The Missionary Review of the World — August 1892
FATHER ANGELICO OF POLLINA
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XV. No. S.-Old Series.–AUGUST.–VOL. V. No. S.-New Series.
FATHER ANGELICO OF POLLINA.
BY ARTURO MUSTON, PALERMO, ITALY.
Father Angelico was born in the year 1866 in Pollina, Sicily, a small village containing about 3000 inhabitants, in the province of Palermo and the neighborhood of Cefalu, where the celebrated cathedral built by King Roger in 1145 still attracts admiration for its majestic Norman style and precious mosaics. Though Pollina is said to stand on the ruins of tho ancient and famous ApoUonia, ih is at the present time a poor, dirty place, and its people merely peasants. "Can any good thing come out of Pollina 1"
Giuseppe Collosi-the real name of Father Angelico-is the son of a miller there, and was sent to school, going through the elementary classes in Pollina. Then he helped his father in country work, but, at the age of sixteen, his mother, who is a strong Romanist, superioress of a confraternity, sent him to Castelbruno, under the pretext of pursuing his studies in the Convent of the Capuchins, but with the real intention of making him a monk. Giuseppe felt no attraction to the .monastic life, and begged his parents to let him stay at home. But his mother told him, that if he would not enter an order, his home would be closed against him. On May 8th, 1884, he put on the sacred habit as a novice. This was in open contradiction to the Italian law, which forbids the increase of monastic orders. Nine months after, the chief of police in the place entered the convent with the gendarmes, to ascertain if there were only students boarding there (as the monks said) or real novices. The Fathers tried to evade the questions, but, bemg found out, all the novices were sent out. The Superior, for his false statement and for having no diploma or permission to teach, was fined 500 francs, with five days' imprisonment. Giuseppe, much frightened at first, because he expected to be imprisoned also, felt very happy when he knew he was free to go home. But his mother, fearing that if he once took off the monastic dress he would not put it on again, compelled him to hide himself in the house of ~ friend, who had a son in the same condition. Every week, secretly, the (J.uardian went to confess them j and after two months an order came from the GeneIal in Rome to send these youths to the Convent of Sortino, in the province of Syracuse.
Here began for our young friend the thrilling conflict between his conscience and the monastic rules. He was to be reduced to the condition of a corpse in the hands of his superiors, one of whom, the" Provinciale," was especially stern and severe; he had to learn the hypocritical appearance of piety, and to begin by showing himself humble and submissive. His eyes were always to be down to the ground j for raising them he was immediately punished with the" straccio," which is a band going round the head and covering the eyes. For hours and hours, ~ven when going out, he had to wear it j to speak to a !luperior, even to ask permission to drink a little water, he had to kneel down and kiss the floor, remaining in that position until he was allowed to move.
Although they thus moulded his outward man into a good novice, he felt in his heart, more strongly than ever, a repulsion to lIuch a life. But where was he t6 go? what was he to do ~ Having taken there the" voti semplici," he was sent to the Convent of Gibilmania to study philosophy. A year passed when he was called, according to our civil laws, to go through the various forms of military service. He felt the greatest pleasure in bidding good-by to the convent and dressing himself once more as a man, hoping never again to enter those horrid walls. But his bther being seventy years of age, his son was not permitted, according to Italian law, to enlist. He tried to enter the gendarmes brigade, but his parents prevented him and brollght him back to the convent. Being a clever fellow and studying well, in order to bin-d him down they gave him minor orders (August 21st, 1887), and a year after (September 9th, 1888) he made the solemn profession in Gibilmania, and was received as a regular friar, assuming the name of "Father Angelico." His superiors wanted to confer on him also the higher order of the priesthood, that he might celebrate mass and earn money for the convent. He was then allowed to go home for a little holiday. He tried to have himself transferred to the secular clergy so as not to g@ back to the convent, but an order came for him to start immediately for Catania, under threat of suspension "a divinis" (that is to say, prohibition to celebrate mass, etc.) if he did not obey. He was therefore obliged to leave Pollina, and go to Catania.
In the Convent of Catania began the interesting part of his life, for here doubts began to assail him regarding the various dogmas of the Romish Church. He knew nothing of the Gospel and evangelical religion, yet his own intelligence and common-sense rebelled against the supremacy of the Pope, his infallibility, the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, and he had strong doubts about the power of the priest in transubstantiation and in confession. As he put questions and made objections, they considered him a heretic, and his lecturer and professors reported him to the " Provinciale," who compelled him to remain hours on his knees, repeating the Miserere, and scourging himself with a leather thong called the "dis- ciplina. " It is easy to understand that the flagellation was not an adequate answer to his doubts, and would not dispel them. About that time they made him study ethics, giving him as text-book the celebrated" Speculum Vitre Humanre" (the mirror of human life), by the Spanish bishop, Rodrigo Saurio di Sanchez. It is a guide to the confessor. This scandalous book is the worst teacher of immorality. It is so vile that the lecturer himself did not read the lesson aloud, but said to his pupils, " You will read from such and such a page in your cell, but, to keep the devil from tempting you, you will read it kneeling down!" A new discovery, surely, that it doet! not hurt a ~an to drink poison on his knees, though it would were he standing or sitting !
Our friend was disgusted and shocked. He said openly to his superior that he could never put such questions to those who came to confess to him. He was called "Protestant," and had to recite more Misereres, with tbe scourging. He was known in the convent as an inquirer, and a man of independent mind also. One day a lay friar, Fra Carmelo, secretly took him into his cell, and began to speak of "the Protestant people" who were in Catania; he said he knew the Waldensian minister, an ex-priest, Signor Bellecci, and went on to explain what the Evangelicals believe. He concluded by handing him a Bible, translated by Diodati.
Father Angelico accepted it with eager interest, and read it, comparing it with Martini's translation; he was struck with the untruthfulness of the accusation that Diodati had falsified the text. Although he knew his Latin Bible well, and had read it often, he could find no text which prohibited the reading of it in a spoken language. The reading of Diodati aroused stronger doubts than ever, and not finding the truth in Rome, he would have found it (being led by the Word) in Christ, had not Father Giuseppe, from Nicosia, discovered him and reported him to the Guardian and "Provinciale." For three days he was kept on bread and water, wearing the " libano" (a rope made with a kind of long grass) round his neck, and a crown of thorns on his head. Of conrse, he was more closely watched than ever, and the monks tried to blot out all impression by calumniating the Protestants, and especially Signor Bellecci, upon whose character they poured all the ink of the convent. . The Bible was confiscated, and subsequently burned with special ceremonies in presence of the monks assembled for the occasion. This triumph of the devil was the forerunner of a cruel deception for those hypocritical fanatics.
Father Angelico, although they were very kind to him, was most unhappy. All the kindness of the nuns of a convent in the neighborhood where he was to say mass could not check his disgust; they used to send him quantities of sweetmeats (the sisters in Italian convents are celebrated for their skill in preparing sweets, liqueurs, etc., and they sell an enormous amount of these first-fruits of their piety every year) ; besides, he received presents of beautiful embroidery from the same nuns, who had special sympathy with the Capuchins.
The Guardian had conferred on him the honorable title of " Discreto,"
which means his confidant, and promised that the following winter (1890-91) he should be appointed lecturer on theology in the Seminary of Messina.
All this while Father Angelico desired to visit Signor Bellecci, the Waldensian pastor in Catania; but he was watched (shadowed), and, as opposite Bellecci' 8 dwelling there was a house belonging to the Guardian, Father Spina, he was greatly perplexed how to manage it. One day he decided to go, but was caught and taken to the convent, where he had to undergo severe punishment.
The rules and regulations of the Capuchins allow the monks to go back once a year for a few days to their homa j and on July 27th, 1890, Father Angelico left Catania for Pollina. On the way he stopped in Cefalu, where the bishop, knowing his case, tried to allure him by promising to speak for him that he might be transferred to the secular clergy. He did, in fact, write to Rome, but the answer was in the negative. The bishop, nevertheless, appointed Father Angelico vice-curate in Pollina and kept him there several months in that office, although his Provinciale had suspended him " a divinis !" – Father Angelico's state of mind was most critical. He was more and more dissatisfied with Romanism, having before his eyes the abominable behavior of the priest of Pollina j therefore, although the PlOvinciale promised him a welcome at the convent, and urged him to go back there, while his mother pressed him to resume the monastic life, he felt less inclined than ever to obey them. He had in this manner spent more than four months in Pollina, when he came to the decision to write to Signor Bellecci, since he had always been prevented seeing him. Signor Bellecci, in December last, answered him, giving him direction and encouragement, and advising him to address himself to me, the Waldensian pastor in Palermo. The letters were opened in the post-office of Pollina, and the priests informed of their contents, so that a second stronger suspension fell on the head of Father Angelico on December 23d, 1890.
At length, on January lOth, 1891, Father Angelico called on me in Palermo, asking earnestly to be delivered from his unhappy position. I had an opportunity of speaking to his heart and conscience, and, as I bade him good-by, I insisted on his giving the proofs of his earnestness and sincerity by leaving everything for Christ, and providing for his own living. He took with him some books I gave him to help him in the study of the Holy Scriptures. We continued to write to each other, I doing my best to lead him in the path of righteousness. He tried to get an appointment as a teacher, but Pollina being divided into two parties, and his father belonging to the one which had been defeated in the last election, he could not succeed in obtaining anything. Meantime, he was seized with influenza and laid up for a month, in which he suffered much, because his mother, bigoted and hard-hearted woman, would not nurse him, but constantly reviled him as a heretic, and threatened to turn him out. So, when he began to recover, she refused to light a fire or prepare food in the house as long as he was there. She grossly insulted, and even attempted to beat him. In this extremity, that he might not rebel or cause any more disturbance, he left his home, and immediately his mother had it sprinkled three times with holy water! The poor, ignorant woman declared that her son was possessed by the devil, and was becoming a " Negromante."
Father Angelico came to Palermo, straight to me, last April, declaring his sad Case. An ex· deputy of Levante had offered to help him in opening a shop if only he would have nothing to do with the Protestants, and he was ready to advance 20,000 francs for it. Here, in Palermo, a lawyer, an ex-provincial deputy, promised him that if he would remain a priest, he would guarantee him so many masses. They also tried to speak to him in the name of the archbishop, but his decision was made, and nothing could change him. He courageously came publicly to our meetings, dressed as a. monk, and numbers of priests running after him. A monk of his order stopped him, and tried to take him to the convent, but left him when he had received the answer, "I follow my conscience, and you yours; we will both have to answer before God for it." I felt very much perplexed, however. I had cherished the hope that Father Angelico would find a situation, and then we could have looked after him. But had I a right to arrange beforehand what God in His providence would do 1 Would I be justified in abandoning a sonl who is striving against the darkness and longing for light 1 I put it all before the All-wise and All-powerful One, and stretched out a brotherly hand to Father Angelico. As I noticed from the beginning that he was a clever fellow, gifted with clear intellect and a good memory, I thought that perhaps God could make him useful in His service; and I hope he may be able to take his diploma as a Latin professor, and that he may become a powerful evangelist. With this object in view, my friend and colleague, Signor Bassanelli, and I give him every day a regular course of instruction in evangelical doctrine, in which he shows himself really most intelligent. But, while we feed his soul, heart, and brain, his body also needs food and clothing. Will not some Christian heart join us in this work, which is not charity to a man only, but for the glory of God ~ May the Master Himself choose some co-operator among His disciples!
[The preceding paper is reprinted from A Voice from Italy, in order that our readers may have an opportunity to become acquainted with the life of one who has been led of the Spirit from the darkness of Romanism into the light of the pUfer Gospel of Christ. We hope and believe that it wiII cause many to feel a keener interest in the work which is being carried on in Italy and other Papal lands where efforts are being put forth to dispel the dark clouds of superstition and break the bonds of priest-rule which are upon Papal Europe.-ED.]
BONIFACE, "THE APOSTLE OF GERMANY."
BONIFACE, "THE APOSTLE OF GERMANY." BY REV. HENRY GRACEY, ST. ANDREW'S MANSE, GANANOQUE, CAN.
In an article in THE MISSIONARY REVIEW (August, 1891) a brief account was given of early mission efforts among the Germans. These were con- ducted for the most part by zealous men from Ireland, who by their self- denying labors gave proof of the devotion and piety which in the sixth and seventh centuries characterized the Irish Church. By the methods then in vogue-teaching as best they could, founding monasteries, clearing the forest, and cultivating the soil-these missionaries tried to induce the people to give up their rude and violent life, embrace Christianity instead of idolatry, live in peace one with another, and forsaking th4lir cruelties and vagrant habits, adopt the customs and practices of a higher civiliza- tion.
These mission enterprises were not directly under the control of the Bishop of Rome; nor were the doctrinal views and practices of the mis- sionaries in accord with the great Latin system, which was rapidly extend- ing its influence and control over all branches of the Church, and speedily developing that eentralir.'.ed government destined to play such a prominent part in the affairs of Europe in the succeeding centuries. '
We purpose giving in this article a brief account of the establishment of Roman ecclesiasticism in Germany in the eighth eentury, and of the man who was the agent in bringing this result about, Boniface, the Apostle of Germany, as he has been called; and as we learn the story of this undertaking and compare it with what had been hitherto done, we are impressed with the advantage resulting from organized effort, from effort aiming at some definite end; and of individual effort backed up by powerful sympathy and assistance from the main body of Christianity. And how- ever we may be disposed to question the methods sometimes followed or to dispute the positions sometimes taken, we may yet learn from this story a useful lesson regarding what is necessary to make modern missions suc- cessful-namely, unity of aim and of action among t.he several branches of the Christian Church which are carrying on work in the foreign field; and a strong feeling of sympathy in the whole body at home with the work abroad, which sympathy must show itself in practical support and assistance wherever needed.
Boniface, whose original name was Winnifred or Winfred, was born about A.D. 680 in Kirton, Devonshire, Eng. Very early he showed a . strong leaning toward a monastic life. His father at first opposed this, but finally gave way to his son's eager desire. Young Winfred entered a convent in Exeter, where he received his early clerical education, and where he distinguished himself by his aptitude and diligence. He was noted for prudence and administrative ability to such a d~gree that when still quite young he was chosen by his convent as their agent in difficult cases. He became much interested in mission work, which was then a common ten- dency among devout young men in England and Ireland, anrl. resolved that he would devote himself to the eonvert;ion of the pagans.
In 715, when thirty-five years of age, he set out for Friesland, where he hoped to do something for the ignorant people of that country; but as Radbod the king was then at war with Charles Martel, major dorno of the French palace, the state of the country was so unfavorable that he was compelled to retire without accomplishing anything. He returned to his convent in England, where the monks of his cloister were anxious to make him their abbot; but he declined the office, preferring Bome position demanding greater activity.
Still cherishing the desire to be a missionary, he conceived a plan of procedure which ho thought more likely to be successful than the one he had already tried, or those upon which so many of his fellow-countrymen had carried on their missionary labors hitherto. He accordingly applied ' to his friend, Daniel, Bishop of Winchester, for a letter of introduction to the Pope. Armed with this epistle, he made a pilgrimage to Rome in 718; was introduced to Gregory II.; laid before him his purpose, and solicited his sanction and support.
The Pope readily approved his undertaking, and commissioned him to preach the Gospel to the pagan nations of Germany. He started on his mission, and began work in Thuringia; but he soon found that he could not accomplish much without the support of France, to which a large part of Thuringia was subject. He went accordingly to the French court; had an interview with Charles Martel, who was the practical ruler of France; laid before him his scheme, and Bhowed him the Pope's sanction and commission. What the immediate result of this appeal to Charles Martel was does not appear j but it shows us the determination of Boniface to succeed, and the comprehensive view that he took of the situation. He was a man of res.Qurce. He had the genius to contrive and the resolution to execute. About this time Radbod, King of Friesland, a resolute enemy of Christianity, died, and Boniface at once went back to that field to try again to get a footing there. Willibrord, Bishop of Utrecht, was so favorably impressed with him that he wished to make him his successor. This honor, however, he declined, being strongly of the opinion that it was his mission to carry the Gospel to the Germans. This conviction shaped itself before his mind in the form of a dream, in which he heard a call to go to Germany, and was assured of success in his enterprise. Accordingly, in 722 he went into Hessia, where he was encouraged by the early conversion of two native princes. There he founded a monastery and continued his labors for some time with varying snccess, being hindered a great deal by the prevalence of wars with the neighboriug Saxons.
In 723, in obedience to a call from the Pope, he visited Rome a second time, when Gregory II. consecrated him bishop over the district in which he was laboring; but befl)Tc he was consecrated he was required to, take the oath of allegiance to the Roman See. At the tomb of Peter he made a declaration of the following kind : " I promise thee, the first of the apostles, and thy representative, Pope Gregory II. and his successors, that with God's help I will abide in the unity of the Catholic Church j that I will in no manner agree with anything contrary to the unity of the Catholic Church j and whenever I find that the conduct of the presiding officers of churches contradicts the ancient decrees and ordinances of the fathers, I will have no fellowship or communion with them j but, on the contrary, if I can hinder them I will hinder them, and if not, I will report them faithfully to the Pope."
These latter clauses were designed to check, as far as the influence of .
Boniface could check, the progress of independent missions in Germany, and to bring all under the one central control.
This oath told powerfully upon the organization of the German Church.
Boniface was a man of wonderful integrity, nacrow in his views, but strong in his convictions, and disposed to give a literal interpretation to his instructions. The Pope of Rome never consecrated a man more devoted to his interests or more determined to carry out faithfully what was en- joined upon him. He was just the agent for the time and the place so far as the interests of the Roman See were concerned. The mission work done hitherto among the Germans had not been favorable to the imperialism of Rome. Those Irish missionaries had shown too much independence and too little regard for the peculiar doctrines and practices of the Latin Church. To secure, then, the establishment of the papal power over Europe, it was most necessary that the work of bringing in the pagan tribes should be carried on under Roman auspices and in accordance with Roman methods. To have a rival system spread through Germany was very repugnant to the prevailing sentiments of the Italian Church. Boniface was accordingly bound by the solemnities of an oath to use every means to stamp out this dangeroU!;' leaven, and substitute in its place the ecclesiasti- cism that had taken such deep root in southern and western Europe. The result showed the advantage that organization, system, centralization has in a great enterprise over desultory methods and disjointed machinery; and the method in which this old-time missionary undertaking was carried on has in it a lesson for us in this nineteenth century. If wise plans, judicious management, broad and statesmanlike methods are able to carry the worse cause to a successful issue over the better, surely these same means would redound to the great advantage of the truth and the pure Gospel if we would apply them on its behalf. To-day a missionary spirit pervades the Church as never before. The opportunity is granted her as never before j but the disjointed and sectional method in which the great Protestant family is working puts it at a disadvantage in the great enter- prise. We are overlapping each other, and so wasting men and means.
We are presenting a broken front to the heathen, and so suggesting to thero the idea that we are not sure among ourselves what we believe j land working individually and separately we cannot work upon any wide· reaching plan. The need of our age for success on the foreign field is harmony, co-operation, and a united front before the heathen.
After his consecration in 1723 Boniface returned to his field of labor. His mission was not only to gather in the paganil, but also, and probably chiefly, to bring into obedience to Rome those among the German tribes who had already embraced Christianity. The question was whether a free Christian de-elopment should get a foothold in Germany, or the Roman hierarchy should rule there with a rod of iron as elsewhere. The latter alternative prevailed, and Boniface was the man who by his energy, his devotion to the Pope, his constructive and executive ability, and his unswerving purpose brought about this far-reaching result.
During the lifetime of Charles Martel, Boniface had the assistance which his countenance and protection gave. There is no evidence that he ever employed the authority of the French ruler to compel the people to accept baptism j but he did use it to maintaiu his authority in advancing education, maintaining discipline, and removing idolatry. This latter he made an important point. He suppressed idolatry with a strong hand. The overthrow of pagan rites and the substitution for them of Christian ceremonies were prominent in his method of dealing with pagan peoples. Illustrating his method; the following story is told: At Geismar, in Hessia, there stood a gigantic oak sacred to Thor. It was regarded by the people with feelings of awe, and was a popular rallying-point for idolatrous rites. For a long time it hindered the progress of the Gospel. Boniface determined to bring the matter to a crisis by destroying the oak. So one day, accompanied by several of his associates, he proceeded to the spot with an axe, and began to hew down the sacred tree. The people expected to see him smitten for his temerity, but when no harm came to him, and at length the oak fell, the people became ashamed of their superstition. He ordered the timber of the tree to be used for the erection of a chapel in which to worship God, and so he put an end to that piece of idolatry.
But if he overthrew one kind of superstition and one form of idolatry, he introduced another which developed into practices almost as debasing. When Boniface was consecrated Bishop of Germany he brought with him from Rome a large stock of relics to be used for the promotion of piety among the people. On a later occasion another Pope, Gregory III., sent him a fresh supply when he was created archbishop, so that idolatry was not eradicated wholly; only the grosser forms practised among a rude people were changed for the not less sensuous forms which had received the sanction of the Bishop of Rome.
This method of teacbing the people was in entire harmony with the spirit of that age. Mosheim says, " The whole religion or piety of this and of some subsequent centuries consisted in founding, enriching, embellishing, and enlarging churches and chapels, in hunting after and venerating the relics of holy men, in securing the patronage of saints with God by means of gifts and superstitious rites and ceremonies, in worshipping the images and statues of saints, in performing pilgrimages to holy places, and in other similar practices."
The religious exercises introduced into Germany were in accord with these prevailing views and practices. However, Boniface did not neglect instruction, such as was considered necessary in that age. "That he himself studied the Scriptures may be inferred from the fact that he often imported from England copies of the same, together with expository works, fairly written on account of his weak eyes. There are still extant a few fragments of discourses preached by Boniface, probably after being trans- lated into the langnage of the country." With a view to the instruction of the people he founded monasteries in central spots of the tribes, whence proceeded the culture of the people as well as practical lessons in reclaiming the wilderness. Many monks and nuns from England came over to him when his work had attracted attention and his fame had spread abroad. These he employed as teachers of the people; and they spread among the rude inhabitants of these districts, as far as they could, a knowledge of the various arts and sciences, together with religious instruction. It is apparent that stress was laid on instruction from some of his ordinances; for example, it was directed that no man or woman should stand in the relation of godfather or godmother unless he or she knew by heart the Creed and the Lord's Prayer j that no person should be appointed priest who could not repeat the form of renunciation at baptism, and the confes- sion of sins in the language of the country.
The success of Boniface was very great. He labored with great zeal for the conversion of the people. It is said that up to 739-that is, in about sixteen years-he had baptized nearly one hundred thousand pagan inhabitants of Germany. This was effected, it is said, " by his exertions . and those of Charles Martel." How far the authority a.nd influence of the soldier went in these conversions does not appear; but no doubt the knowledge that he desired and approved the conversion of the people would have not a little effect in making the preacher's appeal successful. Of course where great masses of people are brought into the Church there is much that is superficial j and a great deal depends upon the after dealing with the converts. Boniface exerted himself to destroy the old forms of idolatry, and every monument that spoke to the senses of the old heathen religion. He also labored to give the people some instruction by preaching and by the schools connected with the monasteries.
In 732 Boniface was made archbishop, but without as yet a metropolis. On the death of Raginfred, Bishop of Cologne, in 744, Boniface was anxious to make that the mctropolis. This proposition, however, was not approved; but a little later Boniface was made Archbishop of Mentz. After he was made archbishop the Pope appointed him his legate to visit the Bavarian Church, which had not yet received any permanent organiza- tion. Thh duty he discharged in 739, when he gpent some time in Bavaria, and founded under the papal authority the four bishoprics of Salzburg, Regensburg, Freisingen, and Passau.
During the life of Charles Martel Boniface had received countenance and protection from him that was of great advantage to the missionary laboring among a rude and uncivilized people, who respected might more than right; and in most of his undertakings Martel supported Boniface. Yet the rough warrior had ways of hi~ own that sometimes discouraged the bishop. Boniface forbade the clergy to take any part in war. Martel was in favor of their doing so. The bi~hop, of course, maintained that all Church property was sacred, and could not be diverted to secular uses. The soldier did not hesitate to sequester at will the property of churches and convents. Boniface was eager to crush all independence among Christian teachers within the limits of his jurisdiction, and compel all, from whatever quarter they came, to acknowledge the authority of the Pope as represented by himself, and accept without question Romish doctrines and practices. Martel was not in favor of this. He did not desire the Pope to have such decided preponderance; and hence he would not give 'his consent to violent proceedings against worthy men, whose only fault was some degree of independence in religious views and practices. This disposition on the part of so powerful a friend prevented Boniface from going as fast and as far as he would like in the work of subjugating all to the Pope.
But when Martel died, in 741, his sons, Carloman and Pepin, were far more ready to join with the zealous bishop in his schemes, of reform. Accordingly we find Boniface after this proceeding against certain parties on the ground of heresy. The accounts of these cases that have come down do not enable us to form a very accurate idea of their merits. Of course we have only one side of their case. Boniface carried his point against most of his adversaries; but the hesitation shown by Pope Zacharias in confirming the sentences, and his request that the parties should be sent to Rome for a second hearing, and the fact that one person deposed from the bishopric by Boniface was upon a hearing before Zacharias restored to the office with another see, show that the Bishop of Germany exhibited a zeal that was considered at Rome extreme-that he was mOle devoted to the papacy than the Pope himself. However, great consideration was shown to the views and opinions of Boniface, being very properly regarded as one of the greatest men of that age and one of the most loyal to the Church.
Boniface exerted himself to establish regular provincial synods in the region over which he had control. These synods had been utterly neglected. In the Frankish Church none had been held for a period of eighty years; but with the sanction of Carloman, and indeed at his request, Boniface called a synod, and through it took preventive measures against the lamentable abuses that had crept into the adminbtration of Church affairs. In connection with this Rubject it may be mentioned that" Pope Zacharias had expressly clothed him with full powers to introduce into the Frankish Church a thorough reform in his name. He held in all five synods. In these he caused to be passerllaws whereby the clergy were bound to a mode of life better corresponding to their profession, and forbidden to take any part in war or in the chase on pain of being deposed from office. At these sYllods several persons were tried as teachers of false doctrines, belonging, as may be supposed, to that class whom, in the times of Charles Martel, Boniface had not considered himself strong enough to put down. "
After he had succeeded in getting the affairs of the Church arranged mOi'e to his liking, and having founded bishoprics to meet what he considered the needs of the German Church, he became anxious about a successor to carryon the work. lIe applied to the Pope for liberty to choose a snccessor, which Zacharias at first der-lined to grant, but subsequently he was allowed this privilege; and he selected as the man to occupy his place and carryon his work au Euglishman named Lull, who had been for twenty years trained under his eye and had served as his colleague. Boniface ordained him a bishop, and very earnestly appealed to King Pepin that he might have the royal sanction. His appeal was granted; and now he felt that he had made every provision within his power for the future success of the work he had begun and carried to such a degree of prosperity and promise.
Being now relieved from anxieties about the conduct of his work, he resolved, though seventy-five years old, to set out upon another missionary journey. Friesland, the land of his first mission enterprise, was again his destination. He made arrangements for his burial in Fulda, his favorite monastery, in case he should die in this expedition. With a small retinue, composed partly of clergy and monks and partly of servants, he embarked on a boat by the river Rhine, and landed at the Zllyder Zee. His disciple, Bishop Eodall. joined him in Friesland. They made a pilgrimage through' the country; many received them gladly; they baptized thousands, and founded new churches. Having appointed a certain day for the confirmation of those who had received baptism, all were to meet at a place not far from Dockingen. To this place Boniface with his companions resorted on the day appointed, June 5th, 755 ; but the enemies of Christianity, hearing of this arrangement, resolved to make it a day of mourning instead of a day of rejoicing. They gathered together armed for their murderous wOlk, and coming upon the missionaries, who expected a far different band, they slaughtered most of the company. Boniface thus fell a martyr, and with him his friend and disciple, Bishop Eodau, and most of their companions. So ended the most remarkable career of the eighth century.
In forming an opinion of Boniface we must judge him according to the standard of the age in which he lived. Looking at him as he occupied his place and fufilled his mission, we discover traits of character and capacities for managing men, for organizing crude masses into something like order
THE GREATEST WORK IN THE WORLD
and usefulness, and for exercising discipline, that show him to have been a man of decided ability, a man destined to direct and administer affairs.
Then, as we look at his life work and judge it as a whole, we must con- clude that he was sincere and pious according to the standards of that time. He was a man resolute of purpose, extremely conscientious, pains- taking and self-denying in respect to all duty, and most zealous in main- taining and promoting what he considered the glory of God. He adopted heartily and without reserve the Romish theocratic chureh system; and with all his energy, zeal, and natural ability he tried during his public career to carry that out.
Ris zeal was tempered by prudence. He was not a man to play the hypocrite-to pretend to approve a doctrine or a praetice which in his heart he condemned-yet he could patiently wait for the most suitable time for carrying out his purpoRe. Re never pretended to be a worker of miracles or to the exercise of any supernatural power. He wrought along the lines of ordinary human aetivity. He has been, of course, very highly lauded by his admirers, and very bitterly assailed by the enemies of his reputation. .
Perhaps a fair estimate of this notable man may be given in the words of Dr. Murdock, the translator of Mosheim: "He [Boniface] appears to me to have been one of the most sincere and honest men of his age, though he partook largely in the common faults of his time-an e}.vessive attachment to monkery, and a superstitious regard for the canons of the Church and the externals of religion. With all his imperfections he deserves to be classed with those who followed Christ according to the best light they had, and who did much to advanee true religion among men."
THE GREATEST WORK IN THE WORLD-A PLEA FOR MIR SIONARY ENTERPRISE.
BY JOSEPH BOOTH.
[The writer of this article has a right to be heard, for he has !ltarted for Africa to carry out in person his own convictions.-Eo.] The following statements and suggestions are addressed to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who accept His words as final, who rejoice in Him as their Saviour, and expect shortly to stand before Him as their Judge.
The ,. greatest work in the world" is that marked out by the Lord Jesus Christ to be accomplished by His followers between His ascension and His return-viz., this Gospel of tbe kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations j and then shall the end come (Matt. 24: 14) ; and again more definitely after the resurrection His last words were, " All authority hath been given me in heaven and 011 earth; go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, and 10, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
We have heard these solemn and definite words so frequently that they have become trite and almost powerless. We do not recognize in them an utterance of the mightiest possible significance to every kindred, tribe, and tongue; compassing a work so large that after eighteen centuries it is far from complete j an utterance, indeed, that may yet have power to rise up in judgment against us.
Gazed at in the light of the great white throne, what do the words mean to present-day Christians ~ Simply this, that if the trust is not yet discharged it is for us, the Christians of this generation, to rise up at once in the strength of the Lord and with loving obedience carry out His great parting command.
Is the work done? No. Eight hundred millions of our fell()w-travellers . to eternity have never heard of Christ or of heaven.
What is being done l Between seven and eight thousand European missionaries are now in the field, and about three million pounds yearly are subscribed for the work.
Can these overtake the work l No j for there still remains eight hundred millions of heathen whom they cannot reach.
Are more laborers willing to go? Yes; ()ver six thousand in America alone are waiting, and probably over several thousand more in Great Britain and her colonies.
Why are they not sent l Because funds are not available, the revenue of almost every society, as shown by the annual reports, being already overtaxed, and some having large deficits.
What is needed to complete the w()Tk and give the " Bread of Life" to all? lR order to give one messenger to every twenty thousand heathen forthwith, forty thousand more workers would be required.
Have the believers in Christ sufficient men and means to send the required numbers ~ Yes; probably so. Then why is it not done? Ah! it is not for us to judge one another. The great day will declare whether we have done our part. Is there any solution of the difficulty? There must be, since Christ has "all power," and He says, "Go," and because He guarantees His presence to the end of time. That we have a right to expect and demand in God's name that every barrier shall give way is manifest from such promises as Isa. 41: 10 ; 45 : 2. 3, 6 ; 54: 2-4; 60; 1-5. There may be many ways of attaining the desired end, but is not one solution found in the principle laid down by Carey (the father of modern missions) a century ago-viz., that each mission station be made self· supporting and self-propagating ~ May not the work of the future need to be done where possible on these lines! Since the work of Carey and his two compeers resulted in their earning over £61,000 and expending the same on mission work in India, planting twenty-six native churches, trallRlating the Bible wholly or in part into thirty-four languages besides supporting themselves in comfort, the prac- ticability and great possibilities of the method is demonstrated. .
That they may not have been ordinary men is probable; bllt who is ordinary that takes full hold of the mighty power at command stored up in the" exceeding great and precious promises," which are all " yea and amen in Christ Jesus, unto the glory of God by us" ?
That great natural gifts, though desirable are not essential, is manifest from such assurances as Luke 10 : 21 j 1 Cor. 1 : 26-28.
Let us review the position for a moment: The work to be done is plain; "the field is the world."
The advance guard of workers are waiting with untold reserves to follow.
God's purpose is plain, " r will give Thee for a Light unto the Gen- tiles, that Thou mayest be My salvation unto the ends of the earth."
The barriers to the Gospel are down or faIling on every hand.
The Christians of this generation have the knowledge, the men, the means, and the responsibility.
The power of God to do the work is at our disposal.
All needed elements are, therefore, at our command to do the work, if we have the will to apply them.
Who will avail themselves of the high calling of God?
Who, with humble thankfulness to Him for being permitted to become co-workers with God in earth's noblest and greatest work, part of His eternal plan (John 3 : 16), the theme of heaven (Luke 15 : 7) and the joy of eternity (Rev. 5 : 9-13), will throw their whole being, body, soul, spirit, experience, and means into this glorious work?
Who will count it higher than earth's highest honor to be the ambas- sador from God to those whom He expressly designs shall hear His message 1 Who is willing to bury their own little will and live only to do the greatwill of God ~ Who is willing to hear the Lord say, " As My Father sent me, even so send I you"? and again, " I will make you fishers of men" 1 and yet again, "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit" 1 (John 15 : 16.) Who with a holy, heaven-born resolve will determine" that neither things present nor things to come" shall prevent them from taking the part God would have them take in this great work ~ Let us remember that the blood of over fifty ~housand heathen, dying daily without the knowledge of God, will rest upon this generation if we neglect to rise with a mighty purpose to the work He has given us the privilege and responsibility of doing. (Read Provo 24: 11, 12; Ezek.
3 : 18.) Let us look with unaverted gaze at our Lord's searching words, " He that receiveth not My sayings, the word I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day j" again, " Fear not them that kill the body j"
"He that loveth his life shall lose it j and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it j" again, " Sell all thou hast, and come follow Me j" "-VVhosoever doth not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disr:iple j" agaiu, " :Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My name's sake, shall receive an hundred-fold and shall inherit eternal life" (Matt.
19 : 29).
The position of the present-day believer is accnrately expressed in the words of the late Hon. Keith Falconer: "While vast continents are shrouded in almost utter darkness, and hundreds of millions suffer the horrors of heathenism, the burden of proof lies upon you to show that the circumstances in which God has placed you were meant by Him to keep you out of the mission field."
Beware of consulting flesh and blood too much; consult Jesus Christ.
Beware of the wiles of Satan to lull to sleep and apathy.
Beware of the evasive suggestions of our own hearts, since the Word of God declares" the heart is deceitful above all things."
Beware of laying too much stress on education or any human qualifica- tion. Resolve to obey or yield up life in the attempt, and God will open the way to such education as is needed.
Beware of losing the place God would h!we you fill in His great eternal purposes.
Beware of leaning unduly upon earthly props, which may fail you at the critical moment j lean lightly lipon the human, heavily on the Di- vine.
Beware of that false humility which says, " I can do nothing," and forgets that God engages to use" the weak things, and things which are not," " to bring to nought the things which are."
Beware of expecting too much from the wise. the mighty, the noble, or the rich, knowing that they have their special hindrances and tempta- tions.
Beware of finding fault with others or dwelling upon what they might do.
Beware of drinking at human fountains, but take deep draughts at the Fountain-head.
" Quench not the spirit."
Believing that the needed workers will be forthcoming when the require- ments of God are faithfully displayed and calmly considered, how shall the means of support be provided ~ I. As far as may be by the subscriptions of those whose hearts are in the work and sympathize with the method proposed, but cannot from various canses go themselves. n. By planting industrial missions on the prInciple alluded to-v iz., to become" self-supporting and self-propagating." How would such missions affect the problem V Assuming that each worker be helped for a period not exceeding the first two years, in the course of fifty years the same yearly income would put twenty-five times the volume of workers in the field; in the course of a century fifty times the number of workers as compared with the permanently supported laborers.
Doubtless both types, "the sustained and self-sustaining," will be found necessary according to the ground WOl ked and the habits or capacities of the workers.
While" industrial missions" may be harder to plant and permanently consolidate, it must be borne in mind this method opens the door to bring into the work the reserve forces of the rank and file of Christian workers, who are used to the task of toiling at various occupations and handicrafts.
The Apostle Paul, who knew something of the work to be done, approved and adopted this method for the missionary's work of breaking up fallow grol1nd, and continued it during the early stages of church life, as recorded in 2 Thess. 3 : 8, 9 ; 1 Cor. 3 : 11, 12.
Has not the special time come for Christian workingmen to come forward and give their working powers to God and His great redemptive work 1 Farmers, artisans, engineers, miners, mechanics, and tradesmen, who, while supporting themselves, proclaim the Gospel in word and work.
Is not the workingman of the world the great wealth producer 1 Have not the consecrated Christian workingmen of this generation one key in their hands to the great missionary problem, if ready and willing to use it 1 Are they not able under God, and endued with the promised power from on high (" For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all that are afar off"), to rise up in one mighty crusade against heathendom, and so do a mighty work for God and humanity 1 If this be so, does not the onus rest on the Christian workingmen of this generation to make use of the great power and responsibility attached to their position, especially if funds are forthcoming to tide over the initial difficulties for the first two years? It is written, "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof: the world and they that dwell therein." Is this a mere figure of speech, or is it a mighty eternal fact 1 Mr. Spurgeon says this title" ought to put the work of missions on a very cheering footing. " Let us go and take possession in the name of the Lord. Our Saviour said, "The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light." Certain it is that without a command from on high and without the ChIistian's title they take possession of the earth and its fulness, braving all dangers. Psalm 24 : 1 is the Christian's title to do this in the name of the rightful owner.
Take earth's darkest picture, cruel, bleeding, chaotic Africa, with its average of eight to ten thousand victims every day to slave-raiding, tyranny, and cannibalism. What is needed to transform that picture and to develop Africa's vast pastoral, agricultural, and mineral resources, and to rightly apply the earth's fulness God has stored there ~ Is it to be the" children of this world" who, without society aids or a "Go ye,;' will presently take possession, fill their pockets, button them up, degrade the native, .and make the missionary's work the harder 1 Or shall it be what the British and American Christians are able to give and be the better for it-viz.• some thousands of consecrated Chrir,tian workingmen 1 A few Christian workers are resolved to commence work in Africa forthwith on the lines indicated. Two pa~ties have left for the field within the last eight months, with the expectation of more to follow.
Africa is chosen because it presents two special features: First, it is the darkest picture of paganisGl on the earth. Its lawlessness, its tyranny of chiefs, its slavc-raiding, its cannibalism, its never-ending inter-tribal wars, mark it as a most painful picture to the heart of Him " who came to seek and to save them that are lost;" and second, its resources are largely undeveloped and awaiting those who will take possession in God's name and for His work; at the same time training the native to develop his own country and take his rightful place in the universe.
The objects and aims of the mission are as follows, subject to such corrections or amendments as may be found conducive to the work as a whole: (a) To plant industrial mission stations that shall become self-supporting within the first two years.
(b) The first ba!le of operations to be in the territory of the British South African Chartered Company-viz., "on the Zambesi."
(c) To establish a prayer union throughout the British race, if possible, pledged to ask of God daily the speedy evangelization of the heathen throughout the world.
(d) To ask God to raise up an advocate or advocates to itinerate through the churches and Young Men's Christian Associations of Great Britain, America, Canada, and the colonies, solieitingmen and means, and directing particular attention to the recommendation of our Lord, " Sell all thou hast, and come follow Me."
(e) Select and equip parties of two or three families or three to six young men, prepared to work as locality may require or their abilities enable them, at tiiling the ground, food producing, grain growing, irri- gating, seed or fruit growing and exporting, carpentering, blacksmithing, dairy farming, mining, printing, sheep farming, cattle rearing, and espe- cially some light manufacture requiring small capital and suitabJe for native trained workers, easy of transport and export; all work to be combined with preaching and teaching, though all volunteers need not necessarily be speakers.
(I) Candidates to endeavor to become self-supporting from the very first or at the earliest possible moment, and further endeavor to provide funds or products with which to bring other laborers or to plant other stations farther afield.
(g) No missionary to trade or have any private undertaking on his own account; all property and increment to be vested in the mission trustees.
(h) The threefold type of workers-viz., the family type, the youngman-celibate type and the sisterhood type, to be used according to locality and candidates.
(i) Female volunteers not to be expected to become' self-supporting, but to be optional with them.
U) Avail to be taken of the protection afforded by such chartered companies as the British South African and British East African, and grants of land to be sought promptly according to the advantages offered to aid or induce immigration and settlement, due regard being taken to suitableness of locality for Gospel work among the natives.
(k) Aim not only at the conversion of the natives, but at training and educating the young j forming new and industrious habits, taking them on stations to work side by side with white men, that they may realize " One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." Specially aim at planting a simpJe form of Christian civilization transparent by contrast with paganism.
(l) Train and cultivate native converts' spiritual gifts, and lead to selfreliant action in preaching and planting industrial missions in the " regions beyond."
(m) When stations become supported by voluntary offerings of converts or congregations, the trading, farming, or manufacturing scaffolding to be either dispensed with and realized, transplanted or continued, as may be conducive to the progress of the whole work.
(n) Such churches not tQ become independent of the mission, but to conduct their pastoral work at a moderate cost j the express purpose of the church's exi~tence-viz., the diffusion of the Gospel of Christ among all peoples and throughout the whole earth, to be kept prominently and permanently in the foreground, and all surplus-giving power or working power to be cultivated and directed into that channel.
(0) If suitable men are forthcoming, plant churches on the same basis in the existing towns in South Africa as opportunity occurs.
(p) Keep in regular and sympathetic touch by circular, periodical, or visitation with the churches and Young Men's Christian Associations, as far as opportunity is afforded, throughout Great BJitain, America, Canada, and the colonies, furnishing the latest news from the front throughout the whole mission field, and offering to take suitable workers of proven Chris-
REV. JOHN INGLIS, D.D., OF THE NEW HEBRIDES MISSION
t.ian character with or without means, to be sent either at the Church'lI, the Association's, or the mission's expense, as may be found expedient; the purpose being to promote a healthy circulation from the centre to the circumference, and relieve the congestion in the more developed spheres of Christian labor, thns providing a legitimate outlet for the many onetalent Christians who too often stagnate in the home circle.
(q) The base of operations in each centre of work to be kept strong, and each outgoing branch well supported and fostered from its local centre.
(r) The ultimate object of the mission to be not only the overtaking of the work in Afriea, but the training and equipping of messengers and the providing or earning adequate funds for the completion of the then unfinished work throughout the world; taking first iu order the lands most Buited to the needs of the system, in point of undeveloped resources or abundance of labor, as also the respective needs of the natives.
(8) In the early stages of the mission special care to be taken to secure good climatic and fair commercial, agricultural, or manufacturing conditions, as far as may be consistent with nearness of native population for mission work.
Finally, work as if all depended upon man; pray and trust, knowing all increase must come from God.
THE REV. JOHN INGLIS, D.D., OF THE NEW HEBRIDES MISSION.
BY THE REV. ROBERT STEEL, D.D., SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES.
The martyrs of Eromanga were for a long time the most conspicuous missionaries of the New Hebrides group of islands of the South Pacific. John Williams, who feU there by the clubs of the savage people in 1839, had already achieved his fame as an evangelist in the islands of Eastern Polynesia, and had published his" Missionary Enterprises," which made so great a sensation. Mr. Williams did no more than land on the island of Eromanga when he fella victim to his zeal for advancing the cause of Christ. The brothers Gordon, who were so cruelly killed in 1861 and 1872 respectively, labored for a few years among the barbarous people, whose animosity against white men had been irritated by the raids of the traders in sandal-wood. The Gordons labored amid many difficulties, and gained a few converts. These martyrs were pioneers, and directed the attention of the Christian Church to the New Hebrides; but it WIlS reserved to other mis~ionaries during a life-work of a quarter of a century to evangelize whole islands. Some of these fathers and founders of the Presbyterian mission II<lVP ended their labors. Dr. John Geddie, the first who settled in the g(()UP, in 1848, died in 1872. He wns the missionary of a small church in Nova Scotia. now absorbed in the Presbyterian Church in Canada. He had very great difficulties and many perils, but he had great success. It was said of the far-famed Gregory of Coosarea, that when he went to his diocese he found only seventeen Christians, and when he died there were only seventeen heathtms. When Dr. Geddie died, it fell to the writer to prepare his epitaph, and, adopting the account of Gregory, he had the happiness of recording regarding Dr. Geddie that when he went to his missionary sphere ,. there were no Christians, and when he departed there were no heathens." This simple record is painted on a tablet of wood beside the pulpit of an unarchitectural church at Anelganhot, Aneityum. The writer has been surprised by the echoes of its testimony throughout missionary literature during the past fifteen years, and as a specimen of the magnifying power of tradition, oue of the repetitions of the epitaph stated that it was inscribed in letters of gold upon a marble tablet in a pretty church !
The Rev. John Inglis occupied the other side of the same island where Mr. Geddie labored, and during most of the same epoch. After twontyfive years' faithful labor he had a felicity similar to that of his colleague; and for his epitaph it is proposed to record that "he came to a heathen people in 1852, and left them a Christian church in 1877." The island by that time had the Holy Scriptures printed in their own tongue, and the natives were all capable of reading for themselves the oracles of God.
John Inglis was born at the village of Moniaive, in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, in 1807. This beautiful rural spot was the birthplace of the last martyr of the Covenant in Scotland, James Renwick, and full of memories of the fifty years' struggle for the crown rights of the King of Zion. Mr. Inglis's father died early, and he had to depend upon his own exertions for the support of his mother and himself. He was apprenticed to a mason, and became a proficient at his trade, which proved of eminent service in his after career as a missionary. He was bronght up in piety, and became a decided Christian. He joined the Reformed Presbyterian Church, a small, though a respectable branch of the Church in Scotland. He was in the habit of reading at meal hours and times of leisure, and thus qualified himself for entering the University of Glasgow. He saved money from his work in the summer to pay his college expenses in the winter, as has often been done in Scotland in thc pursuit of knowledge under difficulties. Lord Elcho, when once addressing the miners in East Lothian, referred to two men who had worked in the pit in summer and had gone to the university in winter, until they finished their curriculum. One of these became ultimately a member of the English House of Commons; the other went to America and became the Rev. John ITogg, D.D., a missionary from the United Presbyterian Church at Assioot in Egypt. He and Dr. Inglis, both of whom I visited in their ~pheres of labor, became cultured gentlemen, fit to associate with the best society, both highly esteemed and both successful. Mr. Inglis must have profited much by his college attendance, since his accomplished professor of Greek in Glasgow, Sir Daniel Sandf~rd, employed him for a time at Rothcsay as tutor to his sons.
Mr. Inglis studied theology under the venerable Dr. Andrew Syming- ton, of Paisley, a man of high attainments, and much respected. When at length Mr. Inglis was licensed as a preaoher, he was appointed a mis- sionary to the Maoris of New Zealand, and after his ordination, in 18f3, sailed in 1844 along with a like-minded wife for his distant sphere. The Rev. James Duncan had preceded him two years before, and had commenced missionary operations among the Maoris on the Manawatu River in the , n~rth of Cook's Straits, between seventy and eighty miles from Welling- ton. There were only 700 natives in the district, and missionary work had been thoroughly organized by the Church and Wesleyan Missionary Societies. Meflsrs. Duncan and Inglis, therefore, wrote a joint letter to their committee in Scotland, advising the selection of another heathen field. Considerable delay occurred in correspondence in those days, but at length Mr. Inglis was authorized to proceed to the South Seas, and make inquiries regarding suitable openings for missionary enterprise. Fortunately, through the kindness of Sir George Grey, then Governor of New Zealand. and interested in all that belongs to man, Mr. Inglis was permitted by Captain Erskine, of H. M. S. Havannah, to take a cruise in that ship-of-war throughout Western Polynesia. It was a great opportuuity, and Mr. Inglis made the most of it. He visited the island of Aneityum, in the New Hebrides, where Mr. Geddie had settled, and, after seeing other islands, resolved, if his committee in Scotland approved, to join him, and take up a station among the heathen there. In 1852 Bishop Selwyn offered the Covenanting miRsionary a free passage in his schooner the Border Maid to Aneityum. It was thankfully accepted. The bishop took all their supplies-furniture, goats, pigs, and poultry. He often called in after years, and on one visit laid on the table of the missionary the sum of £103 16s. 4d•• which he had collected from Presbyterians in New Zealand for the benefit of the mission. Mr. and Mrs. Inglis entered upon their work with much wisdom and zeal, pursued it with perseverance, and succeeded in gaining the confidence of the people. Classes for reading and writing were set up, and as soon as persons were taught schools were opened all over the district. The preaching of the Gospel was regularly carried on, translations of Scripture were made, and portions printed; medicine was dispensed; orphan children were cared for; buildings were erected, the natives being taught to help. In due course it pleased God to bless these labors: converts were baptized, communicants were admitted to the Lord's Supper, and the Sabbath was regularly observed. A great moral as well as spiritual change occurred, and the people presented the aspect of a Christianized community. Mr. and Mrs. Inglis were singularly orderly in their habits, taking advantage of the cooler times of the day for work, and thus avoiding as much as possible the danger of attacks of fever and ague so common to foreigners in the New Hebrides. Mr. Inglis was very riagacious in dealing with the natives, and always got reforms and justice between man and man among natives carried out by the authority of the chiefs rather than by his own command. Chiefs, though petty, are in high respect in the New Hebrides, and when anyone of such rank became a native teacher and went to neighboring islands, he was received with as much respect as people in more civilized countries receive persons of rank or wealth.
By 1859 the New Testament was fully rendered into Aneityumese by the two missionaries. Mr. Inglis was sent to carry it through the press in London. He and his wife got a passage in the London Missionary Society's vessel, the John Williams, and after seven months arrived in London. Mr. and Mrs. Inglis paid great attention to the work of correcting the press. The volume was ready in 1862, and they returned with it to the island in 1863. Mr. Geddie then left for Nova Scotia, where he got the Book of Psalms printed. When all the Old Testament was ready for the press, Mr. Geddie hoped to get it printed under his care at Melbourne; but he died in 1872. After revision of the MSS. Mr. Inglis resolved, on his retiring from the mission, to go to London and superintend the print. ing of the work. In 1877 he had completed twenty-five years' labor. Re had baptized 1168, had admitted 644 to communion during his residence, and when he left there were 713 of a population on his side of the island, of whom 354 were communicants. There were 13 elders, 12 deacons, and 28 teachers. The whole population wa!l professedly Christian, and the Christian people had, by gifts of arrowroot grown and prepared by themselves, paid £1000 to the British and Foreign Bible Society for printing the Scriptures in their language. The moral life of the people was, on the whole, very good. Their changed condition and the translation of the Scriptures are the noblest monument of the missionary labors of Mr. and Mrs. Inglis.
Visitors to the mission-house, such as Bishops Selwyn and Patteson, officers of the British Navy, naturalists in pursuit of science, travellers, among whom was the writer, and young missionaries on their fir8t voyage, were astonished to find in a home in t4e cannibal islands an extensive library of varied literature and such intelligent and cultured people as Mr. and Mrs. Inglis, whose manners were so refined, whose conversation was so rich, and whose beautiful life was a commentary on the Gospel of Christ. There was ample accommodation for a large party in that hospitable" house amid the grove of cocoa-palm, banana, and orange-trees, and it was a treat to see the young orphan maids whom Mrs. Inglis had rescued and trained waiting her bidding on the matted floor. Though so far from civilized life, and with mails only once or twice a year, the weekly edition of the Times, with its able articles, Ilnd Chlistian periodicals were regularly read by the mission family. That home and its inmates was an oasis in the barbarous isles of Melanesia.
After his return to Scotland Mr. Inglis received, in 1881, the degree of D.D. from the University of Glasgow. During his retirement, besides his work ill superinteuding the printing of the Old Testament, Dr. Inglis published his Dictionary of the Aneityumese language. He bad collected all the words in use among the natives, and indeed knew more words than any of them; for the natives on the shore have words for objects met there that are unKnown to residents inland, and vice versa. He also edited the abridgment of the" Pilgrim's Progress" prepared by Mrs. Geddie, the Westminster Shorter Catechism translated by himself, and a number of hymns. He also issued two volumes, one in which be narrated in a very pleasing manncr the work of the mission at Aneityum in all its departments, gave a sketch of Mrs. Inglis, who died suddenly in 1885, and sketches of his coJleague and other friends. In the other volume he collected illustrations of the Bible from the natural history and the manners and customs of the New Hebrides, and gave biographies of some of his converts. These volumes, though not so popular as the thrilling autobiography of the Re,. Dr. J. G. Paton, his fellow· missionary, are full of interest and information. He was able for several years to, preach and address meetings f(1r the mission, and to attend the Committee on Foreign Missions of the Free Church of Scotland, of which he was a member. He died in a good old age in July last, at his re~idence in Wigtonshire, and was buried beside his wife in the grave of his fathers in the churchyard of Glencairn. In the funeral sermon preached on the occasion by the Rev. James Goold, who had known him for more than fifty years, it is stated that his fellow-students, on observing the methodical habits and sagacious counsels of Dr. Inglis, had called him a " Christianized Benjamin Franklin." His whole career illustrated the appositeness of the characteristic. He was a total abstainer, and did all he could to advance the temperance reformation. In this he was helped by Mrs. Inglis; and though they never had intoxicating liquors on their table, their hospitalities were none the less and their guests were always happy.
Devout, affable, wise, and practical, he made a model missionary to a barbarous people. Clear in his convictions and firm to his principles, he was always very cautious in his language. When he gave advil!e, as he was often called to do, he took care not to hurt the feelings of others. He was a man of peace and of charity; hence he was highly esteemed by all in the mission, and by all in the parent Church with whom he came into contact. The missionary cause was dear to his heart; tbe natives revered him as a father, and we can imagine that when at last he died " there were not wanting those whom he had taught the way to Paradise, who in white robes thronged to the gate to hail their shepherd home."
A Paris publisher has undertaken to issue a "General Encyclopedia of the History and Science of the Jews." It will fill twelve large volumes, which are it:ltended to present the main facts of Jewish history, and to show the effects of the Jewish race upon the various factors of civilization. sci€llce, literature, commerce, industry, etc It is added that the work wjll not be finished for BOrne time, and one can easily believe this aSSUlance.
IRELAND AND FOREIGN MISSIONS
IRELAND AND FOREIGN MISSIONS.
THE STORY OF Two OLD MINUTE-BoOKS.
BY REV. WILLIAM PARK, D.D., CONVENER OF FOREIGN MISSIONS, BEL· FAST, IRELAND.
The writer has in his possession two curious old manuscript boob which throw light on the beginnings of the foreign mission movement in Ireland. The first bears on its cover in gilt letters the words, " Down Missionary Society." "In the summer of 1812," so the record begins, " Rev. Alexander Waugh, deputed from the London Missionary Society of London, attended the Synods of Ulster and of Ireland (i.e., the Secession Synod) and solicited their countenance and support in propagating the Gospel among the heathen." Both synods responded to Mr. Waugh's appeals. The members of the Presbytery of Down were greatly stirred by them, and after much deliberation they addressed a letter on April 1st, 1813, to the clergy of the then Established Church and of other denominations. In this letter they tell how the London Missionary Socitlty had been working for seventeen years in spreading the Gospel, and that" their happy success in some of the most uncivilized and darkest parts of the earth furnishes rational evidence of Divine approbation." The letter goes on to say that a branch of the Society" was last summer instituted in the city of Dublin," and asks the ministers to whom it was addressed to attend a meeting on the 29th inst. in the parish church of Ballynahinch. It concludes with these wOlds: "The precepts, 'Go and teach all nations,' 'Preach the Gospel to every creature;' the promise, ' Lo, I am with you to the end of the world j' the superiority of Christianity to idolatry and civilization to the degraded state of the savage; the honor of God; and the promotion of the present and future happiness of our fellow. men of every color and clime, will, we trust, urge your attendance at the meeting, and procure your aid to the good cause in which the Christian missionary is embarked."
On July 13th, 1813, "a respectable number of clergy and others met in the parish church of Ballynahinch," and formed the Down Auxiliary Missionary Society. A subscription list was opened, "and a number of gentlemen were pleased to subscribe for this year the sum annexed to their respective names." Then follow subscriptions amounting to £32 10~d. At the end of the first year it was reported that subscriptions, donations, and congregational collections had been received to the amount of £167 178. 8td., and after paying all expenses the treasurer was able to remit to London £160 58. 5d. British money. Among the expenses is mentioned the sum o£ Is. 10d., being the postage of a letter from Josep Hardcastle, Esq. Evidently the days of penny postage were still far off. Meetings of this Down Missionary Society were hcld at stated intervals, two or more in the year, and in various parts of the county, and the proceedings seem to have been always opened with a missionary sermon. Vigorous efforts were made to awaken the interest of ministers and people in the work of mIssions. In a circular letter addressed to ministers on August 2d, 1815, we find these words: " The Society invite and would fondly constrain you, Rev. Sir, to come to their meeting at the time specified, to favor them with your presence and counsel in support of the difficult, the humane, the honorable, and glorious work of extending the Christianity and civilization of the British Empire to the ignorant and wild savages of Africa, to the American Indian, and to the blinded and superstitious pagans of Asia. "
There is an entry in this book which recalls exciting days in the history of missions to India. On August 31st, 1813, we find it recorded that the thanks of the Society are pre-eminently due" to Viscount Castlereagh, our representative in Parliament, for his steady support of the clause introduced by his lordship into the Indian bill in favor of promulgating Christianity in India." It was in that year, as the readers of this REVIEW doubtless remember, that the charter of the East India Company was renewed by the Parliament of England, and the restrictions removed which had hitherto hindered all mis~ion effort in British India. William Wilberforce was one of the leaders in agitating and arguing for this change. .He declared that it was the foulest blot on the moral character of Englishmen, next to the slave trade, "to allow our fellow-subjects in the East Indies to remain, without any effort on our part to cnlighten and reform them, under the grossest, the darkest, and most depraving system of idolatrous superstition that almost ever existed on earth." As the night of the final decision in the House of Commons came on there was much anxiety as to the result throughout all the churches, and much prayer was offered up to God. Wilberforce wrote: " I have heard that many good men were pray· ing for us all night." That night the prayer of the churches-and in their prayers, as the above extract proves, Ulster had its share-was answered and British India was thrown open to the heralds of the Cross.
The last meeting of the Down Missionary Rociety this minute-book records was on October lIth, 1821. It would seem that by this time County Down did not stand alone in its organization and effort for the mISSIOn cause. "The Society agreed for the present not to write a circular, as had been intended, but were of opinion that a preferable expedient would be to have a general meeting in Belfast on the second Tuesday in June, of the missionary societies of Antrim, Armagh, Tyrone, and Down." The object of this meeting was to be, " to make the proceedings and success of the London Mi~sionary Society better known, and to select a number of ministers as itinerants, who should immediately go forth and plead the cause of missions to the heathen through the several counties of the Province of Ulster." The last sentence in the book tells us that this meeting was closed with prayer by Rev. Mr. Cooke, who in after days was known far and near as Rev. Henry Cooke, D.D., LL.D., a man famous in many waYil, and whose statue now stands in one of the most prominent places in Belfast, but known and honored in the churches chiefly as the great defender of orthodox truth again8t Arian error.
That old book with its simple records, written in faded ink, is a voice from the past which must deeply move every Christian heart. It speaks of the great awakening of the Church of God to a long neglected duty, which the opening years of this century saw, and it testifies that in this widespread awakening the Church of Christ in Ireland had a share. We almost seem, as we read it, to see the Spirit of God brooding on the waters, and new life appearing beneath His almighty touch.
The other old book is a record of the early days of the foreign mission of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, in the handwriting of its first con- venn, Rev. James Morgan, D.D., Belfast. In 1840 the two synods already referred to-the Synod of Ulster and the Secession Synod-were lwite-d and became the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The tide of spiritual life had been steadily rising for many years, and manifested itself not only in this happy union at home, but in the beginning of independent mission work abroad. The year of the union (the jubilee of which was celebrated in an appropriate manner in 1890) was the year of the formation of the General Assembly's foreign mission, and at the first meeting of the Assembly the first two missionaries were set apart for India.
It is recorded in the book how these missionaries were chosen, and the plan adopted then might be still followed with good results. " But where are the missionaries ~ How shall these be had ~ Your directors were instructed to seek for them j and it may be important to say how we proceeded. We had before us a list of all the ministels of the Church, and selected twenty whom we considered to be men suited to the work.
To these we addressed letters suggesting to them the duty of becoming mis- sionaries to the heathen, and desiring to know what might be their own views and feelings upon the subject. Six of the brethren left themselves entirely at our disposal. After the most solemn deliberation and prayer, we made choice of two out of that number, and recommended to the Synod to send them forth." "It will thus be seen that, in selecting our missionaries, we have proceeded on the principle that all the ministers of the Church are the servants of the body, and are bound to labor wherever the Church may think proper to send them. (The italics are mine.) We have selected two of our most approved brethren, men beloved and useful in their parishes, fit for'labor in any locality, and richly endowed with gifts and graces."
Dr. Morgan goes on to tell how the Iponey to send them forth was obtained. "On the day of the appointment of the missionaries there were no funds in readiness to send them forth. We had reckoned that if God gave us men He would soon give us money j and our faith was not exercised in vain. A subscription was set on foot in the Assembly, and the members ccntributed about £500. An appeal was made to the con- gregations in Belfast which produced about £600. Several congregations in the country sent forward contributions of their own accord. Our Seces- sion brethren had a little stock of Ilear £200, which they cast into the common treasury, and thus in two months there were raised about £1500 to commence our missionary enterprise."
Great enthusiasm seems to have been evoked, in Belfast especially, by this opening of foreign mission work. When the night came for the first missionaries to sail, the cabin of the steamer was granted to them and their friends for a special prayer-meeting. The 20th of Acts was read, and prayer was offered to Him who rules the winds and waves, consigning the brethren and their wives to His divine protection. "Never shall I forget that scene," writes one who was present. "I believe there was not one in that cabin during Dr. Cooke's beautiful prayer who did not shed tears; nay, I have heard it said since, by some gentlemen who were there, that they thought before this that there was no earthly circumstance could make them weep, and yet they found they were unable to restrain their tears." "The commencement," writes Dr. Morgan, "of the foreign mission forms an era in the history of the Church which, it is hoped, will hereafter be found to have been the dawn of a bright and glorious day."
Pasted into this old minute-book is a poem, written by a well-known Belfast poet of the time, and adorned with handsome silhouettes of the two missionaries and their wives. Two verses of this poem may be quoted here: " Our fathers heard the heathen's cry, But alas! no helping hand was nigh; Our fathers prayed-and the dawn of day Now brightly shines on their children's way.
At the call of the Church, the nobly brave Smile at the dangers of ocean.wave, That Zion's banners may be unfurled On the shores of a far-off heathen world !"
" Away, away, o'er the deep blue sea, May the winds of heaven propitious be ! Brethren await you on India's strap.d, Ready to greet you with heart and hand : WiIson* will train your hands for war, And the mind of Duff, t like an Eastern star, Shall shine on your path, amidst heathen night, With the splendid blaze of a comet's light…
The difficulties which the first missionaries to Gujarat and KatLiaw<l1" encountered were "ery great. It is curious to note how long the jOl1fney lasted. They sailed from Liverpool on September 4th, 1840, and di,l not arrive in Bombay till February 26th, 1841. It wa3 LaId to get snitable * Dr. Wilson, Bombay. houses, and the miseionaries and their wives had to suffer much privation. The infant child of Dr. Glasgow died the June after they landed, and in August Mr. Kerr, the other of the two missionaries, was suddenly taken away; but, as usual, difficulties and losses only evoked enthusiasm and prayer. "This is an event," wrote the convener to the members of the Church, "that has not been lightly permitted. There is good reason to justify it. Even we can see that many important ends are served by it. How it demonstrates the reality of religion when the fear of death does not deter from its service! Ollr friend might, and no doubt would, have been useful, had he been Rpared, in a lengthened ministry at home; but I have no hesitation in saying he has accomplighed more by his death than lIe could have effected by the longest ministry at home. What benefits he has already conferred on the whole Church, in the example he has set, the spirit he has excited, and the labors he has prompted! Our short mission has already been to our Church as life from the dead. "
The book goes on to record that on January 12th, 1842, foul' missionaries were publicly set apart to the work in India. Two of them with their wives sailed at once from Southampton to Alexandria. It is mentioned that" the directors of the Oriental steamers have kindly granted one passage free to Alexandria;" that a free passage was granted to all of them from Belfast to Liverpool, and that the railway company gave them free passes from Birmingham to London. On May 16th, 1843, came the tidings of the first conversion, that of Abdul Rahman, a Mussulman and a Munshi, who still lives and has been a consistent Christian and most useful worker during all these years. To-day the mission, the story of the beginning of which this old book records, has seven central stations and is opening an eighth in Kathiawar and Gujairat ; the Christian community it has gathered out of heathenism numbers more than 2000 ; it employs above 100 native evangelists and teachers, and it has 3500 scholars in its schools.
There is a sweetness and a fragrance about this old book and the rec" ords it contains. The hand that penned them and led the Church in its early missionary efforts, and which has long since crumbled into dnst, was the hand of a man of God, and a spirit of faith and prayer breathes through every page. The best men in the Church were sought out as the first missionaries, and cheerfully obeyed the call. The difficulties that faced the early workers drove them back on God, and when reported to the Church at home stirred up the people to more prayer and sympathy and generous glvmg. Work thns begun-and it is thus that most of our great missionary enterprises have had their beginning-·must go on and prosper. As Dr. Morgan said in one of his early circulars, " Our little hour will soon be gone, but our work will survive us. When we are cold in the grave, the principles we have disseminated will warm the heart of the living; and then the work will be progressive. Our mission will be the parent of many. " We should honor the self-sacrifice, and energy, and holy zeal of these II)en and women of a past generation, who laid so firmly and so well
PRAYING FOIt MISSIOI'S
the foundations of the great foreign mission enterprise, bhrinking not from the greatness and the difficulty of the task, and the fruit of whose life and labors we are reaping abundantly in the ever-increasing missionary enthusiasm of to-day.
PRAYING FOR MISSIONS.
BY REV. JAMES MUDGE, D.D., CLINTON, MASS.
Whoever has attended a farewell missionary meeting must have been impressed by the earnestness and persistence with which those about to set sail for distant lands begged that much prayer might be offered on their behalf: and whoever, with heart drawn out in this direction, has been a constant attendant at the home churches must have been equally impressed by the strange habitual silence coneerning the matter on the part of both pastors and people. Nothing carries more convincing proof of the little hold this theme has yet secured on the souls of Chri8t's modern disciples than the slight, infrequent mention of it at the throne of grace. Even in so-called "concerts of prayer for missions" it is often extremely difficult to secure two or three genuine supplications kept with some degree of definiteness to the subject in hand.
This is no small defect. It is an appalling fact. It is the fundamental lack. If anything of importance is to be accomplished, if far-reaching results are to be reached, there must be more praying for missions in the closet, in the social gathering, and in the pulpit. Few pastors appreciate how much they might do for missions simplV by the indirect influence of their public prayers at the stated Sabbath services. If this theme is regularly, or at least frequently introduced, not with a mere cursory formal reference, but in earnest, heart-felt petitions, the people who listen and unite with such leadership will insensibly catch its spirit, and their own habits of supplication will be gradually sllaped in the same direction. More can sometimes be accomplished in this manner than by the formal discourses against which it is easier for prejudice to arm itself j and each minister, however small the sphere he seems to be filling, may in this way stretch his arms around the globe, and, like the great founder of Methodism, make the world his parish.
To argue that prayer is a genuine power, and not a mere formality with some retroactive effect, is certainly superfluous here; but a few out of many instances of its mighty results in the particular direction .now under survey may not unfittingly be mentioned to stimul~te our lagging faith. From Dr. A. C. Thompson's "Lectures on Foreign Missions" we cull and condense the following: "Dr. C. H. 'Wheeler, President of Euphrates College at Harpoot, writes; 'I have an abiding conviction that much of the wonderful success of the Harpoot work is due to the supplications of persons in the home field. ' " A missionary of the American Board among the Mahrattas, in India, tells of a wonderful revival that broke out there on the first Monday in January, 1833. He could only account for it on the supposition that the Christian friends in America must be praying for them; and sure enough it turned out that, unknown to him, many bodies of Christians in America had appointed that day as one of fasting and prayer for the heathen world.
" A missionary of the Gossner Society in J ava, Mr. Michaelis, wrote to his brother-in-law at home, the Rev. Gottlob Heinrich, detailing the many and great hindrances to the work. Mr. Heinrich gathered a little company together and made the matter a subject of special supplication. After a while came another letter saying that a revival had broken out among the natives, and, giving the date of the first indication of the change, he asked, , Did you not on that evening pray expressly for my work~' The date proved to be the very one on which the company had gathered. "
More prayer for missions, of the kind that moves the arm that moves the world, there should certainly be. It is well to have a map to pray by, and take up the countries and stations in order. It is especially well to pray for the laborers by name, particularly when anything fresh has been learned concerning them or interest in them has been newly alOused.
As a help to definite supplication and intelligent petitioning. perhaps some who have not given careful study to the matter may welcome the following suggestive subjects: That the missionary may have wisdom, patience, love, and tact in presenting the truth to the ignorant, prejudiced minds of his hearers in the bazaars, villages, and fairs.
That the native preachers may be faithful, zealous, and eminently successful in winning their countrymen to Christ.
That the inquirers may have courage to come out boldly in the open confession of the Saviour, and endure joyfully the spoiling of their goods.
That there may be seen on the part of seekers genuine conviction of sin and. manifest proofs of the Spirit's work.
That the native Christians may be moved by a mighty impulse to bring each one his brother to Jesus, aud may be strengthened so to live that the heathen around may be impressed by the manifest change for the better.
That the Bible, wherever sold or distributed, may be illumined by the Holy Ghost, and be the nucleus for groups of believers.
That those engaged in preparing, printing, and circulating papers, tracts, and other Christian literature may be divinely guided and see much fruit.
That teachers in colleges and schools may be able to lead their students to a love of the truth as it is in Jesus, That God would raise up able evangeli8ts to do for heathen lanus sOlI)ething such a wOlk as Wesley and Whitefield did for England.
That the hearts of kings and others in high places of authority may be touched, and their great influence turned on the side of the Lord.
That the women who go to the Zenanas may be able to arouse an intcrest in the true salvation among those so long debased with frivolous superstitions.
That the hospitals may more than ever be made mighty auxiliaries in breaking down opposition and preparing the way for the Gospel.
That the orphanages may be very tenderly watched over by the God of the fatherless, and may turn out many useful laborers.
That Christian villageR may be examples of everything good to the surrounding towns among which they are set as a city on a hill.
That the Sunday-school agency may be still more wonderfully owned of God in turning the minds and hearts of hundreds of thousands of the children and youth of non-Christian lands to Christ.
That God would send forth labonrs into His harvest. That the vast wealth of the present day, locked up in nominally Christian coffers, might be set free to bless the earth. That young men and women debating the question of a missionary vocation might be led to a right decision. That missionary secretaries and editors may have all the strength and wisdom their important and difficult positions require. That missionaries on sick leave may speedily recover their health 80 as to be able to return to their fields. That missionaries' children, providentially separated from parental supervision, may have special Divine watch-care, and receive training for large usefuluess in mission fields or elsewhere.. That the governments of the earth may be restrained from putting obstacles in the way of mission work, and that the time may speedily come when there shall be perfect liberty of opinion and public worship. That white men may cease to oppress the black and colored races, and in particular some way be found to stay the ravages of rum among the defenceless children of nature. That the slave trade may soon become a thing of the past, and that all the intercourse, commercial or political, of nominal Christians with those of other religions may impress them with the superiority of our faith.
We have been understood by certain leaders of newspaper reports to have spoken against revivals; it is a misunderstanding. A revival" got up" we abhor; a revival brought down by prayer we would welcome as life from the dead. vVe know churches which have died of spasms, and others which lead a sickly life, alternating between hot fits and cold shivers. A perpetual condition of healthy life and growth is far better than da~hes and rushes of heated but transient zc_al.-Spurgeon.
THE MAGIC LANllERN IN 'fHE MONTHLY CONCERT
THE MAGIC LANTERN IN THE MONTIILY CONCERT.
BY REV. JAMES CARTER, WILLIAMSPORT, PA.
What shall be done with the Monthly Concert? is an oft-repeated question. In many churches the mere announcement of the Monthly Concert is sufficient to reduce the mid-week meeting to a chosen few. In very despair, many churches have answered the question by ab(Jli&hing the Concert. In a multitude of churches the time honored institutIOn is maintained by the attendance of the faithful who meet every religious appointment, themselves often weary enough of the monotonoas character of the formal presentation of the encouragements and discouragements, and the usual confusion of indigestible statistics.
Not infrequently the pastor comes in for his share of the blame. Twelve missionary talks a year become in time a source of dread, and are recognized as serious interferences with the too scant time for the regular pulpit preparation. The man who composes two sermons a week most frequently regards the approach of the Monthly Concert with a mild degree of terror. Perhaps it would be better to prepare but one sermon a week and do it thoroughly. That would permit a more careful preparation and wider reading-even now and then such a book as " Mackay of Uganda," or " John G. Paton," or " In Brightest Asia. " The minister in all probability has at some time advised his people to substitute some missionary magazine for the Oentury or the Harper on Sunday afternoons. He in all likelihood would be surprised at the restfulness and stimulation which he would gain by taking his own advice. When his nervous force is at its lowest ebb after the drain of the morning's effort, and he feels possibly some measlfre of discouragemcnt in his own work, the record of what others encounter and overcome, of the marvellous fashion in which the Lord is going before His people in missionary work, will produce unconsciously a spiritual energizing that will send him to his evening pulpit with a muscular soul.
Through all this depression of one department in the Church, another wholly devoted to missionary matters thrives to arlmiration. It is significant that the women of the Presbyterian Church in the North gave last year within $11,000 of the amount of the receipts from the churches in behalf of foreign missions, and actually surpassed the churches by $4000 in gifts for home missions. Other branches of the Church have their own instructive reports. The secret of success is not far to seek : consecrated energy, personal enlistment with definite purpose, general participation in the exercises, persistent and interesting advertising by magazines and leaflets sparkling with womanly concreteness.
The present is an age of advertising; and of all advertising, that which arrests the eye by a picture is the most effective. Foreign missionaries have observed the power of pictnres, and during the last few years have been preaching to vast throngs, held in rapt att/ilntion night by night in some open square, by the wonder of the magic lantern. The Bible story has thus been told to those who otherwise would not have stayed to listen. During my preparation for the ministry I was impressed by the possibili- ties of the stereopticon as a missionary agent in our churches, and as soon as the matter of expense was overcome, introduced it in my own evening meetings, first as an illustrator for the informing of the Sundayschool teachers, and then for the instruction of all in missionary matters. Three years of experiment and experience have been most satisfactory. The results have been phenomenal attendance at Monthly Concerts, increased numbers at the weekly prayer-meetings, advance in missionary interest, enlarged missionary gifts, and stimulation in all departments of beneficence.
Like every good thing, this method may be used to repletion. It may attract throngs, as did the song-services lately so common, and ere long pall upon the taste by very frequency. The observancil of three rules may indefinitely prolong the usefulness of the method: First, the use of the lantern should never be announced. The advertising is best done after the event by those who have enjoyed the reward of faithfulness; and people are unwilling to hear more than twice that they have lost a treat. Second, the lantern should be used with studious irregularity. Rarely is it wise to employ it two months consecutively j only when some knowing ones learn to stay away on the month following an exhibition. Then use it twice in successive months to teach the over-shrewd not to set a bad example to the others. It will not be long before the people will understand that, in order to have the pleasure, they must be regular in attendance. Third, the views should not be too numerous. Twenty will serve better than sixty, for they may be kept longer before the eye, and the explanation be clearer, because less hurried. It is not wise to prolong the exhibition to physical weariness. New things are almost always overdone. If possible a .short service of song and supplication should precede and follow, and the accumulated interest at the close should be utilized for the reception of the missionary offering.
Wisely used; the i;lDtern may be made an educator of no mean powers, introducing the people to lands practically unknown, showing the pitiable need of Christian civilization, displaying the contrast between the Christian and the Christless in heathen lands j but let no one suppose that the lantern can take the place of intelligent study and intimate acquaintance with missionary work. The pastor must expect to devote literary labor to the end that the lectures may interest, and he should be careful to know as much of the mission field as do the ladies of the Missionary Society. Indifferent work here, as elsewhere, wUI issue in swift humiliation. Every pastor who deals faithfully with himself and his people will discover that his preparation for the lantern talks has increased his interest in missionary work, given him ~ firmer grasp upon the great subject, and unexpectedly afforded
THE REFLEX INFLUENCE OF GIVING TO MISSIONS
him much fruitful il1ustr~tion for sermonic uses from sources little employed. At the same time a holy enthusiasm will pervade his church as his people come in touch with the childlike honesty of the far-away Christians, unspoiled of civilized casuistry, and with the simple, unselfish devotion of the foreign missionary. The growth of interest in the work abroad will have its inductive effect upon the work at home, to the invigoration of every department of the Church, the deepening of spiritual life, and the wider enlistment of the members in personal work for the Master. The problem of the Monthly Concert may thus be solved, and the whole organization be quickened in spiritual activity by a faithful and consecrated use of that former toy, the magic lantern.
THE REFLEX INFLUENCE OF GIVING TO MISSIONS.
BY REV. PAUL V. BOMAR, VERSAILLES, KY.
When onr Master said it was more blessed to give than to receive, He meant, if He meant anything-and who can point to a single word of His that is not full of the deepest meaning ~-that the giver received greater blessings than the recipient of the gift j He meant that the reflex influence of giving was more blessed than even the direct influence; He meant that he who gave to missions received greater benefits than those to whom the gift!l were sent j that the greatest work of foreign missions is accom- plished at home and not abroad, in the hearts of Christian men and women who give their money and their lives, more than in the heartii of the heathen to whom the Gospel comes j He meant that the herald of the good tidings had a happier lot than the hearer 6f the tidings. Yes, giving to missions is like mercy, " it is twice blessed, It blesseth him that gives and him that takes,"
and, like mercy, it is "an attribute of God Himself j" and men's love is likest God's when they give not only what they have, but themselves also.
Here, then, is a stupendous truth that the Christian world has scarcely begun to realize, for think what this means. The direct influence of mission work-foreign mission!l, for instance-is far from contemptible j the resnlts attained in the last half of a century have been simply wonderful. The treacherous, thieving Malagasy have become a Christian people; Sierra Leone is now reckoned a Christian state; under the influence of the GOMpel the Sandwich Islanders have forsaken their barbarous and brutal practices, and the cannibal pots have given wily to churches all over the land j the Tierra del Fuegians, pronounced by the great scientist Darwin as little more than beasts, have been converted by the power of God into intelligent beings j the low. caste people of India, having given themselves to God, are gradually rising in the scale of being, and the report is that they are now threatening to supplant the high·caste people; the Empire of Japan is trembling in the balance-doors fast closed a few years ago have been battered down or thrown wide open by the prayers and offerings of God's people. Yes, from nearly every place whither the missionaries have gone there come many reports of mighty good accomplished. We bow in thankfulness before Go, that Sl) much has been done by the power of Jesus' name j but bdieve me, God has done more for us at home than we, with His blessing, for Him abroad j the Christian givers have been more honored in their giving than even the heathen people in their recelVlng. The thousands who gladly and willingly received the Gospel have not received more benefit than the thousands who gladly and willingly gave the GospeL Wonderful was the work that the Apostle Paul was enabled to do in giving the Gospel to the chief palts of Europe and Asia, but not more wonderful than the work that God in the meanwhile did in his own heart, filling him with Divine truths and enabling him to give these truths utterance. Had not Paul given himself to the mission work we would not have had his epistles, for they never could have been written in the quiet of the study. As Paul gave himself to God, God gave Himself to Paul. As he gave out, God filled in; as he e~ptied himself of earthly treasures, God filled him with heavenly riches.
The reason why these truth8 are not clear to us is because many of us Christian people have mistaken the end for which we live. We think it is to get heaven. That's not why you live, that's the reason Christ lived and died-to get heaven for you and in you, and it is worse than foolishness for you to try to do His work over again. You do not live, then, to get heaven, out to give heaven. Getting is not the chief end of the Christian life, but giving. God has ordained it thus for our good because it is more blessed to gi,'e than to receive j and especially is this true of giving to missions, for" if there ever was an altar that sanctified, magnified, and glorified the gift, it is the altar of missions."
Giving is the heart of missions j missions is the heart of Christianity. Christianity is as the palm-tree-it has but one bud, 'and that is the missionary spirit. Destroy tbat bud and Christianity witbers and decays, and he who refuses to give to missions is doing much to destroy the power of that reli[;:on which be professes.
Consider three simple facts: 1. We get to gi'ue. He who gets with any other object in view is very foolish; he is acting in opposition to all the laws that God has revealed to us in nature and elsewhere. The only man who gets to hold and keep is the miser, and he is miserable j and we are all miserable misers just so far as we act with the same end in view. The true man gathers in order to give-for something that he values more than his possession, <;If to Bome one whom he loves more than his money, his wife, children, or his Lord and Master. The sun does not'treasure up its light, but pours it in greatest profusion .upon this and other worlds, proclaiming this law of God: We get to give. The tree does not consume its own fruit, but bears it for others; and as others eat let. them learn the law of getting to give. The flower does not keep its beauty to itself, but adorns and gladdens, sweetly saying to selfish man, I get to give. The very grass that grows so richly upon our hills grows to give joy and strength to man and beast. This old earth in the ages gone by has gradually accumulated great riches, but not for itself, but to give to man as he needs them.
Heaven's sunshine and showers fall upon the earth, and the earth gives of its strength to fruit and flower, and the fruit and flower give themselves to man and beast, and man is to give himself with what he has to God, using his material blessings for his spiritual good. God has given to man that which He values most, His own Son, and that Son says to His disciples: "As the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you." The Father sent Him to give Himself for sinful man, and the first step in this selfgiving was a renunciation of all His heavenly possession; even so, if a man would go forth in the spirit of Christ, his first step must be a renunciation of all his earthly goods. "So, therefore, whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple. "
The only use, then, a man has for possessions is to give them. " Freely ye have received, freely give."
2. We get by giving. We give our time aud our energies in order to get that which we value more, money; and giving up this in the right spirit and with true wisdom, we get that which is of most value-our spiritual good, perfect manhood. The invariable law is, Give a less good in order to obtain a greater, and as long as we hold on to the less we cannot by any possible means lay hold of the greater good. The t.ree cannot bear fruit next year if it hold to the fruit of this year; it has given of its life to produce that frui~ (mind you, to produce it, not to possess it), for even that must be given up in order to new life.
In truth, there is nothing in this world that is an end in itself; everything is only a means to something better, everything is but merchandise. Whatever we may get in this world, there is always something better to be had by giving that which we now have. Something better in store for you! Yes, but you cannot have it as long as you hold on so tenaciously to your present good. "The kingdom of heaven," says the Master, "is like unto a merchantman seeking goodly pearls," and when he has found one pearl of great price he gives up all he has to get that pearl. This is ever the Christian spirit, seeking something better, and when that is found surrendering the good to obtain it, for" the good (however good it may be) is the enemy of the best;" and thus it comes to pass that only he who loses his life finds it, only he who renounces all he has becomes in the truest sense Chlist's disciple. The law of life, of growth, then is, Give, give, give. So true it is that we get by giving, that what money we have is not regarded by the Lord as our own, but another's; for, it sl'ems to me, that is what Luke 16 : 13 means: "If ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your olVn ~"
This money, which we call ours, is really a trust fund committed to UR, our real, inalienable possessions are far more valuable; but how shall we get them if we are not faithful here ~ You remember the separation of the judgment-day described by our Lord in the 25th of Matthew. Did you ever think upon the fact that they got the most and the best who gave the best? It was the givers who were the getters; they who withheld the good had the good withholden 'from them.
3. As we give to the Lord we get from the Lord. Giving seems to open a channel by which God's blessings flow in upon us. As we give, it is given unto us.
I do not say we will get of the same kind, although that may be. Glance back over th", history of our own (Baptist) denomination for the past few deeades, and we see as we have given men to missions God has increased our numbers more abundantly; as we have given of onr means God seems to have prospered us; while those who have not given money nor men are gradually hecoming less and less both in numbers and in influence. ,j There is that scattereth and yet increaseth."
r do not say, therefore, that missions is a "boom-town" where you can buy a corner lot for a mere "song," and afterward sell it for one thousalld dollars. I do not say invest a prayer and a penny and the Lord will give you a pound. I do not say it is more blessed to give than to receive because for every dime you give you'll get a dollar, although from a merely commercial point of view missions pay. The mission to the Sandwich Islands is ~aid to have cost $5,000,000, while the trade with this country amounted to $16,000,000 in six years, so that the interest for two years amounted to more than the whole principal.
But the greater blessing consists in the larger man, for in giving he has dethroned selfishness and made his heart a more fit dwelling-place for the Holy Spirit. A man riding along the street dropped a quarter into the outstretched hand of a beggar woman, but as he rode away he began to repent his good deed, saying: "How do I know that the woman is worthy ~ She may take that money and spend it on drink;" and he rode back and asked the woman to return the money; the astonished woman did so, and was more astonished to receive a five-dollar bill. As the man rode away a second time he was heard to murmur: ., There, self, I guess· you wi~h you had kept quiet." I know of no better way to down the selfish man in all of us than hearty, systematic, and prayerful giving to missions.
And, again, the greater blessing consists in the enlar.qed power of the giver for doing good at home; for the farther he canses his light to shine the brighter it is bound to shine at home. Therefore, if you want a revival at home, give to those away from home; if you want sinners saved about you, give to those you have never seell; and as God's blessings come down to accompany the money you have given, it will lift you up nearer Him and sweep those who are near you into His kingdom. For, say what you please, it is not self-interest that moves the people for good, but selfsacrifice. When the unconverted man sees you clinging with death-grip to the money the Master has entrusted to you, he mocks at your religion ; but when he sees you as a faitbful steward give of your means, then he bows before the power of your religion. If I were asked the greatest hindrance to the spread of the Gospel at home, I believe I would say, Not enough given to spread the Gospel abroad.
.. Give thy heart's best treasure, from fair nature learn; Give thy love, and ask not, wait not, a return; And the more thou spendest of thy little store, With II double bounty God will give thee more."
We see, then, that the reflex influence of giving to missions is wonderful for good, that nothing pays like generosity, that" in giving a man receives more than he gives, and the man is in proportion to the worth of the thing given;" but let us not forget that all giving has a reflex influence. What, then, are we to expect as long as we give $900,000,000 a year to the liquor traffic, $600,000,000 to the tobacco traffic, $568,000,000 for jewelry, and $5,000,000, nearly as much as we give to missions, for ostrich plumes ~ But let me not appeal to your selfishness in urging you to be unselfish. Let us away with this calculating of profits. We'll receive no good when we commence calculating how much good we'll get by doing good. The good comes when we lose ourselves in the good work, when we give, not for the sake of the good that will come back to us, but for the 8ake of the Master, because of the love we bear Him. The good comes when the gifts go not alone but are acco~panied by earnest prayers from loving hearts. The message to Cornelius was: "Thy prayer and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God."
" Hands that ope but to receive Empty clolie ; they only live Riohly who richly give.
" He who giving does not crave, Likest is to Him who gave Life itself the loved to save.
" Love that self·forgetful gives Sows surprise of ripened sheaves- Late or soon its own receives."
THE GARMEN'l'S OF CHRIST
THE GARMENTS OF CHRIST.
BY PROFESSOR L. J. BERTRAND, PARIS, FRANCE.
Where are they, at Treves or at Argenteuil1 After long discussions French and German ecclesiastical delegates have decreed that they are at both places. Mutual interests required perhaps that strange solution.
Father Hyacinthe declares that they are nowhere, and accuses those judges and our bishops of deceiving the faithful, of teaching them how to become stupid or hypocritic. Those accusations are so personal and in such plain words, that our political papers print them in large type and even placard them on some walls in Brittany. One says: "The Archbishop of Rennes told me, As bi.~hops we are obliged to say the contrary of what we believe."
I suppose that the high dignitary of the Roman Church meant: " Those relics are a fraud, but as they please and comfort narrow-minded people, revive their faith, attach them more closely to the Church, why should we deprive them of their fetiches? Many places like Treves, Lourdes, N. D. d'Auray receive millions of people who give millions and millions of francs to the Church. Why should we lose so much money ~ Besides," says the Bishop of Poitiers, "we cannot speak against superstition without compromising our situation and offending many priests in our diocese and at Rome. Ordinary preachers alone can express their doubts. "
Father Haycinthe translates thus: "I am obliged to follow my troops, because I am their general."
The former Archbishop of Paris, Darboy: "Brave at horne, cowards in public."
La Bruyere: "Man was born a liar, and all his interests say, Be a liar." It is well known that our Crusaders were very superstitious, and that each of them wanted to bring from the Holy Land relics for his church and others for his family. Indigenes gave them, for cash, all they required -the garments of Jesns Christ when a babe, a boy, and a man, the shroud, the coat, the overcoat. the sandals, the Bible, the tears, the sweat of Jesus Christ, the stone on which fell one of His tears, the socks and some milk of the Holy Virgin, the chalk on which fell a drop, her oil portrait by St. Luke, the gloves and the skull of St. Ann, a finger of St. John, the skeleton of St. Pancras, the four nails and big pieces of the Cross-all perfectly authentic, of course. But now comes a difficulty. We have seven heads of St. Ann, twentyone fingers of St. John, twenty-five portraits of the Virgin by St. Luke, thirty skeletons of St. Pancras, such a heap of nails that a baggage train could • not carry them, such an enormous number of true pieces of the true Gross, that the Bois de Boulogne could scarcely give as much wood. With the stones which received the tear and the chalk on which fell the drop of milk, we might easily build a new Vatican, and with the scattered hones of any saint, we could rebuild the ekeletons of an army of giants. Our priests explain, as they can, that multiplicity and other obscurities. Thus they say that as filings of the true nllils were formerly melted with much iron in each nail, there is something of the eacred nail; that the terra dicta lac virginis was imbibed with the drop of milk, and therefore that thE.' whole was sanctified that the bones being probably taken from the same catacombs, therefore they are ,:orthy of our worship. As for the famous tube containing a few drops of Mary's milk, it is perfectly empty; that is true, but it has white spots, and the tube itself is quite sufficient because of what it formerly contained. I remember that a college friend, a Parisian sceptic, forgot during his holiday trip to bring his fathcr a bottle which he had promised to fill at the source of Lourdes. As he disliked to displease his sick father and to return to Lourdes at his own expense, he bought an old bottle still adorned with the true mercantile label, and filled it, in my presence, at the river Seine. At the sight of the true bottle and the false water of Lourdes the sick man fainted with emotion, then drank with such a full confidence that, to my amazement, he really recovered.
A priest told me that labels had often made miracles, and therefore I am surprised that by the side of collections of stamps we have not collE.'ctions of miraculous labels and miraculous bottles.
Lately the Bishop of Treves and his priests resolved, " that if during the Kulturkampf of Bismarck an exhibition of the garments was impo3sible, the time has come to call the ChIistian world to Treves." Therefore they solemnly opened the casket containinf: the relic which had been hid since ] 844. At this date the most violent polemics led to the formation of " the German Catholic Church," but did not prevent one million pilgrims to worship "the true Holy Coat." German and French communities, together with the priests of Argenteuil, protest against the exhibition, and declare that it is an ecclesiastical and shameful fraud; but the bishop replies that now millions may go to Treves, venerate or worship the garments, because all proofs of authenticity are already obtained.
Mgr. Korum and learned priests have compulsed all the documents of former writers on the subject; many dignitaries and three celebrated archreologues (1) "in the year of Christ 1890 and in the most holy secret" (why secret?) submitted the relic to a scientific and archreologic 8tudy, and now they proclaim that it is authentic and composed of three parts.
1. An envelope of damasked silk, very rich, but so tattered and decayed that even the drawings could scarcely be copied. The background is of a somewhat dark bIlle, but was evidently red or purple. " We declare with certitude that this comes from the fifth or . . . sixth century, ther~fore that at that time people believed in the authenticity of the Coat."
I cannot help remembering that my first schoolmaster spoiled the teachings of my mother and of my pastor with these words: "Voltaire wrote that Crusaders used to stick on their hats shells gathered on the sea-shore of Palestine, that when those of Tours and Paris returned they scattered them in their gardens. Now your ignorant pastor says that the shells of Tours and Paris prove in favor of a deluge, as if science and Voltaire did not declare with certitude that there was never, never a deluge."
Later, as a student, I heard the great s'avant Ste. Claire-Deville say, like Geoffroy St. Hilaire, that Paris and Tours being built on beds of shells of different epochs, we may affirm with certitude that our earth en- dured many deluges. I went away murmuring, " Will not science prove later that my unscientific mother was right when she spoke to me of one deluge ¥"
2. "The Holy Coat has a lining of cotton cloth or linen (doubtful !) of such old ness that we declare it much older than the outside.
3. "The great relic, given by St. Helena to the Church of 'l'reves in 331, and thus protected on both sides, was therefore much venerated at the beginning of our era, and as it is seamless, why should it not be the true Holy Coat of Jesus Christ (why not of Pilatus or Judas~) ~ Scientists object that it is of grayish, yellowish, undefined color, with drawings as old Egyptian stuffs. Weare not afraid of science, and we do not say that it was not made by the Virgin in Egypt for Jesus as a boy or a man, but its length is five and one quarter feet, which proves that Jesus was at least six feet high ; and how a profane coat could do miracles ¥ Is it not well known that Countess Droste·Vischering, when nineteen years old, could walk only with crutches and the help of two servant!> ; that permitted, in 1844, to touch the Holy Coat, she at once threw her crutches down- stairs and walked to a convent, where she now enjoys perfect health ?"
" Nothing of that is known," reply other Catholics. " You say that the Coat was given in 331 by St. Helena, who died in 327, to t.he Church of Treves much before Treves had a church. Figures of birds and fantastic animals were woven in the cloth, and the Jews had a ' holy hor- ror' for them. How is it that your friends alone could see the countess before the miracle and that alone they can see her now 1 How is it that one of the witnesses, the first canon of the cathedral, Wilmoski, repenting in 1876, declared that all was a mere fraud ~ How is it that twenty priests and two thousand witnesses testified the radical cure of another girl at Lourdes, and that now it is well known that the news and the witnesses were all false ~ Why do you invariably refuse to accept official witnesses?, Because fraud is at ;the root of your miracles, and even Catholic papers echo, Fraud ! fraud !"
What becomes of the Argenteuil true Coat? "Learned archreologues"
say that it is composed of four long pieces four and one half feet long and three feet wide, quite insufficient for the garments of a man; but as the relic has always been called cappa, it may have been the coat of Jesus when he went to the Temple, or be the best remnant of the overcoat which soldiers divided into four parts. " The learned archreologues" of Rome, Constantinople, and Moscow lately replied with indignation that all those suppositions are absolutely erroneous, and with perfect certitude they main- tain that their three pieces and the four of Argenteuil together make the seamless Coat which Christ wore at the crucifixion.
How humiliating! Just now Leo XIII. declares that the Holy Coat of Treves has the supremacy, and that Argenteuil, Rome, Constantinople, and Moscow must go to Germany! .
Is it because of that infallible judgment that two thousand Americana "have taken possession of the best rooms of Treves, that fifty thousand Canadians, Irish, English, and Italians, have taken the others~" What I know by our priests is that" Bishop Korum is at his wits' end, because three hundred thouRand Germans and one hundred thousand French an- nounce their visit. Two millions of pilgrims are expected this year at Treves." The archbishop will make an enormous fortune.
For Christians those facts look more distressing than they really are. As Taine says, there are in France thirty-seven millions of people born in the Roman Church, but we have only one million of Catholics and one million of Romanists, not one hundred thousand worshippers of relics. Superstition exists everywhere and among all classes, especially among freethinkers.
When I went to Oran (Algeria), the most irreligious of cities, I found that" believing unbelievers," as Pascal calls them; were too intelligent to believe in their Creator, but could believe, as in the dark Middle Ages, in witchcraft and incantation. I never heard of so many spirit-rappers, ghosts. sorcerers, somnambulists, fortune-tellers. Three well-dressed and intelligent-looking ladies came the very first night to tell me : "Just now the spirit rapped and rapped. Halloe! said we, what is it? 'Go at once to such a honse, in such a street, where a great prophet of mine has arrived.' " , " Well, ladies," said I, ., come to our meeting to-morrow and I will speak on the Holy Spirit."
They" came, and in spite of my discourse, more or less. directed against their supprstition, they published among their friends that the ghost of I do not know what great and holy prophet had taken possession of my own body. Well, Julius Cresar had his Idcs of March, Napoleon 1. his star, Napoleon III. and Gambetta, as· lmperstitious as Hottentots, their regular somnambulist. Our lords, titled ladies, and magistrates of the sceptic eighteenth century swallowed the most stupid stuff of quack St. Germain, emptied their purses before Cagliostro, shivered with terror and horror before the trough of Mesmer, containing only filings of iron and glass; our Minister Maurepas gave Mesmer, dressed in his lilac gown and armed with the conjurer's wand, $70,000 for a German secret which he, of course, never posAessed. Our great authors Ste. Beuve, Th. Gautier, Renan, flew away when they happened to be thirteen at table. Freethinkers, positivists, spiritists, magnetists, laugh loudly at our simple faith
MR. KANAMORI'S NEW BOOK
in an Almighty Ruler, but in secret walk in the dark and enigmatic paths of astrology, necromancy, black art, question augurs, omens, oracles, the flight of birds, the whiz of winds, endure the nightmare in the middle of the day rather than believe in God, because He says: "}{epent, ye poor sinners." I saw lately a French deiBt refusing obstinately to eat of a loaf of hread on which the servant had not made, as in his village, the sign of he cross, and an English Protestant becoming deadly pale because another loaf had fallen upside down.
Never mind all that; the age we live in is one of marvellous evolution, for it rapidly uproots superstition, prejudice, and baubles. As Edgar Quinet said: "Ce qui doit perir, perit. Le grand Dieu marche, marche et entraine avec lui Ie monde moral vers un monde meilleur."
MR. KANAMORI'S .NEW BOOK.
BY REV. F. S. CURTIS, HIROSHIMA, JAPAN.
There has been in Japan no reaction against foreign clothes, liquors, and tobacco, but the feeling against almost everything else foreign has risen high.
Properly the Japanese have begun to see the need of discrimination in their adoption of "things foreign," and in their modifying these things there are some who think that Christianity also must be "japanned," if not materially altered. There are extremists like Mr. Kanamori, who would, in his book, "The Present and Future of Christianity in Japan," " construct a new theology on independent and essentially .Japanese lines."
Mr. Kanamori's views are so radical, there are few, if any, who wonld go as far even among his own colleagues. However, his position seems to me logical and consistent, and since it shows ideas which in a milder form have leavened the whole Japanese Church, I will give you a brief summary of some of the leading thoughts of his book, as found in a review of his work in the Japan Mail of Odober 3d. He begins by sayi!lg that, like ancient Rome, Japan is the meeting ground of all the religious beliefs of the world, and that in the great struggle for existence which is now impending only truth and vitality will prevail j but that trnth, whether in the different denominational channels of Christianity, in Buddhism, Shintoism, or Confucianism, is truth, and that in this great conflict, in obedience to the universal law, that like attracts and unites with like, truth will unite with truth and life with life, and thns will be gradually formed a great religion fit for the twentieth century.
Thus he addresses the Orient: " Thou art poor and depressed. Thou wert left behind thy brother Occident in the race of civilization, but thou needst not grieve j fortune has already turned j thou hast now in thy hands the religions of the wcrld, and it IS III thy power to smelt and recast them into a great new faith. Thou shouldst aspire to become mother of a twentieth-century religion. It is for thee to recompense thy Western brother for his gift of a material civilization by conferring upon him a spiritual civilization. Grieve not, but rejoice and fulfil thy mission."
After considering some of the obetacles that oppose themselves to Christianity in its present form, among which he mentions the incredible stories and incomprehensible doctrines of the Bible, such as redemption and the divinity of Christ, he asserts that the churches are in a whirlwind of doubt and scepticism, and that even many of the Japanese pastors are in a most dangerous state of mind; but this, the author thinks, is only the natural outcome in view of the fact that these pastors learned their theology from orthodox foreign missionaries, and being unable to distinguish the grain from the chaff, were forced to swallow both without discrimination.
The writer then proceeds to discuss the Bible, and gives as his opinion that this book is nothing more than a collection of ancient records of the Jewish race relating to religion. He agrees with the advanced school of biblical students that the Pentateuch was not written by Moses, Psalms and Proverbs not by David or Solomon, and Daniel not by him. As to the New Testament, he questions the authenticity of the Rynpotists, and thinks the Fourth Gospel is not the work of John, etc. For all this, though the Bible is not authentic, and since collected in this manner neither a revelation nor the Word of God, he professes to hold it in special love and veneration as containing the practicat truths of religion, and hopes it will become the comfort and guide of his countrymen.
As to the person of Christ, while Mr. Kanamori believes himself not to be behind any Christian in his love for Christ, he cannot accept the doctrine of His Divine nature. The miracles of the gospels do not prove the divinity of Christ, for if one can accept the Gospel narratives in this regard, Christ is merely proven to be possessed of a power which no other man possessed.
As to the pro(f of prophecy. All prophecies of the Messiah were not fulfilled in Christ. Christ purposely shaped His conduct to accord with the prophecy. Again, the great results of Christ's teachings do not prove Him to be Divine any more than those of Buddha, Mahomet, or Confucius prove the same for them.
As to the perfectness of Christ's nature, a man is not perfect wht'n there are many things which he cannot do or does not know. He was simply a religious teacher of transcendental value, ~ messenger from God, but it is far safer to judge of His character in the light of general historical evidence and in comparison with other great founders of religion than to take the testimony of the apostles and early Christians, who were, perhaps, prevented by the very splendor of His moral glory from forming a fair estimate of His personality.
To accollDt for the peculiar forc() and authority of Christ's words, in tho
THE EMPRESS OF CHINA AND THE MISSIONARIES
chapter following the author dwells upon the extraordinary development of Christ's religious consciousness. By the natural purity and benevolence of His own heart above all other men He felt Himself to be in communion with God. "It was natural and excusable," he says, " in the early Christians to believe Christ to be God, for they were unable to account for His wonderful sayings and actions by any other hypothesis; but men of the present age owe it to the advanced stage of their civilization to make a right use of their reasoning powers so as to form a true estimate of Christ."
In the closing chapter the doctrine of redemption is examined and declared to be incompatible with the love and mercy of Godo The true meaning of salvation is that Christ, by His example, taught men how to commune with God, and thus saved them.
The pamphlet is concluded in the following words: " I regret to say that there are religious people who imitate the retrogressive policy of China. It is my sincere hope that the age of religious perfection may be placed not in the past, but in the future. However grand and noble a personage may appear hereafter in the rdigious field, he cannot but be an imperfect man; consequently it is not an historical personage whom we may accept as our Saviour, but the idealistic Christ embodying the perfection of the human species and symbolizing the communion of God and man." I have no time before the closing of the mail to add any comment other than to ask you that you will beg our churches at home to pray that the Spirit of God may be poured out in great measure upon the Christians here, that such pernicious doctrine may not find lodgement, and that He may lead them into the truth at! it is in Jesus, THE EMPRESS OF CHINA AND THE MISSIONARIES.
Some little time ago the new Empress in Pekin needed a tailor to make part of her wedding trousseau. The one who went happened to be a Christian, and having to be admitted into the presence of her Majesty on account of his work, he took the opportunity to speak for his Master; and being an earnest, warm-hearted man, he told her the GORpel, and then asked her gracious acceptance of a copy of the Chinese New Testamento l'his she was pleased to accept, and read it, seemingly interested in its contents. The tailor seeing this asked if he might bring a friend of his, who was more learned, and could explain it better. The Empress gave him per,mission, and he brought a young Christian gentleman who was studying at the Mission College for a preacher, and he preached very mnch to the satisfaction of his Imperial patroness, who made the remark to the tailor: " You did right to bring your friend. I understand the Christian doctrine much better now. He certa.inly explains it better than you. " We trust that the truth may sink into her heart, and that she may be saved.
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
AFRICA.
-A writer in Gentral Af1'ica complains of the lack of missionary zeal in the High Church party of the Church of England, and assigns some causes. He says: " We High Churchmen have to face the simple fact that missionary ardor burns far more brightly among our Evangelical brethren than among ourRelves. To the work accomplished by the latter, as well as by Nonconformists, it is needless to point in detail ; it is before the world's eyes.
" When an appeal is made for workers in East Equatorial Africa, Bishop Tucker receives a crowd of applicants. When a similar appeal is made by the Bishop of Zanzibar, there is no response. Who can help drawing invidious comparisons, or resist asking, if not determining, what is the reason of the contrast ~ " I venture to think, moreover, that the affections of the clergy attach unduly to their material sanctuaries. God forbid that I should undervalue reverence for the place where His honor dwelleth; but it is possible for this right feeling to become a weakness, an indulgence in a religious luxury. There is, I think, a strong tendency to the opinion that the people exist for the Church rather tha:l the Church for the people, and congregations are regarded as ornaments for the fabric-an appropriate decoration of the nave-rather than as the' living stones' for whom the dead ones exist. Hence there is some loat.hness to pass out among the people and proclaim the Gospel apart from the adjuncts of the highest ecclesiastical civilization. Vve get too domesticated in our beautiful material houses of worship, too fastidious of all that is outwardly inadequate to face the exigencies of a life where much that we value in the service of God will have to be forgone. To embrace a missionary vocation means giving up , home comforts' in a double sense-a sense which our Evangelical brethren do not feel, or at least not to the same extent.. .
" If the sacrifice be greater for the High Churchman, is not the reward apportionate ~ Those who have made it will aUest that th" presence of our Lord may be realized more intensely in a palm-leaf chapel or a mud hut than in the very' eorrectest ' of town churches, and that the surrender is but a ' leaving Christ for Christ,' and that in the joy of worship there is a ' manifold more' even in this present world. "
-The Livingstonia Mission of the Free Church of Scotland was founded seventeen years ago, just after the burial of David Livingstone in Westminster Abbey. It was suggested by Rev. Dr. James Stewart, F.R.G.S., of Lovedale, South Africa, who had been Livingstone's companion in exploring the lake. It was organized and has since been led by Rev. Dr. Robert Laws, who has had but one furlough in the seventeen years. It is managed by a suo-committee of eight miniRters and twenty-two members of the Free and United Presbyterian Churches of Scotland. The other missionaries are: Of the Free Church, Rev. J. Kerr Cross, Rev. George Henry, Rev. George Steele, Messrs. Walter A. Elmslie and David H. Fotheringham; of the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa, Rev. Andrew C. Murray. Six of these gentlemen are medical missionaries, three are married-Messrs. Gossip, M'Intyr!', Vlok, Stuart, Thomson, W. Murray, J. and G. Aitken, and Mr. and Mrs. M'Callum. There are 48 native Christians, making a total Chrilltian staff of 65. All the native converts are missionaries. Including the 48, there are 78 native teachers, 3080 scholars, 2422 in attendance at oncc. In one station, in less than one year, Dr. Henry treated 5200 cases-3231 surgical. Arab war and Portuguese aggression have both been compelled to recede, and there is good hope of quieter times.
" The Livingstonia Mission is entering on a new period, even that of the first-fruits of harvest in every sense. Let the Church-that is, every member of it-seek by prayer and sacrifice to prove worthy of the Master who leads, and, in their degree, of the servants whom He has sent, and enableR us still to send, to the front of His army."
-Of the four Moravian brethren dispatched to establish a mission on Lake Nyassa, one, G. Martin, has already been called home. The Unitas Fratrum is publishing very full and interesting journals and letters from the surviving brethren.
-The Rev. G. L. Pilkington, of Uganda, writing in th" /}hurch Missionary Intelligencer, says: "The two facts that impress me most strongly in this country are the smallness of England's efforts for this country and the greatness of what God has been pleased to do in spite of it. Why, if Spurgeon or Moody were to come here they would soon have audiences of immortal souls (faces black, no doubt, if that makes any difference) as large as any they address in England or America, and more receptive" and less hardened, and far more grateful." Gratefulness, as the present writer, from ten years among the West Indian negroes can testify, is peculiarly a negro trait of character.
-The Ohronicle, highly commending Mr. Cust's " Africa Rediviva," nevertheless keenly criticises it in parts. Among other things it says :, " His bitter criticism on the Paris Missionary Society reads like a survival of that unworthy anti-Gallic feeling in which the British were trained a generation or two ago, and is utterly without justification. No more peaceable and loyal occupants of British territory can be found than the agents of the Paris Missionary Society in Basutoland, many of whom are connected by ties of blood or marriage more with England and Scotland than with France, and against whom it is an unjust and unfounded slander to say that they' have meddled with tribal politics in a sense hostile to British interests.' "
-It has heen a matter of surprise that the efforts of Christian missionaries in the barbarous Moslem empire of Morocco have hitherto been so free. It appears, however: from The Christian, that Islam is beginning to move against them. "The Sultan of Morocco has issued orders forbidding intercourse between Moorish women and ladies attached to Christ,ian missions. The workers connected with the North African Mission are specially affected, and having regard to the welfare of inquirers and others, they are prepared to pursue their labors with special circumspection and caution. The Sultan's advisers interpret communications between Moorish and English women as threatening' innovation in the laws,' and' the evil of corrupting religion.' These offences may be visited with the penalty of death in the case of renegades refusing to report in a given time! A definite subject for prayer at the present time is that the Sultan may grant religious liberty to his subjects, so that the Gospel may be proclaimed without imperial hi~dr~~c!3," EAST INDIES.
– " India is a vast continent inhabited by. nearly a fifth of the whole human race or nearly four-fifths of civilized Europe. Indian population is made up of many diverse societies in various degrees of human progres5 and distinguishable from each other by their dress, habits, occupations, and modes of life. But notwithstanding the great differences due to caste prejudices, the vast Indian peoples of the present day may well be dividIXI into two main classes-viz., those who understand English and those who do not. The former class is only a microscopic minority. I doubt whether they number even four per cent of the entire population; but as a class they can easily be distinguished from the masses, since their modes of life, occupations and dress are quite different from those of the great bulk: of the people. This new class of men, instead of returning, after their academical career, to the usual avocations of their parents, and improving them by their superior skill, tact and wisdom; instead of mixing freely with their less enlightened brethren and diffusing knowledge among them, and reforming them step by step, have preferred to remain isolated, and deserve to be called' an association of clerks and penmen.' After half a century of British rule in Il).dia this is the result that has been produced.
"It canno.t, however, be denied that though numerically small the English-knowing section of the Indian people is capable of producing grand results, if while waking to a sense of its power it is awakcned also to a sense of its duty. With such revered names among us as Rajah Ram Mohun Roy, Babu Keshub Chunder Sen, Iswara Chandra Vidya Sagar, no one is justified in saying that English education in India has been wholly barren of great results. These three great Indian heroes must find a foremost place among the men of action and the philanthropists of the world. Since the time of the illustrious Sakya Muni, these are the only three whom India has produced; but these three, in their own lifetime, worked with the accumulated strength of three hundred men. "-A Brahmin, in Harvest Field (Madras).
-The same Brahmin, writing, of course, from his own point of view, goes on to say: "Christian work among Pariahs has been a success; it does not matter much from a social standpoint whether the higher classes of Hindus become converts or not. The social advantages of Christianizing Pariahs are very numerous. On becoming Christians, Pariahs become eligible to study in public schools; they come under the supervision and control of enlightened missionary gentlemen. Their girls also are put to school, and soon' many a Hower born to blush unseen' sends forth a rare fragrance which is widely appreciated. "
-The abbot of the Hindu monastery of Gundicha, says the Juvenile Missionary Herald (English Baptist), a Brahmin, who has quite a passion for collecting Christian books, put them into the hands of two of his disciples. Naturally enough, but apparently without his expecting it, they both became Christians and very efficient ones.
– " Our mode of preaching is necessarily very varied-as varied as are the habits, thoughts, conditions of life of the people to whom we preach. A set discourse, delivered in an unemotional manner, is practically useless. Sympathy with the people, knowledge of their difficulties, acquaintance with the sayings current among them, familiarity with their home life, their social life and religious beliefs are absolutely necessary if we would speak to them effectively. Parables, il1ll~trations, proverbs, and pithy sayings must be freely used in commending to them the truths of the Gospel. The preacher must make everything he says real, living, visible before them. He must become all things to all men. He must feel that he has rich treasures of grace and love in Christ to present to every man, and must present them with all confidence and hope. Hesitaney, reserve, will take away all the spirit from what he says." -Rev. E. LEWIS, in Harvest Field.
– " The day whieh I spent, in company with the native preacher Pakiam, in visiting Pariah villages, has appeared to me one of the most momentous of my life. I wished that many friends of missions could do what I did-creep around in the huts of these mOllt wretched of all the wretched, and gain an insight not only into their outward misery, but into the utter ruinousness of their whole inner being. Such an experience might well rectify many a distorted apprehension and many an unwarranted expectation. "-Dr. GRUNDEMANN, in Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrijt.
-The Church Missionary Intelligencer, in a memorial notice of the eminent native clergyman, William Thomas Satthianadhan, says: "In regard to all th0ge delicate questions which are now and again coming to the front in the misRion field, snch as the relations of missionaries to their converts, and all such questions as might be properly included under the term 'Home Rule,' he showed himself at once in sympathy with his countrymen, and yet fully alive to the unwisdom, not to say absurdity, of the native church thinking it can run alone when it is only beginning to feel its feet. "
– " Last year the English officers and civilians of the Punjab and Sindh contributed $] 3, 500 for the support of mission work. They have seen thl) work of the missionary, and this is their testimony. "-Missionary Reporter (M. E. C., South).
-The Young Men's Christian Association of Madras (whose organ, The Young Men of India, we occa~ionally see) has now a membership of 215, of whom 47 are Christians, 87 Hindus, and 3 Mohammedans, the two latter classes, doubtless, being Associate.
– " When Carey was dying, the Metropolitan Bishop of India, the highest official of the Church of England in India, knelt with bowed head by the pillow of this shoemaker missionary, and asked his blessing, feel. ing that no honor could equal the blessing of this man, whom God had ordained to- be the greatest apostle of modern missions." – Canadian Mis. sionary Link.
MISCELLANEOUS.
-The U. P. Missionary Record for January has an interesting account of the great missionary martyr of the Middle Ages, Raymund Lull. He accomplished little immediately, but his example has always been working since. His words are: "He who loves not lives not; he who loves lives by the life that cannot die."
-The notion that Mohammedan!! are wholly inaccessible to the Gospel begins, as the Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift shows, to give way to facts. The Church Missionary Society has II round thousand baptized converts from Islam; the Rhenish Missionary Society, of its 12,000 converts in Snmatra, has received, we believe, almost one half from the Moham. medans; of 12,000 Javanese Christians, nearly al were gained from Islam.
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
n.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
International Missionary Union. Drake, Rev. D. H., India.
The ninth annual meeting of the In. Dunlap, Rev. E. ·P., Siam. ternational Missionary Union was held at Clifton Springs, N. Y., which has Dale, Miss Annie G., Persia. become its home, through the munifi· cent provision of Dr. Henry Foster, Eddy, Miss Mary Pierson, Syria. who has loved this institution and built them a tabernacle-one of the most Eddy, Miss Julia, " unique and beautiful structures of its Eveleth, Mrs. Fred H.. kind in the world. The first session, Burma. held on Wednesday evening, June 8th, was occupied with the address of wel- Ferguson, Rev. J. C., China. come from Rev. Lewis Bodwell, Chap. lain of the Sanitarium, followed by the Ferguson, Mrs. Mary N., " roll-call, in response to which the indio vidual members stated their field, years Fife, Miss Nellie E., Japan. of service, and made a brief reference to their work. Sixty.five missionaries Folsom, Rev. Arthur, China. responded to this call the first evening. The exercises were conducted by Rev. S. Folsom, Miss Ellen A., India. L. Baldwin, D.D., one of the secretaries of the Methodist Missionary Society. Fuller, Mrs. Jennie, The following missionaries were in Fitch, Rev. G. F., China. attendance on the meetings of the week. They aggregate some fourteen hundred Fulton, Miss Mary H., M.D., years of service on the field. Graybill, Rev. A. T., Mexico.
Gracey, J. T., D.D., India.
Gracey, Mrs. J. T., Hamlin, Cyrus. D.D., Turkey.
Hamlin, Mrs. Mary E., " Harding, ReT. C., India.
Harpster, Rev. J. H., Harpster, Mrs. J. H., Jewett, Lyman. D.D., ,. Jewett, Mrs. Lyman, Jewell, Mrs. C. M., China.
Kennedy. Miss M. J., India.
Kellogg, S. H., D.D., NAME. FIELD. Kellogg, Mrs. S. H., "
Adams, Mrs. S. C., Japan. Lucas, J. J., D.D., Abrahamian, Rev. S. C., Turkey. Andrews, Miss M. E., China. Lore, Mrs., D. D., Argentina. Angelini, Mrs. Arabella, Italy. Baldwin, S. L., D.D., China. Mansell, Henry, D.D., India. Belden, Rev. Wm. H.• Bulgaria. Belden, Mrs. Ellen S., Mansell, Mrs. NancieM., M.D.," Bunn, Miss Zillah A., Bnrma. Mellen, Mrs. L. W., Africa.
McMillan, Rev. J., M.D., Mudge, James, D.D., India.
Miller, Miss L. Ella, Burma..
Bunker, Alonzo, D.D., Nevius, J. L .• D.D., China. Burditt. Rev. J. T., Bushnell, Mrs. Albert. India. Nevius, Mrs. Helen S. C., Calder, James, D.D., Africa. Calder, Rev. Wm. Carey, China. Nichols, Rev. C. A., Burma. Burma. Nichols, Mrs. C. A., Otto way, Miss Annie, Cent. Am.
Carleton, Miss May, M.D., China. Osgood, Mrs. Helen W., China.
CroBs Samnel, Siam. Popoff, Rev. M., Bulgaria.
Cross, Mrs. Samuel, " Popoff, Mrs. M., Cushing, C. W., D.D., Italy. Davis, Rev. J. A., China. Parsons, Mrs. C. J., Turkey.
Plumb, Mrs. N. J., China.
Dowsley, Rev. Andrew,) India and Chi· Perry, Rev. H. T., Turkey.
B.A., l na, Campbel. Perry, Mrs. Mary E., Siam.
Dows!ey, Mrs. Andrew, ford, Ont, ;Can. Po~·ter, Miss Mary H., China. Phillips, Rev. E. G., Assam. Siam, as Journalistic Secretary, whose versatility, ingenuity, and general avail- Phillips, Mrs. E. G, ability throughout the week made him like the eyes in the wheels, when he was Phinney, Miss Hattie, Burma. not some one of the many wheels him- self. He has a high order of organizing Price, Rev. W. I., genius.
Price, Mrs. W. I., " LECTURES.
Ranney, Miss Ruth W., Dr. John Henry Barrows, of Chicago, delivered the first of the set lectures. Richardson, Miss Helen. India. His theme was" The Religious Exhibits and the Religious Congresses of the Roberts, Rev. W. H., Burma. Word's Fair in 1893." it was an elo· quent address, explanatory and argu- Roberts, Mrs. W. H., mentative, mainly aiming at the pres- entation of the ideal of the World's Rolman, Miss Eva L .• Japan. Parliament of Religions. The next morning the Union had a spirited de· Robinson, Rev. J. E., India. bate ou 'his part of the scheme, some stoutly championing it, and others with Rood, Mrs. A. V., Zulularid. equal zeal and intelligent statement condemning it. The general line of Rivenburg. Rev. S. W.• Assam. the arguments on either side were forti- fied by specific information as to the Rivenburg, Mrs. S. W., representative character of the eminent gentlemen from abroad who have been Schneider, Mrs. S. M., Turkey. already named, or of those likely to come. It was thought by these speak- Spencer, Miss M. A.• Japan. ers that no genuine Brahman, Buddhist, or Confucianist could be induced to Sparkes. Miss Fanny. India. take part in such a parliament. Others thought that the outcome of such a Stephens. Rev. W. H.. gathering would be much better and broader than any imaginary form or re- Stephens, Mrs. W. H .• " sult that could be sketched in advance; and that, as it was to be, Christian men Thayer. Rev. C. C.• M.D.• Turkey. might better accept destiny and aid in shaping something that would be of Thayer, Mrs. C. C.• value to mankind. Resolutions and amendments and substitutes found rec- Tracy. Rev. Charles C., ognition, and on some of them the de- cisions could only be announced after a Tyler, Rev. Josiah, Africa. count vote; but it turned out that no final action was reached, other topics Tyler, Miss Susan E., having forced their way to the attention of the meeting, and this not having Wherry, Miss S. M.• India. been taken up again, whether from indis- position to press to an ultimate vote the White, Mrs. W. J., . China. writer cannot say. Certainly a large num· ber will give their individual support Williams, Rev. E. T., to the movement; while the discussion will remain in the minds of those who Willits, Rev. O. W., " were present, as it was a very able one, Wood, Miss Sarah L., Turkey.
Wood, Geo. W., D.D., Wood, Mrs. Geo. W., "
Woodhull, Miss Kate C., M.D., China.
Young, Rev. E. R., 1 North American Young, Mrs. E.R., I Indians.
The summary of the above is as follows: By Societies: A. B. C. F. M., 25; Baptist, 23; Presbyterian, 23 : Metho. dist, 21 ; Lutheran, 2 ; Church of Scotland, 2 ; Reformed Church of America, 1; Woman's Union, 1 ; Disciples, 1 ; Evangelical Church of Italy, 1 ; Christian Alliance, 1 ; Italian Bible Society, 1 ; Independent, 1. Total, 103.
By Fields: Africa, 5; Assam, 4; Bulgaria,4; Burma, 13 ; Central America, 1; China, 22; Hudson Bay, 2; India, 25 ; Italy, 2 ; Japan, 4; Mexico, 1 ; PerSia, 1 ; Siam, 4 ; South America, 1 ; Syria, 2 ; Turkey, 12. Total, 103.
The organization was completed by the addition of Rev. E. P. Dunlap, of The next formal lecture was on " Bul· the Magazine of 'Christian Literature.
garia and the Bulgarians," by Rev. The first was from the pen of Mrs.
Cyrus Hamlin, D.D., founder and ex· Annie Reichardt, the second by Justice President of Robert College, Constanti. Ameer Ali, of Calcutta. .. The Nature nople. It is impossible to summarize of the Crisis in the Missionary Work in and almost as difficult to characterize Turkey," by Rev. William N. Cham.
this Gladstonian lecture by the Mis· bers, D.D., of Erzroom, Turkey, was sionary Gladstone of America. The the theme of another able paper. Rev.
lecturer, in his eighty·second year, Dr. J. M. Allis, of Chili, sent a paper on swept over the past, present, and future .. Work among Romanists." Rev. C.
without losing a fraction of detail or A. Nichols, of Burma, presented and cumbering with over·statement his read a practical paper on •• Lay Mis.
resume of the diplomacy and strategy of sionaries for the Foreign Field." Rev.
this the most diplomatic and strategic J. E. Robinson, of Bombay, read a valu- centre of modern history. We had lit· able essay on ., The Attitude of the Ed· tie wonder that a bishop of a Protes· ucated Classes of India toward Chris· tant church should say, "If Hamlin tianity." Rev. Robert H. Nassau, were a Romanist, that Church would M.D., of the Gaboon, West Africa, sent canonize him as soon as possible after a paper which was read as the opening his death," of the conversation on •• Shall Roman A third lecture was by Rev. J. L. Catholic Priests in Heathen Lands be Nevius, D.D., of Northeast Ohina, on Given Religious or Social Recognition " The Phenomena of Demoniacal Pos· by Protestant Missionaries ?" Dr.
session in the Present Age." The lec. Nassau took a negative position, though turer had bestowed large attention to he recognized certain obligations toward the collection and collation of testi. them as members of a civilized com· mony from many and widely separated munity, in comparison with the claims parts of the East, of alleged or suspected of the native heathen. Another paper cases of possession of the devil. The was furnished by Rev. William K. Eddy, classification of these phenomena was of Syria, on " The Shadeleeyah Sect of made in a strong way, and the lecturer Islam in Syria." Rev. W. H. Roberts, inclined to a belief of the operation of of Burma, presented a paper full of in· Satan, through hypnotic and other abo terest and information on the" Provi· normal conditions of the human mind sion for the Care and Education of and body, It hailed questions when Missionaries Children left in this Coun· the lecturer gave the opportunity to try. " Miss Z. A. .Bunn lind Miss Hat· present them,' tie Phinney, both of Burma, read es· PAPERS. says; the former treated" The Relative The more formal papers of the week Importance of Educational and Evan- were of marked ability. The most gelistic Work," and the latter" Train· elaborate was that of Rev. E. M. Wher. ing Native Bible Workers." Rev. C. C.
ry, D.D., of Chicago, second to no Tracy, of Turkey, treated the lIudience American authority on Mohammedan· to a paper on " Self.Support."
ism, discussing" The StatuR of Moslem SPECIAL SESSIONS. Women according to the Teaching of the Quran." The paper was summarized There were four sessions of promi.
in the absenoe of its author by Rev. Dr. nent interest. One entire evening ses- Kellogg, who proved equal to the task sion was given to the consideration of of condensing what he called already medical missions, and part of the ses- one of the most closely condensed es. sion the following forenoon, both or- says he ever read. It is partially in reo ganized and presided over by C. C.
joinder to two articles which appeared Thayer, M.D., Physician in Superin.
in the Nineteenth (Jentury, reprinted in tendence of the Sanitarium, a medical missionary in Turkey from 1868-73. which he might make a selection, ac- Another, directed and presided over hy cording to the interest sf the hour. Rev. James Mudge, D.D., editor of the Then the other members of the Union Lucknow Witness from 1873-83, was 00- plied them with impromptu questions. cupied with the relation of experiences The compact intelligence given so inof returned missionaries in their efforts terested the Union and the audience, to instruct and stimulate the home that it was subsequently determined to churches on the subject of fOl"eign mis- publish the questions and answers in sions. A change in the demand was pamphlet form. recognized, less of the mere curiosity exhibit, or reference to the customs of the The sessions for consideration of toppeople being desirable, the churches ics of a general interest were made purhaving so generally become intelligent posely conversational rather than in the in these matters, and prepared to form stiff form of debate, that the ladies better judgment of the missionary work might feel the freer to take part thereand results, and the work itself having in. The general outline embraced 8uch developed to an extent which intensi- topics as Governments and Missions; fies the interest in hearing about it. Nominal Christians and Dead Churches; The speech wanted of the returned mis- Immigrants in the United States; Selfsionary ten years ago is no longer in de- Support; Missionaries and Natives of mand. The advantages and difficulties Foreign Fields; Difficulties from Social of the missionary as a speaker on the Conditions of Converts: Training Nahome platform, and how he can make tive Helpers; Education versus Evanhimself most effective, were among the gelization; Work among Moslema, and points presented with advantage. numerous unclassified themes.
The special ladies' meetings, one ex- The platform meetings were well susclusi vely for ladies and one public, tained. Dr. Bunker, of the Baptist were addressed by Mrs. Schneider, for Karen Mission in Burma, thrilled the tllirty years in Turkey; Mrs. Parsons, audience with the recital ~f triumphs for forty-two years in the same coun- of grace and answered prayer within try; Mrs. Jewett, thirty-eight years his mission, like that of which he gave among the Telugus ; Mrs. Angelini, of a brief account in the July number of Italy; Miss Eddy, of Syria; Miss Ran- this REVIEW; Dr. J. J. Lucas charmed ney, of Burma; Mrs. Perry, of Siam. and profited the people with illustra- Mrs. Egerton R. Young, of Hudson's tions of the imminence of God in mis- Bay Indian work, sang in the Cree lan- sion work; Rev. Josiah Tyler, of South guage. and others in Japanese and other Airica, fired with enthusiasm, kindled tongues. by forty years among the Zulus, stirred his hearers with his vigorous recitals; But perhaps the most highly valued Rev. Egerton R. Young-it goes withof these special sessions was one given out the saying-was always the same to the "Dunlap Symposium." This fascinating speaker about the canoe and was a novelty destined to be copied dogsled experiences of missionary life and highly to be commended as a form among the Cree and Saulteaux Indians of missionary meeting where circum- in the far North Land; Rev. A. T. stances render it possible. Some fifteen Graybill, first missionary of the SouthmISSIOnaries, representing as many ern Presbyterian Mission in Mexico, fieldR, were selected to take place in spoke discriminatingly of work among turn on the platform to be "inter- Romanists; Rev. J. Harpster, of the viewed" by Rev. E. P. Dunlap, of Lutheran Church. told of their missions Siam, who suggested and arranged this in Africa and India; Rev. C. Harding, entire session. The parties had previous- of India, unobtrusive, but always sensily placed in the hands of Dr. Dunlap a ble and discriminating, Nevius. Folsom, set of questions about their work from Ferguson, with Willits, Williams, and others of China, with those from other but thirty-three were present at this fields, all contributed to an unllsually meeting. As it may be a matter of high average of platform delineation public interest, we give the following and demonstration with power, while names of those returning: veterans like Dr. Lyman Jewett, whose To Burruo., Rev. Messrs. Roberts and face it is a benediction to behold, graced. Calder and Misses Phinney and Bunn ; the occasion with words which were to Bulgaria, Rev. M. Popoff and wife; like" dew on H·.,rmon." to China, Dr. and Mrs. Nevius, Messrs.
There was the usual Young People's Fitch, Ferguson, and Willio.ms, Dr.
Meeting on Sunday afternoon, and a May Carleton and Dr. Mary Fulton; to rare series of talks on Bulgaria, by Rev. Cree Indians, Rev. E. R. Young; to W. H. Belden and Mrs. Belden, and Italy, Mrs. Angelini; to India, Dr.
Dunlap of Siam and Nichols of Burma, Mansell and wife, Dr. Kellogg and wife, illustrated by stereopticon views; and W. H. Stephens and wife, Rev. Hard- the charming social hour in the Sanita- ing, Mrs. Fuller, and the Misses Fol- rium parlor, known as the President·s som, Wherry, Richardson; to Mexico, reception, for the presentation of the Rev. Mr. Graybill; to Siam, Rev. Boon missionaries to Dr. and Mrs. Foster and Itt; to Turkey, Rev. Mr. Perry and others. wife and Mrs_ Par~ons. When these The Consecration Meeting at 9 o'clock had spoken Rev. Dr. George W. Wood, on Sunday morning, and the truly great formerly of Turkey, addressed them, in sermon at the morning service to a faultless phrase, words of tenderest large throng by Dr. Kellogg, must be sympathy and profound spiritual en- passed with mere mention. couragement, and Dr. Henry Foster, in The morning devotional hour each a prayer so remarkable for its unction day was, as usual, of great spiritual help- and power that all seemed to be in the fulness. One of these sessions was set very presence of God, commended them apart to pray that God would move on to the care of our heavenly Father_ some body or bodies to contribute The scene will live in the hearts as well $30,000, an unprovided balance neces- as in the memory of all who were pres- sary to the commencement of the en- ent, possibly" while life or thought or largement of the Sanitarium buildinga being lasts or immortality endures."
according to plans of Dr. Foster. The We present separately the formulated missionaries caIlle to realize that the action of the body on some great inter- magnanimous donor of half a million ests of the times. Some eminent dele- dollars' worth ot. property, primarily gates from other bodies were by motion for the upbuilding of the health of mis- requested to address the meeting. Mrs_ sionaries, had begun a work which they Ninde, of Minneapolis, Mrs. Hunt and should adopt and carry forward as far Mrs. Woodbridge, of the World's Wom- as in them might lie. Hundreds of an's Christian Temperance Union, were missionaries have been free guests here of the number. The salutations and while under more or less protracted communications of members not able treatment, and the entire institution is tu attend were grateful, and they came given to truetees with this chief intent from seemingly every corner of the globe in its use_ and from eminent men, in Europe as The culmination of interest and pa- well as in America, who are not of this thos and spiritual manifestation was body.
realized in the farewell meeting, held to Nothing could have been more ten- hear a parting word from the mission- der, appreciative, and beautiful than aries present, who anticipate returning the addresses and memorandums made to their foreign fields before another an- at the "Memorial Hour," held for nual meeting. In all there were about members deceased within the year: forty; some had been obliged to leave, Wellington J. White, of China; William Mellen, of Zululand; Naraiyan The following is the text of the me- Sheshadri, of India, and Mrs. Bartlett, morial: of Turkey. .. The International Missionary In responso to the presentation by Union. composed of missionaries of all Mrs. Woodbridge, the Secretary of tbe Christian denominations, and repre- World's Woman's Christian Temper- senting all the great mission fields of ance Union, of the form of petition to the world, assembled in IInnual meeting the several governments of the world at Clifton Springs, N. Y., presents for the suppression of the liquor and herewith its most respectful protest opium traffic, the Union directed the against the reoently enacted Chinese PrAsident and Secretary to sign the en- Exclusion Bill.
dorsement of the same in their name. .. We protest against 'it as unneces- The following officers were elected sary, the whole number of Chinese im- for the ensuing year: migrants having never exceeded 120,.
President, Rev. J. T. Gracey, D.D., 000, and there bEing no probability Rochester, N. Y.; Vice-Presidents, Rev. that any very much larger number Cyrus Hamlin, D.D., Rev. S. L. Bald- would for years come to this country.
win, D.D., Rev. W. H. Bixbee, D.D.; "We protest against it aa unchris- Secretary, Rev. William H. Belden, Clif- tian. We are commanded to deal justly ton Springs, N. Y.; Associate Secretary, with the stranger within our gates.
Mrs. C. C. Thayer, Clifton Springs,N.Y.; This enactment puts them under grave Treasurer, Rev. James Mlldge, D.D., disabilities and subjects them to cruel Clinton, Mass.; Librarian, C. C. Thayer, and unusual penalties. and is, there- i M.D., Clifton Springs, N. Y.; .&ecutive fore, unworthy of a Christian nation.
Oommittee, Rev. J. A. Davis,D.D., Hemp- " We protest against it as a violation stead, N. Y., Rev. M. H.Houston, D.D., of our solemn treaties. The Chinese Rev. C. W. Cushing, D.D., Mrs. O. L. who are here have been guaranteed the George, Rev. E. R. Young. Mrs. Will- same rights as those accorded to the iam H. Belden, Rev. C. A. Nichols. most favored nation. No one would think, for an instant, of requiring Eng- lishmen, Germans, or Frenchmen to go Important Opinions on Current .Affairs, before an Internal Revenue officer and 'J:RE RECENT ANTI-CHINESE LEGISLATION OF take out certificates which they should 'J:RE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. always have at hand to secure their Resolved, That the following memorial right of being here; and yet this is re- be adopted by this International Mis- quired of the Chinese in flagrant viola- sionary Union, and that a copy of the tion of that provision of the treaty, the same, signed by the President and Sec- advantage of which we always olaim for retary, be forwarded to the President American residents in China.
of the United States Senate, and to the " We further protest against the bill Speaker' of the House of Representa- as being likely to seriously endanger tives, with the request to present it im- the lives and property of missionaries mediately to each of these bodies. and merohants in the Chinese Empire.
Resolved, That a copy of the same be Those who are opposed to the pres- also forwarded by our officers to the ence of foreigners in the Empire are President of the United States, with greatly assisted in their inflammatory the request that htl will use his influ- . appeals aud riotous measures by the ence to have all matters concerning im- declaration that the United States of migration of Chinese to this country America are constantly passing oppres- settled by treaty with the Empire, and sive measures against their people in thus avoid legislation which is cont.rary this land.
to the spirit of Christianity and dis· "Moreover, we call your attention to graceful to the nation. the fact that the Chinese Government has never refused careful consideration MINUTE ON SCIENTIFIC TEMPERANCE EDU- to all modifications proposed by our Government in the treaties, and that it CATION IN FOREIGN MISSION SCHOOLS. would be perfectly feasible to reach all that is desirable and necessary through We rejoice to learn of the success diplomatic measures,. and there is, which has attended the effort to intro- therefore, no justification of opproosive duce scientific temperance instruction legislation. into the public schools and other edu- cational institutions in the United "We earnestly beseech your honor- States and Canada by means of national able body to immediately institute and State legislation. It is a matter of measures for the repeal of the recently sincere thankfulness that twelve or thirenacted exclusion bill, especially of the teen millions of pupils are under comfeatures which deny the right of bail pulsory educational laws in the United and require registration and certificates States, and encouraging to find that of the Chinese now living here." Canada is so rapidly following this ex- ample. ON THE CRISIS IN MISSIONS IN TURKEY. As a body of Christian missionaries, Resolved, That we claim for American representing many lands and languages, citizens in Turkey the treatment ac- we regard it as obviously desirable that corded to the citizens of the " most fa- the rising generation of new Christians, vored nation," and we ask our Govern- for whose temporal and spiritual weI. ment to secure to them these rights. fare we labor, should in the most effec- tive manner possible be fortified against Resolved, That we have indubitable and protected ·from the ravages of inevidence that the Turkish Government temperance, which undoubtedly are beis systematically pursuing It course in- coming more threatening with each hospitable, unfriendly, and unjust, con- passing year. There are few mission trary to its ancient customs, contrary to fields in which the need of stringent the ,. capitulations" and to all princi- total abstinence requirements among ples of the Hatti Sherif and the Ratti the native Christian community is not Humayun. As by this course Turkey more or less deeply felt. In some fields is placing herself outside the pale of intemperance works serious injuries in civilized nations, we petition our Gov- native churches. Sound temperance ernment to concert with other govern- views, strong convictions, and intelliments the means of defence. gent apprehension of the physical and moral evils connected with intemper- Resolved, That the carrying out of the ance are urgently required all along the present systems of action by the Turk_ line of missionary effort. ish Government will reRult in the restoration of the darkest and most bigoted In order to the attainment of these form of Islam; the interests of Christian most desirable objects, we believe the missions, of civilization, of humanity time has fully come for a definite, sysin Asis and Africa are deeply impli- tematic, and well-matured effort to incated, and Christian governments trcduce scientific temperance instrucshould take note of the danger. tion into the national educational sys- tems and curricula of all mission schools Resolved, That as a body of mission· in foreign lands; some countries are aries gathered from all parts of the specially ripe for such an effort. world and from all denominations of . We are strongly of the opinion that Evangelical Christianity, we express in order to the most satisfactory results, our sympathy with out' tried and be. and to save time, that it would be of leaguered brethren in Turkey, and for great advantage if the several mission their relief we look not only to human boards could find it practicable to cogovernments, but to Him to whom is operate in this matter, and respectively given all power in heaven and earth. request their missionaries to introduce upon the glad assembly at Clifton approved scientific temperance instruc· Springs next June, I should find there tion into the schools under their man· some of the bravest and best toiler!;! of agement as rapidly a8 practicable; and our time, representing both hemispheres we further believe that our tract soci- and well-nigh every land of the globe. eties and boards of publication should The delightfulrueetings at the Thousand afford such helpful co operation in pre- Island Park, Bridgeton, Binghamton, paring and publishing such literature and Clifton Springs are not forgotten, as may be approved by properly consti- and we who were there to enjoy them tuted missionary authorities. should the more willingly contribute to the interest and success of the meetings As far as we have examined the that follow them. primers and more advanced text-books commended by the Scientific Depart- Could I drop down for an hour into ment of the Woman's Christian Tem- Dr. Foster's new missionary hall at the perance Union, we accord our approval Sanitarium, the very first thing I should of the same, and our belief that with say would be about the open doors for sundry minor modifications to adapt reaching childhood in India that we them to particular countries they are are finding on every side. Marvellous, suitable for translation into foreign indeed, is the answer to the patient and vernaculars. prevailing pI'ayers of our fathers, offered up years ago, that these barred and Lastly, we appeal to missionaries in bolted doors might be opened. Childall lands to lend their active personal hood everywhere is intelligent, eager, assistance and co-operation in the direc- inviting, and accessible. More calls tion indicated above, so that before than we can answer are reaching us this century closes every land repre- from all sides. Last week I was asked sented in this conference may rejoice to preside at the annual meeting of an that this class of instruction is perma- Anglo-Talliil Sunday-school near Madnently incorporated in its educational ras. The superintendent read a very system, bright and cheering report, from which I take a few lines: Good Cheer in Work for India's Ohil- dren. " At first this was a school for Tamil Ohristian boys only. . . . A petition BY J. L. PHILLIPS, M.D., SECRETARY OF THE was prE-sented to us by a large number of Hindu boys, requesting that they INDIA SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION. also might be allowed to join the Sun- day-school. They did this knowing The Psalmist prayed, "Show me a very well that nothing be~ides strictly token for good," and so say our friends Christian instruction would be imparted at home, who faithfully pray and watch to them in the school." for the coming of the kingdom in this and other dark lands; and it is but On the rolls of this fine school I found fair that we, who are privileged to be at one hundred and eighty-three names, the front in this campaign for the representing Eurasians, Protestant na· world's evangelization, should keep the tive Christians, Roman Catholics, Mo. great army of the reserve well informed hammedans, Hindus, and out-castes. concerning every step of progress, par- The Hindus are in the majority, sevan ticularly every stroke of success. As of them being Brahmans, who sit beside one of the broadly scattered outlook Christian and pariah boys studying the committee of our beloved International same Bible lessons and singing the Missionary Union, I cannot but keep praises of the same Lord Christ; and in mind my promise to report annually so all over India am I finding ample to the convention. Could I look in opportunities for extending our Sun- day-school system. Our only limitation rOIlo11y is within ourselves, for we can· for planning aggressive effort in behalf not find teachers enough for this glad of the millions of children and youth and growing work. Had we five thou· yet unreached, are doing excellent ser· sand new teachers reporting for duty vice, and the good fruit begins to ap.
next Sabbath morning. I'm sure all pear. With only converted persons for could find ready work in our broad teachers, and these better equipped for field. the work, we hope to see a decided im· Our first effort has been to organize provement in our SundaY·ilchools.
the Sunday.school forces here. With a Then, again, in order to meet the de· view to this I travelled more than four. mand for more teachers we must intro- teen thousand miles in India last year. duce normal clai!ses into our Sunday.
Auxiliary Sunday.school unions have schools, in which the larger pupils been organized in Bengal, Bombay, shall be specially trained for teaching, Puujab, Maflras, Burma, Rajutana, Here, as in America and Europe, our Central Provinces, and the Northwest pupils of fourteen and upward, of both Provinces and Oudh. When Assam, sexes, may begin teaching the little Central India, and Ceylon come into ones. Some of the best teachers we line, as they will soon, we shall have a have now began thUd early, and are strong and, I trust, successful system doing finely. By thus giving them a of Sunday.schools throughout the land. share in the work we hope to keep our R~.ch of these auxiliaries has its own hold on them at an age when so many officers, its own languages to provide Cor, boys and girls slip out of Sunday.
its own population to reach. The secre· schools.
taries of these auxiliary Sunday.school As at home, so here we are beginning unions are true yoke. fellows of differ· to have Sunday.school institutes and ent missions, European and American, conventions. Capital conventions have who are organizing and marshalling the been held in the Punjab at Lahore, in forces in their respective fields. One Madras, in Burma, at Rangoon, and the of these noble helpers of mine is a lady, Northwest Provinces at Allahabad. In Miss Abbott, of the American Marathi these carefully prepared papers on prf!.c, ~IiBBion, Bombay, a missionary's daugh. tical Sunday.school topics are read and ter, hence one of our India's own. discussed. These meetings promote These secretaries are ably supported by delightful Christlan fellowship and co- a strong committee in which every operation, and infuse genuine enthusi· church of denomination working in the asm into our work for the children. In field is represented. Best of all, our connection with these a mass-meeting helpers have "a mind to work," and for the children of all the churches is 80 we hope to "push things," as Grant usually held, addressed by speakers wired Sheridan in war time, you recol. known to love the little' ones and apt to lect. teach them. These meetings, where I have spoken of the need of more we have had hundreds of children to· Sunday.schools, but a sorer need here gether, European and native, have is better Sunday.schools. S()me we have proved a delightful feature of our con· are too poor for propagation. The ventions so far. As yet, however, our stock must be improved, then the shoots Sunday·school conventions do not ap.
will be sturdy and fruitful. To this proach those of America or England in end we are introducing preparatiou size or enthusiasm, but we are full of classes for teachers, both English and hope and getting on.
vernacular. In Calcutta and at several Another token of cheer is that Sun.
other points these weekly classes for day.schoolliterature is receiving atten· studying the lessons, for prayer for Di· tion. Last year the India Sunday. School vine illumination and God's blessing Journal was begun, and has met with a on the work of the Sunday·school, and cordial reception all over India. This is our only English publieation. It is India Sunday-schools the past year, and a monthly of thirty-two pages, and be- we look for many more. The two Octosides editorial articles and communica- ber days {If special prayer in behalf of tions and correspondence from our Sunday-schools throughout the world wide field, it has Notes on the Inter- were well observed in India, and with national Lesson written in India by cheering results. Our teachers are men of different churches. As to ver- coming to realize that their chief businacular pUblications. we are making a ness is to bring their pupils to Christ. good start in several of the trunk lan- With a higher ideal we shall see larger guages of India, in the way of lesson. fruitage. I have heard of Hindu girls leaves, brief notes, etc. Each auxiliary in several Sunday-schools who have in. union is expected to keep an eye to the telligently believed on the Lord Jesus bpecial needs of its own section of the Christ, who pray to Him daily, and field. The membership fund of our openly con fess Him in their dark homes, parent Union will be able to make reading the Bible and refusing to worgrants to the several auxiliaries, we ship idols or bow down to the priests. hope, for pushing on this vernacular Some of these little ones will surely department. The annual membership lead their parents out into the light and fee is one rupee for Europeans and four liberty of the Gospel. Cases have alannas for natives, and we hope to en- ready come under observation in my roll many members from all parts of tours over India, where a child has been India and Ceylon, and America. converted first and then brought father and mother to Christ, and we are to It is occasion for rejoicing that the have many sl1ch. If we reach the chilo scope of the Sunday· school idea is en- dren of this generation, how our work larging in India. I well recollect when will tell upon the next generation, when it was thought that only Christian pu- the children will be men and women! pils could attend Sunday-school. Now we have thousands of boys and girls There are other tokens of good of from Hindu and Mohammedan homes which I cannot speak now. We most in our Sunday. schools, and we might earnestly implore the prayers of all have millions had we the requisite teach- God's people, that great faith may be ing force. Our missionary toilers are granted all toilers in this broad field. coming to see how this line of effort Hindus and Mohammedans have been can supplement every department, edu. saying for years, ., We shall live and cational, evangelistic, literary, and die just as we are, but our children will be medical. The Sunday-school is being Ohristians." This is prophetic, and I regarded as a direct and most promising believe true. We should claim these missionary agency; and we are already millions of bright, beautiful children for introducing the home department here our King. In the name of our Lord we as at home. Our home department should set up our banners everywhere, will provide for teaching the Sunday- covering all India with a network of school lesson in the zenanall, in dispen- Sunday-schools. Let much prayer be saries and hospitals, and to companies offered up in the home churches and of domestic servants in cities and sta· conventions for India's children, now tions. The tea-gardens of Darjeeling so ready for Christian teaching, for already have the Sunday.scliool for the teachers to be raised up in thousands children of their coolies, and new open- here on the field for this great work of ings for this branch of Christian en- winning these sons and daughters of deavor are appearing on every side. paganism to Christ, and for all mission- This enlarged scope is something to ary superintendents v.ho are directing thank God for. this Sunday-school campaign for India's complete and speedy evangelization. There have been conversions in our
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
I1I.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
The Student Volunteer Fund. intendent of the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society. The sad event took Since the Student Volunteer move- p~ace very suddenly on Sunday night at hIS residence in Edinburgh. Dr. Lowe ment was inaugurated, it has been the was a son of the Manse, his father being a well-known Indf'pendent minister. purpose to furnish the members of that The first event of importance in Dr. Lowe's career occurred in 1861, when he movement with the MISSIONARY REVIEW received his diploma_ During the same year, accompanied by Mrs. Lowe, he OF THE WORLD at a nominal price. In sailed from Gravesend to Travancore to labor there as a missionary, under the order to do this, appeal was made for auspices of the London Missionary So- ciety. During his eight years' residence subscriptions to a distinct fund. The in Travancore Dr. Lowe placed tJ-) Medical Mission on such a sound basis editors of the REVIEW were among the that it has now become an agency of great dimensions, and it i~ acknowlfirst to lead off with subscriptions to edged as perhaps the most valuable aux- iliary to evangelistic work in South that fund. Others followed, with sums India. After his return to this country the directors of the Edinburgh Medical of a variable amount. Some individuals Missionary Society, to whoin his work as a medical missionary was well known have given liberal donations; others offered him the then vacant post of superintendent of their training institusmall sums. Until quite recently these tion. His experience in the foreign field eminently fitted him for such a contributions have enabled us to keep position, and acting upon the unani- mous advice of his friends, he accepted our proposition intact. Just now the the post. Dr. Lowe was a great favorite with the students, of whom many have fund is overdrawn. It is very desirable gone forth and done brilliant service in the missionary cause. Gifted with true indeed that this favor shall continue to eloquence, Dr. Lowe ably pleaded for the advancement and religious improvebe extended to these young men and ment of the great masses of humanity, both at home and abroad. young women whose hearts are moved by the Holy Ghost to this work, that they may be kept constantly in touch with the great missionary movements of the age; and that they may grow in knowledge as well as in zeal. We have esteemed it a work of great importance, and it still remains such.
We do not desire to cut down the list nor to withdraw the offer. There are many persons who will esteem it a priviIege to make a contribution toward this missionary education and training of these davoted prospective mission- aries. We venture to state this muPecrh~ that the situation may be known.
sons desiring to aid in this splendid work may send their contributions di- rect to Funk & Wagnalls Company, 18 and 20 Astor Place, stating that they are for this fund, and the amounts will A Virgin Field in India.
be duly credited on the special account Between east longitude 80' and 82'. 30' and north latitude 17' 30' and 20' kept in this interest. Even small sums lies about 25,000 square miles of coun- try, the home of 600,000 souls, three will aid; but it is desirable that there quarters aborigines and the remainder shall be a quick response on the part of many. J. T. G.
Death of Dr, Lowe, Hindus and a few stray Mohammedans. Four hundred thsusand of the abo- Widespread regret will be felt at thf' rigines are of one original main stock death of the Rev. Dr. John Lowe, Super- or family, speaking one aboriginal Ian goage and having a common religion. able for Lord Salisbury. The whole Yet this people are known by at least four different names in fOllr distinct position, in Europe as well as in Mada- geographical localities. gascar, has been most carefully weighed The aborigines of Central India is there what the Red Indian of America is by Hova statesmen, and the next month here-i.e., the relict of pa~t nations. or so it is more than likely will see the Madagasoar. Government of Madagascar giving notice ANTANANARIVO, April 30, 1892. In consequence of England and to the British Government that the France exchanging Zanzibar and Madagascar, the outlook for British subjects Anglo.MalagaMY Treaty is annulled; in this l'ountry is becoming very gloomy. The Government is determined not to that British subjects, including mispermit France to assume the judiciary control and consular representation of sionaries, are without rights and imforeigners; and so fixed is their resolve, they are considering the advisability of munities in the island, and that the custaking retaliatory measur",sagainst England should she persist in giving France toms on British goods are greatly raised. a free hand in Madagascar affairs. Grave as the prospect is, there is, how- Against this latter step no appeal is posever, no likelihood of the retaliatory measures taking the form of a menace sible to France ; for the French Governto the life and property of Europeans. The Hova are not as generally believed ment do not claim any right to interfere in Europe a horde of savages. It is their civilization, high intelligence, and in any matter affecting the revenues of appreciation of the value of moral pressure which are causing them to de- this country. G. M. H. bate whether England will consider the steps she is taking, if these are shown The following story is told of the Rev. to be taken to be so grievous a wrong Dr. Inglis, of Aneityum, who died a upon a Protestant and progressive na- few months ago. He was asked to make tion of British civilization that political a speech before the General Assembly aggression will be reciprocated commer- of the Free Church of Scotland, and was Cially as well as by fighting to the last told to be brief. He said: should France appeal to arms to enforce her pretensions. The Government of ,. Fathers and brethren, we are told this island continent is also fully aware that missionaries should content themthat retaliatory measures upon British selves with stating facts, and leave the enterprise would be so much to the dis· Church to draw the inference. I wish advantage of the British community to bring three facts to your notice. here thata protest loud and long would assuredly be raised by them against .. First, I place on your table," suittreaties with this country being ignored; ing the action to the word, "the Shorter aud the Malagasy have further taken Catechism translated into the language into account that such an outcry on the of Aneityum. eve of the general election would probably awaken the Nonconformist and Lib- " Second, I place on your table also eral press, and make things uncomfort- • Pilgrim's Progress' translated into the language of Aneityum."
Then taking into his hands a large volume, while he looked longingly on the pages that had cost him years of toil, he laid it on the table and said: " Third, I place on your table the Holy Scriptures, Old and New Testa- ments, translated into the language of Aneityum, and now leave the Church to draw the inference," and sat down amid a storm of applause.
Recent Religious. Riots in the Piroous.
'l'he orthodox priests of the Greek Church have been strongly opposed to the Evangelicals. These Jltter reformers, led by Dr. Kalopathakes, are op- communities. These are from three to posed to the elaborate ritual of the three and a half times stronger than in Greek Church; they deny her exclu- 1871. The number of adherents of the sive right to interpret the Scriptures, Greek Church has fallen very much-a reject the binding authority of tradition, fact which may be ascribed to the great and uphold thll Scriptures as containing diminution in the number of Russia.n the only necessary rules of faith and residents in Germany. A considerable practice. For a long time Dr. Kalopa- increase has been registered in the num- thakes and his followers have had their ber of Buddhists, Brahmins, and Mo- services interrupted. At last he applied hammedans. This is greatly due to the to the police for protection, but only augmented number of Chinese, Japan- three officers were sent, who proved ese, and Turks who come to Germany powerless on the Sunday when the riot for scientific or technical studies.
occurred. The services were conducted The article on " Pseudo-Philanthropy in peace, but as soon as the congrega- in Missions" in our May number should tion began to leave the building the have been accredited to Rev. H. B. Hulmob outside began to stone them, drove bert, of Corea. them back, and soon attacked the church itself. The coolness and bravery The Ohinese Exolusion Bill. of Mrs. Kalopathakes created a diver- sion in her favor, and she and most of Dr. Gracey does not exaggerate when those with her were permitted to de- he says in the July REVIEW that this part unhurt. The building was wreck- bill " has given offence to many mill- ed, Mr. Isaras, the preacher, received a ions of our citizens." A few weeks severe cut in the head, aud Dc. Kalopa- after its passage an indignation meeting thakes was knocked down twice, but was held in Tremont Temple, Boston, was not hurt seriously. such as has not probably occurred since the days of the anti-slavery agitation, just prior to the war. At this meeting The Growth of Religious Life in Ger- the most unsparing condemnation of many. the bill was expressed by all the speak The Statistische Oor'l'espondenz pub- ers, and those who had promoted its lishes somt> interesting figures on the passage were censured by name in a growth of religious life in Germany rising vote, the President of the United since 1871.' For every 1000 members of States not excepted. This gathering religious bodies at that date there were was not called by the friends of mis- in 1880 1099 members of the Evangeli- sions, but by patriotic citizens and cal Church and 1113 Catholics. Five philanthropists, without regal'd to years later the numbers had increased party.
to 1190 and 1164 respectively. In 1890 The recent great Methodist Confer- the Evangelical Church had 1190 and ence at Omaha, we understand, con- the Catholics 1240 members. In the demned the bill in the most emphatic same period for every 1000 persons manner. The Baptists at their Centen without religion in 1871 the develop- nial Convention, in Philadelphia, joined ment had been 4000, 10,955, and 14,355 with their brethren of the South in a -that is to say, there were in Germany public censure of the act, the great as- in 1890 more than fourteen times as sembly in the Academy of Music rising many persons professing no religious to their feet to declare that not only as faith as in 1871. Among the various re- Christians but as voters their condemna- ligious bodies belonging to the Evan- tion must rest upon this act. Consider- gelica.l confession (the Times says) the ing that these two bodies represent at greatest increase has taken place in the least seven millions of Christians, their Presbyterian, Methodist, and Quaker action means much. How needless and wanton an affront Porte set itself to attack missions in to the Christian and patriotic sentiment Turkey, Dr. Goodell summoned his of our country this bill is will appear brethren to the throne of grace, saying, by a single glance ~t the facts. We " The great Sultan of the universe can oopy from the record of the Interior, as ohange all this." And so He can, and given by the Watchman: our first appeal should be to Him ; "During the decade 1850-60 the but as lovers of humanity and pronumber of Chinamen ooming to this oountry was 41,379 ; during the deoade moters of missionll, we are bound to act 1860-70, 68,059; during 1870-80, 122,- 436; and during 1880-90,59,995 The as well as to pray. William Lloyd Gar. falling off for the period 1880-90 was due to the restrictive legislation of rison, a worthy son of a worthy father, 1882. The total number of the Chinese in the United States is less than 200,- calls upon the citizens of Massachusetts 000, or about four tenths of one per cent of the population of the country. to paralyze this anti-Chinese bill as During the last ten years the Chinese population of California has diminished they paralyzed the Fugitive Slave bill, about four and one half per cent." which it so closely resembles. In all The whole number of Chinamen now worthy and Christian ways let us seek in the United States does not equal the to do so, hoping that before the year closes this obnoxious measure will be nullified. A. J. G.
Dangerous Prayers, number of the worst elements of the " I want you to spend fifteen minutes European population who pour into our every day praying for Foreign Mis- country by the emigration of a single sions," said a pastor to some young peo_ year; and yet, speaking from our ple in his congregation. "But beware knowledge of the thousand Chinamen how you pray, for I warn you that it is of Boston, we oan say that they are a very costly experiment. "
among the least offensive and the most " Costly?" they asked in surprise.
industrious and really helpful of any ., Ay, costly," he cried… When Carey olass of foreigners that oome to our began to pray for the conversion of the oity. Why, then, this monstrous legis- world, it cost him himself, and it cost lation against them-pasged with a those who prayed with him very m.ch.
haste that defied all decency, and in Brainerd prayed fo1' the dark skinned such terms as violate the most sacred savages, and after two years of blessed treaty obligations? Why? Everybody work, it cost him his life. Two students knows why. It is another attempt on in Mr. Moody'S Bummer school began the part of our legislators to sell not to pray the Lord of the harvest to send their own, but the nation's birthright forth more servants into his harvest; for a mess of Presidential pottage. and 10! it is going to cost our country The evil effect of their conduot is al- five thousand young men and women ready manifesting itself. In the Sun- who have, in answer to this prayer, day-school of my own ohurch we pledged themselves to the work. Be have one hundred Chinamen. Twenty sure it is a dangerous thing to pray in are members with us. We have no earnest for this work; you will find that worthier, more devoted, and self-deny- you cannot pray and withhold your ing Christians among us than these; labor, or pray and withhold your money; and yet the hoodlums, taking the hint nay, that your very life will no longer from Washington, have renewed their be your own when your prayers begin petty persecution against them, stoning to be answered.
and clubbing them on their passage .. I have often said in my public ad- through the streets. dresses that it is a dangerous thing to What ought the Christians of America pray for a blessing unless you want it.
to do about this bill? They ought cer- What a blessed thing when we are ready tainly to pray. 'Vhen the Sublime to rece,ive!"
1892·1 THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
DY lIEV. JAMES GOllDON GRAY, D.D., ROME, ITALY.
Evangelioal Work in Italy in 1891. Wherever, in fact, an interest in evan- gelical truth has sprung up in individ· All who know anything of evangelioal ual cases or in small co.npanies, the work in Italy will readily admit that a most strenuous efforts have been put just estimate of results oan be formed forth to stifle it. The Church of Rome only in view of such oonsiderations as has shown quite recently that it ap· these. The country is still in the proves of Buch a line of action on the throes of a serious financial crisis. ThE' part of its priesthood by putting under question of the hour is as much as eVl'r, its ban the" Life of Christ," wrHten by How oan the deficit in the budget be Ruggero Bonghi, who professes himself met? Strenuous efforts worthy of all one of its attached adherents. Such praise have been made to reduce outlay opposition, no doubt, still influences in many directions; but much more re- many timid minds. Secret sympathizers mains to be done to restore the true with the evangelical movement are slow balance between income and expendi. to reveal themselves, although in not a ture. All classes in the community few cases it happens that such tactics have been more or less affected by this really help rather than hinder the crisis, and most of all those that are spread of the truth. On the whole, most within the reach of evangelical in- however, it may be said that the field of fluenoes. Among the poorer classes an work is thereby largely restricted. A unusual amount of misery has prevailed. third consideration that should be noted The times, therefore, have be()n most is the great amount of indifference to unfavorable .to the sale of Scriptures religion in every form that prevails and the support of evangelical agencies. throughout the land. There is no evi- Both the product of such sales and the dence as yet of an awakened interest in amount of local contributions must be spiritual things, affecting many at a looked at in the light of such facts as time. The results that have been gathare patent to everyone living in Italy. ered are owing to much painstaking, Another circumstance tbat must be persistent effort. The vast ontlying taken into account in estimating results, mass remains unmoved. One here and is the widespread and persistent opposi· there only comes to be reached with tion of the Romish clergy to tbe efforts Gospel influences. The features of the made by evangelical churches to relieve wide field, that has been wasted by a the misery and enlighten the darkness spurious Christianity, are such probain which the people are involved. The blY!ls for the present to warrant only Bible is everywhere denounced by them results of a more or less individual charas a falsified Protestant book. Every acter. Many of the better minds of the one who dares to purchase or peruse it country have bean driven away fron: all is threatened with excommunication. religion bi the error and superstition More cases than usual have been re- that ha'l'e become inseparably mingled ported this year in which portions of it with the only Christianity of which anyhave been tOl'n to fragments or con· thing is known. The wide gulf which sumed to ashes in the public squares. the dominant Church has contrived to Here and there the oolporteurs have place between itself and all other met with rough usage at the instigation churches keeps another large section of of the priests. One reports that he was the community entirely beyond onr repeatedly assailed with showers of reach. The best elements within the stones and ,.ariven out of the town. Church of Rome itself can think of us only as unbelievers to be shunned. In land. 1t is to the credit of all the Pres- view of such facts. the wonder is that byterian churches of the world that they progress of a very distinct character can have not attempted to set up in Italy be reported. any mission of their own. What they have done has been to occupy them- The first place in this estimate for the selves with school work and other agen- past year may be given to the actual ad- cies that indirectly help the whole missions of new members into the vari- movement. ous churches. For the sake of clearness we may range all the leading agencies The additions for the past year may connected with distinct churches under be thus stated: The Presbyterian three heads. This will leave out the Re- churches, 734 ; the Methodist churches, formed Oatholic Church, under the guid- 449 ; the Baptist churches, 143-in all, ance of Count Campello, and the Free 1326. 'rhe promise of additions during Churches (Chiese Libere), which last the current year is not less encouraging, a·re more or less in alliance with the as shown by the number of catechumens. Plymouth Brethren. As we are not in The Waldensian Church numbers 751 in possession of the statistics in these two course of instruction ; the Italian Evancases, we cannot compare them with gelical, 492; the Wesleyan, 219; the those of the others, We need only say American Methodist, 237. The Baptist that the Roformed Catholic Church is churches do not give their figures in this certainly still the weakest, as it is the respect. The whole number under youngest, of the churches that have catechetical instruction, if we allow a allied themsel'ves with the Committee of proportionate number to the Baptist the Evangelical Alliance. Its JqembM'- churches, is thus little short of 2000. ship is still under three hundred, and its work is confined to two diRtricts- The work among the young is the next the valley above Terni and the shores of point of special interest. All the San Remo. The" Chiese Libere" have churches believe in the power and uselost rather than gained ground in recent fulness of the Sunday-school. Here years. The Evangelical churches have again the Presbyterian churches are to come in and absorbed to 'a large extent the front with 4160 scholars between the interest that gathered round those them. The othElrs have some 2000 separate and independent congregations among them. Thus 6000 children apof earnest worshippers which the move- pear to be under Bible instruction each Jllent in its earliest stage developed. Sunday. The churches that have day- Apart from these the whole work of the schools enjoy a great advantage over the Evangelical Church in Italy may be others in being able thereby to secure summarized under three divisions, pupils for their Sunday.school. Three These are the Italian Presbyterian of the churches have among them 4800 churches, embracing the Waldensian pupils in their day-schools. A large and Italian Evangelical churches, the number of Roman Catholic children is latter better known under its former thereby reached not accessible otherand more distinctive name of the Free wise. School work, however, forms s Italian Church. There are the Method- very expensive item among the various ist churches, including the English agencies employed by the churches; Wesleyan and the American Methodist and it is no wonder if several of them Episocpal churches. There is also the have not laid themselves out for it. Union of Baptist Churches, under which The Government schools are generally general heading we have both the Eng. well equipped. The children of the lish and American Baptist churches. churches may have an excellent secular Under the title Presbyterian we do not, education through them in many cases. of course, embrace the work of the Besides, the results of school work have Scotch Presbyteri!l~ C!lUfc4efj i~ tbe to be waited for longer than in almost any other case. Of this I bad fl'ther flo striking illustration in my own eXlleri. more of the others. This branch of ence quite recently. A young man work has been as yet too sparingly tried from Naples came to visit me on be. in Italy. That has arisen, no doubt, in half of one of the Young Men's Asso- some cases from the fear that ground ciations there. He tluned out to be might thereby be given for the charge an old pupil of the sohools oarried on that the churches bny their converts.
in connection with the Presbyterian No such feeling, however, can warrant Church. Twelve years ago he had been the Evangelical churches of the land to in t.he infant class, and now he was not leave the poor around them unCtlred for.
only a member of the Evangelical The example of Him who went about Church, but an active member of the healing and preaching the Gospel of the Young Men's Christian Association. kingdom forcibly appeals to every His family had been also gained, and Church that bears His name. Care has he declared that he was one of anum· only to be taken that in tending the sick ber who had been similarly gathered in all are left free to embrace our teaching through the school. These evangelical or not as they feel disposed. More and schools are thus quickly but surely pre· more are we impressed with the fact paring the fruit for the Church of the that the Italian people have need of the immediate future. Wherever they are beneficial aspects of religion to be pre.
carried on in the right spirit and with a sented to them that their sympathies view til distinct results, their fruit is may be won. Too much has been looked sure and lasting. for as the result of unaided teaching, In this particular branch of work we which has largely been of a controversial are happy to be able to report more character.
hearty co . operation between the 'fhe two most important aids to the churcbes than heretofore. This has work of all the churches in Italy are shown itself in the adoption here in found in the two Bible societies and in Rome of the International series of Sun. the Florence Publications Society. The day school lessons. To that there has agent of the British and Foreign Bible been added a joint competition for Society reports that his sales for the prizes provided by a local elder. Then past year have remarkably increased, there have been general gatherings of not only in small .. portions," !IS in aU the Sunday-school children for com- former years, but in Bibles anJ Testa.
mon religious exercises. ments. The increase has been remark.
The Young Men's Associations con· able, especially in Calabria and the nected with the churches are also draw. Abrnzzi. The colporteurs all over have ing together. Recently a resolution sold between 12,000 and 13,000 copies has been come to in favor of union more than in 1890, and the depots 2000 among them. This cannot but have its more. Never, he says, have such fig.
effect in due time on the churches with ures been reached. The actual sales in which they are connected, and draw Italy for the past year are set down at these more and more together. 153,770; and if the sales of Italian A word or two should be said on the Scriptures outside Italy be added, the various agencies that have sprung up in number cannot be much below 200,000.
connection with the churches. All of The work of the National Bible Society them have their colporteurs or Bible· of Scotland, which is included in the women to a greater or less extent. Some above summary, shows an increase in have industrial schools more or less con- all the items as regards Scriptures.
nected with them. Evening classes lire Altogether that society has sold 13,747 carried on with great zeal in other cases. Scriptures and 6521 religious books.
Medical mission work, which formerly An important point now gained is used to distinguish only one of the that our Italiijn Scriptures, which used churches, has been begun by one or to be printed in London,6re now issuing from the Claudian Press, in Flor. selves. The spirit of self-sacrifice is ence. That press is more fully equipped either too little understood or too rarely tha,n ever before. It has begun not only practised by those that have heen to cover its own expenses, but to pl'O- reached by the movement. More care, vide a considerable sum for the mission. it must be admitted, has been taken of ary branch of the enterprise. And it is late to urge this duty and privilege on the intention of its managers to make it the members of the churches. And cer· compete with the best printing estab- tainly it is no small result that has been lishments in the country. Last year obtained by the Waldensian Church there issued from it of books and tracts, from its 4518 members in the mission 112,300 ; its favorite alm~nac, 35,000 ; field in Italy 85,683 francs, and by the periodicals, 117,080; Scriptures, 296,- Italian Evangelical Church from its 000. All the churches, even those that 1631 members, 22,772 francs, and again have their own printing presses, avail by the American Methodist Church, themsel ves more or less of its periodi. from its 846 members, 9953 francs.
cals and books. Henceforth all of them The other churches do not report their will get from it the Scriptures that figures in this respect. In the most they sell or distribute. The society has notable case, that of the Waldensian among its members representatives of Church, somewhat less than one third the majority of the Evangelical churches, of the expenditure is obtained locally; and is not itself identified with any of in the case of the Italian Evangelical them. Church it is only about one eighth Gratifying as these results are, we feel The other churches are far more de.
that all we have said but very inade. pendent on outside aid than either of quately brings out the actual amount of these two. In view of the extension of work done and the fruit gathered. the work, this shows how urgent is the There are efforts of an individual char- need for developing the spirit of self.
acter that do not appear in this sum- sacrifice among all those that can be mary, which, nevertheless, are covering reached by evangelical influences.
a great amount of ground with personal Efforts, too, will have to be made to and zealous effort. These it would be touch to a far greater extent the better impossible to estimate in so far as reo classes of the community everywhere.
suIts are concerned, but all are con· Something has been done in this reo tributing their share to the slowly rising spect, and the results have encouraged tide of evangelical interest and sympa- greater efforts in that direction. In thy. While the work of the churches this connection the higher class girls'
named constitutes by far the largest part schools in Rome and Naples, with some of the whole effort put forth, these 280 pupils between them, deserve hon- others are contributing toward it in orable mention. Religious services many ways and in different lines. What adapted to that class, are called for.
we feel to be most needed is a closer and The men for conducting them are not heartier co.operation among all the lacking. It is the methods that have to various agencies, that the very most may be sought and wisely pursued.
be made of the large sums spent and What is certain is that there is a dis.
the workers be more wisely distributed tinct limit to outside help. That seems over the country. to be almost reached. The onlyalterna.
One of the weakest points in connec· tive is to get the evangelicals themselves tion with the whole work in Italy lies in within the country to contribute on a the fact that the means for carrying on larger scale to the support and spread such wide.spread and varied work come, of the Gospel. While there are Rigns to a very large extent, from outside the of fruit more or less in all the churches, country. The churches thus far are too the felt need is " power from on high. "
little supported by the Italians them· In connection with this we have satis. faction in reporting that in the Walden- without charge, except where the child's sian valleys special services have been friends can contribute so much, or some held of late with a view to the revival benevolent person undertakes his or her of the Lord's work in the minds and hearts of His people. Too long and too support. The distinctive feature of the often it has been the custom to speak of Home is its evangelical character; for the Church of the valleys as if it were living only on its past, and had become which we have a guarantee in the names unfit for the great work to be done in of the Council in Rome, which includes free united Italy, of which these valleys the Rev. Drs. Prochet, Gordon Gray, form a part. Whatever that Church has been up to the time that those great and Teofilo Gay, who act in concert events were preparing, that ha~e given with a Board of Trustees in New York. Italy a foremost place among tbe nations of Europe, there can be no doubt The institution began its work several as to its missionary activity since. Its 13,500 members in the Mother Church years ago, being founded by a bequest can already count its 4500 members in of the late Dr. Gould, long physician to its mission field. Its pastors and churches in the outside field far out- the American Embassy in Rome, who number those in its valleys. It is at left the sum of $25,000 for this object, the head of all the missionary work in and who desired that the Home should the country. But best of all, the signs of a revived life are showing themselves be a permanent memorial in Rome of in its home parishes. These special his wife, who died there in 1875 .. in services have been much blessed. Others are in course of being arranged. the midst of her labors for the destitnte It encourages one to look for like gath- children of Italy." erings in all the great cities of Italy and among all the churches. Nothing would There is a handsome and commodious sooner bring the results for which we building, which certainly has been dedi· have been long looking and laboring than joint services by the churches for cated to a Christ·like purpose. The prayer and conference about the ever- number of children at present in the present need of •• power from on high." These 1326 additions would then be Home is small, bnt there is accommoda· easily multiplied many times, and tion for a number more if funds are throughout the land there would be forthcoming. heard the joyous songs of the reapers and there would be seen the gathered The children are taken to Divine sersheaves. vice in the Waldensian Church of Rome The Gould Memorial Home, Rome. e"ICery Sunday morning; while in the Home itself they are addressed on Sun- Comparatively few, even of those who have visited Rome, know of the inter· day evenings by friends of various esting Christian work carried on in that evangelical denominations. city among poor children at 18 Via Ma· genta, in the Gould Memorial Home and Let visitorsto Rome bearin mind that, Industrial School. besides classic ruins and public galleries, The inmates, almost all of whom are there are other sights to be visited and orphans, are housed, fed, and taught, as well as trained in some industry, admired in the Italian capital; and of these one is the Gould Memorial Home. It is with much truth that Dr. Gray thus writes, in concluding his report: .. There are no institutions more want- ed in Rome to-day than such as mani- fest the beneficent aspect of evangelical Christianity. The young evangelical churches of the country have been strug- gling for existence in the midst of the greatest difficulties. It is not to be ex· pected that an impression will be made on the minds of Italians generally by simply contrasting the truth of one sys- tem with the error of another. The larger number among them are far more likely to be r€'ached by a manifestation of the true spirit of Christianity in pro- viding for the destitute and the orphan."
.. A VOICE FROM ITALY."
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Organized Missionary Work a.nd Sta.tistics. Edited by .Rev. D. L. Leonard, Oberlin, ~O.
-The British and Foreign Bible So- and about 300 Christians are connected ciety, the Americlln Bible Society, and with the missions. Their offerings for the National Bible Society of Scotland Christian work for the fiscal year have lately joined hands in Japan amounted to $6,290.40. If funds eould through a United Committee, which has be supplied, a large number of efficient the entire charge of their affairs; and in Chinese Christians could be put in train- China, in connection with the prepara- ing for missionary service in their own tion of the Union Version. The com- land. bined result of this year's work by the three societies may be given thus: -The Roman Catholic Church is mak- ing strenuous efforts in the United Conntry. Income. Circulation. States to win the negro race, and with England, • £217,149 3,926,535 skilful methods, as well as no inconsid- United States, 1,497,637 erable success. Thus an annual collec- Scotland, 103,775 673,862 tion is called for. And on January 1st, 32,436 1891, 21 churches were set apart for the use of colored Catholics, with 34 priests Together, £353,360 6,098,034 in charge. During 1890 baptism 'Was administered to 4883 children and 704 -The total amount received from the adults. From the same report we learn Government for Indian schools during that in 115 schools 8280 children were the last five years by the Methodists has in attendance. Over 20 different sisterbeen $33,345; the Episcopalians, $102,- hoods are in charge of these schools, 000 ; the Friends, $140,000; the Con_ of whom 2 are composed of colored gregationalists, $183,000 ; the Presby- women-the Oblates of Baltimore, and terians, $286,000, and the Roman the Holy Family Sisters of New Orleans. Catholics, $1,989,000. The Methodists There are, moreover, a foundling asy. and Baptists will in the future refuse to lum, 6 orphanages, 3 industrial schools, accept any appropriations from the a guild for servant girls, an academy, public funds. and a home for the aged. The Catholic negroes are put at 152,692. -The statement has a strllnge and ominous sound, that the American -The American Unitarian Associa- Home Missionary Society feels con- tion reports the expenditure last year strained to expend as much in Massa- of $72,998 for work in different sections chusetts, one of the smallest and oldest of the United States, $11,401 for the of the States, as in Washington, one of Japan Mission, $9300 for Southern and the largest and youngest of the States, Indian work. and into which the tide of emigration set last year. -The Reformed (Dutch) Church re- ceived for foreign missions last year -Perhaps no religious sect in this $112,164, an increase of $13,767; not country is more vigorous, considering including a legacy of $12,000 to be addits size, than the Jews. During the last ed to a security fund, gifts to the ten years they have nearly doubled the famine stricken in India amounting to number of their congregations, while $2616, or special gifts to liquidate the the membership has increased from debt. 50,000 to 130,500, and the synagogue property from $3,549,697 to $9,754,257. -The Southern Methodist Church has missions in China and Mexico which -There are now 18 missions of the contain 22 missionaries-20 of them American Missionary Association among the Chinese in California. Sixty. five joined the Church during the last year, with wives-77 native preachers, a total to $1,277,220. The ordinary income for force of 137, and 4421 church members. the past year has not been sufficient to meet the expenses, being only $1,156,- -The Southern Baptist Convention 020. Including spE'cial funds, the gross reports the receipts for 1891 as $114,- expenditure has bE'en $1,256,970, while 326. The amount expended upon each the gross receipts have reached a total, one of the 6 missions is as follows, to- exceeded on only one previous occasion, gether with the number of ohuroh-mem- of $1,346,885, including a legacy of nearbers and of baptisms last year (the last ly $105,000 for extension of work in the in parenthe~es): Africa. $6515, 111 (31) ; society's North American mission. China, $33,425,917 (130) ; Japan, $4386, 25 (16) ; Brazil, $19,386,419 (90) ; Italy, -The Trinitarian Bible Society re- $15,137, 293 (40); Mexico, $28,569, 958 ports a total circulation of 382,362 (127). The total of communicants is Bibles, Testaments, and portions. The 2723, and of baptisms 434. new Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible will probably be completed this year, -Acoording to the thirty-first annual and the issues of Salkinson's Hebrew report, the Presbyterian Church, South, New Testament have reached in 1891 a has 102 missionaries distributed as fol- total of 212,000 copies, chiefly through lows: China, 33; Brazil, 28; Mexico, the agents of the Mildmay Mission to 6 ; the Old Greeks, 4 ; Italy. 2 ; Japan, the Jews. 23; Congo Free State, 49; Cuba, 2. The number of native helpers employed -The British and Foreign Sailors' was 123; native oommunicants, 2702, Society reports an income of $150,365. of whom 391 were received by baptism. Work is done in 87 stations in 8aports, During the year the treasury receipts including institutes, bethels, rests, etc. from all sources were $130,276, being It has 3 floating bethels, 3 steam $17,325 in exoess of any previous year. launches, and 28 sail and row boats.
EUROPE. -When Lady DufIerin began her scheme for the improvement of the Great Britain.-The Church of Eng- physioal condition of women in India, land Zenana Missionary Society, at its seven years ago, it was hardly expected annual meeting, reported an income of that in so short a time such striking re- $179,640, and 22 new missionaries. sults would be achieved. Last year 466,000 women received medical treat- -The Presbyterian Churoh reports ment. The staff now consists of 9 an increase in membership during 1891 women doctors and 31 assistants, and from 65,841 to 66,744; that the Sunday- the number of native and Eurasian schools number 79,697, and that the women under instruction steadily intotal income of the Church was $1,178,- creases. Last year there were 207. The 250., The foreign mission report showed fund has at present an income of £5000 in China 20 ordained European mis- a year, after having erected hospitals sionaries and 10 medical missionaries, and dispensaries at a cost of £120,000. 10 native pastors (supported by their own congregations), ]0 native evange- -The Established Church of Scotland lists, 43 organized congregations with reports for foreign missions for the past 3800 communicants. year a total income of $156,790. The total expenditure was $]57,800, of which -The Church Missionary Society, at $140,800 were for the foreign field. its annual meeting in May, reported These expenditures do not include certhat during the past two years their tain snms transferred from special missionary force has increased in num- funds, such as the Blantyre missionary ber 103, and in spite of this the ordi- fund, East Africa Missions Building nary missionary expenditure has in- fund; there are also the Universities' creased only $21,180, amounting in all Mission fund and the Guild Mission ASIA. fund, which furnish ea.ch an income of a little over $3000. The Jewish Mis- -" There are more missionary socie. sion Committee reports an income of ties represented in India today than in $32,705, which has been expended in any other section of the world. There are Salonica, Smyrna, Alexandria, Constan- more missionaries, more schools, more tinople and B€irfit. churches, more communicants a wider opportunity for every form of Christian Italy.-Tbe object of the Spezia Mis. endeavor, the use of every weapon of sion is to supply "every necessitous Christian warfare, the application of part of Italy and the LIOvant to which every Christian principle." And well we shall be distinctly called by God's may it be so ; for the popUlation num. providence with the Gospel, by means bers 288,000,000', and the idols worof the circulation of the ScriptUl'es, shipped, 330,000,000. Of the women, preaching, and Bible schools." The 40,000,000 are shut up in Zenanas, 23,- twenty-fourth year has been reached, 000,000 are widows, and 79,000 were wid. and the income was £2953 in 1891. ows before they were nine years of age. With numerous sub-stations, 24 stations Only one woman in 800 is under inare occupied by Edward Clarke and struction, and but one Protestant misother missionaries, with 32 native as- sionary is found to 500,000 of the popusistants. The day schools number 8, lation. with over 500 pupils, and the communicants 180. -Among the most interesting enter. prises in India is the Gassner Mission Germauy.-According to a table pre- among the Kols of the province of pared by Pastor Dohler, of Saxony, the Chutia Nagpur. It is a German enter. 17 larger German missionary societies prise, and is manned by 19 missionaries, have in all 4(18 principal stations, 606 7 of whom are married. There are also male and 37 female European agents, 15 ordained native pastors and a large 111 ordained natives, and of other na- numher of other preachers and workers. tive helpers, 2855 male and 731 female; The Kols are among the aboriginal tribes 246,903 converts; 1127 schools, 1607 of India, and are exceedingly degradteachers, and 53,282 scholars. Their ed ; nevertheless, the number of Chriscombined income (in 1890?) was $878,- tians alllong them amounts up to 37,000. GOO, including balances, and in addition $360,860 were collected from the fields. -The Indian Home Mission to the Of the first-named sum, $180,660 was Santals is a Danish organization, which, collected outside of Germany, chiefly however, receives considerable support by the Basle Society and the Moravians. from England; The stations occupied are in Bengal, the head station being at -According to Jewish Intelligence, 135 Ebenezer. There are 6 missionaries Prussian Christians have apostatized to with their wives, 4 Santal pastors, 18 Judaism and 2101 Jews have been con- deaconesses, 80 travelling elders and 5 verted to Christianity since 1875. catechists. Recently there has also been established an Assam colony with 1 mis- Spain binds herself to maintain the sionary, 1 pastor, 9 elders, and 3 cate· worship and ministers of the Roman chists. The baptisms of converts in Catholic religion, and these last control 1891 were 201, and there are now 6300 the schools, such as they are. There baptized members in the community. are enough-30,OOO-or one for every 560 inhabitants; but so inferior that, -The statistics of the India Mission by the last census, it is shown that over of the United Presbyterian Church show 72 per cent of the population were un- 6779 communicants-an increase of 106 able to read or write. over last year. The admissions by pTO- fession have been 592 as against 410 for the preceding year. The Christian many millions in the interior have population has grown from 10,171 in never heard the story of the Gospel. 1890 to 10,830 in 1891, and the number of villages containing Christians has -The Soudan stretches across Afrigrown from 525 in 1890 to 550 in 1891. ca from the Red Sea to the Atlantic, and contains from 60,000,000 to 80,000,000 -The Bishop of Madras is now in the inhabitants. The name Soudan-that is, thirty-first year of his episcopate. This H Blacks"-is given by the light.skinned is the longest record of any bishop in inhabitants of the Sahara to the chain India. It has been his happiness to see of partly civilized kingd oms lying to the the native Christia~s in his diocese in. south of the Great Desert. Their north crease from about 40,000 to 107,000. boundary may be very roughly indicat- ed by a line joining Cape Verde to Khar- -The statistics of the Presbyterian toum, and the southern boondary may missions in Siam and Laos, as recently be said to be about the eighth parallel reported, are as follows: Ordained mis- of north latitude. This gives a vast resionaries, 14 ; medical missionaries, 4 ; gion, 3500 by 500 miles, inhabited mostsingle lady missionaries, 9; native ly by negro nations, nearly all of them preachers, teachers, etc., 54; number calling themselves Moslem, and which of churches, 13 ; communicants, 1113 ; as yet has scarcely been touched with number added last year, 239; boys in the Gospel. boarding-schools, 208 ; girls in boarding-schools, 146; day-school pupils, -The North Africa Mission has 320. opened work in Lower Egypt by send- ing thither recently 5 missionaries, of Turkey.-The present limits of the whom 2 are men. In this portion of Trebizond field, extending some 250 the land of the Nile is found a populamiles along the coast of the Black Sea tion of 4,500,000, mostly Mohammedan, and 60 miles into the interior, embrace and almost wholly without the Gospel. a territory eq011.1 to the three States of There are about 40 towns with from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode 7000 to 40,000 inhabitants, and 500 with Island. In this field there are, in round from 2000 to 7000. numbers, 750,000 souls, 600,000 being Mohammedans, 120,000 Greeks, and -There are 200 baptized Christians 30,000 Armenians. The following table in Uganda in connection with the shows the progress of the work Bince Church Missionary Society, and about the reorganization of the station in 2000 adherents under instruction. The 1882 : Gospel of Matthew has been translated into the native tongue. The arrival of 1882. 1885. 1888. 1891. 100 copies from England was attended with the wildest joy. —— ISLANDS OF THE SEA, Adherents …….. 170 285 585 867 Chnrch-members.. : : : 26 29 84 181 -Among the newer work of the Lon_ Attendants on wor- don Society is that in New Guinea. 810 515 685 There are now 53 stations along the s::'!fru-s::: :::::::::: 100 140 279 412 sontheast coast, a staff of 6 missionaries, 68 over 30 South Sea Island teachers, and Contribntions…••••• $97 $407 $782 $1,245 some 20 New Guineans. More than Scriptnres 80ld for 2000 children are under instruction, and each three years … …. 1,565 1,586 2,187 there are between 400 and 500 church- members. The whole New Testament AFRICA. in the Motu dial~ct has also been put through the press. Within the :first -In 1890 there were reported by 42 missionary societies working in Africa, 781 male and 387 female missionaries, and 101,212 communicants. These missionaries are chiefly laboring in the oountries bordering on the coast, while year a new station on the Kwato Island port, the Rev. G. Short, of Salisbury, has been occupied by 2 missionaries, said that there were now nearly 100 who have also the use of a small sailing missionary societies in Great Britain, boat, which they find very helpful in Europe. Canada, and the United States, going in and out among the islands with 11,388 stations and out-stations, where ships could not go. 4693 male and 3228 female missionaries, 40,083 Christian native workers, and -The New Zealand Census shows 726,883 communicants. Toward tbe 1197 churches and chapels, and 400 Centenary Fund of £100,000, a sum of other buildings used for worship, with £70,000 had been subscribed or promsittings for 278,000, or about one half ised, and at an early date the remainder of the population. The number attend- was anticipated. The special efforls of ing services is 197,000, of whom 40,785 the Sunday-schools had realized over are Presbyterians, 37,252 are Episco. £11,000. Of this £15,000 will be ap. palians, 30,525 Roman Catholics, 27,106 plied to wiping out tbe debt, some to a Wesleyans, and 14,442 belong to the working fund which will make loans Salvation Army. unnecessary, and the greatest portion to extend mission operations. It is es- British Foreign Missions. By Rev. James timated that the new up-river steamer Johnston, Bolton, England. for the Congo Mission will cost £5000. Sunday, October 2d, will be regarded as Zenana Bible and Medical Mission. a missionary centenary in the Baptist -At the thirtieth annual meeting of churches at home and abroad. A pubthis society it was stated that less than lic celebration of the centennial of the a third of a million of girls in India founding will be held on October 4th were educated. The number of mis- and 5th in London. On July 23d acensionaries was 47, with 26 assistants, 149 tenary festival is to take place at the native teachers, and 54 Bible women Crystal Palace. represented by 85 schools and 2554 pupils. A new hospital had been opened For the past year the expenditure has at Lucknow in memory of the late Lady been £74,935 against an income of Kinnaird, foundress and president of £69,125. Seven missionaries had died the society, and a new medical mission during the year. In view of the great had been established in Patna. The mortality on the Congo the quest.ion total number of patients at Lucknow, was raised whether the Committee had Benares, and Patna was 8904, with considered the advisability of transfer. 24,387 visits to dispensaries, while 1931 ring men from Kingston College, Javisits had been paid to the homes of maica. At the annual soiree Mr. Baynes, patients. The current total annual in- commenting on the report, spoke of it come is £16,687. as a second edition of the Acts of the Apostles. They had 800 baptisms in The Baptist Missionary Society.- India, 550 in China, and a large num- At the centennial annual members' ber on the Congo. The native Chrismeeting it was announced that the tian Church was becoming increasingly colonial missionary societies were pre- active, independent, and aggressive. paring to enlarge their own efforts in There was a large addition of Christian commemoration of the centenary of the schools and a great quest for the Bible, society. It was the aim of the Com. thousands having been sold where a few mittee to make every part of their work years ago they would have been deself supporting, but the cost of freight, spised. Many were the cheering signs etc., connected with the Congo Mission of an approaching noble harvest of souls was three times that of the personal in India. The Baptist Zenana Mission, salaries of the missionaries. In mov- which was never more popular, reports ing the adoption of the hundredth re- 52 missionaries and 130 Bible women and Zenana visitors. Ten women were H. Uffman, of the German Mil:lsion, going to India this year, 5 of them old Perulia. Chota Nagpore, who has charge workers and 3 qualified physicians. of 160 inmates in the asylum supported The year's receipts were £7547. In re- by the Mission to Lepers, writing in sponse to an appeal on the twenty-fifth March last, entreats the humane to enanniversary of the society a Bum of £400 able him to open his doors to receive was collected. Dr. Richard Glover another 40 begging for admission. Says preached the Baptist missionary ser- the Rev. G. M. Bullock. of the London mon, and Dr. A. T. Pierson the young Missionary Society, who has 122 inmen's mission sermon, the latter effort mates in the asylum at Almora, in the being oonsidered one of the finest Himalayas; "There have been 20 apmissionary deliveranoes of the year in plicants since January 1st; but I do not Great Britain. feel justified in admitting any till I find how fllr the Church of Christ is willing Wesleyan Foreign Missions-An- to stand by me." In a most touching nual Meetin&;.-Many oiroumstanoes letter (translated from the Hindustani) oombined to make the yearly gathering the native oaretaker of the Almora Asyin Exeter Hall one of exoeptional inter· lum writes; .. Many have come seeking est. The newly appointed seoretary, admission, but have been obliged to go the Rev. F. W. Maodonald, made a most away again. We are grieved to be un_ able statement. General progress mark· able to help them. Some came who ed the society's operations in its princi- could with difficulty move about; with pal mission fields. The reoeipts, while tears they entreated of I1S to give them showing an inorease, did not meet the a place of refuge. One day a man came expenditure by £4000. The veteran who was very helpless. He remained missionary, Dr. Ebenezer Jenkins, late the whole night in the hope of having of India, spoke of the wonderful changes his name entered on the books, and it which had taken plaoe in that empire was hard to send him away in the mornsinoe he first went there in 1856. A ing." Of another institution a lady notable weloome was given to the Rev. missionary asks ; •• Is it to be enlarged? David Hill, who has labored in China You know there are more than 500 for twenty-seven years. He told the lepers in this distriot alone, and the vsst assembly that China was becoming need for further assistanoe is very great. unified, entering into the comity of Oh, dear! such piteous cases as have to Western nations, passing through moral be refused." There are applications and intellectual transformations, and from other places where extra aoo.mwas everywhere more open to the mis- modation is urgently needed, all of sionary vanguards. At the annual mis- which could be met by a gift of £700. sinnarybreakfast meeting the Rev.James Chapman, of Oxford, spoke of the great Uganda.-Not since August last have call which God was at the present time the directors of the Imperial British giving to His Churoh to mission the East Africa Company had direct news world. He instanced the various open- from Captain Lugard. They have the ings to the Gospel, the multiplied faoili- utmost confidence in his strictly imparties, improvement in means of com- tial attitude with regard to the rival namunication, and the remarkable in- tive disputants, and they also state that crease of English – speaking peoples, the Snider rifles which the natives have whose influence extended to every land. obtained have been introduced in spite of their officers' vigilanoe by traders Mission to Lepers in India.-From from the south of the lake, who are Mr. Wellesley C_ Bailey, of Edinburgh. known to have brought large consignthe secretary ancl superintendent, ear- ments of weapons and ammunition to nest appeals are appearing in the Eng- the intedor. Particulars of a reliable lish press for subscriptions. The Rev. character respecting the outbreak of earliest opportunity moving toward Lake hostilities between the Catholics and Tchad, the objective point of their gal- Protestants and the rumored destruc- lant enterprise. The prayers of God's tion of several Catholic stations are not people on their behalf are desired. It yet available. At the same time, it is is definitely announced that Lieutenant useless to disguise the fact that the Mizon, of the French navy, has failed Jesuit priests, who have for several to reach the lake by way of the Niger years been established in Uganda, look and the Binne, and is returning by the with extreme disfavor upon British Congo. The leaders of the last expediprestige. The influence of these mis- tion, M. Crampel and his officers, were sionaries has been persistently used brutally murdered. By the Wadai Musagainst the company's officers. Mwan- sulmans, who are supreme at the south ga, at the date of Captain Lugard's last end of the lake, undying hostility has report, was much more favorably in- been declared to all white men. So far clined toward the British than he had the attempts to reach the Tchad region ever been before. but theking's extreme confirm the views held by Englishmen fickleness of purpose led Captain Lugard on the Niger, that this vast central track to doubt his entire sanity. He was, as of the African continent, the largest rea nominal Catholic, exposed to a good maining unexplored area, may for Bome deal of influence from the priests. The time be closed to Europeans. Its enlatest news, however, proved that his trance during the next few years deconversion was of the most superficial pends mainly upon missionary exertion character, according to which he was and commeroial relations. plotting with the Mohammedans to regain more territory by their assistance Miscellaneous. -AJIairs in Samoa are and to defeat the Christians. in a critical and unsettled condition. The nati ves in the islands lire strongly It sounds strange to hear that Africa supporting Mataafa, and there is danger is not an unsuitable field, in some of another outbreak against the present parts, for using the bicycle. The in- regime. While the Governmeni's funds trepid missionary, Mr. Ashe, of the are exhausted, the natives are two years Church Missionary Society, who started in arrears with their taxes,-On April last year for Ugand~, has, say the latest 14th the first party of North Africa misadvices, nearly reached his destination, sionaries left England for Alexandria; in accomplishing which the bicycle their names are Mr. and Mrs. Summers, which he took out with him was of the formerly of Morocco, Mr. James Smith. greatest helpfulness. He was able to of Liverpool, Miss Ada Watson, and perform almost the entire journey on Miss Van Molen, from Doric Lodge.- his machine; and he found the long By the London Missionary Society, the narrow paths through the country ad- services of Miss M L. Christlieb, daughmirably adapted to its use. His report ter of Dr. Christlieb, of Bonn, and thus is of such an enthusiastic character that granddaughter of Mr. Weitbrecht, the we may in future regard the bicycle an celebrated missionary, have been acalmmlt necessary part of the equipment cepted.-Dr. and Mrs. Laws arrived in for an African traveller. London from Lake Nyassa in March.
The Central Soudan Mission.-Mr. Monthly Bulletin. H. G. Harris and his 6 colleagues are temporarily located in the city of -Dr. Pentecost affirms publicly that Tripoli, whe:re they are zealously de- there are more ordained ministers in voted to itinerancy among the natives, Scotland than there are ordained misand, in thl' mean time, making them- sionaries in all the world. selves familiar with the Hausa and Arabic tongues. They propose at the -The Western Ohristian Advocate is not pleased with the showing made by one of Boston's Methodist churches, fined to Europe, and chiefly to Italy, which pays $5000 for pastoral services Switzerland, and Germany. and gives only $36 for missions. England.-Some 80 versions of the -Dr. SchaufHer calls attention to the Scriptures are used in the Church Mis. fact that while the Congregationalists sionary Society's field. Of these, 59 have many institutions for training men versions, or 80 per cent., come from the for foreign missions, they have not a British and Foreign Bible Society alone. single school for training women mis- The C. M. S. missionaries have been the sionaries. This refers, of course, to sole translators of the whole or portions theological and special training. of the Scriptures into 52 languages, which, in the great majority of in. -There is an Armenian Sunday- stances, would never have seen the light school in Maine which numbers about if it had not been for the kindly inter. twenty, and is held every Sunday after- vention of the Bible Society. noon in the Second Parish vestry, Port. land. Each pupil has a teacher,' and -The Bible stand at the Crystal Paltheir attempts to master the English ace, London, commenced work nearly language result in much animated chat· thirty years ago, and has disposed of ter. more than 12,000,000 Bibles and Testa· ments, and 11,000,000 Scripture cards. -Justice David J. Brewer, of the Su- This distribution includes both sales preme Court, made an address before and gifts. the American Home Missionary Society in Washington recently. He is an active AJrica.-Africa is three times the size worker in the Church, where he has a of Europe; every pound of ivory costs large Bible class. He was born in Syria, one life; for every five pounds one hut where his father was a missionary. has been -burned; for every two tusks a village has been destroyed; for every -The women are arranging for a twenty tusks a district has been de. Congress of Christian Missions in con· stroyed. nection with the World's Fair, in Sep. tember, 1893. The theme of orators -About one fourth of the people of like Lady Henry Somerset and Mrs. Bal. Africa are Mohammedans and nearly lington Booth will he woman's share in three fourths are pagans. There are the world's evangelization, and histori. about 3,500,000 Christians, of whom cal papers and general discussions will nearly one half are Copts and Abyssin. serve to make this factor in the modern ians, and the remainder Roman Cathomissionary movement still more ap. lics and Protestants in about equal pro. parent. portion. The Roman Catholics include the French in Algeria and the Portu- -In view of the establishment at the guese in Angola and Mozambique. The World's Fair of a department for work Protestants include the English and done by women in different parts of the Dutch of the South African colonies. world, the industrial school of the The people in the countries bordering American Lutheran mission at Guntur, on the Mediterranean Sea and in tho India, is planning to send some of the countries immediately south of these work done in that school to the Exposi. are Mohammedan, while the pagans com· tion for sale, the profits to be applied prise the great masses of the negro, to an endowment fund for the school. Kaffir. Hottentot, and Zulu races in Central and South Africa. -Mr. George Muller, of the Bristol Orphanage, has just completed his six. -Next to cannibalism the most terri. teenth missionary tour, having been ab- ble practice in the Congo basin is that sent from home twenty.one months. of human sacrifices on the occasion of Although eighty.six years old, he is in the funeral ceremonies of important good health. This last trip was con. persons. The richer the family of the ness of the people. The Rev. R. H.
deceased person, the more numerous Walker says: "I have lived with them are the victims. Because far up the for more than three months without tributaries slaves can be bought much spending anything. Many other Chris- cheaper than on the Congo, canoe par- . tian chiefs offer to provide all that the ties are sent for hundreds of miles for country will supply to anyone who will the sole purpose of buying victims for go and live with them and teach the human sacrifices. They are blindfold- people. Let this be known in England, ed, bound to a stake in a sitting or and surely some one will offer to come kneeling posture, and a single blow of and help us. What we want is more the skilful executioner's knife decapi. men. The Christians will find them tates them. Though men form the houses and food."
greater number of victims, wives or -The British Admiralty are having female slaves are often strangled and two small gun-boats built for service on thrown into the open grave, or bu::ied Lake Nyasea, to be used in the suppresalive in it. sion of the slave trade in that region.
-Bishop Taylor of Africa receives These boats will be taken in sections up $6000 salary per year. All but $500 of the Zambesi and Shire rivers, and conit he gives to advancing his missionary structed on the borders of the lake.
work in the Dark Continent. -The great caravan of Dr. Fruisch, -Says Bishop Taylor: ,. I spent a who goes to join Emin Pasha at Lake large portion of one afternoon in the Albert, will include two hundred Souschool-room of Sister Luzia at Malange. danese, well armed, and five trained Her school is composed of the advanced elephants. The latter he purchased in pupils, whom she is instructing in the Bombay, paying $5000 each. He is a Bible doctrine and the catechism, with young millionaire, hall travelled in South instrumental and vocal music. I looked Africa and South America, and personon and listened and quietly wept and aUy defrays the enormous expense of thanked God. Six years ago all these- this expedition, which was to start from teacher and pupils-were enveloped in Mombasi early in July.
the densest darkness of barbarous -At a meeting held in London, May heathenism; but now they are 'par- 5th, to welcome Mrs. McKittrick and takers of the divine nature,' and diligent Dr. Harry Guinness from Africa, and students of the Holy Scriptures." bid Godspeed to a party starting for -The Sultan of Morocco has issued Balololand, Dr. Guinness spoke of the special orders forbidding intercourse deadly climate of the Congo, which has between the Moorish women and the worked such ravages among the misladies attached to Christian missions. sionaries, and gave a glowing tribute to This will affect especially the workers the workers there and the success that of the North Africa Society, a large was already crowning their labors. It number of whom are women, and who was reported that the whole number have made a IIpecial effort to reach the startin!! for missionary fields on the women of the country in their homes. Congo, West and South Africa, India, The Sultan's action is supposed to have and South America was 22, and that been taken on the representation of his there are 145 students in the tliree coladvisers to the effect that communica_ leges of the East London Missionary Intions between the Moorish and English stitute preparing for service in different women threatened innovation in the parts of the world.
laws and the corruption of religion. China.-The Rev_ Gilbert Reid, in an -Letters from Uganda, published in essay read before the Shantung Presby- the Church Missionary lntelligencer, speak terian Mission, urged the obligation of very cordially of the affection and kind- doing more than has hitherto been done by Protestant missionaries for the evan· mained through a service which lasted gelization of the upper classes of China. He suggested that the whole constitu. over three hours. Eighty.four persons tion of Chinese society brings home the necessity of not neglecting them. "Rev. were confirmed, and about 300 received arence to all who are above" is so all. pervading in China that decisive results the Holy Communion. – cannot be expected without heeding it. India.-The hospital whioh was erect· -The Chinese Government has been ed in memory of Lady Kinnaird in so favorably impressed with the educa. Lucknow, India, formally opened in tional work the Methodist Missions afe October last, is already in need of en· doing in Pekin that it has promised to largement. The original design does give positions upon the railroads or in not afford sufficient acoommodation to telegraph offices to all graduates, at a the patients, and funds are solicited for fair salary, and the privilege added of an additional wing. keeping the Sabbath. All gradllates from the Medical Department will reo -One of the Cowley Fathers, who ceive appointments in the army or navy. has been carrying on a successful work To give an earnest of what will be done, in the city of Poona, has withdrawn with a physician from the United States was some of his native converts to a small requested for the Cllstoms Service of village to make a new attempt in the Chung King, the very city from which direction of self.sacrificing labor. He the missionaries were expelled in 1886 ; wishes to see whether he cannot give an and bellides granting a handsome salary, impetus to the foundation of a com. it was agreed that he should spend all munity life among the natives of that his spare time in medical missionary oountry. work. -Rev. Mr. Evans writes to the Eng- -This from the annllal report of the lish Baptist Missionary Society of ana· Presbyterian Church of England: "So tive preacher, Michael Baba, who has rapid is the progress made, that the for some years traversed nearly the Chin·chew Church, although it has been whole of India, making known the way enlarged, is now too small for the con- of life. He is not connected with any gregation meeting in it; freqllently society, and receives no pay from any more than 600 persons crowd it to over· denomination. He dresses in the yel. flowing. many having to stand. To low, flowing garb of an Indian ascetic, meet this in some degree, another place for in this attire he has access to all of worship has been opened in the classes of Hindus. He visits the great southern suburb of the city, but still fairs and festivals, preaching a thorough. the crowding is too great. Then the ly evangelioal message. He never asks hospital is too smaU for the patients for help, unless in actual want. pressing for admission; the congrega. tional school too small for the number -A Hindu conversing with a Church of pllpils attending it; and the premo Missionary Society missionary in India, ises where the missionaries reside quite in answer to the question, " Which of inadequate for the accommodation of all our methods do you fear the most ?" our three brethren." he said: ,. We do not greatly fear your schools, for we need not send our chilo -The Rev. Mr. Sowerby writes that dren ; we do not fesr your books, for he never saw such a sight in Chino. as we need not read them; we do not fear was presented at Hankowon Sunday, your preaching, for we need not hear March 13th. wheu Bishop Hare held a it ; but we dread your women and your servioe there. More than a thousand doctors; for your doctors are winning Chinese orowded t111' l;)1lilding and reo our hearts and your women are winning our homes; and when our hearts and our homell are won, what is there left us?" Palestine.-A Young Men's Christian are seeking to penetrate Tibet from the Association has been started in Jerusa- southwest, the China Inland missionlem, one branch of it to reach Anglo- Hebrews and another to work among aries are hoping to secure an entrance on the young men who speak Arabic. the northeast. They have already estab- -The Jerusalem and Jaffa Railroad will soon be ready for travellers. Al- lished themselves at a Bmall Tibetan ready are the three American-built locomotives, Jerusalem, Jaffa and Ramleh, village on the very border. At first it on hand. Outside of the Damascus was impossible to obtain a house to live Gate stands an electric light, a telegraph pole thro",s its shadow upon Jacob's in, but at last a Tibetan landlord was Well, and a steam mill puffs near the ancient well in Nazareth. This means found whose scruples were overcome, the breaking up of the isolation of the towns and villages and the more rapid and they are already established. An spread of enlightening influences from the hitherto almost unknown world. effort was made to drive them out, but Persia.-The Bagdad Jews have pur- the Chinese officials stood by them and chased in the last eight years 258 Hebrew New Testaments and 729 Hebrew copies they remained. of Matthew or Hebrews, besides many copies of the New Testament Scriptures Australia.-After two missionary in Arabic, Turkish, or other languages. meetings in Melbourne recently, a Twet.-A Scottish Universities Mis- hard-working man sent in the titlesion has been established in Sikkim with three missionaries. "Sikkim is a deeds of a farm of 93t acres, worth wedge driven up from India, splitting apart Nepaul toward the west and £500, to be divided between missions Bootan toward the east, and pointing to Lhassa, the holy city, the heart of Tibet. to India and New Guinea. On being Sikkim lies on the threshold of Tibet. It is more, it is the door to Tibet… afterward spoken to about the largeness -A grant of 30,000 rubles has recent- of his gift, he said, " This is how I look ly been made to defray the expenses of another Russian scientific expedition to at it : Supposing I were a boy, and my the Chinese province of Szchuen and the neighboring tablelands of 'ribet. It will father gave me a sovereign, but afterbe under the care of M. Potanin, the well.known explorer, and will cover a ward wanted me to let him have part of period of three years. the money back to help him in some -For nearly forty years agents of the Moravian Mission have been patiently work he was doing, and I gave him a waiting and working to gain an entrance into Tibet. When missionaries do enter, threepenny piece, what sort of a son however, they will find ready for them a Tibetan dictionary and grammar, and should I be ?" a translation of the whole New 'restament and some of the books of the Old -The Moravians claim that their set- Testament. tlements of Ebenezer and Ramahyuck afford a tangible proof that the degrad- -While the Moravian missions at Leh ed "black fellow" can be reclaimed. In Victoria the race is fast dying olit, but in North Queensland there are still vast tracts inhabited by them alone. The Rev. James Ward, his wife, and Mr. Nicholas Hey have been set apart for work among the latter. The Gov- ernment have lent every assistance. A settlement has belln decided upon in the Cape York peninsula, in the extreme north of Queensland.
Hawaii.-Mr. Okabe, who has charge of Christian work among the Japanese in Hawaii, reports 20,000 Japanese as now living at the islands. They com- prise the largest body of foreigners there. Most of them go from Hiroshima or Kumamoto, two of the strongest cen- tres of Buddhism in the empire, but, as they leave their religion with their pos- sessions behind, they prove very sus- ceptible to practical Christian influ- ences. Gospel work is carried on in seven or eight places, with some 116 Christians as the result of three years' effort_
The Missionary Review of the World — April 1892
THE DEPAR'l'URE OF CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XV. No. 4.-0ld f!eries.–APRIL.–VoL. V. No.4.-New Series.
THE DEPARTURE OF CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
The giant cedar of Lebanon has fallen, and the crash of its downfall has sent a sound of thunder echoing over the continents. Anchored to the soil by countless and far-spreading roots, who can measure the widespread desolation and devastation which such a downfall of one of the monarchs of the forest leaves behind ~ Look at the institutions inseparably bound up with this marvellous life! A church of nearly six thousand living members, with its vast Sunday-schools and missions; a pastor's college, with more than a hundred students in course of training, and eight hundred scattered over this and other lands preaching the old Gospel; the Stockwell orphanages, with their hundreds of inmates, and thousands more who have now Christian homes or are heads of pious families; the almshouses, with their aged folk; all the thousands and tens of thousands of weekly sermons published in a score of languages, and read not only in homes, but in places of worship, scattered from the Chinese Sea to the Straits of Gibraltar, and still westward from the St. Lawrence to the Pacific, and from Siberia to the Cape of Good Hope and Terra del Fuego.
Has there been anyone death in the century that has left such a vacancy in the world? In March, 1791, John Wesley died, just a little more than a century ago, and history strangely repeats itself. Who can think of John Wesley and Charles Wesley without thinking of James Spurgeon and Charles Spurgeon-in each case two brothers intimately associated in their great work, and singularly fitted to supplement and complement each other's qualities and activities' Wesley and Spurgeon, separated as they were in theology, the one a leader of the Arminians, the other of the Calvinists ; the one a Methodist, the other a Baptist-how strangely do their careers compare and contrast! Wesley was a reformer, an organizer of congregations, a builder of chapels; he appointed lay preachers and set them at work; he formed classes for the instruction and development of converts and the maintenance of strict and orderly discipline j he went about tirelessly exhorting and preaching, perpetually travelling, and holding religious services almosi beyond calculation j delivering from two to five sermons a day, writing works on divinity, ecclesiastical history, biography, as well as sermons, and expending life in an endless rour.d of sanctified activities.
Charles Spurgeon was in all essentials a pastoral evangelist, the organizer of the largest congregation of any denomination in the world; the builder of the greatest Nonconformist chapel; the trainer of lay preachers and ordained ministers j the head of an aggressive work whose outreach no man can measure; the head pastor of a well-ordered and disciplined body of believers; who in one great tabernacle has preached for nearly forty years to an average of 7500 different people each Lord's day; who has published thirty-seven volumes of weekly sermons, written books and tracts by the score, and edited a monthly magazine; who has given sermons and addresses on countless occasions, and in the midst of opportunities for boundless personal aggrandizement and enrichment, has conscientiously and liberally expended his income in works of charity and mercy known only to God Himself. Surely no ordinary observer will dispute the similarity of these two careers, thus separated by a century. Yet there are a few contrasts almost as marked. Mr. Wesley was really, by his own confession, an unconverted man until he was 35 years old j he married at 46, and lived so unhappily that the union was terminated by separation 32 years later. Mr. Wesley had a public career after his conversion extending over 53 years, dying at 88. Mr. Spurgeon was converted and baptized at 16 years of age, was most happily married before he was of full age, and died at 58, having had a public career of about 40 ,years. Who can tell what he might have accomplished had he been permitted to live to be as old as Wesley, or to add to the years of his public life thirteen more, so that he might have enjoyed as long a term of service as Wesley subsequent to 'his conversion ~ As we look at Wesley we involuntarily connect him with his posthumous work. Charles Spurgeon's posthumous work no man can foresee. What a hundred years more may reveal as to the subsequent outcome of his life of faith and consecration God alone can prophesy. We must wait for History to write up her scroll. One thing we already know : not even Mr. Wesley had more unlimited control over his followers than Charles Spurgeon has had over his disciples in the faith and the students he has sent into the ministry. Wesley's virtual rel1Unciation of the Anglican Church, first in his protest against existing abuses and afterward in actually ordaining preachers, and even consecrating a bishop on his own responsibility, reminds us forcibly of Mr. Spurgeon's determined and intrepid stand against the current loose notions of theology, and his bold venture in separating himself even from his own denomination for the sake of what he believed to be the truth.
There is a curious coincidence, also, to which we have referred, in the association of the two brothers Wesley and the two brothers Spurgeon.
A GENEHATlON O~· CIlUI8TIAN l'UOGHffiSS IN INDIA
Rev. James A. Spurgeon is yet alive, and it would be indelicate to say much about him. But in my judgment he has been of much more use to his brother than the public are as yet aware. His peeuliar combination of capacity and sagacity, his more thorough and classical education, his peculiar, business-like habits of mind, his aptitude for organizing and managing great institutions, his umpirical judgment and legal knowledge and acumen, his singular tact and practical uncommon sense-these, with many more cOllspicuous qualities that come not with observation, have done more than most people apprehend or appreciate to make his more" popular" brother the man he was. It reminds one of the association of Moses and Aaron, and their joint work. Mr. James Spurgeon's true work and worth have yet to be written. Close association with him in the work of the Tabernacle for months has revealed that his skilful hand is on the helm of many of the most important interests of which his brother was the visible head. He was content to be in many things a helper of his illustrious and dearly loved brother Charles. All this we have written for a Missionary Review. Four months in the heart of this work havc satisfied thc writer that the head of one of the grandest missionary organizations in the world has fallen when at midnight of January 31st Charles Spurgeon entered the glory. Here is a fountain of home missions and of foreign missions. From this spring a thousand streams go forth to water the garden of the Lord and to turn the desert into the Lord's garden. In fact, the missionary character of this Metropolitan Tabernacle Church so impresses me as to suggest a separate treatment hereafter when the facts are more fully known. But at this time, and before closing this brief article. it mnst be added that such a man as Spurgeon was one of God's missionaries, and himself a trainer of missionaries. Scarce a month passes without either a farewell to an outgoing mi ssionary or a welcome to a returning or visiting missionary; and in most cases it is one who has in this great Church or its college received his first impulse to the field. And what an individual church can do to stimulate everything good and pure and unselfish is abundantly exhibited and illustrated, as we may hope to show hereafter, in the Metropolitan Tabernacle and in its departed, lamented, and never-to-be-forgotten pastor and president.
A GENERATION OF CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN I~DIA.
BY REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, F.S.S., LONDON, ENG.
Human impatience frets at what it considers the slow rate of progress in Christian and beneficent enterprise in a country like India; and because we do not see great results after a brief bnt what may seem a tedious effort we are apt to be discouraged ; and if we do not despair and abandon our work, it is carried on in a hllguid and despondent way-a way fatal to all success. JIope and ~vu1iJencc are essential to successful work, especially in spiritual enterpriseR, which are in their very nature works of faith, as well as labors of lovc. Even love grows cold when faith and hope are dead.
Of all countries in the world India is the last in which we should expect rapid results from spiritual labor, for -many reasons-its great extent, t.he numerous and dense population, tbe close and intricate way in which they are bound together by religious and social customs, the practical way in which a degraded and flesh-pleasing idolatry is woven into every act of social, domestic, and personal life j the debasing influence of books regarded as sacred, but filled with accounts of gods and heroes whose cruelty, treachery, falsehood, and lust corrupted the whole moral nature, and almost obliterated the distinctions of right and wrong and of truth and falsehood; while some of these sacred books contain truths so divine and beautiful ail to give a sanction and authority to the whole.
To convert such a people is a task which even the Apostolic Chureh had never been called upon to attempt j and how is it attempted by the Christian Church of our day ~ One or two men are sent out af a time, followed by two or three more at long intervals. They are scattered far apart one from the other; or, perhaps, two or three different missions are set up side by side, with little or no sympathy the one for the other, if, indeed, they do not form hostile camps, to the dishonor of Christ and the perplexity of the heathen i and yet men complain of the slow progress of Christianity in India.
But we are far from admitting that the work of Christian missions in India has been slow or discouraging. When compared with the means employed, the results have been greater than we had any right to expectfar greater than is generally supposed even by the well informed, vastly greater than is dreamt of by the careless and ignorant.
It has been' my privilege to see India at such im interval of time as to allow of a fair and, at the same time, striking comparison-an interval of what may be called a generation, though over the usual time allowed for the average term of life in England and still more over that of India.
I would not attach much importance to even two visits to a foreign country and "Mange people as a means for acquiring accurate information or for drawing reliable conclusions, but to one who has made Indian questions a life-long study they are of great value. It is on this ground alone that I do attach importance to my visits to India in the years 1853 and 1889-90. I shall only give the facts and impressions then received, with a comparison of the results in regard to the purely religious aspects of the progress of the people during the generation which had passed in the interval. I need not say that they struck me much more vividly than if I had been a resident and had witnessed the changes passing gradually before my eyes from day to day. The mere facts could be gathered at home, but the impresRions received and the opinions formed were of far more value than the pure statement figures could convey. RELIGIOUS RESULTS OF THIRTY· SEVEN YEARS.
Mere statistical figures do not give the highest resultR, but they are well worthy of study. I take them from two reliable sources: First, the Gov- ernment Census for 1881, which also gives the numbers in 1871 for com- parison. The census for 1891 is Dot yet published, but we have it on the highest authority that the rate of increase in Christian converts is fully maintained. Second, the elaborate and careful statistical returns prepared e,-ery ten years by a committee representing all the Protestant societies at work in India_ These extend over the three decades 1851, 1861, 1871, and 1881. As another decade has nearly run out, it is easy for anyone familiar with the missionary history of the period and accuAtomed to statistical in- quiries to form an estimate for the year 1890. As the first visit was so near to the returns for 1851, we give these without any estimate for the two years from 1851 to 1853, so that the period will practically extend over thirty-nine years-rather a long generation. The following are the numbers for the Protestant Christians of all India~ without including Ceylon and Burmah: Native Protestant converts, 1851 (from returns), 91,0!)2 ; 1881 (from returns), 417,322 ; 1890 (estimate), 720,000-that is, an increase of EIGHT·FOLD in fort'years, or seven times in a generation.
The estimate is a low one-only at the rate of 70 per cent for the decade.
It was 86 per cent for the previous ten years.
It may be put in the Graphic form, thus: The Native Church in India in 1851 (a small church spire), and in 1890 ______________________________________________ (a tall spire 7 times the height of the other). But what is more important–showing that the increase is not merely in numbers, but is an inward as well as outward growth-is the fact brought out in the tables giving the increase in the number of communicants, which is greater than in the number of professing converts. The numbers were: 1851, communicants returned, 14,661 i 1881, communicants returned, 113,325; 1890, estimated, 215,000. The estimate is based on the low rate of increase of less than 80 per cent in the last decade, while it was 115 per cent in that from 1871 to 1881. This gives an increase of FIFTEEN-FOLD in 39 years, or they have multiplied thirteen time, in a generation.
Rut a higher proof of church organization is seen in the increase of native pastors and evangelists. The former, especially, have multiplied at an astonishing rate, implying an increase of intelligence and character in the members of the Church, and a much greater efficiency in ecclesiastical work. Forty years ago there were only 21 ordained native pastors in all the missions in India. Now they cannot number fewer than 700 or 800. Thus: 1851, native pastors (returned), 21; 1881, native pastors (ro. turned), 461; 1890, native pastors (estimated), 750.
These invaluable agents have multiplied THIRTY-SIX TIMES in 39 year!> -or, say, thirty-threefold in a generation. This is also strong proof of the happy relations in which the foreign and native workers stand to one another, when the former raise the latter to the highest positions of power and honor. It shows also the confidence they place in the converts.
Lay preachers have not increased so fast, but their numbers are also rapidly growing, thus: 1851, lay preachers (returned), 493; 1881, lay preachers (rei.umed), 2438; 1890, lay preachers (estimated), 3000.
Here thl) Church has a cheap and efficient agency for the spread of the truth-cheaper and better far than uneducated men sent out from this country, who rarely acquire an accurate knowledge of the language or of the modes of thought and feeling of the inhabitants, and cannot live long in that climate on native fare and after native habits.
iNCREASE OF CHRISTIAN INFLUENCE.
The place which Christianity holds as a power in India struck me, on my second visit, as far more wonderful and hopeful than the numerical increase of the converts. Christianity is no longer held in contempt. Its position and character are recognized. In Madras they are looked upon as leaders in social movements. They take their place in literary and scientific pursuits, and hold their own in t6e learned professions, and some have risen to high positions under government, with the approbation and encouragement of their unconverted brethren. In Southern India they take the first place in the number of the educated, as compared with their num_ bers in the population, and in the North they come next to the Parsees. I would only say that while the native Christians have multiplied eight-fold and communicants fifteen times during the period covered by my two visits, the influence oj Ohristianity as A LIVING POWER is a hundred times greater in 1890 than it was in 1853.
THE PLACE WHICH CHRIST OCCUPIES IN INnIA.
I close with a word on the place occupied by Christ in India. The change during this generation is wonderful. None but "those who can compare the present with the state of matters thirty-seven years ago can form any idea of its extent. In 1853 the knowledge of Christ was considerable, but there was little idea of Him as a living power or authority, to be reckoned with outside the classes directly under the influence of missionaries. He was not widely looked up to with either love or reverence. Now the knowledge is far wider, and the character of Christ stands out in bold relief against the character of the gods of India. His superiority is generally acknowledged by the great body of educated natives, and the devotees of the old religion tremble for their systems of idolatry and hate the Author of the rl'ligion which they feel is destined to supplant their own; while the enlightened look upon Him with reverence and admiration, and many with sincere affection. In fact, Christ is now the central figure to educated Indians, and these now nQ.mber not fewer than eleven or twelve
BENliY MAliTYN
millions, while their number is being increased every year at the rate of another million as they issue from the schools and colleges. It is a rare thing for the youths who go through the higher schools and colleges to leave without a feeling of admiration for the character of Christ, unless they are so depraved as to hate virtue because they love vice. There is much searching of heart about the person and work of Christ. It is in India as in Judea, Christ" is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel. " But that He shall be recognized as the Saviour of India is as sure as the promises of God.
HENRY MARTYN.-PART 1.
BY REV. JOHN RUTHERFORD, M.A., B.D., ROTHESAY, SCOTLAND.
The life of He·nry Maltyn is one of three or four books which Professor 'Marcus Dods, of the New College of the Free Church of Scotland, .J!:dinburgh, teUs us have had a lasting influence in moulding his mind and character. And this testimony is not a solitary one, but there are very many others in all the churches who have drawn from the simple records of Henry Martyn's pen an enduring inspiration of devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. Zinzendorf's motto was, Ohristus crucifixu8 passio mea. A perusal of Martyn's memoir will show that this was also the secret of his life, that wherein his strength lay-Christ crucified was his ruling passion.
The life of Martyn is, like that of Robert Murray McCheyne, of Dundee, a life whose secret was unbroken communion with God, and whose influence, therefore, still lives on like ointment in the hand which bewrayeth itself (Prov. 27 : 16).
,. The thought of God Filled him with infinite joy; his craving soul Dwelt on Him as a feast. "
As is well said by Canon Edmonds, in the Church Missionary Intelligencer for January, 1891, "From first to last men loved Martyn. He kindled their interest. He called out their admiration. He won their regard. His memoir was extensively read. It deserved to be. It was far more a sermon than a manifesto. It went with men into hours of retirement. It was the Sunday book of a considerable period. It sank into the hearts of young men. It kindled with its hallowed fire other fires as burning as its own. It carried across the Atlantic a current of glowing piety, and reproduced there the same gracious effects. In both hemispheres for a long time it is hardly too much to say that, among people interested in the work of missions, two names were written each on a white stone of holiest veneration-the name of David Brainerd and that of Henry Martyn."
The sweetness of his character and the lofty purpose of his life breathe through his well-known memoir from first to last. As Sargent, his friend and biographer, well says, his excellence consisted in a renunciation of himself and a compassionate love for mankind. But yet it Was not always so with him. for in his case there was a marked turning to the service of Christ-a time when, as in the case of Paul, it pleased God. who separated him to Himself and called him by His grace to reveal His Son in him that he might preach Him among the heathen.
Martyn was born at Truro, in Cornwall, on February 17th, 1'781. His father was John Martyn, who, from a humble position in connection with some of the Cornish mines, had risen until he became a merchant's clerk in Truro. Henry, as well as his other brothers and sisters, was of a weak physical constitution; all accounts tell us he was a weak and ailing boy. When he was seven years of age his father placed him at the grammar school of the town, then taught by the Rev. Dr. Cardew, who found the boy to be" of a lively, cheerful temper," and of excellent mental abilities.
At the age of fourteen he offered himself as candidate for a scholarship in Oxford. The fact that he did so at so tender an age shows us (,f how great promise he was. But the prize fell to some one else. Here is his own comment upon this incident, written years afterward: "In the autumn of 1'795 my father, at the persuasion of many of his friends, sent me to Oxford to be a candidate for the vacant scholarship at Corpus Christi. I entered at no college, but had rooms at Exeter College by the interest of Mr. Cole, the snb-rector. I passed the examination, I believe, tolerably well, but was unsuccessful, having every reason to think that the decision was impartial. Had I remained and become a member of the University at that time, liS I should have done in case of success, the profligate acquaintances I should have had there would have introduced me to scenes of debauchery, in which I must, in all probability, from my ~xtreme youth, have sunk forever. " This disappointment that befel him was overruled by God both for his personal advantage and also for the purpose of preserving him to be a witness of the cross in far-off lands.
In 1'797 he entered St. J obn's College, Cambridge. Here he worked with great diligence. Hitherto he had been a stranger to any experimental or personal knowledge of salvation. There is an occasion recorded when, carried away in a fit of passion as he sat at table, he threw a knife at one of his companions who in some way had offended him. Fortunately the knife failed to reach its mark; this painful incident caused him most deep regret and humiliation. A college friend attempted to persuade him to better things. and that even his reading should be with a view to the glory of God. This advice, he says, ., seemed strange to me, but reasonable."
The most powerful of those influences which affected him for the better was that of one of his sisters at home, who lived a consistent servant of Christ. She did not cease to urge upon her brother the supreme claims of Christ. This she took special occasion to do during a visit home which Henry paid at the time of a college vacation. But, as he writes in his journal, he steadily resisted his sister, and paid no regard to his father's counsels. "I left my sister and father in October, and him I saw no more. I promised my sister that I would read the Bible for myself, but on being settled at college, Newton engaged all my thoughts."
Returned to Cambridge, he soon received news of his father's death. The bereavement was bbssed to him. He took up his neglected Bible; but how f~int was the light in his soul may be perceived from what he tells us: "I took up my Bible, thinking that the con8ideration of religion wat-l rather suitable to this solemn time. . .• I began with the Acts, as being the most amusin.q, and while I was entertained with the narrative I found myself insensibly led to inquire into the doctrine of the apostles. It corresponded nearly enough with the few notions I had received in my early youth. I believe, on the first night after, I began to pray from a precomposed form, in which I thanked God in general for having sent Christ into the world. But though I prayed for pardon, I had little sense of my own sinfulness; nevertheless, I began to consider myself a religious man." A copy of Doddridge's" Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul," which he read at this time, touched his conscience to the quick and caused him much searching of heart-'-" it appeared to make religion to consist too much in humiliation, and my proud, wicked heart would not bear to be brought down into the dust."
Though this in itself was an unsatisfactory beginning, it was nevertheless the turning point of his career, as he himself writes to his sister: "After the death of our father you know I was extremely low spirited, and, like most other people, began to consider seriously, without any particular determination, the invisib~ world to which he was gone, and to which I must one day go. Yet I IItill read the Bible unenlightened, and said a prayer or two rather through terror of a superior power than from any other canse. Soon, however, I began to attend more diligently to the words of our Saviour in the New Testament and to devour them with delight; when the offers of mercy and forgiveness were made so freely, I supplicated to be made partaker of the covenant of grace with eagerness and hope, and thanks be to the ever-blessed Trinity for not leaving me without comfort."
Another most helpful influence at this time was that he was in the habit of attending the ministry of the Rev. Charles Simeon, at Trinity Church, in Cambridge. Simeon's influence was wholly good, both in the promoting of evangelical religion and spirit.ual life and also in fostering the cause of foreign missions, then in its infancy, so far as England W<.lS concerned. Five Cambridge men, all of them disciples of Simeon, had a most important share in the work of making the Gospel known in India. These were, in the order of tlieir arrival abroad. Brown, Buchanan, Martyn, Corrie, and Thomason. Thomason was Simeon's curate from 1796 till 1808, when he sailed for India, and Martyn from 1803 to 1805, when he left for the same destination. But this is anticipating the course of events.
Martyn's pre-eminence as a student is seen in the fact that in the public examination for his university degree, in January, 1801, before he had completed his twentieth year, the highest academical honor was adjudged to him-that of Senior Wrangler of his year. His college friends would crowd round him with warm congratulations, but his own thoughts were these: "I obtained my highest wishes, but was surprised to find that I had grasped a shadow." As the result of another examination he was chosen Fellow of St. John's College in March, 1802, and soon thereafter took the first prize given to graduates for the best Latin prose composition. In 1803 he was appointed by the authorities of his college public examiner in classics and, in 1804-, examiner in philosophy. At the close of the same year he was a third time selected as one of the examiners in St. John's College.
A renewed sojourn in Cornwall and renewed fellowship with his Rister were greatly blessed to him. "Not till then (1801)," he writes, "had I experienced any real pleasure in religion."
His intercourse also with Mr. Simeon was made of much use to him, under whose fostering care the spiritual life of Martyn's soul continued to grow. And now he abandoned his original intention of being a lawyer, and consecrated himself entirely to God's service in the ministry of the Gospel.
All the members of Christ in all lands form but one body; and it was the perusal of Jonathan Edwards's memoir of David Brainerd, the missionary to the North American Indians, that largely helped to lead Henry Martyn, the Cambridge student, to offer himself for foreign service. The immediate cause of this decision, however, was a sermon preached by Mr. Simeon on the subject of foreign missions, in which attention had been drawn by the preacher to the good effected for the natives of India by the Baptist missionary, William Carey. Brainerd's memoir quite attracted him. He felt a oneness of soul with the young American who, almost at bis own age, left home and the comforts of civilization to enter alone, for Jesus Christ's sake, the dark forest of Indian superstition and sin, and who, like Martyn, finished his course with joy at an early age-be was only thirty-two. Brainerd and Martyn were both intensely introspective; both were fired with love to Jesus Christ and a yearning love for souls. •• Fatigues and hardships," writes Brainerd, " sene to wean me from the earth, and, I trust, will make beaven the sweeter." Martyn read such heart-breathings of the apostle of the North American Indians, and found in bim a kindred spirit. The decision was made; he, too, laid his life at the feet of Jesus, that Jesus might use that life in any way He saw fit.
•, In labors abundant." The successful worker for Christ at home is the only one who is warranted to look for God's blessing abroad. Sargent gives UII a sample of Martyn's work in England. He visited many of the poor, the afflicted, and the dying; he warned numbers of the careless and profligate; often did he redeem time from study, from recreation, and from the intercourse of -friends that he might enter the abodes of misery. Many an hour did he pass in a hospital or an almshouse; and often after a day of labor and fatigue, when wearied almost to an extremity of endurance, he would read and pray with the servant who had the care of his rooms.
He now offered himself to the Church Missionary Society, one of the noblest of all societies at work among the heathen. It was formed in the year 1800, and the name of Charles Simeon is among its founders. Events, however, proved that it was not under the Society's auspices that Martyn was to go to India.
On October 22d, 1803, he was ordained deacon in the Church of England, and in due time began his ministry as curate to the Rev. Charles Simeon, with whom he earnestly labored in Cambridge and the adjoining village of Lolworth until the next year, 1804.
In that year the appointment of a chaplaincy in India was offered him by the directors of the East India Company. This appointment was accepted by him. In March, 1805, he was ordained a presbyter at St. James' Chapel, London, and after the ordination the University of Cambridge conferred on him the degree of Bachelor of Divinity.
" I see no business in life but the work of Christ, neither do I desire any employment to all eternity but His service." In this frame of mind did he look forward to leaving England for India; in this steadfastness of purpose he was conscious that the Lord had called him to preach the Gospel to the heathen.
He set sail from Portsmouth on board the Indiaman, Union. The yesse! put in for a brief stay at Falmouth, and this gave him an opportunity to meet once more-it was their last meeting on earth-a lady for whom he had the strongest attachment-Miss Lydia Grenfell. Only last year- 1890-were extracts published from the diary kept by this lady, and these throw a flood of light upon the relations of those lovers. Mr. Sargent describes her as "one of whom less ought not and more cannot be said than that she was worthy of him." Martyn deeply loved her, and proposed that she should go to India to him; but she declined to do so. Years before she had been engaged to another, and though this individual married some one else, still Miss Grenfell felt bound to her word while he lived. And" thus, to Martyn's heart-break and her own pain, the only woman that he loved never became his wife." However, she continued to correspond with him as a sister, and this correspondence helped to alleviate the loneliness and pain which fell to his lot. Miss Grenfell survived him till 1829. "At nine in the morning," he writes, "I was sitting at ease with the person dearest to me npon earth, intending to go out with her afterward to visit some perRons with her and preach on the morrow; four hours only elapsed, and I was under sail from England." The ships had sailed in haste, and it was with difficulty Martyn reached the Union in time.
A voyage to India in those days was something to be remembered; not as now in first-class steamers, luxuriously filted up like floating hotels, so that an Indian voyage becomes a delightful holiday. Very different was the state of things then. The ship in which he sailed was one of a fleet consisting of fifty transports and five men-of-war, besides the Indiamen ; for England was then at war with Holland and France. Added to all the discomforts of the voyage was the extreme length of it; from the time he sailed until the ship arrived in India was nine months! The disrespect shown to him by almost all on board was a severe discipline for his spirit, but it became a means of grace. On Sabbaths the captain would not allow him to preach oftener than once. He saw, therefore, that his usefulness greatly depended on his private ministrations. He therefore made it his daily habit to go between decks, where he assembled all who were willing to attend, and read to them some religious book and made comments upon it. "Some attend fixedly," he writes; "others are looking another way; some women are employed about their children, attending for a little while and then heedless, some rising up and going away; others taking their place, and numbers, especially of those who have been upon watch, strewed all along upon the deck fast asleep; one or two from the upper decks looking d('wn and listening. " And on Sabbath things were no more encouraging. "The passengers were inattentive; the officers, many of them, sat drinking, so that he. could overhear their noise, and the captain was with them." " I seemed uneasy at the thoughts of calling forth the hatred of the people to-morrow by preaching to them unpleasant truths." But even in so unpromising a field the good seed took root and grew; there were visible resulti of tho grace of God.
It was a most eventful voyage, its chief incidents being an attempt at mutiny by the crew; four days spent at Funchal ; a short stay at San Salvador, in Brazil, where Martyn landed and engaged in conversation in Latin with some Roman Catholic priests, seeking earnestly to lead them to Christ; and the arrival of the feet at the Cape of Good Hope. This formed a remarkable episode, surely, in a voyage to India. The purpose and meaning of this putting in of the fleet at the Cape was that the south of Africa then belonged to the Dutch, and the fleet was conveying British soldiers to fight the Dutch and to capture the place. Martyn, in his capacity as a chaplain, was actually on the field of battle, in which the Dutch were defeated. There he moved among the wounded and the dying, speaking to the wounded of the blessed Gospel and beseeching them to look to Jesus Christ for salvation. As he was thus engaged he nearly lost his life, for a drunken Highland soldier, taking him for a Frenchman, presented his gun at him. Martyn sprang toward him, and told him if he doubted his word to take him prisoner to the English camp, but that he certainly was an English clergyman. This pacified the soldier, and thus Martyn's life was saved.
Resuming his voyage, India was reached at last. The sickness in the ship had been very great. Shortly before reaching the Cape the captain had died, and now there was more ill health than ever. Throughout it all Martyn was ever at the hedside of the sick and dying, adUlinistering to them every temporal and spiritual comfort.
On April 22d, 1806, the ship anchored in Madras roads, and next month arrived at Calcutta. "Oh, if I live," he writes, "let me have come hither to some purpose !"
Mission work in India was at that time carried on under peculiar diffi- culties. Those in power showed the bitterest hostility to the preaching of the Gospel to the natives. If we would understand the devotion of men like William Carey and Hemy Martyn, let us first realize what were the prospects of missionary success while India was ruled by the East India Company. The British flag was the emblem of a determined opposition to prevent the news of salvation from reaching the ears of the Hindus. Probably the met.hod by which India was then held would have squared badly wit!l the precepts of Christ; and those in power seem to have felt this. Carey, :Iarshman, and Ward were not allowed to live in British India at all, but were forced to reside at the Danish settlement of Seram- pore. It is milch to the credit of Denmark that her rulers were in their friendliness to the Gospel so different from the British authorities of that time. Martyn's position as a chaplain gave him certain advantages, for he had permission from the East India Company, as their chaplain, to preach to the English residents; but it had its disadvantages, too, for he was under military rule, and must obey as much as any private in the ranks. The evangelical party in the Church of England was then regarded with contempt and ridicule. Martyn was a representative of that party, and the same scorn which he had met with on shipboard awaited him in India.
Arrived in Calcutta, he was warmly welcomed by the Rev. David Brown, who received him with true hospitality. Here he worked incessantly, acquiring the Hindustani language. It would be impossible for the East India Company to keep this chaplain within regulation rules in regard to not preaching to the natives. " I lay in tears," he says, " interceding for the unfortunate natives of this conntry, thinking within myself that the most despicable soodar of India was of as much value in the sight of God as the King of Great Britain. " The idolatrous rites of heathenism which he now witnessed filled him with horror. A Hindu widow, burning to death on a funeral pile beside her husband, he made an ineffectual attempt to rescue. His heart was pierced with the sound of the cymbals and drums calling the natives to the worship of the idols. And when he saw them prostrate before an idol which was surrounded with burning lights, he was moved with compassion, while he "shivered as standing, as it were, in the neighborhood of hell." As he wrote in connection with another matter, " Let me never fancy I have zeal till my heart overflows with love to every man living."
His ministerial brethren did not relish the new preaching; the doctrine of justification by faith they could not endure. Accordingly, Martyn had
MAWl'YX
to undergo much personal abuse even from the pulpit. "These clergy," writes Martyn, "denied in the pulpit, one by one, all the lmding doc- trines of the Gospel, as well as abused the newly arrived missionary." Martyn was wise enough when he preached not to make the slightest allusion to those philippic sermons.
This is a sufficient glimpse of the determined hostility then at work everywhere against the Gospel, as well as against all who preached and loved it. Spirituality was the one and only thing that was not tolerated.
An appointment soon came, under which Martyn was ordered to proceed to Dinapore, a military station up the Ganges. Travelling up river was accomplished in boats called budgerows. Embarked in one of these, Martyn used the time in the study of Sanskrit, and afterward of Persian, and also in beginning the translation of the Scriptures with the native moonshee whom he had engaged to help him in this work. An in~resting incident occurred as the boat passed Serampore. Mr. Marshman, one of the Baptist missionaries, could not resist coming down to meet Mr. Martyn, and after accompanying him a little way, left him with prayer. This is the true communion of saints.
Going on shore from time to time during this river journey, he found himself on one occasion in the midst of a crowd of Hindus engaged in the worship of idols. With the presiding Brahmin he engaged in earnest conversation, and though he had not yet a sufficient hold of the language, nevertheless he was able to make known the truth of God. His comment upon this incident is: "I learned that the power of gentleness is irresistible. "
The boat arrived in dne time at Berhampore, the first military station, where he landed and visited the sick in the hospital. His journal shows us the kind of reception he so often met with. " Rose early, and was at the hospital by daylight, but after waiting a long time, wandering through the wards, hoping the men would get up and assemble, I went away amid the sneers and titters of the common soldiers. It is extraordinary that I seldom or never met with contempt on account of religion except from Englishmen, and from them invariably."
Resuming his river journey, he worked assiduously at Bible translation, even wearying the moonshee with the labor, and endeavoring to impress the man's heart with Christian truth. He also made it hiil practice to distribute tracts in the adjacent villages, though in this he received but little encouragement from the recipients. The burden of those Christless souls ever lay beavy upon him. "I was much burdened," he writes, "with the consciousness of blood-guiltiness, and though I cannot doubt of my pardon by the blood of Christ, how dreadful the reflection that any should perish who might have been saved by my exertions." At length he arrived at Dinapore, which was to be his permanent residence for a considerable time. Here his immediate objects were three-fold, to establish natiye schools; to attain such fluency in Hindustani as might enahle him easily to preach the
BENRY
Gospel to the natives and to prepare translations of the Scriptures and of tracts.
As he sailed past Patna, the sight of the multitudes in that city almost overwhelmed him, and his own bodily weakness and pain oppressed him here. He was to suffer more and more from this cause until his earthly race was run. The intensity of his soul consumed the earthly tenement in which it lived.
His work among the Europeans in Dinapore was begun under no more encouraging auspices than he had hitherto enjoyed. At first when he assembled the soldiers for worship he was desired to omit the sermon. Many of the European families took offence at his preaching without a writ- ten sermon, alld a letter was sent him requesting him to cease from extem- pore preaching. Though at first inclined to resent this interference, yet in order to conciliate them he complied with their wishes.
Working daily with the moonshee at Bible translation, he tried to do the man's soul some good. One day, speaking of the divinity of Christ, Martyn told him that he should pray that God would teach him what the truth really is. The man said he had no need to pray on the subject, as the Koran was express. Martyn asked him whether some doubt ought not to arise in his mind as to whether the Koran is the Word of God. The moonshee grew angry. Martyn felt hurt and vexed. "If any qualification," he writes, " seems necessary to a missionary in India, it is wisdom operatiJlg in the regulation of the temper and improvement of opportunities. H In his work as chaplain at Dinapore he continued to be grieved by the neglect, levity, and profaneness of many of the English there. In vain he attempted to speak of religion in the houses of the wealthy: "The manner in which it was received damped all further attempt." Still he labored on, sometimes making long journeys in pursuit of his pastoral work j one journey of seventy miles is mentioned to perform a marriage.
On February 24th, 1807, he completed the translation into Hindustani of the Book of Common Prayer, and a few Sundays thereafter commenced Divine worship in the vernacular. " The spectacle," says Sargent, " was a8 novel as it was gratifying to behold two hundred women, Portuguese, Roman Catholics, and Mahometans, crowding to attend the service of the Church of England, which had lost nothing, doubtless, of its beautiful simplicity and devout solemnity in being clothed with an Oriental dress." Soon thereafter he finished a commentary in Hindustani on the Parables. His moonshee's private thoughts on this work may be seen from his remark to Mr. Martyn that, after that generation had passed away, a race of fools might perhaps arise who would try to believe that God could be a man, and man God, and who would say that the Bible is the Word of God. The bitterness and disrespect of the moonshee only made him resolve that in future he would be surprised by no appearances of the same temper in others.
His Sabbath duties had grown in his hands. They now consisted of a
MO'I'IYES '1'0 MfRSIONS AMONG THE HEATHEN
service fur Europeans at seven in the morning, another at two in the afternoon, for Hindus; then he attended the hospital, and in the evening he ministered in his own rooms to those soldiers who were interested in Divine things. Regarding the English service of a particular Sabbath he writes: " I preached on Luke 22 : 22. As is always the case when I preach about Christ, a spiritual influence is diffused over my soul." This patient, unremitting labor for Christ, apparently so barren of result, was yet not allowed to be without fruit. Both among the privates and the officers some hcarts were touched by God's grace, and with these he enjoyed true fellow. ship. ilis heart was refreshed; his lahor was not in vain in the Lord.
(TO BE CONCLUDED.) MOTIVES TO MISSIONS AMONG THE HEATHEN.
BY REV. HENRY E. ROBINS, D.D., LL.D., ROCHESTER, N. Y.
A paper read before the Autumnal Meeting of the AMERICAN BAPTIBT MISSIONARY UNION, at Buffalo, N. Y.
Upon what motives may we rely to incite the people of God to a rigorous prosecution of missionary work among those who are destitute of the light of Christian truth as conveyed to us in the Christian Scriptures?
The real motive of human action is always within the soul, never without. Outward conditions, often in common speech called motives, are only occasions by which the internal motives are brought into play, and can be called motives only in a secondary, nut in a primary sense. Money as external, to me is not my motive in seeking it, whether I seek it for worthy or unworthy ends j it is rather my desire for it, that I may use it to sustain and enlarge and enrich my life and the lives of others; or that I may hoard it to gratify the passion of mere possession, or pervert it to secure power or station or luxury-self-gratification in one or more of its protean forms.
Bearing ill mind, then, that the motive which we seek is within, we are ready to say that God Himself is the foundation of missionary motive. " God," said the Great Teacher, "so loved the world, that He gave His only begotton Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have eternal life." God loves and desires to save a world of sinners; this fact, declared so impressively in the passage which we have quoted, is everywhere either expressly affirmed or implied by the general tenor of the Word of God from beginning to end. The love of God, not His complacent but His pitying love-to make a distinction upon which the theologians rightly insist-the love of God toward a world of sinners is the one only motive sufficiently adequate in vitality and force, persistent in its energy and comprehensive in its scope, to inspire the Church to her stupendous task of the conquest of the world for its Lord. A plan which the Infinite God only could conceive, He only can execute. A snpernatural work requires a supernatural motive.
But, you say, the love of God for sinners is a motive for His action, not for ours. Let us see.
The love of God found its first manifestation through Him who shared it with the Father from the beginning, even the incarnate Son of God, especially in His atoning death, by which God's gracious relation to sinful men was justified and made possible. The love of God toward a world of sinners was the motive of Christ's action. But, you say, the motive is still within the sphere of the Divine nature. Admitted, but notiee. It is God's plan in making a channel for His love that, by union with Christ, by faith through the regenerating power of the Holy Ghost, sinful men shall become partakers of the Divine nature, children of God, so that the impulse of saving grace which wrought in the Father and in Christ shall be operative in them also-each one of them " No blind, unsharing instrument, But joyful partner of His pu~pose."
Accordingly, our Lord said to His immediate disciples, and through them to ChristianR of all time': "Ye are' the salt of the earth. " "Ye are the light of the world. ~'. They are constituted salt in order that, since it is of the nature of salt to save, they may save the earth. They have been constituted luminaries in order that, since it is of the nature of light to shine, they may enlighten the world. It is of the very essence of salt, as Bengel suggests, commenting on this passage, to have savor and to give savor, to have it in order to give it. If it neither has it nor gives it, it is not salt, and is good for no economic use, fit only to be cast out and trodden under foot of men. So lamps are lighted, as the Great Teacher affirms, not to be put under a bushel, but on the stand, that they may shine unto all that are in the house. In harmony with this teaching of our Lord, God's promise to Abraham, called the father of believers of all time, since in spiritual character they were to resemble their great progenitor, was: "I will bless thee, and make thee a blessing." "In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." God's purpose, we see, is not attained when the individual soul is made Christian. A man is regenerated rather in order that, while he himself is" being sa"ed" (Acts 2 : 47), while the process of salvatio,') is going on in him, and ideally inseparable frOID it, he may save others also:); so that, at last, the Kingdom of God in the new redeemed race shall be established. God's ideal plan is that His redeeming love, kindled as a flame in the hearts of Hill redeemed children, shall run like a prairie fire, each ignited blade of grass kindling its npighbor until the burning circle extends the whole horizon round. The Divine impulse of God's redeeming love for sinners within the believer can be limited in its scope only by his ability; howe,'er the envil'onment of immediate duty may restrain him, his love, since it is the love of God, emhraces the world. He is in fellowship, communion, or, as Dr. Hackett used to emphasize the thought, he is in co-partnership with God j what God loves, he loves j what Gcd seeks, he seeks. _In a word, he is a channel of Divine grace, as ChrIst was. We have in this manner disclosed the supreme, the only real motive upon which we must rely, and to which we must make our appeal. '1'he love of God for a sinful world inspiring a regenerate Church in conscious, living union with her Lord is the sole hope of missions among the heathen.
But there is a fact, attested by current observation and Church hIstory, which, carefully considered, puts a strong emphasis upon the truth Fe have discovered-viz., that missionary zeal of a certain sort may De awakened and missionary enterprises may be prosecuted by appeal to motives operative in the unrenewed heart. Destitute of love, a man may bestow all his goods to feed the poor, may give his body to be burned, may compass sea and land to make proselytes. Accordingly, missionary work may be vigorously carried on, but in a loveless spirit, burdened by unconsecrated workers, unconsecrated money, unspiritual methods, and unspiritual ends. You willllllow me to say, my brethren, that it is my conviction that in these loveless helps, in the alien spirit, we find our chief hindrance in our work. A sort of moral paralysis seems at times to steal over us, making our efforts abortive, so that results are far from commensurate with the money expended and the machinery set in operation. I speak as unto men spiritually wise j judge ye what I say.
Passing this important point, deserving a fuller discussion, with this hrief allusion, let me now pass to say that we are to seek by every means to awaken the regenerate Church to her sublime privilege and responsibility, as put in trust by virtue of her regeneration with the redeeming love of God toward a sinful world. And this we may do by making it evident that, since Christ is the God of providence, Head over all things, administering the government of the world in the interest of redemption, all the vast resources of our material civilization are, so far as they are within her power, facilities granted to the Church with the express design to enable her, as trustee of that priceless thing, to make known God's love toward those, the world over, for whom Christ died.
When on one occasion that seer of God, the late Jonah G. Warren, stood watching a company of missionaries standing upon the deck of a steamer just putting to sea, he is reported to have exclaimed, as if at th.ut moment profoundly impressed with the thought: "That is what steamers are for!" Yes, that is what steamers are for in God's intent. The IIleans of transportation, which mark our age above every other which has prec,~ded it, are highways which Christ has cast up fodeet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace j the means of communication of intelligence so wonderful that a whisper may be heard from city to city, and the touch (j.f II child's finger speed a message around the globe j the accumulations of wealth in Christian hands greater than ever since the Babe of Mary awakened to His mission in the manger of Bethlehem; Christian learning wider in its scope, and more profound, and more exact in its acquisitions than ever before; Christian homes larger in number, and realizing the Christian ideal of family life more fully than ever since the Christian calendar began to witness to the Ilupremacy of our Lord j the social and political life of Christendom testifying-I will not say notwithstanding, but even in its conflicts and agitations to the resistless working of the transforming power of the Gospel-what are all these but means which God's love may use in pouring itself £01 th through His children, as Christ poured forth llis blood for the salvation of the world. The Church of preceding times was never so equipped. never had such resources at her command. The providential indications of God's purpose in redemption were never so clear; and hence Christians of earlier times were so far excusable for their misconception of the mission of the Church j but our opportunity is both index and measure of our privilege and our duty. Alas for us if we misinterpret Christ's meaning in blessing us so abundantly, if we fail to detect in the profusion of His gifts to us the yearning of His heart for lost sheep not of this fold. What He has done for us is but a declaration, a vivid portrayal before our very eyes, of what He desires to do for otllers through us. Let us tremble with a holy joy that the world's Redeemer dwells within us ; that it is His love for earth's perishing millions that moves us. Let us iIpprison our Lord no longer. Let us cease to restrain the Divine love that urges us along the pathway of the Redeemer's missiou. Is the printed Word of God a living thing to us, throbbing with the life of tr J living Word ~ Do we shudder with a sort of horror when we consider how darkened and desolate our lives would be without it? Have we seen Christ evidently set forth before our eyes crucified? Have we clearly apprehended the way of salvation through His atoning death? Have we known the holy joy, the sacred peace of forgiven sin? Have we known the sweet sanctity of the Christian home and the innumerable blessings of the Christian state 1 What are these but gifts of the love of the strong Son of God, impelling us by the very richness of these gifts to give ourselves no rest until Christ shall be to all the world what He is to us , May I quote here, as expressing my thought, from Dr. Storr's address, delivered at the eighty-second annual m~eting of the American Board, recently held at Pittsfield: "Our aim," he said, " is to brighten humanity, by maldng the heavenly temper universal among mankind j to make every house on earth a Christian home, and every community a Christian community, a perfect, vital, social organization. • . . It has been the idea in God's mind from the outset that the heavenly life should finally be experienced throughout the earth, until heaven and earth blend at the horizon, and the heavenly Jerusalem be founded on earth." Yes, it is the love of God in us for a world steeped in the guilt and misery of sin that prompts us to pray, taught by the Saviour of men Himself: "Thy Kingdom come j Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth." Ollr transcendent privileges and the appalling destitution, both spiritual and material, of heathen nations, in their piteous ignorance of God and Christ, terrified hy the creations of their own darkened imaginations, the dense gloom, the very shadow of death in which they grope their way through life to hopeless graves, are fitted to awaken the Divine motive within us to its uttermost urgency.
Nor can any hope that, on scriptural grounds, we may cherish for the regeneration of individual souls among the heathen in any wise diminish the force of such an appeal to this motive. vVe do, indeed, rejoice in the fact that Christ in His death " is the propitiation for our sins j and not for ours only, hut also for the whole world" (1 John 2 : 2) j that the atonement is as extensive in its scope as human sin; that the ministry of the Spirit, made possible by the death of Christ, so to apply its benefits, is as universal as the scope of the atonement j that the entire race is thus under a real probation of grace, so that the death of Christ not only makes salvation possible for all, but certain for some in all ages and all lands. This, however, is only to say that there is peril of the loss of the soul, whether in heathen or Christian lands, and that whatever motive impels us to preach the Gospel at home has, if right, equal force at least in impelling us to preach the Gospel among all nations. Beyond dispute it is certain that the truths of the Christian Scriptures assimilated by faith, wrought into the life of the soul by the joint action of intellect, sensibility, and will, are essential to the realization among men of distinctive Christian experience, essential to the attainment of Christ-like character, essential to the purification and reorganization of social and political life according to the Christian ideal, and these in their turn essential to the realization of God's plan of the ultimate establishment of HIS kingdom in the heavenly state. The unfolding of the ages is, we all believe, as the Scriptures teach, " according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of IJis will" (Eph. 1 : 11). What we behold, then, of the triumphs of Christian civilization in the world is in fulfilment of that purpose. Reasoning from what we see that God has done, and interpreting accordingly the intimations of the future given in the Holy Scriptures, who will venture to say that the light which has already fallen from the Sun of Righteousness upon our darkened humanity is not the radiant dawn of a perfect day, when the brightest visions of inspired seers shall become accomplished fact 1 At any rate, we are working along the line of the Divine will, as unmistakably declared in the providence of God, when planting in the midst of the peoples churches of regenerated men and women, instructed in the Word of God, we carry to them the force, the only force which can both regenerate and civilize. Regeneration, evangelization first, civilization afterward as its fruit, if God will. God in the truths of Holy Scripture has committed to us the key of knowledge by which we have entered into the heaven of Christian privilege which we enjoy. In this sense, He has made the expression of His love to the nations dependent npon the fidelity of His Church. In this sense, we stand in the place of God to the heathen nations. Amazing responsibility! In view of it, how acute the senlle of our obligation! In view of it, are we not compelled to say that whoever neglects or refuses to obey our Lord's last solemn charge to His Church sets himself to resist rather than to hasten the coming of the day of God, assumes the attitude of an enemy of his race?
Weare thus led to fix the place of the command of Christ to disciple the nations as a missionary motive. A~ external to man, it is a motive only in a secondary sense. It can be a real motive only as addressed to a soul filled with the love of God for sinners. A command can never originate life; it can only guide it already existing. We may galvanize a dead body to a semblance of life by external appliances, but not so can quicken it to genuine activity. We may thunder the commission in the ears of nominal Christendom till doomsday in vain. It will never be heard save by those whose ears have been opened by the Holy Ghost. Quicken the life of God in the 1I0uls of men, and they will run in the path of His commandments, as the vine runs up the trellis, which guides but does not give its life, and covers it with the beauty of its foliage and the lusciousness of its fruit. To him to whom it has been given by Christ dwelling in him, the command to diRciple the nations is nothing less than a transfiguration; it is a summons to a fellowship in the purest, loftiest purpose that ever entered the mind of man. Interpreted by the declaration with which our Lord introduced it, "All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth," it assures love shrinking from her great task that thiR shrinking and apparently impotent love is nothing less than the infinite love of God Himself, energized with His infinite power to love in spite of demoniac hate and bitterest opposition, power to love even unto death, power to continue through the centuries to love until a rebellious race has been subjected by self-sacrificial love to her rightful Lord. Lifted, rapt by this Divine passion of saving grace above the possible plane of mere human action, the Pauls, the Coveys, the Judsons, the Livingstones, the Patons, the Cloughs go forth with the cross in their hearts, the cross in their lives, the cross on their lips, never doubting, despite all appearances, that He who inspires them and He who commands them will surely" not fail nor be discouraged till He have set judgment in the earth" (Isa. 42 : 4).
Your time will allow me to mention now only one more incitement to the great motive to missionary effort. That incitement is the fact that there is hidden in the heart of every gift of God to us a meaning and sweetness which only reveals itself when the gift is shared with others. Money hoarded notoriously makes a man a miser, makes a man miserable. Intellectual acquisitionil unused for the benefit of men only increase sorrow. Indeed, the best acquisition is secured in imparting knowledge-a practical wisdom that finds its expression in the proverb, "If you would learn a thing, teach it." And in the highest realm, the spiritual realm, the truth to which we call attention has its supreme illustration. No man knows
A GREAT ANTI-OPIUM MEETING
the possible sweetness of the Gospel until he has instrumentally carried it to other souls. It must be true, indeed, that no man knows anything whatever of the love of God unless he has the disposition, at least, to communicate it. It cannot, in the nature of things, be selfishly possessed. One of the mO<lt pregnant of our Lord's sayings is' the declaration of the principle of universal application. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." It is more blessed, because it is in giving that we get at the kernel of the gift to us. Every parent knows that if he would discover the superlative flavor of a fruit, he must taste it through the palate of his child. The alabaster cruse did not reveal the exceeding preciousness of the ointment which it contained until she of Bethany whose it was poured it forth upon the Saviour's head; then its exquisite perfume was for her and for all that were in the house. God's love for us sinners, His most precious gift to us, has within it, at its heart, a secret of blessing for us as individuals, as churches, as a nation, waiting to be disclosed in richness beyond our highest thought in proportion as we obey the Master's injunction, " Freely ye have received, freely give. "
A GREAT ANTI-OPIUM MEETING.
BY THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
On Friday evening, December 4th, 1891, every available seat on the main floor, on the stage, and in the galleries of Exeter Hall, London, was filled, and by one of the best audiences we have ever seen in that great gathering place.
The meeting was called specially to welcome Mr. Cheok Hong Cheong and Miss Soonderbai Powar, who came to protest on behalf of their fellow country people against the opium traffic; and two representatives of the Chinese Embassy were seated in the front row on the platform.
Rev. H. W. Webb-Peploe, Chairman, in his opening address, said he was prepared to unite in taking active measures to suppress the growth and sale of opium, except as needful for medicinal purposes; and proceeded to indicate the special linea of argument for the suppression of the opium traffic.
First, as to the financial objection that it is impossible to do without the opium revenue, if a thing be right to do, it matters not what it may cost. If our forefathers faced the cost to rid the nation of the sin of slavery, it is surely duty and privilege to make whatever sacrifice be required to set India and China free from this curse.
Further, there is the moral difficulty, that the consumption of opium invariably demoralizes, degrades, and lowers the tone and pllysique of those who use it. Here the speaker read from the High Commissioner of Burmah, now Sir C. Aitchison, a strong indictment against th9 Government and nation which permitted or encouraged such a traffic to the ruin of their own subjects. But the highest of all arguments is the spiritual. Like a wail of agony there comes to us the cry, "Come over and help us. We are hurrying fast to ruin."
It is impossible to be silent in view of this tremendous issue. Knowing that opium degrades and leads on to inevitable destruction, can we refraic from urging our Government and pleading with our God to deliver us from this dark stigma with regard to our dealing with the people of China and India ~ Cost what it may, we will dare to do righteouRly, and while sending the Gospel to these people, we will not be parties to their destruction for the sake of money.
Mr. Cheok Hong Cheong, Superintendent of Church Missions at Melbourne, Victoria, who is a model of public utterance in the English tongue, told how, in youth, a father's warnings had saved him from the degrading opium habit. Standing by the victims of this terrible poison, he has often been moved to the tenderest sympathy for men, self-convicted of sin against the clearest light, with a yearning to rid themselves of the injurious practice, yet bound by cravings as abject slaves.
The victims themselves say that the only measure adequate to meet the evil is the absolute prohibition of the traffic by Government. For twentyfive years Mr. Cheong has exhorted men resolutely to battle with their thraldom,'but the invariable answer is that it is hopeless to attempt it until the temptation to relapse is absolutely removed. Very rarely, indeed, have men succeeded by strength of will in giving up thi8 fascinating vice. A medical man used it to soothe his cough, and after a frightful struggle with th~ strong desire for continuous indulgence, brought a strong will and antidotes to bear upon the habit, and so escaped j but in other instances men have utterly failed.
A hopeful and intelligent nati ve, becoming interested in the services of the mission and in the Scriptures, broke the habit, but during a subsequent illness again yielded in a moment of weakness, and has had a complete relapse, it being very unlikely that he will have sufficient strength to undergo the ordeal a second time, with all its attendant agony and suffering. Another man of high reputation, when he found himself powerless to break the habit, sought relief for his misery in suicide.
Missionaries in China are convinced that opium has been well named the" great plague of Asia," and unless dealt with in time it may become the great plague of the world. Already two thousand Europeans in Australia, men of good social position, indulge in opium smoking, besides the large number of others who take the poison in the form of morphia.
From representations made to the Government of Victoria the executives have unanimously agreed that opium is nothing hut an evil, and have drafted a measure absolutely prohibiting the traffic. According to the provisions of this measure, no one is to grow or manufacture opium in Victoria except for medicinal purposes. No vessel arriving at any port of the colony is to carry more than fifty pounds' weight. Sellers of the drug, keepers of dens for its use, and opium smokers are to be subject to a penalty of £500, or twelve months' impriRonment.
Mr. Cheong's speech was very powerful. In course of it he compared opium to the octopus, getting hold of its victim and then extending its many arms in every direction throughout his body, mind, conscience, and will, until he hopelessly succumbs to the power of a victorious foe. The address will never be forgotten by those who heard it.
Miss Soonderbai Powar, an Indian Christian lady of Bombay, addressed herself to the task of delivering the many momentous messages which she bore from the women of India as!lembled in public meetings at Poona, Bombay, and Lucknow.
In her native land the drug is readily obtained by the poorest persons, and it is a fruitful cause of infanticide and suicide. Many families have to suffer privation and ruin because husbands and fathers spend the greater part of their scanty earnings in the indulgence of their depraved appetite. Some of the women said: "Tell the Engli!!h people that, if they help us in this time of difficulty, we should be so thankful that we would take the skin off our bodies to make shoes for them. "
In India, with its thirty-three millions of gods, the female idolworshipper!! said : "Tell the English people and Government that if they will stop this trade, we will regard them as our gods. " When missionaries go to the zenanas to preach, they are told : "Go and convert your Christian Government first, and then come and tell us about Christ." It is useless to spend money on missionaries, and to pray daily for the coming of Christ's kingdom, while the promotion of the opium traffic is delaying that kingdom. Some of the poor women said: " We know that all the Government wants is money, money, money. Tell them only to stop this wicked trade, then they may send their soldiers, break into our houses, and take all we have; for we cannot bear the utter ruin which this thing is bringing upon us!" High caste women are not allowed to work for themselves j and if the husbands spend their time in the opium dens, there is nothing for the poor women and children but to lie down in their dark zenana rooms and die.
The wretched sufferers, being unable to distinguish between missionaries and Government, cast the imputation of this terrible iniquity upon Christianity. If a man knocks down another and robs him because the first needs money, the aggressor is sent to prison; but what should be done to a Christian Government which is knocking down, in II very terrible and heartless manner, millions of men and women for the same reason?
While India and China are suffering these things, some persons say that those who agitate for reform are using !trong language j but Miss Powar prof~ssed herself unable to conceive the strength of denunciation which must come from tIle lipE of Him who gave His precious life alf,o for lands beyond the seas. Missionaries are saddened as they enter the filthy opium dens and see indescrihable scenes, living skeletons heaped one upon another, thousands of degraded beings going fast to hell, and the onlookers powerless for rescue. What is the use of preaching to men who have become idiotic? When they do understand tho message that is brought to them, they exclaim: " We don't want your religion~ The Christians have ruined us !"
"Woe to all who smoke opium," said another. "We did not wish for it, but we were coaxed into its use"-referring to the action of license- holders, who, unless they sell a certain quantity of the drug annually, have to bear a heavy fine j and so work hard in their evil occupation, ~ending their emissaries into the cities for the purpose of enticing young men into their dark and foul opium dens. H an Englishman poisoned his neighbor's children he would be hanged, but England, through her Government, is poisoning India and China j and from these countries, where unlabelled poison freely circulates among the people, there must and will ascend to God a continual cry for justice, until Enghtnd is converted from the error of her way.
Mr. A. S. Dyer followed, moving the following resolution: "This meeting,. representing the aroused conscience of the nation, in view of the fact that the traffic in opium carried on by the British Government of India, brings upon countless numbers of our fellow-men in China, India, and Burmah physical and moral degradation, and upon their innocent families unutterable misery and ruin, is a grievous hindrance to the spread of the Gospel, by identifying this professedly Christian country with the sin of propagating an odious vice, and also dries up the sources of legitimate commerce, calls upon the Government to immediately direct the stoppage of the growth, manufactnre, and sale of opium in India (except for strictly medicinal purposes), and its export therefrom, in harmony with the vote of the House of Commons of April loth last, which condemned this traffic as ' morally indefensible.'
"This meeting further expresses its conviction that the people of the United Kingdom will not hesitate to repeat a sacrifice similar to that by which they put an end to negro slavery in British colonies, and to give 8uch moderate temporary assistance to the Indian Exchequer as may be needed to enable the Government of India wholly and at once to dispense with the revenue from the opium trade, without placing any fresh burdens upon the people of that country."
Mr. Dyer said: " We have listened to the representatives of Eastern countries containing a population of more than six hundred million 80uls. Adjacent to these are other lands suffering from the curse of the British Indian opium traffic, of whose inhabitants these guests are also the repre- sentatives. The plea for justice which they have made is, therefore, a plea in the interests of peoples comprising half the population of the globe.
Considering the numbers affected or threatened by the opium scourge, therl:'
has never been a subject of greater magnitude before the public. May God burn it into the hearts of the people of this land, that the nation is re- sponsible for the greatest attack upon humanity that history records or that the world has known. When I first wcnt to India, rather more than four years ago, I had no idea that the British Government in that country wcre propagating the opium vice among our fellow-subjects there, in addi· tion to exportiug the poisonous drug to curse the Chinese nation. The facts in reference to the consumption of opium in India have come upon me as an awful revelation through careful and patient investigation. "
After showing, on the basis of official reporb, that the consumption of the poison had increased in the Bombay Presidency 549 per cent since 1876, while in other provinces it has also sadly increased, the speaker asked: " How was this increase brought about ~ The license to sell opium in any city or district is put up to public auction, or disposed of to the highest bidder, the Government having previously fixed the minimum sale, or the lowest quantity which the successful bidder must sell during the term of his contract.
" The form of license in use in the Bombay Presidency provides that if the holder of the license should fail to sell the stipulated minimum.amount of the poison he must pay (I quote the words of the license) 'penalty at the rate oj Rs. 5 per pound on the quantity oj opium required to make up the said minimum.'
" In the Northwest Provinces and Oudh the license provides that if one fail to buy of the Government the minimum quantity officially fixed to be retailed by him in each month, 'and the collector considers his explanation of his failure to buy the required amount to be unsatisfactory, the collector may resume the lease at once, and confiscate the instalments paid in advance by the lessee as security.'
"During the last three years the number of opium shops in India, instead of diminishing, increased by 1486.
" Preposterous statements have been made as to the increase of taxation that would be entailed if the opium traffic were abolished. But the legitimate revenue of India-i.e., apart from the opium traffic, has increased for a great many years past. During the last five years it bas increased at the average rate of seven hundred thousand tens of rupees per year. A careful estimate shows that all that is required to end the blackest chapter in our national history is a sum only equal to half the amount t!tat was given fifty years ago, with far less resources, to free the negro slaves in our "'Test Indian possessions. A subsidy of ten million ponnds to the Indian Exchequer, spread over a period of seven years, and divided into annual grants on a diminishing scale, would settle this infamous business; and it could be arranged in a manner that would cause the burden of this great act of justice to be almost imperceptible."
Rev. David Hill read an extract from a letter from a missionary brother a hundred miles from Hankow. The writer said: "I have bad news for you. I have seen the first poppy field in this part of the country." In all his travels he had never seen the poppy grown in that province before. Then in Hankow, forty years ago, one would see in every part of
AN UNCANONICAL MISSIONARY IN PALES'l'lNE
the city signboards with two Chinese charaders implying" Sz-chuen rice," that province growing so much rice that it could supply its own needs and send largely to other provinces. Now these letters have wholly disappeared, and in their stead stand two other characters implying" Sz-chuen earth," a Chinese euphemistic way of denominating the drug poil:!on grown in Sz-chuen.
Rev. John G. Gibson Raid: "The cause has been under trial long enough, and we have got a good verdict from an impartial jury, and demand that sentence against an evil work be executed speedily. We may discuss this qu"cstion on the basis of the Word of God, of Blue Books, of finance, of morality. of mercy, or of justice; but on any ground we have a good canse, and have nothing to fear from the fnllest discussion.
" ~~i!sionaries at home must be interested in this matter; for if it be a foul wrong, then we are sharers in it. Under onr system of government we are partners in the opium concern. Our capital carries it on, and our name and honor are by it put to shame; moreover, we have pledged ourselves to Chinese audiences to lift up our voices against this thing. Let us keep high the tone of this discussion. It is a crusade. The cross of Christ is in front. Let us resolve to follow in that faith which sees the end from the beginning, and that prayer which makes all things possible."
Rev. W. R. Winstone, from Burmah, said: "Practically, we find the people of Burmah on their knees praying us not to introduce the opium. We found, when we annexed Upper Burmah some years ago, prohibition the law of the land. Nominally it may be said to be still so ; but it is systematically broken, and with our own connivance. Our officials license Chinamen to sell the opium drug to their fellow-countrymcn in places where there is hardly a Chinaman to be found. and the smallest inquiry would show the plea to be only a pretence to secure the right of selling opium to the Burmese." The speaker concluded with a recital of English heroism at Manipur, and a call to similar determination in maintaining our protest against this national wrong-doing.
These resolutions being put to the meeting, were carried with much enthusiasm.
AN UNCANONICAL MISSIONARY IN PALESTTNE.
BY REV. J. K. WILSON, TAl.:NTON, MASS.
It must be confessed that he is not the typical missionary, either in appearance or apparent function. He is not dressed in ministerial gal b, or, indeed, in much garb of any sort. He was never known to preach a sermon ; he holds no credentials from mi~sional'y boards; I do 1I0t think that he could be made to see that he is a missionary at all, or even to understand what the word" missionary" means. "Vhen I saw him he was simply one of a gang of men, with picks and spades in their hands working on the Jericho road. And yet I am sure that, all unpromising as he may seem, and unecclesiastical as may be his labor, he has a large place in the enlightenment and evangelization of the land, his particular part of the work being. to preach the practical gospel of good roads.
As everybody knows, the word" road" means much less in Falestine than it does in America or in any other civilized country. There it is simply a trail over the rocks; a narrow footpath, worn hard by the trampling of the feet of men and animals for centuries. It is never cared for nor repaired; it has a curious fashion of getting its every inch covered with rolling pebbles,. or sharp, jagged stones; it is uncomfortable to walk on ; it affords often precarious footing for your horse; it is absolutely impassable for wheeled vehicles of any sort.
But poor roads mean segregation, isolation, non-intercourse. The man who lives fhe miles away from you, over a bad road, is not so really your neighbor as is he who lives ten miles down the turnpike, or twenty miles up the railroad. Distance is measured not merely by miles, but also by the difficulties by which those miles are traversed. This is 'ery clearly seen in Palestine. The little villages scattered through the land are cut off from each other by the difficulties of travel, and still more completely isolated from the few large towns and cities from the same cause. When fifteen or twenty miles constitute a day's travel, and when that distance must be covered on foot over rough ways, the average villager is not apt to get far away from his home. As a matter of fact there is very little of that knowledge of and relation with each other that is seen between the people of different towns in a land where communication is easier.
But latterly a change for the better is coming into the road system of the country. The Turkish Government is being forced to take up the work of internal improvement. It may be questioned whether it is the policy of the Turk to do anything to make Palestine more attractive than it now is j whether he would not rather leave it in its present bare and barren condition, lest, drawn by its restored beauty, heightened and increased by the recollection of its wonderful history, the world should crowd in and presently wrest it from the power of the Crescent. But whether he would or not, the Turk cannot well help himself. There is 1 strange restlessness upon the people. It is like the turning of a giant in his sleep. The Government must utilize it and control it, or be overthrown by it. One sign of this is the recent opening of Moslem schools for both boys and girls, 8S a kind of "back-fire" to missionary schools. The demand for better facilities for travel is another such indication. And so, probably more because it cannot help itself than because of any real interest in the matter, the Turkish Government is now engaged in an extensive work of road building. For years there have been excellent roads between Beyrout and DamaRcus, at the nortll, and Jaffa and Jernsalem, at the south. Now highways as good as are the majority of those in the best-kept portions of our own land are completed or are in process of construction between other towns and cities. From Damascus, going southward, you travel for four hours (twelve miles) over a road twenty-five or thirty feet wide. At Tiberias, on the shole of the Sea of Galilee, a road begins and runs for some distancce over the hills; and before you reach Nazareth you find the other end of it, running out as far as Cana (Kefr Kenna), and before long the two ends will be joined. From Nazareth a diligence road leads to Haifa, on the coast, another to Acre, and still another is finished southward as far as the edge of the great Plain of Esdratlon. A road is nearly completed between Shechem and Jaffa. I am not sure, but I think there is also a coast road from Jaffa, northward. In a few months the Good Samaritan might ride from .T€fusalem to Jericho with his coach and pair over a good broad highway j while to-day the traveller goes down into " the south country," and visits Bethlehem and Hebron and Rachel's Tomb, not as the fathers used to travel these ways, on foot, Of on camel-back, but in a modern, nineteenth-century" hack." On the way from Jerusalem to the sea-coast one crosses the roadbed of the new" Jerusalem and Jaffa Railroad." That sounds odd enough, doesn't it 1 But we must get used to it. After years of idle talk and futile plans, the railroad is at last a fact. On the track laid through the orange groves of Jaffa we saw one day last fall, with steam up, all ready for their trial trip, which was to be made that day, the three American-built locomotives, "Jerusalem," "Jaffa," and" Ramleh," sent out by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, of Philadelphia. Just how soon the road will be ready for operation cannot be told with certainty. The French engineer in charge said in my hearing that he expected to run the Jirst train in July, 1891. So far as I know, that expectation has not been fulfilled. Hut it will not be long before the solitudes which have for ages wrapped the sacred hills as a garment will be startled by the engine's shrill shriek, and the watchman on the" towers of Zion" will look down upon that" modern miracle," a railroad train rolling into its depot hard by the Jaffa Gate of the Holy City. It is not hazarding much to prophesy that within five years one may land from his steamer at Jaffa, take the train to Jeruslllem, and thence go by diligence to almost every point of interest and importance in the land j and that he may do it all with scarcely more of fatigue or discomfort than was involved in a tour through Switzerland five years ago.
Now, all this would be interesting to the student of contemporaneous history, as showing the onward sweep of thought and life even in lands hitherto most rigorously secluded. But it means much more to the student of God's purposes-the careful observer of the workings. of His providence. It means the breaking up of the isolation in whic1J these villages and towns of Palestine have been lying from the beginning. It means an easier intercourse, and, by consequence, a quickened interest in and a broader intelligence concerning the things which lie beyond the narrow village limits. It means a progressive enlightenment and civilization for these people by contact with enlightening lind civilizing influences from without. And it means far more than this, too. It is a matter of history that God has a first mortgage on every foot of road made, and every rod of railload track laid. That history will not be falsified with respect to Palestine. The opening up of this land is the opportunity-the" great door and effectual"-of the Gospel. The" casting up of the highway" is the making of a path for the chariots of the Lord's purposes. The human agents and agencies for carrying the tidings of salvation are helped or hindered by whatever helps or hinders contact and association and intercourse. EvelY blow of the pick, then, cutting its way through the lOck has a higher mission than to contribute to the eaRe and comfort with which the casual tourist shall hereafter pass thf()ugh the land j it facilitates the work of evangelization; it hastens the time when 1he herald of the Cross shall be able to come easily and quickly to all parts of the country, and when he shall find awaiting his coming, not the ignorant and self-satisfied stupidity of isolated villagers, scarce knowing that there is anything to know beyond the childish traditions of the little place they call their home, but the quickened and everincreasing interest of people who are beginning to think and to question, and who in even this beginning of a social and intellectual awakening are prepared to hear and to ponder the message he brings.
Therefore I claim for my brother of the pick and spade a place among the missionaries of Palestine. I hail him as one of the forces by which the redemption of the Land of Promise is to be brought about. And I would give him a place among the chief workers and call him one of tbe mightiest forces, too. I am not unmindful of what has been done and is being done in the Holy Land by missionaries working toward distinctively spiritual ends. I am not disposed to undervalue results thus obtained, nor are my eyes closed to the many significant signs of the beginning of a new order of things in that little mountain kingdom. A marvellous change is coming to pass under our eyes. The scattered people are returning to the land of their fathers, and room and place is being made for them there. It is almost startling to read of 5000 Jews coming back to Jerusalem in a single month (August, 1889), the greater part to take up residence there. If you would have your faith in God's Word stimulated, and the prophecy of the olden time made to appear new and fresh-the making of contemporaneous history-take your Bible and go up upon one of the highest housetops within the walls of Jerusalem. Turn to Jeremiah's word: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, t11at the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner. And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath. And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy unto the Lord." And now close the Book and look down upon that newer Jerusalem which is growing up about the older, and listen while they who have studied most carefully
1892.J A 'rIlIRTEEN MONTHS' BISHOP
into this matter tell you that, so far as human scholarship has succeeded in ascertaining the location of these variou~ points named, the building is following exactly the lines of this Divine SU1·vey. All this means more than we are always willing to think or admit. And yet, considering these things, and conceding all that they can mean, it is my conviction that there is at the present time nothing relating to the opening and evangelization of the land of greater prophetic ~ignificance and importance than the work of road making which is going on under thA authorization of the Turkish Government. In itself, of courst', it is nothing; but in what it makes possible, in what it facilitates, it is much. It is but a preliminary work; but without it the progress of the Gospel in the land would be sadly hindered. It is characteristic of God's methods that they fit into the grooves which men have made for them. The voice of a new John is crying in the wildernesses of Judea and Samaria and Galilee, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord! Make straight in the desert a highway for our God I"~ They who hear the voice are doing the bidding, not knowing whom they obey, or what it is that they do. But soon along these ways thus prepared, the messengers of the Gospel shall run to every city, and every village, and every home proclaiming again in the Lord's own land the Lord's grace and mercy and love. Thus shall He come" unto His own" once more. Will they refuse to receive Him as before!
Work well and faith full y, then, brother missionary of the Society of the Pick and Shovel. Strike sturdy blows; clear from the way all obstacles; make a good broad highway through the land. And be quick about it; for the King is at thy back. ,. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" for Palestine, as for the rest of the world.
A THIRTEEN MONTHS' BISHOP.
BY REV. C. H. MOCKRIDGE, M.A•• D.D., GENERAL SECRETARY OF MISSIONS OF CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN CANADA.
Some men are born with the missionary spirit strong within them. It is an impulse of their nature, and, take with them whatever for!D it may, it must assert itself. Such a man was Charles Frederick Mackenzie, who is brought before our notice first as a fellow of Caius College, Cambridge, at a time when the attention of the people of England was being powerfully drawn to the subject of foreign missions. In 1854 a mission was organized in England for India, the particular point for operations being Delhi, where preparation for the .work had already been made. Two clergymen, Rev. J. Stuart Jackson and Rev. A. R. Hubbard, hoth of Caius College, Cambridge, lp,ft Englaud and undertook the work there. Mr. Jackson wrote back to Mr. Mackenzie urging him to find colleagues for him in England and to send them out to his assistance. Mackenzie undertook the work; but he saw at once that be could not urge others to such a task with- out engaging in it himself. He accordingly volunteered to go, but delays took place, caused chiefly by hIs friends, who seemed very desirous to retain his services in England, and with the delay came a change of design, Africa being chosen as a field of labor instead of India. Soon afterward the terrible Indian Mutiny took place, and Christian people, Ellgli~h people, men, women, and children were massacred right and left and felt the savage power of a revengeful and fanaticro race aroused to the highest pitch of fury. The missions of Cawnpore and Delhi were utterly de- stroyed, and all efforts at evangelization for tne time being were necessarily suspended.
Mr. Mackenzie, therefore, never went out to India; but he did not abandon his idea of undertaking foreign missionary work, for ill the year 1855 we find him in Africa assisting the Rt. Rev. Dr. Colenso, the first bishop of Natal, a name which the orthodox Christians not only of Africa but of the world have had every reason to deplore. Archdeacon Mackenzie, for such was the title bestowed upon him by his bishop, was at the head of a large training institution at Ekukanyeni, or the" Home of Light," and he had as his fellow laborers two men who afterward imprinted their names indelibly upon the missionary work of Africa. One was the Rev. R.
Robertsoq, who afterward labored in Zululand, and the other was a medical man, Dr. Callaway, remarkable in many respects. In him the missionary, the physician, the farmer, the printer, the ethnologist, the philologist were all combined, and in later life he added that of the priest, and a grateful people bestowed upon him the further office of bishop. It is only recently that this wonderful man, one of the greatest on earth, Bishop Callaway, died in England, to which country he went after his physical strength could no longer respond to the suggestions of his gigantic intellect and the mo- tions of his iron yet Christ-like will.
Such were the men who were destined to play an important part in the future work of bearing the Gospel torch into some of the dark spots of darkest Africa.
At that time the master mind of Livingstone was being expended upon that vast and gloomy territory. In 1856 the great explorer, after having labored for sixteen years in Africa, suddenly appeared in England and, of course, became at once the hero of the hour. He appealed powerfully to England on behalf of Africa, and some enthnsiasm, though not to any very great extent, was aroused. Though a Presbyterian, Livingstone felt the power and ancient status of the Church of England, and appealed to her universities for that help which he felt she should give as a powerful branch of the Church of Christ. In 1858 he returned to AfrIca somewhat crestfallen, as his mission seemed to have accomplished but little. Still he had left a f;park of enthusiasm in England whir.h WliS destined to be fanned iuto a flame. Dr. Gray, Bishop of Capetown, a man of apostolic zeltl and fervor, visited England to keep . alive the spark which Livingstone. had ~–~. , ~ kindled. The result was that in 1859 a meeting was held in Cambridge which led to the formation of a mission to Central Africa.
Strange to say, at that very time, quite unannounced anq unexpected, Archdeacon Mackenzie arrived in England from Africa. He had gone there to advise with the home authorities before starting, what he felt ought to be done at once, a special mission to Zululand, and he found that the very society he could have wished for had been formed as if ready for him. Here, then, was the work, and here was the man. The work was that suggested by Livingstone; the man was Charles Frederick Mackenzie, and in every way he seemed thoroughly qualified for it. He was a ripe scholar and popular in his university. To a spirit naturally inclined to missionary work he was now able to add an experience sufficient to promise great usefulness in the future. He had acquired something of the language of South Africa, and knew pretty well the customs of the people, and besides he had wonderful faith in God, so humble and childlike as sometimes to be amusing, and so profound and sincere as to win for him the admiration of all.
The missionary meeting referred to was a large and enthusiastic one. Grand speeches were made, and many boastful things said about the prospects of future tIiumphs for the Church of God-all so easy to talk about and yet sometimes so difficult to achieve. It was easy for men living in sunny England, far away from the darkness of heathenism, to talk of the grand work that was about to be done, but Mackenzie, fresh from the field itself, having been face to face with the foe, could not share altogether the enthusiasm of the hour. In the depths of his own humility he whispered to a friend, " I am afraid of this. Most great works have been carried on by one or two men in a quieter way, and have had a more humble beginning. "
Little did this good soul know at the time how bitterly this prophecy was to be fulfilled! But at all events Mackenzie was the hero of the hour. For nine months he travelled over England, speaking for missionary objects and winning, if not entire enthusiasm for the cause he advocated, at least deep admiration for himself and the work he had undertaken. A man of strong physical power, who had held his own in all manly sports and athletic exercises, commended himself and his undertaking to the ordinary English mind, and this, coupled with 11 deep spirituality of heart, had much influence with those who were full of Christian sympathy and love.
He left for Africa in October, 1859, and was consecrated on January 1st, 1860, "Bishop of the mission to the tribes dwelling in the neighborhood of Lake Nyassa and River Shire"-a title long enough to indicate far more work than the great and good man was allowed to accomplish.
The newly consecrated bishop lost no time in starting for his allotted work. He had with him a small staff, clerical and lay, and with them a laborer and three native converts that had been trained at Capetown. They made their way to the mouth of the Zambesi, and there, at Kongone, they met Livingstone, on whom, it is needless to say, they relied greatly for advice and guidance; but, strange to say, the sagacity of the great ex- plorer seemed to fail him, and the steps advised by him proved singularly unfortunate. He had at the time, for his own use, a small steamer called the Pioneer, which had been lent to him by Her Majesty's Government, and this he gladly pla~ed at the disposal of the bishop and his party, with di- rections to take the River Roovooma, along which, by a southwest course, they might reach Lake NyaHsa. But the river proved too shallow for the amount of water drawn by their boat, and they found that after three weeks' hard steaming they had only gone thirty miles; but at length, on May 1st, they began to ascend the Zambesi, and here the Pioneer had a bet- ter chance, but only for a time, for after a nine days' voyage they began again to encounter shallow water. The account of this voyage is full of interest, but at the same time sad enough. At intervals they had to stop and turn out into the woods to cut fuel for the steamer, which in itself would perhaps have afforded but amusement and diversion for them were it not for the deadly fever which in Africa seems with such terrible clutch to fasten itself upon the white mau. All of the party, more or less, suffered from it, but still they encouraged one another, and kept up their spirits as best tlley could. When, however, they again encountered shallow water they fretted under the delay, and it is little wonder that lonely, depressed feelings stole over them. In this matter Livingstone was again at fault. Two years hefore he had himself ascended the Zambesi, but he had not taken into account that his boat at that time only drew about half the water that the Pioneer, with its present load, was compelled to draw. This, of course, cauRed great delay and much annoyance and anxiety.
After two months battling with sand· banks and shallow water, stirring up the long undisturbed bed of the silent floViing Zambesi, they arrived at a place now known as " Chibisas." And here they determined to abandon their craft and strike inland on foot. Carrying out their intention, they made for the highlands which lay to the northeast of them. On their way they encountered several slaving parties, and took upon themselves to rescue from the slave-dealers their unfortunate victims. Few troubles ever laid upon man by his fellow man have ever exceeded those which the unfortunate African, seized to be a slave, has had to endure on his weary march to the ships that are to carry him away. Weighted with heavy forks fastened round their necks, galled as to their wrists and ankles with the grl/at chains which bind them together, panting and groaning under a hot African sun, goaded by their cruel driver~ into a pace far beyond their strength, left in the forest to die a lingering death if overcome by exhaustion, maimed perhaps beforehand lest freedom should be gained with returning strength, they suffer misery which perhaps is difficult to describe.
Livingstone knew how to deal with these men who thus enslaved and tortured their fellow beings, and, with the assistance of Bishop Mackenzie and his party, rescued the unfortunate creatures from their hands, removed the heavy yokes from their necks, struck off their chains and set them free. Full of gratitude, the liberated slaves joined their liberators and remained with them as their friends.
A friendly tribe of natives also crossed their path. They were called Manganja! and were overjoyed at seeing Livingstone, for they were suffering at the hands of the Ajawa, a hostile tribe who were oppres!ling them. He and the missionary party lent their assistance, and thus reinforced the Manganja effectually crushed their oppressors.
The party at length settled at Magornero. a beautiful place 4000 feet above the level of the sea, and here Livingstone left them to commence their work. It was now about the end of July. The outlook was not of the brightest. They had the slaves that they had rescued as their first material to work upon, and with them they commencid j but they had incurred the h?stility of the Ajawa, who at first harassed them considerably.
They commenced their missionary work by studying the languages of the natives, as the latter were busily engaged putting up huts and doing other necessary work. Daily services were commenced in one of the largest of the huts which, on account of these sacred offices, was called the chapel. Schools were established, and the little community commenced the ordinary Christian life. The natives were much impressed by the enjoined observance of the Sunday. Such order was at last obtained that one of the party wrote home to a friend, "'What a luxury a chair is ! what a rest it is! We have now a table, albeit a very rickety one, and our beds are off the ground-an approach to civilizatiorr which, with the sitting to take our meals, astonishes and delights our bones as much as it does the admiring group of natives. "
Magomero, though spoke n of as a beautiful place and high above the level of the sea, was not a healthy spot, because other places in its neighborhood were still higher than it, and left for it the designation of a " hole." Consequently the deadly fever began again its fatal work. In November the bishop took a journey to Chibisas (already mentioned), hoping to meet Livingstone, and there he met the Rev. H. Burrup, who had recently arrived to do missionary work, little dreaming of the dark cloud be was so soon to encounter. In the month of December the bishop, with Mr. Burrup, started upon another expedition for the purpose of finding, if possible, and conferring with Livingstone. The Ajawa still troubled him and had to be punished for an act of treachery. The journey undertaken was a hard one, and lay through morasses and swamps j nor were they entirely Rure of the route that had to be taken. In fact, after a weary trudge of eight days they found that they had been upon the wrong track and that it would be necessary for them to return to Magomero and start afresh. This they did, and then found that a journey of two hundred miles lay before them. Taking but one night's rest, the energetic bishop determined to make this journey, and in the morning, taking with him only Mr. Burrup and one of the Cape men, he started. They reached Chibisas again and there borrowed a canoe and made their way along the river. On the second night of this fatal journey their canoe upset, and themselves together with their blankets, and a11 things belonging to them, were thrown into the water. No place of shelter could be reached j no one was nigh to render any assistance. They were tired and sleepy, and in their wet clothes, wrapped in blankets which they had rescued from the water, and by no means dry, they passed the night as best they could. The grim spectre of the fatal fever threatened them and at once it commenced its attack. The quinine and other medicines, which must be used continually in that pestilential climate, had been lost when the boat upset, and in abject misery they felt themselves exposed helplessly to a fatal disease. And all too soon it came, and the bishop of God's Church fell a victim to it on a lonely island far away from the haunts of man. The feyer suddenly pulled down his great strength, and he quietly breathed his last on January 31st, 1862, just thirteen months after his consecration. The angels of God were near, no doubt, to see the dismal scene; but the only one in the flesh that was there to witness it was Mr. Burrup, the bishop's companion, who set about the mournful task of consigning the body to the grave. To dig a shallow grave and place the body in it was all that he could hope to do; and when his task was done the sun had nearly set. He was himself weak aud dying, for the fever having taken away the bishop all too easily fastened its fangs upon the priest. By the dull light of receding day he read what portion of the Burial Service he could and then he turned to drag his weary body, if possible, back to the mission-station. No doubt he turned to say a sad farewell to the little mound of fresh earth at the foot of an acaciatree which marked all that was left of the fine, robust Euglishman who had fallen in the wilderness a martyr to his Master's work. And then he turned away, and by painful journeys reached Magomero in time only to tell his mournful tale, when he, too, followed his bishop to the place where" the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest."
ThiE was the end of Bishop Mackenzie, but it was not the end of the mISSIon. The rest of the little band kept up their work as best they could. Some of them died and some were hopelessly shattered in health, but the work faltered not. A new bishop, Bishop Tozer, was sent out from England, and event.nally changed the headquarters of the mission to Zanzibar. Such was the commencement, mournful enough, of the Diocese of Central Africa, in which, however, never since has missionary work flagged or missionary. zeal grown cold. The thought of the lonely grave in the wilds of Africa has ever lent zest to the work, and good Bishop Mackenzie, " though dead yet speaketh. "
A lady, once of much poetic power, on hearing the writer of this paper tell the story of Bishop Mackenzie in public, wrote the following lines, which as yet, it is believed, have never been published, as soon afterward she herself was called away to her eternal hOllie : " On the wings of evening air Fall the sounds of pleading prayer ; 'Neath the acacia words are said For the burial of the dead. Now are past the hours of pain, Scorching sun and chilling rain; From the fever's wild unrest A bishop passes to his rest.
" Then for him there has passed a solemn throng Of the good and true, with their funeral song, And the sands are ploughed with the marks of feet Which have borne the chief in his winding sheet, And a white-robed choir with chant and hymn Have sung him to sleep with their requiem.
" No! one voice alone is heard Breathing forth hope's glorious word; One beside the dead has stood Through the fever and tho flood, Powerless the life to save- Able scarce to dig the grave, Cross the hands and breathe t}!.e prayer For the soldier sleeping there.
c. The death of a soldier, ah ! then will come The mournful throbbings of the mullied drum, And arms all reversed as the bayonets gleam 'Neath banners that over the dead man stream, And men's heads are bowed 'neath the sunset sky Round the loyal dead who could dare and die.
" No! St. Michael's host keep guard O'er the grave with watch and ward, For the march of angels' feet, And the roll of music sweet, And the welcome loud and long To the soul by faith made strong ; Echo in their power unpriced Through the palaces of Christ.
" Oh ! then in thy desolate tomb take rest, Thou knight of the Cross. Though above thy breast No kindred may come sweet flowers to plant, We enroll thy name in our holy chant. One day in seven ten thousands of tongues Arise to the Father in deathless songs, Saying or singing on land and on sea, • The noble army-of MARTYRS-praise Thee.'
" And the faithful men who stood Side by side 'mid storm and flood On the far-off English sod, Once had pledged their faith to God,
ARE MISSION CoNVERTS A FAILUJtlE?
Gave to Him their troth and trust, Shook from out their souls the dust And now in summer lands above Live the life of rest and love."
ARE MISSION CONVERTS A FAILURE 1 BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK.
A series of papers by Rev. Archbishop Turnbull, B.D., Darjeeling, India, appeared in the Church of Scotland mission monthly, which are here presented in substance. This condensation omits much matter intended for Anglo-Indians and for the English, but retains the substance. It does not need to defend the missions on the side of quantity. A hundred years ago Protestant mission converts were 300 j now they are 3,000,000, of whom one per cent are themselves mission workers. How as to quality? Such objections are common: "Colonel So-and-so, home from India, says that our converts are mostly shams." Now, if our converts are mostly shams, our missionaries must be mostly hypocrites. A serious conclusion, which we are not to accept without some cross-examination of our military witness.
We are concerned only with Protestant converts j with these only as a community,. and only with Ind,ja.
I. Assuming the good faith of these military disparagements of our converts, we are not obliged to assume their truth. For instance : A regiment from Benares, passing through Cawnpore, was entertained at dinner there. One of the captains was asked by a lady at the table what the missionaries were doing in Benares. He assured hcr there were no missionaries there. "But I pay an annual subscription for an orphan-house." " 'I do not doubt it–for an orphan-house which does not exist. Do you think I could have lived three years in Benares without learning of it 1" A gentleman sitting by, asked the captain: "Did you go to church in Benares 1" " Certainly-by orders." "But there is no Government chaplain there." " True j but the service was conducted by clergymen who were much beloved by our men." " Strange; you attended services conducted by missionaries, and did not know of the existence of these gentlemen. Now as to the orphan-house. Did you ever see the long building in the street leading by Sigra to Marawaddi f' "Certainly. I once rode into the compound after a fox. I found a heap of little black rascals, who grinned at me. They knew where the fox was, but would not tell me." " Then you were in the precincts of the orphan-house 1" " Indeed! I took it for an indigo factory, or something of the sort. " Now imagine this officer returning to Scotland, and in all good faith, on the strength of his own local knowledge, assuring the discomfited subscribers to Benares missions that there were there neither missionaries nor orphan -houses ! As Dr. Warneck pertinently quotes from Dr. Ellinwood, imagine a London sportsman spending a year in the New York club houses, or an infidel German spAnding a year in the New York hotels. How much would either know of the religious life of the city 1 Enough to echo the contemptuous declarations of his own circle, that the religious life of America is a pure deception, the clergy a band of ragamuffins, and the church-members a flock of hypocrites! But, now, suppose a deputy of the Scottish General Assembly spending only a few weeks in New York.
What a mass of facts as to the religious life of America he would have gathered in that time !
But even such witnesses as tea-planters, spending their lives among the natives, and often friendly with the missionaries, may eailily be no less incompetent. Such sayings as these prevail: "Only vile, lazy fellows be- come Christians." "Let India be Christianized, and good-by to English rule." A native Christian servant misbehaves. "See," says his Chri~tian maRter, " what sort of refuse these native Christians are I" .
Here we see the trail of that universal false persuasion, that the mis- sionaries hold out mercenary inducements to their converts. Now these receive absolutely nothing from them, but are expected to contribute to mISSIOns. The last calculation was one thirty-fourth of their total income.
ImJlgine European Christendom rising to that standard!
We cannot deny, however, that many Europeans in India have met with many native Christians, and have found them "mostly shams."
There will always be the careless or indifferent., who take no pains to pene- trate beyond the soiled exterior of native Christianity. Beyond the narrow path which they themselves have trodden hard, they know nothing, and care little to know anything. Moreover, we have undertaken to be answer- able only for the Protestants; and out of 2,148,228 native Christians of India, 1,600,000 are claimed by the Roman Catholic and Syrian churches.
Most of the Christian servants in India are Madrasis, a majority of whom are Catholics.
Moreover, even the Protestants among them belong to the class most closely connected with the Anglo-Indian community, and most slightly con- nected with the mission churches. The English official has more to do with forming them than the missionary. And their masters are very com- monly so entirely indifferent to their Christian advancement that even when near the church of their conversion, they might as well be a thousand millls away, for all the opportunities they have t.o attend. Outcasts among their fellow-servants because Christians, and outcaRts in their masters' and mistress's view, although Christians, looking in vain for the compassionate hand of the Master in one of His people, they fall back, and are reproached as shams because they are frail men who cannot live a Christian life when all Christian nurture is withheld !
There are, of course, eertain worthless Hindus, or Moslems, who, hav- ing lost the privileges of their old religions, resort to Christianity as a
THE INCUBUS OF' THE KINGDOM
cover. But as English by-ends do not discredit the existence of the genuine pilgrims, nor even prove them a minority, no more do Hindn byends. But let Christian servants have fair play, and there is abundant proof that they turn out as satisfactory converts as any. To be in a real Christian family, under real Christian care, cannot certainly be disadvantageous to native Christians.
II. Now as to positive evidence. 1. Sir William Muir, once Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Provinces, remarking on the ever-increasing ratio of conversions, says: "And they are no~ shams 01' paper converts, as some would have us believe, but good, honest Christians, and many of them of a high standard." 2. The second witness-and after his evidence the case must be adjourned till at least next month-is the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (late Governor of Madras), thus reported in 1883 : " In justice to those natives who had adopted Christianity as their profession in India, he ought not to refrain from bearing his testimony to that which came more especially under the eyes of a governor-viz., their conduct in civil matters, as well as their conduct in religious matters. When they carne to large masses of the people, to whole villages which had adopted Christianity, then it was possible to those in authority to form some opinion as to whether the change of creed had conduced to the good conduct of the converts; and he must not refrain from saying that the tendency of the change had been decidedly for good." It is an obvious corollary to remark that if the character of the native Christian commnnity is satisfactory as a whole, even in the Madras Presidency the character of its members can scarcely be unsatisfactory as individuals.
Is it necessary to say, before closing, that this paper is in no sense designed as an attack on Europeans in India ~ Just as there are converts and converts, so also are there, of course, Anglo-Indians and Anglo-Indians; and among these the writer knows many a tea-planter, merchant, or soldier, whom he has reason to deem a far better Christian than himself, and to whom he owes eternal gratitude.
THE INCUBUS OF THE KINGDOM.
BY W. C. C.
It is generally admitted that the worldliness of the Church is the only obstacle to the immediate evangelization of the whole world. The work is well within our spare ability, and there is nothing in the way of doing it and doing it at once j only the people who profess to be doing it are not doing it, but, as a whole, are devotiug nearly all their time, labor, and money to the pleasures and vanities of this world" as the heathep. do." " The lust of the flesh" (luxury and pleasure), "the lust of the eyes" (refined IIlsthetic indulgences), and" the pride of life" (emulous style in our dwellings, dress and equipage) run all the way throug]! the ranks of Christian people, from the humblest to the highest, according to their several ability. To such things alone do we really give according to our ability; and so we " consume upon our lusts" the munificence of Him who "became poor that we, through His poverty, might be made rich," and have but a beggarly dole to spare for the vast majority of our race who have as yet tasted no share of the blessings purchaAed for them by the precious blood of Christ and entrusted by Him to us for distribution.
The present object in referring to this state of things is not so much to reprove it as to ask the cause of it. Can it be, I ask, that this state of things would continue if it were set before the members of our churches in its true light q In other words, if the theory and example of Christian living set before us by our teachers were essentially better than this our practice ~ Glorious was the Reformation that raised the Church out of dead works to a living faith and opened the Bible to the people. But who does not now see that what we call the Reformation was only a beginning of reformation ; the removal of a condition that made reformation impossible; leaving the great practical reforms to be wrought out by the unfolding principles of a resuscitated Gospel ~ Our thrl:le centuries of reformation have slowly accomplished a large development of the ethical consciousness of evangelical Christendom, and raised with it the standard of godly teaching and example. It is no longer suitable, for instance, to set forth the brandy bottle or to discountenance foreign missions at an ecclesiastical gathering. Far otherwise, indeed; and so of many other enormities that a century ago were not condemned as Church practices. But the fact remains that the worldly living, which the reader has probably thus far supposed to be what is meant here by " The Incubus of the Kingdom," is yet in the full fellowship of our churches and pulpits generally. Show me a Christian, layman or clergyman, who does not Jive up to the general style of his class in the income lists, but devotes more than his superfluity to the kingdom of Christ, and I will show you an exception marked and admired, and sometimes censured, as far as it is known. Show me a pulpit from which the 'consecrated self-abnegation of Christ is definitively enjoined and the lust of the flesh, and the eyes, and the pride of life are plainly denounced just as they are cherished in that particular Church, and you will show me an exception such as I have never yet seen, although I trust that such exceptions do exist.
On the contrary, it was not in a former century, but on a recent occasion that I heard from a very prominent evangelical pulpit, and from a still more prominent evangelical theologian, what I understand, as he did, to be the standard sumptuary doctrine of the Church-give liberally; but live liberally, too, if you can. It is but the unreformed doctrine that has been handed down to us through the comfortably good and pions dignitaries of an easy-going Christianity, but at the present day re-enforced against an encroaching consciousness of inconsistency with our Lord's d·emand of self-abnegation by the four following objections to obeying it, as form~lated by a chief rabbi of the Presbyterian Church on the occasion referred to : 1. You cannot draw the line. 2. It would tend to a rude asceticism. 3. It would impair our social influence. 4. Luxury gives vast employment to labor. As if inability to draw an infallible line between the claims of Christ and self were a reason for satisfying the latter first and at any rate! As if a holy self-denial were less refining than outward elegance, or as if no reasonable mean could be struck between sumptuous salf-indulgence and bare sustenance! As if every church and ministry th~t has been eminently mighty for God in the world, from the apostles down, had not been eminent for plain and humble living, as one great source of their reverence and power in the world! As if the wages paid to the servitors of luxury would not support an equal or greater number in the service of Christ and humanity! As if the Gospel were not the grand creator of and propagator of civilization, wealth, and prosperity wherever its power extends! I heard a Christian millionaire, " whose praise IS in all the churches" for eminent liberality, remark that the plumbing in his new mansion cost him seven thousand dollars. Every thousand that he ga'e to Christian work could have been ten thousand, without being missed as much as one dollar is by many a humble giver. Yet so far from reproof was he that it would be counted sacrilege to pronounce his sainted name in connection with this remark. But I can illustrate this subject with a brighter example-as much brighter as it is less known to fame-an example of consecration that fairly, and, alas! how rarely, translates into practice the literal sense of our Lord's condition of discipleship : "Whosoever forsaketh not all that he hath," etc. Possessed of a large fortune, my lamented friend was only" rich toward God." For himself he lived like a comparatively poor man, that he might use all that he had in simple stewardship for his Lord's housein his own house having nothing that could seem suspiciously expensive for a bank clerk with a salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year. Not everything that might be argued conducive to personal welfare, far less anything dictated merely by the customary style of others in his circumstances, but solely what was necessary for !!imple comfort and simple refinement entered into the measure of his private expenditure; all the rest was, as the former indced was, only less directly so, the Lord's. My first acquaintance with him was by letter, in which he mentioned having been entrusted with some of the Lord's money, concerning which he was seeking the Lord's will ; and in much subsequent experience he was never found to have any other money or any other will concerning it than the Lord's. When the ambassadors of Christ shall dare to preach unambiguously and practice heroically their Master's demand on every disciple as it was .~
SUNDAY-SCHOOLS IN INDIA
illustrated by this faithful steward, and when their teaching shall be accepted-as that of the Master Himself is not-by those who profess and call themselves Christians, then and then only may the rich and poor clasp hands over the chasm that now threatens to be a bloody one; and for the evangelization of the world, if there shall remain any embarrassmont, it will he from the plethora of wealth and the crowd of laborers pressing into the harvest field.
SUNDAY-SCHOOLS IN INDIA.
BY JAMES L. PHILLIPS, D.D., SECRETARY INDIA S. S. UNION, CALCUTTA, INDIA.
Some of our India churches have had Sunday-schools for many years. These have been for the Christian community alone. It was counted wellnigh impossible to open Sunday-schools for Hindu and Mohammedan children. The India Sunday-School Union was organized in 1876, and the missions taking special interest in this department of effort united under its auspices to improve and extend our Sunday-school system. Since its organization, barriers have yielded; the prayers of God's people have been answered in the remarkable opening of doors on every side for the Christian Sunday-school. At one Decennial Missionary Conference in Calcutta nine years ago, Sunday-schools received special attention, and thousands of Hindu and Mohammedan pupils were reported in regular attendance upon them. American mis~ions have always devoted much Jabor to this form of Gospel work; but now nearly all missions are coming to see its importance and promise.
There are now auxiliary Sunday-school unions in the principal provinces of India, Bengal, Bombay, Madras, Punjab, Burma, Central Provinces, Rajputana, and the Northwest, all affiliated with the India Sunday-School Union, 80 that our work begins to take shape, and gives promise of large increase. I may say that there are really no serious obstacles now to the planting of Sunday-schools throughout this country. In some cases Hindus have come to our missionaries and begged for Sunday-schools to be opened in their villages. The Mohammedans are more conservative as a rule; but even they are glad to have their children instructed in the Scriptures. There was never so wide an open door, or so inviting, for Sunday-schools in India.
As in America and Great Britain, we have Sunday-school conventions in prominent places for discussing ways and means, for prayer and planning. These are attended by missionaries of all denominations, and other Christians, foreign and native j and this Sunday-school work is proving a bond of delightful fellowship among all disciples of our Lord in India.
I may cite two other good results of this rising interest in Sundayschools here. One is that hidden European workers are coming out into active service. We have not a few in India who were diligent workers in
MODERN INDIA
England, Wales, Scotland, and other places, but have been hidden and inactive since coming out here. For Sunday-school extension we are calling out lustily for volunteers; and I am very thankful to say some of these friends, who in this needy fidd had been idle, are now coming to the front and engaging in hearty effort.
The other good result is one that must greatly cheer all our friends in America and Europe-viz., a rising zeal for Christ on the part of our native Christians. There are things they cannot do and foreign teachers have to dn for them j but Sunday-school work is something they can do, and are learning to do with thoroughness and success. I cannot but look upon our Sunday-school enterprise as a capital school for training native Christians for effective service among their own countrymen. Tokens of cheer in this line already begin to appear.
Let India's Sunday-school workers be faithfully remembered in the prayers of Christians at home, and let special prayer be offered up for the early conversion of the children in our schools, and for their consecration to the Master's service in their own land. I believe that converted and consecrated children have a great work before them in hastening India's complete evangelization.
MODERN INDIA.
Sir William Hunter says: "I have often amusea myself, during my sohtary peregrinations, by imagining what a Hindu of the last century would think of the present state of his country if he could revisit the earth. I have supposed that his first surprise at the outward physical changes had subsided, that he had got accustomed to the fact that thousands of square miles of jungle, which in his time were inhabited only by wild beasts, have been turned into fertile crop-lands j that fever-smitten swamps haye been covered with healthy, well-drained cities j that the mountain walls which shut off the interior of India from the seaports have been pierced by roads and scaled by railways; that the great rivers which formed the barriers between provinces and desolated the country with their floods have now been controlled to the uses of man, spanned by bridges, and tapped by irrigation canals.
" But what would strike him as more surprising than these outward changes is the security of the people. In provinces where every man, from the prince to the peasant, a hundred years ago went armed, he would look around in vain for a matchlock or a sword. He would see the country dotted with imposing edifices in a strange, foreign architecture, of which he could not guess the uses. He would ask, What wealthy prince has reared for himself that spacious palace ~ He would be answered that the building was no pleasure house for the rich, but a hospital for the poor. He would inquire, In honor of what new deity is this splendid shrine ~ And he would be told that it was no new temple to the gods, but a school for the people." -Selected.
IS IT NOTHING TO YOU?
IS IT NOTHING TO YOU 1 BY G. P. T.
Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?"-Lamentations 1 : 12.
Is it nothing to you, 0 ye- Christians, That millions of beings to-day, In the heathen darkness of China, Are rapidly passing away q They have never heard the story Of the loving Lord who saves, And "fourteen hundred every hour Are sinking to Christless graves !"
Is it nothing to you, 0 ye Christians, That in India's far-away land There are thousands of people pleading For the touch of a Saviour's hand 1 They are groping, and trying to find Him j And although He is ready to save, Eight hundred precious souls each hour Sink into a Christless grave!
Is it nothing to you, 0 ye Christians, That Africa walks in night ~ That Christians at home deny them The blessed Gospel light 1 The cry goes up this morning From a heart-broken race of slaves, And seven hundred every hour Sink into Christless graves !
Is it nothing to you, 0 ye Christians ~ Will ye pass by and say, It is nothing, WE cannot aid them! You can give, or go, or pray; You can save your souls from blood-guiltiness, For in lands you never trod The heathen are dying every day, And dying without God.
Is it nothing to you, 0 ye Christians ~ Dare ye say ye have nanght to do 1 All over the world they wait for the light; And is it nothing to you?
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERI0DICALS.
BY RE.V, C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
-The Rev. A. Bernstein, of the London Jewish Society, writes from Frankfort-on-the-Main: "One thing struck us very forcibly in all our travels-namely, that everywhere Jews are found who are more or less prepared to enter the Christian Church, and are only waiting for some great leader or event to give the starting impulse. IIJ fact, the Jews in Germany at the present time may begenerally compared to the generation at the time of our Saviour. Like Pharisaism and Sadduceeism then so now the , orthodox' and the ' reformed' parties have exhausted their forces, and as neither will give way to the other there is but a quiet watching and gathering of strength for some momentous event in the not distant future."
-The Rev. Alexander Robertson, in A Voice from Italy, remarking on the special honor which Venice renders to the Bible, says: "The lion is the symbol of St. Mark. This symbol, then, is everywhere throughout Venice. It is on the front of St. Mark's Church, on the clock tower in the Piazza, above tho entrance to the Doge's Palace, and it crowns each of the two great granite monoliths that adorn the Piazzeta. It is stamped on the town official papers, it is emblazoned on the city flags, it is carved on gondoliers, and is painted on the prows of ships. In every instance, too, the lion holds in its paw an open book-the Bible. This exhibition of the Bible throughout Venice was, during its best days, no matter of form. The Bible was in the hearts of the people as well as on their buildings, flags, and papers, and its principles guided their lives. Their contracts were made in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Texts of Scripture were carved above the doors of their houses. They witnessed a good confession. Very unlike some modern Protestants who, a(lcording to Mr. Ruskin, are the only people who seem ashamed oj anything that looks like a profession of their faith."
-As the papal influence grew in Venice (though it always met with much resistance) the biblical very naturally declined. But now the Bible is coming again to its old rights in Venice. Few Venetian families, able to read, says Mr. Robertson, fail to have a part of the Bible, or the whole. It is commonly Martini's. But the superior accuracy of Diodati's version is largely commending that to favor, even in Catholic families.
-The Rev. N. H. Shaw, in the General Baptist Magazine for Jnne, says, writing from Rome: "We have had scenes of bloodshed in our streets, and but a few paces from our doors. The poor workingmen of Italy are among the meekest of earth's children, but misery drives men mad. The condition of tens of thousands of poor people in Rome is pitiable in the extreme. Rent and living are (}ostly, and work there is none. And so it was easy for three hundred anarchists to bring about a conflict between the people and the military. Hence we have had streets barricaded, and knives and revolvers on the part of the people answered by volleys of musketry from the soldiery. It was painful to see groups of twenty-four or fifty soldiers stationed here and there in our streets with bayonets fixed, and an officer at the head of each group with drawn sword, standing the whole night through, ready for action at any moment against their own fellow-citizens. And yet the government goes on spending money in Africa, and in preparations for war at home! When is this wickedness to cease ~ We are living in a powder magazine, and if our rulers do not speedily learn wisdom, only Divine interposition can save us from something much more fearful than the explosion of the 23d ult."
-The Supreme Ecclesiastical Council of the Prussian Evangelical Church having declared that, to young men of regular university training, classical and theological, it would, after five years of foreign missionary service, assure a suitable church living at home, the representatives of the first thirteen of the above-mentioned societies assembled at Halle, in November, 1890, after consultation with a representative of the Imperial Chancellor, to which also Dr. Warneck was invited, unanimously presented to the Council an urgent representation of the injury which such a mea"ure was likely to inflict on the standard of permanency, faithfulness, effiJiency, and purity of motive in the missionary work. What the result has been we do not yet learn. But the overmastering anxiety to make missions a handmaid of colonial conditions in East Africa seems just now to be having a very bewildering effect on the minds of high authorities in Germany. We are happy to attest that it does not seem to move the missionary societies from the sobriety of their judgment. To us the si-ngular injudiciousness of such a proposition appears too plain for argument, although the memorial deals with it most thoroughly and temperately.
-The Rhenish Missionary Society is able to report 3000 baptisms for the last year, and a large extension of its range of labor in Netherlands India, New Guinea, and Africa. Of their 150 laborers (at least two-thirds in the tropics) only three have died within the year. In Netherlands India the government bas decided to give grants in aid, according to the number of children, to the Society's 90 schools in Borneo, Sumatra, and the neighboring island of Nias. M. Eugene Casalis, who bad come to France from Basutoland hoping to find his father, found only his tomb, into which he quickly followed him, of ~n unexpected cerebral hemorrhage. The blow is doubly felt, following so soon the loss of M. Duvoisin.
-The Rev. William Boyd, LL.D , writes in the Free Church Monthly of tbe Waldensian Synod: "The work of the Synod was done thoroughly. A report of the spiritual condition of every parish was submitted and discussed. The work of each of the forty-four mission stations up and down Italy was looked into. Questions of finance were bravely faced. There was a lively debate on the tendencies of some of the churches in the direction of more tasteful buildings, a less antiquated service, the use of hymns and organ!!, and improvement in music. The valley people are very conservative, like our Scotch Highlanders, and deprecate changes j but there is in the Church a progressive party which asks for all lawful freedom. There were no doctrinal points under discussion this year, though, from conversations with some of the ministers and professors I can see that they are quite abreast of the controversies which excite attention in our land. They are, however, too busy in their great work of evangelization to waste time on the debating of spccuJativtl points, which can be wisely deferred till the Gospel hag gained a firmer foot in their country. Two things struck me as characteristic of the Vaudois Church-its missionary spirit and its evangelistic spirit. The people cannot give much for these ends. A.s a rule, they are poor, or at least wit~out a superabundance of this world's goods, but they give themselves. A.lmost every family has furnished ministers, mil'lsionaries, and evangelists, and the supply is only restrained by financial difficulties. Were the gifts for the evangelization of Italy doubled or trebled there could be no difficulty in finding a corresponding supply of able and godly Vaudois to do the work."
-The fact that the Evangelical Alliance met in Florence near the spot where Savonarola was put to death, who is increaeingly regarded among the orthodox Roman Catholics of Italy as a saint and martyr, suggests the question whether this common veneration for the great friar might not be made one point for securing a better mutual understanding. Father Curci (lately dead) was no more a Protestant than Savonarola himself, but he declared that until Italy has once more secured a grasp on Jesus Christ and His Gospel she may perhaps do well to " send her innumerable saints and Madonnas to the right about. " King Humbert, when Crown-prince, remarked to the Rev. Dr. Nevin, of the Episcopal Church in Rome: "If Italy is to have a religion, she must have one that is not so fearfully overdone. "
-The .Journal des Missions J!vangeliques for May has a full and loving tribute of remembrance to its great helper, Edmond de Pressense. Among other things it quotes the witness borne by him, in 1879, to the comprehensive character of the missionary foundations in France: "It has come about, by the rapid course of things here below, that I am now, if not in age one of the deans, at least in seniority one of the oldest members of the Missionary Committee. As far back as my remembrances go they are aSEOeiated with this sacred work. I still see its humble cradle in a then morally desolate quarter of Paris, where it already assumed that character which nowhere is lacking to it, of uniting home with foreign missions; for it is in the modest house of the Boulevard Montparnasse that a number of the most important undertakings of our evangelical Protestantism had their origin, and also the Church to which I have belonged for more than thirty years. • . . At that date, already remote, an upper chamber might have contained all the generous founders of onr evangelical movement. They then knew only one question, the grand, the immortal one-namely, the salvation of souls. . . • Their forces are not divided, but distributed, save at one point. Whenever their minds turned to the work of missions they were only one heart, one soul, one thought."
THE EAST INDIES.
– " Experience shows that a temporary withdrawal of the protection of the English Government, such M occurred in some parts during the mutiny years of 1857-58, so far from extinguishing Christianity, helps to spread it; and candid and thoughtful Hindus are not slow to perceive that even if the English were now to leave India, and were not succeeded by any other Christian power, it would still be impossible to counteract the destructive influences already at work, and that caste, as a system of impassable social divisions, must ultimately give way before the ideas which have taken root during a few generations of contact with Christian Europe."- SIR BARTLE FRERE, in Missionary Intelligencer, Christian Mission Board.
– " Whether in the wilds of Scandinavia, or among idolatrous Teuton hordes, in the cloister, in the camp, in the parliament, or in the guild of medieval Europe-or, in later agel, asserting by speech, by pen, or by sword, the rights and obligations of mankind-the strongest and most successful organizers and constructors, social as well as political, have ever been lllen of the "trong-est, deepest, mos.t earnest religious Christian convictions j differing, it may be, most widely as to particular doctrines of their common faith, or particular practical applications of their theories, but all deriving their inspiration from one common source, and refl'rring, as the ultimate authority for all they do, to one Book, briefer than the scriptures of any other faith, and which inculcates all its moral precepts with a clearness and simplicity which an intelligent child can comprehend as perfectly as the most advanced philosopher. "-SIR BARTLE FRERE.
-Herr Canne, formerly Governor of Westem Sumatra, gives an interesting description of the activity of the Rheni~h missionaries as he had become acquainted with them on his visits: "Scarcely had day dawned when from all sides you would see the sick hastening to procure help and advice. Such as were too sick to come to the house were visited at their own homes. Meanwhile, not only the sick, but all that needed help, came to the missionaries. All manner of disputes were Rubmitted to their arbitration. Their advice was asked about everything. A still further claim was laid on their time for the giving of instruction, ordinary and catechetical. From early morning till late at night they were busy. Their wives gave instruction in sewing and other manual arts. The households of the missionaries were in everything pioneers of culture, and a blessing to thousands."
-The Lutheran Brethren of Madras Presidency (Leipsic Mission) have ordained Samuel, a pariah, the first of this dishonored class whom they have admitted to the ministry. In his theological examination he showed himself the most thoroughly grounded of all the four candidates' for ordination.
-Mr. Larsen, in the J)ansk Missions-Bleld for June, gives an interestmg account of the conferences held in Madras with educated young Hindus, Christian and heathen. Once the subject was "The Ideal Life." A young Christian read a papcr upon it. Then a young heathen, an engaging person and fluent speaker, rose. He declared that one could not lead an ideal life without a visible ideal, and he could find no other than Jesus Christ. To the expostulations of his heathen companions, then and at the next meeting, he made no other answer than that so he thought and so he must speak. To the question now, whether he is about to become a Christian, Mr. Larsen replies :. " He may btl not far distant from desiring baptism, though I do not believe so. But certain I am, he has not a glimmering idea what it is to become a Christian. The distance is heavenwide between owning Christ as an ideal and accepting Him as a Saviour."
– " In the Times of September 21st there was published a very sympathetic sketch of the lives of three eminent Indians-representative types of the scholar, the statesman, and the recluse. It is to the last named only that we would here call attention. Pandit Iswura Chandra Vidyasagara was a Brahmin of the best type. Many years ago he braved the wrath of his order in espousing the cause of the Hindu child-widow. He brought the highest scholarship and an immense wealth of Sanscrit learning to bear upon the lifelong task of creating a healthy public literature for Bengal. But it is for his self-denying endeavor to realize the Brahmin ideal of selfnegation, alms-giving, and eschewing of worldly ambition that he is best remembered. Spending little on his own food and raiment, he gave every Sunday to all who came to his door, and took special pleasure in entertaining the poor j to widows and orphans, needy studentR, waifs and strays, and victims of the caste system, he was an ever-ready benefactor. His favorite form of charity was that of personal service-seeking out the unfortunate in their homes, visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, speaking words of consolation, and performing ~he humblest duties for others. Brahmin though this man was in creed, in practice dOCR not his example put many professing Christians to shame ~"-The Christian.
-" It is encouraging to find that in the annual report of the ~farathi Mission for 1890 the number received on confession of their faith was not only larger than in any previous year, but that it is an increase of more than ten per cent upon the whole number of church-members at the beginning of 1890. The statistics show that the rate of increase within the last sixty years has been rapidly advancing. During the years 1841-55 inclusive, the annnal average increase was less than sixteen. . Since ] 855 there have been seven periods of five years each. During the first of these periods the annual average increase was 74; during the last period, 171. The mission may well say that' the foundations of our work are deeper and broader, its influences are more widely extended, and the way is being prepared for a larger success in the future.' "-Missionary Herald.
-In 1890 the renewcd Lutheran Mission (Leipsic Society) of South India had completed its first half century. It has now 14,084 adherents.
-The Harvest Field (Madras) says of Sir Charles EI!iott, Lieutenant- Governor of Bengal: "Sir Charles is, we believe, a decidedly Christian governor, and his courtesy to the people over whom he rules springs out of genuine intetest in them, and not out of any desire to secure personal popularity. There is an immense distance everywhere in India between the rulers and the ruled. It is politically expedient to lessen that distance, apart altogether from Christian considerations, and it will be a happy thing if Sir Charles Elliott shall have. even to a small extent, encouraged in Europeans a sentiment of sympathy, conrtesy, and love toward our native fellow-subjects. "
– " We called attention the other day to the pariah, and the helplessness of the best-meant legislation to deliver him from the disabilities of his painful lot. We pointed out that his hope and remedy for the futnre lay in the Gospel. Here is a testimony as to what the Gospel has done already. A writer in the Madras Times 8tates that twenty-five years ago he baptized a sweeper, and that that sweeper's son is now a successful schoolmaster, and has coached more than a hundred Brahmins and KpshatIiyas through the difficulties of high. school examinations; that sons of sweepers are in Government offices; that they arc pushing their way on the railways; that they are studying law and engineering as well as theology and medicine. Thus, directly and indirectly, for the pariah, 'Godliness hath promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.' "
-The eminent Bishop Caldwell, of the S. P. G. in South India, has soon followed Bishop Sargent, of the C. M. S., to his reward. The first of Tamil Ilcholars, one of the best of administrators, and one of the greatel:!t missionary authorities in India, he leaves a great void; one of his last acts was to confirm 1500 candidates in the Chnrch Missionary Society's district of Tinnevelly.
-In India, during 1891, a flood of blessing came down in Teleguland j a rain of blessing in Rohilcund, Tinnevelly, among the Kols, Marathis, and in Kodakal, in the Baptist. Methodist Episcopal, Anglican, Gossner (Lutheran) American Board, and Basel Missions respectively. Elsewhere, for the most part, remarks the Zeitschrijt, the blessing has only fallen in a slow distillation.
1892.J IXT~RNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. J. T. GBACEY, D.D.
The Great Pentecost in North India, mountains, and where millions from all India bathe annually. On the south- REV. HENRY MANSELL, D.D., CAWNPORE, east corner is Benares, the Jerusalem of Hinduism. Between these two points INDIA. are Garhmukhtisar, Rsjghat, Bithoor, Dalmau, ILnd six other bathing shrines, Three missions in India for more at each of which hundreds of thousands than a year past have been baptizing assemble annually to bathe in the sacred converts by the thousand. These are stream. Just outside this field, and the American Baptists, in the Telugu now occupied by the same mission, is country, in Southern India, the Ameri- Mutra, the birthplace of Sri Krishn, one can United Presbyterians, and the of the supposed incarnations of Vishnu, American Methodists, in Central and while within is Ajudhia, the birthplace North India and the Panjab. of Ram Chandar, another of Vishnu's incarnations, and Sumbhal, where the In 1890 the Methodists alone baptized Holy Incarnation is expected by the about eight thousand converts; and Hindus. Lucknow, one of the capitals within the past year this same mission of the Muhammadan dynasty, and sevhas baptized about eighteen thousand eral other important cities are within converts. this field. So, with its caravan routes to Cabul, Thibet, and Nepal, Mld its For such a glorious pentecost all Ohris- pilgrim routes to the sacred shrines tiMls ought to thank God, take courage, mentioned, it has more centres of reand go forward; instead of which ligions power and lines of religious indoubts have been expressed and criti- finence than any other spot of equal size cisms made, calling them "hasty bap- in the empire of India. tisms," and the converts baptized heathen. The provinces are very fertile, espe- cially Oude, "the garden of India." It is becausa the sympathy and prayers Wheat, barley, maize, and pulses of Illl of all Ohristians are wanted to help on sorts grow in abundance, as well as cotthis graciouB revival, to the salvation of ton, rice, sugar·cMle, and all tropical India and the world, that this brief his- fruits. It is capable of Bustaining a tory of the movement is attempted. dense population. Oude is, perhaps, more thickly populated than any other The Methodist missions in India were part of the earth. The people are in. founded thirty-six years ago by the Rev, dustrious, but mostly poor, of the lower William Butler, who selected an unoc- castes, and under the heel of the higher cupied field in North India, consisting caste Hindus and wealthy Muhammaof Oude and Rohilkhand on the plains, dans, who are their religions, as well as and two districts, Kumaon Mld Garh. their landlords and employers. This is wal, adjoining, on the lower Himalaya the cradle and real home of Hinduism. Mountains, containing thirty millions Bere also Buddhism was born, and of people, all without the Gospel. This Jainism, and several other religious refis for missionary work a most remark- ormations, all aiming at the death of able field. Lying on the north bank of idolatry, which has been kept alive by the Ganges, India's sacred river, and on caste. So the caste system has enabled the southern slopes and valleys of tha Hinduism to shake off all reforms and lower Himalayas, it contains the two remain strong to this day. most famous mountain shrines, Badrinath and Kidarnath, visited annually Into this interesting field entered Dr. by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all parts of India. On the plains is Bardwar, at the northwest corner of the field where the Ganges leaves the Butler, with Joel T. Janvier, a native helpers, and whence colporteurs-ccrried preacher, whom the Presbyterians south Scriptures and tracts to the villages and of the Ganges had given him, with much village schools. Many missionaries valuable advice and information. His preached daily in the bazaars and streets plan to settle twenty-five American mis. of the cities and near towns. Others sionaries in this field was hailed hope- made tours, preaching in the distant fully by all missionaries in India as a villages and melas at the heathen new departure in mission work, concen- shrines. Others still went in circuits to trating effort on fewer people. At that the country bazaars or markets within a time some kinds of mission work, such radius of ten or fifteen miles of the cen· as English schools for high caste natives tral station, preaching overy day to and preaching to European Christians, thousands who were scattered over had been discounted and abandoned by miles of territory, reaching hundreds of the American Board and others; but thousands every month. the broad-minded, large-hearted Dr. Butler, seeing that all kinds of mission Thus the Gospel was preached over a work alone in faith reoeived God's bless· great part of the territory now visited ing, inaugurated all kinds, and planned by this gracious revival. A very intelto put two missionaries in every large ligent native doctor once told the writer city and central station, that one might that the result of this faithful preaching look after schools, ziyats, colporteurs, and teaching was that forty thousand etc., and the other have charge of all of the inhabitants of Moradabad were itinerations, Mela preaching, and strict- no longer idolaters except in name. Yet ly evangelistic work. Before his first most of them and thousands of our reinforcement of two men arrived, the scholars, while believing Christianity Mutiny or Sepoy Rebellion broke out in the true religion, yet are kept, by caste fury. His house in Bareilly was burned and family govflrnment, from accepting and his work scattered. Soon after the it, and they die, leaving idolatry as a Mutiny, when he had stationed mis. legacy to their children. The missionasionaries at seven centres, a whole caste, ries were not left without fruit; but III! the Mazhabi Sikhs, announced that, a result of their faithful preaching and in accordance with a prophecy given by training their converts and native Guru Nanak, a reformer in the Panjab, preachers, they year by year gathered whence they had come, they must all hundreds into the Church from all become Christians. A few score of them classes, especially from the lower castes. were baptized in the Bijnore and Mo- yet they were not satisfied, but cried radabad districts, and had the mis. mightily to God for the baptism of sionaries been able to give them proper power to win the heathen by the thouteachers, thousands might have been sands. made Christians. Rev. William Taylor, now bishop in When Dr. Butler retired for other Africa, had written "Christian Adven. fields, after eight years of successful tures in South Africa." It gave an inwork, he left sixteen missionaries, four spiring account of about eight thousand ordained native preachers, and a number conversions in a few months. He was of unordained native preachers, el(hort- sent for, and much was el(pected from ers, and teachers, with a few hundred his visit. The result was not as expect. converts. Every form of mission work ed. The heathen were not converted by Was carried forward. There were schools the thousand. Only two conversions for the higher as well as for the lower from heathenism happened in all the classes, orphanages, churches, and book- Methodist mission; but what was far rooms where tracts and Scriptures could better, the missionaries and native be had, and inquirers examined and preachers were quickened and baptized prayed with by missionaries and their for the work, the only nominal Chris· tians were really con verted, and tile whole mission prepared for more spe- drias was far more aggressive, winning cific and aggressi ve work. many of his old followers, and gaining aooess to all classes and sects of Hindus. A zealous missionary of another mis- He spent all his time preaching and sion,returning to England for a short visiting the families and neighborhoods furlough, after twenty years' service, of his followers. He recited poems said to one of the Methodist missiona- written by his former teachers, in which ries ; .. I have never seen any real con- idolatry was ridiculed, gave the Bible verts, and do not expect to see any in teaching against idols, and then perthe present generation; we are sowing suaded them to give up idols and false the seed." After Mr. Taylor's visit aU incarnations and accept Christ the true. the missionaries and native preachers Then gaining a partial consent, he believed without a doubt that God would sit down and teach them orally would be pleased to have them convert (as none could read) a hymn in praise the heathen, for" Herein is My Father of Jesus, a short prayer, the Confession glorified that ye bear muoh fruit, so of Faith. then to those who remembpred shall ye be My disciples." Rev. Zahur- well the Lord's Prayer and the Ten ul Haqq prayed at one of Mr. Taylor's Commandments. He often visited from meetings, " 0 Lord, if Thou c~n8t not five to ten villages a day, and then he make me a soul winner, set me aside would go round again and again, asking from this calling and appoint others if they had kept their promiMe to give who will save these millions." Of up idolatry and worship Jesus. He course God honored sllch devotion, and would collect a few together and hold a made him a soul saver. All the mis· prayer-meeting with them, and thus he sionaries and native ministers went fOf- taught all the forms of the secret private ward with greater zeal and faith, teach· and public worship of Jesus. He went ing and preaching in bazaars, melas, on indoctrinating thousands. Other everywhere; itinerating through the native preachers moved on thus in villages, distributing tracts and Scrip- smaller circles, and the work went on tures, and after careful examination and with inoreasing but not marvellous suoinstruction baptizing all who came, still cess until two and a half years ago, hoping to see the non·Christians tum. when this great and glorious revival ing by thousands frOID idols to the liv- began. At that time there were about ing God, and asking for baptism in the ten thousand converts, five hundred na· presence of great crowds of their coun· tive ministers, preachers, exhorters, and trymen. teachers, twenty-eight thousand Sunday- school scholars. and seventeen thousand Some of the native preachers, before day scholars under instruction. All their conversion, had been wandering these, scattered among a population of preachers, proselytizers or teaohers thirty millions, carried on evangelistic among their own people, and knew the work in nearly one thousand centres. Indian methods of making converts. This work was all directed by twenty- One of these, Zahur-ul Haqq had spent seven American and forty· five native years at the Muhammadan mosque as missionaries. Muezin, calling to prayers and in reading and memorizing parts of the Quran The missignaries had learned from in Arabic, preparing to become a Maulvi. Andrias the Hindustani methods of He had learned how to proselytize. making converts, and made their schools Prem Das and Andrias had been propa· for the lower elasses all into Panthsgators of the teaohings of Kabir and i.e., theological schools, where the boys Nanak, and each had hundreds of fol· and young men learn firstall the modes lowers. These for the most part left of worshipping the gods and then learn their leaders, but were followed, visit- to read if they can. Dr. Goucher. of ed, and taught by them as far af< p'''Ri· Baltimore, had given help to establish ble. Prem Das won'a few of hi:>, .none hundted and fifty such schools in vice as well aB the doctrines of Christ Rohilkhand, and Dr. Frey, also of Bal- and the Commandments. Other mistimore, had given money to found eighty sionaries were called out to villages to in Oude. These schools taught thou- baptize converts, till nearly all the missands to give up idols and to sing hymns sionaries in Rohilkhand were evangelizof praise and offer prayer to the true ing and baptizing converts their helpers God in the name of Jesus. All the above had won. evangelizing agl'ncies were in successful operation when the revival began, and The work spread with such rapidity the way was prepared and all were ex- that all the students Dr. Scott, of our pecting fruit all the while. Bareilly Theological School, could spare were Bet to work, and all the teacher- Rev_ Mr. Knowles, of Gonda, had preachers Bishop Thoburn could combaptized a few score at the Ajudhia mand were teaching converts; then he Mela in the presence of thl! heathen. tried to call a halt in baptizing to teach He had ",isited the Tharus, a tribe liv- the converts more perfectly, but all ing in the wet, unhealthy jungles skirt- made answer: .. We cannot stop the ing the Himalayas, and had baptized baptism that way. The more we teach several whole villages; and all the mis- the more zealously the taught tell others sionaries wished such scenes might be and bring them in for baptism." multiplied. " Give us more teachers and preach- The revival, though expected, came ers full of faith and the Holy Ghost '" in an unexpected way. Henry Mitchell, was the universal cry. The .Bishop reo a native ordained preacher, who had ported this work at Northfield, and Mr. been picked up and supported a while Moody gave and collected enough to by the writer, then sent to the Orphan- Bend one hundred preacher-teachers. age and named for the son of his Pre- In one year he reported 1400 converts siding Elder in the Pittsburg Confer- as the result of these Moody schools. ence, was left without an appointment There are many most interesting incito fill a place expected to fall vacant. dents connected with this great pente- He was needed in another place, and cost we cannot recount here. In 1890 ordered by Bishop Thoburn to report at Dr. Wilson, of Budaon, in only 11 Roorkee. On his way he went with two months, baptized 1163. Dr. Butcher, of or three others to visit some of their Bijnore, baptized 583. Hasan Baza friends in a village not far from Roor- Khan, of Kas Ganj, haptized 415. filrakee, where he was invited to tell them him Solomon, a converted Jew, of Fathall about Christianity. He preached ganj, haptized 477. In 1889 there had faithfully, and as a result about seventy been 4000 baptisms. In 1890 there were persons were baptized. They said that nearly 9000, and in 1891 there have hundreds of others of their caste were been about 18,000, while in only a small ready to be made Christians. This part of the field 20,000 are reported a8 caused a great stir among missionaries as ready for baptism. Some villages have well as among tho heathen. sent pitiful letters, saying that for months they have gi",en up idolatry, and Bishop Thoburn, as usual, WbS quick begging the missionaries to come and to see the situation. He appointed .. make us Christians." The greatBst Dr. Parker, an evangelist. who select- enthusiasm prevails among all the naed several native preachers and started tive helpers to save the people. After out itinerating among the villages where these neophytes learn the way more the people were accessible and ready to perfectly, special services are held for receive the Gospel. He went to as them at the Quarterly. District, and Anmany villages as possible, preaching and nual Conferences ant: camp-meetings. baptizing hundreds, and leaving some Missionaries of other churches look on one to teach the converts more perfectly with wonder and praise as t):ley see the forms of Christian worship and serhundreds every day born of the Spirit younger men, many of whom but yesat these great annual Christian melas terday were riding on conservancy and commune with thousands of these carts, sweeping streets, cutting grasR, or saved sons and daughters of India. following the plough; now with clean This work will and must go on till India clothes without and clean hearts within, and the world ate saved. going here and there and everywhere supplant.ing Krishna with Christ, and The Quick Baptisms by North India proclaiming the religion of the Re· Missionaries. deemer iustead of that of Ram. .. But they are low caste." Yes; but they are BEY. T. J. SCOTT, D.D., PRINCIPAL THEO- on their way to high castehood. Did Christ select His apostles from among LOGICAL SEMINARY, BAREILLY, INDIA. the nabobs and milliollilires of Judea and Galilee? The masses of the world Listening to the remarks of those who of India are poor, are common people oppose quick baptisms on general prin- -low caste. Weare after them. Out ciples, one might be led to conclude that upon the misorable snobbery, the exethe whole thing-converts, converters, crable, pharisaical pride that would pass churches from Peter and pentecost by the million reachable and accessible down-was a dead failure, a rash rush- Brahman·Ramanuja, Gaur, or Kulin, or ing in of the impulsive, eccentric, and the self-satisfied MoslE'm, Shia, Snni inexperienced missionary novice who Wahabi, Moghal, or Pathan. does not know what he is about. But that is not in accordance with the facts. During the past two or three months While there may be a few cases where it I have seen practical illustrations of the would have been better not to have done growth of men under the influence of it, in the great majority of cases it has the Gospel that ought to convince the turned out well. What means this great most sceptical of the success of our aggressive army of twelve thousand or work. Take a few facts. On my last more in Rohilkhand, principally in the tour on the Ajmere circuit I met with Bareilly, Budaon, and Moradabad dis- eight men-Madhu, Samuel, Surta, Latricts? Where did these hundreds of chcha, Changa Lal, Bania, Chanda, and preachers, exhorters, teachers, colpor. YUilif–who but a few months ago were teurs, Bible readers, Zenana workers heathens. Now they are exhorters in the come from? The most of them came Methodist Episcopal Church, are full of from among the poor villagers, who, zeal to preach the Gospel, have been bearing the Gospel expressed a desire the means of saving scores of relations, for Christ Ilond conversion, and were ac- friends, and acquaintances, and who in cepted on the spot and baptized at once. a marvellously short time have learned Let us read Church history, not of the the leading facts of the Bible as taught conversion of Europe or of the Chris- in Mudge's Catechism and simpler portianization of Asia Minor, but the Church tions of Scripture. The Rupnagar quarhistory. concrete, progressive, irrepres- ter is a marvel. These men, seated on sible, recording itself all about us in the the ground, face to face with their rude person and work of our strong preachers instrnments, can hold a crowd all night and teachers-converts but a day or two listening to their quaint adaptations of ago from Hinduism and Muhammadan- •• Yisu Masih Mera Prana BachaSa,' '* ism, who now in the thick of the fight and other bhajans. These are the men show gleaming battle axes with blood who, on four or five rupees a month, on them, and ever unfurl to the breezes are to become the pioneers of a new era. the banner bearing the inscription, .•• In What does the clerically.dressed swell Hoc Signo Vinces." Time would fail me catechist on fifty or one hundred rupees to tell of Haqq, and Cutting, and Jacob, and H. R. Khan, and Mahbub Khan, * ".Tesus Christ has saved my soul. .. and Solomon, and Isa Das, and Stevens, and Chimman Lal, or of the scores of per month know or care about the me one of the men ready for baptism! masses surging about-sheep without a His pay is five rupees. The third man shepherd, driven here Ilnd there by is Isa Das, of GobardlUlD. Recently priests? Voracious and cruel wolves, there has been an ingathering at various who would leave them nothing but their sacred centres about lIuttra. On the bones. It is of these men that the ex- morning of June 8th I started at three perienced missionary, who dug them 0' clock in a tekha gari for Gobardhan, out, writes: "These exhorters are reli· thirteen miles distant. Soon after start. able, good men-our own converts; will ing a fearful storm arose. First dust stay with us for life, and work like came pouring in upon my recumbent heroes. They have passed good exami- person until I was almost suffocated. naUons in the Catechism and Gospel, Then down came the rain. The dust and will develop into good workers; in was turned into mud, and darkness covfact, are even now working well and en- ered all from the rude gaze of men. during hardships. Two of them, when But we pushed on. The morning I could not get a gari for my tent, shoul- cleared up. We had a splendid meeting dered it and carried it six miles to the in a native hut and baptized sixteen next village on June 1st last. That will adults, and among them two Bairagi give you an idea of the stuff they are gurus, one of whom is Isa Das. He at made of." I have three other men- once took hold. Has taught a school, living epistles-read and known of all. and has travelled among his friends in Lal Masih lives at Karas, a village near the surrounding towns. He has just Hattras. I found him and his wife at come in and reported a large number of Hattras a couple of years ago, when they inquirers at Digg, an important place were brought to me for baptism. They beyond Gobardhan in Bhartpore terribelonged to the sweeper caste. Imme- tory. We propose to save India through diately after baptism they set to work to such men as these. I am not crying learn to read. Lal Masih's growth was down education, I am only crying up marvellous. He soon was able to teach what the Lord gives us right at hand. a school. His wife also was able in a Let us go where He leads, and follow short time to ttlach the Christian girls hard after every indication of Provi· in her Mohallah. I gave him an ex- dence. horter's license. He sent his wife to the training-school, and she came back For those who do not think there can much improved. He now has charge of be much done in the hot weather in the a work of his own, and teaches a small way of evangelistic work, I would say school. He has been the means of sav- that we have had the greatest success in ing scores of souls. His pay is five the hottest months. Take the followrupees a month, and he never com- ing as specimens: plains. He has a beautiful voice, and great skill in conducting singing. June 8th, at Gobardhan, 16; June 16th, at Mohaban, 19; July 14th, at Masih Dayal is a convert from Muttra Danjee, 14; July 21st, at Hathras, 10 ; City. He has never given us a moment's July 28th, at Khalilganj, 19 ; July 28th, trouble. He first earned his own way at Jaleswar, 26. as a Chowkidar, reading during spare moments; then he was promoted to Upon these it may be remarked that teach a little school, then worked a few three of the ahove places are shrine cen. months in Agra. He now has charge tres, where there never were any con· of the Muttra book.shop, and is active verts before. Not one of these converts in all kinds of Christian work. Recent- come upon the mission for support. ly he accompanied me to Lucknow, and They are aU well looked after by experi. slept on the veranda with the Pankah enced men, and schools are started walas. On the second day he brought among them. It is a mistake to think that we baptize these poor people and let them go. We baptize them and hold on to them. Our policy is to have good an uncle and an only Hister, whom he strong men at the centres. I divide greatly loved. These two events, in my large circuits into sub.circuits, connection with his natural tendency to and put my strongest and most ex· meditate upon religious subjects, led perienced men over the sub.circuits, him to give up the gross idolatry of his then the cheap men under them. So people. He ran away from home to join there is system. "What I say unto you the mendicants and bands of men cele- I say unto all, Watch." The local brated for their knowledge of Sanskrit preacher watches the pastor.teacher. and Vedic lore. He spurned earthly The preacher in charge watches the local riches, and set his heart fully to seek for preacher and all below him. The pre- the true religion by means of a life of siding elder watches the preachers in austerities. When about the age of charge, and the bishop watches UB all. thirty he became possessed of the con- If there is any work in India more in- viction that he should devote his life to terlocked, more systematic, more care- the effort of bringing back his deluded fully planned, and more faithfully prose· countrymen to the pure monotheistic cuted than this I have not heard of it. faith of the old Vedic times, when Hin- Look at the meetings, and conferences, dustan was enjoying her golden age. and conventions held at all times of the year; quarterly, district, and annual His teachings. He taught that the conferences for business; camp meet- Vedas were the ultimate authority, and ings, district leagues, workers' conven- that modern Hinduism was a gross pertions, itinerants' clubs for spiritual and version of Vedic teaching. He deintellectual training; red and blue rib- nounced the early Brahmins as deceivbon, and Kauri armies for reform. ers of the people. Whatever otherR may do, I shall take advantage of all these and push ahead, Idolatry, early marriages, polytheism, believing that that is the direction in and caste are among the many corrupwhich lies success.-India Witness tions introduced by the Brahmins.
Hindu Puritan Reform-The !:rye. He agrees, with Islam, in Monothe- Some.j. ism, but offends Islam by his caricatures of Jesus their prophet. REV. F. L. NEELD, BARElLLY, INDIA. He agrees with Hinduism in holding The Arya Somaj is the most energetic to the Vedas, but strikes at the root of of the reforming Hindu sects. It is or- Hinduism by denying the possibility of ganized for aggression, and is full of en- an incarnation. terprise. His points of agreement with Chris_ The founder of this sect was Pundit tianity are along in the line of its ethics, Dyanand Saraswati, who died t'ight philanthropy, and spirit of progress; years ago. He was the son of a Gujarati but he parts entirely from Christianity Brahmin, and was born in the year 1825. by denying the possibility of an incar- At a very early age he began the study nation, and by holding that there is no of Sanskrit, and to read the Vedas. His forgiveness of sins. father was a worshipper of the great gvd Mahadev, and taught his son the same In his plan of salvation from the pun. worship. As the boy rea4 and observed ishment of sin, he teaches that works he came to th3 conclusion that idols are of merit are weighed against our sins, powerless creatures, and that it was a and a balance is struck. waste of time to worship them. He thereupon gave more time to the Vedas. So far as I can discover, there is no provision for changing the character of At the age of sixteen he lost, by death, the soul. The individual sonl is left to its own unaided powers in working out a salvation from the consequences of sin by works of merit.
What these works of merit may be can be learned from the Vedas; the Vedas are in the Sanskrit language, with him, and announced that Olcott's hence the development of Sanskrit and occult science was a " lie. " a knowledge of the Vedas was a prime neccBBity. His whole sYRtem stands or Although Dyanand was afterward falls with the Vedas. ashamed of himself for having been deceived, yet he had caught enough of In his reformatory movement his first Olcott's spirit to make him more anattack was directed against the Brah. tagonistic to Ohristianity. mins and the corruptions of modern Hinduism. His controversy was with It is now eight years since Dyanand the old conservative orthodox Pundits. the founder died. During that time the He failed to accomplish anything satis· Soml1j has grown rapidly in numbers factory in this line; the Pundits, espe· and influence. cially those of Benares, refused to accept his new and liberal interpretation of the Their forms of operation. They have a Vedas, and reported generally that number of officers and itinerant preach- Dyanand had been defeated in debate. ers who "travel throughout the connec- tion" and thus bring the local Somajes He then attempted to carryon his reo into unity with the genaral movement. form by means of schools. This plan failed. chiefly because he could not get They have their printing presses, teachers that could do his work. His which they use with marked effect. la8t plan was to travel from city to city, From these issue religious papers, books, establishing Somajes (societies) as work· tracts, hymn-books, etc. Their most ing centres. In some respects this is the vigorous centre is the city of Lahore, same method which the most successful from which they send out their leading missionaries had adopted in establish- paper, the Arya Patrika, printed in Enging indigenous churches. lish.
Dyanand came much in contact with They have quite a number of Arya missionaries and their work, and adopt. schools. Many of them are for girls ed some of their best methods of organi- Their efforts to educate their girls and zation ; and the order of worship in their women are worthy of all praise. Sevweekly meetings is partly an imitation eral orphanages have been started, and of Ohristian worship. In his visits to are well subsidized by Government these centres he found many educated gran t-in-aid. progressive Hindus who were longing to get rid of the absurdities of Hinduism; In the management of these agencies and from this class chiefly the Soml1jes they have the advantage which comes were formed; the Boml1j began with from positions of influence. Many of the most vigorous and advanced Hindus. their members are medical officers in the employ of Government; some In Dyanand's writings and in the tem- are members of municipal councils; per of his followers there is much bitter- they are in the judicial and revenue deness against Ohristianity. Very many partments of Government; in fact, so of his objections against the Bible are far as political influence is concerned, very crude, and based upon mistaken they have the advantage of the Ohrisnotions of its teachings. tians. The interests of the Soml1j are well cared for. His style of treating the Bible is very similar to that of Ingersoll. He was un· In view of these facts it is apparent fortunate enough to become associated that we have here a movement with with Oolonel Olcott, and to yield him- vitality in it; a movement which we self to his flattery for a time; but when cannot ignore. he discovered that Olcott was sometimes a Buddhist, sometimes a Zoroastrian, How should we interpret this movesometimes an Aryl1n Som!!ji, but on the ment? Is it, on the whole, to be rewhole an atheist, he parted company gretted, or should it be a source of en· couragement ?
1. I believe it to be encouraging ; it is most likely a result of the enlightenment of Christian truth. Christian Ministers educated in India will con- preaching, mission schools, Christian stitute the very best agency for guiding literature, and Western civilization have this movement toward Christ led them to reject the grossest and the most fundamental teachings of orthodox Hindui8IU. Rev. S. A. Moffett, writing fom Seoul, 2. It is a movement on the part of Korea, December 29th, 1891, says: what might be called the .. laity" of " Will you kindly call the attention of Hinduism, for the purpose of recover- those interested in the suppression of ing from the Brahmins the rights which the opium traffic to the fact that Korea that great sacerdotal caste had usurped. furnishes another argument for its sup- They claim the right of interpreting the pression.
Vedas for themselves. These men can " The class of Koreans who can afford do more to break the power of the Brah- to use opium are already weakened by mins, and to disintegrate Hinduism as every kind of sensual indulgence; and a system, than any other human or- now it appears that this worst of all ganization can. vicious habits is to gain a hold upon 3. Their work has already awakened them.
the orthodox to such an extent that they "I recently spent several weeks in have formed a society called the Dharm the City of Ein ju, on the Chinese bor- Sabha, for the purpose of resisting these der, and found that already this habit disintegrating and progressive tenden- has gained an entrance, and is rapidly cies. spreading, I learn, also, that in the 4. These two parties are in dispute capital and iI), the port of Chemulpo the over the question as to what the Vedas Chinese have established joints, which teach, and" What is True Hinduism?" are patronized by Koreans, while the This dispute has brought to light the number who secretly use it is reported puerility, absurdity, and obscenity of as increasing.
some parts of the Vedas, and will reveal .. With almost every other of Satan's more and more the false pretensions of devices to meet, we missionaries pray modern Hinduism. While this process is that this traffic may be stopped before going on, the missionary can attend more it becomes one of the hindrancel!l to the to the constructive part of his work. progress of the Gospel in Korea. Please What should we do to meet this move- add the voice of helpless Korea to those ment? raised in favor of the suppression of the 1. Get into closer touch with these opium traffic..
struggling men ; they are waging a hard- er and a longer battle than they know; India's Frontier and Missions, they will eventually have to look con- sciously to Christians for help and The Indian Church Quarterly Review direction ; and from these bolder spirits calls attention to the northwest frontier, we may yet receive some of our strong- which stretches in a long semicircular est and most aggressive preachers. line into Central Asia, and brings India 2. The immediate matter for our at- in contact with many countries and tention, in view of all the above, is the some of the most influential races in training of a native ministry. This is Asia. This line of fron tier station. • being done to some extent; but there begins with Kotgarh, near Simla, and are latent resources in our young native runs to Peshawur, and from there to Christian men that can be developed. Kurrachi – twelve principal stations, From the homeland there should be with a number of subordinate stations.
sent sufficient funds to greatly strength- 'rheae are the doorways to Beluchistan, en our theological scm inaries and Chris- Afghanistan, Kashmir, Persia, Turkis- tian colleges. tan, and that imperfectly defined line of country which lies in the very centre have been the beneficiaries of mission. of the continent. The Review says: "The position of these frontier mis- ary effort. With the facilities now existsions is unique, not only on account of their geographical position among so ing for rapid travel, it ought not to be many tribes and races in Central Asia, but because there are, with very few ex- impossible to secure, in connection with ceptions indeed, no Christian mis3ions beyond them. In the countries adjoin- the World's Fair, an Ecumenical Con. ing and beyond them there is nothing to be seen but Buddhism and Muham- gress of Missions. madanism, with all their desolations, which for a thousand years and more The papers and discussions will aim have devastated some of the most beautiful spots on earth. These missions to set forth the results of missionary are beacons of light which look out upon the widely extended darkness of activity in improving the moral and death." The Peshawur Mission, in its report, says that the mission is on spiritual condition of men; in con- Afghan territory, and that the nation which wins and knows how rightly to tributing to their intellectual advancemake use of Afghanistan will win supremacy in Asia. Nor is Afghanistan ment and the betterment of their mateof less importance to us religiously. We see from history how often Afghans rial conditions; in opening new chanhave planted and upheld for centuries the flag of Islam, both in many prov- nels to commerce and new fields to inces of India and in countries beyond it. When they once are Christians they ethnological and antiquarian research. will probably become the most zealous and energetic missionaries of Christian- It will be shown that diversities of race ity of all Asia. have not proved insuperable obstacles World's Oongress of Missions. to that feeling of brotherhood inspired As the missionary motive was one of the impelling forces that led to the dis- by the Gospel of Christ. But doubtless covery and settlement of the New World, one of thtl best uses of this Congress the Columbian Exposition, to be held will be the opportunity it will furnish in 1893, in a city whose first church was for fraternal intercourse and exchange planted only sixty years ago by a home of views on the vital questionll of life missionary, is certainly a fitting occa- and faith. Ilion to set forth the results of modern missions. The Auxiliary, under whose auspices this Congress will be held, has been The World's Congress Auxiliary an- recognized and approved by the Govnounce that to make thill exhibition as ernment of the United States. It has complete as possible, it will be the en- the support of the World's Columbian deavor of those having in charge the Exposition, whose Directory will pro- Congress of Missions to secure repre- vide places of meeting, and in other sentation from every important mission- ways contribute to its success. The ary organization in the world. They new Memorial Art Palace now in procwill also attempt to bring liogether ess of construction on the site of the representatives from the peoples who old Inter·State Exposition Building will be fitted up for the use of this and the other congresses. In addition to the IImaller assembly rooms, there will be two large halls, each holding three thou- sand persons, where popular gatherings may be held. 'I'his Congress will proba- bly be convened about the middle of the month of September, 1893. Societies and individuals interested in missions will makll their arrangements, natu- rally, to visit the World'lI Fair at that time.
Persons seeking fuller information about the Congress of Missions will please address Rev. Walter Manning Barrows, D.D., Chairman General Com- mittee on Congress of Missions, World'lI Congress Auxiliary, Chicago, Ill.
NOTE.-Missionary and other religious societies desiring to take part in the im- portant material religious exhibit, which i~ to be made in the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building, will communicate with Dr. Selim H. Peabody, Chief of the Department of Liberal Arts, Columbian Exposition,
EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
1lI.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
The Y. M. O. A. in India. stand and will understand still better when you get closer to the situation. I Mr. David McConaughy, Secretary' will give you a leaf, though, from yes· Y. M. C. A., writes from Madras, India, terday's experience. Before the Bible_ December 10th, 1891 : class last evening I had a talk with one " DEAR DR. PIERSON: The work here of our Hindu members, who has seemed goes steadily on. The second year has most unli1cely to receive impressions- been better than the first every way. en old student of the Christian college, Our need of enlarged facilities grows filled with ideas of Bradlaugh, Spencer, more and more pressing. We do so and Huxley, well read and keenly logi- need a building. With a paid.up memo cal, and philosophical to some degree.
bership of more than two hundred, our He had disavowed belief in God and im- quarters are exceedingly straitened; in mortality in talking with me ten days •August next our lease expires, and can before ; but to my surprise he opened be only renewed for a long term and at his heart to me last night, and said a rate at least double that we are now something like this: 'I have lately been paying. We know of no other place greatly exercised about my soul. 1 available; but we are led to believe that hoped that by severe and long-continued a building site very suitable might be contemplation I might attain the truth, obtained from Government if we could but I find my heart less satisfied than give assurance of erecting a good build· before. 1 have no faith in Hinduism.
ing. Our Hindu rival has just obtained I have studied Mohammedanism, but a site on the esplanade near by, and find nothing there. I have never read thus furnishes us a valuable precedent. the Bible, although when in college I We believe the Association has greatly had one of the books (1 think it was grown in the esteem and confidence of Luke, but I am not sure). Lately I the people of all classes. Lately we have found myself unaccountably think.
have added to our Board the Inspector. ing much about Christ I know noth- General of Ordnallce and the Assist. ing about Him save what I have gath- ant Adjutant-General, both out·and·out ered from fragments in various books I Christian men, with heart interest in have read. Yet even in my sleep I have the work. At home the International been dreaming of Him; and last night, Committee finds its hands so tied finan· when only half conscious, 1 found my- cially that my appeals for men for Cal. self crying out, " 0 Christ, save me '" , cutta and Colombo (and even for an as- This m~n lives in a Brahman hostel, and sociate here at Madras, to enable me to of late has spent nearly all his time in turn more attention to the Indian Na- our rooms, sitting often for hours at a tional Committee) are held in abeyance. time in a corner of the social room, It is useless for me to app-eal for money looking blankly at the wall, until we to build under these circumstances. feared his mind was going. Hence I Meanwhile, I am pressed overmuch with was the more surprised to find his mind the growing work, local and national, clearer than mine, and the Holy Spirit and still more oppressed by being working mightily upon his heart. Late- obliged to turn a deaf ear to calls from ly he has come within hearing (but out all sides. of sight) of our religious meetings. Last .. Meanwhile, our hearts are cheered evening, for the first time in his life, he by unmistakable signs of the spirit of came to a Christian gathering-the Bible God working with us. We cannot reo trainIng class-where the subject was port spiritual results, nor even say much 'What must I do to be saved?' AI· about them in print, as you call under- ready a change has been remarked in this man's face; and I trust erelong traffic' has grown until its proportions the light of life will be shining clear and have become very great. The year 18110 bright in his heart. saw no less than 160,000 Chinese coolies imported into Singapore from five or "Well, while we were talking to- six ports in China. The large number gether, the President of the Association of English and Chinese agents, both in came rushing upstairs with his face Singapore and in China, who carry on aglow, and said: 'I say, I've had the this vast and organized traffic are comhest talk to-night with S – (a Brah- monly spoken of as ' slave dealers.' man member) that I've ever had in these rooms; and he has opened his heart and "The way in which the coolies are told me that he is determined to follcw secured in China for the Singapore mar- Christ.' That means SO much for such a ket is this: The' agents' give striking man out here. He and my man, Dorais- descriptions of the successes to be obwamy Moodeliar, and three other Hindu tained by leaving China and going to members (one of the latter' a disciple, but Singapore. To millions of Chinese these secretly') were in the Bible class, and we , agents' have ready access. They are had a good hour. We believe we are very poor, and the' agents' agree to going to see' greater things than these, ' pay the passage of the coolies to Singaand that erelong. I have felt hitherto pore, upon condition that each man that what was required was building an signs a contract, which stipulates that association rather than an association the indebtedness to the' agent' shall be building; but now the need of enlarged recognized and refunded out of the facilities presses heavily. Will you not coolie's wages. So far all seems fair take this matter upon your heart and and above board. From the moment, join us in praying the Lord to provide however, the contract is signed, the the means?" coolie's liberty is a thing of the past.
Ooolie Slave Trade in Singapore. "On arrival at Singapore these un· told thousands of nearly naked Chinese The following are extracts from an' are drafted into large receiving sheds open letter addressed to the Marquis of and houses, from which they cannot go Salisbury by Mr. Henry Varley, Evan- away, though the actual indebtedness to gelist, who, having recently visited the' agent' seldom exceeds lOs. to 15s., Singapore, feels it imperative to bring or four dollars Singapore currency. before his lordship's attention the fol- Hundreds of the coolies are crowded lowing particulars. into carts and conveyed to empty houses in various parts of the city. Crowds of Mr. Varley calls attention to Singa- human faces peer through the iron bars pore as an island situated in the Straits of the windows of the rooms into which, of Malacca, and commanding one of the as human cattle. they are driven, in principal highways to China and Japan; which they are imprisoned, and from as a great coaling station and port of which there is no escape. call for hundreds of steamers and sailing vessels. "Tens of thousands of these coolies are, within a few daya, forwarded by He says: "Singapore has grown English steamers, at the will of the rapidly, and is increasing in importance 'agent,' to Java, Borneo, Sumatra, Joevery year. Already it contains about hore, and scorE'S of places in the East- 200,000 inhabitants, and as an Eastern ern Archipelago. Iniquitous and exrepresentative of imperial interests orbitant charges are made by these ranks high. As a great centre to which 'slave dealers,' and until their unjust Eastern produce and commerce con- demands are paid the coolies know no' verge, and into which great mnsses of freedom. The coolie does not hire him- Chinese and Indian life literally pour, self out. It, is the 'agpnt' who sells Singapore has few rivals and no peer. biB services often for a llIiso·l1ble wage.
"The 'Chinese coolie immigration The Chinese are thus committed to a and distrnst the Christian and mission- system of enforced labor, and where ary efforts of Britain.
they have no voice concerning their .. That this English slave trade in position, work, or pay. There are no Chinese coolies, which has existed for Courts of Appeal; and outside Singa- more than twenty years in Singapore, pore there is no English law either to has so seared the conscience of the colo- protect or to deliver the coolie. nial authorities, that the year 1891 sees ., The Chinese coolie immigration more than twelve hundred opillm dens traffic is a system of slavery with a thin in full blast in Singapore! These veneer over it, in order to its conceal- houses have been licensed by the Im- ment and indefinite extension. This perial Government in order to carryon conviction is common in Singapore, but this degrading traffic, and so abnorma.l the infamous traffic is profitable! It has been the growth and spread of this pays, and hence there is criminal silence traffic that nearly three fourths of the on the part of many who should speak total revenue of Singapore for the year out in words of burning indignation. 1890 was received from the licenses and .. A prominent Government official, sale of the deadly opium.
who for several years has had special .. The Imperial Government goes s~ill oversight and inspection in regard to fmther, and licenses a large number of the coolie traffic, admitted that • prac- immoral houses in Singapore. It is tically it is an organized system of slav- possible to.day for any man or wom- ery on a very large scale.' Referring an to apply to the representative of the to the contracts, he said, • I do not Imperial Government for a license to think they are instruments of oppres- keep a house of ill.fame, and it will be sion up to the point of arrival in Singa. granted. Whole streets in Singapore pore. It is after the coolies leave us are thus licensed for purposes of im- and are forwarded to the sugar planta. morality. In some houses from twenty tions, cotton gardens, and places of ser- to fifty girls, many of them mere chil- vice in the various islands where the dren, are kept in stock, and exhihited ,. agents" send them.' Exactly. Be- in their tawdry finery to all who pass yond the ten or fifteen shillings which hy. In the main they are imported from the coolie owes for his short passage China and Japan. Scores of them have from China, the • agent' has no just been bought, and in hundreds of cases claim against him. are the property of the vile men and .. This traffic involves every year the women whom English law has licensed, liberty of 150,000 Chinese subjects. and whose houses the police are in- Were such an infamous system at- structed to protect and regulate. From· tempted in regard to Englishmen in any Hong Kong, notorious for its degrading part of the earth, not only would the traffic in Chinese women, the bulk of civilized world rise in indignant protest these girls are shipped, and the im- against it, but the moral and material moral purpose for which they are forces of the British nation would com- brought to Singapore is perfectly well bine to overthrow and stamp out the in- known. They have been sold for money famous traffic. into a degrading moral slavery more " Can we be surprised at the strained terrible even than the traffic in Chinese relationships between the English and coolies.
the Chinese? That Englishmen should "Is it anything less than appalling to be spoken of as 'foreign white devils' find the Imperial Legislature of the first suggests, in the light of these terrib'e and greatest Empire in the world pro- facts, sagacity and truth, rather than tecting and tacitly recognizing human ignorant prejlldice, on the part of the slavery and slave – dealers, licensing Chinese. No wonder that they snspect opium dens. as also immoral hOllses, the national and commercial honesty, and their degraded keepers ?" [We feel constrained to say that the see their way clear to grant my request. above is one of the most terrible indict- It is not a very great one, especially ments ever brought against a Christian when they have in their hands about nation; and we cannot doubt the Brit- £40,OOO-jubilee collection – only my ish Government will institute an inves- own salary (single man). I have promtigation. – EDITOR.] ised them not to ask anything for build- ings, etc., for the first three years. Letter from Mr. Williams. I shall let you know again the deci- A short time ago I paid a short visit sion of our directors. Something will to the Lushai Hills, and was accom- be done at the General Assembly, which panied by Mr. Aitken, of Calcutta. It will be held in South Wales about the is my wish to go and start a mission end of this month. among the Lushais. I have already written home to the directors of our WILLIAM WILLIAMS. mission about the matter. If they cannot see their way clear to help me, I KRASI HILLS, ASSAM, June 18, 1891. may feel it my duty to go there without any guarantee of their support-simply Captain E. C. Hore, the African misrelying on the promises of Him who gave sionary explorer, will publish about the the great command: "Go ye, therefore, end of March a volume with the title and make disciples of all the nations." " Tanganyika; Eleven Years of Central African Work." It will be illustrated It is my plan to take Khasi teachers with a portrait, and eleven full-page and evangelists with me. Some of the illustrations from the author's own young men of' these hills have made sketches, surveys, and photographs. It great progress in education. One has will be a complete and concise account passed the Calcutta F .A., and is prepar- of the London Missionary Society's ing for his B.A. ; and the number of Central African Mission, accounting for thould who have passed the Calcutta en- each of its members and all its proceedtrance is increasing every year. ings from the commencement to the present time. We believe it will be the The Director of Public Instruction first report of the share that English Intold me the other day that the young dependents have had in tbe opening up men of our normal school were the first of the great new regions of Central throughout the province in mathematics Africa. Tanganyika is the only one of in the last examination ; and they were the great Central African lakes that has under a disadvantage, too – they had to been definitely surveyed, and this has do their work in English, a foreign lan- been done by Captain Hore, who may guage, while the Bengalees and As- be regarded as, in a great degree, the samees were doing it in their own. discoverer of the lake.
If the Khasis who are not Christians It is said that during the nine years can accompany our troops to Lushailand and six months preceding December, as coolies and harlots, surely the Khasis 1884, there occurred in Japan 553 earthwho are Christians can go there to teach quakes, averaging one earthquake for the people the way of life ! every six days and six hours. Professor Milne makes the average even greater The Government will be ready to give than this. He could trace an average of a substantial support toward schools. an earthquake per day in Nagasaki, in Without primary schools, it will be very the extreme south of the Japanese Archidifficult to carryon the work. The pelago. If the statistics were compiled schools have been the backbone of the from the returns of officials from all over mISSIon in these hills. and I do not the country, only those shocks which know how we could get on without caused loss of life or damage to property them. would be included.
I prayerfully hope the directors will
TIlE MO~THLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
India-Hinduism. to-day that are heathen and MQsiem than ever before, because of the birth· India still remains one of the greatest rate increase under the splendid protec- problems for evangelism the Christian tion and father-care of the British Gov- Church has to confront. Its vast extent ernment, the fact still remains that is still not realized by non-residents of there is less of Hinduism. It is greatly that land. It is not a country as one modified and moderated. It is less cruel, would speak of a country of Europe, leilS in force in its worst forms. It is but, rather, it is a continent. From less defended and seen more and .more Peshawur on the north, to Cape Como- to be less defensible; hence there is rin on the south, it measuree, in a really a different sort of Hinduism; straight line, 1900 miles. From Assam and every year sees more and more dison the esst, to Kurrachee on the west, position to find something that shall its extent is equal to its length. Leav- more commend itself to reason. ing out Burma, it is equal in length to the distance from Edinburgh to Con- THE lIOMAN AND INDIAN EMPIBES COMstantinople. Its breadth is equal to a line stretched from Sicily to Moscow. PAllED. Its popUlation now is known to number 285,000,000 of souls-souls for the re- We find in the Missionary Herald of demption of whom Jesus Christ died. the Baptist Missionary Society of Great Bengal has a population so dense that Britain so forcible a contrast between it seems impossible to take it in. It the Roman and Indian empires that we counts 500 persons to the square mile. venture to draw largely from it : The whole of British India counts 233 to the square mile; half the popUlation "Each empire. in a very wonderful of the empire is in the Gangetic valley, where accesil is easy to them. Madras way, grew gradually and inevitably from has more people than Italy aud Belgium; the Panjab has as many as Spain a very small beginning-the village of and Portugal; Bombay has as many as Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and Swe- Rome and the handful of merchants in den put together. Of the total population of India perhaps 200,000,000 may India. In extent there is not very be put down as Hindus; 50,000,000 are Muhammadans; 25,000,000 are of the much difference between them. In ruder races, known as the Hill tribes or aboriginal tribes. These are the abo- each case a large number of different rigines of the country. Some of them have become somewhat Hinduized. It nationalities, with different languages, is a hard task to lead one Hindu to Christ; but there are not less than 200,- have been bound together under one 000,000 to bring over to Christianity. But year by year the people are less dis· political rule, and in each case the result posed to defend their own religion. The attendltnce on religious festivals is has been Romana pax, perfect order and less and less. Christian schools are making· a profound impression on the peace. Each military system has had native mind. Even if we recognize the fact that there are more people in India both foreign and native troops: the 'centurion of the Italian band' is, in modern parlance, a 'captain of an English regiment.' The Roman roads are paralleled by the Indian railroads.
The Roman proctor typified the English magistrate, and the principles of Roman and English law are not very different.
A magistrate in India would say: 'It is not the manner of the English to deliver any man to die befor9 that he which is accused have the accusers face to face.
and have license to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him.'
And if ssk(ld to interfere in a purely religious dispute between native and native, he would say: 'If it were a matter of wrong Moruwhaimckmedadlaenwsd, nreesas~o0n ye Hindus and would that I should bear with you; but if it be a question of words and nameR and of your law, look ye to it, for I will be no judge of such matters.' • King' England. A Brahman named Charlu, Agrippa was evidently an inferior per- of Madras, was elected President of the sonage to the Roman Festus; just as an Congress. We do not know how many Indian Raja, with all his pomp and of the members were native Christians, titles, must be prepareCi to obey any but probltbly a goodly number, as the orders given him by plain Mr. John Congress of the year before had forty Smith, the English resident. The sllch members in it. spread of the Greek language in the l~oman Empire ill paralleled by that of Kristo Samiij.-A Christian conference the English language in India. Other has been held at the place of the meet· points might be noted, but these will ing of the National Congress. Last year suffice to show how much of similarity (December, 1891) brethren from the varithere is bAtween the two empires. From ous provinces-Bombay, BeIl{lal, Cena missionary point of view, however, tral and Northwest- met every morning there afe two important points of differ- at the Free Church at Nagpore. ence. In the first place, the population of India is more than double the estimat- On Tuesday morning Kali Charn ed population of the whole Roman Em- Banerji, of Calcutta, spoke on the Krista pire in the zenith of its power. And, in Samiij movement, and defined the selfthe next place, the religions of India. supporting church as one that can sup. when mission work was commenced ply spirituality on the conservative and there, were not somewhat effete, as was aggressive side, both to build up and the case with the popular religions of extend the Church. The usual idea of New Testament times. but both Hindu- a self-supportmg church was one which ism and Muhammadanism held full sway could pay its own pftStor, but if, instead in the hearts and lives of their respec- of putting the money question in the tive votaries, and to a large extent they front the man question was made the hold full sway still. The one word first thing, the question of self.support , caste' sums up a host of difficulties would be solved. which apostolic workers had not to encounter. The plan of the Krista Samaj is thus, explained by Mr. Banerji : "A number ,. The evangelization of India is, there- of us are banded together; we endeavor fore, a far harder and vaster task than to recognize gifts and utilize them. was the evangelization of the whole When we find a brother spiritually gift- Roman Empire at the time of our Lord. ed, we don't raise humun questions of education, ordination, or whether he n took three centuries to make Rome has passed through a theological course. We do not recognize technical conveneven nominally Christian; let us not be tionalities. A man that has a gift may discouraged if in less than one century be engaged in a secular calling; we do so little comparatively seems to have not allow these accidents to prevent our been done in India." using that brother. No one is accepted as a member of our Samaj who will not NATIVE POLITICAL AND OTHER DEVELOP- engage in personal work. Every disci- ple can do something. We are not sat- MENT. isfied with work by proxy; so when every one works and they do not look It is a mark of favor toward the Gov- for money, the church is self·support- ing. The money question is laid aside ernment of the British in India that the altogether. On the other hand, a per. son cannot claim a spiritual gift and natives should meet in council to debate thrust himself on the congregation. The call must come from the congreganational issues. On December 28th last tion. The great thing before us is to band ourselves together for the evan· the Native National Congress met at Nagpur, the capital of the Central Prov- inces. Eight hundred delegates were in attendance from various pl"Ovinces, and some four thousand visitors were present watching the proceedings. The Chairman of the Reception Committee spoke in the highest terms of the Brit· ish rule in India. He said the keynote of the movement was loyalty to the Crown and attachment to the British people to whom India owes her re-birth.
He declared they were desirous of an everlasting union between India and gelization of the world; we do not care The Opium Question.
to have everyone give up their differ- We have received from Mr. Alfred ences of opinion. Onr idea is to spread Dryer, of Bombay, some statements a canopy over all the tents, thus putting about the opium question, now being so them all under one roof." Surely this urgently pl'essed on the British at home, indigenous movement for unity on the which show that it is not merely a part of Indian Christians should call question of demoralizing China, but forth the active sympathy of all God's India has also come under the curse.
people. There has been a great increase in the Arya and Brahmo Samaj.-The Arya Indian consumption of the drug. Mr.
Sam!tj and Brahmo Samaj are new Dryer says, that "taking the official schools of Hindu thought causE'd by figures, we find thAt the consumption Christianity. Dr. Hooper, Principal of of opium in the Bombay Presidency in the C. M. S. Divinity School in Allaha· the financial year 1876-77, was 24,765 bad, states that a century of evangeliza- pounds. At the end of the next three tion in India has had a vaster effect on years it had increased 72 per cent. At the country than Islam ever bad. the end of the next three years it had "Indian converts to Islam became so increased to 275 per (lent over the total for the sake of the social rise it gave of 1876-77. At the end of the next them. They remained stationary in three years it had increased to 426 per numbers, and had no influence on sur- cent over that total; and at the end of rounding Hinduism. The Gospel, with the next three years to 494 per cent. In its hllif million converts, has almost the following year (1889-90), the last turned Hinduism upside down already." for which a report has been issued, The Brahmo Sam!tj has not gone beyond the consumption of the poison had the Bengllli race. It has intense faith increased to 549 per cent over that of in prayer and in Providence._ It speaks 1876-77. '
with the highest respect of Jesus. Its " In the annual official document en- main tenets are the fatherhood of God titled • Statement of the Moral and and the brotherhood of man. It is Material Progress of India,' issued last loyal to England. The founder of Ary!t May, it is shown that in the year nnder Sam!tj was Dayanand Saraswati, who report, the consumption of opium had died in 1883. Chrjstian missionaries now increased also in the Northwest, Prov- meet with this sect everywhere. By its inces and Oudh; in the Central Prov- name it professes to bonor Indian an- inces ; in Assam ; in Lower Burmah; tiquity. This school wishes to be what in Bemr, the assigned districts of the Aryans were when they came into Hyderabad ; and to a smaU extent in India. It rejects late del'elopments of Madras Presidency.
the Hindu mind. It is theistic, but in 1 Mr. Dryer says, further, that over cold and lifeless manner. It has noth- twenty·three thousand persons in India ing of the warmth of the Brahmo have set their signatures to one form Samaj. It rejects incarnation, atone· alone of petition to Parliament against ment, inspiration. and the miraculous the wrong done the country by the generally. It checks conversions to opium traffic, while nearly one hundred Christianity. At Allahabad in 1884 a newspapers and periodicals have issued convert who was baptized by Dr. Hoop- anti-opium supplements.
er, meeting with this school, apostatized The Great Religious Movements in India.
and never came, to the Lord's table. -We have two able articles in this num- 'fhis Sam!tj carries on its anti·Christian ber of the REVIEW on the great revival attack by preaching, tract composition, in North India. It is a wonderful pen- holding meetings and private conversa- tecost. Indications of the same thing tion-aU of them methods learned from elsewhere are fonnd widely over India, Christianity. especially among low-caste peopleI'. The Indian Witnes8 has the following: you do IJot come. We hltve no idols now, and yet we cannot be Christians. .. The four district conferences in What shall we do? Do come to us, and Rohilkhand – viz., Bareilly, Pilibhit, make us Christians.' Some people may Moradabad, and Amroha, met in joint smile at such a request, and only notice session at Chandausi on Tuesday morn- the ignorance which the request to ing of this week. The attendance was • make them Christians' indicates, but very large and the reports encouraging. for one I feel more like crying than ~'he Rev. P. T. Wilson, M.D., reported laughing when I hear the story. The 3485 baptisms in the Bareilly district. poor creatures are sincere, and their The Rev. Zahllr-ul Haqq reported 1884 ignorance only gives them a stronger from the Amroha district. The Rev. claim upon us. Had such a spectacle J. C. Butcher, M.D., reported 2200 from been seen thirty years ago, all Indio. the Moradabad district, while the Rev. would have heard of it, and missiona- Ibrahim Suliman brought up the rear ries would have competed for the opwith 1143 from the Pilibhit district. portunity of hastening to them with The grand total of baptisms reported help and comfort." throughout the four districts was thus 8712, a number which ought to startle Hinduism. those on whom the re8ponsibility of caring for these converts rests. The large Sir Alfred Lyell delivered one of a audience WIlS profoundly moved by these reports, I}nd several hymns of triumph series of addresses in Londo!]. on the were sung with great enthusiasm."
Referring to Bishop Thoburn's visits various religions of the world, all of which were given at South Place Instito these district conferences it further tute. The religion which Sir Alfred says: treated was Hinduism. It is a master. ly presentation of the complex system, " Since Bishop Thoburn left Calcutta or conglomerate of all systems and no he has attended district conferences at systems which we know as modern Hin- Hathras, Narsinghpur, Meerut, Bara· duism. We cannot even give an outline banki and Chandausi. The sum total of the lecture. In concluding, he said: of baptisms for the year officially re- "Hinduism has always been changing ported at these meetings is over fifteen thousand I"
Bishop Thoburn, writing of this reo more or less, and it will go on cbanging vival, says: faster than ever under the influence of " The whole atmosphere here seems contact with Europe. There has always full of the feeling that a great ingather- been a reforming school of Hinduisming is near at hand. The workers are a a desire to throw off the coarser ('on lowly company, and many of them but ceptions and practices, and to adopt half-taught converts themselves; but things more spiritual and morally better. when I compare them with the men we There have been recently attempts in had around us twenty-five years ago, I this direction ; there has been a desire thank God anew for everyone of them. to prove that the Vedas, the original They know nothing whatever of fail- sacred books, do not sanction the abuses ure or discouragement. They expect of Hinduism; that they may be intersuccess, and expect it upon a scale preted as again the prevailing idolatry, which those of earlier days never and that the real Hinduism prescribed dreamed of. In every direction the by Holy Writ is a much higher and fields are said to be white to the harvest. purer revelation. . . . He says tbat As the repol·ts were made, I at first " the leaf substance and mainspring of asked each man how many inquirers he Indian religion is not polytheism, but had in his circuit. The lowest number pantheism. There can be little doubt mentioned by anyone was two hun- that the whole edifice of polytheism is dred ; and when some began to speak likely to break up and melt off the sur· of thousands I ceased to ask the ques- face of civilized India; that their im· tion. memorial superstitions will collapse be- fore the steady maintenance of peace " Some of the calls which reach our workers are very urgent. Brother Hasan Reza Khan spoke of people who had sent to him, saying: 'Months ago we threw away our idols and sent for you to come and make us Christians; but and law, the advancement of learning roof to offer a hearty welcome to a and the influx of knowledge. . . . The Christian missionary, who has for his air is charged with spiritual enthusiasm, avowed object the pulling down of both so that no one can say whether some Hinduism and Muhammadanism. Had ardent faith may not suddenly blaze up it not been for the education that we in the midst of India that will shatter have received under this Christian Gov.
all the old fabric of religion, and lead ernment, and through missionary labors, away the great Indian multitudes in an I should have to-day been stoned by the entirely new direction." bigoted idolaters of my own religion, "Are We Really Awake ?"-This is the for having committed the most unpar- caption of an "Appeal to the Hindu donable crime of taking such a part in Community, ,. which has been largely cir- to-day's proceedings."
culated in India. We quote from it a A Moslem Convert.-Dr. Clarke, of the single paragraph: C. M. S. at Umritsur, says: " The life-blood of our society is fast .. Some time ago there was a young ebbing away, and irreligion is eating Muhammadan, the son of a great Mu. into its vitals. Looking beneath the hammadan saint and doctor, who had surface, we find the mischief under great anxiety of soul because of sin. He which we Hindus at present labor is read the Koran through and through owing chiefly to the influence of Chris- without finding light, when he found in tianity, brought steadily and constantly it an expression referring to the Old Testo bear on our national mind for ;nearly tament and the New Testament. The thought came into this young man's a century and a half… , The count· heart, 'If I can only get possession of II less Christian missions at work in this Bible, I might get what I need.' Most country, especially in Bengal, are in a wonderfully, two ladies happened to be fair way of achieving their object, not in the district, and he got what he so much, however, by carrying convic- wanted. He began with the Gospel of tion to our hearts about the superiority St. John, and by the time he got to the of their religion, as by slowly and im- third chapter he was a free man, and perceptibly changing our ideas with re- desirous of throwing off Muhammadangard to our moral, social, and domestic ism. When his father heard of it he life. The unflagging energy and the offered a reward of five hundred rupees systematic efforts with which these bodies are working at the foundation of our society will, unless counteracted in time, surely cause a mighty collapse of it at no distant date. "
A Kindly Feeling Toward Missionaries. to anyone who would kill his son, and -Some five hundred persons, among two hundred to anyone who would whom were representatives of all classes bring him the good news. For two of Hindus and Mussulmans, met in one years I had to watch over that young of the cities of India to welcome back a man, and then his father foun.d him, missionary who had been temporarily and with much difficulty we managed out of the country. A native pastor, to keep him lIafe. At last the old man writing an account of the occasion, says went hack with a New Testament. A that the chairman was a Brahman, who, • year after he came again and said that after stating how the people owed he had brought together other mullahs "much of the enlightenment of the and read it to them. He also said: • We present day to the indefatigable exer- have noticed that this ill the New Testa- tions of the Christian missionary," ment ; that shows me that there must said : "As II living instance of their be an Old Testament; and they have success, I point out to you our to-day's sent me to get the Old Testament.' I meeting. What is the scene that pre- had the pleasure of giving him one; sents itself to the eye? Hindus and Mu- and later on, he came with his son, and hammadans – the true descendants of said: • The God of my son, whom I the once Hindu bigot and the Mussul: wished to murder, is now my God; bap- man fanatic-have met under the same tize me too into the faith of Christ.' " .-~o« •o ·oj GENERAL ~1AP OF INDIA.
-On the Malabar coast is a commu- fused to receive an ambassador, but nity called Syrian Christians, who claim said: "Send me the Christian" (mean. to have been convE'rted by St. Thomaij, ing Schwartz); "he will not deceive whose tomb they point out south of me." William Carey and Thomas land- Madras. They number possibly 300,000. ed in India November 10th. 1793.
-The first Protestant missionaries to -The Roman Catholic religion was India were Ziegenbalg and Plutcho, who introduced by the Portuguese, who con· were sent in 1706 by the King of Den- quered Goa in 1509. Thirty years later mark to Tranquebar, on the Coroman. Xavier began an earnest mission work, del Coast. In 1750 the mission was subsequently continued hyothers. Acjoined by Schwartz. When the English cording to the census of 1881, they num· wanted to treat with Hyder Ali, he re- bered tl65,643.
18ii2.J GENERAL MISsiONARY INTELLiGENCE. a11
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Organized Missionary Work aad Sta.tistics. Edited by Rev. D. L. LeJna.rd, Bellevue, O.
-More than 2,000,000 barrels of beer with 200,000 B-:luare miles, have each were brewed in Milwaukee during last about 18,000,000 subjects; Spain, 115,- year. 000 square miles and 9,600,000 sub· jects ; and Portugal, 1:1000 square miles -The Mennonites, numbering in all and 850,000 subjects. but 41,451, are yet subdivided and reo subdivided into no less than 12 frag- –This is the way it looks to one misments, of which the largest has but sionary, the Rev. Frank W. Warm, Methabout 10,000 members, the smaller odist Episcopal, of Calcutta: "In the tapering off to 471 and 352, while the United States there are about 65,000,000 least, the "Apostolic Mennonites," to souls: and of these there are, according wit, has only 209! The phenomenon to the New York Independent, including must have giv,en a fearful strain to the Catholics, 20,000,000 communicants; risibles of the census-taker. which. with the 'children and those directly influenced, would easily make -Rev. George Grenfell, of the Bap- another 30,000,000, leaving only 15,000,- tist C.:mgo Mission, says that in Central 000 ; and it iii scarcely probable that Africa there is an area of 4000 square there are so many unreached. When miles larger than the whole of Europe one looks home and reads the Methodist still unoccupied by a single mission- Year-Book, an,] finds that for pastoral ary ; that the centre of Africa cannot support, church extension, freedmen, permanently be evangelized by white StlDday-schools, Bolard of Education, men, but the greater p,trt of the work Woman's Home Missionary Society, must be done by the natives themselves, superannuated preachers, church buildand the natives are showing their fit- ing, and local cnrrent expenses there is nesl'! for the task. used $19,678,000, which with the $460,- 000 of the missionary money used for -A pagan testimony and a pagan no- home missions makes a total of $20,138,- tion. Mr. Lawton, one of the China 000 and deducts from that the total given Inland missionaries in the extreme to foreign work of both the parent and northwest of China, on the borders of woman's societies, $686,000, it leaves a the great Mongolian Destlrt, received majority for the home work of $19,452,- from a pagan the offer of a beautiful 000 to do the Methodist part of the work anc"stral hall LJr a C<lristian church. among the 65,000,000 in America; hut Mr. Lawton expressed his surprise at in the foreign fiolds there are of the such generosity, but the pagan an- heathens easily 1,000,000,000 souls swered, "You are doing an excellent starving for the bread of life; and work here, and in helping you with my Christ says: 'Give ye them to eat;' best I hope to obtain a small part of and for these the missionary grant, in your merit." cluding both societies, is, say, $700,000. Brethren at home, if you could live a -Though the vast bulk of Asia is not number of years in the foreign fields exactly .. partitioned" out among the and be conscious of being surrounded potentates of Europe, yet reasonably by hundreds of million>! who know not large slices of territory are possessed by J eSUA, and then look at the Methodist several. Of course Great Britain leads, Church giving $20,138,000 for her part with 2,240,000 square miles and some of the work among the 65,000,000 of 300,000.000 subjects; the Netherlands America, and $700,000 for her part of bear sway over 700,000 square miles the work among 1,000,000,000 of starv- ~nd 30,000,000 suhjects; Russia, with 6,500,000 square miles, and France, ing souls, I think you would learn more the vast evils which spring from this lessons than did Mr. Bultil!lde in source, and of the dire calamities which Dick's school." opium entails upon the Chinese people. Those who live and work among the -Sabbath observance is finding favor people are, alas! only too conversant with the evils to health and wealth, and in an unlooked·for quarter. For even the moral and social degradation which follows the use of the drug. Smokers in Paris a movement is on foot to secure and non-smokers alike condemn the practice; the former wish to be free, the popular observance of Sunday, and and yet cling to the pipe as its slave; the latter acknowledge that interdiction a very strong society has been formed of the native growth would only increase the Indian import and cause still more to further this cause. The honorary silver to flow out of the country. Fifty years ago we had only to contend with president of the society, Senator Jules the foreign import; now we have in addition the large native growth. Then Simon, says: "We desire that our we had probably not over 2,000,000 of smokers; ,now 20,000,000 is probubly workmen may have a day's rest once a not an over-estimate.
week, and Sunday is naturally thfl day " The evil seems spreading more and more every year. It is slowly finding we have chosen. But our undertaking its way into agricultural districts. It is permeating all classes of society, and is is a difficult one, because it runs coun- not looked upon with the same abhor- rence as formerly. The legalization of ter to numerous customs and interests the import did much to spread its use, The growth of thQ poppy is, for the which do not like to be interfered with. same reason, extending also into new regions. At present our factory hands and shop " This gigantic evil pervades all classes. people work not only during the long The habit is particiIlarly common in the opium-producing regions, where, it is hours of every week day, but also on estimated, 80 or 90 per cent of the men above 20 years of age smoke, and 50 or Sundays. We do not wish to forbid 60 per cent of the women, not to speak of many young people in their teens. people from working on Sunda.y if they In the cities the practice is also com- mon. In the non-producing districts, wish to do so, but we aim to prevent the evil is chiefly confined to the cities; the villages are comparatively free. An them from forcing other people to official estimate for the whole Empire gives four tenths for the coolie class, six work." And Leon Say, the eminent tenths for the merchant class, and three tenths for the official class. In Canton political economist and deputy, who is over seven tenths of the officials smoke. In Hunan not one tenth of the same president of the society, says: "Our class are addicted to the pipe. In the 6 Boards at Peking there are very few society is the result of a congress of so- opium-smoking high officials. It is cheering to note, amid such a wide excilll economists held in Puris during the tension of the vice, that the Imperial exhibition of 1889. It was then unani- mously recognized that a weekly day of rest is indispensable to the working classes. We do not ask for legislation, but depend entirely for success on the power of persuasion. Two years ago our society numbered 20 persons; to- day we count over 2500 members, made up of repUblicans and monarchists, Catholics and Protestants, bishops and free thinkers. We have already achi eved some practical results. In the post- office we have got the hours shortened ownithSuthndellrY~ilr-oalnldd we lire now lllboring companies." In Ger- mllny 1I1so a similllr agitation has been begun.
-Says John Dudgeon, a mediclIl missionary at Peking: "The evils of the use of opium in China are everywhere apparent. Every heart that is not dead to the sentiment of pity must be filled with commiseration at the prospect of family, and the high officers of State, the money is spent" in his station. The in the capital and throughout the Em· total transactions for the yearamounteq pire, may be said to be free from it." to about $8500; of this nearly $2000 came from native interest and co-opera- And it further appears from the fol- tion in educational work, a small sum lowing statement, that the opium being secured from outside sources. scourge is by no means confined to The remaining $6550 was charged to Ohina: The Oalcutta Medical Record, the Presbyterian Board. Itemizing this the principal medical periodical in In- he shows that less than $2000 was ex- dia, says: ., Dreadful as are the evils pended for the salaries of missionaries, of alcohol, the pernicious consequences rents, and repairs; $3300 was paid as of indulgence in'opium are more vastly salaries to 36 native preachers and terrible. By it human life is shorn of teachers ; $350 went for the assistance every vestige of nobility and moral re- of 35 boys to enter college and boarding sponsibility. The mind is rendered in- schools; $160 for educating 2 men in sensate to every ennobling desire or the theological seminary; $300 was sentim'lllt, and the moral nature of man spent by the missionaries and helpers is unfathomably degraded to even great- in touring, and $300 more for rents snd er depths than brutishness. Digestion repairs of churches and schools and a becomes steadily and speedily impaired, dwelling in the village, while $140 was and the whole physical sequellre are expended in postage, messengers, medi- those of emaciation, attenuation. and cine, and miscellanies, including stoves, devitalization of muscle, nerve, and benches, clocks, chairs, maps, etc., for brain. Opium numbers its victims by 23 schools and 18 Sunday-schools. The thousands in Oalcutta alone, and every total force supported by this expendi- city throughout the length and breadth ture consists of 2 ordained American of this vast empire of India and Bur- missionaries with their wives, 36 native mah yields a condemning freight of evi- helpers, 3 of whom give all their time to dence of physical suffering, moral deg- preaching and touring, and 21 preach radation, and social ruin, which none on Sunday and teach through the week; but a callous Government steeped in the the remaining are other assistants. The luxuries of an irresponsible bureaucracy preaching is condncted in 19 centres, would dare to despise. Yet this awful and more than 50 villages are visited. stigma attaches to the Government of There are 2 organized churches with 155 India, that it not only freely permits the members, 23 schools, and one book- sale of a pernicious drug, but protects store. Half of the salary of the keeper and encourages the continuance and of the store and the whole of the salary permanency of its ravages among a peo_ of the colporteur are met by the Ameri- ple whom it has been called upon to re- can Bible Society_ Not one cent has generate and save." gone for any purpose except the work of preaching and teaching the Gospel. -" To what purpose is this waste ?" is the perennial exclamation of all such -The following survey of the work of as have little faith and love, and even the Foreign Sunday-School Association less knowledge, concerning missions. is given in the Independenl: Germany But nothing is more certain than that has now more than 3000 Snnday-schools, there is no-waste to speak of" not even with 30,000 teachers and 300,000 much lavish expenditure, bnt about every scholars. So completely has official opdollar is wisely and economically placed. position ceased, that some years ago the Let one case stand for a host: The Rev. highest Ohurch Oouncil of Prussia or- F. E. Hoskins, missionary of the Pres_ dained that all candidates for ordination byterian Board in Zahleh, Syria, gives, should be trained in organizing and conin The Ohurch at Home and Abroad for ducting Snnday-schools. Besides the 'January, an interesting resume of " how Central Oommittee at Berlin, local sonal' , congregations. In addition there unions exist in various parts of Germany are 36 places where public Protestant where teachers meet for discussion of services are held each Sunday_ Of these methods and comparison of experience. 20 are in institutions of various kinds, The first great National Sunday-school the remainder are the gathering places Oonvention ever held on the European of the City Mission Society. In recent Oontinent was the Jubilee of German months 7 new churches have been Sunday-schools, which was celebrated at begun, of which, however, 3 are to Berlin, October 7th-9th, 1888, while take the plac~s of existing churches. commemorative services were held si. Aud in this connection the statement, multaneously in many towns and cities surprising, and almost incredible to pf Germany. American readers, is made that, if it had not been for the personal intervention of France has more than 1100 schools, the Emperor and the Empress probably with 4500 teachers and 115,000 scholars; not a single one of these 7 new Switzerland, 1500 schools, 6522 teachers, churches would now be in process of and 97,890 scholars;· Holland, 1400 erection. Permission to build a new schools, 3800 teachers, and 150,000 church in Berlin can be secured only scholars; Sweden and Denmark in when the proposal is passed npon nearly equal proportion. In Roman favorably by no fewer than 19 offi- Oatholic countries peculiar difficulties cial bodies and persons-an unheard- have been encountered; but Italy, of amount of red tape! Many of these Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and the re- bodies and persons, that range from the publics of Oent1"al and South America Emperor down to the sanitary police, are have many faithful teachers, who, with antagonistic to the interests of the the aid of attractive little papers sup- Church, and, if possible, delay or de- plied by the Association, have won the feat such project.s. In this way, only hearts of the children about them, and recently, two of the best building places are doing untold good. 'fhe Sunday. in the city were lost to the Protestants schools on mission ground, though not and secured by the Catholics. 'fhe larg- originated by the Association, have been est of the new churches has a seating largely aided by it in supplies of papers capacity of 2000 and cost 400,000 marks. and hymn-books, and its correspondents are found on every continent. – The" Encyclopredia of Missions" gives statistics of 8 societies doing mis. -The Catholic clergy of France num- sionary work in Mexico. They are ber 55,540 men. Among these are found these, and arranged in the order of the 18 archbishops, 69 bishops, 3420 pastors importance of their work as determined of various ranks, 182 vicars.general, by figures; Methodist Episcopal, South, 31,255 assistants, 7109 vicars, and 700 Methodist Episcopal, North, Presbyte- other ecclesiastics. The Reformed and rian, Presbyterian, South, Southern Bap.. other Protestant clergy number but 720. tist Convention, American Board, Asso- The religious budget-the amount the ciate Reformed Presbyterian Synod, and Government appropriates for the bene- Cumberland Presbyterian. In all, these fit of such denominations as are" recog- societies employ 51 male aud 78 female nized"-for 1892 is 45,057,::'57 francs. missionaries, with 128 ordaiued natives The foreign clergy who hear mOfls in any lind 199 other native helpers. In the other language than French are not paid 201 churches are found 13,263 members, out of the State treasury. and 6363 pupils in the 145 schools.
-Berlin has for its 80,000 Jews, 8 -Rev. M C. Harris, Methodist Epis- synagogues; for its 120,000 Catholics, copal, San Francisco, writes: .. In 1877 . 10 churches and chapels; for its 1,250,- the first Japanese knocked at the doors 000 Protestants, 44 churches and chap. of the Chinese Mission of this city. Dr. els-namely, 32 parochial and 6 •• per- Otis Gibson, superintendent, kindly ad- "During the 81 years that have elapsed mitted them to the evening school. since its organization, the American Kanichi Miyama was the first convert. Board has sent out 2083 men and women. He is now a member of the Japanese The force now in the field numbers 200 Conference, doing grand service for the men and 333 women, distributed over 22 Master. The work has prospered from mission fields in the Turkish Empire, the beginning until now. Within the British India, China, Japan, Africa, and past year 100 were baptized, and 127 re- in Papal lands. The receipts from donaceived into full membership. Conver- tions and legacies aggregate about $25,- sions occur daily. The last month they 000,000, while the regular receipts and have averaged above 1 per day. For two expenditures of the last five years have years there has been a continuous re- averaged not far from $700,000 a year, vival. A church has been formed and exclusive of native funds received and organized for work, and is looking for- expended in the field. No fewer than ward to self-support in the near future. 475 churches have been organized, into The members give gladly of their sub- which have been received on confession stance. In liberal giving it would be of faith not far from 110,000 souls. hard to surpass them. Upward of 20 The missionaries of the American preachers have been sent out from this Board have reduced 28 different lanmission to Japan and the Sandwich guages to writing among the ruder races, Islands as evangelists to their people. In these, and still more in the languages Some 25 more have been called to the of the civilized races among whom misministry, and are ready {or service. sions have been established-as in India, Here is a great opportunity to honor China, and Japan-a missionary liter- God and save thousands. Who will ature has been created, including gramhelp us? For the past six years the Mis- mars and dictionaries, translations of sion has carried on its work in leased the Scriptures, and educational and rebuildings. It is recognized by all who ligious works, amounting to more than understand the situation that a church 2,000,000,000 of pages. Higher Chrisbuilding is a necessity. The Japanese tian education has constituted an im- Christians are deeply interested. They portant agency in the work of the have pledged $5000, and will raise it. American Board, especially during the They are contributing toward this sum last twenty-five years. During this by the month. A goodly sum is already period the number of higher institucollected and invested in the savings- tions for Christian education has inbank, where it is drawing interest. They creased from 18, with 437 pupils, to are mostly poor students, and can give 122, with 7780 pupils. Who can estibut little. The estimated cost of the lot mate the influence of these young men and building is $25,000. We must ap- and yOtlllg women, now brotlght under peal to the friends of the cause in the daily inflllence of cultured Christian America. Who will consecrate some- teachers, on the thought and life of the thing to build a house of God for the next generation of their countrymen?" Japanese in San Francisco?" -The Censns Bureau has recently -One feature at a church entertain- published some intereRting statistics rement in a certain place not long ago lating to the Lutheran Church in the was a native Indian woman engaged in United States. From these it appears basket-weaving; A little maiden, after that this branch of the Protestant comwatching her movements a while, looked munion, upon variolls grounds, is sepaintently at the pleasant, dusky face, and rated into 12 independent synods. The exclaimed: "Why, mamma, she iBn't total of all the subdivisions is 1,199,514 like an Indian at all ; she loves God just members. The Synodical Oonference the same as we do I" numbers 357,153 ; the General Council, 317,145; the General Synod, 164,640; in British Columbia, $4323. The num.
the United Norwegian Church of Ameri· ber of missionaries maintained is 414, ca, 119,972, etc. According to language with 118 assistants, 47 teachers, and 15 employed in public services, the Lu- interpreters-a total force of 594 paid therans are divided as follows: Synods agents. The membership of the mis.
having 454,005 communicants are al- sion churohes is 44,500. In Japan are most wholly German; 232,512 are partly 28 missionaries, a total of 62 paid agents, English and partly German, while but and 1819 church·members.
198,997 are wholly English. Besides, there are 190,154 Norwegians, 88,700 Swedes, 13,674 Danes, 1991 Icelanders, British Foreign Missions. By Rev. JaB.
and 1385 Finns. 'l'his denomination Johnston, Bolton, England.
has its organized representatives in al. Death of Dr. Samuel Adjai Crow· most every State and Territory, Ptmnsyl. ther, Bishop of Niger.-At the end of vania leading with 219,069, Wisconsin December last this well.known colored standing next with 149,071, and Minne· Bishop of the Niger Territory passed sota following hard after with 143,503. away. His connection with the Church -The Protestant Episcopal Church, Missionary Society began in 1822, when through the Spirit oj Missions, keeps he was rescued from a slave.ship. In this appeal constantly before its mem- 1841 he accompanied the first Niger exbers: "Offerings are asked to sustain pedition, and in 1843 he was ordained missions in 13 missionary jurisdictions both deacon and priest by Dr. Blom. and 34 dioceses; also among the Ind. field, Bishop of London. and afterward ians and among the colored people in returned to Africa, where he entered our land, as well as missions in China, upon mission work at Freetown, Sierra Japan, Africa, Hayti, and Greece to pay Leone. For twelve years he was an the salaries of 16 bishops and stipends active missionary at Abeokuta, subse· to 1000 missionary workers, Rnd to sup. quently for one year at Lagos, and, port schools, hospitals, and orphanages. later, he gave seven years wholly to the Five hundred thousand dollars are asked mission in the Niger Territory. On for this year." Of this sum desired and June 29th, 1864, he was consecrated in expected, $246,193 are appropriated to Canterbury Cathedral, Missionary Bish. domestic, and $198,583 to foreign mis· op of the Niger Territory, and in the sions. For missions among white peo· same year received the honorary degree pIe, $118,400 are designated; for mis. of D.D. from Oxford, followed in 1883 sions among the Indians, $41,045, and by a like honor from Durham Univerfor missions among the negroes, $55,950, sity. His bishopric, covering twenty. For the school in Greece, $2300 are set seven years, has been marked by great apart; for the African Mission, $31,700 ; organizing capacity. In Great Britain, for the Chinese Mission, $53,557, and which he visited on ten occasions, for missions in the Haytian Church, Bishop Crowther was a notable figure, $7720, etc. his advocacy of missions and Bible cir- culation on platform and in pulpit being -The Methodists of Canada are, and singularly effective. Among other for eight years have been, wise and works, he was the author of a " Yoruba happy in being thoroughly united in mis. Grammar and Vocabulary," an English sionary toil. By a strong pull all together and Yoruba dictionary, and" Elements they raised last year $243,015, and be· of Nupe Grammar." His translations stowed upon domestic work $88,842; included portions of the Old and New upon Indian work. $42,862 ; upon for· Testaments into Yoruba, Book of Com- eign work in Japan, $26,523; upon mon Prayer into the same tongue, and French work in and about Montreal and a portion of St. Matthew's Gospel into Quebec, $8643 ; and upon Chinese work the Nupe language.• Few men have done nobler missionary service in the A scheme is on foot, writes the Bishop present century. of Tasmania, for the completion of St.
David's Cathedral, Hobart Town. Only English Church Missionary Intelli- the nave and transept are built, although gence. -It is proposed to constitute a the work was begun eighteen years ago.
new missionary diocese in Southeast It is now proposed to erect the choir Africa, to be called the bishopric of Le· and aisles, also a tower and cloister at bombo, which will include South Gaza- considerable expense. With the year land, Delagoa Bay, and the districts of 1892 coincides the jUbilee' of the dio.
Lydenberg and Zoutpansberg, and thus cese, Bishop Nixon having been conse- complete the diocesan organization on crated in 1842. This event has a fur- the southeast of Africa from Cape Town ther interest from the fact that 1892 to Zanzihar and the mainland opposite marks the two hundred and fiftieth an- that island. The Synod of South Africa niversary of the landing of Tasman's ex- will constitute the See as soon as an en- pedition on the island. It is suggested dowment fund of £10,000 has been col- that the laying of the foundation-stone lected ; and happily the Bishop of Cape of the cathedral tower should commemo· Town has already received and invested rate these two events, the ceremony with trustees £7850, chiefly subscribed taking place carlyin the year, and when within the limits of the province of the Australasian Association for Promot.
South Africa. This excellent endeavor ing Science visits Hobart.
to meet the growing responsibilities of The Bishop of Calcutta, on his recent popUlation and empire in things spiro return to India, promised the sum of itual in British South African territory £5000 toward, the endowment of the merits generous support. Lucknow bishopric, provided that the The Bishop of Madras, in referring remaining £2000 required is raised last December to the difficulties relat. within twelve months.
ing to the partition of the diocese by the Concerning African missions the Cor- creation of a bishopric at Tinnivelly, respondence Committee of the Church said that he could not resign a portion Missionary Society have just accepted of his trust committed to him by letters Mr. E. Millar, of Trinity College, Cam- patent except a special Act of Parlia- bridge, for the Victoria Nyanza Mission, ment authorized him. For this reason that gentleman going out at his own he declined to accept the £15,000 which charges. In connection with the Niger had been promised to him by the So- Mission the resignation of the Rev.
ciety for the Propagation of the Gospel, F. N. Ellen, late Vicar of St. James's, the Society for the Propagation of West Hartlepool, has been accepted.
Christian Knowledge, and the Colonial Bishoprics' Council, and therefore The Risings in China.-After wished to resign rather than deprive months of unrest and alarm, caused the diocese of that substantial aid. At by turbulent outbreaks in various provo It meeting of the Diocesan Council deep inces of the empire which began last sympathy was expressed with the bishop summer and have been frequent since in his trying position, and a request that date,the Government of Pekin has made to him to submit the matter for satisfactorily endeavored to adjust the the consideration of the archbishops difficulties with the European powers, and bishops of England. There is a chiefly arising from the attacks on for- strong feeling in Madras that the bish- eigners at several points on the Yangtse op's views are sound, morally and legal- River. Order has been restored in the ly, and that the assistance which the affected region. no riots having occurred magnitude of the diocese demands at Tchang since September last. To re- Khould, as heretofore, be rendered by pair the damage done, and to prevent a suffragans. repetitiou of recent troubles, the Chi· nese Government has adopted the fol- a following of 37,287 adnlt native conlowing measures: Indemnities, amount· verts. ing in all to about £100,000, have been paid to the Christian missions of all London Missionary Society.- Aleaf nationalities and to the families of the is being taken from the Salvation Army only two foreigners killed-the mission. book by the directors of the society, supary, Mr. Argent, of the ,. Joyful News" porting a week of self-denial in February, Mission, and a customs official-both to raise the income £30,000 per annum. Englishmen. Severe penalties in the The Rev. J. P. Gladstone, of London, shape of imprisonment and capital pun- the author of the proposal, is sanguine ishment have been inflicted on officials of the result. If the Congregationalists and law· breakers, and stringent precau- who, it is said, number a million in this tions taken to defend the lives and country, and ~ho mainly belong to the property of Christians. The authors of middle classes, take up the idea, there is pamphlets inciting the people against no question of the money being speedily foreigners will in future be condemned raised.
to death, a form of justice already visit- The friends of the Rev. A. N. John- son, of Leicester, will be glad to read of ed on ringleaders of the Kolao·Hui or- his appointment to the important posiganization. The rising in Mongolia last tion of Home Secretary to the London November had no connection with the Missionary Society, succeeding the Rev. ovents in the south of the empire, its E. H. Jones, whose long and faithful object being pillage, without distinction services have endeared him to a wide between Christians and others. This constituency. lIr. Johnson's student fanatical local outbreak has been sup- career at King Edward's School, Birpressed. mingham, at Lancashire College, and Owens College, Manchester, was highly As the Belgian missionaries have suf. distinguished throughout, especially in fered considerably in China, it may be classics. At Trinity College, Cam. interesting to know that these workers bridge, he carried off a first-class in belong to a special congregation, whose the theological tripos of 1881 and other headquarters are at Scheutveld, near distinctions. In Manchester he was Dr. Anderlecht, where they acquire the Chi- Macfadyen'S assistant for a time. nese language, and at the age of twentyfive are despatched to their field of labor. Nyassaland.-News to hand (Decem- About eighty of them are at work in ber 29th) from Dr. Laws, Superintendent China under the superintendence of of the Free Church of Scotland's Nyassa three bishops, two of wl}om afe Bel- Mission, states that he has reached King gians, and the other a Dutchman. Be. William's Town, Cape Colony, on his sides preaching and proselytizing they way home. He purposed calling at render many charitable services to the Lovedale with four natives from Central population. They have opened hos· Africa for training. In the Colony he pitals and schools, and, in audition to will r£'main about six weeks to hold sev. teaching the children the ordinary eral conferences with the leaders of the branches of scholastic knowledge and Dutch Reformed Church at Stellenbosch, training them to trades, they subse- a church which co operates with the quently assist them in the choice of Livingstonia Mission on Nyassa. Dr. husbands and wives. Mr. Alexander Laws hus labored fifteen years in Africa. Michie, of Tien-tsin, whose book on missionaries in China is provoking com· Jewish Migration to the Argentina. ment, says that in China proper the -On authority the Jewish Ohronicle an· Catholics have 530 foreign missionaries nounces that Lieutenant-Oolonel Albert and 525,000 native converts, including Goldsmid will take charge of the archildren, compared with the Protestants, rangements for the colonization of Jews who have 1296 foreign missionaries and in the Argentine Republic upon lands acquired by Baron de Hirsch. Colonel nothing less than Article 31 of the An- Goldsmid hopes that it will be shown glican Liturgy. It is only in the course to the world, after the inevitable troubles of 1891 that the Methodist community, in the first settlements have been over- which has been steadily growing in come, that Jewish agricultural colonies numbers and inftuence in Austria, hall on a larger scale than have hitherto acquired a fixed place of worship been attempted are quite practicable. through the generosity of the Baronesil Telegraphing from Jerusalem, Mr. von Langenau, a convert from Luther.
Scott Moncrieff says that a great snow· anism. Opposition to Methodism ap.
storm fell there on Christmas morning. pears to have emanated from various covering the ground six inches deep. quarters, not particularly the Roman The distress in the city environs among Catholics, and to have been increased the poor Jews, ill clad in wretched gar- by the interest of Sir Arthur Blackwood ments, without warmth of any kind, is in missions to postmen while attending pitiful. Besides the crowd of poor ever the Postal Congress in Vienna, and in a state of chronic starvation there are hence, when a formal application was many famishing refugees. The condi- presented for the recognition of the tion of those" outside the city" is de· Methodist Church, the allthorities were scribed as " dreadful," whose wants the led to examine her statutes, with the re- Society for Relief of Persecuted Jews sult that the chapel was closed and the (Syrian Colonization Fund), Parliament minister, the Rev. Friedrich Roesch, Street, London, is generously alleviating inhibited from preaching anywhere in to the utmost of its capacity. the city. Other conditions of a pecu.
General Booth in India.-On Decem· niary nature which have to be fulfilled ber 28th the" General" concluded his before a church can obtain recognition Madras campaign by expounding the in Austria will readily be met by the ideas of his social scheme at the Ban- liberality of the baroness. Evidently queting Hall before an inftuential gath- the Austrian Methodists are passing ering, which included the Maharajah of through some of the troubles which the Mysore. This was followed by an ad- 1Yloravians and old Catholics have had dress on similar lines to a meeting com. to face and valiantly overcame.
prising 1000 of the leading Hindoos, over which the, Dewan Raganath Rao Monthly Bulletin.
presided. The" General" also opened India.-The Christian Vernacular the Army's new headquarters and hall, Education Society for India has when liberal subscriptions were made, changed its name to the more approone gentleman alone contributing 11,000 priate form, The Christian Literature rupees to defray the mortgage. At the Society for India. Since its organiza- Memorial Hall he addressed the native tion in 1858 it has issued 15,500,000 Christians, and afterward had an inter- books and tracts of all kinds, and 1,000,. view with the Governor, Lord Wenlock. 000 were published last year alone. Its Methodism in Austria.-A vexatious work of providing pure literature for piel'e of persecution has been committed the 12,000,000 readers in India who on the Methodists in Vienna by the have been educated in the Government Public Prosecutor, because an article in schools. is exceedingly important and the Methodist Discipline denouncing valuable.
"the sacrifices of masses as blasphe- -The Church of England Zenana So- mous fables and dangerous deceits" is ciety, working in connection with the regarded as .. an insult against one of Church Missionary Society. though hav- the religions recognized by the State"- ing an independont organization, has, namely, the Roman Catholic. The arti- during the past ten years, increased its, ~le in question, it may be observed, is force of missionaries from 36 to 142, with a large number of Eurasian and and only 4 were HindUd. Among the native helpers. Its income has not, 739 pupils attached to the different inhowever, increased proportionately, and dustrial schools of the Madras Presiit finds itself in financial straits. dency, 357 were native Christians, 75 were Vaisyas and Sudras, 17 we~e Low -The revival of hook.swinging in Caste, including Pariahs, and only 5 Southern India is detailed in a letter were Brahmans. This progress of edufrom the Rev. John S. Chandler, of Ma- cation will eventually give them an addura, and illustrated by two photographs vantage for which no amount of intelin the Missionary Herald for January. lectual precocity can compensate the Application was made to the English Brahmans. authorities to prevent the barbarous exhibition, but they declined to do more -Bombay has always been considered than to discourage it. What that a hard field for mission work. The amounted to is evident from the fact time was when the progress there was that the plan was carried out in the slow and the results were meagre; but presence of more than 10,000 people. that day is past. In a letter written in 1848, it was stated by the Rev. Mr. -Dr. George F. Pentecost gives Hume that during nine years of hard and some interesting figures, in the inde- prayerful work, he had but twice had pendent, from the last census of India. the joy of seeing anyone brought into The English have built and are operat- the Church from the heathen world. ing more than 16,000 miles of railroad Of these two one had already gone back in that country. All the railroads are to heathenism, and the other was then under the supervision of the Govern- an unworthy member of the Christian ment. There are now opened in India Church. At last a change carne, and 26,000 miles of common roads, most of faithful work bore fruit. The number them smooth and hard as a floor. There of churches, of Christians, of schools, are 34,000 miles of telegraph lines, with and of Sabbath·schools, has, during the 116,000 miles of wire. Three milli.on past fifteen years, at least trebled, and in messages are transmitted annually. The some departments the work has multitelegraph lines are also under the super- plied fifty-fold. In giving, in Christian vision of the Government, constituting, activity, in knowledge of and in faithas in England, part of the postal sys- ful adherence to the Word of God, that tem. There are 71,000 miles of post- church in Bombay would be an ornaroads, with more than 8000 post-offices. ment to any city in this country. On There are 95,000 Government schools of the average those Christians give at all grades, in which are more than 3,000,- least 1 month's salary out of the 12. 000 pupils 'of private schools, mostly Almost every member of the Church is missionary. There are, besides, more actively engaged in preaching, in teach. than 40,000, with above 500,000 schol- ing, in Sabbath.school, or in some kind ars. The English language is spreading of evangelistic work. The children and among the people. This, Dr. Pentecost young people are constantly and faiththinks, is one of the greatest missionary fully instructed in the Bible. forces in the country. ~TheArcot Mission of the Reformed , -The conspicuous place in higher (Dutch) Church at its semi-annual meeteducation taken by the native Christian ing in Madanapalle, issued an earnest women of India is illustrated by the fact appeal to the American churches for that of the 19 successful female candi- help for the sufferers from famine in dates for the matriculation examination the Madras Presidency of India. in 1879, 7 were native Christians, while Almost all the 6000 people immediately none were Hindus; of the 234 candi- connected with the mission need assistdates examined for the higher education ance. of women, 61 wero native Christians,