The Missionary Review of the World — February 1896
MIRACLES OF MISSIONS
THE INNER EAST GATE OF PEKING. PekinO' has a double wall each of which has sixteen gates snrmounted by towers. rrhc space between the walls, several acres in extent, is supposed to be kept free for military purposes; but a few small shops have found foothold within it. MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XIX. No. 2.-0ld &rieB.-FEBRUARY.-VoL. IX. No. 2.-NIlID &riel.
MIRACLES OF MISSIONS.-XXVI.
* THE STORY OF MACKAY AND FORMOSA.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
If one were called upon to select from all missionary literature three of the most fascinating stories of modern missions, he could hardly choose any of more romantic and heroic interest than the career of John Williams in the South Seas, of Robert W. McAll in France, and of George L. Mackay in Formosa, each of which covers about twenty-two years.
Reference has been made in these pages in a previous issuet to the marvels which Dr. Mackay has seen wrought in the Beautiful Isle in a score of years j but the recent appearance of his own ampler narrative, in a book of three hundred and fifty pages, with original illustrations, prompts a further emphasis upon this singularly apostolic example of missionary endeavor and triumphant success.
There are some features of this volume which we may pass by in a word, as they do not immediately concern our present purpose, namely, the scientific contributions which it contains to various departments of knowledge. A large part of this work is occupied with careful and scholarly accounts of the ethnological, zoological, geographical, botanical, geological, mineralogical, and other features of the island and its inhabitants. But for most readers the main interest will be found in the chapters (XIV.-XXXVI. inclusive) which are filled with the simple, grand, unpretentious story of the trials and triumphs of his purely missionary labors.
He opens this second third of his narrative by an express declaration that his primary purpose in going to Formosa was, not to gather knowledge of the physical and racial condition of the island, but to evangelize the people, and the rest of the story abounds in proofs of his sincerity. Our friend Mackay pursued methods for over twenty years among the * "From Far Formosa." Fleming H. Revell Company, New York, Chicago, and Toronto.
t Jnly, 1894. Formosans which are both a rebuke and a refutation of the modern" advanced" notions both of theology and of sociology. For his conservatism he will be ridiculed by some modern innovators as a fossil, exemplifying the petrified, devitalized immobility and inflexibility of a dead orthodoxy and an antiquity that has no fragrance but the odor of decay. He holds by the old Bible from Genesis to Revelation. In his" Oxford College" none of the higher criticism of the English Oxford finds even countenance. Some of the Oxonian princes would not be allowed a chair in that institution even if they brought an endowment with them. Dr. Mackay believes that the Church of the apostolic age is still the pattern for our age, and that the innovations and improvements of the boastful nineteenth century are attempts to paint the lily or burnish the fine gold.
The book is indirectly an autobiography-in outlining the work the missionary has, unconsciously perhaps, profiled his own character, and that character is a study. What pertinacity! never abandoning what he undertakes until it is accomplished. Out of disaster and defeat organizing victory. What courage-almost reckless daring! Driven out of his mission premises by a riotous Chinese mob, at peril of life, only to rebuild on the very site, not one inch one way or the other, and in the face of diabolical opposition boldly replace the obnoxious sign" Jesus' Holy Temple"-holding his ground, quietly but firmly and fearlessly confronting even the most violent opposition, until he conquers not only a peace, but a positive welcome.
What simple yet effective sort of evangelism! Three features may describe it : uncompromising and unwearied preaching of Christ crucified, aggressive measures in gathering converts and organizing churches, and training a native ministry and placing native pastors in self-supporting congregations. All else is tributary and subordinate to these ends. Christian education, evangelistic tours accompanied by his students, medical work and hospital training, these and much more are lines of converging effort whose focal center is the winning of a whole people to Christ.
If there be any of our readers who have been tempted to lose faith in the old Gospel and its simple ways of reaching men, and incline to think of the methods of the apostles as a range of extinct volcanoes, we advise such to find in this work a new elixir vita! to quicken and revive their confidence in God's eternal truth and Spirit. We feel, after perusal of this narrative, as tho we had been filling ourselves with spiritual oxygen and 01'0ne, and were exhilarated instead of enervated, strengthened instead of weakened. There is something Pauline in this man's faith in his message, something Elijah-like in his confidence in prayer, something Napoleonic in his audacity, something Spurgeonic in his fidelity.
This apostle of Formosa is no idler. We can safely commend his indUliitry to those who, like him, lay claim to no genius. He felt, on landing in Formosa, that the first necessity was a knowledge of the language, eipecially the colloquial, as his aim, first of all, was the oral proclamation of the Gospel. He first mastered the eight tones of the Formosan dialect, and then a few words-enough to become a basis of communication with the natives. Then he deliberately accosted the herd-boys that tended the water buffaloes, won them over by concessions to their impertinent curiosity, showing them his watch and letting them feel his clothes and buttons, until they awaited his coming with eagerness; and every day he spent hours with them, studying their manners, watching their words and noting down their phrases, until his vocabulary grew with astonishing rapidity. He shunned everybody who could speak his own language, that he might compel himself to learn theirs ; and within five months he had so far drilled his tongue to the strange art of speaking Formosan that he was actually able to preach his first sel'mon, and the text, "What must I do to be saved~" may show what sort of a beginning he made, While studying the spoken dialect by day he worked at the written characters by night, sometimes giving hours to find out the meaning of one character, until he could use them also intelligently and discriminatingLy.
Mackay felt that he needed, as his first step toward the realization of his purpose among the Formosans, a young man, a native, converted, intelligent and active. Long before reaching the island he had breathed this request to God, and almost immediately after beginning his work that prayer was conspicuously answered in the conversion of A Hoa in May, 1872. That young man became not only a Christian and a student, but a preacher and teacher, and after twenty-three years remains the main pillar on which rests the burden of the sixty churches of North Formosa-a kind of bishop over the whole diocese. He and all others who followed his example in embracing Christ have been taught the fundamental truth that every Christian is a missionary, and that the salvation of one's own s~ul is not to be the sole or even foremost object of pursuit.
Dr. Mackay's educational methods are unique in their common sense. One of his first tools in this work was a map of the world, that he might show his pupils that China does not-as Chinese maps make out–fill the whole geographical area, but is only one among many great nations. From geography he led on to astronomy, and gave some hints of the greatness of a creation in which even this world is but as a small gra.in of dust, and from the works of God led the mind up to the Creator.
But the training of his conyerts was, above all, directed to service as its end. Hence he taught them never to say no when called on to witness, or work, or war for the Master. Audible prayer, and in the presence of others, words of witness, and more extended debates and addresses before their fellow-students, with mutual criticism, constituted part of their training. If there was hesitation in bearing testimony even before foes, the words of the good old Scotch paraphra.se, " I'm not ashamed to own my Lord, Or to defend His cause,.. put iron into their blood and gave them nerve to face ridicule and oppo- sition.
Best of all, these converts learned to confront personal peril for the sake of the Gospel and its Lord. They went about with Mackay on his evangelistic tours, everywhere, even among the savage tribes of the moun- tains. Whenever unusual risks were run he bade them, if at all faint- hearted, to withdraw and leave him to confront danger alone; but with surprising unanimIty and uniformity they refused to forsake him or be dismayed even when life itself might pay the forfeit. And when not only threats, but acts of violence had to be endured, they rejoiced at being counted worthy to suffer shame and injury for the name of Christ.
One of Mackay's earliest attempts at bringing these Formosans to the sense of sin was the pasting up of the Ten Commandments on a large sheet of Chinese paper, replacing it when pulled down and destroyed, until at last it was let alone. He thus compelled transgressors to face the Law they had not kept, and feel the point of its darts of accusation. No won- der if that Law, first of all, rebuked and condemned their idolatry, since the first two comm~ndments are directed against all other gods save Jehovah, and forbid even His worship to be corrupted by the use of graven images. And one of the most notable fruits of Dr. Mackay's work in Formosa has been the voluntary abandonment, surrender, and destruction of idol gods. When the first of the chapels was built, at Go-ko-hi, more than one hun- dred and fifty declared their renunciation of idols and desire for Christian teaching. Few things are more moving in this narrative than these demo- litions of idols. In the museum at Tamsui may be seen the god of the North Pole, the god of the kitchen, and the god of war, before which a hillman of seventy·four years had bowed himself for threescore years and ten. At Lam·kham, Mackay preached his first sermon with eight idols set on the table before him, surrendered by their ·devotees ; at one fishing village he more than once dried his clothes before fires whose fuel was idolatrous paper, ancestral tablets, and abandoned idols. In another vil- lage five hundred people had thrown away their idols; and in Ka-Ie-oan, where a converted cook had .been preaching the Gospel in his crude way, Mackay found the people ready for decisive action. He asked all who were for the true God to clean their houses of all idols and take a bold stand. A council was held in which jive villages were unanimous to a man in wanting to worship the Jehovah God. An idol fane, built for them- selves at a cost of $2000, was handed over for chapel services. The next day a procession went from village to village and house to house, until the entire idolatrous paraphernalia of them were gathered in baskets. These • were carried to a yard near the idol temple, and a large pile built of mock money, tablets, incense sticks, flags, and idols. A crowd thronged the place and vied with each other in firing the heap and exhibiting contempt for the dirty, greasy old images. One chief took particular delight in thrusting the object!! they- had worshipped further into the flames or in
It'rom .. From Far Formosa. to COPY>'I"ht J895, Oy Fleming' H. Revell. Compa"y
BOUND FOR THE KI-LAI PLAIN.
MIRACLES OF
pulling out and holding up to derisive laughter some half-burned" goddes3 of mercy."
Then followed a service in the temple, when the hundredth Psalm was sung, as may be imagined, with full hearts and loud voices. The simple entry in Mackay's journal which records this triumph of the Gospel is as follows-it reminds one of the nineteenth chapter of the Acts, and the brief record there given of the conversion of the magians of Ephesus, and the holocaust formed of the blazing books of their occult arts: " Nearly five hundred idolaters cleaned their houses in our presence. "They declared themselves anxious to worship the Lord and Redeemer. " They gave a temple built for idols as a house in which to meet and worship the only living and true God. " Are missions a failure ~" Among other conspicuous triumphs of the Gospel was the frequent conversion of the leaders in violent opposition and malicious conspiracy. The story of " how Bangkah was taken" is a little epic in itself. This Gibraltar of heathenism was intensely hostile to foreigners, even foreign merchants. For pride and arrogance, idolatry and sensuality, violence and outrage, this metropolis of North Formosa takes the palm. When Mackay made up his mind that God's time had come to take this Jericho, he calmly marched toward it with his little band of students. In December, 1877, altho the authorities forbade all citizens to give him any shelter, he rented a hovel and consecrated with prayer" Jesus' Holy Temple." Compelled to vacate these premises, lle at once secured others; and when the roof was torn from over his head and the foundations dug up, and he was ordered to leave the city, his only reply was to show his Bible and his forceps, and tell the mandarin that he should stay, and go on pulling teeth and preaching Christ. In the face of all risks he held his ground, and rebuilt his mission house on the very spot where the previous one stood. Again that building was destroyed by the looters during the French invasion of 1884, but a stone church with a spire seventy feet high now points the people of Bangkah to the God of the fearless missionary; and sixteen years after he made his first entry into Bangkah only to be stoned and beaten, he was escorted through the streets by eight bands of music, with a procession of hundreds of officials and head men, magistrates and mandarins, and companies of militia, with every token of respect that the ingenuity of the people could devise. Bangkah had been captured, and· as in the case of Jericho, not a carnal blow had been struck! Many were the proofs in Mackay's experience that the Book of God is still the sword of the Spirit. More than one of the literati were led to accept its teachings by the sublime account of the oIigin of all things in the opening chapter of the Beginning. Converts were taught by Mackay to trust the promises of that book, and in the crises of danger they took refuge in the assurance that" as the mountains are roulild. about Jerusalem, SO the Lord is round about them that fear Him." "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night nor for the arrow that flieth byday." They read such promises, and they believed God's words and rested in the shelter of His wings.
These Formosan converts have proved themselves able to endure hardneSs as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. At Sintiam. the mob found the communion roll and marked every name on it for a victim. They began with the first and set fire to his dwelling, plundering, beating, and seeking to kill. But they found that death by drowning, torture by bamboo strips bound about the fingers till the blood oozed at the finger tips, hanging up by the qu(!ue-all these inventions of fiendish hate were unavailing. Thirty-six families in that one town were left homeless and utterly destitute, but they stood by their Lord. Those who think the days of voluntary martyrdom past should read the story of Formosa. Persecutions and hardships only bound these simple primitive disciples more closely to their Lord, and illustrated the ancient maxim that " the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church."
The incidental charms of Mackay's narrative are not by any means to be slightly passed over. For instance, he hints a peculiar reason for building spires on his better chapels. He says they are a standing disproof of the absurd Chinese superstition about feng-shuy, or good luck. For instance, it is a popular belief that a sort of equilibrium or indefinable something exists in air and earth which cannot with impunity be trifled with; that, to raise a building high in air is destructive of this subtle equilibrium, and they expect to see it swaying and falling, or some other wreck to ensue from this unbalancing of things. To have a church with a spire continue to stu.rld is a perpetual refutation ,of these superstitious notions.
Mackay's courage is allied with encouragement. He says-and it is a remarkable testimony-" I never saw anything to discourage in twentythree long years in Formosa." But this is the optimism of faith. He persisted when not 'a soul would hear his words in village after village, because he felt that his business was to do his duty independent of what men call encouragements or discouragements. Believing that one with God is a majority, he did not stop to count converts, or consult appearances, or measure visible results, but rested on the assurance that God's word shall not return unto Him void, and his simple faith has had an unexpectedly quick and abund.ant reward.
When, in 1888, :Qr. Warburg, from Hamburg, Germany, made a tour of Formosa in the interests of natural science, on parting he left this testimony: " I have seen sixteen chapels and people in them worshiping God. I have also seen native preachers standing on platforms preaching the truths of Christianity. I never saw anything like it before. If people in Hamburg saw what I have seen they would contribute for foreign missions. If scientific skeptics had traveled with a missionary as I have, and witnessed
H From Fa.r Formosa." Copy..,"g-/tt z8Qs, by Fleming H, Revell
UNSUBDUED ABORIGINES LIVING IN THE MOUNTAINS,
THE RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF CHINA: AN OBJECT LESSON
what I have on this plain, they would assume a different attitude toward the heralds )f the cross."
To all of which we can only add our own word of testimony, that, to witness such results from the preaching of the Gospel, is to see a new door opened in Heaven, and a new proof that, in the horizon of missions, heaven and earth meet in the radiance of a celestial dawning.
THE RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF CHINA: AN OBJECT LESSON. * BY W. P. MEARS, M.A., M.D.
Two vast countries-which comprise between them nearly half the square mileage of the habitable globe, and together contain little short of a moiety of the population of the whole world-two countries-which have remained from prehistoric ages till the days of the present generation shrouded in an impenetrable mystery denser than could be pierced by the utmost ,epeated efforts of the great nations of the earth, Pagan and Christian alike-these two countries, Africa and China, have now, in the province of God, opened out, like maps uurolled, before missionary effort and commercial enterprise, under the very eyes of many who have not yet reached the meridian of life.
To those who are called of God to be fellow-heirs with Him to whom the heathen are given for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession, how grand is the opportunity, how great the privilege, how urgent the command to enter upon the promised heritage in His Name, and to gather out, with His Son, the people whom He has therein formed for Himself! When God has set the door of the dungeon wide open, and is showing-not in a vision, as in that of Macedonia, but in actual fact-the fearful condition of those within, bound, as they are, by the devil, in helplessness as to the healing of their bodies and in hopelessness as to the salvation of their souls-dare any mere man disregard the cry which is rising to high heaven from the horrible pit, or hesitate for one moment, least of all on auy purely personal or selfish ground, to pass on the aid, spiritual and moral, temporal and material, which God has given to the members of His Church, not only for their own comfort, but, rather, for the comfort of others, whose thanks may redound to His glory 1 Tho Africa and China are in close resemblance in their past seclusion from the rest of the wor!!l and in their present demand upon the whole Church of God, yet, as between themselves, they are in striking contrast. The one is occupied by innumerable, petty, savage tribes, without history or literature, sunken in the grossest superstition, engaged in constant feud each with the rest, and dominated aU alike by continuous • This valuable paper-one of the best we have ever seen on this theme-we take the liberty to reprint from that valuable magazine, T h6 Ohurch MtsBionary Intellig61!cer.-Jh)lTOB. fear of the slave-dealer. The other is inhabited by the vast multitudes of a great and civilized nation, whose tradition forms an unbroken record from the time of Abraham, whose literary activity, scarcely later in origin, is without end-a nation possessed of the grandest moral teaching, apart from revelation, which the world has ever seen-a nation which has en. gulfed without sign more than a score of dynasties, native and foreign, and has come to regard all other peoples as but modern, barbarian, and tributary. In China the Christian missionary finds himself assailed not be' the fierce war cry of fanatical superstition, but by the weary sigh of hopeless pessimism j finds his work to lie not in a tangled swamp of gross paganism, but in a dry desert of blank indifference.
China, however, not only presents a striking contrast to Africa as regards its religious state, but also offers to modern Christendom a terrible object-lesson as regards its religious history. In the glorious sunlight of the Gospel, China, so far as its national, religious" time spirit" is concerned, looms before the world of men as the moon before the earth-a warning and a portent j retaining petrified, as it were, its ancient religious form, with all phases of real religious existence behind it, without radiant light outward, without spirit of life within.
In these days-when, in practice, the fact of the providence of God is ceasing to be recognized as essential to the governance of His world j when, in thought, the doctrine of the fall of humanity is being replaced by a theory of the evolution of religion j when, in ethics, the love of God as a spring of action is being set on one side in favor of a social altruism j when, in religion, a trust in the grace of God which brings salvation is being superseded by a belief in a tendency of human nature which makes for righteousness; in these days, and in regard to each of these points, a weighty lesson is offered by the religious history of China.
If that history shows one thing more plainly than another, it is the fact, not of the evolution of religion, but of the natural inclination of the human heart, when left to itself, to introduce its own inventions in place of the service of God, and to separate itself further and further from Him in a process of spiritual decay and death. For that reverence due to the Supreme Ruler of the universtl which had been brought by their forefathers from the West, t,he Chinese substituted worship of spirits and of the powers of heaven and earth, and so, losing sight of God, came to give themselves into actual servitude, as at this day, to the supposed influences of the purely material objects of nature. * So, also, in place of service to God they put duty to man, and thus, losing knowledge of binding moral sanction, came at the last to regard even duty to man as a matter of mere utility and expediency. Hence the mass of the people were left to fall an easy prey to idolatry i and are to-day, before our eyes, lying bound in • In the system of geomancy comprised under the title .. feng-ilhui," literally (the in1luences of) wind and water. body and soul by the power of the devil, whose image is their national emblem, whose trail is over all their land. Hence, too, the leaders of the people, the literary aristocracy, were led to profess a soulless creed, of which the present issue has been well described by an eminent authority* as " materialism put in action."
The study of the religious history of China, then, has a living interest very different from that of the discussion, now_necessarily academic, of the religions and philosophies of Greece or Rome. While these long since disappeared as molding forces from the lives or men in general, the native creed of China, at least as ancient in its origin, hegan to sett,le into its present form more than two thousand five hundred years ago, and to-day -devoid of power of life though it has become-is still reverentially regarded by more than a quarter of the human race.
A comparison, at any length, between 'Vestern pre-Christian philosophies and those of China would be outside the scope of an article in a missionary journal, even were space available. Such a comparison would show, however, that at the very time when, in Persia, Greece, and elsewhere, men were most actively searching for a key to the mystery of life, at that very time Chinese sages and philosophers were engaged in identically the same task; nay more, it would bring out the fact that the sages and philosophers of the East thought the same -thoughts, expressed them under corresponding forms, and drew from them similarly divergent conclusions, whether speculative or moral, as did their contemporaries in the vYest.t The most important use of such a comparison, perhaps, would be the demonstration that the search for an explanation of life was most keen, even if it did not actually arise, at a period-600-250 B.c.-when Chinese religious thought had fallen into a stage of decadence ; when, indeed, it was blindly struggling after, or reaching out for, that which it was losing or had lost, namely, a knowledge of God the Preserver and Ruler. Yet even in that stage of decadence some of its speculations took a flight higher than those of any of the pre-Christian Western systems outside the influence of revealed religion; and issued in ethical doctrine which, in comparison with the moral teaching of those systems, lay on a far higher plane. The explanation is doubtless to be found in the extraordinarily conservative instinct of the Chinese, and their associated traditional habit of reverence for the past; an instinct and a habit which, during the early ages of the national existence and well on into historic time, held fast, as a fundamental fact, that belief in one supreme and beneficent Governor of the universe which had been brought by their forefathers from their original home in Southwestern Asia. The loss of that belief formed the firlt great downward step in the religious life of the nation.
* Huc, (Jhines8 Empire, ch. iv.
t See "Comparative Sketch of Philosophy, Ethics, and Religion of Taoism," Ohina Review, 1891, by Author; also "Note on Philosophy of Chwang·tsze," by Canon Aubrey Moore, In Wor"" Qf Ohuang·TaU, by H. A. Giles (Quaritch, 1889). In the writings of the sages and philosophers of the period just referred to-of Lao-tsze (b. 604 B.c.),of Confucius (551-478 B.C.), of their respective great successors and exponents, Chwang-tsze (b. 330 B.C.), and Mencius (372-289 B.C.), and of others-frequent references are made to an earlier time when public and private religion was unaffected, and social and personal morality unstained; and, occasionally, to a still earlier primeval and golden age, when men lived lives of simplicity and innocence, free from care and strife and evil. All four philosophers dealt with the same materials handed down from the past; all four recognized how far mankind had fallen; all four wished above all things to lead men back to the original happy state_ They took, however, divergent roads. Confucius and Mencius, men of critical intellect, could find no solid ground in traditional belief or in metaphysical speculation, on which to rest. They could rely on nothing but authority supported by evidence; and could accept as their ethical standard only codified rules and observances dealing solely with the duty of man to man-rules and observances based on innate reason and conscience, learned under instruction by laborious application, and carried into practice by sheer force of will. On the other hand, Lfw-tsze and Chwang-tsze, the founders of Taoism, sought to guide men into the old paths not by any human effort, and still less by any system of external rules, but by the entire surrender of the will and of the whole being to the creating and preserving self-existing Existence behind the universe; whose personal attributes-infinite power, wisdom, justice, righteousness, and love (in which last all the others found their summation)-would then, in proportion to that surrender, be so spontaneously developed on man's immortal spirit as to save it from destruction" on the lathe of heaven," and be so outwardly manifested in man's mortal life as to draw all men into harmony and peace and rest. The wonderful system of doctrine and morals thus elaborated-a system which carried man to the very edge of that impassable gulf over which he can cross only by the light of the revelation of God in Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit-not only far tram;cended the teaching and practice of any other" heathen school, Eastern or Western, but was diametrically and in all points opposed to that of Confucius, and particularly to' that of his great successor, Mencius_ It was the last dim, struggling outflash, as it were, of the light which had been vouchsafed to the nation in its youth; and its speedy extinction marked the second great downward step of the nation in religious life. This step the people took when they turned to ungodliness (human righteousness) from that which might be known of God, and was manifest to them, which God had showed them-the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world, even His eternal power and godhead; so that they were left without excuse (Rom. 1 : 18-20).
Deprived of help in this life and of hope for the next by'their first downward step, when they forgot God, and shut in to themselves, by the deliberate declension of their second step, when they turned away from " that which may be known of God" to a purely human, artificial, secular, and utilitarian code of morals, the nation took yet a third step, lower still. They became vain in their imagination and their heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise they became fools. In their Confucian system of morality and in their worship of ancestors and of the powers of heaven and earth, of the monntains and the rivers, they" worshipped and served the creatnre more than the Creator." They converted the teach- ing * which had held up to them the last expiring gleam of higher and spiritual religion into a system of gross idolatry ; and " changed the glory of the uncorruptible God" (so far as they had known it) "into an image made like to corruptible man" (Rom. 1 : 21-23, 25). For the help in trouble of which they stood in need they turned to geomancy and magic ; for the satisfaction of the yearnings of the spirit, which their own idols could not give, they eagerly embraced the tenets of Buddhism.t Even these tenets proved to be too high for them, and were speedily merged in the products of the then recent growth of native idolatry.
There remained but one-jourth-step more; a step followed hesitat- ingly and at a distance by the uneducated masses, but taken boldly by the literary aristocracy, namely, a lapse into thorough-going agnosticism, materialism, and religious indifference. " They did not like to retain God in their knowledge" (Rom. 1 : 28), but explained away as signifying merely impersonal principle or reason even the very names given to Him in the old classics. With Confucius (but without his personal reverence for and belief in the Supreme) they asked, " When we do not know about . this life how can we know about death (and what comes after it) ?" t or in other words, "When our life is full of pressing concerns of the present time, why should we burden ourselves with thoughts of a future of which we know nothing ?" So the end of it all was hopeless, often cynical, pes- SImIsm. With individuals as with nations, in private as in public life, the beginning of evil is in forgetfulness of God, the end in helpless slavery to the world, the flesh, and the devil.
The sketch just outlined refers only to the history of the national relig- ious spirit and tendency. Beside the two great systems of Confucianism and Taoism alluded to, there have appeared from time to time many minor schools, teaching views, some good, some bad, very different from those put forward by either early Confucianist or early Taoist; just as there are still many individuals and groups of individuals who long for some more satisfying food for the soul than the utterly dry husks which form the orthodox staple supplied" by authority." The general process has been -as before said-not one of evolution but of downgrade devolution. Surely it would seem as if it were an incidental part of the great purpose, which has kept the Chinese for long ages shut in to themselves, to demonstrate on a grand scale and at long-drawn-out length how man wholl * Of early TlIolsm. t In the first century A.D. ~ Confucian .. Analects," ch. xl., sec. xl. " God hath wade upright" (Ecc!. 7 : 29), turns from his Maker to follow his own imagination, even undcr conditions of circumstance and habit the most favorable for preserving the great fundamental truth of all true religion that " God is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Heb. 11 : 6). In this respect the religious history of China forms a complement and a contrast to that of the Hebrews. The former shows the process of degeneration at work uninterruptedly; the latter proves how it can be restrained and stopped only by the direct intervention of God Himself in guidance and revelation. Over and over again, in spite of law and of prophets, did the Jews commence to take the same downward course as the Chinese ; and over and over again were they checked and turned back by the punishments and by the love of God. Not, indeed, till the captivity did they come-as a nation-to grasp once for all the foundation fact which is embodied in the First Commandment, and to finally shake themselves clear of the sin condemned in the Second. Truly neither a man nor a nation can return to God, can do aught but wander from God, "except the Father draw him."
The four steps of declension were, of course, not sudden but gradual. Thus as to the first.' it is true that at the date of the earliest authentic records *-say, before the twelfth century B.C., the supreme object of worship was one High God, who governed all the affairs of men with allpervading righteousness and goodness. Yet even in those writings there is clear proof that there was aesociated with that worship, though in a secondary degree, the worship of spirits of the departed and of tutelary deities (canonized heroes or sages) who presided over individual families, or localities Of arts, under the supreme governance of God. Such secondary worship was very similar in not a few respects to that accorded to saints in Roman Catholic countries. It is also true that with religious observances there was combined the use of divination in conjunction with previous purification, fasting, and prayer-divination seemingly not very different to that alluded to in the history of Joseph, of BaIaam, and of others in the earlier parts of the Old Testament. But it is no less clear that idolatry was not practised,t and that morality-political, social, and personal-rested for its sanction directly on the relation of man to the supreme Ruler of the universe. The title given to Him is never used in * The earlier national odes, which, with later odes, make up the Si-King or Book of Poetry-a classic which Confucius regarded with veneration, and spoke of as a most important subject for moral study. For authenticity and dates see Professor Legge's Prolegomena to the Si-King in his Chinese Classics.
t The great Chinese historian, Sze Ma-Ts'ien (of the first century B.C.), whose work is still the standard history, narrates (in the Annals of Yin) how that" King Wu-Yih (one of the last kings of the Yin dynasty) was not virtuous. He made a statue in human form, and called it (by the name of) a heavenly spirit. As if it had intelligeuce, he made demands upon it. (Shortly afterward), when hunting, he was struck dead hy lightning." Ris SOllS followed in his stej)8, a.lld his dynasty in the third generation later was accordingly destroyed. .. These (and other similar facts) show clearly,.. says Sze Ma-Ts'ien in his essay on "The Worship of Heaven and Earth," .. that all the dynasties without exception owed their establishment to piety and reverence, but fell little by little throngh negligence (in regard to those duties)." the most ancient classics for any other being, mortal or immortal, and is interchanged solely with the name-" Heaven"-used in the same way as it is sometimes used in our own day. * The association of ideas, so origi- nating, acting in combination with the ancient as well as present Chinese dislike to the nse of proper or personal names in addresses to superiors, led insensibly to the substitution of the worship of the powers (the subtle influences) of heaven for the worship of God. On the other haud, the tutelary deification of ancient sages and heroes tended in a similar way to the worship of the powers (the natural forces) of earth. In course of time, there was further associated with the worship of the influences of heaven that of mythical sovereigns whose virtues were said to have been heavenly and divine; and with the worship of the forces of earth that of legendary personages whose services had added to the material welfare of the nation. So (probably in the early period of the Han dynasty-second century B.C'.) the four mythical sovereigns before alluded to (with whom was grouped, as a fifth, the founder of the Han dynasty) came to receive, individually, the title " Supreme Ruler," which was originally given to God alone, and, collectively, the name " Heaven," which was originally limited in the same way. To preserve the idea of oneness these" five planetary gods" were subordinated to or comprehended in a vagne abstraction, for which a term was borrowed which, also, had been previously limited to God-viz., the Grand Unity (or One)-an abstraction under- stood and defined by no one, not even by the man himself (Mieu Ki) who proposed the use of the term in this connection. So arose the modern worship of heaven. On the other hand the benefactors of the nation in material things came at a much earlier date to be regarded as spirits pre- siding over the earth and the mountains and the rivers. Of these tutelary deities the most important was Prince K'i, the legendary ancestor of the Chau dynasty, t who was said to have brought the country under regular * Apart from the internal evidence of the classics themselves as to the early belief in one Snpreme Being, without form, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, governing the world and all its inhabitants with all discriminating justice and goodness, there is such evidence as that of Chu· tsze (of the twelfth century A.D.), a great, indeed one of the greatest of the later commentators, who, in criticising such a belief, denies that there is a Personal Being on high, who, as if He were a man, though without substance or image, regards the earth, directs men, is pleased with their virtue and is angry with their failure, as the old odes, he says, seem to assert. In so speaking Chu·tsze recognizes the fact that worship was once offered to such a Being.
t Chinese legendary history commences with the time of the two great emperors, Yllo (2356- 2258 D.C.) and ShUD (2255-2208 D.C.), who were regarded by Confucius as embodiments of perfect virtue, but by Lllo·tsze and Chwang·tsze as .. robbers," who had taken from the people the beliefs of the mythical goldeu age and had SUbstituted a fraudulent code of human virtue. Next to Yao and Shun followed the Hia dynasty, founded by the exertions of Yii the Great, in 2205 B.C., and ended by the overthrow of the abandoned and savage tyrant, Kieh, in 1767 D.C. by T'ang, the Completer. T'ang, restoring hnmane and virtuous government, became the founder of the Shang dynasty, 1766 D.C. (called Yin during its last 250 years). Falling into moral decay like its predeces· sor, the Shang dynasty came to an end in the time of Chow Sin, a Chinese Nero, who was deposed by King Wu, the son of King Wllu, the first monarch of the Chau dynasty, in 1122 B.C. This lastnamed dynasty continued nomiually until D.C. 249, though with rapidly failing power after the commencement of the true historical period in D.C. 770. During its last 400 to 500 years its authority was treated with but little respect by the feudatory princes and vassal States, by whose internecine struggles the cOlmtry was kept in contiuual ferment and disorder. cultivation. Deified first as Prince Earth (or" genius of the soil") he became in later centuries identified with the earth itself. So arose the modern worship of the earth.
The first downward step had been slow; the second was more rapid. In the midst of the confusion and evil which followed on the loosening of the bonds of good government and moral restraint during the instability and disruption of the latter half of the rule of the Chau dynasty, there arose, side by side, the two great teachers, Lfw-tsze and Confucius, each animated by what appeared to him the almost vain hope of checking the current of destruction. Lao-t~e desired to turn it bodily back; Confucius to regulate the State and the people against its onward rush; but the former, in hopelessness, retired at last to the wilds beyond the western limits of the empire ; the latter died weary of the fight, and practically brokenhearted. Then disciples and followers took up the burden which the masters had found too heavy, but, in the distracted state of the kingdom, with even less apparent success. Broken up into numerous sects and schools, they spent their time largely in mutual conflict; while each party for itself searched vainly for that reality which could give rest to the craving of the spirit, and for that power which could confer stability on social and political life. It was then-when the old regime was crumbling in ruin; when the feudatory States were struggling to snatch what they could from the debris .. when the princes fought each for his own hand, and suppressed or perverted the ancient records to suit each his individual ambition-it was then that the minds of thoughtful men were stirred to unwonted activity, and sought in every direction for the peace which seemed to have left the earth.
The doctrines of the early Confucian and of the early Taoist schools will be afterward more fully alluded to. It may be said here, however, in addition to the remarks on a previous page, that (1) the Taoists, led by Chwangtsze, regarded the nature of man as but a screen, worthless in itself, on which the attributes of the Tao (the Supreme)-particularly those of righteousness and love-should be displayed ;. while (2) the Confucianists, headed by Mencius, held that human nature, originally good, needed only for its proper development that man should act in accordance with it. On the other hand, (3) Seun King, a learned writer of the same period, argued that man's nature was essentially evil, seeking only self·satisfaction, and, if followed, leading man in the end to a state of savageism. If man's nature were good, said he, it would not need like a crooked stick to be restrained into the semblance of straightness by external pressure, as of rules and laws. Again, the fact that men wished to do good proved that their nature was bad; for the ugly wished to be beautiful, and the poor to be rich. Man craved for that which he did not possess. (4) A fourth school, led by the philosopher Kao, also of the same century as Seun King and Mencius, asserted, as their leading tenet, that human nature was as equally indifferent to good and evil as water to the direction in which it might be led. By training and education, by habit and association, men became either virtuous or evil. (5) A fifth group, whose views came to be represented long afterward by Han Yu, the Duke of Literature, taught that some men were by nature good and some by nature bad.
Though these schools differed thus widely in their views as to the moral nature of man, yet all alike sought as their final object a development lLpon or in that nature of principles of humanitarianism and righteousness; the Taoist seeking perfection by obedience to the" way of heaven" (the enwrapping in heavenly virtue), the other four by conformity to the" way of man" (the performance of human duty).
There were, however, among other minor schools, three in particular, whose principles were at variance not only with those of the groups just mentioned, but with each other. Thus (6) Hcu Hing, an itinerant philosopher of the time of Mencius, traveled with his disciples from place to place, clad in rough clothes and carrying instruments of husbandry, and taught that as the highest social happiness was, according to him, to be found in field labor, the sovereign, the magistrates, and the leaders of thought should be actual agriculturalists. Again (7) Yang Chu, in date somewhat anterior to Mencius, laid down one short rule for life, namely, " each for himself," and held to ridicule any effort but that of self-gratification. As with the Emperor Shun and with the sage Confucius, so, said he, was it with the tyrant Chow and the bandit Ch'ih, all alike died the same death, and aU alike became but clods of earth. The lives of the former were laborious and bitter to the death; their fame such as no one who knew what was real would choose. The courses of the latter were brilliant and luxurious to the end, and the enjoyment which they had was such as no posthumous fame could give. Each man then should live only for his present pleasure, for neither the past nor the future was his. (8) In striking opposition to Yang Chu was Nih Teih, a teacher of the early part of the same fourth century B.C. Of the former, Mencins said, "If by plucking out one hair he could have benefited another man, he would not have done so ;" and of the latter, "if by flaying himself alive he could have done good to his neighbor, he would not have hesitated so to do.' , Mih Teih's leading principle was that every man ought to love and serve all others. The cause of all disorder, so he taught, was to be found in the absence of mutual love. If a son was unfilial, it was because he loved himself best. So it was with a thief, and so also with contending princes and" warring states." Let mutual love only have sway, and all evil would disappear.
These instances of the teaching of schools, several of which were but short-lived, are cited simply to show how men at the most convulsive period of Chinese history were seeking after rest for the soul; how almost entirely (with the exception of the school of Chwang-tsze) they had lost faith in aid from above ; and how far they had gone in taking their second downward step.
THE TAOIST RELIGION
Philosophical speculations could not fill the void in men's hearts, however much they might satisfy the craving of men's minds. The yearning after some positive assurance of superhuman help for the present, and of lasting happiness for the future, could not be satiated by scholastic discussion. So it was that, while bolding fast, as a guide to life, to the plain, straightforward code of human morality on which Confucius had set his mark of approbation, the people slipped down to their third step of actual idolatry. The transition was marked, perhaps, more sharply than the two earlier changes, and was indicated-as from the third to the first centuries B.C., by searches after the islands of the blessed, somewhere beyond the northeastern coast~ of China-by practices of magic, in virtue of which the inhabitants of these islands and of the celestial spaces might be brought into communication with man-by attempts to discover, in the processes of alchemy, the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life-and by studies in astrology and in the powers of arithmetical numbers, which might lead to a knowledge of the movements of the spheres in their supposed relation to the lives and welfare of men.
Thus things were ripe for the advent of Buddhism in the next century, and for the subsequent fourth stage of gradual decay, during the present era, of religious life of every sort in China.
THE TAOIST RELIGION.
BY ANDREW T. SIBBALD.
In an attempt to unravel the mysteries of the religions of the Chinese one is confused at the outset by the almost obliterated lines between the three leading forms of religion existing side by side. The process of amalgamation has gone on for so many centuries that one is liable to be misled in an effort to analyze the different creeds. The fact is that Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism have existed until a belief in the distinctive pbases of each has become quite common. And even those who nominally accept the Christian religion, either Catholic or Protestant, really add the new to the old faiths, and believe more or less in the four religions. It is thus true that in one mind may be found a belief in four primarily distinct and separate religions-each having added its quota toward a result whose aggregate beliefs are derived from wholly dissimilar sources; and the result is, as might be looked for, a unique specimen of religionist. In this paper I shall endeavor to indicate the particular features of Taoism.
This sys~lll of religion is pronoune<>,d indigenous to China. Its founder was one Lao-tse, who is supposed to have lived contemporaneously with Confucius, and to have been some years older than that celebrated philosopher. The word Tao signifies reason, and therefore a Taoi8t is a rationali8t, in nllme at least; but, in fact, the Taoists are the most irrational of all the l'eligionists of the East. The tendency in rationalism is toward the utter destruction of belief in the existence of unseen spirits of evil. Enlightened reason dethrones devils; but Lao-tse created devils innumerable, and the chief concern of the Taoist sect has always been to manipulate these emissaries of evil. Modern rationalists deny the existence of devils, and relegate them to the category of myths and to personified ideas.
Not so the rationalist of the Orient. He finds his greatest pleasure in contemplating the very atmosphere he breathes as filled with spirits constantly seeeking his injury ; and to outwit his satanic majesty is the chief end of life.
The sect is founded on the monarchic plan. The chief high priest corresponds to the Pope in the Catholic religion, and all authority is vested in him. His decrees constitute the laws of the sect, and all power to perform miracles must come from him to the priesthood. He has the power to exorcise devils and to heal the sick and avert calamities, and this power he delegates to such of the priesthood as comllland his favor. Such delegated power, however, is held on sufferance and not on fee simple. It is not necessary that a priest gain favor with his royal highness to get this power, but he must retain said favor in order to hold the power. This has created a vast army of priests, who are the willing tools of the high priest; and he is thus enabled to wield the most absolute and despotic power over the minds of the people.
The system has the most elaborated code of demonology, and it is likewise patterned after the political constitution of the empire. The head devil lives in the sea, and has been honored by the Chinese people by being adopted as their national emblem. The dragon flag which floats from every staff, from the dome of the royal palace at Peking to the masthead of the humblest Chinese boat, testifies to the high esteem in which the chief devil of Lao-tse's followers is held. Then the multitude of lesser devils is so great that no man can number them; and these are on the track of every man, woman, and child, seeking in all methods their InJury. To watch the movements of this devil host, and to frustrate their designs, is the province of the TAoist priests.
Here we have a decidedly interesting state of things. The very earth teeming with malicious demons! Man everywhere exposed to their attacks, and but one avenue of escape-viz., through the intervention of the priests! Is it a matter of surprise, therefore, that this priesthood wields such absolute power over the minds of the people ~ They live on the fat of the land. They are consulted on all occasions, and their instructions are obeyed to the letter by their deluded followers. It is not to be wondered at that these priests look with disfavor upon the advent of Europeans; that they fill the minds of the people with such antipathy to all change from the established order. They are wise enough to forecast their own overthrow with the advent of a deeper intelligence.
The priests are celibates, perhaps with the thought that if they were to prove unequal to the task of managing a wife their prestige in devil manipulation might suffer. They keep aloof from the common life around them, and live in mountains and unfrequented and isolated places that they may the better impress their own superiority over their fellows.
The priests are called upon by the people when it is discovered that a home or village is infested by a devil. Devils have the power to materialize themselves into a piece of waste paper or dirt in order to get into the houses unobserved. These devils are not credited with a high order of intelligence. Chinese architecture is governed by this conception. The doors or main entrances are put in unexpected angles and niches in the walls, with the idea that they will fool the devils. They cut up the rooflines on dwellings into fantastic shapes for the purpose of preventing devils using them for promenade purposes; and, as a matter of fact, these imps have hard work to get into the houses. But when they onCe get in, no power is able to get them out except the priest.
The white horse is a common form in which devils infest a community. They appear in the form of a white horse walking upon the city walls and over graveyards, and even stepping from one roof to another. They are thus seen by some truthful witness, and the evil omen soon gains currency.
The intervention of the nearest priest is sought, who takes a survey of the situation, and discovers the number of devils, if more than one, and calculates on the necessary steps to capture it or them. The financial ability of the community has much to do in determining the means of safety. If the locality is wealthy, or has a few wealthy men in it, the priests generally make out a strong case. lIe may require to call in other priests in consultation. All this time the people dwell in morbid fear, pending deliverance. At length the priests announce their ultimatum. It will require a fee of one hundred taels ($140 American money) to procure safety. The money is raised by public subscription, and paid over to the priest in charge. Then the capture of the devils is the next step. A bottle or jar is secured for each devil, and the priests secure a bait in the shape of imitation gold and silver tinted paper (called joss paper). This paper is imitation money, and when it is reduced to spirit by being burned the devils do not know it from genuine money-here again showing their low mentality-and they enter the bottle in which the joss paper has been burned. When they are thus entrapped the bottle is sealed and carried away by the priest. Then the people feel grateful to their deliverer, and the priest has again proved his importance to the welflue of the community, and at the same time replenished his bank account. The" Tsung-li- Yamen," or office of the high priest of this sect, is a curiosity. It has large halls and rooms filled with dust-covered and sealed jars, in everyone of which is confined a devil, captured on the above unique plan. And were each and every jar filled with silver, I question if it would equal the sums paid for the capture of these imprisoned devils.
This demonology enters into every phase of Chinese life. The priest is the only medium between the people and their invisible foe. Not a voyage is undertaken until the devils are baited by burning bogus paper money. Not a wedding, but the priest is called in to decipher the omens for good or ill luck. And when a man is sick he is possessed of devils. Chills are the most common form of possession. What makes a man shake if he is not in the power of a devil ~ So the people believe, and a priest is called instead of a doctor, and prayers take the place of pills. Epileptic fits or convulsions are the devil in a malignant form; and if a man is taken thus in a crowded building, that building is rapidly deserted.
A good doctor could go among the Chinese, and by curing the sick, attending his physic by incantations, enthrone himself as a deity in the belief of that deluded people. When a man is dying, no money would induce a Chinaman to remain near him. I first met this fact on a Pacific steamer bound from San Francisco to Hong-kong. I was walking on the deck with the ship's surgeon, when a stream of Chinamen came rushing on deck from the lower decks like a colony of ants when disturbed. I asked what had caused such a stampede. The doctor replied that a Chinaman was dying. He hurried below, and found a man gasping his last breath with consumption. I discovered later, when pursuing my studies of Chinese religions, the secret of this strange stampede. The devil was after the soul of that poor consumptive, and the rest were not going to take any chances by remaining near him in the final struggle.
Not every wise-looking crow or magpie which alights upon the bough of a tree to rest is the innocent creature it appears to be, but a devil in disguise spying out the lay of the land. Nor do the frightened people seek relief by killing the bird of evil omen, but they call a priest to look into the matter. He generally advises that the tree be cut down in the night and removed.
Thus when the devil, alias a crow, returns to his perch he is fooled, and thrown off the track.
The ceremonies so often observed on occasions of death all have their origin in the demonology of the Taoists. Paper clothes, paper palaces, paper pipes, and paper money are burned when a man dies to provide the soul of the dead with means of bribing its way through the devil's kingdom to its rest, and the clothes burned are often patterned after high officials' gowns in order to impress more favorably the spirits encountered on the mysterious journey.
Taoist priests are called to consult the soul of the departed to ascertain its wishes. They discover the locality for burial, and indicate all details of this last service to the dead.
The Shanghai Railroad met its doom from this source. The priest in· formed the people that the rumbling noise of the cars and the steam-engine
THE EMPRESS DOWAGER OF CffiNA
were distasteful to the dead who filled the numerous mounds along its course. To appease the wrath of the dead, Chinese capitalists bought the road, with its equipments, and tore up the tracks, and stored the entire plant under sheds at Shanghai. Thus it is seen that this religion stands in the way of all innovations in that old country, and the first thing necessary in order to introduce railroads into China is to dethrone the priests and infuse a little common-sense into the people.
During the prevalence of the great famine in Northwestern China in 1874-78 there was an,unusual flood in the valley of the Yang-tse-Kiang. The priests endeavored to solve the mystery of this uneven distribution of rain. The censure fell upon the royal household at Pekin. It is the dnty of the Emperor to enter the Temple of Heaven twice a year and invoke the blessings of Heaven upon the people. He always asks for rain among other things, and the impression obtained that the Emperor had hurriedly asked for rain, but had not taken the pains to state where he wanted it. The result was that floods came in some places, while famine from drought came in other parts of the empire. This feeling was producing a general spirit of revolt, when in 1878 the rains came to the rescue in the droughtsmitten provinces.
A few of the· more intelligent Chinamen at Shanghai with whom I have conversed exhibited an independence of thought which was exceptional. It showed a tendency to break away from the tyranny of ignorance and superstition, which tendency must eventually spread sufficiently to awaken an age of reason. And when it comes the Taoist high priest must fold his tent and silently march away.
But the dominance of ignorance and the quackery of priests will hold China in slavery to an unreasoning fear and irrational faith for generations yet unborn. Yct the seeds of a better intelligence are being planted in this dark corner of the earth. The people observe that Enropeans give no heed to imaginary devils, and nevertheless prosper without the intervention of priests; and thus the realization will eventually dawn upon them of how grievously their forefathers have been hoodwmked, cheated, and robbed by the reign of demonology, created and perpetuated for their own gain by the army of Taoist priests.-Harper's Weekly.
THE EMPRESS DOWAGER OF CHINA.
BY REV. W. A. P. MARTIN, D.D., LL.D., PRESIDENT EMERITUS OF THE IMPERIAL TUNGWEN COLLEGE, PEKING.
Nothing has done so much to make this august personage known to the pwple of Christendom as the presentation to her, on her sixtieth birth. day, of a Bible by the Christian women of her own country.
Yet in the affairs of the far East she has been prominent for nearly forty years. She is one of the world's greatest rulers, or rather was, for she has recently laid down the reins of power. Her influence, however, is still felt, and it is not improbab1e that she would take them up again in case of necessity, as Apollo resumed those of the sun when Phaeton was driving too recklessly.
A notice of her remarkable career may serve to awaken interest in the women of China, for may not the highest woman in the empire be taken as their type and representative ~ She is not, however, a Chinese. The story of her having been a slavegirl at Canton is pure fiction, without tbe merit of being within the bounds of possibility. Had she been a Chinese, a law as unalterable as those of the Medes and Persians would have excluded her from the gates of the palace. She is a Manchu, but born in Peking, and so thoroughly imbued with Chinese life that, prior to her elevation, sbe was unable to write or speak the language of her fathers. Her brotber, Duke Chao, still lives there; and Dr. Pritchard, an English medical missionary, being called to see the duke not long ago, his wife, who accompanied him, had the honor of taking tea with the mother of the Dowager Empress and of being served by her hands. She was a fine old lady, erect and active, tho eighty winters were resting on her whitened locks.
By a rare combination of good fortune her two daughters had each become the mother of an emperor-the elder being chosen as a secondary wife to the Emperor Rienfung, and the younger as principal wife to Prince Chun, one of his brothers.
The former on giving birth to bel' son received the name of Tszehi (" mother of joy"), and further to signalize his delight, the Emperor, who till then had no son, issued a decree raising her to the rank of Empress. She had, however, to yield precedence to his childless consort, who bore the title of Tsze An (" mother of peate"), and lived in the Eastern Palace. She was assigned a palace on the west, from which circumstance she was styled the Western Empress.
In those days there was not much peace in the empire. Seldom have the eyes of a young prince opened on a gloomier prospect than that which now greeted the heir to the throne. Rebels were overrunning most of the provinces at the time of his birth, and before he was two years old the second war with England broke out, in wbich France took part. When he was five his father's armies were routed by the allies, and the imperial family were forced to seek refuge in Tartary. Scarcely had they arrived there when they heard that their capital had been taken by 1he enemy, and their beautiful summer resort, tbe Yuen Ming Yuen, reduced to ashes.
This was a crushing blow to the proud-spirited monarch, who died in exile, leaving his tottering throne to the son of Tszehi.
In China it is an unwritten law tbat a widow must follow her husband -into the other world, unless she has some one dependent on her for whom she is bound to live. Tszehi had her son to live for. As Tsze An was childless, it might have simplified the situation for her to step off the stage; but she also claimed the child in virtue of a law which requires the children of inferior wives to regard the chief wife as their mother. Notwithstanding the legal definition of their rights, here was a dilemma full of danger, and had not both ladies been amiable and reasonable, a sword more formidable than that of Solomon might have been called in to settle the question of motherhood; or was it a sense of common danger that held them together ~ There was only one heir to the throne. Whoever ruled must rule in his name, and blood was yet to be shed to decide who should have the gnardianship of the infant emperor. Two princes of the blood, Sushun and Toanhua, took possession of the child and proclaimed him under the name of Kisiang (" Fortunatus"). They at the same time proclaimed the two ladies as regents-apparently without much consultation with themand expected to have everything their own way. Prince Kung, the child's uncle, who had remained in Peking, standing nearer to the throne than they, was marked for destruction; but being warned by his father-in-law, the astute old Kweliang, he had them seized on their arrival in the capital and decapitated in the market-place the same day.
The ladies, who seem to have thought that those princes meant mischief to them and to their child, hailed Prince Kung as their deliverer, and conferred on him the title of Joint Regent. To show their displeasure with the conduct of the fallen princes, they chauged the reigning title chosen by them and substituted that of Tungchih (" joint government"), in allusion to their dual regency and the cooperation of Prince Kung.
Of the three, Tszehi was the master mind, tho not at first conscious of her powers. By exception-an exception even in noble families-she had been carp-fully educated. It was to her culture and her esprit more than to her charms of person that she owed her influence over the Emperor Hienfung. By the same qualities, seasoned with tact and sisterly kindness, she acquired an unlimited ascendency over the mind of her less gifted colleague. Certain it is, that never did two kings of Sparta or two emperors of Rome exercise their joint sovereignty with more harmony than did these young widows, who had been wives of one man and were mothers of one child.
Five years after this coup d' etat the empire was startled by a decree in which the Emperor, now a boy of ten, was made to reproach his uncle, the" joint regent," with want of reverence for himself, and to order him to be stripped of all his offices and confined a prisoner in his own palace. When everybody was expecting an order for his execution another decree came out, saying that "the prince had prostrated himself before the throne, and with flowing tears besought pardon for his offences." Many of his official honors were at once restored, and others were subsequently .added; more, indeed, than he held before, but that of Ichengwang (" joint regent") was not among them. That was the mot d' enigme, the word that explains the riddle. The ladies (i.e., Tszehi, for she did the thinking for both), conscious of their growing power, were not satisfied to have anyone so nearly on a par with themselves. They were irritated by the familiar manner in which the joint regent approached them for consultation, not throwing himself on his knees, even when their son was present, unless on state occasions, when they sat behind the throne, concealed from view by a gauze curtain. Seizing on this as a convenient pretext, they launched the bolt that struck him down. To appreciate the courage that dealt the blow, one must understand how easy it would have been for the prince to overturn the government. That he submitted so meekly was, in fact, from a patriotic fear that resistance might prove fatal to the Manchu dynasty.
The Empress Mother seems to have had more to do with the education of the boy Emperor than the other, whose maternal honors were merely nominal, tho the unbridled misconduct of his later years afforded ground to reproach her with neglect, even if she did not for reasons of state encourage his debauchery, as Placidia did with Valentinian III.
To give an example. The lad, who was irascible and self-willed, having one day absented himself too long from his lessons, his teacher, a learned .Hanlin, found him shooting in the park. Falling on his knees and knocking his head (his own, not the boy's), he implored him in the name of all the holy sages to return to his books. Remaining in that suppliant attitude, a crowd of palace officials gathered about him, but the Emperor, so far from submitting, drew an arrow to the head and threatened to shoot his preceptor for disgracing him in the eyes of his subjects. Just then his mother appeared and led him away to undergo some sort of penance. If she followed the approved model of antiquity, she probably applied the bamboo to one of his young companions, counting on a generous nature to feel it more than if it had fallen where it was deserved.
The young Emperor, shortly after assuming the reins of government, died of small-pox in 1874. A transit of Venus had taken place a few days before, and as the sun is the emblem of an emperor, the people believed that the dark spot which passed over his disk was a premonition of the fate of their sovereign. The Empress Aleuta, in conformity with nsage, starved herself to death, and the two dowagers, who had gone into retirement, came forward for another joint regency.
As they had to reign in the name of some one, a sort of Salic law precluding a woman from reigning in her own right, they cast about for a child to adopt, and found an eligible heir in a nephew of the vVestern Dowager, an infant of three years. He had older brothers, but if he had possessed as many as David, he would have been chosen simply because he was the youngest, giving them a longer lease of power. He is now the Emperor Kwangsii, twenty-four years of age and childless. If he were to die soon (quod vertat Deus) there can be no doubt that Tlilzehi would adopt another son, and be regent for a third time. Her gentle colleague, I ought to say, died in 1880, leaving her more conspicuously absolute, tho not really more powerful than she had been before.
Proud, strong, and ambitious as Semiramis, she yet possesses a tender heart. A good many years ago one of her eunuchs reported to her that in excavating a tomb for himself he had turned up a hidden treasure amounting to 16,000 ounces of silver. "That is a bagatelle; you may keep it for yourself," she said-treasure-trove in China, as in England, belonging to the crown. Learning later on that, Ananias-like, he had kept back the greater part of his find, she confiscated the whole for the benefit of the starving poor in the Province of Shansi.
" Justice rather than mercy," you will say; but here is an instance in which mercy cost her something.
In the early days of the great famine her colleague, the Eastern Empress, was still alive. The two ladies, ascertaining that the cost of the flesh that came on their table was $75 per diem, announced that they could not allow themselves to eat meat while so many of their subjects were perishing with hunger, and ordered that the amount saved by their self-denial should go to augment the relief fund provided by the State. Where in tIle annals of any country is there to be found a more touching exhibition of practical sympathy ~ An instance of her family affection is worth recording. Returning from a visit to the imperial cemetery, where her husband and son were laid to rest, a journey of three days, she sent word to all her kindred to meet her at a temple outside of the city gate. The rich might come to see her in the palace, but the poor could not, and them she desired to meet again. Laying aside her regalia, she spent some hoUl's in their society, forgetting distinctions of rank and renewing the recollections of her girlhood. Such a scene might have occurred in the experience of Queen Esther, but not so readily in that of European queens, who are imported from foreign countries.
The following, while exhibiting her self-control, may serve to show how the highest in the land are trained to submit to the laws and customs of their people.
She was fond of gay attire, and on a public occasion one of those official censors, whose duty it is to find spots on the sun or shadows in the moon, intimated to her, through one of her attendants, that her headdress was unbecoming her state of widowhood. Instantly roses and ribbons went to the ground, and her long locks fell in disorder upon her shoulders.
The Empress Dowager governed as well as reigned. Not merely did she choose her ministers, but often directed them, instead of allowing them to direct her.
One of her last public acts was an attempt to secure uniformity in the coinage of the empire. During the reign of Hienfung the government had sought to force on the people a copper coinage of less value than that to which they had been accustomed. They everywhere refused to receive it, except at Peking and a few other places. The Empress set her heart on removing that relic of fraud and oppression, and ordered her Board of Finance to withdraw the light coins and replace them by honest money. At the time appointed, the restoration of the currency not being complete, she summoned the six ministers responsible for it, and rebuking them roundly sent them away without their buttons.
Her patriotism has stood many a test. When, in 1885, the French fired on a Chinese fleet, she felt that the honor of her country called for war, and she launched the declaration, tho she shed tears while doing so.
Last year her sixtieth anniversary was to be celebrated with great pomp. She was to head a procession consisting of grandees from all the provinces, and proceed to her country palace, a distance of ten miles. The way was to be lined with kiosques, pavilions, and tents of silk and satin, with censers of incense to cover the procession with a canopy of fragrant clouds. The expense was expected to amount to 30,000,000 ounces of silver. On the Japanese invasion she promptly abandoned the brilliant program, contented herself with a private celebration of her birthday, and poured the money thus saved into the war chest for the defence of her country.
Tho female regencies are no new thing in the history of China, of her it may be said in comparison with her predecessors, "Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all."
To this distinguished lady, I regret to say, I never had the honor of an introduction, even our foreign envoys having waived their right to a court reception out of respect for the etiquette of a female regency. Last year when they were received by the Emperor in the inner palace, she was there behind a gauze curtain, which, "half-revealing, half.concealing, " suggested that she is still a power behind the throne. I might have seen her many a time had I been willing to turn out before daybreak and stand by the roadside, tho even that is forbidden. I had therefore to content myself with the flattering assurance, more than once conveyed to me by her ministers, that the Empress Dowager knew my name and occasionally inquired for me.
Some of my students were in her service in the palace, and from them I heard much of her doings, as well as descriptions of her person. Unlike Chinese women, she has feet of the natural size, but, like them, her hair is or was black, her eyes dark, and her complexion sub-olive. Her form and carriage were singularly graceful, tho she was never reo nowned for beaut.y.
To complete this description and enable the reader to remember her, I must add that h~r full name is Tszehi Toanyu Kangi Chaoyu Chuangcheng Shokung Chinhien Chungsih. A devout Buddhist, and ad-
DEVELOPMENT OF CONSCIENCE AMONG THE NATIVE CHRISTIANS
vanced in years, there is not much likelihood of her embracing a new faith. It is not, however, impossible that some girl, educated in a Christian school, may be drafted into the palace and become the mother of a Christian Emperor. To have a Constantine we must first have a Helena.
DEVELOPMEN1' OF CONSCIENCE AMONG THE NATIVE CHRISTIANS.
BY H. MARZOLFF. (TRANSLATED BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK.) There is still much to do in Basutoland as concerns the evangelization of the tribe. But it is above all the churches that have need of our ministry. They bear fruits which prove the reality and the power of the life of Christ in them. Here are facts which testify of their faith. They find in their bosom men and women who consent to expatriate themselves to carry the Gospel to the Zambesi, a conntry where the pestilence works in darkness, and where the fever smites at noonday. They find the sums needful to fit out and send forth these messengers of the good news. They gather every year the money needed to pay the force of evangelists laboring in Basutoland itself. Thus my church of Maputsing furnishes me yearly from 1500 to 1800 francs ($300 to $360), altho numbering only five hundred communicants.
Yet our Christians, who in certain respects give us joy by their faith, their spirit of self-sacrifice, and their confidence in God, are, in other respects, children. Conscience, that lever, that solid sup'port both of piety and of pastoral care, is little developed. Wit h the most it is rudimentary j its voice is not raised to a high diapason. Let a Christian be tempted by a heathen to do something evil, and ninety or ninety-five times out of a hundred he will not reply, "My conscience forbids," but will entrench himself behind the discipline, "The law or the missionary will not allow it."
Conscience plays no part in the ordinary life of a Basuto, and a very slight, almost imperceptible part in his conversion. What part could it play ~ The faculty is not wholly extinct, or how could it be awakened ~ It is a sleeping Lazarus, which may hear the voice of the Savior and come forth j but it is still in so deep a sleep, that the language has not even a word for it. There is indeed a word for remorse, and even this means properly only" the diaphragm," the Basuto having observed the physical sensation accompanying remorse.
During the fifteen years of my ministry I have not often heard a native speak of remorse as an agent of his conversion. A young Caffre, indeed, but brought up in Basutoland, had long resisted th9 Gospel, for fear of losing the little fortune which would come in to him from selling his sisters in marriage. After a long time of gloomy and morose isolation, he came at four o'clock in the morning, and tapping on my window, said to me in his picturesque tongue: "Ke getiloe ke let8ualo"-that is, "Mis. sionary, I have ended with remorse."
What is it, then, that plays the main part in the conversion of the Basuto ~ For the point of departure of his religious life exercises a great influence on his further development. and clears up many things which otherwise it would be hard to explain. The chief place belongs to the dream. This may seem strange, altho reflection may diminish the strange. ness. God cannot speak the same language to the civilized man and to the barbarian. In His saving love He condescends to speak to man the language which he understands; he lowers Himself to his intellectual and moral level. How large a place is taken in the Bible by dreams and visions! The Basuto has heard the Word of God; it works on him insensibly. Little by little it preoccupi~s him, agitates him, pursues him, possesses him ; he resists. To decide him, there is needed something extraordinary, a Divine intervention (as he regards it) which shall strike his imagination. During the night he sees something, he hears a voice, he has a dream; in the open field he notices some unwonted noise, whose cause he does not discover; it may be but the bJeating of a lamb, which he seeks everywhere and finds nowhere. God now has spoken to him. It were fruitless to explain to him that he has objectified, projected into the outer world his religious preoccupations, the emotions of his soul; that he' has given a body to the inner voice, to the work of the Spirit of God in his heart. He would not know what you meant.
This Divine intervention-by a dream or by this species of hallucination -appears to our people so in the order of things, that if you ask a heathen who has heard the Gospel when he is going to be converted, he will answer the most naturally in the world: "When God shall have spoken to me." An elder of my church one day visited a woman who told him, in much distress, that she had seen during the night ten objects. I do not remember what they were; they seemed to me fantastic enough. I should have held them for the mere incoherences of a dream. My elder, more sagacious and better advised, a modern Joseph, repliE!d to her: "I will tell you what these ten things signify. They are the Ten Commandments," reciting them to her. When he came to the seventh, the woman stopped him. "That is it! that is it 1" she exclaimed. " This child"-one a few days old that she had in her arms-" is not my husband's." "Then call your husband," said the elder, "and confess your sin." She did so, and is now a faithful Christian.
The conversion of the Basuto has then its point of departure in feeling. But when once the heart of the man is turned toward God, when he has yielded to Ris call, conscience awakes and breaks the thick layer of dark. ness which covered it, as the young shoot lifts the earth which hid from it the sun. It is only embryonic; a smoking match; a spark destined to kindle a great fire, but still only a spark. Our work now must be to develop it, to educate it, to form it in some sort for its part in the life.
This is now the toil incumbent on us-toil requiring time, care, and prudence. Our Church discipline is scholastic, minute, I might almost say, mousing, and this by the force of circumstances. The natives, having no confidence in their own moral energy or Christian judgment, and feeling themselves exposed to the solicitations of heathenism, have forced us to lay down a rule for every conceivable case. They insist on having a plain text, either from the Bible or from the missionaries, which should say to them, "This is allowed, this is forbidden." As the Pharisees around the law, so we have yielded to the pressure, and have raised a hedge to guard our Christians against straying to the right hand or the left. This was good in childhood. As youth approaches, there should be more margin, more liberty; we need to broaden the road, to set back the hedge, to level it here and there, contenting ourselves with a warning signboard: "Take care, lest by any means this liberty of yours be made an occasion to the flesh." That is, we should try to bring these Christians to be able to do without a schoolboy discipline, regulating every detail, and to let themselves be guided by conscience enlightened by the Gospel. For this great end conscience must be trained and formed, so that we may feel free to use a broader discipline, more agreeable to the spirit of evangelical liberty, and may find this sufficient to repress evil and guide our chnrches in the way of the Christian life.
With some of our Christians-they are the proof that this work of education is possible-it has attained a most gratifying measure of development, whose sureness and progress are always in proportion to the depth of the conversion and the sincerity of the surrender of the heart to God.
The preponderating action of feeling, and this absence of the conscience in the genesis of the religious life of the Basuto, explain two things : on the one hand, the alternations of zeal, of elan, of conquering faith and of lukewarmness, the falls, and sometimes-tho, thank God, not so very often-the backslidings of our people. For the Basuto the Gospel often appears as a law to which he has to submit his heart, as a yoke with which he charges himself in a moment of excitation, of intense emotions. The calm comes, the emotions subside, and he finds the yoke heavy. If the conversion does not go on deepening, if he resists the action of the Spirit of God, which would fain transform his life, change and sanctify his heart, this yoke will become too heavy for his chafed shoulders. He does not see what he gains by carrying it, and he perceives what he loses. He puts it off, not forever; he fully expects to reassume it some day, but as late as possible without putting his salvation in peril. Ask a renegade when he means to reassume his place in the church, " Oke ke sa phOmola: I am resting still."
On the other hand, sin weighs little in their view. That which is a
BRAZILIAN NOTES
cause of grief for us is, that sin is for them nothing frightful, a revolt against God, and ruin for themselves. When anyone falls, the church is not in tears. Sin is not sin except when it is discovered. As long as it is not known, it counts for little with them. Alas! if the Christian Basutos apprehend so faintly the tragic character of sin, there are reasons. The whites give them the bad example, and for them also sin is a negligible quantity. And then the most terrible corruption, the most sickening moral filth surrounds them, flaunts itself, solicits them j they are born, bred, and continue to live in this atmosphere saturated with corruption. Thet:e are falls j but when we know the temptations which gird these poor people round, we are astonished that the falls are not more numerous j it is like a constant siege laid to them.
The purification of the moral sense, which teaches the man respect for himself, his dignity as a creature of God, redeemed by Jesus Christ, is 1I0t the affair of a few years, or of one or two generations j it is only stimulated by the long practice of the Gospel in the school of Jesus Christ and under the discipline of the Holy Ghost.
It is demanded of us when our churches will be of age. I have sought t~ throw a little light on the question. I answer, when the conscience of our Christians shall be sufficiently developed, sufficiently delicate to permit them to direct themselves. Now this time will come, sooner, perhaps, than we think, altho it would be premature to fix the date. It lies In the hands of God.-Journal des Missions.
BRAZILIAN NOTES.
BY REV. G. W. CHAMBERLIN, D.D., BAHIA, BRAZIL.
" His Excellency, the Lord Archbishl)p, will celebrate mass at 9 A.M., in the Cathedral of St. Peter, on the altar of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus j he will preach and administer the Sacrament of Confirmation,"
said the morning paper, Diario da Bahia.
" His Excellency" has just come from a sojourn in the " Holy City"
of Rome, from the immediate presence of "the Most Holy Father," and I thought it worth while to hear him preach to the faithful of this" City of the Holy Savior," in the Bay of all the Saints.
I left our school-rooms at lOA. M., where I had led the children in prayer to the Lord the Shepherd, whose flock shall not want, but lie down in green pastures and by still waters, and I walked leisurely up the hills where once the sainted Henry Martyn sat and sang his prayer: "O'er the gloomy hills of darkness, look, my soul. All the promises do , travail with a glorious day of grace. Blessed Jubilee! let thy glorious morning dawn." .. Let the Indian, let the negro, Let the rude barbarian see, That Divine and glorious conquest Once obtained on Calvary.
***** " Kingdoms wide that sit in darkness, Grant them, Lord, Thy glorious light, And from eastern coast to western May the morning chase the night.
" And redemption, freely purchased, win the day."
The people-red, white, and black-were still pressing through the crowded portals of St. Peter's, and in the wake of four ladies, whose' nodding plumes shielded me from observation, I penetrated into the very center of the church, and found myself, to my great surprise, vis-a-vis to His Excellency, an arm's length from him. I had supposed that he would have given at least an hour to the" sacrifice of the body, blood, bones, soul, and divinit.yof the Lord Jesus Christ" on the" Altar of the Most Holy Heart," and that I should find him teaching the people from the pulpit the significance of the rite of confirmation; but that was all over, and the rite was being administered with an indecent haste which left no time even for the words of the formula, as His Excelle~cy passed from oue to another in the double lines of candidates. He was gaudily dressed and crowned with a golden mitre, which towered eighteen inches over his head. On closer inspection, I saw it was made of gilt pasteboard! An appropriate symbol, in truth! He was preceded hy a priest, who carried the holy oil in a little box, not unlike a sardine can in appearance, into which he dipped his t.humb and forefinger, and with the oil which adhered, made the sign of the cross on the forehead of the candidate. The priest who followed had a ball of raw cotton, with which he wiped the forehead, lest any of the holy oil should drop and be profaned. 'An acolyte came next with a silver tray, upon which the "offerings" were laid; which, if they were not the equivalent in value, showed that the" sacrament" had a money value.
Indeed, it is one of the chief complaints of the faithful of this diocese that the" values" of the seven sacraments under the revised tariff published by His Excellency have risen to such exorbitant rates that the poor must be content to go without them. As they form an integral part of Rome's Gospel, a sine qua non to salvation, it is clear that she lacks oneand that the emphatic one-of our Lord's signs responsive t.o John's question, "Art Thou He ~ or look we for another~" Even this Gospel of her own manufacture she puts out of the reach of the poor by high prices. As to that which the Lord bade His disciples give freely, her attitude is to be judged of not by the sermon of Cardinal Gibbons, not by the pastoral of Leo XIII., on the reading of the Bible, but by what she does to put the Bible within reach of the people under the scrutiny and pressure of Protestant eyes, and out of reach when these are not upon her. . " Would you like to see a bishop kicking~" said a converted priest to the writer, handing me as he spoke an authorized version of the New Testament duly annotated, open at the foliowing paragraph from an extended preface: "No one ignores the most urgent need, which makes itself felt in our country (Portugal), of such a little book as this. The Protestants, salaried by the London Bible Society, are going about thrusting into our faces Bibles which establish all possible false propositions against the religion which our fathers taught us, and which we know to be the only true one, out of which there is no salvation. They would impose upon us, as it were by force almost, Bibles falsified, vitiated, truncated, which speak against the Pope, against the Church, against Confession, against the Eucharist, against Jesus Christ, against Mary the Most Holy, against the saints, against everything that is good. To Bibles of that sort the translator opposes the Catholic New Testament; as, however, there appear still some obscure points, notes are adjoined," etc. Peter is made to say in his First Epistle, chapter 5, verse 5, "Be subject to the priests." What that subjection means in this particular item of Bible reading we have some opportunity to know who "dwell where Satan's seat is"-i.e., where Rome has dominion. On the eve of St. Peter's Day, June 29th, 1895 A.D., a colporteur of the American Bible Society reached the city of Giboia in this State, and put his books on the market. They were seized and burned in open day by armed men. He appealed to the authorities, and was told that the priest was the only authority in the town. Upon going to the house of this ecclesiastic, who is so politic as to be mayor of the town and member of the State Legislature, he was rudely told to vacate the premises, as the burning was by his orders and well done.
Thus 47 Bibles, 50 New Testaments, and 100 Gospels Were silenced, and each one of them testifies that Leo XIII. and Cardinal Gibbons do not speak or write for their own constituency, except in so far as these are under Protestant influences to such a degree that they would become wholly Protestant if they were constrained to submit to the kind of dominion which Rome exercises wherever she can.
The ingenuousness of Protestants who allow themselves to be hoodwinked by pastorals and sermons emanating from popes and cardinals should find an antidote in the hard facts afforded by not ancient, but contemporary Romish history.
I. In France the edition of the New Testament of Lassere, authorized by archbishop and Pope, was put in the Index and suppressed by the same authorities, so soon as they saw that the book was in demand. Lassere bowed in submission, and withdrew the book from circulation which Rome never intended it to have.
II. In the United States the pnblishing of Cardinal Gibbons's sermon was followed by an order from the editor of the Oonverted Oatholic, to the publishing house which issues the same cardinal's books, for a supply of Bibles. The reply was that they could not fill the order, but had a good supply of prayer-books on hand! The recommendation of His Excellency, our Scarlet Prince, is understood to be in a Pickwickian sense by his faithful subjects. If any considerable number of these should take him in earnest, they would soon exhaust the supply of Bibles on hand.
III. In the republic of the United States of Brazil the auto daft, which on June 28th, 1895, hushed the voices of 197 St. Johns, 197 St. Lukes, 197 St. Marks, 197 St. Matthews, 97 Apostle Pauls, 97 Apostle Peters, 9'7 Apostles Johns, James, and Judes, 4'7 Major and Minor Prophets, and the 47 copies of the Law, of which Christ said, "Not one jot or tittle should pass," was denounced by an evening journal as savoring of the Inquisition and the savory times of the Holy Torquemada. The civil authorities were recommended" to proceed against the priest who, in lieu of human victims, sent to the fire Testaments and Gospels."
The worthy vicar, who also represents his party in the State Legislature, hastened into print in the journal of widest circulation in this State to justify the act, saying that" the idea of burning would naturally occur on such a day as that" (eve of St. Peter's)y and that" prior to the times of the Inquisition many books pernicious to virtue were reduced to ashes, because public men did not wish the youth to be educated in the reading of such books. That, further, in the days of the preaching of St. Paul, as is narrated in the Acts of the Apostles, those who exercised magic arts burned their books in the public square."
Has this worthy son of Holy Mother Church merited a word of censure from His Excellency, the Archbishop ~ How could he if the infallible Pius IX. in the now famous syllabus denounces as "accursed any who say that the (British and Foreign and American, etc.) Bible societies are not moral pests."
" In vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird," except the innocent Protestant birds, domesticated barn-fowl, who can see no snare in the hands full of genuine corn, which popes and cardinals wilily scatter in the sight of " separated brethren." To such gullible fowl, be they D.D. 's, LL.D.'s, Ph.D.'s, or belonging to the class which our Lord Jesus Christ called " sons of the devil," the writer submits these facts.
IV. Thirty odd years since, on a Lord's-day morning, a blue-eyed and fair-haired Anglo-Saxon hailing from London (the author of the "Life of Catherine Booth" says that the Londoner for "needle-like acuteness and ungullibility would be hard to match in the world") entered my room in the – – Hotel in the capital of Rio Grande do SuI, where at that time I was engaged in business, saying: "Let's take a walk." "Two can't walk together unless they be agreed." "What do you mean~" he said. "You ought to know. That comes out of the good Book, and I mean that I want this Sabbath for definite purposes, and if you do not agree with me, we will not find congenial topics for conversation." "What do you want to talk a.bout~" "Anything that will help me to get nearer to God, either in His works or Word." "So do I," he aaid; " but our Bibles are not the same. I am a Roman Catholic." " That makes no difference to me," I replied. "What's the difference in our Bibles? Specify one." " Your Bible has not got the Epistle of James." "Indeed, that's news. Have y'ou any Bible?" At this he went to his room, and returned with a brand-new Douay Bible. "Sit down," I said, "and read the first verse of the Epistle of James; 1 will read the second. It's a matter of fifteen or twenty minutes to finish." When the last verse had been read, his face was a study. "I do not understand. I have always been told that this epistle was not in Protestant Bibles; but while the phraseology differs, the sense is the same." " Where were you educated?" I asked, for he had the polish of an educated man. "fn London." "In London! Pray, by whom?" " By the J'esuit fathers." "Indeed, and they told you ~that this epistle was wanting in Protestant Bibles ?" He assented, and I added, "They lied. Rome don't send fools to London to educate Englishmen. If they lied in one point, they would in two. Your Bible looks new. Have you ever read it ?" "No," he replied. "On the eve of coming to Brazil I said to my confessor that I was going to buy a Bible, and he gave me this." " He was afraid you would go around the corner and buy a Bible of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and find out that he was a liar. Either Bible will suit me, provided you are willing to abide by it. I am ready to walk."
Every Sabbath for six months we walked with our Bibles in hand to the hills behind the City of Porto Alegre. I avoided arguing, but pointed him continually to his own Bible for answers to the teeming questions which the Book, entirely new to him, raised in his active mind. At times he would lay the Book down and walk about like one distracted, soliloquizing: "The Book says one thing, but the Church says another; and what the Church says is true; to doubt it would be mortal sin. I will not doubt the Church! I had rather doubt my own understanding."
At length one Sabbath evening he said to me, "I would not for the world have my mother know the change in my sentiments. I believe she is a Christian and will be saved, altho she is in error. I would spare her the pain of knowing that I no longer believe what the Church of Rome teaches, because I believe the Book which she herself calls the Word of God. "
Yes, Rome, you are right. Bible societies are moral pests. None such ever originated in nor ever rested on the bosom of "Holy Mother Church." When forced by these pestiferous societies, who thrust their " false" Bibles into the face of your dear children, to publish or allow to be published a true one, it is found to be a Trojan horse, and all the activities of your secret confessional are put to work to counteract your open professional, and to prove that the Book is obscure, misleading, and " of more damage than utility" (Decree of Pius IV.). Conclusion:" Hear the Church," and " be content to read the Prayer-Book. "
NOTES ON KIANG-SI, A PROVINOE OF CENTRAL CffiNA
HU·PEH TRE PROVINCE OF KIANG·S!
,(Central Cblnlro) Pop. 24,000,000. Area, 72,176 Sq. Miles.
N.B …,.Protestant MisMIon Stat.ionsal'e underlinerl NOTES ON KIANG-SI, A PROVINCE OF CENTRAL CHINA. * The Chinese Empire is so large, and the inconveniences of travel are so great, that the eighteen provinces are, in many respects, more like a collection of separate States than one homogeneous country. Consequently the customs and people of one part often differ strikingly from those of another: Unless this fact is known and kept in mind many vague and erroneous opinions are apt to be formed regarding China and the Chinese.
The name Kiang-si is made up of two Chinese characters-Kiang, " river," and Si, "west;" literally meaning "west of the river." What river is referred to is not very apparent, but as a portion of the northern part of the province is in a south west direction from the great Yang.tse, it has been thought that the name refers to that river.
The province lies in latitude 25° to 30° N. and longitude 114° to 118° E., and covers an area of 72,176 square miles, being over 350 miles from north to south, and about 200 miles from east to west. It is situated * The province of Kiang·si is one whose name seldom appears in missionary jouTnals, and of which little is known even by those interested in missionary progress in the Flowery Kingdom. We trust that some paragraphs regarding the life and work here may stir up more prayer, as well as more thought, for this needy province. . <' between the seaboard province of Fuh-kien and anti-foreign Hu-nan, stretching southward to Kwang-tung. The upper part is touched by three provinces-Eu-peh, Ngan-hwui, and Che-kiang. There is a population of about 24,000,000. Of walled cities there are 78, of which only 12 are occupied by Protestant missions. The Po-yang Lake is situated in the north of the province. It is nearly 90 miles long and 20 broad. Several rivers flow into it, the two largest being the Kan and Kwang-sin, and its waters are discharged into the Yang-tse, about 20 miles below the city of Kiu-kiang, one of the treaty porls.
"Lovely Kiang-si" is a name sometimes applied to this province, owing to its numerous rivers, rocky hills, and wooded coun1ry. Rice is the staple food of the people, who pity the poor northerner because he has to subsist on wheat, just as the northerner pities his southern brother, who lives mainly on rice. Wheat, maize, buckwheat, barley, millet, etc., are grown to a limited extent, and the common vegetables are turnips, carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, beans, and various greens. Of meats, pork, fish, and fowl can be bought at all times, and mutton at certain seasons; but the killing of beef, save on special occasions, is prohibited in most cities, the cow being considered a semi-sacred animal, and devoted to the tilling of the soil. Oranges, pumelos, pomegranates, plums, peaches, pears, dates, grapes, and persimmons are among the fruits, tho a number of these are poorly cultivated. The main export trade is in tea, porcelain, and grass cloth (a kind of Chinese linen). Indigo is largely grown in some parts. Cottons and woolens, watches and lamps, coal oil and matches, besides other foreign goods are imported from abroad and sold in the chief cities, and can be purchased almost as cheap as in America. The province has good water communication, and the chief method of travel is by boat. Efforts have been made to get steamers on the Po-yang Lake and Kan River, but have so far failed, altho the high officials of the province run a couple of private steam launches on these waters.
The religious condition of Kiang-si is much the same as that of other parts of China. Idolatry and superstition enter into the daily life of the people, and hold them in a worse than Egyptian bondage. Vegetarianism is not uncommon among the poorer classes, many of whom, being unable to afford meat, make a virtue of necessity. The worship of K'uan-in-a female goddess-is very popular, and almost every home has her image on paper, hung up in a prominent place. This idol is specially worshipped to obtain that for which many of the Chinese seem to solely live-a son and heir. The head of one of the large Taoist sects, and formerly of great reputa1ion-Chang-t'ien-tsi-resides in the northeast of the province, where he and his predecessors, all of one family and surname, have reigned, it is said, for about sixty generations.
The people of Kiang-si are, for the most part, peaceful and law-abiding, tho a strong anti-foreign feeling has been engendered and nourished, partly, at least, through intercourse with the Kwang-tung and Eu-nan provinces. Notwithstanding this, very little violence or open hostility has been shown to foreigners. The opposition is more of a secret and underhand nature. An example comes to mind. A few years ago one of the missions rented premises in an important center. All went well for the first month or so. Then a charge was trumped up against the nati¥e landlord, and he had to go into hiding to escape imprisonment. Eis family was then harassed. They came to the missionaries and pleaded with them to leave the house, saying that the trouble was really because of their having rented their house to foreigners, and that if the missionaries retired the charge would be dropped. Careful inquiry proved their statement to be true. What was to be done ~ Various plans were tried to get the matter arranged, but in vain, and in the end 1he promise was given that when the year expired the house would be vacated. Matters smoothed down wonderfully quick after this, and then, a few months later, inquiries were quietly made for other premises. Some were found whose owners were willing to rent, bu1 again and again, as negotiations were going on, and sometimes when almost completed, the owner would suddenly state that an uncle, cousin, or friend was coming to 1he place and needed the premises, or give some similar excuse, and so he was sorry he could not rent to the foreigner. The truth was, he had been intimidated. Near the close of the year one of the missionaries paid a visit to the Yamen, and asked for an interview with the district magistrate. It was granted, and he was courteously received. He asked the magistrate if there was any objection to a mission station in the district. The magistrate replied that he had no objection. The missionaries were good people. doing excellent work; and further, if new premises were secured, he would issue a proclamation and see that none made trouble, etc. It was found afterward to be more than probable that this official had the largest share in intimidating those willing to rent; tho, no doubt, led to it by the influence of some of the gentry. Thus, in an underhand way, the missionaries were compelled to retire. This is the general form of opposition met in opening new work, tho with it is almost always combined what is common in the greater part of China-viz., the circulation of stories as to how the foreigners extract hearts and eyes to make the wonderful Western medicine, or convert them into silver for their own enrichment. Still, by God's help, as we shall shortly see, a number of stations have been opened.
Permanent Protestant mission work in Kiang-si was first begun in the summer of 1866, by the Rev. V. C. Hart (of the American Methodist Episcopal Mission, if I mistake not), in the treaty port of Kiu-kiang. The China Inland Mission entered in 1869, and since then the Woman's Board and the English Brethren have taken up work. There are now (1895) eighteen stations occupied by foreign workers-mostly of the China Inland Mission-nine of which are in walled citics, and in additIOn there are a number of centers with resident native workers. The foreign workers number about eighty (including wives). The total number of communicants is between five and six hundred. The Romanists have a number of stations in the province, and their work in some districts, it is said, reaches back nearly two hundred years. The number of their converts is not easy to obtain, but in one prefecture-Fu-chow-it is claimed that they have about ten thousand. This year, for the first time, some of their nuns were sent into the interior stations.
The present Protestant missionary work may be roughly divided into three sections: 1. The northwestern quarter, to the west of the Po-yang Lake, and skirted by the Yang-tse. 2. The northeastern corner, to the east of the lake, and including the Kwang-sin River valley. 3. The southern half, down the middle of which flows the largest waterway of the province, the Ran River.
In the first section is located the treaty port of Kiu-kiang, with a native population of about 100,000, and of foreigners near threescore. Here the American Methodist Episcopal Mission has schools, a printing depot, and tract society, besides evangelistic work both in the city and surrounding district. The Woman's Board has also a school for girls, and work among the women. The China Inland Mission station in Kiukiang is mainly for the forwarding of mail, money, and supplies to its members in the interior, but in other parts of this section of the province this mission carries on both local and itinerant work. At the head of the Po-yang Lake is the city of Wu-chen, where the English Brethren have had a center for nearly a decade. Their workers, recently largely reinforced, have itinerated in the tea district near and on the borders and islands of the lake, and hope erelong to open a station in the capital of the province, Nan-chang. In Wu-chen itself they have a church of about fifty members. In this section, containing about 3,000,000 of a population, are some forty missionaries (including wives).
Missionary work in the second section centers on the Kwang-sin River. On or near this river tbere is a line of some ten stations (China Inland Mission). Permanent work commenced about seventeen years ago in three different cities-viz., Yuh-shan, Ho-k'eo, and Kwei-ki, but only in the last five or six years has there been much apparent result. The two 'or three years jnst past have seen great advance, and the present communicants number over three hundred. A peculiarity of this work is that, with the exception of one station (where there is a married missionary), the foreign workers are all unmarried ladies. They are, of course, attended by competent native pastors and evangelists, who carryon the work among the men, and a foreign missionary superintendent visits the stations from time to time. Much itinerant work has been done throughout the section, in which the native workers have taken a prominent part, and the seed of the Word has been widely scattered. God has signally set His seal upon this work. In the whole section there is probably a population of nearly 4,000,000, with thirty-one missionaries.
The third section is the largest and most needy. Among about 8,000,000 pflople only seven missionaries (two married couples and three single men) are at present stationed. Permanent work began barely six years ago. Six single men (China Inland Mission) were set apart, and three centers chosen-viz., Lin-kiang, Ki-ngan, and Kan-chow. Around these centers, two by two, they were to itinerate. After nearly two years of such work premises were rented in all three districts, in or near the above centers, and more settled work begun. In one of these the settlement had to be given up (recently, however, other premises have been rented there), and in both the others matters were in the balance for a year or more. Such a state of things, as will be readily understood, hinders the work greatly. Now," through the good hand of God," the outlook is brighter, and some of the prejudice and hatred haR been lived down. The two first converts were baptized last year, and in all three centers there are a few inquirers. Itinerating has been the principal work. Thousands of Scripture portions and tracts have been sold or given away, and tens of thousands have heard the main truths of the Gospel. Journeys have also been taken across the western border into Hu-nan.
In conclusion, Kiang·si needs more laborers. Compared with some, j,his province might, perhaps, from a missionary standpoint, be thought fairly well supplied. Yet the fact remains that in every section, and especially in the southern one, there are many towns and villages where, as yet, the feet of those who preach good tidings have not trod, and there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of souls who have never had an opportunity to know of Him who alone can save. There are many open doors, especially for single men who are willing to enter on the work of itineration. "PraY ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He send forth laborers." But there is a deeper and more paramount need, and for it we ask the prayers of all who love our Lord Jesus Christ. It is that we who are now in this province-natives as well as foreigners-be so
PREACHING THE GOSl'EL IN YUNNAN, CHINA
anointed with" power from on high," and that continually, that nothing may stand in the way of God working through us. Those who are bound at home can be " helpers together by prayer," and ask this of God for us, that" the nall'le of the Lord Jesus may be magnified" 'throughout the whole of the Kiang-si Province.
PREACHING THE GOSPEL IN YUNNAN, CHINA.
BY REV. FRANCIS J. DYMOND, CHOW-TUNG-FU, CHINA.
On every hand there is abundant cause for encouragement and thanksgiving. A few days ago we formed a church for Chow-tung, and to which· we hope to be constantly adding new members. In the city there are a few young men who seem thoroughly convinced of the truth. One is now making strenuous efforts to get rid of the opium craving. and seems to be nearly" through the wood." All kinds of derisive epithets are used in abusing them by their less enlightened fellow-citizens, but they stand the test bravely and well, and no doubt are all the better for a little persecution.
Last June I started out on a preaching tour, taking with me a coolie named Li, who is au inquirer, and another called Jen, a young peddler of thirty years of age, who was to try to help me in the preaching. It is a very great boon to have a Chinese friend and brother with you, as when you are tired from preaching he can step into the ring and carry on the work while the foreigner rests. Dear Brother Jen was a very valuable assistant in every way. He has only jnst come out boldly, and to be seen with the foreigner was a test for him. A Chinaman soon finds ont the meaning of " taking up his cross daily and following Christ." The first day we went to Kiu-hu, a place 20 Ii away. It is a straggling village, and holds a market every third day. We generally go on market dayB, being sure of about ten times the number of people to listen to ns as will come on ordinary days. As we approach the place many call out, " Aloe ! Jesus has come again!" Some remember my name and say, "Mr. T'ai, are you here preaching again 1" After finding an inn, uusaddling the horse, and buying some provender for it, we each drink a cup of tea and sally forth with many a silent prayer that the Lord will bless the dear people. Into the busy throng of men, women, and children, bartering, wrangling over short weight, bad cash, old debts, and a thousand other things; some shouting out their wares, just stopping between breaths to give the redhaired, white-skinned foreign" ghost" a long look. Some have seen him before, and are unconcerned; others didn't happen to be at any of the previous markets when he was there, and are there to-day. Good Inck! See them pulling sleeves, nudging and whispering, "Foreigner! look, look, a foreigner!" Yes, this is what we experience in every market village which we enter. If the people do not gather around to hear, we bring out a concertina, and that is sure to draw a crowd and to give a good opportunity to preach Christ and Him crucified.
Many times we find it " good to be there," and from the way people listen, we see that our message is not unheeded. By and by our voices grow husky, and we seek a quiet tea shop (generally as rowdy as a public house at home, for here all quarrels are settled if possible). Before long some one comes along as inquisitive as the average celestial, and asks how old I am, are my parents living, do we plant rice in England, what do we eat and how 1 etc., ad infinitum, until I veer around and try to point him to the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
We reioice that on every hand there are signs of improvement. It used to be a poor stammering missionary and a heathen coolie; now not only does the missionary speak so as to be understood by the people, but even his coolie has been drawn to Him, and often gathers a group around him, showing the folly of idolatry, and speaking kindly of the foreign teacher. Another great advantage is in having a young man like Jen to make known the glad news, and backing it up with his own testimony to the power of the Gospel, he himself but a short time ago being an opium smoker, idolater, etc. It was joyous to hear him say, "I have given them all up, and intend to serve the living and true God."
At not a few places we met men who knew him, and sneered finely to see him with me. "What, have you joined the church? are you a disciple of their Jesus ?" Once after a sharp onset I found him almost ready to cry, his heart was so stung by their irony; but soon he cheered up, saying, " Let them say what they like, I know it is true, I feel it is true. What are their taunts compared to the horrors of hell, from which I am fleeing go' Soon he got hold of one or two, and preached so convincingly to them, showing them just what the Gospel is, that they were not able to withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spake.
One great advantage in having such a man is, that he knows the people. What a report he gives of Chao-t'ong! He says that the people are in a terrible state of depravity, and can mention family after family whose entire history is one of fraud and oppression. Sometimes we get them in here boasting their goodness, vowing that all their lives they have done no evil. Alas!" from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot they are full of wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. "
Making the same circuit· of markets with us was a snake-charmer. He was a wretched opium.smoker, his snake about eight feet long, which he twisted about head and body, and then pushed one and one half feet of it head first down his throat, drawing it out slowly, to the amazement of the crowd. He went from stall to stall on the market, not leaving until a cash had been thrown him. The beggars of China are a great nuisance. Th.ey come shouting ill the doorway a most melancholy dirge; others come with bamboo clappers, singing, and until1he cash is extorted their clapping is incessant.
One evening some women in our inn came, saying, " We had not time on market day to hear you preach, sir. Will you kindly do so now?" Of course we were only glad of the opportunity, and there for two honrs they listened, at the end regretting they could hear so seldom, and their memories are so bad. They said, " Who about here cares whether we go to heaven or hell?" The very idea of it made them laugh.
The people everywhere are friendly and willing to listen. J en took a big stride forward that week, and gave many evidences that his soul was being illuminated by the Great Teacher, the Holy Spirit.
The last few days the people have been beseeching rain. Whom do they beseech? A great dragon, who is supposed to belch rain from his mouth. In order to invoke this ugly deity, all kinds of most grotesque par3phernalia have been marching in procession through the streets, but still the sky is blue as blue can be, and a scorching south wind is blowing; the paddy fields are cracking with the heat, and the young maize withering for want of rain.
A LETTER FROM TURKEY
A LETTER FROM TURKEY.* The story of the past two months in this land is a disgrace to the nineteenth century and a blot on the name of Europe. Such horrors and suffering as have been seen here have no parallel in history. We sometimes feel as if God Himself had turned away His face from this poor land, and we have the feeling all along' that England and the other" powers" could have prevented these crimes long ago, had they but acted promptly instead of delaying, as they are still doing. Look at the record of what the Turks have achieved. The acts of a year ago last August were characterized by the world as fiendish, when some 6000 Armenians were butchered and their villages burned. The number of the slaughtered is now conservativelyestimated at 40,000. Massacres of Christians have taken place in over a dozen large cities and in hundreds of small towns and villages. Not only have the men been killed, bnt their houses have been looted and torn down, and the remains of decimated families left nothing to eat or wear for the winter. The most awful part of the story, to my mind, is that these deeds have been done not by a few isolated bands of outlaws, but by order of the Sultan. I make this statement with abundant proof, and should like to have it made as public as possible, for the everlasting disgrace of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. It is acknowledged by all the authorities here to-day (not officials, of course, but private men in all positions) that the Sultan ordered the atrocious acts of the Softas (theological students) in this city, of the fanatics all through the empire, and especiallyof the Koords in the eastern provinces. Not only so, but he has rewarded the butchers with government positions, money, and all other emoluments they may desire. Even in this city these rewards have been openly boasted of, and in 'the interior from many places come proofs of this. The lives of these 40,000 will one day be required from his hand. And he still continues to hoodwink the" powers" by promises of reform, and sends letters to Lord Sahsbury promising to carry out personally the scheme of reforms as agreed upon. He appoints Shakir Pasha grand commissiouer to carry out the reforms, and this tool goes to Erzroom, and immediately two horrible massacres take place in that very city, in his presence, and by his consent, if not at his express order. He promises protection of every sort to all the missionaries, and the next day comes telegraphic news of the burning of eight out of twelve missionary buildings at Harpoot, including the Euphrates College buildings. He sends his insane letter to L.ord Salisbury, and the next day brings a telegram of the burning of the beautiful building uf the girls' schOOl at Marash. He promises to relieve the suffering caused by the late outbreaks (whose existence he denied as long as he could do so with a bold face) from his own private purse, and promises protection to the missionarIes who were relieving the suffering in the Sassoun district, and immediately comes word that those inhuman devils, the Koords, and Turks have destroyed the work of these men by tearing down and destroying the houses they had helped the destitute to build. To deRcribe such actions as devilish is 10 express it too mildly; it seems as if all the forces of darkness united could not have planned and carried out such a system of extermination. This is not the first instance of massacres of Christians by the order of this " Shadow of * This letter comes from a most reliable source, not from a missionary, but from one who has !pent much of his life in the strIcken country, Armenia. God on Earth," as the Sultan blasphemously calls himself. The Lebanon provinces, the island of Scio, and Bulgaria have all seen like atrocities committed in their time, and still there are those who extol the kind heart of this beast !
Winter is upon us, and it means certain death by cold and starvation to thousands more, who cannot possibly be helped if the government hinders as it has been doing right along for these months. All through the eastern provinces the poor Armenians who have not been killed are driven from their homes to seek shelter in forests or caves, or try to rebuild their honses without any money to buy the timber or enough food to last them through the winter. The number of those made destitute is put at from 200,000 to 500,000 by various people, but the number grows day by day as new butcheries are heard of, and more families lose their fathers and brothers and strong young men, to gratify the Satanic thirst for human blood that has been roused in the fanatic Moslems. And now, even were he to be converted and wish to stop these abuses, the Sultan is not able. He has armed the savage Koordish mountaineers whom he could not subjugate, and now he has promised to dIsarm them, but they will not be disarmed. Possibly Russia could disarm them, but Turkey-never. As we look at such a state of things we cry out, "0 Lord, how long !" Thus far we have heard of no missionaries being killed, tho they have lost property and houses, and for this much we are thankful, but two of them have been shot at, and only God's hand shielded them from the bullets.
Now what are we to do for these poor people ~ It does not seem possible that Europe will hold off very much longer, but must soon come to the rescue in some way or other. However this may be done, it seems as if it must soon be possible to distribute to sufferers any funds that may come to our hands. The great duty of America to-day to these dying victims of cruelty is not men and Bibles, but money and clothing and food. Cannot you and your church take up this cause, and by a little exertion save thousands of people from death and starvation ~ It is the cry of a struggling humanity that will surely not fall on deaf ears. You sympathize deeply with the sorrow that all the missionaries here feel for the poor sufferers, will you not do more ~ Organize a relief movement in your own vicinity j every little helps along, and the work is enormous and urgent. Winter is upon us, and a winter in those Armenian mountains is something fearful.
In just one place the Armenians have resisted successfully the Turkish butcher, and have captured a fortress and prepared for a long siege. It is,at Zeitoon, in the southeastern part of Asia Minor, and they are now holding the position against the enemy. We do not know just how many thousand Armenians are there, but the Turks have vowed that when they capture the place they will kill every man, woman, and child in Zeitoon, tho the Sultan has promised that no such thing shall be done. The Lord give them strength to hold out till help comes!
These troubles have been made to " work together for good" to several of the churches in this vicinity, which have been carrying on extra daily meetings for a long time that are well attended and spiritual in tone, while they give practical evidence of zeal by raising money for the sufferers. It is a terrible baptism of fire and blood for the nation, but perhaps the Lord will bring good out of it even to the Armenians themselves. We can certainly pray for this end while we work to relieve the suffering. * * Contribntions may be sent to the managing editor of THE M:!sslONARY REVIEW or to Mr.
Frank H. Wiggin, Assistant Treasurer of the American Board, 1 Somerset Street, Boston, Mass.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Results to Missions in China of the creased antagonism to the mISSionary Ohino·Japan War. as a foreign increment is patent. That [J. T. G.] the Chentu riots and Kucheng massacre were a resultant of the Japan War most It is quite too soon to sum up the experienced students of Chinese affairs effect of the Chino-Japan War on evan- have not failed to observe nor been gelistic movements. Nevertheless, so slow to affirm. Either there will be far as China goes, a few notes may be more peril to missionaries in the near ventured. future than in the near past, or the past 1. There is. to date, no increase of fa- dangers have been far more imminent cilities for missionary aggression. The than missionaries ever made public or status qu.o ante-bellum will not be ma- probably themselves knew. The recall terially modified for a long time to of the missionaries' families from the come. There will possibly be an ex- less protected missionary stations to tension of commerce through foreign ports like Shanghai and Hongkong is pressure, but anything like dismember- itself a serious interruption of their ment of the empire through foreign work, resumption of which will be de· intervention is not at present likely to layed till the present restless condition occur. Internal dissension there may of the popUlation has modified. The be for some time, and local distrust of secular court of the several consulates the permanence of the empire; but officially commands the situation just nothing in sight promises to disturb its now, tho not technically, yet morally autonomy. Missionaries must antici- estopping missionaries from personal pate prosecuting their work under the indiscreet exposure which may involve old conditions of local irritation from nations in strife. The missionary might magistrates. the literati, and the sects. take the personal risk if the results It will be many a day before these are were merely personal. That is impos- materially changed under existing trea- sible consistently with the protection ties; and there is little immediate pros- extended to all subjects or citizens by pect of any new diplomatic interference the several governments. No native with these conventions. The reigning magistrate, nor police, nor soldiery can dynasty has received a far less strain be depended on for protection, how- than it did under the Taiping rebellion, ever personally kindly disposed, toward which threatened the whole empire the missionary. For a long time to with anarchy. China recovered from corne, therefore, there must be an in- that, and re-established her prestige by creased recognition of the uncertain the aid of Christian powers. Her pres- safety of the foreign missionary. This ent humiliation is from a non-Christian will be a new and more or less perma- nation. and the Christian powers have nent feature of the Japan victories, won no favor by their active assistance; wholly unlike the conditions superim- hence, saving Russia's aid in the war posed by the Taiping rebellion, which, indemnity, China does not feel under because of its quasi·Christian origin, any renewed obligation to make con- and because, per contra, of the prestige cessions to Western powers. No new of Christian leaders like Gordon in sup'.
privilege nor moral force comes to the pressing it, left no residuum of fresh missionary in China on diplomatic bases hatred to the Christian. Dr. Edkins as the result of late events. says it was safe to travel among the 2. The direct disadvantage of in- Taipings when the rebellion was at its height, as he pruved by going twice acts of violence save as their supersti- from Soochow to Nanking at a time tions and ignorance of foreigners are when the Taipings were in possession temporarily played on by designing of those cities and all the country round. leaders.
3. The present peril is from insurgents That these" baser sort" are the tools who meditate rebellion against the cen· of the officials and literati is equally tral government, and whose cry is a true in numerous instances. These men national one, "China for China I" are the real enemies of the missionaries.
These are not officials: they are not It will be curious if Dr. Edkins' surmise .. the people." They are turbulent, shall prove to be correct, that as these reckless individuals with power to rouse officials are hated by these insurgents, the" sects." These sects, when left to the former will ultimately be obliged to themselves and in their normal condi· seek alliance with the missionary to tion, are not antagonistic to Christianity. suppress the turbulent element. The They have been in existence through Central Government presses the official five hundred years, or twenty genera- class to protect the missionary at the tions. Dr. Edkins says their principles peril of their official position. Alto- are a mixture of Buddhist. Taoist, and gether, the danger and obstruction to Confucian elements, with their basis in mission work are at present greatly ag- the philosophical discussions of the Sung gravated as a result of the late war.
dynasty. In their ordinary state he de- 4. The gain from late events is not clares the Vegetarians are harmless to far to seek.
their neighbors, and civilly and politi- a. -Notwithstanding the plain intent cally subordinate; and thousands of of the Chinese officials at Kucheng, them in the several provinces have ac· something has been accomplished by cepted Christian baptism. Collective- the investigations into the massacre.
ly, as sects, they are not opposed to In September, Taotai Ru, by order of Ohristianity. They have among them the Viceroy, put a stop to the execu- many of ihe most acti ve minds of their tions, declined to proceed with the trial several communities. But they can be of the murderers, told the commission- misled. Bold, bad men join their ranks ers that in his opinion sufficient justice for the purpose of securing a following had been done, and released 40 convict- by inflaming the prejudice of the more ed prisoners: issued objectional procla- simple-minded and ignorant among mations and threatened vengeance on them. Then they become dangerous the native Christians for giving infor- to the government, and, pending some mation to consuls. Out of 140 men who states of puhlic thought, they also be- went to the massacre, 59 were tried, 45 come dangerous to all Christian mis- of whom were found guilty, 7 execut- sionaries and missions. But when let ed, and 2 died in prison. Still later, on alone they afford a community from the arrival of Admiral Buller at Foo- which helpful and satisfactory Chris- chow with six war vessels in Novem- tians can be recruited by judicious ber, affording assurance that all the counsel and prudent oversight. leaders and in all eighteen of the sup- But now they are not peaceable nor porters of the massacre had been or unprejudiced. They are in the hands would be executed.
of bad men, who ostensibly believe that b. A far more significant event, how- the Peking Government is going to ever, to the literati and official class is pieces, and who desire that it should go the punishment meted out to the Vice- to pieces, but who, whether it goes to roy of Szechuen Province in the mat- pieces or otherwise, hope to reap booty ter of the Chentu riots. From a Chi- from insurgent strife. It is affirmed nese standpoint his punishment is severe.
that the great mass of the people have The degrading of a Chinese official often DO sympathy with this rabble or their means his return in honor and triumph to his native village for a brief season, of our converts is increasing in an to be reappointed presently to some accelerated ratio. "
other official position possibly in ad vance of that previously occupied. At any Miracles of Grace.* rate, it only meant removal from one official position to another. But for the BY REV. E. M. WHERRY, D.D., CHICAGO.
first time in history Lieu Ping-chang, The story of missionary heroism and the Viceroy of Szechuen, has been dis- conquest has ever been heard with missed from the public service, with the thrilling interest. The history of the added words, " Never to be employed Acts of the Apostles, the annals of the again." All this one might hope would early Church, the lo~g catalogue of make some impression on the officials persecutions, the narratives of the final and the sects. triumph of the cross over the heathen- I!. A more certain result of the war is ism of Greece and Rome have always the increased intelligence of 1he churches had a charm for the Christian reader.
at home concerning the details of the The victory of purity and truth over Asiatic conditions under which success the vile doctrines and practices of false may be achieved; a profounder sympa- forms of religion cannot but fill the thy with missionaries in their perils and hearts of true believers with gladness.
plans, their failures and their success; Following the course of history, the and a deeper, lUore devout, and chast- streams of joy and gladness increase in ened determination at any cost of money volume as the story of the conversion or lives that the ultimate evangelization of the savage tribes of Northern and of China must be accomplished. Western Europe and the British Islands d. Dr. Edkins, already quoted, after is related. The interest of the reader forty and more years of experience in does not diminish as he reads tile history China, addressing the Missionary Con· of the great Reformation, and again be- ference at Shanghai, October 1st, 1895, holds the power of the Gospel to regen- concluded as follows: "The circulation erate and elevate a corrupt and cruel of our literature is greatly increased. race of people.
Many more Bibles and Testaments are It remained for the nineteenth cen- sold. The emperor himself has bought tury to develop a spirit of heroism in a copy of the Scriptures, and the em· no way inferior to that of the earliest press-dowager has accepted one. Our ages of the Church. The spectacle of Bible and tract committees report most educated and refined men and women favorably. There is a promising anti- going forth from the environments of foot-binding movement on foot. The civilized life to bury themselves in the number of Christians educated in schools obscurity of distant islands of the Pa- is greatly increased. There are more cific or the depths of the African conti- men of reading among our native nent is one that must have caused angels preachers than there were before. The to wonder. Isolated from their fellow- native newspapers are coming more men, surrounded by savage tribes of under our control. The number of our cannibals, witnesses of practices of the converts who can write instructively in most revolting cruelty and abominable our journals is increased. There are wickedness, often confronted by torture more good preachers than there were. and a martyr's death, these noble men It was possible to send recently from a and women lived and toiled and suf- Shanghai mission an able speaker in the fered with a patience, courage, and per- English language to take part in the severance which was almost super- anti-opium campaign. Men join us human.
now who have studied mathematics * "The Islands of the Pacific," by Rev. James and surveying, and appear to see things with the European eye. The number M. Alexander. Published by the American Tract Society, New York. Perhaps no portion of the earth is so were found ready to volunteer to carry full of interest, so unspeakably beauti- the knowledge of the Savior to these. ful as the islands of the Pacific. ., Oases Enduring often incredible hardships on a desert sea," they lure the tired trav- and trials, they nevertheless triumphed eler by their lovely trees and luscious over all obstacles, and were used by fruits. No place on earth can seem so God to bring multitudes to the truth as like unto the paradise of Eden as these it is in Jesus. wonderful islands. And yet, alas ! how awful the darkness, ignorance, and Perhaps the most sorrowful feature superstition of the people! Beastly of missionary experience in these islands sensuality, cruel superstition, vile and was the opposition of bad white men, filthy practices hid themselves under· who, having abandoned the civilized neath the shadows of the luxuriant for- life of their Christian hOme land, had ests. The exceeding sinfulness of sin given themselves over to a course of nowhere finds a more striking illustra- sensuality more abominable than that tion. On the other hand, nowhere do of their heathen neighbors. "The rewe find more remarkable illustration of sult of the untold barbarities perpetratthe power of the Gospel to transform ed by foreigners in return for the most and to save. If these beautiful islands generous hospitality of these natives, remind us of the stOlY of Eden, then and of the introduction of fire-arms and the triumphs of the Gospel suggest a ardent spirits, has sometimes been to Paradise restored. This is the thought change the simple·hearted islanders alwhich impresses the reader of the re- most into fiends." With the experience markable volume under notice. While of European atrocity in the South Seas the author has given us very graphic bdore him, the writer has well said that descriptions of the physical structure " the saddest thing for a heathen people and natural resources of these many is to come in contact with civilization groups of islands, and makes us ac- without Christianity." quainted with the racial and tribal peculiarities, the languages and customs These atrocities, more than the ferocof the people, he nevertheless brings to ity of the savage population of cannibal the fore the scenes of missionary labor, islands, account for the murder of many trial, and adventure, resulting in trans- faithful missionaries. The heartless formation of cannibal tribes into assem· kidnapping of unsuspecting women blies of devout worshipers of the Lord and children that they might be carried Christ. into practical slavery, the deliberate in- fection of the whole population of an To the ordinary man of the world island with measles and small·pox and nothing could have seemed more absurd other similar abominable cruelties, could than the endeavor of the missionaries to not but madden the people to frenzy civilize and Christianize these islanders. against every white face that might And yet it was Cook'8 voyages that first corne among' them. The only wonder aroused an interest in these degraded is that so few of the missionaries fell people, notwithstanding that Cook had victims to savage fury. declared any endeavor to civilize them to be impracticable. Many Christian A most interesting feature in this narmen of high position in the Church rative of missionary labor is the impor. agreed with him. But the faith of a tant part taken by native converts in the few devoted men, recognizing that even work of evangelization of their neighsuch degraded savages were included bors. Indeed, the story reads more like among the "all nations" which must the early chapters of the Book of Acts be discipled, triumphed over prejudice than anything in the annals of modern and unbelief. Devoted men and women missions. Many islands were evangel- ized by missionaries from Tahiti, Ha- waii, and other centers; and yet the importance of European supervision is not an undue excitement, but a ~eep emphasized. The native missionary and solemn earnestness. The natives makes a most efficient worker, but received the Divine Word like little rarely a good organizer. Hence the children, with perfect trust, and drank importance of the foreign missionary. in every word spoken like men dying who ought always to be a leader as well with thirst. During the years from as a teacher. 1836-40 about twenty thousand persons The mighty power of the Gospel were received into the churches. Dur- was, perhaps, nowhere more wonder- ing the forty subsequent years the aver- fully manifested than in the Sandwich age number of annual admissions to the Islands, now seeking the protection of churches was one thousand."
the land whose missionaries led them "The result of this revival was a out of heathen darkness into Christian progress and prosperity of the islands light. The work was hard and discour- that has continued with little cessation aging in the outset. In 1825 there were to the present time. The Hawaiians but ten Christians on the islands. The now awakened with genuine earnest- missionaries toiled and prayed for many ness to adopt the manners and customs years before the great harvest was ready of civilization."
for the reaper. This is a splendid example of the mis- .. At length, in the years 1836-39, oc- sionary triumphs which are chronicled curred the great religious awakening in this volume. In the Society Islands, by which the Hawaiian people were in the Austral group, the Pearl, the Ha- changed from a heathen to a Christian waiian, the Marquesas, the Hervey, in nation. This revival began in an in- Samoa, Micronesia, Tonga, New Zea- creased earnestness of the missionaries land and the Fiji, in the Melanesia, the themselves. In their annual gatherings Pitcairn and Norfolk Islands, the story in 1835 and 1836 they were moved as is one of wondrous missionary success.
never before to pray, not only for the Cannibal tribes became civilized Chris- conversion of the Hawaiians, but also tian peoples. The idols, with the cruel for that of the whole world. As they customs of idol worship, are cast out, then returned to their homes, some of and instead there is the song of praise them under sad bereavement, they soon and the voice of prayer.
observed an increased earnestness of the With these results of missionary labor church-members. Many of these be- before us, we may unite with the author came so active that it was remarked of this book in saying that" t}:J.e future that they would have been ornaments man of the Pacific will not be an un- to any church in the United States. clothed savage, tattooed and smeared There then occurred simultaneously with turmeric and ocherous earth, de- over all the islands such a revival of lighting in a helmet of bird feathers, religion as has rarely been seen in the wielding a war club or sharp teeth, history of the Church. The people were and uttering unearthly yells and war- so moved that they could hardly attend whoops, but well clothed, cultured, and to their usual vocations. It was re- refined, engaged in the foremost arts, marked the voices of children were not and conversing intelligently on the best heard as usual at play upon the beach, enterprises of the world."
but that they were rather to be heard in the thickets and among the rocks at Why No More Money for Missions? prayer. From early morning till late at night the nati ves came in crowds to BY REV. N. S. BURTON, ANN ARBOR, the houses of the missionaries to inquire MICH.
the way of life. The number attending Notwithstanding the large sums of preaching increased in some of the money, in the aggregate, contributed churches to six thousand. There was for missions, the average per member is pitiably small-the highest in anyone Bible is in the home of every Christian, denomination being less than $1.50, and yet multitudes of Christians would the lowest but a few cents. The strange know as little of the Bible as they do of fact that now, when, as never before, missions but for the patient and perse- inviting fields are calling for laborers, vering efforts of pastors to interest and and men and women stand ready to instruct them. Every pastor knows enter them, not counting their lives that he is obliged to resort to all kinds dear unto themselves, all the mission of devices to induce his members to treasuries are overdrawn and retrench- study the Bible, and that multitudes ment instead of enlargement is the or- know little more of it than what they der, indicates that there is a fault some- get from the lips of their pastor. If, where. then, we would have our members give Does the responsibility for this condi- liberally for missions, we must in some tion of things rest somewhat evenly way get them information respecting upon the whole membership of the missions, and they will not seek this in- churches, or does it lie chiefly in one di- formation unless incited and guided by rection? While it would be absurd to their pastors.
. hold pastors responsible tor all the Some pastors know little about mis- shortcomings of their members, the first sions themselves, and what little they place to look, when a church fails to do know is of the past and not of the come up to the help of the Lord, is to present. They do not read the mission- the pastor. Do the churches fail to ary periodicals, and have fallen behind meet the measure of their opportunity the age in respect to missions. It may and responsibility in this matter because safely be predicted that such pastors the pastors are lacking in faithfulness will not have giving churches_ or skill? There are other pastors who profess After an experience of more than an interest in missions and are not un- forty years in the pastorate, the writer informed respecting them, but excuse ventures to give as his opinion that the themselves and their churches from giv- smallness of the contributions to mis- ing on the plea of poverty. They think sions is due, not so much to want of that every dollar contributed to mis- Christian liberality, as to the lack of in- sions is so much subtracted from their formation; not so much to stinginess own salary or from what is needed to as to ignorance. He believes that dili- maintain the church work at home.
gent inquiry on the part of pastors Such need to be taught again what are would develop the sad fact that a very the first principles of the Gospel-that large proportion of the members of it is just those that water that are them- churches know next to nothing about selves watered, and that the liberal what has been accomplished by mis- Church as well as the liberal soul is sionaries even of their own denomina- made fat.
tion, and as little of the present condi- There are other pastors who seem to tion of the work and the opportunities be afraid to enjoin upon their people for winning the souls of the heathen to the duty of giving, as if this were not as Christ. Now, it is not in human nature much included in their commission as to feel an interest in that of which we repentance and faith, " All things what· know nothing. That a real disciple of soever I have commanded you." And Christ should feel no joy when lost men there are others who overdo the matter, are saved and no interest in the work like the three daughters of the horse being done in heathen lands by their leech, always crying, "Give, give.
brethren is impossible, except on the give I" To urge the duty of giving supposition that he is ignorant. It is where there is no intelligence respect- true that missionary intelligence is abun- ing the objects for which giving is asked dant and easily obtained; but tho the is like working the handle of a pump of which the pipe does not reach the suIted from faithful and patient seed water. sowing, and the ever enlarging work Some pastors attempt to compel their and the unfailing and increasing an- people to give by a kind of machine nual increase of converts. Every year's pressure. They arrange that each one report from the broad mission field shall be regularly personally solicited shows conclusively that the missionary for each one of the objects aided by the enterprise is above everything else a Church.; and tbe system does seem to growing success, an investment that secure contributions from a large pro- pays according to the Scripture rule: portion of the members. But in most " Good measure, pressed down, shaken cases it is not willing giving, which is together, and running over."
pleasing to God, and ceases when the im- 2. When and where and how often portunity ceases. It does not cultivate should this be done? At such time and Christian liberality, however it may be place as will secure the largest number with the habit of giving. of Christians present, and as frequently After trial of many methods to secure as the greatness of the work of missions liberal giving for missions, I am thor- justly demands. The work of missions, oughly convinced that the one indis- instead of being something incidental to· pensable (if not the only) thing to in- the great business of the Church, is the duce those who have the love of God in chief, it may even be said the sole busi- their hearts to give generously as God ness of the Church. The Church is the has prospered them for the conversion organization appointed by Christ for the of the heathen, is to make them intelli- carrying out of the commission to preach gent on the whole subject of modern the Gospel to every creature. A part missions. And it is the business of of that work lies at the very door of the every pastor as much as in him lies to local Church, and of each member, and make them so. How is he to do it ? for this work the local Church and the A few hints suggested by experience individual Christian are first of all reo may be helpful. They are but hints, sponsible. But the immense majority given diffidently, which each pastor of the" creatures" to whom the Gos- may use according to his own judgment pel must be preached are not only out- in view of the circumstances "in his own side the bounds of the local Church, but case. outside of our own country. Is the 1. Let him have some plan by which pastor who grudges the time necessary he shall regularly and frequently and to inform the people of his charge of systematically set before his people the the needs of these millions and of the facts respecting missionary operations, ways by which they are to be reached, especially those of his own denomin- and of what God is doing for them ation, tho not exclusively-facts re- through missionaries-is he executing specting the origin and history of the the commission given him by his Mas- various missions, interesting bits of ter P Is one service out of eight or ten biography of missionaries, the fresh in- in each month too much to be given for telligence from the various fields, both the benefit of these perishing millions?
home and foreign, with special refer- Instead of crowding the missionary ser- ence to the methods by which the work vice of the Church into an obscure cor- is carried on and success achieved. ner-as if only a little handful were ex- While not concealing the fact that the pected to attend-let it be placed fully work requires patience under discour· on a par with any other service of the agements and the enduring of hardness Church. Then, having given it an hon- as good soldiers, and even peril of health orable place, let no effort be spared to and life, let him (as the missionaries make it fully worthy of the place given would have him) dwell chiefly on the it. As every pastor is bound to give success which always has in due time re- all diligence in the preparation of each sermon, so that on every occasion he and is regularly gratified, the intellishall do his level best, so let him do in gence which will gradually follow will preparation for each missionary service. beget and nourish in every Christian There is no excuse for slipshod work breast a desire to share in this grandest here. The missionary literature is abun· enterprise of the age. Very little will dant and varied and cheap, and from then need to be said about the duty of this rich abundance the pastor can cull giving, for the people will have learned material which is capable of instructing by experience its blessedness. There will and interesting an audience. Not that be little work for soliciting committees the pastor is to do all or even most of to do, for the brethren will do as the the talking. His part is to select the brethren of Macedonia did who prayed material. Let him call to his assistance Paul with much entreaty that he would his brethren and sisters, as Christ did receive their gifts and distribute them when He broke the bread to the hungry to the needy saints. multitude, and let him not leave out his young members. Not everyone can The present writer speaks from exread well a selection, however excellent. perience. What the membership of our It is better usually to master what is to churches need is not exhortations to the be given to the audience, so that it can duty of giving nor thrilling appeals nor be presented independently of the print- teasing or cornering to extort money ed page. The pastor can utilize the from them to give the bread of life to variety of talent found in every church, the starving nations, but information, and thus educate his members, espe- information, INFORMATION. cially the young, to be helpers in many ways. Euphrates Oollege-The Harpoot :Mis- sion. Of course variety must be cultivated, and it will be easy to do this because It is positively pathetic to look on the material is abundant and varied. some pictures in a pamphlet entitled The field from which to gather it is the " Euphrates College," which accidenworld, including our own country, and tally this moment fell out of some liter- "each breeze that sweeps the ocean" ery debris and arrested our attention. brings new tidings of the progress of Is it young men like these of the sophotbe work. A pastor has no excuse for more class of the Euphrates College, or falling into ruts in carrying on mission· this class in theology in 1891, or young ary meetings. women like these girls in the Girls' College that have been massacred? and One will not be long in finding that is it a vast group of college buildings of the vast amount of missionary intel- such as are shown here that have been ligence furnished him by missionary destroyed by a turbulent mob? It literature and periodicals, only a frac- would be a relief to find vent for one's tion can be given to the people at mis- indignation and wrath, but it cannot sionary meetings, tho they be ever be. Our soul is in the agony which so frequent, and he will therefore seek cries" 0 Lord, how long !" to conduct these meetings so as to make them whet the appetite of the people This college first bore the name for more information. He will tell " Armenia" in its corporate title, but them where this can be obtained, and was changed at the bidding of the thus induce them to take and read the Turkish Government, who could not missionary periodicals. He will avoid brook the name on college diplomas satiating the appetite of the people, giv- and constantly on the lips of the peoing them only tastes and samples of the ple. It became" Euphrates College." good things which these periodicals fur· This college stood alone in a field exnish in abundance. tending from the eastern part of Asia Minor for fi ve hundred miles eastward When this appetite has been created to Persia, north to the Black Sea, well Both these methods are resorted to on toward the Caucasus and the Cas- by missionaries according as circum- pian Sea in Russia, and south into Meso· stances indicate most likely to be help- potamia, the center of Christian civili- ful.
zation for a territory three times as large This line of annotation was suggested as New England, with five million in- by the following received from Rev.
habitants, one million of whom were Dr. J. H. De Forest, November 20th, Armenians. From the latter portion of on the eve of his departure for Sendai, the population it drew most of its stu- Japan, returning to his work in the dents. It was the center of an educa- American Board Mission.
tional system comprising eighteen high " A note in your December number, and boarding-schools, and one hundred 1895, p. 958, tells of Miss Nott's very nat- and fifty common schools. In its own ural experience with a Japanese lady- immediate departments it enrolled six au experience which ev idently she entire- hundred students, drawn from sixty·five ly misunderstands, as many others of us to ninety towns and cities in Turkey, have done before getting a fair knowl- and as many more in other city schools edge of the language. I was once at taught by graduates or pupils in this an examination of a school-teacher for college. The graduates of the theologi- church-membership in Japan, and the cal school have rendered more than an question was asked, 'Are you a sin- aggregate service of a thousand years. ner ? ' He indignantly replied, ' No.'
The education of women was keeping He was labored with, but resisted pace with that among the men. stoutly and with flushed face, until I These Armenians, ,. the Anglo-Saxons asked him to please call and talk it of the East," are bankers, merchants, over with me later on. At this talk I artisans, and farmers, inferior in native simply showed him a few of the com- ability to no nation in the world. When mandments and of Christ's precepts, educated they pass rapidly into promi- and asked if he had always obeyed nence.-J. T. G. them. To which he frankly replied, 'No.' On asking if he felt regret at having failed to live up t~ a high stand- THE OBSTRUCTIONS OF SPEECH.- ard, and if he realized his imperfec- There are" Term" difficulties besides tions as something to be sorry for be- those current among Sinalogues over fore his Heavenly Father, he unhesi- the proper name for" God." The ob- tatingly said, ' Yes.'
stacle exhibits itself in most heathen lan- "Now Miss Nott apparently does guages where missionaries are obliged not know that in all pantheistic lands- to use words that distinctly do not con- I think all-the words for crime and sin vey the Christian meaning, and educat- are not differentiated. In other words, ing the people into their new definition, there is no word for sin in the Japanese or resort to the other awkward method or Chinese language. Miss Nott's as- of introducing a new word, the defini- sertion that we are all sinners meant to tion of which must also be taught. No the Japanese lady's ear, unaccustomed Hindu unaccustomed to missionary probably to the Christian vocabulary, meaning would comprehend the theo- that she was a criminal,. and the only logical terms he uses in the sense in polite way to take it was for her which the missionary intends. Neither to laugh aud exclaim, 'I a crimi- " sin," "pardon," or "heaven," for nal! '
instance, would be comprehended. Yet " So I never use that word crime to these terms must be used and elevated a non-Christian in Japan. It is only in as Roman words, such as " saqrament," the churches that it can safely be used, or new words transferred into the tho, of course. it is now more widely speech, as " baptize" into English. understood. " A TRACT, AND WH.lT CAME OF IT.- they would find the Christian teacher, An incident comes to us from Miss and so the two men caJIle again, and Elizabeth Lawrence, of the Baptist found the mission house and drank in M.ission, Burma, which illustrates what the truth, and when they returned two is often called in question, the power of our preachers went with them to inof the Truth in many instances to lead struct them more in the way." men to a new life of faith in Christ, apart from the personal teacher; and The Central Committee of the Sunwhich also affords encouragement to day-School Union at Calcutta nomithose who do not see the fruit of their nated Rev. T. J. Scott, D.D., of the labors to hope that in some cases the Correspondence Editorial Corps of this seed cast on the waters or in the face REVIEW as successor to the late lamentof the winds may bring forth manifold. ed Dr. J. L. Phillips, as Secretary of Miss Lawrence may relate her own the India Sunday.School Union; and story. She travels far into the jungle, the London Sunday-School Union, often where the face of no other white which makes the appointment, has woman was ever seen to work in heathen asked Dr. Scott to accept the position. villages; and also among the churches, It will be a matter of regret that Dr. holding meetings with the women and Scott cannot respond affirmatively to children, and aiding the native pastors the invitation. ITe is quite in need of a by Bible-readings in the church. At year's rest yet in America, and his oblithe time referred to above she wrote : gations to the responsible offices he noW"holds would scarcely admit of his "Just now I am rejoicing over nine laying them down even for so impor· converts in a heathen village some tant work as this of the India Sundaythirty miles away from all Christian School Union, whose operations now influences, who were brought to the extend over all India, Burma, Ceylon, light by the grandfather in one house· and to the Straits Settlements, 2000 hold reading a tract called' The Awak- miles to the southeast, includin~, of ener,' which was picked up under a course, Singapore and Penang. Dr. rest-house by the wayside some fifteen Scott was one of the founders of th6 miles away from their village, and car- Sunday-School Union for India. and ried to him by one who could not read. was president or secretary of it till last Altho the tract was much soiled and year, when on returning to America he some of the leaves gone, the Holy Spirit became Honorary Patron and Honor used it to hi.s salvation and that of his ary Secretary. The post of General household of six adults and another Secretary to this Union is esteemed by household, 1 man and wife, and they those most intimately acquainted with are teaching their little ones the right it the most important missionary apway. After reading the tract two men pointment in all India. It touches the were sent to Belin, the town near work of all missions and lays a moldwhich the tract was found, to inquire ing hand on the young of all the nafor the teacher of this religion, and find- tions in the empire. ing I had returned here, they took a little boat (it heing in the rains) and Dr. Josiah Tyler died at Nashville, came seeking me, but the Buddhists N. C., December 20th. His book on here hearing what they were seeking "Forty Years Among the Zulus" at for turned them aside, saying the teach- once reveals the man and his life work. er lived a long distance away still, so His father was founder and president they were discouraged and returned of Hartford Theological Seminary, and at one time President of Dartmouth home. College. Co The next dry season when they met II blacksmith from Thaton they inquired of him, and he told them where
FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
IlL-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.* BY D. L. PIEBSON.
Ohina,t Tibet, Formosa,t Cr'lfucianism,§ and Taoism,11 NOTES ON CHINA. been very great. There are at present in China about 55,000 communicants, Milne offered- himself as a missionary which shows a remarkable increase to China, but was refused. He offered since 1889. There can be no doubt as to go as a servant, and was accepted; to the marked increase of these five blacked Morrison's shoes and did a ser- years. If the next five be as prospervant's work until he acquired the lan- ous, our China communicants will, at guage and waS ready for work; then the close of 1900, number not far short he became the greatest missionary of of 90,000. We are on the eve of great Southeast Asia. How many of the changes, and great changes for the betpresent·day candidates for mission fields ter also."
show a similar zeal ? Such a statement ought to do much Dr. Griffith John makes a statement to strengthen the faith and stimulate the enthusiasm of the friends of our in regard to church-membership in missionary societies. The war has un- China, which is most gratifying. He fortunately interfered with the work and the workers in the north; there is, says: therefore, the more cause for thankful- ness that God has so graciously blessed .. The progress in church-member- the testimony of His people who are ship during the past year (1894-95) has laboring in other districts of the empire. been most satisfactory. At our L. M. S. station in Hankow we baptized in all " What good do our millions of well- 165 persons, 111 being adults and 54 turned essays on the classics do us ?" non-adults. The progress in the prov- many a Chinaman may be heard saying inces of Fukien and Shantung has also to day. In many circles in China the foolishness of the present bookish sys- .. We propose this year to refer only to recent tem of learning, sanctioned by the Govbooks on the snbjects of the month; but in ad- ernment examinations, is fully recogdition to references to articles in the REVIEW, we nized, It is no wonder that a complete shall occasionally mention articles in cnrrent reform of the State examinations is now numbers of other magazines. The books and an essential point in the program of the magazineo m"ntim11ld may 00 <>bWnlld thrmlgh reform party. From the highest minis- Funk & Wagnalls Company, 30 Lafayette Place, ter down to the district judge the ruling New York. Ohinese class has received no other cul- ture than what could be gained from t See also pp. 881 (Dec. 1895) ; 49, 53, 56, 62, 64, the study of these essays, which are, for the most part, a perversion of their 78 (Jan.); 100, 114, 116, 122 (present issue). Re- excellent classics, perfect indeed in cent books: " Pioneer Work in Shantung" (John form, but superficial in treatment. :Many L. Nevius), by Mrs. Nevius; "Forty Years in Ohinese who are conversant with Euro- China," by R. H. Graves, D.D. ; "After Thirty pean affairs wish now to learn from the Years," byJ. Hudson Taylor; HJames Gilmour Japanese how to make use of Western and his Boys," by Richard Lovett; .. Demon culture and science. A Hong-kong Possession in Mission Fields," by John L.Nevins; newspaper has recently brought before "Kwang Tung" (South China), by John A. Tnr- the public the reform plans of these ner; .. Forty Years in Sonth China," by Rev. J. young Chinese. The admitted misfor- G. Fagg; .. A Cycle of Cathay," by Dr. W. A. P. tune is that this party lacks the needed Martin (in press). Recent articles: "The Vegetarian Sects in China," Harper's (Oct. 1895); "Missionaries in China," Macmillan'S (Nov. 1895); "Characteristics of the Chinese," Treasury (Dec. 1895).
:t. See >. 81 (>re~lt iil!!ue). .. From Far For- mosa," by G. L. Mackay, D.D. § See p. 87 (present issue)… Confucian Theol- ogy," Work and Workers (Oct. 1895).
I See p. 96 (present issne). leader. But they hope that the present " Rega~ding the .hosti~ity of the Chi- nese officIals and hteratl, and their agcircumstances will help to develop him.* g~es~ive, determined ~ftorts to hamper Rev. Henry M.Woods, of Tsing Kiang· mISSIon work, the wIdespread riots in the Yangtze valley in lfi91, followed by pu, writes some words of interest in re- gard to the petition of American mis- the brutal Sung-pu murders of 1893 and other outbreaks, showed plainly that sionaries to the United States Government regarding their right of residence something must be done to guard more carefully the rights of missionaries in in the interior of China: the interior, otherwise, as was stated by .. For many years the position of mis- smioonreartihesanwoonueldvnetoetraonnlmyibsseioshnaurty~umt ios-f sionaries in the interior of China has the 'regions beyond,' but would be been in many respects a most unsatis- gradually driven out of many places al- factory one, on account of the ill-de- ready occupied.
fined nature of their rights under the " Realizing the gravity of the situa- treaties now existing between the United ti?n, and ~~lieving that consistently States Government and China, and on WIth the spmtual nature of t.heir work account of the hostility of officials ren- and in accordance with scriptural ex.: dering the securing of mission property amples,* there are circumstances which in many of the provinces a matter of in- not only allow but demand an appeal to creasing difficulty. the secular aglol vdeernnommienn~ttiAonmsehriecladna mis· sionaries of rep- "No missionary could live long in most of the cities of interior China with- resentative meeting in Shanghai in Sep- out realizing that he was not enjoying tember, 1894, to prepare a petition to the rights which the Church believed the Government calling attention to the him to enjoy, and which his government evils which may be remedied by a slight was supposed to guarantee him by modification of our treaties.
treaty_ While at comparatively rare "Much labor and careful research intervals the Chinese Government ac- were involved in thE' preparation of the knowledges by proclamation that the petition. and of the appendix, containing presence of the missionary is in accord- translatIOns, notes, and depositions.
ance iws iitnhdutrsetraitoyusrleygcuilractuiolants~dstailnl dthies Several months were necessarily spent idea in securing signatures from missionagenerally accepted by the people that ries throughout the provinces and the missionaries live in the interior onlv by petition was finally sent last inonth to the sufferance of the Chinese Govern- Minister Denby, in tPheekiGnog~ertonmbeentfoar-t Dl~nt. and not by legal compact. The warded by him to mIssionary also learns that his right in Washington.
the interior has no explicit verbal war- " The petition contains the names of rant in the United States treaties, but 164 missionaries, from 28 States of the depends upon the provisions of the Union, and representing nearly if not French and English treaties, coupled all the Protestant societies of the.United with" the most favored nation clause." t States working in China. The names Though the French and English treaties of other petitioners having been redo explicitly grant right of residence ceived since the petition was forwardand of holding property in tbe interior ed, a supplementary list of names will of China, it must be confessed with re- be sent on to Washington later. gret that the representations of those " As will appear from an examinagovernments, guided by expediency tion of the petition (p. 539 of MISSIONrather than right, sacrifice missionary ARY REVIEW, July, 1895), the United inte~ests to trade, and, to please the States Government is requested: offiCIals of China, allow this provision "1. To have clearly set forth in the of the treaties to remain a dead letter. ,!ords. of the tr.eaty. the right of mis- American consular representatives- SIOnarIes to reSIde m the interior of f!lithful. as they are, as a rule, to mis- China, and to hold mission property sIonary mterests-are thus embarrassed either in their own name or in the name in pressing a claim, even a righteous of the society they represent. The imone, which is founded on the treaty of portance of having these rights plainly another nation, when that nation itself stated in the treaty is apparent from the allows such rights to go by default. fact that the treaties, and the treaties * Evangelisches M'zssions Magazin. alone, are the charter of the rights of t The ,. most favo"'ed nation clause" provides United States citizens and the ultimate that any right or privilege granted by China to the subjects of other nations .hall also be granted to ci~i~ens of the Uni~ed States, tho the right or l?r1vllege be not speCified in the articles of the * Acts xvi. 37; xxii. 25; xxiii. 17, 18; xxv, Umted States treaties. 10, 11; xxviii. 19. standard of appeal in all cases of dis- upon liberty of speech and of the press pute. in China. It does not ask the Govern- "2. To remove certain unjust re- ment to take cognizance of religious strictions imposed, without due author- controversy. It asks simply that horri- ity, by the Chinese offici.ah, which in ble libels against the character of good many cases practically nullify the rights men and women, which stir up the peo- of missionaries and render the treaty a ple to murder and riot, be suppressed.
dead letter. The first point deals with The petition asks the United States Fung 8hui, or the fear of the good luck Government to say to China: 'You of a locality being injured by , foreign may criticise United States citizens and devils' residing in the neighborhood. what you are pleased to caU foreign On this point an American consul, a doctrines as much as you like, but you shrewd lawyer, remarked to the writer: may not fabricate outrageous charges 'The Chinese Government thus de- against law-abiding citizens of this re- mands, before allowing you to secure public, and thereby incite your people property, that you must define the to murder them and destroy their prop- limits of popular superstition I' An erty.'
'infinite quantity,' as the mathemati- " It is believed that the granting of cians say, which would postpone the the petition will prove of immense ad- securing of mission property to an in- vantage to the cause of Christ in China.
definite period. Concerning this, the A decisive blow will thus be struck at petition requests that if a Chinese offi- the root of the riots and the anti·foreign cial prohibits the sale of property offered agitation which prompts them, the way to missionaries, he must negotiate for will be opened for more cordial rela- the missionaries the purchase of some tions with Chinese officials and people, other eligible property. That it may and scores of cities all over the empire, be legal to purchase mission property as well as whole regions, like the Hunan without first notifying the officials. If province, now closed fast against us, officials are first notified, they generally will be opened to the Gospel. intimidate the people so as to prevent " As to the time for presenting such the sale. a petition, no more opportune juncture "3. That scandalous books published than the present could possibly be by high officials of the Government, con- found. Since the war with Japan, taining vile slanders regarding foreign China has become conscious of the need nations and the practices of the Chris- for a readjustment of her foreign relatian Church, be prohibited. The contents tions. The Chinese Government is of these books are too vile for q uota- under great obligations to our Govern- tion, charging wissionaries with mur- ment representatives for friendly offices der, sorcery, adultery, the stealing aud in arranging peace with Japan. The cormutilation of children, and with stirring dial support and earnest prayers of all up rebellion against the Chinese Gov- of God's people in America are asked ernment. Our Government cannot for this movement. There is no better afford to treat these books with con- way of heiping the cause of Christ in tempt, because to foreign nations tho China. Let the Christian people at slanders are so palpably false. The home rally and urge upon the Govern- Government must remember that these ment the importance of prompt and incendiary publications are enrolled in favorable action on the petition. official catalogues, are for sale in Gov- "In conclusion, while attention is ernment bookstores, and come to the candidly called to the serious obstacles people with all the authority of Govern- which lie in the path of mission work ment documents. They are published, in the interior of China, in order that too, often with the avowed purpose, these evils may be remedied, let no one not only of creating hatred against for- imagine that missionaries are in the lcast eigners, but of stirring up the people to discouraged by them. The messagc avert deeds of violence. Our Govern- which comes from all over interior ment must remember the actual effect China to the Church at home is one of of such publications on the ignorant good cheer and hope. The Church of masses, like fire to a powder magazine, Christ has come to China to stay. She stirring up the people to riot and will never strike her flag, no matter murder. The publication of such in· what the difficulties and obstacles are. famous libels being plainly a violation She realizes that 'the Lord God om- of our treaties of peace, our Govern- nipotent reigneth' here as throughout ment, if it wishes to Ilut au end to the the rest of the world, and that Christ's riots and to secure the lives and prop- kingdom shall surely prevail. Only let "rty of its citizens in China, cannot but the Church bestir herself to use every Clemaud their suppression. The peti- means to remove the obstacles which tioIl by this request does not infringe hinder the progress of the Gospel; and now that God gives us a rare opportu· they are supposed to number 2,500,000, nity at the close of this war, let the but this number is purely an estimate. Church exert an activity never before 'l'he conditions of lite to the north of put forth to raise men and means to fill here during the last winter must have this opening empire with heralds of the been pitiable in the extreme. Murrain cross."
Mongolia has long been a problem to broke out among the herds, and swept missionary societies. The immense tract off fully one third. A similar disease of country occupied by the tribes who roam over its territory offer a serious killed off half the sheep. And as the difficulty, since it is possible to reach Government had bought or seized a only a few people from one station. large proportion of the horses, the Mon· gols were reduced to penury,* Different tribes have different dialects, Two centuries and a half ago Hol- a difference very manifest in the only land established a trading colony and a Bible at the disposal of the mission· Christian mission on Formosa. In 1627 ary, since of the few who can read, a George Candidius commenced mission great many are unable to understand work on the island. He studied the what is meant. The people are the language and religion of the natives, most religious of all the followers of mingled with them, won their confi· Buddha. Probably nowhere else in the dence, and eagerly sought their highest world is there manifest so much super- good. He was joined in 1629 by Rob· stition mingled with the mechanical ob· ert Junius, who conquered the collo- servation of rites and ceremonies as out quiallanguage of the people, prepared on the great plains. In this respect catechisms for their instruction, and they form a marked contrast to the Chi· translated considerable portions of the nese. The latter, whatever may be Holy Scriptures.
their practice as to inviting priests to Mr. Junius labored for twelve years read prayers for the dead, are thorough in six large towns in Formosa. The Confucianists. In Mongolia, Confucius reformation in morals was astonishing.
is well·nigh unknown; but Buddha, Men of all ranks and conditions were and particularly that form of worship converted. Fifty natives were trained which has been introduced from Tibet, to teach, and these had under their is the sacred religion of the people. A charge over 600 scholars. Churches few Mongols have received the truth, were planted in 23 towns. The Dutch many more have acknowledged its missionaries took pains to furnish the power and their own duty to accept it, people with suitable catechisms, with but the fear of relatives and friends, the translations of Scripture, and with other certainty of being" put out of the syna· Christian reading. They also taught gog," has deterred them from an open the people, as far as they could, to read profession. Dutch as well as Formosan. At one With the exception, possibly, of the time, in order to deter the natives from fever.stlicken region of Africa, no mis· practising idolatry, they were threat· sion field calls for the intense heroism, ened with whipping and banishment.
coupled with great intellectual qualifi. This was proclaimed by the Dutch Gov- cations, such as are demanded of the ernment with the consent of the For.
missionary who gives himself to this mosan consistory! The Supreme Coun- great work. In order to reach the peo· cil in Holland, however, quickly put a pIe, a man must possess two languages, stop to this sort of " discipline."
Mongol and Chinese, must have an iron The headquarters of these noble men constitution, capable of enduriug the were at Sakam, then a village, now a rigors of severe winters on the bleak large city; and zeal, tact, and well· plains. and, above all, a love that" over· directed labor, blessed of God, proved cometh the world."
,There is no census of the Mongols; * Rev. F. Jlt Chapiu, iu the Independent. abundantly successful. In 1635 they out food or drink! Other crueltiesreceived into the Church by baptism too many, alas! and too hideous-are reo 700 adults. Next year they reported lated. that 15 ministers would be required to take full advantage of the opening pre- Koxinga immediately slew 500 male sented by this most inviting field. Sev- prisoners, Pastor Hambroek among eral missionaries were sent in response them. Many of the women were slain. to their call. No fewer than 32 Hol- others were sold into slavery. One of the landers labored in Formosa in diffusing ministers, Marcus Masius, laboring near the Gospel during the thirty·seven years, Tamsui, made his escape to Batavia. and the converts numbered 5900. At last the brave defenders of Fort Zeelandia had to give it up, and were But a dreadful storm of blood and allowed to escape with their lives. A tire broke upon the young Formosan few of the women and children survived church, which destroyed it root and in captivity and exile until 1684, when branch. This was the time of the Tar- they were rescued. Thus was extintar invasion of China, and the disas- guished in blood the light so promising, trous overthrow of the Ming dynasty. so beautiful, kindled two and a half Countless hordes came down upon the centuries ago in Formosa. Thank God defenceless towns and cities. The old that the same blessed light is again order was utterly broken up, and it was borne to the same land by faithful years before the new order came. churches of the reformed family. Koxinga, a daring pirate chief, who refused to own the new dynasty, re- Why is Chinese Tibet, in the heart of solved to carve out a kingdom for him- Central Asia, still so hermetically sealed Belf in Formosa. He invaded the island against the entrance of the Gospel, with a powerful force, and summoned which would bring it freedom from the the Dutch to an immediate surrender priestly tyranny of the dominant lamas.? under pain of death. The Dutch had He, who has all power in heaven and a fort for their protection-Zeelandia- on earth, can open that closed door as by no means a place of strength, and soon as He chooses. Is it His purpose their forces were but small; but, with that some lands should remain closed to characteristic courage and tenacity of Europeans in order that we may learn purpose, they refused to obey the fatal how to employ the native converts of summons, and resolved to stand a siege. the borderlands to introduce the Gospel For nine long months the deadly strug- to the regions beyond? gle lasted. Many of the converts reverted to heathenism, whereupon Kox- One item of news from this mission is inga gave each a silk robe, a cap with very plea~ing. Paulu, a native Chrisa gilt knob, and a pair of Chinese boots. tian at POD, has traversed the whole of the neighboring province of Chinese Faithful Hollanders and native Chris- Tibet, telling the Gospel of salvation, tians scattered throughout the country and distributing Scriptures and tracts were treated with barbaric severity. in every village. He has gone where Ministers and schoolmasters were put to no European may go, and tho the death, in some cases even crucified, by Tibetan authorities forbade his advance order of the savage Koxinga. Some of to another province, we hope he will the Dutch were thus put to death, fast be able to take a similar tour at some ened to a cross by having nails driven future time. Since his baptism, Paulu through their hands and the calves of has received special instruction, with a their legs, and another nail driven view to such service over the border. through their backs. In this plight they He started from Poo with a companion, were exhibited before the governor's taking a considerable supply of Tibetan house. They would live in this awful Gospels and tract.s on a donkey. His condition from three to four days with· orders were to sell these books whenever he could find purchasers, but to Possibly Paulu may again try to give, if necessary, where there was hope traverse another province. If he of their proving spiritually useful. takes fewer books, he may attract less Wisely avoiding Shipke, he entered attention, and so find a wider range Tsotso, preaching the simple Gospel for the verbal proclamation of the mes- and distributing the Word of God and sage of life in Chinese Tibet.* Christian booklets among a people who have a great respect for all that is writ- The Opium Traffic. t ten in their Tibetan characters. Paulu It is one of the standing mysteries of describes the country traversed as bar-' human life that men in possession of a ren and thinly populated. As a native conscience should justify the mainte- nance of that which intlicts awful ruin he was better able to gauge the feeling on a great portion of the race. Yet this of the people toward the Gospel than a is what the defenders of the opium European could. Paulu found more traffic are essaying to do. The present enmity to the Gospel than receptivity aspects of the opium question were dis- cussed in a recent meeting in London. for it. Once the villagers were afraid A lengthy resolution was offered by to take any books or tracts from him Mr. J. E. Ellis, M.P., to the effect that for fear of their rulers. At a village inasmuch as the late Royal Commission was appointed to investigate a system called Semkil he stayed three days with of revenue derived from It drug manuan old man, who seemed not far from factured and traded in by .the Indian the kingdom of heaven. This man had Government, it was bound to preserve heard the truth from Missiona.ry Pagel, complete independence of that govern- ment; but that by assuming at the outto whom during his long service at Poo set that the Government of India would the door to Chinese Tibet was once .. arrange the course of inquiry. places thrown open. This was when small-pox to be visited, and witnesses;" by re- broke out, and in their panic the au- ceiving the great bulk of the evidence from persons whose testimony was suthorities sent across the border for tile Christian missionary who could vacci- pervised by Indian officials; and by otherwise allowing their report to be nate. Brother Pagel was ill. but in largely molded by the Indian Govern· faith and joy rose from his bed and ment, the Commission failed to pre- serve that independence essential to an started for a mountainous journey from impartial verdict. .
which most men in health would shrink_ Mr. J. H. Wilson, M.P., solemnly as- He vaccinated and preached through- serted that there is scarcely a single page out the villages of Tsotso_ In an im- or paragraph in it which, if thoroughly examined. will not be found to contain pulse of evanescent gratitude the local eerious fallacies and errors.
authorities declared, "you-but you The two poisons. arsenic and opium, only-may come again any time you are thoroughly under Government con- like. .. The next year the panic was trol, and there would be no difficulty in imposing the necessary restrictions on passed, and the door was shut even to the sale of these drugs provided the their benefactor. But he had sown the Government will undertake it.
good seed, of which Paulu found traces The prohibition of these sources of national ruin would be perfectly easy •• after many days. " in India, because the Government has Having visited all the villages of the thing entirely in its hands, and there Tsotso, he was about to enter the neigh- is no question of compensation.
boring province of Chumurti, but wa.s The connection between vice and opium is nowhere more apparent than turned back by the authorities, who told on the Malayan peninsula. In Ceylon him that if it came to the knowledge of the opium import has increased eight- their superiors that he had been preach- fold during the last fifty years. and ing in their province they would all be there is a very earnest movement in the severely punished. They expressed the island for its prohibition.
opinion that the European policy was * From an article by Mr. Schreve, of the Mofirs~ to bring them their Christian relig. ravian Mission.
ion and then to take their country. t The Christian (London), Dec. 19th, 1895.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The talk of war between the leading ca11ed to Beyrout to complete the work Christian nations of the world on ac- on the Arabic version of the Scriptures.
count of a paltry dispute as to a piece He rewrote the whole, with the excep- of land in South America seems to have tion of the Pentateuch, on the stylc of been a machination of the devil to di- the Koran. This work he began in vert attention from the horrible massa- . 1857 and fini&hed in 1864, and two years cres and suffering of Christians in Ar- later completed an edition of the whole menia. No one could doubt that the Bible and one of the New Testament war·cloud, if such even it might be alone.
called, would soon blow over, but it Dr. Van Dyke was the author of nu- seems to some extent to have drawn merous works in Arabic, including attention from the Turk, whose awful mathematical, chemical, astronomical work of extermination still continues. and hygienic treatises, and has made A few years ago Christendom would several translations into that tongue.
scarcely have believed that selfishness and jealousy would prevent" the pow- The editor is constantly getting iners" from putting an immediate end to quiries as to the Gordon Training such systematic outrages. Meanwhile School, at Boston. etc., and he thinks God fights for Armenia by decimating wisest to answer them in a brief note in the Turkish troops encamped before these columns. Zeitoun and elsewhere. But the sufferings of Armenians in consequence of This school, now in its seventh year, their destitution is unutterable. The re- was begun in the autumn of 1889 by lief work is progressing but all too slow- Rev. Dr. A. J. Gordon. with Rev. F. L. ly. Chapell as resident instructor. Already over one hundred of its students are at A correspondent to the London Daily work in missions at home or abroad. New8 draws an alarming picture of the Its lecture-rooms are in the Clarendon condition of Syria. The Druses are said Street church, and it is designed to help to be in revolt, and some 60,000 lHoham- men and women who feel called of God medans are in arms, "with few officers to the work, but who are unable to purand no discipline.' , Jerusalem is crowd- sue a fuller course of preparation. The bd with rough soldiers; Beyrout also, Bible is the basis of a11 instruction, and where credit is suspended and the peo- the spirit of prayeria the reigning spirit ple are also" iu suspense. " A terrible of the institution. Three things are fear of a " holy war" exists. kept at the front: 1. A life of conse· cration and victory over sin and self.
Rev. Dr. Cornelius Vau Allen Van 2. A personal and practical knowledge Dyke, a great Arabic scholar, of Bey- of the Word as the inspired, infallible rout, Syria, who has recently "fallen guide. 3. A constant engagement in asleep" at the age of seveuty-five, was active forms of service. a descendant of one of the early Dutch settlers of New York. Dr. Van Dyke I::ltudents should, if possible, take the was educated in the Kinderhook Acad- full two years' course. The year begins emy and the Jefferson Medical College, .the first Wednesday in October and and went to Syria in 1837 as a mission- closes the third Thursday in ~ray. All ary of the American Board. He was particulars will be supplied on applicaappointed principal of a seminary at tion to Professor Chapell, No. 118 Pem- broke Street, Boston.
Abeih, on Mount Tabor, Palestine, and after the death of Dr. Eli Smith was The China Inland Mission had, in 1895, 640 missionaries (417 native, and placed prominently before the churches 79 from America). generally for their stimulus and encour- In Japan there is about one convert to each 1000 Japanese. agement.
In South America, out of 37,000,000 Haddon Hall is situated in a poor and in the 14 republics, 34,000,000 have densely populated neighborhood, and never heard the pure Gospel. Brazil is was erected some eleven years ago at a greater than the United States or Eu- cost of £6500 (all raised at the time) ; rope, and of its 16,000,000 only about and as a mission church in connection 2,000,000 are evangelized. We may with the Metropolitan Tabernacle is an infer the ignorance of the true Gospel important center of evangelization. from the question often asked of con- The work, under the presidency of Mr. verts to Protestant Christianity: •• How William Olney, a London merchant who much do you pay for this salvation 1" preaches on each Sunday, comprises .. To what priest do you confess to get various and numerous Christian agenyour sins forgiven ?" cies.
To secure mOre definHe, systClJ1Jttic The Sunday-school reports an averprayer for the missionary work in South age afternoon attendance cf 733 schol- America, a prayer union has been ars, and, having been trained in sysformed with reference to the speedy tematic giving, has for many years con· evangelization of this neglected conti- tributed large amounts tOward foreign nent. United and daily prayer is sought and other missions, the total distributed for all missionaries in South America; under this heading in 1894 being £68 for all native hCllpers and Christians; 198. 4d. In addition to this. howev€r, for the people, that many may be saved; about a year ago, as the outcome of a for more laborers in that field. The revived missionary spirit, the church promoters of this prayer union wish to and congregation unanimoUsly adopted emphasize the fact that believing pray- a scheme for collecting a penny a week er has as large a function in promoting with the following rather startling remissions as the actual work of the missionary on the field, and desire that dis- sults: ciples everywhere would join with them First quarter, £16; second quarter, in these daily petitions to God. The membership fee of 25 cents, to cover in- £19 lOs. ; third quarter, £20 17s. 10d. cidental expenses, is optional. Those Total, £56 7s. lOd. A collection was who wish further iuformation and mem- also made on February 3d, amounting bership cards may communicate with to £5 148. 3d. the secretaries, A. E. Robinson, 21 Collahie Street, Toronto, Ont. ; A. E. Arm- In the joyful report of the great and strong, 272 Broadview Avenue, Toron- progressi ve success of tbis penny·a·week to,Ont. effort, in the current number of the Haddon Hall Evangelist the following pregnant sentence appears " Doubt- less, we are specially fortunate in being provided with collectors who know how to make their subscribers feel the little weekly gifts no burden. But, apart from this personal element, we believe the penny-a·week 8y"tem i8 a veritable gold mine which the mi88iona1"Y 80cieties have 8cal'cely • tapped.' ,. Perhaps the most in- 8piriting feature of this" forward mo ve· ment" is Mr. Olney's emphatic testi- mony that, so far flOm its injuring his home-work, this has proved more satis- factory since the scheme was adopted, both in its spiritual life and its financial development.
In the Mi88ionary Herald, April 1st, The Moravian Missions in Difficulties. 1895, the organ of the British Baptists, we notice a brief paper, entitled" Our The Unitas Fratrum (the ancient Undeveloped Resource." Among the Unity of the Brethren, commonly known contributions reported for March last as the :ilforavian Church) was founded were the £82 28, ld. handed the secre- in Bohemia in 1457. It was renewed at tary personally at the" first missionary Herrnhut, in Saxony, in 1722, and com· demonstration" at Haddon Hall, Ber- menced missions to the heathen in 1732. mondsey, London, and it may well be The foreign mission of the venerable out laming the good work itself. Moravian Church has to face one of the Therefore we cannot help the anxiety largest deficiencies that ever threatened which is ready to exclaim: • Whence the great work of evangelization which shall we have so much bread as to fill so great a multitude! ' God has carried on by her in all quarters of the world for one hundred and "But it is the work of our Lortl, sixty-three years. This is due to the which we carryon amid weakness and healthy growth of this work. In sev- shortcomings, and we turn again to Him eral missions new stations have been in faith and trust: • Lord, Thy mercy'; endureth forever, forsake not the work planted last year amid heathen popula- of Thine own hands! ' " tions, notably in South Africa (Kaffraria), in Central Africa (Nyassaland), and Contributions toward the Moravian in South America (Surinam)-i.e., missions, and special donations to re- move the debt upon them. will be thank- Dutch Guiana). So it comes that, tho fully received by the Treasurer, Rev. the contributions from the members and H. E. Blandford, 32 Fetter Lane, Lonfriends have not fallen off, the expendi- don, E. C., and the Secretary, Rev. ture for 1894 exceeded the income of E. La Trobe, 7 Furnival's Inn, London, E. C. Post·office orders to be made the vear by more than £10,000.' To payable at" Hatton Garden Post-office." meet' this, the Directing Board (at Checks crossed" Union Hank of Lon- Herrnhut, in Saxony) have brought in don. " every sum at their disposal (regretfully including £4000, with which they had The Moravian Missions are over intended to found a college for native $25,000 in debt, a most unusual experiministers in Kaffraria). Nevertheless, there remains A NET DEFICIENCY OF £5750. ence for this noble society, arising from no deficiency in ordinary income, but The home churches, which are the from the increased expenditure on basis of this wide and noble work (among their extensions. The whole Christian the Eskimos of Greenland, Labrador, Church should come to their help in and Alaska; the Indians of North and this emergency, seeing the debt it owes Central America; the colored popula- to the Moravians for their example of tion of the West Indies, Surinam, and missionary zeal. Many devout men Demerara; the Hottentots and Kaffirs are needed to step into the breach left of South Africa; the natives of Nyassa- by the death of our beloved friend, land, in East Central Africa; the lepers Reginald Radcliffe, whom we consider of the Holy Land; the degraded abo- one of the trio in England who in this rigines of Australia; and the Tibetan- past generation have sounded the awakspeaking Buddhists of the Himalayas) ; ening note to the Church to be up and these home churche~ in Germany, Great doing ill the evangelization of the Britain, and the United States number world, the other two being Hudson little more than 20,000 communicants. Taylor and Grattan Guinness. The ever-growing membership of the mission congregations now amounts tel Our readers will be glad to read a let- 93,649, of whom 32,367 are communi- ter from such a man as George Muller. cants. Such a proportion between the It was written as a personal letter, so that numerical strength of the home churcheg and the foreign mission certainly warrant~ an urgent plea for help on the part of those who are doing their best to carryon and extend so wide a work.
APPEAL OF THE DIRECTING BOARD. no pUblicity was sought by the humble In appealing to the Christian public writer, but the editor ventures to give for contributions to cover this debt amI remove this barrier to blessed progress, it to the public for its hints on system, the Directing Board say: "'Ye confess that we cannot but be deeply concerned, atic giving, which are aU the more valuas we look not only at the present debt but at the years that are close upon us, able because found in a private com· and at the further future. We see that the Lord is opening doors to us, and that munication. It is dated consequently the expenditure of our missions is always advancing. It is clear NEW ORPHAN HOUSES, to us also that greater economy can ASHLEY DOWN, BRISTOL, scarcely be exercised on our part with- March 12, 1895. BELOVED BROTHER: I send you by this mail the four volumes of my narra- tive, and a copy of my "Preaching Tours and MiSSionary Labors," written by my beloved departed wife. My im- I gave away, and it is seen, on page pression is that you will look at it with 447, that my income from May 26th, interest, as you are so deeply interested 1874. to December 31st, 1885, was £30,- in missionary labors. I took these long 145 3s. Of this amount I gave away to tours of 200,000 miles by land and water relatives £2185 17s. 4d. ; to poor believto help on the hundreds of thousands of ers under my pastoral care, £1464 88 children of God to whom I should 2d. ; to missions, orphans. etc., £23,464 preach, and to beget in them greater 8s. 8d., and altogether, £27,111 4s. 2d. conformity to the mind of God, and To this last sum is to be added many thus, also, to beget a missionary spirit hundred pounds spent out of my own in them. In my narrative is found means in connection with our missionprofitable material on perhaps fifty dif· ary tours. The total given away up to ferent subjects on which Ihave written; December 31st, 1885, is £57,000. but I send it to you in particular for one reason. I believe there is not in the From December 31st. 1885, to March world in existence a book which gives, 12th. 1895, I gave to the poor £859; in the way of illustration. such an in· to relati ves, £684; to missions and or stance as this book of the practical bless- phans, £14,360; in all, £15,903. Add edness of systematic giving, as God to this £57,000, given before, and yuu prospers us, as is set forth in these four get the total of £72,902, or, $364,750. volumes; but especially in Volume III. and Volume IV. ; and this is shown My first dear wife was a most precious from my own life and wperienee. Now, saint and a highly educated lady, but as you and I long for far greater things had not £5 when I married her. The being accomplished in missionary work Lord gave her to me for thirty·nine than as yet has been accomplished, and years and four months. My second as all this requires far more money to wife had lost all her property when I married her; but the Lord gave her be devoted to the Lord than has been as afterward, through three legacies of yet devoted, can there be anything more grandfather, aunt, and an uncle, about important to lead the Church of God £5600, every shilling of which she gave to see the blessedness of systematic giv- to the Lord's work. The LOId left her ing? to me twenty-three years and six weeks. I was married altogether sixty-two Now hear. I, a poor foreigner, be- years and five months. gan in 1831 simply to trust in God with· out salary as a pastor, and obtained You may see a rich merchant now £151 18s. 8d. Out of this my first dear and then giving some large amount, but wife and I gave away £50. And thus I we want all believers, even of the midhave been going on for sixty-four years; dle classes and the poor, to contribute and I find that, up to this day (March as God prospers them. 12th, 1895) I have been enabled to give away £72.894, or $364,450. Again and Ever yours very affectionately, again I have been enabled to give £2000, £3000. £4000 in one year, chiefly for GEORGE MULLER. missions or for the orphans. In the year 1893 my dear wife and I gave The" Jerry McAuley lmssion" was away £4500. The Chinese £500, which you notice in your article, was my gift. organized thirteen years ago by Jerry Now, beloved brother, if society could be led to act as I and my two beloved McAuley. For the last three years the wives acted, what ample provision would there be for God's work; and Rev. and Mrs. Charles E. Ballol! have only systematic giving as God prospers us will lead to it. All the thousands of been the superintendents. donations in these four volumes. en tered "From a servant of the Lord Funds are sorely needed to meet cur- Jesus, who, constrained by the love of Christ, seeks to lay up treasure in hea- rent expenses, and unless help is given ven," are my own donations. I write thus, not to boast, but simply to show the mission must be abandoned. Never how much can be accomplished. has the spiritual side of the work been Now, read for yourself in Volume III., page 601, paragraph 2, up to page more successful. The cost of maintain- 615, and you will see that from January 1st. 1831, to May 26th, 1874, I gave ing the mission is only about $5000 a away £27,172. year, which is met by voluntary sub- In Volume IV., pages 381-447, the ac- COURt is given of my income and what scriptions. Contributions may be sent to Cbarles M. Jesup, treasurer pro tem., No. 37 Wall Street.
Dr. Denney, in his" Studies in The- ology," a book which has just been published, and which is likely to be widely discussed because in it he treats so many of the current questions of the day, gives the following incident as an degree, to modem thought, and they illustration of the" distinctively Chris- grew gradually until now the sect numtian position:" "A Hindu society was bers some 250,000 persons. Their religformed, which had for its object to ap- ious success served only to bring upon them bitter persecution-first by the propriate all that was good in Christian- peasants and second by the StthaeteS,taotr~ ity without burdening itself with the rather, by the public officers of rest. Among other things which it appropriated, with the omission of only Church. two words, was the answer given in the Westminster Shorter Catechism to the The outrages on these Stundists, or question, 'What is repentance unto life?' Here is the answer: ' Repent- Stundist Methodlists-for their belief ance unto life is a saving grace, whcre· by a sinner out of a true sense of his seems most nearly to approach that of sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ doth with grief and hatred our Methodist Church-have grown of his sin turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new particularly numerous of recent years. obedience.' The words which the Hindus left out were in CMist. Instead of In July, 1891, the Holy Synod of the Greek Church, alarmed at the steadr increase of the sect, summoned a clen- cal congress at :Moscow to contrive measures fur its suppression. Legisla- tion of the utmost severity was decided upon; they were forbidden to hold prayer·meetings even in their own homes, and all public gatherings were to be dispersed by the authorities.
Many leaders in the sect were banished to Siberia and their children turned over 'apprehension of the mercy of God in to the officials of the Greek Church. to Christ,' they read simply, 'apprehen- be brought up· in the orthodox faith. sion of the mercy of God.' They were Such severe measures were determined acute enough to see," eontinued Dr. upon only because other edicts issued Denney, "that in the words they left in the spring of that year had failed to put a stop to the Stundist proselytizing.
out the whole Christianity of the defi- nition lay. . .. I entirely agree with Think of that noble pioneer of Afri- their insight. If the mercy of God is can missions, Dr. Krapf, dying on his separable from Christ. independent of knees praying for the Dark Continent.
Christ, accessible apart from Christ . . . " I am so penetrated by the feeling of there is no need and no possibility of a the nearness of the Lord's coming that Christian religion at all." I cannot describe it," he said one even- ing in November, 1881. "He is near The Stundists, who take their name indeed; oh, we ought to redeem the from the German Stunden, or hours of time and hold ourselves in readiness that praise and prayer which they keep, are we may be able to say with a good cona Protestant sect resembling somewhat science, ' Even so; come, Lord Jesus.' " both the German Methodists and Bap- . Thus he spoke and retired to rest. Next tists of this country, the Mennonites, morning they found him kneeling life- less by his bedside. Some will say that and the Dunkards. The Stundist movement took its rise he did not live to see the Lord's return, about thirty·five years ago in the prov- and that in his case the expectation of ince of Kherson, on the Black Sea. It nearness was after all his own nearness had its origin with the German peasants by death to heaven. True, but it was whom the Empress Catherine enticed a vital hope, a working hope. He from their Suabian home to colonize labored as well as looked. His expecthis district.
These sturdy peasants brought with tation was not inimical to missionary them to Kherson their religion, their pastors, and their industrious, sober labor; and if we might testify, we ways. Altho at first race antipathy kept the newcomers estranged from would say that our own simple faith, the natives, in time their quiet, industrious ways and practical godliness apart from theories and dates, that earned for them sympathy and then converts. Their religion adapted itself Cltriat s1talt come in like manner, has to their new environment, and, in some been a power in sanctification and a spur in missionary service uns~kably mighty. •
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONARD.
Extra.cts and Translations from Foreign contracted which, as a fruit and conse- Periodicals. quence of sin, must be formed, and then BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, burden the house, from the altar to the MASS. grave, with ignominy, wretchedness, and the curse of parents. In Satan's MISCELLANEOUS. school are the poisons elaborated and -" Wherever in any community the with the gui&e of innocent etiquette in- light and life Qf the Holy Ghost show troduced into the world, which are to- themselves, there is also revealed the day poisoning the life of our people, synagogue" (in the German Bible, "the just drawing religion out of their heart school") of Satan. A terrible word! If and then sucking the marrow out of it did not stand here in the word of God, their bones ; unbelief, unchastity, mania I could not venture to utter it. In this of amusement, mania of money, and all school Satan is the tea.cher. Here there the manias which, creeping softly to- are brought up the dreary principles day, to-morrow, like an epidemic plague, and lying commonplaces: Money is the devour myriads. Here we ~ee ruined main thing, even if blood cleaves to it. health, beginning in lawlessness, to end Enjoyment is ~omething that the man in suicide. In Satan's school are the must have, and diversion he must seek, workers trained who, with revelling for with death everything is" at an end. and laughter, beslaver holy things, hon- Youth is no time for ruth; and if there orable persons-nay, the Savior Himself, is such a thing as salvation, it will come until they have worked their heart out of itself with old age. Business is busi- of their body, and have delivered them- ness, and the Ten Commandments have selves as a welcome booty into the jaws nothing to do with it. Repentance, of the original murderer of souls. In conversion, regeneration, are merely his schools Satan leads men about by pietistic phrases which on Sundays are his rope as a bear leader his bears. Sin mouthed by rote from the pulpit. But allures, shines, smooths, gives" promises otherwise these medieval ways'of think- upon promises, until at the end she ing have been long antiquated by 'the gives her befooled victim the last push: advancement and culture of the nine- , There, you have your reward with the teenth century. Jesus is merely a man damned in hell!' "-Mi8sions und like us, only, in the interest of clerical Heidenbote (Neukirchen).
domination, He is artificially preserved as a mummy and still shown as a scare- -" In this our present time, Religion, crow to women and children. It is in morally separated from the State, and the school of Satan that those children living her proper life, is no longer sub- grow up who are bringing up their chil- mitted to the sad necessity of having dren without the nurture and admoni- recourse to material force to achieve her tion of the Lord, but with abundance of triumphs. Disengaged from temporal threatenings, blows, and curses. It is bonds, she has been restored to her first here that those children grow up who, essence, and flies off on lighter wing from having received no love, render none; one end of the world to the other. Her who a godless, undisciplined generation, early glory began in sufferings and pov- knock at the gates of the State and the erty ; it is by sufferings and poverty doors of the Church, desiring entrance that her final conquests will be accom- in order to ruin whatever has yet a look plished. Oh, marvellous power of true of Christ or Christianity. It is in the ideas I They have no need of armies "chool of Satan tl1at those marriages are or of imperial laws. and cities o:pen their gates to them, tho catapults no long- any other bribes to turn their scholars er shake down their walls. King- into parrots, chattering mechanically doms have no boundaries which can and blunderingly a scant supply of for- arrest them; they pass, they advance, eign words. The miracle of Pentecost and nations in vain guard their borders emphasizes the right of every man to against them; they suspend their march hear, in his own tongue, wherein he was neither before the diversity of tongues, born, the wonderful works of God. And of laws, and of manners, nor belore the tho mainly, it is not solely in im- insurmountable barriers of mountain mediately religious knowledge that God ranges, of forests, or of seas; they are makes known His wonderful works.
at once patient, indefatigable, and rapid, Dr. Zahn calls attention to the fact and their course through creation only that when the Crescent began to ad· ends where ends the work of God."- vance, the national churches-Greek, POUJOULAT, Histoire de S. Augustin. Syrian, Coptic, Abyssinian, Armenian- still maintained themselves, tho ter- -Dr. F. M. Zahn, speaking of the ribly crippled; but that in North Afri- pride of culture, above all of pa1'Venu ca, where there had never been a Punic, half culture, which is continually insist- but only a Latin Bible and Church, ing that this or that barbarian language Christianity disappeared utterly. In- is incapable of conveying the higher deed, the terrible and wasting conflicts thoughts of the spirit, speaks of a Ger- between Catholic and Donatist, which man merchant in Africa who offered a opened the way for this obliteration, telegram for a native in the latter's own were really a strife between a Latin language. The operator, himself an Christianity, which received all atten.
African of the same tribe, rejected it tion, and a Punic Christianity, which with the remark: "Shall not be ac- received scarcely any. If we try to cepted, that monkey language." That Anglicize or Americanize or German· was worse than good Pope Gregory's ize or Gallicize our native churches, we describing the language of his English are simply following in the wake of the converts as "a barbarian grunting," for Roman Church. The attempt to make he did not know it. Yet Gregory may English universal is likely to be no more not have been so far out, for, as Dr. blessed of God than the old attempt to Zahn remarks, as a people rises, its lan- ma~e Latin. Happily Protestantism, guage rises too. The process, indeed, tho it may be touched with this tempta- is reciprocal. Every new nobleness of tion, can in its very nature hardly yield soul helps to a new nobleness of speech, to it in any great measure. That it can· and every new nobleness of speech to a not is the best credential that it is at new nobleness of soul. present the chiet heir of Pentecoost.
As Dr. Zahn well insists, speaking of the colonial powers, a higher training -M. Coillard's great bereavement in English, French, German, or other has moved the hearts of Christians in European tongue, without a previous every land. We know then what is in thorough elementary training in the his heart when, speaking from the vernacular tongue of each people, is a depths of Africa concerning the death thoroughly unsound thing. No one of some friends in France, he says: can ever think his truest thoughts or " Sursum corda / It is not at the rail· express his truest feelings except in the way station or at the parting of the tongue which he learned at his mother's roads where we have bidden one another knee. If there are exceptions, they are that supreme farewell which has rent 80 few that they strengthen the rule. our hearts and dimmed our lives that Above all, as Dr. Zahn rightly insists, we ought to pause. Our well beloved missionaries should not allow them- are no longer there. No. It is to the selves to be allured by school grants or place of rendezvous, to the moment of
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS
reunion, that our desires ardently tend, you." But what should we say if, and with transports of joy our hopes fly under some false pretext, a foreign powtoward our Father's house, whither er were to endeavor to foist a protecthey have preceded us, our well be- torate upon ollr country, upon France! loved, where Jesus awaits us, to which 'fhe law of right is not limited to the each step brings us nearer, and where frontiers of Europe. Its jurisdiction is God shall wipe away all tears from our universal. It covers the black as well as eyes. God is not the God of the dead, the white, the weak as well as the strong. but of the living. Let us seek Him not No people have a right to take away by amon5 the dead, but among that great violence or by fraud the liberties of ancloud of witnesses who surround us, other nation.' ..-Bombay Guardian. where are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all the saints of the old covenant, all the -No nobler protest has appeared in· saints of the new, who follow us with France since the terrible letter which, in an intense interest in the struggles of 1694, Fenelon addressed to the conlife and in the discouragements of our science of Louis XIV. concerning his I pilgrimage. Let us cover our tombs wars of aggression and other evil acts. with flowers when we can; let us water H{J//'Per'8 Weekly, in a recent highlyapthem with our tears; grief is human, preciative review of a work on Japan and Jesus has known it. But let us by a Greek-American, signifies its conweep without bitterness. And through currence with him in the confident exthese tears, all illuminated with the pectation that Japanese good sense and! glory of heaven, may the glance of our reasonable conservatism will succeed in: faith penetrate into that invisible world keeping the nation independent of the where our own have passed and disap- Christian dogma-that is, of the Chrispeared to our feeble eyes, but whose tian doctrine. We doubt whether this powerful reality has laid hold on our eminent journal is sure to be justifled soul. " by the event. The Japanese have hardly better sense or a more reasonable con- _" A protest against the iniquitous servatism than the Greco-Roman world, war that France is waging on Madagas- and yet that did not succeed in keeping car has appeared from an unexpected itself independent of Ohristianity. Insource. The Book-binders' Trade Union, deed, it is now acknowledged that such of Lyons, have addressed a noble reply great achievements of Greek thought as to an appeal to them for contributions Platonism and Stoicism wrought direct· in aid of the Madagascar expedition. 1y toward the triumph of Christianity. They courteously refuse to give any en- Japan has no native systems answerable couragement to it, and earnestly protest to them, for Shintoism has no thought, against it as a wicked and indefensible and Buddhism and Confucianism, being act. They remark that, ' While, in our also foreign, there seems no antecedent view, war is always a horrible curse, improbability that Christianity, ecuthis war is not only a curse, but a dis- menical as it is, may win the victory grace, an iniquity, a crime against hu- over them which are Asiatic. Perhaps manity, and, in short, a sacrilege. Its Harper'8 Weekly is hopefullyanticipatreal object is to impose, in the interests ing the advent of some great sage who of commerce, upon a young nation, shall marry Western positivism to Eastwhose only fault is that of being weak, ern religiosity, and thus refresh the a foreign yoke which we ourselves atheistic devoutness of the old Japanese would not for a moment tolerate. The systems. But as this sage msy never duty laid upon us by justice is simple, appear, and as there isa Son of Man aland expressed in this axiom of the eter- ready in the field, whose overthrow bas nal law: "Do not to others what you been continually predicted and whose would not wish that they should do to victories have continually succeeded
GENERAL llISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
each other, it is possible that Harper'8 the hearts of eighteen of the high offi- Weekly is destined to disappointment. cials to purchase of them.
-A century after the triumph of King·Shan, Ohina.-The news report- Clll;istianity under C'3nstantine, St. A.u- ed to Dr. Griffith John from this place gustin remarks that it was a common is to the effect that there are now about talk among the pagans, of whom there two hundred candidates for baptism, were still great numbers, and many eighty of whom are perfectly satisfac- in very high places-" Ah well! the tory. A piece of land has been bought Church has gained a temporary victory; by the converts, with the houses upon but in doilig so she has exhausted her it, and made over to the church for strength. In a generation or two she church purposes.
will be heard of no more. " This pre- Madagascar.-The neWS from the diction sounds very comical to us now ; capital is still tantalizing. This much, but such forecasts will doubtless con- however, seems to be evident, that whattinue to be made until Gud has at last ever may be the result of the cruel war, put all enemies under the feet of His it has already brought out very promi- Son. l).ently some of the best features of Malagasy Christianity, and shown the English Notes. reality and depth. of the Christian feel- BY JAMES DOUGLAS. ing among them. Faith is obviously in exercise, as indicated by the absence London Mi88ionary Society.-Great of excitement, by the spirit of prayer, satisfaction is Ielt at the result of the and the disposition to live by the day.
appeal made by the three Bechuana Ohurch Missionm'y Society.-From chiefs, Bathoen, Tebele, and Khama. the pen of the Rev. W. G. Peel, of These chiefs practically gain all they Bombay, a remarkable paper appears asked for, while the needs of the rapidly on the subject of "The Development growing white population of the char- of the Missionary Spirit in Indian Christered company's territories have also tians." Powerful attention is called been met. It is a source of unmixed re- in this paper to the need not only of joicing to kuow that these worthy men " walk," but of "work in the Spirit," return to South Africa, having won for a point which Mr. Peel illustrates from their people a security of tenure and a recent examples. As this subject is of freedom of position greater than they unspeakable moment to the Whole ever possessed before, as well as accom- Church of Christ, we have felt conpanied by the good wishes of hosts of strained to put on record one or two of friends. the cases adduced. Thus the case is OolpO'I'tage in OentralOhina.-There cited of a most energetic worker in In- are now, in connection with the L. M. S., dia who bewailed that his bygone years four colporteurs in active service in Cen- of work for Christ had been compara- tral China-men who were formerly, tively wasted. What was meant by for the most part, ringleaders of oppo· that? "Simply that he had walked in sition to the bith for which they now the Spirit according to the light he bad bravely jeopardize their lives. The had, yet he had not worked in the Spirit, record of their doings is apostolic as re- forasmuch as he had not received the gards depth of devotion and bravery of Holy Ghost, and, therefore, had ,lacked initiative. Lately two of the number power from on high. He had generat- stormed the capital of Hunan, the most ed power from below in a walk in the conservative province, and bearded the Spirit, and had mistaken self-power and lion in his den by pressing the object of heart energy for the power which alone their mission on the Yamens themselves. and effectually makes the will of God But God was their shield, and opened to be done on earth as it is in heaven."
ENGLISH NOTES
Alongside of tbeabove may be placed conviction of sin, and really anxious to the story recently told that all the soul- get rid of its load. Hitherto they were stirring manifestation of the Lord's wont to express their faith in it without blessing in East Central Africa began showing any signs of penitence; but with the reading of a tract dealing with now under the teaching of the Spirit this searching aspect of truth. "One they are broken down, seeking forgive.
of the missionaries read that tract. His ness. Pray with us that this may be eyes were opened widely. He saw that, the token of a great outpouring of the , earnest Christian missionary though he Holy Spirit in this Usagara Mission."
was, yet he had not received the Holy South India.-At TummaZapilli, in G1.ost as Christ's gift. to fill him with the Masulipatam Mission, an awakenpower from on high. He too had gen- ing took place three years ago under the erated power from below which had influence, humanly speaking, of a native had sad limitation in self. He aban- teacher. The result is seen in large acdoned the self-power." Others sought cessions to the Church. During last the like blessing which he found, with year, 90 were baptized in the village the result that the dews of this special tank. There are now 175 Christians on grace settled on the souls, and the work the rolls. A memorial church has been took form in demonstration of the opened, and the Rev.l!. David has been Spirit and of power. May God Him- a ppointed pastor. self lead His people everywhere to the discovery of this hid treasure ! THE KINGDOM.
Japan.-The annual reports of C. M. S. – Well does Bishop Duncan, of the work in all parts of Japan are to hand. M. E. Church, South, suggest: "There The following summary concerning the is a great difference between benevo· island of Kiu·Shiu, where the work lence and beneficence, between wellbegan in 1869, is interesting In 1884 wishing and well-doing, between the the number of Christians in the island bene 'Dolo and the bene facio . .. was 154, a number which in the course of a decade has risen to about 800 ; while – " Oh, Lord, help us to sparkle all in place of a solitary missionary in over for Jesus," was the prayer of a charge at Nagasaki there are five mis- native Christian in Ceylon.
sionaries in charge of stations, four of -Avery little missionary girl, saying whom reside in the country districts her prayers at her mother's knee, exthen almost unknown. Further lay claimed: " God bless these poor heathen workers have largely increased; six that worship idols I These idols can't lady missionaries have joined the staff ; hear, and they can't see, and they can't substantial church buildings have been talk, and they can't even wiggle about /" erected; and the island, which is as large as Ireland and far more populous, -There are two things I really care has been formed into a diocese of the about: one is the progress of scientific Japanese Church. In all this there is, thought, and the other is the bettering indeed, much to stimulate to a renewal of the condition of the masses of the of steady, plodding, prayerful, and pa- people by lifting themselves out of mis- tient endeavor. ery. Posthumous fame is not particu- Usagara, East .Africa.-In this re- larly attractive to me, but, if I am to gion, decimated by recent famine, there be remembered at all, I would rather it has been a marked outpouring of the should be as " a man who did his best Spirit. The testimonies resembled a to help the people" than by any other "revival" meeting at home. The Rev. title. – Hua:leg.
H. Cole says: "It was a new experi- -If I wished to praise a missionary, ence to see the people under evident I should say that he was a Moravian.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
[TRESE statistics are designed to include only Missions among either non-Christian or nonduced. Accnracy has been sought, but also completeness, and hence conservative estimates within the space afforded by two pages of this Magazine, a large number of the smaller and special s:i ii …. "". 'd …a "C.~ 0 .~= NAMES Ol" MISSIONARY SOOIETIES IN ~;; o:i ",,,, :Pili GREAT .HRITAIN AND UPON THE ~:g a~ ii Z& =" 1,,::9'" CONTINENT, AND SUMMARIEI FOR A..£..=~~ '; § '" oZ eo ~~ ~~ :!3~ 0 .i':"o ASIA, .AFRICA, AUSTRALIA, ETC. o~ '" 'd'~ .'s" ..:l ~ Eo< – — — — — — – – 0 ._— — 70 65 1,040 I Baptist (England) ….•••.••.•…. ……. 1792 $356,220 110 31 117 2 Strict Baptist………………………. 1861 3,600 1 2 1 1 6 63 3 London Society (L. M. S.) ……………. 1795 773,014 166 30 149 71 1478 9,412 4 Chureh Society (C. M. S.) ……………. 1799 1,658,240 344 93 274 363 329 5,776 5 Propagation Society (S. P. G.)………… 1701 475,308 227 39 215 17 175 8,165 6 Universities' Mission ……………….. 1859 118,805 30 89 …. 25 7 112 7 The Friends'. ……………………… 1867 65,135 23 … 19 17 …. 427 8 Wesleyan Society…………………… 1816 629,040 147 35 142 70 173 2,602 9 Methodist New Connection………….. 1859 24,555 8 … 6 1 . … 67 10 Primitive Methodist…….•..••. …….. 1869 . 18,659 8 .. 7 1 …. 66 11 United Methodist Free Churches .•••..••. 1837 108,993 27 3 15 …. …. 427 44,800 14 12 Welsh Calvinistic….•.•…. ………… 1841 1 11 5 6 246 13 Presbyterian Church of England..•.•…. 1847 98,600 20 14 25 21 13 170 14 Presbyterian Chnrch of Ireland ……..•. 1840 101,275 21 6 18 17 11 197 15 China Inland Society………………… 1865 165,785 80 199 98 258 11 809 16 Church of Scotland …………………. 1829 196,582 22 18 20 48 8 448 17 Free Church…………. ……………. 1848 519,220 61 6 43 54 15 661 18 Reformed Presbyteriau………..•…… 1842 … 3,905 2 1 1 "'0 9 19 United Presbyterian ………………… 1847 291,490 70 25 69 36 19 762 20 Other British Societies…..•…………. ' ….. 411,810 243 47 137 214 52 1,523 21 Paris Society . . _ .. 1822 • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 ••••••• 97,193 31 4 31 8 26 286 2j/. B&E!Je Saciety ……………………….. 1S15 2114,732 1112 46 132 S 3D SSl 23 Berlin Society….. ………………. 1824 106,166 68 8 67 5 1 553 24 Breklnm (Schleswig-Holstein)………… 1877 14,597 10 .. , 6 …. …. 24 25 Gossner's Society…………………… 1836 46,060 18 14 14 2 18 435 26 Hermannsburg Society……..•…•…… 1854 54,444 61 7 53 …. 1 292 76,723 33 2 25 1 17 502 27 Leipsic Society …………….. …. _.. 1836 28 Moravian Church ………… _……….. 1732 99,158 100 73 151 15 25 1,898 29 North German SOCIety………………. 1836 28,610 14 5 7 7 1 37 30 Rhenish Society…………………….. 1829 108,841 86 10 75 6 16 276 81 Eight other German Societies ……….. … , .. 72,300 10 67 35 15 2 53 32 Twelve Netherlands Societies ………… …… 166,720 102 48 76 …. 17 767 113 Fifteen Scandinavian Societies ……….. …… 242,500 120 33 78 69 74 1,269 228 7,186 — – – – — — — — – – … I:l4. Societies in Asia, Africa, Australia, etc… …… 480,620 148 212 285 87 Totals for Enrope, Asia, etc…•… ….. – – – – – – _. – – —- —– Total. for America……………. ." $7,948,200 2,587 1,112 2,402 1,508 2,829 41,941 ' – $5,672,772 …… 1,441 365 1,280 1,070 1,466 13,177 — – — — -.- Totals for Christendom…….. " ………. $13,620,972 4,028 1,477 3,682 2,578 4,295 55,118 Protestant people., and hence the fignres of certain societies doing colonial work have been rehave been made concerning certain Items omitted from some reports. Mainly in order to keep organizations have been gronped together.] ..!> .S ai 0 J, 8:s "'"g ""' """, … ~ &~""ai..; ",.~ '0'" ai 'a'"" ~~'~".,"'…~.. .~~ ~ 0 ..c:l -<" Eo< " ~>: "..c:l • -l3 r"n — — – – – – – – – — — 1,386~~ f:0Q;' a <lJQ)~ rn Countries in which cO .Q;,:.. …….. Missions are Sustained. "t:I ………
~ 0 >-'l ~ rn Q —– 820 36,534 2,069 108,573 530 18,500 India, C!hina, Palestine, Africa, 1 West Indies. 778 India (Madras, Ceylon). 68 25 795 130 1,800 31 2 9,828 2,557 96,295 2,103 407,840 1.980 127,464 China, India, Africa, Madagascar, 3 6,875 2,748 56,538 4,478 Polynesia. 3,663 2,300 32,000 2,340 210,624 2,016 84,725 Persia, China, Japan, India, 4 1,186 226 Africa, North America, etc. 206 38 2,737 78 72,000 850 38,000 IndIa. China, Japan, Malaysia, 5 486 150 40,979 2,200 Africa, West Indies, elC. 2,996 2,428 1,482 213 4,200 36 1,657 Africa (Lake Nyassa and Zanzi- 6 82 35 bar). 12,000 165 14,566 Palestine, India, Cbina. Madagas- 7 car. 127,000 885 55,400 India, China, Africa (West and 8 South). West Indies. 4,000 18 370 China (Shantung, Tien-tsin). 9 82 26 720 15 2,500 3 35 Africa (Fernando Po, Zambesi). 10 472 278 7,622 237 21,000 132 6,500 China, Africa, Australia. 11 277 230 2,726 353 11,608 250 6,191 N. E. India, France (Brittany). 12 250 146 4,464 413 7,780 50 2,500 India, China, Malaysia. 13 259 42 908 316 2,500 55 4,346 China, India (Kathiawar). 14 939 244 4,681 746 18,000 33 424 China (Fifteen Provinces). 15 551 117 1,704 78 as" 6,705 13,278 India, East Africa, Palestine. 16 825 276 8,263 310 14,951 384 23,962 India. A frica, South and East. 17 40 3 Arabia, Palestine,Newllebddes. 130 2 175 Syria (Antioch, etc.). 13 2 18 962 276 19,267 777 42,000 286 18,170 India, China, Japan, Africa, West 19 and South, West Indies.
2,240 191 17,150 1,231 32,000 112 4,581 20 360 198 12,355 737 30,000 140 8,562 Africa, Sonth and West, Tahiti. 21 1,229 455 15,242 702 30,200 365 13,776 South India, China, West Africa. 22 701 160 13,255 420 28,603 55 4,798 East and South Africa, China. 23 40 8 60 24 195 7 115 India (Telugus). 24 483 50 12,932 1,416 38,971 118 3,081 India (Ganges, Chota Nagpore 25 413 114 16,738 247 35,561 57 3,930 Inl~:'. South Africa, New Zea- 26 563 148 7,098 387 14,539 180 5,316 South India, Burmah, British andl27 German East Africa. 32,367 1,650 93,649 %1 24,002 South Africa, Australia, South 28 2,122 187 America, West Indies, Eskimo.
70 25 846 245 1,492 23 625 West Africa, New Zealand. 29 453 219 17,931 695 56,944 153 8,913 Africa, East Indies, New Guinea, 30 China. 315 …… " 1,5001 21)0 31 161 28 993 507 60,450 2,800 215,000 127 2,330 32 1,569 472 25,105 1,500 78,000 417 37,500 33 – – – – – – – – – – – – 8,022 1,462 140,897 5,725 287,000 2,600 47,880 34 — 16,962 691,682 34,644 2,018,865 12,701 582,600 — – – —- – – – – – – – – 4-9,63-9 304,111 28,437 761,936 6,683 203,402 995,79863,081 2,770,801 19,384 786,002 – – – – – – – – – – – – 17,306 5,669 — 66,945 211,631 Many societies have done well, but this the heart of the nation to themselves, has excelled them all, for it has most and these graves of missionaries scat· nearly approached the ideal Church, tered over the earth hold the heart of formed after the pattern of its founder; the Church to .themselves. Harriet first and foremost in the great battle- Newell, at Mauritius; Harriet Wins- field, yet seeking the last and lowest low, at Ceylon; Martyn, at Tokat; among the ranks of men.-Robert N. Grant, at Mosul; Perkins and Stod- Oust. dard, at Urumia; Levi Parsons, uncle -Some society will do well to look of the honored Governor of the State of him up ; for he has in him the stuff of New York, who died at. Alexandriawhich first-class missionaries are made. these places are sacred in the thought The story is told of a young man in an and to the hearts of Christians because Eastern college who, with a view of earn- of those missionary graves. The earth ing money to pay his way through was consecrated once for all by the school, inserted an .. ad" in the local cross of Christ set up upon it, and it is column of the daily, as follows: " An consecrated afresh by every missionary impecunious student wants work of any grave. Every land where a missionary kind ; business experience, expert book- father or mother has fallen is sacred keeper and cashier; can saw wood or unto God. It is the possessiou of the milk a cow." Church of Christ.-Dr. R. S. Storr8.
-Behold the high ideal upon which -As far back as 1835, when the every disciple of Christ is to fix his American Board was establishing a misgaze, and toward which he is contin- sion on the West Coast of Africa, there ually to push his way. Well did Rev. were those who deemed it a foolish and W. G. Peel say in a paper recently wicked waste of life. But in an annual read at the Bombay Conference: "A report it was written: "The Christian full development of the missionary Church ought not to forget that in the spirit means, in ultimate analysis, such space of less than forty years not less a conditioning of Christian men and than 17 separate expeditions were sent women, who are verily members of the from Europe, whose object was to asmystical Body of Christ, as to allow of certain the source and termination of Christ's living Ilis life through them, the Niger; to which 11 leaders and 8 to permit of Christ's mind freely ex- other men of education who accompressing itself through them, to admit panied them, besides scores of attend· of Christ's power actively and effec- ants, sacrificed their Iives. The greattually working in and through them, to est minds in Europe dreamed the object ensure a flow of Christ's Gospel as worthy of the cost, while the world ad- • rivers of living water' out of them, mired and praised the devoted enthu· to exhibit to the world spiritual tem- siasm of these martyrs to the spirit of ples of God in which Christ is enthroned geographical research."
as God, supreme, dominating, and au- -According to Mr. Lloyd, of the thoritativc, and to furnish, really sup- Church Missionary Society, for nearly ply to the world, all the fruits of the eleven years missionaries labored in Holy Spirit of God which Christ re- Foochow and its neighborhood without ceived 'without measure' and abun- a single convert, and the work was on dantly imparts to all true members of the eve of being given up. But in 1861 His Body." 3 men came over to the side of Christ; -The 400 acres of Greenwood Ceme- and now in that one province there are tery hold to themselves the hearts of 30,000 professed Christians, and the millions whose friends have there been Church Missionary Society alone has in laid down in their last sleep. The na· it 10 ordained Chinese ministers and tional cemeteries of the country hold 170 churches. -The Anglo·Saxons are missionary ary colleges in all unevangelized lands, and thus raise up a great company of at heart. Out ot 139 missionary socie- young men to be lwme missionary lead- ers, each in his own country and among ties at work in the world, 121 are sup- his own people. So shall Hindus evanported by Anglo·Saxon money; and gelize India, Japanese, Japan, etc. out of the $12,500,000 given for foreign missions, over $10,000,000 came from YOUNG PEOPLE. the Anglo.Saxon race. – Tlw New Era. -In "rder to stir up the members of -At a Presbyterian Missionary Con- the Y. M. C. A. to larger measures of gress held not long since in New J er- prayer and giving for missions, The sey, William Rankin gave these reasons Young Men'8 Era has begun in the why we ought to believe in foreign mis- .. Field of the World" a series of artisions: (1) The purpose of God, as we cles on India, written by Mr. David Mcnnd it promised to Abraham, t· In thy Conaughy, Jr., secretary for India of seed shall all the nations of the earth be the International Committee, who for blessed ;" (2) the command of our Sav- several years has been in that field layior, .. Go ye, therefore, and teach all ing the foundations for a work which nations;" (3) the example of the primi- promises, under the favor of God, to tive Church-" beginning at Jerusa· have a large part in the great work of lem," they went across the 1Egean Sea taking the light of the Gospel into India. and planted the Gospel in Europe; (4) the benevolence of the Christian relig- -The Association in Louisville, Ky., ion; (5) the spiritual condition of the has undertaken to raise $150,000 for a heathen world; (6) the events of Provi- suitable headquarters, and under the dence in our day; (7) the seal of the impulse of $30,000 subscriptions made Holy Spirit; (8) the certainty of suc- at one meeting after a glowing appeal cess; (9) the reflective influence of for- by Rev. B. Fay Mills, has good hope of eign missions upon the Church at home. success.
-A significant movement has been -At the semi-annual meeting of the inaugurated in London, under the aus· trustees of the Christian Endeavor Sopices of laymen, entitled" A Mission· ciety, held in December at Detroit, the ary Mission to Men." This does not report of the secretary showed that mean, as one might suppose, to men in there were 42,800 societies, with a memthe slums of London, or men in India bership of 2,568,000. The societies in or China, but rather to those in the this country number 34,392, and there churches of England, to awaken in are 3185 in Canada, 3000 in England, them a suitable apprehension of their and over 1600 in Australia. The three duty to carry the Gospel to others. Let weeks before the report closed showed us have such a mission among the men an enrollment of 133,115, and 105 socieof the United States I ties.
-The New York Evangelist offers at -At the convention of the New a cost of $1350 a missionary tour ex- South Wales Endeavor Union, greettending through next spring to summer, ings were received from the United Soand including the West and the Pacific ciety in America, from Texas, Iowa, coast (with their Indian, Mormon, Chi- China, India, Ireland, and all the Ausnese, and frontier problems), Japan, tralian colonies. China, Formosa, Borneo, New Guinea, Tasmania, New Zealand, the Fiji, Ton- -The missionary spirit so marked ga, and Samoan Islands, Hawaii, etc. among Endeavorers in America is not peculiar to this land. At the recent -The latest, and perhaps by far the convention of the New South Wales most important phase of the great Stu- Union 12 delegates offered themselves dent Volunteer Movement, is found in for service in the foreign mission field. the effort to extend it to all the mission- – l'he name of the Endeavor Society whites is contemplated by a number of in Germany has been changed from representative ministers and Christian Jugend Verein Ohristlicher Bestrobun- business men from various denomina· gen (Young People's Association for tions. to be located in the mountains of Ohristian A.ctivity), to Jugend Bund fur western North Carolina. Options have Entschiedenes Christenthum (Young been secured on some 20,000 acres of People's Society for Decisive Christian- land about twenty miles from Ashe- ity). This was done so that the mono- ville. The scope of the work is entirely gram .. C. E." might be preserved. missionary and cooperative. Its advan- There is no foreign language that can tages are to be reserved chiefly for reo literally translate " Endeavor." ligious people. The first lots are to be -It is significant to note that or t::locie- obtained on long leases for a nominal ties of Buddhist Endeavor," on the Jines sum. There is to be no land speculaof the Endeavor movement. have been tion. All profits accruing from sale of established in Japan by the Buddhist land are to be used in beautifying the and Shinto priests, in order to counter- site and in miSSionary and educational act the work of Christian teachers and operations.
societies. They advocate much of the -Clara Barton, President of the Red philanthropy of the New Testament, and Cross Society for the United States, has have begun to employ" Buddhist Bible- announced that the society will under- women." take to receive and distribute contribu· AMERICA. tions and supplies for the sufferers in Turkey, the demands having been such United States.-According to the in- that they could not be resisted. It is ternal revenue statistics, there are 208,- estimated that 350,000 persons will need 380 retail liquor-dealers in the United relief, and that it will require $5,000,- States and 4555 wholesale dealers. In 000 to supply their necessities. A.meri· addition, there are several thousand cans will not be backward in meeting dealers in malt liquors at retail and the demands of the occasion.
wholesale, 1440 rectifiers. and 1771 -Chicago has 10 social settlements, brewers, making a total of 232,295 per. and they are united in a federation. sons or firms engaged in the liquor The following is the list of names and business in a popUlation of 65,000,000, locations: Hull House, 335 South Halor one to every 280 inhabitants. New stead Street; Northwestern University, York, with 41,176 licenses, heads the 252 West Chicago Avenue; Jewish Set· list. Illinois is second, with 17,833; tlement, 1[)8 West Thirteenth Place; and then follow in order, Ohio, Penn- University ot Chicago, 4655 Gross Ave· sylvania, and California. nue ; Epworth House, 229 South Hal- -The OMi8tian Advocate figures the stead; Chicago Commons, 140 North nationality of the persons engaged in Union Street; Olivet Mission, 279 Cly- the retail liquor traffic in Philadelphia bourn Avenue; Unity Settlement, 80 as follows: Chinamen, 2; Jews, 2; Elen Etreet; Helen Heath House, 869 Italians, 18; Spaniards, 140; negroes, Thirty-third Court; Sedgwick Street 265; Welsh, 160; French, 185; Scotch, Mission, 374 Sedgwick Street. Miss 497; English, 568; Germans, 2851; Jane Addams is president, and Professor Irish, 3041; Americans, 205. Total, Graham Taylor secretary. The total 8034. Of this number, 7638 are Roman number of residents is about 75.
Catholics. Of the saloon·keepers, 3696 -New York City has a Charity Or· are women, all foreigners but 1, and all ganization Society which issues a di- Roman Oatholics. rectory, a book of over 500 pages. Says -A colony for health and rest and the Independent: "We commend it to for missionary effort among mountain the careful study of those who declare that the churches arc doing little or Dr. Jessup regards this action as • some· nothing for the sodal and temporal wel- what startling' in this age of Christian fare of the people. It divides the be- comity. Schweifat is only six miles nevolent resources of the city into from Beirut, our mission has sustained classes, with their organizations, as fol- schools and services there for nearly lows: Public charities, 71; for tem- forty years; 5 Protestant churches can porary relief, 164,; for special relief, be seen from the village. Very perti- 64; for foreigners' relief, 32; for per- nent is Dr. Jessup's inquiry: • Are all manent relief, 85; for medical relief, the fields of Asia and Africa so crowd- 189; for defectives, 44; for reforma- ed with laborers that their friends can tion, 24; missions, orders, etc., 63 ; mis- find no other place in which to spend cellaneous, 232; mutual, 78 ; churches their funds? ' " and congregations (with their regular charitable and benevolent societies), 620. -The Presbyterians have 690 -Total, 1664. To these may be added churches with 33,000 communicants 29 organizations, some temporary, or in foreign fields, in maintenance of not yet fully established, making the which they last year spent $976,000. full total, 1695." -A Southern Presbyterian has given -The Children's Aid Society reports $5000 for a hospital in Soochow, and a that during tile last year, in 6 lodging- Lutheran {General Synod) $2000 for one houses were 5701 different boys and in the Muhlenberg Mission, West Af- girls; 231,120 meals and 167,733 lodg- rica. ings were supplied. In the 21 day and 12 evening 8cllo01s 13,724 children were -Dr. W. A. P. Martin, President of taught, partly fed, and partly clothed; the Imperial College, Peking, has resign- 807,939 meals were supplied; 2059 were ed the charge of that institution after a sent to homes and employment; 4358 quarter century of service, and is in this were aided with food, medicine, etc., country on leave of absence. He now through the" Sick Children's Mission" ; goes on the retired list with the title of 5769 children enjoyed the benefits of President Emeritus, and the mandarin the "summer home" at Bath, L. I. ; rank of tajen, .. great man," conferred 6156 mothers and sick infants were sent by the Chinese Government. to the" health home" at Coney Islaud. Tot~l number under charge of the Sl>- -Dr. A. W. Rudisill, of Madras, the ciety during tile year, 37,979, at an ex- head of the Methodist publishing house pense of $7812. The total expense of in India, came to this country a year the industrial schools and night schools ago to equip himself for starting an was $134,863, while the running ex- electrotyping department. He went penses of the lodging-houses were $57,- into a shop in Baltimore as an appren- 875. tice, and by working from five o'clock in the morning until midnight, not only – I t would seem as tho the Turk were learned the business, but excited so making mischief enough in Western much interest in his work that he re- Asia, but Woman's Work for Woman turned to India with $11,000 contributgives this neWS item, which is com- ed to his enterprises without solicitation. mended "to whom it may concern" : " Seven Christian (or Disciple) ministers -The evangelical outlook in Mexico from the United States landed at BeirUt is full of hope. A recent writer says: September 29th, and, without confer- .. Every year the demand for the Bible ring with missionaries there, drove out increases. In 1894 the American Bible to Schweifat, immersed 7 and ordained Society employed 50 colporteurs, who a young Syrian as their missionary, to traversed Mexico in every direction." labor in that village. No wonder that -A colporteur of the Valparaiso Bible Society recently sold in one district in the north 1800 pesos' (about 35 i8ts, £211,486; Nonconformist societies cents to the peso) worth of Bibles and in England and Wales, £379,550; Seotch religious books in three months. and Irish Presbyterian societies, £195,- 944 ; Roman Cath01ic societies, £15,879. -The number of missionaries of all 'societies working on the South Ameri- -Ina latelypubl!shed book Sir John can continent is about 400. The Prot- Lubbock tells us that since 1887 the estant adherents number about 100,000, number of persons in prison has de- of whom 70,000 are in the Guianas, creased nearly a third. In juvenile principally in Dutch Guiana, where crime the decrease is even more satis- Moravian efforts have been attendt:d factory. In 1856 the number of young with remarkable success. persons committed was 14,000; last year, in spite of the enormOUS increase EUROPE. of the population, the number was only 5100. The yearly average of persons Great Britain.-Mr. Arnold White sentenced to penal servitude in the five suggests, in The Obse'I'Ver, that after 8 years ending in 1864 was 2800, and that century of missionary labor the time number has steadily fallen, being for has come when a royal commission last year only 729, or but one quarter. should be formed to inquire into the re- notwithstanding the increase of popusults, so that untraveled Englishmen lation. In fact, 8 convict prisons have may have the opportunity of forming become unnecessary and have been ap· an impartial judgment on questions that plied to other purposes. are now under dispute. The real occasion of the suggestion is the trouble -The London Police Court Mission our country has with China; for Mr. was a powerful agency for good to the White would have our government give 85,000 persons who passed through the " denominational missionaries clearly to police courts of London in 1894; 15,- understand that if they choose to run 855 of these were helped by the misrisks, it is they, aud not the tax-payers sion ; more than 1000 girls and women of this country, who must take the con- were rescued from shame and degradasequences." So far as we know, this tion ; 177 men were admitted into the is just what the missionaries do. But home, and 149 have done well; 89 lads if missionaries are Englishmen, and they were admitted into the lads' shelter ate assaulted or slain in defiance of home, and 279 were restored to friends. treaty rights, then the Government in- Thirteen missionaries work in the courts. tervenes, not because they are missionaries, but because they are Englishmen. -Early in J'lnuary the editor-in-chief As for the proposed royal commission, of this REVIEW began his series of meetwhy not have one to inquire how far ings at Liverpool; will visit Wales, the Christianity has justified its existence West of England, and Ireland during in England after eighteen hundred the first three months; and during the years ?-London Ohristian. next quarter he will travel in Scotland and the Midland counties, returning to -Canon Scott Robertson's twenty- London for conferences at Exeter Hall fourth report of the voluntary contribu- and Mildmay. Surely many and fertions of Christians in the British Isles in vent should be the petitions that great support of foreign missionary work grace be bestowed upon this gifted and shows that last year the total contribut- eminent promoter of world-wide mised amounted to £1,375,571. Only in sions. 1891 has this total been exceeded. This total is divided as follows: Church of -A large company, some weeks ago, England societies, £572,712; joint so- assembled at an Edinburgh railway stacieties of churchmen and Nonconform- tion to bid Godspeed to one who has spent nearly half a century in the foreign field. This was the Rev. William dren, and it is the exception to find a Anderson of Old Calabar. He is re- Spanish farmer who is able to read or turning to Africa to devote his remain- write. Germany boasts of being in the ing life to the furtherance of a work foremost rank among the nations in the which has happily been most encourag· kulturkampf of the world, yet she exing and successful in his hands. We pends $185,000,000 on her army, while congratulate the United Presbyterian $10,000,000 is deemed sufficient for edu- Church in having such a veteran to rep- cation. France maintains an army at resent it.-JIlree Ohurch Monthly. an expense of $151,000,000, and sup- portl! her schools with $21 000,000. The -Queen Victoria honored herself and United States expends $1~5,OOO,OOO for her realm when she received the Chris- public schools, while the army and tian King Khama and the other .ifrican navy cost only $54,000,000. chiefl! in Windsor Palace. And it was a righteous act when assurances were ASIA. given that the Government would see to it that no chartered company was Islam.-The fleets of European powsuffered to force upon his people any of ers now gathered in the Levant are forthe vices of civilized countries. midable enough to compel the assent of the Porte to any terms which these -George Miiller, of Bristol, recently powers can unite ·upon. England has celebrated his ninetieth birthday. His 28 vessels in Turkish waters, 10 of them orphan houses, known all the world first-class battleships. France has 19, over, have been wholly supported by Russia 13, Italy 6, while Germany, "prayer and faith" during the sixty- Austria, and Greece have enough within one years of their existence. He has easy reach of the Dardanelles to swell received for them altogether the sum of the number to 80 or more. $6,866,743, and has provided for the maintenance and instruction of 120,763 -At no time nor in any age has human children. It is also said that he has life been safe from a violent death in a been the direct and indirect means of Mohammedan land, writes Dr. William distributing more copies of the Bible H. Thomson, in Harper'8 Magazine. than any other individual. The sword renders every country where Isalm rules alone a constantly increas- The Continent.-The Basle Mission- ing scene of desolation. No roads are ary Society closed its last financial year ever kept up in a Mohammedan region. with a balance in the treasury of more No man ever went from one Mohammethan 64,000 francs. The receipts sur- dan city to another unless he carried passed those of the previous year by arms or joined a cavalcade. It is not 60,326 francs, and this increase is due safe to travel alone for a mile's space in simply to the consent of the contribu- the Moslem world beyond the reach of tors to the" missionary penny collec- some Christian occupying power. No tion" to increase their annual offering traveler can tread the soil of Mecca or by 40 cents. visit the ruins of Yemen but at the peril of his life. Wherever Islam reigns un- -The Moravian Church is endeavor- checked, whether in Arabia, Afghanising to accumulate £15,000 for a medical tan, or Morocco, this uniform but natumissionary training fund, but so far ral outcome of the religion founded by only £1500 have been received. a highwayman is the fruit by which this tree is to be judged. To a sincere -Italy expends every year $96,000,- Moslem no Christian has a right to live 000 for her soldiers, and less than unless he has paid the kltaroj, or escape- $4,000,000 for her schools. In Spain it money, of Koran law from decapitation. costs $100,000,000 to maintain the army, and only $1,500,000 to educate the chil- [February -The press censorship, as Dr. Samuel as the most insane policy he could Jessup says, suggests the propriety of adopt. The Armenians are among the the organization of a " Society for the most industrious and inoffensive people Prevention of Cruelty to Manuscripts." in the world. Their habits of thrift The words "freedom" and "union" have made them in commerce and in are always obliterated. No Christian finance correspond in the East to the can be called" a learned man" except Jews in Europe. They have been pros- by some paraphrase. Royalty, if it reo pering too much, and as many of them fers to any Christian king or queen, have caught some of the spirit and in- must be designated by some inferior centive to progress of Europe and title. In the Bible dictionary, which America, the word has gone forth from Dr. Post is preparing. all references to the old conclave of Islam's real rulers, rebellion, such as those of Absalom and the UIema of Constantinople, that the Adonijah, are suppressed, all incidents Armenian is to be suppressed in true and references to the geography and his- Moslem fashion.-Dr. WILLIAM H.
tory of the land now known as Armenia THOMSON, in Harper's Magazine.
are especially scrutinized and doctored. -A colporteur of the British and Mount Ararat has been leveled to a Foreign Bible Society reports that in plain. The Scripture quotation, " King distributing 2412 gospels and portions of kings," is made to read, "King of of the Bible in Jerusalem, these 18 lanthe kings of the Gentiles," with the in- guages were required: Russian, 1570 ; tent of excepting the Sultan as one not Armenian, 162; Armeno-Turkish. 160 ; under the kingship of Christ. Wher- Arabic, 106 ; Turkish, 25 ; Greco-Turkever a title occurs which is in special use ish, 20; Greek Modern, 180; Bulgaamong Moslems in a religious or politi- rian, 50; Abyssinian, 40; French, 20 ; cal' sense, it is stricken out, and some English, 10; German, 15; Italian, 17 ; insignificant designation put in its Servian, 7; Croatian, 10: Bohemian, place. The word "martyr" is not al- 10: Polish, 5; Roumanian, 5. lowed to be applied to Christians, as only Moslems may be called "mar- -November 20th Rev. C. A. V. Van tyrs." The words" college" or " uni- Dyck died in Beirilt, aged seventy-seven, versity," in connection with Christian and after fifty-five years of devoted education, are erased. The Syrian Prot- missionary service. He was healer, estant College must be called a " School preacher, teacher, translator, all in one, for Young Boys. "-Ohurc1t at Home and was the greatest of Arabic scholars. and Abroad. His life work centered and found its -Native Christian popUlations under climax in the Arabic translation of the the Turk have been, during this gen- Bible, which is no doubt destined to eration, steadily increasing in numbers, playa momentous part in the coming wealth, and intelligence, simply because evangelization of the entire Mohammethey eagerly strive for a share in the dan world_ civilization of their more fortunate India.-In the recent debate on the brethren of the West. The Moslem is Indian Budget in the House of Com- by his religion absolutely shut out from mons, Sir Henry Fowler said: "In any such share. Everywhere he is los- dealing with Indian questions Indian ing ground and growing poorer, while interests ought to be supreme, as on the Christian is growing richer and no other ground could we hold that wiser than he_ He has to witness the empire_" WoIds like these, spoken despised Christians rapidly outstripping in the British House of Commons, are him in every respect. It is this which carefully treasured up in memory by fills him with fury, and prompts him to Indian politicians and used as the those acts which we are so apt to regard Magna Charta of Indill:'s political privi. leges, and as the basis of India's ex- pensaries had increased by 76 per cent, pectations. It is to be hoped that the and was in the latter year 2025, while English public will not allow such the number of patients treated was 16,- broad statements of policy to pass un- 973,468-an increase of 176 per cent.
noticed or lie unforgotten. India ex- For cataract alone 20,279 operations pects England to fulfil her promises. were performed, and 7,500,000 persons A.nd whatever England promises, India were vaccinated, yet only one fifteenth henceforth claims as her right. India of the people of Bengal live within five in 1858 had no right to demand the miles of a dispensary.
terms given by the Queen's proclama· -An Indian Mohammedan gentleman tion. But, having received the boon, belonging to the Civil Service, gave the people of this country have tena· this testimony to the good work of the ciously insisted upon the concessions of missionary school. Speaking of his the proclamation as their inalienable Bengal Christian teacher, he said: "He right. Statements like that of Sir taught me the meaning of truth, and Henry Fowler's will be treasured up in honor, and sympathy, and love. No the same manner. And so long as these man ever influenced me as he did, and assurances are lived up to, India will when he died I mourned him as a fabe satisfied; but if it is rumored that ther." England is breaking faith with India, trouble will follow. The words quoted -Dr_ Miller, of the ~radras Christian above arrest attention because the rela· College, has been the mark for much tions between a supreme power and severe criticism on account of his alsubordinate provinces in distant lands leged lack of Christian fervor in teachare not usually maintained on such ing. Therefore these words from the terms. Turkey's relations with Ar- Principal are well worth reading; menia would have to be radically " Taking into account the last sixteen changed if the Porte should lay down or twenty years, I am confident that the rule that Armenian interests are to there are as many, or probably more, be supreme in dealing with that un- men now active members of the Chrishappy province. Spain and Cuba are tian Church who became so through not held together by such a silken bond their being baptized either while actuas that. We do not think the world's ally students of the Madras Christian history furnishes another such instance. College, or as the direct result of their It is certainly a Significant fact that the connection with it, than have been greatest colonial empire ever under the similarly added to the Church through sway of a single ruler is governed, pro· the instrumentality, not only of any fessedly at least, according to the prin- one, but of all the other 17 mission colciples laid down by Sir Henry Fowler. leges, or at all events of the 13 Prot- Some people in Canada and South estant mission colleges in Southern India Africa and Australia, as well as in put together."
India, say that England does not always -The popular conception of a Mo.
transact business with her colonies ac· hammedan Malay is that he is a very cording to this rule. Yet it is a satis· undesirable sort of person. The pub- faction to be told that this is what Eng. lished accounts of the memorial service land wants to do, and will do as soon of the late Sultan of Johore will serve as she can afford it.-Indian Witness. to correct this impression. And the memorial service held at Johore last -Some figures published in " Medi- September, under the direction of the cal Missions in India," by the late Medi· Presbyterian Church, is also a reminder cal Congress at Calcutta, are of inter- that some wrong impressions concern- est. Between 1877 and 1893 the num- ing possible harmony betwcen Chris- ber of government hospitals and dis- tians and Mohammedans must be removed before the white light of truth a branch line from Peking to Kalgan, fills our minds. The service began by are things which are sure to come in singing the hymn, "Our God, our help the not distant future.-.Rev. Henry in ages past," followed by the Psalm, BZodgett.
" Lord, thou hast been our dwelling· -Robert Coltman, M.D., writes from place." Prayer was offered by the Rev. Peking: "Two years ago I was called G. M. Reith, and addresses were given to see a Manchu official named Rui, by the Dato Meldrum, a Mohammedan who had been stricken with paralysis. official, and by the Rev. J. A. B. Cook. Under treatment he gradually recov- Mr. Cook said of the late Sultan that ered, and is now able to go about. He "He stood head and shoulders above sent at first for his medicine by his son, all the Malay princes of his time."- a young man of twenty-one years. Indian Witness. Afterward he came himself, and they -In our much speech concerning the both listened attentively to the preach- marvels of Japan's progress, let us not ing of the hospital evangelist in the forget that Siam also is forging forward waiting.room. From the truth they into line with civilized nations. ~he heard there they became interested in has her railroads and telegraphs. She Christianity, and daily attended Mr.
enjoys electric lights. But the newest Ament's chapel, which was much nearer and most significant act is her accept· than ours. They also invited Miss Rus- ance of the Red Cross Treaty, by which sell, of the American Board, to visit them she binds herself to recognize the neu· and in a little more than a year, father, trality of those who minister to the mother, and son all united with the wounded in·time of war. church of the American Board mission, China.-It secms to be a fact well and are living good Christian lives. established that, as in Turkey the recent atrocities were all planned in Constanti· -European statesmen rejoiced when nople, so also in the Celestial Empire the gates of the "hermit nations," riot and murder did not originate among China and Japan, were forced. It the masses. but were contrived and en· meant an immense extension of comcouraged by mandarins, governors, and merce. They rejoiced again when Japan such like. It is they who start foul began to introduce Western civilizaslanders and stir up the baser sort of the tion. It means an immense demand for people. Western food, clothing, and machinery. But now they are standing aghast at -An imperial rescript has sanctioned the fact that the Japanese are supplying the construction of a trunk line of rail- their own wants, and are already com· way from Chinkiang, near Nanking, peting with Europe in supplying China along the Grand Canal to Peking. This and India. They have dismissed forwill connect with the line from Tientsin eigners from their mills and machine to Shanhaikwan, and thence to Kerin shops. They operate 2100 miles of rail- -in Manchuria, ultimately connecting road, and the only foreigner employed with the Russian transcontinental rail· is a Scotchman who married a Japanese way. The length of the line will be woman. Sir Charles Lyall says that not less than 1500 miles, and it will con· "the industrial inventions by which nect the heart of Manchuria with Pe· Europe has prevailed over Asia are king and Shanghai. This railway, so about to be turned against her."
far from being opposed, was approved AFRICA. alike by metropolitan and provincial official!!. This is one of the results of -The agent of the American Bible the war. An extension of this line to' Society reports favorably on Bible cir- Canton, a line to the western provinces, culation in Egypt, the work being done mainly through the agency of the Amer- 50,000 natives and 8000 European miican Presbyterian mission. Arabic is ners, and there are 2700 stamps in operathe language used by all. Six of the tion. Moreover, this body of ore, which 7,000,000 of inhabitants are l-lohamme- is more regularly distributed than the dans, and Bible distribution among ore of any other gold region in the them is much less restricted than in world, shows no signs of decreasing, Turkey. The following figures show and experts estimate the value of the how the work has expanded in the last gold in the Witwatersrand district at thirty years. From 1865-74 the number between £300,000,000 and £350,000,000. of copies distributed was 6630. From The profits of working are enormots, 1875-84 it was 45,586 ; and from 1885- especially since the application of what 94 it was 116,474. is known as the cyanide process of ex- traction secures from 80 to 85 per cent -The news of a meeting of Chris- of the gold in the ore, instead of the 50 tians, Mohammedans, and pagans at per cent that was the rule under the old Ibadan, on the West Coast of Africa, system. for the purpose of condemning the drink traffic, sounds strange but hope- -In a recent interview with a press ful. The people have taken the matter agency, Mr. Pilkington, of the Uganda up themselves, and in the Yoruba lan- Mission, said: "Since the proclamaguage have condemned Europe for its tion of the protectorate in Uganda, deadly work, and pledged themselves matters have been much more settIedto support every effort which may be the natives realizing that the British made in Europe or Africa to bring it to will not now leave the country. A an end. One of the speakers referred large number of the Mohammedans who to the love of some of his countrymen left the country after the recent rising for liquor in this language: "In talk- are returning from the German terriing to you, countrymen, to give up the tory, and are quietly settling down. liquor traffic, you will not like to hear, The two great factions of the Waganda because it is as one announcing to you people-the Protestants and the Roman tbe sad news of the death of your dear Catholics-are living amicably together, father or mother." and there is no prospect of any politi· cal strife between them. The Mo- -Six guineas were recently sent to hammedans in the country are quite Dr. Barnardo, for his homes in London, friendly, particularly with the Protesfrom the boys and girls of Lovedale tants. " Missionary Institution, South Africa; "This sum," said the accompanying -The defeat of the Italians in Abysletter, "is the amount of their church- sinia is a serious reverse; and more serio door collection for a school session, and ous is the report that the Abyssinians the destination of the money was en- are advancing against the Italians with tirely of their own proposing. Many 100,000 men. Those Abyssinians are of these Kaffir boys and girls know a bitter fighters, and have before now good deal about your work, and are in- beaten small European armies. It is terested in it." likely to be a heavier task to conquer Ras Alula than the Italians may relish; -The Witwatersrand gold.bearing but their colonial policy is probably a formation of Africa, which has attract. wise one, and it will have the support ed great attention, is more than 50 miles of England, which gives permission for long, and the works of the mines ex- the Italian troops to march from Ery· tend over 20 miles of this distance. threa on Kassala, which is in the Eng- There are employed about the works lish sphere.-Independent. ISLANDS OF THE SEA. operations on New Britain, which will of course require a few Fijians as well -Great success now attends the work as what native teachers we can raise. of the Rhenish Mission in Sumatra. At Already we have 3 boys stationed in the the beginning of last year there were bush. at some considerable distance 6000 candidates for baptism in the Bat- from the coast, and the results they tak tribe, and of these 1000 were con- have already achieved urge us to furverts from Mohammedanism. In the ther effort. During the past year 4 southern part of the island the entire Fijians have returned to Fijifrom Ralupopulation have been followers of the ana and 1 has died, while I have refalse prophet, and until six years ago ceived but 3 new men, leaving me with no one thought it wise to attack the 2 Fijians less than at the commenceenemy in such a stronghold. At that ment of the past year, while at Kabatime a missionary established himself kada 1 Fijian has died and 5 have reamong them, and recently reported 350 turned home, whereas we have only baptisms and 500 others as receiving in- recei ved 2 Fijians and 2 Samoans. I struction with a view to baptism. In would like just enough Fijians to overthis number are several chiefs. Evan- see the boys." gelists are asked for on all sides, and even Mohammedan fanatics are turning -The French missionaries in the So· to Christianity. Moslem priests, in de- ciety Isles report that the condition of spair of their cause, have actually left public education in Tahiti is very critisome of the villages, and there is a gen- cal at present. In order to be economieral impression that Islam has had its cal and to Frenchify, the Government day in a great part of that region. is seeking more and more to Catholicize the schools. It has a very simple plan -Rev. Oscar Michelsen, writing from -to close all the schools with which it Tongoa, New Hebrides, in July last, is not satisfied. The field is thus said: "The work for which we live thrown open to the Catholic priests, continues to prosper. Do not suppose with whom the Protestants can only that there are not a thousand little compete at a disadvantage. The future things to try us; but these are only of Protestantism in these islands seems spiritual tonics, and things are going to be in danger, and the prayers of forward for all that. As an indication Christian sympathizers are entreated.- of that I may mention that three weeks Journal de8 Mi8sions Evangeliques. ago I baptized 72 men and women on their profession of faith in Jesus. They -So far the reports from Madagascar were first instructed by the teachers, are of a reassuring character. The and then examined by myself. They French have been humane in the hour had also been attending my Friday of victory. When a deputation of misafternoon Bible-class for over a year. sionaries waited on General Duchesne, The Sunday before last 193 of us sat he received them very kindly, and asdown at the Lord's table, and there was sured them that they need fear no intera cash collection of £13 48. as an ex- ference from him or his; and to a deppression of gratitude to the Savior." utation of native pastors he declared that they would all be allowed full lib- – What strange reading is this from erty of conscience and worship. a missionary on the island of New Britain I Note, not tho literary style, but -A cable message from Antananathe frequency of a name which not long rivo, the capital of Madagascar, via since stood for the extreme of ferocity Port Louis, island of Mauritius, states and nameless vices: " We sadly need that 2 missionaries at Arivonimamo, a few more Fijians to open up Kaibaira, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, of the English Port Webber. We want to extend our Friends' Mission, have been murdered during a riot.
The Missionary Review of the World — October 1895
TOlIB OF EZR_ OX THE TIGRIS
A GLIMPSE OF THE CHEEK AT Bl'SRAH. ARABIA. MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVIn. No.lO.-.Oltl&riu.-OO~OBER.-VoL. YIn. No.lO.-Ne?JISerie8.
MIRAOLES OF MISSIONS.-No. XXIV.
* THE ROMANCE OF THE HovA BIBLE.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
As the heart makes the theology, so, it is to be feared, it often makes the history, or at least misreads it. Because amid the four millions of Madagascar nine tenths still ramain heathen, there is on the part of some no little proneness to depreciate the grand results of Protestant missions there, and to disparage the magnitude of the work begun in 1820.
We have thought well to reproduce, from the ·panorama of these seventy-five years, one scene which is at once full of romance and reality, pathetic and poetic, vivid in its contrasts and intense in its interest-the story of the Malagasy Bible. Christian missions have many such pictures, which need no retouching by humau hands to make them brilliant with historic lustre, and fascinating with romantic beauty; but this story of the Hova Scriptures wiJl bear to be Fut beside any similar narrative of this Illissionary century.
Seventy-five years ago two humble Welshmen landed on the coast of Madagascar-David Jones and David Griffiths. But one year apart in their arrival at Antananarivo, they were the pioneers of Protestant missions on this great island, which has been called the Britain of the Dark Continent.
They found the French missio~, which had preceded them by more than a century and a half, had scarce left even a permanent footprint to mark its twenty years of experiment. Madagascar was still virgin soil ; the people lacked all true knowledge of Christ, and had not even a written language. It waa still a pioneer work that was to be done ; and a score of years of teaching, discouragement, and hardship had failed even to lay the foundations for a church of Christ.
* See" Mada,galiCal'.of To-d&y." By Rev. W. E. ColllliDl. F. U. Revell" Co.
JlI&ACLIII 0.- 1II11l0lfS
The reason was obvious. Roman Catholics had made there, as in 1M) many other places, the fatal mistake of not gitJing to the J"OPle the Wortl of God. God has ordained that no mission work shall be lasting which does not magnify the Holy Scriptures as the corner-stone of Christian education. These two WcIslunen recognized the cause of the failure of Nacquart and Gondree, and they began, as soon as they learned the Malagasy tongue, and when, in fact, they were u yet novices in this strange language, to translate into it the Word of God. Distrusting their own imperfect acquaintance with the vernacular, they selected from their more promising ~cholars, some as usistante, and they are still honored in Madagascar as "The Twelve." So faithful was the work done, that by March, 1830, only ten years after D~vid Jones had reached the capital, the first edition of three thousand copies of the New Testament was com. pleted j and considerable portions of the Old Testament had likewise been translated.
The devil now came down, having great wrath, as though he knew that, with an open Bible, his time would be short. Already the Word of God we had begun to turn the little world of the HoVAS upside down; and need no greater proof of the mighty power and inlluence it had begun to wield among the people than the organized opposition it now encountered.
Soon after King Radama I. died, in 1828 clouds began to gather OD the horizon, and lurid lightnings played amid the darkness. There were threatenings of a coming storm, and seven years later the violence of a malicious and cruel persecution burst upon the infant church. Queetl Ranavalona I.-the Bloody Mary of Madagucar-issued her famous edict against the religion of the Christian's Bible, March 1st, 1835.
At that time a part of the Book of Job, and the whole of the Old Testament from Ezekiel to Malachi, remained yet to go through the press. Uncertain how soon, by expulsion or martyrdom, they might have to leave the young church to itself, the missionaries prayed for time and strength to complete the Malagasy Bible. It wu like attempting to gather up household goods and put them in a place of shelter when a volcano WIUI belching out lava and ashes overhead. Undismayed by danger, undaunted by difficulty, deserted by timid converts, and watched by a suspicious government, they toiled without resting and prayed without ceasing.
Unable to secure native aid, they had to do the work of printing aDd even of composing type; but by the end of June, four months after the edict of intolerance had pealed out its thunders, the first bound copies of the complete Bible were ready for the HOTa Church !
And now the next question wu bow to prevent this whole editiOD from destruction by the Satanic queen and her sernle miDions. Most of these new Bibles were secretly scattered among· the converts in whose piety and loyalty they could repose most confidence. But, for greater securi~1' and so that, if all these were discovered and consigned to the lIames, as many of them were, a precious remnant might I1U'vlVe, they bnriedsevellty
189r;.] KIRACLES OJ' KI88IONS. '728
copies in the earth-precious seed for a future harvest when the storm should have spent its fury.
They had done their work none too soon or too speedily i and now their expulsion was decreed, and for twenty-five years Protestant missionariel!l were exiles. The translators of the Bible were driven from Madagascar, but the Bible they had translated was not so easily driven away. In th. story of that martyr church two facts stand out like opposing mountain peaks on a landscape-like Gerizim, the mount of blessing, and Ebal, the mount of curse, at the gateway to the plains of Sychar-the intense hatred of the persecuting queen and her court toward the new Bible, and. the equally intense love and devotion of the Hova martyrs toward that hateci and proscribed book.
History furnishes few more pathetic tales of heroism, even where touched with the pencil of romantic fancy, than is found in the Inartyr church of Madagascar. The blessed Book had to be treasured in secret, and in secret read and studied. Discovery meant the sure destruction of the book, and the almost equally sure death of the possessor. Every copy of the Bible was therefore kept and read at risk of life. A quarter of a century is a long period of testing i but they stood th~ test. When some of the Bibles were found, as they were, and committed to the flames, they hid the rest in trunks of trees and in rock caves, and many of them committed large portions to memory, that at least one imperishable record might be preserved which no fire could destroy. And, when the missionaries once more found welcome at Madagascar, very few complete Bibles were. left i perhaps not more than a dozen or so survived i and with these was associated a most pathetic interest. They were thumbed and worn into shreds, or patched and so preserved, but treated as precious relics that no price could buy i and he was counted specially bappy who could produce even a few leaves of the sacred Word, however soiled or ragged through much use, or mildewed with the mould of the damp place where they had been secreted.
The revision of this early translation supplies in its way a story scarcely less romantic. On December 1st, 1873, eight foreigners and three natives began a work, not completed until thirteen years later, of retranslation. When the first Bible had been prepared, the knowledge of the language had been so imperfect that, as in all other similar cases, errors had inevitably crept in, and it became necessary to prepare another version, embodying all the results of later and, more accurate scholarship. On that new Revision Committee five denominations of Christians were represented, all working in loving harmony during all the years of the work, though only two Europeans and one native, who were members at the inception, remained on the committee until its completion.
The meetings were held on Wednesdays, and two sittings of three hours each were given to the task. So slowly and carefully was the work done that a day was sometimes spent on a dozen verses, though sometimes from sixty to eighty were covered. But what a beautiful sight in God's eyes it must have been, when, for nearly fourteen years, Anglicans and Lutherans, Presbyterians, Independents and Friends sat every week studi- ously seeking to make a new and complete Bible for the people, forgetting all minor differences in one absorbing aim and work! and, as Mr. Cousins beautifully says, even Mr. Richardson's Malagasy Dictionary lying com- paratively unused on the table, because at one end was a living lexicon of the native language in the person of three native helpers, * to whom, in fact, the final re,·ision was mainly entrusted.
When the labor of these long years reached completion, and the prayers of more than six hundred successive sessions had been answered, it was felt that a thanksgiving service should signalize the close of such a gigantic task. And the place chosen for such a praise service-there could be none so appropriate-was the stone memorial church at Ambonin' Ampamari- nana, the sanctuary reared on the verge of the precipice over which, thirty- eight years before, fourteen Malagasy martyrs had been fiung, because they loved that Bible and would not disown the Christ it had revealed !
But in what different circumstances that thanksgiving service was held!
When that earliest edition had been completed, a storm of pitiless perse- , cation was beating on the heads of native Christians, before which even the ,translators were driven away. Now it was eighteen years since the public burning of the idols, and at the thanksgiving meeting behold His Excellency, Rainilaiarwony, the Prime Minister, sent by a Christian queen, Ranavalona II., the first Christian sovereign of Madagascar, to represent her and convey to all who, had aided in this great work the thanks of the queen. With what emotions must they who remembered the horrors of the reign of the first Ranavalona have heard this noble premier, the queen's consort, as he told of the profound personal interest his royal wife had taken in the work of revision, and how in her jealousy for its perfec- tion she had herself often suggested to the revisers certain suitable words and phrases to convey tho sacred sense. And so in more than two thou- sand congregations and nearly as many schools, representing more than three hundred thousand Protestant Christians, this revised Bible is to be used. .
If facts have any force, surely no one who candidly surveys this pano- ramic scene can doubt that a Divine Artist has been at work. The hand of God has drawn these outlines, and there is a touch of celestial color- ing. The rainbow round about the throne reflects its sevenfold beauty in the history of the Hova Church; there is something which arches this whole seventy-nve years, in sight like unto an emerald. Shall we question the Divine sanction upon missions when seventy-five years among the Hovas work such chang.es and reveal such fruits ~ • P. 122.
THE GOSPEL IN RUSSIA
THE GOSPEL IN RUSSIA.
The writer, in conversation with a highly placed Russian official, in- quired what he thought was the greatest obstacle to the progress of true religion in the great empire of the Czar, and the remarkable answer was immediately given: "There are no obstacles j the people are ready, even the Church is ready. Let the movement but have life, and be in harmony with our Russian sympathies and character, and nothing can oppose or retard it. Before all else, we are a religious people. "
From his peculiar point of view there is much of truth in this dictum of the Russian official. The people are unquestionably prepared for a great religious revival, and in many ways the Orthodox Greek Church shows a liberality and a receptivity which is quite remarkable. Nevertheless, in spite of the official's opinion, there are obstacles to the spread of evangelical religion in Russia, so formidable and so numerous that one almost despairs of seeing them altogether removed in onr day. Let us look for a moment at the position of affairs. Of the one hundred million Russians inhabiting Russia in Europe and Siberia, about eighty millions are orthodox Greek Churchmen, and some twent.y millions are heretics of one school or another-Old Believers, Old Ritualists, Molokans, Stundists, etc. The policy of the Church and State toward dissent has been almost invariably one of severe repression, appalling sometimes in its severity. The result is that persecutor and persecuted view one another with an hostility difficult for people to judge who enjoy perfect religious freedom. Besides, the conduct of the" heretics" themselves has been often so indecorous, so fanatical and intolerant, and the excrescences which they have put forth have been frequently so offensive, that almost all the sympathy felt for them by the warm-hearted and more liberal of the orthodox has been chilled. In Russia, therefore, dissenter and Churchman are face to face, hating one another bitterly, the former excluded from every privilege, from every office in the State, hunted down by those two steady allies, priests and police, prohibited in most cases from worshipping in his own way, his children often taken from him and forcibly brought up in the orthodox faith. The position of the Russian dissenter is an intolerable one, and only the most steadfast belief in the infallibility of his doctrines, and the ever-present hope that his fidelity to principle will have its glorious reward hereafter, could compensate him for his !ifeof toil and trouble, for the ignominy and contempt poured upon him.
There can be no doubt that among the different dissenting bodies in Russia there are, on the whole, far greater evidences of energetic religious life than among the orthodox. The very multiplicity of sects among them, however harmful and disastrous it may be in many ways, is still proof that they are thinking, that religion is a reality to them, that it is a tremendous force playing a controlling part in their lives. Hardly a sect among them that is not eagerly missionary in spirit and practice. Generally it is this very propagandist zeal of theirs which gets them so often into trouble, for no orthodox Russian is allowed to leave the Greek Church without being liable to transportation to Siberia, and the same terrible punishment is likewise meted out to any sectarian who either attempts to or succeeds in perverting any member of the Orthodox Church. These drastic punishments, however, have never deterred enthusiastic propagandists anywhere, and the result in Russia agrees with universal experience, that danger lends attraction to the missionary's work, and that a martyr's crown is often a far greater inducement to work than the prospect of full money-bags and an easy old age.
I am often asked, apart from the Stundists and other Russian sects professing what is known as Protestant doctrine, is there any vital evangelical force at work among the numerous millions of the other heretical bodies f I believe there is. To too great an extent the leaders of the Old Believers, the most numerous of these sects, are taken up with the empty points of ritual which divide them from orthodoxy, their minds are too full of an antipathy almost absurd in its strength to anything modern or that deflects in any way from the methods of their fathers, but their very isolation, and the fact that they give their minds to the consideration of sacred subjects, are evangelical forces of the strongest character. Many of them will not take a New Testament or other religious book in their hands if it is written in modern Russ. They deem it profane to quote Scripture in auy language other than the ancient Slavonic, but this very conservatism of theirs has forced them to pay attention to the Scripturel, and to learn by heart whole chapteri of the Bible, which are handed down orally from father to son, from generation to generation. One of the most affecting services I ever attended was in the little hut of one of these sectaries. Before retiring for the night my host and his wife stood in the middle of the room and recited psalm after psalm, passage after passage, without an error so far as I could judge. Neither of them could read, and their parents and grandparents before them were equally illiterate. After careful study of these, the more ancient of the sectaries, I am led to believe that the vital principles of religion are slowly and steadily finding their way among them, and that there seems to me some slight softening of the asperities which used to mark their dealings with those who were not their co-religionists.
But in addition to the hostile attitude of sect toward sect and of orthodoxy toward heresy, there is another far more fatal obstacle to the uninterrupted course of evangelical truth in Russia. I refer to the influences which centre in the great lay procureur of the Holy Synod, M. Constantine Pobedanostseff. This able man, notwithstanding a temporary eclipse at the accession of the present Czar, is still the most powerful statesman in Russia. He is thoroughly sincere in his notion that the welfare of the empire depends upon the intimate connection of Church and State, and no
I•.] TO fiOfI'ZL IN BVIIIU
pains are too great and no labor is without reward which has for its object the welding together the closest interests of both. Dissent from the Church is, in his view, disloyalty to the empire. The dissenter who, enamored of Luther's doctrines, hangs up a picture of the great reformer in his room, is not far from hanging up a picture of the German Emperor, or from deposing the picture of the Czar. These are in reality M. Pobeda- nostllej!'s views more than once expressed. The passionate love which this statesman bears to his church is part of the fibre of his being. In a well-known passage he once declared to the leaders of the Evangelical Alliance, that it was the Russian Church which stood for two hundred years between Western Europe and the Mongolian invaders from the East, that if the East has left its impre88 too deeply on the Russian character, it is because Russia took upon herself what might have destroyed Europe, and that instead of the Western churches sneering at the supposed intoler- ance and immobility of their Russian aister, they should be filled with admiration at the constancy and fortitude which has enabled her to preserve inviolate her holiest traditions and her undying hopes. Both as Churchman and as politician, therefore, Pobedanostseff will tolerate no deftection from the atandards of the orthodox faith, aud if a handful of peaaants here and there in the interior maintain their right to liberty of conscience, or if the Lutheran pastors of the Baltic provinces interfere with the rights of the RWlSian clerC', or if the Roman Catholics of Poland attempt any undue aasertion of the rights of the Latin Church, they are one and all summarily crushed. We can have nothing but admiration for zeal properly directed and guided by discretion into right channels, but when a highly placed statesman, a man of great culture and knowledge of the world, thinks that he can advance the cause of true religion by petty restrictions, by vexatious harryings of peasants' cottages and kidnapping of their children, by prison and stick and banishment, by depriving hundreds of innocent men and women of their personal rights and privileges, by conduct, in a word, which approaches in its ferocity the methods of the Spanish zealots of the seventeenth century, we have nothing but reprobation for such a statesman, we have nothing but condemnation for his principals, and our most entire sympathies are wholly with the wretched victims who for the faith that is in them remain undaunted in face of the priests and police who hound them on to prison and exile. It was the foolish notion of many well-wishers of Russia that the persecutions which had disgraced the last years of Alexander Ill.'s reign would cease under the sway of Nicholas, but auch hopes have turned out to be groundless, and after a short spell of quiet the jails are again receiving the more prominent of the Stundists and Baptists, and almost every chain of prisoners which crosses the anows of the C~Ucasus from Russia contains one or more representatives of that patient and heroic body of Protestant peasants who have done far more for the real advance of RU8sia than all the states.. mell in Peteraburg.
72i PEACE WITH JAPAN' :RIOTS m SZOllUAN'
But despite persecution and many a dark cloud on the horizon, the outlook in Russia is anything but gloomy. Even if we abide by the somewhat uncertain test of numbers, there is every reason to believe th&t the Protestant or evangelical sects are increasing. If in one or two places the Orthodox Church can boast that it has eradicated dissent, there are innumerable districts all over Russia which now contain il!lolated bodies of Stundists where ten years ago there were none. Th8 very dispersal of these brethren must tend to their rapid increase. Filled with zeal for his cause, the banished man and his family at once start to make known to their neighbors the great truths which have done so muw for them.
Perhaps no factor in the situation is so important and far· reaching as the extraordinary circulation of the Scriptures, which is effected year after year in the mighty empire stretching from the Baltic to the Pacific. Between five and six hundred thousand copies of the Word of God are circulated every year in Russia, and he who would learn what is being actually done in bringing the Gospel to the people of Russia has only to study the deeply interesting reports of the agents of the British and Foreign Bible Society and t.he report of the Russian Society for Circulating the Scriptures. From all parts of the huge country the colporteurs of these societies meet with encouragement. It is not merely in the towns and cities that this work is being done. We read of hundreds of copies being distributed in a village, of the peasants on steamboats sitting all day long reading the Gospell!l, of employers buying copies for their workmen, and officers for their soldiers. The writer of this article has seen the colporteurs at their work, and more than once has noticed the tears start to the eyes of great rough fellows as they became possessed for the first time in their lives of a copy of the New Testament. This wonderful sowing will some day, and some day soon rather than late, bring in a rich harvest of Bible-illuminated souls.
Unquestionably the prospects are bright, and it is safe prophesying that the day is not far distant when the sweet faith and tender paRsions of the Russian nation will be used by the Master in the advancement of his kingdom to the uttermost ends of the world.
PEACE WITH JAPAN! RIOTS IN SZCHUA~ !
BY REV. WILLIAM M. UPCRAFT, SZCHUAN, CHINA.
Again the flame of persecution and destruction has broken forth in China. While lovers of peace specially, and th8 world generally, were rejoicing at the restoration of peace in the Orient, and all were hoping for the fruits of peace in enlarged opportunities for intercourse with the subdued Chinese, Christendom was startled by reports of widespread uprising and persistent attacks on all kinds of missioB :wark and workers, such as have not been known before since the right to travel and rellide in the interior of China was granted to Western nations. On May 29th, a date coincident with the annual fifth month festival, the trouble began at Chentu, the capital city of Szchuan province.
Owing to the recent extension of missionary enterprise in the western provinces, quite a large work was in course of development at Chentu, this being one of the most eligible as it is one of the most important points in this vast inland province. The China Inland Mission (pioneers in this as in many other places), the Methodist Episcopal, and Canadian Methodists, each had a company of workers and a working plant in operation, so that some seventeen adults (all young and nearly all new to the work) and eleven children, English and American, were at home in Chentu.
For some weeks before the actual riot ugly rumors had been spread throughout the city and neighborhood, retailing the old stories of child murder and mutilation, with local embellishments, but nothing serious was apprehended. Missionaries in China are accustomed to a maximum of misrepresentation.
Inflamed with wine toward the close of an exciting day, the crowd of riotous rowdies bore down upon the Canadian premises, forced the doors, took possession of the courts, and finally caused the little handful of helpless missionaries to lieek Hight by a rear gate, where escaping to the city wall, they hid in the darkness till midnight, and then escaped to the house of the Inland Mission. Repeated applications to the officials failed to bring relief, owing, as we now see, to the hostility pf mandarins high in office, who refused the help that might easily have averted the disaster.
Returning early the following morning, the rioters finished their work of destruction upon the Canadian Mission, and then began an attack on the Inland Mission, in which the refugees of the previous night had taken shelter. Flight again was forced upon them, and having no door at the back, the wall was scaled by means of a ladder, and shelter purchased in a neighbor's house, where men, women, and children were hustled behind the curtains of a friendly bed, and the little crowd forced to wait in suspense and discomfort, within earshot of the yelling mob outside.
Who can tell of the hours of suffering in that poor refuge, and the uncertain future pressing upon them all! Meanwhile, over at the Methodist Episcopal Mission a similar scene was being enacted. Calmed somewhat, after the excitement of the previous night, by official assurance that no harm could befall them, the missionaries had returned to their house and arranged themselves for their usual work, when the crowd swept down upon them intent on destruction. Before the outer gate gave wa.y they were able to get the children and a very few things over the back wan, into a loft placed at their disposal by a friendly neighbor. The dust of years was in accumulated wealth on floor and rafters, a hot slln beat npon the unceiled tiles, while the motherli stifled the cries of their babes lest such a sound should attract the rioting crowd in the next yard.
01lJUSTIAN MIllION. IN ABAJtIA
All that day they remained as spectators of the scene, while home and chapel and dispensary, their furniture, books, even trees and 1l0wers, were destroyed, so eager were the crowd to wipe out the traces of the foreigners' home and work.
For ingenuity and diabolical delight in finding reasons why this should be done, the Chentu mob holds the palm. Bones were dug up and displayed, recent corpses exhumed and paraded, chickens killed and their blood smeared around on the walls, as evidence to support the charges made against the missionaries.
At length, from various points the driven, hunted ones were gathered together at the magistrate's yamen and found all safe; no one missing, though many a narrow escape was related as experiences were compared and the day's full total made up.
Starting from this central point, the contagion spread till Kiating, Suifn, Yachow, Lnchow, and many other points were involved. At some only a partial wreck was made, at others again the ruin was complete. In happy contrast to the conduct of the officials at Chentu, the mandarins at some other places did their utmost to protect the foreigners, and in a few cases succeeded.
The full tale cannot now be told. God intervened for His people marvellously, and in all the widespread trouble no life was lost. The native Christians suffered much and suffered well. And China stands again disgraced and discounted in the eyes of Christendom. The causes are not far to seek for this and other similar outbreaks.
It is, in the nature of things, only too true that we reap as we sow. Like seed like harvest. Given a credulous people, an incompetent administration, an assiduous misrepresentation of all foreigners, a relentless slandering of mission work and doctrine, and the result is not difficult to foresee. Sow Hunan placards; reap Szchuan riots.
A diligent inquiry should be promptly instituted in this cass and safeguards devised against a repetition. The right of Westerners to residence thronghout the interior should be made unquestionable, and freedom guaranteed. There is a strong plea in present circumstances for prayer and intercession on behalf of China, her rulers and people, that she may see her hour of opportunity and acceptance.
THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF MODERN CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN ARABIA.
IIY GJ:NERAL F. T. HAIG.
It would be deeply interesting, did space permit, to trace the gradual unfoldings of the Divine Providence in the re-introduction of the Gospel into Arabia, thirteen hundred years after Christianity had been blotted out in that land by the sword of Mohammed and his successors, but the limits imposed upon this article forbid anything more than a glance at this part of the subject. For many centuries the Arabs had ceased to be a menace to Christianity and civilization. As the great missionaries of Islam they had spread their creed over nearly half the African Continent, and the ever-advancing wave of Mohammedanism had begun even to threaten the young Christian churches on the western coast. Still it was not until some time between 1880 and 1890 that Arabia itself, the cradle and home of the race, seriously engaged the attention of the Church of Christ. About that time, however, it became evident that the Spirit of God was moving upon the hearts of His people, and that the yearninga of His love were beginning to find expression in their prayers for the 1000t sons of Ishmael. "For some years," wrote an American minister in the far West, " I and my people have been praying for Arabia. " More than one appeal went forth, pleading for the Arabs. Interest was awakened. Old Dr. Lansing, of the American Mission in Egypt, who for over thirty years had labored there, waiting for the dawn of a brighter day for the Moslem world, when one of these appeals fell into his hands, was all on tire to start for Yemen. "I could scarcely keep him," said his wife, "from mounting his donkey and setting off at once." Keith-Falconer felt the same mighty impulse, left home and country, and settled oat Aden, which for two short years became his mission field, and then his grave. The mantle of the elder Lansing fell upon his son, and he with a few other kindred spirits rose up at the Divine call and started the Arabian Mission, which now occupies the three most important points on the eastern side of the peninsula. Another mission, afterward taken up by the Church Missionary Society, was commenced at Kerak:, on the mountains of Moab, by a Methodist preacher, Mr. Lethaby and his wife; and Bagdad, which had already been occupied by the same society, in connection with their PerSian Mission, now assumed new importance as a great Arab city. Finally the venerable Bishop French, who, after some thirty years of missionary labor in India, could not, though feeble and broken, cease from his loved employ, commenced work: at Muscat, where shortly after, in a little nook: at the foot of the cliffs, where the waves have washed up just sand enough to afford space for a few graves, he was laid to rest, consecrating the whole movement by his noble example of devotedness Ullto death for the salvation of his fellow· men.
Thus six of the most important strategic positions aroUlld the great peninsula are now held for Christ : those on the East Coast and at the head of the Gulf, commanding the whole hinterland of Central Arabia, by the (American) Arabian Mission i that at Aden by the Scotch Mission; and the two on the north by the Church Missionary Society. When we remember that this has been accomplished in little more than ten years since the attention of the Christian Church was first drawn to the subject, including all the preliminary organizations at, home aud inquiries abroad, before actual settlement on the spot could be effec'ted, there is cause for thankfulness and praise. At the same time it is necessary to point out that each of the three stations of the Arabian Mission is held at the present moment by only one man, whose death or disablement by sickness would instantly stop the work at that point. Immediate and strong reinforceme~ts are called for. Only one side of the great fortress is as yet, and that but partially, invested, and no advance into the citadel, the great populous centres of Nejd and Jebel Shommar, is possible without further help. Ten millions of Arabs need- something more than half a dozen men for their effectual evangelization. It is surprising, indeed, how much of vigorous forward movement and exploration has been done, chiefly by the Americans, in this short period. They have explored the beautiful mountainous country of Yemen in the southwest; several hundred miles of the coast of Hadramaut on the south, including the centres of Makallah and Sheher; and many hundred miles of the Euphrates and Tigris on the north, making the acquaintance there of new forms of Arab life, and of the interesting little community of the Sabeans, the descendants of the Hemero-baptists of the first centuries.
They have annexed Bahrein and Muscat to Busrah, their original settlement, and Rev. S. M. Zwemer has pushed his reconnaissances inland as far as Khateef and Hofhoof, on the way to Nejd and Central Arabia, finding more than one evidence of t.he truthfulness of Palgrave's picturesque descriptions of that country. Thousands of Bibles, Testaments, and portions of Scripture have been scattered by the Bible societies and missionaries around the various mission centres. Thus a good beginning of the great work has been made, most of the strategic points for mission work have been occupied, but nothing more; but enough at least has been done to show that if only the men now in the field be properly backed up by the churches at home, not many years will elapse before all Arabia, north, south, east, and west, shall have heard the joyful sound, and " Ishmael shall live."
Let us now look a little more closely into the conditions of this great problem, the evangelization of Arabia. Nothing need here be said about the geography, climate, etc., of the country. Ample information already exists upon this part of the subject, and may be easily found elsewhere by those who desire it. Of the present distribution of political power, however, some account must be given, and I take the following from a tract by Rev. S. M. Zwemer.
" Sinai is Egyptian, and also the 200 miles of coast south of the Gulf of Akaba. Hedjaz belongs to the Turk, and he also grasps (not holds) Yemen, Asir, El Hasa, and Irak. All the rest of Arabia yields neither love, obedience, nor tribute to the Sublime Porte. The oppressed tribes of Upper Yemen were recently crushed into submission, but do not despair of future revolution. El Rasa (on the East Coast) frets like an Arab steed under the yoke of taxation, and Mecca itself dictates at times to the
THE TOMB OF A MOSLElIl SAINT AT
2. A CONVERTED 1Il0SLElIl HELPER. 3. REV. S. M. ZWEMER IN ARAB DRESS. 4. NATIVE HOUSES AT BUSRAH.
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN ARABIA. ~83
power behind the throne at Constantinople. The tribes near Aden, and the entire South Coast, including Oman with. Muscat, are in one way or another under subsidy or ' protection' by the English, who ruIe the Gulf, and have a voice at Busrah and Bagdad. Wide, wild Nejd bends to the iron sceptre of the greatest Arab of our day, Ibn Rasheed, the Ameer of Jebel Shommar. For the rest, nomads roam the free desert, acknowledging no Sultan save the sword ; they hold the parliament of war or peace in the black tents of Kedar. Thus, within the last fifty years have the schisms of Islam, the turmoil of Arab rebellion, and the diplomacy of English commerce, burst the barriers of the land of Ishmael for the Allconquering Son of Isaac ; the very cradle of Islam is aJmost unveiled for the heralds of the Cross." To ~hich I may add that Bahrein, the name given to two islands which lie just off the coast of EI Hasa, and are the centre of the pearl fishery, has in a remarkable manner been preserved from Turkish aggression, and is ruled by an Arab Sheikh under the control of the British Resident at Bushire. The islands have a large population, are the nearest point along the coast to Nejd and all Central Arabia, and are therefore of the utmost importance as a mission station for an advance in that direction. In all these political arrangements we clearly trace the overruling hand of God, curbing Turkish aggression, suppressing Wahabee fanaticism, and so preparing the way for His Gospel. There is not room to dwell here upon other influences which have told in the saIDe direction, such as the extension of commerce and intercourse with India, and the spectacle of the beneficent results of the British Government in that country, in Aden, and in Egypt.
But of yet greater interest is the question of the present religious condition of the Arab races. Does Islam retain its hold upon them as firmly as ever ~ How does their present mental attitude toward it, and toward the Christianity which it once supplanted, compare with that of the past ages and with that of the Arabs of North Africa ~ The question can only be lightly touched upon here. To treat of it at all satisfactorily would need a wider and fuller acquaintance than we yet possess, not only with the extent to which the outward forms of their religion are observed, but also with the inner thoughts and life of the people. Arabia is an immense country, about three fourths the size of India. Vast portions of it have as yet been unvisited except by a chance traveller passing hastily through, and having little real intercourse with the inhabitants. There may be lying, deep below the surface, phases of religious thought in parts of it with which we are wholly unacquainted. Has Christianity quite died out in the course of ages, or are there still faint memories and traditions of it which have influenced the religious ideas of the present day ? We know not. It is certain, however, that in another country which might be named such a survival of as remote a past has actually taken place, and may yet prove a powerful factor in the conversion of its inhabitants. In general terms, however, it may perhaps be said that the influences of
C. .I.TLUi MIIIBIOlf. Ilf AllA.:aIA
time have told less unfavorably, from the Christian point of view, upon the Arabs of Arabia than upon the scattered but probably equally numerous ponions of the race in North Africa. Romanism with its idolatry, on t.he one hand, and the scepticism and atheism which are the reaction from it, on the other, are the only forms of religious opinion, under the general name of Christianity, which the Arabs of North Africa have been acquainted with. The one they contemptuously reject, but. the other is secretly spreading among the more cultured classes, especially in Algeria and Tunis, where French education is rapidly extending, and the state of mind it produces is even more unfavorable to the reception of the truth than the most fanatical forms of Mohammedanism.
The isolation of Arabia has to a great extent preserved it from these forms of error, while there has been nothing within the borders of the peninsula itself to strengthen or resuscitate faith, or effectually to counteract the disintegrating forces of sectarian division, Persian speculative thought, and, more perhaps than either, the indifference to all religion. questions, which seems, according to some authorities, to· be a characteristic of the race, and which in the case of the; Bedouin is said to have led even Mohammed to despair of their conversion. In point of fact, Islam from the very first seems to have taken far less hold upon the Arabs than might be supposed. Immediately after the death of its founder a general revolt from his teachings took place, and for centuries the popular religion seems to have been little more than semi-paganism. Wahabeeism, which was an attempt to reinstate the religion of the prophet by his favorite weapon, the sword, has failed egregiously, and is now in the last stage of decay. The Arabs remain Mohammedans simply because they know of nothing better j fanatical in some parts, doubtful and bewildered in others, not because they have rejected the Gospel, but because they have never heard it. The Bedouin, constituting perhaps a fourth or fifth of the population, are for the most part Mohammedan only in name, observing the prescribed forms in the neighborhood of towns, but speedily casting them aside on regaining the desert. Yet there are men among them not without reverent thoughts of the Creator, derived from the contemplation of His works, thoughts which, according to Palmer, take sometimes the form of solemn but simple prayer. A missionary who some years ago spent more than two months with one of these tribes, living with the Sheikh, and accompanying them in their wanderings from pasturage to pasturage, found them willing though not particularly interested listeners, and singularly amenable to the Word of God as the one authority in matters of faith. The Sheikh, seeing that the missionary disliked travelling on the Sunday, inquired the reason, and willingly accepted the word of the Book as de. cisive upon the point, and indeed upon every other point, and from that time the tribe never marched upon the Sabbath. How sad it seems that 10 few of the race have as yet come under the sound of the Gospel !
In the cities and toWJll there is, of course, a more rigorous observance
CIIlUSTIAN MISSIONS IN ABABIA
of the outward forms of Mohammedanism, but there is also among the upper and middle classes, especially on the eastern coast, widespread doubt. A missionary writes: "There are very plain indications of an undercurrent of scepticism and free thought. Indeed, to anyone who knows the Mohammedans intimately, it is scarcely an undercurrent at all. I know men in the most learned Mohammedan society of B– who, judged by their dress and outward appearance, would be taken for bulwarks of the Mohammedan religion, and who yet have no more belief in it than Professor Huxley has in Christianity. One of these men astonished me by his expressions of downright loathing of the religion of which he is a professed teacher."
It would be foreign to the special object of this paper, and altogether beyond its scope, to give any detailed description of the doctrines and practices of Islam. It may suffice to say with regard to them all, that holiness of heart has absolutely no place in the religion of Mohammed, and that just as polygamy, unlimited concubinage, and divorce, being regarded as of Divine sanction, are not in the least degree revolting to the moral sense of its votaries, so there is no connection, either in fact or in popular estimation, between the most rigorous observance of the outward forms, which are of its very essence, and a holy life.
Arabs are not in the least deceived by what they know to be merely outward and ritual, and wholly without effect upon the heart j they draw, in fact, an unfavorable inference from much outward show of religion. In North Africa they have a saying, " Shun a man who has made a pilgrimage to Mecca once; live not in the same street with one who has performed it twice ; and reside not in the same country with one who has visited the Kaaba thrice. " I once myself formed one of a circle of some twenty gnests in the house of an Arab gentleman, who (excepting myself), when the evening adtham, or call to prayer, sounded forth from the mosque, joined the host in the most solemn and impressive recitation of the prayers, with the prescribed genuflexions and prostrations, but of whom he afterward privately declared that everyone was a thief, handing me at the same time the key of a room where he had had my baggage locked up, and warning me to be on my guard. The true Christian idea of prayer appears to be wholly wanting, though in times of great distress short ejaculatory prayer will be put up. The intercession of saints is much resorted to; prayer is offered at their tombs. At times the poor people, failing to receive an answer to such prayers, resort in their despair to necromancy.
In Arabia the women" pray." "At home," says Mr. S. M. Zwemer, "a larger proportion observe the times of prayer than do the men." (This is not the case in North Africa.) In the towns girls seldom, and boys never, "pray," until they are over twelve years of age. Women. are seldom or never allowed to attend the public prayers in the mosque.
Few of the Arabs can read, perhaps not above 10 per cent ot the dwellers in towns, and only some of these nnderstand what they read of the Koran. The Bedouin are wholly illiterate. Slaves are imported via Jeddah and the Persian Gulf, they are sold in Busrah privately, and doubtless in other towns, being brought from Mecca as merchandise by the returning pilgrims. Polygamy is· practically universal among the well-to-do classes, and divorce, almost unlimited, with its attendant horrors of cruelty and. suffering, takes its place among the poorer. Thus, with polygamy, slavery, and divorce (all sanctioned by their religion) the state of Arab society may be imagined. Happily space does not permit me to enlarge upon this terrible subject.
So, with fasts and prayers and pilgrimages, hoping in his good works, the mercy of God, and the intercession of the Prophet (such intercession being wholly unauthorized by the Koran), the poor Arab wends his way down through life, is laid to rest at last with his face toward Mecca, and passes into eternity with a lie in his right hand. One thing he never knew, that gracious message that was intended to be familiar as a household word to every member of the human race, that God loved him as God only can love, that Christ died for him, and that a free pardon and full salvation awaited his acceptance. He knew it not because he was never told, and he was never told because for ages the Church lost the blessed truth, and since it recovered it has neglected the one great duty, to proclaim it to every creature. Thank God those times of ignorance are nearly over. Through the tender mercy of our God the day-spring from on high has visited Arabia. And may we not hope that the churches which have taken the lead in this gr~at movement will spare no effort, neither men, nor life, nor money, to carry it on to the destined consummation.
Thus far we have traced the rise and progress up to the present time of the Arabian missions. A few brief remarks as to the future may not inappropriately conclude this paper.
1. It will be seen from what has been said that all the western and southern sides of Arabia are still without a missionary. The Free Church of Scotland Mission at Aden is doing an important work, and there is a wide field for extension before it. Not, however, being acquainted with its plans for the future, I do not venture to say anything on the subject here. Jeddah, however, the port of Mecca, might afford a base where, in spite of the intense jealousy and watchfulness of the Turk, a work might be begun. Asir and Yemen may not be accessible just at this moment, but they soon will be so.
2. As to the rest of Arabia, including the eastern, central, and southern provinces, in fact quite one half of the peninsula, I am indebted to the Rev. S. M. Zwemer for the following sketch, the result of four years' study of the subject on the spot, of a missionary scheme, such as the Church which sent him and his fellow-laborers out can hardly stop short of. I give this sketch only in very abbreviated form. Such a scheme would
—-~—— – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – —
ARCH OF CTESIPHOX NEAR BAGDAD.
ARAB PILGRIMS BOUND FOR lHECC_~.
OllRlSTLUT lUBSIONB IN ARABIA
include thre~ provinces, HasS3, Oman, and Nejd, with Busr.1h on the north, and a part at least of Hadramaut on the south. There would be twelve centres-viz., the seven coast towns already occupied, or visited, by the American Mission, four inland towns, Hail, Boreyda, HOfhoof, and Riad in Najd, and two or three inland towns of Oman, and Hadramaut (MakalIah is included in the coast centres). These would require twentyfour missionaries and twelve native helpers. The cost would be, in round numbers, $30,000 a year-viz., *25,000 in addition to the present outlay on the missionarie!!l and native helpers, new in the field. "With this demand supplied, all of Eastern, Central, and Southern Arabia would in ten years be p&rmeated with the Gospel message, by word and printed page. Leaving all other results with God, is that too much to pay for such a privilege! Can the Dutch Reformed Church do it ? Will she do it 1" To such an appeal there can be but one reply. That Church when it took up the mission originally commenced on an independent basis as the Arabian Mission, did so with full knowledge of the plans and purposes of its founders, which, as the very title of the mission shows, embraced nothing less thaD. !!Iuch a comprehensive scheme of evangelization as that above described. Surely then that church will feel it to be both a duty and a privilege to carry that scheme through to the end.
is As to the qualifications needed for the work, here a description by one of the missionaries now in the field: " 1. A strong and sound constitution. " 2. Ability to acquire the language. This is the one aud only quaIl- fication needfRl, mentally. Scholarship is good, but not at all necessary. Deep and abstruse arguers will not be wanted in Arabia for fifty years to come.
" 3. As to character-humility, patience, love-these three. A man with a hot temper could never stand three seasons in the Gulf. But after you have got these for foundation, pile 'on all the fire and zeal and enthusiasm you can get.
" Lastly, men foll of the Holy Ghost, sine qua non. " Christians of America, hearken to your brethren's call from the Gulf, come and take your stand by their side. The future of Arabia is largely in your hands. It will be very much what you make it. "Who among you is willing to consecrate this day his, service to the Lord ~ The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up."
SPECIMEN OF A MOHAMMEDAN PRAYER.-·O God, bestow blessing upon our lord Mohammed the beloved, and upon his father Abraham the friend, and upon his brother Moses the word, and upon the faithful Jesus the Spirit of God, and upon David and Solomon and Zechariah and John the Baptist and their people, as long as the thoughtful ones remember thee, and the thoughtless ones neglect to think of them.
THE JEWS IN PERSIA
THE JEWS IN PERSIA.-I.
BY REV. S. G. WILSON, TABRIZ, PERSIA.
The Jews in Persia can themselves Beni-Israel, which accords with the Bible account of the captivity of the Israelites in "the c:ties of the Medes," " by the river Gozan," which may be the Guzul-Uzun, the longest river of Media. Shahpoor II. transported Jews from Armenia to Persia.
The Jews now found in the limits of ancient Media are in the western part, having been driven there by Tamerlane. Starting at the northwest. ern border, we find them in Salmas, Oroomiah, Suldooz, Sonjbulak, Miandnab, Sakkus, Senna, Kermanshah, Ramadan, and other places. In Azerbijan there are twelve hundred and thirty houses of Jews. They are found also in Teheran, Kashan, Khorasan, and Ispahan.
These remnants have survived the persecutions of centuries. Tabriz has none except a few strangers. The cause is that old slander which is constantly renewed even in the present day and in Europe. It was reported by some renegade Jews that the Jews had killed a missing Mohammedan child and drunk his blood. The late Kala-Begi narrated how the police snatched a Jew, thns accused, from the hands of an infuriated mob, which followed him mto the courtyard yellmg for hIS blood. The Kala-Begi bastinadoed him to appease the mob, and afterward told the English consul, who remonstrated with him for beating an innocent man, that it was the only way to save him ahve from the mob. At that time the Jews fled from Tabriz.
A somewhat similar affair occurred in Oroomiah in Dr. Perkins's time. A Mohammedan infant was found dead before a Jew's door. The latter was accused of murder and arrested. The Mohammedans collected in an angry mob, and for several days surrounded the governor's palace, demanding that all the Jews should be put to death. To appease the mob, the Jew was delivered to them, beheaded, and burned.
In Meshed, the ancient Tus, the Jews have resided for centuries. It was one of their rabbis who made the first Persian version of any part of the Bible in the eighth or tenth century. They continued there near the sacred shrine of the Emaum Reza, until several decades ago a report was spread that the Jews had killed a dog in ridicule of the ceremonies of the Festival of Sacrifice. A mob rose, killed a Jew, tore down some of their dwellings, and finally gave the Jews the alternative of Islam or the sword. In fear of death they accepted an outward profession of Islam.
At Balfurush, in Mezanderan, in 1866, a massacre of Jews occurred. * The cause was, perhaps, a lack of rain. For this an efficacious remedy was supposed to be the disinterment and scattering broadcast of the dust * See Mormsey's "Through the Caucasus and Persia."
TJ[]I JBWI IN PBlUIIJ.•
of a Jew. For some unknown cause the Mussulmans rose one night, set fire to the Jewish quarter, and killed eighteen men and six women. Two of the men were besmeared with petroleum and burnt alive. The rest, to the number of four hundred and fifty, escaped to the woods. The British Minister made representations for redress. The Shah gave orders for the punishment of the culprits, and indemnifying the Jews j but the mollahs rose in their wrath that anyone should be punished for injuring a dog of a Jew. Popular fanaticism rose high in Teheran. An attack on the British Legation and on foreigners in general was even contemplated. The Shah was alarmed by the agitation, and to appease the mollahs dis· missed some French army officers from his service. Finally the Jews were partially indemnified for their losses.
In November, 1892, I was in Hamadan during a reign of terror for the Jews. 'Wishing to find a cause for the cholera, the Mohammedans turned their wrath upon the Jews, an ambitious mollah instigating the attack. Several Jews were seized and beaten. The mollah commanded that the Jews should wear a distinctive cloak, should have a badge of red on their coats, should not come out on rainy days, should dismount until a passing Mussulman went by j that Jewish women should wear black veils, and houses of Jews not be higher than those of their Mussulman neighbors. Some of the Jews took refuge with nobles, others fled to the telegraph office and appealed to the Shah and the English Legation. A crowd of Mussulmans shouting, "Ya Ali ! Ya Ali !" surrounded the refugees and threatened them, so that a dozen were frightened into accepting Islam. The Jews in Bagdad hearing of the disturbances, appealed to their friends in England. Lord Rosebery made inquiries concerning the affair. The Shah sent word that the mollah should come to Teheran. A month of confusion followed. Once the police seized the mollah. A frenl'ied crowd attacked the governor, looted his house, and killed a servant. It then turned toward the Jewish quarter, crying, "Kill the Jews!" The gate of their quarter was closed and the Jews escaped.
One young Jewish convert, who is a pupil in the school, was surrounded by some Mussulmans and pressed to become a Mussulman. He stood his ground as a Christian, and afterward gave before the governor the reasons for his faith.
After a while the mollah was taken to Teheran, and the Jews were again in peace.
These incidents do not show the continual state of the Jews, but they well indicate the continual attitude of the people toward them. Continual watchfulness is necessary on the part of the government, as there is no moment when fanaticism may not direct its attacks against the Jews. The Shah always tries to protect them from such attacks and oppressions.
Thus situated, it is no wonder that the Jews have a downcast mien and abject manner. They live apart from all, and not only hate, but no doubt despise their oppressors. They largely maintain their laws of food. I
'740 THE JEWS IN" PERSIA
invited a Salmas Jew to send bis boy to our Tabriz boarding-school. He replied that God had commanded the Jews not to eat the l-read of other races. Some Jewish doctors were invited to the wedding of our teacher in Zenjan. Separate dishes of natural products, as honey and fruits and bread prepared by one of their own race, were set before them. They gave thanks to God both before and after the meal. It is only lately and with difliculty that they have at last yielded their prejudice in Teheran and Hamadan, and pupils have begun to eat with their companions of other races. The Jews of Persia always kill their own animals, -and cut the meat into bits in extracting the sinews and veins from it. They are particular about the condition of the meat. If they find the liver diseased, they will eat none of the animal. Armenians, who are not so particular, sometimes buy such a butchered cow for one dollar.
Christians in Persia somewhat reciprocate the feeling of the Jews toward them. I took lodging in Sonjbulak in a Jew's house, much to the astonishment of the Armenians. They did not want me to drink milk furnished by Jews, saying it was unclean. Our evangelist for the .Jews in Sonjbulak told me that his innate feeling of aversion to Jewish food was so great that when he first plucked up courage to eat it, it stuck in his throat.
The Jews are limited in their occupations. Very few, if any, are farmers. Many sell dry goods in the bazaar or peddle them in the villages. Some are goldsmiths and jewellers, and dealers in antiques, real and false. A considerable number are physicians, sometimes celebrated, and the Mussulmans who refuse their food will take their medicines. In Hamad,n there are about one hundred Jewish doctors, and many more druggists. Many of them are liquor-sellers, and are themselves much addicted to drink.
On other points of morality they differ little from the rest of the population. They are polygamists, as the Mohammedans, and with the same results. They are very strict in keeping their Sabbath. They will not light a fire on that day, but will hire a Mussulman to do it for them. Some say that Sabbath-breaking is the sin for which they are suffering. They look for a national return to their own land, when they shall rule over the nations. Their schools are taught by their rabbis. Most of the men can read Hebrew, though they do not understand it perfectly. Their spoken language is an Aramaic akin to the Syriac. They speak also either Persian, Kurdish, or Turkish, according to the language spoken in the region in which they reside. They best understand the Persian Bible in the Hebrew character.
(To be C01IIJlud«l.)
HI88ION.A.BY JilFFOBT AND THE NESTOBIAN CHUBCH. '741
RELATION OF THE PROTESTANT MISSIONARY EFFORT TO THE NESTORIAN CHURCH.* BY REV. WILLIAM A. SHEDD, OROOMIAH, PERSIA.
It is generally known that the purpose of Protestant mIssIonaries among the Nestorians was at first to reform the old church, or rather to revIve spiritual life within that body. Various causes prevented the reali- zation of this effort in the manner and to the extent anticipated, and the missionaries have striven to establish an evangelical church, scriptural in constitution and spiritual in life. The change has been gradual, not sud- den, and the' relation of the old and the reformed Churchmen has never been that of bitter hostility, except in individual cases. The old Church is the mother Church, and the history and traditions of the past are rightly cherished by all. Within the last ten years a new force has come into the field, which is doing much to rear a wall of partition and to excommu- nicate and place reformed Christians under the ban. The old Church is persistently warned against the errors and schism of Protestant heresy by the members of the mission of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Just as far as possible, directly and indirectly, by precept and by example, in ser- mons, in teaching, through Nestorian ecclesiastics, the old Church is being , fortified against Protestant influences. This is simply a statement of fact based on daily increasing evidence.
'Vhat right Anglicans have to pose as the exponents of Nestorianism or Englishmen to represent the long descent of Assyrian Christianity is not easy to comprehend. They are unable to commune in the Nestorian Church, for she is, from the High Church point of view, the most venerable schismatic in Christendom, and yet forsooth t.hey offer themselves as her stanch defenders. Our right to preach the Gospel of repentance and life to those who call themselves Syrian Christians and our duty to do so are based on the great command, not only to baptize, but also to teach men to do.
I shall attempt briefly to discuss the question before us, viewing suc- cessively the old Church itself, the Reformed Church, and the Protestant missionaries from abroad.
1. The Old Ohurch. The theology of this ancient Church of the East iii, of course, Nicene, with the addition of the Nestorian definition of the relation between the human and Divine natures in the incarnate Son of God. Definite and logical development has not gone much farther, due partly to the character of the Syriac mind, impulsive in initiative and often vigorous in execution, but not constructive of either theological or ecclesiastical system. Another reason, perhaps the principal one, is that the vital conJiict of this church • A paper read at the Conference filf Mi~~ionarie8 to Persia, Hamadan, September, 1894. •
UroB'l' UD THE NESTOBUN CIIUlWR
has not been with heresy or variations of Christian doctrine, but with heathenism and Islam. On most theological questions, except the person of Christ, the Trinity, and the authority of apostolic and Old Testament Scriptures, a diversity of opinion is found in their literature. For example, transubstantiation is both affirmed and denied. There is, however, a practical tendency to replace simple faith in the crucified and risen Saviour with some sort of sacerdotal mediatorship. Still stronger is the tendency to trust to legal works instead of living faith. The fast is the greatest Christian institution, votal offerings and pilgrimages to shrines are most important auxiliaries. The priesthood of the clergy in succession to the Levitical priesthood is recognized, but the name commonly used to designate the clergy is not priest, but elder (qasha or qa8hi8ha), the New Testament presbyter. The sacrament holds a high place in popular regard, aod yet the fact that there is no confessional deprives the priest of inquisitorial power. Vows to famous saints are trusted means of curing disease and procuring blessings. Religion is largely divorced from morals, and has little power of moral restraint. The clergy are no better than the common people in general morality. are more given to idleness, and possibly more generally demoralized by begging in Russia. The higher clergy (there being at present the patriarch, one metropolitan, and eight diocesan bishops) are, with a few exceptions, shamelessly venal, and in some instances of notoriously evil life. Two favorable points may be emphasized.
The authority of Scripture has never been impugned, and is a holy tradition of universal acceptance; nor is there any objection raised to the Scriptures in the vernacular. The old dispute of Cyril and Nestorius has been fought over again by every educated Nestorian for fourteen centuries; and the appeal is always to Scripture as against conciliar authority. The possession of a pure and ancient version is an additional advantage.
The true catholicity of the Nestorians is the second point-that is, if catholicity consists in the recognition of other Christians as members in the viilible body of Christ. How far this has been true in the past is a subject for historical research, but certainly Protestant missionaries have been recognized as true ministers administering valid ordinances. The only exceptions, if any, are within the past few years, when the invalidity of non-episcopal ordination has been preached by the archbishop'S mission.
The dangers threatening this old church are mainly two : disintegration and perversion•..
The terrible storm of persecution which broke out under the Mongol emperors at the close of the thirteenth century was followed by the deluge of blood and fire when Tamerlane swept over these lands. Troublous days followed, and when peace was in a degree restored under various Turkish and Persian dynasties, the two Syrian churches, Nestorian and Jacobite, were shattered wrecks. The story since is one of continual loss. Oppression and fighting have held the Christian population in check. There has been a constant but small secession to Islam. Rome has beell the
MISSIONARY EFFORT AND THE NESTORIAN CHURCH
great gainer. As early as the thirteenth century the Nestorian patriarch, Mar x:-abha11aha, acknowledged by letter the primacy of the Pope j in 1445 the Nestorians in Cyprus became Roman Catholics, and in the beginning of the stJventeenth century a large part of the Christians of Saint Thomas, in India, were won over. During the sixteenth century the disorganiza- tion of the Nestorian Church led to various rival patriarchs, who were not slow to recognize papal authority in the hope of securing their own. About 1580 the present line of patriarchs, from its beginning dynastic, gained the authority over the Nestorians in Persia and Kurdistan. If we may trust Roman historians, patriarchs of this line during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries have acknowledged the authority of the Pope and renounced Nestorianism. In the region of Mosul the proselyting to Rome has gone on so successfully that to-day nine out of ten of the Nestorian churches south of the Kurdish Mountains are in the hands of the Roman Catholics. This same work, begun in Persia over two hundred years ago, has not met the same success. The inaccessibility of Persia, and still more of Kurdistan, which have been ecclesiastically joined, is one reason, but not the chief one. French monks came to Oroomiah fifty years ago, but it was too late. They had now to meet not only Nestorians, but American Protestants, -the most watchful defenders against Rome. The struggle is not yet over, for Catholicism on the south is pressing to enter the mountain valleys of Kurdistan. Three years ago (1892) beyond question the Chaldean patriarch, subject to the Pope, had bargained for the submission of the Nestorian patriarch. The scheme was frustrated by an American missionary.
The condition of affairs in Turkish Kurdistan and Armenia is a most terrible disintegrating influence. Recent events have illustrated the misrule and anarchy more vividly than words, and leave little occasion for remark. Suffice it to say that extinction and ruin threaten most imminently.
A thir~ such influence emanates from Russia. The Greek Church has shown little concern for the Nestorian Church, but for half a century Russia has been open to Nestorian laborers and beggars from Persia. The former have supported their people very largely, the latter have demoralized them. Many thousands of roubles have been gathered from the superstitious Christians of Russia by beggars, working on their pious credulity in the name of shrines and churches with the aid of pretended relics. Long absence from home, often years at a time, and vicious habits contracted in a wandering life, have been the cause of an alarming increase of transgressions of the seventh commandment. The ill-gotten wealth, spent in extravagance and gluttony, has impoverished rather than enriched. The shameless blasphemy and sacrilege of these adventurers have gone far to destroy the simple faith of the people. Canting hypocrites in Russia at home are cynical scoffers. A chief source of revenue to the bishops in Oroomiah is the ordination of priests and deacons, that they. may beg more successfully, The old church alone cannot withstand this evil influence. In the conllict with Rome the higher ecclesiastics have again and again proved traitors j and the ignorant and superstitious people have been tho conserva- tive force. The archbishop's mission will do something to preserve the fabric of the Church, and most effectively in so far as it is a purifying power. Theirs is a helping hand held out to this tottering, falling sister church, and may God guide their efforts. They are ne~essarily and 'in loyalty to their principles under manifest limitations.
1. Moral reform is subordinated to ecclesiastical reform. 1£ the Church's life is its legitimacy, like a decrepit dynasty, thiil is right j but if the Church's charter is its life, it is wrong. The Anglican mission must either reform the bishops or effect moral reform under immoral bishops. A distinction is made between spiritual authority and spiritual character which is destructive of righteousness.
2. Emphasis is placed on conservatism. The life, the faithful endurance, the bold testimony, the zealous evangelizing, these are the glory of the old Nestorian nation-and these are lost. The old rituals are doubtless full of spiritual truth, but.the archbishop's mission prefer, in their zeal for the old forms, to hide the truth in an unknowll. tongue rather than print them in the vernacular.
3. The doctrinal reform cannot be more evanielical than the mission. This is a truism, but implies much. Loyalty to their conception of Christianity will compel a doctrinal reform. Nestorianism must be obliterated, and St. Cyril substituted for St. Nestorius. That old controversy is dead, and the name signifies little. More than this, the doctrinal reform means impressing on the old Church in fixed form the doctrines of sacramenta· rianism and sacerdotalism. Much can doubtless be found in Nestorian practice and teaching to support these errors, but they have been tindencies rather than dogmas. To impress this old Church with nineteenthcentury High Church Anglicanism is a perversion of her doctrines, a narrowing of her historic catholicity, and leads her to the schism of cutting herself off from other members of Christ's body. When a bishop of the old Church, a man of pure character, at his own request communed with Protestants, he was said by an Anglican priest to have taken part in " a blasphemous mockery." The past few years have been marked in Oroomiah by a revival of masses for the dead, a practice of late years fallen into discredit.
From such a source can we hope for reform, or must we expect the entrenchment of error'
II. The Reformed Ohurch. The first duty of the Reformed Church is to exemplify the Gospel of Christ. A strong, pure, loving Church of Christ will do morEl to hring about a reform in the old Church than any other rower. Let us emphasize the adjectives, strong in loyalty to truth and in its proclamation j pure in that life which is the characteristic of tho kingdom of heaven j loving in her conduct to aU, especially those who love the Master. The first duty is example.
The second duty is clear and unwavering protest. This, I take it, must be threefold and not entirely against the mother Church.
There is, first, the protest for morals, against the unrebuked evil in the old Church, against the bloody hands that receive the broken bread, the lips filled with revilings and foulness that are raised to His cup, the avarice that sells for gain the offices of God's Church, the unspeakable hypocrisy that uses holy things to coyer schemes of lying beggary.
There is the protest against false doctrine, against sacerdotalism and sacramentarianism binding God's free grace to men and rites, against Rome with her great high-priest on earth. This protest is not against the old Church as much as her self-appointed guardians.
There is,finally, the protest against formalism. Some years ago a Christian, to escape punishment for a kinsman's crime, became a Moslem. Authority was obtained for him to return to his own faith. "How can I~" he exclaimed, "I have eaten the great fast." Fasting is to multitudes the chief evidence and exercise of Christianity. It must also be a protest against unintelligible worship and ignorant ministers.
The Reformed Church must be a Protestant church. A third duty is that of nationalloyaIty. The true inheritor of the missionary spirit that inspired the fathers of this people is the Evangelical Church. Her sons have been the pioneers of missionary labor in this age, and from her sons in large measure must be expected the evangelization of Persia.' She is also the inheritor of the love and loyalty to God's Word shown by the Fathers. The best loyalty is devotion to the highest national ideal, and the past of this people is full of glorious aspirations. Herein lies a danger. Experience is showing us that breaking from old ties is too often the loosening of all ties, that the past is despised and not honored. There needs also to be a loyalty to the present duties and needs, a recognition of national unity and common sympathy. None have been more ready than our Protestant brethren to bear common burdens and to honor those who are in positions of honor. The patriarchal house in its civil functions has been frankly acknowledged and cheerfully honored by the Protestant Churchmen. III. The Missionaries from Abroad. The fundamental principle is that missionari8S are sent· to the whole people, not to the Evangelical Church alone j indeed, to all the peoples. While Christian equality seems best exemplified by our becoming members and ministers of the Evangelical Church, we must keep ourselves free from partisan animus. Neither our personal activities nor the missionary ;nstitutions must be confined to a section of the people. Our medical work is without any race or religious limitations whatever. Our educational work benefits many hundreds outside the Evangelical Church. Our literature is
DIVEBSITY OF OPJDU.TIONS IN TO MISSION FIELDS
by no means confined in its inll.uence to the Protestants. All this must be maintained, and if possible increased.
We need a fuller knowledge of the old Church and a deeper sympathy with its peculiar trials and dangers. Superstitions, old customs, and traditions are elements in the life of the people which we need to understand. Furthermorfl, we are losing in some measure an inll.uence of the highest importance in not making more use of the past as an incentive to present achievement. Martyrology, in spite ofits extravagances, has been a power in the Church everywhere. Such a martyr history as that of Mar Shimon bar Saha'ee, killed by the Sassanian king Shapor, is too precious to be forgotten. Scholarship is fostered· by the memories of former scholars, and this nation has many honorable names. We have no more right to doubt God's providence in the past than in the present, and the history of one's own nation is a book of God to him.
It may seem to be a strange Providence that has brought us children of the New World, even by our Old WorId ancestry only a few centuries removed from barbarism, to be the guides of this old apostol!c Church and ancient people. May God give us the wisdom to lead them aright, and to be warned and encouraged by the lessons of the past. May we and our generation be worthy of those who once before gave the Gospel to these lands, often sealing their testimony with their blood. Every one of the missionary stations in Persia was a bishop'S seat in the old Church of the East, Ispahan, Ramadan, Rhages (Teheran), Tabriz, Salmas, and Oroomiah j while Bagdad and Mosul were successively patriarchal cities. May the time soon come when everyone of the many other places where the banner of Christ was once raised may be made strongholds of truth and righteousness.
DIVERSITY OF OPERATIONS IN THE MISSION FIELD.
BY REV. D. L. LEONARD.
if mISSIonary zeal is to be according to knowledge, and so prove worthy and lasting, it must have length and breadth as well as depth, and facts are the fuel upon which this celestial flame must be fed. Let one, informed only concerning the doings of his own denomination, enlarge his field of vision sufficiently to include the entire evangelizing activities of Christendom, and an astonishing revelation will ensue. His little island is at once transformed into a continent, a universe crowded with strange phenomena. Row exceedingly complex the nndertaking, which before seemed so simple! What a heterogeneous mass of conditions to be taken in hand! All this we might well expect when we recall that multitudinous sects are engaged iu telling the glad tidings, and each with its marked idiosyncrasies of opinion, conviction, and ruling tastes i and remember also that heathen humanity is represented by peoples intellec-
DIVERiITY OJ' OnKATIOHI DIi TIlE KIIIilOH J'DU.DI. '14'1
tuallyas far apart as Eskimo, Hottentots, Pariahs, Brahmans, and lapsnese. A glance at this much-embracing realm may help to understand how mnch more is required for the world's redemption than the mere sending of a host of fervid souls to go up and down through pagan lands, by word of mouth declaring to the perishing millions the way of life opened by the sacrifice of the Son of God.
First, all to the matter of organization for the carrying on of missionary operations. It was Carey's idea that the task of proclaimwg Christ to the nations should be taken in hand, not by monarchs, or by ecclesiastical bodies as such, but rather by societies formed for this expreas purpose, and controlled by those who longed for the universal coming of the kingdom. The Moravians are unique at this point, since they make the furtherance of missions the reason for their existence as a church. Some denominations appoint mission boards and control their action. Curiously, the great English Establishment bears no direct part in Christianizing the nations, but all planning and performing are left to Churchmen who co-operate with the Church Missionary Society, the Propagation Society, the Universities' Mission, etc. In certain cases a close corporation hali entire control, while in others a single individual is supreme. And when it comes to details of management, the fashions are almost as numerous as the sects. For example, almost a treatise would be required to set forth the relations existing between the various woman's societies and the " parent" organizations.
It sometimes happens that a single fundamental principle will characterize an entire mission, like self-support. Carey's scheme was that, as soon as possible after arriving at the field appointed, he and his companions must needs in some way secure their own living. This is also the conviction of Bishop Taylor among others. The common conception, however, is that the herald of the Gospel can be engaged in far better business than "pending his time and strength in earning his daily bread. There are" faith missions" also, of various kinds and degrees, shading off from Hudson Taylor's China Inland Mission, which constitutes one of the chief evangelizing forces at work in that vast field, through the East London Institute, Bishop Taylor's, the Missionary Alliance, to certain. Swedish and other bodies, of which nothing commendatory can as yet be wisely said. Of all these the idea is not to solicit funds, to seek no certain income, and to make no pledges of salary. " Faith-healing," too, seems to be a natural concomitant. Industrial missions constitute another class. For these tracts of land are required, shops and machinery, the teaching of trades, etc. Commerce and merchandising are in order to supply funds. In tropical countries, and among sarage tribes, it would seem to be necessary to teach industry and impart mechanical skill. It was largely in this way that William Duncan, at Metlakahtla, has been able to work such wonders of transformation.
Unfortunately, even yet not everybody is able to see just how" mil-
DIVERSITY OJ/' OPERATIONS IN TB1!l MIlstON FIELDS
sionary money" can be expended for spelling-books and arithmetics without robbing God. The time is sho~t, the emergency is so great that we have no time to educate. Let us send forth great hosts of evangelists. Or if schools must needs be, who shall be admitted ~ Heathen children, or only those whose parents are Christian? And how much" secular" knowledge shall be bestowed? In aU this there is wide diversity in opinion and practice. Some societies have ·no place for the school-teacher, and others again lay spch emphasis upon education as almost to cast into the background matters lying much nearer to the realm of the heart and conscience. Happy indeed are they who keep the spiritual and the intellectual each in its place, and in proper balance j but alas for him whose soul does n.ot kindle as he ponders upon the sublime achievements wrought for the Gospel by such institutions as Lovedale, Robert College, and the Doshisha !
Then there are medical missions, or rather medical missionaries are in ever-increasing demand. But what I Shall we turn away from ministering to diseased souls, and stoop to caring for the bodily aches and pains of humanity? Even yet in societies not a few the physician is conspicuous by his absence. Others commission him, though without enthusiasm, and because such is the fashion, or because other missionaries may need his services j while yet others set great store by hospitals and dispensaries. Surely at this point it should be enough to justify and even to compel, that the Saviour of the world was the Great Physician as well as the Great Preacher. But, besides, the fact is thoroughly established that there is no more effectual method of reaching the indifferent and prejudiced soul than by relieving suffering and healing disease. Salvation is also meant to restore to wholeness the entire man.
At least until recently there has been diversity of opinion as to the length and breadth of woman's sphere as a missionary. By the fathers she was regarded mainly, if not wholly, as an adjunct, a helpmeet to the man. The Germans believe most heartily in missionaries' wives, but have slight occupation for unmarried women. Most American and British societies regard it an advantage for men to be married, though also according to women without husbands a large and honorable place. The Universities' Mission to East Africa, however, tolerates only the celibate of either sex. But probably, on the whole, at no point has missionary development been more marked during this generation than just here; and whether we regard the thoroughness and vigor of organization, the amount of interest excited and of money gathered, and the increase of laborers in the foreign field.
Neither is there any agreement as to what constitutes fitness for evangelizing work in foreign lands, what grade of intellect, what degree of education shall be required. Probably the standard is highest in the United States, though even here there is wide diversity of judgmel:t and practise. With some the noblest specimeils of cultured manhO<.)i and womanhood are eagerly sought, while for preachers a college and seminary course is required. With others much less care is taken in selecting, and almost anybody with a proper spiritual experience will pass muster. European societies commission a far larger proportion of persons possessed of only average natural abilities and education. Self·supporting missions and industrial missions readily make room for those whose skill is in the hand rather than in the brain. Besides, the world is wide, the unevangelized range all the way from savagery which approaches the bestial, to lofty attainments in intelligence and refinement. And hence, though in a sense there is room somewhere for every humblest disciple who longs to help hasten the day when the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God, it still remains that in every field learning and the qualities of generalship and statesmanship are imperatively demanded.
This further question is yet under debate. To what countries is the missionary called to go, or who are the proper subjects' for his pray~r and toil 1 Clearly, to all lands where Christ is not known, and to all classes both high and low. And the queer Moravians actually prefer tribes that are most degraded and wretched. As clearly, also, to Mohammedans and Jews. Yes, and most would add, Roman Catholics and all other corrupt churches; and hence Austria, Italy, the Spanish-American States are visited, arid a pure Gospel is taken to Copts, Armenians, and the like. Here probably most would draw the line, though several societies go further and sustain missions in Lutheran Germany, Scandinavia, etc. At the extreme in this direction are certain rilects whose" missionary" zeal is wholly expended upon Great Britain and the United States, and in proselyting to the utmost from their brethren of every name. Since some 800,000,000 of the human family are perishing in the darkness of utter paganism, this proceeding would seem to be a case of missions gone stark mad.
One of the burning questions in the foreign field, as well as at home, relates to what constitutes fitness for baptism. The conclusions are various. The Baptists, of course, administer the ordinance only to adults who give evidence of conversion, while others would include such and their children. The continental societies make much of catechizing in the doctrines and church rites, and count those Christians who pass an examination, while the Methodists with their system of probation are ready to count as brethren any who desire to flee from the wrath to come. Some who are soundly orthodox believe that mass-baptism, baptism by the wholesale, is in order in certain cases, as when whole communities cast away their idols and put themselves under Christian instruction. Ah, what wisdom is required to decide just how far to go in meeting such poor souls whose faces are turned toward the light !
Can it be that not all missionary bodies require their representatives to preach and practise total abstinence from all that intoxicates! In this country those who come short at this point are few and far between.
'750 emTIOIfXI Olf 'I'D ORltI8TUN b»….VOlt CON'YDTIOlf
Aeroo the sea. also a large number are just 8S scrupulous; but yet, accord. ing to credible rumor, there are societies still retaining the conviction that alcohol is nece888ry for the stomach's sake, and so despatch regularly invoices thereof as a portion of the supplies required for the furtherance of the Lord's work.
It is worth while to take note how societies differ as to size and strength. While a few have attained to mammoth proportions, the many possess but a limited treasury, a little group of laborers, and a handful of converts. The English Church Society is the greatest, with an income of ,1,500,000, and an army of men and women scattered all the world over. The American Baptists can count 115,000 communicants, , and the London Society almost 95,000, with 125,000 pupils in the schools.
And, finally, no society is equally successful in every field. If here great successes are won, then over there certain fields stony and barren are likely to be discovered. The American Board can point to the Sand. wich Islands, the English Wesleyans to Fiji, and the London Society to Madagascar. The Baptists have beheld wonders among the Telugus and Kar.ns, but not among the Burmans, while over against the frnitful Northwest Conference of India the Methodists must set Bulgaria with its years of sowing much and reaping next to none. In every case, such are the wisdom and goodness of God, with succe!l8es enough to inspire, are mingled failures sufficient to keep the saints humble and prayerful.
Thus in missions as elsewhere it is "many men of many minds." The tremendous problem is perplexing because so complex, composed of such a heterogeneous mass of facts. Countless experiments must be tried, that proving all things the good may be held fast. No single denomination is in possession of the wisdom required to couquer the whole world for Jesus. And when any disciples in His name undertake to cast out the devils of paganism, we are not at liberty to " forbid them because they follow not us," our ideas, our convictions, our methods of work. Paul W&8 made all things to all men, that by all means he might save some.
CRITICISMS ON THE CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR CONVENTION.
BY UT. JAMES M. GltAY, BOSTON.
Now that the Christian Endeavor Convention is over, it is very notable how much is Mid in commendation of it and how little criticism of any kind is heard. Concerning the latter, however, the question is being raised in some quarters as to whether so great a gathering pays. It is estimated that the Boston convention cost, in round numbers, .1,000,000 ; might not this sum have been expended to better purpose in the Lord's cause' Fifty or sixty thousand enthusiastic young people collected together at one time and in one place, bent on Christian culture and ser·
18915.] CBITICI8H8 Ol'f TBIl CBlUITUN ENDEATOR CONVENTION. '751
vice, is an impressive and valuable demonstration before the world, and there can be no question also but that it has its effect upon the young people themselves, and through them upon the work of the churches they represent. But did the average individual delegate obtain as much, either of instruction or inspiration, as he would bad he been able to hear better, or to get nearer the heart of things, or had his attention and interests been less divided by other powerful attractions incident to such an occasion? This is not a question for Christian Endeavorers only to consider, but appertains also, for example, to the Baptist Young People's Union, whose convention, more recently concluded in Baltimore, is open to something of the same criticism. Could these great conventions be divided into three or four parts, and held in as many different locations, and could their officers and principal speakers be conveyed from one place to another after the manner of the bishops who preside over the Methodist conferences, might not the expense be very much less and the benefit proportionally more?
Speaking of the great size of these conventions, another inquiry is being heard as to whether it has not a tendency to beget a trust in numbers, or rather a trust in men, instead of the power and grace of God. And if this be put aside, then there is the other thought, that so large a concourse makes great demands upon the commercial world for financial help and upon the political world for civic recognition, which give to the convention or the movement a semi-secular tone, if they do not necessitate a spirit of compromise on certain critical questions of public moment.
Moreover, the success of such mighty gatherings means the perfection of organization and machinery of a certain kind; and while every one admits the value and importance of both, yet there are true friends of the movement who deprecate the utterance of one of its representatives that "Christian Endeavor stands for organization." This cannot be true. Christian Endeavor should stand, and we believe it does stand, before everything else for spiritual life. But organization is not life. To quote the suggestive words of one of the critics we have in mind: "The organization, rules, and practices of the Christian Endeavor may have been the expression of an ardent and devoted life j but the mere adoption of these expressions wm never produce that life, and the too rigid adherence to them or the too great dependence upon them may be a hindrance rather than a help to the desired end." While this criticism bears rather upon the society itself than its convention, yet the latter is what it is only because of the nature of the society.
The convention which has just closed gave a powerful impulse to the subject of good citizenship as one of the principles of the Endeavor movement. Indeed, before the convention met, at the preliminary meetings of the great chorus, the speeches that were heard bore chiefly upon that topic, the addresses of welcome climaxed upon it, some of the Ressions of the convention were charged to the very full with the electricity of patriotism, and tho pilgrimages that followed it to points of historic interest gave a culmination to " Boston '95" that must make it memorable as the great " civic" convention. Every true Christian citizen must rejoice over this. Moreover, it seems the most likely thing imaginable that a real revival of religion such as Christian Endeavor is should result in purer primaries, in better legislators and legislation, and in the more thorough execution of righteous laws. But it is just here again that a danger signal is raised. Can young Christians have their attention turned and their energies en- gaged with such persistency and power toward the betterment of their earthly citizenship without in some degree detracting from their apprecia- tion of that which is from above 1 In other words, if more attention be paid to the cultivation and development of their own inner IIpiritual life, will not that be the better way of promoting good citizenship in both direc- tions 1 There is in this city an institution known as the Sunday Patriotic Meetings. It dates back to the time, in 1888, when there was a great uprising of the communi/;y against an attempt on the part of the papal hierarchy to dictate the policy of our public schools. These meetings were then begun on Sunday afternoons in one of the largest places of assembly, for the purpose of educating the people in the history and plans of the Church of Rome as a political machine. They have been continued ever since with immense audiences, and at times manifesting the most intense enthusiasm. But many who were interested in them at the first have come to see that they have taken the place of religion to a large ,proportion of their regular attendants; they are the only church they attend, the only worship they engage in, and practically the sum and substance of the gos- pel which they know. To be an intelligent and consistent opponent of the papacy is to have a clear title to a mansion in the skies. Those who have passed through a temperance revival have met with the same phase of ex- perience, and have found scores of otherwise very intelligent people who • believed that total abstinence was not only the chief good in the present time, but that merit which had the all-inclusive claim on the time to come. It is suspected and feared in some quarters that the enthusiasm for good citizenship in Christian Endeavor may work: somewhat in a similar direc- tion unlellS most carefully watched and guarded. Of course it is not alISumed that it is not carefully watched and guarded. The criticisms which the writer has heard and read, in other words, are not those of ene- ' mies of Christian Endeavor seeking in some way to weaken its hold upon the young people of our churches, but sincere and sympathetic friends, in some sense leaders in the movement, who speak of these things chiefly in the hope of awakening each individual society to exercise special care and supplicate special grace on account of them.
In my own judgment, God Himself, who has originated this movement and is directing it, has in this last convention provided a safety-valve of escape from many of these anticipated dangers. I find this in the engage- ment of Endeavorers in evangelistic effortS. The different conventions have seemed in their particular features to mark a progress or development in the principles and work of the movement as well as in its numbers. At first consecration and loyalty to Christ and the Church were insisted on, then special attention was called to the duty of foreign missions, then came good citizenship, which we have seen culminating in this convention in a mighty patriotic impulse ; but side by side with the consideration of this last subject in the present gathering, there has been an aggressive movement for souls which marks an advance upon the work of any convention hitherto. Not only were the noon meetings at Faneui! Hall and Bromfield Stre~t Church filled to overflowing with audiences who came to hear the great evangelists, but the young men and women of the convention themselves went everywhere preaching the Word. They visited the wharves and lumber-yards, the stores and engine-houses, the factories and lanndries, bringing the glad tidings to thousands of needy souls at the same time that they were training themselves and stimulating their appetites for more of such work in their own respective localities. Dr. Duff once said that the e~angelistic Church would be the evangelical Church. He might have added also that it would be the holy Church. Practical work for souls not' only makes for sound doctrine, but consistent living. Let the Endeavor conventions henceforth seek more and more for the evangelization of the cities in which they meet, and the reflex benefit upon every society represented will be the best that their truest friends can desire.
There was just one feature of this convention that the writer of these lines would deprecate, and that was the tendency to speak jocularly of older people, and to intimate that if it had not been for this uprising of the young people all our churches would have been dead and buried. There is such a"thing as pressing a truth like that too far. When the once noted theologian and revivalist, Dr. Lyman Beecher, was too aged to engage longer in regular employment, he removed to Brooklyn and attended the ministry of his more famous son, Henry Ward. One Sabbath morning, as the congregation was retiring, he heard them praising the sermon and the preacher in, the most exalted terms, and turning round when he reached the vestibule he shook his finger at them, and with a merry twinkle in his eye exclaimed, "Ah, if it hadn't been for me you'd never had him 1" It is certainly not only bad taste but bad judgment, as well as bad religion, for Christian Endeavor to make too many comparisons to its own advantage at the expense of the Church to which it is almost entirely indebted.
But critics may say what they please about the Boston convention, it was, nevertheless, a great demonstration. It was a great demonstration of the fact that yonng people are now coming to the front in religion, as they have long been coming to the front in other lines of thought and action. Such a convention makes it very much easier to present the subject of personal religion to a young man or woman of your acquaintance than if it had never occurred. It was a great demonstration of the life and power of the Gospel. These young people bore witness to something
THE LATEST BLOW TO THE AFRICAN SLAVE POWER
different from the Unitarian cultus of Boston. Theirs was an infallible Bible, a salvation of grace, a Divine Saviour. Theirs was a faith that awakened a lively and unselfish interest in the lost. Theirs was a faith that begat a life and walk of righteousness. A great army of youth entering a city within forty-eight hours of one another, and not a keg of beer or cask of wine added to any cellar, not an extra chair placed in any gambling-room, not an additional ticket sold at any low theatre, no brothel made richer by them, no low rough crowd following them, no uncouth manners or bad actions seen in them, no increase in the number of arrests on their account-a decrease rather of thirty-three per cent! Boston entertained the flower of the world for one week when it entertained the Endeavor convention. Evil was out of harmony with these young people, and yet they had a happy time. They sang continually in the houses, and on the streets, and in the cars, as well as in the hall and tents. Wherever they went the richest laughter fell. upon the ear. There was a peculiar urbanity about them, a winsomeness in their Christianity, as another expressed it, which has left a most delightful impression on the whole city. Yes, and this convention was a great demonstration of anotherfact, namely, the power of a Divine idea lodged by the Holy Ghost in the heart and brain of a consecrated Christian man.. This Christian Endeavor movement is of God. There can be no doubt of this when we consider its origin, its character, its development, and its results. No man, no hundred men can account for it. And yet God was pleased to use a man in bringing it into being. How this thought exalts our human personality! It is the truth that is to convert the world and conquer it for Jesus Christ, but truth incarnated, truth dwelling in men, borne witness to by men, lived out in the lives of men. As one thinks of what has been accomplished by this religious movement among the young people of our generation, and what its possibilities are, he may well ask, who would not be a man, sanctified and surrendered, for God to use ~ THE LATEST BLOW TO THE AFRICAN SLAVE POWER.
BY REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, DARWEN, LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND.
Another crushiug defeat has been delivered to the slave traders in Nyassaland. By the intrepidity of Acting Commissioner Sharpe, Kawinga, a notorious human hunter and terror to his peaceful neighbors, has been chivalrously resisted and defeated. So far back as 1859, when Livingstone explored the Nyassa regions, this same chief, then known as Kainka, belonging to the Yao race of slavers, was in the habit of harrying the Mauganja tribes, and of his ravages Livingstone wrote graphic and thrilling narratives. Kawinga has ever !lince been one of the most active slavers firmly intrenched on the southern and eastern shores of the lake. Part of the country of the Yaos lies in the northeastern corner of the British Cen- tral Africa protectorate and a greater portion within Portuguese territory, and over the entire district the slave trade has had a vigorous stronghold through unknown generations. Similarly Kawinga's own town, though covered by the British flag, has been a regular halting-place for slave cara- vans on their journeys from the slave fields of the interior to the Portu- guese settlements on the east coast. To rid himself of Kawinga and two or three minor chiefs holding effective positions, Commissioner Johnston, who has rendered valiant service against slave chiefs along the shores of Nyassa, was obliged to leave for India in order to recruit a few hundred Sikh soldiers for the accomplishment of his unavoidable militant object. Kawinga assumed that the commissioner's absence would afford a favorable opportunity for an assault on the protectorate. Happily this anticipation has been wholly frustrated.
The incessant energy of Commissioner Johnston in putting down slave operations around the lake, which has a length of 350 miles and a breadth averaging from 16 to 60 miles, roused Kawinga some time since to plan an attack on the Shire settlements to the south of his town. To effect this he determined last March to make war on Malemya (a chief under British protection), and, subsequently, to destroy the thriving Domasi mission station, for long years associated with the famous Blantyre missionary headquarters of the Church of Scotland. If success had attended Kawinga it meant an invasion of the whole of British Nyassa (looking southward) ; and, inasmuch as six chiefs rallied to his call and others were awaiting the results to share in the spoils, it is apparent that this perilous combination of slave raiding-chiefs would have swept away the promising civilizing colony from end to end. Unpleasant as it is to make use of the Angel of War as the forerunner of the Angel of Peace, the Acting Commissioner, Mr. Sharpe, bravely confronted his wily antagonist and proved a sufficient match. In the darkness of night Domasi, the branch of the Blantyre Mission lying to the southwest of Lake Shirwa, was assailed hy a tremendous force of native Yaos from different points, and, save for the gallantry of the Sikhs at hand and the traders acting under the directions of Messrs. Sharpe and Fletcher, Domasi and its surronndings would have been utterly lost. With considerable loss Kawinga was repulsed, and ultimately his pursuers, following up their advantage, took possession of his capital, the fugitive chief being obliged to find refuge across the Portuguese borders in the valley of the upper Lugenda River.
Had Domasi been captured by the Yaos, the Scotch missions and plantations on the Shire highlands, for the growth of which a quarter of a century of patient labor has been required, would have been levelled to the ground. If the defeat has not finally broken the back of the Yao slavers, it will enable the colonists to extend their activity northward unmolested and eventually abolish the old slave trade route around the south end of Nyassa. The passage of the slave traffic across the lake is impossible,
'156 THE LAW OF SPIRITUAL.HEREDITY
states Archdeacon Maples, of the Universities' Mission, now that the last. of the slave dhows is destroyed. On the arrival of Commissioner Johnston's reinforcements from India there will be no further dread of victorious slavers overunning Nyassaland. At an early day it may be expected that the country stretching to the distant north between Nyassa and Tanganyika will be equally cleared of Arabs, whose staple commodity is hnman flesh, and whose forays are stained by organized murder. By that achievement the slave trade in East Central Africa will have received a deadly blow. For its extirpation it would almost seem, as an authority has observed, that" of the slave trade it may be said, without extravagance, that there is nothing in African human nature which leads us to suppose that this abomination will eventually yield to any argument save force."
Meanwhile, the outlook over Nyassaland presents an encouraging prospect. Missionary and civilizing agencies exhibit a forward movement. Strangers unarmed are growingly trusted by the natives and welcomed as defensive allies. As a thoroughly interesting race of people, skilful in a variety of native trades and willing to adopt Western ideas and handicrafts, the Nyassa tribes are universally described. Nor is it anyexaggeration to say that for their moral, material, and spiritual salvation magnificent efforts have been made by men and women, mostly of Scotch ancestry, whose record makes an epic volume in the history of modern mlSSlOns. The standard of the cross has been unfurled on the sonth, north, east, and west, at many points of the silvery beach of Nyassa (the Lake of the Stars) by the ensigns of faith whose sanctified vocation it has been, as Whittier sings, to "Right the wronged and raise the weak."
THE LAW OF SPIRITUAL HEREDITY.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
Rev. J. Murray Mitchell, LL.D., tells how he once climbed to a mountain peak in the Western Ghats, in India, in search of the source of one of India's noblest rivers, the Godavari; and how at last the exploring party reached a spot where a few drops were trickling from the rocks, so few that for two or three seconds the whole stream was held in the hollow of the hand, and it needed but to scoop out a small channel to divert the stream in a new direction. From this small beginning the insignificant rill could be traced, descending the slope and gradually broadening. It flowed eastward toward the Bay of Bengal, widening, deepening, gathering volume and momentum, until it was the secret of fertility to tens of thousands of acres of otherwise barren desert.
That river is a parable of human life. "The king's heart is in the hands of the Lord, and He turneth it whithersoever He will." Is not that proverb a reference to the point in the stream of life, near the heart, out of which flow life's issues, and where character and destiny wait for a determining hand ~ And does not God put the mother at that point of power where the heart of the child-and every child is one of God's born kings-is in her hand to be turned whithersoever she will ~ Thackeray says, ' , We sow a thought, and we reap an act; we sow an act, and we reap a habit; we sow a habit, and we reap character; we sow a character, and we reap des1iny." What an awful responsibility when you or I have the opportunity to give direction to the thought, the aim, the desire, the motive from which conduct, habit, character, destiny spring!
No lesson of missions is more sublimely and pathetically grand than that which is taught us in the proof afforded by the lives of missionary heroes and heroines, of the power of a spiritual ancestl·y, of a faith first dwelling in a mother and a grandmother, and by a law of spiritual heredity descending to the son or daughter. It almost seems as if there were an inheritance, not of aptitudes only, but a legacy of character.
Ziegenbalg was trained to be Christ's pioneer in the East Indies, not first at Halle, under the saintly FrancH, but before that in the primary school of his own home, under the teachings of a mother who baptized her words with tears and hallowed them with prayers. In a humble hamlet near Dresden that consecrated mother was dying with a group of little ones about her, and being very poor she amazed them by saying, "A great treasure I have laid up for you-a very great treasure. Seek it, my children, in the Bible, and there you will find it. There is not a page which I have not wet with my tears. " One of those children was Bartholomew Ziegenbalg. And when after thirteen years of apostolic labor he passed away singing, "Jesus, my Confidence," it was his mother's treasure that had been his from childhood to the end.
In Sonnenberg, Germany, another holy woman Jay dying, and with her last breath confided to her weeping husband this whispered secret, "Our youngest son I have dedicated to God for such service as He shall appoint. Assure me that when he hears the Lord's call you will not discourage it." That lad was christened Friedrich Schwartz. Then, under Francke, at Halle, what his mother had begun in his heart received development, and Schwartz went home to announce to his father his conscious call from God to the career of a missionary in India. Then the father sought the dying chamber of that holy mother, and in that atmosphere, after three days of agony, gave up his boy to God. At twenty-three Schwartz sailed for India, where for forty-three years he did so grand a work that it may be well doubted whether any other man has so impressed that empire for good. Schwartz's name is to this day spoken with a sort of holy awe in India. This man, who lived in one room barely big enough for a bed and table, who was cook for himself and ate rice and other vegetables, and who spent less than seventy-five cents a day on his entire support, held a sceptre which swayed not only the common people, but princes and kings in their palaces.
The story of Zinzendorf, the Moravian bishop, is very familiar. His grandfather was a martyr in spirit, resigning his estates for the sake of Christ, and he was brought up by a grandmother and aunt who faithfully nursed his infant piety. At four years of age he covenanted with Jesus, "Be Thou mine, dear Saviour, and I will be Thine," and the simplehearted boy, yearning for communion with Jesus, used to write to Him little notes, un burdening his heart, and flinging them out the castle window to be found and read by Him. It was he who could say, "'One passion have I, and it is He, He alone j" it was he to whom any country was home and native land where Christ had need of him j he it was who would rather be hated for Jesus' sake than loved for his own. How little did the grandmother know that she was shaping the whole course of Moravian missions !
Alexander Duff, so famous in the history of missions in India, owed everything to his spiritual ancestry. Back to and through a former generation the subtle influences must be traced that ripened into the self-offering of this marvellous man, so that from the hour when he was led io care for his own soul he began to know a passion for the souls of others, and especially the heathen, that led him once for all irrevocably to devote himself to their salvation.
Samuel J. Mills is entitled, if any man is, to be called the father and founder of missions on this side of the oceltn. Though he died at sea, on to the African coast, and was never permitted enter fully upon the work for which he set himself apart, he had set in motion the springs of both home and foreign missionary effort and organization. A score of various forms of benevolence, wide as the United States, the continent, the world, owe to him their inspiration and encouragement, if not their origin. And yet that wonderful life whose lamp went out so early and yet wrought such marvels, was sealed with consecration to God and to missions before birth by a holy mother j and when Mills grew to boyhood and was yet unrenewed by the Spirit, and even blind to his own need of regeneration, it was his mother's prevailing prayer that on a definite morning caused him to be overwhelmed with a new sense of sin and guilt, and l~d him to a full surrender to a new master.
When the secrets are brought to light, what wonders will be revealed of parental influence, known only to God, shaping the character and lives of children !
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BlIV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The International Duel in the Far East. the fact that France and England con. stitute, either merchant or missionary, It is well to remember the severe their avant IXntreur. Either may afford strain put on some non-Christian na- occasion tor new foreign political comtions. So far as China is concerned, plications. The missionary may preshe stands chullenged to single-handed cipitate national disturbances as well combat against the combined nations of as the merchant. He is the picket of a Europe and America in their solidarity. new order of things. If we remember correctly, it was Hon. William B. Reed, as United States Pleni- Let us illustrate. The Republic of potentiary, who, now, nearly fifty years Liberia prohibits titles of property to ago, introduced into the treaty with any white man. She needs foreign China the" most favored nation" clause. capital and knows it ; but she knows, Perhaps the most penetrating diplomat too, that property investments by forof the world had little anticipation of eigners become, too frequently, the occathe ultimate result of that shrewd and sion of national strife. The Chinese apparently just demand. But what has know this as well as the black man of been the outcome? Every treaty-con- West Africa does. cession, however incidental or however ruinous to China's interests, made After having pigeon-holed for more amicably or at the cannon's mouth, to than a third of a century applications anyone of the European nations or to to allow titles to the Christians, and to that of the United States, is necessa- direct that the vendor who chooses to rily made to everyone of them. For lIell to them property be allowed to do so forty-five years all the Western powers unrestrained, the emperor has just now have been a unit as against China. 'fhe gazetted the governors that this must be duel is unequal. the order. At the same time, Christian missionaries are urging their govern- It is little wonder that the Chinese, ments to demand anew treatybywbich finding themsel ves in danger of being the foreign missionary or his society parcelled out, like Africa, into ,. spheres shall be granted the privilege of holding of influence" by Europeans, should titles, alleging as one reason, that if held grow increasingly restive In their pres- by the Ohinese Church the government ence. Millions in China have before may at any time confiscate their investthem the prospect of starvation during ments of foreign money. and their own the transition from the old industrial governments be powerless to demand and commercial conditions, to the new redress. It is just this that the Chinese ones which contact of foreigners is re- themselves know. We make now no sistlessly introducing. A million of argument, pro or con, but state the pro idle, pensioned ex-soldiers or their de- and con of this case as a mere illustrascendants organized about the gambling tion. Take as another illustration the den as a unit, are ever present to stir the following : The hcad and centre of the quiet people to riot that they may plun- anti-foreign agitation is the province of der. The ruling class, the literati, are Hunan. Thence issues indecent and always disposed to resist the presence strife.engendering literature against for· of foreigners' as liable to become the lIigners, missionaries in particular. A occasion of disturbance, and thus af- Hunan Inan, an officer in Szechuen, ford ground of fresh encroachment of boasted during the recent riots at Chenforeign powers. They are not blind to tU,that if a foreigner entered Hunan they killed him and wiped the streets with him. This riot occurred in Szechuen, but Kucheng, the turbulence having sub· the diplomatic pawn that it is proposed sided-Dr: Gregory, of the same mis- to move forward is,that the French army sion, also. We have no tidings whether march on Hunan and demand the open- the missionaries of the English Church ing of at least one port for foreigners in removed or not temporarily from Ku· that province. The" most favored na- cheng at the time of that disturbance.
tion clause" will of course apply. The But it appears that several of them were Chinese see all this, resistless as the tides. at a health·station at Whasang farther A thousand other similar complications up in the mountains. Miss Hartwell steadily result in foreign political, com- went up there also. It was at Whasang mercial and religious advance. Seen that the massacre took place; those mis- from their standpoint, it is humiliating sionaries of the American Board, the and irritating. We must bear all this in Methodist and the English churches who mind in judging of and dealing with were at Kucheng were undi~turbcd.
China. On the night of July 31st the mob rushed into the mission premises and The Massaore in Kuoheng, Ohina. murdered Rev. R. W. Stewart, his wife, and two children;' Miss Elsie It is scarcely worth while, except for Marshall, Miss Annie Gordon, Miss Bes- making the historical record in this peri- sie Newcombe, and Miss Flora Stewart, odical, to repeat the details, which the all of the Church of England Mission.
secular press has made widely known, Miss Hartwell was lodging in a native of the riots of March 28th and massacre house near by, and escaped with minor of Christian missionaries, which took injuries, after a severe struggle with one place at Kucheng, China, July 31st last. of the mob and a race for her life.
That of March 28th was conducted Mr. Stewart, who was slain with his by the vegetarians, who, whatever wife, had been some twenty years in the their original organization was designed country and was the head of his mission.
to effect, are now known as one of the In his last report of the Church of Eng- secret political organizations which are land zenana mission he referred to the a constant menace to the peace and pros· ladies who were since cruelly murdered perity of entire Central China from the as follows: seacoast to the borders of Tibet. .. Nangwa is the centre mission for the Previous to March 28th everything ladies in the far Northwest. It is four had been quiet for a long time, and no days' journey over high mountains from disturbance whatever was apprehended. Kucheng. I visited them ,at the be- On that day the rumor was current that ginning of the year, and found there the vegetarians would march into Ku- :Miss Johnson, Miss Newcombe, Miss cheng, kill the local magistrate, and Rodd, Miss Bryer, and Miss Fleming; burn the missionary property belonging they have also among them a Miss Sin· to the llethodist and other missions. clair, who has come from England in- The wildest confusion prevailed for dependently, and is making herself use- three days, when the United States ful in various ways. These ladies are consul at Foochow warned the Ameri· living as nearly like the native women can missionaries that they must retire as possible; no knives or forks are seen to Foochow, as no soldiers could be sent in the house. I am told that one knife to protect them. Dr. Gregory, Miss is kept for any unhappy guest who can· Rouse, and Miss Hartwell proceeded not manage chop.sticks, and though the to Foochow, which lay s:lUthwest of locality is far from healthy, and our Kucheng, the route being thirty miles C. M. S. missionaries have one after an· " through the mountains by chair, and other felt the effects of malaria, your sixty miles by the river Min, in boats. ladies have in a surprising degree main· Miss Hartwell subsequently returned to tained their strength. You know the kind of life they lead, visiting from vil- at a place called Sek'ci-Du, with Miss lage to village, sometimes at long dis- SaunderS, of the Australian Association, tances from home, putting up not at who is stationed in Kucheng while chapels or at Christians' houses, for, learning the language.
alas! there are none, but in the native " A letter has come to-day from Miss inns or the house of some hospitable Marshall telling of the great encourage- heathen woman. Their reward for this ment they find in Sek-ci-Du. This is devotion is being used of God. It is remarkable because, although we have truly invigorating to the soul to sit down been for years endeavoring to rouse an and listen as they tell of the good hand interest there, hitherto we llave entirely of their God upon them, and the spir- failed, and purposed retiring from the itual results they have seen. Oh, for station altogether. Thank God for the more of these" women that publish the ladies whom you send us; wherever tidings" I They have, too, a little hos- they go God gives His blessing, and the pital here, and this year they tried a secret lies in the quiet, unwavering trust small station class, though in doing so in a living Saviour by their side. Such they had to face difficulties that were trust He does not disappoint."
not met with in the old districts. The only American missionary who "The three other ladies who regard suffered personal harm in the murder- Kucheng as their headquarters are Miss ous Whasung attack was Miss Mabel Gordon, Miss Marshall, and Miss Stew- C. Hartwell, of the Methodist Episco- art. .Miss Stewart is still working for pal Mission, who was in a native house her examinations; when she has got near by the mission premises where the through them her sphere of labor will English missionaries were quartered.
be in the country, in the western sec- Miss Hartwell makes the following tion of the -district. Miss Gordon's sta- statement: tion, where she spends the greater part "August 1st, at 7.30 A.M., I heard of the year, is Dong-Gio, the chief cen· shouts. They were the yells of servants tre of the Ping-Nang district. This who rushed in shouting to me to get great district, or, as we should say in up, for the Vegetarians were coming, England, county, has no other lady tearing down the houses on the hill be- worker, and I need not say that, how- longing to the English mission.
ever hard she may try, she can do little " A few minutes later a teacher came more than touch what is waiting to be to my door and told me to run. I put done. At that one station of Dong-Dio on my clothes and rushed to the door.
80 or 90 women usually attend the Sun- I was met by a man with a trident day service. We have to thank the spear, who yelled, 'Here is a foreign Rev. H. R. McCartney, of Melbourne, woman.'
for this valuable missionary. Miss " He pointed the spear at my chest.
Elsie Marshall's work is also in the coun- I twisted it to one side and it just try; she only returns now and then to grazed my ear and head. He threw me Kucheng as headquarters. Her sec_ to the ground and beat me with the tion lies north of Kucheng, and covers wooden end of the spear. A servant more than 300 square miles. She has came and wrenched the spear away, several centres in this region, where she then told me to run. I jumped down stops for a few weeks or two months at the embankment and ran along the road.
a time, collecting the women together A servant came and pulled me along and visiting from house to house. Our until I got up on the side of the hill. I plan is for your missionaries to travel then lay down there to get more breath.
in pairs, accompanied by a Bible wom- After resting twice I reached a seclud- an and Christian servant, and to put up ed spot and lay there. All this time at chapels where a married catechist is the yells went on and two houses were stationed. Just now Miss Marshall is burning to the ground. " After a while the yells stopped. I but I only saw one, the man who rat· supposed tbe Vegetarians had gone tacked me, who shouted, C Here is a away. A servant went to see how foreign woman.' He had a trident matters were. He returned in half an spear. Some had swords. There was hour, telling me to come home, that five at least one gun, for I heard it fired off. ladies of the English Mission had been The natives say there were more." killed. and some had been wounded, but that my house-a rented native Government Defence of Missionaries. house-had not been troubled at all. A great deal of nonsense has ap· " I went home to find Miss Codring· peared in the secular press of this coun· ton much cut about the head and beaten try since the riots in Chentu and Ku· all over; Mildred Stewart, twelve years cheng as to the duty of the United old, with knee cut and bleeding very States Government to demand redress hard; Herbert Stewart, six years old. for injury done to person and property cut on the head and almost dead ; baby to missionaries. Even such rubbish has Stewart, with one eye black and swol· found place in influential newspapers. len; the second Stewart girl; Kathleen, as that, affording protection to missiona· eleven years old, with the second boy, ries and missionary property is propa- Evan, three years old, were beaten and gating religion by the sword. pierced with a spear, but not seriously injured. The boy vomited all day, So far as missionaries are concerned, but we thought it was from fright. they go to these foreign fields fully aware that they are liable to be harmed .. Mr. Phillips, of the English Mis· by such outbreaks. Weare not aware sion, who lived in s native house some that the missionaries from America ever distance away, escaped all injury, only asked government aid or protection in arriving in time to see the bodies of the the prosecution of their calling. If they dead and hear the Vegetarians say, ' We obtain it it is on the basis that they are have killed all the foreigners.' American citizens. It might be possi· ble that they would advance their influ· U At first we heard that some foreign. ence more by not demanding redress at ers had escaped and were in hiding, but all. Native Christian Chinese have over Mr. Stewart did not come and we feared and over refused indemnity proffered the worst. Mr. Phillips went to the by the authorities for injuries to person ruins and found eight bodies-five not and property. They gained greatly in burned and three burned so as not to influence as religionists among the peo; be recognizable. Dr. Gregory arrived pIe thereby. There may be occasions at dark and dressed the wounds of the when missionaries might choose to do patients. Coffins were made and the likewise. The missionaries in Uganda bodies put in them. The bones of the gained great triumphs while absolutely burned were put in boxes. unprotected to any degree by the Brit· ish Government. The Gospel can win .. When I was thrown down my its way without patronage of any po· teacher's wife called on some Whasung litical powers. But no state can afford men around to save me. There were to see its subjects unprotected. This, four men there to only one Vegetarian, regardless of their calling, whether mis· but they would not help me. She came sionary, merchant, or bicyclist reporter. and tried to pull me away as he was The British Government in one instance beating me. The Vegetarian kicked spent millions to defend a single one of her. its subjects-and he a Jew! The per- son and property of the citizen of any U When the Vegetarian who beat me country must be held to be absolutely started down the hill to come to our inviolate in every other country, Thus house three others were with him; but these ran off after some Chinamen, so I escaped with only one persecutor.
" There were about fifty Vegetarians, missionaries as citizens or subjects must it appear vast and well worth remark be protected by their governments,' not for size. But this knowledge isolated, for missionary interests, but for the pres· counts for nothing. Look at the" Dark tige of the government. Whatever the Continent ;" our land would go more missionary may choose to do or not to than three times therein; then recall, for do in the ca8e, when wronged or harmed, our one minister to 800 persons, Africa the government has no alternative. It has one for every 600,000. Or note must protect an American citizIJn, Brazil, larger than us, yet with as little though he be a Jew, Moslem, or Budo chance for enlightenment as Africa. In dhist propagandist, or whatever else, in the land east of the Mississippi (India'S any part of the globe. A government area) put one·sixth of the world, or that does not do that, or attempt to do let the swarming millions of China over· it, is not worth owning. flow our fnll area, somewhat. You are utterly powerless to grasp even the out· Maps and Money. side edge of these facts unless you have BY v. F. PENROSE. a map of the world.
But if you have been constantly in The Christian Church is nowevery· contact thus with maps, your present where using maps. Hence we read rate of giving fails to satisfy. How that the " estimated increase of wealth could it ? "There remaineth yet very among evangelical Christians in the. much land to be possessed," and your United States was four times greater utmost efforts cannot make up for the than all the contributions for foreign anti·mission and partly.mission multi· work by all American Christians duro tudes. What railroad would proceed ing the entire century," for we are giv· to work without maps? What army ing at the rate of twenty·five cents a could be active unprovided with map~ ?
year apiece. The latest historical books are having What does the use of maps mean? their maps so printed that a blank space Accurate knowledge. The children who equal to the page is on the bound·side never have a meeting without maps of of each map in order that it may be al· the world and of the country studied, ways before the reader.
comparing every land in area with our It is not, however, enough to have own, and then imagining the quarter of maps; you must use them. "Oh, yes, the world's population, the Chinese, we have maps. They are put away in our somewhat lesser area, while reo somewhere. I forget where and what membering we have 65,000,000 people, they are; but we have maps ;" and the are gaining the intelligent interest based search the minister then made for me on business and scientific information revealed a map of Paul's missionary that will make their future gifts, put to journeys, which scarcely answered my shame those of grown people who are needs in telling of India after the above yearly giving without ever seeing and methods. The same incident occurred realizing the vast areas utterly un· in more than one locality.
touched by any Christian influence. A .. Weare so impressed by your map map of the world cannot be done with· of the world," a missionary speaker was out. You do not know China or Mex: told, "that we are going to buy one.
ico unless you compare it with other How much did yours cost ?"
lands and see its neighbors and find " A dollar and a half. It is paper their political influence. which I mounted on cloth, is eight feet Take Pennsylvania; it looks large six by four feet six, and came from the when compared with the New England American Board. I add our own sta· States. Bring California or Washing. tions as I need them. Your members ton forward and it is tiny. A large can -examine it, and ten·cent donations railway map of the United States makes will soon secure it," and they got it. When new members join your so- meeting while the influence of each naciety, if you have no map of the world, tion is being described. while you are studying China, how can they be expected to take a money inter· Have you ever tried to have an exest in your Osaka scholarship-for few hibition of all the maps of your local· can locate our mission stations without ity? Such a one has recently proved maps. Therefore first make or buy a wonderfully suggestive. Each society map of the world, and then secure the had individual map-methods. maps of the lands to be studied. It is not difficult to draw an outline of the Start an audience from where they live continents on a large sheet of paper or across their continent-on the map-reo on cloth. ferring, in passing, to the missionary' from Japan who returned- home after Clay or putty maps moulded on a ten years' absence and could scarcely large board covered with oil cloth, In· credit the increase of luxury in every terest greatly. Putty, not cracking place, and ye1; everywhere, as excuse for readily and softening in linseed oil, Is not giving, heard: "Debt, debt, debt." better than clay, though both can be Then crossing the Pacific, show the rela· used over and over again. Candles In tive size of the United States and China, Christmas-tree holders mark the mission and turn to a large map of China, speak. stations, and are lit one by one as bits of ing of the swarming population, illusinformation are given of the medical trating by the popUlation chart of China. work at this one, the press·work at that. A hundred squares, each representing The grains or names of animals can be 4,000,000, form a square, ten each wuy, affixed. Tiny flags may indicate where and all are needed for China. InRide, our missionary heroes have lived, or the tbe United States have their 65,000,000 mission stations. (A bit of ribbon and a in one corner; underneath, Great Brit· big pin make a flag.) The "black ain, France, Germany, and the Russian map," a map of the world with tbe Empire half fill the square, and China continents painted solidly black on some has one missionary for 300,000. They cheap material, or else on your ordinary give for their "spirit offerings" an· map covered with black paper or cloth nually $400,000,000. We gave in 1890, cut to fit, has the various denomina- $11,000,000 for home and foreign mistions' work represented by little circles sions; $1,200,000 we spent for drink in of white fastened by means of a pin, as that year; $24,000,000 we spend for work is described in Africa and Asia, cutjlower8 each year. till, at th<l last, a fringe of white repre· sents the Gospel in all lands. After such a map-illustrated talk, a most interested auditor said he felt com· Represent Africa alone in this way, pelled to arrange his household exor any country, marking all the socie- penses that he might ha ve more to give, ties at work. While the different col- so overwhelming was it to ored circles are being placed for the missions, you might have some defini· U Contrast tions read by various persons-diction- The petty Done, the Undone vast;" ary definitions of darkness, light, uncivilized, evangelized, mi88ionary, Ohristian· and others have proved the 8ame by ity, ending with Jesus as defined in their gifts when facts were once thus Matt. 1: 21. presented.
Again, have a mere outline of Africa Three leaflet·charts may be enlarged on brown paper, and cut the areas to assist this map force. They may be owned by England, France, Spain, etc., had for thirty cents per hundred of in red, blue, yellow, and other papers. W. B. Jacobs, 148 Madison Street, Chi· Have these fastened on at a public cago: "A Mute Appeal," "Trifling with a Great Trust," and "A Com· parative View;" the first two may be also had enlarged for sixty cents aim of miSl!ionary work. They either each. lay too much streSl! on the work of testi- fying, or they depend wholly on the Grown persons need not rebel at such Holy Spirit regardleSl! of human methmethods. Money comes spasmodically, ods. from impulse of the moment, unless the mind can recur again and again to the Such is the gist of the criticism. reasons for giving. The two· tenths area Now, while we do not belong to the of the whole world that alone have class of men who imagine that miSl!ionknowledge of Christ is a fact not to be ary methods are above criticism, we canforgotten when once seen demonstrated not but take issue with Professor Kozaki on a map of the world, and is empha- in what he says regarding present methsized each time the map is seen afler- ods of work, and also in what he outward. lines as the" true scientific method." It is somewhat startling to read that to- At oncll we feel we must give morc. day, after a hundred years of mission- Ask for birthday offerings of dollars, ary work, neither the churches at home dimes, or pennies. Give out nickels or nor their representatives abroad have dollars for investment. Find out every any idea of the true aim of missionary way in which you may increase your work. If that be true, no wonder that gifts; nay, lessen your indebtedness to our methods are bad and our converts the One whose light makes our life. few. The wonder is that such aimless men should have any methods or any To this, a constant use of maps, im- converts at all; and, wonder of wonpels me. ders I how have they been able to ac- complish what even Professor Kozaki From Another Standpoint.* speaks of as a work not inferior to what was done in apostolic times? It seems BY REV. W. WYND, BAPTIST MISSION. to us that, although the churches are not all that they ought to be, the ones OSAKA, JAPAN. which support missions are pretty clear about the aim of missionary work. As In your June issue of the MISSIONARY for the missionaries, God knows how REVIEW we were favored with a discus- hr short we feel ourselves to be of these sion of the missionary problem by Pro- grand ideals that we read of in the fessor Kozaki, of the Doshishi College, .. Acts of the Apostles," but even of Kioto. Looking at the problem from the worst of us, it cannot be truly said the point of view of a Japanese Chris- that we have no .. definite idea of the tian, the learned professor sees the prea- true aim of missionary work." In that ent methods of missionary work to be at least we k7W1J) our Lord's will; how wholly at variance with scientific prin- we are doing it is another question. ciples. More especially is his criticism Some, he says, are laying too much levelled at present methods of conduct- stress on the work of testifying, thinking work in civilized c(luntries. ing when they have done this their work is done, whether men are converted or Neither the missionaries who are sent not. to the field nor the churches that send If a missionary gives his time and them have any definite idea of the true strength and whatever talent God has given him to the work of testifying, is *[We do not hold ourselves responsible for the he not following in the footsteps of the great apostle of the Gentiles, who went views of contributor., and much prefer that r~ from city to city doing nothing else 1 joinders to any article that appears should take Without minimizing in the least the imthe form of independent presentation of oppo- portance of educational work; without site opinions, common now, as a symposium. But as this paper is written in a good spirit we make an exception. In securing Mr. Kozaki's paper we intended it to inangurate a series by pastors native to several fields. We expect to furnish such an article from a Mexican minister in an early issue, and invite others of these brethren to send US contribntions from time to time.-J. T. G.] detracting from the value of work done verts that the missionary searches for, by noble-hearted, courageous, consecra- and it is converts that together both ted native workers, the fact remains that Church and missionary rejoice over.
to·day in non·Christian civilized lands Again, he says II we depend too much the foreign missionary of the right on the Holy Spirit regardless of human stamp,by the power of his testimony can methods." Those who believe the words do at least as great a work as he could do of Christ have a right to depend on the in any other sphere; a work that but for Holy Spirit; but certainly they have no his presence would probably not be right to depend on Him unless they done, even if the independent native themselves are using means and meth- churches had plenty of funds at their ods to accomplish the work with which dispolilal. they have been entrusted. The mis- I would remind the reader that in sionary who does so, to say the least of Japan, during the last three or four it, betrays a sad lack of sanctified com- years, the gain in almost the whole of mon sense.
the independent churches has been very In Japan each mission has its yearly slight; in some cases, indeed, they have or quarterly meeting for discussing, gone backward, and the churches Which formulating, and improving methods of have gained have been for the most part work, for devising new meaDS of reach- churches with which the missionary has ing the unbelievers. I know not of a had more or less to do. From the days society, a mission, or a missionary that when the disciples went everywhere tes- expects to see men becoming Christians tifying that Jesus was the Christ, the without human means beiDg used to Saviour of men, the blessing of the Lord make them so, and am consequently has followed the work of testifying; wholly at a loss to know where Profes- and statistics to.day will show that that sor Kozaki found the type of men of blessing hath not been withheld from whom he writes. The advocate of foreign missionaries testifying in non- " scientific methods of Christian work"
Christian civilized lands. To say that ought to have been the last man to de- too much stress is laid by, the foreign part from a scientific method of criti- missionary on the work of testifying is cism.
to betray a superficial knowledge of the After a careful perusal of the article subject in question, and to tell the in question, the following I take to be churches at home-these churches that the substance of the new II scientific hunger to hear of conversions, that scan method" outlined by the professor in every missionary periodical to find out his article : how many conversions are taking place 1. Send only a few first·rate foreign -to tell these that both they and their missionaries, and let their work be edu- representatives in foreign lands regard cational.
their work done when they have testi- 2. Instead of sending missionaries to fied, whether men are converted or not, testify to the unbelievers, send funds to is to betray utter ignorance of these the independent churches and do the great principles that are working in the work through them.
home churches and impelling them on He is convinced that the great need to missionary efforts. of non-Christian civilized lands is na- If the Church regards her work done tive workers; and in order to provide when she has testified, why has she these he would have the home churches again and again kept her missionaries send out only a few select teachers.
ten, fifteen, and twenty years working With the help of these, and a staff of in fields where not one has turned from eq ually gifted native teachers, first-class idols to serve the living God '1 Even a institutions of learning could be estab- superficial observer might see that it is lished. from which a sufficient number converts the Church longs for, it is con- of cultured workers might reasonably be expected. With these at work the native churches, doing the work through first step would be taken toward put- them.
ting missionary work on a scientific That is not an original idea. For the basis. We also believe that what is last year or two it has been the pet cry, greatly needed in these lands is more not of the Church in Japan. but of a native workers of the right stamp; but few leaders more or less imbued with however important a part schools may an anti-foreign spirit. That such a have in furnishing such men, with all spirit should manifest itself at times is our applications of modern science to most natural, human nature being what our school system we have not yet it is. In the churches at home there reached the point where we can take in are always those who are ready to hug men, by disposition, sentiment, and some personal grievance against their training, estranged from God, and turn pastor until they are firmly convinced out spiritually-minded men, full of the that he is the round man in the square Holy Ghost, of faith, wisdom, and hole, and so in all good conscie!lCe they power, for only such men are titted to clamor for his removal.
be entrusted with the future wellbeing of If so at home, the foreign missionary the Church. To get such men, the in civilized lands must always expect present system, in spite of its draw- some ready to clamor for his removal; backs, seems to be preferable. The but in spite of these things, until the missionary who sees the young Chris- native self-governing, self·supporting tians in their home and at their places churches are ready to take the whole of business, who listens to their first responsibility of raising up other self- feeble testimony, who witnesses them governing, self-supporting, self·propa· conquering pride and making a Chris- gating churches, are the home churches tian confession before unbelieving justified in withdrawing their repre- friends-in short, the missionary, even sentatives? We think not. When the if he be a " mediocre man," who watches gardener sees the plant push out its the development of the spiritual life of tendrils, the tendrils taking root, grow- the young Christians, is better fitted to ing, multiplying, and surpassing the make a wise selection of workers than parent plant in strength and beauty, he the professor who hears the student knows .that there is no danger of that demonstrate a problem, prove the exist- species dying out. It will,even under ad- ence of God, or conjugate a Greek verb. verse circumstances, propagate its kind.
Itmight be mentioned, in passing, that It were foolish of the missionary to Captain L. L. James, who is mentioned leave a great nation in darkness as soon as an example of a foreign educator as he sees a few independent churches j doing a great work, is a man who, what- but when he sees the children and grand- ever he may have been in the past, now children of these churches shooting out, makes a specialty of ridiculing every- taking root, springing up, and surpass- thing that Christians hold sacred, while ing the parents in faith, hope, and char- some of those men whom he was the ity, he may depart with gladness, for a means of raising up are not the kind of church has been founded which, even men the Christians at home would care under adverse circumstances, will prop- to entrust with the care of the Japanese agate its kind. As for the home church. Others, it is true, of the men churches ministering to the independent whom he taught are men of ability and native churches, that is to reverse the piety and worthy of all honor i but that order that we read of in the good old is in spite of the fact that in their early Book containing the first missionary days they were under the influence of records.
Captain L. L. James. Professor Kozaki reminds us that the Again, he would have the home church at Philippi did so to the church churches send fewer missionaries, and at Jerusalem; but that is no plea for send the money saved to independent the churches at home to do so to their independent offspring abroad. We can un- missionary station to the Sassoon mas- derstand how the church at Philippi sacre, writes that one of the Turkish would be strengthened by the effort it soldiers, troubled in mind by the mem- made to pay back in temporal gifts what ory of those awful scenes, told his wife it had received from the mother Church to ask the wives of the' Giaours ' (in- in spiritual gifts; but we fail to see how, fidels, unbelievers), who is 'Hissoos in civilized non-Christian lands, the Nazaretsee ' (Jesus of Nazareth). For churches which have attained their ma- all the women whom they had to slaugh- jority will be strengthened for their ter died calling upon Him. They could work by continuing to draw money have life by just saying, 'Mohammed from the parent who has still to support is the prophet of God.' The Turks call many children under age. On the con- Jesus'Isa,' and so the ignorant soldier trary, we see every reason for believing did not understand the Armenian form that such a course would be the means for Jesus of Nazareth. This incident of stunting the growth and dwarfing must touch any Christian heart."
the life of these churches, not because the brethren in the independent churches The Turki8h &ldier to hi8 Wife after the are unworthy to be entrusted with the Ma8SaCre8 at Bas8oon.
funds-far from it-but because such a "Who is this' Jesus of Nazareth '?"
course would be a violation of the law The Mussulman soldier caught his breath of growth and development. In these And knit his brow, like a man oppressed lands there is no lack of money. Let Whom the soft divan hath brought no rest. the leaders of the independent churches not turn to the foreign churches or the He had come from a field of God accursed: foreign missionary and demand that He had fought where devils did their worst! The fearful fray he would faiu forget- In his soul its echoes were ringing yet.
more responsibility be put on them. .. Who is this ' Jesus of Nazareth '? Let them rather open their eyes to the The women all called His name, in death: great fact that the responsibility is al- And the very children, caught to impale- ready on their shoulders, placed there Nay1 not for a woman's ear that tale 1 not by any society or any missionary, .. Your blood would freeze at its very fount; but by the Lord Jehovah. When the Yet the fire up into your brain would mount, leaders realize that fact and the mem- Till you shrieked at night, when the wind awoke, bers realize that they are but stewards And, shuddering, cowered till the morning broke. of the Lord, that their time and talents and means are to be given without stint "Nay, ask no question! I know not why for the spread of the Gospel, then the The women and harmless babes must die. 'Twas my chief's to order-mine to obey. Be it on his head at the Judgment Day I missionary problem will be one step "Yes-there was one alternative: nearer solution. • CalIon our Prophet, and you live I'
But every victim, with dying breath, Called upon' Jesus of Nazareth !'
"Who is this Jeaus of Nazareth 7" .. Who is this ' Jesus of Nazareth'?
Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, one of the ablest Does He bear the sword that conquers Death? of the able corps of the corresponding Must I meet Him there, when Azrael calls editors of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF My naked soul to the Judgment halls? THE WORLD, sends an interesting explanatory note of the incident in the .. Go-ask the Giaours-and tell me true, Who is this 'Jesus of Nazareth'? Who? I have fought for Allah 1 But if He be massacre of Armenians at l:lassoun, Allah's vicegerent-woe is me I"
Turkey, which inspired Mrs. Hamlin, J ""US of Nazareth 1 Lord of Life, wh:> was many years with her husband Conqueror of all this world's mad strife 1 in Constantinople, to write the follow- VeJlgeance for blood that cries to Thee 1 ing lines, which appeared in The .Ad- Bow the False Prophet on bended knee, 'Dance, under the caption quoted above. Dr. Hamlin says: Till the Cross shall quench the Crescent's ray From St. Sophia to the Gates of Day; "Mrs. Knapp, of Bitlis, the nearest And murderous Moslem, with contrite breath, Shall call upon Jesus of Nazareth !
FIELD OF :MONTHLY SURVEY
I1I.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
BY D. L. PlEBSON.
Turkey,* Persia,t Arabia,t North Africa and Egypt,§ Russia, I Oriental Ohristianity-r Mohammedani3Dl. ** '
THE TURKISH EMPIRE. impulse or resentment. Missions in Turkey have always been carried on The feeling against the .. unspeakable amid tremendous difficulties. Islam has Turk" has by no means subsided either here undisputed sway in the governin America or in England. There is but ment, so that while, according to the letslight difference of opinion in the gen- ter of the law, freedom of religion is pro· eral condemnation of the action, or non- claimed, the law is interpreted by the action, of the Porte in regard to the Ar- Moslem to mean simply that any man menian massacres. It seems certain, at may become a Mohammedan. The any rate, that the government is not Turk has no sympathy or mercy for an grieved at the sufferings of the Chris- " infidel," whether he be so by birth or tians. It is rumored that the Turkish au- conversion. The Moslem races of Turthorities are trying to induce grain mer- key consist of Ottoman Turks (the chants to hold back food products in rulers, chiefiy in Asia Minor and Conorder to increase the sufferings of the stantinople), Arabs (in Mesopotamia, Armenians. What the final outcome Arabia, and Syria), Kurds (mostly outwill be is not yet determined, but in laws in eastern Asia Minor), Circassians, any case it seems that it will be as the Turcomans, and various smaller tribes. result of calm deliberation and not of The Christian races are the Armenians * "History of the Ottoman Turks," E. S. (in Asia Minor and northern Syria), the Greeks (Greece and Asia Minor), the Creasy; "My Life and Times," Cyrus Hamlin, Bulgarians, Jacobites, and Chaldeans D.D.; "Forty Years with the Tnrkish Em- (tn Mesopotamia), and the Maronites in pire." E. D. Prime, D.D.; "Antoblography of Syria. W. G. Schoulller, D.D.;" "The Armenian Crisis in Turkey," F. D. Greene; also pp. 32 (Janu- The chief missionary organizations at ary), 133 (February), 339 (May), 604 (Angust), 768 work are the American Board, laboring (present i~sue). in the Balkan peninsula and Asia Minor; the Presbyterian Board in Syria t See "Persia and the Persians," S. G. W. and Mesopotamia; the Reformed Pres- Benjamin; .. Henry Martyn," George Smith, byterians, in Syria; the Methodists in LL.D.; "Woman and her Saviour in Persia," Bulgaria ; the Church of England. 'the Dr. Thomas Laurie; "Dr. Grant and the Monn- Friends, Disciples, and Free and Estaio Nestorians;" "Persia, the Land of the tablished Churches of Scotland, and Imams," Rev. James Bassett; also pp. 3 (Janu- various other independent educational ary), 738, 741 (present issue). organizations in Syria. Turkey in Asia has an area of about 500,000 square :I: See "Memorials of Hon. Ion Keith Fal· miles and a population of 16,000,000. coner," Sinker i h Arabia Desena," Doughty; The total number ordained missionaries also pp. 1 (January), 414 (June), 730 (present is- is 75; lay, 15; medical, 18; and wom- en, 140. With these labor 270 native sue). pastors and 640 other workers. Prot- § See "Daybreak in North Africa," Mrs. estant communicants number about F. S. Haig; "Pioneeringin Morocco," Dr. Rob- 01040,00n0o. miBneaslidCeshrtihsetisaensthewrheoaraere5'0s0c0a~- ert Kerr; "Morocco as It Is," Stephen Bon· sal, Jr.; "Open Door for the Gospel in Egypt," tered throughout the empire, and among Mrs. F. 'f. Haig. whom the most promising missionary work has been carried on. The earnest II "The Highway of Sorrow" (Stundlsts), and united prayers of Christendom are Stretton; also p. 725 (present issue).
~ See "Missions to the Oriental Churches," Rufus Anderson, D.D.; "The Armenians," Rev. M. C. Gabrielian, M.D.; "Romance of Mis· sions," Miss West; also pp. 523 (July), 741 (present issue).
** See "Mahomet and Islam," Sir William Muir;" "Islam and its Founder." J. H. Stobart; "The Mohammedan Missionary Problem,"
H. H. Jessup, D.D. neeued for these downtrodden strug- kinds-the people living in the cities, gling races. the wandering tribes, and the inhab- itants of villages and country districts_ The government censoi-Bhip of the The latter are engaged in agriculture, pres8 is one of the features marking the and some of the best wheat in the world opposition to all religious and elevating is raised in Persia. Cotton, sugar, rice, influence. As is stated in the official re· and tobacco are also raised in the southports of the United States Government ern provinces. The wandering tribes (1893), the quotation of words of live in tents, and move about with their Scripture has been subjected to the will flocks and herds as the seasons change. of the censors. Appeal from the deci- They spend the spring and the summer sion of the censors is practically unavail· on the mountain slopes, and the winter ing. The censors insist that the phrase on the plains. The two principal races " kingdom of Christ" may not be used are the Turks and the Persians, the latter by Christians. The censors refused to of whom belong to the Mongol race. Bepermit the publication of the index to sides these, there are Arabs, Kurds, and Bible lessons for 1893 unless certain Gypsies, and other smaller tribes. words were erased-e.g., "Gospel lib· erty," omit liberty>" "sorrow turned to Most of the people belong to the joy" must be suppressed; "encourag- Shiah, or heterodox system of the Moing the people" must be erased; hammedan religion, although there "wicked devices frustrates" (Ps. 33) are a few adherents to the Sunni, or must be stricken out; also" sorrow in orthodox system. There are also the palace" (Esther 4), "saved by Parsees, Jews, Armenians, and Nesgrace" (Rom. 4), "hope in distress" torians. (Ps. 38), " fear not" (Josh. 1), " rejoicing in persccution" (Rom. 8), " a benevo- The Persians were first called Elamlent object" (Rom. 15). iteB. Their descent is traced to Shem, through his son Elam. The first relig- The references indicate the passages ion of the Persians, as well as of their on which the Bible lessons were found- neighbors, the Medes, was that of Zoroed, and the erasures are in themselves a aster, which knew but one God, though commentary on the Turkish Govern- fire, the sun, moon, and stars were, by ment, indicating, as they do, the ideas its followers, worshipped as his symwhich the authorities consider might bols. The Jews and the Persians were foster rebellion, etc., in the minds of brought into contact through Daniel the people. and the other captives in Babylon, and when Babylon was overthrowll and the PERSIA. ]Iedes established the Medo-Persian Empire, Cyrus, King of Persia, was in- The" Land of the Lion and the Sun" strumental in the restoration of God's has an area of 628,000 square miles and people and the preservation of the true a population of about 9,000,000. Mis- faith. sionary work is carried on chiefly by the American Presbyterians and by the It is conjectured that Thomas and Church of England Society, mainly Bartholomew carried the Gospel to this among the Nestorians, Armenians, and land. Old documents tcll of the mis- Chaldeans. The missionary force con- sion of Thaddeus to Edessa, in Mesosists of 23 ordained men, 8 physicians, potamia. There are documents, too, 20 women, and 84 native preachers; recording the acts of martyrs at Edessa these have gathered about 2500 commu- in 115 A.D. The Christians were numernicants. ous at that time, and the conversion of [ As elsewhere in Mohammedan coun- the king is proved by coins as early as tries, Islam is the great obstacle to the A.D. 165. spread of the Gospel in Persia. The Jews and the followers of Zoro- The population of Persia is of three aster opposed Christianity, and terrible persecutions began in Persia, and lasted released, as well as in direct evangeliza- for a century after they had ceased in tion, the physician is a power of GOd.
the Roman Empire. In the sixth and The missionary physician does a great seventh centuries there was much mis- work in promoting true medical science.
sionary activity in the Persian Church. The old medical practice is very defi- The missionaries even went into China. cient. At its best it is unscientific, but, Later, the ~lohammedans overthrew the mixed with superstition, it is still worse_ whole system of the Zoroastrian relig- The conjurer and the astrologer are the ion, and now its only followers arc companions of the physician. The about 5000 souls in Yezd, and 100,000 Vendidad of ancient Persia says: "If Parsees in Bombay. several healers offer themselves-name- Christians were subject to heavy ex- ly, one Who heals with a knife, one who actions by the Moslems, but were recog- heals with herbs, and one who heals nized as the" people of the Book," and with the holy Word-it is the latter who the Nestorians had special privileges will best drive away sickness from the and held offices of trust. Missionary body of the faithful." The astrologer work was still carried on and gained consults the stars as to the favorable influence in Tartary and China, beyond time for calling the doctor, and which the Moslem rule. When the Moguls one shall be called, and whether the conquered Chinese Tartary and Persia, medicine he has given shall be taken.
in 1202 A. D.. Christianity was tolerated A noble living in a distant city consult- for awhile, but finally the Nestorian ed the astrologers as to what physician Church fell before persecution, and not he should consult. The lot ,indicated a vestige of the Christians was left east Dr. Holmes, so, leaving the able help of the Kurdish Mountains. The Nes- at hand, he took a five days' journey on torians left, however, a monument in horseback to Tabriz. At a case of China in the shape of the Nestorian childbirth a Mollah led a sheep into the Tablet described in our February issue. room and around the couch of the wom- Persia has been gradually reduced by an, and then took it out and offered it Russian aggression and Mohammedan as a sacrifice for the life of the woman.
misrule to a desert. The American Sometimes the priest will write a pray- Presbyterian Board conducts successful er, and the patient will swallow the missions at Oroomiah and Tabriz in the paper or dissolve the writing in water west; at Teheran, Hamadan and Resht and drink the solution. For craziness in the east; the Church Mission is at priests are called, as their holy robes, J ulfa, the Armenian suburb of Ispahan. especially the blue and green of the There Dr. Bruce has amended Henry Sayids, are supposed to frighten the Martyn's Persian translation of the devils. Sometimes they exorcise by New Testament. It has a medical mis- beating in a barbarous manner. Others sion at Bagdad. In 1747 two Moravians are taken to a shrine and shut up in a made the first and unsuccessful attempt dark cave for several days to be cured to reach the Parsees or Kerman, and of lunacy. Others make the long pil- the Greek Church of Russia drove out grimage to Kerbela, hoping to be healed the Scottish and Basel missionaries who, by being tied in the portico of the from Shooshab in the Caucasus, sought shrine.
to influence Persia. European science is being introduced, Medical missions are very influential partly through European physicians, in Persia. In relieving suffering, mak- through the Shah's College, and natives ing the heart tender and friendly to re- who have received a foreign education.
ceive the truth, removing prejudices, The medical department of Oroomiah CUltivating the friendship of the authori- College, in charge of Dr. Cochran, is ties, so that doors of opportunity are doing a good work educating Christian opened, and the persecuted or:oppressed physicians. The hospital gives full opportunity for practical work. Instruc- them /lore at present mainly occupied in tion is from the best English text-books, learning the languages. As the bulk and is thorough.* of the population are in villages, many workers are needed to evangelize this country. The Scotch Presbyterians North Amollo and Egypt, have a mission in South Morocco. Algeria is the most advanced in civ- North Africa consists of Morocco ilization of all the countries of North Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli, Egypt, and Africa, having been held by the French the Sahara. Almost all its native in- since 1830. After great expenditure of habitants are Mohammedans whose life and money, it is now thoroughly creed has nothing in its teaching that subject to their rule. Its extent is can save the soul. It carefully denies ~bout three times that of England, and the fundamental doctrines of Christ's Its popUlation about 4,000,000, princidivinity, death, and resurrection. No pally ltIoslems, but with some tens of effort has, until recently, been made to thousands of French, Spaniards, Italevangelize this part of the Moslem ians, Jews, etc. The country has a world. It was considered impossible good climate, and much beautiful scento gain an entrance, much less a hear· cry; there are many good roads, and ing, among these followers of the False more than fifteen hundred miles of rail- Prophet. God has lessened and is still way. The North Africa Mission has lessening the political power of Mo- seven stations and twenty-two brethren hammedanism in Africa. Its vices and sisters working there. The bulk were too glaring for civilization to en- of the people live in villages scattered dure. Slavery and piracy in Algeria over the country, and only a very few led to its subjugation by the French, ha ve, as yet, been reached by the Goswho also are paramount in Tunis. pel. Tripoli is still under the Turkish Government. Egypt enjoys :the protection Tunis is under French protection, of England, and Morocco is as yet an and practically under French rule. It independent ~,[oslem empire. Islam's' is hardly so extensive as England, but spiritual deceptions and social degra- has a population of about 2,000,000, dations cannot be r€moved by force of nearly all of whom are Mohammedans. arms. Only the reception of the truths There are, however, a few thousands of of the Gospel can remedy these evils. Italians, Maltese, French, and Jews, etc., on the coast. Thirteen workers 'Morocco has an area of about 260,000 of this mission are stationed in the capsquare miles, and a popUlation estimated ital, some of them at present engaged at from 5,000,000 to 8,000,000. It is in study; the remainder of the Regengoverned by a Sultan, whose name is cy, with its cities and villages, remains Abdul Aziz, a youth of about 'sixteen unevangelized. Who will go to them ? A medical mission is now carried on in years of age. The North Africa Mission (British) began work in Morocco Tunis. in a small way in 1884; at the close Tripoli is a province of the Turkish of 1892'it had substantial mission premiscs, with hospital in Tangier, and sta- Empire, several times larger than Engtions in Tetuan, Fez, and Casa Blanca. land. It has a population of about It has twenty·six missionaries in the 1,350,000, who, with the exception ot a few thousands, are followers of the False Prophet. The Moslems here are country, laboring among Moslems, more intelligent and better educated Jews, and Europeans; but several of than farther west, but much opposed to the Gospel. Two brethren began, * For much of this review of Persia we are in 1889,. to labor for Christ among them, and others have since been sent, A indebted to an article by Rev. S. G. Wilson. medical mission has been conducted as midwifery diploma. Ability to ac- quire Arabic should be manifest. here with cheering results. 3. Stewards or associations of Chris- Egypt is still tributary to Turkey, tian contributors are earnestly sought but under the protection and super· of the Lord.
vision of the British Government. The' (a) To support individual miBBiona- ries. The inclusive expense of ft single miBBion commenced work in Lower brother may be reckoned at $500 (£100) Egypt in April, 1892, and has, includ· yearly, and a single sister at $350 or ing wives, six missionaries there. The $400 (£70 or £80); married missionaries population of this portion of the coun· at the same proportion, according to the extent of their families. try is estimated at nearly 4,500,000, the (b) To support forms of work such as bulk of the people being Mohamme· medical mi.ssions, schools, or provide dans. There are 40 towns with from for itinerating and rent of miBBion 7000 to 40,000 inhabitants each, and houses. 500 towns with from 2000 to 7000 each, (c) To secure and, if po~sible, find without any Gospel agency whatever. working expenses of a house·boat. As The vast Sahara, with its few scat· the Delta is a network of canals an easy tered millions of Berber and Arab Mo· and inexpensive method of evangeliza· hammedans, remains still without a soli· tion is at our hand, if only we had a tary missionary. We pray God that small craft at our disposal– one to ac· soon some brethren full of faith and of commodate three or four missionaries the Holy Ghost may be sent to preach could be procured for $1000 (£200). Christ amid the inhabitants of its palmy Perhaps some would like to pay the oases.-North Africa. hire of a boat for a few journeys dur· Northern Arabia is peopled by the ing the winter season. Bedouin descendants of Ishmael; they 4. Remembrance8 at the Throne of are not bigoted Moslems, like the SyrI· Gl·ace.-To be daily importunate on ans, but willing to be enlightened. behalf of the Egyptians and the mis· One brother went to labor among them sionaries who labor among them. in 1886; he has now retired, and an· Besides the North Africa Mission, other brother and his wife, who were which supports three men and four thinking of taking up the work, have women missionaries in Egypt, there are: through ill·health been obliged to come 1. The United Presbyterian Church home. of America, with headquarters in Cairo.
The Lord has greatly blessed their work among the members of the ancient The spiritual claims of Egypt are Coptic Church. They have raised up a strongly presented by Mr. W. Rum· native Protestant Church in Egypt with mers, who thus voices the needs of this native pastors. 2. The British and Foreign Bible S0ancient land of the Pharaohs : 1. Men are needed as evangelists ciety, with principal depot in Alexan· whose first qualification is to be soul· dria ; and the American Bible Society winners. They should not be without in affiliation with the American Pres- some intellectual and theological train. byterian Mission. ing. If possible, a rudimentary knowl· S. The Church Missionary Society edge of the healing art would be of carries on work in old Cairo. They great assistance. Fair linguistic abil· have a medical miBBion, small hospital, and school work. ity is absolutely necessary. Qualified Physicians. – Medical mis· 4. Church of Scotland Mission to sions are practically a forgotten agency Jews, with four well·conducted schools. in Egypt. What little has been done 5. An undenominational Dutch mishas proved successful. Government sion has been working for eighteen hospitals have free dispensaries, but years in Calioub, a town near Cairo. are as a drop in the bucket among those A native church is formed, and schools needing medical aid. There are dozens are efficiently conducted. of centres in the Delta alone where 6. Sailors' and Soldiers' Institute in medical missionaries would find large affiliation with Miss Robinson's work. Besides individual effort among Engand unoccupied spheres. 2. Women who have a passion for lish and other Europeans. souls, even if they live in the midst of Still the dense Mohammedan popula- filth and disease. Much patience and tion in the Delta remains unreached by ,love for Christ are needed to win the the news of the world's Saviour. They Moslem women to Christ. Ladies hav· mU8t be evangelized, for " They shall ing some medical knowledge should know that I am the Lord God" (Ezek. take an elementary qualificati.on such 29: 16).
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The March of Events. aonf dAsmuecrhicaannaatnidonBarsitiCshhinmaissshioonualdrie~s A massacre of missionaries began at held to strict account, entirely apart Whasang, near Kucheng, China, on from any religious question involved, August 1st. A mob fired the mission for the sacrifice of valuable lives, not to premises, killing ten people-one man say buildings. No money indemnity is and his wife, with seven other women, adequate in a case like the present. It and one child. Several other Christians is too loose and easy a method for rewere more or less seriously hurt. All pairing au irreparable wrong, and sets the killed were British citizens. The a premium on such merciless crimes. attacking party are said to belong to a Nothing less thau the arrest and severe Chinese sect, the "Vegetarians," and punishment of such assassins can satthe outrage was unprovoked and mali· isfy the common conscience and act as cious. The Chinese Government was a preventive. China should be made to compelled to take steps to discover understand that about the person of and punish the guilty parties, but the every citizen of America or Britain all governmental action was slow and un- the power and prestige of these two satisfactory. great nations wrap their guarantiel!, and that whoever unlawfully touches them, These murders are the more unac- when innocent of violating law, will be countable as being in the Fo·Kien prov- treated as an enemy of humanity. We ince, where a friendly feeling has gen- see nothing un-Christian in extreme reerally existed between the natives and sorts when nothing less suffices to inforeigners. Kucheng is on the Min sure immunity from such acts of vio- River, some ninety miles above the lence. treaty port of Foochow. The river is not navigable at this point, and hence The Armenian atrocities, as disclosgunboats cannot be used to protect the ures and exposures now warrant us in foreign residency. For months past saying, exceed for wanton outrage and the officials, or literati, have been at cruelty and nameless horrors anything work breeding discontent and riot, and on record. No wonder Britain's" Grand this is the result. All Americans at Old Man" finds one more burning fire work there were sent to Foochow for shut up in his bones which must have safety in June last. The mandarins are vent. Indignant protests from civilsaid to be charging ou foreigners the ized nations seem unheeded, and peace failure of China in the present war with may be purchased for Armenia at a Japan, as having stood by indifferent heavy cost. Mr. Gladstone sums up and beheld China whipped. the crimes committed against these people by four fearful words: "plun- The indignation aroused by these der, murder, rape, and torture;" he wholesale murders, and outrages on charges the Sublime Porte with the reproperty, is intense, and severe measures sponsibility, which, he claims, must be are threatened. We have no conscious brought home to the Turkish governspirit of retaliation or desire to magnify ment. China's faults unduly, but avenging is not revenging. There is a protection The treaty of 1856, he said, gave the which Government owes its citizens, Powers the right to march into Armenia and which Britain is usualJy jealous to and take the government of the country afford. We have long felt that, while out of the hands of Turkey, and under any nation may lawfully exclude for- thetrcatyof 1878 the Sultan was bound eigners or compel their withdrawal from to carry out reforms. He makes three proits territory, all needful guards should posals. First, that the demands of the be put about the person and property Powers should be moderate; second, that out .. fear of contradictIon." Of these no promises of the Turkish authorities should be accepted; and third, that the gatherings we have 5rowing conviction Powers should not fear the word •• coercion." .. We have reached a critical that, whatever good may be the outcome position," said he, .. and the honor of the Powers is pledged to the institution one way, the ultimate result is confuof reform iu Armenia." A resolution was then adopted by the meeting which sion-a Babel of ideas as to religious Mr. Gladstone addressed that the government would have the support of the obligation and the way of salvation. If entire nation in any measures it might adopt to secure in Armenia reforms guar- all religious faiths are entitled to recog· anteeing to the inhabitants -safety of life, honor, religion, and property; and nition, not as ethical systems having in that no reforms can be effected which are not placed under the continuous them a modicum of virtue and value, control of the great Powers of Europe. The speech made a profound impres- but as entitled to comparison as having sion. Mr. Gladstone said he was glad to see that as much indignation exists in in them essentials of salvation, the America as anywhere over the atrocities. unique position and claims of Christian· It is becoming a question whether those who act as the Turks do should ity must at once and forever be aban· not by other nations be treated as burglars, highway robbers, and murderers doned; Christian missions become im· generally are served. There is a broad question of political economy that is pertinent as a declaration of one only awakening Blore and more attentionviz., whether the race is not to be con- Name whereby we must be saved, and sidered as a whole, in its solidarity; and whether an "international police" is sink to the level of a friendly confer· not a demand of the age. It is felt, and not without reason, that there are some ence in which we may have as much to crijlles which are against humanity as such, and should so be punished. It is learn as to teach. hard to see why a city, State, or nation should exterminate a band of villains We quote from Ohristian Work, a who infest the highways, lurk in hiding places to assault the innocent, and paper so liberal that some orthodox peouse weapons of torture and assassination, and yet the community of nations ple think it lax. Yet hear its earnest stand by in helpless inactivity and see a whole district swept.by atrocious mur- and faithful testimony: derers I .. To whatever extent the Toronto The Pan·American Congress at To- Congress would place an equal value ronto, which was held in July, provid· and authority upon each religion, to ed a platform from which the various that extent it is misleading, dangerous, .. religions" of the world might plead and false to the facts. And it is signifithrough their respective advocates. cant of the character-'of the discussions Bishop Ireland, of the Roman Catholic held at Toronto that none of the relig- Church, Rabbi Gottheil, the Jew, with ions was put on the defensive; conserepresentati ves of nearly every Christian quently their reverse side was not seen. denomination, as well as of Mohamme· Take, for example, Mohammedanism. danism, Buddhism, Confucianism, etc., Mohammed certainly did perform the had the" right of presentment" with· noble service of overthrowing idolatry in Arabia, and he proclaimed the one- ness of God: so far we are with him. But the failure of Mohammedanism is to be found in its wholly inadequate conception of God, which rests on the mere fact of his unity and sovereignty-. The sacrifice for sin, the fact that 1D love only is there power to save from sin and turn earth into heaven-the abo sence of all this is the fatal weakness of Mohammedanism: this weakness was not brought out at that Toronto Con- gress. Then, take Confucianism: the cause of its failure-snd it has failed- is that Confucius based religion on man and wholly ignored God. Confucianism makes no full provision for dependence, fellowship, progress; certainly there can be no sense of dependence where the worship of God is restricted to the offering of sacrifices on State occasions by the emperor, thus relegating God to the background; there can be no fel· lowship with a God who is afar off! It is _little wonder that Confucianism failed. And Buddhism ; how could it be expected to succeed, excellent as is embarrassed by a gift made by Robsome of its ethical precepts are, when ert Arthington, of Leeds, England, some it is agnostic, if not positively atheistic? yeats ago, for the opening of a miBBion -for Gautama considered there was no south of Khartoum, on the Nile, which such spirit. Really, Buddhism, with has grown by regular increase and the its act force, is only an older form of addition of other donations till it amounts the deification of force and is nineteenth to $52,400. The money cannot be used century materialism dressed in the garb to carry out the design of the donors on ilf twenty·two centuries ago. account of the Arabian occupation of the Soudan and tbe exclusion of all for· " The one tremendous fact not to be eigners, and yet much of the money ignored is that whatever be the ultimate given could not be restored to the unfate of the deluded heathen in their known donors. The society has there- fore brought a friendly suit to secure a ignorance of sin and of the fact that love decision that the use of the fund in the only can save the sinner, Christianity region specified is impossible; and jualone supplies this: the religion of dicial instruction as to what use shall be Christ alone satisfies the wants of the made of it. This leads us to say, again, weary, sin-burdened soul. bringing him that it is well for donors not to condiinto reconciliation with God. Theolo- tion their gifts too restrictedly. gies are misleading. and confessions and standards and creeds are imperfect and Many questions of vital importance often foolish: but these are not relig- to missions require carefully to be ex· ion; but the implanting of the Christ amined and adjusted. The Independent life in the soul is. Any' congress' spirit of the Japanese makes them imor • parliament' which ignores this su- preme fact, and thinks to bring all religions down to a common level along the line, not of thorough discussion even, but of presenting the best photograph of each, makes a jest of the eternal verities and sows a crop the harvest of which will be fruitful of tares."
From a Chicago journal we quote: patient of foreign control even in the missions established by missionaries "Without assuming to decide the from abroad and in the schools they question, the Living Ohurch ventures originated or helped to develop, and a an opinion as to the cause of the gen- deputation has bee!. appointed by the eral falling off of mlBBionary offerings. A. B. C. F. M., consisting of Hon. It is an opinion which two years ago W. P. Ellison, Boston; Rev. J. L. Barwas a prophecy, when the extraordi- ton, D.D., foreign secretary; Rev. J. nary spectacle was presented in Chicago G. Johnson, D.D., Chicago; Rev. A. H. of the apostles of all the false religions Bradford, D.D.. Montclair, to visit of the world being invited to give an Japan. Some changes may be made in ea;-parte representation of faith and life the deputation, which started in Septemunder the religious systems which they ber. represented-or, rather, misrepresented. The Babel of Christian sects was mar· August 26th a company of missionshalled by Drs. Barrows and Bonney, aries of the Protestant Episcopal body who did what they couId to make a left Vancouver for China. Bishop good showing for the Christian religion Samuel 1. J. Schereschewsk; goes to (without any church), while they afded superintend the publication of his Bible in working up a hospitable enthusiasm translation into the Wen-Ii, his wife for the savants and picked men of all and daughter accompanying, also Rev. heathenism. Returning home, these D. T. Huntington and Miss Steva L. represented Christianity to be a failure Dodson, with Dr. W. L. Ludlow, mediin the countries they had visited; and cal missionary. in one case, we believe, missionaries were sent to America to convert our benighted people. Some part of the present falling off of enthusiasm for missions may be fairly attributed to this • exploiting' of heathen systems (without rebuttal) at the central point of the world's interest in 1893."
The African Inland Mission sent forth, The American Missionary Association August 17th, Rev. P. Cameron Scott as pioneer, who llaS spent already seven first at Shanghai, and then at Tung- years in Africa, with his sister, Miss chow for over thirty. He was of a Margaret C. Scott, a medical mission· genial spirit, full of humor, a fine stu- ary, Miss Bertha M. Reckling, Lister R. dent, especially gi ven to historical study, Severn, and Rev. Willis Hotchkiss and [.nd a cultivated man of scholarly tastes.
Rev. Fred W. Kreiger. Walter MeL. He was a native of Buffalo, N. Y.
Wilson joins the party in Scotland. The Such deaths leave a great void.
mission is interdenominational, and em· phasizes basal truths, such as the divino The death of an American citizen of ity, atonement, and second coming of Siam, Marian A. Cheek, is announced.
Christ, person and work of the Spirit, He went there twenty·two years ago as the verbal inspiration of the Word of a medical missionary of the Presbyte- God, salvation by faith, the eternity of rian Board, at the age of twenty, and future punishment, and the evangeliza· had become one of the most influential tion of the world as the duty and mis- men in the country, the intimate coun· sion of the Church. They go in the sellor of the king. Ten years ago he strength of these truths to confront severed his connection with the Board, deadly climate and relentless Moslem engaged in trade, and accumulated a hatred in the Soudan. May God go large fortune, and at the time of his with them! death was pressing a claim against the United States for several hundred thou· The well-known Charles N. Critten- sand dollars alleged to be due on ac· ton, of New York, founder of the Flor- count of the negligence of American ence Mission, attempts a t(Jur of the officials in Siam. Some years ago he United States to found similar missions -obtained a concession from the king to for outcast women. He left New York farm out a teak forest. While he was August 19th in a special car, Good floating thousands of logs to market in New8, and a trip of eighteen months is be- the form of a raft, they were confiscated fore him and his party. Portland, Ore., by representatives of an English com- California, the Southern States, and pany. Cheek floated the stars and Atlantic coast are the boundaries of the stripes on his rafts and called on the trip. Services of song and exhortation American officials for assistance. They from the car platform wherever there is failed to come to the rescue, and Cheek a wait of a quarter of an hour, and more accordingly sued this government for extended services where longer stops damages. The officials at Washington are arranged for, with meetings in halls contend that he had no right to fly the or churches wherever a night can be American flag in the situation he was spent in a city, are among the plans. then in.
Up to this time nineteen missions have heen established through the efforts of At St. John's l'lission, Grand Cape this New York merchant, whosedaugh- Mount, Liberia, Mrs. M. R. Brierley, ter's death gave such impulse to his life. one of the oldest missionaries on the What strange ways God has of leading African field, died July 6th. She was His people who are ready to be led. We about sixty-five years old, and went to know of no one man whose life is more the Dark Continent with her husband telllng on the reclamation of fallen in 1865 as missionary of the Church of womanhood. May great blessing fol- England. After her husband's death, low this new method of extending these in 1882, she was transferred to the mis· rescue missions. sions of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States and placed at the Rev. Charles R. Mills, D.D., died sud- head of St. George's Hall, one of the denly in Tung·chow, China, June 22, largest schools in Liberia, and was at having been in China about forty years, the head of it when she died. The death of J. L. Phillips, M.D., of practice in general use of assigning It young, inexperienced girl to each China- Oalcutta, already noticed in this RE- man for the purpose of teaching him VIEW, has awakened widespread sorrow our language and bringing him to a and left a great gap which will not be knowledge of the truth. I stated that easily filled. He will be most lovingly in all my experience among the China- men of this city I had never known a remembered in connection with the De- single one that·1 regarded as hopefully cannial Oonference of December, 1882. converted in this way, nor was I at all He was a man of deep spirituality and hopeful of ever seeing one thus brought great spiritual power, and had marvel- to Ohrist. I was simply criticising a lous tact in harmonizing discordant ele- method, and not considering the ques- tion as' to the possibility of the conver- ments. He was a peacemaker. If he sion of a Chinaman to Christianity. It had a new method to introduce he had is too late to discuss this latter question, singular felicity of manner, which made since many have been hopefully con- verted both in China and California. I • it seem unlike an innovation. He kept am not now, nor have I ever been en- a weekly prayer-meeting in his family gaged in missionary work among the on Friday evenings. and this is one of Ohinese.My interest in these people the influences which moulded his fam- has simply been a philanthropic one, the work being forced on me as an offi- ily for Ohrist and His service at a tender cer of the Prison Society, in which I age. His whole influence was in favor have been called to defend them against of a consecrated life. The memorial the cruel and' unjust persecutions to service was an impressive and mem- which they have been from time to time subjected at the hands of our own peo- orable occasion, in the college chapel ple. In this way I have come to be at Keuka Park, N. Y. According to recognized as their friend and advocate previous announcement the people as- in this region, and not because of any sembled, and all seemed intent on special missionary work among them. I have the hope and confidence that paying homage to the model modern God's elect will be safely gathered into Ohristian hero in the world's great the kingdom out of every nation and mission work. tribe under heaven; but I do not be- lieve that the coddling methods used to get these Ohinamen into the Sabbath- The newspaper8 have been making school will ever result in any success.
no little capital of a reported remark of " Respectfully, .. E. R. DONEHOO." Rev. Dr. Donehoo, of Pittsburgh, to the effect that, after long and large ex· perience of mission work among the Yukichi Fukuzawa, the" Grand Old Ohinese in this country, "he has never Man of Japan," though about twenty yet found, and never expected to find, years younger than the members of a thoroughly converted Chinese." ,This that famous triumvirate, Gladstone, statement has been made the more of in Bismarck, and Li Hung Ohang, has view of Dr. Donehoo's advocacy of more than any other man brought Japan Christian missions, etc. And now Dr. to her position among civilized nations.
Donehoo rises to explain; and, as a Thirty-five years ago he visited this country, and on his return home intro- specimen of the facility with which duced the Webster Dictionary to his countrymen, a book that is considered some people misunderstand and mis- the foundation of Japan's intellectual power; he also introduced English into quote, it may be well to append his own all the schools. In days when Japan was divided into two parties-one for explanation. He writes to the New and the other against foreigners-he ad- vocated the opening of his country to York Obser'l!er: the New World; and his book in be- half of Western civilization, which he .. Entirely too much has been made wrote from his studies and travels in out of a very .innocent statement of America, had a considerable effect in mine, not intended for publication, in restoting to the throne the dynasty of regard to the outcome of missionary work in this city. When questioned as to my opinion of the method"here em- ployed to reach Ohinamen with the Gos- pel, I unhesitatingly condemned the which the present emperor is a member. familiar friend by his carefully pre- The Jiji Shimpo (the Times Newspaper) is his organ ; and although he does not pared monthly notes of the progress of actively manage it, his sons are the editors, and its influence is widespread, the kingdom. We have seen no other doubtless because it is independent in every sense_ Perhaps his greatest bene· book that covers the same ground. And faction was the founding of a school known as the Kewgijiuku University, this was one reason for the work so carewhich is second only to the Imperial Uni.versity at Tokio in point of num- fully and admirably done. The book bers and rank of scholarship. Mr. ]j'ukuzawa comes from the common begins by laying down principles, the people, and is known as the "great commoner," and what shows above all basis of all missions, in Christ's own the character of the man is that he has never allowed himself to be carried conception and command. Then are away by his success, and has modestly refused to accept decorations, honors, briefly traced early attempts at evanor even the peerage from the Mikado.- Exchange. gelization, the influence of medireval " Missions at Home and Abroad" is missions on European history, etc. ; the title of Dr. E. M. Wherry's com- then the modern revival or renaissance pilation of papers and addresses at the of missionary life from Carey on to World's Congress of Missions in Chicago our day. He describes what he aptly in 1893, of which the editor was corre- calls the phenomenon of missionary ex- sponding secretary. It is published by pansion, traces the work done in India, the American Tract Society, New York. Africa, Persia, Korea, Turkey, China, In this book are thirty or more essays South Seas, Japan, North and South or addresses from representative men and women on home and foreign mis- America, etc., and then gives a final outsions, the questions that concern Jews and Mohammedans, Turks and Indians look on the unpossessed domain. For and lepers, etc., and city missions as well. Some of the papers are profound- this book we invoke God's blessing. It ly philosophical, others as profoundly practical. While there are flentiments is a new and valuable contribution to here contained which we could not agree with, the body of this testimony the study of the greatest practical probis of peculiar value. We would call special attention to Bishop Nicholson'S lem ever put before the Church. paper on" The Jew and his Land ;" Dr. Dennis's, on "The Inaccessible R. H. Woodward Company, 220 and Fields;" Wellesley C. Bailey's on "The Work Among Lepers;" George 222 North Charles Street, Baltimore, E. Post's on "Medical Missions;" 'Ehomas Kane's on "Consecration of Md., have published" Forty Years in Property;" and Joseph Cook's on " Victories and Hopes of Missions." China," by Rev. R. H. Graves, D.D.
One of our editorial staff, Rev. D. L. The retail price is $1.50. The work is sold by subscription, but where there Leonard, recently published .. A Hun- are no agents the book may be obtained by writing direct to the publishers. A dred Years of Missions, " through part of the proceeds from the sale of this book are to be given to missions, Funk & Wagnalls. This is the story and iu order to interest ministers in for- eign missions, the publishers furnish of the march of events since Carey's this volume to any minister whose year· ly income is less than $500 upon receipt humble beginning in 1792. The author of 40 cents in stamps.
was himself a very useful superinten- Dr. Graves has been in China for more than one generation, and has been dent of missions in the home field of a personal witness of the stupendous changes which he chronicles, and which Utah and surrounding territory, and in have nearly all of them occurred since the Tientsin treaty of 1861, when he had theso pages he has for years been a already been in China five years. In this valuable book an unusually ob- servant man has traced the conservative and reconstructive forces which have been contending for the mastery. He shows that ruin is before the Celestial Empire which can be arrested only by the acceptance of the lessons taught in history as to the secrets of a true and progressive national life, and especially the necessity of a religious faith that has in it the elements of individual and SHANGHAI, May 21, 1895.
national regeneration. The illustrations DEAR FRIENDS: I feel it laid on my in Dr. Graves's book are superb. heart to communicate with you by let- ter, as I have done before when delayed in China, and to thank you very warm- Mrs. M. G. Watt writes from Guelph, ly for your continued help in our ser- vice here. I shall not be able to meet Canada, that much more is being done any of you personally for some time, for the lepers of India and other lands and I have been unable to keep in touch than is usually known, and that a large with you as I could have wished through amount of .. leper literature" is free, Ohina'8 Million8. I am, therefore. ask- ing Mr. Sloan to forward to you a copy distributed only on one condition-that of a little sketch of the mission which I it be passed round after reading. Her daughter prepares pamphlets on the mrwas able to prepare when confined to room by sickness. You are partners subject of European lepers, etc., and wIth us in this branch of God's work in China, and will, I am sure. rejoice wit h thus th'lY were enabled to send $1500, us in what He has wrought tor the in· $600 of which came from Guelph, to terior of this needy land.
the treasurer in the old country. Six It is over a year now since we again auxiliaries are already at work iii. Can- reached Shanghai, expecting, after a short stay, to return to England. We ada, that in Guelph being the pioneer had not been here long, how('ver, ere and holding monthly meetings in all the we felt unmistakably called to visit a churches in turn. number of our inland stations. While away in the interior the sad war be- tween Japan and China broke out, and F. A. Jefferd, missionary in Funchal, it became clear that my duty was to re- Madeira, asks prayers of our readers for main here until thc rest.oration of peace.
the mission work he is conducting in A second journey enabled me to visit other stations, und was safely accomconnection with W. G. Smart, his plished before the end of the year.
brother-in-law. In 1884 the Protestant In January I was laid aside, and a General Mission was founded, with the protracted tIme of weakness ensued, object of evangelizing the island, with from the effects of which I have not yet its population of 140.000. They have fully recovered. I was able, however, since been permitted to form the first to visit Yang-chau and Gau-king be- Baptist church and two sub·stations in fore the scattering of the students; and other parts of Madeira. The objects my heart was greatly rejoiced a); each kept in view are the work among sail- place. Never have parties of brighter, ors stopping at the port. the teach- more capable, and more consecrated ing in day schools. and preaching among workers gone out from these homes the residents of the island, and the circulation of the Word of God and Chris- than this year. tian literature. After these brief visits, when consid- The mission among sailors was found- ering the question of reaching home in ed in 1876 by the late George Smart, time for Keswick, we were led to see and the Sailors' Rest in 1882 by W. G. clearly that Mr. Stevenson should re- Smart. turn and we remain in CIJina. I trust that he may have the opportunity of During 1894 vessels carrying a total crew of 31,225 men and 29.191 passen- meeting many of you. gers entered the port. It will be seen The restoration of peace will have rewhat ample opportunity is afforded for most needed service among seafaring joiced you, and is the answer to many men. Only 5 per cent of the inhabit- prayers. We must thank God for the ants of Madeira can read or write. preservation of His servants during the time of war, and continue to pray that These brethren. Smart and Jefferd, rebellion may not be permitted to folwill gladly respond to any inquiries. low, and that the troops may be safely and welcome any gifts to aid in their blessed and self-denying work. The disbanded and dispersed. address is 29 Rua do Conselheiro, Fun- A new call is given us to hasten the chal, Madeira. evangelization of China; let us remem- ber the power we possess in united prayer. Five years ago there were 1296 China missionaries. The Shanghai Mis- The following letter, addressed to all sionary Conference of 430 missionaries prayed and appealed for new ordained friends and donors to the China Inland and unordained workers-1OOO men in Mission, will be read with interest: fl… " years. What has been the response? No less than 1153 new missionaries have filled missionaries may be <lent out, and come out since that time-481 of them that all of us here may be filled to overhaving been men. Not just as we asked, flowing with the living water, and bebut as God saw best. And doubtless lieve me, there would have been a still fuller re- Yours gratefully in Christ, sponse but for the war. Now we have J. HUDSON TAYLOR. peace, and we must look for large and immediate reinforcements.
We in the C. I. M. have been con- Ohina's Orisis. scious that God was preparing us for this. Needed facilities have been sup- An .. Appeal for Missionaries for plied without which large reinforce- China, " addressed to all Protestant ments would have embarrassed us. The need of enlarged premises in China and churches of Christian lands, has been England was spoken of at our annual issued by Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, and meetings in 1887, and it was mentioned that a site had been obtained in Shang- we gladly reprint it : hai, and that one was in view in Lon- In May, 1890, the General Conference don. In the record of the annual meet- of Missionaries, assembled in Shanghai, ings of the following year Mr. Broom- and representing the 1296 Protestant hall reported that the latter also was missionaries then in China, issued an obtained, and gave the reasons why the urgent appeal for 1000 men within five mission needed and should have" much years; and appointed a permanent com- more accommodation" for the home mittee to observe and report the results work. Both these needs hal'o been of the appeal, consisting of Rev. J.
met, and we have to thank God for suit- Hudson Taylor, of Shanghai; Rev.
able premises, not only in London and William Ashmore, D.D., of Swatow; Shanghai, but also in several important Rev. H. Corbett, D.D., of Chefoo ; Rev.
centres in China. God has also given C. W. Mateer, D.D., LL.D., of Tung- us valued workers who are carrying on chow; Rev. C. F. Reid, D.D., 01 Shang- the business work of the mission in hai.
them. My beloved brother-in-law, Mr. At the same time the lady missiona- BroomhalI, has retired from the work, ries of the Conference put forth an ap- and we shall often miss him; he has peal for additional lady 'Vorkers.
not done so, however, before our hon- The five years have now elapsed, and orable secretary, Mr. Sloan, with our the Rev. C. F. Reid, D.D., has carefully competent staff of helpers, was thorough- collected and tabulated the returns.
ly able to carry it on. Miss William- From these it appears that 45 societies son, who as an honorary missionary had have sent new workers to China since superintended the Shanghai home for May, 1890. Some unconnected mis- some years, is at my request rendering sionaries have also come out. Includ- the same kind of service in London. ing these, the following numbers are And I need not further refer to the help reached: Male missionaries, 481 ; wives of Mr. Marcus Wood in England, of of missionaries, 167 ; single ladies, 505.
Mr. Graham Brown in Scotland, or to Total in fi ve years, 1153.
Miss Soltau's honorary services in the These numbers do not exactly corrc- ladies' training home, etc. Here in spond with the appeal-only 481 of China. during Ml·. Stevenson's absence, them being men. God knew the needa Mr. William Cooper, who has been of China, and sent those He saw would helping him for some time as assistant be most helpful. The answer, there- deputy director. is conducting the fore, is a gracious response, and shows work; and we have now the help of What may be done by united prayer and Mr. C. '1'. l!'iske here, who for so many effort; and thus adds to our responsi- years acted as financial secretary in bility to use these means stilI more large- London. Never before were we so well ly for the advancement of the Redeem- prepared for definite advance, and our er's kingdom in China. An important hope and prayer is that now that the crisis in China's history has been war is over we may have given to us reached. The war just terminated does many" willing skilful" helpers-men not leave her where she was. It will and women-for every department of inevitably lead to a still wider opening missionary service. of the empire and to many new develop- Continue to pray for us, dear friends, ments. If the Church of Christ does not and to help us as God may lead you. enter into the opening doors, others Thank God for the hundreds of souls will, and they may become closed against being reaped each year, and ask that her. We would reiterate some of the soon the aunual increase may be very earnest words of appeal, written five llluch larger. Pray that only Spirit- years ago, which have to-day, on the eve. of great changes and of great op- help. • •• That the holy and loving portunities, still more urgent weight and Spirit of God may incline your hearts should lead to more vigorous effort. to respond to His call is our earnest The Conference said in 1890 : prayer." " Realizing as neTer before the magnitude of China and the utter inade- To the above extracts we will only quacy of our present numbers for the speedy carrying into execution of our add the last paragraph of the appeal of Lord's command, 'Go ye into all the the Conference for 1000 men: world and preach the Gospel to every .. We make this appeal in behalf of creature,' therefore " Resolved, That we, the 430 members 300,000,000 of unevangelized heathen j of the Missionary Conference, now in we make it with all the earnestness of session in Shanghai, earnestly and unanimously appeal to you to send out our whole hearts as men overwhelmed speedily as many hundreds as can possibly be secured of well-qualified or- with the magnitUde and responsibility dained men…• of the work before us j we make it with "We appeal to young men to give unwavering faith in the power of a risen themselves to this work, .•. to indi- Saviour to call men into His vineyard vidual congregations to greatly increase their contributions for the support of and to open the hearts of those who are one or more of these men ; to Christian men of wealth to prayerfully consider His stewards to send out and support the duty and privilege of giving themselves personally to this work, or of them, and we shall not cease to cry supporting their representatives. mightily to Him that He will do this "This Conference • • . would also present a direct appeal to the home thing, and that our eyes may see it." churches for lay missionaries. . . . ,It would point to the many millions of Time is passing. If 1000 men were our fellow·men who have never heard the Gospel of the grace of God j and to needed five years ago, they are much some millions more who, though tbey have possessed themselves of some por- more needed now. Of the 1296 mis· tions of His word, still fail to compre_ hend its meaning for want of some one sionaries in China, only 589 were men j and of them not a few have entered into to guide them. . • . .. We appeal, then, to our lay breth- their rest or have returned home from ren .•. to solemnly ask themselves various causes. In view of the new whether, for the greater glory of God, they are not called to meet this pressing facilities and enlarged claims of China, need and to devote themselves, their the next five years should see a larger service and their wealth to this missionary enterprise in China." reinforcement than that called for in To the above earnest words we add 1890. Will not the Church arise and the following extracts condensed from the" Appeal of 204 Lady Members of take immediate and adequate action to the Missionary Conference" : meet the pressing needs of this vast land? " We . . . come to you, our sisters in Christ, with an urgent appeal on be- On behalf of the Pel'manent Commithalf of the • • . women and children of J. HUDSON TAYLOR. China. . • • tee, "Beloved sisters, if you could see SHANGHAI, May, 1895. tbeir sordid misery-, their hopeless, loveless lives, their Ignorance and sinful- (Additional copies of this appeal may ness as we see them, mere human pity would move you tJ do something for be had at the Presbyterian Mission their uplifting. But there is a stronger motive that should impel you to stretch Press, at $1 per 100.) out a helping hand, and that we plead -the constraining love of Christ. We Rev. J. Hudson Taylor well says: who are in the midst of this darkness " We need persons who will consecrate that can be felt send our voices across their lives to foreign mission service at the ocean to you, our sisters. and be- home. It is for some to consecrate their seech you, by the grace of Christ our lives, their thoughts, their prayers to just this service. I believe that some Saviour, that you come at once to our of the best missionary work that is done to-day is done by invalids who never leave their bedrooms, or by old people, or by those who are very poor and have not much to give; but they give the Lord what is most precious-a true yearning heart, a constant remem- brance, a constant prayer."
W. Burns Thomson, M.D., F.R.S.C.E., FiR.S.E., was in some sense one of the fathers of modern medical missions. He accounted it his highest earthly honor to write "medical missiouary" after his name, for it identified his whole career They arrived in Yokohama without any with the Lord and His apostles. This place to live, but soon rented a Bud- godly man was God's elect servant to dhist temple for a house, and all the cOlhmunicate to the Church the medical idols were taken away and stored. Mrs.
missionary impulse after the way had Hepburn was the first American woman been prepared by Asahel Grant, Parker, who ever landed in Japan, and was con· Hobson, Lockhart, in various quarters sidered a great curiosity. She is pres of the globe, and when the Edinburgh ent with her husband here. Dr. Hep- Medical Missionary Society had been burn opened the first dispensary in that organized, and men like Dr. Coldstream country; and performed the first surgical and Dr. Handyslde had been the elo- operation. He worked for six years quent advocates of such forms of mis- before the first convert was made, who sbn work by both their tongues and was baptized in Dr. Hepburn's dispen- pens. sary. He assisted in the first transla- Dr. Thomson we have long regarded tion of the Bible into Japanese, a work as the finest specimen of a medical mis- which was completed in siX; years.
sionary we have ever met. His large Now there are 40,000 converts, and pos- brain and well-furnished mind was the sibly :t.oO,OOO under Christian instruc- handmaid of one of the tenderest and tion.
most sympathetic natures trained in Seven of the great missionary family suffering's school. And his passion for of Scudders were present. This famhis Lord and for the souls He died to ily counts five hundred and thirty years' save brought him into such identity service on the mission field. Dr. and with Christ that he was ever filling up, Mrs. Blodget have been in continuous like Paul, that which is behind of the service since 1853, and Dr. William Ashsufferings of His Master in his own flesh more since 1850. These men do not for His body's sake. With holy insight " die at the top." They are out on the into God's truth, rare singleness of aim, picket line of all the thinking and childlike simplicity of character, de- movement of the age. voutly prayerful l$bits, and a peculiar charm of personality, Dr. Thomson The Sunday morning service will be stands before those who knew him as ever memorable. The Fellowship and one of the most unique men of modern Consecration Meeting at nine o'dock history. furnished a fitting prelude to the ser- mon at 10.30 by Rev. W. E. Witter, These reminiscences of his life, edited M.D. The serVlCe for young people, a by Dr. J_ L. Maxwell, published by stereopticon composite lecture, the presi- Hodder & Stoughton, Paternoster Row, dent's reception on the lawn, and the London, E. C., will be thankfully read farewell meeting for those returning to by thousands. their fields before another annual meet- ing were all interesting. Forty-four of We cannot find space for the bio· those present expect to be once more in graphical sketches of the veterans. We the midst of the fray abroad within a give only one. Dr. Hepburn graduated few coming months. at Princeton, and in 1840 was appointed to missionary work, and he and his The officers elected for the ensuing young wife sailed in a whaling ship year are: President, J. T. Gracey, when there were only two steamers in D.D., Rochester, N. Y.; Vice-Presithe world. They went to Singapore, dents, Cyrus Hamlin, D.D., S. L. Baldand soon were transferred to Amoy, win, D.D., Rt. Rev. C. C. Penick, China, when they were associated with D.D., F. A. Cassidy, William Ashmore, many of the early missionaries. Owing D.D., Henry H. Jessup, D.D., Jacob to failing health they returned home, Chamberlain, D.D.; Secretary, Rev. and in 1859 were appointed to Japan. W. H. Belden, Clifton Springs, N. Y. ; Associate Secretary, Mrs. Dr. C. C. Thayer; Treasurer and Librarian, Rev. C. C. Thayer, M.D. ; Executive Com- mittee, Rev. J. A. Davis, Chairman, Nyack, N. Y. ; Rev. C. W. Cushing, D.D., Rev. J. L. Ammerman, D.D., Rev. L. R. Luther, Mrs. W. H. Belden, Mrs. Wellington J. White, Mrs. J. T.
Gracey.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
lIDITED BY BEV. D. L. LEONARD.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign manam vres both on land and sea; has Periodicals. utilized ironclads for sea fights; has availed herself of the most modern type BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, of death-dealing weapons; and has seized on the most approved forms of MASS. high explosives. She has struck terror into the hearts of the Chinese, and has MISCELLANEOUS. pUed up dead Chinamen all over the neighborhood of Japan. What more -" Dr. Glover, in his valedictory ad· evidence is needed? Our brethren of dress, at the Baptist Union, to missiona- Korea are indeed civilized."-Catholie ries returning to the field, gave utter- Home JOU1'nal. ance to some weighty thoughts which are more and more coming to the front. -The brethren of the Rhenish Mis- He said: •If you could reproduce in sionary Society are, on the whole, India and China a churcb exactly on cheered by a steady progress of their our pattern it would be to your dispar- work: 50, 60, or 70 baptisms in a month agement and not to your praise. There seems to be a very usual report for It. are bits of the Gospel which only the missionary. heathen can see, and which, in this atmosphere of smoke, we cannot behold. _co Her Majesty's Acting Consul- Find those out, brethren. Let forms of General at Seoul, in Korea, Mr. C. T. church life be native to the place. You, Gardner, has published a pamphlet exin all your judgments, must be inde- pressing his views on the question of pendent of us, and you must teach your • How to lessen the recurrence of anticonverts to be independent of you. Christian and anti-foreign riots in You must decrease that Christ the Mas- China. ' Among the causes of dislike ter may increase, and that you may which actuate some of the Chinese serve Him. Your work, so great, use- against Christianity he instances jeal. ful, successful, has opened t~e way for ousy at the superiority in intelligence work still greater, more useful, and and morality of the Christians. He more successful. Go on, not with the says: • The Christian education of the idea of mere continuance, but walking children of converts undoubtedly proby the cloud and fire, and then become duces greater intelligence and a higher to others a pillar of cloud and fire which moral tone than the Chinese non-Chris· will lead them.' "-Bombay Guardian. tian education; the consequence is that Christian Chinese are obtaining a suc- -" That world which assumes to it- cess in life far greater than non-Chrisself the appellation of civilized awakens tians of the same class. There is hardly to a realization of the fact that the a ·high official in the empire who bas genius of civilization has retraced a not one or two ChrIstians in his employ course back to the farthest East, and as confidential servants. These Christhat the Zeitgei8t has possessed even the tiaus are equally successful in obta.ining heathen of those lands. Japan has at clerical and other employ in Governone bound stepped into the ranks of ment and commercial offices, such as the civilized powers. England has by the Imperial Maritime Customs, Mining treaty explicitly recognized it as such. and Public Works, the China Mer- What else could be done? Japan has, chants' Steam Navigation Company, as It were, passed a public examination etc. "~Chureh Missionary InteZZigeneer. and demonstrated its fitness for admission into the company of civilized pow- -The Tibetan, published at Toronto ers. She has displayed her skill in war
EXTBACTB AND TRANSLA.TIONS
by the Tibetan Missionary Union, baa in consisted for the most part of serfs and the December number a full notice of slaves; few of the noble or wealthy be- "The New Acts of the Apostles," longed to them, as Paul attests. Chris- which it pronounces "pre·eminent tianity always found a firmer hoid in a among the books iBBued from the re- people in proportion as it took hold of ligious press during 1894,." "The vol- the poorer classes. The successes of ume is 80 replete and complete with all Boniface in Germany would not have that concerns the extension of God's been possible without the previous toil- kingdom on earth that we feel con- some activity of the Irish evangelists strained to recommend it to the careful addressed to the insignificant and weak, study of all who have the interests of and of such men as St. Severinus, who, that kingdom at heart. A handsomely from 4M on, was, amid the hostile colored map showing the extent of pre- storms of the Volkerwandm·ung, a help- vailing religions of the world and the ing, comforting messenger of Heaven progress of evangelization forms a valu- to the sorely harassed dwellers in the able supplement to the book, being the ancient Noricum along the Danube, and most complete thing of the kind ever at the foot of the Alps, and in no mean published. " measure alleviated their distress. He -The Harvelt Field (English Wes- was one of those figures that remain unleyan) has changed its place of publica- forgotten in the memory 01 a people betion to Mysore. Wherever published, cause they knew how to grave imperit is one of the wisest and most valu- ishably into the fugiti ve current of time able of missionary publications, and one the characters of self·denying love. So of the freest from partisanship. also to.day is Ohristian Frederick Schwartz (t1798) unforgotten in South -" Some weeks ago we alluded to India, who for fifteen whole months in the increasing number of well-lo-do· Tanjore fed daily before his dwelling Ohristian men and women who enter more than 11)00 persons (heathen, Mos- the mission field at their own expense. lems, Ohrlstians), and, among other We referred also to the increasing prac- deeds, delivered, by his intercession, tice of missionaries being supported by the city of Ouddalore from destruction. {ndivldual friends. Our editor has re- ..• We may well say : The measure of cently been the guest in London of Mr. the active benevolence which a mission Benjamin Broomhall, the General Secre- exercises is the measure of Its success. tary of the Ohina Inland Mission. In If missions ceased to account benevoregard to the two subjects above men- lence as the soul of their work, assuredtioned, Mr. Broomhall says that there ly their results would become a soundare 82 missionaries of the Ohina Inland ing brass and a tinkling cymbal. This Mission laboring at their own expense; fundamental tone and attitude of mis- 87 are supported entirely by friends, sions is under all circumstances a social and 16 are partly so supported. One factor of the first rank. In the measure friend supports five missionaries; three in which the individual missionary suppornwo each; and 39 support one shares in this temper, his activity will each. In two cases two friends support be lure in some way to result in an abiLl- one missionary between them. "-BtIfn,. ing blessing. The application of this 11(1,1/ (}u(1,rdi(1,1I.. principle to definite individual rda- -" Everywhere it appeal'll in hi.tory tions demands great wisdom. "-HERB that building from below upward hu I!IToSCH, in Der Mi88icn, Freund.
greater 8UCcess than the revel'll!. The way to the hearts of the great goes -" The year 11191) finds Nicaragua in through the hearts of the wretched. So undisturbed possession of what has for was it even at the time of the apostles. so many years been the territory of the The congregatioDi founded by them HOIklto Indians. A free nation, the
GENERAL HISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE. [Octobel'
majority of whom are Protestants, has from God the gifts needed for the crisis : now, contrary to its strongly expressed wise fearlessness and faithful endur- desire, been incorporated with its Ro· anee. Amid the waves of excit6ment man Catholic neighbor. This has hap· and anxiety, amid frequent disquieting pened in spite of the Treaty of Managua, rumors, amid arrests and acts of vio- which guarantees independence and lence, amid lawlessness and public inse- autonomy to the }Ioskito Indians sub- curity, amid the flight and emigration ject. to a limited and defined 80verelgnty of those around them, tbey have stood on the part of Nicatagua. The explana- like rocks, a comfort, a help, and a tion of the strange riddle Is the attl· strengthening of the faith of many.
tude of the United States In view of They have lived as they have prayed, American interests in the projected endeavoring, as far as consistent with Nicaraguan Canal. So it comes that the the Word of God, and teaching their most decisive word that has been spoken people to • submit themselves to every as to this incorporation of the reserve Is ordinance of man (yes, of their new Ro· Prellident Cleveland's message to Con- man Catholic rulers) for the Lord's sake, gress, January 3d, 1895. He accepts and to seek the peace of the place where the Nicaragnan representation of the they dwell.' Without cessation they circumstances which led to their, occu- have discharged all their regular offices pation, and supports the action of that as pastors and teachers as far as e'ver the rcpublic. The Moekito side of the ques- circumstances allowed. And when duty tion has never been heard. "-Periodical demanded. they have stood out boldly Accounts (Moravian). against the pride and unreasonableness – " Bound up as our mission has been of the conquerors, defenceless as they for nearly half a century with the best were, save for the might of the Spirit, welfare of this little seml.independent of truth, and of a good conscience."- country, we cannot but regard the Ibid. Nicaraguan occupation as a sore blow for Moskito. It will be many a day be· -The excellent Australian missionfore Bluefields and Magdala recover It. aryof the Brethren, Dr. James Ward, has been called home.
Several of their best citizens have gone, -We observe that De Vrije Kerk, of never to return, and their slowly revlv· Holland, describes the Parsees as fire· ing trade has to contend wIth the in· worshippers, and says that the cbief creased customs duties demanded by object of tbeir worship is the sun.
the new rulers. As ,to the cost of the They, however. emphatically deny the mission, whose maintenance in full effi· designation, declaring that they wor- clency is now doubly necessary, it:is ship God alone. They reverence all the plain that it will be very much higher elements as being the work of the good in the future than it has been in the God, and especially fire, but deny that past. "-Ibid. they identify it with God.
-" Not one of our missionaries has -The FJrije Kerk from time to time been touched ; not one has fled from his publishes valuable reprints on various post, though advised to do so by white missionary Bubjects, under the title of as well as colored neighbors; not one Zendingsrubriek. Among them have of them has sat for a single hour within been some excellent papers on medireval prison walls, though the intruding missionaries, drawn out with true Dutch • Spaniards' have shown them much thoroughness . distrust, and though varied calumnies have threatened to issue In violent meas- -The Abogado Ori8tiarw Ilu8trado ures of that kind. The brethren in very justly holds up to those Mexican Bluefields have had to bear the brunt of Catholics who will not give charity to this situation, and they have received anyone that cannot show a confessor·'s certificate the example of the present
ENGLISH NOTES
Pope, who is paying the expenses of a of the Bible.' "-RlJ1Jue au ltli,l1onI young Protestant art student in Roml', Oontemporainea.
saying th!lt his Protestantism has noth· -:-The Jesuit missions of Paraguay, ing to do with his profession. whIch fell ultimately into such unhappy -" As the hardest struggle of Paul's abuses of cupidity and tyranny that missionary life was with those who, Spain and Rome were obllged to pro- pretending that the heathen were not scribe them, have been succeeded J>y ripe for the Gospel, insisted on first missions of that simple, cheerful, bibll- making them Jews, so the missionaries cal kind which are not likely to need of our day are bound manfully to with· any proscription.
stand those who, under a similar pre· tence that the heathen need a special preparation, insist on making extraneous English Note8.
additions to the proper missionary com· BY JAMES DOUGLAS. mission."-Dr. F. M. ZAHN, in Allge· meine Mi8sions·Zeitach1-ij't. London Mi.Bionary Society-The I88a· -" The following official report, ad· mutti DiBtriet.-The Rev. W. R. Le dressed by the Chief Surveyor to the Quesne, who was recently entrusted President of the RepUblic of Paraguay, with the charge of this district, gives testifies to the results obtained by the an account of a visit lately paid to its South American Missionary Society three stations, Baduria, Goburdanga, among the Chaco Indians: and Bongong. At Bongong he found the society's agent cowed by a sense of " , Knowing the interest which your educational inferiority and unable to Excellency cherishes in the prosperity take the bold stand called for. At Go· of the Chaco Indians, I have the honor burdanga the outlook was equally de· to inform you that I have to-day reo pressing. Here some three or four yearl turned from an excursion into the inte· ago a convert of great promise had been rior, made for the delimitation of a ter· won, and after his baptism at Calcutta, ritory in which the S. A. M. S. desires had returned to his home. But since to establish a station. In traversing the then he has disappeared, whether as the country I have been struck with the se· result of foul play or not has never come curity which we can now enjoy in the to light. The ZemindarB are hostile to bosom of this tribe, thanks to the labors the missionary aim from mercenary and of the agents of the aforementioned oppressive reasons. What is needed to society. Six years ago, when I last withstand them is such a witness for traversed this country, I dared only Christ as adds to his faith courage. The venture into it accompanied by fifteen state of things in Badurla has not yet picked men armed to the teeth. We properJy entered the reaping stage. never dared to stray to any distance The good work has been carried on in from our camp; at night sentinels kept this place for many years, and there guard and we remained with our arms have been in the course of the years within reach. several baptisms, but the converts won have removed elsewhere, and there is as " , This time I made my survey with yet in Baduria no church at all. Thil Indian help and without fire-arms. At is trying to the workers, but out·door night we slept in full security, no mat· preaching and house·to-house visitation ter where we chanced to be ; instead of are maintained, as well as two schooll, avoiding the villages, as formerly, we one for boys and the other for girls. sought to encamp near them. . .. A missionary lady, a young unmarried Englishwoman, can traverse without Ohinese Oovenantera.-The Rev. J.
danger countrios absolutely unexplored, Sadler, of Amoy, has just made the dis- healing the sick and teaching the trutba covery that at Lohin there is a little
'788 GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
company of men who, for seven or eight funds not available for the society's years, have entered into a covenant with general work, have amounted to £272,- all diligence to stir up each other to 000, thus exceeding by more than £20,- right conduct. They are known among 000 those of any former year. Cause the Christians as Covenanters. One of for praise Godward is due for the mani- these writes: "The most lamentable fest evidences of the working of His thing is that vested interests of the fam- Spirit all over the world which is great- ily hinder one in obeying Christianity· ly in excess of former years. The total and getting itf:l instruction. What is in number of adult converts this year is my heart cannot be written by the pen ; 4200. including 1500 in India, 1400 in but the doctrine does not despise those Africa, 650 in China. Among these are less instructed. The great thing is a many individual cases of deep interest, holy life. This is the essential. Now, including a notable band of prominent though I meet that which fetters me, men in the Punjab, of whom Dr. Clark stm my heart keeps on hoping. Please writes: .. Such splendid fellows, with pray for me, so that what we say to one gentle yet strong faces; it is an inspira- another may not be without effect. In tion to see them." We felt special in- this way my grief may be assuaged." terest in the sentence, "Among the B4ptist Mi88iona'1'1f Societll.-The Rev. Ainu there are now more than 400 H. Ross Phillips, who has just returned Christians." The remotest outpost of to the Congo, writes in B most cheerful this society is occupied by Edmund strain of the hearty welcome received Peck, the intrepid Bailor missionary, and the missionary prospects. .. The who bas been conveyed in a whaler, people," he says, .. came a long way on with a young companion, to Cumberthe road to meet us, and Saturdayeven- land Sound, in the polar regions, where ing they crowded the station and ex- the Eskimo have put up for them a litpressed very heartily how glad they tle tabernacle twenty feet long. made were to see us. For several days I had of whalebone and sealskins.
people coming in to sec me from other We,leyan Mis8iona'1'1f Societll.-We towns, bringing messages of welcome glean the following particulars from from those whom I had visited when the abstract and general summary of out in itineration in former years. . . . the operations of this society during the The decided increase in membership, past year: Circuits, 328 ; chapels, 2104 ; the ever.deepening interest in the Gos- missionaries and their assistants, 349 ; pel in the outlying towns, and the ear- other paid agents, as catechists, daynest appreciation of the New Testament school teachers, and interpreters, 2587 ; in their own language, to say nothing full and accredited church·members, of the wider-spread efforts of the native 40.994; scholars, 80,791. More than Church-all these convince me that half the missionaries are natives of the there is every reason to thank God and countries in which they are working, take courage." and no part of the work is more steadily G!&urch Mis8iona;ry Society.-From held in view than that which is directed the general review of the year we cull toward raising an Indian ministry in the following particulars: Within Benn India, a Chinese ministry in CWna, and years the total number of missionaries an African ministry in Africa. Evan- bas almost doubled. In 1888 the num- gelization, as the primary and central ber reported was 888; to-day It is 684 duty of the missionary, is kept ever -in both cases exclusive of wives. prominent, and the number of those en- Financially. too, the result has been in gaged in it increases year by year. The accordance with the forward movement work among the children comprehends of faith. During the past year the total a total of over 65,000 in Asia and Af- receipts, excluding gifts to special rica.. Ital!/.-In an address recently given Kottedankada, four years ago heathen, on the subject of Wesleyan missions In and now transformed into a Christian Italy, the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes re- community. At the present time the lated the following circumstance of agents of this society are preaching the which he was an eye-witness: "I went Gospel in 54 different languages in vari- to our church in Rome and haw Capel- ous parts of the globe.
lini addressing a hundred young sol- Ohina Inland Mi88i0n.-As instances dIers. fifty of whom were received into of Chinese brotherly love, the Rev. the fellowship of our church that night. James Meadows relates the two follow- Later in the evening, one of them, who ing incidents: .. At Hsinghien, while was going to America, gave an account we were there holding services for canof his history. He said he had come to didates for baptism, news came that "ne them nominally Catholic, but really of our very poor brethren in the counagnostic, but that Capellini had brought try had just been burned out of house him into that hall, and bit by bit the and home. One of our earnest preachlight had dawned on his mind. Now ers broke into prayer for him and his he was rejoicing in Christ, and he was wife and family, but was so affected going to be a minister for Christ." that he could not proceed, and straight- Pre&byterian Ohurch oj Englarul.- way $16 were subscribed, $11 of which Speaking on the subject of Formosa, the poor men and women assembled Mr. Campbell, missionary from that contributed 1 The Christian affection uland, described the work there as in a existing among these country people is hopeful and encouraging state. " The often thus manifested in most practical Church," he said, .. was well advised ways. A widow could not get her fields by Dr. Douglas thirty years ago, when reaped, as all her deceased husband'.
she turned her eyes to that rich country, friends were opposed to her being a wherein mission work was commenced Christian. The brethren in a neighbor- by Dr. Maxwell.•. _ One thing that ing village heard of this, and meeting was beyond all cavil and criticism was together, deputed certain of their num- that whereas thirty years ago the island ber at once to reap the harvest for her, was a spot of unbroken heathen dark- while the remainder kept watch I"
ness, there was now a large native church." Mr. Campbell further said THE KINGDOM. that at a recent conference held with a view to form a presbytery on that island, -" Which is tbe 'foreign nation' in two intelligent young men were chosen the thought of God 1" pertinently asked to be ordaIned as native pastors. a foreign miBBionary in a great audience recently. And it is more than likely Societyj01' the Propagation oj the Gos- that not one in that multitude was able pel.-This society, which .will in the to make reply. course of a few years close its second century of labor and prayer, has many – A recent writer notes that the visit signs of increase. Special attention is of a very disagreeable and unappreciacalled to the venture into Kashmir; to tive Afghan prince recently cost Engthe expansion of the Church in Assam land the sum of $250,000. This amount and the Transvaal; to the independence would pay for 250 men, good, faithful of the Malagasy in building their own and agreeable, who would return the churches and restoring those destroyed visit each by a year's missionary work. by a hurricane without thought of aid – Ob8e1"/!e1'.
from the mission; to the increasing -The Westminster Gazette says that hunger of the people in the Telegu the popularity of Spurgeon's sermons is country for the privileges of the the most amazing literary success of the Church; and, further, to the village of century. The number of sermoDll published is 2396, and the total number of come was £2,477,132, a decrease of volumes sold is nearly 100,000,000. nearly a quarter of a million compared They are kept in sheet form in a large with that of 1892. Of the decrease, cellar in Paternoster Square, in long £31,000 is in English contributions, lines of cupboards, so that a supply of £18,000 in Scotch; the decrease in any particular discourse can be got at American over £200,000, The contri- once. Four fifths of the supply have butions from England amonnted to £1,- been sold in the United Kingdom; the 159,888; from Scotland to £197,856 i remainder have gone to this country from America to £614,594.
and to Australia. -" When the history of the Protes- tant churches, at the end of the nine- -Not long ago two Americans, trav- teenth century, shall be written, two elling in Alaska, approached the Kus- facts will have to be related, contradickokwim district. They heard the na- tory in appearance, and yet equally true. tives everywhere talking about the The first .is the sterility of religious " Kilbuckamuks," and expected to thought, the strange disintegration of meet with some tribe hitherto unknown beliefs. Criticism has so analyzed, disto georraphers. Presently they reached sected, and discussed the objects to a Moravian station where they found the which it has been applied that the facts missionaries, Mr. and Mrs. Kilbuck, and which were formerly the most certain, It trsnspired that the new" tribe" con· the facts on which our most sacred slsted of those who had surrendered hopes repose, have become, as it were, themselves to the infiuence of the Gos- volatilized in our hands, and even the truest believers ask t.hemselves in hours no.- pel, the name of their teachers being at- of anguish: .. Am I really sure of that tached to them by the surrounding tlvel.
-India, like Ohlna, Is to have its own which I believe 1" This is one fact, medical missionary journal. Each of and it is a sad one. But there is an- the following countries have medical other which is very consoling: it is the missionary magazines: Scotland, 1; development in our Protestant churches England, 2; America, S. Two others of a multitude of works which are the in England are largely devoted to thIs product of faith, works of mercy, of agency, and several missionary journals help, of reformation, of evangelization, devote space specially to medical mis- and among all these enterprises the most sions. admirable certainly is the work of mis- -In May, 1890, the General Confer- sions. It is certain that never since the ence of missionaries in Shanghai, repre- first days of Christianity has the Gospel senting 1296 Protestant missionarIes accomplished more rapid and more asthen in China, issued an urgent appeal tonishing conquests than in our own for 1000 more men for China within five epoch. Missions march with giant years. At the same time the women-of steps, so that we can already foresee the conference appealed for more wom- the moment when the good news shall en workers. Rev. C. F. Reid, of Shang- have been carried to the very ends of hai, for a committee appointed to report the earth, and when, in accordance with the results of the call, states that in the the word of our Lord, the times shall five years there have been sent out 481 be ripe for the end. "-.M. Jean Meyer.
male missionaries, 167 wives of mis- WOMAN'S WORK. sionaries, and 505 single women, mak- ing a total of 1153. -The Intelligencer has this to say -Dean Vahl has issued his mission- with reference to the Church Mission- ary statistics for 1898, relating to no ary Society: "In Jnne, 1887, there fewer than 381 societies engaged in mis- were-22 women on the roll. Since that sions to the heathen. The entire in- date, more thaD 200 names have been entered; and after deducting a few home and abroad such a noble reinforce,.
deaths and retirements, 192 remain, ment of women filled with His Spirit, which does not incJude those lately ac- it is our part, surely, to render Him un- cepted togo out this autumn. We have faltering praise."
41 in West and East Africa; 39 in -The last report (1895) of the Lon. Egypt, Palestine, and Persia; 35 in don School of Medicine for Women ex- India; 11 in Ceylon; 32 in China; 30 hibits in detail the high standing and in Japan; 4 in the North Pacific." work of its IItudents. A steadily in· But in addition, at the stations of the creaSing number of the graduates are same society no less than 214 other being appointed to responsible official women are at wOlk, sent out by socie- pOllitions in Great Britain and the coloties in close affiliation. nies-iluch as medical officer to the gen- -As a result of such remarkable eral post-office; examiner for the govfeminine consecration and activity, to ernment life assurance fund; queen's quote again from the same magazine: lecturer on physiology to the National •• It has been said C. M. S. is becoming Association of Nurses; lecturer to the a women's society. If this referred to Technical Instruction Board, London our home circles, the word ' becoming' County Council; assistant medical offiwould be inadequate, for there is noth- cer, St. Stephen's Hospital, Delhi; resiing new in the fact that women take a dent physician, Kama Hospital, Bomlivelier interest in all Christian work at bay; lady principal female department, home and abroad, including C. M. S., Ceylon Medical College; and resident than men do. From the earliest days physician, Lady Aitchison's Hospital of the society, or at all events since for Women, Lahore. Last, but not least, 1813, when local associations began to we may mention by name the acting be formed, the larger part of the work house surgeon at the Kama Hospital, of spreading information and raising Bombay, Rukhmabaf. This high-caste funds-other than the actual preaching young Indian woman, after successand speaking-has been done by wom- fully resisting, through the English en. But the remark no doubt refers to courts, an attempt to coerce her into the increase of women missionaries; fulfilling 8 marriage contract made for and we have even been asked' why we her during infancy, came to England neglect the. men'! Neglect the men! to study medicine; she passed satisfacwhy, we are always appealing for them. torily all her examinations and took the Thank God, their numbers .have in- triple qualifications of the Scotch colcreased more rapidly than ever before leges and the M.D. degree of Brussels. during these very eight years that have -New York Evening Post.
seen the accession of so many women to -A paper, by a German zenana mis· our ranks; and the idea that men are sionary, in the Allgemeine Hi88ions-Zeit.
hindered from coming forward because schrift, gives a vivid glimpse into the women come forward is opposed to life of women and girls in the Moham· plain facts, besides being an unreason- medan harems of North India. This able notion in itself. It might as well woman was in the habit of visiting the be said that the Church of England is houae of a 1tlohammedan saint. One of becoming a female Church, because the his daughters was a bright: lively girl, large majority of workers in most par- to whom the visits of the missionary ishes are women, and that the' dearth gave the greatest pleasure. She over- of curates' is due to the increase of whelmed the .. Doctor Miss Sahib" with lady district visitors and lady Sunday- questions about the beautiful world school teachers I Seriously, when it which she had never seen. Her great has pleased God of late years to add to desire was to visit the missionary's our armies of Christian workers both at house, and as, in spite of her father's salntship. her notions of right and etoriea and basement, and containing 24 wrong were very elementary, she sue· rooms, was secured. The outlay, In.
ceeded at last, by feigning a aerlou! ill· cluding rent. taxes, and repairs, for the ness, in moving her lather to send her use of this property will be about $120 to the mission hospital. She was filled per month. The house is now being ,.ail with delight at the pleasant tlower gar. rearranged to make it suitable for the den of the hospital, a Bight ,he ne'lJeT' work.
8een before. But her fraud was discove~ It is expected that during the com· ed, and the poor girl had to go back to Ing fall and winter 21i students will be her cage. And even such 111 Moham· in residence. The co-operative board· medanism. Ing rate has been fixed at $4 per week, YOUNG PEOPLE. ea"h student to help with the work. The home Is at 112 Loomis Street, near -One of the most remarkable phases Jackson Boulevard, and is conveniently of the development of the Y. M. C. A. located for students attending the medimovement has been the increase in the cal schools.
number and value of the association -The BrooklynTimea evidently be- buildings. In 1890 there were reported lieves heartily in "practical politics,"
205, valued at $8,352,910. In the Year but has no stomach at all for such prac- Book of 1895 there are reported 805, tical religion as the Endeavorersof that valued at $16,091,780•. The increase in city display in their activity in helping five years is thus 100 buildings, or to enforce the law closing saloons on nearly one every two weeks; the total Sunday. This perturbed sheet would valuation being, In round numbers, have thoae youthful saints " go back to doubled. This remarkable growth in- primitive Christianity," and let good dicates two things chielly-that; the as· citizenShip alone I sociation movement has permanency – Yes, it is even so. "That in fourand that it meets with favor on the part teen years a single society, formed withof business men.- Young Men', Era. out any Idea of the future before it, but -An ~nalysis of .the attendance at the bent on a local work, should increase to recent World's Student Conference, at more than 10,000, and spread world- Northfield, shows these facts: Number wide, embracing a membership of 2,500,- of institutions represented: State, 10 ; 000, and generate a high enthusiasm and deuominational, 24; medical, 10; pre· consecration in Christian work, is a phe· paratory schools, 23; scientific, 8; nomenon not to be passed by with in- agricultural, 2; training, 8; theologi- difference or a sneer."
cal, 4.; unclassified, 39. Total, 118. -This table tells what the Presbyte~ Number of students in attendance, 459 ; rian Endeavorers have been doing for other delegates, 41 ; speakers and work- foreign missions : ers, 37. Total, 536. Amount subscribed to intercollegiate work, $2400. The de- Year Ending Societies. Amount. nominations represented were as fol- $5,265 April 30, 1891…. .. ….. . 864 14,228 April 30, 1892.. ………. 864 lows: Presbyterians, 120; Congrega- April 80, 1898….. . . . …. 1,269 24,808 tionalists, 89; Methodists, 76; Bap- April 30, 1894………… 1,856 29,244 tists, 78; Friends, 17; Reformed, 13; April 80, 1895………. ,. ~,487 38,161 Lutherans, 13; Episcopalians, 12; Total tor Aye year………….. '" ..S106,706 Christians, '1; no denomination speci- Increase of societies in four years, fied, 56. Total, 485. 2078 i average increase per year, 518, or -Chicago contains a home for young about Ii new societies for each day. men and women who have volunteered They are now supporting 45 missionafor the foreign field as medical misslona· ries.
ries. Last May a large tlat of three -The wide reach of the Endeavor
movement is Hown ia the fact that The first year the income reached but there is in Los Angeles a Chinese society 8187.62, with which only GO were sent of 15 boys and girls who aupport a na- into the country for two weeks. Since tive helper in China; one in Atlanta, then it has grown to near $80,000, with Ga., supports a free dispensary and a over 15,000 beneficiaries. In all about Bible training class and cultivates dOlV· $328,000 have been donated to this fund, ers for distribution among the sick and and almost 270,000 have been afforded aged. The society on board the Ohalrle8- an outing, one half for a aingle day and ton is planning for a seamen's mission half for a fortnight. with a reading-room and temporary home at NaillSaki, Japan. -The Christian Alliance, at its recent meeting lit Old Orchard, Me., raised -The societies in Cleveland have $72,000 for foreign missions. One memundertaken to set up about a score of ber gave land in California worth .10,- fountains or drinking-placeS in conven- 000, which rllpresented the savings of ient localities, and for the comfort of years, and a like spirit was shown by both man and beast, not omitting the others. Within a year this society has dogs even. lost 10 of its missionaries by death. The number now in the field or at home UNITED STATES. on furlough is 240, while 40 more are under appointment and about to take -General Carl Schurz is bearing a their departure. hand in home missionary effort in New York City by preaching righteousness -Rev. A. McLean, Secretary of the and sound sense to his brother Germans Christian (Disciple) Mission Board, hIlS in the current Parkhurst-Roosevelt sailed on a world tour to last a year, and campaign. He tells his fellow-Tcutons to include a visit to all the fields of that that they cannot afford to act as though society. they were the slaves of beer or the servants of the brewers in the controversy -During the last four yeara there over the enforcement of the excise laws. have been erected in the city of Chicago Also that they can .. get along better 41 new Methodist mission churches, without the opening of saloons on Sun- valued at nearly $500,000. Of these, days than without clean streets, a 81 have become self supporting. This plentiful supply of good water, good work has been accomplished through schools, public security, effective Bani- the efforts of the City Missioaary and tary arrangements, and the like, all the Church Extension Society. days of the week," IlS would be the case if Tammany government were re- -The Presbyterians can tell of " our stored. Quoth he: .. We should not twentieth church among the Sioux. " overlook the relative importance of this and other public interests, and espe- -To all appearance the American cially we should not make interests of Indian, like Dickens's little Jo, is fated more general importance dependent on evermore to be moving on. Even New this one thing." Metl&kahtla, which William Duncan, after being thrust out of .British Colum- -A recent I~pe~nt has an article bia, founded on Annette Island, Aluka, on the summer charities in New York has been invaded by a wild rush of City which traces them back to their miners, and his much·affiicted flock may beginning in 1878, when George F. be compelled again to abandon their Williams, of the Time8, was deeply homes. moved by hearing five ragged urchins in the City Hall Park say: II Let's play EUROPE. that we're in the country." The Tribune Fresh Air Fund dates from 1887. Great BritaiD.-At one of the recent meet.ings of the London Hissionary So- ciety, Dr. Wardlaw Thompson, the sec-
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLI!'IENCE
retary, announced that since its com· work is done. Nine missionary socie- mencement the society has received ties share in this, and are represented £5,500,000 ($27,500,000) in contributions by 18 physicians, of whom 5 are natives.
lit home, and that nearly another mill- -Rev_ S. M. Zwemer, of Busrah, has ion had been contributed in the field by an article in the IntelZigencer entitled Christian friends, and especially by na- " There Is Much RulJbish," with refertive ChrIstians. In commenting upon ence to the Koran, to divers lives of this fact, he exclaimed," Why, we the prophet, and to Mohammedanism could buy six ironclads with that in general as a religion. And the text money, and in five years they would be of the article fully justifies the title_ obsolete. The first vote for the present French expedition to :lHadagascar was -Rev. R. M. Cole, secretary of the more than £2,000,000. They will spend Bitlis mission station of the American on that expedition more than all the Lon- Board, tells of their regret on the death don Missionary Society has spent for the of Rev. G. C. Knapp, who died of apoconversion and transformation of mul- plexy March 12th, after prolonged prostitudes during the century. Expendi- tration. He entered this mission fleJd tUfe on missions is the most economical in 1855 and continued in charge till channel for spending money, and yields 1890, when he was succeeded by his son, the largest return." As the ample re- George Perkins Knapp. He met with turn for such cost, 95,000 Malagasy are great opposition in his early days in the now members of the churches, with . field from the Gregorian Church. He nearly 500,000 under Christian instruc- lived to so win their esteem that they tion, While about 100,000 have cntered tendered burial for his body in their own church, which was, however, deinto the life of the redeemed above. clined. Mr. Cole says: <. The Lord -The medical auxiliary of the Church gives us this cheer of late, that the old Missionary Society gives this as a sum· Church people, who in early times permary of work accomplished: 29 fully secuted Protestants, even latterly lookqualified medical missionaries; 4846 in- ing askance, as if our only business in patients in the mission hospitals last the land might be to transmute Aryear, and 373,355 out-patients. The menians into noxious Protestants, now auxiliary proposes this year to relieve turn toward us as genuine Christians, the society's general funds entirely of having deep sympathy for abused huthe medical expenses of the missions, manity, so that our congregations and other than the personal allowances of schools are much increased of late. the missionaries and the cost of new Partly from this and partly from high buildIngs; to defray, that is, no less esteem of our aged associate a throng than £4000. of some two thousand crowded our -When recently Mr Wigram, so church and yard at the funeral, three long secretary of the Church Mission- leading priests, with their select singers ary Society, sent in his resignation, he and all the paraphernalia of a burial of enclosed in the letter a gift of £1000, their highest grade, taking prominent with which to start the fund for the part in the services at their own re- new Calcutta Divinity School, as "a quest. "
thank-offering for mercies and privi- India.-A live American Brahman leges enjoyed during upward of four- has been discovered, believed to be the teen years as honorable clerical secre- first of the gemt8 (may his tribe not intary." creaae) presiding at a shrine in the ASIA.. depths of the Himalayas. It is enough to know his name, which is Charles Islam.-In Palestine are to be found William De Rousette. He leads a her- no less than 14 stations where medIcal mit's life and one approaching to the asceticism of the average fakir. He and all, both young and old, some with becomes known to fame through an in- one eye, and some with the remains of terview lately published in the Phila- two, and some with terrific squints, and delphia Ti'TMII. baring their heads, proceeded to form a circle, with their hostess in the centre. -A calculation appears in the Indian Then all, with one accord, continued to Ohurch Quarterlv which figures it out shriek piteously for the space of two that, at the present rate of progress, at hours, while they beat their thighs and the end of four hundred years it will temples alternately with both hands. be found that Christianity has made ad- This is the customary mode of public vances in India equal to those made in mourning, though usually practised Europe during the first four centuries. only on the death of a husband or a son. A woman, to show her excessive -Rev. F. L. Neeld, in charge of the grief, will frequently go on day after Bareilly Methodist Theological Semi- day for a month, inflicting blows on her nary, India, reports that that institu- temples in the manner described till tion now has: Seniors, 22; middle blood flows and severe inflammation is class, 23; juniors, 30-total, 75. He excited in the eyes, accompanied by inemphasizes the necessity of training a tolerable headache. And now follows native ministry on the field. ulceration of the cornea, followed, after months of suffering, by cicatrices and -F. J. Martin gives this well-nigh opacities, and frequently as not by cata· incredible story of the lengths to which ract and all but total blindness. And Hindu women carry their" grief." He all this for the sake of, not genuine lays of the sex: II As a rule, one eye is grief, but for the sake of making an imgone, or both are red, bleared and tear· pression of mourning on the neighbors. ful; the eyelashes have turned inward And though aU the neighbors know it and have scratched the cornea till it is is sheer hypocrisy, yet each and all will, opaque and nearly sightless and past in her turn, do the same thing, iDlbginhealing; or a cataract has formed in ing she is imposing on the rest." one or both the eyes. On inquiring the cause of all this, the usual reply is that China.-Miss Ford, of the Canadian she has lost a son, and has cried till she Methodist Mission, gives this bit of obhas literally cried her eyes out. It is servation and experience: "One has to always a son, sometimes a husband: learn to have the Easter joy in the but a daughter-I never heard of a heart, and not depend on outward cirwoman crying seriously for the loss of cumstances out here, where • on every a daughter. In the present case, how- high hill and under every green tree' ever, the patient I was called to see, are shrines, pagodas and images. For both eyes had been sacrificed for neither a few days past we have been noticing son nor husband, but, by way of vari· an image very different from any seen ety, for a buffalo. Gurmukh Singh in- before, and wondered what it was. formed me that he had lost a valuable This morning Mr. Cady asked the wife buftalo for which he had paid the ex- of the boat-owner, who explained that travagant sum of seven times twenty there are a great many devils around rupees, and that his wife had been in- the section of country we are just passconsolable ever since. The women of ing through; so these images are more the neighborhood would come in to re- numerous than in other parts; and at mind her of her loss, exaggerate it as regular intervals a rooster is sacrificed far as possible, and finally their advice to them, after which process the idol was that she should cry about it as long has knowledge of the devils, and proand loud as possible. In fact, in the tects against them. These devils are discharge of this duty they were pre- mimy of them spirits of people who pared to assist her. So the dames of Mrs. Gurmukh's acquaintance came, one h&ve committed suicide, and are waiting Chinese idolatry and superstition. In around to torment those who troubled consequence of this the mission W81 al- them while they were on this earth." most given uP. but just when things -A story is told by Rev. Hr. Adams, looked darkest a ray of light shone of the American Baptist Mission in Cen· which has steadily increased. In 1861 tral Chlna,ot a Mr. Tsen, formerly a 3 men came out from idolatry and dewealthy merchant, but who, ruined by clared themselves followers of Christ. oplum·smoking, became a low fortune· and to-day in that one province there teller. He came afterward under the are no lesa than SO,OOO converts to Chrilinfluence of the Gospel and burned his tianity, 12.000 of whom are connected magical books and BOught· to reform. with the mission of the Church Mis- The sufferings he endured while seek- sionary Society. This society has at ing to break off the habit were intense, present 10 ordained Chinese clergymen, but Wf'J.·e borne patiently. Thetempta- 170 churches. 120 catechists or lay readtion to seek relief by returning to the ers, 110 Christian schoolmasters who use of the drug was such as few could have charge of as many schools. and a have resisted, but he would not yield large number of trained Bible women though he died. And die he did, stead- carrying on effective work among the fastly refusing to yield again t<' the women of the province.
seductions of the drug which had blight- Korea.-A private letter from Rev. ed his life. T. H. Yun, dated Seoul, says: ., The -Rev. Mr. Ament writes: "As to government is now more firmly settled China, people may talk of great internal than some months ago. The Japanese reform and a general renovation of the influence Is strong ;it makes for prog- government, but there Is no evidence of ress. and therefore for good. On my any change at present. Personally I first returning to Korea. I was appoint- expect no reforms except under compul- ed private secretary of the prime minis- sion. No sledge-hammer blows from ter. A few weeks ago I was promoted without will break the hold of this em- to the position of vice-minister of edu- pire on the past; but the little plant cation. I thank the Church and the truth, working from within, will do this friends in the South. who made it possi· some day. If there is any growth in ble for me to get such a position, and I China I am afraid it will be more in the shall try to make my fidelity and con- line of military enlargement and a de- 'scientiousness show that a Christian is sire to get even with Japan. The war not one who forgets his own country.
has utterly failed to arouse the nation; as he is often charged out here with in fact, the nation as a nation knows doing. I am the only outspoken Chris- nothing about the war. and no lesson tian in the Korean Government."
can be taught the officials before the -Mrs. Underwood writes in Wompeople are instructed. The growth an's Work for Woman of A II Baby's must be from the lower strata upward. Visit to the King," as follows: I II as it has been in all lands. Hence I went to the palace yesterday. taking look for a patient continuance in the little Horace with me. who had a fine usual lines of work, being assured that time of it. The palace ladies caught our first duty Is to sow the gospel broad- him up in their arms and fairly ran with cast and let the truth do its own perfect him into the presence chamber. The work." king and queen and prince hugged and -Rev. Llewellyn Lloyd, of the kissed him. exclaiming how beautiful Church M.issionary Society, says that he was and how pretty his hands. The for nearly eleven years missionaries king had him lifted into a chair and labored in Foochow Ilnd its neighbor- . ~hen got down on the floor on his knees hood without one single convert from in front of him and talked to him, pet· ting and caressing him. The queen than ever before for the conquest of took him in her arms in a motherly this kingdom for Christ. grasp, smoothing his hair and saying anxiously, 'His head is too hot.' They " The war and attendant alarms have ordered about four quarts of Korean in no way interfered with the wondercandy, as many nuts and about a hun- ful prosperity God has granted the work dred oranges, and had them sent home in Korea. In faith, hope, and charity, for him. The queen also gave him an· n eincerity, steadfastness, and patience, other of tIle pretty little embroidered the Korean Christians are a constant bags full of beech nuts, which means source of joy and gratitude to God, to 'long life and happiness.' When we the missionaries. The Korean Chris. came away the palace ladies whirled tlana are distinguished by simplicity of him off, and about tifty of them got faith in God, and patience, endurance around him. petting and caressing him. of aspersion, both by the heathen na· I could not get near the child. The king tive and the unsympathetic foreign. himself put on his hat and coat and er. We need reinforcements. The mis· buttoned it up for him, kneeling on the sionarles spend many an anxious hour floor in front of him." because they are not forthroming ; the native Church goes half shepherded be· -The Korean boy at tirst sight can cause of the lack ; the highest authori· easily be mistaken for a school-girl Gut ties in the land ~y, 'Send us more of doors without her hat. His hair is teachers (missionaries).' " parted in the middle and hangs in a heavy braid down his back. When he , AFRICA. is married, his hair is twisted in a topknot on the crown of his head and adds -There is considerable perturbation much to his dignity. You may see a among the French authorities in AI· boy with his hair querIed on top of hi!! geria, owing to the work of the North head making mud pies by the road- Africa Mission, which Is chiefly carried side, and feel sure that here, at least, is on by English young ladies. The gen· an exception to the custom, but on in· eral council of the department of COI1quiry you learn that he is a married stantlne has addressed a note on the man. He enjoys his sport none the less subject of the supreme authority, in for the dignity of his topknot. which it states that the safety of Algeria is menaced by the work of the English -Rev. George Heber ~Tones writes Methodists (sic). .. The English danger from Chemulpo, Korea, June 10th, becomes from day to day more serious 1895: "Just one year ago to·day the in Algeria, as its agents become more tirst Japanese troops landed in Chemul· numerous. The Methodists and the solpo, to begin their astonishing campaign diers of the Salvation Army work under against China. What changes a year the guise of benevolence and charity, has witnessed I China is tOOay a beg- and thus attract the natives. They dis· gar among the nations, with few tribute money, clothes, medicines, Ara· friends, and a sad prospect of internal bic books (among others, translations of dissension, rebellion, and anarohy, and the Bible), and in appearance they only the certain prospect of being stripped occupy themselves with proselytism; of some of her territories by foreign but in reality a vast net of espionage is powers. Korea has reaped great benefit being drawn around us, and a propafrom all the changes of the year, and ganda of disaffection among our native especially the infant Church of Christ, subjects Is being carried on." The which has rode safely and steadily the council, therefore, petitions the Mlnl8try waves. We have reached a position of the Interior to put an end to these where we can Btrike mightier blows manmuvres.-.Re1JU8 deB Miuio1l8 (Jon. temporainu. -The New York Sun, in an editorial speaks specially of one of them who ia on climatic conditions and health in Ar- now the leading man among the Zulu rica, gives the following data: "In preachers, saying, " When r first came British India the annual death-rate to Umzumbe this man was a naked, among Europeans in the early part of scrofulous, hard boy, with a dirty sheep- this century was 84 to the 1000; but in skin thrown over his shoulders. We 1890 it was reduced to 16 to the 1000. cured him of his scrofula; then the So in the Dutch East Indies, the Euro- Lord cured him of his sin·sick heart, pean death-rate has been reduced from and to·day he stands up among our 170·to the 1000 in 1828 to 16-much leM churches as Dr. Storrs stands among than the native death-rate, which in 1892 your churches-a lsader of men."
was 23 to the 1000. In the basin of the -Sir Gilbert Carter, Royal Governor C.:>ngo the death·rate among white men of the British colony of Lagos, has rein 1893 was 70 to the 1000, but this em- cently given some interesting figures braced many mere adventurers and respecting the extent of the gin and rurn campaigners deprived of the comforts traffic on the west coast of Africa for and conveniences of life. In Leopold- tbe year 1893. The colony of Lagos, ville and Boma, white settlements, where with a population of 85,000 souls, imgood homes are available and fair sani- ported $450,000 worth of ardent spirits tary conditions, the death-rate is but 32 -more than $5 worth to each inhabto the 1000." itant I The Gold Coast, a British col- -In June, 1869, the missionary Ram· ony with a popUlation of 1,500,000, im- seyer, of the Basle Missionary Society, ported gin and rum to the value of was dragged as a prisoner into Abetifi, about $500,000. Sierra Leone, another then a city of Ashantee, with his wife British colony, with a population of and child. They spent three days in a 180,000, imported liquors to the value miserable hut, with their feet in chains. of $100,000.
Human sacrifices were then common in -At the recent annual meeting in Abetifi, which was under the tyrannical Londonof the Native Races and Liquor rule of the Ashantee chieftains. To- Traffic United Committee, Sir George day, in the same streets, under the same Goldie, Governor of the Royal Niger shady trees, instead of the bloody exe- Company, stated that in the Niger reo cutioner going his rounds, a Christian gion 1,100,000 gallons of spirits were congregation gathers together every imported in 1892,1,'700,000 in 1893, and Sunday, followed by a troop of Sunday about 2,000,000 in 1894. He said: scholars. Christian hymns, such as .. There is ample evidence of this extra " Who will be Christ's soldier 1" ring liquor finding its way to the Mohamjoyfully through the streets of Abetifi. medans of the interior, whose nominal The people come out of their houses, religion is no barrier against drunkenthe chieftain is invited ; he comes with ness. " Furthermore, this royal govhis suite and listens to the joyful tid· ernor said that after sixteen years of ings of salvation. And it is not in experience in administration :n Africa, vain; many have become the disciples he was prepared to affirm " that if steps of Jesus. Many even dare to tell their were not taken to prohibit the liquor fellow·countrymen in the streets what trade, a state of things would be brought joy and peace they have found in Him. about that would lead to the total aban- Who would have dreamed of this donment of the country." twenty-five years ago ?-.t1Ugemeine Mis- 8ions-Zeitaehrift· -Dr. J. E. Hine gives a ghast- I.Y account of a witch.burning near -Mr. Bridgman, of Umzumbe, in Unangu. The" boys" came and re- writing of the five Zulu preachers who ported. that a witch was being burned have been raised up under his care, alive at a place two miles from the sta· tion. He was incredulous, but went to young fellows from Borneo, Sumatra, see. "When I got a little nearer," he Java, Celebes, and New Guinea are says, "a sudden whiff as of burning eagerly studying the Scriptures in the flesh made me suspicious that the story Malay language, under the tutorship of might ,be true, and a little farther on I a German scholar and hisnativecoadju. saw it was. The body (of a woman I tors. Looking into the faces of those was told) .was lying on a heap of ashes, two men from Dutch New Guinea, of face downward, with the charred re- those converted Bataks from Sumatra, mains of the skull and hands projecting how his heart was moved by the from the end, and fastened to a small thought that the Gospel had brought tree, the feet apparently having been together here in this Christian semfastened to another tree behind. All inary the descendants of cannibals, the flesh on face and arms had been de- east and west, and of savages of all this stroyed, but the body was still burning, Asiatic archipelago I The Bataks on frizzling and spitting in the flames-a the west coast of Sumatra have furhorrible sight, such as I never thought nished 100 missionaries already for the to see in my life." army of our King.
-J. E. Burdett Meakin has told in ISLANDS OF THE SEA. the London Ohri8tian a most remark- able story of the rise and spread of tllC -The seamy side of the work of the kingdom in a portion of Java. Fifty Gospel in Madagascar is seen in the years ago the son of a Russian colonist persistence with which the converts and a Javanese woman was converted still cling to slavery. In particular the by a dream that he was called to evan- English Friends are urgent in seasollj gelize the nations, and forthwith set and out of season to end this" relic of about the task and continued, though barbarism," but hitherto with slight sharp persecution befell. Later the effect. The Malagasy conscience is dull Dutch Reformed Church came to his at this point, and strong feeling is aid, and now a Christian settlement of stirred by exhortations to let the op· 2500 is found with 1000 besides in out- pressed go free. stations, 725 children in school, a kin- dergarten, hospital, etc.
-The Methodists have been at work in Singapore for ten years, and are able -Dr. Schreiber writes thus of the to report substantial progress. Rev. W. success with which the Rhenish So- F. Oldham has a school, with an average ciety is meeting in one portion of the attendance of over 500. In 1880 only Sumatra field: "When we began our 10 natives were connected with the mis· work six years ago in the almost entire· sion, and these were Tamils from South ly Mohammedan district of Padang India; but by the end of the next year Bolak, a Dutch official of high position, 31 adult Chinese were members of the who was friendly to our work, assured church, and now the number has in- us that it was a most foolish step, that creased to more than 200, with the addi-' we could not accomplish anything in tion of 80 Tamils and 30 Malays and the Padang Bolak, we were too late Malay-speaking Chinese. there, since Islam had already occupied the whole region. This was the uni· -The late J. L. Phillips, M.D., versalopinion at that time about work wrote to the Sunday-&lwo~ Timea of a among the Mohammedans in Sumatra.
visit to a seminary for the Dutch and But we did not allow ourselves to be German missions of Malaysia, at Depok, discouraged : the work already done by south of Batavia. Here 40 bright a capable native missionary, Marcus, gave us good ground for hope, and a – -New Guinea has a missionary col- zealous and experienced missionary, lege well started with buildings, stu- Irle, took possession of the field with a dents, etc. W. G. Lawes writes of it : cheerful courage. And what has been .. In aU the work that has been done we the result? Missionary Irle, who works have had the ready help of a number of with a nati ve preacher and /) teachers at natives from the surrounding villages. one central and 4 out·stations, an- Every piece of timber used in our buildnounces in his last report that he has ings has been carried up from the coast baptized 350 persons, and haa no less (two miles) on men's IIhoulders. We than 500 preparing for baptism, among cannot always get help wben we want them a large number of Important chiefs. it ; but the people have been TOry good Earnest requests for teachers are con- and willing. Of course we have had to stantly coming from new districts; even pay them for their services, but the rate formerly fanatical Mohammedans have of wages is not high, and as waist-cloths turned to tbe Gospel; and from several and shirts are most in demand, we thus villages the Mohammedan mollahs have help the people in their efforts to get already retired in confusion because the ell!ternals of civilization. I ought, they see that they have nothing more perhaps, to explain more fully our purto hope; and the impression is becom- pose in establishing the college. The ing general that, over a great part of name may appear mi6leading, and yet the country, Islam is breaking up." it.ls the best for the object we have in view-viz., to train and fit young men -The friendly attitude of many gov- to be _teachers of Christ to their counernment officials toward missionary trymen. Before we receive a candidate, work is a feature of the time. Tho work we must have evidence that he is a sinin New Guinea, whore tho London Mis- cere Christian, and then he must be able sionary Society has no less than 114 na- to read in his o~ language. That is tive teachers and 57 students, has re- all. The minds of the most advanced ceived marked commendation from Sir are only just opening, and the time has William Macgregor, the governor of not yet come when any, except a very the British portion of the island, who select few, will acquire ,knowledge eays, .. Several years' work of the Lon- from books." don Missionary Society has greatly changed the habits of the Lese tribe. A -At the missionary devotional meetbrief glance at the work done by the ing of the Jamaica English Baptist London Missionary Society from Maiva Mil!lBionary Society, attended by memto Carama was considered to reflect the bers of the Baptist, Congregational, greatest credit on Rev. James Chalmers. Moravian. and Presbyterian denomina- Under the firm discipline practised at tions, an addre88 of much spiritual pow- Dobu in the schools and services estab- er was delivered by Rev. D. J. East, lished there very extraordinary progress who has had fifty-seven years of minis- terial service. His reminiscences of has been made. Rev. Mr. Abel is en- misaion work in the West Indies, where he has labored for forty years, were of couragin« some of the young men in his district to form Industrial settle- a atfrring character. He emphasized menta tor the cultf"ation of cotton and such-like commodities. an attempt that the fact that the Baptist churches in duerv" enry enooura,emant the 10"- Jamaica lon, ago became self-llupporternmlnt can give to it." It is only ing, and are now contrlbutin, 8. larie twenty years since the missionaries sum every year tor home and fonilgn landed among these cannibals. and took missionary work. MOlt ot the conpossession of thofr island ill the llama ot JUUI.-TM OlvrUtian. tributora give over a dollar each, thouih they receive lC&uty wage&.
The Missionary Review of the World — August 1895
DAl'GHTER OF A NEW HEBRIDES CHIEF. A CHRISTIAX TEACHER READIXG THE BIBLE
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XVIII. No. S.-Old &rie8.-AUGUST.-VOL. VIII. No. S.-Net.O &rie8.
AN APOCALYPTIC CRISIS IN PAPAL HISTORY.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
The most careful students of the history of that mysterious politico- ecclesiastical power, the papacy, have been compelled to identify it with the apocalyptic mystery of the woman whom John saw sitting upon a scar- let beast,and borne by it-the woman drunken with the blood of the saintE and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus, and declared to be id~ntical with a certain great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth, and which is somehow connected with seven mountains or hills (Rev. 17 : 18).
One may w.ell hesitate to interpret symbols found in the Apocalyp~e, that most brilliantly Oriental of all the poems of the Scriptures, save where, as in this case, God has hung a key close by the lock. We know f~om the Word itself that the woman is supported by the beast-the world power-and that she is the same as a great city which is identified with rule over earthly kings, and has seven hills within its compass. If that woman be not the papal church, supported by the temporal sovereignty, so long controlling even earthly empires, and finding its seai. and centre in . Rome, the seven-hilled city, then we may as well give up all attempts to read history in the light of· prophecy. There is so remarkable a cOnsensus of the most devout commentators and students of God's word that it becomes almost a safe guide to interpretation : that the harlot, as in at least fifty cases elsewhere in the Word of God, describes an apostate or unfaithful body of professed believers, whose doctrine is corrupted and whose practice is perverted. Again, Rome, the new Babylon, is on a river, as were Nineveh and Babylon; and rivers are symbols of commerce, and so of temporal prosperity and a flood of aHluence. Again, there is agreement that this liarlot is a world city, distinguished from the beast or world. power•. The beast is clad with scarlet-colored trappings, which appear to have embroidered upon them certain names full of blasphemy or irreverent assumption, as when men claim Divine honors. The woman's methods are seductive; with an artful policy she seduces nations into obedience, and politi~!ol 4~fQ:rmitiC[l!:l and enormities result. The abominations of the
AN APOCALYPTIC CRISIS IN PAPAL 'HISTORY
earih-unbelief, superstition, sensuaIi1.y. and idolatry-are somehow espe- cially associated with this world city. The shedding of the blood of the witnessing saints is laid to her charge j and one has but to read the story of the Inquisition and the Vaudois Church to understand this. At least 30,000 martyrs belong to Spanish historyalone! A Christian Church, calling herself" mother of all churches, " has poured out and drunk saints' blood as though it were wine. As to the seven mountains, who does not know that Rome is urbs septicalis? If the inspired writer purposely avoided naming the city in order not to provoke heathen hostility, and yet wished to indicate the city to any attentive reader, how could he do it more clearly ~ The Palatine, Quirinal, Aventine, Cllllian, Viminal, Esquiline, and Janiculan hills constitute the sevenfold key to this description. It would seem that, as the writer intimates, the mind which hath wisdom may easily discern beneath "all this metaphor the Divine meaning.
Now, it is also a very remarkable fact that in the Apocalypse a certain marked period of prophetic time is represented under three forms: "Forty and two months" (13. : 5 j 11 : 2) j " twelve hundred and sixty days." as in 11 : 3 and 12 : 6," and a time, times and half a time"-i.e., three and, a half years, as in 12 : 14 j Dan. 7 : 25 j 12 : 7. If we seek a meaning, it cannot be overlooked that each of these terms is the exact equivalent of the other. Three and a half years are forty and two months j and these, at thirty days each-the even month of prophecy-contain 1260 days. , We see no reason for not accepting this as a literal period at the close of the age, and for ourselves so hold it ; yet, as hundreds of prophecies have a double meaning-a larger and less literal and a narrower and ~ore exact-we see no reason why this period may not, as most commentators believe, represent first a period of twelve hundred and sixty years, during which the antichristian systems of the beast and false prophet continue in full sway. Such a period, whether it be reckoned in years or days, repre- sents both in Daniel and the Apocalypse the time during which the world power dominates and the earthly king9.oms usurp the authority properly belonging to the heavenly.
Now, here again some very startling facts confront the devout student who compares prophecy and history, and, without any disposition to sub- stitute ingenuity for ingenuousness, or read into either Scripture or history any biassed interpretation, we cannot close our eyes to a marvellous coin- cidence and correspondence.
The papal power is peculiar in its claim upon temporal sovereignty. With the Roman Catholic faith as a religious creed or polity we are not now concerned, but only with an ecclesiastico-political power known as papal -in other words, with a church borne on the back of a world kingdom. Thl( first great epoch of the papacy extends from the rise of the papal system until the year 720, when Boniface boldly in Germany preached obedience to the Roman bishop. When the Pope's pretensions began to be acknowl- edged is a question now hard to settle. Judging from the sixth canon of the Council of Nice, 325 A.D., no Divine prerogative was then allowed to Rome not conceded also to Alexandria and Antioch. In the fourth century, toward its close, we see Rome coming into a sort of spiritual dictatorship ; when advice and assistance were asked, the replies, at first mild and moderate, soon bec~me arbitrary and mandatory, and this led to concessions and silbmissions from smaller and weaker bodies j and so, by the middle of the fifth century, the sceptre of authority begins to be more boldly claimed by Rome. Leo I., surnamed the Great (440-467), a man of commanding genius an~ eloquence, secured from the Emperor Valentinian III. a law which he is believed himself to have framed, declaring the primacy of the Roman see. Yet even then the Council of Chalcedon in 451 gave the see of Constantinople a second rank, admitting Rome's superiority only because the city on the Tiber was more ancient than that on the Bosphorus: In 484 Felix III. calls himself the Vicar of St. Peter. Gelasius, who succeeded him eight years later, asserted the supremacy of the pontifical over the imperial powers, although a period of great humiliation followed; but Gregory the Great, at the close of the sixth century, had, more than any previous Pope, advanced Rome's ecclesiastical authority.
Yet even this great Pope, whose character ranked so deservedly high, had a controversy with John the Faster, Fatriarch of Constantinople, because he assumed the title of fficumenical, which Gregory interpreted as meaning thereby universal bishop, pronouncing that a " proud and foolish word," and its assumption an imitation of the devil, which proves that Gregory set up no claim to be sole and supreme bishop and head of the Church of Christ. But it was during this time that the ground of Rome's priority and authority was shifted from mere antiquity to the succession from Peter the apostle.
But the decisive point from 'which Rome's temporal sovereignty is to be traced belongs to the days of Gregory's successor, Boniface III., who persuaded that blood-stained monster Phocas, in the year 606 or 607, to issue an edict conferring on him the title of universal bishop. And as Canon Pennington well says, "this concession must be regarded as a landmark in the history of the papacy and as constituting the foundation of its spiritual supremacy." Thus, at the very time when the false prophet was preparing in the cave of Hera his religious " compound of lust, cruelty, and fatalism," the papacy was taking its seat on the beast of the world power and deriving its own authority and power from that beast.
If Phocas thus represents the imperial power whose decree first establish· ed the papacy and laid the way for its world kingdom, we have the terminus a quo, the starting point, and the four years between 606 and 610, the date of his death, seem peculiarly significant. If also the 1260 days be typical of as many years of supremacy, we may expect some peculiar culmination, perhaps catastrophe, at the end ofthis term, from 1866-70, in papal lands, and especially in connection with Rome, the very seat of this world empire: It is to be counted one of the most startling coincidences' of all 'history that precisely such culmination aud catastrophe did occur from 1866-70. Let us, however, first go back a little in the history. In 1846, twenty years before the 1260 years expired, an event occurred that Wl!oS most significant. On June 16th Cardinal Ferretti succeeded Gregory XVI., nnder title of Pius IX. The history of that pontificate is so remark- able that it has been considered worthy of a special record. It was a period ,of revolution. Less than two years after Pius IX assumed the tiara, Count Rossi was murdered and the Pope was fleeing to Gaeta (November 24th, 1848), and a republic was established at Rome under Joseph Mazzini. The French undertook an expedition to Rome to restore the exiled Pope, and after their repulse, under Garibaldi, at length com- pelled the city to surrender, July 3d, 1849, and, under protection of Louis Napoleon,-Pius IX. returned to the Vatican, April, 1850. 'He came back , an absolutist of the worst stamp, prepared for the most aggressive meas- ures and the most arrogant assumptions. He coolly. divided Protestant Britain into Roman Catholic dioceses, gave new life to the Jesuit order, granted indulgences to earthly saints, and canonized saints in heaven. The most astounding of all his acts was the summoning of the Vatican Council on December 10th, 1854, that proclaimed the dogma of the" im- maculate conception." The Virgin Mary's claim to worship was thus rein- forced by affirming that she was not born in sin, needed no mediator, and could therefore be safely associated with Divine honors. This has been justly called the " most violent strain of papal prerogative to be found in the annals of the papacy." For the first time, and with unbounded arro- gance, a Pope added on his own responsibility a,n article of faith which no one could reject without forfeiture of salvation; for Pius IX. called together his bishops not to decree this dogma, hut to promulgate it! Of conrse the implication was that the Pop~ himself was infallible.
Then followed during those memorable years the Austrian invasion of 1859, WIth Louis Napoleon's victory at Magenta and Solferino.. Victor Emmanuel comes to the front, and Count Cavour, and in 1861 the Italian Parliament proclaimed Victor Emmanuel King of free and united Italy. In 1866 he became responsible for the integrity of the Pope's dominions, and the French forces withdrew. Again for a time the French troops occupied Rome, and under shelter of their presence Pius IX. called another Vatican Council on December 8th, 1869. A thousand ecclesiastics in august procession and gorgeous apparel moved up the nave of St. Peter's, with a disgraceful disregard of order and decorum that would have dishon- ored a political caucus; by Jesuitical intrigue and violent measures, on July 18th, 1870, the Roman pontiff was declared possessed of infallibility, and thus the summit of papal arrogance and blasphemy was reached, for there was one who sat' in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. At the time when this result was reached, a thunderstorm was roll- ing over the Vatican as though Heaven itself were remonstrating against
A CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND CONGREGATION
NEW HEBRIDES WOMEN MAKING BASKETS AND SLEEPING MATS FROM SPLIT PANDANUS LEAVES.
YII!8l0NABY WOU IN TRlII mnr ~
the impious assumption of Divine attributes by mortal man. Surely if ever a time had come when we might expect God to say in unmistakable language, as to Belshazzar, "Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting! God hath numbered and finished thy kingdom. Thy kingdo~ is divided and given to others," this was the time.
Let the heedless reader of history note that this was the very year when the 1260 years were complete, from the death of Phocas. And on the very next day, July 19th, 1870, within twenty-jour hours, the Franco- Prussian War was declared. Louis Napoleon, the Pope's protector, being overwhelmed with a defeat, was compelled to withdraw his troops from the Eternal City; and before this memorable year had fled, on September 20th, 1870, the troops of the King of Italy took possession of Rome, and the Pope became prisoner in the Vatican, his temporal sovereignty gone. The 1260 years were just expired. The longest pontificate of history be~ held the shattering of the tempo~al sceptre! Pius IX. had dec~eedthe immaculate conception, exalted the papal supremacy, and declared himself infallible. He had declared temporal sovereignty indispensable to the support of his spiritual sceptre. Yet God chose his own pontificate as the time of the loss of the temporal power, never, as we believe, to be regained. Since then in France clericalism has been declared the foe of the nation, and the papal yoke is broken, as also in Austria and Germany and Central America. With the assertion of infallibility comes the end of papal dominion and usurpation.
Among the abominations traceable to papal Rome are the doctrine of justification by meritorious good works, penance, and purgatory, masse/il for the dead and intercession of saints, the worship of the host and of the Virgin Mary, immaculate conception" and papal infallibility. God seems to have decreed that with the daring assumptions impl~ed in the last two, His forbearance should cease and swift judgment descend. Well may men stand in awe as they behold such signal catastrophes in history!
MISSIONARY WORK IN THE NEW HEBRIlJES.
BY REV. J. H. LAURIE, I;).D., ANEITTUK, NEW HEBRIDES.
The Presbyterian churches in Canada, Scotland, Australia, and New Zealand made themselves responsible for a very difficult task when they undertook to evangelize the New Hebrides group.
From north to south the thirty islands extend over a sea space of about 350 miles, and, instead of having one common language, as in Eastern Polynesia, there are at least twenty languages spoken by the New I{ebridean natives-truly a " Babel" of tongues. Even in that limited area the idolatrous and heathen customs are distinctly different on the northern and southern ends of the group. In the north, hundreds of hideous carved
MISSIONARY WORK IN T1IB NEW HEBRIDES. [AIi~t
idols, standing from four to ten feet high, are to be seen, while in the south the superstitious savages are content with. rude water-worn stones of all shapes and sizes.
Some thousands of years ago the many languages might have been called dialects, but at the present day the only affinity that can be seen is in a few root words, such as the words for " earth," " water," "house," etc., in various forms, running through a few of the languages as at present spoken.
Even the structure of these languages, the one from the other, are distinctly different, so that each new missionary opening a new station has as a rule been obliged to begin exactly where Drs. Geddie, Inglis, and Paton began, getting from the lips of the heathen people among whom they settled, by many comical pointings and signs, as best they could the nouns, verbs, adverbs, etc., until by painstaking labor, aided by their very isolation from civilized surroundings, the Word of God has, to a greater or less extent, been translated into seventeen of these New Hebridean languages.
The real beginning of this great work was the settlement on Aneityum of native teachers from Samoa j but to the Rev.•Tohn Geddie, the Nova Scotian missionary, belongs the credit of having first reduced the langual;e of Aneityum to a written form, the Gospel according to St. Mark, which he translated, being the first complete book published in any language in the western Pacific. The missionaries have all along endeavored to utilize the services of their most intelligent converts as teachers of their brethren. As soon as the back of heathenism was broken on Aneityum Dr. Geddie took charge of the printing-press, while Dr. Inglis established an institution for the training of native teachellB.
Many of these Aneityum helpers sacrificed their lives while assisting to carry the gospel of peace to their heathen brethren on their own and other islands. Now, from many islands in the centre of the group, which were in the densest heathen darkness twenty years ago, numbers of Christian teachers have gone and are now helping to evangelize the more recently occupied islands farther north. In this aggressive work the reverend Messrs. Milne, Mackenzie, Macdonald, Robertson, and others have done noble service in training converts and ~ollowing the example set by the founders of the mission, enlisting their sympathies in foreign service, besides keeping up a necessary staff of village teachers on their own respec· tive islands.
The native teachers at present employed number about 180, mostly married men. These are under the superintendence of 18 resident missionaries, who each work from given centr~s, endeavoring to influence the whole surrounding region by the aid of these willing helpers.
The mission has now reached a stage when a fu/rther development is necessary. The United Synod last year (1894) decided to establish a native teachers' training institution for the group, the students to be drawn from
1895·1
all,the islands, and the instruction to be given in' English, the ultimate ob- ject being to raise an intelligent and educated staff of native pastors and te~chers to occupy outlying stations which can be visited periodically by the missionary superintendent.
The Rev. I. Annand, M.A., South Santo (of the Canadian Church), was appointed principal, to be aided by a lay teacher, who will also help in giv- ing the native students an industrial training. This further effort to establish a native Christian church on a firm basis in the New Hebrides is worthy the fullest support of all the Presbyterian churches interested in the mission.
Many remarkable men have been raised up on all the Christianized islands, and interesting details of these could be given by their respective mISSIOnaries. The force of character manifested by early converts is always striking; it has cost such men something to give up their plurality of wil'es, their enmities, and their unrevenged insults. After enjoying the peace and happiness which the hearty acceptance of the Saviour brings, such men can fully appreciate the light and abhor the darkness in a way that can hardly be understood by their children, who are now having the benefit of an early Christian education, and home example of Bible-reading and prayer.
A few notes of one of the most remarkable of our native teachers on Aneityum, who passed away some time ago, may be interesting; it will also give an idea of the kind of fruit that is being gathered in this far-off portion of the great vineyard. Waihit was the first native convert in Western Polynesia, who left his own island to become a foreign teacher; after a few years' training he went to Futuna, where he suffered many privations that he would never have been called upon to do had he remained at home; but the first step having once been taken, he never even dreamed of turning back or withdrawing his hand from the plough of Christian service until his loving Master saw fit to call him up higher.
, As a savage ,Vaihit was a cruel man, and all the more does the change illustrate the wonderful grace of God. He was believed to be in league with the spirit of Natmas, who controlled the sea-he was supposed to have the power to raise a storm or proclaim a calm. When the fish-trap or the drag-net was used, he was always consulted, and certain leaves that had touched his sacred stone were attached to the trap or the net, so that fish which were caught were accredited to his goodness.
On one occasion a tabu had been set on the fishing ground, so that when the fish came to feed on the coral reef at full tide there might be a great haul for a prospective feast. A poor woman recovering from sickness had gone to seek some shellfish; this act was observed, and, highly incensed that his authority should be set aside by a woman, he with a heavy hard wood club broke the arm that broke his law. Truly the tend~r mercies of the wicked are cruel indeed !
At first Waihit did all he could to annoy the missionary, and stole
August
whatever he could lay hands on. European stores could not be obtailled oftener than once a year in those days; the. flour was going down in the cask, and the baked bread was mysteriously disappearing, so it became imperative that the thief should be detected.
The expedient employed was to sift some coral lime into an empty flour cask and put a few grains of tartar emetic into the next loaf that was baked. The story soon got abroad about the man Wanbeka who had helped himself to the lime, and a messenger with a pitiful look was sent to say that Waihit was vomiting violently. Dr. Geddie visited his friend as quickly as possible; the sickness was soon allayed; the cause, was scarcely referred to, but Waihit became a humbler man afterward, and more honest than he had ever been in his life before.
In conversation one day I asked Waihit what was the first thing that turned him toward God. His reply was that one day he was seen by Dr. Geddie lying on the path drunk with intoxicating liquor that he had got from a white trader. Dr. Geddie met Thetu, Waihit's wife, and told her that her husband was lying on the path like a pig. " That comparison," said he to me, "with an animal that wallows in the mire, was the means of leading me to seek forgiveness from the God whom the missionary had been telling us about." When the change of heart really came, " old things passed away and all things became new" in a true sense.
The various efforts made to evangelize the island were by this time causing a commotion. The women wore a grass girdle, but the men were content with a bark belt and a few leaves in addition to a coat of red ochre and cocoanut oil.
The missionary had said that the natives should get loin cloths from the traders in return for their produce and labor, instead of the continual supply of beads, powder, and tobacco. When this good advice became known it was construed into an order to stop the tobacco supply, which angered the heathen very much.
A general meeting was called; hundreds of volatile savages were there ready for anything. Dr. Geddie wished to attend the meeting on their own ground; but Waihit said, " No! these men wish to raise a quarrel with you, and evil will come of it. You will stay in the house and pray, while I go and meet them and defend' the worship.' The four young men whom·you have taught to read the catechism will go with me."
Thus that small band of babes in Christ, whom we can count on the fingerS of one hand, went fearlessly to face another Amalek and his people.
They carried their banner, which was a small eight-page catechism of Christian doctrine. As soon as this Joshua and his four followers appeared on the scene, the heathen orators began their speeches, and in the usual manner, with violent gesticulations, they charged the missionary with all the evils under the sun, especially the displeasure of the" Natmases," or spirit gods, whom they continually propitiated to avert calamity, disease, and death.
THE MISSION HOCSE. ANEITT)1
2. MOCRNERS AT A NATIVE FCNERAL. 3. NATIVE HCTS IX THE NEW HEBRIDES.
MISSIONARY WORlt IN THE NEW
When the orators sat down exhausted, Waihit was asked what he had to say for the missionary. His youthful companions whispered that they could not open their lips to speak before all the old men. " You have got the Intas Ahothaing" (literally "The Question Book"), "ask me the questions, and I will give the answers before all the people." '
Then these five Christian soldiers stood up and the best reader began: " How many gods are there 1"
Waihit answered in a loud voice, "One only."
" Who is the true God 1"
" Jehovah, He is the true God, and beside Him there is none else."
" What is God 1"
" God is a spirit. He has not got a body like us."
" Does God see us or not 1"
, , Yes, God sees everyone of us."
" Does God hear our words 1"
" Yes, God hears every word we utter."
" Does God know our thoughts 1"
" Yes, God knows all our thoughts."
When they had got thus far, question and answer before the great crowd who had been amazed at the calm composure of W aihit and his com- panions, instead of an excited reply, Tikau, the leading opponent, a fierce- looking man, highly decorated with red paint, shouldered his war club and said to his followers, " Who can answer these words ~ Let us be going j"
and in shorter time than it takes to tell the agile savages were following the leader, everyone to his own home. The faintest rays of gospel light had penetrated these five minds. Yet their simple faith was rewarded in a marvellous manner j it had been given them, according to promise, in that same hour what they should speak-for it was the spirit of their Father who spoke in them.
A favorable impression had been made j a certain awe had been in- stilled into their ignorant minds. As soon as suitable converts had been instructed at the mission station they were sent to the out-districts, and then could have been seen daily what would have gladdened the hearts of all supporters of foreign missions-children, parents, and grandparents sitting side by side learning to read portions of the Word of God in a lan- guage that for the first time had been reduced to writing.
As Waihit's knowledge of the Bible increased he became an excellent preacher, after having served as a teacher on Futuna for a number of years j he returned to his own islimd and was ordained an elder of the Church- the permanent church building having been erected on his own plot of ground, which he gave to the missionary for that purpose. In latter years, although his eyes grew dim, he never failed to take his due share in con- ducting the Sabbath services. When his turn came one of the younger office bearers would read the chapter while the vigorous old man delivered'
the address. On communion Sabbaths it was his special delight to sit on the pulpit steps, so as to be as near the feet of the missionary as possible ; and the crown of blessing, had he been spared to see it, is that his eldest son was last Sabbath taking my place at the central church while I was preaching at a branch station.
Nasauwai, another teacher, was Waihit's bosom companion in the days of heathenism; they had accompanied each other in their tribal raids. Nasauwai cut off his long corded hair, which was the badge of heathenism, whenVaihit became a Christian, and at his suggestion attended the missionary school. After Waihit's death Nasauwai became so depressed in spirit that, eleven months afterward, he too died. He had been an excellent helper in all mission work, and was ever ready to contribute largely with sugar-cane and other native foods to feed the people who came from a distance when mission buildings were being rethatched or repaired.
As long as health continued he was never absent from Sabbath and week-day services. He had a special gift in prayer; and often I felt what a blessing it would be to many a country minister in civilized lands if more ordinary working laymen could express themselves as freely at the weekday prayer-meeting as this convert from heathenism. ·When nearing his end, Nasauwai told me that his heart was at peace witn God because he was" leaning upon Jesus," which is a literal translation of the phrase he used. After a little conversation I prayed, sang" Rock of Ages," and bade my friend good-bye. On the Sabbath morning during divine worship this good old elder died, his only attendant was his faithful wife Nlipia.
When Nasauwai felt his strength ebbing away he asked his wife to read to him a portion of Scripture. She opened her Bible and read in the native language, "Let not your heart be troubled," etc. (John 14). He thanked her, and after a little while turned round and said, " Have you got another portion for me 1" She then searched out and read, "There remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God" (Heb. 4 : 9). Getting stilI weaker, he asked for yet another portion" as a pillow" for a dying man. Then the good woman turned to Psalm 116 : 15 and read, " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."
" That will do," said he ; and this ripe Christian feebly commended himself to God in prayer, and shortly afterward passed away, a redeemed soul.
This woman had a colored skin and frizzly hair, yet was not she truly a ministering angel to her husband in his hour of need g The apt portions of Scripture she selected may be explained from the fact that she is a Christian convert of thirty-two years' standing, and her whole library consists of the hymn collection, the Catechism, the "Pilgrim's Progress," and the Holy Bible.
Had it not been for the prevalence of Christian sentiment, the law of the island would have condemned this woman to"death when her husband died. It would then have been the duty of her son to have strangled his
THE OBLIGATION OF TJIB CHURCH TO IlVANGBLIZK TJIB WOltLn. 3'71
own mother; so that husband and wife might accompany each .other to " Uma-atmas," or the land of spirits.
Who can describe all the untold blessings which the teaching of Jesns has brought to women and girls in every land where Christianity prevails?
Since the advent of the Gospel cannihalism, infanticide, widow strangling, and tribal war has ceased, and a felt sense of peace and security has been bronght to many poor heathen natives in the South Sea Islands, who formerly had no hope, neither had they any idea of the loving character of the true God.
THE PERPETUAL OBLIGATION RESTING ON THE CHURCH TO EVANGELIZE THE WORLD. * BY THE RIGHT REV. G. E. MOULE, BISHOP IN MID-CHINA.
If this subject is not, for all Christians, in the nature of a truism, I confess it seems to me, in a meeting of evangelical churchmen, an all but self-evident proposition. To deserve the denomination of evangelical, not assumed by our great forerunners, but assigned to them by their critics, more. was needed than those critics credited them with, to pronounce accurately a doctrinal shibboleth, or to observe a certain rule of demonstrative unworldliness. It im.plied that the evangelical churchman made much of the duty and the privilege of evangelizing his fellow-men; that he was an earnest, however imperfect, imitator of St. Paul, who regarded the "preaching of the Gospel" as his apostolic function, distinctivelyand pre-eminently. A real evangelical can, therefore, hardly need to be told of the perpetual obligation of the Church, and the individual churchman as far as lies in him, to preach Christ to the nations that know Him not, and so cannot call on the Name of the Lord through Him. My brethren know what their own salvation cost their Lord, they know what it has been worth to themselves, and they cannot but feel that though, like St. Paul, "free from all men," His love has" enslaved them to all that they might win the more," "that they might by all means save some."
Such thoughts, I confess, which occurred to me only after I had -accepted the chairman's invitation to take part in to-day's discussion, made me doubt whether anything I could put on paper would in any degree be worthy of the attention of this meeting. I bethink me, however, that from an old missionary you will not ask for an "Essay on the Philosophy of Missions," however truly so called. You will be rather disposed to accept it if 1 can lay before you, frankly and simply, some of the considerations which constrained me, an evangelical churchman, as I venture, • A Paper read at the Islington Clerical Meeting, January 15th, 18115, aud reprinted from the (/kUTch Mis8Wna1"'l/ Intelltgencer. however unworthily, to write myself, to offer myself long ago as a missionary to China j, which still keep me, and will, I think, keep me a missionary to the last. I have known, among my fellow-laborers, admirable and devoted men who had a confessed preference for foreign travel, foreign residence, and work in a foreign field. It was the very reverse with me. The whole thing was distasteful j expatriation, foreign travel, all were against the grain j and the country toward which my thoughts were directed was exactly the one which, in my ignorance, appeared the least interesting, the least attractive of all the missionary regions. I say this because it has always seemed to justify the conviction that my experience was a fair test of t.he st.rength of the scriptural motive to missionary enterprise, acting on a nature without enthusiasm and the reverse of enterprising. It was not through any real or imagined personal revelation, or conscious spiritual impulse either, that I was led to offer my services j but that I saw; as an inference from New Testament principles, "necessity laid on" the Church to undertake the evangelizing of the nations, and, in my special circumstances, on me to quit country and kindred, and betake me to a land, as it proved, of which I knew nothing at all except its place on the map. Where did I find these principles 1 The texts are familiar to every Christian j but since it has been thought right to place the Church's missionary obligation on the programme of this clerical 'meeting, I shall be pardoned for adducing some of them, and reminding you of the conclusions, however obvious, to be drawn, and which I in fact drew from them more than forty years ago. _ I do not go to the Old Testament-not because the missionary motive is not there, but becausQ the New Testament supplies it so abundantly, and because the two Testaments are in such close and obvious connection, as on other subjects so also on this.
First, then, there is the prediction spoken on Mount Olivet of the fall of Jerusalem and the end of the alwv (age), recorded in its fullest detail by St. Matthew, in whose chapter 24 : 14 we read, " And this Gospel of the kingdom must first be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come." The phrase " preach for a witl).ess" is, 1 suppose, equivalent to the word "testify," used once and again by St. Paul in his charge to the Ephesian presbyters at Miletus (Acts 20 : 21)-" testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ j" and (v. 24), "the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify," to preach as a convincing, saving testimony, "the Gospel of the grace of God." A little earlier than that scene on the Mount of Olives, though the narrative is given in a later chapter, occurred, the supper at Bethany, where the Lord, in His justification of Mary's devotion, anticipates the certain accomplishment of the prediction just quoted (St. Matt. 26 : 13), "Verily, I say unto you, Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, there shall also this, which this woman hath done, be spoken of for a memorial of her." In harmony with the prediction and the anticipation comes a little later (St. Matt. 28 : 19, 20) the solemn injunction of the Lord, not long before His Ascension : "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 commanded -you; and, 10, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." This injunction-St. Matthew is explicit on the subject-was uttered on a Galilean mountain, we know not how many days after the Resurrection. St. Luke, in his Gospel, gives us the report of another and earlier interview with the eleven, not in Galilee, but, as it seems, in the upper chamber on the evening of the Resurreetion. The injunction is just as explicit, though in another form (St. Luke 24 : 46-49 : "Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead on -the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name unto all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things . . . but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high." [St. Mark's account (16 : 14-18) seems to be meant to describe the same occasion.] If we understand rightly the notes of time, the whole interval of the forty days must be inserted between verses 49 and 50-i.e.• between the promise of "power from on high," and the walk to Bethany, to witness the Ascension and receive the parting benediction with its resulting joy. It is in his later and fuller narrative of the Ascension (Acts 1 : 7 sqq.) that St. Luke records a repetition of the evangelical commission, as _well as of the words of promise spoken at the earlier date in the upper room: "Ye shall receive power . . . and ye shall be My witnesses • . . unto the uttermost part of the earth."
Thus we havoC three occasions on which the injunction to preach the Gospel and testify of their Master was laid by Him on His servants; in the upper room on the evening of the Resurrection, on the hill in Galilee probably after the first octave of the great day, and on the Ascension day on the Mount of Olives. In one particular the three events are exactly in accord. The charge of the risen Lord is addressed, on each of the three occasions, and according to each evangelist, to "the eleven disciples," " to the eleven as they sat at meat," or in the Acts, "the apostles whom He had chosen." There is nothing to show that any other Christian, male or female, was present on either occasion. What are we to infer from this 1 Was the charge addressed personally to those eleven men, so that when the last survivor left the scene the obligation to evangelize ceased and came to an end 1 Or was it on the apostolic order, the clergy of the Church, that the command was laid, so that laymen and women were and are exempt from all obligation to give freely the inestimable bounty they, no less than the clergy, have so freely received 1 It is clear at any rate that such was not the view of the early Church, apostolic or sub-apostolic. Else we had never heard of the evangelical work of Stephen and Philip, or of the domestic ministry of Aquila and Priscilla, among the honored laborers of the inspired narrative. No, rather is it not clear that the eleven were convened and were addressed, not personally as eleven believing and ordained men, but as the whole Church by representation, as first recipients of a charge to be regarded as the" deposit" of that holy Catholic Church which is " built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets," a charge to be transmitted laterally to each convert of their age and time, and then, by a true apostolic succession-I mean no slur whatever on the historical succession of the clergy–to every generation of Christians to the end of time ~ The obligation to evangelize the world is proved, I should think, sufficiently from the synoptic evangelists. But, in his own characteristic form, St. John's record of his Master's words corroborates it emphatically. Thus, in the pastoral allegory of chapter 10 we read (v. 16), "Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring C"a"EtVa f'E del dyayElv). And there shall be one flock under one Shepherd." And that He would accomplish this in-bringing not without His Church's aid is intimated in the discourse of the Paschal evening (e.g., St. John 16 : 8 sq., compared with 15: 26, 27), "When" the Comforter "is come He shall convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." "When the Comforter is come, He shall bear witness of Me, and ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with Me from the beginning." If I do not detain you longer within the limits of the writings of the evangelists it is not, you know well, that their evidence respecting the expressed will of their Master, or their understanding of it, has been exhausted. The three great parables of common life-the Sower, the Fisherman, and the Shepherd-might each have been adduced as illustrating, in that special didactic form which is inseparable from our idea of our Lord as teacher, His purpose concerning the waste places of the world-field,. the wandering tribes of the gentile-ocean, the sheep strayed from the ideal fold which should have enclosed and protected all the human family. The field everywhere is to be tilled and sown, the nets flung into all waters and the good fish gathered into vessels, and the lost sheep are to be sought and saved.
Thus far we have been listening wholly to our Master's words. It is His anticipation, His injunction, His allegorical forecast of the future, as reported from His own lips by the evangelists, of which I have been reminding you.
Now, for a few moments, recollect how that typical convert and typical apostle of Christ and missionary of the Church, St. Paul, apprehended the duty to. be inferred from the Gospel record, and not less from the prophetic word of the Old Covenant. Reference to one context must suffice. I quote from the tenth and eleventh chapters of the Epistle to the Romans. ,( The Scripture saith j whosoever believeth on Him shall not be- ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the
THE OBLIliATIOl'! OF THE ClIUROiI TO EVANGBLIZE.THE WORLD. M5
Greek, . . . for whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed W and 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~" The purpose of our Lord that Gentile and Hebrew, on terms of perfect equality, should be partakers of His salvation j that salvation should be gained through the hearing of faith j that there should be men to carry the tidings, and that these should have the mission of the Holy Spirit, ordinarily by the ministry of His Church, were for St. Paul obvious conclusions from the Scriptures of the Old Testament, corroborated no doubt by the evangelical tradition, if not the earlier Gospels, and no less by his own experience as a convert, an inspired volunteer, and finally an ordained missionary of the Church. Following out the argument in the eleventh chapter, which was proceeding in the tenth, we find him anticipating, before the consnmmation of the evangelical purpose, a wide, if not an universal conversion of the Gentiles. " Blindness in part is happened unto Israel until the fulness of the Gentile be come in," until (docs he not mean ~) the" teaching of the nations" has had its due development and accomplishment in a large ingathering of heirs of Abraham by faith, created out of the stones of the Gentile wilderness, "and so," in this way, " all Israel shall be saved. "
I have now brought together scriptural warrant, more than sufficient,· in a meeting of members of our evangelical Church, especially among men who feel constrained to emphasize her evangelical character, to make plain the obligation laid upon the Church of our Lord to evangelize the world. Is that obligation perpetual? Is it binding, so far as we can gather, to the end of time? Or is there any reason to think that it has ceased or will cease at any term before the end 1 To see the apathy with which some churchmen who agree with us in their views of doctrine, and are not ashamed to be known as evangelicals, nevertheless regard the missionary enterprises of the Church, one would think there must be some reason to conclude that toe obligation was temporary, and had ceased at some date. in the past. I have sometimes thought, though never, it is true, met with a case, that such lukewarm friends might have fixed on the ruin of Jerusalem, and the close of the Mosaic dispensation, as the poi~t of limitation. Our Lord's prediction, already quoted, was, "This Gospel of the kingdom must first be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations j and then shall the end come." St. Paul, writing to the Colossians about the year 63 A.D., after, say, a quarter of a century of missionary activity on the part of himself and his brethren, apostolic and unofficial, uses remarkable language concerning the propagation of the Gospel so far accomplished (Col. 1 : 6). "It," he says, "is come to you, as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit as it does also in you j" and, stronger still (v. 23), it "was preached unto every creature which is under heaven. " Our Lord's prediction and His servant's record
M6 THE OBLIGATIOH OJ' THE CH1JBCJH TO lI:vAHGlIILIZill TBJII 'WQBLJ
of fact are couched in nearly identical language. "The world," and the phrase " under heaven," may be interpreted-we have a similar usage in Chinese-as the world of the empire, under the Roman heaven-i.e., Southern Europe, Northern Mrica, and Western Asia. Within those limits we have St. Paul's unexceptionable evidence, the world had been evangelized within, say, forty years after Pentecost. And again in correspondence with our Lord's prediction, in seven years more came the fall of Jerusalem, which marked the" end of the world," the f1VVTEI..Eta TOV alwvos, a signal for the exultation of believers, not at the ruin of the Mosaic Church, but at the final enfranchisement of the Church of the New Covenant.
I have ventured the supposition that the indifference to missionary enterprise on the part of some of our brethren is justified to their own ~on8Ciences by the plea, grounded on what has just been adduced from St. Paul's Epistle to the Colossians, that our Lord's command to the Church was not of perpetual obligation, but ceased and determined with the fall of Jerusalem. I need hardly refute the imaginary argument. Amid the perplexities of prophetic interpretation nothing seems more certain than the principle o~ successive and enlarging fulfilments of the great predictions of the kingdom. A nearer and a remoter (J1JVTEA€ta, with corresponding periods of preparation shorter and longer, can be distinguished in the context of St. Matthew from which I have drawn my principal quotations. The two " ends," the corresponding twofold 7TapOVf1ta, had led to confusion in the minds of some of thc early Christians, notably the Thessalonians. They had heard of an end and an advent to take place during the 'lifetime of the contemporaries of Jesus Christ, and had concluded that this meant the final Advent, the return in the guise of the Ascension. St. Paul, in the second Epistle to the Thessalonians, took pains to correct this; not denying the near approach of an end, with its vengeance and its emancipation, but explaining the interval predestined to allow for the manifestation and development of the man of sin before the great and final judgment. The same twofold teleology can, I think, be seen in the Apocalypse, in which the work of universal evangelization is foreshadowed at a period long subsequent to the end of the Mosaic Church, and the evangelization of the Roman world attested by St. Paul. This is a point, however, which time forbids me to discuss in detail, and which will not need discussion in this assembly, in which there is nobody who does not accept the nineteenth verse of St,. Matt. 28 as the" general order" of the Captain of the Lord's host in the warfare of these Christian centuries, to run until the end, or until it is superseded by some other and equally explicit injunction of the same Divine authority.
So far as Holy Scripture is concerned, I have alleged enough, certainly as much as I have time to allege, in order to establish "the perpetual obligation laid upon the Chureh to evangelize the nations. " A secondary, but not unimportant, corroboration of our argument may be drawn from the hiRtorical phenomena of the successive centuries, and notably of this almost completed century, both within the visible Church and without it.
1. Within the visible Church the most conspicuous phenomenon of the century is the development of the missionary spirit to such an extent tllat it has extorted a degree of respectful attention even from the reluctant pen of the public press. No doubt a certain interest in the spread of the Gospel existed within the Church in the previous centuries. The annals of the S.P.C.K. and of the S.P.G. prove that. But the interest taken by churchmen was on the smallest possible scale, and that of the Nonconformist bodies practically nil, down to the last years of the eighteenth century. Then, as one of the results of the evangelical revival, good men in troublous times laid the modest foundations of the now influential, if still inadeql1ate, organizations-to name some of the best known-of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the missionary societies of the Methodist, Baptist, and independent bodies, and our own honored Church Missionary Society. At whose prompting, and under whose influence, did these great agencies come into being ~ The names of certain founders, supporters, patrons of the societies are known and revered. But a glance at the documents of the time, lately summarized for us with so much skiII and pains, will compel you reverently to conclude that "not by might, nor power, but by the Spirit of God" these agencies, for the extension of the frontiers of the Redeemer's kingdom, were started and have been sustained. Recollect what the century has been. The infidel and lawless principles that found vent in the French Revolution were nol, yet exorcised in its early years. England was again and again in imminent peril, hardly less from disaffection at home than from the hostile attempts of foreign powers. Men's hearts-the very men who were laying the first stones of our missionary enterprise-failed them again and again, for "looking after those things that" seemed from moment to moment to be " coming on" their beloved land. Look through Richard Cecil's sermons or Robert Hall's, and you will feel, I think, that it must have been a very real afflatus that roused and nerved our great forerunners in the Church and the societies, to find heart and leisure so to "look on the things" of Africans, Hindus, Chinese, and the rest, when they knew not how long their beloved England would stand still unconquered, unenslaved, girt with her silver sea.
And what have been the succeeding decades ~ A few words may help to recall their characteristics, and to enhance the grace which sustained the missionary spirit throughout. In domestic politics, the great Reform Bill, Chartism, the Corn Law agitation, factory reforms and their occasion, the Irish question in its unremitting importunity from O'Conllflil to the present moment; one common element conspicuous through all, the steady advance of the democratic principle. In the Church, that religious movement which some have treated as a second spiritual revival, but which signalized itself by the early secession of its great leader to Rome, a step in which he has been imitated by a deplorable number of followers, cleri- cal and lay; side by side with this movement, the introduction of conti- nental principles of biblical criticism and exegesis, with the spread of infidelity disguised as agnosticism; while dissent all the while,-becoming more and more political, has worked for the disestablishment of the Church; and Rome, by open assault or by sap and mine, has labored before all things at the reconquest of England. In foreign politics, the Eastern question with its Crimean War, two Chinese wars, the terrible Mutiny and its momentous sequel, the American War of Secession, and the great wars which have resulted in the reconstruction of the map of Europe, not one of them all unattended with hazard and anxiety for our England. No matter where you look, or whether you think of the commencements or the maintenance and extension of the missionary enterprises, what can you do but confess with Jacob, " Surely the Lord is in this." All honor to Thomas Scott, to the second Henry Venn, to the devoted and able men who stood with them, as well as to those on whom their mantle and their office have devolved in turn ; but the work-they were quite sure of it and avowed it repeatedly-was not theirs but the Lord's, who set in motion, and has kept advancing, the great, the often hopelessseeming, undertaking of evangelizing the heathen and Mohammedan nations. The men I have named promoted the Church Missionary Society; but my contention is illustrated everywhere in the religious world, from the marvellous renewal of youth in the venerable societies of the Church, to the only too numerous organizations of each smallest sect, and of the non-denominational coteries.
I may not detain you with statistical evidence. It is hardly necessary, but it is full of interest, whether you look at financial progress or at the .extent and variety of home organization, or at the number of missionary volunteers, and particularly of such as spend their own money, as well as their lives, in the service of the Church on this behalf. What can all this development mean but the presence of our Lord with His Church, compelling His people, in this selfish and preoccupied age, to recognize our obligation to persevere in the great task until it is accomplished in the world-wide "teaching of the nations," the evangelization of the world 1 2. There is just one more argument of the same kind which I would suggest before I have done. I find it in the opening of the gates of the nations to the approach of the Christian messenger. When Mr. Venn became Secretary of the Church Missionary Society what were the practicable fields for our work 1 New Zealand had been added to Sierra Leone, and also the West Indies and portions of Norihwest America. India, too, was open after a fashion ; but missionaries there were viewed with disfavor, and converts were subject to serious social disabilities. China, Japa.n, Korea, and almost the whole of Mrica were closed, were in large measure unknown. Nay, this was still the case when I received the missionary call. China by that time had, indeed, been compelled to admit us at five of her seaports ; but beyond their immediate precincts her 300,000,000 were as inaccessible to the Gospel as eyer. Meantime, Japan and Korea stood still with gates fast closed. It was in the year in which I reached China that Japan was induced to relax her exclusiveness in some degree. In 1861, when I paid my first and only visit to Japan, there were still but very few resident missionaries, not a single English missionary among them; and there was no perceptible omen of the extraordinaryadaptation of European ideas and material civilization which has transformed Japan. It was still some years before Korea was unlocked. Thus; within not quite forty years, in India, the way has been widened and levelled, notably by the revolution that succeeded the Mutiny, and by the influence of the many distinguished Christians who have adorned the civil and military services, by whose agency that revolution has been carried out; while in China, Korea, Japan, and in Africa, an addition of perhaps 600,000,000 has been made to the human souls who are now accessible to the message of Christ's salvation. Is all this chance, is it a freak of destiny, or is it rather our Lord in His providence confirming His ancient injunction to the Church to go and teach all nations?
I have endeavored to illustrate my appointed theme from Holy Scripture, and, more briefly, from considerations based on recent phenomena, religious and secular. I ventured to speak of the scriptural witness to the missionary obligation of the Church, as tested in my own case, when my aversion for all the conditions of missionary life was overborne, and I was constrained to offer myself to the Lord and His Church for foreign service. I did not mean that the argument from Scripture operated, directly and without a medium, on my conscience. My father and mother, convinced themselves, had accustomed us their children to think of the missionary duty of the Church as an axiom, and to expect that our Lord might honor their house by calling for volunteers among us. We learnt that as an elementary Christian principle, before ever Christ had been revealed with power to any of us. When at length I saw Him, "telling me all that ever I did," and then by degrees relieving the terrors of conviction by holding out the hope of pardon through His blood, it was not long before the reviving soul asked itself, "How can I thank Him f' "Can He possibly make use of me 1" So it came to pass that I cast myself at His feet, ready for whatever He would have me to do. His claim, once recognized, has never been questioned since. For nearly ten years, however, He postponed the requisition, and set me meantime taska at home; till, I confess it, I began to cherish the hope that home, England, might, after all, be my lifelong scene of service. But the pillar moved at last, and He helped me to follow it to China. The obligation on the Church is clear and cogent. The obligation on the individual Christian, to " offer and present" himself a living sacrifice, in unreserved devotion to his Lord, is equally clear. But the field of service at home
5eO LA MISSION DTT1E1tIEUltE, FRANCE
or abroad, and all the details of duty, are for Him to dictate, " the latchet of whose shoes we are not worthy to stoop down and unloose." He will dictate in His own language to the soul whom He has once made " willing to do His will." May I close with this testimony to His faithfulness in this as in all other things, proved to me in a lifelong experience ~ LA MISSION INTERIEURE, FRANCE.
BY J. MURRAY MITCHELL, LL.D., NICE, FRANCE.
The Mission Interieure is an association for the evangelization of the French people. It was founded twenty-three years ago, when France had pallsed through a time of war and bloodshed, by a few Christians who were fully persuaded that the only real means of healing and comforting the suffering people was the making known to them a Redeemer's love. The best way to do this seemed to them to secure the co-operation of Christians in all parts of the country. The aim of the association, which is undenominational and helps all Protestant churches alike, is to arouse in church-members a sense of· their personal responsibility regarding the Lord's work, and to stir them up to assist as far as in them lies the pastor and evangelist. To this end agents are employed who visit the congregations throughout the country, and by means of revival meetings, friendly gatherings, etc., seek to form in these groupes of Christians, who unite together with a view of engaging in work for Christ. Last July there were 152 such groupe&. There is a yearly General Assembly, to which these should each send representatives, when all questions regarding the work are examined and settled. Then there is the Central Committee, also the district and the local committees. The headquarters are at Marseilles.
The agents, after forming the g1'oupes, visit them at intervals, seeking to infuse new life into them, encouraging, directing, etc. They also help in any work carried on by them, and hold evangelistic meetings.
These visits are much appreciated, as the numerous letters of thanks addressed by pastors and others to the Society testify. When the isolated position of many of the congregations in which these groupes are formed is considered, it may easily be understood how these occasional visits serve to encourage and I'ltimulate the members. One pastor writes saying, that after the agent's visit, the number of his hearers was doubled on the following evening, without any special effort whatever being made. He says: "He did us all good. "
The agent in his last monthly letter tells of large meetings in which views from the life of Christ were exhibited. Rain, cold, and the counter attraction of a special performance at the theatre did not prevent the people from coming. "Jesus Ghrist," says the agent, "a remporte la lJictoire /" Interesting meetings on a new plan with a view of attracting infidels, socialists, etc., were carried on in a theatre this summer. The subjects of the addresses, such as " God, Have You Seen Him~" "No God, No Master," were announced by 150 bills which were pasted on the walls of the town, and by the distribution of 10,000 handbills. Fully from 500 to 600 people were present on each of the five evenings, all classes and all conditions being represented. Professors, journalists, workmen, and ladies elbowed each other; a general and his aide·de-camp attended most of the meetings. More than half the throng probably had never heard the Gospel preached before. The addresses could not have been listened to with more attention had they been given in a church. Afterward some said, " We do not share your faith, but we are glad to hear such things j" and on the last evening several thanked one of the workers for the five good evenings they had passed.
The last evening was not looked forward to without some fear, as liberty had been granted to any opponents to bring forward their arguments. But God, to whom all the enterprise had been committed, disappointed all fears. Mter the address on "All Religions are Good," which was loudly applauded, not one voice was raised in opposition.
A groupe has been formed in one place among soldiers with cheering results.
The forming of Young Women's Christian Associations, prayer-meetings among ladies, weekly meetings for mutual edification, the conversion of several hesitating ones, are named as being some of the fruits of the agent's visits.
A chief feature of the Society's work is the publishing of a paper, the Relevement, up to 15,500 copies monthly. It is sold at a loss (5 centimes) to further the circulation. Many members of the various groupes make the distribution of this paper a special work; and many are the testimonies received as to the good done by it, in opening and preparing people's minds to receive the Gospel. Several conversions, too, have been traced to the reading of it. One worker tells of the great assistance he received from this paper when called to labor under the Societe Evangelique, of Geneva, in a department of the Basses Alpes, where fanaticism and infidelity reigned, and there was not a single pastor. He felt very isolated, but the Relevement, he says, "was just what I needed," and 500 to 600 was the number sold or distributed monthly. One gentleman said to him: "Since your last visit we have lost a dear child, and we should not have known what to do had it not been for your paper, which was so well fitted to console Uil."
The mission is carried on at small expense, but each month of course a certain sum is needed for the publishing and carriage of the two monthly papers, as also for the agents' salltries and expenses (700 francs per month for the former, 2000 every quarter for the latter). Only two agents can as yet be employed, and one of these has been laid aside for a long
THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE WORK IN JAPAN
time owing to an accident. Many more are really necessary to do the work thoroughly, the visits pa.id to the groupes at present being possible only at rare intervals.
The mission is conducted on the "faith principle." It employs no collectors and has no collections, only making its work known to the public by the agents' addresses and a little monthly paper bearing the Association's name, Mission Interieure. A branch of this mission, following a different manner of working, has left this principle, and sends out agents for collecting purposes to England, etc. This is known as Branche de la Mission Interieure, but it is quite distinct from the Mission Interieure itself.
Some months ago the directors of the Society were anxious in regard to their funds, but in the report just issued (December, 1894) they mention, with devout thankfulness, that all their fears have been disappointed. Friends in various parts of France have generously come to their aid, and the Society is burdened with no debt.
As has been mentioned, 152 groupes have been already formed among the 800 Protestant churches of France. To stir up the members composing these congregations to realize their duty, and to stir up all who are the redeemed of Jesus Christ to consider that there are but twelve hours in the day, when "~he night cometh, and no man can work," so that they may be up and doing without delay-this is the object of the Society, as expressed by a devoted agent, appealing for further aid after giving some experiences of his work.
The Central Committee is composed of pastors belonging to various churches. M. Ie pasteur Houtet, 7 Rue Dragon, Marseilles, is President; M. Ie pasteur Lenoir, director of the McAll Mission, is Vice-President; M. Ie pasteur F. Roux is travelling agent.
* THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE WORK IN J APAN.
BY REV. J. P. MOORE, D.D., SENDAI, JAPAN.
In speaking of the present condition of the work, the first question that naturally arises is, Is there an improvement upon the past, say the past year or two 1 And if so, in what respect 1 The general opinion of the missionaries already referred to, and that of some native workers with whom I have spoken on the subject, is that there is a decided improve- • I feel less hesitancy In giving expression to the views contained in thl.i article, since they are not simply nor principally my own views, as having grown out of my own experiences and observations in the part of the country which is principally the field of operations of the mission to which I beloug. The statements here made are in a large part a summary of the views and opinions of a number of the most experienced and prominent missionaries in all parts of Japan, with whom I have been In correspondence, and an expression of whose views I have thus been enabled to obtain on the subject of "The Present Condition of the Work In Japan." ment as compared with only the last year, and my own opinion fully coincides with theirs.
This improvement has reference, first, to the external circumstances or conditions-the setting, so to speak, of the work. The last year, especially the last six months, have witnessed a more friendly feeling toward the workers and their work, on the part of the Japanese public. The attitude of non-Christians seems to be less hostile than before, and in the War Department, which used to be regarded as the least friendly among all the departments of the government, there seems to be an entire change, as judging from the encouragement and favor that is accorded to Christian workers among the soldiers.
" A more receptive attitude on the part of those outside." "The outside opposition is not so waspish, and the numher who listen to the truth has increased." "The people are more willing to listen, and have greater interest in investigating the trnth." Such are the expressions from the lips of some of the most experienced and successful men laboring in all parts of the empire.
As an evidence of this more friendly feeling and greater confidence, reference must especially be made to the work done in behalf of the soldiers in hospitals and barracks, and that not alone with .the full consent of the officials in charge, but with their encouragement and approval as well. The work done at Hiroshima in the interest of the sick and wounded in the hospitals, and those in the barracks awaiting transportation to the front; the permission granted the Rev. H. Loomis, agent of the American Bible Society, by the War Department, to distribute Bibles to the officers and men in all the different barracks of Japan; and more recently the permission received· from the authorities to send Christian chaplains to the front, is a thing so surprising and remarkable, that it may be said to form an epoch in the history of missions in Japan.
It is a known fact that previous to the war Christian soldiers had rather a hard time of it; that they were hindered from attending to the performance of their religious duties ; not allowed, in some cases at least, to read the Bible and religious books in their quarters, and were considerably persecuted. But now this intense prejudice has given way so far that workers, both native and foreign, are encouraged to furnish Christian literature, and to teach the religion of Christ openly to the rank and file of the army. Why this so great a change of sentiment q Due, it is said, to the admirable conduct of the Christian soldiers both in the army and navy. Their moral conduct, their faithfulness, their fearlessness in battle is marked, and has won for them and their religion the good-will of their superiors.
The Rev. M. Oshikawa, of Sendai, on a visit to a neighboring province, addressed an audience composed entirely of officials, educators, and other prominent and representative men on the subject of Christian education. More recently the same gentleman, as the President of the Kaigwai Kyoiku-kwai, a society organized by native Christians for the purpose of engaging in educational work in Korea, addressed a large audience of representative men of the city of Sendai, including the governor and vicegovernor, on the importance of the society's work; and in this work he and the society of which he is the honored president receive the earnest support of not only the local officials, but of ministers of State a,; well.
This improvement has reference, second, to a healthier condition and a more earnest and settled spirit on the part of the churches themselves. This comes very prominently to view in the correspondence already referred to. From all over the country-from the Hokkaido in the north, and from Kiushu in the extreme south-comes the cheering news that the churches are better organized for work, are in a better spiritual condition, that there are clearer conceptions of the Christian life, that the faith of preachers and people iR more intelligent and stable. And this, in spite of the fact that the wave of rationalism which swept over the country several years ago, and which carried several well-known native pastors into the unorthodox camp, has not yet fully snbsided, but is still exercising its baneful influence over the minds of many young men who come within the sphere of the influence of several prominent Christian leaders who are known to hold and to preach rationalistic doctrines.
The present political situation seems to have itR good influence upon the Christians. They regard the present as a very important time to engage in more aggressive work. They seem to be imbued with the idea that the set time to favor Japan has come, and to be moved with a desire to do their utmost to make the most of the present circumstances for the furtherance of the Redeemer's kingdom in Japan; and this to me is one of the most hopeful features of the work at the present time. As the secretary of our Mission Evangelistic Committee, I read and tabulate the monthly reports sent in by some sixteen evangelists and pastors working in twenty-two different places, in five of the provinces of the empire. At the beginning of the year, in connection with the usual reports, they expressed an opinion as to the present situation, the importance of the times, and the necessity and the duty of earnest work during the year before us.
They were of one mind in saying that the present is the most important time, because of the ontward conditions at hand; and many of them seem to have caught something of the same spirit that is shown by the civil and military authorities in the prosecution of the present war. May we not confidently expect and believe that this spirit of earnestness, if continued, as we pray it will, on the part of the Japanese pastors and workers of all grades, will result in great advancement along the whole line of the work, and will usher in a new and better era of Christian work in this island empire of Japan ~ In the next place, then, what are the assignable reasons for this favorable change, both in the external circumstances and the improved spiritual condition of the churches 1 Of course the war between China and Japan, the growth of the national prestige, because of the splendid successes of the Japanese forces on land and sea, together with the revision of the treaties, is, for the most part, the reason of the more favorable external conditions. By the treaties, as recently revised between Japan and several of the leading nations of the West, Japan is admitted into the family of civilized nations, thereby realizing her long-entertained ambition, and receiving the just recognition to her rightful position among the nations of the earth. The Japanese are putting forth their best efforts in the present war to conduct it on the principles of humanity, and according to the rules and usages of civilized warfare, and that this effort is seen and appreciated by the outside world makes them feel more kindly toward outsiders, and then also toward that which they represent; for with the masses Christianity is associated with the people of the West, and anything that conciliates them toward Western people conciliates them measurably towarrl our religion.
In connection with the war it is in place to speak of the Red Cross Society. This association is not only doing, directly, a good work in helping to alleviate suffering and aiding distress among the sick and wounded, but, indirectly, by recommending our religion to the people. The immense popularity of this association, the fact that it is generally acknowledged to be of Christian origin, that anumber of the foreign missionaries are active in it, has served, as I believe, to remove some of the prejudice with which we have to contend.
In accordance as the scales of prejudice are falling from off the eyes of men, will they be enabled to see the good there is in Christianity in its influence upon the individual, national, and social life of the people. It seems as if that time has come-that it is beginning to be understood that a man can be a true Christian and at the same time a true Japanese. If this latter fact is once thoroughly established, one of the strongest arguments now used against Christianity by its enemies will have been removed.
It is true that Christianity has been for some time if not the only, at least by far the greatest power working for righteousness in Japan. Christian ideas, Christian principles are affecting life from centre to circumference, yet the people hitherto have been unwilling to acknowledge it. But the growing and accumulated influence of the religion of Christ is such that it becomes harder to cover over this truth, to bury it under prejudice, or to smother it by opposition.
The Christians of Japan stand identified with the burning questions of the day. In relief and charity work they are often the leaders. In earthquake disasters, in the hospitals among the sick and wounded, and by the bedside of the dying they show the kindly helping hand. They have founded orphan asylums; they organize charity and benevolent schemes by which to succor the poor and the needy, to relieve the sick and the
MISSIONARY THEOLOGICAL SCHOOLS IN INDIA
infirm; and in this way they are teaching, by example, that Christianity is a saving, helping religion, and all these things are gaining for it its just recognition.
What, then, is the outlook 1 On this there is a variety of opinion. Some are looking forward to great gains in the near future, others have no ground for such hope. It is believed that some time will be required to recover from the serious setback the work has received during the last five years. It is also known that the opposition of the Buddhist has never been more determined than it is now-that there is an immense amount of indifference in regard to religion in general, and the Christian in particular; so that the idea once entertained that Japan will be born a Christian nation in a few years is pretty generally abandoned.
But that the outlook is hopeful, more so than for the last three or four years, is generally acknowledged, since all the facts in the case go to show it. This should greatly encourage the workers on the field, leading them to still greater effort, and stimulate the churches of the West to meet all demands of men and money required by the present improved condition of Christian work in Japan.
MISSIONARY THEOLOGICAL SCHOOLS IN INDIA.
BY REV. T. J. SCOTT, D.D., BAREILLY, INDIA.
At the great decennial missionary conference held in Bombay in December, 1892, the education of the native ministry was a burning question. The heads of a number of theological schools were present.. These held a special meeting and planned to get more completely in touch by correspondence and interchange of reports. This plan brought together the material from which this paper is made up, with a view to let the friends of missions in India see what is being done for the training of an indigenous ministry for India. We all feel that such a ministry alone under God can evangelize the country.
There are twenty-eight theological schools in the Protestant mission of India, of various grades. The oldest of these was planned fifty years ago, but most of them are but more recently organized. Some of them attempt a very thorough course of study, while some are more elementary in character. The number of students in all is not large, being only about three hundred and fifty by the latest figures. American missions take the lead in this work, in keeping with the fact that America is the land of theological seminaries. In the main, the traditional three years' course of study is adhered to. Great stress is bid on the study of the Bible, with the study of the Hebrew and Greek text in some schools. As these institutions are in the midst of a people whom the missions are seeking to evangelize, naturally enough work and study are well combined, and the students have constant practical training in evangelistic work. As might be expected, much less is made of the polemics of the West, where for centuries bitter wars of theology were waged. Here in India the conflict is with Hinduism and Islam, and with certain new sects and reforms that have sprung up among these seeking to head' off Christianity from the conquest of the country. Of course in maintaining the commonly received orthodoxy of the West, the so-called heresies are noticed, that our people may not fall into them, but it seems quite certain that we will not have to fight over many of those battles here. Our conflict is with other faiths. All seem to recognize the importance of keeping close to the Bible as the great text·book of theology. In order to guard the best interpretation of the book, it is felt that the foreign missionary must for some time be largely entrusted with the teaching of the seminary. The native mind is acute, and in time fine teachers will be raised up, but for a while there may be some danger from the bias of Eastern systems. When the native mind is thoronghly indoctrinated, less of the work of these seminaries will depend on foreigners. Meantime it is felt by many that we must be on our guard, as intimated, about importing theological disquisitions that in other days shook the Christendom of the West.
A peculiarity of these seminaries is the association with them, sometimes, of the normal school. Almost all missions make use of secular education as an aid to their work. In this they repeat the practice of the monks and evangelists who Christianized Europe. The secular teacher can be a lay evangelist, and is often a pastor teacher. In associating the normal school with the seminary the teachers catch something of the spirit of the preachers. They can study methods of work in the same classes; the normal class can be used for brightening up some preachers in secular studies, and in some cases is the preparatory school for the seminary.
Another peculiarity of these seminaries is the large proportion c', married men in them. The natives of the country marry early, and hence if they get a theological education at all, accommodation must be given to them as married men. This brings women within reach of the seminary, and in some institutions they are found pursuing the same course with their husbands; in others they have their own normal or biblical course to fit them to be co-workers with their husbands. Thus the fact of the students being married gives enlarged opportunity of training workers for the field. The importance of women in the work is very great. Women only can reach women in a country with such a social organization as most parts of India present. Many women are secluded from public life, and can only be reached in the seclusion of home and by women. The trained wife-evangelist is thus the needed complement of her husband. In one seminary at least the kindergarten is an appendage of the theological seminary, since it is attached to the women's school. The women cannot leave their little children at home while they are at their books, but they can be taken care of in the kindergarten of a side room, and the future
TWO FRENCH ANARCHISTS AND THE GOSPEL
professors and clergymen and their wives are thus early started on their career at the same institution with their parents.
Something is made of singing and music in all these seminaries. An attempt is made to utilIze native airs, and to make use of the comnion musical instruments of the country. In no country is the power of song felt more than in India. Singing is a common accompaniment of preaching in the bazar and village. A good collection of hymns may now be found in many Indian languages, and a part of the seminary training is drill in the use of these.
All mission boards should see to it that the most possible be made of their schools for training native pastors and evangelists. The great human need is endowment. Most of these schools are struggling along with almost no endowment, if any at all. A very few of them have perhaps fifty or sixty thousand dollars invested in aid of the work, and yet princely sums are being lavished on such schools in America. It seems so hard to arrest the attention of our noble givers to anything on the opposite side of the globe. The flag indexing the benevolence of the giver must float in sight of himself and friends, and yet Jesus and the angels can see it in the opposite hemisphere. We do not need great sums. A $50,000 gift would put many of these schools on their feet for a noble career, and this small sum might be given by many who are looking about for an object.
One special need of a fund in the Indian schools of the prophets is in aid of students. In most cases on entering such a school the student has left any means of support he had. As a convert, perhaps he has lost his all, and becomes dependent while pursuing his studies. As this is a country of very early marriages, in many cases he is a married man, and this makes the problem off supporting himself during his course of study more difficult. Hence in these schools, scholarships are given that would seem very small in America. The student will be content, as single or married, on from two to four dollars a month. The great revival of this age is said to be a revival of giving. If a small end of the wave, flowing to India, would strike these twenty-eight theological seminaries, it would give an impetus to the evangelization of the country possible in no other way.
TWO FRENOH ANAROHISTS AND THE GOSPEL.
BY PROFESSOR J. L. BERTRAND, PARIS, FRANCE.
Some time ago, when I was giving a religious lecture in the south of France, a man exclaimed, "Lecturer, you do not believe what you say, for you know that the Ohurch is the mother of iniquities, and religion the art of making fools of ourselves." Ten people shouted back, " Tricot, va a la lutte /" (" Tricot, to the struggle !") Three or four years later I received a letter, signed Tricot. The writer related that he was formerly the editor of The Struggle (La Lutte). At once I remembered the man and the newspaper. Tricot was the most violent writer and lecturer that we were afflicted with. Once, on the tombs of the victims of a mine, near St. Etienne, he advised all workpeople to gather during night, in order to burn all the houses of the rich and to murder their proprietors. For that he was condemned to two years' imprisonment, after which he edited another paper called The International -more violent still than The Struggle.
One day a compagnon said to him, "Tricot, if we had men as devoted as the disciples of that. man, Jesus Christ, they would go throughout France, preach our Gospel to workpeople, and, ten years after, the whole nation would be converted to what we prudently call' Revolutionary Socialism,' though we mean the overthrow of society. But the disciples of Christ have for their motto, 'Love thy neighbor as thyself,' while ours is 'Charity begins and ends at home;' with such a principle we cannot succeed. " " But," shouted Tricot, "that is not my principle, and I will prove it."
The next day he bought an old omnibus, an old horse, put his wife and children in the omnibus, left his paper and his town. He had resolved to go throughout the whole of France, lecturing from place to place, and selling revolutionary pamphlets.
At St. Jean-du-Gard he received a letter from a lady, saying, "M" Tricot, I want very much to see you to-morrow; meanwhile read first this letter, and then this extraordinary pamphlet, called' The Sermon on the Mount. ' I also am a socialist. I also deplore the sight of Lazarus by the side of the cruel rich man-the poor never thinking of justice, but hating the rich and coveting their riches. Believe me, you will not conciliate the two parties, nor subvert the rich with powder, dynamite, or knife, but with love for the rich, and for the poor. Our motto ought to be that of the author of the ' Sermon on the Mount,' Love thy neighbor as thyself."
Tricot read her letter and was astounded, for that lady knew more than himself about socialism. Then he read the famous pamphlet. At every verse he stopped to say, " Whoever wrote such glorious sentences? I never read anything as sublime as that. . . ."
His reading was interrupted by the visit of a compagnon who said, " Ah ! Tricot, I am in great trouble, and I come for advice. My daughter is ready to pass her examination at the Medical Faculty, but I must pay the 200 francs, and I cannot find them." "Why!" replied Tricot, "you a socialist, and you cannot find 200 francs among all your compagnons! Go to Cette, speak to the Municipal Counsellors, who are all socialists, and they will lend you 400 francs if you like."
The man returned to say: "'Would you believe that I saw every counsellor, and that everyone and all sent me away as a beggar who could never pay them back? Their principle is: 'Charity begins and ends at home.'" "So," replied Tricot, "you and I have learned what our compafl1Wns are. Did you n!>t tell me that you were born a Protestant 1" "Yes, but that means nothing, for I am an atheist." "Never mind, go and see your pastor." "My pastor! but I hate him, and my wife insulted him last week." "So much the better. I have been told that your pastor reads at church a part of this 'The Sermon on the Mount. ' If he really reads it and believes what he reads, go to him and he will help you in spite of you and your wife. . . . No, no, that is not the spirit of 'The Sermon on the Mount;' he will help you more surely because you hate him and because your wife insulted him. He belongs to a very peculiar branch of socialists."
The man went to Pastor Benoist, of Cette, who ran to the Dean of the Faculty to tell him. "That father is certainly the worst French Protestant and the worst of our citizens; his wife is certainly worse than her husband. But they have a daughter; you, I, and my good people must save her, because her parents are too bad for her."
When Tricot heard that the money was found, and that the girl had pa3Sed successfully, he read again and again the pamphlet, "Sermon on the Mount," and at last shouted, " No, the author of that book is not a man, He must be God Himself! I believe in the author of 'The Sermon on the Mount.' Christ of Calvary, I have been told that Thou art the Author, I believe in Thee."
The next day Tricot burned all his brochures on soci~lism and anarchy, bought a great many copies of the new pamphlet, " Sermon on the Mount," and said, "Wife, I mean hereafter to lecture on that book only. Let us travel as before."
Tricot is now an agent of the Societe E'lJangelique de Geneve. A contributor to the Re1Iue des J)eux J.l£ondes and I crossed the flower market of the Madeleine, Paris, when we met the wife of a pastor whose daughter was dying of consumption. Hoping that a bouquet of white lilac would please the girl, I bought one and gave it to the mother. A workman very neatly dressed crossed the Boulevard and said: "If you please, M. Bertrand, allow me to bring the bouquet to the lady'S house." Thinking that he was a porter, I did not answer. My friend said to me : " Observe that he call!! you by your name. " I turned and asked the man how he knew me. " You remember," said he, "your giving lectures at the Salle Ornano. At that time I was the greatest drunkard of that district and an incorrigible gambler. One cold evening, being penniless, I strolled along the Boulevard, when I heard people singing in the hall. I tried to see through the curtains, when a neighbor said: 'Halloo, Jacques! what are you doing hero l' • Nothing j I am penniless, and cannot go to the bar l' Esperance. Is thil! place a dancing-room l' 'No, it is a salle de conftrences.' , Conferences! What is that? ' , Come in, and you will know.' " I went in to hear you speak on the joys of the family. After fifteen minutes I had enough of you, and went away murmuring: 'That speaker is evidently an old priest or an old bachelor i he never had a wife or children. Well, I know the joys of the family better than he does. I take daily one single meal with my worst half, leave immediately after, return as late as I can, leave in the morning as early as I can, and we find plenty of time for quarrelling. She unceasingly complains that I do not give her money for the children j so much the worse for her and the children. She pretends that I drink and gamble too much j so much the better for me. I patch .my clothes, and wash my linen when I can and as I can, because she refuses to help me as long as I do nothing for her. I am the poorest of all poor, with only one shirt j and when I wash it, with no shirt. I cut the top of my socks, sewed them on the top of my boots, to make my compauions believe that I wear socks, but I have indeed no socks. When I leave the house the policeman threatens me because my boys are mischievous. Well, I suppose that is because they receive more boxes on the ear than pieces of bread-these are the joys of the family, and the beauty of present society.'
" A fortnight after, penniless again, I met on the same boulevard my neighbor, who said: 'Why did you leave the conference so quickly ~ , , Because I could no longer listen to the trash of that old priest.' 'He is not a priest, but a layman.' , Well, he has no wife and children, or he would not be as ignorant as he is.' 'He has a wife and children.' , Never mind, he knows nothing about the joys of the family.' ' Well, what can you do this cold evening ~ Come in again, warm yourself, do not listen to the speaker, and when the meeting is over, we will go home together.'
" I went in and you spoke on the workman. 'Workmen,' you said, , my father had one hundred of you. I was somewhat educated on your knees, and therefore I know you. If you belong to such a class of workmen, you gain so much a day, you spend so much for your breakfast, so much for your lunch and dinner, so much a day for your room.' When I heard you say that I murmured, 'That fellow is not a priest, but he is a Jesuit, for he knows everything we do.' But you went on : 'Now, my friends, subtract what you spend from what you gain, and do not tell me, because I know it, what you do with the rest. You go to l' Esperance to drink and drink, gamble and gamble. I cannot convert you j God alone can do it. Every Saturday evening you go to your boss for your weekly pay, which you honestly deserve. I have been working a whole year for you, and this evening I ask you to pay me in this way. To-morrow evening, ati l'Esperance, look not in the first glass, for there may be nothing, but in your last glass, and you will be quite surprised to see your health and the health of your family, on which I spoke three weeks ago j your happiness and the happiness of your family, on which I spoke two weeks ago. Then look at the bottom of the glass, and you will see your soul and the souls of your dear ones swimming and swimming toward eternal damnation, on which I spoke last week. I have served you faithfully for a whole year j if you do not pay me in that easy way, then I will think that each of you is far more unjust than anyone of your bosses.' . . . When I heard this I got up, and with rage slammed violently the door, shouting, 'That speaker is a horrid man!' On my way I said to myself, 'Who is he 1 Who are those 400 fools who patiently listen to him ~ What is his aim ~ What does he mean when he says, " Workmen, show me a workman who reads the Gospel with his wife and children 365 times « year, and I promise you to bring here a happy family?" The Gospel is probably a book. Why should I read it 365 times, and not 368 or 350 times? Read it with my wife 365 times j • • • surely that would be no joy for me.'
" However, when I reached my miserable home I said: 'Wife, you must come and hear that man.' 'What man ~' 'A priest without a cassock.' ' My poor drunkard!' said my wife, and left me.
"On the next day I went to l'Esperance, drank, gambled, and lost. I was going to take my last glass, when I remembered your words. , Ah !' said I, 'there is the famous last glass. Oh, ho ! it contains a great many things. My health, the health of my bad wife and of my bad children, my happiness and their happiness, my soul and their souls. . . . What is a soul? Have I a soul ~ I am surely not superstitious, for I am a free-thinker, an atheist, a socialist j ••• no, I am an anarchist, and ready to blowout the brains of my boss, if I ever meet him away from a policeman or a witness. However, that glass contains too many things. I cannot drink. '
" On the next day I said, 'That horrid man made me lose a glass of wine j if I go to the bar this morning I am sure to lose another. It is better to wait.' On the third day God laid hold of me. He placed the glass on my way, on my tools, on my table-everywhere. The Saturday evening came, and not knowing what to do with my money, I said, ' Wife, here is money for you and your children. '
" My wife, who had anxiously followed the struggle during the week, came close to me with tears in her eyes and exclaimed, ' I want to see your priest without a cassock and hear his conference.' We went to hear your address on ' Christ, the Friend of the Workman.' Since then you have left, but we go every week to the same hall to hear Pastor Bersier.
" Now, if you want to have a proof of the Gospel's power, and if you pass one evening in such a street and before such a number, come up, and you will see two nicely furnished rooms, while formerly all had gone to bombard house j you will see the father, the mother and children round a table, they read the Gospel together 365 times a year. Those children receive now more" pieces of bread than boxes on the ears. That wife is the very best of all French wives j she does everything possible to please me. I do no longer patch my clothes, I have socks and even gloves, and in spite of all those expenses we have some money at the savings-bank.
" If I could deliver lectures or sermons, I would go from factory to
GLEANINGS FROM THE EAl'TIST ANNIVlIIllISARIES
factory and prove to workmen that the Gospel is not only the guide to heaven, but also to happiness and prosperity in this world, because it is the most practical of all books on social economy. Rich and poor, will you have a good wife, good children, good neighbors 1 read the Gospel with them 365 times a year. Will you have a peaceful, prosperous, and glorious France? give the Gospel to every Frenchman, the Gospel to every French family, the Gospel to every French priest, and let them read it 365 times a year."-Missions of the World.
GLEANINGS FROM THE BAPTIST ANNIVERSARIES.
THE EIGHTEENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WOMAN'S BAP'1'IST HOME MIS- SION SOCIETY constituted the prelude to the anniversaries of the great mis- sionary and publication societies of the Baptist Church, held in Saratoga, N. Y., May 27th to June 1st, 1895.
THE HEATHEN AT HOME was the theme of an address by Mrs. Wil- liam M. Isaacs, of New York. After eulogizing woman in all ages, she said: " Christian women in the close of the nineteenth century occupy a posi- tion unique and unparalleled in history. Noble women have lived in all ages. Patriotism and martyrdom have not been confined to the stronger and sterner sex. It is the divine right of women to train children, to de- velop the first appearing thought in the human mind. Among the dangers which menace our country are the Sunday newspaper, pernicious literature, the unspeakable abominations placed on the stage, and none more alarming than the great influx of immigration. In 1894 there landed in America 25,513 immigrants who could neither read nor write. Many are totally unfit to become citizens of this country, and a ready imagination could easily picture their future."
Mrs. Crouse discussed in her annual address, THE AVOCATION AND THE POSITION OF WOMAN. She traced the gradual emancipation of woman until four ways of livelihood were open to her-housework, dressmaking, school-teaching, and marriage. She told of the prejudice that had to be dispelled before women were allowed to teach school. We hear a great deal about the coming woman, the advanced woman, and the new woman. But God has ordained for woman the higher and more ennobling duties of motherhood and the household, and her highest attainment comes in this manner. The Woman's Baptist Home Mission Society is now of age, and has never found it necessary to contract a dollar of debt.
The following are the nationalities among whom work is being carried on, and the number of missionaries maintained for each by the Woman's Board: Americans, white (frontier), 11; Asiatics (Chinese), 4; Germans, 18; Jew, 1 ; Danes and, Norwegians, Swedes, 15; Indian and Oklahoma Territories, 13 ; Mexicans, 7 ; Negroes, 42 ; detailed for special service, 3, Total, 114. Eighty-first Anniversary of the Missionary Union. -President Augustus H. Strong made the annual address from Psalm 90 : 10 : " The days of our years are threescore years and ten."
The greater part of Dr. Strong's address was upon the Holy Spirit as the one and only power in missions. He said: "The Holy Spirit is a person, not a thing. He is coequal with the Father and the Son. In the Holy Spirit we have the Divine and incarnate Christ. Christ could not have been in two places at once. He could not have spoken to Paul at Galilee and John in Jerusalem, but through the Holy Spirit He is enabled to be present with the little band of worshippers at Swatow and at the saIlle time be in Saratoga..
" The Boly Spirit should be recognized as a leavening power in society. There are times when great public questions are settled, when slaves are freed, when there is a mighty revival of religion. In these instances the Holy Spirit reveals His power. The ordinary methods of the Holy Spirit are quiet, but it is capable of exerting tremendous power, as at Pentecost. There are times when the air is so still that we almost forget its existence, yet it has the power to prostrate buildings, lofty trees and carry them miles. Is not the Holy Spirit for missions ~ He is God Himself €llgaged in the mighty work. It is the power whereby prayers made in this country produce an effect in China. To seek for results in missions, without regard to the Holy Spirit, is not a due recognition of the source of power."
The annual report of the society, a document of 228 pages, was generally distributed, and may be had on application.
During the year there were received, from all sources, $661,255.68, decreasing the debt of $200,000 of the year before by $13,e39.08. Remaining debt, April 1st, 1895, ~189,956.82.
The following are the statistics of the Missionary Union: Br d Sunday· . MI3eIONS TO THE HEATHEN. Preachers Churches. l'naPl819z4e Members. School Contrlbu· . Scholars. tions.
—-,—————– ———– Bnrma…………………….. . 632 613 2,318 33,636 10,391 $40,675.28 A!sam……………………… . 2,3'%7 1,058.33 Telugu…. "" …………….. .. 34 35 523 3,721 : China …………………….. . 266 82 938 56,683 5,398 2,291.91 523 333.20 ~~~…..•:…………. …::::::::::.:::: 57 23 105 1,391 549.02 35 19 179 1,633 1,870 29 421 15 271 1,287 771.80 Total. ………………… , . • 1,053 787 4,334 98,851 20,931 $45,679.54 EUROPE.i.N MISSION:S.
:.'::: ':. :.::::: :::::::::: Sweden……………………. . 645 552 2,595 37,601 40,353 $109,156.58 t.~:~:. 2,596 29,42'Z I 21,524 102,510.72 300 149 1,200 17,041 3,958 17,690.20 90 Finland …………………… . 67 152 I ~:~~~ 1,329 251 10 21 280 3,303 .. ·ii,2·17·.OO ::::::::. ::: :::: :::::: Denmark……………………. 1 70 25 378 1,961 …. ·:i,27ii.52 '%7 1,900 ~::c~::::: 16 . .. Spain …………………….. . 30 19 5 90 858 II 6 Mi!sions to nominally Chril!tian 866 7,457 92,647 71,395 $243,853.02 lands ••••••• , …. •••• •••• ••• •• • 1,167 Grand total…. …….. •. •. . . 2,220 1,653 11,791 190,998 92,326 $289,523.56 The report of the committee on the relations of the women's societies to the Missionary Union strongly urging the unification of the missionary work of the societies, with one treasury and one treasurer, and the apportionment of money by joint sessions of the Board of Managers of each society was unanimously adopted.
Rev. Thomas Moody, missionary from the Congo, spoke on THE WORK IN AFRICA. He is located 850 miles inland on the south bank of the Congo, 40 miles south of the equator. The people in the central part of the continent are brighter, perhaps, than the negroes of this country. One million lives are lost every year by the slave trade. All Stanley and Livingstone have said might be magnified thrice, and then it would not be half so bad as it really is. Four fifths of the people are slaves. There is no such thing as family life among those people. Missionaries are few j and if there was one station in every district twice as large as Rhode Island, 3000 more mission stations would be needed in Africa.
Rev. G. N. Thomssen, calling himself a German-American-Hindu, of Telugu, India, spoke on WORK IN INDIA, saying that he loved America better than Germany, but he loved India more than Germany or America. He thanked God that he was called when a boy to do mission work, and marvelled that so many could stay in this country when there are countless thousands in India who had never heard of Christ. He had seen the great work in Telugu, something similar to that Andrew and Nathaniel had seen. When his work was begun, Mr. Thomssen said it seemed as if Satan were determined to unJo it. He had learned to believe in a personal God, but he thought that in India there was a personal devil also. There were great heathen revivals, and the natives would ask scornfully, "Where is your God 1 See, there is but a handful of you Christians, while thous811ds come to worship the village god.' , Englishmen seeking fortunes in that far land asked the missionaries, " What do you come here for 1 We leave our bones on the plains for the filthy lucre, but you have no business here." Mr. Thomssen said that he had been asked the question, " When will India be a Christian land 1" He could see progress now in all directions, ILnd believed that before a great while'lndia would be converted.
Rev. Donald D. MacLaurin, of Michigan, spoke on a. MILITANT CHURCH.
" If we believe the Bible, there is penitence and pardon for every soul in this world. We also believe it is the duty of the Church to send the Gos- pel into the world. It is not an incidental, but a paramount, characteristic mission to give the Gospel of the Son of God to every son of earth. The Church is an army whose duty it is to reduce every rebellious province on the globe to its rightful obedience. The Church is militant. Look at our marching orders: 'Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to . every creature.' The good soldier always accepts his position without question. We see the signals of heaven telling us what heaven expects in this day of unparalleled opportunity. Now almost the whole world is open to the soldiers of Jesus. Do we appreciate our opportunity 1 Paul did in his day, for he said, 'I am a debtor to the Greek and the barbarian.' These comprised the whole known world at that time, and Paul was a whole missionary society in himself.
"There are fields to be won. 'fhe heathen world, with its one thousand millions of human beings who have never heard that Jesus died for them and rose again from the dead. In India alone there are 280,000,000 who have never heard of Christ. There is also a great defect or lack of training of missionary ministers at the present day. Pastors and people did not pray for missions as they should. How many times are we in agony for missions 1"
The report of the committee on SELF-SUPPORT ON FOREIGN FIELDS emphasized the necessity for the exercise of great economy, and offered a number of recommendations: "First, the true aim in foreign mission work is the planting of native churches, and they that. will be self-supporting and reproductive; second, there should be a modification of excessive and sentimental pity when contemplating the hardship that natives must undergo to contribute to missions. Proportionate giving should be urged; third, native churches should be plain in architecture and cheaply constructed; fourth, the congregation should choose the pastor rather than the missionary, as the source of support should be the source of authority; fifth, the practice of some churches sending money to support native preachers should be discouraged, as this designation hampers the work of the executive committee, which should have all the money to spend for the furtherance of the general work; sixth, some form of industrial education should be maintained in connection with the mission."
In an address on WORK IN JAPAN, Rev. L. Halsey said he was the foreign pastor of the Japanese Baptist Church. While 40,000,000 Japanese· worship idols, many do not. The worship of the Mikado is a severe hindrance to the cause of Christianity. Confucian teachings were also brought into the country. It is now brought into disrepute, as are all things Chinese. Japan needs our sympathy in her intellectual and spiritual progress. Rev. Father Sutherland, of Burma, has put his life, his wife, and family into the missionary work. He said: " Buddhism cannot be conquered in a few years; but we are going to conquer it. The Burman will eventually become converted to Christianity. The Burmans are generally dignified and distant, and our mode of preaching is like Christ's-from street to street, from crowd to crowd. "
Rev. M. C. Mason spoke on MISSIONS IN ASSAM, saying: " The people in Assam are the most vigorons, intelligent, and manly in all Asia. Assam is the gateway to Thibet on the north, China on the east, and Bengal on the south and west. The Asamese are the most ready to receive the Gospel of any people on the face of the earth. The people associate with their sickness or sorrow some sin that they have committed. Children were, not long since, offered as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. Since the English took possession of the country the practice of human sncrifice has been abolished, but missionaries are often approached by natives to intercede with the British authorities that a child might be sacrificed for some real or imaginary cause, so that the Great Spirit would be appeased.
" The religions of the country are principally Hindu, Mohammedan, spirit worship (Hill tribes), Buddhist, and Christian. The Christians in 1891 were numbered at 16,844 j Hindus, 2,997,072; Mohammedans, 1,483,974. As a mission ground Assam is most strategic. It lies Iiku an arm of a countrv stretched out into the midst of heathen nations. It is where India, Thihet, China, and Burma dovetail into one. It is the most natural gateway to the great region of Central Asia. Within close range of civilization and extensive railways building and under British protection, it is like a fortress from which to push forth the forces of the Lord. The missionaries do not ask a cent for a minister as a minister j not a cent to build places of worship, and never have. Money only is wanted for sala. ries and expenses of native preachers who are sent out to distant fields to preach until they can make it self-supporting. The expense of the mis. sionary work in Assam has cost less than in any ol;her field in the work. "
The American Baptist Home Mission Society antedates the birth of almost all of its members. The receipts for the first year were $6586.
For the past year the total receipts were $515,446.96. During the first year the number of teachers and missionaries employed was 50. Last year the number was llID. This alone indicates the progress of the society.
The annual report of the Executive Board states that the work of the society embraces: (1) The prosecution of Western missions; (2) evan· gelization of the various foreign population of this country j (3) missionary work among the negroes of the South; (4) missionary work among the North American Indians; (5) missionary work in the republic of Mexico; (6) educational work for the negroes; (7) erection of meeting-houses.
Rev. Dr. Grenell, of Detroit, said, in speaking on How TO DEVELOP THE LIBERALITY OF THE PEOPLE: "The most important factor in the problem is the pastor himself. The pastor must have heart-convictions of interest in missions. If a church fails for one year to contribute to the mission society, it is evident the pas· tor has not a heart interest in missions. If he had he certainly would have contributed himself. Had he done so others would have joined him.
" The pastor must instruct his people in the Scripture teaching in reo gard to this duty. Affecting incidents, pathetic appeals may be used, but cannot be relied upon to secure the measure of duty of the people in regard to their duty to a lost world. The radical teachings of the Word of God shnuld be made familiar to all in order to secure obedience to this word in their beneficence.
" There should also be systematic laying aside· and distribution of the good things which God may give us. There should be more system in religion as well as more religion: in business."
Mr. -Waterman well described a GOOD HELPER OF THE PASTOR: 1. He must be desirous of pleasing his Master in His service. 2. Like a good soldier, should desire to serve wherever and whenever necessary, even in the front ranks. 3. The results of such helpers, with wise leaders, could scarcely be computed.
Field Secretary Rev. Dr. H. L. Morehouse made an address on A STUDY IN CHRISTIAN BENEVOLENCE, saying: " Pitifully small amounts per capita are contributed by Baptists in fourteen States. The average for five years was as follows: New Hamp~hire, 23! cents; Vermont, 14t cents; Massachusetts, 37 cents; Connecticnt., 23 cents; New York, 24 cents; New Jersey, 20~ cents; Pennsylvania, less than 18 cents; Ohio, 12t cents; Michigan, 10 cents; Illinois, 10 cents; Indiana, 5 cents; West Virginia, 3t cents; Rhode Island, 36 cents. " These are facts that we must facc, and which ought to make us ashamed of ourselves when we do face them. With an average of 50 cents per member the society could do a noble work, and with an average of $1 per member could do a magnificent work. The society, however, could not be expected to make bricks without straw. "
CITY MISSIONs.-The proportion of Baptists to the population in cities ranged from 1 in 25 in Providence to 1 in 270 in San Francisco.
Rev. Dr. W. C. P. Rhoades, of New York, said there was a limit to the growth of agricultural districts, but no limit, apparently, to the growth of cities. The cities control the country, and the question for Christians is how to control the cities. They are the workshops of the country, and where the workshops are the workers are. There also should the Christian workshops be located. The rate of increase of church-members falls far below the increase in the population.
Eighty per cent of the population in New York City is of foreign extraction. There are the German, the Italian, and the Irish quarters, and there seems to be a disposition to crowd out the Americans. Three fourths of the popUlation of New York City live in 37,000 of its tenement-houses. The average to each house in New York City is 16, while in London it is but 9. It is a vital question-how to heal these sores in the cities, how to conduct evangelical work in the slums. The more appalling the vice the deeper the degradation, the more heroic is the call for Christianity. It is not a question of creed. The slums won't listen to denominationalism. An Episcopal clergyman, who had come over from the other side, said to a brother who had a little floating Bethel and was doing missionary work among the seamen of New York, "Is your church a High or Low Church~" The brother said: "It depends on the tide." There 1s more difficult mission work in the big cities than in many foreign countries.
THE WORK OF THE LOCAL CHURCH IN CITY MISSIONS was the topic of an address by Rev. Johnston Myers, of Cincinnati, O.
Some reforms were suggested; first, in the architecture of churches, so that the entrance to the prayer-meeting-room and the pastor's study would be readily accessible to the timid in search of Christ. There should be a reform in the ministry, too, if this question is to be solved. The theological seminaries are educating men more for suburban than for downtown districts. Methods and rules are powerless and conventional customs of clergymen are not efficacious, and must be cast aside in order to cope with this question. Jesus Christ never placed a premium on monotony and stupidity. Paul, if he were on earth to-day, would be called a sensational preacher and be criticised by the newspapers.
Dr. H. L. Wayland reported a resolution respecting THE LORD'S DAY: " Whereas, It is widely reported through the public journals that in some portions of the United States professing Christians, who have conscientiously observed the seventh day of the week as a day of religious rest and worship, and who have, hereafter on the first day of the week conscientiously engaged in labor which in no wise disturbed those desiring to observe the first day, have, for this act, been arrested, fined, imprisoned, and sent to the chain gang, therefore, " Resolved, That, assuming these facts to be as reported, we earnestly and solemnly protest against this violation of the right of religious liberty, a right for the defence of which our forefathers have suffered imprisonment, the spoiling of their goods, stripes, exile, and death itself."
The greatest obstacle to overcome in converting the POLES AND ITALIANS is the Roman Church. These people chng to the Catholic religion, they know not why, and the less they know about it the more tenaciously they cling to it. The more ignorant they are, the more difficult it is to approach them. Poles are in Western cities and Italians are in Eastern cities. They colonize, have their own stores, papers, physicians, priests, and almost everything.
Rev. N. F. Roberts spoke on WHAT SHAW UNIVERSITY HAS DONE FOR THE COLORED PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH.
It was founded by the late lamented Dr. H. M. Tupper twenty-four years ago. For many years the average enrollment has been 341. Five graduates have been elected as principals of State normal schools, 24 are teachers in colleges and high schools, 13 are principals of academies. Last year, in North Carolina, 18 counties out of 36 reported that they had Sunday-schools containing 31,393 pupils. Shaw University students have imbibed a missionary spirit which they have carried wherever they have gone. They have also done a great deal for temperance. A few years ago in the South it was common even for the deacons to get drunk, but now a man is not received into the Church if he uses strong drink. Shaw has laid the foundation of medical and professional schools. One of her physicians treated 2500 different patients in a year. Industrial training has been kept constantly in' view, which is necessary among the colored people. Some of the pupils have erected neat houses of worship with their own hands. Pulpits are now closed against those so-called ministers who oppose anything for the uplifting of the colored race. It has been a power in changing the feeling against the education of the colored people.
THE EVANGELIZATION OF MEXICO was the subject of an able address by Rev. H. L. Morehouse, D.D., Field Secretary, who said: "Mexico is entering upon a new era. Old things are passing away. The old order is changing for the new. When political independence was secured, religions questions overshadowed all others. Early in the century the fight began. It was that of human progress against the medireval hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. Prelates and hosts of religion conspired against the coming of the republic, but the republic was victorious, and for seventy years Rome has been its implacable enemy. The people, upon acquiring their independence, stripped the Church of its power, and thus ended the vision of papal power on this continent. Millions of dollars of church revenue were cut off, convents were abolished, and there is not a hooded nun in Mexico. The ploughshare of public opinion was run through the largest monastery in the City of Mexico. Mexico has emerged from medireval gloom into the sunlight of the nineteenth century despite the fact that the tethered Roman tiger still growls. Rome robbed Mexico of its intellectual birthright as Spain robbed it of its treasures. Since the dawn of the republic the schoolmaster has been abroad in the land. In the early part of the centurJ there were but three newspapers in the land j now there are 328. Now is the time to present the pure Gospel to the anxious, inquiring, and reading Mexicans. They now read what they please despite papal interdiction. The day of Mexico's complete emancipation is drawing nigh-not her constitutional emancipation, but her spiritual emancipation. This is the hour of the missionary's opportunity. Upon this country has devolved the evangelization of Mexico. This society needs twentyfive missionaries next year and ll. girl's school, an academic school, and a theological seminary for the training of native missionaries.
Rev. Dr. J. B. Hawthorne, of Atlanta, Ga., President of the Home Mission Board of the Baptist Southern Convention, spok-e on CO-OPERA.- TION WITH THE SOUTH.
Over one half of the Baptists on this planet were in the territory of the Baptist Southern Convention. In some districts nothing but a Baptist could be found with a search warrant. A member of the Georgia Legislature, when asked the geological formation in his county, replied that it was mainly Baptist. Above and below the sod the Baptists are very numerous, The joining of forces for the amelioration of the colored people is sure to have a powerful effect, besides the promotion of a fraternal feeling. The society South seeks co-operation with the society North in the religious improvement of the colored people. They must be prevented from relapsing into barbarism. If they become barbarians, the people will be compelled to resort to barbarous means to protect themselves. Dr. Harthorne spoke of the high regard the negro preachers were held in by their people. Their word was infallible in more things than one. Hence t.he great necessity to train these preachers. Many of them in their pulpit gave way to vehement outbursts of mere animal emotions. John Jasper's sermon, " The Sun Do Move," is a marvel of exegetical and homiletical h:uth compared to the sermons of many of the native preachers. With the' co-operation of the two societies he predieted great results in the cause of Jesus Christ.
CONGREGATIONAL HOME MISSIONS
The work of the Baptist Publication Society may be summarized as follows: For Year 1894-95. From Beginning.
Nnmber of missionaries and workers ……………….. .. 85 3,393 21,656 281,075 li~fe~ ~~a"::rt!~~·::::::::::::::::::::::::.::::::::::::::::·· 471,253 8,935,170 35,172 965,086 Books sold ……………………………………. . 6,594 151,442 Books given awa.f………………………………… . 486,153 43,060,743 Pages of tracts distributed.. •.. .. . .. .. .. . . . . … ….. .. .. 16,014 866,015 Hermons and addresses ……………………………. .. 4,684 119,460 Prayer-meetings beld ………………………………. . 41,679 1,287,167 Families visited…………………………………… . 24,997 Persons baptized…………………………………. .. 648 Churches constituted…………….. _ …. ……….. . 62 1,14';" Sunday-schools organized …………………………. . 244 10,162 Jr,stitutes held and addressed …… _.. .. .. . . . … .. . .. .. 007 6,705 Sunday-schools aided by donations of Scriptures, books, 500 6,241 periodicals, etc ……. …… .., ……………..••…. Sunda.y-schools, pastors and ministerial students aided with 233 6,597 grants for their libraries…………………………. .
CONGREGATIONAL HOME MISSIONS.
BY REV. JAMES H. ROSS, ROXBURY, MASS.
The Congregational Home Missionary Society held its sixty-ninth annual meeting in Saratoga June 4th-6th. Five of the six Congregational missionary societies are devoted to home missions. Three of them, the Sunday.school and Publishing Society, the Educational Society, and the Church Building Society, met with the Home Missionary Society, technicaUy so caUed. The absentee society, the American Missionary Association, will meet by itself in Detroit next October. The Home Missionary Rociety has 4104 mission stations. Like most missionary societies at the present time, at home and abroad, it is heavily in debt, yet hopeful that the better times and special efforts will relieve the existing burden of $132,000.
Rev. Secretary Coit, of Boston, reported indications that the movement from the country hill towns in Massachusetts, which has been at work now for decades, depopulating them for the benefit of the cities and the West, has reached its climax.
There are of these country towns not a few where the population has begun to increase again. although not at a very rapid rate. The rapid increase of the electric railroad system will tend to help this return to the country. The State before long will be not only gridironed, it will be checkerboarded by the electric roads. And when the remote farmer has such facilities for reaching the centre as a railroad before his very door will furnish, there will be less and less forsaking the farm by the younger people and a more ready return to it as years advance.
The fact reappeared that the majority of gifts and givers are centralized in New England. The West is yet to be developed in t!J.e lbe of systematic beneficence.
Tourists who visit cities and towns near the coast of California, between Santa Barbara and San Diego, are disposed to regard Southern California as well evangelized. But there are two Southern Californias. The smaller and more populous Southern California, with which they become acquainted, situated between the mountains and the sea j the larger, six times larger, but less populous Southern California, lying north and east of the mountains. The former illustrates most wonderfully the value of home mission work put forth in large measure at the right time, immediately upon the rapid movement of immigration hitherward, planting the Church at the very outset of the new settlements along the coast j the latter illustrates as remarkably the woeful r~sults of the neglect of gospel ministration. The former has crowded churches, revivals of religion, in some placeR a church-membership equal to one third of the population, and a prevailing Christian public sentiment. The latter has crowded saloons, in some places as many as one to every fifty inhabitants, churches generally thinly attended, if they exist at all, and vice Haunting itself without restraint in open day.
Mrs. Joseph Cook read a paper entitled " A Woman's Club of National Interest." It might well have been entitled" A Woman's Club of International Interest." It referred to the Woman's Missionary Society, whether devoted to home or foreign missions. It showed that these societies are pioneer organizations, not only up to date in their spirit and methods, but antedating the various women's clubs that receive most attention from the press and the public. They afford just as good opportunities for study of the highest themes as any other clubs, themes of international statesmanship, such as the Japan-Chinese war, and themes of profound significance and learning, such as comparative religions and comparative philology. The points made by Mrs. Cook should be food for reHection, while the " new woman" is a phrase and a fad, and as long as the daily press fails to discover that, multitudes of women repudiate with scorn that they are interested only in fashions and small talk.
Rev. William Ewing called attention to .a census recently taken in New York, showing that in the district bounded by Fifth, Canal, Essex, and Mercer streets, having nclarly 95,000 residents, there are 7 churches and 563 liquor saloons, or 1 church to 80 saloons and nearly 14,000 people.
" In many places where labor troubles have prevailed, the Gospel as preached by Congregational home missionaries has been wonderfully successful in allaying animosities and saying to the turhulent elements of society, ' Peace, be still.' From the mining regions of Indiana the superintendent reported that ' the outrages upon law, order, and decency were only in those Tegions where the work of the mission had not yet extended. '
" The most distinct and notable increase during the year has been Oklahoma, the number of whose churches has risen from 48 to more than 70."
Rev. Watson L. Phillips, D.D., of New Haven, said that there are classes in our population whose needs are peremptory and cannot be disre- garded. "There is (1) the vicious and criminal class, who live by charity and pilfering, and constitute the dangerous, combustible element at the bottom of society. (2) The second class is composed of that great multi- tude to be found in every large community, sober, industrious, working hard for low wages, filling the tenement-houses, the hall bedrooms and back attic chambers of cheap boarding-houses." Rev. Superintendent W. S. Bell, of Montana, described an eighty-mile drive through a series of valleys running down from the snowy mountains, on the border of Wyoming, to the great Yellowstone valley, through which the Northern Pacific Railroad runs for several hundred miles in its stretch across the continent.
" Three years ago this whole region, about equal in area to the State of Rhode Island, was in the hands of the Crow Indians To-day, after ample provision has been made for the red man, thousands of acres remain for the use of the white settler. Already many of them are occupied. Hum- ble log cabins can be seen in every direction, and the upturned soil tells of the coming crop.
" These settlers are, for the most part, either cowboys with or without families, who, after years of wandering, have determined to enter upon a more settled hfe ; or miners, who, by the depression of the mining indus- tries, have been driven from the various camps of the State. In either case they are those who have for years been beyond the reach of religious privileges, or who have failed to avail themselves of such as were at hand. One woman in my congregation said it was the first sermon she had heard for twenty years, throwing in the remark that she 'didn't know what all the preachers had been about that they hadn't looked her up before. ' Several others testified to the fact that they had not attended a religious service before for from five to ten years. With one exception, all of the churches so situated that they can reach out toward this unoccupied field are Congregational churches. Each year a larger appropriation has been needed to meet the imperative demands of new work. From all parts of the State, from small towns, from country neighborhoods, and from mining campS, comes the cry for religious services. On every hand the testimony is heard even from men of the world. Things are not as they used to be. There is a better 'observance of Sunday, there is more of a sentiment in favor of church-going. Vice is less open and bold."
Rev. Joseph B. Clark, D.D., of New York, formerly Secretary of the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society, in Boston, said: "The Congregational churches of America represent at least $700,- 000,000, and add to that sum every year, over and above all expense of living and all gifts of benevolence, about $20,000,000. A clear income of $20,000,000 a year above expenses is not a condition of poverty that should make timid its pressing the home missionary appeal. Yet the homeland societies were able last year, by every art of statement and appeal, to draw scarcely more than $1,000,000 for the redemption of America. Field secretaries and the secretary of woman's department during the past twelve months have carried appeal into 20 different States, making 1060 home missionary addresses in the presence of 244,000 hearers. The mass of non-giving churches numbering a year ago 2000 has been reduced to 1837. The Congregational churches do not yet appreciate the home missionary crisis. Congregational giving is at fault. Last year $750,000, or one third of all the reported gifts of Congregational churches, was for objects outside of the regular denominational channels. Foreign missions received one sixth of the whole; home missions did a little better, securing about one fifth, while the' other' objects of every sort and kind took the lion's share of one third. It is the violation of common sense when Congregational churches give 70 cents per member for foreign missions, $1.07 per member for home missions, and $1.40 cents per member for odds and ends."
tNTERNA~IONAL P:B:l'ARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEV. ;r. T. GIaCEY, D.D.
International Missionary Union. Miss N. J. Dean (Persia); 1880, Rev. W. C. Dodd and Mrs. W. C. Dodd TWEI,FTH ANNUAL SESSION. (Laos); 1876-90, Mrs. Rev. A. Dowsley (China); 1888-!J4, Rev. J. B. Dunlap The International Missionary Union and Mrs. J. B. Dunlap (Siam); 1871-77, held its twelfth annual meeting at Clif- MissC. P. Dwight (Turkey) ; 1876, Rev. ton Springs, N. Y., June 12th-19th; C. S. Eby, D.D. (j"apan); 1887-89, Rev. being the sixth session held at this place, W. P. F. Ferguson (Mexico) ; 1887, Miss under the generous invitation of Dr. M. Estelle Files (Burma); 1881, Miss and Mrs. Henry Foster, who hospitably Estelle Fletcher (Micronesia) ; 1853-55, entertained for eight days nearly all of Mrs. O. M. Ford (Africa); 1888, Rev. the missionaries in attendance. J. M. Foster and Mrs. J. M. Foster (China); 1880, Miss Elsie M. Garretson The missionaries participating were (China); 1875, Rev. Lorin Samuel Gates as follows, the dates preceding the name (India); 1886, Rev. Frank P. Gilman indicating the year of entering the for- and Mrs. Frank. P. Gilman (China); eign field, and the year of discontinu- 1890, Rev. George A. Godduhn (Afriance thereon; where no second date ap- ca) ; 1861-68, Rev. J. T. Gracey, D.D., pears, they are still in the service, ex- and Mrs. J. T. Gracey (India); 1889, pecting to return to the work abroad at Miss Isabella M. Hargrave (Japan); the earliest opportunity: 1884, Miss Emily L. Harvey (India); 1867, Rev. H. C. Hazen-1884, Mrs. 1889, Rev. George D. Adamson (Afri- H. C. Hazen (India); 1872, Miss Ariena ca); 1850, Rev. William Ashmore, D.D. S. Henderson (Brazil); 1840, J. C. Hep. -1872, Mrs. William Ashmore (China) ; bum, M.D., and Mrs. J. C. Hepburn 1858–80, Rev. S. L. Baldwin, D.D. (China and Japan); 1880, Miss Janet H. (China); 1885-94, Rev. J. L. Barton, Houston (Mexico); 1873, Rev. S. W. D.D. (Turkey); 1879-81, Rev. W. H. Howland, D.D., and Mrs. S. W. How- Belden and Mrs. W.. H. Belden (Bul- land (Ceylon); 1890, Rev. F. E. Jeffery garia); 1849-61, Rev. Jacob Best (Afri- and Mrs. F. E. Jeffery (IndJa); 1855, ca); – – Mrs. Birdsell (China); 1853, Rev. H. H. Jessup, D.D., and Mrs. Rev. Henry Blodget, D.D., and Mrs. H. H. Jessup (Syria); 1884. Miss Carrie Henry Blodget (China) ; 1886-87, Mrs. 1. Jewell (China); 1885, Miss Theresa J. G. A. Bond (Malaysia); 1889, Rev. Kyle (India); 1860. Rev. Benjamin Lar- James Cantine (Arabia); 1890-92, rabee, D.D. (Persia); 1887, Charles J. Rev. W. A. Carrington (Brazil); 1886, Laffin, M.D. (Africa); 1885, Mrs. T. A. Rev. F. A. Cassidy, M.A., and Mrs. Large (Japan); 1888, Miss Alice Little F ..A. Cassidy (Japan); 1893, Miss M. 1. (Micronesia); 1874, Mrs. Robert W. Casterton (China); 1889, Miss Ella R Logan (Micronesia); 1888, Rev. Will· Church, (Japan); 1869, Mrs. .E. W. iam McClure, M.D., and Mrs. William Clark (Assam) ; 1859, Rev. J. F. Clarke, McClure (China) ; 1887, Rev. .E. W. Me- D.D.-1893i Miss Lizzie Clarke (Bul- Dowell and Mrs. E. W. McDowell (Turgaria); 1893, Rev. James Craighead and key) ; 1889, Miss Margaret I. McIntosh ?tIrs. James Craighead (Assam); 1876, (China); 1895, Miss Laura Mellen (Afri- Rev. S. P. Craver, D.D. (Mexico); ca); 1885, Rev. C. P. W. Merritt, M.D., 1881-85, Mr. Samuel Cross (Siam); and Mrs. C. P. W. Merritt (China); 1871-80, Rev. E. Cunningham and Mrs. 1890, Rev. Thomas Moody (Africa); E. Cunningham (India) ; 1878–79, Rev. 1887-92, Miss F. Kate Morgan (Japan); C. W. Cushing, D.D. (Italy); 1869-70, Rev. J. A. Davis, D.D. (China) ; 1883, Mrs. J. D. Davis (Japan); 1868-93, 1879, Miss Maria Morgan (Persia); 1888, 2 ; Ceylon, 2; China, 81; Greece, 1; Rev. Robert Morrison (India); 1891, Hawaii, 1; India, 28; Italy, 1 ; Japan, Miss Effie Murray (Ohina); 1869, Mrs. 15; Laos, 2 ; Malaysia, 1; Mexico, 6; M. J. Noyes (India) ; 1886, Miss Maria Micronesia, 4; Persia, 5; Siam, 4; G. Nutting (Turkey); 1890, Rev. Otis Syria, 2; Turkey, 8. Total fields, 133. C. Olds (Mexico); 1877-83, Rt. Rev. C. C. Penick, D.D.-1882-83, Mrs. By Board8,' American Board, 38; C. C. Penick (Africa); 1888, Miss Sarah Baptist, 16; Methodist-Canada, 6, Peters (China); 1878-80, Miss Mary United States, 24 = 30 ; Presbyterian- Priest (Japan); 1872-93, Mrs. A. E. Canada, 4, United States (North), 26, Randolph (China and Japan); 1889, (South), 5 = 35; Friends, 1 ; Hawaiian Mrs. E. G. Ritchie (China); 1877, Mrs. Evangelical, 1; Church of Scotland, Grace L. Roberts (China); 1884, Rev. 1 ; Protestant Episcopal, 2 j Reformed Noble L. Rockey (India); 1878,..92, (Dutch), 9. Total,133. Rev. T. R. Sampson, D.D. (Greece); 1862, Rev. T. J. Scott, D.D. (India) ; At the RecognitiO'h Meeting of Wed- 1855-76, Rev. E. C. Scudder, D.D., M.D. nesday evening, 80 missionaries respond. -1855, Mrs. E. C. Scudder-1890-94, ed to the roll-call, which was increased Mr. Henry J. Scudder-1890, Miss Ida to 120 the nex:t morning, and later, to Sophia Scudder-1861, Rev. John Scud- the number shown above. A large der, M.D., and Mrs. John Scudder- number of notable missionary workers 1883, Miss Mary K. Seudder (India); was present. The devotional hour from 1881, Mrs. F. M. Simpson (Hawaii); nine to ten o'clock each morning was 1891, Miss Jennie V. Smith (Burma) ; specially emphasized by petition for a – – Rev. J. Frazer Smith, M.D. (Chi~ baptism of the Holy Spirit for service, na); – – Rev. Jacob Speicher (China) ; special prayers for native Christians 1881-89, Rev. :rtf. Luther Stimson and exposed to persecution, and mission- Mrs. M. Luther Stimson (China); 1889, aries known to be in peril. Numer- Miss Cora A. Stone (Japan) ; 1887, Miss ous instances of cruel and unjust treat· Lucy W. Sullivan (India); 1854,..64, ment were detailed in many coun- Rev. R. Telford (Siam) ; 1868-73, Rev. tries, C. C. Thayer, M.D., and Mrs. C. C. Thayer (Turkey); 1869-72, Miss Mary One of the earliest topics discussed A. Thompson (China); 1881, Rev. related to the use the missionary should George N. Thomssen and Mrs. George seek to make of the protection by his N. Thomssen (India); – – Rev. Mil- civil government. ton S. Vail and Mrs. Milton S. Vail (Japan) ; 1876-92, Mrs. Loretta C. Van Rev. Dr. William Ashmore said: .. It Hook(Persia); 1859,Rev.J. W. Waugh, is the right of an American missionary D.D.-1871, Mrs. J. W. Waugh (India) ; to claim the protection of his Govern- 1884, Miss Jennie E. Wayte (India); ment. An opinion. has obtained that 1880-91, Mrs. Wellington J. White when an American becomes a missionary (China); 1871-81, Rev. Joel T. Whit· he ought no longer to claim protection ney (Micronesia); 1848-·57, Rev. J. K. from his Government." Against this Wight (China); 1880, Rev. S. G. Wil- the view of the Apostle Paul was adson (Persia); 1883-88, Rev. W. E. Wit- vanced. He endured persecution at all ter, M.D. (Assam) ; 1838-86, Rev. G. W. times and in all places. At the same time Wood, D.D. (Turkey); 1886, Rev. A. C. he never failed to claim his rights as a Wright and Mrs. A. C. Wright (Mexico) Roman citizen. .. We never ask for government help in any way in the The summary of this list shows the propagation of our fltith; on the conattendance. trary, we utterly refuse and repudiate it. But when we go abroad we are By Fields,' Africa, 9 ; Arabia, 1 ; As· American citizens still. We claim we sam, 4 i Brazil, 2; Bulgaria, 4 ; Burma, are in a lawful and honorable pursuit in preaching the Gospel, and so long as we are, we claim our rights simply as American citizens, the same as do mer· tors. He gave a number of instances of chants, sailors, and other classes. " men who seemed very unpromising, Dr. Henry Jessup, of Syria, said: who had been trained and developed , .. American citizens occupy a vantage into men of ability, able to lead and ground In Turkey from the fact that direct the native church. They must the United States Government has no have the best of training, because they political interest or intrigue there. The have to meet and contend with a SUbtle six European powers, England, France, philosophy. an old literature, and super- Germany, Russia, Austria and Italy, stitions hoary with age_ They needed to are the powers of the political treaties be thoroughly grounded in the Chris- with Turkey, and their subjects are rEl" tian life, taught a theology grounded on garded as haying political designs in the Bible, and made to understand the empire. In 1842 Commodore Por- practical Christianity. The theologi- ter took the grouud in Constantinople cal school which he represented, con· that American missionaries in Turkey nected with the Methodist Episcopal had no rights of protection. The United Church, was founded in 1872 and had States Secretary of State rebuked the sent out 536 native pastors. Even the commodore, and laid down the princi- women had also received training on ple that an A.merlcan citizen everywhere the same lines, and 192 had received in- and always will be protected by the struction and gone out as Bible readers United States Government in alllegiti- and teachers.
mate occupations. United States ships Rev. F. A. Cassidy, of Japan, spoke of war have been sent to Turkish ports of the Missionary in the Native Church, at the request of the United States Min- saying, among other things, there was ister to protect American interest!; but plenty of material in Japan for the min- the missionary did not ask it, nor did istry, but the missionary in Japan as an the missionaries ask arllled intervention educationalist, is indispensable and will in A.byssinia, nor in Uganda. With re- be for some time.
gard to the United States' protection A discussion was opened by Rev.
to naturalized foreigners, our Govern- C. W. Dodd, of Laos, on the subject of ment has no treaty of naturalization Mission Oversight and Individual Free- with the Turkish Government, and all dom in Mission Work. Rev. J. B.
Turkish subjects naturalized in the Dunlap, of Siam; Dr. J. Hepburn, of United States at once become Turkish Japan, and Rev. J. T. Whitney, of Mi- subjects again on entering Turkey." cronesia, took part. Dr. S. P. Craven, Dr. Scott, of India, said that the of Mexico, wanted some information in missionary has the same rights of civil regard to the relation of the missionary protection as anyone else. In India no and the native pastor and church, say- convert is supposed to lose his rights by ing that this matter had given the mis- changing his religion. sionaries some concern in Mexico, and 'fhe Need and Means of Securing an he desired to kuow if such was the case Efficient Native Ministry was presented in other mission&. Dr. Hepburn said by Dr. T. J. Scott, for thirty-five years that in Japan the natives felt able to in India. Dr. Scott has had large ex- take entire charge of their work, and perience, having been the president of thought they could do without the super- the theological Beminary in BareilIy, In- vision of the missionary! Dr. Ashmore dia, for many years. He said it waB then made an address on the subject as fundamental to the success of all mis- related to China, saying they encour- sionary work to have a trained natiye aged the Chinese pastors to push out and ministry. Foreigners cannot evangel- become independent as soon as they ize a country; it must be done by the were able.
natives. They must be trained for pas- Rev. J. W. Waugh, D.D., for thirty- tors. The priests of India are not pas- five years in IndJa, spoke on The Inliuence and Power of Music in Missionary turies the Nestorians sent out great men Work. He referred to the fact that the as missionaries, but afterward became world uses music to influence the mind corrupt, lind they are now low, degrad- and heart. Music is utilized in the ba- ed, and ignorant. They have their zaars to draw a crowd, that the Gospel Scriptures in manuscript, but their may be preached to them. The natives priests are unable to read them. Sixty do not know very much about foreign yeaTS ago work was commenced among music, and prefer to sing their own na- these Bedouin Arabs and Koords, by tive airs instead of translations of our Drs. Perkins lind Grant. They have hymns. All their music is in a minor now six organized churches, and a num- key. All missionaries ara beginning to ber of preaching stations, with twenty recognize the great evangelistic power or thirty village schools. Rev. James of sacred song. The people in the rural Cantina, of Arabia, followed, and his districts of India sing these native Chris· theme created great interest, as very tian songs in the evenings, after their litUe is known of that far-away barren day's work is done. Dr. Waugh and unevangelized land, the home of Mo- his wife, son, and daughter, sang sev- hammed, the false prophet. There are eral of these Hindustani hymns illus- only four mission stations on the four trating his remarks. thousand miles of coast, and no mis- Bishop Penick, of the Protestant sionary in the whole interior. It has Episcopal Church, referred to African been entirely neglected until recent music, and said he never heard in Afri- years. Formerly Arabia had a great ca anything like the music on the plan. caravan trade; but since commerce left tations in the South. A.ll African music, the land, and chose the sea, the entire was an imitation of Bounds in nature. country has suffered and become in II Dr. Jessup, of Syria, said the Arab sense deserted. The country is low.
race had no conception of harmony. hot, rainless, and almost barren of trees He told of organizing a singing school or vegetation. The Arabian mission.
when he first went to the mission field as represented by Mr. Cantine, was or- and of the difficulties encountered, but ganized in America in 1889. Three said there had been great improvement, coast stations have been entered-viz.• and the music in many of their churches Busiah, Bahrein, and Muscat. In the lat- was very good. He sang an Arabic song. ter city a Bible·and·book-store has been One hour of one of the mornings was opened, and villages in the surround- devoted to the discussion of Industrial ing country visited. Some etfort was schools in mission fields. Mr. Henry made to start schools, but the Govern- J. Scudder told of one in connection ment interfered with all educational with the Reformed Church in India work. Rev. S. G. Wilson, of Tabriz.
that had been a great success, the pupils spoke of the great Improvement in being compelled to study part of the day many things during the forty-seven and devote the other part to learning years' reign of the present Shah. There some useful branch of industry. Such was oppression still, but many things schools have been tried in some fields had been changed. The Jews have been and had been failures. What is suc- and are still oppressed; but the Govern- cessful in one mission may not be in an- ment issued an order saying, " Let any other. Africa needs something differ- Jew be a Christian, or any Christian a ent from India. Jew without molestation." In 1880 MOHAMMEDAN LANDS. two native Christians visited England in order to bring before the Govern- Rev. E. W. McDowell was for eight ment the condition of native Christians.
years in Mosul, on the Tigris River. The Government is capricious, and He spoke chiefly of the Nestorians, re- sometimes suddenly shuts up churches viewing their history, In the early cen- and school-houses without any explanation. Mr. Wilson gave several instances Christian thought. Dr. J. W. Waugh of severe persecution by the officials of compared the present condition of India native Christians, and told of one case with what it was thirty-three years ago, which resulted in the death of one of when he entered the country.. It was a their most prominent native preachers. mistaken policy to begin with the high- Dr. Jessup, of Syria, said the Turk- est classes. The poor have the Gospel ish Empire was shrinking in dimen- preached to them. He gave examples sions constantly. . The Mohammedan of caste being broken down by Chris- religion was a religion of works, it has tianity. Every method known in mis- nothing to do with moral character sionary warfare is used.
whatever. A Mohammedan may say Miss T. Kyle spoke of village work his prayers, or make a pilgrimage to in North India, giving a description of Mecca., then do what he pleases without a native village, pastor's home, and the restraint. He graphically described way people live and support them- these pilgrimages to Mecca, the filthy selves; Mrs. Clark spoke of Assam as habits of pilgrims, the great cause of being a road to 'fhibet, and of the great outbursts of cholera during these pil- success among the aborigines, the Kohls, grimages, and stated that in 1893, 50,000 and of the early work of herself and died of that disease. He exhibited a husband. Dr. E. Witter referred to curious certificate, a little over a yard work among the hill tribes; Rev. W. C.
in length, covered with extracts from Dodd told of the Laos people in Upper the Koran, and illustrated. It is a cer- Siam, of the remoteness of the field, the tificate given in l'Iecca to all pilgrims few laborers, the people, deadly climate, as a passport to Paradise. It was given religion, and demon worshippers. The to a friend of the doctor's who had mission was organized over forty years given medical help to a pilgrim. He ago, and does not need money as much stated that there were 100,000,000 of as it does laborers.
Mohammedans under Christian rule, Rev. S. L. Howland, principal of the and the Queen of England rules over Jaffna College, in Ceylon. said that there many more than the Sultan of Turkey. is scarcely a person in Jaffna who had The American colleges were doing a not a knowledge of Christ; the mission great work in educating the young work there is largely self-supporting, men. These are located at Beirut, Ain- the missionary board now giving very tab, Harpoot, Marsovan, and Constan- little toward the work. Dr. John Scud- tinople. There are 26 Protestant female der took for his theme, Are Missions a seminaries, with 2000 young women Failure? There were signs all over the under Christian training, and 75,000 vast country of India where he had children studying the Bible. The print- labored of the power of the Gospel ele- ing-housesin Constantinople and Beirut vating the people. IIinduism was or- are great lights in a dark land. The ganized in its opposition to Christianity, Bible is printed in eleven different lan- and in all his thirty years' experience guages. and the Arabic Bible is sent out he had never known such opposition as over large parts of the Mohammedan in the past few years, and he took it as an world. Dr. Jessup by request gave the encouraging sign. Hindus have their Muezzin, or call to prayer. which is own tract societies, reform movements, heard from the mosque five times a day. such as those to prevent infant mar- SOUTHEASTERN ASIA. riages, societies to encourage widows to remarry giving a bonus to everyone Rev. R. Morrison, of t.he Punjab, who will marry a widow, and they util- spoke on the movement among the ize the press and send out their missiona- lower classes. He said the country ries to teach Hinduism. A native prince moves in masses. Caste is found only issued a proclamation that no girl in his in India, and it must be saturated with territory should be married under sixteen. He was asked if he didn't get Congo. Rev. G. A. Goddhun, of Badiscouraged, but said such a word tanga, spoke of the needs of educawas not in the missionaries' vocabulary. tional work and a trained native mInis- Discouragement came when he could try, while Dr. C. Lafflin emphasized not supply help to those who wanted the power of medical ministration in it, and he had to tell them to go back winning the people. Rev. G. D. Adamto their idols. He was discouraged by son, who has been on the Kussie, one the apathy of the Church at home, and of the tributaries of the Congo, told of not by his work. the habits and customs of the natives. Bishop Penick, now advocating the CHINA, AFRICA., MEXICO, BRAZIL, ETC. work of the Protestant Episcopal Church among the colored people, made Rev. Dr. S. L. Baldwin spoke on the an address, which was replete with Chino·Japanese War. He did not be- bold pictures of coincidences which lieve there was any great necessity for marked the singular providential movethe war. The Chinese are not cowards ments for the advancement of the interin war. "Why have they met with ests of the African race, 'all of which such disasters?" was asked. " Be- mark the fact that God has some great cause the Chinese were unprepared and purpose to work out for and through her offinials corrupt. The Chinese Em- the African peoples. pire is not and will not be destroyed and is not going to be disintegrated. A whole session was devoted to mis- China will take a new course, and will sions in the Roman and Greek-Cr.urch be reedy to be taught by foreigners. Lands, Mexico, Bulgaria, Brazil, etc. There is a strong movement toward Western civilization. That was a sig- SOME SPECIAL TOPICS. nificp.nt fact, the presentation of the Scriptures to the Empress dowager. Rev. Dr. Blodget, of China, read a Christianity and Western life will and paper on How Shall They be Sent? must come to China." He referred to the young men and wom- en of the Student Volunteer Movement, Dr. Ashmore followed, and said: saying many were now ready, and more " The missionary progress in China was were preparing, and it was a question by stages, bordered every time by war. whether existing boards could send After the opium war five ports were them, or whether other measures should opened and missionaries entered; the be devised. The whole subject of the opening of other ports followed, and economical administration of missions now there are seventeen hundred mis- was considered. He proposed that sionaries. The war is a blow to Chinese young men and women should tender official corruption and to Chinese edu- their services to the boards under pledge cation, and to the whole system of Con- of ten years' service as unmarried misfucianism." Dr. Ashmore spoke for sionaries, favoring thus Dr. Cust's sugsome time and was roundly applauded. gestion of the establishment of mission- It was probably one of the most com- ary " brotherhoods." The paper coverprehensive accounts of the war and its ed, besides, the sending out of married possible results ever given to an Ameri- and unmarried missionaries, the style of can audience. living on the field, the economizing in Tarious ways to help the various boards One evening session was devoted to to carryon and extend their work. A the consideration of work in Africa. vigorous and spicy debate followed the Thomas Moody, for some years on the reading of this paper. In this connec- Congo, made the opening address. He tion there were many touching incidents delineated the low state of morality brought out of self-sacrifice on the part among the people and the wonderful success of mission work. There are ot the workers, of how they had suffernow 150 missionaries working On the ed, health had been impaired, ILnd even death had followed, because missiona- with the outside world only as the misries tried to live too economically in sion steamer visits the island once a year. climates where they should have every protection and comfort in order to do Mrs. Hepburn gave some reministheir work successfully. The best cences of her early life and connection economy was to take good care of mis- with missionary work in Japan, and sionaries. The discussion almost snowed her house-keeping experiences. Miss under Dr. Blodget's proposal of pledg- Scudder, of the Arcot Mission, India, ing too years of unmarried service. But located at Vellore, told of work among he was not disconcerted. He did nut the zenanas. Mrs. Large, connected expect it would meet with favor, but with the Methodist Church of Canada, anticipated confidently that ten years made a brief address on her school work. hence it would be commonly adopted. A few years ago Mrs. Large's husband was murdered by the Japanese, and to WOMAN'S WORK. this day the police have no clue of the perpetrators of the deed. They entered The session devoted to Woman's the house, it was supposed, for robbery. Work presented a panorama of the She has 11eroically carried on her work. various mission fields of the world. Fifteen women took part, and spoke Mrs. Richie, of Tungchow, told of briefly and comprehensively of their her connection with the college In that various forms of work. There were station, she also carrying on work that three women on the platform whose ag- she took up after her husband's death. gregate time of service reached one Every student who had gone out from hundred and twenty-five years-Mrs. the school was a Chriiltian. Mrs. Mc- Hepburn, of China and Japan; Mrs. Clure, of Honan, said she was the only Scudder, of Southern India, and Mrs. white woman in the province, and was Blodget, of China. located three hundred miles from a post- office. Scarcely a Chinese woman in Miss Houston, who had worked on the province could read. the Mexican border for fourteen years, told of the influences that led her to be Mrs. McDowell, of Turkey; Mrs. Dr. a missionary. Mrs. Logan, :who had Ashmore, of China; Miss Smith, of Burbeen connected with the work in the l!la; Miss Van Hook, of Tabriz, Per- Caroline Islands, stirred everyone by sia; Mrs. Jessup, of Syria, and Mrs. her story. She had been on the island Clark, of Assam, also took part. of Ponape when the work had been interrupted by Spanish occupancy. The MORAVIAN MISSIONS. work west of Ponape was begun aud carried on for years by converted na- A paper on Moravian Missions was tives, supervised by American missiona- read by Mrs. W. H. Belden, formerly ries. They practically reduced the lan- of Bulgaria. She said ; guage to writing, which was revised by Mr. Logan, who translated the New " The Moravian Church is, above all Testament into the language. The churches, a missionary church. Its polwork spread until it reached the lagoon icy is and always has been to go to the of Ruk, where there is a population of very lowest of the heathen, and to diffi- 12,000 to 15,000 people. In 1834 Mr. cult and dangerous fields where no one and Mrs. Logan were sent there. They else goes. So unworldly and unobtrufound the people fierce, sa"Vage, and sive is this church, so pure and simple treacherous. There was no law and no its doctrines and life, that from a worldregard for rights of property or, indeed, ly view it seems an unimportant deof human life. Mr. Logan lived only nomination. It has stood for one hunthree years, and Mrs. Logan has carried dred and sixty-three years an example on the work since, having no connection and inspiration to all Christendom. The home of the Moravians was mostly in Moravia and Bohemia. They were the followers of John Huss, who suffered martyrdom in' 1415. They formed of the Oroomiah College, supervisor of themselves into an association called all church interests, and devoted much the Unitas Fratrum (United Brethren). time to itinerating among the rugged a name they still retain. They received mountains of Koordistan.
the rite of episcopal ordination from the Dr. Nathan Sites, of the Methodist last remaining of the Waldensian bish- Episcopal Ohurch in Foochow, China, ops, Stephen, who also suffered mar· died in February. He had been a mis- tyrdom. This makes them the oldest sionary there for thirty-four years.
Episcopal Church in existence, the his· Miss Jewell ilpoke of his life and tri- tory of the Waldensiane showing an un· umphant death. Reference was also interrupted line of episcopacy connected made to the death of Rev. Mr. Good, with that of apostolic time.. Their of Africa, and to that of Rev. Lewis Bod- great leader was Zinzendorf, a man of well, who was chaplain of the sanita- royal blood and incomparable piety." rium for twenty-five years. Mr. Bod- Mrs. Belden gave a graphic descrip- well was not a member of the Union, tion of a visit she made some years ago but closely identified with it. Suitable to Herrnhut, the headquarters of their resolutions of condolence were passed.
church and missionary board. This old historic town is about tifty miles from CoMMUNICATIONS. Dresden, and is built upon land donated to the church by Zinzendorf. There The members of this Union who are are no paupers and no millionaires on their fields constitute an Outlook among the MoravianB. Before they ar· Committee to report annually on events rive at that place they leave the church. occurring in the parts of the world The ancestors of the Vanderbilts were where they may be. Many such com- Moravian!. The number of missiona· munications were received. Dr. J. L.
ries at present is 2500, or about 1 out of Phillips reported on the Sunday-school every 50 of it! members at home and on work of India. Miss Rice, of Oroo- the foreign field. One little community miah; Mr. Ford, of Syria; Mr. Kilbon, of. 418 souls has 21 of its sons and of Zululand, and many others sent im- daughters in foreign mission work. portant communications. Rev. F. Cole, of Bitlis, Turkey, wrote of the unset- MEMORIAL SERVICES. tled condition of affairs, and stated that the missionaries were in receipt of their Three members of the Union had died letters which at one time were inter- within the year-Dr. A. P. Happer, of cepted, but newspapers were considered China; nr. J. H. Shedd, of Persia. and dangerous, and were still not allowed.
Dr. Nathan Sites. Dr. Hepburn pre- He referred to the death of Mr. Knapp, sented the paper relating to Dr. Hap· for many years a missionary of the per. American Board, and said that he was Dr. Happer organized the first Pres- so popular and had such an influence byterian Church in China, and during that 2000 people attended his funeral, a visit home raised some $50.000 tow- and three heathen priests asked to take ard establishing a college for young part in the services. While the people men in the city of Canton. but did not do not always accept Christianity, yet ljve to see the work accomplished. Dr. this shows the infiuence and power of Labaree read a paper concerning the the life of a good man among tbem.
recent death of Dr. J. H. Shedd, for A communication was read from Rev.
thirty-five years a missionary in Persia. H. M. Woods, of China, accompani6'J Such was his devotion, his learning, his with a petition which the missionaries .oversight of the work. that he was called of aU denominations have sent to the by the natives "Priest·Bishop-Patri- United States Government regarding the arch." He was a great leader, President rights of missionaries in the interior of China. It is asked that the Missionary RESOLUTIONS. Union adopt a resolution approving the petition, and urging the President and Armenia and the massacre of Arme- Senate to come to the relief of mis· sionaries in the interior. It calls atten- nians came in for a full share of consid· tion to the ill-defined and unsatisfactory status of the rights of missionaries eration. In extent Armenia was stated under the treaties now existing between the United States Government and to be a country as large as New Eng- China. For twenty-five years missionaries have settled in the interior, and land. It includes the upper Euphrates now hundreds of Americans are there, holding property amounting to several and the Tigris. There are 5,000,000 hundreds of thousands of dollars. While they believe they have a clear, construc- people-1,500,000 are Armenian Christive right to residence in the interior, the treaties do not, as they should, tians. They are among Mohammedans, guarantee them this right in explicit terms; and they desire that a clear itate- ruled by them and hated by them. ment of the rights of missionaries to reside in the interior be inserted in the Massacres have been many. In 1822 on treaty, believing it would do much toward putting an end to litigation and the island of Seio 23,000 men, women. riots, and secure full protection for United States citizens. and children were slain, and 17,000 of They request also that the Chinese them sold into slavery. The mas- Government be asked to suppress certain widely circulated books, which if sacres of 1860 in Syria and Damascus not regularly authorized by Government are published by high officials, are remembered; also in 1876 in Bul· and have among the people the weight and authority of Government publica- garia. The worst one was in August, tions, and which contain foul calumnies against foreigners and Christianity. 1894, and the particulars of it are too These books inflame the mind, and to such publications are largely due the horrible to print. Unless European riots which endanger the lives and property of American citizens. Also to re- powers combine to act, the Christians lieve the oppressive condition requiring missionaries to hold property only in Turkey will be put to the sword. in the name of the native church, for this puts the property of the United There must be a reform government, or States citizens completely at the mercy of Chinese officials, which can be con- death awaIts all. Terror reigns among fiscated at any time. This petition has already been signed by 164 representa- Armenians, Syrians, and Nestorians. tives of all denominations of the Christian Church in Amedca from 28 differ- The Union took action upon sevent States. The paper and petition was referred to a committee of three, with eral important matters, notably the fol- Dr. Gracey as chairman, with power to represent the Union during the year in lowing on the Armenian question: this matter. " Whereas, The official reports of the joint European commIssion on Armenia and the correspondence of the secular and religious press, have confirmed the reports of the massacre of thousands of Armenian Christians in the Sassoun province In August and September, 1894; and " Whereas. The six Christian powers of Europe, signatories of the treaty of Berlin which gua.ranteed the protection of the Armenian people from oppres- sion and outrage, are to a great extent responsible for the present state of things in Armenia ; and " WherelM, The British Government, from the fact that it has four times saved the Turkish Government from destruction, occupies a position of promi- nent responsibility and influence for the future of the Ottoman Empire and peo- ple ; therefore, "Re8olved, That we, more than one hundred Christian missionaries of all branches of the Church, and from vari- ous parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe, North and South America, and the Islands of the Sea, are moved to extend our sympathies to the sufferers from the dreadful events in Sassoun, and would call upon our brethren and sisters of the Christian Church in Great Britain to unite in prayer to God and in petition Christian Temperance Union is that of to Her Majesty's Government that such Khama, chief of the Bechuanaland. measures may be taken at the present The .Aborigines' Friend is a journal of ~risis as will secure the peace, prosper· the transactions of the Aborigines' Pro- Ity, and protection of the Armenians tection Society, and we note with anxand their Christian subjects of the Sul- iety the report in a recent number of tan of Turkey in the future."
The Union also passed another reso- that magazine, that the Chartered Com- lution uttering its emphatic protest pany favors such interference with the against the introduction of rum into present arrangement for the prohibition Africa and of opium into China from na- of all strong drinks in Khama's coun- tions claiming to be Christian. For try as will enable the English and others some time past there has been a great traveIling there to gratify their tastes agitation in India of the opium ques- in this respect. The highway from tion, and a committee was appointed to that country to l1atabeleland passes report to Parliament concerning the through Bechuanaland. A line of rail- whole question of its use. That com- way thither is now being built, but the mittee reported upholding it, and this road is at present traversed by the help has called forth the condemnation of all of cattle-wagons or horses. Meanwhile Christian people. The Union, in the the travellers, road·makers, and others resolutions adopted, say, "The circum· employed on the route want to be sup- stances of a glossing report being made plied with liquor. It is apparently for to the English Parliament calls only for their convenience that canteens and more vigor in this protest. The pro· " hotels" are proposed. But all experi· prietles of law and equity justify a ence shows that wherever canteens and challenge of witnesses in cases when the like are set up it is impossible to rethe testifiers themselveS" are known to strict the use of them to those for be dependent on the opium traffic to whom they were ostensibly designed. maintain their exchequer, and their This is the statement of the LJ.borigines' salaries are more or less an outcome of Friend. Six years ago Khama wrote opium proceeds, Ilnd when they are the British authorities: possibly amassing riches out of opium " It is not the same thing to offer my sales. The Chinese people themselves country to Her Majesty to be occupied have not been fairly and fully heard on by the English settlers, as it is to allow the subject. The missionaries maintain men so worthless and unscrupulous as the hope that there wi1l be instituted an – – and – – to come outside of all extended, systematic and exhaustive in· governments and flood my country with quiry that will end in setting the undis- their drink, after all the long struggle I made against it, withstanding my guised truth before the world." people at the risk of my life, and just Woman in Missions-papers and ad- as they have themselves come to see dresses presented at the Woman's Con- how great a salvation my drink laws gress of Missions at Chicago: 1893, have proved to be. It were better for compiled by Rev. Dr. Wherry, Secre· me that I should lose my country than taryof the World's Congress of mis· that it should be flooded with drink.
sions, published by the American Tract To fight against drink is to fight against Society, 10 East Twenty.third Street, demons, and not against men. I dread New York-is a valuable contribution the white man's drink more than the to current missionary literature. assegais of the Matabele, which kills men's bodies; but drink puts devils Kkama and l)rr:nk.-There is some- into men and destroys both their souIs thing pathetic in the fact that one of and bodies forever. Its wounds never the most honored names of the Poly- heal. I pray your honor never to ask glot Petition of the World's Woman's me to open even a little door to drink. "
l"mLD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
I1I.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
llY D. L. PIERSON.
PAPAL EUROPE AND THE PAPACY.* who piously recite it, should open the eyes of some blinded men and women Missions to Roman Catholic countries to the real aims of the popish propado not receive from many the sympathy ganda. The reunion of Christendom and support which they deserve. Those means to the Pope and his emissaries who are familiar only with Romanism absorption into the Romlsh Church, as it appears on the surface in Prot- nothing more and nothing less. estant countries like England and America fail to appreciate the great Romanism is an enemy to purity, necd for giving to papal lands the pure since the priest, however carnal, is the Gospel. What unopposed Romanism people's guide and example, and by his will do for a people may be seen by the power to sell indulgences and forgive ignorance, degradation, and political sins puts a premium upon evil doing. and moral impotence which exists in Fra Paolo Sarpi, the greatest of the countries where the priest has been the Venetians of the sixteenth century, dictator to tlle popular conscience, as in early took the stand that he held Spain, Mexico, and South America. through life, that confession is unscrip- Some of these countries are iust now tural and demoralizing to confessor and throwing oft' the papal yoke: but the confessed. Like Count Cambello, the question which confronts the Church is present leader of the Catholic Reform whether they will take instead the yoke movement in Italy, Fra Paolo would of infidelity and difference, or that of never accept a license to hear confes- Christ. sions and risk becoming an accomplice with his penitents in their sin, ae is the That the majority of Roman Catho- case with so many priests at the preslics need to be converted as truly as any ent day. He directed those who came unsaved Boul is never doubted by those to him to confess to God. CeUbacy in who are familiar with Roman!sm as it the priesthood has ever been a promoter is seen in papal lands, where the of laxity of morals. A Catholic priest, "works of the fiesh" (Gal. 5 : 19) en- writing in the London Daily CMonicle, tirely crowd out the "fru!t of the in regard to a rumored relaxation of the Spirit ;" where forms are observed, but discipline of celibacy, says: the Spirit is absent, and the priests set an example of almost unrestrained ".If there were any evidence that a parlicentiousness; where the Bible is a ticle of itnruEthurlaoypeunwdoeur ltdhejruummpofr~r50jo00y0. closed and forbidden book, since igno- priests rance of its teachings is the great safeguard of the Romish Church. The Celibacy of the clergy has always been Pope's encyclical letter on the" Study of the Scriptures" is said to be unheard to some extent a sham, and its profesof by the masses in papal lands. sion a hypocrisy. It has caused almost The Pope's letter to the English people, recently published with the copy of all the defections that have taken place the prayer to the Virgin Mary, and the from among the clergy, and has depromise of 300 days' indulgence to all prived the Church of some of her most * See pp. 20, 27 (January), 179, 213 (March), brilliant and devoted ministers. To say 427, 434 (June). 523 (July), 561, 580, 588 (August). Literature: "The Bible In Spaiu," Barrow; that the Catholic priest renounces the "The Awakening of Italy and the Crises of best of good things for the love of Christ Rome," J. A. Wylie, LL.D.; "The White Fields Is mere fiction. Two out of every three of France," Andrew Bonar. of us, to put the matter mildly, do so in order to get a living. The modU8 oper- andi Is this: A certain number of boys of ten or twelve, mostly of artisan par- entage, are picked up by the clergy and sent to a preparatory school. There, and afterward at a higher school, they receive a fairly liberal education, to- gether with a religious and theological training. They are taught to look upon indulgences, 1095; use of beads in wor- every act or word, or even momentary ship, 1090; the sacrifice of the mass thought which may lead in the direc 1100; the confessional box, 1215; pur: tion of marriage as a mortal sin. So gatory, 1439; worship of Mary, 1563 ; continuously is this doctrine dinned into their ears that probably 90 per cent at seven sacraments, 1547; creed of Pope t~e tl~e of their ordination actually be- Pius IV., 1564; immaculate conception, lIeve It, and the other 10 per cent im- 1854; papal infallibility, 1870.
agine they do. In two or three years Roman Catholics n1u53m,0b0e0r,0a0b0ouatr2e20!~- 000,000, of whom there comes a rude awakening. What can the poor men do? Their education unfits them for any other walk in life. Europe, 9,000,000 in Asia and Malaysia, A priest may do many things and be 1,150,000 in Africa, 56,000,000 In North forgiven; but let him honestly marry, and South America, and 850,000 in Aus- and the Church does her best! to exe- crate him. She will not, under any cir- tralasia and Polynesia.
cumstances, give him leave to withdraw A glance at the conditions of the peo- into lay communion and marry. Stay ple and progress of the work in some of he must, and be asapvrieedstifhheeshcaalnl '~oitf he the European countries may show the ceases to live as be saved if the Church can help it. So a need for laborers and the encourage- good many go in despair-more than ments there presented.
Catholics dream of-and a good many Italy.-This country, whose commis· stay in despair, and make the best of a very bad job." sian entrusted with the selection of pri- Romanism is a foe to the intellectual mary school text-books not many years progress of the masses, for she has found ago decided to exclude every book in by experience that their intellectual which appeared the name of God, is training tends to emancipate them from now raising up statesmen who are acservile obedience to the dictates of the knowledging His power. The Minister priests. Eight papal countries, with a of Finance, in view of the depression in population 91 per cent Catholic, show business, exclaims, "May God protect an illiteracy of 60 per cent. Liberty of Italy!" and the Prime Minister says conscienee is denied, or when per- that they only are good citizens upon mitted, it is only as the" lesser of two whose banner is inscribed "Dio, Re, evils," of which the greater is the op- patria" (" God, the king, the fatherpression and suppression of Romanism land"), a sentiment echoed by King by a Protestant majority, and when Humbert himself. A distinguished able to do so, Rome would abolish the member of the Chamber of Deputies lesser evil by establishing herself in speaks of the Papal Church as " a rotthose "rights she possesses by Divine ten bough upon the tree of Christian- ity." Another says: "The Church of and historic right. ,,* The Papal Church was not always so Rome seems to be the antithesis of the encumbered with forms and so filled Gospel of Christ." Even though these with error, although she claims to have men know not God, this is at least a been always the same. The Christian step in advance of the atheism which Irishman enumerates its successive steps they have for many years openly proin error and assumption in the follow- fessed. ing order and at the following times: Invocation of the saints, 375 A.D. ; the The Church of Rome, in spite of a service in Latin, 600; papal supremacy, seeming change of attitude, stilI keeps 606 ; images and relics, 787; baptism the Bible as far as possible from the of bells, 965; canonization of saints people. The Bible societies, however, 993; the celibacy of the priesthood: are doing a grand work in putting the Word within the reach of young and 1000 ; transubstantiation, 1000 ; sale of old. The mission of Pastor Cav. Capellini • See Father Baumgartuer in the" Kirchenlexicon," edited by Professor Franz Kaulen, Bonn, to soldiers in Rome has now been in Germany. existence for twenty·two years. The Military Church began its life amid con- walls, but you cannot take from us the flicts with priests and Jesuitism; and precious truths we have learned within although the Church of Rome has never them I" During the winter both serceased its persecution, and just now is vices and schools have been carried on making every cffort to draw away con- in one of the peasant's cottages, in a verts by opposition services and to other- small low room altogether insufficient, wise hinder the work, yet every year and for the children unwholesome, with greater progress has been made. the variation of an occasional meeting in In Rome there are SO cardinals, 35 the open air under the chestnut-trees.* bishops, 1369 priests, 2832 monks, and 2215 nuns, and yet in the same city live The Waldensian Church, of historic 190,000 people (adults) who can neither note, numbering over 20,000, and formread nor write. ing the bulk of Italian Protestants, reports as one result of its mission An example of the opposition of the work, 44 churches, 63 stations, 43 or- Church of Rome to the Protestant move- dained pastors, 6 evangelists, 76 other ment is the case of the little Alpine vil- helpers, 5018 communicants, and 55,194 lage of Montorfano, near the Lake Mag- adherents. This church has recently giore, whose inhabitants some five years passed through a remarkable spiritual ago left the Church of Rome and formed revival, and almost daily meetings have themselves into an evangelical commu- been held with undoubted manifestanity. In their secession, they brought tions of the power of the Holy Spirit. with them the ancient church of the hamlet, removing from it images, con- The Evangelical Church in Italy refessionals, and other symbols of the ports 26 churches, 35 stations, 132 placeil worship they had abandoned, and adapt- visited regularly, 21 ordained and 10 uning it to the aimpler and purer services ordained preachers, over 50 other reguof their new faith. This was done in lar helpers, 1697 communicants, and the full conviction of their right thus to 6315 adherents. Work has been cardispose of the building, and with the ried on amid much opposition from the sanction of the local civil authorities. Church of Rome and in the face of seri- In fact, for nearly four years their use ous difficulties arising from hard times, of the church for evangelical worship emigration, and the prevalent indifferremained undisturbed. But rather more ence, superstition, and infidelity. than twelve months ago the bishop of the diocese interposed. and brought the Statistics of Protestant churches in case before the civil courts. The supe- France report Protestant houses of worrior tribunal restored the edifice to the ship in 781 localities, 887 Reformed Church of Rome, thus depriving the pastors in charge of congregations, and little community both of house of pray- 12 Reformed chaplains in the army. The er and of school·rooms. This issue, Lutheran clergy number only 90, the though grievous and disappointing. has Free Evangelical Church has 47, and not shaken in the least the steadfastness the other Protestant denominations have of the ¥ontorfano Evangelicals. Not a 72. There are also 5 Bible societies, 19 member has left the church, not a child Protestant societies for home missions, has been withdrawn from the school. 6 for foreign missions, 44 orphans' The effect has rather been that of puri· homes, 47 refugee houses, 60 hospitals fying and strengthening their faith in and 118 Protestant periodicals. Christ, by eliminating from it all nonessentials. The sentiments of all were The McAll Mission continues to do a well expressed by one of their leaders, noble work in its 129 halls in 73 cities who, when the priest was carrying off and townships. The work takes the the keys of the church, exclaimed, form of evangelistic meetings in mis- " Yes, you may take from us the four sion rooms, on the street and public and * Contributions toward the erection of a sim- ple building for their needs may be sent to Hen- ry J. Piggott, 28 Via delle Coppelle, Rome, Italy. private hOUlles, from road wagons, and overcome. One ex-priest is now sup- on the Mission Boat; singing and stere- porting himself as a day laborer until opticon lectures are useful auxilia- he can secure better employment.
ries, and dispensaries and industrial Since its establishment the Bible 80- schools do an important work ; special ciety has circulated over 12,000,000 of meetings for the blind, the chimney French Scriptures in whole or part, and sweepers, the cabmen, soldiers and fish- there are constantly accumulating evi- ermen, for mothers, children, young dences that the liberal sowing of the men and young women, also form good seed has been by no means in vain.
branches of the work, and the training The minds of the common people of classes for converts are no less impor- France are open to the Gospel in a won- tant and interesting. derful way. They will listen to any The Salvation Army is engaged in a presentation of it, no matter how un- very active and successful work. At usual; in fact, every form of presenta- Rouen one evening over 100 people tion of the Gospel is unusual to nine- testified to blessings received, causing teen twentieths of these people. The restitution of goods, preventing murder opportunity for evangelistic work is and suicide, and bringing infidels of abundant; with God's blessing only twenty years' standing to Christ. men and money are needed to bring Hitherto no missionary movement has about wonderful results.
affected the universities of the Conti- In Spain there are working 14 Prot- nent, and the societies have been com- estant societies, 20 male and 29 female pelled almost entirely to educate their missionaries, 41 Spanish pastors, and 37 own missionaries. For three years a evangelists. There are 3600 communi- quiet Christian work has been going on cants. The Reformed Church of Spain among the 15,000 students of Paris. A arose in 1881, and consisted of 15 con- society of about 200 has been formed gregations and 3000 members. There for Protestant students which Pastor are said to be in Spain and Portugal to- Monnier superintends and conducts. gether over 50 Protestant congregations Not a few of the men have been quick- and 10,000 adherents. Roman Catho- ened. The Volunteer Movement in lics are more intolerant here than any- Britain and America have been brought where else in Europe, and hinder the to their attention, and at the first meet- work by threats, false accusations, ing at which the "declaration card" bribes, and every form of persecution.
was used, nine men put down their The people are often friendly, but fear names. Most of these had been pre- the priests. Spain needs the Gospel paring for the foreign field, but the even more than a revival of commerce.
nucleus has been formed; the volun- An extremely interesting but quiet teers have begun to work, and there are work has been going on among the Ro- strong hopes that there will be some manists in Ireland, carried on by stu- considerable increase in Paris, and an dents from Harley House, London. The extension into other colleges in France work has been against many obstacles and Switzerland. and amid many dangers, but there have An interesting work among the 50,000 been glorious results.
French priests has been going on under The report of last year's operations Professor Bertrand, of Paris. Many of the Irish Evangelization Society tells priests are ignorant and many have lost a tale of devoted effort. accompanied confidence in the ceremonies which they by much encouragement. During the mechanically perform. Numbers of past year 2375 meetings were held at these have become Protestants and 146 places. Two movable buildings and workers among their brethren. Their many tents are used ; churches, school- training unfits them for other life, and houses, and barns are employed where their prejudices are hard for them to possible.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The March of Events. Among other questions brought be· fore the General Assembly at Pittsburg Startling reports were current about in :May was that of " polygamous con- June 9th of the massacre of English, verts." The channel through which French, and American missionaries at the matter again found entrance to the Chengfu, and stating that the whole body was a memorial from the Synod of province of Canton was in a state of India, asking the Assembly to leave the anarchy. Subsequent tidings, however, adjustment of questions growing out of show that all missionaries are safe, and this abnormal relation to the Synod, and that it is the mission property that is de- adding that in the almost unanimous stroyed. It is attributed to a riotous judgment of the missionaries on the resistance to Roman Catholic move· ground, ,. converts who have more than ments, which makes no discrimination one wife, together with their entire between them and Protestants. One of families, should be baptized" in certain the Chinese missionaries says that, for circumstances. Dr. Robert Morrison, instance, these Romanists sometimes of Saharanpur, India, argued that the excite the people to violence by using recognition of polygamous marriages yeUow tiles for their buildings, which by the Church in India was absolutely even a Mandarin would not presume to necessary. ITe explained that the first do, etc. wife in India was usually a child-wife and a childless wife, and that if the rule The disclosures of the" sweat shop" were applied, a convert would have to investigation have been absolutely ap- put away the second wife, who was the palling. The law forbidding the em- wife of his heart and the mother of his ployment of children under fourteen children. Under such a rule the chilyears of age is trampled under foot; dren would be cut off from the control notaries and corrupt justices conspire and support of the father, and the to make even the system of certification mother driven to a life of shame. He meant to prevent this null and void; pleaded that the way to protest against women are compelled to work nineteen polygamy was to keep the mother and hours a day to earn thirty cents ; and children under the influence of the the choice of many is between slow Church. starvation and the sale of personal chastity. It is time another Shaftesbury The following letter will be read with arose to become the champion of Ameri- peculiar interest. It is from :Mr. Doncan as well as English operatives. ald Fraser, of Scotland, one of the ex- ecutives of the Student Volunteer Mip· The Mandalay Baptist Mission OltapeZ is to be the memorial of Adoniram Jud· sionary Union : son's centenary-the hundredth anni· versary of the birth of this most illus- LONDON E. C., March 22, 1895. trious missionary, one of six greatest DEAlt DR.' PIERSON: The British men on the field since Paul. The estimated cost was $10,000, of which one Student Volunteer Missionary Union fifth was to be raised in Burma. One Christian native widow gave 3000 ru- have resolved to hold a great inter· pees, and another proposed to give the bell. No man was ever more a martyr national conference at Liverpool from in spirit or left a deeper impress on the native mind and heart. January 1st-5th, 1896. The purpose of the conference is to rally the volun- teers. to rouse the colleges, and to awaken the churches. . Never since we began has the ·mlS- siont1l"Y movement been spreading with greater rapidity than now; and !hat, not through stirring, exciting meetmgs, but through the visibly quickened reo ligious feeling of the students. We Assembly at Pittsburgh, in undertaking seem to stand to·dayon the threshold of a great movement toward Christ-a to raise a" reunion" fund of $1,000,000, deeper and wider movement than has may not only relieve the present distress, yet been seen in the British colleges. but secure a positive advance. Thir- Therefore we feel assured that never teen young men and 10 young women has the student world been more ripe for such a great movement as must reo wait, to be sent to the field. Posts will suit from this conference. We have remain vacant and advantages already now more than 850 volunteer!! in our secured be abandoned unless this action colleges. A most healthy percentage of April 4th is reversed. of these are sailing for the foreign field.
Now the Volnnteer Union is spreading into the continental universities, and we The South American Evangelical are being brought into close touch with Mission has been organized for the negthe students there. lected continent; evangelical and inter- At Liverpool all denominations are combining to make the conference a denominational in character, and essen- migb.ty success. We want to sound tially on the basis of the China Inland there a loud clear call to the Church to Mission-a work: of faith and prayer, to step out on a Bwift, forward march. I write, therefore, on behalf of the execu- be supported by free·will offerings. tive of the Student Volunteer Move- Its headquarters are in Toronto, and ment Union to extend to you II mOBt Rev. T. B. Hyde ill chairman of the hearty invitation to come across and help council, and Rev. J. McP. Scott, secreus in our enterprise by taking a promlnent part in our conference. tary and treasurer. If the eight.page folder sent out as its initial document is If there is anything we can do to make our invitation more tempting- any sign of the future work of this new any further British, arrangements- organization, it Is safe to predict for it please mention them. We long to have you come into closer relationship with an energetic service to missions. This our British volunteers. Your books little circular is packed full of informa- and the REVIEW have been large con- tion, and hal two excellent maps withal. tributors to the present advance. It would be well for our readers to send I am sure this request will have your prayerful consideration. Our daily pray- for copies and help on such a noble ers will follow it across the seas, and we pioneer work for the millions of un- shall earnestly wait to hear what God evangelized souls south of the equator. directs.
Yours very sincerely, The Central Soudan Mission has been organized, with Hermann G. Harris, at DONALD FRAilER.
This letter is given to the public, not- Tripoli, as its director, and the support withstanding its somewhat personal of a council of six and six referees have character and the invitation extended organized a ?tome department under to the editor to take part in the confer- supervision of Dr. and Mrs. Fallon, ence, becanse it concerns all who love late of Nyassaland. The purpose of the cause of God; and the editor solicits this forward movement Is fourfoldmuch prayer on behalf of this great viz. : movement, now becoming more and more conepicuous, and for himself, that 1. Circulation of information as to he may be divinely guided as to the per- the mission. sonal invitation herein conveyed. 2. Formation of local helpers' unions, for prayer 8S to the field, the laborers, and the funds.
With no little sorrow we read of the 3. To secure and assure fit candidates action taken by the Presbyterian Board, for the work.
April 4th, cutting down appropriations 4. To take charge of secretarial and for 1895-96, from $1,015,000 to $900,. financial work in connection with the 000, involving, of course, disastrous cur- mission.
tailment and retrenchment. We de· Many eyes are now directed toward voutly hope the recent action of the the speedy occupation of this neglected territory; and it is particularly notice· which placed Dr. Miller in his high able that the importance of consecration position should reconsider his appoint- on the part of candidates and believing ment. prayer on the part of supporters is more than ever emphasized. According to the Standard, he de- clares Hinduism to be the divinely or- The International Geographical Con· dained channel for emphasizing the gress, soon to meet in London, will have "omnipenetrativeness of God" and to construct a new map of Africa. The "the solidarity of man," language Dark Continent, large as it is, has ade- which Spinoza might have used as quate maps for only one tenth of its vast well as Dr. MiIIer. As to the attitude territory. Changes take place so rapid- of the lecturer toward Christ and the ly that maps of yesterday are obsolete Christian faith, there i~ not one word as to-day. The new frontiers of Britain to His divinity, atoning work, or effialone measure nearly ten thousand miles cacy as a Saviour of sinners; and the in length. The recent annexations Christian system is held up as one full make the speedy settling of vexed fron- of error and evil, "Every section of tier questions on a scientific and fixed Christendom believing in the corrupbasis absolutely necessary. Italy has tion of all sections except itself." already changed the map of East Africa by her advance to Kassala, and French Of course the inference is that Hininfluence has been extending itself tow- dus have a sphere within Hinduism for ard the head-waters of the Nile, and the development of these grand concepboth in the Soudan and on the Gold tions of "omnipenetratlveness" and Coast seems now in the ascendant. The •• solidarity," and if so missions become Germans have begun surveys for their an intrusive and impertinent meddling railway from German East Africa to proselytism. Lake Tanganyi~a and the Victoria Nyanza. International disputes are in- It remains to be seen what Dr. Miller evitable without an accurate and accept- has to say to the Standard's criticism. ed map which shall define the limits of territory. " Good line fence8 make peace- Missionaries' Sons. ful neighbor&." Rev. Sereno E. Bishop, himself the In the Indian Standard of April, 1895, son of a missionary, and knowing whereis a severe arraignment of Principal of he writes, hilS, in The Independent, Miller's lecture on " The Place of Hin- made a noble defence of the sons of duism in the Story of the World." This missionaries in the Hawaiian Islands, lecture was given before a large audi- in answer to certain calumnious assaults ence of graduates and students of the recently made. He says: Madras Christian College, and is printed in the college magazine. .. There are in those islands 55 sons of missionary fathers; 27 of them live The editorial comments on this lec- in Honolulu, 44 are members of the ture are evidently reluctaut, but se- Congregational Church in good standverely condemnatory. The indictment ing, and 81 prominently active. Not against Dr. ?tliller is threefold: first, one of the 55 has been arrested for crime on the ground of a pantheistic tendency; or been a slave to any form of vice. second, a Unitarian liberalism; third, Nineteen have been graduated from the inferential bearing on the Hindus American colleges, and several from and their duty. law and medical schools, and all have received at least high-school education. We have not seen the lecture; but if Twenty-one are under fifty years of the criticisms of the editor are well age, 20 between flftyand sixty, and 14 founded, it is time that the Church over sixty years of age. Of these, 6 are missionaries or ministers, 8 are on sugar plantations, 8 aTe cattle ~ ranchers or farmers, 3 are merchants, 3 are physi- cianll, 3 are practising lawyers, etc. Fifteen are in the Government service, from preSident, chief justice, down to department clerks. A few are wealthy but generous; 30 enjoy a comfortable Nowhere isedncation more sought than income, depending upon their own in China. The Government is to some exertions. Only 6 are in straitened cir- extent founded on it. There is a Chicumstances, but of highly reputable nese imperial college at Peking, the character. Can 55 men be found among Tung-Zoen, presided over by our distheir detractors whose record can favor- tinguished fellow-citizen, Dr. W. A. P. ably compare with theirs? To their Martin; also a university conducted by fathers and these sons are the Hawaiian the Methodist Mission. There are also Islands indebted for their educated and many foreign orphan asylums in vari- Christian condition In liberality_ and ous cities, which take care of thousands Christian activity the Central Union of waifs. Church of Honolulu, with its 500 members, sets an example worthy of being " The missionaries translate into Chifollowed by churches in this country. nese many scientific and philosophical The amount they do for their own and works. A former missionary, Dr. Adother islands of the Pacific is truly won- kins, translated a whole series of school derful. Many of these sons left the readers. Reflect that all their benefacislands for work in the United States, tions come to the Chinese without much, of which the late General Armstrong, if any, cost to them. Where charges of Hampton, Va., was a worthy sam- are made they are exceedingly small, ple. To the missionaries and their sons made only when they are necessary to is the honor of making, in spite of the prevent a rush, which in this vast popuopposition of the native rulers, a Chris- lation would overwhelm any institution. tian country out of the former degraded There are various anti·opium hospitals, and wretched condition." where the victims of this vice are cured. There are industrial schools and work- Minister Denby, who represents the shops.
United States in China, has given " This is a very brief and incomplete summary of what missionaries are doing many testimonies to the character and for the Chinese. Protestant and Catho- lics from nearly every country under work of the Christian missionaries in the the sun are engaged in this work, and, in my opinion, they do nothing but good. Middle Kingdom. His latest despatch There are supposed to be 40,000 Prot- estant converts now in China, and at to the Department of State, at Wash- least 500,000 Catholic converts. There are many native Christian churches. ington, May 16th, may well be put The converts seem to be as devout as people of any other race. alongside of the open assaults or covert " As far as my knowledge extends, I attacks of enemies of the Lord's work, can and do say that the missionaries in China are self-sacrificing; that their or hypercritics who would see only flaws lives are pure; that they are devoted to their work; that their influence is beneand spots even in the sun. ficial to the natives; that the arts and sciences and civilization are greatly Mr_ Denby says in substance: spread by their efforts ; that many use- ful Western books are translated by " No one can controvert the fact that them into Chinese; that they are the the Chinese are enormously benefited leaders in all charitable work, giving by the labors of the missionaries. For- largely themselves and personally diseign hospitals are a gre!lt boon to the bursing the funds with which they are sick. China. before the advent of the intrusted; that they do make converts, foreigner, did not know what surgery and such converts are mentally benewas; now there are more than twenty fited by conversion." charity hospitals. presided over by men of as great ability as can be found else- Detractors and depreciators of miswhere in thc world; Dr. Kerr's, at Canton, is one of the great institutions of sions might do well to scan the follow_ the kind In the world. The Viceroy Li Hung Chang has for years maintained ing summary of the work of William at Tien-Tsln, at his own expense. a foreign hospital. In education, the move- Carey: ment is immense. There are schools and colleges all over China taught by The first complete or partial translathe missionaries. I havc been present tions of the Bible printed in 40 lanoften at the exhibitions given by those guages and dialects of India, China, schools. They showed progress in a Central Asia and neighboring lands at great degree. The educated Chinaman a cost of $80,143; the first work and who speaks English becomes a new man. A long time before the present war the Emperor was studying English, and, it is said, was fast acquiring the language. vernacular newspaper In Bengalee-the tened for slaughter. So little did they language of 70,000,000 of human be· understand the charity and compassion ings; the first printing press on an or· which the Gospel of Christ teaches. gani1.ed scale, paper-mill and steam en· This reminds us of one of the experigine seen in India; the first Christian ences of John Williams in the South primary school In North India; the first Seas, when the Christian party, being efforts to educate native girls and wom· victors, set a feast and fed all the capen; the first college to train native min- tives taken in war, which so melted isters and Christianize educated Hindus; their foes that for sheer emotion they the first Hindu Protestant convert, could not eat, and actually knelt at the Krishna Chundra Pal, baptized In 1800 ; tables and SUbmitted to the God of their the first medical mission, of which that captors I convert was to some extent the fruit; the establishment and maintenance of at Rev. Dr. Henry Martyn Scudder, so least 80 separate larga mission stations, well known for his work in India, and besides Judson's great work in Burma, afterward in Brooklyn and in Chicago, which resulted in the foundation of the died,June4th, at Winchester, Mass.,and American Baptist Miseionary Society; leaves behind him a record of great serthe first private garden and society for vice in manifold forms. He was one of the improvement of native and Euro- the brightest, keenest men ever on the pean agriculture and horticulture in missionary field. Even the acute, ag- India; the first savings bank in India; tute Brahmans found their match in the the first translations into English of the ready wit and fertile resource of this great Sanskrit epics, the Ramayan and missionary. Indeed, he had himself Mahribarat, and the first translation of much of the best traits and characterthe Bible into Sanskrit, both being means istic subtlety of the Hindu mind. To of bringing the learned classes of India the last he continued the warm friend and the Gospel into sympathetic accord. and powerful advocate of missions. He The indirect results of the work of belonged to a family, of remarkable char- Carey or his beloved associates can best acters and careers, whose names will not be expressed as the PrOlparatio EDan- soon be forgotten. We hope a biogragelica, which 50 years only after Carey's phy of Dr. Scudder will bc given to the death has increased the Protestant native world. If the material! exist for an Church of India to a community of half autobiography-that is, as Dr. Holmes a million of souls, who have more or- used to say, what a biography ought dained pastors of their own than foreign to be. missionaries, and who increase at the rate of 86 per cent every decade. Mrs. Wllliam Thaw, of Pittsburgh, forwards a copy of the " Constitution As an exchange remarks, May 8th of the Westminster Society," which it ought to be a red-letter day in Japan. is proposed to make the basis of an The sun rose on Perry's fleet anchored organization in various churches. in Mississippi Bay on that morning in 1858. In 1857 our envoy, Townsend "The object of this society shall be Harris (aided by his Dutch secretary, to train the young members of the secured by the Rev. Dr. De Witt), con- Church in the history, doctrines, and cluded treaty negotiations in Yedo on customs of the Presbyterian Church. to that day. Thirty-eight years after- the end that the kingdom of the Reward, on the same date, Premier Ito, deemer may be advanced through the at Cheefoo, in China, ratified the treaty upbuilding of believers and the develof peace which adds Formosa to the opment of a true missionary spirit." island chain of Japan, which now stretches from Arctic to tropic regions. It embraces a missionary and relig- ious committee, whose work is the When a company of wounded Chi- study of missionary methods; the diffunese soldiers were taken to the Red sion, by obtaining subscriptions or Cross Hospital at Tokyo, were taken care of there, laid on soft beds and provided with good food, they were astonished, and feared they were being fatotherwise, of missionary literature. and the never-to·be-omltted cup of hot They shall secure from the various tea, which with biscuit. sugar, and but· boards such pamphlets as describe the ter. we had brought with us. After our work of the Church, both at home and abroad, and shall cultivate such a hammocks were hung and things made spirit as will lead them, if need be, to go snug for the night, came a meeting in into the work itself. They shall, with the co·operation and counsel of the pas- the church, which was packed, then tor, have charge of the weekly prayermeeting of the society, choosing the the natives had supper, sang hymns, leaders and subjects. This committee and chatted till eleven o'clock, then shall, with the pastor, arrange for meetings to be held for special instruc- evening prayers in the different camps, tion, by the pastor or some member of the session, in the doctrines and gov· and by daylight we were up, had a cup ernment of the Presbyterian Church. of tea, took a photograph of the group, and were off again. and so on each day till we got home. Chrissie walked 175 miles and I, 195, as I wanted to visit some inland villages, and she remained with the teacher's wife. My daughter is the first white woman who ever walked round Erromanga, and perhaps the only one who will ever attempt it, Rev. H. A. Robertson, of Erromanga, where John Williams was cruelly for it is a great undertaking for any clubbed to death, writes of his recent woman. Next year, if spared. I intrip around Erromanga, where he has been as a missionary of the Canadian tend to take two months over it, and Presbyterians for twenty years: thus be arblheatvoeenxoawmi3n7e carefully every school. teachers on full pay. The Canadian Church provides for 30 of them. The teachers them- October 10, 1894. selves provide for 2, both last year and this year, and the remaining /) I have Chrissie and r accompanied by a settled onfaith. An Erromangan never band of young men as carriers and a betrays teeling, and in twenty·two number of chiefs, elders, teachers, etc., have just completed a thorough visita- years, except in their prayers, they have never expressed any word about our tion of every district round this large work for them, but their changed life island. We walked every inch of the rwsaeyttleexdcseipxt when carried over rivers. and the glorious vlctorv over heathen· teachers, examined several l~m, rendering life and property safe all over Erromanga, these are our reo schools, gave short addresses, taught ward, and above all God's precious new hymns, gave out books, had talks presence and blessing. Mrs. Robertson with leading men, roughly surveyed has much improved in health since June; the country, and completed the cen~us. until then she spent most of her time There are only 1745 natives on the Isl- in bed, but now is up all day, able to and, 897 males and 848 females. This time I took no notice of the natives who attend to many household duties.
have gone in labor v_els, for they are as good as dead. I know exactly by name 1800 souls, and have visited them The Man of the Book.
in their own villages. Our following, When, in 1853, a rebellion broke out during the three weeks of our journey, in the region around Amoy, and all Eu- ropeans were in danger of their lives, was never fewer than fifty, and some· and when no other European would venture out among the rebels, William times it ran up to three hundred, and C. Burns was free to go where he liked. .. That's the man of the Book," they one day there were three hund1'ed and would say; "he must not be touched. " The Lord was with him, because he so .fifty. What a grand sight it was to lIlagnified His word, and the freedom look back as we journeyed over the he enjoyed was itself a convincing testi· winding path I Women in their bri~ht mony to his character as a disciple. Birmingham prints, men in their shIrts What says the first Psalm of him whose delight and meditation centre upon the and trousers, and some· with their Lava· law of the Lord? .. Whatsoever he doeth lava of calico round their loins, and the 8halt prosper /"
boys and girls with bright flowers in their black hair, and all carrying some- thing. When we came to the teacher's house and church, where we were to sleep, his people met to shake hands with the missionary and his daughter, and then with all the people I Then came the opening out of our clothing, etc., and later a supper of native pud- ding, baked fowls, drinking cocoanuts, Those who bury the Lord's money in them I And an old negro, who was an stocks and real estate and various officer in a church of colored people in worldly luxuries would do well to read Princeton, N. J., once prefaced the colwhat John Wesley said at the close of lection with a few words to the people, life, after having served God and the in which he remarked that he had no- Church between sixty and seventy ticed a good deal of " bowin' to de plate, years: "I am pained for you who are but dat bowln' to de plate would not fill rich in this world. Do you give all you de plate ," can? (Nay; may I not do what I will with my own?' you reply. Here lies Didn't Believ8 Ie.-Bishop Whipple, of your mistake. It is not your own. It Minnesota, says that the Dakota Indcannot be, unless you are lord of heaven ians once held a war dance near a misand earth. Who gave you this addi· sion house. He went to Wabasha, the tion to your fortune? Do not you chief, and said: "Wabasha, you asked know that God intrusted you with that me for a missionary and teacher. I money for His work?· • But I must gave them to you. 1 visit you, and the provide for my children.' Certainly. first sight is this brutal scalp dance. I But how? By making them rich? knew the Chippeway whom your young Then you will probably ruin them. men have murdered. His wife is crying • What shall I do, then ?' Lord, speak for her husband; his children are asking to their hearts, else I speak in vain. for their father. Wabasha, the Great Leave them enough to live on, not in Spirit hears His children cry. He is idleness, but honest industry. And if angry. Borne day he will ask Wabasha, you have no children, upon what prin' , Where is your red brother? '" The ciple can you leave a groat behind more old chief smiled, drew his pipe from his than enough to bury you? What does mouth, and said: "White man go to it signify whether you leave £10,000 or war with his own brother in the same ten thousand boots and shoes? Haste I country; kill more men than Wabasha haste I Send all you have before you can count in all his life. Great Spirit go to the better world." smiles; says, 'Good white man I He has My Book. I love him very much. The Rev. F. B. Meyer, of London, I have a good place for him by and by.' tells of one whose income is $10,000 per The Indian is a wild man. He has no annum, who lives on $1000 and gives Great Spirit Book. He kills one man, the remaining $9000 to the cause of for- has a scalp dance. Great Spirit is mad, eign missions; another, whose income and says, 'Bad Indian I I put him in a is $10,000, who lives on $1200 and gives bad place by and by.' Wabasha don't away the remainder. A governess who believe it I"-New York Tribune. earns $500 gives $250. Another, who has a comfortable competence, remains Noone can read Mrs. William Booth's in business, all the profits of which he life, published by Revell, without wishgives. This is truly laying up treasure ing it were not spread through two in heaven, and although their earthly great volumes. octavo, with 700 pages wealth may not amount too much, they each. Nor can one read the thrilling shall be rich as princes when they have story of the" Mother of the Salvation gone to the " great beyond." Army" without being reminded of the well-known and heroic woman who was Any interest in missions that is no called to account for her evangelistic deep enough to incite to and inspire giv- activity in the Baptist field in Burma. ing is spurious. We have heard of an .. Were you ever ordained to preach ?.. old lady who would not give any money, asked the committee. .. No; but I but who always went to missionary was foreordained to preach the Gospel meetings to "give her eountenance" to to the unsaved," was the answer.
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY BEV. D. L. LEONAlID.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign -" Notwithstanding' wars and ru· Periodicals. mors of wars,' all the religious work of the Malagasy Christians is, as yet, car- BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, ried on without any interruption. Very hearty and earnest services were held at MASS. the end and beginning of the year, and stirring addresses given both by mis- LONDON MIsSIONARY SOCIETY. sionaries and native pastors. It is very touching to hear the prayers offered by -Lord Plunkett, Archbishop of Dub· the Malagasy, not only for themselves lin, at a centenary meeting of the Dub- and for God's protection against their lin auxiliary of the London lIisslonary enemies, but also for the French ; even Society. remarked: "I dare say that the escort which left soon after the spe- we shall all agree in this, that if any- cial commissioners' departure were spe· where there is to be found a meeting. cially remembered in a way that I fear place where members of different de· many English Christians would hardly nominations may find a standing ground have done. Defective as Malagasy together it is on the platform of the Christianity is in many ways, the peo- mission field. I remember having had ple here have certainly learned some of a conversation with a Presbyterian the essential lessons of the Gospel; and clergyman in the north of Ireland. He the absence of revengeful feeling, not· wall a Protestant of a pronounced type withstanding the many provocations -an out·and-out Protestant, and no they have received, is certainly very mistake-and yet that clergyman told marked. Yet for all that it seems cer- me that, when amid the darkness of tain that the best people will rally round heathendom in some far· off land, he their queen and fight to the last if the met with a Roman Catholic missionary interior is invaded. " serving in all sincerity and singleness of mind, and with much self·sacrifice, -The Rev. W. E. Cousins says in to promote the kingdom of Christ The (Jhronicle, speaking of Madagas- along the lines dictated to him by the car: "Of the 1300 native congrega- Church of Rome; that he, this clergy- tions under our care not less than 8U3 man of whom I speak, this Protestant are in the central province of Imerina. clergyman, this out·and·out Protes· Here our work was begun three quar- tant clergyman, yet felt himself drawn ters of a century ago (1820); and here, to his Roman Catholic brother by ties as the result of long-continued and well· of common sympathy such as he had sustained labors, the majority of our never felt toward him had he come churches are to be found. in contact with him under other cir- cumstances here at home; and if this " Our work in Madagascar is essen- be the case as regards our relationship tially the care and guidance of con- to a church between which and our own verts. Indeed. from the reopening of there are divergencies of such vital and the mission in 1862 we have always tremendous import, should it not be the worked mainly among a professedly case among those who, as I have more Christian people. In developing and than once made bold to say from this guiding the existing congregations we platform, have among them many dif· have, indeed, been the means of attract- ferences which I do not desire to min- ing and winning thousands of heathens ; but the organized churches have themof imize, yet, as I believ"', are agreed in selves been the -great attra8tive force.
.all the real essentials the Christian Faith?"
EXTRACTS ANl) TRANSLA'J'JONS
Only indirectly have the missionaries Sunday in the' great Hova city;' and in Imerina had to deal with the heathen in this general observance of the day of as such. But they have, nevertheless, rest we have a clear indication of the had the happiness year by year of sec· hold the Christian religion has taken on ing how God uses His churches as a the people. true missionary agency for spreading the light, and for drawing men away .. If we enter with these church-going from the superstition and impurity of crowds we shall usually find good con- .heathenism. The organized churches gregations met for worship. The men are still the great instruments for ex- will all be seated on one side and the tending Christ's kingdom; and all that women on the other. This is the unitends to strengthen and develop church versal practice in Madagascar ; and it life hastens on the day when the whole has arisen, I think, not from any rule of Madagascar will be indeed a Chris- laid down by missionaries, but from natian land; and, on the other hand, all tive feelings of propriety. that tends to break up or to hinder their work seems to us calculated to re- "The visitor will soon find that the tard, at least for the present, the exten- Malagasy are a music-loving race. Much sion of Christ's kingdom in the island. of the singing is really excellent. The voices are musical and the parts are well "Christian churches are to·day one sustained, though the style of tunes of the most prominent and easily r~cog most popular, many of them of native nized forces in the land. Religion no composition, does not always commend longer hides its head in the depths of itself to our taste. The singers occupy the forest or in the caves of the earth, a prominent position near the pulpit, but buildings set apart for worship and and a,re considered by themsel ves and schools erect their heads boldly in the others as very important functionaries. most conspicuous positions. In and Occasionally they cause trouble, as I around A.ntananarivo this fact forces it- understand singers have been known to self upon the notice of a traveller. The do in more advanced communities. four stone memorial churches of our Some time since I met a native pastor own society, the cathedral of St. Law- from the country, and on my asking rence-belonging to the Anglican Mis- him about tbe progress of the congresion-and the great Roman Catholic gation in his village, he said: • Oh, we cathedral are one and all well-built and are doing well now. Those singers imposing structures. These and other cause us no more trouble; we punished public edifices in the capital tell their them for their insubordination by mak- own tale, which is also confirmed by ing them stand with heavy stones upon the districts around. Anyone standing their heads '-Dante's purgatorial pun- on the higher parts of the city may ishment for the crime of avarice_ count well·built village chapels by the dozen. Indeed, almost every village .. Malagasy congregations, and espearound A.ntananarivo has its Protestant cially Antananarivo congregations, are piace of worship. generally well behaved, and the people listen with attention and interest to the "These' houses of prayer,' as they sermons either of missionaries or of their are called by the natives, are on the own native ministers. Public speaking whole well attended. The Hovas are a is an art in which many excel, and the religious people. The Sunday morning man who has the gift of uttering apt is ushered in by the church-going bell, and well-chosen words exercises great and the streets of the capital are crowd· influence for good. ed before and after service time by hun- dreds of neatly dressed worshippers. .. The strength of our Protestant ser· Even casual visitors are struck with the vices is the supreme place which is air Qf order and quiet that reigns on given to the reading and explanation of God's Word. Bible-teaching has al- ways held a prominent place in our work, and the open Bible is the glory day would be the usual wages of II labor- of our churches. Protracted labor has ing man, it is a fact full of encourage- been expended on producing a stand· ment that no less a sum than £7336 was ard translation-Protestant missionaries raised in 1894 for church purposes. _ • _ of all the societies having, under the "'I'he missionary spirit is certainly superintendence of the British and For· growing, . . . and many among the eign Bible Society, spent eleven years Hova Christians are deeply in earnest in on this important work. The 2000 Prot- the attempt to win the whole of Mada- estant churches now existing in the gascar for Christ. . • • island have as their most cherished pos· " The coming war may, it is feared, session, as their perennial fountain of check much of this growing activity for healthful teaching, and as their shield a time. Disorganization and confusion against all the wiles of error, this care- may be caused in many districts if the fully considered ver5ion of the Holy French persist in their attempt to obtain Scriptures. by force what they have not been able " Much activity is manifested by the to gain by milder measures. But I do various congregations, and a healthy not for a moment believe that these Prot- interest in church affairs exists among estant churches of Madagascar will be the people. A very strong democratic turned away from the faith they have spirit prevails, and anyone from within accepted. The conservatism of the peo- or from without, missionary or native, ple, which sometimes proves a hindrance attempting to 'dictate to the Church' to the plans of an earnest and enthusi- (mandidll Jia,ngOnana) soon finds he has astic missionary, will in this matter be to reckon with a spirit of sturdy inde- a strength to the churches. But above pendence. all else the knowledge of Holy Scrip- "Great interest is taken in the dis- ture possessed by the people, the way cussion of church business; but I no- in which the Bible has rooted itself in tice that nothing draws so many as the their reverence and love will now prove knowledge that some personal matter their safeguard. Roman Catholic mis- will come up, pos5ibly some case of dis- sionaries have nothing to offer that cipline. I have known very happy and would take the place of the free, healthy helpful church meetings in Madagas- church life they now enjoy. and of the car; but I have also been present at supreme place the Bible has taken in some in which party feeling ran high, all their services and in the develop.
and the feelings and tongues of the ment of their religious life. We may people were both unduly excited. A be prepared to hear of changes in Mada- year or two since I attended a meet- gascar, perhaps even of temporary, ing in a country church where some retrogression, of work interrupted, of difficulty had arisen about the choice of schools broken up, of churches discour- II pastor, and I found the village almost aged. The war may cause many evils in a state of riot, bludgeons and long such as these; but looking at the char- knives having been brought bV some as acter of the people, at the way they aids toward the settlement of a question have borne severe trials in the past, at that had evidently caused strong party the condition and work of the churches feeling. Happily the discussion of the to·day, and, above all, looking upward matter in question was postponed aine to Him who is the Guide and Defender die. of His people, we cannot, I think, in- " A growing spirit of liberality is no- clude among the evils to be feared ticeable among our people. Remem- any large measure of departure from bering tbat a dollar means to an ordi- the simple, Bible-nourished Christian nary Malagasy about as much as a sov- faith which has now for so many ereign does to the average Englishman. years existed among the Malagasy peo- and that threepence or. fourpence per ple."
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
AFRICA. Therefore, although these missiona· ries are not ejected as Protestants, but _H Sharp as a knife, but kind as a as foreIgners, the practical result is mother," was the witness borne by the likely to be the same as if they were. people of the Pokomo )lission, in East Africa, when they heard that the found- -" The bishopric of Nyas8aland, va- er of the mission, Ferdinand Wurtz, cated by Bishop Hornby, has been ac- had just died at Marseilles. cepted by Archdeacon Chauncey Ma- ples, who has been laboring in the .. The attitude adopted by France in Universities' Mission for. fifteen years its positions toward Protestant mis- or more. His name is familiar to all sions"-more properly toward English, friends of that mission. It is dltlicult American, and German mlssions-H sup- to think of any IUan whose qualifica- plies the Allgemeine Missions Zeit8chrifl tions for the post are 80 obvious."- with a mournful vaticination anent the Ohurch Missionary IntelUgencer. prospects of West African evangeliza- tion. The republfc, unhappily for Prot- -Herr SEEGER, in the OaZwer Mia· estant effort, has received the lion's 8ionsblatt, remarks that we all our Iives share in the partition of West Africa, a have been receiving moral and spiritual share emphasized by the latest Anglo- truth by pailfuls, and are disposed to French delimitation of the Sierra Leone pour it out upon the heathen by pailfrontiers, in which Sierra Leone sacri- fuls, unmindful of the fact that we fices its political ambition to the secu- spill the· most of it, that they are only rity of its exi~ting commercial interests. capable of receiving it by drops. We Taking as West Africa the coast from ought to learn, he says, that in this mat- Senegambia to Angola, with an indefinite ter less IUay be more. interior boundary, we find, according to the Evangelische Mission, that the Ro- -It is frequently said that no living man Catholic power has, in proportion man can read Eliot's Indian Bible. to its extent of coast line, largely ex- This, however, is an error. We have ceeded the Protestant during the last been informed by J. Hammond Trumten years. The religious attitude of bull, Esq., the. eminent Algonquin schol- -France is, therefore, the more unwel- ar, that he finds Eliot's Bible, from the come, especially as not being seriously greater familiarity of its dialect, a good shared by Portugal, Spain, or Belgium_ stepping-stone to remoter forms of the In Fernando Po the Primitive Metho· Algonquin speech. dists continue their labors·; in Angola the American workers remain apparent- -Dr. F. M. ZAHN remarks, in the ly unmolested; in the Congo Free Allgemeine Mi8siona Zeit8Ch1-ijt, that it State, theoretically interkonfeBBional, might almost seem as if" a spirit from though practically under Roman Catho- the Lord" had gone out, portraying lic control, Protestant missions are yet Africa in such alluring colors to the tolerated, whatever uncertainty, born Christian nations that, in spite of themof p088ible economic changes, may lie selves, they have to strive for its approaround their future. But from the priation. H We Germans, none too well French spheres of influence foreign supplied with earthly wealth, find our- workers, on various trivial pretexts, are selves laying out marks by the hundred being steadily ejected. True, the Paris thousand on the sandy stretches of Evangelical Mission has hitherto been Southwest Africa, and millions yearly permitted to offer substitutes, yet a on the savannas of East Africa. The larger contribution than that available Belgian king is possessed with a costly from the 650,000 Protestants of France fancy which drives him to the laying is requisite for the needs of its colonial out of enormous sums on the Congo empire."-Ohurch Mi88'i.onary Intelli- Free State. He has already spent some $5,000,000 on it, and still goes on spendgencer. ing, although it brings in yearly $400,-
ENGLISH
000 less than it cost. Belgium itself, a few more days' work like this" Is a which has finally taken the State off the natural wish on his part.
hands of the king, seems to be equally CTtina.-The Rev. Jonathan Lees, of profuse with its money. France, too, Tientsin, has received a most pathetie out of her great wealth, easily spares letter, signed by representatives of the 30,000,000 francs to free Africa from churches in the Leusan district. II They the tyrant of Dahomey, and grants 65,- themselves likened it to the cry from 000,000 franc.s for the unhappy end of Macedonia in St. Paul's vlsion-a cry subduing the Hovas." And lives are for teachers and guidance. Would that spent as unhesitatingly as treasure. we could do tenfold more than they -It appears that Father Vaughan, ask! Alas! we cannot do that. Yet the brother of Cardinal Vaughan, is the whole country thereabouts has been much disturbed, as well he may be, open to us for years, and any worthy that atheistic France is likely to over- effort might have won thousands for master Christian Madagascar. The Christ. But what are the two or three . Hova Government is Protestant, it is men we could send them in view of true; but this eminent priest justlyac- their dense Ignorance and many needs? counts this religious difference, impor- Oh, that God would raise up some na- tant as he would doubtless esteem it in tive apostles! While we are very slowitself, as a small thing compared with ly training the few preachers, the peothe difference between a thoroughly ple are dying without hope." "Here. " Christian government and a thoroughly he concludes, "is something for our infidel government, such as he says the English friends to pray about."
French would infallibly establish. He Hong Kong Medical Mia8ion.-Much· sees the heroism of a Christian Judith satisfaction is expressed at the prospect in the queen, who, in her own chapel, of the return of Mr. J. C. Thomson, exhorts her subjects not to despair of M.D., to resume the superintendence of Divine help against this mighty foe. the medical mission of Hong Kong. Where the right is, it is easy to see. Mr. Thomson is a native of Lockerbie, The Jesuit.Cauneque, as we have seen, Scotland, and at a valedictory service himself a Frenchman, pronounces the held there recently he urged his townspretentions of France unwarranted. men to consider whether the time had not come for them to fall into line with the forward movement in missions that English Notes. is now belp.g proclaimed by nearly all BY JAMES DOUGLAS. the great societies. Men talked of ex- pecting great things of God. God ex- New Guinea.-TheRev. W. G. Lawes pected great things of men. The failreports' the baptism and reception into ure is that we are so slow to :work out the Church of 68 candidates, many of what God works in. whom are old scholars, who for a time had left the mission-the fruit from old The Bt01"1J of My Oon'lJM'BWn.-From a sowing. He describes them as •• ear- lengthened statement of the story of his nest and sincere" and as II coming from conversion, supplied by Atul K. Nag, all parts of the three villages of Port who says, II I was born of Hindu par- Moresby." ents, and I am a Bengali by race," we Mr. Dauncey has also an encouraging make the following significant extract: experience to relate. Speaking of a II I did not become a Christian for any recent visit to Klvorl, he says, II The worldly gain-not to obtain a situation, two New Guinea teachers are working for I was already an independent man; well and eeeing the result of their not that I might marry an English or labors." After examination, Mr. Daun- an accomplished wife. for I had already ooy baptized 34 adults. II I would like a wife who came out with me. thinking
GENERAL IDSSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
it tit to Ca.st in her lot with me, a.lthough is now at Wei-hai-wei, keeping a'food she was not then a Christian; not for shop and evangelizing; some soldiers the sake of English food, for as yet I have been his trophies there. have not been able to take flesh, having a natural aversion to It (not that I have We8leyan Mi8,iona1'1J Societll.-The any prejudice against it), and I still live General Committee have agreed to the upon a genuine native diet. I mention immediateoccnpation of Buluwayo, Mr. these things, not to make a parade of Eva commencing work there pending them, but to show such of my readers the arrival in the country of bIr. Shimas may ascribe all sorts of unkind and min and the new missionary. evil motives to one who wishes to come out and become a Christian, that it is Oape Hayti, Hayti.-A new chapel the love of Christ alone which con- has been erected at a cost of $7400. strains him to follow Christ." Only a debt of $800 remains. "Best of all," writes Mr. Picot, " the new chapel, Mongolia.-Much interest attaches to which seats 820 persons, is full of worthe testimony of the Rev. W. E. Mac· shippers, and already we have had sevfarlane, with respect to the undying in- eral conversions to God in it. The old fluence of that devoted servant Gil- chapel is now used as our day school." mour, in the unpromising field of Mongolia. Mr. Macfarlane, fresh from that "Kwang Tung ,. or, Five Years in land, speaks of Gilmour as having, by &uth Ohina. "-This is an interesting his self·denying labors, paved the way work by the Rev. John A. TurntJr, who for other missionaries. He points out spent fi ve years as one of the Wesleyan that while formidable obstacles to tho missionaries in South China. Since reception of Christian truth exist there, 1842 the number of Protestant commufrom the stolid indifference of the Mon- nicants has risen from the unit 6 to gols and the immense number and power 40,000. Despite all discouragements, of the Lamas, yet the laborers in that Mr. Turner holds that we have" as sterile soil looked forward confidently to much reason to believe in the final conthe dawn of a brighter day for Mongols version of the great Chinese Empire to and Chinese alike. Christianity as any missionaries in any non-Christian country ever had."
Ohri8tians at Wei-hai·wei.-It is in_ Baptist Mi88i~na1'1J Sodetll-Makunda teresting to find that in this fortitied Das, of Orissa.-The Rev. Thomas quarter, recently captured by the Japan- Bailey, of Cuttack, Orissa, reports the ese, a little work for Christ has been death of Makunda Das, to whom he proceeding. The evangelist there was pays an affectionate tribute. Makunda formerly a dominie, having reached that Das occupies a foremost place as a writer appointment through having proved his of beautiful hymns, and probably as unfitness for anything else-a method long as the Oriya language continues, now obsolete in the West. When serv- his hymns alone will cause his name to ing as a schoolmaster in Ning-hai; he be gratefully remembered. His conwas spoken to by a Christian Chinaman tributions to Christian literature have about Jesus, but, by way of answer, also been widely read and have done said he wanted no foreign religion. immense service. This especially ap- "But Jesus can save you from your plies to a non·controversial tract ensins t" The idea took hold on him, titled" What is Christianity t" the oband thinking a Saviour from sin might ject being to furnish an exposition of have something to offer him, he took a Ohristian doctrine and practice. As a New Testament home and read it far preacher Makunda Das had a profusion into the night. It brought him to Christ, of tropes and tigures. His language and since his conversion he has been was glowing rhetoric. With him it trying to lead others to the Lord. He was natural to be ornate, and, we may add, intense. He could not stoop to and an impression is taken on thin, note interruptions or objections at the damp paper. This paper, officially time, but moved on swiftly in his course signed, is his passport. like a ship with full canvas under a stiff breeze. In December last he -Dr. Bonar, the author of many preached, for the last time, a spfrited hymns, dreamed that the angels took sermon on the nature of true conver- his zeal and weighed it, and told him sion, "For this my son was dead and that it was excellent, for it w~ighed exis alive again." After serving weH his actly 100, which was all that could be generation he has departed in the sixty- asked. He was greatly gratified at Ihe seventh year of his age. result. Next they.wished to analyze it. They put it in a crucible and tested it THE KINGDOM. in various ways, with this result: 14 parts were selfishness, 15 parts secta- -" What shaH I do for Christ?" rianism, 22 ambition, 23 love to man, asked a young disciple of Bishop Sel- and 26 love to God. He awoke humwyn. .. Go where He is not, and take bled, and determined on a new conse- Him with you," was the venerable cration. bishop's reply. -Some years ago a missionary in -The day is long past when any ex- Bunnah came to a village where the rats cept the ignorant and prejudiced speak had destroyed the rice crop. A deacon of foreign missions with a sneer. The of the church brought him a large century now drawing to a close has no offering to help carry the Gospel to the prouder laurel than that which it wears Karens in a remote region. The mis· as distinctively the century of mission- sionary. seeing the destitution in the ary effort and progress recorded in the village, objected to taking the money ; evangelization of the world.-Harper'8 but the deacon said, "Take it ; we can Bazar. live on rats, but the Karens can't get along without the Gospel." – Two Bavarian missionaries belonging to the station at Killalpaninna, in -Hundreds of young men annually Central Australia, were sitting chatting leave our shores as cadets. 'All their with the Christianized aborigines after friends rejoice when they think of them the midday meal, when the conversation bearing the commissions of our queen. turned on their state before their con- When any dangerous expedition is version, and it was asked if any of planned by government. more volunthem had ever committed a murder. It teel'S apply than are necessary to man turned out that out of the nine who it. On the proposal to send a band of were present only one had never killed brave men in search of Sir John Frank:- a man, and that only becaus~ he was lin, a full complement for the ships too cowardly; but he had helped at the could have been procured of officers murders of others. alone, without any common sailors. And what thousands rushed to Califor- -Did he say it? Or, what is far nia, from different parts of America, on more to the purpose, is the aHegation the discovery of gold I How many true? John Wanamaker is reported husbands left their wives and families I to have remarked: "It is the hardest How many Christian men tore themthing in the world to find a clean, selves away from all home endearments strong. healthy, earnest, upright young to suffer and toil and perish by cold man." and starvation on the overland route I How many sank from fever and ex- -The lines of no two human hands haustion on the banks of the Sacraare exactly alike. When a traveHer in mento I Yet no word of sacrifices there. China desires a passport. the palm of And why should we so regard aU we the hand is covered with fine oil paint, give and do for the Well-beloved of our vine name, while in portions of India souls? Our talk of sacrifices is ungen- the translators are as sorely ~ut to it to erous and heathenish.–David Liming. decide whether to choose taalia or salus stone. in the Urdu speech as the equivalent for our term trinity. -It is figured out that the Christian churches of America give on the aver- -The Deutsche Kirdtenuitu'fI{j, of age one sixty-fourth of their ordained Berlin, has computed, on the basis of men to foreign missionary work; that the latest scientific and statistical sources it takes 7862 church-members to sup- accessible, a table showing the distribuport one foreign missionary, and that tion of the human family according to the average giving per member is but rellgion. The population of the earth 40 cents. is as follows : -An extra cent a dai from each one Europe … , …………………… ·881,200,000 of 15,500,000 Protestant Evangelical Africa………………………… 127,000,000 church-members in the United States Asia…………………………… 864,000,000 would add $56,575,000 a year to the Australia……. …. …. ……….. 4,730,000 Lord's treasury. Only an extra cent a America… .. .. .. .. …… ………. 1S3,670,00!l day is required. The First Church at Newton Centre, Mass., has an Extra- Total ……………………. 1,500,000,000 Cent-a-Day Band, which has raised on the average $359.20 every year for the The leading religions are represented last five years, in all $1796, of which it by the following figures : has given one half to the American Board and one half to the several home Protestant ChristIans…………… jl()(),000,000 missionary societies. Roman Catholic Christians……… 195,000,000 Greek Catholic Christians. •. . •• . . . . 105,000,000 -The Synod of Missouri has agreed to send to the foreign field five of the Total Christians…… ………. 500,000,000 young men who had offered themselves to the Board, and whom it was unable Jews ………………. , …. .. .. .. 8,000,000 to send on account of lack of funds. A Mohammedans….. …………… 180,000,000telegram to the Assembly on the last Heathens……….. …. ……….. 812,000,000 day of its session from the synod announced that $3500 was pledged, and Total non-Christians ………… 1,000,000,000 that it would be made $5000. WOMAN'S WORK. -We are wont to pity the poor missionaries for their trials and hardships, -" Twenty-five years ago," says Dr. while we envy the secretaries because of Booth, "permission was asked to put the ease and honors which fall to their something in the report on foreign mislot; but Dr. Jessup, having been a mis- sions concerning the women, and I was sionary in Syria during ali his life, and told that I might say a word with refhaving acted as secretary for six months, erence to employing them as medical claims'to be ready to endure the hardest missionaries.' , trials of the foreign position rather than the nervous strain and excitement of the -In Regions Beyond for April there secretary's chair. is a statement to this effect: "The women of Great Britain and Ireland -Ignorance and superstition, original are sending to their sex, by means of 12 sin and total depravity do not constitute different organizations, 770 European the source of all missionary trouble. women, of whom 38 are medical work- By no means; for in China Christian ers, 20 being fully qualified doctors. scholars find it Impossible to agree upon These reach 20 different countries, emthe best word to use to express the DI- ploy about 2000 native helpers, and manage 900 schools, in which branch· of their work 64,400 are brought under _ Christian teaching, while it is impossi- ble to reckon the thousands of lives they daily touch and infiuence in their evan- gelistic zenana and medical work." J , -Rev. A. C. Good writes this of the sex throughout the entire denomination, lot of women among the Bule of West but rather, for the must part, only such Africa: "Although the garden may be as dwell within certain subdivisions of a mile from town, no effort is ever made the Union. Thus, within the Presby- to improve the road, which often passes terian Church are found no less than 7 through swamps, along the bed of woman's boards.
streams, or over fallen logs and brush. -The Presbyterian women sustain in Over this road she must carry a big Alaska 8 schools with 37 teachers; basket of firewood, day after day, as among the Indians. 24 schools with 140 she returns from her work. Later, she teachers, and reaching no less than 31 must add to this load the daily supply tribes; among the Mexicans. 27, with of food for the family and guests. 57 teachers; Mormons, 30, with 84 Then a big jar of water must be teachers; mountain whites, 25, with 77 brought from the stream." teachers: a total of 114 schools and 395 -The Baptist women. are able to teachers.
make this report: .. Work Is carried on UNITED STATES. ~ 114 missionaries, 63 of whom are representatives of our own society, and -According to Mr. Mulhall, this is 51 other missionaries of the Union, 142 the most favored of nations. Thus, the Bible women, 539 native teachers. Our United States possesses .. almost as appropriations have aided 434 schools much energy as Great Britain, Ger- with 10,238 pupils, reporting 611 bap- many, and France combined." "An tisms." ordinary farm hand in the United States -Two hundred pulpits in London on raises as much grain as 3 in England, 4 a recent Sunday were occupied by rep- in France, 5 in Germany, or 6 in Ausresentative women, drawn to the great tria." .. Our annual expenditure for metropolis by the International Conven- schools is 3 times that of Great Britain, tion of the Woman's Christian Temper- 5 times that of France, and 6 times that ance Union. Ignored by most of the of Germany." .. No nation ever before London journals, this assembly, never- possessed 41,000,000 instructed cititheless, was one of fa:.reaching signifi- zens. " He estimates that in 1890 our cance and intense interest. Australia, wealth was $65,037,000,000, or an aver- America, India, and Continental Eu- age of $1039 to each inhabitant.
rope were fully represented. -The last annual volume of Apple- -At the recent anniversary of the ton'a EncllcZopaJdia supplies a list of gifts London Missionary Society, speaking of what her sex had done in co-opera- and bequests in the United States extion, Mrs. Matheson stated that "65 women are actively engaged: in India, clusive of " the ordinary denominational 33; China, 21 ; Madagascar, 6; South Africa, 1, and the South Seas, 4. besides contributions for educational and beneva large staff of Bible-women. She also mentioned that the gifts from native olent purposes, and State and munici- Christians in China reached a larger total than was received by any other society, pal appropriatibns to public and sectaand then asked, in comparison with that fact, where were the self·sacrifice, ear- rian institutions." It includes those for public purposes, such as schools, academies, hospitals, homes, libraries, etc. In 1894 the amount bestowed was $32,000,000; in 1893 it was $29,000,000.
This great sum includes only· gifts and bequests of $5000 and upward. '
nest pleading, and sacrifice of the -The Epworth Herald takes note that churches at home 1" " within a few weeks" some 15 colleges, -For some reason our Christian wom- from living donors, have received gifts en do not unite in missionary societies, varying in size from $20,000 to $1,800,- each one of which shall represent the 000, and aggregating nearly $3,000,000. -The Baptist Home Missionary So- and 37 building and loan associations ciety, which ended its year with a debt are also conducted by them." of over $100,000, has met with unexpected relief. At the anniversary at -Rev. J. P. Williamson writes, in a Saratoga it was announced tlIat since late Norllt and Weat, of "Our Twenthe books of the former year were tieth Church Among the Sioux Ind· closed, a legacy from the Cook estate ians," which is located in the Lake had been received, a legacy of $10,000 Trayerse region. Some 200 copper-. from the Stearns estate, and one from colored saints were present at the orthe Sampson estate amounting to ganization, and among the" exercises" $87,000. was a feast, at which 4 fat beeves con- stituted the piUe de r~si8tance. Five -The Springfield Republican indi- members joined by letter, and 10 on cates the extent to which New England confession. is being transformed by the following fact: "The increase in foreign popula- -The General Assembly of the Prestion in the small New England towns byterian Church voted to make an effort is instanced in Hinsdale, N. H., where to raise $1,000,000 as a quarter-centu,ry the census of school children recently memorial of the union of Old School completed shows a total of 185 of and New School, the first contributions American and 186 of foreign parentage. to which shall be used to wipeout the Nearly two thirds of the children of debts on all the boards. It was recomforeign parentage are of French de- mended that the beginning of the effort scent." be made in connection with July 4th memories, and a committee of 30 was -Presbyterian home missionaries appointed to have in charge and to push the movement to success. preach the Goapel in about 30 lan- -The total contributions to the guages and dialects ; and 227 of those benevolent agencies of the Presbyterian Church for the last twenty-five years, as of the Congregational Home Missionary reported ill thE! minutes of the General Assembly, were as follows: Society employ tongues other than the Home Missions ••••….•…….•..••. $15,320,520 English. . Foreign Missions ……… , . . .. .. . . .. 13,526,844 Education. … . . . . …. . . .. . . .. …. .. . 4,424,054 -Rev. E. P. Cowan, of the Presby- Publication and S. S. Work… ,. ….. 1,538,836 terian Board, states these encouraging Church Erection………………… 2,618,723 facts concerning the Freedmen: •• There Relief………………………….. 5,207,155 are among them 25,000 public-school Freedmen…… ….. .•. ••••…•…… 1,953,960 teachers, 57 college presidents, 500 theo- Aid for Colleges…………….. …. 1,813,5.';8 logical graduates in the ministry, and sustentation.. .. ……………….. 902,776 2500 other men who have studied for one or two years in theological semina- Total. …………………….. $47,306,426 ries and are now preaching; 400 physicians practising, one of them editing a In addition to the contributions to the medical and surgical journal; 300 law- boards, the churches gave the sum of yers, graduates of law schools; 65 $24,280,002 to miscellaneous benevodentists and 65 pharmacists. There are lence, and $192,044,780 to congrega- 200 newspapers and 4 magazines edited tional support; a grand total for all by colored men. In 1892 the colored contributions of $263,631,208, or an people contributed $300,000 for educa- average of $10,500,000 per annum. tion, and paid taxes on property valued at $274,000,000; 100 books on poetry, -Within twenty-five years the Ameribiography, religion; science, and gen- can Board has established 11 colleges eral literature have been written by col- (3 of them for women) in foreign lands, ored men; esssys, poems, and other and 7 theological seminaries. articles have been published in the lead- Ing magazines of the country ; 4 banks
-At the end of the fifth week after 170 congregations in embryo, with al- Easter, Lenten offerings had been re- most 20,000 members. H While the ceived by the Episcopal mission board average increase for the last fourteen from 1958 Sunday-schools, and amount- years has been 682, last year shows the ed to $46.188, an average of $23.58 from memorable figure 777."
each school. During the corresponding -The Free Church of Scotland has term in 1894, $31,033 was received sent forth 28 medical missionaries with from 1508 Sunday-schools, an average a full British qualification, of whom 5 of $20.57 from each. are women, aDd supports 2 native mis- -Bishop Thoburn, with 7 or 8 others sionaries, at Madras and Thana, making fresh from heathen soil, Is to conduct 30 medical missionaries in all. Besides a missionary campaign of six months' these, at Blythswood and other stations, continuance, and in eager quest of mis- chiefly in Africa, simple medical cases sionary funds. Alas! that 80 much are attended to by the missionaries and vigor must needs be expended upou the their wives. About 120.000 cases, surgi- saints at home to rouse them to do their cal and medical, were treated by 17 of duty. the missionaries who have reported, be- EUROPE. sides the large number of women dealt with by the surgeons and physicians of Great Britain.-Accordlng to Rev. their own sex at Madras and Nagpoor, J. M. Eppstein, there are no less than and the many relieved unprofessionally. 160 Israelites in holy orders in the At least 150,000 men, women, and chil- Church of England, who have either dren, sufferers of all Asiatic and Afribeen converted or else are the sons of can races and creeds, annually receive pa!ents who have been converted. healing and sympathy, and have the love of Jesus Christ preached and read -The China Inland )Iission was to them in our Church's dispensaries founded in 1865 by Rev. J. Hudson and hospitals, in zenanas, and in the Taylor, and as to character, is evangeli- tented camp.-Free Ohureh Monthly.
cal, interdenominational, and interna- The Continent.-A Protestant mistional. Upon its staff are 634 foreign sionary at Oporto writes that Roman missionaries, including associates, and Catholic parents are constantly apply- 366 native helpers. The stations num- ing to him to take charge of the educaber 112, with 108 out-stations, and are tion of their children, assuring him they located in 14 provinces. Over 4500 would rather let the children run in the members are in fellowship with 134 Of- streets than hand them over to the ganized churches. Jesuits. In Roman Catholic countries -The Presbyterian Church of Eng- the people know exactly what the land has 50 stations in Amoy. 29 at priests are about, and that whatever Swatow, and 36 in Formosa, with others schools exist are simply maintained for also in Hak-ka and Singapore, with a extending the dominion of the Church total Christian native membership of and undermining the liberties of· the 7780. There are 56 European agents people. The Roman Church is, in the on its staff, 22 of whom are women, in judgment of those who know It best, addition to the wives of missionaries; . H a great conspiracy against the liberties and the native evangelists number 117. of mankind. "-Indian Witne88. The total income for last year was returned at £19,629 ($98,145). -The report of the Rhenish Mission- ary Society has just been published.
-The United Presbyterian Church of This society employs 100 European Scotland reports 150 trained agents in missionaries in its various stations in the foreign field, with about 750 native Africa, New Guinea, the East Indies, helpers; 116 full congregations and and China. The greatest ingatherings
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
have been in Sumatra, where a Chris- ment there are 38 freshmen, 18 sophotian community of 30,000 Battas has mores, 6 juniors, and 2 seniors; in the been formed in 13 years. New tribes medical department 17 pursue the course of heathen are constantly asking for of pharmacy, 21 are in the first year of teachers' and preachers, and 60 youug the regular course, 15 in the second, 10 natives are studying for the work of in the third, and 8 in the fourth. evangelists. -:Mrs. Cochran, of Oroomiah. relates -The Basle Missionary Society has this strange incident: .. Last Sunday published some encouraging statistics was a day we shall not soon forget. of its operations in India, China, the About a week before, a brother of the Cameroons, and the Gold Coast. In the Nestorian Patriarch was brought to the last-named field the Gospel has become hospital sick. He died on Saturday a mighty power, the number of Chris- morning. The news spread rapidly, tians (13,036) having doubled during and people began to gather. Word was the last decade. In India the mission brought me that about 60 people were has 28 stations, with 11,903 converts; gathered and coffee was needed. It is in China the converts number 4071, and the custom to serve Turkish coffee to in the Cameroons, 1103, making a total all who call at such. times. Soon the of 30,200 Christians under pastoral care. number increased to 100, then to 200. People were seated In rooms in the col- -Twelve months hence it will be lege, and my cook made coffee and the nine hundred years since Iceland was medical students served it. Many of evangelized by Scandinavian misslona· these callers came to our house, to the ries. In 1530 the Reformed faith was Anglican Mission, the old Nestorian introduced, and to-day the popUlation bishops, etc., to consult about the place of 75,000 are Protestants. The Pope of burial. The friends all wished it to had the satisfaction, last Easter, of send- be the old Nestorian Church in the city, ing 2 Roman Catholic missionaries from but it is the law that no dead body shall Copenhagen to say mass, a service that be taken in at a city gate, so they had has not been performed in the Island to decide on another church in a village. for three hundred and sixty-five years. Meanwhile dinner had been prepared The only Roman Catholic family in the for all these guests, in charge of one of island is that of the French consular our hospital men. Four sheep, I think, agent, who resides at Reikjavik.- were used, and 125 pounds of rice. L'Egliae Ohretienne. About 800 partook."
ASIA. India.-The American Baptist Telu· gu Mission records 881 baptisms in 1894, Islam.-A special collection for the and has a membership now of 53,502, debt that oppresses the Presbyterian with 8048 Christian pupils in the schools Church, and hinders it in its work of and 54561n Sunday-schools. The medi· foreign missions, was taken in the little cal work is increasing, with 8204 new native church in Tripoli, Syria, at the patients treated during the year. Rev.. preparatory service before their com- A. C. Fuller, of this mission, writes: munion in March. It amounted to 1219 .. I find my people have heard and been piastres. That sum is equivalent to baptized, but are almost wholly unabout $50, and was probably contribut. taught, so this fs to be my greatest work ed by less than 50 donors. as soon as I can get at it. The starving sheep and lambs must be given the nec- -The annual catalogue of the Syrian essary spiritual food before we try to Protestant College at Beirut shows the reach out after others, though of course total number of students to be 262, of the gathering in of great numbers is a whom 127 are in the preparatory, 64 in great joy to the miSSionary. I mention the collegiate, and 71 in the medical department. In the collegiate depart· this so that you may know my inten- ant in South India than in any other tion, as it is not 80 strictly in the line of part of the country. Ii: recent expres- evangelizing as the work of a mission· sion of this feeling is found in an appli- ary is ordinarily, nor as I had hoped it cation presented to the agent of the would be; but those who now call South Indian Railway asking that sepa· themselves Christians must be built up rate carriage accommodation be made in the faith, and thus those coming after for high-caste Hindus. The directors will better know what Christianity is." will probably refer the matter to their -The Lutherans and the Baptists successors for consideration about the middle of the twentieth century.-Indcome into near contact in some of the ian Witness. parts of the Telugu mission field north and northwest of Ongole, and confusion – Woman'8 Workfor Woman tells of a and interference have taken place, with successful battle against caste recently charges of violations of comity. The fought in the high·school at Kolhapur; matter has now been amicably settled The son of a government schoolmaster by mutual agreement not to use certain (of the shoemaker caste) was admitted.
terms in speaking of their missions; The students came in a body demand- not to receive each other's members and ing his expulsion. If the principal'
mission workers without the consent of would not expel him, the boy must be the mission to which they belong; not put into a separate room. "No?"
to receive excommunicated members Then the matting must be cut between and dismissed workers without such him and the other caste boys. "No?"
consent; and not to undertake to ex- Then he must sit on the floor. A sepa- clude each other from any particular rate chair was given him. Still he field where either may be working. touched the matting, and they would -Some people think of India as a have to bathe twice every day. Then very rich country, and forget entirely parents came in deputations to remon- that in that Tery country about 2.000,- strate, but the school was declared to 000 die yearly of hunger or of utterly be Christian and " public." A dozen bad food. It is a rich country ; but the boys left as a consequence, none of wealth is in few hands, and much is them from the higher classes. Most of , uselessly buried in the temples. This the teachers resigned, and 50 students is very striking in Malabar, where 81 were bound to leave. But it blew over ; per cent of the population are small every teacher asked to come back, and farmers, under' extortionate landlords, one boy was the total loss.
and under the oppressive taxes of the -When Dr. Duff began work in Cal- Government, which fall so heavily on cutta he found that a cow had more land and salt. And what makes this rights and higher rank than a woman, poverty ever increasing is the excessive and he said that to try to educate wom- over-population of the country. In en in India was as vain as to attempt to Ponani the population is at the rate of .. scale a wall 500 yards high." To- 450 to the square mile. day in the province of Bengal alone -Of 955,000 low castes in the Bam. 100,000 women and girls are under In- struction, and India's most gifted daughbay presidency, only 6000 can read. A ters are laying hold of the treasures of the higher education. Zenana doors school has been opened for children of have been unlocked by the gentle haild of Christian womanhood, and a transthis class, in a cow shed, and into this a formation is already accomplished which centuries of merely human wis- Christian master went, occupying one dom and power could not even have half the space, the other half being par- titioned off by cocoanut leaves for cows and buffaloes. • -Caste feeling is much more Intoler. begun.-Dr. A. To Pieraon. China.-Dr. Henry Blodgett, a re- forces in molding the religious phases turned missionary from China, says the ofa Korean's character are the sysanti-foreign sentiment in Peking is very tem of ancestor worship, which enmuch exaggerated; that the Chinese are shrines filial piety as the chief duty restrained by the emperor's proclama- of man, and side by side with it a systion, which is tacked up in all missionary tem of spirit worship known as Sham· churches, and has completely quieted manlsm; which conceives of supernatuall manifestations against foreigners. Li ral beings only as hobgoblins and capri. Hung Chang is in favor of Western cious demons. The announcement that world civilization, and favors educating there is an obligation on man that is Chinese in arts and sciences abroad. He superior even to filial piety, a virtue believes in everything Western except which embraces it, comes to a Korean religionc lie attributes Chinese defeat with a shock, while the appeal to the to a supercilious disregard of the ad- supernatural and spiritual meets with vance of the world in warfare. He no response. He will early throwaway sends his children to the school of Rev. the absurd fetiches which adorn his Charles Harney, an American mission- home, but he finds himself for a time ary, for English branches. Li Hung unable to rise to the spiritual concep. Chang's liberalization is only his belief tions· which are the very essenc~ of in the fact that in the arts and sciences Christianity. Having overcome these the rest of the world long ago passed opposing forces, which are inherent in China. There are in Peking three Con- his nature and training, the Korean gregational churches, three Methodist, Christian must encounter violent oppo· three Presbyterian, 'one Alliance, and sition from his kindred as well as opsix English Protestant. To these the probrium and scorn from friends. emperor has extended protection, main- Moreover, the dignity of labor is a ly because he feels friendly to them, as Christian and not a Korean Idea, and it they educate the people. is difficult, indeed, for a member of this race who is con.templating a profession -The Presbyterian hospitals in Pekin of Christianity to regard as brothers and and Canton in 1893 treated 57,541 cases. equals those whom he had previously How much that means of Christ-like considered far below him in the social work, and who can estimate the reo scale. Another difficulty growing out suIts! of the industrial conditions concerns the keeping oce day in seven. These are Korea.-The KOTilan Repositorv states severe tests to try the Korean Christhat at a public meeting of the Korean tian's motives and the strength of his Religious Society nearly $400 were con- resolve, but there is little doubt of the tributed by the people of Seoul. The sincerity and constancy of one who has Korean Christians gave 55,000 cash surmounted such obstacles.- Congrega· (about $110) as their first o1fering. tionaZi8t. Well done! AFRICA. – From the same source comes this -A new map of this continent will strange intelligence: .. Since the ap- probably soon be made in London under the direction of the International Geo· pointment of the new ministry, on the graphical Society, which soon meets in tbat city. The cost of such a map is so recommendation of the Prime Minister, large that it will prolJably-be borne by the European powers interested. The the Government offices are closed from new frontiers of the British possessions in Africa measure more than 10,000 Saturday afternoon till Monday morn- miles.
ing, and the king does not hold court on Sunday. .
-In a recent number of the KOTila1/, Repositorv appears an interesting article on the obstacles encountered by Koreans in becoming Christians. The chief
GENERAL MISSIOlUBY
-The British Government, after a Lakes Company quickly carried him to year or two of hesitation, has .11nally the mouth of the Zambesi."
decided to raise Uganda and the region lying between Victoria Nyanza and the -To' the same paper F. W. Crossly East Coast to the estate of a protee· writes: "Johannesburg is now a city torate, has voted a snug sum for the of first importance in South Africa, situ· maintenance of order, and in due season ated among the gold fields, and with a • rapidly growing population of. say. is likely to construct a railroad. .from 60.000 to 80,000. Mr. Dudley -England has lately annexed the Kidd and Mr. Frank Huskisson went small strip of territory in South Africa to labor there about a year and a half that separates Swaziland from Amaton- ago. They commenced under many galand. It will be seen, by a glance at severe trials, and are prominent in faiththe map, that this shuts out the Trans, fully preaching the Word. God has vaal from the sea, and encloses it within owned their labors, and the hall they either British or Portuguese territory have occupied is now much too small. on every side. The Boers are deter- About £2500 is required to build a mined to fight England on this issue, larger one, about £1200 being in hand. and the President of the Transvaal Re· Rev. Andrew Murray is president of public has called into the field an army the South African General Mission, with of 20,000 men. His attitude is taken which they are working.
too late. The Transvaal has ceased to -In MiBBionsof the World, Rev. Henry be Dutch. Its foreign residents greatly Rowley, formerly of the Universities' outnumber the Boers. Its gold fields Mission to Central Africa, sets forth have attracted thousands of aliens who these several and su1llcient reasons for cannot now be expelled. Johannes· the utter failure of Portuguese missions burg is to all intents and purposes an in Africa after a continuance of three English city. It is a question of only hundred years: "1. The reckless and a few years when the Boers will either VI' holesale administration of baptism. 2. be assimilated or find a home elsewhere. Unholy accommodation of Christian -Zion's Herald. truth and observances to heathenish superstitions and customs. 3. The neg- -The London Ohristian states that lect of education for the young. 4. The F. S. Arnot has returned from Africa. attempts to prop up waning influence " Last year he journeyed to Garenganze by a pretended exercise of miracles. 5. by the East African Lakes route, taking The cruel punishments inl1icted for the supplies to Messrs. Thompson and slightest deviation from the prescribed Crawford and their fellow·laborers, rules of the Church. 6. The connec- now on the western shores of Lake tion with the slave trade, illustrated by Moero. He hoped to be able to settle the marble chair to be seen until lately again in Africa. After, however, hav- on the pier at Loanda, from which the ing written to Mrs. Arnot telling her to bishop used to give his blessing to the make arrangements to join him, he be· slave ships. In the old kingdom of came so seriously ill that those with him Congo the entire population was Chris- quickly realized the fact that he could tian, in the Roman sense, in the sixnot live many mOllths in Africa. They teenth century. The capital still bears consequently persuaded him to leave the name of San Salvador, but Chris- for England, which he did as soon as tianity has disappeared." .
he had recovered su1llclently to travel.
Another severe attack of fever prostrat- ISLANDS OF THE SEA. ed him near the south of Lake Tan ganyika, but after reaching Lake Ny- -Last November 21st, the birthday assa, the steamer of the East African of the Queen of Madagascar, the first
HISSIONARY I:NTELLrGJl)~CE. [August
pocket edition of the revised 'Malagasy fields in the Dutch East Indies. But it Bible was issued. The books are in appeared to be our duty first of all to clear type, neatly bound, and sold below spread the Gospel in those districts cost at one shilling, so as to be within where Islam has not yet gained possesthe reach of most. This pocket Bible sion, arid where the people are much is esteemed a great boon, and when the easier to win. In the course of the last consignment reached Antananarivo ten years, however, an alteration has there was a great rush to secure copies. taken place; gradually and almost un- In a few days every copy was sold, and con.sciously we have been forced to the people were crying out for more. work among the Mohammedans them- selves. This is especially the case in -The first translation of the Scrip- Sumatra. We have two stations there tures in the Malayan language was where our missionaries have to do exmade by John Van Hasel, a director of clusively with BaUas who have been the East India Company. When he converted to Islamism. In many other had completed a version of the Gospel stations the missionaries have a great according to St. lIatthew, he delivered deal of work among Mohammedans. the manuscript to Peter de Carpentier, And the conclusion which has been the chief director of the company, and reached is that these people are very far therefore this honor belongs to the from being as inaccessible as has been Dutch. The kingdom of Menangha- hitherto supposed. More than 1000 bon, in the central region of Sumatra, Mohammedans have joined our Chrisappears to have been the original coun- tian communities during the last ten try of the Malays, but impelled proba- years." bly by a love of adventure, they possessed themselves at a very early period -Rev. H. A. Robertson writes: of time of the Malayan peninsula. Ma- "One fact which must rejoice every layan is a branch of the ancient and one is this, that I now have 40 teachers widely extended language of which at work on Erromanga. Of that numfragments are to· be found in many of ber, our church in Canada supports 30_ the Islands of the Pacific. The Poly- These 30 teachers themselves support 2 nesian language, ranging from the others, and 8 besides these 32 have been South Sea islands to the East, as far as settled on faith. But as we live in a Madagascar in the West, bears in the practical world, and they must have Malay tongue the same proportion as something to eat, I am going to ask a Anglo-Saxon does in English, and words few friends anywhere and everywhere borrowed from Sanscrit and Arabic oc- to help us pay these 8 men and their cupy in it the same relative position as wives, as they are thus far with~ut any words derived from Greek and Latin guaranteed salary. The sum total of do in our own language.-General C. W. £40, I feel bound in honor to give the 8 DARLI:NG, in OhriBtian Intelligeneer. of them as coworkers with us, for they are as able and useful as any of the -In two recent numbers of the .. Re- other 32, who are on a salary of £5 ports of the Rhenish Missionary So· each. " He has this to say of their ciety," Dr. Schreiber discusses the arduous service: "In this work may prospects of missions among Moham- be mentioned visiting and nursing the 1i:J.edans, and maintains that they are sick and dying, going on foot, 5, 10, 20, nowhere so hopeful as in the East In- 30 and 40 miles, as the case.may be, to dies, and in Dutch East India most the missionary, for counsel, medicine, hopeful of all. .. For mOre than thirty and nourishing Euro!,ean food for these ; years our society has expended at least carrying all that stutt back; and, if need half its force in the effort to combat the be, repeating again and again the same extension of Islam in our three mission joumey for thll same objects…
The Missionary Review of the World — April 1895
ADONIRAM JUDI!ION GOBDON, D.D
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
V~L. XVIII. No. 4.-0ld Series.-APRIL.-VoL. VIII. No. '.-Hem Series.
REV. ADONIRAM JUDSON GORDON, D.D.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
While life lasts, delicacy, if not propriety, restrains the tribute to exalted worth. Love keeps her costliest ointment for the burial, and then breaks her alabaster flask. The tongue is no longer sealed with the seal of silence.
When, at midnight of Friday, February 1st, Dr. Gordon's spirit left his body, one of the greatest and best men of this generation went up higher. It was, like the death of Spurgeon, three years before, the uprooting of one of Lebanon's giant cedars, and the vacant place is correspondingly vast, which such uprooting leaves behind. Fifty ordinary men might have been withdrawn without occasioning such widespread sense of irreparable loss.
Dr. Gordon was, in an exalted sense, a great man. His intellect was of no common order. He had genius, the creative faculty, as well as tal-' ant, the administrative; capable of origination as well as organization. He had the versatility which would have won distinction in other spheres beside the ministry. Had he been a judge', he would have rivalled Sir Matthew Hale for judicial equity and probity;, had he been a trained musician, he might have given to the world oratorios like those of Handel and Haydn; had he indulged his passion for poetry, he might have left epics as well as lyrics behind him, worthy to stand beside Milton's. He could have ruled an empire with the ability of a Cresar, the dignity of a Charlemagne, the urbanity of an Alfred. Only those who knew him best would be able to confirm this judgment, for but few read the man and recognized his real greatness. He was habitually retiring and reticent, and revealed his inmost self only to a few with whom he deeply sympathized, and who held fast the great truths which were to him the cardinal points in his spiritual horizon. Only such were competent to measure him.
He was greatest in his humility. Human standards reckon growth by progress from infancy toward manhood; but, in God's eyes, the truest advance il!l found in a perpetual return toward childhood j we "'Te to. become ae little children. As J. Hudson Taylor says, " God's man moves toward the cradle; it is the little ones that get the Divine fondling and are carried in the Father's arms."
Coleridge sagaciously hints that the highest accompaniment of genius, in the moral sphere, is the carrying forward of the feelings of childhood and youth into the period of manhood and age. Dr. Gordon, beyond almost any man I ever knew, while he put away childish things, kept the child-like traits to the last-nay, grew in childlikeness, so that, when most a man, he was also most a cllild. His whole life and speech'; his habitual temper and disposition, incarnated the filial spirit; he practised the presence of God, as Isaac Taylor would have phrased it, and his eyes were unto the Father, daily waiting for guidance. He haa little need of bit or bridle to bring him to yielding submission: God's glances were all the reins he required.
Certain it is that he was "great in the eyes of the Lord." lIe had the higher genius of go~dness. Such generosity and gentleness, such unconscious unselfishness, such suavity and courtesy, such humaneness and tenderness, are seldom combined in any man. And yet his goodness was never to the abatement of firmness in maintaining principle. His uprightness was inflexible, and, when need arose, intrepid. Here again he was like the late pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, in London-that modern Joshua, whose hand could carry the grapes of Eshcol with a touch so dainty and delicate as not to disturb their bloom; yet which same hand could, when occasion demanded, seize the sword of the Lord and utterly destroy the Anakim from before Him.
Vhoever knew Dr. Gordon to shrink when conscience commanded him to testify I And yet he was so gentle and genial, even in witnessing to unpopular truth, that one of his opponents confessed that he would rather hear Dr. Gordon speak what was not according to his mind than to hear any other man discourse what he liked aud agreed with.
He died at fifty-eight, like Spurgeon before him; but he was not cut off in the midst of his days, if such a phrase implies any disastrous failure of incompleteness. It grows upon us that his character and life had rounded out into singularly symmetrical and spherical perfection.
In the beauty of his Christian character, culture, conduct, nothing seems wanting. He had grown to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Even Patience, 1hat last and ripest of graces, had her perfect work. The whole communion of believers can, perhaps, present no one man more mature in godliness and usefulness. He was a ripe fruit, which God simply reaclled down and plucked, as though He would have a closer taste of it at His own banquet board above. There was such a heavenly light on his face that it seemed like a transfiguration begun; and as we beheld llim sitting on the platform at his late twenty-fifth anniversary, one verse came irresistibly to mind: "And all they that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face, as it had been the face of an angel." .
Dr. Gordon was, first of all, the preacher And teacher, and here he was at his best. His pulpit was his throne. He was one of God's modern seers-essentially a prophet in his insight if not his foresight. He magni- fied his office, and he sanctified it. How reverently he handled the Word of God! To him the Scriptures were the infallible, inspired Divine Oracles.
Other truth he believed because he understood it ; God's truth he under- stood because he believed it. Obedience is the organ of spiritual knowl- edge. He long since sought absolutely to yield himself to the Holy Spirit, and his eyes were anointed with God's own eye salve, that he might see, and his ears, that he might hear; then, what he saw and heard he testified.
The only time I ever saw him betray impatience was when he referred to the audacious irreverence of so-called "higher criticism." To him the point of view from which many modern scholars approach the Word of God is one which disqualifies for a true insight into its hidden mysteries.
They assume the power of mere intellect and learning to discern spiritual things; they assume the absence of the supernatural element, and so do not recognize it. Their theory is essentially a Procrustean bed, and the Scriptures must be made to fit the theory. He could not calmly regard such profanation; it stirred him to indignation.
His preaching was as far as possible from any mere oratorical perform- ance. He had the graces of the finished speaker, but they were all invested with the higher grace of God's ambassador. He taught with authority, but it was with a derived and deputed authority. Among all the renowned speakers at the Northfield Conference, he was facile princeps; and the ad- dress he gave there last summer, on the Holy Spirit, has been pronounced by competent judges the most complete ever given, even from that platform of great teachers. There was this supreme charm in his utterances, that, while those who are less taught of the Spirit seek to defend the inspiration and inerrancy of the Word of God, he so exhibited its wonders, so led the way into its mysteries, so unfolded its hidden riches, and showed such articulated and organic unity in all its parts and members, that doubt was disarmed; and the hearer felt shocked that even scholarly" criticism"
should presume to usc the scientific scalpel upon a body of truth instinct with the living Spirit of God!
Dr. Gordon's literary work had reached singular completeness. The three latest. products of his pen in a remarkable way carry his literary structure to a cl'owning point. First, his" Coronation Hymnal"-mark the uuique title-as though it at once set the crown on his life work, and marked the hour of his own coronation. Second, his new book, "The Ministry of the Spirit," issued on the day of his death, which, more than any other, expresses his characteristic insight into the truth which God gave him to discern and develop. He was to his generation what Luther was to his- a restorer of paths to dwell in ; he brought up from out of the debris of ages the apostolic doctrine of the Holy Spirit's personality, deity, and actual presidence in the assembly of saints, ,and gave it increasing emphasis, for a decade of years. And, third, his spiritual autobiography, just completed, or lacking only its last chapter, which another's loving hand will supply, as the closing chapter of Deuteronomy was added by another pen than that of Moses.
His work at the Clarendon Street Church, in Boston, which extended over a full quarter century, marks his greatest achievement, for there he proved the practicability of his apostolic theory, by reducing it to practice. He built up what is probably the most apostolic church in this country, because characterized by the closest approximation to primitive worship, doctrine, spirit and life. Its central charm, that in which it stands absolutely unique, is not apparent to the common eye-the administration of the Holy Spirit. For a score of years he patiently sought to impress upon his people such vital truths as these : that the Spirit of God has come down to find His seat or "see" in the body of Christ, where, invisibly indwelling, He is ready practically to oversee and overrule all holy activities j that, so far as disciples enthrone the world in His temple, they dethrone the Holy Ghost j but, so far as He is recognized and realized as present and presiding, He actually administers all church affairs, inspiring prayers and praises, preaching and teaching through human lips, leading in the choice of officers, thrusting forth laborers into God's harvest-field, prompting to self-sacrificing giving and whole-hearted serving, and qualifying for varied forms of service by His own enduement. He taught, moreover, that such a heavenly ministry demands spiritual co-operation; that, to introduce or allow worldly men to hold office, or secular methods to usurp those which are scriptural and spiritual, implies an affront to the Spirit of God and hinders His operations, who will not force Himself upon His people. The consequence of such teaching, so persistent ana persevering, is that there has been a gradual elimination of secular maxims, measures, entertainments and methods of management, until this church stands the purest model known to me of an apostolic community. The sittings are free, all income being from voluntary offerings j nothing but simple Gospel teaching is sanctioned ; there is congregational praise led by one of the most devout choirs in the world, which, instead of being a burden on church finances, holds its own prayer-meetings and supports its own missionary j and the whole church is a radiating centre of holy activity in missions among the outcast, * the intemperate, the Chinese and the Jews, and in far-off lands.
This church-life is Dr. Gordon's most complete biblical monument, his permanent living epistle. Here the golden pen of action, held in the firm hand of an inspired purpose, has written out history in sentences which are living deeds, read and known of all men. And the great problem now .. Those who desire to study more minutely the methods pursued in the Clarendou street church under Dr. Gordon's ministry, will1lnd a special paper on this subject prepared by me, and published in THE HOMILETIC REVIEW, October, 1890. before this church-which may God help them to work out to His praise! -is to prove that, in the absence of the beloved pastor, the Holy Spirit still has there His seat, and will demonstrate His presence by the uninter- rupted work He administers. We shall be greatly disappointed and sur- prised, should there be found there any disposition to say, " I am of Gor- don" rather than" I am of Christ." This church is not a mere sheaf of which the late pastor was the bond, and which, now that· the bond has broken, must fall apart. We have confidence that the work Dr. Gordon left behind him will in the noblest sense both survive and follow him, and that no part of it which ought to outlive his personal presence will either decay or decline.
Let those who would rear above such a man the broken column of an unfinished life work, note how God permitted him to tarry until, like Moses, he had led the people of God to the borders of their inheritance ; till he had written his" Psalm of Life" in the" Coronation Hymnal;" till he had shown them the Divine pillar of cloud and fire in the Spirit's leadership, and until he had finished his Pentateuch, leaving only the last chapter to be added. He had written nine books, yet they fall naturally into five classes. " The Ministry 01 Healing" stands alone. " The Twofold Life," " In Christ," " Grace and Glory," and" Ecce Venit," belong together, for they exhibit Christ's work in us and for us, here and hereafter; "The Holy Spirit in Missions" and" The Ministry of the Spirit" form a pair, and his "Hymnal" and "Spiritual Biography" complete the fivefold group.
To his beloved wife he imparted his impression that his work was drawing to a close. He even said to her that if it should be so he would have four hymns sung: "The sands of time are sinking," " My Jesus, I love Thee," " Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well," and "Abide with me." To one, who was to him what Luke was to Paul, "the beloved physician," and who asked for a message, he gave one word-" VICTORY."
There is an advantage in a man's departing in the midst of his prime, when in every respect at his best. We remember men as they are when they leave us; our latest impressions are our lasting impressions. When a man dies in the glory of his complete manhood we have him forevermore with us as he was when he departed, and his influence survives him as it was at its summit of power. When men grow old, feeble, decrepit, and the mind and memory decay, and they verge on imbecility, their influence often declines; they not infrequently commit serious mistakes, which mar the impression of their lives. Dr. Gordon will be remembered as the fullstatured man, whose power was full-orbed, and whose sunset was without a cloud. He is forever beyond the possibility of marring his own life work even by imprudence or incaution, and no one else can impair its symmetry. When his character and career reached their nearest approximation to the ideal, God suddenly crystallized the vision into permanence, and so it will forever stand for men to eontemplate and imitate. I C:ln think of but one man to be compared wi1.h Dr. Gordon for this peculiar type of aLtainments or achievements-Charles Haddon Spurgeon, who, beyond the seas, built up, like him, a Baptist church with singular loyalty to the same apostolic ideas and ideals j who edited, like him, a monthly magazine, The Sword und Trowel, and was, like him, an author of varied and versatile genius j and died at the same age-fifty-eight-and within twentyfour hours of the same day of tho month-Spurgeon dying on January 31st, at five minutes of twelve P.M. (1892) ; Gordon, just as the first day of February, 1895, passed into the second, at five minutes past twelve P.M., and both of pneumonia, after a week of delirious illness.
Of Dr. Gordon's contributions to both the literature and the work of missions, no reader of the REVIEW needs to be informed. For years he has been our associate editor, invaluable in counsel and co-operation. His work in forwarding world-wide evangelization deserves and will hereafter receive separate treatment. Suffice it now to say that, without ever having personally visited heathen and pagan lands, he thoroughly informed himself as to the progress of missions. His best" prayer-book on missions" was" the map of the world," which he kept constantly before him; and with the command of Christ as continually in mind, and the spirit of missions in his heart, he could not live without obedience to the Lord's last words. His will was pliant before conviction and affection, both of which were absorbed in a strong, calm, but resistless current of passion for souls. He could no more limit his Christian activities to Boston or the United States than the sun could forbid his rays to go beyond Mercury or Mars. Any less field than the world was too small for such a man. Samuel J. Mills said he felt, with the Mississippi Valley before him, "pent up as in a pin-hole," becanse his heart yearned over the thousand millions of unsaved souls outside its limits. And so Dr. Gordon's heart refused to be satisfied with any travail for souls that would not satisfy his royal Master and Lord.
As we look back over such a life, it seems so apostolic that it links the first century with our own. It is no extravagant encomium to say that there was, in the passionate ardor and fervor of this man of God, that. which reminded of Paul j there was, in his calm discretion and uprightness, that which suggested James; and no one could observe his deep insight into the mysteries of the truth and his absolute devotion to the person of Christ, without thinking of John. Some disciples pos!!ess the active temperament, and abound in energy j others, the reflective habit, and, like deep and still waters, mirror heaven j but Adoniram J. Gordon united in himself both the active and the reflective. While he led the way in aggressive witness and work and war in behalf of truth and evangelism, he so sedulously cultivated the devotional spirit that his daily life was a secret chamber where he communed with God, and whence he came radiant with the glory of the Holy Presence.
THE APOSTLE
THE APOSTLE COLUMBA.
BY REV. A. J. GORDON, D.D.
It is remarkable in what obscure places the seed is often sown which feeds distant generations. Bethlehem Ephrata was but little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of her came He who was to rule ·Israel. And in no less an humble and obscure place did he labor and pray who is, in some sense, the parent of Teutonic Christianity, the only type of Ch~istian belief and life in modern times which is in any respect worthy to be called Christian. A,. bit of land amid the lashing waters of the Irish Sea-a basalt reminiscence of awful geological disturbance-a dank, stern islet shrouded in IIebridean mists, and yet the home of a saint of Hebraic earnestness, of a ruler whose sceptre was religion, and whose kingdom was the rough hearts of whole septs of barbarians, of a prophet who, with his Keltic contemporaries, laid deep foundations for the blessing of mankind in the succeeding thirteen hundred years.
Of all places, how was it that Iona should have been chosen as the fulcrum for Columba's activities ~ 'Vhat site more bleak, more forbidding, more isolated ~ The story is interesting. Somebody has called attention to the fact that every Irishman who has distinguished himself has done so either on the battle-field or in the courts of law. Columba was no exception. His unregenerate days were spent in foray and feud. The saint was, in the first instance, a red-handed kern, and it may have been penitential and remorseful reminiscence which made 1his lonely spot so congenial to him; but the immediate impulse to settlement there came from his legal entanglements ; for the record is that before his migration from Ireland to Iona, the future saint-his soldier life being abandoned for that of a priest-became involved in a lawsuit with his bishop. The Irish fighting instinct was not yet crowded out of the converted soul. Yet the cause of the trouble was so manifestly the bishop's unreasonableness, that we cannot refrain from giving Columba our sympathies, or from palliating his offence in deviating from the apostolic injunction with which the sixth of Corinthians opens. It seems that Columba, with unwearied enthusiasm, had thrown himself into the task of copying large portions of the Bible verbatim et literatim from the precious episcopal manuscripts. When the work was completed the bishop claimed the copy as a sort of propertyplagiarism. This led to litigation, and the judge (an original Dogberry) decided in the bishop's favor, on the ground that he who owned the cow owned her calf. Thereup~n Columba determined to shake the dust of the homeland from his feet. With a few followers he embarked in a boat of hides, and coasting along the stormy shores of the Scotch islands, landed finally upon Iona, there to begin h~s noble career of evangelization.
Not a very remarkable incident this, taken by itself. As if, for example, a chieftain of the Shire Highlands should become enraged with his tribal suzerain, and retire sulkily to some island in Nyassa Lake. Re- member, however, that events are only truly great or insignificant in their final result; and then recall how far-reaching the influence of Iona and of similar Scoto-Irish communities became. Its domestic mission was that of those who are called the children of God. Columba became a sort of court of arbitrament with final powers, to all the rude tribesmen of Northern Ireland and Britain; and who can measure the blessing which the faithful performance of such a function meant among these barbarous peoples 1 As a foreign missionary his influence has not ceased yet. To him we owe it, in the first instance, that the nation of Livingstone, of 11offat, of Mackay, and of John Paton is what it is. The Erromangians, the Tannese, the Kaffirs, the strangers scattered throughout U nyoro and Uganda and Formosa and Hunan, and every spot which Scotch missionary feet have trod, are to him, at the last, debtor.
How beneficent, how apostolic that Irish missionary movement in the dim twilight of the medireval era! Everyone who has read Schaffie's "Ekkehard" knows how much Switzerland Owes to it. Reichenau and St. Gallen are names redolent with the memories of the distant island. That Scandanavia felt the impulse is clearly seen from the fact that when Magnus, the free-booting king of Norway, swept over the British isles, Iona was the single place which he refused to injure. Northumbria, Germany, even distant Iceland are all under deepest obligations to Columba and to his successors at Iona. Alas that the nation which was a source of blessing to others should have so fallen herself! Alas that the word Ireland should awake, in modern' minas, the miserable associations which group themselves around rack-rent and moonlighting, Tammany Hall and' the Clan-na-Gael! Alas that the candlestick should be removed from the land of Patricius and Columba, and that their home should have become the nesting-place of oppression, of ignorance, and of priestcraft! 0 that the former things might come back! "God save Ireland !"
The following- notes on Iona and Columba are taken from the writer's journal of a visit to the spot six years ago. They are published in the hope that a new interest may be awakened in this father of missions and in the land which cradled him, and in his countrymen, whether in Europe, Australasia, or in America, who under false teaching have drifted so far from the New Testament faith in which he labored.
The day of our pilgrimage to this historic spot will ever stand as a marked day in our calendar. Was it the strange fascination of saint legends and hoary antiquities that drew us with such strong attraction to thi8 rock island of the Hebrides 1 Not altogether. Saint Columba, who lived and labored here thirteen hundred years ago, is called a monk indeed; and the stone ruins which mark his home are called a monastery ; and all this is sufficient to have incited a recent pilgrimage of Roman Catholics to this spot, and an earnest effort by means of masses and
VIEW OF CATHEDRAL AND RUINS OF CHAPTER HOUSE AND
CONVENTUAL STRGCTURES. (From S. W.) CATHEDRAL OR CHURCH OF ST. MARY'S, IONA. (~"rolll S. E.)
THE APOSTLE COLUMBA•
• canonization to hallow it as a popish shrine. The real fact seems to be, however, that Columba was a Protestant, a thousand years hefore the Reformation ; and that in his little sea-girt kingdom he kept the primitive faith in comparative purity, while in its earlier habitats it was sinking into hopeless corruption.
As to his vocation, he seems to have been a missionary more than a monk, and his so-called monastery a seminary for training his disciples in the Scriptures and in Divine communion, to fit them to be his co-laborers in the great work of carrying Christianity into Britain. Let us think of Iona, therefore, as a fortress of the ancient faith, a stronghold of primi- tive Christianity, from which the spiritual conquest of our Saxon ancestors was undertaken and carried on by the sturdiest band of warriors that ever " subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions."
In spite of its rocky solitude, there is a singular charm in the natural aspects of the place ; companion islands stud the horizon in every direc- tion, their rock-caverns affording shelter to myriads of white-winged birds; the peculiar velvety green verdure, which the moist climate nour- ishes, transforming stormy islands into emerald gems; and encircling all, an atmosphere so capricious that it alternately veils and unveils the land- scape with clond and sunshine, giving constant variety to the scene. In- deed, as the Duke of Argyle has said: "There are not many places in the world where those three voices~ the sky, the sea, the mountains, can be heard sounding in finer harmony than round Columba's Isle."
Yonder within near sight lies Staffa, with its wonderful Fingal's Cave.
The tourist who has visited cathedral after cathedral on the Continent, and has become satiated with the voluble discourse of verger and guide, can here gaze in silence upon one of God's cathedrals built without sound of hammer or saw, but far surpassing all others in grandeur; for" there is nothing like this great hall of columns standing round their ocean tioor, and sending forth in ceaseless reverberations the solemn music of its waves." Let a party sing "Old Hundred" as we did, beneath these arches of stone, and as its strains thunder and echo through the " long drawn aisle," let them tell us if they ever heard such majestic music before.
In Iona, however, there reigns an impressive silence, broken only occa- sionally by the lowing of herds and the sounds of sluggish life which issue from a few low cottages by the shore. We wander among the ruins of the little cathedral, believing or disbelieving the legend that here is the stone pillow on which the head of Columba rested at night, and here the grave in which his body was laid at his death. We enter the ruined chapel, made sacred as the scene of fervent and prevailing prayer, and the monas- tery where the Scriptures were profoundly studied and patiently tran- scribed ; but it is not the stones of the arches or the timeworn carvings which most strongly hold our attention. It is of Columbll. and the Culdees that we are thinking; of the life they lived, and the work they wrought, aud of the debt we owe them in common with all English-speaking Christians, as the planters of the Gospel among our forefathers, and of their brave resistance of such as strove to supplant that Gospel by papal counterfeits and corruptions. "7e will not, however, yield to the romancing to which the antiquity of the place tempts us, but rather we will seek to learn the profitable lessons which are to be gathered from the career of a great missionary who chose this as the centre of his operations.
1. The foundation principle of the Gospel which he sought to propagate was sound-justification by faith. We have called him a Protestant before the Reformation. A saying which passed current in his order, and which has come down to us, is, ., Not that the believer lives by righteousness, but the righteous by believing." How much this sounds like Luther's ,. Weare not saved by good works, but being saved by faith we do good works" !
2. Whatever of monasticism marked his order, it was intended as a means to a higher end. He cultivated solitude only for the sake of ser· vice; he was a monk only that he might be a greater missionary. "Farewell, Arran of my heart. Paradise is within thee. The garden of God is within sound of thy bells." So he is reported to have exclaimed on leaving an earlier retreat to become Abbot of lona. But of that selfish asceticism which seeks an ideal Paradise Regained in the ecstatic visions of angelic apparitions in the cloister, while leaving the real Paradise Lost -a condemned and perishing world-to take care of itself, he knew nothing. Perhaps we have something to learn of Columba at this point, if we would be better missionaries. The command to tarry precedes the command to go; a retreat into God should prepare an advance upon the heathen. "As the Father hath sent Me into the world," says Christ to His messengers. But before we can successfully carry out this commission, we must make real that other word of His, " Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world." And withdrawal from this present age, and entering into profound communion with the Lord by prayer and meditation, are the essential conditions of such realization.
3. Columba deeply reverenced and profoundly studied the Holy Scriptures. Who can tell how largely the deep root and tenacious hold which Christianity gained in Scotland may have been due to this characteristic of the earliest missionary to her shores ~ If we would have an established church in the truest sense, we must have a church rooted and grounded in the Word. Columba may be said to be the former of that Scottish Christianity of which Knox in later times was the rpformer. And in no land, we believe, has the religion of Christ borne such a biblical stamp and expressed its worship and its confessions in such scriptural forms as in that country which was the principal mission-field of the lonan saint.
4. All traditions agree in ascribing to Columba a spirit of extraordinary prayerfulness. So much did he depend on communion with God, that, even when laboring among the heathen, who mocked his devotion and disturbed it by violent interruptions, he would never intermit his worship, hut always succeeded in establishing a closet in the midst of his enemies. "It seems," says Dr. Smith, in his" Gaelic Antiquities," "to have been his invariable rule not to undertake any work nor engage in any business without having first invoked God. If about to officiate -in any ministerial duty, he would first implore the Divine presence and aid to enable him to discharge it properly. If he himself or any of his friends were to go anywhither, by land or by sea, their first care was to implore God to be propitious, and their last words at parting were solemn prayer and benediction. If he administered medicines for the cure of any diseases, he accompanied them with prayer to God who healeth. If he administered even counselor advice, he would attend it with a prayer to Him who disposeth the heart to listen, often accompanying that prayer with fasting. In seasons of danger and alarm, whether public or private, he always hltd recourse to prayer as the most effectual way to prevent, or cure, or bear every evil to which man is subject."
What wonder that, with such a spirit, he should have earned the ban of papal malediction ~ Instead of penance he preached repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. In a time when the blasphemous pretentions of the papacy were attaining shape and form, his little community ordained and sent forth missionaries, as though in utter ignorance of the theory of apostolic succession and bishop's ordination. On account of these and many other distinctively primitive doctrines, this community was long under the suspicion of Roman Catholic authorities. Bede lamented " their perversity and blindness." St. Bernard denounced them as a " stubborn, stiff-necked, and ungovernable generation;" which ban we must count their highest benediction, considering the grounds on which it rested.
Beautiful and full of patriar('~al grandeur were the circumstances of his death, as the ancient tradition has handed them down to us.
" In the sacred volume this day is called' Sabbath,' which means rest, and truly to-day is to me a Sabbath, for of this my toilsome life this day shall be the last; on it after my vexatious labors I shall keep Sabbath; this night of the day of the Lord I shall go the way of my fathers." So he spake to Dermid, his faithful disciple. Midnight of that day in June found him worshipping in the church; there the sleep of death fell upon him, and when they had sought him, found him and lifted him up, his face, as the beams of their lighted candles fell upon it, shone like the face of an angel. And so they buried him amid great lamentation.
"Sublime recluse" he has been called; we prefer to name him the master missionary of those whom God used in early days to subdue kingdoms for His Son.
[NoTE.-The correction of this proof was one of the last acts of our lamented co-editor.-A. T. P.]
ANDREW P. RAPPER, M.D., D.D., I.L.D
ANDREW P. HAPPER, M.D., D.D., LL.D.
BY PRESIDENT SYLVESTER F. SCOVEL, WOOSTER, OHIO.
This missionary century has produced no more thoroughly missionary man than Dr. Happer, and few have been so long, and not many so prominently, identified with its missionary spirit and movement. In most things the full and rounded life just closed may be called a typical missionary life. As such I believe it will pass into the history of the kingdom, which is the true history of the world.
It was certainly so in its early consecration and Christian training. A statement preserved in his own handwriting runs thus: "I was born in Washington County, Pa., in the bounds of Mingo congregation, on October 20th, 1818. I was early dedicated to the ministry by a pious mother. I was sent to the Preparatory Department of Jefferson Uollege when eleven years of age. I was carefully cared for by friends in the advanced classes from the first day of my arrival. During a revival in the college in December, 1830, I was received into the communion of the church at Canonsburgh by t.he Rev. Matthew Brown, D.D., when a little past twelve years of age. I was a reader of missionary biography and literature. In my fourteenth year I formed the purpose of being a missionary, and resolved to study medicine as well as theology to fit myself for the work. All my plans in life were made subservient to this purpose. As I was too young to be a member of the missionary association known in different colleges as the Brotherhood (indeed, I did not then know of its existence), my only confidante, was an elder sister. There are three grandchildren of that sister in the mission field now." Is it not typical? Here are the home, the school, and the church combining to set an ingenuous youth of the same age as the Boy-Christ in the temple about the same " Father's business. " Here is the best product of a region and of ancestors of a noble religious type, growing, by the help of the mother (who pondered these things in her heart), the sister, the men in the Christian college (the true annex to the Christiau home), "in stature and in wisdom and in favor with God and man." Moved from within, by steady choice of the world as his field, he found every gracious influence he needed, and appears to have been untouched by any malign one. What an example for our young volunteers of to-day, and what an encouragement for Christian homes!
And the next stage shows only the normal succession to the first. " After my graduation I taught four years. I entered the Western Theological Seminary in November, 1840. I then chose India as the field of my prospective labors. I made its history, geography, philosophy, government, and mythology the subject of careful study during leisure time. In the summer of 1840 I commenced my medical studies, and in October, 1842, I went to Philadelphia to attend medical lectures." Graduated at eighteen (1836), the four years of teaching took him to twenty-two; the two years of theology (with medical reading) occupied him until twenty- four; and the fuller course in the medical college brought him at twenty- six to professional graduation in March (1844), and to missionary ordination in April. Beginning early did not mean imma~urity and. haste for him, even when there were so few willing to enter the white harvest field.
The definite purpose of complete equipment held him fast. Another type to be remembered.
And yet this purpose did not render the future missionary either con- ceited or inaccessible to advice, as witness this further paragraph: "The Rev. Drs. Swift, Elliott, and McGill were my special friends and coun- sellors. During April, 1843, I visited Princeton Seminary and made the acquaintance of Messrs. Culbertson, Loomis, Brown, and Lloyd, who were under appointment to go to China; and in Philadelphia I made the acquaintance of Dr. B. McCartee, who was going to China. During the meeting of the General Assembly in May, 1843, the Hon. Walter Lowrie suggested to me that the Board wished me to arrange so as to go to China with those who were under appointment for that field." Reluctantly the matter was submitted for counsel to the advisers before mentioned, and their advice decided for China. Then followed immediate readjustment of studies. "In Philadelphia I enjoyed the privilege of the Franklin Library, and immediately commenced to read the history of China and to study its geography, philosophy, and religions as a relaxation from medi- cal lectures, quizzes, and studies." It was evidently a larger purpose to be useful that could so easily substitute one line of culture for another, and it was determination of a high order whIch could turn to the study of the new land with a breadth and thoroughness which gave tone to his whole work there. Nor could the yet youthful missionary enthusiast help endeavoring to kindle the fire in other souls. "During the winter of 1843-44 I often made addresses on China as a field of missions, with a map of China suspended before the audience, which, so far as I know, was the first use of maps in connection with missionary addresses. "
Now begins the steadfast service of half a century-1844 to 1894.
" I sailed for China on June 22d, having graduated in medicine in the previous March at Pennsylvania University. As I was a medical missionary and there was no other medical man not located, I was assigned to the Canton station, though my own preference for the station and for my own location was for Shanghai. Subsequently alone and senior mem- ber of the mission at Canton, it became my duty, contrary to my expecta- tions, to mark out the lines on which missionary work would be pursued.
Influences not subject to my control led me to engage in educational work.
In an exigency of the mission, in order to maintain my residence among the people, I commenced medical work, and I was thus engaged in all three departments of mission work-preaching, educaiionaI, medical. I itinerated all about Canton with Dr. Ball when it was considered not safe to go into the country. " Was there ever a clearer case of God's willingness to use the sanctified common-sense of thorough preparation ~ And was ever courage more needed or more rewarded ~ That was no light matter to go out on the good ship Gahota for a passage of one hundred and twenty days. Only five ports were open, and Hong Kong had just been ceded to England in 1841. Everything was to be shaped, even if not to be planted. The hatred to foreigners was intense. Those willing to rent to the missionaries were imprisoned for it in every case, and one such inhabitant died in prison. A mob was raised to exterminate all foreigners, Dr. Happer has told us, when one of them happened to knock over a fruit-basket which stood in a gateway. A little improvement came with the treaty of 1847, but as England would not consent to use force to open the city gates as promised, they remained closed until 1856. No wonder there were years of waiting for first converts. They were able to keep possession of any rented quarters only by stratagem. The case of the Arrow in 1856 brought such riots that all missionary labor was suspended at Canton, and the workers retired to Macao till order could be restored. In 1858 the American treaty protected the Chinese converts, and surpassed, in that, the provisions of the British treaty. From this time on property could be rented or purchased. Other cities were opened. The good conduct of the missionaries had been reported to the central government in answer to a series of inquiries. Facilities for them (it is worth remembering) were first tendered to our ambassador (Hon. W. B. Reed). Though he could not accept the proposal limited to one class, he would not conceal a fact so favorable to the missionaries. Dr. Happer received independent confirmation of this fact from Bishop Boone, and mentions it in the pages of a very brief " Retrospect," printed but not published in 1884, after forty years of service. Just at that time serious complications were arising, and yet the clear testimony was given that" none of the converts had been known to deny their faith even when cast into prison. "
The courage necessary for persistent service sustained this noble man under varied labors and contrary winds of influence. It enabled him to bear the severities of the climate and the severe test of failing health. With serious disease of the heaIt he journeyed once, alone, from China to the United States.
The waiting and the working brought the blessing at last. " It was only after ten years of the most assiduous labor that I was permitted to welcome the first convert, and during those ten years of clearing the ground and of seed·sowing, I felt no more discouragement than I did during a subsequent period of ten years, during which there was a continuous revival, and I was permitted to receive forty persons into the church each successive year" (Anniversary Sermon, p. 26). "As soon as we had any room Mrs. Happer commenced a girls' boarding.school. The work was enlarged on several liues. Dr. Kerr was sent, at my request, to relieve me of the medical work. Miss Noyes enlarged the work for the girls. Mr. Preston and Mr. Condit continued the itinerating, and I continued the pl'eaching and the educational work. Some fille hundred converts were received into the first church while under my charge, and some fifty of the pupils of the training school became assistants in various capacities as preachers, teachers, colporteurs, etc., while under my care. Some of them went to California, the Hawaiian Islands, and Australia. Two were ordained as evangelists, and three others were licensed."
This would seem to be enough for even a largely planned life, but there is more. Side by side with the engrossing work, and off the field as well as on it, Dr. Happel' has kept up a remarkable literary efficiency. He never wrote without some specific end in view, and always with the real logic and eloquence of facts. He was careful of authorities and painstaking in examining them. Some of the earlier studies in Chinese literature are of permanent value, and the range of subjects is large. We regret they cannot be mentioned here in detail.
But it was for China that his pen and thought were most busied. He began the stndy of that marvellous country and its massive population and its venerable institutions before he had seen either. He began to write about these things toward the latter part of his work, and after his return from the field he maintained the keenest interel:tt in and watchfulness for China's good. It is to be desired that in some form his views and experiences may be given to the Christian public. They must be omitted here.
Passing on from this we are arrested by another marked feature in Dr. Happer's life work. He believed not only in the educational side of mission work, but had special convictions concerning tbe place of the higher education as a factor in winning the world to the great Teacher. It has been seen how early his own attention was turned toward this work as indispensable in preparing a native ministry for China; and he had a high conception of the function of the Christian college in the civilized countries as imperatively demanded for the raising up of ministers and missionaries. A child of such an institution in the very origin of his spiritual experience and missionary purposes, he could never feel that any other purpose should supersede this for a Christian college, nor could he understand anything of the feeling that marks this end as relatively inferior. His interest and conviction were both expressed in moving pleas for his Alma Mater (Washington and Jefferson), and in connection with all that he said and did after his removal to the seat of the University of Wooster. His early work in this department was fruitful. "The students of this training school were all converted under my own ministry except a very few. Some fifty were connected afterward with the mission as Christian workers in various capacities." And this though the boys were required b~fol'e they left home to promise not to become Christians, and forced at each return home to worship the ancestral tablets to show that the promise had been kept. He had been effectively aiding in the work of developing a medical missionary college during the last year of his life by correspondence and personal effort. He could not but deplore the fact that while so much help was afforded those who would enter mission work in other directions, almost nothing had been done to aid in the necessarily expensive medical training now so much needed. He wrote with a heroic tone against the idea that self-sacrifice kept young men out of missions and the ministry, and was only anxious to facilitate their way through difficulties for which they were not responsible by pleading for the Christian colleges at home and abroad. To the latter he had given most earnest efforts. About $120,000 had been secured in payments and pledges for the endowment of such an institution, which, for evident reasons, he thought should be situated not in the district in which he had labored, but in Northern China. To this, it is proper to say, his will intended that the accumulated result of a life-time of economy and wise use of originally small sums should be dedicated. It is to be hoped that his wishes may yet be carried out as to location, endowment, and the predominance of English as the language of instruction. And as he expected the final influences of his life to be concentrated in this direction, it was most eminently fitting that the subject should be chosen for the discourse delivered in April, 1894, on the occasion of the celebration by the Presbytery of the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination as a missionary. That address was published by the Presbytery (Pittsburgh), accompanied with a brief biographical statement and a photograph. A large edition was circulated, and it is soon to appear as one of the permanent documents of the Presbyterian Board of Aid for Colleges.
But let no one suppose that even this marked estimate of one agency led Dr. Happer to be ignorant of or out of sympathy with any other. On the contrary, that which finally impresses itself upon us is that he was pre-eminently a "fellow-worker unto the kingdom of God." Nothing that promised to glorify Christ and save men was foreign to him. For evangelistic work at home and abroad, on frontier and in city depths, among our home-born and among all the scattered and exceptional populations, he has expressed the profoundest interest. Nothing elicited warmer commendation than the enterprise into which the Young Men's Christian Association has grown-the sending of secretaries for work among the young men of the East, who are, just as they emerge from heathenism, in such special peril. No participator in the great Detroit Convention of the Volunteers enjoyed it more keenly or understood its significance more thoroughly. He loved loyally his own denomination, but nothing fettered his affection for the Church universal or his intelligent enthusiasm for the Church militant. His constant reading and questioning were concerning the things of the kingdom. Missionary literature of more than one epoch he haa at command. He was an ardent patriot and had clear convictions as to governmental policies, internal and international, yet he was profoundly convinced of the true brotherhood of man, and knew better what it meant than thousands who use the phrase ignorantly and selfishly. The kingdom of God was not only real to him, but the greatest and all-embrac- ingreality. The future consummation was certain. All the work in the hot sun was nothing but a condition. The fewness of the laborers and the vastness of the harvest were burned in upon his soul. He thought of all young lives given to this service as reaching man's highest possibilities.
He was willing to take any place and any reward, though entering early and working late. Everything that touched the kingdom anywhere touched him.
Physically he was tall, straight as an arrow, and, when in health, moved quickly. His eye was especially bright, his face expressive, and his manners courteous enough to be called courtly. I never heard him say a bitter word of anybody. Charity and not criticism was the law of his lips. He was quiet and self-contained, yet responding most readily in conversation. He rather sought than gave advice. Modestly estimating the worth of his own work, he never paraded either attainments or honore, while yet sensitive to genuine appreciation. He was dowered with in- domitable perseverance, and could carry forward a life purpose as silently as a deep river would flow. He loved books much, but men more and the kingdom most. He had the deepest sense of the merit and worth of his fellow-workers, and delighted in honoring them in every way possible.
He was hopeful, pre-eminently, because he belie·ed so profoundly. To the last day of his life this was evident. I cannot forget the glow with which he expressed the conviction that all was going well in the world despite all appearances to the contrary. His confidence was invincible, and certainly none knew the difficulties better than he. He was devoted to prayer. Almost every article closed with a call to prayer. His last look on retiring for the last time rested on the" Cycle" of prayer. The last publication to which he called my special attention was that number of the Student Volunteer which was wholly given up to prayer. The last book he was reading was Dr. Piersoll's "New Acts of the Apostles," and his paper-knife laid in the chapter on prayer.
Dr. Happer's life was long. He died on October 27th (1894), having lived one week of his seventy-seventh year. Yet he never seemed con- scious of being a member of a past generation. The work was so much to him that the" sunset hours" were felt to be the right ones for special diligence. There was just a gradual deepening in the intensity of the desire to be useful. He was nearly a complete exception to the general rule. Whittier wrote to Holmes: "The bright, beautiful ones who began life with us have all passed into the great shadows of silence."
And Holmes answered to Whittier: "You and I are no longer on a raft, but on a spar. At our age we must live chiefly in the past.
We are lonely, very lonely, these last years." But loneliness I never saw in Dr. Happer's life or heard from his lips. The glow of something more than life's sunset was visible in his remarkable activity. It was the Christian's sure hope for himself and for the race that not only gave him something more inspiring than Whittier's" calm trust in the eternal goodness, " but made the knowledge that he could still be useful a complete deliverance from a life in the past. Glorious result!
Dr. Happer did not seem to have a cloud of disappointed ambition or a murmur of discontent as to the ratio of progress in the great work. Around him gathered appreciative friends, and during this year his third degree was granted by the University beside which he lived. Influence through the press and speech continued to the last. There were plans to meet and mould successive classes of young people, of whom there was good reason to hope many would enter the mission field and of whom some 'would go to China. He was permitted to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination. One of his sons (Mr. Andrew Happer, Jr.) was at home from civil service in China to pay affectionate attention du:ring the last months and days. And death itself, it was so ordered by God's good providence, came quietly and with the least possible suffering. It was as Whittier wrote (in 1869) : " I will not teach, in mournful speech, That joys are brief and hopes are lies; To life well spent, its sun's descent Is cloudless as its morning sides."
And it was true as Holmes wrote (in 1881) : "The dismantling of the human organism is a gentle process more obvious to those who look on than to those who are the subject of it."
Taking his life as a whole, the epitaph the poet already quoted wrote for Samuel E. Sewall (1884) may be applied: " Noiseless as light that melts the darkness is, Be wrought as duty led and honor bid; No trumpet heralds victories like his, The unselfish worker in his work is hid."
Dr. Happer loved nature. He chose the site for his new home because it opened upon scenery like that specially associated with his youth, and now, by his own direction, he lies with his forefathers amid the scenes of his youth, the impression of which he had borne with him over all seas and through the long years. The picture will never fade out of the minds of some-this venerable servant of God and friend of man, seated in his study surrounded by mission books and by the brilliant colored Chinese inscriptions which adorned the walls. His identification with that land continued unbroken. The estimate of him there, on the part of the Church general, was expressed in the resolution passed by the four hundred and thirty missionaries present at the great Conference of Shanghai in 1890. At an earlier visit to this country the following testimonial was numerously and representatively signed: "The undersigned foreign residents of Canton, irrespective of creed or nationality, desire to unite with your friends and colaborers in Pekin, Shanghai, Canton, and other cities of China, in hearty congratulations that you have been permitted to enjoy so long a career of usefulness and honor, with its arduous duties and great responsibilities, on a field of missionary labor demanding unflinching fidelity and steadfast devotion to a sacred trust, blended with judicious action and exemplary life." The Daily Press, of Canton, at the same time said: "He is, we believe, the only Protestant missionary who has remained at his post for the long period of forty years. His sympathies have always been ardently enlisted in his work. He will be missed in Canton and China." We may add that his death will be a great loss to China in the United States. He knew the past of missions and of diplomacy. He had received the highest marks of respect and confidence there. He had the ear of the people here. Close touch was maintained with the best sources of information. He was always ready to correspond privately or write publicly as to what needed to be known or done with regard to China or the Chinese in our own land. He had the wisdom of long experience and the courage of conviction.
Dr. Happer's place in missionary biography will be a marked one. He entered China just after the earliest pioneers. His work admirably supplemented theirs, and enlarged it and made it bear permanent fruit in all departments. He aided to give standing to all missionaries and all their work by his unblemished life and intelligent service of nearly half a century, and by close intercourse with high officials. He took up the questions of his time with profound study. He helped to interest thou. sands incidentally and directly in the work for the vast Empire of the East.
In closing wc may recur to thc intimation made at the opening. This is a typical missionary life. Its ultimate origin was in the heart life of a covenanting mother. Its conscious origin was in a choice as early as it was intelligent and firm. Its proportions were indicated by the thoroughness of the preparation determined upon and actually realized. It exhibits a remarkable combination of initiative and submission to sound advice. No opportunity came amiss, whether in preaching or printing or practising. the medical art, or teaching or planning or research or diplomacy. Some. thing creditable was done wherever there was occasion to do anything. Closest intercourse with the best side of the great nation he learned to respect and to admire in some things never blinded him to its lost condition or to the necessity of the stricter Christian casuistry in guiding the lives of the converts amid their perplexities. This life was helped in saving men by keeping in touch with everything which could be counted an important factor in their earthly lives. Seeking first the kingdom, knowledge of all was sought which could either help or hinder it. This whole life was marked by intense devotion, steady persistence, unflinching courage in all dangers, invincible hopefulness under all delays, and the patience which marks the perfect man. The motive of this life was love
HINDU REFORMERS OF TIDS CENTURY
of men, the sustaining power in it was the whole Word of God, and prayer was ever, through wrestling with God, the renewal of its vigor. Its activity was incessant, and continued by the willing spirit to the last possibilities of the failing flesh. Never content with what could be accomplished alone, this life was characterized by a generous enthusiasm for co-operation with every agency that could serve or save mankind, and ever deeply concerned for the number and character and quality of those who were to come after and press on the work to its certain and glorious consummation.
And now what an appeal for enlistment sounds out of this missionary life so typical in its duration and breadth, its intensity and efficiency! Can anything be too good for foreign missions ~ Can any career go beyond the possibilities of missions in offering to our Christian youth (young women as well as young men) the noblest possible opportunities for the employment of the rarest endowments most carefully cultivated ~ Joseph Cook has said: "There is a best way to live, and it is best to live the best way." In the light of missionary biography, the best way seems to be the missionary way. Who will be " baptized for the dead" 1 HINDU REFORMERS OF THIS CENTURY.
BY J. E. TUPP.
Hinduism is often spoken of as one of the most conservative forces of the world, and in some respects it may be considered to be so. But the Hindu religion of to-day is not the religion of two thousand years ago. Excrescences of all kinds, the natural growth of many centuries of ignorance and superstition, have accrued to it, and it has been the aim of all reformcrs to remove these excrescences and to restore Hinduism to an older and purer form. Many such reformers there have been. Through all history a constant succession of them is seen, but only in a few cases has their influence extended beyond the people and race of their own time. In this century three prominent men have arisen, who have endeavored to lead their countrymen back from idolatry and polytheism to the theism which they profess to find in the Upanishads and Vedas, the early and sacred books of their religion. Many have hoped that Hinduism, assailed by them from within and by Christianity from without, was about to enter on a brighter day and a purer faith. These hopes have not been fulfilled.
Ram Mohun Roy, the earliest of the three reformers, of whom we wish to give a short account, was born at the close of the last century in Burdwan, a district of Bengal, of rich and high-caste parents. As with many other reformers, his more iconoclastic opinions disappeared with his youth, and the temperate zeal of his mature age brought him fewer converts than the fiery zeal of his earlier years promised. While still very young, he published, with the aid of the press established by the Serampore missionaries, a protest against idolatry, thereby raising against himself such a storm of indignation that he was obliged to leave his father's house and for some years to become a wanderer. During this time he was, however, supplied with sufficient funds to enable him to travel about the country, making religion, practical and theoretical, the object of his study and research. He penetrated as far as Thibet, attracted thither by the fame of the Buddhist religion j but after a time he was compelled to leave the country, having there also condemned the mass of fable and idolatry which had grown round what he had expected to find the pure theistic religion originally established by Buddha. In his twenty-first year he returned to his father's house j but the idolatrous practices of his countrymen again compelled him to break silence, and again he had to leave his home, and this time he made his way to Calcutta. For some years he appears to have remained there mastering the languages–Hebrew, Sanscrit, Arabic, and Greek-which would enable him to study the holy books of the great religions, Jewish, Hindu, Mohammedan, or Christian, in their original dress. He had thus access to all sources of human knowledge, and was well fitted to arrive at conclusions to which intellect alone was guide.
The opinions he formed were such as have appeared very attractive to many minds. In the sacred books and in the minds of men he thought he saw everywhere implanted a belief in one great Supreme Being, the Arbiter of the destinies and lives of men during their passage through this world, their Judge in the world to come. The fatherhood of God, the brother hood of man-two prominent dogmas–he thought he found imbedded in all religions j the love and veneration due to the first aud the duties to the latter everywhere inculcated. Caste he denounced as anti-social j idolatry as degrading to the worshipper and insulting to the Ruler of the world. He preached pure theism as a basis on which all the religions of the world might be re-established, and all nations united in concord and peace. It is both strange and interesting to see, from the East as from the West, this idea arise as the great hope of the future, given out by those who believe in the power, the benignity, and the love of the great Ruler of the universe, but who are unable to receive the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Inspired by the hope that these doctrines had only to be preached and to be made known to ensure their universal adoption, Ram Mohun Roy, in 1830, established an association, since known as the Brahmo Sabha (the Society of Brahm, the Supreme Being). The idea attracted many, though there were few declared adherents. A house was bought in Calcutta, a small endowment was raised, and regular services were established. But now it was evident that the founder was no long~r the root and branch reformer he had been in his earlier years. Caste was recognized, though formerly so strongly condemned j the Scriptures read were confined to the holy books of the Hindus, and were expounded by learned Brahmans. The life and character of Christ, though often spoken of before in terms of the greatest love and reverence, were never referred to in thc services. In everything it was evident that the adaptation of Hinduism to what was deemed an enlightened time, not its radical reform, was the object aimed at. Instead, however, of remaining in Calcutta to watch over the interests of the young society, Ram Mohun Roy, within a year of its foundation, left the country for England. There he received great attention and notice; but he was chiefly, as was perhaps natural, attracted by the Unitarians, so much so, indeed, that at this time he might almost be considered one of their number. He continued his religious studies, and published a book in which he spoke of Jesus as " the Founder of truth and of true religion," and of His precepts as "the sole guide to peace and happiness." But though he called himself" a follower of Christ," who is " the spiritual Lord and King of Jews and Gentiles, " he refused, when dying shortly afterward in Bristol, to be baptized, and gave special instructions that he should not be buried as a Christian, lest the interests of his heirs should be prejudiced. His visit to England was in itself a violation of caste ; but from his time to our own Christian baptism has been the one final breaking of caste rules, from which no recession is possible.
The early death of its founder was an irreparable loss to the little society in Calcutta. It lingered on for some years without much life or influence, known only to a narrow and ever-narrowing circle, until new impulse and life were given to it by the rise of another reformer, a man of much the same stamp and spirit as its original founder.
Babu Debendro Nath Tagore was born in Calcutta in 1818, the son of millionaire parents, and was, in his early youth, surrounded by all the sensual indulgences which especially beset such a family in an Eastern city. The account of his awakening to serious things-an account given in words which would seem appropriate to some medireval mystic-may be best given in his own language: "From my sixteenth to my twentieth year I was intoxicated with the pleasures of the flesh, regardless of spiritual interests, and dead to c.ooscience and to God. Once, on the occasion of a domestic calamity, as I lay drooping and wailing in a retired spot, the God of glory suddenly revealed Himself in my heart, and so entirely charmed me and sweetened my heart and soul that for a time I continued ravished, quite immersed in a flood of light. The world outside and the world within both seemed bathed in a sweet and serene stream of celestial effulgence. What was it but the light of truth, the water of baptism, the message of salvation ! Was it a vision that so charmed me 1 No! The living presence of the living God, who could doubt 1" But this season of ecstasy was followed by a long period of struggle, and it was not till he reached the twenty-fifth year of his life that he felt his "inferior propensities curbed," " the wild fury of passion abated," "conscience reinstated in its exalted place," "the world shorn of its attractions," and" God made his only comfort and delight. "
The zeal of the young and eager enthusiast soon attracted notice, and a circle gathered around him. His wealth was of the greatest help in enabling him to erect a school, to found a press, and to start a periodical. The new society attached itself to the old and now languishing one established by Ram Mohun Roy, and. branches' were established. Its object was, as his had been, to revert to the pure theistic doctrine of their forefathers; to encourage a knowledge of the natural sciences, astronomy, and natural history, believing that increase in such knowledge could only add to the glory of God; to lead lives of holiness and self-dedication to good works. Authority for this faith they believed to be enshrined in their sacred books. Nath Tagore not only set himself to the study of Sanscrit, in order to have access to the original writings, but he deputed four pandits to visit Benares to procure and to investigate there the earlier Vedas.
The result of their labor was disappointing, as, indeed, might have been anticipated by anyone acquainted with the works, of English Sanscrit scholars. Though pure theism might be inferred from some parts of the Vedas, yet their teaching was so contradictory, and in some places so unmistakably pantheistic, that they could no longer be considered the source of fundamental truth. A new covenant was therefore drawn up, by which all the members of the association bound themselves to worship no created being, but only the supreme Brahm, the Maker of all.
But though the authority of the Vedas had thus been radely shaken, they still retained the first place in the worship and in the services of the Brahmo Sabha, or Somaj. The Christian Scriptures were acknowledged to be entirely theistic, but were not allowed to supplant the national writings.
In 1858 the Brahmo Somaj entered on the most vigorous portion of its existence by the accession to its numbers of Babu Keshab Chandra Sen, a man well fitted by character, learning, and position to be a leader to his countrymen. Hope ran high, not only in India, but in England and other countries where he was known, that here at last was the man who would lead his countrymen to Christ. These hopes have· not been fulfilled.
Babu Keshab Chandra Sen, a member of a distinguished family, was born in Calcutta in 1838, and was brought up in the special worship of the Vishnu. But the education he received in the English college, though not directly Christian, proved, as it so often does, destructive to the Hindu faith. In the light of Western knowledge, founded on facts and on history, the old legends concerning the gods of the Hindu Pantheon seemed ridiculous, and the rites by which they 'were worshipped debasing. For some time he remained in religious apathy, believing all religions to be equally unfounded; but at last he felt that in this state of mind no happiness could be obtained, and he sought refuge in prayer. He has himself told us how, at this time, he was helped neither by book nor by any man, but by the voice of God speaking directly to his soul. His experiences even more than those of his predecessors seem like those of the Christian convert.
It was not nntil this time that the Babu heard of the Brahmo Somaj, so quiet and unaggressive had it become. A tract that came his way made him acquainted with it, and he immediately sought an interview with Rajendra Isath Tagore, aud soon joined his association, which now took to itself the high-sounding title of " the Church of India."
Though at this time still very young, the Babu's influence soon became paramount. For the first time the little society was roused into missionaryactivity. Even Nath Tagore, still the nominal head, was so moved by the younger and more ardent reformer, that he gave up his Brahmanical thread, and removed the family idol. Every effort was made to quicken the life of the association, to rouse them to a purer worship and more active philanthropic life. The Babu himself gave up his appointment in the Bank of Bengal in order to become the minister of the community, and to devote his whole time to its service. Like his predecessors, he had prepared himself for this position by devoting much time to the study of all religions, and to the onslaught that had been made on them j and, like them, while he spoke of the Christian Scriptures with the highest reverence and praise, the traditions of his race and his feelings as a patriot still tempted him to give the Vedas the first place among the religious writings of the world.
For some years the two leaders worked together with as much harmony as could be expected from two men who, though one in aim, were very different in temperament j but at last dissensions arose, and the younger and more advanced section of the community broke off, under Babu Keshab Chandra Sen's leadership, and formed a more democratic society of their own, under the title of " the Progressive Somaj."
As with the older societies, they proposed to find the foundations for their beliefs in the sacred books of the world, and more especially in their own j but the Babu has put it on record more than once that, in his opinion, the highest authority of all was to be found, not in these books, bUl in the direct voice of God to the human soul. In contradiction to his frequently declared disbelief in supernatural revelation, he maintained that at different times God had raised up for Himself prophets, to whom He had, in a more special and intimate way, revealed Himself and His will. In this category he placed the prophets of the Old Testament, Christ and Mohammed, and in more or less express terms he claimed himself to be the prophet raised up in these last times.
Of the extreme eclecticism of his views, the following extract from a contribution to the Theistic Quarterly in 1880 will be the best exponent: " To me the Bible is a blessed home, to which I often like to retire after my refreshing devotions, and I read and meditate over the Old Testament and the New. From such perusal I derive much help, much sympathy and much comfort, much profound response to what I treasure as the most sacred treasure of my being. The Bible is the Word of Life indeed. It seems as if the Bible was written for me especially. In the Shastras of my own country, III the Upanishads, the Bhagvat Gita (the Divine Song), I feel as if I am breathing my own natural atmosphere. It is to me an- other home, replete with clear and hallowed associations of national an- tiquity, full of the fragrance of a piety as original as it is true and congenial to me. It is as impossible for me to cease to be Hindu in spirit and aspiration as it is impossible for me to change my skin. The Upanishads and the Bhagvat furnish the staple food of my being. I may as soon cease to contemplate on them as lose my spiritual existence. Buddhism is to me also divine. The discipline and ordinances of Sakya Siddartha have a strange authority and attraction for my nature. In meditativeness, in self-congeniality, in peacefulness, in mental illumination and internal peace, Gautama is my ideal, and from Buddhism I sincerely declare I derive spiritual help which no other religion can afford me. With some of the sentiments of Hafiz, Sheikh Sadi, and Moulana Roum I-have come in contact; and what is there to equal their beauty, their depth, their tenderness, their intoxicated spirituality ~ Therefore, I say, my glorious religion has opened out to me the Scriptures and the spiritual treasures of all nations."
The great aim of the Brahmoists from the first had been the unification of all religions, but few could subscribe to such a confession as the above.
As time went on there were again disagreements in the society, largely caused by the extravagant claims and autocratic behavior of the leader. In 1878 a definite split occurred, the immediate occasion being the marriage of Babu Keshab Chandra Sen's daughter to the Raja of Kuoh Behar. Both bride and bridegroom were under the marriageable age, and child marriage was one of the customs of his country which the Babu had most strongly opposed, while the rites by which the marriage was celebrated were such as seemed idolatrous to many Brahmoists. Again a band of seceders formed a new church, believing themselves to be returning to the faith and aspirations of the parent society.
The Babu still led the older association, but in time his pretensions alienated many from him. In imitation of the Church of England, he issued a creed of thirty-nine articles, and in extravagant words he proclaimed his new dispensation.
" All other dispensations," he wrote, " are harmonized and unified in the synthetic unity of the new dispensation. A whole hos/' of churches art:. resolved into a scientific unity. In the midst of the multiplicity of dispensations in the world there is undoubtedly a concealed unity, and it is of the highest importance to us all that we should discover it with tlie light of logic and of science. " Hi issued a proclamation to " All my soldiers in India." "Ye are my soldiers, my covenanted soldiers. Ye are ' bound to fight valiantly and faithfully under my banner, and no other shall ye serve."- Such language did him at the time much harm ; but after his death, which occurred soon afterward, the extravagances of his later years were forgotten and the great services of his earlier ones only remembered. No successor has been allowed to enter his pulpit, and his memory is still fondly cherished by many. In his later years some enthusiastic followers worshipped him as if he were a god, and these honors were accepted by him.
One other band of reformers must be briefy mentioned. It is that which is now known under the name of the Arya Somaj, and was founded in the middle of the century by Swami Dayananda Saraswati, a Mahratta Pandit. Like the other reformers of whom we ha.ve written, Dayananda was in early youth repelled and disgusted by the idolatrous rites of Hinduism. Like them, he set himself to travel and to a study of the other religions of the world. He became a convert to pure theism, for which he thought he found sanction in the Vedas. He proclaimed their authority as entirely contradictory to the Hindu practice of his time. But, unlike the other leaders, he refused to acknowledge the sanctity of the ancient books of the other religions of the world, and a determined opposition to Christianity and a desire if possible to suppress it, even by law, in India became in time one of the most marked aims of this society. This aggressiveness has been in some ways an advantage to it, and of all the sects of reformed Hinduism, it has no'w the largest number of adherents. It has given itself up largely to fostering education, and ha~ branches in many parts of India and one in London.
Notwithstanding the high character and elevated moral aims of the Brahmoist leaders, the movement cannot be considered to have had a success at all commensurate with its early history and expectations. It has, indeed, been a half-way house for some who, in the light of modern education, can no longer believe in the grosser superstitions of Hinduism, but are still unable to accept the Christian Gospel. Its negative creed, without anything 9f that" super-rational" element (as Mr. Benjamin Kidd calls it in his lately published and much-talked-of book), has been unable to affect changes in the life or to keep the active devotion of its professed adherents. At the last census its numbers were found to be below five thousand, and these were divided into three different and sometimes hostile parties. Not only have the hopes of its own party been dashed to the ground, but the hopes also of the Christian world. The reformers had been hailed as men likely to lead their countrymen from idolatry through theism to the bright light of the Gospel. Something they have done, and their influence has probably been of wider extent than their numbers would indicate; but we have again seen that more vivifying influences than purely intellectual ones must be at the bottom of any great religious movement. The love of Christ constraining the hea~t of man is the only lever that will
FACTS AND FIGURES FROM BRITISH INDIA
be found sufficient to raise the people of India from superstition and heathenism to the worship of the one living God and His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
FACTS AND FIGURES FROM BRITISH INDIA. * BY PROFESSOR GEORGE H. SCHODDE, PR.D., COLUMBUS, O.
The English Government has published in a volume of 299 pages the tabulated results of its last census of India, the most extensive that was ever undertaken, upon which more than a million dollars were expended. A census of the entire Roman Empire would have been a small affair in comparison with that of British India, which contains fully 287,000,000 human beings, or the fifth part of the human family. It is a territory in which the population each year increases on the average 2,700,000, and the collector of statistics returning in a decade will find an increase of 27,900,000, a popUlation almost as great as the entire kingdom of Prussia contains. The number of children under five years of age is 45,000,000, almost equal to the population of the whole German Empire. In India there are no fewer than 22,600,000 widows, of whom 250,000 are not yet fourteen years of age.
Some of the figures and data of these census statistics are very instructive. British India is no industrial country; 171,700,000 of the inhabitants devote themselves to agriculture. The era of large centres of population has not yet reached India. Only 27,200,000 Jive in cities, and these do not increase at a greater ratio than the population as such. The census reports only 28 cities of more than 100,000 inhabitants, the total population of these being 6,173,000. In all India there is not a single city with a population of a million. Bombay, with its suburbs, is the largest, but has only 821,764 people.
European ideas but slowly permeate these masses. It is naturally impossible to compel the Indians to marry widows, but the law has prevented their being burned alive. It is a doubtful specimen of human feeling to permit lepers,1)f whom there are 126,000, to marry. But the law has certainly did the correct thing prohibiting their being buried alive, as was done before. In 1891-92 there were 655,500,000 letters, papers, and packages sent through the mails in India. Railroads have now been built over 27,077 kilometres (nearly 17,000 miles), but even this means of intercourse has not been able to break down the caste spirit, although 126,600,000 passengers were carried in 1890• • Digest largely from an article by Director Zahn, In the .AUge1Mine Mi8BiorI8. ZeU8ehrift, No.7, h. a. _nd what a Babylonish confusion of tongues exists in polyglot India! The most widely spread is the Hindustani, yet this is spoken only by 85,600,000 of the population, or only about 29 per cent of the entire people. The census reports no fewer than 117 different languages in the country. Of these, however, there are 5 Indian, 8 Asiatic, and 23 European tongues, which are together spoken only by 5601 people j 17 other languages constitute the means of communication for contingents of from 1000 to 10,000 ; 22 per cent of 10,000 to 100,000, and 22 more are used by fewer than a million people. Yet there are more than 20 languages in British India, each spoken by more than a million people. The least of this class is the Pashtu, with 1,080,931. Next to the Hindustani comes the Bengali, with 41,300,000 to use it. Five other languages, "among them the Telugu and the Tamil, are each spoken by more than 10,000,000.
These languages are anything but closely related, and by no means belong to the same family of tongues. The census divides the 117 languages in question into 17 groups or families. Of these the most important is the Aryan or Indo-European, spoken by 195,400,000 Indians, while the next numerically is the Dravidic, including 14 languages spoken by 52,900,000.
In educational matters excellent progress has been made. It is less than half a century since the government determined to take this matter into its own hands. The census makes a distinction between public institutions of learning, which are supported entirely by the State; aided institutions, supported in part from the State treasury, and unaided private institutions. The middle class has decreased in the last ten years; the first and third class have increased. About two thirds of the pupils attend the private schools and one third the public. The schools of the second and third class each number about 60,000 j the public State schools, 21,235. Of these 142,038 schools in India, 139 have university courses, 154 are seminaries or normal colleges for teachers, 10,496 are secondary or advanced schools, 130,874 are elementary schools. The elementary schools report 3,284,751 pupils j the secondary, 548,036, and the seminaries and universities, 21,632 students. The number of natives who secure academic degrees is comparatively small. Five universities have the right to examine for degrees, and these have an established reputation for refusing degrees to any and every unworthy candidate. In the last five years 81,086 applied for admission to final examinations, but only 26,940 were passed. Of course the masses in India as such are not yet educated. The great majority of the natives are still analphabets. An examination of the report shows that of every 100 East Indians, 94.7 cannot read nor write, this percentage being unequally divided between men and women j but of 100 men nearly 10 per cent can read and write; but of 1000 Indian women only 4 have this accomplishment.
The religious census is probably the most interesting in these instructive tablets of figures and facts. Here is the result: 1. Hindus (Brahmans)………….•..•… 207,731,727 2. Mohammedans …….••••……..••… 57,321,164 3. Aborigines (Animists) …………. , … . 9,280,467 4. Buddhists..••.•….•……….•…… 7,131,361 5. Christians •••••••….•.••••………. 2,284,380 6. Sikhs..•.•.•.•.•..•……….•.•…•• 1,907,833 7. Parsees …•….••••…….•……..• 89,904 8. Jews..••….••…•…•…….•.•….. 17,194 9. Unclassified ……………………. . 42,763 TotaL …• " .•••.•…….•…•..•. 285,806,793 The Christians are scattered all over India, but constitute different percentages of the population in different localities, varying from 7 in every 100,000 in the Panjab, to tIle Presidency of Madras with 2 out of 1000 ; in fact, about three fourths of all the Indian Christians live here. The Christians of India are not all the fruit of mission toil. Fully 35,645 European, 36,082 Eurasian, and 200,000 Syrian Christians are not converts of this work. Of the remaining 2,012,197, the Roman Catholics can claim 1,243,529 adherents. It is interesting, in this connection, that the official census for the first time gives us reliable data on the Roman Catholic work in India. The reports of the Missiones Gatholica! concerning the propaganda have all along been inaccurate and exaggerated. Of the Protestants, 371,692 are found in the Presidency of Madras, while 102,367 are found in Bengal and 96,226 in Burma. There are 592,612 native Protestant Christians in India. divided among the denominations as follows: Church of England ..•••…•.•••.••……• , … 164,028 Presbyterian ………•.•.•.•………..•…. 30,915 Protestants ……….•.•••…•.•………… 49,223 Lutherans …•………•.•..••……••…..• 64,243 Baptists•..•….••••….••••…• ' ..•.•••…. 186,487 Met.hodists ………….•………•••…..••• 13,412 Others …………….•………….••..•.. 84,305 Total. …•……………. , ….•….• 592,613 Just who are meant by " Protestants" and" Others" in the tables does not appear. The growth of Protestantism is seen in the following: 1861 there were 198,087 Protestants, 1871" "286,987 " an increa8e of 88,890, or 44.9% 1881" "492,883 " " " "205,895" 41. 7% 1891" "592,612 " " " " 99,730 "20.2% Dr. F. M. Zahn, who is a well-known German authority on mission subjects, in discussing these statistics, draws attention to the fact that there is a heavy decrease in percen'.;age during the last decade compared with the figures of preceding decades, but inclines tq the belief that there must have been some error in making the summary, either in the last report or in the data for earlier years, and thinks that the matter cannot be definitely decided until the statistics for 1900 will be on hand. Should, however, all the figures as given be entirely correct, then the ratio of increase is smaller in India now than formerly. Zahn thinks, too, that the objection urged to Christian work, that while the increase in population in India is each year 2,700,000, the entire number of Christians is only 2,200,000, and that consequently the absolute increase in population is greater than the entire Christian community, is not to be regarded as discouraging, because similar objections could have been made in the early days of Christianity, when the apostolic Church went out conquering and to conquer. The question is whether the leaven of Christianity is at work in India, and this is th~ase beyond a doubt. At any rate, the Protestant Church there increased at a greater ratio than the population of the empire. During the period in which statistics are at hand, the population has increased 10.9 per cent, while Protestantism has increased 20.2 per cent. This increase is, however, disproportionally distributed. In Bengal the increase of population stands to the increase in Protestantism in the proportion of 7.3 per cent to 22.4 per cent; in Madras, 15.9 to 24 per cent; in the Central Provinces, 12 to 58 per cent; in the Northwestern Provinces, 6.2 to 271 per cent. In Bombay the data are even more favorable to Protestantism.
These last figures go to show that when Christian communities once begin to grow they increase in per cent more rapidly when in the hundreds and thousands than they do when in the tens and hundreds of thousands. Again, these statistics show that the general rapid development of Protestantism in India is not only the direct result of mission work. Without doubt the marriages of Protestants, because contracted on a higher moral plane, are more fruitful than the heathen marriages. While a general comparison in this matter is not possible, such comparisons can be made in some special cases. The Basel Mission congregations in India during the decade of 1882-91, in a community of 7557 souls, report an absolute increase of 1875 souls by births, or 24.8 per cent, while the general increase in Gentile India has been only 10.9 per cent. A further increase of 6 per cent the Basel missions secured during this period from without, making a total of 30.8 per cent. Deducting losses of all kinds, these mission congregations during the past decade grew through natural increase by 24.8 per cent, and a further 20.5 per cent through additions from without. If other Protestant missions can leport the same experience, it is safe to pronounce the development of Protestant missions in India as healthy and safe, and the prospects for Gospel conquests more than fair.
Dr. Cust does not pass so hopeful and favorable a judgment on mission work in India. In a recent article he criticises Protestant missionaries, and compares them unfavorably with Paul and Columbanus and Bonifacius, as also with modern Roman Catholic missionaries, and, in fact, even with
THE LONDON MISSION IN TRAVANCORE
the propaganda workers of the Hindus and Mohammedans. In this regard he seems to like the view which the German traveller Weismann expressed some years ago of the missionaries he met in Africa, who claimed that the Protestant missionaries worked on the principle of ora et labora, while their • Roman Catholic competitors inverted this order and attended to the labora before the ora-i. e., sought first to civilize and only then to Christianize the natives. Cust's leading criticism is that the Protestant missionaries of India do not exhibit to the native the living example of " the most ex- cellent gift of self-sacrifice. " Dr. Cust also fears that if once the protect- ing arms of the British Government are withdrawn from India, the whole fabric of Protestant churchdom in that country will crumble to the ground, the reason being that it has not been established on an independent, self- sustaining apostolic basis.
Zahn, in answer, very properly draws attention to Cust's inability to prophesy or predict in this matter, owing to his strong convictions that the mission churches should be under native government and authorities exclu- sively. Recently he protested loud and long in the Times against the ap- pointment of a European bishop for Africa. Zahn thinks that possibly Cust's ideas could be applied to the churches in Africa, and that these could stand on their own feet and become indepQndent of European con- trol, but that the time to establish this principle in India has not yet arrived.
THE LONDON MISSION IN TRAVANCORE.
BY THE LATE REV. SAMUEL MATEER.
The Western Coast was the first part of India where Europeans landed and opened direct intercourse with the people, thus commencing a new era in the history of mankind. As Columbus first lighted upon the Bahamas in his search for India four hundred years ago, so, about the same time, Vasco da Gama was blown to the West Coast of India, under the rule of the Zamorin, of Calicut, which became the subject of the npble epic poem in Portuguese called the Lusiad. South of Calicut lies the native State of Travancore.
The shores of Travancore are covered with the feathery cocoanut-palm, in its gardens are cultivated numerous fruit-trees, bananas, coffee, tea, and fragrant spices, while the valleys and' lowlands are irrigated and green with rice, producing a golden harvest twiee a year. Inland, the country is well called Malayala-hill and dale-while in the background rise the lofty range of the Western Ghauts, with grand precipices, beautiful waterfalls, primeval forests, and scenery of romantic beauty. The torrid heat of the East Coast is not so often experienced, but there is no winter to relieve the pressure on the European constitution. Travancore must be studied as ethnologically a distinct and very peculiar district of India. There are no child-marriages among the Malayalis, but females have considerable liberty of choice when arrived at maturity. Numbers of celibate Brahman women will be found there, because only one son in each Malabar Brahman family is allowed to marry, in order. that the ancestral estate may not be diminished by subdivision. Among Malayalis no woman ever can be a widow, because she never is truly a wife. The system is one of concubinage, in consequence of which the mother's brother is the guardian of her children, the paternal relationship being of no account in the eye of the law. Malabar law is, therefore, curiously opposed to ordinary Hindu law.
Among the two and a half millions of people in Travancore we find a marvellous variety of race and religion. The ancient colony of Jews numbers (including those of Cochin) about 1400. We have 150,000 Mohammedan traders, fishermen, and agriculturists, for the most part ignorant of their own religion, bigoted, and superstitious. All along the seashore are seen the churches of the Roman Catholic fishermen, with others inland, for 180,000 of that sect; while over North Travancore are the venerable churches of the Syrian Christians, with their ancient hierarchy and elaborate ritual, followed by 250,000 of that faith. Altogether no less than half a million, or one fifth of the whole population, are already nominally Christian,. constituting that country the most Christian country in India.
Among the Hindu population there are no less than 420 distinct castes, most of whom cannot eat together, and none can intermarry. In their secluded groves and villas dwell the high Malayali Brahmans, before whom the king himself must bow. Around the sacred temples dwell the numerous servants who attend the shrine. In lowly huts among the palm groves live the tribes who climb these trees for their produce, on which they live. On the sands of the seashore dwell the laborious fishermen, in the rice swamps the toiling slave castes (now nominally freed), and in the hills the wild men of the woods, while in the towns are found, besides artisans of various trades, the gentry, the magistrates, lawyers, teachers, and other professional men. The strata and gradations of population are many, and their diverse manners and usages would form the study of a lifetime.
This interesting little country was formerly the scene of cruel oppression and Oriental misgovernment. Being quite a corner of India, shut off and hemmed in by the great mouutain wall on one Flide and the Indian Ocean on the other, modern advance had not reached it, irritating and depressing taxes and benevolences were levied, criminals were tortured and torn asunder. Impalement was the punishment for the murder of the sacred cow; internal conflicts were frequent, and two thirds of the Hindu population were regardetl as low and polluting in caste, to whom, therefore, the rights of citizenship were denied, clothing above. the waist disallowed, and their property and lives were at the mercy of the higher classes.
The government of Travancore under its native maharaja or king is purely Hindu, the country having been too far from the seat of Mohammedan rule to be conquered by them. Hinduism has, therefore, been conserved in its primitive purity and power. The country is regarded as dedicated'to the god Patmanabhan, or Vishnu, represented by the Brahmanical priesthood. The iron shackles of caste have been closely maintained. Demon worship, serpent worship, ancestor worship, sorcery, and the darkest and most terrifying superstitions multiplied the sorrows of those who had turned away from the light of the God of heaven presented by the Jews and early Syrian Christians, and who" did not like to retain God in their knowledge."
In this populous and diversified field our fathers and predecessors labored, for it they prayed earnestly and gave liberally, especially sixty years ago, when multitudes came over to Christianity, destroyed their devil temples, and ranged themselves under the banner of the cross. Our missionary predecessors, whose names are little known now in Britain, but are recorded on high, did a noble work in the conflict with the powers of darkness and evil, and in toiling to teach and discipline and organize the rising native church. The missionaries were foremost in pleading for needed social and political reforms, and thus greatly benefited the country, and now gratitude for British justice and freedom and religious privileges fills the hearts of many. We are known there as the friends of the poor, yet not enemies to any; only opposed to priestcraft, injustice, and oppression.
The beginning of the mission was small and unpromising. A single missionary, a German, humble but learned, laborious, and self-denying, entered the country single-handed, in spite of the frowns of the native government and the opposition of the Brahmans. During his period Ringeltaube brought hundreds to Christ, and afterward was succeeded by others, under whom many thousands were instructed. Now we have a great mission, our joy and rejoicing in the Lord, well conducted on a scriptural basis, fairly equipped for past needs, and now receiving considerable reinforcements, while a great step in advance is being taken by strengthening present stations, opening a new one in the north, and raising the seminary to the grade of a college affiliated to the Madras University.
The success achieved in Travancore has been fully commensurate with the means used, and quite repays the devoted efforts and loving gifts and earnest prayers expended upon it. From a memorandum of the statistics of 1880, compared with those of 1890, furnished to the Census Commissioner, we find that there has been growth during those ten years in every item of missionary work. There has been a steady increase of native agency, preaching and educational, male and female; an increase of the total number of professing Christians and baptized communicants j an increase in the number of boys and girls attending school, and in the contributions of native Christians toward the work of God among themselves, with a view ultimately to self-support and self-propagation.
While the total population of Travancore has increased during the past decade from 2,400,000 to two and a half millions, a ratio of 6.4 per cent, the number of Christians in the London Mission has grown from 41,347 to 49,260, equal to over 19 per cent-just three times the natural increase of the population. And we can see the progressive improvement of each generation under Christian education and discipline and pastoral care, though we also see and acknowledge that there are still many unconverted hearers who are Christians only in name and profession. In our Sonth Travancore Mission we have now 299 congregations comprising 50,637 native Christians, and 16,393 children, over half of whom are the children of heathen parents, but also taught to love the Lord and read His word and sing and pray, and promising, most of them, to become Christians as they grow up.
And still cheering tidings continue to reach us from Travancore, notwithstanding the death of several valued laborers, such as the ingathering of a hundred and ten persous in four months in a village near Trevandrun, among whom were nine devil-dancers and priests, one of whom had been for fifty years a most bigoted heathen. Indeed, the number of devildancers converted this year in our various districts is very remarkable. We have also heard of the destruction of two demon temples and the capture of several images of Kali, queen of the demons, of the progress of native pastorates, the baptism of several lepers, some of the wild Hillmen learning to read, and asking for teachers and schools, and classes for medical stuuents and for Bible women progressing. Several persons of good caste and education are inquiring, and hundreds of caste women under instruction in our zenana mission.
Could our readers witness the results already achieved in Travancore, they would realize more fully the importance of the work that has been accomplished. Could you see something of our congregations of people, once devil-worshippers trembling before malignant spirits and seeking demoniac possession and familiar intercourse with the powers of hell, now clothed and in their right minds, heartily singing the praises of our blessed Saviour and humbly bowing in prayer before Him, then contributing to His cause their little coins and garden produce ; could you see some of those dear children in our schools and hear them read the Gospels and sing their sweet lyrics ; could you be present at the weekly report meetings of our preachers and teachers with the missionary for counsel, instruction and prayer-men who a hundred years ago would have been leaders in devil-dancing, sorcery, and mischief, as now they are in godliness and work for the Master, your hearts would be cheered and invigorated for further effort, and you would join as never before in the song of praise to Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. In fact, Christianity is becoming a power in Travancore. As already mentioned, Christians all told number half a million, a fifth of the population of the State, and fully equal in number to the Sudras, who regard themselves as the Malayalis, and are the rulers and landowners, the magistrates, police, and military of the kingdom.
And not only in Travancore, but throughout South India native Christians are coming to the front in education, law, and medicine. Their children are attending schools in larger proportion than any other class, taking part in government service, and beginning even to beat the Brahmans in university examinations, who have for three thousand years been the brain and the men of leading in India. Native Christians are likely, according to a recent report of the Director of Public Instruction in Madras, " in the course of a generation to secure a preponderating position in all the great professions, and possibly, too, in the industrial enterprise of India."
I have sometimes pointed out to respectable Hindus, as a secondary argument, that if they do not embrace Christianity and place themselves in the front of that forward movement, while such numbers of the poorer classes are coming under instruction and rapidly rising, they will ultimately become the despised heathen and virtual low castes, while the Christians shall be in the truest and most real sense the " high caste" people of India. The balance of power will, in time, with the progress of enlightenment alter from the haughty and oppressive Brahmans, relying on their traditional prestige alone, to the middle class Sudras, the present bone and sinew of the country as regards property and general influence, and from the Sudras power must inevitably come in time to the native Christians, if they will be faithful to the principles of God's Word and commandments, taught them by the missionaries. God is forming a new nation in India. Already signs are visible of the revolt of the Sudras tlgainst Brahmanical ascendency in many ways. In Travancore they begin to protest against the corrupt favoritism and costly gifts bestowed upon the priestly Brahmans in the Land of Charity. In 1892 the maharajah was weighed with his sword and shield and royal ornaments against his full weight in pure gold, and of this sum half was bestowed on the officiating priests and half on the Tamil and Malayalam Brahmans, and nothing for the Sudras!
But the more successful our work becomes, the more it needs in men and means and united effort. We must care for our present converts and congregations and schools, else they will retrograde or even die out. The convert churches, like our own children, must be fed and nourished till they arrive at some maturity of growth, as some have already done. We need still to labor on for the conversion of all classes in Travancore. As yet the high castes have not been brought in in any considerable numbers. The barbarous laws obstructive of Christian progress that still obtain call for reform, and the family relationship must be purified, which only
THE CONDITION OF PARIAH ., OUTCASTS" IN INDIA
Christianity can effectually accomplish. We need prayer and more indio vidual dealing with souls for the spiritual conversion of mere nominal Christians, and a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit to fit them to evangelize other parts of India. A forward movement is needed in Travancore as well as in England.
We want more native teachers for Pulayars, Kuravars, and other humble castes that are appealing for instruction for themselves and their children. I have for years been obliged to caution our catechists against extensions which we had not means to maintain. With a sufficient staff of teachers we could at once bring under instruction many thousands of the poorer classes in Travancore. We want some help toward church buildings required not for individual congregations, but for special united meetings. We are opening a new station intermediate between Trevandun and Quilon with two missionaries, for whom a staff of helpers and suitable buildings will be required. Magnificent opportunities for usefulness present themselves, of which we should eagerly avail ourselves.
We who labor in the foreign field have no doubt as to the ultimate result. Victory is assured to us by the Divine promise, and we are on the winning side, for God is with us. Any day we may see, after all the preparatory work that has been done, greater results than the Christian Church has ever witnessed before-the ingathering of a glorious harvest, a new Pentecost, a nation born in a day.
I have seen in one of the Hindu temples a beautiful life-size piece of sculpture representing the god Krishna treading on the head of a great serpent, while he securely grasps the body and tail of the reptile in his hands. They tell us of a black serpent whose infectious breath poisoned the river Jumna, so that cattle and men died as soon as they drank of the waters. Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu, appeared for their rescue, combated with the serpent, which twisted its mighty folds round his body, but he seized it, trampled upon its head, and danced in triumph over its mangled body. Here is a reminiscence of the old promise, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head," and an unconscious prophecy of the glorious time coming, when Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, shall triumph over Satan, and abolish his dominion and works and worship and rescue the nations so long enthralled by his mighty power and poisoned by his deadly venom.
THE CONDITION OF PARIAH "OUTCASTS" IN INDIA.
BY REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, DARWEN, LANCASHIRE, ENGLAND.
Abject poverty holds millions of natives in its withering grip throughout the Indian Empire. It is impossible to find another country on the face of the globe where so many are in bondage to want or endure continually such terrible misery. While the patience of these hapless myriads is characteristic, the time is overdue for efforts of a more decisive nature to effect some amelioration of their lot. Strange as it appears, even Hindus themselves of very enlightened type have scarcely grappled with the physical misfortunes of their fellow-countrymen. Of that large body of India's own children who have figured as educationists, reformers, statesmen, and patriots, not one has stood above the evils of caste system or devoted adequate attention to the miseries of the despised and wretched beings known as the "outcasts" of India. The pariah in India is the pitiful counterpart of the four-footed animal pariah-the dog, with which every traveller is familiar on Eastern shores.
Numerous causes of a general and specific nature haTe intensified the degradation of vast numbers of India's population and relegated them to shameful wrongs and disabilities. Of these the most potent is the unfeeling system of caste. Suffering humanity presents its worst disclosures among natives at the lowest point in the social scale, for whom the members of caste, with rarest exceptions, have neither regard nor mercy. On this question Christian missionaries are in strong unanimity. A trustworthy agent of the London Missionary Society at Salem, in Southern India, has lately rebuked the leaders of the National Congress, who, in denouncing the unwillingness of the government to grant a wider franchise, are themselves equally exposed to the charge of refusing corresponding privileges to their humbler fellow-countrymen, which all classes share in virtue of a common nationality. " England," he says, "may have given a tardy recognition to the demand for political enfranchisement, but India still withholds social enfranchisement from thousands of her own sons." In illustration of this it is related that a public well was sunk in a garden belonging to a certain union. The well was approached through a narrow gate, and over this was affixed a signboard with the inscription: "Pariahs are not allowed to enter this enclosure, or to draw water from this well." On account of such privations the Hindu pariah has a claim upon the sympathetic ear of the world of brotherhood hardly surpassed by any other being on earth. Ill-treated perpetually, he is an exile in his own land, and, of him, it has been pathetically said that he is in reality an " out-caste," living outside village bounds, existing on the verge of starvation, and often disputing his food with the dog and carrion bird. The pariahs are practically slaves, whose afflictions cry for the swift help of mankind, and the coming of the time when there shall be " -no more crippled, nor weak, nor bent; No more painful, nor impotent."
The multitudes in this travail reach amazing figures. They were returned from the Madras Presidency alone in 1882 at 4,439,253, or over 15 per cent of the population. Throughout Southern India in particular such unfortunates are exposed to a heartrending struggle for existence. Lack of water is a dreaded spectre. The sun, especially in the summer season, dries up the streams and tanks, when these children of the soil are scorched and shrivelled. To satisfy the cravings of nature, tens of thousands of them have to drink water from dirty, stagnant pools, gener- ally at great distances from their miserable bamboo huts, or go without it altogether. Little can it be wondered that their dwellings are beds of cholera, dysentery, and fever, and should a slight water famine fall upon them, they are said to die off like flies. What tragedy this implies may be gleaned from returns during the span of the last generation. As against the. thirteen famines which happened in India between 1802 and 1854, when 5,000,000 perished, there befell the people, between 1860 and 1879, w.hen railways and irrigation works were supposed to do away with the perils of famine, no less than sixteen, in which 12,000,000 natives died of starvation, a large proportion of them belonging to outcast tribes and communities. These appalling figures lend urgent emphasis to the noble words which Mountstuart Elphinstone addressed to posterity regard- ing India: "It is not enough to give new laws or even good courts; you must take the people along with you, and give them a share in your feel- ings, which can only be done by sharing theirs." In the present age, which assuredly is being swayed by the most intelligent and widespread humanitarian movement that the world has ever seen, it is not improbable that the pangs of India's needier millions may be relieved by the outflow- ing of more brotherly compassion.
Acknowledging heartily the endeavors of the English Government to elevate the social status of the Hindus, these, it must be observed, have not materially affected the non-caste populations. Through a variety of circumstances the latter have not come within the scope of the justice and liberality of the British raj, and consequently they require exceptional protection and assistance. Even the charitable exertions which radiate from the mission centres merely touch the fringe of this national misfor- tune and evil.
From another source reformation must gradually proceed. By the most competent authorities on Indian life it is allowed that the prevalence of caste is answerable for the bulk of the wretchedness and cruelty, and on its relaxation depends the happiness of multitudes. Whatever 'govern- ment and Christian institutions may accomplish, the barriers will in a great measure stand, unless the caste orders are convinced that no moral pollution is incurred by the ministry of pity to the meanest of their fellow- creatures. It is along this path that missionary teaching is being incul- cated, not without some encouragement of the breaking of a glorious dawn: " From whose broad doorways seems to shine An effluence Divine."
Notwithstanding the occasional plea that the discipline of caste has certain moral and social advantages, Protestant missionaries glory in preaching a Christ who is equally the foundation and crown of the whole
1891S.] FAMILY LIFE IN INDIA
race, in relation to whom" there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female : for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." From that Oriental empire, with its solitary missionary sower for every 500,000 natives, rises a yearning cry inviting the witnesses of a fruitful faith to herald a humane and spiritual righteousness, by which the "Eye of Asia" shall yet become a jewel of light in the kingdom of Christ.
FAMILY LIFE IN INDIA.
BY ALBERT NORTON, B.D., MACEDON, N. Y.
Family life is not the same among all the Hindu castes, nor is it the same in the same caste through all the varied provinces and districts in India. As Max Muller says, "A sentence beginning with' The people of India,' or even with 'All the Brahmans,' or 'All the Buddhists,' is followed almost invariably with something wrong j as there is a greater difference between a Hindustani, a Bengali, and a Dravidian than' between an Englishman, a Frenchman, and a Russian, yet all are classed as Hindus."
Tn regard to the ill-treatment of Hindu women, as a general thing, judging from my experience in Western and Central India from 1872-89, I feel that it has been much exaggerated in missionary addresses and litera- ture-no doubt unintentionally. During those years spent in Berar and Western Central Provinces we did not find the women of the low castes nor of the middle castes, like the Kunbis (farmers), to be imprisoned in their zenanas j but, as far as we could discern, they seemed to lead a very freeand-easy life, and to have it no harder than their husbands.
For some years my wife and self, with our five boys, lived at Bhaisdehi, a Hindu town of about three thousand population. We were the first persons of European descent to live within thirty miles of that town. The town and surrounding country had never been under Mohammedan influence nor very strong Brahman control. There were two leading families: one belonged to the Kshattriyas, the military caste (and this family were descended from the native general who had defended Fort Gawilghar against the Duke of Wellington in 1803), and the other family (its leading member claiming the title of " prince") belonged to the farmer caste. While the women of these two families and a few others were kept in seclusion, the great majority, like the wives of farmers, goldsmiths, and merchants, were not. When I quoted the statement from the MISSIONARY REVIEW, "At the head is, not the husband and father, but the wife and mother, to whom are subordinate all within the house," my older boys, remembering our intimate life and close association with the Kunbi families at Bhaisdehi, at once said, "That is the way it was in the part of India where we lived."
Afterward, when our home was in a wild region on a mountain plateau, where we had built a house partly for health, a Kunbi family, which we had known for years, during a seyere storm stopped with us in our house for two days, eating and sleeping there. There were the husband and wife, their two boys, about twelve or fourteen years old, and the two girlwives, a little younger than the boys. Our impression was that the little girls were very fond of their mother-in-law, and that she was as kind and gentle to them as though they had been her own daughters; and we felt thankful that a Hindu family could be as happy and comfortable as they seemed to us to be, though it was contrary to the tradition of the missionary story-books of the cruelty of the Hindu mother. to her daughters-inlaw. There are many good things in the prevalent customs and laws of the Hindus, like their abstinence from intoxicating drink, their hospitality to kindred, and their kindness to strangers. Of conrse there is a dark side to Hindu life. On this we have the testimony of Hindu women of high caste, like Ramabai, of Poona, and Sundarbai Powar, of Bombay; and their witness as to women's condition in the Hindu home is of more value than all the papers read at Chicago on the subject at the Parliament in 1893.
Yet the conviction has been growing upon me that harm has been done to the missionary cause by exaggerations as to the immoralities of the natives of India. The statements of Dubois, James Mill, and other writers in wholesale denunciation of a large empire of people, about whom they actually knew but little, have received too much credence by missionary speakers and writers.
I have no doubt that the idolatries and superstitions of Hindnism cause great suffering and harm to both men and women, and the only way to remedy it is to bring in the light of the Gospel to banish the darkness of heathenism. At an inland town like Bhaisdehi, almost wholly cut off from the influence of ungodly Europeans, the influence of earnest Christian teaching is soon felt on the Hindu community in raising it to a higher and better moral level, though there be but few converts; so that such a place would cease to be a fair representative of average Hinduism.
Dr. J. Murray Mitchell says: "Hinduism, confirred to India, is professed by over 200,000,000. For the most, the wildest Polytheismreckoning gods and goddesses by hundreds of millions. Among educated men, it becomes Pantheism, acknowledging only one being in the universe-spirit: the world around having no existence. Only say-believing it-' Aham Brahma,' 'I am God,' and you have attained the height of wisdom.
"Hindu caste is a stupendous system, affecting one's whole life. Violate any of these rules, and you are expelled from society ; father and mother cast you off; you suffer social death.
"Suttee, self·murder under the wheels of Jagannath, and infanticide have been suppressed by the British Government; but the general heartless treatment of widows and of the lower castes, child marriages, and many similar things survive, inwoven with the whole framework of Hindu society and thought."
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY BEV. J. T. GBAOEY, D.D.
Higher Educa.tion on the Mission Field. nati ve converts has been gathered in, then in that station the great work of the mis· BY REV. W. M. HAYES, TUNG CHOW COL· sionary is to make of them .. Iiving epis- tles known and read of all men. .. This LEGE. NORTH CHINA. was the plan of the most successful mis- sionary the world has ever seen, for un- During the past twenty years there less those already received walk' as has been in many parts of the world a " children of the light" and lead better rapid development of educational work lives than the heathen around them, fur- as a mIssIOnary agency. As a result. ther preaching is well· nigh foolishness. we now have a reaction. Many, view- ing the expenditure, are beginning to This pastoral care can seldom be suffi· question the wisdom of such a course, ciently provided by the foreign mission- and ask. " Why this waste of the oint· ary himself. The experience of almost ment? Would it not be better to employ everyone has been that stations spring these men and use this money in direct uP. not where he chooses. but where evangelistic work 1" the Spirit listeth; and so, without any design on the part of the missionary, ex- There is no question but such a course cept that of going wherever men seem would yield larger immediate results. most inclined to believe, he finds the lit- The different mission boards would be tle bands of converts widely scattered. able to extend their agencies over a The result is, he cannot visit these sta- larger territory, and temporarily we tions more than once every two or three should probably have a larger number months. Some of the hardest working of native Christians. Unless, however, and most successful missionaries in proper pastoral care and religious in- Shantung find that once in six months struction is made possible, this growth is all that they can do. Even if the for- will not continue. Not only will the eign missionary could instruct each lives of the converts. as is too frequent- flock every Sabbath, provision must be ly the case, fail to commend Christian- made some time for a native pastorate. . ity to their heathen neighbors, but the The Church does not propose and defections in their own number will be should not be expected to keep up an most disheartening. It is not strange apostolic succession of missionaries in that it should be so. To expect a native any field. To educate a native ministry church, composed of untaught converts, is the one feasible method of providing to grow spiritually, to take an active in- instruction for the native Church, and, terest in the advance of the Redeemer's without controversy, it is the only pas- kingdom, and that without anyone torate which the native Church can capable of ministering to them in the afford . Word of God, is to expect of these .. babes in Christ" what the Church at In regard to the education needed, home does not expect of her members. many reason that the most intelligent of the converts, if given the elements of Remember that the great majority of a theological course, are as pastors suffi- our converts are still in the wilderness, cient for the present need. But if such only a few removes as yet from the dark men-and their usefulness in many ways Egypt of heathenism; that, owing to is not denied-are sufficient for the pas- human inability to always separate the toral care and instruction of the Chris· true from the false, there is with them tians, much less Is It necessary to give the a" mixed multitude," and the necessity missionary himself a college and semiof continual pastoral oversight becomes at once evident. After a small band of nary education before sending him out These are in the China field at least to instruct the heathen. This experi- the main objects of higher education ment, as well as that of taking young as a missionary agency. That once men and giving them a fair collegiate in a while a graduate engages in and theological education, have both some different employment is no obbeen tried, and there is no question but jection. It is not to be expected that the latter, all in all, are by far the more every man is adapted for one of these efficient men. forms of work. We must not be dis- couraged even if a man now and then Higher education on the mission field fails us. Even such a personality as is designed not only to furnish pastors Paul's could not prevent some of his for the native churches, but teachers helpers going back to the world. We also for the elementary schools. The cannot, even at the risk of a failure now almost universal adoption of this agency and then, allow anti-Christian schools is a sufficient proof of the efficiency of to furnish all the educated men. these primary schools; but here, too, higher education must precede the low- To give a good education in mission er, for the reason that we must have the high schools and colleges is necessary, teacher before we can have the school. not only to train men, but also to at- The teacher in such cases is not only tract men of good ability into the serexpected to teach, but also to be a lead- vice of the Church. It is often urged er, in the station, to conduct the Sab- that a mission school should confine itbath services, to preach to the people self chiefiy to religious instruction; but who may drop in, and to defend Chris- even in a Christian land it iEl obvious tianity before the heathen literati. In that very few young men of talent such cases the keener the scythe the would be attracted to a school whose better it will cut; in other words, if curriculum consisted mainly of the these men are carefully selected, the "Peep of Day," .. Pilgrim's Progmore thorough their education, the ress," etc., gradually advancing to the more efficient they will be. more difficult moral and theological treatises. Much less may we expect The medical work is also one of the such a school to attract talented young main indirect missionary agencies of the men belonging to heathen or non-Protpresent time; yet, to make it of lasting estant families. benefit, it should accomplish more than the mere breaking down of prejudice. In the case of some of our most use- It should be self·propagating. A dis· ful men Christianity was not that for pensary with from eight to ten thou- which they first came to us, but none sand patients a year can accomplish have graduated without voluntarily much among the more thoughtful na- first becoming Christians. The aim of tives as long as the succession of medi- the mission school is both to attract and cal missionaries is kept up. That, to train men. While religious instructhough, is not and cannot always be tion rightfully claims an important done; too often the dispensary has been place, yet we must also remember that closed because the" beloved physician" knowledge is power, and that a disciis called elsewhere. The higher educa- plined mind is one end of education_ tion, by providing young men ready At the same time, its instructors, while trained for a medical course, tends to teaching science, should teach God in obviate this difficulty, and the medical that science. Geology can be taught missionary who gives his time to their so as to impress its students with His training, while he may not for the present far-reaChing plans for human comfort; make such voluminous reports of work astronomy with the vastness of His done, is doing both as a Christian and a thoughts; physics so as to show the philanthropist a work of a far more wonderful powers with which He has abiding character. endued matter powers which are continually showing new capabilities of cation on the mission field is that men ministering to human wants. If, in are needed " who shall be able to teach teaching these and other science, we others also," who as evangelists, pasfail-as sometimes we sadly do-to in- tors, and teachers can feed the Church fuse a sense of reverence, of humility, of God, for it is as true now as it was in of gratitude, of adoration to Him who the days of Peter, the unlearned as well is God over all, the fault is ours and not as the unstable" do wrest the Scripthat of higher education per 8e. tures to their own destruction."
How extensive the curIiculum of a Present Sta.tus of Instruction on Mismission college may be is often a vexed sions in Theological Seminaries. question. Unless the funds are specially contributed for that purpose, I BY REV. JAMES EDWARD ADAMS, TRAVdo not think that they should be used in teaching anything except that which ELLING SECRETARY OF THE AMERICAN has a direct bearing on evangelistic work. To give students, e.g., a course INTER-SEMINARY MISSIONARY ALLIin civil or electrical engineering, while good in itself, can hardly be claimed to ANCE, CHICAGO, ILL. be the intent of the original donors of those funds, and honesty requires ac- In the fall of 1894 the American Incordance with that intent. The lim- ter-Seminary Missionary Alliance unitations of the curriculum are found in dertook to gather precise statistics the fact that these funds were contribut- from the theological seminaries of our ed for the evangelization, not civiliza- country concerning specific, systematic tion of the world.. The latter will fol- instruction in them upon the evangelislow as a result without our direct effort. tic mission of the Church in the world. This investigation covered 51 of our Time fails me to speak of the diffi- leading schools. In as many cases as culties of such work-the disposition so possible the data were collected not often shown by the students to pay for only from the authorities, but also just as little as possible, their unendur- from student sources in order that the able conceit, and in some cases their un- information might cover both points of willingness to serve the Church which view. Personal visits were made to 11 has educated them unless they receive seminaries, and the subject studied in remuneration equal to what they could its local bearings. As a result, it was command elsewhere. We must remem- found that of the 51 seminaries, (1) none ber, though, that college students in had individual chairs on missions; (2) 6 Christian lands are not noted for mod- had the subject as an officially recogesty, nor do seminary students always nized integral part of a chair; (3) 34 pay their own way as far as possible. reported the subject as unofficially in- We are sometimes_ cast down to the cluded in the general instruction of depths because a young man, after some other chair, as of Church History. being educated, is not willing to endure Practical Theology, etc.; and (4) out hardness as a good soldier, and neither of 34 catalogues examined, 18 made no is every man here who has been educat- mention of the subject in their printed ed by the Church. These are difficul- course of study ; one reported an opties, however, to be overcome, not to tional course of several terms in the be excused by comparison, nor to be specific history of missions; and sevregarded as unsurmountable. The final eral had special endowed lecture courses end of mission effort-a self-taught and for the occasional treatment of missionself-sustaining native Church-will not ary themes. Under class (2), of the six, be reached if we draw back because of three either never have had, or have a few lions in the way. not now the missionary part of the chair in actual operation; in the re- The great imperative reason for edu- maining three the average amount of time actually given to the subject is thirty-sil: hOllIS for the,seminary course. 19 could not tell where Duff labored; Under class (3), 12 state that they refer and 16 were unable to tell in what to what is given of the history of mis- country Carey worked. No comment sions in the general instruction in is necessary concerning the need of Church History; 19 reported having missionary instruction. it included in Practical Theology, and the average amount of time given to Not only has the specific discipline the subject was only eight lecture pe- been of such a character as not to equip riods for the course. Out of the eleven the pastor to train his church, but that institutions visited, in six where the it has also failed to lead the students to instruction took this form, it was the face the question of personal service in almost unanimous opinion among the the mission field, the following statisstudents that as a disciplinary training tics amply prove: 43 of these seminaconcerning the missionary character ries In the last three years have gradand work of the Church, calculated to uated 4452 students. Of these 107, or affect the students' future ministry, its slightly over 2 per cent, have gone to value was very small. Men in the the foreign field. Investigation was senior classes confidently affirmed that made personally in eight of these instithere had been nothing on the subject tutions where 652 had been graduated, of missions in the course, until their and 43 had gone to the foreign field in attention was called to what work was the three years; and it was found that done in this department. The actual 32 of these had the purpose of becomstatus of comprehensive, scientific dis- ing foreign missionaries before entercipline on the subject of missions is Ing the seminary. Of the 11 who dewell illustrated by the following case. cided to become foreign missionaries One of the large seminaries of the coun- after entering, nine were from a single try is recognized as a strong missionary seminary. In the other seven instituseminary in its church. The church is tions, graduating in this time 488 stuone which prides itself upon the thor- dents, but two arrived at their decision ough training of its ministry. Scarcely to be missionaries while in the semiany place could be found more suited nary, or four tenths of 1 per cent of to a favorable test. Iu this seminary those who graduated. 48 of the senior class were canvassed upon the following questions: It is only just to say that in most of these institutions the true place of mis· " 1. In what foreign fields is our sions is recognized. All the outside inchurch at work ?" fluences available are converged upon the students. Outside speakers, re- "2. Where did Robert Morrison turned missionaries, and Board Secrework, and what was the character of taries, are brought in and heartily welhis great work on the field 1" comed. Professors often turn aside from the regular instruction of their "3. Where did Alexander Duff work, department to draw from it lessons in and what was the character of his great missionary service. Missionary movework on the field f' ments among the students are endorsed and encouraged. Yet even this may "4. Where did William Carey work, have a vicious tendency, so far as solvand what was his great work on the ing the problem of the Church is confield 1" cerned, when it is made the principal factor in the seminary's missionary Of the 48, 28 failed on all the four training. From its character as an questions; 34 failed on the fields of the outside or incidental influence it unconchurch; 45 failed on Morrison; 46 sciously confirms the student in the thought that missions is no essential failed on Duff; and 38 failed on Carey. part of his ministerial training.
One man who canvassed 23 of his classmates kept an account of separate parts of the same question. Of those 23, 20 could not tell where Morrison labored; Grant that it is impossible to state Church strong in the Lord, we give the fairly the actual condition of mission- candidates three years of hard disci- ary instruction in the individual semi- pline in dogmatics. In order certainly nary in the form of bare statistics; to have a ministry able to defend the grant that all such statistics must be faith, and so a Church able to render a taken with a measure of allowance; reason for its hope, we train them in grant all that can reasonably be asked, Apologetics. In order certainly to and what do we still find? Simply have a ministry able to sound the depths this, that in the vast majority of the of Holy Writ, and so a Church anchor- training schools of the ministry, there ed in the Word, the students are drilled is in actual operation very little definite, through the entire course in Hebrew systematic, comprehensive training and Greek. Is the certain accomplish- concerning the essential missionary ment of the e8sential end for which the character and work of the Church in Church of Christ exists on earth of such the world; such specific training as minor importance that the training of shall be calculated to most certainly her ~ministry to that end can be safely beget in the mass of the ministry the left to influences brought in from out- conviction and the equipment necessary side the seminary or to incidental infer- to actualize this character in the ences drawn from the instruetion with- Church's life. in?
It will be borne in mind that this in- Even as we recognize in other depart- vestigation has been pursued in abso- ments that convictions of such a char- lutely no spirit ot antagonism to the acter as to have abiding power in the training schools of the ministry. This life of the ministry, and to certainly is simply a problem which confronts work their way out through the rela- the Church. It involves all equally as tions of the ministry into the life of the students of the things of Christ. It is Church, must be given a foundation of not that the training of the schools is systematized knowledge, so must we inefficient. They have been developed also recognize it in this department.
and are conducted by the best minds of Never will the purpose for which the the Church. It is that in this vital Church was founded be realized in her point their training is insufficient_ It life until her ministry is specifically does not suffice as the actual conditions trained to this end.
in the Church and ministry, existing Any fair consideration of what Is suf- under the present training, demonstrate. ficient and practicable must keep in The point of weakness has been this: view three postulates which relate to we have recognized the giving of the the practical conditions of seminary Gospel to the world as the essential end life: 1. The financial question is prob- of the Church; we have recognized ably the most grave of any which the the necessity of a ministry, with deep majority of seminaries have to meet.
convictions on this subject; but we In many seminaries this would be felt have expected these convictions to be to be the principal obstacle. 2. The begotten by outside and incidental in- amount of time at the command of the fluences. We have largely depended student is not unlimited. The average upon the student himself, inferentially, theological student is pressed for time.
to collect from the various other de- S. The material for study upon which partments of his instruction the mate- the instruction in such a department rial necessary to his equipment along should be based is In some important this line. What would we have lines sadly deficient. Text-book liter- thought of a seminary which pursued ature upon the philosophy of missions this policy along other fundamental is scarce.
lines? In order certainly to have a Nevertheless, God does not put a ministry sound in the faith, and so a primary obligation upon His Church and ministry and accompany it with own station, the prevalence of murder impossible conditions. Freely granting and the laxity of family ties. He then the limiting conditions, it is quite pos- discussed the difficulties which the missible to arrange a course calculated to sionaries encounter in preserving their accomplish the desired end. health, in erecting suitable buildings, learning the language, and preaching Inter-Seminary Missionary Alliance. the Gosp~l to the natives. Mr. Moody has spent four years on the Upper Con- EIGHTH ANNUAL DISTRICT CONVEN- go, and his experience, though limited, was valuable in giving a plain, unvar- 't'ION. nished description of the practical diffi- culties and the every-day happenings of BY H. B. RATHBONE, COLGATE ;UNIVER- missionary life. Interesting questions were evoked by the address concerning SITY. the mortality among missionaries, the visible results of their work, and the Notwithstanding the exceedingly un- outlook for the future. pleasant weather, the eighth annual district convention of the Inter-Semi- Mr. A. Faduma, a native of West nary Missionary Alliance with the Col- Africa and now a student in Yale gate University at Hamilton, N. Y., Divinity School, followed Mr. Moody February 7th-10th, passed off with with one of the best papers of the conmuch profit to all that were able to at- vention. His subject was Of Industrial tend its meetings. Many of the speak- Missions in Africa." After speaking ers and delegates from a distance were of the present enthusiasm for the ele· blockaded on their way to the conven· vation of Africa, Mr. Faduma said the tion by the blizzard which visited the songs of the past were on .. Arms and country just at the time of the meet- the Man." Physical prowess was the ings; consequently much of the pro- inspiration of poets. Over the Contigramme had to be revised, and the nent of Africa the Arab wandered singdelegates were deprived of the pleasure ing "Ivory and Slaves;" then civilized of listening to many whom they had nations of Europe sang along her sbores expected to hear. " Cotton and Slaves." The age of war i3 now followed by that of peace. It is The opening session of the convention not Homer nor Virgil, but Christ, who was held in the Baptist Church, Thurs- il:! the inspiration of the times. Indus· day evening, February 7th. Mr. L. C. trial missions were prophesied by Isaiah H. Biggs, of Hamilton Theological when he said, "Jehovah shall arbitrate Seminary, presided. After a short among the nations, and shall rebuke praise service the Rev. C. S. Savage, many people; and they shall beat their pastor of the Baptist Church, offered swords into ploughshares and their prayer, and Dr. S. Burnham welcomed spears into scythes; nation shall not the delegates to Colgate University. lift up sword against nation, neither Rev. J. Pierson, pastor of the Congre- shall they learn war any more." Our gational Church, spoke words of wel- song to-day is, " Christ, Tools, and the come on behalf of the village. Man. " As soon as a man becomes a complete master of tools he is no longer Dr. Harper, President of Chicago a savage, but a civilized creature. A University, was announced as the civilizatiou with Christ is the highest speaker of the evening. The subject, form of life which can be taught to .. What are the Problems of the Day, men. I feel confident in the assertion and How Shall we Regard Them 1" was founded upon observation, that a man treated in a most scholarly manner. without the knowledge of tools is an abnormal man; and if he is a Christian, The Rev. Thomas Moody, from the Upper Congo, addressed the meeting of Friday morning on " Mission Work in Equatorial Africa." He spoke of the social conditions which exist at his an abnormal Christian. All attempts tools, and the man. It is Christ im- to present Christ to the heathen with- pressing Himself upon the civilized out sufficient emphasis on this l)oint man, ennobling his character, widening will be fruitless. The saved man of his horizon of life, and so transforming Africa must be thoroughly saved. We him that he shall beat bis sword into must not forget that man is a complex: ploughshares and spears into scythes.
being. He is not merely physical, nor On Friday afternoon, after a brief is he merely spiritual. The wonderful service of song, Mr. James Simister, of insight of Christ when He was on the Drew Seminary, read an able paper on earth led Him to be a physician both "The Negro in America, and his Re- to the bodies and souls of men. We ligious Condition," in which be traced approve of medical and industrial mis- the marvellous advancement of the ne- sions in heathen lands, because they gro and emphasized the imperious need contribute to the upbuilding of Christ's of education. Mr. McLellan, of Ham- kingdom. The great prophet and her- ilton Seminary, read a paper by Mr.
ald of industrial missions was Isaiah. Sly, of Rochester, on Alexander Mac- With prophetic vision he foretold the kay. An abstract follows: cessation of war and the conversion of The history of the Uganda Mission in warlike implements to agriculture. Equatorial Africa is one of the most Such a mission we advocate in foreign fascinating stories of modern missions.
fields to-day. But there are other rea- It cannot be understood apart from an sons why industrial missions in Africa acquaintance with the life and labors of should be fostered. They are necessary its pioneer missionary, Alexander M.
(1) for the development of the native, Mackay. " No man is born into the (2) for the self-support of the missions, world," says Lowell, "whose work is (3) for the self-respect of the native, and not born with him." How true this (4) to cure parasitism. was of Mackay is evident; for surely But who is to be the leader in this in- the same Divine wisdom which raised dustrial mission? who the director and up William Carey, the cobbler, in Eng- instructor? Here we meet with two land, and sent him to India; which difficulties: (1) with the missionary, prepared Adoniram Judson, the stu- (2) with the funds. It is not possible for dent, in America, and sent him to Bur- every missionary to be a mechanic. To ma; and which trained Robert Morri- obviate this difficulty it is best to sup- son, the clerk, in Scotland, and sent ply each mission with a missionary me- him to China, also prepared Mackay, chanic, a practical man of affairs with the student and engineer of Scotland a hundred hands, who can teach ordi- and Germany, to be the pioneer mis- nary trades while the missionary is de- sionary to Equatorial Africa. The voted to purely evangelistic work. In speaker then traced the unmistakable the working of an industrial mission, evidences of a Divine plan by showing agriculture must take the first place. how Uganda was prepared, by the ex- The native must be taught improved plorations of Stanley, for the coming methods. There should be introduc- of Mackay; and how at the same time tion of new seeds and kitchen garden- God was preparing Mackay, in a strange ing, the vegetables and meat of the way, for his labors in Uganda. The whole region should be raised by the life of the heroic missionary wa.s then natives. What Africa needs is a Chris- presented by showing (1) the prepara- tianity which will respond to the yearn- tion which Mackay received for his ings of her spiritual and physical life, mission; (2) his actual labors in Ugan- not antagonizing the two natures, but da; (3) his character and in1luence.
bringing both in complete harmony Friday evening was devoted to an ad- with the law of Christ. It is a rounded dress on "Mohammedanism and MIs- Christianity she needs. It is Christ, sions to Mohllmmedans," by Dr. H. H. Jessup, of Beirut, Syria. Dr. Jessup over far more Moslems than the SUltan. presented his subject with the freedom If Mohammedans were united, they of one who has enjoyed a long experi- would be such a tremendous menace to ence among Moslems; his address was civilization that all Europe would forlistened to with marked interest. After get its petty quarrels and unite against discussing, with the aid of a large map, them. But the sword has fallen forthe countries which are now the strong- ever from the hand of Islam. Dr. Jesholds of Islam, the speaker called atten- sup then described the annual pilgrimtion to the growth of the :Mohammedan age to :tvIecca. In 1893, 100,000 pilreligion, which, although not arising grims went to Mecca, 50,000 of whom for nearly seven hundred years after died from cholera on the journey. The Christ, now claims 200,000,000 adhe- immense trenches dug to receive the rents. In discussing the character of offal of countless sacrifices of sheep Mahomet, Dr. Jessup expressed the were filled instead with the dead bodies opinion that if the prophet had been of the worshippers. The saying pre· brought into contact with an able ortho- vails, " If a man goes to Mecca once, dox Christian before entering upon his all right; if he goes twice, keep an eye career, he would have preached a pure on him ; if three times, have nothing Christianity. The form of Christianity to do with him." He is then so holy which he saw was of a grossly pervert- as to become dangero~s, for a pilgrim. ed type. In discussing the Koran, Dr. age to Mecca will atone for innumer- Jessup reminded his hearers that it was able sins. Missionary work among the spoiled in translation, and read choice llos1ems is necessarily slow, but full of passages in the original Arabic in order promise. They have a tremendous to show the beantyof the rhythm. At- conviction of the sovereignty of God, tention was called to some of the curi- and feel the necessity of forgiveness for ous blunders in the sacred book-viz., sin. in the confusion of Miriam, sister of The session of Saturday morning Moses, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, opened with Mr. H. F. Swartz, of Hartand in uniting into one story Saul, ford Seminary, in the chair. Mr. W. Gideon, and David. The scholarly B. Steele, of Hamilton Seminary, gave Moslems have high esteem for the Bi- a review of the life of Dr. Paton, after ble, according to Dr. .Jessup. The which Mr. Shobaz, also of the Hamilcommon people, however, abhor Chris- ton School, spoke briefly of his own tians as dogs and infidels. If we take country of Persia, and the progress of the Koran from the Moslem, we must missionary effort among his people. give him the Bible; for it is a danger- Dr. H. H. Jessup then responded to ous thing to rob a man of his faith and questions concerning work in Syria, not give him something better in its and gave an enjoyable and profitable place. In describing the present state talk. Mr. H. F. Swartz discussed the of Islam, the speaker referred to the University Se.ttlement in the place of great college at Cairo, where 12,000 :A-Ir. R. A. Ashworth, of Union Semistudents are engaged in study. The nary, who was snow-bound. malediction they are taught to repeat at Dr. Halsey Moor, District Secretary stated intervals aglJ-inst the infidels is of the American Baptist Home Mission like spreading gunpowder through all SOCiety, delivered his illustrated lecture the Moslem world. In 1860, Chris- on home mission work on Saturday tians to the number of 12,000 were kill- evening. He brought out some exceeded in Syria during an outburst of fanati- ingly significant facts concerning the cism. The Mohammedan world is now work with which he is connected, and hopelessly divided; more than one half gave his hearers a better knowledge of of its people are paying tribute to Chris- the home mission field than they had tian rulers. The English Queen rules had previously. Sunday furnished II oontinual feast 2. An open door confronting the Church of good things. Dr. Thomas Marshall led the devotional meeting at 10 o'clock in every quarter of the globe. 3. An in the Baptist Church, and preached in the Congregational Church at 10.30. army of laborers such as has never Mr. Simister supplied the Methodist Church, and Dr. W. N. Clarke, of Ham- been seen before, bestirring itself for ilton Theological Seminary. preached the morning sermon before the Alliance the conquest of the world for Christ. from 1 John 2 : 6. C This is the Lord's doing, and it is mar- Missionary service, he said, is simply Christian being and action. Fields are vellous in our eyes.' alike in their deepest requirement. We all have the same call and must all have " The Master urges the obligationthe same life, whether we are foreign the duty-the privilege. It is He that missionaries or home Christians, great or small. Thus we are one, and our assigns to every man the sphere of his power lies in our dwelling deep in labor. It is He' that has said: C The Christ, and showing forth the fruit of His grace in walking as He walked. field is the world,' • God so loved the May our communing together in this meeting strengthen our Christian desire world,' , I am the light of the world,' for this chief good, and help us with one heart to seek it for ourselves, • Go ye into all the world,' • Ye shall be At 3 o'clock a prayer-meeting, espe- witnesses unto Me, unto the uttermost cially for members of the Alliance and for students, was held in the Baptist part of the earth.' To go or to send Church. The meeting was conducted by the President of the Alliance, Mr. is clearly the solemn obligation-the H. F. Swartz, of Hartford Theological Seminary. Dr. Marshall addressed the bounden duty-the inestimable privimeeting for a few moments, emphasizing the need of a thorough preparation lege of every follower of Jesus Christ. for missionary work. At the close a short meeting of the members of the A groaning world waits for the coming Alliance was held. of the messenger. It is Christ who The closing service of the Alliance was held Sunday evening, when the commands us, saying, ' Go ye into the Rev. C. S. Savage introduced Dr. Marshall, Field Secretary of the Presbyte- world and preach the Gospel to every rian Board of Foreign Missions. Dr. Marshall's subject was" The Triumphs creature.' The appeal is to every child of Modern Missions," and he spoke, in part, as follows: "The conquest of of God in this Christian land. Will modern missions, during the last hundred years, forms the brightest page in you go 1 If you cannot go, will you the history of the Christian Church. C Conquering and to conquer' is the send 1" motto emblazoned on its banner. Some of the triumphs that modern missions Notes from Japan. may justly claim, for the strengthening of our faith, we may with joy recount. -Rev. David S. Spencer, of Nagoya, A century of missions and we behold: Japan, writes: 1. Every opposing barrier swept away. " The war has generally had a bad effect. upon the direct work of the churches in Japan. So much attention has been given to war preparations and supplies, that no time remained for work for the souls of men at home. But along some lines more Christian work has been done during the last six months than in any six months since Christianity came to these shores. No man can measure the good results of the work of the Red Cross SOciety. That organization has opened the eyes of many to the strong points of Chris- tian teaching in its practical bearing among men. The official classes are now everywhere inclined to encourage Christian teaching. Prince Komatsu, cousin of the Emperor, and command- er of the Imperial Guards, numbering 10,000, has given permission to distrib- ute copies of the Word of God to all under his command, and went so far as to encourage the project by thanking the workers, and by appointing men to assist in the work of distribution. Per- mission to distribute in the whole navy was voluntarily given. The distribution is permitted in all the garrisons fitorsupspolmieetd,hinagt learsetliainblepart,in threegdaerdmandto and prisons in Japan, and 14,000 copies Korea, a Jand that suffers more than its have been distributed in Hiroshima proper share of misrepresentation. Its alone, while thousands of others have publication was suspended, but it now been put into the hands of the men in appears, from the wide demand for other garrisons. The work has but back numbers, that it was fitted to do just begun. There must be grand re- an important work. sults following this work.” Its publication was resumed January, —Miss E. A. Preston, of the Canada 1895. The conflict between Japan and Methodist Church, writing from her China has brought Korea very promi- station, Kofu, Yamanashi, Japan, Jan- nently before the world, and it is dis- uary 30th, 1895, says: covered that here is a nation of 15,000,- 000 people distinct in language, tradi- ‘*My home, Kofu, is about 90 miles tions, and physique from their neigh- from Tokyo. It takes us about two days bors east and west; a people whose to get here, as the road is mountainous customs and manners are strikingly unique, whose mythology and folklore aWnde cfaonra magkoeod tphaert diosftatnhcee wtaoy Toa kcyloimb.in teem with matter interesting to the eth- shorter time by means of the Fuji nologist, whose language affords the River, a swiff mountain torrent that philologist a key to some of the most carries us over a distance of 45 miles in vexed questions in regard to the disper- seven hours’ time. This city, Kofu, sion of the Turanian peoples. is the capital of the province of Yamanashi, and is surrounded on every side Civilization has taken Japan and is by mountains. Our Church—Canada trying to make Korea a stepping-stone Methodist—is the only Protestant one to the Continent. The world demands at work inthis province. The Japanese information as to what is going on along pastors and evangelists are carrying on the skirmish line of enlightenment in the East. To-day Korea is that line. the work vigorously, but there are no foreign male missionaries of our society In the first place, the magazine deals here. In our woman’s work we have a with the actual facts of to-day. It disgirls’ school with between 80 and 40 cusses social, commercial, religious, popupils; meetings held in different litical, and general topics of the hour. places throughout the province, and 7 Tt contains articles on the history and Sunday-schools in operation in the city development of the nation, the material of Kofu itself, besides helping in the being taken from the best native hischurch Sunday-school. My associate tories, presenting for the first time the eaingdnermsysienlfthearpelacteh.e oTnlhyereEinsgalisFhrenfcorh- history of Korea from indigenous Catholic priest, I believe, living in the sources. The topography and geogcity, but we never see him, raphy of the peninsula, the theory of the government, the officiary, the ad- “The war still progresses, and the ministration of justice, the penal code, Japanese are intensely interested in it. Jand tenure, will be discussed. The They are unanimous in their desire to religions and _ superstitions of the peopush it through to a successful conclu- ple, demonolatry, witchcraft, myths, sion. The Christians think it will help legends, folklore, the rise and fall of their cause in Japan. They consider Baurcdhdehoilsomg,y minonguemneernatls. anTdhe ruliansn,guaagned that the Japanese are exemplifying the —its affinities—com parative studies, the spirit of Christianity in the assistance evolution of the alphabet, Sanscrit inbeing given to Korea, and that it will tfhleuenccoeusr,t etcg.azettFerewqiullentbe egxitvreanc,ts anfdroma open the hearts of the people to the re- calender of news from the eight provception of Christian truth. The people iqnuceersi.es, Spcaocrerewsiplolndbeencrees,ervsedympofosr inuomtess,, are at one in this war ; they are intensel. weather statistics, deaths, births, marpatriotic. The soldiers have been well riages, and the like, Religious intellidisciplined, and they have the country gence will receive special attention, and behind them to stimulate them to high- missionary items of general interest est endeavor, and so they ought to suc- will be frequently inserted. ceed. As a sheer act of kindness, Rev. J. T. “* To-day is a holiday to celebrate the Gracey, 177 Pearl Street, Rochester, death of the Emperor’s father, All N. Y., will receive subscriptions, acthe government schools take the day as companied by the cash, on behalf of a holiday.’’ Rev. H. G. Appenzeller, the editor-in- Echnigelfi,shSeopule,riodKiocraela. or Tphaipser is puthbelisohneldy “The Korean Repository.” in Korea, In 1892 a magazine was published in Seoul, called The Korean Repository. It was a step in the right direction, for
FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY
III.-FIELD OF MONTHLY SURVEY.
BY D. L. PIEBBON.
India,* Bnrma,t Oeylod-Hinduism.§ INDIA. stand and largely to speak English num- ber about 3,000,000. India is a world in itself, comprising many countries, races, languages, and Over half the popUlation is engaged religions. Although including Burma in agriculture; other occupations,largeand Ceylon, the empire has only half the area of the United States, exclusive ly followed, being * general labor and of Alaska, but has a population nearly five times as great. British India is earth work; preparation of food, made up of 17 provinces with an area drink, and stimulants; household serof 964,992 square miles, and a popula- vice; manufacture of textile fabtion of 221,172,952; native States num- rics ; professions; administration; comber 13, with an area of 595,167 square merce; work in wood, cane, and matmiles and a popUlation of 66,050,479, ting; transportation; work in metals, making a total area of 1,560,160 square etc. ; care of cattle; light, firing, etc. ; miles and a total popUlation of 287,223,- leather, etc. ; glass, pottery, etc. ; and 431, the latter showing a net increase of di8Teputable, 1,563,000. 27,821,420 in the last ten years. Twelve languages are spoken in India and 117 India is the hotbed of religions. dialects. Hindustani is the language 9f The table on following page, from the 85,000,000; Bengali of 41,000,000; "Statesman's Year Book," gives the Marathl, Telugu, Pajabi, Tamil, Guje- numbers of adherents and the distriburati, and Uriya of 8,000,000 to 17,000,- tion by provinces of the more numer- 000; making in all eight languages ous sects according to the census of 1891. spoken by 201,000,000, and into these and other tongues the Bible has been Protestant communicants number translated. Those natives able to under- about 250,000; adherents, 700,000. The study of the religions of the East !-iter.: • See also pp. 4 (January), 142 (February), 203 reveals a vast difference both in princi- ple and practice. The precepts, how- (March), 267, 271, 276, 279 (present issue~. ever good, have failed to effect much change in the lives of the people. The ature: "India: Country, People, and MISSIOns, moral and intellectual condition of the masses is extremely low, even the re- Dr. Gracey; "India and Malaysia," J. M. Tho- ligious ceremonies often including namebum, D.D.; "The Indian Empire," W. W. less abominations. Like the Pharisees, Hunter; "Every-day Life in India," Rev. A. even the better educated Brahmans em- D. Rowe; "Children of India," "Once Hindu phasize the letter of their law and obnow Christian," J. Mnrray Mitchell, LL.D.; serve useless forms and ceremonies, " The Conversion of India," "Life of William while the weightier matters are utterly Carey" and" Life of Alexander Duff," George neglected. The slaughter-houses of Smith, LL.D.; "Indian Missionary Manual," Chicago called out a fierce denuncia- John Murdock. tion from a representative Hindu at the Parliament of Religions, who declared t See also p. 30 (January). "Four Years In that India did not want a Christianity Upper Burma," W. R. Winston; "The Bur- which tolerated such atrocities. man: His Life and Notions," Shway Yeo; "Life of Adoniram Judson," Edward Judson; " Yes, alas I" it has been well re- plied, "but then, per contra, while the *•. Adoniram Judson," Julia H. Johnston. Hindu is shocked at the killing of a cow See also p. 30 (January). "Two Happy for food, and the Buddhist carefully Years in Ceylon," Miss C.'F. Gordon Cumming; "Some Years in Ceylon," Mary and Margaret * Named in order of nnmbers engaged in them Leitch. -~,ooo,ooo to 1,500,000. § See also p. 260 (present issue). "Brahmanism and Hinduism," Sir Monier Williams; " Hindnism: Past and Present," Rev. J. Mur- ray Mitchel~ LL.D. Preaidencie., Provinces, and Hindus. Sikh!!. States.
————– — — — —— Ajmere………………. …… 437,988 tif 'm 213 26,939 1'974:.67917~ 1.9..8 74,265 ~A:•~•la~m::.:.:.:.:..:.:…..:……..:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:……::. 42~,:9~97;,~0~7f2 83 l1~,:3:6g8 ~13,,4g83~,:9~7i4 ~~=y~:::::::::::::::::::::::: 21,414701,.959717 3,196142 5.5.5…20.9. 6,888,067958 76,77946 6,329503,,093915 Central Provinces· •….. , … … 10,489,620 178 49,212 325 781 309,479 34,715578,,582405 23~97 ~~~!~;:.'. :.':. ::'.::: :::: ::::: :::. 40,951,803 128 27,413154 1,036 342 2,47152,,866654 10,237,700 11,348 84,803 1,494 412 6,589,183 N. W. P.·………………….. 1,870,481 45,683 6,236 39 12,915,643 Punjab·………….. ………. 11,699 1,129 Quetta, etc.. ….. ………….. 9,483 3 ' i:200 1.058 11 ,368 Andaman. …. ……………… 10,315,249 395 27,845 8.206 3,980 HaidarabAd …. ……………. 2,137,568 4,637 5O,33'~ 1 1,138,666 Baroda…………………….. 4.639,127 5 35 188,740 My.ore…….. ……………… 691,800 11 13,278 9 252,973 Ka.bmir .. .. … ……………. 10,192,829 29 593 29 ,608 238 1,793.710 RAjputana.. ….. ……………. 7,735,246 11,399 417,618 837 991,351 Central India……………….. 1,855 1.116 89,984 2 568,640 Shan States…….. ……… … 1,825 175 196 609 Total. …………………. ·1207,73l,7271.!i07-;saa 1.4t6,638 7,181,361 89,004 57,321,iM Presidencies, Provinces, and States. Christian.. Jews. Animistic. Others. Total.
~::::::',::…•:::'.:::'.:::..•…:….:: ':.:::::: 2,683 71 009;765 2 542,358 16,844 5 25 5,476,833 ':::::::.':::::::::::::::. ::::.:::: ~:~t.al.•::.:::::::::::::: .::: .::::::::. :::::. 192,484 1,447 2,753,061 74,643,366 1,359 137.108 11,430 2,897,491 ~~~:y,.: 2 311.259 5 26.960,421 170,009 13,547 168,449 27 7,605,560 120,768 351 49 Central Provinces· ………………….. . 13,308 176 2,081,721 10 12,944,805 Coorg……………………………. .. 3,392 472,808 i4',536 173,055 Madra.· ………… , …………………. . 1,580,179 1;309 39331 062 N. W. P.· ………………………….. . Punjab· …………………………… , 58,518 60 25 47;697:576 53.909 30 25,130,127 ~~~~~a';;:.":::: .":::.:.":::."." ::::."::."::.": .".".: 3,008 33 27,270 483 23 4 Haidariibad…………………………. .. 24 1 15,609 20,429 29,130 · …. 2 Baroda……………………………. . 646 26 29,654 11,537.040 36 2,415,396 Mysore………………………………. . 38,135 1 4,943,604 Kashmir…………………………… .. 21 2,543,952 Rijputiina…………………………. . 218 16,615 12,016,102 Central India………………………… . 1,855 15 4ii:078 2 5.999 7'~ 1,916,209 10,318,812 – – – – – – – – – – Shan States ……………………….. .. 154 2,992 1 ——— Total… ….. …………………… 2,234,380 17,194 9,280,467 42,762 287,2'23,431 • Inclrding Native State•.
avoids killing any animal, neither finds sentative of this horrible, obscene, and special occasion for concern in the death filthy religion is invited to Christian of a man. India in the past has been America to lecture us on the evil8 of one vast slaughter.house of humanity canned meat! Why could he not find under the sanctions of Hinduism. :Men time to answer Mrs, Palmer'S question have been fayedalive, mangled under on What has Hinduism done for womthe wheels of idol cars, drowned in the en 1" Ganges, • the sacred river.' Women have been cursed, crushed, burned on Even the Hindus themselves are befuneral piles, and subjected to every ginning to realize the inadequacy of form of shame. Even to-day harlots their religion to transform the heart and form a part of the sacred service of life. Reforms have been numerous the Hindu temples." .. And," as an among the educated Brahmans, who, indignant sister exclaims, .. the repre- while not willing to accept Christian- ity, have still been seeking for light and life. Not a few adherents of Hindu- missionary effort. There are at pres- ism acknowledge that it is tottering and ent In India no fewer than 65 Protes- is doomed to fall. tant missionary societies directing the The editor of the Madras vernacular work of 936 ordained missiouaries- newspaper, himself" an astute, staunch, viz., 16 Presbyterian societies, with 149 an orthodox Brahman of a renowned laborers; 13 Baptist societies, with 129 priestly family," takes this gloomy view missionaries; 9 societies of the Estab- of the situation: "We entertain no lished Church of England, with 203 mis- more any hope for that religion which sionaries; 7 Lutheran associations, with we consider dearer to us than our 125 men and women ; 4 Methodist so- life. Hinduism is now on its death·bed, cieties, with 110 Gospel ambassadors; and, unfortunately, there is no drug 2 Congregationalist associations, with which can be safely administered into 76 missionaries; 1 Unitas Fratrum and it for its recovery. There are native 1 Quaker society, with 16 in their em· Christians nowadays who have declared ploy; as also 7 independent societies, a terrible crusade against the entire together with 5 women's associations.
fabric of Hinduism, and many men of Of these societies 26 are English, 8 splendid education are also coming forth Scotch, 1 Irish, 7 German, 1 Swiss, 3 even from our own community, who Danish, 1 Swedish, and 18 American have already expressed a desire to ac- (including 2 Canadian); 46 societies cept Christianity; and should these are largely evangelistic in their meth· gentlemen really become first Christians ods, 7 are literature and Bible societies, and then its preachers they will give 4 are medical, and 8 are educational.
the last death·blow to mother Hindu· There are, in addition, 21 societies with ism, because these men are such as will headquarters in India, 2 in Bnrma, and never turn their backs from the plough 1 in Ceylon.
after having been once wedded to it. The published statistics of the Born· Every moment our dear mother (Hindu- bay Conference, covering the entire ism) is expected to breathe her last. evangelical mission work of all societies This terrible crusade is now carried on in India, exclusive of Burma and Cey· by native Christians with a tenacity of lon, in the year 1893, are as follows: purpose and a devotion which in them- Foreign and Eurasian oruained mis- selves defy failure." sionaries, 857; foreign and Eurasian The chief non-Christian reform move· lay preachers, 118; foreign and Eura· ments, the Bramo·Somaj and the Arya· sian teachers, 75; lady missionaries, Somaj, number about 5,400 and 40,000 711; total of foreign and Eurasian respectively. agents, 17Gl; ordained native preach· Protestant mission work began in ers, 797; native lay preachers, 3491; India in 1705,* when two Danes, Bar- native female evangelists, 8278; total tholomew Ziegenbalg and Henry Plut- of native agents, 7566; total of foreign schau, were sent out to Tanquebar in and native missionary laborers, 9327; South India. congregations, 4863; communicants, It was not until the end of the last 182,722; evangelical native Christians, century that any persistent and perma· 559,661; zenanas visited, 40,513; ze· nent work was done toward evangeliz. nana pupils, 32,659; theological and ing India; and not until 1830 did the training schools, 81 ; pupils in the same, English Parliament legalize Protest ant 1584; mission schools of all societies, * In 1642 the Reformed Church of Holland 6737; pupils in the same, 238.171 ; for· eign medical missionaries, 97; native had been declared the established religioll of the medical missionaries, 168; hospitals and Dlltch colony in Indi", bllt this was a political, dispensaries, 166. not a splritllal movement, and left no lasting re- A comparative view of the present SUltB. results with the state of things forty 2. Mu?'der of Ohildren. years ago is as follows : By dedication to the Ganges, to be AGENTS AND CONVERTS. 1851. 1891. devoured by crocodiles.
Foreign* ordained .•…….••.. 339 857 By Rajpoot infanticide, west of In- Native ordained ……..••..•.. 21 dia; Punjab, east of India. Foreign-Jay…………….. . 797 3. Human SaIYl'ijice8. 118 Native-Jay……………. . 493 3,491 Temple sacrifices. Foreign-female …………. . By wild tribes-Meriahs of the Native-female ..•…•.•..•••. 711 Khonds. 4. Suicide. 3,278 Crushing by idol cars. Devotees drowning themselves in MEDICAL MISSIONARIES. rivers. Devotees casting themselves from Europeau and Eurasiau ..••… 97 precipices. Native . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . • • . . . . . 168 Leaping into wells-widows. Hospitals and dispensaries…. By Traga (threatening to kill or actu- 166 ally killing a relative at the door of a debtor who will not pay, or at the door CONVERTS. of a person from whom something is desired). Communicants…. •••… .•. … 14,661 182,722 Native Christians…………. 91,091 559,661 5. Voluntarl/ Torment. To these must be added : By hook-swinging. 33,037 By thigh.piercing. Burma-Communicants ….. 89,l80 By ton~ue-extraction. Native Christians .. 8,182 By fallIng on knives. By austerities. Ceylon-Communicants …. ~,442 Native Christiaus .. 6. In'l!Oluntary Torment. 223,941 Total communicants ..••.. 671,285 Barbarous executions. Total native Christians…. Mutilation of criminals. Extraction of evidence by torment. • Foreign includes also Eurasian. Bloody and injurious ordeals. Cutting off the noses of women. There is one foreign ordained missionary to 325,000 people. If each male 7. Sla1!6'I'l/. and female missionary had a parish of Hereditary predial slavery. 50,000, 200,000,000 would be untouch- Domestic slavery. ed. Nepaul and Bhutan and the coun- Importation of slaves from Africa. tries bordering on Iudia (except Siam) are still unoccupied. S. Extortions.
The work in India takes the follow- By Dharana (killing one's self at the ing general forms: 1. Among the masses door of one who will not grant one's (preaching in halls, streets, houses, and request). at festivals). 2. Among young men (educational and special addresses). 3. B.v Traga. Among women (zenanas and special 9. Religious Intolerance. meetings). 4. Among children (day schools and Sunday-schools). 5. Among Prevention of propagation of Christhe sick (hospitals, dispensaries, and ze- tianity. nanas). 6. Christian literature (Bibles, tracts, books, papers, reading-rooms). Calling upon the Christian soldiers to 7. Among native Christians (preaching, fire salutes at heathen festivals, etc. pastoral work, etc., Y. ::'II. C. A. training mission agents). Saluting gods on official papers. Managing affairs of idol temples. The reforms in India during the past century, due wholly to Christian influ- 10. Support of Oaste by Law. ence, are thus enumerated by Rev. John Exclusion of low castes from offices. Wilson (see" I,ife of John Wilson," by Exemption of high castes from ap- George Smith, LL.D., page 352) : 1. Murder of Parent8. pearing to give evidence. Disparagement of low caste. By suttee. By exposure on the banks of rivers. But there is still much, much to be By burial alive. done; 22,000,000 widows in India arc doomed to a life of misery; 40,000,000 women are imprisoned in zenanas; thousands of girl children are yearly killed in infancy; SOO die hourly with- out Christ, and 285,000,000 are living without Him. From the temple of Ju~annath are sent out annually to pro- clRlm the name and glory of that god ten times as many monks as thele are ordained missionaries in India.
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
IV.-EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.
The March of Events. truths of the Word of God and work of Christ, sought to build up a church The one leading occurrence of the on apostolic principles, and led in evanmonth of February, not only to this gelism; both were editors and authors, REvmw, with its editors and readers, and did grand service with the pen; but to the whole circle of evangelical botli originated training schools for believers, will be the death of Adoni- evangelists and Christian workers, etc. ram Judson Gordon, of Boston, Mass. The comparison might be carried much further were it needful or helpful; and At 3 o'clock on the morning of Feb- we venture to add that, if Spurgeon ruary 2d a telegraphic message was were the best-loved man in Britain, brought to the door of the editor-in- Gordon was the best-loved man in chief, with this brief announcement: America.
" Dr. Gordon passed away at twelve- We reluctantly arrest the pen in porfive, this morning. traying his beautiful character, because already a large space has been assigned " ERNEST GORDON." to his memorial; but we can never hope to supply his place. Such a man That message of nine words meant, has no successor. When God made to the writer of these lines, the depar- A. J. Gordon, He broke the mOUld. ture of one of the dearest of friends and the most sympathetic and helpful The Japanese-Chinese war still goes of co-workers-a man who seemed as forward, and victory still attends the part of himself. It meant to the Clar- sunrise kingdom. The Wei· Hai-Wei endon Street Church of Boston the loss island forts and defences have surrenof a pastor who for twenty-five years dered-a serious blow to China on achad been a servant of servants to his count of the strategic importance of this brethren, while the master of all by post. conceded supremacy in holiness, faith, and consecration. But, far beyond any It would seem that Pekin is destined narrow limits of personal friendship, to be occupied by Japanese forces. Yet church pastorate, or denominational Japan claims readiness to concludo the connection, Dr. Gordon was a universal struggle at any time when Proper and benefactor. No man of his generation honorable terms of peace can be arhas had more to do with the spiritual ranged. education of the Church in the direction of holding fast the faithful Word, Pastor Archibald G. Brown and his pushing the lines of aggressive mis- great work in London was the sul!ject sions, and enthroning the Holy Spirit of a sketch in the Maroh REVIEW. It in His true seat in the Church. should be added. to make the story of this consecrated life the more complete, In the previous issue, Charles H. that, at the late twenty-eighth anniver- Spl1rgeon and his world-wide work sary, a third daughter of this devoted confronted the reader as he opened pastor presented herself to follow her these pages. This month Adoniram J. sisters to the great Flowery Land as a Gordon fills the leading place-a re- missionary. Nellie and Gracie having markable coincidence. These two meu already gone forth on the same mission. died, each at the same age,their Ii ves ruu- Lucy goes with her husband, Dr. James ning strangely parallel in many things. H. Bennett, under the London Mission- Both were Baptists and both leaders ary Society. Secretary R. Wardlaw in their denomination on different sides of the Atlantic. Both were great preachers, emphasized the foundation Thompson stated that Dr. Bennett, its convener and two ex-conveners, by who is a fully qualified physician and its order." surgeon, goes to succeed the lamented Kenneth Mackenzie and Frederick Rob- The committee's letter reads as folerts at Tientsin. Thus a pastor who is lows: perhaps doing more than any other one man in London for home evangeliza- .. DEAR DR. PATON: Since your retion rears up daughters to become. for- turn from Great Britain and America, eign miRSionaries. we have learned with much regret that you have been the subject of grievous To those who feel interested to know misrepresentations concerning your poof Pastor Brown's methods, we may sition and mission in these countries as give the following account of his an- the representative of the Foreign Misnual thank-offering day, when, accord- sion Committee of the Victorian Church. ing to his custom for many years, he We are more pained on your account, sat in his church office to receive free- because we should have thought that will offerings, from morning to night. your good name and the world-wide fame of your untiring and self-denying By 7 A.M, offerers were waiting, one labors In the cause of missions would of the first having walked from Isling- have been sufficieL.t protection against ton. Throughout the day they contin- any such slanders as have been issued. ued coming in a steady stream. Four Under these circumstances, we desire, crowded prayer-meetings were .held on behalf of the Forei&,n Mission Comduring the day. At the close, ~!:e mittee, to express our smcere sympathy amount raised was: In bank-notes, with you, and to assure all concerned £20; in checks, £105 11s.; in postal that you have the perfect confidence of orders, £3 Us.; in sovereigns, £155; our Committee, and also of our Church, in half sovereigns, £64; in five-shilling as was shown by the enthusiasm of pieces, £7 lOs.; in four-shilling pieces, your reception at our General Assem- £1 168.; in half-crowns, £37 lOs.; in bly last month, aud by the satisfaction florins, £27 18s.; in shillings, £17 lOs.; expressed on all hands over the report in sixpences, £3 198. 6d.; in three pen- you presented of your tour in Great nies and coppers, 128_ 2d.; the total Britain, Canada, and America.. •. being thus £445 Os. Sd. The committee has unanimously ap- proved of the scheme, and so had our Dr. John G. Paton, one of our edi- General Assembly. In this connection, torial correspondents, has been the sub- it may be stated that our Assembly has ject of vile slanders, originated, it is simply proceeded on lines laid down believed, by a pretended agent of Dr. some ten years ago, when you were Paton, who was exposed by the minis- commissioned to visit Great Britain for ters of Buffalo and put in jail for get- the purpose of raising funds to build a ting money under false pretences. vessel, and your success then has been followed DOW by the raising, through We think best to let Dr. Paton give you, of sufficient money for the vessel's his own answer, hoping that for once maintenance, a result which has given truth may overtake a lie. satisfaction to all and called forth an expression of gratitude from our Assem- He writes: bly. We, therefore, hope that you will not be disturbed by the misrepresenta- .. A paragraph has been printed head- tions that we have alluded to, and our ed, 'Dr. Paton's Phantom Ship-Dr. fervent prayer is that you may be long Paton Condemned by His Own Church spared, in the providence of God, to -~Iissionaries Need to be Looked continue in the service of our Church, Aft.}r,' etc. I thought best to make no where, it is almost needless to say, you reply till I had laid it before the Com- are honored and beloved by all. mittee of Foreign :Missions of my own Victoriau Church. I now send you a .. On behalf of the Foreign Mission copy of a letter sent to me by our For- Committee, we are, with kindest reeign Mission Committee, and signed by gards, yours faithfully, " JOHN GmsoN, Convener. " ANDHEW HARDIE, ex-Convener. " M. MACDONALD, ex-COnVenC1'."
The following paragraph from Dr.
Paton's letter will be of interest to all : " You will be glad to hear that from my recent tour in America, Canada, and Great Britain, I was used of God so to draw forth the liberality of His people that He enabled me to hand over nials from many who are better qualito our church and mission nearly £26,- fied ~o judge." And we have only to 000 on my return, including £2000 to say that never, knowingly, are these keep the new mission ship, and '£1000 pages anowed to be the vehicle of any subscribed yearly by Christian friends unjust or partial statements. We welto help keep her. And instead of get- come any light. ting a commission on all I raised, as stated in a Buffalo newspaper, I Rev. Robert Howie, of Glasgl)w, has never expected, would not have taken, published a statistical work in which and never got a cent from it or by it. he presents some startling figures and But I have had the joy of so working reaches some still more startling confor Jesus, my church and mission, and clusions. He shows, between 1876 and of getting the sympathy and prayers 1891, an increase of popUlation in Scot· and help of very many of His dear ser· land of 13t per cent, and an increase in vants in all branches of the Church, to whom I feel forever grateful, and wish they may all ever enjoy every bless- ing. "
The letter was written by the doctor the number of the three great Presbyon board of a steamer bound for Tas- terian churches of nearly 20 per cent, mania, where he was to work four or yet during the same time a decrease of five weeks in the interest of the mission, 34 per cent in church attendance, and and then was to start for the New Heb- states that even in "Auld Scotland" rides. the average of church-goers is but 192 to 1000 of the inhabitants.
.A personaZ friend, Lord R – – , writes He also shows that during the last from Biarritz that" many, the major- three years there has been a most Zaity of Christians in India, entirely deny mentablefaUing off in giving. For exmany of the statements in the January ample, in 1891 the Established Church REVIEW article on India, and resent the gave, per member, 14s. 5d.; the Free comments on the employes of the gov- Church, 48s. 1d., and the United Presernment as a most slanderous pervCi'- byterian Church, 418. 6d. During the sion of truth." ne adds that Mr. A. last three years a notable change is ob- Dyer has made charges he could not servable, so that now, "as a rule, the Bnbstantiate and would not withdraw, richest districts give the least." One but has been obliged to contradict at of the wealthiest presbyteries gives only least one statement, etc. 48. 6d. per member, and another only 38. 3d.! And he accounts for all this We have only to say that the state- decline in church attendance and benevments in the January REVIEW were net olent giving by the insidious spread of the editor's, but appeared under the the Rationalistic doctrines of the Highauthority of Rev. W. B. Boggs, D.D., er Criticism, robbing the Word of God of the Telugu Mission, who, after long of its former hold on the popular mind residence in India, is supposed to know and heart, and so weakening the entire more even than an English lord not grasp of evangelical truth and holy moresident. Still, we gladly give the other tives. Here is something to be considside full benefit of any contradiction. ered at least! For ourselves, we know more than one government official that represents the highest type of moral and Christian B~'ble conferences for the advance of character. But we had supposed that biblical study, spiritual life, and Chris- the statements so often made-and un- tian evangelism are multiplying, and contradicted-in Exeter Hall and else- we rejoice in this fact. Rev. George where, represented too much truth to C. Needham and his fellow-helpers, be denied. Lord R– says that the Rev. W. J. Erdman, Rev. D. M.
"opinions expressed in Dr. Boggs's Stearns, Rev. James M. Gray, Rev.
article have called forth indignant de- Drs. Dixon, Gregg, Sabine, Professor Stifler, etc., are doing most efficient ser- The death of the beloved Maria A. vice. The voice of Dr. A. J. Gordon West, in London, June 28th, 1894, will be sadly missed, than whom no should some time since have been noteacher of our day was more widely ac- ticed here, as also of Rev. Samuel ceptable and useful. It is very remark- Mateer, of Travancore, an article from able that wherever the Word of God is whose pen appears in this issue. devoutly studied the spirit of missions is invariably quickened. Pastors could Miss Evelyn Russell (sister of Grace dono better than have one of Mr. Need- Russell, of Oroomiah, Persia), married ham's three days' conferences in their fonr years ago to Mr. Cruikshank, a churches for quickening of spiritual missionary under the Christian Alliance, power. He may be addressed at East had entered with him upon their new Northfield, Mass. field. Two little ones had been born to these parents; and, while the mother Two young missionaries, braving the lay ill, the father, who had gone to the weather, sailed for Europe on the Cir- country for his health, returned and ca88ia last month, to labor in a section suddenly died. He was buried in the of the Dark Continent as yet practi- little English burying-ground on Mount cally unvisited by foreign missionaries. Zion. The English and American flags The men are D. M. Reoch, until re- were at half-mast in Jerusalem. The cently a student in the Union Theo- Rev. Edwin Wallace, the American logical Seminary, and Sidney V. Whitte- Consul, held a short service in the more, a son of Mrs. L. M. Whittemore, home of Mr. Cruikshank, and the Rev. founder of the Door of Hope, an insti- A. 1-1. Kelbe. of the London Jewish Sotution for women. lIlr. Reoch had ciety, committed the body to the grave. been employed in a commercial newspaper office in this city. He had a The sudden death of Mrs. Benjamin good business position, but two years Douglass, of Santa Ba.rbara, the forago he was led to give it up in a resolve mer President of the Board of the to devote the remainder of his life to Northwest, has brought great sorrow to missionary work in a foreign field. the friends of missions in the North- west and Pacific Coast. Her work Our obituary notices for this month among the Chinese in Santa Barbara must include Rev. Stanley K. Phraner will long be remembered. Upon her (youngest son of Rev. Wilson Phraner, arrival in California, she at once identi- D.D., who was for many years Pres- fied herself with the Occidental Board, byterian pastor at Sing Sing, N. Y.); and was one of its officers when she he died at Singapore, China, December was called higher. She was one of the 15th, 1894. This beloved son was born ablest and most devoted of all the misin 1860; was graduated from Prince- sionary-spirited women of this country, ton Seminary in 1887, ordained in 1890, and II sister-in-law of Mt·s. Z. Chandler, and went to Siam, 1891, to labor in of Detroit, the widow of the former Cheung l:lai, Laos Country, Northern senator from Michigan and Cabinet Siam. He was so deeply interested in officer. his work, that, although for some time in ill health, he kept at his post until Another sudden death, that of the beordered home by his physician. He loved Rev. W. Gibson, of Paris, France, was on his way with his family, and has much embarrassed the work he so had reached Singapore, when death much loved, for his own personal efforts overtook him-a very sad blow to the raised annually some $5000. Just as the affiicted family and his venerable and mission was entering upon an enlarged beloved father. work this amount is thus cut off from its available funds. Are not some of The American Baptist Missionary the Lord's stewards ready to be " bap- Union began the present financial year tized tor the dead," and step into the with a debt 0/$203,595.88-an appalling breach and supply this need? Will not deficit, due, not to extravagance or missuch communicate with James H. Rigg, management, but to the unprecedented Treasurer, Wesleyan Mission House, financial distress of the previous twelve Bishopsgate Street Within, London, months. Retrenchment became neces- E. C., England? sary; the expenses for the current year were cut down promptly to the extent The Chinese Government paid £1000 of more than $100,000 I It was not to the father of the Rev. James Wylie, possible to do more, for even this most the Scotch missionary, murdered by seriously cripples missionary enterprise, Chinese soldiers near the Liaoyang Mis- and entails severe self-denial on a band sion early in the war. The father has of devoted missionaries. The approdevoted the money to the erection of a priations for the present year, even after chapel and hospital at Liaoyang in this heavy curtailment, are $474,551.55, memory of his son. The olood of this making, with the debt, a total of $678,- latest martyr thus becomes the seed of 147.43 for the year. And yet the rea new mission for healing body and ceipts, up to January 1st, 1895, were soul. only $162,653.09, leaving $515,494.34 to be made up before March 31st I The McAll Mission continues its great work in France, notwithstanding Surely the Church needs a new conits founder's death. It aims to bring secration, when economy begins at the France back to the pure Gospel, and house of God I Easter flowers in one God's blessing still rests upon it. Dur- city alone cost $500,000 in one year I ing the past year it received $80,820 for And yet we must cut down missionary the prosecution of its work. $26,730 of appropriations and abandon advanced which came from the United Kingdom, posts of aggressive enterprise because and $31,780 from the United States. of pressure in the money market I Twenty cities enjoy its evangelistic agencies. Only more funds are needed There is certainly money enough in to plant its missions in every city and the country. Last year five persons town in the French Republic; and this who died in Britain each left more is the very land of the massacre of the than one million pounds sterling, and Huguenots in 1572 ! one hundred and thirty-four left thirty- five millions. Surely sucb estates Mrs. Safah 11. Wood, of New York, might well bear an increased taxation. again sends five dollars for the Students' It was to lighten the burden on the Review Fund. poor and place more on the rich that Sir William Harcourt graduated the A donation of £4 sterling is just reo death duties last year. Think of the ceived from Mr. Thomas Greenwood awful account some stewards of God and his son, Pastor B. .T. Greenwood, must have to render! of London, to apply on the same fund. From these donors, known to the editor R. SaiIlens writes from Paris: as persons of surpassing worth, a gift is •• The Revue de8 Deux-Mondes, the leaddoubly welcome, for we are assured it ing French monthly review, contains in has been consecrated by prayer and its January number a paper from its sanctified by the altar on which it is laid. editor, M. Brunetiere, a distinguished Would to God many more might hear historian, writer, and academician, the call of God in this direction I which is no less than a manifesto show- ing the present tendencies of the leaders of French thought at this time. M. Brunetiere has seen the Pope, and takes occasion of that visit te:. speak of the mutual relations of modern society and round number of two hundred million Romanism. He shows; 1. That sciencA has failed in regenerating society; it copies. The two societies, founded one has not done what it was hoped it might in 1804 and the other in 1816, have an do-viz., furnish a new basis for social average age of eighty-four years, and and individual morality, apart from re- their aggregate receipts from the beginligion. 2. That religion IS necessary, and of all religions, Christianity is the ning are computed to be $84,000,000. only possible one. 3 That Catholicism The average age of the two above- is far more suitable than Protestantism mentioned societies, with the London to the needs of modern society, because Religious Tract Society and the Ameriit is less gloomy, does not give such a tragical view of sin, does not make per- can Tract Society, is eighty-three years, IJOnal salvation the one thing necessary, and within the century their united re- is more social by its system of indul- ceipts have amounted to $140,000,000. gences, which allows the saints to pay for the wicked, thus establishing a strong current of charity throughout The Arabian Mission of the Reformed the world I Church in America is one of the most " Notice that hitherto the Re'lY!le des promIsmg. By the sale of Bibles, it Deux-Mondes has been on the side of makes the Bible itself a missionary in free thought, and that M. Brunetiere, even while he writes thus, rejects all Arabia. To the Arabs not only the the dogmas of Christianity. His ac- Old Testament, with its records of Abraceptation of Catholicism as the religion of the times is merely on the ground of ham, Moses, and Ishmael, is particularly expediency, and for want of something interesting, but the New Testament is better. In other words, the need of a acknowledged as God's book. How moral power is felt, and Catholicism is encouraging, therefore, is the fact of • chosen because it requires less sacrifice of self. But what will this movement continually increasing Bible sales? lead us to' I doubt not, to hard and They are all sold rather than given perilous times for the French evangeli- away. These sales have nearly doubled cal Ohristians !" in the past twelve months, being for the Palestine &pZoration is going for- previous year 1055, and for the year ward. New excavations are soon to be just closed 2023. At Bahrein a :Mosmade. The Sultan has granted a fir- lem came one moonlight evening and man to the Palestine Exploration So- said: "The old man" (myself) .. feels ciety, of London, giving permission to the sting of death is sin, and then I dig around the walls, outside, exclud. bought this book, and now I believe ing only Moslem burying.grounds and that Jesus is the Son of God." Medicertain holy places. The work is to cal missionary work is also accomplishbe under the directIon of Frederick ing much in exposing and displacing Bliss, a young American archreologist. the barbarous cruelties inflicted to cure Shafts will be sunk on the hill of Ophel, diseases, such as burning holes in the the site of the royal gardens and the body to let the disease out, branding tombs of the kings. It is hoped that with red·hot bars, chopping off woundthe old wall around the southern brow ed limbs and sealing them with boiling of Zion may be exposed to view. The tar. The medical missionary who imperial firman grants a two years' brings relief from disease and infirmity privilege, time enough to make the old thus points souls to the Good Physician.
city of Solomon and the Jebusites yield up some of its treasures and long·hidden London journals of February 5th secrets. published a dispatch from Constantino- ple saying that anti·Christian outrages On the 1st of October last the joint of the Armenia type are being com- circulation of volumes of the Bible by mitted in Sidon, Beyrout, and Damas- the British and Foreign and the Ameri- cus, Syria. The Christian inhabitants can Bible Societies had jnst passed the of Damascus declare t11at they apprehend a repetition of the massacre of discharged after trial, Patton had in· 1860, when thousands of Christians curred Gray's enmity, and Gray is said were murdered. to have hypnotized McDonald, and while the latter was in that condition Dr. Henry S. Lunn, preaching in compelled him to commit the murder I Boston lately, said, in answer to Vire- No researches into the mystery of hypo kananda: " An idea prevails that idol- notism have ever proven that such in· atry is not to-day the evil and horrible thing that it was when the apostles ex- fluence can be obtained over another posed it; that the • Ethiopian has party agaimt his own will. Otherwise changed his skin and the leopard his what becomes of moral responsibility?
spots.' Idolatry- in India to-day, as elsewhere in hIstory, tends to deterio- rate and not to evolve the higher ideals The editor some time ago received a of duty and religion. The philosophy of India has ceased letter from a theological student asking certain questions which, for the sake of to have any practical effects on the life of its people. It is a remarkable fact similar inquiries, it may be well to anthat when R. Rao, the prime-minister of 8wer in this more general way. The the Maharajah Holkar, a famous student of the Hindu Scripture, had been writer says: challenged to support his statements "Is there not some way to get men as to certain things being found in the to devote part of their lives, if not Hindu Vedas, he produced in reply all, to the work of missions? I know what was avowedly a Hindu catechism, that men ought to be consecrated and but was really composed verbatim from so filled with the life of Christ that extracts of the Shorter Catechism of the they would go even to death, but as a Presbyterian Church. matter of fact, many are not. Mean- " The Hindu religion is but the deifi- while, that mighty army in foreign cation of lust and other evil passions. lands never ceases its march to the Krishna, the great Hindu god, is shown grave. Why not follow the military in its scriptures to be a perjurer, a thief, plan of a limited enlistment? What and a murderer. army would have full ranks that would "Such is the obscene character of take none who did not enlist for life? the pictures and carvings in the temples Why not start a movement to secure and on the idol cars, that an act of the men for missions, say for eight or twelve Indian Legislature in 1856 against ob- years? In such a way we would secure scene pictures had especially to exempt the best, most buoyant, and most enfrom its operation' all pictures, draw- thusiastic part of their Ii ves for work ings, or carvings in the temples, or on which needs just sucb elements, and the idol cars: " when the limited term was up many He concluded by picturing the worn· would see that their best way was to en of India in a miserable condition, in continue as they had begun, and would contrast of the glowing picture drawn stay in the foreign field. Or, if they be Virekananda. returned home, they would at least be fitted to begin in this country a more Advices from:Washington declare thoroughly missionary and evangelistic that Great Britain surrenders all claims ministry, broadened and deepened and informed as to the needs of the Lord's to the strip of the coast of Nicaragua work, having lost their denominational over which it has exercised a protecto- prejudices and having a more catholic rate. The news is both surprising and spirit. "
gratifying, and all this is without com- This is the substance of the letter. In pulsion I reply we would say that this plan would involve, even if it were otherwise feasi· Hypnotism and Crime. -The recent ble, the necessity of learning the lan- sentence of Judge Burnett, condemning guage of a foreign people and of adjust- to death Anderson Gray for the killing ing one's self to other conditions and of Thomas Patton, marks a new era in needs, only for a limited and brief period.
criminal history. Thomas McDonald, Again, it would remove a man from his while under the alleged hypnotic influ- field when he was just beginning to be ence of Gray, did the killing, but was thoroughly fltted for usefulness. But the fundamental difficulty we have not -on gloves, necktio, canes, and ribyet touched. God wants, especially in bons. Candy, soda, table delicacies, the foreign field, consecrated men, and etc., might have been added. In five any such reservation would interfere years our band has raised $1796, of with consecration. It would leave men which we have given $898 to the Ameri· to enter upon the most self-denying work can Board C. F. M., and the Bame in the world without the spirit of self- amount in the aggregate to the various denial; to go in a half-hearted way to Congregational societies working in the undertake what demands a whole-heart- United States. Many other bands have ed self-dedication. In our opinion, it been formed since ours started, and have would be far better that we have fewer rendered substantial aid to both branches men, but those whose hearts are thor- of the missionary work. oughly in the work. I have pondered this plan for years, TM London Standard says: "The and believe that no valid objection can Turkish Ministry of Pnblic Works has be brought against it; but there are determined upon the reconstruction of many considerations in its favor. It is the ancient water conduits of Jerusa- simple; within the means of almost lem, dating from the age of King everybody; does not interfere with Solomon. By this means it would be other ways of giving; is marvellously possible to convey 2500 cubic metres efficacious. of water daily to the Holy City. Of this it is proposed to give 1000 metres Consider what the magnificent result away free of charge to the poor of Jeru· would be if all the Christians of this salem, the distribution to take place at land actually and continually gave each the Mosque of Omar, the Holy Sepul- an extra cent a day for missions. Fifchre, and other places frequented by teen million members of Protestant pilgrims. evangelical churches in the United States, each giving one extra cent a day The new conduits are to be joined to for missions, would add yearly to the the ancient aqueducts of Arob, and are Lord's treasuries $54,750,000 I The to be carried through a tunnel 3570 amount now contrihuted to all missionmetres in length. The total outlay in ary societies in the United States for connection with these works is estimat· both home and foreign work, not ined at 2,000,000 francs." cluding domestic and local, being about $10,000,000 a year. The Extra-Oent-a-Day Band for Mis- Should you think that your people sions. are giving well already, and will not want to give more, still will you not BY SAMUEL F. WILKINS, NEWTON CEN- place the plan before them in its sim· plicity, with its tremendous possibili- TRE, MASS. ties, and let them say whether they will not, for Christ's sake and the world's, Will you not, pastor or layman, or- adopt it? ganize an Extra·Cent-a.Day Band in your church, it none now exists, or join If, on presentation, your people do one, if there is such a band to which you not favor it, will you not yet show do not belong? In every church there them the binding and blessed obligation must be at least one man or woman able that rests upon all Christians to carry and willing to do the necessary work, the Gospel to the whole creation, and which is not great. Propose it at the that by coming into this movement they missionary concert, and start a band, can help easily and mightily? however small the beginning. If Christians can be brought to realize The band of the First Church of New- the dreadful darkness and degradation ton, Newton Centre, Mass., was formed of a thousand million fellow-beings; if late in 1889. Not wishing to interfere they can be shown t':tat the Lord's comwith other ways of giving, we asked for only a cent a day extra, and sug· gested ways of saving that small amount mand, clear, unqualified, imperative, r have heard that my sisrer's baby has to preach the Gospel to every creature died from opium given by its Hindu nurse. English children suffer fr(!)m is for them " if they can be led to consid- this poison, given by native nurses. er that for almost nineteen hundred The high-caste women of India are years Christ hall waited for the accom- prisoners in the zenanas. Sometimes plishment of His great commission; if their husbands kill them if they have even been seen by another man. But then they can be made to comprehend when they heard of anti-opium meetings the vast results to be attained by the their interest was so intense that they Extra·Cent-a-Day Band system, it seems crowded to them without fear. They to me they cannot fail to adopt the plan. say, 'If the English want money let them come into our houses and take all Then the question of money supply will our goods, and we will work; let them be answered, the treasuries of the mis- take the skin off our bodies to make sionary societies will be abundantly them shoes- but spare us the opium supplied, and tens of thousands of new curse. But if they will sell opium, let them kill the wives and children of the workers can go forth to tell the story of opium-smokers. '
the Redeemer. " The Tim.e8 has said that the drug is The need of extra help was probably harmless, and that it is good for fever. Did you ever see hundreds perish from never so urgent as now. Several of our a harmless thing? In India we never great missionary societies are burdened use opium for fever.
with debt. New work is almost impos- "The opium den is large, dark, sible and old-established work is hin- filthy; 20, 40, 100, 200 men, and some- times women, are there, wallowing like dered or even abandoned. pigs in mire ; no earthly power can res- Would that every Christian might be cue them; they are going to hell.
inspired to give according to this sim- When I spoke to them, several smok- ple system, by which this time of dis- ers said, ' Woe to us; the English peo- ple have brought this on us.' To protressing need can be changed at once mote the sale they will drng tea and into an era of plenty! coffee with opium, to produce the desire Do not, reader, merely think about for it. You drink it a few times, and this plan, waiting for another to act, you want that tea or coffee, not know- ing why, but in a little while you are but put it into operation immediately. an opium eater or smoker. These opium Glorious is the privilege allotted to us dens are really Government hells. You to be workers with God! splendid is hear that there are 11,000 licenses; but the opportunity that lies at our hands to each license allows for 10, 20, or 30 shops. While millions are perishing, publish at home and afar the tidings of for your gain, God says your gold and salvation! Be it our ambition to hasten your silver are cankered, and shall eat on the day when the Saviour's edict your flesh as it were fire. " It is not good for India. The opium shall have had its complete fulfilment. smoker disgraces his family and de- NOTE.-Mr. Wilkins will be glad to grades himself; and starvation, want, and misery reign. Few in India can correspond with any who wish to form bands. He will supply E. C. D. B. en- write, yet last year We sent petitions with 54,000 signatures against this cruel velopes free of cost. and destructi ve trade. I come from heathen Indian women to implore Chris- The Anti-Opium War. tian England to put an end to it. We want opium to be sold, as in England, only for medicine, and its sale restricted Miss Soonderbhai Power, of Ir:dia, as any other poison. Last year I spoke thus pleads before the citizens of Eng- in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and I went home and told my people, ' Now land in behalf of her native land: you will have justice.' But it is the « I want to see my India free from same as ever. So I have come back this opium curse; for in India opium again. This battle is God's, and if you is sold openly. The sale of arsenic to Christian people all join together in poison rats is guarded and restricted, prayer and work, the battle will be but a child of eight can buy 360 grains won, and India will be freed from this of opium. Since I returned to England dreadful blight."
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTEI,LIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
EDITED BY REV. D. L. LEONARD.
Extracts and Translations from Foreign Provinces, and his upbringing has been Periodicals. in the centre of Moh!!mmedan learning BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, and polish at Delhi. A most interest- MASS. ing life his has been. Reared in the INDIA. strictest sect of Mohammedanism all his life long, he has been zealous for the -Dr. H. Martyn Clark, in the Ohurch faith, and, as touching the law, blame- Missionary InteUigencer, states that a less. A true seeker after God, the time translation of the Koran has appeared came when the husks of Mohammedan- in simple idiomatic Urdu. "That is a ism could no longer satisfy the hunger blow under which Islam will reel for of the soul. He wandered far and wide many a day. Its safety hitherto has to the holy and learned of Islam, seek- been that its' holy' book was shrouded ing rest and finding none. At last he in unapproachable Arabic, or in cum- determined to leave 'the land of the brous, ambiguous translations. This enemy' (dar u~ harb-i.e., a land where literal, faithful rendering has produced other than Mohammedan rule obtains), dire consternation. The Moulvie says, and to seek' the land of peace' (dar u~ 'I am now old and gray-haired. I aman), where, under a Mohammedan thought I knew the Koran, but I never government, the virtues of Islam might knew the iniquity of it as I do now.' .. be found in full flower. Beyond the What folly in the mawkish optimism British border there are here and there of our day, to treat every religion as colonies of fanatics, whose declared good in its measure, as if there could purpose it is to ' war against the infidel.'
be no such thing as a cancerous growth They are all that remains of the Waha- in religion I Islam appears to be one bis, and are recruited still from the of these, and Mormonism another, and ranks of religious enthusiasts and po- far more virulent. Why are we not litical malcontents in British India.
told that the craving for dirt and for They lose no opportunity of stirring up yet viler things which we sometimes strife, and have had a long finger in meet with is good, since it is a form of most of our border troubles. The Ak- the fundamental and God-given appe- hund left all behind him, and set for- tite for food? A healthy appetite and ward to join these zealots; but it was a wholesome supply are the two points not to be-God's purposes for him were that determine the answer to both ques· fast approaching maturity. While he tions. waited his opportunity in the frontier ~peaking of the first recent convert, town of Peshawur, an emissary of the Dr. Clark adds: "The next to come Mirza met him. He learnt that a great forward was a Mohammedan gentleman prophet had risen in Islam, that Christ of education, position, and good fam- the Blessed had come the second time.
ily. A trusted friend and apostle of He abandoned his journey, went to the Mirza" (who is the head of a spe- Qadian, and became the Mirza's dis- cial Moslem sect), "he had been his ciple. He was trusted with much spe- ambassador to Zanzibar. He was one cial work, and had the honor of being of the embassy to me to settle the rules the leader in the public prayers in the of the Controversy, and was the secre· Mirza's mosque. At the Controversy taryin behalf of the Mohammedans his belief in Mohammed was consider- while it lasted. The Akhund Sahib, ably shaken. Months after he wrote to as he is termed, belongs to Buneyr, in me from Meerut. It was the cry of a Afghanistan, beyond the British border. despairing, perishing soul. He detailed His father settled in the Northwest his wonderful life's history, the unrest
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and sorrow of his heart, and said, 'If otherwise known as " the Swami Vive- you ha ve any really strengthening pre- kananda," before the so-called Parlia- Bcriptilm for the soul in your armenta· ment of Religions at Chicago: .. Allow rium, let me have it in the name of me to call you, brethren, by that sweet God. ' I cannot relate here the subse- name, heirs of immortal blis8; yea, the quent steps by which he was led to the Hindus refuse to call you sinners. Ye feet of the Saviour, in whom he now are the children of God, the sharers of rejoices with exceeding joy. His bap- immortal bliss. Ye, divinities on earth, tism, together with his daughter, was sinners? It is a sin to call a man so.
a wonderful occasion. A short sketch It is a standing libel on human nature.
of his life, well worthy of translation Come up, choirs, and shake off the de- into English, has been scattered fa.r a.nd lusion that you are sheep-you are souls wide, and from all sides come letters immortal, spirits free and blest and of grateful thanks, telling us it is ' just eternal. Ye are not matter, ye are not the thing' for Mohammedans. It is bodies. Matter Is your servant, not silently doing a great work. The poor you the servants of matter."
Mirza burst forth into torrents of im- On this the Harvest Field remarks: potent abuse, and found in this baptism .. This passage"-we have given only another proof of his own Messiahship- the conclusion-" reflects perfectly the for was not this Judas Iscariot? This sadness of tone which characterizes the blasphemy did not, however, deceive Upanishads. The Hindus of former even Mohammedans, who have not been days yearned for release from the mis- slow to point out that the second time ery of life. It also represents the uni- Christ comes to triumph, not to be be- versal belief that the only release was trayed. by the loss of life itself. Misery was " It was a very bitter blow; but the the result of the soul being in fetters to unkindest cut of all came a fortnight the body. The wail was not about the ago, when the Mirza's own brother-in- burden of sin, but the burden of exist- law, his near relative and trusted pri- ence. The Christian notion of sin was vate secretary, was admitted by bap- practically unknown. There is really tism into the Church visible. A bright no place for sin in Pantheism. Imag- young fellow, very highly connected, ine a Christian preacher saying to his his, too, is a history worth hearing. I hearera, 'Ye, divinities on earth, sin- shall here only note that all through ners? It is a sin to call you so. • The the Controversy he was the trusted Hindus can find no place in their ser- confidental agent of the Mirza, who, to vice for the Litany of the English use the Oriental metaphor, 'sat in his Church or the Penitential Psalms. The lap. ' Our friend the Akhund has been members of the Brahmo-Somaj ac- privileged already to lead four people knowledge that they have derived their to Christ. The :Mirza'a brother-in-law sense of sin from Christian teaching.
is a fruit of his labor." They certainly could not have got it -The Mohammedans, about one fifth from Hinduism. According to the of the total popUlation of India, are, as Swami, the soul Is already perfectly might be supposed, very unequally dis- blessed, but it fails to recognize that it tributed in the various provinces. In is so. the Punjab, nearest to the place of first entrance, there are 11,000,000 Moslems, "Does the Swami really thinK that 9,000,000 Hindus. In Bengal, 74,000,- he will thus commend his teaching to 000 Hindus, 20,000,000 Moslems; and men who have learnt the Christian docso in varying proportions. trine of sin, and whose consciences tell them that they are sinners? He might as well go to a convict prison and tell -The Harveat Fi'eU quotes this from the inmates it is a sin to call them crimi- the address of Babu N. N. Butta, B.A., nals."
· 306 GENERAL MISSIONARl INTELLIGENCE
TlIE LEVANT. current Moslem assumption that our Scriptures are essentially corrupted has -Dr. Masterman writes of a visit to no support in the Koran. It will also, Samarin, in Galilee: "The situation of of course, bave to yield to the scientific this quickly rising Jewillh town is mag· demonstration of fact. But 'as the nlficent, the finest site I know of in Koran is so easily demonstrable to be, Palestine, embracing views of the sea, not casually and occasionally, but forest, mountain, and plain. The well- throughout, in statements and implicabuilt houses, solid streets and roads, tions, in tone and temper, and fundamen. public gardens and miles of vineyards tal doctrines concerning God and man, on all sides. present a scene unlike any- absolutely irreconcilable with the New thing else here. The Jews seem to be Testament, therefore tile unquestioning industrious and happy. Much of the recognition of inspiration wbich the actual labor is performed by the fel- Koran requires for the New Testament lahin under Jewish supervision. Euro· must, however slowly, be working pean ploughs and carts are used exten- against the authority of the Koran sively. Splendid roads, which would itself. be a credit to any European country, are being rapidly pushed from the col. Herr Kozle gives the royal firman of ony toward Haifa, on one side, and 1831, acknowledging the receipt of Nazareth on the other. The main Henry Martyn's translation of the New street of Samarin is fully a mile long, Testament. It expresses very lumiwith comfortable houses and small side nously the attitude which a Moslem is streets on each side. At the centre of obliged by his religion to assume towthe town there fs a fine large synagogue. ard the Scrir-tures, and it will be ob- Water is laid on to the streets and served tbat it makes no use of the sub· houses, being pumped up the hill by a terfuge of alleged corruption of the steam-pump. Smaller colonies are t.ext. It is as follows: springing up, under the protection of the great one, in the districts aro-md." " In the name of God, the All-glori· -MedicaZ Missions. ous! It is our exalted will that our dear friend, the Right Honorable Sir -Pastor Christian K5zle, missionary Gore Ousley, Envoy Extraordinary of among the Mohammedans in Persia, His Majesty the King of Great Britain, has a very interesting communication should be apprised that we have duly in Nachrichten a'US dem Morgenlande, received the book of tbe Gospels ren- Heft 5, 1894. He justly remarks that dered into tbe Persian tongue by Henry our current assumption that the Mo- Martyn, of blessed memory. We bold hammedans are intractable to Christian worthy of our higb appreciation this missions is not true, but it is true that work, presented to us in the name of we have been intractable to our duty the learned, worthy, and enlightened toward them in this respect. Society of the Christians, united for tbe purpose of diffusing the Divine As Pastor Kozle remarks, it is a great books of the teacher Jesus, to whose advantage to us in dealing with Mo- name, as to those of all prophets, be hammedanism not only tbat it acknow l- ascribed honor and blessing I For edges that Jesus is the Messiah, and is many years, indeed, the four Gospels sinless (indeed, extending sinlessness to of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John his mother, in early anticipation of the have been known in Persia, but now Immaculate Conception), but tbat it the whole New Testament is translated, recognizea-in fact, enjoins the duty of an event which must be a great satisreading the Scriptures. As Sir Will· faction to our exalted soul. By the iam :Muir, we believe It is, remarks, the grace of God, the All-merciful, we will commit to those of our servants, to
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whom access is granted near our 'per- Velsen, of Urma, Westphalia (who had son, the function of reading the afore- arrived with us the day before), and 1- said writings before us from beginning sang the hymn, • Ein' feste Burg ist to end, that we may hear their observa- unser Gott.' It made a great impres- tions thereupon. Express to the mem- sion on all, although they only under- bers of the above-mentioned enlightened stood it as translated. Then we consid- society our deserved thanks. ered with one another the glorious "Given in Rebialaril, in the year of promise of the prophet Isaiah, its par- the Hegira 1229 (A.D. 1831). tial fulfilment, which we behold even "FETH ALI SHAH KAJAR." to-day, and the glorious hope, which Of course this is merely the language the words of Philippians offered us for of form, but it is a regal acknowledg- all, and therefore for the Moslem.
ment of an admitted Moslem duty, and After a prayer we took leave. It was therefore can always be used to advan- an hour of deep refreshment. Our tage in Persia. Mohammedan friends bade us a most Herr Kozle haB entered into very in- cordial farewelI, saying that they were teresting relations with two brothers, not yet so far advanced as we, but they descendants of the prophet, Mirza Ha- would pray that tuey might be, and bib Allah and Mirza Abdul Vauuf. that we must pray with them, and re- The former was an intimate friend of main their brethren and friends. Mirza the martyr Mirza Ibrahim. He avowed Habib Allah also made me a present of that he, too, was inwardly a believer a Mohammedan rosary, having, accord- (and his br.)ther seems to think with ing to the 99 attributes of Allah, 99 him), but confessed that he had not had beads, by which the Moslem direct their the strength to become a martyr. But devotions. The beads were baked of for his wife and children, he said, he holy earth, from the grave of Hassan would gladly flee to Europe and profess and Hussein. at Kerbela on the Eu- his laith. He declared that God had phrates. But I was much more de- heard his ardent prayer in bringing lighted with his photograph, which he Christian missionaries to him, and ear- gave me with a French inscription, as nestly entreated that they would settle follows: • &rviteur d6 JeauS-Okri8t, in Chof. ITe brought a number of his Mirza, Haln7J Allah. Moll, amour 8'etend a friends who, like himself, were longing '/)OUR tOU8 en J08U8·0ltriBt. Que la for something more soul-satisfying than grace d6 Dieu Boit avec tom qui g,Vment the externalism and fatalism, the cruelty nOtre Seigneur JbiuB-Olwi8t en purete.'
and sensualism of Islam, and who had That is, 'The servant of Jesus Christ, found it in the Gospel. Mirza Habib Allah. My love extends Pastor K5z1e adds: "On April 15th to you all, who are in Jesus Christ.
-it was a Sunday, according tu the The grace of God be with all them that Christian calendar – we assembled love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.'
around us for the last time our Moham- This is a beautiful testimony, well wor- medan friends, who had become to us thy of being communicated to Chris- veritable brethren in Christ. The next tians everywhere, inciting them to sus- day we were meaning to leave Ohoi. tain with their prayers this man, thus How should we take leave of them? struggling to carry through the convic- We thought it would be the most ex- tion of his faith."
cellent way, if we once more seated We are not aware whether a lineal ourselves around God's Word, and took descendant of Mohammed has ever leave with this. We chose Isa. 45: 21- gone so far before toward an open con- 24 out of the Old and Phil. 2 : 9-11 out fession of Christ. As Dr. A. J. Gordon of the New Testament. At the begin- has shown, the hour has plainly struck ningwethree-Dr. Zerweck, Pastor von to remember Raymond Lull.
GENERAL MISSIONAUY INTELLIGENCE
English Notas. we judge it well that Mr. Waterhouse BY JAMES DOUGLAS. should tell the story in his own words: "My father received in Tasmania a WealeyanMis8ionary Society.-Owing letter from his old friend, Theophilus to the financial crisis, October 5th was Lessey, informing him of the miserable set apart, by the request of the Home cry of ' Stop the missionary supplies.'
Committee, to be observed as au Inter- It almost broke his heart. It was not cession Day at home and abroad. From for himself he feIt so deeply. but for all parts of the mission field tidings those under his charge, faithful men of have come as to the way the day was God, who, with their wives, had en- spent. In most places collections were tered the mission field for life, and made and offerings received in behalf whom it was now proposed to leave of the deficit; while in various places penniless 18,000 miles or more from the day was followed up by a series of home. As I have said, it nearly broke services having in view the conversion his heart, and I have no doubt that his of sinners and the increase of spiritual- effort to sustain the cause in Van Die- ity among the members. men's Land brought him to a prema- Some of the reports from distant ture grave. When on his death-bed I lands are especially cheering. This was at his side. He appeared to have applies to all districts in Ceylon, where ceased to breathe, and the doctor said, out of their great poverty the people , He is gone,' when I took him by the brought willingly from their tiny store shoulder and said, 'Father, speak.' to the common fund. In Hassan, ]''l:y- lIe rose in his bed, stared liS if on va- sore, India, the large sum of 120 rs. cancy, looking in the middle of the was forthcoming-a wonderful response room with glassy eyes, and exclaimed, if the smallness and meagre resOUrces 'Wesley, Clarke, Smith. Missiona- of the church in question be consid- ries I Missionaries!! Missionaries!!!'
ered. Writing from Hassan, Mysore, He then sank down on his bed, breathed the Rev. H. Gulliford says: "We are two or three times, and the vital spark delighted to think there is a prospect of had fled. . ., I enclose you a check growing prosperity in every depart- for £25, with my sainted father's ap- ment of the Methodist Church. . • . peal on his death-bed, 'Missionaries I If we could multiply our Christian in- Missionaries !! Missionaries!!!'"
fluences a hundredfold, there would be a vast turning to God. As it is, we are Presbyterian Olturch of England.- afraid to begin any new work, lest we The Swatow Council is clear as to the desirability of planting a missionary at should have to abandon it again." Sua·buc, a large port half-way between In Freetown, Sierra Leone, a day of Swatow and Hong Kong, but for want fervent prayer was spent, interspersed of funds the project lies in abeyance. with appropriate addresses, and the free- " Weare afraid," writes Mr. Maclagan, will offerings of our people amounted in the name of the Swatow Council, to £10. The largest amount received " that at home it may not sometimes be from the foreign field came from La- realized how much even the ground gos, West Africa, where the people's nearest us is unoccupied. Within a gifts reached the agr;regate sum: of day's journey from Swatow there are £107 Sa. 5d. Altogether Intercession numerous large towns and villages as Day seems to have been well spent, yet untouched. It is with reluctance and to have been fraught with much spiritual stimulus. The most effective that we leave these unvisited, to spend part of the record is contained in the a fortnight in mere travelling for a letter received from Mr. John T. Wa- month or six weeks' hurried visit of the terhouse with an accompanying check. southwest stations."
The circumstances are so unique, that Kaisua lsland.-Recently the reaping
ENGLISH NOTES
of the firstfruits of the Swatow Mission face to face with them; and in addi- in Kaisu& Island was recorded. Since tion as a man to whom prayer is as the then two more adults have been bap- breath of life. He is known as a scru- tized. pulous man, simple, prayerful, and Ohi'M8e HOBtility and How to Meet It. willing to do the right thing, although -As a means of obviating native hos- it may bring him any amount of riditility, Mr. Gardner recommends the cule.
adoption, as far as possible, of their She-K'I-Tien, Ho-Nan.-Some inter- ideas in things non-essential. For ex- esting " Tokens for Good" are supplied ample, he would have native styles of by Miss Leggat, who now occupies the arch'tecture used in the erection of mis- field where Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Hud- sionary bUildings. He mentions that son Taylor used to labor. One case the new college in the Hak-ka centre cited concerns an old woman on whose was built a year or two ago on this plan heart the Gospel speedily laid hold.
with the happiest results. The public Coming in one Sunday from her coun- opposition raised entirely subsided, and try home, Reven li distant, she opened now there is no dissenting voice. The out her little napkin, in which her din- principle cited has a place in the social ner was wrapped, and exultingly pro- customl$ of the people also. To sample duced her kitchen god. When tearing the meaning, the case is told of a vil- it down from off her wall, her son and lage headman in the Hak·ka region daughter-in-law said, "What are you who became a Christian. His father doing? You are leaving the house dying, it fell to him in the natural or- without a god." She replied, "This, der to perform the funeral rites. His does tMs reckon as a god? I spurn it ; Christian conscience would not allow Jesus is my Saviour," and down the of any complicity with ceremonies that paper came before they could interfere.
were mixed up with the worship of On being asked by Miss Leggat if she idols. Thus far it behooved him to was not frightened to burn it-" Fright- " watch and keep his garments. " But ened 1" she replied. "No, I have while he could not be a party to the Jesus now." And so by the applica- cost incurred in idolatrous rites, he felt tion of a match the thing was very Boon that he ought to bear all the larger reduced to ashes. The refrain of the share in the purely civil and necessary old lady's life now is, " Jesus loves me, part of the funeral expenses. In this this I know," and " I am weak, but He way, without surrender of principle, is strong."
the name "Christian" is freed, in the THE KINGDOM. public view, from the charge of shab- biness. "The offence of the cross will -What a commentary upon Chrisnot indeed cease; yet we may reason- tianity is found in the fact that a young ably avoid needless offence." Jewess, 'who had embraced it, has ex- A Ohinese Pastor.-Pastor Hsi has pressed a desire to •• read church hissent a characteristic epistle to the father tory to find out how and when Chrisof one of the China Inland Mission mis- tians came to be so dif!erent from sionaries, in which, among other things, Christ."
he figures as one instructed from above -A recent editorial in the Foreign to dispense medicines for the body as Mi88irmary (Lutheran, General Council) well as salutary counsel for the soul. is entitled "Congregational Selfish- In his own land, among the band of ness, " and has these for the opening disciples, he is recognized as a man of sentences: "Our attention has recently wonderful power in 'casting out devils, been called to the fact that there are the devils themselves recognizing him members of our congregations who will as God's servant the moment he comes give willingly, and even liberally, for
GENERAL HISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
the current expenses and the enlarge- If you go alone to a man, you will get ment and improvement of the church something. If you take another person property of the congregation with with you, you will get more. If you which they arc connected, who will do take three with you, you will gilt the little or nothing for the work of the whole amount you ask for.''' Such church outside of and beyond their is human nature, and only similar own congregational limits. Their will- methods will do the work of raising ingness and liberality in this respect money for missions.
both begin and end at home. That others have not the Gospel, and, as a -How persistent are the, heresy and'
consequence, are perishing in their sins superstition that Christendom is being and helplessness, would seem to be a seriou&ly robbed ):;y silly enthusiasts for matter of small concern to these mem- the sake of evangelizing the far-off and bers with this narrow, limited view of good-for-nothing Hindus, Chinese, Jap- the work of the church." anese, etc_ The Ohurc7t Missionary In- teUigencer devotes fourteen precious -The American Board Almanac pages to an article on "The Alleged quotes the 'following: "A man who Drain of Men to the Fordgn Field,"
does not give definitely, and who does and easily shows that no such" drain"
not set down in his account-book ex- exists. The amount of toil bestowed actly what he does gi'le, is apt to think upon heathen lands is inexcusably small that he is always giving_ There is no as compared with work at home, and falsehood larger and deeper than this especially when we consider that fully in practical life_ If you will put down three fourths of the earth's popUlation just what you give'to charitable' pur- is yet wholly unevangelized. Let this poses, you will be surprised at the end single specimen fact suffice: While 17 of the year how little you have given; of the neediest wards of New York City yet you may have the feeling that you have a population of about 443,000 and have been always parting with your 111 churches and chapels, there are 8 money in response to benevolent ap- provinces in China whose 75,000,000 peals. .. In other words, stop not short have only 57 missionaries.
of the" cold facts" in the case. Fig- ures do not lie ; wherefore, be not de- -How solemn are these words pen- ceived, brethren. ned by Rev. Dr. De Forest for the In- dependent, and in explanation of the re- -General Horace Porter, speaking of cent falling off of conversions in Japan: the way in which he raised the $400,- "The unwise and, in some cases, un- 000 needed to complete the monument just criticism of missionaries; the dis- to General Grant, said: "It is a great covery of gross immoralities and the mistake to suppose that, on such an occa- social and political corruption that ex- sion, people are crowding around, try- ists in all the great centres of Christen- ing to force their money into your dom ; the seeming political injustice of hands. The money is .there, but you the West toward the weaker nations of have to go for it. I found there were the East; the knowledge slowly gained 128 trades in New York, represented that Christ's Church is almost hope- each by its separate board_ I worked lessly divided, and that Japan has been through these boards, and went from used as a kind of dumping-ground for one board to another, organizing com- missionaries of every sect; the conse- mittees in each one, in all more than quent incompetence, mistakes, and 3000 committees. Then I instructed waste of forces in the missionary body the committee in regard to getting -these are, in the main, the causes that money. I said to them, 'If you write stand across the path of the past and to a man you will not get anything. future success of missions." -The Canada Presbyterian is in a total capital invested in railroads In the sore quandary. The missionary treas- United States in 1893 was $10,500,000.- ury is empty, but half a score of would- 000. The railroad employes number be missionaries are urging, "Here are 823,700. Considerably more than one we, send us." Shall they be dispatched half (7185) of all the steamers, and more at once and the churches be called upon than one quarter (4475) of all the sail- to supply the means required, or be ing-vesselS in the world, fly the British bidden to wait ,until the money is in flag. Next in importance in steam-ves- hand? How sad that such a question sels comes Germany, with 912; the should ever be possible; and, oh, for United States, with 610 ; then France, heavenly wisdom to decide just when with 555; Norway, 554; Sweden. 535 ; hesitation is unbelief and disobedience, Spain, 392; Rnssia, 248; Denmark, and when faith lapses into presumption 253; Italy, 214, etc.
and folly I -The Church of Scotland has a mis- sionary debt of £2506, but 5 of its Afri- -Can it be that the day is really ap- can missionaries have just Bent each proaching when the nations will learn one month's salary to aid in its extincwar no more? In 1890 our Congress tion; and, moreover, 42 native Chrisadopted a resolution recommending the tian workers at Blantyre and 20 Domas! President to invite negotiations with boys have dODe the same thing. The foreign countries with a view to arrang- " self-denial" donation of these last ing treaties of arbitration. In 1893 the alone amounts to nearly £4. British House of Commons unanimous· ly adopted a resolution referring to this -Mr. James Croil has a book entitled action, and recommending co-operation "The Noble Army of Martyrs, and with the United States in this matter. Roll of Protestant Missionary Martyrs' It is said that a motion is soon to be in- from A.D. 1661 to 1891." The" roll" troduced into the Senate instructing the contains 130 names, and does not in- President to endeavor to negotiate an clude the native workers or converts, Arbitration Treaty for twenty-five nor in the case of Cawnpore Mrs. Hayyears, and that Mr. Cremer, M.P., is cock, the missionary's mother who now in this country as the bearer of a shared his death, nor the sister of the letter from 354 members of the House Rev. M. I. Jennings, and the Misses of Commons to the individual members Thompson at Delhi. of Congress, requesting them to .sup- port this motion. -Dr. Pauline Root, of the Madura -And commerce is a great peace- Mission, has had 20,000 patients, with maker and help to the spread of the nearly 5000 surgical operations. They Gospel. The Brooklyn Eagle gives came from 216 Villages. Dr. Mary these figures: The total number of Niles, of the Canton MissioD, has had steamers of 100 tons and upward com- 5000 patients, with 600 surgical operaprising the fleet of the world is 12,907, tions.
with a gross tonnage of 16,066,202. -There are some large congregations The total number of sailing-vessels of in heathen lands. In the city of Para- 100 tons and upward is 17,814, with a maribo, Dutch Guiana, there is a Prot- net tonnage of 8,503,294, making a to- estant church with an attendance of tal of both steam and sail, 30,721, with 8000, of whom 3500 are communicants.
a tonnage of 24,569,486. The value of The great cathedral at Uganda, Central this sea-going tonnage is estimated in Africa, holds 5000, and is 1illed. A IOund numbers at $2,000,000,000, and correspondent from Aintab, Central.
the number of men employed is in the Turkey, states that one church there is Ileighborhood of 650,000. As a matter crowded with an audience of 2000, and of comparison it may be stated that the in the same city is another church with a Sunday-school of 15,060.-Pittsburgh I have been present since reaching Ohl'i&tian Advocate. Chou-ping. "
-Yet again does David with his harp -Dr. Ida E. Richardson, of Phila exorcise the evil spirit. For:" Sigau- delphia, in an interview recently, at- Fu, a notoriously hostile city, was ' cap- tributed her professional success largely tured' by the late Mr. Holman. Suc- to this fundamental rule of Christian cessful in renting a house, he shortly conduct: "Every patient, in hospital found himself the object of the rage or private practice, has been treated as of· the populace, who, gathering some I would like to be treated were I the 2000 strong, proceeded to eject the patient." What is this but the Golden 'foreign devil.' A good musician, he Rule and the heavenly spirit of misstood for three hours in the doorway sions? with his guitar, playing and singing to the peoplc in Swedish (his native lan- -The Woman's Home Missionary guage), English, and Chinese. The Society of the 1r!ethodist Episcopal crowd grew tired, and left him for that Church has 16 industrial schools and day. On several occasions subsequent- homes,' established in various localities ly this was repeated. Finally he was iu the South, 18 among Indians, Morpermitted to remain, and Sigan-Fu was mons, and New Mexicans, aJ;ld 20 in the ~pened to the Gospel." cities, including Deaconess Homes.
-An excellent little book of nearly -The twenty-fifth annual report of 90 pages bas been written by Rev. A. the Methodist Woman's Foreign Mis- C. Chute, of Halifax, and is published sionary Society is a model with its by the Baptist Book and Tract Society maps, statistical tables (which are of the same city, upon the life of John usually so conspicuously lacking in Thomas, physician, and first Baptist such publications), and whatsoever else missionary to Bengal. The supreme is needed by the seeker after informaservice of this man lies in the fact that tion. In particular, the maps go far to he led Carey to his magnificent work illustrate and illuminate. Nor is there in India, while but for him the peerless any patent on this style of a report. modern apostle would have buried him· Verbum 8ap. StU for life in far-off, tiny Tahiti (Otaheite). -In several important particulars the thirteenth annual report of the WOMAN'S WORK. Woman's Missionary Society of the Methodist Church, Canada, approaches -Miss Aldridge, of Chou-ping, China the same high standard. The mission- (English Baptist), writes: "Last week aries number 32, and are to be found I attended a baptism service, when 14 in China and Japan, as well as among women and 18 men were baptized. It the Indians, French, and Chinese of the must mean something for the poor Dominion.· The receipts last year were women; and, although they have to $34,837, derived from 571 auxiliaries wait about eighteen months on appro with 13,645 members, and 273 circles bation, I am afraid they know compar- and bands with 6424 members. atively little even then. It is very difficult for them to stand in the water with -The women of the Methodist Epistheir little feet. Mrs. Drake baptized copal Church, South, support 35 misthem. and they all went to the women's sionaries in China, Mexico, and Brazil. rooms at her house afterward, and then The society through which they work the men who had been baptized met at has 1834 auxiliaries with 37,330 memthe chapel, where an address was given bers, and 2312 young people's and juand II. communion service held. This venile societies with 26,545 members; is the second baptism service at which a total of 67,595 members. -.Tanuary 21st the Woman's Board -Seven languages are regularly of Foreign Missions of the Reformed heard in the meetings of Chicago Chris- (Dutch) Church celebrated its twentieth tian Endeavor societies-"Welsh, Nor- birthday. To each one who attended wegian, Swedish, Dutch, German, Bo- an opportunity was given to place an hemian, and Chinese.
offering in the floral ship, Lux Mundi, and $1500 "was the freight which it -What can be more beautiful and floated into a safe harbor." During becoming than the movement which the first year the amount raised was has been started by the Endeavor So- $2891. This has gradually increased, ciety of the Clarendon Street Baptist and in 1894 the sum raised was $27,727. Church, Boston. Honoring the mem- -The boarding-school building at ory of their beloved pastor so recently Jackson, Miss., known as Mary Holmes deceased, whose love for missions was Seminary, and designed for the educa- consuming, and though already suption of colored girls, under the care of porting two of their number in China the Presbyterian Freedman's Board, at a cost of $600, they undertook to was totally destroyed by fire on Jan- raise $200 as a memorial fund (but over uary 31st. The building with its fur- $400 was soon pledged), and propose to nishing, and subsequent additions and all the Baptist young people of the improvements, cost a little less than United States to join them in paying $27,000, and was insured for $15,000. the debt of the Baptist Missionary The Board appeals for immediate help Union, which amounts to $200,000. toward rebuilding. How easHy this could be done if all would bear a hand I And what a YOUNG PEOPLE. blessed consummation it would be if the translation of Dr. Gordon should -Says the Young Men'8 Era: "Al- lead to a great revival of misdionary together the best of the Indian national zeal I conventions was the third and latest -Rev. E. B. Stiles makes this claim held at Madras, December 27th-Blst, for the Free Baptists in the Morning 1894. Twenty-four associations were Star: "So far as I know, the first misrepresented by 54 voting delegates, be- sionary to be sent by young people's sides 21 honorary delegates who at- societies as such was sent by our young tended most of the sessions. Burmllh, people in 1888. To Miss Perkins be- Ceylon, and 4 unorganized places in longs the honor of proposing it; to India sent representatves, so that the loyal Free Baptist young people betotal number attending was 75, of longs the honor of carrying out the whom 27 were European and Eurasian proposal. Quick came the responses, and 48 were natives of India." led by the Endeavor Society of Dan- -The Young Women's Christian ville, N. H.; and in a few months from Association is becoming an important the first suggestion your missionaries factor of Christian activity and progress were on their way to India, going as in India. In Calcutta a fine building the representatives of a few isolated has been secured for an institute, and societies without any central organiza- also a house for a home. Extraordi· tion. Loyally did they rally to the nary opportunities are opening up support of him whom they called' our among the Eurasians and English- missionary.' I think that the treas- speaking girls. Two young English urer's books will show that more than women, who have had considerable ex- enough was raised during the five years perience in association work at home, that I was in India, to pay all expenses. "
have recently decided to give them- He laments, however, that their zeal selves to this service in India. has since grown cold in some measure. 314 GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE. [April -In Life and Light Miss S. Louise Forest, $100,000: Knox College, $100,- Day has it that there are more than 000; Chicago Theological Seminary, 100 Endeavor societies connected with $50,000; Presbyterian Seminary, $50,- Congregational mission schools and 000; Presbyterian Hospital, $60,000; churches: 29 in Japan, 6 in China, 13 Young Men's Christian Association, in India, 4 in Africa, 15 in Turkey, 1 in $30,000; Women's Board of Foreign Spain, 7 in Mexico, and 4 in the Sand- Missioll9, $20,000; Yankton College, wich Islands, etc. $50,000; Whitman College, $50,000, and other deserving institutions to the -An Epworth League in Minneapo- extent of $400,000 more. And the best lis, Minn., is able to give a good ac- of it is that in each case he stirred up count of its stewardship during 1894. the friends of the institution to raise a This is a partial and condensed state- sum two or three times as great as he ment from the department of mercy himself gave. and help: $53.51 expended for fuel; clothing, and groceries, and to defray -Not all millionaires are selfish and funeral exp"enses of a little child; abun- sordid, as witness how the Medical dance of grocery supplies given by in- School of Columbia College has redividual members, impossible to esti- ceived $350,000 from Messrs. Cornelius, mate; 38 yards of material purchased William K., Frederick W., and George and given to the poor; 30 meals and W. Vanderbilt, of New York City, to many delicacies, such as lemons, or- be used in constructing two new buildanges, and jellies carried to the sick ings for the school's hospital, to be a and poor; 20 bouquets carried to those memorial of William H. Vanderbilt. shut in from church privileges; 435 Mrs. W. D. Sloane, who was a Vanderarticles{)f clothing distributed, 100 sent bilt, has given $200,000 for the erection to the Hinckley sufferers; dishes and of an enlargement of the Sloane Mabedding provided, and children fitted ternity Hospital. out with clothing; 14 pairs of shoes, -Vermont, the mother of States, ac- 1 pair of rubber boots, 3 pairs of new cording to the census has a native pop- ulation of 249,590, and besides has 172,- mittens, several good overcoats, com- 769 sons and daughters resident in other fortables, and ladies' jackets to Asbury States of the Union; and it is mainly Hospital; 4 pairs of pillow-cases (new), because of this astounding depletion 8 bundles of old linen, 1 pair new by emigration that some regions within sheets, 23 new towels, 15 cans of fruit, her bounds have lost their former spir- 2 dozen oranges, and groceries to the itual estate, and that Roman Catholics amount of $5; 977 calls made on the now outnumber Congregationalists sick, poor, and aged. more than two to one.
UNITED STATES. -The Southern Presbyterian Insti- tute for the Training of Colored Min- -Let Dr. Parkhurst beware, or he isters, now called Stillman Institute, will attain to the highest rank among opened in 1877, has had under instruchome missionaries, though the iniquity tion 168 students, of whom 109 have which he is called to fight to the death been Presbyterians, 45 Methodists, and is as far removed from whatsoever is 14 Baptists. Thirty-six Presbyterians Christian and truly civilized as any the have been graduated, an average of 2 a heralds of the cross are likely to find year, "while the Methodists and Bapon pagan soil. tists got a good salting with Calvinism that may keep them safe." The Com- -And Dr. D. K. Pearsonshas justly mittee of Colored Evangelism is aiding earned the title of the benefactor of 66 churches, with 130 elders, 83 deacolleges. What a fine list of benefactlons: Beloit College, $100,000; Lake cons, and 1500 members. Use is made, Army, 1-a total of 62. To this numin establishing ·new churches, of evan- ber might be added the Salt Lake Bible gelistic work, of which nearly all the Society, the Salt Lake Sunday-school colored ministers do some. Besides Association, the Salt Lake Deaconess this work in the home field, arrange- Board, the Utah Union, the Woman's ments have been made for the instruc- Christian Temperance Union, the tion of men under appointment to go to Young Men's Christian Association, and Africa as missionaries. the Ladies' Auxiliary, the combined Christian Endeavor Societies, and the -A special train with 450 negroes combined Epworth Leagues, a total of aboard arrived at New Orleans the 9, which make a grand total of 71 reother day, from Atlanta, destined for ligious bodies in this city-a most excel- Mexico. The exodus is under the con- lent showing.-Salt Lake T1ibune. trolof the Mexican Colonization Society, which, it is said, has made con- -The Methodist CQinese Mission, of tracts with thousands of freedmen in San Francisco, has just" lost" 3 most Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, to useful converts, who have returned to settle them on lands in the northern China to bear the Gospel to their kinsstates, near the Rio Grande. This folk. One of them, Rev. Lee Chin, land will be sold to them on long time, says the California OMistian Advocate, and at very low prices. Another and " was converted twenty years ago, has a larger party is expected soon, and it been preaching the Gospel eight years is thought that if these two parties are at Sacramento and other places, and pleased with what they find, there will was admitted as a preacher on trial at be a weekly train of negroes to Mexico. last year's Conference. An ex.cellent Christian woman offered to send him -Captain R. H. Pratt's fifteenth an- out and support him. The offer was nual report of the Carlisle Indian school accepted, and he leaves the limited field shows a successful year, with advances here to itinerate among the towns and in all departments. There were 493 villages of that part of the Kwangtung boys and 328 girls. The present num- province that is the home of 9 out of ber of pupils is 602, of which 358 are 10 of the Chinese in America." boys and 244 girls. The new pupils number 152, and 215 have been return- -The Southern Methodist Review of ed to agencies. Forty-four tribes are Missions for February fills its opening now represented at the school, the prin- pages with the life story of " Uncle cipal ones being Oneida, 74; Sioux, Larry," of the Virginia Rosebuds. His 62; Chippewa, 58; Apache, 57; Sen- real name is John B. Laurens, who saw eca, 42; Cherokee, 33; Assiniboine, hard service both in the Mexican War 31; Pigean, 23; Pueblo, 24; Nez and in the Rebellion. It was in his Perces, 21; Osage, 20; Ottawa, 20; heart to be a preacher, but after years Tuscarora. 19; Crow, 17; Shawnee, of trial it became evident that bodily 12; and Winnebago, 11. infirmity made this impossible. By a strange providence, in 1878 he drifted -Surely Salt Lake ought to be indeed into the office of the Richmond Ohristhe" city of saints," since a "careful tian Advocate. and to the head of " Our count of religious bodies having regular Little People" department, with his places of worship shows the following business to stir up the children (Rosefigures: Baptist,4; Catholic,2; Christian, buds) to organize and give to missions. 1 ; Congregational, 3 ; Episcopal, 4 ; He- So earnest and discreet did he prove brew,1; Josephite,l; Church of Jesus that when he died last year there were Christ of Latter Day Saints, 27; Lu- 450 societies with 30,000 members, and theran, 4; Methodist, 7 ; Presbyterian, receipts which some years rose above 4; Scandinavian Free Mission, 1; Scientists, 1; Unitarian, 1.; Salvation $4000, and had amounted in all to '47.- 297. Surely, for a hopeless invalid this Dutch Scriptures to Cape Town, of was efficient service. Spanish and Portuguese to Rio de Janeiro, and of others to Auckland and -The enterprising A88embly Herald Singapore. is 'able to publish to its readers: "The weight of our February edition is be· -These statistics, prepared for Temtween 7 and 8 tons, and if stretched perance Sunday by the Nonconformist out in a single, continuous sheet would churches in England, indicate the status reach almost from New York to Phila- of this great reform. The WesleylUl delphia. Nearly aU of these 125,000 Methodists have 435,141 juvenile and papers are sent out in separate wrap- 68,798 adult members in: their temperpers, every wrapper being hand ad- ance societies; the Baptist Total Abdressed." stinence Association has 1419 names of minisj;ers on its roll, and reports that -Writing from Constantinople un- 203 out of 221 students in the Baptist der date of November 19th, Rev. Dr. College are known to be abstainers; EUas Riggs says: .. To-day is the the Congregational Association claims eighty-fourth anniversary of my birth- 2160 out of 2718 ministers in England day, and I have entered upon the sixty- and Wales as abstainers, and 373 out of third year of my missionary life, hav- 400 students in the British theological ing sailed from Boston for Greece in colleges, While most of the Congrega~ October, 1832." This venerable and be- tional ministers in Scotland and Ireland loved missionary is still engaged, heart are also abstainers. The Methodist and soul, in the work to which he gave Free Churches have more than 800 temhiIUSelf more than threescore years ago, perance societies, with a known memo and he writes in a clear, strong hand: bership of 83,668 ; and the other Meth- .. I have had my trials, but I can say odist bodies and the Society of Friends that Divine goodness and mercy have are practically all abstainers. followed me all the' days of my life hitherto, and I am sure will follow me -Not less than 202 medical missionthrough the remainder of my days."- aries are in the foreign field who hold Mi88ionary Herald. British diplomas and degrees, though what are these to the 26,000 physicians -When, on January 9th, at New to be found in the United Kingdom! Rochelle, N. Y., Mrs. Mary R. Schauf. Edinburgh sent 45; Glasgow, 27; Lonfier departed this life, another soul emi· don, 12; Dublin, 9; Aberdeen, 7; etc. nent for devoted service entered into Of these healers 29 represent the Church the reward in store for such in the life !Iissionary Society, 28 the Scottish Free to come. She went out to Turkey in Church, 19 the London Missionary So- 1827, the first unmarried woman to sail ciety, 14 the United Presbyterians, 12 from this land on such an errand. In the English Presbyterians, 10 the China 1834 she was married, and remained in Inland Mission, 9 the Church of Scotthe field until 1877, dwelling at Bebek, land, 9 the Propagation Society (S. P. on the Bosphorus. G.), etc.
EUROPE. -The ahurch Missionary Intelligen- cer, the organ of the Church Missionary Great Britain. – The British and Society, in referring to the centenary Foreign Bible Society has recently sent of the London Missionary Society, pays out over 2000 Sinhalese Bibles and 4100 this generous tribute: .. No society has Gospels for the Colombo Auxiliary. had greater men, or been permitted to These books were printed from plates do a grander work. First in the South made by the photographic process. Seas, first in China, first in Madagas- Other large shipments have recently car, first in New Guinea, with such been made of Kafir, Buto, Chuana, and names on its roll as John Williams, Gospel. And hence we are not sur· Morrison, Moffat, Livingstone, Ellis, prised to learn that the "Executive Mullens, Gilmour-not to speak of liv- Committee has published a memoran· ing men-and with by far the largest dum recognizing the free right of lay- total number of adherents among all men to engage in evangelistic work missionary societies; it deserves to be among the heathen, the instruction of honored, indeed. Although the society Christians in Bible classes and the like, is by its constitution undenominational, and school work, medical work, and it is practically supported almost ex- literary work of various kinds, such as clusively by one section of English is generally recognized as within the Nonconformity-the Congregationalist. province of laymen, without first secur- Relatively to numbers, influence, and ing formal episcopal authorization.
wealth, they put us Churchmen to There are, however, other fanctions for shame. We wish the society very the exercise of which it would be prop- heartily God-speed in its almost world- er to have a special arrangement with wide work." the bishop of the diocese. They are -The flrst missionary party was sent the habitual conduct of public worship out by the London Society, August in settled congregations where there is 10th, 1796. bound for Tahiti, and con- no resident ordained pastor, and preach- sisted of 30 persons. A" miscellane- ing to such congregations, and the minous selection" truly, for only 4 of the istering from time to time by Europeans, 30 were ministers, 6 were carpenters, on the invitation of the ministers, to 2 shoemakers, 2 bricklayers, 2 tailors, congregations having ordained minis- 2 smiths, 2 weavers, a hatter, a shop- ters in charge. While the committee is keeper, cotton manufacturer, cabinet- willing to arrange with the bishops maker, draper, harness-maker, tin- concerning these matters, it distinctly work~r, cooper, and butcher. Only 6 stipulates that it in no sense surrenders were married, and there were 3 chil- , the inherent right and duty of Chrisdren. tian men to use all and every means of winning souls to Christ.' It con- -The Church Society gives these ceives that' in the mission field no legal eignificant figures to set forth the disqualification exists to prevent laygrowth of seven years: Then 247 or- men from performing even the official dained missionaries, now 344; then 40 functions above referred to without laymen, now 82 ; then 22 women, now episcopal authorization.' Nothing in 193. Total:· then 309, now 619. That the memorandum is to be interpreted is, the Whole staff has doubled since • as infringing upon 'the reasonable lib- 1887. Besides that, there were then erty of the society's lay missionaries to 4 honorary missionaries, now 70, self- do so, either in cases of emergency or supporting, and 80 supported by special even in ordinary cases, in the earlier contributions, When particular mis- stages of missionary work.' " sions are viewed, the retrospect is even more striking. Thus West Africa had The Continent.-Hungary is rejoicthen 11, now 43; East Africa, then 26, ing over great advances made toward now 58; Mohammedan lands, Egypt, religious freedom. Within two years, Palestine, and Persia, then 17, now under the lead of Premier Wekerle, 63 ; India, then 133, now 222; China, three bills have become laws which esthell. 17, now 63; Japan, then 14, now tablish civil marriage, regulate the reo 53. ligion of the offspring of mixed mar- -This, the largest society in the riages, and provide for the civil regis- world, is nothing if not evangelical, tration of births, marriages, and deaths.
and fully determined to defend against And it looks as though the Emperor every foe its sacred rights under the would find no rest until he gives his sanction to a bill establishing freedom " 2. Jewish teachers giving Hebrew of worship for Protestants, Jews, and lessons in such schools. all. " 3. Jewish womcn attending moth- -But in Bohemia there is a step ers' meetings. backward toward the Dark Ages. The Free Reformed Church has for "4. Jewish women going out withsome years enjoyed a limited toleration out white sheets or izara over them, -" house worship with invited guests." and married women omitting to wear But now there is a different interpreta- the regulation wig." tion of the privileges of this religious body. All guests, even special friends -Since the return of Dr. Mackinnon of the members, and members of other to Damascus in April, 1893, until the evangelical 'denominations, must be middle of JUl!-e, 1894, upward of 3140 strictly excluded. For not enforcing out-patients were treated at the disthis rule to the very letter, one preach- pensary, besides close on 500 in Bludan er has been imprisoned, and afterward (the mountain station of the mission). fined. A second preacher has been Allowing Iln average of 3 visits for each fined twice by the same official. At of these, a total of upward of 10,900 Husinetz, Southern Bohemia, Paul sick folk were seen and treated during Zelinka, the Free Church preacher, this period. Of these 39 per cent were and the members there, are persecuted Moslems, 37 per cent Greeks, 10 per by bigoted officials. Prayer .and Bible cent Greek Catholics, 6 per cent Protstudy are dangerous and criminal. estants, etc. In addition, upward of 200 surgical operations were performed ASIA. during the same period, and about 40 in-patients resided for a longer or short- er time in the dispensary premises.
Islam.-It is enough to exhaust the -The report of the British Syrian faith and patience of the saintliest the Schools shows that £4330 was received way the Grand Turk and his under- in England toward their support during officials have of procrastinating and the year ending last midsummer. The contriving hindrances to block all prog- fees and other contributions received ress. The tale is amazing which Rev. on the spot, more particularly at Damas- H. O. Dwight tells in the Independent, cus, raised the total income to £5202. of how in 1880 a lot was purchased in The mission has 3 male and 20 female Constantinople for a church, and in European workers at Beirut, Damascus, spite of most persistent efforts fifteen and Hasbeiya, Lebanon, Baalbec, Tyre, years have passed, and no permit has and among the Bedouin. These are been gi ven to build. And this though assisted by 95 teachers. There are 20 the old chapel long since became unin· schools, with an aggregate attendance habitable, and last July by the earth- of 2809 scholars, 5 preaching stations, quake the congregation was driven with an average of 217, and 1341 pafrom hired premises and "turned into tients in the :Medical:Mission. the street." -Well may the Gleaner (Church :Mis- -According to the Church of Scot- sionary Society) exclaim: "Surely one land Mi88ion Record, this is the Hebrew of the most notable facts in modern of it in Beirut: "On Saturday, De- missionary history is this, that last Aucember 8th, an anathema extraordinary gust 30 missionarie8 (belonging to vawas ordered to be read in the various rious missions) met at Hebron-of all synagogues, cursing with curses posi- places in the world, except :Mecca, pertive and negative all Jews found gUilty haps the most jealously guarded by of the following misdemeanors: the :Mohammedans-and held a kind of convention, for prayer and study of the " 1. Parents sending their children to Word of God. The possibility of such the Scotch Mission schools., a thing is probably one fruit of the -Though himself by no means a Mildmay Medical Mission there. Miss Christian, the late Maharajah of Mysore Hester Campbell writes: "Truly He was no foe to the Gospel, and was a who stood at Abram's tent-door long ruler truly enlightened and of a benevo· ago in Mamre's Plain was very present lent heart. Educated under English with us, and more than one has gone influence, he was a firm friend to the away to Jerusalem, or Beirut, or Cairo, paramount powcr. He was also a stead- to thank God for that week at Hebroll." fast friend to reform of many kinds, only a few months ago greatly limiting India.-The Rev. J. TrailI, of Jey- the practice of child-marriage. pore, has this to say of the" holy" men he saw at the Pushkar mela: "It is a China.-Who does not sorrow with holy place and a holy time, and all the the Celestial Empirc in her humiliation, holy men have come in from far and so abject and utter? Somc 300,000,000 near. Let me tell you these men are bursting with conceit, beaten time after the embodiment of sanctity. They are time, on both land and sea, by a puny so pure that the touch of even the Eu· nation of only 40,000,000 I And yet ropean_would defile them. They have China has only herself to thank. Nor forsaken the world for religion. They can the remote outcome of these months have clothed themselves with ashes. of chagrin and shame be other than They subject themselves to terrible beneficial. The Great Wall of exclu- penances. I saw a man there on a bed siveness will tumble at many points, of spikes; men hanging by the heels to and many a highway will be opened for a tree; a man buried up to the neck; the entrance of Christian forces. a man sitting between five fires before the blazing sun; a man lacerating him- -Rev. B. Baring-Gould has returned self till the blood gushed out; a man from a journey around the world, and holding up a right hand till it dried after abundant opportunities to inform up. And all to gain salvation." himself, declares: "In no part of India or Japan have I ever seen anything at -Rev. W. D. Hankinson writes as all to compare with the aggressiveness follows to Mr. Baynes, of the English of these [Chinese] native Christians. Baptist Society, concerning Buddhism Inquirers are being brought in by the in Ceylon: "This priest is one of the Bcore every week by the converts them- 9950 at present in the island. Each selves. Individual Christians, in one wears a long yellow robe, and possesses case a medical man, in another a pedan alms-bowl in which he receives his dler, in another a blacksmith, have been food. From house to house he moves, recently the means of evangelizing a and silently takes his stand before each, village, or villages, or in one case and with his alms-bowl in front of him, twenty-eight village8, in which 126 inwaits for a small gift of rice or plan- quirers are now waiting to be taught. tains, etc. The giver often does obei- In the districts I have visited, thousance to the priest, and in the case of sands of women are willing to be evanone sect the priest pronounces a bless- gelized, and hundreds of female cateing before departing. Priests of the chumens are waiting to be taught, and other sects depart in silence. No priest can only be taught by their own sex." must take a meal after twelve o'clock noon. When my friend called in to see -The Foochow Conference (Meth· me the other day, one of his attendants odist Episcopal) reports these encourseveral times tested the hour by the aging figures: Members, 4225; probalength of his shadow, lest the priest tioners, 5227 ; baptized children, 1973 ; should be too la*e to partake of his adherents, 7221 ; Sunday.school scholbreakfast. " ars, 5901 ; collected for missionary so- ciety, $405; for self-support, $2314. Of the principal items the increase for the year is as follows: Members, 539 ; avers, " whether on ordinary occasions, probationers, 1722; adherents, 3642; fair days, riots, or war times, deserves Sunday·school scholars, 1285; self-sup- to be mentioned in the same week with as port, $480. The 68 ordained and 125 Hiroshima to orderly conduct."- unordained preachers, together with l'1w Pacific.
the members, probationers, adherents. -Nobody has written more thorand baptized children show a ·total of oughly and impressively of what the 27,509. future probably has in store' for this Korea.-EvidentIy this peninsula, . empire than Rev. J. T. Yokoi, of which was innocently the casus belli be- Tokyo, in a recent issue of the Congre- tween China and Japan, can never gationalist. And his conclusion is for again be considered to be but an out- substance, that while we cannot reason- lying dependency of the Son of Heaven. ably expect Japan ever to adopt the Concerning the outlook for this land, peculiar type of Christianity borne by Rev. Henry Loomis writes: "One any church or nation of the Occident, thing has especially impressed me, and it is yet scarcely possible that she will that is that one of the best statesmen in stop short of possessing the essentials Japan, Count Inouye, has been sent to of Christian civilization.
Korea to assist in inaugurating the new order of things, and has taken as his as- AFRICA. sociates two Christian men, Count Hirosawa and Saito Shinchiro. This means -South Africa includes all :of that that henceforth the religion of Jcsus portion of the continent which lies to Christ is not only to be tolerated but the south of the Zambesi, a territory held in esteem by those in power." with an area of 1,250,000 square miles. Referring to one of the Korean leadeIs On the whole, the soil is fertile, and the who visited the United ·States and be- climate such that white men endure it came a member of the Reformed without much ril!k to health.
Church, he says: "I was pleased to -At Lovedale the attendance last hear him avow his Christian principles, year was 725, of whom all but 33 were and he expressed a very warm interest native Africans, and these pupils paid in the missionaries and their work. He last year for tuition, etc., the snug sum regards Americans as brothers." of £1885 ($9425).
Japan.-In the city of Tokyo there -The Rev. Dr. Steele has printed a are 120 newspapers and magazines. short journal of a ten days' mission The Asabi Shimbun, or Morning News, tour in Angoniland. He visited 19 vilhas a circulation of 100,000 daily, and lages, held 20 meetings, dispensed medithe paper of the same name in Osaka cine to 320 patients, extracted 20 teeth, of 130,000 copies. But with this circu- and preached to over 2000 people. lation they may well rebuke Christian There are no inns, rest-houses, nor shops America; for there are no Sunday pa- in Angoniland. The mission caravan pers in Japan. included 11 carriers-tent, 2 men; bed, 1 man; bedstead, 1 ; magic-lantern, 2 ; -Rev. Mr. Pettee, writing after a medicine chest, 1 ; 2 baskets with food visit to Hiroshima, which has become, and cooking gear, leathern bucket and for the time, the royal residence and basin, 2 men; box with books and the real capital of the nation, speaks of clothing, 1; chair and folding table, the good order which everywhere pre- 1 man. In addition, Dr. Steele took vails. This city has an ordinary popu- with him a native evangelist and 3 boys. lation of 88,000, increased now by 40,000 The cost of the tour amounted to £1 48. more drawn thIther by the exigencies Od.-Free Church Monthly. of the war. Yet no American city, he