The Missionary Review of the World — September 1891
THE YEAR 1890 IN JAPAN
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XIV. No.9.-OldSeries.–SEPTEMBER.–VoL.IV. No.9.-NewSeries.
THE YEAR 1890 IN JAPAN.
BY REV. PROFESSOR GEORGE WM. KNOX, D. D., TOKYO, JAPAN.
The foreca!l.t of 1889 was fulfilled in 1890. The year was full of difficnlty, and in empire and Church the cheerful confidence of the past gave way to uneasy anticipations and fears.
THE SUFFERING PEOPLE.
A short harvest in 1889 sent the price of rice up so high that thousands could not buy it. The multitude who ever Jive near the starvation liue became wholly dependent. Had benefactions not been large and constant they would have died from the lack of food. In the spring and summer the suffering was at its height, the abundant harvests of the autumn first giving permanent relief. During the summer cholera carried off tens of thousands, and late in the autumn the influenza paid a second and virulent visit that was fatal to very many.
Business suffered in sympathy with the general distress. The poverty of the people interfered with the usual course of trade; and a number of circumstances, which need not be repeated here, combined to render business unprofitable; failures were very many. But for the most part the distress, both physical and financial, was endured in silence. These Orientals have not yet learned our Western fashion of loud wailing over the misfortunes which they accept as a part of nature. Does our thought of the Heavenly Father, in whose hands are the issues of life, render us less patient than these who know no such all-loving guide and God?
THE STRUGGLING POLITICIANS.
Politics occupied a new place of importance in the popular esteem. The struggles which had been obscure and underground came out into the light of day as the elections for the first members of the Diet drew near. But no great issue divided the nation, and the contests were between factions and individuals. No faction or individual obtained a decisive majority of the whole number of members, though the" Liberals" constitute the largest group. When the Diet met in the autumn, only one thing was settled beyond doubt-the Lower House of the Diet was not friendly to the present Ministry or to the system which that Ministry represents. It was clear that a struggle for power. involving fundamental constitutional questions, would ensue. The leaders on both sides deprecated such a struggle, but they have proved unable to prevent it. The weeks passed have been tempestuous. The Diet has won some victories on minor points; but the most Radical section has forced the fighting on the budget, demanding such reductions that the Ministry declares itself wholly unable to comply. The Moderates seek only such economy in administration as may reasonably he agreed to. The Radicals want the fundamental political problem solved at once j the Moderates seek a compromise that shall permit a gradual and peaceful emergence from the difficulties that everyone admits. There is no party which advocates the Government outright, or def4ilnds the present system. As in so many other questions, all are progressive, the dispute being as to the pace. And all well-wishers to Japan must Jeilire the defeat of the Radicals, since their victory will result in the sharpest crisis the empire has k~wn in years. Unfortunately they control the Lower House by a decisive majority.
THE MEDDLING YOUTH.
The oddest feature, and the most inexplicable, of the situation, is the fashion in which young men of no apparent claim to influence or position constitute themselves the guardians of the empire's honor. As in years past such men have assassinated ministers of State, so now they band themselves together that they may coerce the Diet. Their influence is Radical, and they have repeatedly attacked members not of their way of thinking, and their threats of vengeance are constant. Some of them have been banished from the city; but the strangest element in the situation is the comparative immunity from punishment which they enjoy. Some influence seems to protect them, and accordingly reports are not wanting that they are in the pay of various influential personages. Until Japan learns in private and in public, in the family, the school, and the State, to discipline and restrain the youth who now grow rank, we cannot expect a peaceful and orderly development.
THE FOREIGN TREATIES.
The parliamentary struggle has diverted attention somewhat from the question of treaty revision, but indications in plenty show that the subject is not out of mind. And t-he popular demand rises with each delay. The foreign powers missed their opportunity when, years ago, Count Inoue was ready to grant all that reasonable men had any right or wish to demand. But the foreign powers could not agree among themselves or with him. Now popular sentiment must be taken into Rerious account. No minister would dare make a treaty which public sentiment disapproved. His life would not be safe for an hour. And public sentiment is not more reasonable in Japan than elsewhere. Since in the past the representatives of the powers have been unable to agree with the most reasonable and fair-minded Japanese ministers of State, there is small chance that now they will listen to the people. In the past Japan has been in the right j but it is a question whether the popular demands do not put it in the wrong. This much is sure-so long as the treaties are unrevised, so long will the anti-foreign agitation continue, so long will it be impossible that foreigners in any calling shall regain their former position. At the same time every new demand makes foreign compliance more difficult, so difficult, indeed, that revision would seem to be indefinitely postponed.
THE YEAR'S MISSIONARY WORK.
All of the facts related above have affected injuriously the work of foreign missionaries. The hard times have reduced gifts to the Church and hindered its extension. The political struggles have diverted the public mind, the meddlesome young men have given some of their attention to missionaries and to foreigners, and the question of treaty revision has so affected society in general that even the Church has participated to some extent in the anti-foreign spirit. The table of statistics just published shows the effect of these and other causes. The entire net gain of the whole Protestant body in Japan for the year is 1199, a gain smaller than single missions have repeatedly reported in the past. The table is not wholly trustworthy, it is true, 111 spite of every endeavor to make it 80 j but I do not know that the errors are greater than in other years. The Methodist Episcopal Church reports a decrease of 198 in the total membership, and the Congregationalists a loss of 169. The latter is in spite of the facts that they report 1615 baptisms for the same period. It can be accounted for only on the supposition that the reports for the two years have been made up from different data. The Church of Christ (Presbyterian) I·eports 1280 baptisms and a net increase of 517, the losses being through disaffection caused by the Plymouth Brethren, and, to a much larger extent, the revision of congregational rolls. The Nippon Sei Kokwai (Episcopalian) shows the largest net gain, 578 j but the figures are only approximate, and appear not to allow for the losses so noticeable in the other reports. The Canadian Methodists are the only others who show a gain of more than one hundred.
The contributions show a gratifying increase, the total being, en 69,3.24.95, a gain of 15,821.22. (The en is equivalent to the silver dollar.) Most of this increase is to be credited to the Congregational churches, though the Methodists and Episcopalians also report an increase.
Most of the other columns show a decrease, and some hardly show the full extent of the losses. Especially has the year been full of discouragement to those engaged in the higher schools. The mission schools were never so well prepared for large and successful work, and were never before so little esteemed. Some of the boarding-schools have lost half their pupils, and the losses continue. A strong national feeling is asserting itself. It insists upon a training that shall be more distinctively Japanese in management, methous, and subjects. It strongly objects to institutions that seem to subject Rtudents to the control of foreigners. The change of sentiment on this subject within the past two years amounts to a revolution. It is to be hoped that a reaction will before long restore the schools to their old position. Shonld such prove not to be the case· the question of the discontinuance of some of the schools must be seriously faced.
THE MISSIONS AND THE MISSIONARIES.
One mISSlOn has been added during the year-the Universalist. The Unitarian Mission also gives its report. The entire missionary force is 577, including the wives. This is an increase of 50 men and women. The force is distributed in 29 societies.
I would again venture the opinion that our prescnt missionary methods are in the extreme wasteful of money and life. Rightly distributed and massed, one half the present force could accomplish all, and more than is now done. Instead of so much earnest appeal for men and money I propose a year of appeal for the better use of the forces we have. UntiI something is done to combine the Protestant forces the waste must continue. Is confederation in the great work of evangelizing the world still impossible ¥ Can we expect thinking men to continue and increase their gifts if the half goes to waste 1 Doubtless the case is not so pressing in other lands; but, for the things I see and know, my language is none too strong.
Nor can I fail to say that the time is not auspicious for an increase of missionaries, apart from the great waste resulting from divergent plans and aims. It is not impossible that in certain parts of the field the missionary adds little to the effectiveness of the work. The complaint is heard, e.g., that schools have too many missionarws in their faculties, and the popular demand for addresses and sermons from foreigners has greatly fallen off. The way iR not so open, nor the invitation so pressing, as a few years ago. It may be only a passing wave of sentiment, but while it lasts we may well give the precedence to calls from other fields, as they, in the past, have given way to us.
And yet the time is by no means past for foreign missionaries in Japan. In some parts of the empire, in the interior provinces and in the south and west, they can still repeat the triumphs of the days gone by. They are still welcomed, and their leadership is ardently desired. They can still, even in Tokyo, find work of the last importance in educating a Japanese ministry, and in the preparation of a theological literature. And wherever there are earnest, spiritually minded men, their influence must be felt. But beyond all this the missionary organization is still necessary. The Church and the work would suffer were it withdrawn. The missionaries supply the unmoved framework, the inner form little influenced by superficial change, that is essential to the strength and permanence of the Church as an organism. Premature withdrawal would subject it to a strain we may well wish for a while postponed. Such function may be far from the ideal entertained by the missionary of his own position; it is certainly less imposing than the missionary position in most lands; but if thus service is rendered to the Master, we shall be content.
TIm THEOLOGICAL UNREST.
Japan participates in all the movements of our age. No wall or tariff shnts the empire out from frecst communication with the world, and the ideas which agitate thinking rilen find ready entrance here. For years the leaders of the Japanese Church have followed with intense interest the course of theological thought. They read freely both sides. Papers, reviews, and books are in dcmand in proportion as they reflect the current intellectual life. Not the wisdom of ourfathers, but such as our age can furnish, they desire. Coufucianism has satisfied their longings for an ironbound conservatism. They are proportionatcly eager for progressive thought. Disposition and public sentiment combine to urge in one direction, and there is no opposing power that shall attempt to hold them back. If the intelligent, influential young men are to be orthodox Christians, it will be because orthodoxy makes the strongest appeal to mind and heart. The newest and extreme thought is not left to the printed page, it has its living representatives. The German Evangelic Mission is led by men of solid learning and strong ethical and spiritual powers. They are naturalists in their exposition of the Bible, denying all miraculous elements. '1'hey reject the Divinity of Christ, His miracles and His resurrection. Yet, with what seems to an American a peculiarly German inconsistency, they declare that their one desire is that Christ may be accepted by the Japanese, and in walk and conversation they breathe the spirit of the Master. They give in lectures and printed articles a wide circulation to the advanced views of the German schools, ancl their words are eagerly read and heard by the young men of our churches. The Universalists and the Unitarians, from different points of view, are in sympathy with the Germans, and the three bodies form one party of considerable strength and influence. Some of the ordained ministers of other bodies have returned from the United States more or less in sympathy with the cruder forms of the new theology.
This condition of things fills some of the conservatives with alarm. But I deprecate the views they insert in American periodicals. Weare not in a panic at all. We welcome and rejoice in this full and free and fair discussion. When did the truth ever ask more than a fair field and no favor ~ It is a strange novelty that we who profess to hold the truth should seek to hide timidly behind traditional defences. If the truth cannot protect itself-but who would thus doubt His power who is the Truth ~ If some of our opinions cannot stand, is not the truth better than our opinions, howefer venerable 1 For our part, we do not fear the result. We do not for a moment doubt the final triumph, nor can we believe that the Church has been mistaken all along in accepting Christ as Son of God, and the Bible as supreme in doctrine and life.
THE SYNOD OF THE NIPPON KIRISUTO KYOKWAI.
The most significant event of the year in matters ecclesiastical was the meeting of the Synod of the Nippon Kirisuto Kyokwai (the Japanese Church of Christ, with which are connected the Presbyterian and RflfOimed mis- sions). This Church has long been considering the revision of its constitu. tion. In 1877, when the present organization was effected, the Church yielded to the earnest desire of the missionaries, and adopted unabridi!ed and unamended a Form of Government, Book of Discipline, and Confession of Faith, imported from the United States. The Confessions-there were two of them-had not even been translated, but were adopted purely on faith. They were adoptcd, but thcy have never been the true Confessions of the Church's faith. Years ago a committee was appointed for their revision, but its labors were interrupted by the negotiations for union with the Congregationalists. After those negotiations were broken off a nf>W committee on revision was given df'fi~ite instrnctions. The committee rcported in the early summer and Synod met iu December to discuss the report.
Synod was a thoroughly representative body, most of the leading men being present. Foreigners were in a small minority, and from the start the Japanese took the lead. The result is their work, and this it is which renders the meeting so significant. We have a fair test of the true faith and spirit of the Church, and not a mere reflection of foreign missionary sentiment.
The Japanese Christians think for themselves, that is the most evident comment. They are almost morbidly avcrse to leading-strings-especially now are they eager to show their intellectual independence. Any attempt to coerce them will result in disaster. At the Rame time they will listen to advice and reason.
The Church is soundly evangelical. It stauds firmly by the great essentials of the faith. It is not infected with Unitarian or Rationalistic virus. No one expressed himself as other than in entire sympathy with the truth once delivered to the saints.
But the Church inRists that there shall be widest liberty in non-e8sentials. It is eager to reje,ct the systems of theologians. It would embrace all who truly accept our Lord and Saviour. In its brief creed it desired to embody these two aims, and to show itself thoroughly evangelical and yet so free that none may be excludEd who do not deny the faith. It would have no imported Confession. It asserted at onpe its indifference to thc strifes and shibb(lleths of Westem lands, and its desire to hear testimony against the errors that threaten in Japan. Whatever may be onr opinion as to the snccess of the endea'or, or as to the sufficiency of the Confession as finally adopted, there is no doubt about the sincere purpose of the Church. Nor need there be question that this purpose in the main was right.
The Church has a strong missionary spirit. The debate on the Confession was dominated by the desire to make it an effective missionary document. The Christians never forget their position in the midst of a non- Christian people, nor their duty as witnesses for Christ, however much their labors fall short of their admitted obligations.
The Church accepts gladly the Presbyterian polity as a form of organization, but it rejects all exclusive claims even for its own forms, and occupies theoretically no position that may hinder union with other bodies. A strong desire for the organic union of Christians of every name was manifest throughout, though there is no immediate prospect that such desires may be realized.
TIlE HOPEFUL OUTLOOK.
It is not to be denied that the year has left a feeling of uncertainty and fear in the minds of many. Some ev{;n look forward to indescribable dis-" aster; but a calm review of all the facts warrants us in saying that the out- look is full of hope.
Even with so strong an anti-foreign spirit as the last year has shown, our Japanese Christians have held their own. Thirteen were elected to the Diet. One of them was chosen President of the Diet, and a second, permanent Chairman of the Committee of the Whole. These two posts were most keenly sought, and their occupants are very prominent and important in the public's thought. Christianity has further shown its wide influence by the long-continued agitation against licensed prostitution, an agitation that has enlisted a large share of popular approval and sympathy. It is no small triumph that Christianity so soon manifests itself as a moral force in the national life, and that it is so secure in its place that its profession is no hindrance to high political advancement.
The fact that the Church contains so many men of prominence, so many men second to none in their wide influence, is high encouragement, although, as a natural consequence, the foreign missionary is thereby remanded to a somewhat secondary place. As the Church thus reckons judges, professors, members of the Diet, prominent journalists, and high officials among its active members, we cannot expect the same position we should occupy in lands where the converts are for the most part from the lower walks of life. But we must be narrow indeed if this success becomes a source of discouragement. Let us thank God and take courage.
Though the year has been a trying one to forcigners, still has the Church remained remarkably friendly. There have been sharp criticisms of lIlen and methods, it is true; but we should hesitate to demand submissive silence from our friends. And it is not to be forgotten that the prevalent hostility to foreign institutions of every kind, and the association of the Church with missionaries in the popular mind, has been the cause of denial;
OR. GRIFFIS ON JAPAN
that the Church and foreigners are identical-a denial that has sometimes been more emphatic than agreeable in expression.
The theological nnrest, too, gives rise to hope. One minister joined the Unitarians, bnt he carried no one with him, and there is no disposition to follow his example. Already there are signs that the Radical flood has Ilassed its height and begnn to recede. We shall hear less of it in the years to come. It is not to be overlooked that the Unitarian Mission has a new leader of a spirit very different from the former " ambassador, " whose hostility to orthodoxy and to other missions is rep~aced by friendli- ness and a desire for such co-operation as is practicable. . The Plymonth Brethren, too, have about exhausted their capabilities for mischief, and almost cease from troubling the congregations. Some of the keenest of the Japanese ministers feel that the tide now sets with us.
There is no falling off in the numbers of young men who press into the Christian ministry. And for the theological department of the Meiji • Gakuin I may say that our junior class is not only the largest but the best that has entered the school. There is no better test of the true condition of the Church.
The difficulties have culminated in Tokyo. In the provinces the state of things has been by no means so trying. In a letter just received, a mis- sionary of much experience and sound judgment writes: "The condition of affairs in Central and Western Japan was never more promising. Con- verts are not gained so rapidly, perhaps, as in some years gone by, but the churches were never in so good condition before." That testimony can be duplicated by many witnesses in widely separated fields. And even in Tokyo onr most intelligent pastors say they find no widespread opposition to Christianity, nor any cause for real discouragement.
Surely God has done great things for Japan, and His Church may trust Him for the days to come. lIe does not leave us without evidence of His presence and blessing. Through His grace the Church shall go forward, that it may be Hi~ witness and the preacher of His Gospel to all the inhab- itants of the land.
MEIJI GAKUIN, TOKYO, February 12, 1891.
DR. GRIFFIS ON JAPAN.
BY THE EDITOR-iN-CHIEF.
Dr. Griffis has recently published an article on the Constitution of Japan which deserves wider circulation. He refers to the meeting of the Imperiltl Diet, which entered upon the work of sharing with the Mikado the government of the forty millions of Japanese, and remarks that on July 1st, 1890, the national election took place and proved to be quiet and decorous. The privilege of voting for members of the House of Representatives was restricted to certain taxpayers, so that the electorate probably did not number more than one million yoters. Bya decree dated July 10th, the administration of the two houses was organized by the appointment of a Chief Secretary, ten assistants, two probationers, and twenty subordinatcs for each branch of the Diet, and the proccedings were opened by the emperor in person.
Mutsuhito, the one hundred and twenty-third Mikado, was born, by a strange coincidence, on the very day that Commodore M. C. Perry stood on the deck of the Mississippi ready to sail for Japan. 'Vonderful changes have taken place within these thirty-nine years, and Dr. Griffis asks what grounds have we for believing in the solidity and permanence of representative political institutions in such a nation.
The story of the Japanese begins with the foundation of the empire, B. c. 660, which is in many other respects a very marked era in the annals of the human race. Their actual hIstory begins very nearly a thousand years after. The dual system of government, under the Mikado at one end of the empire and the Tycoon at the other, lasted until 1868, when the Tycoon gave way to the Mikado. Japan has always suffered from having no external foe or force to compel national cohesion, and society was split up into eight or more grades from gods to pariahs, and the country itself into three hundred feudal clans. Historical research and the fear of subjection by foreign nations begat that new thing in Japan, public opinion, and to save the unity of Japan from divisions such a& were seen in India, the dual system of government fell at the dictation of public opinion. The American Naval Expedition of 1853 simply brought the crisis. The Tycoon, hitherto despotic, felt compelled to ask the opinion of the clans as to wtat should be the answer to Commodore Perry, and the first informal Parliament was summoned.
The events from 1853 to 1890 simply record the march of public opmlOn. Dualism first went. down and feudalism followed. Provision was made for a permanent national parliament, and the leaders of the revolution constrained the Mikado, then but sixteen years old, to swear that he would call a deliberate assembly and submit to it affairs of State. This charter oath of five articles forms the basis of the new Japan. The way was accordingly prepared for the complete separation of the executive, legislative, and judicial functions, and in 1878 provision was made for the education of the people in their new political duties.
After much popular agitation in behalf of a national parliament, on October 12th, 1880, the Mikado signed the decree promising to limit the imperial prerogative, and call a parliament to meet in 1890. The constitutions of various other governments were carefully examined, and on February 11th, 1889, on the anniversary of the ascent of the throne, B.C. 660, by the first Mikado, Jimmu Tenno, this grand document was published, the magna charta of Japanese liberties.
The constitution consists of Rcven chapters with seventy-six articles, which treat of the Emperor, his subjects, the Diet, mini8ters of State, the Privy Council, etc. The upper house, or House of Peers, is a mixed body. Members of the Imperial family, princes, and marquises sit for lif",. Counts, viscounts, and barons are elected for seven years. Certain men notable for ability and learning have a life term. There is also a provision for commoners to be elected to this house, which thus involves representation from the three estates of the realm.
The constitution approaches closely the model of Germany and Great Britain. Most important are the thirty-two articles of Chapter II., which grant and define the rights and duties of the subjects. Hitherto the masses had politically been ciphers, bound to obey, pay taxes, and hold their tongues. Now the status of every subject is fixed by law, and by law his rights are guarded. Modern Japanese law is based Oil the code of France. The judiciary conllists of local courts, district courts, court of appeal, and a supreme court, and judges are appointed for life..
Western nations look with intensest interest to the unfolding of Japan's future.
JAPAN AND THli: BIBLE.
Twenty years ago the people of Japan had never seen any part of the Scriptures in their own tongue, and placards prohibiting Christianity were displayed on the corners of the streets.
In 1872, aided by a grant from the American Bible Society, Dr. Hepburn's version of Mark and John wall printed in Yokohama, and a committee was formed for translating the Bible.
' The. first edition of the New Testament appeared in 1880, and the entire Bible in 1888. From 1874 until now the American Bible Society has circulated in Japan more than 550,000 volumes of the Scriptures; and there are now more than 250 churches with over 30,000 members.
In view of the many agencies employed, it is gratifying to have so competent an observer as Dr. Hepburn ascribe one half of all the results of Christian missions in Japan to the work of the Bible societies.
Similar work is being done in connection wi.th the labors of American mi2sionaries in various parts of the world, and a secretary of one of our largest missionary boards has recently said : "I know of no single agency which can for a moment begin to compare with that of the Bible Society in giving permanency to Ollr missionary work in every field. I find myself depending upon its work more and more as I come to appreciate more fully what its volume is and what its significance is."
Of the publication of the complete Bible in Japanese, Dr. Griffis further says: "An able English editor declared that the publication of the Bible in Japanese was 'like building a railway through the national intellect.' This was perhaps the proper metaphor to employ in this industrial age, when civilization moves on rails and wires. To ono not hlind to the !esthetics, or deaf to the harmonies, of a noble work of letters, the human mastery over difficulties suggests rather the slow building of a glorious cathedral. The Bible in Japanese as we have it to-day-despite our thrills of joy and pride that it is mainly the work of American missionaries-is not a finished product. It is, however, so substantially near the ideal that it must be the basis of all future enterprise. Even its very shortcomings, felt most keenly by the master·builders of this stately edifice of language, point in the direction of final triumph.
" When in Tokio on the 3d of February, 1888, the veteran translator, Dr. J. C. Hepburn, suiting the action to the word, took the Old Testament in one hand and the New Testament in the other, and reverently laying them down-a complete Bible-sa~d : 'In the name of the whole body of Protestant missionaries in Japan, and of the whole Church of Christ in America and England, I make it a loving present to the Japanese nation,' the audience, made up of Christians from three continents, was deeply moved at the simple and touching ceremony. It was less like capping the obelisk at Washington with its polished aluminum finial than it was setting the headstone upon a glorious cathedral. In that completed work of pen and type, as in the splendors of some saintly minster, were embodied the hopes and aspirations of a nation awakening to new life, the prayers and sufferings of martyrs slain for Christ's sake, the toil and tears, the patience and hope of noble missionaries, the triumph of success after many failures. Of one of the first translators who delved for the foundations, laid the first courses of the edifice, and even saw its fair walls arise, it may be said with truth that he rests from his labors, but his works do follow him. The labor is over; the work remains. As I hold in my hand the comely duodecimo volume, which moves the scale at twenty·one ounces avoirdupois, I think of the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory which it suggests.
" In the presence of the mountain of to-day it is well to remember the plain. Before our shoutings of' grace, grace unto it,' and praises richly deserved to consecrated workmen, let us look back at the toils of the masterbuilder!!.
" There is a pathos, and there are streaks of humor, in the evolution of this, the fittest expres~ion of the Word in Japanese, which is sure to be a survival of the first order. The naturalists who follow Darwin or Wallace may not be able, owing to ' the imperfection of the geological record '-or otherwise-to furnish at call the 'transitional forms ;' but in the processional movement toward a perfect Bible, even our slender Japanese library holds some interesting and grotesque 'missing links.' True, we have searched the story of Roman Christianity in Japan from 1539 to 1637, and find no translated Scriptp.re; nor does Mr. Satow in his' Jesuit Mission Press in Japan,' though he has ransacked all Japan and the libraries of Papal Europe. Have we not, however, the amazing and amusing first attempts of Dr. Bettleheim in Loo Chooan 1 Do we not possess that wonderful translation of Matthew, by an immersionist, in which we read of 'John the Soaker, preaching the Gospel of sqaking unto salvation;' , Whoever believeth and is soaked shall be saved,' etc.? It is 'soak,' , soaker,' '!loaking,' 'soaked,' to the end of the book, when hitashi, meaning to steep, macerate, moi&ten, is used to translate tho C; reek variants of a certain much·discussed word. VVould that we had what we know existed, the versions of ' the books of Genesis and Matthew, and the Gospel and Epistles of John,' made in China by Dr. S. Wells Williams, and the work of Dr. Gutzlaff; hath of whom learned the language from castaway Japanese sailors. It would touch heart and imagination deeply to look upon the translations made from the Dutch Bible by native interpreters for themselves or others! It was for reading these that men, groping after God, seeking Christ when there were none to lead them, suffered imprisonment, torture, aud bloody death. How thrilling also are the stories of the power of the Bible in Chinese, bought from junk-captains or Chinese tradcrs at Nagasaki, over such men as the father of l'tev. J. T. 1se, who started the first- Japanese students to the United States, and Joseph Ne~sima, of whom we all know! Mr. 1se's father was assassinated in Kioto in 1869, because he was a Bible student, and was suspected of being a Christian, as he indeed potentially was. In 1888, his son, pastor of a Christian church in Tokio, the new capital of the new nation, made the principal Japanese address at the completion of the Bible in his own and his father's tongue.
"The writer, in 1870, saw the chips in the workshop, the dust and debris of foundation laying. lIo hoard the groaning of the missionaries concerning the difficulties and hardships, the gloom of the situation, the refractory and unspiritual nature of tho vernacular, etc. Yot already Dr. Hepburn had made a beginning, and tho writer, on disappearing from civilization into the interior, in February, ] 871, took with him to Fukui a manuscript copy of the four Gospels, of which he made good use, in a Bible class which he began in h.is house, with some of the students. Stopping for a day at the sunny home of onr veteran, Rev. Dr. D. C. Greene, he found him already expert in nirely discriminating Japanese equivalents for the crystal-clear terms in the Greek New Testament. It afterward be· came Dr. Greene's pleasure to translate four of the New Testament books, to do years of work in revision, and with Rev. Dr. L. H. Gulick to superintend the printing, and to read all the proofs of the entire Japanese Bible.
" It was not till 1872 that a convention of missionaries formed definite plans for translating the New Testament. After several years of labor, in which Dr. Hepburn and Rev. Messrs. S. R. Brown and D. C. Greene were the chief, though by no means the only workers, the Scriptures of the New Covenant were issued, and at once widely read by the Japanese. Far more than is the custom in American churches, the Japanese bring their Bibles to church with them, and follow the minister in his reading.
"From the first the native brethren, with characteristic and laudable ambition, desired to take part in the work of rendering the word of God into their mother tongne, despite their lack of acquaintance with the original texts. Six years of training, however, and daily intellectual and spiritual contact with the missionaries during the prpparation of the New Testament, gave to several elect native scholars a wonderful grasp of the general subject, as well as mastery of the problems of translation. The men of God from America and Great Blitain enjoyed the reciprocal and inestimable benefit of these native scholals, such as Rev. Messrs. T. Matsuyama, Uyemura, and Ibuka, and of the brilliant and versatile man of letters, Takaha~hi Goro. From the very first day until the last, Mr. T. Matsuyama wrought with fervor and untiring patience, and· it is the testimony of a missionary of nearly twenty years' experience in Japan that' the influence of this native scholar is seen in almost every sentence of the translation.' Mr. T. Matsuyama, who is now pastor of the Hei-an Church in Kioto, is one of the most learned and painstaking students of the old Japanese literature. His acknowledged excellence as a scholar not only shows what kind of material and personnel the missionaries have been enabled in God's providence to utilize, but makes both ridiculous and contemptible some recent criticisms, spoken even in Tremont Temple, upon the work of our missionaries in Japan.
"Plans for translating the Old Testament were not made until 18'76, nor perfected until 1882. Portions were printed at intervals between 1882 and 188'7 ; but the difficulties were great, and the failur~s were many. Delay in this case proved neither dangerous nor fatal, but eminently advantageous; for it secured uniformity of style. In this one respect, the Japanese Bible excels even the English, and can safely be ranked among the most successful missionary translations of the world. Pmctically the same men, with many assistants, performed the whole work from Genesis to Revelation. In the gracious providence of God, Drs. Hepburn and Verbeck, Rev. F. K. Fyson, T. Matsuyama, Takahashi Goro, Rev. D. C. Greene, and Rev. David Thompson, were spared to see the completion of the work. The Rev. S. R. Brown was unable to witness on earth the crown of his hopes, for he died in 1880. The translation, first in separate portions, and then in its complete form, was printed at the expense of the American, the British and Foreign, and the Scotch Bible Societies, all of which had also made generous contributions for the snonort of the translators, and the expenscll incident to their work.
"The style of the version is as loyally close to pure Japanese as the form of the book language will allow. Indeed, it is the very simplest form of the book language. In it special prominence is given to the pure native element, as against the Chinese-Japanese so fashionable during the last half century or more. It is the style best adapted to liturgical use, and its fitness is generally recognized. Indeed, in his grammar of the written language, Professor Basil Hall Chamberlain, of the Imperial University of Tokio, and perhaps the highest living authority in Japanese literature, quotes from this version in illustration of points in Japanese idiom, thus acknowledging it in some sense as an authority as to idiomatic usage. The gem of the Old Testament work, as all acknowledge, is Dr. Verbeck's rendering of the Psalms. To this labor of love-one of the most scholarly pieces of work in the Japanese language-he devoted much time during a
BUDDillSM: AND CHRISTIANITY
period of seven years in .constant association with natives who were acute, learned, and devout.
" It is not too much to hopc thlt this version of the Bible may do for the Japanese mother-tongue what the English Bible has done for our own noble language and literature. Competent native observers declare that it has already exerted a noticeable effect upon the development of Japanese literature. How comforting and full of reward it must be to the translators, who have toilcd long on certain passages, to hear them quoted by the eloquent native preachers in impassioned discourse that sways the lives and eternal destinies of thousands !
" In briefly outlining the history of this noble monument of scholarship and consecration, the writer trusts that his brethren, Thompson, Davidllon, :Maclay, Cochran, Piper, '''right, Waddell, Goble, Knecker, Shaw, Blanchet, and others, who have borne a noble share in the grand work of giving the Bible to this nation of nearly forty million souls, will forgive the shortcomings of this article, limited as it is in space. In due time, the Japanese Christians, becoming masters of the Semitic and Greek tongues, will erect on the foundations laid by the missionaries a still more stately edifice of sacred scholarship to enshrine that word of God which liveth and abideth forever. Yet the writer is presumptuous enough to hazard the prophecy that even future generations of native Bible translators will no more be able to ignore Hepburn, Verbeck, and Matsuyama than were the English revisers of 1611 or 1881-85 able to forget Tyndale.-Congregationalist.
BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY.
BY REV. E. SNODGRASS, TOKYO, JAPAN.
The Buddhists of Japan, especially the well-informed Buddhists, are by no means ignorant of the scientific references in the Bible ; and, more than this, they were not ignorant of Sir Edwin Arnold's attitude toward Christianity, the deadly antagonist of their withering faith. This being well known on both sides, it was not surprising that Sir Edwin, in his addre~ses in Japan, should say that man is made" not of clay or dust, as is ignorantly said, but of carbon, lime, etc." And, moreover, it was not surprIsing that Sir Edwin experienced the unpleas~nt necessity of having to refuse "numerous influential invitations to address the Buddhists of Japan." Dr. Ellinwood's reference to the fact that Christian phrases and conceptions were read into Buddhism by the author of "The Light of Asia" is parallel to the fact of the same author's attempt to harmonize Buddhism with modern science in a lecture which he delivered here before the Japanese Educational Society the third Sunday in December, 1889. "The Sun Goddess is tempted from her cave by Ii mirror. This is more scientific and less mythical than the legend of a Hebrew chieftain commanding the snn to stand till he could finish a bloody battle. The now to us incognizable sounds, colors, and distances are the Maya of Buddhism. Darwinian evolution is the lJharma and Karma. " 'With these revelations before us, why has it not occurred to some one to start the cry 10at modern science is plagiarized Buddhism 1 But what is the worth of such an unfounded claim that Christianity has borrowed from Buddhism 1 Nothing. I, for one, feel grateful to Dr. Ellinwood for the excellent store of facts given in his article in the February REVIEW. I wish to simply emphasize some of them.
1. The very I!tarting-points of the two religions are antagonistic, and hence oppose the idea that the superior could have copied from the inferior. Ask an educated Japanese to-day, " Has Buddhism a god f' The answer comes, "None other than the man himself." Buddhism is now thoroughly atheistic, though it may not always have been so. The most reliable history we have of Buddha sets him forth as a reformer. His early teachers were two Brahman ascetics. At first Buddhism may have held an idea of a supreme being, a Brahma j for in the oldest writings it is often mentioned that the supreme Brahma influenced Buddha. This may have been the foundation for the divinity which was afterward bestowed upon Buddha.
In regard, again, to a supreme being, Dr. Oldenberg* reasons that the Indian Brahman worked out a supreme being from the inner consciousness -the ego, the Atman. Separating the Atman from the individual, a new being is found which converges back into Brahma, the one and supreme being. Mr. Collinsf would reverse the above and say that the Hindu had gradually dropped the supreme from his faith, and in Buddhism the Atman, the ego, the human mind, is the only god j and this the remaining vestige " of a once purer faith and a truer worship. "
2. An argument often used here by Japanese evangelists is that Buddha worked no miracles. This is another vital difference iuimical to the life of Buddhism.
3. The most serious obstacle probably in the way of the theory of Christianity copying from Buddhism is the date of the Buddhist scriptures. According to the Ceylon books (Buddhism still survives in Ceylon), Gautama Buddha was born 623 B. c. It is not certain that he was not born later. Job probably lived 1500 years before Buddha. Moses lived 1000 before Buddha. Daniel was contemporary with Buddha. This was the time of the captivity, when the Jews were scattered throughout the East, probablyeyen as far as to China j we know that Jews were in China, but at so early a date that we know not when.
As far as we know, Buddha wrote nothing. The claim for the earliest written Buddhist scriptures is about the beginning of the Christian era, or later. Before this date we have all the Old Testament books. We must not forget how the great Babylonian and Syrian kingdoms intellectually • Oldenberg, Buddha, p. 23, et. seq. t Buddhism in Relation to Christianity. linked Judea with the East. We remember some time ago the bronze gates of Shalmaneser the Second were discovered at Balawat. The date is when Jonah visited Nineveh. Upon this monument are shown Jewish sacrifices. It is claimed by some that the Jews in great numbers after the seventy years' captivity emigrated toward the East. I do not know how much truth is in such a claim j but the fact of the Jews being early in China would lend some weight. We cannot close our eyes to the fact that Jewish influence went into the East.
4. What is the state of the claim that Buddhism came West? It is easier rather to prove that Christianity extended East early enough to influence the composers of the Buddhist scriptures. There is no historical evidence that Buddhism came West before the third century A. D. Clement of Alexandria speaks of some who follow Boutha. He derived his information probably from his teacher, Pantamus j and the latter gained his information from Megasthenes, who in India wrote his Indica about 300 B.C. Between Clement and Megasthenes there is no reliable evidence that Buddhism exerted any influence westward.
5. But what abont Christian influence eastward? Cosmas Indicopleutes found Christians in Ceylon in the sixth century. There are still probably 250,000 Christians on the coast of Malabar. Near Madras is an ancient cross with Pahiavi inscription. It belongs probably to not later than the seventh century. There are other inscriptions. The most reasonable explanation of these inscriptions is the early connection between the Indian Christians and Edessa. One of those Pahlavi inscriptions reads: " Who believes in the Messiah, and God above, and in the Holy Ghost, is redeemed through the grace of Him who bore the cross." Pantamns found a Hebrew Gospel of Matthew in India in the second century. A bishop, " Metropolitan of Persia and the Great Indi," was at the council of Nicrea in 325 A.D.
6. Whether or not at first it was the genius of Buddhism to borrow, it is certainly its genius now in Japan. Externally it is becoming a parasite of Christianity. Besides adopting other Christian methods of propagation, it is plagiarizing Christian names. For instance, instead of using the word temple as the designation for their religious houses, they say church now. On the road from Tokyo to Yokohama was a temple to which was attached a school for children. Recently the temple and school were burned. The man who kept the school made an ingenious appeal to foreigners here for help for the poor school which was attached to the church. No doubt many subscribed, thinking that the church was a Christian house of worship. The story of the god Krishna is manifestly taken from Christianity.
7. It is said that asceticism came from Buddhism, and through the Essenes ; that John the Baptist was a half Buddhist j that he was a Gnostic, which has the same meaning as Buddhist. * " Bunsen's Angel-Messiah. Asceticism was practised in the time of Job, 1500 years before Buddha j and the doctrines of the Essenes connect them more with Greece and Persia than with India. The real marks of Buddhism, the Karma, are not found in the Essenic doctrine.
S. What are the false parallels resorted to to establish claims of Bud- dhistic priority ~ That Buddha was born of a virgin j that there is a close con- nection between Maya, the name of his mother, and Mary j that Buddha's birth was attended by miracles j that he taught the doctrine of " vicarious suffering j" that Buddha was born on December 25th; that prophecies were made of the coming Messiah. These and many other claims are made for which no reliable proof can bc produced, as that he was miraculously conceived, presented in the temple, tempted by Mitra.
9. From the earliest Buddhist writings we learn a simple story of his life. He was the son of Suddhodana, a king residing at Kapilabatthu. He married, but at twenty-nine years of age left his home and became an ascetic, with two Brahmans as his teachers. Dissatisfied here, he went to Uruvela, near Patna, where he spent seven years in discipline and study. It is said that he det.ermined to be a " follower of the Buddhas [sages] of bygone ages." In this we find nothing very remarkable.
But when we turn to what are true parallels, we find something remarkable. The Hindu temple is on the same plan as the Jewish temple-two rooms, an inner and outer one j priests, altars, sacrifices, propitiations, oblations, sacred feasts, sacrificial fire, etc. Whence came all these things 1 Mr. Collins claims that they came from the divine revelation of God made to man long before the dispersion. They are vestiges of the true and primitive revelation to man, carried both into the East and vVest. The Western worship was reformed by Moses.
Again, when we look into the two moral codes we find much similarity, which confirms a primitive revelation. The ten prel!epts of Buddhism are remarkable. The reader can note for himself their similarity to the Ten Commandments. The last six are uttered against the prevailing sins of * Buddha's day. It is discouraging to reflect that these rules have been so utterly abandoned by Buddhists in Japan to-day. Buddhism teaches that freedom from suffering comes by righteousness.
This presupposes a deliverer j and this idea must have come from some primitive revelation. But in emphasizing the precept the revelator has been forgotten. This revelator was surely the one true God. While Buddhism is now atheistic, and the doctrine of the Nirvana annihilation, in the be- • 1. The taking of life. 2. Stealing. 3. Adnltery and sexual interconrse. 4. Lying. 5. The nse of intoxicating drinks. 6. The eating of food after midday. 7. The attendance npon dancing, singing, music, and masks. B. The adorning of the hody with flowers, and the use of perfnmes and ungnents. 9. The nse of high or honorable seats or couches.
10. The receiving of gold or silver. ginning this was not so. A dialogue in a passage of the earliest writings represents the present doctrine of annihilation as unorthodox. Sariputta says: "Thus then, friend Yamah, even here in this world the Perfect One is not to be apprehended by thee in truth. Hast thou, therefore, a right to speak, saying, ' I understand the doctrine taught by the Exalted One to he this: that a monk who is free from sin, when his body dissolves is subject to annihilation; that he passes away; that he does not exist beyond death'~" Yamaka replies: "Such, indeed, was hitherto, friend Sariputta, the heretical view which I ignorantly entertained. But now, when I hear the venerable Sariputta expound the doctrine, the heretical view has lost its hold of me, alJd I have learned the doctrine. "
'Vhen the past course of all religions shall have been traced, the investigator will probably arrive at the primitive av.d divine revelation recorded in the Book of God.
BUDDHISM AND ROMANISM.
BY REV. GEORGE L. MASON.
The author of the chart, the" Twin Monuments," which appeared in the June issue, did not seek its publication in this REVIEW, and d028 not know how a copy of it came into the hands of Dr. Sherwood ; but he now begs to add a word of explanation.
A cartoon teaches only in broad outline. It deals with gpneral truths rat.her than details. It depicts a system or a tendency rather than individuals. The picture in question judges no man, but describes systems. That it is fairly accurate and just the following considerations may show.
By Buddhism is meant not the teaching of Gautama or the early Buddhists, but the developed form of doctrine and worship as it now exists practically in eastern Asia, and especially as seen in Thibet, at least since the fourteenth century. Its resemblance to the papal system has been noted by Nevius, Gilmour, Du Boge, and other Protestant missionary authors; and with such candor by the Roman Catholic traveller, Abbe Hue, that his book was placed on the" Index" of writings to be expurgated, as is stated by Max Muller in his "Chips." Professor Monier Williams, who has finely drawn the contrasts between Buddhism and Christianity, says, "Koeppen, Rhys Davids, and other writers have well shown thnt the Buddhism of Thibet, with its pope-like grand Lilmas, its cardinals and abbots, monks and mendicant friars, nuns and novices, canonized saints and angelic hosts, temples and costly shrines, monasteries and mummeries, images and pictures, altars and relics, robes and mitres, rosaries and consecrated water, litanies and chants, processions and pilgrimages, confessions and penances, bell-ringing and incense, is, in everything except doctrine, almost a counterpart of the Romish system." The most of thes() features exist in China proper, as well as in Thibet i and to the list might be added self-torture, vigils, compulsory fasts, charms to prevent accident, wayside shrines, dependence on State endowment, alleged miracles, indulgences, prayers to the dead, and worship in a dead language.
Further, is there not some resemblance in doctrine also, at least in its practical working 1 1. Theology. By this is meant here the teaching as to the objects of worship. In books the Roman Catholic Chinese are taught the truth concerning the Creator; but this teaching is invariably joined with many commands to worship men, so that man practically holds the place of God, as in Buddhism. Perhaps the most popular god in China is Kwan-yin, a female form of Buddha, often represented as a fair woman holding a child. Certainly the most devout worship of the native Catholics is given to Mary. That this is idolatrous has been clearly shown by Dr. Blodget in the Chinese Recorder. The cult of Joseph, "patron saint of China," is growing. The natives are taught to bow to the images and pray to the spirits of deceased Jesuit missionaries. Even the living 1ishops assume the title " A god (or spirit) by imperial decree."
It is not true that God alone is worshipped and all the rest only reverenced ; for the distinction between latreia, hyperdoulia, and doulia, which Catholics like to insist on, is very rarely made in their Chinese books, one word being commonly used for all degrees of worship.
2. 'Phe .Doctrine of Redemption. Sin against God, requiring His forgiveness, of course is not known to Buddhism. But the necllssary misery of life may be more or less, according to one's evil or good deeds. Here comes in the value of merit, stored up on one's own account or transferred to another's credit on payment of money. The rich often hire women to recite rosaries and monks to say masses, the merit of which accrues to those who pay the money, or to the deceased whom they designate. This is the precise principle of papal masses for the dead.
In theory both religions emphasize asceticism, especially celibacy, as the path of highest virtue. Destroy desire, reduce life to its lowest terms. In practice the "religious" of each are very comfortable livers. The monks may even be drunkards, or opium smokers, or dissolute, and still retain good standing. Immorality does not involve excommunication, but only removal to some other field.
3. Eschatology. The Buddhist heaven is a later addition to the popular belief. But the interest of the people centres far more in the dreadful physical pains of hell, which are represented by images in the temples; and most of all in the state of the departed souls who are awaiting re-birth in the endless round of transmigration. Chinese Buddhist monks get immense sums for masses for the relief of these souls, just as the Catholic priests everywhere become very rich by the pretended release of souls from purgatory. Indulgences reduce the pains of the good Catholic, according to the amount of money paid. And millions of Buddhists toil up to famous moun. tain shrines and buy of the monks stamped cellificates wl,ich have a cash value of thousands of dollars when presented at the bank-in purgatory.
4. Doctrine of the Clturclt. No higher authority can be named than T. W. Rhys Davids, who says, in the Encyclopcedia Britannica: "In Thibet especially the development in doctrine was followed by a development in ecclesiastical government which runs so remarkably parallel with the development of the Romish hierarchy as to awaken an interest which could scarcely otherwise be found in the senseless and fatal corruptions which have oVE'rwhelmed the ancient Bnddhist beliefs." In China the ecclesiastical resE'mblance is l~ss than in Thibet. The Buddhist monks, with vows of celibacy and poverty, though lIot of obedience, are more like the begging friars than like the regular Catholic pliests. Yet in each case superhuman sanctity and merit nre supposed to reside in the person, robes, and office, and espeCially in the ceremonies performed; and such belief is enforced by pious frauds and lying wonders. In both Romanism and Buddhism, not the whole company of believers, but the clergy alone are the Church, holding all property and privileges, and so recognized by civil law.
5. The Doctrine of Public Worship. The ritual resemblances have been sufficiently indicated in the sentence quoted above from Sir Monier Williams.
6. Ethical Teaching. Here there is both likeness and contrast. Both systems condemn murder, stealing, lying, adultery, covetousness; but Buddhism is without any authorized system of casuistry by which, when desired, these offences may be regarded as very light and venial faults or eveu as virtues. That this is true of Romanism, and that a lax Jesuit morality has during the present century repeatedly received the highest official approval of the Catholic Church, no one will dispute who has studied in the impartial Encyclopcedia B1·itannica the articles" Probabilism" and "Liguori." One example is enough to quote here-the four sentences which any priest may suggest to an unfaithful wife, with any or all of which she may deceive her husband, without harming her own conscience. Buddhist ethics are defective; but Roman Catholic ethics, a strange mixture of truth and error, can hardly be described in terms too severe.
With these resemblances in doctrine, do papal and pagan systems tend to produce the same practical results 1 Again let Rhys Davids answer, "That the resemblance is not in externals only is shown by the present state of Thibet-the oppression of all thought, the idleness and corruption of the monks, the despotism of the government, and the poverty and beggary of the people." Buddhism in temperate Mongolia or torrid Siam, and Romanism in Canada or Mexico, in Ireland or Ecuador, are fairly judged by their fruits. Widely varying environments of race and climate do not prevent a marked sameness in moral re.'Ults. It would have been quite as pertinent to picture an Italian wedged under the column of Romanism as an Irishman.
EDUCATION AND EVANGELISM
I might give from various parts of China ana .Tapan such testimony as this in a letter from an experienced English missionary, " It is well known that the Roman Catholic people are not a whit better than outsiders. Some smoke opium, many gamble; they are not a bit better in morals than the heathen. Their Sabbath consists of mass soon after daybreak, after which they work as on other days. The priests arc ever ready to assist in lawsuits; in this and in financial aid lies the secret of what success they have."
The apparent ruling motive with the leaders of each system is love of gain. "No money, no worship" is as true in Buddhism as " no money, no sacraments" is in Romanism. The revenue of great estates does not satisfy. By systematic begging, by sale of masses, and by taxation or through political influence vast sums arc got from the public, and no account is given of how they arc spent.
In conclusion, no friend of missions can afford to neglect the study of this chapter in comparative religion. One of the best-known American missionaries, with a very successful experience of thirty years in China, said to me last year. in substance, "During the next fifty years our struggle will be not so much with Asiatic idolatry as with Romanism. "
EDUCATION AND EVANGELISM.
THE FREE CHURCH MISSIONS IN INDIA.
BY REV. CHARLES C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
It is known how predominently Scottish Presbyterianism in India, especially as represented by the Free Church of Scotland, has devoted itself to education, particularly to the higher education. It would be impossible that Presbyterianism could neglect this and, above all, that Scottish Preshyterianism could. That remarkable intellectual strength of the North British race, which before the Reformation led the French nobility to en· deavor always to secure Scottish tutors for their sons if they could, makes it impossihle that it should ever content itself with missions that are not deeply interwoven with knowledge of the world as it is-in other words, with the higher education. This was first brought more distinctly to our knowledge in this country when Dr. Duff made his great "iisit to us in 1853. Those of us who have had the privilege of being helped onward all our lives in our interest for missions by his wonderful eloquence can never have had any douht that the deepest and most central interest for the evangelization of India glowed ill the mind of the man who, with a far-sighted regard to the future, was content for awhile to forego the repute of large immediate fluccesses in order that in Christian education he might lay" the foundations of many generations. "
To this policy of a firm and large prosecution of the higher education, the Free Church of Scotland declares itsclf immovably resolved to adhere, as providentially determined for it from the beginning, as hallowed by the memories of Duff and his a!lsociates, as crowned with many noble results, and as peculiarly agreeable to the Scottish genius. And of the many eminent gentlemen, clergymen and laymen, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Congregationalists and others, who have been consulted whether by the Established or by the Free Church, the great majority, as already shown in the REVIEW, heartily concur with the judgment of the Scottish churches themselves.
Nevertheless, the question has lately been moved in the Free Church at home, whether this prol'identially designated work of the higher education may not have been pursued with a disproportionate zeal, and whether the evangelistic side of missions, towards which the educational work ought always to tend, and from which it ought to be reinforced, may not have been unduly depressed. Accordingly, the Free Church of Scotland has sent out to India the Rev. Professor Lindsay, D.D., and the Rev. J. Fairley Daly, B.D., as a deputation to examine thoroughly every branch of the missions of the Chnrch in India, and to report accordingly. We wish to note the general results of their investigation.
The deputies begin with a cordial testimony to the work. "They have seen mission work growing and spreading out in every direction, a native church taking visible extent and increasing, devoting itself in some cases to hearty evangelistic work, and they have rejoiced to observe the beginnings of self-support. E"erywhere they have seen their missionaries enjoying the respect and confidence of the people among whom they are laboring, and their unselfish and devoted work appreciated by the most eminent and thoughtful members of the European and native official class." They say also: "Our mission work has vastly iucreased within the last forty years, and on one side has necessarily come in contact with the educational policy of the Indian Government. Our missionaries in the old days were accustomed to combine the evangelistic and the educational sides of our mission in a manner not possible now, owing to the pressure of the Government University and upper school systems, which has compelled them to concentrate their attention on the educational side, and to give an amount of time and strength to prepare their students for examinations which was not required in the earlier days. In former times one man could attend equally well to both sides of the work, but this is impossible now. We need one set of men to take the educational, and another to take the evangelistic side. " The Church years ago perceived this, and "during Colonel Young's Convenership much was done to increase the evangelistic side of the mission, and two resolutions of Committee attest the fact that the committee have had it in mind to cnrl, the educational Ride until the evangelistic bas been bronght into line with it." The deputation declares its sugge~ tions to be mainly in the line of this already determined policy of the Church. The deputation says: "We have been greatly impressed with the vast- ness of the missionary enterprise of our church in India, with the high po- sition almost universally accorded to our missionaries among their brethren of other missions, and with their devotion to the work given them to do by the Church." The Free Church, indeed, has in India not one miflsion, but four mission~, scattered over an area of 543,000 square miles~ and among a population of 12;,000,000. In Bengal, its centre, Calcutta, has a population of 872,000, commanding a population of 70,000,000, and a region of 193,000 square miles, almost as large as France. The South India Mission is centred in Madras, with 406,000 inhabitants, commanding a district of 141,000 square miles, with a population of 31,000,000. In the west the mission is centered in the twin capitals of Bombay and Poona, having a population respectively of 774,000 and 129,000, and commanding a region of 124,000 square miles, more than all Great Britain and Ireland, and a population of 16,500,000.' The Central India Mission, of Nagpur, and two outlying missions in Hyderabad and the Derar, make out the whole.
But this "astness of operation, while stimulating the imagination and increasing interest at home, has made it impossible to combine the work of the four: missions. There has been no esprit de corps. Help' given to one has done nothing for the others. They are in exact contrast to the concentrated and wonderfully successful work of the American Presby"' terian Mission of Lodiana, to say nothing of the Methodist Episcopal Mission around Bareilly, or the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Mission on the Khasi hills. The early Scottish missionaries, being bitterly opposed by· the authorities, were glad to find lodgments where they could. Later missionaries, since the tide of feeling has turned, have been at leisure to choose their strategic points in view of effectiveness and concentration. The deputies, however, after fuJI reflection, by no means advise withdrawal from any of the present centres. But they earnestly advise that new centres bo not opened, but men and money be given for the consolidation and development of the work at the centres already occupied.
The deputation regards the Free Church work as wisely cootred, like that of most of the missions, in great cities, but it finds less laudable that, beyond all others, it has been concentrated on them. Village and district work has not been neglected, but it has been too much subordinated, and wherever retrenchment was necessary it has usually been the country work that has suffered. The deputation expresses admiration of the self-denial which has led to the preference of the much harder work among" the large restless masses" of the great cities, but expresses a decided doubt whether this has always been guided by wisdom. At Bhandara, in Santalia, and at Chingleput (near Madras) the combination of country and city work has given a peculiar heartiness to the missions, which earnestly commends it to the forces at all the great city centres.
India, the deputation remark, is a mere geographical expression, co"- ering a perfect chaos of races, languages, creeds, social conditions, and degrees of civilization. No generalizations, therefore, can be ventured on without the most careful delimitation of meaning and application. And these varieties may be again included, though very inexactly, in three or four great categories. vVe must first set aside 50,000,000 Mohammedans, and six or seven millions of nondescript sects. Caste Hinduism, numbering perhaps 125,000,000, rests on a ba!;is of depressed castes, estimated at from forty to sixty millions. These again are surrounded by a ring of aboriginal tribes, which have no relation whatever to Hinduism. Of these, such as the Ghonds, the Santals, the Khasis, there are probably more than twenty millions. The Free Church l1as mainly worked within caste Hinduism. Those missions which have secured large numbers of converts have mainly labored among the depressed castes and the aboriginal tribes. These more numerous converts, a matter of great rejoicing in themselves, have as yet had little influence on Hindu society at large. Caste Hinduism has yielded few converts, but these few commonly men of great influence.
The main difference between high caste and deprflssed caste, or out-caste Hinduism is not so much religious as social. Hinduism, though having a curious pantheism as a common basis, has developed into the most widely divergent and, indeed, largely antagonistic variety of creeds. But the true castes put the caste above the family. The depressed castes put the family above the caste. Therefore, let a high-caste man be converted, and he is simply thrown out, and the wall closes up smooth behind him. But if an out-caste is brought in, he often brings in his family, and from that conversions not infrequently go on extending far out into the whole kindred community. Dr. Sheshadri's success in the Deccan, remark the deputies, is largely owing to this use which he knows how to make of the family as an indirect agency for propagating the Gospel. But within true Hinduism also, the deputies observe, family feeling (which in India is always intrinsically strong) 80emB to be asserting itself with growing strength against caste influences, and seems likely to become, as in thc lower strata, an important missionary agency.
As to the great qnestion of education versus direct evangelism, the deputies acknowledge that this problem, like all Indian problems, is exceedingly intricate. But they lay their general impressions before the Foreign Missions Committee.
Education, remarks the deputation, as a missionary agency may be regarded as a mcans chiefly of edification or chiefly of conversion-that is, it may chiefly be directed upon the successive generations of a Chris· tianized community, or upon the children of parents who are still heathen. The Scottish work has mainly occupied itself with the latter, and has too much neglected the former. It has done better by tIle daughters of Christians than by their sons. " It is certain tllat our Church, with all its educational work, does not use education as a means of upbuilding and consolidating our native Christian community in a way that many other missions do, an<l has undoubtedly mffered in eonsequel'ce." " To begin with, we must lay it down as a principle that the one ab- sorhing aim in all real mission work is to bring onr fellow-men to know Jesus Christ to be their Saviour, and to profess their faith in Him in bap- tism. . . . Therefore, in discussing the mission value of educational mis- sions, we must put aside all arguments drawn from the spread of humanitarian and civilizing idea~. These are welcome accompaniments, but, after all, the question is, Is all this educational work calculated to draw men to faith in .Tesus as their Saviour, and to a profession of that faith in baptism r'
As to this, the deputation remarks, the higher education must be given an important place among missionary agencies, if caste Hinduism is to be made an object of missionary effort. It is too much to say that only through this can high-caste or true-caste Hinduism (the Hinduism of Brahmans, Vaisyas, and Sudras) be wrought ul:>0n. But that great missionary authority, Bishop Caldwell, admits that, while few converts have come from caste Hinduism, these few have come from educational missions. And in the higher schools of the Free Church the overwhelming majority of the students (at Madras 83 per cent) are from high-caste Hinduism, although of late, especially in Bombay, there is an increasing proportion of Mohammedans.
Preparation is important in all missions, but supremely important among easte Hindus. The one unpardonable sin in Hinduism is that a man should act for himself. The caste is everything, the individual nothing, except within the caste. But for this very reason, when the leavening forces of Christian missions, one of the most potent of which is the higher education, have reached a certain point of advancement, the very disposition of castes to go or stay as a whole, is likely, as it now works against conversions, at some point in the future to work the other way. And although the deputies do nut say so, we suppose that what would be true of a whole caste might be sooner true of any large local section of a caste. Indeed, we judge that many, even of the true castes, are locally circumscribed.
Caste Hinduism is, in fact, seriously alarmed. The disintegrating infiuences of general British infiuence are great. But these are, above all, concentrated and brought to a determinate issue by missionary agencies, above all by Christian colleges, high schools, and zenana missions. That caste Hinduism feels itself gradually being undermined is generally allowed. It is comparatively indifferent as t.o whether the depressed castes and the aboriginal tribes are Christianized or not. But the manner in which it is bracing itself up now againRt Christian effort, founding Hindu high schoolR, denouncing zenana missions, forming Hindu tract societies of a singular virulence, and (like Julian befofll it) endeavoring to meet the Church at this point and that by heathen counterparts of herself, shows the seriousness of its alarm. This is not groundless, for it is common enough for caste Hindus to be found canvassing the possibilities of a general move- !TIent from Hinduism over to Christianity. The converts made by the high schools, though few, are precious. In themselves they are no more precious than other Rouls.. But they have far-reaching influence. "One of our educational converts," say the dep- uties, "has converted twelve hundred Mang j another has organized a splendid system of girls' schools at Mhdras, and has been able, by quiet, continuous work, to provide Christian schoolmistresses for every class; a third is a Jeading pleader in Calcutta, and the foremost Christian orator in Bengal-perhaps in India."
Nevertheless, direct conversions are no longer, as in the days of Dr. Duff, a frequent result of the higher education. Why!
(l) Formerly the only alternatives were gross Hinduism, with all its crudities and abominations, or Christianity. Rut there are now all manner of half-way houses, such as Brahmo Somaj. Prarthana Somaj, Arya Somaj, attempts to graft Christian morals on a Hindu stem. The same commixture of Christianity with all forms of heathenism and heathen philosophy, which in thc Roman Empire so long made head against the simple acceptance of the Gospel, is witnessed now in India. Hinduism is endeavoring, by all manner of concessions and accommodations and self-transmutations, to stave off the hour of the inevitable acknowledgment, "Thou hast conquered, 0 Galilean 1" And, as Principal Miller suggests, it may be with the Hindus, as to Hinduism, "a necessary part of the divine training that they shonld discover its futilities for themselves." Meanwhile, conversions from caste Hinduism are largely at a stay.
(2) The development of the government system of education makes necessary such a development in educational missions as, indeed, leaH'S unimpaired the attention to Bible study which, unless it be in Calcutta, is pursued thoroughly, and with genuine interest, by the non-Christian pupils, but largely takes away fro:o the educational missionaries their old times of leisure for quiet personal talks with the students.
(3) If the government standard is not to be maintained in the missionary schools, the government subventions would collapse in proportion to the resulting shrinkage in the number of pupils-a reduction of means that cannot be confronted without ample deliberation as to all that it involves.
" If our educational agency is to produce its full results it must be supplemented by an evangelistic agency working side by side, and in visible connection with it. Weare afraid that we must confess that our Church has not thoroughly faced this evangelistic work, and it must be prepared to face it and go through with it before the full fruits of her educational work can be gathered in." The deputies insist that every college centre ought to be also an evangelistic centre, and that although there should be an evangelistic missionary, who should act as a superintendent, having subordinate to him a whole force of vernacular workers, of various degrees of cultivation, yet neither side of the work can dispense with the presence in the evangelistic branch of it, in greater or less measure, of the educational missionaries. While fully maintaining the permanent importance of the high school., and colleges of the Church, the deputies declare: " We have no hesitation in saying that our Church is spending an amount upon the higher education which is out of all proportion to its present resources." In Calcutta they think that the college of the Established Church of Scotland ought to suffice for both, and that the cost of four of the high schools ought to be trans- ferred to the evangelistic side. How many high schools there are we are not quite sure, as the accounts of the four missions are given with tru~ British exhaustivtlness and confusedness, but we believe we have hunted out ten. This would be a reduction, indeed, in the second grade of in- ~truction. Poona has ceased to be an educational mission, and they recommend that it be kept up as an evangelistic mission, especially as its excellent climate makes it a good foothold from which to resume the long-abandoned work on the Konkan, or table-land abutting on the eastern wall of the "Vestern Ghauts.
The deputation is also dccidedly of opinion that the Church has far too many non-Christian teachers in her schools. The public service i~ much more remunerative-gives assured position, good social prestige, and a retiring pension. Bnt the deputies remark that those missions which arfl careful to provide boarding-schools for Christian boys as well as girls, are much less embarrassed to find Christian teachers.
They lament also that the educational missionaries, absorbed as they are in their English teaching, have no time to master the vernaculars, and therefore are at arm's length from all except the educated natives of European culture. Instead of gidng, like the American Board, two years to learn a native language, the Free Church seems to give no time at all. And Indian languages, say the missionaries, are not to be mastered by the way.
The deputies have also had occasion to consider the question of cheap miSSIOns. They designate as the type of such the China Inland Mission, where remuneration is small, but the European are twice as numerous as the native workers. On the other hand, in the Church of Scotland Mission at Darjeeling or Kalimpong, the missionary is paid a comparatively high salary, but is at the head of twenty or thirty evangelists. He thus " co,'ers a larger extent of ground, does more thorough work, and gets into closer connection with the people than a number of Europeans, who have no staff of native evangelists, can possibly do. He and his native evangelists cost the Church at home a great deal less money and do a great deal better work than a number of Europeans paid at a much lower rate could do." They therefore do not advise a reduction of salaries, nor a depression of the powerful evangelizing influence of the Christian family by tho employment of many unmarried men. At the same time, they admonish Scottish Christians of means, that in India there is a glorious opportunity for them to serve Christ at their own charges. They wish to know why women should volunteer in this way and men not.
They think, now that the government is doing so much for the WEldica,l, relief of the people that medical missions ought only to be maintained where they are distinctly needed, in the remoter districts, and that they should be made distinctly and effectively evangelistic, or given up as not within the range of the Church's work:.
The Madras Mission is much the most effective of the four educational missions of the Free Church, and its Christian college is pre-eminent in India, and at the same time the evangelistic work is much the best developed there. Yet there also the Scotchmen know but little of the Tamil.
The Santalia Mission is entirely different, being among an aboriginal tribe, and not differing particularly from other evangelistic missions of this kind.
This report has been submitted to tho judgment of the missionaries themselves, who have oriticised it with great pungenoy. They differ from it, however, rather in relative emphasis than in substance. They think that the deputies have kept the opponents of the educational work too much in view, and have been needlessly, and somewhat humiliatingly, deprecatory in their tone over against them. They think that they have made it appear too much as if the fornI of the Scottish work was determined by early obstacles to other forms of work, whereas it was laid out from the beginning with full consciousness of a providential call, and has been (however restricted here and there by obstacles) steadily followed up ever since in the same consciousness, having been largely normative for other missions. They think, moreover, that government pressure has much less to do with the rise of the educational standard than the healthy pressure of a growing public demand.
The missionaries themselves dosire, and have long urged, a large extension of evangelistio work. But they hold it agreeable to the providential vocation of the Free Church that this should be mainly not.in regions where caste Hinduism is weak, but in those where it is strong, and where, oonsequently, the number of conversions, even under the most faithful and immediate evangelistio effort, is likely for a long time to come to be comparatively small. In other words, they hold that while some missions have been well guided to work along the lines of least resistance, the Soottish missions have been speoifically called to work along lines of greater resistance. And undoubtedly the Soottish character shows at its best in continuous stress of effort against formidable difficulties.
The Rev. A. Andrew, of the valuable evangelistic station Chingleput, Madras Presidency, which the deputies have peouliarly commended, bears witness to the report as of exceedingly great value, but decidedly disagrees with it in one point-namely, in its apparent assnmption that the higher education only can reach oaste Hinduism. He points out that Bishop Caldwell does not say that the few caste converts have been the fruit of the higher schoo);., hut have been the fruit of mission schools. The higher education can reach bnt a fraction of the higher oaste~, and primary educa- "tion is an indispensable adjunct of evangelization among all the castes /lnr!
A PLEA FOR MEDICAL MISSIONS
ttibes. "In our Chingleput Mission we preach to thousands of Brahmans and other high castes as regularly and faithfully as to the low castes, and await the outpouring of God's Spirit on our labors. The testimony we give to the power of Christian truth in our rural mission is just as valuable as that given in mission colleges. The American Arcot Mission and other rural missions conduct the work, so far as I know, on the same lines." Mr. Andrew, therefore, thinks that the indefinitely large development of evangelistic work in the country districts (a work which has been starved in the past) is the next forward step lying before the Free Church of Scotland.
The Santal missionaries make one mihl criticism-namely, that the conversion of the aLorigines and of the out-castes is by no means so ineffective on caste Hinduism as the deputies seem to think. And, indeed, it is hard to see how the proudest castes could very long resist the influence of fifty or sixty millions of the humbler classes, if these were regenerated and elevated by Christianity. Hindu religion and Hindu language have both been influenced through and through by the aborigines when in a lower grade, and why not when they begin to ascend ~ But, after all abatements of criticism, it is evident that the general judgment, in India and in Scotland, is expressed by A. H. L. Fraser, Esq., of the Bengal Civil Servicc, who declares his" respect and admiration for the great pains, thc unwearying labor, the candid investigation that must have combined to produce, after so short a pcriod, so elear and generally accurate a view of the subject-matter of that report."
The Foreign Missions Committee of the Free Church of Scotland, having maturely weighed both the report and the criticisms passed upon it, has taken action substantially in agreement with its recommendations, and, in particular, has decided" still to limit to the present amount the resources spent on the educational institutions, and to devote to the evangelistic side whatever increase lllay be received and any saving that lDay be e:ffected with educational work, without detriment to its efficiency."
In other words, the Future is still to be kept steadily in view, but the Present ig no longer to be so much overlooked as in the past.
A PLEA FOR MEDICAL MISSIONS.
BY CLARENCE THWING, M.D.
The work of missionary physicians in foreign lands has been growing very rapidly of late. Introduced about fifty years ago as an adjunct to the preaching of the Gospel, it has by steady strides come to be in Ulany places the most successful pioneer work of missiuns. At the present time there are about three hundred medical missionaries, while twenty-eight years ago there were less than a score, and ten years later not more than forty * in all lands. Nearly every well-equipped mission now has one or more physicians constantly engaged in medical work; and not a few ordained clergymen have also a medical education and give a part of their time to attending the sick and digpensing medicines, particularly in their travels from one station to another.
The reasons for the rapid development of this branch of missionary enterprise and its present recognition as a prime factor in mission work are few but forcible. Iu accounting for thc success already attained by medical missions, we shall necessarily state the reasons for a still greater enlargement of the work and for the more hearty support of this very important department of onr Christian propaganda.
First, we IIave in the Scripture'S a divine warrant for medical as well as spiritual work in evangelistic operations. This is found in the example of both our Lord and His disciples. Jesus, the" Great Physician," cared for the body as well as the soul. Many instances are recorded of His healing the sick and arresting disease. His ministry'was spent in " preaching the Gm;pel and healing all manner of sickness" (Matt. 4 : 23). Moreover, He commissioned Hi,; twelve disciples and" other serenty also" both to "preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick" (Luke 9 : 1, 2, e ; 10 : 1, 8, 9). Thus the three orders of the first Christian ministry were aU engaged in a medical mission. In the third order, corresponding somewhat to our lay evangelists, the medical work was given the precedence, although joined with preaching (Luke 10 : 9), just as in the labors of the missionary physicians of to-day.
If anything further than the example of our Saviour were needed to show the divine sanction of healing as well as preaching by missionaries, we have, with the final command of Christ-" Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature"-the prophecy and promise of witnessing signs, among which is this: "They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover" (Mark 16 : 15-18).
Since, then, the wisdom and providence of God thougilt it well, for the glory of His name and the spread of His kingdom, that the preaching of spiritual truth should be accompanied by a ministry of physical benefits and the relief of bodily needli, should we not also unite these ministrations ~ The history of missions shows that where such union of effort exists we have far greater snceess than any achieved by preaching alone.
Second, the instincts of humanity and Christian fraternity move us to send the benefits of medical science with those of the Christian religion to our brethren in foreign lands. The science of medicine has made such advances in Western nations during the last century that we do not realize that in many of the most thickly populated Eastern countries there is almost no medical science, and those who profess to practise the art of healing are ignorant of the very principles of medicine, and are often mountebanks * Vide" Dr. Christlieb ell :MedIcal Missions~' in MISSIO~ARY REVIEW, August, 188l. and conjurers. The methods of treating injuries and disease are often barbarous in the extreme; and when sickness is not allowed to take its course by neglect, the suffering is sadly aggravated by careless or improper attentions, if not by positive cruelty. The reports frequently sent to us by those in mission fields concerning the destitution, ignorance, and suffering of thousands who are without proper medical treatment and often with no treatment at ali, should touch our hearts and lead to greater generosity (even to the point of sacrifice, which is seldom reached) in the matter of sending the help and helpers, the medicines and men that we can so easily spare in our own enlightened larrd.
It is well, in tbis connection, to recall the story of the" Good Samaritan," and our Lord's commendation of his neighborly and humane action in giving medical aid to the stranger of a different country and religious belief, whom he found in distress. The precept following this parable is one we should apply to ourselves: "Go, and do thou likewise" (Lukc 10 : 37). The Scriptures also teach us that ministry of whatever kind to our needy fellows is regarded in God's sight as service rendered directly to Him: "Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me" (Matt. 25 : 40). But if we had not this promised recognition of our Lord, the promptings of humanity and natural sympathy ought to impel u~ to offer to the sick and suffering, wherever found, a balm and cordial for the body as well as the soul.
The unselfishness and true friendliness shown in giving such succor and relief appeal most forcibly to the hearts of many whom we could not otherwise reach. They respond to our humanity when not to our piety. By exhibiting in a practical, helpful way our brotherly feeling for them, we secure an answering affection and respect which efforts at proselyting alone would never meet. Convinced of the generous regard of brother men, they are prepared to know and love the" friend that sticketh closer than a brother. "
Third, as an evidence of Christianity and an example of Christian beneficence, medical missions deserve a foremost place in our scheme of evangelization, and should be undertaken in all lands where suffering or diseased bodies are found with unsaved or misguided souls. Our religion should be shown to be a practical one-not simply a matter of faith, but also of good works. VV-e need to teach not only the doctrines of truth, but also the virtues of holiness. It must be explained that belief in a divine Saviour and acceptance of personal salvation are not all of Christianity ; that our religion is not for individual benefit alone; but that" faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone," and that" by works is faith made perfect" (James 2 : 17, 22). This is a lesson we have not well learned ourselves, and we cannot properly 'teach it unless our example is in harmony with our precept. There is no better way of teaching to the heathen the Christian charity that "seeketh not her own" than by practising it, and we cannot bettcr instruct them in Christian b~neficence than by a living exhibition of it. No morc convincing proof of the divine origin and truth of our rehgion can be given to unbelievers than the benevolent instituticn·; which it has established everywhere. The actual demonstration of whllt Christianity seeks to do and does for the temporal and material welfare of mankind is a potent argument in favor of its introduction. What benefit will be more readily sought than relief from bodily pain? AnJ what more welcome than freedom from exhausting disease ~ A tree that will bear such fruit will find grateful soil for its transplanting.
Experience has proved the efficacy of medical work in the spread of missions. It has placed thousands of people who were (or might otherwise have been) enemies of the missionaries under obligations to them which are long remembered, and whieh are often the motives for friendly assistance and the saving of life and property in times of peril. Many instances might be given to illustrate the friendly feelings awakened and antagonisms conquered by the quiet, generous, self-sacrificing labors of medical missionaries, but ~pace will not permit them to be quoted here.
Fourth, as the direct pioneer of the Gospel aud one of the most efficient aids to the Christian preacher, the medical missionary deserves our earnest sympathy and support. The efforts for bodily relief are undertaken as preparatory for and subsidiary to the higher work of saving the soul. A service to the physical man having been rendered, the spiritual wants are described and the source of divine help pointed out. The specific for spiritual maladies is prescribed with the remedies for physical ills. Patients are taught that their eternal interests are greater than the temporal, and they are directed to the" Great Physician," who will cleanse them from the leprosy of sin, open their eyes to the knowledge of the truth, save them from the pains of future punishment, and redeem their souls from eternal death. While failure may attend the most intelligent and faithful efforts of the human helper, and bodily ailments may be incurable by medical science, yet the assurance is given that, " He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him" (Reb. 7 : 25), and "The Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither Ris ear heavy, that it cannot hear" (Isa. 59 : 1). Many thousands every year CQme to the mission hospitals and dispensaries, and many ~ore are treated by the medical missionary in his country tours, who would not in any other way be brought in contact with Christian teachers, and to all alike are presented the story of the cross and message of salvation. The time and labors given for physical relief are well spent, though they be in some cases futile in recovering bodily health, provided they are the means of bringing darkened minds into the light of truth and of securing the gift of eternal life to souls which would otherwise be lost.
Admitting the value and duty of medical missions, there remains the question, Row may the cause be advanced and its usefulness multiplied 1 First-to answer briefly-by larger financial support for the work already undertaken and in operation. Second, by increasing the circulation of missionary intelligence, and awakening further interest in the subject. Third, by more frequent and earnest prayer, both individual and united. Fourth, by educating Christian young men and women to recognize the claims of the work upon them and the opportunity and privilege of engaging in it. Fifth, by giving a thorough training, both medical and spiritual, theoretical and practical, to those who offer themselves for service and those who intend to do so but arc yet employed in preparatory study. * There are not wanting many encouragements in the prosecution of medical missions, and the outlook is a hopeful one ; but there is room for all to help. The present is a time of particular nflcessity ; the fields are" white already to harvest," and" the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few j pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers" (Luke 10 : 2). The difficulty now is not so much to find consecrated laborers as to secure the means to " send forth" those who are ready to go. Let us all have a part in answering our own prayers.
In closing, it is fitting to repeat the words of a veteran missionary physician, Dr. J. G. Kerr, of Canton, China, who writes: "Itis no doubt a source of gratification to all missionaries-it is certainly so to us, who are among the older medical missionaries-to see the churches at home awaking to the great importance of medical missions, not only as a means of relieving suffering and saving human life, but of aiding in the evangelization of heathen lands, and we hail the addition of so many noble young men and women to this department of mission work as evidence that Christianity, with its blessings, is being offered to those nations which hitherto have not enjoyed them, in the manner best calculated to secure their acceptance "
We gladly welcome from that Prince of Missionary Biographers, George Smith, LL.D., of Edinburgh, Scotland, the following paper on " The Free Church of Scotland's Twenty-Seven Medical Missionaries-Men and Women." – [EnIToR. ] DR. DAVID H. P.A'fERSON'S EARLY WORK IN MADRAS.
Dr. Smith says: More than a generation ago, or in the year 1856, the Free Church of Scotland unitcd with the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society in sending out to Madras Dr. D. H. Patcrson, F.R.C.S.E. From the Medical Mission House, he was enabled, during sixteen years of incessant toil, to spread the rays of Gospel light and healing all around. He tended the souls and bodies of some 43,000 poor natives every year. He sent forth twelve educated nativcs, from all missions, to be medical missionaries in their own districts. His wife and he won an entrance into * This latter work has been undertaken iu a limited way by the International Medical Missionary Society of New York, of which Dr. George D. Dowkontt is the Superintendent. By means of a Training Institution (at 118 E. 45th Street) and several city mission dispensaries, students are educate1 in practical evangelical work as well as equipped with m~dical experience before going to tbe field. The society is doing a good work; it is carried on faithfully and economically, and deserves hearty support. native households from which all but the physician was excluded. He died of abundant labors in 1871. Himself son of Dr. Chalmers's" Missionary of Kilmany," he has given his eldest son, Dr. Alexander Paterson, to the Church's medical work in the Keith-Falconer Mission III South Arabia. Dr. D. H. Paterson was succeeded by Dr. William Elder, and he, for a time, by one of the native medical missionaries, Rev. T. K. Itty. The Free Church of Scotland purchased all the buildings, added to them, and made the mission its own. Now it has come to be worked by the first woman medical missionary sent out by the Ladies' Society, Dr. Matilda Macphail. She is likely to be joined by Dr. Janet Hunter, of the same Society; that, the two helping each other in the missionary work, the mission may go on in full strength, notwithstanding occasional sickness and furlough. This Tamil Medical Mission has borne rich spiritual fruit in the two native congregations of Rayapooram, the busy railway suburb which is its centre, one Tamil and one Eurasian.
DR. DUFF'S EARLIER WORK IN BENGAL. WORK IN CHINA.
The founding of this cnterprise in 1855 was not the first attempt of our missionaries to use the Lord's method of healing as a door into His kingdom. Twenty years before that, in 1834, Dr. Alexander Duff induced government to give his ablest students-Brahmans, till conTersion-the full medical training which has ever since sent a large nnmber of our best native Christians into the Indian Medical Service as army and civil surgeons and medical professors. The story of the first efforts to get Brahmans t6 dissect the human body, as told in our first missionary's" Life," reads like a romance (vol. i., chap. 8). That was the beginning of medical missions in India, just fifty-five years ago. Here, in this as in all missionary methods, Dr. Carey had been first-his colleague, Dr. Thomas, having in 1790, when surgeon in an East Iudiaman, begun to heal the sick as well as to preach to the sinful Bengalees. But that was long a solitary case. In 1740 the Moravians had sent five medical men to Persia, but unsuccessfully. In 1798 Dr. Vanderkemp, a physician, was a missionary in South Africa. With their more free medical system the Americans of the United States took up the policy, but by 1849 there were only twelve medical missionaries in all the non-Christian world, chiefly in China and Syria. Now there are four hundred, and every year sees an addition to the number. China, however, has the distinction of being the earliest scene of medical mission work, steadily developed. Dr. T. R. Colledge, when in Macao as an East India Company's surgeon, in 1827 began those Christ like labors among the poor, and especially the blind, which Chinnery has immortalized in a famous picture. The Rev. Dr. P. Parker, who had done medical mission work in Singapore in 1831), and in Canton, was the first to give an impetus to the whole· Evangelical Church in this matter, when his visit to Edinburgh resulted in the godly and skilled physicianA there establishing its MedicalMissionary Society. Now, besides that valuable agency, under Rev. J. Lowe, F.RC.S.E., for training medical missionaries side by side with the university and medical schools, there are three other training institutions-Dr. J. L. Maxwell's, 104 Petherton Road, London, N.; Dr. G. D. Dowkontt's, 118 East Forty-fifth Street, New York; and Rev. Dr. Valentine's, Agra.
WOMEN BECOME QUALIFIED MEDICAL MISSIONARIES.
This third step was the greatest. Long opposed by the teaching and licensing bodies in the United Kingdom, Christian women, yearning to relieve the misery, spiritual and bodily, of the millions of their sisters in the East, by teaching them of Christ the Healer, were dtiven to America or Switzerland for training. Of the women missionaries sent out by America, no nobler has lived and died for the women and children of India than Mary Seelye, M.D. She worked alone in the vast population of Calcutta, and the gigantic work killed her in the midst of her success. The same fate befell other solitary and unaided workers-establishing the lesson that it is more true of womeu than of men, and more true of medical than of other missionaries, that they must go forth at least two and two.
In the year 1860 Mrs. George Smith began to reside in the famous Bengal town of Serampore. Soon the jealously-guarded homes (zenanas) of the best Hindu families were open to her, and, aided by the municipality and the Baptist missionaries, she opened girls' schools for the poorer families. What she took up as a work of Christian vernacular education, sad experience led her to develop into a medical mission also to women, so far as that was possible without a fully qualified co-worker. What she witnessed, and often in vain tried to relieve, can be told only to women, but our Ladies' Society published these sentences from her pen on her return to Scotland : " The women of Great Britain would stare if they saw what we have seen. A woman of gentle birth kept apart with her new-born infant for a whole month, in a small chamber, with only a grating for a window, and , laid on a damp floor-a small fire in one corner, and no chimney !
,"A lady doctor, who was alone in her mission, felt it almost impossible to attend native women at the birth of their children, from the repulsive practices which prevail. . •. A son was born in a zenana to which I had access, and as it was a first-born, one would suppose that as much honor as possible: would be done the poor mother, who was only fourteen years of age. But she was kept apart in the damp little room, laid on the floor, and she and her babe were looked at only through the grating. Even her husband dare not touch her, nor his son j anyone so touching them would at once become impure.
" Need the people of this country wonder at the importunity of those who know that these thingl!! are-at their anxiety that teachers should be sent out to clear the minds of our poor Eastern sisters from the misti of prejudice and heathenism 1"
The writer gave up her little leisure to plead for the 127,000,000 of women in India that they might have Christian physicians of their own sex. She, bfling dead, yet speaketh. Great has been the progress since 1860, and even since 1876 when these words first appeared. In a paper on" Women's Work in the Mission Field,." read at the London Missionary Conference in 1888, Miss A. Marston, M.D., of the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission, made the following statement: "Of the sixty female practitioners on the English medical register, ten have given themselves to the work of foreign missions." That is only the beginning. Already the number is increased, and soon will be doubled.
THE QUEEN-EMPRESS AND THE MARCHIONESS OF DUFFERIN'S ASSOCIATION.
Because there were none to attend a Hindu woman in sickness save immoral native quacks, the Maharani of Panna, still the great diamondbearing state of Ceutral India, contracted a long and painful disease. An Englishwoman, a medical missionary, was the means of curing her, and when going home on, furlough took a ilhort letter from this Hindu feudatory queen to the Queen-Empress Victoria, petitioning Her Majesty to provide a remedy. Dr. Murdoch thus tells the story: "The letter was put into a small gold locket, which the lady was to wear round her neck till she gave it into the hands of the queen. An interview was granted, and the tender heart of Her Majesty was touched_ She sent a kind reply to the Maharani, and Lord Dufferin could say at a public meeting in Calcutta, ' In endeavoring to launch a scheme for the improvement of the medical treatment of the women of India, we are fulfilling the special injunction of Her Majesty the Queen. Lady Dufferin's first work was a careful survey of the field and consideration of plans. In August 1885 an association was formed to promote the following objects: 1. Medical tuition. 2. Medical relief. 3. The supply of trained female nurses. "
Lady Aitchison, after whom the Women's Hospital in Lahore is named, and others, took up the scheme in' each of the Provinces of India. The Marchioness of Lansdowne is now at its head. All classes of the natives have subscribed a sum, which is invested to the equivalent of £55,000.
"Five lady doctors and a nurse have been obtained from England. About two hundred young women are being educated in the medical colleges of India, a number of them maintained by the branches of the Association. There are twelve female hospitals and fifteen dispensaries more or less aided. Classes have been formed for the training of female nurses.
" One rule of the Association has been qtxestioned by some. Religious neutrality is to be observed by its agents. It was felt that the work: wa, of such magnitude that it could be carried out effectually only by the cooperation of native princes. Municipalitiq,s include Hindus and Muhammadans. Government officers would also feel unwilling to connect themselves with a missionary agency. One result is that large donations havc been made by non-Christians. The Hindu high priest of Tripati, a large temple near Madras, has offered two scholarships for hospital assistants, two gold medals, two scholarships for female nurses, beside other help.
" Indirectly, Christian Missions are benefited. Indian women, at present, trust mainly to charms and other superstitious ceremonies for the cure of disease. Successful treatment by medicine alone will help to dissipate such belief.
" The Christian Vernacular Education Society is co-operating as far as possible in the work which Lady Dufferin 80 zealously commenced. Its , Ranitary Primer,' with a few omissions, has been adopted by the Association as the most suitahle for diffusing an elementary knowledge of t.he laws of health. The Society has also published simple treatises on Childbirth, the Health of Children, and Sanitary Reform, which are having an encouraging circulation. "
RAPID EXTENSION OF MEDICAL MISSIONS BY THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.
The necessity is the greater that the Church of Christ, as such, should do its duty. In 1855 we began with Dr. David H. Paterson at Madras; in 1891 we find that the one medical missionary has increased to twentyseven. Our medically qualified mi8sionaries are: Rev. William M. Alexander, B.Sc., M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Bombay, India; Rey. William Carslaw, M.D., Glasgow, Syria; Rev. J. Kerr Cross, M.B., GM., Gla8gow, Livingstonia, Central·Africa; Rev. James Dalzell, B.D., M.B., C.M., Natal, South Africa; Rev. J. A. Dyf'r, L.Re.p., and S. Edinburgh, Santalia, India; W. A. Elmslie, M. B., C. M., AlJerdeen,
PAUL THE MISSIONARY
Living8tonia, Central Africa; Wiliiam Gunn, LR. C.P., and S. .n:dinburgh, Futuna, New Hebrides; Rev. R. Eannington, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Constantinople ; l~ev. George Hem'y, M.A., M.B., C.M., Aberdeen, Livingstonia, Central Africa; J. B. Henderson, M.B., C.M., Madras, India; Rev. R. Laws, M.A., M.D., Aherdeen, F.R.G.S., Livingstonia, Central Africa; Adolf Lippner, M.D., Buda-Pest, Europe; Alexander Paterson, M.B., C.M., Edinburgh, Keith-Falconer Mission, South Arabia; Rev. Alexander Robertson, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Nagpoor, Central India; Rev. J. Sandilands, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Bandhara, Central India; Rev. J. Stewart, M.D., C.M., Glasgow, F.R.G.S., Lovedale, Souih Africa; D. W. Torrance, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Tiberias, Palestine j W. Walker, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Conjevaram, South India.
WOMEN.
Janet Hunter, M.D., Brussels, L.R.C.P. and S., Glasgow, to be appointed to Madras; Matilda Macphail, L.R.C. P. and S., Glasgow, Madras, South India; Agnes E. Henderson, M.D.
StUdying for Full Qualification.
Ladv from India, in Edinburgh and Leith; two other ladies.
NATIVES OF INDIA.
Not yet Qualified in British Sense.
Lazarus Abraham, Tanna, India: Rev. T. K. Itty, Madras, India j J. Nanji Kotak, L.M. and S., of Grant College, Bombay, India; T. Khisti, Bombay, India; James M. Macphail, M.A., Glasgow, Santalia, India; Dugald Revie, Glasgow, probably Livingstonia, Central Africa; A. G. Mowat, M.B., C.M., Glasgow j Dr. Fotheringham, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Livingstonia; Rev. G. Steele, M.B., C.M., Glasgow, Livingstonia.
The Church has enjoyed the services of the late Dr. Robson in Calcutta, of Dr. Young in Bombay, of Dr. Cowen in South Arabia, of Dr. Weir in South Africa, of Miss Waterston, M.D., in Central and South Africa, and others. It has gladly sent not a few of its best sons to the missions of the Church Missionary Society, like the lamented Elmslie in Kashmir, and John Smith, Lake Nyanza; of the Presbyterian Church of England in China; of the United Presbyterian Church in Manchuria, and of the London Missionary Society in several lands.
For every living, and therefore missionary church, rejoices to remember that the Lord Jesus Christ, in proof of His power to utter the sweetest words ever heard by man, Thy sins be forgiven thee, ~dded, Arise and walle.
PAUL THE MISSIONARY.
BY REV. JOHN ROSS, MOOKDEN, MANCHURIA.
It is a cause for thankfulness that the church atmosphere is resounding with theories as to the best modes of evangelizing the world, for this indicates on the part. of the Church of Christ an acknowledged sense of responsibility. But it seems to me strange that in the world-wide proclamation of some popular theones, the missionary chapters of the New Testament appeal as if expurgated from the Bibles of many who have at heart the in- terests of the kingdom. -Where the influence and lives of the workers ana the spiritual well being of untold multitudes are at stake, it is surely a paramount duty to investigate, ~o understand and, as far as practicable aud wise, to imitate the example of those who initiated the work of evangelizingthe world. It is my desire in this paper to briefly examine, for the consideration of all earnest Christian people, the missionary career of the Apostle Paul. This task is the less difficult because the history of his career, as far as it was under the guidance of his own free will and judgment, is contained in nine chapters of the Acts, beginning with the 18th and concluding in the 21st.
Persecution drove from Jerusalem many Christians, who fled as far as Phenice in the north and Cyprus in the south. Preaching where they went, many of them made a favorable impression not upon Jews only, but upon Gentiles also. Some believers were originally from Antioch, and on their compulsory return spoke to Jew and Gentile of the way of life. The wonderful results stupefied the Church which had remained in Jerusalem, and Barnabas, as a well-tried Hellenist, was sent to examine and report. Learning what kind of men they were who became believers, and what sort of men opposed the movement, he went to Tarsus to find out and bring with him, as best adapted for the work, his former friend Saul, who was apparently living in retirement. How long the two men preached in Antioch we know not, but the time was long enough to prove their incomparable superiority to all the other preachers. This pre-eminence was the reason why they were selected (Acts 13) as the first Apostles to go to the " regions beyond."
Through Seleucia and Cyprus, where the Gospel had been already proclaimed, they simply passed on, and called a halt only when they got to Antioch, in Pisidia. Long and plainly did Paul speak in this place, reasoning with the people and fully expounding to them the truth. So great was the concourse of people to hear him on the following Sabbath that envious Jews drove him out of the city.
Driven from Antioch, the preachers made their way to Iconium, where they remained a considerable time preaching and explaining, till they were compelled to abandon the city. At Lystra they created a great sensation, which ended in Paul being left for dead from stoning by the enraged citizens. Having recovered, he retraced his steps, strengthening the hearts and more fully enlightening·the understanding of the believers.
After the question of circumcision, which threatened to create a rupture in the church, was settled in a common-sense manner by mutual concession, Paul and Barnabas separated over a dispute regarding a third colleague. Each took the man of his own choice, and Paul went through Syria, passing, as formerly, through the places where the Gospel had been preached, by the way strengthening and instruct.ing the believers, so that these ~ight be the better able to push forward the work in their own neighbor- hood. He rested only when he crossed over into Europe and arrived in Philippi, whither the Gospel had not yet penetrated. There he sought out those anxious to lead a better life, and continued his public preaching till serious maltreatment threatened his life.
From Thessalonica the animosity of the Jews compelled him to a speedy Hight. The people in Berea were more liberal and ready to listen to Paul's arguments. But jealous orthodoxy pursued and drove him away. Thence he went to Athens, where he encountered the Greek philosophers, whose contemptuous treatment sent him on to Cormth, where he remained for a lengthened period. A tumult there made him again a wanderer. Passing through Ephesus at that time, he returned to it and baptized twelve believ. ers. For three months he continned arguing from tho Scriptures that Jesns was the· Messiah, till orthodoxy closed the synagogue ngainst him. But a school was thrown open to him, where he daily discour"iJd for so long a time that all the people in the city knew somewhat of the doctrine and its preachers. After a brief absence, though anxious to go to Jerusalem and Rome, he went back to Ephesus, where a great uproar terminated his stay. Still eager to ilIlpart some further instruction, Ilnd because from his urgency, to depart for .Terusalem he was unable to go in person, he sent for the elders to confer with them at the port of Miletns. In this last discourse he informed them that he had declared to them the" whole counsel of God," which in modern language means that he had passed them through a theological course.
After his hurried journey to Jerusalem, he was no longer a free agent, but went where his soldier-keepers led him. Though his subsequent history is, therefore, a magnificent example of enthusiastic preaching ~f the Gospel in the most trying circumstances, it does not, beyond his epistles, show us the principles of action and the methods of work which his unfettered will would have suggested. "Ve have enough, however, in this summary to learn (1) the kind of agent, (2) the form of itineracy, and (3) the style of preaching which were considered the best, and which turned out the most successful in Apostolic times.
1. The agent was the man already proved to be the best in the Church -the best spiritually, intellectually, lind educationally. This" best" man did not go of his own accord. He was called to the work and" sent" by the Church. Now, the work of preaching the Gospel in China is more difficult than any the Apostle Panl had to undertake. He had learned Hebrew at his mother's knee. In the celebrated Rchools of Tarsus, with their famous stoics, he hau become familiar with Greek thought, literature, and language. And he whose father was a Roman citizen, and who lived in a Roman settlement, could not well have been ignorant of Latin. Whatever, therefore, the meaning of the gift of tongues, it did not signify in Paul's case the miraculous possession of a llitherto unknown· Janguage ; for from Arabia in the east to Rome in the west Paul did not preach in any place where some one of these three languages was not well and generally understood. He did not require to spend weary months in learning a new language before communicating Christian truth to a strange people, though his reception at Athens proved his Greek pronunciation not unimpeachable. He was not compelled to wade through a ponderous and foreign literature, nor patiently to wait to learn the manners and opinions of a people in order to ascertain their special mental and spiritual views. His early education and his knowledge of those languages enabled him at once to address an audience as if they had been old acquaintances. Let the Church learn the lesson proclaimed by this trumpet voice. God demands your best, as He did of the Jews. The beast with a flaw was not to be offered on the altar. The man with a blemish was not to become a priest.
2. The itineracy of Paul differed toto cwlo from the itineracy now recommended by many good people. Paul" itinerated" through all the places where the Gospel was known. But in places where the Gospel had not been preached he remained for days, weeks, months, and even years, till he was driven away by attempts on his life. To impart a knowledge of what Paul considered essential truth required not a few lessons, but the preaching and teaching of years. The lesson from this characteristic of Paul should be seriously pondered both by missionaries and all interested in mission work, and especially in China, which presents a field far more difficult than any in which Paul labored. A racing over the ground and a few addresses in a place which is then abandoned, is a mere waste of men, of labor, and of time. You must" teach" the people to " know," or your labor is in vain. Captain Bobadil's plan will convert China after it has destroyed the nrmies of France. Itineracy in a Christian country, where even unbelievers are theoretically well acquainted with Christian truth, is one thing; in China, where its elements are unknown, quite a different thing.
3. Paul had no particular form of sermon. He had no tricks of speech or manner, no craving for popularity. He first of all learned the mental and spiritual condition of his hearers, and adapted what he had to say to their knowledge and wants.· This is what he signified when he wrote of " taking people by guile." It is unnecessary to dwell upon the versatility of his mind, as shown in the manner in which he addressed his varied audiences, whether Jews or Greeks, soldiers or philosophers, an angry mob or a proud king. But in all we have evidence of remarkable human wisdom fired by the enthusiasm begotten of the Spirit of God. He reasoned, declaimed, recited historical facts, quoted from authors, and adopted every plan to further the end in view. His logical powers were employed in argument, his whole soul poured forth in appeal. He combined the art of the rhetorician with the reasoning of the logician. Thus he was able to make himself" all things to all men j" whence his unexampled success.
As to the matter of his discourses, he was not content with merely proclaiming that Jesus was the Saviour. He explained the terms he employed.
18911 THE RECENT AUDIENCE WITH THE EMPEROR OF CHINA
He spoke of the nature of sin and of holiness. He declared man's duty to man and his relationship to God, what man should be and do in this life, and what he may hope to possess in the life to come.
The success of Paul was not in the least degree dependent on the few cases of healing recorded of him; his miracles brought him into trouble. Nor yet was it by the plan of planting schools and colleges. But it was by the earnest, continuous, intelligent, and intelligible preaching of the sound system of truth embraced in Christ's Gospel. And if the facts of the modern mission field were properly understood, the lesson would be learned that, however excellent are subsidiary aids for levelling down the thick wall of prejudice which raises its proud head high against the Gospel in China, nothing can possibly gain that people for Christ but the plan of Paul. How can they believe if they do not understand? How can they understand if they do not hear intelligently? How can they hear intelligently if the preacher is without understanding? And how can they have preachers of understanding if the chUl'ches fail to send them? "I speak as to wise men i judge ye."
THE RECENT AUDIENCE WITH THE EMPEROR OF CHINA.
BY BOUDINOT C. ATTERBURY, M.D., PEKING, CHINA.
A most interesting episode took place in connection with the foreign relations of China on March 5th, this year. It was the interview granted by the" Son of Heaven" to the foreign ministers living in Peking, and repre· senting their various countries. For years past this question of the right personally to present credentials to the Emperor has been the subject of great discussion between the legations and the foreign office. In 1874 Tung Chih, the uncle of the present ruler, after much pressure was brought to bear, granted an audience. Since then, however, the questIOn, although agitated, has never been seriously insisted upon until the present young ruler him8elf took control of the government. Unexpectedly to many, three months ago an Imperial edict was issued stating that the Emperor was willing to receIve the ministers and charges d'affaires. No matter what may have been the reasons for this step on the part of the Chinese Government-reasons perhaps chiefly political, in order to cultivate more close relations with other governments one thing is certain, that the express wish of the Emperor himself was also It powerful factor in bringing about the wished-for event. Those living outside of China can scarcely realize how many were the preliminaries which had to be arranged before the interview could take place. Long conferences were held between the legations and the Chinese ministers. On the one side were a set of men anxious to sUl'round their ruler with all the ceremonies which they consider to be his due as the representative of heaven upon earth j on the other hand were the foreigners, willing to accord any etiquette customary at a European court, but determined not to do anything implying in any sense that their countries were in vassalage to China. The principal difficulties were the right' of separate audience and the place of meeting. Mutual concessions smoothed over these points, the former being granted by the Chinese, and the foreigners waiving their preferences in the latter. The place agreed upon was the" Hall of Shining Purple," where the usual receptions are accorded to the tributary States, sucb as Mongolia and Corea, with the understanding that on future occasions another place within the palace grounds must be prepared. The ministers with their suites started about 10 A.M. All the foreigners, thirty-one in number, sat in green sedan chairs, each carried by four men. Passing through the" Gate of Flowing Prosperity," they arrived at the point where the officials of the foreign office stood ready to receive. Descending from their chairs they entered, through long lines of soldiers, a temple, where some time was 8pent in chatting and eating various delicacies. Then the entire party advanced to the HaH of Audience. It is a picturesque building, with yellow tiles and painted in many colors. Three flights of steps lead up to a terrace in front of the hall doors. The central set are reserved for his Majesty; others use those on the sides. On the terrace were four tents comfOltably furnished with stoves and carpets. When the summons into the Imperial presence came, each minister, with accompanying interpreter, was conducted by two officials to a point where two columns, the" Dragon PilIars," marked a distance of about six feet from the raised platform on which the Emperor was sitting. First the German Minister was received; then follow('d the representatives of America, England, Japan, Italy, and the Netherlands. The large room presented an imposing spectacle, being lined with military officers. Back of the Emperor, who was sitting cross-legged on the dais raised about three feet, were some dark stone tablets carved with Manchu and Chinese inscriptions. In front was a small table, and at the side a naked sword on a stand. On the way to the" Dragon Pillars" each minister made the obeisance given at any court to the Sovereign. He then read an address which was rendered into Chinese by the interpreter and handed to Prince Chung, who, on his knees, translated it into Manchu. The Emperor responded in turn. The minister than advanced to the platform with his letter of credence, which was received by Prince Chung, who, with a low bow, laid it on the table. According to custom, the Prince should have knelt when presenting the letter. This, however, the foreigners would not allow, since, for the moment he represented them, thus kneeling would imply a concession of inferiority. Afterward a general reception was beld, and the entire company, with their secretaries, were presented. The German Minister, as doyen of the corps diplomatique, read an address; the Emperor replied in Manchu, which was turned into Chinese by Prince Chung, the head of the Foreign Office. A grand banquet the following ,jay ended the audience. Of course, the Emperor was the central figure.
ENCOURAGEMENTS IN THE WORK OF' MISSIONS
He has an intelligent face and large dark eyes. lIe looks even younger than he is-eighteen years old. His physique is not strong, but his bearing is manly and self-posse!sed. His dress was a purple robe embroidered with gold dragons. He wore a large official felt hat, on the top of which was a plain red button. All hope that the outcome of this interview will be a still greatcr desire on the part of the Chinese to break down the isolation with which they have snrrounded themselves.
ENCOlTRAGEMENTS IN THE WORK OF MISSIONS.
BY REV. A. A. PFANSTIEHL, ST. JOSEPH, MO.
One of the questions that is asked in regard to the work of foreign missions is, Does it pay? It has been figured out by those who look upon this work from a political-economy point of view that it costs about $1000 to make a single convert in heathendom, and that at the present rate of progress it will take two hundred thousand years to convert the world! In view of this they ask, Is it worth while to spend so many millions of dollars, to expend so much valuable energy-for it is admitted that the missionaries are among our most energetic Christian workers; were they not so, they would never go into the arduous work in foreign fields-when, after all, so comparatively little is accomplished? But look at this a moment. This calculation would perhaps be legitimate and correct were each convert a dead one; but as it is, he is a living influence, he has in him leavening power, so that he sets work of conversion in motion in remarkable ratio. Max Miiller well says: "An intellectual harvest must not be calculated by adding simply grain to grain, but by counting each grain as a living seed, that will bring forth fruit a hundred an(l a thousand-fold." Therefore, however comparatively little seems to be done in the vast fields of heathendom, yet when we take this work, representing hundreds of thousands of adult converts who, together with their families, form Christian communities scattered over nearly every portion of the heathen world, it represents a power that is incalculable, a power in itself capable of marvel- lous work for God, without help from abroad. * But now add to this power the additional force given to it with increasing intensity every year by the Christian world at large, will it take two hundred thousand years to evangelize the world 1 Missionary efforts and * As a matter of fact, to prove this take these figures of but one mission field: Burmah gave in 1880 to the Baptist Union $31,616.14, while Massachusetts gave the same year but little more-viz., $41,312.72, and New York gave only $38,469.78. "Japan," it is said, " is alive, energetic, eager-a nation with a destiny; and a Church of Christ in Japau would be throughout all EMtern Asia an ally that would be invaluable." And this is what Max Miiller says about India: "If we think of the future of India and of the influence which that country has always exercised on the EMt, the movement of religious reform which is now going on appe(lrs to my mind the most momentous in this momentous century." expenditures do pay! and there is nothing discouraging in the calculation, even though it be that it takes $1000 to make a single convert in heathen- dom. On the contrary, there is every encouragement possible to continue the work and make it more and more agressive. 'Tis this that I desire to press briefly from 1. What has been done in the past, and 2. What it is the declared purpose of God to do in the spread of Christ's kingdom.
Considering the extent, the power, the influence of Christianity to-day, and then looking back 1800 years, when it began with a mere handful of people, working against opposition that came from principalities and powers, the strong forces of Rome, the prejudice, the enmity of the carnal mind, and the deadly hatred of the Jews, have we occasion to be discouraged~ ay, must we not greatly be encouraged when the kingdom of Christ has now grown to be in the ascendancy 1 But look especially at the mission work of the last one hundred years! What giant strides have been made during these years! And these are but the first slow steppings of the Church, that will, if indications for the future mean anything, continue to advance rapidly. For 'tis but a short time since the vast openings for work have been presented to the Church-openings that were closed to the Christian world until these latter years-commercial openings, and facilities for work afforded by discoveries of religious books of the heathen, enabling missionaries to work intelligently among the people. " We have now be- fore us the canonical books of Buddhism j the Zend Avesta of Zoroaster is no longer a sealed book j and the hymns of the Rig Veda have revealed a state of religion anterior to the first beginnings of that mythology which in Homer and Hesiod stand before us as mouldering ruin. The soil of Mesopotamia has given back the very images once worshipped by the most powerful of the Semitic tribes, and the cuneiform inscriptions of Babylon and Nineveh have disclosed the very prayers addressed to Baal or Misroch. "
Hence, by the providence of God, we are led into the very citadel of the power of those whom we desire to win, and we know intelligently how to lay the siege. Discouragement ~ Nay, nay, for this advantage has already been so helpful that victory is in sight, if the Christian church will only vigorously press the siege for the next few years! '
But another encouragement. Max Muller, a few years ago, wrote about the dying and death of what he calls the nondescript heathen religions.
These, such as Zoroastrianism, etc., that he puts down as 8.7 per cent of the number of the population of the world, have ceased to struggle, and all we need do is to apply the strong battery of God's" truth as it is in Jesus"
to them, and they will live ancw with redeemed, everlasting life. Brahman- ism, too, one of the two living Aryan religions, is existing in a living death, and " for gaining an idea of the issue of the great religious struggle of the future, that religion, too, is dead aud gone." And Buddhism-what about it 1 Many of the readers may remember a significant paper that was sent, in 1887, to the Presbyterian churches of the Unitcd States, signed by all the Presbyterian ministers in Japan-31 in number-wherein we find this language: "Buddhism is condemned already. That is the common position assumed by the press. And what the press encourages the government allows. . . . The tone of Buddhism is a tone of defeat; Christianity is confident of victory." And this is confirmed by the quotation from one of the tracts published in India, given in the March, 1891, number of this REVIEW, which says, in order to call the heathen religionists to vigorous action against the progress of Christianity: "Missionaries have cast their nets over our children by teaching them in their schools, and they have already made thousands of Christians, and are continuing to do so. . . . Do you not know that the number of Christians is increasing, and the number of Hindu religionists decreasing cvery day?" The enemy himself here is the judge.
This much encouragement from the past. Now what, from a consideration of what we know, is the purpose of Almighty God in regard to the leaven of Christianity introduced in the world? It is His purpose that the .. whole lump" SHALL be leavened. And can anything thwart that purpose 1 Chri~tian churches and individuals need not lend their help with II discouraged feeling; they need not with a shrug of the shoulder look at this work of evangelizing the world.
To this appeal of Mr. Pfanstiehl, the editor cannot forbear to add that the only real discouragement in the work of missions is the slowness and sluggishness of the church to fall into line with the command and the lead- ership of our Royal Captain. Open doors stand before us on every side.
In the most difficult of all mission fields, India, the most abundant harvests since Pentecost have been reaped and continue to be reaped in the Tin- nevelly and Telugu districts. The church has numerical force and finan- cial resource sufficient without a doubt to bear the Gospelmess:tge to every soul before the century ends. The only real lack is the lack of the spirit of mis.~ions. In the Apocalypse there is a significant succession in the messages to the churches of Philadelphia and Laodicea. To Philadelphia the key-note is encouragement-" Behold, I have set before thee an open door." To Laodicea, which immediately follows, the key-note is warning-" Because thou art lukewarm . • • I will spew thee out of my month." Both these messages may be applied to the Church of our day. We are Philadelphians for opportunity and Laodiceans for lukewarmness. And if the church of this generation does not arouse herself to new consecration and enter God's open doors, it is to be feared that He will cast away such II faithless church, and out of its remnant construct a more loyal people.
Bishop H. T. Bachman, of the Moravian Church. is at present engaged in an official visitation of the Moravian Alaskan missions. He will have to travel from the Kuskokwim to Meshagak, some 200 miles, overland in pioneer !ltyle. It was two summers ago that the wife of Bishop Bachman went to Alaska to nurse the sick missionary's wife, Mrs. Kilbuck.
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS
EXTRACTS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN PERIODICALS.
BY REV. C. C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
-The Rev. J. Johnstone Irving, in the Voice from Ituly, says, what anyone moderately familiar with Roman Catholic affairs knows to be perfectly true: " Within the unity of the Roman Church there are divisions and differences as numerous and embittered as those found in Protestantism." It is, therefore, quite to the point when he adds: "I am not prepared to admit that a house divided against itself is in a more satisfactory condition than a number of neighboring houses whose social relationships are not all that might be desired." Indeed, as the clergy are so inordinately powerful among the Roman Catholics, theological acrimony is more apt with them to verge toward malignity than in Protestantism, which, comparatively speaking, is a religion of the laity. Unhappily, among the Roman Catholics the only class that has perhaps even more influence than the clergy-namely, the lay zealots, seem to be the most uncharitable of all toward their fellow-Catholics whom they suspect of liberalism.
-The Ohristian says, most appreciatinglyand justly: "The Friend of Missions, published in England, and the Friends' Missionary Advocate of America, are full of interesting information of Friends' work in India, China, Japan, Madagascar, Syria, Palestine, Constantinople, Mexico, Philippopolis, Alaska, and among the North American Indians, thus indicating that the spirit of ' early days' has returned to the Society of Friends. As a basis and incentive to foreign work home missions are growing and increasing in nearly or quite all the yearly meetings in the world. The needs of men socially, morally, and spiritually are pressing the hearts of Friends, and under the Divine impulse lives and money are being surrendered to the service of humanity and the glory of Him' who is the Head of all things' to His people. The Friends have a great and increasing place to fill, and are needed among the churches and in the world. Happily they are in some measure realizing their responsibility, and trying to obey Him who has given them their name if they keep His commandments: Their mission is that of living and teaching spiritual and vital Christianity as 3 commonwealth of believers. . .. Among them there is no ' layman.' "
-Notwithstanding the revival of a very vexatious law in restriction of church building in the kingdom of Travancore, in southwestern India, the Chronicle for April bears witness to the cordiality of the Maharajah, and remarks that miRsionaries have probably more freedom there than they would have in British India.
-The Moslems must be hard pushed to find their prophet foretold in the Gospels. One in India assured Mr. Greaves triumphantly that he had found Mohammed's advent clea.rly announced by our Lord. Being asked where, he produced John 14 : 30, "The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me." Mr. Greaves quietly remarked that he had no objection to the application.
-Missionary Gehring, of the Leipsic Society, remarks, apropos of an unexpected though brief attack of lIeasickness, that it did him the' good of ridding him of the disagreeable advances of the American ap<J!!tate, Colonel Olcott, " who in India makes it his business to flatter the heathen by disgusting eulogies on their reli~don. " This may not be very urbane, but the free expression of moral disgust toward "the enemies of the crOSH of Christ," whether their name is Olcott, Ingergoll, Bradlaugh, or BeS1lnt, is sometimes better than the smirking complaisance with which contemporary Christianity is somewhat too deeply infected.
-Here is part of a hymn addressed by hundreds of thousands to the cruel goddess Kali, in deprecation of a law which simply protects the persons of child-wives until they are twelve years old. We remember Kali, with her pendant necklace of skulls, and her blood-dripping tongue thrust out to her waist. Such a hymn wcll becomes her. "In great distress at thy door we have come, mother, source of all good. Horrified, that is why we raise this cry, 0 mother! queen of the universe. What to say ~ We are about to be undone, mother, by the word of some outcastes. Intending to do an act of kindness, the government is destroying our religion. Our hearts shudder through fear," etc.
-NachTichten aus dem Morgenlande, speaking of the needs of the Protestants of Bethlehem for church and school, says, "If the wise men from the East brought aforetime to Bethlehem the most precious gifts of their native land, would that the wise men from the vVest would also lay down there their art and their gifts of beauty at the feet of the infant Christ!" If Protestantism will not take its place and see to it that it finds a worthy representation in Palestine, by the side of the splendid outlays of the Roman Catholic and of the Russian Church, it mnst accept the consequences.
-It is known that the London missionarie3 in Madagascar have labored principally among the ruling and central race of the Hovas and the neighboring tribe of the Betsileos. The Norwegian missionaries, it appears, are also actively at work among Betsimarakas of the southeast, and the fierce Sakalavas of the west.
-The atrocions massacre of men, women, and children by a Hova governor in Madagascar (followed, it appears, by his own ex.eeution) has, remarks the Ohronicle, left a sad blot on the good name of the Christian queen. The general horror aroused by this act of her deputy, it is to be hoped, will recall her government from that retrogression into the old barbarons ways of which there have been signs lately. Her husband, tlw prime-minister, knew the governor to be an unworthy character, yet allowed favoritism to carry the day in his appointment.
-Mr. Barnett, of Jaffa. writing in Service/or the King, says: "It is very significant that while from various causes the Jews lire beginning to awaken to the fact that their future destiny is bound up with this land, the 'l'urks and Arabs seem to be nnder a presentiment that their time here is short. I am told by several friends who have great experience in this country that some of the natives are very negligent in the cultivation of their fields and gardens, and the reason they give when asked is, ' What's the good, the Jews will soon have it.' "
-Mr. Van Tassel, who devotes himself to the evangelization of the Bedouins, shows that, as with most remote tribes, accnrate knowledge not only monilies, but often almost revolutionizes previous ideas. He says, "The Bedouin Arabs are usually given a very unenvi.able character, and are looked upon as being most desperate men, thieves, murderers, and almost everything else that is bad; but that is almost entirely wrong. The Arab seldom takes life, unless it is in battle or eelf-defence. There is a standing law in the desert that in case a man is killed his death must be avenged by the members of his tribe. It is not necessary that the murderer himself be put to death, but anyone of his tribe who may happen to fall into their hands. Owing to this custom they are very careful about the shedding of blood.
" There are, of course, some thieves found in the desert, but not all the Arabs are such by.any means, and those who are so are despised by the others, and well puuished when caught."
Mr. Van Tassel remarks that the Bedouins, at least those of the north, have a very slight tincture indeed of Mohammedanism. Their feelings of natural religion are strong, and they are exceedingly fond of having the Scriptures of either Testament read to them. Of course, in the Oriental allusions of the Bible they are perfectly at home.
The North Arabia Mission is a branch of the North African Mission.
– " The missionary work of a church is both fruit and measure of its inner spiritual life. "-De Heidenbode (Rotterdam).
-The Free Church of Scotland Monthly. referring to Cardinal Lavigerie's far-reaching missionary plans, remarks, "Whatever may be said about the Papacy, it is showing at present a i'pirit of enterprise which we cannot but admire. The zeal it is manifesting ought to act as a stimulus to our Protestant sO<.:ieties to devise larger and, if we may say so, more adventurous schemes for the conversion of the nations."
-The Ghu1·ch Missionary lntelligencer for April, 1891, very justly refers to the American Board as " one of the best-managed societies in the world," and supports by its high authority its own preference of special contributions for objects designated by the Society, rather than for the somewhat narrowing and capricious designation of special objects by individual donors.
-The printing of the whole Bible in the language of the Sunda Islands (Dutch Ea"t Indies) is now complete, as appears by the Or.qaan of the Netherlands Missionary Society. Between 300 and 400 person~ have been engaged upon it.
– " The business instinct is indispensablj"l for the conduct of a missionary society; but it is not sufficient, it is even injurious, if it is not founded in piety and joined with a real zeal for the cause of the Gospel." -Journal des Mislions.
THE UNITED KINGDOM.
-The English Baptist Missionary Society, whose cen enary occurs in 1892, intends to endeavor to raise a Special Centenary Fund of £100,000, and to seek also to increase the annual income of the society to £100,000.
-The Ohurch Missionary Gleaner for April says: "The approaclling census again suggests a comparison of past and present. When the last eensus was taken in 1881, the society was working under a resolution, solemnly arrived at on account of financial pressure, to send out only five new missionaries each year for three years; but we were rejoicing that special gifts had enabled the committee to send out twenty instead of five. It is a fact like this which we have gleaned from the report of that year that makes one realize just a little of what God has done for us in the past ten years. Three times twenty is not considered a large number now. "
-This is a most racy bit from a tract, Do Not Say, published by the Church Missionary Society. The author is the Rev. J. Heywood Horsburgh, C. M. S. missionary in mid-China: "Imagine our sending to the heathen just one man more than we could spare, so that for one parish we could not find a rector! 'Vhat an outcry there would be! Why, even those who take the most thorough interest in foreign missions would be afraid we were' really going a little too far.' Yes, though that clergyman had left but five hundred, nominal Christians already (many of them true Christians?, and gone to a parish of a thousand thousand, all heathen, and. he the on y worker aILong them all, it would still be thought a dreadful thing for this English parish to be without a clergyman, albeit there were a dozen other churches half empty in that very place, and perhaps an excellent chapel on the other side of the road. When shall we wake up and understand that' taking an interest in foreign missions' really ought to mean something more than giving the heathen a few fragments, after spreading a most bountiful table for ourselves ?"
-The Reaper says that the flaw in Mr. Stead's sanguine and well-meant endeavors to bring about a social revolution has been pointed out very clearly by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Salford : "It seems to me we differ because we begin from different ends. You begin with the creature and his miseries and wants. We begin with the Creator and His plan or system of redemption and salvation." There is no use in trying to conciliate the Christian view of benevolence with the anti-Christian. The two may coincide materially in a thousand points, but their formative principles are irreconcilably antagonistic.
-The Christian says that Dr. Marshall Lang recently startled the Glasgow Established Presbytery by quoting the remark of a local historian, that" the public houslils in the' second city in the empire' were beating the churches," and that "one public house in a populous locality was capable of undoing the work of ten churches."
– " Let us not think less of what Christ has done on the cross by His death, but let us think more of His resurrection and what He is doing now. "-Rev. EDWARD BALMFORD, in The Christian.
– " Foreign missionary is an unfortunate term. To the Lord Jesus up there in heaven there is no home mission and no foreign mission. He sees at once on both sides of the wall of China, and to Him it is all one field and one work; and slowly we are beginning to see through His eyes and to find out that work at home and work abroad are not, so to speak, two things, but one; that this we ought to do, and not to leave the other undone; ano. that what we call foreign mission work is not a thing to be done by and by, when we get a lot of other things done, but that it ought to be going on all the time."-J. CAMPBELL WHITE, Esq., Convener of the Livingstonia Mission Committee.
-Medical Missions at Home and Abroad (cited in the Free Church Monthly) shows that of 13~ medical missionaries holding British degrees or diplomas, the Free Church of Scotland has 24; the Church Missionary Society, 21 ; the London Missionary Society and the English Presbyterian Church, 13 each j the United Presbyterian Church, 11. There are 13 ladies.
The largest proportion among all the missionaries belonO's to the English Presbyterian Church. 0 . • -Medical Missions at Home and Abroad, rejoicing in the great victory won in the House of Commons over the defenders of the opium traffic, says: "A few days ago an Indian general said, in my hearing, that the opium traffic is a heritage from Warren Hastings. He was right; and I would add that there is nothing in our Anglo-Indian history in which the strong, determined, but godless spirit of that remarkable man has seemed so to persist and to be incarnated as in the long, sad story of our opium traffic with China."
-The Accounts of the Schemes and the Lists of Collections, Contributions, and Legacies of the Church of Scotland for the year ending December 31st, 1890, as prepared by the auditor, are given in the May Record. The total income shows an increase of £18,812 14s. 9d., or 12t per cent over the previous year,. being in all £170,282 5s. 5d. Legacies alone are increased by £6643 16s. 5d. Foreign missions show an increase of £3049 15$. 2d. ; home missions of £2475 19s. 10d. ; the Small Livings Fund of £3316 6s. 9d.
-Arrangements have been made for the fusion of the two English Baptist missionary societies. The common management ill to be conducted according to the plan of the larger society-that of the Particular Baptists. It appears, then, that Calvinism and Arminianisffi are recognized in England as having ceased to be a dividing force among the Baptists. The qUElstion of strict or open communion has long been an open one in both the Baptist bodies. "The Particular Baptist Missionary Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen" was formed in 1792, and " The General Baptist Missionary Society" in 1816. The Orissa Mission, Bengal, in which our own Free Baptist brethren concur, will doubtless continue to be supplied with General Baptist missionaries.
-The Special Centenary Fund of £100,000 which it is proposed to raise will be devoted to seven objects, the first being the extinctit,n of the debt, the seventh the construction of a new Upper Congo steamer, estimated at £5000.
-It seems strange, but Northern Bengal, where Dr. Carey first preached the Gospel, has to-day no missionary provision (at least no Protestant missionary provision) for its 9,000,000 inhabitants.
-The debt of £10,561 88. lId. incurred by the English Baptist Missionary Society during the year is owing to a falling off in legacies. General contributions have been £42,257 28. over against £42,072 188. 7d. for last year.
-The Ch"istian states that many of the working classes in England have'lately joined the Society of Friends.
-,-" There are 400 workers in the Irish Home Mission connected with the Society of Friends, and Sunday-school work is progressing in their hands."- The Ohristian. .
1891]. INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
II.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
EDITED AND CONDUCTED BY REV. 1. T. GRACEY, D.D.
The Low Pressure Belt of Morality as Marked by the Marriage Law in India. [J. T. G.l It is very difficult for persons living sion among tolerably decent people and remote from India to realize the condi. even among low and lustful classes.
tion of society which has grown up there These memorialists specially empha- in the course of oenturies through un- size that all this is covered by the sanc- challenged customs in Ule matter of mar- tity of British law in the Indian Empire, riage. Even those long resident in the which permits marriage to be consum.
midst of the social order know but little mated in childhood, and even covers about it. The introduction of Western homicide in the marital relation, which physicians, especially of lady doctors, to under other circumstances would be practise in the homes of the people, has criminally punished. They say, " The resulted in the disclosure of a state of system panders to sensuality, lowers things at which even much of heathen the standard of health and morals, de- sentiment revolts. There lies before us grades the race, and tends to perpetuate the Memorial to His Excellency, the itself and all its attendant evils to all Viceroy and Governor-General of India, future generations."
presented by sundry lady physicians, They, with thousands of others, peti- which enumerates instances of cruelty tioned the great British vice-regal au- and. unnatural crimes occurring to their thority and his counsellors in the Ind- notice in the order of their own profes- ian Government to advance the age of sional duties, which, though couched in consent to fourteen years. And yet, professional phraseology, we cannot de- with all these facts before them, the scribe, much less translate into the limit of twelve years was all that this vernacular of ordinary literature. When great government felt it dare ordain. It young girls of seven, eight, and ten years is not our intent now to show that they of age are visited by physicians who ought to or could have gone further.
find their bodies crushed out of shape, Too many factors enter into this case to their flesh hanging in shreds, or now reach a summary conclusion. It is not crippled and crawling to the hospital for that we write. Our purpose is on hands and knees unable to stand rather to call attention to the debasing erect, others partially paralyzed, others influence of the heathen religions, which dying after days of agony, all because showed itself in the tremendous resist- of premature admission to the marital ance developed by the very fact that relation, sanctioned by the laws as well child-marriage was to be called in ques- as the customs, and largely by the sen- tion by the government at all, and the timent of the land, one can read a com- threatened outbreak of violence because mentary on " the habitations of cruelty" the council and viceroy did enact that quite beyond any strain his indignation twelve years should be the legal mini- will bear. Mrs. Nancy Monelle Man. mum of marriageable age. A corre- sell, M.A., M.D., and her associate spondent some while since thus de- lady doctors deserve unstinted com- scribed for us a specimen of this popu- mendation for the moral courage, which lar resistance : led them to the distasteful task of mak- "On Sunday, March 15th, a mass.meeting known to the Indian Government, ing of over 80,000 Hindus was held at that which they could testify to, as in- Kali Ghat-one of the Calcutta suburbs stances of such debasement as makes –to pray to the Goddess Kali and seone desire to find refuge in some theory cure her aid against the pending Bill of demoniacal possession, as a cover for raising the marriageable age of Indian lustful cruelty which passes comprehen- girls from 10 to 12 years. Two hundred native priests had been engaged for the occasion, and were observed preaching so that all unea.siness may cease, Her furiously in various directions among name is Nectar. Drink it, and your the crowds. Processions were formed hearts shall be cool, all your grief shall and marched up to Kali's shrine, shout. cease, desires be fulfilled, and all dan. ing as they went along, 'Hari bole!' ger averted. That is why we all, with 'Save us, Kali, from all interference hands uplifted say, save us, oh! kindly with our religion! ' Some of the more mother. Keep us at thy feet, oh! fanatical had come up from Calcutta on mother of the universe. Who else is their hands and knees; others had there but thee to protect that priceless measured the entire distance by pros. treasure, our national religion, which trating themselves continuously and we are about to lose by the King's mancrawling on their stomachs. A strong date. Help us, oh ! goddess, and for thy body of police kept order; there was help we are taking thy name to.dllY. much subdued excitement. One fanatic To ruin us the cruel law is about to he placed his head on the altar at which passed_ Stop this, oh ! mother, and let many hundreds of lambs and goats had us be happy, who are rich in religion, been sacrificed to Kali, and demanded by singing thy name. When Srimunto the officiating priest to sever his head, was in danger, thou didst take him up as 'he would die for his country.' in thy lap. Thou didst give protection The priest declined, and the man, ris· to Kalkatu at thy feet, source of all good. ing up, was heard to say that the' law We are thy children too; why shall we unfortunately prevented his setting suffer then, oh ! mother Kali P" them all a good example.' While the bulk of the crowd was composed of We are not presenting all this ail news. ignorant persons, there were lots of lawyers, pleaders, merchants, bankers, lt will,not be such to a great number of schoolmasters, and other heads of the people. Poor India !" our readers, yet to others it will be more We had from several sources accounts or less so. We present it as a conten.
of the 80ngs composed for and sung on tion. We want to thrust home the the occasion by theatrical companies. whole facts on that not insignifica;:;t The Statesman gave a rough translation company of excellent people who can see no difference between ., our heathen of one of these, as follows: at home" and the heathen society of a .. FOR THE PROTECTION OF RELIGION. great people; a patient, ingenious, in. .. Sankirtan of Kali at Kalighat. dustrious, intellectual, and in many reo .. In great distresR at thy door we have come, mother, source of all good. spects not an unlovely people, who have Horrified, that is why we raise this cry, oh ! mother, queen of the universe. been systematically debased and im- What to say? We are about to be undone, mother, by the words of some out- bruted through the most sacred avenues castes. Intending to do an act of kind. ness, the Government is destroying our to the human soul; and who, we may even religion. Our hearts shudder through fear. Oh! goddess, save us from this believe, are sincere when they say, that great danger into which we have fallen. We, sons of Hindu families, who have the removal of child-marriage will result hitherto forgotten thee, are now crying to thee for help, as your children, and in a more debasing condition of society pray take us up in thy lap. Protect the modesty of our domestic maidens, thou than has been depicted, or rather hintwho savest people from shame. Kings make laws to make their subjects happy, ed at by the petitioners above quoted, but this law will oppress the poor and helpless. Make this clear to Govern. and by thousands of others who know ment, and say, , Don't make this law.' FOl"give us, oh ! goddess. Make Govern- of similar brutality and bestial outrage ment to understand a.nd to put an eml to all this confusion and disOl·der." under cover of marriage rights. Take " • Sankirtan' sung by the Burra Bazar them at their own rating, and what Sadharan Rori SaMa. must be the sentiment. what are the re- .. Let U8 all to-day sing hymns to g()odess Kali. Let U8 sing in her name, straints on society of the religions they cling to, if there is a worse state, .. a lower depth" imaginable, in conse- quence of shifting the protection of law for girl wifehood from ton to twelve years? It is an open confession that reo ligion, as they understand it has fur- nished no moral restraint against lust, against debauchery, against lechery and .cruelty. And the worst of it all is that those who know them best do not esti- beginning with Alexander III., the Czar mate the moral power of their so-called of Russia, and so on down to Bulgaria religions any higher than they do them- and Greece, to obtain at an early date selves. an international, conference "to con· sider the condition of the Israelites and It is in our heart to make another their claim to Palestine as their ancient plea, and that for sympathy and more home," etc. [J. T. G.] prayer for those sensitive and saintly souls who have to go down into such a Dr. Hamlin said: "The Christian moral maelstrom for years, to try to re- benevolence of this petition is beyond lieve this moral (or rather immoral) con- criticism. The sufferings of the Jews in dition, and, if pity can go farther, then Russia and other parts of Europe defor those parents who for the love of mand the sympathy as they excite the their Divine Lord have to try to rear horror and detestation of all Christians their children in the midst of such un- the world over. But it would be well measured and unmitigated miasma of for the petitiollers to consider the folimmorality. And yet why our cry for lowing points: pity? They seek none of it. All they are asking 01. the Christians of the "1. Have not the Jews forfeited all homeland is help to stay there and to do rightful claim to Palestine? They were the Christly work they have undertaken given over to the Romans because they -and in which they are succeeding– were rebels against Jehovah and His even if it be only to lie down as these anointed. noble lady-doctors at the foot of the throne of power, and cry for relief for " 2. The right of property has limitathe heathen even against themselves; or tions of time and circumstances. After to create a sentiment, as all missionaries eighteen centuries of dispossession and have been aiding to do, which will en- foreign residence no claim can be alable the political powers who care to do lowed in earthly courts. so, to protect young maidens from brutal marital relations till they are at least "3. The people that now inhabit Paltwelve (!) years of age. estine are the rightful owners of the soil. Their ancestors had held it for many Dr, Cyrus Hamlin on Restoring Pales- centuries before the Mayflower cast its tine to the Jews. anchor on 'the wild New England shore.' What would the President pro· The symposium at the Annual Meet- pose to Europe to do with them? They ing of the International Missionary are Arabs, Turks, Greeks, Armenians, Union on the several points of special Syrians, and of some ten or twel ve interest in the Jewish discussions of the other nationalities. Destroy them? times, which was conducted by Dr. Drive them out? Whither? Kellogg, of Toronto, Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, and Mr. William E. Blackstone, Super- "4. The Jews are not agriculturists. intendent of the Chicago Hebrew Mis- They generally hate the employment, sion, was one of great interest and abil- and the colonies established there have ity. We had hoped to be able to give a still to be aided. synopsis of the subject by each speaker prepared by themselves. We are fortu- " 5. The Jews have shown no general nate in having the points of Dr. Ham- desire to return to Palestine. The few lin's paper thus kindly furnished by who have gone have been induced to go him for our use. by offer of aid.
The paper was occasioned by a peti- " There is a small number who fancy tion numerously signed to " The Presi- that Jerusalem is to be rebuilt, the tem. dent and Mr. Blaine" to use their influ- pIe restored, the altar of sacrifice rekin. ence with the governments of Europe, dIed, the Jewish state exalted above all nations, and its enemies destroyed. But this is to be done by Almighty power, and the President and Mr. Blaine would cut a small figure by their interference. "6. • The Sacred Places' and other Government provoke such a humiliation possessions of the Oriental and Latin before all Europe? The explanations churches will be an awkward thing to which would be made would go for nothmanage in the 'return.' They would ing. The worst construction possible be an offence to the Jew; but for a Jew would be put upon every fact. So long to touch them would fire tJ:.e heart of the as our Government, especially our Sen_ Latin and the Greek churches to a white ate and House of Representatives, are heat. under the control of saloons and saloon- iets, so long as alcohol is king, we had "7. But, above all, the petitioners better not champion any cause of humanwould plunge the President right into ity in Europe. the middle of the Oriental Question. This was expanded to considerable " The one insuperable obstacle to any length, and the impossibility of our in- general return of the Jews to Palestine terference made very clear. is the Jews themselves. An awful cloud is over the land. 'His blood be upon ., 8. Is it probable that Europe would us and upon our children.' It must be be pleased with such a movement on the purified of Christianity before the Israelpart of our Government? 'rhe powers ite can look upon it but with abhorhave generally accepted the Monroe Doc- rence. As mendicants, as 'assisted trine. But that forbids our appearing emigranti '-always a worthless set-or in their affairs just as much as it ex- escaping from the inhumanity and savcludes them from ours. agery of Russia, a few tens of thousands may return. But they will be a sorry ,. 9. As precedents sanctioning the lot, and will ' suck the milk of the genreturn of the Jews to Palestine under tiles' for a living. European dictation, the example of Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, etc., under " , When the veil shall be taken away,' the dictation of the Berlin Congress, is and they shall become the glad and renot well taken. By the Berlin Congress joicing disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, autonomy was conferred to a greater or their own Messiah, and when they shall less extent upon those peoples in their see in Him the glorious fulfilment of ancestral homes. No man was deprived all their prophecies, there may spring of an acre of land. If Moslems wished up in many hearts a new love for Jeruto emigrate, as many foolishly did, they salem. Their flowing thither at their were allowed their own time and way of own expense would be a spontaneous doing it. In the • return' one people is and natural immigration that would acto be driven out and another brought in. commodate itself to circumstances. If It would be a very bloody and expensive only two or three millions should return affair all round, and the driven out and in this way they would soon possess the the brought in would alike perish. land, and there would be no question of oppression or of protection. Then all "10. Is our country specially fitted nations would hail their return, and the by her history for this proposed media- Church of Christ would see in it the tion? The outrages that have been dawn of the millennial day." committed in the United States upon the colored people in the Southern States, The Need of Speoial Preparation for Forand upon the Indians and the Chinese, eign Servioe. the murders, the expulsions from their native soil. the destruction of property, REV. A.. P. HAPPER, D.D., CANTON, CHINA. the slaughter of men, women, and children, the fiendish mobs, the rapes, the The General Missionary Conference thefts by Government agents, the' Cen- of China. in May, 1890, sent forth the tury of Dishonor' would all be brought call for 1000 missionaries for China up against us, and would make the persecution of the Jews in Russia appear in comparison a slight affair. Should our within five years. Within ten months he was a layman and an engineer, had after the issue of that appeal 127 mis- no special preparation to be a missionsionaries had arrived in China for one ary; and as he was so successful and mission, working in China, and 50 have uSPful as a missionary, it is supposed he arrived for all other societies. The is a proof that no special preparation is statement has been made in the news- necessary in order to be useful. The papers that when this appeal was pub- facts, on the contrary, in regard to Mr. lished in Australia, hundreds of young Mackay, are just the opposite of what is people offered themselves for this ser- supposed in regard to him. He had vice. The statement is also published very special preparation and experience in that the number of names given in to Christian work before he went abroad, the secretaries of the volunteer move- which led those who were acquainted ment in America is over 6000 ; and that with him to give the very highest testimore than 300 of those who had given monials of his preparation and qualifica. in their names have gone to foreign tion to be a missionary to teach and lands. preach the Gospel, in addition to being a capable engineer. Mr. Mackay had All the friends of missions will rejoice been brought up in his father's house, in these evidences of an extendinj:( in- who is an eminent Presbyterian ministerest in the cause of missions to hea- ter in Scotland, with special care and then lands among the young members under his own instruction. He had the of Christian churches in the home lands. best advantages of education in mathe- matics, the classics, and applied sci- But while rejoicing in this extending ences in the high schools and universiinterest in missions to the non-Christian ties of Scotland. He engaged in Chrislands, and in the increasing numbers of tian work in the original ragged schools those who are offering to go, I wish to of Rev. Dr. Guthrie and the Sabbathdirect attention to the great importance school of Rev. Dr. Horatius Bonar, in of thorough preparation for the work by Edinburgh. These educational and rethose who are sent abroad as missiona- ligious advantages were enlarged and ries. There is great danger that in the extended by a two years' residence and warmth of Christian sympathy for the practice in Germany, where he acquired perishing, and on account of the consid. a knowledge of the German language. eration that the people in heathen lands When he was appointed to go to Africa are ignorant, many will think that no he improved every hour of his time be_ special preparation is needed by those tween the time of his appointment and who go to teach them. It is evident his departure in getting some knowledge that many think that personal piety of different practical arts from compeand love to the Saviour and to the soulll tent professors and teachers, as those of of men are the only essential requisites for photography, printing cotton, and glass those who go as missionaries. This is manufacture, and the details of teacha very great mistake, and it is one which ing and training teachers. So that the will bring great injury to the cause of pre-eminent success and usefulness of Christian missions unless measures are Mr. :Mackay during the fourteen years taken to prevent its being carried into of his labors in Africa. which led Mr. practice. H. M. Stanley to speak of him as second to Livingstone, were the proper result I would call attention to the words of and outcome of the thorough and manithe lamented Mackay of Uganda, in his fold preparation which he had made last appeal for twenty men to come to during his youth and early manhood. Africa. His words are these: "You When, therefore, he speaks to the " sons sons of England, here is a field for your of England" and asks them" to bring energies. Bring with you your highest their highest education and greatest taleducation and your gre.atest talents; you will find scope for the exercise of them all. ' , Many suppose that Mr. Mackay, because ents, and assures them "they would widely ramified service as was necessary find scope for the exercise of them all, he in the details of government over such was only asserting what he knew to be numerous population, we must inquh-e a fact in his own experience. He only how these able and qualified men were asks for what all experience has proved obtained. They did not come by haphazt,o be necessary to success-viz., com- ard. The East India Company were petent natural gifts, with the necessary wise in their generation in some things. acquired knowledge and training. He The covenanted civil servants were aphimself is one of the most illustrious pointed under the system of open comexamples of the truth of this statement. petition. Thus the picked youth of the land are selected. The company estab- As the missionary work enlarges and lished a special college for their instrucexpands, the necessity that properly tion. Their college at Haileybury, in qualified men be serlt forth is more and Hertfordshire, had the ablest professors more emphasized. It should be spe- in the country in their several departcially urged upon all concerned in send- ments. The 'names of Henry Melvill, ing forth missionaries that they also James A. Jeremie, Richard Jones, Wilhave special care as to the quality of liam Empson, H. H. Wilson, Monier those they send forth. A few able and Williams, and Major J. W. J. Ouseley are well_qualified men will, with God's found among those of the professors. blessing, accomplish more than treble Selected young men from Rugby, Eton, the number of feeble and insufficiently and other distinguished schools and the qualified men. In confirmation of this, universities went there for two years' let all study the apostolic history. Paul, special instruction in the languages, the apostle of the gentiles, was a man of laws, customs, administration, etc., of great talents; he had the advantage of India, by these specially qualified teachthe best education at the celebrated ers. Is it any matter of wonder or suruniversity at Tarsus, and of the best prise that with such means such able Jewish masters in Jerusalem. He has and competent men were provided for left his impress on Christianity greater every department of the service, and in than that of the whole of the other numbers adequate to the needs of the apostles. two hundred millions of people? Is it strange that such men as Lord John There are two results of human efforts Lawrence, Sir Henry Lawrence, Sir Wiland labors that are marvels in their sev- liam Muir, Lieutenant-Governor James eral ways. One of them is the estab- Thomason, Edward Thornton, Sir Roblishment of the British rule in India, ert Montgomery, Donald Macleod, and the administration of the govern- George Edmonstone, Sir Bartle Frere, ment over such a numerous population and many others, literally too numerous to with such success. The other is the mention, were raised up to meet every German war against France in 1870. emergency, and to illustrate the energy But their wonderful results have not and efficiency of the Anglo-Saxon race? come by chance nor without the use of The training, the capability of the the appropriate means. As we study men, and the opportunity have produced the history of the establishment of Brit- such an administration of the Governish rule in India, the names of many dis- ment as has not been seen before in the tinguished names come in review be- history of the world. fore us. In the review of these names the conviction is forced upon us that the Europe was astonished at the results leaders in the successive decades of of the German War of 1870. But when this work were the picked men of the the facts are known, those results were public life of Great Britain. But if we the natural and sure results of the antewould fully understand how it was that cedent training of the officers of the Gerthere were a sufficient number of young man army. These officers had been men for every department of such a trained in the work to be done. Every Tarsus, after his conversion, was told strategic point in the French territory by Ananias of Damascus that " he was had been examined and marked out; a chosen vessel to bear the name of every difficulty and impediment had Jesus among the gentiles,' , he wpnt into been made known; the nature and char- Arabia to commune with the Lord; and acter of the country to be marched over it was three years before he entered fully had been mapped out; so that the lead- upon his glorious ministry. These ers of the invading armies knew what three years were the time of the special they had to do, what difficulties they preparation of the great apostle of the would meet, and, were trained to carry gentiles, though he, previous to his call, out the campaign as they had been in- had the benefit of the instruction in the structed ; and the proper and expected Roman university at Tarsus, and of the results all followed in their natural order. most learned Jewish teachers in Jeru- These results, however, were greatly to salem. How different is the course purthe astonishment of those who knew not sued in these latter days in sending of the thorough preparation which ,had forth many to the laborious and rebeen made by the German officers. sponsible duties of the Christian mis- sionary without any preparation or In the history of the world no such training! wonderful enterprise has been planned as that which has been committed to With the diffusion of Western knowlthe Christian Church-i.e., to convert edge and science, and of the agnostic this world to Christ, to extend this and infidel views of Western sceptics glorious Gospel of the blessed God till among the peoples of India, China, and the kingdoms of this world have become Japan, the importance and necessity of the kingdoms of the Lord and His the missionaries being more thoroughly Christ. prepared are strongly increased. They have now to meet not only the difficul- For its accomplishment it presupposes ties and hindrances of the native idolathe Divine aid of the great Captain of tries and errors, but also, in many cases, our salvation. When He gave the com- the objections and scoffs of Western inmission" to preach the Gospel to every fidels and atheists. Those who go forth creature," He prefaced it with the so readily without any really careful glorious assurance" all power is given preparation show how imperfect is their unto Me in heaven and in earth; go ye, conception of the work to be done, and therefore, and teach all nations, baptiz- give evidence of their own want of ing them in the name of the Father, and qualification and preparation to perof the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; and form it. lo! I am with you alway unto the end of the world." But the presence and It becomes the missionary societies power of our gracious Lord does not do and the committees having in charge the away with the necessity of providing examination and reception of candiand using the necessary and appropriate dates for missionary appointment to be instrumentality. The Saviour Himself especially careful in the reception of all spent three years in instructing His applicants, and to seek those of high apostles before He sent them forth on and suitable qualification and adequate their high mission. When the disciples preparation for the great and laborious filled the place of Judas, who had fallen calling. from that ministry, they placed in nomination two of "these men who A Word About the Student Volunteers. have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among usu_ In the minds of a great many people so careful were they to secure one who there is a marked incongruity between was thoroughly instructed and prepared the statement of the Student Volunteer for the solemn vocation. When Saul of Movement that some six thousand per- sons are enrolled by themselves as pledged from foreign service, and the to us all the more important that they unmet demand of so many societies for gat thoroughly prepared, because from men and women. All oC the societies them must come so much that certainly are not without candidates enough to cannot be looked for from the large supply their needs, but some say they number of persons who are nowencourare in vain calling for missionaries. aged to enter foreign service with very meagre intellectual furnishing. We do Several things ought to be borne in not enter upon the discussion to what mind. For instance, a great proportion extent unlettered and inexperienced, of this volunteer corps are not yet and. perhaps, even, untried persons through their collegiate and seminary should be encouraged to go abroad. studies. Certainly there is little dis· There is some difference of opinion on position on the part of experienced ad· that subject. There may be uses for a ministrators of missions to rush men greater number of men than mill be and women into the field with partial found ready trained or than the institupreparation, if they can remain to com· tions can furnish. Of that we are not plete their studies. Dr. Happer raises writing. But facts patent justify us in a note of warning on this sllbject in the raising the question as to tho pressure article we now present from his pen. that should be put on these in the He is entitled to speak on this subject. schools to hurry into the service. The He was of the original first company of Scandinavians have been rallied of late Presbyterian missionaries sent to China, both in Norway and Sweden and in and that was as long ago as 1844. It America by an earnest and probably WaB ten years from the time he formed well· meaning brother, to offer for the the purpose, God willing, to be a mis. foreign service. Some fifty or more sionary till he went abroad. During his have been recruited from Brooklyn, New college course his reading was connect· York, lind Chicago, and over a hundred ed with his purpose, and all his plans fmm Scandinavians in various quarters were subordinated to it. And yet, firm· of the world have gone to China alone, ly holding his purpose, he taught four and mainly are connected with a single years after graduation, then spent four mission- the churches at their startingyears in professional studies-medicirie place, we are informed, pledging them and theology-for the work, and in the fifty cents a day for their support, all of study of the history, geography, phi. course being unmarried. We are not losophy, and other features of China; prepared to say whether there is here a and medicine, teaching, and preaching movement which demands special guidhave been the lines on which he has ance by those experienced in missions, done such grand work these forty.seven but we do think that this emphasizes the years in that great empire. We could need of thorough preparation on the furnish instances enough to fill many part of the recruits which are to come page·s to show the great work accom- from these volunteer stUdents, and that plished by men and women who have the churches should not demand that developed a sturdy purpose through great numbers of them hasten away just similar years of steady subordination of now, but should rather advise their cauall aims to the one work of preparation tious preparation for wise leadership for a great life service. It is from this than press them too speedily into the corps of trained men and women repre- great responsibilities which await them. sented by the student volunteers that We say all this in the face of the fact we are to look for persistent patient that China calls for 1000 missionaries in leaders. Hence we suggest that too five years, and that they are not forthmuch pressure be not put on these coming in proportionate numbers. It pledged persons in our schools of learn- is true that some 175 have gone to China ing to hllsten unduly to the great fields since the appeal was iBllued, but of these which call so loudly for them. It seems 125 have gone to the Inlanu Mission, way to advertise so indiscriminately the leaving only about 50 among all the fact that 6000 persons are" waiting to other societies; and that would scarce· be sent," and much else of like phrase ly more than keep up the numerical that is not in accordance with the standard as it was. But let us not be facts. The great bulk of them are not disappointed if many of these student ret>dy to go ; but the fact that God has volunteers never go abroad. We are moved to create 80 missionary interest in quite confident that a very large propor- the hearts and minds of so many young tion of those enrolled by the excellent persons among those pursning their brethren who have charge of this stu- studies deserves very thoughtful and dent movement will never reach the prayerful consideration and devout field. They are not in position to form thanksgiving as well, while the" pledge"
a final judgment now in their school- should be made the" outward sign of days, and there has been no concurrent an inward grace" rather than an oath, judgment solicited from any boards or which it is not.-J. T. G.
churches as to the adaptation of these persons severally. Then they may be Men Needed in North Ohina. adapted to work which may not at the time when they offer themselves need Rev. C. A. Stanley writes to us from reinforcement, or the speciu.l church to Tientsin, North China: which they belong may not want men, "Our annual meeting has recently and they may not care to leave their de- been held here. At all our seven sta- nominational relations even if some tions there has been progress. Over other board would be willing to take 200 have been added to our churches those not of their own part of the fold. It during the last mission year in full will thus happen that a number of those membership. But our working force, honestly intending to be faithful to their both foreign and native, is not equal to pledge may not find the way open to the work in hand; and on all sides them. Then some of them will be there are doors of opportunity wide adapted to the demands of their own open, into which it is impossible for us societies at a time when the funds of to enter. There are several scores of the societies will not enable them to vlllages around Tientsin, in very few of send them. There are many good and which the Gospel has ever been able persons found in the churches be- preached, which, through the distribu- sides those just out of school, and some tion of relief to the sufferers from last volunteers may not be called by the so- year's flood during the winter, are cieties because such other persons are peculiarly prepared to listen to the at their command equally or better pre- Gospel message. Raving been appoint.
pared or more suitable. Thus from a ed to direct this distribution, and the great variety of causes there may be a work having been mainly done by mis.
great disparity between the total num- sionaries, it has associated itself in the ber of volunteers and the part who reach minds of the people with missionary the field. Thus not all the demand for operations. Thus they are ready to reo foreign service will be met from these ceive us and listen to our message.
ranks. Let this grand impulse of the Books were left in these villages when young people have time to find its provi. relief was given, and were there labor.
dential meaning and method. We see ers, native or foreign, to go and work many points at which these very capa- amc.ng them in the Master's name, I ble and devout young people of the Stu- have no doubt but that many would be dent Movement need wise guidance; brought to a knowledge of the truth. I but there is also need for wise conduct hope to be able, with my small force of on the part of the churches in relation workers, to do something in the fall and to them. It is, perhaps, not the best winter; but triple the force at my command would scarcely reach this imme- reache'! you of the riots of Wuhu and {liate need, not to speak of what is and Nanking. The animosity of the rioters would open beyond from this. Relief seemed to be directed chiefly against the was given in about 70 viJIages to about Roman Catholics. Demand was made 70,000 persons-not the entire popula- for the release of the children of the Lion by any means-the most distant Roman Catholic orphanage. At Wuhu one being some 12 miles. The city and all foreigners fled for their lives, and suburbs contain 600,000 souls. Similar their buildings were looted and prop- opportunities are present at all our sta- erty stolen or destroyed. At Nanking tions and with all the missionary socie- the Methodist property was looted and ties laboring in North China. And now destroyed, as well as that belonging to and again a devoted laborer is called to the Roman Catholics. No lives were his reward, largely because of overwork, lost. There seems to be general un- because the churches have not met the easiness all up the Yangtsi River. I demand, and he has had to attempt more judge the excitement to be largely politi- than he could do, and succumbed to the cal, aimed against the authorities and strain. The L. M. S. has just lost such rulers, and intended to make them un- a man in Mr. Gilmour, down from Mon- popular and to secure their removal. golia to attend tb e annual meeting of his It seems to have been instigated by society held here. He was sick twel ve some' secret society' men and literati, days, and had not physical strength to which abound in great numbers in the rally when the crisis came. And there Yangtsi Valley. They would like to stir is no one on the ground who can take up a rebellion if possible. Several of up his work, even at the expense of the rioters have been beheaded, and the some other phwe and work. This is local authorities have already begun to not a lone case-they are many." rebuild the premises, and will make restitution for damage done. We have The Riots in Ohina. no fear of trouble here; and yet I do not know that any place in China was We have long known that the great regarded as more secure for foreigners Chinese Empire had a dispensation of than Nanking. It was a great surprise " politics," as well as occidental nations, to have this outbreak there." and not unlike our own. They have the " ins" and the" outs,' , and it has been But it will go hard with the anti·forplain for a few years past that the eIgn party if they cannot find a better " outs" would make all the capital pos- way to manage their internal politics sible against the administration on their than by the murder of such missionaries conduct toward foreigners. The pres- as Mr. Argent, a lay missionary of the ent " Government," as they would say Joyful News Mission, for whose death in Europe-that is, the present prime there is no doubt the" secret societies" minister and his party-are strongly in are responsible. Those societies are not favor of advancement along Western good instruments for anti-administra- tion politicians in China, as they are as little controllable by the Celestial em· peror as the Mafia are by King Hum- bert. But the martyrdom of missiona- ries will only the more show the Church the way to the thorough evangelization of that great people.-J. T. G.
lines; but there are eminent and able statesmen who lead the anti-foreign feel- -We received some suggestions from ing. They may stir up the people even India some while since which indicated to a gigantic rebellion against General that Pundita Ramabai was restricted Li and his party. From private but very responsible sources our advices con- in even the mild religious teaching she firm the general statements as to the thought wise to introduce into the outbreaks in China. One correspondent school at Poona by representatives of writes from Foochow under date of June the American administrators of the 9th: funds raised for her use. We hope there is no ground for this thought. "You will have heard before this Ramabai knows how far to go to keep faith with the people of her own nation in the matter of religious neutrality; and nobody supposed that she would school, it is not fair to ask them to do receive any direction from American more now while it is so hard for them to management in simple and fundamental carryon the schools under their own religious matters. If she finds her way control. to have prayers or the reading of the Bible in her school, and can carry it -Miss Adaline D. M. H. Kelsey, with her Hindu constituency, surely no M.D., of Yokohama, writes to us as fol- Christian (?) hand would obstruct her. lows: If such should be the case, her American society would soon have no funds "It has been thought that the need to administer, and her executive com· of missionary physicians is not so urgent mittee would become executors of the in Japan as it is in other non-Christian school. Weare glad to see that the lands. This opinion is so widespread Harvest Field, the Wesleyan missionary it would be well to have it understood magazine for India, one of the ablest of in what respect the statement is true, our exchanges, .gives in a late issue the and in what other respect it is not true. chief place to some interesting articles on the wives and widows of India, in- " There is a medical department concluding a visit to Pundita Ramabai's nected with the Imperial University Home at Poona by the Rev. D. A. in Tokyo where advanced medical in. Rees ; and the history of the widow re- struction is given; an M.D. qualified to marriage movement in Bombay. With make a diagnosis and write a medical regard to the results of Pundita Rama- prescription can be found in every large bai's work we just quote one paragraph from the story of the interview. On city of the empire. being asked, "Are you satisfied with " It is also a fact that the Imperial the results so far?"' the Pundita replied, " I should have rejoiced to see larger University and normal schools of Japan results, but considering the difficulties, send out highly educated men and wom· I feel I have much cause for thankful- en capable to teach. Why, then, do we ness. Take that one fact-out of these send missionaries there to erect costly thirty widows I have the assurance from buildings and organize schools toleducate their own lips thai, their coming here has the children? Is it because we want to 8aved nearly TWENTY of them from SUICIDE, give them a secular education? If that STARVATION, OR A LIFE OF SHAME. This is our chief object, many givers to the fact alone is an abundant reward for all cause have been decei ved. But that has our toil and expense."-J. T. G. not been our avowed object. Our real aim and chief desire has been to get hold -Miss Susan A. Searle says of the of the people to influence and lead them American Board Girls' Boarding School to Christ by exemplifying His love to at Kobe, Japan: them in our own lives of self-denying labors of love for them. And do we send " During the last year and a half there physicians merely to heal the sick? Is have been urgent calls from the Japan- not the higher objQct the real answer ese themselves for such lengthening and here also? If there is not so much broadening of the courses of study in medical work to be done as in China and the school as shall make it, in fact, a India, more time and strength can be college. Having come at a time when given to the higher work of teaching the Japanese were especially impatient Christ's love and mission to souls that of anything like foreign control in are starving for the Bread of Life. To church or school matters. the request do this work the M.D. must of necessity seemed significant of their confidence be a real missionary as well as a physi. in the management of the Board. To ciano There is plenty of this combined accede to this request, and at the same work to do in Japan. 'fhe number of time carry out long-cherished plans for Christians among the Japanese physi. the school, it is necessary to have, for cians is so small that, in an extensive buildings and other equipments, a much acquaintance with them throughout the larger sum of money than the annual empire, only four are known to be appropriation from the Board. The Christians. Two of the four are women, Japanese Christians are supporting educated in mission schools, and studied nobly several Christian schools, which are becoming to a greater extent every mAdicine in America. These two are year feeders of the Kobe school. They doing a good work for their countryare already heavily burdened; and women in making greater revelations to though in past years they have given them than they themselves can at. pres. generously toward buildings for the ent know. There is such a difference between working for money or fame and working for love.
"There are two Japanese girls now in this country fitting themselves to return as Christian healers. More are needed,"
'EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS
III.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
The Student's Summer School a.t North· all about $5000 and upward raised for field. Bishop Thoburn's missions in two years.
The sixth of these remarkable gather. The movement was quite spontaneous ings has been held. They began in and, of course, quite free from all con- June. 1886, at Mount Hermon, and this, siderations of denominationalism. Not which was held from June 27th to July a few have found fault because for two 8th, was regarded by many as exceeding successive years the missions of the in interest as well as numbers any Methodist Church in India have had so preceding convention. About five liberal a support, while the boards of the hundred students were enrolled. Mr. Baptist, Congregational, and Presby- Moody, of course, presided, as he is the terian churches are struggling to keep main attraction, and daily services were out of debt. But the simple fact is, held, at whioh Bible studies were con- there was little or no thought of the fact ducted and addresses of various sorts that Bishop Thoburn is a Methodist occupied attention. The main purpose bishop. His plan struck the conference of these conferences is known to be the as apostolic and feasible and as accom- consecration of these young men to lives plishing more for the money than any of higher service. The controlling other that has been proposed, and the thought in Mr. Moody's mindwas a bap- response was very hearty and im- tism of the Holy Spirit. Much time was pulsively generous: perhaps it erred ( given to missionary meetings. "Round on the side of catholicity and generos· Top" has already come to be, like the ity. There may be a doubt whether it " Hay Stack" at Williamstown, connect. is expedient in a conference composed ed inseparably with missionary consecra· of all evangelical denominations to take, tion. Here, at twilight every evening, especially for two successive years, an the young men meet to consider the offering so large as this for the mission question of individual obligation to the work of anyone church. It is liable to world·wide field. Here the call for new be misunder,;tood and to occasion hos- volunteers was daily sounded, and the tile criticism. Bishop Thoburn's meth- claims of a dying world were weighed. ods have not the entire support even of We doubt not thatfrom that sacred spot his own Methodist brethren. No little many young men will date the begin- doubt has been expressed in our own ning of a new era in their lives. hearing as to the thoroughness and per- The missionary fires burned brightly manence of the work, and the expediency in more than one general meeting. Last of hiring such laborers, even at so low year Bishop J. M. Thoburn, of India, a cost. But the action taken was in told of his work and of the plan he is both years a simple outburst of genuine pursuing of employing native evange- missionary enthusiasm, and there was a lists, at an average cost of $30 a year, to noble impetuosity and liberality about proclaim among their fellow-country- it, peculiar to young men. It is not men the good tidings. The scheme im. open to the same criticism as a deliber- pressed the audience as so simple, eco- ate and previously planned course of nomical, and sensible that on the spot, action.
by Mr. Moody's enthusiastic leadership, This gathering was representative.
the pledges were made for support of It contained young men from all quar.
100 such evangelists. This year a re- ters. Not only were Great Britain, port was, made of the work done by Canada, the United States, represented, these hundred workers during the year, but China, Japan, Australia, Persia, and at once enough more was pledged Scandinavia, Germany, France, etc.
to support seventy-five such evangelists Indeed, it may be doubted whether for the current year. This will mnke in 'in any similar IIssembly so many various peoples and tongues have ever been "Our Oonntry." represented by Christian disciples. A new edition of Dr. Josiah Strong'8 They were like the Pentecostal assembly remarkable book is issued by our very " from every nation under he_en, " and enterprising friends, the Baker & Taylor every man might hear "in his own Co., 742 Broadway, New York. The tongue tho wonderful works of God." new edition, revised so as to embrace Too great care cannot be taken by the latest information of the census of those who have these gatherings in 1890, is greatly increased in value; and charge as to those who, on such a plat- the little book, already the most helpful form, present the truth. We feel con- contribution to home mission litera- strained emphatically to dissent from ture ever given to the American public, some teaching which we have heard, or has doubled its practical worth as a book known to be allowed, in such gatherings. of reference.
There is a special tendency in these Of this work of Dr. Strong we can days to depreciate the importance of say nothing too laudatory. It is muUum sound doctrine. Christianity is em- in parvo. But fifteen chapters long, con- phasized as a life, and often the doctrinal tained in 267 pages duodecimo, and side is treated as of little consequence. about 100,000 words, there is an amount H has been free. uently said that if one of information and inspiration which accepts Christ as his personal Saviour many ordinary volumes would not BUp- it matters little what he believes or ply. The words are picked and packed; doubts; that the creed is of small the illustrations are forcible and sim- moment if the heart is anchored to pie; the statements are lucid and Christ. Such teaching is perilous, es- vivid; the argument is terse and telling.
pecially before young men. Paul says, It is plain that the book is the product of 0' Hold fast the form of sound words with all time previous. It took many years faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." to prepare the hand and brain of its dis- There is no power in error to develop a tinguished author to give such a prod- beautiful life, and if there is any beauty uct to the public. And all this can in the life of a sceptic it is in spite of be had for 30 cents in paper and 60 his error, and in consequence of the cents in cloth! It has made a sensa- truth, mixed with error. Christianity is tion like" Uncle 'fum's Cabin."
both doctrine and deportment, belief and life. It is quite too fashionable in these Dr. George Smith, the missionary days to apologize for loose notions of biographer, who is also Foreign Secre- inspiration, atonement, the divinity of tary of the Missionary Board of the Christ, the work of the Spirit, and a Free Church of Scotland, writes from future state of reward and punishment, Edinburgh, June 3d, 1891 : on the ground that if one is sincere it My DEAR DR. PIERSON: Should I live matters little what he believes We to write Henry Martin, an even more protest in the name of all that is good important life has got to be writtenthat the highest Christian life, and es- that of Charles Grant, who inspired pecially the largest service in saving Wilberforce and Carey, and was himself souls, is inseparably connected with led to Christ by Schwartz. His grand- doctrinal soundness. A missionary son, the present Sir Charles Grant, has must believe the truth if he is to be an the necessary papers, which are in beaueffective and successful worker for God. tiful order, for myoid friend, John We regal'd the growing laxity in doc. Marshman, had them, and died before trine, and especially the prevailing dis- he could write the book. Meanwhile, position to tolerate all forms of unsound to test the matter, I will have, in an opinion, as tending to undermine the early number of Good Words, a con- whole structure of missions, both at densed sketch of the greatest Scotsman, home and abroad. next to Duff, who ever went to lorlia. Use my name as you kindly propose, respondents the lady workers in Madrid (Mrs. Fenn), San Sebastian, Puerto Sta if it will be of any service, on your list lIIaria, Figueras, Seville (Mrs. Barosso), Pradijon and Santander, to whom their of editorial correspondents. members may apply.
Do not overtax your strength. I From Manoh, SaJijah, Sierra Leone, W. Africa, April 27th, 1891, we have the began life in India at twenty, and have following: worked hard-sometimes too hard in I have to thank you for the MISSION- ARY REVIEW, which is so free from a Bengal, so as to suffer. But work just up party spirit, so full of fervor that we who are out in the mission field cannot to the limit of strength is as healthy and but feel how little we are doing to what we ought. May the Great Head of the delightful as work even a little beyond Church enable us faithfully to battle with the heathenism of the pagan and strength is perilous, and bad economy, the easily satisfied conscience of the converts, who seem to have grasped the and truly sinful. Gladstone is a noble truth of their redemption and justifica- tion, but seem to forget they have daily example of a hard worker just up to the to overcome and grow in grace. We who have had the blessed Gospel in our limit, who has feared God and done His country for generations cannot possibly tell what these poor children have to service as no other statesman in history overcome.
has done it, I think. He is a friend of I am the only foreign representative of the Episcopal Church here. Our missions, as I know from personal in. mission is situated at the most northern point of the republic of Liberia. Our tercourse with him. My book on " A work is entirely among the heathen. The Board appropriates support for 125 Modern Apostle" has just gone to a sec- children, 85 of whom are under my es- pecial care. There are two student ond edition. Yours truly, teachers to assist. I am hoping to wel- come a teacher from Sierra Leone soon• G. SMITH. Many of our girls are growing into wom- anhood, and it is a cause for devout God may move some generous souls to thankfulness that we have been able to respond to this appeal; but the editor keep them so long under the sound of owes it to himself to say that no funds the Gospel. Twenty-eight of them are have been yet entrusted to his care for regular communicants. Of course all any such purposes: their own mending, making, washing, ironing, and domestic work is done by DEAR DR. PIERSON: Confident of your them. The little boys work in the coffee interest and sympathy in the work of farm of an afternoon, as also do the the Student Volunteer Movement for senior department or elder boys, who Foreign Missions, I am writing you to are under the superintendence of Mr. say that we are in financial straits. To Jones. He also is a son of a convert, be more definite, we are in immediate and will be ordained next Christmas. and pressing need of $1500 for current He is very ambitious to establish workexpenses. shops, where they can be taught differ· I have been thinking that you might be inclined to turn over to our use some of the funds entrusted to your care for •, foreign missionary" purposes.
Whether or not you are led to send money, I venture to ask you to join with me in prayer that the Lord will send the money for His own work. I ask you because I know you believe in prayer, and because it is laid upon my heart distinctly that I shall see this money in view.
Yours very heartily, MAX WOOD MOORHEAD, Chairman Finance Committee. June 23d, 1891.
Rev. J. E. B. Meakin desires us to add to the statistics of the work in Spain that the London Y. M. C. A. has for corent trades -it is so necessary to train we had lengthened conversations on the their muscles as well as intellect out great subject of missions.
here. He published, many years ago, a In 1858 I was under the auspices of " Missiunary Atlas," accompanied with the C. M. S., London, and remained in most valuable explanations and histori- Sierra Leone for seventeen years. cal notices. As all the letter-press was The ages of the children vary from in Danish, the circulation of the work two to eighteen years. Our little ones was necessarily limited. He hoped an give us much pleasure, but we need edition might be published in English, more help. So much has to be left un· but, for reasons mentioned by the dean, done for lack of strength and time. the idea was not carried out.
M. It. BRIERLEY. Dr. Grundemann is another most dili.
gent and laborious student of mission From Forsyth, Georgia, Mr. J. C. history. He also published an atlas of Davidson writes: great value, which, in the rapid advance "Your statistician gave' the M. E. of missions, is now necessarily some- Church, Soutb, an incorrect report what out of date.
under the head of ' Foreign Missionary It is high time that we had a work Societies,' page 476, in June number of carefully representing the mission field REVIEW. as it now is. The two gentlemen I have "I send you the statistics of that named are ready to unite in preparing church's missions : it if they can be freed from pecuniary "Missionaries: Total maleH, 142; responsibility in connection with the wives of missionaries, 39 ; totalfemales, large undertaking.
30 ; total, 211. (From Woman's Mission In my conversations with Dean Vahl it Advocate, June, 1891.) Native laborers, was quite understood that the work 262 ; other helpers, 17; members, 14,. should be in English. Both Dr. Grun- 702 ; probationers, 291 ; total, 14,993; demann and he are acquainted with that churches, 184. language.
" These figures I take from the report You will see that the dean hopes that of the Board of Missions, 1891." the missionary societies may patronize These letters, from Dr. Murray Mitch. the undertaking. I trust that the pub. ell and Dean Vahl, are of great interest. lication of his letter may bring this im- Dean Vahl's "Atlas" is the best we portant matter under the notice of the have ever seen. societies in America and Europe, and of the public generally. It will be lament- EDINBURGH, May 22, 1891. able if, when two men so admirably DEAR FRIEND : The letter I enclose is qualified for the work as Dean Vahl and from Dean (Provost) Vahl, of N. Ulster, Dr. Grundemann are prepared to under- Denmark. take it, their proposal should not meet I doubt whether any living man is with a hearty response.
better acquainted with the history and If the missionary societies should not bibliography of missions than my much- see their way to help as Dean Vahl pro- esteemed friend, Dean Yah!. Every. poses, is there no large.minded, large- thing he has written regarding missions hearted friend or friends of missions -and he has written mueh-is brimful who will render the needful aid in this of accurate and interesting information. important undertaking?
After attending the late Evangelical I hope you can kindly insert Dean Alliance Congress at Florence, to the Vahl's letter in the MIsSIONARY REVIEW, work of which he made a very valuable and so draw attention to the subject.
contribution, in which he compared the I remain, dear Dr. Pierson, Protestant missions of 1845 and 1890, Ever very faithfully yours, he dE-all paid me a visit in Nice ; and J. MURRAY MITCHELL. Dean Vahl's letter follows: to.do people, and such a book would April 18, 1891. be too dear for them.
DEAR DR. MURRAY MITCHELL: 1. AA It could be done almost in the same you know, we have sometimes spoken way in which, a year ago, we started a with one another as to getting my missionary review in I::lcandinavia. If " Missionary Atlas" translated and pub- twenty of the great missionary societies lished in English. You have asked me in Great Britain and America would give to explain myself more explicitly about £50 each toward the publication of such this matter. As you know, the Re- a work, we should havo £1000 (and, if ligious Tract Society of London had necessary, perhaps twenty smaller socie. thought thereabout, and an agreement ties would give £25 each) ; thus, I think, was made; but the matter dropped, and a very large part of the expenses could I do not like to press it forward. Some of be paid. I think it would take three or the secretaries of the missionary socie- four years of our time to make the work ties have said that all that was in my book as complete as it ought to be. But a was quite correct, but they wished that complete budget of the expenses can I had dwelt more on the work of their on a later day be produced. I find that special societies. Had I done that, the Dr. Grundemann is willing to work on book would have been twice or thrice as such a plan. large, for all other societies must have been treated in the same way. Perhaps every society could open a subscription at net price, whereby it There have also been negotiations might be possible for numbers of them about a German edition, but they have come to nothing. The book has been to get the atlas at a reduced rate. You praised by German critics like Dr. War- may use what you will of this letter, neck, Dr. Grundemann, and Rev. G. and I should be glad if this plan were Kurze, as the most complete book on settled in one'way or another. this subject found in any literature. Yours very sincerely. 2. You know that Dr. Grundemann about twenty years ago published a (Signed) J. VAHL. " Missionary Atlas," the best ever published. Now it is a little out of date, and This REVIEW would gladly assume one a new edition should be brought out. subscription of £50 sterling ($250) to But it has been impossible to find a pub- insure the succes~ of Dean Vahl's plan. lisher. Some will say there is no need of Who will join us? Let the parties resuch an atlas, as the different societies sponding send names and amounts to can each publish an atlas of its own. the editor.-A, T. P. Quite true; but it would be only, or mostly, of their own missions; to buy One of our correspondents sends the them all would be very expensive; and following" unillersal prayer of all who besides, the outlook of the whole world read aright the signs of the times" : would be wanting. (TUNE, America.) Some time ago Dr. Grundemann wrote to me, proposing that we should " God save our fellow.men, work together; he would draw the Save them from every sinmaps, and I should give the letter-press Make them thine own. in the same way as I have done it in From heaven, Thy dwelling-place, my own .. Missionary Atlas." Such a Look on our helpless race. thing would be of very great importance Save them through Jesus' gracB, for students of mission· history. But Thou Holy One. how can it be done? No publisher in Germany would care to undertake it, " 0, Thou impartial Friend, nor, perhaps, any in England or Ameri- On Thee their hopes dependca. I fear it would not pay. The stu· Thou bidd'st them come. dents of missions are generally not well- May thousands turn to Thee, Thy true disciples be, And ever dwell with Thee In Thy blest home.
" Bless all who own Thy Word, O'Thou, our only Lord, , Thy will be done.' Bid all o~r strifes to cease, Let Christian love increase, Give us Thine own sweet peace Oh, make us one. "
Yours faithfully, W. K. AZBILL, Special Agent F. C. M.S. ,Indianapolis, May27th,1891.
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
IV.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
JAPAN. oppressive and offensive ever since their adoption in 1858. The mihtary commander of the Japan- ese forces, when he saw the walls of the One of these exempts foreigners from fort crumbling beneath him, under the being amenable in Japanese courts. fire of Commodore Perry's guns, while Whatever offence a man from the West he paced to and fro, swore by all the may commit, he cannot be brought be- gods of Japan that he would find out fore a Japanese tribunal. He is only how it was done. The whole nation amenable in the consular courts of his presently thereafter resolved to find out own nation in Japan. The Japanese how Europe and America did everything recognized that this discriminated else. A people, whose written history against their equality among nations; reaches back in uninterrupted tale to but the foreigner urged against them the time of Nebuchadnezzar, was revolu- that they acknowledged standards of tionized in government, in commerce, offence, and "cruel and unusual punin its army and navy, in material and ishments" to which foreigners must not social science, in its very dress and be subjected. They said they must wait manners in a few months; and witbin until the Japanese civilization became a third of a century they underwent modernized in these particulars. Japan maze changes than they bad previously now comes forward to say that she has done since the time of Crcesus. The met the conditions and adjusted her result was a New Japan. Newspapers, jurisprudence and procedures so that a postal and telegraph system extending there is no longer any reason for this from end to end of the empire, and al- humiliating discrimination against her. most everything elsE! that entered into She demands the revision of this part of tbe externals of Western civilization the treaty. Many foreigners in the were adopted. great cities of Japan, however, still lire not willing to be subjected to Japanese The Christian missionary was ad- authority, and stoutly oppose this remitted as a part of this new regime. vision, and the result naturally is an The foreign schoolmaster, too, was in anti-foreign feeling among the Japandemand. Foreign literature was im- ese. ported until it flooded tbe land. But now-and suddenly in the estimation of A much more practical question than SOIDe people-aU this iii reversing. We, this of political dignity, however, is anhowever, can scarcely see it that way. other feature of the old treaty, which It rather seems to us that Japan is pro- dictates the amount of revenue that gressing straight along the same path Japan shall receive from imposts on she entered thirty-five years ago. She foreign importations. The Westernnacan recognize the standard of political tions set their own rate of customs for self-respect of the West as well as she Japanese goods entering their councan Western forms of dress ; and she tries, and then obliged Japan to take has never adopted any ideal of political what they chose to give her for their eJwellence that would lessen her inde- own products taken into her ports. And pendenue and equality among the na- this was fixed at the uniform rate of five tions. per cent. This was destructive of her national dignity in a still greater de- She was humiliated by the Western gree, and pushed her to the very verge powers and made to accept a treaty of bankruptcy. Our view is that in reagainst particulars of which she all the sisting these unjust obstructions Japan while most vigorously protested. 'l'wo did not start on any reactionary path. special features of the treaty have been way. She only still further demanded Church of Japan came to feel they must to be allowed to do as Western nations have something simpler, and concluddo. This agitation and resistance to ed that they knew how to state their Japanese demands only called the more faith for their own people much better attention to the fact that Western na· than the missionaries had done; anci tions hold to national pride and inde. hence the intensity of their resistance pendence, and developed a high spirit to any foreign aid in drawing up the of patriotism. Japan must do the preamble to the Apostles' Creed. '1'h6 same, they argue. She must love her preamble was, however, orthodox own and respect her national habits throughout; and in this respect does and life. This may be called reaction, great credit to the apprehension of the but is it not relll progress? Imitation Japanese Church of the fundamental is peculiarly active among primitive teachings of their missionaries. Some peoples. Asiatics from the Bosphorus very able missionaries think that the to the Yellow Sea are expert imitators. di"position to independent church ac- But Japan discovers that the strength tion has elements of good in it. They of the West is in its power to originate say it will shift the burden of responsiand appropriate without imitating. She bilityon to the Japanese native leaders, will do that way too. She will have and they will strengthen under it. everything now original. This may be There are some perils, doubtless. Some only a new phase of Japanese imitation, of the Japanese think they do not need and may not prove her strength. It has any more missionaries from abroad. exhibited some ridiculous instances. They feel the Japanese to be capable to One of the most curious was in the sixth develop and lead their own churches; meeting of the synod of the Japanese· but they, perhaps, never needed able Presbyterian Church, when they thought missionary guidance more than now. they must adopt an original creed ob. They have not measured the forces that jecting to all those of the other nations. are arrayed against them. Darwinism The committee nearly gave up in despair flourishes in Japan. Japanese flock to when the Apostle's Creed was objected Germany as well as to the divinity to as foreign. Finally one of their own schools of America. French Romanists, number went to his honse and drew Greek Catholics from Russia, Unitaup a creed, which being presented and rians, Universalists, infidels, and heterobjected to as foreign also, assured them odox forms of the Christian teaching of that np to a half hoUl' before its pres- every shade are present among them_ entation no foreigner had so much as They never needed the earnest prayers seen or known of it, and it was then and wise counsel, as well as financial only that they adopted it as a preamble resources of the West, more than they do at this hour. But they will have to the Apostles' Creed. It is true there strong leaders, or none, from afar.
wa!! other reason for this particular nov. IOREA. elty. The Prcsbyterians of Japan had combined that they might present fewer For four hundred years Korea was divisions of the Protestant Church to isolated from the rest of the world, exconfuse the Japanese mind. They cept as hostilities· now and again broke agreed in 1877 to the organization of the monotony. It is a small country the United Church of Christ in Japan about double the size of Ohio, with a out of the Presbyterians of America population variously estimated, but (North), the Reformed, and the United which we may put down at 12,000,000. Presbyterians of Scotland. They recog- It has a coast line of 1800 miles, though nized the symbols of the Westminster the tongue of land is only about 400 Confession of Faith. the Canons of thfl miles long; numbers among its mineral Synod of Dort, the Heidelberg and the products coal, iron, lead, tin, silver, and Shorter Catechisms, and the infant gold. It pays tribute to China and fields for trading purposes. On the Japan, but beyond that is not controlled seaboard modern missionary influences by them. Its' existing records reach flowed to Korea from Japan. The back for 3.0.0.0 years. Its trustworthy Methodists and Presbyterians began history begins about A.D. 2.0.0. In 1876 missionary work in Seoul in 1884. A the present progressive king entered great int erest was felt in this movement, into treaty relations with Japan, open- because this " hermit nation" was one ing to them three Korean ports. In of the only two countries that remained 1882 the United States made a treaty positively shut from missionary influ- with Korea, and in 1883 first sent a min· ences. Now all doors are open except ister to its court. The land is owned into Thibet. Korea may prove to open by the people, and held for them by the a pathway for Christian forces into king, and rented to the people, which Manchuria. takes the place of all other taxes. The capital, Seoul, contains about 35.0.0 MEDICAL MISSIJNS. hou~es and a population of from 15.0,.0.0.0 or 2.0.0,.0.0.0. In religion Korea has fol- Outside of Christian countries nearly lowed China and Japan from an original all disease is esteemed to be of supernature worship to the adoption of Bud- natural origin. The belief. in diseasedhism, Confucianism, and Romanism. spirits is found from the Eskimo to the Of late years there has exhibited a strong Patagonian; in Oentral, Western, East. tendency to emphasize the primitive ern, and Southern Africa; in Borneo, Australia, the Indian Archipelago, nature-worship. * among the Malagasy, and if! well· nigh world. wide, and has existed through Christianity was introduced into uncounted centuries. The treatment of Korea through some Jesuit books from disease is in consonance with the theory Peking in 1777. The first Korean con- of its origin. Even where the rude vert was baptized in 1783. The new medical notions of Greece, Egypt, and faith spread rapidly; but here, as else- Arabia have migrated, there is ever where, Jesuit political intrigue led to found the superstitious treatment of revolt against them, and sixty years of disease. Medicine and religion go topersecution followed, in which thou- gether in the thought of the non·Chrissands of Korean converts died within tian man. He is quite ready to receive this century with the names of Jesus them together from the Christian misand Mary on their lips. Other thou- sionary! "The recovery from disease sands apostatized; but some estimate is the kindliest exhibition of Divine that there are still thousands of secret power; and the Christian medical misdisciples of Christ in the land. sionary occupies a lofty vantage ground in his work." A missionary of the Netherlands Society reached Korea in 1832 and reo The results of medical missions mained one month, distributing tracts abundantly sustain these statements of and religious books. The missionaries what might be expected of them. Of of the Preshyterian Church of Ireland, the twenty stations in the region of the living in China on the borders of Korea, English Presbyterian Hospital at Swaexerted the first of the more modern tow, China, seven or eight are said to Protestant influences in Korea through owe their origin to hospital patients. Koreans that came over to their mission In the hospital of the London Mission- ary Society at Amoy it is said twelve to • Rev. J. Ross some while since gave It list in fourteen thousand towns are yearly the Chinese Recorder of over twenty gods which represented. Intelligent natives from are popnlarly worshipped in Korea; gods of the all parts of China going to Canton visit road, gods of the monntains, who protect from the hospital and dispensary there, it is tigers; gods of the rain and of war, gods of the said, as one of the great sights of the kitchen, the Virgin Mary, and Ancestral Tablets are enumerated. city. Twenty thousand patipnts a yEar, harm should befall either houses or peo· pie. SODle of whom have come hundreds of .. And so it came to pass, So grateful miles to it, are treated at this hospital, was Abdullah for services rendered by the doctor that he contrived to restrain and hundreds of them have been led by the ferocity of his men for the whole seven weeks during which the siege it to give up idol worship. All these lasted and firing was kept up. Not a missionary, not one of the five hundred institutions illustrate the power of native Christians who took refuge with medical missions to lessen the anti.for. the missionaries, was touched. Their goods and their cattle, too, were in eign feeling, to diminish the power of safety in the mission buildings. Even the five Christian villages outside the superstition, and to exhibit the un- town were, for Dr. Cochrane's sake, left unmolested. This is all the more reo selfish character of the Christian reo markable when we consider the natural disposition of the Kurd, the fanatic fnry ligion. Medical missions have opened to which he is roused by his religion-=- eminently a religion of the sword-and the way into many countries where the annoyance felt by Abdullah at the long reHistllnce of the Persians. prejudice otherwise shut out all Chris· tianity. It was so in Jeypore, India, ., I found that wherever I went in Koordistan Dr. Cochrane's fame and and in Korea. name had 8pread everywhere. I was asked aftpr his health and whether I The story is the same in every land had seen him," etc.
whither the medical mis,;ionary goes as There is a small pamphlet published to the effects in winning the people. by the Missionary Echo Publishing Dr. Scranton, of the Methodist Mission Company, Toronto, Canada, to be had of Seoul, Korea, says: by mail for six cents, entitled" Medical "Our patients, as well as stUdents, Missions: Facts and Testimonies to their come to us from all parts of the realm. The 'patients many times come with Value and Success," compiled by W. J. more faith in a cure than our diplomas will warrant us in promising or at· Wanless, M.D., which is brimful of tempting. We have thus far been per. mitted to influence hundreds of Koreans most interesting statements about medi. toward a belief and reliance in what foreigners can do and teach. and have cal missions at Canton, Amoy, Swatow, reliAved much suffering. Sometimes our simplest operations are not much Bangchow, Tientsin, Hankow, Fot. short of miracles in their eyes, and our renown and welcome are increasing shan, Chefoo, Pang.Chuang, Foochow, daily. One of Ollr first steps is to make the country glad we came, and make Hainan, and other parts of China; in them put reliance in what we can teach. This is fast being accomplished in all Mongolia, Formosa, Korea, Siam, Ara. departments … bia, Persia, Syria, Africa, Madagascar, Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop, author of •, Unbeaten Tracks in ,Japan" and other and other countries.
volumes about her wide wanderings over Rev. J. H. Corbett, of Shantung.
the world, in addressing an English China, says there would be a mighty audience recently, said she was an en· upheaval in China if into every district thusiast on the subject of medical mis. of the empire a Christian physician and sions. She told the well·known instance a trained preacher were sent two and of the effects of Dr. Cochrane's medical two. .. Missionaries who have some work in Persia. An English exchange knowledge of medicine may do good,"
thus reports the story as she told it, saysJ. Hudson Taylor, ., and win golden and testified to it : opinions while on journeys," But Dr.
,. On one occasion the chief of the Edward Chester well says, "The medi- Kurds-Sheik Abdullah–sent for Dr. Cochrane, and told him that he was cal work in missions is nothing save as about to make war upon the town, but that if he would indicate the exact posi. it helps to show to the heathen that the tion of the mission buildings, and warn the missionaries to keep within their Divine Christ is the centre, the soul, shelter, he would guarantee that no the life of Christianity, and that we are His disciples and followers."
America has not failed to see the value of medical'm:ssions for women by duly proof of their discipleship in holy livqualified women doctors. There are ing and moral reform, rather than in said to be 109 medical missionaries in formulating theories or musing specula. China, of whom 38 are women; and of tion. Already the earnest efforts to these women physicians 36 are from secure sexual purity, Christian mar- AmeriCl~. Medical missions have been riage, sound Bible instruction, purificabegun in all but four of the provinces of tion of the home, temperanoe, and hon- China. The work of American medical oring the Lord's Day, show the lines of lady physicians in India has been the activity and victory. Without undermeans of leading to a national move- valuing science or philosophy, our bement for sending women physicians to lief is that the American missionary to that country. We refer to the Lady Japan or the native preacher needs, first Dufferin Movement. This had its in- of all, to be a consecrated Christian and spiration in the medical mission work a minister of the pure Gospel of Jesus of the American lady doctors. But of Christ. the manifold and direct and indirect favorable results to evangelization from -It is cheering to report that the mismedical missions we cannot even fur- sionary societies are not yet so much ther hint. No department of mission- embarrassed by the uncertain monetary ary service will probably require greater condition as was at one time feared. expansion in the near future, nor yield Since the adjournment of Congress the more satisfactory results, provided the price of silver has been falling, and it is professional work be not allowed to ab- not now greatly in excess of what it was sorb the evangelistic accompaniment. last year at this time. So the oost of exchange is not likely to be so heavy the -Dr. William Ellis Griffis quotes and last six months of 1891 as it was the writes in the Presbyterian Review of To- first six months. ronto as follows: The prudential committee of the "Basil Hall Chamberlain, in his American Board, in view of the ad- 'Things Japanese.' says: 'Our … proph- vance of nearly $70,000 in this year's ecy is that the Christians of Japan will be contributions, has gladdened the hearts occupied with questions of morals and of the workers abroad by making practice-the temperance question, for $15,000 additional appropriatIOns to instance, and Sunday observance-· fields whence there has been an urgent rather than with subtle doctrinal theo- call for help. Six times this sum <'ould ries, the Japanese mind being too essen- easily be disposed of in extra gifts to tially unspeculative for the fine distinc- missions which have been terribly tion of the theologians to have any scrimped. charm for it, much less for it to seek to split new hairs for itself. The failure of -The Presbyterians of Canada did Buddhist metaphysical abstractions to better for home missions than for foreign take any hold of the national sympa- missions in the year recently closed, thies is a finger-post in history point- giving to the former $111,988, and to ing to what may be expected in the the latter $87,185. The great advance, future.' they say, has been made by the Women's Foreign Society. Beginning 14 years "This testimony, by a veteran and ago, they have brought up their income expert, will be concurred ie, I think, by from nothing to $34,629, and are every those who know the Japanese best. A year advancing in the vigor and success few of the Japanese 'will seek after wis- of their efforts. dom ' of the Greek sort. The majority of the forty millions need the Gospel, -The American Bible Society holds while of the 30,820 enrolled Protestant in trust the sum of $373,796.56. The Churoh Blembers the majority will give income is to be used for general benevo- lent and missionary purposes.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
V.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Organized Missionary Work and Statistics. Edited by Rev. D. L. Leonard. Bellevue, O.
-How lavishly money is expended to India. The Bible Society has six auxgratify the lusts of the flesh! "The iliaries. From the Calcutta centre alone, annual beer product of the world is the circulation in 1890 was over 100,000 about 17,700,000,000 quarts, of which copies, and this was 27,000 less than the United States produces 3,200,000,- those issued, by the latest return, from 000." Madras. Lahore follows with about 47,000. Bombay reports some 40,000 -At a horse race, held in the vicinity for 1889, and Bangalore, 14,000. of New York City, the" book-makers" received the snug sum of $180,000. And -According to Russian sources, the lo! the Baptist Missionary Union closed total population of Russia is 103,912,- the year with a debt of $61,593, the 642. Of these, 75,541,644 are adherents Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions of the Orthodox Church. Of the others with a debt of $90,102, the English Bap- 11,000,000 are Pascolnites or "Sectatist Society with a debt of $52,500, the rians" -i.e., Stundites, etc. ; 7,6106,796 English Wesleyan Missionary Society are Roman Catholics; 5,104,200 are with a debt of $96,885, and the British Protestants (nearly all Lutherans); and Foreign Bible Society now has a 2,620,000 are Jews; and 2,000,000 are debt of nearly $100,000. Mohammedans and heathens.
-Why all this "waste" upon mis- -The principal missionary work in sions? is often the cry, though the savor Palestine is done by the English Church long since became decidedly ancient Missionary Society, which has a Euroand fishlike. But, if waste it were, how pean force conllisting of 9 ordained, 3 trifling by the side of the waste of war! lay, and 7 female missionaries. The According to the estimates of French native clergy number 8, with a total of 72 and German statisticians, 2,250,000 men lay helpers. The stations are Jerusalem, have perished in the wars of the last 30 Jaffa, Gaza, Nablous, Nazareth, and one years, while the money cost has been east of the Jordan. The number of bap- $13,000,000,000. The Crimean War cost tized is 1428, of whom 455 are com- nmnicants. A little over 2000 pupils of $2,000,000,000; the War the Rebel- are in the schools. The Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews lion, $5,100,000,000 to the North and also has stations at Jerusalem, Jaffa, half as much more to the South, etc. The and Safed, with a force of 4 ordained $12,000,000 a year expended for the con- missionaries and several assistants, version of the heathen is paltry by com- about 20 of whom are Christian Israelparison, but a bagatelle. Or, if set be- ites. side the amount that annually goes for liquors and tobacco! Not one tenth as -According to tables very carefully much has been given during the cen- compiled by Professor Dr. V. Juratury to Christianize the Zulus as was scheck, and corrected by Lic. Dr. G. paid to conquer them in the single cam· Dalman, the Jewish population of the paign of 1879-80. The expedition of globe is 7,404,250, divided among the Commodore Wilkes to the Pacific called continents as follows: Europe, 6,301,- for as great an outlay as the evangeliza- 550; Africa, 507,500; Asia, 294,000; tion of the Hawaiian Islands from 1819 and America, 285,200. Unfortunately until to-day. for them, more than half (3,236,000) re- side in European Russia, 1,005,000 in -There is nothing more significant Austria, 641000 in Hungary, 579,000 in than the steady and increasing diffusion of the Scriptures among the people of Germany, 400,000 in Roumania, 200,000 average of nearly $2 per member. The each in AbYRsinia and Morocco; but report speaks hopefully of the condition 195,000 in Turkey in Asia (Palestine in- of the evangelical work in Italy. cluded), and 230,000 in the United Statl"S. -According to the Annuario J!Jvan. gelico for 1891. the total number of Prot- -The National Bible Society of Scot- estant pastors, evangelists, and teachers land in 1890 soM outside of the empire engaged in Gospel work in Italy is 553. 36,796 Bibles, 108,115 testaments, and The Protestant churches and preaching 282,758 portions; in the colonies, 17,054 places in all number 479. The majority Bibles, 10,188 testaments, and 3f)34 por- of these are found in the larger cities, tions; at home, 118,919 Bibles, 70,919 Bologna having 6, Florenco 14, Genoa testaments, and 24,734 portions. Total, 12, Livorno 7, Messina 4, Milan 8, 172,769 Bibles, 189,222 testaments, and Naples 12, Palermo 5, Pisa 4, Rome 20, 311,026 portions. Total sales and gifts, San Remo 7, Turin 8, Venice 7. These 673,017. Total income, £35,5211s. 10d. Protestants are distributed among quite a number of denominations. The Wal- -The International Medical Mission· densians number 13,691 in the historic ary Socie•.y, whose work is to educate valleys, and 4428 in the so-called" Mis- physicians for the foreign field, has sionary Districts;" the .. ChristilID celebrated its tenth anniversary. The Church" (dei Prabelli) do not give exact income for last year was $9,976.50, statistics, but they number only a few and the number of students under its thousand. The Free Church reports a care was 52, of whom 9 were women, membership of 2350; the Wesleyan and they came from 7 denominations and Methodists of 1336; the EpiRcopal 17 countries. The United States led Methodists of 763 ; the Baptists of 885 ; with 19 students, alid Canada followed the" Catholic Church of Italy" (found- . with 7, and England 5, etc. The Bap- ed in 1886) has 119 communicants. In tists had 14 students; the Presbyterians, addition to these a number of inde- 13 ; Congregationalists, 8 ; Methodists, pendent but 8maller bodies are laboring 7, etc. for the evangelization of Italy.
-The British m:issionary societies, -The Board of Foreign Missions Qf according to Medical MUlsions at Home the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Gen- and Abroad, have 139 physicians engaged eral Synod, in its biennial report, shows in missionary work, 13 of whom are receipts for the two years $97,544 ; ex- ladies. Of the whole number, the Free penses, $100,128, though a balance on Church of Scotland has 34 ; the Church hand of $15,101 prevented any actual Missionary Society, 21; the London Mis- deficit appearing at the close of the cur- sionary Society and the English Presby- rent year. The Sunday-schools report. terian Church have each 13; the United ed collections of $6075, besides con- Presbyterians, 11, and 25 societies have tributing $5070 for the support of stu_ less than 10 each. dents and workers in foreign fields, making thus a total of $12,145 from the -From the twentieth report of the young people. The Woman's Society Evangelical Church of Italy, formerly contributed $17,363 out of the $42,268 called the Free Italian Church, it ap- collected for all purposes. Four new pears that it has 29 churches and 24 missionaries have been appointed, three stations, besides 61 places which are to India and one to Africa. In the visited regularly. Connected with these India Mission at Guntur there are 371 churches are 2350 communicants. Be- congregations, 7952 communicants,. 3103 sides 13 ministers, thllre are 16 evange- clIDdidates for baptism, 233 Sundaylists and 36 elders. The gifts of these schools with 9094 scholars, 220 schools churches for all objects amounted to with 310 teachers and 4960 students. 16.326 francs, which amounts to an The contributions by the native Church the Free Church for evangelization out,- were $2635. side of the United Kingdom £113,813, against £52,030 ten years ago. The -Of, say, 650,000 Caffres in Cape Col- number of missionaries emplo!'ed in ony, about one fourth have been bap- India. Arabia, Syria, Africa, and the tized. In Zululand, of 50,000, about New Hebrides was 165, including 35 2000 are Christians. In Pondoland (still sent out by the Ladies' Society, and 33 independent) out of 150,000 at least 3000 missionaries' wives; and the total of are Christians. Christian workers was about 800. The number of nati-ve communicants was -Japan is said to have 191,168 Shinto 6895. The additions to the Church temples, with 14,489 priests; and 72,039 were 696 adults and 731 children, and Buddhist temples, with 56,266 priests, there were 1788 catechumens. There or a grand (that is, lamentable) total of were 6 colleges and 307 schools, with a 263,207 buildings for the worship of total membership of 27,951 youth of false gods, and 70,755 men to lead and both sexes. inspire.
-Official reports from the Vatican -The Paris mission in Basutoland show that in the pontificate of I,eo XIII., has 6933 communicants, 3055 catechunow in the fourteenth year, the Roman mens, and 6502 scholars in the schools. Catholic Church has made substantial The number of adult baptisms in 1890 progress, The new positions created in were 626. the hierarchy are the following: the Patriarchate of India, 12 archbishoprics, -The Presbyterian Church of Jamaica 65 bishoprics, 43 apostolic delegations, has 1 synod, 4 presbyteries, 8814 comvicarates, and prefectures. Then 10 municants, 8000 in Sunday-schools, and bishoprics have been made archbish- 6213 in day schools. Two missions are oprics. The total number of dignitaries sustained in Africa, and one Zenana in the hierarchy are the following: 8 mission. Latin patriarchs and 5 of the Oriental Rite; 783 Latin Archbishops and arch- -In the Basel Mission upon the Afribishops and 52 of the Oriental Rite; can Gold Coast are 10 stations and 70 308 Titulary Bishops, 23 bishops nullius' out-stations, 35 missionaries, more than dilEceseos. The greatest progress of the 9000 adherents, and about 3000 pupils Church is reported from North America in the schools. The Wesleyan Gold and England. Coast Mission has about 6000 communi. cants and about 19,000 adherents. -The annual report of the Free Church of Scotland's Foreign Missions -The Presbyterian Church of Engshows a total revenue from all sources land has in its missions in China and of £94,385. Of this £16,394 were collec- India 19 ordained missionaries, 10 meditions, £5364 were donations, £8179 lega- cal missionaries, 8 native pastors supcies, £9351 from the Ladies' Society, ported by their people, 108 native £1853 juvenile offerings, £17,610 college preachers, and 41 theological students. and school fees, £13,588 grants in aid The Chinese communicants number from the Indian Government, and the 3716. The expenditures last year were greater part of the remainder was made £19,275 15s. 6d. up of special gifts to particular missions, interest, etc. The Livingstonia -The Methodist Protestant Church Mission received thus £7095. Other reports $13,322.73 as the total of receipts mission committees of the Church raised for missions last year. Of this sum £8991 for the Jews, £6872 for conti- $5788 came from ehurch collections, and nental work, £3247 for colonial work, $5798 was gathered on children's day. making the total missionary revenue of A new school building has been erected at Nagoya, Japan, and an additional missionary is soon to be sent -to Yoko- hama. -The North China Mission of the Syria, $58,824; 8iam and Laos, $55,- Methodist Episcopal Church was estab- 406; Africa, $35,040 ;.Korea, $16,117; lished by 2 missionaries in 1869, but is and Guatemala, $10,658. now represented by 15 missionaries and 58 native helpers. It contains 18 homes Monthly Bulletin. and 29 places of worship, 28 schools, with 569 pupils, together with Peking Africa.-The Bible has now been University, with an atten<1ance of over translated into sixty.six of the languages 200, as well as 4 hospitals and 8 dis- and dialects of Africa. pAnsaries. 'l'he churches have 1299 members and probationers. -Dr. Cross, of the Free Church of Scotland MisBions on Lake Nyassa, Af· -The Cumberland Presbyterian rica, has up)n the roll of his school the Church sustains missions in Japan and names of 300 children rescued from M:exico, with 3 stations and 3 out-sta- slavery. tions. 18 missionaries, of whom 6 are ordained, 2 native pastors, and 17 other na- -The King of the Belgians has hontive helpers. The 11 churches contain 632 ored one of the Baptist missionaries on members. The additions last year were the Congo with a decoration. This gen- 63. In the 4 schools 298 receive instruc- tleman, the Rev. George Grenfell, is not tion. The income for foreign missions only a preacher, but an explorer of was $22,260, and of this $10,169 came note. Great interest attaches to his from woman's societies. Native con- discovery of the Mobangi, which he has tributions for all purposes amounted to proved probably to be the Congo's great. $1812. est tributary.
-The Baptist Missionary Union re- -Bishop Tucker, the successor of ports $492,275 as the total receipts for Bishops Hannington and Parker, reach- 1890, aUlI of this the woman's societies ed Uganda in December last, and since gathered $127,690. The 68 principal then the situation has brightened very stations and 1322 out – stations are much. He found the bitterness which manned by 364 ordt.ined missionaries, existed between the Roman Catholic of whom 232 are natives. In addition, and Protestant parties was not based 216 women from America are employed, upon religious, but ~pon political differand 626 unordained native preachers. ences. The French priests have been The total of laborers is 1645. Of the jealous of the British East Africa Com- 681 churches, with 76,603 members, 481 pany, and the strife on the Nyanza was are self-supporting. The baptisms last between French and English as really year were 8708. In 1038 schools 20,107 as in Europe. These feelings the bishop are taught. Total native contributions, was able considerably to pacify. His $51,038.12. own joy was full in the Christian aspect in Uganda. The day after his arrival he -The Board of Foreign Missions of preached to fully one thousand men and the Presbyterian Church (North) re- women. ceived last year $942,691. Of this sum the churches, as such, contributed $346,- -The Rev. W. G. Lawes, one of the 780, and the woman's boards and the pioneer missionaries in New Guinea, has Sabbath-schools $374,258-a fact curi- translated the New Testament into ten ous only, or truly alarming? That mill- languages of the savage islands; the last ion almost was divided as follows, one, in the Motu language, being in the among the 13 fields with 23 principal publisher'S hands. missions: China, $164,986; India, $161,046 ; South America (Brazil, Chili, -The Wesleyan Missionary Society and Colombia), $104,827 ; Japan, $fl7,- has decided to begin a mission at once ~48 ; Mexico, $89,644 ; Persia, $83,662 ; in British Zambesi, South Central Af- rica. The country is a high plateau, fertile and well watered, rich in min· has been accepted. The Wesleyans have erals, and healthy for Europeans. many converts in South Africa, who have gone northward as colonists and A native Christian in Uganda will miners, and this fact gives them an adwork three months for a copy of the New vantage in efforts for the evangelization Testament in Swahili. Only a limited of the natives. Mr. Rhodes has p~om_ edition has been published. iset! to the Wesloyan Society a subsidy of 2500 fran os annually." One whole tribe of Zulus, in Southeast Africa, is likely to be exterminated by China.-·The Executive Oommittee of the ravages of rum furnished by the Foreign Missions of the SoutherD. Pres. white men. byterian Church has appointed Rev. J. M. Sykes and wife, of Meridian, The government of the Congo Free Miss., and Miss Ruth Swain, Alexan- State has granted a large concession to a dria, Va., nissionaries to China. They commercial comp.1ny covering nearly all will sail thig autumn for their work. of the southeastern part of its territory. This will probably lead to the opening -Over one hundred new Protestant of the country sooner than if it were left missionaries have reaohed China and to the government to effect. The com· begun work there since the Shanghai pany is called" The Company of Ka· Missionary Conference in May, 1890. tanga." -The arrival recently at the Boston -Bishop Taylor says "that when a City Missionary Society of 1000 copies Kafir dies the body is placed in a sit· of the Bible and 520 tracts in Chinese ting posture near the grave and left there from the native Christians in Hong for two or three days, that all who wish Kong, designed for their countrymen may come and give to him messages for now in Boston. shows that the foreign their friends who have departed to the lands are waking up to the needs of happy land; thus showing that even the Amerioa and its alien populations. Kafirs, whose very name, given to them by the Mohammedans, signifies infidels, -At the end of Maroh 12 applicants believe in the immortality of the soul. for baptism were accepted in Peking, 8 But of a Saviour they know nothing." of whom were from the village of San Does not the duty of the Ohristian Ho, where there were 70 inquirers, in- Church to disciple all nations become cluding 20 women. more important each day? -At the great Missionary Conference -The foreign population of the Congo in Shanghai, in May, 1890, one committee Free State is now over 800,of whom about of twelve persons was designated to se· half are Belgians, the remainder being cure a translation of the Bible in simple English, Italians, Portuguese, Dutch, but chaste Wenli ; another, to secure a Swedes, Danes, and French. Of the 72 translation in the higher classic style, English and 35 Swedes, as enumerated in and a third of ten persons, to secure an December, 1890, the greater part-over improved version of the Old and New 80 in all-are missionaries. The open· Testaments in Mandarin. ing in March of the Congo Railroad from Matadi to the Leopold Ravine is an -A band of 35 men and women for earnest of the great work that will soon the China Inland Mission recently be completed, and which will rendermiR. reaohed Shanghai. An additional 10 or sionary advance much easier and safer. 15 are expeoted, so that the whole band will be 45 or 50. To the Scandinavian -Says the Missignary Herald: "Mr. churches of the United States belongs Oecil Rhodes, the Prime Minister of the honor of having sent them as their Oape Oolony and leader of the British representatives, and to the China Inland South Africa Company, has invited the Mission the privilege of receiving them English Wesleyans to commence a miR- as its associates in the name of the Lord. sion in Mashonaland, and the invitation Half of this band are men and half are and Hungarian divinity students. A women. The majority are Swedish by new' financially independent German birth, though a few came originally from Reformed church in Buda-Peeth has Norway. mainly resulted from Scottish labors.
-The insurreotions against the Catho· The leading Hungarian pastors express a lic and Protestant missions in China are warm sense of this catholic co-operation: attributed to fanatical Buddhist priests. To stir up the people, they aUege that lndia.-Thecensus of Ipdiawas taken the Chinese childrQn are maimed by the in one night between February 26th and Christians, and that their eyes are torn 27th. Th'clre were more than a million of enumerators.
out for the purpose of making medicine -Before Christianity entered India, to bewitch the Chinese. lepers were treated with shocking in- F!ii.-The latest report concerning the humanity. Many of them were buried religious condition of this group of alive. The English rulers have put a islands covers the year 1889. The total stop t:> this custom, and for fourteeI4 area of the group is about the same as years there has been a special Christian that of the State of Massachusetts. mission to the 135,000 lepers in India.
There is a European popUlation of about -A correspondent of the Harvest Field 2000, while the natives, inoluding other thinks the Salvation Army workers in Polynesians and Indian emigrants, India have fallen into the snare of number 123,000. Of this native popu- .. premature reporting." Last year it lation 103,775 worship in the churches was stated that at Paij, a Gujarat village, of the Wesleyan Mission, while 10,302 hundreds had joined the Army. They attend Roman Catholic churches. The have now" in hundreds" left the Army.
Wesleyan Mission has 10 European mis'- He suggests that it would be wiser to sionaries and 72 native ministers, 49 wait a year to see how converts stand catechists, 1838 local preachers, and before rushing into print concerning 1095 teachers; these laboring in connec- them.
tion with 909 churches and 414 other -Dr. Sara C. Seward, a niece of the preaohing places. In the sohools of the late Secretary Seward, who fOT several Wesleyan Mission are 40,667 children. years has been a medical missionary The Roman Catholic Mission has 18 among the women of India, died recent- European ministers with 148 native ly at Allahabad. teachers and 76 native churches and chapels. Aside from the 18 Roman -In Jhansi, where mission work has Catholic priests there are three lay Eu- been carried on since 1886, the first ropeans and 14 female Europeans. It is Christian church is now being built. It interesting to notice that the total value will contain a reading-room for the eduof exports from Fiji for the year 1889 cated natives, and English books will be amounted to $1,821,000, while the im- provided.
ports were $945,000. Is there anyone -Pnndita Ramabai held the second who believes that there would be such a anniversary of her" Sharada Sadhau," record of prosperity for these islands or widow's home, recently. Mrs. Rahad it not been for the preaching. of the nade, the amiable and intelligent wife Gospel therein? of a cultured native gentleman of Poona, Hungarian Jews. – The Buda – Pesth a member of the Legislative Council, Mission among the Hungarian Jews had presided with grace and dignity; and an important incidental result in knit- another well-educated lady with remark- ting various closer ties of brotherhood able self.possession moved an address of with the Hungarian churches. Scottish thanks. This assuredly indicates prog- liberality has provided bursaries at the ress in the conservative city of Poona, New College, EditlQnrgh, for Bohemian a Iltronghold of Brahmanism. The Pundita a·elivered a long and eloquent ltaly.-There o.re in Florence two Walextemporo address with her wonted deosian churches, one Free Italian energy. She reports her work to be church, two Baptist churches, and one prospering. Plymouth Brethren church, all of which, except the Baptists, ha.ve good houses -It i~ said that every week there are of worship of their own. 'rhe Waldenprinted in the Bengali language in Cal- sia.n Theological School, with three procutta, and circulated, 10,000 sermonettes fessors and a dozen students, is there; written by Bishop Thoburn. If the and the Methodist School, soon to be funds are furnished, it is proposed to transferred to Rome, is there at present. print them in five different languages Of the Protesto.nt day schools the oldest every week. and largest is that of the German Dea- conesses, with more than a hundred -Dr. Pentecost writes: " An aston- pupils, all girls. Besides these instituhlhing feature of the National Indian tions there are the Domenge Institute, Congress was that there were lady dele· for boys, the Mackenzie Institute, for gates present; and on the last day one the training of lay workers, two evanlady, a native of high caste, appeared gelical orphan asylums, a medIcal mis. on the platform unveiled, and delivered sion, a soup kitchen, and six churches an address extemporaneously in pure for foreign Protestant residents. English. This is an innovation so marked that it will do much toward Japan.-Foreign missionaries resident shaking the foundation of the hateful in Japan are now granted passports to and terrible Zenana of India. Once the reside outside of foreign concessions, on women are set free in India, then away the ground that they are" employed in go the iron fetters of caste, and the church work"-a concession which has whole empire will be freed from super- hitherto been given only to teachers. stition." Coming at this time, it indicates a spe- cial appreciation on the part of the Jap- -The report of the M. E. Conferences anese Government of the beneficial in. in Northern India for the past church fiuence of the missionaries. year is cheering. There have been added to the churches 980 full members and -The Rev. Dr. William E. Griffis, 2935 probationers. There were 1256 writing on the outlook in Japan, asks adult baptisms. The number of schol- the question: "Does Japan want phiars in the Sunday-school hail increased losophy or the Gospel? Missionaries over 3000, making the present number capable of filling chairs of psychology 28,400. The mission is embarrassed by at Harvard, or consecrated Christians its very success, for the large ingather- and ministers of the pure Gospel?" ing requires an addition to the native And he answers unhesitatingly, "The pastorate, while funds do not increase latter." He says a few of the Japanese proportionately. will " seek after wisdom" of the Greek sort, but that the majority of the 40,- –Figures that are almost startling are 000,000 crave the Gospel, while the given in connection with the Telugu majority of the 30,000 Protestant church- Mission (Baptist) in India. The bap- members will give the best proof of tisms reported in five months of the last their discipleship in holy living and missionary year were over 5000. The moral reform rather than in formulating work is still progressing. theories or nursing speculation.
-The native Christians of Ko.limpong -The recent annual meeting of the are themselves undertaking a" foreign' , Congregational churches in Japan mission to Bhutan, within their country. marked a real advance toward unity. It is to be supported by the prayers and An earnest spirit pervaded the gathermoney of the Christians within the ing, and the theological tone was more Guild Mission District. conservative and harmonious than had patients were treated the last year, and been expected in some quarters. A religious services are beld regularly on statement of belief was formulatecl as a the Sabbath, with an attendance of up- basis of faith for consideration next ward of two hundred. One of the ladies year. A large share of the debt of $600 of the Presbyterian Mission has a week- on the Home Missionary Society was ly sewing class at her house, where raised by a spontaneous and enthusiastic women of all ranks and conditions come, outburst of benevolence among the dele- and, while engaged in needle-work, the gates themselves. A theatre meeting, Gospel story is read to them and ex- with 2000 people in attendance, was one plained. Another lady of the same mis- of the features of the season. sion has a class in the city away from her home. The hospital, in charge of a -One evidence of the reaction against Methodist lady, is the centre of a very foreigners in Japan is the fact that the interesting and efficient Christian work. empress and members of the aristocracy Sometimes women come, not because have given up the wearing of the west· they are sick, but because they want to ern style of dress for women, and the hear about' the new doctrine. ' " native historical costumes are again to be worn exclusively. -Korea presents a striking illustra. tion of the irresistible advance of the Arrangements have been made for kingdom of Christ. One of the most the preparation of a commentary on remarkable works of grace known in the New Testament in Japanese. Bish- modern missions is that among the op Bickersteth, of the Church of Eng. Koreans. Without having heard or land, is to be tho general editor. seen a missionary, thousands of people have heard of Christ and turned to the -All that Japanese law requires a service of God. These converts are the man to do in order to put away his wife fruit of the circulation of copies of the is to have her name erased from the offi- New Testament by the Rev. John Ross, cial register of his family. and have it late missionary of the Presbyterian re-entered on the register of her family. Church of Scotltmd in Manchuria. Strong efforts are being made to aUlend this easy plan of divorce. New Guinea.-At a recent meeting of native Christians at Port Moresby, the K07·ea.-Writing to the independent, collection taken for the missionary cause Mr. Appenzellos says: "It is less than consisted of $37 c!lsh, 320 spears, 65 seven years since the first Protestant shell armlets, 92 bows !lnd 180 arrows, missionary came to Seoul or to Korea. besides shields, drums, shell necklaces, Both the Methodist and Presbyterian feathers, and other ornaments. Most of missions have had lady missionaries in the people have no money. Korea from the beginning. Mrs. ·M. F. Scranton has the honor of being the frst Persia.-From Oroomiah comes the one to open direct work foJ," the women following good news: .. The villages of Korea. More than once have I heard are being revived little by little. In her say that the women think so little one, 58 persons have professed converand their ideas are very narrow. But sion, m!lny of them heads of families. the work of educating them was begun, In other villages 50, !lnd in others a less then medical work, and finally direct number have come to repentance. evangelical work. Results are not to be looked for before the seed has had time -Pastor Joseph, of Gulpashan, which to take root. Yet there are a few things is one of the self-supporting churches, that cheer us even while breaking the writes the following cheering news: fallow ground. Korea has two girls' .. The winter past, as you are aware, schools, with an attendance of about has had its share of difficulties. One 40; one hospital, where nearly 2400 great diffieulty W!ilI in, fegard to our church building; a fine of three hun- invaluable in the acquisition and proper dred tomans ($450) had to be paid by use of the Turkish language.
us. Another was a sad division made by Y. M. O. A.-Twenty. five years have 80me of the members that for a time. was seen a ma.rvellous growth in Young a great evil. Notwithstanding these, Men's Christian Associations. Then God's blessings have been abundant. they were only beginning to secure a Special meetings were attended with recognized standing, but now they have power from on high. Over 60 are can· gotten a hold in all our leading cities, didates, and at the next communion and exert an international influence nearly all of these will unite with the through their various organizations. In church." 1886 there was only one building erected Scandinavia.-The Swedish Mission- for association purposes; now there are ary Society is actively at work among 231, which have a money value of $1,946,- the Laplanders. The society has an 085. In different lands the entire prop· orphanage at Ange, and 6 mission erty owned by this Christian agenoy schools in other parts of Lapland, amounts to $11,907,381. Besides, the where 173 children have received in- contributions for its current expenses of struction. In spite of a grant of 2000 looal work foot up annually $1,841,966. crowns from the king, the expenses for These figures show progress, and indithe past year were 1500 ?rowns in exceSli cate a vitality and permanenoe for this of the receipts. form of Christian aotivity whioh augurs well for its future. -" The Norwegian Lutheran China Mission" is the name of a societyorgan- General.-Dr. Woloott Calkins, in his ized a year ago at Bergen, with John sermon before·the Amerioan Missionary Brantzaeg as president. During the Sooiety, on the responsibility of busiyear 5431 crowns have been collected. ness men, gave some striking figures. Brantzaeg, his two brothers, H. Seyf- The wealth of the oountry he found to be farth, and S. Samuelson will go to China over $62,500,000,000 distributed among as missionaries. The establishment of 13,000,000 families, of whom 11,500,000 a mission house at Shanghai is under, families are those of wage-earners. consideration. There are 135,000 families whioh have an average wealth of $186,000. Seventy- Syria.-The girls' school in Tripoli five per oeut of our business men are has 35 house pupils and 115 day scholars. members or adherents of Protestant -An association has been established churohes. Of the 68 riohest men in the in London to send colonies of poor Jews country only 4 are Roman Catholic. to Palestine. So many are going to .Teru- There are probably 400 Christian famisalem that it is one of the most rapidly lies in this country with an annual ingrowing cities in the world. come, over and above expenses, averag· ing $500,000 apieoe ; and 8000 Christian Turkey.-The work of evangelization families with an average income, above in Turkey will be greafy facilitated by expenses, of $25,000 each, and 100,000 the Turkish dictionary just published Christian families with an average in- under the editorship of the Rev. H. O. come of $10,000 above expenses. A Dwight, who has spent several years in great share of the $1,400,000,000 added a careful revision of the work previously yearly to the capital of the country be- done by Sir James Redhouse of Lon- longs to Christian business men. The don. Drs. Riggs and Pettibone and a gospel for rioh Christian men is not so former grand vizier have also scrutinized much that we need their money as that the proofs. It is a fine piece of literary they need to get rid of it, if they would work, there being no less than 2224 not have their wealth drive them into pages in the volume, and it will prove insanity or provE) a curse.
The Missionary Review of the World — June 1890
MISSION TOUR OF BRITAIN
MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
VOL. XIII. m. 6.-0td Series.—JUNE.-voL. IlL No.6.-New Series.
I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS.
THE MISSION TOUR OF BRITAIN-No. IV. BY ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D.D. Edinburgh, Scotland, March, 1890.
DEAR DOCTOR SHERWooD-ApeHes' familial' maxim has been constantly before me in this mission tour of Britain: "Nulla dies sine linea." By the time this letter falls under the eyes of our readers, this six months of daily labor will have closed, and on May 31 it is. our expectation to sail for America. The aim has been to let no day pass without a new" line" of definite effort for the cause; Being now nearly at the end of the work, as mapped out for the British Isles, it may be well to record some impressions made by the-. experiences of four months in England and Scotland. Everywhere, the welcome has been most cordial and the co-operation most generous' and complete, recalling what Paul said of the Galatians, that they received him" as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus." Everywhere the assemblies have been large, attentive, responsiv~, sympathetic. Invitations pour in upon the committee from every quarter, which it is impossible to provide for, and which indicate abundance of opportunity were time only at my disposal.
1. It is quite noticeable, first of all, that here, as in America, evangelical belief and evangelistic zeal are inseparably wedded. In proportion to the spread of doubt as to the realities and verities of the Christian religion, is the reign of indifference as to missionary enterprise,or at least, of practical apathy. A firm faith in the Word of God and the person of Christ; clear views of sin and salvation, of law and penalty, and of atoning love and grace, seem to be vitally connected with earnestness and enterprise in world-wide exangelism. Nothing has impressed me more than this, that wherever I have found any man or woman absorbed and engrossed in missions, invariably further acquaintance has revealed that there was also hearty acceptance, without question, of the grand truths of Christianity; so that 1 have come, almost unconsciously, to accept intelligent missionary enthusiasm as a safe gauge of soundness in the faith. It is to be fcared that the so-called" higher criticism" is making havoc of missions, so far as it prevails, not only because it insinuates doubt., if not misbelief, but because it diverts attention from what is practical to what is speculative. Dr. Gardiner well says that" Geological strata, studied from a mineralogical point, are very perplexing; but no one mistakes the significance of a boulder/ that is, at least, an unmistakable FACT, driven about for ages and rounded off by friction. The boulder has a history, and to that as a fact geology must accommodate its tale. The gospels are full of boulders: the sermon on the mount is one; the parables of the good Samaritan and the prodigal son are others. We must admit the boulder; and then we may ask how it came."
As to this new critical school, Delitzsch sagaciously says: "Willful contempt of external testimony and frivolity in the treatment of historical data have, from the very first, been the fundamental evils apparent in the manner in which modern critics have handled certain questions. Those two coryphcei of the modern critical school (Hitzig and Ewald) find themselves hemmed in between two foregone conclusions: 'There is no true prophecy,' and' There is no trne miracle.' They call their criticism' free,' but when examined more closely it is in a vise. In this vise it has two magical formularie~ with which it fortifies itself againt any impression from historical testimony. It either t.{rns the prophecies into merely retrospective glances, as it does the account of miracles into sazas or myths; or it places the events predicted so close to the prophet's own time that there was no need of inspiration, but only of combination, to make the foresight possible. That school of criticism which will not rest until all the miracles and propltecies which cannot be set aside exegetically, shall have been eliminated critically, must be regarded by the Church as self-condemned. "
Connected with this destructive "higher criticism" is almost always a speculative tendency as to the questions of eschatology, especially the future state of the heathen. Doubts creep in as to the doctrine of eternal punishment, and all the related teaching of Romans, Chapters T. and II., and kindred passages, as to the condemnation and exposure of those who have lived and died without the gospel. And the consequence is that, instead of promptly bearing to the heathen the saving gospel and leaving the hereafter to settle speculations, the energies of disciples are expended on speculations about the" eternal hope" and" future probation," while with each second of time a human being passes heyond the reach of Christian labor! Some questions never can be settled in this world; there are secrets that exegesis, criticism, research, archreology, philology, philosophy, are powerless to unlock. Let us leave them to Him who holds the keys of David, while we enter at once those open doors which He has set before us, and to every soul thus divinely made accessible let us carry the tidings of that name which is the only name whereby we must be saved.
2. The use of a good missionary map has been abundantly demonstrated. I have had with me the grand map of Prevailing Religions, generously lent me by William E. Blackstone, Esq., of Oak Park, Illinois, which is the most complete and accurate I have seen. It is prepared, not to show the various countries or nations, but solely the religious dominant syetems, and these are represented by various colors. 'l'his map, being about fifteen feet by ten, can be seen in any church where there is a space to hang it. It illustrates at a glance much that cannot be "seen by the ear," as an Irishman might say. I use it to make manifest four things: first, the vastness of the world-field, with its vast yet unoccupied spaces; secondly, the great plan of God's campaign, in which it is the map of his battleneld; thirdly, the grand successes of missions, in which case it represents a harvest-field; and fourthly, to show the possibility and the practicability of the church's actual possession of this world for Christ. I do not see how any man can speak very effectively for missions who does not learn how to use a first-class map, and how to address the eye as well as ear. Wherever this map has been hung and used it has been the most eloquent of orators, as Webster said of the silent shaft at Bunker Hill. Best of all is it, when the man who WJes it makes his own map, so that he has been over it in :all its details, and so knows just what it means and why everything is as it is represented. Together with this map, I have used two charts: one representing the comparative extent of the false and the true faiths numerically, and the other representing the comparative expenditure for frivolities ($100,000,000), for tobacco ($600,000,000), and for liquors ($900,000,000), annually; with another column showing the comparative expense, during ninety years, for missions and 1iquors, the latter reaching the enormous sum of $80,000,000,000 in ninety years, while the former would not reach over one two-thousandth part of that sum. 'l'hese estimates are for the United States alone, but they are about equally true for Great Britain.
The farther I go the more I feel that the great need everywhere is information. The bulk of the people do not know the facts about missions, and if those facts could be widely disseminated and presented in an attractive manner, no one can tell the result in quickening and intensifying interest throughout the Church. It is melancholy to see how little even intelligent people know of the real destitution which exists, the wide areas yet unsupplied with missionaries, and the great facts of missionary history and biography; and therefore it is that faith in missions is easily shaken with some. I heard Miss Child say, at Edinburgh, that at the gates of the Golden Horn the black gulls are seen flying, and, being never seen to rest or alight, are called" l08t souls." Even Moslem and Pagan peoples have a con,cep- tion of the soul as restless without God; and, to wander without such rest in Him, is the synonymn of all forfeited bliss. The same lady also remarked' that one hundred thousand people, representing every variety of national type and religious faith, p:}ss over the Gallica Bridge; but the proverb is, "Not one idea goes over," so little intel- lectuallife and vitalizing power does Turkey seem to provide for its subjects, and so little mental activity is there to be found in the Greek church, likewise.
But again, Miss Child said, that in Constantinople, when they build, a cross is set up in the corner of the scaffold, and it means a constant prayer to the patron saint of the builders at the Bosphorus until the work is completed. What a suggestion to those who are seeking to build up, whether at h~me or abroad, a true missionary work! Whether as pastors we seek to arouse our own people and the communities where we live, to a new intelligence and interest in God's world-wide work; or whether, as missionaries abroad, we are building up for God a church among the heathen, the cross should stand on the corner of the scaffold, and our eyes should be upon it. 'fhe work can only go on as the prayer of faith goes up. He who praY8 is he who build8. Here, above all, orare e8t laborare-work is worship.
Curious are the synchronisms and correspondences of history. 'fhe first slaving voyage from England was made in 1562 by Sir John Hawkins. Queen Elizabeth, on his return, called him to account, and expressed her disapproval of carrying off Aft-icans without their own consent, declaring such an act detestable, and invoking vengeance on the perpetrators of such deeds. Whatever assurance Captain Hawkins may have given that he would act within the limits of her majesty's instructions, and however he may have glossed over the iniquity of Bis doings, greed proved too powerful a temptation for his veracity and integrity. Captives on the African coast were very cheap, and the profits in St. Domingo were very ample, and the slave traffic went on.
In 1564, he sailed with four vessels, one of which was named the Jesur (Jesl1s?), and he made str;tight for Cape de Verde and Sierra Leone. At the Island of Sambala, Hawkins and his crew stayed for days, going on shore daily, burning and spoiling towns and taking the inhabitants for a prey. This voyage proving profitable, another was undertaken in 1567 in the Jesur, and some 400 or 500 captives secured. The voyage, however, proved disastrous, calamity after calamity befell them, and few of all the crew ever found their way to England. Yet Sir John went on with his work of trading in the bodies and souls of men, and records his sufferings as though he we~e writing" the lives aud deaths of martyrs," as, on previous prosperous voyages, he had entered on his log book, how God had not "suffered his elect to come to harm."
Curiously enougp, it was just 300 years from that time (1861-1865) that in America a civil war was raging, the natural fruit of that very slavery which such. traffic had planted on these shores; and in 1865, Abraham Lincoln struck the fetters from four millions of African slaves!
In 1622 Japan was driving out Catholics and Jesuits who brought to the empire of the Rising Sun a nominal Christianity but no Bible; and at the same time, at Plymouth, Pilgrims were landing from the Mayflower, and planting the Bible as the very corner stone of liberty and religion; and from their descendants, says D-r. A. J. Gordon, came Commodore Perry, who, in 1853 and 1854, more than two cen- turies later, 'was peacefully negotiating a treaty by which the faith of those Pilgrim fathers was to find its way into the island empire. How remarkable, too, was that year, 1858, for the opening of wide doors to Christian missions! That was the year when Japan, by treaties, made successively with the United States, Britain, France, Russia and Holland, became generally accessible to those nations; in that same year, China, which, by the treaty of Nankin, in 1842, opened five ports, Canton, Amoy, Foochou, Ningpo, Shanghai; further, by the treaty of Tien-Tsin, opened other ports and conceded t9 British subjects the right to travel under passports in the interior. That same year, 1858, India became part of the British Empire, and David Liv- 'It: ingstone a second time sailed to Africa to pioneer the way for mis- sionaries into the unexplored interior of that Dark Continent. Thus in one year the doors were mysteriously opened to mOl"e than half the population of the globe. Probably no such a series of providen- tial interpositions ever occurred in history before. The year 1858 ranks as the Annus Mirabilis.
Not only is God in missionary history by his providential inter- positions, but by his gracious transformations.
Whc;m Barnabas and Saul were separated, qualified, called of God and sent forth by the church at Antioch, to go to the Gentiles, they completed their mission tour by returning to Antioch and gathering the church together to rehearse all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith to the gentiles. Afterward, when they went up to Jerusalem, being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phamicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, and caused great joy unto all the brethren. When they were come to Jerusalem they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders,and they declared all things that God had done with them, and what miracles and wonders He had wrought among the Gentiles by their agency.
It is most noticeable throughout these three chapters of the Acts (xiii., xiv., xv.), how constantly and emphatically God is recognized in the whole inception, progress and success of this first missionary campaign. Christ had accompanied the first great commission by a grand declaration, ".All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth;" and by an equally grand promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." .And now the .Acts of the .Apostles records the fulfilment of that promise. Such was the success of that campaign that it could be accounted for only on the ground of divine interposition. From first to last He is gratefully acknowledged and glorified. He selected the laborers and thrust them forth into his harvest fields; He set them apart, appointed them and annointed them for this very work, and as the church sent them forth, so also the Holy Ghost sent them forth and went with them. He who thus thrust forth the laborers, opened the doors, wide and effectually before them. Their entrance in unto the Gentiles was plainly of God. He gave. them access to foreign and hostile peoples and secured them an audience, and turned even their persecutions to a testimony, and their rejection into a welcome. Then he granted conversion unto the gentiles, and sanctification, purifying their hearts by faith. Then he wrought various miracles, signs and wonders by the hands of his apostles. So that throughout the whole course of their campaign GOD'S PRESENCE and POWER were conspicuous.
It is our deep conviction that no candid man can read the history of the last century of missions without being impressed that it is the twenty-ninth chapter of the .Acts of the .Apostles; and that through. out this whole historic chapter, as throughout the rest of that book, God's providence and grace are conspicuous. So far from missions being a failure, their success demands a supernatural force and factor as their only adequate explanation. From the time when William Carey began to revolve in his humble shoe shop at Hackleton the plan for a world's evangelization, all along through the periods of organization, .occupancy of the fields, and realization of results, the mighty hand of God is marvellously manifest. We believe that the study of missions is the effectual cure of all skepticism. If there be any modern Nathaniel who doubts whether any good thing has come out of Nazareth, let him" come and see." Let him read and study Robert Morrison, Charles Gutzlaff, Peter Parker, and their work in China; let him follow the footsteps of .Adonaram Judson and his devoted wives in Burmah and among the Karens; let him sail with John Williams through the South Seas, until he falls beneath the savage club at Eromanga; let him watch the work of Charles Wheeler on the Euphrates, and Dr. Barnum at Harpoot; let him go to Zululand and hear the native preachers now. telling the gospel story to their yet benighted countrymen; let him visit the crowded salles of Mc.All in Paris and the French provinces, and go for fo.ur months every night into a new station among these mercurial Frenchmen; let him go to the Eternal City and see thirty Protestant chapels within the walls where thirty years ago no Protestan t could bring a Bible; let the candid investigator go. into the Madras Presi- dencyand visit Tinnevelly, where in six months 16,000 were bap- tized, and the Telugu country, where 10,000 were baptized in a twelve- month; let him trace the footsteps of Fidelia Fiske in the Land of Esther, and sit down with her at the Lord's table with seventy young ladies brought to the Lord by her influence; let him visit the sun- rise Kingdom, and realize that the changes of ten years, as Kawmura says, have" left nothing as it was before except the natural scenery;" let him go to Formosa, where, on the twelfth anniversary of his arrival, McKay sat down at the Lord's table with 1,200 converts; let him who is willing to be convinced go to William Duncan's Metlakahtla and see a model Christian state among the Indians, whom some even now think good only to kill; let him go to old Calabar and see the heathenism of a thousand years yielding its long established customs and superstitions before the gospel; let him compare the India of to-day with scores of its cruel tortures and outrageous oppressions either abolished or abated; let him read t,he story of Madagascar and the twenty-five years of persecutions that not even with scalding water and martyr-fires, with hurling from precipices and drowning in the sea, could intimidate Malagasy disciples; let him go to Aniwa and see John J. Paton's memorial, a savage cannibal population turned intoa Christian community, with churches, schools, hospitals, hallowed homes and civil order suoh as becomes a Christian state; let him look on the thousand churches of the Fiji group, many of them built on the site of cannibal ovens; let the doubter who is willing to be convinced that God is in missionary history, follow the steps of the mission band from William Carey's sermon in Kettering in 1792 to the latest triumph of men of faith and of prayer who still " attempt great things for God," and" expect great things from God;" and he will find himself following the pillar of cloud and fire, and. dazzled by the glory of the Shekinah !
We have written and spoken for twenty-five years upon missions. And to-day, conscious that we stand a quarter of a century nearer the bound of life, where burdens of duty are laid down for the nnresting but unwearying service of a higher life, we calmly and confidently say that, for closeness of fellowship with God, and for the vivid vision of His almighty power, and for the effectual removal of all honest doubt as to a supernatural presence in human history, and especially the work of world-wide evangelization, we know of nothing equal to a participation in preaching the gospel to the lost.
After about three months of missionary campaigning in Scotland, my tour closed there on the twenty-thircl instant, with meetings at Campbeltown, Cantire, and;as was becoming, a closing meeting in that border city, Berwick-on-Tweed, which is on the Scotch side of the 'l'weed, but within ,English jurisdiction. From first to last there has been but one experience of welcome from all disciples, and gen- erous cordiality and hospitality.
At Alloa, in connection with one of the grandest meetings held north of the border, I saw a man that reminded me of what Bayard Taylor said to Baron von Humboldt: " You have seen a great many ruins, :Mr. Taylor," said the Baron, "and now you behold another." " No, not a ruin, but a pyramid," responded the accomplished author of " Views Afoot." So I felt when I saw in my audience that venerable man of ninety, who is one of the noblest givers of his generation-David Paton, Esq. In the course of his life he has contributed to missions his whole fortune of some million dollars, and is now living on a small annuity. Yet when in course of my address he heard me refer to the present straits of the McAll missions and the threatened danger of being compelled to close thirteen of the Salles for lack of funds, out of the little left to him, David Paton managed to contribute another two hundred andfifty pounds sterling (nearly $1,250), as a letter from Dr. :McAll jnst informs me. It was worth going to Alloa to look upon such a " pyramid."
That meeting at Alloa was an example of energy in working up plans for a public assembly. The week days are, of course, the difficult times in which to secure large gatherings for such purposes. Almost all the local committees beg for a Sabbath, and the Central Committee regret that Sunday comes but once in seven days. But although Alloa is one of the smaller towns and the only day that could be given was a Wendesday, the great Town Hall was crowded and not a few had to go away without getting even standing room. And, writing of meetings, it is very, noticeable how much the success of a meeting depends on the spirit of the local committee of arrangements, and even on the way in which what the Scotchman calls the "intimations" are given. I happened to be present in Barony' Church, Glasgow, when the genial and gifted Dr. Marshall Lang was announcing the meeting to be held at St. Andrews' great hall on the Monday evening following. He said: "We are to hold a great meeting to-morrow night. If you want to get a seat you must go early; and that you may not fail if you go early, I have had enough tickets brought to the church to supply such as wish to go; and if you find you cannot go, you must surrender your ticket to some one else who will." Of course St. Andrews' great hall was filled. " According to your faith be it unto you," is true in more spheres than one. The very next Sunday I happened to be where a brother minister, who felt great misgivings about the week-night meetings being a success, besought his people to go, as many as possibly could, all though he wished to save it from disastrous failure. Both enthusiasm and des- pondency are contagious, as this campaign furnishes abundant proof.
After having held 150 meetings in England and Scotland, from Bristol to Aberdeen, and from London to Glasgow, there are now more applications unfilled than brought me over the sea last autumn, showing that there is abundant opening for work of this sort. As yet Wales and Ireland are untouched. England has been approached only at some principal points like London, Birmingham, Bristol, Liv- erpool, Leeds, Leicester, Oxford, etc. Even Scotland, where three months have been spent, has not been overtaken. Inverness, Elgin, Forres, and all the country north of that line we have been unable to -embrace in the tour, not to speak of many other places as large as Kirkcaldy, which in the more southern portion have been necessarily omitted. One of the most delightful visits I have yet made was to St. Andrews, the venerable university town, sacred to the martyrs of Christ, and consecrated by the graves of such men as Halyburton, Rutherfurd, Adam Ferguson, and the like. I was a guest of Dr. A. K. H. Boyd, the Moderator-elect of the Established Church As- 'sembly, whose pen has made his name a household word far beyond the limits of his voice. Under his genial guidance I went to see the famous" bottle dungeon," where Wishart and other martyrs were con- -fined, and saw the spot where he and Hamilton were burned, and the window from which Beaton was hung, just opposite, in the castle; we walked through the Abbey grounds and among the University build- ings, only regretting that the time was so short.
Scotland is full of accomplished men, and from many a humble llOme has gone martyr or missionary. From one lowly cottage in 'Strathaven, went the Martin brothers, William, Gavin and James, two of them to India, the other to Jamaica. Then a son of James followed, then the surviving sister, allfive to the foreign field. And when I spoke at Edinburgh to the students on Friday evening, March 14th, two more sons of those Martin brothers came up to me and -shook my hand and told me they were in training for the same work! Seven from one house-we might almost say from one cradle! What a land of missionaries would this be if the cradle-s were consecrated! From how many other humble homes whose kingdom cometh not with observation might there go forth bands of missionaries to spread the good tidings!
In all my addresses here I have sought to impress the vital connection of prayer with missions. Nothing is more important-notlling is so important. The work is essentially divine in conception and ,execution. This supernatUl:al gospel can accomplish that supernatural 'work of conversion only through a supernatural power, the Holy Ghost. Prayer is the only hold we have upon the Spirit of God, and Ithel;efore prayer is the single secret of all blessing upon our work.
PASTOR HARMS AND HIS MISSION WORK. [June-
Prayer means every other form of blessing. It means plenty of workmen, it means open doors of access, it brings plenty of money and means, it brings unction upon the workmen, it brings success of the highest sort on the field, large harvests and frequent harvests-the rain on mown grass making the grass to grow again for another crop.
Those who cannot go, who have no child to give, and but little' money to give, can pray)' and it is noticeable that of all the gifts we can offer, this of fervent supplication is the most emphasized in the· New Testament!
Our beloved friends in Scotland have, with characteristic generosity, crowned all their former loving kindness with one last act, of which I can hardly write without indelicacy and yet scarcely forbear to write without ingratitude. Just as my three months' campaign, closes, a letter reaches me from the beloved and venerable Rev. Dr. Andrew Thomson, of Edinburgh, announcing that the" Duff Trustees. have appointed me as their next lecturer on missions." Dr. Thomson. gracefully adds that" nothing could be more cordial than the appointment, as well as more gratifying to himself, and that he hopes no obstacle may be found to stand in the way of my acceptance." This lectureship, founded in memory of Dr. Alexander Duff, has already been filled by such men as Dr. William Fleming Stevenson and Sir Monier' Williams, etc. It deserves mention in these letters, for, as it seems to· the new appointee, this election is not so much a tribute to the capacity and ability of the lecturer-elect, as it is a beautiful and graceful expres!'lion of appreciation for the work that he has sought to do in, Scotland. If the way shall appear open for acceptance, it will give· opportunity also for the gathering up of the loose threads of a some– what scattered and imperfect impression, and weaving them into a more substantial and permanent form. This last act of our Scottish friends we cannot but esteem an undeserved honor, but it is the most fragrant laurel wreath that has ever been placed upon the writer's head; and it is specially grateful as the last of a long series of generow; and appreciative acts, crowning this short mission tour of the churches with a diadem that shows rather the princely nature of my hosts than the princely title of their American guest. One hesitates, to follow where such men have led. But if the providence of God shall permit, we shall feel constrained to say, like Franklin of his. illustrious predecessors at the Court of Versailles, "I come to follow,. not to succeed them !"
PASTOR HARMS AND HIS MISSION WORK.
BY REV. LEWIS GROUT, WEST BRATTLEBORO, VT.
LOllis Harms, the son of a Lutheran minister, was born in 1809,. at Hermannsburg in Hanover, and educated at Gottingen. From his youth he gave promise of being, as he proved to be, a man of manystrong parts-thoughtful, sympathetic, self-reliant-a man of great energy, industry and perseverance, together with a kindness of feeling and a high sense of honor, truth and purity, that could not fail to win the confidence and esteem of all who should know him. ,His good judgment, good memory, and great activity made him a good man- ager of great enterprises; while the great simplicity of his trust in God, his strong faith, and rare devotion, made him bold and strong to attempt great enterprises. Such a man was needed in just the times and place in which he lived. Many of the two millions of people around him were given to infidelity, many to formalism and worldli- ness. Few of them cared at all for either the house or the word of God. For a man of traits like those of Harms: the l,ord had a great work, both in Hanover and among the heathen beyond the sea. But for this work the man must have more than natural talent-must be himself first roused to a new spiritual life. To this he was moved and converted by reading the tender, loving words of Christ in his intercessory prayer. Being himself divinely imbued with the spirit of his new Master, he entered at once upon his labors of love for others, and soon became assistant pastor in his native village; and at the age 'of forty, on the death of his father, refusing many temptiftg calls to other places, he became pastor of the parish in which he was born and reared, and set himself to the joyful work of developing in it the best type of a useful church and ministry.
Nor was it long ere his earnest efforts began to yield a rich return. " The attendance in church increased; reverence for the Bible grew; there was more conversation on sacred things, more order and neatness in the village, and the 'Hermannsburghers' became a proverbial people. The noon bell was sounded, and every head was bared in prayer. No- where else in Hanover was a parish to be found where apostolic piety seemed revived as here, in the consciousness of a present Christ and a present Spirit, and in the effectiveness of the means of grace."
And now the heart of the pastor began to beat warm and strong for the millions in heathendom, especially in Africa, who had never as .yet heard of the love of that Saviour who had died for them. Upon this he began to speak to his people. Sometimes the subject gave him wakeful hours at night; sometimes he made it the theme of a dis- course on the Sabbath, and often was it the chief topic of remark in his visits from house to house among his people. They soon caught his spirit, and began to talk of the work among themselves and with their pastor, and some of them began to give. Their first contribution was a silver penny from a child, sixpence from a poor laborer, and six shillings from a widow. Little did these humble givers think what" a soaring pillar of fire" was to come from these trifling sparks, by means of which many a benighted soul on the Dark Continent would yet be guided and cheered in the way of life. And now this enthusiastic pastor begins to urge his church and parish to give themselves, personally and practically, to the work, be- {Jome responsible for a portion of the heathen world, form a society, choose a. field, and go in person, or help send others of their own number to man the field. 'rwelve came forward and offered to go, one of whom gave his farm as well as himself. With the avails of the farm a training school was established, where the twelve put . themselves under their pastor's teaching for two or three years, by way of preparation for mission work. Then the people began to study and plan with their pastor how they should send their brethl·en, when they should be ready, and provide for their support. Meantime, others offered themseives and came into the training school for instruction, and among them a number of newly converted sailors from the German fleet. Then some of the peasants expressed a wish to go as farmers, and some of the villagers as tradesmen or mechanics. In this way a new element was infused into the scheme, emigrants or ()olonists being now associated with the missionaries, and the hope cherished that the mission might eventually become self-supporting. And here the pastor himself is not only greatly encouraged, but set forward and furnished with a new idea; for, says he, "Without these sailors we should never have become colonists; for we, honest but somewhat stupid, heath-people, should never have dreampt of sending out any but real missionaries." And then, too, out of these sailors, they got the idea of building and having a ship of their own for mission purposes. Putting their minds and hands together, by faith, work and prayer, the ship was built, and the much-loved pioneer pastor, with some hundreds of his parishioners, took a special train to Hamburg to see the new ship, christen it Candace, and dedicate it to the work of carrying the gospel to the Ethiopians. Eight of the twelve candidates for appointment as missionaries being accepted, together with eight colonists, on the 21st of October, 1853, the Candace took them joyfully aboard, weighed anchor, and spread her sails for Mombas and the Galla country, via the Cape and Port Natal.
And now it was, on reaching their desired haven, that their faith and zeal were put to the first and severest test. The Mohammedan powers at Mombas, subject as they were to the Imaum of Zanzibar, jealous of all foreign influence, and especially opposed to the· incoming of Christian missionaries, set themselves firm against the proposed enterprise, and compelled the missionaries to depart. "The Arabians themselves towed the ship, with wild cries, out of the harbor of Mombas, as if they had gained ·ha1£ a world by getting rid of the Christians." The Candace now put back to Natal, where she had called on her way up the coast a few months before. Here they had a glad reception by some of their own countrymen, by missionaries from other lands, and by the Government of the colony. Without renouncing the hope of yet reaching the Gallas, on which their hearts are deeply set, they settle down to begin work where they are. Consulting with others' as to the best way and place to begin, on the 19th of September, 1854, with five ox-teams, after the Dutch Boer fashion, they reach the seat of their first and central station, which they call by the dear homeland name of " Hermannsburg," on a large farm of six thousand acres, called" Perseverance," and situated on the Iuhlimbiti, one of the inland branches of the U mvoti, their purpose being to strike out, eventl].ally, from this in different directions, especially into Zululand and the regions beyond, even to the Gallas, as the field should open and their forces increase. Already had they entered on their work by making tours of observation and by studying the language of the people with other missionaries, and aiding them in their work as best they could.
Having fixed upon a station, their next work, like that of other enterprising missionaries in the same or any similar wild and barbarous region, was to build themselves a house in which to live and a place in which to worship. To this they devote themselves at once in right good earnest, and yet keep up their study of the language,. and let pass no good opportunity to teach the people in whatever would be helpful to them, both in this life and the next. The carpenter, with the best workers in wood, went to·" the bush" for timber. The smith made ready a smithy for work in iron. The farmer gathered a native force to care for the teams and help him in his husbandry. The mason, with a few good helpers, began to make brick. The thatcher worked in the garden till he was wanted on the roof. The cook, as yet without a kitchen, had" a laborious business to feed so many hungry people." They planned to build a house· 120 feet by 40, with eight dwelling-rooms and twelve bedrooms, a large dining alld sitting-room, a large kitchen, and a long hall running through the centre from end to end. The writer, bEing there on a visit at a later date, after the house had been finished, and the mission enlarged by the incoming of other members, found this house the abode of thirteen families, who took their meals all at one table in the large central dining-room. Here, too, they all met,. morning. and evening, for family worship; and everything, as the visitor was atl>ured by the superintendent and his lady, went on,. from day to day, in the most orderly and harmonious manner. Less than half a mile away there was another band of seven families, living in a similar manner in one house.
Nor was it long, considering the missionaries' imperfect knowledge of the language, before they began to get from God "an earnest of an extended blessing on their religious labors, and to be thus encouraged to persevere." Ere three months had expired four natives, a married couple and two others, who had been under instruction, came to their teachers with a wish to be baptized and make a public profession of their faith in the Saviour of whom they had been told. After some weeks of further instruction, on the first Sabbath of the new year, they were examined before the congregation, accepted, baptized, and made the nucleus of a church among the Zulus. Forthwith, upon this, say the missionaries, "Satan broke loose, and did all in his power to hinder and destroy their work; but, thanks and praise to God, his grace gained the victory." Writing home, they entreat their patrons and friends to help them in their prayers, that the Lord may give them true humility and a self-sacrificing faithfulness in their calling, that they may not look for soft beds, luxurious sofas and good eating and drinking, but look to the I.ord Jesus and the extension of His kingdom. Nor was it long ere they felt that they had still further evidence of God's readiness to bless them in the ~oming of many natives to be taught to know and read the gospel. Some of the natives ask the missionaries to come and teach them at their homes, in their kraals, and some bring their children to the station to be taught. "Are not these fair prospects 't 0, Lord Jesus, the seed sprouts already. Preserve it from the hail! "
:Meantime, the full and frequent reports and familiar communications which these missionaries and colonists make to their friends and patrons in their fatherland, and especially to their beloved pastor, who, in turn, from time to time, talks it all over with his people, or has much of it published in his missionary magazine, help to keep the stream of mission interest ever full and rising. The training school was kept full, usually numbering about fifty. In 1856, a second company, chiefly farmers and maids, was found ready to go out; in 1857, still another company, numbering forty-six, of whom twelve were missionaries, was sent out; and then, in 1860, still another, numbering twenty-nine, of whom four were missionaries, the l'est colonists. On one occasion more than a hundred stood ready to go at one time. All this led to the frequent founding of 'a new station, so that in 1860, six years from the beginning of their work at Hermannsburg, they had ten stations, four in Natal, three in Zululand; and, at the united request of the chief Sechele and the Dutch, they had sent and formed three stations among the Bechuana, which were proving prosperous, the schools large, the attendan~e upon Sabbath worship good, and baptisms many.
At the end of the first decade of this mission, 1864, they had founded 24 stations and started two more, and baptized 190 converts. How well founded, planned and managed was Pastor Harms' mission enterprise, is seen in the fact that it went on to live and prosper marvelously after his death, which occurred Nov. 14, 1866. The annual Christmas festival, at which the pastor and his devoted charge of peasants and villagers were accustomed to review their year's mission work, was still kept up; and at that held in 1870, they reported their work greatly enlarged. The number of stations in Africa was now said to be 37, of which 7 were in North Zululand, 5 in South Zululand, 8 in Natal, 2 in Alfredsland, 10 in Bechuanaland, and 5 in Little Mosika District. At these stations 200 persons re- ceived baptism during the previous year. They had also 5 stations in India and 1 in Australia. Two brethren were about to leave for California to labor there in behalf of the Chinese in that State. The moneys received for the support of the Hermaunsburg Mi1!sions the previous year amounted to 50,311 thalers. The expenditures were 44,590; the balance, therefore, in favor of the treasury was 5,721 thalers. Their South African missions continued to grow till they numbered 50 stations and 5,000 converts, when some 12 or 15 of these stations were swept away by war; since which, however, it is under- stood that some of these devastated 8tations have been rebuilt.
In 1886 the income of the Society was $48,500, its missionaries and native helpers numbered 219, of whom 40 were ordained Euro- peans, 50 laymen and 42 women, likewise Europeans. The native communicants numbered 4,680, and baptized persons, 12,120. The gain of the year was 260 communicants. Rev. Egmont Harms was secretary of the Society in place of his father, now deceased. Aside from South Africa, the Society was doing mission work in India, Australia and New Zealand.
At an early stage of his Zulu Mission, Pastor Harms began to look for some suitable person to have the general superintendence of the work, and made choice of Rev. Mr. Hardelalld, D.D. arid Ph., who for many years had been a missionary among the Dyaks in Borneo. Dr. Hardeland would take this charge on condition that the Mission' .should be brought, in some measure, into connection with the Lutheran Church of Hanover, so far, at least, as to require that Church to examine and ordain all missionaries who might be sent by the Hermannsburg Society to this field. To this Mr. Harms assE:llted. Dr. Hardeland reached the field in 1859, after which the mission was subject to his oversight and direction.
Nor should we fail to notice that Pastor Harms and his enterprising people seemed all the more interested and active in their homework becaustJ of. their interest in the foreign field. In addition to other charitable efforts, they established a refuge for discharged convicts, about whom there hung a taint of disgrace, whose sympathies were perverted, whose sensibilities had been hardened by crime, and whose career had alienated common confidence. Moved to pity and helpfulness toward this neglected class, the warm-hearted Hermannsburgers bought a farm and built an asylum on it to be a home for the helpless and the hopeless, and yet a means of self-help for those who ·could labor. And then, again, as a means of imparting information
THE RELIGIOUS WORK AMONG THE IMMIGRANTS
and promoting mutual sympathy among themselves, as also between themselves and their brethren in a distant land, they started a live missionary magazine. This gave employment, for a portion of their time, to some in the training school, and thus helped to prepare them for the handling of type and a preBs, in a land where press and type had never been known. Beginning in this humble way, this department of the work went on to unfold and grow, till, eventually, they had" a Parish Publishing House~ issuing catechisms, tracts, and the literature of the Gospel, yielding an annual profit of six hundred pounds sterling."
In the narrative before us, what pastor, missionary, or missionary society, church or individual, can fail to find instruction and inspiration? In the Hermannsburg pastor and people, what an example for us to study and be encouraged! In it we see what an earnest, devoted pastor, who has God and a responsive, united people to help him, can do in face of great obstacles. Pastor Harms was a man of faith. He made his work, whether at home or abroad, a work of faith. He had faith in God, and faith in his people. He was a man of prayer. Of God he asked-in faith-the help he needed from God; of his people he asked-in faith-the help he needed from them. Putting·and keeping his work before his people, making it their work, consulting with them, informing, cheering them, he had their confidence, their hand and their heart, and found that as the work grew upon them, the means to carry it on grew also. Pastor Harms was a man of great spirituality, and yet a man of affnirs, a great worker, intensely active, a great organizer and manager, eminently original, progressive, trustful, hopeful, faithful, successful. His ways and means of securing a mutually helpful interest .between the church at home and his missions abroad-his way of promoting a loving, personal sympathy and attachment between the laborers in the field and their patrons at home, are worthy of consideration in this day of diverse thought and study as to the best me~hods of mission work. Indeed, in all the union of individuality, fres~ess, freedom and fitness in his beneficent plans and labors, never running in the ruts of lifeless uniformity or imita– tion, always finding some good place or use for everybody and everything, and especially in his great simplicity of purpose, his Christly spirit, his consecrated life, there is much for the whole Christian world to admire and emulate to-day.
']'HE RELIGIOUS WORK A~fONG THE IMMIGRANTS.
BY REV. PROFESSOR GEORGE H. SCHODDE, PH. D., COLUMBUS, OHIO.- It is only within the last decade or two that the immigrant problem has assumed in the public mind a moral and religious phase, in a. measure crowding into the background the purely economic feature of the question. The number of strangers entering at our gates. average each year more than half a million. The new factor and fer- ment introduced into the thought and life of the nation by the advent of millions grown up' in environments and surroundings often radi- cally at variance with the ideas and ideals of American traditions, make the inquiry as to what is being done for the intellectual and religious education of these masses one of direct home interest, in which every citizen and Christian must look with personal concern and solicitude. This modern migration of nations is also a mjgration of national peculiarities; and the number of new comers is so great, that it is a question as to how far they will assimilate to American life, and how far they will attempt to impress the stamp of their own individuality upon our people. Experience has shown that the efforts made in the latter direction are far from being welcome innovations and transformations.
Naturally the State can do nothing for the religious wants of these strangers; and what is done in the way of establishing schools, is practically of. .little benefit on account of the language difficulty and the age of most of the immigrants. Only the second generation can hope to make use of the opportunities offered for intellectual improvement by the State. Accordingly, the whole work in this direction must be of a voluntary character, carried on by those whose interest in it prompts them to this labor of love. The immigrant, himself cannot be expected to do much for himself in this respect. As a rule they are poor, and are intent, above everything else, upon the establishment of a house and home. Then, the majority of them have grown up in State churches and have never learned the lesson of self-help in regard to church and school, which is the condition of success in America. They are helpless as regards both ways and means. Often, too, they are but little concerned about their highest and deepest interests-those of their souls and hearts-the religious life in the State churches being but poorly adapted for the develop- – ment of personal piety and a clear appreciation of;he individual's religious needs and duties.
The work has then been left for those religious organizatio;ns in our country which, from a national or confessional point of view, must evince the deepest concern for the spiritual welfare of the immigrant. Nearly all of these strangers who come from southern Europe and from Austria and Ireland are Roman ·Catholics, as are also, perhaps, one-third from Germany and Switzerland; while the great majority of the rest of the Germans, as also all the Scandinavians, Swedes, Danes, Norwegians, Finns, Icelanders, and a small per cent. from Austria are members of the Lutheran State Churches, the Reformed Church being represented by a small German and Swiss contingent. From a l'eligious point of view, at least twotlJi",]R of tIle immigrants are P,'otestants, or, at any rate, non-Roman Catholics. The new immigration spirit which has in the last three or more years taken hold of the Roman Catholic Latin nations in Europe, and has made the number of emigrants from those States almost equal to that from the Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic nations of northern Europe, has not changed this proportion, to any perceptible extent, in favor of the Church of Rome, because the great majority of the Latin wanderers go to South America and not to the United States.
The work of the Roman Catholics for housing their portion of the immigrants is carried on more systematically than can be done by any of the Protestant denominations. The magnificent organization of the Church of Rome enables it to do effective work in this direction. Of the more than five hundred thousand children in Roman Catholic parochial schools, one-half or more are taught in languages other than the English. 'That Church claims no fewer than two million German members in the United States, divided into thirteen church provinees. Seminaries and ins,titutions for the education of priests and teachers multiply with great rapidity, and, in general, every effort is made to take care of their people and to keep them faithful members of the church. Just in how far this is to be regarded as consistent with the best American citizenship, is a mooted question. It is quite clear, that Roman Catholic ideas and methods in this regard are not yet in agreement with the public thought and conscience of the country.
The provision for the spiritual wants of the Protestant contingent naturally falls to the lot of that church to which it chiefly owes at least a formal allegiance, namely, the Lutheran. Unfortunately, the Lutheran Church of America, with its communicant membership of considerably more than one million, is a divided household of faith, the lines of separation being along a more or less rigid confessionalism, aided to some degree by linguistic and national divergencies; but, notwithstanding its divisions, the whole church is a unit inrecognizing in the home mission work among their newly arrived brethren in the great Woest and Northwest, the task above all other tasks for them to engage in. Accordingly, the Lutheran Church of this land has. bent all its energies upon the accomplishment of this one end, and of the four large general bodies and the independent Synods, numbering, in all, more than fifty Synodical organizations, there is scarcely one which does not take active part in this work. It is for this reason, chiefly, that this church has been able to take but a small part of the evangelization of the heathen world upon their shoulders. The large bodies of the General Synod and the General Council, indeed, carryon work in India and Africa, and the Southern I~utherans are beginning in Japan; but the largest complex of Synods, the Synodical Conference, as well as the independent Synods, engage in foreign mission work only in so far as they contribute to the missionary societies of Germany and the Scandinavian lands. Other denominations are not idle in this important field, but quite naturally cannot, and do not, accomplish what is being done by the Lutherans. The Methodists have a German membership of more than fifty thousand; the Presbyterians of nearly ten thousand; the Baptists are working among the Germans, while the Congregationalists have devoted their energies chiefly to the Scandinavians. The United Synod, a German body, representing the standpoint of the Prussian State church, in which the Lutheran and the Reformed confession are of equal authority, have a membership of about one hundred and twenty-five thousand; and the Reformed church, a German membership of fifty thousand. Of the more than a million Lutherans in America, at least two-thirds are non-English, she being the most polyglot church in the United States, no less than nine or ten languages being preached from her pulpits.
The care for the spiritual interests of the immigrant begins even before he leaves the fatherland. Small pamphlets have been published containing the address of every Lutheran or United Synod pastor in America, and these are scattered throughout the districts of Germany, informiug the immigrant where he can find a church home in America of his faith and confession. In Hamburg, Bremen, and <>ther seaport towns, immigrant missionaries have been stationed, who provide the people with good advice, and help 1;hem in general to get into Christian hands upon landing in America. In New York there are three Lutheran immigrant missionaries and two missionary houses, in which annually more than fifteen thousand strangers are housed and sent on their way. The Roman Catholics, too, have their mission house in New York, and the Methodists did have, but its discontinuance has been agitated amid the protests of the German brethren. In Baltimore there is also an immigrant missionary. These men and concerns are supported by the church at large, as the immigrants are charged only a nominal price for lodging and board, and the needy receive these free. The missionaries have large correspondence with the pastors throllghout the West.
The work of hunting up the new settlers and inaugurating the religious movement among them is the special task of the missionaries in the employ of the various Synods, who have scores of men engaged in this work. The ordinary method is to learn where there is a sufficient number of Germans or Scandinavians, or others, in a certain locality, and then to send a man there who is familiar with the language of the people. As a rule, no attempt is made at a church organization at once, even if the people were all nominally members of a State church in Europe. The most solid foundation for a congregation has, by experience, been found to be the establishment of parochial schools, in which the instruction of the young in the truths of Sacred Writ formfl the ellief feature. To this is added regular preaching, until the people are ripe for an organization, and with the assist- ance of the church building funds, if necessary, a house of worship is erected. But the parochial school system has been the backbone of the success of the Luther~lll church in the West. No less than 150,000 children are being educated in these schools at present, while the United Synod has more than twenty thousand in their schools. :More than two thousand teachers, nearly all males, are engaged in these schools, for the education of whom special' seminaries have been established at Addison, Ill., Woodville, Ohio, and elsewhere, or special courses have been arranged for this end in connection with the colleges and academies under the control of the church. The po- sition of the Lutheran church in the parochial school question differs radically from that of the Roman Catholics. While the latter are loud in th,,:ir denunciation of the public schools as "godless," the former establish their schools chiefly for the purpose of securing a religious education for their children, which, in the nature of the case, the State, because separated from the Church, cannot furnish; and besides, offering an education to those who are not acquainted suffi- ciently with the English language to make use of the public schools, the establishment of which is recognized by the Church as a duty of the State. The Lutheran church does not antagonize the public- school system; but for her own members she seeks to supplement it by supplying what, in her estimation, is the chief element of a true education, namely, the. religious.
It is from this standpoint that we can understand the opposition of the friends of the parochial schools in the Northwest to the re- cently enacted laws, particularly of Wisconsin and Illinois. There is no dissatisfaction with the demands of these enactments that pre- scribe that certain branches shall be taught in English, nor with their compulsory features, for in nearly all the parochial schools English is, in a greater or less extent, the medium of instruction in certain branches, and no one is more in favor of a thorough education than are the Germans and the Scandinavians. But those features of the new laws which virtually deprive these schools of their independence or of congregational control, by putting them under the supervision of county officials and non-religious authorities, have induced the tens of thou- sands of Protestants in Wisconsin and other States to inaugurate 'an agitation looking to a modification of the laws. The Protestants have steadily refused to go with the Roman Catholics in their opposition to the public schools, for the simple reason that they occupy an en- tirely different position over against these. On principle, the friends of Protestant parochial schools do not at all antagonize the school , system of the country; on the contrary, as a rule, their children for a certain number of years attend these schools, going to the parochial only for their religious training, especially for their preparation for confirmation. From these data it is plain why these church schools, established at so great a cost by the struggling non-English Chris- tians of the Northwest, have been one of the greatest features in the religious education of these people, doing a work which the State neither could nor would do.
In the line of higher education-the establishment of seminaries, 'Colleges, and other institutions for the special or partial benefit of the immigrant-immense strides have been made in the last half century. Then scarcely one concern of this kind existed; now, several of them are scattered over the whole land. The Lutherans maintain no fewer than twenty such establishments for the Germans alone, with an at- tendance of more than two thousand students. The capital invested in buildings reaches the millions, and the annual running expenses are fully $150,000. The returns for all this outlay and work can be seen in the progress of the church; for, on an average, one new Lu- theran church is dedicated each day of the year, and four-fifths of these are among the new citizens in the West. The Reformed Church has two chiefly Gennan colleges; the United Synod has a seminary .and two colleges; the Methodists have five small colleges of this {lharacter; the Presbyterians have two German seminaries, o~e in Bloomfield, N. J., the other in Dubuque, Iowa; the Baptists have a German department in Rochester, N. Y.. A similar work is being done among the Scandinavians and other Protestant strangers. Swedish institutions like that at Rock Island, Ill., are prominent educational forces; while fully a dozen smaller college~ and academies are maintained among the Scandinavian Lutherans. The Methodists have a Scandinavian theological school at Evanston, Ill.; the Baptists a Danish department at Morgan Park, Ill., and the Congregationalillts have one in connectiqn with their seminary in Chicago, Not a small agent in this religious education of the immigrant is the press. The polyglot newspaperdom of the West is almost entirely in the hands of the church, with the exception of a number of German papers in the larger cities. It is extremely interesting in this connection, to note the fact that all work of this kind undertaken by other agencies than the church, or from another standpoint than the Christian, has signally failed. The Milwaukee teachers's seminary, established on a "liberal" basis. has been a dismal failure.
Taking all these data into consideration, it is evident that the religious interests of the immigrant are receiving probably more marked attention and are treated with greater success than is the calile with" the native churchless masses of America.
PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS IN BRAZIL
PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS IN BRAZIL.
BY CHARLES E. KNdiIK:, D.D., BLOOMFIELD, N. J.
(Concluded from page 348, May number.) 3. We were much impressed with the personnel of our missionary force, and with the missionary's opportunity. The men and women in the service, the churches and stations, the centres of missionary power, all inspired us. The Southern Methodist Church was under strong guidance in the person of Bishop Granberry, and his missionaries seemed able and zealous men, intelligent and devoted women. They were strengthening efficient centres at Rio and Piracicaba. Frequent visits from their bishop, who returned with us on the steamer, and who left his daughter as a teacher at Rio, gave them all courage and animation. An earnest preacher and teacher was prosecuting a mission under Bishop Taylor's self-supporting plan, in Para. The Baptists, who 'had come late, had made a beginning in Rio and Pernambuco, although still without a church edifice. Maranhao, Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio, Sao Paulo, Campinas, all Brazilian centres, were occupied as centres of our own missions. The Southern men and the Northern men from our own church were men of ability, strong in character, prudent in action, harmonious in purpose, versatile in pastoral and evangelistic service. The native ministry and elders, so far as we could judge, were men of excellent qualities of mind and of heart, and foretoken a large body of worthy preachers and rulers. The evangelistic work opened everywhere and greatly outran the missionary force. In any new place the traveling preacher could have a congregation on a half-day's notice. With common prudence and loving endurance of the priest's opposition, and with perhaps a little cool courage under a shower of stones, he could in a short time establish a permanent congregation. Two missionaries, one a Bible society agent, joined our steamer at Pernambuco, who had come 1200 miles down the San Francisco river. They had started from the farthest interior station in the south, inland from Sao Paulo and Campinas, crossed from the head-waters which flow to Buenos Ayres, to the head-waters of the San Francisco, and canoed to its mouth. Through two of the larger provinces, Minos Geraes and Bahia, a full thousand miles northward on high land parallel to the coast, then on the borders of the smaller provinces of Pernambuco, Alagoas and Sergipe, eastward to the coast, they followed the stream second only to the Amazon. Everywhere they had met with kindly reception. The Bibles distributed may be expected to repeat the work of Dr. Kidder's Bibles distributed in 1839, developing into inquiring souls and into groups of inquirers ready for the future missionary; but the long journey revealed the universal plaint of the desolate heart, ready now to turn its cry of need to a song of joy at the message of love. In the Sao Paulo region the excellent evangelistic service of Mr. Chamberlain and of others has dev~oped a vast region ready for the detail work of a large missionary force. At one place was a school, whose origin was from a Bible in a Masonic lodge, purchased as a sacred book on which to take oaths. The planter whose curiosity led him to read it, vowed to furnish a building whenever anyone would come preaching the doctrines of that book. After the preaching he established the school, and then vowed that as soon as a white teacher would come to take charge of the school, he would put an endowment in his will. The last steamer of this present year brings the news from the college-bred lady teacher who has just located there, that the endowment is already in his will. At another place was a saintly member of a church, himself at one time full of hatred, who was con- verted by another whose heart and life had been full of ugly violence a few years before. At another place, where our Philadelphia engine stopped, was a flourishing church, where twenty years before Mr. Chamberlain and his assistant were stoned for explaining to the people the gospel of St. Mark. In rural plantations, in hamlets, in villages, in larger towns, notwithstanding the priests' protestation!;, the people will listen to the pure and loving story. An ebullition of emotional hostility may send off hot steam, but the prudent missionary stands one side, and soon the same emotion pushes the piston of a well-ordered life. The sub-stations and preaching places with one accord, in fourteen out of the sixteen sea-coast provinces, give the same testimony to the accessibility of the people.
One hundred new men, our missionaries said, could be at once profitably employed, as soon as they could learn the language, and another hundred could follow them at once.
The subject of lay colonies of Christians, in default of clerical missionaries, was discussed in our missionary company on the steamer. Most of the missionaries considered such colonies desirable, if practicable, and most of them thought something of the kind practicable under careful conditions. The oldest missionary, whose judgment was entitled to special weight, did not consider colonization from the United States practicable, and would not like to enconrage it. "The United States people," he said," do not colonize-they emigratethey will not remain together." General Magalhaes, who had personally explored the Amazon, said, at Sao Paulo, in answer to the question-Would colonies on the Amazon, from the United States, be practicable? "It would not do to bring people whose condition of life is too far above the conditions on the Amazon. The colonists must be of a class something like the conditions there-common ·laborers-not too cultivated." As the country becomes develop-ed and rises in intelligence and in civilizing institutions, such colonies will undoubtedly succeed, and it may be that colonies, like the colonies from the Southern States, if founded on Christian principles, may help to develop the civilization a.a Christianization of the country.
The Southern colony on the Amazon went to pieces. The Southern colony at Santa Barbara, in the more favorable conditions of Sao Paulo province, through many changes remains the same substantial unit, and has Presbyterian and Methodist churches. If such a colony founded on disaffection arising out of our civil war and on worldly ambitions has maintained its life for a quarter of a century, a Christian colony, founded on nobler motives, might wield a powerful influence under the new Republic.
4. The native and immigrant population impressed us as presenting certain characteristics which are specially hopeful. Three aspects are full of interest. In the first place, the Portuguese and the Brazilian are an amiable people. They are not intense and vindictive, like the Spanish. They are affectionate among themselves and hospitable to strangers. The.y may be aroused to sharp encounter, but their pre- vailing mood is placid. The history of their former revolutions shows this, and the present bloodless revolution exhibits the same trait. Religious animosity, therefore, inspired by selfish priests, is not likely to be persistive, as under the Spanish type of character. Never was there a better opportunity to introduce the high principles of Christi- anity, than among a people who have a strong social nature, who have ardent desires for a pure religious love, whose confidence in their false religious teachers has been broken, and whose present revolution points them towards civil and religious liberty.
In the second place, the color line is unknown. Prejudice in a. race caste does not exist. The ebony black, the Corinthian bronze, the Indian copper, the Caucassian white, and all the shades, statures, features, dress and manners of all these classes, sit side by side in the congregation and mix in common society. Grades of social distinction do not depend on color. Our brethren from our Southern States said , to us again and again: " We have no difficulty here in respect to the color line." "The old idea at home does not disturb us here." "We hardly know ourselves in the changed condition." This condition of the Brazilian community· arises out of the long intermixture of blood, the consequent impracticability of applying any race distinction, and the continued adjustment of social relations and customs to such a historic fact.
In the third place, the immigrant population has already become a powerful factor in the nation. The German people in the extreme South, especially in Rio Grande de SuI, have been recognized as a possible foundation for a separate republic. They occupy districts. and towns and cities. In Sao Paulo, also, their numbers are increasing. " We have a contract to bring in ten thousand faJllilies from W ur- temburg," said General Magalhaes to us. "The German emigra tion to US has been resisted in Germany, but the obstacle is now removed." The Italian constitute/the principal immigrant for mul- tiplication of "arms." They were not regarded formerly as m~king good citizens, but recently a better class from the farms of Italy has come. They do a large amount of work and consume little food. 'The Portuguese immigrants, principally from the Canary and Azores Islands, are less numerous. They are chiefly in the cities.
The great demand of the Empire has been for" arms," or, as we say, for" hands," to develop the acres, to open the mineral depths, to lay the railroads and build the mills. National laws and provincial laws have therefore offered a premium for the introduction of labor. The province of Sao Paulo has been the most enterprising. Large buildings were pointed out to us in the city of Sao Paulo) built for the temporary accommodation of these multitudes in transit. " We are bringing five thousand a month into this province," said General Magalhaes. "We have a contract by the province for this purpose." "More immigrants have come into the country since October last (about eleven months) than during the preceding history of the Empire."
By far the greater part of all this immigration is Roman Catholic. But from the old life of Europe they are coming into a new condition which is in rapid transit towards free ideas and private judgment. Met with a pure gospel in their own tongue, they may be converted to Christ and made a mighty force in the Christianization of that imperial nation.
5. We were very greatly impressed with the opportunities for Christian education. We heard t,he clamor of children in high voice, as we passed the common schools of the towns. In Pernambuco, our (lompany found its way into a girls' school-house at the edge of the dty. The voices were in full concert-the pitch was high-the action forte, the chorus without solo or duet. About fifty little girls and two little boys filled the room. Behind the desk sat a young lady <>f twenty-six or t~enty-eight. Her face was bronze, her eyes black, her jet black hair went down her back in a praid. With happy features, abounding spirits, a ready affability and overflowing pleasure 'in her work, she went freely on in the gu~dance of the school. She called up a girl to read. While hearing and correcting her, she gave attention to another, who came with an example in arithmetic; and then to another who came with her sewing, and sent another still for the tin scissors-and-tape box. When the little bronzes and blacks of all shades grew quiet from looking at their visitors, her vigorous itnd (lheery voice shot out the word" study," and off they all started in loud chorus again. We were reminded of what we had read of Mohammedan schools. The course of instruction was reading, writing, arithmetic, Christian doctrine (a Catholic shrine was in the corner) and sewing. One or two little ones recited in simple geometrical "form." They all seemed delighted with their cheery teacher. The same mode of education we saw in a school for boys of older age in Maranhao. From our Protestant Church school in Rio, we l~arned that the national habit was to train the memory, but that· the child was instantly lost if the teacher put his question outside the page of the text-book. Memory, obedience, emotion-these were to be cultivated among the people as a foundation for a blind church life. We were never more impressed with the value of a healthy logic in popular and in high education-to teach the child, the family, the community, the nation, to think for itself, and to exercise a private judgment in civil and in religious life.
There are professional schools of high character in leading cen- tres, law schools with large attendance in Sao Paulo and Pernambuco, medical schools in Bahia and Rio, a theological school with small attendance in each of the twelve dioceses. For these high institu- tions there are private and Governmental preparatory schools. And the "collegio," which is either a private school or an ordinary high school, is to be seen here and there in every city. There is, however, no university nor college of high degree in all Brazil. A few of the leading statesmen were educated in former years at the University of Coimbra, in Portugal, or in othe~ European universities. A few of th~ young men now go abroad. A bright young man on .our steamer was receiving his education in the Polytechnic. Institute at Worcester, Mass., where others of his nation had been. A polytechnic institution on the plains of Ypiranga, just outside Sao Paulo, is expected to grow out of its incipiency, if it escapes political complications. One considerable institution in the interior is founded on the doctrines of Augustus Compte. Independent of the missionary school and of pulpit instruction, the common people of the towns have the meagre education of the Catholic church, and the reflective mind tends towards materialism.
In several places Protestant schools had been begun. In four places they already assumed significant character. Under the Southern Methodists in Rio and in Pericacaba; under the Southern Presbyterians in Campinas; under the Northern Presbyterians in SaO" Paulo. The Methodist school property at Rio is on a noble site, commanding the city and the harbor. The school was in its early beginnings, the prosperous school at Pericacaba having been established some years, but we expect to see at the capital an institution of wide influence as an outgrowth at no distant day. The Campinas school had attained a high order of excellence and had gathered numbers and older students in spite of the rival Compte institution in the same town. The Sao Paulo school was, however, the leading missionary institution. Beginning as a little school for the missionaries' children, it had grown into a system of Kindergarten-Prjmary, Intermediate and Grammar departments-with a class for instruction in teaching and an advanced class ready for collegiate or theological education. There were 244 pupils present in the main hall on the day we were there. The number has since in- creased to about 400, the accessions again outgrowing the walls. The buildings adjoining the church should be at once assigned to one or two departments, and new apartments sought elsewhere for the other classes. The young men's dormitory, on the edge of the town, was an attractive building of yellow brick, one story in height, with dwelling-rooms for the Director. It stands on an elevated site, overlooking the city, and has ample grounds for a" future college. The teaching force, composed chiefly of intelligent ladies, Southern and Northern, under the excellent guidance of Dr.
H. M. Lane, was of high order. In our company we brought to them a New England teacher to take charge of a normal class of teachers.
Education had here advanced up to the line of the college system. The Sao Paulo school was ready at that time to present seven or eight, and the Campinas school five or six students for a" freshman class, as soon as a curriculum and the first professors could be provided. The opportunity is ripe for the completion of the educational system. Superior Protestant education would at once command wide attention. Its high morality would appeal to the deepest desires of parents who have fared ill under the Romish training. This highest complement of the system should be at once expressed in a college which should develop into a genuine university.
Roman Catholic education is unequal to the crisis. It is insufficient for the mind and morals of the masses. So long as the leading minds of the nation are under Catholic education, the people will not rise to high moral and religious convictions. The alliance of Protestant principles with professional edncation will at once give external and internal support to true Christian life. The State needs Protestant principles in its conception and administration. Such an education is the speediest way to produce the ministry which Brazil needs. The existence of a body of learned men at such a high institution is a constant educational force through all grades of political and domestic society and through all ranks of instructors.
Teachers of an elevated common school system, educated Christian fathers and mothers, communities which shall demand a" higher popular education for both girls and boys, leading Protestant minds in common society, in common commercial and in common agricultural life, educated church officers, native ministers to fill the countless opportunities, Christian men in the professions, leaders in the State Chambers in the new chambers of the Nation-these are within the speedy reach of such an institution. Next to the proclamation of the gospel-this is for Brazil the all-important thing. An opportunity for so broad a work, so world-wide an influence, is seldom presented to the Protestant Church.
HOW SHALL MOHAMMEDANS BE EVANGELIZED
HOW SHALL MOHAMMEDANS BE EVANGELIZED. [We are not at liberty to give the name of the writer of this article. Sui- nce to say, that it is from the pen of one who has lived forty years in the Turk- ish empire and is thoroughly conversant with the subject. Like the masterly paper we gave in the August number (1889), on "Islam and 9hristian Missions," it merits careful reading.-J. M. S.] This article does not discuss the general subject of Mohammedan- ism, giving an abstract of its tenets; nor does it propose to give a history of its progress and a statement of its present extent and power; nor does it compare this religion with Christianity, presenting the similarities and the contrasts between the two religions. It aims simply to treat of the best mode of presenting the gospel to Moslems, so that it may meet with their acceptl!-nce-treating the subject in view of the obstacles which hinder the success of the gospel in the Turkish empire. Is the inquiry presumptuous ?-The fact is not ignored that some persons regard this subject as not properly one of human discussion and inquiry. They say that the opening of the Mohammedan world to the gospel is a work so entirely dependent upon divine interposi- tion.and Almighty power, that it is presumption on our part to spec- ulate and plan, or do otherwise than" stand still and see the salva- tion of God." They say that it becomes us to acknowledge that the evangelization of Moslems in the Turkish empire is a sheer impossibility to human endeavor, that God has purposed it, and in his own time will indicate the means to be used for its accomplishment, as he did when the Egyptian bondage was to be broken and Canaan possessed; that we now stand before a closed door wl!-itingfor the providence of .God to open it, and that such an inquiry as this is as uncalled for and ill-timed as if J oahua had presented a paper on the best mode of delivering Israel at the time when they were hemmed in by the Red Sea and Pharaoh's ~rmy, or as if Eleazar had prepared a similar paper on the speediest mode of reducing Jericho before God had revealed anything about the blowing of the ra~'s horn and the seven times encompassing the city. They say, and they say this truly, that when the allotted period of 430 years was passed and the iniquity of the Amorites was full, all the walled cities of Canaan were powerless to resist the Israelites, and not before; that when the 70 years of the Babylonish captivity were fulfilled, heathen kings were inspired of God to further the return of the Jewish captives; that "in the fullness of time" Christ came; that forty days after his ascension the wonders of Pentecost were revealed; and so, when the Holy Spirit moves upon the darkness and bigotry of Mohammedanism then will begin the dawn of a new creation for its followers, for the decree still stands in regard to all the religious movements of the world: they are to be accomplished" not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." But, while we reverently acknowledge the divine decrees and pa- tiently wait for their unfolding, we should never fall back upon them as an excuse for our supineness.
Is the inquiry skeptical.j>-Braving the charge of presumption in proposing this inquiry, we expose ourselves to the charge of skepti- cism. Weare asked, Has it not been revealed from heaven that the gospel is the divinely-appointed remedy for the whole race of man? Has not the command been given us, "Go, preach my gospel," trust- ing to the power of the Spirit to make that preaching effectual to the evangelization of all men without exception, whether Jews, Moham- medans or heathen? And is not the raising of this question with reference to the evangelization of this one class an implication that the divinely-appointed remedy is inadequate to the peculiar difficul- ties of this case, and that it must be supplemented by means which human wisdom must devise; that the naked sword of the Spirit is in- sufficient to pierce the armor of this Goliath? Are we not preparing ourselves for a rebuke from our ~Iaster, similar to that which those nine disciples received from him when, having received from him a commission and power to cast out evil spirits, they failed in the case of the child in Cesarea Philippi and learned the cause: "Because of your unbelief, you could not cast him out?"
Or, at the least, we are told that there is, in instituting such an inquiry, a reflection on former and present laborers in behalf of the Moslems, and on the agencies used by them, and an ignoring of these long, faithful and prayerful efforts, and an assumption that the want of success which has attended these labors was a consequence of their having overlooked or neglected measures which they ought to have discovered and used, of which we are now on the track and ,repared soon to reveal.
If there is seeming ground for this objection, the writer of this article would hasten to disclaim all disposition to ignore the zeal and activity of these laborers, or to imply that they had shown a want of wisdom or courage, and that their efforts had been failures; or to counsel the abandoning of their plans and the adoption of others. On the contrary, he recommends the gathering up the results of their experience, the marking of their footprints for future guidance, and the imitation of their faithfulness.
The peculiar difficulties in the case.-That there are peculiar difficulties attending the efforts to evangelize Mohammedans everywhere, and that these difficulties are aggravated in the Turkish empire, is conceded by all. A cursory survey of these difficulties is a necessary preparation for surmounting them, as a knowledge of an enemy's defences is of prime importance to the general who intends to break through by assault.
1. The first of these difficulties is that of finding means of accesS' to Mohammedans, in order to teach them the gospel. Rarely do they {lome to our churches to hear our preaching. They do not visit us in our houses nor invite us to visit them. We have hardly any oppor- tunities for contact with them, so as to be able to explain our religion to them, and to urge them to accept it. The constitution of Moham- medan homes, with thejealousy and seclusion of the harems, creates a serious bar to the evangelization of the Mohammedans. The leaven has no access to the lump in order to leaven it. The salt cannot reach that which it is desired should be preserved by it. The patient knows not the remedy, therefore cannot apply it, to feel its power. Places of business in the daytime, and coffee-houses in the evening, where all listen to a story or a poem, are not favorable places for relig- ions discussions, and yet there are few other places for meeting Mos- lems.
2. A second obstacle to their evangelization is their pride and arrogance of opinion. They consider themselves the favorites of heaven, the depositaries of the truth, the elect, true believers, saved. They despise Christians, and couple their names with those of the lowest animals. This pride, this feeling of superiority, this lofty dis- dain, is an effective obstacle to their being influenced by Christian teachers. It increases their contempt of Christianity, that it is the religion of those whom they have been accustomed to regard as their subjects-their slaves. Shall the conquerors adopt the religion of the {lonquered? Shall they bow down to that. which they were commissioned of God to root out and destroy?
3. A third obstacle is the strength of the fortress 'Which Mohammedanism occupies. Heathenism has no such defences. The natives of Borneo, Java and Sumatra, while they are yet heathen, are far more easily reached by the gospel than after they become Moslems. This is the case also with the heathen of Central Africa. One reason of this is that there is so much of truth mingled with error in this religion-truth derived from God's own word. As the Moslems have taken possession of some of the fairest Christian churches and made them mosques, so they have stolen some of the most sacred'truths of Christianity and used them as buttresses to their fortress of error.
Another strong bulwark of this delusion is its harmony with the self-righteousness of the human heart. It offers a salvation by works, which it is possible for man to perform, such as prayers, fasting, pilgrimages, ablutions and alms-giving; and the performance of these acts gives the Moslem an assured title to Paradise.
This religion is stron~ again with sensual man, in that it allows and sanctions immorality and licentiousness, which Christianity forbids. It allows a man to act like a beast, and to account himself, at the same time, a saint. It lets him indulge his lusts without a bridle. and think that he has a special license from heaven for so doing and an illustrious example of such conduct in the person of his prophet. Being thus strong, it surrenders few captives to Christianity from its own ranks, and it gains many captives from heathenism, and holds them with a firm grasp.
4. Political complications give Mohammedanism greater power to oppose Christianity in the Turkish empire. The religion of Moham- med is the State religion. Defence of the faith of Islam is regarded as essential to the integrity of the empire. To sustain the tottering throne of the sultan, religious fanaticism has been invoked and fos- tered; during the last few years schools for teaching the Koran have been multiplied in all parts of the land; even among the Bedouin tribes have apostles of the revived faith been sent; new mosques have been built and old mosques repaired, and praying places opened, where religious devotees may shout the name of Allah till they become voiceless and nerveless with their frenzied effort. Bigotry and patriotism have become synonymous terms. And, since Moslems only are drafted into the army, the government dreads that they should become Christians, lest they should found thereupon a claim from exemption from military service. Moreover, they fear that such conversions may be made by foreign powers a pretext for their interference in the affairs of the empire, and a ground for demanding new concessions and national dismemberments.
5. Another obstacle is the fact that in the Turkish empire at this time the death penalty hangs over every Moslem who becomes a Chris- .tian.
The Koran authorizes this. Religious liberty is a doctrine inconsistent with the spirit of Islam. It is almost certain that a Mohammedan who professes faith in Christ must leave the country, ifhe can,or be impressed into the army, or be arrested and imprisoned on false pretences, and all traces of him be speedily lost. This terror, so imminent, hinders Moslems from indulging any disposition to examine carefully the Christian religion and to balance properly the claims in its favor. To be known to be an attendant upon the religious services of Christians subjects a Moslem at once to a warning from the heads of the sect; and if he perseveres, he soon feels the weight of their power to compel him to separate himself from such associations. As long as civil power remains in the hands of :Mohammedan rulers, it is difficult to see how it can be otherwise than it is now. If the sultan should declare that every Moslem was free to adopt what religion he chose, he would be regarded as a traitor and an infidel, and be in danger of deposition and. assassination.
While the pope was king of Rome he repressed Protestantism with an iron hand; and while Abd-il-Hamid or any other Moslem holds sway in Western Asia, we must expect that he will do all in his power to prevent his Moslem subjects from becoming Christians. From the very nature of things, the religion propagated by the sword must be sustained by the sword; the same means which were employed to make disciples will be used to keep disciples. The death penalty incurred by Moslems renouncing their religion stands as a. powerful obstacle to hinder their evangelization.
6. Moslems have imbibed a prejudice against Christianity from the false reprel!entations of its character and its effect as given in the worship and conduct of nominal Ohristians, with whom they live. As the superstitions and idolatrous worship of these Christians brought the wrath of God upon them centuries ago, and caused him to deliver them over to their Mohammedan conquerors, so their clinging to their errors has kept them under the yoke of their oppressors, and they have during all these centuries been bearing false witness against the holy doctrine which they profess, and making their conquerors hate, scorn and detest a religion so idolatrous in form and bringing forth such fruit of unholy lives and conversation. Can we blame men for rejecting Christianity when it has been so misrepresented and profaned by the so-called Christians of the East?
7. Another obstacle exists in the misconception by the Moslems of the cardinal truths of Ohristianity, without opportunity being sought or found to correct those misapprehensions. They totally misunderstand what we mean by calling God "our Father," and Christ "the Son of God," being misled by hearing Mary called by Christians "the mother of God." They misunderstand the doctrine of the Trinity, thinking that we worship three gods, and they miss entirely what we mean by calling God "a Spirit," thinking that we thus rank him with angels and souls of men, which ar~ spirits. They have been taught. always that the Scriptures, though originally from the hand of God, have been changed and corrupted by Christians, into whose hands they have fallen, and therefore these holy writings have no power over' them. Apostate Syrian Christians, educated in Protestant schools, taught foreign languages in order that they might be more efficient helpers in evangelizing their countrymen, have gleaned among infidel books in England, France and Germany to find every objection that has ever been raised against Christianity, no matter how absurd or how many thousand times refuted, and hav;e translated the accumulated mass of objections into the languages of the East, and published them as the u:iJ.challenged and irrefutable proofs that the Scriptures of the, Christians have been corrupted on every page, and that Christianity itself is an imposture. Let anyone who would see proof of this statement read the book" Izhar-il-Hok," prepared by Fares Shidiak, once an employee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and a translator of the New Testament into Arabic, under their direction, now a devoted adherent and strong ally of Mohammedanism in Constantinople,. and a bitter foe to Christianity, in whose folds he was born. 8. Another obstacle is that there is no liberty ofthe press in Western .Asia, nor lioerty of public iliscussion, by which the fallacies of Mohammedanism migh! be exposed and the slanders against Christianity refuted. Islamism enters the lists, free, untrammeled, permitted to strike as hard and as foul a blow as it will, while Christianity stands manacled, not allowed to raise a finger even to ward off a blow. Customhouse officers and public censors watch jealously to prevent foreign importations of books exposing J'Iohammedan errors; a printing press which printed a word against Mohammed and his religion would instantly be stopped; and if the missionaries braved all personal risks and denounced openly in their pulpits the prophet of Mecca, not only would they fail to reach Mohammedans with their message, but speedily their churches would be closed, and all other work done by them in the land would be stopped.
I will only hint at other obstacles, such as the indifference of many native Protestants of the East in this work, their want of faith and of zeal and of prayer in its behalf, while they have facilities vastly exceeding those which foreigners possess of reaching the minds and the hearts of their countrymen of a different creed; and again, that so many Protestant officials, representing Christian nations, men of the highest positions in civil life and in the army, should ignore their faith and their convictions and their customs when among Moslems, and for political reasons pay the most profound respect to their superstitions and their vain worship.
Has Christianity any allies ?-Leaving a further consideration of these difficulties, let us inquire if Christianity has any allies in this contest upon which she can rely. The answer is yes, and the most prominent of these are three: 1. The first of these allies is the progress of human thought. As surely as the fervid sun and the warm tides of the temperate zone melt the icebergs drifting down from the frozen North, so surely will this relic of the seventh century feel the influence of the second and third decade of centuries, and grow powerless before them. Mohammedanism represents the feebler intelligence and narrower range of thought of the world twelve centuries ago. It cannot adapt itself to the advance of the world in knowledge, like Christianity, which indeed leads the van of all human progress; but being of human origin, the product of a mind which could not look beyond the horizon of the age in which it was born and the region of its birth, it is out of sympathy with the present current of ideas and contradictory to the later teachings of science. Every new discovery is a protest against the errors imbedded in Mohammedanism. All advances in science expose the fallacies of that system, and prepare its followers to perceive these and make the necessary deductions from them as to its earthly origin. 2. The second of these allies is the human soul awa/Cened to a consdousness of wants which Mohammedanism fails to meet, and which Ohristianity meets fully. When man. awakes, as he must sooner or later, to the consciousness that he is a sinner and that his own self-righteousness will not suffice to justify him before God, then he looks in vain into the Koran to learn of a mediator and an aton- ing sacrifice and an effectual intercessor. Mohammedanism knows nothing of a "Father in heaven" to comfort the soul in its hours of loneliness and sorrow. It knows nothing of the Holy Spirit to change the heart and aid it in overcoming sin and temptation. But Christi- anity meeting these and other wants of the soul, for which Moham- medanism has no help, possesses in man's soul itself a powerful witness to its divine origin.
3. The third auxiliary is that course of divine providence which is weakening the political power of Islamism over the peoples and count?·~es now held in its grasp. The dismemberment of the Turkish empire is preparing the way, in its gradual progress, for the triumph of Christianity. The frequent conversion of Mohammedans in India, where English rule prevents the death penalty from being visited upon the converts, and in Egypt, where partial religious liberty now exists, show what we have reason to expect in Turkey when there is free2-om of inquiry, freedom of· discussion, freedom of the press and pulpit, freedom of profe~sion of faith in Christ.
To these elements of hope might be added the fact that there is much buried seed in Turkey of past labors, of Bible truth which has been sown-and what God has sown shall not return to Him void- so many unanswered prayers for Moslems yet in the golden censer.
The next question to be considered is: What agencies have proved most successful hitherto in commending Ohristianity to Moslems, and what may still be accounted the most hopeful means to be used in seeking their evangelization? .
1. The first and foremost of these is. the circulation of the Word of God. Bibles can enter homes whence preachers are excluded.
Bibles can be read where there is no fear of jealous witnesses and cl:uel betrayers. The Holy Spirit can apply that word with resistless power to the conscience and heart.' There is no doubt that immense good has been done by this agency alone, and that many Moslem men and women thus taught have lived and died, clinging to Christ and His cI:oss for salvation, of whom we have no record. We have cer- tain testimony of some who have been savingly enlightened by this means alone. Let us not despair of our influence in evangelizing Moslems while this agency is left to us. Let us rejoice in the oppor- tunity of circulating the Word of God with so few restrictions. Let us rejoice in possessing the Scriptures in the languages of Moham- medan peoples, and particularly in their sacred tongue, the Arabic, and in vowelled form, fitted to compare so favorably with the form in which the Koran is possessed by them. Let us use all available efforts to place the -Bible in the hands of Moslems, and to induce them to read it. Let us show ever in our conversation with them our assurance of its divine origin and our certainty of its being 'un- corrupted, and our belief in its saving power. Let us multiply colporteurs, wherever we can, to circulate and explain the word of light and life.
2. A second means, justified most amply by experience, is the edu- cation of Moslem children and youth of both sexes in our common schools, higher schools, boarding schools and colleges, and giving them both scientific and religious instruction. All science refutes in some form Mohammedan teaching. The schools which have been ()pened iu Turkey by American and English Christians, and in a lesser degree by Germaps, have brought in a flood of light which has been crowdin'g back into narrower confines the ancient night of Mos- lem delusion. School teachers are the sappers and miners who are undermining this gigantic fortress of error. Moslems perceive this, and hence their new zeal for opening schools of their own to coun- teract Christian schools, and hence that wonder of wonders, that Mohammedans should open schools to teach girls to read. It is to be regretted that so few Moslem youth attend our institution,s of learning. We should double our efforts to pring them in and to re- tain our hold upon them. While the children are yet young they carry home and teach to their parents by means of the hymns which they have learned to sing, and the verses of Scripture they have been taught to repeat, lessons which we could not otherwise introduce into those homes, and which may be the means of making the parents wise unto salvation, while these children themselves, sooner or later in life, may find their way to the gate of heaven by means of what they have learned in these schools. Boarding schools for Moslem girls have been wonderfully blest as means of good. May they be sustained as they deserve, and may they be multiplied!
3. Bible 'Women can do immense good by visiting Moslem harems, teaching the women to read, and reading the Bible to them. Some most interesting cases of hopeful conversions have occurred in connection with such labors. Women are thus' reached by the gospel who would otherwise never have heard it. There is less jealousy of female laborers thau of men. Where suitable Bible women can be found there is large encouragement for their employment.
4. Another object to be striven after is the cultivation of the acquaintance of Mohammedans. If we meet their coldness with coldness and their seclusiou with a corresponding non-intercourse, when can we expect that the barriers between us will be broken down? Personal influence, the world over, is the strongest influence. Men will not listen profitably to teachers who have not their confidence. Conviction is a matter of the heart as well as of the reason. A word from a friend influences more than a hundred words from a stranger. Difficult of acquisition as this way of influence may seem, yet it should not be slighted. If it is set before us as an end to be reached~ it can be compassed. On their fast days some rooms of Moslem houses are open. We can show an interest in their joys and sorrows" attend their weddings and their fuuerals, invite them to join literary coteries. When once an acquaintance is formed with a few Moslems it is easy to extend it by their means. Neither should the wives of missionaries limit their acquaintance to the poorest class of Moslem women, whom they teach to sew and to whom they give charity, but should cultivate the society of the better classes, and seek to gain an influence over these, doubly secluded as they are and wholly debarred from learning of Christ. Lady teachers in female seminaries have rare opportunities of making such acquaintances by visiting the mothers of their Moslem pupils. As matters now stand, women have better opportunities than men in evangelizing Moslems. In the nine- teenth century crusade women can have the honor of planting the ,standard of the cross where men are powerless, and this will not be the first time that the softest hand has proved the strongest.
5. Another important point is that those who expect to influence Mohammedans should make their religious belief a study / they should know what the Koran teaches, its truths and its errors; they shollld study also the commentaries upon it, and they should do this not second-hand, through translations and comments by foreigners, bllt should be acquainted with native modes of thought' and expression. Moslem literature, secular and religiolls, its philosophy, history, poetry and books of proverbs, which are now almost a terra incognita to scholars in other branches of science, should be carefully studied by those who hope to benefit them. Without such a knowledge we can no more hope to prevail over Mohammedans in discussion than Indians with bows and arrows could cope with Europeans armed with rifles.
6. Medical 'Work, and especially hospital 'Work, affords rare vantage ground for evangelical teaching of Moslems. A doctor among them is a privileged character. His life is safe where others would be in peril. He can enter within doors barred to others. His words carry weight which 'another man's do not. He meets men under the most favorable circumstances to influence them for good, when their hearts are made tender by sickness 01' bereavement, and when the nearness of another world makes the conscience alert and the soul susceptible to religious impression. The gentlfl ministries of Christian men and women in hospitals have, again and again, softened the hearts of bigoted Moslems, and the daily listening to the name of .Jesus and receiving care and healing in his name, have prepared them to accept the Christian's faith and Saviour.
From the agencies thus enumerated, as sanctioned by experience, it is plain that indirect, unobstrusive, unostentatious efforts are those upon which most reliance must be placed in this stage of the work.
An organized, avowed, aggressive mission to the Mohammedans, which proclaimed its designs and its results, would defeat itself and imperil those it sought to benefit. While the servants of the church are faithfully using all the means in their power to find an entrance for the gospel, the church must be content to allow the kingdom of God to come in Turkey without human observation, and to accept it that God's spiritual work here should move on as silently as the great processes of nature.
The vast importance of the theme.-In concluding this paper it is worthy of being set forth in words, although it is doubtless already the burden of the thoughts of many hearts, that the evangelization of the Mohammedans is a theme of great importance; it should be the subject of our careful consideration, strong faith and earnest prayers. It deserves to be made prominent as the subject of united, special, importunate and persevering prayer.
The vast number of the Mohammedans makes a strong appeal to our interest in their behalf, they constituting at least one-tenth, and perhaps one-eighth, of the human race. Their influence in the world commends them to our notice. That influence is not negative, like that of the Brahmins, and of the followers of Confucius, but positive, aggressive and visibly effective and ascendant in some parts of the world, and destructive always; but, if turned into right channels, promising to be as conducive to the triumph of the Lord as it now is influential to hinder it. They need the gospel as much as others to enable them to bear the woes of life and to light them through the dark valley. The gospel is as well adapted to their needs as to those of others. The commission, " Go teach all nations," extends to them. The success which has attended labors for them in individual cases shows that no impassable barriers lie in the way of their enlightenment and conversion.
The difficulties in the way of reaching them do not relieve us of the responsibility of laboring in their behalf. The dangers which may threaten us should not make us hesitate. It would be hard to prove that the difficulties and dangers attendant upon preaching the gospel to Mohammedans now in the Turkish empire are greater than those which faced the apostles and martyrs and early teachers of Christianity in the Roman empire in the first three centuries of the history of the Christian church. They preached to proud Romans, as well as to bigoted Jews and sensual Greeks, in spite of threatenings, scourgings, stonings, imprisonments and cruel deaths, and as a result pagan Rome was Christianized. So, with like faith and prayer and courage and perseverance and effort, in due season, and it may be after a hard struggle, the gospel will a second time triumph on its old battleground where its first victories were won; exiled Christianity will return to the home of its birth, the Bible will supplant the Koran, the prophet of Nazareth will t::tke the place of the prophet of Mecca in the heart of Moslems, the Son of God the place of the son of Abdullah, to the glory of God and the salvation of immortal sEmIs.
~S8 THE DRUID CELTS
THE DRUID CELTS-THE EARLY MISSIONARY RACE OF WESTERN EUROPE.
BY F. F. ELLINWOOD, D.D., NEW YORK•• The first wave of Aryan migration into Northern Europe was that of the Celts. They were the first column in that grand westward march which has wrought the highest civilizations. and filled the world with great achievements. In France they were first known to the Romans as Galli or Gauls. In Britain as Cimbri, or, more generic- ally, Britons.
But there were successive waves of migration: In the fourth cen- tury, B. C., one of these broke over the Alps and made a victorious entry into the city of Rome. In the year 279, B. C., another horde of Celts entered Macedonia, Thessaly and Greece, but were repulsed in the gorges of Delphi, whence passing through Thrace and turning eastward, they crossed the Hellesponte into Asia Minor. But having been conquered by the armies of Augustus, 25, B. C., they were con- fined thenceforth to the province that bore their name-Galatia. It was these brave adventurers whom nearly a century later Paul found it difficult to bring under the curbs and restraints of the gospel of peace, and to whom he found it necessary to write a very plain and outspoken epistle. And yet we get the impression even from Paul that they were a manly race.
During the Punic wars of Rome, large bodies of the Celts or Galli were found aiding the Carthagenians, and on many a well-contested field the Roman legions found them worthy of their arms. These alliances prompted R~me to crush their power, if possible, on their own soil, and Julius Cresar, with the Greek colony of Marsailes as a base of operations, began that series of resistless invasions which pursued the Celts over the whole area of France, and even to the British Isles. During fourteen years of conquests he is said to have sacrificed two millions of men. He respected his foes, however, and at last even cultivated their friendship; for in his further ambitious schemes he led the brave Gauls under his standards even to the gates of Rome.
The conquest of the Britons was a more difficult and protracted undertaking. The tribes who took their stand in the mouutains of Wales and of Scotland, as well as the inhabitants of Ireland, were never conquered by their Roman invaders, and on more than one occasion these vigorous mountaineers pressed upon the Roman colonies so fiercely as almost to extirpate their power in Britain. They seem to have been reserved for a great purpose. "Their forefathers," says McClear, "had formed the vanguard of the western portion of the great Aryan migration; they were to form the vanguard of the missionary history of Europe. While the Roman world was more and more decaying, and the great Teutonic movement was as yet in its infancy, they were destined to train and send forth some of the earliest and bravest pioneers of Christian missions in Switzerland and Germany."
Before entering upon the study of the Christian conquest of Britain, first by the Romans and at a later day by missionaries from Iona, one should first understand, if possible, the ancient religion of these brave and stalwart tribes. Enthusiastic writers have not hesi- tated to declare that the religion of the Celtic priesthood, known as Druidism, was the primitive religion of mankind. Discounting, how- ever, this extreme statement, it is enough to say that the faith of the Druids could not have been the faith of a savage race, for never has uninspired man attained to nobler conceptions of his own being or his relations to Deity than some of those which were taught by the Druids. Hume, the historian, declared that" no religion has ever swayed the minds of man like the Druidic," and in Cresar's Commen- taries are found brief references which show his profound respect for the faith of the vanquished Celts. "The Druids," he says, "make the immortality of the soul the basis of all their teaching, holding it to be the principal incentive and reasoll for a virtuous life." Again, in the fifth book: "The Druids discuss many things concerning the stars and their evolutions, the magnitude of the globe and its various divisions, the nature of the universe, and the energy and power of the immortal gods." Again in the same book: "The Druids teach that in no other way than by ransoming man's life by the life of man is reconciliation with the divine justice of the immortal gods possible."
It is easy to see that abuses of this last strong doctrine may have led the Druids to justify human sacrifice, of which in fact they were guilty; but we certainly have here presented, on the testimony of a Roman warrior and historian, some of the grandest conceptions of religious truth that have ever been assigned to any people. And in the last clause quoted, many have found what they believed to be an enunciation of that great principle of vicarious atonement which underlies the Christian faith.
The proverbs of the Druids, which are generally found in triads, are indicative of very noble qualities of race. Thus:" Three duties of every man-Worship God, be just to all, die for your country." How much nobler is this than the vaunted Buddhist triad: "Trust in the Buddha, trust in the Law, trust in the Sangha" (of Monks). It would be almost Christian if it had in it the element of love, for, like Christianity, it begins with the supreme claims of God, and is at leastjust to one's neighbor as to himself, and it adds the most exalted patriotism that a man can cherish. Yet its falls far short of the Christlike spirit, which loves all men even better than self, and is ready to spend and be spent in their service. Here is another terse triad: "Three things came into being at the same moment-light, man, and moral choice." Another: "There are three men whom all should love-he that loves the face of his mother nature, he that loves rational works of art, he that looks lovingly on the faces of little children." Again:" Three things only God can do-endure the eternities of infinity, participate in all being without changing, re- new everything without annihilating it." Another: "The three necessary essentials of God-infinite in himself, finite to the finite, co-unity with every mode of existence in happiness." These are noble utterances, one and all. How clear and just is the discrimina- tion which makes God infinite in Himself, and yet finite to the finite. Unlike many a heathen religion, this exalts God to infinitude; unlike many a cold philosopy, it brings him down to our finiteness, and recognizes the necessity for a Goa with us. 'l'hese triads set forth a the sublime responsibility of moral choice in man, and yet the ten- der grace that looks lovingly on the faces of little children. In word, the faith of the Druids differed entirely from the dark pessim- isms of the cotemporary philosophies of India and Egypt. It was a bright and hopeful system. "Three things," says still another triad, "decrease continually-darkness, evil, and death. Three things increase continually-light, truth, and life. These will finally prevail over all, then probation will end." 'l'his idea of the gradual and eternal progress of man and of the universe, stands apart from the teachings of most heathen systems.
A summary of the doctrines held by the Druids may be given as follows: There is one supreme God, and His nature is spiritual and invisible. The universe is pervaded by Him as His body, and He rules it as the human mind rules the human body. To human apprehension, though not in Himself, he appears in a triple aspect in relation to the past, the present and the future; the Oreator as to the past, the Saviour or Preserver as to the present, the Recreator as to the future. In the Recreator the idea of destroyer was also involved. This trinity strangely corresponds to the Hindu Trimurti, in which Brahma is the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Siva both destroyer and renovator. Of the Druid trinity the names were Belis, Taran, and Esu or J esu, and when Ohristianity was proclaimed in Britain, J esu was retained, and it is still retained as the name of the second person of the Ohristian Trinity.
The Druids held that man was created at once in his full strength, and that all matter was both created and arranged in the order of the universe in one and the same act. Nature is the action of God through matter. There is no such thing as the annihilation of matter. Every particle is capable of passing through all possible forms, and every form has its own laws of existence and action. They also believed that there had been a fall of once pure and happy beings into sin and condemnation, and that it was brought about by an attempt on their part to rival God in sustaining and governing the universe. In so doing they brought themselves to the lowest degree of unmiti- gated evil (annwn). For the redemption of these fallen beings God granted a period of probation (abred). By this means, after a long disciplinary course, they might again attain to the lost purity and happiness (gwynfyd).
The essence of the soul, according to Druidism, is the will, and the essence of religion is willinghood. The first essential of manhood, as distinguished from the nature of beasts, is the ·power of free choice. No other system of belief has ever more fully emphasized man's freedom and responsibility. Every man, ere he can be immovably settled in the bliss of heaven, must have passed through every experience of good and evil. Memory of evil endured is the only safeguard against yielding to temptation. Heaven then cannot be a place hedged against wrong. In an intense and sublime degree it is character reinforced by the remembrance of all evil suffered and mastered.
With the Druids the life hereafter was to be one of eternal progress and growth. No such conception as that of future rest occurred to them. Suffering might be willingly endured, either for one's own good or for that of another. In the one case it might expiate his own sin, and this, accompanied by confession, might absolve him. In the other case his suffering might atone for another's sin.
It cannot be successfully maintained that Druidism was free from polytheistic tendencies. At least, subordinate gods were regarded with something akin to worship. But the above outlines are sufficient to show that the Druidic faith was at once the product, the expression, and the perpetual source of great moral power. No wonder that the Celtic race produeed such characters as those of the exiled Caractacus, or the sublime heroism of a Boadacea. And it is not strange that the armies of Rome found it well nigh impossible to conquer Britain, and, in fact, never did conquer her remoter tribes.
Weare told that about five centuries before the Christian era the civil laws of the Druids were codified by Dunwal Moelmud, and that since that time they have remained the common unwritten or native laws of the island, as distinguished from the Roman, the Canon, and other codes of foreign introduction. "These Druidic laws," says Rev. R. W. Morgan, "have always been justly regarded as the foundation and bulwark of British liberties," and he refers to the testimony of Sir John Fortesque and of Coke, to that effect.* So, far from savagery, the Druids were possessed of a high degree of civilization. They studied science with a truly religious fervor, since the laws of nature were regarded as the modes of divine activity. Theya-re said to have supported sixty colleges, and the * St. Paul in Britain, p. 64. •1.umber of students from Britain and from Gaul sometimes rose to sixty thousand. These institutions were generally located in the, fortified capitals of the tribes known as Caers, Castras, and finally,. Chesters. Very many of the old names still remain, as Doncaster,. Leicester and Winchester. The pride of learning in these institutions was very great. The only prophets recognized were those who had penetrated all nature's laws. Only the highest social classes were eligible to the Druid order, and each applicant must prove his descent from nine successive generations of free forefathers. In the Druid order centered all knowledge, human and divine. They were the hierarchy and the parliament. They never bore arms. Expulsion from the order rendered the culprit an outcast, whom none might. fellowship or assist or pity.
The conversion of the Britons to .Christianity was facilitated by two favoring influences. The first was the fact that their own system of belief had so many high and noble elements in common with the religion of the Bible. They claimed identity as to the unity of God, in three manifestations, of whom "Jesu "was one. They recognized also the principle of vicarious expiation for sin, and the doctrine of repentance and confession. Like the Christian doctrines, their creed_ emphasized the freedom and responsibility of the human will and the moral influence of discipline, as a blessing in the government or God. Said Taliesin, a Druid bard, with some exaggeration: "Christ" the Word from the beginning, was from the beginning our teacher, and we never lost His teaching. Christianity was a new thing in Asia, but there never was a time when the Druids of Britain held. not His doctrines."
The second special influence which opened the hearts of Britons, to the gospel was a fellow feeling with the Christians under the cruer wrongs of the Roman power. The Christian church was persecuted,. and Druidism soon shared its trials. It became so evident that the_ strong religious faith of the Celts was the real secret of their invincible bravery, that orders were given to the commanders of the legions to extirpate Druidism at all cost. Thus by a common sympathy ilL suffering were the hearts of the Druids opened to the gospel. The family of the royal exile, Caractacus, became prominent among. the Christians of Rome. Many memorable names, like that of Pelagius, appeared in the history of the British churches.
In our common habit of lauding the Anglo Saxon, have we not, unduly overlooked the Celtic element in the civilization and moral power of Britain? From the Picts of Scotland, and the brave and hardy sons of Wales, who even yet speak the original tongue of the Britolls,and the secluded Irish, whom Patrick won to the truth, we~ trace very many of those early influences which have leavened the ooaracter of the nation. That enthusiastic youth, who, from having
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY MAGAZINES
been a captive and a swineherd, became, in the fifth century, A. D., the apostle of Ireland, belonged to this Celtic race. Before the con- quests of Saxon and Dane, which waged a war of extermination against Roman and Briton alike, he had established Christianity in Ireland. From Ireland a refluent tide of Christian influence returned to Wales. In both countries monasteries sprang up, which were really missionary trai~ing schools. Northward to Iona this monastic enthusiasm spread. Thence, men of heroic faith and endurance carried the gospel to Scotland and to N orthumbria. From the Ban- . gors of Ireland and Wales missionaries passed into Burgundy, Switzer- land, Germany, and even Italy. It was an evangelical faith which they proclaimed. Patrick had studied with Martin of Tours, who, sur- rounded by Celtic monks of Gaul, had followed the culture of Poly- carp rather than that of the Popes. It was an age of moral earnest- ness, and the faith of Britain was exceptionally free from the hair- splitting doctrinal speculations which prevailed in the East. It was free from ecclesiastical ambition and intrigue; from the accumulations of human traditions; from the worship of pictures, im'hges and relics. .
Religion was the great interest of life. Mo,nastic devotion and missionary effort, far and near, were considered nobler and more desirable than money getting, or fame, or earthly pleasure. It was then that the foundations were laid for the political and religious liberty and power of Western Europe.
TRANSLATIONS FROM FOREIGN MISSIONARY MAGAZINES.
BY REV. CHARLES C. STARBUCK, ANDOVER, MASS.
-The following from the Macedonier is a fair specime,n of what" secular instruction" means when carried out logically. The writer is speaking of Dutch Government schools in the East Indies: " This was the first fault (the denationalization of young teachers), but the second was not lessgrave. It was the principle of neutrality. 'There might not be any religion ill the Government schools!' This measure roused an unnecessary aversion in the parents towards the Government schools. Among a population where but one church was known, the name of God or of Jesus might not be named; nay, even proverbs, like that of Solomon, ' Go to the ant, thou sluggard,' were objected to as injurious because they stood in the Bible." Are we going to yield to Antichrist in that fashion?
-The same writer, after remarking that the Government schools do not deserve to be called people's schools, inasmuch as for the great majority of the youth who are not looking for Government appointments, the little knowledge they give is of a kind to spoil them for their actual life, pronounces the missionary schools to be true people's schools, because (1) They use, as a rule, the vernacular tongue, although in the Minahassa (the northern arm of Celebes) they still use the Malay too much. (2) They keep in view, in their instruction, the development of the understanding and the forming of the heart agreeably to the stage of development on which the popUlation stands, and the occupation and course of life which lie before by far the greater proportion of the school-going youth. (3) They limit themselves to giving instruction in read- ing, writing, ciphering, geography and singing. Point 2 is, in the writer's judgment, of great importance. His conclusion is that the East Indies require, not the Government school, but the free, subsidized private school.
-The following from the Dansk Missionsblad gives an impression of how, where there is still a zeal for Hinduism, the gospel is weakening its defences in more cultivated Ininds, and how fierce a reaction of heathen bigotry is still possible even against Hindus, whose greater enlightment compels them to make certain concessions to Christianity: " As we were returning from church, we came by a great company of people that had flocked around a speaker, who, with enthusiastic words, was extolling the excellence of Hinduism at the expense of Christianity. My companion knew the speaker, a young Hindu from Madras, who had seized on this festal occasion to make an essay to strengthen the tottering thrones of his gods. We stopped and listened; and our native preacher having undertaken to answer him with somewhat dubious success, Herman Jensen entered the circle. He extended his hand to the abashed Hindu, and kindly inquired after his health, which for an instant stayed the flow of his eloquence and drew the hearers' attention. Jensen availed himself of this moment, and, without entering upon the interrupted discussion as to the trustworthiness of the Bible, he began to speak to the people of' Him who is not far from anyone of us.' . . • Having ended, he at once took leave, that the impression left might not be effaced by aimless disputes. We afterwards learned that some of the crowd had begun to make sport of the Christians and their religion, but were checked by the young Hindu, who reminded them that although as Hindus they were antjl.gonistsof Christianity, yet they could not refuse it their respect, as it was in reality a good religion. At the same time he let fall a hint that the Hindu zeal to drag their gods about the streets was of doubtful value.
"The next day we heard that the young Hindu had been obliged to leave the town early in the morning. For as soon !,S it became known in Tricalore that he had permitted Herman Jensen to speak, and had even expressed himself favorably as to Christianity, no one in the whole town would sell him rice or anything else. The Brahmins in particular began to assume so threatening a demeanor toward him that he judged it prudent to leave Tricalore as quickly as possible."
-Kaiser-Wilhelms-Land, the German part of New Guinea, the northeastern part of this great island, is about ten times as large as the kingdom of Wurtemberg, but has only about one-twentieth as large a population. We are glad to see that the German Company which controls it forbid the importation of either spirits or gunpowder. The people are not, like many Papuans, cannibals. They are of strict morals, and of a reasonable disposition. The Inissionaries say: "If only they would wash themselves now and then !"
-'fhe Missions-Blatt of the Moravian brethren for JanuarY,1890, opens with the words: "Thy Kingdom come. Praying thus we enter upon the New Year. We utter it with universal Christendom over the broad earth. But above.all it should be the watchword for the missionary church of the Unitas Fratrum. The Kingdom of the Lord our God, as yet invisible in its .full depth, power and glory, by us as yet uncomprehended, but in faith apprehended as the Kingdom gained by the conflict unto blood and death, of the Son of God, wrested from the devil and formed by the communion of the redeemed, ought in this year also to gain ground afresh and to make a victorious advance. There should be assured to it victory upon victory, as well among ourselves as also abroad, in the far distance where light and darkness are wrestling together, or where the yet unbroken darkness rests in thick masses upon the nations. This is the tenor of our prayer. And if we pray thus believingly and confidently, with a 'heart full of love for this kingdom, into which we know ourselves to have been translated, then we all labor together for the coming of the same, then are its victories also our victories, then something of the glory of the Kingdom is likewise reflected into our own life, and purifies our faithfulness, our labor, our patience, so that they put on some value in the eyes of its King." -The Moravian brethren remark that the past year has been marked by liberal gifts for their modest but model missions. In a peculiar sense, what- ever is given to the Brethren's Church is given to the Church universal, and has, therefore, a double value, immediate and exemplary. In 1889 the extra outlays of 1887 were fully covered. And large giving soon showed itself, as commonly, to be the parent of larger giving. For the church at Dornburg, Surinam, costing more than 20,000 marks, the costs are assured. 6,500 marks have been paid and subscribed for opening a work in the island of Trinidad. .a Mr. McNiece, in Ireland, has left the Moravian Church the equivalent of 115,000 marks for their missions in Africa and .asia. Mrs. Disney Robinson having given in 1888 the sum of 20,000 marks, and 20,000 marks in 1889, has bequeathed 40,000 marks.
" But with the chords of thanksgiving and joy there mingles also a subdued strain of sadness in looking over the past year. We trust it does not lessen gratitude, but in a measure it troubles joy. It has pleased the Lord to, visit our missionary brethren and sisters the past year in a very extraordinary degree with sickness. This has occasioned many withdrawals from the service, and has diminished the strength of many who remain. It has also made it necessary to decline many overtures of service. Finally, this year has seen a, larger number called to the heavenly home than many others. Five brethren and sisters have been called away out of a fruithful activity-five in Surinam alone.
" In the past year a special consecration was imparted to our missionary' work by the meeting in Herrnhut of the General Synod of the Brethrens' Unity. In this the missionary work of our church, in all its aspects, was thoroughly tested, unfolded and weighed. And this was done with so comprehensive an interest, and with so hearty an affection, that we were thereby mightily strengthened and filled with the consciousness that we were acting in the commission not only of an important but also of a praying missionary church, and could take up our work afresh in the refreshment of such a. consciousness.
"Thus, then, may the Lord go with us into the new year, and His blessing accompany all we do! May His spirit rule without in the field, as well as at. home in the church. May He build up His kingdom in our midst, and, through us, ever wider and wider out into lands remote! The experiences that we may have gathered in the past year, painful as well as consoling, all this should firmly conjoin itself for us'into piers and arches of a bridge, on which Hope shall advance, boldly and securely, from time unto eternity. To the Lord, the victorious king of his kingdom, be glory and praise and honor, .amen!"
-The Brethren's missionaries in the little Mosquito State complain that the Catholic State of Nicaragua is constantly nibbling at the eastern boundary, and, unless restrained by England and America, the guaranteeing powers, bids fair to devour it altogether. The two governments ought to be stirred up to look into the matter.
-The Berlin Missionary Society gives its present statistics as follows: In South Africa, 6 superintendencies, 47 stations, 83 out-stations, 143 preaching places, 53 ordained missionaries, 4 candidates for ordination, 6 colonial brethren, 93 paid and 323 unpaid colored assistants, 20,000' baptized Christians now living, 8,000 deceased, and 3,500 scholars. In China, 4 ordained European missionaries, 2 European candidates for ordination, 28 native helpers, 4 of them ordained, 9 stations, 7 out-stations, 23 preaching places, 736 baptized Ch..istians, living in 135 localities, and 116 scholars. In tbe Mission house in Berlin there are some 25 or 30 pupils under training (after the Continental metbod) for work abroad. The almost entire talk of University men is a deep drawback in Continental Protestant Missions.
The Society, now 66 years old, is assisted by 300 auxiliary associations. -Director Wangemann says, with considerable humor, that the effectiveness of the system of auxiliaries is by some set much too high. " My dear friend, Professor Flash, once remarked, that the Director of Berlin I. (for there is another Berlin Society) has a good position; he sits like a telegraph director before 300 wires, at whose ends are to be found 300 auxiliaries. He only needs to press on the buttons, and movement ensues in the whole system. Now, whether a Berlin Misfionary Director has ever been in this happy situation or not, I do not know; but, as concerns myself, I h~ve never enjoyed it, and even less to-day than when I took up my office 26 years ago. I may press on the buttons as much as I will, the great majority give no answer whatever. Some wires are rusted; some quite broken asunder; the system as a whole no longer works. For years, 60, 70, perhaps 90 answers, has been all that my pressing on the',00 buttons has brought to pass, and of these more than half not at all thorou:,;lly entering into my questions." So it seems that even German thqroughness has its provoking limitations in the missionary cause.
– " As Paul, with good right, was honored with the title of ' Apostle of the Gentile~,' so our time, above others, is the period of the world·mission, whose business it is to be thoroughly in earnest with the commission of the King of the kingdom of heaven: 'Go ye into all the world,' , Make all nations my disciples.' But in this great mission field the Supreme Missionary Direc· tion has distinctly designated certain fields of labor, above other8, as those whichju8t now need our especial faithfulness and energy, for the very reason that here more than elsewhere' a great door and effectual, offerinli:' abundant fruit, is opened unto us, and there are many adversaries.' As in a hattie a wise general sends the main reinforcement to those points where the crisis is imminent, and the enemy most vigorously unfolds his force, so ahro in the combat for the world's conquest, which missions have to wage, the most decisive and energetically assailed points must be occupied with the most numerous and the best troops. The greatness of the duty, which the present opening of the world imposes on Christain missions, has an almost bewildering effect, and involves the danger of an inauspicious scattering of forces. It often misleads Christians to an unreasonably rapid succession of new enterprises, not seldom at the cost of such elder fields of labor as afford fruit already ripe for the harvest. The opening of new doors should certainly not be left unregarded, but be an incitement to multiply our exertions; but they ought neither to afford nourishment to a certain missionary romanticism, which is only intent on 'either seeing or hearing some new thing,' nor to infringe on due fidelity towards elder fields, nor to come in conflict with the wisdom which demands the fullest outlay of strength where, at a particular juncture, the opportunity is most distinctly given by God for wide·reaching decisiveness of result." -Dr. Warneek in Allgemeine Missions·ZeitBchri/t, January, 1890.
-" The great missionary decisions do not, in the first instance, impend in the newly·dis· covered regions, especially of Central Africa; but in older fields, where access to human throngs is conjoined with an entrance of the gospel message into human hearts, and the enemy is organizing a resistance to the gospel. There, as in Madagascar, in India, in Japan, where the situation already draws near to a final issue, the missionary forces should receive the greatest possible concentration."-Ibidem.
-" We can but lament that so many in our day account as insufficient the only means that is given to Christian missionaries, namely, the Gospel, and, therefore, meditate how they may rel!der it effective by additions of their own devising. Their unbelief arises out of the just observation, that the missionary with the Gospel has to attack, not only an individual, but a world that, in its manifold political, social, ethical, religious relations, is fortified against the truth. For this the Word appears to have too isolated an operation. But the Word finds not only one individual, but then a second and a third; there arises a Christian community, which is the legitimate means of warfare against the heathen community. The greater this community becomes, so much the greater is the capital with which missions work. Every mission· ary society which founds a second station, which has a fiourishing neighbor-mission, experiences that the first helps to bear up the second, the neighbor to support its own work. It appears to me that this source of efficiency is at present overlooked, when in Africa so many entrenched camps are broken up, and the war almost wholil. carried on by skirmishes. Especially is this a tactical mistake in a land where one has to do Wlth Islam, which works by its compact masses; in a land that intelleCtually, morally, religiously, is so little prepared for Christianity as Africa, where all the spiritual capital, all the instruments with which we labor, for instance, in most places the very alphabet, have first to be created. What is natural, appears also here to be reasonable. Why should one carryon the war some hundreds of miles away from the nearest of our country's troops, and not rather advance shoulder to shoulder into a stronglyfortified enemy's land."-F. M. Zahn in Allgemeine Zeit8chrijt, January, 1890.
GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE
n.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLIGENCE.
Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions.
The organization of the Student academic students; 200 (4.%) grammar Volunteer Movement is not perfect as and common school students; 500 yet; nor are its methods infallible in (10%) who are not students, and 500 aim, however its representatives are (10.%) who are out of school on account united, for they are striving in single of health or lack of means. Besides hearted endeavor to evangelize the these, about 275 (5~ Yo) have completed world in this generation. And be- their course of study (125 of whom are cause they are honestly and earnestly not likely to go), while neady 250 (5%) and prayerfully striving to enfolce have departed to their foreign work.
our Master's last command, they wel- About 250 (5.%) have renounced their come, and most gladly, criticism from decision; and 50 (1.%) have been re- friends-criticism in the broad signifi- jected on account of ill health and cation of that much abused term. other reasons.
Now and then statements like the In the following estimate the same following reach us, and because these persons are considered with reference statements are typical of criticisms to the time required to complete their which come from various quarters, we courses of study which they have laid give this sample: "We have heard out: The number who have completed of some thousands of students in our education and gone. to their work, colleges 'pledged to foreign missions,' about 250; number who have finished but, somehow, they do not material- their education and are still in this ize. We would be willing to hear less country, about 150; that expect to com- about their enthusiastic pledges if we plete studies in 1890, 400; about 550 might see more proof of the enthusi- will complete their studies each year asm." Lookers on think it a little for the next four years; while 1200 will strange that out of so large a number have more than four years of study be- {)f volunteers so few appear to be fore them. About 500 are uncertain as ready to embark in the work. An ex- to time required to finish, on account of amination of the latest statistics very health and means. To complete total recently compiled will show results of 5,000, there must be added 50 who encouraging to all who are anxious have been rejected by the Boards, and for the extension of Christ's kingdom, 250 who have reversed their decision.
and will reveal some of the reasons There are between 90 and 100 mis- why even a greater number of volun- sion boards organized in colleges' for teers have not already sailed for for- promulgating the missionary spirit in eign shores. their respective localities; but volun- The American Board sent out last teers are reported from 300 insti- year 52 missionaries, the largest num- tutions. There has been pledged for ber for any year in over half a century, the support of missionaries through and has as many more.applications on the influence of the movement: by nle. This Board has sent out 30 vol- colleges, $19,450; seminaries $9,850; unteers in the last three years. churches, $13,000; miscellaneous Dod- Five thousand persons have signed ies, $3,400. These figures include the pledge. single contributions and permanent The most accurate estimate gives annual pledges, but omit all work the numbers and proportions of the done in 1890, and much done previous- volunteers in the various grades of ly and not reported.
educational institutions as follows: Mr. John N. Forman will be remem- 1750 (35.%) college students; 125 (21 Yo) bered as the person who was associa- medical students; 450 (9%) theological ted with Mr. Robert P. Wilder at the stUdents; 650 (13%) preparatory and date of the inception of the movement, in 1886. Mr. Formanis now in In another part of the REVlEw* may India, and is supported by the students of Princeton college. He writes from be found an appeal from the Kolhapur Datia, Central India: Mission for 16 new workers. It will " Datia Is a city of 28,()()() souls, a fine specimen of an eastern city, surrounded by a strong be remembered that the founder of wall which is pierced by five gates and three 'windows.' The people are independent, with this magazine, the Rev. R. G. Wilder, a king of their own, who is responsible to the English government." established this mission, and that his Since Mr. Forman's arrival at Datia wife and daughter, Miss Grace E.
he has been endeavoring to establish Wilder, are carrying on the work an independent native church, and he there now. has adopted, in a measure, the mode of living of the natives. He does not There are at present only 18 work- yet feel convinced that this latter plan el'S in Kolhapur. How needy the is altogether wise; but of two points he is convinced: first, no man should field is will be seen by examining the live in this country without a com- apportionment of workers to other panion; and second, it is not best to countries. Mexico has a population work among natives as poor men. of 10,OOO,OOO–two and one half times "We certainly must have," he writes, "all that Is necessary to health and efficient service, that to be reached by the Kolhapur and must not go in for asceticism. The preaching is sometimes quiet, and sometimes stormy. missionaries. Mexico has 48 ordained our Evening before last a young man came, intent missionaries, 44 lay missionaries, and on breaking up preaching. He tlrst tried 43 female missio!J.aries. Total, 135. to get me into an argument, but finding that would not work he talked away, pretty loud, If Kolhapur wen to have an equal to those about, and at the same time another man preached to another part of the audience. proportion, it shoull be furnished with I had to preach pretty loud to make myself heard, even by a small part of the audience, 54 missionaries. Japan has 15G orfor, in addition to my two rivals, there was all the ordinary noise of a public square.". . . dained missionaries, 161 lay, 113 fe- male, and 14 medical. Total, 443. If Kolhapur were to have as many in proportion, she should be equipped with 48. Even" in dark, benighted"
Africa, there are proportionately more missionaries at work than in Kolha- pur. MAX WOOD MOORHEAD.
* See page 456.-EDs.
Aftlca.-The British Missions Zambesi for navigation was being- and the Portuguese. On Livingstone's sounded, and a new and direct com- return to England in 1856, after 16 munication from the sea discovered. years of self-inflicted banishment in The Shire was then unknown to Por- the heart of the "Lost Continent," he tuguese voyagers except in its lower said: " I have opened the door, and I reaches and near the Zambesi. Dr. leave it with you to see that no one Livingstone and Sir John Kirk traced closes it after me." This door was not it to the Falls; proceeding on foot be- to be shut, either by the murderous yond them to Lake Shire, until their' Arab or the Portuguese filibuster. discovery of Nyassa. On this explor- Thirty-two years ago a well equipped ation Dr. Livingstone had proof that expedition was placed by the English the Portuguese encouraged slavery. government at the disposal of living- stone to extend geographical knowl- Next in chronological order came edge, and to assist the people in land the Universities' Mission. Livingstone cultivation and production of raw ma- chose a site for it which had many terial, for which the latter might be natural advantages. At this point exchanged for English manufactures. gang after gang of miserable slaves By this form of legitimate trade the were met, being led away to Portu- terrible slave traffic might be mitigat- guese settlements. Native villages. ed. Concurrently, the capacity of the likewise were commonly fired. At Chi- bisas a colony was formed, which had. continued to grow, and which to-day al experience, Portugal had all but was claimed as a birthright by Portu- strangled the life out of commerce, and gal. During the intervening 32 years the soul out of freedom; while on the Livingstone's old friends and servants East, the story was one and the same." had been peacefullysettled, save under The personal experience of Captain attacks from the Angoni and Machin- Lugard and Commander Cameron ga tribes. The Universities' Miss!on should not be forgotten. It was W. in Nyassaland had cost £43,000. In H. Stanley who wro~, in 1856: "If 1874 it was followed by the mission of you deliver these people into the hands the Free Church of Scotland, stationed of the Portuguese, the past as well as on the shores of Lake Nyassa, or the the present teaches you what to ex- Lake of the Stars. Its missionaries pect. You deliver them body and had explored the country surrounding soul into slavery." Effectively, it had Nyassa, attached the natives, and as- been said by the Rev. Dr. Symington, certained the natural resources. A an acknowledged authority on Af- sum of £50,000 had been expended on rica's regeneration, "that the only this powerful and successful enter- thing which can give any right in the prise, for whose enlargement four new highest sense to go in and occupy the missionaries had just gone out. The soil of Africa, is an honest, open desire Church of Scotland beginning in 1875 to restore to the' natives the first birth- at Blantyre, its retained headquarters right of mankind, their personal free- had enjoyed much prosperity. Blan- dom, and then to bring them into re- tyre lay equi-distant from the lake lations with our knowledge and our northward and the southerly Chibisas. commerce, which shall make them On the shores of Lake Tanganyika, sharers of our privileges."-Our En- 420 miles long, the London Missionary glish Correspondent. Society's gallant workers had battled against the combined forces of heath- -German Protestant Missionaries enism and slave rading. The African on the Cameroons River -The noble Lakes Company, formed in 1878, to achievements of the Baptist Missiondevelop the resources of this region, ary Society in the Cameroons district, i.e., Nyassa, and to act as carriers for with which the name of the Rev.'Althe mission stations, had been a large fred Saker is imperishably associated, and prosperous undertaking, with have not failed to receive admirable twelve trading depots and a capital devotion from the German Mission of £170,000. Stringently prohibiting since the territories were ceded to Gerany commerce with the liquor traffic, many. Eight European missionaries it has introduced' new sources of are engaged in the German Colony of wealth into the country. Throughits the Cameroons. For the training of expansion and the presence of other teachers and catechists, a small school Scotch traders, a British Consnl had was founded at Bethel, in January, been appointed. Until about five 1889. On its roll are the names of years ago Portugal had done nothing nine pupils. Native assistants have for the advance of scientific explor- also been appointed, partly in connecation. Her tracks along the lower tion with the mission work, and likeand upper banks of the Zambesi were wise to give independent courses of marked by slave marauding and an- instruction. The Mission in the Protagonism to the enlightenment and tectorate is making progress. Bethel, civilization of the natives. the main station, serves as the centre for other stations further up and down Mr. James Irvine, of Liverpool, to the Cameroons River, some of which whom the writer is indebted for some were taken over from the English of the foregoing details, said, that "on Baptists. South of Bell Town stands the West coast, he knew from person- the lately founded settlement of the Christians in Tokoto village. The pull down th!J teacher's house raised by the Baptists at Banjongo and re- -chapel here is utilized as a school. At build it at Bwea. To effect the Chris- tianization of these native cannibals, Hickory, on the right bank, the old the Baptist Society sacrificed a few heroic lives and expended over a sum Baptist mission house is being rebuilt, of £100,000 in holding forth the word of life upwards of forty years. Pray where one or two European mission- for their consecrated German mission- ary successors!-Our English Correaries will soon be stationed. The old spondent.
school-house has been repaired and – A Pathetic Story. The Free Church of Scotland has just issued a fitted up as a chapel. Towards the tract treating of 300 captured slave children in their Nyassa Mission. For overhauling, the little community of five years past the mission at the north end of Lake Nyassa has been seriously 27 souls, all counted, contributed about threatened by the man-stealing Arabs. These surround a village at early dawn 100 francs. In several villages, as far and fire into the houses, and ~hen the terrified men rush for their lives as Bakundu, on the Upper Mungo, the they are shot down, and the women and children captured. This is no mission undertakes both teaching and new tale. In this case the Arabs ~ent south to these villages with the bark preaching. rope made ready for their captives, to a village seven or eight days' journey At the end of 1888 the number of from Bwana, and there sold their cap- tives for powder. A second band atnative converts in the Protectorate tacked the village of Kapiyira, thirty miles south of Karonga, shooting down was registered at 160, not including the men as usual and capturing the women and children. These were 88 persons who were receiving instruc- surprised by some Christian natives, when every Arab bolted. The women tion with a view to baptism. The they had captured, being bound, could not escape. Six women and children number of children under the influ- had still the ropes on their necks. One little girl in the fight had received a ence of the mission is estimated at 300. bullet wound in the back of the head. One poor, old, helpless woman was led The Bille Missionary Society accepted into the stockade with the gore (slave stick) still on her neck, who had been the mission at Christmas, 1886, and of found by some Wankonde in the woods, and was brought to us. Her the 12 missionaries employed, four story was very sad. She was one of the women stolen lately, and was, have died. To fill the vacancies three with five other women and five chil- dren, put into the slave-sticks. By more will shortly depart for the Guinea night the end of the sticks-young trees, indeed-were tied to the roofs coast. . of the houses; but by day they were allowed to crawl about the verandas The Mission has advanced from Vic- toria, on the Ambas Bay, to the moun- tains peopled by the Bakwiri tribe.
In attempting the conquest inland, a native Christian was sent as a teacher to Banjongo, and the missionaries, Scholten and Aulenrieth,went to Ober- Bwea, a place some two thousand five hundred metres above the level of the sea. On this site they were permitted to stay, after lengthy nego- tiations with the chief and his pe~ple.
A hut was next purchased and re- moved to a suitable locality. The missionaries stripped a delightful hil- lock of its trees, and then laid an un- derstructure on which the hut was erected. Here the teacher lives, and Bwea is a mission station with a promising spiritual outlook. The neighborhood, which is healthy and populous, is weIl adapted for the cru- sade. Already a Iargerhouse is need- ed, and, in the absence of building materials, and the difficulty of their .transport, the missionaries propose to of the houses, always dragging the Among these is Lieut. Stairs' account tree behind. The morning of her es- of an attempt and failure, in June cape she crawled outside the village last, to reach the snow – crowned gate and got into ihe grass. Soon a summit of Ruwenzori, which Mr. cry was raised, and although they Stanley claims to be the ancient searched everywhere, and even set fire " Mountains of the Moon." The to the grass, she eluded their inhuman Lieutenant, after reaching a height of vigilance and got off, being only ten thousand feet, found his progress slightly scorched. All day and all arrested by three deep ravines, on the night she crawled along on hands and farthest side of which tlie nearest knees, and in the morning was found peak rose to an additional height of by the Wankonde in the woods. six thousand feet. Beyond this were other peaks rising still higher, and to Dr. Cross has a school composed of an altitude of at least eighteen thouchildren that have been thus rescued. sand feet! While there were many Three hundred of tbem are enrolled on indications of life within the ten his books; 250 have been present at thousand feet passed over by Lieut. one . time. There are six classes, Stairs, there were no evidences that taught under six giant trees. The this upper region was the regular Sabbath meeting is sometimes very habitat of animals. The lower mounlargely attended, 600 to 1,000 people at tain sides were overgrown with bamtimes being present, the whole serv- boos, above which.was found a dense ice being in the Ikimwamba dialect. growth of heaths, some of which rose The little scholars are of the Wankonde to· a height of twenty feet. The villages, the children the Arabs fought whole Ruwenzori range is evidently for and longed to enslave. They are one of extinct volcanoes. Of course, ~very one naked and helpless. But even with a registry of sixty degrees what touches us tenderly is that these by the thermometer, t;he night spent "naked, helpless" African children, on the mountain-side was felt to be instead of being in the slave pens of uncomfortably cold. Mr. Stanley rethe cruel slave hunters, are in Dr. ports that the debris brought from Cross' stockade, and all sing most these mountains, by the Semliki river, .sweetly: is rapidly filling the southern end of Lake Albert Nyanza. The lower eight .. Ut&ndeke Yesu wangu thousand feet of these mountain- Pilika UD~. sides were found inhabit;Qd by a people who had retreated up them before Wangi ukubiIikiIa hostile invaders, and who assumed Ut&ndeke we." the retreating business so promptly before Lieut. Stairs and his party as This is the first verse of "Pass me to quite escape their observation. not, 0 gentle Saviour." It is a very touching cry from helpless ones in the The discovery of this great mounheart of Africa, and the mute a,ppeal tain-the Mont Blanc of Africa-is hut of the prayer is to us as well as to the one of the geograpical results of this great Father of us all. expedition. Other discoveries solve perplexing questions in African geog- J. T. GRACEY, D.D. raphy. The real discoverer of the Congo has now discovered a source of -Ascent of Ruwenzori in Africa. the Nile in Lake Albert, and the Any attempt to detail to the public water-parting between those two the important results of Stanley's last rivers. From the Yambusa country African expedition must prove very to the Albert Nyanza, and thence inadequate until some map-maker onward to Msalalala, he discloses what gives to the public a full map of the vast regions traversed by the explorer. And yet some things that will prove interesting, without the aid of a new map, may be said just now. is really a new country, gives to the surface, we find that the mischief world its_physical features, and more under which we, Hindus, at present.
accurate information than it has ever labor is owing chiefly to the influence had before about the tribes of people of Christianity, brought steadily and who inhabit it.-The Evangelist. constantly to bear on our national China.-From Wei-Hien, China, mind for nearly a century and a half.
comes the intelligence that an Ameri- Raja Ram Mohun Roy, of happymem- can missionary lady, Mrs. Mateer, ory, felt its influence with the deepest who had been engaged in famine concern, so far back as 1821, and did relief work, had the high honor all he could to check its progress.
lately shown her of being taken Since his time, it is to be regretted, no through the city by an escort of literary Bengali gentleman (with one or two· men of high degree. They presented honorable exceptions) have done so her with a beautiful banner and much as to send a serious thought.
other tokens of esteem, and their escort after this matter, which is of such was a very brilliant one. Such honor vital importance to our Society.
shown to a woman, and a foreign " The result of this national apathy woman, too, and by China's proudest is, as might be expected, that the men! This was a marvelous spectacle, countless Christian missions at work in and it evidences how men who are this country, especially in Bengal, are hardest of all to reach and influence in a fair way of achieving their object, in any other way, may be moved to not so much, however, by carrying'
admiration and esteem by deeds of conviction to our hearts about the su- charity and mercy and loving personal periority of their religion as by slowly service to the unfortunate and the and imperceptibly changing our ideas.
suffering. Mrs. Mateer said that with regard to our moral, social, and while she was being thus honored, she domestic life. The unflagging energy tried to observe a fitting humility, and the systematic efforts with which as she remembered times when she these bodies are working at the foun- had suffered quite different treat- dation of our Society, will, unless coun- ment at the hands of the prejudiced teracted in time, surely cause a mighty and unfriendly literati and gentry of collapse of it at no distant date. Any China. family man who lives in town will, on India.-An Extraordinary Pamph- examining his household, discover un- let. We find in the Ohronicle of the mistakable evidence of the absence of London Society an extended quotation that domestic simplicity and spiritual from a pamphlet entitled, "Are We integrity that marked the ways of our Really Awake,! An Appeal to the Hin- women only a decade or two back."
du Oommunity," which has been re- The appeal proceeds to speak of the cently published in Calcutta. Vve can entrance of Bible-women into the give but part of the appeal here. It homes of the Hindus, and of the mis- is significant in many ways as showing sion schools to which the children are the attitude of the Hindus in the midst sent without hesitation, because there of the influences which are brought to are no Hindu schools for them, and it bear upon them. If those people who affirms that unless ihey arouse them- are asserting that missions are a fail- selves speedily to guard against the in- ure would candidly read this statement sidious progress of Christianity their of the Hindus themselves, they would society" will surely be turned topsy- find how wide of the truth are their turvy in a few generations hence." As assertions. The appeal says: a result of this appeal some Bengali " The life-blood of our Society is fast gentlemen established two or three ebbing away, and irreligion is eating schools close to the schools of the Lon- into its vitals. Looking beneath the don Society, but no appreciable difference was seen in the attendance at the in all Jewish learning, and one who latter.-Missionary Herald. will very soon qualify himself to be a JewS.-Free Church of Scotland valuable laborer in the ~ion field, MissIOns. There are many and striking indications that that" day of for which he has already discovered visitation" has at length begun to aptitude, and to which his whole soul dawn. Within the last twenty-five years there has been a remarkable tends. His baptism has produced a change in the attitude of the Jew towards Christ, and in various parts very deep and widespread impression. of the Jewish field we hear of a singular openness to listen to and consider The way has been opened up for the the great facts and truths of the gospel. The conversion and testi- permanent extension of the Sea of mony and work of Joseph Rabinowitz in South Russia, and of Rabbi lich- Galilee Mission to Safed, the traditenstein in Hungary, have produced a profound impression, and may be tional "city set on a hill " of Matthew taken as the forerunners of what is coming. The Jewish missions of our v: 14. The town contains about own Church are occupying an important . place in this interesting 15,000 Jews and 5,000 Moslems, and movement. Our mission schools are doing a great work in the way of vigorous operations-medical mission, leavening the young and impressible Jewish mind and heart with Christian and, it is hoped, educational-will be knowledge and sentiment. It is preparatory work, but we believe in begun among these this season. We sowing, and can wait for the harvest. Already the first fruits are being welcome this opening hopefully and gathered in, some of them rich and beautiful in no 'ordinary degree. joyfully. It cannot but stir the heart The school work has been resumed of the Church. to think of carrying on for the Winter at Budapest, Constantinople, and Tiberias with undiminished the work of healing and evangelizing numbers and with unabated zeal and hopefulness on the part of our devoted among those of His own nation, on teachers. At these three stations the Medical lIission continues in vigorous the very spot where our Lord carried operation. Every door may be said to be open, and in the case of the on His personal ministry in the days thousands of patients treated at the dispensary or visited in their homes, of His flesh, where He taught the our missionaries are not mere physicians, but avowedly preachers of people and wrought so many of His Christ. This arm of the service is growing in power from day to day. deeds of mercy. The first of the mis- From Breslau Mr. Edward has just sionaries' houses at Tiberias is nearly reported the baptism of a young Jew, to which he attaches unusual import- ready for being roofed in. Dr. Moody ance. He speaks of this young convert, who was preparing to be a Stuart writes regarding this: "It Jewish rabbi, as thoroughly at home brightens all our hopes to know that in. the great goodness of the God of Israel we have now taken a permanent position in the land of Israel."
Portugal.-Under the well- known initials of R. N. C., the Rock offers the following note of warning with regard to the claims of Portugal, which is well worth the consideration of all who wish to form a just judg- ment in the matter.
The subjectseems at the first glance, to be far removed from that of Chris- tian missions, but when we examine it closely we tip-d that these two are intimately connected, and it is as well that this should be understood: If the claims of Portugal are admitted the Protestant missions will be hampered or totally extinguished. Behind Portu gal is a greater power-the Church of Rome-and the reason why this little inert State is put forward to arrest the progress of civilization is because it is felt that wherever British influence prevails, there is toleration, and mis- sions of all denominations have a free hand. In the Mission Catholiques,
MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE FROM ALL PARTS
published weekly at Lyons, in France, It is, therefore, expedient that the no secret is made that Cardinal Lavi- religious organs, especially those gerie ha.tmade arrangements with the which look ypon Christian missions as King of Portugal to occupy what he one of the chief duties of a Christian, is good enough to call the Portuguese Provinces of the Shire and Nyassa. to support the present Government in The Romish missionaries would be the bold front which they have prearmed with power and privileges, sented to the ridiculous Portuguese partly from Rome, partly from Lisbon. claims. For three hundred years they We should hear of principal chiefs be- had the field open to them, and had ing received, like Mwangaof Uganda, they annexed the whole of South into the Church of Rome, and the door Africa from Mozambique on the east closed to the commercial activity and to Angola on the west, no one could have called out; but it is an admitted missionary enthusiasm of Great Brit- fact that Livingstone discovered Nyain. The crafty Cardinal knows well assa Lake and the River Shire, and all enough that under British rule or pro- that remains of the Portuguese mediretectorate no let or hindrance will be val power is but a dream. made to his missioJ:Y3. but he requires not toleration, but exclusion of the We have long thought that the osapostles of error, as he calls Protest- tentatious anti-slavery demonstrations ants. It may be taken as an axiom of Cardinal Lavigerie had but one obthat when a Romish Cardinal preaches ject-the advancement of the Romish an anti-slavery crusade, or asserts the church. At the same time we most rights of a weak and effete monarchy earnestly hope that the war spirit and nation like the Portuguese, he has may be kept under, and that the misbut one object, the advancement of the sionaries whose work is threatened Roman Catholic religion by force or fraud, by violence or chicanery, or, if may put their trust neither in this necessary, by bloodshed. government nor that, but only in the living God, who rules and overrules in the affairs of men.
I1I.-MISSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE FROM ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD-FIELD.
Ohins.. a revision of the Tien·tsin treaty with Great Britain, so as to exclude the legalized importa- GOD AND THE OPIUM TRAFFIC. tion of opium into China, may be embraced, signed by about 750 foreign missionaries, 1,200 [The following letter from an native pastors, evangelists, etc., and 5,000 American missionary at Shanghai, other Christians in India, as well as a goodly and the Petition of the Christian number in England and America, along with a Churches at China, we are sure will similar memorial from Scotland containing get an attentive reading and incite to nearly,7,000 signatures. Another object is to earnest prayer that the dreadful see and hear what we may on the spot, and curse to which it relates may be supply the religious newspaper press of Great abated, and in due time removed. Britain and elsewhere with some new and While the petition is addressed to the additional material for arousing the Christian Christian churches of England, the churches and people on the subject of the churches of America are 'not innocent opium curse-which we doubt not the Lord is in the matter, as the letter of our cor- going very soon to overthrow. respondent and missionary will show. The facts to which he alludes have The accompanying is an address, with its faded from the public mind, but they translation, from the Chinese Christians of are none the less true, and are written Canton to their brethren in Great Britain, but in God's book of remembrance.-:J. it has occurred to me, since visiting that M. S.] ancient and populous city, that it would serve a good purpose in stimulating Christians in As ambassadors of Christ, with the burden my own land, who, as well as our English of the Lord upon us, my friend, Mr. A. S. cousins, have a duty to perform in putting Dyer, of the Bombay Guardian, and myself down this iniquitous traffic; for though the left Bombay, on the 3d ultimo, on a special United States, in the final treaty with China, mission to China. The object of the mission wiped their hands of it, they have not yet is to present to the Court of Pekinga memorial, entirely wiped out the stain of their former praying that tbe opportunity now afforded for complicity with it. Because, as I have found on the spot, it was not merely the American eagle swooping down over the field, ready to pounce upon the prey as soon as the paw of the British lion might strike it down, and thus craft deteriorates, business suffers and time is reaping the fruits of the two unrighteous squandered. There is no worse evil than this, opium wars, but rather an actual participation and its curse appears again-in the gradual of American vessels, with their officers and destruction of the industries and trade of the others, in the nefarions work of smuggling country. the contraband drug into China up to the time of those wars. Our people originally are comparatively strong and healthy, but when once they At least, it is our dnty to unite in prayer to acquire the opium habit they become mere God to pnt a stop now to the wicked traffic, weak skeletons and can neither eat nor sleep and to avert the cnrse which is coming home with comfort. This physical deterioration to us in the shape of opium dens in America, is transmitted to their children and grandnot only for the Chinese, but for our own children, and the curse of opium is seen in the countrymen. injury it inflicts upon the very life of the people. 'With this hope and prayer, I am sending copies of this address for publication in When a man has enough to eat and to wear America, trusting that Christians generally he observes the proper regulations and cusmay soon be able to rejoice together in the toms of society, but when once he takes to removal of this great barrier to the progress opium he loses all self-respect, and as money of the Gospel in this land. becomes each day harder to obtain, he resorts to dishonest, means to gain a livelihood and W. E. RoBBINS, becomesutterly debased; so the curse of opium Missionary to India. appears again' in destroying the character and Shanghai, Feb. 21, 1890. manners of the people. The Christian Chnrches of Canton respectfully address the Christian Churches of Eng· While these evils are preying upon the land: people of China, the.obstacles they present to This year, when holding our Annual New Christian work are not a few. Your people Year's Meetings, we were 'favored with a come to preach the doctrines of the Gospel, visit from a Western Evangelist (Alfred S. which are indeed the truth, and your real Dyer), who told us how the Christians in India, desire is to lead many to believe; but those to the number of several thousand, had iP-l- who hear them say that opium and the Gospel proved the opportunity afforded this year, have come together from England, and the before the time fixed for t,he revision of the doubt arises and tinds expression in words Commercial treaty in reference to opium ex· that the Gospel is false. Your missionaries pires, to appeal to the Executive Council and come with the real desire to benetit the people, the Emperor of China to co-operate with your but those who see them maliciously declare Government in abolishing the opium traffic. that opium IOnd missionaries are alike English Having been told this, we were incited thereby productions, and they suspect the missionaries to prepare this letter, signed by representa- of secretly doing evil. Moreover, the Church tives of all our Churches, beseeching your oppns free schools, and although they are Churches, pastors and teachers to combine meant to benetit the youth, yet it is impossible your strength in devising some efficient means to stop the mouths of those who are not to remove this curse of opium. Years ago, taught, while opium remains unfprbidden. Mr. Turner, besides other good works, pre- The Church has opened hospitals; but, sented an appeal to your Parliament to pro- although they are saving men from disease, hibit the importation (by British merchants) it is impossible to iutluence the hearts of those of opium into China. who have not been healed while opium remains Although the object sought has not been unforbidden. Your Christians, with siqgleattained, the agitation of the matter should ness of heart, are zealous in many good not be -allowed to flag, for the calamities works, but while opium remains they are all which opium brings are numberless. like so much water poured out. Per~it us to set forth briefly a few of the .more conspicuous forms. It is said by some that the Ghinese are fond The introduction and sale of opium extends of opium, and the calamities they suffer are of to all the cities and villages of the land, the tbeir own making, and the English have noth- Chinese expending upon it more than $50,000.- ing to do with it. The New Testament says: 000 (about 10,000,000 pounds sterling) every "Have no fellowship with evil." Now, when year. By this means the rich are made poor, your Government plants and sells opium to and the poor led to sell their children, and its minister to the evil propensities of the curse appears in the dissipation of the wealth Chinese, you are partskers with them, and of the land. Scholars, agriculturists, artisans what can you say in excuse thereof? and merchants represent the constant and productive employments of the people. When An opportunity having now been provionce they acquire the opium habit they dentially afforded by our friends in India to become weak, inefficient and indolent in every renew the agitation of the matter in the department of labor; every form of handi- memorial they have presented to the throne of China for consultation and prohibition, our hope is that your Christians will, with one heart, exert themselves, without regard to time has come when as a .mission we must profit or loss, and be enabled to abolish opium, divest ourselves of this modesty and make that the Chinese may be released from this known, in part, at least, our desire and the yoke of bondage and the obstacles to the claims of the field committed to our charge. preaching of the Gospel be removed. Wehave Such is the object of this appeal. but litt.le strength, but night and day we pray the Lord above to reveal Himself, and help Our mission-field embraces a population of England and China to abolish this great evil. four million souls, contained in the native May this exceeding blessing come to us and to states of Kohlapur, SaugJi, Miraj, and parts of China. For this we reverently wait. other states in the Deccan and Rutnagiri col- lectorate in the Koukan. (Signed) LEUNG To, AN FUNG-SHI, YEUNG WING Cm. With our present staff of missionaries, in- In behalf of the London Mission (which has cluding ladies, we have only one worker to every 235,000 of the population. Three of the aoo native communicants). above missionaries are now in America for health, and two others will probably follow CHAU HOK-SHUE, MAK RANG NIN. within three months. This leaves us with an actual force of only one worker to 330,000 In behalf of the English Wesleyan Mission souls. (which has 700 native communicants). In Kohlapur state alone there are 1097 vil- U PIN-OM, WONG KWONG-FUK. lages, many of which have a population of several thousand. Preaching thrice daily In behalf of the Berlin Mission (wbich bas 350 in three different villages, it would take a native communicants). missionary a whole year to· proclaim the Gos- pel to the villages of that single state, to say FUNG, FuNG TaUN-TAK, CH'AN SUN-MAN. nothing of the thousands of villages within the bonnds of our field. Kohlapur City could In behalf of the Baptist Mission (which has easily occupy 12 more missionaries. Miraj, 470 native communicants). another city of 24,000, is without even a native resident worker, while two of our stations are KWANHIN-SHAlII, UEMUNG-LING Tao TAU-SHAN. now without missionaries, viz., Pauhala and Rutnagiri. The collectorate of Rutnagiri con- In behalf of the Presbyterian Mission (which tains a population of at least a million, and all has 600 native communicants). without a single missionary. Apportion one to every 50,000 souls, and this field would re- NG UEN-LI. quire twenty missionaries.
In behalf of the American Scandinavian In Miraj, Sangli, and adjoining states, we Mission (which has 10 native communicants). have 2,500,000 people, humanly speaking, de- pendent upon three missionary families for India. the .. Bread of Life." Within a ten-mile [We gladly give place to this earnest radius of SangJi there are 125 villages. Here and affecting appeal in behalf of this alone is work for six missionaries. Within the mission, first, because the mission limits of our field there are five large towns needs immediate reinforcement, and (capitals of native states), with a population the field is an inviting one; and, varying from 8,000 to 24,000 each, and all as second, because the appeal comes yet unoccupied by any missionary. from the mission in the establishing of which the founder of this REVIEW As to work among women, Eastern women spent the best years of his life, and must necessarily be reached in their individual whichhis widow and daughterarenow homes. The demands of school work are such rendering efficient aid in sustaining. that our present ladies give but a fraction of We recognize the appeal as coming their time to evangelistic work, so to say that from the pen of the devoted and ac- each could be responsible for a parish of 2,000 complished Miss Grace E. Wilder.- heathen women would be to give each a large J. M. S.] average. Provided we could work at this rate, we need now 1,000 lady workers to reach AN APPEAL FROM THE B:OHLAPUR MISSION. the women of our field. In Kohlapur state there are 1,000 girls attending Government Mission work in the Kohlapur field has been carried on for nearly forty years, and with a schools. Last year aoo passed the standard measure of success that certainly justifies its continuance and extension. Many years have examination. Eight are preparing to be been spent in arduous preparatory toil, the teachers. Probably not a dozen of these girls fruits of which can never be estimated by hu- own each a single Christian book. Is anyalaman reckoning. The little band of half a baster box of ointment too precious to be dozen missionaries and their devoted wives broken for the honor of our King and the salhave for years labored earnestly to plant the vation of these souls ? precious seed of the gOspel among these four millions of immortal souls. There is a crisis upon us now. At least twelve important towns should be occupied at once.. In their modesty, and the consideration of the urgent needs of other fields, they have never asked for more than a mere fraction of the required number of workers. But the Never before were all classes so accessible. soulsare passing into eternity every day; dy- We must seize this opportunity. Scores of ing without Christ and without hope! villages are wanting schools. The ouly native Biblewoman in Bangli was laid to rest recently, Who will come "to the help of the Lord and the heathen women are now asking, "Are against the mighty?" That this appeal may you not going to send some one to teach us ?" be a call to some who from their hearts will Such are the open doors. Shall we enter and respond, "Here am I, send me," and that it possess this land for Christ? Can we do it at may lead those who cannot Come personally the present rate ? to provide the support of a substitute, is the earnest prayer of every missionary of the To forsake our stations to occupy others, KoIhapur mission. would be to bring discredit upon the cause of Christ. To open new stations and at the same "If thou forbear t{) deliver them that are time maintain present work is impossible. No drawn unto death, and those that are ready to one of us is giving more than a few days of be sIain; if thou sayest 'Behold we knew it each year to touring; hence the great mass of not,' doeth not he that pondereth the heart ·our village population is left without a wit- consider it? And he that keepeth thy soul, ness for Christ most of the year. In the face doth he not know it? And shall he not ren- of such need shall we not have the few mis- der to every man according to his works ?" ·sionaries we are asking for? We call for 16 new workers for the whole Kohlapur field. On behalf of the mis8ion, Eight of the 16 to be ordained, one a physician, one a consecrated layman to superintend the ! GRACE E. WILDER, English High School in Kohlapur. (One of ·our missionaries ofi'ers $200 towards the sup- W. J. W.u.'LESS, rCommittee. port of this layman.) One is to be a devoted J. P. GRAHAM, ·and intelligent mechanic, to take charge of We, the undersigned, heartily endorse this mission building and teach Christian boys in- appeal, and would urge that the new mission- dustrial work. The ordained missionariesare aries be sent at once, needed to occupy new centres, and so Eliza J. Wilder, G. W. Seiler, M. F. Seiler, ,strengthen the present force at existing sta- J. H. Sherman, A. M. Goheen, M. L. Ewalt, tions, that preaching may be systematically A. M. Hull, M. E. Wanless, S. M. Tedford and ·carried on in the surrounding districts without L. B. Tedford. neglecting regular work at the stations. Japan. Five of the 16 should be single ladies. Well might it be asked: "Why this request for five THE MODERN MARTYR OF THE ORIENT. workers, where 125 are needed for Kolhapur :statealone?" This is not the measure of what [This brief paper will be read with we want or what we need, but five we must mingled tears and thanksgiving.-J. have now. So urgent is our case that two of M. S.] ·our lady missionaries have each ofi'ered half her salary to any Christian sister who will OUYAMA, March 1, 1890. -come out and share it with her. Japan never witnessed an auto-da-fe. A pale martyr in his shirt of fire, could not be One of the five is needed to take charge of a written of her old-time Christian heroes. The girls' school in KoJhapur City; one to be a martyr was there in generous numbers, hut physician; two others are wanted for evan- never the paleness, the shirt, nor the fire. gelistic work in and about Kolhapur. One is Sword and sea took the place of wood and needed for school and evangelistic work in flame. Thousands died for the faith in those Bangli. In order to continue the Christian stern days 260 years ago. boys' boarding-school, which should be in Aud now the word comes to the front once charge of a married missionary, one of our more. A man dies peacefully in his bed, sur- ,.single ladies must, until help comes from rounded by loving friends. Everything pos- home, give up the greater part of her evan- sible has heen done to save his life. The best gelistic work. physicians at the capital summoned by tele- graph. Also a faithful nurse and many attend- We are asking for two physicians when our ants. A leading statesman of the land telefield could furnish immediate work for 25. graphs to his bed-side, "Make him live at all The present and only medical missionary, hazards." Thousands of Christians all over though he has been in Sangli but two months, Japan were pleading in prayer for his life. has more patients than he can possihly attend Can such a man be called a martyr? And yet to. Many have to be turned away. This medical the word is used repeatedly in speaking of work is disarming prejudice and preparing the him. Hiscountrymen delight to call him one. ·way for direct evangelistic work. Through The sermon at his funeral was from the text, the dispensary or hospital many from distant "Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth villages will be brought to us. Shall not two and die." … and its leading thought was be sent to engage in this Christ-like work of martyrdom. .11ealing and preaching? Some 150 precious How explain this seeming contradiction? Some one-was it Napoleon-has said, "It is the cause, and not the death, that makes the martyr." Yes, Joseph Neesima was a martyr. Hehad
INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
the martyr spirit. He sacrificed himself for earth." He feared no man. When ordered by church and school and country. High office Prince Iwakurayears ago to go from Andover was within his reach. He spurned it for the to Washington, to act as interpreter, he re- higher one of teacher and preacher. Duty plied, "I acknowledge no lord save God Al- with him was a law of love. He never thought mighty." When traveling through Europe of self, but always of others. with the embassy, he insisted on keeping the Sabbath, and often remained alone from Sat- No wonder his students loved him so much urday till Monday. He felt as clearly in his· 'that they were eager to play the part of cool- soul as did John the Baptist, that he was ies and carry the body of theirlamented presi- called of God to do a definite work. He felt dent through the streets of wondering Kyoto. himself to be a "child of Providence." His· More than once he had risen from a sick bed, plans for his beloved school, with its 700 stu- and gone with aching head but pitying heart dents, and his equally loved churches, always. to hunt up some wayward boy, or to urge some kept ahead of their fulfillment. He was the departing student to take a Christian stand in prophet leader of Japan's Christian hosts. On life. There were times when no doctor could January 1st he wrote a brief poem for his own hold him hack, and he was ready to take any consolation. He died on the 23<1. The thought. risk to life or health for the sake of school or was, "Though weak in body and every way un- people. Whatever we may think of his judg- worthy, yet with large aspirations I greet the ment, there can be no impeaching the loftiness opening year." of his motive, or the loyalty of his spul. As iIlustrntive of his daily anxiety over his. He was dying all his days in behalf of great Kyoto College, just budding into a University, causes, and that the end should come in mid- he frequently quoted a heautifullittle stanza dle life, while his mother still Iives-a mere ex- in Japanese: istence, at the age of 84-was as fitting as it was expected. He loved life. He was the es- "Every morning we look anxiously to see sence of humility, and never strained after ef- if the white clouds have lifted which shut out· fect; and yet he was always overdoing, and the blossoms on the mountain of Yoshi." his life and early death stand out in the mind of every Christian Japanese a clean-cut, strik- Now $50,000 are needed at once to open the· ingly impressive lesson. University in accord4nce with Mr_ Neesima's· final request. Will not some American admirer- Worn by his wearying winter-work in behalf of this sincere man, who in his short life did of the Kyoto school, he runs away to Oiso, a more than anyone else has done to link the' watering-place near Yokohama, for needed best of two lands together, send on the money? change. Even there he will not rest, bnt writes a hundred letters, many of them sixfeet Free schools and a working church were' long, to individuals, mainly in regard to evan- what he aimed at for Japan. He ever worked gelistiC work in Japan; begging men to give for both, practically sacrificed his life in their themselves more unreservedly to the blessed behalf, and died, as it were, with one hand of service, to seize strategic centres, to send blessing on his college at Kyoto, and the other' preachers to the needy places, to occupy all on the churches scatteredover the land. Budd- Japan for Christ and make a forward move- hists are reporting that the head of Christianmentall along the line. ity being dead, Japan will soon see the last of the Western religion. When he was too weak to write he began to dictate to another, and spent a large part of But Christian Japan-and that means now the day before his death sending last mes- 38,000 strong in the Protestant ranks-is· sages, burning with love and earnest appeal, aroused to renewed activity. to friends far and near. He loved everyone, once punishing himself severely before his Neesima dead is even more powerful thall. school, that the law might be upheld, and yet Neesima living. All Japan rings with his- 'his students escape. praise and emulates his spirit. God give her hundreds of Neesimas-men full of faith and Some of hislastwords were, "So far as I know the Holy Ghost-to carry on to its final tri- I have not an enemy in the world;" and again, umph this wide and waiting work. "I envy not heaven and I blame no one on JAMES·H. PETTEE.
Missionary of A. B. O. F. M.
IV.-INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
COND~CTED BY REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.D.
Let Us Expect Great Things. thought which is of great significance.
The times we live in afford topics It is an old observation that an earth- of great interest to the Christian stu- quake in the Andes has an answering dent of the movements of Providence. earth-wave in the Himalaya Moun- We glance only at a few of these fac- tains; and that a hurricane in the tors of the present times. 1. There is West Indies is most likely accom- a wide-spread disturbance of religious panied by a cyclone in the Indian Ocean. It is something like this ma- Revolution were all in that religious terial simultaneous perturbation to and social revolution which has long which we call attention in the relig- been characterized as " The Reforma- ious world. Archdeacon Hardwicke tion." But at this same period the pointed out years ago the fact of Thibetan form of Buddhism, now the great periodic perturbations in the re- purest Buddhism perhaps extant, ligious thought of mankind, occun-ing came into existence under the mould- simultaneously among peoples widely ing hand of that new incarnation, the separated from each other. Great Lama of Thibet. The import- When the Jews were in Babylon, ance of this movement can best be the Orphic brotherhood were diffus- appreciated by the student who has.
ing in all quarters in the West their seen the mongrel Buddhism of Bur- thirst for an objective revelation. At mah and China, or even the better the same time that Confucianism was preserved Ceylonese branch of this being re-formulated by its great vast nightmare of thought. But author, thus rehabilitating the State while Protestantism was being born, religion of China in a mode it was to and Thibetan Buddhism, with its vast· .maintain for many succeeding cen- literature, was taking form, Baba turies, every village in Persia was Nanak, the Luther of the Panjab, quickening under the Zoroastrian doc- was reasserting the absolute unity of trine of Dualism; and simultaneously God, and endeavoring to blend Hindu with both, Buddhism began to be dis- and Moslem by a new fusion of seminated, and to exert its wondrous thought, which resulted in the foun- witchery on the millions of the East. dation of the Seikh religion.
It is doubtful if the masses of man- It is to illustrate the widespread un- kind have ever been to such an extent, settling of the religious opinions of our in anyone period, agitated by religious own time that we have cited these reform on SO large a scale as at that instances of simultaneous disturbance time. The well nigh simultaneous of the religious convictions and notions.
origin of three systems destined to in- of men. The importance of giving fluence the world on so stupendous a attention to the recasting of religious scale as Confucianism, Zoroastrian- thought is seen in the fact of the long ism and Buddhism, marks a most ex- continuance of the forms in which the traordinary epoch in the destiny of faith of mankind were cast, in the our race. Centuries passed, and there case of these religions to which we occurred another of those periodic in- have made reference. Confucianism, tellectual and religious movements, Buddhism and Parsiism, the last two affecting communities which did not modified, to be sure, in localities, touch each other, and which had remain practically the same as when nothing in common, and each must simultaneously erected. Ifsomething have been but little acquainted with like this is occurring now, it will the fact that such perturbations other therefore appear to be of vast import- than its own were taking place. ance that the Christian church appre- Martin Luther, "with a little book ciate the situation, and lay her utmost and a beating heart," was upheaving moulding force upon the phenomena all Europe, and with his compeers, of the times. We need hardly point Melancthon, Calvin and others, were out the tendency in the Christian laying the foundations not only of world to-day to re-examine the entire doctrinal reform, but of that vital dis- foundations of its faith, and to re- tinction between ecclesiastical and state and reformulate its doctrinal civil authority as has resulted widely basis. Perhaps there never was a more in the separation between Church searching investigation made by the and State. The seeds of the American friends and allies of any body of religious teaching than is being frankly ing farther and farther into antiquity, made by the Christian scholars of the and are being found to be less and less world to-day. They shrink at no dis- satisfactory. Back they must go to closures, are disheartened by no diffi- Menu and the Vedas, and the more -culties, and are fearless of ultimate these are made the standard of morals, -consequences. They have flung their or of social or political order, the more faith into a crucible of their own and more they are found to be vague -erection, and push boldly toward the and unadapted to the times. Hinduism last analysis. Foes have sometimes is thus experiencing this profound perset a religious community on their turbation. defence, but it is the truest and best friends of the Christian religion that It is needless to pursue the Japanese to-day are thoroughly testing every through his athletic reforms and revopart of it that will submit to the lutions. Nationally it is without a -<lrdeal. They are quite' ready to dis- faith at this hour, and the very hearts credit -what cannot be thus satisfac- of the people might wear the placard, torily put into the furnace. The "Wanted, a Religion!" Its perturba- Christian religion was never more tion is like that of an earthquake. thoroughly an agitator of society than it is at this hour. We believe it to be It is not our purpose to more than in preparation to be a far mightier point out the fact of this widespread, factor than ever it has been in human diverse and yet simultaneous religious affairs. disturbance of our times, and to press upon the Church the consideration of India is unsettled religiously. It is its importance relative to the future. in a ferment. The Brahmo move- It will not remain in this agitated ment is a sort of Lutheran reforma- condition. What phases it may pass tion in~ the community. But deeper through before it finally settle!:; down and broader than that is the profound into forms which it will accept, one disturbance which is compelling it to cannot guess, but this period of unrest, answer, not to the foreigner, but to of remoulding of thought. of restating itself about itself. It is being forced faiths, will not last. Large communito open the question, now vital to its ties will settle down in some forms of €xistence, as to what it really is. faith which will probably be accepted What it really ought to be it may take for centuries. It is the duty of the up later, but for the present its rela- Christian Church not the less to investions to the courts of a gigantic con- tigate its own faith, but to instantly querer, which concedes its right to be, set itself to guiding other disturbed is obliging it to answer in court as to communities to reformulate theirs. what it really is. The British Government, acting on the principle of relig- 2. There are pre-intimations that ious neutrality, and assuming to be demand thought. It is with no little ready to adjust itself to authoritative interest that a careful student of his- Hinduism, asks it to show from its tory observes that great political and {)wn standards what it really is. To do religious epochs have frequently been this it is obliged to acknowledge the prefaced by a general pre-intimation accumulation of a vast debris of in the public mind of some great Rabbinism; and the farther it pushes change. The country of the Aztecs its investigation into its own acknow- enjoyed a golden age, under "the god ledged law the less satisfactory it finds of the air." He had long departed the it to be. Hinduism in the presence of land, but the people were ever eager for British authority and Christian his return. When Cortez and his felthought is compelled to search for its low-Spaniards proved invincible, the {)wu foundations, and they are reced- Indian became possessed of the idea, either from his arms or his art, that he must be "the god of the air," returning from the sun-rise, a'ld at the stead of his customary answer, he said thought of contending with Deity, he "The truth is the Messiah is come, quailed, and the Spaniard conquered. and if you will show me a place of The legend and its application un- safety from the scimiter of the Mos- locked an empire, while the physical lem, I will show you ten thousand force and courage of the people were Jews ready to say that the Messiah not yet half spent. Popular impres- is come, and that Jesus of Nazareth is sions are great factors of history-and that Messiah." that, whether formed on principle, prejudice or mytb. There are other instances in which such impressions are testified to on all When the trouble in Herzegovinia hands. In the Zenanas even of Cal-· and Bosnia arose some years since, it cutta, Mrs. Page says, that one day a was found that the insurgents were woman said to her: "Only have a lit- animated by an old prophecy, found tle patience, and all the Hindus will. in a work on Bosnia, published fifteen become Christians." A little woman years before, which stated that in the in the seclusion of the Zenanas of Cal- fifth century after the taking of the cutta expressed a similar sentiment. last Bosnian king by the Turks, the She said to Miss Britain, "Don't take· rising of the Christian Slavs in Turkey so much trouble, our folks will all would be victorious. Stephen Thom- soon become Christians even if left to· aserce, the last Bosnian king, was ex- themselves." The Lucknow WitnesS" ecuted on the 30th of June, 1463, on some years ago said on this topic~ the plain of Blagaj, and the insurrec- "We believe we speak the simple truth. tion alluded to commenced on the an- when we say, that millions of natives. niversaryof that event. are firmly convinced of this. We have· found it an accepted belief in the most It is said the Mohammedans in the remote mountain hamlets, where no- valley of the Euphrates were greatly European had ever penetrated, and we disturbed when they saw an iron find it received as an inevitable event· steamer floating on the Euphrates. of the near future in every city and There was an old proverb that "when town of the plains." Rev. Dr. Waugh iron floats on the Phrat (Euphrates), said: "A deep and wide-spread con- Mohammedanism will come to an viction prevails, not only in the cities, end." That was meant by a simile of but also in the country places among one impossible occurrence to assert the villagers, and indeed throughout. the impossibility of the occurrence of all classes, that a day of overthrowing another. All the laws of nature would of the old religions and effete faiths, of have, as they fancied, to be reversed, the breaking up of old forms, is at. before iron could be made to float, and hand. The common people speak of it was just as impossible that the Mos- the coming day of overturning, and lem faith should fail. But, 101 here seem not dismayed at its approach, before their very eyes iron was float- but announce themselves as ready toing, and that on the Phrat. This im- join in the van-indeed, are only waitpossible thing had occurred: might the ing its coming to break away from other impossible thing occur? It was their present thraldom and bonds of an ominous event, and that floating caste." iron steamer was a depressing circumstance. Indian Evangelization.* A missionary iiL Constantinople, The North American Indians are, some years ago, said he was in the ethnologically one people from the habit of meeting a pious Jew, and asking him " When will the Messiah * "By Canoe and Dog-Train Among the Cree come?" His usual reply was," The Messiah cometh." But one day, in- and SaJteaux Indians." By J;tev. Edgerton R_ Young. Eskimo of the North to the Aztec and ilized world, having mail communica- Peruvian in the centre, and the Fue- tion but once in six months, and regean on the extreme south. They duced much of the time to the food have ever been an independent people. resources of the country; living, on They have conducted a war of in- occasion for six months at a time, on dependence protracted through cen- fish, possibly varied by small contrituries. They have gradually perished, butions of wild meat. Mankind have but, except in Mexico, they have not always shown an appreciation of the in North America been conquered. heroic element, and Mr. Young and They have seen their heritage gradu- his wife have found a wide apprecia- ,ally wrested from their possessions, tion of their self-denial and devotion and have laid themselves down to die among a, very large circle of symwithin an ever-narrowing area. But pathizers with missionary work, in they remain the same dignified, seri- Europe as well as in America. ous and proud people. Mr. Young has been called to nar- They have a natural element of rate his experience before audiences poetry in their character. Among varying from a few scores to many no other of what are styled nature thousands, and always with the same peoples could the equivalent of the peculiar result. At the annual meetscenes of Hiawatha have been laid, ings of the International Missionary nor could any other have afforded Union at Niagara Falls and at the ,such simple and natural material for Thousand Islands, before the vast asromance. We have wronged them semblies at Ocean Grove, at Chautau- -often and grieviously; not always qua, and at other gatherings over the with intent; often' from ignorance of United States and the Canadas, he them and their necessities. We have has told of the trials and the triumphs misgoverned them, or rather failed to of his missionary career. There was govern them at all. and then cruelly always the same fascination about the ,shot them down because of our blun- story told so artlessly, and with an ders. The ill-acquaintance with their eloquence fresh as the breeze in the temper and their force has often been tops of the fir-balsams of the great ,costly. General Grant is reported to North land. Mr. Young has spent two have said that in one of our Indian winters in the British Isles telling of wars, "we spent six millions of dol- these stirring scenes in the same simlars and killed six Indians." The ple and charming way as hearth-stone Christian sentiment of the country tales are told, and as the world's folk- ,still forces the Government to take a lore has grown. paternal interest in them; and we are pressed to one more and final expedi- Naturally enough those who have ent of admitting them to citizenship listened to these tender or humorous and to individual instead of tribal stories, these traits of the red man and holding of lands. these triumphs of divine grace, begged Mr. Young to put these narra- Weare moved to write of their tives into a more permanent form. evangelization at this moment because We take the liberty in advance of the we are favored with the advance issue of the book in America to make sheets of a deeply interesting book by some extracts. We have alluded to Rev. Edgerton R. Young, relating his the natural eloquence of these rude personal experiences as a missionary races, whose oratory has on occasion among the Cree and Salteaux Indians risen to the highest level. Mr. Young of the extreme North land. Mr. had gone to a tribe which had never Young, with his estimable wife, heard the gospel, and summoned them spent nine years among them in a to a council to seE' if they were disposed state of practical exile from the civ- to become Christians. The principal chief, according to their unwritten " Missionary, once my hair was laws of precedence, spoke first. His black as a crow's; now it is getting voice was good and fuIl of pathos. He said: white. Gray hairs here, and grand- children in the wigwam, tell that I am " Missionary, I have long lost faith getting to be an old man, and yet I in our old paganism." Then pointing never heard such things as you have cdown to the outer edge of the audi- told us to-day. I am so glad I did not ence, where some old conjurers and die before I heard this wonderful medicine-men were seated, he said: story. Yet I am getting old. Gray " They know I have not cared for our hairs here, and grandchildren yonder, .old religion. I have neglected it. tell the story. Stay as long as you And I will tell you, missionary, why I can, missionary; tell us much of these have not believed our old paganism things, and when you have to go for a long time. I hear God in the away, come back soon, for I have thunder, in the tempest, and in the grandchildren, and I have gray hairs, .storm; I see His power in the light- and I may not live many winters ning that shivers the tree to kindling more. Do come back soon. Mission- wood; I see His goodness in giving us ary, may I say more?" the moose, the reindeer, the beaver and the bear; I see His loving kind- " Talk on. I am here to listen," said ness in giving us, when the South the missionary. "You said just now winds blow, the ducks and geese; and 'No tawenan' (our Father)." "Yes, I when the sno~ and ice melt away, did say our Father." "That is very cand our lakes and rivers are open new and very sweet to us. We never again, I see how He fills them with thought of the Great Spirit as our fish. I have watched these things for Father. We heard Him in the years, and I see how during every thunder, and saw Him in the lightmoon of the year He gives us some- ning and tempest and blizzard, and we thing; and so He has arranged it, that were afraid. So when you tell us of if we are only industrious and careful, the Great Spirit as Father, that is very we can always have something to eat. beautiful to us." Lifting up his eyes, So, thinking about these things which after a moment, to the missionary, he I had observed, I made up my mind said: "May I say more?" " Yes," he years ago that this Great Spirit, so answered, "say on." " You say , No kind and so watchfuI and so loving, tawenan' (Our Father). He is your did not care for the beating of the Father? " "Yes," said the missionary, conjurer's drum, or the shaking of the "He is my Father." Then he said, rattle of the medicine-man. So I for while his eyes and voice yearned for years have had no religion." Then, 'the answer, "Does it mean He is my turning to the missionary, he said: Father-poor Indian's Father?" "Yes, "Missionary, what you have said to-' oh yes, He is your Father, too." said day fills up my heart and satisfies all the missionary. "Your Father-misits ~ongings. It is just what I have sionary's Father and Indian's Father, been expecting to hear about the too? " " Yea," said the missionary. Great Spirit. I am so glad you have "Then we are brothers," he shouted. come with this wonderful story. Stay "Yes, we are brothers," said the misas long as you can, and when you sionary. have to go away, do not forget us, but .come again as soon as you can." The excitement in the audience became wonderful. But the old man Many more responded. The last to had not yet finished. He said: speak wasanold man withgrizzly hair. He was a queer, savage-looking man, "May I say more?" "Yes, say on; and spoke in an excited way. He said: all that is in your heart," was the reply. "Well," the Indian resumed, " I do not want to be rude, but it does seem to me that you, my white and beaver, and other things to exbrother, have been a long time in coming with that great book and its change for :flour and tea." wonderful story, to tell it to your red brothers in the woods." "What have you got, pOCl>r woman?" "I have got a couple of fish nets." Among the many incidents recorded "What do you do when it is too in this volume is a thrilling one of stormy to visit the nets?" Christian Indians volunteering to "Sometimes some of the men from carry food relief to some white settlers the other houses visit them for me, far" in the north, shut away from sup- and bring me fish. Then we some-" plies by the prevalence of the small- times get some by fishing through the pox. It was a long and perilous ice." journey, with risk of contagion. ~he " What about when it is too stormy expedition was well conducted by an for anyone to go?" Indian named Samuel, but thoug-h he She quietly said, "If we have nothbrought back all his force in good con- ing left we go without." dition, the strain had been too much The missionary hurried out of the for him, and, nervously prostrated, he room to stifle his emotion, but the soon died. His death, however, was a woman, suspecting the feelings of his happy one. His widow and children heart, followed him out and said: were cared for, but after a time re- "Ayumeaoke (Praying master), I do moved to a distant settlement, where not want you to feel so badly for me; it. Mr. Young subsequently found them is true I am very poor; it is true, since in great need. Looking at their ex- Samuel died we have often been very treme poverty the following colloquy hungry, and have often suffered from ensued: the bitter cold; but, missionary, you have heard me say that Samuel gave. "Nancy, you seem to be very his heart to God, so have I given my poor; you don't seem to have any- heart to God, and He who comforted thing to make you happy and com- Samuel and helped him, so that hefo$ble. " died happily, is my Saviour; and where Samuel has gone, by-and-by I Very quickly came the response, in am going too, and that thought makes much more cheerful strains than those me happy all the day long." of the missionary. Of course, her necessities were re- lieved by the care and thought of the "I have not got much, but I am not mISSIOnary. We have no room for unhappy, missionary." extracts showing the cost at which this missionary work was done, the· "You poor creature," he said, "you long privations, exposure to severe don't seem to have anything to make weather, and danger from vindictive you comfortable." heathen tribes; nor can we quote the" fascinating stories for young people "I have but little" she said quietly. about the canoe and dog-sled adven- "Have you any venison?" "Nol" tures. "Have you any flour?" "Nol" "Have you any tea 1" "No!" The Worship of Words. "Have you any potatoes?" When this last question was uttered A brother wrote us recently ask-" the poor woman looked up, and said, ing the meaning of the words, Om, " I have no potatoes, for don't you re- Manee Padme, Hom, found in Armember, at the time of the potato nold's •• Light of Asia. " We replied planting, Samuel took charge of the that we doubted if anybody on earth brigade, that went up with provisions knows. One authority renders the to save the poor white people. And meaning as "Oh, the Jewel on the· Samuel is not here to shoot deer, that I may have venison; and Samuel is not here to. catch mink and marten Lotus I" and Dr. Hooker translates it, forth, becomes forever the means of "Hail to him of the Lotus alid the the worsliip and knowledge of Brah- Jewel." Cheeboo Lama says the six rna." syllables represent the six states of future existence. The first represent- Once the idea of sacredness starled ing Lha, or the state of the gods; the in relation to words, and there is no second, Mee, or the state of human existence; the third, Lhamayin, or end to the coinage of such, whether the state of neutral and mischievous in the sacred incantations of the spirits, to which men who die in war Egypti:'m Book of the Dead, the Hindu are regenerated; the fourth, Tendo or Ram Ram, or the Roman Catholic Ave Dado, the state of beasts in which lazy and indifferent Buddhists are born Maria, or the unspeakable but not unagain; the fifth, Yedag, or the state of thinkable words of the Ancient Parsee wretched demons in a condition of suf- sacred books. fering; the sixth, Myalwur, or the state of punishment. Those born in Ohurch Dis-establishment in Brazil that state are exposed to tortures, heat, cold, thirst; those sent there for abus- The following is the text of the de- . ing the priesthood are born with long tongues, perpetually lacerated with cree with regard to the Church estabploughshares. The constant repetition of these six syllables closes the en- lishment in Brazil: trance of the six states of metempsychosis, and procures Nirvana. "Article 1. The Federal authorities, as well. as the different Confederate States, are pro- But a writer in the East has re- hibited from making laws, rules, regulations, cently pointed out the tendency in or any administrative acts establishing a human nature to worship sound or religion. speech, independent altogether of the meaning it conveys, and because of its "Article 2. To all people is given the privimysteriousness. The thunder and lege of exercising their religious cults in acstorm have been thus worshipped, and cordance with thetr belief, and they are not to speech has been deified under the be interrupted or disturbed in such devotions, name of voice (vach, vox), and Hindu either private or public, which belong to this tunes have. been deified as gods and privilege. goddesses. Words have been singled out because of oddness or potency as "Article 3. This liberty not only embraces divine or demoniacal. The East is full individuals in their individual acts, but also of them, and the West has them churches, associations, and institutions in buried in its folk-lore. Scott's "Lay which they are employed, all having full right of the Last Minstrel" beautifully illus- to unite themselves and live in accordance with trates this in the wonl,s which he dare their creed without interference from. the pubnot utter lest the Abbey be wrecked lic powers. about him. Thus the syllable" Om," or in Sanskrit form, "Aum," has been "Article 4. Patronage, resources, and pre- rogatives of all religious institutions are heremade to stand for "A," "U," and "M," by extinguished.
representing the triad, Brahma,Vishnu "Article 5. The right is recoguized of ali' and Siva. churches and religious orders to acquire and administer estates under limits made by the "Om" is especially a word of power. laws concerning corporations, grantingto each Meditating on it or muttering it, one one the right to ownership in property, as well becomes Brahma. "By the Om, the as the use of buildings for worship. supreme light of the ether, which is within the heart, starts, rises, breathes "Article 6. The Federal Government will continue to furnish ecclesiastical revenue and support for the actual personnel of the Catho- lic Church, and in other institutions will sub- sidize for one year the professorships in the seminaries, it being at the option of each State to recognize in the future the ministers of this or any other religion where they do not run contrary to the preceding articles in this de- cree.
"Article 7. All acts to the contrary are here- by revoked."-Brazilian Missions.
The International Missionary Union.
The International Missionary Union will hold its Seventh Annual Meeting at Clifton Springs, New York, June 11th to 18th, inclu- sive, 1890. Free entertainment will be pro-
THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS
vided for all foreign missionaries, or persons lator of the Scriptures at Bangkok. The Ex- who have heen foreign missionaries, of what- ecutive Committee are: Dr. J. L. Phillips, Rev. ever evangelical society, or board, or field. :l1essrs. M. B. Comfort, C. W. Park, Benj. Memhership in the Union is open to all such Helm, and J. A. Davis; Miss C. H. Daniells, persons and includes no others. Candidates M. D., and Mrs. M. E. Ranney. Treasurer, Prof. under actual appointment to the foreign field M. N. Wyckoff; Librarian, Rev. James Mudge. of any evangelical organization are earnestly invited to attend, and will also be freely en- It was resolved at the Binghamton Meeting tertained, as far as provision can be made. It to establish a Circulating MiSSionary Library will not be practicable to provide for the at- for the benefit of the memhers of the Union. tendance of children of missionaries. The following volumes were contributed as a nucleus of what it was thought might grow to A special rate offare (one fare and one-third) be a very useful and valuable collection: " over certain railroads (' 'Trunk Line" territory, and perhaps the Southern Passenger Associ- :rhe Great. V'!-lue and Success of Foreign ation and others), can he obtained at any im- )fISSIOns. Llggms. portant station on the conceding roads, and must be certified by the agent selling it, and Roport of the London MiSSionary Confer- on retnrn by the Secretary of the Union. The ence. 2 vols. ticket must be bought not earlier than June 8th, and not later than June 13th, and on re- Report of the Calcutta Missionary Confer- turn not aft"r June 21st,and must be a through ence. ticket on the conceding lines only; no stop- over. There must he at least 50 ticket·holders The Missionary Year-Book. Vol. I., 1889. at the meeting, to secure the deduction of two- Letters from India. Rev. H. J. Bruce. thirds return fare. The Natural History of the Marathi Bible. Rev. H. J. Bruce. The programme of this meeting cannot yet Among the Turks. Dr. Cyrus Hamlin. be furnished. The papers and discussions are Ann H. Judson. Dr. W. N. Wyeth. always on topics of special practical concern SarahB. Judson. Dr. W. N. Wyeth. to missionaries; but numerous addresses will India. Dr. J. T. Gracey. be made of a character interesting to the gen- China. Dr. J. T. Gracey. eral public, who are always cordially wel- Open Doors. Dr. J. T. Gracey. comed. Missionaries are requested "to com- Woman's )fedical Work in Foreign Lands. municate with either the President or the 1I1rs. J. T. Gracey. Secretary, to obtain further particulars, as Africa in a Nutshell. Rev. G. Thompson. well as to make suggestions as to topics, Memorial Papers of the American Marathi -papers, or addresses. If any would like to -discuss some particular subject themselves, Mis~ion. :provided suitable arrangements can be made, ·or if they know of any missionaries specially Further donations to the Library from ,qualified to present papers before the Union, members of the Union and other friends are or to address popular meetings, the President respectfully solicited. Will not all authors -will be glad of such information. among the members see that a copy of their works is sent as soon as possible to the Libra- The roll of the Union (organized in 1884) now rian? It is hoped that during the coming year 'includes 179 names, representing 18 different a beginning may be made of circulating these denominations and societies, Canadian, Ameri- volumes through the mail to such of the memcan and British, and at least 23 distinct fields. bers as may wish them. The plan is for the Its Vice-Presidents are: Cyrus Hamlin, D. D., person desiring to read any volume to send to founder of Rohert College, Constantinople; the Librarian the amount of postage required S. L. Baldwin, D. D., one of the Mission-Secre· to dispatch it by mail, and then in a month to taries of the American Methodists; and William Dean, D. D., the veteran Baptist trans- return it, postpaid, by the same channel. The Librarian is Rev. James Mudge, of East Pep. perell, Mass.
Inquiries concerning the approaching meet ing at Clifton Springs, or on any subject con- cerning the International Missionary Union, will he answered with pleasure by J. T. GRACEY, D. D., President, 183 Greenwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York WILLIAM H. BELDEN, Secretary, Bridgeton, New Jersey, V.-THE MONTHLY CONCERT OF MISSIONS.
BY REV. F. F. ELLINWOOD, D.D.
The Great Afrioan Mission Field. once and a half that of the United No other country is attracting so States from New York to San Franmuch attention as Africa. For many cisco. If it were divided by an east generations most of it has been con- and west line, running a little north sidered an unknown land, and even of the equator, the northern portion yet there is generally but a slight ap- would receive all North America, and prehension of its vast extent. Its the southern would embrace all Eugreatest width from east to west is rope, including Russia. The population is estimated by Mr. Stanley at of eastern Soudan. It bears north- 250,000,000. This is not to be compared in density with India or China, ward that annual tribute which for but it is far greater than has been supposed. Six hundred languages and ages has made Egypt the granary of dialects are spoken, of which not more than one in six is a vehicle of the word the East. ·of God. The fourth great river, theZambesi, The coast line of Africa throughout nearly its whole extent is low and gen- receiving the waters of the Nyassa erally insalubrious, but the interior is, for the ]Lost part, a vast table-land, and the Shire, passes over the great with mountain ranges which, in one {)r two instances, rise nearly two thou- cataracts to which it has given its .sand feet. name, and flows eastward into the No river in the world, unless it be the Amazon, equals the Congo in Indian Ocean. It is a remarkable volume. It is said to be thirty times as great as that of the Mississippi. It fact that the Congo, Nile, and Zambesi has no such breadth as the Amazon at its mouth, and instead of emptying find their sources all within a limited through the channels of a great delta .like the Ganges or the Niger which area of high table-lands, though they ·embraces three hundred miles of coast, it pours over a long succession of discharge their waters into widely disfalls and rapi~, and thence rushes to the sea through a deep-cut channel, tant seas. with a current well nigh resistless. Through its lower stretch it has Since the discoveries of Krapf and scooped the bottom of its channel till it is said to measure miles in depth; On Rebman, and the wonderful achievethe Upper Congo, including branches, there are five thousand miles of navi- ments of Livingstone and Stanley, all ,gable waters opening up in all directions a great interior basin of almost Europe has been enkindled with the unequalled fertility, and inhabited by not less than fifty millions of people. spirit of African discovery. For a Besides the Congo, three other great rivers and many smaller ones drain century previous there had been octhe great interior table-lands and -empty their waters into the sea. casional expeditions, but the explora- The Niger, rising in the country tions of the last two decades have back of Liberia, makes a circuit northward and eastward, draining the probably been equal to all that had western Soudan, and joined at length by the Benue, which flows westward previously been made. from the region south of Lake Tchad. It proceeds southwar4i to the Gulf of The following list of discoveries, for Guinea. which I am largely indebted to Rev. Dr. R. R. Booth, presents the principal The Nile, which has never been ex- African explorations down to Stanley's plored in its sources until within the discovery of the Congo: last twenty years, is the outlet of the great Equatorial Lakes and the waters Bruce, in 1768, explored the Blue Nile and Abyssinia.
Horneman, in 1798, reached Fezzan by way of Cairo.
Burkhardt, in 1812, visited Suakim and Dondola.
Captain Luckey, in 1816, explored the Congo for 200 miles.
Denham and Clapperton, in 1822, penetrated the desert from Tripoli to Lake Tchad. In 1825, they. passed from Guinea to Socotoo.
1I:1ajor Laing, in 1826, marched from Tripoli to Timbuctoo.
Clapperton and Lander, in 1827, ex- plored the south shore of Lake Tchad.
11:1. Cailli, in 1827, passed from Mo- rocco to Samagambia.
The Lander Brothers, jn 1830, ex- plored the Niger.
Laird and Oldfield, in 1833, also visited the Niger.
Engliflh Niger Expedition, in 1841, attended by missionaries.
Barth, Richardson, and Overweg, in 1849, passed from Tripoli to Lake Tchad.
Livingstone, in 1849, visited the Makalolos from the south. Egyptian Expedition, about 1850, up tended by the murder of Bishop Harthe Nile to 4° N. L. rington; the new conquests of Samadu, and of Islam in Western Soudan; the Krapf and Rebman, 1850, entered discoveries and.telTitorial occupations by Mombas and discovered Mount Kili- of DeBrazza on the Ogovie; the manjaro, and heard of the Lake Coun- strange fortunes of Emin Pasha; the try. founding of the Congo Free State; and the very latest achievements and dis- Anderson, 1850-54, explored South coveries of Henry M. Stanley. Africa from Cape Town, and discovered Lake N'gami, S. Lat. 21°. The Congo Free State demands fuller consideration. The king of the Bel- Livingstone, in 1852, discovered the gians, supported by the Geographical Falls of the Zambesi. Societies of Europe and the admiring sympathy of the civilized world, has Edward Vogel, in 1853, joined Barth interested himself in the opening up at Lake Tchad. of Central Africa to the interests of Livingstone, 1853, crossed Africa, and in 1858 discovered Lake Nyassa commerce and Christian mISSIOns· and the Shire Valley. and all the elements of a humane and Christian civilization. Burton and Speke, 1857-59, discovered Lake Tanganika. In the prosecution of this great en- terprise the leadership of Mr. Stanley Speke and Grant, 1859, discovered has been engaged, and the co-opera- Lake Victoria, Nyanza. tion of the different European powers has been enlisted. Agreements were Samuel Baker, 1861, discovered entered into exempting a vast terri- Albert Nyanza. tory from encroachment, and enabl- ing King Leopold to make and enforce Livingstone, in 1866, discovered treaties with the native tribes for the Lakes Moero and Bangweola. preservation of a general peace and harmony. The King is now virtually Schweinfurth, 1869-71, explored the the sovereign of the Congo Free State, Nyam-Nyam country, and discovered and is expending annually hundreds the Wells River. of thonsands of dollars from his private resources in the prosecution Stanley, in 1870, found Livingstone of his noble plans. at Ujiji, on Lake Tanganika. The Christian churchesof the world Muncie and Petherick, about 1870, explored the Upper Nile and the Bah- have been welcomed to the mission rel-Ghazil. fields of the Congo, and several socie- Gordon and Long, about 1870, ex- ties have established their stations plored the two great branches of the upon its waters. There are now said Nile. to be thirty small steamers plying above the falls, of which several are Livingstone, in 1874, died near Lake connected with missionary work. Bangweola. Of the different missionary organi- Stanley, in 1875, visited Mtesa's zations, the English Baptists, among kingdom, having advanced to the east the first, if not the very first, to ocside of Lake Albert, and in 1876 he cupy the country, is perhaps the passed westward into the interior. strongest. The American Baptist Union having received the mission Gamerou, 1874-76, crossed Africa to which was established by Dr. H. Benguela. Grattan Guinness and others, and known as the Congo Inland Mission, Stanley, August, 1877, arrived at now employs 29 missionaries, and Emboma, on the Lower Congo.
Since the discovery of the Congo more than forty expeditions have been sen~ into Africa by different na- tions, and many thrilling events have occulTed;-such as the overthrow of Arabi Pasha and the occupation of Egypt by Great Britain; the ill-fated mission of Gordon to Khartoom, and the bootless expedition up the Nile; the tragic career of El Mahdi; the varied and desperate encounters with Osman Digma; the Italian campaigns about Massowa; the struggles of British arms in South Africa, and the tragedy of the French Prince Im- perial; the death of Mtesa and the cruel persecutions of Mwanga, atits work is prosperous. The Metho- nificent government road, with tele- dist Congo Mission, under the direc- graphic communication and military tion of Bishop Taylorl has made a stations along the line. In the equa- vigorous beginning, and quite recently torial regions also, including Gaboon the Southern Presbyterian Church of and the Ogovie, with a territorial the United, States has sent a devoted claim extending along the northern young man with a colored assistant to bank of the Upper Congo, she holds lay the foundations of a mission some- a territory numbering 240,000 square where in the great valley. His ex- miles. The aggregate of these three ample in leaving high social at- protectorates is three times the size of tractions in the South to devote France.
himself to the colored races of Cen- 3. Germany hasannexed West Cam- tral Africa, is a proof that whatever aroons, and a vast territory in south- ground may be taken in the Southern western Africa, embracing Demerara churches in regard to the color line, and Namaqualand, whose united coast there are not wanting those who line extends 900 miles. Besides this, cherish the Christlike spirit of love Germany holds a vast territory in East toward the African. Africa, lying between Zanzibar and There has within the last few years Lakes Tanganiyka and Victoria Ny- been great rivalry on the part of anza.
European powers in gaining posses- 4. Great Britain has held permanent sion of Africa. In the words of Dr. possession of the Cape of Good Hope Guinness, to whom I am indebted for since 1795, and her various possessions many facts, "the whole coast has of Cape Colony, Cafraria, Natal, and been literally besieged by protector- last of all Zambesia, have been added.
ates." A railroad is now being projected two The following is the present situa- thousand miles from the Cape to the tion: Zambesi River. England also claims 1. Portugal holds large territories as large territory extending from on the west coast below the mouth of Mombas on the east coast above Zanzi- the Congo, besides its claim to Mozam- bar to the lake Victoria Nyanza, in- bique and territories extending west- . cluding the beautiful mountain region ward till they meet those of the west Kilimanjaro. She also holds a coast <coast. These claims are being seri- line of 400 miles in the Somali country, ously challenged, and important con- opposite Aden. She holds a virtual cessions have of late been made to protectorate of Egypt, besides posses- Great Britain in the region of the sions on the west coast at Sierra Leone.
Zambesi and Lake Nyassa. 5. The Italian Government, by pursu- 2. The French have held possession ing a vigorous policy on the west coast Df Algeria since their conflict with the of the Red Sea, has gained a strong- Riff pirates in 1831. Algeria is larger hold at Magada, and seems likely to than France, and has cost her some exert a dominant influence over Abys- hundreds of thousands of men and sinia.
$1,200,000,000 in money. It is a strong Two great questions, affecting the colony and is i~habited by a manly moral and religious future of Africa, race. A French protectorate, which are of such vast import as well nigh to looks towards annexation, is also ex- baffle the wisdom and the faith of tended over Tunis. France also claims Christian men: The Slave Trade and two hundred thousand square miles in the Liquor Traffic.
the region of the Senegal and the The fornler has been the topic of dis- Gambia. This large territory extends cussion in the great International Con- €astward to the waters of the Niger, ference recently convened in Brus- and is connected therewith by a mag- sels. That the problem of its suppression is notan easy one, a single example to suppress the introduction of liquor will show. and fire-arms into certain groups of the Pacific Isles, where terrible havoc It is said that Tippoo Tib, whose pow- was being produced, the State Depart- er is yet unchallenged on the Upper ment at Washington refused to join. Congo, commands 2,000 men, armed Public sentiment in Europe has not. with Winchester rifles. It is their credited our Government with the business to raid the villages through- highest and purest motives for this re- out a wide range of country for the fusal, nor has it hesitated to declare acquisition of slaves. Pillage, slaugh- that the responsibility of failure rests. ter, fire and devastation are merely with the United States and Germany. incidents in the work of capture. The terrible journey to the coasts is a What the Conference at Brussels has. sequel, and the business must be ex- accomplished in reference to the liquor tensive enough to cover a large per traffic, is to affect an agreement that cent. of deaths by the way, and an oc- beyond the present coast belt-rather casional loss by rescue. How shall a broad one unfortunately-the liquor this evil be reached at its source? importations shall not extend. This is something to be thankful for, and 'Ve understand that the Conference it points to the interior as the most. has agreed: First. That where it is pos- hopeful mission field. It affords an sible, the tribes concerned in the raid- answer also to those-some of them ing shall be held responsible. Second. Christian men-who have been ready Any tribe through whose territory a to conclude that Mohammedanism, slave caravan passes shall be held to with its strong prohibition of all inaccount. Third. The chief in whose toxicants, would, for the present at territory on the coasts the shipment least, offer a better evangel to Cenof slaves occurs shall also be dealt tral Africa than our Christian faith with. Fourth. The police of the sea coupled with the vices of Christendom. shall be maintained by the joint effort of the European powers. In any view, the outlook of Africa. is mixed with light and shade. Its It may confidently be hoped that problems are too great for human these measures will greatly curtail wisdom; too great for the Conference the desolations of this horrible traffic of the Powers. in flesh and blood. More than this cannot be expected till European Unfortunately, the Mohammedan philanthropy can draw the ligatures slave traders of Africa have two of repression more closely and strangle words which they may hurl back the hydra in its inmost retreats. with terrible force in the face of Chris- tian nations: "Opium!" "Rum! " And In regard to the liquor traffic, the they are not careful to discriminate problem is still more difficult. In this between Christianity and Christencase it is the civilized powers them- dom. They take ~o account of any selves that are the offenders. The difference between the counsels and dark tide of poison that deluges the prayers of the missionary societies. the coasts of Africa flows from so- in Boston and the agnosticism and called Christian lands. The Govern- whiskey of the distilleries not far away ments of Great Britain, France, and which are under contract to supplyfor' Germany.are ready to capture slave the African trade 3,000 gallons per day ships on the Red Sea-are they pre- for seven years. pared to confront the liquor interests of their own realms? Is there any way then for the Chris- tian church but to look away to the The attitude of the United States is hills whence cometh her help? It is still more doubtful. In 1885, when the time for a concert of prayer for Great Britain, France, Italy, and Aus- Africa. A greater burden was never tria were ready to unite in an effort brought to the mercy seat.
E;DITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPIQS
VI.-EDITORIAL NOTES ON CURRENT TOPICS.
Comparative Destitution in Christian American missionary in Sweden, and Pagan Lands. writes us: The venerable Dr. McCosh remarks "I am astonished at reading one that in the contempl~tion bf the waste sentence in a letter which you pub- of resources by want of church union, lished in the liarch number (page 214) while not only in heathen countries of THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE but in our own great cities there are WORLD, and am very sorry that you multitudes who have not had the gos- should allow it to go out to your pel preached to them, he fears that thousands of readers without com- the judgment of Heaven may descend ment. The writer, in speaking of the upon the churches. He counsels the drink curse in Africa, says: 'The forming of a Federation in America amazing thing is that all this traffic to see that the whole country be di- [the rum trade in Old Calabar, West vided into parishes or districts, each Africa,] is conducted, in the main, by to be provided with a gospel minister not over a dozen firms, the members of and a lay agency put under obliga- which are most excellent men, many tions to have the gospel preached to of them, I believe, sincere Christians.'
every creature, young and old. He " Do, I beg of you, say to your read- will be glad to correspond with those ers, that you do not endorse such a who are ready to carry out this view. sentiment. It is high time to protest This is a suggestion in the right di- a against the doctrine of some of our rection. There is everywhere a mani- English friends-that man can be a fest disproportion between the differ- Christian and at the same time deal ent local fields. In Africa, at least out death and damnation to his fellow- 150,000,000 of people are entirely men!"
destitute of all knowledge of the gos- It is scarcely necessary to say that pel. The Soudan districts and the an editor is not to be held personally Congo Free State are absolutely with- responsible for all the sentiments ex- out the gospel. In Siam 13 Presby- pressed by his correspondents. In this terian missionaries, including women, instance we felt that our highly re- are the sole force for evangelizing the spected correspondent stretched his native Siamese and Laos population! charity beyond proper bounds. We These are two instances of the im- are not willing to believe that the man mense vacancies in heathen fields. I who traffics in liquor, asa drink, in this spoke in a village of Scotland having enlightened age, is a "sincere Chris- a population of about 1,200-800 of tian," or a Christian in any sense.
which are of a church-going age, and And the sin is the greater, incompar- there are five churches and as many ably, when a British or an American ministers! One, or, at most, two merchant holds out the temptation ministers could care for the entire and inflicts the ruin coollyand deliber- population and leave the others free ately upon the poor benighted African, to go to these vast vacancies of hea- in his heathen ignorance and degra- thendom, and leave the money that dation. The slave traffic and the rum those other church edifices cost free to traffic are twin curses, and no really be expended in foreign fields. God good man can have anything to do will surely hold us accountable for with either, save to pray and strive the immense waste of resources im- for their overthrow. J. M. S.
plied in maintaining so many -There are two pictures Stanley loves to draw. The first is Mohamchurches simply in the interests of medanism overrunning North Africa from Guardafui to Cape Juby, where sectarianism! A. T. P.
-An indignant correspondeut, an the gospel of force is triumphant and the standard of the crescent is planted. [On the 12th of May 1889, four men He pictures the followers of Mahomet met to hold a consecration prayer- advancing on their fleet dromedaries, meeting in my study, at Philadelphia. coursers of Yeman, and white asses of One of them was George S. Fisher, Arabia, against Paganism, with the the Y. M. C. A. Secretary of Kansas; fierce cry of "Death to the Unbeliev- one was Mr. Nash, who filled a like er-there is no God but God, and post in Nebraska; another was Rev. Mahomet is His prophet." He graph- T. C. Horton, of St. Paul Y. M. C. A., ically describes how terror precedes and the fourth was the writer. God them, death accompanies them, deso- laid his hand in a marked manner on lation follows them, and disease marks each of the four from that day on. their course. The Libyan desert and Those three men from the Northwest the Sahara are traversed by these in- returned to their respective fields, and vincible and dauntless Arabs until the in each of those fields there began a Equator is reached, when they have mighty movement in the direction of to succumb to the mysterious changes pioneer missions to the regions beyond. of nature and retire baffled, leaving The same answerer of prayer disthe southern half of Africa to other lodged one from my church in Philaand higher influences. delphia to undertake a crusade for missions among the churches, and The other picture is of a more mod- made the other three the pioneers of ern period. From the Cape of Good missions in the great States of the Hope advances a meek and humble Northwest. From Topeka, Kan., follower of the Cross, who penetrates February 3, 1890, there has gone forth towards the untraveled wilds of Southern Africa to seek the heathen in his the following communication. Let home. He hails him as a brother. every reader ponder well this signal He tells him of a loving Father in of the moving of God's pillar of cloud heaven, and of redemption through and fire.-A. T. P.] Christ. He repeats the song of Bethlehem: "Peace on earth and good All our readers will be interested in hearing will towards men." He travels over something about the three young men, Messrs. 30,000 miles, and dUling his thirty- Mails, Helmick and Kingman, who have left two years' labor discloses to Christen- the Association work of Kansas to give their dom one million square miles of inner lives to the work of spreading the joyful Aftica. All on whom he gazed, with tidings in the dark Soudan districts of Africa those eyes radiant with loving fellowship, he blessed with the view of a Since the "great meeting," at Topeka, good man made perfect by trial in the October 16-20, 1889, they have spent the time wilderness. At last he surrenders his in traveling, and have conducted missionary life at Bangweolo, loving and loved, meetings in nearly all the larger cities and blessing and blessed. There was colleges of Kansas, besides having spent about pomp and majesty in the proud ad- six weeks in work outside of the State, visitvance of Mahomet north of the Equa- ing, among other places, the following cities: tor, but the picture of the lone Chris- Chicago; St. Louis; St. Paul and Minneapolis, tia~ wandering in these untrodden 'in Minnesota; Eau Claire and Milwaukee, in wilds of Southern Africa is almost Wisconsin; South Bend, Indianapolis and divine. Stanley then adds:" I was Greencastle, in Indiana; Fayettville and Fort the last of David Livingstone's race Smith, in Arkansas. It has pleased the Lord and color who talked with him, and to own, in a wonderful manner, the labors of my desire is to take up his work with these brethren during these weeks, and many the view of redeeming Africa from its have been led to the Lord Jesus Christ in the forlornness and squalid poverty-in- meetings conducted by them, while the hearts itiating true missionary enterprise." of not a few of God's children have been deeply stirred.
Speaking from a human standpoint, it is truly marvelous how these brethren have been provided "ith all things needful as they have gone about from city to city, and from State to State. Of course, they had no means of their own with -:hich to cover the expenses of their tour, and so, during the first week or two, collections for their benefit were taken they have word from Kingman, after his in the meetings conducted; but it was very arrival in Africa. ,evident that this only tended to detract from the spiritual power of the meetings, and the [I was present at the farewell meeting of the taking of collections was dropped. Since Wilmot-Brooke party in Exeter Hall. and was then they have traveled almost continually, called on to offer the consecrating prayer.- asking nothing whatever of men, depending A.T.P.] alone upon the Lord to supply all their needs, and never yet have they lacked for any of the Messrs. Mails and Helmick will still continue "good things" of this life, nor have they been their tour around the country, conducting delayed a single hour for want of money with missionary meetings, and already dates have which to meet railway expenses. Often, how- been arranged for until during March, cover- ever, the Lord has permitted them to go to ing appointments in Arkansas, Ohio, Pennsyl- the depot without a cent in their pockets, but vania and Maine. On the 14th inst. they will always, before the train pulled out, although be joined by Mr. Frank M. Gates, for some sometimes at the very last moment, the neces- time past gymnasium superintendent and sary money has been provided. (phil. 4:19.) acting secretary of the Topeka Association, In addition to supplying the needs of these who will leave for the Soudan with them. It men as they have journeyed about the country, is also probable that Mr. Roy Codding, of York, the Lord has used their words to touch the Neb., will join the party at the same time. hearts of His people; one man in Kansas offered $125 towards the passage of one man Two of the young men from the Y. M. C. A. for the Soudan, and, in St. Louis, the ladies of at St. Paul will sail for Africa with the Kansas one of the churches offer to become responsible men, and intend going to the Upper Congo for the support of two of the Soudan mission- country, to prepare the way for" The Upper aries. We could add many other testimonies Congo Missionary Colony, " which has recently along this line to show that the King has set been ~rganized at St. Paul, as a direct result His seal of approval on the efforts of these of the interest in missionary matters awakened His servants, as they have tried to present the in the Association work there. . " world-wide Gospel." The Lord has seemed to make it plain to the Word was received a few weeks since, that Kansas missionaries for the Soudan, that it was Mr. Graham Wilmot-Brooke, of England, a His will that they should sever their connec- 'young man who has traveled a great deal in tion in this movement with Dr. Guinness. the Soudan, was about to leave again for that Some of the reasons for this are : "country, and he kindly invited the Kansas missionaries for the Soudan to have one of 1. That while in a certain sense, Dr. Guin- their number meet him in England before he ness' missionary work is undenominational, sailed, and, if possible, set sail with him. yet it was found that the men who were at ,After much waiting before the Lord, it seemed the head of his training institutes, both in this to be His will that one of the men should go, country and in England, were all members of as a forerunner in this movement; thus it was the same denomination, and the doctor him- that on Wednesday, January 29, Mr. E. self stated, that while the Boston institute is Kingman set sail from New York for the undenominational, yet its main object is the Soudan, going by way of England. 'trainil',g of missionaries for one of the denomi- national missions on the Congo. 2. It was The following telegram was received from found, that while Dr. Guinness has been the agent of the steamship company by whose wonderfully used of the Lord in the caus..,f line Mr. Kingman sailed: missions, yet, so far as the e:;perience of t'Le Kansas young men went, he did not seem to " To-day has seen, in the departure of King- be able to handle the details of this movement, man for the Soudan, the beginning of what is which seemed to them a matter of great going to be the greatest missionary movement Importance. 3. After conference with persons of this century. God bless it, and the West in other parts of the country, the doctor con- where it started. Keep believing." cluded that he could not aceept, for the Soudan mission, money contributed by the missien And SO the Soudan missionary movement is bands of our State. no longer something talked of, but is now something real. Praise the Lordi Mr. King- These points, among others, led to a sepa- man will join the Wilmot-Brooke party at ration, which, however, was brought about Liverpool, and take ship with them for Africa. with the kindest feeling on both sides, and Mr. During the voyage out he will have ample Guinness yet shows a deep IIfnterest in the opportunity for conference with Mr. Brooke, work which the Kansas men hdtJe to do, and is, and other members of the party, and by the from time to time, giving such information time of arrival on the coast of Africa, he will as he can. have gained much valuable information in regard to the Soudan country, and will at once And now, may we not ask that every reader 'communicate with the othe~Kansas mission- will be much in prayer, that the Lord Himself :aries in regard to what to bring, etc., etc. will guide very clearly these of our brethren "They, of course, do not expect to set sail until whose hearts He has touched and filled with a desire to carry the Gospel to the neglected Soudan, the" regions beyond."
Yours, for" the uttermost part of the earth, " E. S. WALTON. Bedford, England.-A memorial and devour, now combine to rescue statue to John Howard-the great prison philanthropist and missionary and protect." A. T. P. to the criminal classes and the inmates of hospitals-is next year to be China.-The literary teacher in erected, at a cost of $15,000. The money is fast coming in. It will be China is called" The First-born," and borne in mind that one of the last requests of this disinterested man was is almost worshipped. Books written that no such memorial should be erected to him. And, in our judg- in the literary character may be read ment, that request should be sacredly regarded. If any monument should in every province of China, and even be built to his memory, would it not be better far to construct a model hos- in Japan, Korea and Mongolia. pital, and call it the "Howard Home?" Why waste money on a statue? Hence the vast power of a Christian Prohibition. – Prohibition Kansas literature in the Chinese tongue. Mishas 100,000 more population than Texas, which is under license. Kansas sionary work proper began with the has one penitentiary, with 966 prisoners, while Texas has two, with more cession of Hong Kong in 1843. Now ~han three times as many convicts. Is there any connection between the doors are open everywhere. The pubdrink traffic and the excess of crime? If prohibition does not prohibit drink, lic mind is getting free from prejudoes it lessen criminality? A judge with whom I stayed at Greenock, dices and dislikes of foreigners, and a Scotland, explained the absence of every form of liquors at his table, by truer notion prevails as to the characsaying that he used wines until he became a civil officer. When he ob- ter and unselfish aim of missionaries. served in court that nearly every case of offence against law was traceable Now, the law protects a man in the Ijp drink, he gave up the use of all trquors, fermented or distilled, and espousal of Christian faith. had since been a total abstainer. That man is ex-Provost Dugald Campbell. In Manchuria, William Burns was Captain H. B. Kennedy, Ballater, the pioneer, and now there is abundtold Rev. Wm. Robertson, who had been speaking on Missions in the Es- ant opening for 1,000 laborers. There tablished Church of Scotland: " I was the captain of the Ruby that took are 23,000,000 of people, and only 900 Bishop Sterling to Terra del Fuego, when he gathered the facts that over- converts, so far. Medical Missionswhelmed with surprise the mind of Charles Darwin, and led to his re- have especial promise in China, markable confession as to the success of Christian Missions. Those very where Benevolence is so prominently Terra del Fuegoes have now formed a , society for the rescue of shipwrecked taught as a leading principle of Conmariners.' Those who would a half century since have united to plunder fucianism.
Recently a prominent Chinese liter- ati came to the Missionaries and said: "I want a Saviour! Confucianism provides none; neither does Bud- dhism, or Taoism." In Christ he found the very Saviour he wanted.
Anti-Ohinese Legislation.
The enemies of the Chinese in this country seem determined to fill up the measure of their iniquity. Not con- tent with securing the passage of the "Scott Law," by which a solemn treaty between the governments of the United States and China was nul- lified, and 20,000 certificates entitling absent Chinamen to return to this country and to which the faith of this government was pledged, were repudi- ated, they delibeFately framed another "outra~eous and barbarous" scheme, as the Herald justly characterized it, and the House passed it without op- position. The object of this Enumer- ation Bill was to exclude absolutely all
PROGRESS OF MISSIONS-MONTHLY BULLETIN
Chinamen from this country; without moralized the Senate. And it was not regard to rank, character, occupation or the purpose of their coming. Mer- in vain. The Independent, of New chants, tourists, students, all, in fact, would be prohtbited from setting foot York, which, from the first, unsparin the United States. We had penned an indignant protest against such a ingly condemned the measure, thus shameless abomination, but before the cold type had put it in permanent voices the feeling and sentiment of the shape the welcome news came that the Senate had killed.the bill by so amend- nation, outside of a narrow circle of ing and eliminating its most offensive features, that its friends were politicians: willing to let it die. " The final result is a victory for the God be praised that the country has Christian sentiment of this country. been saved the shame and wrong of We rejoice in it. '];he Senate did not such an infamous measure. One can- dare to disregard this sentiment. And not read the provisions of this bill and for the present, at least, the tide of conceive how it was possible that the legislative persecution, as we may call popular bFanch of this nation could it, of the Chinese has been stopped. propose such a wanton violation of We trust that it will never come to a our treaties with China, and offersuch flood again. We hope to see it turned a flagrant insult to that great nation. and to see our National Legislature That the passage of the bill would engaged in undoing the wrong that have been followed by retaliatory has been committed in the Exclusi.on measures on the part of China, imperil- acts. ing the lives of our missionaries there and interrupting their work, and re- " What is needed now is an earnest· coiling on American commerce, is be- champion for the Chinese in each yond a doubt. House; some strong man gifted with the courage and perseverance of No more earnest protest was made Senator Blair, who would introduce a against the passage of the bill than repeal bill at every session and keep the that sent up by the New York Cham- subject constantly before Congress and ber of Commerce; and even the secu- the country. Wearesure that the Chrislar press, with few exceptions, spoke tian sentiment which has just shown out against it at the last. Likewise, its power so signally would express our leading Missionary Societies, the itself as openly and emphatically in American Bible Society, the Evangeli- favor of this repeal as it has expressed cal Alliance, and the Society of itself against the Deportation bill. It Friends, as well as several Confer- would, we are confident, rally to the ences of the M. E. Church, vigorously support of such a measure. protested and warned, and also me- The Exclusion acts are directly opposed to the whole policy of this nation from the time of the adoption of our Constitution down to the present. The sentiment of our Christian people does not object to the regulation of the immigration of the Chinese any more than it does to t~e regulation of the immigration from any other quarter; but it is opposed to the absolute exclusion of the natives of any country on the face of the earth. As our Government must sooner or later return to this sound policy, now is a good time to begin to agitate for the repeal of the Exclusion acts."-J. M. S.
VII.-PROGRESS OF MISSIONS: MONTHLY BULLETIN.
ACrlca.-An English Missionary among couraging, after one's dismal thoughts, to perthe Balolo tribes, on the Upper Congo, says: ceive the readiness with which the people " The people here are a very fine-looking race; listened to what was said to them, and their tall and well made, with intelligent counte- appreciation of it. We have certainly been nances, some of their features being far IIlQre guided as to settling in this place, by far the Enropean than negro. There are five native most populous district we have seen, and huts on the ground which have been bought. utterly untouched by the gospel. To-day, for We have also on the land some plantain trees, the first time in their lives, many of them a few pepper bushes and some maize, the be- have heard the good news." ginning of our future garden. It was qnite en- -" The end of the geographical feat is the beginning of the missionary enterprise." So wiII need the constant intercession of God's said Livingstone in reference to his own plans, people on their behalf. At Matadi there are and so it has proved in connection with the no less than three steamers for the Upper discoveries of Mr. Stanley. His first expedi- Congo besides the Pioneer, two of these are tion resulted in the opening of Uganda to the for the State, and one for the French house. Church Missionary Society, and of Lake One of the State steamers will be the largest Tanganyika to the London Society, and subse- on the Upper Congo.-Mis8. Notes from the quently his passage of the Congo prepared Congo. the way for not less than half a dozen mission- ary societies to enter into that formerly -The grant ofan immense territory along unknown region. Shall not his last crossing the Zambesi River in Africa has been made to of the continent start some new missionary the Duke of Fife and some English colleagues. expedition for the redemption of Africa?- The region embraces nearly three hundred Missionary Herald. thousand square miles, and is very rich, both as to soil and mines. Tile company has power -Lieut. Werner, recently returned from to abolish slavery and restrict the liquor traf- the Congo, said that when he was at Stanley fic in its domains. Missionary work will be as Falls, just before Major Barttelot was killed, free here as in India.-The Helping Hand. Tippoo Tib had a large quantity of ivory, which he would not dispose of for anything -The Basle Mission Magazine gives a ~but gunpowder, and this he could not get then. compreheusive statement as to South African Eventually he sold it to a trader, and Lieut. missions: These missions deserve notice as Werner afterwards met hundreds of barrels of exceptionally strong, and ere the century powder being taken up to pay for the ivory. closes it is probable that Christianity will hold This powder would no doubt be used in raids the predominant position south of the Zam- upon the natives. As to the liquor trade, it besi. We give some of the statistics of tbe was one of the greatest curses under which missions: Rhenish, 30 missionaries, 6,384 com- Africa was at present laboring. This question municants. Berlin, 53 missionaries, 9,763 com- could be much more easily dealt with than municants. Hermanusburg, 52 missionaries, that of arms, as the importation of intoxicat- no statistics of communicants. Paris Evan- ing liquor could be prohibited or put under gelical Mission, 23 missionaries, 6,534 commu- high duties-the more so, as there were few nicants. Free Church of Scotland, 13mission- articles of African commerce which would aries, 3,779 communicants. United Presby- bear taxation. terian, 12 missionaries, 2,307 communicants. American Board, 14 missionaries, 979 com- -Upper Congo Steamers belonging to the municants. To these there are to be added State: "Stanley," "A. I. A.," "En Avant.," three missions of high importance, but which " Ville de Bruxelles," "Ville dQ Gand, " the Basle Resume does not notice, as their "Ville de Liege," "Ville de Charleroi" (the missionary and colonial statistics are not .last is coming); to the Baptist Missions: readily distinguished. These are, first, the S. " Peace, " "Henry Reed;" to the French P. G., which is carrying on with great zeal and House: "France;" to the' Dutch House: euergy a work not second to any. The Wesley- "Holland;" to the French State: "Olima;" an Missions are also most importaut and sucto the Belgian Company: "'Roi des Belges," cessful. To these is to be added the Dutch "General Sanford," HBaron 'Veber,H "¥lori- Reformed Church, which, under leaders such {la," "New York "-17 in all. On the lower as Andrew Murrayand others, is peuetrated by river are, belonging to the State: "Heron," an evangelical and evangelistic spirit, and is "Prince Baudouin," "Belgique," "Esper- doing a great native work. There are also the ance," "Camille Janssen " (the last is a steam Norwegian and Swedish missions inZululand; launch); to the English House: "Itumba;" long oppressed, now with larger promise. to the Dutch House: "Morian;" to the Portu- There is also the Finuish Lutheran Mission, guese House: "Luso."-African News. now under the German protectorate.-Ohurch Miss. Intelligencer. -Bishop Taylor's steamer will be put to- -The Swedish Missionary Society will gether and run on the Lower Congo. shortly send eleven new missionaries into the field, of whom seven are going to the Congo -A steamer of over a thousand tons is and four to Chiua. Good progress is being about to be placed on the Lower Congo to run made on the Congo. Mr. Nilson writes from between Banana and Matadi, in connection Kibunzi that they have had the great joy of with the Congo Railway. baptizing lately three pupils iu their school. The candidates confessed before all their -Messrs. G. D. Adamson, R. Cole, and J. people that they believed in the Lord Jesus Luff, of the Congo-Balolo Mission, arrived Cilrist, aud wished to live in future for His safely at Mpalabala from England, February glory and for the salvation of their fellow-men. 4th. They bring with them a new steam It was a beautiful scene. The congregations launch, the Pioneer,which already has reached are increasing rapidly, as also the confidence Mamdi, the higbest point on the lower river. of the people in their missionaries; so that They hope that this new steam launch wiII they now send their children freely to School. greatly facilitate the preaching of the gospel among the Balolo tribes of the Upper Congo. They have an arduous task before them, and The seven who are going out shortly will raise planted the papal standard four days farther the number of the Swedish missionaries in the inland than the advance Protestant posts. Congo field to twenty. The prosperous and hopeful effort is one of the offshoots of our old "Cheering news comes from the new Congo- Livingstone Inland Mission, which has now be- Balolo Mission, on the Lu Ponga River. They come three bands: this one, the A. B. M. U., have all had fever, but were well and hopeful and the new Congo Balolo. at last writing.
-The Royal Niger Company has, accord- "Out of the small band of missionaries labor- ing to the London Times, reduced the import ing on the Upper Congo, five have had to re- of spirits on the Niger to one-fourth of what it turn home recently. was, prohibiting the trade absolutely in one- third of its territories, with the intention to do "Our daily cry to the Lord of the harvest is, so in another third, and being ready, as regards , sendforth laborers.' " the remaining third, to welcome any definite arrangement on the subject agreed to by -The British South Africa Company is, England, France and (krmany. The total pledged by its charter to labor for the extinc- importation of spirits into these widely-ex- tion of slavery and the slave trade, and to pre- tended territories last year amonnted to vent the sale of intoxicating liquors to the 70,000 gallons. The-complaint made by Ger- natives. In connection with the African Lakes man merchants as to tbe neglect of their in- Company, it proposes to establish regular terests on the Niger has not yet been finally postal and passenger service on the Zambesi disposed of by the British and German gov- and Shiril. ernments; but, from an official reply in the Reichstag, the main question is not the im- ChloD.-Dr. Peck, on retuming from position ofcustoms by the Niger Company, but China, after nine years of service, finds that, their excessive rate. This applies specially to he has a record of 70,000 cases which he has intoxicants. treated, including those who have come more than once, and that fully 45,000 persons, -Bishop Taylor arrived in New York in have thus been brought under his influence. Aprilin good health. He says: "Our missions in Africa, in spite of all sorts of discourage- IodID.-It is reported from India that ments, are developing most encouragingly. two women commissioners are to be appointed This year will exceed any in the past in pre- by the Nizams' government to take the testiparing mission-houses. We have just com- mony of the residents of zenanas who are not pleted the repairs of the Monrovia Seminary suffered by usage to appear in court to testify. building, and will, by July, complete the repairs of Cape Palmas Seminary. They are -Out of 900 foreign missionaries at present large, stone buildings, erected by our Mission- in India, representing various lands and peoary Society many years ago, but for years ples, the oldest is an American, the Rev. John abandoned to the wastes of decay. We will Newton (of the Presbyterian Church), the this year (D. V.) rebuild the seminary at veteran missionary of Lahore, who at the age White Plains, twenty-three miles from Mon- of 78 is still a happy worker in his chosen rovia, up St. Paul's River-the old battle- field. Mr. Newton landed in Calcutta in Febground of Ann Wilkins-also, repair our ruary, 1835, almost 54 years ago; he has, church in Cape Palmas, and build two mission- labored since in connection with the wellhouses for new missions in North Liberia. All known Lodiana Mission. Four sons born here this belongs properly to the old Liberia mis- and educated in America, returned to this sion work of our Society, and they are fur- country 'as missionaries; one of these, Dr. J. nishing the fnnds for the improvements Newton, died in India after 22 years' service; named, except forthe Cape Palmas Seminary. the others are still in, the ranks; the five We expect, by the will of God, to find the men laborers have given 125 years of service to and the money for passage, and have all these India. A daughter returned to India as a manned in this year, 1890. About a dozen missionary, and afterward married Rev. Dr. houses for chapel and for school purposes, Forman, of Lahore, whose two sons and commenced in our Cavalla River and Kru daughter have recently returued to India as Coast Missions last year, are to be completed missionaries, the first representatives of the this year. Further, the builders of our steamer third generation in this grand missionary on the Congo have gone on at the time ap- family. pointed, and will (D. V.) construct and launch her during the coming summer. " -The Cambridge Mission to Delhi, estab- lished twelve years ago, is earnestly com- -Our correspondent at the Equator Station mended to the sympathy and support of CA. B. M. U.) writes us: Cambridge men by Dr. B. F. Westcott, as chairman of the Cambridge committee, in a "The Leo XIII, Catholic mission steamer, letter to the Times. At the present time the has just returned from Bangola, where the Mission is building a new college at the sug- Jesuits have been to complete arrangements gestion of the Indian Government, who have' for opening a new station. Thus they have given the site, the higher education of the Southern Punjaub having, "by a series of most unexpected events," been entrusted to the Mission.
-Seventeen Kohls were baptized by Rev. E. Petrick, in Assam, January 5. Thousands ous churches and vigorous schools established of these people are laboring in the tea-gar- under their care, over a territory nearly as dens of Assam, and they offer one of the large as the State of Massachusetts. But there finest fields for missionary labor. is one large part of this interesting field, in and around Konia, the Iconium of Paul's epistles, -Darjeeling. Baptisms in 1889. There have where schools and church work are almost at been 118 baptisms in the three missions dur- a stand still because the station cannot pro- ing the last year, viz. : 72 in Darjeeling, 45 in vide for the slight additional expenditure Kalimpong, and 1 in Sikkim Mission. Since which is needed. With $675 more at command Jauuary 1, in Darjeeling Division, 13; Kalim- each year for the purpose, this part of their pong Division, 36; Sikkim Division, 1; total, 50. field, as open and promising as any other part, There are now 1,182 baptized Christians in the could be well manned and a noble evangelical three missions, viz.: 562 in Darjeeling, 566 in work inaugurated. Who will come forward Kalimpong, and 54 in Sikkim Mission. with special gifts to aid in re-establishing the Christian Church on these apostolic found- Japan -A telephone has been estab- ations?-Missionary Herald. lished between Yokohama and Strizuoka, a rustance of 100 miles, in Japan, by order of B1Bc:ellaneou8.–Moravian Missions. the Mikado. It is the first in the country and works finely.-Electrical Review. TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF BAPTIZED ADULTS IN THE VARIOUS MORAVIAN MISSION -The Osaka fre-{)ity and surrounding dis- trict-in its last annual statement, gave the FIELDS IN 1790 AND IN 1890. number of Christian church buildings in the jre on Dec. 31, 1889, as 25, and of rented chap- As the first column, taken from the first els, 19; total, 44. This is the first Japanese issue of the Periodical Accounts, 1790, ex- official recognition in annual statistics of the cludes the catechumens and baptized chil- status of the visible Christian Church in the dren, the second, showing the present number land. of converts, must do the same.
-Rev. J. L. Dearing says the eagerness of 11S.
the Japanese for Christianity is overstated. I~ They are eager for education, but Christianity is a stumbling-block to many. 1~210,,§co"l~ 0:p:~ ::j"..'3q ~q~ ~O;"I~ g ~ "'I!' !I:: -A New York publisher has been shipping ..",,,, IIR ~.; I~., l""'I ~ .$ 50,000 American school books a year to Japan. "~8'"~.8…!.:: ~ I I w. .""~ . -The Roman Catholics have organized in .Japan, with four bishops, at Tokyo, Kyoto, ""0<'"l : Nagasaki, and Bendai. ~=~.~~;:~~:: .. < .. :" S """"<~'"l .";::: "S'l ':.~- ':-Z.~,' Korea.-The Korean Alphabet is pho- :ai ~5: 8~.,.;~s::~.r…; ; CIS netic and so simple that anyone can learn to §~ 0 read in a day. Nearly all thewomen in Korea '<l iw. : ~ -can read. 0 .. " : :.S "~'" ~S:!';':~ Ne'W Zealand.-The last census in I ' : : ~ ~ ~1: .S "<'"l New Zealand reveals the interesting fact of a • •:"<'"l profession of religion on the part of no less 'I " :s~ ~ than 95 per cent. of the whole population. .01-1 •• ? ~ ~""'~ II.UBBla.-Aside from the idolaters of : :.~ Siberia there are thirty million subjects of ! ~ Russia whose religion is foreign, namely: 'S~~"""''Sl~;.~g ~ ~t.,w:o .S 1,500,000 Armenians, 5-6,000,000 Lutherans, I"'"~'"~"=~1"!=a';<:5:l.jECIS ~'" 9-10,000,000 Catholics, 3-4,000,000 Jews, and ""~'" O.S"'l§8 ? about 10,000,000 Mohammedans. Buddhists " ;.J;48~~:"d~,!::I:dI abound in Siberia, and extend even to the borders of the Volga. ~","1"'0lO"=i="S<-"il'll Thlbet.-A Roman Catholic missionary, liHHH2E §lei ~~~~CX~l~OH~¢~OO~~ the Abb6 Desgodius, has been for thirty years trying to gain access to Thibet. He has been ..=&, all that time living on the southern and easternJ'rontiers, and has compiled a compendious ~~ Thibetan dictionary. l""'I'P"'I..-t,….,….
Turke;y.-Probably no mission station Including baptized children and converts for in the Turkish Empire can give a better ac- baptism, the total at present under the care of count of the work attempted and the results our missionaries is 85,806.-Periodical Acaccomplished in"evangelistic labor and tour- count•. ing among the out-stations than Cesarea, in the Western Turkey Mission. Dr. Farnsworth -The chief religions of the world may be and his associates there have a noble memorial classified according to the number of adherof their enterprise and fidelity in the numer- ents as follows: Christianity, 450,000,000; Confucianism, 390,000,000; Hinduism, 190,000,- 000; Mohammedism, 18,000,000; Fetishism, 150,000,000; Buddhism,I00,OOO,OOO; Spirit Worship, 50,000,000; Shintoism, 20,000,000; Jews, and abroad, for publications, loan libraries, 8,000,000; Parsees, 1,000,000. Total, 1,449,000,- expenses, etc., amounted to $30,241.41. 000. $491.85 has been expended for the aid of the shipwrecked and destitute. -The following shows the distribution of missionaries in the chief missionary fields: -A popular edition of the Bible in Portu- China has one ordained missionary to each gese is to be issued in numbers on the same '733,000 of population; Siam, one to each 600,- plan that has been so sucoessful in Italy. 000; Corea, one to each 500,000; India, one to each 850,000; Africa, one to each 300,000; -Medical Missions: Facts and Testimo- Japan, one to each 215,000; Burma, one to nies to their Success. Compiled by W. J. each 200,000. Nearly all the missionaries in Wanleas, M. D., and published by the Mission- Africa are around the coast. In Oentral ary Echo Publishing Co., Toronto, Oanada. Africa and the Soudan there is as yet only It is a small, convenient, and admirably ar- one missionary to each 5,000,000 people.- ranged manual. Price 6 cents; 30 cents a Baptist Mission. dozen.
-Heathen at Home. The Rev. J. S. Stone, -Rev. F. T.Whitman, of the Brighton Ave. formerly of Bombay, now engaged in mission Church, Boston, Mass, has sailed for Rangoon, work in this city, testifies that the moral deg- Burmah, where he is to become pastor of the radation of New York city equals the worst English-speaking Baptist church in that city. pht>nomena of the Black Holes of sin in Cal- cutta and Bombay, where the depravity of -Bishop Thoburn of India expects to be the Orient shows its darkest sides. At times, in this country in July for a brief visit. he says, it is appalling even to an Indian mis- sionary. -Mr. Joseph Thomson's article on "The Results of European Intercourse with the -Chinese Evangelist. We deeply regret to African," in the March Contemporary Review, note that our friend, Mr. Rapper, has been will strengthen the hands of thA British repre- obliged to discontinue the issue of this excellent sentatives at the International Oonference now missionary magazine for want of support. It sitting in Brussels. The importation of ardent is a pity; for just such a periodical is needed to spirits is producing results even more appall- awaken a deeper and wider interest in our ing than many philanthropists have pictured. Chinese population. We earnestly hope it Our own merchants, says Mr. Thomson. may be revived. Is there not some liberal through the trade of gin and rum, are spread- ,soul who will furnish the means necessary? ing ravages of demoralization that ought to Would it not be well for some of our mission- clothe us in sackcloth and ashes. European ary societies to consider the matter? Such a intercourse along the West Ooast, and over the promising agency ought not to be left to die. whole of East Central Africa, spite of mission- -J.M.S. ary efforts, has been an unmitigated curse. The warehouses along the coast are filled with -American Seamen's Friend Society. gin; the air seems to reek with it, and every Dr. Meredith, of the Tompkins Avenue Oon- hut is redolent with its fumes. To walk gregational Ohurch, Brooklyn, preached the through the squalor and vice of a village is annual sermon in his own church to a large like a horrible nightmare. Women and chilaudience on Sunday evening, May 4. dren even are calling out for gin, and all is be- sotment and fiendish debauch. This awful The report of the secretary of the society, witness is from one who has seen it all, and the Rev. Dr. W. O. Stitt, was read, giving par- ought profo'undly to affect the Church of God. ticulars in regard to the society's work that cannot fail to be gratifying evidence of suc- -A Missing Missionary Steamer. A telecess in its sixty-second year. The feature of gram from Victoria, BrItish Oolumbia, anthe work for seamen that was most empha- nounces that the missing missionary steamer, sized by both Dr. Meredith and Dr. Stitt was Glad Tidings, concerning whose safety considthe "loan library" scheme. These libraries erable apprehensions have been entertained, are selected by experts and placed upon ships has arrived safely at Port Simpson. ·on their outward voyages. -The American Baptist Year Book for During the year ending March 31, 1890, the 1890 gives large figures for the Regular Baptists BQCiety had sent out 490 of these loan libraries. in tlie United States. They have 21,175 or- 'The total number of volumes in these libraries dained ministers, 33,588 churches, and 3,070,047 'is 21,070, and of new books 6,665, available members. These figures include white and during the year to 7,026 seamen. The United colored, Northern and Southern Baptists. states naval vessels and the hospitals, as well The number of baptisms last year was 144,575. as the life-saving stations, have also all been They' have 17,096 Sunday·schools, with 1,158,665 provided with these libraries. pupIls; the value of their church property is $53,568,502, and the aggregate of their contri- The cash receipts of the society from lega- butions last year was $9,363,S77. ·cies, donations, loan library contributions, and ·other sources amounted to $38,5l!O.35. The -American Colonization Society. Receipts ·disbursements for missionary work at the during the past year, $17,144; expenses, $13,- 'Cherry street home and elsewhere at home 508: balance in t.he treasury, $3,636. Sixty emigrants were sent out during the year, making a total of 21.858 persons to whom the Society has given homes III Africa. Liberia is in a flourishin~ condition. It is America's gift to Africa. It 1B a comprehensive missionary station. It is a ~rand basis from which to in- troduce civilizatlOn and Ohristianity into all that region of the Western Ooast.
INDEX OF CONTENTS OF THE JUNE NUMBER. [June-
INDEX OF CONTENTS OF THE JUNE NUMBER.
PAGE China, 474; Anti·Chinese Legislation, I.-LITERATURE OF MISSIONS..•••••• 401-446 474; Dr. Peck's Nine Years' Service, 477; n.-GENERAL MISSIONARY INTELLI' Chinese Evangelist……. . …………. 479" Colonization Society, American, last re- GENCE ……………………. +17-454 port……………………………….. 479 m.-MIsSIONARY CORRESPONDENCE••• 454-458 Comparative Destitution in Christian and IV.-INTERNATIONAI.. DEPARTMlllNT.••. 458-466 Pagan Lands…. ………… ……. .••. 471 V.-MoNTHLY CONClllRT OF MISSIONS 466-470 Consecration Prayer Meeting, A, and What VI.-EDITORIAI.. NOTES ON CuRRENT Came out of It……………………… 472 Druid Celts, The-The Early Missionary TOPICS. '•••.•.•……. " …… 471-475 Race of Western Europe, Dr. Ellinwood 438 VIT.-PROGRESS OF MISSIONS: MONTHLY GREAT BRITAIN.-Dr. Pierson's Mis· sion Tour of Britain, 401; Memorial BULLETIN •••••••••••••••••••• , 475-479 Statue to John Howard …………….. 474 Heathen at Home ……………………. 479 Authors. How Shall Mohammedans be Evangelized 428· INDIA.-An Extraordinary Pamphlet, Anonymous, How Shall Mohammedans be ~52; Appeal from the Kohlapur Mission, 456; The Gospel Weakening the Defences Evangelized••••••••••<.. ,……… •.••.• 428 of Hinduism, 444; The oldest Foreign Missionary out of 900 in India is an EDlTORS.-A. T. Pierson, The lIlission Tour American, Rev John Newton, 477; The of Britain .•••••…•…•.••…. , •. , .•…• 401 Cambridge Mission to Delhi, 477; Darjeel. ing Mission ………………………… 478' Editorial Notes, J. M. Sherwood………. 471 Indian Evangelization, J. T. Gracey, D.D .. 461 Ellinwood, Dr. F. F., The Druid Celts-The International Missionary Union, Seventh Annual Meet.ing……. . …………… 465, Early Missionary Race of Western Eu· JAPAN.-The Modern Martyr of the rope, 438; The Great African Mission Orient, Joseph Neesima, Letter from Field ………………. ,' …………. 466 Rev. JamesH. Pettee, 456; Various items Gracey, J. T., D.D.; International Papers. 458 of interest. '" ……… '" …………… 478 Grout, Rev. Lewis, Pastor Harms and His JEWS.-Free Church of Scotland Mis· Mission Work ……………………… 410 sions …………………………….. 453 Knox, Charles E., D.D., Personal Observa- KOREA.-The Korean Alphabet.. ……•. 478 tions in Brazil…………. . ……… 422 Let Us Expect Great Things, Dr. J. T. Moorehead, Max'Vood, The Student Vol· Gracey …………………………… 458 unteer Movement ……. , …………… +17 Medical Missions, Facts and Testimonies Schodde, Rev. George H., Ph. D., The to their Success. … ….. .. ………… 479 Religious Work Among the Immigrants 416 Missionaries-the distribution of, in the Starbuck, Rev. Charles C., Translations world…………………………… 479 from Foreign l1issionary Magazines .. " 443 Mohammedans, How Shall They be Evan· gelized …………………………… 428 Countries and Subjects. Moravian Missions …………………… 445 Moravian llnssions, table of statistics in AFRICA.-British Missions and the Por· 1790 and 1890. .. . . .. .. … • .•• ………… 478. tuguese,448; German Protestant Missions NEW ZEALAND.-Ninety·five percent. on the Cameroons River, +19; A Pathetic of the population professing Christians.. 478 Story, 450; Ascent of Ruwenzori in Opium Traffic in China; Powerful Appeal Africa, 451; The Great African Mission Against it from the Native Churches..•• 454 Field, by Dr. F. F. Ellinwood, 466; Afri·· Pastor Harms and His Mission Work, Rev. can ExPlorations, 467; "Sincere Chris· Lewis Grout ……………………….. 410 tians" and the Liquor Traffic in Africa, PORTUGAL.-Its Claims to Afrlcan Ter- 471; Two favorite Pictures of Stanley, ritory, a Note of Warning from R. N. C. 453 471; The Balolo tnbes on the Upper Religions of the world classified. . •• . . •. . .. 478 Congo, 475; Geographical Discovery and Results of European Intercourse with the Missions, 476; Lieut. Werner and Tippoo African ………………….. '" …….. 479 Tib, 476; Congo Steamers, 476; Mission. RUSSIA.-Foreign religions in the em. ary Notes rom the Congo, 476; South pire ……………………………… 478 African Missions, 476; Swedish Mis. Seaman's Friend Society, American, an· sionaries to the Congo and China, 476; nual report. . … .. ….. .. .•.• • .. .•. …… 479 Royal Niger Co., 476; Bishop Taylor and Secular Instruction……… : …………. 443 hl"African Missions, 477; From our Cor· Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign respondent at the Equator Station, 477; Missions ………………………….. 447 British South Africa Co.,……………. 477 THIBET.-Thibetan Dictionary ……… 478 UNITED STATES.-Religious Work Baptist Year Book for 1890, the American 479 Among the Immigrants…………….. 41& Berlin Missionary Society, Statistics of, ••• 458 Worship of Words, The ………………. 464, RRAZIL.-Dr. Knox's Personal Observa.
tions in, 422; Church Disestablishment.. 465 CHINA. – High Honor shown to an American Missionary, 452; God and the at Opium Traffic, Letter from an Ameri.
can Missionary Shanghai and an Appeal from the Christian Churches of Canton to the (''hristian Churches of England, 454; The Literary Teacher in