing in parts in there are seventy-four applicants for harmony they went through together baptism. The students have become if they started together, but whatever so aroused that they have for some difference obtained at the start was time gone out into the streets and maintainetl to the end. The third preached to the people and distributed method, which he thought the best, tracts. At another of the mission was to use native tunes and metres. schools in Tokyo there has been a general awakening and twenty of the Rev. Mr. Nicholls, Baptist, of Burscholars asked for prayers at a single mah said the natives there learned meeting. English music very quickly. Rev. Mr. Stanley said in Northern China The churches also have been arous- there had been no exoensive attempt ed and are at work as never before. to use native tunes. The Chinese At many of them special services are scale was unlike that of Europe, and being held; not only are sinners being our instruments were not adapted to converted, but those who have been their music, which was in minor visited by their brethren aroused to a chords mainly; yet in the boardingnew zeal. schools the pupils learned our music very creditably. Mrs. Culbertson Musia and Missions. spoke of Chinese girls learning our tunes, and singing as they strolled, THE subject of music, as related Moody and Sankey hymns. Dr. Barto the work of the foreign and native num said in Turkey the natives readmissionary, seems to lose none of its interest. Professor Tourjee of the Boston Conservatory of Music wrote ily adopted our tunes and caught the an article intended to show how great airs of the military bands. a work has bt::en accomplished by missionaries, in the introduction of The Indian Evangelical Review for Christian. hymnology among the va- October, 1887, had an excellent arti- rious nations of the earth, and for cle on "Hindustani Hymns and this purpose Rev. W. R. Stevenson, Hymn Writers," which will be con- M.A., Carrington, Nottingham, Engsidered as contributing much of inter- land, wishes answers to the followest to the general subject. Rev. John ing questions from all mission fields: Chamberlain of the English Baptist Mission was the first to enter this " (1) Please state to what part of the mission field, by the publication of a volume field your answers refer, and the language or of Hindu hymns still su,ng after 70 languages there spoken. (2) What hymn-bookR years. Following him was Rev. Shu- have been prepared for the use of the converts· ? jaat Ali, a native preacher, whose Abont how many hymns do they contain? By hymns" will be sung for many years whom were they prepared, and when P Where to come." Rev. John Parsons, an- are they printed? Are the same books nsed other Baptist missionary, "became elsewhere, or by the missionaries of any other famous for his vernacular hymns, society, so far as you know. (3) Are the especially Bhajans, which are still hymns chiefly translations or originals P If widely sung and are full of poetic translations, by whom were they translated P If fire." Rev. John Newton, Sr., now the Original, who were the authors? If possible, of. Lahore, the oldest missionary in kindly give the first lines in I!Jnglish of the India, was the first Hindustani hymn- prinCipal tran81atedhymns. (4) AreourEngJish writer am~ng the American Presby- metres and tunes used? Do the lines rhyme 8S terians. Rev. Mr. Janvier and Rev. with our hymns. Please address reply to Rev. Mr. Ullman are also noted for their W. R. Stevenson, M.A., Carrington, Nottinglarge contributions to Indian hym- ham, England." nology. Several other societies have contributed through their mission- Bnlgaria.-W e cannot fail of symaries, original hymns and transla- pathetic interest with Bulgaria. It tions. The author of the article says is an old battlefield of Asia and Euthat Mrs. J. E. Scott of the M. E. rope, and hard soil for missions, with Mission of North India, has been forces that would grind them as beat work for two years on a book of tween the upper aud nether mill~ native tunes and hymns. He further stones, but it is a vast strategic point says: for Christian work as well as for the soldier and the statesman. It must be "Munshi Shankar Dyal, literary assistant in taken and held for God. The people the Methodist Publisblng House in Lucknow, has are a noble stock, and though trouwritten at least one hundred ghazals (hymns), bled about political existence now, many of them of a bigh order, several of which they are as likely to yield results to have found their way Into various hymn·books. Christian toil as any branch of the One of these is sung more frequently In the Slavic race, and they are admirably Christian congregations of the Methodist mission situated to be a leading Christian than any other native hymn, and yet this inter- power among their ninety millions of esting writer, whose literary prodnctions (the brother Slavs. In less than seven product of his spare hours) are found so accept- years this race of Slavs became a able, breathing throughout a truly Christ-like nation of freemen, with power to spirit, is as yet a Hiudu. He admits that at heart govern themselves. They set themhe is a Christian, and those who know him best selves to crush brigandage,. and they are convinced that illuminating grace has reached did it completely in East Roumelia his soul. For twenty years or more he has given and almost completely in Bulgaria. all his time and strength to the preparation of Christian books in tce vernacular; evidently he The Rev. D. C. Challis of Bulgaria is not far from the kingdom of God." calls our attention to the stamina, strength, and promise there is for And now we learn that a "Dic- Bulgaria, as illustrated by the action tionary of Hymnology" is in course of their national assembly; He says: of preparation, which is to contain "The serious and businesslike man- Delegates to the London Oonferenoe. nerwith which the Bulgaria National Assembly, lately adjourned, ad- REv. WILLIAM KINCAID, D.D., Bible House, dressed itself to the work in hand is a striking instance of coolness under New York, Secretary of the American Commitfire. A gh1nce at the list of laws enacted during the late session shows tee of the General Conference on Foreign Miathe presence of no mean legislative ability, and the published reports of sions, informs ns that our Euglish brethren are the discussions show that nothing making generous provision to entertain all reg~ was done by force or the abridgment of the freedom of speech. The most lady accredited delegates during the continunpractical and cranky members were free to express their opinions and uance of the Conference, June 9 to 19. Delecast their votes. gates may expect to hear from the London com- " Among a large number of enactments ofgeneral importance we notice mittee on this snbject in due time. – the following: A law authorizing a subsidiary nickel coinage of 3,000,000 He also says: "Societies that have not yet apfrancs. A law for the disposition of cases pending in the courts of Eastern pointed delegates, but still hope to do so, will Roumelia at the time of the annexation. Alaw for the suppression of brig- confer a favor by taking action at the earliest andage, granting the government extraordinary powers in cases of neces- convenient date. It is important that the list sity. A press law guaranteeing full freedom with responsibility, and pro- should be completed and be in the hands of the viding for the speedy trial of offenders. A law authorizing a loan of committee as soon as possible. The requisite 50,000,000 francs ($10,000,000). A special credit of twenty millions to credentials will be sent in proper season. payoff the debts of Eastern Roumelia. A special credit of 370,000 .. Special attention is called to the request of francs for the preliminary survey of new railroad lines. Many other our English brethren that 'earnest and conmeasures of importance were passed, all pointing to the fullest possible tinued prayer be offered in behalf of the prorealization of the provisions of this liberal constitution." posed conference,' and to the suggestiou of the In his address on closing the session, American committee, in this connection, that Prince Ferdinand expresses the highest satisfaction with the "loyal and interdenominational meetiugs be held throughpatriotic co-operation of the assembly" and the "tact, intelligence and out this country to inform the Christian public devotion of the ministry." Cut off from the recognition of the "pow- with reference to the conference and awaken ers" by their" illegal" position, and themselves the bone of the fiercest interest in it. Such meetings, with great succontention, the Bulgarians quietly attend to their business and defeat the cess, have been held in New York; may they intentions of their enemies by presenting an example of good govern- not be planned for throughout the whole land?" ment on a system almost purely democratic. The delegates from American societies, so rar as reported to Dr. Kincaid, are as follows: Pre8byterian Board of Foreign MisBionB- Rev. F. F. Ellinwood, D.D., Secretary.
ForeignMisBions of the Presbyterian Ghurch- Rev. M. H. Heuston, D.D.; Rev. W. M. Murk- land, D.D.; Rev. J. A. Lefevre, D.D.; Christian Deovies, Esq.
Board of Foreign Mis8ions Qf the Reformed Presbyterian Ohurch – Rev. D. McAllister, LL.D.; Rev. D. McFall, Mr. A. Alexander.
Board Qf Foreign Missions Of the Reformed Ohurch-Rev. T. W. Chambers, D.D.; Rev. W. J. R. Taylor, D.D.; C. L. Wells, Flatbush, N. Y.
Board Qf Foreign M'f,8sions Qf the Rejormed Okurck-Rev. D. Van Horn, D.D. Alternates, Rev. C. L. Weiser, D.D.; Rev. S. G. Wagner, D.D.
American Board of Oommissioners for For- eign M'Ulsions – Rev; A. C. Thompson, D.D.; Rev. Judson Smith, D.D.; Elbridge Torrey, Esq.
American Missionary Association-Rev. A. F. Baird, D.D.
American Baptist M'f,8sionary Union-Rev. John N. Murdock, D.D.; Rev. A. J. Gordon, D.D.; Hon. Eustace C. Fitz.
Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Okurch-Rev. William S. Langford, D.D.
Missionary Society Methodist Episcopal Ohurch-Bishop W. F. Mallalieu, D.D.; Rev. J. N. Fitzgerald, D.D.; John M. Phillips, Esq.
Home and Forei(1n Missionary Society of the African Metfwdiet J!Jpiscopal Ohurch – Rev. Wm. B. Derrick, D.D.; Rev. D. P. Roberts, M.D.; Prof. Philander Outland. Alternate, Rev. C. T. Shaffer.
MONTHLY CONCERT OF. MISSIONS
Board of Fusions Metlwdi8t Protestant DR. hUD'lJD-DIN is the first native oC India Church-Rev. F. T. Tagg. who ever received the title of Doctor of Divinity. The Punjab New8 has the following interesting Mis8ionary Board Free Metlwdist Church- incident: "Recently the Rev. 1I10ulvie Imad-ud- Rev. B. T. Roberts, Rev. T. B. Arnold. din, D.D., was asked by a rich and infiuentlal 1I10hammedan to come and see him on important American Bible SociBty-Re…. E. W. Gil- business. When he reached the place he was very man,D.D. cordially received aud hospitably treated. After some time the business was broached. His host Chicago Tral.ning Schoolfor City, Home and took him into an inner room. There he found Foreign Musions-Wm. E. Blackstone, Esq. about forty 1I10hammedan gentlemen, including some 1I10ulvies and well-to-do infiuential per- Washington City Bible Society-Rev. A. W. sons. They carefully shnt the door, and having Pitzer, D.D. taken every possible precantion against interrup- tion and eavesdropping, they said to him, • Now Foreign Missions Southern Baptist Conven- you are alone with us and God. We charge you tion-Rev. H. A. Tupper, D.D.; Hon. J. L. M. by the living God, to whom you will one day Cnrry. give account, answer our questions truthfully. The Lord judge you ifyou deceive us.' The 1I10ul- Woman's Foreign Missionary Society Pres- vie said, • God is my witness. Ask, and I will byterian Church-Mrs. William Dugdale, 1111's. answer truly.' They then said,' We see you are Arthur T. Pierson. a man of learning and worth. Why did you be- come a Christian f ' •For the salvation of my Woman', Board Cumberland Presbyterian soul,' the 1I10ulvie replied. • Could you not find Church-1111's. A. H. Stephens. salvation in Islam, 0 brother?' •No. ' • Tell us why not.' Woman's Board Of Riformed Church-Mrs. W. J. R. Taylor. "Dr. Imad-ud-din then preached Christ Jesus to them. They listened attentively, and ouly in- Women', National Indian Assoc·iat·on-1I1rs. terrupted him now and then to ask pertinent Amelia S. Quinton, Mrs. Geo. D. Boardman, questions. Be stayed three days. and each day was spent in converse about the things of Christ. 1I1iss 1I1ary L. Bonney. Wheu he left they all showed him great honor, Woman'8 Board, Congregational – 1I1iss embraced him and said, 'God bless you and be with you. Now we' know that whatever yon Abbie B. Child, 1111's. A. C. Thompson, 1111's. have done you have done, not for the sake of gain, but with a pure heart. for the sake of Geo. W. Coburn, 1I1iss Carrie Borden. what you believe to be truth.' .. Woman'8 Foreign Missionary Society Of I()Wa Meeting if Friends – 1111's. Elizabeth Hutchinson. lJelegates at Large-Rev. Geo, E. Post,1I1.D.; Rev. A. T. Pierson, D.D.; Rev. Geo. D. Boardman, D.D.; Rev. Wm. 111. Taylor, D.D.; Corneliu. Vanderbilt, Esq.; Re,·. Daniel Dorchester, D.D., General Clinton B. Fiek.
V.-MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
Burmah and Siam. two sects; one held a kind of panthe- BURMAB contains about 3,000,000 ism, believing the godhead to pet'- of people and is rich in resources, vade all nature and life, but especially both vegetable and mineral. Here, the Buddhists: the other sect rejects as in Hindustan, God permitted Brit- the doctrine of the metempsychosis, ish arms and diplomacy to establish cloister system, etc., worships one an Anglo-Indian empire, controlling spirit supreme and all-creating (Nat), the seaboard from the mouth of the and holds to a life beyond death with Gang-es to the Malacca strait, but un- weal or woe according to the works locking this land also to the gospel, of the departed. These heretics were which here fonnd a field for special burned by the king, but were reported triumphs. The article on another numerous though worshiping in sepage of this issue gives an account of cret. the work among the Karens. The Burmese are Buddhists, and The empire of Burmah reached its their religious faith is purer from ad- apex of glory in the eleventh cenmixtures than that of the East Ind- tury; in the sixteenth the state was ians and Chinese; there is not as rent into several warring factions. much picture-worship as in China, Alompra, founder of the present dyand the monks are more faithful to nasty, restored the empire to sometheir vows of poverty and celibacy. thing like its former territory and About the close of the last century prestige. But the British have since the state religion branched off into then, in the wars of 1823 and 1852, made it largely a dependency of Britain. The government is dflspotic ; society in the world. This great or- the hlwot-dau or council of state reg- ganization is revising its whole mis- ulates details, and is composed of four sionary policy, to bring it into line ministers and presided over by the with the demands of the times. The heir ~pparent to the throne, or a General Commjttee has resolved: prince of the royal blood. First, not to refuse any candidates for The Burmese courts seldom dis- missionary service on the sole ground pense justice. From the Supreme of the lack of funds; second, to rec- Council down, every office-holder is a ognize the present methods for the plunderer; the judges are venal, the collection of funds; third, to employ police powerless; life, liberty and more lay evangelists; fourth, to ar- pl'opertyare at the mercy of the vio- range for more meetings for ulllted lent and vicious. Thefarther from the and special prayer. The Henry Reed capital the less heed is paid to the Steamboat Company, connected with king. The provinces near the Chi- the American Baptist Missionary nese border live under two govern- Union, raised $1,056.02 in 1887 for ments, the Chinese and Burmese ac- the support of the steamer on the tually sharing the control. The in- . Upper Congo River, in Central Africa; terior of Burmah is comparatively $1,750 is wanted for 1888. The Equa- unknown, the seacoast having been tor Station of this mission is farther mainly the scene of missionary oper- inland than any other from the West ations. Coast. Baptist missionaries in Assam The Irawaddy, navigable for 400 are laboring among people speaking miles, is the" Father of Waters," and seven different languages, three of Ava, made capital in 1819, is the" City which had never been acquired by a of P-..)arls." foreigner until the missionaries went Those who would read it fascinat- there. One station is sixty milfls ing story of mission labors and tri- from even a cart-road. Rev. J. E.
umphs must real Gammell's "His- Clough, D.D., has been laboring on tory of American Baptist Missions" the Ongole field in the Telugu Bap- and the "Life of Adoniram Judson and tist Mission for twenty-one years. In his Wives." No more thrilling chap- that time the number of Christians ter can be found in the entire record has risen from none to 25,545. More of modern missionary labor. than six hundred converts were bap- The Burmah Baptist Missionary tized in the first eight months of last Convention held its thirteenth an- year. Rev. Kyouk – kai, a Karen nual meeting at Moulmein November preacher of the Toungoo District, 5-7. All the work is encouraging. Burmah, has been presented with a The convention was preceded by a silvel' sword by the British Govern- three-days' conference for prayer. ment for his efforts in suppressing On the last evening of the conferenee the rebels and restoring peace to the a mass-meeting of all races was held district. This is the only case in on the Burman Mission Compound, which such an honor has been be- near where Dr. Judson's chapel used stowed.
to stand. Addresses were given in SIAM has a territory of about seven languages-English, Burman, 200,000 square miles, and a popula- Karen, Shan, Talaigu, Telugp and tion estimated at eight millions. Lit- Tamil. No one of these languages tle has been known of this romantic was understood by all present, but a country in literature until of late.
hearty Christian unity prevailed. We are now beginning to know some- The Church Missionary Society is thing of this second great river basin supported by the evangelical element of the Indo-Chinese peninsula, with of the Church of England, and has BangkOk, its capital, the "Venice of the largest income of any missionary the Orient." Vegetation is abundant and luxuri- The Presbyterians have but two ant, the fruits unsurpassed in variety main stations – at' Bangkok and and excellence, the animal kingdom Petchaburi-and two more among the varied and interesting. The white Laos, at Chiengmai and Lakawn. elephant is the form associated with Their entire force, including native the appearing of Buddhas and the preachers and teachers, would num- transmigration of souls, which are ber less than thirty workers, who, if believed to be far on their way to- their responsibility could be aver- ward the Buddhist heaven, Nirvana. aged, would each have thl'. rare of a Woman's condition is far above that quarter of a million souls. of her sex generally in the East, and her treatment more affectionate and It is a rare opportunity that Siam considerate. Social distinctions are presents. Contact with vVestern civ- numerous and numerical, 5 repre- ilization has embraced Siam in the senting the lowest slave, and 100,000 telegraphic circuit, that thus binds the second king. her to the Christian world; the ,. postal system reaches from Bangkok The sacred literature, in the Pali, to the bounds of the kingdom. Com- is written with a stylus on long slips merce is developing the exports and of palm-leaf, and the 400 principal introducing imports. Next to the works embrace 4,000 volumes. The Mikado of Japan, the kin!; is pro- secular consists of about 250 principal nounced the most" progressive sov- works with 2,000 volumes. Of the ereign in Asia." Himself an educated males, from 80 to 90 per cent.. can man, he favors education; more read, and education is afforded gra- than this, the government has given tuitouslyat the temples. Buddhism practical proof of its estimate of the absolutely sways this people. Its value of Christian missions by giving sacred fanes are among the costliest the land for a new mission station at and finest of the Orient; one, esti- Lakon. The king subscribed $1,000 mated to have cost $800,000, holds for a hospital building. A series of nearly a thousand images of Buddha, friendly acts shows the attitude of the principal of which is 158 feet the royal court toward the work of long, inlaid with pearl and overlaid the mission. with gold. The priesthood, now much reduced, once numbered This new and liberal policy was in- 100,000. augurated by the government in 1851, when a new king took the Protestant missions date from the throne. He reigned for seventeen days of Gutzlaff, Tomlin and Abeel yf'ars; was a scholarly gentleman, 'in 1828-31, and properly from the who had been taught in languages settlement of Jones in 1833. A half and modern science by a missionary century ago all foreigners, whetheL' of the American Board; and under missionaries or merchants, were ex- his successor, the present king, the cluded; now all Christian countries influence of Protestant missionaries . enjoy treaty rights. No country on with the government, as we have earth is perhaps more widely open to seen, has not waned. An official the gospel, and Providence has espe- document, under royal sanction, tes- cially given to Presbyterian Christians tifies to their intelligence, integrity this land to occupy for him. and personal worth. It acknowledges the debt of the Siamese to them for The American Baptists, who have teaching them to read and speak the had a mission there for over fifty English tongue, and says: " The years, are now working only among American missionaries have always resident Chinese, from whom Dr. been just and upright men; have Dean in 1837 organized the first never meddled in the. affairs of church of Chinese Christians in all government, nor cre:lted any diffi- Asia. culty with the Siamese; have lived breathe new life into her explrlllg with the Siamese just as if they flame, so that her light may shine belonged to the nation; " and further- clear and far. more this document affirms the high standing. of the missionaries In the The fourth verse is open to a simirespect and love of the government. lar construction, and may be trans- When this young king, by a sad ac- lated, he shall not burn dimly nor cident some years since, lost his wife, be bruised; and then the thought his brother came to the missionaries throughout is beautifully consistent. for a copy of the New Testament, and gave as a reason for the request that Christ finds his church with the king had lost faith in his own re- branches bruised and lights dim, and ligion; that he could find nothing in by his corrective judgments he makes Buddhism to console him in his great her capable of a powerful testimony grief. It might cost the king his to the truth. But we are to look up crown, or even his life, to renounce from a fallible, imperfect body of disthe state religion, yet this bereaved ciples to an infallible and perfect monarch flies to the Christian's Bible Head and Lord; he cannot be bruised for the solace that his pagan creed and broken, nor does his light ever cannot supply! Siam may be much nearer to becoming a Christian nation become dim or threaten to be extinthan we think! The additional fact should be put on record that the first guished. He shall not only correct zenana teaching ever attempted in his church by chastening judgments, the East was by missionary women, but by punitive judgments destroy in 1851, among the thirty wives and the wicked and set up his throne upon royal sisters of the king of Siam. the earth. And for his law tile isles shall longingly wait and Ethiopia THEME FOR A GRAND MISSIONARY shall stretch forth imploring hands.
SERMON. God has called him to be the justi- Isaiah xvii. 1-7. fier, and holds his hand and keeps him; he has entered into covenant THE Messiah is here set forth as the with him, and that covenant is as servant of Jehovah, upheld by his sure as the word and oath of God can almightiness, his elect, the object of make it. Christ shall be a light of his delight, the subject of his Holy the Gentiles, though the church's Spirit's unmeasured indwelling and lamp may at times seem to be going outworking. out and her testimony be almost quenched. He shall open blind eyes, His special mission is to the Gen- release imprisoned souls, and those tiles. He shall not cry as in helpless in the shadow of death. We do not grief, nor shout as in boastful glory. claim that this is a precise, exact and He shall perform his service in the scholarly exegesis of this passage, quietness of a divIne confidence and but we believe a careful study of the certainty of result. Hebrew will satisfy any student that the drift of this paragraph is not or- The bruised reed and smoking wick dinarily apprehended; that the hope seem to me to refer to the golden of missions is here shown to be the candlestick, whose branches were infallible covenant of God; not the called reeds; and so regarded this golden candlesticks, but He who walkverse may refer to the church,which eth in the midst of them; not the even in her periods of spiritual de- efficiency and energy of human orcline he shall not forsake. When her ganizations, but the power and grace branches are bruised he will not of the living, risen, glorified Christ. break them off, and when her lamp The word judgment occurs here in burns dim he will not quench it, but three conspicuous connections, and by his patient, loving discipline heal that word always calls attention to her schisms, repair her breaches, and divine energy of action. God invites the co·operation of his people, but SUGGESTIVE PARAGRAPHS. he is not dependent upon it. He can work in his own way, and sometimes DR. W. M. PAXTON said to his stu,. by mighty jugdments he both brings dents at Princeton Theological Semian unfaithful church to see her duty nary as to the Signs of a call to the and a rebellious world to bow and foreign field: submit to his law. The wholetlutline of missions is suggested in this 1. Desire. passage in Isaiah-the outline of mis- In general, when the Lord wants sionary history and of the divine a man to do a certain work, he puts philosophy of missions. into his heart a strong desire to do it. "I have long observed that God It is also particularly noticeable puts certain proclivities in men's that a conspicuous change in pro- minds," etc. (Albert Barnes.) phetic terminology occurs at chap. liii. of this prophecy. The Sel'- II. Qualifications. 'ant of the Lord is a phrase which Many men would make good minisoccurs frequently up to chap. liii. 11 : tel'S at home who would not perhaps the Messiah who represents the true do for the foreign field, e.g. : Israel, the holy seed of God, the in- 1. One must have some faculty for destructible germ which assures con- acquiring a foreign language. tinuity to Israel's life, who restores 2. A man must be good.tempered moral order. But though this title enough not to quarrel with his occurs nineteen times in chaps. xli. to brothel' missionaries. Scores of trouliii., after the eleventh verse of chap.. bles have arisen from this source. liii. it disappears. "My righteous Bad temper is easily developed iI) a servant shall iwdify many." Now missionary field, especially in a bad his work as servant is done. He llas climate. Above all, don't take a bad· suffered the just for the unjust to tempered woman. A man who is to bring us to God. He has justified be a missionary must not have a many and made them servants of curious, prying or gossiping disposi- God. They now take up the work tion. He needs especially to mind be has laid down, and fill up that his own business. which is behind of his sufferings. 3. Must have aptness to teach and And so aftel' this, as in chap. liv.17, patience in imparting knowledge we have the new phrase, "servants even to those of a low grade of caof the Lord," which occurs ten times pacity. from chap. liv. 17 to lxvi. 14. The 4. Must have good health, and his servant of God now sees his seed, and physical constitution should be it is a numerous seed. The servant of adapted to the climate where he God is multiplied a thousand fold labors. Every man must have a phy- (Rom. v. 15-19). He ceases to suffer, sician's certificate-e.g., one with a and in the former sense to serve, and torpid liver should not go to a very his spiritual offspring take up service hot country like India or Afl'ica, nor ~nd suffering for his sake. They go with weak lungs to a land unfavormto all the world, and as witnesses able for pulmonary weaknesses. testify and as martyrs die for him ll;nd his cause, until he comes again, III. Opportunity. and then service and suffering are This means. that providence will merged into triumph and glory, and open the way when God has a purthe new heaven and earth, wherein pose in a man's hfe. There may be dwelleth righteousness, take the place an insuperable objection – e.g., an of this sin-cursed and sorrow-stricken aged and dependent mother, etc. world, and chaos is once more displaced by cosmos. -Dr. Barnardo, the English phi- lanthropist, has now the largest fami· ly in the world cared for by anyone man. It numbers 2,233.
PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS-MONTHLY BULLETIN
VI.-PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS- MONTHLY BULLETIN.
A.frica.-Bishop Taylor's advance advance of those of the preceding party have at last reached the goal year for the corresponding period, ~ in the depths of Africa toward which which amount about $30,000 was from he has so long been struggling. Be- donations and $48,000 from legacies. fore his pioneer band of missionaries started the bishop declared his inten- -The French Government and Mistion to plant stations among the sions. Rev. John Jones, a leading tribes along the Upper Kassai and its missionary of the London Missionary tributaries. Toward this region his Society, has been expelled from the chain of stations has been steadily Loyalty Islands by the French Govlengthening. Dr. Harrison, one of ernment. The directors of the sothe party that the bishop led up the ciety have given to the press the de- Congo in July last, has reached Lu- tails of the outrage from Mr. Jones's luaburg, the new station of the Congo own pen, and now pnblish them in State. He is one of the two phy- their own periodical, The Chronicle, sicians who have followed the bishop for March: to Africa, and he is now established among the natives. These Balubas .. Mr. Jones has been summoned home by are among the most remarkable sav- telegram to meet the Board, whose future ages in the world.-The Christian. action will be determined upon after his arrival. In the mean time, suffice it to say -Dr. Elmslie, an American mis- that they sympathize deeply with their sionary, who has been stationed for missionary in the wrong he has sustained, some time among the Zulus west of and regard him as the subject of harsh and Lake Nyassa, has sent home the first unjust treatment. He has been expelled book printed in Nbungoni language. not so much on account of his Protestant- The book was issued from the press ism, as on that of known friendliness to the of a neighboring mission station islanders, and as being a sturdy representacalled Blantyre. It contains the tive of earnest British Christianity, a type Decalogue, passages from the Psalms, of man the French Colonial Office is not Proverbs and the Gospels, with four- partial to." teen hymns. Much is expected from the book, as the Nbungoni language India.-They write from Kolapoor is intelligible to a large number of that it is wonderful the joy the nathe tribes. tive Christians show at seeing the Wilders, mother and daughter, after -The Royal Niger Company has an ab~ence of thirteen years, and that determined to impose a tax of fifty Miss Grace talks Mahratta (or Maraper cent. upon all spirituous liquors thi) "like a native." landed within its territories. Total prohibition is impossible, as the river -The Lutheran Missionaries in is free to all hade under the Berlin South India have long had a German Treaty; but this tax will limit the synod, but in June, 1887, their first supply. The company has been en- Tamil synod met, composed of deledeavoring to induce the government gates of the churches (which have to negotiate with other powers for hitherto had a very loose connection a uniform duty on spirits all along with each other), of all the native the West African coast for :!,500 miles. ministers, and of three missionaries, together with the Senior of the mis- -American Board. For the first sion. The synod is to meet triensix months of the financial year the nially. Tanjore, as being the most total receipts were about $78,000 in central station, was chosen as the first place of meeting.
-July I, 1883, was the bicentennial anniversary of the missionary Ziegenbalg, the first foreign missionary of whom no fewer than 115,361 were of the Lutheran Church. It was in Ninnahassa, or Celebes, the whole therefore resol ved to build a hand- population of that island being 138,- some memorial church at Shiali, on 026. In Dutch Timor there are 33,015 the southeastern coast of India, some nominal Christians, with only one six leagues south of Tranquebar. government helper and no mil.sion- 'l"his was dedicated last July. ary. The Dutch Government has no objection to missionaries of other na- -The North India Methodist Con- tionalities working, as the Germans ference met at Cawupore on the 4th do, in its possessions; and the Rev. of January. The reports presented J. B. Cook of Singapore, who sends were full of encouragement. The us the above information, is very native Christian community now urgent that British Christians should connected with the conference num- come to the help of these multitudes bers 9,226, of whom 5,675 are adults. of Mohammedans and heathen. There has been an accession during the year of 832 adults by baptism. Of -Commercial Value of Missions. these 27 were from Mohammedanism, Take the following figures, vouched the rest from Hinduism. Inquirers for by competent authority: The are not reported, yet the~e are so nu- commerce of the United States with merous that' if the missionaries de- the Sandwich Islands alone in 1870 sired only to swell their numbers, was $4,400,426, while in the same 2,000 persons could be baptized at year the whole amount expended in once. One native preacher, the Rey. foreign missions by all denominations Philemon, ordained by Bishop Ninde in this country was $1,633,801. "The a year ago, has since baptized 211 cost of the Sandwich Islands mispersons. The conference greatly sions," says Dr. Andel'son, "up to needs a staff of goo'd colporteurs. 1869-that is, for fifty years, and dur- There are 23,913 scholars in the ing the whole period of its dependschools.-Indian TVitness. ence on the Board-was $1,220,000. The profits of our trade with the -Netherlands India, that is, the Sandwich Islands for 1871 was $660,- India under Dutch rule, possesses a 964-more than half of all that was popUlation of 27,000,000. It stretches expended on the mission during fifty from Atcheen, in Sumatra, to New years." Guinea. Among these 27,000,000 there labor 70 missionaries, 36 of -Pope's Jubilee. The gifts to Pope whom are Dutch, the rest being Ger- Leo, at the late Jubilee, exceeded mans, principally from Barmen, and $10,000,000 in articles of value, besubsidized by the society at Amster- sides as much more in cash. The dam. Besides these there are 24 United States outstripped every other "helpers," who are in government country, and no greeting was perpay and labor only among the nom- haps more cordial than that of the inal Christians. These 94 agents (in- New York Independent! cluding helpers) are distributed as follows: In Jaya, 24; in Sumatra, Madagascar.-Rum! The British 19; in Mias, 5; in Borneo, 7; in Weekly says: "Rum and the gospel" Celebes, 11 ; in Sumba, 1; in Timor, have reached Madagascar in the 1; in Rotti, 1; in Wetter, 1 ; in Buru, same boat. The official Chronicle of 1 ; in Ceram, 2; in New Guinea, 5; the London Missionary Society, in in Gilolo, 2; in Sangi, 3; in Talan, 2 ; announcing the safe arrival of the in Saparina, 2; in Amboyna, 4; in Rev. A. G. Shaw and Mrs. Shaw at Ternati, 1; in Letti, 1; in Harnku, 1. Tamatave, and the hearty welcome given to them by their old friends, -According to the Census (1885- adds that they shortly afterward left 86) there were in Neth. India Malay- in the coasting vessel which had an race native Christians, 235,070, taken them across from Mauritius. It "was partly laden with rum, the Syria. – The good tidings come stench of which filled it from stem to from Syria that the late attempt of stern, and accommodation on board the Turkish authorities to force was of the most meager description." new and intolerant restrictions upon the cause of Christian education has Persia. – The Persian mi~sions been earnesly resisted by the diplohave been more richly blessed during matic representatives of the different the past year than ever before, both powers, that it has utterly failed and in the accessions to their churches has finally been withdrawn. and in the general prosperity of their work, while as to opportunities for -The Y. M. C. A. in Evangelization. the extension of the .work they seem Mr. L. D. Wishard is about to underliterally without limit. take a tour of the world in the in- terests of the Y. IV!. C. A. Eighteen -Reformed Dutch Missions. The associations are now established on treasury of the Reformed (Dutch) foreign missionary soil-Japan, Tur- Board of Foreign Missions is becom- key, India, China, Persia and Ceylon. ing seriously burdened. It is main- There are 300,000 in India speaking tained at present by the use of the English, and 60,000 Christian young credit of individuals. The receipts of men, and 100 government schools October were twice those of October, from which the Christian religion is 1&86. Since that statement such a excluded, but where the undenomidecline of income has occurred as to national Y. M. C. A. could enter. cause increasing anxiety. The receipts of December, usually a fmiHul -The Eleventh Triennial Meeting month, were much below those of re- of the Young Men's Christian Assocent years. ciations of all lands is to be held in Stockholm August 15 -19. A spe- South America.-The William Tay- cial rate has been secured to Lonlor Transit Fund and Building Fund don and return by the new steamer Society has a self-supporting work City of Berlin. of the Inman line, in South America, begun eight years sailing from New York July 21; ago, embracing four well-established the return tickets are available from missions in Chili and property in Antwerp by the Red Star line, as churches, parsonages and schools well as by the Inman line steamers worth about $100,000. There are in- from Liverpool. Special rates becipient church organizations, one tween London and Stockholm. with a membership of thirty-six, and Friends in England extend an invithere have been about 3,000 pupils in tation to a special steamer trip along the~e schools, with from 600 to 1,000 the Norwegian coast before the meetchildren under tuition now. The ing. There will be a trip provided schools are patronized by the most which will include all expenses of influential classes, from the Presi- the journey from New York back to dent of the republic down. There New York, covering about seven are also stations in Brazil. These weeks, the cost of which will be foundations, say the officers of the $300. Particulars can be obtained society, have been built up largely from Geo. A. Hall, State Secretary within the quadrennium now closing, Y. 11. C. A., Twenty-third street and and more missionaries and larger Fourth avenue, New York. premises are called for. Zenanas.-The needle of a mission- -Spanish Armada. In May next it ary's wife was the instrument God will be 300 years since the" invincible used to give access to Oriental zenaar-mada" met with the beginning of nas. A piece of embroidery wrought those disasters which terminated but by her deft fingers found its way to with its destruction, and it has been the secluded inmates of a zenana. If proposed in England properly to cele- a woman could do such work as that brate the anniversary.
STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS
other women could learn under her gaged; four normal schools with 123 instruction; and so, with the cordial pupillil, and lil3 other schools with consent of the husband, this Chris- 5,411 scholars. Last year 2,364 zetian woman was welcomed to the in- nanas were regularly visited. Finanside of his home; and as she taught cially it received 19,497 rupees in his wife the art of embroidery she government grants, 7,916 rupees in was working the" scarletdyed in the fees, and 18,953 rupees locally subblood of the Lamb" into the more del- scribed. Its home receipts during icate fabric of their hearts and lives. the year amounted to $118,185. Of 14 missionaries recently sent out by -The Church of England Zenana the society, 3 were self-supporting, 4 Society is the most enterprising soci- draw no salary, 2 have their salaries ety of its kind probably in the world. plid by their friends, and 5 only are It has 88 missionaries, with 445 Bible chargeable to the. society. women and other ageIts locally en- VII.-STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS.
The Comparative Cost of War and The English army has now under of Missions. Dr. Fed. Garlanda, in arms 218,569 men, with 22,242 horses, an unusually able article, has recent- and 624 guns. The navy is equal to ly measured the military strength of the combined navies of France, Ger- Europe at the dawn of 1888. many and Austro- Hungary, em- The Italian standing army presents bracing about 700 ships.
a total of over 871,000, of whom over The Russian Empire could bring 250,000 are in actual service, and into the field over 2,500,000 troops, 17,800 officers; the milizia mobile and and a navy of over 300 ships. Tur- the milizia territoriale being added key and Spain could muster over to the others, we have a grand total 1,000,000 more, and 200 vessels. In of 32,248 officers and 2,475,533 men. other words; the combined armies of The navy includes 235 ships. Europe could bring into the field The French army can in case of over 16,000,000 men and cover the war summon to her aid over 2,000,000 waters with 1,400 vessels of war, men and a navy of over 400 s4ips. many of them of the most destruc- Her yearly expediture on navy alone tive sort.
is $46,000,000. The total annual expenditure for The land forces of the German Em- the war and navy departments of pire consist in time of peace of 19,264 these governments is said to reach officers, 468,409 men, with 84,091 the enormous sum of $906,000,000.
horses. The artillery has 364 batter- These' governments are also im- ies, 47 of which have six pieces each, mensely in debt, yet the political sit- and 317 have four. In time of war uation is such as to require increased those 317 batteries have also six – armaments. They cannot go to war pieQes, bringing up the total to 2.184 because they have not the financial guns. In case of war Germany can credit to extend their indebtedness.
muster 1,753,000 men of the standing The total annual interest upon Eu- army and 993,000 men of the Land- ropean indebtedness is about $1,070,- wehr. The Landsturm numbers 000,000. Hence the people are bur- 3,955,000 men. Altogether about dened with high taxes.
6,000,000 men. Bel' navy contains All this it costs simply to .be pre- about 200 ships. pared for international conflicts in The Austro-Hungarian Empire can Em·ope.
command nearly 44,000 officers and Now look at the cost of actually 1,533,296 men, with 207,034 horses, carrying on the Lord's war for hu- and a navy of 106 ships. man redemption by the universal church I We have put into the en- tire church of Christendom can mustire foreign field, including men, wo- tel' in men and money for the Lord's men and native helpel'S, considerably war of the ages! less than 50,000 laborers, and we ex- How would these figures be changed pend about $10,000,000 yearly;. so if the Christian church should but apthat Europe alone has 333 times as preciate her opportunity and her remany soldiel's, and spends 900 times sponsihility-the perils and possihilas many dollars each year as the en- ities of the critical hour of history!
—- Women's Foreign Missionary Societies.
[THE first in the field was the Woman's Union MissionarY Society, organized in the City of New York in J annary, 1861. In 1885 more than twenty foreign missionary societies of ladies exi~ted in the United States. The following table we copy from Dr. Dorchester's" Christianity in the Uuited States," showing that over eight and a half millions of dollars have been raised by these women's societies in this brief period of time.-Ens.] ·C.; 1 .0.0,00 " , ' "• ~~'''':"": '0'" . …. 00:.:$:: FROM REpORTS FOR 1885. .; – -.~ :"".0..,''0 "'-0" ~ ,-:011 0 .. '0 ~ 0 ~ -< . —— " .. l A~"'bat~ I'< -1.'<~-.". -w"- – – – Union Missionary Society.. . … ………….. …. •. .. .. 1861 521 141 49… . 78: 2,881 Congregational Board ………………………….. " 186~ 1201 97 98 98 2C9 ….. .. .. " o f Interior ……………….. " 1868 1,275 …… 43 35 58 …… . .. of Pacific ………………… " 1873 50 25 4 .. .. …… . ….. . Methodist Episcopal Church Woman's Board…… . . . . ]869 3,&70· . . . . . . 59 225 2C3 5,772 .. .. .. South, Woman's Board. " ]878 ],406 514 ]6 6 21 522 Protestant Church Woman's Board ……. " ]879 ]02 20 2 ] 1 47 Presbyterian Woman's Board…………………….. 1870 1,327 1,2131124]02 152 …… . .. of the Northwest…….. 1870 1,506 …… 6] 4~ 98 …… . " h 102 113 7 15 31 53 of Northern New York .. 187~ 489 259 34 62 47 …… . of New York City ……. 1870 294 ….. . ]4.. .. •………. . of the Southwest …… " ]877 1,189 528 27 57 109 4,049 Baptist Woman's Board…………………………. 1870 ],363 327 25 107 147 1666 .. . ", .. of the West ……………….. 1871 Southern Presbyterian Cburch Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. …… 369 …. " …. …. …… . .. : .. .
United Presbyterian Church of North America Board.. …… 4691 ………………..•…… Cumberland Presbyterian Church Board ………. , .. " 1879 589 …… …. …. . ……….. . Reformed Presbyterian Board ………………….. " …… ….. . …… …. …. …… . ….. . Friends' Foreign Missionary Society… ……………. 1881 9 …………………….. . Reformed (Dutch) Church Board …… " ………… " 1875 190,1…………………….. . Protestant Episcopal Church Board…………….. '" 1871 43 …………………….. . Free Baptist Foreign Mission Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ]873 ]93 49 7"… ……….. . Mite Society of African Methodist Episcopal Chnrch. " ….. . United Brethren Board ………………………….. 1875 ·· ..S03 ….861 …6 '''9 ….. i; …. iii; Disciples' Foreign Missionary Society…… .. ………. …… 454 5:1 .. .. ….. .. . .11.1………. …. Lntheran General Synod…………………………. 1870 302 29: 2 20 Total of 26 Women's Missionary Boards ……… ~ 15,8663,4541 578 785 1,1421 ]5,165 TOTAL REQEIPTS OF WOMEN'S FOREIGN MISSIONARY BOARDS.
Woman's Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1861 $119.827 $473.221 $246.687' $1,026,239 Congregational, East. . . . . . . … . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1868 20,495 688,134 841,78] ],550.410 Congregational, West. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1868 ]69,364 276,446 450,903 Methodist Episcopal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1869 505,246 Presbyterian, Philadelphia. .. .. …•………….. 1870 567,394 1,066,338 1,661,585 Presbyterian, New York City………………… 1870 166,194 692,765 ],250,]65 Presbyterian, Northwest…… ………………. 1870 207,560 208,771 374,966 Presbyterian, Albany and Troy…………. , .. . . .. ]872 45,341 371,005 578,565 Baptist, East ……………•…………………. 1870 281,100 1)5,165 100,506 Baptist, West………………………………. 1871 104,841 378,753 659,863 Protestant Episcopal. .. '" …. .. …….. …….. .. 1871 67,278 160,191 244,031 Reformed (Dutch) Chnrch… …………•……… 1875 35,869 115,005 182,283 United Brethren. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1875 15,000 119,6!H ]54,972 Methodist Episcopal, South. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1878 20,319 69,755 84,755 232,144 25.!,463 Total ……….. i……… …………….. …… $140,322 $3,436,361 $4,884,419 $8,57],706 NOTE.-There are I1bout a dozen other woman's boards very recently organized, a statement of whose receipts we have been unable to obtain. Most of the above receipts are included in those of the various denominational boards, but not all.
* In a few instances the receipts are limited at ]885, and in a few others ]887 are included.
g StatistilSs of Missions and Missionary Work in Japan for the Year
THill following table is condensed from one prepared by Rev. Henry Loomis, agent of the American Bible Society at Yokohama. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Mission declined to give statistics, and the figures for this society are partly approximate. In the column for contributious the yen is equal to 75 cents gold. Two columns, for which we cannot make room, giving statistics of churches wholly or partly self·supporting, show that of the 41 connected with the American Boartl33 are wholly, and the remainiug 8 are partially self-supporting. The progress of the past year, as indicated by this table, is most cheering. "' "". . . . ~',…;.. .~8;; w ".',"151£ .~ ,,; .t:.f3 Q).f, " ., . … ,;0 .~ ~ ~~~ w,; 0 '" NC)~ .,,,; .~~ 'a~ 't:IooaJ oW 1-<-;; ~ ~g ., s .. "" ~~.~;::S~-·OJ'off.i.'~"~ "-" .~ I-< '~d .~_.Sc ~~ ~:§ ~ .~ 00 p"~'~S ~ ~-5 MISSIONS. i; I-< ;.S~ .c bll., '"8"~-'"g .~…,. c:::1 I~U .,.~ E-o"< '''' 0-" .P-=I – – ::":a .9"" uz l – – – – ~ -"- """""" —- — – – —- -I><- – :::a-;~ :a1lj ~~~ i:il~.~ 0 " ,,~ 0 0 Z".~ – – – – 00 -,,'" 0""0 .0..0. Eo< —',– ~ -~- en American Preshyterian Church ………………….•………….. 18:)9 14 21 85 ts 6 85 Reformed Church in America ….•……………………………. 18.';9 10 4 14 8 19 Union Presbyterian Church of Scotland ……………………….. 1874 8 United Church of Christ in Japan (Native) ……………………. 8 1 6 I 1,688 6,859 I 3 I 44 I 34 I 48 I 18,553 "A Reformed Church in the United States………………………… 1879 4 1 5 I 8 10 ~ Presbyterian Church in the United States ……………………… 1885 4 2 6 2 5 Woman's Union Missionary Society ………………………….. 1871 ~ ·s 5 5 1 2 J7 454 15 700 2 408 1,085 CAummebriecralnanPdroPtreesstbayntteEripainscCohpualrcChh.u.r.c.h..*……………………………………………… 1877 11 4 7 2 21 11 88 1 1 2 4i 1859 4 15 207 Church Missionary Societ.v. . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1869 2 11 5 12 19 222 880 1 19 3 7 1,209 I'iI Society for Propagation of Gos'El ……………………………. 1873 9 200 ~ 7 1 8 2 2 bOO 300 Eo< Society for Promoting Female ducation …………………….. 1877 ·s 2 2 1 ·2ij 1 10 8 20 745 American Bapti,t Church …………………………………… ]860 6 22 10 715 ~ English Baptist Church ……………………………………… 1879 2 7 15 33 1 4 3,166 3 1 11 2 20 140 1 1 57 1 7 Disciples ………………………………………………….. 1883 2 2 5 1 6 16 .i 00 Christian Church ………….•……….•…………………….. 1887 1 1 2 ·i 868 5,65·) ·6 4 t 15 A.B.C. F. M ……………………….••.•………………….. 1869 1 49 1 100 1 25 15 t 12,769 0…. 28 8 102 41 64 21 845 2 700 eEon< Independent Native Churches ……………………………….. 2 t ~70 355 American Methodist Episcopal Church ..•…………………….. 1873 jiJ 4i 2,a5~ 87 23 32 3,395 -rE"w<<o"< Canada Methodist Church. .. . ………………………………. 1873 15 33 11 46 109 2 15 5 12 Evangelical Association of North America. . ………•………….. 1876 9 15 3 25 12 64 1,012 1 t 1,500 Protestant Methodist Church ….. ,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. … . ……….. 1880 3 6 4 1 64 250 3 1 2 ·i 4 30 177 1 6 4 4 7 75 2 125 1 2 43 American Methodist Episcopal Church (Sonth) …….•…………. 1886 5 6 4 1 3 76 ·i 4 85 3 37 Gen. Evan~elical Protestant (German SwiSS) ………………….. 1885 2 2 1 1 :;'5 5 17 Society of riends, America ………….•….•………………… 1885 1 11 Unitarian Church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. 1887 1 148 1 1 — — – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Total, 1887 ……………….•………•.••……………… 128 — – – – – – – – – – – – – Total, 1886 ……………………………………………. 216 102 19) 41,511 103 253 69 -316- -221- -5-,020- -19-,829- 14 S.S — — — 169 98 166 26,866 215 50 211 193 3,640 14,815 11 – – – – – …. 1 i Increase, 1887………..•……………………………… …. 20 18 38 19 105 28 1,380 5,014 3 47 9 ' 25 14,705 .-< • Statistics to June 1. t Approximate. -Missionary Herald.
Episoopal Mission in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Vicinity
~ A HALF OENTURY of mission work in South America was closed in 1887. It was begun by no less a man" than John Dempster, followed in successiou by William H. Norris, Dallas D. Lore, Goldsmith D. Carrow, William Goodfellow, and Henry G. Jackson, all men who had made their mark in the service of the church at home before coming to South America, and who proved after their return, by still more eminent services and successes, that it was no fault of the workers that the work in South America did not meet Impatient expectations. The difficulty was in the field, and not in the men. Not till 1882, when the mission was reinforced and backed up by a pollcy of aggressive evangelization, were there satisfactory results secured. The work of 1886-87 prospered all along the line. We give 'the statistics of the mission for 1887, for which we are indebted to the (Iogpel tn all Lands, which gives an interesting history of the mission.-EDs.
J ~ ~ Q1 5 ai: STA.TISTIOS OF THE MISSION, 'g -0 fn ~ ~~ ~ ~~ W~ ~ g~ -o trn5~a~dl ·~Wg~.8'0>~ ~ ~ ~ ~.E ~ ~ ~ '8 ~ • • ~~ -a• . -~~. (J,) -0 a~. '~~- i ~ ~& @9 !ll a t rB 0 e~,Q g 1=3 ~ ~i ~ ~ .'~;I..0~… ';:::.. ~ ~ ,g 8 :w; ~ g3 U '~" • ,.gr!i "d (J ,g ..t:I ab~r~7o .:s.=~. "'" ]. –.: Q1 CD .~0 . ~g ~CD f ~"'" :. '0 -§ § 'Q -0 Q. ~~Q;> ~ -~§ ..0 5·…. • A. Q;l rn. • rn CD 'tj :: CD >'l r~ .~~ ~~l ~ ~ i ~ ~ . ~ ~ ~ i J~ ~ j j j ~ ~ ; ~ ~<~ ~~ ~ ~ -~ge:-§;2m §!ONOI] = S §! $ e::t .——I~i'.0:T0.•l~:~.rn~,:i~Trn.".l~.~~0."~.-0~t=+~.""'~0~"~:~..t.'=:".". -~ .0~'" :.~Q=al:iI_dcd….j.=;P~'>4,:Q~SQ,:) .,~:0~3~I''§.r~=0tl::'~~t-,:I,'.:;~~t:~~o: ~~'00Q~..) &'~.00~ii~'00J.~"'.d00~~~~~I0>~.J ~,~C~0~.: ~,~~I0~::J.. ~-~00""-':500;=::l"~('fl0= -~Q~'I~-~.0•EPc0F~:"-i.E,..(I~~l.)~.sr":i"C.f,l.l..gS0. 1887. -S.; ~ '~~~O- _~~~ ~~ ~~'~~8 "gg ~ CD ~ :=1:=1 W :=I 1]-0 b ~ ~. := I'o:s: , , 0~ 00 0 0 0 Q1 Montevideo and its Depen- I> 00 00 0 '"Sl "" ,'" ;,,+01.. '" .. ..,.1 ,I ",",,' ",~, ,,~, dencles…………….. . fa "",700' '" "" n ,., ,; m,,, …" …. .,,' _ …. ~ Buenos Ayres and its Depen- dencies ……………. .. 2121 I 2121111111 .• /4122112751 2,100/ .• 1 761··1 .. 1··181 815181 5051·.121 46,0001 6111 16,000/ .·.·1 3801 101 6,6861 1,6001 1,006 Rosario and its Dependen- 11 11 2 I 8 I 21 81 6181141 861158/ 2,6501 21182 .. 1.. 1.. 151 3371141 4051191 21 9,000113 ,.. …. ,$14,0001 631 651 2,2391 8,BOOI 64Il 'I' cies ……………….. .
Total ………………. I 51 51 2 1 82 1 8137/531 31281 546 724 7.450/ 8 3041 11 lil0134 2.1321371 1,740119 5:$64,000/ 32 I 21$16,500:$14,000/ $626/ $86/$9,4721$5,8581$8,213 Last report (1885) ..•.•.•• ~I~I~I':'I~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 46: 4'5~ ~ 185'~ ~ ~I~ 1,204 ~ 1'6041~ ~ 64,O~ ~ ~ 16,000 14,000 ~1~ 444 5,753/2.991 2,950 15 Increase in two years … 1 1 .. 10 819 .. 9 109 262 2,950 4 119 .. " 21,2 928 5 136 12.. •… 1 1 $500 ~ …. $"0' .. $3,7191$2,867 $268 1 ~,
! Reoeipts of the Poreign Missionary Societies of the United States from the Origin of Eaoh.*
SOCIETIES. !S10 to 1820 to 1830 to 1840 to I 1850 to 1860 to 1870 to 1881 to Total: 1810 1819. 1829. 1839. 1849. 1869. IfSO.t 1887.+ to 1887. 1859. —– .——— .American Board C. F. M……….. $162,430 $664,247 $1,684,751 $2,550,277 $3,140,811 $4,519,112 $5,243,137 $4,488,112 $22,452,877 .American Baptist Missionary Union 43,780 81,471 591,230 769,265 1,061,608 1,429,149 2,753,977 2,327,239 9,057,719 Methodist Episcopal. . ………… …. . ….. 195,403 330,213 785,357 1,505,550 3,773,887 2,756,251 9,346,661 Protestant Episcopal …………… … .. …. 227,816 309,026 559,435 709,200 1,270,731 916,246 3,992,454 <Ii Presbyterian Board i …………… … .. …. 186,639 784,750 1,772,873 2,372,552 4,885,241 4,744,533 14,746,588 …. ……. 65,886 276,263 238,365 404,428 472,411 1,457,353 ~ Southern Baptist ……………… ….. …. .American Foreign Church Union 0 ••••• 246,505 608,424 829,164 518,613 129,625 2,404,331 w. …. (chiefly foreign) !' … '" •…….. Sl Reformed Church (Duteh) with .A. w. B. C. F. M. until 1857……….. ….. …….. · ….. 20,000 41,111 568,424 701,576 413.2[10 1,724,401 ~;j Evangelical Lutheran 'IT •.•••••••••. ….. · ….. 35,000 80,000 165,000 257;089 557,089 ~ Evangelical .Association ………… ' … . …. · ….. 12,000 30,000 62,000 145,000 85,000 334,000 United Brethren……………….. ….. ….. · ….. 44,402 161,101 345,150 200,000 750,653 …. ….. . United Presbyterian……………. … " . …. I>l Southern Presbyterian …………. …. · ….. · ….. . ….. 400,331 609,298 616,610 1,626,239 · ….. 54,767 483,174 498,570 1,033,511 0 ••••• · …..
E=o=! Reformed Presbyterian …………. .. .. …. · ….. · ….. · ….. · ….. 92,732 9Po,000 185,732 . ….. . ….. · ….. S Disciples ……………………… ….. , … . ….. · ….. · ….. 33,177 185,565 218,742 Free-Will Baptist………………. 0 ••••• · ….. 126,000 466,362 w. Methodist Episcopal, South (partly . … .. … . …..
8 .. . . . . . . . . . . . -. -. . . – -.-…-.. 719,43~ 2,719,439 '$il,425, estimated… .. . . Ewo.! . . – -.' '"- – …… .. …. I …… ……
~ —-1—- – —- —– wEo.! Total ………………….. $206,210 $745,718 $2,885,839 $5,087,922i $8,427,284 $12,929,715 1211 $19,028,980 $73,074,151 NOt'E.-Add to the above $2,501,707, received by Woman's Foreign Missionary SOCieties, known not to have been inclnded in the receipts of the parent boards, and we have a total of $75,575,858. There are also some smaller boards which are not included, because the data cannot be obtained. Complete returns from 1881 to 1887 wonld make about 21,000,000, or an average of THREE MILLIONS annnaily• * In a few cases the earlier receipts have not been ascertained. t This period comprises eleven years.
:j: Several are for 1881 to 1886.
…., II For many years the New School Presbyterians contribnted to the American Board of Christian Foreign Missions, but not since 1870• -~ § Formerly more largely foreign than of late years.
,. Estimated by a leading official of that denomination. Since 1880 the figures include other Ln'theran bodies. '-])1'. Dorchester'8 "Ohristianity in the United States." SOCIETIES. 1820 to 1830 to 1840 to 1850 to 1860 to 1870 to lESl to I 1820 to 1829. 1839. 1849. 1859. 1869. lSSO.t 1887. 1887. —- —– – – – — – – – ——– $105,643 $860,599 $394,482 $1,012,281 $1,190,657 65,173 612,658 1,178,017 724,231 1,107,852 1,746,963 o Presbyterian, Old School Board………. Ameri"can New School Board…….. , }t$4,314,327 $3,666,186 $13,334,8 Home Missionary Society…… 2,847,210 11,586,8 1,975,878 3,119,584 Methodist Episcopal Domestic….. " ….. ·6.3.,0..1.0 390,806 660,426 1,576,714 3,011,100 2,907,635 2,505,848 11,164,5 9 ~ 108,184 320,613 463,204 754,507 1;827,724 1,187,904 4,762,1 6 Protestant" " ………… · ….. 1,103,~ 5 ..r~J…,l 453,097 517,690 133,158 American Church Missionary Society …. · ………. 31,661 64,297 139.490 202,534 308,516 217,143 963,e 42 Q · 243,444 441,762 1,149,161 2,330,585 2,256,656 6,556,1 42 Reformed Church (Dutch)…………… 134,534 172,128 254,914 689,796 378,234 !i1,112 421,249 430,766 3,743,113 American Baptist Home Mission.•……. · ….. 94,697 120,000 1,829,624 580,000 2,020,5 5 rJl · ….. · ……….. .4.8.,0.0.0. 693,291 Seamen's Friend Society t …………. , .. 88,804 248,000 258,279 3,257,567 9,302,e 5 ~.., American Missionary Association t……. 266,356 322,201 6,773,082 630,616 1,626,e 6 · Evangelical Association $i •.•..••••••…•• 908,000 495,020 650,078 494,225 · ….. 7,384,218 369,661 455,399 · ….. ·· ….. 27,714 84,410 457,633 1,598,5 United Brethren§ ………………….. · ….. 186,801 7,850,000 1,601,2 ~ ….. …… 117,728 2…0…9…,2…..8….7 410,500 Southern Baptist Domestic…… , …….. · ….. · ….. • •• 0.0 g 22,165,C o ::!l ………………………..' · ….. **893,918 1,372,7 Young Men's Christian Associations II .•.. • .0 ••• · ….. tt50ll,671 · Disciples …………………………… ….. · ….. ……….. H124,284 .. …… · ….. · … • •••• 0 .,0..••.•.•.• 296,890 853,B United Presbyterian Church…………. ,~ . ….. ~ · Southern Presbytedan Board ………… ·………. .0 . . 495,788 1,076,1 .0' .0' .o . .. . rJl'
Cumberland Presbyterian (last 9 years)… 184,734 394,C e: …… Free-Will Baptist…………………… …. • 0 •••• …… 103,900 373,8 · ….. ….. .' 1,061,495 4,061,4 …rJl 221,905 747,8 Meth. E. Church, South (estimated)…… rJl · Lutherans ………………………..'.. ·eO..' .'0 ..' …… o 951,403 .0 •• o ,r Freedmen's Aid Societies .. '~ ….. …… Methodist Episcopal ………………… .. …….. 1,845,3 …… …. .. Presby •• 0…. ….. • ….. United ….. , terian. . .. .. . … .. ………•… . . . – .. 703,356 1,207,0 Prpsby teri an . … " …………. , . – 0 ••••• 176,556 300,8 – – – – – —– – — Aggregate, …………………… $233,826 $2,342,712 $3,062,354 $8,080,109 $21,015,719 $21,272.154 $27,556,673 $100,019,3 NOTE.-The above is by no means a full exhibit. The Reformed Presbyterians, the Reformed German, the Moravian, the Protestant, ·Free Wesleyan and African * i Methodist chnrches, the Disciples, the Christians, the Adventist., and, in short, all denominations do much borne missionary work which cannot be tabulated in any form. * The earliest receipts of some boards cannot be ascertained.' t United in 1869, Chiefly domestic. § Estimated by a leading ofllcial. UIncluding Christian Commission. 'IJ The Freedmen's work of most churches is included with the Domestic Mission work, ** For thirteen years. tt For eleven years. tt For fourteeu II- ~ years. -Dr. ])()rchester's "Christianity in the Unitea;<itaie8."
The Missionary Review of the World — April 1888
PAUL'S MISSIONARY PRINCIPLES
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XI. No. 4.-Old Series.-APRIL.-voL. I. No. 4.-New Seriu.
I.-THE LITERATURE OF MISSIONS.
PAUL'S MISSIONARY PRINCIPLES.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. P.] LOOKING back through the long aisles of the ages and tracing the history of missions, we behold a grand procession, or succession, of devoted men and women, whose names constitute an alphabet of glory. yet back of t4em all, farther removed into the distant past, stands "Paul the Little," yet the colossal, commanding figure that even distance cannot diminish-the pioneer, in a twofold sense, of missions to the heathen. Noble as are the names of the missionary host, and inspiring as is the story of their heroism, there is no nobler name, no more heroic career than those represented by the Apostle of the Gentiles.
It may be well to try and analyze the principles that underlay that grand missionary life which, leading all the rest in point of time, has led all the rest in point of excellence and eminence; for the history of man has furnished no higher pattern save only as found in Him who made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and undertook the original mission to universal man.
1. In Paul's life as a missionary we observe first a peculiar law oj evangelization: the occupation of otherwise unoccupied fields. " I have strived to preach the gospel not where Ohrist was named, lest I .should build upon another man's foundation; but as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of they shall see," etc. His special aim was "to preach the gospel in the regions beyond" (Rom. xv. 20, 21; 2 Oor. x. 13-16).
The right and left arms of Ohristian activity are these two-education and evangelization. Weare first to proclaim Ohrist where he has not.been named, and then to train converts into active, stalwart disciples and workers. There is undoubtedly a work of building, but foundations must first be laid. And this necessity cannot be too much emphasized. The mission work is sometimes treated as though it were all one; and so indeed it is in principle. But practically there is a great difference between those who have heard of Ohrist and those who have not; between the indifference of apathy or habitual resistance, and the indifference of downright ignorance and habitual surrender to the tyranny of superstition.
You ask, Why should a man go to Africa? Are there not souls needing the gospel in Nebraska and Iowa, and even in our own cities? I answer, There are unsaved souls perhaps in your house, but their destitution is not to be compared with that of millions in the interior of China and Africa. These people are without saving faith in Ohrist ; those are without saving knowledge of Christ. With one class it is light unused, with the other it is darkness unbroken. Paul did not deny that there were hundreds in Jerusalem who had seen Christ's mighty works and heard his divine words, who yet needed salvation, but he yearned especially to reach those who had not even heard ~( him. Theirs was a double destitution-first, not having Christ; second not having the knowledge of Christ.
Take our most destitute mission districts. Can you find a town or settlement in the remotest frontier where there is not at least some pious man or woman who is competent to guide an inquirer? One of our missionary superintendents went to a small group of hamlets on the Rocky Mountains, where there was neither a church nor a Sunday-school, but there he found a poor but pious widow whose humble home was the gathering place for prayer-meetings, and there was not a soul in that village that would not know where to go for counsel. But when Stanley crossed the Dark Continent, from Zanzibar to the Congo's mouth, over all those 7,000 miles he found no native that had heard of Christ! And in China a poor man who had been convicted of sin journeyed sixteen hundred miles to find an American consul, who, as he thought, could tell him about the God of the Christians. Were the question before Paul afresh for decision, where he would go to preach the gospel? He would go where no one else 1vould-where there was the greatest destitution and degradation. If other men feel attracted to the work of building on other men's foundations, let them do that work; but Paul yearned to press into regions beyond, where Christ had never been named, and so within the life of a generation he carried the cross over the known world west of the Golden Horn.
That principle of evangelization must be the law of our Christian life if we are ever to overtake the regions beyond. We must practically feel that the call is loudest where the need is greatest and the darkness deepest. Then, while we shall pass by no really needy field nearer home, we shall press with untiring zeal and contagious earnestness into the farthest corners of the earth.
II. Paul's life was regulated also by the principle of obligation. " I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise." He was a debtor, owing and owning a debtsomething was due, from a man who had such ample revelations of truth, to the rest of mankind.
We often speak of the family of man. God's universal Fatherhood involves and implies man's universal brotherhood, and this brotherhood implies a mutual bond of obligation. Weare each our brother's keeper. Huber, the blind naturalist, observed that a wasp or an ant would not stay alone to enjoy some precious morsel, but go to the nest and return as leader of a host that might partake of the same delicacy. If I have found the bread of life, lowe a duty to my hungry and perishing brother to supply his needs, especially since the more I divide my loaf the more it multiplies. He that is content idly to enjoy gospel blessings, without caring for the starving, dying millions, is guilty of inhumanity. There is such a thing as encouraging a monopoly in salvation. And monopoly is monstrous in proportion to the value of the article monopolized.
How can any man contemplate the moral and spiritual ruin of the race and be unmoved! nave we not all one Father? And we, are we not all brethren? What would be thought of a family that should allow a member of the household that was living thousands of miles away in destitution and degradation to go unthought of, uncared for, unaided, because remote from home? Is not that very remoteness a reason why the heart goes out in especial tenderness in that direction? Let a Ohristmas season come, aud the annual love tokens be distributed, and the first child provided for will be the absent one, nay, even the alienated one. Such is the love of God and the love born of God: it seeks the farthest, neediest, poorest, first of all, because the more liable to be overlooked.
Indifference to foreign missions is the natural outcome of infidelity and materialism. Deny the unity of the race in Adam, the oneness of the human family; make man the offspring of the monkey or the clod of earth, and a true manhood the result of development, and the logical effect is apathy toward a pagan world. The Hottentot is a brute. The French governor of the Isle of Bourbon is right: "You may as well attempt to convert oxen or asses as to make Ohristian men out of the Malagasy." According to the creed of Huxley, Darwin & 00., these superstitious fetish worshipers are brutes, at best only on the long road toward manhood. Why not let them alone and take care of the higher products of evolution! Let these millions of cannibals die eating each other; it matters not if they are never evolved!
But the instant you heartily believe that God has made of one blood all nations of men; that the family of man is one; that there is no human being however embruted or brutal that is a brute; that behind the darkest skin and most bestial physique an immortal soul burns like a gem buried in the dust; that the Maori, Papuan,Terra del Fuegan is my brother and yours, and capable of a future equally glorious with that of any other soul-the moment you accept this truth, such indi:ffer~ ence cannot survive.
III. The Lato of Accommodation. "I am madeall things to all men, that by all means I might save some." This means nothing less than that Paul identified himself with every class of men whom he met and sought to save. Even now Ohristian character is sometimes rigid and frigid in its inflexibility. We know very little about bending and stoop~ ing. We have our Inborn, inbred peculiarities; we call them charac~ teristics because they seem inseparable from character. Our high intel~ lectuality lifts us above ignorance, our refined taste above coarseness, our wealthy associations above the environments of poverty. Weare prone to consult our affinities. And so society separate/! into little groups of those who are like-minded. Self-love degenerates into selfish~ ness; we become comparatively isolated, and do not touch the great mass of humanity sympathetically, helpfully, savingly. .
This great apostle had everything to tempt hi~ to a similar isolation and separation. He was a man of royal mind, enriched with imperial culture. The· schools of Tarsus had done all for him that Greek wisdom and Roman civilization could accomplish, and the schools of the prophets with Gamaliel as teacher had added to all the polish of secular learning the strength and solidity of sacred knowledge. He was fitted for a Oorinthian column in the structure of society, for he had the solid, massive, substantial education of Judean scholarship surmounted by the elegance and grace of Athenian philosophy. Besides all this he had refined sensibilities. He was delicately organized. All his emotional and affectional nature was built on the most exquisite pattern. He had the strength of manly courage and fortitude, with the tenderness of womanly sympathy and sensibility. He was aggressivelyactive, yet his energy and activity were qualified by the passive virtues.
Such a man was one most likely to retire into the comparative exclusion and seclusion of a few cultured friends. He might have been at the head of an academy, or a court, or an army, but he would have been naturally the center of a small circle of intimate associates. But Paul had beneath his life a principle of accommodation. He sawall men in 11 lost condition, and so terrible was spiritual alienation from God that in those measureless depths all comparative differences were lost, as in the star-sown depths of illimitable space. And he forgot his intellectual gifts and graces,his fine sensibilities and selfish affinities, in one burning desire to save men. To the Jew he was a Jew, that he might gain the Jews; to those who were under the law or without law, as himself in the sam£, condition, that he might save them. He sacrificed no prin~ eiple, he denied no truth, he compromised no eternal verities, but he got down to every other man's level and from his point of view looked at life and duty, law and penalty, sin and salvation. Beside a poor man he felt poor; beside the rich man he imagined himself encompassed by the snares of greed; with the ignorant he forgot his learning, and with the gross his refinement. The idolater and sorcerer found in him a man who could sympathize with a mistaken religiousness and a temptation to impose on popular credulity. Chained to a soldier as a common convict, he became interested in the soldier's life as an armed defender of the state, and became for the time himself a soldil'r, and as day by day he was chained to a new member of the Prretorian guard he told anew the story of the cross till so he had preached the gospel to the whole guard in turn. Whether in the palace of the Cresars or the Philippian jail; whether in the house of Lydia or the synagogue at Thessalonica; whether on Mars Hill or the Temple stairs; among the barbarians of Malta or the disciples at Antioch, he never anywhere held himself aloof from human souls. There is no lofty air of superiority in the presence of the lowest and no servile air of cowardice and flattery in the presence of the highest. 'rhis accommodation might almost be called assimilation, for it brought him into such vital, honest, sympathetic contact with man as man.
I have a friend who holds weekly in his church parlors a theological clinic. He brings in convicts, the vicious, the abandoned, the profane, the infidel, and asks them questions concerning their life and opinions and notions of men and things, that, to a band of Christian workers, he may by a kind of dissection of spiritual experience unfold the mysteries of that strange thing the human heart. Paul's life was one long spidtual clinic. He studied men that he might know them, and sought to know them that he might reach them.
IV. Again, Paul was moved by the principle of self-abnegation. "Not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many that they may be saved." Mark, not even his own profit. There are many who get where they forego pleasure for others' profit, but Paul surrendered even his own profit. He simply lost sight of himself in his passion for souls.
Only in the light of this marvelous enthusiasm for God can we interpret Paul's self-limitation. "I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified." Wisdom of words he could forego lest the cross of Christ be made of none effect. Literary ambition beckoned him on to receive its shining crown, but he forgot all else in that absorbing passion. He could say with Count von Zinzendorf, "Ich hab' eine Passion, und die est Er, nur Er."
In this flame of devotion to his Lord all else was consumed. The lust of gain, of applause, of pleasure, of office, of power, of achieve~ ment, all burned as to ashes in those inward fires that left only the image of his Redeemer to survive and glow the more brightly. Of this self-abnegation there is no expression more sublime than that in the epistle to the Colossians (i. 24), "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church."
To be crucified with Christ was a reality to such a man. It meant a cross and a death to self in order to save others. Christ's death saved no human soul. It only made salvation possible. The word of God is but the declaration of the terms of salvation. The Holy Spirit must take of the truth and blood and apply them to the soul. But how does the application come? By lttlman agency. A believer, one to whom salvation has come by faith and faith by hearing, becomes the missing link that joins Christ on the cross, in the word and in the Spirit, to the penitent soul. The believer is a witness and a herald; he tells the story of redeeming love, and he adds his own experience to attest tho word. The Holy Spirit uses that believing testimony to convince the reason, persuade the heart, and move the will. It may be reverently said that the blood of Jesus plus the witness of the word, plus the work of the Holy Spirit, plus the believer, save sinners, for, each in its own place, all together are used by God to accomplish the salvation of the lost. God might have saved men immediately. He chose to do it mediately. Hence Paul needed to fill up what was behind of the sufferings of Christ in his own flesh for his body's sake. He had no need to atone. for men, for the work of atonement was "finished;" he had no need to furnish the Holy Scriptures of truth, for they were all embraced in the Bible; he had no need to act as a divine physician to apply the balm of Gilead. The blood, the word, the Spirit were provided; all he had to do-but that was still lackingwas to get human souls where the blood could sprinkle them, where the word could reach and teach them, where the Spirit could touch and transform them. And to do this he was content to suffer with Christ and bear in his body the marks, stigmata, of the Lord Jesus, as one literally crucified with him.
Paul's success in evangelism is no mystery; it is all an open secret. Give us one man, moved by such principles of evangelization, obligation, accommodation, abnegation, and again the history of humanity shall show a man who in one generation will compass the known world with the network of his personal labor and make a continent echo with the trumpet voice of his testimony!
DAVID BRAINERD
DAVID BRAINERD.
[EDITORIAL.-J. M. S.] HAVING briefly outlined his Life in a previous paper, we proceed II. To SET FORTH IN BRIEF OUTLINE BRAINERD'S CHARACTER. An analysis of his character is not difficult to make, for the leading traits or qualities of the man stand out in bold relief and challenge our observation and admiration. 1. The first thing that impresses the reader of Brainerd's life is the genuineness, depth and thoroughness of his personal piety. We see at once that there is nothing superficial, transient, doubtful, half-hearted about it. Weare brought into contact with a Christian character, and a Christian experience, and a Christian life, most rare and extraordinary in many of their elements and features. There is something startling and awe-inspiring in the depth and intensity of his religious "fra!pes" and" exercises," as recorded so frankly and faithfully in his diary, running through several years, with no expectation that any eye save his own and God's would ever read them. " He belongs to a class of men," as one has well said, "who seem to be chosen of Heaven to illustrate the sublime possibilities of Christian attainmentmen of seraphic fervor of devotion, and whose one overmastering passion is to win souls for Christ and to become wholly like him themselves. " The Law made thorough work with him. His sense of the evil, guilt, and awfulness of sin, of his own deep moral corruption and desert of God's wrath, his personal unworthiness, and entire dependence on divine grace, and his constant need of the Holy Spirit to cleanse, enlighten and sanctify, was most profound and ever present with him. He could not find language strong enough to express his hatred of sin and desire to be entirely and forever cleansed and delivered from it. He longed and strove after holiness, after complete victory over sin and the world and the devil, after entire conformity to the will and likeness of Christ, with a strength and intensity of soul that seem almost; superhuman, 2. His consecration to the Master's service was, seemingly, entire and sublime. Not since the apostolic age has the church produced a grander illustration of the power of the gospel to subdue human selfishness and the love of ease and pleasure and self-indulgence, and to make Jesus Christ supreme, "an and in all," in the affections and life of the soul. Like Paul, he made a total surrender of every faculty and power of body, soul and spirit, to the divine Son of God, and at the same time an unreserved, absolute consecration of his life and being to his service. He could not love and serve God enough. lIe was jealous of his own heart and life lest he should not render every day and hour a tull measure of love and labor. He kept nothing back. From the time he gave himself to Christ he devoted his life and strength and attainments and acquirements and opportunities to the work of saving souls, without recreation, without cessation, sparing himself in no par- ticular ; serving God to the full extent of his ability, and even beyond.
The amount of work he did was almost incredible. He broke down his constitution in four short years, by exposure, privation, and labors of every kind; literally wore his life away in the cause of his blessed Master. It is affecting in the highest degree to read the entries in his journal from day to day, of what he did, what he attempted, what he longed to accomplish; and in the midst of his incessant labors to hear him bemoan his shortcomings, his barrenness of spirit, his unfruitful- ness, and pray God to forgive him his unfaithfulness and grant him a new baptism of love and zeal. Here is a specimen : "Here I am, Lord, send me; send me to the ends of the earth; send me to the rough, the savage pagans of the wildernesfi; send me from all that is called comfort in the earth; send me even to death itself if it be but iq thy service and to promote thy kingdom."
And it was no ascetic or misanthrope that wrote thus, for he adds: " At the same time I had as quick and lively a sense of the value of earthly blessings as I ever had, but only saw them infinitely overmatched by the worth of Christ's kingdom. Farewell friends and earthly comforts, the dear- est of them all; the very dearest, if the Lord calls for it: adieu, adieu; I will spend my life, to my latest moments, in caves and dens of the earth, if the kingdom of God may thereby be advanced." .
He was affianced, as is well known, to a youthful saint of rare gifts, the youngest daughter of Jonathan Edwards; and such a pure, intelli- gent and sensitive nature as his would have enjoyed, in an eminent degree, the felicity of domestic life. But he sacrificed even this, and plunged alone into the wilderness and passed his years with savages, that he might win them to Christ. The little patrimony left him he also devoted to the education of a poor young man for the ministry soon after entering upon his missionary work.
3. Hi8 love for 80uls amounted to a pas8ion, 1IJkich nothing cmtld cool or conquer. No miser ever clung to his treasure as he grasped this idea and made it an ever-present and supreme object with him. No matter where he went, or what were his surroundings, the ruling bent of his soul was manifest. In health and in sickness, in his wigwam among the Indians, on his numerous and solitary journeys from settlement to settlement in the wilderness, and in his occasional visits to New Eng- land, his supreme desire was to convert souls; and no occasion, no opportunity, did he fail to improve, however weary or racked with pain, or weak or broken down from disease. This intense, ever-burning passion often finds expression, as when he Wl'ites in his diary: "0, how I longed that God should be glorified on earth! Bodily pains I
lSS8
cared not for, though I was then in extremity. I never felt easier; I felt willing to glorify God in that state of bodily distress, so long as he pleased I should continue in it. The grave appeared really sweet, and I longed to lodge my weary bones in it: but 0 that God might be glorified! this was the burden of all my cry. 0 to love and praise God more, to please him forever ~ This my soul panted after, and even now pants for while I write, 0 that God might be glorified in the whole earth! Lord, let thy kingdom come! • • • o the blessedness of living to God! • • • Spent two hours in secret duties, and was enabled to agonize for immortal souls, though it was early in the morning and the sun scarcely shone, yet my body was quite wet with sweat. • • • With what reluctance did I feel myself obliged to consume time in sleep! I longed to be a flame of fire, continually glowing in the divine service, and building up Christ's kingdom to my latest, my dying moment."
Is it any marvel that many souls – even the souls of such ignorant and degraded savages-were given to him? And he never regretted his q.evotion and self-sacrificing zeal in: this work. Read his thrilling words as he hung over eternity while in Boston: "I declare now I am dying, I would not have spent my life otherwise for the whole world."
4. His humility and spirit of self-denial and cheerful submission to deprivations and hardships for the gospel's sake are touchingly illustrated in his life. According to President Edwards' testimony, he was a young man of "distinguished talents;" "hali extraordinary knowledge of men and things;" had "rare conversational powers;" "excelled in his knowledge of theology, and was truly, for one so young, an extraordinary divine, and especially in all matters relating to experimental religion." "I never knew his equal of his age and standing, for clear and accurate notions of the nature and essence of true religion." His "manner in prayer was almost inimitable, such as I have very rarely known equaled." He" had a very extensive acquaintance, and engaged the attention of religious people in a remarkable degree." He had also many invitations to settle in his own New England, and an urgent and oft-tepeated call to "East Hampton-the fairest, pleasant~ est town on Long Island, and one of its largest and wealthiest parishes." So that he did not give himself to the missionary work, as is often though unjustly said of other missionaries in these days, because he could not succeed at home. His talents, gifts, and Christian attainments made him the peer of New England's most gifted preachers, with few exceptions.
But he put from him all these tempting offers, and all considerations of a merely personal and temporal nature, and gave his whole self for life to the work of teaching the poor American Indians the way of salvation. And he had no thought that he was doing anythingUJonderful, or that he was degrading himself, or throwing away his talents and Hfe by so doing. On the contrary, he evidently felt that God had greatly honored him in calling him to such a service; and he consecrated his heart and soul and mind and strength and life to it with as much hearti-
DAVID BRAINER1;l. [Al'RIL
ness and enthusiasm and ambition as though he were ministering to a highly cultured people in some conspicuous and wealthy parish.
So real and great was his humility that he often expressed his sur: prise that he was called to such a noble service; that the Indians should have any respect for him, or show him any attention, or that any good should come from his labors. His privations and hardsltt"ps likewise were such a few missionaries have ever experienced. An extract or two .
will serve to introduce the reader to his mode of life: " My diet consists mostly of hasty-pudding, boiled corn, and bread baked in the ashes, and sometimes a little meat and butter. My lodging is a little heap of straw, laid upon some boards a little way from the ground, fsr it is a log room without any floor, that I lodge in. . . . I have now rode more than 3,000 miles [on horseback] since the beginning of March [8 months].
. • . Frequently got lost in the woods. . . . At night lodged in the open woods. . . . Crept into a little crib made for corn and slept there on the poles." .
And yet not one word of complaint do we hearfrom him. Even in his times of extreme melancholy and dejection, and they were frequent; when sick and racked with pain; when lonely and disconsolate, not one breath of murmur rises to heaven. His forest home was often a "Bochim," or as the "valley of Baca," as it respected the outward man and his surroundings. And yet, even then and there, like Jesus after the temptation of the wilderness, angels comforted him and his soul often exulted while he magnified the God of his salvation, "who giveth songs in the night."
5. He exemplified the law of Ohristian meekness and forgiveness in a pre-eminent degree. The unusual attention which his extraordinary career and saintly character attracted, at home and abroad; the sympathy and interest manifested in him by many of the most eminent ministers of his day, among whom were Jonathan Edwards, Bellamy, the Tennants, Pemberton, Aaron Burr, and Jonathan Dickinson, and the high esteem in which he was held py the Ohristian world, especially toward the close of his life, did not tend in the least to elate him. On the contrary-as in all cases of real and eminent worth and superiority -it only tended to make him more humble; it induced Ohristian meekness, and filled him with a profound sense of his unworthiness. The expressions of this feeling in his journal are frequent, emphatic, and evidently sincere.
In all the annals of human life and experience, excepting those of the God-Man, we have no more striking example of Ohristian forgiveness than the life of BRAINERD furnishes. Take a single particular.
He was wronged-wronged as few men in similar circumstances ever were wronged. He was wronged by a public institution; wronged before the world; nay, it is not uncharitable to say that he was perse- cuted, insulted, outraged, and all redrQss refused, and that against the united, solemn, and earnest protest of such men as President Ed-
18!8.] DAVID
wards, Burr, Dickinson, Pemberton, and many others of the most distinguished men of the times. He was wronged in a way to mortify, humiliate and injure a young man of his ambition and talent and gen~ . uine manliness 'and high Christian character and standing, to the ntmost possible extent. The wrong was persisted in, with iron determination and rtlentless severity, even after he had made the most manly and ChriJiian acknowledgment and confession that it was possible for the college authorities to exact, or a gentleman, respecting his own manhood, truth and righteonsness, could consistently make.
And that he felt the wrong exquisitely, and smarted under it, and carried the memory and the scar of it to his grave, his diary affords abundant and affecting proof. This ill treatment at his tender years had much to do with his dejection. It preyed upon his sensitive nature. He felt as if a brand was placed upon his forehead. Most of all he mourned over it, because he thought religion suffered in consequence of it. Noone can read the entries made in his journal during his visit to New Haven a year after his expulsion-at the time when he would have graduated but for that unjust procedure-afraid to show himself in the town for "fear of imprisonment," hiding away in the house of a friend in the outskirts of the town as if "guilty of some open and notorious crime," and there spending Commencement day in prayer and sweet converse with Christian friends-and not feel his heart rise in rebellion against that stern and unrighteous decree which on that occasion crushed his last hope of redress! Earnest application was made on his behalf to the authorities of the college by a "council of ministers at Hartford," and by Edwards, Burr, and many other distinguished men in the various colonies, that he might be allowed to take his degree with his class. But all in vain. Yet here is the entry he made in his diary in this bitter hour of disappointment: "Sept. 14. This day I ought to have taken my degree [this being Commencement day], but God sees fit to deny it to me. And though I was greatly afraid of being overwhelmed with perplexity and confusion, when I should see my classmates take theirs; yet at the very time God enabled me with calmness and resignation to say, 'The will of the Lord be done.' Indeed, through divine goodness I have scarcely felt my mind so calm, sedate, and comfortable for some time. I have long feared this season, and expected my humility, meekness, patience, and resignation, would be much tried; * but found much more pleasure and divine comfort than I expected. Felt spiritu- ally serious, tender and affectionatfl in private prayer with a dear Christian friend to-day."
But notwithstanding the wrong done him was so great and was so obstinately persisted in to the last; and notwithstanding he suffered in his feelings as only a man of such exquisite natural and moral sensibilities could suffer, not once was he known to speak harshly or unkindly of those who had committed the injury. Not a line is found in his diary * Had he been allowed to gradnate he would have been at the head of his class. a.nd that class the largest that had ever graduated at that college.
BRAINERD
alluding to the matter· that breathes other than a spirit of Ohristlike charity and forgiveness, while he was fervent and frequent in his prayers in behalf ofthose who had" so ill used bim." The same spirit that cried out from the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," animated the heart of this youthful disciple while living, aud to-day encircles his brow with a halo of Ohristlike glory.
6. But the crowning excellence of Brainerd 10as the l!8-ge measure of the spirit ofprayer which characterized his life. Prayer was his chief reliance and the secret of his remarkable success. Much of his time was spent in prayer. Days and nights were thus passed, and he grieved when anything interfered to keep him from his knees in solitary and prolonged intercession and communion with God. Closely in this respect did he follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Prayer was his solace, his inspiration, his strength. No part of his diary or journal is of more thrilling interest to any and every Ohristian worker, either in the home or'the foreign field, tban the numerous entries in relation to his seasons of secret prayer. Few saints this side of beaven ever got so near to the throne of God in prayer, ever so "wrestled with the angel of the covenant," ever experienced such communion with the Father of spirits until his soul exulted and overflowed with the fullness of "ineffable comforts." Read a specimen or two: "Had the most ardent longings after God which I ever felt in my life. At noon, in my secret retirement, I could do nothing but tell my dear Lord, in a sweet calm, that he knew I desired nothing but himself, nothing but holi- ness; that he had given me these desires, and he only could give me the things desired. I never seemed to be so unhinged from myself and to be so wholly devoted to God. My heart was swallowed up in God most of the day. Felt much comfort and devotedness to God this day. At night it was refreshing to get alone with God and pour out my soul. Oh, who can conceive of the sweetness of communion with the blessed God but those who have experience of it ! Glory to God forever, that I may taste heaven below! . • • Retired early for secret devotion, and in prayer God was pleased to pour such ineffable comforts into my soul that I could do nothing for some time but say over and over, 0 my sweet Saviour! 0 my sweet ~aviour!
whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. If I had a thousand lives my soul would gladly have laid them all down at once to have been with Christ. • • • My soul was this day at turns sweetly set on God; I longed to be with him that I might behold his glory. I felt sweetly disposed to commit all to him, even my dearest friends, my dearest flock, my absent brother, and all my concerns for time and eter- nity. 0 that his kingdom might come in the world, that they might all love and glorify him for what he is in himself, ;l.nd that the blessed Redeemer . might' see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied!' Oh come, Lord Jesus, come quickly! Amen."
Is it wonderful that such a habit of prayer and such experiences in prayer in the, closet should have made his social and public prayers edifying and striking in a remarkable degree? President Edwards'tes- timony on this point is very explicit and noteworthy: "I know not
THE BffiLE IN
that I ever SO· muoh as heard him ask a blessing or return thank8 at table, but there 1vas something remarkable to be observed both in the matter and manner of the performance." Prayer, in secret and personal communion with God, will temper the whole spirit of a Christian and put its impress upon his social and public habits. If you witness habit- . ual fervency and fullness and power and a wrestling spirit in prayer on the part of any disciple, you may be sure the habit has been acquired in secret intercourse with God upon his knees. Prayer is not so much a gift asa grace, implanted, nourished and matured in long and intimate communion with the Hearer of prayer.
The end of such a life, as we might anticipate, was peace and joypeace in fullness of measure, and" joy unspeakable and full of glory." A glance in his dying chamber reveals the fact that it was" quite on the verge of heaven." Says President Edwards: " On Tuesday, Oct, 6, he lay for a considerable time as if he were dying. At which time he was heard to utter, in broken whispers, such expressions as these: 'He will come, he will not tarry. I shall soon be in glory. I shall soon glorify God with the angels.'. . . The extraordinary frame he was in that evening could not be hid. His mouth spake out of the abundance of his heart, expressing in a very affecting manner much the same things as are written in his diary. Among very many other extraordinary expressions which he then uttered were such as these: 'My heaven is to please God and glorify him, and to give all to him'and to be wholly devoted to his glory; that is the heaven I long for-that is my religion, and that is my happiness, and always was ever since I suppose I had any religion; I do not go to heaven to be advanced, bu't to give honor to God. It is no matter where I shall be stationed in heaven-whether I have a high or a low seat there-but to love and please and glorify God is all; if I had a thousand souls, if they were worth anything, I would give them all to God.'"
THE BIBLE IN INDIA.
By REV. JACOB CHAMBERLAIN, M.D., MADANAPELLE, INDIA.
THE Bible contains a plan devi5ed for the redemption and elevation of mankind. Take the Bible, then, !1S an engine thus devised for the performance of a certain work, and test it well and see whether it does that work or no. And it is to this view of tlie subject that I particularly ask your attention.
Is this old Bible, given centuries ago among the Jewish people, now calculated to do the work for which it was designed? or, in this day of progress and of the intermingling of nations, do we find it antiquated, and its day of adaptedness and usefulness passed away? This is, emphatically, an age not alone of changes, but of improvements. Fast mail-trains and the telegr~ph hiLVe taken the place of the old mounted mail-carrier~ with his mail-bags thrown over the 4ors6 upon which he rode. The four and six horse stage-coach has' given way to palace cars. The quiet stitching of the seamstress is replaced by the hum of the sewing machine. There is scarcely ~ piece of machinery, of any kind, now in use that was used even by our grandfathers. New books, new systems of sciences, new methods in the arts-aU, all is new. Have we made a mistake, then, in holding on to our" old Bible" too long? If so, let us acknowledge it like men and try to replace it with something better; but first let us put it to the proof and see.
Now, in testing a machine or engine it is necessary to try it in all the different circumstances in which it is to be employed, especially in the worst. The government of India sought to introduce the best machinery for ginning and spinning and weaving the cotton growing there. A proclamation was issued, and published in every country where machinery was made, offering a princely premium for that machinery that should best do the work. And when, after near a year for preparation, the machinery was gathered from the four quarters on the banks of the sacred Ganges, when the viceroy and his council and the judges had assembled to test it, it was tried not alone wit.h the cotton grown there on the banks of the Ganges, but cotton was brought from the base of the Himalaya Mountains, and from the plains of Tinnevelly, near Oape Oomorin, from the hill country of Berar, and from the plains of Bellary, and the country a~out Bombay; and the machinery that best did the work in all, the long staple and the short, the coarse and the fine, it was that that won the prize, and that is now doing the work in India. So if an ocean steamer be launched, it must be tried not alone on the smooth waters of the bay or river on whose banks it was constructed, for until it has crossed the ocean, breasting the mountain billows in a storm, no one can tell whether after all it be a safe vehicle for human life. So with every kind of machinery-it must be tested in the 1IJOrst circumstances in which it will be called to act.
For the last score of years I have been engaged in putting the Bible to just such a test, and that in the most unpropitious circumstances. India is Satan's stronghold. Hinduism, with its handmaid caste, weaves iron fetters around its votaries. With much of truth in its scriptures, the Veda'l, it has degenerated into the worst of polytheism and idolatry; with .its defective view of God and man, it has had no conservating, elevating influence over its votaries. The Hindus are at once a very religious and a grossly immoral people. Intelligent, sharp, quick-witted, immutable in their nature, wedded to their ancient system, which is a splendid one though false, the Brahmanists are the most able and determined adversaries of what they term the" new religion." If the Bible will work in India, then we may safely COllclude that it will work anywhere. How, then, does it work in India? Let us test it and see.
For example, does this "old Bible," given so many centuries ago among the Jews, describe the human heart of to-day, and the condition of man in different lands? or is it antiquated and defective in this respect? On a certain occasion, some fourteen years ago, I went into a native city in India, where the name of Jesus had never been heard, there for the first time to show them and give them these Scriptures, and to preach to them of Christ and His salvation. As an introduction, when we had assembled an audience in the street, I asked my native assistant to read the first chapter of Romans; that chapter which those who call themselves liberal-minded tell us is too black to be true; that chapter that describes the heart of man wandering away from God and into sin, and conceiving vile conceptions of God, and then wandering away farther, until at last, "though they know the judgments of God, that they which do such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them ;" the chapter which many tell us is a libel upon human nature. That chapter was read. The most intelligent man in the audience, a Brahman, stepped forward and said to me, "Sir, that chapter must have been written for us Hindus. It describes us exactly." The photograph was recognized. It had ICen taken centuries before, and among a Jewish people; but the artist .vas divine, and the heart that was photographed was that, not of a lmo, but of a man.
On another occasion I went into another city, there also for the first time to proclaim Christ as the way of life. As we entered the native town and passed up the main street, I noticed a small Hindu temple, built upon the side of the busiest street, with its doors open and the idols in at the farther end, so that passers-by could worship as they went. At the side of the door sat the Brahman priest of the temple on a pedestal, unclad down to the waist-that he might receive the homage, the demi-divine worship which the people were wont to render him-with a platter by his side to receive their offerings as they went in and out of the street to their business or their work. I noticed it and passed on. Going up the main street, and looking here and there and finding no better place, we came back to this temple; and as I politely asked permission of the Brahmin to address an audience from the steps of tho temple, he as politely gave his permission; and singing a song to bring the people together, we soon had the street packed with those who wondered what we had come for, and I preached to them. I took for my theme "the character of any being whom the intelligent mind of man in any land would be willing to call God ;" and from the necessities of our natures, I attempted to show them that in order to call any being God, we must believe him to be stronger than we and stronger than any powers that might be arrayed against us;' that he must be omnipotent, or we could not trust him; that he must be wiser than we and wiser than any intelligences that might be combined against us; that he must be omniscientj that he must be able, in all parts of his dominion, at the same time, to be and to notice all passing events; that he must be omniprB8ent; that he must be a God of love, a Goq. of jus~ tice, and so on. I had painted to them the character and attributes of God as we find them given in our Bible-not telling them where I found the picture, but drawing this characterization of God from the necessities of the soul of man. The intelligent men in the audience at once acknowledged the picture to be a correct one, as I went on from point to point, and admitted what I said to be true. At last, complet~ ing the picture, I said to them, "Now, who is God, and where is God?" The Brahman priest sitting there on his pedestal, seeing how intently the audience of his worshipers were listening to my description of God, so di:tIerent from that enshrined in the temple at my side, and seeing at a glance, with his keen mind, that if this description of God was ac~ cepted as true his employment was gone, seeking to create a diversion, straightened himself up, and with his finger drawing a line around his stomach, he said, "Sir, this is my God; 1IJhen this £s full, my God is propitious; token this is empty, my God is angry. Only give me enough to eat and drink, and that is all the God I want." Turning to this same old Book, I gave him that scathing denunciation of Paul of those "whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, and whose end is destruction." And then turning again to the audience and reminding them of the pure and holy character that I had described, I told them that "this poor, miserable wretch here is willing to call his belly his God." Amid the sneers and scorns of his own worshipers, he sprang from his pedestal, slunk around the corner of the temple, and vanished down a side street. And oh~ how the audience listened while I described to them Him in whom all the fullness of this Godhead was manifested bodily, even Jesus of Nazareth, the Saviour of all of them, in all the world, that will believe in Him!
On another occasion I was reading from the seventh chapter of Romans that declaration of Paul of the power of sin over us, where he says, "When I would do good, evil is present with me, and the good which I would I do not, but the evil which I would not that I do." As I read it the most intelligent man in my audience spoke up, saying, "That is it! that is it! That is exactly what is the matter with us Hindus. Now, does your Book tell us how we can get rid of that evil disposition, and do the good we would and avoid doing the evil that we would not?" How gladly, from this same old book, did I point them to Him who can create a new heart and renew a right spirit within us; who can give us not only the desire but the power to do good: "For I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me."
On another occasion and in a di:tIerent city I read the description of the forty-fourth chapter of Isaiah, of the making and worshiping of images. When I had completed the reading, a sharp man in the audience, a Brahman, st9pped out and said, "Now, sir, we have caught
THE MIRA.CLES OF MISSIONS
you. You told us that this was an old book, given long ago in another part of the world to tell us how we might find God, and, how worshiping him we might attain to peace with him; but, sir, that which you have just read you have written since you came here and saw how we Hindus managed it." The photograph once more was recognized.
THE MIRACLES OF MISSIONS.-NO. II. [EDITORIAL.-A. T. p.] THE LONE STAR MISSION.
THE Romance of Ongole reads like a fairy tale. This station is some two hundred miles north of Madras, in the Telugu country of India. Some thirty-four years ago Dr. Jewett, missionary from Nellore, in the service of the Baptists of this country, touring in this thickly settled region, climbed the summit of a mountain near Ongole, and surveying the country besought God to send there a missionary. For thirteen years that prayer seemed to be lost. But God was not unmindful, and he was preparing a workman for this "lone star" field, which in 1853, at the anniversary meetings in Albany, it had been almost determined to abandon as a fruitless and hopeless enterprise.
Mr. Clough, a civil engineer, became strangely impressed that he was called to this field, and that God would there give him ten thousaud converts in a great and marvelous ingathering. It seemed to be the wild fancy of a vagarist or dreamer. The Baptist Board hesitated to send such a fanatic to the field. But he persisted, and was finally appointed to the Lone Star Mission. Blessings have crowned his work that have thrilled the whole Ohristian church with amazement and gratitude, and which deserve record among the Miracles of Missions.
The Lord has often used the locusts and caterpillars as his "great army," and he used the famine of 1877 as his messenger to prepare the way. It has been estimated that in the presidency of Madras alone three millions of people perished in consequence, and in Mysore and Bombay districts two and a quarter millions more. While the Brahmanic priesthood and the heathen people, even the rich, looked on with selfish and stolid indifference,Ohristian England sent a relief fund of $4,000,000; and the distribution of !Such noble charities among this alien people made a profound impression on the native mind and compelled a comparison of the two religions, which by no means was favorable to Brahmanism and its kindred faiths.
During the severest pressure of famine it became obvious why God had chosen a civil engineer for this emergency. Mr. Clough was studying to provide work for the suffering masses round about him. He went to the authorities of the government and proposed to undertake the construction of three and a half miles of the Buckingham Oanal, in order to furnish employment and food for these starving thousands. The offer was accepted. After the day's work was done these people gathered in camps and the gospel was preached to them; meetings for prayer and praise were held, inquiries were guided, and converts taught and encouraged. The spirit of God began to work in a way and on a scale which probably has had no parallel since Pentecost. Seed that had been sown now rapidly sprang into blade, ear, and full-grown corn in the ear. Idols were fiuug away by the thousands, and even the hundreds of thousands, as useless. The missionaries were througed by inquirers, and had no leisure so much as to eat. Lest the sincerity of the motives of the converts should be questioned, they were kept on a sort of probation until after the famine had been relieved and there was no longer the temptation to seek the church as a charity organization.
As soon as it was safe to receive professed converts they poured by the thousands into the church. Between June and December, 1878, nearly ten thousand were after diligent and careful examination received into the fold by baptism. These marvelous ingatherings were undoubtedlyof such as were being saved. '['hey have proved unusually faithful, and after ten years the work still goes on. The prayer offered on that mountain has been conspicuously and gloriously answered, and no miracle of apo.;tolic days more plainly shows the finger of God. The immense congregations, the character of the converts, the theological seminary at Ramapatam with its two hundred students, and the transformations to be seen in society all through the Telugu country, prove that the Lone Star has been and still is shining with supernatural beams in this great darkness.
Mr. Clough has been permitted to do efficient service in another direction, in striking a heroic blow at the monstrous caste system of India. His first arrival in the country was hailed with joy by. the highcaste Brahmans, who rejoiced to have a prospect of good schools for their children. They promised their support, and they kept their word; they placed under Mr. Clough's instruction sixty-two of their sons and paid well for their education. The prosperity of the schools seemed to be on a firm basis, and no restraint was put upon the teaching~of the truth. This spontaneous and generous welcome to Ohristian schools was the opening of a new and wide door of service.
But a perplexity arose. Three men of low caste presented themselves as converts and were welcomed as became a missionary who believed in a church where there was no barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, male or female, but all one in Ohrist Jesus.
The caste spirit was aroused and the aristocratic Brahmans indignantly threatened that if Mr. Clough had any more to do with the outcast Sudms and Pariahs, all the support of the higher classes would at once be withdrawn from him and his schools. While he hesitated and wavered, scarcely knowing what course to take, two more low-class converts knocked at the church doors, and the genuineness of their conversion demanded a prompt decision. The crisis of the mission had arrived. The horns of an inevitable dilemma threatened to impale the missionary, and to escape the one was to cast himself upon the other. If he refused the low-caste converts, what became of the democracy of the Ohristian church? If he admitted them, what became of his aristocracy and the schools dependent on the high caste for support?
He consulted his wife, and they both retired by agreement to separate rooms for prayer. H 0 God, guide us in this extremity of the mission," was the groaning of two hearts whose deeper prayer could not be uttered. Simultaneously, in their different rooms, the husband and wife each took' up a 'l'estament from a pile lying before them for distribution among Eurasians; and without any intention of open'ing to any particular place, both husband and wife, involuntarily, unconsciously opened to the same passage and verses -1 Cor. i. 26-31 : H Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called: but God hath chosen the foolish, weak, base, despised, the things which are not," etc. 'I'o each of them came the same thought: H I see it: I have not been building on God's plan; this structure must come down and I must begin anew." The wife and husband started to meet each other and communicate with each other the direct answer to prayer through the Word. H See here," said Mrs. Clough, H what I have been reading." H But I have been reading the same verses," replied he; "did you know it?" H No, indeed." Thus by a remarkable coincidence God, at the same moment, by the same means, made their way clear as day. They were to build the church like a pyramid, from the broad base of the lowest classes upward, and the base must be broad enough to take in the masses of the poorest and basest and the weakest and most despised.
They had the heroism to follow the divine guidance. The very next morning they made their decision public. Every pupil l~ft the school, and the financial bottom of their enterprise collapsed in ruin. The friendship of the high castes was changed to bitter hostility. They began anew. The base was now broad enough to embrace all who would come, however poor or low. And on that basis another structure was reared, in which, strange to say, m.ore upper-caste converts have been built than under the former aristocratic system!
We do not wonder that those who have studied the work of God among the Telugus have said: " It is without a parallel in the history of modern Christian missions in heathen or in civilized countries. In some cif its features and aspects it always suggests the Pentecostal period and its wonderful scenes. The present condition of the mission is full of promise and prophecy. Stili greater successes in the near future may be confidently expected. This mission demands, must have, and is sure to receive, the best care and the most munificent contributions of the Baptists of America. But we have been standing off and e;aziu~ ill amlloZemen,t at tbe ;l.chievements of divine 15l'ace and power amon9' the ignorant and degraded Telugus. The time has come when we must move closer up to the work, more vitally and practically link ourselves with that work. We must without delay prepare to assume the weighty obligations and to discharge the grave responsibilities which success has created and is daily pressing upon us. A short time ago and a few brief paragraphs or sentences, uttering only depreciation and discouragement, if not something akin to contempt, constituted all the annual statement which the executive officers of the Missionary Union had to give the denomination relative to the mission among the Telugus. Now many pages of the yearly exhibit are required to present only the merest outlines of the surprising successes which continue to crown the toils'of the working forces in the Telugu field. Last year large and eager audiences assembled and listened with breathless attention for nearly two hours to Dr. Clough while he narrated, witho~t embellishment or emotion, the simple, extraordinary, almost incredible facts of his labors among the Telugus. No mission in the world, prosecuted by any Christian denomination, can so compel, arouse and enlist the attention of a public assembly; no mission in the past or in the present has such a marvelous record; but this very success calls for immediate and vigorous effort, for prompt and generous gifts of money, to provide for the deep and pressing necessities which spring up with and out of that success-necessities which cannot be neglected or inadequately met without jeopardizing the best welfare of the mission in the future.
"Education, both secular and religious, must be instantly and amply pro- vided for. It is gratifying and encouraging to learn that this want is at this hour being felt and to some extent provision is being made to meet it. At Ongole, the great centre of that large field on which the blessing of God has been so bountifully lavished, a school has been established, for which, since Dr. Clough's recent return to this country, $10,000 have been subscribed for additional buildings. Besides this he has also raised $10,000 for the erection of two mission-houses in Madras. The prOVision being made for the enlarge- ment of the high school at Ongole should haNe the hearty and practical co- operation of all interested in the training of the converts in that field. The high-caste people will not, cannot be reached and inlluenced by the Christian diSCiples in the Telugu churches until ignorance gives place to intelligence. God is able to work without the mental training and discipline of the Telugu Christians; so is he able to work without their intellectual inferiority and crudeness. The theological seminary at Ramapatam, under the manage- ment of the energetic President Williams, iii doing a large and splendid work for the training and equipment of a native ministry. On the )st of last July there was completed and occupied a building that will favorably compare with anything of the kind that can be found among the other missions of Southern India. At Nellor~ is soon to be built the Bucknell Female Seminary, a school for the training of Bible-women and female teachers for girls' schools. For this building one gentleman, Mr. Bucknell of Philadelphia, has given $3,500.
" While these efforts are being made and these projPcts are being pushed forward to provide for the necessities and the advantages of secular and Christian culture, the work of evangelization is being carried steadily and vigorously on. The conversions and baptisms since the great awakening and ingathering in 1877-78 have averaged over 2,000 souls a year. There are now 13 central stations and 205 out-stations in this mission. There are 37 Ameri- can missionaries, including the women of the company. The number of na- tive preachers, ordained and unordained, is 174. There are 21 Bible-women and other nativ(,! helpers, making a tota.! working force of 323, There are
MISSION WORK IN PAPAL EUROPE
now 84 churches, comprising a membership of nearly 25,000. There were baptized in 1886 in this mission nearly 3,000. Besides the high school at Ongole and the theological seminary at Ramapatam, there are 180 mission schools with nearly 4,000 pupils; and all this the growth of about eighteen years! True, there was much of sowing, praying and weeping for some years prior to this large and splendid harvest. But what a harvest! "
MISSION WORK IN PAPAL EUROPE.
By R:EV. WILLIAM OLARK, D.D., FLORENCE, ITALY.
IN my brief paper in the January REVIEW, "Mission Work in Papal Europe," I alluded to woman's work, some features of which I desire now to give more in detail.
The school in Greece has had great influence in awakening in the women of southern and eastern Europe a desire for higher education, for social and industrial freedom, and has awakened also a consciousness of higher privileges, rights, duties and responsibilities in society and in the state.
This school was established and has ever been sustained by American women. Mrs. Emma Willard, Mrs. Sigourney, Mrs. Phelps and Mrs. Hill will ever be remembered as honored names in connection with the founding in Athens, Greece, of a college for the higher education of Greek young women. . When Mrs. Willard and Mrs. Sigourney visited Europe, about 1835, it was not merely to seek health and pleasure, but they sought to do a most noble work. They became deeply interested in the condition of women in Greece, and returning to this country Mrs. Willard organized a society called" A Society for the Advancement of Female Education in Greece." In regard to this enterprise she said: "Is not improvement in female education an important feature in the grand system of moral advancement now going forward in the world? Should we not strengthen it at home and send it abroad?" For this object she offered $3,000, and this sum she would have given herself had not the ladies of Troy nobly come forward to her aid.
This school, carried forward by Mr. and Mrs. Hill, has been the cause of the education of more than 20,000 in that country and in the colonies of Greece in all parts of the Orient. In all the centres of Greek civilization-Oonstantinople, Smyrna, Salonica, Seres, Adrianople, Philippopolis and Janina-are found the best schools for girls, whose teachers have been trained in the American school in Athens. In 1874 a pupil of this school was invited to Oonstantinople to take charge of a Greek seminary fOl' women, and soon she became principal of the" Zappion," the greatest female college in that city, and this position she still holds.
Fifty years ago Athens and the East were dead in regard to higher female education, but by the sympathy and interest of noble American women there was set up a great agency which has been a most power· ful civilizing influence thronghout all southeastern Europe, and which even sheds its light and joy far into western Asia. It has trained an admirable band of well-educated teachers and sent out hundreds all over Greece and its oriental colonies. TheI;e is no question that Greece owes its rapid progress and Greek instruction to its women.
This school has awakened in them a love for the study of the works of their ancestors, which, pervaded by a lofty spirit of patriotism, have made them more alive to their responsibilities at the first reappearance of their national life.
There is in Greece among women a consciousness of their rights and duties and an activity in benevolent work hardly to be found in any other European conntry. There are also large charitable organizations, composed of prominent ladies of Athens and other cities, and recommended by her Majesty the Queen, which confer great blessings upon the poor and needy. The work done by these associations received medals and honorable mention at the Vienna Exhibition. And in all this culture and benevolence, so marked in Greece, there is a spirit of warm patriotism, a' religious nature untainted by fanaticism, and a philanthropic and hospitable heart.
It is also of this American school at Athens that Mr. Botossi, the Greek consul in this country, speaks with so much enthusiasm, saying in substance that to be a graduate of this school is to have a diploma for the best manners, the most thorough education, and the highest and purest. morals; adding at the same time that here his own sister was educated, and also the daughters of all the best families in Athens. He also said that the Greek papers were filled with the highest praise of this institutiou. In such favor is this school with the government that it is visited by the queen, and a few years since the king thanked the American principal in the name of the nation for her fifty years of devotion to the cause of education for Greek women.
How large and widely extended is this noble mission work accomplished by a few large-hearted Ohristian ladies! Pupils of thilil school who have taken high rank in social and domestic life have been found at Smyrna, in remote eastern Asia Minor, at Oonstantinople, in Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria and Italy. Indeed 'we can safely say that the highest and best educational and religious culture in 'all southeastern Europe and western Asia can be traced to the institution for women at Athens. And I am happy to say that this same school is at present most generously aided by one of the best women of our land.
There is also another institution in Europe which by its energetic and wide-spreading influence has done much for the intellectual and religious culture of young women. I refer to the one at Kaiserswerth on the Rhine, for the education of German deaconesses as teachers and nurses. Here Florence Nightingale was educated previous to accomplishing her great work at Constantinople during the Crimean war. There is an indescribable charm about Kaiserswerth as a seminary of higher female education, and in home work and mission work throughout Europe and the Orient the results have been wonderful in awakening a desire among women for high literary and religious culture. Their institutions, embracing normal schools and colleges for the training of Ohristian workers are everywhere recognized as agencies of the purest benevolence, characterized by a lovely Ohristian spirit, and agencies also of a high intellectual culture. It is impossible to speak sufficiently in praise of this noble agency for woman's highest mental and spiritual improvement. At Kaiserswerth at present there are about 260 deaconesses. More than one thousand have been sent forth. They have 103 stations, many of which are in Germany and Southern Europe. Nineteen are in the East-at Smyrna, Oonstantinople and other citiesand all are in charge of some 50 deaconesses. At Florence, Italy, there is an institution of 70 pupils. It began with 20, and in two years it was self-supporting. In some places these labors are under the direction of' a committee of ladies. The deaconnesEles are religious, cheerful, loving and earnest in spirit. The only critici~m that I could make in regard to all these schools would be that they should be of a still higher literary grade, in order to respond more fully to the wants of the people. These noble-hearted deaconesses, however, going forth two by two in V the various countries of Europe, are doing a great work and are signally blest. Their policy is the true mission policy, and the only successful mission policy that can be employed in mission work for all the Papal States of Europe.
In conversation with the late Dr. Mark Hopkins, President of the American Board, only a short time before his death, I spoke of the culture and religious influence I was endeavoring to secure for young women in Oentral and Southern Europe, and I referred to the work of the German deaconesses establishing religious schools in the East and in other countries, with their wonderful success. He replied, "Why cannot the Ohristian women of our own land do a similar work? Let there be an organization and perhaps an institution in this country or in Europe like the one at Kaiserswerth, to prepare young women thoroughlyfor this special work; call them deaconesses-I see no objectionand send them forth two by two to establish evangelical schools; it would be a noble work." And when I referred to the aid I was then seeking for this very object he said, as President of the American Board, " We are doing no better work in any part of the world than you are doing in Southern Europe; if I had money I would give liberally, but poor as I am I wish my name and the name of my wife associated with this enterprise;" and saying this he gave me a donation for himself and also for his wife.
Only a day or two after, in speaking with Roswell D. Hitchcock, D.D., of my work in Europe, after words of high commendation and approval he said, "It is a grand work, and I wish to show that I fully endorse and appreciate it." He then gave me a donation for this object.
In the same day these two men, first in our country in culture and first as leaders in benevolence, finished their work on earth.
It is by means of such influences as have gone forth from Kaiserswerth and from the college in Greece that woman is now earnestly calling for a higher and better Ohristian culture. Feeling that she has in the past been held back from her higher sphere of action, numerous organizations are now everywhere being formed for improving her condition. Her claims for education, for social and industrial freedom, and for political enfranchisement are earnestly advocated by the first women in every department of art, literature and philosophy throughout Southern Europe.
Most marked and happy was the influence upon the educational condition of wome~ in Europe coming from the admirable exhibit of our American system of education made at the expositions at Vienna and Paris. Residing at Vienna and the south of Europe at the time, I could give many interesting proofs of this. For instance, at Vienna, shortly after the Exposition, a princess of one of the first families of the empire said to me, "Do you know what we want at Vienna? It is an institution similar to the best female schools and colleges in the United States. We need it for the education of the daughters of our nobility. I am fully persuaded that your system of female education is far superior to that in our church under the direction of the Jesuits and the convents." And she added, "If you will persuade the good ladies in England and America to aid in initiating such a system of education and establish a college here at Vienna, I will be a patroness of the institution." Such were the wonderful words of a lady who belonged to the representative Oatholic family of Austria.
So also in Italy. Once visiting the highest school of female education established by the Italian Government at Florence, being struck by some improved methods of instruction, I asked the lady principal some question in regard to them. She replied in substance, "You will recognize my system of instruction in many points to be distinctively American. I was at the Paris Exposition, and there day after day I faithfully studied your American methods, and these I have introduced as far as possible into my school." This lady expressed the wish that our American system of schools, with a true religion, might everywhere be introduced into Italy, and she believed that such schools would be the salvation of the country.
Here is opened before us a mission work in Europe, in our opinion second to no other-a workfor ~ooman and to be done by ~ooman.
In close contact with mission life for a long series of years, in all that I have seen and done, I cannot form a conception of a nobler mission work in this or any other age than that of' carrying our best culture, with a true religion, at the present crisis of woman's history, to the Papal countries of Europe. Evangelical schools of higher female education are the agency, and the agency that is desired in Italy. Not schools without religion, but schools with religion.
It is well known that the Italian Government is now doing much for education; but having banished the Jesuit and the priest from all educational institutions, their schools are all without religion-from the primary to the highest-no religion. But the Italians of the beUer class have much religious sentiment, and wish their daughters to be educated in schools under religious influences. They say, Religion has in the past occupied so prominent a part in our schools, what is now to take its place? The schools are becoming more and more irreligious, and there is reason to fear that ere long the people will appeal to the government for the priests to be returned to give religious instruction in the schools. For this reason they ask us to hasten to their help. One of Italy's first scholars and ablest statesmen not long since said: "The weakest point at present in Italy is the religious education of young women. In our schools there is no religion; and why," he asked, "do not benevolent men and women in America and England see it and come to our help, bringing to us the superior culture of their schools, with a true religious influence, and thus aid in emancipating our system of female education from the control of the convent and the Jesuit? They could confer no greater blessing upon It~ly." Thus speaks a noble Italian, who has the best interests of his country at heart.
Immediately after the formation of the kingdom of Italy, which seemed like the springtime of life to the nation, many courageous women arose to take part in her literary regeneration, and these gave a marked impulse to higher female education. As early as 1869, at the :request of some of the first ladies of Italy, we made an appeal to the Italian Government for the establishment at Florence of a "Ladles' International Oollege." We had several conferences with the Minister of Public Instruction, and the project was received with great favor. The United States minister wrote several letters to this country to interest friends in the enterprise. But Florence was then the capital, and unfortunately a building in that city could not be found for the purpose. But the establishing of such an institution of high literary culture was regarded of supreme importance to Italy. Un.sectarian in its character but vUaUy Ohri.stian in its influence, it would prove far superior to any direct denominational mission agency ever introduced into the country. It is thus, as Sir William Muir of the University of Scotland said, "establishing evangelical schools of higher female education in Papal Europe, is mission work of the highest imuortance."
THE GREAT WORLD COUNCIL. [APRIt
THE GREAT WORLD COUNCIL.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. P.] THERE are those on both sides of the sea that look forward to the coming month of June as the time for the convening of a Council second in practical importance to none that has ever met since the day of Pentecost.
A general Missionary Conference is then to be held in Exeter Hall, London, from June 9th to 19th, which will embrace representatives of all the great missionary societies and Christian denominations. Missionary workers, native converts and helpers from every part of the mission field will be present and participate; information of the most comprehensive and accurate sort will be furnished as to the world-wide work and field, and the practical questions to be covered in the discussions and addresses are of supreme importance to the prosecution of the great missionary campaign and conquest.
For example, the matter of missionary comity. There is a great deal of work that overlaps. While some fields are wholly destitute, others are comparatively over-supplied. . The time has fully come for a mutual understanding between Christian denominations and their societies and representatives as to the limits of their respective fields, interchange of workers, transfer of converts, etc. We need to have it determined what is to be regarded as preoccupation and what as intrusion. Certain principles need to be agreed upon as to the policy to be pursued in dealing with such questions as Chinese ancestral worship and East Indian caste; there ought to be a consistent plan for developing a native ministry and making native churches self-governing, selfsupporting, self-propagating. A common scale of salaries for native helpers would remove the temptation of a mercenary motive in seeking .larger wages, etc. A hundred questions that now present practical perplexities would be no longer embarrassing could Christian disciples agree upon a standard for the conduct of the work.
The place of education in the work of missions needs to be determined. The need and value of schools, the scope of their educational schemes, coeducation of the sexes, the language in which teaching should be conducted, the character of the teachers to be employed, the question of copartnership of different societies in college work, the importance of higher education, and especially theological training, the shortening of preparatory courses for those who cannot spend the full period of preparation ordinarily required-how many and vast are the problems of education demanding solution!
Then the whole position of the native agencies needs definition and determination. How to secure a large efficient body of capable native workers, how to fit them for service and set them at work and support them in the work, how broad to make the basis of their training without raising them unduly above the people for whom they labor, how ample to make their pecuniary support without putting before them the temptation of avarice or elevating them to a false level-here is a whole continent of thought needing exploration.
The methods of mission 1vork demand adjustment and agreement. The qualifications of missionaries, physical, mental and spiritual; their course of training, the question of a medical education for the ordinary worker, the establishment of missionary professorships and lectureships at home and abroad, itinerant and local evangelism, industrial and medical missions, adaptation to existing usages and customs, and the attitude of the missionary toward the government and society at large-these are matters vital to a large success.
Then the creation and dissemination of a Christian literature; the power of the press and its utilization; Bible translation and distribution, and the multiplication of tracts and books; the newspaper, apologetic literature, children's papers and periodicals; and last but not least, the way to get and keep before Ohristians the facts of modern missions through a cheap, comprehensive and frequent form of printed statement-here again the conference might busy itself for the ten days of its sessions.
Consider again all the intricate matters that concern the development of the chu,rch at home. The monthly concert, missionary maps, missionary conventions, simultaneous meetings; the increase of gifts, but above all of prayer / the education of children in knowledge and love and systematic giving; woman's work, its range,' its opportunity, its grand utility; the consecration of wealth' and the organization of the mites into millions-behold here another class of questions engaging the best thought of our day.
These and scores of other subjects will occupy the sacred season of prayer and conference in June next in the world's metropolis. One of the editors of this REVIEW may well be permitted to feel a very special interest in this approaching conference. As long ago as 1881 he published an appeal, which was widely distributed in this and other lands, calling for a world council of missions. That appeal closed with these words: "Let us have an ecumenical council, representing all evangelical churches, solely to plan this world-wide campaign and proclaim the good tidings to every living soul in the shortest time! Let the field be divided and aistributed with as little waste of men a,nd means as may be. Let there ~e a universal appeal for workers and money, and a systematic gathering of offerings that shall organize the mites into millions.
"The grandeur of the proposition thrills the very pen that puts it on paper. And yet, after studying to look at it calmly and coolly, I can see nothing to hinder such a glorious result, save the lack of the divine anointing."
At the Northfield convention of believers in August, 1885, Dwight L. Moody presiding, the great assembly by a rising vote adopted a similar deliverance calling for a "great council of evangelical believers to meet at some great centre like London or New York t.o consider the wonder. working of God's providence and grace in mission fields, and how fields now unoccupied may be insured from further neglect, and to arrange and adjust the work so as to prevent needless waste and friction among workmen, and so to greatly further the glorious object of a world'!! evangelization." That appeal closed thus: "We earnestly commend the suggestion to the prayerful consideration of the various bodies of Christian believers and the various missionary organizatioll!'l. What a spectacle it would present both to angels and men could believers of every name, forgetting all things in which they differ, meet by chosen representatives to enter systematically and harmoniously upon the work of sending forth laborers into every part of the world field! "
This deliverance was signed by seven representatives of different denominations, as a committee: Arthur T. Pierson, Philadelphia, Presbyterian, chairman; A. J. Gordon, Boston, Baptist; L. W. Munhall, Indianapolis, Methodist; George F. Pentecost, Brooklyn, N. Y. Congregationalist; William Ashmorc, missionary to Swatow, China, Baptist; J. E. K. Studd, London, England, Church of England; Miss E. Dryer, Chicago Avenue Church, Chicago.
There will be many who will regard this council, now called to meet in June, as the answer to many fervent prayers. For one, the writer of this article looks forward to this meeting as surpassed in importance and possible results by no other ever held. In fact it may be doubted whether it be not the first of its kind. When before have Christians of every name and land met, without regard to any denominatioual lines or limits, to represent on the one hand the entire body of Christendom and on the other hand the entire field of missions, pagan and papal, Mohammedan and heathen! This will be an ecumenical council in fact. And think for what a purpose they meet who gather there and then! To map out the world-for Christ's war of the ages! To cover every district of earth's surface with the network of missionary effort; to plant the cross in every valley and on every hill ; to put the Bible in every hamlet and hut; to prevent all waste of men and material and means; to distribute work equally and equitably; to accelerate the progrelils of missions so that in the shortest time the witness may be borne to all people and to every soul! Is there any purpose on which the whole Christian church could so heartily and confidently invoke and implore God's blessing?
There is one outcome of this council for which we look with greater confidence and hopefulness than for all other results combined. How heavy has our heart often been over the wide spread apathy and lethargy of the church itself in respect to missions! Even where missionary effort is found, how often are its methods excessively conservative, stereotyped and often even secular. Dependence is frequently placed on mere organization. A transient enthusiasm is awakened that is like the morning cloud or early dew, that passes as quickly away. How little avidity in welcoming news from tbe field! How little prayerful solicitude for the progress of missions! How slow and spasmodic the inflow into the Lord's treasury !
What the church needs just now above all else is a baptism of prayer. 'fhe world has invaded the church with its secular spirit and its skeptical spirit. Confidence in the supernatural is practically undermined. " A life of faith" is often sneered at as fanaticism, and" dependence solely on prayer" is regarded as a mere pretense or an indirect mode of advertising and appealing. Men show the grade of their own piety and spirituality by their construction of the motives and methods of other disciples. A Ohristian who sneers at George Muller, Francke, Dorothea Trudell, and who speaks in depreciation if not deprecation of J. Hudson Taylor and the heroic African bishop, William Taylor; he who will embark in no enterprise where he has not a human security, has the flavor and savor of the natural man and does not perceive, or certainly receive the things of the'Spirit of God. -The Christian church needs to pray and pray in faith, believing and expecting great results. Mathematics and measuring lines cannot compass God's power. There is a supernatural sphere and an omnipotent energy at work in that sphere. The God of Pentecost is not dead. The Holy Ghost can" demon.,trate" what no argument can prove to a soul whose spiritual perceptions are dulled and deadened. There is a logic of moral conviction that God only can wield. He who takes up the isles as a very little thing knows how to raise a continent to a higher level; He who can say "Let light be" can flood a world with glory. Where is the faith in prayer that made the place where primitive disciples assembled to shake with the presence of God; that caused Peter's chains to be riven and his prison doors to open of their own accord; that made the palace of the Oresars a vestibule of heaven, and turned infidel Thessalonica into a pulpit of evangelism?
If that conference in London shall not issue in a new baptism of prayer, the highest result will not be attained. We believe that from the first that great gathering in which all disciples forget their differences and join hands and touch hearts in a common purpose to promote God's glory will prove a new Pentecost. We expect to see even the visible tokens of the divine presence. Let the whole Ohristian church unite in one mighty and moving entreaty, that in these latter days it may come to pass that God shall pour out his spirit upon an flesh and Joel's prophecy shall at last find its grandly complete fulfillment.
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS FROM FOREIGN MAGAZINES
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS FROM DANISH, SWEDISH, DUTCH, SWISS, FRENCH, AND OTHER FOREIGN MISSIONARY"
MAGAZINES. .
[Translated and arranged for THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD by REV. CHAB. C. STARBUCK, Andover, Mass. Scores of our exchanges in other tongues have been patiently gone over for these interesting facts and statements.-EDS.] THE Swedish Lunds Missions Tidning gives the whole number of missionaries (male and female) that have gone out from Protestantism as six thousand.
The Missions Tidning, in an obituary notice of the eminent Swedish missionary Dr. Andrew Blomstrand, says that one of the motives he assigned for going abroad was his wish" to see whether missionaries could not live in peace with one another!" Having once; during his 27 years' stay in Southern India, been exhorted to come home for rest, he answered: "As it so often happens that missionaries, without any sufficient reason, leave the missionary work, I hold it my duty to give others a good example, and it is therefore impossible for me to leave our mission with a good conscience so long as God upholds my health and powers. With broken health I shall be glad to die in the dear homeland, if such were God's will. If I should return home well and strong but without a good conscience, I should be unhappy and should not be able to occasion joy to the dear ones at home. But if I stay in India so long as God wills, my letters will occasion joy to my dear ones."
The Tidning, speaking of the Ziegenbalz, a memorial church in Tranquebar, remarks that" even heathen have gIVen a very decent amount toward it. They hold it a good work to contribute,to religious ends in any form. Some do this without any further thought. But others again are convinced that the Christians' God is mightier than theil'S. Thus lately a heathen told me that when his grandchild was ill he was thinking of calling me in to baptize it before it died. But as the child recovered he let the matter go by, in fear of his kindred, as usual."
The question of caste in India has many complications. Herr Horberg of Tranquebar, giving an account of a primary school of which the native pastor had taken charge at the request of the heathen, and in which all the teachers were Brahmans, remarks, "To send our Pariahs to it is quite out of the question. A single one would suffice to put teachers and all the pupils to flight."
The Neueste Nachrichten aus dem Morgenlande, spea~ing of the lepers' asylum at Jerusalem says, "The only pastoral offices in this are Protestant. It is true we should not in principle object to admitting the pastoral visits of a Catholic or Greek clergyman if they were desired. But they are not desired, either by patients belonging to these communions or by the priests. ThQ Greek and the Roman church alike see in the lepers only men thrust out of society and appointed to death, who are no longer of any value as concerns the extension, power, and glory of the visible church on earth, since they noflonger have any influence in the family or the community. And far less does Islam advance any claim over the religious instruction of Moslem lepers."
The Danske Missions-Blad published at Copenhagen, remarking on the late spread of missionary interest in the colleges and seminaries of England and America, laments that there is so little in Denmark's one university. There is, however, it appears, a missionary conference in the University of Copenhagen, at present numbering- one hundred aud fQur lllembersl and C(msisting not only of theological students but of various others. It holds eight meetings a year, in whiCh the missionary cause is handled in what migh- perhaps appear to us a clumsy and roundabout way, but, on the other hand, with that scientific thoroughness and expendIture of thought and previous research which is more characteristic of European than of American schools. What appears to us very strange is that no theological student has yet offered himself to go abroad. Danish as well as most German missionaries are laymen, mostly of the working classes, who, after offering themselves, receive a special preparation in special seminaries at the expense of the missionary societies which send them out. But the interest, more and more felt in the more cultivated circles of society in England and in America, seems to be making a decided impression among Christians on the continent.
The Blad has an interesting autobiographical account of a Chinese con- vert, describing his first meeting with the missionary who brought him to Christ. "In the great famine I was helped by Mr. Hill, an English mission- ary. After having distributed gifts he offered a prize for an essay on Christ tian subjects, and to facilitate its composition offered the loan of Christian books to those who might wish to compete. I presented myself, and my essay won the prize. I was to receive the money in Ping-Yang-Fu. I had heard that the Christians could. bewitch people, and was therefore afraid to • approach them. Yet I went to Ping-Yang-Fu, taking my brother along. On our arrival my brother undertook to procure the money for me, but came back with the message that the foreigner wished himself to see and talk with the man who had composed the essay. I was now in a strait: on the one hand stood the fear of being bewitched, on the other hand the fear of losing' the money. At last I decided to go. As I neared the house I met three of my countrymen coming out of it, who I found had been helping him. I asked them if they were not afraid of being bewitched. 'No,' said they, 'nor will you be when you learn to know him.' Accordingly one of them introduced me to missionary Hill. A look, a word was enough! As the stars pale before the dawn, so vanished all the evil reports I had heard; every trace of fear disappeared, my heart became at rest. I saw his mild eye, and remem- bered the words of Mencius: 'Where a man's heart is evil his eye betrays it.' I felt that I stood before the face of a noble man."
The following words of M. Dieterlen, a French missionary in South Africa, found in the Journal des Missions Evangeliques, are often as hard for mis- sionaries to take to heart as for natural parents. The secular incapacity of Rome to comprehend them is what has chiefly converted her presidency, in so many nations, from a blessing into a curse. It has been simply an obsti- nate refusal, continued through ages, of a missionary society to provide for the gradual withdrawal of its own oversight. "I have striven," says M. Dieterlen, "to gain the confidence of my people by exhibiting confidence toward them, to develop their individual conscience and judgment, and to teach them to depend not on a man, but on Christ himself. The thought with which I have endeavored to be constantly inspired has been: 'They must increase and I must decrease,' a word which ought, so soon as it can safely be applied, to become the motto of every missionary, and which, car- ried out in wisdom, will bring us, without any revolutionary shock, to the establishment in our missionary churches of a regular government and of a native pastorate,"
The African races are far enough in arrear of civilization, but they have the instincts of despotism in a high degree. The following description by one of the French Protestant missionaries on the Zambezi, :Mr. Coillard, presents this on both its ludicrous and its atrocious side: " Kabnkee, a lad of fifteen or sixteen, the king's son and the viceroy elect, seems as yet illinstrncted how to bear the weight of his novel dignity. He grimaces like a coqnettish girl, .winks, twists his month, trifles with a rhinoceros-horn, as if he fonnd his hands in his way; he drinks the native mead, said to be as strong as brandy, and surronnds himself with all the ceremonial of his father's court. He had not been half an hour at the station when he began to show all the qualities of a practiced beggar. He had all manner of wauts to satisfy. He coveted above all one of our wooden chairs, and, undannted by two refusals, returned a third time to the charge, so that I was fain to capitulate. And now this seat, glistening with ochre and grease, is borne everywhere before him as the symbol of his high position. The elder chiefs, onr old friends, are, in the presence of the beardless yonng prince, as mean and cringing as they had been hanghty. They appear like greatfnnctionarles disgraced and fallen. bnt still in a measnre indispensable. When they visited the capital the king did not kill a single beef or even goat for them; he gave them only fish to eat. No wonder, then, that they are moody and taciturn. Lewanika has made a distribntion of the wives of all the murdel'ed or fugitive chiefs, but all the children-those dear little children, of whom some are so intelligent and so amiable-have to the last one been mercilessly put to death. We have received harrowing details of this horrible tragedy."
The Journal remarks that at present a singular conflict is going on in Africa : " Civilized Enrope protests against the Arab slave trade; the Moslem merchants lift their voice in return against the alcoholic fioods-il2,420,0921itres in one year from the two ports of Bremen and Hambnrg-which to their eyes represent Christianity. Is not the work of missions interested in these facts'? Ought not our missionary enterprises, our missionary agents, onr missionary prayers, to form, as it were, a dyke against this poison in which the colonial civilization of the nineteenth century would fain steep Africa?
.. But there is in all these facts a Christian interest of a more general order. We cannot too often repeat that in the impulse which at this time Is directing the activity of Europe toward distant countries and especially toward Africa, we onght to behold a sign of the times. Almost always the signs of the times contain appeals to the chnrch of Christ. As the Reformation was, in the plans of God, a parallel current to the Renaissance, so also to-day Christian missions ought to be our response to the contemporaneous colonial movement. May the Lord, who has caused us to live at this honr, give ns the spirit which ought to animate ns I The new routes opened throngh the hnge African continent, the great commercial crises, the creation of new colonial empires, the birth of international states, the chivalrons enterprises for the rescne of a valiant soldier; the encroachments of Islam, which is everywhere forming its odions slave-cofles, and pnshing them like mere cattle toward the coasts; the corrnption which our merchant ships discharge upon these same coasts, and Which insinuates itself into the veins of these vigorous populations to enervate them; the perseverance of our miSSionaries, who alone in the night of paganism, like sentinels of a forlorn hope, watch the horizon in hope of discovering the arrival of new recruits, not isolated but in serried ranks; the Christian constancy, in the midst of torments, of negro colliessors, the blood of martyrs -do they not instrnct us that the hour of God has strnck for missionary efforts snch as shall surpass all that has been done hitherto? Do not all these events cry ont to us, 'Where is there to-day in the church the love of Christ which constrained a Paul f' "
M. Duvoisin, of the French Protestant mission in South Africa, writes: " A considerable part of our work, and we may well believe not the least solid, is that which is wrought, so to speak, In the deep places of th~ earth, and which consists in restoring the conscience and in laying ,n human sonls the very beginnings (les assises) of that moral fonndation on which some day may rise the fabric of a living and spiritual faith. Here is a work which escapes our hama. standards.of valnation, and which, nevertheless, is so precions that it would be worth the consecration ot one's life to it, were one never to have the joy of registering a single conversion."
Dr. Casalis, from among the Bassutos, writes to his father, describing a visit to a remarkable waterfall : "The river has cut itself a bed 300 feet lower than the rest of the platean, before arriving at a narrow gorge surrounded by frightful precipices, and there it makes a perpendicnlar leap of 620 feet. I do not feel myself capable of describing this wonder of nature. I have seen Niagara; I have visited the Staubb..ch, the Reichenbach, the Giessbach, etc., and nevertheless I have fonnd the Maletsnnyane more overpowering still. Tbe gorges are something extraordinary, rising perpendicularly almost 900 feet, like a titanic wall of a reddish granite veined with white qnartz. Here again rises a tower of more than 5,600 feet; you might thiIlk it the tower of an old cathedral. How is it, that during more than forty years the missionaries of Lessouto have never snspected the existence of such a marvel f"
CONDITION OF FEMALES IN INDIA
Occasional visits to such a resort will be a wonderful restorative to the spirits and health of the missionaries.
Says the Journal des Missions Evangeliques : " The history of Christian missions on the west side opens with a characteristic and most mOving incident. In the middle of the eighteenth centnry ten Moravian missionaries established themselves on the Gold Coast. In 1770 they had ali snccumbed to the murderous climate of this region. Count Zinzendorf declared, in a memorable and prophetic epitaph, that the ten seeds thns laid in the soil of the dusky continent should yet spring forth in a waving harvest. The Basel Missionary Society in 1828 succeeded to the Moravians. In 1840 the sole snrvivor of this second company of volnnteers retnrned to Basel. They had been faithful unto death. Canon Taylor has good rcason to say, however disparagingly he may mean it, that the chnrch has made great sacrifices for Africa. The pretended Moslem missionaries lay waste the land and massacre without pity entire popUlations. The servants of Jesus Christ, aner the example of their divine Master, lay down their lives if need be to save that which is lost.
" What is the present state of the Basel missions on the Gold Coast? They reckon in the ten stations nearly 8,000 adherents, of whom 2,995 are communicants. The work is directed by 82 European missionaries, 19 native pastors and 116 evangelists and schoolmasters. And this is only one of at least twelve missionary societies which are sending laborers into these homes of fe"er and death, among which we are glad to be permitted to mention our own modest work in Senegal."
Canon Taylor's Moslem missions do indeed have their dark side, as witness the following, from the Journal des Missions Evangeliques: .. In 1855 peace and prosperity reigned in the country between the Opara and the Niger; fertile fields sustained the nnmerous villages which filled the valleys, according to the testimony of the traveler Clapperton. When Richard Lander traversed these countries in 1830 he no longer fonnd there anything but slight traces ofburnt villages and here and there a banana plant struggling with the weeds; the howling of apes and the cries of paroquets alone disturbed the silence and solitnde. The fanatical Fulbes had passed over all things like a destroying wave. Some bands of fugitives, rem nants of more than 150 villages burned and destroyed, sought refnge in a cavern near an immense clilr of porphyry. There they fortified themselves and named this asylum Abeokuta-that is to say, • Under the Rock.' "
The history of the steadfast Christian church of Abeokuta and of Yoruba is well known.
CONDITION OF FEMALES IN INDIA.
[From a discourse delivered to a company of ladies in the castle of a German baron, by Rev. Mr.
RUDOLPH.] "A WOMAN when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour has come; but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for the joy that a man is born into the world." But in India the poor mother has additional anguish, of which mothers in Christian lands know nothing. For months she has petitioned the gods to grant her a son; she has tried to propitiate them by gifts and promises, and now in the hour of pain and danger she looks eagerly at the women that surround the bed. At the decisive moment she watches to receive the glad tidings from their lips, "It is a son and not a daughter." But who can describe the disappointment of her attendants when they have to 8.nnounce to the poor mother that her hopes are not to be realized? How sinks her heart within her! how does she wish the child were never born! No expression of joy greets the little stranger; the little daughter is received as an intruder upon the family, that has no claims on a mother's affection. Caste distinction may peremptorily demand that an end be put to her existence forthwith.
If she is permitted to live, the father assumes the grave responsibility of seeing her married within seven or eight years. A Brahman would lose his caste if his daughter remains unmarried at the age of eleven years. But proper marriage alliances are not easily affected in India. A girl must marry in her own caste, but not in the same subdivision to which she belongs, nor in one that stands lower than her own. For those subdivisions, therefore, that stand highest in honor and reputation, it is often absolutely impossible to form proper marriage ties, and hence the only way of escape from such; difficulties is to put the little girls to death as soon as they are born. A skilllui pressure on the neck or a small opium pill would be resorted to wherever the vigilance of the English Government was but little feared. In most cases now, however, the parents try to obtain the desired end by other means. The child is untended and uncared for in every possible way. Unsuitable food is given; it is exposed to the inclemency of the weather in a state of nudity. Cleanliness, so important to a young child, is often not used.
If, however, the girl survives the neglect and the hard treatment she has received from the hands of those from whom she might have claimed love and affection, she is allowed to grow up without ever knowing what it is to have loving parents. They do not rejoice at her unfolding beauty or the ripening of her understanding. She receives no education to make her a fit helpmeet .for the lad that may enjoy the privileges of a good school. A mother in India has no wish to see her daughter beeome wiser than she herself is. The poor little thing has reached the age of seven, and the family' barber is commissioned to look out for a family with whom an alliance may be properly conduded. This important functionary must give himself no rest till he has found one that can fulfill all the conditions as to caste, wealth, standing in society, etc. He now puts himself en rapport with the barber of that family, who informs his employers of all he has ascertained about the little girl and her family.
An engagement being agreed upon, and the gods having been asked through the Brahmans, whose good will is obtained by gifts, a sum of monpy, a few dishes of sweetmeats, or afew bags of grain are sent into the house of the girl. The betrothal is followed in a year or two by the marriage of the little couple. Vast preparations are made to celebrate it with due pomp. Sums of money at exorbitant interest are often borrowed by the father, which it is impossible for him ever to repay. Astrologers are consulted as to a lucky day when the ceremony may be performed; near and distant relations and friends are invited to the marriage feast.
Musicians and dancing girls are engaged for the amusement of the men outside, while the women sit pent up in small apartments trying to eatch a gbnce, through the lattice-work of a small window or from behind a curtain, of the festivites carried on outside. The bridegroom is the centre of all; the bride is of no aecount.
Vhile the marriag'e procession on horsebaek and all kinds of vehicles, and accompanied by music, is passing through the streets of the town, copper and silver coins are scattered among the sight-seeing crowd at random. Strong young men thus reap a rich harvest, while they thrust the poor weak beggars, for whom the offering was intended, unmercifully aside. These often go away empty-handed.
The Brahmans have been feasted; they now recite with great rapidity the marriage rites in the Sanskrit language, which fortunately bnt few understand, for many expressions are far fl'om delieate. They walk three times round a fire, tie the garments of the two ehildren into a knot. The bride has to take seven steps, a ring is drawn through her nose, and now she is the wife of a lad perhaps a year or two older than herself, She continues to live in the house of her father till she is of age, when she is sent away under the disagreeable howling of the women of the house to the dwelling place of hel' husband. Here she enters another labyrinth of dark passages, small damp apartments and dirty inclosures, which look very much like the abode she has been accustomed to. She is now closely watched by fault-finding mothers-in-law and severe aunts, and she is envied bitterly by widowed young maids who were less fortunate than herself, having lost their boy husbands before they knew them, and who are now condemned to perpetual widowhood. The position of the young wife is not to be envied though. The house being uncomfortably arranged and thickly peopled by the members of the family, she has no' opportunity to be alone with her husband. In fact she sees him only in the evening by the flicker of a small lamp or on the flat roof of the house, by moonlight. In the presence of a third, not even her own children, she never sees him unveiled. All that she knows to teach her children is to fear their father.
Within a few short years she may have to share her rights as wife with another hated rival, who may soon succeed in pushing her and her children out of her position altogether. At best life with her is a continual struggle. The children grow up to hate each other; strife and quarreling among them is the rule of the day. If she happens to be childless she :;;ubmits to her fate with impatience, and possibly she may yield her affections to the children of her adversary; for whom else has she that she can love?
Who would dare to describe the abuse and neglect, the angry words and blows to which the poor women have to submit in a land where it is not reckoned a shame if her husband lifts his haud against his wife? But if she survives the hard treatment she has received in her younger years, the time comes when she will revenge herself on her lord. In old age, when passion has done it utmost to efface from her heart and countenance everything that is lovely, she generally manages to regain her lost position. It is now her turn to change the house into a hell of strife to her husband as well as to all the younger members of the family. Her old, weak, emaciated husband has now to submit, and if he does not she may sue him in court for the means of support or the restoration of jewels. Public opinion is now against him, for in India old women are well esteemed, while younger ones are treated as dirt, and girls are ciphers that have no claims of any kind. Anxiously waits the decrepit old man for the day when he may purchase a rupee's worth of fuel to burn the remains of her that hath embittered his old age so much. And after her decease he is not slow by any means to show the contempt he regarded her with, and the satisfaction he feels in being released from such a companion. Ask him why he neglects to shave his beard, and he may answer, Will I shave when I have lost an old shoe?
It is not so when she survives her lord. Her voice will be the loudest among all the mourners in the house and she will most scrupulously perform every prescribed rite that she may believe to be capable of procuring his happiness in a future world. You meet an old woman alone on the highway, unaccompanied by any attendant or friend; as she passes you, you ask her where she is going, and you are told in reply that she is on a pilgrimage to the Ganges, and that she carries the last remains of her deceased husband into the holy stream, to secure his final happiness. But where is the box that contains these remains? Ask her, and she may open the corner of hel" coarse veil and show you a piece of charred bone that she has picked up from the ashes, at the cremation of the corpse, and that she regards as a sufficient representative of her departed lord.
Bad as the condition of a Hindu wife may be, that of a widow is still worse. She may never have known her husband, he may have died when still a boy; she is condemned to perpetual widowhood, and this means a life worse than death.
At the decease of her husband she is deprived of her hair, her jewels, her good clothes. The coarest food and the hardest treatment is good enough
THE BABOO CHUNDER SEN
for her. She is excluded from all festivities in the family, she is treated henceforth as a slave. She ought to have been burnt with the body of her husband, but the English Government has forbidden it, and the widow there- a: fore remains source of anxiety in the house of her father-in-law. She is sur- rounded by the grossest immorality, and who would dare to lift the veil as to the temptations that her chastity is exposed to, and the consequent danger to her life? Poison is a convenient means to hide a multitude of sins, and the report that she died of cholera may save the honor of the family. If childmurder was an easy means to relieve the father of the difficulty of providing a suitable husband for his new-born babe, the cremation of the relict with the body of her husband used to be another means to strike at the root of all the difficulties that a widow might create to a family, and intoxicating drugs would be a powerful help to secure her consent. The watchfulness of government hinders the perpetration of this crime, and thus a life of unspeakable humiliation and misery is prolonged to the widow, but in many cases only in order to be cut short still by the cup of poison. And here government can bring but little relief by laws and regulations, because life in a Hindu family is too much hidden from the eye of the public observer.
Only the gospel can bring here effectual relief-the gospel with its enlightening, softening, consoling influences. And as the missionary cannot carry the Bible into the family, but female missionary agents can do it, we must beg that these be sent in large numbers, so that the blessings of the Christian religion may be brought to the families of the people of India.
THE BABOO CHUNDER SEN.
INDIA originated the two religions most widely spread of any, Brahmanism and Buddhism. Lately a third religion seemed strugglinginto life-an Eclectic Theism. The Eramo Somaj of India aims to combine whatever is best in all religions, Christianity rating highest, in one new faith for all mankind. Under the influence of Dr. Duff, the great missionary at· the mouth of the Ganges, arose Rommahun Roy, who died in 1833. To him succeeded Tavoal the Bengalee, who carried out the same views, accepting the Vedas, and forming a theistic society, a "Natural Religion." Of these two men Chunder Sen was the lineal descendant and heir. He was a man of magnificent physique, thoroughly honest and sincere, not profound, and scorned all books unless they be the bibles of the religions. It has been said that there are in India ten thousand Emersons; he was the greatest-ambitious, politic, exceedingly devout and emotional, not at all of an analytic or philosophical mind, not an Occidental but an Oriental in every sense of the word, a mystic, throwing himself wholly upon the intuitional in himself. More than any Quaker he believed in conscience, in an Inner Voice. No man held more heartily than he to the doctrine of an overruling Providence, to prayer, to an inspiration which answers to illumination. He considered himself gifted with an indwelling spirit, and yet that the spirit of the prophet ·is subject to the prophet. Our Scriptures he accepted as above all other bibles, the book most from God, and yielded to it avowedly when in conflict with his own "inspiration." He believed that in and by him the Holy Ghost revealed a new dispensation which shall result in the unification of all religions. He detested Unitarianism, and denounced its one representative in India; and he opposed materialism, agnosticism, atheism. He had his own idea of a trinity, regarding Christ as having existed from eternity, but" as an attribute of God." He was impetuous, possessed of the noblest oratory, completely the master of himself in every emergency. His English was. simply perfect. Every Sunday he preached in the City Tabernacle, but his chief place of worship was in his own house. Here his disciples came together
BRIEF NOTES ON NEW
every day of the week. Seated upon a raised platform, he entered upon the service, after music, in a very long prayer, the most intense petitions of which he and his disciples regarded as inspired. Often his disciples kissed his feet, but that is a not unusual sign in India of reverence only, not of worship. After music another long prayer was offered, sometimes by a disciple. When two or more such prayers were in agreement, that agreement was considered to be by inspiration and recorded as such, the truth thus revealed being accepted as infallible. These services often lasted five or six hours. At the close a poet, to the accompaniment of an instrument, indulged in an improvisation which was taken down from his lips by a stenographer. Over 1000 such Hindu hymns have been preserved, accepted as inspired scripture. When advised to read this book or that, the suggestion is rejected with scorn. "No, never," they reply; "we prefer to gaze in, and by prayer into the face of God." A vessel of oil is placed during their services upon a central table and set on fire; sticks of fragrant wood are cast into it, with the exclamation over each, "Thus perish our lust, our pride, our self-will!" During prayer a pause of some minutes occurs, in which each supplicant is supposed to be making an absolute surrender of himself to God. At the end of the service is the cry of all present, "Victory to God!" and the benediction follows, "Peace, peace!" The Baboo used dances, theatricals, processions, singing in public, and every other means of disseminating his religion. He abhorred caste, idolatry, child marriages, transmigration, and all forms of infidelity, while a hearty friend of temperance and every philanthropy. Yet, alas, when challenged to do so, the new religion could not produce a dozen individuals reformed by its agency from drunkenness; in a word, its practical results are very few and faint, and tha,t after thirty years of effort and the organization of 200 societies over India. The whole thing is but a beautiful bubble, knowing nothing of an atoning Saviour or a regenerating Spirit.
BRIEF NOTES ON NEW BOOKS OF A MISSIONARY CHARACTER.
Christianity in the United States. From the First Settlement down to the Present Time. By Daniel Dorchester, D.D. 8vo, pp.795. Price, $4.50. New York: Phillips & Hunt.
This is a noble volume in size and mechanical appearance as well as in its contents. The author, so well known for his work on "The Problem of Religious Progress," has given much time and patient labor to the production of the present volume, which is of the highest interest and value, and will long remain a standard work on the subject.
Dr. Dorchester has taken up the work of that eminent historian of Religion i'fl, America, REV. ROBERT BAIRD, D.D., and is carrying it forward with distinguished zeal and ability, and is doing invaluable service for Christianity. No attempt has here been made to write the history of our various religious denominations, but a bird's-eye view of the field is presented under the threefold classification of the three great competing forces in the religious life of the aation-"Protestantism, Romanism, and a variety of Divergent Elements." As to the Protestant churches, the beginning of each, the organic changes, schisms and reunions and the evangelizing agencies employed by them are sketched. The Roman Catholic Church has also blilen fully, fairly and generously dealt with. The Divergent Elements, existing only as drifts of sentiment and mainly unorganized, have been skillfully handled. The statistical exhibits of all the religious bodies are the best their own'official Minutes or Year-books make possible. The numerous and carefully prepared statistical tables are invaluable. We have already availed ourselves, in anticipation of the book, of some of these statistics in this REVIEW, and shall frequently have occasion to refer to them in the future. We congratllate the author and the publishers on the completion and pUblication of so grand a work bearing directly on the status of the American Church and the cause of Christianity.-J. M. S.
Protestant Foreign MiSBions. By Theodore Christlieb, D.D. Only Authorized American Edition. Congregational Publishing Society, Boston.
While this little work has been some time before the public we gladly call the attention of our readers to it. It has run through several editions in Germany, and been translated into French, Dutch and Swedish. It is a laborious and careful work, giving a "universal survey of Protestant Foreign Missions" down to the date of its publication in 1880.-J. M. S.
Ohrist mid the Gospels. By James P. Cadman, A.M. Chicago: American Publication So- ciety of Hebrew. Chas. Scribner's Sons, N. Y. Price, $1.50.
This is a life of our Lord in the words of the evangelists, and after the Re- vision of 1881. It has already passed its sixth edition, and deserves it. It contains a synopsis of the Gospels, explanations of the text, a Life of our Lord in Bible words, together with a brief history of various translations, indices of persons, places and subjects, maps, diagrams, etc.
The four Gospels are here made to throw their combined light on the career of the Lord Jesus. The true chronological order is, as far as can be ascertained, followed after the method of Rev. S. J. Andrews.
So far as we have examined this admirable book it is a very great help to any devout student of the New Testament. A simple but complete method is pursued by which at a glance,the analysis is presented of the entire con- tents of the Gospels, together with the improved readings of the text, and Scripture parallel references in full. A full and complete index is found at the close. Bible class teachers will find in it a helpful companion to the study of the Gospels. We began the examination of the volume WIth little interest, but laid it down with a conviction that it is a valuable contribution to Bible literature.-A. T. P.
The Story of Smyrna Medical Mission, in Connection with the Church of Scotland.• R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh, Scotland. Price, sixpence.
While this mission is a branch of the operations of the Jewish Mission Com- . mittee of the Church of Scotland, it receives no share of the ordinary church collections forthe Jewish missions, but is sustained by special aid from friends and churches, The account given in this little work by Mr. Scott, one of the missionaries of the society, is highly interesting.-J. M. S.
The Crisis Of MiSSions. By A. T. Pierson, D.D. Price,35 cents.
The Carter's have brought out a paper-cover edition of this wonderful work, of which many editions have been sold in a single year. It is a marvel in cheapness, considering the size and excellent quality of the letter-press.
The same publishers have brought out a new edition, the fourteenth (price, $1. 25, 12mo, pp. 406), of Moffat's" Southern Africa," with a brief sketch of his life, condensed from the "Lives of Robert and Mary Moffat," published by the Armstrongs and which we reviewed at considerable length in these pages in our January issue. We need not repeat what we there said. Moffat was an extraordinary character; his long missionary career in laying the founda- . tion of the South African Church was extraordinary; and this book, written by him on a visit to England (1839-43), considering the period at which it was written was, in some respects, the most extraordinary work on Africa ever written. We read it at its first appearance with a degree of interest and excite- ment we have seldom felt. His vivid pictures of African scenery and life, his perilous adventures, and his experiences as a missionary explorer and pioneer over all that region which his son-in-law Livingstone, Stanley, and others have since laid bare to the civilized world, have scarcely ever been exceeded. The impression of the book on our mind, after a lapse of over forty years, is almost as vivid as the day we read it.-J. M. S.
The Teaching 0/ the Apostles. By Prof. J. Rendel Harris. Baltimore: Publication Agency of the Johns Hopkins University.
This is a newly edited and superb edition of this remarkable work, with lac-simile text and a commentary for the use of this university. Through the negotiations initiated by Dr. Hale with the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the co-operation of Mr. Henry Gillman, the United States Consul of that city, a complete series of photographs of the" Teaching" have been obtained and are here given, thus securing in the most complete form possible the publication of the recovered memorlal from the early days of Christianity. It is a work of great intrinsic worth to the whole church of God.-J. M. S.
A Budget 0/ Letters/rorn Japan. By Arthur Collins Maclay, A.M., LL.B. I'p.391. New York: Armstrong & Son.
From a missionary point of view this is a book of decidl'd interest. It is written by an intelligent man after close observation and the best of opportunities for judging the Japanese. A long chapter is devoted to the missionary work. He says they are "champion listeners. They wear an ordinary man out. They are insatiate. They come three or four times a day, urging a continuance of the speech. I knew one missionary who began at four o'clock in the afternoon, and when he was exhausted his native helpers carried on the exhortation until nine o'clock at night. Of course sermonizing is not resorted to. Simply the barest recital of the Ii fe, the work, the agony of our Redeemer seems to chain their attention. The people then disperse. Very few of them, perhaps, will be baptized. But curiosity has been awakened to know about this extraordinary religion; books are bought; and when the missionary makes his next visit he will find a number of earnest inquirers after the truth."
Other chapters give discussions of the claims of Christianity as compared with Buddhism, and the need the heathen have of the gospel of salvation, and of the results effected by Christianity as compared with the results of Buddhism. This discussion is conducted with great ability and fairness. The author gives a clear and concise account of the early efforts of Protestant Christianity and the results down to 1877, the time when he left Japan.
Mr. Collins tells the following story as characteristic: "The Mitsui Bank in Tokio is a national bank, backed up with the money of the government. Young Japan had been especially educated abroad to carryon the banking sy!'tem on approved foreign principles. They were intelligent, capable and shrewd. They made excellent cashiers, tellers, bookkeepers, and clerks, so far as the merely executive qualities were concerned. They possessed every intellectual requirement necessary for carrying on a bank, but they were too intelligent. They were so thoroughly acquainted with financiering that they understood many little methods ofdeflecting cash from the treasury into their own pockets. And there was no power except fear that could prevent their doing so ; and fear had but little effect, as there was hardly any fear that the capitalists, composed of effete daimios and of government officers unfamiliar with banking, could detect how the cash disappeared. In this predicament, one of the bank officers, with great candor and solicitude, came and explained the situation to one of the missionaries. He frankly admitted that he did not believe in any religion whatsoever. He claimed that the Japanese intellect was of too philosophical a nature to accept the Jewish myth called Christianity. 'But,' said he, 'your religion does something that our religions cannot do. It makes men honest. Now, we wish our employees at the bank to be carefully instructed in these principles, so that they may learn to discharge . their duties with scrupulous integrity.'''
Mr. Collins says that the missionaries meet their greatest discouragemenij from the foreign community. "The cause of this hostility is easy to see. The presence of missionaries is a continued rebuke to the greater part of the foreign community, who are leading lives they would not think of leading at home. The natives are soon taught that these foreigners are living beneath their duties and privileges. They soon learn to point this fact with cutting and contemptuous observations, which gall the recipients thereof exceedingly. And they soon begin to draw a line between the two portions of the community: one portion is bent on gain, it is selfish and grasping, it abuses its servants, deals harshly with the natives, and is licentious; the other portion acts justly toward all, so that servants are anxious to secure them as masters, and the merchants are always on the qui vive to open accounts with them. They learn the language accurately and elegantly, and instruct the people carefully and thoroughly, and the people soon begin to love and respect them. "-J. ]H. S.
Mary and I. Forty Years with the Sioux. By Stephen R. Riggs, DD., LL.D. Pp.437. Price, Sl.50. Boston Congregational Publishing Society.
The reader who takes up this book is quite sure to read it through. He will recognize in the Mary of this story a worthy pupil of Mary Lyon and Miss Grant. Cultured and attractive, she cheerfully left her Massachusetts home and plunged into the wilderness of Lac Qui Parle. She found a " home" for five years in the upper story of Dr.Williamson's log house. From the letters written at the ijme to friends in the East, we get vivid pictures of the privations, discouragements. dangers, and triumphs of those who devoted their lives to giving the gospel to the Indian. How bravely she bore up in that terrible midnight flight from Hazelwood, and the long perilous journey to St. Paul through the pelting rains and wet swamp-grass, and with murderous savages upon the trail!
"The other partner in this firm," says Prof. S. C. Bartlett in his brief Preface, "needs no words of mine. He speaks here for himself, and his labor speaks for him. His Dakota Dictionary and Bible are lasting monuments of his persevering toil, while eleven churches with a dozen native preachers and 800 members, and a flourishing Dakota Home Missionary Society bear witness to the Christian work of himself and his few colaborers. , Forty Years among the Sioux,' he writes. ' Forty Years in the Turkish Empire' was the story of Dr. Goodell. ' Fifty Years in Ceylon' was the life work of Levi Spalding. What recol'ds are these of singleness of aim, of energy, of Christian work, and of harvests gathered and gathering for the Master! "-J. M. S.
The EvangelizatilYn oj the World. A Missionary Band. A Record of Consecration and Appeal.
This is a volume prepared especiallyfor the student volunteers. It contains 242 pages. Published by L. Morgan & Scott, London, 12 Paternoster Buildings. The price is not given, but if we remember it is 18. 6d. sterling. It was published under the name of "The Missionary Band," and has run through fifteen thousand. It is now enlarged and published under this new title. It contains skillfully arranged extracts from Spurgeon,Arthur,Griffith,Vaughan, Moule, Somerville, Radcliffe, Loudels, Alden, Guinness, Pierson, Cust Haig, Hudson Taylor, etc. It is one of the best books conceivable to put into the hands of young men and womeq. Its paragraphs are a history, a poem, a prophecy, all at once. Short, suggestive, on fire with God's Spirit. The themes so briefly treated are: The Needs in India, China, Africa, e!c.; Benefits to the Church from Missions; Injury to the Church from Neglect, etc. ; The Missionary Spirit; The Men and Women Wanted; The Work of Missions; Truths Essential to Success; Prayer; Personal Consecration; Spiritual Anointing; Woman's Work; Y. M. C. A.; Universities and the Missionary Volunteers; Helpful Books; Missionary Societies, etc. There are 20 full-page illustrations, alone worth the price of the book, besides three maps, four musical pieces, and six portraits.-A. T. P.
Hodder', Li/e Q/ the Earl 0/ 8ha/tesoor1l. 3 volumes. London and New York: Cassell & Co.
We do not hesitate to say that from this book, which we read with enthusiastic delight, we got more inspiration and help in the direction of missionary labor at home and abroad than from any other biography we ever read. Shaftesbury was a rare and unique example of a man who deliberately turned his back on temptations to wealth, position, rank and power, pleasure and self-indulgence, to undertake the uplifting of his fellow men. Without regard to their position, degradation, or depravity, with utter contempt of casteocracy, he devoted his time, his money, his whole soul, to the work of reforming abuses, abolishing outrages, and improving conditions. For sixty years of his public life he never swerved from his purpose. He accepted as his divine calling this sublime vocation, to lift up the fallen, and to take out of the way of the poorest and most easily tempted the enticements to evil. Where he found a man ignorant of Christ he sought to inform him; where he found the most abandoned criminal he sought to touch the tender spot where capacity of response still remained. He fought for half a century to see the abuses of the insane asylums, factories, mines, and workshops abated or removed, and meanwhile stood at the head in all true labors to bring the. gospel to bear on the darkest and most abandoned quarters of the great cities, especially London. Every intelligent and earnest man or woman ought to read this book. Those who cannot afford to buy it ought to borrow it. The copy we own is a part of our "circulating library," and we rejoice to see it worn out in service, as its heroic subject was. As a model biography, as a biography of a model philanthropist, as a book which combines the value of a history with the beauty of a poem and the fascination of a novel, we cannot speak in terms high enough to express our appreciation of Mr. Hodder's magnificent work.-A. T. P.
Modern Olties and Their Religious Problems. By Samuel Lane Loomis. New York: Baker, Taylor & Co.
This is a book that deserves to be widely read. It touches wisely and discriminatingly some of the most practical problems of the day. The author has manifestly spent years in the personal and painstaking investigation of the questions he discusses, and his suggestions throw a flood of light on the method of dealing with the cities. The Introduction, by Dr. Josiah Strong, is itself worth the price of the book. But this iii! not meant to deprljOiate what follows. The growth, social composition, and menace of the cities is plainly set before the reader; and then the best and most successful methods of Christian and philanthropic work are presented, with extended references to the actual examples of such work in London and Paris. The last chapter abounds in useful hints, as to the increase and employment of working force, the nature and frequency of such service, the value of the parish system, etc. The two chapters on Christian work as performed in London, with the ex- tended and detailed description of the methods employed, furnish in themselves a volume rich in valuable contribution to the practical solution of the great perplexities now before the church. This book should be set side by side with" Our Cquntry," and read by all earnest and thoughtful men and women. -A.T.P.
CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE
II. -CORRESPONDENCE and GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.
The Missionary Meeting. Ages. The carrying of the gospel to the modern nations. St. Augustine, Cyril and Methodlus ; [Letter from Mr. H. N. Brainerd, a St. Patrick in Ireland, etc. (c) Study of Boman graduate of Harvard, who expects to Catholic and Jesuitical missions. Francis be a foreign missionary.] Xavier, Loyola, etc. Dlustrative of the wrong method of working. (d) Modern missions. How shall we make our missionary meetings Awakening of Protestants. History of societies, both profitable and interesting? This is a ques- especially of the early movements in our own tion often asked, and for nOne is a practical country. (Si Study of particular missions, as answer more important than for the members of China Inland Missions, missions of Polynesia, the missionary bands now to be found in nearly the Harmannsburg MiSSion and the rest. (4) all our colleges. Perhaps a few suggestions may Study of missionary heroes, as Carey, Brainerd, be helpful. John Eliot, Judson, Bishop Patteson, Living- stone, Moffat, Henry Martyn and hosts of others. 1. Give the missionary meeting a status. De- (5) Study of the actual life and work of the various termine upon the number which may be reason- missionary stations. This may be got from reably expected to be held, and make no devia- turning missionaries, always glad to speak of tion, providential events alone excepted. If pos- their work; from the various publications of sible bave a regular date assigned. This will the different SOCieties; from current literature. sllow of thorough preparation. especially periodicals, happily not now indlfi'er- ent to these subjects. (6) Study of blessings 2. Give the missionary meeting an efficieut or- other than religiOUS, arisiug from efforts of misganization. Ifyour association has a missionary sionaries, as translations of the SCriptures and committee, see that the most active and de- other books, the foundations of new literatures, voted of the band are among its members. If schools. The cessation of idolatry, cannibalism, possible choose those who are in some way con- infanticide,. and modificatiou for the better of nected with actual missionary work. A record many superstitions. (7) Contributions of misof the meetings and proceedings should be kept. sions to science, such as is found in the Ely It wlll be valuable for future reference. volume. The missiouary exploration of Africa.
S. As to the meeting itself. The course of the Subjects like these ought to be interesting to meeting may be turned in several directions: every one. The Christian college man Is just the person who should be familiar with this A. The religious or ethical. In this attention kuowledge. If on no other ground, Christianity should be turned to the spiritual features of the is worthy of attention for its respectable infiumissionary question. This may not differ much ence in history, to be seen nowhere more clearly in kind from the ordinary prayer-meeting. Snb than in this. jects like these might be taken: C. Auxiliary helps. These are important. (1) The Ground of MIssionary Work. John These are: iii. 16 ; Luke ii. 10 ; Mark xvi. 15; Matt. xxvlti. 18-20. (2) The Need of Missionary Work. (1) Books. Every association or band should Psalms xiv. 2,3; Eph. ii. 12; Rom. x. 13-15; .have its missionary alcove, or shelf for books on Acts xvi. 9. (8) The Purpose of Missionary missions. (2) Maps. These are almost indis- Work. Luke xix: 10; Acts xxvi. 18. (4) The pensable to a successful meeting. They may be Siu of Standiug Aloof. 2 Kings vii. 9 ; Judges v. had at reasonable rates. (3) Charts and publica- 23; Matt. xxv. 25, 26. (5) The :Motive. Luke tions of the dlfferent societies, as "Gospel in all xvi. 5; 2 Cor. v. 14; 2 Cor. viti. 9. (6) Ways of Lands," M'wBionary Herald, THE MISSIONARY Helping. Isa. vi. 8; 2 Cor. i. 11; Matt. ix. 38 ; REVIEW, American Baptist M'f88ionary Maga- zine, and many others. They may be got always, Acts ix. 61; Col. iii. 23 ; 2 Cor. ix. 7. (7) The Re- either free Or at a merely nominal cost. (4) Curiosities from missionary fields. These may ward. Prov. xi. 25 ; Job xxix. 13; Matt. xxv. 28. not be in the reach of all, bat they render a (8) The End of Missionary Work. Matt. xxiv. meetiug very interesting. Copies of Scriptures, 14; Isa. ii. 18: Hab. ii. 14; Rev. xi. 15. objects relating to customs, productions, an- tiquities, are all profitable. (5) FInally seek and This list is not exhaustive. Many others will obtain the co-operation of your president and suggest themselves. professors. They can often aid very much in rendering an evening spent on any of these topics B. The practical and historical. This side of one worth the attention of all the students. missions is as vast and as varied as the world itself, for "the field is the world." We might In closing let me say that these topiCS are suggest here : simply intended to be suggestive. That which must be at the base of all missionary work-a (1) Study of dlfi'erent fields, as China, Japan, consecrated, active, senSible heart and mind, India, Turkey, etc. Information of the people, full of the Holy Spirit-Is most necessary here. customs, tongues, climate, productions, advantages, state of society and religion in these countries. The caution here Is not to undertake more than can be thoroughly handled. (2) Stndy of history of missions. (a) Ancient missions, which ended in the Christianization of the Roman Empire. (lI) Missions of the Middle To sueh a one these suggestions will, I trust, be pit aud looks down tnto thousands or sonls but a beginning-the first-fruits of a plentiful whose darkest night has never shimmered with harvest. Above all, let every member of the eveu a starlight ray of God's blessed and savtng band take especial interest in the meeting. Let gospel. We find ourselves here in a town ot him make it a constant theme for prayer. Let about 30,000 tnhabitants, to whom only two men all who are to contribute in any way to the are preaching Christ in the vernacnlar. The meeting hold a previous period of prayer and direct need at home is scarcely so straitened consecration together. Such efforts the Holy as that, and yet this place is supposed to be well Spirit loves to bless. supplied with missionaries and preachers."
From a Student Volunteer. NOTE FROM ANOTHER VOLUNTEER. The" Student Volunteer Movement for For- HAVB read with keen pleasure the circular, eign Missions" is still increasing. Names of .. Student Volunteers for Foreigu Missions." I volunteers are coming tn every week. Stnce favor strougly having one college each mouth the New Year Grove City College, Pa., has enwrite a somewhat similar letter, sketching the listed her sympathies and a number of volonuhistory of Its own foreign missionary movement, teers tn this movement, and also organized togiving any ideas as to their methods of organiz- support a foreign missionary, and they say they ing, increaSing numbers; stirring np snrround- can do it. ing churches, etc., as may seem helpful, and then The report that comes from this college cheers filling the remainder of the letter with snch stir- the band in Union Seminary. This seminary is ring facts as are fonnd in that circnlar, and get- betng stirred on this subject. Prayer-meetings ting as many copies printed as would place one are held each night on the different fioors for in the hands of each of the 2,800 volunteers, and the purpose of awakening a missionary spirit. send them to all the colleges. Gro,"e City College had its attention directed to this movement by a single student to whom a Suppose Yale send one iu January, Prince- letter was written on the subject. ton in February, Harvard in March, Toronto in April (and the others when they will), why Letter from Rev. W. Alfred Redwood. each letter would be a source of iuspiration to the other schools and wonld draw them together MALVALLI, MYSORE TERRITORY, INDIA, with sympathy in the same cause. December 29, 1887.
At the end of the year-the college year-if the IT is a great pleasure to me to find THE MISletters were preserved, each volunteer would be SIONARY REVIEW evangelical iu these days of so loaded with facts that his summer's work "new-fangled notions." If it had a grain of could not fail to be of great power. Try it. How sympathy with such theories as " Future Proba- I long to see the .. volunteers" pull together; tion" I certatnly should not, for one, welcome what a power they must be if only focused! The it under my roof. 2,800 should shake about (yes, altogether) $2,300,- 000 more out of our churches annually than is THE REVIEW tn the past had great sympathy now beiug given for missions, if they" get hold of "with independent missions-I mean work not the church and the Spirit gets hold of them. dependent on a society. It may be glad to know .. Come, it may be that the Lord will work for us; that I am a child of that school and am opening for there is no restraiut to the Lord to work by up this fresh ground to the light of the gospel in many or by few." _ dependence on God alone for all I need both for myself, family and work. And I am bound to .. I am but one, but I am one. I cannot do say, to the honor of his name, that he has never much, but I can do somethiug, and all I can do I allowed me to want. I have been engaged tn ought to do, and by God's grace will do." mission work for abont five years in India, but only a year'-and some months tn this neighbor- What One Did. hood. I have taken up two .. talooks " (dis- trictS) to work which contain about 200,000 Less than eleven months ago Mr. H. F. La- heathen and Mohammedan sonls, the former beflamme joined the" Student Volunteers for For- tng more than 95 per cent. of the whole. Most eign Missions." Six and one-half months after of these people have never heard the name of his decision he sailed for India under the .. Ca- Christ, and their moral condition is too terrible nadinn Board of Missions." Before sailing he to describe. Though not professioua1ly a docand Mr. Davis had appealed to the churches of tor, I give away medictnes to all who apply, and this denomination tn behalf of their foreign have a school, which is well attended, where the work; as a result about $3,000 were added to word of God is taught daily. When we came that denomtnation's foreign missionary tncome here the people were afraid of us, but now they -an income which was scarcely $14,000 the pre- come around us and show much love for us. cedtng year. Mr. Lafiamme writes as follows: .. Cocanada, India, Dec. 9, lSS7.-God can level We suffer of course some privation, from'the mountatns. I reached here just three weeks place being far away from any town where proago aud have had scarcely time to look around, visions can be got, but nothing serious. We still I am ready for this remark. The need here find much more pleasure than pain tn worktng loo!ted large to me when 11,000 miles away, but tn such a place, though there Is not at present a awful wheu one stauds ou the very verge of the suitable house In the neighborhood for Eurnpeans, and our strength Is very small. If we whole gospel, full salvation, Africa for Christ." can buy our present dwelling, the only one of I expect my brother, J. H. Harned, to send me brick in Malvalli, which we rent from govern- a valuable box of medicine which I need immement, we might in time be able to enlarge it, as diately iu my practice, which is already large. the Lord enabled us. The government will There is no doctor in this part of the country, sell it for 700 rupees, i.e., about £50 or $250. My support will come in great measure from this source. Bishop Taylor's Self-supporting Mission. Ha.ve Not I Oommanded Thee? [LetterfromMissionary Harned and wife to the Treasurer of the Society.] [Letter from Miss Grace E. Wilder, written on her way to India.] CAPE PALMAS, LmERIA, Oct. 8, 1887. DEAR BROTHER GRANT: We arrived in port BEFORE conversion, in connection with the here last Saturday. We had considerable diJIi- command "Be ye reconciled unto God," these culty in getting our goods ashore, as there are words arouse deep concern. but few boats, and these boatmen are never in a hurry; but the captain kindly lent two of his What of their message after conversion f boats, which facilitated matters somewhat, but Have not I commanded tkee, redeemed one, most of us staid on board and came ashore with bought with precious blood f Can the pronoun the remainder of our goods Sunday morning. be any less personal as I read " Go ye into all After breakfast we all went to he little old stone the world and preach the gospel to every creachurch, where the Lord graciously poured out ture. Have I not commanded thee f" his Splrit. Mr. Harned was blessed in preaching "God so loved the world that he gave his Ab, we say this .. thee" means the church. only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth It should be Interpreted as an indefinite or a disin him should not perish, but have everlasting tributive and only in exceptional cases as a perlife." In the evening Brother Cadle preached, sonal pronoun. We are like the father who after which an altar service was held aud many after an earnest appeal for missionary workers seekers went forward. We have three services asked for volunteers from his congregation. every day: one at seven in the morning, One at Among the first to rise was his own daughter. 10:00, and the regular revival work in the even- Agitated, he hasteus to whisper to her, "My dear, ing. Many are being gloriously saved, for which I did not mean you." Not alone are fathers and we praise the Lord. mothers saying this, but some are saYing, My son, my daughter, Ohrist doesn't mean you. Friday, Nov. 11, 1887. Even ministers are urging caution. Do they Mrs. Harned commenced this letter, and finally fear a literal apostolic obedience f Alas, the I found time to write a few lines. Of course you church is far from this, for" they were allscstrealize that I am full of business these days. tered abroad, and they that were scattered God is wonderfully with me while attending to abroad went everywhere preaching the word." the very many details of landing aud caring for our effects. I would be glad to write you about me' But, says one, how can I know that Jesus' last the voyage, but present matters press heavily, and I shall write concerning the work. Five of command is for the stations ou the Savilly RiTer have honses Does not much of the doubt over this question completed, and Baraca on the coast is ready for occupation. There are two stations in this large arise from a failure to Bee that God's scheme of tribe, one of which is on the bank of the river service is as wide as his scheme of salvation? and one back in the bush. We are to go to the .. Whosoever will may come; let him that hearstations this week, say about 16th or 17th. eth say come." With confidence we say the Sister Amanda Smith is here with us, work- first of these promises applies to every sinfnl ing as usual with power in the meetings. She is soul, but does not the second as unconditionally not strong, while not really sick. She will not apply to every redeemed soul? Do we meet be able to attend us on our trip up the river. a struggling, timid seeker with the question, Are When we get to our station I shall write a letter you sure God has called you to be saved f God with some description of the work. I would forbid. Satan asks this question. God forbid say for your encouragement that our goods were also that we should create doubt in the heart of landed here without the loss of an article, either a young Christian by asking, Are you sure you from the lot from New York or Liverpool. are called to serve God f As surely as the atone- Brother Pratt seems a fIIithful agent for the ment leaves no doubt as to God's yearning for work. My dear brother, I have no fault to find, the lost, it leaves no doubt as to his purpose for but in the name olthe Lord Jesus get men and the saved. Calvary not only rescued our souls; women of sound body and good sense who can it purchased our service. "He died for all, in accommodate themselves to any circumstances order that they who live should not live unto for Christ's sake, and find out if possible what themselves but unto him who died." This author- kind of doctrine they intend to preach. We go izes us to give him all-heart, soul, strength, to work with great hope of success. The Lord time. Is it not then the privilege of e'lJery Chris- God Is with us; our motto Is" All for Jesus, a tian to make the evangelization of the world the business of life f It is a fearful thing to limit service to a few believers, for this limits salva- tion. Is it not due to this that the church must now face the fact that in the last century while
CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.
she has been gaining 3,000,000 converts hea- own hands f Yes, and we must, for God hall thenism has Increased 200,000,000 1 placed It In our hands. Human choice Is a gill; we must use after salvation as well as before. The Earl of Shat'tesbury says, "Dur1ug the Did not t/le prodigal take the plan of life into latter part of these (eighteen) ceuturies it has his hands when he resolved, " I will arise and been In the power of those who hold the truth, go , " Yet no man cau come nnto me except having means enough, having knowledge enongh, the Father which hath sent me draw him. Ezra and having opportnnity enongh, to evangelize came to Jerusalem accordiug to the good hand , the globe fifty timee over." of his God upon him, for Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it. What a tonchstone of guilt is the qnestiou, Have Nehemiah forms a definite piau and takes his not I commanded thee? in the light of these three desire to God. "Prosper, I pray thee, thy serfacts' Christ redeemed the world, and with the vant this day and give him favor in the sight of emphasis of his last desire asked us to;evangelize this man." the world. "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I Into the world, that I shonld Mr. Mackay, who celebrated his fonrteeuth bear witness to the truth. As my Father hath anuiversary in Formosa with 1,213 converts, sent me into the world, so have I sent you. When and has during a tour of ten days baptized 1,200 this gospel shall be preached for a witness, then persons, writes: "While superintending the shall the end come." Can I, dare I say, if God work of two hundred workmen I also dispensed wants me to witness he will put me into the medicines to hundreds, preached the gospel for work; if he wants me to be a missionary he will hours at a time, taught the students at night, give me a missionary spirit? Is there the slight- and in three months traveled over 1,600 mUes." est ground for an if here' Are we not holding I don't believe in those cant phrases, "Trust iu the rebellions position of him who says, "If God God and all will come right," unless the rest be wants to save me he wi11 do it ?" He longs to added, Trust In God bnt cut the trees down; save, but he has conditioned salvation. "When trnst in God but burn them; trust In God but ye shall seek me with the whole heart, then shall plough the soil. ., Trust In God but sow the seed ye find me." Panl recognized this 800king at -sow it in tears. I believe we should think, any coot, as also the condition of service. "I plan, pray, and toil as if all depended on our fol(Qw ajt.er, if that I may apprehend that for work-excuse me, as if th.ere were no God. But which I am apprehended of Christ Jesus; I pree8 stop I At the same time conscious we cannot toward the mark of the high calling of God In hold the pen even without the power of our Christ Jesns." Conscious of the awfnlilmiting great, living and adorable Redeemer." Is not power of human inertia, he writes, " Stir up the this truth confirmed In the life of Paul and In gift that is In thee." the experience of every Christian f " Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, Which is the greater, responsibilities In serv- for it is God that worketh in you." The divine ing or the responsibility of not serving' One and human are linked In every action. A divine says, I wonld not dare to be a missionary with- promise of Canaau was not realized for forty out a missionary spirit. But can you dare to years because of human unbelief. The promise, live withont it' Where lies the responsibility The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the if I have not the spirit? Perhaps it is not God's Lord, !bas waited fulfillment 1,800 years. Why f What more subtle and effective, way conld Satsn gift for me. "Let this mind be in you which devise than the unbelief of refusing to take was in Christ J esns." God's revealed will as his will for men? I have not the qualifications. "Who is able TWO NATIVE SIAMESE. to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think?" I am empty, so can't rnn [THE following thrilling letter will over. " Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it." be read with great interest. Though But am I eutitled to appropriate as miue the the editors withhold names, these high aud holy work of wituesslng for Jesus young Siamese are now 'in this coun- where he is not known? Keep and 800k all the commandments of the Lord your God. He has try, personally known and loved by given us the opportnnity of treadiug in the very US.-EDS.] footsteps of Jesus; like him to leave home; like him to be a stranger, despised, rejected; like My DEAR DR. PIERSON: him to seek and save the lost, the privilege of entering into fellowship with Christ's suJferlngs, I am constrained to appeal to yon, my good aud in him have it our meat and drink to do the friend of many years, for counsel and aid, If pos- will of the Father. Is it strauge that God should sible, in this time of need. You know some- not give such attainment until we covet them thing of the circumstances under which, when earuestly? Where was Dauiel when Gabriel In 1876, forced to leave Siam, my home for thirty touched him? "I set my face unto the Lord years, my wife's health brokeu down com_ God to seek by prayer and snpplication with pletely, we brought with us, to be educated In fastings." Again the conditiou appears In Ga- the United States, two Siamese lads, then each briel's words: " At the beginniug of thy supplica- 11 years old. One of these-the expense of whose tion the commandment came forth." passage home aud educatiou we took upon our But, says one, would not seeking to be a mis- sionary be taking the plan of our life Into our
selves-was the son of a true Christian woman- heading was executed stonce upon my poor boy's a treasure to the ladies in charge of the girls' mission boarding school in Bangkok, founded father; his mother and the other native wives by my wife, where she is native matron and teacher. Her heart's desire and prayer for her (the English wife with her babe made good boy was and is that he may become a preacher to his benighted countrymen. her escape to Englaud) were made slaves in tlie The other was the eldest son of one of the king's rice mills, and all the property was con· most intelligent and enterprising young noblemen in the kingdom, high in favor with the fiscated. The boy's graudfather and his two progressive young king, as were also his father and brothers, understanding, as they did, ma- uncles, once great favorites' with the king, were chinery, the steam-engine, photography, gasmaking, etc. The boy's grandfather was super- that same night arrested, sepiuztedinbycthhaeincs~oawnn.d intendent of the royal mint and a member of their houses and property the Idng's privy counCil, and the father had charge of the government gold mines at Pachim. And in chains they stilllu. It would seem as if They 80 earnestly requested us to take the nothing else than the ruin of the family could lad to Amel'ica with us, to be thoroughly educated as a civil and mining engineer, that we satisfy their vindictive enemy. And yet the could not refuse them, desirous as we were of still doing all in our power for the good of the king knows he had none more capable of servland and the people we so reluctlantiy left. So we brought on both these brave littie fellows ing him, but he is powerless against the exwith us across the seas. a~ members of our family, and in due time were established with regent, who in fact put him on the throne. I them in myoid home. I shonld have mentioned as to the latter of these lads that his friends, who cannot but believe however, that on the death were wealthy of course, were to defray all his expenses. of their foe (aud he is quite and old man) this I had been home littie over a year w hen cer- family will be restored to favor. . tain financial reverses left us with a home of our own to be sure, but without income, and with Notwithstanding these unexpected calamities the boy we had undertaken to bring up on our hands. One lad, however, still paid his expenses. which have befallen us, we have persevered iu Two years more passed away, and he too was thrown upon us for support. The story will our purpose to give these boys a thorough edusound like romance, but alas it is too true. cation, both for their own sakes and for Siant's The father had incurred the grave displeasure of his sovereign by strangely elopiug with the sake. They are intelligent and amiable, and, daughter (by a native mother, but highly educated i~ England) of the English cOJ:lsul-general better still, are, we trust, sincere Christians, In –carrying her oft' in a steam yacht, which he owned, to the mining works at Pachim, where 1880 both of them, desiriug to acknowledge behe was a sort 'of viceroy. Unfortnnately for the young noble, the ex-regent, the most pow- fore men the Saviour in whom they believed, erful of all the nobility, had a grudge against his family, and now was an opportunity to gratifY it. and beiug judged worthy, were baptized and re- He took advantage of the king's displeasure to bring charges against him ofembezzlemeut, etc., ceived to church membership. It strangely and when he returned from his three weeks' wedding trip to Bangkok, had him arrested. happened that the very next day there came He was whipped to extort confession, imprisoned, aud throwu into irons. across the seas the uuexpected aud terrible Mr. Consul- General, who at first had been tidings to the young noblemau of his father's exevery angry, now espoused the cause ot his new son·in-law and demanded his release, threaten- cution, hls mother's Slavery, and graudfather's ing a bombardment of the city by an English fleet, and actually ordering up from Siugapore an and uucles' imprisonment, aud of the loss of all. English gnnboat. The Siamese stood firm, however, and dispatched an envoy to England de- Poor boy I he had secured the unfailing Friend manding the consul's recall. This was fiually granted them, the English Government pro- none to soon. nouncing his interfereuce unjustifiable; and on the consul's leaving and the envoy's return They are both promising lads, Uniformly triumphant some months after, sentence of be- good reports as to their deportment and diligence have been received. The professor in charge of their class writes, "They are doing well in their studies," are H industrious land capable." One of them at the close of the first term" ranked .fifth in a class of 3·1," which is certainly very creditable to a boy from a heathen land in a New England school. They maintain too their Christian character and an earnest purpose to fit themselves for usefulness in the land of their birth. They are both 23 years of age. The young noblemau bears a strong resemblance to his unfortunate father whose career ended so tragically, and in looks is a good speCbneu of the better class of Siamese.
It may be that yon have iu the circle of your acquaintance those who could be induced to take an iuterest in the8e Siamese youth and carry them through their educatiou, and thus through them aid not a little in the work of Christianiz- ing and elevating that interestiug kingdom from which they come.
Tribute to Missionaries. I have of- ten been asked, "What of the mis- sionaries of the East? Are they true, and do they serve their Master?" And I have always been a swift witness to say-and I say it now, solemnly and emppa.tically-that if anywhere on it does not need the gospel; .and secthe face of the earth there exists a ondly, that there is any nation so low band of devout Christian men and down in degradation that it is incawomen, it is these. I personally know pable of receiving the gospel. The many men and women, and the names first has been exploded by the triof Dr. and Mrs. Riggs, the names of umphs of the gospel among the most Woods, Bliss, Pettibone, Herrick, accomplished, progressive nations, Dwight, and others spring up in my like India, China and Japan. As to memory most vividly. Their work is the other fallacy, let me mention one of that kind which will in future be or two facts. When Dr. Vander productive of the greatestgood. They Kemp went to labor in Cape Colony live and die in the work. One I know he found over the doors of nominally has been in the work fifty years. They Christian churches this sentence: are God's people and they should be " Dogs and Hottentots not admitted." remembered and sustained by us.- They classed the Hottentots with the General Lew Wallace. dogs, and would not have them even in Christian churches. When the Setting all religio1s questions aside, the civilizing power of the missions; Church Missionary Society went to the revolutions which have been consequent on their work; the coloniza- labor in Madagascar the French govtion, of which they were the pioneers; ernor of the Island of Bourbon said to the growing empires, founded on the missionaries, "Youmightjust as European and American civilization, well attempt to convert the cattle and of which they laid the foundations; sheep as to convert the Malagasy." the enlightening influences which And as to the Australian aborigines, have spread among barbarous nations it was thought at first that they were from their points of labor-all these so far gone that they could not apprecommand the profound respect of all ciate even the fundamental vital men of sense. The one great fact, truths of the gospel, putting them that the spread of the power of the into the simplest language in which English language as the language of you could clothe them. And yet commerce and advancing civilization, what has been done? The grandest receives an assured impetus from mis- victories of the gospel in the ninesions of English – speaking people, teenth century have been among makes these missions of paramount these very people. Madagascar has importance to the spread of British become a Christian island within less and American commerce.-.rournal than fifty years; and what triumphs of Oommerce. have been won among the Hottentots and the Australian aborigines! Taking pagan lands, we find two things. First, the people have lost Proposed New Missionary Society. faith in their religion. Sometimes The organization of a new misthey are not ready for any other faith sionary society is now being con- sidered by Christian workers in the because they are reduced to a condi- United States. Almost simulta- neously suggestions upon the subtion of skepticism or infidelity. Some- ject came from. China, Africa and times they nurse a secret faith until Chicago, to Dr. Dowkontt of the the deathbed, "that detector of the New York Medical Mission. The heart," reveals the real state of things. China Inland Mission and Bishop Sometimes they come out openly, as Taylor's Mission in Africa, which are in Southern India, and confess Jesus self-supporting, are the models set Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the before the friends interested. It is Father. Secondly, the gospel, by its proposed that the new organization triumphs, has exploded these two shall embrace some of the peculiar greatfallacies: first, that there is any features of the&e tWQ missions, and nation so high up in civilization that have in it the element of medical in less than 240 years it amounted to JDlSSlOns. The originators desire to take Canada into.. the organization more than two and a half millions of and make it a representative inter- dollars. And I asked myself whether national missionary society. The God would not make a dollar laid name which thus far commends itself up for him grow as rapidly as it does is " The Evangelical Medical Mission- by the laws of trade." GIVE 1 ary Society." Dr. Jefferis, the leading Con~ The Hope of Paganism. Christian- gationalist in the Sydney pulpit, de- ity is confessedly the greatest power clares that the most degrading in- . in the world. This is so politically, fluence in New South Wales is that commercially, intellectually and mor- of Parliament, which is characterized ally. There are other faiths, as by the intemperate use of strong Buddhism, with a more numerous fol- drink, clouding the faculties of its lowing, but none with comparable members and rendering legislation power. The powerful and ruling na- impossible. tions are Christian nations. The ag- gressive force, the elements of con- Afrlca.-As an instance how entirely quest and molding influence-wealth, the German authorities in East Africa learning, enterprise, progress-are all are attempting to make the mission- in Christian hands. It is a significant aries subserve to their colonizing pur- fact that the political power of poses, not only are German terri- Christendom dominates almost en- tories to be made the preserves of tire paganism, whilst one-third of Protestant missionaries from Ger- paganism is under the absolute sway many to the exclusion of other na- of Christian rulers. All the forces tionalities, but arrangements have of modern thought are Christian. been made with the Pope to establish The eyes of heathenism are turned an ApostolicPrefecturein EastAfrica to the centers of Christendom. The to be occupied by German priests heathen world, dissatisfied with its alone. The French missionaries of religion and civilization, not less the well-known mission atBagomoyo, than with its poverty and misery, is opposite the island of Zanzibar, have looking toward Christendom for help. been constrained to place themselves They are· waiting for deliverance temporarily under German protec- without knowing what it is they are tion, and to continue in their office waiting for. Heathenism cowers and until German priests are duly quali- shrinks away in conscious weakness fied to take their place and develop before Christian thought and Chris- the German language and German tian institutions. Christian truth sat- influence. This appears to be a death- urates the atmosphere of the globe. The very essence of Christianity is blow to real spiritual missionary that it reconstructs man and makes him anew creature. Itnot only recasts work, as the missionaries will degenhis ideas and practices, it resets his erate into German officials, doing the affections and will. It is a life. It is work of chaplains to the German this fact, more than its external vic- settlers and state educationists, and tories, that gives us the confidence deprived of all free action. The that it will possess and remake the French priests set a bad example of world.-Bishop R. S. Foster. preaching France and Christ, and they have found now that the Ger- Dr. Deems relates that one of God's stewards once said to him: "I sat man Government is ready to play the down a night or two ago and calculated the increase of a dollar at same game with a much stronger compound, interest, and found that hand.-Church Miss. Intelligencer.
Life on the Congo. The Rev. W. Holman Bentley, an English mission- ary, has published a. book entitled .. Life on the Congo." Mr. Bentley has been longer in the Congo region than almost any other missionary, have been recently surprised by calls from the Paranapanema district for .and his book contains much that is the govermnent to send Jesuit mis- sionaries to catechise, corral and bapvaluable on the physIcal character- tize pro forma the Chavantes and Guatos, who were coming into the istics and climate of the country, the frontier plantations by fifties and hundreds. Heretofore it has been home life and superstitions of the the fashion to hunt these" buqres" and shoot them for sport like any natives, the experiences of the mis- other wild game; but a few warm- hearted men tried the other plan, sionaries, and some of the results of that of treating them liko human beings, and the result is that they are their labors. It is not yet ten years begging to be taken care of. These tribes are of a peculiarly timid and since the first missionaries at'rived in peaceable disposition, and only at- tack the white settlers when forced the country, and yet already there are to retaliate. The whole district lying between the Paranapanema and the native Christian churches at Mukim- Tiete is peopled by these tribes.
bungu, Lukunga, Banza, Manteka and Here is the finest chance in history for those of our Christian friends who San Salvador; there being about 1,500 do not believe in missions in papal countries. A million of native Americonverts, whose sincerity is attested can pagans; 20,000 immediately ac- cessible! There is a large class of by the self-denial and consistency of so-called "tame Indians" scattered throughout the empire, whose conditheir lives. There are more than fifty tion is wretched almost beyond de- scription, and who know nothing of missionaries, but the greater part of Christ Ot· his salvation. Thecondi- tion of the wild Indian of these souththem have but recently arrived. ern provinces is simply that of a wild animal, naked and unspeakably Mr. Bentley believes that Bishop filthy. Has he a soul, and have Christian people a duty toward him? Taylor's self-supporting idea is im- The work of the government is a farce, so far as any serious attempt practicable in Africa, and that it to evangelize the Indians is concern- ed. The frontiersman shoots him "could only be entertained by those without compunction, the Jesuit en- slaves him in the most literal sense. ignorant of African life and circum- Who is interested in the poor Indian, and who believes that Christ died for stances. This will be a matter of him ?-Brazilian Missions.
painful experience." He gives the France.-The Huguenot Church in France is just now appealing to following illustration of the risks and American friends. By the terms of the Edict of Nantes which received difficulties of some. men with whom the signature of Henry IV. May 2, 1598, the utmost freedom of worship he was acquainted: granted to the Protestants of Paris was the freedom to assemble outside "A few months ago a faith-healing mission, a party of four men, sent by Mr. Simpson's church in New York, started for the Congo. They held this same notion of selfsupport, and of being able to establish mission work far into the interior with a small sum of money. I saw the leader of the party, gave him the fullest information and more advice than was agreeable. They reached the Congo, and ignoring medicine the leader died in a week or two, the rest were obliged to abandon their principles, and the mail of May brought a message from them that the:y wished they had followed my adVICe. They had come to the end of their means; differences had arisen; without money enough to return home they were hoping to get some employment on the coast and thus to earn sufficient to return. Such a story nt'eds no comment, but certainly ought to be known."-Spirit of Missions.
Brazil.-The fact that there is a round million of wild Indians on the plains and in the selvas of Brazil is practically ignored by the Christian world. We who live in the country the city walls. In the suburb of church throughout all France if Charenton, accordingly, they built a another Protestant sanctuaryj ·how- Christian tern pIe. It had provision e,'er humhle, is built on that ground for 8,000 worshipers. The lj,l'chitect so memorable and sacred and from was the famous Debrosses, designer which the blood of the martyrs cries. of the palace of the Luxembourg. In that church outside the walls India.-As an instance of inquiry worshiped a multitude of the faith- among the educated classes in Inful of whom the France of that day dia, it is stated that in Calcutta a was not worthy. well-known Brahman recently called on Dr. Baumann, who in the course On the 22d of Octoner, 1685, just of conversation asked him whether 202 years ago, the revocation of the he had ever read our Bible. The man Edict of Nantes was registered and on looked at him and then slowly rethe day of the registering the destruc- plied, "I have read the New Testation of the great Protestant church at ment eighty-three times and the Old Charenton was begun! Not one stone Testament twenty-seven." was left upon another. The Huguenots residing there were cruelly per- There are thousands of towns and secuted and dispersed. cities in India and China with a pop- ulation ranging from 5,000 upward, For nearly two hundred years Cha- accessible to Christian life, that never renton has had no public Protestant have hdd a single missionary to tell worship, though the popUlation is them of the way of life. If the Im- 60,000. About ten years ago, how- man family are equally divideo, male ever, Professor Charles Clouet, con- and female, there are 500,000,000 of nected with the Belleville station of women and girls who have never had Mr. McAll's wonderful mission, be- a chance to heal' the name of Jesus. gan mission preaching at Charenton. In unbroken procession, one by one, He has already gathered a church of they would, in passing your door, 286 Huguenot members, poor in this consume thirty successive years. world's goods but rich in faith. These members have been worship- Bombay is a perpetual wonderland. ing in an old workshop, dingy and 'Vhence came the 800,000 inhabismall, and for years have hoped to tants? Last week a Greenlander build a sanctuary. During these called, seeking work. Two days aftel' years, despite their poverty, they I>. man from Australia wrote me askhave paid for a lqt costing $3,600. ing a fayor. A few weeks ago a West They have succeeded in laying by Indian came to attend to repairs on $1,000 toward a building fund. A my house. Last Sunday night I crisis, however, has come. In April preached to a congregation at which next the workshop is to be taken sat, side by side, a Russian from the down for business purposes. There Baltic, and an Armenian from the is no rental available for them, ex- foot of Mount Ararat. Among my pacept at ruinous rates. Therefore, rishiont'rs are an Abyssinian, Turks Professor Ciouet, bringing letters of from the Dardanelles, Greeks from warmest commendation and most tile Adriatic, Sidhee boys from, Zanearnest appeal from such men as zibar. Norwegians and South Afri- Monod, De Pressense, Bersier and cans live, do business and <lie in this McAIl, is now here for the raising of human hive. Is it not a wonderland? $5,000. God is working in this city. I found the Greenlander trusted him, the The churches of our country, with- Abyssinian wept as she talked of him out distinction of denomination, and the Sidhee boy from Zanzibar ought to take up the work and Cl'own needed him. it with speedy success. It would give inspiration to the Huguenot Miss Tucker ( "A. L. O. E.") went to India in her fifty-fourth year, and is now in her eleventh year ofservice under the preaching of Mr. Knowles, there. She has been enabled not only an Englishma.n, and his colleagues, to learn the language but also to visit members of the North India Meth~ habitually in more than one hundred odist Episcopal Conference. Mr. Knowles has been in the mission work zenanas, besides influencing in a very for a number of years. He has been considerable degree various portions led to feel that greater privileges of India by her writings. belong to Christian believers than have been generally realized; that Native Christians. Rev. E. Mac- through faith the gift of the Holy kenzie Cobham of Madras says of Spirit might be received in large the native Christians in India: measure both for one's self and others, and that through this gift God would .. I went one day to our chief conunissioner do his own work of conversion far of police in Madras to ask for the criminal more grandly than we had ever bestatistics of our presidency. First of all lieved. Accordingly, when preachhe told me who were the worst people in ing at the" melas " or great religious Madras. Government divides the population gatherings of the Hindus, he has into three classes-Christians, Mussulmans, been wont to press upon his hearers and Hindus. In Madras, a city of 400,000 the importance of °an "immediate people, which of these three classes is the decision." He declares himself ready best, which the worst? Government says: to baptize immediately, without fur- 'The statistics which we have received say ther test or instruction, any who will this: The Mussulmans are not the best peo- come forward and publicly avow a ple, the Hindus are not the best, the Chris- belief in Jesus Christ as their Saviour. tians are the best people.' Out of every A large number of baptisms have thus 447 Hindus we have a criminal; out of every been made of those who, up to the 700 Mussulmans in the city of Madras we moment of preaching, were thorough have a criminal; but it takes 2,500 Chris- Hindus, in full caste relations. tians to make one. Out of every 100,000 Hindus throughout the 31,000,000 of the Ma- The same course is pursued by the dras Presidency we have 49 criminals; we American United Presbyterians in have 06'2 criminals out of every 100,000 Mo- the Punjab, and thus far with unusual hammedans; but we have only 16 out of success. Whole villages have come every 100,000 Christians. That is the testi- to Christ and called for instant bapmony of governm,mt. The fact is, that if tism, which has been given, with full all the population of the Madras Presidency admittance to the church. The Methwere Christians, we should have 12,000 fewer odists and the Church Missionary criminals every year than we now have. Society prefer, as a rule, not to allow Christianity in South India has won the instantaneous baptism. The advorespectand esteem of the whole community. cates of instantaneous baptism ask, Not long ago one of my evangelists met in "Is not this the' way, after all, in the street a Hindu with a troubled counte- which the bulk of the people of India nance, a man who had a great deal of money are to be brought to Christ-not by with him. He had gone to the town to col- preliminary education, which can lect what seemed a bad debt, oand he haa reach only a few at a time, and may got it. Hehad tied it round his waist. Then draw men away from Christ instead came the trouble to keep the money. He was of toward him" (meaning evidently afraid, since he was in a strange town, that that such may be the effect of instrucitmight be stoleu, and that he might be tion in speculative and metaphysical murdered. He met my evangelist, and saw dogma), but by conversion, with inby his dress that he was a Christian, he stantaneous baptism to seal the act. saw by his face that he was a Christian; for God puts a bit of sunshine beneath a Mr. Lawrence gives a most interbrown skin, you know. He said, 'Sir, I esting account of successful work in should like to stay at your house, if you Bombay, and especially of the only please, to-night.' 'Oh I but,' said the evangelist, 'my dear sir, I am a Christian, you are a Hindu; there are thousands of Hindus here.' 'Yes, it is just because you are a Christian I want to stay with you. I can trust a Christian, but I cannot trust a Hindu.'" Is not one such testimony worth a volume of sneers?
"Instantaneous Baptism." Remark- able conversions have taken place self-supporting native church in the done everything that malice could city, and of the work it is doing. invent to annoy and impoverish the colony. "They seized," said he, .. The working force of this church is or- "our church, our village hall, our ganized into a kind of Christian Endeavor cannery, sa.wmill, store and work- Society. having from fiftEen to twenty men shop. They have taken from us over and women connected with it, who do regular 80,000 feet of lumber that was in unpaid work for Ohrist. His last night in stock at our sawmill, and white men India was spent at a tea-meeting of this have been sent to the old village and society. The hostess was a native lady, a ordered to take arms against our member of the church, who was supporting people if we attempt to bring away and teaching a school of native children in the buildings I have named. The one of the most thickly settled portions of poor people are almost afraid to go Bombay. Her husband is a Christian in for their personal property, and nothgovernment employ, and it seems to be his ing would gratify our enemies more· highest aim to have a little independent than to see the people driven to deschurch near his wife's school, where as a peration and commit some breach of layman he may regnlarly preach the gospel. the peace whereby the law, so called, Altogether I may say I have never found a might be invoked to punish them." church at home more full of the true spirit He also refers to his hope for a grant of the coming kingdorn, more ready to learn of land from the American Governand teach, to prayand labor, to receive from ment, and says that the Governor of God,andgive and do for God, than this com- Alaska has sent to him a commission pany of ninety-six Indian Christians in the of the peace, which makes him an city of Bombay." American citizen.-F. G. Carpenter.
Alaska.-The New Settlement of Madagascar.-Mr. and Mrs. Stowell the Indians in Alaska is to be called Ashwell have safely arrived attheir New Metlakahtla, and from a letter destination in the centre of the island written by Dr. Duncan, October 29, of Madagascar. Mr. Ashwell has I find that it is bravely under way. been sent out to take charge of the Eight hunared .of the Indians have society's printing establishment at crossed in canoes from British Colum- the capital. He is delighted with that bia to this point, and the work of important institution, and thinks the clearing the forest is now going on. greatest credit is due to his predecess- A line of huts nearly a mile long has or, Mr. Parrett, who had the training been built among the big trees upon of the staff of workmen.-Chronicle the shore, and a steam sawwill has London Miss. Society. been erected and is at work. The natives have built a 1l1rge salmon Pamare,Queen ofTahiti and Moorea, cannery, 100 feet long by 34 feet died at seventy years of age. At her wide, and this will be used as a birth not one convert had been made church and school until other build- in the South Sea Islands. At her ings can be provided. The Alaskan death, after years of faithful Chris- Indians are deeply interested in the tian life, more than 300 islands were new colony, and a number of· them wholly evangelized, and the gospel leaven is permeating the entire lump. have visited it. Dr. Duncan has the plans ready for building a guest- The Woman's Missionary organihouse to take care of strangers, and zations in this country and Great he hopes to extend his civiliiing work Britain report 19,286 auxiliaries, 5,193 to the Indians of his new territory. bands, 999 missionaries in their vari- The Sunday services during October ous fields, 2,219 Bible readers and were held in the open air, but at the teachers, 2,305 schools and 59,318 time of writing he expected to have pupils. Their aggregate increase the big building ready November for 1886 was $1,221,649.57, an increase 6, and they are probably in it at on the preceding year of $68,947.96. this time. In his letter he states that the governments of British Columbia and Canada and the ecclesiastical party of the English Chm'ch have
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
III.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D., OF THE "INTERNATIONAL MISSIONARY UNION."
The Spiritual Element in Mission Work. ject, that of devout waiting before THE leading article of this "de- God. And yet the" shortcomings" partment" for the March REVIEW, was on the impulse got from well- of Christians when measured each by conducted" simultaneous meetings." It must have been remarked that the his own ideal so faithfully analyzed special aim of those meetings was by the Ven. Archdeacon Richardson not primarily to convey instruction, as "the coming-short" . • • "found but to develop the truly spiritual ele- in the development only in some and ments necessary for the successful the shrinking· of other parts," must prosecution of the work by those at naturally have quickened their spirhome and those afield. The "simul- itual perceptions. Rev. Hadley C. taneous meetings movement," origi- G. Moule thought no sort of missionnated by the Church of England mis- ary meeting was so likely to be made sionary secretaries, has been followed a vehicle of calling out personal servby another phase of the same general ice and calling out from those who effort to restore the devout element could not go personally, just that to missionary work. The committee spirit of prayer and self-sacrifice of the Church Missionary Society in- which would result in personal servvited their friends to join them in a ice of others, as this sort of meeting. " Whole-day Devotional Gathering" Information was not enough, general on Wednesday, January 11, saying appeals were not enough. He shrank thatitseemed tothemthat the present from criticising missionaries, but he was ,. a time when 'the members of knew from themselves their manifold the society are specially called to ap- temptations, by the solitudes of proach the throne of grace in solemn Africa, by the society of India, by supplication, confession, intercession, external success, by working for ten dedication, and praise." The place years without a convert, and by facset for the holding of this meeting ing heathenism. Rev. Canon Hare was Exeter Hall, London, and the knew there were periods of special programme divided the devotional manifestation of God's powel' "in a topics as follows: Morning meeting, way not known at other times." So "Spiritual Shortcomings;" afternoon it had been in the history of their meeting, "Spiritual Possibilities;" own missions-men had toiled and evening meeting, ." Spiritual Deter-· died one after another and their minations." Eminent men were se- wives had died. From 1804 till 1816 cured, three for each session, to pre- there was in Africa not one single sent these topics. The remarkable baptism, and then the fountain was thing about these addresses was that opened. So it was in New Zealand. they were not remarkable at all. They had toiled on without success Tp.ey were just such familiar utter- from 1814 t.ill1825-eleven long years ances as one hears over and often in -without a baptism. So it had been exhortations to holy living and even in Foo Chow. They had gone on in prayer-meeting addresses. This, for eleven years toiling without one we suspect, was deeply intentional. baptism till there was a great discus- A brilliant address might have di- sion whether or not the mission verted attention from the main ob- should not be abandoned, and one young man-he remembered him well as a Scripture reader at Margate who used to come over to him at Rams- General Assembly of Proteetant .Mis- gate to talk about missionary work, sions in Mexico.
and who had gone to Foo-Chow- OUR correspondence from Mexico when everyone said it was to be just now is full and intensely intergiven up had said, "You may give esting. The topic which is most up the mission, but I will remain." prominent is the General Conference That very year baptisms began, and which the several missions carrying a shower was poured forth from on work have held in the city of Mex- God. ico. Pan-denominational conferences are not a novelty on other greater The Rev. C. A. Fox said it was by foreign mission fields, but this was cleansing and purging that all the churches must be fitted for their the first attempt within the Republic great and glorious work. There of Mexico to bring together repre- were indeed open doors everywhere. sentatives of all the Protestant The Bible was open in 300 languages. churches and societies in the country.
The world was open all round as it The societies, missions and agents had navel' been before. The doors who took part in this conference, arwere open everywhere. What was ranged chronologically in the order wanted was the open windows of of the beginning of their work, were: heaven pouring out such a blessing 1. The Baptists (Northern Convenas they could not even measure. tion). who commenced work May, And there must be the fourth bap- 1869, and now operate in six states of tism which they read of in the Epistle the republic. 2. The Protestant Epis- -that they should all be baptized copals, formerly "Church of Jesus" into one body. Christ claims us, said (1869), but adopted by the Protestant Episcopal Church by General Con- Rev. Evan H. Hopkins-claims own- vention, 1886, and are now carrying ership, claims possession, claims con- on work in Central Mexico. 3. The trol. God undertakes for us. Sir Friends, who began in 1871 and con- Arthur Blackwood, speaking of spirit- duct a mission at Tamaulipas. 4. The ual determinations, said it was rather Central Presbyterian, who began in spiritual determination, not of the 1872 and operate in the Federal Disparticular resolution that they might trict and several states. 5. The Presbe inclined to form, but of the atti- byterian mission of Zacatecas (1872), tude of soul in which they were, the working in five states. 6. The Methdetermined attitude rather than the odist Episcopal Church South (1873), individual determinations. The now a conference with six districts in blessed result which they desired fifteen different states. 7. Methodist would depend not on the numbers o[ Episcopal Church (1873), working in the Federal District and seven states, their gatherings, not even on the now organized as an annual confer- scripturalness of the addresses that ence with three districts. 8. The might be given, but on the attitude Methodist Episcopal Church South of soul in which those gatherings left has frontier conference since 1874, them. working in seven frontier states. 9.
These brethren of the English The Southern Presbyterian Church Church have set the example, and it (1874), working in two states. 10. The is worthy of imitation. A whole-day Reformed Presbyterian Mission (1880), missionary prayer-meeting, in which also working in two states. 11. The we pray not so much for missions and Southern Baptist Church (1881), work- missionaries as for the missionary i.ng in four states. 12. The" Ameri- spirit-the consecration and spiritual can Board" (1882) mission in Chihua- uplifting that fits for the work. hua. 13. The same society's mission in J alisco (1872), abandoned 1880 and This subject, we may be allowed to re-establishedin 1882. 14. The Friends say in passing, is one of wide inter- (1886), with work in Central Mexico. est. The standard Romish versions 15. The Cumberland Presbyterian of the Scriptures in Spanish are two mission (1886), operating in Aguas -Scio's and Amat's-both from the Calientes. 16. The "American Board" Vulgate. The Protestant text is (1886), at Sonora. 17. The "Church mainly that of Valera. At present of Jesus," a small independent body, this is the text followed by the Amerso called, still under Bishop Riley, ican and the British Bible Societies and which has refused to be received for· Spanish America, though the' by the Protestant Episcopal Church. American Bible Society has issued por- 18. An independent English mission, tions we believe of other translations. under charge of James Pascor, a con- Valera's style is that of the sixteenth verted miner, who works among the century, and as various attempts Indians of the State of lfexico. De- have been made to modernize it the nominationally, perhaps, he is a sort result is, several, at least seven, differof "Plymouth" brother. This com- ent texts are in print with sufficient pany represented twelve different variation to create great confusion in churches or denominations, carrying their use; while Valera's text itself on work in every state of the Mexican was defective, and its style is, of Republic except Campeche and Chia- course, archaic and mystical. pas. Dr. Patterson of the Methodist The opening service (Jan. 31) was Episcopal Church South presented addressed by Rev. Dr. Green, who the subject of territorial division of preached to about five hundred per- the country between the different sons in the Presbyterian church. The denominations, and after a warm formal opening of the Assembly in discussion a resolution was presented the fine audience room of the Trinity to the effect that in all towns of over Methodist Episcopal church was on 15,000 inhabitants more than one Feb. 1, the representatives sitting by church might establish missions, but delegation, and after an hour of in towns of less population only one prayer was organized by appointing society should enter; and if two or a Spanish and an English secretary. more societies are now opel'ating in Dr. S. P. Craver (Methodist Episco- such towns the field should be a!Janpal) read an essay on the attitude they doned by all except the society which should assume toward the Roman first began work in that place. The Catholic church, and then the ques- entire subject was referred to a comtion of Bible translation was pre- mittee, consisting of one from each sented, Rev. H. P. Hamilton (A. B. S.) denomination present. speaking of the need of revising the Spanish version of the Bible, and also Among the topics treated were of translating the Scriptures into the "Self – Support" and "Gambling." vernacular of the native Mexican peo- During the discussion of "Education ple. Rev. H. B. Pratt of Virginia, an of the Ministry," Rev. P. Rodrigues eminent Spanish scholar, who was of the Protestant Episcopal Church sent specially by the American Bible advocated the establishment of one Society to attend this Assembly, ad- preparatory school for all Mexico. vocated the revision of the Spanish translation, and pressed its impor- The Assembly sent its congratulatance among sixty millions of J?eople tions to the President of the Repubspeaking the Spanish tongue. The lic. Amongtbe distinguished visitors whole subject was referred to a com- to the Assembly were Bishop Harmittee of one from each denomina- grave and Dr. Morton (M. E. Church tion represented. South), Bishop Thos. M. Bowman, Dr. Wm. Butler, founder of M. E. Church missions in India and Mexico, and Dr. J. M. Reid, senior secretary of the foreign missionaries are chilof the M. E. Missionary Society. dren of ministers.
The statistics of the several mis- The Situation and the Outlook in Ohina. siot;!s were carefully prep~red by Rev. John W. Butler of the City of Mexico, BY REV. C. A. STANLEY, TIENTSIN, as follows: Number of centers of CHINA.
operation, lil6; of congregations, 393 ; LOOK at the map of China and take ordained foreign missionaries, 48; in the size of the country. It ex- tends over about 20 degrees of latiassistant foreign missionaries, 44; tude and 24 degrees of longitude. It foreign lady teachers, 43. Total for- contains 2,000,000 square miles of eign workers, 125; ordained native territory and has a coast line from preachers, 88; unordained, 65; na- southwest to northeast of over 2,000 tive teachers, 96; other native help- miles. Its dense population is variers, 49. Total native workers, 300 ; ously estimated at from 250,000,000 total of foreign and native work- to 400,000,000-we will say about ers, 4550. Organized churches, 177; 300,000,000. It is an old nation. It church members, 12,444; probable possesses an extensive literature, one adherents, 30,000; theological schools, book of poetry comprising 900 vol- 10 ; scholars in same, 66; boarding umes. Its culture and civilization schools and orphanages, 15; scholars are hoary with age, and are well in same, 687; of these 109 are sup- worth our study. They are practiported by indigenous resources. Com- cally what they were centuries ago. mon schools, 71; scholars in same, Her laws are spoken of as " copious, 2,187. Total unde1' instruction, 2,516. consistent, free from intricacy, big- :sunday-schools, 199; teachers and otry and fiction," and as little infeofficers, 367; scholars, 4,817. Total rior to the codes of Europe. The membership of Sunday-schools, 5,256. "Ritual of Chau," B. C. 1130, formed Publishing houses, 8; papers issued, the type of construction for the" Six 10; most of these are issued monthly, Boards" of the present government. two semi-monthly and oue weekly. Total pages of religious literature To understand the situation we issued from the beginning, 49,471,295. must look at the past. Note the ex- Number of church buildings, 73; ceptional opportunity the Chinese approximate value of same, $333,400 ; people had throughout centuries to number of parsonages, 39; value of develop their individuality in peculiar same, $93,260; educational buildings, circumstances, in their own way, and 16; value, $147,200; value of press amid the best conditions. (1) They property, $39,500. Total value of were to no perceptible extent affectmission property, $594,260. Of the ed by foreign influence or intervenchapels and churches sixteen were tion. They have been a nation apart, built without aid from home boards, separdte, as few nations have been, and nineteen received only partial and that while time grew hoary. aid, which is encouraging and indi- This will become apparent if we concates a disposition to aim for "self- sider that (a) as a nation China is support." Bro. Butler notes also in isolated geographically. On the his correspondence that the Mexican south and east it is guarded by the church can make sacrifices for Christ's ocean. On the north it is separated cause. She has already added fifty- from the Mongolian plateau by high nine to the-" noble army of,mar- and precipitous ranges of mountains, tyrs." He remarks also that two reinforced by the great wall, which native preachers are sons of former stretches its serpentine length of workers, three foreign missionaries 1,500 miles across its northern borare children of missionaries, and nine der. The western frontier is correspondingly hemmed in by moun- religious system so much as a moral tains, thus making its geographical philosophy, although it contains position unique. But (b) China is many religious elements. Not only isolated by its language. This has no its moral tone but its distinct moral affinity with or similarity to any utterances surpass in my opinion the other of the Oriental tongues. It has teachings of any other non-Christian no alphabet. It is monosylabic. It nation. And although terrible wick- has not grown away from its original edness and corruption prevail the simplicity of structure. The speech moral sense of the nation and the of to-day is essentially the speech of laws are wholly on the side of virtue, three thousand years ago. The char- truth and honesty, and can always acters remain as they were construct- be appealed to with the certainty of ed at the first. The idiom is the same. a response. The teachings of Con- As they thought then so they think fucius have molded and govern the now, and so they speak. Moreover social and family relations, and the (c) the surrounding nations were small principle of filial reverence, exagger- in extent, weak in power and defi- ated by him into the real worship of cient in attainments, and sought the ancestors, has thereby perhaps kept Chinese as guides and instructors. woman from the degree of degrada- Their literature, culture and civiliza- tion which prevails in most other tion were derived from China. Its heathen lands.
sacred books became their sacred Here I would call attention to four books in many cases. Hence there points of politieal significance in the was little fear of invasion. Possessed growth of the country, and which of extensive territory, there was owe their existence, I think, to the equally little occasion for aggressive Confucian teachings.
warfare beyond natural limitations. 1. China has mu.intained demo- It was therefore left free relatively to cratic ideas under a purely despotic develop its own institutions, and es- theory of government. The entire pecially its literature, according to local village and clan administration its own genius and after its own is essentially democratic. Patient un- model. der oppre~sion, this spirit is manifest But these conditions alone could when the people rise in a b6dy against not have developed such a national oppressh'e rulers and exacting offi- life, such a continuity and uniformi~ cials, and assert theiL' rights and se- ty of endurance, language, custom cure them temporarily. In such up- and habit. We must seek other rising's the people are helped by the causes for these wonderful results. teachings of the sage, and conversely They are very largely found (2) in the a beneficent ruler is equally strength- moral and social teachings of the an- ened by an appeal to those precepts.
cient sages and rulers during the in- 2. The rights of the subject have fancy and simplicity of the race, and been respected by giving them the reimpressed by Confucius more than protection of law. It may seem to twenty centuries ago. Confucius' ~s cruel and arbitrary and be badly claimed that he was not an origina- administered, but it is settled and tor. He reverenced the sages of the largely.known among the people.
past. He strove to revive a love for That subjects have certain rights is them and lead the nu.tion back to the acknowledged.
observance of their teachings. In 3. The sovereign is held amenable doing this he dwelt upon seemingly to a higher power for continued swav.
trivial matters of observance. But Any extensive calamity is consider;d .
he knew his people, u.s is evident to be in consequence of misrule or from the influence his teachings ex- , maladministration of law and calls ert to 'day. Confucianism is not a for humiliation, confession and repentance on the part of the emperor " opium war" began. This issued in and his subordinates. We not infre- a treaty which opened the five ports quently see calls to righteousness in of Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo the way of edicts from the throne and and Shanghai to foreign residence. witness the humble presentation of These were occupied as speedily as petitions at the temples by those possible by the missionaries who had highest in authority, including the been waiting long on the borders. emperor. In 1843 active operations were begun within the empire. Later treaties 4. The domination of feudal, hered- opened other ports. In 1858 came itary and priestly classes has been the second war with Great Britain, prevented by making elevation to when the allied forces of England _ and promotion in office depend on lit- and France bombarded the Takoo erary examinations. Here is an old- forts at the mouth of the Pei Ho, protime civil service of merit. Although ceeded to Tientsin and secured the it has been and is abused, yet proba- promise of further concessions. On bly much more than half the officials the departure of the invading force hold their positions regularly. the forts were restored and strength- ened, the promises were disregarded Two facts of a religious nature, and little came of it all until the fall which though negative have yet ex- of 1860 when the allies again proceederted an unquestioned influence in ed north, marched on Peking, dethe formation of the national charac- stroyed the" Summer Palace," and ter, should be mentioned in passing. secured the opening of other coast 1. So far as I can learn, human beings and river ports. Since then the have never been offered in sacrifice whole country has been practically for sin. 2. Vice and sensuality have open to travel with a passport, and never been deified. The way of the we can go anywhere at little risk, if sinner has not been made easier by careful, preaching and distributing causmg it to pass through a temple Christian books. Residence is grantand giving it the sanction of religion. ed by treaty only at the "treaty The natural result of all this was ports," but missionaries have generpride, conceit,. arrogance, in view of ally been able to secure residence at China's own attainments in compari- interior places by rental or purchase. son with the surrounding countries, Honan is the only province we have to whom "The Middle Kingdom" been unable to enter for residence. had given much while it had receiv- ed little in return. They and all Viewing the work by decades the " outside" peoples became despised growth has been as follows: In 1853 in the eyes of Chinese. Such in brief there were 350 enrolled church mem- '»as the people and such the situation bers. In 1863 there were 2,000. In when the gospel was first borne to 1873 there were 8,000. In 1883 there them. were 22,000. And now there are not less than 30,000 Christians scattered The first missionary, Rev. Robert among the towns and villages of the Morrison, reached Canton in 1807. eighteen provinces; for all that I He could only study the language have said refers to these alone and and do preliminary work. There was not to the dependencies. Not less no opportunity to reach the people. than 14,000. children are taught in the The missionaries sent out had to la- different mission schools. There are bor entirely among the Chinese of eighteen hospitals in which 150,000 the "Straits Settlements." Morri- patients receive treatment annually. son died in 1834. The outlook then was "nearly as dark as when he Look at the work in a smaller field landed." Only three Christians could be found in Canton in 1835. In 1841 and for a fewer number of years- the troubles which resulted in the the North China field. Rev. H. Blodget reached Tientsin on Nov. 8, 1860, nifica.nt utterance. Further, censors going north in one of the transport have memorialized the throne, recomships of the allied fleet. His mission, mending that western studies be the A. B. C. F. M., now occupies six placed on the list with their own stations and is opening another. classics for the examination of those Five, or, including Shansi, seven seeking degrees and promotion. This other societies, have since entered seems to be receiving favorable con- this northern field. There are now sideration. enrolled over 30,000 Christians in less than twenty-seven years of labor. It Such, briefly and very imperfectly, is estimated by careful observers that is the situation to-day. The whole in' addition to the more than 30,000 country is open and full of opportuni- Christians in the empire there are ties to do effectiYe work for the Mas- not less than 50,000 to 70,000 who ter. Not that there are no difficulhave lost all faith in other systems ties, no opposition, no hindrances and of religion, if indeed they have not occasional local and temporary inter- abandoned them. But this is not all. ference and stoppage of the work, as The prejudice of exclusiveness, pride, everywhere, but these do not alter bigotry, contempt for all outside of the great fact. The outlook is indi- China, and conceit of themselves, cated in the array of facts above given have gradually given way and sus- -churches, hospitals, schools, 30,000 picion has been overcome as the Christians and double that number years have passed. Steam has been of "adherents" scattered throughout introduced on the water and on the the land; prejudice and suspicion land, and its power is felt deep down largely disarmed; hundreds seeking in the mine. The telegraph and the western knowledge and science; the telephone arethere. Schoolsfor teach- government not hostile. Surely there ing the knowledge of western lands is no cause for anything but encour- and the English language and fitting agement. Great enlargement seems young men for official positions have not far distant. been established by the government. There is an increasing demand for Death of Rev. George Bowen.- western knowledge and science. It is becoming apparent to all that the The cable has brought the news of work of missions must be enlarged so the death of Rev. George Bowen at as to include a complete education in Bombay Feb. 5, 1888. Some time such western knowledge as is adapt- last fall he met with an accident in ed to the needs of a rapidly develop- alighting from a tramcar. We do ing country. The demand for this not know any of the particulars of knowledge is increasing, and if facil- his death. He was born in the ities for acquiring it are not furnished United States in 1816. He went to by the church which are thoroughly India as a missionary of the Ameri- Christian it will flow in skeptical can Board of Foreign Missions Jan- channels, and much of our work be uary, 1848. The following year he lost or have to be done over again. resigned his salary, but his relation Then, too, there is the edict issued to the society continued until 1855. from the throne early in the year and For seventeen years following he. ordered to be published all over the was not connected with any mission- empire. It speaks of the missiona- ary society. In 1872 he joined the ries as "guests," and directs that Methodist Episcopal Church in Bom- they shall not be interfered with in bay, and in 1873 the missionary . their labors since they have come to staff of that church. From 1854 to teach morals. However little it may the time of his death he was editor accomplish at once, it is a very sig- of The Bombay Guardian, one of the most vigorous and best-balanced Christian weeklies of the foreign mission field. Among the produc- manners. He subsequently abantions of his pen are a "Life of Mo- doned this course, being convinced hammed," "Discussions by the Sea- that it did not im,rease his influence side," "Abiding 1'Iliracles of Proph- or usefulness among the natives. ecy," "Friendly Words to Roman- Yet there is something thrilling in ists," "The Religion that Man the example and the honest experi- Needs," "Did Christ Rise Again?" ment made by a cultured Christian "Some Friendly, Words," "Friendly gentleman who had traveled in Words to Educated Natives," "Paul Europe and knew French, German, the Christian's Pattern," "Is Infant Spanish, Italian and other European Baptism Unwarranted?" But those languages, besides some Oriental by which he is most known and tongues, as Hindustani and Marathi. through which many thousands He was later secretary of the Religlearned to love him though they ious Tract Society, residing at their never otherwise knew him are" Daily depot and managing their affairs Meditations," "The Amens of without fee in addition to all other of Christ," and" Love Revealed." his duties. He was a cheerful, self- sacrificing, devoted missionary and a The preface to "Daily Meditations," loving and lovable friend. " There written by the Rev. Mr. Hanna, gives was a man sent from God, and his a brief sketch of the author of the vol- name was"-George Bowen. ume. In early life he became quite a skeptic concerning the Scriptures The London Oommittee's Appeal. from reading a chapter in Gibbon's history. For eleven dreary years he The Oommittee of Oonference, to the FJuropean, wandered in the darkness of infidelity. American, and Native M'1,8sionaries of all A Bible bequeathed to him with a P"oleslant Ohurches lalxffing for the Salvadying request that he would read it tion of the Heathen in all parts qf the HalJ. was faithfully perused, but he never itable World. doubted for a moment that his views concerning it were correct. He was BELOVED BRETHREN: We, your fellow-laboraccustomed to get books from a pub- ers aud .. companions in the kingdom aud palic library, and on one occasion asked tience of Jesus Christ," salute you heartily iu for a volume and when nearly two the words of the apostolic beuediction, " Grace miles away to his surprise he found and peace be multiplied unto you, through the he had" Paley's Evidences" instead knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." of the book he had called for. He could not go back, but he would not We greatly rejoice with you in the blessings read the book. Before putting it which have accompanied your labors and those away he glanced at the first sentence; of your predecessors dnring the past hundred he read one page, another and an- years of modern missiouary effort, whereby other, and was pleased with the about three millions ,from amoug the heathen style. Halfway through the vol- are at this honr fouud gathered into the fellowume he offered the prayer, "Help ship of the church below, while at the same thou my unbelief." When he reached time large tribes of our fellow-men, who were the last sentence his dOlJbts were all sunk in the grossest barbarism and snperstition, gone. have been socially elevated, and have derived manifold secondary benefits from the preaching As a missionary Mr. Bowen was of the gospel of.Christ. true to his convictions wherever they might lead. He made a fair experi- We rejoice also over the many millions more ment of increasing his influence by who have passed within the veil, after testifying becoming self-supporting. He earned by their consistent lives and peacefnl deaths to $15 a month, and for many years the regenerating and consoling influences of the lived in the native bazaar, adapting grace of God-many of them having been faithnative dress, we believe, and food and ful witnesses of Jesus Christ, not only by taking joyfully the spoiling of their goods, but by en- dnring manifold tribulations in the flesh, and suffering even unto death for His Name's sake.
But while we are unceasingly grateful to God for the great things accomplished in the past by the inadequate means employed, we lament over the feebleness of the efforts put forth by the churches of Christ, and we mourn over the great and increasing mass of heathenism which still
MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
confronts the church in this nineteenth century of one mind; doing nothing through faction or of the Christian era. It is one great object of through vain glory, bnt in lowliness of mind, the Conference to be assembled in June to look each counting other better than himself." this appalling fact fully in the face, and byapplying the lessons taught by the past to the con- Pray that, under God, the Conference may be ditions of the present, to awaken the church of the means ofintroducing a new era in missionary Christ, by every possible effort, to a due sense of enterprise. That it may hasten the day when the obligation under which she lies to the perish- " the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the ing heathen and to her Divine Head and Lord. Lord," and when "the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together." Our great object in now addressing you is to ask you to unite with your brethren of other de- We do not fix hours nor prescribe snbjects nominations, if such there be in your neighbor~ for prayer. The one special gift which includes hood, or in solitary stations with your converts, ail " good things" is the gift of the Holy Spirit, in earnest and united prayer for a Pentecostal whose presence we seek in all the plenitude of blessing on the Conference, on Sunday, the third his grace and power. of June, to Tuesday, the 19th of the same, >eing the week before and the ten days during which Let us, dear brethren, encourage one another the Conference will be in session. in the thought that unnumbered brethren throughout the whole world are uniting in the Pray that the presence of God, the Father, same prayer. We have good reason to hope Son, and Spirit, may be in our assemblies, and that this will be the most universal cry that has that gracious manifestations of his power may ever gone up from this sinful world into the ear be displayed in the midst of his people gathered of" the Lord of Sabaoth." Through the promfrom all parts of Christian and heathen lands. ised help of the missiouary societies this re- That the spirit of union and peace and love may quest will he sent ont into all lauds, wherever reign in and among us, and that all our deliber- the feet of the messengers of the gospel of peace ations may be "in the Spirit." Pray for the have trod, and will be read in the languages of single eye and the undivided heart, for strong almost all the natious upon earth. faith and ardent zeal, and for that "wisdom from above," which is "first pure, then peace- But most of all would we strengthen our muable, gentle and easy to be intreated, without tual faith, by the promise of the Father, as partiality, and withont hypocrisy;" and that learned from the lips of his only begotten Son : in all our assemblies we may "be of the same " If ye then being evil know how to give good mind, having the same love, being of one accord, gifts unto your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him."
V.-MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
MISSIONS IN INDIA. missionaries either to Africa or St. BARTHOLOMEW ZIEGENBALG, found- Thomas. After some hesitation he er of missions in India, was born on yielded, but on reaching Copenha- St. John's day, 1683, a little over two gen he found that Tranquebar was hundred years ago. His mother their destination. The vessel which called her four children to her dying bore them bore also secret instrucbed and: committed to them a" treas- tions to the governor of Tranquebar ure" she had laid by for them: "Seek to oppose and crush the mission. it in the Bible, my children; there Through the long voyage of nearly you will find it; there is not a page eight months the ship became a uni- I have not wet with my own tears." versity of Christ, where they were Ziegenbalg learned of Fmncke at learning daily new lessons in holy Halle, that men who heard were living, both from nature and the bound to spread the good news, and Divine Word. that he ought at once to begin. So when a tutor at Merseburg he or- Ziegenbalg's heart was greatly ganized prayer-meetings,Bible classes stirred at the sight of the heathen and Bible readings, and became the whom he saw on the Coromandel center of godly influence. coast, as he entered the harbor of While preaching neal' Berlin he Tl'anquebar July 9, 1706. But the received a letter proposing, in behalf captain of the ship gave them no aid of the king, that he and Pliitschau, even in landing, and when they did .his old fellow-student, should go as land the governor did eveL"ything he dared to drive them back. The first Protestant missionaries that ever Obstacles such as confronted Zieg- stood on the soil of India found them- enbalg have been met by few even of selves literally without a place to lay the most heroic missionaries. The their head-destitute, abandoned, and governor was the implacable foe of alone. We talk of "India for the mission, faithful to his secret Christ;" but there had to be some- instructions. Meanwhile there was thing deeper than a sentimental en- a fire in the rear, for at home thusiasm in those two pioneers who both friends and funds were scarce.
stood under the midnight skies, Liitkens, the chaplain, died, with his homeless, strangers to the language last words breathing a blessing on the and peoples of India, facing the most mission. Ziegenbalg went home, told subtle and seductive of false faiths, his story to the king, sped through the most gross and sensual forms of Germany and Holland like a flaming idolatrous worship, and that mon- e'angelist, and returned to India to strous caste, which is the most sa- find the hostile governor displaced by tanic system of organized opposition a friend of missions. Two years more to human brotherhood and Christian of hard labor, and on New Year's progress ever yet devised-a radical day, 1719, his voice was heard for the denial of all fellowship based either last time, and Feb. 23, 1719, not Jet in nature or in grace, deifying hu- 36 years old, he died of cholera. His man selfishness and sanctioning its last exclamation was, "How is it so own exclusiveness by penalties more bright! It is as though the midday terrible than death. sun shone full in my face!" The Zeigenbalg and Pliitschau found eternal glory had already broken up- temporary shelter through the mere on his dim dying vision and dazzled pity of one of the governor's suite, him. While they sang "Jesus, meine and then in a house upon the wall Zuversicht," he fell asleep.
close by the heathen quarters. Six To that man, so brave, wise, calm, days after they landed Ziegenbalg is resolute, of such commanding pres- studying Tamil, though he has no ence and such winning piety, mis- lexicon, grammar, or even alphabet sions in India owe their true begin- to guide him; and yet within eight ning. He planted there that germ months he is talking Tamil intelligi- whose growth is yet to cover with bly! Three ,years Jater it was as a healing shadow and fruitful bour-hs vernacular to him, and then he pre- all India. Yet when he died all the pared a grammar and lexicons con- visible or tangible results were a few taining40,OOO words. He had scarcely hundred converts and the translation been two years in India when his of the Bible into Tamil.
translation of the New Testament Count Zinzendorf is another link in was begun, and within three years it the chain of Indian Missions. He was finished and he began the Old came under the contagious influence Testament, himself not yet twenty- of Francke, at Halle, when a lad of seven years old! ten years, and at fifteen founded the From Madras to Cape Comorin "Order of the Seed Corn," whose this young German had already be- pledge and symbol was the conver- come a mighty power. In Tamil he sion of the heathen. Ziegenbalg on proclaimed the wonderful works of his short stay at home had been the God, and in the broken Portuguese guest of Zinzendorf, and the count of the half-breeds all along the coast, had felt the fire within him burn which was the relic and remnant of with new fervor as he came into con- ancient Portuguese possession, he ad- tact with the ardent glow of Ziegen- dressed the slaves at Tranquebar and balg's evangelism. The Moravian gathered five of them into the church exiles who founded on Zinzendorf's a!) first-fruits of India unto Christ. estate the site of Hernnhut became the great missionary leaders of the tions and conflicting armies. On he Lord's host, and still continue in the went, until he died at 72, in Tanjore, van of missions. A procession of preaching, gathering converts, or- missionaries more than 2,000 strong ganizing churches, opening new sta- moved out from that little communi- tions, training native workers, shel- , ty that never numbered over 70,000 tering orphans, doing every good in all. The Moravians kept the mis- work that can accompany good sion fires burning on the continent, words. When Hyder Ali invaded the and many a heroic life got its inspira- Carnatic and Tanjore was in a state tion unconsciously from those vestal of starvation, Schwartz induced the altars. farmers to bring in their cattle, pledg- Almost while Ziegenbalg was dy- ing his word alone for their payment.
ing, Christian Frederick Schwartz After his death the Rajah of Tanjore was preparing to take up the apos- and the East India Company each tolic succession. He was born Oct. erected to his memory costly monu- '
8,1726, dedicated from birth by his ments.
dying mother to God's service in the Henry Martyn is the next promi- ministry. He likewise got his train- nent link in this fascinating history.
ing in Francke's Orphan House at From his birth in Truro in 1781 to his Halle. There he met Schulze, come death in Tokat in 1&12, only thirty- home from India to superintend one years old, his story bas a thril- the printing of the Tamil Bible. ling missionary interest. When a Schwartz caught fire from this bless- young man of 21 his father's death ed contact and told his father that he turned his thoughts to a holy life and must go to India, and, in that very the mission field, and in 1805 he sailed bedchamber where the wife and for India. For years he traveled in motiler died, the husband and father India and Persia and preached the learned to give up his boy to the gospel, studying the native tong-ues heathen and to God, with'such success that he was chosen Schwartz studied Tamil with the to superintend the translations of the missionary and was able to preach in New Testament into Hindostanee it within four months after his land- and Persian, and had already made ing in 1750. Schwartz is probably no little progress in an Arabic ver- the most prominent figure in the In- sion when his frail health gave way, dian Missions of the eighteenth centu- and on his way home he was laid to ry. He went often on foot, tirelessly rest in Asia Minor. His career was journeying and tirelessly preaching. short, but it cannot be measured by Himself a living epistle, he made years. Close by the river at Seram- preaching almost unnecessary by the pore, a small deserted idol fane was eloquence of his life. He won uni- fitted up as a bungalow, and there on versal confidence. The Rajah of the open platform overhanging the Tanjore made him on his deathbed river Martyn would kneel in prayer guardian of his adopted child. Hy- for India's millions. That spot has der Ali, the stern warrior, the ruthless become to Christians one of the chieftain, the scourge of the Car- world's Meccas. The ceaseless labors natic, said to the Madras rulers, of that devoted man, who at Dina- "Send me Schwartz, the missionary; pore and Cawnpore welcomed the him only can I trust." The humble most abject vagrants to his garden man who walked with God while he and bore ridicule and abuse without talked of God, and whose talk was so a murmur of impatience or even a subduing because his walk was so sign of annoyance, that he might sublime, was at once the minister of read to them the sweet words of God, and the minister plenipotentiary God, have never been lost to India to lllediate betweell contending fac- or to the church at home. Thebrokell ;flask has only let out a pervasive dorf, Schwartz and Carey, Martyn perfume. Dr. Stevenson has well and Duff•. are destined by God to tri- said that in the annals of Christian- umph? ity there is "nothing grander than the picture of Henry Martyn, with MISSIONARY TEXTS AND THEMES. the Bible in hand, alone and un- supported in a strange country, chal- Preach, i.e., proclaim the word. lenging the whole strength of Mo- The gospel should be preached and hammedanism to a conflict." The in as nearly as may be the words of memoir of that sublimely conse- Scripture. crated life has perhaps stirred to a , like devotion more disciples than his 1. Because these are God's words. life itself would ever have reached. 2. Because his message is the only thing we are commanded and com- At but one more link in this chain missioned to preach. have we space to tarry. William 3. Because it is the only thing that Carey was the first great gift which it is profitable to preach. England gave to missions in India 01' 4. Because the Spirit is most likely indeed to the world in these modern to use his own inspired utterances as times. The full century has not to the vehicle of his power. passed since, in 1792, Carey organized 5. Because as a fact conversion and that first Baptist missionary band !)anctification and all comfort are which may fairly be called the pio- traceable to the very words of Scrip- neer of all the existing societies. ture. When William Carey died, in 1834, 6. Because not our words but his India had become the established word has the promise of not return- field of missions. The broad founda- ing to him void. Is. .lv. tions were laid on ¥i hich such men as Rev. Dr. H. B. Smith's outline ar- Alexander Duff were to rear a struc- gument: ture so grand that no civil revolution 1. The spirit of missions is th~ or political convulsion can ever over- spirit of Christ, etc. Christianity is throw it. That pious shoemaker of a doctrine, teaching an incarnate Paulerspury became the uuremitting God, an atonement, a new birth, and student of the languages of the Ori- a new life; teaching and exemplify- ent, and with his colaborers, Marsh- ing a love that is universal and im- man and Ward, he was the means of partial and manifested mainly in un- making forty different dialects of selfish effort for souls. Asia channels for conveying the .2. Christianity is solitary in this: news of salvation to as many differ- teaching one blood for one race of ent tribes. At Serampore he estab- man, and one blood of redemption lished that large successful mission- applied to one blood of creation and arypost of his denomination, taught, one curse of sin. in the college at Fort William, the 3. The Experimental argument: Bengalee, Sanskrit and Mahratta Christian Europe and America, as tongues, and made valuable contri- fruits of missions, vindicate the meth- butions to the natural sciences. Three ods of missions. He who would not • years before Carey's death Alexander send the gospel to heathen peoples Duff met him at Serampore and the must first ask himself, What would aged apostle of India gave his bless- I have been but for missions? The ing to the young Highlander who purpose of missionary enterprise is to was to thrill not only India but the do for present heathen what has been world with the electric energy of his done for the present Christian nations utterance. Who can doubt that J:Uis- when they were in the same condi- sions which present such a chain of tion. workmen as Ziegenbalg and Zinzen- Itis admitted that sometimes there is slow progress. All great und per- manent results are slowly wrought. Espeeially, changes ~f intellectual, receive the grace of God's Son the sociaJ and moral life are necessarily chains are struck off and the prison slow. Moreover, in many cases it is thrown wide open.-Dr. Edward must be borne in mind that the work Judson.
is preparatory, like the breakwater on A Beautiful Legend.-In the hill the coast, or foundations of Eddystone country of India is a touching myth lighthouse. of a queen, greatly beloved by her 4. Historical argument: Where the people, whose life was devoted to spirit of missions is found, there is their interests. – In olden times the the Spirit of Christ-i. e., Holy Ghost. people of Chambra suffered grievous And wherever a church or a disciple distl'ess for want of water. The is indifferent to missions, there the queen, taking the sorrow of her sub- flame of a renewed life is with great· jects greatly to heart, consulted the est difficulty maintained at all, if in- will of the gods how the constant deed any really exists. curse of drought could be removed.
SUGGESTIVE PARAGRAPHS. The reply, "If the ruler of Chambra lVho his Own Self Bare our Sins.- – die for her people, abundant water Some time ago a war raged in India shall begiven." "Here am I," respond.
between the English and a native ~d the generous queen. Bravely monarch named Tippoo Sahib. On standing on the lofty position des- one occasion several English officers ignated by the gods, the devoted were taken prisoners, among them woman was buried alive for the sake one named Baird. One day a native of her people. Thereupon a fountain officer brought in fetters to be put on of pure sweet water flowed from the each of the prisoners, the wounded spot, descending to quench the thirst not excepted. Baird had been se- of the people of Chambra, visiting verely wounded and was suffering each hut and bearing to each its life- from pain and weakness. A gray- giving blessing. We by whose haired officer said to the native offi- homes the pure waters of salvation cial: are constantly flowing need hardly " You do not think of putting be reminded that they gush from a chains upon that wounded young grave, and mingling with the music man?" of those sparkling waters comes the "There are just as many pairs of echo of worqs spoken, commission fetters as there are captives," was the given, "Whoever shall do and teach answer, "and every pair must be my commandments Rhall be called worn." great in the kingdom of heaven."
"Then," said the officer, "put two Stimulated by this promise, mission pairs on me. I will wear his as well work has ever been carried on.
as my own." There is an honor in contributing The end of the story is that Baird in however small a measure to the lived to regain his freedom, lived to spread of God's church in the world.
take that very city, but the generous When the walls of the House of friend died in prison. He wore two Commons were about to be orna- pairs of fetters. But what if he had mented with cartoons, Haydon, the worn the fetters for all in the prison? eccentric historical painter, besought What if, instead of being a captive Parliament that he might be one of himself, he had been free and great the favored artists, or if this might and had quitted a glorious palace to not be, that he might paint one live in their loathsome dungeon, to figure, or put on a few touches, or at wear their chains, to bear their the least mix the colors or hold the stripes, to suffer and die in their brushes for those who were per· stead that they might go fl'ee! Such mitted to do the work.
a thing has been don~. For all who
PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS-MONTHLY BULLETIN
V.-PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS- MONTHLY BULLETIN.
Africa. – Rev. George GreenfeIl, the world, take back with them to lately returned from the -Congo, re- their homes slaves of both flexes.
ports "Christianity spreading even This is the case at Constantinople, where missionaries had not labored. for though the traffic is prohibited by As he approached one town in which law, evasions are winked at. The no Baptist missionary had ever 1<1- trade is wholly in the hands of Mos- bored, he saw a band of native evan- lems, and the open market which gelists coming out of it to preach the makes the trade profitable is under gospel to their native brethren, and the shadow of the shrine of their that town, a few years years ago, was prophet.
sunk in heathenism." Ceylon.-The Church Missionary -The last Congo mail brought Society's baptized native Christians good news from all along the line in Ceylon are 6,378 (2,861 Singhalese from Lukolela, Nshasa, Stanley Pool, and 3,518 Tamils). The adult bap- Ngombe, SanSah'adorand Underhill. tisms last year were 126 Sin~ha "The brethren report good health lese and 81 Tamils, and there are 273 and much and manifest blessing." adult candidates for baptism, 142 -The Congo Free State embraces Singhalese and 31 Tamils. '['here over 1,000,000 square miles of the terri- are 6 Singhalese and 6 Tamil natory tributary to the Congo, having, tive clergy, 156 Singhalese and 187 it is supposed, a population of about Tamil native lay teachers, and 9,735 ~7,000,000. It thus occupies about scholars in the 192 schools, 5,841 be– one-tenth of Africa, and includes ing Singhalese and 3,952 Tamils.
about one-seventh of her estimated China.-Rev. J. L. Stewart of the population. Of course the sover- Southern Presbyterian Mission in eignty of King Leopold exists only China, in a review of the progress of ad extra, being felt as little in- the gospel in China, gives these spe- teriorily as the sovereignty of the cial points of encouragement; State of Nebraska ovm,·the swarming .. Books for the study of the English lan- towns of her prairie-dogs. But it is guage and on the Western science, written a great fact even thus, doubtless, to in Chinese, meet with an extensive and inbe the parent of greater facts. creasing demand. A dozen daily newspa- pers, all founded within fifteen years, are -The slave trade between Africa obtaining a wide circulation throughout and Arabia is far from being sup- the empire. These are spontaneous appeals pressed. According to L'A/rique on the part of the Leathen Chinese for more there is, on the borders of the Red light. Add to this the voluntary attendance Sea, a regular price current for slaves. on the hundreds of schools and chapels, Girls from 10 to 15 years of age bring wherever opened in the empire; their re- spectful attention to the preaching of the from $80 to $100; boys from 7 to 11, Word, to the quiet talks by the roadSide, in their places of business, and in their homes, $60 to $80; young women from 16 to and it sums up a mass of evidence that the 22, $50 to $79; young men from 15 • Chinese mind is in an attitude of attention to 26, $30 to $50. The slave caravans and inquiry. n rarely have men who are above 25 -The City of Naiyen, north of years of age. It has been a question Ningpo, SUbmerged about 1,000 years as to what became of these slaves ago, has recently been exposed to view after they entered Arabia. It is now and a nurnber of vases, plates and affirmed that Moslem pilgrims to other utensils of the Sough dynasty Mecca, coming from various parts of have been recovered by the natives. .. '" "' India. Of the 50.000,000 of that faith in India, 24,000,000 are in Bengal. el° From the most careful census reports ci … ever taken in ,India it appears that the followers of Islam increased dur- 0 g8§g~§§888g88888§g~ 0:", ing the nine years 1872-1882,2,145,472 or at the rate of 10.96 per cent., the ~~~~~&~§~~~~&~&~~~~ 'C ~otz5 whole population increasing at the :0 qq,qqrSqqqqqqqqqpSoo rate of 10.89 per cent. The actual gains of Mohammedans were 15,000; 1il>~o oj ca this shows how much faster they in- creased than the whole population. :010: ~ Q A careful thinker would not concede 0-0 all of this number to proselytism. A t-O~O~OCl1':lO'OlO':>t-CO:::>lQ~l.~eol.C i0ii small increase in the health and lon- ~1"""'1~~1'""4W<:,!….-I (N T"'<1"""1 gevity of the Mohammedans would IIl<~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ wipe out aLI the gains. But we would ::::::::::: .:. think that a church of twenty mill- "<X'"l0_ ions of members that only gathered : : : : : : : : : ; : ; : : z 1,666 members a year more than an- >" ;0:: other body, that made no converts and could make none, was not a model 0: of progress. The case grows darker 0 for Mohammedan success when we 0 remember that few have left Islam in Bengal, although several are far from ''""0: being as orthodox as of yore.-Indian oJ ::::::::::: : : ;.~ Witness. z ~J) :!l~ ~ ~ 3 d ~ d ~( : :….: ~ : :~ ~;:; ~.~ :. : 0 Japan.-Eighty-five thousand Eng- 0 ==bn~.§.~:..~cg '~~? Ec!·.~~..;~~~~~'£f-=:9:';!0]'r~C,i ='~f'9C;1l §c~6.-~!§ =co'!~)~~ 6gC ~Z0 lish and 119,000 American books were 0: imported last year, an increase of nearly 100 per cent. A lamentably Po. large fraction of this importation consists of skeptical anQ agnostic ~~o~wo~~~ww~w~~~~~~ writings.
India. – There are 42,000,000 chil- -The missionary fields in Japan demand more men and more money. dren in India who ought, according to There are now 200 churches with 15,000 members and 100 ordained their age, to be at school. Only about Japanese ministers. The Congrega- tional churches number 4,000 mem- 3,50G,000 of these are receiving any bers.
education, and less th[1n 200,000 of – The Japan newspapers report the ceremonies at the opening, Dec. this comparatively small number 15, of the last link of the railway connecting Sendai with Tokio. The are learning the truths of Christbn- line was opened from Tokio to Ko- riyama, 137 miles, in July last. The ity. Many adults (even in the Tamil- section just completed is 87 miles in length, and now Sendai, the most speaking districts, where mission northern station of our mIssion, is in quick and easy communieation with work has prevailed most extensively) the capital city of the empire.
who learned to read at school are for- getting the art because of the scarci- ty of books.
-The Church Missionary Society send out eight clergymen on a " win- ter inission" for India two by two, visiting all the stations of the society in India and Ceylon, stirring up the native churches to the work of evan- gelization, and preparations have been made on an extensive scale for wel- coming them and furthering their work. General Haigstates that "there are already Christians enough in In- dia, were they baptized with fire and endued with power ·from on high, to carry the gospel to every town a~tl village and hamlet from Comorin to Peshawur. In Southern India the native church ought to be able even now to take in hand and complete the work of evangelization with little European assistance."
-General Haig furnishes statistics concernmg Mohammedan progress in Italy.-Rev. T.D. Malan of Geneva tion was made for the poor heathen writes: The Genevan Italian Mission, founded in ] 882, has yielded good re- and sent to the treasurer of the sults from among the many thousands of Roman Catholicswho fiockinto that Auxiliary Bible SOCiety of Halifax, town from all parts of Italy and Italian Switzerland. The mission was and forwarded by that society. constituted into a church in 1884, and granted the use of a chapel by the Amount, £8 13s." This, says Dr. Bill, Genevan Presbytery, and much good has been attained, notwithstanding may be regarded as the commencemanifold difficulties. Owing to the fluctuating state of part of the Italian- ment of the foreign mission enterprise speaking population in Calvin's city, from 500 to 600 new hearers are every of the Baptists of the maritime provyear brought into contact with the gospel from the Roman Catholic inces.- W. J. Stewart. / Church. Thus far 114 of them have been received as members of the Russia.-In Russia there are 32,000 church. An important branch of the work is the Italian Young: Men's schools, having an average of 36 Christian Association, Circolo Diodati, so called in honor of the trans- scholars each. This is one school lator of the Italian Bible, Giovanni Diodati, who helonged to the Geneva for 2,300 inhabitants, at a cost of less Italian Church of the Reformation. than one cent a head of the popu- Korea. – The first Protestant church has been organized in connec- lation. In Austria, with 37,000,000 tion with the American Protestant llllSSlOn. Fifteen members are en- inhabitants, there are 29,000 schools rolled, and others are calling for baptism. Though contrary to Korean and 3,000,000 scholars. The average law, the government is reported as raising no question. It is but a score number at each school is 104, and the of years since the organization of a Christian church in Japan was not cost per inhabitant 20 cents. In Italy, only contrary to the law, but would have been visited with severe punish- for 28,000,000 inhabitants, there are ment, yet to-day there are more than 15,000 church members in thatempire. 47,000 schools, one school for every Mexico. – A convention of all 600 people, at a cost of 17 cents per Pl'otestant mission workers began in the City of Mexico Jan. 31 ult. Dele- head. In Spain there are 3,000,000 gates from all quarters, bishops from the United States were present. Ser- scholars, 29,000 schools, giving an mons were delivered in the ancient Franciscan convent, now used for average of 56 in each school, and one mission purposes. school for every 600 inhabitants, as Nova Scotia.-The Baptist Association of Nova Scotia met in the year in Italy. The school bill comes to 30 1814 with the church in Chester, N. S. Among the records of the association cents a head. The number of schools I find the following important statement for that year: "A contribu- given for England is 58,000, which is one for every 600 inhabitants, with an average attendance of 52 per school and a cost of 37 cents per head.
The Germans have a school for every 700, giving a total of 60,000 schools with a hundred pupils in each, at 40 cents per inhabitant. France has 71,000 schools, being one for every 500, with 66 in each school.
Turkey. – The Government and Mission Schools. Dr. Barnum, of Harpoot, India, writes to the Miss.
Herald that the Turkish Government, constrained by the remonstrances of the American and other ministers to respect its own laws in regard to mis- sionary schools in its territory, has now" determined to change the laws so that it may defeat the aims of the missionaries in a legal form. Mr.
Straus, the American minister, learn- ing that a new law for schools was under discussion at the Porte, claimed that as a large amount of American capital is invested in educa.tional in-
STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS
stitutions in the Turkish Empire, in the Sultan himself. [Such a document is not easily obtained.] 'fairness the American minister ought .. 2. No Ottoman subject shall be allowed to be consulted in regard to it, in or- to attend such a Ecbool until after he has had a course of religious instruction in one der that these interests might be of his own schools.
properly protected." He was fur- ··3. Foreign schools are to refrain entirely from religious instruction. nished with a copy of the proposed "4. That all foreiirn scboolsalreadyestablaw. It provides: ' lished which do not conform to this and to certain other conditions, and obtain the "1. Tbat no foreigner shall be allowed to Sultan's permission within six months, shall open a scbool without a special firman from be permanently suppressed."
VI.-STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS.
Home and Foreign Missionary Statistics 1841-1885, Amer. Tract Soc. col's ….. 13,148,659 1866-1885, Amer. Bible Soc. col's …… 12,~91,460 of the United States. 1855-1£8.5, Presb. Board of Pub. col's.. 2,879,586 [WE are under additional obligations to Rev. James H, Ross of South Total visits, representing 190 years .• 31,577,433 Norwalk, Conn.,' for these "latest statistics," which he has prepared Average number of visits per year.. 1C6,197 with great care and thoroughness, acknowledging his indebtedness to PRAYER-MEETINGS HELD. 520,C51 Dr. Dorchester.-EDs.] 70,7f8 1840-18E5, by missionarieS Bapt.HM. S. 439,247 The statistics of Home Missions cannot be tab- 1854-1885, by col's of Bapt. B'd of Pub.. ulated satisfactorily. But tbe results attainable 1841-1885, by col's ofAm. Tract Soc …. are not pe!simistic. They indicate advancement. The worst feature of them pertains to the pro Total by agents of three boards …… 1,030,086 rata giving as tested by the estimated wealth of ADDITIONS ON CONFESSION TO H. M. CHUROHES.
tbe Christian portion of the population of the 1826-1E85, A. H. 1I. S. churches.. . . . . . .. 326,862 United States. Mr. Moody has said that the 1870-1885, Presb. H. M. Board chs.. …. 115,804 next characteristic revival within the churches 1832-1885, Am. Bapt. Mis. Soc." …… 97,919 is to be a revival of beneficence. Total additions to churcbes of 3 boards. 540,085 The total number of missionaries and helpers in the care of Americau evangelical home mis- YEARS OF LABOR RENDERED. sionary societies in 1885 was 8,482, and the number of missions or stations served or aided was 1826-1885, by Am. H. M. S. missionaries. 38,811 13,367. In 53 years, by Baptist H. M. S. mission- BELIGiOUS VISI'rS BY MISSIONARIES AND COL~ PORTEURS. aries (incomplete) ………………. . 7,357 1840-1885, Bapt. H. M. S. missionaries. 2,367,151 1870-1885, by Pres. H. M. B. miseionaries, 13,951 1824-1885, Bapt. Pub. Soc. agts. or col's. 890,574 1850-1885, by Pres. Bd. of Pub. .. 1,329 In 45 years, by Baptist Bd. of Pub. mis- sionaries (incoroplete) …………… . 1,029 III 49 years, by Am. 'r. S"c. colporteurs. 5,550 Total by agents of 6 bds. in 296 years. 68,327 RECEIPTS OF HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETIES.
—————–S-OC-I-ET-IE-S.—————– 1881 to 1887. 1820 to 1887. Presbyterian Old School, North, and Presb. New School, North…..•….. $3,666,186 $13,334,850 A. H. 1I. S. (Cong'I) ……………………………………………. . 2.847,210 11,586,891 M. E., Domestic ……………………………………………….. . 2,505,848 11,164,539 Protestant Episcopal, Domestic ………………………………….. . 1,187,904 4,762,136 American Ch. Miss. Soc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . •. . . . . . … . …… . 133,158 1,103,945 Reformed (Dutch) Ch…………………………………………… . 217,143 963,642 Am. Bapt. H. M. Soc……………………………………………. . 2,256,6.56 6,556,142 Seamen'S Friend Soc……………………..•…………………….. 378,234 2,020,535 A. 1I. A. (Cong'I) 1816…………………..•………………………. 3,257,567 9.302,665 Wn~~~e~~~:,~~O~i~~~~n::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::: 630,616 1,626,616 494.225 1,598,521 Southern Bapt., Domestic…………….. "……………………….. . 455.399 1,601,256 Y.M. C. A. (1851-1887) …………………………………………. . 7,&'iO,OOO 22,165,000 Disciples………………………………………………………. . 410,500 l,372.70'Z United Presbyterian……………………………………………… . 296,890 Southern Presbyterian……………………..•…………… "……. . 853,352 495,788 1,076,149 Cumberland Presbyterian ……………………………………….. . 184,734 Free-Will Baptist………………………………………………. . 103,900 394,021 373,827 M. E. Church South ……………………………………………. . 1,001,495 4,061,495 Lutberans ………………….••………….•••…………••……… 221,905 747,835 Aggregates.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .• $28,655,258 $96,666,119 Contributions to the Freedmen's Aid Soci- and United Presbyterian churches, and to the eties of the Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian Christian Commi"sion, increase the total for the last six years to $30,486,573, and for the last 67 by the American churches, exclusive of the years to $103,019,308. The contributions of the American McAII auxiliaries, chiefly of ladies, Reformed Presbyterian and German, the Mora- numbers 203 stations, 2,125 sub-stations, 1,273 Vian, and the Protestant, Free Wesleyan and Af- official laborers of all kinds and both sexes, rican M. E. churches are uot included because 115,542 communicants, 2,123 pupils in day and not available. boarding school8.
OOMPARATIVE RECEIPTS. AMERICAN EVANGELICAL MISSIONS IN ASIA.
Yearly average. The lands included are Western Asia (Asiatic 1820-1829.. … ……………. ……. $23,382 Turkey, Persia, Syria, and Asia Minor), India, 1830-1839…………………. …. … 234,271 ,Burmah, Siam, China, Thibet, Korea, and Japan. IB40-1849.. .. . . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . . . . 006,235 Tbe totals for aU denominations are 237 prinCipal 1850-1 Bfi9 …. " ……………. ,……. 1308,010 stations, 2,606 sub'stations, 533 ordained foreign 1860-1869 ………………………… 2,101,571 missionaries, 843 foreign lay helpers, 632 native 1870-1800, , ' , ….. , … , ' , … ' , , …….. 2,842,923 ordained helpers, 5,479 natiye lay belpers, 7,487 1881-1887…… , ' ………………. '… 4,000.000 laborers of all kinds, 120,890 communicants, 100,560 pupils in day and boarding schools. Foreign Missionary Statistics. IN AFRICA AND MADAGASCAIt. THE latest foreign missionary statistics of the evangelical churches of the Uuited States are The missions are chiefly along the coast and in indicative of progress. The numbel~ of church the centre of the continent. Tbe total figures members disinterested in foreign missions is a for all denominations n1¥Il ber 55 principal stalessening fraction. The nnmber of disciples is tions, 255 snb·stations, 138 ordained foreign misincreasing who realize the force of Christ's sionaries, 81 foreign lay helpers, 57 native orteachings and commandments, that tbj3 field is dained and 788 native lay helpers, 1,064 laborers the world, that the dnty of the Christian is to of all kinds, 15,426 communicants, and 16,920 pucover the whole of it by prayer, gifts and labor- pils in day and boarding scbools. ers, in person so far as possible, by representation so far as individnals are limited by time and IN POLYNESIA, space. We give the following facts, before tbey are pnblished in complete form in any other inclusive of New Zealand (Seventh Day Ad· pnblication : ventists), Micronesia and Sandwich Islands (A. B. C. F. M,), tbere are 5 principal stations, 33 MISSIONS o.F AMERICAN EVANGELICAL CHURCHES sub-stations, 8 foreign ordained missionaries, 13 foreign lay helpers, 11 native ordained mission· IN EUROPE. aries, 35 native lay helpers, 67 laborers of all kinds, 10,852 communicants, and 2,500 pupils in Tbese consist cbiefly of missions among Rom- day and boarding scbools. isb and lapsed rationahstic populations in Austria, Austria- Hungary, Bulgaria, Denmark, IN NORTH AMERICA, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Italy, Norway, Roumania, Scandimivia, Spain, Switzer- inclnsive of Greenland, Labrador, work imong land, and European Turkey. It would seem as the North American Indians (States and Alaska) if the American churches might do more to ayail and the Chinese in Oregon and California, Mexthemselves of the wonderfnl opportunity existing ico, Central America and the West Indies, there in France, even if they were compelled to work are 181 principal stations, 823 sub·stations, 44, Rolely on lines developed hy the McAlI missions. foreign ordained miSSIOnaries, 253 foreign lay Dr. Mutchmol'e of Philadelphia, now making help',,"s, 168 ordained native missionaries, 1,419 the tour of the world to stndy foreign missions, native lay helpers, 2,287 laborers of all kinds, ~ays, "France is in a wonderfully receptive 56,269 communicants, aud 26,214 in day and mood. . . . God has opened new avenues on boarding schools. all sides. It is as if tbe windows and doors of all French dwellings were snddenly thrown .IN SOUTH AMERICA, open to the light." Mrs. DoddS, the widow of the Rev. Theophilus Dodds and a successor of inclusive of Brazil, the Argentine Republic (Chili her husband in tbe MeAl! missions, says ;hat the and Colombia) and Guiana, there are 28 principal workers want ," everything except opportuni· stations, 84 sub'stations, 100 foreign ordained ties." The Enropean work in hand, supported missionaries, 37 foreign lay helpers, 15 ordained native miSSionaries, 454 lay native helpers, 715 laborers of all kinds, 12,724 communicants, and 4,597 pupils in day and boarding schoole.
RECAPITULATION.
– -St-at-ion-.s.- – Laborers For. miss'aries. Native Helpers, Total Communi- Pupils in Or- Lay Or- Lay labor· cants in day and ers. mission boarding dained. helpers. dained. helpers. scbools. — churche~. —- — — — —- – – – – Prin·Sub- stations. cipals. —- 1,123 Europe…. , . 203 2,125 41 34 245 396 1,273 115,542 Asia …….. :!37 2,606 533 843 632 5,479 7,690 120,890 100,560 Africa……. 55 255 138 81 57 788 1,184 15,426 16,920 N.America.. 181 823 447 253 168 1,419 2,287 56,629 26,214 S. America .. 28 84 100 37 15 454 715 12,724 4,597 2,500 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Polynesia….533813 11 35 67 10,852 —- — –~ Aggregate.. 700 n,9'?6 1.267 1.2M 1,128 8,571 13,216 332,063 151,914 The statistics are largest for Asia, the native are fewer pickers but more grspes; while in home of Christianity. The number of foreign or- the far distance the clnsters are dead ripe and dained and lay missionaries, and of native or- not a man to pick. Another student said: "I ~ained helpers is about equal. The relattve thought of one minister to every 600 ofpopulafigures are 1,261, 1,261, and 1,128. The harvest is tion in America, and I thought of one man to white,the laborers are few, the total of all kinds every 5OQ,OOO in the foreign field; of South 13,398. At Mr. Moody's college of colleges, America, with one man to 600,000; of the Congo, Northfield, Mass., last summer, a Princeton with one man to 40,000,000 of people." student stated the matter of " a call" to work at home or abroad, as follows: Near the gate I THE REOEIPTS find many pickers and few grapes; further on of the foreign missionary societies of the United States, in receut years and the totals since their origin are as follows: SOCIETIES. 1881-1887. Totals 1810-1887.
A. B. C. F. M …………………………………. . •$4,488,112 $22,452,817 Am. Baptist missionary Union ……………………. . 2,;)27,239 9,057,119 M.E………………………………………….. . 2,756,251 9,346,661 rr~!~~~e~!nPJ~~~~~I::: …: … '.. ~ . '.. '. '.. ~ ~ '. '. '. '. '. ~ '. '. '. : : : : : : : : 916,246 3,992,454 4,744,533 14,746,588 Southern Baptist………… '. .. .. …. .. …… .. 472,411 1,457,353 American and Foreign Church Union……………… . 129,625 2,404,331 Reformed Church……………………………… . 413,290 1,724,401 Evang(')ical Lutheran…. …. . .. . . . . . .. . . .. . :<57,089 557,089 Evangelical Association…… . ………………. .. 85,000 334,000 United Brethren ………………………………… . 200,000 750,658 United Presbyterian.. . . . . . ………… . 616,610 1,626,239 Southern Presbyterian. . . . . …………. . 498,570 1,033,511 Reformed Presbyterian.. .. . .. ………… . 185,732 Disciples…….. ……… …… . …………. . 93,600 218,742 Free-Will Baptist………………………………. . 185,565 466,362 Methodist Episcopal South ………………………. . 126,000 2,119,439 719,439 TOTALS ……………………………….. . $19,028,980 $73,074,115 Complete retnrns from 1881 to 1887 would make 3,000,000, and more than one-quarter as much for about 21,000,000, or an annUal average of about last six years as Cor the last eighty-six.
COMPARATIVE TABLE.
MISSIONS. 1850. 1880. 1887.
Stations……………………………….. .. 77 129 175 Ordained missionaries, foreign and native. .. . .. 438 1,7E2 2,395 Lay laborers …………………………….. . 4,167 Total laborers ………………………….. .. 829 : 9,832 Communicants ……… .. …………… …… . 1,267 5,959 13,398 Day and boarding scholars …………………. . 47,266 205,132 332,060 29,210 65,825 151,914 During the last thirty-seven years the number quite recently pagan women were almost wholly "'f foreign missions has increased more than two- nnreached. Oriental customs account for the fold, the number of ordained missionaries over failure. The organization of Christian ladies in five-fold, the nnmber of lay helpers twelve-fold, the home churches to aid missionary work in the total number of laborerR over ten-Cold, the the foreign field has been one of the characternumber of communicants seven·fold, the number istics of the last quarter of a ceutury. There of day school scholars five-fold. are now 26 female foreign missionary societies in the United States, in 16 denominations (count- Since this decade began, the mission communi- ing subdivisions of one type of denominationcants have increased 126,928, or 60 per cent.; the alism). The "Woman's Union Missionary Somission day-scholars 86,189, or 130 per cent.; the ciety," organized in New York City in 1861, still total laborerS 7,391,or 124 per cent. exists as a Union Society. The latest available statistics, except for their receipts, are those of The average yearly receipts since 1880 have the year 1885, when there were 15,867 auxiliaincreased about one million dollars over the av- ries, 3,454 bands (of girls and young ladies). The erage for the previous decade, and they are aggregate receipts of 12 of these Women's Fornearly seven times as large as the average from eign Missionary Boards is 8,571,706, from 1860 to 1840 to 1850. 1886. This is exclusive of the receipts of 12 of these boards, so recently organized that their WOMAN'S WORK. statistics are not available.
Thus Car the number of female converts to Christianity from paganism is small. Until TOTAL AVERAGE YEARLY RECEIPTS, HOME AND FOREIGN lIIISSIONS.
Foreign Missions. Home Missions. Total. 1850………………………… $675,000 $557,1:!!3 $1,232,123 1,450,479 1860.. .. .. .. . .. . .. .. .. .. .. . . .. . … 1,075,070 2,472,246 2,525,549 3,389,845 4,225,952 1870.. … . .. . . .. …… ………… 1,753,700 4,000,000 5,989,845 7,000,000 1880………………………… 2,600,000 1886.. •.. . •. .. .. .. ••. .. •.. . •. . . . . . 3,000,000 ACTUAL INCREASE.
Foreign Missions. Home Missions. Total. 1,384,426 1850 to 1860. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 400,070 983,356 1,700,403 1860 to 181"0……… '" ……… 678,636 1,021,767 1,763,898 1870 to 1880…………………. 846,294 917,604 • RELATIVE INCREASE.
Foreign Missions. Home Missions. Total. 1850 to 1860…………………. 59 per cent. 160 per cent. 105 per cent. 1860 to 1870. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 70 67 1870 to 1880. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. .. 48 37 42 The increase of the otrerings for foreign mis- priests. The rapid increase of Roman Catholics sions in 30 years was about four-fold, and for in Scotland oflate has been due chielly to immihome missions about six-fold. The total annual gration from Ireland. The increase of priests in receipts in 1886 are $7,000,000 as against $6,000,- Enl(land from 1871 to 1885 was 636. 000 in 1R8O. Although it is claimed that the Church of PRO RATA TESTS. Enl(land has a majority of one million adherents over all other creeds, this claim is seriously Average per questioned hy Dissenters. If the actual senti- Inhabitants member for H. ment of the people were taken, it might be Members. per member. & F. Missions. found that in England as well as in Scotland the Established Church is really in the minority. 1850.. 3,529,988 6.57 35 cents. Until 1871 the Established Church of Ireland 1860 .. 5,240,554 6.00 48 was Protestant Episcopal, though it represented but a fraction of the population. At present 1870.. 6,673,396 5.78 63 there are fonr Roman Catholic archbishops in Ireland and 23 bishops. The Roman Catholic 1880 . . 10,065,963 5.00 591-2 c. population in 1881 numbered 3,960,~91. The Protestant Episcopal Church had, at the same 1888.. 12,132,000 (estimates) 579-10 c. time, two archhishops, ten bishops, 1,560 clergy, 1,550 churches and 6.."0,000 members. There Multitudes of members have given nothing, or were iu the same year 470,734 Presbyterians, only a few dimes, and those spasmodically. The 48,839 Methodists, 6,210 Independents, 4,879 average is still less then % of one dollar. Baptists, 3,645 Quakers, and 472 Jews. From 1851 to 1861 the decrease of Catholics in Ireland Religious Statistics of Great Britain. was 43 per cent., of Protestants 10 per cent.; 1861-1871 the former decreased 8 and the latter THE Church of England has two archbishops and 31 bishops. In 1881 there were 14,926 civil Yo per cent. In 1871 the Catholics numbered parishes, with 14,573 churches and chapels; the clergy in actual service numbered 21,663. Ac- 4,141,933, so that in 1881 there was a further decording to an estimate made in 1883, 13,500,000 crease of 181,042. The Jews in Great Britain persons in England and Wales were adherents number about 70,000, of whom 40,000 are in of the Establisbild Church, leaving 12,500,000 to London. It is claimed that nine-tenths of the other creeds. The Wesleyans, Independents, inhabitauts of Wales are Dissenters. The Baptists and Presbyterians are most numerous Quakers in Great Britain, now numbering 15,- among dissenting bodies in England. The Wes- 219, are said to have been constantly on the inleyans have 13,270 chapels; the Independents crease during the last 20 years. 2,603; the Baptists 2,243. The number of dissenting ministers in 1881 was 9,734. The total A German authority gives the following as the number of denominations in Great Britain is ]80. religions statistics of the world: In Scotland the Established Presbyterian CHRISTIANS. Church has 84 presbyteries, 16 synods, 1,307 parishes, with 1,587 churches, chapels and sta- Catholics. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. 190,000,000 tions, and about 1,700 ministers. In 1884 there Protestants. . .. … . . ……. . ……. 108.000,000 were 556,622 members, an increase of 12,653 Greek Christians.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SO,OOO,OOO over the preceding year. The Free Church of Other churches… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16,000,000 Scotland has 1,096 ministers, 32.5,000 members, while it is claimed that the adherents number Total. . …. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . … 393,000,000 945,000. The United Church has 594 ministers, Ii59 churcheS and about 179,891 members and ad- NON-CHRISTIANS. herents. The Episcopal Church of Scotland has seven bishops, 220 churches,255 clergy, and a Jews ……………………….. .. 7,000,000 claimed adherence of 76,939 souls. Mohammedans ……………….. . 85,000,000 Buddhists …………………….• 500,000,000 The Roman Catholics of Great Britain are es- Hiudus ……. .'………………..• 190,000,000 timated at two millions. There are 15 ecclesias- Heathen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . … 280,000,000 tical dignitaries in En~land, and in Scotland there are two archbishops aud four bishops. In Total. ……………………… 1,062,000,000 England there were in 1835 1,269 chapels and This makes thirty per cent. of the earth's popstations, and 2,256 oftlciating priests. In Scot- ulation Christian, of whom less than one-half land there were 305 chapels and stations and 320 are Roman Catholics.-Dr. J. H. W. Stucken- berg, in H()TT!iletw Review. S Foreign Missionaries. .b., I ' Date Native Unordalned Commu- Pnpils ContrIbntions of Ordained Nat;"e nicants. in by Q.I Name of Society_ Mission Men. Wlves. IWSoinmgelen TotaI. Ministers. Helpers. Schools. Native Churches. .~ —————– 1 London Missionary Society……… 1807 28 21 11 60 8 69 3,595 2,186 –.,——- 1:1.l $17,200.00 2 A.B. C. F.M………………….. 1830 29 25 12 66 8R 1,545 ::Q;s) 3 American Baptist, North . . . . . . . . . . . 1834 21 559 180.00 5 2 i:Q 4 American Protestant Episcopal …. Ita; 5 12 4 16 371 145 279.26 410.76 S 5 American Presbyterian. North .. " . Itlil8 10 6 1 17 22 21 362 900 6 American Reformed (Dutch) ……. 1842 45 34 19 98 19 176 3,786 1,932 2,448.88 .~…
00 7 British and Foreign Bible Society .. 1843 5 5 3 13 5 19 820 124 2.076.29 114 ~ 8 Church Missionary Society……… 1844 13 7 20 'i2 2.507 2ji;z 3.ioa:so 171 1,062 450.00 <11 9 English Baptist………………… 1845 26 19 8 63 1 8 3,349 160 ~ 43 1,084 3,473.57 Q) ;;<11 19 15 34 87 24 10 Methodist Episcopal, North ….. " . 1847 "7 1,641 36 1,175.61 CD 11 Seventh Day Baptist……………. 1847 30 27 14 71 7 1,808 232 654.00 ~ 1 1 1 3 24 3,553 598 Io:ol'-~o 12 American Baptist, Sonth ……….. 1847 370 3,920.00 13 Basel Mission …………………. 1847 13 10 9 32 60 200 35 222 725 ZiO::i4 <11 ·14 Engli~h Prespyterian …………… 1847 20 15 3 66 80 ::s ~ ~ 935 520 600.00 15 Rhemsh Mission …………….•.. 1847 21 15 7 43 5 84 17 105 8.00 p !.; 3 6 1,218 162 16 Methodist EPiSCOlJil, South …….. 1848 3 3 14 6 273 100.25 C!:l'tS 7 '634 50 11 Berlin Foundling ospital. ……… 1850 8 7 4 29 173 250'.00 ::r:.: 5., 1,932 ~ 18 Wesleyan Missionary Society……. 1852 1 1 6 "5 ':ii "77 401.34 r:.1' 6 306 tIl 19 Woman'c Union Mission ……….. 1859 19 8 5 32 … 34 83 260 240:00 :~-;::.::~~~ 5 25 5 Eo< 20 Methodbt New Connexion ……… 1860 5 .'".. 13 1,765 72.00 21 Society Promotion Female Educ…. 1864 11 …1……2 73 …. .5.2.7. o". 22 United Presbyterian, Scotch …….. 1865 ::: I 7 5 42 97ii.oo 1 5 …..2. 11 30 80 ~~ o<11 4 70 . ….. E:: 6 12 .5.0.0. . ….. § .~ 23 China Inland Mission ………….. 186.5 1~ '46 . … . … <11 24 National Bible Society of Scotland .. 1868 4 52 .9..0 265 . … .. :i2 …… 25 United Methodist Free Chnrch ….. 1888 2 6 '60 . … …… ~ t.3. ~ . … 26 American Presbyterian, South…… 1868 3 3 6 "30 . ….. ……0., .o., Eo< 40 . ….. 27 Irish Presbyterian ……………… 1869 10 6 4 20 32,260 . ….. o ~ 28 Canadian Presbyterian …………. 1871 13,777 . ….. 29 Society Prooagation of the Gospel. . 1874 3 3 '" ~ 4,260 =..'!l 30 American Bible Society ………… 1876 198 "4:00 31 Established Church or Scotlaud …. 1878 2 2 .".2. 4 Q) 4 2 $38,236.70 8 4 8 12 $19,862.14 <11 3 3 "i 6 3 4 9 3ro2 Berlin Mission ………………… 1882 4 '….. 1 …..3, .2.1. 8 General Prot. Evang. Society•…… 1884 1 1 ………… 34 Bible Christians ……………….. )885 4 5 …"….i,, ~ 35 Foreign Christian Miss. Society …. 1886 5 2 .'".. 7 ~ 36 Book and Tract Society .••….•…. 1886 1 1 2 37 SOCiety of Friends……………… 1886 1 1 2 – – – – – – – – – 38 Independent Workers ……..••…. -…-. 4 1 3 8 @ ..-. …. 489 320 221 1,030 175 ~ — ,~.. — – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Total-December, 1887………• 1,316 Tncrease .over 1886……•…•…. …. 43 4 64 121 ·35 20 — –_._-
m4 EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
-Roman Catholics in India. Ac- about a million and a quarter among oording to the official return pubiished the 260,000,000 of India-the result by the Propaganda last year the num- of 300 years of labor. ber of Roman Catholics in India is -There are some 200,000,000 wo- 1,185,142; churches and chapels, 2,677; men in India of whom 20,000,000 are stations, 417; EUropean missiona- in enforced widowhood. The English ries, 940; native missionaries, '150; Baptist Zenana Mission has been do- ,elementary schools, 1,566; scholars, ing a good work among them. It 64,357; orphanages, 73; orphans, commenced in 1867 with a revenue of 4,837, This does not include the $1,500. Now H! has 18 stations, 42 Catholics of Goa, under the Portu- lady visitOl'S, 25 assistants, 42 native ,guese, who are at feud with Rome at teachers and Bible ,,"omen, and 41 girl present. Together they will number schools containing about 1,500 pupils.
——– VII.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT Office be so modified as to give entire free- AND MISSIONS. dom to the various missionary societies to conduct their educational work on Indian FROM the Bible Society Record we reservations in their own way, without inquote: ~";;'Jerellce on the part of the government; .. On the 2d of November last a delegation .. II. That the regulations be further modof gentlemen, headed by the Hon. William fied so as to allow the use of the native Strong, ex-Justice of the Supreme Court, tongue in schools supported, in whole or in ,and represeHting theAmerican Bible Society, part,. by t,he government, so far as such use the Presbyterian Boards of Home and For- may be desirable as a means of acquiring eign Missions, the American Missionary a knowledge of the English or of imparting Asso~iation, the Missionary Society of the moral or religious instruction. Methodist Episcopal Church, the Board-of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church, .. This interview with the President gave the Board of Indian Commissioners, and the warrant for the hope that the order would be various organiz.ations represented at the so far modified as to remove all objection Mohonk Conference, waited upon President to it on the part of those interested in it. But Cleveland with a statement and a request. we deeply re"ret to say that this hope is blasted, and that the latest order from the .. The occasion which led them to seek this Indian Office is open to the gravest obj~c interview was an order issued some time be.. tion as an attempt on the part of a single fore by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, officer ot the government to restrict religrigidly and positively forbidding the giving ious instruction and to dictate to missiona.. of instruction in the Indian language in any ry societies how they shall give instruction Indian school, and threatening to close ev- in religion and morals. ery school maintaine,d at private expense which did not comply with the regulation. .. The delegation asked, as a matter of pub- lic policy, that in schools in which govern- U The delegation expressed its accord with ment funds are employed the teachers might the department in its desire to have the be allowed to make use of the native tongue English language take the place of the na- as a means of teaching English, or of teachtive dialects as soon as possible, but re- ing their pupilH how to become good men spectfully questioned' the wisdom of at- and women. The answer is precise and pas.. tempting to secure this end by forbidding itive: 'No textbook in the vernacular will teachers to employ the only language which be allowed ;' ~ no oral instruction in the ver~ their pupils have known from childhood, nacular will be allowed at such schools;' or to use interlinear books in those lan- • the entire curriculum must be in the Engguages, especially in schools where the at- lish language.' tendance is Sure to be irregular and the period of tuition very brief;' and further- .. Furthermor'e, they asked, as a matter of more represented that it is' not within the civil and religious liberty, that missionary province of the govetnmeRt to enter any societies, intent on promoting the welfare private institution and say that Indian chil- of the aborigines, should be allowed to condren shall not be taught to read the Ten duct their eaucational work in their own Commandments and the Lord's Prayer in way, without interference on the part of the their own tongue. ' Government, using the primer, the hymn- book, the bool< of devotion and the Holy .. The delegation, believing that the best Scriptures in Dakota at their discretion. sentiment of the nation would sustain them ion it, made this twofold request: .. This appeal also is disregarded. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs assumes .. I. That the regulations of the Indian to know better than the missionaries. Bishop Hare must not teach his catechU' mens to read the Dakota catechism. Mr. perhaps is a little more-than the original Riggs must not use as a textbook the ver- was. It is a great pity that so important a. sion of the Bible which his father prepared matter should not be managed more sensiwith so much patience and scholarship. Mr. bly." Williamson must not write on the blackboard the T"u Commandments expressed in For ourselves we are amazed at any words his Indian boys have ever heard this" rebuff from the U. S. Governin their wigwams or on the playground. The ment." Our worthy President canbook, the printed page, the written words, not afford to have this action of his are under the baH of tbe United States Gov- subordinate stand. It is a grievous .,rnment. Its edict is, • Thou shalt not teach indignity to the missionary sentiment an Indian boy to read a word in his own of the age and directly contravenes a tongue." 'No person,' says the Commission- fundamental principle of our instituer, in his order, dated Jan. 18, 1888, • other tions. It is quite bad enough for our than a native Indian teacher, will be per- politicians, in national, state and mitted to teach in any Indian vernacnlar ; munidpallegislation, to show markand these native teachers will only be al- ed partiality to the Roman Catholic lowed in schools not supported in whole or Church for the Rake of political influin part by the government, at remote points ence; but when a government officer where there are no government or contract arbitrarily interposes and forbids our schools where the English language is missionary societies, in schools estabtaught. ", lished and wholly supported by them, from conducting them as their wis- That this high-handed and imper- dom dictates, it is quite time a halt tinent action on the part of a gov- were called and the pulse of the peo- ple felt. The order excluding the ernment official will be acquiesced in Dakota Bible from every school by the religious public, especially by where its reading can do any good is our missionary societies, we do not only paralleled by the recent attempt for one moment believe. The posi- of the Turkish Government to suption taken by the conference at Mo- press American schools in the Otto- man Empire-an attempt against honk ,Lake last summer is the only which our Department of State cprrect one, and our presumptuous through Mr. Straus, our minister, Indian Office will be forced to see it : so earn2stly protested as to defeat the attempt. No less earnest should .. No policy can be endured which forbids be the protest of the American people Christian 'IlUJn and wO'l1UJn to teach Ohristian against an arbitrary order which dictruth, or to prepare instrul'tion in it in any tates to their missionary societies the way theydeen. right, in any part of this com- metho.ds which they must pursue as monwealth, that is consistent with that civil a condition of being allowed to work and religious liberty which is unhampered for the conversion of the Indian race. in every other part of our land, and must So long as this order stands the Dehereafter be unhampered within all Indian partment of the Interior will be in a reservations. " position of direct antagonism to the Christian sentiment of our land.- The Christian Union well says: J. M. S.
.. It is monstrous that there should be a THE INDIAN BUREAU AND THE CA'l'HOsquare mile of territory in the United States in which the National Government should LIC CHURCH. be able by despotic decree to determine the conditions under which a free religions soci- THE American Protestant Church ety which asks no support and no favors has another serious matter to settle from the government may carryon its work. with this same secretary. Something We should be glad to have religious societies is evidently wrong in his department, appeal to the President to have this order and it is quite time some light was rescinded, not because they wish to use the let in upon it. We quote the follow- Indian vernacular, but because they demand liberty to make their own rules and regulations without let or hindrance of any kind from the Indian Bureau."
Says The Congregationalist: .. The simple facts are that the order of the Indian Commissioner, which has bAen modified, was absurd and unjust to begin with, and that whoever has attempted to modify it has bungled his task so that the result is not much more satisfactory to intelligent and patriotic people-although it ing froIn The Independent of this president and Rev. Joseph S. Stephan direc- tor, which devotes itaeJf to forwarding the city, and commend the startling facts interests of the Catholic Church with the government. Contracts for Catholic Indian here disclosed to the serious attention schools are made with Father Stephan. The energy of this bureau deserves high of our readers. We know that New commendation. Not simply the contract schools, but the government schools, sup- York, Brooklyn and other cities, as ported wholly by the government, are also rapidly passing into the control of this well as many state legislatures, have bureau by the appointment of Catholic teachers, even where the Indians are all long discriminated in favor of Roman Protestant. If we are not mistaken the chief of the department of schools in the Catholic as against Protestant insti- Indian Bureau and his assistant have both tutions; but here is evidence of such been Roman Catholics. The government marked, gross, iniquitous favoritism has given them all it could, not, we suppose, on the part of our National Govern- out of any preference to Catholics, nor bement as to shock one's sense of justice cause it believed the Catholics to maintain and demand an investigation. Such any better schools than the Protestants, an administration of our Indian but simply because it is believed that the Bureau as these two items disclose administration has something to gain politshows it to be a disgrace to the nation ically by favoring this one church at the and to President Cleveland's admin- expense of all others. "-J. M. S • istration! A WOMAN died in Philadelphia on .. What we say is in no way designed as a criticism of the Roman Catholic Church. the second of January who has in We respect it for its enterprise and activity. herself done more to solve the prob- That its activity has been wonderfully fa- lem of how to heal the breach bevored by the Indian "Bureau at Washington is tween the so-called "higher" and all that we propose to show. The statistics "lower" classes than all the wise we give need no eloquence to teach their plans and resolutions adopted by meaning. The government expended last ecclesiastical bodies. She was heryear the sum of $308,299.98. Of this sum the self a woman of elegant refinement, Catholics got $168,959.13, and all others, in- wealthy, beautiful in feature and cluding Hampton and Lincoln, got $139,- character, lovely in disposition, gen- 340.85. For contract day schools the gov- erous and charitable. But instead of ernment expended $9,847.27. Of this the identifying herself and all her family Catholics got $7,632.92, and all others $2,- with one of the wealthy and aristo- 214.35. The government paid for the educa- craticchurehes she deliberately joined tion of Indiau youth in contract schools the a church mostly and almost exclusum of $318,147.25, of which $176,5~2.15 went sively composed of the working peoto Catholic schools, and $141,555.20 to all ple. She became a teacher in the other schools. The Catholics comprise from Sunday-school and practically the one-tenth to one-sixLh of the population; pastor of the entire parish which her the amount allowed to their boarding and large class constituted. She visited day schools is 55).2 per cent. of the total each member of the class systematiamount expended ou these schools. The cally, and they were not social calls non-Catholic population of the couutry is either, but spiritual visits, dealing from five-sixths tonine-teuthsof the whole ; directly with souls. When they the amount allowed to their Indian schools were sick she went to them, Qn foot is 44).2 per cent. of the whole. In 1884 the and in humble attire; she carried government expended on Catholic schools them little dainties, she read hel' the sum of $35,263. In 1885 it was $90.142. Bible at their bedside, she knelt and In 1886 it was $134,197. In 1887 it reached prayed with them, she inquired of the sum of $176,592, five times as much as their spil:itual condition and directed in 1884. them to Jesus. No pastoral care be- .. When asked how it happens that Catho- came needful where that woman lic schools got so much, Mr. Atkins a.nswers that they ask for more. This is not a fair answer. Protestant schools find more dif- ficulty than Catholic in getting what they ask for, besides the fact that the govern- ment iuterferes less with Catholic than Protestant contract schools. But Catholic schools are very diligent in their asking. There is in Washington a bureau of Catholic Missions, of which Rev. P. L. Chapelle is went. She declined invitations to score of such men and women as this social parties that she might be free and we can close up the slums in our to devote her time to the Lord's great cities, build a chapel in every work. She might be bearing a sor- forsaken quarter, put a missionary in row that would have crushed another every remote hamlet, and girdle the woman, but no one would ever sus- globe with a zone of missionary pect it behind that cheerful face. labor. We are scarcely sincere when She was one among the people with we talk of insuperable obstacles in whom she was identified. There was the way of evangelizing the cities or no sign of conscious superiority. In- the world.-A. T. P. to the prayer-meetings and missionary circles and Dorcas gatherings she LIVINGSTONE at first had no thought went, just as though she had no high of being himself a missionary. Feelblood, nor social pank, nor ample ing that" the salvation of men ought purse. Everybody loved her. The to be the chief desire and aim of every poorest work – women would drop Christian," he had made a resolution everything and go at her call 01' her that he would give to the cause of beck as though they were serving a missions all that he might earn bequeen. Her last act was to rise from yond what was required for his subher dying bed, as her disease suddenly sistence. The resolution to give himdeveloped fatal symptoms, and write self came from his reading an appeal out checks to cover various benevo- by Mr. Gutzlaff to the churches of lent expenditures, and among others Great Britain and America on behalf a contribution to the church of whi9h of China. It was" the claims of so she was a member, and which just many millions of his fellow creatures, then was making heroic efforts to and the complaints of the societies of cancel a large mortgage debt. She the want of qualified missionaries," wrote her checks with a clear firm that led him to aspire to that office. hand, and went back to bed to die. From that time, apparently his When the news of her decease came twenty-first year, his efforts were like a thunderclap from a clear sky, constantly directed toward that oba hush fell on' the entire people as ject without any fluctuation. David though the ground were trembling Livingstone said, "I am a missionwith an earthquake. They could at'y heart and soul. God had only scarcely speak to one another. The one Son, and he was amissionary."- prayer-meeting turned to sobs and A.T.P. tears.
We talk of missions. There is no ONE of the most pathetic stories of trouble in reaching souls, but it takes missions is that of MarialIathsdotter. .a soul to do it. When we are in As she followed the reindeer over the dead earnest-when all else is practi- silent hills around her father's house, 'cally trampled under foot in our in- the needs of her people seemed to tense desire and determination to call her. She wept and prayed for bring souls neal' to God-when self- the ignorant Lapps until their condiindulgence gives way, and even self- tion forced her to decide. Their need love, before the burning, consuming was the voice of God. It took her flame of devotion to Christ and those three years to learn the Swedish for whom he died, we shall sweep language. Then, clad in ottel' and earth as with a conflagration lOne reindeer skins with the Lapland skid- Paul, in thirty-three years, made a del'S on her feet, she walked in winter, journey afoot over the greater part 600 miles to Stockholm. It was a ·of the known world west of the long journey over the dreary moun- Golden Horn and bore the gospel tains and dismal forests. But suc- .into the regions beyond. Give us a cess crownfld her efforts. The Lord was with her. The king of Sweden THE editor of The Church at Home granted her request. Her people and Abroad, our esteemed brother were provided with schools and Dr. Nelson, calls our attention to the churches.-A. T. P. fact that the article on "Beginning at Jerusulem," which we reviewed in WHEN Dr. H. H. Jessup, for so the March number of this REVIEW: many years a missionary in Syria, has already been met by "clear and was offered the secretaryship of the conclusiye" counter statements in Presbytel'ian Board of Foreign Mis- the same magazine in which the artisions, after enumerating the reasons cle first appeared (The Church, Jan. why he should remain in the foreign 1888, pp. 67,68). We would simply field he closed by saying' : add that a distinction ought always to be made between attacking a sen- .. One thousand Presbyterian churches timent and assaulting a man. We give nothing for the spread of the gospel in were reviewing an argument whic·h heathen lands I What a mournful minor we regarded as unsound and unscripstrain rises from that sentence amid the tural, but we had not a thought of glorious harmonies of that ever-memorable antagonizing its author, who is yet assembly in the city of Philadelphia! One to us unknown, nor above all of holdthousand churches giving nothini!': Sccres ing the editor of The Church responof young men graduating from our theologi- sible for all the sentiments of articles. cal seminaries, and ahnost none wiIIiEg to that appear in the various depart go to the heathen. A devoted lady teacher ments of that organ of the Boards. from a foreign field, spending a year in America, invitin~ a young woman to return In our opinion the only way to conwith her to a delightful field of missionary duct a Review is to deal frankly, labor, and obliged to return alone I Appeal honestly and impartially with all· after appeal sent for a teacher to aid subjects. If any published line of Miss Everett in the interesting- female sem- argument seems hostile to the best inary in Beirut and no oue found to come 1 interests of the cause of missions, we mean to do our best to expose its fal- H Is this the time for us on the ground to lacy. And we expect at others' hands leave onr work and go home? Not until the the same treatment and shall not Great Captain calls us htlme.'" complain. We felt sure Dr. Nelson would agree with us in our strictures No wondel' he refused. upon the article in question.
SAID the Earl of Shaftesbury, upon FROM a very valued and influenthe occasion of his taking the presi- tial foreign correspondent the editors dency of "the English Missions Aid have received a letter full of wis- Society" III 1860 : dom. He congratulates the eaitors on the grand conception and great •. I do not believe that in the whole history u~efulness of the REVIEW, and hopes of missions; I do not b@lieve in the history our plans will be fully carried out. of any negotiations carried on between man He thinks the tone of the REVIEW and man, we can find anything to equal the should be at once independent, imwisdom, the soundness and the pure evan- partial and uncompromising in its gelical trnth of the body of men who c,msti- rebuke and exposure of whatever tute the American mission in the East. I is wrong OL' hostile to the best inhave said it twenty times before. and I will tel'ests of missions; that there should say itagain, for the expression appropriately not be too much license in attacking conveys my meanin6'-they arg a marvelous missionary societies and committees combination of common sense and piety. or defending acts on the part of Every man who comes in contact with these missionaries :which are indefensible misslOnaries speaks.in praise of them. Persons in authority and persons in subjection all speak in their favor. I know of no man who has ever been able to bring against that body a single valid objection. There they stand, tested by years, tried by their works and exemplified by their fruits, and I believe it will be found that these American missionaries have done more toward uphold- ing the truth and spreading t.he gospel of Christ in the East than any other body of men in this or in any other age." -simply in a partisan spirit. He be- speak out with unflinching voice when lieves a missionary should be loyal to a thing is done which is wrong, and the society with which he is engaged, point out faults um;paringly, yet in and not take up arms against the Christian love." To all of which we agency which placed him in the field, have only to add that whenever auand suggests as our motto" audi al- thenticated facts are brought to our teram pe,rtem." He deprecates ex- notice demanding faithful reproof, travagant praise and undue epithets, we mean that there shall be found in and even thinks Bishop Hanmngton our pages no cover or cloak to evilcannot in any proper sense be called a doing. 'Ve believe that the law of martyr as he did not die for the Faith, "truthing it in love" is one of the but like any other indiscreet traveler. foremost laws of Christ's kingdom, In this we disagree with our friend, and that nothing' is gained by the while giving;place to his friendly stric- concealment of wrong or the veiling tures. The word martyr is one of of it in apology. wide scope. Hannington certainly was a witnQss for the Faith, and will- NOTHING is needed more in these ingly surrendered life that he might days than an entire reconstruction, purchase the way to the heart of not of our systems of giving only, but Africa with his blood, which is not our very ideas of giving. The most true of any mere traveler. princely sums given to the Lord's work are miserably and shameflllly Our correspondent thinks errors of a iNadequate to the demands of that most serious sort are springIng up and work on the one hand and wretchedshould be unsparingly exposed in such ly disproportionate to our average a Review. He asks, What could justi- ability and personal expenditures on fy the appeal of Mackye and Ashe for the other hand. One great church help from England to rescue them of 700,000 members raises a dollar a and their native conv:erts? "'hat year for foreign missions-less than could justify the American mission- one-third of a cent a day for each aries in the Caroline Islands making member !-and calls that generous. their converts, who were subjects of Another church, far more numerous. Spain, keep the 4th of July? or the raises a million and sets all its church Presidentof France giving the Legion bells ringing for a jubilee! of Honor to the French mi5sionaries in Basuto Land, within a British col- We find ourselves lacking $50,000 &ny, "for advancing the interests at the end of a fiscal year, and word of France? What can justify the goes out to the various missionary French Government expelling the stations that all expenses must be re- American mIssionaries from the Ga- trenched; and accordingly schools boon? The Germans have expeJled are closed, mission stations abandonthe Engli'lh Baptists from the Came- ed and all aggressive work ceases. roons,and the Basle missionaries have The" Salvation Army," at whose vaoccupied their place. Missionaries garies we laugh, at whose extravaare beginning to ill-use the natives gances we sneer, finds need of $50,- of Africa; they habitually beat them, 000 for an onward movement and and some men have died under their they raise it in one week by simple- hands. In Madagascar all the mis- self-denial. They impose it on them- sionaries-S. P. G., Norwegian, L. M. selves to limit their supply of food so S., Friend-use slave labor in their as to realize the needed sum. houses; all the native pastors, once slaves, buy and sell them and are not We have just passed the holiday ashamed." season. We have not one word to say in discouragement of exchanges With regard to such things our cor- of friendship and family love-tokens, respondent says the REVIEW" should although we feel confident that this. thing is carried to an absurd and of- "The account for last year iii as follows ten idolatrous extreme; but if one- for foreign missions: tenth of all lavished in Christmas gifts had been simply saved for Christ Parent society …………….$576,914 and his kingdom, the treasuries of Woman's Board …………… 167,000 every great benevolent agency in the world might now be bursting with a Total for last year……… $743,914 superfluity of funds I-A. T. P. This year We have appropriated for ERRATA. Foreign Missions…………..$635,000 Woman's Board…………… 228,000 AN unfortunate error occurred in our January number on page 33. To Total , ……………….. $863,000 Sir Monier Williams's admirable "The point is, !1lways remember to count paper an extract is added purporting our women in if you count those of other de- to be from Prof. Max Miiller, but nominations. " which is a part of the address of Pro- fessor Williams delivered on another ON page 130 (Feb. No.), in a note from occasion. The first speech was before Prof. Wilkinson, several errors occurred. the Church Missionary Society at the Read the work goes on for the world moves annual meeting in Exeter Hall, in on. The name of the missionary is Witter May last; the other is from an ad- iustead of Willis, and Naza Hills should read dress before the Bible Society at its NagaHilis. annual meeting in 1886. The error is easily accounted for. The second OUR MISSIONARY MAP OF THE WORLD. extract was put in THE REVIEW just as we cut it from one of our ex- WE bespeak the attention of our changes, where it was credited to readers to the publishers' offer of this Prof. Miiller, and we unhappily trans- great map on terms that bring it ferred both the extract and the error. within reach of every mission circle, Sunday-school and church. We OUR attention has been called to a know from long experience that such discrepancy in our figures given in the a map displayed at the monthly con- February number, of the receipts for cert or in the Sundav-school or at mis- 1887 of the Missionary Society of the sionary gatherings·would add vastly 'Methodist Episcopal Church. On to the interest and the profit of such page 118 we give the sum of $576,- meetings. Well do we recall the 914.74, and on page 156, $828,000. In widespread interest and enthusiasm the former case our figures were offi- awakened by "Bidwell's Missionary cial, taken from the society's last re- Maps," a generation or so ago, and port. In the latter they occur in a many thousands of them were sold table of statistics, copied from and in this country and abroad. " Col- credited to the Missionary Herald. ton's," which our publishers offer, is a We wrote to the editor of the M. H., "thing of beauty," and immensely and he replied that his figures were superior to any ever before produced. obtained by conespondence with Dr. It would be money well expended for McCabe, Secretary of the M. E. C. a church or Sunday-school to take Society. Dr. McCabe very kindly up a collection and possess one, if it responded to our request for informa- can be got in no o!her way.-J. M. S. tion with the following gratifying statement: THE patience of our patrons has been and may still be tried by delay "The discrepancy arises frOm a failure to in getting our REVIEW 'after subscrib- count the receipts of the Woman's Foreign ing for it. The demand has so far Miss. Society. The Presbyterian Board" outstripped our editions that three [to which we referred in our note] "counts editions Of the January and two of the receipts of the Woman's Board. the February have already been printed and more will speedily be called for. Fortunately the work is stereotyped and hence the largest demand can be supplied. This delay, however, will only be temporary.- J.M. S.
The Missionary Review of the World — February 1888
THE EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE OF THE UNITED STATES
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
"- VOL. XI. No. 2.-Old Series.-FEBRU ARY.-VOL. I. No. 2.-New Series.
I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS. THE EVANGEI~IOAL ALLIANOE OF THE UNITED STATES.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. P.] IT may be doubted whether, during these eighteen Ohristian centuries, any body of EvangelicalOhristians has met to consider questions of greater practical importance than the National Oonference of the Evangelical Alliance recently held in Washington, December 7th, 8th and 9th. Like the Oouncil of Nice, more than fifteen centuries ago, it brought together the scarred and battle-worn veterans from many fields of social and religious conflict. All denominations were represented, and by their prominent representative men. Episcopal and Methodist and· Moravian bishops, Presbyterian, Baptist, Oongregationalist, Lutheran pastors, theological professors and college presidents, distinguishe<.l merchants and scientists, Ohristian students and aggressive workers, assembled to consider the perils, opportunities and responsibilities confronting us in this great land. The first impression of such a meetipg was that of Ohristian Unity. For three days there was the freest, frankest discussion; there was no concealment of denominational peculiarities and preferences; no attempt to compromise conscientious convictions or reconcile irreconcilable differences; ~nd yet not one inharmonious chord was struck during the three days! Brethren dwelt together in unity, and it was obviously the unity of the Spirit. Nothing evoked applause, more hearty and instantaneous, than any expression that gave utterance to the oneness of all true disciples. There was an involuntary magnifying of the things in which disciples agree, while those in which they differ were seen to be insignificant in the comparison. No addresses were more catholic and fraternal in tone than those of Bishop Harris of Michigan and Dr. Gordon of Boston. Never did the few remaining obstacles to even a visible and organic Unity seem so small. The singing of psalms or hymns, the use of liturgical or extemporaneous prayers, the baptism by sprinkling or immersion, the open or restricted Lord's Table, and the episcopal ordination of the clergy-these are the five bars in the fence that nowk€eps Christians from being organically one. Are they not insignificant in comparison to the ties which bind us in a common faith?
At the late Presbyterian Council at Belfast, a French delegate said, "I find you here agitated over the question whether hymns may be sung at public worship; over in France people are inquiring whether there be a God!" Never have we been in any gathering representing disciples of every name where the disposition was so unanimous to lift into prominence only the great fundamental, rudimental truths of our -common faith.
The second thing that impressed us was the grand body of Ohris(ian men that were here brought together. The lower floor was reserved for delegates, admitted by ticket; and a careful look over the great assembly revealed the unmistakable signs of intellectual, moral and spiritual power. The giants had evidently met. From all quarters they came who had studied intently the problems of the age, and were endeavoring to work them out in the great reforms of the century. If physiognomy is a test, there were no weak men in that assemblage. The papers read, the addresses delivered, and even the impromptu, or less stndied, remarks in discussion, gave evidence of a titanic grasp of the subjects that were treated. Some of these papers and addresses were obviously the product of a quarter of a century of thought and study upon the themes brought before the Conference. It would be invidious to single out particular, speakers, where almost without exception everyone commanded such earnest attention. But to observe the range and scope of the topics discussed, and the peculiar qualifications of the speakers for the work assigned them, will convince anyone that this Conference was in the best sense a missionary gathering. Its influence on every form of Christian work, both at home and abroad, will be felt, as perhaps that of no other public assembly that ever met in this country.
The programme was arranged with great care, so as to lead up ~o a climax. Mr. Wm. E. Dodge, the President, opened with a singularly felicitous speech, in which he briefly outlined the work of the Conference, and after the graceful welcome address of Bishop Andrews, Dr. Dorchester plunged at once in medias res, and showed us the Perils of the Oities. This was a fitting opening of the great discussion. The concentration of popUlations in these great centres, the association of vicious elements and the combination of heterogeneous elements, the prevalence of intemperance, the social evil, class alienations, socialism, anarchism and atheism-these constitute the city, "the ulcer upon the body politick," and the menace upon our civilization. Dr. McPher- son, of Ohicago, followed in a similar strain, and showed the rapid growth, the vast hordes of foreigners massed in one locality, the in- adequacy of churches, both in numbers and endeavors, to reach and overtake this growth. He showed that when two such influences meet one will prove dominant. If we do not assimilate these vicious elements they will assimilate us. We must transform or be transformed.
When the morning session ended we were all oppressed, if not distressed, with the peril already upon us. The city loomed up as a dark and threatening object, filling the horizon, and the question was, "What shall be done?"
In the afternoon Prof. Boyesen, of Oolumbia Oollege, delivered an ad.:. dress on Immigration, so exhaustive and complete that its repetition· was called for at the overflow meeting on Thursday night. He believes that restrictive measures must be passed by Oongress; that foreigners are pouring in faster than it is possible to assimilate them to onr institutions, and faster than is safe for the Republic. He believes the prevailing American notions are too optimistic, that ambition for office is too much stimulated, even in our public schools, and that discontent is growing among the immigrant population. He has formulated a plan by which immigration shall be restrained and some guaranty be given for the character of those who come to our shores, so that so-called "Benevolent Societies" shall not busy themselvea providing money to transport to our country, as though it were a penal colony, the refuse population of other lands.
This consideration of our perils was further intensified by President Gates, in his powerful address on the l1fisltse of Wealth. He showed how vast our financial resources are, how they are perverted to selfish ends, how greed grows with its gratifications, and what power lies la- tent in hoarded treasure. He emphasized the Bible idea of steward- ship, and showed what a mighty basis for evangelization consecrated wealth would furnish.
Bishop Hurst then introduced the great topic of the Estrangement of the People from tlte Oh1~r'"h, and was followed by the writer of this article, on the same subject. The great multitudes are alienated from the church. And while thus the foreign popnlation is growing, and the artisan class is rapidly increasing and massing in our cities, the gulf between the church and these multitudes is widening. The caste spirit is growing and has invaded even the churches, so that they seem to the people in league with aristocracy. The remedy for these evils was shown to be, sympathetic contact, democratic spirit in the churches, and aggressive and systematic effort to save the lost.
In the evening, Bishop Ooxe discussed Ultramontanism. The Roman Oatholic Ohurch was not in any of these sessions assaulted as to its religious faith, but solely as a political body owing and owning allegiance to aforeign potentate. For an American citizen to acknowledge a civil head outside this government is constrtlctive treason, and when an issue arises may prove destructive treason.
Dr. McArthur then portrayed the evils of the Saloon~ We hoped he would present the saloon as a comparatively modern institution, and show its power in society and politics. But his address was little more than a temperance appeal, and a vindication of high license. Dr. Haygood, of Georgia, followed, giving some interesting facts about the influence of the saloon upon the colored people of the South and upon our general moral and political life.
Rev. S. W. Dike and Col. Greene, in two first-class papers, followed on Thursday morning with the Perils to the Family and the perils involved in the Social Vice. It was steering between Scylla, a~d Oharybdis, but it was magnificently done. In presence of a promiscuous audience these great themes were so handled as to exhibit thEl awful danger, yet offend not even the most fastidious ear. The Family, as the germ of all other institutions, must be guarded; and in order to guard it, marriage must be hallowed-virtue systematically cultivated. Col. Greene traced the social impurity to the public school, the novel, the perversion of French art, the details of vice in the newspaper, the saloon, etc. The" White Cross" movement was warmly commended.
President Eaton, on Thursday morning, also discussed Illiteracy. Out of 12,000,000 voters, over seven per cent. of the whites, and nearly seventy per cent. of the blacks, are illiterate. We have upwards of 6,000,000 illiterates over ten years of age; that is, more than the entire popUlation of New York and New Jersey. This class of people become dupes of Mormons, demagogues, and the vicious.
Dr. McCosh discussed Capital. and Labor, as did also ex-Mayor Seth Low. Both addresses were very fine. The strife between capitalists and working classes was traced to its source, and the wrongs on both sides were faithfully depicted and denounced. Monopoly, selfishness, the hard, cold policy of insatiable greed, and the tyranny and nnreasonable violence of labor unions and strikes, all got impartial treatment. Mr. Low beautifully illustrated the fact that the highest development of the individual only prepares for combination, by the printing press, whose separate characters were never successfully combined, until they each reached individual completeness.
The evening of the second day brought the turn of the tide. The perils to the family, the nation and the church having been reviewed, the remedy and encouragement now came to the front. Dr. King opened by a thrilling exhibition of our Ohristian resources. This is essentially a Christian government and nation, and our republicanism, separation of Church and State, free schools, Sabbath, Protestant Ohristianity, wealth, etc., were shown to be a reservoir of power in the prosecution of every good work. President Gilman then pleaded for • the universities and popular education of the higher grade, and Dr. Hatcher of Richmond spoke for the South.
Dr. Storrs not being present, his paper was read by Dr. Ohamberlain, on the Necessity of Oo-operation in Ohristian Work, and thus began the last day of the feast. Bishop Harris made a manly plea for the largest unity of all disciples, and emphasized co-operation instead of competition. No more catholic-spirited speech was made at the Oonference. Dr. Washington Gladden's ringing sentences delighted the assembly. He criticised incisively the miscellaneous, irresponsible evangelism of the day, but earnestly advocated the fullest evangelistic activity on the part of every church, and insisted that no kind of help or money gifts could release individuals from the claim of duty. Dr. Post, of Syria, followed in a brief but very powerful plea for co-operation in heathen lands, and instanced the Union Ohristian Ohurch in Svria, in which aU denominations practically and actually work harmoniously, and have so worked for sixty years.
In the afternoon Dr. Josiah Strong, in a paper worthy to go side by side with his great book, "Our Oountry," drew plans of methods for such co-operation, and proved it perfectly practicable by a proper combination of forces and division of territory to compass with the gospel the entire unevangelized population of our country. Then Dr. Frank Russell, in a most pointed and telling speech, showed how it had been done in Oswego, N. Y. The plan is essentially to divide up the city into districts of one hundred houses each, and divide these districts among visitors, putting over the visitors supervisors. Visits are made once a month, reported, and resnlts tabulated and compared. Meetings are held at stated times for conference and counsel. The most gratifying results have been reached, and there is a perpetual refreshing. Dr. Schauffier of New York presented the needs of great cities, advocating an undenominational work in destitute districts..
The closing meeting on Friday night was opened by a very finished paper from Dr. A. J. Gordon of Boston, on Individnal Responsibility. He spoke of three great perils and consequent duties -1. Oolossal fortunes in the hands of a few; 2. Prevalence of agnosticism; and 3. Intemperance and crime; and with great force and unction urged greater liberality, simpler faith in God and his Word, and a heroic dealing, both by law and gospel, with public vice.
A few short, pithy and powerful addresses from Dr. Van Dyke of New York, Thane Miller and others, and the Oonference adjourned.
If great results do not follow, in the quickening of the public conscience, the informing and arousing of the best citizens of the land, and especially in the active, practical co-operation of disciples in aggressive Christian work, all the signs of the times must fail. Those three days were packed full. Facts were trumpeted forth; there was a careful, accurate presentation of figures; not a peril was concealed, exaggerated or disguised. And there was a remarkable honesty among both speakers and hearers. There seemed to be a profound desire to face the whole truth and obey its mandate. Those men had not come to Washingi;on
JAPAN AND FOREIGN MISSIONS
for nothing. They were there for businsss, the King's business, and it. required haste. The most unpleasant facts, the most searching exposures, the most severe home thrusts, the ;most self-denying calls, seemed to be met only with candor and a docile, obedient spirit. Every man seemed to want to know the whole of the danger and the whole of his own duty. We look for great results. Oertain it is that no man could go back from such a Oonference without being better or toorse.
In Retzsch's illustrations of Faust, as· the demons of the under world contend for his soul, the angels hurl down on their heads the roses of Paradise; but as they touch the demons the roses turn to burning coals. Light is a blessing only to him that uses it. Abused knowledge becomes a source of condemnation. What leaves God's hand a rose of Paradise turns to a burning coal when it touches the ungrateful, unfaithful soul. We went down from that mount of privilege praying for a new anointing for service. Whether in missions in the city, on theborders of civilization or beyond the sea, what avails the fullest flood of knowledge without a spirit of consecration? Let every church, combining with every other without undue regard to denominational name, undertake this winter to reach all unsaved souls about it. Let a systematic monthly visitation of all non-church-goers be undertaken in every city and village, and be kept up. Go out is the Lord's command. As Dr. Ohalmers used to say, tliere are two ways a church may follow to win souls: "the way of attractiveness, or the way of aggressiveness." There may b@ every effort inade to secure a good, attractive house, organ and choir, minister and programme, and yet people will stay away; but when aggressiveness is the law-when the church goes out, and at any cost lays her hands on the poor and neglected souls and says, "Oome with us and we will do thee good," and compels them to come in-empty churches will be crowded, and souls will be saved. Nay, more; when the church thus maps out home missions and city evangelization, we have no doubt that aggressive efforts will begin, the like of' which the world has never seen, to bear the gospel message, and all flesh shall see Ohrist crucified the only hope of a lost world!
JAPAN AND FOREIGN MISSIONS By PROF. AND REV. GEORGE WM. KNOX, A.:~L, UNIVERSITY, TOKIO, JAPAN.
THE nineteenth century is sometimes called the century of missions. Enthusiastic men declare that it will be remembered as the era of Foreign Missions. In truth, it is the century of missionary eXI!eriment. The church makes explorations, tentative endeavors, plans. It is studying its problem. And now, as we draw near the close of the century, we can justly measure the work in all its vast extent; we can. plan for Its accomplishment, and give intelligent reasons for hope ot ultimate success. The early romance of missions gives w:ty to the prosaic commonplace of well-known facts. Our missionaries go to no mysterious and distant world never to return. Every land has been explored; we know the geography of our globe. Every people has been studied; we know the history, the language, the population, the customs, the religion of all. No land is far away, no nation is alien-modern civilization binds all together. The world grows small as we can state its area accurately in square miles, but our work grows large as the consciousness of the mighty populations of heathen empires is thrust upon us.
A new study of engrossing interest is begun-new questions of supreme importance press for solution. What is to be the future of the East? Are the great empires of Asia forever to repeat the history of the past? Shall the coming centuries bring no Kingdom of God for the great majority of the human race? Is Asia to continue oppressed, superstitious, ignorant, idolatrous, degraded, wretched? Is there national regeneration, is there new birth for a continent, is it possible ·for great empires to start upon a new life of liberty, progress and truth after millenniums of slavery, stagnation and error?
Such questions demand earnest study from all who study their fellow men, from all who love their fellow men; and to the Christian no subject can be of more absorbing interest. Foreign Missions are not remote, of far-away interest; to the Christian they c~ncern his own personal faith and hope. He confesses Christ to be Lord, he calls Him Light of Light, Very God of Very God. Christ is not one among many prophets; He is the brightness of the Father's glory. Christ's teaching is absolute and final truth; not one of ten great religions. Such a faith makes great demands-it is everything or it is nothing. Christ is Son of God, or an impostor. This faith is to be vindicated, not so much by labored argument as by victory. Let Christ divide the sovereignty of the world with others, and we cannot hold our faith. As we learn the world, we learn also that Christ must reign over all, that at His name every knee must bow. Foreign Missions are the realiza,- tion of the faith of the church.
Japan, first of all Asiatic empires, seeks answer to these problems. Under most favoring conditions it tries the great experiment, turning from the East and striving for position among the progressive, enlightened and Christian nations of the West. So far as man can judge, upon the issue of this experiment rests the future of Asia. Let Japan succeed, and China will follow in the same path; let Japan fail, and what hope remains for the greater empires which. will face their greater problems under less favoring conditions? Let us briefly con. sider the conditions in Japan favorable to success.
I. Japan is,an empire of thirty-seven millions of people. It has a JAPAN AND FOREIGN MISSIONS.
population larger than the population of France, and an area greater than the area of the British :,rsles, with our Stat.e of Maryland added. The Japanese are not a feeble folk, like the Sandwich Islanders, nor a rude and barbarous folk, lil}e the dwellers in the islands of the South Seas. It is an empire with ancient civilization, and of extent sufficient to fully test the experiment. Success there will be an earnest of success in all Asia. And yet Japan is not so large that the mind is overpowered by the vastness of the problems. It does not stretch away to the centre of a continent, like Ohina, nor teem with hundreds of millions, like India. Already plans have been formed for education, internal commerce, medical reform and religion, that reach to every province and embrace the whole empire.
II. Japan is in the temperate zone, with a climate favorable to high development. Nature does not enervate her children, nor overwhelm them with her profusion. Man has sufficient reward for his labor, and yet is ever incited to fresh toil.
III. The Japanese are an unconquered race. From the earliest dawn of history they have been governed by native princes. Their ships have ravaged the west of Ohina, and their armies have fought campaigns in Korea, but never has Japan submitted to foreign rule. The representative men of Japan have the independence, manlinesss and patriotism that belong to freemen; and these qualities are of the highest importance in furthering the new national development. Indeed, patriotism has been the ruling motive in the movement.
IV. The Japanese are not isolated by caste, nor held fast immovable in conservatism. They have ever shown themselves tractable, receptive, open to foreign influence. The very civilization that seems to us so unique, the art and architecture that are so separate from the forms met upon the continent of Asia, are yet foreign in their origin. India, Ohina and Korea sent the rudiments of civilization to the Island Empire. Literature, education, laws, rules of war, medicine, philosophy, religion, art, all claim foreign origin. The Japanese welcomed the foreign teaching, assimilated it, and made it thoroughly their own. They stamped upon it their own national character so completely that only the trained student can detect the foreign origin.
A well-known episode in Japanese history illustrates the national peculiarities. Oenturies ago European merchants visited Japan. They were welcomed, and their commerce thrived. With them went missionaries of the Order of Jesus. Oultivated, devoted gentlemen, they were, and the people gladly listened to their teaching. The Japanese recognized a religion of higher sanctions and nobler morality than the religions they had known; they saw in the Jesuits men of character far better than the ignorant priests of Buddha. Nobles took upon them the sign of the cross, and their subjects were baptized by thousands. The joyful tidings were sent to Roffle that an empire had been won to Mother Ohurch. But already Japan had decreed the destruction of Ohristianity. The converts were slain, the priests were expelled, and Japan was closed for three hundred years against the West. The Pope, in virtue of his pretended authority over the islands of the sea, had transferred the allegiance of the Japanese from their Emperor to the King of Portugal. But the Japanese would submit to no foreign dominion; they would do without Western commerce, wealth, and religion, but they must be free.
Again in our own time are the same traits manifest. When Oommodore Perry sailed up Yedo Bay with big ships, big guns and threats of more big ships and more big guns, the rulers of Japan recognized the decree of irresistible force and made a treaty. That treaty cost two rulers their lives and a dynasty its throne; it cost the bombardment of two cities, the lives of thousands, fifteen years of internal disquiet, and civil war.
It did not seem to the Japanese to be peaceful diplomacy. In 1868 the national discontent found full expression. The great clans of Tosa Satsuma and Ohoshu in their triple league gverthrew the Shogun. They captured the Shogun, destroyed his armies and ships, took his capital and became masters of Japan. They rallied Japan with the war cry, "Restore the Emperor! Expel the barbarians!" Restore the Emperor-that meant punishment to the Shogun for daring to treat with the foreigner. Expel the barbarian-that meant restore the policy of national seclusion. They restored the Emperor; they did not expel the barbarians!
When these barbarian-hating Japanese visited on diplomatic errand the centres of Western civilization, they saw their great mistake. Japan had slept for centuries in a fools' paradise, while the West had been wide awake. And now there remained for Japan a single alter-: native-it must learn, or it must submit. With wonderful appreciation of the situation, the government sent the men of Japan on great (lxcursion parties at public expense. They visited Europe and the United States, and they returned preachers of a new gospel of progress and civilization. All through Japan they told their wonderful story, and their countrymen listened and believed. Thus it comes to pass that there is no conservative party in Japan, no party desirous of reaction. The people by unanimous consent desire the new civilization: Emperor, nobles, samurai and commons, all are ready to make sacrifices in the cause of national advancement. It is a phenomenon unparalleled in history.
By the year 1872 the revolution of sentiment was complete, and the nation was fully committed to the new civilization. We need not say how intimately these great changes affected the work of missions. It is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. Not by the work of any missionary, or of all the missionaries, has the great result been accomplished. They are workers together with God; but His leading has been plain as when He led forth Israel by flame and cloud to its promised home. His servants follow where He shows the way.
The edict forbidding the profession of the religion of Ohrist was taken down, but' sentiment was still almost wholly adverse. Of foreign names the name of Ohrist was still most hated. When Ohrist, the Prince of Peace, is made apostle of war; when His cross, the sign of self-sacrifice, is used as symbol of deeds worthy of the Prince of Darkness, small wonder that He is hated. And among the Japanese Ohrist's name had been blasphemed by His professed apostles. His cross was a stumbling block and an offense. The men of influence did not desire the preaching of His Word.
Fifteen years have passed away, and sentiment has changed. The leading men desire the Ohristianization of the empire. Statesmen, teachers, editors, men of influence, declare that the doctrine. of Ohrist is indispensable. The government protects and aids the preachers, and the leaders of the opposition are ready to give their influence to the infant church. Most of these men do not accept Ohrist for themselves-they will not forsake all, take up the cross and follow Him; but for many reasons they unite in desiring the Christianization of Japan. They know that the highest civilization is impossible without religion, and, quick-witted, keen-sighted, in this as in all else, they recognize Christianity as the best religion, as indeed the only possible religion, for the new Japan.
Buddhism is not a possible resource. The educated Japanese of three hundred years ago rejected it for the agnostic Chinese philosophy, and their descendants will not return to its puerile superstitions and its hopeless Nihilism. Even the priests know that their hour has come, and there is no heart in them. 'rhe philosophy of Confucius also comes to be understood as unworthy of the new national life. It points forever to the past; it holds to a dead conservatism; it so exalts obedience that women, children, and the lower classes are degraded; its high moral maxims can never influence and control the passions of the multitude. When Japan first became acquainted with the West, our agnostic systems gained great influence. They seemed to meet the educated classes with familiar teaching-they, like the moralists of old Japan, said that ethics without religion would suffice for men of intelligence and brains. But they are less popular to-day. The lessons of Europe are not lost upon these men; they understand the connection of atheism and agnosticism with socialism and anarchy. Against these foes the government desires the stable aid of the church of Christ. The government also strongly desires full recognition from the Western powers, and is convinced that it will more easily attain its ends as a Christian empire. But the liberal opposition also desires the rapid extension of the church, believing this to promote the intelligence, the manliness, and the independence of the people. These and other reasons combine to form a sentiment everywhere favorable to missionary work.
In 1872 the first church, of eleven members, was organized in Y 0kohama. From that time work was carried on with steadily increasing energy. In 1886, fourteen years afterwards, 193 churc'hes, with 14,815 baptized members, were reported. In 1877 the first Japanese clergyman was ordained; nine years later there were 93 ministers. These Christians are not" rice" Christians. Out of their poverty they gave in 1886 almost $27,000 for church work. Sixty-four churches are wholly self-supporting and 119 are partly so. In proportion to their. means the members of the Presbyterian and Congregational churches give as liberally as do Presbyterians and Congregationalists in the United States. In the 11 theological schools 169 students are preparing for the gospel ministry. In the various schools are nearly 5,000 students, who are trained in Christian knowledge as thoroughly as in secular learning. The Bible has been translated, and the New Testament has been sold in all parts of Japan. Something has been done toward creating a Christian literature.
When Japan was freely opened to. Christian work and it was apparent that a field of unusual promise invited labor, every denomination, and almost every sub-denomination, of Protestant Christians sent on its tiny contingent. For the most part, each follows its own course, and takesc oun- 'leI only with itself. In 1886 twenty different societies were represented. At how great a loss of money and strength is this petty denominationalism maintained! Never are the divisions of Protestantism so contemptible as when brought face to face with the multitudes of heathendom. When the church undertakes this warfare with full appreciation of its dangers and difficulties it will find means to combine all its resources in confederate league for the great crusade. It has not yet learned this lesson. In 1887 the missions of the Reformed Church, the American Presbyterian Church, and the Scotch United Presbyterian Church, united in forming the United Ohurch of Christ in Japan. The mis- 13ionaries of two other churches, kindred in doctrine and polity, have joined with them, and now, in 1887, a wider Union, embracing all of the Presbyterian, Reformed and Congregational names, is formiug.
To this United Church will be given in large degree the work of shaping the Protestantism of Japan. In 1886 these churches had twothirds of all the church members in the empire within their folds, and wielded more than two-thirds of the Christian influence. The church is independent, free of all foreign ecclesiastical control, Japanese in form, and, we believe, Christian in heart.
The Methodists are seeking a like union for the churches of their name; and the Episcopalians have united the efforts of their three societies in the establishment of a single independent Japanese Epis- (lopal Church. The Japanese ministera exceed in number the foreign missionaries. They excel also in their success in gathering converts into the church. Many of their men are of good social position, well educated, zealous, faithful, devoted. Some of them have labored for years and have gathered much fruit for the Master. They are workmen who need not be ashamed. Not since apostolidimes have the elements of a strong, national church been so soon gathered. When we consider the rapidity of the growth, the completeness of church organization, the number and quality of the ministers, the readiness of the people to give, we conclude that God now grants His gracc as freely as to His servants of old.
We anticipate the conclusion of foreign missionary labor by the close of this century. Not that Japan will then be Ohristian, or that all who dwell in the land will know the story of redemption. But we believe that in thirteen years more Japan will cease to be foreign missionary ground. Thenceforth the preaching of the Oross will be the Home Missionary work of the Japanese church. The church will be widely established, well trained, well led, equipped for its work, and, under God, able and willing to carry the enterprise to a triumphant completion.
The missions in Japan ask the churches of the United States for reinforcements. First of the great heathen empires Japan turns to Ohrist. In our own day we see this church formed on its foreign soil. 'rhe work is not of the future-now it must be carried to its end. The rapidity of growth, the quick extension of the church, makes reinforcement imperative. The church must be guided, taught, aided. Ohurch buildings must be erected, colleges, seminaries and theological schools equipped, and all the organization of varied Ohristian work completed. These years are ours, but soon the opportunity will pass. It cannot be that the church will not respond; it cannot be that enough of its abounding wealth of men and money will not be given to meet to the full Japan's appeal.
God's providence gives this test to His Ohurch. Had Ohina moved first, how prodigious would have been the demand I Has the church enoug4 of consecration and faith to minister to the needs of that mighty empire? Would it send its missionaries by thousands, and its money by millions? But it is not Ohina; it is Japan. The call is not for men by thousands, but by tens. Thus does God first test His Ohurch; and as the church responds He will grant it rich reward by granting wider fields and grander harvests in the lands beyond.
Let us sum up the lessons taught by the story of God's dealings in Japan.
1. When God reveals His power, the strongest walls fall flat before His people; and God works in our day as manifestly as in the times of His ancient Ohurch.
2. The wonders of God's power demand obedient following, faith..
THE PROGRESS OF ISLAM
consecration and love from His servants. He works, and they lab9f'
with Him. His power never mak9s needless their effort, but demands with each display new exertion on their part.
3. Modern foreign missions are not a failure. Their success is assured. Japan is not an exception; it is the leader of the Orient. By God's providence China, Siam, and India enter upon the same path.
4. The evangelization of the world by independent native churches may be speedily accomplished. The work of foreign missions is the planting of these churches. The end of foreign missions is home mi!l- SlOns.
5. The planting and organizing of these native churches in every great land will make great demands upon the church at home. Every resource must be husbanded and every expenditure made to the best ad- vantage. And to this end: (1) Mission stations must be adequately equipped. Single men must not be left to perform all functions, and little bands of men must not be sent to evangelize great empires.
Broad plans with ample forces are imperative. (2) For best results churches of kindred faith and polity should unite on foreign soil. Their converts may unite in national churches, and strength, native and for- eign, may be doubled by the union. (3) The great denominations of the Protestant world should unite in council, in federal 'league, that plans may be formed in common-or, at the very least, be mutually discussed.
Missions in Japan bear peculiar relation to missions everywhere.
Success in this one land inspires the church for the greater conflict in other lands. Christ proves himself Divine as by the power of love He draws all men to himself. Not to a divided sovereignty does He come. Not to bless a portion of His creatures is His kingdom estab- lished. We confess Him as King of kings and Lord of lords. And as the Church is loyal to its vows, it is builded everywhere. Soon will the day come when every language shall speak His praise-when in every land His Church shall come. Not by power or might, but by His Spirit will it come.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
THE PROGRESS OF ISLAM.
[THE views of Canon Isaac Taylor, a dignitary of the Church of England, recently expressed at the Church Congress at W olverhampton, have justly attracted wide attention, and called forth earnest discussion both in the church and secular papers and magazines. The burden of criticism is against the Canon. His facts' are shown from a variety of sources to be unreliable or greatly distorted. The subject is of such general interest to the missionary world that we give the following brief and temperate presentatiQn of the case from the Home and Foreign Mission Record of the Church of Scotland.
~EDs.] THE paper read by Canon Isaac Taylor at the Church Congress at Wolverhampton on the subject of Mahommedanism has given rise to more discussion than any other subject brought under the notice of the Congress. The Church papers have had their pages filled with correspondence, mostly adverse to the learned essayist. The columns of ·Tlte Times have been opened to the discussion, and Tlte Times has passed its judgment upon the points in dispute-a judgment also unfavorable to the view set before the Congress by Canon Taylor.
The contention of the learned Canon may be regarded as threefold: That Mahommedanism is spreading in Africa and India at a rate far surpassing the Christian rate of progress in these countries; that its teachings and methods, so far as suitability to native races is concerned, might well be adopted by the promoters of Christianity; and that as a temporary and preparatory scheme of religious belief it may be let alone to do the work it is doing. We may conveniently follow this contention in the order here laid down.
1. It is only in a vague and general fashion that we can estimate the progress of Mahommedanism in Africa. It is the dominant faith in Egypt, and from thence westward to Morocco, whilst it is widely prevalent from the Mediterranean to the Equator. It is essentially a missionary religion, and from time to time there are outbursts of missionary zeal which undoubtedly subdue whole tribes to the faith of Islam. In the great AI-Azhar University at Cairo it is said that there are in attendance every year some ten thousand students who go forth as Mollahs, Moulvies, and teachers of religion into all parts of the Mahommedan world, and some of whom are sent for the propagation of Islam into the regions beyond. This, however, is only a popular estimate, and it is, we believe, considerably exaggerated. If the number of Moslem students ever reaches eight thousand, that large figure is made up of persons who become students to escape conscription. The great majority learn little and pass no examination. When we turn from the propaganda to the results we do meet with evidences of missionary success.
In his interesting paper in the Oontemporary Review, December, last year, our countryman Mr. Joseph Thomson set Maho~.medanism in a comparatively new and favorable light as a missionary agency. This is what he found up the Niger: "The sights and scenes I witnessed burst upon me like a revelation. I found myself in the heart of Africa among undoubted Negroes; but how different from the unwashed, unclad barbarians it had hitherto been my lot to meet in my travels in Africa! No longer did the naked savage throw himself before stocks and stones, • or lay offerings before snakes or lizards, but as a well-clothed and reverent worshiper he bent before that One God whose greatness and compassionateness he continually acknowledged." This is testimony which' there is no need to disparage. For those regions of W~st Africa to which it refers it may be accepted as the true state of the case. It is sad to think that Mr. Thomson should have to be accepted as a true witness also when he regretfully declares that" for every African who is influenced for good by Ohristianity, a thousand a~e driven into deeper degradation by the gin trade.'" It is mainly on this evidence that Oanon Taylor relies for specific support of his contention as regards the mis- sionary progress of Islam in Africa. Without denying the statements of Mr. Thomson, we may still ask whether there is not another side to this question. General Haig, who has recently published the' results of inquiries made by him personally as to the condition of the Arab tribes on both sides of the Red Sea, mentions deductions which are to be made from this missionary zeal and activity of Islam. He says, after careful inquiries in Oairo, and after calling' intelligent Moslems themselves to witness: "There may be intense belief and a desperate clinging to 'the tenets of Islam, but hope for its extension in the world has long died out in the minds of the more intelligent and thoughtful. Mahommedanism may still be spreading among the simple fetish wor- shipers of Oentral Africa, by such means as Arab merchants and slave- raiders know how to employ; but even there it must nearly have reached its utmost limit." It is easy enough for the learned Oanon, when dealing with the generalities which alone are available as statistics in the case of Africa, to make good his contention, and we need not deny that in Africa up till now Islam has made more rapid progress than Ohristianity. Yet even that progress is not shown to be overwhelming; and when it is considered that Islam is in Africa practically on its native soil, and that Ohristianity has only recently got into the interior and holds its ground under the most adverse conditions of climate and health, a faster rate of progress for Islam is not to be wondered at.
When Oanon Taylor attempts to show from Indian statistics that Mahommedanism is sweeping over India, with a steady increase of over 600,000 per annum, he lays himself open to direct and conclusive contradiction. In a recent letter to The Times the same General Haig whom we have already quoted, shows from the last census returns that Oanon Taylor has been entirely misled in his calculations. General Haig's carefully elaborated c<{nclusions-in which the Til1U3S leader concurs-is that in Bengal, with a population 42 per cent. of the whole Mahommedan population of India, Mahommedanism is at a stalldstill; while in the Punjab and Northwest Provinces, with 36 per cent. of the total Mahommedan population, Islam is slightly advancing. Regarding India as a whole, it would seem that the advance of Islam is too slight to be of any practical political importance. 'Even what advance there is is more a social than a missionary movement. There is no occasion to take an alarmist view of the present advance of Mahommedanism, although there is every reason why Ohristians should redouble their zeal and save the tribes of Africa from the searing, deadening influence of the religion of the False Prophet. 2. Oanon Taylor con'siders 11ahommedanism a faith much more easy ot_comprehension to the Negro mind, and, moreover, a faith which contains in a simple form the essentials of Ohristian truth. He finds in the Koran undeveloped seeds of Ohristian truth; Mahommedanism is· an imperfect Ohristianity; the Moslem and the Ohristian alike worship the One God, and regard the Lord Jesus Christ as the one sinless and perfect pattern of humanity; and there is nothing in lfahommedanism antago:::J.istic to Christianity. It is astounding to hear a dignitary of the Church of England seriously telling us that for the Negro ill the heart of Afric3t Mahommedanism and Christianity are convertible terms; that to deal with him effectively we must go, not to the simple verities of the Christian faith, but to a faith whose highest principles are a corruption of an imperfect Judaism. And the ground on which he offers us this advice is the rapid spread of Mahommedanism among these degraded African tribes. We do not want and do not expect to see Christianity spread in such a fashion. It is easy to teach even a Negro to articulate the words Allah 01' Bismillah; when this is done he is a Mahommedan. There is a simplicity in this sort of conversion which cannot be denied. But we do not expect conversio~ to Christianity with the same rapidity and simplicity. We believe, in spite of Canon Taylor, th~t the Negro mind can take in Christianity-not such undeveloped germs as are found in the Koran, but such clear and distinct statements of truth as we find in the gospels. In the conversion of the Northern nations, it is true, whole tribes were indiscriminately baptized and called Christians. That is a mode of propagating Christianity which is not in favor now. Christianity does not gain tribes and nations in masses. It is one by one that it lays its hold upon the souls of men. Its power to convert and renew one Negro is sufficient to show its suitability for the race. And we have happily abundant illustrations of this power. We have heard the Rev. David Clement Scott again and again declare-we thought he went a li~tle too far-that there was no truth which tho African as he knew him was unable to grasp and thoroughly understand, and no spiritual attainment of which he was not capable. We have heard Dr. Laws, of the Free Church Mission on Lake Nyassa, speak in similar, if more measured terms, Although the number of converts in connection with African Missions is small, and although many converts are not successes, there are African Christians with as firm a grasp of the doctrines of grace as is to be found among communicants at home, and with characters which, for consistency and devotion to Christ, would put many professing Christians in Britain to shame.
When Canon Taylor quotes the earnestness and devoutness and humilityof the Mahommedan missionaries, who go about without purse or scrip disseminating their religion by quietly teaching the Koran, he identifies himself with a picture which is only an ideal, and with a description which as matter of fact is very questionable. When he sets this description over against the efforts· of Ohristian Missions, which have made the natives hate rather than admire Ohristian civilization, the implied reproach of Ohristian missionaries is unworthy of him. Our civilization, alas! is another thing from our Ohristianity ; it means gin, brandy, gunpowder, and too often shameful debauchery on the part of British traders! But that our missionaries should by implica- tion be described as behind the Mahommedan fakirs in earnestness und devoutness and humility is an imputation to be indignantly repelled. The life of the European missionary, especially in Oentral Africa, is a life of hardship and of peril. It is surely unnecessary to call witnesses to this fact, when in our own pages from time to time we have to chron- icle hardships and fevers and deaths. But we may give the testimony of a witness more competent than most. Mr. H. H. Johnstone, now our consul at the Oameroons, well known for his charming books on the Oongo and Kilima Njaro, and well known also to be no idolater of Mis- sions, says in the November Nineteenth Oentury, in an article on "Brit- ish Missions and Missionaries in Africa": "A protracted stay at .the Mission will also convince yon of the earnest sincerity of purpose which inspires the missionary and his wife. It will show you how the pursuit of an exalted idea can clothe an inherently commonplace nature with unconscious poetry and pathos. And you will also learn that the life of those modern evangelists in Africa is full of disappointments, dan- ger, and monotonous discomfort."
3. Oanon Taylor evidently looks upon Mahommedanism as a step- ping-stono from heathonism to Ohristianity. But comfortably to do this he has to soften down the Mahommedanism we know by winking at the monstrous wrongs and immoralities which are inseparable from it. As to the moral results of Islam he does not feel comfortable. Islam does, to be sure, insist on temperance, although it is certain that Arab traders are among the chief importers of the spirits which are degrad- ing Africa. But, letting alone that, what about the slave trade, which has its tap-root in Mahommedan polygamy? What about the degrada- tion of women? What about the fierce fanaticism of the Mahommedan devotee? The head of our Mission at Blantyre in our last number de- scribed whole tracts of country inhabited by dense populations as turned . into a waste howling wilderness by the visits of Mahommedan slave raiders. Is this long to be tolerated upon the. face of God's earth? Even as the adjunct of a temporary scheme of religious truth is its spread to be desired? But it is notorious that Mahommedanism, so far from being a stepping-stone to Ohristianity, is one of the very stronge"t fortresses of unbelief. Oonverts from Mahommedanism are comparatively few, although not so few as some would represent. It is with Mahommedanism as with Judaism-the difficulty of gaining con- verts from them is in proportion to their likeness to Ohristianity. They
JAMES HANNINGTON, THE MAR'l'YR OF USOGA
have part of the truth, and their adherents are loath to give up the little that they have in order to obtain the whole as it is set forth in the religion of Jesus Christ. We should be sorry to think of Mahommedanism be- ing allowed to occupy the ground as a preparation for Christianityany_ where. The duty of the Church, on the contrary, is plain: it is to increase her laborers and to redouble her energies, so as to make known the trnth to the most degraded even of African tribes. It is the dnty of the Church further to do what in her lies to remove the stnmbling- blocks thrown in the way of the heathen in Africa and in India by the evil lives of Europeans and even of her professing members. Let us not fail nor be discouraged. Th~ Gospel is making way in those lands of which we have been speaking, and God has been giving it access to regions hitherto closed against it. We need have no fear of its efficacy.
The earthen vessel has its weaknesses, but the excellency of the power is seen to be of God. .
JAMES HANNINGTON, THE MAR'l'YR OF USOGA. * [EDITORIAL.-A. T. P.] WHEN, in October, 1885, in Ukassa, on the north shore of Victoria Nyanza, the noble form of Bishop Hannington fell before the savage soldiers of Mwanga, a pall overspread the whole missionary host. Another heroic spirit had, at thirty-eight years of age, joined the noble Army of Martyrs. And when, on the 4th of February following, at sunrise, the sorrowing procession approached the mission station at Rabai, bearing the blue pennon-the African symbol of mourningwhereon, in white lett.ers, was sewn the word « ICHABOD," many a mourner, outside the Dark Continent, with bowed head, said, "The glory is departed ! "
We have read this story of his life and work with profound interest and deep emotion. It would draw tears from eyes unused to weep, to follow that tale of heroism to its singularly pathetic and tragical conclusion, while from first to last it abounds in lessons in livi~g.
Heredity and environment go far to determine character. Hannington seems to have inherited from his great-grandfather a strength almost superhuman that enabled him to do and bear what few stalwart men can endure. The texture of the ancient stock reappeared in the modern tree. He was consequently fond of athletic sports; gunning, boating, and the hardest. games were natural to his conscious vigor.
Hannington inherited another trait from his grandfather-a devoted attachment to his mother; and this filial love, that transfigured her with a peculiar radiance, was the magnet that gave a true poise to his character, a true direction to his life. Not only so; but the heart that learned the expansive, expulsive, explosive power of a noble, ennobling * "James Hannlngton: A History of his Life and Work." By E. C. Dawson. A. D. F. Randolph & Co., PnbHshenJ. N. Y. love toward a mother, was prepared for another love that had a wider reach, drove out all mean and selfish affections, and demanded vent in a life of missionary labor. Her death, in 1871, left his heart fearfully lacerated, but free henceforth to have but this one love. That pathetic inscription in a Paris cemetery Hannington might well have written: ." Dors en paix, 0 ma mere; ton fils t'obeira toujours."
At fifteen his father put him in a counting-house at Brighton to seek a fortune throngh the common path of commercial life. But the " zebra" could not be harnessed to the" cart-yoke," and after six years the young man, reaching his majority, chose his own path. At eighteen he inclined toward Romanism, and once in later life even toward the solitude of the cloister; but Oardinal Manning's funeral sermon for Oardinal Wiseman showed how the highest ecclestiastic turned even on his deathbed to mere external rites, for peace, and Hannington felt that the system must be rotten, and turned from it as from a falling fabric.
His early education seems to have been neither skillful nor successful. He says of himself that, being naturally idle, and not being sent where he was driven, he made little progress. But he was intelligent, quick to learn, and strong to hold; and if his early life lacked in application, his industry in later years went far to compensate. Up to his twentieth year, he had worshiped in a Non-Oonformist chapel; but in October, 1867, his ;father's chapel became an institution of the Ohurch of England, and the young man came into frequent and close contact with clergymen of that communion; and he awoke to the fact that he had a stra~ge drawing toward the ministry, and in 1868 he entered Oxford.
In 1873, at 26, Hannington reached a parting of the ways. Jesus was henceforth to be, in a double sense, his Redeemer-Rex, Lex, Dux, Lux. A college friend of his, a country curate, had James Hannington strangely laid on his heart as a burden. His own life having lately felt a strange transforming -power, he somehow yearned to have Hannington share his consecration and satisfaction. He wrote him a plain letter, telling him of his new experience, and urged him to devote his life to Jesus. More than a year passed, and the letter was unanswered; but the seed, though buried, was striking roots downward and was yet to bear fruit upward.
His pride was just now hurt by the Bishop'S harsh rejection of one of his trial papers, and his wounded spirit flamed into a burst of passion. Suddenly he bethought himself: "If I can thus give way to -anger, am I fit to offer myself as a minister of Ohrist?" That thought at once cooled and calmed him, and he applied himself anew. When he was admitted to deacon's orders, he trembled with the sense of his responsibility. On Sunday after, he preached at Hurst, and the next began to act as curate of Trentishoe. He soon found that he was doing his duty in a perfunctory spirit, and that he was not right with God. Oandor compelled him to confess that, though he was God's messenger, he did not bear God's message, and was ntterly without divine uncti()n; and he was much distressed. Then that letter, long treasured up and many times re-read, prompted him to send for the writer. He could not come to see Hannington, but he wrote him again and sent with the letter Mackay's" Grace and Truth." He began to read the book, but its unscholarly tone and blunt dogmatism offended him, and he threw it down. But it subsequently got a reading, though meanwhile on a second trial he had been tempted to fling it across the room in disgust. He waded through a few chapters, till he came to the question, "Do you feel your sins forgiven?" That chapter opened his eyes. He saw that faith must rest, not on feeling or consciousness, but on the unchanging Word of God. He leaped into light. He was in bed when he read that chapter; but he sprang out, and literally, like the cripple at the Gate Beautiful, walked and leaped, praising God. Subsequently the tract, "Gripping and Slipping," helped him to a firmer grasp on the hand of Jesus, and he held fast and followed on wherever that hand led. Henceforth he " knew whom he had believed." From this step it was comparativelyeasy to another. His friend urged him to try extempore preaching, and before long he bravely laid his written helps aside and went before the people to tell them simply and in dependence on the Spirit what he had learned of God, though he soon found that to preach effectively without manuscript leaves no room for indolent mental habits. On a visit to Hurst, he got "stuck" at the· text 'and had to dismiss the congregation with a hymn!
The parish of Darley Abbey, to which Mr. Hannington was transferred in 1875, and where he remained seven years, gave opportunity for the study and practical solution of the problem how successfully to deal with intelligent working people. There dear old Miss Evans, or, as the people called her, ·"Miss Ivvins," then nearly ninety years old, lived and swayed her sceptre of love, the very life and centre of Christian work. At the Darley House she made Hannington a welcome guest; and there he found himself in a new school of Christian experience and training for better work. Apollos was once more in the school of Priscilla.
While curate at St. George's Hannington threw himself into the work of Parochial" Missions," then already beginning to be a power, himself afterward conducting similar meetings. Here also he learned and lived the lesson of self-sacrifice. Fond as he was of his horse, he sold it, and made of the stable and coach-liouse a mission-room for popular meetings. The hero-missionary was rapidly preparing, though nnconsciously, for the" regions beyond."
He was eccentric-if anybody knows what that means. Those who knew him best say that they never knew another Hannington. A queer mixture of oddity and simplicity, gentleness and fire, bluntness and brusqueness, he reminded people of William Grimshaw. The children learned that in his cabinet there were curiosities, and in his pocket were goodies for them; and when he stopped to give them his blunt counsel and ask them questions, he rewarded their attention with ,a "bull's-eye." Free and familiar, he maintained his self-respect. Chalmers once said, to one who thought the clergy should" stand on their dignity," "Sir, if we don't mind, we may die of dignity." Hannington unbent easily and naturally, if he might get down to men.
In 1875 he became Secretary of the Hurst Pierpoint Temperance Association. He was about the only teetotaler in Hurst, but, despite the nnpopularity of the cause, he determined on a deadly war against drink. He went nowhere without a pledge-book, and would drag a poor sot out of the mire and take him to his home. He owned that he had never taken in hand a work so hard as to wage this war in face of the apathy if not antipathy of those who ought to be in sympathy.
There was a time when Hannington looked to the life of a celibate, as the most consistent with supreme devotion to his JJord; he meant that his 100rk should be his loife. But he found his" affinity" in Blanche Hankin Turvin, and married her in 1877. And it was well. He found her in every way his help, not his hindrance. As a married man he was relieved of many awkward embarrassments, had fuller access .to the families he visited, and learned that curious fact in life's mathe- matics, that two like-minded people can accomplish not twice, but ten times as much as one. If one chases a thousand, two put ten thousand, to flight. And nowhere is this truer than in the sacred calling.
Facts furnish the fuel on which missionary zeal is fired and fed. One can scarce believe that there ever was a time when the martyr Bishop felt no interest in missions. Yet so it was when he went to his first missionary meeting at Parracombe. He was called on to speak, but it was too evident to himself and others that he ~new very little about the subject and cared correspondingly little.
Hannington reached the turning point of life in 1882, when he de- termined to go to Africa. When, four years before, he heard of the violent death of Shergold Smith and Mr. O'Neil, beside the waters of Victoria Nyanza, he felt prompted to push ahead and take their place in the ranks. Conversations with Miss Evans and others whose hearts burned with missionary fervor stirred him up to study the facts; and the logic of facts no true disciple can resist. God had been making the workman ready, and the time had come for,him to enter the work. He had both a native fitness and a cultivated fitness for just such a work. A wife and three children, ~ delightful and successful parish work, bound him to his home, but he felt th~t the foreign field was wider, needier, more difficult to provide with workmen, and he heard God calling him. Mary Lyon used to say to her pupilf': "Girls, in choosing your work, go where no one else is willing to go." And so he offered himself to the Ohurch Missionary Society, and was accepted, March 7, 1882, and was appointed to the leadership of the little party of six who were to go to Uganda.
We pass by his journey, with all its discomforts; the filthy vessel in which he sailed from Aden to Zanzibar; the dilatory· Zanzibari, the horrors of the African well, the" water of which you might cut with a knife," and African mosquitoes, the swarm whereof might be sliced in the same fashion; the wading of streams, the fightings with fiies, the falling into pitfalls set for game, the alarms of robbers, encounters with tarantulas, swarms of mosquitos and of bees and caravans of black ants, the stings of the poison bean-pod, the storms of dust, the rack of African fever, prolonged dysentery and acute rheumatism. At Uyui, his fellow-travelers had to leave him behind, as he was too ill to go forward, and in care of Cyril Gordon, who nursed him night and day and would not let him die. How desperate his case was may be inferred from the fact that when he asked Gordon, "Can it be long before I die? " the answer was, "No, nor can you desire that it should be ;" and in one of the few walks he was able to take, he actually selected the spot for his grave. But his iron will pulled him through, and he was borne in a hammock to the lake, where again he was so ill that he confessed he was "done."
Christmas Day, 1882, was spent by the lake; and the manner of its keeping illustrates out of what unpromising materials love and faith can extract honey. Gordon was very ill, and two others only convalescing, and Hannington himself just ready to go to bed. But they kept the Holy Communion at 8 .A.M., and forgot their solitude, sickness and separation from home, in praising God. Then came Christmas dinner. Hannington killed the kid, and as he tried his hand at the "plum-pudding," drawbacks there were, in shape of fiour both musty and f1m of beetles and their larvffi, sour raisins and burnt dough, but.
they ate with mirth and gratitude. He amused the natives and himself by showing them his watch, which they declared had a man in it, that said, "Teek, teek," and was lubari-witchcraft; or he would dress and undress a doll which a friend had sent him, to show the women the mysteries of English attire.
When he reached Msalala it became plain that he must return to Eubaga and to England. He felt himself to be a complete wreck. On his way to Uyui, borne in a hammock, he was at death's door, and, humanly speaking, owed his life to the assiduous attention of Mr. J. Blackburn, one of his party. Yet he was no sooner on the deck of the homeward-bound steamer than h«;l was studying how he could return and plant Christ's Cross in the heart of the Dark Continent. June 10, 1883, he landed in England, and was received as one from the dead. He spoke constantly in behalf of the Church Missionary Society, but the verdict of the doctors was, "Africa, never-anywhere but Africa and Ceylon." But still he was hoping and praying to go back. The Church Missiouary Society determined to organize the churches of Eastern Equatorial Africa under 11 bishop; and it was plain that he combined just the traits needed for such a trust. And when Sir Joseph Fayrer, the climatologist, gave his opinion that he might safely go back, the position was thrust upon his acceptance, and he was consecrated June 24, 1884, and he sailed November 5, leaving his wife an(t baby to follow. He tarried in Palestine O]lt the way, and reached Mombasa January 24, 1885.
He determined himself to go to the front. The bishopric meant for him no easy berth or sinecure; and the journal of his second journey reads like a romance of heroism. We see "the image of a weary, overdone man, who had given up his hammock to his sick friend, stumbling through the sodden grass of the muddy plain, yet refusing to own himself beaten, and doggedly plodding forward, ever forward."
The Bishop desired to push through to the north end of,Nyanza. The way was shorter, healthier, better, and he had then no s'Uspicion that the Baganda would oppose approach from the northeast. This ignorance led to the fatal mistake. The people of Uganda regard all visitors from the northeast with suspicion and apprehension. The tribes of Central Africa lived in fear of a European invasion. The chiefs were busy urging the young King Mwanga to repel any attempt of white men to enter his realm by the" back door" of Kavirondo. The report of German annexations and encroachments had penetrated to the interior and created a panic.
King Mtesa, who had invited missionaries to his dominions, was fickle. Arab traffickers in the souls and bodies of men had poisoned his mind against Englishmen:, and persuaded hIm to profess the faith of Islam, and now they sought to render him averse to Christian teaching; while the French Roman Catholic priests tried to persuade him that Protestants would only delude and mislead him. The perplexed Mtesa would exclaim: "Whom am I to believe? The Arabs say there is one God; the English tell me of two; and now I am told there are three" (God, Christ, the Virgin). Christianity had been rapidly gaining ground in Uganda. Mtesa, who, for an African potentate, was unusually magnanimous, inclined to a liberal policy. The missionaries asked no favor, but were glad of an open door, and improved the opportunity. They set up their printing presses and distributed the New Testament books and other religious matter in Laganda. It became the fashion to learn to read. At the end of 1884 a native church of 88 members existed, of which Mtesa's own daughter was one. But after !Hesa's death, Mwanga, elated by his promotion, feeble, vacillating, vindictive, suspicious, presented a ready tool for designing enemies of Christianity; and when Mr. Mackay sailed to Msalala, at the south extremity of the lake, to meet three companions, and returned alone, there were not wanting those who persuaded Mwanga that his mission was a pretense under cover of which he had communicated with enemies of theking. Just then a rumor of the approach of white men, at the northeast of the lake, in Usoga, added fuel to the flame of suspicion. The chiefs ot- Uganda were ablaze with alarm. Toward the south the lake itself was a barrier ; the west they had not come to regard as a perilous quarter; but the northeast seemed to them a highway of danger. While Bishop Hannington was approaching Mwanga's country, the route he had chosen was daily involving greater risk, and he knew it not. With his letter to his wife, dated Kikumbuliu, August 11, 1885, all his correspondence ceases; and its last words are, "And now, just leave me in the hands of the Lord, and let our watchword be, 'We will trust and not be afraid.' " His friends heard of him no more until that fatal telegram, received from Zanzibar New Year's Day, 1886. Let us linger a moment over these last days.
It was Sunday, November 8, 1885, twenty-eight days after the Bishop left Kwa Sundu for the lake, when Bedue, one of the men, came to Mr. Jones, sighing and breathing hard, reporting that two men had come with the report that the Bishop and party were killed. On further investigation, it was said that October 31 was the fatal day, though it now seems to have been two days earlier.
Bishop Hannington, all unconsciously, had marched into the very jaws of death. When the friends at the mission in Uganda learned of his approach, they did all they could to rid the king's mind of suspicion; but in vain. He and his council of chiefs considered that the Bishop was only the head of a conspiracy to take possession of the land, and must not be allowed to enter. Indeed, it was seriously proposed not only to kill the Bishop, but to stamp out the whole mission, killing all the white men in Uganda. The suspense was terrible. A fatal pitfall was before him, and friends could give no signal. On October 25, one of the court pages reported that a tall Englishman was in Usoga, who had lost a thumb. The king's council decided on his death, but represented to the missionaries that he was only to be escorted: out of the country.
Hannington came within sight of the Victoria Nile, at the head of the lake, when he found himself confronted by more than 1,000 insolent soldiers, and was subjected to robbery and insult; While dragged by his legs over the ground by the ruffians, he said, "Lord, I put myself in thy hands. I look alone to Thee." Believing he was about to be murdered, he sang "Safe in the Arms of Jesus." Hours of awful suspense followed. His panic-stricken men were all held as prisoners. Thrust into a hut, which was horribly filthy with ordure and vermin, he was guarded by twenty men, though so exhausted as scarcely to be able to hold up a small Bible. Yet, even when tears were wrung out from him by sheer exhaustion, he still praised His holy name whose servant he was. Expecting to be murdered, he simply turned over, shut out the murderers' yells and cries, and said, "I shall not make the slightest resistance; let the Lord do as He sees fit."
He was. allowed by the chief whose prisoner he was to send a hasty ."!crawl to Mackay, saying that he was a prisoner and begging him to <come; and at times the closeness of his confinement was relaxed; but he disdained to escape, leaving himself in the Lord's hands. The last -entry in his diary is dated October 29. The ink is faint which records the development of his fever and his prayer for a merciful release. No one will ever know in what utter exhaustion he laid down his pen for the last time. When the guards led him out to his death the ink may still have been wet. But we have this comfort-that however he was torn with pain and racked with fever, his sublime trust in God knew no change.
He hoped the messengers sent to Uganda might return with orders for his release. And when he was led out to an open space outside the village and saw his men once more around him, he doubtless thought the danger was past. But with a hellish yell the warriors fElll upon the caravan-men and speared them. The ground was covered with dying and dead. It was plain that his hour had come. His murderers closed round him. Then the man, the hero, the Ohristian martyr shone brighter than ever. Lifting himself to his full height, he calmly surveyed their poised spears, and spoke words which will not soon be forgotten: "Tell the king, Mwanga, that I die for the Baganda, and purchnse the road to Baganda with my life." Then he pointed to his own gun, which one of them fired at his breast, and there were one more widow and three orphaned children left on earth, and one more martyr added to the roll of the Martyrs. Dying at thirtyeight, he has "completed the circle of that great ring of Ohristian nations, of which the signet stone is the Victoria Nyanza; and, in joining the two ends, has welded them together with his death." As his biographer well says: "What if his busy hands and feet, torn from his body, rattle in the wind above the gateway of some savage town? What if the bleaching skull wherein once his active brain wrought for the good of all, now hangs like a beacon from the leafless arm of some withered tree? He would have been the first to tell us that no such things could affect his life, for that was hid with.Ohrist in God. His last words to friends in England were : " , If this is the last chapter in my earthly history, Then the next will be the first page of the heavenly; No blots, and smudges, no incoherence, But sweet converse in the presence of the Lamb.'
"OBDOmnVIT IN OHRISTO."
Let us now glance at the conspicuous traits of his character. A very important element in Hannington was his humor. It permeated and pervaded his whole being. Oarlyle, in "Sartor Resartus," makes laughter the cipher key to unlock the whole man, and thinks few are able to laugh what deserves to be called laughing. .. The Bishop could laugh, from the roots of his hair to his boots; could laugh till he shook and cried, and till he compelled you to laugh and shake and cry, out of mere contagious sympathy. His laugh turned him inside out, and was a revelation of a certain heartiness in his humor, an unreserve in his genial, congenial nature that was a pledge of his frankness and fidelity.
His humor was his actual salvation in more than one experience. In the midst of the intensest suffering it never forsook him. Like Thackeray, he embellished his journal with his own original drawings, and original they are. They remind us of McLeod's biography, with its graphic and wonderful pen sketches, where a stroke means a whole paragraph. In the encounter with a lion, he forgot the danger, as he saw his excited companions rally to his defense, one armed with a revolver, the other with an umbrella! His humor had a heroic element in it which enabled him to say of all the multiplied tortures of his journey, they were H trifling drawbacks." Nothing could be more delightfully serio-comic than his own description of his 'hammock' experiences, written for his children, and illustrated with his own pencil. That must have been a remarkable susceptibility to the ludicrous which made soaked clothes by day and wet sheets by night powerless to "damp" his spirits; which made him laugh outright, notwithstanding his weakness and illness, when a hippopotamus almost stumbled over his cot as he lay half-shielded by his umbrella, and, "bellowing out his surprise," started at double quick for the lake; nay, which, when he thought he was about to be murdered, made him laugh aloud at the very agony of his situation-his clothes torn to pieces, and wet through, and his body half naked, and every limb strained, while he was alternately dragged and pushed and jostled along five miles an hour. Such an abundant humor commonly has as its companion a mischievous temperament, for they are close of kin. He w:.,s full of boyish pranks to the very last, and whenever he felt well would break out at times with irrepressible animal spirits.
He had wit as well as humor. His" skimmery album" was a series of caricatures in which, from the Principal at St. Mary's Hall down, few escaped being pilloried in a humorous depiction. But no malice was mingled with his mirth. If he teased he was willing to be teased. Sometimes his wit was merciless. When, at Oxford, he found among the undergraduates a set of clerical posturists who with a dilettante air observed all the niceties of ritual observances, who dressed themselves in their own rooms in short, lace-trimmed surplices, and got photographed with crozier and censer-when in the bedroom of one of them was found an old trunk rigged up as an altar, draped with an antima- , cassar, with a row of tiny candlesticks, a vase of flowers and a plaster crucifix, he reveled in the opportunity to lampoon such follies. He was an active man, never a loungeI'. He did not hang like a rusty trumpet against the walls of society, waiting for some one to come and blow a blast; he had always something to do. Immense will.po",er lay back of his activity, and, like most men of great energy, he was nat;.. urally headstrong and passionate, having a marked individuality. When seriously angry, he was formidable, not a man to be trifled with; but in his later years he never became angry'unless his indignation flamed at the wrongs done to others. He was passionately fond of travel, and once had made up his mind to go to sea, when the determined opposition of his parents prevented. He had a natural aptitude for scienc'e, especially natural science, which he inherited from his mother. From infancy he watched the birds, studied the insects and plants, and curi- {)usly examined" specimens." During his short halt at Mpwapwa, he scoured the conntry to collect specimens of its flora and fauna, with which he afterward enriched the British Museum. His enthusiasm was boundless. He could endure in his ragingthirst to find only a dry bed of a pool, if he discovered a new shell; he shouted for joy over a vestige of moss or a new butterfly. When nearly dead of dysentery he would sit up in bed, to paint flowers, brought in from Mr. Gordon's rambles. In the midst of a lion hunt he stopped to pluck an unknown flower, press it and take note of its classification.
Hannington's character was based on a courage that verged on rashness and a faith that quite crossed the limits into abandonment. As to'courage, it. was both of the physical and moral sort. He seems to have been absolutely a stranger to fear. At Martinhoe he took delight in perilous scrambleSlfrom ledge to ledge of precipitous cliffs that shot down to the sea in sheer walls hundreds of feet high, exploring their stalactic caverns fringed with fronds of fern. In one of these ex- ·cursions he was caught by the tide in a cave whose only mouth was below water mark, and got out of the "straits" only by leaving his -clothes behind and pushing his naked body through the narrow passage. The perilous had for him a fascination. He had a natural calenture in his temperament; the sea was only a green field, and the Alpine peak only a hill to his daring soul.
That his courage bordered on recklessness, and sometimes overstepped that border: cannot be doubted. He met a rhinoceros and fired. Ten yards off there rushed from the jungle a bull and another cow rhinoceros, bellowing and charging fiercely down upon him. He simply stood, and eyed them defiantly till they turned round and disappeared. But what shall be said of that lion story, that some have declared a lying story? On Dec. 16, 1882, he shot a large lion's cuh. There was a double roar, and the bereaved lion and lioness bounded toward him. Again he faced his enraged enemies, and, keeping his eyes upon them slowly retreated backwards, till he put a safe distance between him and them. But he actually ventured back to secure the skin of that cub! The lions were tenderly licking. its body and growling their revenge. This man, a stranger to fear, coolly ran forward, threw up both arms, and shouted! The astonished beasts turned tail and ran, while heshouldered the cub and bore it back to camp! When blocked by a mobof armed men, on the march to Mboni, he walked on regardless of their ferocious ydls, and coolly passed through the human fence, smiling at their menacing gestures. Sometimes his courage was manifestly born of a determination to win confidence, as when he ran to the front amid foes and waved grass in token of pacific intention, exposing himself to, shots from behind. How often it was born of prayer, only God knows; but in the severeRt exposures of his second journey toward the lake, when time after time he seemed to escape death as by a hair's-breadth, at the hands of the savage Masai, he writes: "I strove in prayer, and each time trouble seemed averted."
He thought himself lacking in moral courage, out no one else thought so. Mr. Dawson defines moral courage as a certain" fearlessness in exposing the inner self to possible laceration and rebuff," akin to the physical courage which without fear exposes the budy to rude Msaults, and finely suggests that if he is to be accounted brave who is insensible to fear, he is no less so, rather more so, who, though he vibrates through all his nervous system and shrinks from exposure to pain and violence, yet schools himself to encounter them without flinching, like the general who, on the eve of a hot engagement, said to his trembling knees, "Ah ! you would quake worse if you only knew where I am going just now to take you! "
Carlyle says that sincerity enters prominently into any heroic type of character. Hannington was sensitively conscientious and trustworthy. He hated a lie-and his hatred was inborn and inbred. His piety was as ~ar from a pretense as genuineness is from hypocrisy. His faith in the unseen was implicit and unhesitating. Prayer was the breath of life to him, almost an unconscious exercise of his vitality. His transparency drew everybody to him, and especially young men, who were strangely attracted to him, even in danger. He was a fearless, faithful preacher, who called things by their right names. And he was equally fearless and faithful as a pastor, never refusing any risk to serve his flock, even in times of contagious disease. He was no hireling-and could not forsake the sheep, even though the lion and bear threatened them.
The Bishop was one of the most generous of men. After his return to England, his friends noticed that he was excessively careful of expenditure, weighing the cost of everything. Was he growing parsimonious? Only after his death was it explained. He was giving onefifth of his limited income to one society alone, irrespective of other charities. Unselfish, open-handed even to lavishness, he left the impress of his self-giving upon all who knew him. Consecration to Christ, like a master musician, "pulled out all the stops" and played on all the keys of his being, and his life became one grand anthem.
THE CRISIS IN OUR COUNTRY. Ill'
Mr. Dawson, his biographer, well likens Hannington to Xavier, for single-mindedness, fiery zeal, scorn of personal discomforts, indifference to luxury,· contempt of, danger, childlike faith in truth, and magnetic power of contact and communication. But he could never have been a monk, for he could not have been shut out from the sin and sorrow and suffering of the world.
"Non vivere, sed bene vivere."
THE ORISIS IN OUR OOUNTRY.
[EDITORIAL.-A. T. P.] THIS our country is a colossal heritage, and our peril is gigantic a~ well as our possibilities. Weare reminded of the rim of the wheel in Ezekiel's vision, resting on earth, reaching to heaven, so high as to be dreadful. Here is an area that will take in Oonneticut as a unit from six hundred to eight hundred times. We have ten thousand miles of coast-line. The utmost western limit of Alaska stretches farther west from San Francisco than San Francisco from the Penobscot. No wonder the Englishman defined our boundaries as "the North Pole and the Equator, the rising sun and the Day of Judgment !" Our heritage is colossal; but what foes are in the land? The sons of Anak, with their chariots of iron; the ten nations of the Oanaanites, with their foreign faiths and vicious practices; the daughters of Moab, with their seductive wiles; the golden calves all the way from Bethel to Dan and from the rivers to the sea; the pagan deities, with their pagodas and fanes – Baal and Astaroth, Milcolm and Molech. Whatever threatens the stability and permanency of other peoples seems to confront us on American shores-Romanism, Ritualism, Rationalism; Socialil>m, Oommunism, Nihilism; scepticism and infidelity, intemperance and sensuality; ignorance and superstition; materialism and anarchy; while these five great questions demand adjustment-the Indian, Mormon, Ohinese, Freedmen and Southern questions. God has given us the Belt of Power within which all the greatest achievements of history have been wrought, from the days of Assyria and Babylon, Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome, down to the days of France, England, Prussia. Our very position on the map is a prophecy of prosperity and corresponding responsibility. Our very prosperity constitutes our peril. There have been seven golden ages of history: those of the Ptolemies in Egypt, of Pericles in Athens, Augustus in Rome, Ivan iIt Russia, Leo X in Italy, Louis XIV in France, Elizabeth in England. Yet those golden ages were marked by political corruption, moral profligacy and religious decay. Under the Ptolemies Egyptian society was divided into priests, military and common people. The priests held a monopoly of knowledge, even in art and science, and used their knowledge to impose on the credulity of the people, and with the king at their head used the military class to uphold their tyrannical priestcraft. Egypt was so grossly idolatrous that her divinities were countless and ranged from the beetle to the sun.
In the days of Pericles, wisdom and art were atheistic in tendency. With all her philosophers and artists, Athens had over 50,000 women who made it a part of their religion to sacrifice sobriety and virtue in the worship of Bacchus and Venus. In the days of Augustus, Rome had no middle class-single families controlled 50,000 slaves; no philanthropy-the old and the infirm were turned out to die even by their own childrpn; no religious faith-the Pantheon was ready to receive any new divinity or even human hero. In I van's days in Russia the government was a despotism, and the people were virtually serfs. Ignorance and superstition abounded. Might was the only right, and every command of the Decalogue was broken with impunity. Law was only a cobweb in which the little flies got hopelessly entangled, but all the big flies broke through. In Leo X's time Italy had a hierarchy built on the ruins of primitive faith. Rites and ceremonies engrafted upon the church from paganism displaced all spiritual worship, and religion was a skeleton leaf, from which all the sap of life had been withdrawn. Formalism and hypocrisy were christened under the name of faith and worship. In France the Grand Monarch made his court the Olympus of gayety, extravagance and sensuality. Vice had not even the charm of a blush. Wealth was lavished on luxury and crime, and the seeds of the Revolution were sown, that ripened in the guillotine and the Tribunal. In England Deism was regnant. You might have heard every preacher of note in London, and not have known whether he were a follower of Oonfucius or Buddha, Mahomet or Ohrist. Marriage was but a name, and religion a cloak for infidelity and immorality.
Our rapid £ncrease in population is our peril. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants land on our shores every year. They come representing every nation and tongue and shade of political and religious faith and opinion.. They come so fast and multiply so rapidly that we do not assimilate them to our social and national character. We !:,.re to-day not a homogeneous but a heterogeneous people–composed of ever:r thing, compacted into nothing. These people largely gravitate toward our great cities, one-fourth of whose population, and sometimes threefourths, are foreign born. And so Thomas Jefferson's proverb is truethat the cities are the ulcers of the body politic.
The fables of the Ancients sometimes seem to be prophetic of modern history. Jason with his Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece is Oommerce with her white wings sweeping over the wide seas in search of gain. Augeas is Immigration gathering her hordes into overcrowded tenements, like cattle herded in stalls. The only stream that can flood and purge these Augean stables is the river of the Gospel, and the only Hercules that can break down the wall of the court and turn the flood upon the homes and haunts of all this poverty and misery is Conse- <lrated Capital.
Our rapid development is our peril. Few of us realize the amazing growth of new cities in our great West. In 1878 I went to a new settlement in Wisconsin. Eighteeu months before an iron mine had been discovered and the first tree felled for a human habitation. There was then a population of twelve hundred men, and twenty grogshops, with gambling saloons and other accompaniments, and one church just organized! The advancing wave of civilization sweeps westward thirty miles a year, and the centre of gravity swings westward so fast that, while it was east of the Alleghanies before the Revolution, it now hovers near the Mississippi !
These new villages are becoming strategw centres of population and influence. The gathering of these hordes makes necessary the railroad for travel and traffic; then cross-roads are built, until new settlements become railroad centres. There the opposing forces of Christ and the Devil meet and clash in conflict. There we ought to put our strongest men, competent to organize the forces of Christ and the Church an.! lead them on to victory and turn the tide of battle. What are we doing? Weare so crippling our Board of Home Missions that they cannot man tnese strategic centres as they ought. The home missionary gets but a pittance from the Board, and the local church cannot sustain him. He retires to other fields where he can command a support, and the consequence is that some of the most important posts in the Grand Army of Christ's Church are left ungarrisoned or with a weak, insufficient, inefficient force.
Nehemiah was the model organizer. He acted on three great principles: division of labor, co-operation and concentration. When the trumpet sounded it was the signal that at some weak point in the wall the enemy had made an assault. One weak place in the waU exposedthe whole city. And so, when the trumpet sounded, every workman left his own place and rushed to the assaulted point. I think I hear the signal of distress from the weak points in the wall.
God has a plan in the ages-and in every age a special providential purpose. Prince Albert used to say to the young men of his day, "Find out God's plan in your generation-and then beware lest you cross it, but fall into your place in that plan." We may, toward that plan, hold ourselves in one of three attitudes-either apathy, antipathy, or sympathy. We may yoke ourselves to God's chariot, and while we seek to bear it on be borne on with it; or we may cross its path and be crushed beneath its wheels, or we may simply lag behind in listlessness and indifference and be left behind in its onward progress. But we must quickly decide. While we deliberate the crisis is upon us and the opportunity is gone!
Can you doubt that God has a plan in our history? Why, then, did he keep this continent veiled, until the Reformation in Philosophy and Religion had prepared the church for the occupation of this land? Why did He by a flight of paroquets divert Columbus to the West Indies, and so preserve this land from papal domination? How came it that, in the early struggles for supremacy, He turned the scale in favor of cross and not crucifix; and in our late four years' war gave the triumph to the Union armies, having first rid the land of slavery? God has evidently designed that here republican institutions and Protestant Christianity shall have a great theatre for the prosecution of the work of world-wide evangelization. Weare made a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. Weare on .the corridors of a vast coliseum. On the east side, toward the sunrise, Norway and Sweden, Denmark and Prussia and Russia and Austria and Germany and France and Italy and Spain and Portugal and Great Britain are looking down upon us; on the west, China and Japan, Siam and Burmah, India and Persia, and the Islands of the Sea intently watch our history. .Our only hope is a pure, aggressive, misbionary Christianity. We must put the gospel in every destitute district; we must keep pace with population; our missionary force must be multiplied tenfold, and our missionary cQntributions in proportion.
We must look after the common people. Some say there is always room at the top; but that is just where there is no room. Society is a pyramid; there is but one capstone, but the stones of the foundation are myriad. There is plenty of room at the bottom; and there all missionary work must begin. The base of the pyramid must be strong enough, broad enough, firm enough, to sustain all that is above it; a defect there is a radical, fundamental defect, imperiling the whole. In other words, the condition of the common people is the condition of the commonwealth. It is a fact fraught with tremendous meaning that the churches and the common people are growing apart, the gap between them becoming a gulf which we seem helpless to bridge. We find chl;rches, situated amid the densest masses of our popUlation, that used to be places of assembly thronged with the people, that are now mere stately mausoleums, where defunct church organizations may have a decent burial, and the preacher seems preaching in an empty vault a funeral sermon to a few mourners. Shaftesbury said at the anniversaryof the Open-Air Mission in Islington that only two per cent. of the working classes in England attend public worship.
We must, as a matter of self-preservation, carry our Christian effort down to the least and the lowest. The health and wealth of the highest are bound up with the lowest. Robert Peel gave his daughter a superb riding habit on her eighteenth birthday, and proudly rode by her side in the park as she wore it. She came home, sickened with malignant typhus, and after a few days died. The poor seamstress who wrought the rich embroidery of that garment lived in a wretched attic, amid the London slu.ms. Her husband was dying of the worst form of typhus, and during the intervals of fever, when he shook with the chills, she threw over him the riding habit she was working, and so the germs of disease were borne from the hovel of the poor to the palace of the peer.
Ah! society has her own way of avenging herself, and avenging the wrongs of her poorest and lowliest ones. You might as well neglect the cesspool and the sewer, the stagnant pond and the slimy lllarsh and expect to escape miasma and malaria, as to expect to have a safe and healthy society when the slums of vice are not purged with the gospel. You are compelled to flush your sewer, drain your cesspool, displace stagnant by running water, or disease and death creep stealthily into your most princely homes.
We must have a new type of Christian effort if we are going to save society from ruin. We must have men and women that are not to be turned back by the" poor smell," like the heroine in "The Iron Cousin," or Dr. Duff's foreign missionary candidate; who are willing to leave behind them their dainty fastidiousness, and go among the poorest and most degraded as identified with them. Our Christianity is too aristocratic and fashionable. Silks and satins, beaver and broadcloth, repel poverty and misery. A kid glove is a non-conductor.
Shaftesbury was the philanthropist of his generation. No man of his age had such skill in reaching, touching, moving, moulding, even the worst and most hopeless criminals. One man recently dischar~ed from prison went to him for counsel, and years afterward, redeemed to God and humanity, he was asked where his reformation began. "With my talk with our Earl." " But what did the Earl say?" " It was not so much anything he said, but he put his arm around me and he said, 'Jack, we'll make a man of you Yilt. t" It was his tonch that did it.
Ah ! yes; the Man, of Sorrows understood it. The first miracle in that " Scriptura Miraculosa," the eighth of Matthew, was the healing of the leper. That walking parable of sin and its curse, that living corpse, was before him-whom nobody dared touch. But Jesus put forth his hand and tonched him, that he might teach us that he who would reach the lepers of society must touch them with the naked sympathetic hand. The gospel of the hand as well as tongue and life. * We shall meet opposition, and the more as we advance the faster and farther. If the Devil sees he has but a short time, he will come down having great wrath. We shall find the drink traffic and the Sabbath-breakers allied against us; personal liberty bills proposed and perhaps passed in legislative bodies; anarchists and socialists, skeptics and infidels using vile books, and even dynamite cartridges, to prevent social purity and good government; but all these are but birds of the night that beat their beaks against the lighthouse in the harbor, raised *Dr. F. A. Noble.
A NOBLE TESTIMONY TO AMERICAN
to guide mariners to a safe haven, and that fall stunned and dying at the base. Weare in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom we are to shine as lights in the world, holding forth the Word of Life. He who uplifts God's Beacon has nothing to fear. The church is on the Rock of Ages, and survives the shock of all assault, moveless and ·serene.
"0 ! where are kings and empires now, Of old that went and came?
But, Lord, thy church is praying yet, A thousand years the same."
A NOBLE TESTIMONY TO AMERICAN MISSIONARIES. LETTER FROM THE AMERICAN MINISTER TO CHINA.
[The following remarkable letter was addressed to Gen. Jas. M. Shackleford as a private communication, but the writer has yielded to th·, desire of many to have its testimony made public.-Ens.] Legation of Unitea States, Peking, March 20, 1886. Letter to Gen. Shackleford,Evansville, Indiana: DEAR GENERAL-I wrote you some time since about the missionaries. Since then I have gone through some of the missions here, and will go through all. Believe nobody when he sneers at them. The man is simply not posted on the work. With your enthusiastic religious nature, YOl'o can realize the view that the believing Christian takes of the divine side of the question. I, unfortunately more worldly, look at it as the ancient Roman wonld have done, who said, "I am a man, and nothing that is human i~ indifferent to me."
I saw a quiet, cheerfnl woman teaching forty or more Chinese girls; she teaches in Chinese the ordinary branches of common school education. Beneath the shadow of the" forbidden city" I heard these girls sing the Psalm~ of David and "Home, Sweet Home." I saw a male teacher teaching forty or more boys the translation of the arithmetic used at home; these boys did examples for me at the blackboard. I saw their littk ChinElSe dormitories, where they slept on kangs; their plain bu';; neat refectory; their kitchen, with its great piles of rice. I saw their chapel; I visited the dispensaries, complete and perfect as any apothecary. shop at home; then the consultation rooms, their wards for patients, coming, without money or price, to be treated by the finest medical and surgical talent in the world. There are twentythree of these hospitals in China. Think of it! Is there a more perfect charity in the world? The details of all the system were explained to me. There are two of these medical missionaries here who receive no pay whatever. The practice of the law is magnificent; but who can rival the devotedness of these men to humanity?
I have seen missionaries go hence a hundred miles, into districts where there is not a white person of any nationality, and they do it as coolly ad you went into battle at Shiloh. And these men have remark~ able learning, intelligence and courage. It is perhaps a fault that they court nobody, make no effort to attract attention, fight no selfish battle. I made the advances that have secured their warm and cordial per.. sonal affection. My person;tl magnetism, if I have any, came into play. I gave them a "Thanksgiving" dinner; I had the Missionary Society meet at the Legation, and gave them, as is usual, tea. I invited them. to visit me and to discuss questions of interest to Americans, pa,rticularly, lately, the threatened reprisals at Canton, which called forth some energetic action on the part of this Legation and Admiral Davis. It is idle jor any man to decry the missionaries or their 1vork. I care not abont statistics as to how many souls they save, and what each soul costs per annum. The Catholics alone have 1,200,000 Chinese church members. How many Protestant denomination~ have I do not know.
I taught school, myself, for more than two years in Alabama. The men or the women who put in from 8 o'clock to 4 in teaching Chinese children, on a salary that barely enables one to live, are heroes, or heroines, as truly as Grant or Sheridan, Nelson or Farragut; and all this in a country where a handful of Americans is surrounded by ,300,000,000 Asiatics, liable at any moment to break out into mobs and outrages, particularly in view of the tremendous crimes committed against their race at home.
I am not particularly pro-missionary; these men and women are simply American citizens to me as Minister. But as a man I cannot but admire and respect them. I can tell the real from the false. T,hese men and women are honest, pious, sincere, industrious, and trained for their work by the most arduous study. Outside of any religious question, and even if Confucianism, or Buddhism, are more divine than Christianity, and better for the human race-which no American believes-these people are doing a great work in civilizing, educating, and taking care of helpless thousands. They are the forerunners of -Western methods and Western morality. They are preparing the way for white-winged commerce and material progress, which are knock~ ing so loudly at the gate of the Chinese wall.
At our missionary meetings at home you may quote these sentiments as coming from me. I fancy that I hear your burning eloquence, arguing much better than I have done, a cause which, outside the re,Iigious denominations, has no advocates. I do not address myself to the churches; but, as a man of the world, talking to sinners like himself, I say that it is difficult to say too much good of missionary work in China, from even the standpoint of the skeptic. Should your people send me any sum whatever, and however small, to be given to any denomination, I will faithfully see that it is transmitted.
Yours, very truly, (COL.) CHARLES DENBY.
The same writer, in a letter to Dr. Ellinwood, Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, say~: "l have made it my business to visit every mission in the open portR
ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK
of China. This inspection has satisfied me that the missiona.ries deserve all possible respect, encouragement, and consideration. I find no fault with them except excessive zeal. Civilization owes them a vast debt. They have been the educators, physicians, and almoners of the Chinese. All over China they have schools, colleges, and hospitals. They are the early and only translators, interpreters, and writers of Chinese. To them we owe our dictionaries, histories, and translations of Chinese works. They have scattered the Bible broadcast, and have prepared many school-books in Chinese. Commerce and civilization follow where these unselfish pioneers have blazed the way. Leaving all religious questions out of consideration, humanity must honor a class which, for no pay, or very inadequate pay, devotes itself to charity and philanthropy. "
II. ORq.ANIZED MISSIONARY WORK.
Missionary Society of the Methodist There was a balance in the Treasnry Nov. 1, 1887, of $161,010.20. Against this there were Episcopal Ohurch. outstanding drafts for $60,263.59, leaving a net SIXTY-NINTH ANNUAL REPORT. balance in the Treasnry Nov. 1, 1887, of $80,- THIS societv was organized in 1819, '700.61. and for thirteen years its missions The disbursements for foreign missions were were confined to the United States. The first mission work beyond the as follows: English-speaking people was to the Bulgaria …………………….. $1'7,454 21 Wyandotte Indians. It now has Central China………………… 37,08153 flourishing missions in almost every Denmark ………………….. 43,81950 part of the globe. From the pro- Foochow ……………………. 17,61438 ceedings of the last annual meeting, Germany……………………. 23,328 7ll and the doings of the quadrennium " Am. Bible Soc. Ap. . . • . . 5,000 00 General Missionary Committee, we Italy………………………… 54,088 67 are able to present to our readers the Japan ……………………….. 55,472 88 following highly interesting sum- Korea. . . . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . . .. .. …. 16,012 96 mary of facts and figm'es relating to Liberia… ……… …………… 2,87330 this venei'able and wide-awake mis- Mexico.. .. . .. .. …. …………. 52,601 '74 sionary society: North China …………………. 35,134 51 North India …………………. 72,542 41 The Treasurer's report showed that the re- Norway …………………….. 15,786 62 ceipts for the year ending Oct. 31, 1887, were South America ………………. 42,11978 $1,044,795.91, from the f~llowing sources: South India.. . . .. .. .. .. .. . .. . .. … 82,835 14 Sweden ……………………… 36,148 33 Frlm collections ……………. $932,208 91 Am. Bible Soc. Ap……. 225 00 From legacies………………. 35,848 78 Switzerland.. .. .. .. .. . …. . .. . .. .. 6,005 08 From suudries……………… 76,743 22 West China ………………….. 13,769 91 'rhe increase over the previous year iu collectious had beeu $95,616.54, aud in the total re- TotaL …………. · ……. $576,914 74 ceipts $52,667.44. The balance in the Treasury Nov. 1, 1886, was The collections from the Conferences have $124,444.48, and the receipts of the year added to this gave $1,169,240,39. increased each year during the previous eight The disbursements as fonows: For Foreign Missions…•..•….$576,91474 years. For Domestic Missious. . . .. . . . . .. 376,864 88 For office expenses ……..•….. 2O,2iO 35 1880, Collections ………•…… $500,182 46 For publication….. .. .. . .. . … . . 9,97245 For incidental expenses ., . . . . •• . 24,2,,7 77 1881, " . . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 570,965 77 Total…… , ………. , ,.$1,008,230 19 1882, . .. .. .. .. •.. .. .. 621,381 08 1883, …. ………… 650,771 54 1884, .. .. .. .. …. .. .. 652,188 99 1885, .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. . 694,034 95 1886, … .. . .. .. .. …. 836,592 37 1887, ………… " .. 932,208 91 We give the address of the General Missionary Committee to the min- isters and members of the M. E. Church, which presents other facts, ought not in justice to forget that a large ftoac- tion of our numerical strength at home as well and urges considerations of interest as abroad Is made up of the subjectaof mission: to all. ary benefactions.
The General Missionary Committee expresses In the Christian sense, aU our work is Home gratitnde and greeting at the ~lose of another work, and all our missions are Foreign Misyear and of another quadrenninm, the most no- sions. The Redeemer said: "The field is the' table in the history of onr Church in Missiorary world," and that repentance and remission of effort and in Missionary giving-gratitude to sins should be preached in his name among all God and gratitnde to His people; greeting at nations, beginning at J ernsalem. The plan of the dawn of a better day and the opening of redemption makes the nations neighbors, and broader possibilities. th~ human race a family under one Fatherhood. He " hath made of one blood all nations of men We present to you the following brief state- for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and' ment oCfinaneial faets : Your Committee appro- hath determined the times before appointed, priated last year, with their faith in God and in the bounds of their habitation. That they your abitity and pnrposes as the foundation for shall seek the Lord, if haply they might feel their aetion, the sum of $1,089,000. You placed after him, and find him." " For we are also his in the treasury $1,044,795. Your MisSionary offspriug." "Made of one blood," the nations treasury is now not only free from debt, but has have" redemption through his blood, the forin hand $80,000, with whleh to commence the giveness of sins, according to the richness of his work of a new year. grace." The net inerease of reeeipts over last The sum appropriated for the current year, year ..·………………………. . $52,667 after the most carefnl and conservative exami- Gross increase of receipts over last nation, reaches $1,201,819. This sum may seem a large advance, but on the basis of last year's year………………………… . 150,781 increase large thiugs ought to be expected. In Increase by collections over last year, 95,616 addition to the increase in giving, the increase Total reeepts for quadrennium, 1880- in numbers and in ability of our membership, and the undoubted increase in the iutelligent un- 1883………………………. .. 2,626,170 derstanding of the claims of Christ npon our Total reeeipts for quadrennium, 1884- Church, and the glad news from the different fields telling of conqnest and of opening oppor- 1887………………………… . 3,595,878 tnnityand of conseqnent demand for increased Excess received during present quad· resources-all of these things but emphaSize the assurance, the commiSSion, and the demand rennium………. ……………. 1,968,708 from the Great Head of the Church. Hear The total reported receipts for the year for Him: "All power is given nnto me in heaven Missions from the Methodist Episcopal Church and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all through organized forms of giving, including the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Missionary Society, the Woman's Foreign Mis- Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: sionary Society, the Woman's Home Missionary teaching them to observe all things whatsoever Society and the Bishop Taylor Transit Fund, I have commanded yon: and 10, I am with yon amount to $1,386,874. alway, even unto the endoC the world." "And This creditable aggregate sum is not the re- this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in sult of a few giving of their abundance, but of all the world for a wituess nuto all nations; and the many giving of their meagre store; and a then shall the end come." large proportion of this trea.nry increase has beeu gathered by the hands of childhood and We exhort you to remember that the advance yonth. of Christ's cause cannot depend for its human In attempting to snrvey the exteni!ed territory motive power upon the large gifts of the few, where these benefactions have been at work for but must depend upon the self-sacriAcing fidelity the good of man and for the glory of God, it of the many. Let us face the future with an inwould be difficult to ascertain, even approx. telligent courage and faith proved by Our imately, the extent of the work of onr Home works. Missions as distinct from our regnlar church work. The following figures may approximately Boards of Missions of the M. E. Ohurch, but inadequately represent the condition of onr South. work as a church iu Foreign fields: ·The number of miSSionaries, assistant THE Board held its 41st Annual missionaries, helpers and native workers exceed……………….. 1,300 Meeting in Nashville, Tenn., May 10, Members of the church. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42,000 1887. In an address to the Church Probationers……………………. 14,000 Adherents…… …………………. 40,000 the Board says: "Our missions are Snnday-schools.. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,575 full of promise. The harvest is white. Sunday-school officers and teachers. . . 4,385 As we listen to the reports from Snnday-school scholars. ………….. 2,800,000 Value of church and school property.. $85;000 China, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, the In· While we are grateful to God for our large membership, in estimating our beueficence we dian Territory, and the Far West, an reports frolll the several Oonferences advance all along the line seems the and Mission fields were full of interimperative duty of the Board. " The est.
RECAPITULATION. e, ~~gj. CONFERENCES. "Eaj ~0.,,Q" e~ ~:.: ~ .P< ~ ~—-'I~—–I——-I—– Total. .. .. …. .. .. .. .. .. $263,050 00 $159,634 77 $81,765 66 $241,400 43 $296,783 13 22' Specials …………………………. . 1,861 11 ………… 1,861 11 ………… . …..• Church Extension. .. .. .. … . ………. . 2,943 55 ………… 2,943 55 ………… . ….. .
Grand total…………. $263,050 00 $164,439 43 $81,765 66 $246,205 09 $296,788 13 23 Whole amount of receipts, 1886-7 …………………………….•…….. $164,439 43 Bonds and notes in assets, 1886.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . •. . . • • •. . . . . . . •. . 566 66 Cash in bank, April 1, 1886………………………………………….. 2,758 45 Cash on hand, April 1, 1886…………………………………………. 25 Loan, 1887. . . . .. . . . . . . . . •. . . . •. ••. . . . . . . . • . . • •. . . •. . . •. •. .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. .. .. 90,241 12 Expended……………………………………………………….. . $258,905 91 $179.561 92'
Bonds and notes included among receipts, and other items (see Cash Book, ~:I~!~r~~;·~;~i i1;·,·il·W····r·:·..:.:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:..:…:..:..:.::.:.:..:..:…:..:..:..:.::..:.:.:..:.::..:…:..:…::…::.:.:..:.:..:.:.: :…: 481 75· Cash on hand, April 64,409 08 11,544 16 2,009 00 The total assessments for lfissions $258,00591 $258,005 91 on the various Conferences for the next year amounted to $300,000. the 66th Annual Report, then pre- sented. During the year, 1,398 per- Bible Ohristian Missionary Sooiety. sons were added to the Lord at the Mission stations of the society, and THIS society celebrated its 66th nearly $7,300 was contributed to the· anniversary in London Aug. 1, 1887. funds of the Missionary Society. We give a summary of statistics from The following table will show the status of the Missions: TOTALS.
e~ ~ ~ caa~~i ~Qtt)l ~ ~~~rn A~rn'.~~_~~ I-0~.'~l".-'.iS:~"_8".;~j~("g~I!)o….;§:.M• emE~.b~:ie.rs.~.;'~" . ~ 8 f HOllIE AND ABROAD. =~CD ~ ….. r.l (15 ~,.. ~g~CD E-t("'I')~ ;Ell< ~cup:; -'05 <Il · –47'~ ~.~ -::-:~ :~ I n-o-m-e-M-i-SS-i-on-s-.-..-.-..-.-..-.-..-.-.-..-.-..-. 144 – 27 4191789 1241 -Mil South Australian Conference…. … 35 204 130 21 30 .. 281 315 2765 66 .. 6329 Victoria……………… ………. 36 167 94 63 23 .. 3981275 2525 79 .. 884 5147 Oueensland.. . .. . .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. . .. 1 7 6 . . . . .. . . . . 70 5 . . 24 235 New Zealand….. " …………… 3 15 3 3 1 ~ 5 19 150 9 .. 40 260 China………………………… 4 .. .. .. .. .. …. …….. ..
726 100 Totals, 1887…….. … . …. 126 377 120 2£1110311398 105131323 177309920721 1" ..I.. "I" . Increase………………. 5 "1 5 11 .. 5 90 Totals, 1886……………. ~ ~ 372 _ ~ 165 ~I' 10131~~ 20756 395 ~ 3111 ~~2 -"1-" Decrease ……………… – .. 35 – .. – .. – 45 397 -24ai72 95 '12 '71 ]lALANCE SHEET, 1886-7.
RECEIPTS. £ s. d. DISBURSEMENTS. £ s. d ..
By Home contributions……….. . 4,81915 5 To Balance, with interest……. , . . • 730 2 2 .. SouMl Australia ………….. .. 570 5 11 " Home disbursements ………… 3,886 3 5 " Victoria…………………. .. 1,949 15 5 " South Australia.. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. 570 5 11 •• New Zealand…………….. .. 43 10 9 " Victoria ……………………. 2,094 14 6 " O.ueensland………. ……….. 25 0 O' .. New Zealand.. …………….. 141 4 10' " China…… ………… ……… 555 10 3 Total disbursements……… 7,953 10 1 Total receipts.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 7,388 13 7 £7,388 7 6 £569 13 '; Board of Foreign Missions of the Ra- the General Synod at Catskill, June, 1887, we make the following abo . formed Ohurch.
FROM the 55th Annual Report to stract: GENER<L SUMMARY, 1886-7. EXPENSES. To cash disbursements during year … $24,506 92 Stations………… …. … …. 1 8 2 11 AllOY 1IIISSION. O~i~~:~i~~~ ..~~~…~~~~~~I.~~ 18 83 ** 101 To cash disbursements during year. .. 15,913 66 Missionaries, ordained•.. ,. . . .• 5 8 9 22 11 JAPAN 1IIISSION. MisSionaries, nnordained. . . . . . 6 10 21 To cash disbursements during year .. , 45,387 94 Assistant Missionaries, married 5 24 8 Hon. Secretary for salary….. $300 00 Assistant ]ll1ssionaries, single.. 2 Corresponding Sec. for salary. 2,400 00 Bookkeeper for salary.. …. . . 500 00 Under appointment, ordained Postage, home and foreign… 123 59 Missionaries . …………. … Rent of office… ….. ….. …. 640 00 2 Traveling expenses.. . . .• . . . . . • 497 32 On account of Mission Monthly 225 95 Under appointment,nnordained Incidental expenses, moving Missionaries . . .. . ……… . office, etc…………. …… 688 38 Under appointment, single as- Printing "Annual Report," etc 885 34 Books, magazines and mite sistant Missionaries……… 1 23 Native ordained Ministers….. 4 3 ** 7 boxes. .. .. .. .. ….. . .. …. .. 357 87 Other Native Helpers, male … 21 151 ** 172 Care of office.. . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. 44 00 35 ** 35 Other Native Helpers, female.. 6,600 45 Chnrches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 8 23 ** 31 " Loans due bank… $20,ooo 00 Communicants ……………802 1669 ** 2471 " Interest on loans.. 1,067 43 " Premium, exch. of Seminaries, male………….. 1 4 **1 6 bonds……………. …… 282 57 Seminaries, male pupils. . . . . .. 11 163 *21 195 – – – 21,350 00 Balance in treasury………….. 518 00 Seminaries, female. . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 2 5 $114,398 97 Seminaries, female pupils….. 34 90 112 236 RECEIPTS. By balance in treasury, last Theological Scl:ools or Classes 1 1 **1 8 report………………. ……….. $611 95 April 30, 1387. Theological Schools-Students. 7 *12 **9 28 By cash from churches …. ,$38,244 59 Day Schools. . . . . . . . . .. ……. 6 95 101 from Sunday-schools 9,785 56 Day Schools-Scholars…….. 91 2531 2622 from individuals through churches. . . . . … 17,380 62 Contrihntion. of Native Churches-China, By cash from individuals $2.076.29; India, $760.75. not through churches. . . 8,862 40 By cash from miscellaneous *The whole number of helpers in India are sources …….. , .. .. . …. 16,493 85 By cash from legacies…… 1,020 00 under theological instruction. 86,78702 ** The number of ordained ministers and Borrowed from bank during other helpers in Japan, of churches and com- year ………………………….. 27,000 ()() municants, and their contributions, cannot be re- $114,39897 ported separately, as they'are included in the statistics and work of the Union Church and the Council. of United Missions. The Steele Memorial Seminary at Nagasaki is not so included, and had 21 scholars-since increased to 42. The Theological Class at Nagasaki had six students.
For statistics of the Union Church reference is made to the Report of the Japan Mission.
The General Synod resolved "that the Mission is Bishop Smythies, and it is our duty, and entirely within our in its service at present are 23 English ability, to raise $100,000 for this pur- and 3 African clergy, 21 laymen and pose during the current year, and that we will use our best endeavors 19 women missionaries-total, 91. to reach this amount, realizing that Central Africa, London, is the organ in doing so we are simply obeying the Master's 'call to follow where He of the Society. leads." THE FOLLOWING TABLE OF RECEIPTS COVERS Universities' Mission to Oentral Africa, 1886-87. THE YEAR 1886.
FROM its Annual Report we glean £ s. d. £ s. d. the following facts: At the head of General Fund·……….. . 8,143 8 5 Nyassa Fund………… . 750 2 S Usambara Funds…….. . .m 3 1 DrngFund …………. .. 362 3 8 Miscellaneous.. " …….. . 237 210 – – – – 599 6 6 Rest Fund…….. …….. 34 18 S £ s. d. Itinerant preachers, 1,123; miasionaries. 542.
'Steere Memorial Fund•..• 100 6 5 Thus nearlY one-half of our preachers are mis- AfrIcan Students' Fund•.• 26 0 0 sionaries.
Children's Fnnd……… . 201819 9 Increase In the number of preachers In fonr Ladies' Association C.A.M. 109 8 10 years, 70; increase in the number ofmiaSionaries.
Mbweni Church Fnnd….. 79 8 I 115. In other words, the growth of our mis- Received in Zanzibar.. …. 700 16 5 sionary force has been about 60 per cent. greater Received by A,rch. Farler. 100 0 0 than that of our regular pastoral force. 800 16 5 Total membership of the Evangelical Assocta- Guild of St. Luke.. .. .. .. . .. .. .. . .. … 200 0 0 tlon, 138,668.
£13,123 19 7 Total membership of our missions, 46,531. A falling oft' of £2,000 from previous year. WORK AND COST 011' THE lIl1SBION DURING 1886. That is to say, over one-third of the member- MKUNAZlNl.-School of 40 boys. Day- school for 20 children. Town Mission ship of our church is on mission fields. Four with some 150 Christians. Serves as hospital for sick members of the Mis- years ago the proportion was considerably less sion. Medical attendance for natives. Clergy 3, Laity 12 ……………… .. £1,787 than one-third. llBWENl.-Home for 72 girls. Day- school for 26 children. Village of 300 Total net increase in the membership of the released slaves, with workshop, trac- tion-engine, lime-kiln, etc. Clergy 2, church in four years, 18,437. Laity 5, 1 Native Deacon, Native Teachers 6……………………. .. 2,278 Total net increase in the membership of 0lH' KroNGANI.-Home for 96 boys. Print- ing office. Laundry. The Bishop missions, 10,764. when in Zanzibar. Clergy 1, Laity 7, Native Teachers 2……………….. . 1,185 Phis meana that jlfJd-nintlt8 Qf our 'ncr8tue NYAssA.-Steamer for Lake. Journey during the last jour year8 luJB been gained in of Bishop with nearly 30 porters, etc., from Zanzibar to Nyassa. Return jour- our mis8ion.fteldB. By so much more successful Hey of Bishop and porters. Clergy 4, Laity 5. 6 Natives as Teachers, etc., have we been in our mission work than in the and others……………………. .. 2,469 Rovuma-Mlo.SASI, NEWALA, ETC.-Col- regular work of the church. ony of released slaves, and evangelistic work extendin!, over a wide range of Summary receipts in 1884.. . ……. $110,120.14 country. Home for 30 boarders. Clergy 6, Laity 2. 1 Native Deacon, " 1885. " …….. 111,652.38 Native Teachers, etc.. .. . .. … .. ….. 1,522 U8ambara – MAGILA, UMBA, MKUZI, 1886.. .. .. . .. .. 124,255 03 AND MISOZWE.-Four stations, one of them a large central work. Homes for 1887.. . .. .. . .. . 138,848.54 115 boys. Evangelistic work in vil- lages. Clergy 6, Medical Missionary, Total for iast four years, including 2 Schoolmasters, 2 Native Deacons, standing fand……….." ….. , $496,613.64 Trades Superintendents, 2 Native Readers, 12 Native Teachers…….. . 3,300 Or nearly half a million. MISSIONARIES ON FURLOUGH ……… . 888 HOME EXPENSES…………………. . 1,230 Moravian Missions.
£14,608 THE church mab.tained in July, 1887,107 Mission stations, with eleven Evangelical Association. filials, in various parts of the earth, FROM The Evangelical Messenger, which were served by 335 mission- aries (of whom 48 were native) and the organ of this Society, we derive 1,598 native assistants. There were the following interesting statistics: under its care 29,283 communicants, 53,769 baptized adults, candidates for Whole number of miSSions, 542; increase in baptism, etc., making a total of 83,052, Cour years, 115. Ther~ were 208 day schools, with 17,- 407 scholars, ani 98 Sunday-schools, Whole number of misSionaries, 552 ; increase with 13,492 scholars. in fORr years, 132. I Ttltal membership on these missions, 46,531; The income of the Missions net increase in four years, 10,764. amounted in 1886 to £19,069 7s., and the expenditure to £20,252 6s. ld., Compare these figures. with .our general sta- leaving a deficiency of £1,182 19s. ld, tistics: December 31, 1885, the Mission fund showed a deficiency of £389 19s. ld. This, added to the defici~ncy of 1886, makes a total deficit of £1,57218s. 2d, But there was in hand £535 Os_ 4d., contributions received for deficiency fund; so that net deficiency, 31st December, 1886, was £1,037 17s. 10d.
The sum raised annually at the various stations towards the support
CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE
of the work is estimated at about m. BoARDING SoBOOLS- PupUs. Schools. £25,000. Including the interest of capitals left for the support of specific British.. •.. . .. .. . …. .. … 28i. 12 missions, government aid, etc., the actual expenditure of our whole mis- German………. ……… 1.170 J!Ii sion work reaches a total of about £50,000. The number of brethren American, about. . . . . •. . . . 500 4 and sisters employed in this service from its commencement, in 1732, is Total…… :….. 1,954 41 about 2,300. IV. DAY SCHOOLS- PupUs. Schools.
British.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1.263 11 German.. .. .. . .. . .. .. .. .. • 890 18 Foreign MIssions… . . . . . . . 17,407 208 Total………… 19,560 237 -Moravian Almanac, 1888.
GENERAL CHURCH STATISTICS. Ohurch of England Zenana Missionary L llJomBBS- Communicants. Total. Sooiety, British Province (38 Congre- IN giving the statistics of this So- gatious, ineluding Home ciety in the December number of the Missions). ……. ……… 8.164 5.465 Missionary Review, Mr. Wilder was German Province (27 Con- gregations, iucl. Bethel. . . 6,123 8,841 in errol'. The Secretary sends us the German Province, Diaspora true figures, which we are bappy laborers…….. ………. 115 150 to give in correction. He puts the American Province, North- fi~ures in rupees and sterling, as they ern (57 Congregations) …. 9,098 14,796 'American Province, South- refer to India 01' English currency.
ern (5 Congregations) … . 1,598 2,468 1885. 1886. 79 Bohemia……………… . 131 305 Missionaries …………. . 48 as Assistant missionaries … . MissioBs (107 stations)….. 29,21£ 83,052 Bible women and native 349 49 151 Missionaries and families, teachers……………. . 5,775 396 Schools ……………… . 137 about. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 400 Pupils……………….. . 5,534 Total. .. .. . .. . …. 49,817 114,977 n. SUNDAY SClIOOLS- Scholars Teachers Zenanas ……………,… . 1,977 2,364 Government grants……. . R19,255 R19,497 British. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,873 565 School, Zenana, and med- RB,758 R7,916 American, Northern. . . . … 6,9R1 880 ical fees ……………. . £26,177 £28,251 Total income …………. . Southern… . . . . . 1,564 138 The income includes am't £4,500 £4,600 Foreign Missions………. 13,492 955 raised in Missions.•…..• Total. . . . . . . . . . .. 25,910 2,538 IlL-CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL INTELLI- GENCE.
A Mission Tour in India. cleaner, and happier lOOking, and they wear no -[This graphic paper is kindly fur- heathenish ornaments. These little villages are scattered all over the district, giving Mr. Uft'- nished us by Wellesly C. Bailey, Sec- mann about 800 sonIs to look after; there would be many more, bnt that many go away retary, of Mission to Lepers, in India, to work on the tea gardens in Assam. There is no "hothouse system" here, but a natural Edinburgh, Scotland.-Eds.l growth of the Christian church. The schools are all elementary, just giving the people enough DEC. 29, '86. education for their simple village life. This is PURULIA, which I reached a tmidnight, is the what one might call ideal mission work, and chief town of th~ Manbhoom district of Chntia yet, indeed, it, is not at all ideal, but very real. Nagpore, and contains about 6,000 inhabitants. It is one of the stations of Gossner's Mission, I was introduced to an old man who had been and i~ in charge of the Rev. Mr. Uffmann, who a Fakir and a priest in an outlying village at has been laboring for more than twenty years. one time. The villagers sent him to PurulIa I have been visiting some of the Christian vil- " to find the way of life," and he has found it, lages with Mr. Uft'mann, and have been mnch and will now, it is hoped, bring the whole vilenconraged hy what I have seen. The people lage to Christ. His wife has been baptized with are living in their own villages in a natural him, but so far seems only a nominal Christian. 'way, and earning their own liviug, farming, and There is a native Christian mahajan-grain merso forth. The villages are neat and clean, pict- chant-here who is carrying on his business most ures of comfort. When you go into a village, successfully, retaining his Christian character. men, women and children come forward and Mr. Uffrnann tells me that this man is most kind greet you with "Isa Sahai "-" Jesus be your and liberal to the poorer Christiaus. hclper "-shaking your hand at th" same time. 'I'hey are just like the other natives, except There are many lepers in this district. At met "lith a native polieeman; who procured me one time there was a. district ,olllcer here who wllter and firewood, and helped me to boil my was very kind to. them; he had hnta built for kettle. When leaving I went over to my newthem and collected money to snpply them with found friend to thank him and say good-bye, clothes and food; but when he left the station when, to my snrprise, he advanced to meet me, he was replaced by a inati who did not care to holding out his hand and saying, " Isa Saha!.'.' have them so near, and so burnt their huts My joy can be imagined at thns coming across a and drove them away, sending away in carta brother in the Lord in this unexpected way. He those who were not able to walk to their had, in the spirit of his Master, used" hospital· former homes; but, as many of them had no ity without grudging." This trifiing incident homes to go to, those who could manage it gave me a good idea of the way in which Chriscrawled back again, and died under the trees tianity is, little by little, reaching all classes of where their huts had been! Mr. Uffmann longs the population in India, and what a grand proof to be able to establish an asylum for the lepers it is of the truth of the Gospel, that wherever at present in the district, and so the Mission to one goes one finds the same resnlts from its re, :Lepers in India have agreed to build an asylum caption! and put it in Mr. Uffmaun's charge. The Committee of Gossner's Mission in Berlin have kind- Ranchi is the chief and central station of Gossly consented to this arrangement, and are send- ner's Evangelical Lutheran Mission, which may ing ont another missionary to Purulis to assist be considercd One tof the most prospeous Mis- Mr. Uftinann, who has already quite as much sions in India. This Mission was originally work as he is able to do. The starting of this known as Pastor Gossner's, so called after its asylnm will, it is estimated, cost £100, and there fonnder; indeed, it is still known by that name. will be a probable annnal expenditure of £50 at The converts now nnmber 33,000, and these are first, and £100 afterward. All this will be a to be found living in their villages, scattered all heavy addition to the expenses, of the Leper over the different districts of the Mission. Here Mission, but this Is but one of many instances I was the guest of Mr. Onasch, the senior miswhere we feel bound to go forward and look to sionary, to whose kindness lowe a great deal of God to put' it into the hearts of His people to the comfort with which I was able to make my snpply this need. Mr. Uftinann'andlhavebeen journey in Chutia, Nagpore. In Ranchi I could ont fixing npon a site for the new asylnm, and have spent a month with the greatest delight, we have hit upon one which seems in every there is so mnch to see and to hear. There is way most snitable, if it can be obtained. a Christian Sarai here on the mission prem- ises, which seems to be a great power for There are many Santals in this district, but good. It is a large square courtyard with the chief work is going on amongst the Mun- open rooms all round, in which any Christians daris and Uraos. are allowed to put up who may be in from the district on bnsiness; they get their fire- Left Pnrulia at noon in a bamboo cart (a kind wood free, and tbe anly condition of admittance of light, dog-cart) drawn, or rather drawn and is that they should attend morning and pushed, by six men. 'l'his is a common mode evening worship on the "Componnd." There of conveyance in this part of the country, the were 70 pntting up in the Sarai the day I saw it. number of the men in each case depending npon Occasionally heathen people stop there too. The the weight to be drawn and the roughness Or idea is a capital one, as it keeps the missionaries otherwise of the roads. Two or three light in touch with their native converts in a way bamboos are fastened across the shafts, which which otherwise it would be very diflicult to acthe men lay hold of with their hands, and, plac- complish ; it is a plan well worthy of adoption ing their chests against them, run along at a fine by other societies who have large numbers of rate, sometimes traveling as fast as fiye miles in converts widely scattered. The missionaries the hour; the average rate, however, over a very kindly took me all ronnd the place. We long jonrney would be about three miles per visited the printing press, the boys' and girls' hour. The stages vary from seven to ten miles, schools, the Sarai, etc. I was particnlarly struck according to the state of the roads to be trav- by the bright little Urao girls, they answered so eled, and at each fresh stage you get a fresh set intelligently when I qnestioned them, while their of men. Yonr men divide themselves according part singing was jnst beautiful. The Kohls are to their Own pleasure, some pushing from be- naturally Tery musical, their ear being, as a rule. hind, others pulling in front. Sometimes the very good. The girls sang softly and sweetly ; front men will raise the shafts high over their some of them even sang alone for me. They heads, and at others will lay the bamboos o'er were being tanght by a native who seemed to the backs of their necks, working like bullocks. have a great deal of musical talent; he had just These wild, nnsophisticated men of the jnngle picked up a new thing himself-by ear, I supseem to enjoy the work, and will sometimes pose-and was putting it to notes for his girls. run yon down a hill or along the level with a They were being taught on the Tonic Sol Fa sysringing whoop and hurrah, and nnless you are tem. I wish some of onr friends at home could of a morose turn indeed, or of a very neryons have heard taat singing; it would pnt to shame a temperament, you cannot help thoroughly entering into their fun and enjoying it. great deal of the school" bawling" one hears at At Yohna, where I rested for refreshment, I home. I was greatly strnck by the practical work rented buildings on the 25th of Feb., 1888. I have being done by these German missionaries. This received some $10,000 of the $50,000 needecl practical character enters into everything. The for buildings. This sum will purchase the children were being taught in an elementary and grounds, and I will have to wait till the' funds practical manner suitable to their village life. come in for buildings. The sum of $2,500 will For instance, the girls were given a sum; one erect a residence for a Professor, of which we stated it on the hlackboard, another worked it need three; $5,000 will erect a dormitory to ac· <lut in her head and gav-e the answer, and then commodate 100 students; $25,000 will erect the both had a pair of scales and weights with some college building, with a large hall, in which all sand, and before the others they weighed out will assemble for daily prayers, and the necesthe amount which, according to the sum, they sary recitation rooms, offices, etc. These sums were entitled to. In the same practical way.the are very small as compared with the amoun~ girls were tanght cooking ~nd other things needed for the erection of buildings for similar which would he useful to them as the wives of uses in this country. Those contributing any of country villagers. these sums will be entitled to give the name to the buildings erected by their contributions. We These missionaries are planting out pastors hope that some of the friends of education and and teachers in the villages, while her" in Ran- religion will connect their names with the instichi they themselves are surrounded by 1,150 tution by furnishing the funds for the erection Christians, all earning their own livelihood. Mr. of some of these buildings. Onasch told me that ou oue occasion he baptized people till his arm ached-I believe about 500 The rented building will only accommodate were baptized lu that one day I Oue can some, thirty or forty stUdents, while the statescarcely think that all these people had" passed meuts come to me that more than a hundred from death unto life"; but what a blessing to are waiting to enter the institution. The college think they have forever renounced their awful will lose the opportunity to receive students till devil worship, have come from under its terri- its own permanent buildings are provided., ble thralldom, and have placed themselves and From this statement all the friends of the colchildreu under Christian instrnctionl And in lege will see the urgency there is for fttnds with this way, I think, one mnstregard a great deal of which to build. the wonderful work that is at present going on amongst the low castes in the Punjab aud other I have reason to expect that some twelve or places, such as that of the American United fifteen young men, who have been converted in Presbyterian and Church of Scotland Missions, the Sabbath-schools for Chinese in America, in Sealkote, and Mr. Knowles' work in Oudh, will return to China to study in this college and amongst the Tarns and others. The multitudes fit themselves for Christian work. All will now being baptized do not at the time all come readily understand what an influence for good to " a saving knowledge of Christ," but they are will be exerted among the other students of the desirous of renouncing their own abominable college by such a company, that have felt the systems, and of placing themselves and their warmth and earnestness of Christian life in this children within the visible fold of Christ's flock; country. I expect a number of Christian Chi- and who are we that we should say them nay ~ nese will return each successive year to study in Should we not rather rejOice at this wonderfu the college. This will connect the labors for movement and extend to them the right hand of the conversion of the Chinese in America with fellowship? the colleg~ in a very interesting and important way. It will serVe as a great stimulus both to I was taken to see the Theological Seminary the teachers and their pupils. The teachers and boys' boarding school, and the fine church, will rejoice that there is an opportunity for their where aoout 800 of the native congregation meet pupils to get an education that will fit them to every Sunday for the worship of the true God ; oe missionaries to their own countrymen. The and yet we an told that missions are a failure! pupils who have a desire excited to get an edu- Thi. church still bear~ the marks of the mutiny, cation will rejOice that there is an institution to but fortunately it was not destroyed. which they can go, for the sum of $50 will meet the necessary expenses of a Chinese young man One very striking thing in the semiuary was attending the collegrl for a year, for board, tuition tke singing class; I was amazed at the splendid and clothes. The school from which any stu- way in which they rendered selections from dent will come will, in most cases, afford thd Handel's" Messiah." money necessary to meet his expenses. The sum of $50 a year for four years will put a man China. through his college course, or $200 in all ; whilst here in America that would hardly meet half the Extracts from a letter of Dr. Hap- expense for one year. The sum or' $1,000 will per, President of the New College at endow a permanent scholarship, by which the Canton, China, Editorial Correspond- giver can have a student in the college for all ent, addressed to Dr. Pierson. future years. I hope that many who are pray- ing for a large supply of ministers in China will NOVEMBER 17, 1887. . take a yearly scholarship by paying $50 a year, or endow a permanent scholarship oy giving I Alii: on my way to China. I leave Chicago on the 21st, and hope to sail from San Francisco $1,000. on the 29th, '87, and to commence the college in Wishing you an ever-increasing circulation heatheu feast and disposed of 1,000 New Testaand UsefulnllllS for THB :MISSIONARY REVIBW OJ!' THB WOHLD, I remain yonrs, very trnly, ments and Gospels.
A. P. HAPPBR. In Augnst, a tiger came near our station. The India. Santhals tnrned ont to take away his head; they BBTHBL SANTHAL MISSION, were many and thonght it could Soon be done; BRISTOL, ENGLAND, Nov. 14, 1888. bnt the tiger tnrned and caughtand mangled four DlIAR EDIToRs.-Malarious fever and death in my family have sent us for a change to England. of them. Then he retired into a sogar-cane However, the work 01' God goes forward, and the tidings have been rather cheerful. During field and laughed at the whole lot. The people th~ last four months, twelve new schools in vil- lages were opened, and, as much as lies in us, were so disgusted with his ferocity that they the heathen children are instructed in the Word of God. Some years ago we had thirty village lefthiril there. schools, but we committed an unpardonable of- fense, in baptizing nearly 200 men and women, September 25th, Christians from thirty-three and then the dear people thought that I was too lively, withdrew their children, aud, as I had villages commemorated the Lord's death. There baptized seven schoolmasters the others be came rather boisterons, and had to be dismissed were 146 men and women. In April, 1875, there- so that of thirty only twelve remained. These went down to live, and to-day seventeen do work was not a single Christian in the whole district. I wish we could do more work among the 20,000 children growing up in iguorance and wicked- Thank God for the change! A. HABGERT. ness in our parish. It is enough to make angels weep; but the people of God are much cooler; England. they hear ever so many times that they are l EAST – perishing, and yet how few go to the Mission LONDON INSTITUTB J!'OR HOMB I A~D field I FORBIGN MISSIONS. LONDON, Dec. 9, 1887. Seven new chapels were completed during the last four months. They have been built DBAR EDIToRs.-We have been much in– under difficulties and mnch provocation. Fonr- terested in the lirst number of THB MISSION- teen men and women were baptized during that ARY REVIEW OF THB WORLD, which has jnst time; they have come from six villages. More reached us. I need not say how grieved we" to follow. Since 1883, 244 men and women from were to hear of the death of Mr. Wilder, whose forty villages have been baptized. There are labors for so many years as editor of The Mis, still mnltitudes going to perdition. sWna1'Y Review have told so much upon mis- sion work at home and abroad. We had the Patients from 103 villages applied at our nine pleasure of meeting Mrs. and Miss Wilder here, dispensaries doriog the last four months to have on their way to India, and of bidding them fare- their aches and pains sent away. Well, sir, in well only yeAterday. They seemed in good our jungle it is a great and good work, as it re- health, and in really good spirits for their work, moves much hnman misery and saves many thongh neither of them was so strong as we- lives. Beside, it saves many women from be- should have liked to see them. Mr. Foreman coming widows and maoy children from becom- spoke at onr annnal meeting of the Stodents' ing orphans. Some doctors say that their work Missionary Leagne on Friday, December 2. We makes them dry: poor fellows I for me to go into wish he had been longer in England, as there a dark and sad home, and bring health, peace was not mnch opportunity of hearing him. It and prosperity, makes me sing for joy and shoot was a great pleasnre to ns to welcome to Eng- all the louder: land those whose names we had so long been in- terested in, and whose conrse as leaners of the- .. Unto Him who hath loved ns recent missionary revival in America we had And washed us from sin, watched with the deepest sympathy. Unto Him be the glory forever. Amen." My mother and father a1'e greatly interested to Also, it makes the whole district talk of yon, hear of the new departnre in connection with- and long for yon. Patientd come from ten, the Review. The enlarged monthly issue will twenty, fifty milllll, and do they not carry the entail- a great deal of work, but the impetns- good news far and wide 1 Since 1883 I observed that snch a book (for it will really amount to that about twenty-live persons were drawn to that) mnst inevitably give to the foreign mis- Christ through my medical work. Is that noth- sionary canse cannot easily be estimated. May I ask you to direct that three copies of the Re- ing! view be sent regularly to Harley Honse, and In March last I attended three men with pnen- one to the stUdents of the branch of our Insti- monia, and saved a dozen children from orphan- tnte, at Cliff College, Cnrbar 1 I am not sure age. It did not make me a bit dry; I jnst long to whether you have been receiving The RegWniJ do the same to a few hundred more children. Beyond' We are making it monthly, com- In September a dozen of onr people visited a mencing with Jannary, '88. This is a new de- parture for us here. I edit the Ilttle journal, and shall look forward to getting a good deal of- help and information in that department from yonr Review, which is so exhaustive and com- pendious a repository of all missionary facts.
Yon will be interestec). to hear that my only sister, Geraldine, hopes to go to China as a mis- sionary, God willing, early in the new year. Her- heart has long been centered in that far Eastern empire, bnt she has been so mnch engaged with With kindest Christian regards I am yours in heme mission work onate years as to have been prevented from leaving previously. Now that the same faith and hope, B. LA TBOBE. my brother and his wife have taken up the work at Harley House, she is set free for the foreign Madagascar. mission field. We feel it a high privilege to be called upon to give up one of onr very ANTSEHANAKA MISSION, MADAGASCAR, } . October 1, 1887. own to the great cause of the gospel among the DEAR EDIToRs.-When living with Dr. Maxheathen I It is not a light step to take, but well (late missionary of the English Presbyterian Christ allows many of His people in these days Church to Formosa), Secretary of the London .. not only to believe on Him, but also to snffer Medical Missionary Association, I had often the for His sake." I am sure yon will join ns in pleasure of seeing the Missionary Review• prayer that all our missiouary efforts here may Since coming to Madagascar, in company with be prospered by our Father who is in heaven, the Rev. E. H. Stribling, in the capacity of. and that the work in His great world-field may H medical" helper in the Lord's work, I have. grow through the instrumentality of our train- not seen any comprehensive missionary paper, ing colleges. dealing with missions all ronnd. And this is a , With hearty Christiau sympathy, in which we felt want in an isolated spot like this. all jOin, in yonr efforts for the spread of the gospel among the heathen, You may be interested to have a brief word about this part of the great vineyard. Very faithfully yours in Him who loved us, Lucy E. GUINNESS. As yon probably know, the Central Province of Imerina(Madagascar) is all but civilized. It is sitn- MORAVIAN MISSIONS, SECRETARY'S OFFICE,} ate between four and five thousand feet above 29 ELy PLACE, LONDON, E. C., sea level, and on the central tableland. The . December 9, 1887. work of civilization, in conjunction with active mission agency, has of late years been spreading DEAR DR. PmRSON.-I am glad to have an to the other provinces-notably Belsileo, to the south, and Antsehanaka, to the northeast. The opportunity of thanking you for yonr cordial Rev. J. Pearse, now of the former province, had the European direction of the Antsehanaka commnnication of May 23. My present object in Mission for a number of years. This region has the unenviable reputation of being malarial, and writing is to say how glad I am that you have on account both of fever and other causes the Mis- sion has been without adequate European superseen your way to edit the admirable MISSIONARY intendence for five or six years. Four Hova " evangelestra " from the Central Province have REVIEW, now that your predecessor has been had the oversight of the work during that period, aided by an occasional visit from one of the Miscalled to rest. May the blessing of the Lord rest sion's staff in Antananarivo. Last year the Di- rectors of the L. M. S. finally decided to recruit on this and all your labors. the Madagascar staff, and on September 1st a party of twelve sailed from London to fill up You speak so warmly aud kindly of the spirit. vacancies in the staff thronghout the island. Our party of four, Rev. L. H. Stribling and Mrs. of our forefathers aud the missionary legacy Stribling, Mrs. Mackay and my"elf, were at first detained in the capital on our arrival there by which we have inhetlted, that I feel sure our the advent of the wet season. Later on, how- ever, death came into our ranks and took away present fields of labor will, from time to time, one of our number; Mrs. Stribling. She was not, like ourselves, new to the country, bnt had find mention in the pages of your Review. And spent many years in the Vonizongo district, a day's journey from the capital, in happy Chris- I may add that, like others, we shall be glad of tian work for the Master, together with her hns- those Love Tokens, which bring needed kindly band. On July 1st, this year, we arrived at Ambatoncriticism in love and in the wisdom which is drazaka, and forthwith took up our work. The from above. following is a short summary of the work done during the past-our first-three months, ending I was sorry to see that Mr. Wilder (p. 346 Sept. 30th.
(M'UiBionary Review for '87) erred somewhat Mr. Stribling has made a three weeks' journey round the entire district and another shorter in giving the statistics of onr church. In July journey of a week's duration to four or five stations in particular. Besides these he has appears the German Report of our Mission coutinually been preaching the gospel, both in the" mother-church" here, and in the various Board, containing the statistics from forms filled rush-made structures, so-called churches, in the immediate neighborhood. A five or six up by our missionaries to the end of the previous years' absence of European direct help in an year. The correct figures for 1887 are therefore those of Dec. 31, 1886, viz ………Total, $83,052 1885…… . .. …. 82,462 1884….. '" . …. 81,552 1883.. . . . . . . . . . . . 81,258 1882. . . . . . . . . . . . . 79,021 This will form a guide. Thank God for con- tinuous growth. I send you the last number of .Periodical Accounts, as far as I know" the old- est missionary journal "; so I esteem it a great honor to be the editor; but The .Missionary Review is not quite correct in describing me as tke Secretary of Moravian Missions. I am a Secretary of onr Mission Board for England.
Ours is not a society, but a missionary church, and the Mission Board is a section of the Unity's Elders' Conference. important mission like this must needs leave ac· for England soon. Brother Harvey has beeD. counts, correspondence, etc., in a very dUapi- four years out this time (his second), and is get, datsd condition, and consequently our beloved ting into a low state of health. brother's work has been all the heavier, as he has had this extra burden fall on his shonlders. The work at the various stations goes slowly in comparison to the times ;we enjoyed ten Mrs. Mackay has now organized a sewing-class months ago. But no doubt the work j.s deepen- of over 60 native girls, has three or fonr of the ing and widening, though we are seeing but very better class Hova women to help her, and these few cases of conversion. latter, with the women of the town, come to her earlier ill the week to learn themselves. On A :Mr. Brooks (English) recently passed up the other hand, onr medical department bids fair with a colored young man (Soudanese) from Mr. to be no insignificant part of the work. Twice a Guinness' Instltute, going into the interior with week I see patients in my ootdoor consulting a view to founding a Central Soudan mission. room, and my wife, OI these days, dispenses the Mr. Brooks, I believe, pays all the expense of medicine. At all other times I am likely to be this preliminary expedition. called upon to help to heal the body and say a word in as yet very poor Malagasy, maybe, about Of Bishop Taylor's mission I caa say but the Saviour. Our experimental hospital Is in little. Some are sick, some are not satisfied, course of erection. It is to contain bnt five or others go on but meet dilliculties which time and six beds. It is our intention, D. V., to build a determination will probably overcome. I refer permanent strncture next dry season. Trusting more especially to transport difficulties. One that these points may not be uninteresting, and thing, bowever, is certain: whether or not they that yoo will kindly claim the kind prayers and succeed in establishing a self-supporting mission interest of the readers ofyonr joornal, and prom- here, it is necessary to have men set apart for iSing an occasional note as to the people and the preaching the gospel who can devote their wkol8 progress of oor work, if so desired, time to this and to the teaching and spiritual training of the converts. There are thousands I remain yours, very sincerely, on all sides yet nnreached by any of the agen· JAMES G. MAOKAY, D. M. S. cies now employed. Granted that those now wholly engaged in evangelizing, translating the Congo Free State, Afrioa. Scriptures into the native tongues, and in teach- ing native evangelists had to spend half their PACAVALA STATION, L. I. MISSION OF THE} time in digging and tilling the gronnd, or in A. B. M. U., CONGO FREE STATE, otherwise raising their own food, the cost to the Sept. 12, 1887. church in Europe and AmeriM. or these mission- aries would be less, but the loss to t.he church in EDITORS MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WOBLD. Africa would be such that dollars or pounds -We have recently heard the sad tidings of the sterling could not cover it.. Hundreds about death of Rev. John E. Biggs, of the English Bap· each mission station that are now frequently tist Missionary SOCiety, at their station at Kin- hearing the gospel would not be reached, and shasha, near Stanley Pool, on the Congo, the this saving in cash would be a loss of jewels in . 26th of August. He was a young man of great the crown of our Redeemer. promise, and had been but 22 months in the conntry. Last month's mail also carried home At home the Christian workingman who the news of the death of Rev. H. G. Whitley, of spends his spare time in speaking and working same mission, who was on his way from Stan- for Jesus cannot supplant him who has been ley Pool to Eugland when he was called to separated for the work of an evangelist or pas- glory. He died at the A. B. M. U. station at tor. Both are required; both have special Lukunga, having accomplished about half the work allotted by the Lord; and as at home, so land journey between Stanley Pool and the here-each will find his place and work. coast. In your issue of July (p. 439, MISS. REVIEW) In the Swedish Missionary Society a new sta- Bishop Taylor speaks of meetings at Lukunga tion has been opened on the north bank, about 18 presided over hy Brother Newth, of the Bishop's miles below their Mukimbungu station, which is party. To some of your readers who know on the south side and formerly was an A. B. M. that Lukunga is an A. B. M. U. station this may U. station. This new station is the second of need a word of explanation. Brothers Harvey the S. M. S., and Is being planted by Rev. K. J. and Richards, with native evangelists from Banza Pettersson and two other Swedish brethren. Mauteke, held special evangelistic services for some time at Lukunga, and the Spirit of God was In the A. B. M. Union the only changes are: present in power, and souls were saved. Both Rev. C. B. Banks and wife and Rev. J. B. Mur- these brethren had to come down country to phy are now on the way to relieve Rev. J. Mc- meet their wives, and they left the BaDza 1fau- Kittrick and Mr. T. Gerrish at our Eqnator teke evangelists and a fine young preacher and station. :Mr. McKittrick has spent three and interpreter there to carryon the work. Bishop one-half years in the field, and goes home for Taylor had received permission previously change. Mr. Gerrish, who Originally came out to erect on our mission property a small house, as a member of a New York mission (Simpson's as store, etc., for goods in transit, and for ac- :Mission Band), returns to America, being now commodation of any of his people who would in want of change. We also hope that Mr. and require to stay there to engage carrierA. Mr. :Mrs. C. H. Harvey and child will be able to leave Newth was staying there then, and thongh he "Section 1. Be it ordained by the General knew nothing of the langnage, it was known Assembly of the State of Deseret : That all that that his presence .(being a white man) wonld portion of the inhabitants of said State, which tend to maintain order, and he was asked to now are, or hereafter may become residents overlook those native Christians in their work. therein, and which are known as the Church 01 Of CODrse he conld take part only through one Latter-Day Saints, are hereby incorporated witb of our interpreters-thongh we all prefer speak- perpetnal succession, with full power to . . . ing directly to the people in their own tongne. hold real and personal estate, and to have and Notices of this have appeared in England in such use a seal." Thus a whole people, whose posa way as to cause considerable confnsion in the sible increase in nnmbers was limitless, was minds of people there, as it was made to appear made a body corporate. that the work was being carried on by others than our missionaries; and in the same way our " Section 3. And be it further ordained: That U. S. brethren may wonder why our Lukunga as such Church holds the Constitutional rigbt to work should be iu the hands of Bishop Taylor's worship God according to the dictates of conagents. I need not assure you that, so far as I know, the members of the A. B. M. U. have SCience, to reverence communion according to done all in their power to aid and accommodate the Bishop and his people, looking on them as the principles of truth [the italics are mine], and servants of a common Lord. I have repeat,edly to solemnize marriage IXlmpatilJle with the revbeen thanked for small services rendered. elations Of Jesus Christ [polygamy], for the security and full enjoyment of all blessings and Your servant in tbe Lord, privileges embodied in the religion of Jesus Jos. CLARK. Christ [including tbe theocracy, blood atone- ment, celestial marriage, etc., etc., etc.], it is Mormondom. also declared that said Church does and sball possess and enjoy continnally the power in and BY THE BEV. D. L. LEONARD, EDITORIAL COR- of itself to originate, make, pass and establish rules, regulations, ordinances, laws, customs RESPONDENT. and criterion. [whatever these may be] for THE startling news has gone forth that the the good order, safety, government, conveni- Mormon Zion is in the hands of her foes. ence, currifort and control of said Church, and for United States Marshal Dyer, under a decree the punishment or forgiveness of all offenses from the Snpreme Court of the Territory, has relative to fellowship, according to Church covtaken possession of the el!'ects of the Latter-Day enants [even to capital punishment, and which church, now defunct and dissolved by an act of right during ten or fifteen years was freely ex- Congress, snch as the temple block, holding the ercised]; that the pursuit Of blis8 and the en,}lYybig tabernacle, the tithing honse and groundS, ment oflife in every capacity of public association the" Historian's Office" containing the chnrch and domestic happiness, temporal expar.sion, or library, and even the Gardo House ("Aurelia spiritnal increase upon the earth, may not legally Palace "), equivaleut to the White House for the be questioned: Provided, however, tbat each President, or the Vatican for the Pope. He has and every act or practice, so established for law, also possessed himself of all effects visible or cnstom, shall relate to solemnities, sacraand tangible of the Perpetual Emigration Soci- ments, ceremonies, consecrations, endowments, ety, and called on the church authorities to turn tithings, marriages, fellowship, or the religious over to his keeping all books, records, papers, accounts, etc., of the two corporations that were. duties of man to his Maker: inasmuch as the And such is the conclusion to one phase of a gigantic scheme to set np a theocratic church- doctrines, principles, practices, or performa1UWl state in the Great Basin, whose beginnings were support virtne and increase morality, and are not jnst forty years ago. The plot began to take inconsistent with, or repugnant to, the Constitushape in 1851 by the attempted formation of the tion of the United States . • . and arefO'Unded "State of Deseret," with boundaries that in- in the revelations of the Lord." cluded an area some 700 miles square, or only about one-sixth of the national domain at that Well might Jndge Zane declare that" no predate. A constitution was formed, Brigham cedent can be found for conferring upon a pri- Young chosen Governor, and upon the leaders vate corporation such a variety of capacities, and were conferred all the offices. A Legislature some of them, it is believed, are above the reach took its seat, of which every member was full of of human InWB." And in the followiug his irony zeal for" the kingdom" and stood high in the is exquisite: "This is probably the first time priesthood, and at once proceeded to clothe the that any Legislatnre ever attempted to contract church with legal authority as a corporation by. away to a chnrch, or any other body of men, the bestowing upon it a charter. When, a few years regnlation of tithing and marriage. Nor are we later, Congress decreed a Territory instead with aware that the right to regulate a man's duty to sadly shrnnken proportions, that charter was re- his Maker was ever included in a contract. This, conferred. This legal instrument npon which too, probably, is the first time that a Legislature the church has stood stands peerless and alone. expressly limited the rnles and laws that a cor- It ranks high among curiosities both of litera- poration might make by the revelations of the tum and oflegislation. And here followeth the Lord, and make a grant thereof to any person choice substance thereof: natural or artificial " I I Thns the church set forth upon its career, mar- rying and giving in marriage, and especially looking well to its treasury. From that day it Sheta Naga, with a vocabulary and illustrative has gone on accumulating farms and factories, sentences, otrto tbe publishers, and bave since cattle and horses, stock in mines, banks, rail- written and translated several hymns and trans- roads, street-car lines and commercial enter- lated a portion of the Gospel according to St_ prises, and now owns tithing property in every John."
considerable settlement. In 1862 Congress The time rapidly draws on when passed a law forbidding any church in the Terri- all the inhabitants of the globe, listories to acquire or hold real estate of a value tening to the gospel of Christ, will greater than $50,000_ To this prohibition, as to be able to say-in view of a miracle that relating to polygamy enacted at the same time, no sort of attention was paid. But now at hardly less astonishing than that of length the blow has fallen, and, at least in part, Pentecost: "How hear we every retribntion for past grievous offenses. It is not man in our own tongue wherein we likely, however, that the school fund of the Ter- were born? • .• We do hear them ritory will be greatly enriched by the sale of speak in OUL' tongues the wonderful church property held illegally. For months, and day and night, the process has been going on works of God_"
apace of hiding, and deeding a way, and turning Who would not have a share in into cash. The best result will be found in the this obedience to the last command of enforcement of the national will upon these the Lord, "Go ye into all the world proud and presumptuous theocrats, making them to know and feel that even they must obey and preach the gospel to every the law of the land, .. revelations" of Joseph creature" ?
Smith et al. to the contrary notWithstanding.
And tbis new phase of a1rairs goes well with Decay of Liberality in the what Congress and the courts are achieving at other points. It is cbeering to know tbat not Churches. The apparent inerease in less than 33,000 contemners of the law in Utah the benevolent eontdbutions of the have been disfranchised, while almost 600 po- ehurehes does not, as is shown by lygamists have been indicted, 32.~ have been sent Dr. Dorehester in The Congregationto prison, aud during the last year alone nearly alist, keep paee witl' the increase in 400 arrests have been made. But it shonld be membership of Ameriean churches, remembered that all this gain would be worse and lags still further behind the inthan lost if the cnrrent plot of Utah priests and Eastern politicians shall succeed, and Statehood . crease of wealth. The total amount be conferred. And, in the present balance of of receipts of all Home and Foreign parties and mad eagerness to win, tbe danger of Missionary Boards and Societies in tricks and bargains is very great. The press- the United States "has increased from both religious and secular-must be watchfnl, and sound constantly tbe alarm. $1,232,123 in 1850 to about $7,000,000 And is it not full time that this monstrosity yearly at the present time, beingfourknown as a chnrch was put politically lwrs de fold for foreign mission and six-fold for home ~issions. But the memcomlJat' For tbirty years and more it has been constantly before the courts, scarcely a Congress has failed to pass or to discuss a bill to abate the bership of the churches has increased nUisance, and, without exception, every Presi- during the same time from three and dent has felt constrained to call special attention a half millions in 1850 to ten millions to the gross evils and grave perils centering in in 1880, and largely since. Making Salt Lake, Once an army was sent to bring cburchly lawlessness to terms, and since 1862 all allowance for the greater thor- troops have been kept within easy cannon shot of oughness with which religious statisthe church headquarters. Forbearance has gone tics are gathered now, we have 35 too far. Sweet oil and the olive branch are a cents per member contributed for' failure. Special and extraordinary measnres are both these objects in 1850, 63 cents in imperatively demanded.
A WORD FROM PROFESSOR WILKINSON. 1870, and 59~ cents in 1880, which shows a falling off in the ten years And So the World Goes On. preceding_ And when we conle to UNDER date" Kohima, Naza Hills, Nov. 17, 1887. Rev_ W. E.Willis, mis- the property test, the case is still sionary, writes from the other side worse. "Supposing church mem- of the planet to his old instructor, bers," says Dr. Dorchester, "to have our corresponding editor, PROFESSOR just an average amount of the wealth W. C_ WILKINSON, as follows: of the country-we do not doubt they •• I have at last gotten my Grammar of the have more-in 1850 they gave to missions one and one-tenth mills to each adopted the policy of the prohibition dollar of their property; in 1860 this of intoxicating liquors in trading was reduced to nine-tenths of a mill; with the African tribes, for financial in 1870 to eight-tenths, and in 1880 reasons. It has been found that rum to six and a half tenths of a mill. so demoralizes the natives as to ruin Thus, while the total gifts have in- trade. So serious has the menace to creased four times, the amount given commerce from this source become by each converted dollar has been re- that the Niger company is also bring- duced nearly one-half." ing a strong pressure to bear on the Ultramontanism vs. Protestant· Congo Free State and on the German ism. I hold in my hand a book is- and Belgian governments to adopt sued by the Catholic Publication the same policy, The experiment is Society in New York. It is printed made none too soon, as the traffic in in Baltimore, under license of its late intoxicating liquors has assumed Archbishop (Bailey) and the certitr:- alarming proportions on the Dark cate of his official censor that it is Continent. Mr. Wight Hay, speak- unobjectionable-" nihil obstat." It ing recently in Sheffield, England, is a book of instruction for children. made the appalling statement that Its motto is (quote"d from Benedict where one missionary had been sent XIY): "We affirm that the greatest to Africa to evangelize its heathen part of the damned are in hell, be- tribes, 70,000 barrels of rum had been cause they did not know those mys- sent for purposes of barter! teries of faith which Christians must Eastern Bassuto.-The missionaries know and believe." What are these of the Berlin Society, established hel'e mysteries? Let us read this author- since 1860, regard their work as the ized Ultramontane school-book. I most important and hopeful of any of quote (pp. 97-104) as follows: the missionary operations in that part " Q. Have Protestants any faith in Christ f of Africa, not only as regards its im- " A. They never had. mediate results, but in its influence "Q. Why not f on the future of mission work in the "A. Becaustl there never lived such a Christ C2ntre of Africa and along the eastern as they imagine and believe in. coast. This hopeful view is partly bas.ed on the fact that the Bassutosand " Q. In what kind of a Christ do they believe Y Bechuanas, among whom they work, "A. In such a one of whom they can make a liar with impunity, whose doctrin"e they can in- terpret as they please, and who does not care are agriculturists as well as cattle- breeders, and are not, like many native what a man believes, provided he be an houest races, destined eventually to die out. Dlan before the public" Another reason is that belief in a God "Q. Will such a faith in such a Christ save Protestants f " A. No sensible man will assert such an ab- is not extinct among them. They surdity. say, for instance, of the man about to die, "God calls him." Again, the "q. What will Christ say to them on the day Christianized Bassutos often give of judgment f "A . •I know ye not, because ye 'never knew me.' proof of possessing the evangelistic " Q. Are Protestants willing to confess their spirit and gifts. Nevertheless, the Berlin Society has found their portion sins to a Catholic bishop or priest, who alone has of this great field a very diffiuult one power from Christ to forgive sins y. •Whose sins you shaH forgive they are forgiven them.'
.. A. No; for they generally have an utter aver- to cultivate. It lies in the eastern sion to confession, and therefore their sins will and northern portions of the Trans- vaal, and is inhabited by Matebeles Dot be forgiven them throughout aHeternity. as well as Bassutos; and as the for- .. Q. What follows from this f mer are of Zulu origin they are more .. A. That they die in their sins and are damned."-Bishop OoaJ6, at Washington Ormj'er- ence qfJ1Joang. Alliance. opposed to the Gospel. WaI'S, too, A.Mea.-The British Weekly says have frequently occurred. Neverthe- that the Niger Trading Company has less, they reckon more than 9,000 converts as belonging to their sta- the immense services which miSSionary enter- tions. It is difficult to estimate the prise has rendered to Africa, to the world at number of the heathen Bechuanas, large, and to Great Britain in particular. When Bassutos and semi-Bassutos living in the history of the great African states of the fu- the Transvaal, but Missionary In- ture comes to be written, the arrival of the first spector Merensky thinks they may missionary will with many of these new nations number at least 400,000. If to these be the first historical event in their annals. Al- be added those of the same tribes most invariably it has been to British mission- dwelling elsewhere, a total of 750,000 aries that the natives of interior Africa have is reached, of which one-tenth or owed their first acqualutance with the printing- thereabouts have received Christian press, the steamboat, and sawmill. Most of the baptism. The same missionary great lakes and rivers of th~S little-known couti- speaks of the satisfactory character nent have been navigated in the first instance by of the work of the Berlin Society. the steamers of British :Missionary Societies, Unlike the Frencb. missionaries, he which may now be seen plying on Tanganyika says, the German missionaries have and Nyassa, on the Upper Congo, the NIger insisted on the entire abandonment Binue, and Zambesi. Missionary enterprise of polygamy and the sale of daugh- has widely increased the bonnds of our knowl- ters by their parents and the myste- edge, and been the means of conferring benefits ries of the Kama, and in this they on science. For missionary enterprise in the have met with the greatest suc- future I see a great sphere of usefulness." cess. The prospects of the work in the Transvaal are hopeful. A net- The Spectator also, which shows work of ·mission stations covers the remarkable intelligence in treating whole land, some of them, indeed, belonging to the Hermansburg So- missionary questions, in a paper on ciety. The gospel is working as a leaven throughout this territory, "The New Attack on Missionaries," which is as large as France. In Southern Transvaal there is scarcely says: a village in which at least one of the natives cannot read and is not ac- " At an expense of about a million a year the quainted with the truths of the gos- Protestant chnrches send out to the heathen pel; and as the baptisms amount to and parts of the :Mussulman world a perpetually about 1,000 every year, it is hoped renewed force of men and women to teach to that within twenty or thirty years those who know them uot Christianity and civ- almost the whole native population ilization. Those men and women are of all will have become Christians. The sorts, some unfit, .oue or two in a thousand chief anxiety for the future arises hopelessly unfit-bad persons iu short-a few from the immigration into the coun- fit to a degree no words of ours will adequately try of fifteen 01' twenty thousand describe, bnt a majority well qualified in ex- white gold diggers.-London Mission- tremely varied ways for the burdensome duty ary Society. they have to perform. :Manyare teachers, many preachers, many scholars-many, like Dr. Mof- Testimonies to Christian Missions. fat, born rulers of men; but in all but a very . The EnglishVice-Consul at the Came- few there is one quality rare in any other profes- sion-absolute devotiou to the work to be done. ,. roons, in West Africa, in a paper on If they cau do it living as quiet, hard-working " British Missions and Missionaries in pastors in the tropics, they do it 80. If it re- Africa," says, in the November num- quires of them excessive toil, abstinence from ber of the Nineteenth Century: all that is pleasant to mau, the incessaut facing of physical danger, including what is a moral "Ifthe immediate success of British mission- certainty of death by torture, they accept these aries in spreading their religion over barbarous conditions, not boasting, uot murmuring, as Africa be doubtful, if the average type of their part of the burdens their consciences have converts seems an unsatisfactory product of so placed upon their necks. How it is possible for mnch labor and expenditure of lives and wealth, Christians of auy sect to condemn snch a profes- it is, on the other hand, consoling to refiect on sion, with such results, we can no more con- ceive than we can conceive how a Christian church can be fully alive yet never wish to pros- elytize. "-Church ofScotland Miss. Rewrd.
" The Chief Glory of England," says Archdeacon Farrar, "has ever been that she has told it out among the heathen that the Lord is King, in what Carey did for India, Henry Mar- tyn for Persia, Ellis for Madagascar, Morrison for China, Marsden for New Zealand, Allan Gardiner for Patago- for the knowledge that has been imnia, Patteson for Melanesia, Macken- parted by these humble, unpretend" zie and Livingstone and Hannington ing men, not English laws and Engfor Africa. And in this abbey, at lish science, no! nor British arms, this very day, not even the grave of would have effected such changes in Newton is dearer or more interesting the social condition of India as is evito thousands of visitors than the dent to all observing men in these grave of the Glasgow cotton-piecer, days!" The prince referred to his David Livingstone, who, in the burn- own struggles in forsaking the religing heat of that dark continen:t, died ion of his ancestors, and of the fact with black faces around him, afar that the missionaries must always from all he loved. To sneer at mis- wound the feelings of the people in sionaries, a thing so cheap and so the very act of showing them that easy to do, has always been the fash- their ancestral faith" is a great imion of libertines, cynic~ and world- posture, and must almost be blotted lings. A living duke has vf'ntured to out and forgotten to admit the simassure us that missionaries are an or- ple doctrine of faith in Christ." ganized hypocrisy and a deplorable Though he admits that the opposifailure. The charge of hypocrisy de- tion to Christiauity is now greater serves only a smile of disdain, the than ever, he believes that the varicharge of failure an absolute contra- ous societies, like the Brahmo-Sodiction. So far from having failed, maj, the Arya-Somaj, and others, there is no work of God which has re- will help to break the chains of caste ceived so absolute, so unprecedented and superstition, and that Christiana blessing. To talk of missionaries ity will in the end prevail.-Missionas a failure, is to talk at once like an ary Herald. ignorant and a faithless man." With reference to the difficulties of India.-Among the distinguished winning converts from Islam to Chris- East Indians who came to England as tianity, a correspondent of the Times representatives of that portion of the (8th November) recalls the name of British Empire, at the Queen's Jubi- Maulvi Imad-ud-din. When certain lee, were the Prince and Princess of English missionaries (one of them Kapurthala, one of the semi-inde- now Bishop,of Lahore) held a discuspendent states adjoining the Punjab. sion with learned Mahommedans of This man and his wife are eal'llest Agra many years ago, Imad-ud-din Christians, having sacrificed much to was one of the champions of Islam. take a stand as disciples of Christ. An eloquent and graceful preacher, The kanwar, or prince, made a re- he was employed during the week of markable address before the commit- the discussion to preach in the Agra tee of the Church Missionary Society, mosques against Christianity and the in which he expressed his deep sense miSSIOnaries. Having zealously and of indebtedness to Christian mission- conscientiously studied Christianity aries and gave emphatic testimony and searched the Scriptures for this to the value of their labors. He af- purpose, he was terribly shaken in firmed that, notwithstanding all that his belief. After much distress and has been done for India by the great many struggles he became a Chrisstatesmen, such as Lords Dalhousie, tian, and since then he has earnestly Canning, Lawrence, Ripon, and preached the faith which once he deothers, it is to such men as Marsh- stroyed. In recognition of his worth man, Carey and Duff that India owes and learning, and of his eminent sermost. "There are many who put vices to native Christian literature, the question, What good are mission- the Archbishop of Canterbury four aries doing in India? I say, without years ago conferred on him the honanyhesitation, that had it not been .)rary degree of Doctor of Divinity,
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
There are others who are almost Jesus Christ every day for the par~ equally striking examples of the don of his sins. It is not too much powerof Christianity to win converts to say that the whole Brahmo movefrom M,ahommedanism. The pastor ment, which takes a lead in all social of the native congregation at Pesha- and moral refornis in India, and wur, amid the bigoted Afghans of the which, although decidedly unchrisborder, is a convert from Islam. tian, pays to Christianity the sincere Barkhurdah Khan, our native doctor flattery of imitation, is the direct pr!>- presently in charge of the Medical duct of missionary teaching." Mission in Chamba, is also a convert from Mahommedanism. The Madras Presidency contains the largest Christian population of all Progress and Value of Missions.- India, the number of native Chris- Sir Charles W. Atchison, Lieutenant- tians, including ROlllan Catholics, Governor of the Punjab, India, says being 700,000. This shows that, out, of that anyone who has "no faith in every 1,000 of the population, are 23 the work of missionaries in India native Christians. But it is in edumust be either ignorant of facts or cational matters that the native under the influence of very blinding Christians have shown most satisfacprejudice." He further says: "Mis- tory progress. According to the latsionary teaching and Christian liter- est census return, in the municipal ature are leavening native opinion, towns, while the percentage of eduespecially among the Hindus, in a cated Hindu males is 36.30 and of Mahommedans 30, that among the way and to an extent quite startling male native Christians is 53.67. The to those who take a little personal proportion of educated females is trouble to investigate the facts. Out equally striking, and largely in favor of lllany examples I could give, take of the native Christians. Taking the one I know of-one of the ruling total population, male and female, of l)!"inces of India, who probably never the three creeds throughout the Prese saw or spoke to a Christian mission- idency, we find the averages to be ary in his life. After a long talk with Hindus, 9.90 per cent.; Mahommeme on religious matters, he told me dans 8.57, and Christians, 16.53.- himself that he reads the Sanskrit The Indian Witness. translation of our Bible and prays to IV.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D. D., OF THE "INTERNATIONAL MIS- SIONARY UNION."
The Evangelioal Allianoe and Missions. that locality to French Protestants. The Indian Bureau of the United THERE are many secular transac- States Government has unsettled tions which seriously affect the pros- mif:lsionary work on our Indian Reserperity and power of missions. A vations by an order that no teaching prominent illustration of this is shall be done in its own schools or just now presented in severa] por- any other, except in the English lan- 'tions of the globe in the matter of guage-an order which seriouslyoblanguage. The French Government structs the progress in civilization has interdicted teaching in other and preparation for citizenship than the French language through- amongst many of these red races, and 'out its West African colonies, thus will practiqally shut off large numseriously embarrassing the Wesleyan bel'!> of them from the acquisition of :Missions on the Gambia, and obliging literary training, for fifty years to the American Presbyterian Mission comp-an orcler we are. however, 'Of the Gn-boon to resign its work in pleased to learn, through private Christians therefore are to receive channels, which those highest in our government protection, may have' national Government already recog- awakened undue expectations in this nize to have been a mistake, and country. The event is hailed as "a. which, therefore, we may hope will be new era in China," which it would' soon modified. scarcely be considered by those who recall that the same government An illustration of an opposite ten- has sent out similar proclamations in dency is seen in the movement in other periods of its history, and that Japan for the adoption of the Roman the British Consul, Mr. Medhurst, afalphabet in writing the Japanese firms that the religious toleration language. The Romaji Kai is a Ro- clause was the easiest to secure of all man alphabet association of Japan, in the great Treaty of the nations with numbering, we are told, six thousand China. That government has always members, and led by professors in the been liberal in religious matters. National University of the country, Weare doubtful, too, of the extent which seeks to substitute for the Jap- to which the late Imperial order has been published throughout the anese characters a simple system empire. Mr. R. H. Graves says, in of Romanizing. It may be recalled The Ohinese Recorder, that these pro" that ten centuries ago the Japanese clamations have not been issued in threw away the Chinese characters. Kwang Tung Province, and others Analyzing their own language, they certify to instances where they are found that it could be constructed on posted face to the wall. But after all forty-seven distinct syllabic sounds. such deductions are made from the Borrowing the Chinese characters, original force of the proclamation,the severing them from their Chinese fact remains that this broad religious ideals, and dismembering separate liberty and protection are affirmed characters arbitrarily, they composed over the vermilion signature of the foriy-seven representative characters Emperor,and a contrary order,though for their own use. But that simple even less regarded by the Provincial base had, in use, to be adjusted to authorities, would have spread conrepresent three hundred and fifty sternation through missionarycirc1es. symbols. It is said that by the new system of Romanizing, a Japanese It was, however, to those political measures which seem to demand some will be able to learn to read in as concerted and specially representa- tive agency to deal with their relation many weeks as the old system re- to Christian Evangelism that we inquires years. It does not need com- tended to allude. Some of these are ment to show the important relation delicate questions, and can only be of such a modification of national let- dealt with indirectly. Yet they detel's to the work of the teacher who mand thought, and possibly action. carries thither a foreign literature and An illustration is afforded by the fola foreign-written religior;. lowing from the New York Observer: Tpere are amongst these secular de- " A somewhat peculiar condition of affairs in velopments those which seem to Japan consists in the fact that among the repredemand representative as well as sentatives of oth.,.. and Christian nations all of concerted action in dealing with them who have any church connections are them. Of this sort are many politi- either Catholic or Greek. Even the English cal movements. Weare not unmind- Minister and his AmeriClln wife are stanch adful that the importance of such events herents to the Romish church. is frequently underrated, and sometimes overrated. Perhaps, for in- "Thus in every diplomatic question that may arise it is quite evident that should any religions a stance, the edicts that have been sent matters be involved the combined inlluence of other nations as now represented here would be out within short period in China, almo,t a unit against Protestantism. Since the assuring the people that the Christian religion is a good one, and that bitter experience with the Jesuit missionaries in Mexican Government of his friendly former times it is very unfortnnate that the J ap- influence, in the event that the anese are left almost wholly alone in their efforts Church of his choice should come to resist the intrignes of the Romish emis- into open collision, as it is all the saries, as time does not change the methods or while in secret collusion against the spirit with which Catholicism seeks to gain the President. temporal and spiritnal sway in all lands." The missionaries may not be the It does not seem to be just the duty best, and certainly should not be the of anyone mission, or of all, to inau- only, organized body to look after the political privileges and protection of gurate the flow of influences necessa- Protestants in that country. ry to guard against any such catas- The illustrations we have furnished trophe as is here pointed out as pos- are only two out of a multitude from sible. The individual missionaries which wem.ight select: What we now ask is if there cannot be some other might render aid to some prop- than a purely missionary agency erly constituted agency better than which can be organized ubiquitously, so as to be a medium, ready at hand become such agents themselves. in every mission field of the globe, Mexico affords another field where through which to command the sym- pathy, influence and power of its occasions for protection of the in- central body, as the proper and recogterests of Protestantism may arise. nized central force of Protestantism. The Republic of Mexico is now dis- We not only believe that such ought to be, but that such is partially in tinctly and avowedly Protestant. existence, and only needs to be more The following sections from the new widely extended till every mission Laws of Reform, issued from the field of the globe shall be within easy office of the Secretary of State, will touch of its sympathy, its counsel and abundantly confirm the statement: its protection. Weare, perhaps, an- ticipated by the reader. The Evan- "SECTION. I.-Article 1. The State and the gelical Alliance is seeking to extend Church are independent of each other. No one itself in local organizations through- can dictate laws so as to establish or prohibit out the United States, and we hope any religion; but the State exercises authority this impulse will not expend itself over all of them in relation to the preservation merely on this country, vastly im- of public order aud the observance of the insti- portant to all Christian growth and tutions. permanence of our civilization as we recognize the principles it seeks to "Article 2. The State guarantees in the Repub- spread through the body politic to be. lic the exercise of all worship. It will only per- secute and chastise those acts and practices What we are urging upon the which, although authorized by any worship, Christian public of the world is not become a fault or misdemeanor by the penal anything new, but rather only plead- laws. ing for a very large extension of what already exists, till it is localized, " Article 3. No authority of corporation, or not only in every principal portion of any association which may be formed, can be the world, but in every chief centre carried on with any official character under the where there are eyangelical interests acts of any religion. Nor with the object of re- to foster, guide or defend. A report ligious celebration shall there be made by the before us says: State any demonstrations of whatever kind. In consequence, there shall cease to be festival "One oCthe great objects of the Alliance is to days of all those which have not for exclusive maintain the principles of freedom of conscience. object the solemnization of events pnrely civil. It is to Tnrkey and Syria, as well as to the &1: Sunday shall remain appointed as a day of rest tic Province of Russia, that the attention of the for the public offices and public establishments." Council has been principally directed during the We are not apprehensive of any serious danger to the Government now, but there is always the priestly party to antagonize it, and just now an effort to secure the appointment as Minister to Mexico from our Gov- ernment of a Roman Catholic gentle- man, against the wishes of most of the Americans in that country. The religious proclivities of such an am- bassador would scarcely assure the year. In Turkey there are many signs of in- the functions of such a representllitive creased activity on the part of the officials with body. The Vatican is proposing to a view to hinder Protestant mission work; and be represented in China by a special many schools in Syria and other portions of the legate at Peking to look after the-inempire have been closed. The Council ho.ve terests of Roman Catholics in that been in constant communication with the Con- country and, just now, to take care of stantinople Committee in order to ascertain that Church's general interests in definitely the facts in regard to the various the "triangular struggle between cases. The information thus obtained is most France, the Vatican and the Tsungvaluable as coming from those who, by long Li Yamen." There is no thought resideuce and great experience in Turkey, are that any political advantages are to well qualified to advise what steps should be be sought for the Protestants of that taken. Only lately an evangelical hall at empire other than are common to Smyrna, in which gospel services had for some all nations in treaty relation with it. years been held without hindrance, was closed But there are evils to be forefended by order of the Sadi as the result of mob vio- against at Peking that this Branch lence evidently instigated by the clergy of the Alliance may well look to, and for Greek Church. The disturbers of the peace, the prevention of which probably having been unchecked, proceeded a week later no better ag-ency can be found. to attack the Protestants as they came out of church, and also damaged the building and We doubt not but that a Japanese school-house as well as the residence of the Evangelical Alliance might exert an pastor. It is very satisfactory to find that the infll}ence favorable to the revision of American consul took prompt steps in the mat- the present treaty of the Western nater. He telegraphed to Constantinople, and in tions with Japan, which so humilia few hours full protection was secured for the atingly discriminates against and Protestants. The whole qnestion of religious threatens to bankrupt that nation. liberty in the Russian empire demands prayerful The missionary force of that country, consideration. Protestant Christians are con- we believe without exception as to tinually oppressed and persecuted in various nationality, is making strenuous efparts of the empire, some even being exiled to fort to secure a juster recognition of Siberia for preaching the Gospel. Early in the Japanese rights in the premises; but year an appeal was made to the Alliance to use a Japanese Branch Alliance could its influence with the French Government on command strong influence and backbehalf of native Christians in the island of Marie, ing from the Alliances in the sev- New Caledonia, who had been cruelly perse- eral Christian lands. cuted under the orders of the chief. These poor people are French subjects, and a representa- Thus in Madagascar, the Fiji Isltive of the Government of France is resident in ands and other remote parts, the orthe Island. It was, therefore, considered most ganization of Branch Alliances would suitable that the snbject should be referre'd to come to be of vast value. 'he French branch." Pifty 'Years of Protestant Progress in The General China Branch of the Europe. Alliance was organized in May, 1884, FIFTEEN thousand dollars is not a and as early as March, 1885, addressed large income for a modern mission., ary society, but if it is to distribute the American, British and German that sum judiciously, to meet emer- gencies of other missionary societies, Ministers at Peking regarding the it may become a very important moral and money agency. Such are the foranti-Chinese riots in the K wang Tung tune and the force of The Evangelwal Oontinental Society, which was in- Province, and in July, 1886, they stituted in London in 1845 and has as its object "to assist and encourage sent out an appeal for united prayer from the Christian Church for the young Emperor, then soon to be en- throned. The Shanghai Branch of the China Alliance, formed only two years ago, we are told, "has appealed to the Municipal Council of the city, urging that body to use its influence with a view to suppressing the large number of houses of ill-repute, in- cluding the gambling and opium dens." The Ohinese Recorder points out a new opportunity for the exercise of <evangelical societies on the Continent Independent Church in Neufchatel. [of Europe] in their endeavors to pro- These, together with the Theological pagate the gospel." School of Geneva, form the three The 38th report of this worthy so- theological centres of Switzerland tociety contains a rapid but strong review of the progress of religious lib- day. The national churches are ~rty and Christian enterprise on the practically without doctrinal resh'ic- Continent of Europe during the last tions, and this has eompelled the fifty years. Half a century ago Bel- members of that communion to orgium only accorded religious liberty, ganize an Evangelical Union. Swiss and the laws which granted it had Protestant Christianity has been thus long been in abeyance. But 11letween healthfully and generously aroused. 1837 and 1849 the evangelistic movements of the country grew into Germany fifty years ago was fol- "The Christian Missionary Church lowing Strauss, stirred by his then of Belgium." This has now some new "Life of Jesus," and Bauer was twenty-six churches, with an aggre- arraying Paul against Peter. But gate of 4,300 adult members, and at Tholuek had been teaching at Halle the same time the State churches for eleven years, Dorner was busy have six, stations under their Evan- on his" Person of Christ," and Degelistic Committee. litzsch was preparing for work on that mighty evangelistic agency, the He- Half a century ago France had but brew New Testament, while the Dealimited religious liberty. The pres- coness Institute of Fliedner was ent state of things has been brought furnishing the type of the" House of about by strenuous efforts and grad- Mercy" for the" Fatherland." Since ual advances. The earlier Monods, then the churches and schools have and Lutherans like Meyer, with others appeared in hundreds of parishes, of their co':laborers, at last saw their the Bible – reading Nazarenes are labors develop into" The Free Church reaching the lower classes, and the of Lyons." The Evangelical Society Scriptures are having a wide cireulaof Geheva and that of France were tion among all grades of society. begun over half a century ago, and they grew into the Union of Free Russia prohibits evangelistic work, Churches in 1849 and into the Re- but the Scriptures are being circuformed Church later, with now twen- lated. Half a century ago there were ty-one stations, and the McAll Mis- not twenty-five schools in all Servia; sion, with a hundred more. Add now every village has one. Bulgaria these together, and the evangelistic has been reaehed, though with varyforce of France has numerically irig fortune, both north and south of trebled in fifty years. The Reformed the Balkans. In Greeee a beginning Church, the Lutheran Church and has been made. the Free Churches now enroll a thousand pastors. Half a century ago, except in the valleys of Piedmont, not a native Fifty years ago Switzerland had Protestant community was to be an Evangelical School of Theology found in the peninsula of Spain or under Merle d'Aubigne and his com- Italy. Men were allowed forty-eight peers, and Pastor Pilet drew crowds hours to quit the boundaries of Italy to the OratoireChurch to be charmed for circulating the Scriptures, and by his eloquence. Fifty years ago those were imprisoned who reeeived Alexander Vinet was teacher of them. But in '69 the Spanish Repub- Practical Theology at Lausanne, and lic proclaimed religious liberty for all in 1846 the Free Church of Vaud was its citizens, and in '70 Victor Emmanformed under his lead; and again in uel took possession of Rome. Now, 1873 Godet led the organization of the exclusive of the Waldensians in the Alpine valleys, the communion of the e-angelistic churches of Italy numbers 9,000; and thirty churches Methodistbodies of Japan are invited "in Spain proclaim the truth that to unite. These bodies are the Methomakes men free. dist Episcopal Church South, the Evangelical Church of America and The editor of The Non-Oonformist :alludes to the vast variety of nation- the Methodist Protestant Church. alties in Europe, each with a his- As it may afford help to some other tory behind it, and to the continent churches in other parts of the world as the mother of our civilization who may be seeking for a closer coand of all that goes to make the operative base, if not organic union, elevation and dignity of human life. The cry from Europe is now, as it we give the text of the action pro. was 1834 years ago, "Come over posed, though it has yet to receive and help us!" This society has sta- the approval of the home churches tions of its own in Bohemia and of each of the parties in the premises. Spain, and has aided other societies It reads: in France, Italy and Belgium, such as the Free Churches of France, the " Whereas, During the period of transition Free Italian Church, the Evangelical through which Japan is now passing the religi- Society of France, the Belgian Evan- ous character and ecclesiastical relations of the gelical Society, the Cicily Mission and Japanese will be moulded and settled so that the McAn missions. Many others subsequently radical changes Will be extremely have received aid through this chan- difficult; and nel also. There certainly seems imminent need and a favorable oppor- " Whereas, In accordance With their strong tunity for this sort of work. national instincts, and with a view to securing the highest economy of means and the most ef- Co-operation in Missions. fective methods of Christian evangelization, all Ittchi Kyokwa is not a very fa- Japanese Christians urgently recommend that Protestant Missions operating In Japan lay aside miliar title in this country, but it minor points of difference, and, as far as possible, will become more 80. It is the Japa- unite in common lines of church organization nese name for the Union Presbyterian and activity; and, Church, as we find it in (the Hiogo News. The Presbyterian Church of " ll'7!ereas. The more prominent Protestant the United States, both North and Missions in Japau have been greatly blessed and South, the Reformed (Dutch), the prospered by organic nnion on the basis of inde- United Church of Scotland, and the pendent Japanese c,hnrches; and German Reformed of the United States, and possibly ere now the " Whereas, The Methodist Episcopal Church Congregational Church, compose this and the Canada Methodist Church are Identical body. Fifty-seven churches were in doctrine and almost identical in polity; there- represented at the meeting at which fore the union was accomplished. Nip- pou Sei Ko Kwai, or Japan Holy "RESOLVED, 1st, That we, the members in Ja- Public As::;embly, is the title under pan of the Methodist Episcopal Chnrch, and of which the Protestaht Episcopal the Cauada Methodist Chnrch, trusting In God Church of America, the Society for and seeking only His glory, hereby agree to unite the Propagation of the Gospel and iu organiZing and perpetuating the Methodist the Church Missionary Society have Church of Japan, into which Union the other been drawn into close affiliation. Methodist bodies in Japan are cordially iuvited to enter. And now we are furnished with the text which is proposed as a base: of "211. That the polity of the Methodist Chnrch union between the Methodist Church of Japan shall be Episcopal; and that the Gen- of Canada and the Methodist Episco- eral Superintendency, the Itlnerancy and other pal Church, and with which the other esseutial features of Methodism shall be pre- served; and that its doctrines, drawn from the Holy Bible, shall harmonize with the accepted standards of Methodism.
"3d. That In each contracting Mission the ad- ministration of its Missionary Society shall not be disturbed by this union, except as provided iu resolution 4th. Each Society shall, as here- tofore, appoint the Treasurer in its own Mis- Sion, who will receive the appropriations and make such reports as may be required by each Society.
"4th. That all appropriations made by the Home SocietieR for direct evangelistic work among the Japanese-aside from those made for Foreign Missionaries directly engaged therein- The Assamese are malnl1lIindns and Ma., and also all the funds raised by Japanese churches hommedans. The work among them has met for the same purpose, shall be administered by a the obstacles usual to missionary labor for such. Joint Finance Committee. people. And yet it has had a gratifying measnre of success. But the work most highly favored "5th. That the Joint Finance Committee shall is of later origin. It is that among the Garos., be composed of – – members, one half of the westernmost of the several tribes inhabwhom shall be Foreign Missionaries, and one iting the hills lying sonth of the Assam valley. half Japanese ministers or laymen. The foreign These people are not idolaters, but, like the members shall be appointed hy their respective many aborigines of India, are demon worship- Missions in a manner to be hereafter determined, ers. They have no written language, and are it being understood that representation on the therefore less civilized than the Hindus and committee shall be in an approximate ratio to other residents of the plains, but excel them in the contributions of the several Societies. The truthfulness and chastity. Their prominent vice Japanese members of this commtttee shall be is intemperance. Their drink is of home manappointed by the Japan Annual Conference of ufacture and is made from rice. the Methodist Church. Onr work among them began a little more 6th. That the Joint Finance Committee shall than 20 years ago and came to us unsought. It prepare estimates for evangelistic work as pro- was the providence of God which put it into vided in resolution 4th, and that these estimates our hands. Some years before the Indian govshall be submitted to the contracting Missions ernment as a hopefnl civilizing agency for these for approval; afl;er which they shall be for- savage people established a vernacnlar school at warded to the Home Boards by the Missions. Gowalparah, the station nearest to their terri- The Finance Committee shall disburse t)le funds tory, and gathered Into it a number of Garo granted according to the appropriations made, young men. In 1863 two of these men were and it shall prepare full reports of all disbnrse- found at Gowhatty and in government service. ments for the Missions; and those reports shall Omed was a non-commissioned officer in a Sebe transmitted by the Missions to the Home poy regiment. Ramkhe was a writer, or copy- Boards. ist, in the JudiCial Commissioner's Court. There '''Ith. That the property in each of the con- was no missionary in the place, and the mission tracting Missions now belonging to its Mission- houses were let to English occupants. One of ary Society, or that may hereafter be acquired these was Col. Campbell, the commander of' by it, shall be held, or disposed of, by each so- above-mentioned native troops. ciety for the benett of the Methodist Church of Japan." One day Omed was acting as the Colonel's orderly, and as he paced back and forth he es- In Italy, union progresses slowly, pied a tract npon the gronnd. This had once even amongst churches accepting the been the property of a missionary occupant, but same doctrines. The Waldensian now had been carelessly swept ont by a servant, Omed picked it up, and was struck by the title of Synod has had before it the question it-" Bhrom Nahok "-" The Destroyer of Darkof union with the Chisea Libera of ness." He furtively read some ofits contents, and Italy, but it seems to have been was still further impressed. He carried it with unanimously of the opinion that no him to the sepoy lines, when he was relieved of" duty, and then read it at his leisure. His previous union is at present possible. Denomi- impressions were only deepened thereby. He nationalism amongst the foreign afterward sought out a native Chrlstian preacher, churches in Italy is certainly too who had been left in care of the station when strong at present to encourage the the missionary departed, that he might get fur- ther instruction. He had become by this time hope that they will speedily be ab- a sincere inquirer after the truta, and it was sorbed into the Evangelical Church not long before he avowed himself a believer in of Italy. Christ. Meantime he had talked with his coun- tryman, Ramkhe, the writer, and his investi- HOW A. MISSION ORIGINATED FROM A gations, with the instructions of Kandura, the TRACT. native preacher, led to the same result in his case. In due time Rev. Miles Bronson came By REV. M. B. COMFORT, OF ASSAM. from Nowgong, a station 70 miles up the valley, AssA.lll is a fertile valley of about' 500 miles in length, through which flows the Brahmaputra and baptized both of these men in 1864. River. Our mission was established in 1836 and They at once desired to ~arry to theIr countrycelebrated its jubilee in December of last year. Its origin was due to an attempt to reach North- men the light which they had themselves reern Burmah from Upper Assam. The mission- ceived. They pleaded to be sent to them with aries engaged in this effort were baffled by the the message of salvation. At Mr. Bronson's so– hostility of the hill men through whose territory licitation they were released from government they sought to pass. Retracing their steps they employ and entered the service of the mission, located in the Assam valley instead of returning thou~h for less compensation than they had been to Burmah. receiving. Ramkhe was sent by Mr. Bronson to ,start a school for training Garo teachers. It was and, though no lives were l()St, and nearly every. ,at Damra, the location of a market as well as a thing on the wreck was saved, 'their goods were thana, or police station. Bnt Omed went at damaged. They were relieved by the Day- '<lnce into the hills as a herald of the good news. spring. Bnt when the crops began to snft'er for lack of rain, the snperstitious people ascribed this fact Rev. Jacob Chamberlain, D.D., M.D., and to the anger of the demons because they per- wife, and their son, Rev. W. T. Chamberlain; mitted a man to remain among them who was Rev. J. G. Fagg and the Misses M. and D. Root 'seeking to turn them away from the religion of sailed together from Liverpool in the Persia. Dr. their ancestors. They therefore persecuted him, Chamberlain returns to the Arcot Mission, but and when he could only remain at the peril of Mr. Fagg's Ultimate destiny Is Amoy, where the his life, he came down from the hills and built a Reformed Church co·operates with the English hut at a point where two mountain' paths con- Presbyterian Mission. While in Europe he visverged. TheBe were used by the Garos, going to Ited the Netherlands in the interest of missions .and from Rongjulee, where a market was held in Cl)ina. The Reformed Church of the Nethertwice a week. This gave him an opportunity to lands has had no missionary in China since the tell them about Christ, the Saviour of men. This death of Gutlaff. As a result of Mr. Fagg's work he continued for three years, keeping up, visit, a permanent Committee was organized at meanwhile, a correspondence with Mr. Bronson. Amsterdam with a view to co-operate with the As fast as he gained any adherents to ChristI-/ daughter of the Old Dntch Church, the Reformed '>lnity, they left the hills and built themselves Church ofAmerica, in missionary effort in China, houses by him. Thus there grew up in three and 3,000 guilders have been raised for a hospi- .years a Christian village. Iu April, 1867, Mr. tal near Amoy, under the supervision of the Bronson visited the place, baptized 40 men and newly-appointed Medical Missionary of the Rewomen, and organized at Rajasimla the first formed Board, Dr. A. J. Otto. 'Garo Christian church. The Rev. Dr. J. M. Thoburn, of the Method- From that the work has gone on with contin- ist Episcopal Mission in South India, has been uous and marked success. More and more of for a year past endeavoring to secure 25 men for 'Garo territory has been occupied, numerous the field. He reports having secured the fol- ·schools have been established, churches have lowing, who have already sailed: been multiplied, many Christian teachers have been employed, several native preachers have The first man sent out was R. L. Kinsey, of been ordained, and in a score of years, in all India, a layman, who sailed in October to be that constitutes success, the work among the manager of the mission press in Calcntta. Garos has far surpassed that of a half century in all the rest of the Assam field. And in carrying B. F. West, M. D., wife and two children, of on this deeply interesting work we have found Iowa, to Singapore. Final destination probably our most efficient helpers among the young men Malacca. who had received some intellectual training in the Government school before spoken of. It is E. F. Frease, wife and child, of Ohio, and Miss not to be supposed that the English authorities Thompson, of Ohio, to Bombay. -contemplated such a thing when they estahlished that school as a possible evangelizing agency. A. E. Winter and wife, of Ohio; G. W. Isham, But through the overruliug providence of wife and child, of Nebraska, and W. H. Hollis- God they builded wiser than they knew. And ter and wife, of WisconSin, to South India Conin the fact that this wor'k originated in the ference. ·casual finding and reading of a single tract, we can see evidence that God can use a very R. H. Craig, wife and child, of Minnesota, and simple agency for the accomplishment, event. F. W. WaI'lle, wife and child, of lIIinois, to the ually, of a great result. Bengal Conference.
PERSONAL. Neil Madsen, of New Jersey, and Miss Files, of New York, to Calcntta. No persons have ever attended the annnal meet- 'ings of the International Missionary Union whose Re,'. Henry Jackson, formerly of India, and presence awakened more enthusiasm than Rev. family, which inclndes an adult daughter. and Mr. and Mrs. Annand, of the Canada Presby- Rev. W. L. King, of Minnesota, are also under terian Mission in the New Hebrides. Som. fif- appointment. teen months since they retnrned to their work, 'and were designated to open a new mission work The whole number is twenty-one adults and on the Island of Tongoa, a small, healthy island eleven children. 'Off the sonth end of Santo. A large extent of eoast can be readily reached from this favored ORIENTAL SUBJECTS IN PERIODICAL .situation by hoat. We learn through The Fre6 Ohurch of Scotland Mcmthly that they reached LITERA TURE. their destination last summer, but the Cairndhu, ·on which they sailed, was wrecked on the way, IT is matter of regret that three years ago Freiderici of Leipsig ceased to compile his useful annual sum- mary, Bibliotheca Orientalis. It was not known as widely as it deserved to be, but its contents were indicated in the title," A Complete List of Books, Papers, Serials and Essays pub- lished in England and the Colonies, Germany and France, on the His- SUNDAY SCHOOLS OF THE WORLD. tory, Languages, Religions, An- tiquities and Literature of the East." THE Sunday-school as an institu- The compilation included all litera- tion has become a very efficient mis- ture relating not only to China, In- . sionary agency. The Kaukab-i-Iswi dia and Arabia, but to Australia, Bur- of Lucknow furnishes the following· mah, Egypt, Palestine, Algeria, West table, prepared by Rev. J. E. Scott Africa and South Africa. An annual of the Methodist Mission of Nortb. volume contained some 1,500 entries, India: all numbered and indexed, and was sold for a few shillings. After eight N.AMERWA- years of useful service, from 1876 to 1883, it was discontinued, as a similar U. States ..99,762 8,034,478 1,107,170 9,141,648 monthly compilation by J. Klatt was being published in the Literature British A. Provinces 6,322 436,938 52,268 489,206 Blatt f. Orientalische Philologie. In C.America, 53,000 8,250 38,250 themeantime Triibner & Co., in their Mexico & .American, .European and Oriental W.Indies. 850 Literary Record (a monthly" Regis- ter of the most Important Works EURoPE- Published in North and South Amer- ica, India, China, Europe and the England 5,200,776 593,436 5,794,212 British Colonies," 5s. per ann.) have & Wales.• attempted to form an index to " arti- cles relating to Oriental subjects in Scotland .. 561,269 53,113 614,375 current periodical literature," which we know to be hard to refer to after Ireland … 298,639 28,155 326,794 we have read them.-The Harvest Field, Bangalore, India. Italy… ..• 200 12,560 850 13,41~ THE English Baptist Missionary SWI tzer- 6,522 97,893" Society recently adopted the follow- land••…• 1,591 91,371 4,000 49,000- ing: "That, in view of the lonely 13,000 263,000 position occupied by so many of our Denmark….. . 45,000 8,800 145,440 missionary brethren in distant fields 5,600 70,600· of labor, and their practical exile Germany.. 2,851 250,000 8,700 216,700 • from home, friends, and associations, 5,220 126,870' the Committee feel it most desirable Holland .. ' 1,291 141,640 8,400' that efforts should be made to secure 400 2,100 for each missionary in the field some Norway …… . 65,000 100 2,510' friend or friends in this country who 160 3,139 will undertake to keep up personal Sweden …… . 208,000 264 1,21/0· sympathetic communication by peri- 110 odical despatch of Christian litera- France…. 1,197 12,150 ture-say, of papers, magazines, pam- phlets and books, and occasional cor- Spain.. …. 100 8,000 respondence-it being the judgment of the Committee that such sympa- Portngal .. 110 2,000 thetic thought and consideration will Belgium .. , 57 2,350 tend greatly to the happiness and Bohemia. . 9"~ 2,875 encouragement of their missionary brethren, who are now bearing the Moravia.. . 110 1,200 heat and burden of the day." Russia …• 10,761 795 11,556 Otker parts. . … 10,000 500 10,500 Asu- Persia….. 107 4,876 440 5,816 5,000 105,000 India….. . 100,000 7,019 Japan….. 150 7,019 Oen'l Tur- 7,000 600 7,600 key…… 60 110,000 2,000 32.000 Other part8. . …
AFRICA- 2,649 2,649 Egypt….. 62 Other part8. . … 158,745 8,355 167,100 S. AMERICA 350 150,000 3,000 153,000 OCEANICA– 408,701 42,639 451,340 Australasia Hawaiian 15,000 1,300 16,300 Islands …
Other parts. . ••• 25,000 1,500 26,500 Total. . . .. . •.. 16,447,990 1,952,167 18,400,157 FIvE missionalies and their wives, connected with the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists bound for the Cassia HIlls, where the Welsh have a large and prosperous mission, arrived in Calcutta this week. Oue is a medical missionary.-Calcutta Witness.
PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS-MONTHLY BULLETIN
V.-PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF MISSIONS- MONTHLY BULLETIN.
AFRICA. the boat and machinery is 13,!4' tons, -Zulus. Dr. Elmslie, missionary and on her trial trip on the Thames, /among the Zulus west of Lake Ny- a speed of 9 miles an hour was at- assa, has sent home the first book tained under unfavorable circum- printed in the Ubungoni language, as stances. The vessel was so con- issued from the neighboring mission structed as to be taken to pieces and press at Blantyre. It contains the packed in 500 man-loads for trans- Decalogue, passages from the Psalms, portation. Proverbs and the Gospels, and four- teen hymns. -Rev. C. W. Kilbon, of the Zulu -Bishop Taylor calls for forty mis- Mission, has been in this country sionaries for Liberia. Seventeen of some two years, preparing a hymn the number sailed from New York, and tune book in the native language, Oct. 1. which is now ready for shipment. -'['he Institution of Rev. H. Grat· It includes about 250 hymns, and, tan Guinness, in London, has just owing to the peculiarity of the sent 100 missionaries to Africa, and language, both hymns and tunes 500 during the last 14 years. He has have had to be largely reconstructed. at present 100 missionary students, and on an average sends out a mis- CHINA. sionary to some part of the great -The population of this great mission field every week in the year. empire nas long been a matter of dis- -Whiskey in Africa. Two or three pute. A recent estimate, based on years ago 900 barrels of whiskey were a Chinese ofijcial census of ten out of landed at Madagascar from a profess- the eighteen provinces, made in 1882, edly Christian nation. The authorities gives to China proper about 383,000,- of that once heathen nation purchased 000 inhabitants, or a little more than this cargo and knocked the barrels in one quarter part of the population of the head, that their vile contents might the globe. Within this empire there be swallowed up by the sand rather are now laboring the representatives than by the people. The Congo Free of 38 foreign missionary societies, State bids fair to be almost literally numbering in all 919 missionaries, 446. destroyed by the barrels of whiskey of whom are men. The ordained na- and still worse forms of spirituous tive laborers number 40; the unor- liquors which the Christian nations dained, 1,296. There are now over- of Europe are yearly pouring upon 28,000 communicants. the untutored but rum-loving people -Down to the close of 1886, 38 of the great Congo Valley! Protestant societies had missionaries. -The steamer "Heury Reed," there, aggregating in number 925, of for the navigation of the Upper whom more than half are women. Congo and its tributaries, was a gift Native helpers, ordained and unor- to "The Livingstone Inland Mis- dained, 1,488, and communicants reg- sion "by MI'S. Reed, of Tasmania, in istered, 28,506. memory of her husband. It was -The Baptist Mission in the Shan- built in London in 1882, and is 71 tung Province have in the' single dis- feet long, 10 feet wide, and 3 feet trict of Tsing-cheu Fu fifty-five deep. It is a stern-wheel steamer, churches, all being self-supporting, of very light draught, in order to pass ministered to by native pastors and the 'shoals, which are num(>rous in teachers. the Upper Congo. The weight of -In the Province of Shansi, in connection with the China Inland Mission, 210 adults were baptized in one day, on profession, and many portions of the New Testament into more were inquiring. Within a short it. He also translated some of the time, in theFukien Province over 900 best classics of China into English. have been received into the church by The first wife of Dr. Lord was Miss the Church of England Miss..Society, Lucy Lyon, a niece, and for some time and 2,300 additional inquirers and an associate teacher of, the founder of applicants for baptism reported. the Mt. Holyoke Seminary.
-The overtlow of the Yellow -China Inland Mission. Hudson River, in the Province of Honan, Sept. Taylor and his noble band of workers 28, inundated Chingchow and ten covenanted to pray that God would other cities. The overflowed district send 100 new laborers into the field is a sea ten to thirty feet deep. The in 1887. Some doubted, and others loss of crops and lives is fearful, and said, "Impossible!" But" is there worse evils seem ahead, as colder anything too hard for the Lord?" weather has already begun. They asked for two men each week. At Oct. 26, with seven weeks of the -Twenty-tlve years ago there was year yet left, there were but six men no professing Christian in the Chin- lacking! Oh, for more faith in God! ese Province of Shantung; now there Mr. BroomhaU, Sec. of the Mission, are 300 places where Christians meet writes: regularly on the Sabbath. .. You will be glad to know that 64 out of -The English Presbyterian Mis- the lOOhave already gone, and that 30 others sion at Formosa was begun in 1865, have been accepted." and now reckons 5,000 native church members, who last year contributed FRANCE. $2,000 for Christian work. The Canadian Presbyterian Church has a -The Mission Honse of the French mission in the north of the same Protestant Churches was recently island, begun fifteen years ago, and opened in Paris. This beautiful buildhas about 3,000 converts. In these ing, which has cost 242,000 francs, is facts from Formosa we have proph- more than the centre of the adminisecy of what is coming in Hainan. trative machinery of Fr~nch Prot- estant Missions. It is an institution -Dr. Mackay, of Tamsni, reports in which missionaries may obtain a that complications have risen by rea- training afforded by no other schools. son of the advent of a large number Apart from useful information upon of Spanish Roman Catholic priests. the countries and the people they are These Romanists are seeking to entice to evangelize, they are trained in difaway the converts connected with the ferent kinds of manual labor, such afl Presbyterian Mission, paying no at- may be practiced in the fields to which tention to the heathen. The Protest- they will be sent. The basement of ant mission is working vigorously this house is a real workshop. to withstand the intrusion, by opening new stations and by commission- -Greenland is a colony of Dening new men, and it is hoped that mark. In 1884 it reported an area of these intruders will be discouraged in 46,740 square miles, and a population their divisive movement. of 9,780. The Lutherans have mis- sions there, but the principal mission!' -Edward Clemens Lord, D.D., are those of the Moravians, begun by of Ningpo, China, in which country Rev. Hans Egede in 1721, and which he has labored faithfully for" forty last year reported six stations, 19 years as a missionary of the Baptist missionary agents, 43. native helpers Union, has recently died. He was a and occasional assistants, 749 comlaborious student, and was among municants, 115 baptized adults, 211 the first to reduce the colloquial candidates, 475 baptized children; 29 Chinese language to writing in the schools; with 33 teachers and 393 pu- English character, and to translate pils. -Labrador. The Moravians sent Protestantism and all its blessings on .
iheir first missionaries there in 1750, Ascension (or Ponape) Island and sub- but they were slain. The effort was stitute Romanism in its stead.
successfully repeated in 1771. Since -The South Sea Islanders, at then a missionary ship has been sent their last missionary nleeting, raised each year from London to Labrador. $1,531 for a new yacht to carry the The following are the latest statis- gospel to New Guinea. This repreiics: Six stations and out-stations, 34 sents a degree of generosity and sacmissionary agents, 59 native helpers rifice not often paralleled in the home and occasional assistants, 450 com- churches. municants, 227 baptized adults, 143 candidates, 443 baptized children; six INDIA. schools, with five teachers and 220 -Hinduism is Declining. The pupils. number of pilgrims to the Puri shrine this year was only about one-sixth of -Fiji Islands. Wesleyan stations former years. The Doorga Pugah report about 23,000 church members; festival was a complete failure.-The 104,000 attend public worship in the Oalcutta Englishman calls attention· 1)00 churches. The Sabbath is sacredly to a remarkable decline in the popobserved. In every Christian family ularity of the Festival of Juggernaut, there is morning and evening wor- at Orissa. This has been going on ship. Over 42,000 children are in- for some time, but is especially restructed in the 1,500 schools, and the markable this year, as there is no last relics of heathenism in the re- longer a wild rush for the car in mote mo~ntain regions are rapidly which the idol is dragged from the dying out. temple to a grange and back; on several occasions coolies have had to -Micronesia. It is scarcely more be hired to do this. than a quarter of a century si.nce the -The Baptist Foreign Mission first converts were baptized; this mis- Board of the Maritime Provinces has sion now i.ncludes 46 wholly self-sup- been empowered to confer with the porting churches, with 5,312 members, a larger number of communicants than Baptist Board for Foreign Missions in any other mission of the Board. of Ontario andQuebecwith reference Six high schools, for training native to the union of their Missions among preachers and teaching their wives, the Telugus. gather 178 pupils, and send out new and well-trained labol'ers every year, -The United Presbyterian Church began its work in India in 1855 with while 42 common schools, taught by one missionary, Dr. Gordon, and his natives and wholly self-supporting, wife, at Sialkot. Now they have 8 give instruction to some 2,800 pupils. districts, with several hundred vil- The Scriptures are translated wholly lages, 68 stations, 35 missionaries, and or in part into five different lan- 136 native helpers. There are over guages; and other Christian litera- 4,000 communicants.
ture, as well as school-books, has -The Punjab. A remarkable been provided by the missionaries. work of grace in the English Church The work thus far has extended to Mission, chiefly in and about Amrit- about half the islands of the three sal'. Several prominent men, as well groups embraced, and new islands as people of low caste, have been are visited every year. reached. About 150 low-caste con- -Mrs. Rand, of the Micronesian verts were baptized the previous year, Mission, reached here by a recent but nothing like this work, in vigor steamer from China, and reports a and growth, had been seen before in most flagrant outrage upon the rights that region. The ingathering of low of American citizens and missionaries, caste people is affecting the Hindus, consisting in an attempt to cr~h out Sikhs, and the Mahommedans, and several of these higher classes have means to send ont a missionary. Many ebnrches been reached. "Our compound re- would raise three or Conr times as mnch for sounds from morning to night with their own representative ss they do on the voices repeating to each other the present plan. If a number of our most aggres- Lord's Prayer, the Ten Command- sive and spiritnal churches will now send their ments, and the Creed, with bhajhans representatives it will be the beginning of a and bits of the Gospel." Much o;f glorious era. Take two Baptist churches of this has been· the result of medical eqoal strength In the same city, Let one choose missions. out a man or woman caIJed of God to bear the glad tidings of salvation to the heathen. Let -The Reformed (Dutch) Church them support him in his work from their Own General Synod, 111.oved by the ap- funds, and let the other church take collections peals of the Rev. Dl'. Chamberlain, of for the general work. I venture to predict that. the Arcot Mission in India, and by before five years the former will have so outthe wonderful blessing which at- stripped the latter in spiritual power and evantended the work in that field, re- gelization that no further experiment will be solved, in June last, to raise the sum needed. Five hundred men ought to be sent of $50,000 to establish a Theological ont thiB fall." Seminary in connection with that Mission, where native preachers are JAPAN. in great demand. The church at once endorsed the resolution by sup- -Native converts, with average plying the money. wages of less than twenty-five cents a day, contributed last year $27,000 -A discussion recently took place at Lucknow between the Arya So- to mission work. One man gave maj and the orthodox Hindus, when the attacks made upon Christianity $10,000 to found a school under the by the former aroused the ire of the care of the American Board. Dur- Mahommedans, who took sides with ing the year 3,640 adults were bapthe Christians, declaring that Christ tized, making a total membership of was holy and sinless. 14,815. There are now 193 organized churches, 64 of them self-supporting; -British India contains not far 93 native ministers and 169 theologifl'om one-seventh of the population cal students. of the glObe. Including a number of feudatory States, its ponulation by -The Japanese Gazette regrets the last census-that of 1881-was " to say that Buddhism cannot long 256.982,495, of whom about 50,000,000 hold its ground, and that Christianare Mahommedans, 187,000,000 Hin- ity must finally prevail throughdus, and 1,862,634 were classed as out all Japan. Japanese Buddhism Christians. Within the seven years and Western sciences cannot· stand since this census was taken, the together. They are inconsistent the Christian adherents have increased one with the other." The Buddhists greatly. The island of Ceylon has a continue to make a most vigorous population of 2,761,396, but the Mis- effort to counteract the spread of sion of the American Board on the Christianity in Japan, and the Honisland is confined to the northern ganji sect was never so busy. One peninsula of J affna, which has less school in Kioto alone is to be rebuilt than 300,Ooo.-Mi88. Herald. at a cost of $12,000, and other Bud- dhistic seminaries and colleges are – Rev. R. R. Williams, President being started in various parts of the of the Romapatam Theo. Seminary, who has done excellent work in train- country. ing young menfor pastorsandpreach- -The Universalists are looking ers in India, writes: towards Japan as a mission field. At "I believe that the time has come when God their' General Convention in New calls upon every Baptist church that bas the York a report was presented, urging .. Japan as a specially inviting field. All religions are now practically on the same footing there. The for- eigner is no longer hated and perse- cuted. American and English ideas are received with favor. The Eng- enormous sum of nearly $500,000 to estahlish a technical school in Galicia. lish language is taught in the schools, for Jewish orphan children.
and bids fair to become ere long not – It is said that in Kischene:tr, Russia, 50,000 Jews have become only the tongue of scholars, but of all Christians. The converts have not joined the Russian Orthodox Church, persons of average education. Chris- but have constituted themselves into a Judreo-Christian community, and tianity ha'l already gained many con- call their places of worship by the old familiar name of synagogue. The verts and accomplished mighty re- Russian Ministry of Worship has conceded State acknowledgment to sults." The Christian Register (Uni- these new and flourishing Christian congregations. DeJitzsch's Hebrew tarian) quotes this much of the report, translation of the New Testament is being eagerly read and studied by the and' says, "It may encourage U nita- Siberian Jews.
rians to know that their Universalist -N. A.. Indians. The Indian Pres- bytery of Dakota, composed of conbrethren are taking the same view of verted Sioux Indians, during the last ecclesiastical year gave $571 more the opportunities for missionary labor to foreign missions than any other presbytery in the synod, and during in Japan." the last synodical year gave to the nine boards of that church $234 more -By the censns of 1885 Japan had than any of of the white presbyteries of the synod. a population of 37,868,987. Its area -Madagascar, Electric Telegraph. is 148,456 square miles, equal to that A good deal of interest and inquiry has been excited among the people of New England, New York and Indi- of Antananarivo and its neighbor- hood by the completion of the first ana combined. The first Christian line of electric telegraph in Madagas- car, from Tamatave to the capital. church in Japan was organized fif- This has been done by a French com- pany, and is to be taken over by the teen years ago, in 1872. The latest native Government in a few months, on payment of a considerable sum. reports from all missionary societies Great is the wonder of the people as to how messages are sent through working within the empire give 193 this insignificent-Iooking wire. It seems strangely familiar, ,Yet novel, churches, with 14,815 members. to the European residents to see the line of poles and wires crossing the There are 261 stations and out-sta- hills and valleys oflmerina.-Ohron- cle of London Miss. Society. tions, with 324 male and female mis- -Palestine. There are now Young sionaries. The American Board has Men's Christian Associations at Jeru- salem, Beirut, Damascus, Jaffa and opened three new stations within the Nazareth.
last year-one at Sendai, in the north- -The Carmelite monks on Mount Carmel offered their 20,000 acres in ern section; one at Tokio; one at Galilee to the Roman Catholic Pales- Kumamoto, on the island of Kiushiu.
-Rnssia is fully awake to the QPPOl·tunities in Japan. According to the statement of the Russian news- papers there are 205 communicants of the Greek Church in Japan, with 16 priests and 104 native preachers, and the number of Japanese belonging to that religion is 12,500. The number of churches and prayel'-houses is 108, and there are three children's schools, with a total of 150 pupils.
There is also a girls' school, attended by some fOliy young Japanese fe- males. The latter building, which was a gift by the Countess Pontiatine, is capable of accommodating 100 pu- pils. In 1886 the number of converts and children bapti:r.ed amounted to 1,470. The number of teachers is said to be too small, and recruits are called for. '
.- Jews. The Israelit announces that Baron De Hirsch has given the tine Society, which alrElady has es- ary labor in India, where he is to be tablished a colony on Lake Tiberias. supported by his late fellow-students at Princeton, and he has taken the -The Church Missionary Intelli- opportunity of addressing students at gencer prints an order addressed to the the Scottish and English Universi- Moslem Muchtars by the Governor of ties. Mr. Forman has a unique mis- Jerusalem, in which be says his Ma- sionary conneetion. His grandfather, jesty the Sultan forbids the attend- father, mother, three uncles, two ance of any Moslem children at any brothers and a sister have been misfor~ign school within the Ottoman sionaries. He has helped not a little domiJ;lions. Penalties are attached to promote a missionary spirit among for those who violate this order, and students in America, and we trust his one father has been thrown into zeal and enthusiasm will have the prison for sending his child to the same result among our students in mission school. Scotland. The University Missionary Associations have been working his -Persia. The Amerisan Presby- meetings at the University seats, and terian Board is protesting strongly they are sure to get a blessing from against the interference of the En- contact with a man so thoroughly glish ritualists who, apparently under consecrated. Weare glad to notice the patronage of the Archbishop of that Sir Charles Bernard, K.C.S.I., Canterbury, have planted their men was to address the Edinburgh Uniclose by the side of those who are versity Missionary Association on carrying forward a successful work, 26th November, his subject being and where collisions must inevitably "Missions in Burmah."-Ohurch of occur. They have allied themselves Scotland Missionary Record. with two notoriously corrupt Nestorian bishops, who are pronounced by -Siam. A Christian High School all parties deserving of deprivation is to be established to train Christian from their office. This utter dis- workers and raise up a native minregard of missionary comity deserves istry. Rev. J. A. Eakin, for foul' the severest condemnation. years a teacher in the King's School in Bangkok, is to be the principal. He -Russia. A new religiOUS sect has raised nearly $13,000 conditionhas appeared in the Government of ally, and asks for about $2,000 ad- Saratoff. Its adherents do not rec- ditional, which he thinks will be ogl)ize the use of the mass or of image, and consequently do not frequent sufficient to establish it on a permathe churches. Their canon of Holy Scripture consists only of the Penta- nent basis, with a fail' prospect of its teuch, the Psalms of David, and the becoming self-supporting. Aid will Gospels. They take their meals in probably come from native Siamese common, and abstain from meat, of wealth and liberality, and the atbrandy, and tobacco. titude of the king towards Christian- ity is friendly. The Siamese are de- -The New Testament in Calmuck pendent on the Presbyterian Church has recently been published by the of this country for their evangeliza- Russian Imperial Academy of Sci- tion. In Siam propel' are only four ences, and copies have been sent to ordained missionaries and foul' or five Astracha~, where they were rapidly native preachers for a population of purchased by converts, and the re- six to eight millions. mainder sent for distribution by European missionaries in Asia. -Spain. Twenty years ago the gospel was not allowed to enter. -Scotland. The students at our What hath God wrought! Scottish Universities have recently been visiteq by the Rev. John N. FO,r- -The evangelist Juan Fuente, of man, a graduate of Princeton, United Granada, son of a Catholic family in States. He is on his way to mission- Northern Spain, who was intended
MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
for the priesthood and studied seven selves without such a public profesyears i'n a seminary, became it con- sion. Fuente estimates the whole vert to Protestantism. He states number of Protestants in Spain at that on Palm Sunday, 1869, the first present to be from 26,000 to 30,000 evangelical church in Spain was dedi- souls. cated in Madrid. About sixty larger or smaller societies have been formed, -Yo M. C. Associations. The Inwhich are under the direction of mis- ternational Committee reports 1,176 sionaries or pastors, and in all the associations in the United States and larger cities of Spain there are fully Canada, with an aggregate memberorganized Protestant congregations. ship of 155,000. In Germany there Many denominations are engaged in are about 700 associations, with a. this work. The Scotch and English membership of 40,000. They are Mission Societies are, however, tak- called " Evangelical Young Men's ing the lead, and have scattered Associations," and recently held thousands of Bibles and Testaments their second National Assembly at through the land. The number who Dessau. In Germany these associahave openly embraced the evangel- tions stand in a closer connection ical faith are from 12,000 to 14,000; a with the churches than they do in large number have connected them- America, but their general aim and work are about the same.
VI.-MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
China: The distinguishing charac- or from six to eight times the poputeristic of the" Middle Kingdom" is lation of the United States. Should VASTNESS. With the exception only they pass us in single file the proces-. of Russia it is the largest empire of sion would never end, for another ancient or modern times, stretching generation would be on the stage of over nearty forty degrees of latitude history before the present generaand seventy-five of longitude. and tion had passed before us.
having one-tenth of the area of the The Chinese are a very uncommon people. Their national life is marked habitable globe. by both antiquity and tenacity. A Ii:; lies on the eastern slope of the nation that was already strong when Rome was in infancy, and even when grand plateau of Central Asia, and Saul rose to the throne of the Hebrew consequently always looks toward people, may be pardoned for boastthe sunrise; and from the sea-line at ing of old age. China is not only its base rises to the snow-line at its ancient but antiquated. The Chinese summit. From the altitudes of Deod- boast of t.he past and they live in the hunga and Tengri Khan the slope past. Yet they have not been a lazy sweeps almost uninterrupted toward people; there have been both industry the Sea of Japan and the China Sea. and invention, as the mariner's com- What wondersucha water-shed sends pass, printing, porcelain and gunrivers to the sea such as the Yang- powder attest. When Britain was in tse-Kiang and the Hoangho, which barbarism, China was civilized; and bear to the ocean the commerce of when Britons wore skins the Chinese 200,000,000 and are respectively 3,000 wore silks. What America is on this and 2,000 miles long; or that, with side of the Pacific, China is on the such varieties of climate, every prod- other, in the Oriental world-the conuct may be found which ministers to trolling nation. man's needs or indulgences! The pride of the Chinese in their But we are concerned mainly with ancient civilization is unique in its the vast popUlation occupying such a absurdity. Their nine sacred books territory, and which has been estimated at fl'om 350,000,000 to 500,000,000, contain all needful knowledge; their _000,000 of heathen women. What past with its 3,000 years comprises all if there are 250 missionary ladies, the glories of history. They do not three-quarters of whom have do- see that their golden age is pa8t- mestic duties? Could they all de- that, like Confucius, their empire vote all their time, each would have· reached its maturity centuries ago about 800,000 women to care for I and has simply been embalmed and Their language seems a master sepulchred. For a thousand years device of the devil to shut out the they have been virtually standing Gospel. Chiefly monosyllabic, every still, while the earth has moved character is the name of a thing.. In around them. Their civilization is a their official lexicon the vocabulary petrifaction. Their self-conceit op- reaches nearly 50,000 words, at least pose, improvement, which is insanely ten per cent..of which are needful for resisted as innovation. They are iso- a scholat'. The characters are so Com- lated, a walled kingdom, and opinion- plicated that they require from five ated to a farcical ex.tent. While to fifty strokes, and uttered in ten their Emperor sits on a dragon different ways may mean as many throne, and, as Son of Heaven ruling different things. There is only a tone over the Celestials, signs his decrees between ocean and itch, and in say- with the sacred vermilion pencil, ing " My Lord" you may say" My their antiquated geography gives pig" I nine-tenths of the world to China, a With all this vast vocabulary there square inch to Great Britain, and is no capacity for sacred ideas. The leaves out America altogether I very language is leprous-40,000 They are at antipodes with all the words for vices and passions; none rest of mankind. We read horizon- for spiritual graces I For half a cent- tally, they perpendicularly; we from ury translators doubted what name the left, they from the right; we un- to use for God. The expressive na- cover the head in salutation, they tional emblem is the dragon.
put on a cap; we black boots, they The idolatry costs annually about whitewash them; we shake a friend's $200,000,000, and the making of idols hand, they shake their own; we put and articles for worship is the trade footnotes below, they above the page. of millions. It is easier to find a god The educational and civil service than a man. Oonfucianiffm, built systems have won wide praise. No on the moral precepts of Confucius, matter how poor, if a student can is the State religion; Tauiffm is Chi- pass the great national examination, nese rationalism leavened with sorce- he can hold any office. Scholarship ry; Buddhism is the pagan original is the key to every position. Knowl- of Romanism. And yet, with aU these edge of reading, writing and numbers gods and religions, the Chinese are a is quite universal. In the Southern nation of atheists-cunning, corrupt, provinces every village supports its given to drink, gambling, lust and.
school. There are 10,000 cells for ex- opium. Woman is fearfully degrad- amination, and the names of the suc- ed. The birth of a daughter is a cessfullist are graven on stone in the curse, and infanticide of girls is fear- temple of Confucius,and the leader ful; they are drowned and buried.
of the successful candidates is led alive, exposed and sold. Woman is about in honor like Mordecai. denied a soul even by their sages.
But all this civilization bears one That the Chinese Government ap- sad and awful brand of sin. In preciates our Western civilization their ethical and religious systems was shown in the new policy of the resides no redeeming power. The Chinese Government in sending Chun light of Asia is darkness. Within Lai Sun and Yung Wing to this that empire alone are nearly 200,- country in 1872 to superintend the education of one hundred and fifty declares priests to be eunuchs, with Chinese youth for future service in whom the people practice sodomy; their native country, and devoting a which is called "adding to knowl- million dollars to this educational edge." This vile book accuses worship- project. But whence came the sug- ers of the wildest licentiousness at the gestion? Who first taught Lai Sun close of religious services. Brides are and Yung Wing, and brought them said to spend the night after marriage to this country for a Christian educa- with the religious teacher. The men tion? The British intervention for are all charged with adultery. The the overthrow of the slave-trade at Christians are said to Iive by com- Zanzibar and in Interior Africa is merce and plunder; to gain access to creditable to the Government and the foreign lands by knowledge of math- nation; and the enterprising news- ematics, astronomy and machinery, papers which instituted the Expedi- and to give a pill to converts which tion to Ujiji has received the praises confuses their brains and excites of the world. But there would have their passions. Baptism is declared'
been no occasion for winning such to be performed in nudity, and pros- applause in either case had not Rob- tituted to the basest purposes. The ert Moffat and David Livingstone first eyes and heart of the dying are cut gone as missionaries to South Africa. out to be used in magical 'arts. In- How violent some of the opposition cest is practiced, parents are dis- to the Christian faith is may be seen honored, children are killed, converts from the following. It is almost too are bribed, the cross is worshiped, bad to print, but we know of no other and seizure of the whole land is in- way to expose the truth: A very tended! Professed testimony is ad- singular Chinese book, intended to duced in support of these vile slan- inflame the masses against the Chris- ders and diabolical lies !
tians, was, some years ago, trans- When Peter Parker and S. Wells lated into English from one of the Williams went to China, they had not only two copies which the mission- room to set foot to preach the gospel.
aries could obtain, it having been cir- But they never gave up, and now Dr.
culated secretly by the mandarins, Williams, after nearly thirty-two and kept out of their reach. The years in China, belie''es that, at the translation was forwarded from present rate of progress, fifty years , Shanghai, and a perusal shows the will transform the government to a malignant opposition of the upper nominally Christian one.
dasses to foreigners, and well ex- A word as to the history of Chi- plains the massacres and burnings nese Missions. Twelve centuries ago perpetrated by the Chinese. Its title the Nestorians planted churches, is "Deathblow to COlTUpt Doctrines , which were trodden out by the iron -A Plain Statement of Facts. Pub- heel of Genghis Khan and the Ming lished by the Gentry and People." dynasty. In the 13th century Rome Skillfully written by some of the lit- came with seven archbishops, and terati, it professes to give the history, again, 300 years ago, with Ricci, the the doctrines and the practices of Jesuit, and now claims about 400,000 Christians, who are held up as mon- baptized converts. '
sters of lust and crime. Much of the The pioneer of Protestant missions book is too obscene in its representa- was Robert Morrison. In 1808, in tions to be quoted, intended to dis- Canton, he wore native costume, gust all decent people with the very studying and praying in broken Chi- idea of Christianity, whether Romish nese by night, and working by day.
or Protestant. It t'eats Romanism After seven years he gave China the as the real religion of Jesus, and New Testament in the native tongue, Protestantism as only a disguise. It and baptized his first convert. Joined "by Wm. Milne, in 1818, they two gave think of the statement by tke Rev. the whole Bible to China. In 1829 Dr. Norton that the average yearly the A. B. C. F. M. sent Bridgeman and contributions to the cause of missions Abeel. Converts increased from 351 by converted heathens is $1.50, and in 1853 to 8,000 in 1871, multiplying the average contribution of EpiscotwentY7two fold in eighteen years! palians in the United States 7:14' cents?
The China Inland Mission, origi- MISSIONARY TEXTS AND THEMES. nated in 1866, is doing a marvelous A TEXT for parents who withhold work. Its principles are: 1. No ap- their children from this work-Jno. peal fOI' funds. 2. No rigid denomi- iii: 16: "For God so loved the world national features. 3. No uniform that He gave His only begotten Son." educational standard. 4. No stated The Orisis of the Harvest-field. salary. 5. Occupation of unoccupied Matt. ix: 37. Compo Rev. xiv: 15. fields. 6. Probation for candidates be- Ripeness rapidly reaches rottenness. fore taking rank as full missionaries. When a harvest is" ripe it must be 7. Adoption of native dress, queue, reaped. Thesickle mustbe putin now, etc. Rev. J. Hudson Taylor is the if ever. Compare Joel iii: 13. Mark head of the Society. iv: 29. Also Matt. ix: 36. Christ's Com- SUGGESTIVE PARAGRAPHS. passion. THE author of "Crisis of Missions" 1. The multitudes. 2. Their shepsent a copy to a clergyman. This is herdless condition. 3. Their scattered the note of reply: "Dr. – – returns state, without fold or protection, exthanks for the book, whose research posed to beasts of prey; 4. Their and composition are worthy of a bet- exhausted state-like sheep, ready to ter subject than Foreign Missions. die in the wilderness. Excessive foreign missions always re- Matt. x : 27-42. The Laws of the mind me of Mrs. Jellyby and Bor- Kingdom: rioboola Gha, in 'Bleak House! ' " 2. Promulgation of Gospel (27). 1. For years the cry of the various Fearlessness in duty (28). 3. Faith in Boards has been retrenchment, and Providence (29-31). 4. Open confeswe seem to be unable to get beyond sion of Christ (32, 33). 5. Separation the fatal line of ten millions annually unto God (34-36). 6. Supreme preferas the sum total of all the great de- ence for God (37). 7. Sacrifice of self nominations. In 1881-2 it reached (38, 39). 8. Final recompense (40-42).. $8,967,000; in 1882-3, $9,623,850; in We heard a stirring address from 1883-4, $10,021,796; in 1884-5, $10,- Mr. Telford, of which we give the 371,702; in 1885-6, $10,297,238; we outline: When God wanted prophets have not the complete reports for in old time, He called shepherds to· 1886-7, but they will not reach much go to His lost sheep. When Christ beyond this. Thus for four years we wanted evangelists, He called fisherhave stood virtually still at the ten men. A fisher of men must be million dollar line, varying only about 1. A man offaith-believe there are a quarter of a million, while in every fish to be caught, and that the means department of mission work the de- he employs are effective. mands have been growing with mar- 2. A self-sacrificing workman. Paul velous rapidity. Is this responding the champion soul-winner. See 2 Cor. to the providence of God? xi: 23-29. 1 Cor. ix ;.19. The English Church receives in 3. A man who can set others at tithes about $20,000,000 a year. Of work. All sorts are needed in the this amount $5,000,000 is expended in boat-men keen for the nets, who sit hospitals, schools, church building, at the end and keep hands on the nets etc., and the remaining $15,000,000 to notice when the fish are caught ~ others strong at oars, etc. goes to pay the salaries of the clergy.
What do Protestant Episcopalians
STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS
4. A man who looks /01' guidance net to the shore, when the fish ~e -when and where to let down the enclosed, to secure them. Many a fisherman loses his haul by delay. net. Codfish get among his herring, etc. 5. A man who promptly drags the VII.-STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS.
-The Seven Protestant Missionary Societies age contribution: To Foreign MiSSions, per of18OO have become more than 100. Their total member, 23 cents; to Home Missions, per mem- income then was less than £50,000; now it has ber, 27 cents; to State MiSSions, per member, grown to £2,220,000. Then the converts num- 11 cents; to general benevolence, per member, bered about 50,000; now they are nearly 3,000,- 70 cents ; to church expenses, per member, $1.80. 000. Every Protestant denomination of the least importance has uts foreign missionary so- -There are more than 500 Baptist churches in Burmah, with over 26,000 communicants. ciety. -IUhe missionaries sent out by every Prot- -Dnring the reign of Queen Victoria the Church of England has built 6,000 churches and estant society be distributed among the 1,030,- places of worship. Seven dioceses have been 000,000 of the pagan world, there is but one to created, and $405,OOO,OIJO subscribed voluntarily in !the last twenty-five years for church pur- each 2OO,000! Is that enough ? poses. -The American Home :Missionary Society has -The reports of the Ueformed Episcopal aided in planting 8,m churches, and 1,600 minis- Church for last year are: Baptisms, 907; con- firmations, 916; received otherwise, 519 ; pres- ters are now under commission, 135 preaching ent number of communicants, 8,429 ; contribu- in foreign languages. tions for all purposes, $155,861.51; church bnildings, 87; value of church property, less in- -The snm of $171,000 has been returned to cumbrances, $1,077,758. the Congregational Union in the last thirty-four years by churches which were aided in the erec- -The statistics of missionary work in Japan tion of houses of worship by this society. There for the year 1886 contain many cheering facts. are now 550 unhoused congregations that are ap- Adults baptized, 3,640, making a total member-· pealing for aid. ship of 14,815. There are now 193 organized churches, 64 self-supporting; 93 native visitors, -To-day there are 500,000 native Christians in and 169 theological students; £5,377 were con- India. Yet there was a time when a di.cour- tributed by the native converts. The average aged missionary said: "If I ever see one of wages of a day laborer do not exceed twenty these natives converted to Jesus Christ, I shall cents. One man gave £2,000 to found a school see something more nearly approaching the res- under the care of the American Board. urrection of a dead body than anything I have ever seen." -There are now :-'7 vessels engaged in mis- sionary work in different parts of the world, -'l'he China Inland Mission has 129 unmar- under the auspices of 16 societies; of tbese mis- ried and 43 married missionaries; these, with sionary vessels 16 are running on the coasts or 117 native workers and the wives of the mission- rivers of Africa, and six among the islands of aries, constitute a band of over 800, and the the Pacific.- Calcutta Witne88. mission asking for 100 more, of whom 94 are al- _ ready secured. The income of the past year was -The A. B. C. 1<'. M.'s receipts for the first £28,OIJO. Donations were received from Africa, three months of the ftoancial year are $106,811- Palestine, America, New Zealand, Australia, .93-an Increase over corresponding months of India, and every European country except Aus- last year of about $39,000. tria, Turkey, and Greece. Of converts, the so- ciety mention 1,655 as "in fellowship," and 402 -Samoan Islands. Of the 27,1JOO inhabitants ~OOO are church members, and there are at as baptized during the year. present 3,000 candidates for membership I -Asa general statement in reference to Prot- There are two hundred native pastors at work, and asking for money or collections is unknown. estant MiSSions throughout the world, the fol- The people give themselves and their money lowing may be regarded as a fair approximation eagerly to the work. to the truth: Ordained missionaries, 3,500; fe- male missionaries, 1,800 (many wives of mission- -The British and Foreign Bible SOCiety has aries not reported); native helpers, 30,000; an annual income of $1,125,000; has auxiliary communicants, 620,000; annual receipts, about societies numbering 5,300, and issues over $11,000,000. Not far from two and one-half mil- 4,000,000 copies of the Bible in 280 tongnes and lions of souIs in pagan and Mahommedan lands .langnages. are receiving Christian instrnction. -The London Missionary Society, with only -The Moravians report for the past year »9,- thirty English missionaries at Madagascar, re- 283 communicants in their mission fields, with a ports the astounding number of 828 native or- Wtal of 83,052 persons under the care of their dained ministers and 4,395 native preachers, missionaries. The total receipts were £24,000. with 61,000 cl!urch meJ!lbers and 230,000 "ad· There is a deficiency of upward of £1,200. herents.'· -Taking the Baptist Chnrch membership in the United States at 2,782,570, there is an aver- -BerU. tlOlltaiU more thaa one million Minutes of 1887. Theyrepresent the year 18ll6, Protestanta, yet, according to olllcial statlsties save in a few instances where they are from the just published, there are sittings for only 50,422 olllcial books of 1886, 1885, or 1884_ O~OIl>' in the Protestant churches. ally the Year Books say "congregatiollll," but in nearly all cases the fignres represent organ- -Aeeordlng to the eonll1la of 1881 there were Ized churches. in India ~,980,662 widows. Of these, 1169,100 were under nineteen years of age. BAPTIST. I J -The Cli1lreh MlmoDlll7 Society's baptized Regniar Bap., North.. 174,,334488 6,7.~ 681,585 tmtive Christians in Ceylon are 6,378. The adnlt Regul.3r Bap., Sonth.. 8,828 …… 1,005,170 baptisms last year were 126, and there are 273 Regular Bap., COlored adnlt candidates tor baptism. There are six 5,562 985.815 Singhalese and six Tamil native clergy, 156 Singhalese and 187 Tamil native lay teachers, Total Regular Bap. 30,522 19,377 2,732,570 and 9,'135 scholars in the 192 schoolA, 5,841 being Other Bap. and kin- Singhalese and 3,952 Tamils, dred hodies ……. . 11,867 8,626 997,175 -central Asia, including Thibet, is the only large region destitute of missionaries; yet, at Total Baptist and this late day, there is but one Protestant mls- kindred bodies : 42,889 28,000 3.729,745 sionary to 200,000 pagans. CONGBlIGATIONAL. -Estimated British Contrlb1ltlODll to Foreign Missions•………. , .. , ..•.••…•.•..£1,220,000. Congregatioual " •. . . • 4,2'1'7 4,01/0 486,379 Equal to 3 times annual income of wealthiest :415,005 EPISCOPALIANs. -3,~ nobleman. 8,000 Equal to 1-110 cost of liquors in the United Prot. Episcopal……. 3,450 .., Reformed Episcopal 76 Kingdom. Total Episcopal .. 3,528 910 1!18,988 Equal to 1-25 of the Government revenue from 1,449 180 their sale. LUTHliiBAN. 006 ls,~ 360 1,094 Equal to 1-25 of cost of British.Army and Navy. General Synod••…… 1,835 813 297:881 -CardInal Larigerle, Archbishop of Ag1ers, United Synod, South. 2,006 206,00 General Connell …… 1,923 who is deeply interested in Missions, calcnlates Synodical Conference. that Roman Catholics contribnte only about 1-20 Independent Synods.. as much to this end as Protestants. Total Lutherau•.• 7,573 3,990 930,830 -The English Methodists have completed 12,0111 one century of Foreign MiSSionary work, at first lIfETHODIST. 10,951 12,O'i5 2,002,452 withont a distinct organization for this, which 4,434 1,066,377 did not come until 1814. First published report Methodist Episcopal_ 'ii;Q 1,882 ~,~ in 1818. Their income then was £18,434, now M. E. South ……… . 2,000 £128,584. African M. EpIS ….. . 1,729 166;729 A. M. Ellis. Zion.•…. 60 21,000 -Amerleans claim to be sending 76 per cent. Col. M. Episcopal. … . of the missionaries who go to Japan, 40 per cent. U. Amer. M. Epis… . of those to China, and 18 per cent. of those to India. Total M. Epis… . 23,114 22,180 4,081,558 Protestant Methodist. 1,570 128,709 -8e1'81ltr-three missionaries for India, China, Congregational Meth. I'M: and Palestine sailed October 20, on the steamer Independent Meth… . 35 200 8,000 Khedive, of the well-known P. & O. line. They Free Methodist…… . 30 5,000 represented the Winter Mission to India, the Wesleyan Methodist.. '400 514 16,826 China Inland, the Church Missionary, and Eng- Primitive Methodist .. 113 280 18,260 lish Presbyterian Societies. Reformed Methodist.. 60 53 5,002 Kindred bodies …… . 6,286 -Boston, Jan, ii. Intelligence has been re- 50 2,500 ceived by the American Board of Foreign Missions that the Tnrkish Government is revising 2,656 335,561 its schoollaws, with the aim of suppressing the American and other foreige schools. Total Metb. and kiudred bodies. 32,071 27,642 4,601,416 -Drl Jessup, of Beirut, writes that "the Sultan ofTnrkey has set his seal of imperial ap- l'1IESBYTEBIAN• probation upon thirty-two editions of Arabie Bcriptares, allowing them to be sold, distributed, General Assembly…. 5,654 696,767 and shipped without let or hindrance." Of the Gen. Assem., Sonth.. 1,116 150,398 booksissned by the Beirut press, 290 have passed U. P. Ch. of N. A …. . under examination in Damascns by the govern- Cumberland Pres … , 'T36 94,641 ment officials. and have received anthorization. CumberlandPl·es.,Col- 1,563 145,146 -Evangeli~,al Christianity in the United ored………….. .. 200 15,000 States. The following statistics are from ad- Reformed Pres…… . 119 100 10,832 vanced sheets of the "History of Christianity Gen. Synod of Ref_ 54 32 6,800 in the United States," by Dr. Dorchester, who 116 66 7,015 bas compiled them, as' far as possible, from the Presbyterian……. . 175 84 9,563 Associated Ref. Syn., 400 300 25,000 South………….. Welsh Presbyterian.. Several other small bodies …… '" .. .. .
KINDRIID l'1IESBYTElIIAN BODIES.
Reformed (late Dutch) 547 547 85,543 Church ………. .. 13 1,481 8 564 True Reformed Dutch 802 183,980 Church…………
Ref.(1ate Ger.) Church Total Pres. and kindred oodles. 15,002 11,24.1 1,431,249 0Tmm BoDUl8. Che. Min. 13P4O, E7'7 – Mileelloeou. a,~ 1,32l. 82,000 In 1837 there were of Foreign Kii!SIOBary ; Adventists, ete..••… 553 500 60,009 Societies, in rreat Britain ……………… 10 ~:.nd~=: 'Church 1,755 142,000 U.S. A………………………………… '1 689 Continent of Europe. .. .. ….. .. . .. …. .. …. 10 Union•…………. 1,500 125,000 Christian………… . 8 1,3~ 35,850 Total……………………………… 2'1 Christian U n Ion 1,200 Estimated Incomes-British …….. £300,000 Churehes……… . 10 Bnndry small bodies..
Aggregate …….. 112,744 83,84512,132,851 American and Continental (com· 'CHURCHES NOT TABULATING COJUroNIOANTS. bined). . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . .. . . . . .. . $725,000 Minis- 1Ilissionary Agenta (of every kiD<l)- ters. P()p'n. Roman Cath.-<Jhurches 8,912 7,858 . t7,wo,OOO British, abont.. ……………. 1,084 Jews-Congregations. .. 250 t300,OOO American and Continental, abont 542 Shakers-Commnnities. 18 t9,OOO Oonverts-Britlsh, abont. .. ……. 200,000 Pto~slve Friends . . . . t23,OOO New Jernsalem Church American and Continental, abont. 100,000 -Societies . . . . . . . . . . . 128 115 *5,004 1800.. Protestant Missionary Societies '1 UniversalistR-Parishes. 934 873 *34,987 1886.. 100 Unitarians-Parishes… 355 *Members as far as reported. tEstimated. 11:lOO..Estlmated income….. . . . . . . . . $250,000 • -British and Foreign Bible SooletJ. 1886.. abont ……. $11,100,000 1817…. Income ………… ………. £120,000 188l..Converts (commnnicant and 1887…. .. (estimate)…. :……. £225,000 non-commnnicant), abont…. 50,000 1817..•.Auxiliaries at home……….. 2,370 1887…… .. •.••.. .••• 5,300 1886..Converts (commnnicant and 1817.•..Annual issne…………….. 000,000 non-commnnlcant), abont…. 3,000,000 1887…. .. .. (estimate)……. 4,000,000 -London MlssionarySoeiety. Founded UBi. 1817….Cheapest Bible…………… 28. First missionaries went ont 17~ (4 minis- 1887…. " "…… .•……. M. ters); 1817…. .. Testament…. …… lOd. 1816. Itl. Sta- Mlsslon- 1887…. .. tions. aries.
-Bible Distribution in la,o bJ the A. B. S. In Asia. .. .. . . . .. . . .. .. .. 12 23 Year. Vois. No. Pal!:es. Cash. Africa.. . .. . . .. .. . . .. .. 20 38 (12 natives.) 757,Il00 Rae'd. 1874……… :.. 7,500 North America…….. 5 5 1,378,500 $400'00 1875………… 12,500 499,500 Sonth Sea……. …… 1 12 587 38 1878………… 4,500 1,843,492 59600 West Indies…. ……. 5 4, 4,009,941 431 41 1877………… 13,000 4,791,483 628 60 10,203,723 1,769 32 1878………… 22,831 10,899,884 1,988 25 43 80 10,394,389 4,071 18 1826………. 83 ordained missionaries. 1879.. .. . .. .. … 28,121 5,31385 16,137,738 6,57117 17 assistants and artisans. 188l…•..•….. 85,973 14,715.172 7,247 70 Abont 52 native assistants of all grades. 1881 ………… 68,798 12,857,701 Income 1796-1805…………………. £64,016 1882………… 38,439 17,946,712 .. 1806-1815………. …•.••…•• 83,828 1816-1825 …………………. 247,585 1883. • . • . . • ••. .• 30,257 1826-1835…………………. 349,359 • 1884………… 35,771 1885………… 34,360 1886.••••••••••• 41,345 401,795 106,235,693 $29,584 66 I Dates. tiSotnas-. EaunroOpred-.I Lay Lady Native Native Income. Miss. MiSs. Miss. Ord. Native Commn- Chn. Miss. Preachers nicants. Adher'nts Scholars. 11431 – – ——— 18371~ 1 ——– 451 6,615 34,222 £64,372 1886 1,786 136 10 23 1:072 6,096 90,661 327:374 140,387 124,078 INDIA. Assoc18tes ………………………. . 10 GENERAL STATISTICS. 1886. Total…. ……………………… 225 590 1851. 620 Native helpers………… …………. 11'1 490 Stations …………………. . 222 Stations……… ………………….. 52 2,000 Foreilm missionaries ………• 339 3,880 Out-stations…………….. ,………. 66 Native ordained ministers….• 21 Provinces occnpied of the 18.. . . . . . . •. •. 14 Evangelists and catechista…. . 493 Income last year………………….. £22,149 Churches or conl'(1'egations …. . 267 Increase over former year …………… £1,900 Native Christians………….• 91,092 487,000 Commmnnicants. ….. ……………… 1,655 Commnnieants …………… . 14,661 125,325 Boarding-scholars. . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . .. . . .. 120 CHINA.. .Day scholars. . .. . . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. . . .. . .. 88 Ptotestant communicants in 1853…… . 350 Native contribntions ………………. £94 98. 1883…… . 2,000 1873 …… . 8,000 Dec. 31, 1886. 1883…… . 22,000 Inclndlng adherents …………… . 100,000 Societies reported for China. . . . . . . . . . 3'1 -china Inland Mission. Missionaries-Men ………•…. 446 MiSSionaries, married and unmarried… 172 Wives ……….. 316 Inclnding wives. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. .. . 215 Unmarriedwomen 157- 919 China Inland Mission …•..•.• 92 men.
Presbyterian societies. . . . . . . .. 93 u Congregationalist. . . . . . . • . . . .. 53 "
BRITISH CONTRIDUTIONS TO MISSIONS
Methodists. . . .. . . . •. . .. . . . . . . . 70 men. Communicants – English Presbyterian. .• 3,312 Episcopalians ……………… 39 .. London M. S.. .. .. .. … 2,545 Americans ………………… 164 " M. E. North '" …….. 2,408 English.. . .. .. .. .. •.. .. .. .. … 230 " Basel Mission………. 1,611 China Inland.. .. .. . . .. .. .. .. •• 55 single ladies. AmericanBaptist,North 1,433 Americans……………….. 69 China Inland……….. 1,314 —————– Communicants-American Pres. North… 4,368 American Board……. 1,235 Statistics of the Principal Foreign Missionary Societies of the United States, 1886–87.
1 . ~ .; Mission- l'l ..: aries. ,"e. ~ J ! — ~ =~o~ ~ 1il SOCIETIIilS. -0 – ~ .;, !1 .; oS – – " e".<:I – – -0 – – -""""'"'"""l- – – S- – -6-" ~ — -&""! – American Board……………….. 89 891 190 2TI 2,037 325 28,042 2,906 $679,574 Presbyterian Board, North …•….. 110 R272 203 298 1,0« 310 21,420 2,791 784,158 Presbyterian Board, South•…•….. 23 105 29 33 48 39 1,616 375 S4,072 Reformed Church (Dutch) …•…… 11 101 26 32 214 31 2,471 77 86,787 United Presbyterian Board•…•..••• 15 106 18 36 375 31 6,161 2,341 Reformed Presbyterian Church….. 2 43 84,344 Cumberlaud Presbyterian Chnrch… 3 7 39 1 145 8 16,691 45 8 12 6 275 67 13,589 "Baptist Missionary Union ……….. 54 974 102 140 1,116 621 58,108 3,219 406,639- Baptist Southern Convention…..•. t19 24 35 58 38 1,551 228 87,705 Free Baptists………………….. 6 6 8 16 17 9 584 37 18,913 Seventh Day Baptists…………… 3 3 3 2 7 3 73 5 3,542 *Methodist Episcopal Church …….. t501 192 20,906 2,4~ Methodist ~scopal Church, South. t55 ..85 147 133 1,9:: 828,000 30 17 54 3,710 ;98,317 1~~ For. Chris. iss, SOCiJjr, (Disciples). 23 9 13 23 1,856 592 40,559 Protestant Ets. For. iss. Society.. 34 22 24 164 29 1,630 . 215 155,109 11 280 82,19& Evangelical utheran. Gen. Synod .. 2 69 88 ~,903 1,287 Reformed Chnrch of the U. S., Ger.. 3 1.1. 5 Evangelical Association•………… 5 4 2 10 5 750 n 1,275 4 4 8,965 United Brethren in Christ……….. 28 269 8 4 6 150 79 Southern Associate Reform'd Synod. 5 7 2 5 23 86 3,~ 638 1 4 4 78 20.100 – – – – – Friends……………………….. 7 11 -1-0 5,000- 7 – -6 4 – 392 . – 6-7 – – -22-,76-0 Totals ………………….. 998 3,048 912 — 1 1,091 7,478 1,903 159,216 17,494 $3,508,295 * Work of these societies in Protestant countries of Europe is not here reported. t Principal and subordinate stati<lns. :I: The portion of the missionary receipts of the church appropriated to Foreign Missions. II Incomplete returns. The work of the American Province of the Moravians is included in the statistics of Moravian Missions given in the table of British Societies.-Missionary 1lerald.
BRITISH OONTRIBUTIONS TO FOREIGN MISSIONS, 1886.
[WE are indebted to Rev. W. A. Scott-Robertson, Hon. Canon of Cant~r bury and Vicar of Throwley, England, for these highly interesting statistics, summarized and analyzed.-EDs.l Summary of British Contributions to Foreign MiSSions, 1886.
IlI)……………… Church of England Societies (Table No. 1) ….. …………… £486,082 No. 193,&17 Joint Societies-of Churchmen and Non-Conformists (Table English and Welsh Non-Conformist Societies (Table No. .I.I.)…………………… 330,128 Scotch and Irish Presbyterian Societies (Table No. IV)…. … …………… 177,184 Roman Catholic Societies (Table No. V) ……………………………. _… 8,703 Total British centrlbntions for 1885… .• . . . • •• • . • . .•.• ••• • . . ••• .• £1,195,714 N.B.-ThiB total does rwt include any funds derived from rents, dividend, or interests, 1W1' bal· ances in kand from the prevWuli yea1', 1W1' any foreign wntrilJutions.
ANALYSIS OF THIll RlIlCEIPTS, 1886.
Table No. I. Foreign Missions of the Church of England.
A~iS o~ Receipts.
From British A:b~~rot~a!d~t&s Contri- When Name of each Society, and 1~~~ Amount of its Receipts for butions Founded.
1799…. CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY, £234,639 (in addition to £24,759 received £222,175 at Mission stations).
British contributions…… .. ………………………………….. Analysis o~ Receipts.
From Abroad & British When Name of each Society, and Total Amount ofits Receipts for from In- Contri- Founded 1886. vestments. butions. Home receipts from Churchmen abroad.. . .. •.. .. .. . . .. . . .. . .. .. .. •.. .. £938 Dividends, interest, and rents. .. . . . . . . .. .. . . .. ………………….. 11,526 N.B.- This Society maintains the Church MiBliWnary College at Isling- ton. which itfounded in 1B25. 1701 …. S0CIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GoSPEL. £107,390. £94,236 British contributions. . . . . . . . . .. .. . . .. . .. .. .. .. • . .. .. .. . . .. .. … .. .. .. Home receipts from Churchmen abroad. … ..••… …. ….•.•••.•.•• 2,985 Dividends, interest, and rents. ……………………… ………. … 10,100 1808….LONDON SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE JEWS, £36.734. I British contributions… .. ………………………………….. .. 33,251 Home receipts from Churchmen abroad ……………………….." 606 Dividends. interest, etc………….. …….. ……. ……………… 2,877 1880…. CHURCH OF ENGLAND ZENANA MISSIONARY SOCIETY. £23.651. British contributions………………………………………… .. From abroad ……………………………………………….. . 14 23,637 1823 .•.. COLONIAL AND CONTINENTAL CHURCH SOCIETY, £38,697. British contributions………………………………………… .. 19,920 Raised and expended abroad…. ………………….. ………….. 18,674 Dividends, interest. etc……… , . . .. .. .. .. • .. .. . . .. .. .. .. . …. . .. . .. . 98 1698…. S0CIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, £28,243 (in addition to £1lO.000 derived from trading).
Portion paid in aid of Foreign Mission work, ahout……….•••..••.•• 13,000 1800 …•CENTRAL AFRICAN MISSION OF THE UNIVERSITIES, £13,014. British contributious……….••………..•……….•…•••••••••..• From abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 947 11.310 Interest …………………………………………………… .. 757 1844….SOUTH AMERICAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY. £12.578. British contributions …………………………………… , …. .. Raised and expended abroad………………………………….. 3,779 8,747 Interest, etc……………………………………………….. .. 44 1870….MISSIONARY LEAVES ASSOCIATION (aiding native clergy of the Church Missionary Society), £8.290. _ British contribntions ……………………………………….. .. 8,260 Dividends………………………………………………….. . SPANISII AND PORTUGESE,CHURCH AID SOCIETY. £5,279. 30 British contributions ……………………………………….. .. 5,279 1865..•.LADIES' ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTING FEMALE EDUCATION AMONG THE HEATHEN. £5,S}5 (Included above iu the S. P. G. total). 1860.•••BRITISH SYRIAN SCHOOLS, £4,751. British contributions……….•••..•….•.•.•.••………••…•.•.•.• Interest……………………………………………………. . 4,661 90 MELANESIAN MISSION, £7,100. British contributions ………………………………………… . 2,307 Interest. £2,002; from abroad. £2.791……………… ………….. 4,793 1841. ..• COLONIAL BISHOPRICS' FUND, £18,049. 'British contributions. . . . . . .. . . . . . . ………………………….. .. Dividends and interest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. . .. .. •.. .. .. .. . .. .. .. . . •• 11,845 2.809 Grants from S. P. C. K. and S. P. G…. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. • .. 3,395 1869 …•" THE NET S" collections, £3, 946. For Mackenzie Memorial Mission ……………………………… . 74 2,502 For other funds … ' , ……………………………………….. .. 1,370 1883 ..••CENTRAL AGENCY FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS. £1.678. . Sums not herein included in the totals of other Aocieties, about ….•.•. 1,500 1848..•. ST. AUGUSTINE'S MISSIONARY COLLEGE (exclusive of endowments for a Warden. a Sub·Warden, and tbree Fellows). £2,233. From Missionary Stndentship Associations …………………….. . From funded exhibitions ……………………………………. .. 611 1,621 1860…. CORAL MISSIONARY FUND (to aid schools and catechists of'Church MIs- sionary Society. £1.207. British contributions ……………………………………….. .. Interest……………………………………………………. . 1,185 1840…. FOREIGN AID SOCIETY (for France. Belgium, Italy, and Spain), £1,059 …• 1.059 1854 …. ANGLO-CONTINENTAL SOCIETY, £777 ……………………………… . 777 1867….DELHI MEDICAL MISSION TO WOMEN AND CHILDREN. £554 …………… 574 1877…. CAMBRIDGE MISSION TO :PELHI, £865. 492 British contributions ……………………………………….. .. Interest ….. ,.. .. . .. .. . .. .. . . . .. .. .. . .. .. .. . .. .. . . . .. . .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. 62 1691 …. CHBISTIAN FAITH SOCIETY FOR THE WEST INDIES (rents).. ………….. 2;176 COLUMBIA MISSION. about………………………………………. . 305 Total amouut of donations. legacies, and annnal subscriptions from the British 460,982 Isles to the societies above named for 1886. . . . . . . . .. .. . . . .. . . .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. 25,100 EsTIMATED VALUE of other gifts sent direct to Mission stations, or gathered specially for missionary dioceses, schools, or Zenana work ………………. .
Total for Church of England Foreign Missions, 1886………………………. £486,082 Table No. II. Foreign Missions-Joint Societies of Churchmen and Non- Conformists.-A. D. 1886.
1804..••BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY, £116,761 (iu addition to £104,888 £100.000 derived from sales).
Devoted to Foreign Mission work, about……………………….. ~~ o~ Receipts.
When Name of each Society, and Total Amount of its Receipts for From Founded. 1886. Abroad & BritiBh from In- Contri-· vestments. butlons.
1799 …. RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, £15,358 (exclusive of £184,833 derived from trade).
Devoted to Foreign Mission work, £17,117 ………••….•……….. £558 £16,559 1886…. CHINA INLAND MISSION, £22,149. 21,367 British contributions ………………………………………… . 762 From abroad ………………………………………………. .. 54 11,311 12 10,562 1852…. INDIAN FElIlALE NORlIlAL SOCIETY, £11,365 ……………..•……….. 1843…. BRITISH SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GoSPEL AlIlONG THE 5,178 JEWS, £to,574……………………………………………. .. 1834….SOCIETY FOR PROlllOTING FElIlALE EDUCATION IN THE EAST, £6,074 (in addition to needlework sent abroad, valued at £4,447). British contributions ………………………………………… .
Dividends, etc., £500; grants, £183 …………………………… . 713 5,171 1732….MORAVIAN (EPISCOPAL) MISSIONS OF THE UNITED BRETHREN, £19,069. 13,275 British contribntions ………………………………………… . 623 Foreign receipts ……………………………. '" …… …….. Dividends and interest. . .. ….. .. .. …. . ….. . .. …… .. .. …. . …… 1872…•EAsT LONDON INSTITUTE FOR HOlliE AND FOREIGN MISSIONS, £10,594.
Portion devoted to Livingstone Mission and other Foreign Mission 3,367' work, about …………………………………………….. .. 1,306 1858….CHRISTIAN VERNACULAR EDUCATION SOCIETY FOR INDIA, £4,733 (in 58 addition to £3,928 received in India from sales).
British contributions………………………………………… . Grants and contributions in india… … . ……………………… . Interest……………………………………………………. .
W ALDENSIAN MISSIONS AID FUND. 2,354 English and Irish.contribntions………………………………. .
TRINITARIAN BmLE SOCIETY, £1,458 (in addition to £4,262 from sales). 1,443 British contribntions……………………………………….. .
Interest…………………………………………………….. 15 1,659 1856….TuRKISH MISSIONS (FROlll AlIlERICA) AID SOCIETy ………………… . ESTIlIlATED VALUE of other contribntions in money and In needlework,etc……. . 7,646 Total amonnt of British contributions through Uusectarian or joint societies of Churchmen aud Non-ConformiBts for 1886..•……………….. £19'3,617 Table No. III. Foreign Missions of English and Welsh Non-Conformists, 1886.
1813…. WESLEYAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY, £134,814 (in addition to £1,371 raised and expended in Mission stations.) Britiah contrlbntions………………………………………… . £121,708 From abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. £6,807 Dividends and interest……………………………………… .. 6,299 1795 ..••LoNDON MISSIONARY SOOIETY, £106,283.
British contributions…………………………………………. . 78,117 Raised abroad ………………………………………………. . 23,r03 Dividends and interest ………………………………………. . 4,133 1792..•. BAPTISr MISSIONARY SocIllrY, £79,884.
British contributions………………………………………… . 60,945 Raised abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 17,640 Dividends, interests, ete…………………………………….. .. 11,299 1855….ENGLISH PRESBYTERIAN FOREIGN MISSIONS, £16,075.
British Contributions………………………………………… . 16,075 For Women's Mission Fund see below. 1867…… FRIENDS" FOREIGN MISSION ASSOCIATION, £7,289. 6,778 British contributions……………………………………….. .. Dividends and iuterest ………………………………………. . 511 1832…. WESLEYAN LADIES' AuXILIARY FOR FElIlALE EDUCATION, £7,447. Britiah contribntions………………………………………… . 7,373 74 Interest …………………………………….•……………… 1856…. UNITED METHODIST FREE CHURCHES' FOREIGN MISSIONS, £17,290. British contributions………………………………………… . 7,535 Raised abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,755 184ll….WBL8H CALVINISTIC METHODISTS' FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY, £7,905. .
British contributions……………………………………….. .. 5,652 From abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,860 Interest, &c ………………………………………………… . 393 1817•.•. GBNERAL BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY, £6,949. 3,795 British contributions……………………………………….. .. From abroad ………………………………………………. .. 2,~ Interest, etc………………………………………………….. 2,654 METHODIST NEW CONNECTION FOREIGN MISSIONg……………•……. 2,999 1~••.•ENANGELICAL CONTINENTAL SOCIErY, £3,000.
British contribntions………………………………………… . 31 Interest, &c ………………………………………………… . 1836..•.COLONIAL MISSIONARY SOCIETY, £3,642. . British contributions………………………………………… . 3,141 471 ~~~~~~.t~:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.:::::::::::::::::::::: 30 1,947 .. FRIENDS" MISSION IN SYRIA AND PALESTINE ………………….. .. 2,000 PROOTIV1It METHODIST COLONIAL lIISSIONS, about …•…•…•………. .Analysis o~ Receipts.
When Name of each Society, and Total Amount of its Receipts for From Founded. 1886. Abroad & British from In· Contri- vestments. butions.
PRIHlTIVE METHODIST AFRICAN MISSION, £1,775.
Briti.h contribntions………………………………………… . £1,711> From abroad ………………………………………………. .. £60 ENGLISH PRESBYTERiAN WOMEN'S MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION, £1,740.
British contribntions……………………………………….. .. 1,694 Interest…………………………………………………… .. 46 ESTIMATED VALUE of needlework sent to Mission stations, and of other unreported contributions …………………………………… . 6,000 Total British contribntions through English and Welsh Non-Conformist Societiesfor 1886… . ……… ………….. .•.. .. .. …. …. …. …………. £330,128 Table No. IV. Foreign Missions of Scotch and Irish Presbyterians.
FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND MISSIONS, £95,256.
( British' contribntions…………. " ………….. . £6,471 £if'I,~ Foreign Missions.l From abroad……………………………… . 25,972 5,099 7,068 ) Schoolfees and grants……………………… . 4,446 1,403 3,576 t Interest …………………………………. .. 143 2,735 61 30,500 Ladies' Society for Female Edncation…………………………. . Jews' Conversion Fund…………………………………….. .. 1,662 Continental Fund………………………………………….. .. '4,662 Colonial Mission ……………………………………………. . 18,501 UNITED PRESBYTERIAN FOREIGN MISSIONS, £43,164. 5,964 4,611 iBritish contributions, and legacies…•……•…..•…• 911 5,220 5,428 General fund From abroad …………………………………. .. 490 Interest, etc…………………………………… . 17,801 Continental and ColoniaL ……………………………………. . Zenana Mission …………………………………………….. . 8,571 3,000 1 :::::::::: J CHURCH OF SCOTLAND MISSION BOARDS, £16,481. 8,943 1,306 British contributions ………………. '" ……. . 1,264 Foreign Missions ~~:~t.~~~~~:.~~~~~~.~~~~'.~~:~: .~~::: 174 312 3,000 Jewish Mission …………………………………………….. . 2 Colonial and Continental Missions …………………………….. . Ladies' Association for Foreign Missions ………………………. . 1,137 Ladies' Association for Educating Jewish girls …………..•…….• 1 18&4….NATIONAL BIBLE SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND, $18,554 (in addition to £15,955 753 from sales). 321 British contribntions………………………………………… . Interest………….. : ……………………•…•…•….•.•…..•• 1841…. EDINBURGH MEDICAL MISSIONABY SOCIETY, £8,878. British contributions ………………………………………… . Interest……………………………………………………. .
WALDENSIAN MISSIONS AID FuND, about ………………. '" ……… . 1853…•LEBANON SCHOOLS ……………………………………………… . 1871…. ORIGINAL SECESSION CHURCH'S INDIAN MISSION, about•………….•.• EsTIMATED VALUE of other Scottish contributions………………..•..
Total Scottish Presbyterian contributions 1886……………………… . £161,&84 IRIsiI PRESBYTERIAN MISSION £19,458.
( £8,507-British contributions….•…•…•.•••••• 2,088 5,991 { .'::::::::::::. . . .::::::::::::: Foreign Missious 1 rS:c~h'o:o'el:f~e~e~s~a~:n:d::g:r:a:nts…………………….. . 161 261 Jewish Mission…………………………………………….. . 5 3,693 Ladies' Female Missionary Society……………………………. . 5 2,600 Colonial Mission ……………………………………………. .. 223 g~~!n~!f~~:f.:'n::::::::.':::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: : 103 293 2,600 )Jrs. Magee's Indian, Education Fund (interest}………………….. 1,229 Total British contributions through Scottish and Irish Presbyte- rian societies for 1886………………………………………… .. £117,184 Table No. V. Foreign Missions of British Roman Catholics, 1886.
Founded. British ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE FAITH, £6,652. Contri· butions.
t~~~::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: £::E aoout No B.-The total income of the Roman Propaganda for 1886, CQ/l8cted from every diooeu i·n Okrl,gtend<nn, anwunted to 6,649,958 FRANOS; i.e., £t65,998.
1870…•ST. JOSEPH'S FOREIGN MISSIONARY SOCIETY AND COLLEGE, at Hill Hill, Hendon……………………………………………………. ……… 2,051 Total. . .. . . . • . • . . . . … . .. . . . .. .. .. . . .. .. . .. .. .. . • .. … .. .. .. …. •.. …. … £8,~03
STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS
Summary for Sixteen Years.
British Cont. in 1871 for For. Missions £855,742 British Cont. in 1879 for For.Missions £1.086.678 " 1872 " 882 886 " 1873 " 1,002:176 " . 1880 " 1.108 950 " 1881 " 1,093:569 1874 1,009,199 1882 1.191.175 1875 1,048,408 1883 1.216,530 1876 1,048,472 1877 1,100,798 1884 1.220.861 1885 1,228,951 1878 –1-,0-7-1,-94-4———- 1887 1.195,714 Oomparison of Protesta.nt Ohristian Workers in the United 8t~tes with those in the Foreign Field.
MINISTERS WITH MISSIONARIES.
Population of the United States (est. 1886) ……………………………………. . 60,000,000 Total Protestant Ministers in the United States (1886) ……. ., …..•…..•………… 79,032 Average, 1 Minister to 769, or, jproundnumbers ……………………. . 800 Total population }-Heathen……………..•……………………….856,000,000} in the Mahommedan …………………………………. 175,000 000 1,181,000,000 Foreign Field. Catholic countries, like Italy, Spain, So. America, etc.. l50,ooo;OOO 'Total of all Ordained Protestant Missionaries in the Foreign Field (1886) …………. . 2,975 Average. 1 Missionary to 396,941,or, in round numbers ………………. . 400.000 . Proportion Home to Foreign, 500 to 1.
WORKERS WITH WORKERS. Total Protestant ~ Ministers in the United States (1886)…………….. 79,032} r Christian Workers LLay Preachers. … .. . ….. …… . ….. .. .. … ……. 83,950 in the Wives and other wom. workers, est.1 to each preacher 112.982 1,883,184 United States. J Sunday-school Teachers………………………. 1.107,170 59.666,866 Population. 60,000,000, less 883,134= ……………… : …………….. .. 1 Average, 1 Christian worker to each 44 persons. 37,837 2,975} Total Protestant Ordained Missionaries. . . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. •.. .. .. • 732 Christian Workers Lay…….. ….. ……… …….. .. …………… , . th-3J Id jWomen…………………………………….. 2,420 ,F Ordained Natives…… ……………… ………. 3,068 '? 28,642 oreIgn e. All other workers….. …… ……………… ….
Average, 1 worker to each 31,213 persons.
Proportion Home to Foreign. 70f) to 1.
CHRISTIANS WITH CHRISTIANS. 11,560,196 48.489,804 Protestant Ministers, Christian workers, and Chnrch members in the U. S. (1886) …•. Population, 60,000,000, less 11,560,196= …….. .'……………………………… .. 37,837 Average, 1 Protestant Christian to each 4 2-10 persons, or nearly 1 in 5 in the 652,028 Home Field.
Missionaries and Christian workers in Foreign Field ………………………….. . Total native communicants. .. . . . . .. . .. .. .. . .. .. .. …. .. .. .. . .. .. .. . . .. .. 802,028 Less members in Protestant countries. like Germany. Sweden, etc., abont.. .. .. .. . .. . .. . . .. .. . .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. . 150,000 Total milIsionaries, Christian workers and church members in Foreign Field …….•• 689.865 Average, 1 Protestant Christian to each 1,712 persons in Foreign Field. Proportion Home to Foreign, 408 to 1.-Wm. E. Blackstone.
The Statistios of Lutherans in the United States, 1887.
The Lutheran (Philadelphia) gives the following summary: CHURCH ALMANAC. Comm. SRALI'S YEAR BOOK. 237,558 Mins. Congs~ 271,249 Mins. Congs. Comm. 31,487 General Conncil……… 821 1,484 297,100 General Council………1,096 1.924 281,320 Add. Ia. & Nor. Aug… 1,080 1,961 140,122 United Synod, South…. 188 366 29,545 Synodical Conference..l.167 314,9TJ United Synod, Sonth …. 166 3.51 213,893 General Synod ………. 964 2,257 138,479 Synodical Conference…l,101 1,618 Independent Synods…. 766 1.484 213.283 General Synod ………. 903 1,324 IndependentPastors & 1.921 10,eoo Indep't Synods (Iowa & 1,687 Congregations……… 34 40 Norway omitted) .. … 760 Ministers unconnected.. 77 Total. ……………4.215 7,992 9S7,BO?
Total. ……………4,058 6,841 947,357 LUTHERAN ALMANAC AND YEAR-BOOK.
LUTHERISCHE KALENDER. 289,827 General Council……. " 823 1,457 241,622 32,700 Add. Ia. & Nor. Aug.. l,096 1,984 281,648 General Conncil,………1,088 2,025 322,399 United Synod, South…. 182 378 140,267 United Synod, South…. 174 354 30,506 Synodical Conference.. 1,1.'1 194,122 Synodical Conference…l,169 2,202 320,822 General Synod ………. 910 1,638 15,000 General Synod ………. 928 1,482 138,669 Independent Synods…. '(87 1,373 994,405 Indepe't Synods (Iowa Independ't Pastors and 1,872 & Nor. Aug. omitted). 804 1.889 195,233 50 15,000 Congregations …….. 64 50 Independent Pastors & Congregations.. . . . . . . . 64 Total …………….4,202 7.336 TotaL …………… 4.243 7.972 981,28-3 Average of Almanacs ..4,179 7,535 977,661 ERRATrrM.-Ou page 41, Jannary number. onr printer made us to say Seventh Annual Meeting of the A. '8. C. F. M., instead of Seventy-seventh. as it was in copy.
The Missionary Review of the World — January 1888
PROSPECTUS OF THE REVIEW FOR 1888
JOINT EDITORS: J. M. SHERWOOD, A. T. PIERSON, NEW YORK. PHILADELPHIA.
VOL. XI. No. 1.—Old Series.—JANUARY, 1888.—VOL. I. No. 1.—New Series.
TEN years ago the Rev. Royal G. Wilder, who had spent 30 years in missionary work in India, unable longer to continue in that field, established this REVIEW at Princeton, N. J., on an independent basis, and has conducted it until now with remarkable energy and ability and won for it a very high character in all missionary circles. Failing health constrained him a few months since (he has since been called to his rest) to relinquish, with great reluctance but entire acquiescence in God's will, the further conduct of it; and at his earnest request Rev. A. T. Pierson and Rev. J. M. Sherwood consented to assume the editorship and regular issue of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW, beginning with January, 1888. In accepting the sacred trust, we realize the responsibility connected with it, and are anxious not only to carry on the work, so happily begun, but to enlarge the scope of the magazine, and broaden the field of its influence. Hence we propose at the start greatly to enlarge it, making it a monthly of 80 pages, give it a fine mechanical appearance, enlarge its scope, increase its literary and intellectual attractions, and bring it into harmonious relations with all the great missionary agents and movements of the age-in a word, to make it THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD in fact 'as well as in name-a Review truly Representative of the Spirit, Policy and Work of Modern Missions in their Unity, Entirety, and Universality.
THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD will embrace the following departments and features : I. LITERATURE OF MISSIONS. We shall studiously aim to give to the REVIEW a high literary and intellectual character, putting it in this respect on a par with our best Quarterlies and Literary Monthlies. The Missionary literature of the world is already rich in materials, and is rapidly increasing in breadth and in the power of inspiration and instruction. The annals of the past, and all new materials in this department, will be laid under generous contribution to impart value and interest to the pages of the magazine. The ablest pens available, and from all parts of the wide field, will be enlisted in this service. Essays, addresses, biographies, missionary sermons, travels, discoveries, missionary life, and discussions of the vital themes and questions relating to the policies and methods,
which will arise from time to time in the broad field of the world's missions, will combine to inform, interest and inspire the friends of the cause.
A sharp eye will also be kept on the current issues of the press, at home and abroad, and whatever appears in books and periodicals of special interest to missionary readers will be brought to the attention of our patrons. Each month will present a resume of current discussion and press contributions to the Literature of the missionary work.
II. MISSIONARY ORGANIZATIONS. As far as space will permit, a detailed account will be given in each number of some specific part of the general field and of the particular societies operating on it, so arranged and apportioned as that the entire missionary field of the world shall be embraced in our report of each year, and due attention given to all important missionary organizations and agencies known to exist. Thus a bird's eye view of the universal life and operations of the grand missionary cause will be given in each volume. It will be a yearly Epitome of the History of Modern Missions.
III. CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. The editors will put themselves en rapport with all the chief Missionary Societies, Missions, and workers in all lands; they will establish Editorial Correspondents in every part of the field, so as to insure the latest and most reliable intelligence from every available quarter, and co-operate with the friends of missions everywhere in pushing the Missionary Cause to the front, and in imparting increased power and efficiency to the vast machinery of missions. They will strive to make THE MISSIONARY REVIEW a focal light and guide to "the whole sacramental host of God's elect." moving in concert for the subjugation of the world to Christ.
IV. PROGRESS AND FRUITS OF MISSIONARY WORK. This department will contain a comprehensive account of the leading missionary events of the month, embracing the receipts, disbursements and operations of the various societies; items of special interest from the various fields; facts, statements, experiences and appeals bearing direct on the missionary cause, and whatever else will be of special interest to all engaged in the work. This will furnish a practical Summary of what has been attempted and accomplished during each month throughout the entire field of operations.
v. STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS This department will be emphasized and made of the utmost interest and value to the friends of missions everywhere, and especially to pastors and those who conduct the Monthly Concert. It will be a unique and leading feature of the REVIEW. No pains or reasonable expense will be spared to obtain the fullest, and latest, and most reliable figures and statistics of the world's entire missionary operations, both in the Home and Foreign fields, and so to classify, arrange and tabulate them as to make them of the highest practical value. The labor in this department will be immense, but the result will be worth more than the price of a year's subscription to every pastor, every public library, every missionary society, and every intelligent friend of the cause of Missions. We mean to make the REVIEW an authority on this subject.
VI. THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS will be under the special charge of Dr. Pierson, who, in addition to being the pastor of a large and efficient church, possesses special qualifications for this service. His best endeavors will be put forth to make this important service increasingly attractive and profitable, and to suggest topics and methods in aid of pastors and others in the conduct of it that will make the REVIEW an indispensable aid to them, and to every church which observes the «Monthly Concert of Prayer for Missions."
VII. INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT. This will be under the editorial charge of Rev. J. T. Gracey, D.D., of the « International Missionary Union," who will be able to make it highly conducive to the general purpose and scope of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VIII. EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS of special interest to missionary circles. These will be brief, condensed, and on a great variety of topics, which we have not space to discuss at length and yet shall wish to express an opinion upon.
If this ideal of the editors can be realized-and we believe it can be -THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, with God's blessing- for whose glory this work is undertaken by them-may become a great power for good. World-wide in its field and scope; independent of local and ecclesiastical boundaries and prejudices; fearless and independent in its expression of opinion and in its advocacy of methods and policies; consulting the highest interest of the Cause in its widest relations; having an eye on the entire field, and lending a helping hand wherever needed; and presenting a current history of that work, which is «the glory of the age," in all its departments and agencies and results, it must possess an interest and a value far above that of any other missionary magazine of the world.
We congratulate the friends of missions that we have been able to secure as Publishers of this Review, Messrs. Funk & Wagnalls, 18 and 20 Astor Place, New York, by whom it will hereafter be published.
This enterprising House is too well known in the book world, and in religious circles, to need any introduction or indorsement from us.
We expect to issue the January number at an early date, and succeeding numbers on or before the middle of each month in advance, to be in ample time for the Missionary Ooncert.
NEW YORK, OCTOBER, 1887.
J. M. SHERWOOD.
A. T. PIERSON.
SALUTATORY
I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS.
SALUTATORY.
[EDITORIAL.] CICERO says that the orator, in the exordium of his address, should establish between himself and his hearers a mutual understanding, and get with them upon a common ground.
The same law applies to the editor and author. It is highly important, that, at the very outset, the writer and reader should understand each other; and therefore we give these opening pages of this Review to a word of salutation and explanation addressed to all our readers.
Led, as we believe, by the Providence of God, we undertake to carry on a good work which originated ten years ago in the mind and heart of a beloved returned missionary from India, *and which has, by his hand, amid much physical suffering, been carried to its present stage of growth and success. God's workmen are constantly changing but His work goes on. We have yielded to what seemed a providential pressure thrusting us unexpectedly into the gap left by the necessary retirement of the previous editor from the control of the Review, and we shall seek to perpetuate and perfect what was originally designed and has been so far, and so well, developed under his care.
It does not always follow that even a good work needs to be carried on : sometimes it reaches completion, and addition is superfluous. In this case we conceive that to discontinue this Review would be disaster. So far is it from a finished structure, that thus far only the cornerstone has been laid and the foundation built; the scaffolding is not yet ready to be removed, and we are beginning a new story with such modifications as the building demands as it advances.
There is now room for more of the literary, the æsthetic, the intellectual; a demand, as circulation increases and a firm financial basis is secured, for the best labor properly compensated. We have no less aim than to make this Review the commanding Missionary Magazine of the World, sparing neither labor nor money to make it one of the foremost agencies for the evangelization of the world and the information, organization and co-operation of disciples in the direction of world-wide missions.
That such a Review is needed, we should be ashamed to argue. There are two great, potent factors which must enter into the solution of the problem of missions-the tongue and pen. The printing-press multiplies them both a thousandfold. It gives volume and compass to the voice, like the trumpet of a Titan, and it scatters the products of the pen, as though it had at command the hundred-handed giants that helped the Titans. Great is the power of type and of printers' ink! Surely we should leave out a whole division in mustering our forces, if, in going forth to a world's conquest for Christ, we should neglect the printed page.
Facts are the fingers of God. There is no logic like the logic of events; no demonstration like the demonstration of the Spirit. Apathy, and even antipathy, toward the work of missions, are turned into positive and powerful sympathy, when a true disciple learns how mightily God has wrought and is working with the little missionary band. Men, like James Hannington, who once were indifferent to foreign missions because they were ignorant of them, have, like the martyr bishop of Africa, found that a simple knowledge of the wonderful work of God's Providence and Spirit, even among the most depraved and degraded tribes, has lit a flame in their souls that could neither be quenched nor confined; a flame that has grown into a fire, a conflagration-consum- ing selfishness and worldliness; displacing the carnal lusts-appetite, avarice and ambition, by a divine ardor and fervor, passion for souls, and zeal for the glory of God.
To put such facts before the reader, in the most truthful and telling form, comprehensively and attractively, is one of the foremost objects of this Review. We shall aim to exhibit the miracles of missions, which are at once signs of Christ's messiahship, manifestations of the Power of God, wonders of the Spirit, and works possible only to Deity.
To secure a proper and perpetual stream of such information, we shall seek to secure a large number of tributaries. First, we shall, as fast as we are able, select a large and competent corps of editorial correspondents, who shall sustain a close relation to the Review, and by whose contributions these columns will be enriched. Next, we purpose to find at least one commanding personality in every great missionary territory, and especially at great strategic centers, who shall be as a living link between the Review and the various fields of Christian effort. Furthermore, we hope to secure able contributions from men and women of learning, piety and consecrated spirit, whose opinions compel respect, whose statements are accurate and authoritative, and whose suggestions are sagacious and practical.
The need of such a Review of missions is pressing. The demand is immediate and imperative. With all the existing channels for conveyance of information and the exchange of views, there is yet a wide gap to be filled. The work of missions is world-wide, and we need a missionary Review of the World; the need of man is universal, and so must be our survey; the whole church is called to this grand crusade, and the Review must be unsectarian and undenominational, gathering the whole army, with all its tribal standards, closely about the Tabernacle and Ark of God; the Christian nations are all united in the work, and hence the Review will be international; and as even the best methods are liable to be defective, and custom is often, as Cyprian says, only the" Antiquity of Error," a true Review will be critical though not controversial, and will aim, not only at a wide view, but at a close, careful, candid review.
The time is now especially ripe for such an undenominational, international, independent missionary organ, as a means of expression and impression, communication and co-operation, education and evangelization. Missions are comparatively modern. The Church slept for more than a thousand years; then slowly awoke to the sense of a world's destitution and her own obligation. Let us remember that it yet lacks five years of a full century since in Widow Wallis' humble cottage at Kettering, that first Missionary Society was organized in England, that was the pioneer of the whole host now numbering over one hundred organizations. And already, and within the lifetime of some veterans still living, the network of missions has overspread the globe. Surely it is time that in this special department there should be abundant and adequate agencies to put and keep before the reading public the entire progress and prospects of the grand campaign which is now conducted by all Christendom against the strongholds of the Pagan, Moslem and Papal world!
Such is our word of Salutation. The primary object of this Review is not money-making, but the informing of disciples, and the quickening of our whole church-life, the promotion of an intelligent interest in the work of missions everywhere and the inspiring of an unreserved personal consecration to the work. We desire the fullest support of a large constituency of readers, in what we undertake as an unselfish labor of love for the sake of Christ and His Church. As the circulation of the Review increases and its income allows, more and more will be expended upon the periodical itself, that we may give back to the reader and subscriber the largest returns for his investment; and it is our fond hope that by the abundant blessing of God upon our labor, direct and indirect results may follow, on the largest scale, in furthering and hastening a world's evangelization.
Gladstone says that eloquence in the orator is "receiving from the audience in a vapor what he pours back upon them in a flood. " We shall depend largely upon our readers for the inspiration in our work; and we hope that whatever is received from the subscribers to this Review by way of its support, they may find comes back to them in abundance; that, like the water poured on the roots of the cocoanut tree, which returns in the sweet milk of the cocoanut itself that falls from the top, there may be not only an equivalent rendered but something sweeter and richer by way of recompense.
IN MEMORIAM: REV. ROYAL GOULD WILDER
IN MEMORIAM: REV. ROYAL GOULD WILDER.
Born Oct. 27, 1816, Bridport, Vt. Died Oct. 10, 1887, New York City.
THIS heroic man, the originator and for ten years the editor of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW, closed a life of service and suffering by a blessed entrance into glory, on the very day on which, to his successors in the editorial work, the REVIEW was formally transferred. He only tarried long enough to see the transfer completed and to bestow his blessing on the new administration, and then took his departure for the better country.
It is no mere tribute to a predecessor, however, that impels us to erect to him, in this first number of the new series, a memorial tablet. Though his kingdom came not with observation, and no trumpet was sounded before him, the veteran who, having passed his allotted three score and ten, has been honorably retired from earthly service and gloriously promoted to a heavenly sphere, was no common man. His name belongs high up on the roll of missionary heroes, among the "King's mighty men" and valiant ones, and we gladly open our series of missionary biographies with a pen profile of Royal Gould Wilder.
Few there be that find their way to their sphere of service through such a strait and narrow path. His was no "royal road to learning." He was one of twelve children, and the family knew what it was to struggle against poverty. The father's name was Abel, and he was born in Maine, near Portland, and by trade a ship-carpenter, but was also a shoemaker and farmer, ready to turn his hand to any employment to get bread for his wife and children, but unable to provide luxuries-even those of an education. His mother, Hannah Payne, descended from Robert Treat Paine, was of a high family and of rare ability. Her father was a school teacher until he was sixty, and she grew up amid education and refinement. Shortly after marriage she with her husband removed to Vermont, and during the year in which Royal was born there was a great revival, and his father and mother joined the church that same year. Afterward they moved again to Franklin County, New York, then regarded as somewhat "far west." It is certain that the family endured great hardships and were very poor for a long period of years-during the entire boyhood of Royal. In course of time the natural increase in the value of property, hundreds of acres of which were cleared by his father and brothers, bettered their circumstances, and to-day the three brothers and three sisters who survive him are living in comfortable homes, showing those elements of character which insure worldly success.
Royal went to district school in winter, and was the first to enter an "academy," as he was the only one to enter a college. With a keen relish for reading, before he was ten years old he devoured every religious book that came in his way, and even the papers of whatever date. His father's library was very small, but what it contained was not trash, and the young lad grew strong on such books as the "Pilgrim's Progress" and the "Saint's Rest."
When he determined to seek an education, his father could give him no help. His time and a cow composed the curious capital which was Royal's only dependence; and in the academy at Malone it was the beef from that cow that kept him at school the first term. Many a time he cut in one day two cords of wood, to relieve his father's financial distress or his own.
His first money he earned by selling melons at Malone, and the half dollar he got he kept his hand on, even in his pocket as he ran home, till a stumble compelled him suddenly to withdraw his hand, and away went the precious coin down a hole. Royal was not a boy to give up easily, and down he went on hands and knees, and dug away till he recovered his lost half-dollar. The incident was typical and prophetical of his future; only what he digged for was not silver or gold.
At thirteen years, began his religious life as an intelligent, conscious experience. He had been brought up to pray, and on one occasion, at least, had found the value of prayer. Going through the woods to find his brothers, and carry them dinner, he got lost and wandered about dazed and bewildered, coming back continually upon his old track. Then he knelt down and prayed for guidance; rose and determined to trust in God and go straightforward, following one direction; presently he emerged from the thicket, coming out into the very field where his brothers were at work. Here was another typical and prophetical incident. He got into many a tangled thicket afterward; but never did he forget Him who had led him out into light and safety, and in answer to prayer he was guided in every new experience of darkness and danger into a larger liberty and success.
Though he first consciously found Christ as a Saviour in time of revival, his religious life was singularly free from emotionalism. He had no sudden transitions nor violent revulsions of feeling. Mainly through an awakened conscience, a calm but quick sense of duty, and the study of the Word of God, he came to accept Jesus as Saviour and Lord. At that time his sister Hannah joined the Baptists, as that sect prevailed in the neighborhood where the family lived; but he preferred the Presbyterian fold, and at sixteen united with Dr. Parmelee's church at Malone. Never but once had he uttered an oath, and he never forgot it. His religious frame though always calm, was never cold; he was moved more by love and less by fear, more by deliberate judgment and choice than by sudden impulse or glowing enthusiasm. He knew he must found his whole Christian hopes upon the new nature regenerate in Christ; and believing that God had wrought in him the new creation, he enjoyed a quiet assurance seldom disturbed by doubts.
He studied by night by the light of pine knots, and worked by day to get the pine knots for his fire and the books for his study, until he entered Middlebury College in his twentieth year.
When he left home, his capital in life was less than ten dollars, most of which he had saved, and a dollar of which his mother gave him the morning he left home for college. He walked the entire distance, working his way over the lake by helping in the loading and unloading of the boat, and going barefoot part of the way to save his shoes. The same habits of frugality and economy and bodily exertion followed him through life.
From first to last he was a patient plodder. So desirous was he of a training for a useful life that he was willing to work from five o'clock in the morning till breakfast, and from noon till school again opened; that he might pay his board, cutting hay in summer, and splitting wood in winter, to earn the right to be a full-grown and well-equipped man. In college it was the hand on the axe-handle and the bell-rope that helped him through. When he was graduated in 1839 he had worked his passage; but he had won deserved honors, for, with his classmate, Foote, he stood-they two at the head of the class, and, strangely enough, they two had been born on the same day.
When he turned from the flattering prospects of a high position at home to spend his life among the pagans of Asia, he left a path that might have led him where one of his schoolmates, Mr. Wheeler, afterward came-to the Vice-Presidency of the nation. Foote, his twin honor-man, said to him: "Wilder, why bury yourself among the heathen?" Mr. Wilder was singularly attached to Mr. Foote, and for years they corresponded. Foote rose rapidly in his profession; very successful as a lawyer, he amassed wealth, and married a woman of unusual beauty. But death, in the midst of his prosperity, smote wife and daughter, and poor Foote blew out his own brains!
Mr. Wilder taught in Mississippi and Vermont; and then went to Andover for a theological course. There he found a missionary band, like the famous "Haystack band" of Williams, with the same constitution and covenant. Only twelve belonged to it, and even the professors seemed to feel little interest in it, but Royal Wilder became a member, heard Dr. Grant of Persia and Dr. Scudder of India, and others, speak on the great needs of a lost world, and so the missionary was preparing and maturing for his work. Here he had his first and last period of doubts about the Divinity of Christ. They were incident to the transition period when the mind was budding into full independence. Henceforth he was to feel too much of the Divine life of Christ in himself and see too much of the Divine power of Christ in others, to doubt that He was the Son of God. He was graduated from Andover in 1845. At the last, R. S. Storrs, Jr., was his classmate-and when he with five others of his class became missionaries, they all went to India, leaving Storrs to remain behind and become the Corinthian column of the Congregational Church in this country, while they departed for the regions beyond.
His missionary life was the final flowering of a gradual growth. No sooner did he believe himself to be a disciple than, like Dr. Duff, he began to feel the value of other souls and a yearning to save them. The idea of a mission to the heathen world was slowly and steadily taking form within him; first consciously turned toward the lost in other lands by reading Jonathan Edwards on Redemption, the story of "Henry and his Bearer" especially interested him in India.
During his college days Mr. Wilder became acquainted with a family living near West Rutland Village, Vt. In this family he found deep piety and a love for missions. The aged grandfather said, he thought he had not missed reading a page of The Missionary Herald for twenty years.
At the time of the departure of missionaries for the Sandwich Islands a collector visited this home to solicit funds. The devoted mother gave something, but her sad countenance that day showed her deep disappointment that the gift was not larger. As she gathered, with her nine children, for family prayers, she asked God to accept of one or more of her children for missionary work. A daughter in that group says of this incident-"that prayer struck me." This daughter was the one chosen to help cheer Mr. Wilder in his great work. For some five years the two were many a time alone at communion services. She shared with him the anxiety of the first months at Kolapoor when almost in despair of striking rock for the foundation of his church. She suffered with him the violence of the people who one night hurled a large stone through the window pane across the cradle of their little girl. She was his companion in such experiences as meeting a snake in the parlor, finding a scorpion on her son's coat, seeing a panther while on her morning walk, living for weeks in the mountains without seeing a white face. But she had also the joy of starting the first girls' school in a kingdom where not a respectable woman or girl could read, and of welcoming to the communion table, as the first native convert in Kolapoor, a woman.
Mr. Wilder's intention was to go to the Walled Kingdom. But Dr. Anderson, then Secretary of the A. B. C. F. M., wanted him for Ahmednuggur. The greater need was to Mr. Wilder always the louder voice, and so he went to India. From the day of his connection with the Andover Band he had no hesitation in promptly, cheerfully following the leading of God.
When his vessel was ready to sail, he departed from Malone, and his departure was the means of a revival in which many were added to the Church. His father rejoiced to give up his son to such a great work as was before him. His mother, to whom he had been particularly devoted, and for whose sake he had walked from Middlebury to Malone to spend vacations, was dead.
The vessel rounded the Cape of Good Hope and consumed 121 days in the passage to Bombay. Mr. Wilder had given three months, at Newark, Delaware, to the study of Mahratta, and, after another three months in India, Mr. Ballantine, being called away, asked him to preach. The invitation was a joke, but Mr. Wilder actually accepted it and did preach. The native Christians were astonished and said, "We prayed for him."
In Ahmednuggur Mr. Wilder spent six years. The day he reached there, he found a seminary with from fifty to eighty boys. Very soon after his arrival, this seminary was put under his care by a vote of the mission. Within a year there were six city schools, and, within three years, twenty more village schools. Fees had been given to induce attendance; he did away with fees, and had a larger and better school.
He went to Kolapoor in 1852. This city was especially holy in Brahmin eyes, and never had been contaminated by the presence of missionaries. The day he got there the leading Brahmins petitioned for his banishment. But, undismayed, he got a foothold and worked five years for his first convert. His school was the entering wedge of all his success. At the time of his coming he found in Kolapoor 44,000 inhabitants, and only one school, in a back street, with twelve boys in it. When he left, a college building, at Government expense, costing $200,000, had been built, and «Father Wilder" was asked to make the address at the opening. He was too busy to comply, but his associate, Mr. Seiler, made the address, and took as his theme, "The Evidences of Christianity."
The cholera drove him from India in 1857, and by a remarkable Providence, he sailed the very day after the breaking out of the great mutiny of the Punjaub. Some of his nearest European neighbors were killed in that massacre.
To this period belongs his well-known disagreement with the American Board. He was an ardent advocate of schools and edncation, and next to actual conversion he placed the education of the Hindoos. He zealously urged the hiring of pundits and native teachers where Christian teachers could not be obtained, and refused to curtail his schools and school-work because he could not get just such teachers as he wished. This got him into a difficulty with Dr. Anderson, and resulted in the abandonment of his mission and his dismissal from the Board. Backed by his Presbytery and friends in this country, he returned to India in 1861, and went back to conduct his work on an independent basis. For twelve years he labored, supported by no Board or Society. However low the funds ebbed, he would never give up. At one time, in distress for means to carry on his work, he and his devoted wife covenanted to commit all to God anew in prayer; and the next morning's mail brought eleven hundred rupees from an unknown donor in Calcutta; and to this day the source of that benefaction is a secret. The mission received cordial support from Sir Bartle Frere, Governor of Bombay; Col. Phayre, Robert Arthington of Leeds, and others. But it was sustained wholly by voluntary gifts. These years of simple trust, leaning on God, were the happiest years of Mr. Wilder's life, and became the basis for his subsequent and enthusiastic .advocacy of the voluntary principle in missions.
In this enterprise he was largely aided by the English, because they thoroughly respected him, and also by the natives themselves. Sir Bartle Frere and other prominent Indo-Europeans have said that Royal G. Wilder did more for the present system of national education in India than any other man. From 1861 to 1869 he was a constant contributor to the Bombay Times and Gazette on that subject, and wrote the editorials for the former paper relating to educational matters. He was prominent in memorializing Parliament and inducing the Indian government to establish the present system of national education. The money obtained from his contributions to the Indian press aided, in no small measure, in the support of the mission that he conducted for so many years at Kolapoor.
At the date of suspension of schools by Dr. Anderson, Mr. Wilder's scholars numbered some 500 boys and 100 girls. He writes of this: "Our deepest conviction from all past experience assures us that the loss of these schools involves the sacrifice of our most effective agency for prosecuting our missionary labors. If our Deputation could exchange places and labor with us for a twelvemonth, we cannot, for a moment, doubt that they would advocate these schools with all the persistency and authority with which they now oppose them. Our friends in India have manifested a very kind interest in these schools from the first, and it may gratify them to know that their generous contributions have wholly supported them. Not a farthing of their expense has come from the home funds of the Board, since their origin." Before Mr. Wilder came home in 1857 the schools were reopened. While at home the mission was abandoned. His appeal, published at the time, gives the reason for his returning as an independent missionary. Upon reaching India he found that his beautiful church, the only one among 252 heathen temples, had been sold and turned into a Mohammedan mosque.* He was remarkably helped in getting the site for his second church. He closed the year 1863-the second after his return as an independent missionary-with a native church of eight communicants and four baptized children.
In 1855 an intelligent man visited him from the Putwardhun States, and showed so much interest in the truth, that he gave him a Bible, hymn-book, catechism and the creed. He returned to his country and was lost sight of for nine years. In a report of 1864 Mr. Wilder writes: "On our recent tour he was the first man to visit us at Sanglee, brought all the books carefully preserved, and read and repeated from memory portions of Scripture, the creed, a tract of eight pages, and the entire cathecism of forty pages; avowing his faith in the truths and doctrines thus learned."
After building a home and church Mr. Wilder devoted himself with renewed energy to village work. The report of 1872 speaks of the interference of the S. P. G. His characteristic firmness was shown in this experience. This was a sore trial to him, and in the Appendix to the Report of 1871, his reasons are fully stated for his course.
Mr. Wilder was very anxious to stimulate in native Christians a desire to work for souls, not because paid for doing so but from love to Christ. In 1873 he writes: "Only four of all our converts receive any support from the mission, and these, small monthly sums of Rs. 8, 7, 5 and 3 as Christian teachers. "
The property of the Kolapoor Mission he gave in 1871 to the Presbyterian Board, and in 1875 left the field of his labor, partly from considerations of health, and partly to educate Robert and Grace in this country. The time between his sailing for India and his resignation from the Board covered a period of nearly thirty-two years.
During those thirty years he had preached in more than 3,000 cities, towns and villages, had scattered over 3,000,000 pages of tracts, had gathered in schools over 3,300 pupils, 300 of whom were girls. In a parish of 4,000,000 of people he and his wife were the only persons to take care of their souls. Beside all this work he had been on committee for translation and revision of the Bible; and was one of the committee in the Mahratta language, spoken by 16,000,000 people. Up to the time he left India he had already written and published commentaries on three gospels, and had edited and translated many books.
His hand was not forgetful of its cunning, even as his tongue did not cleave to the roof of his mouth. Every nail in the roof of his church building at Kolapoor he drove with his own hammer, and when the houses went up to shelter converts' families he led in the work. In the early years of the mission, he wrote many articles for the press, chiefly on educational subjects; and it is said by those in high official position, that his anonymous letters in The Times of India influenced Parliament in adopting measures for the education of the masses. He was offered a very influential position in the educational department.
His whole policy in India was to watch for the opportunities to plant and support indigenous primary schools. He cared for no high colleges. His ruling passion was to lift up the masses. He graduated salaries of teachers according to the number and progress of their pupils, thus indirectly striking a blow at caste by setting a premium on numbers and proficiency, without reference to the class from which pupils came. He encouraged only a moderate allowance to helpers, on the ground that natives could not support men who received large salaries. Like Wheeler on the Euphrates, he felt that by the tithe system ten believers might support a teacher or preacher who was willing to live on their level as to expense.
Whereas when he first went to Kolapoor there was not in the kingdom one respectable woman who could write or read, only recently they have sent to this country for a governess to go to the palace itself.
Of incidents, this one may illustrate the power of direct prayer. One day he had preached in some eight villages. Disputations and popular indifference had made him feel discouraged, and thus wearied he sat under a tree to rest. While here a coolie came from his home, bringing provisions, bread, etc., and also the overland mail. The mail was the most welcome. Among other letters was one from a dear friend in Philadelphia. It contained words of warm sympathy and encouragement, and more than all, this assurance: "Brother Wilder, we are praying for you by name every Wednesday evening." The effect of this letter and the blessing which came with it were immediate. He rose from under that "juniper tree" with fresh realization of nearness to God. He walked two miles to a large town. He went, as was his custom, directly to the Pahtil-the head man of the town. He was in his court-room, surrounded by some fifty clerks, but received him in a polite, cordial way, and upon learning his errand ordered all the clerks to drop their work and listen. After Mr. Wilder had talked about an hour they urged him to continue, and before he closed those learned men were wiping the tears from their eyes. This is one of the choicest experiences in his life, showing the power of the simple story of Christ's love. No wonder he believed in special objects for prayer and gifts. His convictions of Missionary methods, both at home and on the field, seem to have been rooted into his very nature by deep personal experience. This was so of his conviction that native churches should have native pastors; that native churches should be self-supporting; that native Christians should be trained to responsibility, and taught to keep on a level with their neighbors, that they might win them, and show them that they had not become Christians to better their temporal condition. The prayer-meetings were largely reporters' meetings. From the Christians were expected accounts of services, interviews, discussions, etc. Sometimes he would call on them by name for their report of the week. These reports suggested very definite subjects for prayer. This was true also of the women's prayer-meetings conducted by Mrs. Wilder. Praying in meeting was a part of their Christian life.
Mr. Wilder was, so far as known, but once in peril of his life. On the outskirts of a village a mob gathered around him, and demanded money. Though mou:p.ted on his horse, the leader of the gang had hold of the bridle; so, for a few minutes, the missionary seemed completely in the power of the fierce men. With seeming Cf'mposure he entered into a conversation with them. Their interest increased; he held their attention until he noticed the grasp on the bridle gradually loosening. Watching a favorable moment he spurred his horse and with a boun~ was out of their reach.
On his return, in 1875, he himself crossed the Continent and left his luggage and property to come by sea. Rounding the Cape of Good Hope, his goods were lost in the vessel's wreck. But among those lost effects was his whole manuscript on the Kolapoor kingdom, with full diary of his missionary work.
During later years his home has been in Princeton. There his parlor has been the Sabbath afternoon gathering place for the students, and the training school for missions.
In 1877, he started THE MISSIONARY REVIEW. The readers of that Review will not need to be reminded of the causes which led to its establishment. Even before he went to the General Assembly and presented his vigorous, incisive criticisms of the methods and expenditures of the Presbyterian Board, he felt there was need of a periodical that would review missions from a point of prospect more elevated than any denominational one, and the REVIEW became the channel for the expression of his personal convictions founded on a long and large experience, and a means of presenting the status of all missions of all denominations throughout all heathendom and nominal Christendom.
He yearned to return and die in India, and nothing held him back but his waning strength and the REVIEW. But so soon as he felt that the REVIEW was provided for, he determined, notwithstanding his keen bodily suffering, to sail for Kolapoor. "My whole soul," he said, "would leap, could I go back. Could I not place twenty missionaries there at once?" That humble Presbyterian Church at Kolapoor was very dear to him, for in its construction his own hands as well as heart were engaged for months. When the church first built by him, was sold to the Mohammedans, and a mosque built on the old site, it is characteristic of his quiet persistence to have bought ground and placed the new church as near as he possibly could to the site of the old one, and his efforts to obtain that site make a very interesting story in themselves.
To the last his heart went out to Kolapoor, and he charged his son Robert to settle about fifty miles from there, in a district peculiarly destitute, where, when he once told the story of the cross, the people with weeping followed him quite a distance, yearning to hear more.
His dying eyes were fixed on Jesus. When the death of his daughter, in 1861, was referred to, and he was asked: "Do you expect to meet her in heaven?" he said, "Yes; but it is my Saviour about whom I think most."
In looking over Mr. Wilder's life, we are impressed with the singular appropriateness of the motto he chose for the REVIEW: "Nil desperandum, Christo sub duce," as applied to his experience.
As a young man, he was extremely retiring and bashful and painfully sensitive; and at times he has, to very intimate friends, expressed his amazement that God had used him, and accomplished through such material His work. It seemed almost incongruous to him that one so timid and shrinking should be thrust into such severe fighting in the forefront of battle.
Of the tender side of his nature few can form a true estimate. These things do not appear in any public reports.
His life closed very beautifully and appropriately when his work was done. The last Saturday, Oct. 8, he sent proof to the printers to complete the closing number of the last volume of his REVIEW, and on the very day when the final arrangements were completed for its transfer to other hands, "he was not: for God took him."
MISSIONARY PROBLEMS IN INDIA
MISSIONARY PROBLEMS IN INDIA. [EDITORIAL.-J. M. s.] IN the Andover Review for September, the Rev. Edward A. Lawrence gives an elaborate and valuable article on this subject, the gist of which we condense and reproduce, for the benefit of our readers. Written by one on the ground, and in an intelligent, and impartial spirit, his views and statements are entitled to respectful consideration. The "Problems" he considers have a world-wide interest and application, and to solve them for India, is, in effect, to solve them for the whole missionary world.
The Problems here discussed are I. Mission Oo-operation; II. What shall be the Treatment of Oonverted Polygamists? III. Who shall be Employed as Teachers in Mission Schools? IV. Instantaneous Baptism.
I.-MISSION CO-OPERATION. The organized union of different mission societies, which happily exists in Japan, and in Amoy, China, has not yet extended to India. Still there is no division or bitterness of feeling. In the main, the field of the several societies is well defined and generally respected. 'fhe Irish Presbyterians occupy Rajputana, the American Methodists, Oudh and Rohilcund; the American Presbyterians labor in the Punjab side by side, and on friendly terms with the Church Missionary Society; while the American United Presbyterians, alike in Egypt and the Punjab north of the Lahore, are fortunate in being almost without competitors. In the south, the Lutheran Missionary Society in Trevancore, and the Church Missionary Society in Tinnevelly, amiably divide the end of the Oape. The bounds of the Madura Mission of the American Board have been settled by agreement with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, dividing the field between them. In Madras, Oalcutta, and Bombay, and in a few other places, there are Monthly Mission Oonfederacies, where members of most of the missions gather for paternal intercourse and discussion. While the general Mission Conferences, like that of the Punjab, or of the whole country, held decennially-the last at Calcutta, 1883-have gone far to prove to the heathen world that Protestants are really united in spirit and aim.
The Presbyterian family take the lead in the movement for organic union. For years past, the Dutch Reformed, the American, Scotch and Irish Presbyterians, have met in a general alliance, seeking to accomplish in India what has been done in Japan. At their last meeting in Bombay, committees were appointed to press forward the work of union, and it was decided to establish a periodical for that purpose.
The evils of sectarianism are nowhere so serious as in great heathen cities, where missions compete, and sometimes conflict, one with another. The natives fancy the divisions greater than they are, and the converts sigh for a national church, and complain of the burdens imposed by reason of differences.
The City Evangelization problem, which astounds and confounds the Church at home, is pressing heavily on the Church in heathen cities. Says Mr. Lawrence: "It is difficult and painful to express my disappointment with most features of mission operations in the Presidency cities of India. The educational work, indeed, is excellent; in some cases, unequalled. The Christian College in Madras, at the head of which is Dr. Miller of the Scotch Presbyterian Church, may well rank as the best institution of learning in India. But other forms of work languish. Not only that: in many cases the fat school-kine have swallowed up the lean evangelistic kine, and there is an actual famine of God's preached Word for the heathen. One great reason for this neglect of important branches of work, one explanation of the weakness or restlessness of the native churches in these cities, and of the fact that in the three where so many societies concentrate there is but one native church which is strictly self-supporting-the Congregational Church in Bombay-is to be found in the rivalries and confusions of sectarianism.
In Calcutta, matters are still worse. The Bengali Christians have able and fluent leaders among them, some of whom show their sincerity by great labors and self-denial. Several are successful lawyers or government officials, who devote their spare time to gospel work, or even take charge of some church. One of these laymen has just been ordained to the preaching office by the Presbytery of the Scotch Free Church Mission."
But the question of lay baptism is exciting earnest attention. A test case has been brought for trial before the Presbytery of the Free Church of Scotland, but not yet decided. Even such men as Ram Chandra Bose, well known in this country, favor lay administration of the sacraments.
"It is plain that some change in these city missions is needed before these great centres will become centres of Christianity. It is equally plain that we cannot expect to stereotype and perpetuate in the Eastern church the divisions which mark the Western church. The selfish desire of any mission board to keep its work intact and not to be swallowed up in a great union movement should be rebuked by Christians of every denomination, and the dangers of disorder and license should be checked by earnest sympathy with the aspirations of the native Christians on one side, and by earnest co-operation between all mission bodies on the other."
II.-THE TREATMENT OF CONVERTED POLYGAMISTS.
To us in the home field, this question seems very simple, but in India, and on other mission fields, it is a complicated and knotty problem.
"The opinion of missionaries on this subject is much divided, and the matter has been discussed at various conferences. An excellent statement of both sides of the question is made in the 'Indian Evangelical Review' of April, 1886, by Rev. J. J. Lucas, who has taken pains to inform himself of the opinions of many leading missionaries. My own impression, formed from conversation with a large number is, that a majority of the missionaries in India, especially of those longest in the field, would decline to advise a man to dismiss one of two wives, and that many of them would baptize him, in that state, while protesting against polygamy as unchristian. The Madura Mission not long ago decided to baptize converted polygamists who had acted in ignorance of Christian ideas, in cases where there was no way of separation without injustice. Of this decision the American Board has expressed its disapproval. But Mr. Jones, of that mission, avows the belief that the policy of refusing baptism to such candidates must in time be reversed."
To over sixty representatives of different missions, Mr. Lucas sent the following question: "Would you, under any circumstances, baptize a convert with more than one wife, allowing him to retain his wives ?" And an affirmative answer was received from the great majority.
Yet, Mr. Lucas himself opposes baptism in such a case, because of the apparent sanction given to polygamy, the temptation laid in the way of inquirers, the formation of two classes of Christians within the church, and the injury done to the church itself. Yet he would not ask the husband to put away either wife, but he would say, "Wait. Your first outward step towards Christ must not be marred by a cruel wrong and flagrant injustice. Wait, holding fast your faith, and time will bring a change." And still he admits that the majority of missionaries, if left free to act, would go further than this, though leaving much to be determined by the circumstances of each case. Mr. Lawrence was assured by old missionaries, that their opinions in this regard had been changed by long experience on the field.
III.-WHO SHALL BE EMPLOYED AS TEACHERS IN MISSION SCHOOLS.
Great trouble and perplexity are experienced in this matter. Hindus are hostile to the work of missions, actively so less perhaps than formerly, but have still to be carefully watched. Mr. Lawrence relates his experience in addressing a school of boys and girls in Bombay. He was obliged to use a Hindu teacher as interpreter. He spoke of the evils of idolatry, of the position of women, and of what each member of the school should do in opposing these evils. To his surprise he afterward found that the interpreter had added his own comments: to his words about idolatry he had added the remark that these were the sentiments of the speaker, not his own. The teacher had to interpose and say emphatically that they were the sentiments of the mission, and should be those of the scholars.
"It is supposed that a Hindu or a Mohammedan, secretly, perhaps, inclined to Christianity, will not do much harm while teaching mathematics or the languages from text-books chosen by the mission. It frequently happens, indeed, that the heathen teacher is himself converted while connected with the school. A Mohammedan boy in a school in Bombay came recently under the favorable notice of a government inspector, who, in commending him, expressed his purpose to find a place for him to teach. The boy left the school and was not seen there again. On being questioned as to the cause of his leaving, he said that he was afraid he should be made a teacher, and if he became a teacher, that meant becoming a Christian. But it is gratifying to find that the number of Christian teachers is constantly increasing, while that of non-Christian is constantly decreasing. In 1871, of 4,201 native male teachers in the mission schools, 2,206 were Hindus or Mohammedans. In 1887, of 5,943, but 2,462 were non-Christians. A much greater reduction may be expected during the present decade."
If only Christian teachers are employed, many schools must close, and the instruction given in others be far less efficient than now. The aim therefore is to secure at least a Christian head master or mistress, and Christians for religious instruction, while other positions are filled with Christian teachers as fast as practicable.
But for the present, Hindu teachers in part are inevitable. None desire more than the missionaries themselves to supersede them entirely, and none will so rejoice when a sufficiency of competent Christian teachers can be had. And to this end, says Mr. Lawrence: "Nothing can serve better than the Normal schools in charge of the Society for Vernacular Christian Education. In its excellent institutions which I visited in Dindigul, in South India, and in Ahmednagar, in West India, it receives to be trained as teachers Christian young men sent by any mission. And to the missions of the American Board it has furnished many of the best teachers in their employ. One of the greatest needs of India is devoted, well-trained Christian teachers, and anything which can increased their number is worthy of all the aid that can be given."
IV. INSTANTANEOUS BAPTISM.
This question has assumed prominence and importance largely by the remarkable conversions attending the preaching of Rev. Mr. Knowles, an English missionary, and his colleagues of the North India M. E. Conference, at the Hindu festivals. Mr. Knowles holds some peculiar views as to the gift of the Holy Spirit, on condition of faith, which leads him to press an immediate decision upon his hearers at these great religious gatherings of the Hindus. All who come forward and publicly declare their belief in Jesus Christ as their Saviour, he will baptize at once, taking their names and homes, and seeking to follow up the work thus begun. Hence the number of baptisms made of those who up to that hour were Hindus in full caste relations, is very large.
The same question is pressed in the Punjab, where the American United Presbyterian Mission has been very successful. Whole villages have come to Christ, and called for immediate baptism, and the United Presbyterian missionaries have granted it, with full admission to the church. The Methodists defer such admission, and the Church Missionary Society prefers, as a rule, not to grant immediate baptism.
There are serious objections against this policy. Many hearing the gospel for the first time get no just idea of its requirements. Their conversion to Christianity is liable to be so only in name and form. The danger is of getting into the mission churches a mass of Hinduism in reality, under the outward rites of Christianity, to say nothing of the scandal which their relapse into their old faith would bring upon the Christian life and faith. The evils of such a hasty admission into the church-membership without due consideration and teaching, are serious and damaging, even in Christian lands, and where public sentiment is comparatively strong and on the right side. What must they be in heathen lands, and even in India, where the church is feeble, and public sentiment for the most part hostile?
"In reply, it is urged that Christ has made distinct promises to those who are not ashamed to confess Him; that when this is done publicly, and with public explanation of the preacher, the church may claim the fulfillment of the promise. It is true, moreover, that Hindus universally attach great importance to Christian baptism, regarding it as a decisive act, which involves the breaking of caste and excommunication. If anyone goes so far as to take this step, so important in his own eyes, why should he not be baptized, followed up, instructed, and, at the proper time, received into the church? And is not this the way, after all, in which the bulk of the people of India are to be brought to Christ-not by preliminary education, which can reach but a few at a time, and may draw men away from Christ instead of towards Him, but by conversion, with instantaneous baptism to seal the act, followed by subsequent training in Christ? If the conversion of Indians occurs by masses, instead of as individuals, must it not be in some such manner, the old barriers giving way suddenly, and great bodies of the people becoming disciples of Christ while ignorant of Him except as their Saviour?"
There is great force and pertinence in these questions. Experience must, in the main, settle the matter in India, and in other mission fields. It is admitted, by the best informed, that very many of the Hindus acknowledge the truth of Christianity, and are looking for a widespread movement among their people. Immense and rapid changes are the order of Providence all over the Heathen, Pagan and Mohammedan world. It seems morally certain that only by some grand mass rising can India ever be brought to Christ. "For, of the majority of Hindus, even more than of other peoples, it is true that, like Wadsworth's clouds, 'they must move all together, if they move at all.' "
We have thus condensed and given the substance of this valuable article, largely in the words of its author. In reviewing it we are impressed with the fact that the Problems which press on the mission church in India, press also, with more or less modification, on the Christian church of America, and of other Christian lands. It is our firm conviction that the great lesson of the day of Pentecost has yet to be learned by the modern Church of Christ. While that glorious manifestation of Divine power was largely supernatural, yet there was a general expectation on the part of the mass of disciples-there was united, continuous, and importunate prayer on the part of the infant church, and a believing waiting for the fulfillment of the Master's promise given on the eve of his departure. Hence it was no surprise. They were "endued with power from on high" in answer to prayer, and thereby fitted for the emergency and the work it laid upon them. And they did not hesitate, in reliance on Christ's promise, to baptize on the same day the thousands of professed converts, though among them were some of the very murderers of our Lord.
And what did the disciples do when driven from Jerusalem and scattered abroad, but go straight into the great cities of the Roman world—into the very centres of idolatry, and heathen superstition, and philosophy, and corruption, and wickedness-and boldly plant in the midst of them the banner of the cross, and preach "Jesus and the Resurrection," to Gentile and Jew, to philosophers and peasants, to the high and the low, and straightway gather converts into Christian churches, and push on from city to city, and from province to province, till they entered Rome itself, and even invaded "Cæsar's household." Their simple reliance was "the gospel of the grace of God," which they carried in their hearts, and preached in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power, confident that Christ would verify his ascension promise, and that the Cross in the hands of the Eternal Spirit was, of itself, without circumlocution, or previous training, or litany, or visible machinery, able to convert the soul to Jesus Christ. It was the policy of faith-the policy of simple trust in God and the power of the gospel-and it wrought wonders. It went everywhere, "conquering and to conquer." And the nearer the church of our day, both at home and in the missionary work abroad, approaches this apostolic method, the more will God honor and bless her instrumentality. In no other way-on no other principle-can the mountains of unbelief and difficulty be removed; the infinite masses of vice, ignorance, irreligion, and
BIOGRAPHY OF MOFFAT
indifference, which now lie and fester in the great cities of the world, be reached and penetrated by the light and influence of the gospel, and the world of guilt, ungodliness, hostility, infidelity and agnostic materialism, be shaken, upheaved, cleaved assunder, and the Son of Righteousness find entrance. If this world shall ever be won to Christ, it will be by Pentecostal seasons of power and ingathering; by tidal waves of grace that shall sweep the earth from pole to pole, by sudden simultaneous movements and forces in the moral and spiritual world, that shall be irresistible and general in their majestic sweep, challenging the faith of the Church, overawing a guilty world, and "converting a nation in a day," in fulfillment of prophetic promise.
BIOGRAPHY OF MOFFAT.
The Lives of Robert and Mary Moffat, by their son, John S. Moffat. With Portraits and Illustrations. New edition with Preface and Supplementary Chapter. New York: A. C. Armstrong & Son. 8 vo, pp. 484.
[EDITORIAL.-J. M. S.] THE name of Robert Moffat has been dear to us ever since we read his thrilling "Southern Africa," more than forty years ago. The leading facts of his life have long been familiar to missionary readers; but in this Life we have the outlines fitly filled up by the hand of filial love. The picture, as now completed, only enhances our estimate of the man and of the importance and enduring value of his work.
Dr. Wm. M. Taylor, in his brief Preface to this new edition, which has just issued from the press of the Armstrongs, well says: "The name of Robert Moffat deserves a high place on the honor roll of modern missionaries. It is not so well known, indeed, as that of his son-in-law, David Livingstone, but it may well be held in reputation as that of the pioneer, without whose labors those of Livingstone and others would have been far otherwise than they were. When he went to South Africa in 1817, he found tribes of idolaters and savages, constantly at war with each other and with the white men, utterly ignorant and degraded. When he left it in 1870, churches had been called into existence, a permanent body of native pastors had been reared from among the Bechwanas, and the whole region had become largely civilized and Christianized."
On the day after his funeral, which occurred in August, 1883, the following leader appeared in the London Times, which is so remarkable, coming from such a source, that we venture to reproduce the substance of it. It is not always that the secular press bestows such just, discriminating, and lofty praise on our heroic missionaries and their achievements.
"Dr. Robert Moffat, who was yesterday laid in the grave, has left an abiding name as a pioneer of modern missionary work in South Africa. He was born in 1795, a year memorable as that of the foundation of the London Missionary Society, and in 1816 he entered on his career as one of the Society's missionaries. His first purpose was to proceed to the South Seas, but his final choice was the vast and yet unexplored field of the central region of South Africa. His chief work was among the Bechwanas. His picture of what they were when he first knew them would hardly now be recognized, so entirely have they changed under the new influences which Moffat was among the first to bring to bear on them. He found them mere savages, idol-worshipers, constantly at war among themselves and with their neighbors, ignorant of the arts of agriculture, and in the utterly degraded state for which we must seek a counterpart now in the more distant tribes whom the message of civilization has not yet reached. It was Moffat's mission to civilize as well as instruct, to free those with whom he was brought in contact from the curse under which they seemed to lie, to raise them to a higher life, and so to fit them to become recipients of the sacred message of good tidings which it was his main ultimate purpose to announce. His success within the limited field to which he confined himself-a field which has been now far overpassed by the subsequent labors of other devoted men, most notably by those of his own son-in-law, David Livingstone—was very marked. His first care was to make himself thoroughly master of the language of those to whom he was sent. For fifty years, he has declared, he had been accustomed to speak the Bechwana tongue; he reduced it to written characters, and, as an agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, translated the Scriptures into it. The Bechwanas, under Moffat's guidance, became new men. Mission work grew and spread among them; what Moffat had begun to do was taken up by other hands; a permanent body of native pastors was created from among the Bechwanas themselves, and the whole region was raised out of the savage state in which Moffat had found it, and became in no small degree civilized as well as Christianized. To effect this, and to make it possible for others to effect it, was the chief business of Moffat's working life. He went out to South Africa in 1816. He left it finally in 1870. During that long interval the dark continent was attacked and explored in all directions. Scientific travelers and missionary travelers were busy pushing their way into regions to which Moffat never penetrated. It is Moffat's honor to have been the first in the field, to have laid, as it were, the stepping-stones by which his successors have been able to outstrip him; to have borne the burden and heat of the day in early missionary work, and at once to have given an example of devotion to his noble cause and to have furnished proof that the ground was not barren, and that even in South Africa the good seed might be trusted to spring up and to bring forth abundant fruit.
"It is the fashion in some quarters to scoff at missionaries, to receive their reports with incredulity, to look at them at best as no more than harmless enthusiasts, proper subjects for pity, if not for ridicule. The records of missionary work in South Africa must be a blank page to those by whom such ideas are entertained. We owe it to our missionaries that the whole region has been opened up. Apart from their special service as preachers, they have done important work as pioneers of civilization, as geographers, as contributors to philological research. Of those who have taken part in this, Moffat's name is not the best known. Moffat, it may be said, has labored, and other men have entered into his labor. Livingstone has come after him, and has gone beyond him, and has linked his memory for ever with the records of the South African Church. Speke and Stanley have become household names where Moffat has been unknown or has been forgotten. In his own simple words, it never occurred to him, while working among the Bechwanas, that he should obtain the applause of men. His one care was for those among whom he had cast his lot. He was an enthusiast, of course-a man would be worth little for missionary enterprise if he were not this at all events. But he was an enthusiast with a clear sense of the right means to employ for the accomplishment of his unselfish task. He had a message to deliver of love and of peace, and he must prepare men to receive it by instructing them in the arts of peace. The progress of South Africa has been mainly due to men of Moffat's stamp. In him, as in David Livingstone, it is hard to say which character has predominated, that of the missionary proper, or that of the teacher and guide. Certain it is that apart from the special stimulus they felt as proclaimers of the gospel message, they would never have thrown themselves as they did into the work to which their lives were consecrated. It was by no zeal for the spread of civilization on its own account that they passed weary years laboring and teaching among savage tribes, amid dangers of every kind, amid privations of which they themselves made light, but which only a sense of their high spiritual mission could have prompted them to face and undergo. One part of Moffat's work has been to prepare the way for others. He has given, so far, what promises to be a lasting stimulus. It is another question whether his own work will endure. . . . It is the missionary alone who seeks nothing for himself. He has chosen an unselfish life. If honor comes to him, it is by no choice of his own, but as the unsought tribute which others, as it were, force upon him. Robert Moffat has died in the fullness both of years and of honors. His work has been to lay the foundation of the Church in the central regions of South Africa. As far as his influence and that of his coadjutors and successors has extended, it has brought with it unmixed good. His name will be remembered while the South African Church endures, and his example will remain with us as a stimulus to others and as an abiding proof of what a Christian missionary can be and can do."
How this life work was performed; what a world of difficulty and opposition he encountered; with what tireless and persistent energy he wrought for more than half a century; amid what perils, hardships, discouragements and heroic endurances he stood at his post, this intensely interesting volume sets forth, modestly and lovingly, in fuller detail. Mrs. Moffat shared in her husband's work, and spirit, and missionary career. "Both," says Dr. Taylor, "were of such stuff as heroes are made of, and their names are worthy of a place in the peerage of faith, beside those which the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews has ennobled by his praise."
Robert Moffat was the child of poor, hard-working, and pious parents in Scotland, to whom he owed much of his shrewd sense, industry, frugality and ability to turn his hands to anything. He learned to be a gardener, but at 16 left home for a situation in Cheshire, where he speedily attracted the notice and sympathy of his employers. He was soon after converted and joined the Wesleyan Methodists, and quickly thereafter resolved to be a missionary. But parents, employers, and others, tried to dissuade him from his purpose. But he persevered at the cost of his place, but soon found employment with a Mr. Smith, a Scotchman of Covenanting descent, who entered heartily into young Moffat's plans. So likewise did their daughter Mary, some months Moffat's senior. She had been carefully and religiously brought up and schooled at the Moravian Seminary at Fairfield, whose traditions are so full of missionary romance. Here she spent some happy years, and had engaged in home-mission work. She was strongly drawn to Moffat, as he to her; and both earnestly devoted themselves to work among the heathen. This union of heart and work at home was subsequently renewed in Africa, where, for a long and eventful period they worked together as husband and wife.
As the biographer says, Moffat did not become a great missionary by virtue of his collegiate opportunities. He valued learning highly, but he had no chance to become a great scholar. But he had a knack of seizing what was essential to him, and a gift for forgetting what was useless or secondary. His studies, in face of the greatest difficulties, completed, he was accepted by the London Missionary Society, and would have been designated for the South Pacific with the venerated Williams, had it not been for his youth-he was only twenty years of age. Says the biographer: "During the discussions in the Missionary Committee as to how the present band of men was to be distributed, it had been first proposed that Williams and Moffat should both go to Polynesia; but this was overruled at the suggestion of Dr. Waugh, who deemed that 'thae twa lads were ower young to gang thegither;' so they were separated. On these small links hang our lives."
Moffat was not long in South Africa before he gave proof that years are not the only gauge of wisdom and self-reliance and tact in management. His first difficulty arose from the caprice of the Governor, who refused, on account of disturbances, to allow the party to proceed beyond the limits of Cape Colony. Moffat at once set himself to learning Dutch, that he might the more efficiently do his work when he did reach Namaqualand. At last the Governor gave his consent; and for more than a year in Namaqualand, and for more than five-and-forty in Bechwanaland, his life was one ceaseless labor and difficulty and danger, fearlessly faced. He was builder, blacksmith, carpenter, thatcher, ditcher-for he dug canal after canal to bring water to his garden and field-gardener and dairyman by turns-and everything to which he set his hand he did well-even down to darning and sewing, which he was thankful that his mother had taught him how to do.
His life at the Oape, and in Namaqualand, however, was but a preparation; his real work began at Kuruman, where he was assisted by his wife (Miss Mary Smith having joined him at Cape Colony, where they were married), whose noble character and remarkable gifts are brought out in the volume by means of her letters. She was helper, inspirer, and a strong supporter.
Soon after their settlement at Kuruman, Mrs. Moffat writes to her parents: " At present Moffat is applying himself with all diligence to the language, as the particular object of his destination here. He finds immense difficulties from the barrenness of the language and imperfect interpreters, but he is naturally too persevering soon to lose courage. This is his sole motive for undertaking a journey at present, in order to become familiar with it by being for a time out of the habit of speaking Dutch with our own people here.
I think it will also be of advantage to me in that respect; having so much to employ my time with at home I have little chance of learning much of it. You beg of us to pay particular attention to the instruction of the rising generation, but alas, we have no opportunities of doing this: the people instead of desiring that their children should be instructed, are afraid of their becoming 'Dutchmen,' so tenacious are they of their old customs and habits, and if a boy and a girl venture to come they are soon laughed out of it. Perhaps if we gave them a meal of meat every day or a few beads, we might have the place crowded-but on no other condition. Oh! how we were affected on reading an account of Madagascar, when we thought of the difference between that people and this; they so desirous and these such despisers of instruction. As to some of these people having correct notions of God and of heaven, death and hell, as has been asserted, you must not believe it; for daily conversations convince us that the wisest of them have most corrupt notions on these subjects. We are astonished at their dreadful stupidity about these things. My beloved parents, we have much need of your sympathy and prayers, and those of all other Christians. Could we but see the smallest fruit we could rejoice amidst the privations and toil which we bear; but as it is, our hands do often hang down."
Their faith was put to a very severe test. They toiled for years without any visible fruit. But though disappointed, neither were disheartened.
" 'Mary,' he said one day to his wife, 'this is hard work.' 'It is hard work, my love,' she replied; 'but take courage, our lives shall be given us for a prey!' 'But think, my dear,' he replied, 'how long we have been preaching to this people, and no fruits yet appear.' Mrs. Moffat rejoined in this manner: 'The gospel has not yet been preached to them in their own tongue wherein they were born. They have heard it only through interpreters, and interpreters who have themselves no just understanding, no real love of the truth. We must not expect the blessing till you be able from your own lips and in their own language to bring it through their ears into their hearts.' 'From that hour,' said Mr. Moffat, in relating the conversation, 'I gave myself with untiring diligence to the acquisition of the language.'''
At the close of the year 1822 Moffat wrote his brother: "I shall now give some particulars of our present situation. The most important is the cause of Christ. Alas! we still hang our harp on the willows, and mourn over the destiny of thousands hastening with heedless but impetuous strides to the regions of woe. They turn a deaf ear to the voice of love, and treat with scorn the glorious doctrines of redemption. This often causes our hearts to languish, while our eyes fail with looking upward.
"It is, however, pleasing to reflect that affairs in general wear a more hopeful aspect than when we came here. Several instances have proved the people determined to relinquish the barbarous system of commandoes for stealing cattle. They have also dispensed with a rainmaker this season. We rejoice in this, because his services and presence must ever form a strong barrier to the spread of the gospel. "We prayed and hoped that a good season would thoroughly convince them that the power of giving rain belonged only to God, but He whose footsteps are in the sea has been pleased to order it otherwise. The season has been so dry as to destroy their corn, except a little which happened to be sown on ground a little marshy. Nothing, however, has been said as to the cause of the drought. We continue on friendly terms with them, though we have also much to suffer, especially from thieves, who pester us on all sides."
God chose his own methods of bringing his servant into favor with this people and giving him a powerful influence in their affairs. The Niantatees, a terrible horde of marauders, came pouring down upon the western Bechwanas, who, if driven back, would have no option but to perish in the foodless and waterless wastes of the Kalahari. The people were panic-stricken. The dreaded enemy drew nearer every day. And still nothing definite was known of their purpose or strength. Moffat, choosing a few companions, plunged into the wilderness, and after perils innumerable (seeing nine lions in one day) accomplished his purpose and hastened back and warned the people, and roused them to action, and gave such advice, and exercised such strategy and commanding ability as resulted in saving the people from destruction. His forethought, coolness, courage, and sagacity excited the admiration even of these savages, and led the grateful people almost to worship him.
From this time on the mission brightened and the influence of the Moffats widened and deepened. Mrs. Moffat writes home to her father about this time: "To hear of the steady and growing piety of these sable children of Adam, together with the increase of Divine knowledge in the minds of others, must be reviving to the hearts of all who love the cause, but especially to such as are so nearly connected with this mission as yourself. Our gracious God has been very condescending to spare the lives of His unworthy servants to witness some fruits of missionary labor-a felicity we frequently despaired of enjoying in this lower world, where crosses and disappointments seemed to form so large a proportion in our cup. We now often wish you could be with us, to witness for yourself what we see. . . . The converts are going on well, and though the general commotion in the minds of the people has in a great measure subsided, we have solid reason to believe that there are many persons who are the subjects of an abiding conviction of their position as sinners before God, and are in the constant and diligent use of the means of grace, which we doubt not will be effectual through the Spirit in leading them to the Saviour of sinners. The Spirit of God has commenced His operations, and surely He will go on."
We have not space to follow Moffat through the long and fruitful years of his toil and sacrifice among this people, nor to describe his manifold labors in the wide field of Southern Africa exploration, civilization and Christianization; nor his intercourse with and influence on the career of David Livingstone, who married his daughter Mary; nor yet his great work in the matter of Bible translation and the circulation of the Scriptures as agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, laying the foundation of a Bechwana literature; nor his visit to England in 1838, and the wonderful interest he awakened in his native land; nor of his return to Africa and subsequent career there, till in a ripe old age, he returned to his native shores in 1870, and until the day of his death, worked on unceasingly in behalf of the cause to which his life had been devoted.
A single parting glimpse we give the reader.
"On Sunday, the twentieth of March, 1870, Robert Moffat preached for the last time in the Kuruman church. In all that great congregation there were few of his own contemporaries. The older people were for the most part children at the time when they had first seen the missionaries. With a pathetic grace peculiarly his own, he pleaded with those who still remained unbelieving amid the gospel privileges they had now enjoyed so many years. With a fatherly benediction he commended to the grace of God those who had been to him a joy and crown. It was an impressive close to an impressive career. Many years must pass before that service can be forgotten in Bechwanaland."
We note a single trait of Moffat's character. He was not a man of one idea; was not wedded to a system or preconceived methods, but studied to adapt himself to the existing condition of things. While he insisted that no civilizing processes were of any effect without conversion, he despised no means of gaining influence in order to lead the heathen to better modes of living, to improved methods of agricul- ture, and to thrift and settled habits.
" He was first a missionary; but he was also a great' captain of industry,' a man who, if he had devoted himself to any form of worldly enterprise, would probably have made a colossal fortune. He could govern men. He knew how to attach them to him, and could gauge their capacity with the eye of a master. He could direct each to the exact task suited to him, and, what is more, keep him heartily at it. Impulse and will went together, and he seldom missed his aim. A mere stripling of twenty-one, he tamed the redoubtable Africaner, and made him a humble follower and helper; he subdued Moselikatze, the warlike Matebele, and made him feel that the missionary was essential to him. His simple manhood and fearlessness, with great natural tact and independence, enabled him always to appeal to that side of their nature which was most open to him. And he could wait. It has been well said that the courage necessary to face indefinite perils, such as those to which Moffat was constantly exposed-especially in the first portion of his career-is greater than that which supports the soldier in the midst of excitement of battle. What a probation was that of the long years in the dry and waterless Kuruman, without the token of a single impression being made on any human creature! Shamelessly the people stole; neither grain could grow to ripeness, nor cattle or sheep be left in the fold, or a tool allowed to lie where a bit of work was being done, or a canal made, without the risk of the water being diverted before it reached the mission station. Many a time on returning from their out-door labors, or from a service, they found a stone in the pot instead of the meat they had left to cook. But all undismayed, Robert Moffat and his heroic wife toiled on, assured that their reward would come."* And come it did. He lived to see great changes wrought in South Africa and to lay the foundations of the South African Church with his own hands. The progress of South Africa has been mainly due to Moffat and men of his stamp. In him, as in Livingstone, it is hard to say which character has predominated, that of the missionary proper, or that of the teacher and guide. His mission largely was to prepare the way for others. He has given a great and apparently lasting stimulus, and laid Africa and the whole missionary world under great obligations.
On one point we think Mr. Moffat's testimony bearing on the policy of missions is entitled to serious consideration. We quote from an admirable paper in the Leisure Hour for November, 1883: "Much might be added in illustration of Dr. Moffat's extreme versatilIty in acquiring every industry or art which the exigencies of the place might demand of him. His treatment of the bodily ailments of the natives who came to him was almost prophetic of the medical missionaries, of whom so much has happily been heard in later days. Enough, perhaps, has been said to indicate the manifold resource and adaptiveness which helped to establish the memorable mission to Bechwanaland.
" The question of the bearing of civilization in such circumstances upon the work of evangelization is a weighty one, and the testimony of such a veteran missionary as Dr. Moffat would not fail to be of the greatest value. It is one, also, on which he has spoken with no uncertain sound, for the facts were pressed upon him at an early period of his work among the Becnwanas. After twenty-six years of missionary work he writes: 'Much has been. said about civilizing savages before attempting to evangelize them. This is a theory which has obtained an extensive prevalence among the wise men of this world, but we have never yet seen a practical demonstration of its truth. We, ourselves, are convinced that evangelization must precede civilization. It is very easy in a country of high refinement to speculate on what might be done among rude and savage men, but the Christian missionary, the only experimentalist, has invariably found that to make the fruit good the tree must first be made good. Nothing less than the power of Divine grace can reform the hearts of savages, after which the mind is susceptible of those instructions which teach them to adol'n the gospel they profess."–Leisure Hour.
"One of the great attractions of this biography is, that it faithfully presents Mrs. Moffat alongside her husband-a heroine in every sense of the word. There was no work in which she did not share-no enterprise or adventure however perilous-in which she did not take her part. For years she made it her work to accompany him in the wagon, when he meant to be absent for more than a couple of days, for the double purpose of insuring that he should have ordinary comforts (which in bachelorhood in Namaqualand he had been apt to overlook), and that she should learn what she could of everything. Moffat had laid it down as the result of his three-year-long single-life experience that, 'A missionary without a wife in South Africa was like a boat with only one oar. A good missionary's wife can be as useful as her husband in the Lord's vineyard.' She over and over again undertook journeys to the Cape without Moffat (whom she would not permit, for her sake, to leave his work for a moment), and with faithful Bechwanas and Hottentots only for attendants, who never failed her. She combined missionary help with attention to family matters, and conveyed back printing materials or other goods, which were needed and waited for. Once, when she was ordered to the coast for her health, she persisted in going alone.
Unfortunately this time they found the Orange River in flood, and could not get across. For a whole month in ill-health she had to wait on the bank in the hot weather. But she never got disconsolate or even depressed, and her power of taking the best and most hopeful view of things amounted almost to an art. This is how she tells of her suffering: " 'I was in company with Mr. Hume, who rendered me every possible assistance, but my health being in such a delicate state, I could not but suffer much from the extreme heat and exposed situation, and was severely tried. Frequently were we tantalized with the prospect of being able to ride through "to-morrow," but as sure as to-morrow came the river rose again, till all hope was gone, and we came at last to the conclusion to cross on a raft. . . . There were eighteen wagons altogether, and with hard labor we got everything over that dreadful river in less than three days without a single accident. How much have we to be thankful for! And it was gratifying to find that, for all I had endured, I was no worse, but rather better. Perhaps being obliged to take it easily was in my favor.'
"This so entirely expresses the character of the woman as she appears to us throughout these pages-patient, courageous, equal to any emergency, gifted with power of command such as few men have, and yet tender and true to every claim of womanhood-that we can only praise her sufficiently by saying that she rose to the same heights of unconscious heroism as her husband. To read of her must prove an inspiration in many a home."*
THE CHRISTIAN AND NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS
THE CHRISTIAN AND NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS. SIR MONIER-WILLIAMS, Professor of Sanskrit in Oxford University, is universally recognized as an authority in all questions relating to the literature and faiths of the Orient. At the late anniversary of the Church Misssionary Society in London, he delivered an address which is so remarkable, that notwithstanding its appearance in other forms, we desire to give extracts from it a permanent place in this REVIEW. He says: "An old friend, a valued missionary of this society, founder of the James Long Lectures on the Non-Christian Religions, said to me a few days before his death: 'You are to speak at the anniversary of the Church Missionary Society; urge upon our missionaries the importance of studying the non- Christian religious systems.' Unusual facilities for this study are now at our disposal; for in this Jubilee year of the Queen, the University of Oxford has completed the publication of about thirty stately volumes of the socalled Sacred Books of the East, comprising the Veda, the Zend-Avesta of the Zoroastrians, the Confucian Texts, the Buddhist Tripitaka, and the Muhammadan Kuran-all translated by well-known translators. Our mIssionaries are already convinced of the necessity of studying these works, and of making themselves conversant with the false creeds they have to fight. How could an army of invaders have any chance of success in an enemy's country without a knowledge of the position and strength of its fortress, and without knowing how to turn the batteries they may capture against the foe? Instead of dwelling on so manifest a duty, I venture a few words of warning as to the subtle danger that lurks beneath the duty.
"In my youth I had been accustomed to hear all non-Christian religions described as 'inventions of the devil.' And when I began investigating Hinduism and Buddhism, some well-meaning Christian friends expressed their surprise that I should waste my time by grubbing in the dirty gutters of heathendom. After a little examination, I found many beautiful gems glittering there; nay, I met with bright coruscations of true light flashing here and there amid the surrounding darkness. Now, fairness in fightmg one's opponents is ingrained in every Englishman'S nature, and, as I prosecuted my researches into these non-Christian systems, I began to foster a fancy that they had been unjustly treated. I began to observe and trace out curious coincidences and comparisons with our own Sacred Book of the East. I began, in short, to be a believer in what is called the evolution and growth of religious thought. 'These imperfect systems,' I said to myself, 'are clearly steps in the development of man's religious instincts and aspirations-interesting efforts of the human mind struggling upwards towards Christianity. Nay, it is probable that they were all intended to lead up to the one true religion, and that Christianity is, after all, merely the climax, the complement, the fulfillment of them all.'
"Now there is unquestionably a delightful fascination about such a theory, and, what is more, there are really elements of truth in it. But I am glad of the opportunity of stating publicly that I am persuaded I was misled by its attractiveness, and that its main idea is quite erroneous. The charm and danger of it, I think, lie in its apparent liberality, breadth of view, and toleration. In The Times of last October 14, you will find recorded a remarkable conversation between a Lama priest and a Christian traveler, in the course of which the Lama says that 'Christians describe their religion as the best of all religions; whereas, among the nine rules of conduct for the Buddhist, there is one that directs him never either to think or to say that his own religion is the best, considering that sincere men of other religions are deeply attached to them.' Now to express sympathy with this kind of liberality is sure to win applause among a certain class of thinkers in these days of universal toleration and religious free trade. We must not forget, too, that our Bible tells us that God has not left himself without witness, and that in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him. Yet I contend, notwithstanding, that flabby, jelly-fish kind of tolerance is utterly incompatible with the nerve, fibre, and backbone that ought to characterize a manly Christian. A Christian's character ought to be exactly what the Christian's Bible intends it to be. Take that Sacred Book of ours; handle reverently the whole volume; search it through and through, from the first chapter to the last, and mark well the spirit that pervades the whole. You will find no limpness, no flabbiness about its utterances. Even skeptics who dispute Its divinity are ready to admit that it is a thoroughly manly book. Vigor and manhood breathe in every page. It is downward and straightforward, bold and fearless, rigid and uncompromising. It tells you and me to be either hot or cold. If God be god, serve him. If Baal be God, serve him. We cannot serve both. We cannot love both. Only one name is given among men whereby we may be saved. No other name, no other Saviour, more suited to India, to Persia, to China, to Arabia, is ever mentioned-is ever hinted at.
"What! says the enthusiastic student of the science of religion, do you seriously mean to sweep away as so much worthless waste paper all these thirty stately volumes of Sacred Books of the East just published by the University of Oxford? "No-not at all-nothing of the kind. On the contrary, we welcome these books. We ask every missionary to study their contents and thankfully lay hold of whatsoever things are true and of good report in them. But we warn him that there can be no greater mistake than to force these non-Christian bibles into conformity with some scientific theory of development, and then point to the Christian's Holy Bible as the crowning product of religious evolution. So far from this, these non-Christian bibles are all developments in the wrong direction. They all begin with some flashes of true light and end in utter darkness. Pile them, if you will, on the left side of your study table, but place your own Holy Bible on the right side-all by itself-aU alone-and with a wide gap between.
"And now, I crave permission at least to give two good reasons for ventur- ing to contravene, in so plain-spoken a manner, the favorite philosophy of the day. Listen to me, ye youthful students of the so-called Sacred Books of the East, search them through and through, and tell me, do they affirm of Vyasa, of Zoroaster, of Confucius, of Buddha, of Mohammed, what our Bible affirms of the Founder of Christianity-that He, a sinless Man, was made Sin! Not merely that he is the eradicator of sin, but that He, the sinless Son of man, was himself made sin. Vyasa and the other founders of Hinduism enjoined severe penances, endless lustral washings, incessant purifications, infinite repetitions of prayer, painful pilgrimages, arduous ritual, and sacrificial observances, all with the one idea of getting rid of sin. AU their books say so. But do they say that the very men who exhausted every invention for the eradication of sin were themselves sinless men made sin. Zoroaster, too, and Confucius, and Buddha, and Mohammed, one and all, bade men strain every nerve to get rid of sin, or at least of the misery of sin, but do their sacred books say that they themselves were sinless men made sin! I do not presume, as a layman, to interpret the apparently contradic. tory proposition put forth in our Bible that a sinless Man was made Sin. All I now contend for is that it stands alone; that it is wholly unparalleled; that it is not to be matched by the shade of a shadow of a similar declaration in any other book claiming to be the exponent of the doctrine of any other religion in the world.
" Once again, ye youthful students of the so-called Sacred Books of the East, search them through and through, and tell me, do they affirm of Vyasa, of Zoroaster, of Confucius, of Buddha, of Mohammed, what our Bible affirms of the Founder of Christianity-that He, a dead and buried Man, was made Life? not merely that he is the Giver of life, but that he, the dead and buried Man, is Life. 'I am the Life.' 'When Christ, who is our Life, shall appear.' 'He that hath the Son, hath Life.' Let me remind you, too, that the blood is the Life, and that our Sacred Book adds this matchless, this unparalleled, this astounding assertion: 'Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.' Again, I say, I am not now presuming to interpret so marvelous, so stupendous a statement. All I contend for is that it is absolutely unique; and I defy you to produce the shade of the shadow of a similar declaration in any other sacred book of the world. And bear in mind that these two matchless, these two unparalleled declarations, are closely, are intimately, are indissolubly connected with the great central facts and doctrines of our religion: the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension of Christ. Vyasa, Zoroaster, Confucius, Buddha, Mohammed, are all dead and buried; and mark this-their flesh is dissolved; their bones have crumbled into dust; their bodies are extinct. Even their followers admit this. Christianity alone commemorates the passing into the heavens of its divine Founder, not merely in the spirit, but in the body, and 'with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature,' to be the eternal source of life and holiness to his people.
"The two unparalleled declarations quoted by me from our Holy Bible make a gulf between it and the so-called Sacred Books of the East which sever the one from the other utterly, hopelessly, and forever-not a mere rift which may be easily closed up, not a mere rift across which the Christian and the non-Christian may shake hands and interchange similar ideas in regard to essential truths, but a veritable gulf which cannot be bridged over by any science of religious thought; yes, a bridgeless chasm which no theory of evolution can ever span. Go forth, then, ye missionaries, in your Master's name; go forth into all the world, and, after studying all its false religions and philosophies, go forth and fearlessly proclaim to suffering humanity the plain, the unchangeable, the eternal facts of the gospel-nay, I might al- most say, the stubborn, the unyielding, the inexorable facts of the gospel. Dare to be downright with all the uncompromising courage of your own Bible, while with it your watchwords are love, joy, peace, reconciliation. Be fair, be charitable, be Christ-like, but let there be no mistake. Let it be made absolutely clear that Christianity can not, must not, be watered down to suit the palate of either Hindu, Parsee, Confucianist, Buddhist, or Mo. hammedan, and that whosoever wishes to pass from the false religion to the true can never hope to do so by the rickety planks of compromise, or by help of faltering hands held out by half-hearted Christians. He must leap the gulf in faith, and the living Christ will spread his everlasting arms be- neath and land him safely on the Eternal Rock."
To this remarkable testimony, we add that of Professor Max Müller, who, in addressing the British and Foreign Bible Society, said: "In the discharge of my duties for forty years, as Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Oxford, I have devoted as much time as any man living to the study of the Sacred Books of the East, and I have found the one key-note -the one diapason, so to speak-of all these so-called sacred books, whether it be the Veda of the Brahmans, the Puranas of Siva and Vishnu, the Koran of the Mohammedans, the Zend-Avesta of the Parsees, the Tripitaka of the Buddhists-the one refrain through all-salvation by works. They all say that salvation must be purchased, must be bought with a price ; and that the sole price, the sole purchase-money, must be our own works and deservings. Our own holy Bible, our sacred Book of the East, is from beginning to end a protest against this doctrine. Good works are, indeed, enjoined upon us in that sacred Book of the East far more strongly than in any other sacred book of the East; but they are only the outcome of a grateful heart -they are only a thank-offering, the fruits of our faith. They are never the ransom-money of the true disciples of Christ. Let us not shut our eyes to what is excellent and true and of good report in these sacred books, but let us teach Hindoos, Buddhists, Mohammedans, that there is only one sacred Book of the East that can be their mainstay in that awful hour when they pass all alone into the unseen world. It is the sacred Book which contains that faithful saying, worthy to be received of all men, women and children, and not merely of us Christians-that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."
THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
THE LIVING AND THE DEAD. [EDITORIAL.-A. T. P.] "Let the dead bury their dead! Follow thou ME.
Go thou and preach the kingdom of God." -Matt. viii: 21, 22; Luke ix: 60.
WORDS of deep meaning are those words, "life" and "death." The difference between them is the difference between holiness and sin; the distance between them is the distance between Heaven and Hell.
We are in a world of Death. It is full of the dead-those who have neither spiritual vitality nor sensibility; who lack all true spiritual life and all proper sense of the powers of the world to come.
God made man, like an ideal house, in successive stories. On the earthward side, the body, identified with matter; next above it, the intellectual, affectional and moral nature, higher up and nearer God; then above all, and crowning all, that which constituted the very "image of God," -the spiritual nature, the oratory and observatory, nearest to Heaven.
The fall of man shattered the whole house, but it left the upper story in absolute ruin. The spiritual image of God was effaced, while the whole man was defaced. That observatory that looked out upon the celestial scenery, became at best "a death chamber." The noblest, highest, divinest affections, affinities, and capacities of man were left in a state of decay; and so this world became the abode of the dead.
Yes; and the dead are burying the dead. All human history, without God, is one long burial. What is burial? It is the magnifying of the material and mortal; it is lavishing care and cost upon the body, when the invisible spirit has departed, and putting it out of sight and contact of the living. So are the ways of the world. That unseen reality and personality which we call soul, is habitually neglected, while lavish attention is given to the body; and selfishness, that it may revel in ease and indulgence, seeks to bury out of sight and touch of the living, the want and woe, sorrow and suffering of humanity.
The sayings of our Lord, which introduce these paragraphs, are far more comprehensive than may at first appear. Christ is not denying to a son the privilege of fulfilling the last sad offices of filial love to a deceased father. A soul has reached the crisis of history and destiny, and stands trembling and wavering upon the verge of a decision upon which hang eternal issues. To go just now, even to a father's funeral, with its elaborate ceremonial and tedious period of formal mourning, would prove a diversion that might prevent conversion, dissipating serious impressions and convictions. What if that son, drawn back into worldly associations, should lose all interest in things divine; and going to bury his father, should end in being buried himself ! But let us mark the grandeur of the scope of those two words of command: "Follow thou me !" "Go thou and preach the kingdom of God!"
Christ is the Lord of life. He came to give life and to give it more abundantly-not to bury but to revive; not to commit to the sepulchre but to call the dead from their tombs. "Follow thou Me !"
and so get life; then, "Go thou and preach the kingdom of God," and so give life.
We have intelligently chosen these words as the motto of this MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD. Taking the two accounts as presenting the whole incident in its spherical completeness, we find here the entire duty of every human being, comprehensively expressed: first to be a follower of Christ, and then a preacher of Christ; receiving life from the dead, to go forth bearing the potent message of salvation, and so imparting life to the dead.
Our Lord thus sounds, in these sayings of His, the silver trumpet of evangelization, and down through the aisles of the ages, with growing clearness, rings the clarion peal. It is time that it had reached and rallied the whole church of God to the universal assembling of the Lord's hosts, and the universal onset of the army against the foe.
Evangelization is the one word that deserves to be emblazoned on the banners of the believing host. The one immediate, imperative duty of every follower is to become a "herald." To bring this gospel of life into contact with every living, human soul in the shortest possible time and the best possible way-that is evangelization.
The scheme is so grandly colossal that it fills the whole word of God, and reaches round the whole world of the dead. Like the wheel of Ezekiel's vision, it is so high that it is dreadful. Its rim rests upon the earth, but reaches to heaven.
God's gigantic plan of evangelization embraces the whole family of man. That family consists at this time of fifteen hundred millions of souls now living upon earth. More than one-half of this vast number have never yet had a copy of the Word, heard the sound of the good tidings, or even seen the face of a missionary. There are some thirty millions of evangelical Christians within the territory of a nominal Christendom; and the problem is how to bring those thirty millions into contact with the seven hundred and fifty millions who have not the gospel within the space of a generation's lifetime!
How can it be done? That is the absorbing question. We should utterly despair of doing it but for one fact: The Captain of our salvation has commanded it, and the existence of the order is the warrant for obedience, and the assurance of success. Let the whole church but take the attitude of obedience, and we should see wonders of achievement that would astonish us.
It is, nevertheless, very plain that the methods now employed by the church of God are inadequate to this great work. All Christendom sends to the foreign field to-day less than seven thousand workmen, of whom more than half are unordained laymen and women. The native Christian churches contribute some thirty-three thousand more, of whom nine-tenths are laymen. We have, therefore, a total of forty thousand Christian disciples scattered among the millions of Pagan, Papal, and Moslem communities. Were these evenly and equally distributed, it would still give every worker, male or female, native and foreign, ordained and unordained, a parish of 18,750 souls to reach with the gospel in the space of about thirty years, the lifetime of a generation.
"What are these among so many?" And with all the obstacles of foreign language and hoary superstitions to surmount before there could be even an approach or access to them. Our missionary workers-nay, even our missionary stations-are like stars set in the centres of vast vacancies. And, therefore, it is that with over 100 missionary organizations belting the globe, the unevangelized population of the world grows faster than the church; population strides more rapidly than evangelization can keep up with it; and there is to-day a larger number of unsaved souls on earth than during any previous decade of years.
Where lies the core of this difficulty? We have forsaken the standard set up for us by our Lord and adopted by the primitive church. To every human being our Lord's double message is "Follow me, and preach me." The command is representative. The only qualification necessary for preaching the kingdom is to be a subject in it; and every follower of Christ must be a fisher of men.
This is the doctrine of the New Testament, and this was the practice of the New Testament church. Our Lord laid down the law of evangelization: ALL ARE TO GO, AND TO GO TO ALL. The occasion on which, upon that Galilean mountain, He said: "Go make disciples of all nations," was, without doubt, the occasion on which he "was seen of above five hundred brethren at once," commissioning all disciples to make disciples.
And they accepted the commission. The persecution that followed Stephen's martyrdom scattered the disciples abroad, and they went everywhere, preaching the word.* Observe!-not the apostles, for they are expressly excepted, as remaining at Jerusalem. Philip, though only a deacon, not only evangelized but baptized. The careful reader of the" Acts of the Apostles" finds there the acts of a great many beside the Apostles. He finds there a vital truth of Scripture side by side with a vital fact of history. The obvious intent of our Lord was that every follower should be also a witness, warrior, worker, winner of souls. The so-called "ministry" properly exists in the interests of law and order, sound doctrine and safe polity; but does not properly exist as a clerical caste, drawing a line of division between the followers of Christ in the matter of work for souls. Neither the world nor the church can afford to confine or entrust this work of evangelization to a class. The world needs all disciples as heralds, if all men are to hear the gospel; and the church needs all her members to be workers if she is to fulfil her great commission, or even escape the dry rot of indolence and inaction. Growth there must be where life is, and action there must be where growth is. What we do not use we lose. Current alone keeps the stream from stagnating and freezing.
Go thou, whoever thou art, if thou followest the Lord, and preach the kingdom of God. This is a universal duty, an individual responsibility. It is not necessary to change our sphere, but only to pervade our sphere with a new spirit of life. "In whatsoever calling he is found, let every man therein abide with God."* Let him use the shoemaker's shop, the carpenter's bench, the merchant's desk, the artist's studio, the market stall, the senator's chair, the kitchen or nursery, the throne or palace, as the pulpit from which to preach Jesus. If, like Wesley and Whitefield, Moody and McAll, you can reach the multitudes with your voice, thank God for the privilege. But if not, perhaps, like John Pounds of Portsmouth, you can win the confidence of street gamins by a hot roast potato, or, like Maria Millis in the humble nursery, teach infant lips to pray, and sow in a child's heart the seeds of a mighty passion for souls that shall yet sway, with resistless persuasion, the Lords and Commons in Parliament! These opening words of salutation from the editors to the reader, are not the result of any sudden, transient outburst of feeling. Here are crystallized the solemn convictions reached or wrought by a quarter of a century of study and thought upon this great theme. Before the church stands a great problem, for which the Scriptures furnish the only practical, possible solution. The whole church must accept the duty of telling the old, old story. Each of us is his brother's keeper. Every hearer must become a herald. This is the theory of evangelization in a nutshell; and we have only to put this principle into practice, and the wisdom of our Lord's words will be demonstrated; we may thus bring the gospel to the ears of every living member of our ruined race before the bells of God's great clock of the ages shall ring in the natal hour of a new century.
"Go THOU, AND PREACH THE KINGDOM OF GOD."
A VIOLENT thunder storm once preserved the town of Basle from the shells of the Russians and Hungarians, who were besieging the place. The pious people, in gratitude, founded a training-school for Christian Missionaries. This was the origin of the Basle Missionary Society, which has sent out over five hundred devoted men to the heathen.
*1 Cor. vii.
MISSION WORK IN PAPAL EUROPE
MISSION WORK IN PAPAL EUROPE.
By WILLIAM CLARK, D.D., FLORENCE, ITALY.
[Dr. Clark has a right to speak on the subject which he here briefly intro- duces to the notice of our readers. During the past twenty-five years he has resided in Papal Europe and made its institutions, especially those of an educational character, a matter of special study. The female college which he has established at Florence is an important mission agency and deserves the sympathy and aid of American Christians, and especially of the friends of female Christian education. Previous to this-from 1850 to 1860-he was in the service of the A. B. C. F. M. in Turkey, having charge of the Bebek Theological Seminary, out of which grew Robert College.-EDs.) THE moral and spiritual transformation of Central and Southern Europe must be done for women and by women. Establishing evangeli- cal schools of higher female education is the great mission agency to be employed, and the agency the most successful of all others. It is not by any denominational propaganda arrayed against Popery, or by Protestant Mission Boards of England and the United States sending their forces into these countries with their agencies of sect. I have been intimately conversant with mission work in foreign and Papal lands for nearly forty years, and, with all my experience and observation during this long period, I am fully convinced that true and successful mission work can never be accomplished, especially in Papal Europe, by a strictly denominational agency. I speak what I know when I say that the greatest obstacle to the work of a true religious reform in Papal Europe for the last twenty-five years has been the introduction of different religious denominations, and the sectarian spirit that has characterized them. To do true Christian work in Europe, churches must leave sect at home, and carry alone the essentials of Christian salvation and Christian character.
In 1866, Hon. George P. Marsh, our honored Minister in Italy for thirty years, wrote me thus: "Garibaldi is right in saying that Italy must owe her salvation to her women. No country has produced, and none now produces, nobler women than this, and there never was a crisis when such could render greater service to the cause of humanity and truth than now." The union and independence of Italy, that have taken place since that time, have proved a powerful incentive in ennobling and quickening the life of woman. Nowhere is the regeneration of Italy more marked than in Italian female life. They now ask earnestly for a new and improved system of higher female education. They wish schools and colleges for women similar to those in America. Our system of higher female education has been made known in all these countries by the Expositions at Vienna and Paris. My classmate, Hon. John D. Philbrick of Boston, our Educational Commissioner at those expositions, made such a beautiful exhibit of our female schools and colleges as to make our system of female culture so popular that it is everywhere desired in all these countries, and desired as a system to take the place of the Convent system, with which from year to year they are more and more dissatisfied.
Establishing evangelical schools of higher female education would be setting up a great agency that would be attended with immense results, an agency having no sectarian taint to poison it, and most cordially welcomed by the people. In Italy, for instance, this agency affords us a rare opportunity of doing a most noble work for Italian young women of the higher classes, in bringing a high and ennobling religious influence, as well as a high culture among those who really have the destinies of their country in their hands.
The great obstacle to the regeneration of Italy, is woman. Educate woman, and bring her under a true religious influence, and Italy will quickly become a truly enlightened and a truly evangelized country. And this work is feasible, if means and lady teachers can be obtained among Christians of America. The present is a time so favorable for instituting a great enterprise and an undenominational mission agency, that I cannot but urge it upon the attention of Christian women in America. I have heard many Italians express deep regret that, in all Catholic Europe, there was not one superior college where they might send their daughters for a higher culture. Is not this fact a sad one, especially when we consider how much high Christian culture there is among the women of America and England? Is it true that this culture is really Christian and benevolent in its character? Why, then, are not greater efforts made to extend it among other nations? Establish, for instance, schools in Italy bearing the stamp of our culture and our religion. This would be the noblest possible way of doing mission work. It is not enough that we boast of our higher female education at home; we must consecrate it to the good of other nations.
We want $10,000 to make a college, already established in Florence, Italy, an agency of great good to all the Papal States of Europe. Similar schools we wish to establish in all the principal cities of Italy, Austria, France and Spain; and such schools will bring these countries into the kingdom of Christ. To the importance of this work we have the testimony and endorsement of the best men of all Christian nations. Lord Shaftsbury, J. B. Braithwaite of England, Sir William Muir, Prof. Calderwood of Scotland, Mark Hopkins, Dr. Roswell D. Hitchcock, Mrs. ex-President Garfield, and many others in our own land-all these speak of this agency as mission work of the highest importance.
Many years ago Mrs. Emma Willard, of Troy Female Seminary, gave $3,000 to establish a school for young women in Greece. This school, nobly sustained by Mr. and Mrs. Hill, has educated more than 20,000 Greek young women.
BRIEF NOTES ON NEW BOOKS OF A MISSIONARY CHARACTER
BRIEF NOTES ON NEW BOOKS OF A MISSIONARY CHARACTER.
James Hannington. By F. C. Dawson, M. A. A. D. F. Randolph & Co., N. Y.
This is a graphic story of the life and work of the first Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa. It has already gone through six editions in England, 'and two here. It is a thrilling narrative. There are many incidents of great interest in the volume; but the central figure is the manly, unselfish, heroic Hannington, whose martyrdom so shocked the Christian world. The reading of the book has suggested so many useful and instructive thoughts that it is the purpose of the editors to give hereafter a special article on the subject of this memoir.
The Cross and the Dragon. Rev. B. C. Henry of Canton. A. D. F. Randolph & Co.
Few books of 500 pages contain more interesting and useful matter. Mr. Henry is an acute observer. He has eyes and ears and knows how to use them: and he has the rare quality of being able, both by his tongue and pen, to reproduce in vivid, graphic style, those matters which are most apt to enchain the attention of the hearer or reader. This book will be one of the standard books on Missions.
Siam, or The Heart of Farther India. By Mary L. Cort. Published by Randolph.
This book, in size and style, corresponds to The Cross and the Dragon, and is not unlike it in value and power to interest and instruct. Few people know what a unique country and people are presented in this book, about which so little has been known until of late. The supreme king, Chulalangkorn, is a wise, intelligent, charitable monarch: like his father before him a patron of art, science and literature. In this empire all practical hindrances seem removed to missionary work. There have been no marked results which can be expressed in figures and statistics, but the gospel seems to be slowly but surely preparing for a great conquest. We advise everybody to read Miss Cort's book.
The Dragon, Image, and Demon: or, the Three Religions of China, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Iaoism, giving an account of the Mythology, Idolatry, and Demonolatry of the Chinese. By Rev. Hampden C. DuBose, fourteen years a missionary at Loochow. New York: A. C. Armstrong & Son. 12mo, pp. 468. 1887.
We give the full title of this book as explanatory of its contents. The work is profusely illustrated, and is gotten up in gorgeous yet appropriate style. Written by one who knows whereof he writes; who is familiar, from study and observation on the ground, with the system of religion and philosophy which he describes; and who has taken pains to gather information on a great variety of points little understood by the Christian world, it will prove a valuable addition to our missionary literature. The work is of interest to the general reader, as well as in all missionary circles. Even the London Saturday Review says of it: "It is a book likely to be widely read. Of the author's minute description of popular and household deities, and the mass of legend connected with them, the book and its curious illustrations can alone speak. Mr. DuBose has much to say that is fresh and suggestive, and he says it with force and conviction."
The Crisis of Missions: or, The Voice out of the Cloud. By Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D. D. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 12 mo, pp. 370.
Like all their issues, the publishers have given this little book an attractive dress, befitting the character of the work. It is a marvelous book, in its power to inform, impress, and electrify the reader. The grouping of inspiring facts; the rapid action of the discussion; the intense glow of missionary feeling; and the irresistible array of motives and argume~ts and
ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK
Providential movements, all conspire to challenge the reader's attention, thrill his soul, and cause him to hear "the voice out of the cloud," as he never heard it before. If our beloved associate had not written the book, I should use still stronger language. I am not surprised that the reading public are showing their appreciation of it by exhausting six editions of it in one year!
Woman and the Gospel in Persia. By Rev. Thomas Laurie, D. D. Adoniram Judson. By Julia H. Johnston.
The Woman's Presbyterian Board of Missions of the Northwest, located at Chicago, is publishing a series of brief works entitled" Missionary Annals." The first in the series was a Memoir of Robert Moffat. The two, whose titles are given above, form Nos. 2 and 3. Others are in preparation. They are neatly produced, and sold at a small price, only 30 cents in cloth. .
The plan is an excellent one. Its execution will greatly widen the circle of missionary readers and create a demand for larger works. The materials for the sketch of Dr. Judson were drawn from Dr. Wayland's memoir of him, from Dr. EdwardJudson's "Life" of his father, and from "The History of Baptist Missions." "Woman and the Gospel in Persia," is an abridgment of "Woman and her Saviour in Persia," by Dr. Laurie, and was generously prepared by him and presented to the Board which publishes it.
n.-ORGANIZED MISSIONARY WORK.
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
THE seventh annual meeting of the Board was held at Springfield, Mass., Oct. 5-8, 1887. It was a remarkable assemblage, both as to number and character—one hundred and sixty-five corporate members and over 800 ministers. The discussion of two reports from the Prudential Committee was long and earnest, and resulted in an overwhelming vote sustaining the policy of the Board. Still it was not unanimous, and the outcome of the trouble it is impossible to predict.
The editor of The Independent, who was present, gives the following as the substance of the action of the Board:
"1. That the Board, acting through its Prudential Committee, will hereafter as heretofore assume and exercise the right to judge and determine upon the qualifications of all persons applying to it for appointment and support as foreign missionaries. 2. That, in the judgment of the Board, the Word of God teaches that the moral conduct of men in this life, whether living and dying in heathen or Christian lands, is determinative of their condition and destiny in the life to come, and hence that this Word excludes the hypothesis that any persons who in this life have failed to secure the great salvation through Christ will, after death, have another probation in which salvation will be offered to them, and by them may be obtained. 3. That all persons applying to the Board for appointment and support as foreign missionaries, if holding as a positive faith or a probable hypothesis the doctrine of a second probation or that of this life continued into the next life, are to be regarded as not possessing the proper qualifications for such appointment and support, since, in either case, their position is contrary to the Word of God, and is calculated in its natural effects to impair the power of that Word over human hearts."
The report of the year's missionary operations was highly encouraging, and the several papers submitted by the Secretaries, particularly "The Appeal of the Hour," by Secretary Smith, and "The Message and Messenger," by Secretary Clark, were inspiring in the highest degree. We regret that our space will allow but a bird's-eye view of the year's results.
RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES.
From churches, individual donors, and Sunday-schools, $218,427.58. From the four Woman's Boards, $148,530.82 (from Woman's Board of Missions, $89,304.60; from Woman's Board of Missions of the Interior, $55,248.12; from the Woman's Board of Missions for the Pacific, $3,678.10; from the Woman's Board of Missions for the Pacific Isles, $300); a total of donations of $366,958.40. From legacies, $98,414.59, and from the income of the permanent funds, $11,071.28; making the total receipts from these sources, $476,444.27.
From the Swett bequest, set apart to meet special calls for a brief period of years in the evangelistic and educational departments of our missionary work abroad, $154,319.96 has been appropriated for the purposes named, including, for Japan, $43,745, and for China, $34,762.83.
From the Otis bequest, set apart for new missions, $48,808.31 has been devoted to work in West Central and East Central Africa, in Shanse, in Northern Japan, and in Northern Mexico.
These amounts, added to receipts from ordinary sources, with balance in the treasury at the beginning of the year, $1,381.49, make the total $680,954.03. The expenditures of the year amounted to $679,376.90, leaving a balance in the treasury of $1,577.13.
GENERAL SUMMARY. 1886-87.
| Item |
Number |
| Number of Missions |
22 |
| Number of Stations |
89 |
| Number of Out-Stations |
891 |
| Number of Ordained Missionaries (11 being Physicians) |
168 |
| Number of Physicians not Ordained, 8 men and 4 women |
12 |
| Number of other Male Assistants |
10 |
| Number of Women (wives 164; unmarried, besides Physicians, 107) |
271 |
| Whole number of laborers sent from this country |
461 |
| Number of Native Pastors |
155 |
| Number of Native Preachers and Catechists |
393 |
| Number of Native School-teachers |
1,164 |
| Number of other Native Helpers |
325—2,037 |
| Whole number of laborers connected with the Missions |
2,498 |
| Pages printed, as nearly as can be learned |
18,650,000 |
| Number of Churches |
325 |
| Number of Church Members |
28,042 |
| Added during the year |
2,906 |
| Whole number from the first, as nearly as can be learned |
101,089 |
| Number of High Schools, Theological Seminaries, and Station Classes |
55 |
| Number of Pupils in the above |
3,623 |
| Number of Boarding Schools for Girls |
41 |
| Number of Pupils in Boarding Schools for Girls |
2,318 |
| Number of Common Schools |
878 |
| Number of Pupils in Common Schools |
34,417 |
| Whole number under instruction |
41,151 |
CONCLUSION.
Such is the brief record of that great work which the Board sustains in twenty-two missions among unevangelized people in all parts of the earth. In almost 1,000 populous centres a force of 2,500 laborers, foreign and native, is preaching the gospel in twenty-five different languages, and conducting a great evangelistic and educational work. Fifteen new churches have been organized, and out of a total membership of 28,000, nearly 3,000 have made profession of faith this year. In ninety-six high schools and colleges 6,000 picked youths of both sexes are in training to reinforce the native agency, besides 34,000 pupils under Christian instruction and influence in common schools. And above all, the Christian character of the native converts is assuming greater depth and earnestness, and their share in evangelistic work is steadily increasing in value as well as in amount.
THE FIRST MONTH.—The financial beginning of the new year is favorable, the receipts being more than double those of the first month of the preceding year; amounting to $30,668.57, of which over $22,000 is from donations.
American Baptist Union.
THIS Union represents some 600,000 or 700,000 Baptists in the Northern and Western States, and is the second oldest foreign missionary society in the country. Its 73d annual meeting was held in Minneapolis, Minn., May 27-28. We give an abstract of its annual report.
Its first field was Burmah, where it has planted a vigorous and self-supporting Christianity, which, with its admirable system of schools and its missionary spirit, is making constant inroads on heathenism. Since Upper Burmah was opened to the world by the overthrow of King Thebaw, the Union has been sending missionaries into that kingdom. It has also a strong mission in India, among the Telugus, thousands of whom were gathered in during the remarkable awakening in South India some years ago. Besides these missions the Union has others in Assam and Siam, China, Japan, Africa (in Liberia and on the Congo), and in Europe.
The European missions are in Sweden, Germany, France, Spain, and Greece, where their membership foots up more than the Asiatic and African missions. In Sweden and Germany the work may be said to have passed the missionary stage. There are regular churches, ordained ministers, and associations of churches and ministers. In Sweden alone there are 460 churches, a gain of 26 the past year, 483 preachers, and 31,064 members. In Germany there are more members (33,451), but fewer churches and ministers. The latter number 450, of whom 300 are unordained, and the churches count up to 168 only. The work of the year was very successful, if we may judge from the fact that there were 3,473 baptisms in Sweden, and 2,530 in Germany. An effort is being made to reach the Finns, of whom there are about two millions, who are said to be in a state of dense spiritual darkness. They seem anxious to know the truth and be saved. The amount of contributions in Sweden last year was $79,187.
Germany received $5,628 from the Union, raising among its own churches $98,900. The German Baptist Union, consisting of 13 associations, embraces missions in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Russia, Roumania, Bulgaria, Denmark, and Africa. The mission was begun by Johan Gerhard Oncken, a German who married and settled in England and became an Independent. Traveling in Lower Saxony, as an agent of a Bible and a tract society, he organized a Baptist church in that kingdom and became its pastor. This was in 1834. Next year he was appointed missionary of what is now the American Baptist Missionary Union, and he went all over Germany and Denmark preaching and baptizing. From this beginning have sprung all the churches and missions in connection with the German Baptist Union. There is an association in Austria embracing 5 churches, 62 stations, and 930 members; one among the Poles, with 8 churches, 52 stations, and 2,624 members; two in Russia, with a total of 18 churches, 183 stations, and 5,026 members; one on the Baltic with 4 churches, 9 stations, and 1,206 members; one in Denmark, with 22 churches, 101 stations, and 2,181 members; and one in South Africa, with 3 churches, 16 stations, and 676 members. Of the 58,108 members which are returned from the Asiatic and African missions 26,574 are in Burmah and Siam, showing an increase for the year of over 700. A special difficulty in the work in Burmah is the fact of the division of the population in language and race characteristics, requiring distinct missions to the Burmans, the Karens, the Shans, the Kachins, and the Chins. And these separate missions are to be found in the same territory, in the same towns and cities. In Henthada, for example, there is a Burman, a Karen, and a Chin department; and the Karens are sometimes divided into the Red-Karen, Bghai-Karen, and Paku-Karen departments, and there are still other varieties of Karens. The majority of the members in Burmah are Karens, who are an inferior people and were formerly slaves to the Burmans. The total of baptisms in Burmah last year was 1,794. The appropriations from the Union aggregated about $100,000, to which the mission added about $35,000 for churches, schools, and general benevolence. The missionary force is 107, and the number of ordained and unordained ministers 513. Of the 510 churches, 310 are self-supporting. In the 7 stations in Assam are 1,922 members, gathered in 30 churches, of which four are self-sustaining. The field in India is among the Telugus. This was for many years a fruitless mission, but it now reports more members than the Burmah mission, and was the most fruitful mission last year in the list of the Union, returning 1,000 of the 1,668 net gain of all the missions.
The mission in China reports 1,516 members in 18 churches, of which 4 are self-supporting. There are 519 members in Japan, with 13 churches, only one of which pays its own expenses.
The African mission is yet in its infancy. A few years ago the mission received the Congo mission from the Livingstone Inland Mission, an undenominational organization, which had its headquarters in Cardiff, Wales. There are now seven stations on the Congo, one being at Stanley Pool and one at the equator, above the Pool.
The following is a summary of results for the seventy-three years of the Union's operations:
| Members in its mission fields |
125,530 |
| Number of churches |
1,265 |
| Number of preachers |
1,730 |
| Baptisms last year |
9,342 |
| Income of the Union the past year from all sources |
$406,639 |
The American Missionary Association
HELD its 41st Annual Meeting in Portland, Me., Oct. 25-27, 1887. Items from its Annual Report: The receipts of the year cover all the expenses of the year, wipe out the debt of $5,000 with which the year began, and leave $2,193.80 with which to start out on the coming year.
EDUCATIONAL WORK IN THE SOUTH.
Total number of schools planted in the Southern States is fifty-four. Six of these are chartered institutions, fairly entitled to the rank of Colleges. Sixteen are Normal and Training Schools. Thirty-two are common schools, scattered throughout nine different States. In these schools are 246 instructors and 8,616 pupils.
CHURCH WORK.
| Number of Churches |
127 |
| Number of Missionaries |
103 |
| Number of Church members |
7,896 |
| Added during the year |
1,197 |
| Scholars in our Sunday-schools |
15,109 |
These statistics show a substantial gain over last year. Seven new churches were organized.
There has been during the year a quiet Christian work throughout the South, which has borne gratifying fruits, over 1,000 having confessed Christ for the first time. The Sunday-school enrollment has increased by nearly 2,000. They contributed this year for benevolence, outside of their own work, $2,322.51, and for their own church purposes, $16,014.50, making a grand total of $18,337.01. This was an increase over the previous year of $610.96 in their benevolences, and $3,075.61 in the total. This is an average contribution of $2.32 per member for every man, woman and child in these churches.
INDIAN WORK, chiefly in Nebraska and Dakota. The following is the summary:
| Churches |
5 |
| Church members |
370 |
| Added during the year |
43 |
| Schools |
18 |
| Pupils in Schools |
608 |
| Missionaries and Teachers |
61 |
CHINESE WORK.
| Missions |
17 |
| Missionaries |
28 |
| Pupils enrolled |
1,044 |
| Hopeful conversions |
150 |
| Given up to idolatry |
211 |
RECEIPTS.
| From Churches, Sabbath-schools, Missionary Societies and individuals |
$189,483.39 |
| Estates and Legacies |
52,266.73 |
| Income, Sundry Funds |
10,561.07 |
| Tuition and Public Funds |
28,964.81 |
| Rents |
478.10 |
| United States Government for Education of Indians |
17,357.21 |
| Slater Fund, paid to Institutions |
7,650.00 |
| Total |
$306,761.31 |
The total disbursements for the year have been $298,783.80, a decrease in the expenditures of last year of $13,467.
Foreign Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
FROM 52d Annual Report, closing Sept 1st, we glean the following facts and figures:
In Japan the advance is rapid. In Africa, notwithstanding the political disturbance at the lower end of the Missionary Jurisdiction of Cape Palmas, the workers are brave and true and the work is being systematically prosecuted; not only in the localities with which the Church has been familiar for years, but also in the regions beyond. In China, the evangelistic work, largely conducted by the native clergy, as well as the parochial work among the converts, and that of the day and boarding-schools and St. John's College, and the medical mission, each has its own story to tell of diligence and encouragement, notwithstanding the publications during the year which have given the impression that the work in China is suffering. Bishop Holly makes his own report of the labors of himself and of his little band of clergy in Haiti. It is a story of energetic labor amid discouraging conditions and with limited resources. All of these statements will be fully borne out by the particulars that will be submitted. Still the call is for more workers. The fields are indeed white unto the harvest. We thank God that the whole Church is praying, in the Litany, that the Lord of the harvest will send forth laborers into his harvest.
Analysis of Receipts for Foreign Missions in the Last Ten Years.
| Year |
Whole No. of Parishes* |
No. of Parishes Contributing to For. Mis. |
Receipts from Contributions |
Receipts from Legacies |
Total (Appropriations) |
Receipts from Contributions (Specials) |
Receipts from Legacies (Specials) |
Total (Specials) |
Gross receipts for the year |
| 1877-8 |
2,900 |
1,170 |
$91,539 67 |
$17,974 98 |
$109,514 65 |
$24,456 92 |
$6,000 00 |
$30,456 92 |
$139,971 57 |
| 1878-9 |
2,900 |
1,163 |
95,846 02 |
16,709 86 |
112,555 88 |
35,771 96 |
275 00 |
36,046 96 |
148,602 84 |
| 1879-80 |
2,900 |
1,217 |
†117,042 45 |
27,458 33 |
144,500 78 |
17,583 47 |
— |
17,583 47 |
162,084 25 |
| 1880-1 |
3,000 |
1,230 |
‡136,993 18 |
22,977 06 |
159,970 24 |
25,788 05 |
— |
25,788 05 |
185,758 29 |
| 1881-2 |
3,000 |
1,487 |
128,945 80 |
31,168 41 |
160,114 21 |
13,233 84 |
500 00 |
13,733 84 |
173,848 05 |
| 1882-3 |
3,000 |
1,375 |
§116,772 63 |
28,230 82 |
145,003 45 |
13,927 05 |
— |
13,927 05 |
158,930 50 |
| 1883-4 |
3,000 |
1,389 |
111,299 20 |
9,638 70 |
120,937 90 |
7,843 68 |
6,200 00 |
14,043 68 |
134,981 58 |
| 1884-5 |
3,000 |
1,412 |
103,223 31 |
76,087 47 |
179,310 78 |
17,017 16 |
2,000 00 |
19,017 16 |
198,327 94 |
| 1885-6 |
3,450 |
1,996 |
137,982 82 |
12,929 30 |
150,912 12 |
14,355 58 |
100,400 00 |
114,755 58 |
265,667 70 |
| 1886-7 |
3,450 |
1,814 |
126,410 74 |
6,926 42 |
133,327 16 |
21,781 79 |
— |
21,781 79 |
155,108 95 |
*From Church Almanac. †Including $4,250, specifically contributed toward paying off the Mexican Loan. ‡Including a single gift of $13,200, and also $2,000 for Mexican Loan. §Including $2,481.50 for Mexican Loan.
This table shows the exact resources for Foreign Missions of the Board of Managers since its organization in 1877. During the decade there have been but three years in which the contributions for the general work have exceeded those of the past year, and in two instances that excess is accounted for in the table. At the same time the amount received from legacies available for the work of the Society in Foreign Lands is much less than in any other of the ten years named.
The total receipts of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society for the year were $402,440.52, a decrease of $1,732.45 from previous year. The receipts for Domestic Missions were $219,439.33.
Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.
ABSTRACT of the 50th annual report presented to the General Assembly at its meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, May, 1887.
No less than eight of the missionaries of the Board have died during the year, while seven ordained and three medical missionaries, and six lady teachers, have permanently withdrawn during the same time. To strengthen the posts weakened by this depletion, the Board has sent out during the year seven ordained missionaries, of whom six were married, eight medical missionaries, of whom two were ladies, and eleven unmarried ladies.
Work has been prosecuted among 11 tribes of American Indians, and the Chinese and Japanese in the United States; in Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Brazil and Chili; in Africa, among the inhabitants of Liberia, and those of the Gaboon and Corisco region; and in Asia in important centers of influence in India, Siam, China, Japan, Korea, Persia, and Syria. In addition to this the Board has rendered substantial assistance to the evangelical work in Papal Europe through approved societies on the Continent. There have been in commission during the year, 173 ordained missionaries, 30 laymen, mostly physicians, and 296 ladies. Besides these, the missionary force includes 134 native ordained ministers, and 154 licentiates, which, with 756 Bible readers, catechists, etc., makes a total force in the employ of the Board during the year of 1,543. Three hundred and ten organized churches are on the roll, with 21,420 communicants, of whom 2,791 were added during the year. These churches report contributions to the amount of $28,552. The aggregate attendance on schools of all grades was 23,329.
In the various fields occupied by the Board there has been much to encourage, and yet not a little to perplex and disturb. In some of the missions, the Holy Spirit has so sealed the truth upon the hearts and consciences of the people that precious ingatherings have been witnessed, and the joy of harvest experienced. In others it has been a time mainly of diligent sowing and patient waiting. When the deep poverty of many of those gathered out of heathenism is remembered, the contributions of native Christians for the support of the Gospel during the year indicate high attainment in the grace of Christian beneficence. In some parts of the field a noteworthy advance has been made in the measure of government favor accorded to our missionaries, as in China, Japan and Siam, showing that the mission work is commending itself to those in high position, and that the door of access to the nations is constantly widening. On the other hand, the restrictions of the French government, in the territory occupied by the Gaboon and Corisco Mission have become so severe, as virtually to tie the hands of our missionaries, and to drive them from the field. After repeated efforts to secure some modification of the restrictions imposed, the Board has felt constrained, at the urgent request of the brethren on the field, to take measures to transfer that mission to another evangelical body, should the way be clear, and secure a foothold, if possible, within German territory.
RECEIPTS FOR THE YEAR.
| From Churches and Sabbath-schools |
$360,231.51 |
| Woman's Boards |
248,649.59 |
| Individual and miscellaneous sources |
72,006.65 |
| Legacies |
103,269.84 |
| Total |
$784,157.59 |
| Expenditures of the Board |
$722,494.90 |
| Add the debt of last year |
57,853.28 |
|
$780,348.18 |
| Leaving a balance in treasury of |
$3,809.41 |
This shows an increase last year of $55,618.14, although $34,696.39 was a special gift for the debt in the previous year's receipts.
The Assembly resolved to aim at the raising of $1,000,000 for the current year for foreign missions.
EXPENDITURES AND STATISTICS OF THE MISSIONS.
For missions among 11 tribes of Indians, with which are connected 15 American and 13 Indian preachers, 2 Indian licentiate preachers, 3 American laymen and 35 women, 15 native assistants, 1,741 communicants, and 13 schools, with 422 scholars, of whom 194 are in boarding-schools—$28,839.79.
For missions to the Chinese in this country, with stations in New York, San Francisco, Portland, Los Angeles and other places, in connection with which are 4 ministers, 8 female teachers (unsalaried teachers not enumerated), 7 native assistants, 286 communicants, and 17 schools, with 779 scholars, not including pupils in Sabbath-school—$17,909.57.
For mission in Japan, at 4 stations and several outstations, with 12 American and 11 native ministers, 15 licentiate preachers, 2 American laymen and 31 women, 2,178 communicants, and 11 schools, connected with which are 1,184 scholars, of whom 200 are in boarding-schools—$63,166.27.
For 3 missions in China, with 13 stations and over 150 outstations, 36 ordained Americans and 15 ordained natives, 35 licentiate preachers, 8 American laymen and 49 women, 144 native assistants, 4,306 communicants, and 94 schools, with 1,983 scholars, of whom 572 are in boarding-schools—$102,626.57.
For mission in Korea, with 1 American minister, 2 American laymen and 3 women—$8,868.63.
For 2 missions in Siam and Laos, at 4 stations and 14 outstations, 11 American ministers, 4 native licentiate preachers, 3 American laymen and 17 women, 23 native assistants, 676 communicants, and 14 schools, with 380 scholars, of whom 112 are in boarding-schools—$37,928.20.
For 3 missions in India, at 25 stations, 13 outstations, with 35 American and 19 native ministers, 31 licentiate preachers, 2 American laymen and 57 women, 216 native assistants, 1,033 communicants, and 9,671 scholars—$113,317.21.
For 2 missions in Persia, with 5 stations and about 100 outstations, 10 American and 32 native ministers, 35 licentiate preachers, 5 American laymen and 30 women, 120 native assistants, 2,052 communicants, 115 schools, with 2,731 scholars, of whom 230 are in boarding-schools—$61,430.83.
For mission in Syria, at 5 stations and 86 outstations, connected with which are 13 American and 4 native ministers, 32 licentiate preachers, 1 American layman and 23 women, 143 native assistants, 1,440 communicants, 119 schools, with 5,172 scholars, 270 of whom are in boarding-schools—$55,248.22.
For mission in Liberia, Africa, 7 stations, 3 American and 3 native ministers, 1 American layman, 1 woman, 1 native assistant, 284 communicants, 5 schools, and 157 scholars, of whom 88 are in boarding-schools—$3,669.17.
For Gaboon and Corisco Mission, at 6 stations and several outstations, with 5 ordained American and 3 ordained native ministers, 2 licentiates, 1 American lay missionary and 9 women, 14 native assistants, 688 communicants—$20,216.79.
For missions in Brazil, at 9 stations and several outstations, with 10 American and 6 native ministers, 2 licentiates, 1 male and 12 female missionaries, 29 native assistants, 1,895 communicants, 21 schools, with 518 scholars, of whom 42 are in boarding-school—$50,640.59.
For mission in Chili, at 3 stations, 8 ministers, 1 native minister, 4 native licentiates, 6 female teachers, 11 native assistants, 449 communicants, and 3 schools, with 260 scholars, of whom 27 are in boarding-school—$23,089.59.
For mission in U. S. of Colombia, at 1 station, with 2 American ministers, 3 female missionaries, 5 native assistants, 66 communicants, and 1 school, with 50 scholars, of whom 10 are in boarding-school—$5,798.99.
For mission in Guatemala, at 1 station, 2 female missionaries, 12 communicants, and 1 school, with 26 scholars—$4,536.72.
For mission in Mexico, with 6 stations, and about 100 outstations, 8 American and 27 native ministers, 21 licentiates, 12 female missionaries, 29 native assistants, 4,314 communicants, and 20 schools, with 620 (partial report) scholars, of whom 51 are in boarding-schools—$80,597.82.
For missions in European Papal countries—France, Belgium, Italy, etc.—$4,354.70.
For Home Expenses—printing, salaries, miscellaneous—$36,727.93.
| Total receipts |
$784,157.59 |
| Total payments (including debt of $57,853.28) |
780,348.18 |
| Balance, April 30, 1887 |
$3,809.41 |
Financial Exhibit of All the Boards of Presbyterian Church, 1886-87.
| Board |
Balance, 1886 |
Debt, 1886 |
Receipts |
Expenditures |
Balance, 1887 |
Debt, 1887 |
| 1. Home Missions |
— |
— |
*$640,258.03 |
$604,937.02 |
— |
$21,687.77 |
| Sustentation |
$8,180.45 |
— |
13,198.00 |
16,423.60 |
$4,954.85 |
— |
| 2. Foreign Missions |
— |
57,853.28 |
784,157.59 |
780,348.18 |
3,809.41 |
— |
| 3. Education |
— |
2,600.92 |
67,149.59 |
84,657.10 |
— |
14,906.59 |
| 4. Sabbath-school Work |
— |
24,511.42 |
49,751.29 |
50,175.36 |
— |
24,935.49 |
| 5. Church Erection—a. Churches |
18,794.73 |
— |
84,080.14 |
97,343.79 |
15,837.36 |
— |
| b. Manses |
26,297.00 |
— |
1,022.46 |
10,737.34 |
9,767.12 |
— |
| 6. Relief |
5,685.92 |
— |
142,009.10 |
120,619.23 |
— |
21,389.87 |
| 7. Freedmen |
— |
6,200.81 |
115,203.83 |
123,134.26 |
— |
14,131.24 |
| 8. Aid for Colleges |
— |
— |
53,279.66 |
53,279.66 |
— |
— |
| Totals |
$58,958.10 |
$134,800.93 |
$1,950,109.69 |
$1,941,655.64 |
$33,868.74 |
$97,050.96 |
*Includes $13,368.28 for investment.
United Presbyterian Church.
Abstract from the 28th Annual Report, presented May 26, 1887.
The Board report a year of unusual interest. "Every department of the work has shown the signal presence and favor of God." In the Indian mission, 1,934 professed Christ. The native church increased from 2,176 members in 1885 to 4,019 at the close of 1886. A marked advance was made also in Egypt. At home additional interest has been shown. Women's Missionary Societies increased from 501 to 593; members from 13,585 to 15,004; and contributions to foreign missions from $10,765 to $13,803.
MISSIONS.
There are two—one in the Punjab, or northwestern Province of India, and the other in the Delta and valley of the Nile in Egypt. In the former, the mission embraces the eight districts, Sialkot, Zafarwal, East and West Gujranwala, Jhelum, Gurdaspur, Pasrur and Pathankot with their several hundred villages. The latter has the districts of Alexandria, Cairo, Mansoora, the Fayoom, Lower, Middle and Upper Thebaid, and is in as many as possible of the 12,293 town and villages that are in them and the country at large.
GENERAL SUMMARY.
Missions 2, Stations 121, Foreign Missionaries 16, married women 16, single 20, Physicians 2. Total foreign laborers 54. Native ordained ministers 20, licentiates 9, other workers 346. Total native workers 375. Total of all laborers 429. Churches 31, Average Sabbath attendance 7,759. Communicants 6,161. Increase during the year (India 2,030, Egypt 311) 2,341. Baptisms 2,881. Sabbath-schools 138. Sabbath-school scholars 5,625. Other schools 192. Scholars in them 9,219. Contributions for church purposes $5,587. Appraised value of mission property $325,701.
RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES. The receipts for the year were:
| Source |
1886 |
1887 |
| To balance brought forward |
— |
$400.00 |
| Presbyteries |
$43,342.46 |
48,339.56 |
| Sabbath Schools |
5,706.28 |
8,536.89 |
| Ladies' Societies |
6,796.19 |
8,803.48 |
| Individuals |
9,801.64 |
5,002.07 |
| Women's Auxiliary Bds. |
— |
1,626.76 |
| Interest |
884.43 |
1,994.99 |
| Bequests |
18,705.54 |
8,737.92 |
| Gibson Trust Fund |
716.23 |
902.13 |
| Total |
85,952.77 |
84,343.80 |
The Expenditures for the year were for the Egyptian Mission $37,620.45, for India $30,351.04, for sending out, returning, and new missionaries $4,325.60, for salaries and children of missionaries at home $5,056.02, for other necessary home expenses $1,899.07, for payment of debt to Quarter Centennial fund $5,091.62, and for payment of debt to Egyptian mission $3,248.70, making a total of $87,592.50. The contributions of the church were less by $3,648.70 than the expenditures.
CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE
III.-CORRESPONDENCE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.
ONE of our esteemed editorial correspondents, Prof. W. C. Wilkinson, D.D., writes us in the following inspiring words:
A World's Missionary Council.
THE MISSIONARY REVIEW will, if God prosper the enterprise, fulfilling the hopes and prayers of its conductors, become in some sort a realization of a certain broad and beneficent idea lately breathed in a published volume. One of the editors of this REVIEW, in a book entitled "The Crisis of Missions," proposes in the serene boldness of faith, the plan of holding an Œcumenical Council of a new order, a Pan-Christian Conference in behalf of Missions in every part of the world. A "World's Missionary Council," he calls it.
The idea is inspiring. There is a tonic audacity in it. It has the spirit of the beginning of the era of modern missions. It might have been William Carey's proposal. Its motto well might read, "Expect great things from God."
THE MISSIONARY REVIEW is already in purpose something like a fulfillment of such a noble dream. It offers to be a council in perpetual session, to consult for the spread of the Gospel throughout the whole earth. It will do what it can to bring about, in God's good time, the actual convening of Christendom in a council to concert measures for the speedy evangelization of the world. The reflex influence upon present Christendom of an effort to make itself commensurate with mankind would be such a strengthening of the things among us at home that remain, and that, without such a forthputting like this of power to save, are themselves ready to faint—such a strengthening, we say, as would mark an historic epoch in the advance of Christianity comparable to that of the Protestant Reformation—comparable, but, perhaps, superior.
May that God who has promised His Son the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession, graciously accept each successive number of this REVIEW as one more prayer of His expecting Church,
THY KINGDOM COME!
China Inland Mission.
Letter from J. Hudson Taylor, our London Editorial Correspondent:
LONDON, Nov. 1st, 1887.
DEAR DR. PIERSON:
May I, for Mr. Radcliffe, as well as myself, reply to your kind letters about Editorial Correspondents? We are both so circumstanced that, while we should be very willing to be occasional correspondents, we could not undertake to write at regular intervals, or to any large extent. For myself, I must also add that perhaps half my time is spent in China and half in England.
We are both in hearty sympathy with you, and would gladly do anything in our power to help you. May the Lord make the REVIEW more than ever a blessing and a success.
Yours, faithfully,
J. HUDSON TAYLOR.
One of our editorial correspondents, Dr. H. H. Jessup, of Syria, writes a private letter, but it is of such public interest that we venture to print it. It was in acknowledgment of a copy of the little book on missions recently sent by the author to his old friend in Syria.—A. T. P.
BEIRUT, SYRIA, May 9, 1887.
MY DEAR BROTHER PIERSON:
I have just received a copy of your excellent book, "The Crisis of Missions," with your card, and write to tell you how highly I value the book.
Your preliminary word, that "the spirit of Christ is the spirit of Missions," is the keynote to the whole book, and should be the keynote of the life of every Christian disciple. One of the problems which I cannot solve, and which I shall be anxious to have solved when I reach the kingdom of glory, is this: "How will those Christians who say that they do not believe in missions explain their position to the glorified Redeemer?"
There can be no question as to your position on this great subject. I trust every young man and woman in our colleges and seminaries will be enabled in some way to read this stirring volume. But perhaps I was hasty in writing that sentence. For supposing that they should read it, and be stirred and thrilled by it as I have been, and hundreds of them should be led to say, "Lord, here am I; send me." "Churches of Christ, here we are; send us:" and all this in addition to the 1,500 mentioned by Dr. McCosh in his letter who have already decided to go, what would be the effect on the churches? Of one thing I am sure, and that is, that while a few "Thomas" churches might doubt and even despair, the great body of Christ's own children everywhere would be set on fire with the conviction that now is the Crisis; that God hath verily spoken to his people; that the silver trumpet has sounded the note of advance; that the church must either rise to the duty of the hour, or be swept aside, and another church be raised up to do the work.
I have just had under my roof that devoted man of God, Major General Haig, long in India, and now from England, who has just journeyed all around the west, south and east coast of Arabia, looking for openings for planting Missionary and Bible Stations; and his reports which are appearing in the Church Missionary Intelligencer are like the journals of an apostle.
The fact is that the last bolts and bars with which Satan clinched the gates of heathen empires centuries ago are dropping to the ground, and the rusty hinges are creaking open while the imprisoned nations stand wondering and waiting for the liberty of Christ.
Let us continue, my dear brother, to lift up our voices and call on our brethren and sisters everywhere to go forward.
I was greatly moved, when a lad, by reading Dr. Enoch Pond's "World's Salvation." But the facts and figures of that book, as I recall them, were far less stirring than those of your little volume. The darkness and the want then existed and were well described, but the open doors were few, and the actual call for men quite limited. But now the 1,500 candidates preparing to go could find work ready to their hands in Japan, or in Interior Africa.
The church's ear seems to be heavy and the church's hand to be shortened, while the Lord is calling louder and louder, and His mighty providence is moving on.
For years I have been waiting to hear Brother Moody's voice on this great subject of Foreign Missions, and now that he has thrown his heart and help and voice into the work, the Lord has granted a rich blessing. Your plan of apportioning out the unevangelized world among the Christian churches is a grand one. See how the nations of Europe are cutting and carving the continent of Africa for their own commercial objects! It is time that the whole world were thus taken possession of for Jesus our King.
We are working on quietly here in Syria. Our last annual report shows a greater advance than in any previous year, in additions to the church and in all other departments of our work.
Yours, affectionately,
HENRY HARRIS JESSUP.
Japan.
Rev. James H. Ballagh writes:
YOKOHAMA, May 4, 1887.
REV. DR. PIERSON:
Dear Brother—Knowing well your interest in mission work in general, and also something of your interest in particular in Japan, through your acquaintance with native brethren, now members of your church or residents of your city, I take the liberty to present the claims of an interesting field of work for assistance. It is to ask aid for help in erecting a church building at Tokosuka, the naval station in this part of Japan, and where most of their ship-building is carried on. There are extensive dry docks and works there, several marine hospitals, a fleet of vessels, and a considerable body of marines, besides a very live and enterprising population. Iniquity is also very active. The brothels are large, and thronged at night like a fair—the veritable Vanity Fair of "Pilgrim's Progress." To the outside world it is interesting as being a most beautiful land-locked harbor in an inner bay of Yedo bay, near Perry and Webster islands.
At this place the French Romanists had a fine chapel when they commenced work at the navy yard, but it has been sold for old lumber on their loss of influence in Japan. There is now an active Protestant Church of our United Church of Christ in Japan with 76 members. It is only of two or three years' growth. The work was commenced mostly under Dr. Saiki's influence, and, though himself a Congregationalist, he threw his influence in favor of a Presbyterian Church being established here. The Church meets in greatly straitened quarters at present. As the town is small, lots expensive, and few houses to let, the Church desires to build a suitable chapel. One thousand dollars will secure land and erect a modest building. $500 we hope to be able to raise here, and they would like an equal amount in gold from America. Their pastor, the Rev. Ito Tokichi, is an indefatigable worker and an excellent Christian man. The membership is largely doctors—naval physicians—and their families.
Hoping that some practical manifestation of the hearty interest which American Christians take in the establishment of Christ's cause in Japan may result from this appeal,
I am sincerely yours in Christ,
JAMES H. BALLAGH.
Revised Edition of Dr. Judson's Burmese Bible.
The following extract from a recent private letter of the Rev. Dr. Jameson, Baptist Missionary in Burmah, to his seminary classmate, Prof. W. C. Wilkinson, D.D., will be read with interest. The date is Rangoon, Aug. 31, 1887:
"I am here for two weeks on the proofs, for I have agreed to give half my time to watching the new edition of Dr. Judson's Burman Bible through the press. I read each form seven times. Once correcting copy, and three times for typographical and other errors—besides verifying corrections. Of course I have good native help. But they need me as much as I need them. When I go back to my own district, I take my work along. For example, on that jungle trip, I corrected eight pages of the quarto for copy. After the Bible was printed, Dr. Judson made many changes in spelling, and the spelling of the Bible must be corrected from the dictionary. The whole must also be newly punctuated, and Dr. Judson's own corrections of the text must be made. When I am away, I leave the work in the hands of the Burman proof-readers, who do their best, and these forms I read only five times. But no form is put to press except when I am here. I will send you the next form with an English word in it, that will tell you where we are. When you receive it, you may comfort yourself with the thought that we are through that Book [Deuteronomy], probably."
India.
Communication from Rev. Jacob Chamberlain, M.D., Madanapelle, India, one of our editorial correspondents:
A Brahmin on the Bible.
In 1870, after three years of baffled effort, a lot was obtained in the bazaar street of the native town of Madanapalle, Madras Presidency, India, and a free reading room was erected and opened by the missionary in charge, Rev. J. Chamberlain, M.D., of the Arcot Mission of the Reformed Church of America. It was designed to obtain a hold of the educated young men of the place. Well-stocked with newspapers, periodicals and books, and with copies of the Bible in seven different languages on the tables, and with Scriptures, tracts, Christian books and school books for sale, it was thrown open for their use on every week-day and evening, with the exception that on Wednesday evenings there was to be a Biblical lecture, which all were invited to attend.
On each lecture evening a parable, a miracle, a biography, a prophecy, a sermon on Christ, a historical account—as of the creation, deluge, Joseph in Egypt, the exodus, etc.—was taken up and illustrated. While it was endeavored to make the lectures attractive as a literary treat, the bearing of each subject on the gospel of Jesus Christ and His salvation was never lost sight of.
From the beginning the room was always crowded on these occasions by intelligent heathen. At the close of one of these Bible lectures by Dr. Chamberlain, a Brahmin—one of the best educated in the place, not a convert—arose and asked permission to say a few words. In a neat address he urged upon his fellow-citizens the importance of availing themselves of the advantages offered for their intellectual and moral advancement, and in conclusion gave the following remarkable testimony to the Christian Scriptures:
"Behold that mango tree on yonder roadside! Its fruit is approaching to ripeness. Bears it that fruit for itself or its own profit? From the moment the first ripe fruits turn their yellow sides towards the morning sun until the last mango is pelted off, it is assailed with showers of sticks and stones from boys and men, and every passer-by, until it stands bereft of leaves, with branches knocked off, bleeding from many a broken twig; and piles of stones underneath, and clubs and sticks lodged in its boughs, are the only trophies of its joyous crop of fruit. Is it discouraged? Does it cease to bear fruit? Does it say, 'If I am barren no one will pelt me, and I shall live in peace?' Not at all. The next season the budding leaves, the beauteous flowers, the tender fruit again appear. Again it is pelted, and broken, and wounded, but goes on bearing, and children's children pelt its branches and enjoy its fruit.
"That is a type of these missionaries. I have watched them well, and have seen what they are. What do they come to this country for? What tempts them to leave their parents, friends and country, and come to this, to them an unhealthy climate? Is it for gain or for profit that they come? Some of us country clerks in Government offices receive more salary than they. Is it for an easy life? See how they work, and then tell me. No; they seek, like the mango tree, to bear fruit for the benefit of others; and this, too, though treated with contumely and abuse from those they are benefiting.
"Now look at this missionary! He came here a few years ago, leaving all, and seeking only our good! He was met with cold looks and suspicious glances, and was shunned, avoided and maligned. He sought to talk with us of what he told us was the matter of most importance in heaven or earth, and we would not listen. But he was not discouraged. He started a dispensary, and we said, 'Let the Pariahs take his medicines, we won't;' but in the times of our sickness and distress and fear, we had to go to him, and he heard us. We complained if he walked through our Brahmin streets; but ere long, when our wives and daughters were in sickness and anguish, we went and begged him to come, even into our inner apartments; and he came, and our wives and daughters now smile upon us in health. Has he made any money by it? Even the cost of the medicines has not been returned to him.
"And now, in spite of our opposition, he has bought this site, and built this beautiful room, and furnished it with the choicest of lore in many languages, and put in it newspapers and periodicals, which were inaccessible to us before, but which help us now to keep up with the world around us, and understand passing events; and he has placed here tables to write on, and chairs to sit on, and lamps for us to read and write by in the evening; and what does he get for all this? Does he make money by this free reading-room? Why, we don't even pay for the lamp-oil consumed by night as we read.
"Now, what is it makes him do all this for us? It is his Bible. I have looked into it a good deal at one time and another, in the different languages I chanced to know. It is just the same in all languages. The Bible—there is nothing to compare with it in all our sacred books for goodness and purity and holiness and love, and for motives of action.
"Where did the English-speaking people get all their intelligence, and energy, and cleverness, and power? It is their Bible that gives it to them. And now they bring it to us and say, 'This is what raised us; take it and raise yourselves.' They do not force it upon us, as the Mohammedans did with their Koran, but they bring it in love, and translate it into our languages, and lay it before us, and say, 'Look at it; read it; examine it, and see if it is not good.' Of one thing I am convinced: do what we will, oppose it as we may, it is the Christians' Bible that will, sooner or later, work the regeneration of this land."
Death of Rev. E. P. Swift.
Rev. G. W. Scott, of the Reformed Presbyterian Mission, India, writes Sept. 17, 1887:
The Rev. Elisha P. Swift died at his residence, Gujranwala, North India, Aug. 16th, 1887. His health began to fail about a year ago, when he had a fall while out in the district. Still he kept on with his duties, whether the weather was hot or cold, wet or dry, realizing that he was approaching the gates of death, preaching as a dying man to dying men. He was taken sick while in the district looking after the Christians he had baptized with his own hands, who were scattered through the towns and villages of western Gujranwala, many hundreds in number; for in some months he baptized as many as three or four hundred persons. His co-laborer, the Rev. J. P. McKee, was with him to the last. About a month before his death he was confined to his house with carbuncles, caused by diabetes, which caused him great pain. Yet he bore all with Christian patience, knowing that the Hand which afflicts is able to heal. His death was a peaceful and quiet one, surrounded by his wife and children, whom he leaves to mourn his loss. His funeral procession was a very large one, attended by several hundreds of people—the majority being from the Hindu and Mohammedan classes. These people, while opposed to Christianity, had learned to love the "man of God," and followed his remains to his last resting place, which is in the Church of England graveyard, close to the city of Gujranwala.
Africa.—Nothing was known of the interior of the Dark Continent until within a few years; now Africa is girdled with Christian missions. Between thirty and forty societies are working there. On the eastern coast the English penetrated to the great lakes, walking over the burning sands a thousand miles on foot, to plant the standard of the Cross. On the Congo River the Baptists of our own country have recently taken charge of the missions founded by Mr. Guinness, and their work is to be pushed into the interior—into the centre of cannibalism. Truly "Ethiopia is stretching out her hands unto God." The island of Madagascar, on the eastern coast of Africa, has been so largely Christianized that the natives of late gave some ten millions of dollars to Christian missions and evangelistic work.
To-day thirty-four missionary societies are at work in Africa, and all its 200,000,000 souls are practically within the reach of Christian missions; thirty-three societies have begun work in China, and all its 350,000,000 souls may be visited with the message of the gospel; more than fifty societies have entered India, and the light is dawning upon its 250,000,000; Turkey and Persia and Japan are filling with mission churches and mission schools; practically, the whole world is open, and the grandest day of opportunity for the kingdom of God that the earth has ever seen has fully dawned. If the cry of the lost nations reached the ear of those young men at Andover, with whom our work began, and would not let them rest, how that selfsame cry, to-day repeated from every people and land, and grown more articulate, must thrill the very heart of Christendom, and command instant and glowing response!—Judson Smith, D.D.
India.—The Church Missionary Intelligencer shows how the British Government and the East India Company were shamed out of their base patronage to Indian idolatry. Sir Peregrine Maitland accepted from the East India Company the office of Commander-in-Chief of the Madras army, and a seat in the Council—an office worth $50,000 a year—only on the condition that he should not be required to have any official connection with the idolatry of the country. He knew how the company had catered to the heathen ceremonies of India, even making large grants for their support. A few days after his arrival in Madras he received from the company's office in London a document sanctioning the appointment and payment of dancing girls in a certain Hindu temple, to which he was expected to affix his signature. He resolved to throw up his lucrative appointment and return to England rather than put his hand to any such scheme. The company declined to excuse Sir Peregrine, and, although comparatively poor, he sacrificed his $50,000 and returned to England. The annual festival of the goddess Yayagathal, the protectress of a part of Madras, was approaching; and the annual ceremony of marrying the East India Company to the image of this goddess was to be performed with great pomp. The goddess was borne in procession around the "black town," and then brought to government headquarters; a high official of the company came out, with a handsome cashmere shawl as a bridal present to the idol, and an ornament to be put around the bride's neck, the latter being used in native marriages in place of a ring, while repeating the words, "With this I thee wed," etc. The East India Company and the idol Yayagathal were thus pronounced husband and wife. Two missionaries in Madras united to caricature the scene. One wrote a minute description, the other with graphic pencil made a telling sketch of the nuptial scene. These were sent home. Bishop Blomfield carried them to the House of Lords, held them up to view, and declared that if the connection between the East India Company and the idol system of India was not abolished, he would send the letter and the cartoon broadcast throughout the land. This was sufficient. The absurdity and degradation were potent. Probably a petition signed by all the missionaries in India would scarcely have been so effective.—The Church.
There were in British India, according to the census of 1881, no less than 207,388 widows under fourteen years of age, and 78,976 of these were under nine. They can no longer legally be burned, but their earthly sufferings are worse than burning. Their widowhood is viewed by all Hindus as the punishment for horrible crimes committed in some previous existence. They are closely confined to the house; forbidden all companionship; confined to one meal a day, which they eat in solitude; obliged to conceal themselves in the morning, lest the sight of them bring bad fortune on the beholder; cursed, abhorred, suspected of every crime—and all this for life. Yet the doom of these innocent children is only the door-mat theory brought to its completeness. Because there is no one man living who has the right to tread them under his feet, they are trodden under feet of all.—Harper's Bazar.
There are in India 135,000 lepers—men, women and children—victims of the most terrible disease known to humanity. This society seeks to proclaim to them the blessed gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and, as far as possible, to relieve their dreadful sufferings, and provide for their simple wants.—Mission to Lepers in India.
At Lucknow, where so many were murdered during the Sepoy rebellion 30 years ago, 2,000 children, nearly all of Hindu Mohammedan parentage, recently marched in a Sunday-school procession. Two men in Dr. Chamberlain's hospital, on leaving for home asked for copies of the Testament read and explained to them while there. Being told that they could not read it, they replied, "When a peddler or tax-man comes around we'll make him read before we buy anything or pay our taxes." Four years after this, Dr. Chamberlain visiting a town some miles away, these men brought their whole village to him to be baptized.—The editor of The Star of India writes to The Independent: "There are no less than 36 missionary societies represented in India, besides ten or more private missions. The English Baptists were the first to enter this field (passing by the early Danish Missionary Society which sent the first Protestant missionaries to India in 1705), and the Disciples of Christ, whose mission dates from 1883, the last. All branches of the Church are represented. Europe and America, Great Britain, the Continent, the United States and Canada—all are here, laboring hand in hand for the uplifting of India. According to the statistical summary for 1885 there were 137,504 communicants representing the fruits of these missions."—In the Imperial Gazetteer of India, Dr. Hunter, Director-General of Statistics to the Government, says Christianity is now the faith of over two millions of the Indian population—a number twelve times as large as that of those who follow the teachings of Buddha. Whereas in 1830 there were only 27,000 native Protestants in all India, Ceylon and Burmah, in 1871 there were 318,363. The Government expends £170,000 per annum in supplying the spiritual wants of the troops and civil service.
Madura. There is worshiped by the natives a deity whose name means "Prince of Darkness." "They sacrifice to devils." The name of the village is "Temple Village," but it is a heathen temple. The ideas of these heathen, and even their language, are degraded by association with idolatry. (Compare "Hawaiian Islands," by Anderson, p. 291.) By religion they understand idol worship. When you tell them of Jesus living and dying 1800 years ago, they say their gods are 18,000,000 years old. When, on outbreak of war, the native disciples heard of the Missionary Board as straitened, they gave their jewels; one man gave a silver chain, worth half a year's savings, and children brought their toe rings and earrings and gave them to the mission treasury.
Revival in the Punjab. A remarkable work of grace is progressing in the English Church mission in Punjab, chiefly in and about Amritsar. Several prominent men, as well as people of low caste, have been reached. About 150 low-caste converts were baptized the previous year, but now the work seems much more extensive. Nothing like it in vigor and growth had ever been seen before in that region. The ingathering of low-caste people is affecting the Hindus, Sikhs, and the Mohammedans, and several of these higher classes have been reached. The missionary at Amritsar writes of the remarkable interest manifested in the simple story of the gospel: "Our compound resounds from morning to night with voices repeating to each other the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments and the Creed, with bhajhans and bits of the Gospels." Much of this is the result of medical missions.
Japan.—English Books in Japan. The great spread of instruction in the English language in Japan has led to a great demand for English books. Over 85,000 English books of all classes were imported last year, as against 40,000 in 1885. The import of American books increased from 59,000 in 1885 to 119,000 in 1886. Sir F. R. Plunkett, British Consul at Tokio, remarks upon this: "An argument against a large import of educational works has hitherto existed in the fact that foreigners have no claim to the protection of the Japanese copyright, and any work that gained extensive popularity was sure to be pirated by Japanese publishers, and cheap editions of it issued that could be profitably sold at far less cost than the imported originals. This difficulty has been and can be got over by the co-operation of Japanese booksellers, and in this way not only is the benefit of copyright obtained, but the books are sold at lower prices than were formerly obtained for them by European booksellers in Japan." A large demand during the year for printing paper is traced principally to the publication of numerous translations of English works on law, political economy, history, and other educational subjects.—London Globe.
Japanese on Hawaii. The number of Japanese who have emigrated to Hawaii within two years is 2,859. Only about 100 of them have returned to Japan, and about the same number have died.
Greek and Roman Catholic Missions. The following statements respecting these missions are by Rev. J. Hartzler: "Bishop Nicolai furnished the statistics of the Greek Mission in Japan for 1886, as follows: Bishops, 1; foreign priests, 3; native priests, 11; deacons, 2; theological students, 104; whole number of native members, including baptized infants, 22,546. The Roman Catholic Mission in Japan reports: Bishops, 2; missionaries (all French), 59; native priests, 3; churches and chapels, 100; theological seminaries, 2; theological students, 72; catechists, 284; schools and orphan asylums, 69; pupils in the same, 3,340; total native membership, 32,294."
The Bible. The Bible is to-day translated, either wholly or in part, into 287 languages and dialects, including all that are widely spoken; so that the message of salvation from the printed page may reach nine-tenths of the entire population of the globe. The adherents of the religion of Jesus Christ to-day outnumber the followers of any other faith in the world. Christian missions number more than 2,000,000 adherents on heathen soil, and at the present rate of increase will include 20,000,000 before this century closes. Obstacles are not all overcome; the hardships and perils and heroisms of the work are not all past; Christian faith still finds itself often tried and courage is put well to the test, and checks and defeats enough attend the work to prove that the evil spirits of hate and murder are not yet exorcised: that still "through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God."—Judson Smith, D.D.
Increase of Protestantism. So extensive have been the defections from the established Greek Church in Southern Russia that the Holy Synod have appointed a commission to investigate the matter. This commission has now reported, acknowledging that these defections are great, and accusing their own clergy for their failure to discharge their clerical functions. The remedy for what they deplore seems to them to be greater zeal in attendance upon church services, more preaching, and more attention to church music. This report is substantial evidence of the power of Protestantism; and even the effort to withstand this new movement is very likely to help forward a needed reformation in the Greek Church.
Spiritual Progress in Persia.—The Church at Home and Abroad has an intensely interesting report of what has occurred in Persia within the last two years. This was the field of the old Nestorian Mission of the American Board, and is very dear to us still. A year ago it was reported that a larger number had been received to the church within the twelve months than during any former year. During the last winter more converts were won than in any of the first twenty-five years of the mission, though that period was marked by some memorable revivals. In Western Persia there are now 1,932 church members, in place of 713 fifteen years ago. During the revival which followed the Week of Prayer, the number of inquirers was over five hundred. This revival was conducted wholly by native pastors. Of the seventy-nine students in the college at Ooroomiah, seventy are followers of Christ. The western mission has ninety-four village schools, with over two hundred scholars. Dr. Labaree reports that the Moslems of Persia are more accessible than those of any other land. They are receiving large editions of the Bible, and those who have accepted Christianity, though a small company, have shown remarkable steadfastness and zeal.
An Egyptian papyrus, forty-two feet long and containing all the chapters of the "Book of the Dead," has been received and unrolled at the Sage Library, in New Brunswick, N. J. It was secured for the library by Rev. Dr. Lansing, a well-known missionary in Egypt. Experts pronounce it to have been written nearly 3,000 years ago.
The Bible in the Last Fifty Years.—The last anniversary of the British and Foreign Bible Society falling in the Jubilee year of Queen Victoria's reign, the speakers naturally reviewed the progress of the Bible cause during the last half century, and made some striking comparisons. The Earl of Harrowby, President of the Society, said:
"Fifty years ago our receipts were £100,000; now they are nearly £225,000. Fifty years ago the Auxiliary Societies amounted at home to 2,370; now they are over 5,300. Abroad you had 260 auxiliaries and branches fifty years ago; now 1,500. Fifty years ago the annual issue of the Bible and portions of it from this Society was 600,000; now it is about 4,000,000. The cheapest copy of the book, half a century back, was issued at about two shillings; now the price is sixpence. The cheapest Testament then was tenpence; the cheapest now is Lord Shaftesbury's, and the price is a penny. And that is not done by any grinding of the people who produce these works. One of the first questions I asked when I had the honor of being called to occupy this chair was, how were the workpeople treated who manufactured the cheap Bibles; and by the testimony, not only of ourselves but of the outside press, I have assured myself that there is neither overwork nor underpay. Fifty years ago the Scriptures were circulated in 136 languages; now they are circulated in 280. Fifty years ago fourteen fresh languages of Europe had been honored by Bible publication. Now the Bible has been published in twelve fresh languages in Central Asia and Siberia, twelve in India, fourteen in China and Mongolia, nineteen in the Pacific, thirty in Africa and thirty in America. In this fiftieth year of the Queen's reign there is only one great language which has not a complete translation of the Scriptures, namely, the Japanese language."
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
IV. INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D., OF THE "INTERNATIONAL MISSIONARY UNION."
FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL MISSIONARY UNION.
The International Missionary Union is an organization composed of returned missionaries of all Evangelical churches, whether at home temporarily or permanently. It seeks to promote mutual sympathy and co-operation of missionaries in their work, and holds annual meetings for the discussion of important questions connected with the work and the diffusion of missionary intelligence. The fourth annual meeting was held Aug. 10-17, at Thousand Island Park, the entire body of missionaries being entertained without cost by the Thousand Island Park Association. The forenoons were devoted to business, covering discussion of methods and recommendation of measures calculated to increase missionary efficiency. The afternoons consisted largely of presentation of incidents, statistics and facts bearing on specific topics of missionary interest, while the evenings were given to more formal platform addresses.
The "Seventy" missionaries present were as follows:
From India: Miss Dr. M. A. Anderson, Congregational Church; Rev. and Mrs. Chandler, Congregational; Miss M. J. Frith, Canada Baptist; Miss E. Gibson, Methodist Episcopal; Dr. and Mrs. J. T. Gracey, Methodist Episcopal; Rev. A. Hazen, Congregational; Rev. G. J. Martz, Evangelical Lutheran; Mrs. Rev. G. H. McGrew, Methodist Episcopal; Rev. James Mudge, Methodist Episcopal; Mrs. Stella Nichols, Evangelical Lutheran; Rev. C. W. Park, Congregational; Rev. Dr. J. L. Phillips, Free-will Baptist; Rev. D. W. Thomas, Methodist Episcopal.
From Turkey: Rev. Dr. H. M. Barnum, Congregational; Rev. Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, Congregational; Rev. L. O. Lee, Congregational; Rev. and Mrs. J. G. Leonard, Congregational.
From Bulgaria: Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Belden, Presbyterian; Rev. and Mrs. D. C. Challis, Methodist Episcopal.
From China: Mrs. Mary D. Culbertson, Presbyterian; Rev. J. G. Fagg, Reformed; Rev. Benj. Helm, Southern Presbyterian; Rev. and Mrs. Spencer Lewis, Methodist Episcopal; Rev. John Murray, Presbyterian; Rev. Dr. Speer, Presbyterian; Rev. and Mrs. C. A. Stanley, Congregational; Rev. and Mrs. J. L. Stuart, Southern Presbyterian.
From Assam: Rev. M. B. Comfort, Baptist; Rev. T. J. Stoddart, Baptist.
From Italy: Rev. Dr. Cushing, Methodist Episcopal.
From Jamaica: Rev. Dr. Douglass, Canada Methodist.
From Japan: Rev. and Mrs. W. C. Davidson, Methodist Episcopal; Miss Julia Gulick, Congregational; Rev. Dr. D. McDonald, Canada Methodist; Rev. and Mrs. J. M. McCauley, Presbyterian; Rev. J. H. Pettee.
From Siam: Rev. Dr. Wm. Dean, Baptist; Rev. and Mrs. Dr. S. R. House, Presbyterian; Rev. and Mrs. Lisle, Baptist; Rev. Dr. S. Mattoon, Presbyterian; Rev. J. Wilson, Presbyterian.
From Germany: Bishop and Mrs. J. F. Hurst, Methodist Episcopal.
From Mexico: Miss L. M. Latimer, Methodist Episcopal.
From Burmah: Rev. and Mrs. C. A. Nichols, Baptist.
From Ceylon: Rev. and Mrs. T. S. Smith, Congregational.
Missionaries to North American Indians: Rev. and Mrs. Egerton R. Young, Canada Methodist; Rev. and Mrs. Dr. Geo. Young, Canada Methodist; Rev. and Mrs. E. Arnold, Methodist Episcopal.
Persons under appointment to foreign fields: Rev. H. F. Laflamme, Canada Baptist, India; Rev. J. F. Smith, Canada Presbyterian, China; Rev. J. P. McNaughton, Canada Presbyterian, Turkey; Miss Dr. May Carlton and Miss E. J. Hinckle, both to be sent to China this autumn under the auspices of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Thirteen mission countries were thus represented, besides which one native of Armenia, one of Japan, and a Karen took part in the exercises. Missionaries from Saskatchewan and Ceylon clasped hands in the fellowship of a common cause. Veteran and volunteer inspired, either the other. The utterances of Dr. Dean were rendered weighty by the fifty-three years of self-sacrifice and toil behind them. His address on "The Translation of the Scriptures into Chinese," will be found on another page in this Department.
Dr. Leonard had preached in Tarsus, Iconium and Cappadocia. Miss Gulick of Japan was born of missionary parents in Honolulu. Mrs. McGrew of India was born on mission soil in Buenos Ayres. Rev. Dr. Phillips and Rev. Mr. Smith of Ceylon claimed India as their native land, being of the second generation of missionaries.
Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, after more than forty years of missionary service, and with the weight of seventy years upon him, intellectually demonstrated that his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated. He was appointed by the A. B. C. F. M. to Constantinople in 1837, and was the father of Robert College. The manner in which he secured for the erection of this College the most desirable of all the sites commanding the view of the Bosphorus, makes a story of thrilling interest, and gives him the highest rank for diplomacy. For seven years he held on to a pledge of Ali Pasha, who, under the influence of a protest from the French Ambassador, crowded on by the head of the Jesuits, and a like protest from the Ambassador of Russia, goaded on by the Patriarch of the Greek Church, was openly declaring that it was not possible for the pledge to be redeemed; because the property was so related to that of these powers, that the college could not be erected on that commanding site. But notwithstanding all this, he held his position, until at the end of seven years he received a note from Ali Pasha saying, "You may begin the erection of your college as soon as you please." He had outdone the diplomacy of the head of the Jesuits and the French Ambassador, as well as of the Greek Patriarch and the Ambassador of Russia, and had secured from the Sultan himself by Imperial Volition a permit to build the college. This was infallible, and neither Ali Pasha nor any one else would dare call it in question. But this was not all. An order was given to allow all the material brought from England and France to enter duty free.
Here were men and women who had hazarded their lives for the Lord Jesus. The "beloved physician," Dr. S. M. House, had been gored by an elephant; Jonathan Wilson, a pioneer to the Laos mission, was imperilled, when his converts were slain by royal order. The younger brother and sister Lewis, of far Western China, had faced the fury of a Chinese mob that plundered and destroyed their chapel and their home, compelling them and their colleagues to set off in native boats on a 1,500 mile journey down the great Yang-tse-kiang to the sea. Here were those whose hearts had been kept from fear when 2,000 in a day were dying of cholera in the capital city of Siam, where they lived; men who had given bread to the famishing thousands in North China, saving many lives at the risk of their own; those who had ministered to the lepers and outcasts of India. Some had lived with the savage Santals in their jungle homes, and with the red men of our continent in their wigwams. Others, on their mission-preaching tours, had traveled in wheelbarrows, in sledges drawn by dogs, in palankeens, in jinrikshas, in birch-bark canoes, on elephants, on camels, and hundreds of miles on snow-shoes. One member had been speared by Malay pirates, and another, like Paul, had been shipwrecked and cast ashore on an island in the Mediterranean Sea. But whatever else had been their experiences or deliverances, all could speak of the blessedness of the Master's service, and of souls once without God and without hope turned from darkness to light and rejoicing in the Saviour they had found.
THE THEMES DISCUSSED.
"The place of higher education in mission work" was presented by Rev. Mr. Smith of Ceylon, who gave an interesting account of the development of the educational work of the American Board in that island. The prevailing view seemed to be that when there appeared to be a general desire among people for higher education the missionary should endeavor to meet it with Christian schools, where English should be taught, if desired. Astonishing statements were made of the eagerness among many to learn English. On "The voluntary desire of the heathen for the Gospel," and "Remarkable instances of Divine grace, as manifested in the lives of converts from heathenism," there were narrated incidents drawn from personal experience and observation of so valuable a nature, it is a pity they could not have been preserved in a permanent form. So great was the interest in some of these topics that the discussions were prolonged several hours. Even then not a tithe of the important questions was so much as touched upon. Bro. Davidson, of Japan, gave a vivid sketch of the wonderful revival which recently swept over that empire. He hoped that in fifteen years Japan will be Christian. Turkey, partially dismembered, was served one evening. Dr. Barnum, speaking of eastern Turkey, said that there was the cradle of the race. "The cradle does not need rocking, for the people are all asleep." "We jog the cradle now and then, and the occupants are beginning to open their eyes and yawn." Bro. Challis, of the Methodist mission in Bulgaria, told something of the outlook in that country. He compared the people, with their liberty-loving spirit, to Americans, and expressed firm faith that, in spite of the designs of Russia, God would overrule to give them independence and freedom.
One evening was given to addresses by missionary ladies on different phases of woman's work, and a special woman's meeting was held one afternoon. On Sabbath morning the large tabernacle was filled, when Bishop Hurst preached an excellent and inspiring sermon from "Whoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed," etc. The "mountain" was heathendom, and "whoever" was the Church, which should remove it by the power of faith. The theme was "God's day our day for the salvation of the world." The audience numbered over three thousand. The bishop also delivered, one afternoon, his excellent lecture on "Protestantism in Mexico." At the children's meeting on Sabbath afternoon there were several short and spicy talks and an exhibition of curiosities, singing in a dozen or more languages, and presentation of natives of foreign mission fields who were in attendance.
TRANSLATION OF THE SCRIPTURES INTO CHINESE.
BY REV. WILLIAM DEAN, D.D.
THE entire Bible was first translated into Chinese at Serampore by Joshua Marshman, D.D., in 1807-8, with the aid of Joannes Lassar, an Armenian, born at Macao, who was a good Chinese scholar. Dr. Marshman went out to India under the patronage of the Baptist Missionary Society of England. He was born in Wiltshire 1768, sailed for India 1799, and died at Serampore 1837, at the age of 69, having had 38 years for missionary work.
A similar translation of the entire Scriptures was made at Macao and Canton by Robert Morrison, D.D., who went to China in 1807, under the patronage of the London Missionary Society, and died at Canton 1834, at the age of 52, having 27 years of mission work in China. In addition to the Scriptures, the Chinese dictionary of Kang Hi was translated into English by him, in six quarto volumes—a great and important work, to aid subsequent missionaries in the acquisition of the Chinese language.
In Morrison's version of the Scriptures, William Milne, D.D., translated the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther and Job.
Dr. Milne was born in Scotland, 1785, went to China in 1813, under the patronage of the London Missionary Society, and died 1822, at the age of 37, after nine years in the China Mission. During these few years he acquired a good knowledge of the language, had the superintendency of the Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca, performed an important part in the translation of the Scriptures, and prepared some of the best Christian tracts we have in Chinese.
He is the man who (before the committee), when asked if he would be willing to go out as an assistant to the mission, replied, "I would be willing to be a hewer of wood or a drawer of water to help to build the Lord's house;" and perhaps no man ever did so much in so short a time for the Chinese mission as William Milne, the little Scotchman.
Another translation of the Scriptures into Chinese was made by Walter H. Medhurst, D.D., and his associates, which was called the Shang Ti mission. Dr. Medhurst went out as a missionary printer, under the London Mission Society, and became a prominent preacher and writer in Chinese. He was born in London, 1796, went out, in 1816, worked efficiently 40 years for the Chinese in Batavia and China, and died on landing in England, 1856, aged 61 years.
Another version was made by Charles Gutzlaff, D.D., born at Pyritz, in Prussian Pomerania, 1803, went out under the appointment of the Netherlands Missionary Society in 1826, landed at Batavia, visited Rhio, Singapore, Siam, and finally became Chinese Secretary to the English Government of Hong Kong, where he died in 1851, at the age of 48 years.
He was a man of portly form, quick motion, rapid speech, possessed a practical knowledge of various European languages, and a ready use of the Chinese colloquial and written language for missionary work and political purposes. His hasty action was not always promotive of the nicest accuracy, and his multitudinous labors did not allow of the most finished completeness in all.
Another version of the entire Scriptures in Chinese was made by Elijah C. Bridgman, D.D., Walter M. Lowrie and M. S. Culbertson, completed at Shanghai, which uses the term Shin for rendering the words Elohim and Theos. This, in most cases, has been a distinguishing mark between the versions made by the English and American missionaries. The former mostly use Shang Ti and the latter use Shin as the term for God.
Dr. Bridgman was born in Belchertown, Mass., 1801, and went out under the American Board to China, 1830; he died at Shanghai in 1861, aged 60 years; 31 years were spent in China, and he was the first representative of the A. B. C. F. M. Society in their mission to China, and to the end was a faithful and honored missionary. Dr. Culbertson went to China in 1844, finished the translation of that version, and died the day before they commenced printing it. He went up suddenly like Elijah in the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof. One of his associates reported his departure by saying, "A translator translated." Josiah Goddard made an excellent translation of the New Testament in Chinese—some think the best extant—with some portions of the Old Testament also. His mission work began with the Chinese in Siam, and ended at Ningpo, China. Dr. Goddard was born at Wendell, Mass., 1813, graduated, the first in his class, at Brown University in 1835, graduated at Newton in 1838, sailed for the East the same year under the patronage of the American Baptist Board, spent a year at Singapore in the study of Chinese, landed at Bankok in 1840, removed to Ningpo in 1848, where he died in 1854, at the age of 41, after 16 years of efficient missionary service, in translating the Scriptures and preaching the gospel to the Chinese. Some may have labored longer to do less work. Men's lives are measured, not by the years they live, but by the work they do.
William Dean published two editions of the New Testament and one edition of the Pentateuch in Chinese, with a commentary on Matthew and Mark, Genesis and Exodus. Dr. Dean was born at Eaton, N. Y., in 1807, sailed for China in 1834, labored for the Chinese in Siam till 1842, when he removed to Hong Kong; returned to Bankok in 1864, and ended his missionary work in 1887, at the age of 80. He was 50 years in the service.
In 1843 a Convention of missionaries assembled at Hong Kong, to consult with reference to a new translation of the Scriptures in Chinese. There were present Medhurst, Dyer, and Stronach, of the London Society; Bridgman, Ball and Bonney, of the American Board; Dean, Shuck and Roberts, of the American Baptist Board; Bishop Boone, of the Episcopal Mission, with others, who spent days of prayerful endeavor to harmonize on some general plan of Scripture translation.
First there was a want of agreement on the proposition to make the Textus Receptus the model of a new version. Some thought we should make the original Hebrew and Greek the standard for a new translation in Chinese. Then came up a question regarding the rendering of the terms θεος, επισκοπος, βαπτισμα, on which there was a want of harmony of sentiment, so that it proved necessary to divide the Convention into classes, or for each one to go on in his own way, and look to God for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead him to understand the meaning of the original text, and call in the help of native scholars to aid him to express it in idiomatic Chinese. In this way a number of versions, in a variety of style, have been prepared, and some portions of the Scripture have been made to harmonize with the Mandarin and the colloquial of the local dialects, and some have been Romanized, or the sounds expressed in Roman letters as used in English words, and the Chinese women taught to read them easier than to learn to read the complicated and multitudinous characters of the Chinese written language. One objection to this mode of learning to read is found in the fact, that learning to read Chinese in this way would limit the reader to one dialect or province, whereas learning to read in the Chinese way, prepares one to read in Chinese in every province, or wherever the Chinese language is written, as in Cochin China, Japan, and all over the world, where you find a Chinaman who can read his own language; the form and signification of the written character is the same, however the spoken dialect may differ.
In preparing the various translations of Scripture into Chinese, other persons, whose names are not mentioned above, have rendered important aid. Such men as J. R. Morrison, Chinese Secretary to the English Commissioner and the Government of Hong Kong; G. T. Lay, Agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and various other missionaries, such as David Abeel, James Legge, Walter Lowrie, George Smith Bishop of Victoria, and, indeed, all missionaries to the Chinese, may have contributed, in some measure, to aid in giving the written word of God to the people for whom they labored orally, and all translators have depended upon Chinese scholars for the idiom and style of the language by which the idea is expressed.
LIQUOR ON THE CONGO.
AMONGST the resolutions of the Missionary Union none deserves more persistent and prominent advocacy than that relating to the International sanction of the introduction of Rum into the Congo Free State. The extension of European Colonial possessions and protectorates in Africa means a fearful extension of the use of intoxicants in the Dark Continent. We are assured, besides, that the article furnished for the Congo is a specially vile compound prepared for that market. A representative committee of missionary societies laboring in Africa have published a pamphlet entitled "The Liquor Traffic and Native Races," to be had of the secretaries of these societies. The Bishop of London presided over a meeting in London last spring which condemned the traffic and the government protection it has received. A meeting of members of the House of Commons, held to consider the subject, resulted in the expression of their readiness to aid in suppressing this trade and of the sanction the governments give it. Public meetings have been held in Manchester and Cambridge with like result. Bishops and Archbishops, and leading men like Canon Farrar, have entered the arena to oppose this great evil, which blasts the progress of civilization and missions, and hinders the elevation of the people. Archbishop Johnson, a Negro of Lagos, west coast of Africa, and member of the Legislative Council, is appealing to Africans to circulate petitions all along the coast, and the king of Belgium, with other prominent persons, encourages this West African remonstrance to the trade. It is high time the voice of the people of America was heard on this subject. The missionary societies might very properly take the initiative in a public meeting in Boston or New York. A remonstrance should be sent to our own government, that it may feel the force of public sentiment in the case. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and the Bishop of London, have addressed the following letter to the Bishops of the British Colonies and dependencies:
"My Lord: The attention of the Church has been recently drawn to the widespread and still growing evils caused by the introduction of intoxicating liquors among the native races in the colonies and dependencies of the British Empire, and in other countries to which British trade has access. Part of the mischief is certainly due to other traders than the British, but British trade, as exceeding in volume that of many other countries put together, is mainly responsible. This mischief cannot be measured by what we witness among our own countrymen. The intemperance is far greater; the evils consequent on intemperance are far worse. Uncivilized people are weaker to resist, and are utterly unable to control temptations of this kind. The accounts given of the numbers that perish from this cause and of the misery and degradation of those who survive are painful in the extreme. And besides the grievous wrong thus inflicted on the native races, reproach has been brought on the name of Christ. The English missionary who preaches the gospel, and the English merchant who brings the fatal temptation, are inevitably associated in the minds of the heathen people, and by many not only associated, but identified. It is asserted by travelers of repute that in many parts of the world the moral character of the natives gains more by the preaching of Mohammedanism than by the preaching of the gospel, for the former tends to make them sober.
"The evils of intemperance in the British islands have, as you are well aware, long engaged the attention of the Church at home. The report of the Lower House of Convocation of the Province of Canterbury in 1869, and that of the Province of York in 1873, in each of which a large mass of evidence from every class of society was got together, had a painful effect on the public mind at the time, and they have served as trustworthy manuals on the subject ever since. The formation of the Church of England Temperance Society has organized and concentrated the efforts of those Churchmen who have been deeply impressed with the necessity of combating intemperance, and that society is daily growing in numbers and in influence. Owing to these and similar endeavors made by both Churchmen and Nonconformists, drunkenness has been and is still being diminished in these islands, and there is every reason to believe that before long public opinion will demand of the Legislature that steps should be taken to remove, wholly or partially, the temptations which now make it so difficult for weak men to lead sober lives.
"It is not for us nor for the bishops at home to suggest to your lordship or your clergy the best means for dealing with similar evils in our colonies and dependencies, and in the heathen countries in your own parts of the world. But we have felt it our duty to bring to your notice the painful accounts that have reached us, and to assure you of our warmest and most earnest sympathy with any efforts that you may see fit to make to deal with the serious difficulty. You may have the means of influencing your Legislature; you may do much to form public opinion; you can at least make it plain to all men that the Church is not, and never can be, indifferent to this great sin. In whatever you may be able to do in this matter you may be assured that the Bishops at home are supporting your action with their earnest prayers, and, where co-operation is found possible, with their most hearty co-operation."—EDWARD CANTAUR, W. EBOR, F. LONDIN.
A GENERAL MISSIONARY CONFERENCE IN LONDON IN 1888.
IN October, 1878, a General Conference on Foreign Missions was held in London. Upwards of 150 members represented nearly 40 distinct missions. Six American missionary societies were represented in the number. Much information was elicited, and considerable missionary stimulus was given.
Arrangements have been begun for the holding of another such conference in London, in 1888. Forty European Missionary Agencies are represented in the call, and the American societies are to be invited to send delegates. The Committee say that they "are most solemnly impressed with the conviction that there has never been a time, since the days of the apostles, when it was of more urgent importance than it is now, that all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity should labor 'in the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace,' in order that 'the gospel of the kingdom of God' may be carried out into all the world and preached 'unto every creature.' They, therefore, entreat that earnest and continued prayer may be offered unto God by His people, that it may please Him in all things to direct their efforts, as a Committee, on behalf of the proposed Conference, and eventually to grant such an outpouring of His Holy Spirit upon its meetings, that His cause shall mightily prosper, and His name be exceedingly glorified in the ingathering of great multitudes in every part of the earth, into the kingdom of His dear Son Jesus Christ."
The Committee have classified the ends aimed at under three heads, viz.:
1st. To turn to account the experience of the past for the improvement of the methods of Missionary enterprise in the foreign field.
2d. To utilize acquired experience for the improvement of the methods for the home management of Foreign Missions.
3d. To seek the more entire consecration of the Church of God, in all its members, to the great work committed to it by the Lord.
The following Topics have been suggested for consideration, subject to modification:
I. MODES OF OPERATION IN THE FOREIGN FIELD.
1st. Self-Support and Self-Government in Native Churches.
2d. How to Educate Native Evangelists and Pastors, and to stimulate the higher life and enthusiasm of converts for the conversion of the heathen.
3d. How to adapt Missionary methods to the different states of Civilization or Barbarism among heathen nations: (a) Education. (b) Woman's Work. (c) Medical Missions, etc.
4th. How to adapt Missionary methods to the different forms of Religion among non-Christian peoples; especially those having sacred books.
5th. The providing of Christian literature for Converts in all parts of the Mission Field.
6th. The proper treatment of such questions as Polygamy, Slavery, Caste, the Marriage of Infants and of Widows, etc.
II. METHODS OF MANAGEMENT AT HOME.
1st. Comity of Missions, or their relation to one another and to their respective spheres of labor; and the apportioning unoccupied fields to different Societies.
2d. The Choice and Training of Missionaries with reference to different spheres of labor.
3d. The nature and extent of the Control to be exercised over Missions by Committees or Churches at home.
4th. Support of Missions, and Finance.
III. THE MUTUAL RELATIONS BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND MISSIONS.
1st. The reflex influence of Foreign Missions on Home Evangelization and Church life.
2d. The duty of Christians, in their personal and collective capacity, to obey the Lord's command to "make disciples of all nations."
IV. A POPULAR SURVEY OF THE RESULTS OF MODERN MISSIONS AND OF THE GREAT WORK WHICH REMAINS TO BE DONE IN "THE DARK PLACES OF THE EARTH."
V. THE CONSECRATION OF COMMERCE.
The Rev. James Johnston, F.S.S., has been appointed Organizing Secretary of this Conference, and has, by request of the Committee, come to the United States to secure, if possible, a good representation of the American Societies at the Conference. Dr. Johnston needs no introduction to the American churches. He was appointed to draw up the report of the Imperial Commission on Education in India, and is the author of important pamphlets, amongst which is that entitled "A Century of Protestant Missions, and the Increase of the Heathen during the Hundred Years," which has already run through an edition of several thousands. Mr. Johnston can be addressed care of Dr. Gilman, Bible House, New York.
Amongst the subjects discussed was "Methods of arousing interest in Missions among Home Churches." Rev. W. H. Belden opened this discussion with a valuable paper on "Simultaneous Missionary Meetings," and Dr. Spear spoke on "The Consecration of Wealth."
The following officers were elected for the ensuing year:
President, Rev. J. T. Gracey, D.D., Buffalo, N. Y. Vice-Presidents: Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, D.D., Rev. S. L. Baldwin, D.D., Rev. S. H. Kellogg, D.D. Secretary, Rev. C. W. Park, Birmingham, Conn. Treasurer, Rev. W. H. Belden, Bridgeton, N. J. Executive Committee: Rev. J. L. Phillips, M.D., Howard, R. I., Rev. E. R. Young, Rev. J. Mudge, Rev. M. B. Comfort, Rev. B. Helm, Rev. H. N. Cobb, D.D., Miss C. H. Daniels, M.D.
The following Resolutions were adopted during the session:
THE STUDENT MISSIONARY MOVEMENT:—Having learned that large numbers of students in the higher institutions of learning in this country and Canada are proposing to devote themselves to the Foreign Missionary work in obedience to the Saviour's last command, we wish to express our gratitude to God for this new proof of His own determination to secure the speedy coming of His kingdom among the nations.
And furthermore we wish to express the profound conviction which we have, that this uprising of laborers greatly emphasizes the responsibility of the churches at home; that it calls upon all who love the Lord to give these candidates for service a large place in their sympathies and prayers; and also to devise liberal things by their contributions, not merely for the support of a large number of new missionaries, but for greatly enlarging the sphere of missionary labor, and for speedily carrying the gospel to every creature. "How shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent?"
QUEEN VICTORIA'S JUBILEE—Resolved: That the International Missionary Union of different evangelical denominations do offer on this Jubilee year our sincere and hearty congratulations to Her Most Gracious Majesty Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India, on the signal prosperity, extension and glory of her reign. Some of our members saw her ascend her throne, and we would most gratefully acknowledge the great kindness and protection which we have enjoyed from officers of Her Majesty's government in America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the islands of the ocean, where we have been called to preach the gospel of Christ. And we do supplicate Almighty God to continue the bestowal of His distinguished mercies upon Her Majesty, Her Royal family, and Her wide extended domain. May grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ be and abide upon Her Majesty forevermore. Amen.
BIBLE TRANSLATION—Resolved: That this Union, having heard from Bishop Hurst of the most interesting races of Indians in Mexico now numbering eight millions, who are an honest, independent race, friendly to Protestantism, and yet who have no translation of God's word, do hereby overture the American Bible Society to take such steps as will lead to the translation and publication of the word of God in the leading dialect of this most interesting race; and that our Secretary forward a copy of this resolution to the Secretary of said Society.
ON DR. TOURJEE'S OFFER—Resolved: That the International Missionary Union, having heard of the kind offer of Dr. Tourjee, of the New England Conservatory of Music, to furnish free instruction in music to missionary candidates, and believing that both vocal and instrumental music constitute an important auxiliary in all our work among the heathen, cordially recommend to such candidates the special training of the ear and voice with a view to acquiring and improving whatever of native melody they may find in their several fields.
ON LIQUOR ON THE CONGO—Resolved: That as missionaries of the various denominations in the International Missionary Union, we protest against the wicked and disastrous policy of allowing the introduction of intoxicating liquors into the free Congo State, and that we suggest to the secretaries of all missionary societies to exert their combined influence to induce the governing powers to change their policy to one of prohibition.
ON THE OUTLOOK ABROAD—Resolved: That the members of the International Missionary Union returning to their respective fields abroad be constituted an Outlook Committee, and requested to report to the Union, through the officers, movements of promise, signals of danger to missionary interests, and tokens of cheer in foreign lands, thereby increasing the efficiency of this Union and strengthening the bond that binds us together as one in the work and hopes of the Gospel.
PROGRESS AND RESULTS-MONTHLY BULLETIN
V.-PROGRESS AND RESULTS-MONTHLY BULLETIN.
IT is a sign of great good that not one man has yet been asked by the editors to accept a close relation to this REVIEW as editorial correspondent who has not cordially responded in the affirmative. Already we have secured Dr. J. T. Gracey, Dr. Josiah Strong, Rev. D. L. Leonard, Rev. A. P. Happer, D.D., of China; Prof. W. C. Wilkinson, D.D.; Rev. Jacob Chamberlain, M.D., and Rev. John Forman, of India; Rev. and Prof. Geo. Wm. Knox, of Japan; Rev. Geo. W. Chamberlain, of Brazil; Rev. J. Hudson Taylor and Mr. Reginald Radcliffe, of China Inland Mission, and Rev. H. H. Jessup, D.D., of Syria. We expect to enlarge this list until we shall have at least one competent correspondent in every great missionary land in the world.
The Eighth Annual Convention of the Inter-Seminary Missionary Alliance was held in Alexandria, Va., Oct. 27-30, 1887, and addressed by Rev. J. E. Grammer, D.D., and Rev. F. M. Ellis, D.D., of Baltimore; Rev. Jos. Packard, D.D., of the Theological Seminary; Rev. R. A. Goodwin of Petersburg, Va.; Rev. Wm. E. Griffis, D.D., of Boston; Rev. H. A. Nelson, D.D., and Rev. A. T. Pierson, D.D., of Philadelphia, and Rev. G. W. Chamberlain of Brazil. Papers of a high order of excellence were also read by Messrs. T. J. Villiers of Rochester, E. R. Chadwick of Bates Seminary, Isaac I. Gorby of Union, Benson Sewall of Bangor, Robert I. Fleming of Garrett, D. A. Murray of Princeton. So earnest, prayerful and consecrated a body of young men is not often brought together. We look for great results.
AFRICA.
—Cairo. The University of El Azhar. Dr. E. W. Blyden differs from Gen. Haig, in thinking the Mohammedans very active in propagation of Islamism among the Nigritian and Soudanic tribes.
—Madagascar. In the capital, Antananarivo, the Protestant school has 2,387 pupils. . . . The Queen recently attended the opening services of two Christian churches at Ambokimanaga. In fourteen years 700 Protestant chapels have been built in Madagascar, making the number now 1,200. There are 8,000 Protestant communicants, and all the churches are self-supporting. In the Protestant school at Antananarivo 2,387 children are in attendance.
The statement made in the Roman Catholic Review that the German government would allow but one missionary society (the R. Cath.) in its East African territory cannot be correct. From three societies seven missionaries have already gone to Zanzibar.
—Soudan. Emin Pasha pleads for British sway over the equatorial provinces of the Soudan. The missionaries unite in the plea. It is thought it would be a death-blow to the slave trade. Stanley's force found E. Pasha on the south shore of Albert Nyanza, and in health.
—Congo Baptist Missions. Rev. T. J. Comber, the courageous, untiring pioneer, so useful and so beloved, who was penetrating toward the interior, died on board the "Lulu Bohlen," while anchored off the Loango.
An Evangelical German East African Missionary Society has just been formed in Berlin, "to preach the German evangelical faith, and prepare the way for the introduction of German civilization into East Africa, where this year only Englishmen and Frenchmen have been at work." Whether the primary object is the advancement of Christianity or of German civilization does not yet appear.
—Professor Stewart, of Liberia, says it is estimated that for every missionary that goes to Africa 70,000 gallons of liquor are sent to that country. Who shall estimate the wretchedness and degradation of an African heathen under the power of rum and tobacco? And what a greed for blood the liquor dealers must have who, not content with killing 70,000 human beings in this country, extend their work of destruction across the sea!—Cent. Presbyterian.
CHINA.
—Nankin. The North China News states that a benevolent gentleman in the United States has subscribed $300,000 for the establishment of a university at Nankin. It is hoped that the amount will be increased by contributions to $500,000. Several missionaries are interested in the undertaking, which promises to be of great advantage to China, and incidentally to the cause of missions in that empire.
—Dr. Happer returns to China, having secured $100,000 for his Christian college, and $5,000 more toward endowment. He finds it hard, however, to get the money subscribed fast enough to go on with the buildings.
—Dr. Williams, after thirty-two years in China, thinks that half a century more of Christian missions will evangelize and even Christianize the Empire. Mr. Burlingame testifies that intelligent men of China put no faith in popular religions; and Dr. Bartlett adds that "this Gibraltar of Pagandom may become its Waterloo."
—A Christian missionary, on entering a new field in China, was kindly received by the Mandarin, who promised to do all in his power to help him. "I have not heard your doctrine," said he, "but I have seen it. I have a servant who was a perfect devil, but since he received your doctrine he is another man, and I can now trust him."
—The New Version of the New Testament prepared by Rev. Griffith Jone, of Hankow, is said to be superior to any other, and it is confidently expected that it will be adopted as a basis of a union version for all China. Such a book will be in a language spoken and understood by three hundred millions of people. Unlike India, China has really but one language, and if once the Bible were satisfactorily translated into that language the result may be something such as the world has never before witnessed. The book has worked wonders before. It will doubtless work wonders again.
—Tientsin. Mrs. Bryson says: "Some little time ago we commenced a special service for women at three o'clock on Sunday afternoons in the rooms used as a class-room for Mrs. King's medical school in Tientsin. We are getting regularly from twenty to thirty women and a large number of girls. The service takes the shape of a Sunday-school, our older and more intelligent members teaching the others. The women seem to be much interested in the service, and I trust that God's blessing will rest upon it."
—The Spirit of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church for October states that "the Chinese Governor of the large island of Formosa, in starting a College, has chosen a missionary to inaugurate and organize the institution. Such a step would have been regarded as a miracle one generation ago."
—"The North China Herald" of Sept. 10 publishes in a letter from Tientsin, where the great statesman of China, Li Hung-chang, has his official residence, the following statement, viz.: "A letter was recently addressed to Mr. Smithers, the American Consul of this place, requesting that he should see H. E. Li Hung-chang in regard to the location of the College which Dr. Happer is laboring to establish at Nankin, and requests His Excellency to memorialize the throne on the subject, giving all the particulars, that the future institution might also have imperial cognizance. As the Chinese are always partial to knowledge and learning, the Viceroy readily assented to the proposal. But he requested that, as the institution was to be founded at Nankin, the parties should address a written petition to the Viceroy at Nankin on the subject, and also present a copy to him, after which they would jointly memorialize the Emperor on the subject."
—In Canton, with its 1,500,000 inhabitants, are now opened fifteen Christian chapels, where the missionaries and the native ministers preach the gospel not on the Sabbath day only, but daily, and from two to four hours each day, to audiences varying from fifty to several hundred. After the sermon, Chinese evangelists continue the services. Free conversations and discussions follow; rooms are at hand for private conferences, and Christian books and tracts are kept in readiness and disposed of in large numbers. The preaching halls are thronged during the hottest months—July, August and September—and from noon until three o'clock—the hottest part of the day. Tens of thousands of visitors to the city have heard the gospel in these chapels and have carried it hundreds of miles into the interior. The missionary encounters these in the most remote places on his inland tours, and sometimes listens with surprise while they repeat the substance of the discourses which they have heard. The dialect used by most of the missionaries, in preaching, is the Pun-ti, or pure Cantonese, by which they have access to twenty millions of people.
FRANCE, in order simply to be prepared to cope with other nations, has within five years built 45,000 school-houses, at a cost of $80,000,000! What might not Christian America and England accomplish for missions, if the opportunity were appreciated! It is said that if a rod 71 inches long represents the income of the Presbyterian Church, one inch would stand for their gifts!
—McAll Mission in Paris. The attendance at the services has increased largely during the past year, although the number of stations remains the same. The McAll Mission Record says: "The missionary schooner 'Annie' having again been placed at the disposal of the Mission, a very interesting campaign was organized on the coasts of Brittany. Of this work Mr. McAll writes in a private letter: 'Brittany, so long supposed to be completely enthralled by Popish teachings, is now evidently open for the proclamation of the Gospel, and the people—a race much resembling the Welsh in many things, as well as origin—are kindly disposed. To them the message of divine love comes as a new and strange discovery, in contrast with the almost idolatrous ritual to which alone they have been accustomed.'"
JAPAN.
—Rev. George Wm. Knox, of Tokio, writes: "In the Tokio First Presbytery, the additions on profession of faith were more than 240 during the six months previous to April 1, an increase of 15 per cent. In the Tokio Second Presbytery over a hundred adults had been baptized. He himself took a trip of 250 miles to the north. At Sendai, the most influential city in the north, the Miyagi Presbytery was organized with five churches. Large meetings were held in the theatre, and most attentive and respectful congregations were present. Similar meetings were held for lectures at three other towns en route, and in all much interest was manifested. Opposition seems to have died away, and the best part of the people unite in saying that Christianity is a necessity for the further development of Japan."
—Tadmor in the Desert, or Palmyra, City of Palms, is a beautiful type of the Church of God among the gentiles, a historic parable of foreign missions. A great stretch of wilderness lay between Jerusalem and Babylon, arid, barren, without rest or food. King Solomon, Prince of Peace, had the pure water from the springs on the high hills conducted along the plains, and made "rivers in the desert," a very Elim for palm trees and springs of water, and called it "the City of Palms." It was a new Jerusalem transported into the wilderness, and making it blossom as a rose, providing a rest and a refreshment for the hungry, thirsty, weary pilgrim. What a figure of what the true Prince of Peace is doing to-day in the wilds of pagan lands!—bringing the streams from celestial springs to turn the deserts of sin into the Palmyra of Pilgrims.
—London Missionary Society. In fifty years the communicants in the missions have increased from 6,615 to 70,561, and the native preachers from 451 to 7,168.
—The Moravians have an important mission on the Moskito Coast, Central America, among a mixed population of Indians, Creoles and Spaniards. Begun in 1849, down to 1881 it had been quite successful, there being at the beginning of that year about a thousand communicants. A great awakening occurred, and all classes were most deeply moved. Bands of Indians at work in the forest, away from the mission stations, were seized by an overpowering conviction of sin, children at the stations knelt and prayed for forgiveness, and an almost universal awakening followed. It seemed to come spontaneously; it continued without special effort of the missionaries, and there was great excitement, which the missionaries labored to subdue as much as possible. The result of the revival was the adding of 1,500 or more to the list of communicants. Tested by time, conversions proved genuine; few have fallen away. A spirit of consecration possesses the older members, and the field of mission work is greatly extended. The natives no longer say that God does not love the poor Indian as he loves the white man, but rejoice in the revival as a special manifestation of God's grace toward them. Not a few heathen and dissolute characters were thoroughly converted and reformed.—Independent.
—The statistics of Presbyterian missions from the report of 1886 show the total number of communicants in the mission churches to be 20,294. This shows a gain during the last decade of nearly 136½ per cent.
—Some statistics appear in a recent issue of the Siglo XIX, of the City of Mexico, which will surprise many who regard an acquaintance with the Spanish language as merely an accomplishment. That it is of great use is proved by the tables submitted and the growth of our commercial relations with Mexico and South America. English is found to be spoken by 87,000,000 of people throughout the world; Spanish by 63,690,000; German by 53,000,000, and French by 43,000,000. Thus Spanish is second in importance, as a commercial language, being the only means of communication with a large percentage of the population of the earth. We must, however, take into account the fact that a larger part of them are of inferior importance to the bulk of the population of the United States, and of the other countries; yet it still holds that a vast extent of territory exists in which nothing but Spanish is spoken.
MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
VI.-MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
VI.-MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
THE following letter is from Dr. James L. Phillips, Chaplain State Institutions, Howard, R. I., a medical missionary "from Midnapore, Bengal, India, now at home on furlough, but earnestly hoping to return to his work abroad, in which it has pleased God to grant him 17 years, and very happy years, too."
REV. ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D.D.:
Dear Brother—I learn that you are to take up and carry on Mr. Wilder's Missionary Review, and I am delighted to know this. From the first number I've read it eagerly, and have done what I could to introduce it to friends in Europe and India. I most earnestly hope that by God's blessing upon your labors it may continue to hold its high place as a thoroughly independent, undenominational, faithful and fearless review of all missionary enterprises, home and foreign. So far as I know, it stands without a peer, in its own special province, in Christendom.
I should like to know the plans for the future conduct of the REVIEW, with a view to getting our pastors to subscribe. Some of our people have been taking it from the first, but hundreds more ought to.
Could you devote space in THE REVIEW to the Monthly Concert of Prayer for Missions, which has fallen into sad neglect during these 20 years? I am continually hearing of Congregational and Presbyterian churches—the two churches that observed it most faithfully years ago, when I was a student in this country—that do not even have the Missionary Concert. In this State the Baptists are keeping it up, I think, better than any other church.
My proposition is: Let THE MISSIONARY REVIEW consult with The Gospel in All Lands, and draw up a Programme for the Missionary Concerts of 1888, so that our pastors may have ample time to read up and be ready. As dear Dr. Duff used to say, "the hitch is with the pastors." What an added power we should gain in all our missionary work, at home and abroad, could we establish, and faithfully sustain, in our American churches such a grand CONCERT OF PRAYER, by taking up each month the same general topic, and instructing, interesting and inspiring our congregations with it! I cannot doubt that British Christians would join us in this good movement, for they have held up the monthly concert better than we have in America. Could we not have something like the International Sunday-school lesson—the same verses of Scripture studied in many lands and languages? For months these and kindred thoughts have been revolving in my mind; and the reading of such books as your noble "Crisis of Missions" only adds fuel to the fire already kindled. If there be a work in which sect-lines must more and more disappear, it is this great work of the world's evangelization. Christians must come into close fellowship with Christ, be more loyal to His government by keeping His great and last commission, before the "greater things" he spoke of can appear. Believe me, my dear sir,
Yours, with high esteem and very sincerely,
JAS. L. PHILLIPS.
This letter was followed by another from the editor of Gospel in All Lands:
NEW YORK, Oct. 27, 1887.
My Dear Dr. Pierson—I have just learned that you will have charge of the Monthly Concert Department of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW. I have been arranging the topics for the Monthly Concerts for 1888 to be treated in Missionary World and Gospel in All Lands, and a letter from Dr. J. L. Phillips urges me to see if Gospel in All Lands and MISSIONARY REVIEW cannot agree on topics for next year. I propose those on the enclosed paper. Several are the same as those adopted by the Presbyterians North and South.
EUGENE R. SMITH.
1888.
January—The World.
February—China.
March—Mexico, Central America.
April—India.
May—Burmah, Siam and Laos.
June—Africa.
July—Islands of the Sea, North American Indians, Chinese and Japanese in America, etc.
August—Italy and Papal Europe.
September—Japan and Korea.
October—Turkey and Persia.
November—South America.
December—Syria.
[The above arrangement will be adopted.—EDITORS.]
THE WORLD FIELD.
IN looking at the great field of missions, we are first of all overwhelmed with its vastness. We talk of continents as covered with the death shade, but how vague are the terms we use.
Let us take Connecticut as the unit of measurement, with its area of 4,700 square miles. It is contained in Dakota 47 times, and Japan is about as large as Dakota. And now we begin to get some definite conception of the Island Empire of the Rising Sun that is just now attracting the attention of the world by changes so radical and revolutionary that the like have never before been seen.
But Japan, large as it is, is very small in comparison with other heathen and pagan lands. Japan could be contained in India 10 times, and even India could be contained nearly three times in China; or, to be more accurate, you might carve out of China two empires like India, and have left enough to make seven more like Japan, or three hundred and thirty like Connecticut. And yet out of Africa you might construct China and two Indias besides!
Next we are impressed with the vastness of the vacancies where as yet no gospel light has shone. Great districts that are themselves empires have never yet been approached by the heralds of the Cross. When Samuel Hebich reached Calicut in 1834, the whole coast from Bombay to Cochin was as yet unoccupied, and looking inland, Bangalore, Bellary, Belgaum were the nearest stations, each between one and two hundred miles distant. When Robert Moffat landed in Africa, in 1817, the greater part of that Continent's interior had never been trodden by a white man's foot. And even as lately as Stanley's passage across the continent, ten years ago this summer, he came out at Banana, at the Congo's mouth, having, since he left Zanzibar, seven thousand miles distant, seen no man who had ever heard the gospel! About the same time two missionaries of the China Inland mission went from Bahmo in Upper Burmah to Chun-King, in China, one thousand miles, without finding one gospel station.
A third thing that impresses us is the wonder-working of God in connection with the history of modern missions. The days of supernatural signs in the church were the days during which the church was one great evangelistic body. When evangelism began to decline, the dark ages came rapidly on; and only since evangelical faith was revived and the church reformed, and so prepared again to take up the work of world-wide missions, have the days of manifest supernatural influence returned. We do not hesitate to say that the history of modern missions is a history of modern miracles—manifest workings of divine power, as convincing in their way and as peculiarly adapted to the present age as any miracles wrought in the days of the apostles. Single men, like Robert Moffat in Africa, Robert Morrison in China, John Williams in the South Seas, Wm. Johnson in Sierra Leone, Zeisberger and Duncan among the Indians, have been permitted to see results that as plainly show the hand of God as when the paralytic took up his bed and walked, or Lazarus came forth in grave-clothes.
A fourth impression is made upon us by the long study of missions, viz., that if a man or woman wants to make the capital of life yield the largest interest, here is an investment worthy the full engrossment of all the aims and powers of manhood and womanhood. To some, a life given to Christ in the great field of foreign missions means a life buried, wasted, thrown away. And it is so, if the standards of the world as to money-making, selfish indulgence, aspiring ambition and worldly emolument are to be taken as the measure of success or failure. But if a higher point of view is once got and held from which to survey life, it is not so.
Follow Moffat in his fifty years of consecrated toil, the apostle of Africa. Not only did he lead the way as an explorer, even for the heroic Livingstone, but he translated the Bible into the Bechuana tongue, dialects of which, varying but little, are spoken over almost the whole of the Dark Continent south of the equator! We have no proof that to any person it was ever given to render into Saxon the whole of the Scriptures. Bede was engaged on "John" when he died; Wickliffe and Coverdale had helpers. But Robert Moffat was permitted to translate the whole word of God into the pagan tongue of South Africa—an achievement which, had he done no other service, puts him among the most distinguished of the world's benefactors.
But Moffat is but one among a host of men and women whose lives have shaped the destiny of whole continents. The quiet work of the preachers and teachers at Beirut is permeating not only Syria but the whole Arabic-speaking world. Bishop Taylor in Africa, leaning only on God, going almost single-handed among the most barbarous tribes, and making the very chiefs tributary to his mission work; Dr. Clough among the Teloogoos, baptizing ten thousand in less than two months, and breaking down caste in his noble schools; Royal G. Wilder, "burying himself" among the heathen, that in thirty years he might preach in 3,000 villages and cities, scatter three million pages of tracts and gather 3,300 boys and girls into Christian schools—these are examples of "wasted life." If so, let our lives be wasted. Such a buried life becomes the seed of a harvest that neither time can measure nor man estimate.
II. SUGGESTIVE PARAGRAPHS.
The first Protestant sermon preached west of the Mississippi was preached by Samuel J. Mills, the father of the American Board. Desiring to get out of this "pinhole," he went abroad. He had before said: "I cannot suffer my influence to be limited by Atlantic, Mississippi, great lakes, or gulf."
Miss Tucker (A. L. O. E.) went to India as a missionary, leaving the field of authorship for the comparatively obscure field of mission work. Judge Tucker, of Futtepoor, was her brother. He served long in India, giving to missions $200 per month. To those who remonstrated as to his liberality, he replied: "Here are 86,000,000 adult population; 5,000 die daily; every day's delay means 5,000 souls!" At the entrance to the station he had four stone tablets erected. On two, the Ten Commandments; on two, John iii: 14-18. After the duties of his office were fulfilled, he preached Jesus. "If every hair were a life," said he, "I would give them all to Him." He fell in 1857, at the hands of the mutineers. On his sitting-room walls were inscribed: "Fear God," "Love your enemies," "Prepare for death."
The gospel is still foolishness to the Greek. He mistakes the twilight of the morning for the twilight of the evening; what light he sees in the gospel he thinks is the last lingering, fading ray of a declining day, instead of the precursor of a splendid noon.
Post-mortem Gifts. "Father was wont, at this season of the year, to look with great anticipation to the great missionary anniversaries. I desire to act as his steward and pay in his behalf his ordinary annual contribution, which I enclose."
"W. E. D."
"SACRIFICE IS GOLD IN HEAVEN."
Bishop William Taylor: "I feel such a yearning in my soul to help the Lord Jesus to convert this world, that I would gladly be multiplied into a thousand workmen, and then live a thousand years to help on this work."
John Wesley loved to scatter every penny above his scanty necessary outlay. In 1782, his income was £361 19s. (about $1,820); of this he spent for clothing some $30, and gave away the entire remainder with his own hands. His book steward the same year, by his directions, gave away $1,185 more. At the end of his days Wesley wrote: "For upwards of 86 years I have kept my accounts exactly. I will not attempt it any longer, being satisfied with the continual conviction that I save all I can and give all I can—that is, all I have. I never put sixpence out at interest since I was born; nor had I ever a hundred pounds together, my own, since I came into this world." He regarded riches as a "necessary evil," a "serious danger."
A very fine article on Foreign Missions may be found in "Appleton's Encyclopedia," from the pen of an eminent writer.
There is needed a far larger recognition on the part of Christians of the duty of a personal instead of a proxy evangelization. "You see the day is past when the Church could say, 'Silver and gold have I none,'" said Innocent IV. complacently to St. Thomas of Aquinum, as he pointed to the masses of treasure which were being carried into the Vatican. "Yes, holy father," was the saint's reply, "and the day is also past when she could say to the paralytic, 'Take up thy bed and walk.'" It is not simply gathered treasure, whether of gold, or of social position, or of culture, which can make the Church able for her duty, disarm distrust of her among all classes, and fill her with power for the compelling of the millennium. It is scattered treasure which will do it. It is as each one of her members does and keeps doing his share and hers of the priestly ministry of personal interest and invitation. Why should you be willing to sit in one corner of your empty pew on Sunday? Why should you not be restless until even from the highways and hedges you have compelled them to come in—shown by divine deed that God's house is for all, and at least done your share toward the disarming of any possible distrust?—Dr. Wayland Hoyt.
It is never safe to make an exception a rule of conduct. One of the best illustrations of this fact was given by the Rev. Dr. Lorimer, during the Minneapolis meetings, in a little dialogue, which, if not veritable, is certainly suggestive. Talking with a man who had professed to be converted, a minister said: "Have you joined the church?" "No; the dying thief did not join the church, and he went to heaven." "Have you talked to your neighbors?" "No; the dying thief did not talk to his neighbors, and he went to heaven." "Have you given anything to missions?" "No; the dying thief never gave anything, and he went to heaven." "Well, my friend, it seems to me the difference is that he was a dying thief, and you are a living thief."
France: The Paris City Mission, started at the time of the Exhibition in 1878, in 1880 fairly commenced work with a staff of three missionaries, subsequently increased to 13. Latterly, funds have failed, and the number has been reduced to six. The income has ranged at different times from $3,200 to $3,600. One-third of this money is raised by pastors and congregations in connection with which the missionaries labor; the rest by private subscription.
India: Bengal.—Ten native young men have responded to the call for missionaries to preach to the Bengali coolies in Fiji.
Ahmednuggur.—It is said that the A. B. C. F. M. is going to establish there a college to train young men in English.
Japan: The first Japanese missionary student to the Basle Mission is Geusi-Igutsi, who was instructed and baptized (John) in China. The missionaries who have had opportunities of closely observing him have great confidence in him.
Korea: There is a call for a woman to work among the native women, and the government will encourage schools, though open preaching of the gospel is yet somewhat restricted.
North American Indians: At the late Indian Conference at Mohawk Lake, it was said that the effect of the recent orders of the Indian Bureau forbidding the use of any other language but English in the native schools would close some twelve to twenty Dakota schools where native teachers are at work. Another order stops the government boarding-school children from coming to Sunday-school! What do such orders mean?
Palestine: The opposition of the Turkish Government to the Mission Schools in Palestine, so far as the education in them of Mohammedan children is concerned, has culminated in an order from Constantinople forbidding the attendance of Moslems altogether; and one father has been thrown into prison for sending his child to a Mission School.
Persia: Persia has had a remarkable spiritual awakening, beginning with the Week of Prayer. The revival extends to several villages. Many lukewarm Christians were greatly revived, and sinners of all grades, young and old, converted. Places of worship have been found too small to accommodate the crowds. Mr. Labaree, of Oroomiah, reported the work still progressing and spreading. In several towns there are from twenty to forty, and even sixty inquirers.
Scotland: Free Church of Scotland sends out 109 missionary workers, of whom 30 are laymen and 30 women.
Syria: Beirut.—Two young men, members of the Senior class in the college, offer themselves to African missions. Dr. Jessup commends them highly. They have taken all the deprivations and difficulties into account, and make no stipulation as to the nature of their work or the amount of their pay. Their familiarity with Arabic would be of great help.
Thibet: The United Brethren have recently established a station at Leh, the chief town of Ladak, or Middle Thibet, a province of Cashmere. Many persons who at Kyelang have been brought to the knowledge of the truth have returned to Leh. Permission to reside there was given to these missionaries by the maharajah, at the request of the Marquis of Ripon. The town is situated in a fine, open valley, surrounded by lofty mountains, and is close upon 11,300 feet above the level of the sea. The winter has been spent here by Mr. and Mrs. Redslob and their family, who, by reason of the climate of this elevated station, have had much sympathy with the ice-bound missionaries of Labrador and Greenland.
III.—MISSIONARY TEXTS AND THEMES.
The field is the world.—Matt. xiii: 38.
1. World-wide extent, and the period, all time.
2. Two kinds of seed, the word and the children of the kingdom.
3. The harvest is to be sure and abundant.—Is. lv: 13.
4. The results will be rapid and marvellous.—Amos ix: 13.
5. All mainly depends on prayer.—Matt. ix: 38.
"Missions, Past and Prospective." In the "Bampton Lectures" by Anthony Grant, 1843, the following is the outline of the argument:
1. The adequacy and tendency of the gospel to gain universal sway. Its adaptation to mankind at large is contrasted with other religions, as adapted to a limited area; there is not one so much better than others as to pay to attempt to propagate it extensively; and when this is done it is only as a defensive measure to prevent decline.
2. The Universality of the Message and tendency to unity. He well says that "The gospel is not to be in all places at all times, nor in all places at one time; but in some place at all times and in all places at some time."
3. Christianity is not a spiritual influence on the soul of man, solely; but rather a spiritual and visible institution in which souls are gathered unto the Lord and nourished unto eternal life. Body, soul and spirit benefited. The gospel is communicated through external and visible system, which is threefold, viz.: 1. The conveyance of spiritual blessings. 2. The education of man as a social being. 3. The perpetuating and propagating of truth.
The New Testament contemplates both voluntary and commissioned agents for preaching, combining the authoritative teaching of the Church with that of the written Word of God.
Preaching, teaching, living, are to go together: Non magna loquimur, sed vivimus.
"There is no question as to whether or not missions are binding upon Christians. Missionary effort is not a matter of choice but of obligation. Indeed, it is as much an obligation as baptism or the Lord's Supper. Christ gave very few detailed instructions for the guidance of his Church. He left her policy to be shaped by the Holy Spirit. But one definite injunction He did give, and that his last as the risen Saviour: "Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." This is not merely a commission for baptism. It is the outline of a policy—the missionary policy of the Church. It presents to us a command, a duty, a statement of the principal object of the Church's existence; with the encouraging promise, in view of the immense obligation, of power commensurate with the task—"Lo, I am with you alway." Missions are not optional. "Make disciples of all nations," is as binding as "This do in remembrance of me."
The Chinese are proverbially dull when first reached by the story of the gospel. Yet one woman in Shanse, though a cripple, came a long distance for a second visit to the missionary, and when asked what she remembered from the previous Sunday's talk, replied: "I am old, and my head is thick, and I have no memory. I only remember two things: That God is my Father in heaven, and that his Son Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins."
STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS
VII.-STATISTICS OF THE WORLD'S MISSIONS.
British Contributions to Missions in 1885. Rev. W. H. Scott Robertson has summarized and analyzed them as follows: Grand total, including dividends, interest and rents, $7,936,870, an advance over 1884 of $71,990. He includes Roman Catholic contributions, $33,440. It appears from his tables that the Christian world raises over $11,000,000 a year for Protestant Missions, while Romish Foreign Missions receive but $1,325,850, little over one-eighth of that sum. (Missionary Review, Feb., 1887.)
—While the Church of England in 25 years has spent on Foreign Missions $50,000,000, seven times that amount has been spent on Home enlargements, improvements, etc. From a careful examination of the statistics of Christian Missions, the Quarterly Review states that during eight years the ordained missionaries from Protestant Christendom have increased fifty per cent., and the total income seventy per cent.
—Foreign Missions in 1885-1886, as reported in Wilder's Statistical Tables:
| No. of Societies |
102 |
| European Ministers |
40,371 |
| American " |
83,420 |
| Total |
123,791 |
| Year's gain |
1,703 |
| Home Communicants (Europe) |
16,934,077 |
| " (Am.) |
11,856,134 |
| Total |
28,790,211 |
| Year's gain |
53,564 |
| Year's growth in Communicants |
386,958 |
| Less than last year by |
51,772 |
| Foreign Miss. Income |
$10,297,238 |
| Year's loss |
74,463 |
| Whole cost of administration |
830,000 |
| Year's increase |
21,355 |
| Per cent. of income |
8.78 |
| Increase in percentage |
.98 |
| Workers from Christendom (ordained) |
3,035 |
| Year's gain |
60 |
| Workers (laymen) |
1,167 |
| Increase |
435 |
| Workers (women) |
2,444 |
| Increase |
24 |
| Total workers from Christendom |
6,647 |
| Native workers (ordained) |
3,307 |
| " (not ordained) |
30,293 |
| Year's increase of native workers |
1,890 |
| Total No. of workers |
40,246 |
| Native communicants |
950,162 |
| Year's increase |
148,134 |
| Per cent. of increase |
18.74 |
These tables, of course, only approximate the truth. But some things in them are noteworthy. 1. The year's growth in communicants at home was nearly 52,000 less than the previous years (1884-5), and only 1.35 per cent.; abroad it was nearly 150,000, and nearly 19 per cent.
2. The total of workers has risen from 37,837 to 40,246, but still all Christendom sends but 6,647, while the native churches provide 33,600, five times as many. Christendom sends one out of every 4,332 members to the field; the native churches give one out of every 28! At that rate Christendom would have to-day one million workers in the foreign field, or one to every 850 of the unevangelical population of the globe!
—"The Independent" takes note that Dr. Daniel Dorchester has just made a fresh study of statistics, which are not specially flattering:
The total yearly receipts from all our American Home and Foreign Missionary Societies in 1850 were $1,232,123; in 1860, $2,525,549; in 1870, $4,225,952; in 1880, $5,939,845. Since 1880 the average amount has been about $7,000,000 yearly. The increase has thus been large, being four-fold for Foreign Missions and six-fold for Home Missions in the thirty years from 1850 to 1880.
But when we come to count the members of the Protestant churches we have a different story. The number of church members are given by Dr. Dorchester as having been 3,529,988 in 1850; 5,240,554 in 1860; 6,673,396 in 1870, and 10,065,963 in 1880. Now, assuming these figures to be correct, we have 35 cents per member given in 1850 for Home and Foreign Missions, 48 cents in 1860, 63 cents in 1870, and 59½ cents in 1880. In the last period there has been a falling off, and there has been no adequate increase since 1860. It must be that there is an immense number of church members reported who give absolutely nothing for missions; and it must be that the interest of those who do give is much less than it should be. An average of less than sixty cents in a year is vastly less than what ought to be given.
But when we come to the property test, the case is still worse. Supposing the church members to have just an average amount of the wealth of the country (we do not doubt they have more), in 1850 they gave to missions one and one-tenth mills to each dollar of their property; in 1860 this sum was reduced to nine-tenths of a mill; in 1870 to eight-tenths, and in 1880 to six and a half tenths of a mill. Thus we see that while the total gifts have increased five times, the amount given by each converted dollar has been reduced nearly one-half. This is very far from a creditable showing, and proves that not near as much sacrifice is made for the cause of missions as forty years ago.
The one great duty of the Church is to convert the world to Jesus Christ. Are the effort and the self-denial adequate which give sixty cents a member per year, and two-thirds of one-tenth of one per cent. of property?
—Foreign Missionary Organizations raised last year in the United States $3,898,944. The total gain in communicants was 22,069.—Wilder's Tables.
—Since the Methodist Board of Church Extension began its work, in the year 1865, it has helped to build 5,805 churches. It has collected and disbursed nearly $3,000,000.
—Presbyterian Growth. From the narrative of the state of religion to the last Assembly we learn that the additions to the membership during the year were over 52,000 on examination and 29,000 on certificate—the most fruitful year in the Church's history. The Boards received $1,915,987. Foreign Missions had the largest receipts ever known in the history of the Church, $784,157.59. Of this the Women's Boards contributed $248,649.50. The growth of the contributions of the latter is a remarkable exhibit of what can be done by "organizing the littles." In 1871 they reported $7,000. This amount has gone up by the following strides during subsequent years: $27,000, $64,000, $87,000, $96,000, $115,000, $124,000, $136,000, $170,000, $176,000, $178,000, $193,000, $204,000, $224,000, $248,000.
—Moravians have a noble missionary record. During the last century 25,000 of them have been sent to "the regions beyond," while $300,000 have been expended yearly, and nine vessels been kept busy in the interests of missions. This small band of disciples may well put us all to the blush by their sanctified liberality and self-consecration.
—Roman Catholics in China.—The Chinese Recorder gathers from a table of statistics of Roman Catholic missions the following facts: "There are in the various provinces of China 483,403 Catholic Christians, 471 European missionaries, 281 native priests, 2,429 churches and chapels, 1,779 colleges and schools, with 25,219 scholars, and 33 seminaries and 654 seminarists. In Corea, Japan, Manchuria, Mongolia and Thibet there are 130 European and 15 native priests, 227 churches and chapels, and 77,254 Catholic Christians. In the Indo-China peninsula there are 694,286 Catholics, and in India 1,185,538 Catholics. The grand total for these Asiatic countries is 2,440,486 Catholics, 2,639 missionaries and native priests, 7,293 churches and chapels, 4,469 colleges and schools, with 112,359 scholars, and 76 seminaries, with 2,746 seminarists. These countries are divided into 67 vicariates apostolic and 4 prefectures apostolic. Six of these vicariates are worked by the Jesuits. Most of them, however, are under the charge of missionaries of the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris and the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Milan."
—There are 40,000 Wild Indian Children in this country. Of this number, all told, there are but 12,000 gathered in the Government and Mission schools, leaving 28,000 children to whom no school opens its door, and to whom no Christian missionary comes. There are at least sixty whole tribes upon whose darkness no ray of Gospel light has ever fallen, as pagan and as savage as were their ancestors when the first white man landed upon these shores!
—Perhaps the power of God has been manifest in the islands of the Pacific more than in any other part of the world. In the Sandwich Islands one pastor baptized 12,000 converts in 45 years. In the group of islands called the Philippine, the Society, the Friendly and the Caroline, the natives were savages and cannibals of the worst type; but they have exchanged their savage life for the life inspired by the gospel of Christ; and in those groups of islands there are nearly 200,000 native Christians. In the Fiji Islands, also formerly a centre of cannibalism, out of a population of 120,000 all but one-seventh are said to be attending the Wesleyan meetings, and the most of the remainder belong to other meetings; so that church-going there is quite universal.
—The Salvation Army, entering India five years ago, has now 120 English and 80 native missionaries.
—The Imperial Academy of Sciences has recently completed the publication of a translation of the New Testament into the language of the Calmucks. This, it is said, is the first attempt to make known to the Calmucks the text of the Christian Gospels. The initiative is due to the British Bible Society, by which the work of translation was confided to Prof. Pozneieff, of the Chair of Mongol and Calmuck Literature in the University of St. Petersburg. Two hundred copies have been sent to Astrachan and sold to the converted Calmucks of that province. The rest have been sent abroad for distribution in Asia by European missionaries.—St. Petersburg Dispatch to the London Times.
—The Australian Church, under the direction of the Bishop of Sydney, has resolved upon the establishment of missions in the English portions of New Guinea, which portion is about equal in size to the whole of Great Britain. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel has appropriated £5,000 to aid the work.
—The "Ragged Sunday-schools" in London have 40,000 scholars and 4,000 teachers. Its president was the late and honored Lord Shaftesbury. His son succeeds him in the work. The income of the society, consisting wholly of voluntary contributions, amounts to $80,000 per annum.
—There are 400 Mormon bishops in Utah, 2,423 priests, 2,947 teachers, and 6,854 deacons. Salt Lake City is divided into wards of eight or nine blocks each, and a bishop is put in charge of each ward. Under him are two teachers, whose business is to learn the employment and income of every resident of the ward and report the same to the bishop. Then the bishop collects the tenth of each man's income and turns it in to the church authorities. The Mormons are as adept as the Roman Catholics in getting their hands into the pockets of believers.
—Two hundred and fifty millions of women depend for the Gospel upon the women of the Protestant Churches of America. Nine-tenths of the contributions to foreign missions are given by one-tenth of the church membership, while only one-half of the membership give anything. The average amount per member is fifty cents per annum—only the seventh part of a cent per day for the conversion of a thousand millions of people. An average of five cents a week from every member of the Protestant churches of the United States would bring into the treasury during a single year $16,500,000. Ninety-eight per cent. of the Church's contributions for religious purposes is spent at home, while only two per cent. is applied to the foreign mission field. There are 75,000 ministers in the United States, or one to about every 600 persons, while only one is allotted to half a million in heathen lands. There are 1,500 counties in China without a single missionary.
—There are about 600 native newspapers in India, all of which, with the exception of about half a dozen, are bitterly opposed to Christianity. Societies are now being organized for the dissemination of the skeptical writings of England and America. An important society is in operation from Lahore, as a centre, while another has its headquarters in Benares. The pictures of the gods best known to the Hindu pantheon are even lithographed in Germany and England and sold in Calcutta! Native rajahs interest themselves in circulating Hindu tracts, and have adopted shrewd methods to carry on their work. The Rev. Mr. Craven says he knows of one rajah alone who is printing at his own expense 2,000,000 of Hindu tracts, and intends to distribute them at the large fairs of North India. The missionaries, however, keep close watch over these antagonistic forces. They too are enlarging their operations rapidly. But the churches and societies which they represent should adopt far more liberal measures to furnish the millions of natives to whom they are sent with sound Christian literature. The passion for reading has struck every part of India. The people will have books and newspapers. It is for the western Christian world to say what their fibre shall be.—Dr. Hurst, in Harper's Magazine.
—The Chinese Recorder gives the following statistics of Christian missions in China to Dec. 1, 1886:
| Number of societies |
37 |
| Total number of missionaries |
919 |
| Men |
446 |
| Wives |
316 |
| Single ladies |
157 |
| China inland mission (men) |
92 |
| Various Presbyterian societies (men) |
93 |
| Methodist societies |
70 |
| Congregationalist societies |
53 |
| Episcopalian societies |
39 |
| Americans |
164 |
| English |
230 |
| Other nationalities |
52 |
Of the single ladies nearly half are American. Others are not named.
—The China Inland Mission has 43 married and 129 unmarried missionaries. Including wives and 117 native workers, the entire force numbers over 300. They are asking for 100 more for this year. Their operations have been continued for years, and the hundred new men are called for by way of celebrating the majority of the society.
—The Japan Mission of the Presbyterian Board are asking for ten new men instead of a hundred, and the question is whether the Presbyterian Church is able and willing to grant their request. What will the synods, the presbyteries and the churches say to their petition?
—The Chinese Governor of the large island of Formosa in starting a college has chosen a missionary to inaugurate and organize the institution. Such a step would have been regarded as a miracle one generation ago.
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
VIII.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
A WORD TO OUR PATRONS.
Enterprises are nowadays so commonly started with supreme reference to pecuniary returns that it seems like an affectation of unselfishness to claim any other and higher motive in the wide circulation of this REVIEW. Nevertheless, the editors are conscious of no ulterior end but the arousing of the Church of God to a more vigorous prosecution of the missionary campaign. And in our effort we desire the warm, sympathetic co-operation of all our subscribers. We undertake the work with a deep persuasion that it is God's work laid upon us, and we care for no reward beyond the consciousness of His approval. We mean to make this REVIEW indispensable, if we can, to all who love the cause of Christ, and especially to all who wish to know the needs of a world-wide field and the progress of the Kingdom,
We wish to establish between the Church at home and the workers and warriors on the outposts a line of communication, which shall also be a line of supplies; to create and foster a living bond of active and intelligent sympathy; to know what is doing and needs to be done—what needs are met and what lack is felt; to mark progress and trace causes of defeat, to canvass methods and criticise defects, to prevent waste and relieve friction, to promote co-operation and allay antagonism, to stimulate giving and especially self-giving—such are some of the many glorious results we aim to further. The wider the circulation of the REVIEW the more rapid and widespread the success of our measures.
We want those whom God has blessed with means and a generous heart to put at our disposal a Fund for gratuitous distribution to those who cannot afford to pay for the REVIEW. For example, in this country and in England, there are some three thousand young men and women who have signified their desire and intent to go to the foreign field when their studies are completed, if the way shall open. Many of them are poor and self-dependent. Can any man or woman make a nobler appropriation than to put at our disposal such sum of money as may enable us to send the REVIEW to such young persons free for one year?
While at Rochester, two young persons came to one of the editors, who made an address there on Nov. 15, and said: "I have just read your book, 'The Crisis of Missions;' it has decided me to give myself to the foreign field." A similar scene occurred at Buffalo, next day, and at Alexandria, Va., a few weeks before. If some man or woman who cannot go himself, or herself, can, by the free distribution of such a missionary organ as this, make missionaries, what offering can be more acceptable to God? We are willing to be custodians of such benevolence and see that it is made just as powerful as it can be in furthering the work. And if there be any who cannot give, will they not at least pray that our work may prove to the churches the world over even a greater blessing than our hearts could dare to anticipate?
The fund is already started by a gift of $100 from the editors and $100 from the publishers, and a considerable addition will be made from arrears of subscriptions on THE MISSIONARY REVIEW, all of which Mr. Wilder put at the disposition of the editors. We want to raise $5,000 for this purpose.—P.
The recent meeting of the American Board at Springfield, Mass., was in many respects the most eventful one since its organization. It was generally felt that the meeting would be a battle-ground between the new theology, with its post-mortem probation, and the older, more conservative, and, we hesitate not to say, more Scriptural and evangelical position held by the Reformed churches for centuries. Happily, as we think, the issue of the battle was on the side of the old and not the new theology. The landmarks which the fathers set up will not be removed, and Dr. Storrs' manly and Christian letter, accepting the presidency of the Board—a letter too long to be reproduced in these columns—covers, to our view, the whole case.
In this letter of acceptance, he expresses the opinion that the question of the "new theology" is, for the present, practically settled, so far as the Board is concerned; and adds that a withholding of funds from the treasury, "if that should unhappily come to pass," would not change the convictions on which the decision was based. He frankly gives as his belief that it would be unsafe to allow the same latitude of opinion in the missionary field which local churches here occasionally allow, whether properly or not, to those who transiently minister to them. There is a loyal and royal ring in words like these: "This society exists for a purpose wide as the world, solemn as the Cross, connected with eternal issues. It is always responsible to the Lord of the Gospel for what its messengers proclaim in His name."
Dr. Noble of Chicago one year ago expressed on this subject, comprehensively and briefly, the practical bearings of the whole question. He said, in effect, that there are two ways which we may pursue: we may either spend our time and energy speculating as to whether mankind will have probation after death, or we may give ourselves to the endeavor to secure their acceptance of this great salvation in the present probation before death. "As for myself," he added, "I propose to give all my thought and powers to securing for men a present salvation." To all of which let all the people say Amen!—P.
In New Jersey, the week between November 13 and November 20 was kept as one of simultaneous meetings in the interests of Foreign Missions. The whole work was in the hands of five members of Synod, Rev. Dr. Augustus Brodhead, of Bridgeton, being Chairman. He lived long enough to make the arrangements and was then called up higher.
All-day conventions were arranged for in every one of the 219 towns in the State where there was a Presbyterian church. The convention was not held on the same day in every place, but some time within the week. Fifty-eight places were designated as centres, provided with special speakers at the evening meeting. The plan of the conventions was uniform: A morning prayer-meeting, followed by an open meeting for familiar conference as to the mission field, its work and workers; in the afternoon, separate meetings of ladies', young people's and Sunday-school societies and bands, and in the evening the main meeting, with at least two specially prepared addresses.
To our minds, this simultaneous meeting is one of the grandest plans ever adopted to arouse, concentrate and vitalize the interest in the great foreign Mission work. We hope to see the day when, throughout the whole land, simultaneous meetings shall be held, and, like the three annual feasts of the Jews, all the tribes go up to take part, bring offerings and carry back a new inspiration and blessing. The movement is timely, popular, grand, effective, and promises results far beyond our present calculation.—P.
MRS. WILDER, widow of the late editor of The Missionary Review, and Grace E. Wilder, the daughter, sailed for Kolapoor, Western India, on the 26th of Nov., under the auspices of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. Miss Grace was born there, and the mother spent thirty years of her life there in missionary work in connection with her devoted husband. She had a school of 300 girls, at one time, and gave Christian education to a large number of the native women of India, who regard her in the light of a mother. Denied the privilege of going back to her work, after twelve years' absence, in company with her venerated husband, she, after his death, begged to be allowed to go back with her daughter and resume active work there, as a Bible reader, on her own charges. Her first love is still fresh and strong, and poor India, for whom she and her life companion sacrificed so much, is dearer to her than her native land, and even the sons whom she leaves behind. The daughter inherits a full measure of her parents' spirit, and, having rendered her father important help on The Missionary Review, and received rare training for the work, consecrates her life to the same blessed service. And one son, now in Union Seminary, New York, who has gone among our colleges lately and helped to kindle the missionary spirit among the students, will follow his aged mother and youthful sister as soon as his studies are completed.
What heroism have we here! The timid maiden and the solitary, aged widow, parting with children dear, the comforts of a good home and the dust of her loved one, and braving the winter storms of ocean, embarks joyfully for her long voyage, to carry once more the message of redeeming love to her sisters in India, and with trembling voice to repeat to the children the sacred lessons she taught in early life to their mothers!
The God of the widow and the Father of the fatherless preserve and speed them on their glorious mission and spare them to sow the seed of an abundant harvest! Just before his death the husband and father said to the writer: "I consider it a privilege and a joy inexpressibly great to have been permitted to spend forty-two years of my life in the service of Christian missions, and my one desire to-day is, now that you have kindly relieved me of this Review, to be spared to go back to India and lay my worn-out body to rest among the people there, whom I love. Yes, I would gladly start, even if sure I should not live to get there and my body find a grave in the deep."—S.
"THE day is breaking,
We are living, we are dwelling
In a grand and awful time!
In an age on ages telling;
To be living is sublime.
Hark! the waking up of nations—
Gog and Magog to the fray!
Hark! What soundeth? 'Tis creation's
Groaning for its latter day."
Yes, the time is hastening. God is rolling on the ages with awful sweep and force. He is crowding a whole century of opportunities into a day. He is bringing the world together, so that the Church may compass it, know it, traverse it, a hundred-fold quicker and better than in former generations. Competent engineering authorities assure us that in five years we shall be able to go round the world in forty days; and go in all the comfort and with all the security of our modern civilization! And are not such facts the voice of God, speaking out of the cloud to His people to go forward?—S.
WE beg our friends and patrons to be a little lenient in their judgment of this our first number. The call to the editors was sudden and unexpected. It found them both full of work, and yet they dared not decline what seemed a call of Providence. We have done what we could, at short notice, and with the material and help we could command; and yet we have not realized our ideal. We hope to improve as we get familiar with the work and gather in a vaster and more select amount of material. We expect also to enlist competent pens to aid us in the Literary department, ensuring greater variety and ability. We have also arranged for assistance in Statistical matters, and fuller information from our Editorial Correspondents. The editors are mainly responsible for this initial number.—S.
As it is pleasant to know whose thoughts one is reading, the following rule will be adopted: All editorials will have the initial of the writer. The names of other writers will be given in connection with their contributions. To Parts I., V. and VIII. both editors will contribute. Dr. Pierson will conduct Part VI., while his associate will be responsible for Parts II., III. and VII.
Through an oversight, Dr. Pierson was not credited, as he should have been, for Mr. Wilder's Biography, on pp. 7-16. An excellent likeness of Mr. Wilder will be found in the number.—S.