The Missionary Review of the World — May 1939
1939
The Church in Arabia Salutes You Paul W. Harrison Twenty..six Thousand Africans Converted L. K. Anderson Evangelical Progress in Brazil Philip S. Landes Experiences of a Missionary in Hainan Henry H. Bucher Saint Lucas of Allahabad Dr. and Mrs. Sam Higginbottom and Others Among the Indians in North Dakota Thomas A. Simpson Using Fingers for Eyes Lewis B. Chamberlain 25 Cents a Copy $2.50 a Year
to Remember P LA 0 W ~I ~I to Spend Next Suauner". Vacation with some
I~ I~ America'. Greate.t Tbeolopcal Teachers. May 1-3 –..,. Tenth Annual Missionary Education Institute. Third Chris- Winona Lake School of Theology, Winona Lake, Indiana tian Church, Indianapolis, Ind. For Ministers. Teachers. Miuioaaries. SwuIa,. School Workers aDd La)'JDeD May 14-Rural Life Sunday. For sug- gestions write to Committee on Courses leading to Regular Theological Degrees, Cost Reasonable 50 FREE Town and Country, 297 Fourth Ave., July 11 to August 16-Two Terms 15 Day. Each-Interdenominational ROO M S New York. Evangelical Faith and High Scholarship Combined May 25 – General .Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in U. S. A., Dr. W. E. HiedeNoH. Director Ask for free Proopectus from Dr. J. A. Haffmaa. D…. Marion. Ind. Cleveland, Ohio. copal Summer Camp, P. O. Bijou, Rev. William A. Waddell, D.D., May 25-World-Wide Day of Prayer California-including Utah, Nevada honorably retired missionary of the for ministers and missionaries. and California; Eastern (Sept. 11- Presbyterian Church in South Brazil, 13), Thomas Indian School, Iroquois, died in Sao Paulo, Brazil, February May 30-June 2-Third Biennial Insti- New York – including Michigan, 22, after an illness of several months. tute, A Movement for World Chris- New York, North Carolina and Dr. Waddell went to Brazil in 1890. tianity, New York, N. Y. Florida. He was elected President of Mackenzie College in 1914, and held this position June 7-13 – Ann u a I Conference, Obituary Notes until 1927. From then until his re- Church of the Brethren, Anderson, tirement in 1932, his time was spent Ind. Dr. John Mason Somerndike, a sec- in evangelistic and Presbyterial work retary of the Presbyterian Board of throughout Brazil. June 8 – General Synod of the Re- National Missions, died of heart dis- formed Church in America, New ease on March 14 at his home in *•• York, N. Y. South Orange, New Jersey, at 61 years of age. Dr. Somerndike was Mrs. William A. Mather, Presby- June 16-24-Winona Summer School born in Philadelphia in 1877 and was terian missionary in Paoting, China, of Missions, Winona Lake, Ind. connected with the Presbyterian died in Peiping, February 19. She Courses include Bible, Missions, Board for forty years. Recently his assisted her husband in rural evan- Text Books and addresses by mis- work had to do J,T.<ainly with Sunday gelism and taught in the Girls' Bible sionaries. Write to Mrs. C. E. school missions, Alaska and the In- School, in the Nurses' Training School, Ahrensfeld. 431 S. East Ave., Oak dians. He was the author of "Sunday conducted a Mothers' Club and trained Park, Ill. School Missionary Incidents and Exer- volunteer workers. cises," "Teachers' Manual of Week- June 20-25 – Northern Baptist Con- Day Bible Lessons," "Sunday Schools *** vention, Los Angeles, Calif. in Town and Country," "On the Fir- ing Line," "By-Products of the Rural Dr. Luke Tamikichi Imaizumi, a June 21-25-Sunday School and B. Y. Sunday School." Surviving are his Christian physician who had devoted P. U. Congress of the National Bap- widow, Edna Smith' Somerndike, two the last years of his life to the spread tist Convention, U. S. A., (Inc.) , daughters and a son, J. M. Somern- of Christianity in Japan, died at Tulsa, Okla. dike, 3rd. Sendai, December 30th. In 1932, after making provision for his family, he July 6-11 – International Christian *** turned over the greater part of his Endeavor Convention, Cleveland, fortune, about $100,000, to be used for Ohio. Rev. E. S. Greenbaum, of Montreal, strengthening the Church in Japan. a former president of the Hebrew July ll-August 16 – Winona Lake Christian Alliance of America and '" '" '" School of Theology. Winona Lake, founder of the Hebrew Congregation Ind. Dean, Dr. J. A. Huffman, 302 of Christ in Montreal, died on March Dr. Spencer Lewis, veteran Meth- Morton Blvd., Marion, Ind. 25. He was born 50 years ago in odist missionary in China, died at Poland. After his conversion he Chengtu, February 15th, at the age July 22-28-Baptist World Congress. studied theology in America and was of 85. He had served in China 58 Atlanta, Ga. ordained to the Christian ministry in years and after his retirement in 1929 1917. remained in semi~ctive service until July 24-August 2-World Conference his death. of Christian Youth, Amsterdam, Rev. Martin *Eric* E*kvall, for forty- Holland. '" '" '" six years a missionary in China under Aug. 5-10-Ninth Quadrennial Con- the Christian and Missionary Alliance, Mrs. W. T. Larimer, formerly a sec- vention of the Woman's Home and died on January 6 at Hangkow, retary of the Presbyterian Board for Foreign Missionary Sdciety of Af- China. Mr. Ekvall was born in Christ- Freedmen, died February 15. She rican Methodist Episcopal Zion dala, Sweden, on July 26, 1866. His retired as secretary in 1928 but con- Church, Detroit, Mich. parents emigrated from Sweden in tinued to serve in the Pittsburgh Pres- 1882 and settled near Manchester, byterial Society. August 13-20-Geneva Summer School N. H. Martin and his younger sister of Missions, Lake Geneva, Wis. became students at the Missionary (Concluded on Tkwd Cover.) For information write to Mrs. Paul Training College in New York and H. Wezeman, 1177 S. Humphrey were appointed to China in 1892. Withthause Ave., Oak Park, Ill. of this Co-. every *** Young People'. Society may Regional Conferences of Indian Mis- eonvertef1..into a Sghgol fot sionary Workers, held under the Bishop Joseph Marshall Francis, Bible Training! . – .. auspices of The National Fellowship oldest Protestant Episcopal diocesan of Indian Workers, are as follows: bishop in America, died in Indianapolis 1939 Christian Workers' Course Oklahoma (June 6-8), Bacone Col- on February 13, in his 77th year. Ex- lege, Bacone, Okla. (near Musko- cept for ill health, Bishop Francis A Scriptural Study Each Week-52 Lessons gee)-including Oklahoma, Kansas, would have completed 52 years of Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas; service in the Church last December. A practical, effective course in methods S'authwest (June 13-15), Ganado of Christian work and soul-winning, Mission, Arizona – including New *** Mexico, Arizona and Colorado; Pa- Send 15c in slampa for current iSsue. Mr. Edwin F. Willis, treasurer of cific Northwest (June 20 – 22), the Executive Committee of Foreign HRISTIAN PUBLICATlONSJNG Missions for the Presbyterian Church, (place to be announced)-including U. S., died February 2, in Nashville, 1502 N. Third St., Harrisburg, Pa. Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Wash- Tenn. ington; Central (June 27-29) , Yank- ton College, Yankton, S. D.-includ- ing Nebraska, Iowa, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Minnesota and Wisconsin; Western (Aug. 29- 31), "Galilee" on Lake Tahoe, Epis-
MISSIONARY Personal
REVIEW OF THE WORLD Dr. J. H. Oldham, who has held the DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor office of Secretary of the International Missionary Council since its beginning VOL. LXII MAY, 1939 No.5 in 1910, has resigned in order to give more time to the problems inherent in Publication and Business Office- the relations between Church, Com- Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. munity and State, and the efforts that are being made to solve them. Dr. Editorial and Executive Office– Oldham was the first editor of the In- 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. ternational Review of Missions, estab- Entered as second-class matter at lished after the Edinburgh Conference in 1910. In later years, he made Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under Africa his special care, and served as Act of March 3, 1879. a member of the Commission on Closer Union in East Africa, member of the 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. Advisory Committee on Education in Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. the Tropical Dependencies and as Ad- Published monthly, except August. ministrative Director of the Interna- All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1939. tional Institute of African Languages British agents – Marshall, Morgan and Cultures. and Scott, 12 PaternDster Buildings, London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, *** 10 sh!11ings a year. Madam Chiang Kai-shek has been MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- awarded the gold medal of honor of LISHING CO., INC. the New York City Federation of Woman's Clubs for her "indomitable BOARD OF DIRE'CTORS courage and leadership in the crisis ROBERT E. SPEER, President of her native land." This is the first A. L. WARNSHUIS, Vice-President time the award has been made since WALTER MCDOUGALL, Treasurer 1929. DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary *** PAUL J. BRAISTED SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT Mary Reed, friend of lepers, at 84 D. J. FANT years of age is still superintending MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD the leper colony at Chandag Heights, WM. B. LIPPHARD India. Miss Reed's fifty years of ERIC M. NORTH work for lepers has recently received SAMUEL M. ZWEMER a spontaneous tribute through meet- ings, letters, radio talks, and by the Editorial Chat publication of a new biography. Only 10 swift days direct to Yokohama when you sail by The June number of THE REVIEW *** Empress to the Orient. Only will deal largely with the progress of 3 more days to visit lovely Christianity in America and the de- Sigurgier Sigurdsson has been Hawaii en route by Empress oj velopment of the Christian Church. elected Lutheran Bishop of Iceland to Japan, largest and fastest liner This includes a wide range of activi- succeed Bishop Helgason, retired. on the Pacific, or Empress oj ties, in various fields and by many The new Bishop is 49 years old and Canada. From California types of work. Christian work in has served ten years as pastor in the ports connect at Honolulu. America includes not only pioneering most rugged part of Iceland. in new territory but reclaiming old Frequent sailings from both ground; attempts to reach nOlI; only *** Vancouver and Victoria to miners, and lumbermen of the West Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, and North, but mountains of the The Hon. Kensuke Horinouchi, Shanghai,HongKong,Manila. South; it includes neglected city areas Japan's new ambassador to the United Consult YOUR OWN TRAVEL and rural districts; Indians and Ne- States, is a witnessing Christian. His AGENT or Canadian Pacific: groes, Orientals and Mexicans, Euro- home in Tokyo has often been opened 41 offices in U. S. and Canada. peans and Eskimos, neglected rich and to Christian meetings where morning neglected poor, industrial workers and devotions are the rule. migrants, Moslems, Mormons, Buddhists and atheists. Only a few of *** these will be dealt with but all must be kept in mind in the study of Home Dr. James Dexter Taylor, of Johan- Missions. Our June and July issues nesburg, South Africa, who is now in will be overflowing with interesting the United States, is supervisor of the amalgamated churches of the Rand articles. Native Mission of the Congregational Union of South Africa and of the *** American Board Mission. Dr. Taylor has written a number of books dealing Readers have recently sent in their with race relations and missionary work. comments on the REVIEW, as follows: *** "The March issue is a splendid num- Mrs. Richard H. Soule, who origber and we certainly will use it to ad- inated the United Thank Offering plan fifty' years ago,- celebrated 90 vantage." MISS MARY MOORE, years on February 17. The annual thank offering topped a million before Secretary for the Western A rea, the financial depression. Board of Foreign Missions, *** Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. Robert B. Giffen, recently student *** pastor at the University of Chicago, has become secretary for the Univer- "I find your magazine the best that comes into the office." (Concluded on Third Cover.) ESTHER ROYAL ALTMAN, [225 ] Cincinnati Branch, Woman's For- eign Missionary Society, Meth- odist Episcopal Church.
BRAZIL – THE MONROE PALACE IN RIO DE
BY OX-CART IS STILL ONE OF THE MODES OF TRAVEL IN THE INTERIOR OF BRAZIL THE OLD AND THE NEW IN BRAZIL (See page 243) REVIB ORLD VOLUME LXII AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WOBLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 5 MAY, 1939 Topics of the Times CHRISTIAN TRENDS IN JAPAN dent is their opposition to Christ and His spiritual AND CHINA program.
There was a time, forty years ago, when Japan Contrast the trend in China. Forty years ago seemed almost ready to accept Christ ·as the na- the Boxer rebellion sought to obliterate Christiantional ideal if not as divine Saviour. The old edicts ity in China and to drive the "foreign devils" into against Christianity were no more and the boards the sea. Many Christians died as martyrs, but on which they had been posted were only found in the succeeding ten years more Chinese became in museums. There was religious liberty; Bud- Christians than in the previous one hundred years. dhism was dying and Shinto was becoming more But even after the republic was founded by a proand more only a patriotic cult. Many Japanese fessing Christian and religious liberty was propeasants, students and even rulers were turning to Christ and there seemed a possibility that the claimed, there was a widespread anti-Christ.ian Japanese nation might adopt the Christian way of life. But the Christian Church was not ready to sentiment. Governmental decrees separatmg rise fully to the opportunity with a sufficient Church and State included laws against religious supply of consecrated men, money and prayer. instruction even in Christian schools and colleges. This was a serious blow to mission work but Then the tide turned. Rationalism came into Christianity continued to spread. schools and colleges to foster unbelief in Christ and in the authority of the Bible. Materialism Today China is passing through a baptism of took hold of the people and they sought satisfac- blood which is having a refining influence. Not tion in the cultural fruits of Christianity, while only has the anti-Christian feeling disappeared they overlooked the roots. Japanese travelers in but the whole nation seems to be turning toward America and Europe brought stories of the failure Christ. Many of the national leaders are outto practice Christianity in the lands from which standing Christians and not only is missionary missionaries were being sent to Japan. The World work favored but the law forbidding religious War brought another crushing blow to Christian education in public and private schools has been idealism. More recently the increasing power of abrogated. The sacrificial service of the missionthe nationalistic military party in Japan has pro- aries in China's time of need has shown the true moted the effort to establish Shinto shrines .in character of Christ and His Gospel. all Japanese controlled territory, to promote em- But what will be the effect if schools, churches peror worship and to make national S.h.into su- and other institutions in China should come under preme. Patriotism has become a reIIglOn, .and Japanese control? military might is the only power recognIzed. Japan and Korea are both suffering from th~ de- One foreign observer writes: . termination to make Japan supreme – obedIence to God being secondary. This attitude of the If Japan should win this war, Jtahpeando, o~roroefa,mFisosrimonoasray, domI·nant mI·II·tary party in Japan is making opportunity in the Orient-China, Christian life and work difficult in lands dom- embracing a third of the human race, WIll gradually be inated by the Mikado's army. The greater the success of Japan's military forces, the more evi- closed. She will extend her anti-Christian activities from Korea and Japan proper to China, just as soon as possible.
Here is a significant list of questions submitted by the Jap- anese gendarmerie to representative minis~ers of the Chr~s tian churches in Japan: "1. Who is thIS God of ChrIS- tianity? 2. What is your opinion of the 800 myriads of gods of Japan? 3. What is the difference between the Emperor of Japan and your God? 4. What is the differ- [227 ]
ence between a foreign ruler and your God? 5. What is r the relation between the Bible and Imperial Edicts? 6. What is the difference between Imperial Commands and claimed that she was defending them-that it is time the the Commands of Christ? 7. What is your opinion of an- truth or falsity of her claims were definitely proved. The cestor worship and shrine worship? 8. What is your opin- missionaries all go "at their own risk." ion of the ancestors of the Emperor? 9. What is the ultimate goal of your religion? 10. What is your idea of The recently reported statement by the Chinese Comreligious freedom? 11. Why do you regard worship at munist leader, Chu Teh, that he welcomed the mission- Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines as superstitious? aries raises an important point. In 1927 the Chinese Gov- 12. What is the difference between the Christian spirit ernment was opposed to Christian missions in many ways. and the spirit of Japan?" To give honest and Biblical Missionaries settled down to their tasks and in a few years answers to such questions would undoubtedly lead to op- the Chinese Government came to appreciate their work. position and persecution. In 1933 in our conference on "Christianity and Commu- nism" we decided that the only thing Christians could do But if China is victorious the result will be a great vic- was to out-live and out-serve the Communist. Missionary tory for democracy, for human freedom, and for religious efforts, especially in this year of great suffering, ha:ve now liberty. The doors of international trade will be opened won the respect of this Chinese Communist leader. wider than ever before, as China will need vast amounts of everything at one time for her rehabilitation. And best SIGNS OF LIFE AND DEATHof all the doors of missionary opportunity will be opened wider than ever before, not only in China, but in Japan, IN A CHURCH Korea, Formosa, and Manchuria. Victory for China will mean the triumph of right over might. It will mean the Springtime brings new signs of life – in budliberation of the Japanese people themselves from the in- ding trees and flowers, in new apparel, and in human tyranny of their own wicked military leaders. many church services. These awakenings are Surely Christian hearts all over the world should daily peri'Odic. At the Easter sunrise gatherings in join in prayer for victory for China and her brave Chris- hundreds of places all over the United States tian leaders. Surely the citizens of the United States there were pr'Obably not less than 200,000 people should vigorously protest to their government against the present, 'Ostensibly to commemorate the resurrecsale of anything to Japan that aids her in this iniquitous tion of Christ f.om the dead. Without doubt at war, this wanton orgy of murdering innocent men, women least thirty million people in America attended and little children. Christian church services at sometime on Easter -many of them for the first time this year. How Eighty per cent of the missionaries are remain- much does this celebration mean? It is difficult ing in China and most of the mission stations are to know how much is 'Outward show and how much still 'Occupied. The Chinese Christians are show- is an evidence 'Of inward spiritual life. Will the ing their courage and their patriotism, and openly 'Outward signs of awakening continue and bear testify to the c'Omfort and P'Ower of Christ and His fruit or will this apparent life be followed by an Gospel. What can Christian missionaries do for early blight? the Chinese in this time of crisis? Much in every way. They are a tremendous force for righteous- In many shop windows in large cities there ness and save multitudes of Chinese from death are on exhibition beautiful plants and flowersand starvati'On, from dish'Onor, despair and spir- palms, ferns, lilies, poinsettias, roses. They are itual defeat. One missionary writes: the same day after day, year after year; they never wither and die; they are artificial, without In the occupied territories our first duty is to carryon. life. The evidences 'Of life in a plant, an animal, Because their fundamental purpose is humanitarian rather a soul, a church are ability to breathe, to feed, t'O than nationalistic, Christian missions cannot enter into change, to grow, t'O reproduce its own kind. Life any "scorched earth policy." As the Chinese Government is "ability to respond to environment" and is maintold the Friends: "We can do a great deal for our own tained by a life producing and stimulating enpeople behind our lines, but there is a job we cannot do. vironment. That is to care for the people behind the Japanese lines. That you can do. Go and do it." The need is tremendous It requires n'O argument to pr'Ove that the life and the gratitude of the people almost breaks your heart! of a church is n'Ot shown by its beautiful buildings, The Christian missionary i3 the best friend the Chinese by the size of its membership, by the state 'Of its people in the occupied territory have. Every missionary finances, by the el'Oquence 'Of the sermons, by the who can possibly go back should dd so, with the exception impressiveness 'Of its ritual, or by the attendance of women with small children, and even that depends upon at its services. These may all be go'Od and helpful each family's own· position and desires. Single women but they are not the signs of true spiritual life. have proved that they can carry on even under war conditions almost if not as well as men. The story of how A report recently received from a very intellisix women and one man doctor have protected 5,000 refu- gent and spiritually-minded observer in a Chrisgees from the Japanese army in one mission compound tian church contains the following diagnosis 'Of a without any consular assistance, will go down as a classic church in a small American city: of heroism and devotion. Of course, the going of missionaries into occupied territory raises the question of Amer- This church has fallen on difficult days and may be ican rights and interests. But if we hold back for fear forced to close its doors. Only about one-third of the memof those complications we will betray our sacred trust and bers pay anything toward church support; the minister's obligations to serve the suffering. We do not ask for mili- salary is in arrears. . . . The reason for this condition tary protection. Japan has proclaimed so loudly that she is, I believe, that the people do not take any interest outwould protect the rights of third party nationals–even
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
side of themselves. None of them seem to have any and gives evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in knowledge of Christian stewardship. All of the men and love, joy and peace; one whose people show that most of the women show that they do not want to hear they are truly interested in promoting the Cause anything about missions. . . . Many are strongly opposed of Christ throughout the world. to having any benevolence budget. The church does not seem to be spiritually minded. I have never heard any VOLUNTEER SERVICE elder or deacon offer prayer in any meeting-and few of them attend. There is work but no true life; the chief Are we mercenary? Does anyone say that men idea of Christian activity seems to be entertainment, and women will not do effective and continuous church suppers and such things. . . . When the pastor work unless they are paid for their services? The started a Bible class for Lenten services less than ten peo- American Red Cross, that serves humanity in so ple were present, out of a total membership of four hun- many emergencies, has had a remarkable history dred. . . . The majority of the women belong to clubs that disproves this cynical charge. It is called of one sort or another and seem to want to make the upon in times of flood, drought, fire, epidemics, church just another club. hurricane or war to bring relief to many thou- sands who are suffering and in distress or danger. In contrast to this, note the signs of Life in the Forty years ago the headquarters of the Amerrecent annual report of the Peoples Church, To~ ican Red Cross in Wasihington consisted of a oneronto. The pastor is a Bible student, an evangelist room office with one full-time employee; its list and a spiritual teacher. He is deeply interested of donors numbered about three hundred and there in missionary work and ten years ago he organ- were only a few hundred dollars in the national ized "The Peoples Missionary Socety" of the treasury. Today the organization occupies its church. Now they contribute to the support of own building and has a large staff of efficient em- 130 missionaries in eighteen different fields at ployees. But the remarkable fact is that today home and abroad. Their congregational expenses, the Red Cross has in the United States 3,700 local including $3,966 for radio broadcasting, amount to chapters with 3,500,000 members. Its 197,397 $20,410 a year, while they give nearly $40,000 a. volunteer workers are always on call for service; year to missions. and they gave last year the equivalent of more than 105,000 days of volunteer service. They This church shows activity, but also life and made garments, layettes, surgical dressings; they power. The Peoples Monthly states: drove automobiles, gave public health aid, helped in hospitals, prepared food and fed victims of This church stands preeminently for the conversion of many disasters; with free smiling service they souls, the edification of believers and world-wide evan- also collected a million or more dollars in the nagelism; emphasizing especially the four great essentials~ tional relief and membership campaigns. salvation, the deeper life, missions and our Lord's return; endeavoring by every means to give the Gospel message to Another noteworthy fact is that the efficient the Christless masses both at home and abroad, in the head of this organization, Mis,s Mabel Thorp shortest possible time. Boardman, who has been leading the Red Cross for thirty-nine years, has never received any sal- The church activities include: a missionary ary, although she works daily from 9 a. m. to medical institute for prospective missionaries, reg- 4 p. m. and keeps four secretaries busy. It is reular preaching services, radio broadcasts, Sunday markable that this organization, with all its power school with adult Bible classes, elders' and ushers' and money for relief has kept out of politics and, prayer meetings each Sunday, Warriors prayer though handling millions of dollars of public meetin~s, children's services, young people's meet- money, has been free from scandal or charges of ings, women's prayer meetings, church prayer selfish and wasteful use of its relief funds. meetings, Sunday school teachers' meetings, and monthly meetings, for converts and personal All honor to the Red Cross workers; but they workers. are not alone in this free and sacrificial volunteer service for humanity. The Christian Church and How can we expect evidences of spiritual life in its missionary organizations have a still more wona church organization unless there is spiritual life derful record. In the American Protestant Chrisin the pastor and the individual church members? tian churches alone there are not less. than two True life will be manifested in earnest prayer and million women who are working as volunteers to Bible study, in personal work for the conversion serve their fellow men, women, and children, and of non-Christians, in vital spiritual activities and to promote the Kingdom of God on Earth. These in the practice of stewardship of time, talents and women provide free motor service, sew on garmoney. Any church that is not a working force ments, speak at meetings, collect funds, do free for Christ and the Kingdom of God, is apt to be clerical work, cook and serve meals, visit the sick a farce, without effectiveness for the fulfilment of and strangers, care for children, teach Bible Christ's program.
An Indian Christian, N. K. Mukerjee, remarks that a "converted church" is one that is vitally related to Christ; one that is fruitful in spiritual children, not barren; one that lives victoriously
classes – in churches, homes, Christian associa- vited. Mohammedan converts have recently been tions, missions, jails, hospitals and other insti- able to register themselves as Christians, and their tutions. They give or collect not less than marriages by Christian ceremony are officially $20,000,000 a year to support the work done recognized. All religious faiths must stand on through Protestant churches and various Chris- their own merit rather than on tradition or force.
tian societies. All this volunteer service is ren- Iranian officials often praise Christian schools dered without publicity, public honors or material and hospitals and many send their children to rewards. These women are not organized into one these schools rather than to the government insti- great body under an outstanding human leader tutions. Sons and daughters of Cabinet and but they nevertheless work faithfully and effi- Parliament members, of provincial governors ciently, serving Christ and humanity. Their re- and other high officials have been students in ward is reaped in the lives they brighten or help mission schools. Missionary teachers are asked to save, and in the youth whom they teach and to serve on examining boards in Government ex- enlist in the cause of Jesus Christ. aminations, and serve on committees appointed While Chrstian women render the major part by the Ministry of Education to draft new curric- of such volunteer service, the men are not far be- ula for elementary and secondary schools. Re- hind. Their WIOrk is more largely on boards and cently when the Ministry of Education wished to committees, and in furnishing funds for the con- open Government nurs,ing schools they asked for duct of Christian enterprises. When to the Prot- half the time of three American missionary nurs- estants we add the Roman and Greek Catholic and es for three years. to start this work. Here was other volunteer workers, it is clear that mankind is an opportunity to render a unique service to Iran.
not wholly engrossed in the pursuit of money and Christianity in Iran faces new opportunities and pleasure. Sacrificial service is honored among all it is time to pres,s forward in the works of Chris- men-whether it is rendered in the sphere of the .tian faith and love.
State, in social welfare or the Church. Those who acknowledge allegiance to Christ are inspired by INTERDENOMINATIONAL COOPERATION His teachings and example. IN MEDICAL MISSIONS CHRISTIAN OPPORTUNITY IN IRAN Christian workers in mission lands are usually less conscious of the denOiminational distinctions The ancient land of Darius, the Persian, is and barriers than in the United States. This is attracting attention by the progress made in gov- particularly true in medicine. Dr. Edward M. ernment, in material improvements and in educa- Dodd, medical secretary of the Presbyterian tion. The Shah Riza Khan Pahlevi, is 'absolute Board of Foreign Missions, in his Founder's Day ruler of about nine million people. While Islam is address at the Clifton Springs Sanitarium and the recognized religion, and Moslem "doctors of Clinic, said: "It is an 'old saw' that there is no law" wield great influence, there is more religious distinctively Methodist medicine or Presbyterian liberty in Iran than there has been. – The Govern- surgery, no difference between Baptist and Episment seeks to take an impartial attitude toward copalian diagnoses – whatever may be said for all religion and Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Baptist hydrotherapy! Christianity are all recognized. Some officials are – "Most of the large mission medical hospitals in Christians or are very friendly toward Christiani- the field are union institutions in which various ty. "ASia matter of fact, (says a recent Bulletin), denominational groups collaborate. more limitations have been plraced on Mohammedan ceremonies, such as the famous. Moharram cele- "At this end of the line (in America) the Misbrations, than on Christian activities. . The sion Boards have had a joint examining office for Moslem ecclesiastics, who formerly often exer- several years in New York City and last summer cised more authority than government officials, a Christian Medical Council for Overseas Work have been reduced in number and are largely was organized. stripped of power." "There is still so much to be done, so large a In Iran today Evangelical Christians are quite medical and Christian contribution to be made in medical missions, that a life-time service should free to conduct preaching and worship services be devoted to this work. The chief hazards and handicaps today are the extreme phases of nationand to carryon evangelistic effort. Schools are alism in some countries which may in time shut even allowed to give Christian instruction to out foreign doctors, even though a country may Christian students; the government requires all not be adequately supplied with its own physicians elementary pupils to take examinations in the and hospitals. The Church at home should supteachings of their own faith. Missionaries and port and promote this arm of Christian missions Iranian evangelists hold public services to which while there is opportunity." Moslems and other non-Christians are freely in-
Church in Arabia Salutes You*
By PAUL W. HARRISON, M.D., Muscat I ~ .. – i Missionary of the Reformed Church in America ,~========================~I A RABIA is a small country, small in population good news? Everything that is recorded of His .L. at least. Three million men and women, earthly life is part of our message, and everything more or less, are scattered over a million that we know of the significance of His death and square miles of territory. The rainfall can hardly resurrection-all of His humanity and all of His exceed an inch a. year, and perhaps no area in the deity, and in their identifi,cation is our salvation.
world is quite so poor as Arabia. The drought That message we have carried to Arahia. We and the heat and the hunger have hardened the are celebrating our fiftieth anniversary this year.
Arab into one of the great races of the world. Once upon a time there was an Irishman. Some- Mohammed lived and died there, and he still holds body asked him how he was getting along. "Very the souls of the Arabs in the hollow of his hand. badly," he saia, "starvation is staring me in the Christ told us to "Go into all the world and make face." "That," said his friend, "must be very dis- disciples. of all the nations." It would be hard to agreeable for both of you." For forty-five years discover a more difficult task than this one, the that was our situation in Arabia. Our major in- transformation of the Arabs into disciples of door sport was staring our robust sense of failure Christ. But a promise was given with that com. in the face, and it was very disagreeable for all mand. "All power is given unto me in Heaven of us.
and on earth" and "Lo, I am with you all the days." But it is not true any longer. Five years ago, It is in that power that we go out to obey the com- Dr. Dame took a trip down to the Pirate Coast mand. Not with the tepid and futile feeling that and there he preached the Gospel. He did not have men ought to become disciples, but the confident much time for preaching, and perhaps he did not conviction that they will do so. Everything de- preach it very well; but Abdur Razzak listened pends' on this. If we succeed in making men dis- and walked right into the Kingdom of God as a ciples of Christ we succeed in our task. If we fail result of what he heard. It was a gift of God to here, we fail. His workers in Arabia, and we thanked Him and And in carrying out this difficult command, al- took courage.
most the most important equipment of all is a Forty-five years ago, Zaharah was born in Bah- robust sense of failure which refuses to be satis- rein. She did not live a monotonous life, and after fied with anything short of genuine discipleship. she married Mohammed, neither did he. She Human nature is weak and there are two direc- would quarrel with her husband more and more tions in which we tend to slip out from under the industriously until finally there was a major ex- pressure. The first is the wishful thought that if plosion; her husband, having patiently endured only we can provide a man with a shirt, having in many hard words and curses, would lose his it one hole instead of two, we will thereby save his temper, too. After some years Mohammed took soul. The doctors are the ones who yield here. We a second wife, Safeeah, and that made the situa- mend up the holes in a man's anatomical shirt, and tion still worse.
fondly hope that in some way this will make him Zaharah came into contact with the mission- a better man. One year we operated on three aries. She wanted something better than this life hundred hernia patients in Bahrein, and with all of disgrace and fighting and tears, but her resent- these anatomical shirts mended, the city was not ment was hot and her pride was like iron. The the least bit saved. Kingdom of God seemed very far away. But one The final interview in which Christ told us to day after a particularly disgraceful explosion she go and make disciples of all the nations was re- sat in tears in the path where she knew I would ported by Mark, and he remembered that Christ pass. Her pride was gone.
also said, "Go ye therefore and preach the Gospel "Sahib," she said, "I have done it again. What to the whole creation." We make men disciples can I do?"
by giving them the good news about Christ. What I told her that Christ would cleanse her heart of the terrible temper if she would give it com- • Report of an address given at the Madras Conference of the pletely into His hands. I led her in prayer, a word I. M. C.
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at a time. She hesitated at the prayer, "And, God, brought over to, A:rabia and sold as slaves. NOQbie I take Safeeah to be my sister," but after a little was brought Qver as a baby, and his memory bepause she said those words too, and Christ led her gins with the bitter experiences of a slave boy into His Eternal Kingdom. Now she is the strong- whose father and mother were gone; he, a rebelest member of our Muscat group, and while she lious little .boy who wanted to run away and find has nQt led an altogether monotonous life as a them. Noobie is proof, for those who, need it, that Christian, a very splendid Christian she certainly the human spirit has a strength that cannot be has been. broken and a beauty that nothing can efface. Through forty-five years he tried to, escape, and Mobarrek was a sceptic. His first wife was a blows and irons were CQmmQn, but his spirit relittle wild thing, and he at that time was not much otherwise, but they were utterly devoted to each fused to break. other. Then the twin babies came. Out of the After many efforts, which failed, there came valley of the shadQw they came alone. The mo,ther remained behind. Mobarrek never got over that. one which succeeded. At sundown while he was He tried other matrimonial experiments, and a paying the penalty for a previous. unsuccessful bad time was had by all. He became our best com- effQrt, and was wearing the manacles which are pounder, and a very splendid perso,nal friend. their reward, a wandering camel came Qver to However, to the message of Christ he seemed ut- where he was standing. Mounting, irons and all, terly impervious. The mQre he heard of the Gos- he raced savagely thrQugh the night until Muttreh pel the more devout a Moslem he became. One and safety were only eight miles away. There he night I was led to share with him some of my o,wn left the camel dying behind him, and half-crept, deep experiences. The death of his first wife had half-walked over the weary miles that remained. been a desolating experience, and its scars were Providence was with him this time, fQr he met no still on his soul. I had walked in that path too,. Arab anxious to, send him back into the Purgatory It is not easy to share experiences of that sort, .but from which he was escaping, and at last he it is in the deep recesses of our SQuls that Christ dragged himself thrQugh the gates into the delecsaves us, and in that hour of sharing Mobarrek table city. A friendly blacksmith remQved his put his hand in Christ's and has fQund in Him an heavy jewelry and the British CQnsul gave him absolute Master ever since. He leads the Muscat his freedom. When Mobarrek walked into, the group with a love and a maturity that are superb. Kingdom Qf GQd, NQQbie fQllowed him, and the two, have been inseparable cQmpanions Qf the King And Noobie. Who is Noobie? He was a slave ever since. Qf the Bedouins for fQrty-five years. He has been a slave of Jesus Christ for three. AIQng the Mik- And so, the Church which is in Arabia salutes ron coast of Baluchistan tribal raids are common, YQU, yQur brQthers and partakers with yQU in the and the women and children who are captured are tribulation and KingdQm and patience which are in Jesus.
. SOME AFRIOANS' ANSWERED PRAYERS In a sixth grade Bible class in the West Africa MissiQn, the questiQn was asked: "Men- tion sQmething GQd has given you in answer to, prayer."
The fQllQwing answers were fQund among the papers handed in by the pupils. MQt MebomQ said, "I first became a Christian, but my mQther refused to, believe. She preferred the faith Qf my father and her father. But I prayed GQd fQr two, years and she now is a fQllQwer Qf Christ." Nkoe Le'e said, "When my brother's wife died and left a small baby, he wanted me to, take care of it fQr him, even though I was just an unmarried schQQI bQY. But I prayed God that he would give me wisdQm and patience and He did. Today the baby is big and has gQne to, live with his father. I cared fQr him a whole year." MbazQng Zok said, "When I was Qn vacation, it looked as though I CQuld nQt PQssibly find work to make the mQney to, buy my school books and pay GQvernment taxes. I knew I CQuld not CQme back to, schQQI withQut these things so, I prayed GQd with all the strength and hunger in my heart and He put it into, the hearts Qf my friends and they gave me palm kernels to, crack that I sold until I had money enQugh fQr everything." Angumu Kak said, "I was IQst in the fQrest Qne night. I knew a leopard WQuld eat me be- fQre morning and my heart was filled with fear. So, I prayed GQd that He WQuld take care Qf me. Next morning, God showed me the path that led to, my village."-Presbyterian Board News.
Twenty~Six Thousand
Were Converted An Experience of the Church in West Africa ~ –<ilil By the REV. L K. ANDERSON, Metet, Camoroun I THE West Africa Mission of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., has had a remarkable growth in recent years. But the knowledge of the untouched thousands in the Cameroun, and the many weak members of the Church, led the Mission to plan a general evangelistic campaign for Christ. The Bulu have a word that describes it oban, meaning "a raid to capture slaves and booty." This campaign was to capture men and women for Christ.
The forces and supplies for this campaign were appraised. The spiritual ammunition was gath- ered in the truth of the Gospel, simple enough to be understood by the least educated. Messages of God's plan of salvatiO'n were printed at the mis- sion press. A strategy was thought out, flexible enough to suit the need of every station and tribe.
Then, according to traditional native procedure, advance scouts were sent out to reconnoitre. For three months the Christians became scouts, visit- ing every hut in the entire district, returning to camp with news of thO'se whO' had been persuaded to' surrender. Then Believers gathered in camps, not like slave raiders to leap into the air driven A WOMAN OF THE NGORO TRIBE by the frenzy O'f a fiendish tom-tom, nor to sweat in contO'rtiO'ns around a flaming pyre of a captive name. The headman is a kindly soul, yet he was slave, but to spend hours in united prayer. And trusted by nO'ne. He attributes his success in at- hO'W earnestly they prayed for those who had re- taining the chieftainship to Mohammedan magic fused to' hear and for the scO'rners and sorcerers! which he bO'ught in his youth. Nominally, he is a There were three mO'nths O'f calm, prayerful prep- Mohammedan, but he and his tribe are ruled by aration for the Gospel of Peace. a fanatical belief in witchcraft. For ten years the A week of preparatory preaching and visitation MissiO'n struggled against this blighting fear, the was followed by a mass meeting on Sunday morn- tiny school gaining an occasional convert to ing. It toO'k long intO' the afternoon merely to strengthen the little Christian community. Things register the names of the hundreds whO' came pro- seemed brighter at times, until the customary an- fessing their faith in Christ as Saviour. As the nual orgy O'f fiendish deviltry drove all semblance campaign gathered impetus, many marveled, and of faith from the feeble followers of the New Way.
some even became fearful of the power that had The missionary arrived at NgorO' late one after- been unleashed. Miracles were of daily occur- noon to' find the one man thought strong enough renee, unexpected conversions of those long to be ordained an elder of the church in his cO'm- prayed for thrilled the Christian communities. munity, lying on his cot bruised and bleeding. It For ten years. a little struggling band of Be- was found that two days before he had been set lievers had tried to capture Ngoro, the largest upon by the men of the tribe when he refused to town of the interesting little tribe O'f the same participate in the horrible heathen practices de~ [233]
manded by the headman. At first he refused to. who. were willing to' make a public prQfessiQn Qf tell the story but after considerable persuasiQn their faith in Jesus Christ. This meant no.thing recQunted the tale of the fiendish machinatiQn Qf less than incurring the wrath Qf the headman, the fear-stricken chief. The gQvernment census and yet seventy-nine men and women came fQr- ward, and remained to. unburden their hearts and AN AFRICAN FETISH HUT seek CQurage fro.m the leaders. One year later sixty-eight Qf these CQnverts were still hQlding true to. their pledge and came back fQr a week to. be instructed in the meaning Qf GQd's grace and truth.
This is Qne instance Qf many thrQughQut SQuth- ern CamerQun. The MissiQn hQped and prayed fQr fifteen thQusand peo.ple to' be WQn fQr the Master. By the end o.f twelve mQnths Qver twenty-six thQu- sand had been enrQlled as beginners in the "Tribe Qf God."
What is the secret o.f the power that some men have enabling them to. sway multitudes and bring them to. a saving knQwledge Qf Jesus Christ? Wherein lay the Po.wer Qf SpurgeQn, Mo.o.dy and Qthers? Is it persQnality or eloquence, ability to. appeal to. the emQtiQns Qr is it a more complete consecratiQn to. Christ? Evidently none Qf these gifts, singly or combined, are sufficient in them- selves. Some men seem to. PQssess them and yet they are only ordinary, faithful pasto.rs Qf the shQwed that the tribe was decreasing rapidly, the A NGORO WIDOW, IN MOURNING COSTUME birth rate was abno.rmally IQW and infant mQrtality was high. The cause eQuId be attributed to. flock. What causes periQdic o.utbreaks Qf Christhe filth and disease resulting frQm the immQ- tian interest and enthusiasm which often center r:ality and carelessnessamQng the peQple o.f the arQund Qne man and so.metimes result in the CQntribe. But the chief blamed the WQmen – the versio.n of many? usual scape-gQat in Africa. He decided that they needed new blQo.d in the tribe; so., on a given day, all the WQmen were herded into. a little grQve Qf trees, stripped Qf what little clQthing they had, and were made to. lie dQwn by little ditches while dQgs. were butchered. Their blQQd flQwed down and was lapped up by the pl'Qstrate wo.men.
It was to. this rite that Mbassa, the Christian elder, refused to. go.. Then he was bQund by fQrest vines and was dragged by fQrce to. be an invQluntary spectator at the disgusting spectacle.
No. WQnder that the team o.f evangelists, chQsen to. sto.rm this citadel Qf Satan, walked the weary miles to. NgQrQ with prayers Qn their lips but scant hQpe in their hearts. A little grQUP o.f Believers, led by a faithful gra;duate Qf the missiQn theQlQgical schQQI, welco.med the visitQrs, and the week's campaign began.
Sunday mQrning the little mud chapel was filled to. Qverflo.wing. AlmQst every person in the tQwn was present, except unfQrtunately, the headman, who. was away Qn a gQvernment errand. The fQur members Qf the team, led by the cQnsecrated Bulu pasto.r, preached with spiritual PQwer. At the clQse Qf the service an invitatiQn was given to all
SAINT LUCAS OF ALLAHABAD
The movement we have descdbed marked a trial and Normal Schools, African helpers of every mighty surge of a mass of humanity, turning from description, government employees, interpreters the lowest depths of sin-cursed filth to march to of divers kinds of tongues, as God had set them the heights. of a knowledge of God in Jesus Christ. in the Church, offered willingly of their time and What caused such a spiritual phenomenon ? It was strength. not brought about through an individual but by a whole army of devoted souls. Every one of them The decision of the Mission, the plan of camknew that they had received supernatural power paign, the prayers offered, and the messages to which they reacted in simple faith by fearless preached, proved once again that the Holy Spirit testimony. Ministers, lay preachers., teachers, is the only agent by whom Jesus Christ must be doctors, instructors and apprentices of the Indus- preached when He is glorified and in full control this will result in the salvation of men.
Saint Lucas of Allahabad By DR. and MRS. SAM HIGGINBOTTOM and others I N MISSIONARY circles in northern India JAMES JOSEPH LUCAS AT NINETY-ONE James Joseph Lucas was a unique institution. He was so deeply, vitally Christian. Jesus I first met Dr. Lucas on November 18, 1903, in Christ was so real to him, and he seemed to have Allahabad. I saw him last in Lahore on March cultivated such a habit of constant communion, the 25th, 1938, when I had chhoti hazrie (early that it was a benediction to be in his presence. morning tea) with him. His mind was as clear Though only two might be present to the eye, one the last time I saw him when he was in his ninetywas always conscious that the Third was there. first year as it was the first time when he was More than any other human being I have ever fifty-four. F'or many years he and his wife had known, Dr. Lucas seemed to carry with him a read "Daily Light" together, and that morning on peculiar spiritual atmosphere. When he would the train I had received comfort from the readgo into meetings, where feelings were running ings for the day. I was being sent home to Amerhigh or where things were being said in the heat ica to make an appeal on behalf of the Allahabad of argument that did not help to calm the troubled Agricultural Institute and did not feel at all sure water, Dr. Lucas by his very presence would that I was doing the wisest thing. The reading change the atmosphere. for that day had removed all my doubts. Dr. Lucas was reading George Bowen's daily selection Never have I known any other man so generous for the day and this too was a deeply spiritual and kindly in his judgment of others, even those and helpful message. who differed most from him and fought him with determination. In the thirty-five years I have known him, especially in dealing with those who opposed him, he seemed to have learned with the Apostle Paul that Love is ready to believe the best and to bear all things. There seemed to be no other man to whom so many people in trouble have gone-young and old, men and women, Indian and non-Indian, religious and non-religious. In trouble they seemed to gravitate to Dr. Lucas; there to find wise counsel. For those who were slipping and had lost their grip-to come to him meant renewed hope and faith and courage. More than most other men he seemed to know what was in man-the wickedness and deceit and sinfulness of the human heart; but he knew also One who was mighty to save even to the uttermost and so there was never a note of despair. He believed that if the wrong doer would submit himself to God, there he would find abundant mercy and forgiveness.
In the early days in Allahabad I would go, on ing for over 68 years against the principalities college holidays, with Dr. Lucas into the villages and powers of darkness. He never lost faith that where he did evangelistic work. There I gained an Jesus is an all-sufficient Saviour for all who accept insight into the physical, mental and spiritual pov- Him; he was able to strengthen the faith of others erty of the village people of India. When I dis- and now he has been granted an abundant encussed with him the idea of the Agricultural In- trance into that City whose Builder and Maker is stitute, the "Mount Hermon" on the hanks of the God. Jumna River, he could not see the need for it at first; but as a result of our discussions he was How to Spell "Disappointment" convinced that this effort would be used by the Lord Jesus to hasten the coming of His Kingdom Once in a time of peculiar stress he came over to northern India. After I had studied agricul- to the farm and found me in the barn among the ture in America and returned with him to the vil- oxen. We sat on the manger and he said: lages, I pointed out some things that were among the causes of their economic disability. "For 40 "Did I ever tell you how I learned to spell disapyears," said Dr. Lucas, "I have been going into pointment with an 'H'?" Indian villages and there was much that puzzled me, but seeing the village through your eyes has "No," I replied. explained much." "Then, I will tell you," he said. "When I was Many of the most spiritual missionaries could ready to start for India, my sister was lying ill of not understand the purpose of the Agricultural typhoid fever at our home at Danville, Kentucky. Institute. Some spoke of it as a "fifth wheel My mother had planned to come to see me off at to the coach," concerned with material things and the boat at New York, but when my sister was so as a diversion of the primary purpose of Chris- ill, she was greatly disturbed to know what to do. tian missions. Through all the heated controversy Finally the neighbors persuaded her that every- Dr. Lucas never wavered. When I was tempted thing possible was being done for my sister, so she to be discouraged he would come and put his hand left with me. We reached New York on Wedneson my shoulder and say, "Higginbottom, every day day morning and I expected to sail that afternoon. I pray for two things for you: First, that you will Mother planned to catch the evening train back continue your work, and second, that God will to Kentucky. Then the Board Secretary came and give you patience." This confidence of Dr. Lucas said, 'The Board finds that there is the largest in me enabled me to go on and work through the number of foreign missionaries being sent out at darkest days, when all I said or did was misunder- one time in the history of the Board, so we have stood. Dr. Lucas lived to see his faith justified, decided to have a big farewell meeting tomorrow, and now all over the world, whether it is Kagawa and I want you to change your sailing date from in Japan or Sir Wilfred Grenfell on the Labrador, Wednesday to Friday.' " or Dr. Alfred Schweitzer in Africa, rural missionaries the world over are seeing and understanding "At first I felt that I didn't want to do this, as the relationship between spiritual and physical I knew how anxious my mother was to return to and mental poverty; what gets rid of one is likely her sick daughter and I did not wish to keep her to help get rid of the others. The rural folk of the over. But after I prayed about it, I finally said backward countries are poor to a degree that to the Board Secretary, 'All right, I will stay.' So America knows little about. When our Lord stood I took part in the meeting and sailed on Friday. up in the synagogue at Nazareth and declared that At the Prince's Landing Station at Liverpool, news the Spirit of the Lord was upon him because he placards told of the loss of the ship on which I had sent him "to preach the Gospel to the poor," was to have sailed on Wednesday. Only one perhe proclaimed the day of release for the world's son was saved in that wreck. I was impressed by rural billion, most of whom live in dire poverty. the fact that God had intervened to prevent my Christ was ,to heal the broken-hearted; He was to sailing on that steamer as I had planned and that set the captive free; He was to preach deliverance He had a work for me to do for Him in India. to them that are bound. This is the only program Then it was that I learned to spell disappointment that is adequate to meet man's need. Dr. Lucas with an 'H'-not 'disappointment,' but 'Hisapsaw this and earnestly helped to carry out our pointment.' " Lord's program. This was always his philosophy of life when James J. Lucas was graduated from Center Col- things did not go in the way he had thought they lege, Kentucky, in 1865, from Yale University in should. He would wait upon God to find out what 1867 and from Princeton Theological Seminary in God was trying to teach him. 1870. He arrived in India in the autumn of 1870 and died in India in January of 1939, after work- It would be difficult to explain all that this view of disappointment has meant in my life. Thirty- five years of close association with Dr. Lucas has meant much to me, and many others remember him as the most Christ-like man they have ever known. He did not seek to escape the pain and
disappointment of the world but he went boldly the man condemn Wanamaker for selling poker forward knowing that where "sin did abound chips while he professed Christianity. Dr. Lucas grace did much more abound." pushed through the crowd and interrupted the speaker, saying: "Sir, Mr. Wanamaker is a friend By MRS. HIGGINBOTTOM of mine and a friend of God, and I do not wish you to say anything against him, even if he does sell The homey Indian bungalow of Dr. and Mrs. poker ti·ps I" The crowd howled, the soap box Lucas gave us a welcome many a time when my orator was confused, and Dr. Lucas smiled and husband and I were confused by the new language led in prayer. It was all so natural and sincere and the new religions, or when new joys or new that it captivated even the careless street throng. sorrows came upon us. He seemed to sense our moods, and with a radiant face would say, "I Dr. Lucas afterward said, "I did not know what found a beautiful promise for me today as my wife the man was talking about; but I was not going and I read 'Daily Light' together early this morn- to have him denounce my friend and call in quesing." The promise seemed to fit our needs as well. tion his loyalty to the Lord." For many years, whenever he married a couple, Dr. Lucas gave them the little book with the hope Once, when we were praying about Allahabad that they too would form the habit of reading it and the general work in India, Dr. Lucas sobbed and praying together every morning. like a child, muttering, "Lord, give us this land which we so love I" Mrs. Lucas, who died in 1931, mothered all the missionaries and made them feel at home around By FRANK G. CORNELIUS her table. Her courtesy and love were also extended to Indian Christians. During my first Looking always to Jesus Christ and living like year I had been sick, my servants were a problem, the Master he served, loving and kind, Dr. Lucas the language was difficult and I was ready to weep. was an inspiration to many a soul. Many years Quick as a flash a missionary friend said to me: ago I had the privilege of working for him in my "Come, change your dress and come with me to professional capacity as "stenographer" when he see Mrs. Lucas." I was an unbidden guest at a dictated to me the "Biography of Robert Stewart lunch party but was welcomed so cordially that Fullerton," and "Commentary on the Epistle to there was no chance to apologize for breaking in the Hebrews" in English. I found that his faith on an invited company. in Jesus was deeper than one could ordinarily comprehend and his life foundations were laid on Dr. Lucas, more than anyone we knew, mani- the "Rock of Ages." fested the Love which is patient, kind, knows no jealousy, makes no parade, is never rude, never By A. RALLA RAM of Allahabad selfish, never resentful (even under strong provocations); is always slow to expose, always eager We always called Dr. Lucas the "st. John" of to believe the best, always hopeful. Hundreds of our time. His face was radiant with the glow of people, Indians and Americans, would heartily a joyous Christian. His gentleness, humility, genendorse that statement. erosity and affection were so infectious and real. We used to make opportunities to seek his study Whenever Dr. Lucas spoke in the church or at a for inspiration and strength. Never did he let us prayer meeting, one heard the comments on every go without prayer. Up till the close of his life his hand: "His face shone." "His goodness glows in delight was in the Scriptures, and their great him." His daughter's death was a terrible shock promises and assurances filled his mind. Who can and sorrow, but at the funeral service he spoke of tell how much literature poured forth from his the lovely influence of her life and of the certain pen to exalt his Master as Saviour and Lord of hope of seeing her again. His radiant, smiling men? face revealed his deep faith and was the means of strengthening the faith of those who were present. By REV. JAMES L. GRAY of Jagadhri By DR. JOHN TIMOTHY STONE He "walked with God." I can think of no better way of describing the life of our dear friend. When Dr. Lucas was my guest at the Brown There was a peculiar radiance about all he said Memorial Church of Baltimore thirty-five years and did that made us all feel that he was conscious ago, he had recently called to see John Wana- of another Presence ever at his. side. To meet him maker who had visited India and was much inter- on the roads of Landour; to talk with him in his ested in the work 'he saw there. The great mer- book-lined study; to see that sHyer hair and the chant was exceedingly busy and as Dr. Lucas be- uplifted hands in Kellogg Church-was always to came tired of waiting, he walked out on the street be made aware of an utter devotion to his Master for a little exercise. Passing a crowd that was and an intimate communion with Him that always being addressed by a soap box orator he heard made me feel that God was near. The place of
prayer was to him the place where "he took off By MR. C. THOMAS his shoes from off his feet" for the ground was indeed most holy. In the quiet of his study; at I can never forget the visit I paid Dr. Lucas at the grave-side with bereaved friends, or in church, his son's house in LahDre Dn March 1, 1938. Dr. that quiet yet thrilling voice was heard pleading Lucas had been ill, but on the previous evening he the promises of God, and leading us with holy was seen standing at the gate of his house giving boldness to the throne of the eternal Father. tracts to. the passers-by. He believed in the power Dr. Lucas was always busy for God and His Kingdo.m. On his daily constitutiDnals you met of the printed page. The faith and prayer life of him with tracts and Gospels in his hand, and a George Muller of Bristol had influenced him a happy word of cheer to coolie, soldier and mission- gDod deal. His own prayer life was known to all ary. In his study he worked with patient dili- his assDciates-the ease with which he would pass gence in English and in Urdu, seeking to give from conversation with men sitting with him to form to anything which he felt would enrich his conversation with GDd. One of his two. surviving fellOW-Christians.. His outlook on mDdern mis- students whom he taught at the Saharanpur TheosiDnary problems was sane and progressive, and logical Seminary said that Dr. Lucas loved his stuhis understanding and sympathy profound. Never dents and taught them by his example how to love did his evangelistic fervor ,lag. Often his zeal, his one another. He preached love and practiced love. piety, his faithfulness have been to me, as a much younger missiDnary, a reproof and a much-needed Dr. Lucas was a Christian saint. Many of us urge and stimulus. feel that nothing can be more helpful to young Christians, Indian and foreign, than a biography of this saintly missionary.
By A., RUSSELL GRAHAM of Indore By HOWARD E. ANDERSON To come to India at the age of twenty-three-tD spend 68 years in the Master's service here-to Editor of "The United Church Review" thrDw aside the well-worn earthy cloak with glad abandon and enter joyfully into His glorious pres- Dr. Lucas was a saint of God. Of few peDple ence. What a life! What a course to' run! So can this be said with the same absence of restraint old in years-so young in spirit! So. spiritual that and the same assurance Df agreement on the part his every cDnversation spDke of an Unseen Presof such a wide circle of acquaintances, and friends ence-yet so beautifully "human"! A saint, a true as he had. His saintliness was revealed in his saint Df God-yet reckoning himself as chief of countenance, the tone Df his voice and his conver- sinners! For he gloried in the Cross of Christ satiDn. Others may praise him fo.r his achieve- and all fDr which that "stumbling block" stood. To. ments, and they were many; but in the realm o.f personal contact, no Dne can tell the number of know Dr. Lucas was to. know Christ better. To. lives he touched for the glory of God. have fellowship with him was, to. desire a more in- The saintliness Df Dr. Lucas was shown in his timate fellowship with the Master. prayers, in what he talked about, in the thDUghts to which he gave expressiDn. They were largely By DR. FRED M. PERRILL Scriptural, fDr he was saturated with Scripture. God's Word was his meat and drink. For years Editor of "The Indian Witness" he lived in constant expectatiDn of the return of Dur Lord. I presume that is what gave him such Dr. J. J. Lucas, the friend of all, was bDrn in calm and repose at funerals, yea, even at the funeral of his own daughter which he himself CDn- Ireland, August 21, 1847, and came to. India in ducted.. He used to say that we who are alive at that advent time shall in no wise "prevent" them 1870. He had finished thirty-six years' service in that are asleep. To him it was indeed a blessed India when I arrived-a fairly long term Df servhope. ice; but for him it was barely half Df the tDtal years he was to give to India. The experience of death was for him an experience of "falling asleep." He grew more and Dr. Lucas had a remarkable memory and used more tired and expressed his desire to. depart. In it in a most helpful way. He must have held many Dehra Dun, a little more than a month before his death, Dr. Lucas spoke to us about a portion of to. a worthy pitch of effort by his encDuragement.
God's Word that had meant much to. him. It was He was a man Df cDnvictions, but he believed that earnest Christian brethren could find a way to that beautiful beatitude, "Blessed are the pure in understand each other. He did not think that heart; for they shall see God." He smilingly ex- bluster and bombast were substitutes for calm and plained that the beatitudes are for the present and considerate thinking. He was a mDdern "fundanot for the future. "So," he said, "the pure in mentalist," but most of all he had a vital Chrisheart shall see GDd now." tian experience and a heart filled with Christian love. For him to live was Christ, but having lived almost a century and having finished the course and kept the faith, certainly fDr him "to. die" was gain. Who. follows in his train?
Fingers for
Cooperative Service to the Spiritual Life of the Blind By the REV. LEWIS BIRGE CHAMBERLAIN, New York General Secretary of the John Milton Society for the Blind BLINDNESS is decreasing among children but when they could see; but only a small portion be- increasing among adults in America. Better come literate through their finger tips.2 After an care· at birth, in infancy and childhood ex- acquaintance with the problem of the literate Blind plains the decrease. Among adults, however, are that began twenty years ago, through supplying not only the historic disease causes and the more embossed Scriptures to them as one of my duties recent hazards and accidents of industry and mod- as a secretary of the American Bible Society, my ern life but also the increase in longevity and, sur- amazement and admiration continue to grow over prisingly, such modern causes as "high blood the achievement of the Blind in using fingers for pressure, hardening of the ar- eyes. It involves real intelli- teries and diabetes." 1 More gence, will power, persistence, than half the Blind in the and, particularly, a sensitive- United States are over fifty- ness in finger tips. Highly edu- five years of age, and there are cated adults are sometimes 11 per cent more blind men frustrated. What of those of than women.1 small education and hardened Though it may seem para- finger tips?
doxical, it really is natural that During recent years em- reading means more to the bossed magazines and books in sightless than to the sighted. Braille 3. have been appearing The Blind are cut off from or- in increased numbers, chiefly dinary life and activities and through generous appropria- have extra time to read and to tions by the United States Con- think. It is a frequent, though gres.s. Public funds, however, not inevitable result, that their are not used for religious lit- thoughts turn to the inner life erature.
-the spiritual; and they desire How then is the spiritual help in Christian life and serv- need and hunger of the sight- ice–the "new life" that grows less being met? Inadequately and gives to others. Many thus and incompletely. The great find blindness a blessing. HELEN KELLER READING HER Protestant churches of Amer- The loss of sight has roused JOHN MIL1'ON MAGAZINE ica-Baptist, Methodist, Pres- byterian and others, from sympathy through the ages.
Christ seemed peculiarly sensitive about it and the whose ranks the bulk of the literate Blind come, Gospels record more miracles by him to cure have neglected for decades both their own blindness than any other physical ailment. In 2 It is estimated that there are some 130,000 Blind in the United America, especially in recent years, much has been States, Gf whGm SGme 25,000 can read Braille. Some tWG Gr three done by both private and public effort, to lighten thGusand whose fingers are not sensitive enough to read the small this great handicap. Braille points, can read the Moon system which, fGr the Blind, is what large type Is to the sighted. In Braille the basis Is an em- The Literate Blind bossed domino six set upright and so small that the finger tip of a child can cover It. TG the uninitiated the fact of a single unit might "Fingers for Eyes" focuses attention, not on imply simplicity, but In it liefl complexity. All tbe letters Gf the the Blind generally, but on those who can read alphabet, all punctuation marks, all capitals, italics, underscoring, all without sight. numerals are made by omissions and combinations of these six pOints. Not only must the mind register and remember what each combina- Doubtless most who become Blind could read tion represents, but the fingers must register the relative positions of these pOints. For example, the single point may occur in any 1 Report of the Public Health Service on January 21, 1939. one of six pGs·itions and a two-point combiIlation may be made in eighteen ways.
3 "Talking Books"-that Is phonograph records of books, and the radio are real boons to the Blind and are being made available by Congress appropriation in considerable numbers. However, they do not take the place of books one may read and study and ponder any more for the sightless than they would for the Sighted.
[239 ]
Blind 4 and the other Blind who form a part of the who reside in all but one of the States and in great home missions field. The relatively heavy twenty-eight other lands. This wide distribution expense of embossed printing, and the relatively is almost entirely due to the activities and interlimited number of Blind affiliated with each de- est of blind readers themselves. They have a way nomination, are chiefly responsible for this fact. of passing magazines from one to another and this diminishes the expense of circulation. The The John Milton Society foreign circulation has come entirely through the Blind them,selves. Illustrations are constant. A Realization of this neglect, and appeals of the blind reader in Texas passes her copy to a blind Blind themselves for help in their spiritual life man in the same city who then sends it to a fel- low blind Hebrew in London who eventually places RE'ADING BRAILLE it in a Hebrew home for the Blind, and reports that "they holler for more." Inmates of homes or and service, brought about the incorporation of institutions for the Blind make one or two copies the "John Milton Society," taking its name from suffice for all their members. A few copies sent to one who despite his own blindness rendered great a State School for the Blind are read by many older service to generations of those having eyes to read. pupils for their own pleasure and then are read by The Society is sponsored by the Councils of them to younger pupils not yet literate with their Home Missions, both general and women's, and fingers. Home teachers of the Blind lend their by the International Council of Religious Educa- copies to their students. A blind American mistion. Its purpose and field were defined as the sionary in China enj oys her own copy and passes supply of general religious magazines, Sunday it on to her blind Chinese teachers who use it with school lessons or Bible stUdies, and religious books. their blind pupils. A masseuse in Jerusalem gains In 1932 the monthly John Milton Magazine was refreshment herself and tells her patients what launched for adults and in 1935 the monthly, Dis- she has read. covery, for boys and girls. Both are in "Braille." In 1937 a small book of standard hymns, words Nearly one hundred blind ministers, missionand music in Braille, the first of its kind, was aries (both home and foreign), and evangelists, issued. 5 The production of three books has been acclaim the John Milton Magazine for the aid it authorized this year: "Daily Devotions," "Sun- gives them in their work and life. Twenty-one day School Manual for Teachers" and "Christmas American denominations are represented by the Carols." The two magazines are free, as are the blind ministry. Some are active pastors and Sunday school papers for the sighted; but gifts preachers and often prepare their sermons from from readers toward their production are encour- the John Milton Magazine. Some are evangelists,; aged and received. The sale of books helps to meet their cost. BLIND GIRLS USING BRAILLE HYMN BOOK The 2,500 monthly copies of the two magazines some home mis!sionaries; some retired and lonely now reach from 10,000 to 12,000 blind readers, and eager for good reading. All are grateful.
• To their credit a few religious bodies have been responding to Among nearly eight hundred letters (several this need but they are exceptions and the activity of most is quite hundred in Braille) from blind readers recently recent. Also they are all keen on their own peculiar teachings. received, about five hundred came from those who Naming them somewhat on the length of their service, they are: attend Sunday school, and of these over two hun- Roman Catholic, the Seventh-Day Adventist, the Church of God, dred are actually Sunday school teachers, some Theosophist, Christian Science, Episcopal, Hebrew and a branch of the Lutheran.
• This year the two magazines are being continued; though a long-standing appeal for a magazine in "Moon" is still deferred because it Is a recurring expense without money as yet provided. "Moon" is to the blind what large print is to those wh<> see.
USING FINGERS FOR EYES
school superintendents – a truly noteworthy English in Holland wishes its stories to pass on record.6 to his scholars.
Sixty denominations listed in the Federal The John Milton Magazine collates and con- Church Year Book are represented by these read- denses its general articles from denominational ers, some of whom are members of religious and interdenominational religious publications.7 groups not listed. What other thousands represent we do not know. Apparently a large portion BLIND SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER (RIGHT) WITH of the blind readers are not connected with any HER SIGHTED CLASS religious organization. Many are too isolated or too physically restricted. Yet all eagerly receive Intentionally interdenominational, special care is and use these definitely evangelical Christian mag- taken to bring to the Blind, though in much conazines. They need this help even more perhaps densed form, choice articles-devotional, informathan the blind ministers and Sunday, school teach- tional, inspirational, and missionary-from variers. What a field for home mission work! It is a ous sources 7 which the sighted enjoy. The Sunday real privilege to have a share in such a service of school lessons have been condensed from those love. prepared by outstanding Sunday school workers in various denominations.s The Magazines for the Blind Half the pages of both magazines are given to The articles in the John Milton Magazine are general articles and half to treatment of the uni- varied not only in subjects to catch and hold attenform Sunday school lessons. Discovery usually tion, but in simplicity, in strength of language and has stories gathered round one theme each month, and largely from Miss Margaret Applegarth's thought, so that each issue inimitable store. The Sunday school lessons at may have a message for its present are drawn from the Methodist Illustrated variety of readers. Many tes- Quarterly. The bulk of each issue of Discovery timonies pour in, constantly goes to State Schools for the Blind which house marking the real service being most of the 6,000 to 7,000 blind school children in accomplished. Sunday school America, all facing lifelong physical darkness. It teachers say that they could is the only such magazine available to the blind not teach without the magachildren of our great land. Individual copies also zine's Sunday school lesson go far and wide. For example: A grandmother helps. One man in Alrubama in Buenos Aires receives a copy to read to her recently wrote that he had taught a large adult Bible two daughters who are Sunday school teachers; class until blindness cut him and the stories to her own grandchildren who are off. Then he learned Braille, entranced. A blind missionary in Shanghai trans- obtained the John Milton lates some of its stories into Cantonese and into Magazine, and is now back at Mandarin, sending them to schools and scholars his post. Young and old renot using English. A Christian blind teacher of port taking part in Christian Endeavor and in missionary societies, thus having 6 The exact figures are 772 letters received from Blind readers, of a share in the life of the church. A Sunday school whom 498 attend Sunday school and 222 are teachers. 7 A recent summary showed that in the past five years, articles have been drawn from 77 denominational, 27 interdenominational and 17 general sources.
8 Drs. H. C. Moore, Baptist So. (several quarters); C. A. Hauser, Christian and Reformed; M. Stevenson, Disciples; L. H. Bugbee, Methodist; E. ];'. Ziegler, Presbyterian; C. P. Wiles, United Lu- theran; Miss M. Tarbell, J. H. Snowden, G. L. Robinson and D. D. Burrell. The last four publish their lessons in non-denominational form.
teacher from Australia eagerly asks for the mag- "I keep it by my bed to read in the sleepless azine, the existence of which he had just learned. hours of the night." The custodian of a library for the Blind in South Africa appeals for its visits. A blind Japanese "I and my blind husband live in the hills of Ver- Sunday school teacher in H3iwaii rejoices in its mont where we do not see even the postman more help. A blind Presbyterian missionary giving his than once a week. What a comfort the John Millife to India, an Episcopal rector with ten happy ton Magazine is to us both." years of service in Kansas, an Evangelical Lutheran minister, executlve officer of a State Com- Such sentences are typical expressions. Many mission for the Blind, are a few of those who a touching and telling tale could be recounted from rejoice in it. One of its earliest and strongest the correspondence. The gist of it all is that they friends is an eloquent, forceful and successful are hungry souls; eager for and sorely needing blind Methodist minister whose church is filled at such help ; and they gratefully rejoice in havevening as well as at morning services, and who ing it. is in demand as a S'peaker before school, college, Rotarian and other audiences. To serve such is Sponsored by the Councils already named, the indeed a privilege. Society is helped by contributions from some Boards of Home Mi,ssions, Education, Sunday The Major Need School, and Publication. For them, however, these years have been difficult, and their contributions The great bulk of the Blind are not ministers or furnish less than one-tenth of the heavy expense teachers. Too often they are people limited in ex- involved in producing the Brame pUblications. perience and resources, isolated in country and Additional help has come from one other organizaother localities, home-bound by physical disabili- tion interested in the spiritual welfare of the Blind ties. Not a few are deaf, others are bedridden, and the Blind themselves contribute surprisingly. many have scant education and even scantier re- But it is necessary to secure 700/0 of the budget sources. To them the magazine,s, bring cheer and from individuals who are blessed with sight. inspiration, help and comfort and company. Where knowledge of this work is spread, those grateful for their own physical eyesight rejoice in "Next to the Bible it is my most treasured pos- helping the sightless in their quest for spiritual session." aid and life.
ENCOURAGEMENT IN TIME OF CRISIS Rev. C. Darby Fulton, Executive Secretary of the Presbyterian Foreign Mission Commit- tee of Nashville, says that this is a day of unparalleled opportunity in mission work, and lists some outstanding reasons for encouragement: The high spiritual purpose and morale of Christian missionaries. The courage and steadfastness of the Chinese Christians. The scattering of many believers to the provinces of West China has meant that they have carried the 'contagion of their faith into areas heretofore unreached by the Gospel. The new friendship of the Chinese people for the missionary, growing out of the helpful- ness and service he has shown in this emergency. The enormously enhanced prestige of Christianity because such great national leaders as Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Madame Chiang, and others who are guiding the nation in the present crisis, are themselves Christians. The unprecedented open-heartedness of the people toward the Gospel, with their new long- ings for the assuranecs of faith in the midst of the uncertainties of the present conflict. The return of missionaries and the reoccupation of all our stations. The large crowds attending evangelistic services throughout the country, with many con- versions and other evidences of spiritual awakening. Thousands of Korean Christians standing fast under severe persecution. The deep undercurrent of heart-hunger among the people of Japan. The bond of fellowship that remains unbroken between Japanese and Chinese Christians. The wide open doors in Africa and Brazil.
Progress i11
By REV. PHILIP S. LANDES, Sao Paulo Missionary of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., 1912- BRAZIL is, a land of great possibilities and tious and spiritually destitute. With the advent great opportunities. Among the countries of Protestant missions this situation began to be of South America, this republic occupies the changed. first place in territorial extent, population and nat- As soon as Protestant missionaries landed in ural resources. It is larger than the United Brazil, they began distrihuting the Scriptures and States (exclusive of Alaska), covering half the preaching the saving truths which they contain.
map of South America. Thus a new era dawned for the people. From the Within its bounds are vast tracts of undeveloped independence of Brazil in 1822 to the year 1936 land available for the support of human life. The about ten million copies of the Scriptures or por- greater part of the world's supply of coffee is tions of them were distributed by national work- grown in Brazil which could, if necessary, furnish ers and misslionaries.
the world with cotton and foodstuffs such as The Rev. Ashbel G. Simonton, the first Presby- manioc, corn, rice, beans, cacao, sugar, tropica1 terian missiona.ry to Brazil, began work in Rio de fruits and many other agricultural products. Janeiro in 1859. He was a man of broad vision Brazil possesses abundant water-power, vast and statesmanship and laid solid foundations for forests, extensive grazing fields, immense deposits the development of a strong national Church. The of iron and manganese, rubber of the best qual- plan adopted for the development of the work fol- ity, many medicinal plants and a great variety of lowed the lines of the missionary purpose; to win other natural products. These vast resources, men to Christ, to train them for Christian service still mostly undeveloped, are an indication of the and to organize them into churches which should great future which lies before the greatest of our become self-propagating, self-supporting and self- sister republics in the Western Hemisphere. Bra- governing. After eighty years of work, there is zil has a population of forty-five million, but, if it in Brazil a strong national Church, carrying on were as densely populated as the State of New its work independently of foreign control and Jersey, it would contain a population of more than support.
a billion and six hundred million people. The beginnings of missionary work in Brazil A question of vital importance to all of the were characterized by the conversion of individ- American republics, as well as to all Christians, uals who formed the nucleus of the Church.
is this: will Brazil, the greatest of all Latin Amer- Among those won to Christ in this initial period, ican countries, remain democratic or will she join the most notable was a Roman Catholic priest, the "totalitarian states," placing nationalism Rev. Jose Manoel da Concei~ao who was, attracted above God and freedom of worship? The peace to evangelical Christianity by the honesty of the and destiny of the entire Western Hemisphere members of the new sect. He was the first Prot- may depend upon Brazil's decision. In determin- estant minister to be ordained in Brazil, became a iug the issue, evangelical Christianity may be the tireless itinerant evangelist and traveled over decisive factor, judged from the role that Prot- great areas in Southern Brazil.
estantism has played and is playing in the life of At Jandira, in the State of Sao Paulo, there is the Brazilian' people. a fitting memorial to this consecrated evangelist, When a century ago Protestant missions began in the form of a college which is training candi- their work in Brazil, the people had practically no dates for the Gospel ministry. At present this knowledge of the Bible and its saving truths. school has some sixty stUdents, nearly all of whom For three hundred years the Bible had been an expect to preach the Gospel to their own people, unknown book to her people. .It is no wonder, after completing their training in the theological therefore, that the religion of the people consisted seminary.
in the fo'rmal performance of religious rites and Rev. Carvalho Braga, the father of Erasmo ceremonies, devoid of spirituality or vital regen- Braga, was first led to examine the claims of evan- erating power. The dominant religion had left gelical Christianity when, as a clerk in a store, the great mass of the people illiterate, supersti- he read what was on a leaf which had been torn [243 ]
from a Bible to be used as wrapping paper. This one of the elders of the church receiving instrucled to his conversion and later he did a great work tions a.bout the new Christian life into which he as a preacher and as the translator of Davis' Bible had entered. He gave up Spiritualism, drinking, Dictionary. His scholarly son, Rev. Erasmo g1ambling and even smoking, although he had been Braga, became an internationally known religious an inveterate smoker for twenty-five years. It leader in the evangelical world and presided at was a hard struggle, but Christ gave him the victhe Congress of Christian Work at Montevideo in tory. Through his example his wife was won to 1925. Christ and all his family, so that the missionary had the joy of receiving his entire family into the There have been many remarkable instances of fellowship of the Church. Senhor Alvaro became the transforming power of the Gospel in Brazil. a most enthusiastic and energetic personal worker We tell the story of but two men of recent times. and pre,acher of the Gospel. He used to stand at the door of the worship hall in Campo Grande and When Gospel work was begun in the Sta~ of buttonhole passers-by, almost compelling them to enter, in order that they might hear about the Matto Grosso, a young man heard the preaching power that had transformed his life. He has a of the Word of God, for the first time, as he lay government position which takes him to different drunk in the gutter, outside the preaching hall in localities, but wherever he goes, he witnesses to Rosario Oeste. – The Gospe~ message, as it was the Gospel as the power of God unto salvation to sung and preached, touched his heart and he came all who believe. to the missionary with this question: How the Church Is Being Built "Do you think it is possible for me to be forgiven and saved?" It is by conversion of individuals that the Church of Christ is being built up in Brazil, not No wonder he asked this question, for he was by mass movements. The Presbyterian Church of not only a drunkard but a murderer as well. At Brazil has now an adult membership of fifty thoua;bout twelve years of age he had killed a police~ sand, with a yearly increase of ten per cent. Rev. man and later had killed-several other men from Domingos. Ribeiro, in his book, "Origens do Evanambush as they were bathing in a stream. Could gelismo Brazileiro," gives the total number of he be forgiven of God? The missionary was able communicants, baptized children, catechumens to assure him that "the blood of Jesus Christ and adherents of Presbyterian churches as apcleanses us from all sin" and that "if we confess proximately three hundred thousand. More than our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us two hundred Presbyterian national ministers in our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteous- Brazil constitute a fine body of men who have reness." The young man accepted Christ as his ceived an education not a bit inferior to that of Saviour and today is a public school teacher. He most ministers in the United States. They have conducts worship and directs a Sunday school in their own schools and theological seminaries which the far interior of the State of Matto Grosso. are independent of missionary control. The Pres- byterian churches of Brazil have been organized An Extraordinary Man into twenty-three presbyteries, four synods and one General Assembly. These bodies have been A few years ago, when a series of evangelistic compJetely nationalized and are independent of meetings was being conducted in Southern Matta missionary control. The missionaries are still do- Grosso, in the city of Campo Grande, a rather ing the pioneer work, in the interior, and as rapextraordinary man began coming to the meetings.. idly as churches reach the point of self-support, He was known as intelligent and able, but a they are turned over to the national councils. drinker and gambler. It was not unusual for him to come home at four o'clock in the morning after The Southern Baptists also have a strong work a night of dissipation. The missionary thought in Brazil, with ~bout three hundred thousand, that this man, Senhor Alvaro, would be one of the counting adults, children, catechumens and adherlast in the world to be converted, not so much on ents. The Methodists number approximately one account of his vices, but because of his erratic hundred and thirty-five thousand, the Episcopa- Spiritualistic ideas which had made him egotis- lians twenty-seven thousand and the Congregatical and self-sufficient. When an opportunity was tionalists eight thousand. There are also indegiven, at an evangelistic service, for public deci- pendent missions at work with evangelical groups sion, he was one of the first to take a stand, declar- amounting to one hundred and ninety-five thouing his intention to follow Christ. It was difficult sand. In Southern Brazil there are nearly half a to believe that he was converted. He went home million German Lutherans. In round numbers and told his wife that he was a changed man, but the total Protestant population of Brazil is estishe did not believe him. Soon after this, he failed to come home early one night and his wife went out to hunt for him, thinking to find him amongs,t his old companions. She found him at the home of
EVANGELICAL PROGRESS IN BRAZIL
mated at one and a half million, which is about in large measure, to the high grade of theological three and three-tenths per cent of the totalPOI?~ training given to the ministry from the days of ulation. Domingos Riheiro affirms for the year Simonton down to the present time. Last year 1937 that there were, in Brazil, more than three (September 8), the Presbyterian Seminary at thousand preachers of the Gospel, including lay- Campinas, in the State of Sao Paulo, celebrated preachers, and more than four thousand places of the fiftieth anniversary of its foundling. Today it worship. There is probably not a town of any has a strong faculty of scholarly men who have size in all Brazil where there is not a group of also been successful pastors. Twenty-seven stu- Christians witnessing to the power of Christ. dents were graduated in the last three graduating The evangelical churches have produced some EVANGELICAL CANDIDATES FOR THE MINISTRY FIND great religious leaders such as Alvaro Reis, a great A RATTLE'R ON THE COLLEGE CAMPU.S AT orator, pastor and evangelist; Eduardo Carlos JOSE MANOEL DA CONCEICAO Pereira, the author of a Portuguese Grammar used in all the schools of Brazil; Antonio Trajano, classes and the total enrollment last year was the author of textbooks on mathematics adopted thirty-three. This school of the prophets has proin all Brazilian schools; Erasmo Braga, scholar, duced a fine type of leadership for the Presbyteacher and religious leader who also wrote text- terian Church of Brazil. books for the youth of Brazil; Miguel Rizzo, the brilliant pastor of the large and influential Igreja It is not possible here to do justice to all of the Unida in the City of Sao Paulo, and who recently evangelical institutions at work in Brazil, includrepresented the Preshyterian Church of Brazil at ing the splendid work of the British and American the centennial celebration of the Presbyterian Bible Societies, of the Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A., Church. There are many other able leaders, too the printing presses, hospitals, sanatoria and ornumerous to mention. phanages conducted under Protestant auspices. Evangelical Christianity has become a mighty The Influence of the Evangelicals force to be reckoned with in .shaping the destiny of this greatest of the Latin American republics. The Evangelicals of Brazil exert an influence far greater than would be expected from their Let no one suppose, however, that the task numerical strength. Like the Huguenots in the has been completed in Brazil. Not even four per history of France they are usually better informed cent of the total population has been evangelized. and more alert than the rank and file of their fel- The great unoccupied Hinterland is destined to receive millions of people who will need to hear low-citizens. In general, they are intelligent, in- the Good News. Besides this, in the forests of the great Amazon Basin, there are many wild Industrious, honest and patriotic, and exert a great dians who have never heard the Gospel. The task influence upon the life of the nation. of the evangelization of Brazil has been well be- gun, but it is far from completed. The nation is An account of the progress of evangelical Chris- still young and in the formative period of its existtianity in Brazil would not be complete without ence, so that now is the opportune time to lay the some reference to the contribution to education foundations for a still greater Church of Christ made by the Protestant churches. The American in Brazil. It is the part of Christian statesman- School, founded in Sao Paulo, in the early days of ship to act now, in order that the people of our missionary work, served for years as a model for great Sister Republic maybe won for Christ and the educational system of Sao Paulo, recognized may enjoy all the blessings of His full salvation. to be the most advanced state of the Union in educational matters. The American School became a great educational institution which today ministers instruction to some two thousand students in all of its courses, from the primary grades up through the Engineering School of Mackenzie College. There are numerous other important evangelical schools of higher education in Brazil, such as Granberry College at Juiz de F6ra, Gammon Institute at Lavras and Jose Manoel da Conceic;ao at Jandira. A large number of evangelical gymnasia are scattered throughout Brazil, as well as many primary schools. Some devote themselves exclusively to the education of believers and their children.
The success of the work in Brazil has been due,
of a Missionary in
~._ By REV. HENRY H. BUCHER, Nodoa, Hainan, China I I Missionary of the American Presbyterian Church [Mr. and Mrs. Bucher are just completing thei~ first ings, accounts, many details of administration; term as missionaries in Hainan, the island off the south oversight of workmen and evangelis,ts; a funeral coast of China, and recently raided by Jap'anese bombing or a wedding; then some of the Lois (aboriginees) planes and occupied in part by Japanese troops. Mr. come to buy salt or fish from us to take back into Bucher (in per,sonal letters) describes graphically some the mountains. They are so often cheated in experiences connected with mission work in Nodoa and money deals that they depend upon us to help on tours into the country. The latter reveal a few of the them. They bring their midget chickens and sell trials that a missionary encounters today in a land that them to us so that they may have a few cents to lacks good roads and many other conveniences to which buy things for their simple needs. all travelers have grown accustomed in countries where good roads, comfortable inns and gasoline stations abound. There is a satisfaction in spending and being The day of the pioneer missionary has not passed.- spent for people in need, but one practical prob- EDITOR.] R THOUGH there have been no actual raids lem I face is the problem of finding any uninter- or loss of life in Nodoa (due to Japanese rupted time for Bible study and prayer. This is raids), there have been many scares and one of the hardest problems a missionary has; to panics! Altogether this unspeakable, "unde- fa'ce-to be so busy in well-doing that it is difficult clared" war has made inroads upon our strength to keep the spiritual fires burning! This Nodoa and energy – and nerves. In all my life I have church and compound is a very live place; no- never before experienced so sustained a drain where else in Hainan is there so much activity in upon my energies, both mental and physical, as the church, or so many meetings (averaging one during this past year. . . . meeting each night and a chapel service every Mr. Melrose (a fellow missionary) left on fur- morning). The work that I enjoy above all others lough last Spring (1938) and from that time I is the evangelistic work and the contacts with peo- have been the only man of the missionary person- pIe out in the country.
nel in this part of Hainan. I have had charge of Roughly speaking, in the past eight or nine the employees and of all property and repairs of months, I have been away from home out "iIi my the large compound. I have also had a goodly pasture" half the time. The average trip takes share of the accounts and bookkeeping – which about one week. First there are periodic visits can be a thorn in the flesh to one not trained or to each church area to examine candidates for . experienced in it. This has been merely "inci- baptism and to hold communion services. Then dental" to my major missionary task as one of there are eight-day Bible institutes for the in- the superintendents of all the evangelistic work struction of ignorant Christians; third, there is in Nodoa, with a dozen churches and a congrega- the preaching of the Gospel in towns and markets tion of several thousand. I am the treasurer for in order to contact those who have never or seldom all the evangelists in this area, and pastor of six heard the Gospel message!
of the country churches which have a combined While we lived in Kiungchow, where the Hain- 'congregation (not membership) of two thousand. anese language was the medium of expression, I In addition I am responsible for the Lodi field in did a great deal of this third type of evangelistic the mountainous interior where there are twenty- work and enj oyed it. There is a thrill in knowing five hundred professed Believers awaiting instruc- that one is speaking to many who are hearing the tion. I much prefer this phase of work to the ad- Gospel for the first time. Since coming to Nodoa ministrative details and bookkeeping in the mis- I have been able to do very little evangelistic work sion station, but someone must take care of these of this kind because of the "confusion in tongues." details and I have been the only man to undertake One cannot hold a boisterous crowd when speakit for eight months. It has ,been necessary for me ing in a tongue that they cannot understand. In to be absent in the country a great deal, so that Nodoa we are face to face with one of the moSlt the station work has: piled up. amazing dialectical jumbles-the true cross-word Early in the morning-at about 6: 30 a. m.-the puzzl~in all China, if not in all the world. If daily procession begins. It is made up of meet- this sounds like an exaggerated statement, listen [246 ] A GROUP OF CHRISTIAN LOI WOMEN IN HAINAN. THEIR VILLAGE IS NEARLY 100% CHRISTIAN to the enumeration of the different tongues com- huke mo," thinking that I was telling him not to put himself to so much trouble. But by a slight mon here. Every day in Nodoa I hear six major mispronunciation of the "0" in the last word "mo," what I really said was: "Don't act like a pig." On dialects spoken: Hakka, Limko, Mandarin, Dam- another occasion, I started out to take a walk after a day of holding classes. Someone asked me tsiu, Hainanese and Cantonese. As if six were where I was going and I thought that I replied that I was going for a stroll to cool off. By the not enough, and to add to the confusion, we often slightest difference in tone, which most foreigners would not notice even if it was pointed out, I achear the melodious monosyllables of the Loi, Miau tually said: "I am going to visit a young lady."
and Malaysian tongues. If this is not a "Babel" After several such experiences I realized that Limko is not one of those tongues that is easy to and confusion of tongues, then I do not under- pick up from hearing it spoken occasionally, so I hired a teacher and studied an hour a day for a stand the meaning of these words. These six month or more. These later efforts have been crowned with so much succes,s that on December major dialects, though they have some similari- 18th I preached my fil1st sermon in Limko. My aim is to be able to speak to the people in their ties (as is true in the Romance Languages of own dialect wherever I go.
southern Europe), are distinctly different tongues. In the last month there have been two phe- nomena to cheer our hearts greatly: First, the Some of the people can speak and understand only local Nodoa church sponsored a great collection throughout this area for the benefit of war sufferone of these six; most people can converse in sev- ers in North China. Over six hundred local dollars were given by Christians and non-Christians eral, not a few can make themselves completely at home in all six! Unfortunately this last ability does not come to an American without the lubri- cating agency of a great deal of "consecrated sweat." . .
Last summer; as I traveled in the Limko field and conducted Summer Bible Institutes, I under- took to apply myself to the Limko dialect so that my work there might be more effective. My first attempts were not crowned with complete success.!
Upon entering a home, if my host put himself out to be courteous and hospitable I remarked, "Murn
working together. This is a new thing under the we might be compelled to spend several days along sun! the road. Unwisely perhaps, we decided to chance it and trust God-so off we went into the night Another new thing is that at Christmas time and into trouble! about thirty Lois came down from the mountains and brought over ten dollars as their contribution Those next ten miles of road were unlike anyto the work of the church in this presbytery. thing that I have ever seen; I shall carry a men- tal picture of them for years to come! The rain At the present stage in our Hainan church there came down in torrents so that at times I could not is even a greater need for teaching the Bible to see where I was driving and the wind became those who are already professing Christians than alarming. In the light of the headlights the roads for bringing larger numbers into the ohurch that looked impassable and at times we would sink in has already too few teachers. so deep that we would come to a dead stand-still. By backing and charging and trying new ruts we The persecution of Christians by one of t~oi would finally be able to go on. I began to think chiefs is so bad that the Christians have begged that we would make our destination after all, but me to go out to the country field and see what I in the blinding rain and darkness I failed to see can do, largely working through official channels a big hOole until just too late. We settled down as I have no authority to deal with any Loi chief. in that hole until the rear left wheel was out of However, I can talk with him, and we can pray. sight and the rear right humper was sunk in It is a five-day journey on foot to the area where water and mud. The engine pan was fast down the trouble is so that I shall have to walk one hun- on a semi-hard shelf of dirt and the axles were dred and fifty miles, mostly up and down moun- buried in the mud. With Oour mind on a possible tains. But its all a part of the Lord's work and robbery we turned off the headlights, got out in there are great rewards. the drenching rain and deep mud and dug fran- tically with the hoe that I always take along. I *** must have spent at least a half hour down in the Traveling Under Difficulties mud on hands and knees trying to get the jack A recent trip from Hoihow to Nodoa was over under that rear bumper, but the weight of the car only rammed jack and stone down farther the worst road I have ever seen in all my life- into mud. We were stuck and no joke-and nothand I have seen very bad roads in southeastern ing for miles but fields and water and a sea of Asia (China, Siam, Malaysia), India, Persia, Rus- mud. The force of the rain beating against our sia, Turkey, Europe and America. The only trip faces became unbearable, so we climbed back into that was worse in physical strain was the two the car to wait for it to let up a little. We sat days and three nights without stopping in an old there, soaked to the skin with mud and slime and truck from Douzdab to Meshed, Persia! When I the driving rain; we had begun to shiver and left Hoihow I doubted the wisdom of starting out chatter with the cold when to add to our miseries in the face of the storm hut as I had been sent to the wind became so violent that it drove the rain get typhoid serum in a hurry I wanted to carry through the top and the side curtains. I had beout the commission and keep faith with the Nodoa gun to picture what we would be worth in the hospital. morning after a night spent huddled there in the damp and cold our bodies soaked and chilled to The first forty miles we covered in a little over the bone-when rip! ! before we knew what had three hours. The rain came down in torrents; the happened the wind took the top right off the car. wind blew and the road was execrable, but not It did not take us many minutes to conclude that impassable. It seemed a little ominous that in all we couldn't longer contemplate spending the night that time we saw not one other car, nor did any there and live through it. We would have to abancars go out from Nodoa all that day! Just before don the car to its fate-and in the back seat was we reached the half-way road-house, darkness over a hundred dollars worth of school uniforms, came upon us and we experienced what may have hats, books and other things that I had brought been an attempted hold up by bandits. However, along so that they would be safe! Maybe I didn't we reached Sim-toa and had a warm Chinese meal. hate to think of deserting the car there in that The question arose: should we attempt to cover condition to be blown and rained upon, for no one the other forty-five miles that night after dark, could tell how many hours-and open to the sky! with the poss1ibility of robbery (as another car However, we were desperate and had begun to had been p~undered there two weeks before), or think pretty serious thoughts. Each grabbed a should we spend the night in the car at Sim-toa small handbag containing personal belongings and and try to complete the journey the next day over a change of clothing. (The $700 was ina large roads that would be still more softened by a ty- suitcase with all my clothes.) I would gladly phoon rain all night? On the one hand I thought of the $700 that I had in my suitcase. On the other hand there was the likelihood that the roads would be impassable the next day, in which case
EXPERIENCES OF A MISSIONARY IN HAINAN
have left the clothes behind in order to travel light might be disposed to take us in. While the Chinese in the storm, but I couldn't open the bag there in are naturally hospitable they are not inclined to the driving rain and take out that paper money. receive strangers in the middle of the night and So we started toward No-vun which was several out in the country, for they have learned by bitter miles away. experience to assume that everyone is an enemy at such times. (The robbers are very bad in that I shall never forget that wild walk. You can area.) One would be apt to be met by vicious picture us in the midst of a cloudburst and a ty- dogs and perhaps a gun shot rather than by hosphoon wind; the former cut into the skin and pitality. This had been the subject of not a little made vision almost impossible; the latter blew talk before we arrived. us around at will and at times threw us down on the ground or into the fields, or started us run- SOME OF THE WILD LOIS IN A NON-CHRISTIAN VILLAGE ning along the slippery road, unable to stop and unable to proceed without slipping and falling. But there was never so much as a dog bark, for My long suitcase acted as a sort of sail and caught all animals were locked indoors; not a living thing the wind so that it was all I could do to keep stand- was stirring and apparently all were dead as the ing upright. The water and mud were often knee tombs. That is the first time I have ever apdeep; at other places the road was slick and slip- proached a village in China after dark (or in daypery as ice. I fell headlong in the mud a dozen light for that matter) without a multitude of dogs times,and twice I picked myself up in the fields going wild and making the air hideous. Every off the road entirely. Our knees and legs grew house was securely locked, with doors and winweak and our backs ached. That seemed the long- dows barred against the storm, and all the inest walk I ever took; actually it was only four habitants tucked snugly away under all the warm and one half to five miles! Talk about Paul Re- covers they could collect-for it was cold. We vere's ride. That was tough on the horse; this first tried the inn, or roadhouse (which is also the was tough on us! headquarters of the Public Road Department for that area). We yelled, and pleaded and shouted A Midnight Adventure ourselves hoarse-singly and in unison; we bel- lowed in desperation. It was all utterly useless Finally, at nearly midnight, we found ourselves waste of breath and energy. We did not seem to on the outskirts of No-vun-some distance off the be able to make ourselves heard above the noise main highway. Along the road we had passed of the storm. (Next day we found out that they five or six other cars in mud holes,; one was down heard us but didn't want to be bothered; or they in a field and deserted. They had all started out thought that we were robbers.) We didn't dare earlier that day in the hope of beating the storm beat on the door to attract attention for fear lest to Nodoa but all had lost the race. We were cov- we might get too warm a reception. So we went ered with mud from head to foot, drenched and down the street and tried .other places. Soon we soaked, chilled to the bone, and nearly "down and came to what we later found to be the "Smoking out." We were miserable specimens of humanity, Palace" (opium den) where we saw lights through and it didn't add to our peace of mind as we walked through the streets of the town (themselves litle rivulets) to see buildings blown down and other evidences of the violence of the storm. We could not but think of the car out there on the highway and we wondered what would be left of it in the morning. Of course my mind turned anxiously toward Nodoa, wondering what my wife was doing during this storm and how the children were. Had she been able to get the windows and shutters securely locked without help. For months the roof of our house has been leaking like a sieve: the tiles were very inferior, and in a recent storm we had to place pans to catch drips in about five different places. The mental picture was not very reassuring, or calculated to remove anxiety.
We were somewhat reassured by the fact that we saw on the only street of the village two cars that had taken refuge from the storm. If the passengers had been taken into the houses near by then the people of this small village must be awake to the fact that the road was impossible; they
the cracks in the building. We carried on a lively leather seat-covers and the coating of mud. But and edifying conversation with the people inside the car was not utterly ruined. I collected what through these same cracks; but they had no in- was left of the top from a near-by field and folded tention of letting us in. They called out: it up for future use. The engine, the coils, and all else were soaked-and it was still raining by "Go away and leave us alone. We won't open gusts and spurts. To start the engine seemed to you as you are robbers." hopeless but I took a chance and tried the Chinese method that I have seen used with success but not But we had no intention of being denied as we without risk. We ignited several' pieces of paper were getting desperate. We said: and put them into the engine so that the flames curled around the coils, cylinders and spark plugs "If we were robbers would we be standing here to dry them out. It sounds dangerous and it is, with a flashlight lighted up and shouting to you but we were desperate and ,still damp and hungry through the door, making a lot of racket and in- from the proceeding day's "lark." The plan viting you to attack us? Robbers wouldn't be that worked like a charm! The spark caught and the stupid !" engine started. I would not recommend the method to folks at home but it might be a good So the talk went on into the night, for what thing to know about when you visit Hainan. seemed to us hours. We were making no headway and were about to give up hope of getting in The day's work had just begun. There were anywhere – when an old woman (who had no ten men with sturdy poles and great strength, but money or valuables and so was not afraid of being the car would not budge an inch, so deep had it robbed) took pity on us and let us come into her settled, with the bumpers under water and mud house. There was no room for the four of us, but and great suction holding down the rear tires. we, at least temporarily, found warmth and We must have worked at it an hour before we shelter; she finally persuaded the gallant smok- gave up and hired several more men to lift the ing braves across the street to let us come into car bodily out of the slough. Then all rode the their commodious quarters. running board back to No-vun, and it was well that they did, for they often had to get out and The first thing for us to do was to take off our push us through ruts so deep that the bottom of filthy, drenched clothing. We did not have one the car literally plowed through the mUd, and the really dry garment in our handbags or in my suit- front axle and radiator acted as a scrape to level case, but we had some semi-dry pieces and shared off the road, clear away rocks and prepare the what we had. For instance, my pajama tops way for the more vulnerable parts behind. It was looked ridiculous on a little nO-pound Chinese- a miracle – nothing more or less – that we got Bit-kheng, one of the hospital assistants. We had through that stretch of road as far as No-vun quite an interested audience of men and women which is the worst stretch on a very bad road. whose curiosity as we changed our clothing might We drove into No-vun to get something to eat, charitably be explained as "fraternal interest." I pay our bills for our luxurious night's accommodawas too far gone to be "nice." They finally gave tions, and buy gasoline from the Public Roads us some food and a warm drink of some kind Headquarters. I had started from Hoihow with which fortified us against the night that we had to ten gallons, had made about fifty miles of the endure. eighty-nine and had only two gallons left. That gives some idea of the state of the road; under For a bed all four of us were provided with good conditions my car can do nearly twenty miles double doors supported on two wooden horses; on a gallon of gas. for pillows we each had a nice ten-inch brick (guaranteed not to break from the weight of one's Of the rest of that trip as far as Notia I will head, nor to transmit insect life.) The roof leaked spare you the details of the numberless times we but not directly over our heads. The floor was so got stuck, the hours we spent pushing, digging, muddy and slippery that we could scarcely walk jacking up the car and putting rocks under the or keep on our feet. There was very little sleep tires. It will always remain etched upon my memfor any of us that night but we survived! ory as incomparable. We learned that between Notia and Nio-hau two bridges had been washed The Morning After away and were told that we might as well give up any idea of reaching Nodoa that night. But after The next morning with empty stomachs we all our herculean efforts, we were not going to trudged back over the road we had trekked the fail to reach our goal when so near-especially as night before and took five or six men with us to we feared one more night in wet clothes and with help push, drag and persuade the car out of that empty stomachs might be the end of us. So we mud-hole. My imagination had painted a very sad went on. The first bridgeless stream was not wide picture of what the car must be like after being out on the road all night, through a typhoon rain and with no top. It was certainly an awful sight to behold-with all the contents (hat-boxes and school uniforms) melted and merged with the
EXPERIENCES OF A MISSIONARY IN HAlNAN
but had high banks and a deep swift current. We China through Canton are now cut off and we are hired a bunch of farmers to bring beams and left in the dark mostly – and the victims of the planks, and in a couple of hours a bridge was put most alarming rumors. The loss of Canton, nerveacross where there had been none before. There center of the wealthiest province in China, is a was a clearage on each side of only a few inches. dreadful blow, and an awful heartbreak to We had not gone far before the farmers were tear- Hainan. There may have been darker periods ing down the bridge so the next cars to come along ("before the dawn") in the history of other nawould be obliged either to pay four dollars to them tions-but it is not to be denied that the present to rebuild it or could sit there and enjoy the beau- picture is black. We still have hope and faith ties of nature. but we do not know what our future course will The second bridge was wider but the approach LI-EK, niE LOI LEADER, WHO BROUGHT HUNDREDS was damaged and speedy and temporary repairs OF HIS PEOPLE TO CHRIST were out of the question. We decided to take a chance, running through the stream, though the be. Before we can write another letter communiwater was deep and the current racing. There cations may be cut off entirely, or Japan may take was an ox-cart crossing at that point; but a cross- over the island and establish a rigid censorship. ing possible for an ox-cart is usually impossible Already word has come from Hoihow that the to a car. Out came our hoe and again we went local Government has ordered all the Chinese to work leveling off the approaches and cutting women and children and old people to flee from down the bank that we must ascend on the other Hoihow and Kiungchow to the villages. The side. The water was almost up to the waist and French Consul has notified us that France will not the ascent on the other side looked almost impos- defend Hainan, and advises all American women sible. But the alternative was to leave the car and children to leave for Hongkong, as he conthere or spend the night with it in our exhausted, siders the Japanese invasion of Hainan as a mathungry, wet, clammy state. If I had to leave the ter of a few days or possibly hours. car in the middle of the stream it would at least be washed clean, so I breathed deeply and made We have made up our minds, for better or the attempt. The water was up to the engine and worse, to stay by here for the time being at least. the vulnerable parts, but it was so heated from We will stay and serve the people just as long as its exertions that it resisted the water. That is we can, for I prefer to stay by the people here at my theory-because before we reached home the a time of stress and danger. water and mud had permeated into the motor and stalled us; the battery, carburator, and coils were soaked and coated with mud. It was too much for even as noble a car as my little Ford. We had to push her the rest of the way home-and our entry into the compound gates was anything but triumphal! The next day (Sunday) I spent in bed, conscious for the first time in years of many usually well-behaved muscles, now sore as a boil all over, almost too tired and weary to sleep. The next two weeks I spent all the time I could spare working on that car, cleaning it inside and out, putting on a new canvas lining for the top, and repainting the whole car. It really looks very well, but I fear it will never be the same again.
Developments in the War Zone Later: For days we have been intensely watching developments in the war zone – and especially the lightning attack upon our own Province. Everyone 'is greatly disturbed and for several days I have done little but talk with callers, trying to allay fears, answering questions about what is happening (the Chinese will believe that somehow we have inside information that is kept from them). Several days ago came the staggering news of the fall of Canton and its destruction. All communications with war zone and the rest of
Beams from Lima
By DR. SAMUEL S. RIZZO, Newark, N. J.
Pastor of a Portuguese Presbyterian Church T HE recent conference of Lima was not with- service. The liberalism of President Vargas goes out religious significance. Its political re- so far that, being a nominal Catholic, he does not sults, valuable as they were in proclaiming apologize for naming his son after the great rethe validity of International Law, and in pro- former Luther. moting friendly relations among the nations, are secondary in importance when compared with the Several years ago a proposal came before the recognition of certain moral principles accepted Brazilian Congress to "declare" Roman Catholiby the conference, and of great significance to the cism the religion of the majority of the Brazilian Kingdom of God. people. President Vargas, then a congressman, wrote: Religious and Racial Liberty With reference to the proposed amendment (to the Con- stitution, Item No. 10) stipulating that the Catholic The Lima conference was an event, perhaps Church is the church of the majority of the Brazilian peounparalleled in the history of Latin America. ple, I think, in the first place, that such statement is very Twenty-one nations, after much debate, and with disputable. In order that a person might call himself a full acquiescence of their respective governments, Catholic, he should know the doctrine, accept it and live it. signed a document upholding the principle of "in- With such conditions only an elite, a select minority, comdividual liberty without religious or racial preju- ply. The high circles in social life have adopted a Catholidices." cism rather sceptical and elegant. And the vast ignorallt masses are still in the age of fetishist worship of saints While the Americas are not entirely free from with several miracle-working specialties.
religious intolerance, it is only fair to say that The amendment was rejected by an overwhelmsuch intolerance as exists in the republics of the ing vote. south is usually the work of Roman Catholic priests. Such intolerance is not condoned by the At Lima, when the world's political skies were laws and is repudiated by the best citizens. When so dark, it was an auspicious time for this "liberala Presbyterian minister was expelled from the ism" to project itself as a ,beam of hope for decity of Aparecida, Brazil, and the furniture of his mocracy. How long shall "individual liberty withhall was burned by a mob led by German monks, out religious prejudices" prevail in Central and the ex-president Washington Luis, then governor South America we do not know. With the world of Sao Paulo, sent a squadron of oavalry to the constantly menaced by dictators,and the devil acscene of disturbance, and for several Sundays the tive, anything may serve as a pretext to justify same pastor preached in the open air, protected the invalidation of this religious liberty. But by the State troops. I have seen a Christian Jew while it prevails may we, ministers and laymen, knocked down by men of his race when he at- be made equal by the power of the Holy Spirit, tempted to preach the Gospel in Columbus Circle, to the opportunity of this hour. New York. Religious liberty was not vindicated The Christ of the Andes more quickly or with more emphasis by the police Of far-reaching .significance was the declaration of New York, than it was in the case at Aparecida. at Lima, by the twenty-one nations of the Amer- In both instances the intolerance was a violation icas, to express their "unbreakable desire for of the law of the land and was, not condoned by peace, and their profound sentiment of humanity the State. and tolerance." Next to the delegation from The statesmen of South America are, as a rule, Bolivia sat the delegates from Paraguay, all in proud of their "liberalism." When I invited a joyful mood, glad that no longer an abnormal redip~omat in New York to come to a religious serv- lation of hate existed among the family of nations ice in my Portuguese Church in Newark, knowing in the Americas. Dignified and greatly esteemed, that he was of different faith, I added to my presiding over the most important committee of invitation, "I know that you are a liberal." He the conference-the committee on Declaration of sent me a courteous reply, stressing his liberal- Solidarity-sat one of the oldest statesman of the ism and promising to prove it by attending the Americas, the Brazilian delegate, Afranio de [252]
AMONG THE INDIANS OF NORTH DAKOTA
Mello Franco. He was the sole arbiter of the dis- own plans to accept that from Argentina." pute between Colombia and Peru over the conflict Twenty-one nations of the Americas refused, in of Leticia, and his efforts for peace saved thou- the critical hour, to "isolate" Argentina, writing sands of lives from destruction at a time when a declaration of continental solidarity without the Peru, Colombia and Ecuador had already em- signature of Buenos Aires. "The victory belongs barked on a wholesale arming for war. When, to the Messrs. Hull, Mello Franco, Conchas and in the midst of the conference this gentleman re- others, who were magnanimous and did not deceived the sad news of the death of his son-in-law, mand that which the superiority of their forces the sincere sympathy of his admirers poured in . . . could suggest." This declaration marked an in hundreds of telegrams daily from all the Amer- attitude most dramatic in the history of the Panicas showing to the world that those who labor for American Conferences, and perhaps never equaled peace are ble,ssed by man, as well as by God. Let in tne political history of the world! Twenty-one us be thankful for the peacemakers of the Amer- republics sacrificed their personal preferences be- £Cas, and let us' ,pray that the Christ of the Andes, cause they could not bear the separation of a sister today ruling over the Chaco, in Tacna-Arica, and republic from the family of nations. This speaks up in Leticia, shall be always the Prince of Peace of the unity of the Americas much more effectively in the Western Hemisphere. than the Declaration of Solidarity in itself. It was a beautiful example of the Christian principle Solidarity at a Sacrifice of "the second mile," practiced collectively.
Commenting on the Declaration of Lima, a Bra- '" '" '" zilian newspaper wrote: "The only victory that is really to be seen in the declaration of continental Liberty, tolerance, peace and magnanimous sacsolidarity of Lima, is the loyalty and spirit of sac- rifice were the contributions of the Conference of rifice of twenty other nations, who, in order not to Lima to a world darkened by the lack of these virbreak the unity of the Americas, abandoned their tues. Christian people welcome them as new rays of hope for mankind.
Among the Indians in North Dakota* By the VEN. THOMAS A. SIMPSON Archdeacon of Indian Work, North Dakota O N THE Standing Rock Reservation, North some of the men present she said "and he has Dakota, there was Red Hail, a Sioux chief, struck some of you." But she remarked that it so named, says Indian tradition, because he was a good place to be, for if he came after anywas born during a great meteoric shower. For one they could run to the church for refuge. many years he welcomed Indian missionaries to Lastly she said the river was near by and those his cabin for services and largely was responsible who did not wash very often could come for a for the building of St. Gabriel's Chapel at Red swim. Hail Camp (Brien). St. Gabriel's has produced some fine Christian characters among whom are William White Eagle's zeal for Christ led him the Rev. William Skala (White) Cross, a grandson of Red Hail, and Luke and Lucy Shoot-the- into active missionary work, both on the Standing Buffalo. Lucy invited the annual Indian convo- Rock and Fort Berthold Reservations. On one of cation to meet at St. Gabriel's in 1937. Argu- his mis1sionary journeys to Fort Berthold he was ments were advanced in favor of other stations. the means of Yellow Bear's conversion. One night It was said that good food would be served at St. as he was conducting service in his tent, Yellow Sylvan's, while at St. Gabriel's there was a den Bear went on the war path, determined to put an of rattlesnakes which the people from Fort Tot- end to such religious activity. Yellow Bear waited ten did not like. Lucy promptly replied (her re- for a moment outside the tent before going in to marks being interpreted) that nowhere did the break up the meeting, but as he sltood there he Bible teach men to worship their stomachs. She heard for the first time the message of the Master acknowledged that there were rattlesnakes at St. spoken through the lips of White Eagle. His con- Gabriel's and that one of the snakes had seven version followed. At his baptism he was named tongues and one tongue was liquor. Pointing at Paul after St. Paul, who also was once the enemy of Christ. • Condensed from The Spirit 01 Missions, December, 1938. Paul Yellow Bear was an unusual man; as he formerly had used his natural gifts to keep his
friends and neighbors in paganism, he later used vicinity. Here the Church has some eight acres them to win people to Christ. For many years he of land, church, parish house, rectory, and miswas lay reader at St. Paul's Chapel, where he has sion home; all in charge of the Rev. W. S. Cross, left a lasting impression. a retired Indian priest. The existing social and moral conditions demand recognition. The Gov- Paul Bear-Paw, another convert from pagan- ernment has established' a local school system in ism in North Dakota, served for many years as addition to nonreservation schools but the averlay reader at St. James' Church, Cannon Ball, age home life has not kept pace with these adwhere his widow, Julia, is still an active com- vances and the returning student has almost municant. insurmountable problems of adjustment, often reverting to old reservation ways of living. Sick- Thomas Ashley, another chief figure, was an ness is prevalent while social diseases play havoc able leader and efficient interpreter. As an inter- with countless Indians. Among children, the preter he served faithfully, with marked ability, death rate is especially high. Doctors and hospinot only his Church but also the Government and tals are miles away and there are some tragic courts of justice. deaths. Only within one-half mile of St. James' a young girl died of tuberculosis while in the In St. Sylvan's Mission, in the Turtle Moun- same one-roomed cabin a young mother was givtains, labored that staunch Christian, Rising Sun, ing birth to her first child. And there was no one a full-blooded Chippewa, who lived to the age of to help! 110 years. His name was given him because he first saw the light of day when the sun was peep- An adequate program of religious education for ing out of the East. When past middle life he set- Indian children is something yet to be achieved. tled down in the Turtle Mountains, and devoted his Distances, weather conditions, general environtime to raising cattle. He was partly the means ment, seem to be insurmountable difficulties. of preventing a repetition of the Custer massacre Apart from two Church missions there is no orin the Dunseith hills when the county authorities ganized religious instruction. Leaflets, manuals had a misunderstanding about taxes with the of instruction, odd numbers of the Christian Nurmixed-blood Indians. When Rising Sun and his ture Series, religious pictures, are given out and wife received their first annuity from the Govern- used at home, where many of the parents welcome ment, they bought thirty dollars worth of lumber the help given. But the Church has not yet to help build a chapel that they had been wanting touched the problem. The men have their guilds for years, keeping the lumber in their little log and carry out a program of service adapted to hut for six years before their ambition was real- local needs. The Woman's Auxiliary branches ized. St. Sylvan's. log chapel, standing on a high meet for worship and work. elevation of land, is a monument to Rising Sun's devotion. Mr. Robert Fox, an Indian trained at Santee, Nebraska, and his wife, are doing excellent work The present work at Breckenridge Memorial in St. Paul's Mission to the Arickara tribe at Fort Chapel began in 1898. It is about six miles from Berthold. Since their coming the work of the the Agency in what is known as the Crow Hill Church has made real progress. Once a month neighborhood. An Indian named Iyayukamani they give religious instruction at the public school, (He-Follows-Walking) had loaned a house where to classes that are increasing in numbers. The services were conducted in the Dakota langua.ge. Arickara people, having had more educational ad- Iyayukamani was a stalwart Christian and is re- vantages than some other Indians, are more admembered as the founder of the Church work at vanced and more prosperous. this point. Bernard Rainbow, brought up under the Christian influence of Iyayukatnani, carried Originally St. Sylvan's Mission in the Turtle on the work of lay reader for many years. Mountains consisted of a log chapel and seventy acres, of land, but about five years ago the National In recalling these and other names it can be Indian Association turned over to the Church seen that the work among the Indians in North their abutting property consisting of 220 acres, Dakota is unique in that it is the result of the a dwelling house, a frame parish hall, and some missionary zeal of the Indians themselves. dilapidated buildings.
Today there are some eight thousand Indians If the story of this Indian field had to be sumliving on the four reservations where the six mis- med up into one word it would have to be the sions of the Protestant Episcopal Church are word need. Not only is there need for physical located. direction and assistance, there are those deeper and more urgent needs arising out of the social The largest mission on the Standing Rock and tribal background of the various groups, Reservation is St. James', three miles south of which can only be met by a well-balanced program the village of Cannon Ball, in the center of a large express'ed through the Church. Indian community. The name Cannon Ball is derived from the huge rock formations found in the
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I Effective Ways of Working 'Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MISS GRACE W. MCGAVRAN, 5718 OAK AVE.. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA ~=I============~~==~~~~~ Combatting Summer Heat glad, once a year, to open them At one of the regular meetings to such church groups, especially the members who had made Although it was early summer when the hostess is a member of these trips told about them. it was already hot. Sheer iner- the group. They spoke informally, not attia would keep some people from tempting to philosophize or to attending their missionary meet- In planning such an event, it summarize situations. The y ings. The two missionary or- is wise to put extra effort into merely gave their impressions. ganizations in one church were the arrangements, so that every- Those who had not been able to busy planning attractions, the one may have an unusually good go, gained a new vision of the pull of which might overcome time "visiting." The trip out in needs of a great city and of some that tendency to stay at home. the bus may be made a jolly oc- of the very human ways in which The women's group, made up of casion. Have good, simple and life can be changed when somewomen who can come in the ample food. Have a good pro- one cares enough to do someafternoon, had its special prob- gram, suited for outdoor pro- thing about it. lems. The business women's duction. group (who necessarily met at What is there about which night) had to combat the fatigue Every summer meeting, from your missionary society, your resulting from work through which members of the society ch~rch body, or your young peolong hot hours. come away saying, "Didn't we ple s group need first-hand in- have a good time? Let's do it formation? Do they know that At this point an invitation again next year," has not only many human beings are suffercame from a former minister of accomplished its purpose in this ing in the suffocating streets and the church and his wife, to both series of meetings, but has had a alleys of the very city or town in groups, to hold their next meet- real part in training the women whose comparatively cool subing at the country home to which to look forward to summer mis- urbs you live? Do they know he had retired some years ago. sionary meetings, instead of some of the difficult working and avoiding them. living conditions of migrant The invitation was accepted workers in your own county? with delight. But careful plan- Telling What They Have Seen Do they have firsrt-hand knowlning had to follow. The country edge of the way in which social place was some distance from There is an eternal fascination service and church agencies are the neighborhood so that busses in hearing about interesting working? Do they know what had to be chartered, and the things that we have not seen. avenues of volunteer service are necessary meals planned. There is even greater fascina- open to some of themselves? tion in telling about things we One group went in the after- have seen to those who have not Try making investigations. noon and one in the evening and seen them. Why not make use Those who do it will be glad to both enjoyed a delightful time. of those two characteristics to tell about it. Your meeting will The attendance was as good as achieve summer program effec- have a breath of reality to it if the weather had been more tiveness. which will attract, in spite of hot propitious. The programs were weather. excellent; the fellowship was A missionary group in a large joyful, with an opportunity to city asked several members to A Book Meeting in August wander through the orchard look into certain institutions last with its closely mowed grass, summer during the study of The August is usually a very dead among the flower-beds, along the City. (The summer before the month when many churches alraspberry vines, and beside the same group had asked members most close their doors. lily pool. After a dusty day in to look into the Negro's living town it seemed like a different conditions.) A morning in the But it is during those very world. juvenile court; a visit to the "dead" times that many people county home for orphan chil- have more leisure for reading While only a few societies can dren ; a few hours in police than at any other time during enjoy such an experience, it is court; time spent in one of the the year. possible for more than actually settlement houses-these were a experience it. Many times per- few of the trips made. One organization asked a comsons with lovely grounds are mittee to select new books deal- [255 ]
ing with various missionary sub- Among those put out coopera- living in areas of tension, conjects. These were to include tively by a number of the denom- flict or economic readjustment, stories, biographies, travel, his>- inations, are very good units on "working on some community tory, background material; and world friendship. Less well project of social significance ineven such things 'as the poetry adapted to the longer vacation volving physical labor." and the philosophy of a certain schools, but good for those runcountry or people. ning for a short period are the Work camps require more texts of the Friendship Press than a desire to serve. Only One person, quite clever at (New York), which can be se- those should apply (says the such things, took five or six of cured through any denomina- folder describing them) "who the lighter books, and selected tional publishing house. are willing to live cooperatively from each an incident which she as a part of a group; do hard dramatized. The dramatization Talk over the matter of mis- physical labor; impos.e self-disin each case ended uncompleted sion study with those in charge cipline as a member of a demoat an interesting point, leaving of the vacation school planning. cratically organized group." the group with a desire to know An effective course should be what happened next. placed somewhere in a three- Hard labor, we might say in year cycle. Write to your na- passing, means just that. Wreck- The dramatizations, together tional children's work director, ing houses to create playground with a review of a book or two, the missionary education depart- space; quarrying stone to build formed the program for a meet- ment of your Board of Christian a dam; clearing land for farming, and started the autumn Education, or similar organiza- ing, making roads – these and reading in a very effective way. tion, or to your church publish- other projects are done under ing house for specific informa- technical supervision and must Why not have a book meeting tion. be done right. sometime during the summer? If you do not wish to have dram- A Comparison Ha.rd labor is not all. Noone atized incidents from books, does the camp work for the there are many other ways in I thought of it once as I sat by myself workers. It is a cooperative which books can be introduced. And looked at the boxes that sat on enterprise and the campers must Perhaps you can secure some do camp work themselves. Then member, or some one else who the shelf, there are hours of study. Each is a well known reviewer of One so large, one so small, with a camp, with its relationship to books, able to give a really one of the areas noted above, thought-provoking book review contrast most grim. engages in serious study on the of one of the important books for A bandbox for me, and a mite-box for problems of the community and the coming year's study. The ways of working toward their one review may make up the en- Him. solution. tire program – one to which guests might well be invited, and I paid for my hat and I paid for my You could not do better for one which would stimulate the gown, your young people this summer reading of the book by every than to investigate with them member of the group. Such And I paid for the furs that I pur- this particular field of service books do not often appear, but chased down town, and other avenues of volunteer the type we have in mind is that work. of House of Exile (China), by And when I returned, it was plain as Nora WaIn, or the more recent could be– You could not do better than Himself (India), by Ramahai to guide them to that which is Ranade. A mite-box for Him and a bandbox the "moral equivalent for war, for me. in terms of a constructive and Vacation Church School and adventurous service." I tossed in a dime, but it didn't seem Mission Study right; For specific information about work camps, write to the Work Camp Com- Now is the time to survey the I couldn't be proud of that curious mittee, American Friends SerVice field of studies in world friend- sight; Committee, 20 So. Twelfth Street, ship and in the missionary work Philadelphia, Pa. of the church which are avail- So I took out my check book and tried able for Primary and Junior to be square; Another avenue for a different type study in the Daily Vacation of service may be found in the Chris- Church Schools which will be set For I wanted my giving to look like tian Centers in migrant groups. Write up this summer in thousands of my prayer. to the Council of Women for Home churches. Missions, 297 Fourth Ave., New York. -By Sarella Te Winkle, in Vacation Church School is an "The Missionary Monthly." There is adventure aplenty in takideal place for effective mission Used by permission. ing Vacation Church Schools to the study. Make sure that those in children of isolated regions of our charge of selecting the studies American Youth Can Serve country. Write to The International this summer are aware of the Council of Religious Education, 203 available texts along this line. One of the most interesting So. Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111., to ask developments of recent years is about that. the type of volunteer service made possible to American youth Student Peace Service secretaries under the American Friends are looking for Peace Volunteers to Service Committee. work this summer in America, Mex- ico and Europe. Pacifist youth will Since 1934, when the project find a thrilling service there. Write was started, the movement has grown. What is it?
Briefly, work camps are set up -there were six or seven of them in 1938 – where carefully selected college or university young people spend eight weeks
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
to Harold Chance, 20 South 12th since the preparation of entirely Koreans and Japanese, and Street, Philadelphia, for information. different menus would be im- green tea.
There are also innumerable practical. However, a dessert On the China table was a Chiprojects arranged by mission typical of each country was nese evergreen in a dragon bowl, served, as nearly as possible boards of various denominations. after the manner of that coun- and "water flowers." Woven Send out inquiries in various try. straw place mats were used, and directions, and try to plan a con- the place cards were Chinese structive summer of study and The centerpiece for the Mex- scenes, attached to tiny paper valuable experience, for the ico table was a bowl of cactus parasols. Rice wafers, crystalyoung people in your church or plants. Zinnias would be equally lized ginger, peanuts and "jas- appropriate, since this flower community. came originally from Mexico. mine" tea formed the dessert. A list of Chinese proverbs was An International Luncheon There were bright-colored doi- read, the Chinese being noted for lies, fiesta china and paper nap- their terse sayings. (We are indebted to Mrs. H. H. Fer- kins with a fiesta design. The guson for the following account) dessert was penuchi, strips of Chopsticks were provided for fresh coconut and coffee with those who cared to eat rice with An "International Luncheon," hot milk. them. given recently in Xenia, Ohio, was a social occasion with a pur- At the Philippine table, na- At Iran's table, the hostess pose: to create an interest in the tive-drawn work doilies were sprayed each guest's napkin peoples of far-away lands and to used, and as a centerpiece an with rose perfume (from the 10 promote world-mindedness by oriental bowl with brilliant cent store). Roses are grown in attempting to secure a better orange flowers. Place cards were Iran for the manufacture of perunderstanding of how other peo- hand made, using very tiny sea fume, so the centerpiece was a ples live, of their customs, their shells, glued to cards and tinted bowl of roses. Brass is much interests, their problems. Plans to represent flowers. The des- used in Iran, so the candlesticks, for the luncheon were rooted in sert was sliced pineapple, fresh tray and dishes for the dessert the idea of the oneness of the coconut and coffee with hot milk. were of brass; and since green human family. They can be is the Mohammedan color, the adapted to any group. For the West Indies, the cen- paper napkins, ink on the place Tables, each seating eight per- . terpiece was a pottery donkey, cards and the candles were sons, represented countries with tiny plants growing in the green. The dessert was turkish paste, dates and wafers. Black where Presbyterians are at baskets attached to his back. tea was served, guests putting a work. Since this group was not These donkeYis with their bas- lump of sugar in the mouth and large enough to represent all of kets are the common carriers in s,ipping the tea over it, according the sixteen countries, the follow- the West Indies. Little dolls, to Iranian custom. ing seven were selected: Korea, made of sea shells and popular China, India, Iran, Philippine with tourists, were used in the The afternoon program in- Islands, Mexico and the West decorations. A missionary friend cluded a few national songs, and Indies. A tiny national flag and in Santo Domingo sent a native items of news interest from vaa placard on each table indicated candy, made of coconut milk, rious lands. Guests were then the country represented; and to and hand tinted photo scenes in divided into two groups for a arrange the seating, the guests, the West Indies for place cards. "Prof. Quiz" feature, with thirty Another missionary in Porto questions of general missionary as they arrived, drew a slip bear- Rico sent guava paste for this significance, and a score of coring the name of one of the coun- rect answers was kept. Some of tries. The centerpiece, .and other table served as Porto Ricans like the questions. were: appointments of each table, sug- it with yellow cheese and crackgested the country. Some of the ers. At this table also, coffee What people are called a "nation of place doilies were paper world was served with hot milk. . Bible readers"?
maps, secured from Dennison'S, The hostess for the India table Has India more, or fewer people than New York. Place cards con- made "tied and dyed" plate the United States? tained a statement or question doilies, as this art originated about the country to provide con- with the Indians. Their favorite Name five living religions. Which religion has the largest num- ber of adherents?
versation topics.. At each table a flower, yellow marigolds, formed Narne three famous missionaries of "hostess," who had been previ- the centerpiece. At this table, the past.
ously supplied with facts, kept there was chutney, cashew nuts The success of such a lunchthe talk going about her country. and "sweets." Black tea was eon will depend upon planning The following ideas were car- served. well in advance, in order to se- ried out at the various tables. A A "dish garden" made the cure as much background inforlittle canvassing among friends, centerpiece for the Korea table. mation as possible. Denominaand consultation with mission- Place cards were supplied by a tional Boards will gladly supply aries or Board executives, will former missionary. For dessert, songs and proverbs, and interyield many other suggestions. there were rice wafers (from esting facts about all countries Rice was served as a part of the R. H. Macy's, New York), per- are to be found in the MISSIONmain course at all the tables, simmons, a favorite fruit among ARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD.
A Story for the
MOTHER'S DAY FIESTA "Ah, Ricardo, can't we do "Well, I have it here and I'm something?" The tears started By VIOLET WOOD, NEW YORK in Jacinto's eyes. "How good going to give it to you." you are! I did not even notice Ricardo, a Mexican boy, sat our mother's rebozo." "Could we possibly have that hunched over on his pony. He scarcely heeded the cattle as they "No, it is not that I am better one, just for the Mother's Day wandered about nibbling grass. than you, little sister. I am Then, as he heard someone older than you and notice such Fiesta?" Jacinto fairly shouted. shouting "Ricardo!" he looked things," responded Ricardo. up and saw his sister, Jacinto, "Yes," responded the teacher, running in and out among the "Now I am sad like you. Now gentle beasts, shouting: "Hi, the beautiful funny-faced pan- "and if you will make another Ricardo, hi!" sies in my garden no longer make me laugh." one to take its place, your mother As he looked at her he thought, "When I am a man I "There is our friend, Mrs. may keep this one. I'll give you shall buy her ribbons for her Turner, at the church," said hair so that she will not have to Ricardo. "She is the one who the patches and if you sew one tie her braids with shoe strings." spoke to the Senor of the ha- cienda and arranged that I small one every day, the rebozo "What's the matter with you, should take my father's place." Ricardo? Are you ill? Was the will be finished in time for our market-day too much for you "Yes," Jacinto clapped her yesterday?" she asked all in one hands. "Let us go to her dur- Christmas service next year." breath. ing the siesta." Ricardo and Jacinto threw "Ah, Jacinto, how you chatter, Since their mother worked in like a macaw, the noisiest of pa.r- the big house on the hacienda, their arms around Mrs. Turner rots," sighed Ricardo. Jacinto prepared lunch for her brother and herself in the little and then ran after her into her Jacinto, puffing, reached the white-adobe, one-room hut that pony and rubbed his nose affec- was their home. After lunch, little three-room house. Breathtionately. "But, Ricardo, why instead of sitting on the little are you so sad on this beautiful porch under the hanging peppers lessly watched her turn over the May day? We are to have fri- to enj oy their siesta, they set off joles and tortillas for lunch." at a fast pace to the Christian contents of her trunk. In it were Social Center to find their friend. "Tomorrow is the Mother's lovely soalrlaasp,esor(cwlaayterdijsahres~),bea- Day Fiesta." On the way Jacinto gathered sides an armful of wild geraniums "Ah, I have guessed. I know." and dahlias t.o give to their painted pig bank and a huge Jacinto danced around. "You friend. When they reached Mrs. are afraid you will forget your Turner's house, they bot h sombrero. Near the bottom of poem at the Christian Social stopped, suddenly frightened. Center. It is hard to speak Eng- The missionary welcomed them the trunk lay the rebozo made lish, but you are very smart, from her porch and finally Ri- Ricardo; you will not forget." cardo blurted out their problem, of hundreds of patches of gaily with Jacinto butting in tearfully "No, Jacinto, it is not that I every once in a while. colored calico, silk, rayon and fear to forget the English words." Ricardo shookhis head. "I know just the thing," said cotton. It was a beautiful shawl, Mrs. Turner. "You remember "T hen what?" J a c i n t 0 the Christmas pageant we had much more lovely than the usual shrugged. in the church last December?" black rebozo worn by the women. "If I ten you this, you must Ricardo nodded. not let our mother know I have Jacinto burst out, "But what There was great rejoicing in guessed. Promise me, Jacinto." has that-" "Oh, it has a lot to do with it," the little adobe hut when the "Yes, yes, Ricardo. It will be cried the missionary. "Rememas if you had not said it." ber that lovely patchwork rebozo next day the children gave their I made and which your Spanish "Our mother has no new re- teacher wore when she was the mother the rebozo! That evebozo to wear to the Christian Madonna?" Social Center. All the other "Yes," cried both children. ning in the Christian Social Cenmothers who have husbands are going to have new shawls, but [258 ] ter there was no prouder woman our mother has no husband to buy her a rebozo. She will be than the mother of Ricardo and unhappy." Jacinto.
Rkardo was so happy that he shouted his Mother's Day Fiesta poem. Jacinto could scarcely sit still. Mrs. Turner, the mission- ary, thanked God for having the chance to bring happiness.
Making Use of This Story To interest the child in the missionary project among Mex- ican children, who are our near- est neighbors. See how many Mexkan words he knows after reading the story.
1. hacienda (large estate). 2. fiesta (holiday). 3. siesta (resting period after lunch) . 4. frijoles (beans). 5. tortillas (corn pancakes). 6. rebozo (shawl). 7. plaza (city or village square). 8. sarapes (blankets worn by men). 9. so-mbrero (huge hat). 10. senor (Mr. or owner). .
BULLETIN
Council of Women for Home Missions EDITED BY MISS EDITH E. LOWRY, 297 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, N. Y.
I============================~ Vacation Time – Summer Women and girls. unfamiliar counter in our local tasks and to- with summer conferences often gether solve them. We learn to Conference think that their sole purpose is understand characteristics and to teach the mission study books. viewpoints of peoples from other Yes-vacation time does mean This is only one feature, an im- lands by our contacts with misa summer conference for an in- portant one, but many more sionaries and nationals. We see creasing number of women each courses are offered. It will be ourselves from their viewpoint. year throughout the United of interest to doubting ones to States. There are twenty-two list a few of the courses that Vision – with this fellowship Conferences and Schools of Mis- were successfully tried last sum- comes a new understanding, and sions affiHated with the Council mer at various schools. with this new understanding of Women for Home Missions, comes a loftier vision. A vision and the Committee on Women's Christian conduct today. which places us and our difficul- Work, Foreign Missions Confer- Leadership training in devotionals. ties in their proper relationship. ence. These conferences are held Normal class in leadership. A vision from a spiritual mounat various times from April Book reviews. tain top that gives courage to through October, planned to co- Building and administering a helpful descend to the valley, better preincide with the vacation season. pared to attack the work waiting The attendance ranges from one youth program. there. A vision of the whole hundred and twenty-five dele- Laboratory class in methods of pro- purpose-His Kingdom on earth gates at the smallest conference -and the part we each are privto more than twelve hundred gram building. ileged to contribute. delegates at the largest. They Planning worship services for girlsvary in length of time. A few 1939 Conferences * are for two days-devoting one including personal worship. day to Home Missions and the Christian citizenship. The mission study for 1939 other day to Foreign Missions. Problem clearing. will be developed around the Some are of four-day duration, Religion in art. 'theme "Christ and World Comand many take a full week for Women's work-social action-peace munity." study. It is interesting to note that the large majority of the -unity. "The Mission of the Church delegates are lay-workers and Girls' personality course. Abroad" will be studied against leaders, women and girls from Music in Christian education. the background of the material local churches. Women and Panel discussions on various phases of presented at the great missiongirls who have accepted offices ary conference held in Madras, of responsibility: president of women's interdenominational work India, in December, 1938. In the mission society or women's Round table discussions on Oxford no sense a report of the meeting, auxiliary, devotional I e ad e r, the study books will interpret chairman of worship services, and Madras. the valuable discussions on the teacher of a study book, teacher Infusion of missions in the whole life and work of the younger in the bible school, etc. One mis- churches and the major issues sions school reported local pas- church program. confronting all Churches of the tors as delegates and one confer- East and West in their common ence had four groups: children, We have been thinking and missionary enterprise of the junior girls, senior girls, and writing about courses and dele- coming years. The books are bewomen. Apparently local work- gates, now let us consider the ing prepared by S. Franklin ers, women and girls, realize spiritual benefits derived from Mack and Basil Mathews who that more serious study and a these gatherings. were in attendance at Madras. deeper consecration is of vital importance if they are to per- Fellowship-Understanding "The Mission of the Church at form their various duties accept- -Vision Home" will be presented in ably. It is also encouraging that courses showing the rich fruits the groups attending are com- Fellowship – with worn e n of home missions through a cenposed of younger women. from other churches, from other tury of pioneering, introducing denominations, from other coun- tries. A fellowship with mis- * A list of summer conferences for 1939 sionaries. A fellowship with leaders and teachers. Fellow- will be found on page 260. ships that ripen into life-long friendships. Friendships that call forth the best in us in re- membrance of our conference days together.
Understanding – in this close fellowship we share the prob- lems and difficulties we en- [259 ]
the new leadership and pointing ward, 902 North 6th Street, Cam- and power may be utilized) but out the new tasks for the home bridge, Ohio. also practical new ways of premissionary enterprise of the fu- Mountain Lake Park, Md.-July 19-25 senting the four projects-samture. Books are in preparation -Interdenominational Sum mer ple d ram a s, impersonations, by Arthur S. Limouze and Frank School of Missions. Mrs. F. I. symbols-as well as other inti- S. Mead. Johnson, 711 Lake Shore Boulevard, mate suggestions. about proce- Saint Cloud, Fla. dure so that various types of These books on home and for- women may become active: coleign missions will be taught at AUGUST lege girls, world travelers, inall the mission schools. Kerrville, Texas – August 10-16- valids, etc. Instruction in the Bible will Texas Synodical Auxiliary Training 3. The Publicity Sub-Commitbe given at the conferences. School. Mrs. George M. Smith, "The farther the ages advance in Route 2, Brownsville, Texas. tee is already at work on sample civilization the more will the articles for use in local news- Bible be used."-Goethe. Lake Geneva, Wis. – August 13-20- papers beginning a month ahead Summer School of Missions. Pres., of February 9, 1940, which is Let us strive toward a greater Mrs. W. P. Topping, 406 Center the first Friday in Lent next interdenominational cooperation Street, Elgin, Illinois. year. If you have something in all summer schools and con- good used in your own newsferences. The Council of Women Chautauqua, N. Y.-August 19-25- paper, do send it to us at headfor Home Missions and the For- Institute of World Missions. Miss quarters to share with others, eign Missions Conference are B. Louise Woodford, 930 23rd Ave- for much of our mail asks: eager to help foster this coopera- nue, North, St. Petersburg, Fla. "What shall we say and how tion and may be called upon for suggestions. Many conferences SEPTEMBER shall we say it?" Bradford, take an offering each year for Pennsylvania, mailed us an asthe two home and the two for- Warren. Ohio-September 5-6-School tonishing and glorious reproduceign projects. Let us all support of Missions. Mrs. George Konold, tion of our small blue "Call to these four projects – Migrants, 314 Scott Street, N. E., Warren, Prayer," enlarged to cover one United States G () v ern men t Ohio. entire huge page – including Schools for Indians, Christian Durer's "Praying Hands," all Literature, Union Christian Col- Minnesota (Minneapolis-St. Paul)- the prayer items, the poem, and leges in the Orient-by gifts as September 18-22 – School of Mis- the interdenominational commitis our custom on the World Day sions. Pres., Mrs. C. E. Heard, tees of church women sponsorof Prayer. 3020 Colfax Avenue, Minneapolis, ing it, with a significant line, Minn. reading: "This is not a paid ad- Let us include a summer con- vertisement." So somebody was ference in our vacation. Dallas, Texas – September 25-29- amazingly wide-awake to the School of Missions. Mrs. Mitchell challenging uses of creative pub- Conferences and Schools Langdon. Hutchins, Texas. licity! of Missions Houston, Texas – September 25-29- 4. The New Radio Sub-Com- Affiliated with the Council of Women Leadershin Training School. Dean: mittee will put into the handbook for Home Missions and t "e Com- Mrs. A. B. Haynes, 618 Highland several sample radio programs mittee on Women's Work,For- Avenue, Houston, Texas. of warm and reverent beauty for eign Missions Conference use on a local radio. It is none The World Day of Prayer too soon now to secure "time" DATES AND CHAIRMEN, 1939 for this local broadcast next It is the hope of the Commit- February 9. JUNE tee for the World Day of Prayer that each city has already called In case you have any splendid Winona Lake, Ind.-June 17-24-Sum- together its Day of Prayer lead- ideas to share with your World mer School of Missions. Miss Min- ers to garner their beautiful Day of Prayer Committee, please nie M. Rumsey, 685 Northmoor items, to list all unfulfilled send them to the Chairman, Miss Road, Lake Forest, Illinois. dreams, and plan to make these Margaret Applegarth. Room 63, come true in 1940. Boulder, Colo. – June 25-July 1 – 297 Fourth Avenue, New York. School of Missions. Pres., Mrs. To make all of us conscious of Henry F. Hoffman, 741 Adams the larger values at our com- A Letter from Kinston, Street, Denver, Colorado. mand, the World Day of Prayer North Carolina Committee has set up four sub- Eagles Mere, Pa.-June 2d-.Tuly 1- committees to concentrate on "Yesterday I served on an interde- Interdenominational Confer('nce of preparing sample suggestions to nominational committee to plan for Missions. Mrs. Earl B. Breeding, be gathered into a handbook, for the observance of the World Day of Palmer Avenue and Vernon Road, Fall publication. Prayer. It was most encouraging. Scarsdale, N. Y. We plan to have a program in each of 1. The Program Sub-Commit- the public schools at the chapel period Mount Herman, Calif.-June 24-July tee will have as its duty the prep- and to help the Negroes with materials 1 – Federate School of Missions. aration of three new programs- and plans for observing the day. Mrs. Grace C. Makinson, 201 Ridge- one for children, one for young way Avenue, Oakland, Calif. people, one for women; the lat- "Last year we had a most impres- ter to use the "findings" of the sive service in our church. This year JULY recent Madras Conference, so we will all meet in the Christian that all of us may share in the Northfield, Mass.-July 3-10-Mission- impetus· of new goals for our Church." ary Conference. Miss Edna M. Christian living. Springhorn, 19 Wayside Lane, Scarsdale, N. Y. 2. The Promotion Sub-Com- mittee will put into this hand- Bethesda, Ohio-July 10-14-School of book not only an ideal set-up for Missions. Dean: Mrs. John Se- a local Day of Prayer observance (so that all the innate richness
come to. believe that "might with the remark: "Please in-
makes right" because the in- form owners in America that The Future of Christianity vaders seem to get what they their property will receive good want without much effort. care." The writer of the article World Call asked a number Oof Where is justice, they ask, and describes the kind of care it is Christian workers in China to what is truth? Evangelists who receiving. "Its dormitories have give their reaction to the present stress the future life have con- been used to house troops, alsituation and the outlook for siderable influence on this group. though Japanese property near Christianity in that harassed by is unmolested. These troops land. Briefly, here are some of The other group argues that cook their meals by burning furthe replies: it is more important to struggle niture from the Woman's Build- in this life than to seek immor- ing. Its thirty-year-old trees "Though distressed, Chinese Chris- tality in the next; that it is use- have been cut down over our protians do not believe that God has for- less to speculate over anything test. University safes have been saken them, or that His purposes have so remote. Face the world, chal- rifled, although we informed the been defeated." – J. H. McCallum, lenge it, change it, say they; but Japanese that these safes con- Nanking. the tendency is away from reli- tained nothing but University gion. A number of this group record.s. At least one small *** were once Christian, but now building has been torn down. "Youth are interested in the Chris- they are uncertain as to just Efforts to remove the library tian message as never before. They what to believe. They are say- and laboratory equipment have are rethinking the meaning of life."- ing if Christianity has no effec- failed. Katherine Schutze, Nanking. tive solution for the ills of this chaotic age, sooner or later it Innumerable holes have been *** will disappear. cut in the long fences, and sneak thieves snag typewriters and "Every opportunity for worship, The Association Pre s s of microscopes at will. It is obvious Bible study or service is met with China has published a set of fifty that the local military want this radiant spontaneity. Said one young books and three sets of pam- property after the war is over, man: 'Our lives must be representa- phlets that will be of value to all and are doing all this to depretions of Him. What else should we be these inquiring minds. The view ciate its value, so that it can be about these days?' "-Edna W. Gish, expressed by a Central China bought at a fraction of its worth. Nanking. University student shows how It is valued at $2,000,000, is 100 obvious and how urgent is the per cent American property and *** need for guidance. This student is so registered with the United who was a Christian with a States Government. "The Bible teaches that Jesus came sound religious background said to bring life and liberty. Although he was weary of abstruse books "Near to the Heart of God" our suffering is unspeakable, still our on religion, as most of them canspirit is unbroken."-Pastor Lee Cho- not be understood; nevertheless, Dr. Frank W. Price, of Nanwu, Wuhu. if he could find a good one he king Theological Seminary, gave would study it diligently to see students of Cornell University a *** if there is any alternative to glimpse of China that is refresh- Christianity, and if so, how it ing: "The Church has found real roots could help solve their problems. in the lives of the people, and favor Rural churches in China are feeling with the Government. To us, it seems University of Shanghai their way to new forms of worship. the future of Christianity for the Chi- I have never felt so near to God as in nese has never been brighter."-Daisy An article in the Religious some little village chapel near the B. Slater, Nanking. Herald of Richmond, Va., clari- fields. A cross on a table, a few scrolls fies the situation in regard to the on the wall, some backless benches, *** University of Shanghai, still in but it all belongs to the people and to the hands of the Japanese Army, God. Songs, not merely translations "The Church is the only decent despite repeated promises to re- of our Western hymns but more and thing we have left from our past."- store it to the Baptist Mission. more Christian verse set to Chinese An Educated Chinese. One of these promises ended music, throbbing with the pain and joy, the longing and hopes of country What Students Are Thinking [261 ] life, and rich in rural imagery. I A contributor to the Chinese Recorder points out that the present time is a critical one for students; and divides them into two groups with regard to their attitude toward Christianity. One group is pessimistic. They have been seriously affected by the horrors of war i they have
think of the line in one hymn, "He is Ohristian Oolleges are too small to hold the people, the spring wind and I am the grass; and in some places it is neceslet him blow"; and of that hymn with The most recent reports tell sary to hold parallel meetings. an old ballad tune which Christian us that there are at present over Progress on the East coast is farmers in many parts of China now 6,000 students in all the Chris- constant. sing as they go to their work: tian Colleges in China. This is "Wearing our straw hats and carry- 2,000 more than the previous -Sunday School Times. ing our hoes, we go to our fields, year, and only 1,000 less than praising the Lord." In Shantung and the record of peace days. This JAPAN AND CHOSEN other provinces village Christians are condition is due to the tenacity singing whole sections and chapters of students and staff in the face Economy Must Be Observed of the Bible to old tunes that have of hardship and danger. All the come down through the centuries. To Christian Colleges are still in Orders have been sent from hear the twenty-third Psalm thus existence, although only two are Prefectural Headquarters to all chanted by a country congregation is conducting all their work on religious organizations t hat to be moved to tears. their own campus-West China economy must be pra.cticed in Union University and Yenching the following ways: erect no On Easter of last year I was with University in Peiping. Cheeloo more buildings than are abso- Frank Brown of Suchowfu in one of University carries on sections of lutely necessary; do not use gold the rural churches of his missionary its work on its campus in Shan- in ornaments and decorations; field. The Christians streamed in tung, but the Medical School and do not use gold thread, and limit from the villages and filled the little Science Department have moved as far as possible the use of iron, chapel to overflowing, so that we met to West China. lead and copper; contribute in the yard outside. Each came with waste products to the governa wild flower in his hand and greeted U. S. Property Returned ment; carry on festivals economhis fellow-Christians, "Ye-su fuh-ho ically; do not have elaborate liao, Jesus is risen!" More and more On March 9, Japanese mili- funerals and marriages; curtail the rural churches of China are giv- tary forces, after many months the holding of feasts and the giving the festival the place it deserves, of occupancy, returned Soochow ing of presents; for publicathe church festival and the Christian- University to its Southern Meth- tions, use a poorer grade of ized native festival. odist owners. The Japanese au- paper. thorities also informed the Service for the Wounded United States Government that Suggestions for work that they were returning the South- Christian churches may carry The "Christian Service Coun- ern Presbyterian School and on are indicated in a program cil for Wounded Soldiers in Mission property at Kashing in announced by the Nat i .0 n a l Transit" enlarged its program Chekiang Province, and the Christian Council: (1) In Jain January this year, the nine- Southern Methodist School at pan; comfort for the wounded teenth month of China's resist- Huchow in the near future. and memorial services for the ance to aggression. Headquar- Members of the Soochow Uni- dead. (2) In China. Cooperaters of the Council have been versity staff have returned to tion with comfort agencies in removed to Chungking, provi- start repair work, and resume China and training workers for sional capital, and soon after- work at the institution. evangelism. (3) InternationaL ward eleven service units were Cooperation wit h Christian established along the various -New York Times. agencies in other lands in corhighways, railways, waterways recting mistaken views of J aor other lines of communication The Tide Rising pan's policies, and contacting inthroughout the provinces of dividuals with letters and pam- Shensi, Hupeh, Hunan, Kwangsi From French Indo-China it is phlets. (4) Distribution of the and Kwangtung. Workers wait reported that revivals are Bible and publication of pamupon wounded soldiers at the spreading. The Mois are assem- phlets. on the "emergency." various stations, serve them food bling at almost any hour of the and drink, dress their wounds, day or night for testimony, Kagawa's "Ten Points" write letters for them and ren- praise and prayer. These simpleder all help needed by the war- minded children of the jungle In one address, Kagawa has afflicted men. have met God, know their sins given five points of achievement are forgiven, and are filled with of Christianity in Japanese life. During the past year, the joy. Annamese Christians have They are: personal piety, purity, Christian Service Council had been touched also through a Chi- respect for labor, the spirit of under its direct employ only nese evangelist, and their lives peace and the spirit of social about 100 workers, drawn from have been completely changed. service. As for peace, he says the various Christian churches, that while the Japanese people schools and hospitals in differ- Changes are coming about in have never particularly abhorred ent centers throughout the coun- Sumatra also, and Mohammedan war, they are calling the present try. This foundation group drew influence is on the wane. The war a "war for peace." This into their respective folds of Batak Christians now number idea can be traced to Christianservice a total of 2,000 men. A 400,000, and 28,000 were bap- ity; that is, it is a step in adtotal of 460,754 wounded soldiers tized last year. The churches were assisted during the past year. Generalissimo Chi a n g Kai-shek has expressed his appreciation for the invaluable service thus rendered.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
vance that they must find an ex- Government officials h a v e jian schools, both in the number cuse for war. of pupils and the quality of work been friendly; a preaching per- done. Most significant of all is the changed attitude toward In a different address he mit for any place at any time Christianity among all the peopointed out five mistakes in mis- was readily secured; but the ple of the Islands. No longer sionary work: too much de- priests had warned the people are expressions of contempt pendence on Japanese workers; that the Protestant devils had heard when a Christian passes failure to read Japanese news- horns, and were evil people. by; opposition is being suppapers; unfamiliarity with good This aroused great curiosity, planted by admiration. Whereas Japanese books; too little min- especially among the children. religion is fighting for its life in gling with Japanese people and As the evangelists approached, so many countries, in Fiji there not growing with the Japanese. however, most people would dis- are signs of a rising tide of re- The Church of Christ will take appear within and bar their vival. time, he says; maybe four hun- doors, but their windows re- mained open, so the workers Clothes for Pitcairn Islanders dred years. would stand on the street and An amateur radio in the home -Japan Christian Quar- preach in a loud voice, knowing of Mrs. Dorothy Hall of Long terly. there were many listening ears. Island, New York, is practically the only contact that the 215 A few of the bolder inquirers Pitcairn Islanders have with the outside world. Ships that hap- "Combating Superstition" came to the evangelist's home in pen to be in that latitude call in- in Formosa frequently, but no closer than day time, but most of them five miles because of the shoals. Islanders must row out to meet The rigorous "Nipponizing" sneaked in at the back door by them. Since Mrs. Hall made campaign under way in Formosa night. At one time the workers public an appeal for supplies and . were speaking to a crowd when medic-ine last July, as all the includes the elimination of the world knows, she has been in Chinese language, even from a woman with eyes tightly closed constant touch with the island, primary schools; all teachers are for fear of seeing something, and the descendants of the required to have a command of came groping through the crowd Bounty mutineers look upon her the Japanese language, which in search of her son who, she as their agent and savior. When- knew, was listening. Still an- ever supplies run short, or demeans that Formosan teachers other day, during a street corner sires are expressed, they appeal are replaced by Japanese. Jap- to Mrs. Hall by radio to make service, an old woman ran out of the purchase and expedite the anese must also be th!Ol spoken her house with a bolo, ready to shipment, thus saving many prelanguage in homes, and the knife the preacher. She was re- cious weeks; otherwise, they strained, but the meeting broke must wait for a ship to call and police check up as to whether up. take the order. A recent request this is being done; also, whether was for a white shirt to wear to church; and something to use families have replaced the old It is encouraging that teach- as a substitute for tea and coffee, since the islanders will not drink Chinese gods with Shinto deities ersand school principals have either for religious reasons. -this, to do away with "superstition"! Compliance with these open minds, and are anxious for Honolulu Again a Foreign requirements assures the head of Field the family a preference in get- students to have the New Tes- On recommendation of the' tament. -The Message. Finance Department of the Epis- copal National Council, Honolulu ting a local job, or success in his The Fijians Today has been restored to its former business; and conversely, with- status as a foreign mission field; and Bishop Littell of Honolulu out such compliance it is impos- The Governor, Sir Harry has been given discretionary sible to find a job, or carryon Luke, was in attendance at the power to allocate appropriations business. Fijian Synod last fall, and was for this field. Since 1935, Hono- lulu had been considered a do- presented a whale's tooth by the mestic missionary field.
ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC Fijians as a mark of their re- -The Living Church.
Victories in, Batanes Islands gard. The Governor told them that, as a fellow-Christian, he Up to 1937 there had never rejoiced in the evidences of what been a Protestant worker in the Christianity has done for Fiji Batanes Islands, in the extreme and the Fijians.
north of the Philippines. Two The Synod celebrated the 25th Baptist missionaries, Dr. and anniversary of Baker Hall, built Mrs. Culley, were the first to go, in memory of Rev. Thomas and left two Filipino evangelists Baker and seven Fijian Christo establish a permanent work. tians who were killed and eaten A total of 2'15 conversions are in 1867. The building contains noted in the latest report, and 12,000 stones, a fact which sugtwo young men from Batanes gested the text for the occasion: are studying at Manila Evan- "Ye also as living stones are gelistic Institute, in preparation built into a spiritual temple."
for returning to their province Educational progress has been as evangelists. marked in both Indian and Fi-
NORTH AMERIOA The Bible Goes to School the land, for the most part un- molested. Those five Indian Another Unfinished Task Gideon Bibles are going to chiefs and army officials met and Although the Christian forces school. Inspired by Canada's of the United States have been negotiated at the junction of the attempting for more than 300 three years of placing Bibles in years to evangelize the North Trinity and vKelraymsaptoht Rt hi vaet ras~aInnd- American Indians, only about the schools, the Gideons of it is on this half of the 350,000 profess to be either Catholics or Protestants· America adopted as their na- dian Presbyterian Church has while the other half are stili pagan. Sectarian divisions are tional objective ilnastthyeeanr~t"ioTnh'es been built, near the old Indian no doubt partly responsible; an- nation's Book other factor has been the enor- rancheria known as Weitchpec. mity o~ the task ?f evangelizing schools for the boys and girls of the whIte populatIOn as it moved About ten years ago when the westward from the Atlantic to America." Denver, Colo., was the Pacific, obscuring the need Rev. Emil A. Schwab became for evangelizing the Indian. the first city to follow out this p~stor of the Presbyterian In- Now that there are no longer dIan Chureh at Hoopa, he saw 'an any frontiers in the United objective on a large scale, al- States, the Christianization of the Indian should receive more though other states rapidly fol- opportunity to extend Christian attention. Notable work has been done by the Episcopal lo~ed. Six hundred and fifty work among the Indians at Church among the Sioux in South Dakota, and by Baptists BIbles have been placed in 63 Weitchpec; whereupon, a Sunand Methodists in Oklahoma. schools in Denver: Several sub- day School was osregtanuizped~nda -Christian Observer. preaching station urban schools have been sup- Are Americans Being Duped? plied, making a total of 700 ac- through the years services have tually placed in schools, at the been maintained. Lseacsut ryede afr ~oamn appropriation was last report. Contributions have come mainly from Colorado Sun- the Board of National Missions day schools. Gideons themselves which made possible the erection visit Sunday schools and present' of a church building. It was dedi- the plan. cated November 16, 1938. An The fact that copies go only interesting part of the dedica- to rooms requesting one is as- tory service was the reading of surance that it will be used. an historical sketch of the Mis- sion by a grandson of one of the Teachers read passages for a ~ornin~ devotional, they study five Indian chiefs who had a It as hterature, they use it in part in the negotiations over the memory work, they use it as ref- land. erence material.
EpDisrc.oWpa. lRuCshseulrlcBh,owNie~wof Grace Realizing the general lack of Ohristianity and National York, knowledge of the Bible, the Gid- Wealth recently expressed astonishment eons are preparing a list of ref- erences adapted to students; and Speaking before 500 business at ~he number of apparently in- an outgrowth of this whole proj- and professional men at a Chi- cago Chamber of Commerce te~hgent persons who are being ect n?w follows in the forming me~ting, W. A. McIntyre, Sal- of BIble research clubs in the vatIOn Army Commissioner for mIsled by under-cover anti- schools. These are regular the central states, said that the school clubs, each sponsored by Army has contributed two bil- Semitism. Exaggerated state- lion dollars to the wealth of the a member. of the faculty, and United States by the reclamation ments are made that are cal- they pr:ovIde both Bible study of over 200,000 "down-and- and socIal contact for Christian outers." When a citizen is lost culated to arouse dislike of Jews young people. The study in to society through drunkenness, as many thousands are every by people who pose as intelligent these clubs covers a wide range of subjects, such as archeology, ~ear! ther~ is !l- monetary value defenders of the truth. These astronomy and other sciences in the light of the Bible. mevItable m hIS restoration. An people are unwitting tools of -So S. Times. propaganda by groups who are using anti-Semitism as an in- strument to establish here the same sort of fascist regime as is in power in Germany and Italy. Here is the technique: Divide the nation into groups: get New Hoopa Indian Ohurch economist estimates the average ~me. ~roup to hate another; fasten an It was eighty-seven years ago person is worth $10,000 to the last October that five Indian InVIdIOUS label on every one who chieftains, representing tribes in country. Mr. McIntyre says northern California, met a milifst~aeneddosmf(orfa~Armpelraiyca; n ideals of honor tary commission and entered in- that in his life time he has seen call every cham: to treaties with the United plOn of JustIce a communist and every States Government whereby cer- 200,000 human derelicts, with no tain tracts of land were deeded Jew a communist; call every labor to the Indians. These treaties future but sapisrliatbuailnlythaendmophrygsu.ie~ have never been ratified, but the recovered lead,er in the North and every or- Indians have continued to occupy ~amzer of the pitiful share-croppers cally through the ministry of the I!l the South an enemy to the estab- Salvation Army. This means a ~Ishc:d order; call every defender of Jus~lce for the Negro a traitor to contribution to soc i e t y of whIte supremacy – in short stir up $2,000,000,000.
enough antagonisms and you will The totals mount when one make democracy unworkable and the adds the results of other rescue stage will be set for a Hitler.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
mISSIOns, and the ministry of stroyed. In all, the cash loss is friends with officials, and finally the churches. In commenting, approximately $10,000, but this gained permission to begin evanan editorial writer in the Watch- does not include loss of farm in- gelistic work. Although hunman-Examiner says that while come and that from damaged dreds of men crowded in to hear, one cannot approve of measur- buildings. when they were given their freeing the value of a life in dollars dom, they were soon back in and cents, this is nevertheless a ELMER E. GABBARD. prison for new crimes. Then language that business men the prison walls were made to understand; and that our eco- LATIN AMERICA ring with the warnings of God's nomic depression is in large part judgments on murder, theft, and the result of business leaders Student Pastor in Puerto Rico other forms of wickedness, toforgetting that Christianity pro- gether with the assurance of forduces far-reaching benefits to the The University of Puerto Rico giveness through Christ. Soon nation. is a growing institution. It has it was evident that "something" recently added several ne,w was happening. Tears flowed; Good and Evil Influences buildings, and its six depart- prisoners began to make a "clean ments have a faculty of 229, breast" of their sins and there A group of workers of St. with a total enrolment of nearly has been a mighty turning to Mark's Methodist Church in 5,000 students. For some time Christ in this prison. Many are New Orleans recently made a the evangelical churches of now reading the New Testament, survey of the French Quarter of Puerto Rico have hoped that an and some are genuinely conthat city, in which the church is evangelical pastor might be ap- verted. located, and report that this pointed to the University staff, a Quarter has about a dozen bad hope that has now been realized. A Nurse's Job in Guatemala influences to one good influence; Rev. Domingo Marrero, missionor, 285 bad influences and only ary in Santo Domingo for some Poverty, malnutrition and dis- 25 good ones. In the category years, a Methodist minister with ease underlie the picturesque of bad influences are 264 saloons excellent preparation, a fine beauty of Guatemala which touror beer parlors, six dance halls, speaker and strong in Christian ists admire. Miss Lucy Bestand fifteen gambling houses. education, was appointed to the wick, R.N., conducts a clinic in staff. He has already won the her home in Quezaltenango and Among the twenty-five good respect and affection of both stu- in the near-by villages. She has influences were eight churches, dents and faculty. learned to drive a car on roads eight schools, one park, two play- where a leeway of six inches begrounds, one library, one kinder- The Federation of Evangelical tween the car and precipice is garten, two health centers, and Churches of Puerto Rico re- considered ample, and where 72 two community centers. cently honored Mr. Marrero by hairpin turns in a distance of appointing him as executive sec- two miles make what Guate- -World Outlook. retary of the Committee of Re- malans call a good road. There ligious Education of that or- are regions, however, where the Flood at Buckhorn Mission ganization. nurse and her car cannot go- not because she fears the road The region around Buckhorn, Preaching to Prisoners but because there is no road; Kentucky, experienced the most then she takes her bag and disastrous flood in its history in F. J. Huegel, a missionary to climbs to whatever cornstalk hut January, and the waters did Mexico under the United Chris- may need her services. their worst on the premises of tian Missionary Society, has the Presbyterian Mission there. been a leader in prison work in Last summer typhus broke out The church was under eight feet Mexico. He writes in World Call and 87 died. Though it origof water. The Domestic Science of some of the difficulties. At inates in poverty and filth, the building, McKenzie Hall, Englis Xochimilco the Christian work- privileged class is struck down Home, the Geer Gymnasium and ers were told that if they would too. So Miss Bestwick set up an the store rooms were all flooded. teach the prisoners to read, and isolation hospital in a little evan- The water went into the second kill bed bugs, that would be more gelical chapel, where she and an story of the Domestic Science to the point than giving "a mes- Indian preacher who volunteered building and totally or partially sage of pretty words." Both to help, and twelve patients were destroyed all the weavings. Al- projects were undertaken on the left to fight it out. One patient most all the food supply that side, and the result was a group died; eleven got well. had been canned and dried and of Believers won after a year of placed in the new store room, preaching. Two years of preach- Colombian Christians built safe~ above the highest ing at Coyoacan had a similar water level 'known to the oldest result. Days in the s'addle, nights in citizens, was destroyed. a hammock, heat, insects, fatigue Mexican law forbids evan- are incidentals in an evangelistic The whole farm program of gelical activity in the federal trip over mountain trails in inthe school was disrupted, and prison, but when a young nurse terior Colombia, but these hardhope of returns from gardens, killed her lover and was put in poultry and dairy seem de- the prison, Mr. Huegel visited her. He took books, made
ships did not dim Mr. W. W. mosque in London, connected were granted religious liberty on Thomas' enthusiasm over the with the Ahmadiyya sect which February 17, 1848. Since that staunch qualities of Colombian is only about seventy years old. time, realizing that they must be Christians. Said he: "To use missionary, they have spread the your machete for chopping brush Hinduism has not formerly Gospel throughout Italy and toinstead of carving your neigh- favored proselyting but is now day they have churches, mission bor, to be a teetotaler, to be the conducting propaganda in Eu- stations and organized groups in husband of one wife, to read the rope and America, through their Italy, in Italian East Africa, in Bible and try to practice its swamis. Hindu publications are Uruguay and Argentina, and teaching – all these sound like issued in English and German North America. commonplace things to us; but as well as in Indian languages. they are not commonplace to the Many of the Hindu sects are Bible Study in France mountain villager in Colombia." closely related to Theosophy and some claim a considerable fol- As if tired of human theories, Mr. Thomas met a woman lowing of the yogi cults. French Protestants are drawing who told him she never used to closer to the Word, and forming know when her husband would A Waldensian Celebration Bible reading circles. Out of get home, because he simply this has come the formation of could not pass the cantina with- This year the Waldenses plan Bible study groups in a number out stopping to get drunk. "But to celebrate the 250th anniver- of churches. In one church an now," she said, "I still never sary of their "Glorious Return." entire afternoon was given over know when he'll be home, but After the revocation of the Edict to a detailed study of selected that's because he can't pass. any- of Nantes by Louis XIV of portions of the Bible. In another body on the trail without stop- France, the Waldenses in Italy place, sixty young people were ping to tell him what Christ has suffered greatly from ruthless seen bent over their Bibles in done for him, and urge the other persecutions. In 1687 the small meditation. Observations made man to become a Christian too." remnant were allowed to flee to by these young people, whose Switzerland and there they kept training and environment had -:-Monday Morning. alive their love for religious lib- given them no special aptitude erty and for their valleys in for Bible study, showed a grasp EUROPE Northern Italy. Two years later, of Scripture truth. in August, 1689, Pastor Henry Asiatic Missions in England Arnaud led about 600 men across -Sunday School Times. the Alps to the Waldensian Val- Rev. G. Francis S. Gray, a leys, where, against superior Religions of Central Europe missionary of the S. P. G., when forces of French and Italian on furlough, made an investiga- soldiers, they rewon their home- Practically every European tion of the activities of Bud- land. This "Glorious Return" creed may be found in Czechodhists, Moslems and Hindus in will be celebrated in Italy in slovakian territory. Here live England. He visited the head- August and the first week in Roman Catholics, Lutherans, quarters of the two main Bud- September. Calvinists, Jews, Roman Uniates, dhist organizations. One is the Old Catholics, Baptists, Metho- "Buddhist Lodge," which has The Western Section of the dists, ultra-patriotic Czechoslobeen in existence for about fif- World Alliance, which met in vak National Church, Greek Orteen years and was formerly a Pittsburgh, February 28-March thodox, Pietists, agnostics and branch of the Theosophical 1, adopted resolutions express- atheists. Presidents Masaryk Society. Its work is largely ing their congratulations to the and Benes were of the Hussite devoted to the translation of Waldensian Church, and calling tradition; the present premier Buddhist classics. The other this historic event to the atten- is a Roman prelate. Roman Buddhist Mission (also called Catholics embrace about two the British Maha Badhi) with tion of Protestant churches.* thirds of the population; less headquarters in London, is con- than a tenth are Protestant, the nected with Ceylon Buddhism The Waldenses are the oldest two ma,in subdivisions being and is more intent on propa- survlvmg evangelical church Lutherans and Calvinists. The ganda. It was founded in 1926 group in the West. Their his- Moravians, some of whom setby a Singalese but the monks torY is continuous from the tled in Bethlehem, Penna., total find it difficult to observe their twelfth century to the present about 8,000 in Czechoslovakia. religious rules in the climate of day. Their missionary efforts Congregationalists n u m b e r England. at one time covered most of Eu- 7,000, Methodists 8,000 and Bap- rope and their influence was tists perhaps 3,000 Smaller Islam in Epgland is repre- strong in the Latin, Germanic, American sects, such as Russellsented by two sects. There are and some Slavic lands. The ites, Pentecostals and Seventhonly two mosques but a number Waldenses helped prepare for Day Adventists are represented. of Moslem prayer houses, mainly the Protestant Reformation by There is also a group of some for Eastern M 0 s I ems. One sending missionaries and the 600,000 seceding Catholics who mosque at Woking is staffed by Bible throughout Europe. They resemble in their beliefs the Indians, graduates of Indian universities. There is another • Suitable music and other helps for the celebration of this anniversary may· be ob- tained from the American Waldenslan Aid Society, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York,
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Alnglicans of the time Qf Henry to its readers last December to. tiQn fQr the purpQse o.f spreading the VIII. kno.wledge amo.ng o.ther peo.ples., cQntribute to a fund to supply that they, to.o., might be made In the midst Qf cQnflicting ra- happy thro.ugh its ,blessings. cial claims Qf Czechs, SIQvaks, destitute Russians all o.ver the These charitable o.rganizatio.ns PQles, Ruthenians, Sudetens, WQrld with free Bibles. This send o.ut their educatio.nal mis- Magyars, Jews, Rumanians and met with pro.mpt and hearty re- siQns, supply them with mo.ney Gypsies, the religiQus aspect Qf SPo.nse on the part o.f Swedish and supPo.rt them in every way, the CzechQslQvakia prQblem have Christians, and in one month fo.r no. o.ther purpo.se but sincere been largely Qverlooked. This about $2,500 were sent to. the service fo.r humanity's sake and seems all the mQre remarkable o.ffice of the paper fo.r this pur- fQr the lessening Qf its afflictions. since this is the land Qf J Qhn pose. With this sum, 6,000 co.m- Wherever these missiQns have Hus, Qne of the fQunders Qf plete Russian Bibles can be sent, gQne, they have becQme angels PrQtestantism. and several societies are now Qf mercy and examples of per- busy distributing them amo.ng fect fulfilment of duty. "God. Seekers" in Yugoslavia Russians in the Baltic States, Po.land, Czecho.slovakia, Ruma- "If the noble feeling, that o.f The Watchman-Examiner re- nia, France, Brazil, Argentina sincere cQoperation among na- PQrts a new religiQus mQvement and Manchuria. tions, permeated the individuals that is sweeping over YugQ- of society and brotherhoo.d of slavia. More than 400 brQther- AFRICA love were spread among all, then hQQds have been Qrganized and all nations would be the memtens Qf thQusands Qf members Leaders for New Egypt bers of one family, and most huhave been enrQlled. TheyadvQ- man tro.ubles would be ended." cate a return to. the Qriginal In 1921 Wilbert Smith went primitive life of the evangelists., to Cairo. with a co.mmissio.n and -The Moslem World. free frQm the "burdens" of an idea. The co.mmissio.n was to. earthly PQssessiQns, and call start an Egyptian Y. M. C. A. Spiritual Progress in themselves "GQd-seekers.." Many Friends in America provided the Sudan thQusands are said to be giving $275,000 for a building, and away all their possessiQns and England and America provided C. M. S. missionaries tell of a j Qining this movement. five secretaries. But the idea remarkable spiritual movement was more difficult to put thro.ugh. in parts Qf the Upper Nile re- Galicians Eager for Gospel It was that the new Y. M. C. A. gion, with schools, hospitals and must be manned by Egyptians churches all flourishing. Mrs. Last year, in the Galician re- and stand o.n its o.wn feet. Now, K. G. Fraser writes in the Life giQn Qf pQland, wQrd was sent after 18 years, eight o.f the ten of Faith: Qut that an evangelical Christian secretaries are Egypitians and meeting WQuid be held in Qne Qf o.nly two. are Americans. The s c h 0 01 s and dispensaries the villages, and five thQusand throughout the country are packed perSQns responded by attending, The first Egyptian to. become with people, and on Sundays the SQme Qf whom had traveled 35 a Y secretary had been an ardent crowds are so great that they have miles. nationalist, and tho.ught the Y overflow meetings at every center. o.ught to. be destroyed, so he At Chief J ambo's there are over 1,000 This meeting was Qne Qf the j Qined it in Qrder to. bo.re fro.m people every Sunday morning. In addevelQpments. Qf the interna- within. Now he is more reSPo.n- dition to sixteen out-schools there are tiQnal Christian WQrk carried Qn sible than any other man for now ten preaching places, and quite with the help of the Central Bu- pro.ducing the yo.ung leaders 10,000 people hear the Gospel every reau for Relief o.f Evangelical both in bo.ys' and men's depart- Sunday. Several well-known witch Churches in Europe, begun ments who. are interpreting doctors have broken up their charms twelve years ago. The work in Y. M. C. A. ideals to. the youth and destroyed their entire parapher- Galicia no.w has 18 salaried pas- of the natio.n. Another of the nalia, and are attending services and tors, 75 grQUps of worshippers, eight is now studying in the New classes regularly. 40 organized churches, 3,020 York Schoo.l of Social WQrk, and recognized church members and plans to. return to. Egypt for spe- There are not enough beds for all 2'0 Sunday Schools. Of the 40 cial work in this field. the patients in the hospital at Lui, and Qrganized cQngregations, five as for schools, about 80 attend the meet in chapels. The remaining Honor to Mission Schools Girls' Classes, sixty the Women's 35, until they receive aid in School and over 200 pupils are in the erecting buildings conforming to. The Governor Qf Assiut PrQv- Boys' School. Sale of Gospels has the local law, meet in peasants' ince, Egypt, in addressing 2,000 gone up by leaps and bounds. In short, cottages consisting of one living at the co.mmencement exercises the increase in the Christian commuroom each. of Assiut College, said: "One of nity has far outstripped the resources the accepted human principles is in teachers and evangelists. It is re- Bibles for Russians that individuals coo.perate in ported that 11,000 Christians are in o.verco.ming difficulties, the the care of one African pastor, the A Swedish Christian paper, strQng helping the weak. Gro.ups nearest missionary being 80 miles Hemmets Van, issued an appeal Qf charitably inclined individ- away. uals have gQne ahead in civiliza- Nigeria Opens Its Doors The establishment of leper set- tlements by the Sudan Interior Mission, the Sudan United Mis- siQn and the C. M. S. in several
provinces of Nigeria has gained boys play football with bare menian and Syrian Evangelical the good will of the people to feet, harder than boots, and the Churches. The Bible Lands such a degree that missionary native band at the game dis- Union for Christian Education work is now possible in the for- courses "The Swanee Ribber" conducted a successful Sunday merly closed Moslem emirates of on instruments of bamboo joints. School Institute and the Arme- Kano, Katsina Zaria and Sokoto nian Christian Endeavor Socie- Provinces. The above named mis- It should be further noted that ties held a large and enthusiastic sions are caring for about 800 the white man's prestige is prac- conference whose results are belepers. With government assist- tically a thing of the past. In ing evidenced in various direcance the Brethren mission is car- the commercial world the su- tions. The British Syrian Mising for 500 lepers and the Dutch perior,educated native has dis- sion and Danish missionaries Reformed Church for 400 more. placed the inferior w hit e. also held a ten-day summer Natives are to be found in large school. In the Steps of Dan Crawford offices and banks, using compli- cated cash registers and type- The Near East School of The- Mr. Ernest Salisbury, mis- writers, and keeping their firm's ology, another union institution, sionary of the Brethren, last ledgers. Many of the captains graduated five students last year visited the district around of large transport steamers are year; two were women. Hospi- Luanza Mission, Elisabethville, natives, as are postmasters and tals of the American Mission in Belgian Congo, where Dan traders. Tripoli and Deir-ez-Zor, and that Crawford labored for so many of the Edinburgh Medical Misyears. He describes a confer- -Sunday School Times. sionary Society in Damascus are ence of native Christians, which all filled and several young began each day with a devotional WESTERN ASIA women have completed their message and prayer. This was training as qualified nurses. followed by a study of Paul's Religion in Turkey Epistle to Titus, presented in a -NearEast Christian Counhelpful manner. Gospel services There is a distinction between cil N eW8 Bulletin. were held in the evenings, and official and personal attitude toon the closing day four converts ward religion in Turkey. Offi- Two Bible Societies Combine were baptized. Nine persons in- cially, Turkey is completely secdicated their desire to become ular, but religion is respected The American Bible Society Christians. because it is ingrained in the life and the British and Foreign and thought of the people. Tur- Bible Society have combined Mr. Salisbury's tour of the key has not suppressed religion, their work in the Near East, Luanza district covered 350 but has separated religious and and have established headquarmiles, including a visit to the tin secular authority which were ters in Beirut. The American mines where thousands of na- formerly united in the Sultan. Press is the chief publishing tives are employed. At the In thousands of mosques and in agency for the Society. During hospital no fewer than 200 pa- hundreds of churches and syna- one recent four-month period, tients are treated daily. Bibles gogues worship goes on unhin- 40,000 Bibles and portions were had been given to a number who dered. Four evangelical churches shipped out, most of them to the had shown their keenness in in Istanbul hold services as Port Said depository. In addievangelistic work, while two na- usual. tion to Bibles, the Press prints tives had been sent as colpor- textbooks and other publications. teurs to villages near the mines. No religious training for chil- A monthly magazine issued by A three-room house has been dren is permitted, except at the Press goes to North and erected for untainted children of home, but there is a good oppor- South America, as well as to leper parents.-The Christian. tunity for mission Sun day Asiatic and European countries. schools. Schools have been sec- Palestine, Iran and other Arabic- Changes in Nyasaland ularized and mosque schools speaking countries are good cus- suppressed. Early morning call tomers for literature. These are suggested by the re- to prayer has been discontinued; cent dedication of a memorial Sunday is now a legal holiday Results Among Moslems window in the mission church instead of the Mohammedan Friat Ekwendeni, representing Luke day. The sale of Christian lit- It is sometimes said that a and commemorating the minis- erature is limited by censorship. hundred years of effort to contry of Dr. Walter A. ElmsIie; vert Moslems have not produced the singing of Ngoni songs with Progress in Syria results. A report of the Near Christian words, and Scottish East Christian Council, while psalms as well. Tales of sav- This country, too, has its prob- admitting that the number of agery are all but incomprehen- lems, but mission schools report converts is not large, calls attensible to Ngoni young people of advance. Aleppo College has tion to the incalculable change today, who are happier by far erected new buildings and over that Christian thought and than their forefathers. There 275 have enrolled. This School ideals have wrought upon Islam. are slave raiders no longer. The is a united undertaking of the The reports reminds that it is American Presbyterian Mission, not required of stewards that the American Board and the Ar-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
they be successful, but that they Indian Communal Groups Dr. John McKenzie, Principal of must be "faithful." Wilson College, was elected Mod- Recently, the Near East Chris- The National Missionary So- erator, an appointment for three ciety of India has now eleven years. tian Council has been looking fields in India. The work is carinto the reasons for the lack of ried on in association with neigh- Communicant membership of definite results. The inquiry boring missions, and comprises the United Church of Northern has centered around two ques- district work, hospitals, an ash- India stands at present at 77,000, tions : (1) "What special hin- ram and a college. Thus, the all- while the adherents. number well drances make work for Moslems India society has extended its over 200,000. The India Mission less successful than similar ef- work into almost every branch of the Lutheran, and of the Reforts for other people?" and (2) of the Christian missionary en- formed Church in America, were "What changes in methods or terprise. The Poona and Indian incorporated with the United line of approach offer hope of Village Mission, in its last re- Church of North India, after better success?" The two hin- port, faces up to the results of nearly six years of negotiating. drances stand out: Christian itswork. It describes its bapteaching does not mean the same tized converts for the last five Another action taken by the to the Moslem as to the Chris- years as numbering eight. The Assembly had to do with a protian ; and to the Moslem a change churches, which meet almost en- posed foreign mission project. of religion involves a change of tirely in compounds, consist of Definite plans submitted by the group connection and loyalty. Christians entirely dependent Foreign Missions Committee on the mission. There cannot be were approved by the Assembly, The best way to overcome in the whole area more than and the Church will now be these hindrances is first: more fifty-five Christians not depend- asked to support its own mission devotion, more prayer, more ef- ent on the mission; some of the in East Africa. Almost all the fort, more faith, more love; and latter are not in regular attend- Church Councils are supporting second, a way must be found ance, and the names of others are home missions within their own around the obstacles, so as to not even on the church rolls. bounds. avoid a frontal attack on the There are altogether in touch Moslem position. This requires with the mission about one hun- -Presbyterian Register. a sympathetic understanding of dred and sixty individuals. the Moslem mind. Efforts should Growth in Elementary Schools center about making J e sus It should be remembered that Christ known as a personality, India moves in com m una I One of the changes of the last rather than on doctrinal discus- groups, and that work for indi- decade has been the phenomenal sion. New converts should be viduals often causes a deadlock. increase in the number of chilled to develop such a sympathetic One missionary relates his ex- dren going to school; indeed, relationship with their neigh- periences in Hyderabad State, there has been a marked advance bors that a spiritual fellowship where he had refused to baptize in all stages of school training; will follow. individual converts until they but according to the Minister of had made every effort to win Education in Lahore, what is -American Mission Report. their relatives and friends. On now needed is not so much quan- one occasion he took a number titative expansion as consolida- INDIA, BURMA, SIAM of these unbaptized converts tion of what· has been under- with him, and they visited in a taken. He would like to see the Hunger for the Gospel team the relations and friends of system of education in schools to each throughout the district, be based on community work- A convincing evidence of In- with the result that in a few more on actual observation of dia's hunger for the Gospel is months one thousand were under things and facts and nature found in the statement of an preparation for baptism. study than on mere cramming English Methodist missionary in and the reading of officially prethe Deccan. He says that in his -Australian Missionary scribed textbooks. thirty-eight years of missionary Review. service he has never yet gone to Not in costly buildings, but in a village for evangelistic work United Church of North India thatched houses, if need be, he without being called to it by the would have students trained in people thems.elves. During the A successful General Assem- simple living and high thinking; past three or four decades the bly of the United Church of with more attention given to dedemand for copies of the Chris- North India was held early this velopment of mind and chartian Scriptures has far exceeded year in Bombay. From nineteen the supply. Similar conditions acter. -Agricultural Mission Notes.
exist among the Bhils of West- Church Councils, or Presby- A Note on Prohibition . ern Central India. During the teries, covering an area from past three years the North India the Northern Panjab to Assam, The following observation on United Church has baptized Rajputana and Central India, the prohibition campaign is en- thirty thousand from among some 100 delegates gathered. lightening. A correspondent of Some delegates traveled more the Daily Times of India who these primitive peoples.
-Dnyanodaya. than 3,000 miles to be present. has been investigating economic
conditions on behalf of the Bom- these versions is told by Rev. than 1,000 consecutive cases bay Industrial Survey Commit- J. M. S. Hooper in his recently there has not been the loss of tee, made a special study of the published book, "The Bible in any mother. With the medical effects of the "No Drink Cam- India." care has gone the presentation of paign" on the lives of some fish- the Gospel of Christ. ermen. Here is his report: Baptist Union a Reality Bangkok is a difficult field for About 42 fishermen of Kumta were The Baptist Union of India, evangelistic work. In the hustle working in cooperation and owned a Burma and Ceylon is an accom- of such a city, it is difficult to rampan (big net). As was their cus- plished fact. The tentative or- make lasting contacts. A good tom, before going on work with the ganization was set up at Bala- time to present the Gospel is durrampan and after coming from it they sore in February, 1936, a con~ ing the first few days following used to take toddy, all sitting in a stitution was agreed upon and a the birth of a child. To many it circle. Apart from this each of them panel of officers elected. Seven~ is the beginning of plans for also invariably had his bottle or two teen of the various Baptist family life and the home. To in the evening. Excluding this quan- groups ratified the constitution. others it is added responsibility, tity taken on individual account, I An inaugural session of the as well as greater joy to be found that the 42 fishermen spent, be- Union has recently been held, shared. A sympathetic interest, tween November 1937 and February and a president has been elected. with Christ-like care and atten- 1938, Rs. 800 on drinks. In short, Words of greeting from Karens, tion, are bringing results. what was happening was that the in- Burmans, Telugus, Panjabis, come of the male members was being Bengalis, Assamese and head -Siam Outlook. spent on drinks, and it was the woman hunters were a demonstration of who was supporting the family with the power of the Gospel. The Siam – Land of the Free her slender earnings. All this is central theme placed before the changed now. About 90 per cent of delegates at this first session The Siamese have maintained these fishermen are not drinking to- was "All one body in Christ." their independence for the past day. A small number of them have 600 years. Their ancient name freed themselves from debt and have -Baptist Missionary for themselves is thai, free. Just opened accounts with the post offices. Review. now, in this totalitarian age, They have also given up their set no- they are experimenting with a tion that fishing is impossible without Buddhist Missionaries constitution and representative toddy. Small artisans outside the from Siam government. "dry" area want prohibition in their areas too. But the real contribution The Siam Chronicle reports Siam is surrounded by broadof the experiment is seen in the eyes that a group of Buddhist priests casting stations – at Singapore, of the womenfolk. are about to set out from Ceylon Batavia, Hongkong, Calcutta, so on a missionary tour. Starting that all the currents of world How the Bible Came to India from India, and going east thought sweep over her. Her through Burma, Siam, Ind~ political patterns are new, and The honor of giving India her China, China and Japan, they her leaders are young. It is sigfirst Bible belongs to German expect to take three years to go nificant that they take up their missionaries of the Lutheran around the world. In America responsibilities with a heritage Church, who went out in 1706. and Europe they will investigate of religious liberty, unhampered There have been Christians in conditions to see what advances by a racial inferiority complex, Travancore for 1,500 years-Ja- of the Buddhist religion can be less bound by tradition than cobites, converts of early Syrian made in those two areas. Also most Orientals, unafraid of new missions, but no attempt was there are many young men in ideas. All this constitutes a made to provide the Bible for the Ceylon studying, in preparation striking challenge to the Chrisconverts. The Church of Rome to go wherever there may be an tian missionary forces, since nohas been in India for 500 years, open door for the teaching of where else in the world is Budand has today nearly 8,000,000 Buddhism. dhism so well organized and members, but only recently has firmly established as in Siam. any translation of the Scriptures For Mothers and Babies Protestant work there is largely been done under the auspices of the responsibility of the Presbythis Church. While Bangkok has some fine terian Church. The task was hospitals with modern equip- faced at aconferenc·e in Feb- In 1857, the year of the Sepoy ment, they are not adequate to ruary, when a program of evan- Rebellion, the British and For- care for young mothers and new- gelism was outlined for the imeign Bible Society appointed a born babies. Fifteen years ago, mediate future. committee to prepare a union the Presbyterian Mission in version of the Bible. An earlier Siam assigned Miss J. Christen- For the past five years, the Tamil version, translated by Lu- sen to Bangkok, to work out young king Ananda Mahidol has therans, had served the purpose some plan for helping in this been studying in L a usa nne, of introducing the Book, al- great problem. Switzerland. In November he though it had many defects. The went to Bangkok to open the pr.inciple races of all India now Government approval of her newly-elected parliament and atpossess the whole Bible, trans- work has been given for, in more tend to various official duties. lated by men like William Carey and Henry Martyn with the help -Foreign Affairs Bulletin. of Indian scholars, and finally revised by committees of the Bible Societ.y. The story of all Our Missionary Bookshelf Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information Studies in Popular Islam. By Samuel social worker, builder, truck ments, explicit and tacit. It can M. Zwemer. 8vo. 148 pp. $2.50. driver, preacher in three lan- Macmillan Co. New York. 1939. guages, Bible class teacher, and be expressed in words (verac- has trained a very efficient staff Forty years of study and ex- of native nurses. The frontis- ity) , or in actions such as fulperience has made Dr. Zwemer piece, showing a Burmese doctor an authority on this subject. As a and his wife and twenty-nine filment of contracts, and in missionary to Moslem lands, edi- nurses belonging to his Amertor of The Moslem World, the ican Baptist missionary hospital habits such as fidelity, loyalty, author of many books on Islam, at Namkham, Burma-where he wide travel and recently Pro- has been in charge for seventeen and dependability. A lie is an fessor of History of Religion and years-is most impressive. He Christian Missions at Princeton, is a graduate from Johns Hop- attempt to deceive without conhe has gathered an immense kins University and a fourth amount of information. Above generation missionary, the great- sent. It may not succeed; yet if all he writes with sympathy for grandson of Rev. J. H. Vincent, the good points in Islam, but a pioneer missionary to Burma. it tries to deceive it is a lie from with understanding and convic- Mrs. Seagrave is evidently a tion as to the supremacy of wonderful partner in service. the moment that it crosses the Christ and His Gospel. If you would like to know how liar's lips.." Xes and it may start This volume takes up the use a ,good pioneer missionary doctor of the Moslem prayer beads, the "wastes" his time, of his adven- farther back than the lips. Ka'aba at Mecca, the sword of tures on the road, of the way he Islam, their calendar with feasts "holds the fort" against attack- Dr. Cabot's great book is in and fasts, traditions, supersti- ing tribes from China; if you are tion, sorcery and charms; the interested in amusing incidents, three parts: I-Definitions; 11- Koran and its translations, the tragedies, near tragedies and prophet and the worship of triumphs – physical and spir- Selected Problems in Honesty Adam. Here is an excellent but itual-we recommend this book. brief description of faith and It is easy, fascinating reading and Dishonesty, and III-Phipractice in Moslem life. for young and old,for doctors and laymen. losophy of Honesty. It faces Tales of a Waste-Basket Surgeon. By Dr. Gordon S. Seagrave. 265 Honesty. By Richard Cabot. $2.50. honestly the problem of honesty pp. $1.50. Judson Press. Phil- 326 pp. The Macmillan Co. New adelphia. 1938. York. 1939. and tells the truth about lies.
In an informal, chatty way, This is clear ozone, purifying Here is solid foundation for Dr. Seagrave tells many inter- and penetrating. According to esting experiences of his life as Dr. Cabot's sound doctrine a lie character and human trust and a pioneer missionary doctor in is a lie and it is always wrong. North Burma. The "waste- He agrees with Dr. Henry Clay right relations between men and basket" does not indicate the Trumbull's position: "A Lie quality of his work but the des- Never Justifiable." Honesty and nations. R. E. SPEER. tination of his patients if no truth are obligations not to be skilled medical help had been tampered with, never to be com- Abraham to Allenby. By G. Fredavailable in their time of dire promised. There is no room here erick Owen. Illus. 8vo. 351 pp. need. As it was, he saved many for Dr. Joseph Collins' physi- $2.50. Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. lives and won unbounded grati- cian's lie. Dr. Cabot is a physi- Grand Rapids, Mich. 1939. tude by this free and loving cian too,and he can find no place service. in a physician's pharmacoopia for Palestine and its history are a lie. And he has his clear defi- important and fascinating from Dr. Seagrave is a true pioneer nitions: "Honesty is the will and many points of view – political, among a primitive people. He the effort to keep one's agree- racial, archeological, geological, is not only physician and sur- cultural and religious. The augeon, but sanitary engineer, [271 ] thor of this large volume has de- voted twelve years to research in preparation for this important popular study. He spent some time with the American School of Oriental Research at Jeru- salem and his books of reference include one hundred contribu- tions to archeology, Biblical and secular history and kindred sub- jects. (He has, however, omitted many important volumes, such as those by Morton, George Adam Smith and George L. Rob- inson.) In popular and vivid narrative style Mr. Owen tells the story of God's call to Abraham to leave Dr of the Chaldees. He carries on the story of the history of Abraham and the children of It Will Be Daybreak Soon. By conflict in China is. not warfare Israel, through Egypt, the wil- Archibald Rutledge. 12mo. 129 pp. but wholesale massacre, rape derness wanderings., the period $1.25. Fleming H. Revel! Co. New and robbery. It is a horrible of the Judges, the Kings, the York. 1939. tale and would have been much exile, the Maccabean period, the worse but for the presence of time of Christ, on through the The American Negro is an in- courageous missionaries and apostolic days, the Arab con- teresting character, intensely hu- other foreigners. quest, the crusades, the rule of man, full of humor, a sense of the Turks up to the capture of God and a nearnes,s, to nature. By Life and By Death. Lessons from Jerusalem by the British under Mr. Rutledge was born in South the Diary of John C. Stam. By General Allenby. It is a check- Carolina in 1883 and is Poet E. Schuyler English. Illus. 12mo. ered history very briefly told, the Laureate of his native state. He 62 pp. 50 cents. Zondervan. Grand early portion following closely understands the Negro of the Rapids, Mich. 1939. the Biblical narrative. The story South and has written several is carefully annotated with copi- books of poetry and prose. In The Christian world knows ous reference notes to each 1932 he received the John Bur- the story of the martyrdom of chapter. roughs medal for "the best na- John and Betty Starn in China in ture writing" in America. This 1934. Their testimony is beau- Preaching-The Doctrines of Grace. volume pictures life on a South- tiful and powerful and abiding. Compiled by Roland G. Leavell. 8vo. ern plantation and reveals the Here are striking extracts from 150 pp. $1.00. Boardman Press. fine character and native ability John Starn's diary written dur- Nashville. 1939. of the old-time Negro. His ing the last three years of his sketches reminds one of some of life. Mr. English has drawn les- Present-day interest in evan- the best features of books on the sons from his courage, his faith, gelism has led the 'Superintend- Negro by Thomas Nelson Page his love and experience. It is ent of Evangelism of the South- and Booker T. Washington. stimulating to faith and sacriern Baptist Convention to collect ficial living and is especially apsome "orthodox" and very help- Green Timber. By Esther Gerberd- pealing to youth. This makes a ful messages from fifteen evan- ing Hunt. 8vo. 220 pp. 75 cents. good companion volume to "The gelical Baptist preachers. They Board of Publication of the lJ nited Faith of John and Betty Stam" deal with such Christian doc- Lutheran Church in America. Phil- with the poems of Betty. trines as God, sin, forgiveness, adelphia. repentence, f a i t h, salvation, Welcome House. By Jessie E. Moore. sanctification and glorification. This is a prize-winning story Illus. 8vo. 95 pp. Friendship These are forceful, biblical, Gos- of Olaf, a young American-born Press. New York. 1939. pel sermons that will furnish Norseman, and Ebba Maj who material for much needed became his wife. He entered the American children – primary messages to congregations in Lutheran ministry and went into and juniors-will like this story churches at home and on the the "great timberland of the of six children whose parents are mission fields. Northwest, where they faced missionaries in Iran. How they difficulties and hardships to- came to America by automobile, The Lord Is Calling. By Oswald J. gether and grew into strong, train and boat, lived in America, Smith. 96 pp. 1 sh. well-seasoned timber." It is an went to church and school, interesting, wholesome story but played, made friends, helped The Work God Blesses. By Oswald without outstanding lit era r y other people, and celebrated J. Smith. 96 pp. 1 811,. Marshall, merit as to situations, plot or Christmas-all this is told in a Morgan and Scott. London. character delineation. loving, sympathetic way, show- ing what a Christian family can Dr. Smith has a large, evan- War Conduct of the Japanese. By be and do. gelical "Peoples Church" of over Shuhsi Hsu, Ph.D. Prepared under 2,000 members in Toronto. They the auspices of the Council of Inter- Canadian Journey. By H. P. Thompare a missionary-minded people national Affairs. Circulated by the son. Paper. 68 pp. S. P. G. Lonwho give $40,000 a year to mis- China Information Service, 945 don. 1939. sions – about two times as Pennsylvania Ave., N. W., Washmuch as they spend on them- ington, D. C. 1938. The Editorial Secretary of the selves. In each of these two Society for the Propagation of volumes we have a number of This 217-page book is an at- the Gospel in Foreign Parts tells the pastor's sermons – one vol- tempt to set forth in unre- of the conditions, the people and ume on Christian doctrines, like strained language the truth the work in Western Canada. It the Virgin Birth, the Resurrec- about Japanese, methods of war- is worth reading and raises hope tion and Salvation vs. Religion; fare in China-in the air, at sea for the Western Hemisphere the other volume on Christian and on land. The author has col': even though Europe should go to service with such topics as "The lected facts and shows how pieces. The prairies, the forests, Supreme Task of the Church," Japan has disregarded interna- the pioneers and the rich reand "Responsibilities of Stew- tional laws, treaties and prom- sources should be won for Christ ardship." They are spiritual, ises, and the rights of non-com- and developed with a knowledge practical, Biblical sermons. which batants. of the love and character of God have proved their effectiveness. and with whole-hearted alle- These records are largely gience to His authority. taken from the reports of the International Committee. The
A Oorrection Edward Rawlings was born at Tomorrow. Report of the Board
Powellton, Brunswick County, Vir- Home Missions, Congregational and Dr. Speer calls our attention to a ginia, on October 23, 1865, and was Christian Churches. 160 pp. New word that was incorrectly read in the graduated from Randolph-Macon Col- York. manuscript of his review of "Essen- lege in 1886. For seventeen years tial Christianity" which appeared on (1890 to 1907) he was a pastor, and The Work God Blesses. Oswald J. page 224 of the April issue. The first was presiding elder one year. He was Smith. 96 pp. 18. Marshall, Morsentence in the last paragraph should appointed Conference Missionary Sec- gan & Scott. London. r:ead: retary in 1908 and the following year was elected Educational Secretary of War Conduct of the Japanese. Shuhsi "Dr. Angus' emphasis on the duty the Board of Missions. For two years Hsu. 217 pp. China Information of Christlikeness, of obedience and (1916-18) he was Secretary of the Service. Washington, D. C. conformity to the Spirit of Christ, or Laymen's Missionary Movement and unselfishness and sacrifice and service in 1917 became Foreign Mission Sec- The Great Succession. Leaders of and love is all to the good, but his sub- retary of the Board. He traveled the Baptist Missionary Society durjective humanism is a swan song of a widely in the interest of missions and ing the Nineteenth Century. E. A. declining liberalism." in 1926 he was elected Secretary of Payne. 160 pp. 28. Garey Press. Education and Promotion and Editor London. Penonll Items of World Outlook. The Voice of the Church in China. (ConcZuded from pa,ge 225.) *** A collection of documents. Preface by Dom P.-C. Lou Tseng-Tsiang. sity Christian Mission, which is mak- Rev. Edmund W. McDowell, D.D., 120 pp. 38. 6d. Longmans. Lon- an honorably retired missionary of the don. ing plans for the academic year of Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., 1939-40. died in Fort Collins, Colorado, March K. T. Paul. Christian Leader. Reli- ••• 31. He was born in Altoona, Pa., gious Life of India Series. H. A. Rev. Robert M. Hopkins, D.D., March 13, 1857. Mter being gradu- Popley. 254 pp. Rs. 2.4. Y. M. ated from Wooster College, Ohio, and C. A. Press. Calcutta, India. LL.D., for the past ten years general from Western Theological Seminary, Allegheny, he and his wife sailed for Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis. secretary of the World's Sunday Persia in 1887. Dr. McDowell gave George W. Briggs. Religious Life forty years of his life to service in of India Series. 380 pp. Rs. 4.8 School Association, has been elected Persia and Mesopotamia and was in- and 5.8, Y. M. C. A. Press, Calcutta, president of the United Christian Mis- strumental in developing mission work India; 8s. 6d., Oxford University in Urumia, organizing a chain of vil- Press, London. sionary Society with headquarters at lage schools and churches through the Indianapolis. Dr. Hopkins was born mountains all the way from Urumia Yesterday and Tomorrow in North- to Mosul. After the organization of ern Nigeria. Walter Miller. lUus. in Trenton, Kentucky, and has been the United Mission in Mesopotamia in 182 pp. 58. Student Christian engaged in religious educational work 1922, he was stationed at Mosul until Movement Press. London. he was honorably retired in 1928. One since 1900 when he became Sunday of his two sons, Philip C. McDowell, The Mahar Folk. A Study of Un- M.D., is now a member of the Pres- touchables in Maharastra. Alexschool evangelist for the Disciples of byterian Mission in Teheran, Iran. ander Robertson. Religious Life of India Series. Rs. 2 and 3, Y. M. Christ in Kentucky. In 1910 he be- New Books C. A. Press, Calcutta; 48. 6d., Oxcame Bible School Secretary of the ford University Press, London. . American Christian Missionary So- Abraham to Allenby. G. Frederick ciety, and ten years later was placed Owen. 351 pp. $2.50. Eerdman African Women. A Study of the Ibo Pub. Co. Grand Rapids. of Nigeria. Sylvia Leith-Ross. lUus. in charge of the Department of Reli- 367 pp. 158. Faber and Faber. The Art of Conducting Public W or- London. gious Education in the United Chris- ship. Albert W. Palmer. 211 pp. tian Missionary Society. He has done $2.50. Macmillan. New York. From My African Notebook. A. Schweitzer. Trans. by Mrs. C. E. B. a remarkable work in connection with Civilization. The Next Step. Delisle Russell. Illus. 132 pp. 58. Allen Burns. 291 pp. $2.75. W. W. Nor- & Unwin. London. the WorId's Sunday School Associa- ton. New York. tion. He attended the Glasgow Con- The Southern Bantu. L. Marquard Christian Faith in a Day of Crisis. and T. G. Standing. 262 pp. 78.6d. vention in 1924, visited Central and Charles S. MacFarland. 226 pp. Oxfoi'd University Press. London. $1.50. Revell. New York. South Mrica in the interests of Sun- Venezuela. Erna Ferguson. 346 pp. day school work in 1934, and was a Essential Christianity. Samuel An- $3.00. Knopf. New York. gus. 226 pp. $2.00. Macmillan. delegate to the recent Madras Confer- New York. Philippine Pagans. The Autobiog- raphies of Three Ifugaos. R. F. ence. Dr. Hopkins' successor in the Honesty. Richard C. Cabot. 326 pp. Barton. lUus. 271 pp. 15s. Rout- $2.50. Macmillan. New York. ' ledge. London. W. S. S. A. has not yet been elected. The Lord Is Calling. Oswald J. The Gospel in the World. A Restate- ••• Smith. 96 pp. 18. Marshall, Mor- ment of Missionary Principles. God- The Rev. C. E. Wilson, for thirty- gan & Scott. London. frey E. Phillips. 252 pp. 58. Duckfour years Secretary of the Baptist worth. London. Our Father. A Missionary Prayer. Missionary Society of London, has re- C. Mallam Johnston. 27 pp. 3d. World Community. William Paton. S. P. G. London. 192 pp. $1.50. Macmillan. New tired after notable service. He was York. for ten years a missionary in India Preaching. The Doctrines of Grace. Compiled by Roland G. Leavell. 150 The Church of the T'ang Dynasty. (1894 to 1904) and later, during his pp. $1.00. Boardman Press. Nash- John Foster. 168 pp. 48. S. P. ville. C. K. London. secretaryship, visited China, Jamaica, Those Gay Middle Ages. Frederick Bantu Heritage. H. P. Junod. lUus. Africa, India and other fields of the Kershner. 233 pp. $2. Willett 155 pp. 308. Hortors (For the society. Mr. Wilson has proved an Clark & Co. New York. Transvaal Chamber of Mines). Jo- hannesburg, South Mrica. able executive and a wise missionary A Testament of Faith. P. G. S. Hop- wood. 215 pp. $2.00. Macmillan. Re-Thinking Christianity in India. statesman. New York. Edited by D. M. Devasahayam and A. N. Sudarisanam. 267 pp. Rs. 2.8. Obituary Notes A. N. Sudarisanam, Madras, India.
(Concluded from Second Cover.) Living the Christian Faith. Edwin Ewart Aubrey. 118 pp. $1.50. Dr. E. H. Rawlings, Business Man- Macmillan. New York. ager and former Editor of World Outlook, died at his home in Nashville, This Busine-ss of Living. L. W. Gren- Tennessee, on March 17. He was the sted. 187 pp. $1.75. Macmillan. senior connectional secretary of the New York. Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and dean of missionary officers. His work for missions was more diversified than that of any other man and he had held many positions connected with the promotion and administration of missions in the Church.
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To bring men and women into vital touch with God through Christ is the one objective of The American Baptist Home Mission Society. Participation in our work through prayer, service and gifts IS THE PRIVILEGE OF ALL.
The American Baptist Home Mission Society pioneered in the writing of Annuity Agreements.
During our entire history in this fie1d-over seventy,five years-every annuitant of the Society has received regularly the payments guaranteed.
The return from an Annuity Gift depends upon the age of the donor. For information concerning ASSURED INCOMES on the Annuity Plan write to G. PITT BEERS, Executive Secretary THE AMERICAN BAPTIST HOME MISSION SOCIETY 23 East 26th Street, New York City HAVE YOU READ?
..
THE LIFE OF GEORGE BOWEN OF BOMBAY By ROBERT E. SPEER The biography of a remarkable missionary whom the (then) Prince of Wales visited in Bombay at the request of his mother, Queen Victoria.
What some readers say of this book: Robert Speer's "Life of George Bowen of Bombay" is one was so far-sighted and so deep-seeing!-the former because of the richest of missionary biographies. the latter. If one wants to sum up the interests of our DR. J. LoVBLL MURRAY, Director of the students today-Biblical, social, theological-Bowen is a Canadian School of Missions, Toronto. representative figure. And what a lesson in apparent failure!
What a life! He was old enough to know why he went, . . . I feel strongly that every student and alumnus of our Seminary needs this book. What better book to lead them to and bad enough to know the meaning of salvation. One by_ feed on the Bible. One hears so much "vestibule religion"- product of his. experience was his wonderful humility-noth- ing in the show window and himself in the remote back- men pointing to the door and taking their people as far as the ground. It is inspiring. threshold, but no opening up of the treasures within the G ' n . . P PI f f .1 r Father's House. Read the topics of current sermons, and .lJA. BORGJ! • BRSON, ormer" 0 Japan. Bowen's expositions are precisely what Christians need in order We must all be grateful for this revealing of the main- to grow from puerility into spiritual maturity. Here is no adolescent, but a man in Christ. This is no volume to be springs of Bowen's character, his abiding faith in God, his eamest purpose to be a true and faithful follower of Jesus read and dismissed, but to be marked and to be turned to Ptrist; and his deep-seated conviction that the Gospel of repeatedly. };!=~:ntS~Of "tJ:io;;o;:~7~ar~. Christ could meet the religious needs of India's people. J WILLIAM HAzEN, The Memoirs of George Bowen will continue to be for Missionary in ShoJapur, India. years to come a searching manual of devotion. He has set t.e.eItn.thbicoegnrtauprhyy. oIf coonueld 0nfotthpeutsatihnetlibeostokfigduorwesn.0 fTthheererui·snea- before me an ideal which few could attain; his life is a scathfascination and a depth in this man's soul which held me in ing rebuke to our ease, comfort, self-indulgence and ineE- devout attention. I found myself marking his moving sayings ficiency. J. Ross STBVENSON, which would serve ,as starting points for chapel talks. He President Emeritus, P,in.eton Semina".
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The Missionary Review of the World — November 1938
1938
A New Survey of Neglected Arabia Samuel M. Zwemer Reality and Romance in Czechoslovakia Joseph Novotny The Universality of Christ E. Stanley Jones Problems of the Churches in Asia Akira Ebisawa Outlook for the Church in India B. L. Rallia Ram The Saintly Surgeon of India Margaret McKellar A New Children's Page Violet Wood 2S Cents a Copy $2.50 a YeaT
to Remember IPIRITUAL REVIVAL IN' FULL
N(lvember 1-3-Nationaf Stewardship The war in China has added greatly to our material burdens. It ha. greatly deepened Convention, Chicago, Ill. the spiritual life of all at the Home and also increased the number we are carinll for Your prayers and aid will now 110 further in winning souls for Christ than perha~ November 6-11-International Good- ever before. Let the appeal of hundreds who are helpless and hopeles. not be in .will Congress. San Francisco, Calif. vain. A little lloes a long way in China• November 20-Thanksgiving Sunday. HOME OJ: ONEJIPHORUJ D~ember 6-9-Biennial meeting of TAlAN, SHANTUNG, CHINA the Federal Council of Churches, . Buffalo, N. Y. This faith work is one of the largest Christian institutions in the Orient. It has been December 13-30-International Mis- consecrated for over twenty years to the rescue of the homeless.
sionary Council, Madras, India. Write today for FREE picture and story of Chinese girl shown in this ad • January 8-10, 1939 – Home Missions also receive "Helping China'. Helpless," telling how God led Rev. and Mrs: Anglin to open the Home and how He blessed the work. a thrilling story. Council, Baltimore, Md. January 23-February 18-Iowa School HOME OF ONESIPHORUS American Office for Missionaries. Iowa State College, 2811 North Racine Avenue Drawer 36 Chicago, nlinois Ames, Iowa. Personal Item. keget; Ins~itute, is convalescing after Obituary Notes a serIOUS Illness. Dr. Carver's discov- eries are known around the world. The Rev. David B. Schneder, D.D., Dr. W. Graham Scroggie, one of a missionary of the Reformed Church the Vice-Presidents of England's Na- Mrs. Prem N* at*h D*as, Vice-Presi- in the U. S. to Japan since 1887, died tional Young Life Council for some in Sendai, Japan, on October 4. Dr. years, now becomes the Free Church dent of Isabella Thoburn College in Schneder was one of the outstanding President of the Movement, to succeed Lucknow, has been chosen as sucees- missionaries and for many years was the late Carey Bonner. He will hold sor to Dr. Mary E. Shannon, Princi- president of the College of North the office jointly with Canon Rowland pal, who retires early in 1939. Mrs. Japan, retiring two years' ago. He Grant. Das is the first Indian to become head was de~orated by the Mikado with the of the first college for women in Asia. Fourth Order of the Rising Sun and *** the Third Order of Sacred Treasure. Dr. Rufus J*one*s *and Dr. Harry He was born in Bowmansville, Pa., Dr. W. A. Visser 't Hooft, of Ge- and was graduated from Franklin neva, has been elected president of the Silcock, representing Quaker Mis- and Marshall College and from Lan- World Student Christian Federation sions of the United States and Eng- caster Theological Seminary. at a meeting in Paris, attended by 120 land, have been visiting China, study- delegates from Australia, India, Java, ing the situation and gathering data, *** South Africa, Canada, United States, preparatory to sending a staff of and nearly all the European countries. workers to open headquarters in Miss Isabel K. MacDermott, ex- Shanghai for the administration of ecutive secretary of the Board of The Russian Student Movement in relief. The Quakers have proved their Trustees of Santiago College in Chile, Exile, having its headquarters in Par- efficiency in this line. died in the Post-Graduate Hospital, is, joined with the French Student New York City, August 12, following Christian Movement as hosts of the a major operation. Miss MacDermott conference. was a teacher in Santiago College Dr. Luther W*esl*ey *Smith, pastor of many years ago. *** the First Baptist Church of Syracuse, *** Rev. Saburo Imai, secretary of the N. Y., has been chosen as Executive Mrs. R. W. Porteous, of Shanghai, Board of Missions of the Japan Meth- Secretary of the American :tJaptist whose capture by communists in 1930 odist Church, is in America as a rep- Publication Society, succeeding Dr. will be remembered, died at Nanchang resentative of his church to the United Owen C. Brown, retired. May 5. Mrs. Porteous went to China Church of Canada. 44 years ago as Emma Forsberg, of Pennock, Minn. She married R. W. *** Dr. James A.*Gr*aha*m, founder and Porteous in 1908, and through their Dr. Robert Bond, president of the united efforts more than 50 outsta- Methodist Conference of Great Brit- director of the Presbyterian Mission . tions were opened in West Central ain, traveled 20,000 miles last year Hospital in Tagbilaran, Philippine Is- Kiangsi. When news was flashed without missing a single engagement. lands, has been declared an adopted around the world in March, 1930, of He attributes this in large measure to son of the Province of Bohol. The the capture of Mr. and Mrs. Porteous the prayers of the membership for declaration, printed on parchment, by communists, multitudes gathered their president. was presented to Dr. Graham in the' to pray for their deliverance. Mter presence of government authorities, being held for three months, they were *** members of Bohol Medical Society and released, having suffered untold hard- Dr. George Washington Carver, other prominent Boholanos. ships and indignities. distinguished Negro scientist of Tus- After a period of recuperation in America, they returned to China in The .Rev. J.*Le*on*Hooper, D.D., 1932 to reopen the Burrows Memorial of the Board of Foreign Missions, Bib~ School in Nanchang. Presbyterian Church, has been asked to extend his service as Acting Secre- *** tary for the portfolio which includes Japan, Korea, Siam and the Philip- Rev. Charles Phillips, of Johannes- pine Islands, for another period of burg, South Mrica, died June 6 at the three months. age of 85. He was a missionary of the London Missionary Society, and *** .later pastor of Ebenezer Congrega- tional Church in Johannesburg. Mrs. F. E. Shotwell has taken up the responsibilities of Western Super- visor of Migrant Work for the Coun- cil of Women for Home Missions. She comes to the Council with a training and experience that fits her peculiarly A practical, effective course in methods for these responsibilities, so ably car- of Chrisuan work and soul·winning. ried on by Miss Adela J. Ballard dur- ing the last ten years of her lifetime. Send 15c in stamp. for curreat iiau.. ' Mrs. Shotwell was a member of the Council staff in 1931-1932 in the Colo- PUBUCATIOMSJHG (Concluded on page 518.) Harrisburg, Pa.
MISSIONARY A missionary to West China voices The great white Empresses
REVIEW OF THE WORLD the view of many missionaries who every speed record to and from are at isolated stations and so are the Orient. 10 days direct to DBUVAN L. PmRBON, B4tto,. deprived of the rich privileges we en- Yokohama by Empress of Asia joy at home. A small living income, or Empress of Russia. Or only VOL. LXI Nov., 1938 No. 11 with heavy expenses, also makes it three days more via Hawaii by difficult for them to buy books and Empress of Japan, largest and Publication and Business 01llce– magazines and they have no public fastest on the Pacific, or Empress Third and Reily Ste., Harrisburg, Pa. libraries. The following letter sug- of Canada. Connect at Honolulu gests a field for loving service: from California ports. Editorial and Executive 01llce– From Vancouver and Victoria 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. "We have been so delighted with to Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, Entered as second-class matter at THE REVIEW . . . Please enter our Shanghai, Hong Kong, Manila. subscription so that we will not miss Details from YOUR TRAVEL Post 01llce, Harrisburg, P •., under any issue. It is a source of spiritual AGENT or Canadian Pacific.: Act of March 3, 1879. power and an inspiration to us. 41 offices in U. S. and Canada.
25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. "R. H. THOMAS, Yunnan, China. Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. Published monthly, except August. * * .. All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1938. British agents – Marshall, Morgan A leader in the church in America and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings. volunteers the following: London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy. 10 shillings a year. "There is no magazine which comes to my desk which'I read with more MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- intense interest than the REVIEW. You LISHING CO., INC. are doing a wonderful piece of work BOARD OF DIRECTORS in editing this magazine, and keep- ing the Christian world in touch with ROBERT E. SPEER, Pre,ident the whole realm of missionary ac- A. L. WA.RNBHUIB, Vioe-Pre,ident tivity. I thought the September num- WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer ber especially good." DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary PAUL J. BRAISTED JOHN TIMOTHY STONE, President of the Presbyterian SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT Theological Seminary, Chi- D. J. FANT cago.
MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD *** WM. B. LIPPHARD ERIC M. NORTH We can never preach the Gospel SAMUEL M. ZWRMRR with power until we get over the caste spirit. If all Christian workers are Editorial Chat not cured of our spiritual aristocracy, God never will give us the power of The four hundred or more delegates the Holy Spirit in winning souls. to the International Missionary Coun- Peter could not go down to that housecil will soon meet in Madras, India, hold in Caesarea and preach the Gosfor two weeks' conference (December pel with power until he had learned 13 td 30). They, face a difficult situa- that any man, woman, or child in the tion at home and in many mission wide world to whom God sends His fields. The influence and pronounce- Gospel is on equality of right and ments of this conference of leaders privilege with the proudest nobles of should be far-reaching. THE REVIEW the earth. ARTHUR T. PIERSON. has asked a number of delegates to write impressions of the conference Personal Items and to secure papers from those who make the most important contributions (Concluded from second cover.) -especially native Christian leaders from each field. Among those who are rado migrant camps and during the to give our readers their views of the succeeding years as a teacher devoted situation and their reactions to the her summers to working in migrant conference discussions are: Dr. John projects in California, Oregon, and R. Mott (Chairman), Dr. Paul W. Washington. Harrison of Arabia, Dr. Frank W. Price of China, Mr. Kenneth Grubb of Dr. Mary E. *Sha*nn*on, Principal of the World Dominion Movement, Dr. H. Kerr Taylor of Nashville and Dr. Isabella Thoburn College at Lucknow, H. Kraemer of Holland. These are re- India, has been awarded the Kaiser-iquested to give us not only their own Hind medal, for conspicuous public views, but the views of Nationals service. Miss Shannon has presented from various lands. Later we will her resignation from the college, to announce the plans made to present take effect early in 1939. the most vital themes discussed at Madras before the churches in Amer- Americans are too prone to identify ica. Do not miss these reports. the Kingdom of God with democratic liberalism: There may be a place in *** the Kingdom of God for the Authori- tarian State; but there can be no N ow is the time to plan for Christ- place for the Totalitarian State.- mas. Nothing you can send to a mis- Rev. Howard Chandler Robbins, New sionary friend (at home or abroad) York. or to a pastor or other intelligent Christian friend will be of greater The Church has denied the univerinterest and value, to keep them in- sality of Christianity by its divisions formed on world conditions and the over doctrine, race and nationality. progress of Christianity, than a year's It has itself erected the barriers that subscription to THE REVIEW. (Note separate Christianity from Christ.- our special offer on the back cover of T. Z. Koo, Shanghai, China. this issue.) [ 513]
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AMERICAN-ARABIAN MISSION-MASON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, BAHRAIN NEGLECTED ARABIA-A STffEET SCENE IN HOFUF-HASA (see article by Dr. S. M. Zwemer-page 519) REVIB ORLD VOLUME LXI AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 11 NOVEMBER, 1938 Topics of the Times THE PRESENT CRISIS IN ASIA program for a representative government under About fifty years ago, a book was published an Indian parliament. Mr. Gandhi, Jawaharlal which greatly influenced the missionary thinking Nehru and other leaders cannot agree on a plan and activity of the Christian Church. It was fo~ effecti,:e cooperation. Suspicion and jealousy stir up strIfe among Moslems, Hindus Sikhs and called "The Crisis of Missions," * and was the re- Christians in the desire for a controlli'ng voice in the government. Proportionate representation in sult of a careful study of world conditions and the parliament is a great bone of contention. opportunity before the Christian Church. At that time doors long closed were opening to the mes- A year ago the political problem in China sengers of Christ in all lands. God was calling but seemed on the way to a satisfactory solution, with the Church was giving only a feeble response- Sun Yat Sen's "Principles" to guide the national not more than ten thousand missionaries to the program, and with strong unselfish Christian leadten hundred million unevangelized. One out of ership in the government. Then came the Japaevery 15,000 Protestants was a missionary and nese absorption of Manchuria and the cruel and the annual gifts for work abroad amounted to only unwarranted invasion of China by the Japanese about $10,000,000. In the next ten or fifteen war machine. Meanwhile Western nations look years the number of missionaries doubled and the supinely on, with disapproval but still supply gifts multiplied four fold. A spiritual awakening Japan with war materials for the murderous camalso came to Christians at home; prayer and mis- paign. In the midst of this agonizing strife China sionary training increased; the progress of the is more united than ever before. Gospel in many lands was rapid and transforming. Then came the World War which resulted But Japan too is passing through a political in a great slump in the spiritual life of the crisis. With the military dictatorship in control churches. Non-Christian nations became more and the fear of communism ever present; with the suspicious of outside influences and were more common people kept in ignorance of the real eager for self-determination in politics, education situation; with the theory of a "divine Emperor" and religion. But the seeds of Truth had been hanging in the balance, and with growing antagplanted; Christ had been preached and His life onism and distrust between Japan and most of the had been exemplified so that the work has con- countries of Europe and America-no one can tell what a day may bring forth. Korea has already tinued to grow. felt the evil effects of this political despotism and Today there is a new crisis in Asia. Anyone there everything is being Japanized by force.
even slightly informed can see the dangers and The social and economic crisis in Asia is also the opportunities, especially in Moslem lands, in appar~nt. India is continually fighting poverty, India, in China and in Japan. The turning of the but wIth some success under British guidance. The tide in one direction means retrogression or dis- caste system, which has been her bane, shows aster; turned Godward it means progress and signs of breaking down under the leadership of new life. The crisis in these lands is threefold- Dr. Ambedkar and through the preaching of the political, social and economic, educational and re- Gospel of Christ. Fifty years ago what is taking place today-with the opening of schools and publigious. lic wells and government positions to outcastes- The political crisis in India is due to the mlw * "The Crisis of Missions," by Arthur T, Pierson, published In would have been thought impossible.
1886, went through many editions, [ 515]
In China, the fear of communism has passed- who declares that although he was born a Hindu if Japanese aggression can be stopped. Public he will not die a Hindu.
improvements in roads and other means of com- Enough has been said to call attention to the munication; the development of natural resources present crisis in these great nations of Asia. It and trade, and the improvement in social ideals is a time of danger and of opportunity-of danger were showing great progress-and then came lest the people retrograde into confusion, depres- Japan as an instrument of destruction. But sion and opposition to Christ and His program; China's power to resist and to recuperate has been a time of opportunity when through vital union proved through the centuries. with Christ they may be brought through to true The social and economic situation in Japan and liberty and peace, to social and economic progress Korea is serious. The war is estimated to cost and to new spiritual life and power.
Japan $5,000,000 a day and the people are feeling The Way to Victory the depression more and more. They are being heavily taxed and are commanded to omit all lux- What is the way of victory? Politically it is not uries and many things considered necessities. the way of greater armies, navies and air bat- Hundreds of thousands of wage earners are being talions; it is not by accepting the supremacy of killed in China. Koreans also are suffering ac- communistic, fascist, or socialistic lead~rs; it is cutely from Japanese taxation and exploitation. not even through pacifism or a peaceful struggle The Educational and Spiritual Crisis for political control. Christ and the apostles lived in a time of political oppression and the de- The educational and spiritual crisis in Asia is pendence on armed force, but they sought peace intimately linked with the political and economic by obedience to laws that did not defy the laws situation. Materialism and atheism are strug- of God, by love that suffers long and is kind and gling against Christ and His principles of love, by preaching Christ as the Saviour and Lord of justice and freedom. all. "When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" They can stilI be right- In Japan and Korea, Christian education is eous, trust God and stand true to Him-even unto threatened with extinction, as emperor worship death. and attendance at the Shinto shrines is being required of Christians and non-Christians alike. Socially and economically the way of victory is Japanese and Koreans were fast becoming edu- not by a new social setup or through the adoption cated in Christian truth, enlightened customs and of certain economic principles-for self-seeking ideals, but now the government is fast taking all men to disregard. In the time of Christ, social ineducation under its control and is depriving the justice was everywhere apparent, slavery and people of the religious liberty promised by the poverty prevailed and there was a great gulf beconstitution. The alternative is being offered- tween the rich and the poor. Christians met the Baal or Jehovah, Diana or Christ, God as re- crisis not by advocating 3 redistribution of wealth, vealed in the Bible or Shinto. or even the immediate liberation of slaves, but by proclaimIng the law of love, by preaching and In China, in the midst of political and economic practicing justice and by showing that God is no distress, there seems to be a spiritual awakening respector of persons. They revealed the truth that and greater religious freedom. Whereas Christian riches consist not in accumulated wealth but that teaching was excluded from the schools under re- character and contentment come from honest toil, cent laws, the loyalty of Christians and the sacri- brotherly dealings and an unselfish, wise steward- ficial service of missionaries in caring for the ship of time, talents and possessions.
wounded and destitute has now brought permis- The educational and spiritual needs were seen sion to make Christian teaching a part of school in the days of the early Church. These needs were and college curriculums. Spiritual revivals and met, not by great united campaigns or by the a new earnestness in prayer and new power in establishment of institutions, they were met by Christian testimony are reported from all over uplifting Christ and by teaching His truth to all China today. so that new desires and ambitions were awakened, India, too, is in a spiritual crisis. Hinduism new life and power were imparted and the call of seems to be making a desperate last stand. Evan- God was heard for the establishment of a new gelistic campaigns are spreading and several thou- order.
sands every month are coming forward to confess The secret of meeting every crisis effectively- Christ. The dissatisfaction of Depressed Classes be it political, social, economic, educational, spirit- with Hinduism may lead to a tremendous exodus ual, national, missionary or personal-is to take into the Christian or possibly into the Moslem God into account; it is to bring men and women fold. Many take the position of Dr. Ambedkar into such vital relation to God through Christ,
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
that new life will come to them, with new aims territory with over 15,000,000 inhabitants. These and energy, new intelligence and a keen desire include Czechs of Bohemia (Monrovia and Sefor knowledge; a new sense of justice; new love lesia) Slovaks, Germans, Poles, Jews, Russians, for God and man and new power to carry out His Hungarians and other races ,and nationalities. Twoprogram. Is there any other way? thirds are Czechoslovaks. The predominant re- ligion is Roman Catholic; they are reported to THE PLIGHT OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA number ten million. Under President Masaryk the country enjoyed prosperity for twenty years. Before 1918 there was no political division in Multitudes have left the Roman Catholic church to Europe named Czechoslovakia. The land and become Protestants who number about 1,130,000. people were a part of Austria-Hungary for three hundred years. Then came the Versailles Treaty What should be the attitude of Christians in and as a penalty for fighting a losing warfare such a crisis? What would be the attitude of Austria-Hungary was divided, part of the terri- Christ? While we have obligations to the govtory and people going to Rumania and Poland, ernment and the land in which we live, our true part to the new nations of Hungary and Yugo- dtizenship is not of this world. The basis for our slavia and part to Czechoslovakia. The people peace and welfare is not a human government of seemed satisfied with this allocation and Prof. our own choosing. Some of the greatest Chris- T. G. Masaryk, the high-minded and wise patriot tians have been developed under most unfavorwas elected the first president. All seemed to go able circumstances-in the ancient Roman Emwell while the nations were struggling to recover pire, in Russia, in France and Spain during days from the economic effects of the war and while of persecution, in Turkey under the Sultan, and Germany was weak and unarmed. Now, twenty in every mission field where Christianity has years after the war ended and peace treaties sought to gain a foothold. Christ Himself warned were signed, the provisions of the Treaty of His disciples that in this world they must ex- Versailles relating to Czechoslovakia are scrapped. pect hardship and persecution; He called Saul the Germany, under the dominating leadership of persecutor to become His missionary, showing Adolph Hitler, has rearmed in such a formidable him, not what a comfortable successful time he way that the Reich feels strong enough to disre- would have, but "how great things he must suffer" gard other European nations. After taking over for the sake of Christ. all of Austria, without a battle, he has demanded large sections of Czechoslovakia where "Sudeten Christians and the Christian Church are called Germans" are living, and has captured their ter- to work unfalteringly for a better world, to preach ritory under threat of a general European war. and practice peace; to feed the hungry, heal the Already he has marched in to take possession of sick, care for the fatherless and widows; to preach fortifications, cities, health resorts, natural re- and practice righteousness and brotherly love in sources, and many industrial plants on which the the name of Christ and in the power of the Holy Czechoslovakian Government has depended for Spirit. In Czechoslovakia, as in Spain and Ethieconomic and military strength. The end is not opia, in China and Korea, Christians pray for yet; while the four parties to the new agreement- courage as they face conflicts and ungodly human Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy-have dictators; they are not discouraged in the midst supposedly guaranteed the new boundaries of the of trials; true followers of Christ will witness to shrinking republic, Herr Hitler is not satisfied. Him and will resolve to love even their enemies He sees that the other nations fear modern war- and to pray for rulers and for those who "despitefare and its terrible results, as he does not, and fully use and persecute them." Czechoslovakia and therefore he stands ready to demand more conces- other lands may be ravaged by war and torn by sions to add to his territory in Europe-and fire, sword and pestilence but the life of the probably will demand a return of former German Christian is "hid with Christ in God." colonies. Poland and Hungary also are demanding slices of Czechoslovakia inhabited by some of War is a taste of hell on earth but there is sometheir people. It is as though Mexico were strong thing even worse than the mental and physical enough to demand United States territory in the horrors of warfare-namely the utter spiritual southwest, in which Mexicans have made their homes. The Czechoslovaks were ready to fight darkness of those whose lives are alienated from for their land but could not do it alone, when God. There is much that Christians can do for abandoned by their allies who had guaranteed the suffering people of Czechoslovakia, and of their boundaries. other stricken lands, in this hour of their dire Czechoslovakia has had 54,250 square miles of need. Christian love is not merely a pious senti- ment, it is a divine dynamic that operates for practical and Godlike ends.
SO THIS IS INDIA TODAY* strong even where the leaders themselves are not "The earthquakes that have rattled our bun- Christians. galow are as nothing compared with the movements which are changing the whole life of Agriculture and industry: India has resources, India," writes an experienced missionary in look- physical and spiritual, that are undeveloped by ing over the scene-political, social, and religious any of her old religions. These schools are a part -which now confronts Christian forces. "I have of the answer which missionaries are making to never seen the foundations of society shaken as the question, "How important are 700,000 villages they are today." and their inhabitants?"
India has a population three times that of the It is impossible to separate the work of the United States; 200 languages in use; climate Kingdom of God into given classifications. The ranging from tropical to subarctic; a rigid social doctor and the nurse, the industrial teacher and and religious system which is now giving way the rural expert, the minister and the woman: before modern conditions; five widespread re- evangelist, the teacher and the administrative ligions, besides innumerable minor faiths. In the officer, are but parts of the whole force of Chrismidst of all this we find that Christianity is in- tians who have put their gifts of trained and decreasing much more rapidly in proportion than voted lives at the service of Christ to make India a part of the Kingdom which shall not end.
the population! These few facts underly the cur- rent work in India. Behind the familiar state- THE CRISIS AMONG NEGROES ments are rapid changes in life and psychology such as have never before confronted India. According to President Mordecai Johnson of Howard University in Washington, D. C., the Christians set the standards for the education Negro is in a worse state today than he was beand training of women, and the women of India fore the depression, and in the most precarious are responding with zeal and unselfishness. Chris- position he has been since 1880. Dr. Johnson tians set standards for the improvement of village feels that his people are likely to lose in the next life; for lifting the level of rural millions above ten years the greater proportion of all they have the line of desperate poverty; for care of body gain~d, unless steps are taken to avert this disand soul in hospitals and clinics. Education is aster. This is an opinion to challenge the attenmore widespread, leadership for and by the mem- tion of every public-minded citizen, and every bers of the Depressed Classes is vigorous and friend of our Negro millions. The problem of vocal. The high percentage of illiteracy has made providing work for the vast reservoir of unemthe goal of Christian workers "Every Christian ployed Negro labor rising out of the maladjusta reader by 1941." "Never mind lunch," was the ments of the cotton plantation system in the South cry of a group of women. "We can get food later; is a colossal one to attack, and one far out of the we can't get a teacher when this meeting is over!" scope of anyone church to solve. The Church must be aware tha.t such a problem exists, else Medical work: Missionary doctors (men and how can it help to create a public opinion which women) and nurses, work with an Indian staff of will demand that some national attempt at a soludoctors and nurses in hospitals and dispensaries. tion be made? The problem resolves itself into a They treat tuberculosis and leprosy as well as the concern about educated young Negroes, willing more common ills of India. and eager to work at anything that will pay a liv- ing wage, unable to find a niche, rebuffed and hu- Schools and universities: Union and denomina- miliated frequently in the search for honest work, tional colleges and schools are scattered over all India.
Evangelistic work is conducted in evangelistic and excluded from most of the opportunities to meetings, in churches, schools and hospitals. earn a decent living. Many possibilities are auto- Mass movements are again in progress as they matically closed to the young Negro and he starts were a generation ago. Political as well as social out with a defeatist attitude, knowing that he will influence is largely against these movements, ow- be lucky to work into some elevator or service'
ing to the fact that voters are registered by reli- job; that there are not even too many of these, gion. If means were at hand to train them, the and that he will automatically get less money for missions could use many more Indian evangelistic his work than his white neighbor.
workers to help to seize so great an opportunity. What the Church can do is problematic; what Women's work: Women are making history in individuals can do is just as complicated; but India, from political leaders to village workers. there is one thing all can do-we can become in- Some are Christians but the Christian influence is formed and interested. Each person can examine his own practical Christianity.
• Extracts from Monday Morning, a weekly paper for Presbyterian -Virginia Ray, in the Presbyterian Tribune. pastors.
A New Survey of Neglected Arabia*
By the REV. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D.D., Princeton, New Jersey -.~ Author of "Arabia, the Cradle of Islam," etc., etc., one of the ~- Founders of the Arabian Mission of the Reformed Church in America FIFTY years ago the tragic death of Ian Keith- The backward s·tate of the "As·ir highlands, intended Falconer at Aden called the attention of the by nature to be a paradise, is the inevitable result of world to Arabia. His memorable words man's inability to live at peace with his neighbors." Yet stirred the student world of his day: "While vast here nature and man h.ave cer.tainly combined to create a continents are shrouded in almost utter darkness scene of astonishing beauty, and it seemed to me that man had actually outdone nature in their friendly rivalry.
and hundreds of millions suffer the horrors of Imagine a great tableland thrust up to a height of 9000heathenism and Islam, the burden of proof rests 9500 feet, towering above the tumbled mountains and upon you to show that the circumstances in which valleys of the Tihama on one side and the endless expanse God has placed you were meant by Him to keep of mountains and desert on the other. The surface of the p·lateau, plunging steeply down on one side in a series of you out of the foreign field." splendid buttresses, slopes gently on th.e other in the The burden of the unoccupied areas of the curves of graceful valleys, forming huge theaters, for world rested on the Edinburgh Missionary Con- which man has provided the seats in terrace after terference nearly thirty years later. (Witness the race of cornfields. In the middle of Jurie the corn was ripe, and I shall never forget that scene of golden ears report and the literature on the subject at that soughing and howing under the gentle· breeze, terrace time.) The subject was practically shelved at the after terrace, down the mighty flanks of those moun- Jerusalem Council Meeting in 1928, and the sur- tains, whose steeper slopes nature had reserved for her vey by Charles H. Fahs was not even printed in own planting-a dense forest of junipers and other trees the eight-volume report. Now the World Domin- extending down to the 7500-foot level. And in the fields and forest the !birds rejoiced.
ion Movement, in its series of Survey Volumes, The natural boundaries of Arabia are not in has laid emphasis not only on what the Christian degrees of lattitude or longitude. The great "Is- Church has done and is doing, but especially upon land of the Arabs," as they themselves call it, has the vast unfinished task and the great unoccupied its geographical and historical area accurately areas. Their latest volmne deals with Arabia- expressed in the thrice repeated promise of the long neglected and now the hardest battleground Old Testament "from sea to sea and from the in the spiritual conflict with Islam. Dr. Harold I. Storm (who is chiefly respon- river unto the ends of the earth." Iraq and sible for the Survey and has written all of the Transjordania are of Arab speech, race and trachapters except one, which is by Mrs. Storm) dition; the great northern desert has been the has probably traveled more widely across the tenting ground of the Arab since the dawn of Arabian peninsula than any other missionary. history.
His recent tour took him across the peninsula Dr. Storm's survey is the first complete survey from east to west and inland to Asir, Yemen, and of Arabia today as a mission field. Until the year the cities of Hadramaut. The beautiful photo- 1889, this vast area was considered a closed land. graphic illustrations in this volume reveal some- Dr. Eugene Stock, then Secretary of the Church thing of the variety of Arabian landscape. Missionary Society, in an address at the Ecu- Arabia is not all desert. It has fertility and menical Missionary Conference held in New York beauty. H. St. John Philby has recently made an in 1900, said: "The greatest of all these unen- extensive journey to the Land of Sheba (Geo- tered countries, which is very rarely mentioned graphical Journal, July, 1938) through the great in missionary accounts, is Arabia. There is that Wady of Nejran, where Christians died martyrs great Arab race, the children of Abraham as before the days of Mohammed. Here is his pic- much as are the Jews, waiting for the Gospel; ture of one unoccupied province of Arabia. Does but we cannot get in to preach it. The Lord will it not come as a challenge?: open that door when we have entered the doors • "Whither Arabia?" By Harold Storm, M.D., IIlus. $1.50. Pub- already open." Why did this missionary stateslished by the World Dominion Movement, New York and London. man and historian consider Arabia "the great- [ 519]
est" of all the unoccupied fields and speak of «the Dr. Storm shows that the Arabs are a great great Arab race"? race in origin and destiny, and are capable of great achievement. Physically they are undoU'bt- Of all the lands comparable to Arabia in size, edly one of the strongest races of the world, a and of all the peoples who in any way approach survival of the fittest in an environment that kills the Arabs in historical interest and influence, no off the weaklings. The character, influence and country and no nationality (as Prof. Hitti re- literature of the Arabic language witnesses to the .marks) has received "so little consideration and genius of the people and of their prophet Moham- study in modern times as have Arabia and the med, through his book. A certain degree of sim- Arahs." Arabia is one of the great Bible lands, ilarity in human character, and an even greater has an area of a million square miles and is the similarity of language and custom and religion, probable cradle of the Semitic race which has prevails over the entire area where Arab migra- given the world its three great theistic faiths: tion brought Islam in its early conquest. Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Who can say whether what happened in the The Arabs have been world-conquerors and ex- seventh century may not occur again in the twen- plorers. They traveled from the Pillars of Her- tieth, if Christ should capture the Arab heart and cules (Gibraltar) to the coasts of China and in Arabs become messengers of the Gospel as, they the period of their greatest expansion "assim- once were of the Koran? ilated to their creed, speech and even physical type more aliens than any stock before or since, The exploration and mapping of the Arabian not excepting the Hellenic, the Roman, the Anglo- peninsula has made vast strides during and since Saxon or the Russian." Israel's tradition in the the World War. When Hogarth wrote his book, "The Penetration of Arabia," there were still A GORGE IN THE TUWAIG MOUNTAINS, ARABIA large areas unexplored and unmapped. Since the time of Doughty, the work of men like Lawrence, Old Testament reveals most intimate relations Shakespeare, Cheeseman, Rutter, Philby, Freya with Arabia and Arab life, both on their eastern Stark, Vander Meulen, and last but not least, frontier and on the south, even to distant Ha- Bertram Thomas, have given us a picture of dramaut; The Hebrew literary genius, as Dr. Arabia and its inhabitants with very few gaps Macdonald has indicated, also shows kinship with remaining. But this latest survey by Dr. Storm Arabia. 'Their literature throughout all their his- is a missionary survey of the field. tory, and to this day, in its method of production and in its recorded forms is of Arab scheme and The new forces that have at last stirred it may type." An index of all the Scriptural references now arouse patriarchal and nomad Arabia from to Arabia and Arabian Bedouin life includes its stagnation. The tide of Western trade and twenty-five books of the Old and five of the New culture came after the earliest missionary occupa- _ Testaments. tion fifty years ago, and has made the task of evangelization at once easier and yet more dif- There is no land in the world and no people ficult. All Arabia faces a new future and this (with the exception of Palestine and the Jews) volume may well ask "whither?". which bear such close relation to the Theocratic covenants and Old Testament promises as do A recent British writer weighs the question: Arabia and the Arabs. The divine promises for "The desert is undoubtedly the clue to the history the final victory of the Kingdom of God in Arabia of the Arabs. Relentless yet free, it has made the are many, definite and glorious. These promises Arab what he is, essentially virile, essentially group themselves around seven names which have chivalrous, essentially spendthrift, essentially fa- from time immemorial been identified with the talistic. Critics have said that the Arab is so lazy peninsula of Arabia: Ishmael, Kedar, N ebaioth, that he has largely made his own deserts rather Sheba, Seba, Midian and Ephah. than that the deserts have made him. Such critics are uJikind and superficial." He goes on to point out that today the Arab has changed. He has a broader horizon and a new sense of nationalism. The Arab is potentially a traveler and has made history outside of Arabia. The excellent maps that accompany the Survey indicate at once the tribal disunity of Arabia and its religious, social and linguistic unity.
As Dr. Storm points out, every year the motor car is penetrating further into neglected Arabia. Communications between every part of the Penin- sula were never so rapid and universal. The
A NEW SURVEY OF NEGLECTED ARABIA
Arabic papers and books from Cairo, Beirut, station is a majority. Arithmetic fails when you Damascus, and Baghdad reach every part of the deal with spiritual realities. Yet it is the im- Peninsula. Surely all this is a challenge to hasten ponderable forces of the Spirit of God which will the work of Christian evangelization. Thirteen determine victory or defeat in Arabia. The three centuries of history prove that there is little hope principal missions in the peninsula are the Amerfor Arabia in Islam. ican Mission on the Persian Gulf, the United Church of Scotland at Aden, and the Danish REPLACING THE ARABIAN CAMEL Church Mission in Yemen. The number of Chris- Longest motor coach in the world-carrying passengers from tians connected with these missions is very small, but their faith and faithfulness is very great. Damascus to Baghdad. Here is a book that truly tells of "Faith" Mis- sions! What Islam has done and has not done for the land of its birth can be read in the fascinating Because we believe that the imponderables of bO.Qks of unprejudiced explorers who, from the the Kingdom of Light are on our side, we believe days of Burckhardt and Niebuhr until those of that "opportunity" is not the last word in mis- Philby and Freya Stark, penetrated the vast sions. The appeal of the closed door is often even peninsula and have portrayed not only the land greater than that of the one which is open. The but the people. Doughty's two volumes are an en- open door beckons; the closed door may be a chalcyclopedia on the effect of Islam in molding the lenge to God's authority. It is the strength of character of the desert Arab. There could be no these imponderable forces-that is to say the stranger indictment of Islam than the fruit of reality of the Invisible, which enables the misthat faith in the character and lives of the Arabs sionary beneath the walls of an Arabian city, or as Doughty portrays them. in its borderlands, to look upward with confidence and to see by faith the future result of his toil in The present Survey does not deal very largely "the great multitude which no man could numwith Islam as a religion but points out the suc- ber"-a world where statistics are inadequate to cess and the further urgent opportunity for express realities, where finance and budgets have Christian missions, especially medical missions. lost all significance and gold is used for paving Dr. and Mrs. Storm are very modest in pointing stones. out what has been achieved in the past five decades. One cannot measure success here by statis- Success is not always measured by numbers tics, although we have tables and figures of nor victory by majorities. "Not by might nor by schools, hospitals and dispensaries. The Arabian peninsula, seen from the back of a camel, is much MODERN AIRPLANE TRAVEL IN ARABIA larger than on the map. Here "one dot may represent 10,000 Moslems"; there, one Moslem power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." Here represents ten thousand difficulties in evangelism. is a new challenge to students in our colleges for Some things cannot be put into tables and figures. the great adventure. After you read this "New You cannot tabulate loneliness nor plot the curve Survey," help to pray through to a successful conof hope deferred which makes the heart sick. Yet clusion the task that God has set before His these are the things that make the difference be- Church in this great and still neglected peninsula. tween the shedding of ink and the shedding of blood. The end of the geographical and ethnological survey is only the beginning of the missionary enterprise. One man with God at a mission
and Romance in Czechoslovakia
By REV. JOSEPH NOVOTNY, D.D., International Baptist Seminary, East Orange, N. ,.
1'. DECENTLY the little democracy of central of the "Unitas Fratrum," and introduced believ- Europe, Czechoslovakia, has become front er's baptism into the Bohemian Brethren Church. page news. In spite of the general interest Count Tolstoy professed himself his admirer and aroused, few readers seem to be acquainted with disciple. The Bohemian Brethren Church of old the country, its problems and the present religious is sometimes called today "the most beautiful situation. blossom on the tree of Christianity since the time According to one of the best Czechoslovakian of the apostles." Comenius was the great religious leader of the "Unitas Fratrum," the teacher of historians, Dr. Kamil Krofta, the foreign minister nations, who was called to Harvard as president, of the Czechoslovakian Government, the Czecho- is a man who is not valued enough. We are only slovaks were already in the present countries beginning to understand what he meant, not only which form Czechoslovakia as early as the second, for the Czechoslovaks but for the culture of the or perhaps in the first, century of the Christian era. world. The Moravian Church of today has its In the fourth century, when people were seek- origin in the work of Chelcicky and Comenius.
ing new homes, and the Slavs, the most numerous Czechoslovaks are the only Slavs who adopted white race in the world who had their cradle in the Reformation and followed it for two hundred the south of Russia, divided into different groups. years. It was an eminently religious country, The Czechoslovaks, although comparatively few "The Land of Book and Cup." There is a proverb, in number, showed the greatest energy and went which has its origin in the time of Hus: "The furthest west of all the Slavs. A few who went Husitic woman knows the Bible better than the further were drowned in the German Sea. The priest." The Czechoslovaks printed the first Czechoslovak land looks like a finger of the great Bible in a living tongue-New Testament in 1475, Slav hand pointing other Slavs to Western culture the whole Bible in 1488, in Prague. For the man of which he became the interpreter. Being the who daily reads and meditates in the Bible they center of Europe, and having high mountains as a coined a word, pismak, which cannot be translated natural frontier, the Czechoslovak was able, dur- into any other language. Nowhere is the Lord's ing the many hundreds of years of Germanizing Supper held in higher esteem than among the efforts of his neighbors, to remain a Czechish Czechoslovaks. The old independent Protestant peninsula in the German Sea. His chief connec- Czech State was a land of liberty, with the kingtion with his Slav brethren has been the Poles to democrat, George of Podebrad, who was a Czechothe north. slovak citizen, chosen king because of his spiritual The Czechoslovaks accepted Christianity as nobility. This Reformation movement was transpreached to them by the two Greek brethren, planted into Slovakia so that half of the popula- Cyrill and Methodius. This fact is the reason tion became Protestants and they use the Czech why the Czechoslovaks, while for the most part Bible and hymnals today. Roman Catholics, have not been strong followers Another fact which shows the missionary spirit of Rome. of the Czechoslovaks in the dawn of the Reforma- The Protestant Reformation ideas took root in tion, is of spiritual interest to all Anglo-Saxons. Bohemia and in the other Czechoslovak territory. When Scotland was still Roman Catholic, but had The greatest man that the Czechoslovak nation some friends of Reformation ideas, they sent to produced, John Hus, was not the first or only re- Prague a message in which they asked for a former. He had many forerunners. His clever representation of the Reformation ideas in the colleague was Jerome of Prague, and his spiritual cradle of Reformation. The Czechs sent a whole successor, Peter Chelcicky, a man who was born expedition, the leader of which, Pavel Kravar, was too soon, an apostle of world peace and separation professor in the Prague University. In his adoptof State and Church. He was the spiritual father ed country he became known as Paul Crawer, or [522 ] LlTBUAN7A·…,~ R U S S I A i,i .,;•J • MOSCOW • "~L" .-….'r""'~-Y.""'-.., iI" uK RAI N.E .A·,. "• Scale of Miles 100 200 30, 0 40, 0 THE THEATER OF TUR'MOIL IN EUROPE TODAY A Herald-Tribu.ne map showing the portions of Czechoslovakia acquired by Germany. These areas comprise about 11,500 square miles (nearly the size of Belgium), with 3,500,000 inhabitants, living along the Western, Northern and Southern boundaries.
Craw; he preached the Gospel in Scotland for tants in Bohemia by Roman Catholic Austria. The three years, and was burned as a heretic at St, Andrews in 1433. Jesuits and soldiers entered the land and tried to Peter Paine, an early English Reformer, who "convert" the people with sword and fire. They was banned from his native country because of his "heretic" beliefs, found a refuge in the free beheaded twenty-seven Czech religious leaders country of Bohemia, and died there in peace, known as "Brother English." The center and spir- and passed a law that everybody who would not itual stronghold of the Reformation ideas was the Czech University of Prague, the oldest one in be Roman Catholic must leave the country or Central Europe, founded in 1348. die. Many died, many left the country without When America was discovered, and many left their homeland to seek gold, the Czechoslovaks their property, so that although Bohemia, before revealed a thirst after pure religion, and sent abroad an expedition to find the best Christians in the Thirty Years' war, had over three millions of the world and to bring home their experience. inhabitants, after the war there were left only Meanwhile the religious divisions were serious. When civil war broke out in 1618, the Austrians eight hundred thousand people. The property of invaded the land and the tragic battle near Prague was a precursor of the end of the inde- the Protestant Czechs (which amounted to five pendent Protestant Czechoslovak State. Emperor Ferdinand of Austria proclaimed that he would hundred million gold crowns, according to the rather see Czechoslovakia a desert than a Protestant country. Few pages of history show such a historian, Bilek) was given to the Roman Catholic dark record as those of the persecution of Protes- Church, nobility, and the Emperor. Three hun- dred years of persecution followed, the history of which a Czech can read only with a bleeding heart.
The Roman Catholic German-Austrians largely succeeded in turning the Czech Protestant land into a Roman Catholic country.
To make the nation forget their national hero, John Hus, the Jesuits brought out a fictitious John (Nepomuk), and named him the nation's patron saint in 1729. .
A dark period followed in Czech history. In
the forests and mountains remained the true out of three who were born in the last year of the pismaks, readers of the Bible, although the Bible war died because of the weakness of their mothwas proclaimed a forbidden book which the ers. In spite of this persecution, the nation kept Jesuits told the people not to read and many were the motto of John Hus: "Woe to those who, for a taken away by force. In order that Catholic serv- piece of bread, sell the truth." ants might not touch the "poisoned books," they carried them in chains, and the priests burned When the war was near at an end, the Czechothem in the churchyards. One Jesuit leader pro- slovaks couldwait no longerfor thearmistice. When claimed openly that he (Konias) had burned sixty they saw that their oppressor grew weaker and thousand Bohemian Bibles and Protestant re- the Allies stronger, they thought that the moment ligious books. In order to find hidden Bibles it is had arrived for their liberation. On the twentyrecorded that the Jesuits used to wear shoes with eighth of October, 1918, Prague was aroused to nails when they went to the fields where the peo- enthusiasm. Crowds crying, "Liberty! Hurrah ple were working barefoot. Trampling on their for the Allies!" were marching through the feet, they asked where they kept their Bibles. streets. People went about kissing and embracing People often went from one village where there each other. The Czechoslovaks are proud that was no Bible to a village where there still was a their greatest day in history was not stained by a Bible and offered a loaf of bread to be allowed to single drop of blood, even by the "enemy." The read and learn parts by heart, in order to share Austro-Germans feared the day of liberation its contents with their neighbors when they re- would be a day of vengence-therefore they turned. closed the doors and windows of their houses in fear. But the new government sent messengers In these dark th'ree hundred years the Protes- to the Germans to open their houses, with the tant Czechoslovaks had to fight Vienna and Rome, message that they need not be afraid as the nation that together tried to Germanize and to Roman- did not intend to persecute anybody in the new ize the nation. Therefore it came about that every State. Czechoslovak was filled with a" hatred against this dualism, and as he read history the antago- When Czechoslovakia was liberated, it seemed nism was doubled. only natural that the national liberation should be crowned by a religious liberation. The Czecho- The Effect of the World War slovak Government prescribed for the first time in the new state a" census, to record to what The third period of the Czechoslovak nation nationality each one belonged, and what religion starts at the moment with the great World War. he professed. It was natural that every Czechoslovak resolved to side with the Allies against Austria; their op- In the old Austria it was not easy to leave the pressor. The leader of the nation, Prof. T. G. Roman Catholic Church, but after the World War, Masaryk, wisely foresaw that a revolution would there was proclaimed complete religious liberty. mean suicide. Therefore he recommended that Many Czechoslovaks, even nominal Roman Cathsome of the leaders go abroad to cooperate with olics, were ashamed to say that they belonged to the Allies, and others stay at home to lead the the Church which had "burned the greatest people. Regiments were organized in Russia, Czechoslovak that ever lived," John Hus; the France, Italy, and America. As a result the Al- church which "robbed our greatest men of their lies recognized the right of the Czechoslovaks for property," and had either killed them or sent independence. them abroad as beggars.
Austria endeavored to punish the Czechoslovaks They said: "We cannot read the history of our for their thirst after freedom and the children nation without feeling ashamed that we besuffered especially. As one poet said: "Who saw long to those who destroyed the whole life of our the sufferings of men, did not see anything, he nation." must see the sufferings of the women; who saw the sufferings of women, did not see anything, Many people (perhaps one-third) left the Rohe must see the sufferings of children." The chil- man Catholic Church during this movement and dren sought for bits of food in ashes, or begged the process is not at an end. While two-thirds of on their knees at the door for a piece of bread. the population are still reported as Roman Cath- When the war was nearly at an end, the Austrian olics, according to the last census the capital minister for Foreign Affairs, Czernin, said to the city of Prague has only fifty-three per cent in Czechoslovak leaders, "When we are forced to that church. Great numbers are joining the new leave your country, we shall leave it a cemetery." Czechoslovak Church which has broken all ties After the armistice eighty-two per cent of the with Rome, recognizes the great men of our Refor- Czechoslovak children had consumption, and two mation as their spiritual leaders, uses the Czecho- slovak language in the church, has pictures of John Hus on the altars, and sings old Husitic
REALITY AND ROMANCE IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA
hymns; the priests marry, 'and the church is one Czechoslovak village where there were seven- growing in numbers as well as in spiritual life. ty-eight houses, over ninety American flags.
They are learning from the Protestant churches The Czechoslovaks are eager interpreters of new methods, such as the Sunday school and American culture, including religion. It is only Young People's Societies. stating a fact when the European nations call the Many join the different Protestant churches Czechoslovaks "the Yankees of Europe." The newwhich, in a short time, have admitted thousands. est Czechoslovak literature is full of American in- In the west of Bohemia, in a country town, where fluence. One of the youngest Professors of there was a Presybterian church with about one Philosophy of the Prague University, the successthousand members, today the same church has or of President Masaryk, returned from a trip to twenty thousand members. In the same district America and spoke and wrote enthusiastically is a country town where all the population left the about American life. The people were never more Roman Catholic church and joined the Protes- ready to accept the greatest treasure which Amertants, leaving only the priest, his housekeeper and ica possesses-the spiritual Christian religion. As to the problem of minorities which has the janitor in the Catholic church. caused the present crisis in Czechoslovakia, there In the Protestant churches many are seeking are such racial, national and religious minorities the deepening of spiritual life. Dogmatic bat- in every country of Europe. The crux of the tles are at an end; but many feel that real god- problem is not how many individuals or what perliness ought to follow the movement. The pastors centage of the whole population is found in a cerfrom the lukewarm churches are sent to those re- tain group, but how they are treated; how much gions where there is the greatest spiritual work, liberty they possess. in order that they may be influenced by that movement and "bring it home." It is touching to see In Czechoslovakia with more than 15 million how eager the young Protestants are to know inhabitants, the minorities reach 33.8 per cent of what they ought to do to be real "Bohemian the total population. These minorities came to Brethren." Many a lukewarm church has become Czechoslovakia as colonists. The historical dea living force because of the new opportunity. The velopment and natural frontier of high mountains greatest movem-ent was in the southwest of Bo- did not permit to draw the frontier any other hemia, where there was formerly the greatest way. These minorities are scattered all over stronghold of the Roman Church; it is the birth- the country. The Germans have numbered 22 place of John Hus, John Zizka, and Peter per cent of the entire population; the Magyars Chelcicky, and other Czechoslovak Reformers. As (Hungarians) 4.7 per cent, the Ruthenes 3.7 per in the Reformation time, people in the street, in cent, the Jews 1.29 per cent and the Poles 0.56 the railroad cars, in the public places, often spoke per cent.
about religious topics during this movement. How are the minorities treated in Czechoslo- vakia? The Germans have had seventy represent- America and Czechoslovakia atives in the Chamber of Deputies, thirty-six in It is interesting to know what part America the Senate; the Magyars (Hungarians) have played in the development of Czechoslovakia. eleven deputies and seven senators; the Ruthenes There are several external ties between America have nine deputies and senators; the Poles have and Czechoslovakia: their proclamation of inde- two deputies and the Jews two. There is absolute pendence was signed in the same place at the same liberty with regard to the use of the minority desk as the Declaration of Independence of Ameri- languages in the press. With regard to schools, ca, in Philadelphia; the first lady of Czechoslo. they can educate their children in schools provakia was an American, the Anglo-Saxon vided by government money where the minority American wife of the first President, Professor language is used and where the teachers belong to Masaryk. The Czechoslovaks will never forget the the minority and textbooks are printed in the American soldiers in Europe who helped to liber- minority language. The Germans in Czechosloate the nation: the proclamation of the American vakia have had two universities, two technical conditions of peace; the distribution of the institutes and are equipped with all types of ele- American bread, which saved multitudes from mentary and secondary schools. All these schools starvation; the coming of the American dollar, have been supported by government money.
which saved Europe from bankruptcy. The Germany, Italy and Hungary offer no political Czechoslovaks know of these things, and are deep- representation for the minorities. Poland offers ly thankful. In Prague they have the Wilson only partial political representation and bilingual monument, Wilson Central Station, American type of schools. Czechoslovakia is a democratic Street, and Hoover Avenue. One of the American country where the minorities have equal rights correspondents just after the armistice found in with the majority.
Universality of Christ*
~I .:; ;I===B=y=E=.=S=T=A=N=L=E=Y=J=O=N=E=S,=D=.=D=.,=I=od=ia==~-LII ~- SOMETHING more is involved in Christian at liberty them that are bruised, those who have missions than the question of whether we hurt themselves with their moral and spiritual will or will not send missionaries across the falls. His was a message to the hurt spirits of seas. The Christian Church is beginning to recog- men, and then He came to proclaim the Lord's nize the fact that if we cannot share our Christian Year of Jubilee. Every fifty years there was a faith with every man everywhere, in the end we fresh national beginning; all debts cancelled, all will not be able to hold it. That which is not uni- slaves freed, all land redistributed, and the na- versal is not true, for Truth by its very nature is tion began with a new beginning.
universal. Two and two make four in India, Jesus closed the book of the Prophet, and said, China, America, and around the world. The mo- "Today this program begins. Today this Scripment you discover the Truth, it rises above na- ture hath been fulfilled in your ears." tional boundaries and belongs to us as a race. If, therefore, what we have cannot be shared with In beginning our missionary program we can all men, it is not universal, and if it is not univer- do no better than to announce what Jesus said sal it is not true. was His program and make it our own-a Gospel for the poor, for the hungry millions of the earth. If we cannot give Christ and His Gospel to God wills a new distribution of the goods which every man everywhere, in the end we shall stand He has provided for every man. The missionary beside dead altars, we shall pray dead prayers enterprise, if it stands for anything, stands for and we shall have a faith that has let us down in redistribution of that which God, our Father, has our own emergencies. Therefore, this whole ques- willed that every man should have. tion is significant beyond the immediate influence of the missionary cause, and we must face it and Second, we would proclaim release to the capface it with a new sense of realism. tives. There are still multitudes of people who are not liberated. There are those who are still We do not apologize for things as they are and socially and politically captive. The missionary that are of interest to missions. Rather, we want enterprise comes with a great passion for human to be prophets of things as they ought to be. freedom, believing in the worthwhileness of every Christian missions are not sacrosanct save as they man. It would proclaim belief in the worthwhilerepresent truth and reality. We do not ask that ness of every nation. men should blindly take what we say. We ask that they submit it to the test of experience, of There are undeveloped races, but no permalife, of reality. No matter what we say or unsay, nently inferior people. We would also come with the last word is with the facts. a message to those who are physically disenfran- chised-the opening of the eyes of the blind. The We search with you to find reality if we can. missionary enterprise should go out with a pas- Our platform should fit the world's needs. When sion for health, for healing, to lift the burdens of Jesus stood in a little synagogue in Nazareth two suffering which are weighing upon the hearts, and thousand years ago He announced a program are crippling the lives of men. which seemed then of little significance save to that little group. But the world today, humbly The message must come also to those who are searching after something it has not, turns again bruised-men and women who are injured or to ask whether this Man of Galilee has a definite handicapped by their own falls. The man with word for us at this period in the world's history. the wounded conscience, the man who cannot look the world and himself squarely in the face. We Jesus said: "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, come with the Gospel of another chance, a new for He has naught in me to preach good tidings to beginning, a conversion, a regeneration. the poor." His program included the proclaim- ing of release to the captives, socially and politi- Then the missionary program sets the whole cally disenfranchised; the opening of the eyes of thing in God's Year of Jubilee and proclaims a the blind, the physically disenfranchised; to set fresh beginning for a race in all departments of * Condensed from an address delivered at the United Foreign human life, a fresh awakening for a world, a new Missions Campaign, Chicago, in 1933. start.
[ 526] These are some of the principles that underly they did, they would go back to a semi-savage, the missionary movement, but upon the thresh- roaming across Europe. Are we coming to that? old of our coming to proclaim these words certain things rise up and questions which we must Many of us are proud that we have English face. Whenever you face a question, face it in its blood in our veins. The English have made amazmore acute forms-answer it there, and then you ing contributions to the collective life of our race. have answered it all down the line. We would And yet at the time of the Roman ascendancy, a like to put this fresh, living, new Kingdom under Roman said, "The stupidest and ugliest slaves on the world problems today, and under the world the market are those from Britain." Had you situation today, but we are met with objections looked at those stupid and ugly slaves you would which we must face. have said, "Impossible barbarians! Nothing can come out of them." But someone else looked at When we talk about being missionaries we are them and said, "Angles; Angles. If they could be accused of a desire to manage other people. Men Christianized they would be angels." We are not say, first of all, that it is bound up with the polit- angels, but we are quite different from the stupid ical imperialisms of the West. No matter how and ugly slaves. And the thing that was at the pure its motive, missionary work gets entangled bottom of our rise was the fact of the impact of and alloys within itself disturb and destroy its the Gospel of Jesus Christ upon us. effect upon human life. Every movement needs constant criticism, constant readjustment, per- Those who have Scotch blood are prouder still. petual realignment, and a bringing back to orig- The Scotch have made amazing contributions to inal purposes. We want to bring back this move- human life. Some of the noblest souls have come ment to original purposes, to disentangle it from from the Scotch, and yet the Scotch have been every entangling alliance that would cripple its called "eaters of human flesh," who had plenty spirit and hurt its motive. We want it to stand of flocks but whose herdsmen would prefer a clear in its own right-compelling, and doing steak from the female breast as a rarity! The what God would have men do through this move- Scotch of the fourth century! Had you looked at ment. them you would have said, "Impossible barbar- ians!" But some looked at them with the eyes of Not Political Imperialism Jesus Christ, and there began the upward rise of a nation that has contributed largely to the col- First of all, then, men say that the missionary lective life. Everywhere the missionary movemovement is a species of political imperialism, ment goes with a passionate belief in the developthat it is the religious side of that western expan- ment of men into likeness to God as He is resion, and partakes of the spirit of that expansion. vealed in Jesus Christ. There is some truth in what the critics say. Again and again the movement has been cor- We don't believe that there is any nation good rupted by its contact with pushing imperialisms enough or wise enough to hold 'permanently anand has been used by the imperialisms of the other people against that people's will. There is West. It was said that when the white man went in every nation a birthright of freedom, and the to Africa the white man had the Bible and the Christian missionary movement should stand, not African had the land; later on the African had as the sponsor of white prestige and white rule, the Bible and the white man had the land. There but should stand for the brotherhood of men, and is just enough truth in that to make it sting. Un- present a Christ who stands alongside of the libjust treaties have been forced upon China because erties of men and who expresses those liberties of China's treatment of missionaries. This move- in His Gospel and in His kingdom. ment has been fused in the purposes of imperialism. We acknowledge it with sorrow. But that Retain All That Is Good and True period of entanglement with the political imperialisms is at an end. Never again will treaties We believe that each nation has something to be forced upon China because of China's treat- contribute to the collective life of our race. We ment of missionaries. Christian missions are un- go, then, to the nations of the earth, not trying to doing what has been done, and the whole pressure wipe out their culture, their past. Much of that of Christian enterprise is to give men liberties culture will pass away with the impact of fuller and freedom. It is the passionate belief that lies knowledge. What is false in those religions will at the heart of the missionary enterprise that be dissolved in the face of truth, but nothing every man is of infinite worth. good, nothing true, nothing beautiful shall perish if men and women accept Jesus Christ, for He If any people in these United States say that said, "I came not to destroy, but to fulfill." He they do not believe in Christian missions, they would gather up unto Himself all the beautiful should be willing to go back to where they were things, the splendid touches, the genius of each before Christian missions touched them. And if nation, gather up into Himself-not destroying,
but perfecting all that is good and true and beau- A church that has a living unity has authority tiful. We can go to the nations of the earth with in a world that is looking for unity. If we can't a new sense of friendship, and at the same time get together as denominations, how can we de- believing that we have a message to them that mand that the world get together as nations? We Jesus Christ completes everything good in any believe that the missionary enterprise comes to nation anywhere. you with a new passionate belief in the unity of the Christian world, and we would build up a I believe the last vestige of connection of the great sense of Christian solidarity that would missionary enterprise with political imperialism hold together every fine thing that each denomiwas severed at the Jerusalem Conference. For the nation can contribute to the whole, but bound tofirst two or three days we analyzed until we were gether with a broad Christian brotherhood that paralyzed. We were suffering from what some- transcends all of this. There is no denomination body has called "paralysis of analysis." But at that had any corner on the saints. God seems to the end of those two weeks, as we sat at the feet work through denominations-sometimes, in of Jesus Christ and looked into His thoughts, we spite of them. If that hurts your denominational concluded that we had a message the world could pride it may help your Christian humility. We not do without and live. No missionary move- are deeply grateful for the denominations which ment has set its face toward the rights of all men, have nurtured us and given us spiritual birth, but and the liberties of all men. we step out and say: "It may be that the Chris- tian missionaries will force us at the home base But somebody says: While the missionary to come together because we believe that the movement may not be political imperialism, isn't world is searching for real unity." it denominational imperialism? Isn't it marked by the desire to build up vast denominations? Is not spiritual imperialism desire to manage There is some truth in that alliance. Christian other people's minds and souls in their supposed missions grew up at the time when denominations interests? There is a good deal of that in Chrisexpanded greatly in the West, and they have tian missions at home and abroad, because of the sometimes used this movement for the purposes type of teaching we give our young people. We tell of statistics. our young people that they must go out and be- come leaders. Get a dozen people together, all of Christ Greater Than Sects But today in the East, Christianity is begin- whom have been taught to be leaders, and you ning to recognize that there is something bigger have the stage set for confusion and strife, and than the question of being a Baptist or a Meth- for position, and power. Jesus (according to odist or a Presbyterian or anything else. There Moffet) said, "Be ye not called leaders." The is the question of being a Christian! What great attitude of the leader is, "I lead; you follow." It advantage is it 'to you whether you are a Meth- is a selfish attitude, therefore cannot be Christian. odist or Episcopal or anything else, in the light of Jesus said, "Be ye called servants." The attitude the question as to whether Jesus Christ or Karl of the servant is that he loses himself in a cause Marx shall hold the destiny of China? As we outside of himself. Jesus said, "I can Christianize have dropped down beneath the level of organ- that attitude." The world is tired of leaders. ization, down to the level of experience, we have Again and again they plunge us into war to satisdiscovered that the true Christian Church is the fy their ambitions. The world is sick of the desire most united body on earth, if we only knew it. to be leaders. It is perishing for servants! Per- Weare united in the deepest thing in life-name- ishing for men and women who lose themselves in the needs of humanity, forgetting themselves ly, in life itself. We share in Jesus Christ a life as the Master did. He said, "I am among you as that overleaps the barriers of race and class and one who serves. I came not to be ministered unto, congregation and denomination, and holds us to but to minister and to give myself a ransom for the deepest brotherhood that this world knows many." anything about-the brotherhood of a new life in Christ. The Supremacy of the Servant It is a strange anomoly that people who are Then what happens? That Servant of all be- most united at the center are sometimes most comes the greatest of all. He rises up with a new divided at the circumference. We, therefore, say kind of leadership, out of hurt and pain, out of to the Christian Church: "Brothers, we are one. the Cross. On Easter morning He rises to a new Let's act and love as if we were one. Do away leadership. The Servant of all becomes the Great- with all. duplications, and all competitions, all est of all. If, therefore, you are sending out self- overlappmg, and face this whole world Christian appointed leaders, we don't want them. But if program with the sense of the solidarity of the you can send out men and women who will lose Christian forces of the world." themselves in the great needs of the East, in Heav-
THE UNIVERSALITY OF CHRIST
en's name send them! The East is perishing for in prayer, that we, too, might have more of Christ servants. in our lives. The very act of giving to others is a There is another thing working against this conscious or unconscious prayer that His Life motive. We have discovered by actual fact that may be more operative in our own lives. But the we cannot succeed in being missionaries unless man who makes that objection doesn't say to we succeed in becoming marginal. No longer at science, for instance, "Science, you dare not pass the center, managing affairs, but on the margin, your science to the rest of the world until the sum stimulating, spiritualizing, culturers and helpers total of the findings of science are operative in of the situation; always trying to produce men America." The fact of the matter is that the find- and women who will stand upon their own feet ings of science are far beyond the application of and succeed only as we succeed in producing science to our collective life. The science of med- Christ-conscious, Spirit-directed, self-supporting icine is far beyond the application of medicine to churches in the East. our collective life, yet we do not hesitate to give We need the kind of mentality at the home base our science to the rest of the world. There is al- that is willing to contribute, even where they ways a gap between the findings of a thing and can't manage. We want the kind of spirit God the application of that thing. There is a gap be- guided, at the home base that feels that it is true tween Jesus Christ and our collective manifesta- success when we succeed in producing the kind of tion of Jesus Christ. We do not ask the nations churches in the East that stand as living, vital of the earth to become American; all we ask centers, courageous and self-supporting. In other them to do is to become Christian, and maybe in words, the price of your support should not be becoming Christian they will help us to become that you manage the whole thing. Give liberties more Christian. That is what we crave.
to men and women, give them liberties sufficient The question is, Has Jesus Christ a supply to enable God to help them develop their own which is universally redemptive? Will men be recharacteristics and their own life; then it may deemed if they will give Him a chance? We bebe that outt>f that liberty shall come back to us a lieve He has that abundant supply of life, and great contribution. I do not want merely to go to that in Jesus Christ, wherever groups and nathe East, I want the East to come to us. tions and individuals have exposed themselves to There are multitudes of men and women in the Him, there will come a redemptive power that East who have caught the passion and victory of will lift, change, redeem and make new.
Christ. These men and women can give the Gos- Not Ourselves But Christ pel to help us complete the uncompleted work and task of evangelism of America, so that there will We preach not ourselves but Jesus Christ, and be no more distinction between a "giving coun- then we are your servants for Jesus' sake. But try" and "receiving country," but we will all be somebody says it may not be spiritual impergiving and we will all be receiving. Out of that tinence. Mahatma Gandhi raises an objection. process will rise a fuller, finer type of Christian He says that there should be no change in reli- manhood, out of the twain shall he become a new gion. In an interview with some American newsman in Jesus Christ. paper men he said, "If the missionaries were to Another objection is that somebody says that it use their hospitals and schools for the purpose of may not be spiritual imperialism, but spiritual proselytizing, then when we attain self-govern- impertinence to go to people of other lands, when ment we would ask them to withdraw." His last our task at home is uncomplete. A man said, word modified his first and he said: "Under self- "You never export a thing unless you have a sur- government the missionary would not be allowed plus of that thing. Do you mean to say that you to proselytize if we feel it is done in the wrong have a surplus of Christianity in America, that way." But we have no desire to proselytize. Pros- you dare export it?" We have no surplus of elytizm, or a mere outward change of association, Christianity in America, but unless we try to is unchristian. Jesus said to the religious lead- bring others to Christ our own Christianity will ers of His day, "You compass sea and land and die upon our hands. If the individual centers up- gain a proselyte, and when you have gained him on himself to Christianize himself, he will be de- you are twofold more a child of Hell than him- Christianized in the process. self."
If a group or church should center upon itself On the other hand, Jesus definitely and specif- to Christianize. itself, it would perish in the proc- ically demanded conversion. He said, "Except a ess. If a nation should center upon itself to Chris- man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of tianize itself, it would dry up in the process. God." There is a distinction between conversion Our very stretched-out hands across the seas and proselytizm. Proselytizm is the coming over are in the end a putting of those hands together from one sect or group or opinion to another
group or sect or OpInIOn without any necessary the very nature of the Gospel which I hold. Freechange in heart allegiance or character. It is a ly did I receive, freely must I give. There is a change of label, not of life. We repudiate pros- deep discipline in the Gospel, a disCipline of the elytizm but we insist upon conversion, for con- love of Christ; but primarily it is the gift of version involves a change in character-a deep, God. The Gospel is not so much a demand as it fundamental, all-embracing change in life. is an offer, an offer of new life to man by the grace of God. The moment this life takes hold of One business of the Christian Church is to pro- a man he comes under a discipline so severe that duce conversion, and when the Christian Church it is far deeper than self-discipline. can no longer show conversions it has lost its right to live and its power to propagate. When Gandhi has another objection. This time, he it can no longer make a good man out of a bad says: "If you speak about your religion, don't man, and a weak man into a strong man, and a speak about it in words. Use the most perfect man without God-consciousness into a man ra- method of evangelism-let it come out of the life, diant with God, it has lost its function in human as the perfume comes from the rose. As missionsociety. The whole structure of human life is aries and as Christian workers draw people by resting upon that subtle, intangible thing called your deeds. But do not speak about it." character. And when the character breaks, the confidence breaks, and when the confidence breaks Witness of Lips and Life the country breaks. If the Christian Church cannot so present Jesus Chris,t and His Gospel so as There is something valuable in this suggestion. to make men and women of Christlike character, The West has organized religion too much around if any religion does not make bad men good, it words. Our places of worship are called "audihas lost its right to exist. We have, therefore, no toriums." Our services are services of song, prayapologies for trying to produce conversion. We er, speech-words. Somebody asked a Chinese believe that wherever men and women and in- what he thought of the Christian religion. He dividuals and nations expose themselves recep- said, "It is a very talkative religion." There is tively to Jesus Christ, their conversion does take something in what he says. Gandhi snid, "Let us place to the degree that He is received. have a moratorium on words." There is some- thing in his objections-but not everything. "We want to do something deeper and more fundamental than proselytizing." Conversion is Jesus Christ did use the rose-perfume method. not only the conversion of an individual-that "He went about doing good." He did good beconversion is as far extended as human need. cause men needed it, and the resources of His Just as' there can be sin in the individual will, heart were big enough to meet that need. He went there can be sin in the collective will. Shall we about doing good, but He did more than that. He rescue the wounded in war or strike at the war interpreted words by acts. The words of His lips system, too? Shall we pick up the drunkards or and the deeds of His life were one. They caJrne tostrike at the liquor traffic, too? The Christian gether like the words and music of a song. His Gospel reapplied would mean a conversion, not deeds were words and His words were deeds, and merely of the individual, but of the sum total of they all came together and became the Living human life. Conversion-the Kingdom of God Word. coming-replacing the present world order, founded as it is on exploitations and on unbroth- We would say to Mahatma Gandhi, If we are erliness-we could replace by an order founded true to Christ we will invest this message with on good will, the Brotherhood of Man under the the sum total of our lives, and that includes our Fatherhood of God. This is the conversion for words. It is only when our words are rooted in which the Kingdom of God stands. facts that we dare speak them.
The Christian life is primarily not an attain- A man came to' me in India and said, "Why do ment, but an obtainment. The gift of God came to you go after people to baptize them?" I replied, me when I had nothing to offer except my bank- "I don't. They come to ask me to baptize them. I ruptcy. I came to Jesus Christ hurt, confused, put no label on a man that does not correspond to bankrupt. I offered Him what I had, and to my an inward fact." The man who has the reality utter amazement and astonishment He took me, has a right to outwardly proclaim it and to enjoy forgave me, cleansed me, loosed me from the old any group where it will be cultivated. The inbonds, set my soul singing its way down these ward without the outward is also hypocrisy. The years. By His grace was I made whole. life, speaking one thing, has a right to live it out.
I dare to speak of that because I simply am lay- But somebody offers one final objection: ing at His feet the tribute of my gratitude and "Aren't they getting along well enough without my life. I could not keep silence without denying Jesus Christ?"
I can not find anyone anywhere getting along well enough without Jesus Christ in East or West.
1938J THE UNIVERSALITY OF CHRIST
I cannot do it. In fellowship with Him I truly thirsty and ye gave me drink; I was sick and ye live. I go to the nations of the East because they are a part of the world, not because they are not visited me; in prison, and ye came to me." most degraded but because they are brother men. "Lord," they say, "when saw we ye hungry or A man said to me, "How do you talk to theos- thirsty? Sick or in prison? We never saw Thee 6phists?" I don't-I talk to people. And I don't this way." And the Master says "Inasmuch as go to speak to Hindus and Mohammedans-I go to speak to men with the same inward needs that ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye I have. I do not go to the people of the East be- 'cause they are the worst of the world, I go to have done it unto Me." . them because they are men for whom Christ died. That, it seems to me, is the legitimate reason for Who is it that is hungry in the hunger of the going. There are degradations in the East just as there are degradations in the West. As I have world? The Christ hungers again. Who is it that sat in round-table conferences and heard noble is bound with the shackles of custom and sin and men tell what religion was meaning or not mean- evil? In them Christ is still bound? At the Cross ing to them, I have come to the conclusion that not only any man at his worst needs Christ, but He gathered all up into His own heart, until every man at his finest and best needs Him. Christ and the human soul were made for each other just as man's trouble became His trouble, and every the lungs were made for air, the eyes for light, the man's pain His pain, and every man's sin His heart for love, and the esthetic nature for beauty. Jesus Christ and the human soul were made for sin. He bore it in His own body upon the Tree. each other, and when we find Him we find not There, it seems to me, is the meaning of the unionly the Way of Life, but Life itself. I desperately wish everyone to have that life. verse. There is the meaning of Life. We live in proportion as we respond with deeper and deeper The Cross and the Motive sensitiveness. This is the test by which we can If I were to point out the deepest places where my missionary motive is found, I would point to judge. a Cross. For the Cross, to me, is the place where I see deepest into the universe. There the uni- How much life is there in our churches? That verse turns redemptive, forgiving all, bearing all, is the great question that comes home to us. healing all, and turning the whole of life into tri- Judge by this standard. Many churches are about umph. It is at the Cross where we see the heart the spiritual level of the vegetable. Dead beets, of the missionary passion, for there is the place of the heartbreak of God. There is where love, pure, if you will. No sensitiveness beyond themselves, holy love, comes into contact with words, sign and need. There we begin to see love reaching and proud of that fact. The missionary moveout as far as the human need, and taking all into ment, with all its faults (and it has many) is the God's own heart bearing all and forgiving all. reaching up of arms and saying, "We are trying Someone has defined "Life" as "sensitiveness." to be Christian; we are trying to be sensitive on It is a great definition. The lower down the scale of living you go the less sensitiveness you find. a world scale, and in trying to do so we are be- The stone is numb; there is no life. The plant ginning to try to catch something of the passion has some sensitiveness, therefore some life. The animal has more, therefore more life. When you that our Lord and Master held." I cannot see come to Man you find the sensitiveness ranging out beyond itself, beyond its group, its nation, and how we can keep that passion in our hearts and to God and the larger life reaches out to man. The more sensitiveness, the more life. The high- not reach out to the last man everywhere. est, greatest life that has been lived upon our planet, is Jesus Christ. There we find the su- The moment I rose the day I was converted I preme sensitiveness. On the last day He will say, felt an impulse in my heart that I had never "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of known before. Five minutes before I had had no the world. I was hungered and ye fed me; I was such impulse. The impulse was that I wanted to share with everybody, and put my arms around the world arid share the Gospel with everybody. My missionary motive today is that; deepened, broadened, but still there. I do not see any place to stop witnessing this side of the last human being. This desire should be held in the heart as a great consuming power. The center of the whole thing is the heart. I believe that such a passion shows the heartbeat of Jesus Christ. In Him is enough power to heal the individual, the social, the eco- nomic, the political needs of the world. I know no other power.
Jesus Christ stands and says, "Come unto Me and enter My Kingdom." Are you willing to make inward surrender of your whole self to Him -your money, your brain, your hand, your life? If so you will follow Him and your life will never be the same. You will have new joy and freedom and power.
of the Churches in
By REV. AKIRA EBISAW A, Tokyo, Japan ExecutitJe Secretary of the National Christian Council of Japan T HE Christian churches of Japan have made It may sound strange for us to speak of such striking progress in the brief time since the a radical change. But every living organism is opening of missions here in 1859. From the destined to grow and is subject to vital changes. very early days these churches have been charac- We believe in the God of Creation, who works terized by a self-governing church polity, pro- even today. We cannot measure the creative moted under the leadership of missionary and work of God in terms of the status quo or hold Japanese leaders. the idea that there can be no development of new We realize, however, that the Christian Church features in the realm of the Church. We should in Japan is not yet fully established. It is only hope and expect that a newly emerging Christian partially represented by the communions trans- Church will develop new forms in a new environplanted to Japanese soil from the Western World. ment.
While the various denominational churches The organization, methodology, and functions represent very important branches of the Body of of the churches in the field must be defined in the Christ, with their historic characteristics, yet light of their environment, they should be rethese divisions often seem meaningless and are a organized so as to accord with the national trastumbling block to the Oriental mind. Japanese dition and be adapted to their indigenous cultural do not understand why the Christian churches are heritage. thus divided. Many things need to be re-examined. For in- Very serious problems are confronting the stance in Japan, the custom of religious congrechurches in the Japan field at present. The en- gational public worship never existed until the vironment of these churches, influenced by the Christian church service was introduced. Our cultural heritage of the nation, is necessarily in- forefathers were accustomed to individual worfluencing their inner life. ship ·and to occasional festivals. Thus the Roman Catholic form of worship seems better adapted to The age-long struggle of the Western churches our people than the Protestant congregational of Europe against the Greco-Roman materialistic services. Moreover, offerings in connection with humanism is being repeated to some extent even public worship have been alien to our people. in Japan. Bushido emphasized the virtue of righteousness Generally speaking, churches in the Orient are and sacrifice and disdained utilitarianism. It placed in an environment characterized by vari- looked with contempt upon the motive of personal ous forms of culture and by the presence of the profit and gain. Little wonder that even in this other great ethnic religions. This brings new fea- highly economic-minded age there are people who tures into the struggle which the Oriental young- think that it is not pious nor Christian to speak er churches are experiencing. This presents a of monetary matters during a religious service or new problem to the churches in this field and right even to take the purse to the house of wor- gives hope and promise that the outcome will be ship.
the enrichment of their inner life. Although gradually the Western industrial These considerations suggest that some intrin- order is affecting and destroying the old social sic value must be developed on the part of these system and is replacing it with an individualistic churches that will adapt them to the cultural mode of life, the family system still has a strong heritage and social environment in their native hold on the life of the Japanese. This makes it fields, without losing anything of their Christian customary for only the head of the family to en- character. joy economic independence, the other members It must be admitted that we should re-examine all being dependent. As a result the system of and re-evaluate our church organization, its meth- offerings by individual members of a church is ods of activity and its relationships, in the light almost meaningless.
of the national cultural tradition and the chang- Creative imagination on the part of Western ing environment. people, inspired by religious insight, has erected [532 ] such wonderful structures as St. Paul's Cathedral lives. This often makes the distinction between and Notre Dame. But why should Christian Christians and non-Christians obscure and insigchurch architecture throughout the world con- nificant. form to Gothic forms or wholly Western style? The New Testament conception of the church The lack of a strong devotional motive makes does not indicate such patterns. It rather sug- many feel that it is a burden to bear the respongests that the Church universal is composed of sibility of rendering service and giving in supsmall units, meeting in the homes of the believers. port of the Church. Another excuse, which has some truth in it, is that the Church at present is The Church universal, as an ideal spiritual so- dealing with things that are too trifling as comciety, must be made clear to the mind of con- pared with the momentous matters which are agitemporary Christians, especially of the younger tating humanity. This does not appeal to the imchurches. This is well defined by Dr. Wm. A. agination nor sound the depths of life for minds Brown, as follows: that are alert.
It must never be suffered to obscure the fact that the In view of these unhealthy tendencies, we are Church of Christ exists today as definite body in the per- endeavoring to promote an interest on the part sons of the men and women who have been touched by of church members in the training of the laity for His spirit, and who live for the ends which He approves. voluntary evangelism and in Christian steward- This spiritual society, creating institutions, but not it- ship as features of our Nation-Wide Union Evanself perfectly comprehended or expressed by any, is the gelistic Campaign. true Church of Christ. (Brown: "Christian Theology in Outline," Ch. V. p. 59.) Self-Support and Self-Government The members of the Re-Thinking Missions Self-support and self-government on the part Commission define the Church in a way which of the churches have usually been taken as synwill help to clarify the conception of the Chris- onymous among Christian people throughout the tians in the field regarding it. world. A clear distinction should be made be- tween them. A Christian's property belongs to The Church is to be thought of as a spiritual fellow- God and God's money may be used anywhere for ship and communion of those who have found a new His Kingdom without reference to racial or naspring of life and power by the impact of the Christian tional differences. message, who are eager to join together as a living, growing body of believers through whom the ideals and the A policy of self-government is imperative for spirit of Christ can be transmitted and His principles of the churches in the field if we wish them to devellife promoted, then that type of Church will always have op as the Church of Christ. But the problem of a function in the work of building the Kingdom of God self-support must be considered in the light of the whether on the mission field or at home. ("Re-Thinking activities and functions of the church. Some Missions," Ch. V. p. 109.) churches tend to overemphasize self-support, with the result that the local churches crystallize Owing to the lack of proper training in such a into small-sized organizations, with no possibility fundamental conception of the Church, the young- of an expanding life and influence necessary for er churches are facing a grave danger at present. self-propagation. It is a pity to see dwarfed or That danger is the general trend among the crippled local churches losing their activities Christians of growing indifference toward the and ceasing to appeal to the general public. organized churches. Forced self-support does not prove to be self- Among the causes that have contributed to this support at all. It often means that the pastor is tendency, we mention a few for which we should obliged to support himself by some form of side feel responsibility. The Japanese have a feeling work. It is a mistake to demand self-support of distaste for the too highly institutionalized without considering the real strength of the local church life which tends to give the impression church as related to its environment. The church, that it is too conventional and has an artificiality in the New Testament meaning, should be organwhich bears a secular flavor. ized in every small town and village and even in the homes of the believers. This tendency may also be due to the fact that the churches are losing their strong leaders in Owing to an overemphasis on self-support on the ministry. This may seem partly inevitable in the one hand, and to a lack of the conception of these days because of the greatly changed social Christian stewardship-the training for which is environment as compared with the pioneer days quite new among the younger churches-on the when the missionary and indigenous leaders were other, many local churches are suffering greatly conspicuous figures. It must be admitted that because of the economic problem. The result is consciously or unconsciously contemporary Chris- that churches tend to be governed by the motive tians are influenced by the secular, materialistic, of group egoism while the individual church individual thought, and are losing the idealistic, self-forgetting, sacrificial motive in their daily
members themselves are likewise influenced by activities necessary to meet the needs of the compersonal egoism. munity at large and can fulfill their responsibility as witnessing churches. We must continually re- Many economic problems are at present con- mind Christians of the fundamental unified charfronting the younger churches. In Oriental acter of the churches of the different communions homes, where the traditional family system pre- in accordance with the conception of the Church vails, the father, as the wage earner, usually defined by Dr. William Adams Brown. holds the purse and other members of the family get money from him. Yet the Protestant As the religious society which finds its bond of union Churches, in spite of this traditional Japanese in Jesus of Nazareth, the Church is one. . . . Beneath custom are supported on the basis of individual the outward divisions and misunderstandings which sepcontributions, in accordance with the custom in arate different bodies of Christians there is a common Western lands. religious experience which is shared by all whose lives are lived under the influence of the Master, and which Another problem perplexing city churches is unites in sympathy, labor, and prayer, good men in every the fact that, owing to changes in the environ- branch of the Church. It is ,this common religious life, ment, members are moving to the suburbs and it uniting in spiritual fellowship men of different ecclesiasis becoming increasingly difficult to bring the tical names and of none, which is the real foundation of family to the mother church every Sunday be- the unity of the Church. (Brown: "Christian Theology cause of the transportation costs and other ex- in Outline," p. 59.) penses. Notwithstanding these difficulties, it is an encouraging fact that the annual giving of the There is also the problem of church union. churches in Japan in recent years. amounts to "Divided churches cannot conquer the unified about 2,500,000 yen, or 12.50 yen per capita. This world." The way to win the world is to consoliis a good ratio when compared with the reported date the Church's divided forces, under the leadgiving of New York church members last year. ership and power of the Spirit of God.
Another problem is the question as to what con- In Japan we have been carrying forward a stitutes real cooperation between older and study regarding a basis for union ever since 1925. younger churches? Of course cooperation, through We have been swung back and forth over the fellowship or in conferences, does not begin problem of a creed. Our people now seem to realwhere financial support from the church at the ize that to begin by planning for organic union home base is cut off. Real f!'lllowship and cooper- will get us nowhere. There must first be spiritation can be established without regard to finan- ual unity in Christ. We are now inclined to start cial relations. Younger churches can not be said with a federated union as has been the case with to cooperate satisfactorily with the older churches the Church of Christ in China. Dr. Stanley Jones at the home base as long as they exist on a poor has suggested a similar procedure. economic level and with a crippled independence. Real cooperation should begin when the younger We see a possibility for the realization of churches on th~ field are able to maintain the Christian union if we proceed along this line for the coming ten-year period by uniting in work which has no direct concern with a creed.
GOD CHOOSES BUSY MEN FOR HIS WORK When God has work to be done we notice that He almost always goes to those who are al- ready at work. Both his,tory and the Bible attest this truth.
Moses was tending his flocks at Horeb when God called him to deliver the people of Is- rael from bondage in Egypt.
Gideon was threshing wheat by the wine press when God called him to deliver Israel from the Midianites.
David was caring for his father's sheep w hen he was called to succeed Saul as king.
Elisha was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen when he was called to succeed Elijah as prophet of God in Israel. .
Nehemiah was bearing the king's cup when he was called to go to rebuild Jerusalem.
Amos was attending the flock when he was summoned to be a prophet of God.
Peter and Andrew were casting a net into the sea when Christ called them to become fishers of men.
Matthew was collecting customs when he was called to be a disciple.
Saul was persecuting the church when he was commissioned to be a missionary of Christ.
William Carey was mending shoes when he heard the call to be a foreign missionary.
for the Church in India*
By B. L. RALLIA RAM, ESQ.
Secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association, Lahore CHRISTIAN influence has streamed into In- the word "church" in this article refers to the dia in four different channels: sum-total of all the "churches," for, with all the First: According to the traditions of divergent doctrines, traditions and practices, they the Syrian Church Christianity was originally do owe allegiance to one Lord and Master and preached in India, by the Apostle St. Thomas, in unitedly proclaim His name. In spite of the ex- the states of Travancore and Cochin, early in the istence of many "churches," there is yet an entity, Christian Era. The Church thus established, how- intangible though it may seem, which may be ever, was not alive to its missionary obligations. called "The Church of Christ in India."
It was handicapped by the political situation and The "Christian Community" consists of mem- by lack of communications so that its influence bers of the Christian churches and those who was confined to a small section of the country. nominally belong to the Christian community, Considerably weakened by divisions and internal having been born in homes known as Christian. disputes, in some respects it followed too closely According to the present political constitution of some of the painfully dark episodes in the history India, "The Christian Community" is a separate of the Church elsewhere. political entity with rights of special representa- tion in the national and provincial legislatures Second: In the Sixteenth Century the Portu- through voting constituencies of its own. This gese Roman Catholics inaugurated an era of rapid implies that in many places it is also a separate Christianization of India. Under their influence social entity. the work of St. Francis Xavier and the Jesuites in South India met with an apparent success. The This system leads to unfortunate results. It is, means used to convert people were not, however, however, gratifying to note that there are many always fair and honest. The Church in India un- Christian leaders who regret this political isolatil recently was preponderatingly Roman Cath- tion imposed by the award of the government. olic, but the Protestant influence has been There is an increasing number of Indian Chrissteadily increasing. and the Protestant Christians tians who are working shoulder to shoulder with now are numerically more than the Roman Cath- their countrymen for general social, political and olics. moral improvement. Raj Kumari Amrit Kaur, the talented daughter of the late Sir Raja Harnam Third: Early in the Eighteenth Century a Prot- Singh (a notable Christian convert from the famestant mission arrived in the South of India un- ily of a ruling chief), is the acknowledged leader der the inspiration of the King of Denmark, with of the Women's Movement in India. Two of the the financial help of an Anglican society. Its per- trusted lieutenants of Mahatma Gandhi, in charge sonnel was German. The large Lutheran Church of two of his important social and economic deof South India, the United Church of South India, partments, are Indian Christians. From this it the Anglican Church with its several dioceses will be seen that in common usage the term "Inare the direct result of this pioneering mission. dian Church" is sometimes applied to the com- munity known to the political and social life as Fourth: A century later groups of Protestant "The Indian Christians." missionaries were sent at short intervals by the English Baptists, the Church Missionary Society, Here we are mainly concerned with the organand the London Missionary Society. They were ized Christian Churches, though the second consoon reinforced by Americans and others. Thus ception associated with the term "Indian Church" there are now several Evangelical Christian cannot altogether be avoided. churches deeply rooted in the soil of India.
Technically there is no one Christian CHURCH Characteristics of the Church in India in India, but a large number of "churches." But It is impossible to deal here adequately with the • Mr. Basil Mathew gives a significant title to one of his recent CsauhbfuJe'rewccht .aosfpeCchtsrisotf in India. We can refer only to books "The Church Takes Root in India." This happy phrase aptly a very large and complicated describes the present position of the Christian Church in India.
B. L. R. A.
[ 5351
Except for the church in Malabar, the Church agating Churches." It is essential, therefore, that of Christ in India owes its existence to the labors the help from abroad should be so used as to of missionaries sent out by the churches of the achieve this ideal as speedily as possible. It is West. These "sending churches" have been main- universally recognized now that the ultimate suc- ly responsible for the nourishment and the devel- cess in Christianizing India must depend upon the opment of the Church in India. Each church is efforts of the indigenous Church itself. It alone dependant still upon their "mother" church for can be a truly effective witness to the Indians of help. Missionaries play an important role in the the saving power of Christ. Its life of witness life of the Church. Financial help is given to will win India for Christ. The most important maintain its indigenous ministry and its institu- aspect, therefore, of the development of the tions and forms of service. The different churches Church is its response to the challenge to evan- are in various stages of development. gelism.
In main there are two kinds of church organ- The Church and Evangelism izations: Some churches have already become When the missions were first started it was autonomous, though not fully self-supporting. In considered necessary to employ paid Indian evan- the South, a strong "South India United Church" gelists, and to keep them under their own control. includes the Presbyterian and Congregational. This system may have been necessary in the ear- Corresponding to it there is a similar "United lier stages, but its continued and prolonged ex- Church of North India." The Church of India, Burma and Ceylon, which is in fellowship with istence is likely to mitigate against the fulfilment of the legitimate work of the Church itself. the World-wide Anglican Communion, has attained its independence by an Act of the British In some places, the mission is separately organ- , Parliament. These and several other churches are ized as an evangelistic agency, with its own Inautonomous; they are in full communion with dian workers, while the Church is left with the the corresponding churches of the West and are pastoral work. While missionaries can exert receiving help from them. their influence (and sometimes unduly large in- fluence) in the matters left to the Church, the Other churches are exemplified by the Meth- mission policy remains the sole concern of the odist Episcopal Church and the United Presby- mission. This often creates a strain, acting adterian Church. They still form a part of the versely on the spiritual life of the Church, and American churches and their highest court is out- consequently weakens the sense of evangelistic side India. These churches are being given an responsibility. But there is an increasing realizaincreased measure of responsibility, without the tion of this danger and the systems are being final authority. We do not seek to evaluate the overhauled and adjusted so as to throw the rerelative merits of these two systems. sponsibility of evangelization upon all the lay membership of the Church, where it rightfully Christianity in India reflects the character of belongs. the churches of the West, to which the churches in India owe an everlasting debt, not only for their existence, but also for support and guidance. Next in importance to evangelization, is the This dependence of the Church in India on the responsibility of the Church for its own life and Western churches has also been responsible for the administration of its own institutions as a many difficult problems. In some ways it has "self-propagating and self-governing" Church. handicapped the Church, and it has retarded The responsibility for administration is somehealthy growth. This was inevitable. On the one times related to the financial support it can prohand the Church in India could not have reached vide for the maintenance of the enterprise, and it its present stage without help; on the other hand is mistakenly contended that self-government and it has grown under the shadow of a large tree self-support are inter-dependent. Such a mechanwith an apparent loss of spontaneity. This has ical system tends to make the Church dependent upon material resources rather than upon spiritstunted its stature. The danger has lain and still lies in the way ual realities.
this help is given. Very often an undue stress is A recent conference held on "Self-Support" at laid on the financial relationship between the Nagpur, under the auspices of the National Chris- Churches of India and the Western Churches. tian Council, provides a Iseful study for those While this relationship is of great importance, in who are interested in this problem.
the last analysis it is not the vital factor. There The Churches of Christ in the world must al- has been considerable progress in "self-support" ways be interdependant and, therefore, depend- of the Churches of India. ence of the Church in India upon other Churches, From the early stages of their work, missions in itself is not wrong provided care is taken that have set before themselves the goal of creating this dependence does not inflict a moral injury "self-governing, self-supporting, and self-prop- and stunt the growth of a healthy normal plant.
OUTLOOK FOR THE CHURCH IN INDIA
There are some dangers to which the Church India. Recently surveys have been made into the of India is exposed at the present time: economic conditions of the Christian community in several parts of the country. Some of these There is a danger that the Church may in fu- surveys have been undertaken at the initiative of ture be entirely in the hands of an hierachy of the National Missionary Society. A study of these the clergy and other paid workers. While it is is most instructive. Dr. E. D. Lucas and Mr. the privilege of the ministry of the Church to Frank Thakur Dass made an economic enquiry teach, to guide and to serve, the spiritual driving into the conditions of the community in Pasrur power must come through spirit-filled laity; un- Tehsil in the Punjab and discovered that the avertil the lay element are given their due share in age income of a Christian family of five is about the government of the Church, and in the forma- $40 a year, or $3.50 a month. It is the glory of tion of its ideals, the Church can never achieve its the Christian Church that it has brought the mesobject. sage of release from the bondage to these poor people. That the Church in India is poor is not Business and professional men are not exerting a reproach, but is a matter for thankfulness. the degree of influence in affairs of the Church to Problems arising out of this fact, however, must which they are entitled. This needs to be cor- be courageously faced. Is economic poverty in acrected. cordance with the mind of Christ? Is not this problem of the extreme poverty of Christian vil- It is possible that the help of men and women lage communities a challenge to the Church? from abroad may be used in such a way as to hamper rather than help the emergence of a truly The Church in India Is a Growing Church independent Church. It is a significant fact that there have been no heresies developed in the India is one of those countries where populachurches of India. This probably means that tion is increasing rapidly. This creates a national there has been no independent thinking in the problem. Every community, in a natural way, is Church itself. The Church has produced many increasing. In 10 years (1921-1931) the poppersons who by their ability and spiritual leader- ulation of India increased by 14 per cent, but ship have taken their places in the front rank; but the Christian community and the membership of there is an urgent call for more leaders who are the Christian Church is increasing much faster. able to think and act independently in accordance During the decade 1921-31, the increase of the with the highest principles. The best way that Indian Christian community, according to the help from abroad can be given is to train and re- natural process, should have been 157,355, but it lease Christian personalities who will take the actually was 1,542,684. This has been true in responsibility of guiding the Church in India. every census report.
The life and work of men 'like the Bishop of Since 1931 reports from the churches reveal the Dornakal and the late Mr. K. T. Paul have done fact that a large number of people are continuing more to establish the Christian Church in India to turn to Christ through mass movements. These than the work of many a foreign worker. movements, well described by Bishop Pickett, are no longer from the lowest strata of society only, New Challenge but in certain sections, particularly in the diocese of Dornakal and the Nizam's Dominion, groups The Church in India may become exclusively from the highest castes of Hinduism are also ennational and conservative. The Church in the tering in the Christian Church. This welcome en- West is being confronted with a new challenge by largement of the Church in India must bring new the problems of the modern world. It is being challenges and many new problems. forced to rethink and relive, and to rededicate. The Church in India is, to a considerable extent, Conversion to Christianity in this way of large outside the currents of new thoughts. Its con- groups is fraught with many dangers and if the tact with <Ecumenical movements of the present Church in India does not have the resources to age is meager. If it is to fulfill its destiny, and if give adequate teaching and to provide essential it is to discharge its God-given responsibility, its opportunities for the nourishment and developgrowth must be harmonious and not lopsided. In ment of their Christian life, the Indian Church true and unwaning fidelity to Christ and His may well sink into lower depths. It might easily teaching it must assimilate all that is best and become another religious system. Thus while the challenging in its great heritage of the history of mass movements are providing great encouragethe Church throughout the ages, the spiritual ment they are potentially also the source of great heritage of India, and also the stirring of the danger. spirit in modern times. At the present time the Christian community in The Church of India is poor in comparison with India is only one per cent of the total population. the churches of other countries. It is poor in There is still a vast field to be evangelized by the comparison with other religious communities in
Christian enterprise, but its greatest opportunity greatest opportunity it will be a tragedy. On the does not come from that side alone. As a result of other hand if the Church is faithful to its message the recent world forces a new nation has been and can serve its country with the spirit and zeal born in India pulsating with life and anxiously of the Master, then India will make a contribudesirous to make its contribution to world civil- tion to the world whose importance cannot be exization and world culture. India is beginning to aggerated. There are tremendous possibilities for think in world terms and looks upon itself in the the future. setting of a new world. In India the Christian Church is face to face with three or four virile, The World Conference at Tambaram (Madras) aggressive religious systems with their conflict- comes at one of the critical periods of the history ing doctrines of life and action. Will the future of mankind. It is to be hoped that this ingatherof India be guided and moulded by these philos- ing of the leaders of the Christian enterprise from ophies or will the life-giving principles of Christ all the world will release a new Spiritual force give to her a new way of life and action? The which will not only give to the Church in India answer to this question must depend upon the a new vision and new power but we pray that its work and witness of the Churches in India. If clarion call for advance in the name of Christ the Church fails its motherland in the hour of her will penetrate effectively the harassed countries of the Western as well as the Eastern world.
A Saintly Surgeon of India The Story of Sir William Wanless of Mira; By MARGARET McKELLAR, M.D., LL.D.
Toronto, Ontario Missionary to India under the United Church of Canada SOMEONE has said: "If the Taj Mahal is a times Dr. Wanless was decorated by the British dream in marble the Wanless Hospital is a Government, in 1913 receiving the silver Kaiser- dream in the art of healing." Affection for i-hind medal, in 1920 the gold medal and in 1928 a royal spouse was the incentive for the one; love the late King George V conferred upon him the for the Lord Jesus Christ and suffering humanity rank and title of Knight Bachelor of the British was the incentive of the other. Empire, (K.B.E.). These honors were conferred for his distinguished services and humanitarian Multitudes of people traveled thousands of work for the people of India. miles to reach this Mecca of healing. They came not only from India, but from Iran, Iraq, and I landed in India shortly after Dr. Wanless first other countries. arrived. After forty years of medical service, we both left our respective stations within a few Wanless was a household word in many parts months of each other. We worked together in the of India. It is said that more Indian people knew All-India Christian Medical Association, of which the name of the Saintly Surgeon of Miraj than he was the organizer and secretary, then presknew even the name of the Viceroy. If a fellow ident for seventeen years. One day I found mytraveler said that he was going to Miraj you could self in his home, with the late Dr. Arthur Neve of assume that he was going to "Wanless" for the Kashmir and Dame Edith Brown of Ludhiananames were synonymous. both famous surgeons. They were discussing with Sir William the respective merits of certain opera- Sir William James Wanless is a name destined tions, e.g., Colonel Smith's cataract extraction for to live among the names of the world's great sur- which Sir William himself had designed an ingeons, not only in India, where he worked out his strument for extracting .the lens. Today this is on earthly life's purpose with a heavenly meaning, the market as the "Wanless extractor." It was but in the Hall of Fame, established by the Uni- apparent that Sir William had a thorough familversity of New York. He received his medical iarity with the technique of the different varieties degree from that University in 1889, shortly be- of operations. Other members of the medical profore he went to India. In 1916 he became a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Three
A SAINTLY SURGEON OF INDIA
fession, British medical service men and mission- Although Dr. Wanless and I were stationed aries, all had confidence in his wisdom and skill. some six hundred miles apart, I took many Euro- pean patients to Miraj for operations. These In response to my question as to how he kept were 100 per cent successful. his surgical instruments from rusting, Sir William answered: "I use them"; and he did to At Miraj operations were the order of the day, splendid purpose. For his skill in surgery he was usually from noon until hours after lamplight, called the "Wizard of India." Even non-Christians when all the cases were finished, with no break except for afternoon tea, served in the operating STAFF AND STUDENTS OF THE MEDWAL SCHOOL, MIRAJ room annex. Foreign staft, seated. Left to Right: Dr. Vail, Dr. Inglis Frost, In the operating theater, Sir William was Rev. R. C. Richardson, Dr. W. J. Wanless. scrupulously observant of antiseptic precautions and would brook no carelessness on the part of recognized his Christlike example and called him his medical assistants or of visiting doctors. I "The Saintly Surgeon." saw him ruffled only twice. Once when defective forceps were flung on the floor and the other time One Indian patient, on being asked why he had when a visiting doctor placed on the tray of sterpassed by Bombay where there are many good ilized instruments an instrument that had been in hospitals and physicians, replied: "Because I was touch with an infected area. told that Dr. Wanless prays before he operates." There is no cemetery for surgical patients at- Once I saw a grateful patient, a mother, whose tached to Miraj Hospital! life he had saved when there was "no hope" for her, kiss him much to his surprise. Often Hindus Like D. L. Moody, our beloved Saintly Surgeon endeavored to kneel and kiss his feet. was a general. He was quick to grasp the situa- tion. He was a man of few words-many deeds. Sir William was not a surgeon who specialized on one organ-the whole body was his field of After one critical operation, an aggrieved nurse operation. He was equally successful in cataract asked him, "Why did you shout at me when you extractions, and in abdominal surgery, hence wanted that instrument? I feel very badly about there flocked to his hospital patients from far i.t. " and near; princes and paupers, high and low caste-for he did not discriminate; their need of "Did I shout?" he gently replied, "I am very his skill was their passport. The low-castes and sorry. All I thought about was to save that womuntouchables received the same care as did Ma- an's life!" hatma Gandhi or the rajahs. One of the 400 missionaries, who had been his Even children recognized and trusted his skill. patients, said to me: "I had to take my turn on Two mission-school children were overheard in a heated quarrel. When one could not have things CLINIC BUILDING AT THE MIRAJ HOSPITAL as she wanted, she said: "I'll cut your head off!" To this the other answered, "I don't care if you the operating table but with the greatest assurdo; I'll go to Dr. Wanless and he will put it on ance, knowing that I had for my surgeon one of again !" international fame. Night after night, as I lay in the cottage which had been built as a memorial People had such confidence in him that they to Mary Wanless, I would hear the brisk step of came without fear of the surgical knife. A poor the doctor and could see the flicker of light from village man, who could not understand that his his small lantern cross my window and my door. was an inoperable case, came to the doctor's bun- It was eleven o'clock, and he was returning home .galow and with tears streaming down his face said, "Doctor-saheb says he won't operate on me. Please, memsaheb, tell the doctor to do operation on me."
after making his bedtime rounds at the hospital. When the message reached me, the one day There had been many patients to see, just fresh train had already left for Miraj and there would that day from the operating table. He had done be no other for hours. Miraj was 30 miles distant his best and we knew that he prayed for them, and the road, in those days, was atrocious. The commending them to the One who slumbers not only missionary car in town was an old decrepit nor sleeps. They were committed to the keeping affair and could not be depended on to make the of the Great Physician. journey. I went in search of another car that I thought might be borrowed from the State. I Sir William won the warm friendship of His went first to get the antitoxin and then drove on Highness Shahu Maharajah of Kolhapur, who to the large State bungalow used by His Highness was ever ready to further the Miraj medical work as an office. by his generous gifts of land and money. Dr. Mary Stewart Marshall tells the following story A sepoy patrol with his gun paced in front of the State bungalow. He saluted and stepped up to SHRISHAHU CHHATROPATI MAHARAJA OF KOLHAPUR the car to ask my errand. I explained that Dr. Wanless was critically ill and that a request had of Royalty voluntarily running errands for a mis- come for medicine. I would like to ask His Highsionary. During the "cold season" of 1916-17 ness to send it as soon as possible by a State car. word reached Kolhapur of the serious illness of The guard left me and went to tell the Maharajah. Dr. Wanless. None of us could remember his ever In a few minutes he returned with His Highness, before having been more than slightly incapaci- bareheaded and barefooted, wearing the thin tated. His only American colleague was a young white cotton clothing that comprised his usual medical man who had come out as a short-term costume. With the genial smile that characterized assistant. Naturally, he felt keenly the serious- him, he asked what he might do for me. As I reness of the situation and the heavy responsibility peated the explanation his Highness listened, and resting on his shoulders. A critical throat condi- at once exclaimed: "Dr. Wanless ill? I shall go tion had developed and the younger doctor sent a myself!" With that I gladly handed over the messenger by train to Kolhapur asking me to packet of antitoxin. send at once two tubes of diphtheria antitoxin from the Mary Wanless Hospital, given by the It was office hours for the Maharajah, and the Maharajah because of services rendered by Sir grounds surrounding his office building were William. swarming with State officers and their peons (clerks) wearing the scarlet badge of office. Many no doubt had State business to transact with His Highness. Office hours came to a sudden close that day, and many disappointed politicians no doubt returned home to ponder on the strange ways of their Maharajah. He himself wore many coveted decorations conferred by the British Gov- ernment, including the Grand Commander of the Indian Empire and the Grand Commander of the Star of India, but he was never more kingly than when, with utmost spontaneity, he volunteered to go as messenger for his missionary friend and physician.
Dr. Wanless, after he had recovered, told with a smile of the Maharajah's arrival. He would en- trust the packet to no servant or medical attend- ant, but walked into the sick room with it. The patient was more than a little surprised to see his royal visitor and to hear him say, "Doctor, I my- self have brought you the medicine."
The Maharajah frequently came to witness operations. On one occasion a new nurse, who had not met him before, was on duty and in her vigilence refused him admission, unless (for anti-. septic reasons), he would don a surgical cap and gown. He meekly submitted, but as he was a man six feet tall and weighing 350 pounds, the gown covered a very small area, and the cap looked like
an inverted cup on his large head! The Mahara- In a letter to the Presbyterian Board of Forjah was known as very kind-hearted and as the eign Missions, written during his early years of patient, who was a low-caste man, was being service, Dr. Wanless bemoaned the fact that he wheeled from the room, he pulled from his pocket had closed the year with a $15.00 deficit. He a ten-rupee note and told the attendant to give it added: "Although you have announced a 50 per to the patient. The next patient for operation was cent cut for next year I will try not to let this hapa white man, and when he in turn was being pen again and am praying that friends in this wheeled from the room, the Maharajah asked, "Is country may rise up to help and not let the work he a poor man too?" "Yes," said the doctor with suffer." The prayers were answered! The hosa laugh, "He is just a missionary." pital soon became self-supporting and later al- though it was a Christian mission hospital, it The Maharaja of Kolhapur acknowledged again was supported entirely by Indian money and and again, in public addresses and State papers, three-fourths of its buildings were given by his indebtedness to the mission for benefits con- wealthy non-Christian Indians as memorial buildferred upon his State. The following quotation ings. Such a large gift is unique in mission an- (translated) from a Kolhapur State Public No- nals. tice, issued September, 1919, will illustrate: It is difficult to give an adequate idea of the Be informed that, at all public buildings, charity rest scope of what Sir William accomplished. His was houses, state houses, public government inns, etc., and an heroic adventure, but the end of his endeavor river watering places, public wells, etc., no defilement on justifies his faith in his own conception of what account of any human being is to be taken account of. could be done. He never forgot that he was first Just as in Christian public buildings and public wells, and last and at all times a missionary of Christ. and as Doctor Wanless, in the American Mission, treats He was dedicated soul and body to serve the peoall with the same love, so also here, they are to be treated ple of India and never allowed anything to conas not esteeming any unclean. flict with that career. He believed the work of healing to be a demonstration of the Gospel of Thus he endeavored to raise the status of the Christ's love. He did not talk of the institutions Untouchables of his State. which he had built, but he told of the communities of Christians in the towns where there had been William J. Wanless was born on the edge of a no Christians when he arrived in India. These forest in Ontario, Canada. Twenty-four years lat- towns were medical outstations where work was er this hardy young son of Scotch pioneers was started by graduates of his school, trained in the paving the way for medical missions in the prim- art of healing both soul and body. These dispenitive native Indian state of Miraj. Contrast the saries, in the districts eighteen to sixty miles dishumble beginnings in his medical work-a shack tant, developed into hospitals and churches with used as a dispensary and an operating table of growing Christian communities. Sir William rough boards made by the doctor himself-with often spoke of the joy in serving communion in the present! On his retirement his great heart one of these on the last Sabbath before his retireand skillful hands left the largest medical plant ment. of all missions in India. It consisted of four great institutions-a hospital with six branch hospitals, In an address, delivered at one of the many a medical school, a leper asylum, and a tubercu- farewells, in his honor, a non-Christian said: losis sanitarium. One and a half million patients had passed through the doors of hospital and dis- You have been a missionary in the truest sense of the pensary, and thousands of operations performed word and have ennobled the traditions of that high callannually. In the Miraj Medical School scores of ing. Your work of healing has always been subordinate Christian young men have been trained to practice to the Gospel message and you have rejoiced far more medicine and to preach the Gospel of Christ and over a regenerated soul than a regenerated body. India are working in mission hospitals in various parts needs saintly surgeons like you, who can lead her away of the country. It is the only mission medical from the whirlpools of political strife to the quiet waters school for men in all India. Being affiliated with of spiritual development and useful service in the cause the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Bom- of humanity. bay, the degrees are conferred by that institution. While those skillful hands are at rest, the soul The Leper Asylum cares for 250 lepers annual- of Sir William goes marching on. "His works do ly and 50 per cent of them have become Christians. follow him." "This great medical plant," writes They have their own organized church. The Sir a Board Secretary, "stands as a permanent me- William Wanless Tuberculosis Sanitarium was morial of an eminently useful service for Christ given its name by Sir Leslie Wilson, then Gover- and the people of India. This is his monument." nor of Bombay. Funds for site and buildings were raised entirely in India by. Sir William and was Small wonder that Britain knighted the Saintly opened by him in 1931. Surgeon, or that India mourned when he was called to his reward.
Children's Page; Tomi Ko
By VIOLET WOOD, Missionary Education Movement TOMI KO SAN was a Japanese girl in an Mr. Finney took out his wallet and handed his American grammar school. All week she tennis permit to the clerk, saying: "I don't want studied hard in public school. On Saturdays to play on a tennis court that is closed to my litshe went to a Japanese Christian school and on tle friend, Tomi. I wish to return my permit."
Sundays attended an American Sunday school. Joseph, Julia and Mary looked at each other.
When Tomi's best friends-Joseph, Mary and They had waited so long for permits of their own, Julia-talked of getting tennis rackets she it seemed impossible to give them up.
wanted one, too, and persuaded her father, who "What could we do about it?" they thought.
kept an Oriental art shop, to buy one for her. Then Tomi said quietly: Then Tomi and her friends studied the rules of "Mr. Finney, you are doing what our Sunday- the game, and practiced in the back yard. When school teacher talked about last Sunday, loving the four of them thought they knew the game, your neighbor as yourself."
they went with Joseph's father to get permits to Joseph, too, had listened to that same lesson play on the public courts. and remembered how Jesus had always been The four children sat on the bench in the wait- ready to help people in trouble. Joseph began to ing room of the Town Hall while Mr. Finney wonder how he would feel if he were Tomi.
(Joseph's father) spoke to the clerk. They were Finally he gave his new permit back to the clerk.
very much excited. It seemed too good to be true When Tomi saw what he was doing, she cried that they were about to get permits to play on out, "No! No! Please, you must not do that for real tennis courts instead of in their backyards. me."
Joseph's turn came first. The clerk asked him "Joseph, I'm proud of you," said Mr. Finney.
such questions as: What is your name? Where "We shall get other permits to play on the 'Y'
do you live? and How old are you? After Joseph courts, even if they are not so near home."
had answered politely, tingling with excitement, "We want to give ours up, too," shouted Julia the clerk said: suddenly for herself and Mary.
"Will you sign your name here, Joseph?" The clerk looked in amazement at the little The clerk blotted the signature and, leaning group. "I'm going to see that this story is re- over his desk handed Joseph a pink card, and ported at the next Town Meeting. If everybody said: "That's your permit, young man, and I felt that way, something could be done."
hope you win lots of games." And something was done! It took time, but to- "Thank you, sir," answered Joseph, "I'm going day in that town every boy and girl, whether to try hard to be a good player." Japanese, Chinese or Filipino, can play on the Tomi, like most Oriental boys and girls, was so public tennis courts.
polite, that she insisted that Julia and Mary get Making Use of This Story their permits before her.
When Tomi's turn came, the clerk said: "I'm Ask the Children: sory but foreigners can't play on these tennis Do you think of putting into action what you learn at courts." Sunday school?
"But I am an American girl," responded Tomi Is calling Japanese and Chinese hoys and girls "Japs, smiling, sure that this would make everything Chinks and Chinamen" doing as you would have others right. "I was born in California." do to you?
If Americans truly followed Jesus' example would there -The clerk appealed to Mr. Finney, saying: "It's be people in our country who are looked down upon beagainst the rules to give Japs and Chinks per- cause they have different colored skin?
mits." Activities: The tears started in Tomi's eyes at the word, An interesting contest would be to see which child can "Japs." Many times she had been called that in name the most articles that Tomi's father might have the school yard and on the street, and did not like in his art shop. (For exam~le: rice, kimonos, tea, jade, it. But Tomi was brave and did not let herself vases, pottery, china, prints, candied ginger, spices, dolls, cry. lanterns, fans, lacquered objects, tableware, dish gardens, etc.) Joseph, Julia and Mary were astounded. They couldn't believe that anyone could ever think of If children are far from a museum, they might visit their dear friend as a foreigner or unfit to play an Oriental art shop or a Chinese or Japanese Sunday on the public courts. school. Stimulate their interest by photographs, stamp collections and illustrated books of Oriental flower ar- rangements and miniature gardens.
[ 542] I Effective Ways of Working 'rested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MISS GRACE W. lVlcGAVRAN, 5718 OAK AVE.. INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA ~=====================l~ From a Treasurer's Notebook to let the group at headquarters one of them the Guild library have some idea of what they can and instituting a real system of (The following are actual notes count on from us. But we know issuance and check-up, with taken from the notebook of one of right now that our incomes will fines as in the case of the public the officers of a missionary organiza- be just about the same. Why library, the service rendered be- tion. The record was not completed can't we set our goal in June ing considered a direct contri- there; but a year later, without any and then have three months' bution and a small fee being money-raising dinner or bazaar or head-start? paid. Certain other possibilities similar device, that group reached its are open for work by which giving goal-and twenty dollars over. May 10th. A little figuring these members could obtain the . An educational exhibit and program with paper and pencil gives minimum 25 cents a month pay- of real value to the community was some curious results. We have ment. put on in cooperation with the Wom- 29 members. Our aim in giving en's Missionary Society. The aim -don't ask me why-is $410. May 11th. Further thought was to present the best features of That means an average of $34.00 suggests that any responsibility the year's study to a larger number each month. It is only a little which becomes delinquent for than is reached by the organizations over a dollar a month for each good cause at the end of each themselves; the Guild's share of the person, but we have some mem- three months' period, should be net receipts (from the 25-cent and bers who do not tithe and some made a joint responsibility, and 15-cent admission fees) was forty whose income would not permit some means devised for clearing dollars. that high giving in addition to it at once and for redistribution their other church obligations. of it for the future. Why not survey your own members' So a bit of uneven figuring giving goal in somewhat the same brings the following: May 12th. There are numbers way? Make a big chart with a place of women who are not having for each pledge, starting with the 2 pledges of $5.00 a month-$10.00 any share in the world-wide task larger ones and progressing down to 3 pledges of 3.00 a month- 9.00 of the church right in our con- the smaller gifts. Trace over with 3 pledges of 2.00 a month- 6.00 gregation. We wish they would red or blue or green as each is taken 3 pledges of 1.00 a month- 3.00 join in the fellowship of our up, giving no names, but indicating study and social life. But it is the amounts pledged or received.) $28.00 also quite possible for them to share in the responsibility. A May 8th. We had our meeting which means, you realize, that eleven canvass of the situation might of the Business Women's Mis- people will be carrying all but $6.00 be made. A financial approach sionary Guild last night. June of the responsibility each month. But should not be made unless it be- 30th closes the missionary year, it will be eleven who are able, pro- comes evident that they do not and we have turned in to the portionately, to give that much more. care to become members in full treasury just over half of the fellowship. amount of money we feel is 6 pledges of $0.50 a month-$3.00 what our group wants to con- 12 pledges of .25 a month- 3.00 Sacrifice1 tribute to the cause of missions this year. We have sold cards, $6.00 A Dialogue on Stewardship have had dinners, have had spe- cial gifts, have had entertain- will make up the total. 29 pledges of Scene: The corner of a living room. ments. Now we are trying to 29 members will equal $410.00 in the Two easy chairs, an occasional table arrange for a very attractive year! and a floor lamp so set that it lights entertainment which will inter- the characters from the side away est people other than those in May 10th. There are a few from the audience. the church whom we feel we members who, since the depres- have bled quite sufficiently in sion, have been without any in- Characters: Julia Farrell and her our cause this year. We are not come whatever. It might be pos- friend, Maurine Day. very happy over the situation. sible to turn over to them the Some of us feel we are giving responsibility of selling the Time: Late afternoon. until it hurts, but most of us Christmas cards which the Guild wonder if there isn't a better has sold for long enough to have The scene opens as Julia and Mau- way. had it become more or less of an rine come in from outdoors, C'oat~ institution and a service in the and hats on. May 9th. We've been think- community. There is also the ing. September is the time to possibility of turning over to 1 Book Rights Reserved. Grace w. Mc- "accept goals" or in other words, [ 543 ] Gavran.
Julia: Let me have your Julia (smiling a bit): Well, ber that poem-I can't say it all, things, dear. I'll pop them onto I don't. I tell you it's too hard. but two lines of it sing through my bed. Be back in a moment. You just said so yourself. my mind like a warning every (She departs with the wraps. time I plan to spend: Ma'/,lrine sinks into a chair, Maurine: But, -but – Well, yawns, picks up a magazine, I will ask it! Where did you get I have more clothes than I can wear. glances at it for a few moments that ten-dollar bill you put in? Their head and hands and feet are and then, with it still open be- I know it was a ten, even if you fore her, becomes absorbed in did try to fold it so it wouldn't bare. thought, looking absently at show. nothing and frowning a bit.) I can't sacrifice, Maurine, but I Julia: Oh, that! I don't mind can live with voluntary re- Julia (coming in again): Why telling you. I used to get all hot straint. That's what I've discov- and bothered when I heard ered. With those words ringing so solemn? You look as if all things like that today and feel in my heart, I can keep from the cares of the universe were as if I should make some tre- getting the more that will leave on your shoulders. (Smiles at mendous sacrifice. Once I tried me poverty-stricken when I Maurine and takes her own having subsistence meals twice most want to help. It's not sacchair. Picks up her knitting or a week. But Jack hadn't heard rifice. It's a way of living. It's fancy work.) the appeal and took to going to not a struggle. It's a contest in the restaurant those nights. So which I expect to win. There's Maurine: It's silly, I know, it didn't work. And then I tried no regret in it. Only content- but that woman's talk sort of doing without the next garment ment. haunts me. Makes me feel as if I was going to buy. But I'd have I ought to make some tremen- to get it eventually, so that Maurine (thoughtfully): It dous sacrifice and send a whole didn't work. I decided I wasn't sounds as if it might be a way pile of money. Of course, I cut out for sacrifice. out for me. (Pulls a shopping know it's silly to let her upset list from her purse.) "New flow- me so . . . ! Maurine: Then how do you er for blue dress." My present manage? flower is almost new. It isn't Julia (thoughtfully): I don't that I need a new one. I just think it's silly. We're pretty Julia: Once I decided sacri- saw a delicious new shade in well hardened in our generation fice was too heroic for a nature flowers at The Betty Shop. I to pleas of pity, but she wasn't like mine and gave it up, I be- suppose right there . . . your asking for pity exactly. gan to think. If I sacrificed two poem would come in, dresses it would give me twenty Maurine: That's what got me dollars to spend. Good dresses, . . . more than I can wear. down. The very fact that they not just everydays, of course. Their . . . feet are bare. are fighting to change things Well, when I came to plan my and expect to eliminate that con- clothes budget, I just cut it down I see, Julia. I can't get that dition, yet must have help to twenty dollars to start with and flower now. I don't need it. It save the children caught in it to- put in a flat twenty dollars for won't be any real sacrifice to day from utter ruin. emergency giving. That's a dol- give it up. (Folds up list and lar and sixty-six cents a month. puts it away.) Voluntary re- Julia: It's different, all right. I didn't leave out any dresses. I straint. I like that idea. A way Not just an endless chain. It's don't buy more than I need. But of living! (Glances at her . a present emergency. And so I found that I could cut out watch.) Mercy! My poor in- enough little things and make a fants will think they've lost close home no one else can be pair of stockings last a little their mother. responsible! longer by prompt or careful darning, and make one belt do (Both rise.) Maurine (gloomily): And I for two dresses, – oh, there were a hundred things I was Julia: I've been thinking of can't do a thing. Not a thing. spending from ten cents to a adding a verse to the Scriptures I've just spent every cent I have dollar on that I could do with- lately, Maurine. (Smiles mis- to spare on things I need. If it out! And there was my twenty! ! chievously.) "Justice is better had been last week, I might have than sacrifice; and the life of let that last dress go, and yet- Maurine: But you did have to restraint better than emotion." Julia, I don't have more clothes do without. Nice addition to Proverbs, eh? than I need. How can one sacri- fice a dress or a hat? I don't Julia: I never said I didn't. I (They go out, chatting inau- have a whole shelf of hats. I said I had quit sacrificing. It's dibly.) only get just the one I need for not sacrifice to plan carefully. each season. It's fun to beat your own budget. Why Hang On?
Julia (slowly): Well, if you Maurine: I'd mind having to Stewardship is not just a must know the truth, I've given cut down on little things. I hate question of what one gives. It up sacrificing. It's too hard. watching pennies. is often a question of that to which one hangs on. Maurine (startled): Why J ul- Julia: So would I if that were all there were to it. But there's *** ia! I might admit it's too hard more than that. Do you remem- for me. But you! You must sac- 1. If you can admit, "My rifice something! You always closet shelf holds a clock I shall seem to have a huge amount to hand in when things like this come up. You must sacrifice.
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
never have mended because I Have you made any serious A Column of Horrors! now use electric clocks; an old attempt to persuade members of toaster that has been replaced your society to face the possibil- Miss X opened the large by a gleaming streamlined mod- ities of service with such things packet of scrapbooks to be sent el; some dishes that came to me to which they are hanging on? to the foreign mission field. Her with the purchase of a certain "It might come in handy" was unbelieving eyes were startled commodity, but which I shall an excellent watchword for fron- by an accumulation of the heroes likely never use; and by the tier living, but it is a drag upon and heroines of Hollywood. way there are a couple of old- us today. As a result of such Thousands of them! Assembled fashioned rockers up in the stor- hoarding our hours are filled with infinite care! Pasted painsage room," -if you can admit with storing and dusting, sort- takingly into Jumbo scrapbooks! that, you are hanging on. You ing and rearranging. This robs Carefully indexed! Miss X are not rendering account of us of power to give that which wilted. She decided to leave till what you have which should be will make life easier for our fel- a later day the writing of the in circulation. The Salvation low men. letter of acknowledgement to the Army, the Goodwill Industries donors. and other organizations can use Why not present this idea in those things to rehabilitate men. a dramatic form? Have a speak- The amount of customs duty . You are using them to accumu- er give the first paragraph. A which had to be paid on that late dust. second speaker, with arms package from home made the loaded with objects, give the missionary-on-the-Congo gasp. It *** second. A, third represent the must be paid from his own sal- third. A fourth may dramatize ary, though the package was for 2. If, hanging in your clothes the fourth. Then announce that the mission. It contained "25 closet, you can find unneeded or a committee of two with a car yards of silk," said the declaraunused dresses, out of style, and a list of possible articles will tion. "Silk! In Africa!" The slightly worn or faded and re- appear at the door of each mem- missionary was doubtful. When placed by something you like ber during the week, ready to the package was opened words better-if you can find them receive contributions, to discuss failed him; the yards of silk there, you are hanging on. The further the list of articles and (declared at retail) turned out charity organizations of your to help decide as to the possible to be scraps of taffeta cut into town can use those garments to usefulness of things that the quilt pieces! And taffeta, Genclothe the naked. You are using member has hung on to, and tle Reader, rots in a very short them to dry-rot! promising to return later if time on the banks of the mighty there will be a second donation Congo. *** ready. How welcome were those Vis- 3. If there are lying about Of course, your list of usable itors-from-Home. They wanted shoes, needing repair but which articles will be made after conyou have not bothered to take to sultation with organizations to see the work; were anxious the shoeman, shoes that pinch which can use them. A truck and so are seldom worn, shoes may be need if large articles are to know more of India. Yes, out of style that you do not care to be donated. The calling com- they would enjoy nothing more to wear, shoes that might come mittees will compile this list. in handy some time but never Perhaps the men of the church than a week at the Christian do-if you are keeping such, will contribute the use of a truck Mela or Camp-Retreat with the you are hanging on. They can to take things to a near-by town missionaries; they would take be used to enable others to walk if your own town cannot make life exactly as the missionaries the wet wintry streets dry-shod. use of them. did. The place was a lovely spot Why keep them to give you a far from railroad and still farsense of oppulence? Such a project can be carried ther from stores and shops. out once a year. It trains mem- Tents dotted the landscape. The *** bers of the society to be alert as Visitors-from-Home were de- to possibilities of giving rather lighted. The evening meal of 4. If you have stored away than hanging on. delicious curry and rice was scraps of new cloth with the served. "We don't eat any Inthought that some day you may If you have a group in your dian food," said the Visitorsquilt; old silk garments that society which sews, you may from-Home, sweetly but deteryou think you might make into want to retain some things, such minedly. The face of the misa hooked rug; pieces of cloth or as quilt pieces or pieces big sionary's wife was inscrutable as partly worn garments which you enough to make children's gar- she ordered soft-boiled eggs for plan to make over some day,- ments, for a service project of the Visitors-from-Home. In her if they are there, you are hang- your own. A committee should mind words began racing: ing on. Busy fingers at sewing decide after things are collected "Eggs for dinner? Eggs for clubs and settlement classes will just what goes where. Do not lunch?? Eggs for breakfast??? make use of them, while you will despise odds and ends. There's no way to get American only dream about it. food now. What shall I do?"
BULLETIN
Council of Women for Home Missions EDITED BY MISS EDITH E. LOWRY, 297 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, N. Y.
INDIAN AMERICAN YOUNG PEOPLE The Joint Committee on In- PART OF ONE CHURCH SCHOOL CLASS ON A HIKE TO THE HILLS. dian Work of the Home Mis- RIVERSIDE. CALIFORNIA. sions Councils (Council of Women for Home Missions and Home Religious Work Director said, "I whom she felt responsibility. Missions Council) presents such a united Christian approach to want to talk to you. I decided Their mother is dead and the Indian American young people in six United States Government tonight for sure that I want to two girls live with an aunt in boarding schools where young people coming from reservations go to a Christian training school ' a country community with no are in new surroundings and feel shy, homesick and strange. to become a nurse." Application church. Soon after Betty's re- The six schools being served blanks were filled out a few days turn home she wrote the Reliin this .way are reaching approximately 3,000 students and later for training at a Presby- gious Work Director at school, are located as follows: terian mission. · (This girl is 'We have in our house a little Albuquerque Indian School, Albuquerque, New Mexico. from a Presbyterian field. ) Word Sunday school. We have neigh- Flandreau Indian School, Flandreau, came back later that there was bors' children come in. Could South Dakota. no room for her. The girl then you help us in our community?' Has k e 11 Institute, Lawrence, Kansas. decided to take post-graduate The Director sent a package of Salem Indian School, Chemawa, work in high school in the mean- papers, pictures and cards. In Oregon. time. The following year she en- thanking the Director for the Sherman Institute, Riverside, California. tered the Presbyterian mission helps she added, 'We have a sing The sixth location is a fine place of and this fall graduates as a on Wednesday nights. We have rural community work being developed in Eastern Oklahoma, near Stillwell. trained nurse ready for work. more older people here then. Of There is no greater need today The Religious Work Directors course we have no piano, but– in missionary work than for follow the struggles of the stu- plays the guitar and that is good churches and denominations to work together in presenting the dents as they return to their enough. I am trying to learn to Christian message in a united reservations during the summer play one too. Here's hoping I way. or after graduation and by learn.' " The interdenominational Reli- friendly encouragement often The stories that follow, sent gious Work Director is willing have the satisfaction of seeing by the Directors, emphasize the to listen, no matter what the those students rise to positions need for more of this kind of problem. Individual lives are of leadership among their own follow-up, serving all denominaoften reshaped by this friendly people. guidance of the Religious Work tions freely but ministering to Director who ministers to them Here is the story of a girl who the student's need first of all: through worship services, social is making the best of her opporgatherings, games, choir 'prac- tunities: "A senior who grad- What the Church Is Doing tice, discussion groups and personal consultations. uated this spring went home "Nellie and Sam, graduates of a with her younger sister for few years ago, came to see us re- Let us consider the case of a girl, a senior in school, who, following a meeting of the Missionary Society in the home of the [ 5461
BULLETIN: COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME MISSIONS
cently and upon invitation stayed to supper. Through most of the evening we visited and talked over experiences of school days. Toward the end of the evening Sam said they must go. They thanked us sincerely, and I walked out to the door to bid them good night. They started down the walk, then re- turned hesitantly. 'She's got something she wanted to say to you, Mr.
–' 'Well, I wonder what it could be!' I grinned. (Oh, I had a 'hunch'
all right, for I had talked over some personal plans with this boy weeks before.) " 'We've been married three weeks!' Nellie said, shyly but happily. Sam is a carpenter here in town. Both are Christian students, graduates of two years ago. And that's what they had come to tell me in the first 'Place!
How I love them for it, and for the friendship which has lasted and which has opened anew to the blessed coun- selling about plans for a new Christian home! They'll come often now- and the latch string's out!"
What Church People Can Do "Our most pressing need for the CHILDREN FROM HOMES LIKE THIS COME UNDER OUR INFLUENCE IN Chapel is a good resonant bell for the GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS. belfry. For several years we have discussed this. More and more each senior in-University. There will gets swellheaded because he's had year it takes on significance because surely be a place for him in the world some rare experience, or because he we live here with these boys and girls when he is ready. For he is deter- gets boosted to some office-well, it's as a community and they need some- mined to go back to his people in just too bad for his leadership.' thing to bring to mind and heart the eastern Oklahoma, and live before call of worship and Christian service. them the Christian life which he has "'I see what you mean . . . I'll Perhaps an individual or a group found so abundant. sure try to do this thing right,' and I might take this matter up as a proj- thought I caught a square set to his ect." *** jaw as he started putting on his foot- ball uniform to go out on the field to *** What the Indians Are Doing practice. Joe's an orphan. The first white man this Navajo ever saw he "Dorothy is one of our most pop- An Indian girl, about sixteen years ran from for dear life and hid among ular and finest students but one who old, meditating on the future has this the sheep-just another wild creature has a real problem in her future. She to say: "The preservation of the In- of the desert a few years ago. is a complete ward of the Government, dian race is necessary but, I think it her parents having died within a week must be done through the Indian "He waved his hand to me from the of each other, about five years ago. youth preparing themselves for re- field as I watched him at practice. They left six children; Harold, an sponsible positions and the more we He'll remember!" older son who is now working; Dor- prove ourselves the more responsible othy who is in school here in –; positions will be waiting for us. We *** and four smaller ones who are now cannot go on living in the past, dear being cared for by a family. They as it was to the hearts of our nature- "Our so-called sophistication also had all been separated until these ar- loving people. There is a future, appeals to the Indian, particularly the bright with dreams of happy homes, young person. They readily adopt rantrements were made. of positions well-filled, of friends our dress and manner and along with "Dorothv came here after her par- among all races and of better under- that the cigarette and liquor. I think standing of ourselves and others. We that too often all they see in us is the ent's death and has been here ever are proud to be Indian and we are outside and they follow our pattern." since. She has a pleasing personality glad to have a chance to make others and appearance and has been active proud of us too." *** in religious as well as school activities and is one that I would like to *** The Christian spirit finds exsee go back to her people as a Chris- pression in Indian life in service tian leader. Her parents were Chris- Joe, the captain of this year's foot- for others: tians and gave the children a good ball team has just returned from a beginning for that life. That hope for wonderful conference trip and tour "Two of our finest speakers among Dorothy needs the prayers and inter- which the religious work director the Indian girls–one a Navajo, one a est of Christian people." helped him attend. They are sitting Hopi, themselves inseparable pals on the cot in Joe's room. though their ancestors were bitter en- *** emies-gave earnest talks saying that "What shall I do for my life work?" "'Joe, the very fact that you have old emnities were dead and friendly We have all asked the question so had this privilege and that you have ties strengthened by Christian influ- many times. But to the Indian living been chosen football captain too has ences." in a white man's civilization it is one a little bit of danger in it for you, with especial sil4nificance. Few there did you know that?' Joe looked at his And at Christmas time Indian boys. are who face the matter as did this friend keenly, but a little puzzled. and girls at Sherman Institute pack young Indian man. Left an orphan at 'That's right, Joe. The really great boxes of toys which they send to the a very early age, handicapped most leaders are the ones who keep their Migrants in the cotton fields in Cali- of his life with a speech impediment, hearts and their sY'm.pathies right fornia. They have little to share, yet which he is successfully overcoming, close to the hearts of the people they they experience the feeling of inner with little or no money, he is now II. mix with in everyday life. If II. fellow happiness that comes from joyous giving.
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I Our World–wide Outlook A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events ~'I======~EDI=TED=BY=MR=S. =HEN=RIE=TTA=H.=FE=RGU=SON=, X=ENI=A, O=HI=O ======= WESTERN ASIA in the constitution, calling Tur- tlements have welcomed visiting key a Moslem country, was de- mISSIOnaries of the Hebrew New Day in New Turkey leted ; then religious schools, Christian Fellowship, and Jews orders, and religious uniforms, are freely purchasing the Scrip- Hope for true religjous liberty were suppressed; Friday as a tures, although Christian work in Turkey, when Christian mis- holiday was abolished. Not only in Ute villages has had to be sionaries will be welcomed, is this, but there is distinct anti- largely discontinued. The Misseen in a bill before parliament religious teaching in many of sion to Mediterranean Garrisons to offer amnesty to the 150 polit- the schools. Not long ago the and the International Christian ical offenders, exiled from Tur- government ordered the sale of Police Association report enkey in the early days of the Re- 300 mosques in Istanbul. couraging work among British public. It is remarked all over soldiers and police. the country that a new day has -Alliance Weekly. dawned, when Turkey can for- -World Dominion Press. give and reinstate those who Since the Balfour Declaration fought to prevent its emancipa- Trans-Iranian Railway tion. One Turkish paper said: Changes in Palestine since the "This amnesty creates a new Jews were promised a national Last August construction of atmosphere throughout the whole home are reflected in the busi- the Trans-Iranian Railway was country … it will strengthen ness advertisements, such as completed. The line was begun the power, the stability, the those of the King Solomon Bank, in 1927, and fulfils a dream of honor and fame of the country Zerubbabel Bank, Judea Insur- Iranians. The ceremonies atand of the revolution, both at ance, Dead Sea Bath Salts, etc. tending the opening of the road home and abroad." There is a training ship the were most elaborate, with high Sarah I, for Jewish sailors, officials present. The station was Another editor commented: flying the blue and white Zion appropriately decorated and a "The movement toward a gen- flag, operated by the Zebu- ribbon was stretched across the eral amnesty for political of- lon Society (Zebulon was the line. The crown prince and the fenses means that the way is be- seashore tribe). shah each tightened a gold nut; ing prepared for freedom of dis- the shah cut the ribbon, formalcussion. In order that this free- Not the least interesting is ly opening the service. The road dom may widen, writers and the Palestine Symphony Orches- connects the Caspian Sea with critics should be positive and tra. The hounding of Jewish the Persian Gulf, and additional creative, recognizing unity and musicians out of Germany has lines connecting Tabriz and harmony as the highest values. made of it one of the greatest in Meshed are being surveyed. The Thus will be assured the condi- the world. In less than two people of Iran take great pride tions which will produce a move- months this orchestra of sev- in the fact that this gigantic ment toward a true demor.racy." enty-one virtuosos was assem- task was completed without bor- bled and developed into an har- rowing from abroad. The in- -World Dominion Press. monious whole. This occurred creased facilities of travel will in Palestine, an insecure and greatly extend the possibilities Turkey's Materialism troubled land, in a pioneering of missionary service. stage of national life. After the A writer in the Near East orchestra visited Egypt, enthu- -Press Translation Service. Christian Council's Bulletin be- siastic Egyptians organized a lieves that the future of religion Society of Friends of the Pales- Silent Ministry in Turkey is a part of the crit- tine Orchestra.-S. S. Times. ical problem of the religious life Dr. Frederick G. Coan, for 40 of the world. Since the abolition Palestine Problems years a missionary in Iran, of the Caliphate, Turkish leaders called one day on a bigoted, .have proceeded on the assump- Present disorders in Palestine fanatical ecclesiastic-the kind tion that religion had never done are having their effect on the who would be pleased to see anything but harm, and was not Christian Church in that trou- every Christian killed. Dr. Coan needed for the future. Religious bled land, where Christian unity describes his call: teaching in the schools was re- and love are assailed by racial duced, then dropped. A phrase bitterness and fear. Jewish set- As soon as I had entered the room, he ordered the servants to leave and [648 ]
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
told them to see that no one was in er. This teacher then settles public, who are willing to perthe yard, and that the gates were down to a long process of educalocked. Then he turned to me and tion-two years or more-when form some kind of national servsaid, "You have left the New World he instructs the entire village and come all the way here to make me and prepares them for church ice. -The Guardian. a Christian; save yourself the trou- membership. By the end of this ble:" I thought he was simply trying time, no one needs to leave his Syrian "Servants of the Cross" to turn me off. Then to my astonish- home environment, or feel that ment he said, "I am already a Chris- he is an outcaste. This organization, a missiontian." I asked how he came to it. He ary and social brotherhood of then told me a helper had given him In one diocese reported by Mr. the Syrian Church, established the Gospel of St. John and asked him Higdon they are uniting with in 1924, is asking for funds to to read it carefully and with open the church at the rate of 10,000 carryon work among the Demind; and when he reached the last a month; and in all India more pressed Classes in India. The chapter he was at the feet of Christ than 100,000 have accepted aboriginal races of the native as His slave. He could not resist so Christianity annually during the states of Cochin and Travancore, winsome a character. Had it been past three years. The changes South India, are poverty-strickknown in that fanatical Kurdish city, observed by the upper classes in en, ill-clad and uneducated. the man's own sons would have asked the lives of the outcastes turned They live in miserable huts and the governor to behead him and throw Christian has resulted in a sim- carry worship of devils to a his body to the dogs. ilar movement among the higher point of extreme superstition. castes. Under the auspices of the an- INDIA AND SIAM cient Orthodox Syrian Church Community Appreciation of St. Thomas, the Apostle of Unhampered by Politics India, the order is making a The Frances Newton Hospital sincere effort to improve these Dr. C. H. Rice, of Allahabad in Ferozepur has been serving unfortunate people. Christian College, says: women and children of this dis- trict for 44 years. Appreciation There are a dozen members of India just now is one of the centers for this service is manifest in the order. They have no propof the world where the movement for the recently added operating erty, practise celibacy, and repeace and justice is most unhampered unit at a cost of 6,000 rupees, ceive no salary. They obtain by the politics of national fear, hatred raised by members of the Canal, their daily bread from the place and greed. There are radicals who Railway, Civil, Policy and Mili- in which they work, sometimes shout, and leaders who would foment tary Departments, and the mem- from the parish church and class war, but never has India had so bers of the Indian Christian sometimes by rice collections many sons and daughters ready to communities. The medical de- and the hospitality of friends. spend themselves for the liberation of partment of the Punjab Governtheir brothers from ignorance and ment promised Rs. 2,000 toward -The Living Church. disease, poverty and social oppression. this project. The Rajah of Fa- Surely the Spirit of Christ is alive. ridkot gave Rs. 1,000, and the Gains in Assam . . . One day he will be recognized above groups collected Rs. 3,500. and loved and worshiped as now he is Part of the money was used to The Baptist Missionary Requoted and admired. improve a ward in the hospital view of India tells of a piece of for tubercular patients. frontier work that shows real Dr. and Mrs. Rice are co-au- missionary progress. In the Ao thors of the chapter on Indian -Monday Morning. and Sema Naga Hills there were Christian colleges in the current 1,218 baptisms last year, and year's mission study book. Bihar Literacy Drive the church membership in those two tribes has now reached No Need to Leave Home A mass literacy campaign in 19,316. Nearly 500 boys and Bihar Province is an idea con- girls are under Christian in- E. K. Higdon, writing in The ceived by the Minister of Educa- struction at the station school in Churchman, says that time was tion, who planned that students Impur, the largest Baptist school when Indian Christians were be induced to spend their holi- in Assam. A total of 115 Sunthe real "men without a coun- days in voluntary teaching of day schools report an enrolment try"; and that at the Jerusalem adults. There was an enthusias- of about 17,000. How many par- Conference there was a strain tic response. Since the govern- ishes in India or the United of sadness through all that the ment had no funds to combat States show equal advance? Indian delegates said, because illiteracy, the Minister of Edu- Christians in India had to tear cation issued this call: "Let us Practical Christianity in Siam themselves up by the roots, leave try to make up our lack of finantheir families, their villages, cial resources by the earnest de- Bangkok has a large Chinese their communities. sire of our youth for national immigrant population. During service." He regards this as a the Chinese New Year's season, Now, whole villages are be- sort of personal tax. It is hoped it is the custom of the Swatow coming Christian at one time. that this example will be fol- Church workers and officers to The leaders hold a meeting, dis- lowed by the rest of the general make calls in the homes of all of cuss the matter and decide they the members and friends of the are willing to leave Hinduism or church. All firms and shops Mohammedanism and become stop their work, and an excellent Christians. Then they put it up to the community. If the decision is favorable, the next step is to go to the Christian head of the district and ask for a teach-
opportunity is at hand to give and friendless-I was forcibly er songs. Then came the kin- Christian greetings. To one reminded of a man who stood up dergarten with its play songs. humble home, the home of a in one of my meetings at home The popular movement under widow with three small children, and asked whether the Chinese Jimmy Yen early developed folk went a missionary in this call- had not religions of their own songs and taught children I:),nd ing season. The home was just just as good! A fortune teller the peasants to sing. Now the one room, with no furniture ex- had told this old woman that she national defense movement is cept a few boards on trestles to would die in the eighth moon enlisting movie stars, actors, colmake a bed, a stool or two, clay this year and her coffin is al- lege men and women to lead the stove and two or three cooking ready prepared. When asked whole country into a chorus that pans. The widow makes her liv- where her soul would go, she may tend to drown the sobs of ing by going out to cut hair, and replied: 'I don't know.' " those who mourn. -The Christian Century. must leave her children at home Christian Message for There Are J oshuas Today alone during the day. The mis- Wounded sionary expressed concern about the children, and she replied: The Chinese high command Rev. William Vander Meer of the Reformed Church in Amer- "When I go I always ask my sent out a circular letter to ica, last July, like a Joshua spy- Christian hospitals and churches, ing out the land, walked 60 miles Heavenly Father to watch over asking them to cooperate in them." -Siam Outlook.
bringing the Christian message up the valley of the Kuling Riv- to the wounded. The five er in Fukien, looking for fields CHINA churches in Changteh sent two or and houses where refugees in Her Religion "Just as Good" more workers each day to write Amoy could be relocated. He found places for 3,000. In every A writer in China's Millions letters, have personal talks, and village visited he received the tells of visiting an old devotee hold services for small groups. The work developed until it hearty cooperation of officials. of Confucianism, who had lived Amoy, distant from the prinin a temple many years attend- called for a full-time worker. cipal war areas, has its own sep- All the churches cooperated in arate relief work. ing the idols. For all these years providing the salary for the she has abstained from meat, fat and eggs, in the hope of at- right man, who was found Rehabilitation of those who taining salvation; now she is 94 among the refugees. Church will go up the Kuling valley will years old, wizened, dulled, with- women are sewing and provid- require seed, food and tools, unout hope in her face. Christian ing small comforts for the til they can harvest their first women tried to tell her of the wounded men. crop of vegetables. Old temples -Monday Morning. are to be repaired and made into love of Jesus Christ and the homes. The diet in these camps peace that He alone can give. Turning to Song calls for canned meat. Around One of the women, Mrs. Su, has an old Christian mother 93 The crash of bombs and the Amoy there is no longer a taste years old. As Mrs. Su looked at cries of the mangled continue to for fish, the reason being that this other old woman, tears so many dead bodies have been came to her eyes as she said, be heard, but above it all is "Oh, myoId mother is a hun- heard the voice of song. The washed out to sea. dred times better off than this! Chinese people are learning to -Church Committee for sing in chorus as they have China Relief.
She has the peace of God in her never done before. A training Refugee Children heart." Then she sat down by institute in Hankow has been the old lady and patiently tried turning out song leaders. Col- A letter from a Presbyterian to tell her about the peace of lege and middle-school students mission school, now being used God which passeth all under- in south, central and west China as a temporary home for tefstanding. The poor old woman have been teaching group and ugee children, indicates the nalooked absolutely blank, and mass singing. Folk songs, patri- ture of some of the problems. said she was too old to do any- otic songs, workers' songs are When youngsters were brought thing now. They assured her stirring the people's enthusiasm. in from the bombed areas, the that she need not do anything, Dr. T. T. Lew gives credit for teachers expected to see them but trust in Christ. They taught the beginning of this movement rejoice over the chance to live in her a simple prayer-"Lord to the Christian Church. In a safety, where there were play- Jesus, save me, and forgive my recent discussion group of dele- grounds, trees, food. Not at all! sins," which she repeated many gates-elect to Madras he said, Many of them had been living times. "The introduction of group sing- by their wits, and had grown "As we sat there," says the ing by the Church of China has cunning and combative. Fights, missionary, "with the idols meant a great deal to the life of greed, the notion that the school around us, and thought of this China." He went on to describe was a jail, were things to be poor old woman giving her life how children used to sing hymns dealt with. But little by little to them and fasting from meat while at play, regardless of their cleanliness, play, food, hand- and eggs-now weak and old, theme, because they had no oth- work and scout drill produced a
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
very different set of children. JAPAN -OHOSEN at home whose ideas and motives I When their school home was cannot follow nor condone. To dechanged for a more permanent State Oontrol of Religions nounce war and its perpetrators is one under the Children's Relief not enough. I must find a substitute Association sponsored by Mad- The draft of a proposed new for war. ame Chiang Kai-shek, there law affecting religious organizawere real regrets on both sides. tions has been made public. This How Peace Will Oome is the fourth time during the -Monday Morning. past 40 years that a law control- World Outlook contains the ling religion has been proposed, following letter of a Japanese Honan Mission Jubilee and each time it has been de- Christian minister in war serv- feated in the Diet. Heretofore, ice: This year marks the jubilee of the attempt has failed because the Honan Mission of the United of an article in the constitution There are many American and Eng- Church of Canada. Some of guaranteeing freedom of reli- lish missionaries everywhere in China, those who went to China in 1888 gious belief to the individual. but Japanese soldiers are not perare alive and well, and look with The proposed new law avoids mitted to call on them or go to church troubled hearts on the China of the dilemma by limiting itself to without special permission. This is 1938. The first period in the his- the regulation of the public cere- because we are very nervous to stir tory of this Mission with the ar- monies and the doctrinal prop- up international problems. As you rival in China of Dr. and Mrs. agation of the various religious know, most of the soldiers are rough Jonathan Goforth, Dr. McGil- organizations, not the personal and uneducated, and do not know forlivray and others; this phase of faith of the individual. Under eign manners. the work ended when the Boxer the present emergency it is aluprising overran all North Chi- most certain to become law. The The other day I called on Mr. and na in 1900. Two years later Christian churches, along with Mrs. H., the missionaries here, with work began anew on a larger all other religious bodies, will the permission of my officer. We had scale, but with the outbreak of then operate under a permit a long talk. They welcomed me heartthe Great War in 1914, the sup- issued by the minister of educa- fully. There were a few Chinese ply of new missionaries was cut tion, will be amenable to govern- Christians present. I was greatly enoff, but at the end of the war, ment inspection, and will have couraged and comforted by a touch of the Forward Movement Fund both doctrine and worship prac- real Christian brotherhood. I am sure made reinforcement once again tices subject to official control. that peace will come only through possible. The modern develop- Conversely there will be certain Christianity. Because of this I feel a ment of the Mission began with tax exemptions and other priv- great sense of mission. I think you the construction of Weihwei and ileges that have not hitherto must have some friends in China. Changte Hospitals. been extended to Christianity. Please send me their names and ad- It is possible that there will be dresses. Every night there is shoot- Events of July, 1937, changed no particular inconvenience ex- ing, but my heart is quite peaceful bethe whole picture, but members perienced under the new regula- cause of my faith in the Cross. I read of the Mission have not lost tions, though the churches my Bible every morning, and am courage. All the staff are re- would prefer to be free from praying all the time. maining at their posts. such governmental control. J apan Selling Out in India -United Church Record. -Charles Iglehart. As an indication of Japan's Kashgar Mission Closed Kagawa Proposes Peace desperate situation, one of Eng- land's leading papers prints the The Swedish Mission in Kash- It is reported that Kagawa following: gar, Chinese Turkestan (Sin- has laid proposals for peace kiang Province) was attacked with China before the Japanese A correspondent who is managing and burned by the Moslem lead- premier-without result. In a director of a famous firm of merer Mamud Sidjan. Governor- letter to friends in the United chants in Bombay gives news of some , General Sheng suppressed the States, Kagawa writes: interest. His letter reads:-"A sig- Moslem rising in September, nificant thing is happening here with 1937, but the local authorities Truly no group of Christians can be the quite large Japanese business subsequently closed the hospital isolated. Just in the measure that the community. They are selling off all and printing office and scattered links that bind these groups are their house and office properties, upthe Christians. The British Con- forged in love and understanding and country cotton factories, cotton mills sul-General in Kashgar rendered sympathy, will the influence and pow- here. It may be in order to get money help to the Mission, but even- er of Christianity continue. Though with which to buy cotton. For months tually the situation deteriorated you hear of individual Christians now they haven't had the money with and most of the missionaries wooed and won by the growing spirit which to buy a bale. .. . . They are were compelled to return to of nationalism, do not despair. In all obviously getting into a terrible mess Sweden. Forty years of efficient lands and in all ages, there have been financially, with a million men in the and devoted service in one of testing times for Christians and not field in China and the whole country the hardest fields of China has all have stood the test. . . . My own run by the fanatical army leaders, thus been tragically interrupted. personal views are well known. I and no money with which to buy the would be a disciple of love to all peo- raw materials for their vast indus- -World Dominion Press. ple, and this must include even those tries. Their exports, from which they get their money, have in recent months dwindled to nothing, and they have little raw cotton left."
The Kobe Cloudburst Kobe has a population of about 790,000. The city lies crescent shaped between the hills and the Inland Sea. Last July, a cloud-
burst caused the hill streams to would be seated beside me. I tion was given as to baptism, rush down into the city, carry- saw at once that it was the man the preparation and motive for ing trees and debris into the who had murdered my father, it, and what it involved, the in- streets until some sections were and I had sworn to drink his quirers withdrew sadly, and no buried six feet under. About blood. But as I withdrew down more has been heard from them.
150,000 people were made home- the church, a voice seemed to less; electric and water supply say to me, 'By this shall all men "Insurrectos" Become was cut off. An old well, un- know that ye are my disciples, Methodists used for many years, in the if ye have love one to another'; Enthusiasm, progress and ma- and as I sat down near the door, turity marked the 1938 sessions yard of a Presbyterian mission- a Man upon a cross rose before my eyes, and I heard Him say, of the Methodist annual conferary's home served the neighbor- 'Father, forgive them, for they ences in the Philippines. For know not what they do.' Then I the first time, these met in sephood; and this furnished the returned, and we took the Lord's arate places, and both were hon- Supper together." ored by the presence of goveropportunity to hand out Chris- nors and other officials of the -The Presbyterian. provinces where they were held. tian literature to all who came for water. In this crisis, some Japanese Christians opened a vacation Bible School to take responsibility for the children, Looking toward indigenous lead- ership, plans were discussed for while the adults dug themselves Bible Circles of Five out. -Monday Morning. "Circles of Five" have become electing a Filipino bishop in popular in Java. They are 1940. ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC g.roups of five young people in Although the year under re- view was marked by a series of Bridge Builders in Papua the higher classes of elementary earthquakes, typhoons, floods and secondary schools, who meet and fire, statistics show a de- Mr. C. F. Rich has served cided gain both in self-support nearly forty years in Papua un- to study the Bible under one of and in membership. In less than der the L. M. S., and is still full their number as leader. Each forty years Methodism in· the of plans for that island's future. circle becomes a sort of union of Philippines has grown to a He writes: secrecy and fidelity of uncom- mon strength, marked by per- church of more than 90,000 Once it was said of a patriarch, staunch members. "He digged us a well." In hot, wet sonal devotion. They become Papua, there would be scant praise brethren. They meet each week, -Christian Advocate. for a well digger, but in years to and attendance is a sacr(;)d duty, come they may be saying of their missionary: "He builded us a bridge." not to be missed. Printed out- National Hospital Day Why? On one of the main roads a lines of Bible study are sent to dangerous creek had to be crossed, and all efforts to bridge it had come each circle and these are dis- The Philippine Commonto naught whenever floods came. cussed at its meetings. Coordi- wealth celebrates an annual Na- Then the missionary, with the help of nation is effected by a monthly tional Hospital Day, when all villagers and his old automobile, set gathering of the leaders, most the hospitals of Manila are open to work. The old car hauled tons of of whom are under twenty years to the public for inspection, and sand, timber and cement; the people carried tons of stone with which to old. are rated by a committee headed raise the road approach to the bridge level. In a little over seven weeks of The number five was chosen by the Director of Public Welhard labor, the bridge was ready for use. "Quite interesting," some will because in Java it is a sacred fare. For the third successive say, "but hardly a missionary's job." But the bridge will stand for many number. It is the number of year, St. Luke's Hospital has years, not only to ensure safe crossing, but as a visible emblem of a fingers on one hand, and ex- won the highest award among bridge of understanding over which the Papuan may pass from ignorance presses unity. Also, it was the hospitals having a capacity of and darkness into freedom and light. number of the prayer circle in f'100 beds, or more. In announc- -L. M. S. Chronicle. Antioch, from which the Holy ing this award, Dr. Aguilar Revenge or Love? Spirit selected and commissioned Director of Public Welfare de: A missionary to New Zealand tells of a Maori Christian who PauL-World Dominion Press. clared this to be a model 'hoshad taken a front seat at the communion service. Suddenly, Requirement ~oo Hard pital, above competition. What he was seen withdrawing to the rear, then he came forward and a contrast to the days of Spanresumed his original place. Asked afterwards why he had The Protestant Episcopal Mis- ish rule forty years ago! done so, he replied: "When I sion tells of a group of people at -The Churchman. entered, I had no idea who Baguio, P. I., who recently came NORTH AMERICA to the Church to ask how much would be the charge for baptiz- Is America Christian? ing a young Chinese who wished to marry a Christian girl. It There is a strange mixture of was explained to them that there paganism and Christianity in was no charge, but that baptism America. Not long ago at To- was not just a routine conven- awnadocc, eCeoloofrfaicdioa,lsthareraloncgaeldWwPitAh ience for those who wished to marry. When further informa- the leaders of the Utes (In-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
dians) for a three-day season of already formally approved, at that attempts at law enforcesports events and bear dancing least in principle,· the constitu- ment are futile unless the moral at Easter time, culminating on tion of the proposed World sentiment of the people is back Easter Sunday. Wishing to have Council of Churches drafted at of it. -United Presbyterian. Easter observed in a manner Utrecht, Holland, last May. more fitting its significance, They are the following: Presby- Fresh Approach to World James Russell, local pastor, re- terian Church in the U. S. A.; Needs quested the official in charge of Presbyterian Church (South), the government agencies to post- Congregational, Northern Bap- Two Methodist missionaries pone the sports event, and allow tist, United Lutheran, Evangel- from Burma, Dewitt and Edna the Easter meetings to assume a ical Lutheran Augustana Synod, Baldwin, have created the "Lisle more religious aspect. This he Evangelical and Reformed, Re- Fellowship," a six-weeks "rerefused to do. Whereupon, Mr. formed Church in America, thinking" conference at "Happy Russell explained to the chief United Presbyterian, Protestant Valley," Lisle, N. Y. Sixty coland tribal council of the Utes Episcopal, Disciples of Christ lege men and women, members that throughout the United and Methodist Episcopal. of ten different races or nations, States, and the world people re- representing 13 churches and 26 gard Easter as a holy day, and Missionary News from Wall colleges, have been devoting celebrate then the rising from Street themselves to the theme of the dead of the Lord Jesus "World – mindedness," consider- Christ, just as at Christmas time Perhaps Wall Street, the finan- ing the meaning of Christianity they commemorate His birthday. cial center of New York, would as a solution for the new world's The Indians listened attentively least likely be expected to fur- needs, and the kind of individand then they asked the local nish missionary news, yet read- ual a world citizen ought to be. head of the WPA to postpone ers of the daily Wall Street the sports events: but he still Journal saw this heading in a The educational methods of persisted on having his program recent issue: "One Thousand this group are worth watching. carried out at the time set. Bible Translations." The follow- Instead of telling young people ing is a quotation from the ar- what to think, there is offered a The Indian leaders then de- ticle: whole series of projects by vised this plan. They would tell which students may learn to their people not to go to the In its headquarters in London the think for themselves, and arrive sports field until after services British and Foreign Bible Society at their own conclusions. Inhad been held in the church now has copies of the Scriptures pub- cluded in this is training in field from 9 until 10: 30 a. m., and lished in whole or in part in 1,000 dif- work. Four days each week, they would stop their bear dance ferent languages. The last two trans- after a preliminary week of at 5 p. 'ill. so that their people lations were of native tribal tongues training, the students go out by could have supper and attend in the Belgian Congo of Africa, themselves, taking full responchurch service again at night. known as the Ngwana and Sakapa sibility for their personal and As a result more people than tribes. This Bible Society was group relations, to work togethusual attended the church serv- founded in 1804 when copies of the er through churches in towns ices, both morning and evening. Bible were available in only 72 lan- and villages covering a radius of guages. The number increased to 100 125 miles of Lisle-most of cen- Paganism among many of the in 1824, to 200 in 1871, to 300 in 1892, tral New York and north cen- 200 Indian tribes in the United to 400 in 1906, to 500 in 1917, to 600 tral Pennsylvania. Careful ar- States is as degraded as that in 1928, to 712 in 1936 and to 1,000 rangements are made by Mr. found in central Africa. Their in 1937. Baldwin with pastors in adreverence for material objects is vance, interchurch hospitality as bad, their medicine men are Evidently, the Wall Street being arranged wherever posno different from the evil witch- Journal considered this of as sible. -Christian Century. doctors of the dark continent, much news value as dividend and their gross superstitions are announcements. Twenty-four Hour Service depressing. Obstacles to their evangelization include, not only "League of Decency" The First Methodist Church the character of the people, their of Hollywood, Calif., is like the language and nomadic habits, Because the alarming increase fire department and some resbut most discouraging of all the of vice and crime is preventing taurants in that it functions fact that the United States Gov- law enforcement and undermin- twenty-four hours a day, 365 ernment is actually trying to ing the efforts at character build- days a year. This service is preserve old pagan Indian cus- ing, the California Church Coun- rendered in the spirit of Christ toms. cil has formed a "League of and does not end with distribut- Decency" to enlist the churches ing baskets in the holiday sea- Approve World Council of in battling against these evils. son. A few of the things done Churches Last year, juvenile delinquency may be mentioned: over the entire state increased Twelve Evangelical Commun- from 10 to 15 per cent. The The chairman of the commitions in the United States have state authorities are becoming tee was called to a home where more and more lax in their the husband and father was out efforts to control liquor and gambling, and it is recognized
of work, a child sick, and the the Hotel Commodore. In 1836, would not claim to have orig- mother, discouraged and de- they supplied the old Hotel Astor inated it. It was Jesus Christ spondent, had purchased chloro- and there are now 426 hotels on who first said it," and opening form which she was about to use the list of those being served. his Bible the missionary showed to commit suicide. The chloro- It is interesting to know that the verse to the young Mexican.
form was taken away and the many of the Bibles disappear, so After reading it through three child given medical aid. Eventu- that the question of replacement times he exclaimed: "How wonally, the father found: a job and comes up about every third year. derful if everyone knew and the family is now on the road to As to definite results from this used that rule !" economic security. -Monday Morning. work letters received indicate Other services have been: great help in many instances. wheel chair furnished, medicine Hotel managers report that they Porto Ricans Meet Their bought, utility bills paid, helped are often asked for a Bible, if pay rent, helped find new homes, Quota helped keep young people in high one is not found in the room. Cases have been substantiated Bishop Colmore of Porto Rico school and college, furnished where the reading of a hotel is now in the 25th year of his layettes, secured employment, Bible has been the means of re- episcopate. He fee~s that spiritmade funeral arrangements- straining a person from suicide. ual life on the Island is becomthe church paying for the grave, This custom of Bible distribu- ing deeper and more vigorous settling a disputed doctor's bill, tion is now so widespread, settling an insurance claim for a through the New York Bible So- each year; this is indicated in widow. ciety and the Gideons, that a part by the 1,078 baptisms in hotel is not considered properly that diocese last year. Bishop A few more statistics may furnished unless each room con- Colmore challenges the maingive an idea of the magnitude of tains a Bible. land of the United States to this work: 6,233 miles have show a record equal to this. The been driven by one member of Church at Metlakatla, Alaska number of communicants inthe committee in making 1,373 creased by 263 or four per cent visits; 173 different families The Indian Church at Metla- as against an increase of one have been helped in which there katla, near Ketchigan, Alaska, are 339 adults, 337 children; was founded by William Duncan per cent for the whole Church. 1,019 of these visits were for seventy years ago. Its first carrying supplies, 354 for inves- twenty years were directed by Porto Rican Christians, in tigation and counsel. A total of the Episcopal Church of British spite of their terrible poverty, $3,165 in cash has been used. Columbia. It is now under local take pride in giving their full control, and has twelve elders. quota year by year, and as much Its newly installed pastor is a more as possible. Besides, they Congregationalist from Minne- sent gifts last year for flood re- One Result of Home Missions sota. Funds from William Dun- lief, and have contributed to the China Emergency Fund. Here is an illustration of what may be accomplished by home -Spirit of Missions.
mission work. Thirty-five years can's estate support the church, It's Training That Counts ago, the Lafayette Avenue Pres- which is independent. Duncan byterian Church of Brooklyn "My understanding of the sent a young man, Harry S. established a sawmill and can- principles of justice probably Murdock, to Buckhorn, Ken- ning factory which pay the cost differs somewhat from yours, tucky, to preach to the backward because I was trained in a people there. After thirty-two of city administration, and sup- Presbyterian Sunday school," years of service he died, leaving ply water and electric light, so said a prominent Porto Rican an entire presbytery of 37 lawyer to a member of the cabchurches which had their origin that every home has electricity, inet. Here is the cabinet mem- and there are no taxes.
-Presbyterian Tribune.
under his ministry. There is LATIN AMERICA ber's reply: "If your underalso at Buckhorn a school of 400 standing of justice differs from pupils, an orphanage, hospital, If Everyone Obeyed the mine, it is because the teachers mission farm and various other Golden Rule! in the Presbyterian Sunday institutions. "By the way," said a young school where I was trained were In honor of this founder, Ken- better than those who taught federal employee to a mission- you." -Dr. Angel Archilla. tucky has named a new state ary in Mexico, "I have been told road Murdock Trail. that in the United States they "Applied Meditation" in Cuba have a beautiful motto-per- More Bibles for Hotels haps a law or decree-some- At the close of a religious Placing Bibles in hotels is a thing about doing for others conference in Cardenas, Cuba, practice of more than 100 years' what you would like them to do the young. people in attendance standing with the New York for you. Can you tell me what agreed that the most helpful fea- Bible Society. Just before this is?" To which the mission- tUre had been the hour of "ap- Easter new Bibles went for the ary replied: "The government plied meditation" in the mornfirst time into the 1,956 rooms of officials know about this law, but ing, when each sought a place
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
of prayer. It was here they said widow and several children liv- of a permanent Bible Room in they found their place in future ing in surroundings not fit for the British Museum. The exhi- Christian work. Opportunities animals, undertook to clean bition at Sion College includes were offered to enlist in the dif- things up. She got clothing and some of the most famous ediferent activities of the Church. shoes for the most needy, and tions ever published, one being took one of the children to pub- the "Great Bible," printed in Among their practical under- lic health clinic. "She's really 1539, partly in London and parttakings was the pUblication of a ill-take her to the hospital," ly in Paris. In 1540, it was reweekly paper to be financed by said the clinic doctor, but at the printed in London as "Cranthe young people themselves, hospital there was no room. mer's Bible," and contained a and promoted through the activ- Back she had to go to her miser- preface by that ill-fated archities of their societies. This able home while the liguena con- bishop. Copies of the four polyweekly will take the place of the sulted the Red Cross. "Send her glot Bibles are in the exhibit. supplement in the monthly mag- to our clinic," they said, but on azine, Herald Cristiano. clinic day the child was too ill The Bible Room at the Mu- to be moved. So the League seum is designed to show the -Monday Morning. woman, not to be daunted, is history of the Scriptures in Eng- herself giving what treatment lish from earliest times. Half Indians Seeking aNew and help she can, teaching the the exhibits are in manuscript Religion mother at least the rudiments of form. The middle English period sanitation, and living up to the is represented by psalters. Then A group of Indians – the League motto, "Saved to Serve." there is a series of Wycliffe edi- Aymaras-who live behind the tions, which were forbidden unmountains that divide Lake Titi- -Presbyterian News til the 16th century, when one caca from the fertile lowlands Service. copy, here shown, was presented of Bolivia's interior, sent a few to Queen Elizabeth. soldiers to the war between Bo- New "Y" in Buenos Aires livia and Paraguay over the The printed editions began Chaco. One of them came with The Y. M. C. A. of Buenos with the only surviving fraga tale of a new religion, which Aires realized a dream of many ment of Tyndale's New Testahe began to tell his neighbors. years when it opened its new, ment. Cromwell's injunction is He told them that these evangel- modern building last June. It is shown beside the "Great Bible." icals did not lie or steal, that strategically located in the heart A woodcut on the title page they did not drink, not even at of the city and greatly extends shows Henry VIII handing the feast times, that they did not the service of the "Y." About Bible to Cromwell and Archbisquarrel with each other, and 5,000 people visited the building hop Cranmer; while below, a that they were happy because on the opening day, and some crowd of people have streamers God loved them. 1,000 made use of the athletic issuing from their mouths bear- department the first day it was ing the legend: "God Saue the Evidently the story made a available. Public confidence in Kyng." great impression on the Indians the Association's work is eviin this village, for they soon be- denced by a government grant Quakers in Spain gan to try to live according to of $92,000, of which the first inthe principles of the story, and stallment has been paid. Local It was a year last August left off drinking and stealing donations of $60,000 more have since the first group under the from one another. They have been received. Non-partisan Child Feeding Misrecently asked that a teacher be sion of the American Friends' sent to them. They have no reli- The Buenos Aires organiza- Service Committee went to gious guidance of any kind. tion dates from 1902, and since Spain to work on both sides of then it has constantly main- the conflict. The work is spon- -Christian Advocate. tained an all-round program of sored by the Federal Council, youth development by which and other religious and social How Chilean Women Work more than 40,000 young men organizations. In all, nine Amer- have profited. Its budget is icans have gone: four Friends, Chilean Christian women have raised entirely by fees and local two Mennonites, two Brethren a Liga, or League for Service. contributions. and one Methodist. Absolute Besides the work they do as a commitment to the way of peace group-sewing and knitting for -Christian Century. and spiritual sensitiveness have the poor, visiting jails, houses been regarded as essential qualiof correction, orphanages, asy- EUROPE fications, in addition to special lums, hospitals and homes-they training and general ability. Two lose few chances for individual "First" Bibles on Display of the American representatives service. A liguena offered to have been social workers, three take into her own home the child The 100th anniversary of the missionaries, one a peace workof a very poor woman who was setting up of the English Bible er, one a youth leader, one a stuto go to the hospital. Another in parish churches is being cele- dent and one an accountant. At set out to prevent the marriage brated in London this year by present three workers are in of a girl of fourteen to a man an historic exhibition at Sion much older. Another, finding a College, and t~e establishment
loyalist Spain, two in nationalist is lessened for those who have maintain a keen religious life in territory, as compared with the not been in this organization. each of its members, it organizes original one worker on each side. Those already in office are for- pilgrimages in Yugoslavia and bidden to send their children to Palestine and also "retreats." The first great need was found church schools. Its members undertake to pray to be for milk. Four milk sta- every day and to read religious tions have been established, and The above mentioned visitor books. Many villages have been women come as far as six miles, to Austria quotes verbatim one transformed, new churches have bringing undernourished babies of the leaflets which is being cir- been built. When a lecture was to these depots, the only places culated in Austria containing given on the organization and in that part of Spain where milk "50 points" directed against objectives of the Pilgrims, the is obtainable. Workshops for Christianity. This leaflet is one speaker ended with the quesrefugee women and girls were of a number that were issued to tion: "Do you believe that started and a boys' workshop the girls' section of the Hitler Christ will vanquish all difficulproduces alpargatos, or rope- Youth: ties and overcome all his adversoled sandals. The women sup- saries?" Fifteen thousand anply bedding for hospitals under Christianity is a religion for slaves swered with one voice: "Yes, the care of Friends which are and fools. For example, it says, we believe that."-Advance. run by English nurses. "The last shall be first" and "Blessed are the poor in spirit." New Oppression in Russia -Christian Century. Christianity is equivalent to Com- According to a recent news Protestant Committee in munism. bulletin, instruction in atheism Belgium will be required in all schools of German culture was on a high level Soviet Russia, beginning with In accordance with a recom- before Christianity, and has been an- 1939. A pedagogical institute mendation made last year by the nihilated by it. for instruction in atheism is to Congo Protestant Council, a be established to prepare teach- Committee has been formed in There is no Christian culture. ers for their new duties. Belgium, known as the Comite Christianity was nowhere desired, Consultati/ des Missions Prot- but pushed itself in everywhere. Jaroslavsky, head of the Soestantes du Congo Belge. Re- Christianity has corrupted the Ger- ciety of the Godless, has declared garding this Committee, the mans, acquainting them with concep- that atheism in Russia is now in Council suggested: tions, such as theft and adultery, the last stage of its struggle which were previously unknown to against religion. The year 1942', That its purpose be to create and them. he says, will mark the jubilee of maintain contacts between the Evan- How did Christ die? Whimpering the Soviet Union and the great gelical Churches in Belgium and the on the Cross. And how did Planetta festival of the victory of athe- Protestant Mission work in Congo. (the assassin of Dollfuss) die? He ism. By 1967, after half a cen- cried out, "Heil Hitler! Long live tury of communism, he predicts That it guide by its counsel Chris- Germany." that the 230,000,000 population tian men and women from the various The Ten Commandments are the of Russia will be completely godchurches in Belgium who offer them- expression of the lowest human in- less. Churches and cathedrals selves for missionary service in Con- stincts. will then be only a casual rego. A good people does not need a membrance of an early period. Saviour; only a bad people. There is one important omission That it make the Protestant work Nero was quite right to persecute in the plan: God is not taken inin Congo more widely known in Bel- the Christians. to account. gium, especially by the press, and defend its cause when required. Some of the "50 points," the AFRICA correspondent notes, are too ob- The Committee will work in scene to print; yet these leaflets Fellowship in Egypt cooperation with the Congo are issued to boys and girls at Council, and three of the larg- the most impressionable age. One of the most remarkable est and most important Belgian services of modern times was Protestant groups have appoint- Yugoslavia's Pilgrims held this year in the Anglican ed representatives to serve on Cathedral in Cairo. The service the Commission. Those who like to claim they was planned by the "Fellowship are descendants of the Pilgrims of Unity," which draws into its -Congo Mission News. will be interested to know of a ranks the Greek, Armenian, Cop- new development in the Ortho- tic and other Eastern Churches, Nazi Influence in Austria dox Church of Yugoslavia called as well as the Presbyterians, the "Pilgrim's Movement," Anglicans, French Evangelicals, Nazi authorities in Austria which is increasing in effective- GeI1man Lutherans, Methodists gain their point in a roundabout ness. Its influence is felt among and the Church of Sweden. way. One who has recently re- the country people as well as turned from that country re- among the intelligentsia, and its Seven languages were emports that no Catholic is ap- monthly periodical has a circula- ployed in the service. The openpointed to important office, and tion of 35,000. The aim of the this is the procedure; no church Movement is to promote a life trained boy may belong to "Hit- that is truly Christian, on the ler Youth," and only "Hitler basis of the Gospel. Its first Youths" can hold office; the principle is that all propagation prospect for other employment of Christianity must begin with a transformation of personal life. In additio~ to seeking to
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
ing part was corporate thanks- Jesus Christ. Quietly and unobtru- fact that so many countries, giving in which the Greek, Ar- sively His command to preach that widely separated geographicalmenian and Coptic Churches joined with the Anglican, Pres- Gospel is being carried out in Dji- ly, have combined to send 6,000,000 doses of vaccine to bouti, by word of mouth, by the wit- ness of changed lives, and by the byterian, French and German circulation of the written Word. Dis- China to check the spread of communities. Another feature tribution of portions of Scripture and cholera. Australia and Ceylon of the service was the uniting of phamphlets is carried on, and Bibles have each sent to the Chinese in English, French, Italian, Arabic, Health Administration 500,000 the choir of the Cathedral with Amharic and Gujerati have been the Greek, Armenian and Coptic given to all those really interested. doses, the American Red Cross -Life of Faith. 3,000,000 doses, the Pasteur Inchoirs. A climax was reached when in English Psalm CI was stitute at Hanoi 500,000 doses, sung. It was a fitting culmina- Africa Christian Missions Rumania 1,000,000 doses, Jugo- tion to this great act of praise in The Africa Christian Missions slavia 500,000 doses, and Turso many tongues, and the Cathe- is an independent Baptist mis- key 1,000,000 doses. Gifts of dral rang with the familiar sion operating in French West cholera vaccines have also been words. received from the Serum Insti- Africa, with its center in the tute at Copenhagen, the Egyp- -Baptist Missionary Re- capital of the Niger Colony, a tian Ministry of Health, and the view (India). cosmopolitan town of about Institute of Bacteriology at 20,000, including Europeans and Buenos Aires. Sona Bata Medical School natives from every section of West Africa. It is on the main It would seem reasonable for Government diplomas were caravan route across the desert, governments and people to unite given for the first time to grad- and Arabs from Morocco, Al- as readily to stamp out the evils uates of the American Baptist giers and Tunisia are thus of war and class hatred, with all Medical School at Sona Bata, brought into the sphere of the their attendant suffering. Belgian Congo at their first com- Mission's influence. mencement last March. Govern- -The Christian. ment officials took part in the The work is mainly among the exercises, and those present in- Djerma tribe, which numbers Per Capita Giving cluded other state representa- about 250,000 – all Moslems. tives, members of near-by Prot- Preaching services in other than There has been an increase of 79 cents in the average per capestant and Catholic Missions; the mission's own buildings are ita giving of the members of the also, the American consul and forbidden by the government; 25 leading Protestant denomina- accordingly, every opportunity tions of the United States and his wife. The five .graduates is seized for making contacts with individuals, and these con- Canada for the past statistical have all taken places of Chris- versations attract many of the year, according to figures pubtian medical service for their lished by the Philadelphia Eveown people. curious, who also hear the Gos- ning Bulletin. The 79 cents in- – Watchman-Examiner. pel. crease a person means an aver- In French Somaliland Market day provides another age gift of $13.25 and a total opportunity. The same method gift increase of $14,602,188, Informal meetings for edu- is used-the curious listening in though there was at the same cated young Arabs and Somalis, as the claims of Christ are pre- time a decline of 412,148 in the for discussion and comparison sented to a single person. Por- combined membership of these of the Bible and the Koran, are tions of the Scripture are dis- denominations. proving worth while in the pro- tributed to those who prove gram of the Bible Churchmen's their ability to read either Testaments for Jews Missionary Society at Djibouti, French, Arabic or the native French Somaliland. The num- tongue. Medical work is under- The Alliance Weekly reports bers vary according to the de- taken in a small way, each pa- the launching of a campaign for gree of Moslem hostility, but ten tient thereby providing another the prayerful distribution of a or twelve men of different na- opportunity for the presentation quarter of a million New Testationalities are regular attend- of the way of salvation through ments among Jews in various ants. Several of these have ac- Christ. A school is maintained lands. A special Testament is cepted Christ as Saviour. In in which the Bible is the text- being prepared, in which verses view of the bitter opposition cer- book. Classes in reading, writ- that signify the fulfilment of Old tain to be met, the question of ing and Bible memory work are Testament prophecies appear in open testimony is a difficult one. held for the natives, and there bold face type, thus showing the are classes in doctrine and evan- Jews that the New Testament Summing up the work of the gelism for the believers. is the completion and fulfilment past twelve months, the leader of Old Testament revelation, and of the movement says: International Cooperation that Jesus is the true Messiah, and the Saviour of both Jews Of spiritual achievement there can Those who despair of ever and Gentiles. A great volume be no computation. A large number seeing cooperation among na- of intercessory prayer is being of people-running into hundreds- tions may take courage from the sought. have been touched in one way or another by the Gospel of our Lord
Missionary
Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information ~========~==============~=====I~ The Household of Faith. By Arthur The biography is brief and to destroy or degrade men and Emerson Harris. 232 pp. $2.00. largely factual. The author, who women, body and soul. This has Fleming H. Revell Company, New also wrote the life of the late F. been clearly evidenced since the York,1938. B. Meyer, gathered this mate- days of Noah and the evil effects rial during the subject's lifetime of alcohol are very far reaching. Dr. Harris, a professor in and then died before the book Miss Reed's leaflet is full of in- Eastern Baptist Theological was published. He tells the story teresting and important facts Seminary, discusses the author- of boyhood struggles, of fruitful that speak powerfully against ity and trustworthiness of the service in four important pas- the evils of intoxicating drinks. Bible, the person and second torates, of soul-stirring religious The medical accuracy of the coming of Jesus, the message of work among the soldiers in the statements is vouched for by the Gospel, the Church as "the World War, of wide-reaching eminent physicians and the spir- Household of Faith," the wit- influence as a secretary of the itual truth is endorsed by promnessing duty and privilege of its Board of National Missions, and inent clergymen. Here is a sane members, immortality, the tran- of nation-wide travel as moder- and convincing study of a great scendent call of Christ, and re- ator of the Presbyterian Church, evil. Missionaries and pastors lated subjects. The treatment is U.S. A. who wish to warn and fortify in a popular style which sug- their people against intoxicants gests that most of them were Dr. McDowell was the author will find here a great storehouse originally sermons or chapel of several books and of many of facts gathered from scientific talks. The viewpoint is that of important papers but only two investigation and from sad exa firm conservative in theology of his messages-"A Challenge perience. So Roger W. Babson and Biblical interpretation. to Loyalty" and "The Basis for says: "We ought to work des- Some statements will probably a Better World"-are given in perately for prohibition of any be challenged by those who in- the two appendices. We ,wish evil, like intoxicating drink, that terpret the Bible differently; there might have been more of is destroying and degrading our but the author's spirit is irenic his messages on Bible truths, on youth." and not controversial. the Christian solution of social problems, and on mission work The Case Against Japan. By Charles ARTHUR J. BROWN. for Jews and Gentiles. The R. Shepherd. 242 pp. $2.50. Daniel chapter on "The Closing Years" Ryerson, Inc., New York, 1938. The Life of John McDowell. By A. was written by Dr. Charles J. Chester Mann. Illus. 12 Mo. 139 Turck, a fellow worker with Dr. If, as is commonly believed, pp. $1.50. The Westminster Press, McDowell in the Board of Chris- Japanese bureaus of informa- Philadelphia, 1938. tian Education. Those who read tion in America send to Tokyo these brief chapters will be in- copies of all publications here True stories of personal spired with new courage in the that deal with Japan, one may heroism and sacrificial service face of difficulties, and new safely assume that this volume have a strong appeal for read- loyalty to high Christian ideals will not be permitted to go outers of all ages. Here is a re- and methods in social and eco- side beyond the censor's office. markable record of a young boy nomic life. It is exactly what its title sugwho overcame serious handicaps gests, and is a tremendously and became an honored Chris- Alcohol-Its Physiological and Psy- strong "Case against Japan." tian leader in America, receiv- chological Effects and Their Social The author has had ample oping the highest honors his Consequences. By Mary Lewis Reed, portunity to ascertain the facts Church could confer. Boys will R. N. 15 cents each. $10.00 per since he was formerly professor be interested to learn how he be- thousand. Published by the Author. of history in Graves Theological came proficient in tennis-with 468 Fourth Ave., New York. 193-7. Seminary, Canton. He has travone arm; preachers will be in- eled extensively in China and terested in his victory over Christian missions are an or- was there in 1936 when the J apa stammering tongue; social ganized endeavor to save men anese landed a large force of workers will find much to learn and women by the power of the marines and personally witin McDowell's ideas and ideals Spirit of God. Alcohol, as a bevas to economics and social jus- erage, is the devil's choice tool tice.
Any of the books noted In these columns will be sent by the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
[ 5581 nessed their depredations. He uously to raise the standard of carryon this work to an unusual rightly considers that the con- degree. This book shows how flict now being waged is not the musical appreciation and to add this has been accomplished. Dr. beginning but rather the cul- Chisholm has made an outstandmination of a long series of ag- reverence and beauty to the ing record as a physician and gressions. He therefore devotes has been elected a Fellow of the the first part of his volume to a ministry of sacred song. American College of Surgeons concise survey of the historical but his chief interest is not the antecedents of the present situa- In a book of this limited com- curing of men's bodies, importion. He recounts the Japanese tant as that work is, but the occupation of Korea and Man- pass the treatment of historical healing of their souls through churia, the notorious Twenty- the preaching of the Gospel of one Demands, the attack on material must necessarily be out- the Lord Jesus Christ. To a stu- Shanghai in 1932, and other dent of missions the book is of . events. Then he proceeds to de- lined, yet the selection has been interest in showing how a misscribe the "undeclared war" now sion hospital can and should be, in progress. He vividly pictures made with unusual skill and not only closely united with the the ruthlessness of the Japanese, evangelistic work of the whole their indiscriminate slaughter of there is a valuable bibliography mission station but should itself helpless civilians, their abuse of become a center of active evanwomen, and the baselessness of for those who wish to make gelism, and the means of foundthe specious reasons they ad- ing new churches in hitherto unvance to justify their course. It more extended study. In com- reached districts through the is a gruesome story, and frank- contacts made with the patients. ly ex parte, but it is buttressed mon with most intelligent stu- The book reveals anew the possiby uncontrovertible facts, and bilities in personal work, even in by citations from official docu- dents in this field Mrs. Adams the most difficult conditions and ments that are of historic rec- it will furnish another link in ord. The indignant protest of deplores the flood of superficial the long and well tested chain of the author sometimes verges on evidence to the supernatural life the declamatory, and he uses too and transient hymns which and power inherent in the Word many lurid adjectives, but it is of God. hard to be moderate and judicial have appeared in recent popular in writing about the crowning This vivid record of a physiatrocity of this generation. collections and calls attention to cian's experiences deserves a wide circulation among young ARTHUR J. BROWN. the unquestioned fact that only people. They will be attracted by the well told narratives and Studies in Hymnology. By Mrs. hymns which are rooted in the it should arouse new interest in Crosby Adams. 96 pp. $1.00. the cause of Christian missions. Cokesbury Press. Nashville, Tenn., Scripture have permanence and Seeing souls reclaimed through 1938. the Gospel are the rich rewards spiritual value. of a life given to the proclama- An important contribution to tion of Christ in the non-Christhe growing literature on hym- A variety of settings of the tian lands. nology is this highly informing volume by Mrs. Adams. While Twenty-third Psalm used by the T. STANLEY SOLTAU. prepared as a textbook for study classes, it should have a wider Church during the centuries are "By Faith"-Henry W. Frost and the mission in broadening musical China Inland Mission. Dr. and intelligence among all Christian a striking feature of the book Mrs. Howard Taylor. Illus. 8 vo. groups. Pastors, choir leaders, 364 pp. $1.25. China Inland Mischurch officers and all who have and well illustrate the eternal sion. Philadelphia, Pa. 1938. to do with the service of worship will find here a wealth of vitality of the earliest manual of "There were grants in those valuable material-in fact, an in- days" when the China Inland troduction to Christian hymnol- praise. HUGH R. MONRO. Mission was born. Here is the ogy. The spiritual discernment story of fifty years of work of and sympathy with which Mrs. Vivid Experiences in Korea. By Dr. the Mission in North America, Adams deals with the great mu- W. Chisholm. IIlus. 146 pp. and of Henry W. Frost, for most sical heritage of the Church is $1.00. Bible Institute Colportage of that time the efficient Home the reflection of a lifetime of Assn., Chicago. 1938. Director for North America. It rich musical and cultural asso- is a remarkable, intimate story, ciations as author, composer, For fifteen years Dr. Chisholm well told, showing the rewards teacher and lecturer. She has has been a member of the Chosen of faith and courage, the labors won a high place in that devoted Mission of the Presbyterian of love and the reality of God's group who have labored assid- Church in the U. S. A. He has guidance and power. Much of been living in Syenchun, North this story is gathered from Dr. Chosen, where the work has seen such a remarkable development. The book is both a strong apolo- getic for medical missions and a splendid spiritual tonic as well.
Dr. Chisholm has written in a graphic conversational style which is easy reading and gives the reader many interesting glimpses of Korean country life, as well as some of the joys and discomforts which are the lot of any missionary engaged in coun- try itineration. The suggestive portrayals of various phases of native life and of Christian ac- tivities.
One of the outstanding fea- tures of the work of the Presby- terian Mission in Korea has been the emphasis placed upon per- sonal evangelism as the duty of every missionary and of every native Christian. All mission institutions, including hospitals and schools, have been used to
Frost's autobiographical notes, made by non-Catholics) that aids of coercion and punishment. letters and other records. . . . Far better is it to defend "the Protestants were as bad," the truth by loving, exploring, Henry W. Frost was born in declaring and obeying it, than Detroit, Michigan, of godly par- the writer demonstrates that by rousing against it, through ents; was graduated from the imposition of restraint, the Princeton; went into business persecution of Catholics by Prot- enmity of the rebel and the still and politics and then into work more subtle enmity of the cowfor God and the China Inland estants differed at vital points ard and the hypocrite." Mission. Here is a story of God's dealings. with the Mission from persecution the other way KENNETH J. FOREMAN. and the man; of the lessons he learned; of his growing faith about. Not only was persecu- Out of the East. India's Search for and courage and the fruitage in God. By Wm. A. Stanton. Illus. the work. It is a spiritual his- tion (where it existed) by Prot- 192 pp. $1.50. Fleming H. Revell tory and is rich in spiritual les- Co. New York. 1938. sons to Mission Boards, to estants less severe than by churches and to individuals. Dr. With a knowledge of the In- Frost, and his wife as well, are Catholics, but it was evoked by dian people developed through shown in their quiet gentleness; forty years of missionary servtheir loving, sacrificial service, Catholic aggression, prompted ice in South India, a clear mind, their humble faith, and cheerful a warm heart and a graphic pen, obedience. The growth of the by Catholic example, was will- Dr. Stanton describes India's China Inland Mission has been search for God as he has witremarkable. Its record is in- ingly discontinued, and on prin- nessed it. The author and his spiring. There are rewarding wife went out under the Ameriglimpses of such men as J. Hud- ciple cannot be renewed. As to can Baptist Board in 1892 and son Taylor, D. L. Moody, Wm. J. settled among the Telugus where Erdman, and others. Those who past and present the evidence is there has been such a remarkread this history will find their able response to the Christian faith strengthened, their ideals irresistible. As to the future message. of service elevated, and their spiritual life stimulated. policies and probabilities, all as- Dr. Stanton sees the dire need of India for Christ and he notes Roman Catholicism and Freedom. sertions must naturally be a signs of the religious hunger of By Cecil John Cadoux, M.A.Oxon., the Hindus. He has seen the Hon. D. D. Edin, Professor of matter of opinion; but where great Christward movement of Church History at Mansfield Col- the Untouchables and its influ- lege, Oxford University. Third this is based solidly on the anal- ence on the Sudras. He is con- Edition with additional notes. 201 vinced of the fact that the only pages. 5 shillings net. Independ- ogy of past and present experi- abiding and transforming re- ent Press. London. sults in mission work come ence, and the likelihood that through the work of the spirit This is a book you will seldom of God. see advertised and very seldom basic principles will not be abanreviewed, for reasons which the After a general description of author himself points out. It is doned, the argument is sound. India and its modern progress, a frank warning against the Ro- Dr. Stanton gives the evidence man Catholic Church, not by And such a base this argument of India's search for God as seen some fanatical irresponsible in their Hindu sacred books and pamphleteer but by a professor has. Dr. Cadoux makes a strong in their religious worship. He of Church history in one of the tells of the awakening of the world's greatest universities. He case, virtually incontestable. His outcastes and among caste peogives a factual record of the Ro- ples, of the rescue of Indian man Catholic Church's deliber- thesis is that since Rome's the- womanhood and of the upheaval ate and official opinion, during in Bengal. Then he very effecthe nineteenth century, on the ory of infallibility and of the tively tells the stories of some subject of persecution; together Christian converts from Hinduwith the evidence of actual perse- right to persecute remain the ism-Dr. K. C. Banurji, Naracution practiced by that Church yan Vaman Tilak, Pandita Rain areas as widely scattered as same (except that the death pen- mabai and Sadhu Sundar Singh. Malta, Ireland and Madagascar. Here is an excellent book for No medireval bogies are resur- alty may not again be invoked), reading circles and for mission rected; the illustrations are con- study classes. temporary. Catholic propagan- wherever Rome gains power she da is likewise described, in many The difference of race contributes forms. Against the retort (often will again attempt to crush out to the richness of the world. There is no ground for assigning intrinsic all other forms of religious faith. superiority of one race over another. -Sir Walter Moberly, London. Notes bringthis third edition up to date, answering some of the criticisms leveled at earlier edi- tions,and paying attention to the relation of the Roman Church to events in Spain and Abyssinia.
While the writer's special inter- est is naturally in Great Britain, and although the Catholic popu- lation of the United States is still a minority, the warning is not less important for us. If the entire case is as mildly put as in the points where the writer crosses the reviewer's knowl- edge, the book is certainly an un- derstatement rather than an exaggeration. The basic and es- sential point however is not a matter of individual incidents but of fundamental principles.
The difference between Catholic and Protestant here is well ex- pressed (p. 123).: "If Catholics have in their dogmas the faith they profess, they ought to be willing to trust to the power of their truth to cthoenveinxcteranmeoeun~ without needing
Reed Honored The Printed Page is a
The name of Mary Reed of that never tires, never flinches, never grows disheartened. Chandag Heights, India, is high- It travels cheaply and works while others sleep. ly hOlored, especially among friends of the lepers. She will The American Christian Literature Society for Moslems be 84 years of age on December 4th, and her birthday will be cooperating with the Nile Mission Press and interdenominawidely celebrated. From many tional Committees on the field is subsidizing the production of lands messages of love and ap- Christian literature for many lands and in several languages. preciation for her fifty-five years of missionary service will come Will you help to meet the challenge of increasing opportunities to to this white-haired heroine who send the Gospel in print to Turkey, Egypt, Arabia, India, Iran? learned forty-eight years ago tliat she had contracted leprosy REV. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D.O., President while serving as a missionary of MRS. WILLIAM BANCROFT HILL, Honorary Vice President the Methodist Episcopal Church. DELAVAN L. PIERSON, First Vice President Instead of bewailing her lot, REV. THOMAS S. DONOHUGH, Second Vice President Miss Reed returned to India to REV. JAMES CANTINE, D.O., Cor. Secretary serve the lepers. God answered MRS. JAMES M. MONTGOMERY, Treasurer her prayer and the disease was arrested so that she has been Make checks payable to the American Christian Literature Soable to spend nearly a half cen- ciety for Moslems, and send them to the Treasurer, Room 1019, tury in this service-and with- 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. out a furlough. In America there will be celebrations of the anni- lB. Lesson Books, Scholar's Read- Dannie and the Alabaster Box. Conversary at Lowell and other ing Book, 2d., Scholar's Questions, stance Savery. 62 pp. 9d. Picker- Ohio towns associated with Miss 1d. S. P. G. London. ing & Inglis. London. Reed. A commemorative tablet is to be placed on the site of her Everyday Life in India. Two Outline For This Cause. Inabelle Graves birthplace and home at Lowell. Friezes. 18. S. P. G. London. Coleman. 199 pp. Pamphlet. 25 A dramatization of episodes in cents. Boardman Press. Nashville. Miss Reed's life has been pre- Let Us Build. P. E. Burroughs. 154 pared by Miss Lulu Irwin, Mid- pp. 60 cents. Broadman Press. Gateway to Tibet. Robert E. Ekvall, west secretary of the American Nashville. F.R.G.S. 198 pp. Christian Publi- Mission to Lepers. Ganga Ram, cations. Harrisburg, Pa. one of Miss Reed's India boys, Himself. The Autobiography of a writes: "Miss Reed educated me Hindu Lady. From a Classic in Joe Lives in the City. Jeanette Perand taught me to trust and know Marathi. By Ramabai Ranade. kins Brown. 36 pp. 25 cents. IlIus. God, the Father of us all. My Translated by Katherine Van Akin Friendship Press. New York. daily life speaks of her good Gates. 252 pp. $2.00. Longmans, teaching and glorifies the name Green & Co. New York. Report of the Keswick Convention. of our Saviour." 1938. 308 pp. 28. 6d. paper, 48. Annual Report of the China Inland boards. Pickering & Inglis. Lon- New Books Mission. 1938. Edited by L. T. don. Lyall. 110 pp. C. I. M. Phila- Calendars-Young Folks Calendar; delphia. ' The Meaning of Moody. P. Whitwell Grace and Truth; Daily Manna; Wilson. 157 pp. $1.50. Revell. 18 ea.; Golden Grain Daily Medi- The Christ. A. Wendell Ross. A Ne,! York. 'tation, lB. 6d.; Golden Terx;t, lB. 3d. Harmonized Study of the Gospel Daily Light Almanac, 13hd.; Our Records. 222 pp. $2.00. Fleming No Speedier Way. Golden Jubilee of Home Almanac, 1d.; The Bible H. Revell Co. New York. the Christian Literature Society of Almanac, 2d. Pickering & Inglis. China, 1887-1937. 144 pp. $1.20. London. AdvlE'ntures of Service. Stories of Christian Literature Soc. Shanghai. modern Pioneers. D. M. Gill and The Directory of World Missions. A. M. Pullen. 127 pp. $1.00 cloth, Out of the East. India's Search for Edited by Joseph I. Parker. 255 pp. 50 cents paper. Friendship Press. God. William A. Stanton. 192 pp. $2.00. International Missionary! New York. $1.50. Revell. New York. Council. London and New York. Blue Skies. Louise Harrison McCraw. The Presbyterians. The Story of a Indian Uplands. Some Stories of the 262 pp. $1.00. Zondervan Pub. Staunch and Sturdy People. Wil- Church in Chota Nagpur. Edward House. Grand Rapids.' liam Thompson Hansche. 194 pp. H. Whitley. 67 pp. S. P. G. Lon- $1.25. Westminster Press. Phila. don. Bird 'Voices, ,sonnets, Battle-Dore. William Bacon Evans. 68 pp. 25 A Sari for Sita. Nina Millen. 36 pp. Indian Brothers. Story Lessons for cents. Friends Book Store. Phila. 25 cents. IlIus. Friendship Press. Little Children. Dorothy Meadows. New York. 31 pp. S. P. G. London. "By Faith"-Henry W. Frost and the China Inland – Mission. 364 pp. Tales from Many Lands. Stories for Conquest of the Jungle. Stories of $1.25. China Inland Mission. Phila. Juniors. IlIus. 127 pp. 50 cents. the Kingdom of God in Chota Morehouse-Gorham. New York. Nagpur. Dorothy Harris. 70 pp. A History of the Expansion of Chris- tianity. Vol. II. Kenneth Scott Tales from India. Basil Mathews. Latourette. 492 pp. $6.00. Har- 96 pp. 50 cents paper, $1.00 cloth. per & Bros. New York. IlIus. Friendship Press. New York.
~ ~bri~tma~ ~ift ~uggt~tfon
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The Missionary Review of the World — January 1938
1938
Influence of Christ in History Kenneth Scott Latourette From Mine-Boy to Moderator Life and Character of John McDowell Modern Dem~nds for Foreign Missions Charles E. Maddrj The Missionary Message for Today – Julius Richter Medical Work in Arabia w. Harold Stonn The Bible and Koran Contrasted E. w. G. Hudgell Christian Morale in War-Tom ,China Frank W. Price 25 Cents a Copy $2.50 a Year
to Remember wealth, religion
January 2-9-Universal Week of All Missionaries Try to and other topics. Some of these Prayer. Follow the Nevius Methods ideals which made him success- January 4-6 – Foreign Missions Con- But many miss the dynamic of them ful are: ference, Toronto, Can. an. which is I have always indulged the hope January 9-12 – Annual Meeting of BIBLE EMPHASIS that I should be able to establish effi- the Home Missions Council and t~e The Korean Presbyterian Church has ciency in giving, so that wealth may be of greater use to the present and 'i Council of Women for Home MIS- gained 180,640 new believers net in futu-re generations. sions Marble Collegiate Church, 9 years. This is the equivalent of New'York City. 70 new parishes of 300 believers ••• every year. Last year it had: January 11-I4-General Missionary One of the most important. of the Council Methodist E pis cop a I 2,844 Week-Long Bible Classe•• elements which go to make up ~ivilh:a Church, South, Savannah, Ga. (178,315 attending.) tion is the progress of moralIty and January 12-lnter-seminary Confer- 10,000 in Bible Correlpondence. the Christian religion. ence on Human Relations, ChicH¥o 844,268 in Sunday Schools. But I am never a pessimist–I never Round Table of Jews and Chris- 55,075 iu Bible D. V. B. S. despair. I believe in man and the tians, Chicago. brotherhood of man and am confident 4,509 in tHO Week Bible Institutes. that in the end everything will come. January 19-An~ual ~eetin~, Anier-. Read ti.e Story in the New Boo" out for the good of all. iean Waidensian AId SocIety, St. Nicholas Collegiate Church, New "THE NEVIUS PLAN FOR MISSION Do all the good you can. WORK IN KOREA" (370 pages). Be earnest. . York City. . Do not be afraid to work. By CHA.RLES A.LLEN CLARK, Ph.D•• D.D. January 19-Feb~uary 18-FI<?ri~a (35y….. inKorea) Persevere. If you make a mistake, Chain of MissIonary Assemblies In remember that it is human to err. 15 centers, beginning at Deland and CHRISTIAN LITERATURE SOCIETY. Try again and try harder. ending in Tallahassee. Seoul, Korea. postpaid, • – – – ·Y5.00 Sons of wealthy parents have not January 31-February 6 – Founder's E. C. HEINZ, the ghost of a chance compared with Week Conference, Moody Bible In- 3624 5th Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn., boys who came from the country with stitute, Chicago. postpaid, – – • – • – – – – – $2.00 the determination to do something in February 9-: Annual. M.eeting, Mis- 1927, she taught at Huping Agricul- this world. sionary ReVIew PublIshmg Co., New tural Normal School. . Live within your means. One of York. the swiftest toboggans I know of is •*• for a youn,' man just starting in life March 4 – World Day of Prayer. to get into debt. Rev. Yaroo M. Neesan. in charge of the Assyrian Episcopal Church in A clear conscience is worth more Flint, Mich., died in November at the and is a greater comfort than is a age of 84. He was born in Iran, at- great fortune. Obituary Notes tended a Presbyterian School at Mar- There is nothing in the world that gawar and at 21 was selected by the can compare with Christian fellow- Mr. Marshall Broomhall, who had America)l Bible Society to sell Bibles ship; nothing that can satisfy but been connected with the China I~la~d in Assyrian, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian Christ. Mission for nearly fifty years, died In and Turkish-all tongues which he England on' October 24th, in his 72d spoke fluently. He was a man of keen If you use year. He was a nephew of th~ la~e intellect, rich background of experi- Hudson Taylor and went to China In ence and unusual Christian character. PRINTING 1890. In 1900 he was appointed Edi- torial Secretary of the Missi~n, which ••• YOU Will profit from an ac- position he filled with effiCIency for quaintanceship with us. We twenty-seven years, until his health Dr. Chas. W. Gordon, better known do the Job complete in our own compelled him to re~ire. La~r" he r~ as Ralph ConnQr, died at his home in plant, whether it be large or sumed the editorshIp of Ch'tna 8 Md- Winnipeg, on October 31st at the age smalL lions and wrote a lar~E! n~mber. of of 77. Dr. Gordon won fame as the valuable books on missIOns In Chma. author of "The Sky Pilot" and other While our specialty is Boob, popular stories of missionary work MagatiftU and Pamphletl, yet ••• and life in the Canadian Northwest. we have a variety of modern He was the son of the late Daniel and equipment to meet all the ~ Dr. R. A. Hutchison, for thirty Mary Robertson Gordon. He was born quireanentl of your particular years General Secretary of ,the Board in Indian lands, Glen County, On- job. You will find our eervice of American Missions, United Pres- tario, September 13, 1860. His father prompt, careful and courteous. byterian Church, died in Pittsburgh, was the missionary of the Free Pennsylvania, on December 11th, of a Church of Scotland and after the son Will you allow UI to estimate heart attack. Dr. Hutchison was was graduated from Knox College, on your neztprintingl We be- born seventy-five years ago and after Toronto, he became a missionary to lieve you will be delighted with being graduated from Monmouth Col- the lumber, railroad and mining camps our product, price and service. lege and Xenia Theological Seminary, at Banff. In 1894 he became pastor Ohio, became pastor of the First Unit- of St. Stephen's Presbyterian Church The EVANGELICAL PRESS ed Presbyterian Church at Altoona, in Winnipeg and in 1921 was moder- Pa. He was moderator of the Gen- ator of the Canadian Presbyterian Print",. of eral Assembly of his church in 1926. General Assembly. T.M Mulionary Revie", of the W Ot'ld ••* John D. Rockefeller's Philosophy PLANT AND MAIN OrneE . Mrs. Mary B. Hoy, a missionar~ in ThIrd ad Reily SIr…. Hao.." " , .. Japan and China for the Evangelical The late John D. Rockefeller,. and Reformed Church for more than Baptist layman and founder of a half century, died at Hankow, the Standard Oil Co.,. at various China, Nov. 5, in her seventy-fifth times made known his views of year. She help~d to found the girls' school now known as Miyagi College. .In 1900, Mrs. Hoy established the girls' school at Yochow, China, and later devoted herself to women's work at Huping. After Dr. Hoy's death in
MISSIONARY the condition of war in China making PARENTS
REVIEW OF THE WORLD it unwise to plan for it in Hangchow. In the Foreign Mission Field DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor The special Home Mission Study Number (June) will deal with Christ Endorse Calvert School VOL. LXI JAN., 1938 No.1 and American Cities; the Foreign Home Study Courses Mission Study Number (October) Publication and Business Otll.ce– will deal with the important topic: For Children Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. The Christian Cwmpaign in India. Calvert School, through its Home Instruc- Editorial and Executive Otll.ce– In the other months THE REVIEW tion Department, will give your child a 156 B'ltth Avenue, New York City. covers the world, home and foreign, superior elementary education … by mail, Entered as second-class matter at and keeps our readers in touch with regardless of where you may live. Mod- the main current events and mission- ern, approved courses from this famous Post 01flce, Harrisburg, Pa., under ary problems, great personalities, the school are being used by parents all .over Act of March 3, 1!l79. progress of mission work, the unoccu- the world with outstanding success. pied or neglected field, the best meth- 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. ods for promoting interest and the Give your children the advantages of these Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. current missionary literature. interesting lessons, carefully chosen books, Publisbed monthly, except August. and attractive materials. Instruction is All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1937. *** under the personal guidance of teachers in B"ltlsh agents – Marsball, Morgan Calvert's prominent and successful private and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, One reader writes: "There is no day school in Baltimore. London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, piece of literature that I get that has 10 shillings a year. great value as a source of illustra- Write today for booklet of complete in- tions of what the Gospel is doing right formation. Costs are low. MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- now in our world than that section of LISHING CO., INC. THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE CALVERT SCHOOL , WORLD called 'Our World-Wide Out- BOARD OF DIREC'l'ORS look.' "-W. E. Forsythe, Caledonia, IBOW. Tuscany Road Mo. ROBERT E. SPEER, PreSident Baltimore '<- Maryland A. L. WARNSHUIS, Vice-President Personal Items ican Board of Commissioners for For- VALTER MCDoUGALL, ~,J.1rea8urer Dr. Conrad Hoffmann began his eign Missions in West Africa for duties with the Board of National nearly 20 years has become director DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary Missions of the Presbyterian Church, of Lincoln Academy, Kings Mountain, U. S. A., in charge of Jewish Evan- N. C., a work conducted under the PAUL J. BRAISTED gelization, on SeptemJer 1. Dr. Hoff- auspices of the American Missionary SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT mann will give nine months to this Association. Kings Mountain is called work, and by a special arrangement "The Negro Northfield" and is a D. J. FANT the remaining three months will be boarding school for Negro boys and MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD spent in Europe on behalf of the work girls. In the summer the campus is of the International Committee on the used for conferences. WM. B. LIPPHARD Christian Approach to the Jews. ERIC M. NORTH *** SAMUEL M. ZWEMER Dr. and Mrs.* Fr*ed *MacCallum are Dr. William E. Doughty, formerly Editorial Chat retiring after 40 years' work under one of the secretaries of the Laymen's the American Board in Turkey. They Missionary Movement and later of The New Year dawns with many plan to spend their remainin'" years the Near East Relief, has been made clouds overhead and on the horizon, in the Levant. One son is a mission- Grand Commander of the Greek Order but the sun still shines-the Sun of ary in Constantinople; a daughter is of the Phoenix in recognition of his Righteousness-on the world of time college librarian in Smyrna. twenty years of service to the people and nature that God made, and on the of Greece and the Near East refugees. world of men whom Christ came to *** The decoration was conferred by the save. The Editor and the Board of Greek Minister to the United States. Directors extend their very hearty Dr. and Mrs. John E. Merrill, Christian greetings to all the readers American Board missionaries at AKEEN That priceless of THE REVIEW and to the mission- Aleppo, Syria, have retired from ac- possession is aries and Christians in every nation, tive service. Through four decades race and tongue. There is evidently they have interpreted the Christian within YOUT more need than ever to spread the missionary spirit among churches of Good News of the love of God and the Cilicia and Syria. MEMORY reach! Follow salvation offered through Christ. This the simple, sen~ is the work for which THE REVIEW *** sible rules in was established sixty years ago and for which it is conducted today. We Dr. D. C. Henry is one of the mis- "HOW TO MEMORIZE" work and pray together for this end. sionaries of the United Presbyterian By Dr. William Evans Church still able to live and work in *** Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Mrs. Henry The Possibilities of the Memory, and her children have received per- Principles of Memory Training, and A new Director has been elected to mission to return. step by step instruction on the fun~ THE REVIEW Board to take the place damentals of application. of our beloved friend and fellow work- *** er of many years, the late Dr. Wil- Many gladly paid $5.00 for this liam I. Chamberlain. The new Direc- The Rev. Mark A. Dawber, D.D., material in a correspondence coUrse. tor is the Rev. Paul J. Braisted, Ph.D., Superintendent of Town and Country Now compiled in a single volume the recently appointed Secretary of Work of the Methodist Episcopal bound in handsome cloth covers, the Student Volunteer Movement. It Board of Home Missions, has been gilt stamping, 95 pages, complete is especially fitting that Dr. Braisted elected Executive Secretary of the for 75c. and 6c. postage. should serve the missionary cause. Home Missions Council to succeed the through THE REVIEW since his wife, Rev. William R. King, D.D., who is BIBLE INSTITUTE COLPORTAGE ASS'N Ruth Wilder Braisted, is the grand- resigning because of serious illness. daughter of Royal G. Wilder who Dr. King has been the efficient and 848 N. Wells St. Chicago, Illinois founded THE REVIEW and owned and loving Executive Secretary of the edited it for ten years. Dr. Braisted Council for the past ten years. is a graduate of Brown University and served as a Baptist missionary in *** India and Burma for about ten years. Dr. Henry McDowell, a colored *** missionary working under the Amer- Our year's program includes a num- [ 1] ber of articles preparatory to the next International Missionary Conference to be held in Madras next December,
by kind permission of the London Missionary Society
AN AFRICAN'S AWAKENING INTEREST IN THE HOPE OF THE WORLD REVIE ORLD VOLUME LXI AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 1 JANUARY, 1938 Tapies of the Times CLOSED AND OPEN DOORS labor warfare and anti-religious activity in some Looking back over the past year we see many circles. Mexico is still holding doors closed against missionary activity from outside countragedies, disappointments, lost opportunities and tries but is easing up on regulations against the doors closed or closing to the messengers of Christ right of religious assembly. Other Latin Amerand to true religious liberty. There is Korea and ican countries still seethe with unrest but open the Japanese effort to force Christians to take part in obeisance at Shinto shrines; there is conflicts are prevented by strong men in power. China, with the Japanese invasion, bombing of All over the world the greatest obstacle to the hospitals, schools and villages, the diversion of progress of Christian life and activity is in the lifeless or lukewarm churches, that have "a name money and life from a constructive program and to live but are dead," and in the divided, lifeless the efforts to destroy a truly efficient Chinese government; there is Japan with its strong mili- and stony-hearted Christians who are so only in name. The scandals on Christendom are always taristic party in control and their determined the greatest obstacles to Christian progress. effort to stifle freedom of thought and expression on the part of the people. There is Iran where But on the other hand, all is not dark and lifethe shah, Riza Pahlavi, has made himself dictator less as we look back nor as we look forward to the and is clamping down on religious freedom and New Year. What gloriously bright gleams there on all effort to oppose his selfish and narrow- have been in the faithful Christian life and testiminded program. There is Palestine, with the mony in every land – in Japan and Chosen in bitter conflict between Arabs and Jews and the spite of government regulations; in China in the still unwelcome British proposal to make separate midst of invasion, bombings and death; in India Moslem and Jewish states. There is Turkey, with where political strife has brought unrest and "units more enlightened dictator but prohibiting the touchables" are seeking social and religious freeteaching of religion to all youth under eighteen, dom; in Iran, Arabia, and Mesopotamia where thus handicapping the home and the school, the Christians are constantly being born in the midst mosque and even the Church. There is Russia, of fanaticism and in spite of bitter opposition; with its increasingly materialistic program, its in many parts of Africa where the Christian atheistic rules and its anti-Christian propaganda Church is growing through the work of African and its "purging" of the country by the death of Christians; in Germany where Evangelical pasleaders suspected of being antagonistic to the tors and people are ready to suffer imprisonment Stalin government. There is Germany and the for conscience sake; in Great Britain and Europe Nazi government seeking to control the Church, where Christians from all the world and all Protintroduce pagan traditions and worship and to estant and Eastern churches united in brotherly stifle faith in the historic Church and obedience to conference to bring better understanding and Almighty God. There is Spain with its homicidal closer fellowship in faith, life and work. In North strife, the interruption of Christian life and work, America the results of the Preaching Mission and the closing of some partly opened doors by com- Christian Youth Movements are still felt and are munistic, Roman Catholic and military activity, building for the future. In Mexico the evangelical and the impoverishment of the country. In North work goes forward, carried on by Mexican Chris- America there are tragedies in economic life, with tians among the youth and even among the 801- [3]
diers. In Central and South America the Gospel It will continue to prove true in Spain, in Russia, light also shines brightly in many obscure corners. Chile reports effective evangelism among soldiers in Ethiopia and in China. The only way to end and sailors and Indians; Brazil has Evangelical war by murderous warfare is to exterminate all self-supporting churches with over a thousand opponents; even then new antagonists will arise members each. After all, the most effective work and attempt to put down the victor who depends of Christ is carried on not in dramatic ways in on physical force to maintain his supremacy. great assemblies, but through the power of the Spirit of God shining out of individual lives in the A "war to end war" is rightly ridiculed today. homes, the churches and the communities in each It is as futile as is Japan's campaign to cure country. Chinese unfriendliness by a murderous invasion of Chinese territory. You cannot cure hatred by But what of the doors of service for Christ that hatred, or overcome evil with evil. It is nineopen out into the new year? Was there ever teen years since "peace" was declared in Europe; greater opportunity to show what Christ can and the Treaty of Versailles was signed by conflicting will do to set right this disordered world, if only nations; the World War was supposedly brought His followers are ready to leave all and follow to an end; the victors thought that they had been Him? What might not this new year – with able to make it unprofitable, if not impossible, for Christ – show in the establishment of peace in Germany, Austria and Turkey ever again to con- China and Spain; of religious freedom in Japan, sider renewing the conflict. They were believed Chosen, Iran, Arabia, Turkey, Russia, Mexico and to be too weak to take revenge. Germany; in producing the fruits of education, brotherhood and justice in Egypt, Ethiopia and Jesus Christ came with a message of peace to other parts of Africa; in promoting political the world and showed the way to establish and peace in Latin America, and economic peace and maintain goodwill among men. He gave His spiritual revival in North America? life to make peace between men and God and to establish the rule of love, and yet how little we This coming year offers new and rich opportu- have shown our desire for peace and goodwill. nities in the World Missionary Conference at There are still conflicts not only between men of Madras next December; in the coming student different nations, but also between those of differrevival meetings in American colleges; in the ent races, social and economic strata and ideas! revitalizing of churches, Christian organizations and institutions all over the world, but most of all We hate war and yet there are things worse in the opportunity to open individual hearts and than war-even worse than armed conflict and lives to the power and control of the indwelling death. Dishonor, disobedience to the laws of Christ. "Behold I have set before thee an open God, and cruel disregard of human rights are door and no man can shut it. . . . If any man worse than war. A truly righteous and strong hear my voice and open the door, I will come in government must endeavor to put down lawlessto him." ness, even by the use of force. "The powers that be are ordained of God." As long as thugs and "THE WAR TO END WAR" thieves ply their trades, armed police are neces- sary-locally, nationally or internationally. Such There probably never was a period in the his- a condition is not ideal ana does not make for tory of mankind when so much thought and lasting peace, but lawlessness should be made unmoney was being spent on warfare, past, present profitable. and future, as there is today – nineteen hundred years after the coming of the Prince of Peace. There is only one way to end war and that is Instead of peace and goodwill among men, there to establish the rule of love, to disarm the mind are murderous conflicts going on in Spain and and heart by taking away men's desire to fight China and more are threatened in Europe, Asia, one another. There is only one way truly to Africa and in the Americas. There were many conquer an enemy and that is to make him a who believed that the great World War was such friend. We are "more than conquerors" when a deadly and decisive conflict that "civilized" we overcome evil with good. This can be brought nations in future would be persuaded to settle to pass when men give their full allegiance to their disputes without arms. But a "war to end Him who loved us. war" is an idle dream. It is no homeopathic remedy; no inoculation that prevents taking the We hate war and yet there is war in which we disease in worse form. Warfare unleashes human believe. It is a warfare that is in full harmony passions; it stimulates greed, hatred and a desire with the Spirit of Christ and with the Will of for revenge. This has been proved by the course God. It is the Christian war against all evil- .of events in Germany, Turkey and Latin America. the war against selfishness and greed; against hatred and cruelty; against crime and lawless- ness; against intemperance and lust; against sickness and ignorance and degrading poverty.; against godlessness and all forms of evil
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
Men are belligerent by nature. Little children, churches in which they are reported as members.
as soon as they want something they do not His statements as to the decline of Protestantism possess, or find that someone else stands in the in America may not be wholly correct but it is way, fight their battles with a cry, with words, clear to anyone who investigates the facts that or a blow. But children and adults can be taught church and Sunday school attendance and vital a better way than to overcome by physical war- interest in Christian life and service have not pro- fare. There is a conquest by love, by truth and gressed but have declined,-especially in the by surrender. To "fight the good fight of faith," larger ecclesiastical bodies.
we need only courage and the whole armor of Some of the reasons for this d~cline may be God. The moral equivalent of war is the fight briefly stated: against evil, within and without. It is the fight for truth and for righteousness; the battle to 1. Decline of religious interest and responsibility carry out the loving Will of God. This is the in the homes. "war that will end war." When love takes the place of hate, and good takes the place of evil, 2. Increase of rationalism and materialism in the Kingdom of God will be manifest on earth. schools and colleges.
3. Increase of worldliness and self-indulgence in social life, with evidences of insincerity or IS RELIGION DECLINING IN AMERICA? hypocrisy in many professing Christians. 4. Indifference ·to spiritual things on the part of It is difficult to compare one generation with many in the church and out. This is fos- another. Statistics do not tell the whole story- tered by unwholesome fiction, theatricals and as to crime, customs, religious faith or Christian motion pictures.
progress. Each man's vision and information is 5. Increasing ignorance of God and lack of vital limited, especially in spiritual matters. Only God faith among young and old. The Bible is can know man's heart and only He can judge sadly neglected and misunderstood. rightly. Nevertheless air currents, weather vanes, barometers, social investigations, vital statistics 6. Absence of vital spiritual preaching of the and church attendance reveal some conditions and Word of God and lack of effective Christian tendencies. They are worth considering carefully. service in many churches.
There are some conditions in America that are 7. Lack of unity among Christians and failure to show true brotherly love among those of encouraging and there are also tendencies that are disturbing-politically, economically, socially and different classes, denominations and races. religiously. These tendencies downward should be studied carefully and corrected wherever pos- Christian leaders need to recognize these spirsible. Among the disturbing factors are those itual ailments and we should all earnestly and that indicate dependence on physical force rather prayerfully seek the remedy. Christianity, as pro- fessed today, has too often become formal and than on righteousness to settle economic and in- dead. So-called Christian nations have ignored ternational disputes. There is an increase of Christ's teachings as to righteousness and peace. divorce and a lowering of moral ideals; the Larger church attendance, better preaching, even growth of the gambling spirit, the development of Bible teaching and social service, do not in themlawlessness and the spread of intemperance are selves provide the remedy. We are coming to disturbing. The progress of atheism and material- recognize more and more that the first need is ism are evident, especially in some colleges and personal spiritual revival, with surrender to God among those with radical ideas. There is a de- and a vital relation to Christ; second, there is crease in Sunday school and church attendance need for new, more earnest and intelligent study among all classes. In general the growth of ex- of the Bible as the Word of God; third, we need travagance and self-indulgence is coupled with true prayer and obedience to the revealed will indifference to the revealed will of God as the of God. Finally, Christians must unite more standard for faith and life. At a recent National whole-heartedly in loving fellowship, in witness- Laymen's Conference it was pointed out that ing to Christ and in devoted service to mankind.
Christian church membership has declined in pro- There is power in Christ and His Gospel to portion to the growth in population. Mr. Roger transform the world. There is evidence of spir- W. Babson, former moderator of the Congrega- itual vitality in the Church and in multitudes of tional Council, has said that Protestant church Christians. They are still the "salt of the earth"
membership is declining to an alarming degree. but too much of the salt has lost its savour or is Others believe that he has based his statements confined in salt-cellars, not scattered to counter- on incorrect or insufficient data, but Mr. Babson act corruption. Christians are still the "light of states that official church figures include millions the world," when Christ loves and shines through who have now no vital connection with the them, but too many are hiding their light or it
burns dimly, in a small circle, with a poor dying Roman Catholic Church, with special privileges flame that cannot lighten even their own homes, as the National Church, then, in addiltion, the much less the dark corners of the earth. Waldensian Church, the Methodist Episcopal and Baptist Churches, the Friends, the Seventh Day An observer at the recent conference on Evan- Adventists, Plymouth Brethren, the Salvation gelism, held at Northfield, Massachusetts, reached Army and the Spezia mission. No other denomthe following conclusions: (1) We must recog- inations are allowed in the country. nize that the desperate situation in the world today cannot be remedied by reformation but only It is common rumor in Italy that the Vatican by redemption and regeneration. (2) Definite helped to finance the Abyssinian war. In return, decision must be made to accept redemption in it seems to have demanded that the civil authori- Christ producing a new character and not merely ties should restrain all Protestant denominations. improvement along the old ways of life. (3) To The first result was the disappearance of many accept Christ means to adopt His teachings as the independent missions and churches, which were practical plan of life in social, industrial, and in- merely extinguished in conformity with the law. ternational relationships, as well as in personal Particular attention has recently been paid to one conduct. (4) A definite Biblical foundation is independent work estimated to number some needed in thought and preaching. (5) Evan- 50,000 adherents but one that has been a pargelism must be carried to the people wherever ticularly aggressive and successful evangelistic they are and applied to their needs. This involves movement, and was spreading rapidly. A short street preaching, personal interviews, pastoral time ago no less than 1,000 of these people were contacts, clinics for personal problems, etc. placed under "house arrest," not allowed to leave (6) This is the work of the laity as well as the their village or town, and being obliged to report ministry. (7) Evangelism must be world-wide, themselves daily to the police. Nevertheless they not merely local. manage to hold meetings in caves and other secret places. EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS IN ITALY Attention was next given to those denomina- The British Weekly says that "so far as liberty tions recognized by the State, whose status is nomof worship is concerned matters are worse for inally guaranteed. The country is governed ac- Evangelicals in Italy than in Germany." Under cording to the exigencies of the moment. The a law promulgated in 1929, the following religious Vatican seems just now to be directing its activity organizations were recognized by the State and chiefly against three organizations-the Waldenallowed to conduct worship in their own way: the sian Church and its missions, the British and For- eign Bible Society and the Salvation Army.
RUSSIA'S NEW DRIVE AGAINST RELIGION Press reports from Moscow state that a new drive against religion took place in the Soviet Union to prevent the December influence of the Church or the clergy on the more susceptible voters in the elections. The first elections under the so-called Stalin constitution, now a year old, were held December 12. The clergy were accused of conducting an insidious propaganda campaign for the revival of the sorely oppressed Church. It was charged that their aim was the election of friendly deputies in the local Soviets and in the chambers of the new Supreme Soviet.
Trade unions, in particular, were urged to revive the fight against religion. Their news- paper, Trud, re-emphasized its purpose "to expose the counter-revolutionary machinations of the clergy and believers." The clergy of Russia, whether they are Evangelical pastors, Ortho- dox or Catholic priests, Jewish rabbis, or Mohammedan mullahs, are openly called parasites by the official organs of the Soviet Government and the Communist party and are designated as actual and potential enemies of the regime. Though the trade unions were enlisted in this new campaign against the churchmen, the drive aimed most particularly against the Church's in- fluence among the peasants since the Government seems to have had more difficulty suppressing religious expression among the peasants in the rural areas than in the cities.
Recent indications point to a determined revival of religious interest in Russia in spite of the most persistent efforts on the part of the Government. An indication of this trend is the fact that four years ago the Militant Godless League numbered 5,000,000 members. At pres- ent there are only 2,000,000 enrolled. Dispatches also note that in Russia today there are more than 30,000 religious organizations of various faiths.-Lutheran News Bureau.
Influence of Christ in
By PROF. KENNETH SCOTT LATOURETTE D. Willis James Professor of Missions and Oriental History in Yale University, Author of "The First Five Centuries of Christianity"
W HAT has been the influence of Jesus upon generation and even more than two or three cen- the human race? Is it waxing or waning? turies to determine trends. These are crucial questions. Upon the an- In general, the history of Christianity falls into swers which we give to them depends in part- three main epochs. First are the initial five cen- although by no means entirely-our attitude to- turies, in which the faith had its inception and in wards Jesus. Out of the~, too, arises to a large which it won the population of the Roman Empire.
degree our attitude towards Christianity and to- Then, second, approximately a thousand years in wards the outlook for civilization. If Christian- which geographically about as much territory was ity is losing in vitality, if it is a declining factor lost as was won but in which Christianity had a in human history, then the prospect for the future large share in shaping some new cultures. Third of the faith is dark, and if the human race goes and last, a period which began about the year 1500 on, its civilization will depart farther and farther and which is still with us (although some suspect from ideals which we think of as Christian. If, that it is now coming to a close), in which Chris- on the other hand, Christianity shows more vigor tianity experienced fresh internal life and ex- as the centuries pass and leaves a broadening and panded geographically beyond all previous limits. a deepening impress on mankind, then we can The first period is often regarded as the great- have more confidence as we face the future, both est in Christian history. The achievements were for Christianity and for civilization.· indisputably remarkable. In it the Church came Any full answer to these queries would require into existence, became second in strength only to a much larger space than the editor could permit. the state, and proved so vigorous that it survived Even a full summary of an answer would demand the state. In it the New Testament was put into a volume. However, it is possible to sketch in writing, and Christianity, beginning apparently brief compass the broad outline of a summary. as an obscure sect of Judaism, spread until it be- In general the answers can be stated as follows: came the religion of the vast majority of the Ro- (1) (This may seem so obvious as to be a banal- man Empire. The effect upon thj:! culture of the i.ty.) Through the centuries the influence of Jesus Roman world was profound. The ancient cults has been potent and beneficent. (2) (This also of the gods, to which the state had given its is a commonplace.) Never in any age or in any powerful support, were erased. The deities of large group of humanity has that influence been pagan antiquity remained merely as memories dominant. It has been one among many. Always and the ancient mythologies survived only in the it has met opposition. Always it has had to con- literature of the pagan ages and as literary allu- front elements in human nature and in society sions and devices. Laws were modified to take which are in complete opposition to it. Indeed, account of Christian principles, although not as the influence of Jesus has grown, the antago- greatly until after the end of the period. A new nism has become more pronounced. (3) In each literature was created, that of Christian devotion, of its major periods Christianity has successively apology, and theology, and new philosophies – if had a more profound effect upon the societies in one may so designate Christian theology – came which Christians have been numerous. (4) Never into existence. A new art and a new architecture, has Christianity been quite so vigorous and never although often incorporating pre-Christian forms, has the influence of Jesus been more widespread were created: Christianity aided in the processes and more effective than in the past century and which brought about the disappearance of certain a quarter. amusements, notably the combats of the arena.
The substantiation of these answers, as we have As its most outstanding contribution, the Chris- suggested, would require a volume. Here we can tian faith gave rise to transformed lives. A Paul give it only in the broadest outline. We must and an Augustine of Hippo are only the more disproceed chronologically. What is re$luired is his- tinguished examples of those who through a cata- torical perspective. We need to see more than a clysmic experience passed from moral and spir- [ 7]
itual defeat and impotence to triumphant living. out Roman rule and with it much of civilization. An Origen of Alexandria and an Ambrose of From the Southeast came the Arabs, carrying a Milan are, in turn, better known instances of those new, vigorous faith, Islam, and occupied Syria, in whom the change, while real, was wrought in Palestine, Mesopotamia, Persia, all the northern less spectacular fashion-in an Origen by Chris- shore of Africa, and practically all of the Iberian tian nurture. Peninsula. In the lands conquered by the Mos- lems the churches shrank in membership and in Great though the changes were, most of the some places disappeared. main outlines of Grreco-Roman culture were but little altered by Christianity. The vast majority Yet, in spite of this threat, Christianity not of Christians entertained no thought of destroying only survived in many of the areas which it had the existing order or even of withdrawing from formerly occupied, but, winning the pagan barit or of thoroughly reforming it. Many of the barians who threatened to overwhelm it, it also early Christians partly separated themselves from spread into Northern Europe far beyond the forthe world. Some sects, such as the Marcionites, mer borders of the Roman Empire into vast rewere pronouncedly ascetic in matters of sex. Dur- gions which before the year 500 had never heard ing its earlier centuries the Church tended to be the name of Christ. made up of communities apart-of the world but not fully in it. Before the first five centuries were New cultures arose in Northern Europe. They done an appreciable minority had entered the mo- grew up partly under 111e regis and inspiration of nastic movement, thus, in theory and to a large the Church and in them Christianity was more extent in practice, renouncing secular society and potent than ever it had been in the Roman Emembarking upon what appeared to them to be a pire. The Church became the vehicle by which purely Christian life. Moreover, in the first five much of the culture of the Grreco-Roman world centuries after Christ the structure of Grreco-Ro- was transmitted to the peoples of Northern Euman society and of the Roman state underwent rope. It was the nourisher of arts and letters. extensive modifications. However, in the main, Under it the universities of Northern Europe most of these modifications were not due to Chris- arose. Princes called themselves Christians and tianity. The vast majority of Christians more took oaths at their coronation which obligated nearly conformed to the world about them than them to rule as such. The Christian conscience they or that world were transformed by their did not fully accept war, as it had in the fourth faith. After Constantine the state controlled the and fifth centuries, but through the Truce of God Church much more than the Church controlled the and the Peace of God strove to regulate it 'and state. After originally holding themselves aloof reduce it. In chivalry a combination of Christian from the army, Christians reversed their attitude ideals wi,th the warrior's profession was made in and saw no inconsistency between their profession the attempt, probably seldom consciously exand service in the legions. Nor did they make pressed, to Christianize the 1<atter. The family any great effort to mitigate the horrors of war. came more fully under the control of the Church Slavery largely disappeared, but chiefly from than it had under the Roman Empire. The relief other reasons than repugnance to the institution of the poor, the sick, and travellers, and the proon Christian grounds. Some of the traditional tection of widows were largely through the Church amusements, such as the theatre, while still un- and were almost entirely the outgrowth of the purged of many features contradictory to Chris- Christian conscience. As in the Roman Empire, tianity, were as popular with the nominally Chris- so in Northern Europe, the pagan cults disaptian populace of the fourth and fifth centuries as peared. As in the Roman Empire, moreover, they had been with pagans of earlier days. Even popular religious movements broke forth from in the realm of religious practices and beliefs time to time, evidence that the impulse which many attitudes and some customs carried over came from Jesus was still fresh, and noble spirits from pre-Christian days. arose who bore unmistakably the peculiar impress of Christ. Threatened Collapse of Society Even in lands under the control of Moslems, In the next period, that from A. IT. 500 to A. D. Christianity was not without its effect. To be 1500, the story is somewhat different. From the sure, where Moslem law against apostasy was ensixth through the ninth century the very existence forced, as it was in regions in which the state was of Christianity was threatened by the collapse of Moslem, any extensive leakage from Islam to the society with which the faith had come to be Christianity was impossible. In such lands, moreclosely associated. The Roman Empire dwindled over, the Christian churches, on the defensive, to the Byzantine Empire. In Western Europe in- slowly lost ground. However, wherever Christian vasion after invasion of pagan barbarians wiped rulers permanently regained possession from Moslems, Islam disappeared more completely than
THE INFLUENCE OF CHRIST IN HISTORY
did Christianity in many a region permanently had the Christianity of Western Europe been so under the control of Moslems, Then, too, in Mos- vigorous or so far advanced towards the New Teslem lands Christians often had a profound influ- tament standard. ence. Moslem mysticism, or Sufism, came into existence and was molded in contact with Chris- In Europe the influence of Christianity became tian monks and hermits. Christians in Mesopo- probably greater than in the Middle Ages-"probtamia translated into Arabic the works of the ably," because precise measurements as the necesgreat Greek philosophers, so that Aristotle, who sary basis for exact comparisons are impossible. reached Western Europe in part through the Mos- The numbers who entered deeply into a Christian lems, had first come to the Moslems from Chris- experience appear to have been much greater. In tians. It was from Christian physicians tha,t society as a whole Christianity became the chief Moslem Arab physicians first learned much of the impulse back of the formation of international law lore which made them famous. What is called -an effort to put on a basis of peace and justice Arabic art appears largely to have been at the the relations between the rising nation-states. It outset the creation of Christian artisans in Egypt. also gave birth to fresh works of charity. It was the inspiration of the first pure democracies which At the close of the fifteenth century Christian- the world had seen. It entered as a major factor ity again appeared to face a dark future. From into the formation of the national traits of such the outside it was menaced by Moslem Turks. The peoples as the Scotch, the Dutch, and the Scandi- Turk, indeed, took that ancient bulwark of Chris- navians. It was potent in the genesis and fortianity against the Moslems, Constantinople, and mulation of the ideals of some of the most highin time overran Southeastern Europe. In Western minded leaders of the early stages of the French Europe, where Christianity retained its greatest Revolution. stronghold, the faith seemed threatened by internal decay. Medieval culture, largely the prod- Outside of Europe, Christianity spread more uct of Christianity, was disappearing. With the widely than had ever any religion or, indeed, than had any set of ideas, religious or secular. It was Renaissance came humanism, much of it pagan one of the causes of the discovery and exploration and hostile or indifferent to Christianity. A large of America, of the discovery of the sea route to part of the clergy were morally corrupt and a hiss- India and the Far East, and of the trans-Atlantic ing and a byword to all honest folk. For a time settlements of European folk. Christian missionthe Roman Catholic Church was divided through aries penetrated to the farthest confines of the an unseemly schism over rival claimants of the Americas, to the great nations of Asia, and to papal chair. In land after land the Church was various places in Africa. In all of these regions placed under the control of the secular authori- converts were made. ties-a process which continued in the sixteenth century with the further growth of monarchical Achievements of Christianity states. At the close of the fifteenth and in the Moreover, Christianity served to ameliorate the early decades of the sixteenth century the Throne impact of European upon non-European peoples. of Peter was occupied by a succession of thor- Much of the exploration and conquest was accomoughly worldly men. The sad state to which the panied by unspeakable cruelties of nominally leadership of the Church had fallen was drama- Christian Europeans on non-European peoples. tized by the martyrdom of Savonarola, with his Again and again missionaries protested against passion for spiritual and moral reform, through these iniquities. They appealed to the Christian the opposition of the Borgia Pope, Alexander VI, conscience of Europe and in consequence in edict the most infamous of the pontiffs of that low after edict the Popes came out against enslaving moral ebb of the papacy. the Indians and for generous treatment of the aborigines, and the Spanish monarchs enacted- Yet Christianity came back, and with unprece- but did not always enforce-the remarkably hudented power. In the succeeding centuries it mane Laws of the Indies. Missionaries, too, colexercised an influence on mankind far more wide- lected the Christian natives into settlements spread and profound than ever before. A series where they attempted to give protection against of revivals unequalled in the past purged organ- the rapacity of their exploiting fellow-countryized Western Christianity of many of its abuses men. and lifted it to a new level of moral and spiritual earnestness. Some of these revivals contributed In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Christo what we know as the Protestant Reformation. tianity became especially vigorous. The eight- Others led in the old church to what Protestants eenth century witnessed the dying down of the usually call the Counter-Reformation but to what fires of religious enthusiasm in Europe. At the is more accurately known as the Catholic Refor- end of that century the French Revolution and mation. In spite of palpable weaknesses, never the wars of Napoleon threw all Western Europe
into turmoil and in places dealt serious blows to education in Africa, in much of A,sia, and in many the Church. Yet, even in the eighteenth century of the islands of the sea. In China under Chrisrevivals were in progress in the Pietist and Wes- tian auspices a new medical profession came into leyan movements and in the Great Awakening in being. In their day of transition huge civilized the Thirteen Colonies. In the nineteenth century nations, notably the Indians and Chinese, had they became more numerous and more wide- their ideals profoundly modified by Christianity. spread. Always in Protestantism deeply reli- In the Occident, Christianity, far from losing its gious strains had existed. However, political mo- power to mold collectively the life of man, gave tives had been almost as potent as religious in the birth to movements for the abolition of the Negro formation of Protestantism, and the various state slave trade and of Negro slavery. The Red Cross churches in which until the nineteenth century by its very name and symbol bears witness to the most Protestants were found, suffered in their Christian origin of this most noteworthy of atspiritual life from the control exercised by their tempts to heal the wounds of war and of natural respective governments. Now, in the nineteenth disasters. In the OcCident both the menace of century, the Christian motive became more nearly war and the efforts to prevent war assumed undominant in Protestantism and the Christian ex- precedented proportions. Most of the latter had perience more widespread. New denominations Christian roots. The list might be greatly lengthcame into being to express this experience. Great ened to include prison reform, efforts to better movements and organizations-among others the the lot of the blind, the deaf, and the insane, and Sunday schools, the Young Men's and Young the founding of scores of colleges and universities Women's Christian Associations, the young peo- and of hundreds of hospitals. ple's soCieties, and the student Christian movements-arose to meet particular needs. Within As we have suggested, never in any age or peo- Roman Catholicism a new burst of life gave birth ple has Christianity been the only influence at to more new orders than that ancient Church had work molding the life of man. Chronically it has known in all its preceding history. Both the Prot- been vigorously opposed by tendenCies and tradiestant and the Roman Catholic foreign missionary tions which spiritually and morally are its exact movements expanded to unprecedented propor- oppoSites. Always a tension has existed. Always tions. In the new nations formed by peoples of where the light has shone there has been darkness European stock in the United States, Canada, -but the light has continued to shine and the Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, Chris- darkness has not overcome it. If in our present tianity not only held the settlers, but, at least in age the forces of darkness seem to' be espeCially the largest of these nations, the United States, the aggressive, powerful, and perilous to the highest proportion of the population who were members interests of man, we need to remember that never of churches actually increased. has the light shone farther or more brilliantly than in the past century and a half. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the influence of Christianity became more widespread What the future has in store no one of us ought and more potent than ever. Millions from scores confidently to predict. History does not necesof different races and peoples entered to a greater sarily repeat itself. If, however, past experience or less degree into the Christian experience. warrants any prophecy, it is that the light will Scores of tribes in Africa and the islands of the continue to shine, beneficently and more strongly. Pacific reconstructed their entire corporate life So far as we can see, for an indefinitely long peand their customs under Christian auspices. riod to come the darkness will also be there. How- Through Christian missionaries more languages ever, the light is there and we can be confident were reduced to writing than by all other agencies that the darkness will not extinguish it. Always, in all the preceding history of mankind. Chris- as in the vision of Bunyan, the oil of grace contians pioneered in introducing new systems of tinues to be poured and all the efforts of the enemy do not put out the flame.
THE APPEAL OF CHRIST TO MEN The more pagan people are the more Christ's message appeals to them as Good News. But go to people who term themselves Christians, who believe themselves within Christ's fold, and yet are really pagan in life and character, and you run your head into a stone wall.-Prof. Gonzalo Baez Camargo of Mexico.
*** Christianity is a life-a life of fellowship with God in Christ Jesus. All else that is Christian flows from that experience. Doctrines define and formulate that experience in in- tellectual terms.-Thomas Reeve of England.
Mine–Boy to
The Remarkable Achievement of John McDowell, Late Associate Director of the Department of So- cial Education and Action, Board of Christian Education, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
-"I By DELAVAN L. PIERSON I!B- __ J~==============~ ~==========~ TODAY most American parents seem to think not an easy job for a lad of eleven and he still had . that they must supply their children with all to rise early and work hard all day. Again he the education, the comforts, the amusements was faithful in that which was least, and he was and other advantages that their money can buy; cheerful and uncomplaining. Two years later the even then they tremble lest their boys and girls boy was promoted to be a "mule-boy" down in the may go astray and fail to make good in character damp, dark mines. His job was to hitch the mule or achievements. to the coal cars a·nd drive the animal to the shaft What chance of success has a lad of fourte~n, where the coal was hoisted to the surface. Here with only one arm, his remaining hand injured, was more responsibility and more risk to life and a broken leg and a wounded knee; moreover, a limb from accident, cave-in or explosions, but not lad who had received only a meagre primary much money and not very elevating or amusing school education, living in a miner's cabin sur- to a boy of thirteen! But again Jack was faith- rounded with many evidences of extreme poverty? ful, cheery and undefeated. He made friends with Such a number of handicaps would seem almost his mule and with the miners among whom were insurmountable. Not so were they accepted by strong, God-fearing men.
little Jack McDowell. The boy was made of What could John look forward to in life? Must sterner stuff, and did not know what it meant to he always be a poor miner, even if he survived the accept defeat because of adverse circumstances dangers which made the average age of miners and so-called handicaps. at death only about thirty-two? John's father John McDowell was born in DaIry, Scotland, wished better things for his son and, since times on September 24, 1870, and was brought to Amer- were a little easier, asked the lad if he would like ica by his parents when he was two years old. to go to school. It was an opportunity and the The father secured work as a miner in the an- boy had some ambition. In Miner McDowell's thracite coal mines near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsyl- home the daily fare included oatmeal, and the vania, but the money he could earn was very in- Shorter Catechism. The children were taught to adequate for the needs of a growing family. believe in and practice hard, honest work, self- Every cent was needed that could honestly be respect, honesty, reverence for God and human gained and at eight years of age little Jack went sympathy. But the opportunities for financial or to work as a "breaker-boy" at the mines. He had intellectual advancement were very limited. John to get up before daylight-not in a steam-heated told his father that he wanted to enter an engiroom-eat a hurried breakfast of oatmeal, and be neering school and become an engineer. It seemed at the mines at seven o'clock. There he sat all like a high ambition. Could he achieve it? Then day, in the heat of summer and the cold of winter came the catastrophy!
with coal dust filling eyes and lungs, picking out One day, down in the mine, on his last trip, the pieces of slate from the coal as it came down the coal car started on the down grade, caught Jack chute from the crusher. Not much freedom, fun in the machinery, dragged him along, tore his left and opportunity there for a growing boy's mind arm almost off, broke his leg, put a spike through and body. But he was faithful, and uncomplain- his knee and endangered his life. The boy had ing. His help was needed to meet the household presence of mind to put his foot with its heavy expenses. boot in front of the wheel and stopped the car.
Three years later, Jack was promoted to be The mule went on alone and miners came to see door-boy in the mines. His daily routine was to what was the trouble. They found the bruised open the doors at the foot of the shaft to let the and bleeding lad and took him home, where he mules and coal cars pass through, and then to shut hovered between life and death. His ambition them again to keep out the draft from the mines to be an engineer was spiked; but John was un- deep down in the bowels of the earth. This was daunted. When the doctor said: "Well, my boy, [11 ]
you won't have much more than your brain left In Mount Hermon, John came to know and love to work with," Jack decided that he wanted an D. L. Moody and was known and loved by the education. But how was that to be obtained? great evangelist and his family. He heard some When he had recovered sufficiently, he started to of the world's great Bible teachers and preachers attend the public school, and he soon showed signs at the summer conferences and was moved by ap- of a clear, undamaged brain and a determined peals to make full surrender to Christ and to give spirit. his life to Christian service. At Northfield, too, About that time the great evangelist, D. L. he met a girl student-refined, attractive, sweet Moody, came to Wilkes-Barre. He told of his in disposition and strong in Christian character. school, recently founded at Mount Hermon, Mas- Minnie Fowler saw in the Mount Hermon youth sachusetts, where boys with little cash but much the signs of true nobility and promise. Those who earnestness might work to pay part of their way knew these two students then, and have followed and obtain an education. That was the place for them ever since, know what a perfect comrade- Jack. A friend who recognized the boy's worth ship has marked their life together-each conoffered to pay $100 toward the first year's ex- tributing rich stores of understanding love and penses if he could earn the remainder. The next talents to make their lives a united success.
September he went to Mount Hermon-a frail slip From Mount Hermon, John McDowell went to of a lad of fifteen, apparently with serious handi- Princeton University where he was graduated in caps-but again he was faithful, intelligent, dead 1894. He earned his way through and at the in earnest, cheerful and uncomplaining. He same time helped a younger brother to obtain an gladly began to work at his books and at the education. After leaving Princeton he spent a daily tasks assigned to help pay his way. But summer in mission work in New York's East Side, what could he do? Not drive a plow, work on the largely among foreigners. He showed himself a road, or even wash dishes; but he could work in friend to the poor and to handicapped workers the school office and in the summer time he could and gained a keener sense of the prime impor- sell newspapers at the Northfield Conferences tance of winning men to God as He has revealed -and he did. Himself and the Way .Of Life through Jesus But there was another and even greater handi- Christ. As a result John decided to enter Prince- cap from which he suffered. He studied hard but ton Seminary to prepare for the ministry-again though he answered the questions in his written paying his own way through, and using all the examinations, his marks were too low to pass. time he could spare for evangelistic work. He What was the trouble? The teacher told him was called to be pastor .Of a church at Steelton, that he could not receive better marks because he Pennsylvania, in a region not far from his old had failed in recitation. But did not the teacher home. There he came to know the miners and know the reason? Jack stuttered s.o that he could their problems still more intimately as their not recite-especially in translating Latin and in friend and spiritual adviser. But the field was too pronouncing unfamiliar names in history? The limited for his talents and he was soon called to teacher was sorry but firm-boys were required be pastor of Park Church, Newark. There, with to recite. "All right," the boy said, "I will recite his faithful and devoted wife at his side, he made next time." And he did, although he took the full his mark, not only on his congregation but in the lesson period to get out the words. At first the city, serving on juries and on commissions, set- class laughed and the teacher told him he could tling labor disputes, working for social justice sit down. But Jack set his jaw firmly and con- and seeking to exalt Christ and to show the impli- tinued the battle royal. Then his classmates were cations and application of His message for this silent and moved to tears-but tears of sympathy world and for the world to come.
and admiration. Finally they applauded. Jack After ten years in Newark, there followed other sat down a victor. He never stammered again. important pastorates in Detr.Oit and Baltimore, The lad discovered that he need never accept where he ministered to both rich and poor, win- defeat and he acquired a taste for overcoming. ning friends among all classes, in all denomina- He wanted to enter into athletics, but how could tions, in all political parties and among represen- he? Football and baseball seemed out of the ques- tatives of both capital and labor. But he never tion, so he took up tennis; he kept persistently at was willing to compromise or to win friends at it until he became a champion player. It was a the expense of truth or of his fidelity to Christ, great sight to see him toss a tennis ball in the air his Master. During the World War he rendered for a serve, with racquet held in his one hand, and noteworthy service as Y. M. C. A. Director of Re- then give it a smashing drive. He played with his ligious Work among industrial workers in the head and won many matches by out-maneuvering Eastern district. From this he was called to be his opponents. Secretary of the Board of Home Missions .Of the
FROM MINE-BOY TO MODERATOR
Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. (now the Board of standing, John McDowell never knew defeat. He National Missions), later serving as associate di- was never embittered in spirit and never lost his rector of the Committee on Social and Industrial courage, his optimism or his love for his fellow- Relations under the Board of Christian Education. men. He never sought to make capital of what He became president of the Home Missions Coun- others might look upon as his "handicap"; he cil, uniting all the evangelical churches, prepared ignored it and used his one hand more efficiently the annual Labor Day messages which were scat- than many men could use two. So normal and tered all over the land, working to settle labor complete was he in spirit and body that friends disputes and to establish principles of brother- even forgot he had only one arm. hood, justice and Christian love in the economic realm as well as in the Church. He was an able Almost the last public service that Dr. Mcand popular speaker at Northfield and other con- Dowell rendered was in organizing and directing ferences, and rendered important service at the the D. L. Moody Centennary meetings at the Charlottesville Institute of Public Affairs. He Northfield General Conference in August, 1937. was the author of several valuable and influential The general theme of the addresses, "Christ and books which set forth clearly the Christian faith the Bible," was chosen by him as these were the and the principles of social justice-"Dwight L. two main themes and sources of power on which Moody, the Discoverer of Men and the Maker of the great evangelist had built up his educational Movements," "Christian Essentials," and "Fellow- and evangelistic program. The meetings, preship of Toil." He sometimes said that while the sided over by Dr. McDowell, were a fitting trib- "Church has use for a one-armed preacher, it has ute to the man to whom he was so deeply atno use for a one-armed Gospel." tached and to whom he owed so much.
Many true and striking statements were made It would be difficult to point out all the factors in his addresses, books and published articles. that accounted for his success as a man, a life- These always breathed a Christian spirit of fair- partner, a friend, a servant of mankind and as a ness and wisdom, such as are evidenced in the follower of Jesus Christ. His courage, his faith following: in God and in man, his sacrificial spirit, his un- tiring industry, his intelligence and astounding "What industry needs is not better methods but memory, his fairness, sense of justice, good cheer better motives; not more perfect machinery but and keen sense of humor-all helped to make the more perfect mankind; not more laws but more man and servant of God. He owed much to his life, that 'abundant life' that Christ offers and Scotch inheritance; he owed more to his father's that Christ alone can give." faith in God and to his religious training in his home; he owed something to the fact that he knew "Labor belittles no man; wealth-owning be- the discipline of poverty and hard work; he owed littles no man. 'A man's a man for a' that.' much to his experience and to his ability to make There should be no classes-no laboring class, no friends; he owed more to his contact with D. L. capitalistic class. Laboring men? Yes, they are Moody and to his training at Mount Hermon, and the world's enterprise builders. But the laboring Princeton; he owed much to his faithful wife, man and the capital-owning man is each a man." but he owed most of all to the new life he received through Christ, to his daily study of the Word of "From the Christian point of view the primary God and to his fellowship with the Son of God. question in industry today is-shall the symbol of our industrial life be the dollar mark or the Cross? One of the finest tributes ever paid him was by Shall our ambition be self-seeking or sacrificial Dr. Robert Freeman of the First Presbyterian service?" Church of Pasadena, California, when presenting Dr. McDowell to the president of Occidental Col- The height of Dr. McDowell's career in the lege, Los Angeles, California, for the degree of Christian Church was reached when, in 1933, he LL.D. in 1932. Dr. Freeman spoke of him as one was elected Moderator of the Presbyterian Gen- "who for fifteen years has been the spokesman of eral Assembly. This is the highest honor in the our denomination wherever social adjustment was gift of the Church of two million members. He lacking or industrial justice imperilled; who in filled the position with great effectiveness, travel- the day of honor and influence has not forgotten ing from coast to coast and from Canada to the the boys who have succeeded him in the choking Gulf, the former breaker-boy speaking sometimes dust of the coal breakers and along the slimy corthree or four times a day to churches, preachers, ridors of the mines, or the multitudes who have students, college professors, men's clubs, confer- trusted him to champion the fair claims of the ences, business executives, labor unions and other class from which he sprang; nor even feared to industrial workers. While at times physical weak- demand justice from them as he claimed justice ness and weariness overtook him and he suffered for them; one who blends evangelical fervor with from more than one accident; and while he often encountered criticism, opposition and misunder-
social passion; who treasures the heritage of the when he was a boy of fourteen but his soul lived old land and the old order and the old faith while on. Later he accepted the gift of Eternal life catching and pursuing the vision of the new through Jesus Christ and he lives today in the heaven and the new earth: John McDowell, presence of the Master whom he served so faithwhose name is a test of romance, a symbol of fully, and in whose promises he believed with all consecration, and an epitome of service." his heart. His memory will be honored by men and women of all creeds and classes; his influence Like the Apostle Paul, John McDowell fought will continue to bear fruit. His labor was not in a good fight, he has finished his course, he has vain for it was "in the Lord." John McDowell kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for him expressed his confidence in the Life Eternal when a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the he wrote of Jesus' attitude toward death. He righteous judge, will give to him and not to him said: only but to all those that love His appearing. He fell asleep in Christ on November 13th after a Christ never spoke of His death apart from His resurmajor operation which he faced with courage, rection. He never thought of His death as the end of His knowing its possible unfavorable outcome. But career; it was only an episode, and an episode opening up he is not dead. A part of his body was discarded the way for the larger part He was to playas the spir- itual leader of men in the Kingdom of God.
A Faithful Friend and True Christian From an Address by Dr. Robert E. Speer, Given at the Funeral Service, November 16, 1937, in Park Church, Newark, where Dr. McDowell was Pastor for Ten Years JOHN McDOWELL was one of the dearest business of the Church, and about God's relation friends, one of the best men, and one of the to man and man's relation to God, and man's rela- noblest Christians we have ever known or ever tion to his fellow men. Just as he sought to know can know. His character and his career is occa- the truth so he sought to speak it. No one ever sion for deep thanksgiving to God for the man found him equivocating or accommodating or that He made. His life is a fountain of ins·pira- using words with reservations. It was in love tion and a call to boundless hope for ourselves and and good will that he spoke and what he spoke for other men. His career reveals to us the un- was the truth. And he thought and spoke truth limited opportunities in our American life for because he was true and genuine. He sought such a boy as this Scotch miner lad; his life ex- wholly to follow Him who said, "I am the Way of emplifies the duty and privilege of ever-expand- Truth and the Life" and to be faithful to God, in ing thought and influence, and the full meaning whom "is· no darkness at all." of the Christian Gospel. No man can be faithful to truth as John Mc- But we are thinking here not so much of John Dowell was and not be a brave and courageous McDowell's career but of his character, and of man, either fearless or victorious over fear. that which was basic in him as it is basic in all John's career was a brave and courageous career. life and character, truth. God, who desires truth He never surrendered to his handicaps. He turned in the inward parts, we may reverently say, found them into resources. He could do with one arm and its maimed hand more than some men can do His desire largely fulfilled in John. He used to with two sound arms. He was an excellent tennis like to quote Mr. Moody's familiar aphorism, player, holding the ball on his racket and tossing "Character is what a man is in the dark." In the it into the air. He astounded a small boy in a dark or in the light, by night and day, John Mc- home where he was staying by speed of unlacing Dowell was unqualifiedly and uncompromisingly and relacing his shoes. He never asked for sym- and steadfastly true. pathy or allowance. He carried his full load. And in all his work he carried truth into action – in His thoughts were true. Paul's admonition was speaking and doing always what he believed to be . not second nature, but first nature with him. right. We have seen him tested in the matter of fidelity to what he believed to be true and right in "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things the midst of difficulties. As Chairman of the are honorable, whatsoever things are just, what- Graduate Advisory Committee of the Philadelphia soever things are pure, whatsoever things are Society of Princeton University, when there were lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if some hard problems in the religious life of the there be any virtue and if there be any praise"- University, and conflicting opinions, he never John McDowell thought on these things. He sought to find the truth of the Gospel, and the truth about his duty and about the nature and
flinched. He and Bishop McConnell bore the and self-control. I never knew him to be fretful brunt of the attack on the report of the Inter- or impatient or irritable, to bear a grudge, to re- Church World Movement Committee, of which sent anything personal, to be anything but steadthey were members, in the matter of the steel fast and straightforward. strike. John has now gone on beyond all the earthly confusions to the pure peace and effortless Professor Royce has made both a philosophy joy of a richer service. I do not think he will be and a religion out of loyalty, and all that there is reproached there, as he was reproached here, nor in loyalty for philosophy and religion John knew. will he need in that happy fellowship the grit and His loyalty to Mount Hermon and to Dwight L. tenacity with which he met his reproach here. In Moody was one of the brightest and most blessed recent years, in the difficult problems which had things in his bright and blessed spirit. As chairto be met in connection with the Seminary, how man last summer of the National Committee on clear were his convictions and how fairly but un- the Centennial of Mr. Moody's birth, he did a yieldingly he maintained them. And to cite but one more instance of his brave and courageous JOHN McDOWELL AS MODERATOR mind and spirit, we will all recall his true prophet's mission in the matter of human relations in noble piece of work. Noone has written articles the field of industry and the fearlessness with or made addresses on Mr. Moody more full of inwhich he spoke his mind, with no partial interest, sight, of true estimate and appreciation, of deeper truckling to no one class or group., but asking only love and loyalty than those that came from John what was right, and in consequence, commanding McDowell. One likes to imagine the meeting of the respect and confidence of all honest men. We the two in the Land Beyond. Mr. Moody, with thank God today for this memory of a good, brave the well-remembered twinkle in his eye, might man. reproach John for his over-praise and John might answer· him without a syllable of retraction. And it rests us to recall his quality of justice, Happy, happy must be their meeting in the Imof sound-mindedness, of fair and kind and reason- mortal Love and the Celestial Light of Paradise. able judgment. There was never any harsh or The loyalty of that friendship was the loyalty of intemperate speech. No one was left in doubt as all John McDowell's many friendships. I speak to his mind. His words were unmistakably clear out of the understanding of a great love. John and pungent but we never knew him to be illtempered or uncharitable. He kept his balance in a world of excesses and partisanships. He knew how to combine and proportion the personal and the collective aspects of Christianity and life. He saw the right place and relations of persuasion and authority, of private action and of legislative enactment. He was a good guide and counsellor in his just discernment of the true functions of the Church in its spiritual mission to human hellrts and wills, and its ministry as an agency of the Kingdom of God.
The rule and joy of John McDowell's life, its formulating principle, was unselfish service. He was the disciple of One who came "not to be ministered unto but to minister." He had no pride which could (be offended and no vanity to wound. He never sought anything for himself. While he was honestly and justly pleased at his election as Moderator and fulfilled the duties of his offioe to the delight of the Church, he did it without any ostentation or parade. Whatever he could do to help people he did with a happy, genial heart. He went in and out among us as one who served.
And it is a joy to recall his good temper, his humor. Again and again he would relieve the tension with some apt anecdote or illustration. Grave situations were lightened by his evenmindedness, his quiet voice, his fullness of poise
was a friend. It is not necessary to say "a true rity." "Uprightness, virtue, honesty, soundness"- friend." There is no other kind of friend. One these are the synonyms. "He that overcometh I knew that it was possible to put full trust on him will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and be safe. and he shall go out thence no more, and I will write upon him the name of my God." That was Supremely John McDowell was loyal to our John McDowell- a pillar, clean, upright, unde- Christian faith as passed down to us from the faced; he was white and true. He is described New Testament and from our fathers of the Re- for us in Mrs. Kingsley's exquisite dedication of formed tradition. He knew the words and he held the life of her husband: fast to the great formularies of our Church as they are, without glosses and unauthorized addi- TO THE BELOVED MEMORY OF tions or subtractions; but he knew the love and A RIGHTEOUS MANthe life of which the words are only the symbols. He remembered his Master's words, "Not every- Who loved God. and truth above all things; one that saith unto me, Lord! Lord!" He joy- A man of untarnished honorfully said, "Lord! Lord! My Lord and my God." Loyal and chivalrous-gentle and strong- But he said the words with his life and .he vali- Modest and humble-tender and truedated them by love and truth and life. Loyalty Pitiful to the weak-yearning after the erringwith him meant not only assent to sound opinion Stern to all forms of wrong and oppression, but also the glory of an obedient will, a gentle Yet most stern towards himselfspirit, the love of the brotherhood, and the com- Who being angry yet sinned not. munion of the saints. Whose highest virtues were known only To his wife, his children, his Sl!rvants and the poor. But our words multiply beyond the need. It is Who lived in the presence of God here enough to sum all up in one word alone, "integ- And passing through the grave and the gate of death, Now liveth unto God forevermore.
AMERICAN YOUTH SEEKING The Lutheran News Bureau says, as the result of a recent comprehensive survey under- I taken by the National Lutheran Council in an effort to refute claims of waning interest: :. "Young men and women in American Churches today are demonstrating a broadening and deepening interest in religion. Distinct evidence is the fact that they are turning in ever-increas- ing numbers to the Church, swelling the membership rolls of the various youth organizations in a most remarkable fashion. National leaders of a few of the Church youth organizations report that membership and interest has fallen off to an alarming degree during the past few years, and attribute that decline to an over-strong emphasis on the social aspect of their groups.
Already, however, they announce plans to effect a complete reorganization with a renewed emphasis on the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the essential element of all Christian activity. They express confidence that this return to the fundamental purpose of the religious youth movement will create a thorough revitalization. Various youth groups have sought constantly to give primary emphasis to Christ and His Gospel. One organization reports a membership increase of more than 300 % during the past twenty years, and a youth leader of another Church states that 'during the year 1936-1937 we have grown faster than during any year since 1922. This is exceedingly encouraging since we have a very definite program built on spiritual values.'
"Stress the fundamentals of Christian faith; teach the regenerating Gospel of Christ; emphasize the challenge to decide on a life for Christ; instruct young people regarding the work of the Church and the extension of Christ's Kingdom; encourage Bible study; these ele- ments are basic in the programs of the successful; vital youth organizations and are offered as the only rules for success in appealing to the profounqest interest of young men and women.
"Evidence of the growing appeal of religion to American youth is the fact that attend- ance at their conventions-district, state, and national-is increasing rapidly. Bible camps, too, are gaining attention, and reports of activities during the past two summers indicate that it was impossible to accommodate the thousands eager to attend. Pocket Testament movements, Bible study groups, and various young peoples' service organizations have also developed and increased in significance during the past few years. Countless indications point to a renewed interest in the fundamental Christianity taught by Jesus Christ. There is a more vital interest in religion and the Church than we have had for some time."
Demands and Foreign
By the REV. CHARLES E. MADDRY, D.D., Richmond, Virginia ExecutitJe Secretary, Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention A FTER months of careful study and extensive and a host of pioneer missionaries have sowed the .l'" survey of mission work in thirteen coun- Gospel seed beside all waters. tries in which Southern Baptists have Then came the second stage of cooperation in work, we are more firmly convinced than ever before that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the growth and development of foreign work, the one and only hope of mankind. The funda- when the native Christian constituency and the mental missionary motives are eternal and un- growing churches worked with the missionary, changing. As long as the curse of sin and death under his direction and supervision. The sup- porting boards in the homeland still supply most holds the race in bondage, just so long will the of the funds for the growing work. During this good news of salvation be imperatively necessary period the missionary was the official pastor, di- for the redemption and restoration of the fallen recting head and teacher in schools, colleges and race. Man's need for a Saviour from sin has not seminaries. The work on the newer fields is still changed; God's love of the sinner has not changed; in this stage of development. and Christ's power and will to save has not changed. Everywhere in foreign lands, we have Now comes the third and most critical stage of the indigenous church in the development of the seen at close range the Gospel of the first century older mission fields. It is the stage when the miscoming to grips with the degrading heathenism sionary must step aside and work under a native and unspeakable sin and moral leprosy of the leadership. We have reached this period of de- twentieth century and everywhere we have seen velopment in South and Central China; in Japan; the Gospel gloriously triumphant. in Brazil; and in Argentina. The spiritual chil- The motive and the imperative of the Christian dren have grown up and we can no longer keep missionary enterprise are eternal and unchang- them in leading strings even if we wanted to do so. ing. But methods of doing missionary work in all lands, and especially in the older mission fields, Transition to Native Autonomy are changing rapidly. Weare now passing through a very trying and critical transition pe- This transition began in the older mission fields riod in mission work abroad; if we successfully of China twenty-five years ago, but only within pass this crisis, it is going to call for the most recent years has the tendency toward self-support, patient and sympathetic understanding and the self-guidance and equality become a blessed realmost Christlike compassion on the part of our peo- ity. Our Foreign Mission Board is ninety-one ple in the homeland and especially of our mis- years old and this has been the goal of all our ensionaries on the foreign fields. deavors. The business of a foreign missionary is to work himself out of a job, to turn over the Three Stages of Development established and expanding work to growing churches and responsible leaders, and then to There have been three stages in the growth and move on into new and unevangelized regions.
development of foreign mission work. There has been a mistaken tendency on the part First, there was the pioneer stage, when the of most mission boards and missionaries to linger missionary did everything and the supporting too long in the port cities and the older mission boards in the homeland paid all of the expenses. fields. It is always hard for fond and indulgent This period covered the work of Carey and J ud- parents to realize that children grow up and son in India, and of the hosts of other men and should be set free to work out their own destiny.
women, heralds and martyrs in all lands who That same attitude has sometimes been mani- wrought gloriously and triumphantly in this in- fested in the older fields. We are prone to linger itial and pioneer stage of foreign mission work. too long, like the early church, in the hallowed and They laid a good foundation and others have built blessed environment of Jerusalem, and we fail to nobly on this foundation. "The field is the world" realize the call of Antioch for a more aggressive [17 ]
and wider ministry of pioneer evangelism. We capacity and ability with any similar group in welcome with joy and deep satisfaction the fact America. that in many of the older mission fields we have now come to the third stage in our missionary pro- What part does the missionary play in all this? gram of development-the period when the work Well, it began with the Shucks and Roberts, and must be turned over to the native churches and it was brought to fruition by Graves, Simmons, the native leadership that we have won and and Greens, and in more recent years it has been trained for this very purpose. nourished and fostered by a host of younger mis- sionaries, men and women, too numerous to men- Some older missionaries are finding it difficult tion here. to readjust themselves to the new day and to accommodate themselves to the changed attitude of The same process has taken place in Shanghai the new and untried native leaders. The mission- and Central China and the same blessed process aries fear that the new leaders will make mis- is going on in North and Interior China, in Japan, takes, so that the work for which they have given in South America, and on our mission fields in the best years of their lives will be retarded. Of Europe. course, these younger and less experienced Christians will make mistakes and they will not always We are now in the critical transition stage in do things as we think they should. Yes, they will the development of our mission work in Brazil, make mistakes-many mistakes, almost as many Argentina, and Chile. On our recent visit, new as we have made. But they will never learn to agreements and new bases of cooperation were do, except by doing; however painful the ordeal, entered into between the representatives of the we must believe in them and trust them. We al- Mission Board and the National conventions. ready have some glorious examples of what our For the first time, nationals have been placed at young and ardent brethren and sisters in these the head of several of our colleges. There have mission fields can do, when they come to respon- been readjustments and reorganizations and new sible maturity and when we trust them and co- responsibility and support, much of which has operate with them. been assumed by the new and growing churches. The most heartening thing we found in South Native Leadership in Mission Lands America was the fact that many of our churches have come to full financial support and are now We have been at work in South China for a self-directing, self-supporting, and self-propahundred years and God has poured out his bless- gating. ing upon that work in a marvelous way. To those who have not seen it with their own eyes, it is The Missionary's Part almost impossible to convey any adequate conception of what God has wrought in these one hun- What of the future? Is there still a place and dred years. Twenty-five years ago the Leung- need for the foreign missionary in this time of Kwong Baptist Convention was organized. It has transition and readjustment. been strictly Chinese from the beginning and the missionaries had the grace and wisdom to adopt One thing has impressed us, as we have seen the policy and ideal of cooperating with and work- this trend. These younger Christians and growing under the native leadership. What has been ing churches greatly need the sympathetic underthe outcome? standing and loving counsel of the missionary. More than ever before, the missionary is needed Under Chinese leadership, and made possible for guidance and help in organizing the churches, by Chinese financial support, there is today a won- in matters of self-government, of discipline and derful organization and system of boards, com- doctrine. If the missionary, like John the Bapmittees, agencies and institutions equal to those tist, is willing to "decrease" that the native found in any land. There is a marvelous system churches and leaders may "increase," there is a of Christian schools, beginning with the kinder- greater need for his services than ever before. garten and running through the primary, middle school, college, theological seminary, and woman's Also in the matter of training a native ministry training school. There is a separate school for and leadership, there is a greater need than ever. blind girls, an orphanage, and a home for old peo- We can never send enough missionaries to evanple. There is a five-story hospital, owned, oper- gelize all the nations. Our supreme task in the ated, and staffed by Chinese. In the very center new epoch of missionary endeavor is to develop a of all this intense activity is the Tung Shan Bap- native ministry that will evangelize its own land tist Church with three pastors and twenty-five far better than we can. Therefore we are still hundred members. The leaders and directing going to need missionaries-many of them, to heads of all these institutions and agencies are teach in schools, colleges, and seminaries; we will humble and devoted Chinese Christians, equal in need missionary doctors and nurses; and men and women with gifts for writing, translating and creating worthy Christian literature.
But most of all, there is need for God-called
MODERN DEMANDS AND FOREIGN MISSIONS
and Christ-filled men and women who are willing The missionary of the future must be sound in to press out from the port cities and away from body. One who is not physically fit should not go. the beaten track; who are willing to break new We have recently set up a rigid and exacting ground and to do pioneer work in giving the Gos- standard to which every one must measure up, pel to the millions who have never had a chance undergoing physical, mental and nervous tests. to receive salvation offered by Jesus Christ. The missionary of the future must be thor- There are still millions of people and vast areas oughly prepared for service. He must have a that are as yet untouched by the Gospel message. good mind, adequately trained. It is sinful waste Whole provinces in China are almost without the of money to send out a missionary who is unable Gospel. Millions in Japan have never heard of or too intellectually lazy to master a native tongue. the God of love. Great tribes in Nigeria have been begging for missionaries for a decade, and we Most important of all, the new missionaries have been unable to answer the call. Seven great must be spiritually endowed. They must have the states in Brazil are still without any evangelical attitude of Jesus toward the lost and erring. If missionary. Only a beginning has been made in one has never been used to win souls to Christ in giving the Gospel to "all the world." the homeland, a mere change of residence to for- eign land will not make them soul winners. One Missionaries in the days ahead must press out who goes as a missionary to a foreign land, should into fields that are still unevangelized. The port be able to say with Paul: "For I could wish that cities are overcrowded with missionary personnel I myself were accursed for Christ for my brethwhile vast areas are untouched with the Gospel. ren's sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh." We need today missionary candidates with the The missionary must be one in spirit and purpose sacrificial spirit and holy devotion of the early with Jesus in his statement, "For whosoever pioneers. The call of the lost in the great un- would save his life shall lose it; and whosoever occupied places of earth have entered deeply into shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's our hearts and we are seeking for young men shall save it." and young women willing to go into these needy places and bury themselves for Christ's sake. Today, we must adopt new methods in mission- ary endeavors, but the missionary motives and The Missionary of the Future imperatives are unchanging for Jesus, the author and finisher of missions, is "the same yesterday, What type of missionary should be sent in this today and forever." day of changing methods in mif;sionary work?
ONE OF ISAIAH'S MISSIONARY MESSAGES The Book of the Prophet Isaiah is full of missionary messages, which fire zeal, faith and courage.
Isaiah 49 starts with "Listen 0 Isles!" and "Hearken ye people from afar!" It is His voice sending forth the news of the Gospel to all the nations, to the uttermost parts of the earth. Read the promise to the servant of the Lord. «I will also give Thee for a light to the gentiles, that Thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth." After enumerating many blessings of the Gospel, the prophet predicts that people from all parts of the earth, from all points of the compass, will come to Him-"Behold, these shall come from far: and 10, these from the north and from the west and these from the land of Sinim" (an ancient name for China).
This great and wonderful work of salvation which is going on before our eyes in the uttermost parts of the world, brings forth from the heavens and the earth, and the very mountains, a loud song of praise. It is all the result of the great love of Him whose love is beyond that of a mother's love for her babe. To assure us that He will not forget or forsake us, He says, "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." The word "graven" indicates the use of a sharp instrument, which carves deeply and permanently our names in His very flesh, as the sharp, Roman nails pierced the palms of our Lord's hands on the Cross. How can He forget or forsake us? The sacred work of engraving is done by God himself: "I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." The death of the Cross was entirely voluntary. Can we wonder that such a message attracts the millions of the ends of the earth, even to the jungle people, who sometimes do not seem to have the intelligence of human beings? Many fall down, love and trust, and worship Him. Those from the interior of the remotest isles and from the land of Sinim are "coming, coming, from afar!"
-The Pioneer (Celebes Islands). The Missionary Message for Today By PROF. JULIUS RICHTER, Berlin, Germany Editor of Neue Allegemeine Missions Zeitschri/tj Author of "Missions in India," Etc., Etc.
D URING the last twenty-five years there has uniqueness has been restricted so as to fit into the been a good deal of discussion as to the line prescribed by this or that philosophy of reli- essential content of the missionary message gion. Of course Christian messengers have al- and the methods of its application. The content ways to be on their guard against such shortcuts.
of the Gospel message was set forth in the great Battles have never been won by continuous com- declarations of the Lausanne and the Jerusalem promise or repeated retreats.
Conferences. Some will wish to add particular At other times the greater danger has been to doctrines of their Church, yet all will agree that emphasize particular points of the Message so the main lines are drawn distinctly. The central onesidedly that they were out of all proportion to content of the Gospel message may be expressed its body. Sects generally have the tendency to in two statements: stress their particular doctrines to such an extent First, that in the fullness of time God sent His and in such wise that the message unavoidably only begotten Son that, through His death on the becomes distorted and disfigured. The history of cros!s and by His resurrection, the new era of the the Christian Church and of the missionary move- world was inaugurated in which everyone of us ment is full of examples, such as Christian Sci- is offered justification by faith in Christ and re- ence, Mormonism, chiliasms of different kinds, ceives sonship in God's household. The whole uni- Pentecostal movements, or even disNnct doctrines verse looks forward to the consummation of the of the Church, the Apostolic succession, the sacra- Kingdom of God in glory. ments, or the legitimate offices of the Church.
The other statement is that all New Testament On the other hand the doctrine as an all round writings harmonize in their teaching of the new system of theology, with all its definitions and conception of God as our Father through Jesus scholastic determinations, is pushed into the fore- Christ. There is reinterpretation of the Old Tes- ground so that wholesale acceptance of a partament in the light of the Christian conception. ticular creed has seemed to be all that was asked Jesus the Christ is the Messiah of the prophets for and needed, obliterating the maj or issues of and His sacrifice on the Cross was for the consum- regeneration and of a full-orbed Christian life.
mation of His Kingdom. At the same time He By manifold exchanges and reapproachments lives in His believers and the Holy Spirit is the of the churches at home and abroad, by interde- pledge and guarantee of the divine life. The nominaNonal missionary conferences, by the ecu- Church is the spiritual body of Christ. The two menical movements, by a widespread missionary sacraments are baptism and the Lord's Supper. literature and by maturing missionary experience, We have remission of sins through the Cross of common convictions are growing and, as a re- Christ, and look forward to the resurrection of suIt, we hope that the dangers of adulterating the the body in spiritual form. However we formulate message in one or another direction will diminish. this belief we are able to reach an almost general A danger of a different kind which is becoming agreement. more and more apparent-it has always been There has always been a subtle danger either of present yet we have not always recognized it-is shortening the Gospel by pushing into the back- the radically different character of the Asiatic ground some beliefs which seemed to be at vari- culture religions which renders very difficult a ance with generally agreed upon convictions. The satisfactory approach and a full understanding miracle in any and every form has been an offence by those to whom the appeal is made. Let us to those who regard the law of cause and effect as choose those main religions to make our point the incontrovertible foundation of science. Any- clear. thing supernatural, or anti-rational was relegated Hinduism is a variegated group of religions; to a time when rational minds ruled supreme. yet in almost all of them the pantheism of the Comparative religion has seemed to prove that Brahman conception, the disvaluation of existence Christianity is only one of many religions, though by maya, and the robbing of life of any meaning of course the best and the most perfect. Its by the doctrine of endless transmigrations are [20 ]
THE MISSIONARY MESSAGE FOR TODAY
lurking in the background. Redemption appar- Deep thinking is necessary to understand the ently is the common aim of Christianity and of points of view of those other religions, to value Hinduism, but its meaning is radically different aright the enormous amount of pious meditation in the two religions. In Hinduism it means ceas- that underlies them; to estimate the gulf seping to e}Qist, in Christianity it means consumma- arating them from the fundamental facts and contion of existence. The situation becomes more victions of Christianity; to build a solid bridge difficult and complicated as, in the numberless of clear thought and sound religious experience sects and currents of Hinduism; the variations of across that gulf and to lead the followers of these the foreground and of the background of life are religions carefully and lovingly across. so illusive that one never knows exactly where one stands. The spiritual history of converts of But the question raised was quite different. It first-rate, like Nehemiah Goreh, would be tragic is this: Should the simple Gospel of salvation under this point of view but it is instructive and through Christ be the main content of the misshould be carefully studied by Indian mission- sionary message or should additional teaching be included along more complex theological lines, aries. church polity, social service and other Christian The situation is slightly different with regard obligations? To this question we give fourfold answer: to Buddhism though it participates in all the fundamental errors of Hinduism, pushing the doc- 1. Doubtless the Gospel message must be intetrine of transmigration a disastrous step farther grated in the life of the messenger and in that of by denying any continuity of the soul or any real- the Christian congregation has accepted Christ's ity of self. Splitting into many branches in Hina- message and is sending the messages. The old yana, and even more in Mahayana, Buddhism has Latin proverb is quite right: Vita clerici evanbuilt up a religious structure which enables its gelium popali – the life of the clergyman is the devotees to live on two different levels-there is Gospel read and understood by the people. That the radical nihilism of the sunyata doctrine of the is even more true in pagan countries where the absolute emptiness of the universe and the won- missionaries' homes have glass walls, open doors derfully pictorial imagery of the western para- and windows and are scrutinized carefully, or dise; there is the radical atheism of original Bud- even suspiciously, from morning to night. How dhism and the temples of the ten thousand idols; often one false move of a young missionary has there is the almost superhuman concentration of spoiled his work. It is the same with the Chrismeditation observed by hermits immured in lonely tian congregation growing up under the message. caves in the wilderness, and the blatant sacramen- They must "show forth the praises of Him who talism and sacerdotalism of endless religious serv- has called them out of darkness into his marvelices, prayer wheels, and readings of canonical lous light" (1 Peter 2: 9). They must shine as books by the weeks and months. It is as if a pil- lights against their dark environment. grim were walking through a wonderful paradise, yet a dismal abyss were lurking below engulfing 2. It is unavoidable that the missionary movehim at every step. How extremely difficult it is ment in all times has had its concomitants in faeven to stir up a feeling of that realism with re- vorable or unfavorable contemporaneous currents. gard to religion which is characteristic of Chris- In the three first centuries the six or seven orientianity. tal "mystery movements" were competing with the young Christian religion, all of them equally Or lOOK at Confucianism. Since the brilliant profiting by the decomposition of the traditional expositions of Professor de Groot in his famous religions of the nations within the Roman empire, book, "Universismus," we have become fully con- and by the awakened hunger after the living God. scious of the scope of law and harmony in the On a different plane in the Middle Ages, and again world, the same laws pervading nature and men, in the nineteenth century, Christian missions individuals and society; every trespass troubling were regarded as the outstanding exponents of the harmony having its punishment; sacrifices the highest civilization within reach of their misnecessary for the restoration of the cosmic order. sionary constituency. Such situations are rapidly On this basis, of course, the Christian conception changing; for older Christians it is astounding of the fall, of sin, particularly original sin, of re- how the background has shifted from the general demption by the cross of Christ, of a radical re- admiration for the "Christian civilization" of the casting of a lost universe in the consummation of "Christian nations" to the anti-white and antithe Kingdom of God – all these are considered christian currents of the present time. Christian utter nonsense. Yet how can we convince a well- missionaries need wisdom to keep in view the trained Chinese, immersed from early boyhood in fundamental difference and the dividing line bethe teachings of his classics, that his optimistic tween their Message and their contemporaneous world view is wrong and that the Christian con- concomitants; they dare not confound the ideal ception fully agrees with the real facts of life? of democracy with the Gospel of Christ. If they battle with a united front, they must always march Fourthly, the missionaries are conscious that separately, or the opposite. they are nothing more or less than the channels through which the Spirit of Christ is working in Thirdly, there are situations and conditions of our generation. Their deepest desire is to open misery and degradation against which Christian these channels by keeping their own lives pure, philanthropy cannot remain callous and never has to make them an effective testimonial for this been. If thousands of "untouchables" are losing Spirit. To remove all obstacles which block the their meagre means of existence by conversion channels and hinder the flow of the Spirit is the and baptism, the missionaries would be hard- main content of their missionary meditations and hearted if they were not on the lookout for means planning. of improving their disastrous plight. If the present Bolshevistic communism is offering the hope- In a ruined castle in South Germany I read an lessly impoverished masses of the East a worldly almost vanished inscription: Hic transitat Cmsar: Gospel of a happy classless state, with complete "Here the emperor entered." I was awe-struck, equality of social standard, Christian missions remembering the glorious time of the emperors would be on a lost track if they did not add to and what they meant to my fatherland. I felt their preaching of the Kingdom of righteousness, near to their ancient glories. The invisible insome broad-minded and forward-looking schemes scription over the door of all foreign missions of social help that visibly interpret their Gospel. reads: Hic transit Christ: "Here our Lord Jesus Missionaries cannot remain stolid in view of the Christ invisibly passes through the lands." Only sea of sickness and suffering, particularly if they in so far as all missions follow in His footsteps; remember that European vagrants, colonial in- only so far as missionaries, "with open face befluences, and world commerce have transplanted holding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are new terrible scourges and plagues, and that the changed into the same image from glory to glory, natives rightly would curse the Christian civiliza- even as by the Spirit of the Lord" is their work tion and its exponents, if the missionaries piti- owned by the Lord and produces eternal value. lessly look at their doom. He is the living, life-giving message for all time.
DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF MODERN CHRISTIAN MISSIONS 1. Modern missions have a more extensive geographic spread than missions in previous cen- turies, as well as contact with a much wider range of cultures and religion.
2. The number of kinds of Christianity propagated is very large in the modern era, because so many different communions are participating in spreading the faith.
3. In spite of the divisions of Protestantism there is very extensive cooperation between Prot- estant missionary forces.
4. Missions are almost completely divorced from the political policy of the lands from which they have come, in marked contrast to what was the common practice in previous cen- turies.
5. Missionaries are protesting as never before against the exploitation by their fellow coun- trymen of the people among whom the missionaries live. This is not to forget the work done long ago by Las Casas in trying to check the Spanish conquistadores. .
6. Missions have a much broader base of financial support, being participated in by a very large number of persons, as contrasted with missions in earlier times when they were mainly supported by the state, or by political or ecclesiastical magnates.
7. The large part played by women is one of the most distinctive features of Protestant mis- sions, women outnumbering men on the field, while at home women carry a large part of the burden of supporting missions.
8. The great number of social and humanitarian activities attached to modern missions is another very distinctive characteristic. Schools, hospitals, famine relief, agricultural improvement and cooperative societies are very common features.
9. The standard for admission to baptism is generally very high. Consequently there have been much fewer mass conversions than in previous centuries. Protestant missions have preferred to have fewer converts than to admit people who were not prepared for mem- bership.
10. Though there have not been many mass conversions there has been a great deal of "mass modification" of the customs and ethical standards of the countries where missions operate, much of such modification being due directly or indirectly to missions.-Prof.
Latourette of Yale University; International Review of Missions.
CROSSI:'-iG A PART OF THE, GREAT ARABIA:-I DESERT IN
Medical Work I• n Arabia W. H. STORM, M.D., F.R.G.S., Bahrain, Persian Gulf.
Missionary of the Reformed Church in America p MO,N,'G m,issionary statesmen, metho,ds of P,ro- In the following words the late Sir William claiming the Gospel are often indicated as Osler has well depicted the unique qualifications of direct and indirect. The direct method' a doctor: means the direct preaching of the Gospel alonl:i,) By his commission the physician is sent to the sick.
while the indirect method aims at reaching the and knowing in his calling neither Jew nor Gentile, bond people through education, healing, and various or free, perhaps he alone rises superior to those differ- ences which separate and make us dwell apart, too often philanthropic works, such as social uplift,,~ll oblivious to the common hopes and frailities which should bind us together as a race. In his professional relations, with varying degrees of preaching and personal though divided by national lines, there remains the feel- work interspersed. ' ','
Missionaries among Moslems are working witli ing that he belongs to a guild which owes no local al- legiance, which has neither king nor country, but whose the greatest social and religious system that has work is in the world. The Aesculapian temple has given evolved ,in the world since Christ. It is the place to the hospital, and the priestly character of the strongest opponent, today, of Christianity. Year physician has vanished with the age; still, there is with after year missionaries plod along using both us a strong feeling of brotherhood, a sense of unity, methods, of missionary endeavor with but little which the limitations of language, race and country have tangible results. The rock of Islam seems impreg- not been able to efface.
nable a.nd' the Christian Church remains asleep When to these qualifications strong missionary to its challenge. Everywhere among Moslems the zeal is added, the doctor then becomes peculiarly mi~sionary doctor has proved himself to be' a fitted for work among the Moslems.
most vaJifable asset in winning friendships and When we analyze our work as medical mis- thus making contacts for otJ:l.er workers ;,~()f br.eak~ sionaries, we ask ourselves the question; Is our ing down prejudice, opposition, fear, anQ super- task, i.e., the task of the medical people, dif- stition; of softening the fanaticism of heart and ferent from that of other missionaries? I think mind; and of opening up closed fields. it is the duty of everyone of us to first lay aside [ 23 ]
the mantle of his profession, and face the task It is too €asy for us medical people to say that in the light of all being first and foremost am- the evangelistic end of the hospital work is the bassadors of Christ. Our work is then what?' pastor's job. There ought to be the highest type In the words of the Master we read the Great of cooperation between the evangelistic worker Commission: "Go ye therefore, and teach all and the doctor, and, if in the hospital wards and the hospital clinics, and on tours, the evangelistic worker sees an opportunity to further his con- tacts and deliver the message of Christ, he should be encouraged. But in no sense does this l€ssen the responsibilities and duties of the doctor.
Let us look at our hospitals as a unit. What do they stand for in the community? Are they places where· medicine is given fr€e, and the doctor is some sort of Santa Claus doling out pills and salts free of char.,ge? Is it a competing insti- tution with other irtstitutions nearby? If so, I am afraid we have little excuse for existing. On the other hand, does it stand out clear-cut as a PASSING SOME OF THE BLACK TENTS OF ARABIA definite witness for Christ both in its ministry of nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, healing and its proclamation of His message? and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." If we cannot see in our hospitals this definite mis- sionary program, then in the name of all that is Our training has been entirely different, i.e., just, have we any right to POs€ as Christian misthe training of the teacher and the evangelist sionary doctors and nurses in a Moslem land? has been quite different from that of the medical person. The doctor can remove an appendix,. or Because of the extr€me isolation of mission stasew up a wound, while the preacher would find it tions in a field like Arabia, it is often necessary to extremely difficult; and vice versa, the duties develop one's own hospital staff. Native boys who. of the preacher and the teacher would be equally show an adaptibility to hospital work are trained.
hard for the doctor. Our applications must of necessity then be different, but is it not entirely true that we are aiming at the same goal and the same ends? What is this goal, and what are th€se ends? Are they not, in simple language, the giving of Christ as Saviour to the people among whom we work?
In the medical field, unquestionably, lies the op- portunity to show our training and our knowledge along medical lines. It is our job to teach, where- ever we can, the principles of hygiene. and sani- tation, and to do all in our power to lessen the spread of dis€ase and to relieve suffering; to put it into one sentence, to uplift the physical and social, and thereby the economical scale of the people among whom we work. Can we stop there and say that we have set a Christian exampl€ and thus take satisfaction in a job well done? In the name of social service, Yes; but in the name of Christian missions, No. Can we stop with the satisfaction gained by having done all we can to relieve human suffering among those with whom we have come in contact? We will have done a Christ-like service and given a picture of Christ in one of his most wonderful aspects. That is most worth while, but surely we cannot stop there.
We must link that s€rvice up with the real mes- sage and our real purpose so that the service and the one who serves will not overshadow the Christ whose ambassadors we are. DESERT URCHINS OF ARABIA
MEDICAL WORK IN ARABIA
Photo by W. Harold Storm A CLINIC HELD BY DR. STORM FOR ARABS OF THE DESERT By daily example of real Christ-like living among the medical and evangelistic points of view. Even those on whom he must depend for his assistants, when these women are interested in a Christ who the doctor has his greatest responsibility. If he would bring hope into their lives, they are forsets the proper example they will follow; if he bidden to attend church where they might hear fails they are in a worse state, for an ideal has more of Him, or if the evangelist is too zealous vanished. A daily prayer meeting to begin the she may find it difficult to gain access to the day's work, attended by all the staff from the women. And here is where the doctor is of utsweeper to the doctor where God's blessing on the most importance. She is too necessary to be forday's work is asked, and where everyone senses bidden to the houses, and so the way remains open the real purpose of the mission hospital, starts the for her to bring Christ into the harems. Even the day in the proper spirit and does much to win the most fanatical Moslem cannot remain too severely Moslem helper. The importance of a continuous antagonistic to the Christian through whom the Christian atmosphere among the hospital boys is life of a favorite wife or child is preserved. evident when' one realizes that they have even closer contacts with the patients than the doctor. In Moslem lands medical tours playa very large Inasmuch as they are natives they can enter into part in our work. The history of the Arabian an inner circle of thought that is well nigh im- Mission is indeed a history of medical tours. At possible for a foreigner to penetrate. A hospital first, tours were made along the coast, then inhelper in Bahrain who was an earnest inquirer land. In 1917, Dr. Harrison was called to Riadh and undergoing severe persecution, was on the and made the first inland tour to the heart of verge of throwing all aside. Because of the per- Arabia. Others followed reaching Taif near the sonal nature of these problems there was little Red Sea and Hail in the extreme north. Then, in that we could do for him except to show love and 1935, I was able to make a tour of 5,000 miles sympathy. One day he said to the doctor, "It is across the peninsula and around the coasts from love that has conquered me." Yenbo to Bahrain visiting all provinces. Thus medical tours have touched many parts of the Perhaps the most useful and necessary medical Arabian Peninsula. work in Arabia and among Moslems everywhere, is that done by the woman doctor. There are From a purely medical point of view and the scarcely any people more in dire medical need frequent discomforts it often causes the doctor, than Arab women and children, and there is also touring is far from satisfactory. But evangelistino work more difficult and discouraging both from cally, the opportunities are unlimited, and for making acquaintances among Arabs their worth
is invaluable. For example, we went to Jahara, taining the doctor and his friend? And so we all a village near Kuwait, unannounced, and in just gather around the coffee cups. a few minutes, despite the fact that we were at first told to go home, there had gathered sixty to I refuse to do more treatment and try to rele- gate myself as much as possible into the back- ground – a difficult and most essential part of every medical missionary's task. The evening clinic then belongs to my colleague. Conversation follows in a free and natural way. Invariably it takes a religious turn, for no one is more religious than our Moslem brother. In his mind several obvious comparisons are at work. He often asks questions. Why did the doctor come today? Why does he treat these people with love and kindness? Why do we not do the same?
He has seen the practical demonstration of the Christian message, and now it is our opportunity to proclaifu£the Good News to an interested audi- ence. Often we show them a beautiful picture such as the Good Shepherd, and follow that by reading to. them the Shepherd's story from the tenth chapter of John. Their Hfe is so wrapped up in their· desert and their sheep that this story registers with real meaning. They love to look and look at the picture. On into the evening we discuss together Christ as the Good Shepherd.
The mejilis breaks up and we retire to our rest under the bright stars of an Arab night. Our PUSHING OUR AUTO OUT OF TROUBLE ON ARABIAN TOUR seventy men. Some we treated with the few med- THE FAMOUS MINARET IN TARIM, HADRAMAUT icines we had brought along. Then they listened to the story of the prodigal son. We left; the casual hearts are thankful that God has given us this observer might say, what is the use of all that opportunity, and our prayers are, that His Spirit trouble? But in two or three days, four or five may speak and work in the hearts and minds of people came into the hospital as in-patients. One our Arab friends. man nearly dead from scurvy and malnutrition was brought in on a donkey the whole twenty miles and we were able to save his life. While he was an in-patient he saw for the first time in his life Christ's love in action.
The method which I have found most satisfactory in presenting the Gospel story to my Arab friends is itinerary village work.
There are many ways in which to carry out village tours, but this way is most effective. The evangelistic worker and I go to a village together. We start out in the late afternoon after the heat of the day has subsided. Immediately upon arriving a crowd gathers upon the shady side of one of their date stick huts, and I hold a clinic. We then eat dinner with one of the villagers. Following the meal, as is customary among the Arabs, they all gather together for coffee and to exchange the day's news. Our host's mejilis (meeting-place) is most popular. Is he not enter-
Bible and the Koran
By the REV. E. W. G. HUDGELL, M.A., Port Said Egypt Secretary of the British and Foreign Bible Society I T WAS a hot afternoon in Cairo. A young mis- him. This "having the mind darkened" is a fair sionary was wrestling with the grammatical reflection of the spiritual state of such men. As perplexities of the Arabic language. His for a copy of the Koran finding its way into the teacher, an Egyptian with a Western education, hands of an unbeliever (i. e., a non-Moslem), that, was patient and sympathetic. too, is generally looked upon with disfavor.
"English is a better language," he remarked. Reverence for Scripture "Why do you say that?" asked the astonished student. There is found in Moslem lands a reverence for "Because," was the reply, "with English you what may be termed "Holy Scripture," i. e. an read in order to know; but with Arabic you know authoritative book, divine in origin and an infalin order to read!" lible guide. This reverence may be regarded as Here is a fundamental difference of concept in exaggerated; but it exists. Not only do Moslems regard to the function of language. An equally display such reverence towards. the Koran, but deep cleavage of opinion exists between the Chris- many of them also include the Holy Bible. tian view of the function of the Bible and the Here is one case out of numb~rs that are re- Moslem view of the function of the Koran. The ported from time to time. "While 1 was waiting Christian will approve when he hears it said, "A for a train at the station, a Moslem approached Gospel is the best tract." For a tract is meant to and in a low voice asked for a Bible. 1 at once be read in order that a man may come to know- opened my bag and handed him one. He took it, may come to know his own sinfulness, his power- looked up towards the sky and said, 'Thanks be to lessness to help himself and "the loving-kindness Thee, 0 Lord, for sending me this Bible.' Then of God our Saviour" who provides a way of sal- he kissed ~t, enquired the price and paid it saying, vation from sin and furnishes men with the power 'I have lived all my life in sin, and have been a to live according to His will. great man only in doing evil. But a year ago a It is this view of the Bible-the view that it has man like you gave me a Gospel according to St. a divine message of its own apart from human John. 1 laughed at him for giving me such a expounding-that a man by reading it may come book, told myself that it would do me no good, and to know the message as .one for his own soul- put it in my pocket. One day while 1 was sitting which led Charles Spurgeon to ask the indignant alone, 1 took it out and began to read it from the question, "Defend the Bible? 1 would as soon beginning. 1 found it very interesting and went think of defending a lion! Let it out! It can take on reading until 1 finished it. Then 1 read it again care of itself!" and again. 1 asked Christians about the things 1 did not understand, gave up the bad things 1 It is this profound faith in the efficacy of the used to do, and became a new man. 1 believe in Holy Scriptures that is the motive that leads the Bible Societies to promote the widest possible dis- Christ that He is my Saviour, because He loved tribution in all languages, in all lands, in all sinners; and 1 always speak with my Moslem hands. brethren about Christ, so that they call me, in our Not so, however, is it with the Moslem and the village, the preacher of Christ.' " Koran. He believes that Arabic is "the language This respect for the Bible on the part of Mosof the angels" and regards it as blasphemous to lems is due in part to a passage in the Koran which translate the Koran out of its original Arabic into says, "We also caused Jesus the son of Mary to any other language. It has been done in some follow the footsteps of the prophets, confirming cases even by Moslems themselves; but only into the law which was sent down before him; and we five or six languages in all; and the .attempt is gave him the Gospel, containing direction and not generally regarded with favor. Such conser- light; confirming also the law which was given vatism towards the language of the Koran leads before it, and a direction and admonition unto to the unedifying spectacle of a Bengali, for ex- those who fear God; that they who have received ample, struggling to memorize it and to repeat, the Gospel might judge according to what God parrot-fashion, words which have no meaning for hath revealed therein." (Sale, "The Koran," p. 79.) [27]
This seemingly favorable passage is somewhat The literary Arabic is much the same in all nullified by one immediately following it: "We countries where Arabic is read, but the colloquial have also sent down unto thee the book of the differs widely from country to country. In Egypt, Koran with truth, confirming that Scripture for example, a request for "leben" brings milk aR which was revealed before it; and preserving the it is commonly understood; in Palestine, the same same safe from corruption." request would bring loppered milk. So great is the disparity between the colloquials of Egypt and PILGRIMS BOUND FOR MECCA Palestine that a scornful maidservant in Jeru- salem once remarked of the writer, "He can't This superiority ascribed to the Koran over the speak Arabic; he can only talk Egyptian!" Law and the Gospel is interpreted to mean that it has superseded them. What little favorable testi- The Bible Societies strive to make use of the mony the Koran does give to the Bible is appealed atmosphere of reverence for Scripture found in to and used, with mutual respect, when the Bible Moslem lands. "They find, on the other hand, obis offered to Moslems and is made a reason for jections to the Bible and seek for the right antelling them that they ought to read it. Often the swers. They also endeavor to surmount the reply comes: "The Bible is for Christians and barriers of colloquial speech by publishing Bible the Koran for Moslems." portions in different varieties of it. The Arabic Bible in literary style, that enduring monument The answer to this objection is, '''The Bible is to the careful and scholarly labors of two great the Word of God; and God means His Word to American missionaries, Dr. Eli Smith and Dr. C. be for all men whether they be Christians or Mos- Van Dyck, is firmly fixed in estimation of edulems or Jews." cated people, and circulates throughout the lands -South America, North Africa, Western Asia, Two Kinds of Arabic Arabia and the East Indies – where Arabic is It ought to be made clear that there are two read. Its potential outreach to people is greater, kinds of Arabic, literary and colloquial. The two perhaps, than that of. the Bible in any language are so diverse as to be almost different languages. save English. The importance of this can hardly A confident graduate of a Western university, be overestimated. But to those of little learning who had studied literary Arabic during his col- it is laboriously difficult to read and often uninlege career, arrived in Cairo and set out at once telligible. For such, therefore, there is a growing alone to buy a few necessities at native shops. His volume of pUblication in the language of everypolished periods, however, produced only uncom- day life, natural and easy, flexible and unstilted. prehending dismay in the faces of the shopkeepers. None of the necessities were produced The chief usefulness of these colloquial texts at until he was rescued by a passing friend who present is for reading aloud to small gatherings could chatter away in "the vulgar tongue." of the illiterate, especially the women and girls whose education is considered of little or no im- portance ! They also find some acceptance among Jews – of whom there are thousands in North Africa and Egypt, to say nothing of Palestine- who, although they may have some knowledge of Hebrew, yet do their trading in Arabic. A col- porteur reported recently, "I entered a Jewish shop where there were three men and began to read aloud to them from the Psalms in Egyptian colloquial Arabic. I noticed signs of delight on the faces of all three. Each of them bought a copy, and one of them added, 'If the Bible Society had not taken the trouble to publish this transla- tion, the Bible would have become to us but a venerable antiquity.' "
Problems of Distribution The great problem confronting the Bible So- cieties in Moslem lands is that of distribution. How can we get the books into the hands of those who can read, and especially those who are not Christians. There are some favorable factors in the situation but the unfavorable ones and the
THE BIBLE AND THE KORAN CONTRASTED
prejudices against the Bible are stronger far than Indeed, he does; and indeed God can through those for it. Illiteracy is general. It is useless to the Word! Several colporteurs are themselves dump books on people who will not and cannot converts from Islam.
read them. Under such circumstances the only For Ohristian Minorities hope of success is to pick men carefully for the personal work, train them in their task, and su- Christians are a minority in all the Moslem pervise them constantly in such a way as to allow lands except in the Republic of the Lebanon, of them freedom of spirit, while maintaining the which Beirut is the capital. It is necessary to level of their spiritual life and business efficiency. Such a ministry by a Bible Society agent forms a have lived with a Christian minority to appreciate very real "cure of souls." That it is done, is not known, as a rule, outside Bible Society circles- "the reproach of Christ" and what a shame (soand not always even within them! But it is done, and it produces results. It gives the colporteur cially) it can be to be a Christian. There is, morean honorable vocation. He is no longer despised over, an impalpable and silent but yet very real as one who has become a colporteur because he is fit for nothing else! "Ambition should be made pressure exerted on the soul by the presence of of sterner stuff." When once the colporteur real- Islam in the mass, and by the spiritual deadness izes that he holds an honorable place among the workers for the Kingdom of God, he gets the right and dryness induced thereby. If this is felt by ambition-the most unselfish and uplifting ambition in the world-to be boundlessly ambitious for missionaries from the West, with all their spir- God. As a Syrian colporteur observed, "I am itual advantages, how much more will it affect the happier at selling a man a Bible than at anything scattered native Christians! There will often be else I know." That same man spent his holiday but one or two Christian families in the whole of last Christmas Day in selling Bibles because, as a big Moslem village. Their lot is hard; for nothhe said, it was a good day on which to offer men ing is quite so cruel and inhuman as "religion" the story of the birth of Jesus. They are drawn without the boundless love and compassion of from many walks of life-weavers, tailors, boot- Christ. A visit from an itinerant Bible seller is makers, carpenters, farm-hands. Many of those often a God-send to people in such a case. Three in Egypt owe their education to the American cases have come to light in recent months where Presbyterian Mission-the largest in the country. such visits, accompanied by the reading of the Bible aloud, have slerved to keep back lonely Chris- What do these men accomplish in Egypt during tian men from apostatizing and denying their an average year? The American and British So- faith. One was in Trans-Jordan, another in a country village of the Nile Delta, and the third in Alexandria.
No less than 80 % of the population of Egypt is afflicted with eye-trouble in one form or an- cieties, both of which are at work in the country, other. It is imperative, therefore, that the Scripemploy about 32 men. The population of the tures should be constantly available in large, bold country is a little less than 16,000,000, of whom type. For those who have quite lost their sight about 1,000,000 are Christians. The total circula- and have to read with their fingers, the complete tion of the two Societies combined, in the year Arabic Bible is published in Braille type and fills 1935 in Egypt, was just under 152,000 books. 32 volumes. Each volume costs an average of In Syria during the same year the total circula- $1.25 to produce, but is sold at a flat rate of the tion of the two Societies amounted to nearly equivalent of 371;2 cents. Where poverty is too 34,000 of which the.colporteurs were responsible deep to raise even that much, a gift is made upon for the sale of 24,000. In Iraq the colporteurs the fulfilment of certain reasonable conditions.
sold nearly 12,000 books out of a total circulation "Drops of water hollow out rocks," albeit they of 15,600. It is not too much to say that the col- take a long time over doing it. Drops of the Water porteur is the backbone of Bible-work in Moslem of Life are being poured onto stony hearts. It lands. They themselves recognize the importance takes a long time to produce appreciable results.
and significance of their work, as is shown by the Who, in view of the method and the problem, following incident. would expect anything else? But there is an ex- A colporteur offered a Bible to some Moslems hilaration, an inspiration, sometimes even an ex- who were sitting in a shop. citement about keeping the drip constant-week "Are you a preacher?" one of them asked. after week, month after month, year after year.
"No," was the reply, "I am a colporteur." Here and there, in individual lives, there shows "Beware!" said another man. "This man is sufficient success to encourage-to counteract the worse than a preacher who speaks and goes away. gloomy entry, "Sold, and no result." Who knows?
This man leaves a book that is able to convert the Keep the drip constant; the results are in God's Moslems !" keeping. Christian Morale in War–Torn China By REV. FRANK W. PRICE, Shanghai Missionary of the Presbyterian Church, U. S.
TETTERS from all parts of war-torn China re- from a well-known Christian educator and church- L veal a marvelous spirit of faith and courage. man in Nanking. He was still carrying on his The Chinese nation and people believe that work and his wife and children were still in the they are fighting a "war of independence" against city, in spite of 65 air raids between August 15 military aggression and oppression. Although and October 20.
weaker in material equipment and arms, China is "The growing interest and sympathy in Amer- strong in purpose and the people are ready for ica at present is in large measure the direct result every necessary sacrifice to win the ultimate vic- of efforts put forth by many friends China has tory for freedom. Missionaries in China are al- among your people. The American sense of jus- most unanimously in sympathy with China's cause tice and humanity is a rich source from which and believe that one of their great contributions will come a strong moral support that will nerve at the present time is to help maintain the morale China in her struggle and hence will bind the two of the people. Chinese Christian leaders are ris- peoples in closer and more solid friendship so as to ing to the emergency and are doing their part protect effectively the peace of the world. . . .
heroically by carrying on their regular work or "China has finally been compelled to defend her- special work in the face of great dangers and by self. She is now staking her all on the tremen- a devoted ministry of relief to the wounded and .dous task of breaking the yoke of oppression, and homeless. This work is winning praise on all of securing the right for independent existence.
sides. These are most terrible days that China has to go Four representative statements, out of a large through but she is quite prepared for the sacrifice.
number received within the past month, show how In no struggle has there ever been a more perfect missionaries and Chinese Christians are bearing example bf spiritual forces against the material.
their witness in this greatest crisis of China's China is opposing an enemy many times better history. armed than herself. It is a wonder that the Chi- lo Christian educational institutions. The fol- nese army has been able to meet the onslaughts lowing statement issued on September 24 by the and hinder the enemy's progress. We cannot forefaculty of Cheeloo· University, situated at Tsinan, cast the duration of this life-and-death struggle, in Shantung Province, is typical of what the but we are convinced of the determination of the Christian schools in China are saying and doing Government and people not to stop short of the in the war situation: achievement of an entire and independent national "The faculty realizes that the time may come existence. The present warfare has done away when heavy bombardment or the approach of the with the distinction of front and rear, of military invading army will make it seem wise for the re- and civilian, of combatant' and non-combatant.
maining faculty and students to scatter. It is The whole nation is bleeding; those who are not important for everyone to understand that such bleeding in flesh are bleeding in heart. The air- a contingency, or even possible destruction of raids make us feel glad in a way that we are shar- some of the buildings, and loss of equipment, will ing in the sacrifice of the nation."
not destroy Cheeloo. This institution consists not 3. Missionaries. Rev. Ronald Rees, secretary so much in land and bricks and tile, as in tradi- of the National Christian Council in China, writes tions, in its records of work, in loyalty of staff and of the changed situations and new opportunities students and alumni, in reputation and support facing the missionary. Speaking of the great mi- in many countries. These things are not easily gration from the coastal provinces to the interior, destroyed, and, from them, if necessary, Cheeloo he says: can rise again, whatever may be in store for her "Northerners have gone on to Sian, Hankow, buildings in the immediate future." Changsha, and many of them on farther. Gov- 2. Chinese Christiq,n leaders. The following ernment and educational organizations are estab-, paragraphs are taken from a letter just received lished now in Hankow, Changsha, Chungking. I [30 ]
CHRISTIAN M'ORALE IN WAR-TORN CHINA '31
think we may expect to see the tide rolling on to that would be heard above the din of battle strife Szechwan, Kweichow, Kwangsi and Yunnan. and reach every member of our home church.
"What effect will these movements have on the "Weare witnesses of the heroic sacrifices and people of China and their future? In the first sufferings of the people to whom we have been place ordinary men and women (not only stu- sent, in their determined oneness of purpose to dents and intellectuals) are conscious as never preserve at all costs their national existence and before of a national emergency and its cause. freedom against a powerful and inhuman military Secondly, national unity is being extended and machine. The bravery of the Chinese soldiers deepened by the common bond of suffering. In commands our admiration, and the patient en- the third place, the intellectual leaders of China durance of the ordinary people stirs our sympathy had been chiefly in the coastal provinces. Many and desire to help. But more than this, we are are now going far inland, perhaps for an extended touched by the turning of the people to us for period. The modernizing and westernizing proc- comfort and encouragement in this darkest hour ess is bound to be hastened in central and west- of their national history.
ern China. "Our Chinese friends in all walks of life were "The people staying in the coastal provinces are bewildered by the very suggestion that all mis- going to need the most tender and faithful sup- sionaries might be withdrawn from China. They port. So, also, those in the northern provinces could not see that it was necessary, and to them torn away from the main body and under foreign it looked like a flight. We have lived and worked (and probably ruthless) domination, if the experi- with them through peace and famine and pesti- ence of Korea and Manchuria means anything. lence and civil wars, and now at the moment of But the center and west of China are going to be their extreme national peril they still look to their open in new ways, for there the heart and mind Christian friends to stay by them and meet what- of China may be centered." ever may come. Their Christian leaders have said The following messages are taken from groups this openly, and innumerable individuals have of Southern Presbyterian missionaries whose said so privately to their missionary acquaintwork in Chekiang and Kiangsu has been acutely ances, and the faces of multitudes express their affected, to their home church. From a group at satisfaction at seeing their foreign friends carry- ing on as usual. Tsingtao: "Our work is slowed down, not stopped. Prac- "When we see these things we are profoundly impressed with the potentialities of these troutically all our churches and institutions are carry- blous times. We are now faced with the greatest ing on in one way or another through the faithful crisis that has ever confronted the Church of cooperation of our Chinese fellow-workers. The Christ in this land. The Chinese word for crisis outlook for Christian work in China at the out- is made up of two words, "danger" and "opportubreak of hostilities was unprecedented. The peo- nity." We are not blind to the dangers, but we are ple were more friendly and open-minded than at thrilled at the thought of the opportunities before any previous time. There was a steady stream of accessions to the company of believers and the us. We appeal to you for your loyal and faithful churches had made marked advance in church support as we face these dangers and opporconsciousness and self-support. They, too, were tunities. getting a fresh and inspiring vision of our obli- "This is not a time to quit, but supremely a time gation and opportunity. . . . At a time like this to stand by. On all sides we see stores with the the influence and opportunity of the missionary fronts boarded up as a protection against bombs who shares the sorrows of the people and com- and bullets, but with the sign on the door, "Busiforts and counsels is greatly enhanced as com- . ness as usual." As Christians in the business of the Kingdom, this should also be our motto. God's pared with ordinary times." work must not and cannot stop."
A group of twenty-three missionaries in Shang- These letters reveal the intrepid missionary hai, many of whom were going back and forth to spirit in China now. their stations in or near the fighting area, wrote as follows: 4. Chinese appreciation of Christian sympathy "With the resounding explosions of bombs and and support. In many ways government leaders shells, the hum of airplanes, and the rat~tat-tat of and the non-Christian public have expressed their machine guns in our ears, constantly reminding appreciation of the stand taken by missionaries us of the struggle to the death in which this be- and Chinese Christians. On September 27, the loved country of our adoption is engaged, we a China Press, a Chinese-owned daily newspaper in company of twenty-three of your missionaries the English language, published the following edi- temporarily in Shanghai, amid all the confusion torial under the title "Christian Loyalty": and misery around us, would fain send a message "Christian missionaries in China have ignored
their government's advice to seek personal safety. being confronted with danger. It might be easy They have been urged to leave their posts and for them to ask their governments to extend a concentrate in sectors from which evacuation paternal hand and deliver them from destructive under the protection of their national forces may forces, and yet to do so would be unchristian and be comparatively easy; and they have preferred unworthy of their Lord.
to remain in this war-torn country with their "Admittedly, the Sino-Japanese war must come Chinese fellow-Christians, unafraid and un- to an end sooner or later. While the missionaries daunted. must look after the present, they cannot ignore the future; By deserting at the first sign of dan- "The action of the missionaries has doubtless ger, they might betray the confidence reposed in been prompted by a sense of duty toward their them by the Chinese converts; by remaining toevangelical cause and toward their fellow men. gether with the converts, they would surely earn To God they have pledged to march onward as undying goodwill as well as affection and lay the true soldiers of the Cross, and to their fellow men foundation for a greater claim to Chinese support they have professed to bring a divine message of in the years to come. goodwill and spiritual comfort. At no other time is the spirit of the true soldier more manifestly "Devotion to a cause, be it Christian or otherbeing placed on trial, and at no other time does a wise, presupposes the willingness to sacrifice. war-torn race stand in more need of the benefits Unless the missionaries were, as they are, preof Christian goodwill and comfort. pared for sacrifices at any cost, it would be hypocritical to talk about devotion, and to claim "It would be highly disloyal to God and to man devotion from others. if the missionaries were to pursue the line of least resistance and withdraw from the field in which they and their predecessors have labored "The firm resolution of the missionaries to ful- so arduously to espouse the cause of the Gospel. fill the demands of the Christian movement in "As the Son of God, Jesus could have asked for China has already won the admiration of the God's hand to stay the Crucifixion, but Jesus the Chinese of all classes, irrespective of their per- Christ remained, to the end of His mundane exist- sonal beliefs. The challenge of Christian loyalty ence, the Saviour of men by giving His life and has never before been more severe, and happily shedding His divine blood for the redemption of it is being met in a true Christian spirit-a spirit man's sins. of which all followers of Christ may well be "The missionaries in China today are, no doubt, proud."
A PEACE HYMN FROM JAPAN Out of Japan came a peace hymn twenty years ago, written by William Merrell Vories, of Omi Hachiman. It is now in the Hymnal of the Presbyterian Church in Japan.
Let there be light, Lo.rd Go.d o.f Ho.sts, Give us the peace o.f visio.n clear Let there be wisdo.m o.n the earth! To. see o.ur' bro.thers' go.o.d o.ur o.wn, Let bro.ad humanity have birth! To. jo.y and suffer no.t alo.ne; Let there be deeds, instead o.f boasts! The Io.ve that casteth o.ut all fear!
Within o.ur passio.ned hearts instill Let wo.e and waste o.f warfare cease, The calm that endeth strain and strife; That useful labo.r yet may build Make us thy ministers of life; Its homes with Io.ve and laughter filled!
Purge us fro.m lusts that curse and kill! Go.d, give thy wayward children peace!
The author founded the Japanese "Omi Brotherhaad," described as "an experiment in establishing the Kingdom of God in the province of Omi, Japan." It has come to be one of the most significant demonstrations in Japan of the Kingdom of God, a combination of business and missionary activity. The architectural department supervises and builds more than fifty structures a year. A publicity department prints books and periodicals. Two factories are operated. They are agents for Mentholatum and other products. The church is composed of four nationalities from nine different denominations. It has overcome the difficulty of getting Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, and Americans to work together harmoniously. Effective educational and medical work are also carried on and. good moving pictures offset the influence of vicious films.
A Miracle-Happy Lepers in
_.~I By R. M. WILSON, M.D.* I Missionary of the (Southern) Presbyterian Church 1 __ __ ~~=-~-===~~==~==== ~~~-J FOR over thirty-five hundred years leprosy has case of erysipelas. After two or three weeks this been considered the most hopeless of all dis- subsides, the fever drops, and then the patient eases, incurable, a curse; yet within the past begins to improve. twenty-five years it has become amenable to treat- In treatment an important thing is to clear the ment, and there is hope for lepers. We may call patient of intestinal parasites, malaria, syphilis, it a miracle, for so it is. or any other complication. Food is an important The Korean has no such view of it. He calls it part of the treatment, as well as exercise and Poong or the "Great Wind." He believes it is a keeping busy so as to occupy the mind. Sand curse from heaven. In desperation some Korean baths in the hot sun, as well as swimming, are lepers even eat human flesh, which they have been parts of the treatment; the daily hot, soapy bath told is a cure. Lepers in Korea taste of the bitter is important.
dregs of life. They are driven here and there, Our colony is as busy as a beehive, for all who sleep in culverts and caves, and often fall down can stir about must do their part towards caring before us saying, "Save a dead dog." So, coming for their gardens and raising pigs, rabbits, or into our beautiful Leper Home they soon find the some other form of the extra food needed in their great Christian hope and abide in its joy. treatment. Blind Pak passes his days by making Our leper colony is a little world in itself. The straw rope, and he can earn three cents a day, lepers have their own mayor and town govern- about our usual wage in the colony. Mr. F. E. C.
ment, and manage most of their own affairs, Williams of Kwangju has been a great help to us meeting annually for the election of the councils in training the lepers to a more scientific farming.
and officers. We have trained thirty who do most He comes every fall with a Korean teacher, and of the medical work and in the future this train- their classes, held for one week, mean a great ing will be an even more important part of our deal. An annual fair is held in the fall when task. Formerly we gave such men a general med- their crops, pigs, rabbits, and produce of other ical course, but now we confine a student to one kinds are displayed and prizes given. line of work; otherwise, some will run away and One of the worst wind and rain storms in years practice medicine! A man named Insune is the struck our colony last year and did much damage, head of the group of thirty. He makes rounds mostly to the roofs. The American Mission to and writes prescriptions; yet he was once one of Lepers sent an emergency fund of one thousand the most advanced cases we had. Another lad dollars at once, which about covered the losses. does most of the simple surgery-amputations of One of the queerest observations I ever made feet and hands. Two boys' time is fully occupied among lepers was when I came upon a man with filling prescriptions. One gives all his time to the sole of his foot in his lap. With a large npedle intravenous injections of glucose, calcium, sal- and thread he was sewing up a great crack in his varsan, and the like. Last year 6,206 of these foot. He had to do this about once a month, he were given, and 65,000 injections of chaulmoogra said, for sand and dirt would crowd in and in- crease the size of the wound. It was about like oil.
Very fortunately the chaulmoogra oil is not sewing up a baseball! very expensive. A pound costs about thirty-five A recent study of our seven hundred lepers cents and will treat a case about thirty weeks. For those who take it by mouth the cost is more showed some curious facts which will give an idea because the dose is larger and taken daily. The of their suffering. In answer to the question, oil apparently has a direct effect upon the bacilli. "What relative of yours was a leper?" sixty- Quite often when a case starts the treatment, one replied, brother; forty-five, father; thirtythere is a severe reaction, as though it were a bad eight, mother. Two hundred and twenty said they had lived with lepers; ten, that they thought they had gotten the disease from a leper's house; two • Superintendent of the Soonchun (Korea) Leper Colony aided hundred and twenty-nine said that lepers lived by the American Mission to Lepers, Inc., 156 Fifth AVe'. , New York, N. Y. in their village as neighbors.
[33 ]
"
As to the first sign of the disease, three hundred feet; two, arms; twenty, legs. In three hundred and fifty-nine saw it in their lower extremities, and sixty-one cases the vision was good, and in and two hundred and twenty-seven, in their arms three hundred and forty-one it was impaired.
and hands. Their chief suffering is from neuritis, Thirty-four had lost both eyes, and twenty-six, and four hundred and thirty (more than half the one eye.
colony) had it at the time of our study. Two The fact that four hundred and three are bap- hundred and eighty had ulcers, mostly on the feet; tized Christians and one hundred and fourteen in one hundred and forty-one were unable to do any the catechumen class shows that Christ is strong kind of work. As to recovery, two hundred and among them. Many of the others are new Chris- fifteen had slightly improved, two hundred and tians, but it takes about two years of study and sixty-six had greatly improved, and twenty-three testing before they are fully admitted to the had grown worse. One hundred and seventy- church.
three stated that the dead spots in the skin had It is a joy to see these wretched, sick, hopeless improved. Two hundred and forty had lost creatures recover and become happy, healthy fingers; two hundred and fifty-nine, toes; eight, Christian citizens of the land.
When Korean Preachers Illustrate* -<Ef I By th, 10" F. S. MILLER of Cho,," I!J;.- T HE illustrations Korean preachers and teach- not come and have lunch with us?' The yangban ers use let in the light not only on their sub- felt insulted by being asked to sit by the roadside jects but also on the inner workings of their and eat with coolies, and gave them a gruff reply. minds and hearts. "Several years afterwards, when the reformed Pastor Yune, speaking of mutual helpfulness: government had come in and the yang bans were "Two beggars came through our village, one was deprived of their especial privileges of living by a deaf and dumb woman and she was leading a oppression of the common people and by extorblind man. Both had happy, contented faces, tion, this yangban, like many of his fellows, was and seemed to get along together well enough. on the verge of starvation. One day he passed the same farmer and his hands, eating by the "Now, if the man had kept abusing the woman roadside. How good that white rice looked; those because she did not tell him .what she saw and she pickles made his mouth water. He hoped they had abused him for not telling her what he heard would ask him again to sit down and eat with they might have lived very unhappily together them but, remembering his former rebuff, they and have sought a divorce. As I observed them I ate in silence, not even saluting him. Going a thought, 'That is the way forbearance with each little further on, he felt so weak from hunger and other's weaknesses makes a couple happy.' the grinding of his stomach that he had to stop and sit on the bank of the stream. How he re- "In the leper asylum you will see those who pented of his former pride and oppressions!" have hands helping those who have none and those who have feet using them for those who are foot- *** less. Each of us has his peculiar gifts, let us use them for those who lack. Let us not despise the Deacon Pak, speaking of God's love for us sinhelpfulness of the weak; the bread and the fish ners, said: "One of the Christians in Seoul had did not belong to a full-grown man." five daughters and one son. One afternoon the youngest daughter wandered off. At two o'clock *** the mother discovered that she was missing and started out to hunt for her. Long after dark she Elder Song, pointing out the danger of pride, found her outside the East Gate. used this, "There was a proud yangban, gentleman, in a village who passed a group of farm- "When the father was returning at sunset, tired hands eating their lunch by the roadside. The and hungry, some neighbors told him of his loss. farm women had brought out a large gourd full So he turned back up the street and searched for of boiled rice, bowls of pickled cabbage and a her till eleven o'clock. When he returned home bottle of soy sauce. and found her safely restored, he wept for joy with his cheek against hers, saying, 'If we had "The coolies asked, out of politeness, 'Will you • From The Korean Mission Field.
WHEN KOREAN PREACHERS ILLUSTRATE
not found you we could not have slept tonight. from her parents-in-law and for the present of bread for her parents she thought she would take Thanks be to God.' . three pecks of rice. As she sat down in the sedan chair she thought, 'This rice, in addition to my "If a working man with five daughters and a own weight, will be heavy for the chair-coolies.' So she placed the rice on her head and carried it son to support by his labor could so rejoice over there all the way, instead of laying it at her feet. We are just as foolish when We carry our worries the return of his smallest daughter how easy it is instead of placing them in God's keeping."
to conceive of God's joy over one sinner who *** repents." When speaking of the way Christians lose their consciousness of the presence of the Holy Spirit *** in our hearts, Pastor An said, "An old man and his son were going to Seoul and lost their ticket Speaking of thankfulness, Leader Yi told of a on the train. The conductor said he would come through again and told them to keep up their pastor in Fusan who was returning from making search. They hunted through their clothing and baggage and scolded each other. Finally the son calls and heard the sound of suffering coming opened up his underclothing and there in a secret pocket, wrapped up in paper, he found the ticket. from under a bridge. He listened and heard a When you feel you have lost God, do not search the heavens above or the earth beneath, just look voice asking that God would send a Christian to in your own heart."
help the sufferer. Looking down, he saw a leper *** with one foot almost gone. When he spoke kindly Helper Kim told how he had been asked to hold revival services in a church. He started to do so to the leper the diseased one asked, "Are you a and they fed him the poorest variety of rice and lent him no covering for the night, so he could Christian ?" "Yes." On hearing this the leper neither eat nor sleep and spent the night in prayer for the church. The next day, praying for began praying the more earnestly as he thought strength, he went on with his instruction and ex- hortation and, though they did not improve the his prayer was answered. rice, they gave him a thin and unclean comforter. Again he was too cold to sleep but went on with The pastor hastened home and told the Chris- his revival services, with the result that the peo- ple relented and fed him on good rice and supplied tians to collect and send food and warm clothing him with plenty of bedding. As usual, it was not that they did not have the goods, but that they to the leper as he was on the point of departure lacked the grace.
for North Korea to lead some revival meetings in He went on to say that it is not always the Pyengyang. During the meetings he told the story of the leper praying under the bridge.
Someone in the congregation, without giving his or her name, placed forty yen in the collection plate marked, "For the leper." Others, hearing of the gift, contributed more till they had enough to send him to the asylum.
When the pastor visited the asylum after that, the joy, peace and thankfulness of this leper touched his heart. Leader Yi went on to say: "Thankfulness is not in the place and circum- stances of the person. Jesus was thankful under the reign of a Herod or when lying in the stern of a little boat in the midst of a storm."
*** Lay pastor An, telling how useless it is to worry, said: "A young woman in our village was preparing to pay her first visit to her own home LIFTING UP JESUS CHRIST There is a theory, held by some, that Jesus of Nazareth was only an extraordinary man, a Palestinian Socrates, a Galilean Francis of Assisi, a first century ethical teacher, a Jewish prophet, a lofty spiritual genius, the founder of a new religion to be ranked among the other religions of the world.
In reality Jesus is the Way, the Truth, the Life. He is the door. He is the bread of life, and the water of life. He is the vine. He is the morning star. He is the light of the world. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the resurrection. He is the eternal Word. He is the only Saviour from sin. He is God manifest in the flesh. He is the image of the invisible God, the effulgence of God's glory, and the very image of His substance. He is the foundation of the Church, and the head of it.
If any pastor, who feels that his ministry is futile and that his church is losing ground, will exalt the living Christ in his life and his preaching, he will be a winner of souls.-The Christian Observer.
worker who brings revival to the church; some- because it is the beginning of a new cycle. The times it is the church that revives the worker. eldest son usually provides a feast for the parent. There was a woman in a church who had lost her zeal and activity. Her son had gone to Japan to The church people, seeing how sad and lonely find work and when her sixtieth birthday came she was, gave her a better feast than her son could there was no one to provide a feast for her. The have done and she received such a revival from sixtieth birthday is the greatest one in a lifetime this kindness that she became an active worker in the church and well repaid them for their love.
Distributing Bibles to Russians By REV. 1. V. NEPRASH Executive Secretary of the Russian Bible Fund T HE Soviet Government gave permission ten from the police, that meant suffering and financial years ago for the printing of 50,000 Bibles losses to' the Believers, the work of distribution and 50,000 New Testaments under the aus- was organized and 19,966 New Testaments and pices of the Russian Bible Fund. The writer was 2,300 Bibles were distributed to those who wished asked to secure the necessary money and a con- them. Five courses for workers were conducted siderable amount was subscribed in America. daily for about 300 pastors and evangelists. Six Part of the program was carried out when, with- hours were given to instruction in the study of out warning, the Soviet Government cancelled the the Bible, how to organize a church, how to bring permission, and the remaining funds were kept in men to Christ and on the spiritual life of workers. America until there should be opportunity to use Every night large evangelistic services were held. them for the purpose for which they were given. With the help of the pastors, the program of dis- tribution was worked out in detail and it was de- Since Russia is still closed to any Bible distri- cided to give the Scriptures to unbelievers only, bution, the Committee in charge of the fund de- to those who are unable to pay and only to those cided to use the money to make the Scriptures interested enough to read the Book. available to Russians scattered in many places throughout the world. Many were stranded in The distribution was made through Believers foreign lands after the War and when the Com- who, with every copy, gave a testimony concernmunists started a drive for the extermination of ing the Book and the Saviour. the educated Russians, hundreds of thousands fled for life and are now scattered in various parts of One month was spent in Poland, where there the world. are several million Russians and Ukrainians. Services and conferences, with courses for work- Some Evangelical Christians organized the dis- ers were conducted. About 15,000 copies of the tribution in China, Manchukuo and Japan and the Bible are being distributed through the Believers. writer took up the work in parts of Europe where there are large settlements of Russians. Six Danzig proudly calls itself the "Free City." months were spent in Czechoslovakia, Roumania, About 2,000 Russians are in the city and its prov- Poland, Lithuania, Germany and France. The ince. Practically all belong to the former intelresults of this evangelistic work are far beyond ligentsia and many are unemployed, leading a expectation because of the spiritual hunger of the miserable existence. Their hearts are over-burmasses of exiles. dened with the situation. Much sympathy is ex- pressed for Jews who leave Germany and have Eastern Czechoslovakia is populated by over nowhere to go, but there is no mention of almost half a million of Carpathian Russians. Having 2,000,000 Russians who, persecuted by Commurecently traveled in seventeen countries in various nists, had to flee their homeland and have lost parts of the world, I have found nowhere such everything after seeing their relatives massacred poverty as among these people. The Scriptures for no other crime than that they were educated. were received most eagerly. Why is sympathy so one-sided? It seems that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only remedy to heal The eastern province is called Bessarabia, and the wounds. A Russian priest in Danzig was is a Russian province under the Roumanian flag. grateful for the Scriptures offered his poor pa- Three months were spent there with most gratify- rishioners. ing results. In spite of continuous interference
DISTRIBUTING BIBLES TO RUSSIANS
Lithuania is a comparatively small country with crossed himself to express his gratitude to God over 75,000 Russians scarcely touched by the Gos- and almost embraced the writer. pel. Two thousand copies of the Testament are being distributed as a start. When a bishop who has 185,000 in his care was offered the Scriptures, he asked suspiciously: In Germany we found complete freedom for preaching the Gospel and the spreading of the "Why do you do it?" Christian Scriptures. The writer answered that he had been an atheist and was converted through the study of In France there are between 300,000 and 400,- astronomy but had found this a wrong way to go. 000 Russians and about 80,000 are in Paris. Serv- He now knew that the shortest way is through the ices were conducted there every day, two on Sun- Scriptures and so devotes his life to their disday, in the opera house Pleyel, in the center of tribution. the city; they were well attended and the pres- "Through astronomy, you said? Please tell me ence of God was evident. Former colonels, gen- how it happened," begged the bishop with insist- TRAINING RUSSIANS TO BE EFFECTIVE CHRISTIAN WORKERS One of Seven "Courses for Workers" conducted recently in different countries of Europe.
erals, doctors, professors, singers, leaders in the ence. When the story was told all suspicion disfinancial world, ladies of society, brought low by appeared and kindness, almost reverence, took its circumstances, listened intently. place, together with gratitude for the books.
The Russian missionary work in France and When a book is given by us to a Russian, it is Belgium (with her 3,000 Russians) is well organ- taken with the suspicion that it may be a sectarian ized. A Gospel periodical is published and 15,000 book, but when the copy comes from a bishop it copies every month go to Russians in all parts of is received as a holy book, is read with confidence the world. A campaign for the distribution of and believed. New Testaments has been begun and from 5,000 to 10,000 copies will be distributed, for the most Pray for the many thousands of New Testapart through individual Believers. In some cases ments and Bibles being distributed throughout the the clergy of the Russian Church are also ap- world, that they may bring a hundred-fold harvest proached. When a priest in Czechoslovakia was for the glory of God. Without God's blessing, the offered copies of the Scriptures for his parish- books may remain only printed matter, or be deioners he gratefully but hesitatingly asked for 100 stroyed; but through the influence of the Holy New Testaments and 50 Bibles. He did not know Spirit they may become a Living Word in the where to obtain the books. When he was asked hearts of the readers and lead them to Christif he would be willing to distribute copies among the Giver of a new Life of which these Russians non-members of his congregation, he gladly are so greatly in need because of their experiences agreed. When 250 Testaments were offered he of the past and hardships of the present, with no hope for a better future.
Youth Looks at
By CHARLES D. HURREY, New York Secretary of the Committee on Friendly Relations with Foreign Students .r-. AMERICA is in the spotlight. World youth is American the Chinese are laundrymen and con- watching us. They are visiting us, criti- sumers of chop suey and chow mein. We have cising us,and praising us. maligned the Japanese as sly and deceitful. For "You Americans are making us go faster," said most of us, the Filipino is still a tree-dwelling a Syrian young man, "but are you making us grow savage. When young Americans are asked t.o de- better? You can .organize gigantic industrial cor- scribe India, they give inordinate emphasis to porations, build skyscrapers and subways, but you caste, famine, and tigers. Our fear of entangling cannot write anything comparable to the 23rd alliances with Europe perpetuates the popular im- Psalm or the 13th chapter of 1st Corinthians." pression of the French as gay and irresponsible, "You Yankee Americans built the Panama the British as lordly and "high hat," the Germans Canal, but how did y.oU acquire the Canal Zone?" as warlike, the Italians as "dagoes" and the Rus- was the disturbing questi.on put to me by a bril- sians as bewhiskered and red.
Iiant Latin American student. "You imperialistic To offset these weird and unfair judgments we people of North America think of us Spanish need to discover an that is best and beautiful in Americans as a backward people to be exploited others, and to reveal our best to visitors from for gain; you are not willing to meet us as com- overseas. If I could have my way, the schools of rades on a cultural plane." America would be visited frequently by cultured In far-off Australia some are saying: "You are spokesmen from the Orient, Europe, and Latin rapidly becoming a nation of law-breakers; you America. Our youth should be thrilled by the art condemn banditry in China but daylight holdups and musk and literature of other lands. More- menace your metropolitan areas." over we should receive in our homes, clubs, and The youth of Asia attack our color prejudice churches, these guests of culture and refinement.
and racial discriminati.on. They say: "You Fortunately, our college communities are fa- preach brotherhood but you practice injustice; vored with the presence of over 8,000 students you frown upon the caste system of India but you from all parts of the world; sons and daughters lynch the American Negro. Champions of liberty of high officials and business men abroad are now and freedom, you grant n.o Asiatic the rights of mingling with our youth on the American campus.
American citizenship." With alert and open mind they are studying our European 'youth likewise looks us over. "Why civilization at close range. don't you let us run our own affairs?" says a German youth. "Why do you think you are called On the brighter side, here is how they size us upon to be the moral leaders of the world?" up: British youth declare that we grant degrees to "You are a generous people; vast millions are generous donors to our colleges, who have achieved no academic standing. given annually to education, charity, and religion, not only at home but notably abroad. Your cham- "It is not the business of a student to be work- pionship of public health has overcome contagious ing in factory or harvest field," observes an Ox- disease and has enriched life for all. Under your ford student. "It is the business of a student to leadership warfare is waged against poverty, disbe a thinker and to think things through. You ease, ignorance, and crime in the Orient and Latin have achieved only mediocrity in music, art, and America, as well as within your own borders.
literature because in your devotion to popular edu- "Your technique intrigues us; how you do cation you fail to recognize superior talent and things fascinates us. We are here to discover the ability." secret of your gigantic achievements. After all, If these judgments seem harsh and unfair, let this is a land of opportunity, democracy still pre- us remember that we have brought them upon vails, and the people are free to say and write ourselves by maintaining an attitude of aloofness what they think. Here the humblest can rise to and superiority. Have we not thought of Mexi- the highest position in the land, through sheer cans as bandits and bull fighters? To the average merit and hard work.
[38 ] "Darkness is dispelled throughout the world AWAKE, YE CHRISTIAN MEN and mighty forces are placed at man's disposal Words copyrighted by George A. Brown, Elyria, Ohio. Tune-St. Thomas. S. M. by Aaron Williams. because of the inventions of Edison and other Awake, ye Christian men, Americans. We see you victorious in your strug- Behold the world today; gle to master the machine rather than be mastered Great multitudes, like scattered sheep, From God still go astray. by it. Through labor saving devices you are on Come, with a spirit stirred, the way to release men and women from drudgery Obey your Lord's command; and to set free their spirits for contemplating Pray Him to send forth laborers To ev'ry waiting land. eternal values." . Present your gifts to Him, Youthful eyes from every land are upon Amer- Your ·silver and .your gold, ica. What shall they see? Without our effort But,first of all, yourself He asks, That He your life may mold. they may not discover our best, but may drift Go forth, .ye Christian men, into our worst. The preservation of the noblest Proclaim His name abroad, ideals of American youth depends upon the con- That sinners, far and near, may come. To know the Son of God. servation of our Christian character and at the He gave His life for you, same time we must preserve the heritage of beauty His precious blood He shed; and truth possessed by our youthful guests from Serve Him who saves you by His gracet The Church's living Head. afar.
From the standpoint of the development of the Christian world community, no body of young people offer such opportunities as do the foreigtl students in America. If tactfully approached and enlisted in the work of the Christian churches throughout the United States, these young people will become the equivalent of as many foreign missionaries upon returning to their native lands.
TWELVE BASIC FACTS ABOUT ALCOHOL AS A BEVERAGE Whereas the income of people in the United come alcohol addicts; that is, they can dis- continue the practice only at the expense of States has increased 51 % in the past five years, grave discomfort and disturbance. 8. Of those who do not become addicts, the mathe gifts to benevolences have decreased 30% and jority suffer degenerative changes in the the amount spent on alcoholic drink has increased organs and in the vascular and nervous sys- tems. over 300 %. Is it not time we considered the in- 9. The traffic in alcohol is productive of waste, crime, and social deficiency. The social fluence of intoxicants on health and character? burden is comparable only to that of war The following facts are given by investigators: and disease. 10. The alcohol custom and traffic are rooted 1. Alcohol is an irritant, depressant, narcotic deeply in physiological, psychological,ec~ drug. nomic,social, and political motives. .The problem is allied to nearly every other prob- 2. It deprives the tissues of oxygen, hinders the lem, being at once cause and effect. ! functioning of every organ and endangers health by decreasing the efficiency of the 11. The social good can be served only by policies body's defense mechanism. which look toward a diminishing cortsump- tion of alcoholic liquors. Any policy with 3. Alcohol suppresses the higher controls which this purpose and result is acceptable; any are the products of moral and social teach- other ·policy is morally wrong and socially ings, thus causing. disharmony with the disasterous. modern environment. 12. Prohibition of the liquor traffic, by aligning 4. By its effect upon the central nervous system, all of the powers of government against the alcohol slows the reaction time, causing the habit and the traffic, has served the social deaths of thousands of men, women, and good better than any other policy so far children on our highways. tried. There may be better ways of dealing with the liquor traffic and the drinking cus- 5. It decreases physical effidency, impairs the torn; they have not yet been demonstrated. value of mental effort, and disturbs the psychology of the individual.
6. Alcohol is a habit-forming drug. A constantly increased quantity is required to produce a given effect. 7. Because of this habit-forming characteristic, three persons of every ten who drink be-
NEW GUINEA NATIVES HAVING A DANCE FESTIVAL ON A COCOANUT PLANTATION NEW GUINEA PAPUANS AT HOME-PREPARING FOOD
A PEACEFUL SCEKE IN A PAPUAN VILLAGE IN NEW GUINEA, MANDATED
New Guinea Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow -..a{ I By R. R. HANSELMANN I ~- ~==============================~ SLOWLY the wild and unknown spaces of the after the bitter experiences of the pioneers, the world are disappearing. Soon it will no present ten thousand white men are reasonably longer be possible to find a land that mission- safe and comfortable. The one quarter million aries, trade and international politics have not natives of this area have not accepted Christianity penetrated. Outside the polar regions there are as a mere veneer, but have experienced a rebirth but few unexplored areas, and the largest of these of varying degree. The native is pathetically is the vast tropical interior of New Guinea, an anxious to live like a white man, and to imitate island continent much of which is still shrouded both the good and the bad, so that one cannot pre- in mystery, dict the future of the race.
Throughout pioneer days patriots and empire In speaking of the native of yesterday, we mean builders, energetic fortune seekers and zealous the primitive man as he still is in his undisturbed missionaries, were called upon to display a hero- savage life. Possibly a million would be a eon- ism and self-sacrifice perhaps unparalleled in the servative estimate of the population. These naannals of history; and many brave and worthy tives are partly Caucasian, partly Mongolian, lives were as seed planted in the ground, after- with a little Ethiopian blood. Their features are wards to bear the fruits of civilization and right- not as outstanding as the Negro's; their skin is eousness. On a sixty- to eighty-mile border around in various shades of chocolate brown. The men New Guinea, the Christian religion and civiliza- are tall and sturdy, even the pygmies being husky, tion have established themselves securely, for but the women are very small. Men wear tapa [41 ]
cloths and the women grass skirts. Having an promise assistance or protection. When making aversion to water, the primitive man wallows in a new garden, sorcerers are called to drive infilth; fights to protect his clan; cultivates the land sects away. Certain shrubs are planted to attract for food (sweet potatoes, taros, yams, greens and rain and warmth from the sun. Daggers or arrow points are suspended from tree limbs to ward off evil influences. For fighting, hunting, fishing, courting, indeed for every step of life, some sor- cerer plays a role, and each one demands re- muneration. Especially in sickness and death, fear of unseen realities bring terror to the primi- tive man. Gruesome methods are used to scare the captive spirit from a limb or body, and when death comes the whole village laments. In their wailing, they extol the deceased, and try to justify all their past unkindnesses toward him. The widow covers her body with clay to protect her- self from her husband's soul which seeks to snatch her soul away. Suicide is committed, not out of despair or despondency, but out of revenge, for the belief in the power of the departed soul to do evil is real to the man of yesterday.
On the other hand, life in reality is a life of lust. There is nothing to curb desires. The only CANNIBAL PAPUANS CHRISTIAN PAPUANS TODAY (Church Erected by American Lutheran Mission.) bananas); raises pigs, dogs and chickens; and manufactures his own implements and clothing.
Each tribe speaks its own language. The theory is that private contentions caused many separations, and as each ostracized group survived and developed, their language underwent many changes. Unwritten languages are not static. Some tribes suffix their verbs, others prefix them. The irregular verbs in the Amele language number over six hundred. The rules of syntax are almost the opposite of ours. Interpreters that can speak two or three languages are very rare. Their strange melodies reveal an odd rhythm. War and love songs, dance music and mothers' chants are melancholy, like funeral dirges. Fear and superstition leave their indelible traces on the soul, as the weird music bears witness.
Fear of the life hereafter, superstition, and faith in sorcerers make the native of yesterday the most miserable creature on God's earth. A spirit of love and goodness is unknown. By sacrifices or efforts to delude the spirits the natives seek their safety. certain spirits are believed to have their habitation in caves and mountain peaks. There is no trespassing of these premises, and if accidentally or unknowingly entered, fear, or auto-suggestion, would soon claim its victim. The belief that a spirit or enemy may assume another body or form, such as a crocodile or shark, is common.
As animists they seek refuge in sorcerers who
NEW GUINEA YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW
check is the sense of the welfare of the clan, and discover the reality of our God." After years of that is frequently at the expense of the individual. swaying forward and backward, suddenly it is Whatever the majority of the clan decides, the seen that the Holy Spirit has created a new heart, individual accepts. Gluttonous feasting and im~ new desires and lives are changed. After a thormoral dancing carry in their wake physical ough Bible course of two years' instruction, large wrecks. As no primitive tribe has been found that classes are baptized, and out of the night of darkunderstood the physiological phenomena of life, ness and the struggle with the unearthly powers our natives have their erroneous ideas. The girl of evil, children of light and of God arise. to be married is supposed to be a virgin; so rightly we speak of the morals of a primitive people as So it comes about that in the native of today one high, but we must add only in certain respects and sees brighter countenances; cleanliness in private that is due to ignorance and superstition. On the and public life; a lighter rhythm is felt in newly other hand the primitive man is found to reach composed music. Every event and problem of life the very lowest depths. is discussed in the light of God's Word. Public censuring of sin and congregational discipline are We see in the native of yesterday a truly ra~ realities. Church services are crowded, and daily tional human being, imbibed with a spirit created devotions bear witness that religion has com- SOME NATIVE :lEW GUI:lEA GIRLS IX THEIR M'ODERl': DRESS by God, living in constant danger of war, ensnared pletely gripped the masses. A different spirit is in a fearful superstition, given to live a life of astir. There is now no fear of evil spirits; the lust, covered with dirt and groping for a miser- blessings of civilization are self~evident realities. able existence, with the definite doom of falling Baptism becomes a custom. into Satan's hands. But there are influences that pull the other way. But we are thankful to say that many have been The indentured labor system takes the young men saved by the power of the Gospel. This has meant into different surroundings for three years. Over many years of careful, tactful, prayerful work and 33,000 young men are employed by white men, a fierce struggle between God and Satan. The absorbing the virtues and the vices of the white stationing of young Christian native men in bar- man. The native has had no time to adjust- himbaric areas, where in the beginning they are not self to the new mode of life. But always a nucleus called upon to teach and preach, but to live a in the church prays and works to overcome the Christian life, is an effective method, and calls evil influences. for the choicest vessels of God. The devil knows what influence these Christian riatives will exer~ Looking into the future, one sees either a promcise, and he tempts them to the utmost. Every ising nation, or the remnants of a dying race. Bible story is told with this appeal: "Tryout and Clouds are now threatening on the horizon. The Oriental world is making gigantic strides, and
whether New Guinea will remain in the white morrow can be helped to adjust himself to changed man's control is an open question. Japan has re- conditions, a new nation may develop, but if he ceived a lease for an immense area in Dutch New cannot acquire the proper psychological equilib- Guinea. Sea shell poaching between nations is rium, he will succumb. In any case, mission work waged like a little war. White population is in- in New Guinea has a glorious future. The Gospel creasing rapidly. Land is acquired, commercial must, and will be brought to this uttermost part enterprises enlarged, and there is an ever-grow- of the earth, and if the Lord's Word and prophecy ing demand for native laborers. Civilization, find fulfilment with this task, then may the end with its blessings and evils, comes into closer and come. Let us be found doing His will and workeasier reach of the natives. If the native of to- ing while it is day.
A Revival in East"Africa By LUCILDA A. NEWTON, Mabuki, East Africa Missionary of the Africa Inland Mission T HE long prayed for revival seems to be unheard of in this territory. But at our station, breaking upon Tanganyika in such power Nera, the powers of Satan seems to be stronger that it is completely changing the lives of than ever. Perhaps it is because here are gath- ered all the future leaders of the work in the Bible both black and white people. It began in our school and pastors' institute. But the Lord can conquer Nera. Already we have felt the Spirit's Africa Inland Mission teachers' institute in July. power in the giving of His Word such as I have never known before. What years of wasted ef- The native leaders received a real filling of the forts we put forth without His power. In these days, since we have really come to know Him as Holy Spirit, and this spread from them back to the never before, He is bringing us to see the power of His resurrection life. There is a stand of faith white missionaries until half of the Tanganyika where that resurrection power can be continu- ously at work against the enemy. force are so changed that their lives are hardly We feel that this reviving is a preparation for recognized by those who knew them two months something ahead. There is a fellowship of His sufferings that is awaiting us, but we do not know before. The Lord did not pass me by but has the details. With the ,Lord doing such a definite work in our midst, how we need grace, how we wrought such a new work in me that I can truly need humility and continued yieldedness. We feel the Lord has done all of the blessed work of resay that "henceforth I live, yet not I, Christ liveth viving and we cannot take ourselves out of His hand-but we can grieve His Spirit by pride and in me." He has so completely revolutionized my self-sufficiency.
home life that we now have complete unity in the things of the Spirit, whereas for a year we had only misunderstanding. This is happening in the lives of many. We have faith to believe that the work will not cease until every worker has been brought into this relationship with God, through the Spirit. '
We hear from a number of stations that rou- tine work has been put aside and daily souls are coming for prayer and to seek the Lord. It is ANCIENT KINGDOMS IN AFRICA Few people know of the existence of two native kingdoms in the heart of Africa, Ruanda and Urundi, which for centuries had each a line of hereditary rulers. Musinga, now de- throned, was the last of the great heathen monarchs of Central Africa, and in his day had exercised the power of life and death over all his subjects. This power was taken from him in 1916. The two kingdoms are now governed by Belgium under mandatory powers.
The Ruanda General and Medical Mission was founded by the Church Missionary Society. For its work it must depend entirely upon voluntary support, whereas Roman Catholic schools are in receipt of large State subsidies. The Mission has seven stations and nearly fifty mis- sionaries. Each station has its ordained English missionary and its doctor. The native evan- gelists and teachers number about 800; adherents are probably about 30,000 to 40,000. Photo by Mr. and Mrs,. Martin Johnson 'OLD SCH'O'OL AFRICAN WARRIORS-WITH THEIR WARDRUMS NEW SCIJ'O'OL AFRICAN WARRIOR-C'OLP'ORTEUR AT BIBLE DEPOT. KHART'OUM '~ Effective Ways·· of Working r 'Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO SUGGESTIONS FOR THAT No.4; "There.'s too much ml;t- New Philadelphia, Ohio, writes "NEW LEAF" chinery! There's too much ma- this Department as follows: chinery!" Do not be content with the Beside our Missionary Society proprogram of activities or the at- No.5; "Women are not inter- grams, and those of the Guilds, we tainments of 1937. Every liv- ested in missions anymore! intend having a School of Broadening ing thing must grow; even a Women are not interested in Horizons – for the children's groups change to a fresh plan in order missions anymore!" during the church worship hour; and to whet the appetites of the for the young people's and adult membership is well worth while. No.6; "No one reads mission- groups during the B. Y. P. U. hour. The material this month is of- ary lIterature anymore! Noone We expect to have one missionary fered to furnish enlargement reads missionary literature any- prayer meeting a month for eight patterns for pastors, Sunday more !" months. Four will be on the Moslem School workers and leaders of World and four on the Rural theme. both adult and junior missionary No.7; "Women are seeking It is surprising how much there is groups. As a keynote, read this honor only for themselves! available for interesting programs digest of a clever skit given at a Women ate seeking· honQr only when one begins to cast around. For meeting of the Methodist women for themselves!" the rural programs I expect to have of the Cincinnati district, at three progressive rural pastors, all Lakeside, Ohio, last summer: Indignantly the leader says: graduates of college and seminary, "They can;t do this to our new alive to present-day problems, come A Study in Ghosts program! Can't somebody quiet in and speak on such subjects as Co- them ?" operatives, Problems of the Rural The leader of a meeting, out- Church, and the Rural Home of Tolining the new plans for the At this seven women from the day. A stereopticon lecture on Colcoming year, was disturbed by audience rush up and reply for- portage Work will complete the Rural confused talking and groaning cibly, in turn. Each objecting programs. I find that within a radius behind the curtain to her rear. ghost repeats her phrase upon of thirty miles are living several mis- She said: being asked what is the matter sionaries on furlough. One is from with her, and is answered in in- Cairo, one from northern India "Somebody seems to be mak- dignant terms: (where the Moslems are strongest), ing a fuss back there. Will one and one from Nigeria. I am asking of you please go back and see "Others are doing this. . . . them to speak especially on their conwhat it's about?" There must always be a first tacts with the Moslems in these widely time for everything," etc. separated fields. I hope to have a According to prearrangement, moving picture on the Mohammedan a member of the audience looked As each ghost is told, in her topic complete this series. behind the curtain and said, turn, to "begone!" she slinks off, looking furtively behind, and the Your suggestions in the M,ISSIONARY "There's a whole group of the sixth speaker says: REVIEW OF THE WORLD are invaluable, queerest looking people back and I am looking forward eagerly to there. I think you'd better see "You're nothing new-you're forthcoming issues. them." all ghosts of creatures dead long ago." These kindly words of appre- The curtains are opened re- ciation are passed along to the vealing seven ghostly figures As the last ghost repeats her constituency, whose materials, in (sheeted and with faces cray- cry that women seek honor only the main, are used in our departoned) , writhing, t w i s tin g, for themselves, the leader looks ment. wringing their han d s, and up and says: groaning thus: Christian Youth in Missionary "Dear Christ, can it be pos- Action No.1; "It can't be done! It sible that this is true of many of can't be done!" us ?" She closes with a prayer Under this challenging title, of repentance and consecration, S. Franklin Mack, authorized by No.2; "We never did it be- while groans continue behind the International Committee of fore! We never did it before!" the scenes. Religious Education and in co- operation with the Missionary No.3; "It costs too much. It This scene is very forcible. Education Movement, has writcosts too much!" Try it. ten a pamphlet for the series is- sued for young people using the A Pastor Includes the Men United Christian Youth Move- ment literature. Rev. Rodney C. Gould, pastor of the First Baptist Church at [46 ]
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
The pamphlet in question out- duce, we have usually come to use for Rally Day. Another was lines "what individual young a home mission play, 'The Mispeople and young people's socie- the end of the course rather sionary Barrel,' found in a colties can do for missions." It exhausted and wondering how lection of mission plays pubgives a brief survey of the voca- much we had accomplished. . . . lished by MacMillan; and tional aspect of missions, with a another was a foreign mission summary of the qualifications With all of our efforts, most of play called 'The Dawning of the required of the missionary of our churches are giving mission Morning,' published by the Abthe future. If your young peo- ingdon Press. ple are not already enlisted, by study to the very people who all means arrange a rally at the "Besides this program in the call of the pastor, Sunday school need least to be worked with, Sunday school we gave three superintendent or the Woman's while few of the great majority Wednesday evening services and society and present the cause in of people whose outlook is cold two Sunday morning church the most forceful way possible. or indifferent to the mission services to various phases of It is suggested that Mr. Mack's causes can ever be dragged to mission interest. leaflet be reviewed as an intro- the classes. ductory feature, and that talks "We found that the people follow on the sub j e c t s of "Last fall we decided to put manifested a spontaneous inter- "Friendship Frontiers – What mission study into the Sunday est in this mission program. We Are They?" "How Does One school. We carried on the reg- used no urgent methods to get Stake a Claim?" "Presbyterian people to come. Yet every de- Leagues That Work," "Maga- ular work of the school, every partment in the school began to zines and Program Booklets," class studying the Bible lessons_ have increased attendance. . . . and the "Youth Budget." Al- More men were reached with ready it is reported from a va- but we also found considerable mission study than ever before riety of sources that missionary time available for mISSIOns. by our church. giving has increased noticeably Class periods were lengthened since the adoption of the plans ten minutes, with the under- "By conducting our mission outlined in the pamphlet. standing that each teacher would course as we did, we accom- spend the extra time in giving plished s eve r a I worth-while For this material and other information missionary information. All achievements. One was the natwrite The Missionary Education Movement, uralness of approach to the mat- 150 Fifth Ave., New York. teachers were supplied with lit- ter and the effectiveness of the erature, properly graded accord- education given on behalf of the For Pastors and Sunday ing to departments. mission causes. Another was School Superintendents the discovery that mission edu- "We also arranged special cation provides a remarkably Rev. William Crowe, Jr., pas- missionary programs for united elastic technique. We believe tor of the First Presbyterian that we have only begun to Church of Bluefield, W. Va., assembly periods that lasted discover the possibilities for wrote recently in The Presby- from thirty to forty minutes delightful entertainment and terum Survey regarding his pas- each. These programs were de- attractive study offered by this torate of a similar church in signed to make as popular an method. Still another accom- Talladega, Ala. His article plishment was the unexpected (adapted) is as follows: appeal as possible. The united effect the program had on our assembly included ages from Sunday school attendance and "We believe that our experi- interest." ence offers at least one ap- junior to adult. The special misproach to the mission-study sion study period began with Sequence in Program Building problem that is elastic and Rally Day and went through adaptable and popular. seven Sundays to November It is scarcely necessary to 15th. stress the value of a dominating "For eight or ten years we topic as a picturesque feature in have devoted one or more peri- "For our assembly periods we a series of programs. It seems ods each year to mission study. used a variety of programs. to be one of those devices that Some years our method has have a universal appeal. This been to have classes for men, There was one address entitled, year the figure of "Windows" is for women, and for young peo- 'Under Seven Flags,' in which played upon in one or another ple. Other years we have had department of nearly all packets completely organized schools of there was given a brief summary of literature sent for inspection. missions with classes for every of our home and, foreign mission age-group. . . . We believe we Following this fig u r e, as have given this plan as com- responsibilities. The other pro- adopted by the Baptist women, plete and sincere a trial as grams were designed primarily for their national theme, the could be given. After inject- to give instruction and inspira- Woman's Society of the First ing into our plans all the inge- Church of Santa Ana, Calinuity and energy we could pro- tion through entertainment. fornia, has incorporated in its beautiful thirty-eight page year "We made arrangements in New York for a series of two- reel motion pictures presenting information or plots relating to the mission movement.
"Some of the most effective work done in the missionary education course was through the medium of mission plays. One was a home mission pag- eant, 'The Living Cross,' se- cured from the Northern Meth- odist Church and adapted to our
book a series of "vistas" as their STAGE SETTING FOR A SEPTE,MBER PROGRAM monthly program topics, with the undergirding idea of opening windows of opportunity for service, as well as placing them where none exists-as in Indian hogans and Moslem purdahs- to let God's love shine in.
Their theme song is, "Let the Blessed Sunshine in," and the devotional hymn, "Open My Eyes That I May See." The membership list is "Viewers at Our Window." A "Memorial Window" records the name of those who have died during the year. The devotional series in- cludes: "Outlook-Skyward" (Psa. 19: 1-3). After this program on "Open- August porch party to which "Outlook – into the Valley" (Psa. ing Our Window," there came: contributions for Christmas 34: 19.22). boxes were made and impersona- "Outlook-at the Fountain" (Deut. "Windows of Opportunity." tions given of missionaries- 8: 21; John 4: 14). "Dingy Windows" (rural work). home and foreign – telling of "Outlook-toward the Hills" (Psa. "Shining Windows" (union evening Christmas on their fields. 121) . meeting with the youthful mission- "Outlook-in the Garden" (Isa. 58: ary groups). "Tower Windows" – a pro- 11). "Desert Panorama." gram on student work at home "Outlook- at the Harvest" (Luke "Rose Window" (stewardship). and in union Christian colleges 10: 1-2). "College Windows" (Christian edu- abroad (Baptist Board of Edu- "Outlook – Looking at the Sun" cation) . cation, 152 Madison Ave., N. Y., (Mal. 4: 2). "Sunlit Windows" (White Cross and The Cheer Leader, Sept., work for missionary hospitals). 1936, put out by the Foreign "Outlook-toward the Cross" (Luke "Walls without Windows" (Moslem Mission Conference of North 9: 23). purdahs). America, 156 Fifth Ave., N. Y.). "Paper Windows" (Chinese work "Outlook-into the Pasture Land" for women). "Cottage Win dow s" – on (Psa. 104: 14). "Closing our Window" (annual Rural Work in America (MIS- meeting in June). "Outlook-at the Shadow" (Psa. The August space was labeled: SIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, 91: 1; 63: 7). "Our Windows Closed, Blinds Drawn." June, 1937; 25 cents). All the monthly programs are Due to many requests In the past for "God's Windows" – women's samples of these lovely annuals, it is stated called "Vistas" and are intended that a limited number of copies are left and prayer meeting for missions may be obtained for 25 cents each. There with special effort to have older to open windows, as stated pre- is evidently no profit for' the compilers. women attend and take part, a Thanksgiving dramatization beviously. The September pro- More Windows ing given (Woman's Missionary Association of United Brethren gram – built around a beauti- The standard Baptist program in Christ, 1412 U. B. Building, built around .this theme includes: Dayton, Ohio). fully decorated stage-furnished "Memorial Win dow s" – a "Shop Windows" – a window a preview of the year's work. study on missionaries who have box opening and program on op- gone out from the participants' portunities for service. The stage was arranged as a own state. "Latticed Windows"-sketches garden and showed a sash win- "Cabin Windows" – migrant of Christian Nationals who are work-with a luncheon of foods witnessing for Christ ("The dow looking eastward. This picked by migrants and imper- Way of the Witnesses"). sonations on "Around the Campwindow, when opened by the fire." "Sunlit Windows" – imper- sonations of missionary doctors president, made way for nine "Stained Glass Windows"- and nurses at home and abroad. an evening meeting on Peace short episodes illustrating the (men of the church invited) at "Barred or Open Windows"- which a pageant, "The Triumph devotional me e tin g inviting phases of work to be emphasized of Goodwill," was given (Coun- women from other churches and cil of Women for Home Mis- presenting a good speaker on in the monthly programs. These sions, 105 E. 22nd St., New "Are Your Windows Open or York; 35 cents plus royalty of Barred ?" Opening of window episodes consisted of mono- $5.00 for each presentation). boxes follows. logues, pantomimes, dialogues, a "Casement Win dow s," an song, skits, and other features.
Through the year the window box will bear its blooms as the gift boxes are opened. At the left of the stage was a cathedral window, the framework of which stood five feet high and was made so that the designs could be filled in with various colors as the money was received. It was very lovely even before the colors were added. . The Council of Women for Home Missions EDITH E. LOWRY, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 297 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK, N. Y.
~'I~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PRICE OF SUGAR the greater part of the army of deeper; 1931-lost everything; migrant laborers of the United 1932 – hit the road; 1935- A summer under open skies, serving the farmers of Cali- A child-a thousand children, States. They had come to these fornia as a 'fruit tramp.' " A burning sun, cold rains shores to better themselves. To- -And sugar beets. day the grandchildren of these Where Do They Live? A summer working sugar beets, early immigrants are harvesting And youth – youth pulled and the crops. But even a greater Migrants have to live in all kinds of places, a shack provided topped number of the 2,000,000 and by the employer, a tent on the And plowed beneath the soil more migrant workers today are banks of an irrigation ditch, or -As fertilizer. Anglo-American, forced into mi- just under the trees. In one Youth pulled and topped, and grancy by misfortune. In 1937 camp where shacks were pro- vided by the employer, one fairly granulated, in a camp in Delaware, an ap- large room housed from one to And weighed – weighed out in palling number were people who three families-as many as eight had lost their homes because of people in a single room. In an- bags Florida floods, typhoons and other camp in the East there For us to buy, and please storms. Many had once been ac- were two water faucets for 420 Our tooth for sweets. tive in communities, taking part people. Because of the crowded A summer under open skies, in church work, lodges, and other condition in some of the shan- A child-a future forming; civic organizations. In this ties, straw was strewn over the No schooling to distract group were a trained nurse, an floor with no pretense of mak- From sugar beets. ing a bunk. experienced mechanic, a railroad FRANCES B. WILLIAMS. engineer, a fireman, a plumber. Squatters' Camps-a new de- velopment in the far west, are Father of all mankind, we They felt that all hope of ever even worse. Dr. Taylor tells of pause in the haste of our daily being anything but migrants a tour of these camps. "We lives to come with quietness into found filth, squalor, an entire ab- T'hy presence. May thy strength had fled. sence of sanitation, and a crowdand thy spirit fill us and may the In the West, and Southwest, ing of human beings into totally love which thou hast for all man- inadequate tents or crude struckind flood our hearts. We would refugees from the Dust Bowl tures built of boards, weeds and at this time bring before thee form the greatest part of the anything that was found at hand those men and women and young migrant labor group. "These to give a pitiful semblance of a people who earn their meager home at its worst. In this enliving. by gathering from the people," Paul S. Taylor writes. vironment there is bred a social fields the food that shall feed us; "are victims of dust storms, of sullenness. It is horrible that who bear the heat of the noon- drought which preceded the children are reared in such an day sun, the long hours of labor, environment." and the rush of the cannery serv- dust, of protracted depression ice while we benefit from their which preceded the drought. 'It What Do They Earn? toil. Weare conscious, 0 Fa- seems like God has forsaken us ther, of their longing for per- back there in Arkansas,' said' a "Employment is intermittent, manent homes, of their unful- jobs are often precarious, and .filled hopes for their children. former farm-owner at a San annual income is low. A study Make us eaually conscious of our Luis Obispo pea-pickers' camp. of 165 migrant families showed responsibilities as Christian citi- that 30.9 % received less than zens to mitigate so far as we can 'The cotton burned up' is the $300 annually and 13.3 % less the hardships of their toil. common story. They are largely than $200 per family."
M. KATHARINE BENNETT. farmers who have been carrying Who Wants Them? on agriculture on the family pat- WHO ARE THE MIGRANTS tern which has been so long re- "Only the employer and he TODAY? garded as the great source of wants them only until his crop stability in our nation. One of Twenty years ago immigrants them, recently picking fruit with from poorer countries made up his family in the Sacramento Valley, told succinctly this story of his decline from farmer to farm laborer: 1927 – mad e $7,000 as a cotton farmer in Texas; 1928-broke even; 1929 -went in the hole; 1930- [49 ] is harvested. "The develop- Council of Women for Home the way they used to. But they can't understand why Jesus didn't hate the ment of normal relationships be- Missions tell a story of the 'mean bad men' who killed him. I tween citizens and community, achievement of this Christian told the children that those who and between employer and em- service. wanted Jesus crucified thought they ployee, is not favored by con- In Tomatoes were doing right. This led to a dis- cussion. Charles said, 'If I had been stant movement. 'My father "I don't know if you'll recognize our there, I would have told them a thing was a track foreman at $1.25 a nursery, for now instead of rugs for or two.' Edna said to him, 'Jesus day, but we lived in a house and the toddlers to sleep on we have cribs. would have wanted you to love them.' " everybody knew us,' said a fruit A bureau which I painted cream to tramp. 'This rancher has us for match our green and cream linoleum, In Onions two or three weeks, and then holds the diapers, sheets, etc., on top "At lunch time long tables were athe's thru wjth me. He knows me tractively set by some of the children till he's through with me.' 'Resi- of which is a scale on which the babies and flowers picked for the center denters' look askance at the pieces. A wholesome well-balanced nomads, and treat them as 'out- are weighed regularly every two lunch was served and simple table landers.' Children are stigma- manners taught. When Mary was tized at school as 'pea pickers.' " weeks. Why, Annamae has already seated on a chair made from an orange crate, at the clean simple table, she What the Church Is Doing gained a pound." . . . ' beamed and said, 'My, just like Sun- day!' The hardships of migratory "And our Young People's Club, for life are only hinted at in the "After lunch each child took his above excerpts. Eighteen years youth of 14-20 has been a howling suc- new toothbrush from his own nail on ago the churches began to know about the migrants and their cess. Its purpose is to provide some- the wall, and enthusiastically went needs. It was then that the first through a peppy toothbrush drill. thing worth while for the young peo- After that they all lay down on the thinly covered floor for afternoon ple who are working. A program of naps. Some of the older children were so tired from caring for younger Negro History, Handcraft, and Rec- brothers and sisters, that they thank- reation has been planned. We meet two nights a week.
"A social hygiene forum meets each Monday afternoon and was composed of young men. The average attend- ance was a~out thirty. Some of the subjects discussed were Love, Venereal Diseases, and Marriage."
effort was made to help them. It In Tobacco fully fell asleep on the hard floor. was a unified effort of seven My how good just a small pillow women's denominational home "About twenty came to the recrea- would have felt." mission boards through the tion hall this evening. The group Council of Women for Home "Because many of the children Missions. They sought to im- planned a swim for Monday night. understood very little English, I tried prove these conditions through various ways to help them underthe enactment of protective leg- The group is starting to look on the stand the story. The most successful islation. At the same time they was to make paper figures of people felt responsible for meeting the schedule posted on the porch. Cipus and place them on the table as I went girls brought some Polish records. So along. Afterward they could make their own figures and re-tell the story far the young neople's group has in their own words. When one 10- immediate physical and spir- played darts, bean bag, toss golf, ping- year-old boy was re-telling the story itual needs of the migrants pong and quiet games. Last year of 'Let the little children come unto through public health nurses, me,' with the use of paper people, he recreational directors, visiting about all they wanted to do was said, 'The men wanted to keep the teachers and religious education children away, but Jesus said'-and he leaders in agricultural and can- dance." stumbled over the long verse he had nery areas. Through the years just learned, but finally said, usine: "Alvin came again today. The words of his own vocabulary: 'Jesus the Christian Service in Migrant little fellow asked if he could do the said, "Let 'em come."'" Camps has spread to over fifty dishes and clean the room. I have never seen a child who enjoyed clean- MY CREED ing up a room as much as he does. I wish he could do something in his own home." …
"While I made a game, Selma, who is about ten, read 'Songs from the Slums' by Kagawa. She enjoyed areas in thirteen states. Eight- them very much and from her com- ments I feel that she really under- "The food that I share with een denominations now cooper- stood them. She asked me questions ate. Employers are helping; lo- about him. Later in the afternoon others Is the food that nourishes me. cal communities are accepting a she said that when she read poems The strength that I spend for share in the work as a part of like those and about people who were others their home mission program. so kind she felt sorry for .all the lies Is the strength that I retain. On the World Day of Prayer The freedom I seek for others thousands of groups throughout she told." the country are remembering "As I work I enjoy noticing the Make's me forever free.
growing community spirit among the workers. Almost no profanity. Do a lot of talking about wearing ap- The pain that I ease in others the migrant families in their Shall take away my pain. prayers and in their gifts. The~ parel, menus, clothes, weddings. We The load that I lift from others had craft work. The boys made some Makes my l.Dad disappear. gifts have opened more Chris- checkers. One made a bouquet of flowers out of a tin can and some The good that I see in others tian Centers and sent more Comes back my life to cheer. paper." Christian nurses into migrant The path that I walk with camps. Work is under way in "It has always been considered adthirteen s tat e s, thirty-three mirable here to hit back, and to make others the person cry who is tormenting you. Is the path God walks with more states have migrants but The children favor the idea of loving me."
no work. the one who is mean to you, so he GRACE HILL FREEMAN. The following excerpts from won't want to be mean anymore. I notice them through the day trying it reports of the workers under the out. They don't seem'to admire fights
'~I Our World–wide
i A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events A EDITED BY MRS. HENRIETTA H. FERGUSON, XENIA, OHIO ~'I================================ MISCELLANEOUS cupied with the war. The hosts nearly fifty officer-instructors, of refugees are spreading infec- specialists in their various de- The Church's Challenge tion and a major epidemic may partments, assist the principal. accompany the turn of the year. United foreign mission boards Typhus, smallpox and meningitis -The Life of Faith. of North America and the Fed- are among the possible dangers. eral Council of the Churches of The Value of Christian Christ in America have formu- This is only an illustration of Colleges lated proposals regarding what how the whole world is influthe Christian Church can do in enced for good or for evil by It is interesting to know that the present world crisis. what takes place in one country. eight of our chief justices were Plague, cholera, influenza, war, college graduates, while seven of 1. Align itself with the condemna- crime, vice will spread if they the eight were from Christian tion of the practices of war as de- are not counteracted by health, schools. Eighteen of our nation's scribed in the words of the World peaceful pursuits, friendliness, presidents have been. college Conference in Oxford. education, morality, and the graduates, while .sixteen of the spirit of Christ. eighteen were from Christian 2. Declare its horror that in these schools. Eighteen of the twentydays any government should resort to Training for Salvation Army five masters of American letters war, "declared" or "undeclared," as a Workers were college men, while sevenmeans of obtaining political or eco- teen of the eighteen were from nomic advantage, or as a punitive The training of Salvation Christian colleges. Of the memmeasure. Army officers is a highly special- bers of our national congress, ized process: it has as much to whose efforts or prominence 3. Lead in arousing public opinion do with personality as with pro- have secured for them a place in to support the government in trans- gram. It is directed to fitness "Who's Who," two-thirds of forming a policy of irresponsible iso- for a keen-edged evangelism. them were graduates of Chrislationism into one of active participa- The original training period was tian schools. tion in the organizing of the political six months, but in 1904 it was and economic forces of tb.e world for extended to nine months. -George W. Truett. the purpose of establishing justice and goodwill. In urging such a proposal, London, England, has a train- NORTH AMERICA we repudiate the thought that it in- ing school which accommodates volves reliance upon military or naval 450 cadets, mostly from Great Paganism in U. S. force, or such measures as are apt to Britain, but there are also at lead to war. present representatives of South The Ministerial Association of Africa, Finland, the West Indies, Los Angeles, California, after 4. RecfJgnize the difficult position Holland and Java. In addition, nine months of investigation, rein which Christians in Japan and three junior officers from Swe- ported 120 pagan societies hold- China find themselves today. den and two native officers from ing regular meetings in and East Africa are taking the about the city. They teach and 5. Understand more clearly the im- course. All walks of life are rep- practice various non-Christian portance of its missionary enterprise resented – professional, skilled faiths, hybrid religions or phiand provide more adequately for its and clerical labor, and almost losophies, largely based upon support. The failure of Christians to every branch of industrial ac- Hinduism. Also it was found witness effectively throughout the tivity. The course include.s that Rosacrucianism has a larger world to the realities of their faith is Bible study, public speaking and nl'mber of followers than any one of the causes of our present dis- preparing addresses, principles evangelical church in the city. tress. and methods of social welfare work, first aid, home nursing -Alliance Weekly. 6. Translate its testimony into deeds and simple medical lectures; of mercy. also practice in house-to-house Religion Through Films visitation. Careful record is 7. Testify to its faith in the reality made of each student's progress, During the recent General of the Kingdom of God. which is tested both as to study Convention of the Episcopal and outdoor activity. A staff of Church held in Cincinnati, dem- -American Board News. onstration was given of a re- [51 ] cently launched plan for "visual A Warning to the World The League of Nations sends a warning that the whole world needs to be on its guard against an epidemic of disease originating in China. The cholera plague is rapidly spreading now in China, owing to the disturbed condition of affairs, the attention of the Government being oc-
religion." A fifteen- or twenty- she will provide an hour of care- Practical Cooperation minute film, to take the place of the sermon at the evening serv- fully planned religlOus nurture The Presbyterian Board of ice, relates to three or four sub- for from 600 to 1,uOO American National Missions has been cojects selected from newsreels youth, one half of whom have no operating with the Board of Forwhich present some phase of eco- vital connection with any exist- eign Missions in providing short nomic or social problems. While ing church or Sunday school." periods of training in National the film is being shown the Missions hospitals for new leader asks questions designed Here we see a new method in to stimulate the thinking of the the field of church work. A nurses under appointment to the congregation. After the pictures number of states provide for at foreign field. This arrangement have been shown, the leader, least an hour of Christian trainpreferably the pastor, would ing each week under the direc- gives the Foreign Board an optake a few minutes in which to tion of the church. In other portunity to tryout new worksummarize the Christian atti- states there is no prohibition .of ers, and gives the nurses experitude toward the problems seen such a plan. ence in extension or field nursing on the screen. The plan has been tried out in Spokane, One such teacher in New Jer- programs which both Boards are Washington, and leaders declare sey spends four days each week carrying on. It also renders the it met with a good response. National Board relief at two in four consolidated r u r a I points where, because of the in- The "Christian Cinema Coun- schools, passing from grade to creasing demand for medical cil" in England is considering a grade each period of the day. – care and the recent difficulty in plan to make religious films of This work is made possible by filling vacancies due to the Govthree types: (1) Films with a the cooperation of the Board of ernment's enlarged activities in moral or reI i g i 0 u s object; National Missions of the Pres- health, the nursing load has been (2) films illustrating the work byterian Church, the Board of too heavy for the staffs to carry. of the Church at home and Home Missions and Church Exabroad; and (3) films for direct -Monday Morning. -evangelism. tension of the Methodist Epis- Gideon Bibles in the Schools copal Church, and the public Stewardship Conference school authorities. A prelim- The "Gideons" of Canada have inary survey showed that many Church leaders representing been at work placing Bibles in of the children enrolled were 23 churches and other religious the Dominion's public schools. otherwise unreached by the bodies in the United States and The Gideon ministry of the U. S. church. Canada, with a communicant has now added this feature to membership of at least 23,000,- their work. Here is a quotation This plan is past the experi- 000, met in Philadelphia in Nofrom an article that recently ap- ment stage. For the millions of vember to search for a realistic peared in The Gideon: boys and girls unreached by a~y and scientific Christian attitude church it offers the only defimte toward money-making, money- The burglary insurance rate is religious training that they are spending and the use of life. $12.00 per thousand in Bos~on; ~22.00 ever likely to receive. The conference the m e was in New York; and $27.50 In ChIcago. "Stewardship as an Approach to Is there any connection between these -Christian Advocate. figures and the fact that the Bible has been read daily in the public Methodist Union Plan Experience and Problem!'." The schools of Boston for sixty-five years, discussions centered upon the for twenty-two years in New York, and excluded for thirty years from Unification of three Methodist principles of the Bible, interthe schools in Chicago? denominations, having approxi- preted in modern economic and Girl + Auto = Christian mately 8,000,000 members in all spiritual terms, the practical ex- parts of the world, lacks only the periences of every day, and Education final approval of the Methodist upon a number of definite rules "A college-trained girl with an Episcopal Church, South. O~ of daily conduct applicable to additional year of special train- cials announce that the ArmIS- every normal relationship of ing in religious education can tice Day voting increased to every human being. teach a junior department of thirty pupils in a Sunday school. nearly 90 per cent the majority Religious Work at Government Seven days later she can bring in favor of the merger. They the impact of her training and Projects personality back to the same said 30 of the 42 conferences task. Give this same welltrained young lady an auto- reported a favorable majority, "United Youth" is the name mobile, set her on the trail of and that approval was practi- of a society of young people in public school groups and, from cally assured. The general ses- the interdenominational work Monday morning to Friday night, conducted by the Home Missions sion of that denomination will be held in Birmingham next Council at Grand Coulee Dam, Washington. About 6,000 men May.
The new unified church, to be are employed by the federal gov- known as the Methodist Church, ernment at Grand Coulee, and will have five geographical juris- the community numbers at least dictions. A sixth jurisdiction 20,000. Three groups of moth- will include Negro churches and ers are organized as a federated conferences. club, and a young mother's club
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
has been organized. About 60 sink and running water, with to all the patients. Tracts and persons attend the morning tow rugs on the floor and cur- Gospels have been given to the church service, and 80 attend tains at the windows. The gar- prisoners in two penitentiaries dens have added all sorts of in near-by cities." Bible school. Similar projects are at Boul- flowers and many kinds of fruits der City, Nevada, where about and vegetables. Helpful as this is, the spiritual improvement Tension Eases in Mexico 180 attend Sunday school; at that has come is far more im- Bonneville Dam, Oregon, where portant.-Christian Advocate. With the exception of the 250 families live in this seven- states of Tabasco and Chiapas, mile-long par ish, and Boy LATIN AMERICA which contain less than five per S co u t s, Christian Endeavor, cent of the population of Mex- Sunday school and church serv- Gospels for Mexico's Soldiers ico, church services are being ice are conducted; and at Ten- conducted normally all over the nessee Valley, particularly Cum- Rev. N. W. Taylor writes that country, and the former tension berland Homesteads, where the the need for buying a new car is eased. Many Mexican priests pastor conducts the equivalent providentially led to a new de- have settled in the United States of an· institutional church pro- velopment in work among sol- near the border, where they are gram, features of which are diers in Mexico. He says: serving parishes of their own interdenominational Sun day nationals. school, worship service and "While breaking in the new young people's organizations. car I could not take it up into Although there seems to be no the mountains and so decided to law on the subject, theological Over the Tea Cups drive down the valley to a city seminaries have not been per- 75 miles away. There had been mitted to function in a conspic- The second annual Christian a few army outposts on this uous way during the past three Friendliness Tea in Seattle was highway and I planned to visit years. The Presbyterian Semattended by seventy-five people, them. The miles sped by with- inary in Coyoacan, a suburb of with G re e k, Spanish-Jewish, out finding any soldiers and we Mexico City, has been closed by Danish, Bulgarian, Italian, Al- began to feel that no work could the government, and it is feared banian, Japanese and Chinese be done. At last we reached an that the Union Seminary in the nationalities represented. The airport on the outskirts of the capital city may suffer likewise. guest violinist was Kosiko Ta- city, where we saw an outpost jitsu, a fourteen-year-old Jap- with a large number of soldiers. -Christian Century. anese girl, who two years ago Approaching the officer I found toured Japan as the soloist of that the adjutant of the battalion Building for Peace in Chile the Tokio Symphony Orchestra. was in ,the camp at that very Her talented thirteen-year-old moment. When he learned what Boys and girls in Valparaiso:s sister played the difficult accom- I wanted to do, he not only gave schools have addressed a peace paniments with skill. The girls me permission to distribute lit- message to all American school are members of the Japanese erature to the men in the outpost children. Congregational Church. The but insisted that I come into Japanese Consul's wife and the town to the barracks. There we Children of America – Again we wife of the Chinese Vice~Consul arranged with the Colonel to re- raise our voices over the mountains were guests of honor. turn on a certain day to give and across the rivers and plains to Gospels and tracts to all the men. bring you our message of peace-:-that -Watchman-Examiner. On that occasion we met the peace which we so much desire and to which the Christ of the Andes, with open arms outstretched over the eter- nal snows, seems symbolically to call us.
Self-Help for Negroes Colonel of another unit, and Children of America! Let us unite when he saw us giving litera- in an affectionate embrace and forget Mary Lee Jones, A.B., Rust ture to all the troops he invited the rivalries which have separated us College, home demonstrator in for so many years. us to visit his battalion. At the Listen – An anxious call comes to the Mississippi Delta:has proved same time an introduction was us from over the sea. It is the call of given to still another battalion our brothers and sisters in Spain. It that one can teach an old dog in a town about twenty miles is the anguished cry of the orphans, new tricks. She finds Negro innocent victims of that fratricidal women forty years old are eager away. struggle.
to learn and are adopting new "Since the first of 1937, twelve In these days of suffering, only our and better ways. Under Miss new regiments or battalions continent, America, conserves its land without war. A great love and a fra- J ones' guidance, eight school have received Gospel portions ternal hope should unite its inhabigrounds and four cemeteries and tracts when in formation on tants. Let us then take care, brothers have been improved; one com- their own parade grounds. In and sisters of America, that this fire munity has bought and installed the offices of three general burns and maintains itself, so that fu- ture generations may enjoy the fruits an eighteen-quart pre s sur e headquarters, New Testaments of eternal peace, which reflects the cooker and six other clubs have have been given to all the staff realization of the sublime desire of the half the money raised for such officers, including the General. Master when he said: "Peace on an installation. Eighty-two cab- Three military hospitals have earth, good will to men." -The Churchman. ins have been improved with a been visited and literature given 54 THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD [January Mennonites as Evangelists sum mer vacation in trekking neva Bible School. By the middle of October, about 3,000 copies in A group of more than 2,000 through the towns and villages fifty-one languages had been sold Russian Mennonites who left in three months. home penniless have lived for of the British Isles, in an effort some years in a colony in the Those in charge of the Kiosk Chaco, Paraguay. These years to reach the unsaved. Their tes- have had many opportunities for have been full of difficulty, partly personal witness and interviews. owing to the difference in climate timony is t hat unscheduled With every Bible sold, one or from that to which they were ac- two leaflets are given as a guide customed, and from the effects events and the consequent alter- to reading, and to the knowledge of the Paraguayan – Bolivian of personal salvation. war. The privileges of religious ation of plans invariably refreedom guaranteed by the Gov- -The Christian. ernment have been faithfully vealed divine overruling. On observed, and the church life of Outlook in Spain this colony is healthy. They are one occasion, finding that they interesting themselves in the Mr. W. C. Edwards, who has spiritual welfare of their Indian had a day to spare, the trekkers spent some time in Spain, says neighbors, and though their op- that the future for Gospel teachportunities of actual witness are pressed on to a town in York- ing in that unhappy land seems limited they have a deep concern very dark; and utterly imposfor their evangelization. The shire they had not intended to sible at present. The Catholic inclusion of an immigrant group Church, wherever it is under of evangelicals in the life of a visit. Holding an open-air meet.. Franco's rule, is all powerful, country has not always had as and every day it is applying the much effect upon the life of the ing there in the evening, they spirit and law of the Inquisition nation as might have been upon the poor terror-stricken hoped, and it is, therefore, an found the people hungry for the people. C r 0 sse s have been encouraging sign that this Men- erected in some central squares, nonite colony is concerned to Gospel, and six decided for and an altar, with policemen witness to the people of their always on the watch, and woe benew home country. Christ. tide the person who passes with- out bowing to it and giving the -World Dominion Press. Another benefit was the prac- Fascist salute. He is arrested at once. -The Christian. • Oonversions in Peru tical experience gained on the As a Militarist Sees Religion Rev. A. C. Snead, of the Chris- trek. Students learned how to tian Alliance, visiting Quechua While Hitler and Mussolini Indians, writes in .the Alliance concentrate in preparation of have fundamentally the same ob- Weekly: jective, the latter is pursuing a addresses when distances re- sounder plan to attain it in at- God is at work here in Peru, espe- tacking one obstacle at a time, cially in faraway mountain and nuired much time on the road. and has not as yet molested the jungle sections. In Tayabamba, Church or ,the Jews; while Hitwhere the first convert was won only Also, they learned how to adapt ler is attacking Jews, Catholics a little more than two years ago, and and Protestants at one and the where six months ago there were only their talks to varying types of same time. A great German twenty professed iJelievers, there are general recently condemned this today more than one hundred and people. -Life of Faith. as short-sighted folly, "because," twenty who show signs of definite con- said this general, "no army that version. Fourteen men walked eleven Missionary-Minded Youth goes into battle without hope of days over the steepest mountain trails, in France a life hereafter will fight sucpart of the way in altitudes where no cessfully." villages or houses could be seen, to The ninth annual conference attend the services at Pachas. of the Congres Missionaire de The Ohurch and Hitler J eunf!!sse in France last Septem- It was wonderful to be at Pachas, ber represented a missionary After failure to achieve Protwith 220 Quechua Indians from eight- movement among French youth. estant church unity by stamping een pueblos on mountain and in The students' Federation and all out opposition, Herr Hitler has jungle, who gathered to sing the youth movements in France sent declared himself tired of the praises of God, and to learn of Christ. delegates to the number of more whole church business. One of In the evening services the attendance than eighty. The vast territories the inexplicable myths which has of others from Pachas (a fanatical of the French colonial empire crept out of Germany has been Catholic center) brought the number will furnish a sphere for this that Hitler wishes to see the in the congregation to about 300. missionary interest. churches in Germany free to do just as they choose, that every EUROPE There is now a unified evan- gelical church in France com- Students' "Summer Trek" prising the Reformed Church, the Ref 0 r m e d Evangelical Students of Highfield Mission- Church, the Free Church and the ary Training Colony spent their Methodist Church of France. Commissions are studying a method of redistributing the congregations in regional dis- tricts in 1938. The evangeliza- tion of the suburbs of Paris constantly preoccupies the lead- ers. An effort is being made to create one new church yearly for ten years.
-World Dominion Press.
Bible Kiosk at Paris People of all classes and na- tions are being reached through the Bible Kiosk at the Paris Ex- position, maintained by the Geman should be allowed to wor- July, the Central Council of God- Most fanatical of the three reliship as he thinks fit. Hitler does less Institutions in Moscow plans gions is that of the false not understand the "church to hold an International Godless prophet. question." To him there is no Congress in London in April, intrinsic difference between a 1938, and has voted 150,000 Still another classification is: church and a skittle association. rubles towards the expenses. first, small groups of believers Hence, he does not understand The Oxford Conference must bearing witness to Christ; secwhy these oppositional pastors have convinced Soviet leaders ond, those who give evidence of should behave as they do. that the Church is a force to be conviction, but are still holding reckoned with, and that an anti- aloof; third, those who have Pastor Niemoeller, in a letter religious drive is called for. heard the Word, and evince a dewritten from prison to a friend, sire to know more. The great says he is not only unbroken, but The plans made to carry out mass of the people, however, are full of joy and gratitude for this propaganda include, among still ignorant and fanatical and God's gracious guidance. "I am other things, a new radio station there are only about twenty now resting in peace," he says, to be completed next year, from workers among 2,000,000 Mo- "after the abundant turmoil of which godless talks are to be hammedans. -The Christian. the last few years and await pa- delivered daily in European lantiently and with full confidence, guages, including English. An- .Capturing Souls should the Lord again need me ticipating that Great Britain for service outside these walls. may ban the holding of a God- African evangelists, elders, When and how? It is not for less Conference in London, the missionaries in Cameroon, West me to concern myself about that. Soviet Council voted that, in Africa, set as their centennial I know that I and many others this eve n t, the Conference goal the winning of 15,000 new whom God has committed to soli- would be held in Belgium or converts: they have won almost tary places are carried by many Holland. -The Christian. 18,00b, and the Good News is prayers." still spreading. But conversion AFRICA was not enough. Each new Baptists in Roumania Christian is being trained, that Waldensians in Abyssinia he may know what his new de- The Baptist World Alliance cision means and learn to live a reports that the Roumanian Gov- The Italian Government has Christian life. ernment seems determined to asked the Waldensian Church of enforce its decree that some non- Italy to send a second chaplain As their African forefathers orthodox groups are illegal. At to help Captain Bertinatti in went out to capture men and present the 70,000 Baptists in missionary work at Add i s women for slaves and wives, and Roumania are not directly de- Ababa, Ethiopia. Sig. Edoardo returned singing from a successclared illegal, but they are re- Micol, a young minister of 29, ful "raid," so these modern capquired to conform to conditions at present in Sicily, (Pachino) tors returned each day to hold which are to them intolerable in has been sent. It means a great a prayer service for those who principle and impossible in prac- sacrifice, from every point of have refused, and those who tice. Unless they conform, they view, for the Waldensians to have received their message. become illegal. This decree is in send more men to Ethiopia, but violation of the principle of reli- it seems a duty to meet the re- -Monday Morning. gious freedom to which Rou- quest to carryon the missionary mania has subscribed as a mem- work in the Italian colonies. Congo Women Send Greetings ber of the League of Nations. There are thousands of Evan- The Roumanian State Constitu- gelical Abyssinian Christians Ma Ngunga, chairwoman of tion also pays homage to reli- who are now like sheep without the Native Council's women's gious liberty. The Orthodox a shepherd. sessions, Belgian Congo, was Church of Roumania was repre- asked by a missionary what messented at the Oxford Conference -Prof. Ernest Comba sage she should send from them in July, and participated in the of Rome. to Northern Baptist women in unanimous decision to abjure America. She quickly replied: connivance with the repression Land of Three M's by the State of religious minori- "Tell the women of your counties. Yet the present crisis has The effective witness of na- try that we thank them heartily undoubtedly been brought about tive converts is one evidence of for sending us women missionby the influence of the Orthodox a new era in North Africa. In aries. At first even when we Church on the Roumanian Gov- Tunis, though political loyalty is became Christians, we were very ernment. divided between Fascism and much afraid to testify or to try communism, fellowship in the to do any work in the church. -Watchman-Examiner. Gospel has enabled many of both But we saw our white mothers groups to lay aside their differ- go about their work just the Moscow vs. Oxford ences. Mrs. E. E. Short, British same as the men. From them missionary who has been in we began to receive courage. Obviously to stage an answer Tunis forty years, says North Now we are no longer afraid; to the Oxford Conference of last Africa is a land of three M's- We still do not feel very strong; Moses, Mary and Mohammed. but we do want to take our share in the school work, in the med- 56 THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD ical work, and especially in the James B. Barton Memorial toward organic unity, but all work of drawing other women work together with one purpose to Jesus Christ. Greet the wom- The Prudential Committee of -Latins, Greeks, Armenians, en of your country for us all." the American Board has hear.tily Anglicans and Protestants. In endorsed the thought of a Me- Christian schools, all the varied – Watchman-Examiner. morial to Dr. James L. Barton classes meet together, and slowly in Istanbul, Turkey, the city that are getting a common educa- Bantus: "Let It Go" spans the closest approach of tional and cultural background. Europe and Asia; the land of The watchword of Bantu Con- his first foreign service. The -The Living Church. gregational Churches is Mali- memorial is to be in connection hambe. What does it mean? with the American Hospital and Pray for Tender Hearts Literally, "Let it go"; that is, School of Nursing of Istanbul. let the evangel go – not let it The Jessie Taylor Kinderalone, not forget it, but release Modern nursing began in Is.!: garten was in the center of the it for its redemptive work. It is tanbul, when Florence Nightin- anti-Christian riots that took the equivalent of Christ's last gale entered the pestilential place in Beirut, Syria, early last command: "Go ye into all the Crimean War hospitals on the year, and the night school is still world." Bosphorus. With the restric- suffering from that antagonism. tions of the veil now removed in But as soon as the day school Malihambe has captuted the Turkey, over 100 young women could reopen, the chi I d r e n imagination, the enthusiasm and nurses have graduated from this trooped gayly back, and the the purse of Bantu Congrega- school since the Great War. school now proudly boasts a tional churches. waiting list. Mrs. J. H. Nicol -Missionary Herald. writes: "The day when the riots -Missionary Herald. seemed most threatening we The Child on the Street closed the school and escorted WESTERN ASIA the children safely home. Be- Turkey's Educational Admin- fore we left one small Moslem Religion in Turkey istration has noted the fact that boy said, 'Won't you please pray children of working families are before we go?' So, of course, I Turkey dealt a body blow to wandering in the streets after would. I asked him, 'What do Islam some years ago, but is still school hours, and it has been you want me to pray for?' He considered a M 0 s I e m land. seeking means to prevent this said, 'Ask God to make people's Among other amendments to the situation, harmful to the chil- hearts tender to each other so constitution last year, the State dren. For this purpose "child- that they will not hurt each is declared to be "laic"; that is, sheltering" rooms will be opened other.' So there were small the Government does not recog- in different parts of the city. heads reverently bowed while we nize an official religion, nor does asked the Father to give us lovit stand to support any par- The Administration has also ing hearts and minds to underticular religion. No one may decided to take strict measures stand each other." interefere with another's reli- to make school attendance more gion; in religion, as in intel- regular. Accordingly, when a Unhappy Assyrians lectual and political matters, pupil does not go to school for fanaticism has given place to one day, notice will be sent to The Assyrians seem to be the mutual tolerance. the child's parent or guardian. forgotten people number one. If a pupi1 is sick, an official doc- There are some 30,000 of them Lest this appear to be more of tor will be sent to his home. in Mesopotamia, the racial reman advance than it actually is, Also, in order to prevent a stu- nant, perhaps, of the great emdeputy Bey Ali warns the Turk- dent from going to the cinema pire of antiquity, and the reliish people that liberty of con- or cafes during the school hours, gious remnant of the greatest science is not a limitless free- such places will be very closely missionary force in the middle dom. The State may interfere controlled. ages, the Nestorian Church. Like in certain situations. For in- so much "Christianity" in the stance, he says, children under -Turkish Translation Near East, the religion has dried eighteen may be subjected to a Service. into ritual, leaving the people alkind of spiritual compUlsion in most totally ignorant of the gosreligion in foreign schools; this Unity Out of Palestine? pel, and many of their priests are already has happened, and will little better. They are a quarrelnot be tolerated. However, after Christian unity coming out of some lot, both among themselves passing the age of eighteen every Palestine is seen as a future pos- and the people among whom they individual is free to choose his sibility by Canon Bridgeman, live. They were staunch and own religion, "provided this does Episcopal missionary in J eru- valuable allies of the British durnot disturb the social order." salem. As the basis for this pre- ing the war; and the British He adds: "Youth must not be diction, Canon Bridgeman cites officially assumed "moral respondragged into Catholicism, and the cordial relationships which sibility" for them as a people thereby a culture foreign to our exist between the representatives when proposing the independthought and feeling be permitted of virtually all communions to spring up in the midst of the working in the Holy Land. Turkish people." There is no specific movement -Alliance Weekly. ence of Iraq to the League of say, "Well, anyhow now I know, ing, and nine the examination in Nations. But here they remain, and shall not spend any more weaving, held by the Committee after a number of unsuccessful time and money looking for a of Direction for Technical Eduattempts to arrange their emi- cure, for if you cannot cure me, cation. The scout organization gration. Six evangelists are at no one can, and I know you are has proved to be of inestimable work among them, patiently folk who do not flatter or tell value in training character and showing by word and deed the lies, but you tell the truth." encouraging the young people to way of the Gospel. be truthful, honest and active. INDIA-SIAM -Presbyterian Board News. -Dnyanodaya. World Conference at Madras Mothercraft in Iran A Requirement for Converts On account of war conditions, Mrs. J. D. Payne of Teheran, the great world conference of the Such a deep impression has Iran, teaches a course in "moth- International Missionary Coun- the Christian religion made upon ercraft" in connection with the cil, scheduled to be held at Hang- converts in India that there is a Woman's Club, which has a de- chow, China, in the fall of 1938, constant demand for teachers in partment of adult education for has been obliged to change its new villages. Before a teacher women. There are about 45 in place of meeting to India, and is sent to a community, at least each of three classes. No text- will convene at Madras Chris- 50 natives must attend daily books can be used; lectures and tian College in Madras, Decem- worship for a specified length of pictures must serve, since the ber 10th to 30th. time. Then the bishop is petiwomen are about in the first- tioned for a teacher. It costs reader stage. Some show inter- Value in Persecution $75 a year for such instructors. est, some indifference, while Instruction for a period of a others are openly opposed to Let no one think the day of year precedes baptism and antaking time to listen to a for- religious persecution has passed other year before confirmation. eigner talk about something of in India. On the contrary, re- Witness is the primary requirelittle value. God gave them ports show an intensified indi- ment of the Christian, and contheir babies, Kismet (fate) left vidual persecution in recent verts are frequently asked as them, or caused them to die, so years. This may even affect they come to church whether or why all this bother? They be- whole communities where new not they have brought others to lieved the world was supported work is being established. It is Christ. -The Living Church. on the horns of a bull; that the still possible to see the crops of sun was a man and the moon a a village being brought in with Christian Character Counts woman; that the foreigner was rejoicing, and those of a recent only to be pitied for her igno- Christian going up in flames. Some villagers in Assam were rance. But most of them ab- compelled by crop failure to try sorbed some of the principles But such persecution has a to get money by arranging with taught. Mrs. Payne writes: value in clarifying individual a timber merchant for a con- "One of the older pupils told me conviction, and the courage and tract. When they approached one day that she wanted another faith of the Christians continues him and asked for an advance baby. She had had nine chil- to make a deep impression in the of several hundred rupees so dren and they all died. I stared community. The revolution they could fulfil their contract, in amazement. 'Why do you created in family life, in cleanli- he was hesitant about giving want another, then?' I asked. ness of person and habits, of them the money. Just then a 'Before I came to your class I growing strength of character, non-Christian forest ranger apdid not want any more, but now are singularly manifest against peared, and after hearing of the I have learned so much from you a background of their previous difficulty said, "These men are I think that I could raise one if life. None can deny that things Christians and they always do I had it. You see, I made mis- have fundamentally changed in their work faithfully. They are takes.' " what, to them, is a miraculous industrious, and once they be- manner. gin to work they will stick to it. "Christians Do Not Lie" lt will be good business for you -World D.ominion Press. to give them the contract and Sufferers sometimes come 300 advance the necessary money." miles or more to the American Uplift for Criminal Tribes This assurance won the day. Christian Hospital in Meshed, Iran; some even come from An important nation-building Gandhi and Prohibition Afghanistan, in spite of the ex- process is going on by means of pense and difficulty of crossing the Criminal Tribes Settlement The prohibition policy of the the national frontier into a for- Work at Sholapur and other new Ministry of Madras Presieign land. Unfortunately, they centers. Eighty-three lads have dency is not mere talk. Gandhi, cannot all be cured, but such is been apprenticed to various in his Rarijan, expresses the the hospital's reputation that trades. There are 302 children hope of "bringing about total when told there is no cure for in the manual training classes in prohibition not later than three t.heir malady, they will sigh and settlement schools. During the years from July 14, 1937, the year, 18 boys passed the exam- ination in carpentry and draw-
date of taking office by the first For Pure Milk for India the interest your people have shown Congress Ministry." He de- in our work, and the concrete part clares fearlessly: They water the milk in India you have played in that work in the too, but Allahabad Agricultural years that are past. I sincerely hope I count the loss of this revenue Institute has found a way to that this cross which you are install- (from the liqu9r traffic) as of no ac- check on village dairymen by es- ing may be the means of linking us count whatever. Prohibition will re- tablishing milk stations, where more vitally, not only in our common main a far cry if Congress is to count the cows are milked before an interest, but also in our common worthe cost in a matter of first class na- inspector, who checks the sani- ship. It gives us much pleasure to tional importance. Let it be remem- tary condition of the animals, realize that Siamese workmanship is bered that this drink and drugs rev- workmen and utensils, weighs to assist the members of your church enue is an extremely degrading form the milk, and delivers it to the in making our common Christ more of revenue. The loss of revenue is Institute dairy. Where cleanli- real. only apparent. The removal of this ness, honesty, and the keeping of degrading tax enables the drinker- records were unknown before, -Monday Morning. the taxpayer – to earn and spend cooperative dairymen's societies better. are being formed. The Institute French Indo-China hopes to build up a system such Then, by way of a Hindu re~ as exists in some parts of the About a year ago a young Anbuke to Christian America, United States, where the cattle Gandhi says: "The American belong to individuals, but the namese evangelist began work example is a hindrance rather milking and marketing are than a help to us. In America, handled by a responsible central among a race of mountaineers, drinking carries no shame with organization. it. It is the fashion there to the Thais, who live in the hills drink." He graciously adds: -Monday Morning. "I do not despair of America north of Laos Province. Alonce more returning, with still Buddhist Worship in Tibet greater fervor and better experi- though these people are highly ence in dealing with it." Theos Bernard, 28-year-old American explorer, is the first intelligent, they are quite unciv- India has made progress when white man to witness, photoshe thus encourages us to try graph and par,ticipate in the re- ilized and untouched by the Gosagain in a moral crusade. ligious rites of the lamaseries and monasteries of Tibet. He pel. In Laos itself there are -Dnyanodaya. took motion pictures of cere- monies which even Tibetans had 60,000 Laotians and tribespeople Practice Training Experiment never seen. who are still in absolute dark- Church workers in Santa} In addition to his phototried an experiment which seems graphs, Mr. Bernard, who has ness, living in constant fear of to promise far-reaching results. recently returned to the U. S., After repe~ted visits were paid brought back a collection of rare evil spirits. Except for the Swiss to definitely Christian villages, a books and manuscripts, includcircular was sent out to clergy ing complete copies of the Kan- missionaries in southern Laos and catechists in charge of con- Gyur, the Buddhist scriptures, gregations, asking for the names and Ten Gyur, or commentaries, there have been no witnesses in of any villagers who would like and other works including 333 instruction in ways of present- volumes printed from engraved that vast, semi-explored district; ing the Gospel to non-Christian wood blocks. These were carried neighbors. Though illness kept in yak-skin bags for hundreds but recently the Christian and away many who sent their of miles by a pack caravan of names, twenty-eight men and mules and yaks over 18,000-foot Missionary Alliance has apeighteen women came. Bible mountain passes and streams. readings and talks on personal pointed a couple for service contacts, how to tell Bib 1e Siamese Present Cross stories, how to speak at a lan- there. tern service, how to teach in A teakwood cross, carved by Sunday school, wi.th practice in a young Siamese Christian, has There is also great need in doing such things, filled the pro- been presented to the United gram. During the last week Church of Hyde Park, Chicago. eastern Siam, with its fourteen end the people themselves sug- Rev. Pluang Sudhikam, of Banggested the following lines of fol- kok, wrote the officers of the provinces and a population of low-up acti,on: Prayer, both church: private and in weekly prayer 4,000,000; only three provinces meetings; Sun day schools; May I as Moderator of the Church preaching bands; personal work; of Christ in Siam take the liberty of are occupied by missionaries. teaching iIliterates to read and expressing the great pleasure and write. -C. M. S. Outlook. gratitude of our Christian people for Two new workers have been ap- pointed for this field, and six young men from the Siam Bible School have gone out on active service. -Life of Faith.
CHINA Who Says Evacuate?
A missionary of the American Board in North China writes the Church in the U. S.: Of one thing we are sure: there can be no abandonment of our work in North China. We have-you have -too large a stake here to think of running off and leaving it. The stake consists of far more than property and institutions. It is a spiritual stake and belongs to a Kingdom of God that still takes precedence over the Im- perial Japanese Government. Barely two years ago, in a personal conver- sation, the American Ambassador told me that he believed emphatically that in the new regime, which he then felt sure was coming, our contribution as Christian missionaries would be needed
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
even rrW're than in the 75 years of our order to win the game, but she among the Wa tribe near the mission's history which had just closed. is getting her pocket drained border of Burma. The Chinese While so many things are crashing every day she lingers in China. soldiers seem intent on destroyabout us, there are other things that She is killing us day by day but ing every vestige of Christianity dJ and must remain. The friendship this act of killing takes much in that tribe. Representations of Christians of the West for the money. Finally she will go through the American Consul stricken Church of Christ in this land bankrupt. We must pray for have proved worse than fruitwill be of enormous value. peace. I do not think all Jap- less. This is not, however, anese people are as inhuman as typical of the attitude of the The courage and good spirit in these war soldiers." Chinese Government, either civil which our Chinese leaders with whom or military, towards mission we are in daily contact are carrying War Impetus to Education work in Yunnan, for in almost on is in itself an appeal for all that every place there is toleration we can do to hold up their hands. Hin Wong, contributor to the and even friendliness. Many of China Weekly Review, says that the officials are either Christians Chinese Appeal to Christians the war now in progress, while themselves, or friendly to Chris- distressing in many ways, is tian propaganda. An open letter to the Chris- beneficial to the Chinese morally, tians of the world, signed by 20 especially to the women folk, in- Although definite statistics prominent Chinese Christians, cluding those in Szechuen, who are not available, it is highly both men and women, declares: now realize their short-comings probable that there are more "The present Sino – Japanese and are not slow to apply a rem- aboriginal Christians in Yunnan crisis may prove a test of the edy. Certain middle schools for than in all the other provinces moral strength of the Christian girls in and outside Chungking of China put together. Amer- Church throughout the world. have decided to use the off-hours ican Baptist workers have bap- Our earnest hope is that the of their students to organize tized over 28,000 aborigines. Sino-Japanese conflict may not mass education for adult women be viewed as a local and remote in order to interest the illiterate JAPAN-CHOSEN quar.rel. . . . We appeal to in reading, and thus in national Christian people all over the affairs. The women's division Shrine Problem Again world, including those in Japan, of the present National Defense, to share with us the sense of re- or anti-enemy, League in Chung- In carrying out the instrucsponsibility in this perilous king, has found itself inefficient tions of the educational departhour, and to adopt whatever and unable to meet the task as- ment of the government that all measures are within their power signed it, simply because of lack common schools in Japan adopt to set in motion the corporate of leadership among the women some sort of spiritual drill, many conscience of the Christian themselves; and all this may be principals take the pupils to a Church." traced to lack of education on near-by shrine once a month and the part of the masses. make them bow before it. The The "Truly True Church" National Sunday School Associa- Revival in Hong Kong tion is seeking to counteract this China is not without sec- influence in the lives of Christarianism. Independent groups Dr. H. Lechmere Clift, of tian pupils, and is endeavoring are springing up in the Chinese Emanuel Medical Mission, Hong- to make special plans to come in Church, and some try to draw kong, writes in The Life of touch with these pupils in some members away from others. Faith: active way. Reports indicate These groups have such names that the Sunday school enrolas the Glory Church, the Inde- The unJelievable has happened. Re- ment is steadily decreasing, due pendent C h u r c h, the Little vival has begun in Hongkong – al- largely to the rising tide of mili- Flock, the True Jesus Church, most the hardest place in the world tarism. Every effort is being and the Truly True Jesus to rouse saint or sinner. Suddenly, made to awaken church mem- Church. Obviously, the Truly with no herald announcing his ap- bers to a realization of their True have left the True. proach, a tall young American ap- duties in connection with this peared at our Mission. He was Mr. important aspect of their work. -So S. Times. Clifford Lewis on his way to Burma, India, Palestine and Britain. How- -World's Sunday School Extracts from Chinese ever, in answer to prayer, the Lord Association. Woman's Letter detained him, and he had more than a fortnight's meetings. Many souls Kagawa's Views Unchanged "Weare unable to send any have been saved and believers brought war news to anyone as mails are into fuller light and into more conse- Asked to comment upon the being censored. . . . China is crated surrender. rumors that Dr. Toyohiko Kagfighting a defensive war. Japan awa had modified his Christian is fighting a war of aggression. Persecution in Yunnan pacifist attitude because of Ja- China will resist to the end. pan's present action in China, China may die in the end but World Dominion Press reports his secretary and fellow worker, Japan will die with us also. that frightful persecution is go- Miss Helen Topping, declared Japan is acting like a gambler ing on against the American that letters she had received playing a poker game. She is Baptist Mis s ion Christians bidding the highest stakes in
from Japan quite recently were Educating Koran Girls from India, Tonga, Samoa, the eloquent witness to Kagawa's Ellice Islands and New Zealand. distress and concern at the pres- Great changes have taken It has been an official leper setent actions of his country. place in all the mission schools tlement since 1911. Since that of Korea. Twenty-five years ago year there have been more than -The Living Church. the average girl was sixteen to 900 admissions to Makogai, of twenty years old when she en- which about 580 remain today. Japanese Speaks Out tered. There were even a few The island is barely two and a married women. Educational half miles long and a mile wide. At a mass meeting in Madison standards were negligible. Most Square Garden, New York City, of the students were from Chris- Lepers able to care for themlast October, Mr. S. Okemoto, a tian homes and had for years selves are housed in one of five Japanese, said: been attending Sunday school, villages, according to their race. as well as Bible classes with Each village is ruled by a head- Enough has been said about the older women. man, responsible to the adminisreal aim of this undeclared war upon tration for its cleanliness and China by the Japanese military Fas- While the objectives have not the observance of health rules. cists who dominate their government. changed, they now enter at All lepers are expected to work, I shall speak about whether the peo- eleven or twelve years of age, if able. Most of them are farmple of Japan want war, whether the and a larger proportion come ers, raising bananas, sweet potapeople of my country wish to murder from non – Christian hom e s. toes, tapioca and kawais. Any helpless women and children. They There is sufficient evidence to surplus crops are bought by the do not want war.. they do not want prove that these modern stu- government and used for feedto murder the peace-loving people of dents when once they have ing the inmates at the hospital. China; nor do they wish to destroy yielded their hearts to God have the old civilization of China. I give the same burning enthusiasm for European nurses devote their facts to prove it. Christian service as have their lives to these sufferers. They older sisters, with even greater perform the minor dressings for First, the working masses of Japan poise and efficiency. the patients and aside from their have to work long hours for miserably aid in medical and surgical treatlow wages. What will they gain by AUSTRALIA AND THE ment .they spend their time engoing into China to shoot the Chinese ISLANDS couraging the lepers in work and or to be shot themselves? Is it in de- play. Besides the inevitable fense of their country? That cannot Sunday School by Mail movies, the inmates have fishing, be, for we all know that no country model boat sailing, cricket and on earth is threatening Japan. The Postal Sunday School native games for amusement. Movement, wit h headquarters Secondly, who is hearing the burden in Sydney, Australia, was started Surprisingly, the visitor finds of the tremendous expense of this four years ago to meet the spir- the whole atmosphere one of warfare? It is the working masses itual needs of young people in cheerfulness. This is due to the of Japan, where the prices of bare lonely homesteads and scattered fact that modern medicine has necessities, food and clothing- have al- settlements. More than 8,000 shown leprosy to be curable. ready risen 80 per cent. The people boys and girls are members, of of Japan cannot afford to pay for war whom 2,718 enrolled during the Women in the Philippines when they earn hardly enough to pay past year. Thousands of isolated for a bowl of rice! It is the military boys and girls still remain to be The U nit e d Evangelical clique, together with a handful of big linked up with the movement. Church of the Philippines' has financial and industrial interests, that just taken a forward step; it is started war, not the Japanese people. Joy Bells, a monthly periodi- the formation of a Woman's cal, is sent to everyone of them Association. Two years ago the – Watchman-Examiner. free, and contains Bible lessons Dorcas Societies of Mindanao requiring study and answers sent a resolution to the General How Churches Start which are sent to headquarters Assembly asking for more par- for examination and correction. ticipation. As a result, women The founding of a Christian Interesting articles in it foster delegates were invited to the church in a heathen village is al- an interest in the Bible among General Assembly last year for ways a miracle. Here is one these children of some 3,900 the first time. These women which had its beginning in the homes in every state of the Com- then got together to consider hear.t of a humble man from the monwealth, New Zealand, Fiji, how Church women could render mountains. He had heard the New Guinea, Nauru and the more effective service. After Gospel for the first time while Solomon Islands. their deliberations, and with the bringing lumber down for the encouragement of Dr. E. C. Sob- Chusil church, and a workman -World Dominion Press. repena, Moderator of the Gentaught him to believe in Jesus. eral Assembly of the United He went home, and succeeded in Leper Island in Fiji Evangelical Church, the Womconvincing four of his six broth- an's Union was organized, with ers of the truth of the Gospel. Makogai is a dreaded spot in Mrs. Julia Yapsutco as first Although he could neither read the Pacific Ocean. It is the president. nor write he bought several island of Fiji to which go lepers Bibles and hymn books to distribute among his brothers and neighbors who could read. He himself is now learning to read. There are about 400 homes in his village; about 45 attend worship services.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Mrs. Yapsutco has been a dy- growing interest in Bible study. Chautauqua World Missions Innamic leader in the churches of All this has challenged workers stitute: "A Moslem world dis- Mindanao, stimulating the de- to broaden their program, and turbed by the forces of nationalvelopment of a number of con- these are the goals they have set ism, social change, and science gregations and becoming pastor for the next two years: and education, was portrayed by of some of them. She is a wom- The Gospel shall be preached for Dr. Young, speaking on 'The an of deep spiritual life, and will not less than one week in every mu- Awakening of the M 0 s Ie m nicipality of the Bicol Region. World.' Approximately 250 milgive this association leadership In every town where there is an or- lion people are of Moslem faith of a high order. today, considerably in excess of ganized church, every precinct shall all the Protestant Christians in -Missionary Herald. hear the Gospel. the world. Dr. Young stated that the Moslem world is seeth- Every member shall strive to win ing with unrest today and turn- ing away from the orthodox Mo- Something New Under at least one soul to Christ. hammedan conceptions. In just Moro Sun what direction it is turning is Every family in the church shall not now evident. It may pos- possess a Bible and every member at sibly turn to a revised Moslem faith, adapted to modern condi- Under the inspiration and di- least a New Testament. tions; or it may turn largely to rection of Dr. Frank C. Lau- A definite work among the Negritos Christianity. bach, a group of young Filipinos (small aborigines) shall be estab- "Dr. Young pointed out that have launched a m 0 vern e n t lished through local contributions the thinking Moslem people can- alone. not reconcile the ideals of Chris- tianity with the practices of supbased upon seven tests of char- Family worshio shall be established posedly Christian nations and acter: (1) Abandonment of evil . in every evangelical home. people, particularly as to the Christian use of force, and alhabits of thought and action. MISCELLANEOUS coholism. The Moslems look to (2) Absolute honesty. (3) Ab- the United States as the most nearly Christian nation in the solute purity. (4) Absolute Missions and Peace world, thus placing upon us a tremendous responsibility in pounselfishness. (5) To be abso- The Federal C 0 u n c i I of lutely loving. (6) Seek and ob- tential power for good. This Churches and the Committee on serve the Will of God in every International Relations of the power can only be exercised if detail of life. (7) Help their fellow men find the "Good Life.'.' Foreign Missions Conference our practices are made to con- Every young Moro who wishes have agreed upon a plan of coto join must pledge himself to operation to relate the mission- form to our ideals." these principles. Over 43 to ary program of the Church more date have done so. Here is a real challenge to the closely to the cause of peace and better international understand- Christian churches of America Goals for the Future ing. It is widely recognized that and to the home missions forces. foreign missions have a part to The non-Catholic population play in the maintenance of world in the Philippines is increasing peace.
rapidly, while the Roman Cath- From a .Summer Oonference olic population is becoming more Notebook broad-minded and, in many cases is asking for Protestant training Dr. Herrick B. Young, Board for their children. .There is a of Foreign Missions of the Pres- deepened spirituality and a byterian Church of U. S. A., PERSECUTION THAT MISSED ITS POINT Christians have always been persecuted more or less in the Bhil country, Western India, but last year concerted effort was made to destroy Christianity in the village of Ubri. So far as can be ascertained, the reason was fear that the Christian community might become dominant. Whereupon the converts were beaten and constantly threatened, and finally given five days' notice to quit the village. Successful appeal was made to the local magistrate who ruled that Christians were not to be turned out of the village.
This organized persecution was not without encouraging results. The persecutors in Ubri were anxious for the persecution to spread into other villages. So they sent word to the head men of villages near by that unless they made it hot for the Christians in their villages, no brides would be forthcoming from Ubri for their young men. The head men responded by summoning the Christians in the various villages to a meeting. Nearly every Christian household was represented. Then such questions were asked as: "Why did you become Christians?" and "In what way is Christianity better than Hinduism?" and so a splendid opportunity for evangelism was given. The meeting broke up in quite a friendly atmosphere, and the attempt to spread organized persecution fizzled out. Not only that, but Christians were bound together as never before.-C. M. S. Outlook.
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I Our Missionary Bookshelf I Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information 1_ ~,~=====-=o…oo=~=======-==,~ The Solitary Throne. By Samuel M. glibly pray the prayer that we The Process of Change in the Otto- Zwemer. 111 pp. ish. Pickering may be filled with the Holy man Empire. By Dr. Wilbur W. & Inglis. London. 1937. Spirit. I shall never forget the White. Map. 314 pp. $3.50. Uni- professor under whom I .was versity of Chicago Press. 1937. The author was formerly a taught theology telling a man to missionary to Arabia, and re- stop as he prayed that prayer" Ranke, a century ago, unravelcently Professor of Christian and the man stopped in the ing the tangled history of Eur- Missions and the History of Re- middle of his petition. 'John,' ope and the Popes, wrote "No ligion at Princeton Theological he said, 'do you know what it history can be written but uni- Seminary; for twenty-six years might mean to your father and versal history." Dr. White, Ashe has been Editor of The Mos- sistant Professor of Political lem World. He has given us mother, to your home-ties, and Science at Western Reserve Unifive addresses delivered at the to your whole life, if you were versity, has well proven the Keswick Convention in England really baptized with the Holy truth of this quotation. In this last summer. The title is taken Spirit?' When we pray that Doctor's dissertation, he shows from a s tat e m e nt by Mr. prayer, it means combustion- hoW the drama of the Ottoman Gandhi: "I am unable to place sacrifice, 'my heart an altar and Empire, though enacted on the Jesus Christ on a solitary Thy love the flame.' " Near Eastern stage, was plotted throne." These addresses on backstage in Russia, Austria, The Solitary Throne, His Minis- The chapter on "The Glory of Great Britain and later Italy and ters a Flame, Photophobia, The the Impossible" is a summons Germany. The book is a mod- Glory of the Impossible, and The more imperative than any Muez- ern tragedy, with its theme the Hinterland of the Soul empha- zin's can to prayer; it is a sum- struggle of a single old Moslem size the finality of Christ, His Empire against new and vigposition on the Throne of God, mons to the exercise of Christian orous empires. His worthiness to open the seals faith, courage and determination of the Book of History, His abil- in carrying the Gospel to the Here is a condensed history of ity to make His ministers a flame Moslem world, where the author Turkey – the first chapter reof fire, and His glory in bringing spent many years of his life and viewing the rise of a military the Light of Life to men. which he knows so thoroughly. Moslem Empire during the Thir- "It is daybreak, not sunset in teenth Century, penetrating all Dr. Zwemer's style is not like the Moslem world" is his in- contiguous territories till in a smoothly running brook, but formed and eager cry. 1774, having attained its zenith, like a stream which is full of the process of disintegration berapids and cataracts. Like The closing chapter on "The came evident. The following Carlyle he is staccato, pungent, Hinterland of the Soul" is the chapters trace the methods used piercing, although the original call of a real leader and a true by European imperialism to and forceful address on "Photo- prophet to all Christians to rouse weaken and encroach on the dephobia" is an exception to this. from lethargy and to take pos- caying Ottoman Empire. There He is nothing if not original, di- session of the things which have is a trenchant criticism of the rect, interesting and often dis- been promised by the Lord. vision of political leaders during turbing. His whole soul is de- the nineteenth century in not voted to the Lord Jesus. First Dr. Zwemer's quotations and understanding the dynamic nahe gives the particulars which illustrations, with which the ture of change. Each step was show the supremacy, uniqueness book abounds, reveal a very considered as final-and no proand finality of Christ and Chris- wide reading, an excellent mem- vision allowed for later modifitianity; second he communicates ory, and a great gift of painting cation of circumstances. Yet to the reader something of the "apples of gold in pictures of Divine fire which has consumed each treaty was but a comprohim in Arabia and at Princeton. silver." Any man or woman who mise and soon after signing of Let the reader think of the pas- reads this book will have his or sage on page 50: "May we never her heart warmed and stirred such treaties, conditions had and inspired and called to deeper love for Christ and to greater changed, making the conditions courage in His service. unbearable to one of the many ROCKWELL S. BRANK.
Any of the books noted in these columns will be sent by the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
[62 ]
OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF
parties concerned. Any effort to Browbeaten by war and illegalities guide-book in the unspeakably from 1774 to 1920, Turkey rested its important work of winning peoaccomplIsh modIfications, trod last stand for national existence on ple to Christ and definite salva- military force-and won. With inde- tion. Packed with Bible referon the privileges of some other power. 'l'hus the only possibility pendence guaranteed by its own abil- of affecting change was by de- ity to protect itself by force, it has ences, discussion of casest and nuncIatIOn of a past agreement helpful directions in this work, and military accion. The history accepted existing peaceful instrumen- it is not dry rea din g, but breathes the holy passion of the of the Ottoman Empire is thus talities for the settlement of sub- sidiary questions. . . . It is interest- ing' that Turkey has been one of the one of continuous "illegality" leaders in accepting the instrumentali- Lord Himself, and communi- ties (of the League) and of the spirit and war. The main method used of that part of Article 19 of the Cov- cates the passion to readers who to break up the Ottoman Em- enant regarding the reconsideration already have a clear faith, and pire, was to fan the flames of a willing heart. Its chapters of treaties, the extension of which is national aspirations in the mi- prerequisite to the avoidance of war tell of "A Concern for Souls," and the development of pe,aceful innority races, encouraging revolt, ternational change. "The Fitness of the Worker," assisting by loaning arms or "The Place of Prayer," "Oppor- forces and making timely in- This book, though brief, omits tunity and Approach," and how vasions from outside, application no important material. It is to deal with various classes. The of diplomatic pressure to assure very skimpy on economic factors author's aim is to give in small recognition of new independent producing change; but is a compass the best instruction groups-till portion by portion political study, well documented, possible out of his own experi- the periphery of Empire (Egypt interesti.ngly written, and adds ence and that of other soul-win- in 1806; Greece by 1829-30; a valuable contributinn to the ners the world over. We agree Roumania in 1856; Cypres and literature seeking ways of peace- with the Foreword, by William Tunisia in 1877, etc.) had been ful change – the author's selec- P. Nicholson, that there never broken off, so that by 1914 only tion of the Ottoman Empire is was a time when such a book central A nat 0 I i a, Iraq and excellent and his treatment is was more needed than today, Arabia remained to the parent careful, just and timely. It is a because many believers have State. These were generously sad "case record" of nineteenth never won anyone to Christ, and disposed of in war promises. century imperialism, with hope are missing the heavenly joy of The Arabs were encouraged to for a better way, in which Tur- it and the reward. It would be revolt, and while France and key leads. EDWIN M. WRIGHT. well for the churches if thou- Great Britain retained important The New Walk. By Captain Reginald sands would read a book like Wallis. 78 pp. 40 cents. Amerportions for themselves, the re- ican Bible Conference Assn. Phil- this and have their heart enmainder was promised to Greece adelphia, Pa. 1937. flamed with a new desire and and Italy as the price of entry purpose really to do the will of on the Allied side. There was Like its predecessors – The Jesus Christ. FRANK LUKENS. but one miscalculation-that the New Boy, The New Girl, The "sick man" might revive and New Life, and other small vol- Notes on a Drum. Travel Sketches spoil the sale. This miracle took umes in the helpful series of in Guatemala. By Joseph H. Jackplace and under Kemal Ataturk, books by the well-known British son. Illus. 8vo. 276 pp. $3.00. the corpse jumped off the oper- evangelist-this is characterized The Macmillan Co. New York. ating table and drove out the dis- by clarity of presentation and 1937. secting doctors. an abundant use of Scripture texts. It is more than just a As the subtitle informs us, Nationalism, the disease which treatise, sprinkled with Bible these notes are not "from a references. There are helpful drum" but travel sketches writhad caused the amputation of illustrations, which add to the ten largely on a Guatemala Turkey's provinces, became the usable quality of the book. It drumhead used for a table. Mr. elixir which revivified her body should do much to clarify the re- Edwards is the author of "The in 1919 and produced her regen- sponsibility and privileges of Mexican Interlude" and is cheereration. The rebirth was more effective testimony for recent ful, chatty and an observing than political or military. It converts, as well as for more traveler. was social as well, reaching into mature believers who have not the religion, economy and life of fully realized the practical im- Guatemala is an interesting every Turk. There is a fine con- plications of the Christian faith. country, the most important of clusion: (page 260) the five Central American re- F. E. G. publics. The people and govern- Within fifteen years, it (Turkey) ment show all the characteristics has cut itself off from its past in al- The Divine Art of Soul-Winning. of Latin Americans; mixed with most every conceivable manner. . . . By J. O. Sanders. 96 pp. Is. Indians, temperamental, excit- Interestingly enough, he seems to have Pickering and Inglis, Glasgow. able, ambitious for independundergone a spiritual revivication 1937. ence and right to rule, but lackwhich is responsible for his physical ing in many elements that make recuperation. This new combination The author is superintendent for stable and wise government. of a vital spirit in a smaller, it is true, but much more homogeneous and ro- bust body has been able to throw off of the New Zealand Bible Train- Mr. and Mrs. Jackson went as the restraints of centuries and for- tourists to see the country and mally enabled Turkey to enter as an ing Institute and editor of The the people, apparently without equal into the family of nations…. Reaper. This is an inspiring
any prejudices and with only a his tragic death for its publica- befallen any other of the group purpose to tell what they saw. tion. Intimate personal ac- on the University campus, but The author tells of the climate, there can be no doubt that C. T. the picturesque scenery, the life quaintance with "Jack" Williams Wang was right in his letters of the people – high and low, gave Mr. Wheeler both a sympa- and his inscribed memorial, in rich and poor, Spanish, ladino declaring that "it was the demise and Indians, urban and rural. thetic understanding of his per- of the beloved vice-president The reports of life in Guatemala sonality and devotion and also which shocked the Chinese au- City, Chichicastenango, Quezal- access to correspondence which thorities into purging the coun- tenango and other cities and vividly reveals the man, his try of the Red Terror and effect- towns give a few graphic ing the union of the distracted glimpses but are very incom- times, his labors and his impress provinces of China." His death plete. There are notes on his- upon the new generation in "revealed the guilt of sin and the tory and architecture, markets beauty of love," and this biog- and slums, parks and flowers, China. raphy should bring to all readers volcanoes and lakes, politics and both these lessons and also the officials, hotels and tourists, Ro- John E. Williams, of sturdy infinite value, for time and eter- man Cat hoI i c priests and Welsh parentage, was born at nity, of every strong life devoted churches, festivals, customs and Coshocton, Ohio, June 11, 18'H. to making Christ known to a costumes, Indian idols and Cath- great race like the Chinese. olic images, superstition and Six years' labor with his father tradition; but there is nothing in the coal mines delayed his C. H. FENN. about the important evangelical schooling, but he took the course Christian work with its schools, at Marietta College and was The Man Who Moved Multitudes. churches and hospitals – all of By R. D. Johnston. 12mo. 138 pp. which are worth noting. The graduated from Auburn Theo- Ish. Pickering & Inglis. Glasgow. only references to Protestant logical Seminary in 1899. With 1937. work are unfavorable gossip. With all it is a readable, though his bride he landed in China on This brief biography of the very scrappy, travel book. the eve of "Boxer Year," and late D. L. Moody is scarcely more was assigned to Nanking. He than a sketch, with tributes to Miracles in a Doctor's Life. By the man from some prominent Walter Lewis Wilson. 121 pp. acquired much of his fluency in people. It is very sympathetic Paper, 20 cents. Bible Institute Chinese by constant mingling with the evangelist's spirit and Colportage Assn. Chicago. 1935. with the people. Charge of a purpose and is interesting to those who are not already fa- Here is a spiritual tonic for small boys' school impressed him miliar with the facts. On ac- any Christian doctor. Many count of its brevity there is work conscientiously and effec- with the call for union of such practically nothing in this rec- tively but they view their work schools, and from this grew the ord except about Mr. Moody''! as though the body were of chief evangelistic work. There is importance and as if man were Union University, of which he practically nothing about his only a higher order of animal. was for twenty years the strenu- home and family, the schools he Dr. Wilson looks upon man as ously promoting vice-president. founded, his work in the army an immortal soul with a body- In 1906-07, eight months were and Y. M. C. A. or the great both of which need to be kept Northfield Conferences. There strong and healthy, but the spir- spent with the many Chinese is no literary merit to the story ituallife being of supreme value. students in Tokyo, and there be- and it is exceedingly "spotty." He tells many soul-stirring ex- gan a strong friendship with One mistake is in saying that periences in dealing with souls Mr. Moody married the "daugh- and bodies and shows the joy C. T. Wang, a leader in the Rev- ter" of Fleming H. Revell. She and gratitude that follows when olution of 1911-12. Half of his was his sister. There are also a patient finds new life in Christ, remaining years, to his death in one or two mistakes in the spell- even if the body must return to 1927, were spent in securing ing of proper names. Neverthe- the earth from which it came. less, young people will find it Read the book and send it to your personal interest and financial easy and stimulating reading. doctor friends. support in America for the Uni- versity. N~w Books John E. Williams of Nanking. By W. Reginald Wheeler. Fleming H. From the beginning he was Accidents Will Happen. W. M. Revell Co. 222 pp. $2.00. 1937. Pearce. Is. 3d. Pickering & Inglis. an ardent advocate of an in- Glasgow. Though "better late than creasing measure of Chinese re- never," it is a pity that this me- sponsibility and authority in the The Approaching Advent of Christ. morial of a strong and success- University. His relations with Alexander Reese. 328 pp. $2.40. ful China missionary had to Marshall, M'organ & Scott. London. . await the tenth anniversary of Chinese teachers and students showed no sense of racial or cul- Congo-Past and Present. Alfred R. tural superiority, but always the Stonelake. 202 pp. 3s. 6d. World heartiest cooperative fellowship. He accepted China's problems as his own and declared his convic- tion that Christianity may yet "find a fuller and better expres- sion in the Chinese Church than it has found in any other land." The Anti-Christian Movement of 1922-25 and the anti-foreign agi- tation of 1924-27 did not shake his optimism. His death at the hands of an ignorant Red soldier, on March 24, 1927, might have
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LIFE OF GEORGE BOWEN, OF
By ROBERT E. SPEER This is the biography of a very remarkable Christian missionary to India and for twenty years the influential and able editor of the Bombay Guardian. Dr. J. Sumner Stone called him, "The Wh'ite Yogi."
When George Bowen died in 1888 there was call for a worthy biography but its preparation was delayed. Later all the biographical material-including his diaries, letters, reminiscences, and the books and pamphlets of which he was author-was turned over to Dr. Speer. This material has now been put into shape for publication and the result is a frank and stimulating picture of the man,-his experiences, unique character, forceful views and methods of work. Here is a life story that is of absorbing interest and . will richly reward the thoughtful reader. The book will be ready early in February.
CONTENTS I. Family of George Bowen. XI. A Decisive Year, 1849. II. Boyhood and Youth. From 18;0 to 1855. III. Three Years Abroad. xu. Ten Years of Independent Work. IV. Life in New York, 1840-1844. The Bombay Guardian. V. Illumination of a Hopeless Love. XIII. Relations with the American Board. VI. Conversion to Christianity. XIV. Association with the Methodist Church. VII. At Union Theological Seminary. Bowen as a Writer. VIII. His Missionary Appointment. XV. Correspondence with Henry W. Rankin. IX. The Voyage to India, 1847. XVI. Closing Testimony. X. Beginning Missionary Work. XVII. XVIII. XIX.
This latest work by Dr. Speer may be ordered at $2.50 per copy from THE MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY 186 Fifth Avenue, New York 11f1! MISSIONARY ~RID This illustrated evangelical missionary monthly will keep readers in touch with the need of men for Christ and His Gospel and relates graphically the story of the progress of missionary work in all lands.
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The Missionary Review of the World — December 1937
1937
A Kurdish Christian Prophet J. Christy Wilson Sermon by a Converted Moslem Sa'eed Kurdistani First Five Centuries of Christianity Kenneth Scott Latourette The Evangelical Church in Brazil Miguel Rizzo, Jr.
In the Midst of European Revolutions Adolph Keller The Dilemma of Japanese Christians T. T. Brumbaugh Faith Working by Love in Japan Winburn T. Thomas 25 Cents a Copy $2.50 a Year
to Remember Mrs. McDougall was born in Detroit, PARENTS
Michigan, June 13, 1869, the daughter December 12-Universal Bible Sun- of the late Arthur T. Pierson and In the Foreign Mission Field day. Sarah Frances Benedict. Subsequent- Endorse Calvert School ly she lived in Indianapolis, Philadel- Home Study Courses January 2-9-1938 Universal Week of Prayer. phia and Brooklyn, moving to Upper for Children Montclair, New Jersey, in 1917, where NATIONAL PREACHING MIS- she made her home with her brother, Calvert School, through its Home Instruc- SION the Editor of THE REVIEW. She mar- tion Department, will give your child a ried Mr. McDougall in 1928 following superior elementary education … by mail, December 2-S–.Tacksonville, Fla. regardless of where you may live. Mod- a year and a half spent in Japan with ern, approved courses from this famous Obituary Notes her sister, Mrs. Frederick S. Curtis, school are being used by parents all over the world with outstanding success. and with her friends of the Kwato Mission in Papua. For forty years Mrs. McDougall was active in various forms of Christian work in connection Give your children the advantages of these The Rev. John McDowell, D.D., with the Church and various mission- interesting lessons, carefully chosen books, Associate Director of the Department ary organizations. For some years she and attractive materials. Instruction is of Social Education and action of the has been the volunteer Promotion Sec- under the personal guidance of teachers in Board of Christian Education of the retary in America for the Kwato Mis- Calvert's prominent and successful private day school in Baltimore. Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., and sion of Papua. formerly moderator of the General Write today for booklet of complete in- Assembly of the Church, entered into The Rev. Dr. Paul W. Koller, for formation. Costs are low. rest on November 13th after under- nine years executive secretary of the going a major operation. Dr. Mc- Board of Foreign Missions of the Dowell was born in Scotland in 1870 United Lutheran Church, died Noand was brought to America by his vember 11th at Baltimore, Md., at parents when two years old. He was the age of 65. graduated from Mt. lIermon School Dr. Koller was born in Glen Rock, and from Princeton University and after a special course in the Theo- Pa., and educated at Gettysburg (Pa.) ment be extended to foreign lands and logical Seminary was pastor succes- College. He attended Gettysburg Dr. Boville spent a year in the Far Theological Seminary, was ordained East founding schools. sively of churches in Steelton, Pa.; in 1897. After serving pastorates in Detroit, Michigan; Newark, New Cleveland, Ohio; Hudson, N. Y., and *** Jersey, and Baltimore, Maryland. Mansfield, Ohio, in 1921 he was named Canon Streeter, provost of Queen's He was Religious Work Director dur- president of the Lutheran Synod of College, Oxford, and Mrs. Streeter ing the War and in 1919 became a Ohio. In 1928 he was elected to the were killed in a plane crash in Switzsecretary of the Board of Home Mis- post he held at his death. He had erland, September 10. Dr. Streeter sions, later the Board of National served as a member of the committee was a scholar' and theologian of high Missions, of the Presbyterian .Church. of Reference and Counsel of the For- ability. His writings have been He was a popular speaker at summer eign Mission Conference of North widely read in this country. conferences and was author of several volumes, including one on Dwight L. America, and had been a member of *** Moody, one on "The Christian Spirit the Missionary Laymen's Executive in Industry," and one on "Christian Bishop William H. Heard, of the Essentials." He is survived by his Committee and the executive commit- African Methodist Church, died in a wife, and one daughter, Mrs. Robert tee on cooperation in the Near East. Philadelphia Hospital September 12, C. Cory. A biographical sketch of at the age of 87. He had attended the Dr. McDowell will appear in an early He also had served as president of World Faith and Order Conference in issue of THE REVIEW. Edinburgh, and while there experi- the conference of Foreign Mission enced difficulty in obtaining hotel ac- … … … Boards of Lutheran Churches in commodations. Dr. Temple, Arch- bishop of York, offered him the hos- Dr. Frank W. Bible, the Central America. pitality of his home. District Home Base secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Surviving are his widow, Mrs. Mary *** B. Koller, and a daughter, Miss Kath- erine Koller, Professor of English at Bryn Mawr Co..l.leg..e. . …
Presbyterian Church, died in Chicago, The Rev. Dr. Robert George B.o- .T. Harvey Borton, a Philadelphia Ill., November 15th after an illness of ville, founder of the Daily Vacation business man, well known in religious several months. He was born in Bible School movement in the United circles, died on October 80th in the Milesburg, Pa., July 18, 1877, and States and director of the world-wide Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, after graduation from Park College organization for the religious educa- following an operation. He was born and from Auburn Theological Semi- tion of children, died in Yonkers, N. at Rancocas, New Jersey, sixty-five nary, he went as a missionary to Y., on November 8th. Dr. Boville years ago, and lived at Moorestown, China in 1904. There he taught in lived in Riverdale, N. Y., and was N. J. He was connected with the the Hangchow Christian College for eighty-three years old. Hajoca Corporation, manufacturers fifteen years. On his return to Amer- Dr. Boville was born in Belfast, Ire- of plumbing supplies, and was a ica in 1919, he became associate gen- land, and came to New York from a member of the Executives Association eral secretary of the Committee of pastorate in Hamilton, Ontario, in of Philadelphia. Reference and Council for the Foreign Missions Conference of N. A. and in 1901 to become secretary of the Bap- Mr. Borton was an active member tist City Mission. That same year he 1924 was elected· district secretary. of of the Society of Friends and a frethe Presbyterian Board. Dr. Bible began the nation's first daily vacation made a tour of the world in 1930-l. Bible schools. He found a group of quent speaker at the Sunday services With his extensive knowledge of con- young college and seminary students at Girard College. He was also chairditions both at home and abroad, he who were willing to donate their varendered valuable service in promot- man of the council of the V:ictorious cation time to religious training for ing foreign missionary interest. Life Testimony, which directs the these children. One thousand children * .. * were enrolled the first year. work of the Pioneer Mission Agency, Anna Pierson .McDqugall, the wife Dr. Boville traveled throughout the the Keswick Colony of Mercy Kes- country organizing Bible schools. By of Mr. Walter McDougall for tWenty wick Grove, N. J., and summe'r conyears the treasurer of the Missionary 1916 the movement had spread and ferences held at Keswick Grove' Review Publishing Co., entered into the organization was incorporated as the International Association of Daily chairman of the board of trustees of the Life Beyond on Sunday, November Vacation Bible Schools. Missionaries the Belgian Gospel Mission; and a 7th, following a serious operation. in the Orient requested that the move- member of the board of directors of the Sunday School Times Company.
His wife, Alice McClure Borton and a daughter survive him. '
MISSIONARY Do You When the good
REVIEW OF THE WORLD Read the Old Testament calls you East … sail DELAVAN L. PIERBON, Editor Understandingly? p&O VOL. LX DEC., 1937 No. 12 How often have you longed for This year marks a full century of P & 0 Publication and Business OIDce– a book that service to the lands beyond Suez! Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. would present the historical, geo- Whenever you are called to the other graphical, cultural and archae- side of the world, choose this tradi- Editorial and Executive OIDce– ological backgrounds of the Great tional route. Cross to England by 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City. Book, and thus make the study Cunard White Star •.. and there Entered as second-class matter at of the Bible more meaningful? embark in a great liner of the P & 0 and British India fleets, led by the Post OIDce, Harrisburg, Pa., under JAMES C. MUIR, noted autltorHy and new 22,5oo-ton Strathnaver, Strath- Act of March 3, 1879. lecturer on the Old Testament has just aird and Strathmore. Regular service completed a new and unusnal book that to Egypt, Sudan, Persian Gulf, India, 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year. sweeps away the mists of unreality with Burma, Ceylon, Straits Settlements, Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year. which time has enshrouded the old China, Japan, Australia, East and Published monthly, except August. Testament narratives – the title, South Africa, Mauritius. Low rates. All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1937. British agents – Marshall, Morgan HIS TRUTH ENDURETH Convenient through bookings can be arranged and Scott, 12 Paternoster Buildings, by your local travel agent or any office of London, E. C. 1 shilling per copy, Tltls boole Is more fascInating titan fIction. 10 shillings a year. It enables the student to assimilate more CUNARD WHITE STAR LINE readily the backgrounds of the Old MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- Testament. Here is the story of the GENERAL AGENTS LISHING CO., INC. rise of civilization, the history of peoples who were contemporary with the chil- 25 Broadway and 638 FifthAve.,NewYork BOARD OF DIRECTORS dren of Israel in Old Testament days, ROBERT E. SPEER, President together with the latest archaeological A. L. WABNBHUIB, Vice-President information bearing on the many sub- WALTER McDoUGALL, Treasurer jects covered in the book. DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary You Need This Book SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT Buy It Today From Your Bookseller D. J. FANT List Price $2.50 MRB. ORRIN R. JUDD NATIONAL PUBLISHING CO. PHILADELPHIA WM. B. LIPPHARD ERIC M. NORTH 180,640 Net New Believers in 9 Years in Korea SAMUEL M. ZWEMER This is equivalent to Editorial Chat 70 new parishes of 300 helievers each The Editor and Board of Directors year. Some mission fields haven't of THE REVIEW extend very cordial won 20,000 in 50 years. Christmas greetings to our readers, What is the "secret" of it all? missionaries and other Christian friends in every land. The picture of May it be the Bible emphasis? a warring world is a sad commentary on humanity's response to the Gospel Last year the Korean Church held of peace, but the very fact that man- ~,344 Week-Long Bible Conferences. kind shows so little evidence of ac- (J7R,SJ3 attendance.) ceptance of Christ and His Gospel is 10.0oo!n Bible Correspondence. a compelling reason for carrying His message of life and love to every part S4'.~68 III Sunday Schools. of the world by the power of the Holy 55.075 in Bible Vacation Schools. Spirit at Christmas time and without ',500 in 6-10 Week Bible Institutes. ceasing. May this "NEVIUS METHOD" he the This and other numbers of THE Dynamic of All Methods. REVIEW give encouragement by telling how this work is being done and God Honors His Word. how God is making the work fruitful. Read Korea t" Story in the New Book Read the back cover of THE REVIEW "THE NEVIUS PLAN FOR MISSION for our special offer. WORK IN KOREA" (370 pages). *** By CHARLES ALLEN CLARK. Ph.D.• D.D. THE REVIEW is to puhlish Dr. (35 years in Korea.) Speer's new book-a life of George Bowen, one of the most unique and Postpaid-~ remarkable of all the missionaries to India, who died about fifty years ago. CHRISTIAN LITERATURE SOCIETY. Note the announcement on the back Seoul, Korea ~ – – – – – – – Y5.oo cover. E. C. HEINZ, * '" * S6~' 5th Ave. S.. Minneapolis, Minn. $t.OO "I want to congratulate you on [ 561 ] your Rural (June) issue. You have assembled a lot of fine material on the rural church."-Dr. Wm. R. King, Executive Secretary of the Home Missions Council.
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TEACHElRS IN CAMPINAS SEMINARY-FOREIGNERS AND
STUDElNTSAT THE CAMPINAS THE"OLOGICAL SEMINARY, BRAZIL (See Article by Dr, Miguel Rizzo, page 576)
NARY
ORLD VOLUME LX AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER 12 DECEMBER, 1937 Topics of the Times WAR AND MISSIONS IN CHINA dun, the Chinese troops saying "They shall not pass!" and Japan pouring in a continual stream The Chinese armies in the Shanghai area be. of soldiers with superior mechanized equipment. gan (on October 27th) a well-executed retreat Bombing of cities, railways and other lines of from their first lines of defense to a second line south and west of Soochow Creek. This brought communication in this area has been continuous the fighting into areas adjacent to the French for two months. Soochow, Kiangyin, Chinkiang Concession and Nantao, the old Chinese city, and and Nanking have suffered from especially freforced the evacuation of St. John's University, quent and severe air raids. Recently in a bomb- St. Mary's School for Girls, The Seventh Day ing of Sungkiang, 50 miles southwest of Shanghai, Adventist Sanitarium and other institutions. The the splendid center of Southern Methodist miseffects of the severe struggle have been felt on sionary work and lay-training, suffered heavily. the edges of the International and French settle- The Girls' School was set on fire, a missionary ments and from stray shells falling into these residence was demolished and other buildings settlements. Many mission and interdenomina- were damaged. tional organizations were forced for a time to move from their offices near the Bund. Communi· The landing of Japanese troops on the northcations with inland China have been maintained ern shores of Hangchow Bay, south of Shanghai, by bus and motor car service. An increasing may endanger mission centers at Sungkiang, number of missionaries who were sojourning tem- Kashing and Huchow. Christian work is being porarily at other ports or summer resorts have maintained at Hangchow and cities south and been returning to Shanghai and some have gone west. Hangchow Christian College has an enon to their inland stations. A large missionary rollment now of 500, Wayland Academy (Baptist) colony, chiefly mothers and children, is now in has over 1,000 students and the Union Girls' the buildings of the Shanghai American School. School has re-opened. Soochow, 50 miles west The National Christian Council, mission head- of Shanghai, is affected more seriously. The three quarters and other central offices are keeping in Christian hospitals there are crowded with touch with missionaries and churches in the in- wounded and Soochow University is being used terior by means of radio and a limited mail service to house wounded and refugee civilians. Missionwhich has been remarkably efficient considering ary doctors and nurses are staying on. difficulties of transportation. Chinese ~hurches in the settlements and out of the immediate fight- Since the partial destruction of Central Goving zone are continuing their regular services of ernment Hospital in Nanking by an air raid on worship and are undertaking many forms of re- September 25 the University (Drum Tower) lief work. The presence of hundreds of thousands Christian Hospital has had to carry a double burof refugees in Shanghai, who face the winter den of medical aid and relief work. This hospital without food and shelter, constitutes a grave prob- has cabled word of its desperate need for medical supplies, especial anesthetics, tannic acid and anti-tetanus serum. Other mission hospitals in the three eastern provinces of Chekiang, Kiangsu lem. and Anhwei are meeting heroically the emergency Nanking is 200 miles northwest of Shanghai, demands upon their services, with diminished in- come from fees and serious shortage of supplies. Hangchow 150 miles southwest. These three cities form a triangle which is becoming a great Ver- The University of Nanking and Nanking The- [563 ]
SUlIj'UAN JEHOL I.
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PRINCIPAL AREAS COVERED IN THE JAPANESE INVASION OF CHINESE TERRITORY On November 11, the Japanese had moved their armies in the north as far west as Talyuan, Shans! Province. Their line extended south of Pelplng, nearly to Tientsin. From Shanghai they had moved south on the road to Hangchow, and were marching west to attack Nanking. The cities named show the principal Protestant mission stations; the location of other stations is marked by circles. Rail- I'oads completed and under construction are also indicated.
ological Seminary have re-opened in Nanking also an increasing exodus of students from the with about a third of their normal enrollments. coastal provinces westward. So far the Chiriese Ginling College is carrying on some of its work Government has encouraged schools to continue in connection with Hwachung College in Wuchang and students to pursue their studies wherever and St. John's University at Shanghai. Govern- possible, believing that China must keep on buildment educational institutions are more and more ing for the future. As a consequence, Hwachung College, Yale-in-China at Changsha and West moving to central and west China and there is
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
China Union University have enrollments far .is moving part of its work including the Medical above the average. School to west China. The Northern Presbyterians and Southern Baptists have extensive work in The National Christian Council sends encour- Shantung. Some missionaries of these and other aging news from churches all over China, even missions are staying in the interior, others are at those in fighting areas. Christian relief commit- the port of Tsingtau keeping in close touch with tees are being organized in many cities. Mission- their Chinese co-workers and making occasional ary work in central and west China is going on visits inland. The Southern Presbyterian Mismore normally and Szechwan and Yunnan seem sion which works in north Kiangsu still has misto be the safest provinces so far. Air raids have sionaries at Haichow, at Suchow the important extended as far inland as Hankow, Wuchang and railway junction and at Tsingkiangpu. Mission- Changsha. After an air raid on Wuchang which aries are remaining in considerable numbers in reduced a poor section of the city to shambles and Honan Province and the United Church of Canwhich came near destroying the Methodist Mis- ada has recently decided to send some missionsion Hospital, a Hankow newspaper reported, aries back who have completed their furloughs. "Scores of operations and amputations were performed by candle light at the Methodist Hospital Cities in northern Shansi where missionaries owing to the electric light system failing. There reside have been bombed and as this article goes is a lamentable shortage of doctors and ambu- to press news comes of the Japanese seige of lance workers." Taiyuan, the capital. The American Board and Church of the Brethren missions have important Air raids have continued on the coastal cities work in Shansi. Taiku and Fenchow, south of of Fukien and Kwangtung with especially de- Taiyuan, are centers of American Board educavastating effect in Canton, but no serious damage tional, medical and evangelistic effort, including to mission property has been reported. One mis- the Oberlin-in-Shansi schools. Christian work sion hospital in Kwangtung has been struck. Fu- here is much disturbed but a group of missionkien Christian University and Hwanan College aries have refused to leave and are doing what in F'oochow and Lingnan University, Canton, are they can to help alongside their Chinese colopen with limited enrollments but with morale leagues. high. From Great Britain come reports that British Yenching University in Peiping and other missions are holding their own. The China Inland Christian schools in the Japan-controlled area Mission is not returning missionaries or sending have opened and the number of students is steadily new missionaries for the present. Detailed news increasing. Few of these students, however are from inland stations comes through slowly. from central and south China and all educational work is conducted with peculiar difficulties. Busi- On September 21st the National Christian ness has been hard hit in the invaded territory, Council of China adopted the following resolution unemployment is increasing and Christian insti- which was later broadcast from Shanghai, "Along tutions and churches which depend upon con- with the material relief we must give is the spirtributions and fees will all suffer. Letters coming itual uplift of the nation. The soul of China is through, however, tell of great faith and courage at stake. An effort should be made to keep up on the part of Christian groups. Paoting, the the morale of the Chinese Christians, so that their capital of Hopei, an important center of mission Christian faith, hope and love may not be dework of the American Board (Congregational) stroyed by the terror of war. What China needs and Northern Presbyterian Mission, suffered from at present is a reinforcement of spiritual power, a heavy siege and looting as the Japanese line and that power Christianity alone can give. Since moved southward. A small group of missionaries this war is going to put a strain upon the restayed on and ministered to the suffering. Teh- sources of the human soul as well as on material chow, another American Board mission center in resources it would seem important that we should northern Shantung, has been captured by J ap- bring together all Christian forces available for anese troops and Changteh, a mission center of the task of deepening our spiritual resources, the United Church of Canada in northern Honan. leading people to look up and find God a very The Japanese advance will probably be halted present help in time of trouble, assisting the for the time being at the strong defenses along churches and schools in clear thinking about the the Yellow River. The fighting is coming close issues raised by this conflict, and giving them to Tsinan, the capital of Shantung. There are comfort, healing and strength." fears that attacks on ,the Shantung coast may force the Chinese armies to abandon Shantung Dr. E. Stanley Jones, who was in Shanghai province but at the present writing the defense when hostilities broke out there, and went to Mais strong. Cheeloo University at Tsinan, in which nila instead of starting upon his projected six thirteen American and British missions cooperate, months' evangelistic tour of China, has now gone from the Philippines to central and west China
for a month of evangelistic meetings, at the re- refused to allow the facts as to their students to quest of Chinese Christian leaders. be made public.
Chinese leaders, both Christian and non-Chris- In one prominent university, where there is a beautiful $2,000,000 chapel and a college pastor, tian, have expressed in many ways their appre- two-thirds of the students said they had not at- tended chapel once that year. ciation of the service missionaries are rendering The religious influences surrounding students in the present tragic situation, and have urged are of special importance since the United States Government acknowledges God as the supreme that missionary work be continued at all costs. ruler and the students of one generation largely mold the life and character of coming generations. Most of the mission boards are raising special How can our students be reached with sound funds for emergency needs in their own fields religious teaching and won to Christ? The great- est need is for truly Christian instructors, but and are also supporting the general campaigns .there is also a loud call for greater spiritual vital- ity in the college churches, in chapel services, and for relief work in China sponsored by the Fed- in the Christian Associations. There is need for better cooperation between the colleges and home eral Council of Churches, American Red Cross, churches from which students come. Parents and even pastors often seem to be impassive or in- China Famine Relief, and other agencies. different as to whether or not their young people give any attention to spiritual things while in col- Since the war may continue for a long time, possibly several years, mission boards are begin- ning to adjust their policies to the special condi- tions. Whatever changes may be necessary in methods of work there seems to be no plan of withdrawal. Missionaries on the field and mission societies here are determined to carryon in war as well as in peace. FRANK W. PRICE.
lege. Much more interest is shown in their intel- EVANGELIZING COLLEGE STUDENTS . lectual standing, their athletic games and their One of the most serious problems of the present social events such as college dances. How many parents would spend a week-end to attend college day in America and other lands is that of winning chapel?
the youth to an intelligent and whole-hearted alle- In view of this situation it is of especial inter- est and importance to note that the National giance to Christ and enlisting them unreservedly Preaching Mission, which last year toured the in His service for mankind. It is estimated that country without making much impression on the colleges and universities, is this year undertaking there are at least sixty million youth in America a University Christian Mission especially among under twenty-five years of age. Of these not more students. Dr. John A. Mackay, the new and vigthan one half are under any definite religious in- orous president of Princeton Theological Semstruction. The, Sunday schools enroll about inary, is chairman. The following statement retwenty million but much of the Christian training veals the purpose and plan of this Preaching received there is haphazard and very inadequate. Mission. $ome of the. finest youth of the lane. go to our colleges and other'higher educational institutions to Due to the dominance of a naturalistic philosophy in so prepare}ol;' life and work. When they leave home many university centers, unprecedented religious illiteracy most' of' them are interested in knowing God and among students, combined with increasing manifestations they are apt to have an ambition to use their lives of spiritual hunger, the responsibility of the Church is to good purpose; many lose both this interest and ambition in college. A report issued by the "Coun- overwhelming. . . . cil of Church Boards of Education," giving the Aimless liberty is palling upon many who'seek an abidresults of a recent comprehensive survey of college youth in 1,171 American institutions of ing loyalty for their devotion. They are looking for a higher learning, shows that 88 per cent of these Master in whom they may believe utterly, and for a cause to which they; may commit themselves with sacrificial abandon; th~y ~~ek light on the perplexing framework in students acknowledge some religious preferences, which their lives are set; in growing numbers they debut only about sixty per cent of them regularly mand to know what Christianity is and what it has to attended any religious services while in college. offer. Many are indifferent and some state that they are Such a situation is a clear caIl to united Christian action. The University Preaching Mission will undertake opposed to God and religion. three major tasks: It will deal with false conceptions about Christia_nity which .are current in university circles. These facts show a serious situation and a great It must also make plain' that Christian faith is fulfilled need and opportunity, especially since these youth only in Christian life !l,ntl.action, and that it is relevant ought to be future leaders in political, educational, to all issues in society which involve the welfare of human economic and religious life. Twenty-four out of beings. The mission will p.im to bring forcibly to the at- 1,458 institutions in nine states reported that it tention of student.s the implications of the Christian meswas illegal in those states to inquire into the reli- sage for all spheres and phases of life, and to set forth gious preferences of students. Other institutions the vision of a world Christian community as the Role hope of saving a sinful world.
A Kurdish Christian
The Story of Dr. Sa'eed Kurdistani as Told to ,. Christ,r Wilson, Tabriz, Iran W E PULLED our chairs up beside the fire of pure water near us. None of us came down in his Teheran home. I had long awaited with the cholera. the chance for this interview with Dr. "As a boy I was always busy with books. I Sa'eed Kurdistani, perhaps the most noted con- read the Persian poets and was so well versed in vert from Islam in all Iran. The story of his life Arabic and Persian that, when my father died, (here told as nearly as possible in his own words) when I was thirteen years of age, the Imam is a human interest document of importance. The Jumeh placed the white turban on my head and sidelights also show the thoughts and the heart of made me a teacher in the same school where my a true Moslem and how such an one may be led father had taught in the mosque.
to Christ. The beloved doctor began: "My father was a very pious Mohammedan. I "I Was born in the year 1863 in Senna, a city of can never forget his supplications to God at mid- Kurdistan. My father was Mullah Rasul; he was night. He said that he had the promise that, at from the village of Buzan, near Sulemanieh. My the resurrection, he would be raised to the plat- mother's name was Mahenisa, meaning 'Moon of form of Joseph, because as a youth he had fled Women.' For seven generations our people had from the same sin as Joseph, under similar cir- been Mullahs (or Moslem teachers) of the Sunni cumstances.
sect. "Father used to tell us stories of the mystic "My father conducted a school for children saints when we were children. During the famine which I attended. I was known as a very preco- he found a sum of money, but sought out the owner cious child, and at six or seven years of age I was and returned it though we were ourselves in des- reading the Koran. The people thought that the perate need. Years later the great difficulty· of· Angel Gabriel had taught me in a dream. By the my brother Kaka in accepting Christianity wa:~', age of nine I was reading the poems of Sa'di and what would become of father, for he thought· he astonished everyone. must be among the saved. Finally I helped him "When I was about ten, it occurred to me that to solve the difficulty by saying that if we live up it was not right for the Kurds to pray in Arabic; to the light we have, our future is in the hands of and not understand what they were saying so 1 a just God. I had very early acquired from my endeavored to put the regular prayers into Persian father a deep sense of the reality of God.
poetry. When eleven years old I began to study Oontacts With Ohristianity Arabic with men who were more learned than my father. At twelve or thirteen I became a follower "There were seventy or eighty Roman Catholic of the 'Naqshbandi' sect of dervishes and went to Assyrian families in Senna and the bishop used to their meetings. Their leader was named Sheikh come from Mosul to visit them. I got a part of Mohammed. the Old Testament in Persian from an Assyrian "I was very regular in my prayers and attend- Catholic, named Fatah Petros, a deacon who had ance at the mosque. I intoned the call to prayer sympathy with the Protestants. He knew the and also the prelude to the prayers of the leader whole of the Psalms in the ancient Syriac. At one in the mosque. I pursued other studies, the laws time the bishop found some Protestant books in of Islam and religion in Arabic. I still have a copy his library and burned them. I read a good deal of the 'Feq' which I wrote and read as a boy. of the Old Testament but did not get much help "When I was about ten years old a great famine out of it. I did not admire the worship of the came over the country. Thieves broke :into our Catholic church, and put them on the same plane house and stole almost everything we had. My with idol worshippers. I prayed daily for my an- father with my brother Kaka and me started on cestors who had suffered but had accepted Islam, foot on a seven days' journey to the region of and thanked God for the great benefit I had re- Meriwan, west of Senna. There was food there ceived from them. I was devoutly thankful for and we stayed with relatives. My mother re- Islam and considered it the very truth as com- mained in Senna. We returned after a few months pared to Christianity. But I was ever a searcher.
to our home to find cholera raging there. My Finally I obtained a New Testament in Persian mother died a short time later. Our house was at from a man who had been in Teheran. I read it the outskirts of the town and there was a spring and asked the Catholic priests why they had taken [ 567] ..,;
out of it the references to Mohammed. I was in fact quite the opposite of what I saw in our own shown the last verses of Revelation, but I told Moslem religious leaders. My conscience awoke them they had put that in to make people think it and I felt very miserable. I was about sixteen had not been changed. At one time two Assyrian years old at this time. Once I asked Kasha his colporteurs came to Senna, but I did not talk to idea of Mohammed but he did not wish to tell me. them or get books from them. I also taught a boy I assured him no harm would come and finally he whose father was Assyrian, and his mother Ar- gave me some hints. Often as I taught the Koran menian. The more I saw of Christians, however, I saw that the things he had hinted as to faults in the more I was confirmed in my Islamic views. the life of Mohammed were confirmed. I got more miserable and became uneasy about the character "Then Kasha Yohanna of Sulduz came to Senna of Mohammed. One evening, as I was going to with two colporteurs, Shemisha Seyad and his son. the mosque to call the faithful to prayer, the idea Kasha Yohanna asked for a Persian instructor came to me: 'What if Mohammed is not true?' I and I went to teach him. But I did not wish to banged myself on the head with my fist, and said, give the salaam (Greeting of Peace) to an infidel. 'You should be cursed for such a thought concern- Shemisha Seyad told me that they also were 'peo- ing the holy prophet.' I went to the mosque for ple of the book' and that therefore it was lawful the ablutions and prayers but came home very for a Moslem to give them the greeting of peace. miserable. I had no answer, and so, as a hypocrite, I used to greet the Christian colporteurs half under my Mohammed or Christ? breath with the words: 'Sahum ile kum.' This sounded like the greeting of peace but means 'May "In my despair I burned the calves of both legs, a sword come upon you.' so that the scars will be there to my dying day. According'to this Kurdish custom I took an irre- "Kasha Yohanna, whom I taught early in the vocable vow, first, never to go to Kasha Yohanna morning before his school, had the Psalms in again or argue religious matters with any Chris- Syriac and a copy in Persian was given to me. tian; second, to live a holy life. I was ashamed, Shemisha Seyad led in prayer, and I heard a real for I knew that the life of Kasha Yohanna was Christian prayer for the first time. I was aston- better than my own. I gave up going to him but ished to hear him pray for his enemies. There I felt very miserable. Whenever I saw him on the was no swinging censor-just a spiritual prayer. streets he was like Jonah to me, and in my heart Shemisha Seyad and his son went on to Kerman- I knew that I was wrong. His life, so in accord shah and I continued teaching Persian to Kasha with what he believed and taught, had affected me Yohanna. I wanted to learn other languages, so so that I could not sleep. At last I went back to he taught me Syriac. We used the New Testament him and renewed my inquiries about passages in as a textbook. the Bible.
"Kasha Yohanna was a very bright man. The "One night I was very miserable during prayers Jews used to come to argue with him. He asked in the mosque. Realizing my sin I went home and me to take the Persian Bible and look up refer- fell on my face in the dust of the hallway. I ences as the Jews looked them up in Hebrew and prayed God to guide me to the Truth, as he was Kasha in the Syriac.1 I was deeply impressed by the Saviour of the lost. Then I went back to the wonderful evidences of fulfilled prophecy con- Kasha and studied both the Bible and the Koran. cerning Christ. When I showed the New Testa- I took some of my difficulties to the Imam Jumeh ment in Syriac to my brother, he was displeased and others, but was not satisfied with their exand told me not to study it. But I continued to do planation of the Koranic passages. After four so in secret. Marking in a Persian Bible the months of such study, the Light broke in upon my prophecies we had read, I showed them to my soul. I can never thank Him enough. brother, saying: "These must be about Mohammed for no one else could be worthy of such ref- "How happy the old man was when I confessed erences. Let me study this branch of knowledge my faith in Jesus as the Saviour. My not going and we shall soon be able to turn all the Catholics to the mosque or getting up early for prayers made and Jews into Mohammedans. I interpreted the my brother Kaka uneasy. Several people came to prophecies according to my own ideas and clus- our home and argued with me but I took the Christered them around Mohammed until I came to the tian side and defeated them. Though I did not words in Isaiah, 'A bruised reed shall he not break, say I was a -Christian, Kaka took up his rifle and and the smoking flax shall he not quench.' I could wanted to kill me. For some time things went on not apply these words to Mohammed. in this way, growing more difficult all the time. People were talking about how to kill me. "Then the life of Kasha Yohanna began to affect me very much. He was truthful, honest-and "At last I felt I must let Kaka know of my new faith and I wrote a letter to give my brother. I 1 Missionaries to Moslems may well note the methods of Kasha feared it would mean certain death and went out Yohanna,–a great evangelist and preacher.
A KURDISH CHRISTIAN PROPHET
in the yard and prayed to God. Then I went back Bible so he took the saddlebags that contained my and gave Kaka the letter. He read it and began books. I went after him and wept. He told me I to tremble. Another man who was there burned must go to the great Sheikh and renounce Christhe letter on a castor oil lamp in the room. I con- tianity; otherwise he would be killed and our fessed my faith again and begged Kaka not to bouse destroyed. Kaka began to torture and beat argue while he was so angry. I would gradually me like a dog. Though I repeatedly kissed his feet explain to him. If he killed me I was a martyr. he would not give back my Bible. How delightful If he let me live I might help him. We went to are Gods comforts! Persecution is the better life, bed under the kurlsi and when my foot touched his, much more wholesome! he roused and said, 'Get away, dog. A dog of a man cannot live in a house.' It was midnight and "My brother saw that I was determined. Both we could hear the wolves howling about, but I had he and my friend wept, but they left the saddleto leave at once. Some of the Roman Catholics knew I had become a Christian, and I went to one DR. SA'EED KHAN KURDISTANI of their houses, but they feared to let me in. At As He Appeared When Winning His Way to Recognition as a last a Catholic woman, named Sherin, took me in. In the morning I went to my school in great fear, Prominent Christian Physician in Teheran especially of Kaka. He thought I would attend He Was Recently Put Into Prison by the Iranian Government prayers in the Catholic church, so he took his gun and sat in a shop across from the church intending for His Christian Faith and Courage to shoot me as I entered. Life in the town was miserable. bags and went away. It was indeed a painful sep- aration. I went to bed and wept bitterly, thinking "About April, in the year 1882, Mr. Hawkes, of that perhaps I would better go back to the village the American Mission, came to Senna with Agha of our relative. I even thought of returning to the Hyeem, the Jewish convert, and a colporteur Sheikh to renounce my faith to bring peace to all named Johannes. One day when I was in his of us. Then like a flash of lightning Jesus' words room, about fifty men ran into the yard to kill me. came to me, 'he who does not renounce . . . even The Lord had so ordered that the son-in-law of the his own life is not worthy of me.' Then I lay down Imam Jumeh was there and he took me home and went to sleep. How I thank Him for the revwithout allowing the people to touch me. elation of His presence.
"About this time Fatah, who had first given me "Kaka went home and said he could not reach the Old Testament, came back from Russia. An me. The people of the quarter collected and a Assyrian preacher in Ardabil had lent him 'Mizan ul Haqq,' 'Tariq ul Hayat,' and 'Meftah ul Asrar,' 2 books that were a wonderful help to me.
"Mr. Hawkes went back to Hamadan, and he wrote me inviting me to come. He would teach me English and I could teach him Persian and Arabic. But how was I to get permission from my brother to go? I showed the letter and told him it was sure death for me to stay in Kurdistan. He knew this was true and at last he accompanied me to a river and carried me through on his back. He deposited me with the muleteers and we started on our troubled journey.
"Later I found that a relative of ours, who owned villages along the way, had told Kaka he would bind me and bring me back, but like Saul he had gone away to hunt his asses. Next day the people wanted to kill Kaka for having sold his brother to the foreigners. So my brother and a bosom friend of mine came on a day's journey after me and found me reading Christ's Sermon on the Mount in Persian to the muleteers. They told me at once that unless I should go back Kaka would be killed and our house would be ruined. I said I would not go. Kaka knew how I loved my • The three great books by Dr. Pfander. Though written a century ago they are still classics in their field.
brave rider was chosen to go after me. He had his I became very homesick and wanted to return. horse saddled and ready to start but at that mo- But I thought, if God would settle my difficulties ment his master sent for him. When the latter and satisfy my longing soul I would go on. The learned what he was about to do he sent him off in answer came that He would. an opposite direction on business connected with "I had a medical certificate from Teheran and his property. had practiced in Hamadan, but I wished to become "I came to Hamadan and there I learned Eng- a really good physician. I was attracted to Sweden by some good people but I could not agree with the lish. In September of 1882, Miss Montgomery views of my friends there in some matters of docand Dr. Alexander and his wife came to Hamadan. trine. So I went to London, still feeling that I With my bit of English I interpreted for Dr. Alex- was in darkness. I read how Agrippa thought ander and so fell into the practice of medicine. I Jesus was dead, but Paul argued that He was also continued to teach in the school and with Mr. alive. I thought: that is enough for me; Christ is Hawkes. People from Senna came and tried to alive. get me out by a trick to kill me. I had many conversations with Bahais and others. I still had dif- "None of the great men in London solved my ficulties with many passages of Scripture but I got difficulties. Then I came among some poor workgreat help from Mr. Hawkes and from the home ers who studied their Bibles, and in their company life of Dr. and Mrs. Alexander. Miss Montgomery every difficulty was solved. God gave me underread and explained the New Testament, Mr. standing of mysteries, prophecies and all. Ah, my Hawkes gave me very helpful spiritual books to soul rejoices in Him. Thank God for all His read, but still I had a thousand and one difficulties mercy. and could not find real satisfaction. I was like a child who loves his parents but is not able to ex- "I studied for two years at Cook's School of plain it. I loved the Lord Jesus passionately. Anatomy and Physiology. I attended post-grad- Often I wished that Mohammed's words were true, uate lectures and demonstrations. In 1895, after that such a beautiful person as my Lord and my studies there, I returned from London to Ha- Saviour was not tortured on the cross. One day madan and took up medical practice. We have had I came across a hymn by Frances Xavier, three children: Sarah, who is now the wife of a Christian physician in Hamadan; Samuel, who 'My God, I love thee not because– married an American girl and mixed the royal I love thee because thou took my place.' blood of the Kurds wi.th that of the Americans; and Lemuel, who died in London. His name means From that moment I knew that He took my sin, 'portion of God' and that he was.S and became sin for me that I should be the righteousness of God in Him. "In Hamadan at one time I took the Dr. St. Claire Tisdall's book, Yanab ul Islam,4 to a Mujta- "After a year Kaka paid me a visit. Later he hid. Many people thought that I had written it, as they thought that no other Christian in Persia came to stay. It is n<it true, as has often been knew enough languages, nor enough of Islam to said, that Kaka came to Hamadan to kill me. We write it. When persecution broke out against me had many long discussic»rs. After several years the Governor Ein id Dowleh took me to his own house and helped me to leave town. I fled to he was converted when t was able to allay his Teheran after the Mujtahid had issued the death sentence against me. Later, after I had become a doubts about my father. He was not sanctified well-known physician in Teheran, I returned to until troubles came and he broke his knee; like Hamadan and this same Mujtahid called on me. Jacob he finally became lame but a true Believer. He said, 'You have made a lot of money in Te- heran. You ought to give me half, because I was "In 1888 I was married to a Nestorian girl, Re- the cause of your going to Teheran.' becca, the daughter of Kasha Shimun of Geogtapa. The whole town made a demonstration during the "The second time I located in Teheran, Ein id month of Moharram and notices were posted on Dowleh was Governor of Khuzistan, where I had the mosques and in the bazaars. The governor been his private physician. I was in Teheran quieted the town by a trick, without my knowl- when Ein id Dowleh became prime minister. He edge. He told the people I had deceived a Chris- wrote a letter to many of his friends saying that tian girl and wanted to make her a Moslem. Per- I had come to Teheran and he wished people would secution finally drove me with my wife to Teheran. give me a trial. When the prime minister says Even there the mullahs of Senna wrote a letter to the Turkish Ambassador to have me put out of the 3 I made two other trips to England for the purpose of further way, saying that I was a blight on Islam. study. On the first of these I took my son Samuel with me. On the second I met Sir Wi1l1am Osler, and some of my letters to him are "In Teheran Dr. Potter, with his beautiful published in his blographY.-Ba'eed. Christ-like life, was a great help to me, as were also the ladies of the mission station. While there • "The Roots of Islam." by Dr. St. Claire Tisdall. I determined to go to Europe to study, leaving my wife and two children in Hamadan. On the way
A SERMON BY A CONVERTED MOSLEM
anything the people are ready to do it in a hurry. matter. When I prayed, I received my answer Sol stepped immediately into a practice with the and wrote that I would come if they would promaristocracy and best families. ise me security from attack. I went and was used to cure the great man of blindness. The mullahs "I was able to speak for Christ to the prime of Senna sent eighteen men to kill me, but they minister and to the leading men of the country. did not succeed. My escort heard of their plans Dr. S. M. Jordan asked me to preach in the church and wanted me to change my cap to disguise my but I asked if he did not think it too soon. He identity. The man who had charge of the attempt said, 'All know you are a Christian.' So I prayed was later brought by the government to Teheran, over it and I think I was the first convert from and showed that he has been very much ashamed. Islam to preach in that church. The greatest He often calls on me and I give him Christian thing I can say is that the Lord Jesus Christ loved books and tracts. a great sinner. He saved a brand from the burning, and He loved me to the end in spite of all my "The missionaries sent an evangelist to Senna, sins and failures. who was no doubt sent to Assyrian Catholics and Jews, but I, a poor Kurd, was most blessed. "In 1912 I made a return journey to Kurdistan. Praise be to God. How wonderful are His ways. While I was in Hamadan a note came asking me I have told you the good things of my life. If I to visit a wealthy man in the mountains. I im- should tell you everything you would not want to mediately wrote saying that I could not do it. But write it down or look at me. But Jesus forgives as I was waving the letter to dry over the fire I me all. How good is the God whom we adore." said to myself that I had not first prayed about the A Sermon by a Converted Moslem Based on the Story of Naaman in 2 Kings, Chapter 5 -. I~I By SA'EED KURDISTANI, M.D., Isfahan, Iran I J;t– J~==============================~I A MAN may have high place in the public eye Leprosy has no cure, but he who suffers from and perhaps may gain a national reputa- it sees it gradually attack all his members until tion; he may through his business exceed his whole body is unclean, full of sores and decayhis highest hopes in accumUlating wealth and ing. His face becomes hideous, his fingers drop property; he may acquire great honor in his own off, his voice is hoarse and weak, and his members country, reaching the highest military rank and lose all sense of feeling. He becomes repugnant, possessing medals and titles from the great na- even to his own brother and sister. And this is a tions of the world. In other words, a man may true picture of the ruined condition of the man reach the exalted position of Naaman, who was of whom sin holds in its power. The unfortunate the first rank and commander-in-chief in the sinner, like the leper, sees that all his efforts and great country of Syria. Yet of what avail was all all his searoh for a cure to his disease of sin are this to Naaman? For he was a leper. In the without avail, and that its horrible results are same way it makes no difference what the rank daily on the increase. and reputation of a man is in the world, if he is a sinner. Ah, this one thing ruins everything for My friends, how awful and accursed a thing sin him; it changes all the joy of the world to sadness, is! Perhaps you have often longed that you might and turns the sweet cup of pleasures into bitter- grow better, but you perceived that you really ness and deadly poison. How unfortunate is he grew worse. In all Syria and in the capital of its who at the time of death owns nothing but money great king there was not found one physician who and fame, when he must undergo the just judg- could cure Naaman's disease. In all the earth ment of God and realizes that he is a sinner and there is no remedy for sin; in no tribe or nation has no certainty! Of what benefit were all Naa- will you find any man who has a cure for it. The man's medals and possessions to him? What joy whole world is a huge leper house with all its indoes he have as he gazes at the signs of his leprosy habitants infected. Both kings and beggars are and watches the exudations from his open sores? sinners.
It is remarkable how God has chosen the weak-
est things of the world for His work. We see that from sin. The command to wash in the Jordan it is a little maid, a captive and servant in the made the leper angry. Man is always displeased house of this great man, who is the means of at the remedy God has chosen for sin and wants bringing a message of .joy to the great general of instead the cure he himself thinks is good. He Syria. She said: "Would that my master could prefers his own worthless prescription to the dego to the prophet in Samaria to be cured of his pendable and efficacious prescription of God. "Are lep.rosy." In the same way I say to you: "WoVld not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, betthat you came to the blessed Jesus that He might ter than all the rivers of Israel?" In the same cleanse you of your sin." way, the unfortunate moral leper says: "Are not the teachings of my own religion better? It says I beseech you, when you hear this name, not to to me: Keep the fasts and all the regulations. be so unpolite as to stop listening to me, but think Complete the ceremonial washings. Pray all a little, and realize that I also, like you, was af- night. Go as a pilgrim to far places. Is it not flicted with the leprosy of sin, yet, through faith better to wash in these great rivers of my own in the expiation and the shed blood of Jesus, and religion than to have faith in this word of God through His resurrection from the dead, I have about the death of Christ?" Very weH, my found eternal salvation, and thousands of others friend, wash, wash, wash in your own rivers, but who were like me have also come to Him in con- among all the millions of men who have done this, fidence and have found a perfect cure. You know show me one person who has become clean from that you are a sinner and that up to now neither sin. With all earnestness I say to you that there you nor a single one of your acquaintances can is not one who certainly knows that he is among make bold to say that you have found salvation those who are saved. and are safe from the just punishment of God. How then is it that I and thousands like me have Naaman's servants said to him: "If the prophet such certainty that we are safe from this punish- had ordered you to do some great thing, would you ment and will forever live joyfully in the holy not have done it? How much rather then when presence of God? Is our confidence without a he said to you: Wash and be olean?" From all foundation? Is our joy purely imaginary? Give the peoples of the world there is evidence of the careful attention and think whether a person has lengths to which men will go in their search for ever found lasting happiness through imagination salvation-long pilgrimages on foot; costly offeralone. And this thought is also worthy of your ings., even of their own children; self-immolation attention, that perhaps you, too, through divine beneath the chariots of the idols. To what exfavor, can find deliverance from the terrible dis- tremes will they not go in the hope that their sin ease of sin and attain salvation. will be forgiven? But God will admit of only one way of cleansing. Naaman finally came to the prophet Elisha, but Finally, Naaman went down into the Jordan notice that he came in the way that man comes, and washed, and his flesh became clean like that standing at the gate with his horses and chariots of a little child. So with those who are washed by Christ. How clean and spotless are these new and bearing gifts. Man likewise thinks that by creatures! Oh, that you would, with the eye of faith, perceive that you may go under the waves his good works and his charities he will be re- of death with Christ and rise with Him from the dead, freed of all the spots and wounds of your ceived by God. He presents to the King with his leprosy. Then will you be able to exhibit to God dirty hands a flower from the King's own garden, and the world the countenance of a new man and show forth heavenly qualities through your words and expects a reward! But Elisha wanted none and deeds. That this is God's remedy for sin and of Naaman's gifts. and praises. One cannot sell your chance of a cure is plain from His own Word, the salvation of God. Elisha sent him a message: where we read: "For if we have become united "Go, wash in the Jordan." He would not go as with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be far as the gate to meet the general, but oontented also in the likeness of his resurrection; knowing himself with a message. Salvation today also this, that our old man was crucified with him, that must be by faith, not by seeing with the eye, for the body o(sin might' be done away. But if we Jesus Christ, the healer of sin, has sent the mes- died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live sage of peace through His Word. Whoever hears with him; knowing that Christ being raised from it in faith receives salvation. the dead dieth no more. Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God The river Jordan is a symbol of death, and for in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6: 5.). the leper Naaman there was no other remedy but that he dip seven times in the river of death. I can say to you that in all the world there is no other way by which a sinner may find healing but by the death of Christ. His blood alone can cleanse
First Five Centuries of Christianity*
A Review by SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, D.D.
–tEl Professor Emeritus of History of Religion and Christian Missions at Princeton Theological Seminary THIS is undoubtedly one of the great books of The fact that this first volume supplies the an- the year, and if the author completes his am- swers to these searching questions makes it a text- bitious plan, it may well prove the standard book and source-book on the science of early work on missionary history of the twentieth cen- Christian missions, as well as a history of the tury. As now planned, the work is to be incor- enterprise.
porated in six volumes of approximately 150,000 Dr. Arthur J. Brown's masterly volume on a to 200,000 words each. Volume I covers the period Century of Presbyterian Missions is in compari- to the Conversion of the Roman Empire, about the son with the scope of this one volume as a beauti- year 500 A. D. The second volume will cover the fully engraved cameo showing all the particular thousand years between 500 A. D. and 1500; the detail of one Society's work in one century. Here third, from 1500 A. D. to 1800. The last three is a massive canvas not only portraying a pano- volumes are to be devoted to the 19th and 20th rama of apostolic zeal in many lands and many centuries. Volume IV will deal with the general centuries but transfused and transfigured by the movements in Europe and America conditioning miracle of all history-the Incarnation-which at the expansion of Christianity during the last cen- the outset throws its bewildering light on the tury and a half. Volume V will cover the spread whole scene. Miracles in the technical sense, and of Christianity in Latin America, Africa, Asia, according to prevailing Protestant the 0 log y, and the islands of the Pacific. Volume VI will ceased with the Apostolic age.t But in that age conclude with a retrospect of the entire work, and in the message that came from the lips of the summarizing the conclusions. Apostles, miracles had a supreme place; for as Except for its anachronistic jacket (supplied by Archbishop Temple remarks in his latest volume, the publishers), this scholarly production is in Basic Convictions: "The only Jesus for whom every way attractive and worthy of its great there is any historical evidence at all is a super- theme. On the jacket, however, we have a John natural and miraculous figure."
the Baptist figure preaching to a group of men in The literary sources available for the history of Moslem turbans, palm trees and a minaret in the primitive Christianity may be fragmentary, as background, and the whole in a frame surrounded Harnack states in his great work, The Missi,on by heterogeneous crosses! The breadth and scope and Expansion of Christianity. But he goes on of the first volume is large enough to startle the to remark: "How extensive they are compared thoughtful reader at the very outset, for Dr. La- to the extant sources at our disposal for investitourette is dealing with the philosophy of history gating the history of any other religion within the as well as with history itself. He proposes to an- Roman Empire!" swer seven questions in this and the succeeding volumes: In our opinion an anti-supernaturalistic ap- proach to these primary documents in the New (1) What was the Christianity which spread? Testament mars the treatment of the sources both (2) Why did Christianity spread as it did? in the case of Harna«k and also to some extent in (3) Why has Christianity suffered reverses and at times the volume before us. Professor Latourette ex- presses his own evangelical faith in the super- met only partial success? natural character of Jesus Christ and what he (4) By what processes did Christianity spread? (5) What effect has Christianity had upon its environ- ment? wrought and taught, at the close of chapter four, (6) What effect has its environment had on Christianity? in words that seem to conflict with his earlier (7) What bearing do the processes by which Christianity statement in the Introduction and in Chapter One where he "has endeavored to conform to that kind spread have upon the effect of Christianity upon its environment and of the environment upon Chris- tianity? of objectivity extolled by the school of history in • A History of the Expansion of Christianity (Vol. 1): The First which he has been trained." That school appar- Fioo Centuries. By Kenneth Scott Latourette. Harper & Bros., New York. 1937. 412 pp. ,$3.50. t Oounterfeit Miracles-Benjamin B. Warfield.
[573 ]
ently accepted the Evolutionary hypothesis that who had been the intimates of Jesus. Whatever "religion is a comparatively late phenomenon in the cause, that the stream flowed on is clear. It the life of mankind"; that a creature which may . is the uniqueness of Jesus which seems the one be termed human emerged about 1,200,000 years tenable explanation of the fact that Christianity ago (page 2); that "the Israelites thought of is the only one of the many Jewish sects to break Jahweh, their God, as a tribal divinity" (page 33) ; off from the parent stem and outstrip it in size that belief in personal immortality developed and influence. . . . In Jesus, therefore, and in slowly and late in Israel (p. 36); and that "frag- his death and the conviction of his resurrection ments of discourses, pithy sayings, parables, and and of moral and spiritual rebirth and immor- incidents, some of them put together without re- tality through him, is to be found the chief reason gard for the correct sequence, make up large por- for the triumph of Christianity. Without Jesus tions of the first three Gospels and the fourth is Christianity would not have sprung into existence, chiefly an interpretation" (page 46). And we and from him and beliefs about him came its main see our David in Saul's armor again when he dynamic."
writes: "The question is often raised as to what It is cause for regret that in the treatment of was new in the teachings of Jesus. For prac- Apostolic Christianity the historian failed to emtically all, if not all, of the specific precepts and phasize the axiom laid down by Mandell Creighton beliefs attributed to him it is possible to find in his introduction to the Cambridge Modern Hisprecedent in the pre-Christian literature of his tory (Vol. I, p. 5): "In the vast and diversified people. What Jesus did was to penetrate into the area of modern history the point of view deterheart of the moral and religious concepts which mines the whole nature of the record or else the he had inherited from the past and to pick out whole work sinks to the level of a mass of details what seemed to him essential. He performed this uninformed by any luminous idea. The writer not in any systematic fashion. He wrote no book who strives to avoid any tendency becomes dull, in which he attempted to give permanence to his ideas. . . . The novelty of Jesus must be sought, and the cult of impartiality paralyses the judgnot so much in fresh principles, but in his phraseology, in what he emphasized, and espec~ally in ment." what he was as revealed in his words and deeds.~' In the extensive and valuable annotated bibliog- raphies for each chapter we miss, for the earlier chapters, well-known conservative evangelical Naturalistic Explanations scholars both on the history of religion and on the It is refreshing to find the author himself Apostolic age while the extreme liberal school of wholly dissatisfied with such naturalistic explana- thought is conspicuous. One receives the imprestions when he sums up the reasons 'for the tri- sion of a certain lukewarmness that is incon- gruous in the portrayal of Christ our Lord and umphs of the Gospel at the close of chapter four: Paul his great missionary Apostle. There is no "The more one examines into the various factors substitute for the missionary passion even in mis- which seem to account for the extraordinary vic- sion history.
tory of Christianity, the more one is driven to No reader will find the style of this work dull search for a cause which underlies them. It is or the treatment uninteresting. The only other clear that at the very beginning of Christianity history of missions comparable to it is that of there must have occurred a vast release of energy, Harnack which covers only the early centuries and unequalled in the history of the race. Without it has long been out of print in America. The chief the future course of the faith is inexplicable. value of these scholarly chapters on the early his- That burst of energy was ascribed by the early tory of Christianity lies in the interpretations disciples to the founder of their faith. Something which Dr. Latourette makes of the facts so care- happened to the men who associated with Jesus. fully collated and documented. It is a philosophy In his contact with them, in his crucifixion and in as well as a history of missions. What the Roman their assurance of his resurrection and of the con- Catholic historian, Schmidlin, indicated in a para- tinued living presence with his disciples of his graph is here expanded and illuminated, namely spirit, is to be found the major cause of the suc- the difference between early, medieval and mod- cess of Christianity. That experience and that ern missions. During the first five hundred years assurance were transmitted to succeeding genera- the area cove_red by Christian missions was the tions. Why this occurred may lie outside the Mediterranean basin and the Church had a narrow realms in which historians are supposed to move. and insecure base for a wide ·field of action. Dur- One reason is probably to be found in the contin- ing the medieval period the area included all .ued study of the earliest written records of Chris- Europe from a broader and firmer base. Modern tianity and in the effort to preserve intact the missions has crossed the. seven seas and reached belief and the experience of the circle of apostles out to all races. Early missions were largely spon-
THE FIRST FIVE CENTURIES OF CHRISTIANITY
taneous, incidental and individual in their method; councils, although both have their place. It is not medieval missions conducted by a church hier- concerned primarily with the decline of the Roman archy were cooperative and social; modern mis- Empire, nor with the result of Gothic invasions. sions, both Catholic and Protestant, are both indi- It traces the mighty work of God's Spirit through vidual and social. Early missions had for their the Church and individual believers to the conobj ect peoples of like race and culture; medieval summation of His eternal purpose. The end of missions dealt with like races but of lower culture; the first five hundred years is prophetic of the modern missions have approached all races of onward march. Dr. Latourette says: every level of culture. Early missions aimed at the conversion of individuals; medieval missions In our hurried pilgrimage through the first five censought the conversion of the masses; modern mis- turies of the spread of Christianity we have watched that sions deal with both and with the social structure faith moulded by element after element of its environment. of society. Left to begin its career with a minimum of organization, without a literature, and with no formulre with which to The periods into which this magnum opus is di- define and defend its content, and thrust into a world in vided are therefore logical as well as chronolog- which syncretism was the fashion, Christianity might well ical. The author has the rare talent, exhibited in have seemed foredoomed to absorption and to lose whathis earlier History of Christian Missions in China, ever distinctiveness it may have inherited from the teachof an unprejudiced judgment together with true ing and the story of the life, death, and resurrection of catholic sympathy for all sorts and conditions of its founder. . . . Christians. Amid the mass of factual detail he never loses hold of his central theme and argu- At the close of its fifth century of expansion Christianment, namely, the gradual expansion of Christian- ity was in a very different position than at its outset. ity as Divine light and leaven in the world. This From being one of the smallest of Jewish sects, it had beis not a history of dogma, nor of ecclesiastical come the religion professed by the majority in the most populous of the cultural areas of mankind. Never in the history of the race had so complete a religious revolution been wrought in so short a time among so large a propor- tion of civilized man.
MY AFRICAN FATHER* My father's children did not love him. They feared him very much. My sisters feared him even more than we boys. If we offended him, such as drinking the dregs of his palm wine or standing near any of his wives, he thrashed us unmercifully. We dared not lift our eyes when he was near.
When he was a young man he became a hunter. After he excelled in shooting he swore an oath that he would not marry until he had killed a man of the Bakembe clan; so he went to the witch-doctor whose advice he followed. After he had prepared the war feast, the war- riors, the only ones invited, ate and danced in their ceremonial dress. Then my father took his gun and crossed the river to the Bakembe clan. He stealthily walked to a certain hut and removed the bark that closed it. There lay a man and his wife, fast asleep. He prayed to his gun, "Oh gun, pick off this man and this woman!" The gun sounded. It killed the sleepers. Immediately the hut caught fire and the whole family perished-not one was left to plant a lily bulb (commonly used to exorcise evil spirits). When he returned to his village he danced and sang the songs of warriors for which he was given much goods. With this he obtained his first wife.
Later, my father became a great "medicine man" and a priest of both the Nge and Urn cults. He sacrificed his mother to become a priest of the Nge.
Father married twenty-four wives, but he allowed only one of them to cook his food for fear of poisoning. When the sun was high in the heavens his favorite wife would set a stool out in the street of our village. There my father sat down while she brought hot water, bathed and rubbed his body with redwood powder. One day he killed his brother because he took from him one of his wives.-Zacheus Body-hardened.
i * Drum Call, West Afl'ica i_______.._______________________________ _
Work in
The Rev. MIGUEL RIZZO JR., Sao Paulo, Brazil Pastor and Recently Moderator of the Presbyterian Church ~._ of Brazil; a delegate to the Centenary Celebration of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.
T HE history of the evangelization of Brazil Presbyterian Church, in the capital of the country, could be divided into three phases: first, has been one of the greatest missionary agencies efforts made by 'the French in the sixteenth of South Brazil. He organized the first theological century; second, beginnings made by the Dutch class from which came three preachers who did in the seventeenth century; and third, the definite a very considerable amount of work. He wrote establishment of the work started by American sermons which fed the piety of the first converts.
missionaries in the nineteenth century. He published a journal which is yet a model The first two attempts would furnish abundant worthy to be imitated by the modern evangelical material for many very interesting narratives, but press. All this work was done in the short period the specific purpose of this article does not permit of eight years. He died when he was thirty-four me to write more than a .few words on that sub- years old, but his blessed memory is still highly ject. venerated by all evangelical workers of Brazil.
The first evangelical preachers and lay workers Many other American missionaries have folwho landed in Brazil were sent by the Reformed lowed and have been working earnestly at the Church of Geneva. The French Government was side of national preachers for years. The work then in possession of the country, recently dis- established on such solid foundations has reached covered. These pioneers were martyred by Vil- considerable proportions. The Presbyterian legagnon, a cruel adventurer who found that the Church of Brazil has now 1275 preaching stations Protestant preachers, whom he himself had called with 330 church buildings, 294 organized to Brazil, were not servile instruments to carry churches, and 144 ordained preachers. It receives, out his political program of oppression against the on an average, 2500 new members every year and inhabitants; he therefore persecuted and put has 35,199 communicant members and 30,114 chilthem to death. dren on its rolls. The Sunday schools include 3183 teachers and 39,476 pupils. The theological semi- The record of the noble courage and unbroken nary in Campinas has 37 students and seven fidelity of these preachers, although written in teachers, while more than 80 other students are blood, is one of the brightest pages of the religious preparing to go to the seminary. For many years heritage of Brazil. the Presbyterian Seminary of Pernambuco has The efforts of the Dutch Christians were more been sending many preachers to northern Brazil.
successful. They organized a Synod with more Almost all churches and missionary stations under than twenty preachers, established schools and the control of the Presbyterian Church in central did much social service on behalf of the poor and and south Brazil are now supplied by graduates sick. When they were expelled from the country of the seminary at Campinas.
by the Portuguese all the evangelical work they A missionary society, sponsored by the Church, had built up vanished. The Jesuits who came after supports a missionary in Portugal and hopes to them have tried to defame them and to discredit send another to that country next year.
the great work they established. When the history In order to understand the real opportunities of the nation is written from a critical and un- and the great needs of the Brazilian evangelical partial point of view their work will appear in a field, we must have in mind, among other things, clear light. The rehabilitation of their memory the following facts: is already being promoted by expert historians. In many regions of the country new areas are After these two unsuccessful efforts in estab- being populated so that the traveler who a few lishing a permanent evangelical work came the years .ago passed through some of these regions American missionaries. The first of them was the will be surprised to see the hamlets and villages Rev. Ashbel Green Simonton, who landed in the where previously he had seen only forest. A field he had chosen in 1859. There he organized a popular expression in Brazil is that, in certain really great work. Through many years the First zones, "cities are sprouting out quickly." This [576 ]
EVANGELICAL WORK IN BRAZIL
growth offers a great opportunity to the churches. ficult part of the Gospel. His letter shows clearly In many of these regions the Roman Catholic that his mind is preoccupied with religious prob- Church has not the same influence it exerts in lems.
other places. When this church begins work at Another fact: a few months ago I was inviter!
the same time as the Protestants we generally to visit an engineer high up in one of the depart- have advantages. Experience shows that many ments of the Government. He wished to present people, moving into a new place, are more ready a subject which could better be studied at his to hear the Gospel. Some of the settlers of new home. I went to his house and he explained that regions have lived in cities whe"'e it was n.ot easy before her marriage his wife had intended to be a to hear a Protestant preacher because they had nun and that all her family were very devout.
to face the criticism of friends 'and relatives who He had in his library a Bible which she read; im- could not understand h.ow anyone could leave the mediately her conception of religion changed. She religion of his father. Moving to a new place, was in great trouble because she could n.ot now these people find themselves in a new environment accept the teachings which for so long had been in which the obstacles to hinder attendance at the guide of her life. She even thought that her Protestant services are much fewer than where spiritual trouble must be a temptation of the they formerly lived. In regions recently opened devil. She went many times to see her priest but up, evangelical work is growing c.onsiderably. If he could not answer her questions satisfactorily.
we can use efficiently such opportunities as these, She finally asked him about her new view of the new cities now being organized will be very Christ, and he said: "The Christ you are intro- different spiritually and morally from the older ducing to me is a Protestant Christ." She had cities where it is so difficult to preach the Gospel never talked with a Protestant but now she be- because the people are proud to be "tl'!aditional" came curious to meet one. That was the reason I Roman Catholics. had received the invitation to visit the husband.
1. Brazilian evangelists are working actively She and her children are now connected with my in some of the new areas. Many Presbyterian church and, through her, the door seems to be missionaries are opening the way into the far in- opening to many .others in high places in the city.
terior and are establishing work even in places Still another fact: at a religious meeting in where the population is very scattered. one of the churches of Sao Paulo a lady was taken 2. Another fact worth while considering is that ill during the service. We found that there were many years ag.o great numbers .of German im- six medical doctors in the audience. That is remigrants came to Brazil and brought their pastors markable when we remember tha;t the Roman with them. The religious service was conducted Catholic Church is doing all it can to prevent in German, which now, in many cases the children people from attending Protestant churches.
do not understand. They are Protestants but they The manager of the largest bookstore in the cannot understand the service conducted still in city where I live is a regular attendant at our the language .of their fathers. In one region oc- meetings. He told me that now they are selling cupied by our missionaries there are tens of thou- more religious books, imported from France, than sands of people in such condition. One of the ever before. Most of these books are written by missionaries, Rev. Harry P. Midkiff, has now Protestant preachers. , thirty-five congregati.ons in .one of these new I could state many other instances, but theRe areas and many more places offer opportunities are sufficient to show that among the intellectual f.or preaching; but a man must not attempt to classes of Brazil there is now more interest in cover too much ground. Can the Church be in- the religious question than ever before. Even different to the spiritual destiny of such a multi- in the Roman Cattholic Church we can observe a tude? change in the attitude toward the evangelical 3. The intellectual classes of Brazil are now churches. There are, of course, still many perse- cutions. A few months ago two of our buildingR more inclined to listen to the Gospel. A few months before leaving Brazil, I received were burned-one in Alpinopolis, Minas, and the a call from a person sent by one of the intellectuals other in Pinheiros, Pernambuco. But generally of the country who had been president of the the educated priests do not now use against the State and is recognized as an outstanding de- Protestants the expressions they formerly did. fender .of the Roman Catholic Church. He sent Recently one of the outstanding priests delivered his representative to ask me to interpret a passage a great eulogizing speech about Erasmo Braga, a of the Bible. He explained that he had already very well known minister, before a selected audimade the same request of many of the cultured ence in the Municiple Theatre of Sao Paulo.
priests of the city and they had not succeeded in 4. Besides the Presbyterian Church there are giving him a satisfactory explanation of that dif- many other Protestants working in Brazil. The
total constituency,according to the last statistics people is remarkably developed. The Sunday is 200,000 communicant members; generally there School is generally very wen attended by young are families and relatives and friends who through people and adults. Many of the churches have a them receive their religious influence, so that it very well organized work in religious education. seems to me that it is not an exaggerated The habit of family worship is not so widely estimate to multiply that number by five. This spread as it should be, but many families are very makes a million persons in Brazil under indirect scrupulous in maintaining it. There are in all the influence of the Gospel. The population of Brazil churches groups of strong Christians and they is over forty-two millions so that the quantity of have a blessed influence on the whole. salt is yet very little in proportion to the mass it must season. If we want to win the country to The ancient name of the country of Brazil was Christ we have before us a task of gigantic pro- "Land of the Holy Cross." We hope that this name portions. But we surely will face that duty. in the future may be applied to it, not as a geo- graphical designation, but as a symbol of the Such facts speak for the spiritual life of the power of the Christ of the Cross to redeem the Church in Brazil. The missionary spirit of souls of its children.
Forty Miles from a Hospital-in U. S. A.
FIFTEEN years ago, fired by the needs of a The story of those adventurous years can only remote neighborhood in the Tennessee hills, a woman opened a two-bed "hospital" in an be hinted at here. There were day and night calls unpainted shack without furnace or plumbing. The little village was far from railroads, and the in all weathers; swollen streams that must be main highway was a hog-wallow after rains. But there were wild trails and one-room cabins forded on horseback or muleback; canyons too DR. MARY CRAVATH WHARTON steep and rocky for even a mule to find footing.
aplenty, with typhoid, tuberculosis, pellagra and Patients were brought in from long distances on hookworm,burns, broken bones and gunshot wounds. extemporized stretchers; babies were delivered Pooling her resources with those of two by the light of log fires. Many homes lacked the friends, she put up a $6,000 building-chartered under the State Charities Act and irrevocably most primitive conveniences, or what we call nededicated to public welfare and community service. Everything was very simple and plain. The cessities; yet out of such homes are coming back country was still "the wilderness"; the nearest hospital was forty miles distant. splendid specimens of young manhood and wom- anhood.
Working under its own Board of Directors, Up- lands-for so the institution was christened-has undertaken a many-sided piece of definitely Chris- tian rural betterment work at Pleasant Hill, and has carried it on with unflagging zeal in the face of formidable difficulties. Clinics and dispensaries, public health teaching, inoculations, the care and feeding of babies, first aid, home nursing, and the growing and canning of vegetables to correct the traditional diet of dried beans and cornbread -all have a place in its constantly expanding program. What this harbor of refuge has meant to hundreds, stricken by sudden illness or in- volved in the accidents common to the mountains, can never be told. The work is Christian but non- denominational, and supported largely by volun- tary contributions. It has grown to a health cen- ter with ten buildings, thirty hospital beds, an x-ray machine, and a corps of trained workers.
It is still c-arried on by its founder, Dr. May Cravath Wharton, whose ability, devotion, and vision, together with her record of achievement, are convincing evidence that its work has only begun. DORA READ GOODALE.
Pleasant Hill, Tennessee.
the Midst of European
By PROFESSOR ADOLF KELLER, D.D., Geneva Secretary of the Central Bureau for Inter-Church Aid for the Evangelical Churches of Europe T HE peace and tranquillity of the Christian in labor circles, an anti-god or godless movement Churches have come to an end in Europe. has sprang up, as one can see in Russia and Spain. The Church idyll is over. It may still exist in some hidden corners, in remote villages, in What does this mean? It means that the Church countries far away from the thoroughfare of of Christ is no longer made up of the majority of modern ideologies and conflicting political powers. the population in modern nations, but represents On the crossroad of the life and thought of the again, as in the time of the Roman Empire, the European nations the Churches have to fight for liWe flock, a minority struggling for its life their material and spiritual existence. against modern indifferentism and secularism. This minority is ridiculed by the modern skep- There are only a few countries on the European ticism which prevails in many of the cultured Continent where nation and Church are more or class as well as in labor circles; the masses are less identical and where most of the citizens also advised by them to "leave heaven to the sparrows members of the churches. This may be the case and to the parsons." in certain Roman Catholic states and in the Scan- If Christianity is no longer a predominant dinavian countries. In Norway, for instance, the Church Government or administration is identical power in many countries, it becomes again, as in with the State Department. In Sweden nobody primitive Christianity, a missionary group. The could, until recent times, just leave one Church missionary task disappeared or was forgotten without entering another one. In Finland, 99% where the Church comprised a majority of the people, where everybody by birth or by custom of the nation are members of the National Lu- was a more or less active or convinced member theran Church. The relation between State and of the Church. Today the Church is again con- Church is hardly a problem or a conflict in these fronted in the midst of "Christian lands" with her countries. original missionary task. The Gospel must again But even in certain Roman Catholic countries be preached, not only to the heathen in dark con- like France and Italy, a large part of the nation tinents, but to millions of modern heathen who has given up church membership or active par- have been baptized or educated as Christians, but ticipation in church life. In France, for instance, for whom Christianity has lost its meaning. the Roman Catholic Church claims not more than The new missionary task with which the Church ten millions out of forty-one millions of the inhabitants; the Protestants count hardly one mil- is confronted is taken up afresh by the Churches lion. Where are the other thirty millions of the themselves and by religious groups who undertake French people? Germany counts officially forty a preaching mission similar to that sweeping over millions of Protestants out of sixty-five million the United States. The Confessional Church in inhabitants. But before Hitler came into power Germany actually considers ,the German people as her first missionary field. A special committee one could count sixteen millions of Socialist and under Herr von Thadden is organizing "Evan- Communist votes and it is well known to what gelical weeks" in the large cWes for bringing extent the Christian Church lost membership in again the Gospel to the land of the Reformation. continental Labor. A French student of theology, These gatherings draw new thousands in the A. Reymond, lived six months as a worker in fac- largest churches and assembly halls who wished tories of French industrial cities and made a study their evangelical witness to off-set the vague naof the religious conditions in the labor class. His tional religion which hardly deserves the name of impressions were that the large majority of the being an offspring of Luther's faith. These French labor classes not only have given up church "Evangelical weeks," the largest missionary propmembership but they no longer know what :the aganda undertaken in Germany, were continued Gospel is or what Christ means for mankind. until the Government forbade them and put the leaders in prison. Wherever Marxism and Bolshevism, with their materialistic philosophy have become predominant The voice of the German Churches could not be [ 579 ]
silenced by such administrative measures. The the thesis that confession is allowed but that pub- Christian people hear the Evangelical message lic discussion and propaganda of religion is forfrom the pulpit, in private assemblies and by a bidden. living and encouraging witness mouth to mouth. The Church in Germany shows in these times of The same thesis is found in the Bolshevist reliconflict that she lives alone on the Word of God gious legislation and its interpretation by the Boland recognizes no other Sovereign than her Lord, shevist party. Religious propaganda, therefore Jesus Christ. The former compromise between evangelization and missions, are prohibited in Church and State which led the German theo- Russia while atheistic propaganda is allowed. logian Richard Rothe to the thesis that the Church This prohibition is only one aspect of a religious would be dissolved in the State, has come to an persecution. The law, especially the new constiend and now the Church is drawing a clear bound- tution, does not speak of it. Religious liberty is ary line between her divine message and its im- granted on paper, but in practice the elements of plications and the claims of Caesar. The Church a religious persecution are seen in the following recognizes the State as a divine order to which facts: The importation of the Bible into Soviet she owes obedience according to God's law, but Russia is prohibited; the free preaching of the she refused to betray the Gospel to a State phi- Gospel is prohibited; thousands of priests, bishlosophy or a modern pagan or half-pagan myth, ops and Protestant ministers have been killed, such as it is developed in Rosenberg's "Myth of banished, or sent to the concentration camps in the Twentieth Century" and in other modern na- Siberia and near the White Sea. All religious tionalistic religious movements. education before the eighteenth year is forbidden. Innumerable Church buildings have been alien- Evidently, it needs that peculiar courage which ated from their religious use and are transformed faith has always shown to defy a totalitarian into museums, cinemas, assembly halls, variety State and to remind the omnipotent State that the theatres or are so heavily taxed that the congre- Lord is God and the Supreme Sovereign. This gation has had to give them up, as is the case courage has awakened new leaders like Barth, with the last Reformed Church in Odessa. Of Dibelius, Koch, Niemoller and many others who two hundred Lutheran pastors working in Russia say again with Luther: "Here I stand, I can no before the Revolution, today only five or six are other." They prefer to go to prison rather than still in their villages and nearly every week their betray their faith. Persecution has quickened the friends in Western countries receive letters aclife of faith and isolation gives back to the Church cording to which new arrests take place. her original independence from the world. From an external point of view the Church in In Italy a similar philosophy of a Fascist State Russia has come to an end although hundreds of seems to have concluded a compromise with the church buildings are still open in the large cities Roman Catholic Church which has a privileged and are crowded on Sundays. The official strucposition and accepted a large endowment of 1700 ture of the Church is shaken; the patriarchate, millions lire in the famous Lateran Treaties of the Synod, the Episcopate, the theological acad- 1929. But a compromise in spiritual matters al- emies, the influence on public life. But it is a ways contains germs of future conflicts. Already wonderful and paradoxical experience that the it becomes manifest that Church and State in Church today is saved by the Russian Christian Italy are becoming two rival and competing pow- mothers. They are the most influential and faithers in the sphere of education and marriage. Mus- ful missionaries of the present time. They teach solini tried to escape a conflict by establishing his their children, often in a very elementary way, doctrine of the "two sovereignties"-that of the what the Church can no longer teach and they State for temporal matters and that of the Church continue the faith and Christian tradition of that for matters spiritual. He has shown much diplo- deeply religious people. These simple farmersmatic skill in meeting the spiritual claims of the poor, uncultured, despised people–have a large Church and not only granted her the privilege of share in the spiritual revival which exists among being the national religion, but introduced the the Russian people today. The Russian writer, New Testament into the schools and concluded a Berdjaev, declares that Bolshevism is the child favorable concordat with the Vatican. At the between Marxism and the deep religious mystisame time he granted religious liberty to the cism of the -Russian people. Marxism is an out- Protestant minorities, especially the Waldensian, come of Western culture. Mysticism is the natin the treaty, "I Culti Ammessi" in 1929. The ural life of the Russian people and it seems that question today is whether Mussolini can protect Western influence has not been able to overcome for the future the Waldensians from the conse- the great natural gift of religion, even in a crude quences of an unfavorable interpretation of the form, which the Russian soul has maintained for treaties by the Roman Catholic clergy defending centuries. It is to be hoped that the time will come
IN THE MIDST OF EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS
when the Russian Church can again undertake the The fourth window may be seen in a beginning greatest missionary enterprise in Europe – the of social work within the Orthodox Church. Such evangelization of the Russian people by the Bible social interest in the former mystical, hierarchic and the preaching of the Word of God. and sacramentarian Church might have spared Russia a revolution, as Methodism did to England Already four windows are opening in the Or- in the Eighteenth Century. The beginnings are thodox Church towards Western evangelical Christianity. The first is that the Orthodox weak, but hopeful. Church begins to preach. At our ecumenical con- The Church of Christ is going through dark ferences we have heard more than once a sincere evangelical witness from the mouth of an Ortho- times in these European countries shaken by revdox preacher; where the priests remain silent, olutions, but the Divine light shines in this darkthe laymen, simple men and women, begin to ness and the Church is again going through that preach. In the former Raskol, through the marvelous experience which St. Paul expressed Stundist Movement, the Russian Orthodox Church in the words: "When I am weak, then am I has had a Reformation of her own which could not strong." The revolution has revolutionized men's be quenched and is still alive among the Gospel- inner life and martyrdom, wherever it happened, Christians. has again proved to be the real seed of faith in The second window opens through the theo- Christian churches. logical studies which Orthodox theologians began The Church of Christ has again become the at Western Theological Seminaries. Following little flock, but this little flock is a real Church of such studies these Orthodox theologians have faith. The Church is becoming poor like her shown a remarkable independence. They have not founder who had not whereon to lay his head, but only learned from Protestant theology but have she has become spiritually blessed. She is per- secuted in many places but she feels again that defended and expounded their own faith with an she is bearing the Cross which her Master has original theological skill and sincere conviction. Men like Father Bulgakow, Florowski, Wyszes- carried. lavzev, Cassian, Zander and Zenkowski at the Or- These European Christians are suffering in thodox Academy in Paris, and such theologians as Zankow in Bulgaria, Arseniev in Konigsberg their terrible poverty, in their isolation and perseand Alivisatos in Athens have the merit to have cution. They are the "unknown Christian," opened a new understanding of the Orthodox which the wealthy, powerful and busy Churches Church to Western Protestants. in the West so easily forget. Their answer to the world is silence and martyrdom. They can hardly The third window is opening in the present-day speak. It is, therefore, the task of their happier Youth Movement in the Orthodox Church. It be- but perhaps, less blessed brethren, to speak to came hopeful with the fact that the Western them, to comfort them in their terrible loneliness, Christianity refrained from proselytizing the Or- to strengthen their faith in their vicarious sufferthodox Church, at least that part of it which is ing and to show them that evangelical solidarity collaborating with that Church in the ecumenical which is a privilege and a necessity of the Chrismovement. tian life. Such solidarity was recently declared at Oxford and Edinburgh to be one of the urgent ecumenical tasks of present-day Christianity.
SHALL WE KEEP ON ASKING GOD?
By THE LATE JAMES H. MCCONKEY More than half a century ago George Muller, that prince of intercessors with God, began to pray for a group of five personal friends. After five years one of them came to Christ. In ten years two more of them found peace in the same Saviour. He prayed on for twenty-five years and the fourth man was saved. For the fifth he prayed until the time of his death, and this friend too came to Christ a few months afterward. For this latter friend Muller had prayed almost fifty-two years!
But someone says: "How long shall we pray? Do we not come to a place where we may cease from our petitions and rest the matter in God's hands?" He alone, and not we, must decide when we shall cease from petitioning. We may stop praying for someone because we receive the answer or we stop because we believe God has given His answer. The faith of our heart is as sure as the sight of our eyes, for it is faith in God. More and more as we live the prayer life we come to experience and recognize this God-given assurance, and know when to continue our petitioning.
Dilemma of Japanese
_.•..gf By the REV. T. T. BRUMBAUGH, Tokyo, Japan r;;,··- Missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church Since 1924 C HRISTIANS and idealists of Japan are "on This is not only a wholesome change from the the spot" of public scrutiny even more at attitude of Christians in all other wars to date, home today than abroad. Every Japanese but it is in great contrast to the positions taken by is required by his Government, and the people who other religious and cultural bodies in Japan.
support it und.er the Constitution of 1868, to give Without exception, Japan's thirteen religious sects absolute and unquestioning obedience to the na- of Shinto have been vigorously supporting the tion and its rulers. The highest moral principle nation's military policy on the Asiatic mainland; in the Japanese code of ethics is loyalty to em- they have indeed been centers of the combative peror and empire. Consequently when his gov- nationalism of the past half-dozen years. Bud- ernment, in a crisis such as the present, seeks to dhism also, while never so unrestrained in grati- obtain assurances of loyalty from the various reli- fication of desires, has given unquestioned support gious bodies functioning in the land the National to all Government policies and certain sects and Christian Council of Japan, representing two hun- Buddhist groups have by popular subscription dred thousand Christians of various affiliated de- raised large funds for the purchase of airplanes nominations, feels obliged to assure Government to be given to the imperial army and navy.
and rulers that the Christian Church "pledges it- In Christian circles the Roman Catholic Church self … to render faithful services to the State." has also recently been very active in assuring the None who read farther into this recent declara- authorities of its unswerving loyalty to the Gov- tion of the Japanese National Christian Council ernment in all temporal affairs, this being an can fail to note, however, that there is deep regret effort to overcome the suspicion that has rested in and chagrin that Sino-Japanese relations have Japanese minds ever since Catholicism was drifted into the sorry mess of today. Japanese stamped out of Japan in the sixteenth and seven- Christians feel their own share in responsibility teenth centuries for alleged connivance with Rome for all this; they call for a movement of spiritual and other capitals of temporal power in Europe.
regeneration within Japan, one which may bring Protestants have occasionally taken up the cudgels Christians and non-Christians alike to conscious- for nationalistic expansion on "Deutschland-iiber- ness of guilt as well as to a sense of God's will in alles" patterns; but the unprejudiced observer the present situation. As regards the crisis within cannot fail to observe a much more moderate and Japan they are determined to show the nation and international attitude throughout C h r i s t ian those in the empire's military service that Chris- groups and "spheres of influence" in Japan than tians minister to all those in need, whether physi- is found elsewhere.
calor spiritual, and they join fervently in prayer Christians and other advocates of world fellow- that the conflict may speedily be ended and in ship in Japan today are in a serious dilemma.
such a way as to make for permanent peace and They have been drawn to the Christian faith and friendship between China and Japan. its humanitarian ideals because it seems so ob- All this may sound pitifully inadequate to those vious that only such a world community under a hoping to hear a more positive voice out of Chris- unitary and loving Divine order can solve the stu- tendom; yet anyone recalling the attitude and offi- pendous problems of life in the modern world- cial statements of Christians in America and personal, social, economic, and others. But they Great Britain during the World War may find in are puzzled and baffled by the fact that European this declaration some reason for gratification. and American social and national life, in spite of There is here no breath of hatred for China, no many centuries of Christian background, is not suggestion of national glorification, no attempt to actuated by Christ-like motives. The JapaIese sanctify war. There is, rather, a deep sense of feel themselves the victims of white supremacy remorse that, in spite of Christian and other ideal- throughout the earth, and Christians cannot deny istic efforts for peace, open warfare has come be- it. They see that this form of white imperialism tween Japan and her neighbors, and there is a has been built up htrgely by military power and desire to mitigate the horrors of war while pray- that, whereas certain groups of Christians have ing for its swift conclusion. in recent years been renouncing further aggres- [ 582)] sion by such violence, not one "Christian" nation, ness; considering thyself, lest thou also be or even one sizable group of Christians, has re- tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens and so pudiated its nation's obvious determination to fulfil the law of Christ." keep for 'itself all the advantages acquired so largely by force. This not only applies to the land It is to Christianity's eternal credit that by and available resources of Christian nations, evangelization, education and the natural penetrawhich compare so to Japan's disadvantage with tion of the humanitarian ideals of Jesus the people its vast population and narrow confines, but it is of Japan, China and all other as yet non-Christian especially clear when one compares the standards lands have been awakened to their need of a more of living of Christian peoples in the West with abundant life, material and spiritua1. It will be a those in the Orient. hard blow to Christian prestige if now awakened Japanese decide that Christianity cannot or will The gist of the matter is that Christians in these not undertake to provide for these needs. We may favored lands do not concern themselves with the condemn as unchristian and immoral the methremoval of obvious inequalities and injustices, and ods that Japan is employing in China in her efforts that they and their governments have deliberately to attain her own economic salvation; but if set economic obstacles that hinder the efforts of Christendom cannot indicate and demonstrate a the Japanese to solve their own problems by peace- better way, then our testimony will be to them as ful means. The charge of Japan's nationalists can sounding brass and clanging cymbal. The Christscarcely be refuted, that Christianity and interna- spirit, even when exercising moral restraint as in tional idealism have not been concerned with a the present effort to restrain Japan in Asia, must practical and just solution of Japan's stupendous be redemptive. Let American Christians not problem of feeding seventy millions of people from overlook or neglect the redemptive quality of their a tillable area in Japan proper equivalent to the faith. Western two-thirds of Ohio. WHAT CHINESE CHRISTIANS SAY Christians in Japan also find it difficult to understand an attitude of mind on the part of Western Dr. Chester S, Miao of the National Christian peoples which will complacently tolerate the vast Council of China says: (1) Everyone should do extent of both economic and political imperialism his best to steady the morale of his community that obtains today in China under European and and help to secure peace and order. (2) We American responsibility, and at the same time re- should endeavor to carryon our daily work and gards with such horror all Japanese effort to solve help others to do their regular work. (3) War Japan's economic problem by similar though per- conditions are a breeding ground for rumor and haps more thorough-going methods. Here we note propaganda. Let us do our best to act as agents the difference, if any, between expansion by the for reliable news and for the dissemination of usual methods of economic penetration and that truth. (4) There is no better time than this to openly supported by military force. Japan cannot bring home to our people the Christian message forget that only ten years ago America and Great of the cross of suffering, We need faith to sus- Britain requested Japanese naval cooperation in tain our hope and to endure suffering. (5) Let Nanking to save our nationals and our property us launch a movement in every city for raising from the confusion attendant upon the northward relief funds and needed materials for suffering advance of Chiang Kai-shek's armies. Artillery people. (6) Let us pray for peace and the adbarrages were then laid down around the Stand- vancement of the cause of Christ. (7) Let us ard Oil compound to protect Occidental lives and show that we love justice and seek to manifest the property with a disregard for Chinese life and love of God. interests not unlike that for which Japan's army and navy are condemned today. The Chinese Christian leader, Mr. C. K. Lee, gave this answer to a student who asked why we In brief, Japanese lovers of peace and world fel- should teach Christianity to China when it has the lowship are in a tight place. They are opposed to ethics of Confucianism: any blood-thirstiness in their national program but they are truly and proudly Japanese. Perhaps "There are three reasons. First of all, Conwe have expected too much of a nation only sev- fucius was a teacher and Christ is a Saviour. enty-five years out of feudalism and a careful China needs a Saviour more than she needs a pupil of western forms of national development. teacher. In the second place, Confucius is dead It would seem to one acquainted with the New Tes- and Christ is alive. China needs a living Saviour. tament that Western Christians might well recall In the third place, Confucius is some day going to Paul's injunctions to the Galatians: "Brethren, stand before Christ to be judged by Him. China if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are needs to know Christ as Saviour before she meets spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meek- Him as Judge."
Working by Love in
The Story of the Omi Brotherhood I _•..e/ By WINBURN T. THOMAS, Tanaka, Kyoto, Japan I Ji.- O NE of the most interesting places to visit in Christian work. This might have sent other less Japan is a small village in the province of enterprising evangelists back to America; but Omi, an hour from Kyoto. While the not so young Vories. He determined to give up country is rich in picturesque scenes and in his- his teaching salary and to remain in Hachiman toric treasures, many tourists, with only a few until he had helped his young disciples to a,ttain days to spend in Japan, take time to visit this spiritual maturity. The situation forced him to town on the shores of Lake Biwa. These visitors become an independent, self-supporting missioncome to see the Omi Brotherhood, "a nonsectar- ary. ian experiment in rural evangelization." A Yale University professor, who had seen the work, ex- Some of his young Japanese friends stood by claimed, "It is one of the most interesting social Vories, sharing their school allowances until outexperiments in the history of Christianity." An side aid arrived; one of the young students American philanthropist said, "This is the most shared his room with his teacher. Some of these interesting missionary story I have ever heard." young men are today active members of the A French atheist after spending several weeks in Brotherhood; their fidelity is much like that of the village wrote, "I have never seen or heard Japanese retainers for their lords.
anything like this. You really believe. Although I haven't yet a consciousness of God or an understanding of Jesus Christ, I could join your Broth- hood today, believing in you."
The Omi Brotherhood is no new form of monasticism, for it is very much a part of the world's life. It conducts a successful business; its mem- bers speak over the radio; it carries on evangel- istic work over a large area. Instead of being wholly Japanese, it includes among its workers, Americans, Koreans, Chinese, and nationals from other countries. While members of the Brother- VORIES, YOSHIDA, NURATA, H. SATO, MIYAMOTO, KOGHO hood refrain from the use of tobacco and alcohol WHO WERE TOGETHER IN THE ACADEMY IN 1905 stimulants, they are not ascetic. In a country (Photo taken in 1930) where even Christianity is too often looked upon Fortunately Mr. Vories had studied architec- as a festal observance, a life insurance for the ture and it was not long before he received some future world, theological speculation, or a matter small commissions to design and erect mission of sectarian loyalty, the Omi Brotherhood repre- buildings. Later he became so busy that he was sents Christian life and the purpose of the group obliged to engage a staff of assistants. In the is experimentally to demonstrate the power of thirty-two years since the establishment of this Christ in daily life and conduct. Brotherhood, Mr. Vories and his assistants have Over thirty years ago, William Merrell Vories designed over a thousand buildings, including came to Japan to teach English in a government some as large and well known as the Daimaru de- academy at Hachiman. Not content with in- partment store in Osaka. A score of draftsmen structing the boys in his native tongue he started are busy in the Omi Hachiman office and branch a Bible class. This move went unnoticed until offices are maintained in Tokyo and Osaka. The some of the boys decided to become Christians. vast evangelistic program centered about this vil- Later money was provided for the erection of a lage has been carried on with the aid of Vories'
Y. M. C. A. in which to carryon Christian activi- "little pencil." Not only has the income from this ties. When the building was nearly completed branch of the work enabled him to finance its the opposition was so great that Mr. Vories was evangelistic program, but the office has intro- asked to resign from the school or to give up his duced many badly needed housing reforms.
[584 ] The next project undertaken was to provide vised by Dr. Vories, all strictly observe Sunday, a building materials and equipment. This neces- practice hardly known in Japan. In some cases sitated the organization of the Omi Sales Com- this has resulted in one day in seven being granted pany which imports and manufactures hardware, as a holiday for all employees, notably in the case refrigerators, household furnishings, and other of one of the large department stores. The Brotherhood factory at Omi Hachiman demon- LUNCH TIME AT THE KINDERGARTEN, OMI MISSION strates Christian commercial principles. Em- ployees are treated and paid as though they were modern equipment. Probably the most profitable children of God rather than as economic slaves venture was acceptance of the Oriental sales to be exploited. The workers receive the benefit agency for Mentholatum. Japanese druggists at of city wages while remaining in the country. first refused to handle ,the product, but it has now become almost a household necessity throughout Some results of the mission work of the Broth- Japan. Two small incidents show how wide- erhood are seen in its churches, Y. M. C. A., gymspread its use has become. One day while the nasium, and sanitorium. One of the finest tuberwriter was visiting a movie studio, a leading lady culosis hospitals in Japan, conducted by the misfell and bruised her arm during the "shooting" sion, is located at the foot of a hill overlooking a of a scene. Immediately one of her fellow ac.tors plain that leads to Lake Biwa. One day a memcalled to the "makeup" girl, "Bring the Menthol- ber of the Brotherhood was told that he had tuberatum." Again, at a country hotel, when a mem- culosis. To care for him and similar cases the ber of our party accidently slipped on a rock and first section of a sanitorium was constructed; bruised his hands, a maid produced a small can this has now developed into a modern hospital of this salve and all was well. When the packages with thirty workers and eighty-five beds. Docof Mentholatum are put up by the Brotherhood, tors estimate that one person in seven (some say a Bible verse and an invitation to correspond are as many as one in three) in Japan is a tubercuincluded in each package. As a result many Jap- losis case, but many have good prospects for reanese have been led to Christ. covery.
Evangelism and business are united in the The Brotherhood is non-sectarian, and its memmembers of the Brotherhood, and the two forms bers are free to join any denomination they of work are carried on side by side. On the sec- choose, but the local Congregational church is ond floor of the general offices in Omi Hachiman, the newspaper evangelism and publication depart- THE TUBERCULOSIS SANITARIUM-OMI HACHIMAN ments are conducted. Several full-time workers are busy preparing Christian magazines and most closely connected with the work. This conbooks, and in sending out Bible lessons and litera- nection dates from Dr. Vories' earliest days in ture to those who inquire about Christianity or Japan when he was invited to speak on Sunday who are taking correspondence courses. mornings to a small group of persons who gath- ered in a private home for worship. Within a These various business enterprises, begun only as a means of financing the evangelistic work, have been the direct means of promoting evangelism. Even in the building operations,super-
few years this group was able to erect a chapel One unusual feature of the work is the "Galiand to call a minister. One of the unusual things lee Maru," a motor launch used on Lake Biwa. about the work is that a collection is never taken About 100 Brotherhood workers carry their acat the meetings; those who wish to contribute tivities into six other places around the lake, condrop their offerings into a small receptacle at the ducting church services, Sunday Schools, Y. M. rear of the auditorium. The congregation has C. A.'s, kindergartens, cooperatives, and agriculgrown so that the worship services were recently tural conferences and experiments. transferred to the large gymnasium of the community house, in the front part of which there is The Omi Brotherhood expresses William Mera day nursery and a kindergarten. rell Vories' dream of a "complete independent mission enterprise, of such a variety of activities as will reach all classes of people in a given local- ity and will develop its own support on the field." In the Omi-Hachiman area of 1,616 square miles, with a population of 700,000 living in one city and 1,376 towns and villages, the Brotherhood's aim is- IN THE MENTHOLATUM PACKING ROOM 1. To preach and practice the Gospel of Christ without reference to denominational differences. A comparatively recent innovation of the Brotherhood work is a girls' high school. The 2. To completely unify the work in a fellowship of all higher education of Japanese boys has been taken workers, regardless of nationality or race. care of by government institutions, but girls have been left to shift for themselves after graduation 3. To evangelize communities unoccupied by any other from grammar school. To care for their needs Mission, and under no circumstances to overlap with the in Omi province a former residence was remod- work of such a Mission. eled and a girls' high school begun with an enrollment of about fifty young women. Three separate 4. To evangelize rural communities, as the most conbuildings house the dormitory, dining hall and servative element of mankind and the most probable source class rooms. of leadership.
The most recent building is a new Y. M. C. A., 5. To seek, enlist and train leaders and Christian workwhere the work is in the hands of a full-time sec- ers. retary and where classes are conducted for the village and Academy boys. 6. To promote social betterment-including temperance, social purity, Christian marriage customs, industrial, physical and sanitary reforms, and definite work for the neglected classes.
7. To study and experiment with new methods of Chris- tian evangelization.
The Japanese authorities that formerly perse- cuted and opposed the work of the Brotherhood are now loudest in the praise of Dr. Vories for through his efforts, he has put Hachiman on the map, has employed a large number of its people, and is gradually raising the economic, moral and religious level of its citizens.
"GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY!"
Some years ago a prominent French jurist was attorney for a murderer. In his final address to the jury he said: "Gentlemen of the jury! My task is very easy. The accused has confessed; a defense is impossible, and yet· I want to add a .few words. There, on the wall, I see the picture of the Crucified Ch:rist and I pay homage to Him. There hangs the picture, in this hall of justice, where you condemn the guilty. But why do we not hear anything of Him in our public schools to which we send our children? Why does the murderer, for the first time in his life, see the Crucified One here in this hall, wh~re the law will punish him? If the attention of my client had been directed to the Crucified when he sat on the benches of the school, he would not now sit here facing disgrace and infamy. Yes, it is you, gentlemen, whom I accuse. You that brag, with your education and your culture, and yet are barbarous, who spread atheism and lust among the people, and then are astonished when the people reply with crime and vulgarity. Condemn my client, gentlemen. You have a right to do it. But I accuse you; that is my duty."
Naturally Love to
By the REV. JAMES F. RIGGS, New York Field Committee on United Promotion, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
W ITH rapt attention the children listened. plan for such instruction, and make it interesting The speaker knew children's interests. He by calling attention to what it does to character, was fascinating. In closing his address he the child responds naturally and gladly. This asked if anyone present wanted to help the cause does not apply to money alone, but to any service of Christian education to continue the work de- rendered as well. Money is merely the tool most scribed. Eagerly the hands went up. Then the frequently used. Stewardship both in theory and minister rose and said, "These children are poor. practice covers many aspects of the Christian ex- They have no money except what working fathers perience.
or mothers provide for them. It is not reasonable Schools of stewardship with classes for youth, to ask them to give to any cause. In fact they stewardship dramas, interesting biographies of need many things themselves." generous givers are all assets in the development The speaker was surprised, as well he might be, of true Christian stewards. Youth learns from since the children did not appear to be in need or them that the giving of self, service, substance, for impovished. However, with a smile he inquired the propagation of the Gospel is not a matter of if he might ask a question. When this permission likes or dislikes. It is an imperative. When was granted he said, "How many of you children properly taught this conception becomes as nat- go to the movies?" Every hand was raised. ural as it is beautiful in the child.
"How many of you go on an average of twice a One church quickened this sense of obligation week?" Many hands shot up. "How many go at to the causes represented by the church program times more often than that?" A few hands were through the making and showing of a set of slides held aloft. Then turning to the pastor he re- on giving. These revealed in the form of charts marked, "I feel sure that it would be no hardship and graphs what the average person spent for for them to share in Kingdom enterprises." luxuries like amusements, tobacco, candy, as con- trasted with the amounts contributed to Church, But two long, searching thoughts filled his mind. Sunday school, Christian Endeavor, etc. The ef- Why do adults deprive children of the privilege of fect of these slides was very convincing. When giving? And why do older people so often pre- this was discussed in Sunday school classes and sent vital work in a manner uninteresting to age groups it resulted in a number of increased youth? pledges accompanied by heightened interest in the cause. Children love to give. They give to what they are interested in. The Church however very gen- Conventional giving is not only w:ithout thrill; er.ally expects interest, but often does not work but is likely to be very short-lived. It will cease creatively to generate it. Usually young people at the first opportunity. The child's money will have not the remotest idea of what they are giv- be absorbed by any secular cause or object which ing to when they drop their offering in the blue is appealing. Children are eager to do what is Sunday school envelope, or in the church collec- interesting. They are right in expecting, if not tion plate. Like their elders they give as a matter requiring, that they should get some degree of of course, as a bit of church routine. Consequently. satisfaction out of the causes which they help to they do so without any enthusiasm.
The Theory and Practice of Stewardship support. They ought.to know why they give, as well as what they give to in supporting church Usually stewardship is not taught in any prac- work. If the basic reasons presented to them are tical way. As a result the rising generation real- stated in terms of life, alert in meeting human izes only in the vaguest possible manner that God needs, the children will respond wonderfully.
is the source of all blessings through the years, There is nothing which appeals more deeply to a including the gift of life itself. As a result all the child than to know that he is meeting a real need.
daily benefits are accepted as a matter of course. Sympathies are ever ready and near the surface It is necessary that stewardship should be taught, in childhood. Youth yearns to do worthwhile and practiced too, if it is to mean anything vital work to help others.
to the child. When parents and teachers have a A far more wonderful response, than is gen- [ 587]
erally the case, will be generated if the principle John D. Rockefeller, Jr., say that in the next genof learning by doing is used to acquaint the on- eration we shall have no more concentrated coming generation with the causes to which they wealth, it is essential that the Church build up a contribute. An intermediate group was expected multitude of small but vitally interested givers. to aid in the support of the mission boat "Prince- In days to come their interest will make them ton," which ministers in so many and varied ways "pillars" of the Church. on the tooth-like Alaskan coast. As the youngsters knew very little of the "Princeton," or the Young people today are more versatile and more work it was doing, their giving was sluggish and mature for their years than in any previous genhad never reached the amount pledged. Often the eration. Youth marches on! May it be with the offering was "forgotten"; or just a few pennies Church – because their imaginations and hearts were given. However, when a manual training have been captured by the challenge of bringing teacher agreed to help the group to make a small the abundant life of Christ to underprivileged peomodel of this boat out of scrap materials from the ple. Thus youth may learn to identify itself with department stores, the change in attitude was Kingdom causes. amazing. Boredom and lethargy gave place to the keenest interest. Attendance became almost 1000/0 MESSAGES FROM D. L. MOODY even at week-day meetings. The group devoured eagerly stories of the service rendered by this If you cannot do some great thing, you can do boat. The giving came up without any visible ef- some little thing for Christ. fort or special pledging in excess of the amount pledged. To these intermediates giving became God is ready and willing to work, if we are "alive." It is spontaneous when interest is hehind ready and willing to let Him, and to be used by it. Jesus' words were once more fulfilled, "Where Him. your treasure is there will your heart be also." What we want today is the spirit of consecra- Tested and Helpful Methods tion and concentration. May God pour out His Spirit upon us, and fill us with holy. enthusiasm. Among the other helps in developing interest in benevolences are moving pictures showing the Many people are afraid of the word "enthusiwork supported. These may be secured at nom- asm." Do you know what that word means? It inal expense from many of the Mission Boards. means "in God." The person who is "in God" Dramatic presentations of evangelistic, medical, surely will be filled with enthusiasm. educational work, carried on by children's gifts are also valuable. Missionary progress may also If the Lord sees our faith for those whom we be portrayed dramatically. Animated biographies wish to be blessed, He will honor it. He has not of famous missionaries are often used with excel- disappointed the faith of any of His children yet. lent effect. There are in addition exhibits of curios; and costume meetings in which the cloth- It is far better to get one hundred men to do the ing of the country aided is used by the speaker work than to do it one's self. Only when the rank and ushers.. These educational settings have a and file of the Christian churches are enlisted in very great appeal. active service for Christ will His Kingdom ad- vance as it should. Hand work is always alluring to active boys and girls. Sometimes stories are told while the work In all ages, God has delighted to use the weak is going on. Or the young people may carry out a things. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that GOd visual program in the form of exhibitions of what uses foolish things, weak things, base things, their money accomplishes. One church put on a and things which are not. But if we are leaning series of tableaux of this sort. Another wrote up on God's strength we have more than all the and acted out its entire hooevolence budget with strength of the world. the aid of the young people themselves under the direction of two or three adult advisers. Medical Compare our opportunities of serving God with service was shown by a hospital scene with the those of the early Christians. Look at the mighty children impersonating the doctor, nurse and pa- obstacles they had to encounter and surmount. tient. Education pictured a teacher cooperating Let us grasp these opportunities to serve Him; with a class in working out a special project. then we may expect great things. He will not disappoint us. All these are but forms of the practice of Stewardship. This is essential to the present-day Let us lJot give heed to gloomy and discouragchurch in a changing world. In an era when men ing remarks; in the name of our great Comprominent in financial circles, like J. P. Morgan, mander, let us march on to battle and victory. "Be of good courage and let us behave ourselves valiantly for our people and for the cities of our God; and let the Lord do that which is good in His sight.
African Bishop in
The Story of a Missionary's Journey By R. R. WRIGHT, Jr., Woodstock, Cape Province I Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church 1Ja- ~=-=-=-=-=-====================~ C OMING to South Africa a total stranger to stantly, walking many miles each day. We took people, language and customs, I found it tea in his small cottage, which was a marvel of highly necessary to acquaint myself as cleanliness. quickly as possible with my work, and decided that the only satisfactory way was to travel by Here Mr. Gordon left us and we proceeded to automobile. I was fortunate in getting as chauf- Beaufort West where I was to lay the cornerstone feur a young Zulu, who spoke very correct Eng- of a new church. We found the ceremony post- poned because of the sudden serious illness of the !ish, also Afrikaans, Sesutho, Xosa, Zulu and two aged minister. We visited him and spent the or three other dialects; an expert driver, a good night in the home of an old colored seaman, who mechanic familiar with the geography of South looked like the old-time pirates we read about Africa. We took with us maps, guide book and when we were children, but who, in spite of other books and references; an Afrikaans gram- tattooed arms was indeed a kindly old gentleman mar, dictionary and Bibles in Afrikaans and Eng- and an elder in his church. This was our first lish. We drove from beautiful Capetown through experience of sleeping in a "location"-an area the grape-growing districts of Paarl and Well- just outside a city, set apart by the municipality ington to Bain's Kloof, where we gradually rose for the habitation of natives, and sometimes other to a height of 2,000 feet above sea level. This colored persons; the ground is owned by the city, gave us a fine view of ocean and mountains, and which often builds the houses and the people pay villages lying in the gorgeous valleys. We de- rent to the city. These houses are usually two or scended amidst even more beautiful scenery to three rooms, built of mud in the crudest fashion. Worcester, 82 miles from Capetown where we The supervision is usually in the hands of a white lodged with the Rev. D. P. Gordon, who went as "location manager." As there are over 200 "lo- a missionary to this place thirty-two years ago. cations," one can find all types of character in The result of these years of labor are partly seen these managers, from outrageous exploitation to in a comfortable church building which can seat kindly paternalism. In some "locations" there are 400 people, a three-room school building with 215 a few beautiful homes which the people were alpupils, four teachers, and a mission house of seven lowed to build for themselves. But the fact that rooms. The school is now recognized by the Gov- they cannot own the ground and that they may ernment. Mr. Gordon is now 69 years of age, have to move at any time, is most discouraging. and is honored by all for the Christian service he "Locations" were originally designed for natives has rendered. who were brought out of the country districts, Accompanied by Mr. Gordon, who also has away from their native tribal life to work for the whites, and. whom the whites would not allow to supervision of churches on many farms in the live in their cities. This forced segregation has vicinity, we visited the school at De Wet. Here brought on many problems for which have been were two teachers, with 110 pupils in the one- found no adequate solution. The municipality room church building, which had a dirt floor and gives to each church a plot on which it may build benches for about half the children. All seemed an edifice to be used as a church and school. Naunderfed. I had prayer, said a few encouraging tive education is in the hands of the church at words, consulted with the principal and departed present. With all the efforts of the churches there for De Doorns, fifteen miles away. Here again are hundreds of children out of school and it is I found the same type of building, teachers, equip- estimated that 2,000,000 native children in South ment and pupils. The pastor, Mr. Legolie, an Africa do not go to any school. The problem of earnest man past middle age, with little education, education is indeed large. but with great zeal, had not only organized this little church, but churches on six farms. He had At Kimberley, the diamond city, we found an over 200 members to whom he ministered con- intelligent pastor who had built a new church and [589 ]
planted flowers around it, a very unusual thing. in the South African Council, the South African The churches all joined in welcoming us, and I Institute of Race R~lations, the Bantu Men's SJfound here, as everywhere else, a close bond cf cial Center, and in nearly everything that CJn :-;ympathy between denominations. An Anglican cerns the welfare of the natives around Johannespresided, the white Dutch Reformed minister burg. made the principal address of welcome, and the Dutch Reformed colored band played revival In the Johannesburg gold mining center, called hymns to dance rhythm. Brother Nantlahla gave the Rand, from a third to a half of the world's us the manuscript for the African Methodist gold supply is mined. Here are over a third of a Hymn Book on which the Rev. C. Nyombolo, now million natives taken from every tribe in Sou.h deceased, and he had worked for twenty years. Africa, detribalized, underpaid, underfed, living Our next stop was at Wilberforce Institute, our in the world's worst slums-a contrast of poverty leading educational institution in South Africa, and wealth, ignorance, superstition and enlightfounded in 1909 and named for the famous Eng- ened ,Christianity, perhaps nowhere else seen. lish antislavery agitator, William Wilberforce, Here the churches have their hardest task, and and for Wilberforce University in Ohio, whose the A. M. E.'s are trying to do their part. At early graduates are now leaders of our church several places in this gold mining region I called here. together the ministers and discussed educational work and the extension of our church work. We After devotional exercises at the Institute, I have over 125 preaching points on the Rand and left for the administrative capitol at Pretoria. Transvaal. Here I met officers of the Native Affairs Department, of the Department of Education, and of the When I preached I usually had two interpret- Immigration Office; I explained my work and the ers, one each for Xosa and Sesutho, sometimes purpose of my presence in South Africa. I found three and once four. Many Moody and Sankey all the officers without exception not only cour- hymns, as well as the great hymns of all churches, teous,but sympathetic with my plans, although are translated into these tongues and sung to when I expressed my intention to build a Teacher familiar tunes. "Praise God from Whom All Training College in the Transvaal, one said it was Blessings Flow," may be sung to the tune of "rather ambitious." Since then, however, a "Old Hundred" in English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Sesu- 12-room building has been started in faith, and tho, Xosa, etc., at the same time. Nearly every workmen are going forward. Our members hav2 Africanin the Rand understands simple English, themselves given me over £750 ($3,750) in sup- but is at home in the vernacular. The African port of this effort, notwithstanding their poverty. native does not "shout". as does the American We proceeded to Johannesburg next day and I Negro. He listens very attentively; he prays ferconsulted with business firms as to materials to vently, always sings all the verses of a hymn, start our building. Thank God, I succeeded in get- assembles for worship promptly and does not ting credit for more than £600 ($3,000) worth of want to stay too long. material from one firm, whose managing director said, "We have never let natives have more than On the Rand I met all types of natives, the lowly £50 or' £60 credit; but I am impressed with your and highly intelligent. There is only one native purpose, your plan and your organization, and physician who was educated in America, one, will take the risk." My next discussion was with lawyer, no dentists, one accountant, many prithe Inspector who had expressed doubt that na- mary teachers, a few nurses, a few politicians, tives could erect such a school building. In fact, editors and business men. All were anxious to the specifications read, "All skilled work shall be hear about the American Negro, and I was kept done by Europeans; i. e., white mechanics." I, from morning till night answering que.tions about however, got permission to have it read, "By com- America. petent mechanics-," and am proceeding with mechanics of my own race, much to the surprise and In all, I spent ten days on the Rand. My nex'; satisfaction of the Inspector, who has publicly stop was at Bremersdorp in Swaziland, where at praised the work. midnight, under a perfect African starlit sky, I met King Sobhuza II, Paramount Chief of the I conferred with Dr, J. Dexter Taylor, of the Swazis. He gave me a hearty" welcome to his American Board, at his home in Johannesburg. country. Far through the night we discussei re- He is, a member of our Board of Trustees of Wil- ligion, education and the general economic ani berforce Institute and I have found in him a true social life of his people. I shall never forget this friend and guide. He has been in South Africa meeting~. ,nor the man, still under 40, a philosoover 30 years and he is loved by the natives and pher,scholar and statesman. I met the Qm:en respected by the Europeans., He is a: leading spirit Mother in her kraal, consisting of over 400 huts of thatched roofs, surrounded by high cane fences. She received me seated on the ground, encircled
AN AFRICAN BISHOP IN AFRICA
by her advisers. Our interview lasted nearly an the marriage ceremony for Chief Seiso Maama hour. I was guest in the kraal of Chief Ben and remained for the festivities. Mrs. Seiso Nxumalo, uncle of King Sobhuza II. The Chief Maama is a woman of beautiful character and went to America in 1928 as a delegate to the high ideals. Her husband, unlike many other A. M. E. General Conference, and got many mod- chiefs, has only one wife and is a devoted Chris- ern ideas, some· of which he has tried to put into tian preacher.
practice. The National Training School is a new At Morija is the hundred-year-old French mis- venture of credit to the Swazis. sion which has done more than any other mission We have fifteen schools in Basutoland, but the to develop the Mosutos language and literature. government gives grants only to the older We visited its famous printing plant where more churches-the French Mission, the Anglican and than twenty-five natives do printing for all de- Roman Catholic churches; all are doing such nominations in South Africa. The French misgood work that Basutoland, I was told, has the sion encourages native African initiative in a way largest percentage of native school attendance in worthy of imitation. At Maseru we saw in the all South Africa. Some of the most powerful . Government offices the first black stenographer chiefs are members of our church and have given .and typist since we left America. land and buildings for schools, which we have We saw very few naked natives, except chilbeen inadequately supporting. I was guest of dren. We met none who had not heard of Jesus.
Chief Seiso Maama, who gave the ground for We heard testimony to the two hundred years of Maama Memorial Church which I dedicated in the heroic missionary endeavor, and also the great inpresence of 1,000 people who had come from fluence of a recent visit of Dr. John R. Mott to mountain fastnesses to witness the ceremony and South Africa. I have met most of the outstanding partake of the chief's hospitality; he killed sev- leaders of all denominations, and all seem coneral oxen for the occasion. As we were leaving, scious of the great work still before them, not the chief and his wife asked me to join them in now so much of securing acceptance of Christ but holy wedlock after the Christian fashion; this I of putting Christianity more into practical life. promised to do when I returned to Basutoland. We who know how hard this is in America, espe- We proceeded to Johannesburg and to Evaton to cially where the darker races are concerned, can inspect our new building. At the insistence of one 'imagine the task before earnest Christian leaders of my presiding elders I visited the Western in South Africa. As much work needs to be done Transvaal. At one place, I was surprised to find among the whites as among the blacks, if there is the most prosperous looking natives I have seen. ever a satisfactory answer to the question, "Shall My host owned in his own right 1;800 acres of Africa Be Christian?"
land, and I met a group of men who owned or I have repeatedly asked myself during this leased over 10,000 acres. They were anxious that journey, "What can the American Negro do?"
the church purchase several large plantations and The answer is, "Much." Wherever I have gone move the people on them, thus giving them better people have said, "Tell us about people in Amer- protection and a better chance for worship, edu- ica," no matter what the occasion. So the Amer- cation and economic improvement. While their ican Negro is an inspiration to the African-he argument was apparently sound, I was not able to wants improvement in living and an outlet for the give them much hope, so far as the church is con- "more abundant life." The rapid growth of the cerned. I sincerely hope that some Christian or- A. M. E. Church is due to this fact. However, ganization may become interested in the economic very few American Negroes are in South Africa.
imprqvement of these people. I have not met a dozen who came here during the After a brief rest we returned to Wilberforce past twelve years. American Negroes trained in to hold the executive board meeting of the wom- social work, in agriculture, as well as in religion, en's missionary organization, headed by Mrs. could help the native and the country at large, if Maxeke, a graduate of Wilberforce University in they come under cooperative, rather than under Ohio. With her husband she has labored nearly denominational auspices. The task is far too forty years in South Africa. I was pleased with great for the individual church.
the earnestness and intelligence of these native I have supervision of over 430 preaching places, women. Next day I laid the cornerstone for the separated by nearly 3,500 miles and reaching new building at Wilberforce Institute and received every .tribe of .Africans, representing the work of contributions from the natives of nearly $500. forty years. But I need helpers. The harvest Two thousand people attended and it is estimated truly is plenteous but the laborers few. Pray that that 90 '10 of them contributed. The inspector of God may move the hearts of more Americans of native schools was the only white man present. African descent to come over and help their be- Then we returned to Basutoland and performed nighted African brothers and sisters.
A Ponca Breaks Paths for
A Chapter in Rural Education for Indians in Oklahoma By the REV. COE HAYNE, New York The American Baptist Home Mission Society SCORES of young Christian Indians are ac- which the Choctaw church worshipped. The old cepting positions as teachers in schools in shack of a building had been given to the Indians most difficult communities, amid desperate for a schoolhouse. And Louis Rhodd had arrived poverty and privation, which they must share, to open the first school for the Choctaw at Bas- that they may be of service to their people in the come. One side of the building, lacking window name of Christ. Going to their stations under ap- frames as well as window panes, was open to the pointment by the Department of Education of the weather. There were cracks an inch wide in the Indian Service, with foreknowledge of the condi- warped and decaying flooring. There were no tions they must confront, they endure the cold in seats or desks in the building. A small platform poorly equipped school buildings and the loneli- at one end of the room indicated that it had once ness in remote places without complaint. In many been used for public gatherings.
localities Indian children would be without school Asked whether or not he felt like turning his privileges today were it not for the enlistment of back on such a school equipment, Mr. Rhodd said: these young Indians in this pioneer educational "I was glad to have such an opportunity."
enterprise. Soon the Ponca was joined by a young Choctaw The Special Indian Day Schools in Oklahoma who from his home a quarter of a mile distant, are served by one teacher each. In these schools had seen the automobile stop in front of the old they find that "teacher" includes many profes-· church building. The Choctaw introduced himsions. Often they are asked to give advice in self by saying that he suspected that the newcomer native disputes; their judgment is sometimes fol- was the man who was to teach the school. He in- lowed and sometimes not. They assist at times vited Mr. Rhodd to go home with him assuring of birth, illness or death, not only the Indians but him of a lodging there over night and possibly also the whites within the community. They offer longer. The father in this Choctaw home did not plans on how to run a home, farm or chicken give an immediate answer to Mr. Rhodd's request hatchery. They are athletic directors in the com- for a permanent abiding place. During several munity. You find them some evenings within minutes he gave no sign that he had heard the their schoolhouses cutting the children's hair. question. When he spoke it was to speak dis- Wherever aid is needed these teachers are called paragingly of the food his home could offer. When upon to help. Mr. Rhodd assured his host that he would be glad The experiences of Louis Rhodd, while conduct- to share with the family whatever comforts were ing a rural school in a neglected Indian neighbor- available and to pay for same, the desired per- hood in Oklahoma from 1934 to 1936, bring into mission to board and lodge in that humble home sharp relief the spirit with which many forward- was granted.
looking Indian youth are meeting their Christian Mr. Rhodd began at once to repair the old responsibilities. Mr. Rhodd, whose former home church building for school purposes. Although was Pawnee, Oklahoma, was educated at Bacone under appointment by the Indian Office he did not College and the University of Oklahoma, the first hesitate to appeal to Mr. Walter Haggard, Pitts- Ponca Indian to obtain a college degree. He was burg County superintendent of education, with appointed by the Office of Indian Affairs to con- offices at McAlester, Oklahoma, for assistance.
duct a school among the Choctaw Indians at Bas- Mr. Haggard had a new floor put in the school, come, Oklahoma, in September, 1934. the doors, windows and steps repaired and the From the Agency of the Five Civilized Tribes schoolroom painted white. On opening day thir- in Muskogee, Oklahoma, he was conveyed by auto- teen pupils were enrolled -later the number mobile to the location of his prospective activities. reached nineteen, all members of the Choctaw The Agency man drove away, leaving the Ponca tribe, twelve of whom were fullbloods. Of this and his traveling bags in front of a dilapidated group only three had been to school before. The little Methodist meeting house, abandoned these ages ranged from four to seventeen years.
many years. Nearby stood a newer edifice in During the first two weeks Mr. Rhodd did not [592 ] have textbooks suitable for beginners. There I have visited Indian homes and seen school children was a total lack of paper, pens, ink, pencils and that were five and six years old correcting their parents' blackboards. For classwork he depended upon table manners. the children's experiences and knowledge of the country and his own resourcefulness. He told Good habits such as inhaling pure air, refraining from stories and encouraged the children to talk con- spitting on the floors, coughing or sneezing in the faces cerning their people and their surroundings. He of others, adequate rest and food, and in general a wellconducted hikes; names of trees, rocks, crops and regulated life will do much to prevent T. B. towns in the locality were listed; maps of the neighborhood were drawn; health topics pertain- In another important matter the cooperation of ing to school and homes were discussed. At the the parents was secured. As the Indian child is end of two weeks each pupil was supplied by the extremely shy and self-conscious the lack of county with textbooks, writing tablets, ink, pen knowledge of good English is a real handicap to points, pen holders, pencils, erasers and crayons. him. In all the homes the native Choctaw lan- The schoolroom was equipped with blackboards. guage was spoken when Mr. Rhodd arrived on the The Indian agent had sent some government books field less than three years ago. The aid of the that were used as supplementary material. The parents was gained to increase the use of English equipment sent by the county included a basket- within the homes. In the Choctaw Indian lanball, two soft balls, bats and some lumber used in guage there is an order opposite to that of the making see-saws and backboards for basketball English. The children had a tendency to speak goals. the English in the same order but they worked hard with the language and by Christmas time The first community gathering at the school was the second, third and fourth grade pupils were an old-fashioned pie-supper given to raise funds writing letters to friends in English. to purchase baseball equipment. The ball games that followed brought the Indians and white peo- Within the schoolhouse has grown a small liple together in clean entertainment, promoting a brary consisting of books on history, poetry, bulbetter understanding between the two racial letins pertaining to farm and home, newspapers, groups. magazines, and also religious reading material. Both the state and national governments issue The parents were unable to provide proper diets bulletins on various subjects that are always oband clothes for the school children. Money ap- tainable free of cost. The Department of Agripropriated by the Indian Service and Pittsburg culture tells the farmer how to fertilize the soil, County provided hot noon lunches for all enrolled. select seed, fight insects, pests and plant diseases, The clothing collected by Bacone College students plan farm buildings, care for stock and poultry came as welcome Christmas gifts. and market their products. Bulletins are also issued in behalf of the housekeeper, telling her Four families moved from a distance of twenty how to care for the health of her family, feed chilmiles or more, leaving fairly comfortable homes dren, preserve fruits and vegetables for winter to live in hastily built shanties so that their chil- use and how to take care of perishable food. By dren might attend school. The winter of 1934- collecting these pamphlets and making them avail- 1935 was a cold one but during the severest able, Mr. Rhodd helped the Choctaw people to weather no family moved back to a warmer house, obtain expert advice in many situations confrontpreferring to endure hardship with the school ing them in their isolated communities. Once a children. Mr. Rhodd helped to seal the shanties month the people come to the community house with building paper. to discuss the problems within the community, and especially the work which the school is try- Adult education was made possible through an ing to accomplish. alliance between the homes and the school. Through the cooperation of the children health Concerning these community forums Mr. Rhodd instruction was transmitted to parents. reported: This Ponca instructor has something very defi- Such problems as conservation and prolongation of life; nite to say about health: knowledge and control of domestic life; knowledge and control of physical environment and creative activities Good health gives better character, greater usefulness, are discussed with much spirit within the school, church increased anility to perform our daily tasks. To let a and homes. Such discussion of problems provides an acchild suffer from ill-health when he might have a strong, tivity that has a permanent and far-reaching result. We healthy body is foolish. are gradually laying a suitable foundation for the day when this community will insist that all its members con- One of the first centers of interest around which useful form to certain standards. learning may start is the school lunch period. This provides an activity that has a permanent and a far-reaching The Choctaw church board, at Mr. Rhodd's reresult. He is taught the proper posture at the table, the quest, consented to have lessons of the Sunday correct use of the spoon, knife and fork, and other de- school taught in the English language. sirable habits. The older children are given an opportunity to wash the dishes and clean the room after lunch.
Missionary
By M. E. RITZMAN, PH.D., Reading, Pa.
Professor of New Testament and Missions, Evangelical School of Theology DR. A. J. GORDON used to say that he not? What is his supreme purpose regarding His stopped praying that the Lord Jesus would Church? We find it summed up in that cate- have compassion on a lost world. "I seemed gorical imperative, "Go ye." Jesus' first command to hear him say to me," said this man of God, "I to his disciples was, "Come ye after me, and I will have had compassion on a lost world; now it is make you fishers of men"; .his last was: "Go, for you to have compassion. I have given my make disciples of all the nations." Discipleship heart; give your heart." and apostleship are one and inseparable. We learn but to teach; we know of Jesus but to tell Dr. Gordon was right. Christ came into the of Jesus; we commune with Him but to comworld, a missionary from Heaven to earth, to show municate Him. Only so far as His Church acus God's infinite love and compassion. He lived cepts her responsibility for teaching all nations to and taught and spent His days in blessing the observe all things whatsoever He has commanded humble poor and His nights in prayer. The Evan- her, may she experience the fulfilment of His gelist tells us that "when He saw the multitudes, promise, "Lo, I am with you always." He was moved with compassion." That was the mind that dwelt in Christ. But He was rejected Some are prone to think that only the more by His own; betrayed by priest and disciple. He pious and zealous Christians need be witnesses. agonized in the Garden and confronted there the But to make Christ known must be the commandarchenemy of our souls. He bore the scourging, ing purpose of every Christian. The early Christhe hissing, hooting, and spitting. He staggered tians understood their Master's meaning, and under the weight of the cross, died on it, went when they were scattered abroad, they went into our sepulchre and rose more than conqueror. everywhere preaching the risen Lord. Now He stands on Olivet. Angels beckon Him. The Father is waiting for Him. With outstretched Because Christ's heart longed for the salvation hands He tells to His disciples that all power is of all men, because He died on the cross to save His, and bids them, therefore, to go everywhere every man, Christianity is distinctively and essenand tell the Good News to all the nations. Then tially missionary. The missionary enterprise is the heavens receive Him. All power was His, not a by-enterprise, a mere incident in our modtherefore they were to go. That was before ern life in which a few enthusiasts take an inter- Pentecost. The missionary idea came into the est and of which they are making a fad. The misworld with the birth of Christianity. sionary work of the Church is not secondary, but primary and supreme. It is not a work which In spite of these "marching orders," in spite of must take its place among other works, that may the missionary enthusiasm of the early Church, be done or neglected according to our mood. If we have the staggering fact to explain that though it is true that the eternal Son of God took upon more than sixty generations have come and gone Himself man's nature and lived on this earth and since our Lord gave His message, out of every died upon the cross for the sins of mankind, there three persons in the world, two are practically is no other fact in history to equal it, and it must without knowledge of Jesus Christ. The need of be told everywhere. these hundreds of millions is indescribably great. Most of them are living in ignorance and dark- It is therefore impossible for the Church to live ness, steeped in idolatry, superstition, degrada- in disobedience to the last command of Christ, tion, and corruption. While the so-called non- and remain Christian. Obedience to Christ is not Christian religions furnish some moral principles less an essential to salvation than trust in Him as and precepts of value, they do not afford adequate the atoning-Saviour. Christians should live up to standards and motives by which rightly to guide their profession by making it their first and highthe life, nor power to enable one to take the step est concern to "preach the gospel to every creabetween knowing duty and doing it. ture." They must either be missionary Christians or they will soon be missing Christians. Tested What is the great thought of Christ with refer- by the words of Scripture, the Church is Christian ence to this great mass of people who know Him and Christ's so far, and so far alone, as it has [ 594 ] obeyed and is obeying the Lord's last and supreme salem never seemed to catch the world-wide mis- command. In this day too many feel they can sionary vision, never seemed to apprehend that obey whatever command of Christ it pleases them the Gospel is for everybody and everywhere. They to obey, and disobey whatever command of the wanted to keep their best workers at home, and, Master they do not choose to obey. so far as we know, never sent men or money to '
It is a historic fact that the Church has pros- evangelize the heathen. While it weakened and pered according as she has cooperated with God's declined, the Antioch church flourished like a plan to give the Gospel to every creature or has green bay tree until in the time of Chrysostom declined to do so. Individual churches and whole half of the city of more than 200,000 population denominations are examples of this. Weak was Christian. What was the difference? One churches with missionary zeal soon become strong fell in line with God's plans for the world-wide churches, whereas a strong church that is an- propagation of the Gospel and God blessed and tagonistic or apathetic toward missions, finally prospered and gave it mighty power. The other becomes a weak church. Nor is this strange, for did not fall in line with God's plans and he withwhat interest can Christ have in the declaration held his power and the church suffered and at last of a man or a church that they believe in Him disappeared.
as the Son of God and the universal Saviour, when There are other reasons that compel me to be they repudiate that confession by denial of that missionary minded. There is no place where one Saviour's mission to the race? Dr. James 1. Vance can invest his life where it counts for as much as has well said, "The church that ceases to be mis- in the mission field. Shortly before Dr. John E.
sionary can no longer be evangelistic; the church Williams met his death at the hands of a Chinese that ceases to be evangelistic can no longer be soldier at Nanking on March 24, 1927, he was evangelical; and the church that ceases to be asked by his wife, as they stood one evening look- evangelical may well doubt whether it is Chris- ing at the lights of Nanking University to which tian." Dr. Albert Schweitzer, of Germany, one of he had given so many years of missionary service, the great Christian philosophers of today, and now "Jack, if you had known all you know tonight, serving as a medical missionary in the heart of would you do it over again?" Quick was his an- Africa, says that our Western civilization is swer: "Yes, a hundred times over! Where else doomed without a dominantly unselfish world in- could I have invested my life in a way that would terest. How much more necessary is it that the have brought me such large returns?"
Church have such an unselfish world interest! Is it not the irresistible logic of the Christian Yea, verily, it is utterly impossible to separate conscience that we are bound to share what we Jesus Christ from this world-wide missionary in- have which we know to be universally good? The terest, and the church that tries to do so may well better it is the more we are bound to share it; write "Ichabod" over its door, for its days are and since Christ is infinitely the best we have, we numbered. are more bound to share Him than by any other The loss of its world vision will more quickly obligations in the world.
bring death to the church at home and obedience Paul felt this when he cried, "I am debtor both to our Lord's last command will vitalize and to Greeks and barbarians." Why? Paul felt he quicken her life. If the church of today would had something which the rest of the world needed have the power of God come mightily upon her, and must have for its redemption. What a chal- if she would know her Lord's intimate presence, lenging motive this should be for us! We have she must receive it in the pathway of larger obe- received more than millions upon millions of our dience to the missionary command of Christ. Cut- fellows. Therefore, according to the Christian ting down our missionary force, closing up fields, principle, we should give more. We are "debtors."
reducing our missionary work to a minimum to If we believe that in Christ alone is found the save expense, is no way to receive God's blessing. truth that satisfies the intellect, the power that re- Only as the Church makes heroic sacrifices to meet generates the life, and the hope that illumines the its missionary obligations, only as her member- future; if we believe that to men's need of Christ ship has something to sacrifice for, only as we there is no exception, and to His power to save give our best, can we expect the Christ of God to them there is no limit: if we believe that He is the walk with us in the way of blessing and pros- gift of the Father to all, that He died to make perity. atonement for the sins of all, that He has been The church at Antioch was an informed and lifted up to draw all men unto Him – then we obedient church. They fasted and prayed and must believe that our first duty is to give the sent forth the best they had, and as a result the knowledge of this Saviour to all mankind. Verily, church became one of the greatest churches of we are "debtors." Are we ready to pay our debts?
the centuries. The old mother church at Jeru- The Apostle Paul meant much the same thing
when he said, ~'We also believe, and therefore also and at last dying the martyr's death? He says it we speak." He who has convictions of any truth was the love of Christ that constrained him. important to others, is ever moved to make that What was it that drove David Livingstone through truth known. You can judge of the sincerity of a Central Africa again and again? What was it man's convictions by the ardor of his proclama- that kept John G. Paton in the South Seas when tion. In this there is nothing peculiar or arbi- the savages again and again tried their best to kill trary. The astronomer discovers a star, and him? What was it that impelled Adoniram Judstraightway desires to give his discovery to the son in his heroic sacrifices for Burma? What was world. The honorable medical man who discovers it that steadied Robert Morrison, during the long a sure prophylactic during the progress of an epi- years when China resisted like a rock? What was demic, would be insanely selfish if he did not pro- it that drove Dr. A. L. Shelton repeatedly to Tibet claim it. As soon as any conviction of important until he lost his life at the hands of a bandit? truth becomes central and vital, there must come Their abiding motive was the love of Christ which an immediate and irresistible desire to utter it; constrained them. Does it constrain us? Do we then sacrifice is gladness and service is joy. The love Him with a love that surpasses all human early Christian Church believed in the sinfulness of man's nature, in the atoning power of Christ's loves? sacrifice on the Cross, the regeneration of the soul Some years ago an American young woman was of man by the Holy Spirit and in the judgment to come, the issues whereof are eternal. Under the called to China. She was the only child of her pressure of these truths, the early Christians could father, precious to him beyond expression. After not but speak, for the truth was a fire in their a tremendous struggle with his own heart, that bones and neither dungeon nor stake could turn father gave up his daughter for China. On the them aside from their purpose. Neither austere night when she was bidding farewell to church climate nor violent opposition could restrain the and friends, the father was asked to say a few medireval missionaries who believed these same words. At first he could not speak; then he said: truths and they went forth to Hun and Goth and "Friends, you all know me, and you all know my Teuton. Because our forefathers in America and Susie, and you all know what she has been to me the early pioneers of our own church, believed all her life, the very light of my eyes, the joy of these fundamental doctrines of the Christian my heart. Jesus Christ wants my daughter in faith, they went forth with heroic sacrifice to China and she is going. All I can say about it is preach the Gospel in our western states and then this-I have nothing, nothing too precious for my on to China and Japan and other lands. Men may Lord." say that they were mistaken, but there is the fact -they believed, and therefore they also spoke. Have you? Have I? Have we anything in Can we do less than they; or are we doing Tess heart or life today that we cannot willingly, because we believe less? gladly, give up to win men to Christ? May God bring us all to that heaven on earth, where, look- But above all,_ there is driving power in the ing into His face, we can truly say, "I have nothlove of Christ. What was it that drove Paul from ing too precious for Jesus Christ, my Lord." the Eastern end of the Roman empire to the When all who profess His name can say that, Western, preaching and teaching and suffering there will be no more missionary debts, there will be no lack of volunteers; our missionary prob- lems will be solved.
A PRAYER FOR MISSIONARIES o Lord Jesus Christ, the desire of all nations, who didst come down from heaven to seek and to save the lost; grant Thy blessing, we beseech Thee, upon thy missionary servants who are carrying the light of Thy Gospel to the dark places of the earth. Preserve them from every danger to which they may be exposed; from perils by land and sea, from persecution and pestilence, from discouragement in their labors, and from the devices of the adversary. May they see thy work prospering in their hands; and do Thou hasten the time, 0 gracious Saviour, when the multitude of unbelievers shall be gathered into Thy fold, and when all in- every land who neglected Thy salvation shall be converted unto Thee. And to Thee, Lord Je- sus, be the praise, unto whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be an honor and glory, world without end. Amen.
of Converts from
I 1I)It- -sf Sent by STEPHEN o. KOOBYAR, Tabriz, Iran Il====~~ "I WAS formerly a very bigoted Moslem and that if Islam were true I should see the proof in had a reputation as a woman of religious my dreams, and if Bahaism or Christianity were zeal. I had made a thorough study of the true that I might see other evidence. It so hap- rules and ritual of Islam and spent my time day pened that my dream that night pointed to Chris- and night in keeping those things which I believed tianity and the next night the same thing took to be my duty, especially in fasting during the place. Still I was not convinced.
special month and daily prayer and almsgiving. "Later I went into a closet to change my clothes.
At the same time I continually implored God to It was dark and the feeling came over me that I save me. must fall down upon my knees and pray. I did "Nearly twenty years ago severe family trouble so, not being able to resist the power that impelled came upon our home, so that I had to flee and me. I poured my heart out in prayer and then found shelter with a widow who had formerly came a vision of Christ. It was as though I were worked with us as a servant. At this time one of drawn to Him by a power above my will to resist.
the American missionaries opened a small school From that moment there was not the slightest in our district, which was entirely Moslem, and doubt in my mind that the claims of Christ were became a teacher there. For the first time I found true. I told my mother and asked her to make and read the Old and New Testament. My condi- arrangements for me to study and be baptized.
tion was changed and finally the light dawned in She asked whether I were certain that Christ was my heart. I accepted Christ as my personal Sav- my one and only Saviour and my ground of hope iour. It was my need that first led me to Christ. for time and eternity. I replied fervently that I "After I was forced to leave my home I was had absolute assurance. Her beaming face showed most despondent and lived a life of gloom until I me that she was praising God. found Christ and this was changed to continual joy and happiness and assurance. Just as the "I began to study the New Testament with a sun is not appreciated until one has known the new spirit and, after a period of probation, I was darkness, so it took trial and trouble as a back- baptized. Christ has sustained me through all ground to make me appreciate the light of Jesus my trials and I know that He is the highest rev- Christ."-From a lady who has been a Christian elation of God. There are many great things in for fifteen years. Christianity, but the greatest is that Christ is able to change life and make a new person; all things *** become new in Him."-A young lady, twelve yearts a Christian. "Fourteen years ago there were six people in our family. My mother had become a Christian *** and the others were all Moslems. I was by far the most zealous of the whole family in the Mo- "This servant was born a little more than fifty hammedan faith and during the month of fasting years ago into a village family. My parents were godly people though neither of them was able to I would arise before daylight to prepare my own read or write. My father had made several pil- food as I would not eat during the day. At times grimages to the Shiah shrines of Islam. I was I argued with my mother to persuade her to re- especially beloved, as I was an only child. My turn to Islam. She did not ask me to become a parents were neither very rich nor very poor, but "Christian but urged me to read the New Testa- wanted to give me every possible advantage. ment. This made me even more fanatical. I went When I was six years old they placed me in the to the mosque and sat at the very foot of the pUlpit village school. when the mullah preached and joined in the prayers very earnestly. I had some very close "They wanted me to learn to read and write. friends who were Bahais (a reformed Moslem If they had a child who could read the blessed sect) and they urged me to attend their meetings Koran it would be a great act of merit for them in and presented the claims of their faith. I became this life, and they believed that the reading of the Koran after their death, would atone for their very unhappy and, being little more than a child, sins. From earliest childhood I had a desire for my mind was filled with superstition. I prayed religious things and my talents seemed to lie along [597 ]
this line. When I had passed the first grades in captured my attention and interest in spite of mythe village school, the teacher suggested to my self. I was miserable for a time, wondering parents that I was worthy of all the education they whether truly salvation were in Islam or Christ. could give me and asked them to send me to the Finally the words of Jesus came to me with specity school. I went there and did well in my les- cial force, 'Come unto me all ye that labor and are sons until I was considered worthy to study the heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' I found the higher branches of Islamic law and religion. I truth of this promise in my own life. I came to entered with zeal upon these studies. Him and found rest. From the day that I gave myself to Christ my troubles became less and my "After some time I heard that certain mullahs heart became joyful; my load became light, and and mujtahids were not true in their faith. I found myself making progress in joy that Christ Though they kept up the appearance of being true alone can give. I believed in the God who gave Moslems it was rumored that they did not be- His only begotten Son to be the atonement for the lieve the very things they taught and that their sins of the world, and in Christ who bore the lives were not in accord with their doctrine. I burden of our sins upon Himself and died upon went to a leading priest who was said to be a 'lib- the cross to ransom us, to save us from destruction eral' and asked him a number of questions. His and bring us salvation and life everlasting. answers only served to increase my doubts and I Among the race of men there is no other free from worried more and more about my faith in which sin who could save us from its guilt and power. I was supposed to be a teacher and leader. Salvation and forgiveness is found in Him alone. Christ took up His abode in my heart and I found "The thought came to me, 'How can it be that comfort in every trouble. He gave me salvation the most educated people of the world in Europe and freedom from the death of sin. and America, with all of their science and invention, can be mistaken about their religion?' My "So I give praise to God that He has led me out first contact with Christianity at this time was of the darkness into His eternal light and has prothrough a Christian priest. Later I met a mem- vided a Saviour who has made perfect atonement ber of the Evangelical church who received me as for my sins and those of the whole world."-A a real brother. Our hearts became knit together and I became his disciple. I learned from him of 1foung mother. my own sickness of sin and the remedy in Jesus Christ. From that time to the present every ad- THE TOUCH OF CHRIST TODAY vance in spiritual truth has shown me in more bold relief my own shortcomings. It is only in Among the hills of Galilee, Christ that I have found peace in my heart; He Through crowded city ways, has shown me my sin and need and also the atonement for sin through the sacrifice of His cross. The Christ of God went forth to heal And bless in olden days. "I should be happy at some time to set down in detail my experiences, that perchance this road The sinning and the sad of heart which I have traveled, from a priest of Islam to In anxious throngs were massed one who has surrendered all to Christ, might help some brother to find the Way."-A former Mo- To catch the great Physician's eye And touch Him as He passed. hammedan Mullah. We have not in our hours of need *** His seamless garment pressed, "I was born in a family which was not religious. Nor felt His tender human hand Even as a child I had yearnings for spiritual op- On us in blessing rest; portunities which I saw meant much in the lives of other people. When I was young my mother Yet still in crowded city streets died and my father placed me in the dormitory of The Christ goes forth again, the girls' school of the American Mission. Later my father died and I was left an orphan. Whenever touch of human hand Bespeaks goodwill to men. "In the school there was a Moslem girl who constantly kept asking me why I did not perform Whenever man his brother man the stated prayers and read the Koran and keep Upholds in helplessness; the fasts. I had never learned to do these things as I had not come from a f3mily that paid much Whenever strong and tender clasp attention to religion. We had Bible lessons in the A lonely heart doth bless, school, and this girl and I read these merely because we must, but we did not pay attention. As The Christ of God is answering time went on certain things in the New Testament A stricken world's demands And leading back a wandering race By touch of human hands.
New and Old in Moslem
ByA. T. UPSON, Rayleigh, England I !ie– I Author of "High Lights"; Former Secretary of the Nile Mission Press I D URING the thirty-seven happy strenuous as that?" Yes; but look at their surroundings in years spent among the Moslems of the Near which they have been reared. Most of the villages East, there were many signs that "The old there have two water-holes, one for humans, and order changeth, yielding place to new." During the other for cattle which they befoul as beasts the last few years, the pace has quickened and will do! But the village referred to has only one tendencies are now more clearly seen. water-hole for cattle and men!! Is it any wonder In recent years certain things have passed away. that typhoid fever is rampant there? Is there any We have great sympathy with the Eastern demand worse sanitary condition in any part of the world?
to abolish "Foreign Privileges." But as the East Yet the local people say that they absolutely refuse grows more nationalistic, what will be the fate of to come under the rule of Damascus, some eighty such encouraging meetings as one held in Iraq, miles off!
when about fifty men listened to an address on Opportunities Remain: The Nile Mission Press "Christ, the Ransomer by His Blood"? What colportage car still goes to the south of Algeria, would have been the fate of my oldest colporteur, and Miss Grautoff, of the Algiers Mission Band, Yaqub? * What would have happened to the seven still goes to an oasis 380 miles to the south to do converts from Islam in those days? Ere a dozen "men's work." The colporteurs in Egypt are still years are past, we shall be discussing "The Pass- plodding on. And in spite of the nationalism of ing of the Foreign Missionary" from all Moslem Iraq and Iran there is more receptivity among the lands. What a call to us to "Work while it is Shiah Moslems than in some lands.
called 'Today.' " Further, some new opportunities seem to be de- But Islam remains; in fact, is more active than veloping. For instance, the German Carmel Mis- sions hold an annual conference for Arab priests ever. In Egypt Islamic broadcasts are made, by of the Greek Church. For several years a wellradio, twice daily. For the first time, they have known Moslem convert has been greatly used of legalized preaching in the open-air, i. e., in the God there. squares of Cairo. But on what subject? The claims of Christ? Certainly not; Islam, and Faithful witnessing remains. Not only is it Islam only, is to be preached. Does one wonder true that "When God buries His workers He carthat the annual drift from the Coptic Church to ries on His work" but also, when political condi- Islam, which was 1,000 a year in my day, is now tions render it unwise for the foreigner to remain 1,500 a year? in a country God carries on His work. How? He has His 7,000 that "have not bowed the knee to Bigotry and Persecution Remain: The expulsion Baal." One still tours Lebanon and North Syria, of Dr. Liley from Tripoli, Barbary, and the half- and most Moslems know that he is a convert from dozen workers from Abyssinia are fresh in our Islam. There are other Moslem converts holding minds-perhaps because the victims were Euro- meetings in Egypt. peans. But what of the native believers in Morocco and other lands? Even in England, an over- A very remarkable testimony was, unwillingly, seas student refused recently to accept a copy of perhaps unconsciously, borne by a Moslem conthe New Testament because of persecution. vert, a former friend of mine. On leaving the Protestants, through marrying a Roman Catholic, Disease and Sin Remain: For the first time in and drifting into unbelief, he still watched us. In thirty-seven years' service, I was recently pelted 1931, when I went to Jerusalem, he wrote a fourwith clods of dirt in a Syrian village. I was not page article warning the people against me, and hurt, though hit with dust and earth about seven saying, "The reason this man (Abdul-Fady) is times, yet it was an uncomfortable experience. dangerous is that he belongs to a group of people The reader may ask, "Are they still as backward • His striking story is told in Mr. lipson's book. "High Lights in who never know when they are defeated, but just fight. on !" the Near East," 2/G )1. M. & S. London; $1.00 Zondervan, Grand Rapids, :lIich.
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Effective Ways of Working i 'fested Methods far Increasing Interest at Home I I s. EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO ~=~====================~==-, Missions and World Peace readily available. For older The Far Eastern Crisis, by Henry Thus far only incidental ref- groups, for the wee~ly pra;v:er L. Stimson. Harper Brothers, $3.75. erence has been made in this Department to the third mission meeting, contests, ralbes, specIal A Place in the Sun, by Grover study theme for the current year -World Peace; but its great emphasis programs, contests, de- Clark. Macmillan Co., $2.~0. . importance needs no added em- We or They, by HamIlton FISh phasis in the .setti~g of the present world sItuatIOn; nor can bb aetset s~faadldl,r epsasneesl and, probably Armstrong. Macmillan, $1.50. any argument fo~ its fundam~n discussions in tal connection wIth the foreIgn Vital Peace, by Henry Wickham missionary enterprise be required when we consider the which a group seated on the Steed. Macmillan, $2.75. devas:tated properties and im- On the Rim of the Abyss, by James paired personnel in many. evan- rostrum converse informally gelical missions which It has T. Shotwell. Macmillan, $3.00. taken centuries to build up. after an opening lead by a chair- And We Are Civilized, by Wolf- Practically every denomination which has sent its new mission- mdiascn~sasinodn,, avoiding pro and con gang Ackerman Covici Frie?e, $2.50. ary literature to the Dep~rtment exploit various sides War-drawings and etchmgs, by Editor for inspection maJors the theme. Earnest preparation has of a subject previously well pre- Kerry Eby. Yale University Press, been made to implement the purposes and sentim~nts of ~he pared upon, in conyersational $2.V50ic. tories of Peace, by GI·11 and Christian Church m Ame~ICa. Pullen. Friendship Press, $1.00 and As the birthday of the Prmce style, the audience bemg all~w~d of Peace draws near, the time is 50¢W. orld Peace and Chns.t.H~n M.1~- particularly opportune to stress to participate after the tOPIC IS sions, by H. E. Fey. FrIendshIp the plans and literature. A few sample programs, alone, in our well opened-through an these Press, 35¢. pages would be quite inadequate to the need. Every church means inclusive of pastoral ser- Educating for Peace, by E. M. and should approach the considera- J. L. Lobengier. Pilgrim Press, $1.50. tion of the subject with broad, emnoends~npdulirnpeoss·eosf may be awakdeep preparation and plans laid activity mapped America Must Act, by F. B. Sayre, for a coordinated effort among Asst. Secretary of State. World all departments of activity, f~om out to make the world peace- Peace Foundation, 75¢. primary department of the BI?le school all the way through semor minded. Community rallies and Highways to International Good and adult organizations and in- Will, by Walter W. Van Kirk. Abingclusive of the pulpit. contests in speaking or essay don Press, 50¢.
For younger children we have writing are inva,luable and lend What Can Christians Do for already referred to "Ship East, Peace? by T. A. Green (syllab1!s ~or Ship West," by E. M. Lobengier themselves particularly to an en- church discussion groups). PIlgrim (Friendship Press, N. Y., or Press, 25¢. your own denominational litera- deavor whose motif must be ture bureau; $1.00 and 50c) , giving the choicest of stories and Christian Brotherhood and its facts on world peace; leaders among junior groups may wen method cooperative. For adults Write to the Foreign Policy Asmake this a starting point, following wit h other material a very effective plan is the circu- fsoorciatoitohn~r8 West 40th St., New York, special pamphlets. The lation of standard books on the subject, a regular church library Women's International League for being a worth-while investment Peace and Freedom, 1924 Chestnut of the Lord's money. It is a St., Philadelphia, Pa., and Th~ Na- cheap move to pass the responsi- tional League for the PreventlO~ of tWona,r' D5.32C1., 7 tahlsSo t . ,h aNv.e.W.th.,~,Wgarseha~mesgt- bility for the outlawing of war onto munitions makers, "capital- profusion of "ammullltlOn agamst ists" and that ambiguous group war, much of which the Editor has called "the moneyed interests." used or inspected and found well They have their part in the con- adapted to its purpose.
tinuation of the war game; but Your own publisher will doubtless be glad to order any they are at most only a symptom of the foregoing books for you.
of a much deeper malady in the heart of humanity-self-seek- PICTURES, STORIES, PLANS ienrhg~opdr.idTe haendfotlhloewliancgk of broth- Friends in Everyland-12 pictures listing of with story on back of each, 25¢.. available material is only p&.r- Never Again-group o~ elg~t tial but will at least pave the Everyland stories of world frlendsh.Ip way to a larger ~onsi<;lera~ion of and peace–printed and bound smt- the subject WhICh lIes m the ably for any library. 50¢ per copy.
very heart of Christ's mission: Suitable for gift book. .
Friends of All the W orId Series: Book 1~f for children eight or nine BOOKS years age, Children of Other oLfanadg~s, 85¢. Book 2, 10 to 11 years Why We Went to War, by Newton The Way of Friendship, 85¢. D. Baker. Harper Brothers, $1.50.
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EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
Book 3, 13 years of age, Heroes of at the church (or otherwise) tion of women of Islam. The Friendship, 85¢. and invite the men to attend. 16mm. film rents for $1.25 and Make it "strong meat," not the 35mm. for $2.00. Friendship Paper Dolls-Four dolls wishy-washy sentiment such as eight inches high, like real children of does not appeal to "the breth- "Padre Sahib"-a new study Korea, China, Japan, India. Change ren." of the Moslem world, produced of costume for each doll, in three by William L. Rogers and wife, colors. 25¢. If you value the well-being of with advisory service from the your own children and those of Motion Picture Committee of Order foregoing from Women's Mis- others; if you would make our the Missionary Education Movesionary Society, United Lutheran country a shining example of ment (4 reels, 16mm., silent) is Church in America, 723 Muhlenberg the effort to live the peace a story of everyday missionary Building, Philadelphia, Pa. teachings of Jesus ChriJst; if life in northern India. It offers you would remove the greatest vivid insight into the problems Graded Foreign Mission Stories present obstacle to the pr.ogress and needs of all Christian mison Missions and W orId Peace. Bap- of foreign missions, do some- sionaries. The action of this tist Board of Education, 152 Madison thing at your earliest opportu- picture centers in a typical com.. Ave., New York, 15¢. nity and follow it up with more munity of Moslem Indians. A education and more practical Moslem woman rebels when her A Junior Teacher's Guide on proje,cts. husband brings home a new W orId Peace-projects and program wife, taking her small daughter, activities. Friendship Press, 25¢. Missions in Moving Pictures Zebada, whose eyes had been healed by the doctor. She seeks Children from Many Lands-post- The H arm 0 n Foundation refuge with the missionaries. ers of children of 10 countries with (with which the Religious Mo- Later action of the ,picture is appropriate verse for each. National tion Picture Foundation was concerned with the efforts of Council for Prevention of War (ad- merged) has among its declared Zebada's father to force the dress given above), $1.00. purposes: "To produce socially marriage with Karam Bege, to valuable motion pictures for whom he had betrothed her in Graphs, Program Materials, Illus- educational and church use" and return for 500 rupees. The trated Booklets and Discussion Mate- "to serve as a clearinghouse for action of this picture gives an, rial. Foreign Policy Association, 8 information on the most effec- opportunity to develop the daily W. 40th St., New York. Headline tive use of motion pictures and activities of the Christian misbooks, 25¢ each; program materials, other visual aids in church, edu- sionaries in this atmosphere. 15¢ each. cational and related fields." Its Rental, $4.00. Order all films, catalogue ~hows a most compre- as well as complete catalogue, Posters on World Peace–"The hensive library of silent films- from The Division of Visual Ex- Better Way," 24 x 36 inches; "Se- educational, dramatic, mission- periment, Harmon Foundation, curity Through Federation," 18 x 12 ary, on religion and life, life 140 Nassau St., New York. All inches. World Peaceways, 103 Park situations, social and economic the new films may be purchased Ave., New York, 5¢. studies, the arts, etc. The very in copy by church boards for use large list on "The World and Its in churches of their own de- American Posters on World Peace, Peoples" and "The Church in nomination, prices to be quoted five titles, size, 12 x 12 inches. Amer- Action" co ve r s missionary on request. ican Friends Service Committee, 20 themes. Those which the De- S. 12th St., Philadelphia, 10¢ each. partment Editor has used in Helpful New Literature s.chools of missions proved ex- English Posters on WorId Peace- cellent. They are usually made The Woman's Missionary Soover 30 titles, size, 22 x 30 inches in cooperation with missionary ciety of the Evangelical and Re- (imported by Friends Service Com- authorities, and each year lead- formed Church, 416 Schaff mittee) ; sets of 13, $1.50; each ers on the current foreign study Building, 1505 Race St., Philaposter, 15¢. themes are brought out. As delphia, Pa., has recently sent mentioned previously in this de- for inspection some leaflets and How Shape the Future for Peace? partment, "Islam in Egypt" fits pamphlets which will be helpful -excellent program analysis and the study of Mohammedans. It in any denomination. plan on page 13 of How Can We depicts the mysticism and Shape the Future?-a discussion learning of Mohammedanism in A stewardship packet containcourse for young people by Margaret Egypt, the intense loyalty of its ing a variety of leaflets: Holley Tuck, based on Basil Mathews' followers, its strong customs Shaping the Future. and laws of life. Exteriors and "What's in a Chance?" (leaflet interiors of various mosques are against gambling), 4¢. That's a Dream-similar plan and shown, the call to prayer is outline, page 10 of We Can Change given and "the faithful" shown "Alcohol Advertising Appraised," the World, for Women's Societies responding. The freedom of girls 4¢. and Senior World-wide Guilds, based in an Egyptian school is conon Mathews' Shaping the Future. trasted with the degraded posi- "What Price Repeal?" 5¢. "There Lies the Way," containing Both the foregoing to be ordered instructions for anti-war instructions from the Baptist Board of Education. for children, 6¢. These four Christian Citizenship PAGEANTS AND DRAMATIC leaflets sell as a packet at 15¢.
SKETCHES A Peace Program for Juniors, by Jane Gilbert. Baptist Board of Education, 5¢ each, or three for 10¢.
Send to The National Council for the Prevention of War (address already given) for a long, very complete list of pageants and plays on Peace, for children, young folks and adults. Write your own literature headquarters for many others we cannot list here.
It is suggested that each woman's society should prepare an especially worthful program inclusive of a convincing pageant, if possible; have a supper
"The Rainbow Pageant," a thank- grounds have few real contacts. When they arrived, we found offering service, 15¢. Our series of Public Nationality they had packed their car with Nights, intended to promote a treasures of silk, china, wool "For Such a Time as This," pag- world point of view, started embroideries, pottery, etc., for eant presenting the United Christian when we suddenly realized that which they had combed their Adult Movement, 10¢. though our denomination works congregations. We spread out among Hungarians in New York their beautiful things alongside "The Call of the Hills," play pre- and New Jersey, we knew noth- the collection from New York senting scene in mountain ca0in ing about them-actually less (which we had insured for one (mistakenly accredited in a former than of the Arabians and East day for $200). issue to the Lutherans), 5¢. Indians whom it serves far away. So we set about prepar- About 150 attended our Hun- Woman's Missionary Society ing a Hungarian evening. garian evening on a snowy of the Evangelical Church, Third night. The program came first, and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa.: The Hungarian-American So- interspersed with readings and ciety, Radio Center, New York musical numbers, then our pas- "Men Discuss Missions," a heart- City, arranged to let us have a tor introduced the brother searching demonstration to be staged valuable display of embroideries clergymen, who brought greetby the best men of the church, 5¢. and other handwork. A leaflet ings from their churches. As a from them gave material for a thrilling close, all stood while "Leaven on Noisy Creek," a dia- brief reading on "The Hun- the little orchestra played the logue by two mountain women, 5¢. garian Love of Art." Etude, Hungarian anthem. Oct., 1930, and a bibliography Dramatic plan for Mother-Daughter from the Foreign Language In- Opportunity was given to view 1lanquet, 3¢. formation Service, 222 Fourth the remarkable exhibit of hand- Ave., New York, listing Na- work and to talk to the visitors. Story leaflet, "When the Prince of tional Geographies with articles So on 15-cent admission and 5- Peace Won," 3¢. on Hungary, provided data for cent cafeteria refreshments we another article on "The Hun- made friends and cultivated "Going Farther with the Master," garian Love of Music." Our friendly attitudes, and took in an excellent devotional series of 12 church board sent material for over $20.00; for, passing along leaflets, 15¢ per set. a third short paper on "Our the tables displaying the art Church and the Hungarians." works, one came naturally to a "They Also Wait," a mountain long table filled with cake, sandsketch in two acts and with 10 char- Local resources were used wiches and coffee and a cashier acters, 12¢. next. Two of our melPbers had at the end.-FLORENCE GORDON, their piano teacher give them Weehawken, N. J. "A Mountain Woman's Fight for Hungarian duets. An organiza- Life," a missionary pantomime, 15¢. tion of church singers, invited ("An Evening in Japan," by to prepare two numbers, chose "Suggestions for Creating Atmos- Lis z t 's "Liebestraum" and this same writer, will appear in phere in Program on Southern Brahms' "Around the Gypsies' an early issue.) Mountains": in Japan, in China, in Campfire." A young woman of Nigeria, West Africa, and among Hungarian descent agreed to How MISSIONARY INTEREST Italians in America, 5¢ each. teach the girls the national folk . BEGINS dance, the czardas, and a lovely The Baptist Board of Mission- folk song, "The Old Gypsies" One of the greatest givers of ary Education, 152 Madison (Marks Music Co., 225 W. 46th our generation was asked how it Ave., New York, has brought St., New York, victrola record happened that he made such out the following excellent pro- 20749, Arten Cigany). She sang large gifts to missions. "It grams and study outlines for the last verse in Hungarian. She didn't hap pen," he replied. adult and young people's< groups: also danced the czardas with the "When I was a boy my mother girls, wearing her picturesque taught me to give a part of every "The Way of a Witness," a Project costume in red and green, the dime and every dollar. The only Course in Personal Evangelism, by Hungarian colors. A local music thing that has happened is that Margaret Holley Tuck, based on "The school taught a small orchestra I have more dimes and more dol- Way of the Witnesses," 25¢. of its students a Brahms dance lars now!" and the national anthem. "How Can We Shape the Future?" Katherine Scherer C ron k -a Discussion Course, by Margaret Letters explaining the plan said: "We might say to the hosts Holley Tuck, based on "Shaping the were sent to the two Reformed of church members who are in- Future," 25¢. Hungarian pastors in another different to missions, 'How did county, with a request for infor- it happen that you took no in- "The Future of Missions," a Proj- mation about their congrega- terest in missionary work?' ·'It ect Course in World Evangelism, by tions. They offered to come per- didn't happen,' they might truth- Margaret Holley Tuck, based on sonally, bringing art objects fully reply. 'When we were chil- "Missions Tomorrow," 25¢. from the homes of their people. dren there was no missionary training in our Sunday school "We Can Change the World," five and no missionary society in our programs by Anna Canada Swain, church.' " based on "Shaping the Future," 15¢.
"Six Programs," by Dorothy A. Stevens, based on "Rebuilding Rural America," 15¢.
The following are for 'teen age young people: "Seein' Things," by Mabel A. Silke, 25¢.
"Hills and Veils," by Irene A. Jones and Mae Deal Shane, based on "Highland Heritage" and "The Young Moslem Looks at Life," 25¢.
Nationality Nights A HOME-FoREIGN PROJECT We live across the Hudson from cosmopolitan New York, in a polyglot community, but those of different national back- The Council of Women for Home Missions EDITH E. LOWRY, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK ~,~~====~~~~~~~~~~====~=~~ Peace in Our Time militant nations in utter disre- zations participate,and the Na- gard of their commitments tional Peace Conference which God of the nations, near and far, through treaties and peace pacts, includes more than forty peace Ruler of all mankind, and at a time when the United societies and organizations with States is feeling its way toward departments of international re- Bless Thou Thy people as they strive a renewed sense of its responsi- lations, such as the Federal The paths of peace to find. bility to share in the world effort Council of Churches and the to prevent war as the only sure women's interdenominational The clash of arms still shades the sky, way to permanent peace, it is agencies. Thus a certain unity King battles still with king – well to remember that there are has been given to the peace organizations and groups of movement and a great force has Wild through the frighted air of night people who are actively engaged been created which should ul- The bloody tocsins ring. in building the peace movement timately, in spite of discourage- in this country and in trying ments and set-backs, lead the o Father! from the curse of war to find a way to banish war from people of our nation towards the the earth. goal of a warless world. We pray Thee give release, And speed, 0 speed the blessed day The churches are taking an in- New Materials for Peace Education Of justice, love and peace. creasingly active part in this 1. Marathon Round Tables -Presbyterian Hymnal. movement, condemning war as 1937-1938.
Compassionate Father, whose sin and utterly futile as a means The National Committee on eyes are in every place and the Cause and Cure of War has whose heart is burdened with to settle international disputes. prepared the following courses the sin and suffering of Thy chil- for use by those who wish to pardren, while we go forth in safety The organized women of the ticipate in Marathon Round and comfort to our work, we re- Table Discussion Groups: member our brethren in lands churches are also working for where war is bringing anguish Plan A-"United States and and poverty and pain and death. peace in ever increasing num- the World." God of justice, deal sternly with them who have drawn the sword, bers, and are making their in- This is the basic course for those and bring home the guilt and who wish to study world peace mafolly of violence. God of pity, fluence felt in their communities. chinery and the relation of American look in mercy on the helpless foreign policy to such world organivictims of strife and on them Believing war to be destructive zations. who are made to slay those against whom they have nothing. of all those forces which make Individual kits $.75. Make sensitive our consciences to Group kits $2.50. know ourselves involved in and for human brotherhood, and the responsible for a world where Plan B-"Adequate National greed of gain and lust for power bringing in of the Kingdom of Defense-What is it?" move us and our brothers in every land. By the shame and God, they are working to create This course considers national demisery of strife, lead us to re- fense in terms of moral, political, milipentance. By the persuasions of a public opinion opposed to war, tary and economic armaments, and the cross draw all men to the is linked up with the Campaign for more excellent way of love, and and in favor of peaceful methods World Economic Cooperation of the lead the nations in paths of National Peace Conference through righteousness for His name's to effect needful changes in in- the use of the Headline Book of the sake, who is the Prince of Peace. Foreign Policy Association "Peace- ternational relations. . ful Change-An Alternative to War," -Henry Sloane Coffin in which is the basic book for that cam- the Presbyterian Tribune. Church women find their place paign. Through the use of these in the peace movement through Marathon materials church groups Church Women in the Peace their connection with the Council will be cooperating not only with the Movement of Women for Home Missions, National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War, but with the Na- In these days of "undeclared the Woman's Committee of the tional Peace Conference' Campaign wars" and acts of aggression by Foreign Missions Conference, and the National Council of Fed- erated Church Women, all of which have departments, or com- mittees of international rela- tions, and through these repre- sent church women in certain of the national peace organizations. Most important among these are the National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War in which eleven women's national organi- [ 603 ] for World Economic Cooperation, and State, to acquaint church people people throughout Europe and it is hoped that great many of these Marathon Round Tables will be with the struggle through which Asia who are working together formed this year by churches, clubs, and community peace groups. their brothers are passing and for peace. The World Alliance its relation to international re- for International Friendship Individual kit '$1.00. lations. Price 40 cents, Foreign through the Churches is a mem- Group kit $3.50. Policy Association, 8 West 40th ber of the American Committee Write for further information Street, New York. and the Council of Women for to the Council of Women for The International Peace Home Missions has also signi- Home Missions, or to the Na- fied its intention of joining in Campaign tional Committee on the Cause this movement believing that the and Cure of War, 70 East 45th In the year that has inter- work for peace should be world- Street, New York City. vened since the Brussels Con- wide and that there is strength in uniting with the people of 2. "Peace in These Times," is gress when the International the title of a series of four pro- Peace Campaign was organized, other nations in this great cause. grams of worship and discus- many of the countries of the sion on the causes of war and From time to time the women the way to peace published by world have, through their peace of the churches will hear of the the Presbyterian Board of Chris- organizations, joined in this work of the International Peace tian Education, Philadelphia, movement, and today there is Pa. The four programs, "Jesus, a t r u I y international peace Campaign and those who are in- Christians and War" ; "The movement, which through Peace terested in keeping in touch with Way to Peace"; "Nationalism VB. rallies, National Peace Con- it may subscribe to the bulletin Patriotism" ; and "What Can gresses, and public meetings of sent from Geneva every few Christians Do?" are intended to many kinds, is trying to bring weeks to tell of the work being arouse church people to a will to peace and a determination to pressure upon governments in done in all the countries where work for peace, and may be used the International Peace Camas the basis for group discussion, favor of peace; believing that if paign is functioning. Write to or as four consecutive programs the people of the world unite for meetings of church groups, for peace no ~overnment will the International Peace Cammen or women. They are espe- dare to lead a nation into war. paign, Palais Wilson, Geneva, cially good for a Woman's Mis- Switzerland. The subscription sionary Society. Price 25 cents. Weakened by the absence of the rate is three Swiss francs. peace societies of Italy and Ger- 3. Another new set of pro- many, the people of the other At this Christmas season there is fighting and death by violence countries of Europe where the in China, Spain, Ethiopia and International Peace Campaign is strongest, are nevertheless work- perhaps other places, and men of goodwill seem powerless to grams is that published by the ing together for peace by col- stem the tide of hate and selfish- Council of Social Action, 289 lective action ana are a mighty ness which lead to war. Yet Fourth Avenue, New York City, force in building public opinion millions of men and women hate under the title "World Peace." in their respective nations. The war and are working for peace, This is a packet containing a churches have a leading part in and have faith enough to bestudy outline, a Worship Service, this movement, bringing the in- lieve that eventually goodwill pamphlets and reprints, among fluence of the Church to bear up- will triumph and international these being "Five Sectors .of the on this problem. justice put to an end some of Peace Movement" by Fosdick, In the United S tat e san the "sore spots" which lead to an article on "Neutrality or Col- American Committee to cooper- war. lective Security" and one on ate with the International Peace The women of the churches in local Peace Councils. T his Campaign has been formed. This missionary societies and in other packet is arranged for church Committee consists of those or- church organizations, believing groups, men or women. Price, ganizations which favor inter- as they do in human brotherhood 25 cents, plus postage. national cooperation to prevent and in goodwill between men and 4. Of special i n t ere s t to war and believe that the United women of all nations, all of church members is one of the States should participate in such whom are equally children of headline books of the Foreign international efforts within the God, the Father, gladly share in PolicyAssociation called "Church limits of its commitments under this work for peace with their and State" with the Study the Kellogg Pact, and that the brothers and sisters in other Course which accompanies it. four principles adopted as the lands, and pray with them for For those who are concerned program for the International the realization on earth of the wit h the situation i nth e Peace Campaign must be inter- Christmas message: "On Earth churches of Europe in such preted in the United States in Peace, Goodwill to Men." . -Elinor K. Purves.* countries as Germany, Italy, the light of our national policies.
Spain, and Russia, this study has The American Committe is plan- • This Bulletin has heen prepared by Mlsb Elinor K. Purves, Chairman, Cooperating great value. It is written in col- ning to enter into such activities laboration with some of the as may fit into the American Committee on International Relations for the leaders at the Oxford Confer- peace program and thus to join Committee on Women's Work of the Foreign Missions Conference, the National Council ence on Church, Community and hands with the thousands of of Federated Church Women, and the Council of Women for Home Missious.
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L= = =O= u-= 1=E=:;=~=·s =:~=:=~=R;=.:=~=d=~ =:=st;w=: =e=~ =of=G~=~=~=,?=x~=~=;~=:=o~=}=~O=ts=o=k= = = I~ EUROPE the Roman Catholics, 10 per Bible Society is gIvmg aid to- cent, out of a population of about wards the translation, printing Bible Reading in France 1,000,000. and circulation of the transla- tion. A hymn book in the ver- The Societe Centrale Evan- Protestant w 0 r k is repre- nacular is also being compiled. gelique reports 17,527 Protes- sented by a small Evangelical mission at Kortcha. Its particu- -The Christian. ro tants in its various preaching lar work of preaching, Sunday schools, circulation of the Scrip- AFRICA centers, a 15 increase over tures and religious literature en- 1935. joys the benevolent regard of Southern nlorocco the authorities. The mission, It is interesting to note that however, has no legal status. Someone has said that to offer when M. Chasles, a Roman Cath- Albania recognizes that national the Gospel to a Mohammedan is olic, an archivist and well-known stability and progress is best as- "to ask the proudest man in the scholar, paid a chance visit to a sured by granting wide liberty world to accept something he small Protestant chapel in Paris, for religious instruction and hates from someone he dehe gained such an interest in the helpful spiritual influence to spises." In the face of such op- Bible that he wrote a book, The youth. The immediate strength- position as this, workers in the Bible for Catholics, which has ening of evangelical work is now Southern Morocco Mission have had a wide circulation. He has possible, if the men and the proclaimed the Gospel for fifty also been lecturing at the Sar- means are available. years. bonne on the Bible, and earnestly recommends the reading of -World D.ominion Press. Morocco – 0 n I y three-and-a the Bible to his large audiences. half days' journey from England "Remnants" in Eastern Europe -used to be a Christian land, The Bible in Germany but is now in the firm grip of Protestants have a constant Islam. It is peopled by those The conflict between Chris- struggle to maintain Evangeli- who pride themselves that their tianity and Nazism goes on, with cal work against the fanatical religion wiped out Christianity. more church leaders arrested foes of all religion on the one An encouraging sign of progress from time to time. For over six hand, and unfriendly govern- today is the eagerness of the months in 1936 the colportage ments on the other. Lutheran children to. learn to read and of all religious literature, includ- and Reformed are minority write. The wo.rk of the missio.n ing Bibles, was forbidden, the groups, in some countries "rem- centers in boys' classes, a book secret police giving as the reason nants," often desperately poor; shop and preaching in Moroccan that communLsts, under cover of but they are not only holding market places. selling religious books, were dis- their own, they are winning contributing their propagandist ma- verts by thousands, notably in -Life of Faith. terial. Only in parts of the coun- the Ukraine (Southern Poland), try where the prohibition was Austria and Czechoslovakia. A Step Toward Temperance not strictly enforced were col- Most of the people are simpleporters able to continue more or hearted, unlettered land work- In South Africa a British less their usual activities. Yet ers, scattered thinly over the Commission has ordered that in spite of this, and the growing country. 202 of the 220 saloons be closed propaganda against the Bible in in Mcordance with the Liquor the press, the total number of The greatest need is for com- Act of 1928, a measure which copies circulated by the British petent leadership. The Central provided that after ten years the and Foreign Bible Society col- European Bur e a u of Inter- licenses of no saloons were to be porters, was considerably higher Church Aid, an <ecumenical com- renewed unless they had been than in the previous year. mittee of which Dr. Adolph Kel- converted into restaurants or -W.orld Dominion Movement. ler, of Geneva, is secretary, is hotels. Few have been so con- doing much to organize the con- verted. Unfortunately, the legis- Opportunity in Albania verts and provide such leader- lation allows them to continue as ship. A prime need is to provide wine and malt houses. Never- In Albania Moslems consti- a Bible in the Ukraine vernacu- theless, the closing of such places tute 70 per cent of the people; lar and the British and Foreign to the sale of whiskey and next come the Orthodox, num- brandy is regarded as a step tobering 20 per cent, and lastly [605 )
ward temperance. Church and gathered to watch something.en- Christians there; they were all social organizations are hailing tirely foreign to them-the BISh- outside, having given up their the move with satisfaction. op laying the cornerstone. The places in the chapel to t~eir ground plan of the church was friends, so that the latter mIght -Alliance Weekly and Chris- drawn with the help of a Nuba hear the words of life. Already, tian Advocate. Sheikh, whose workmen dug the more than 20,000 have signified foundation. In the evening, aft- their wish to become Christians. Sunday Schools in South Africa er the laying of the cornstone, The next problem is to train a mud wall had been built, about them in Christian living. More than half the total in- two feet high. The walls grew crease in the membership of the daily; they were molded in red Spanish Guinea Is Quiet world's Sunday schools has been mud one day, the workers patin Africa. In the Union of South ting the mud gently with stones Moorish troops have gone AEufrroicpa~anse,sptehceiaSlluyndaamy osnchgootlhies to prevent cracks. When the from Spanish Guinea, since a live and progressive institu- walls were finished a special pol~ there is nobody left to kill! Comtion. This is one of the reasons ish consisting of a thin layer of munication with Spain has been why South Africa has been mu'd rubbed with a wild nut, reopened; Spanish steamers chosen for the next World's Sun- was applied. come and go, but business is day School Convention. practically at a standstill. . "Meantime, arches for the The Wayside Sunday school roof were being made. Some The attitude of the authOrIhas grown tremendously during brought grass for thatching; ties to the Evangelical missionthe past two years, and reaches others long poles on which to aries is favorable. There is no thousands of children who would rest the arches, and still others official frowning upon the 35 otherwise be outside the influ- made palm leaf ropes to tie the catechetical schools, as the Govence of the Church. It is esti- roof. The old men hacked long ernment thinks that results simmated there are 2,250,000 chil- tree trunks into seats, these to ilar to those in the Cameroun, dren in South Africa who do not rest on mud pillars a foot high. where missions have produced attend Sunday school, largely Ninety people can be seated." thousands of literates, will be because of the distance to the The church was dedicated with desirable in Spanish Guinea. nearest church. these words: The centenary of the Mission -South African Outl.ook. "We here dedicate to the glory of Evangelica de Guinea Espanola God this building, to be called 'The is being celebrated by a joint Italy Controls Ethiopian Church of Christ, the Good Shep- campaign of the mission and the Church herd,' to the extension of His King- Native Church to win 15,000 na- dom to be the place where the Sacra- tives to Christ. Three months The Italians have announced ments are administered, and to be the were spent in preparation and that the Coptic Christian Church House of Prayer for all the peoples of prayer. During the succeeding of Ethiopia i.s no longer under these hills, in the Name of the Father, three months 11,000 men and the control of the Coptic Patri- and of the Son, and of the Holy women turned to Christ. Nine archy at Alexandria, Egypt. Ghost." new communities have been sup- plied with evangelists in the past Corrado Zoli, former gover- -C. M. S. Outl.ook. two months, who are fully supnor of Eritrea, announced that ported by the native church. bishops of key cities of Ethiopia, A Worthy Centennial Goal such as Addis Ababa and Ak- -World Dominion Press. sum, will either be named by the African Christians in the Coptic Church of Ethiopia and Cameroun are out to win 15,000 Self-Support in Africa confirmed by the Italian Govern- new believers as their contribument, or be named directly by tion to the centennial observance There is a steady movement the Government. The announce- of the Presbyterian Board. In toward self-support in the Afriment further stated that it is some of the village chapels, can churches. The Methodist possible that the right to crown writes Dr. W. C. Johnston, sec- Church of South Africa is now the Emperor of Ethiopia will be retary of the Mission, the Chris- independent, so also is the Bapgiven to the Roman Catho~ic tians have given up the long an- tist Church. The Bantu Pres- Apostolic delegate to Add 1.s ticipated privilege of hearing byterian Church is moving in the Ababa instead of the Coptic visiting evangelists and mission- same direction. Last year the Bishops of Addis Ababa and Ak- aries and sit outside after bring- Dutch Reformed Church consum. ing their non-Christian friends tributed over £96,000 for mis- to the gathering. At the close sions, and its mission churches -The Living Church. of one meeting, the missionary and native Christians raised asked Christians to leave,- so £20,000 and £2,375 respectively. First Nuba Mountain Church that he could talk further spe- It is making every effort toward cially to the non-Christians. No reviving family worship. Illit- Pioneer Christians i nth e one moved. He repeated his re- eracy is the outstanding hin- Nuba mountains have completed quest, urging the Christians to drance to Christian work. their first church building. withdraw. Then someone ex- plained that there were no -World DominIon Movement. "A group of interested Nubas
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Sunday School Convention- lend a hand to. uplift their peD- in the CDurse Df the wsaeyrvitche~ 1940 pIe. -World D01ninion Press. shDwing in a striking Great inter&<;t ,is manifest in u.nity and diversity Df Chris- eastern and sDuthern Africa in New Clinic in Baghdad tIans. The invDcatiDn was given the prDspect Df having the One might suppose tahanwD6~0a0n0 in English, the language Df the patients wDuld keep WDrld's Sunday SChDDI AssDcia- ch.ief missiDnary sending CDun- tiDn meet at Durban in 1940. doctDr busy enDugh, but Dr. trIes, and Df the cDuntry giving Durban's climatic gactDutnarvarecantniitDeenne~eDisft·s~ Abushadid Df Baghdad is ask- the. invitatiDn to. this service. accessibility and ISaI~h.53d was read by a Jewish also. the financial ing fDr mDre by Dpening a clinic ChrIstIan elder in ancient He- fDr WDmen and children. brew, the tDngue in which Dur fered by its mayDr all pDinted to. Dr. Abushadid is a graduate Maste~ must have read and pDnthe wisdDm Df the choice. Df the Presbyterian MissiDn dered It. Prayer was Dffered in FollDwing the precedent set SChDDI in Beirut, and was asked Syriac, by an Assyrian elder in fDrmer wDrld hacvDenvaepnptriDDxnis~ by the Iraq GDvernment to. Dr- SDuth Africa will Syriac being the nearest living ganize health wDrk fDr WDmen language to. the tDngue in which mately fifty per cent representa- ~nd gi.r1s in that cDuntry. Start- Jesus spDke and in which he tiDn in the cDnventiDn, the Dther mg wIth the six thDusand girls prayed. A passage frDm 1 CDr. fifty per cent cDming frDm Dther in the public SChDDls, she is de- 12 was read in Armen itahn~ this parts Df the wDrld. It is esti- velDping the wDrk still farther language being that Df first mated there will be 2,500 dele- in the recently Dpened clinic. In natiDn in histDry to. becDme a gates. PrDbably Africa will have the SChDDI Df HDme ECDnDmics Christian natiDn; and finally, mDre representatives in this she gives her students practical prayer was Dffered icnDuIrnatnryiain~ the. language Df .the wDrld gathering than have been experience in the care Df chil- fDund in any similar wDrld CDn- dren by cDnducting a nursery WhICh the meetmg was being clave in previDus years. where the girls are respDnsible held, a cDuntry that is learning fDr the day and night care Df a to. sing His praises.
WESTERN ASIA number Df babies; thus carrying Educational Project in Syria DUt the traditiDn Df the SChDDI. Arabia's Slaves To. prDmDte a cDnsDlidated Peace Pact in Near East A recent repDrt ShDWS that plan Df educatiDn in Syria, plans aTe under way fDr the Drganiza- Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Af- Arabia has at least a milliDn and tIDn Df the Evangelical CDllege Df Aleppo., Syria, a jDint prDject ghanistan, in a dDcument Df ten a half slaves. A large prDpDr- Df the American BDard and Presb~terian MissiDns, and the Sy- articles, have undertaken to. keep tiDn Df this number came frDm rIan and Armenian Churches. It is hDped the SChDDI will be- peace amDng themselves and to. the Sudan and Abyssinia. CDme indigenDus, making bDth suppDrt and administratiDn the assist Dne anDther in all matters Slaves are Dpenly bDught and respDnsibility Df the IDcal Christian grDUps. ?f cDI?mDn interest. The pact sDld, the markets fDr WDmen Df IS ~ahd fDr five years, a periDd beauty being specially cDnducted WhICh may be renewed indefi- and develDped. A recent edict ni~ely, and it will be registered Df Ibn SaDud, king Df Saudi wIth the League Df NatiDns. Arabia, fDrbids the impDrtatiDn The pact dDubtless is a respDnse of slaves by sea, and even by to. movements tDward wider lib- land, unless it is proved that the erty, mDre religiDus tDlerance impDrtee is al read yslaavesslaavre~ Children bDrn Future of Transjordan and general prDgress. I ran Df If the partitiDn Df Palestine is might be called the key to. the themselves slaves. ~arried into. effect by the Brit- Ish GDvernment, TransjDrdan arch which suppDrts the MDS- -Christian Century. ,,:ill c 0. m e into. prDmmence. Smce 1921 the cDuntry has made lem edifice in the rMeaidl drleeliEgiaDsUt~· INDIA, BURMA, SIAM rapid prDgress, and the Dfficial yet there is mDre attitude to. missiDnaries, dDctDrs Missionaries Not Wanted? and educatDrs has been unifDrm- liberty in Iran at the present ly appreciative. The Arab GDV- A new regime in India seems ernment has Dffered generDus mDment than in any Df its neigh- certain to. affect missionary financial help to. rebuild the hDS- wDrk there, according to. a World pita;l Df the Church Miss,iDnary bDring cDuntries. A MDslem in Dominion bulletin. A reformed SDcIety at Es-Salt, and will give Hindu paper, the Arya Samaj it a free hand. Iran may becDme a Christian recently issued a statement that India dDes nDt want Christian . MDslems send their bDYS and nDt Dnly wthitehDuuntcshuafnfgeeridngMDdselaeth~ missiDnaries any mDre. It adgIrlS to. the missiDn SChDDls at which is mits the present prDgress Df Amman, and the gDDdwill of the Christianity and declares that Emir and his cDunsellDrs can be law, b1;'t t~e civil pDwe~ will prD- the strDng religiDus fervDr Df cDunted upDn by all who. will the missiDnary is the mDst im- tect hIm m the exerCIse Df his pDrtant Df the variDus reaSDns for his success. It laments the individual liberty Df cDnscience.
-World Dominion Press.
One In Christ-Iran At the wDrld-wide cDmmuniDn service held in Hamadan last year, five languages were used
materialism of many Hindus, ary women, "we'll use our own school and have made it more and appeals for a new realiza- houses as classrooms. If there's worthy of the church. tjon of the Hindu faith. no money to spare for teachers, VVorkers in Karachi are con- we'll do the teaching ourselves. vinced that bazaar preaching is If there's no dormitory for the a real test of a church's life. Changes in 20 Years women they can fit into the girls' boarding school somewhere." So Thirty-five I n d ian student the school has begun: a two- Usually, crowds are so interested teachers were recently asked year course for training village they refuse to disperse. Last what noteworthy changes had women in home making, child year fifty non..:Christians were taken place in South India in care and Christian living. baptized, in contrast to the one the past twenty years. The first or two baptized four years ago.
eight changes which follow are -C. M. S. Outlook.
arranged in the order of the An Answered Call Indian Preachers' Conference strength of the vote; caste dis- Anglican church funds, on betinctions are disappearing; un- half of Mass Movement work, In an effort to encourage pertouchability is being rapidly dis- will be used first to send teach- sonal testimony and more dy- ers to villages that have been namic preaching, a "Preachers' carded; child marriages are de- begging for them; next to procreasing; female education is vide for the intensive training Conference" was held at Bareilextending; co-education is be- of volunteers and others to equip ly, in September. Two groups coming more common; the pub- them to deal with new inquirers. were invited-a large group of A third item will be to provide lic is taking much more interest houses for pastors and teachers, pastors from the main pulpits in education; the demand for and help towards the erection and a small group of good home rule is more widespread of headquarters' churches; a preachers. Each day there were .and insistent; work for rural fourth item is the extension of reconstruction is multiplying; medical service. two sermons in Hindustani and one in English, as well as a epidemics are being mastered; Great care will be taken to round-table dis c u s s ion on Indians are replacing British of- avoid using this money to build preaching. Thus by example up work which could not be ficials ; India has come into the maintained by the Indian church and precept something definite bicycle-bus age; Gandhi cannot in the future. was done in inspiring and instop the whirl of machinery; houses are improving; women -C. M. S. Outlook. structing preachers. In order are entering public life; person- that the results of the confer- al habits are changing; the ence may be available to those Christian community is steadily who could not attend, and be preserved for future reference, growing and taking much more· it is planned to issue a printed responsibility; and socialism Opportunities in Sind report, incorporating a synopsis and communism are spreading. of each sermon and a gist of each Last year was memorable in statement made in the discus- -World Youth. the history of Sind, not only in sion.-Bishop B. T. Badley.
School for Home Builders that it became a province but Progress in Toungoo that the Christian Church scored At Toungoo, Burma, the out- "The case for village girls is advance. Money was raised by standing piece of work for the hopeless," bluntly said a student sacrificial giving for an enlarged year was a Daily Vacation Bible in the missionary's Bible class and beautified church. school in the village of Kelinsait. An old Christian living in that in Allahabad, India. Unques- The greatest advance is in the village had a son and three tionably, village houses were un- fact that the Karachi congrega- daughters who had attended the sanitary; there was too much tion of the Church of England mission school at Toungoo. They asked the mission to open a vacajewelry and too little water; Mission has accepted responsi- tion school there and gave all the support they could. As a result there was sickness, unbalanced bility for the maintenance of all five people were baptized at the close of the school, and five more feeding of the household even the evangelistic work at present acknowledged their faith during the services at Christmas. VVithwhen poverty did not preclude being undertaken in the district. in nine months this village has variety; there was quarreling, Members of the pastor's commit- indecent talk, and a stolid indif- tee have taken a keen interest ference to conditions. Such was in the leper asylum at Mango the background against which Pir, twelve miles from Karachi, missionary wives at Allahabad and for three years have visited Agricultural Institute h a v e it regularly, preached to the pa- started a school for village home- tients, and shown their love in makers. No such school exists many practical ways. Others gained ten Christians, and Qthin the United Provinces. Neither have gone in the evenings to the ers are convinced of the truth of building, money nor staff is many quarters in the city where Christianity. available. But the school has the poorer Christians live, and Much of the credit for this bebegun. "If we can't find a corner have taken part in regular serv- longs to two Christian Burmans, in the Institute classrooms and ices for them. Others have be- a preacher and a Bible woman. laboratories," said the mission- gun to teach in the Sunday – Watchman-Examiner.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
New Bible School in Siam operation at Pitsanuloke. A Nearly seventy per cent of the Five-Year Plan of Advance has men who are now determining The need for native evangel- been adopted. -Siam Outlook. the policies of modern China are graduates of Christian colists in East Siam has been keen- OHINA leges. ly felt for some time. Accordingly, a Siamese Bible School was Progress in Ohina Education is one of the chief established last year in Korat. aims of the present government, A group of six men and one When I went to China fifty which has accepted the responsiwoman comprised the first class. years ago the period of early bility of providing universal ele- The beginnings were neither seed-sowing had not entirely mentary education for 70,000 sensational nor pretentious. passed away. The difficulties children. This, however, is bare- Lacking a class room, students were numerous and visible re- ly one-tenth of the school-age suits were few. The people were population. met under the missionary's still conservative and did not home. There were no dormitory welcome new ideas. But the pe- About fifteen per cent of the accommodations, s 0 students riod of sowing produced great higher education in China is had to be quartered in various results. The Church in China handled by Christian colleges places about town. These ar- has not grown and is exerting and professional schools. Nine rangements were inconvenient every effort to become self-reli- per cent of the college students, ant. It is willing to assume re- and twenty-four per cent of the and far from satisfactory; but sponsibility and desires to in- professional students a t ten d a very profitable seven months crease the Chinese ministry. Christian institutions. of study were passed together. There are Christian congrega- tions of one thousand people -Christian Advocate. This project is an outgrowtH. that are entirely self-supporting. Oommunion Under Difficulties of the keynote "Go Forward," -F. L. Haws Pott, St. John's University, Shanghai. The Rev. David S. Tappan, of adopted at the Siamese Regional the American Presbyterian Mis- Mission Situation sion in Hainan, tells of a com- Conference. -The Call. munion service in the mountains. Most of the missions in China Faith with Works expect to car r y forward as "To prepare the communion much of the work as can be help- elements we were at our wits' Three years ago the Church fully continued. Missionaries, end. There stood the crude taof Christ in Siam was organized. especially men, will remain at ble but for a cover all they could Ninety-nine and a half per cent their posts so long as they can find was bed drapes not yet used; of the Siamese Christians had serve those in distress. The no cups but some made for wine no real idea what it was all Boards at home will accord them and used in heathen idol worabout, but those who did com- a large degree of discretion, and s.hip. Pastor Wu pointed out the prehend the significance of it in case of danger they may with- verse in 1 Cor. 10: 21: 'Ye canhad faith and were ready to back draw to safety. not drink the cup of the Lord it up with works. The church and the cup of devils,' and apconstitution was two years in The Presbyterian Board au- plied it instantly. But when it the making. thorizes the withdrawal from was proved the cups had not yet danger zones of aged and in- been used in idol worship, they An outstanding move of 1936 firm missionaries, of mothers were accepted. was the appointment of a Re- with children, and of all those vival Committee of two, whose not suited to serve under hard- "No tray for the cups, so a mission it was to visit as many ships that may be inescapable. huge wicker sieve used for siftas possible of the churches, to The· China Council and the mis- ing rice was brought in. No hold meetings and stimulate sion executive committees are bread, so the missionary took Christian life and activity. The expected to make wise allocation some of his supply of twice American Bible Society paid the of the reduced personnel. toasted bread from his lunch expenses of a third member of (fresh bread would have been this committee. Stewardship Evacuated and furloughed mildewed in the dampness). No was their major theme. The re- missionaries, prevented from re- grape juice, so a tin of Amerisults were astonishing. Tithing turning to China, will be used can orange juice, also from his was started or increased in many to strengthen temporarily the lunch, was stirred full of native communities, and the spiritual understaffed missions in neigh- brown sugar and answered the life of many individuals was boring countries until they can purpose. greatly stimulated. return to their own fields. "Nearly one hundred moun- . A second advance step has Educational Missions tain folk caught a glimpse of been the adoption of Pitsanuloke their Lord that day, and some- Station by the first General As- Fifty-one per cent of all the how I feel that He was as much sembly as its own project under Chinese college graduates listed at home at that table as at any a wholly national staff. The in the Chinese Who's Who are communions in America with Church in Siam has also as- products of Christian colleges. their perfect appointments." sumed full responsibility for the work of the Charles T. Santvoord Hospital for three years on a contract similar to that in
Chinese Medical Association of the vast Buddhist and Shinto for one month, and 405 women constituencies. for two and a half months. At The Chinese Medical Associ- Pyengyang Institute, 80 men enation was formerly made up al- Salvation Army Rift rolled for nine months' study. most entirely of foreigners, but The Presbyterian Theological as fast as Chinese doctors be- A rift in the Army has become Seminary also reports one of the came qualified they were ad- an open break. A group of offi- largest first-year classes in its mitted. Now the percentage of cers, representing the younger history. Two young men have Chinese members is very large. leaders, but themselves men of been commissioned as foreign At the last conference about 70 mature age and rank, demanded missionaries; one is laboring in per cent of the 900 attending drastic changes in the Japanese Shantung, and the other in Manwere Chinese, states Dr. John organization. The revolt is defi- chukuo among Chinese and Chi- E. Lenox of Chengtu, West nitely a nationalist movement, nese-speaking peoples. China. protesting against what is al- leged to be a condition of sub- A Korean named Chang, who, JAPAN-CHOSEN servience to the control of the as a boy of 12 watched crew and foreign headquarters, and com- passengers of the steamer Gen- Masses Want Peace mand in London. It is also a eral Sherman struggle out of protest against the Salvation the water, only to be beaten to S. Hirakawa of Tokyo, speak- Army's military organiz'ation, death by the mob, is now an old ing recently before the Friends' with its uniform, its army ter- man over 80. Last year he stood World Conference in Philadel- minology and its dictatorial sys- QY the same Pyengyang River phia, declared that 90 per cent tem. Also it is a demand for and showed to one of the secreof the Japanese are opposed to more emphasis upon the reli- taries of the British and Foreign the war with China. The pres- gious aspects of the work, and Bible Society the place where ent invasion is motivated by a less upon the social and relief one of the passengers, Mr. militaristic clique which is try- phases. The recalcitrant officers Thomas, a colporteur of the Naing to protect the Manchoukuo have been dismissed or have tional Bible Society of Scotland, venture, an experiment that has wit h d raw n, and have now threw to the crowd copies of "a thus far proved a colossal fail- formed one more Christian de- red-bound book"-the New Tesure. Japan is spending much nomination, the "Japan Gospel tament in Korean. He also more money in Manchoukuo Evangelistic Association," mod- showed him a beautiful Thomas than she is getting out of it. eled after the two branches of Memorial Chapel, marking the Another speaker, R. Yamano, the Holiness Church. place of martyrdom and told said that the only place in which how, in his own lifetime, there desires for peace may be pub- -Christian Century. had sprung up a Christian comlished is in the Christian denom- munity of over 260,000 with inational press. Remember the Frogs 4,200 places of worship.
-Christian Adv.ocate. A solemn service in commem- -World Dominion Move- oration of the sacrifice of 100,000 ment. Conditions in Japan frogs which had been used in the past year in biological and ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC A correspondent from Japan anatomical experiments, was says that the absence of civilian held in Tokyo in July. Sixty Spiritual Currents in Java hatred is one mitigating feature professors from Keio University of the grievous war situation. participated and a monument According to the Evangelical Chinese by thousands are still representing two bullfrogs in News Bureau of Holland, three living in Japan and going about stone, with a tribute to frogdom outside factors have influenced their work unmolested and in in general, was unveiled. ·The the spiritual currents in Java in perfect safety. According to a service was held in a Buddhist the last decade: first, the awakrecent report not more than cloister with much incense and ening in Eastern Asia after the 6,000 out of the 30,000 living in beating of gongs. Japanese victory over Russia, Japan have yet returned to and the national-cultural inde- China. By way of contrast the British pendence efforts in B r i tis h and Foreign Bible Society have India; second, the influence of But the dilemma of a Chris- celebrated the translation of the politico-religious movements tian Church in a country at war Scripture into the one thou- in Egypt, Arabia and British is pressing with peculiar inten- sandth tongue, a feat that out- India, seen in the existence and sity upon the Christians. Insig- does anything any single uni- development of trade societies nificant in numbers, and with versity has done. that have become more political the onus of a long inherited sus- organizations; and third the picion of disloyalty still bitterly -So S. Times. influence of communism. Ever held by many people, the Chris- since 1917, the comintern has tian movement now for the first Bible Reading Koreans striven to connect the classtime in a national crisis finds its struggle with the nationalist leaders called in council on equal Bible Institutes are popular movement in the East. Its revoterms with the representatives in Chosen. At Chai-Ryung last winter, 455 men were enrolled
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
lutionary propaganda activity mission spheres and the need for many needy, and the clinic was first reached Java via the na- an adVisory committee to work crowded each day. tive students' union in Holland. toward closer cooperation of Vigorous action on the part of government, churches and mis- Congregational Work Grows the government during the last sionaries. It is hoped that a four years has largely put a stop policy may be adopted broad The American Board reports to this undermining force. enough to cover the different a very successful conference of conditions in the various states workers in Dansalan, Mindanao, The attitude of missions to- on the protection and control of P. 1. There were 130 delegates. wards these spiritual currents the nomadic tribes, their grad- Much time was given to prayer, cannot be merely that of an in- ual development and restoration meditation and praise. In the terested spectator. They will of racial pride and confidence, business sessions much attenhave to deal with the great com- the uplIfting of the half-caste, tion was paid to the extension pleXIty ot moral quesdons wich the suppression of abuses and of the Kingdom in unoccupied which the people of Java have "CO protection from exploitation. areas. A real Home Mission wrestle in these days by preach- program was adopted. Statising the Gospel of God's King- -Anti-Slavery Reporter. tics revealed marvelous growth dom. during 1936. Twenty years ago Education in the Philippines there were three congregations Character of the Papuans and two Sunday schools in Bishop Mosher of the Philip- other places. Today, the North The Evangelical News Bureau pine Islands, who attended the Coast Conference alone has 48 in Holland says there are two ~piscopal General Convention churches and chapels and gave opinions about the Papuans of in Cincinnati, said: $5,500 for the work of the Dutch New Guinea. One is that Church. In all three conferthey are heartless, cruel and Now that the Philippines are inde- ences of Mindanao about 1,000 murderous; the other, that they pendent, they need an army and must new members have been added are good, friendly and even get the money for it somehow. It is education that will pay the price.
pleasant people; those who know The government has closed the 5th, to the churches. them best agree with both opin- 6th and 7th grades in the public ions. The Papuan has really scho lIs. This throws out great num- Filipino Evangelical Strength two sides to his character. One bers of boys and girls. We have is human, that is why the Pap- From the beginning, Filipino 1,200 pupils in our day schools. After the children finished the 4th grade, uan is hospitable, friendly and they formerly went to the public Protestant churches have emdesirous of peace. The other schools. Now the Roman Catholics phasized the value of the Gosside is demoniac, devilish. Some- are getting them; they have the pel in their hospitals and dispentimes, however, the Papuans' funds to have dormitories and to saries; Boy Scouts and Camp equip their schools.
acts are bad only in our eyes, Fire Girls; services for pris- but are good in their own opin- Clinics Had to Be "Sold" oners, for lepers and relief of ion. They, themselves, feel the various kinds. The most potent conflict in their being. They Dr. D. J. Ago, Filipino physi- influence in winning people to know the difference between cian at the mission hospital in Christ has been the private life good and evil. Legaspi, P. 1., could give some and character of Protestant practical suggestions on "sell- Christians, and their public Effective missionary work is ing" a new idea to backward stand on moral issues. The lives not possible without an accurate people. Wishing to establish of both the leaders and the memknowledge of the people. There- clinics in a new area, Dr. Ago bers of the churches have furfore the first demand is: get to first called on the local church nished the strongest testimony know the people, their language, members, taking plenty of time ethics, laws and religion. With- to explain his plan. to the truth of their message. out winning their confidence, Evangelicals also have a good far-reaching influence over them Then he had to persuade the record in public morals. The is impossible. municipal authorities that he fight against alcoholism was was not trying to undermine started and carried on almost Australian Aborigines their prestige. ' Next, the local entirely by them; pro t est s drugs shops had to be convinced against public dance halls and Missionary leaders in Aus- that the clinks would help, not prostitution come largely from tralia are considering the prob- hinder, their trade. The dentist the same source; campaigns lem of the 77,000 Aborigines had to be drawn into the project, against the cockpit and other with great care. This is attrib- and lastly, each of the above had forms of gambling originate uted to a change in public opin- to be persuaded to serve as ad- with the Protestants. ion. vertisers of the proposed clinic. Other elements favoring Prot- Some of the questions that When all this was done, the shy- estantism are the general adhave come up for discussion have ness and fear of the first ven- vance of education, the large to do wi,th aboriginal customs- turesome patients had to be dealt number of educated, liberal nomwhat should be allowed and what with. Then, at last, word spread inal Roman Catholics who have forbidden; the overlapping of abroad that here was help for no vital church membership but
believe in God, and the strongly To Raise Standard of Ministers writes the Pocket Testament anti-Fascist attitude of Evan- League of the religious work gelical Christians. They offer a After a two-year study, a carried on at the prison. reasonable faith to hundreds of commission of the Disciples' thousands of young people in Church introduced a resolution There is an organization here in the schools. at the International Convention the West known as the "Fellowship in in Columbus, Ohio (October Bible Reading," whose aim is to get -Christian Century. 28) , proposing the following as many Bible readers as possible minimum requirements for min- each year during the month of Oc- NORTH AMERICA isterial ordination: tober to concentrate in reading a cer- tain Book of the Bible each day dur- Students As Evangelists 1. Good moral character and per- ing the month. This year the Book sonal fitness for the ministry. of Romans has been selected for spe- Because they feel that a true cial reading and studying. Those Christian life is the only answer 2. A full college course or its equiv- joining agree to read at least four to the problems facing college alent and, if possible, graduate train- chapters a day in Romans during Ocstudents everywhere, the stu- ing in religion. tober, or as another choice they may dents of Wheaton College, Illi- read Romans through in one reading nois, have sent 15,000 copies of 3. Experience in Christian work at least once a week during October, St. John's Gospel to the students which shows real leadership, vision, or they may agree to read Romans of the University of California. pastoral qualities and preaching abil- through daily during October. Here Each copy is inscribed with the ity. in the prison 143 have signed up to statement: "This little booklet join the Fellowship in concentrating will help us all to win in the As matters now stand, a per- on the book of Romans during Ocgame of life." son without even a high school tober. Six of those signing up are education may be ordained in inmates on the condemned row, who Theodore Benson, senior at the church. Opposition to these are facing execution shortly. The Wheaton College and president requirements is expected from a number of inmates who have joined of the Scripture Distribution So- group of conservatives who will the Fellowship by no means takes in ciety there, says: "Our purpose contend it would be a step away all those in the prison daily reading is to discharge our responsibil- from the church's historical con- a portion of the Bible. There is a ity as Christian students to these gregationalism, and toward ec- lot of Bible reading here in the prison our fellow students. We know clesiasticism. Furthermore, be- by the inmates. of no more effective way to reach cause of their independence local the student world than to pre- congregations would not be Religious Radio Programs sent them with the Word of bound to observe the require- God." ments. The Federal Council is spon- soring a new program of radio Survey of American Girls Juvenile Crime Deterrent religion. In addition to the two regular programs of religious A composite picture of the Here is a suggestion in the worship on Sunday which have American girl, 1937 model, is field of crime prevention. Juve- been broadcast for several years presented by General Foods, nile court workers have discov- there will now be a daily pro- Inc., as the result of an effort to ered that many children who are gram of a rather different chardiscover facts about future brought into court are charged acter from 12: 00 to 12: 15 homemakers. From a question- either with stealing toys or steal- every weekday of the year. naire, submitted to shoppers in ing money to buy toys. Out of These noonday messages will be half a million retail food stores, this grew the idea of establish- inspirational and educational in it appears that six out of every ing a toy-lending "library." One character, addressed particularly ten American girls between the has been operating for several to the public. The same speaker ages of 18 and 25 attend church months in Kansas City, Mo., and will be heard each Monday for a regularly. a second one is now being pre- period of three months; another pared there by women of Grace speaker each Tuesday, another Reasons given for non-attend- and Holy Trinity Cathedral. each Wednesday, and so on ance were: through Saturday. The play room in the parish Too lazy …………….. . 36.5% house is to contain the collection The Foreign Missions Confer- Lack of interest ………. . 28.5% of toys, new and "recondi- ence is cooperating in this Too busy ……………. . 19.0% tioned," which the women have presentation. Inconvenient …………. . been collecting. Any child in the 9.2% neighborhood may have a "li- America's Spending brary" card, signed by parent or In answer to the question: guardian, entitling him to bor- The National Committee for "Do you consider it more desir- row a toy. When it is returned Religion and Welfare Recovery able or less desirable, than it in good condition, he may take has prepared a chart to show was in your mother's day, to out another. The toys will be that the American public gave take an active part in church af- sterilized on return. fairs?" replies were given: 30 % less to churches, 29 % less "Fellowship in Bible Reading" More………………… 37.3% to general benevolences, 24 % Less ………………… 26.30/0 The chaplain of California Same………………… 35.70/0 State Prison at San Quentin less to community chests, and 18 % less to colleges in 1936 than was given from the smaller in- comes of 1932. On the other hand, expenditures for jewelry,
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
theaters, cigarettes, automobiles. Creek Indian Christians race are characteristics of the army and navy, whiskey, radio Indian people. The Indian has come a long and beer increased from 25 % to way in spiritual development, as Their belief that, although life 31 rtf). -The Living Chu,rch. evidenced in a recent meeting of is mysterious in all its manifes- 1,000 Creek Indians near Eu- tations, yet it can be trusted if Land of the Unexpected faula, Oklahoma. The preacher human beings act in cooperation was Roly Canard, chief of the with it, may be the secret of the Think of a church service at Creeks. Although a university Indian characteristics of poise which every inhabitant of a vil- graduate and a master of Eng- and restfulness, quiet strength lage is present; where every lish, Canard preferred to speak of character, a keen sense of huworshipper sang all the hymns in his native tongue, as do most mor and delight in the gay and from memory! Rev. C. O. of the Creeks both in private and joyous. Unhurried by life's de- Weber, Moravian pastor of Win- in public. Only the text, which mands, they take time to think ston-Salem, N. C., found this was repeated many times with clearly and concretely. Expectamong the unexpected experi- emphasis, was spoken in Eng- ing its constant changes, they ences of a visit to Alaska. lish: "Behold, how good and face the world with courage.- how pleasant it is for brethren The National Board Y. W. C. A. When he arrived in a village to to dwell together in unity!" speak in a church, the bell was Health Education at Sitka, rung long and vigorously. To Around the tabernacle and his delight he found the congre- church building were smaller Alaska gation eagerly drinking in every arbors and sheds under which word of the message and no were long dining tables. Beyond A new departure in health watches pulled out to check the these outdoor dining and cook- education for both boys and time. He was amazed to hear ing quarters were the tents of girls at Sheldon Jackson School, Eskimo Christians pray in pub- the hundreds of families who Sitka, Alaska, has been more lic fluently, and to note the ex- had come for the four-day meet- thorough testing for tubercupressions on their uplifted faces. ing. losis, which is greatly on the in- This is his answer to the ques- crease among the native population he is often asked: "Are re- Without a leader, one Indian tion of Alaska. In Sitka governsults worth the time and money after another starts a hymn if ment school last year, 78 per spent?" he feels the urge and others join cent of the children were found in. Another common practice to be infected. This is partly -Moravian Missions. is for all to pray aloud at the due to poor living conditions; same time. Often this unison of partly to the lack of recreational From Communism to prayer is for some common ob- facilities, but alcohol is probably ject, such as the recovery of a the largest contributing factor. the Church sick brother, or the missionary work of the association. After One phase of this health ex- A. J. Muste, who has recently a few minutes all voices are periment is the isolation and become minister of Lab 0 r silent save one, and the prayer special care of a group of twelve Temple, New York, succeeding is concluded by this one peti- tubercular suspects. This group Edmund B. Chaffee, has issued tioner. has a special table in the dining the following statement: room. Their dishes are segre- -Southern Baptist Home gated and sterilized. Each sus- I return from the left wing political Missions. pect is isolated in the dormitory movement, from radical Marxism, and is given a special rest each from passionate secular idealism, The Gifts of the Indian day. -Presbyterian Banner. which made me condemn the Church People as conservative, as retarding prog- United Christian Council ress, as martyring free spirits. I re- Because the Indian people of Alaska turn to the Church! Why? Because have felt that usefulness without these years of experience have taught beauty is not enough, they have A United Christian Council of me that the Church of the redeemed created beauty in design, sym- Alaska wit h representatives is the only great redeeming agency. bolism, color, rhythm and poetic from the Congregational-Chris- The nucleus of any effective movement thought. For our use they have tian Churches, the Metlakatla against war, against a social order brought corn and other foods Christian Mission and the Methbased on the spirit and method of and herbs, they have broken odist Episcopal Church has been war, will have to be composed of trails for us and taught us ways organized and incorporated in those who by the grace of God, and of living in the out-of-doors. the State of Illinois. insight into the meaning of the Cross, have renounced the spirit of war; To value character above pos- Formed on July 10, the Counfirst in their own hearts and then and sessions, to consider one's tribe cil will be an elastic, interdenomtherefore, in all relationships of life; above oneself, to appreciate the inational group designed to proof those who know the overcoming achievements of others, to wel- mote closer cooperation among power of prayer and humility and come the stranger, to respect the participating denominations sacrifice; of those who are not led childhood and age, to feel al- at work in Alaska. The sponastray by the will to dominate or de- ways a self-respecting pride of sors hope and expect that other stroy anyone, because Christ lives in them. The Church often fails in this, but I see no other agency doing it at all. That is why I return to the Church.
-Federal Council Bulletin.
denominations willJater join the diers to buy copies of the New Matto Grosso, Brazil Council. It marks a.:distinct ad- Testament and ask for prayer. The definite aim of the Inland vance in a cooperative approach to home missionary tasks. Uther mIssionaries keep in touch South America Mis s ion a r y Union is to reach the Indian Among the practical develop- with college students. Full use world, and its purpose is to carry the Gospel to tribes not ments that have resulted is the is made of the press and book -The Christian. shops.
launching of the Alaska Marine Forward in Colombia included in the plans of other Mission to serve the vast, hither- organizations. One can scarcely to neglected territory in Alaska. The Synod of Colombia was believe that regions on this earth duly organized in Bogota on still exist where men live as July 29, a milestone in the his- "Children of Eden," ignorant of LATIN AMERICA tory of Presbyterian missions in the existence of a world outside that country. Rev. Julio Her- their own. The heart of MaUo Sunday School Influence Brazil, Argentina, Chile and nandez, pastor of Sec 0 nd Grosso, Brazil, is such a region, Mexico have each their own na- C h u r c h, BarranquiIla, was and its evangelization has for tional Sunday school missionary elected moderator; Rev. E. G. years been the hope of the Inengaged in developing Sunday Seel, secretary, and Rev. Gus- land S. A. Missionary Union. school work. Textbooks in Span- tavo Villa, treasurer. Delegates The first missionary expediish and Portuguese are being from the three presbyteries, with tion of the Mission was launched prepared for the training of the help of a map, indicated their in 1926 when possibilities were Sunday school teachers. In Ar- fields of activity and the limits gauged. In 1934 another start gentina alone over 2,000 young of their territory, also the re- was made. A third expedition people have undergone training gions to which they hoped to ex- resulted in the erection of a misfor Sunday school and Bible tend the preaching of the Gospel. sion station. This third expediclass work. From the start, the It was shown that if the work tion covered 2,000 miles in 75 Sunday school, for both adults is continued with enthusiasm, days. Thirty-four days were and children, has been one of soon no one will be able to pass spent in canoeing. The main the most successful agencies of through Colo m b i a without purposes of the journey were: touching some evangelical terri- to visit the circuit of Indian vilthe evangelical movement. It is estimated that there are tory. lages and to introduce the pionow more than 2,000,000 people 'l'he importance of having a neer missionaries – the Big connected with Pro t est ant well-organized seminary for the White Chief and the White churches in South America, and theological and pedagogical Mother; to choose a site suitfreedom of thought and expres- training of national workers was able for the mission station and sion has been greatly increased. made clear; in fact, all the pro- to devote some time in building posals, plans and projects were a mission house; to reestablish Work Goes on in Mexico directed toward a great central friendship with the fierce Ka- purpose, and gave the idea of In spite of restrictions, Prot- the different pieces of a jig-saw mauras, whose hostility had been estant missionaries remain in puzzle which only needed to be of nine years standing, due to a Mexico, doing effective work, in fitted into place to reveal the or- breach of promise made by an dered whole. some respects even better than explorer. They had closed their before. Here are some new -Colombian Clippings. tribal portals to every outsider, including foreigner and Indian. methods that have been adopted. Cuban Schools In one of the best restaurants Requests are now coming The educational problem in of Mexico City, "Wednesday Cuba has yet to be solved. Gov- from the Indians themselves ask- Breakfasts" are arranged by ernment high schools and uni- ing for the "good people," mean- Dr. Wallace, a Presbyterian mis- versities are closed, and a few ing the missionaries, to come in sionary, and Professor Baez and live with them. Camargo, Secretary of the Na- -Amazon Valley Indian.
tional Council of Evangelical mission schools have been the Fascism in BTazil Churches. Members of the in- only secondary schools open durtellectual classes are invited to ing recent troublesome years. Evangelical churches of Bra- the breakfasts, and invariably Among the boarding students zil are thoroughly alarmed over listen with deep interest to mes- this year at the Baptist Colegio the increasing menace of Fassages on vital topics by Chris- Internacionales are Carlos Man- cism. Organized about five tian leaders. uel and Flavio de Cespedes, two years ago, mainly with Italian Mr. Norman Taylor, also a grandsons of a former president and German descendants or .nat- Presbyterian missionary, is do- of Cuba and great-grandsons of uralized citizens, Fascism soon ing splendid work among sol- the Cuban patriot and first revo- gained the support of many libdiers. He visits the camps in lutionary president, Carlos Man- erals and young leaders in the his motor-car, entertains the uel de Cespedes. This is a tes- Protestant churches, who not soldiers with a port.able wireless timony to the confidence placed only came out openly for the set, and then gives a Gospel talk. in the school. cause, but distributed literature -WatchrYUJ,n-Examiner. among fellow churchmen. It is usual for many of the sol-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Methodism voices its appre- MISCELLANEOUS Anti-Semitism hension in the Expositor Christao: Church Council Discusses War A conference held at Prince- ton, N. J., in September on the "Every Protestant or Evan- Should America go to war Jew and the Pre s b y t e ria n gelical is, by nature, a liberal with Japan? Is China guiltless Church went on record as urgdemocrat. It follows, therefore, in the present slaughter? Will ing the Presbyterian Church to that Fascist violence will be dictator nations crush democ- speak out clearly on the dangers aimed against the physical life racy? These questions were of anti-Semitism to the Church of the Evangelicals, in case it put to Methodist leaders in Chi- itself, and to take its full share wins out in Brazil. Millions of cago recently. Bitter condemna- of responsibility for the relief of Brazilians are under this threat, tion of the smugness of democ- the social, human and spiritual among them the great majority racies in not considering the eco- needs of the victims of antiof the Evangelicals." The two nomic needs of over-populated Semitism, wherever found. branches of Presbyterianism- nations now enslaved by dicta- Independent and Synodical- tors vied with vehement denun- The purpose of this Conferhave condemned all extremist ciation of the bombing of Chi- ence was to appraise the work regimes. nese cities. Some advocated for the Jews now being carried swift and complete embargoes; on by the Presbyterian Church The Congregational Church others saw embargoes as useless through the community 0 r went farther, and adopted the and vicious. A II inveighed neighborhood c en t e r, and following resolutions: "(1) No against America resorting to through the parish approach, pastor shall be permitted to af- arms to curb Japan in China. whereby churches are urged to filiate himself with the Fascist extend their services and welparty. (2) All churches which Dr. Elbert M. Conover, of come to Jewish neighbors; to' have members who are already Philadelphia, advocated a light- consider the problems arising in Fascists shall exhort them to ningembargo on war material, connection with it; and to deabandon such a doctrine; but including oil and other elements velop a more adequate and efif they persist in remaining vital to fighting, while Rev. N. fective program. such, they must be cut off the A. Christensen of Oakland, Cal., church rolls. (3) Any church was just as positive that an em- -Monday Morning. which allows Fascists in its bargo is useless, dangerous and membership, shall be excluded evil, because it imposes the pun- Problem of Mission Property from the union." ishment on the people least re- sponsible for war, and leads al- One of the problems of the es- -Christian Century. most inevitably to war. Diplo- tablishment, and relationships matic and social ostracism even- of an independent national Demand for Books tually can apply sufficient pres- Church to the home board has to sure to break any nation's ruth- do with the fact that in almost Dr. R. E. Diffendorfer says lessness. Such ostracism is every mission field new national that in South America the rapid slower, but more' drastic in or ultra-nationalistic regulations progress in secular education effect. are affecting the tenure or title has gone far beyond the ability or terms of mission property of the Evangelical churches and Sacrificial Giving holdings. In Mexico many clear the missions to follow the new titles have been simply wiped intellectuals with an adequate Missionaries see the world's out by the Government, with no Christian m e s sag e. These desperate need at close range. remuneration or redress. Elsegroups know philosophy, politi- Nearly $5,000 out of their per- where increments of value have cal economy, economics and sonal incomes has been contrib- been denied or imperilled. In sociology, educational theory and uted by Presbyterian mission- many lands the nat ion a I practice, and especially the aries to the Centennial Fund of churches are disposed to argue physical and social sciences. To the Board of Foreign Missions. that all mission property is held reach these groups by the sole If their average gift were in trust for them, even though method of preaching and organ- equaled by each of the 2,000,000 it was wholly provided from the izing churches is to lose the op- Presbyterian church members at west, or by people who gave it, portunity. Books need to be home, the reply of the Church to not for the endowment of the written by Latins or translated the General Assembly's urging Church in some one land, but from English, and from other "that the churches and individ- for use in the evangelization of languages on the Christian mes- uals make a sacrificial response" the whole world. sage of the world today. He to the appeal for a $1,000,000 further says that the scarcity of Centennial Fund would make a -Presbyterian Banner. reading material in some lan- total response of at least $10,- guages is so great that many 000,000. Every member of the "To myself a heart of steel; boys and girls lapse into illit- Board and of its executive and To my fellows a heart of eracy after havirig completed clerical staff has contributed to love; the work of the primary schools. the Centennial Fund. To my God a heart of flame." -Christian Advocate.
~'====""==",==========~'~
i Our Missionary Bookshelf I I Books Briefly Reviewed for the Readers' Information ~,===—–==——–=======""",-,==~,~ A Bible Believing Church. The gives new courage; greater zeal is the result of painstaking Nevius Plan for M.ission Work, Il- study, marked by discerning lustrated in Korea. By Charles and stimulates faith in spiritual a n a I y s e s. The journalistic Allen Clark. 8vo. 370 pp. $2.00. Christian Literature Society. Seoul, methods. The work is one of the sources which underlie the body Korea and E. C. Heinz, 3624 Fifth most outstanding examples of of the text have this unique fea- mission work in the world. It is ture that they present the co- Ave., So., Minneapolis. 1937. well organized but does not Are missionary executives spend its strength on machinery. temporaneous opinions of the proven to be too satisfied with There is life in the organizm. editors. Rather than say that conservative, old-time methods? Every missionary in every the book is well documented, it .Are they and the missionaries field will do well to read this im- should be said that it is in the portant report. The methods main-and professedly so-doctoo hesitant to break loose from need not be slavishly copied but conventional lines and to pioneer they teach lessons that could be uments with interpretative comin missionary activities? As a put into practice in other fields ments. also. Churches at home would matter of fact most modern mis- also profit by a fresh study of The history sketches for the sionary work has broken away these ideals and by adopting reader Japan's emergence from many of these methods. from Apostolic New Testament her centuries of seclusion and methods and has attempted to Japan in American Public Opinion. proceeds to detail what she establish occidental institutions By Eleanor Tupper, Ph.D., and learned from the West-the way George E. McReynolds, Ph.D. 465 in lands where life is more pp. $3.75. Macmillan. 1937. we live, what we know, what we simple and primitive. Dr. John believe and how we fight. What Some time ago it was pointed we condemn in Japan's use of L. Nevius, for many years a mis- out that history centered first in modern engines of war, on the sionary in China, strongly ad- the Mesopotamian region, then earth, in the air, and under the around the Mediterranean basin, vocated a return to apostolic then on the Atlantic coasts, and sea, she learned from the West. methods; this was forty years finally in our day on the Pacific. In condemning her appropriatago. He emphasized evangelism This progress westward fol- ing policy, we condemn our- lowed the migration of the J arather than institutionalism; an phetic races. There was also a selves. great migration eastward, unindigenous church with early til now mankind has almost The volume, in conducting us filled the earth. Japan and through the phases of the probself-support and self-government America are turning back on rather than continued foreign themselves. It would be well if lem of the Japanese in Califorcontrol; and spiritual emphasis each could do the turning grace- nia and Hawaii, the wars with fully; it would be better if they China and Russia, the annexaon Bible lines rather than could do it in the Christian way. tion of Korea, through questions higher intellectual training to "Japan in American Public of immigration and n a val reach secular standards. The Opinion" recounts the way J a- Presbyterian mission in Korea pan has been turning for the quotas, the Japanese Monroe last few decades, as observed by Doctrine, the 21 demands, the early adopted the Nevius ideals authors and editors in America. Lytton Report, and the like, and methods and the results The book is an encyclopedic have been among the wonders of source book of facts concerning leads us up through the intricamodern missions. Dr. Clark de- political changes in China and cies of Japan's operations on the Japan, and in America vis-a-vi:s continent of Asia to the summer scribes these methods, how they of 1937. have been applied and the effect. Numerical results show 180,640 .To statesman, merchant, and new converts to Christ in nine years. This is equivalent to 70 missionary the volume is a valu- able storehouse of information. new parishes, each with an aver- It presents both sides of the sitage of 300 believers every year. uations and should have on both Here is the story of how this was ,sides of the Pacific a wholesome done without a large staff of foreign workers or the expenditure influence on those to whom facts have the major appeal. of large sums of foreign funds.
It is a thrilling story that these two countries. The volume G. P. PIERSON.
Any of the books noted in these columns will be sent by the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
[ 616 ]
OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF
Then and Now in Kenya Colony. of nature and of man's place and the facts stated. The index is By Willis R. Hotchkiss. 160 pp. purpose in relation to God. confined to names of authorities Price, $1.50. Fleming H. Revell quoted. A bibliography of ref- Company, New York, N. Y. 1937. Dr. Morrison is one of the out- erence books would be exceed- standing Christian scholars of ingly helpful. "It is given to few men in this Great Britain. He is too big a wonderful century of develop- soul and too sane a thinker to be Definite Experience. By A. S. Wilment to have witnessed the son of New Zealand. 128 pp. Margrowth of a colony from relative classed either as a Fundamen- shall Morgan & Scott, Ltd. London. savagery to a high degree of talist who defies or ignores civilization." That privilege has science, or a Modernist who ab- In our daily experience and been enjoyed by Mr. Hotchkiss jectly surrenders to science and teaching we are prone to emphain Kenya Colony on the East ignores the evidence of God's size faith, if we are introspec- Coast of Africa. He went to tive in our thinking, and works Africa forty years ago "not be- revelation of truth. The dictum if we are retrospective. In his cause men were heathen and in of authority "Men of science tell timely volume Mr. Wilson brings need of civilization, but because us" is but a poor substitute for faith and experience, or "faith men were sinners and needed a and works," into a beautiful and Saviour." "Thus saith the Lord." convincing harmony. He shows that to be filled with the Spirit In the process of presenting These seven studies were in is not only a privilege of the that Saviour the missionaries part given as Cunningham Lec- Christian but is necessary for a have found that Africans, ac- turers in New College, Edin- fruitful Christian life. cepting the Christian way of life, have assumed many of the burgh, in 1936. They take up On page 74 we find this harmore desirable qualities of our mony brought out clearly. Mr. civilization. The author shows the wonders revealed by the mi- Wilson says that Romans 8: 13 also that the white man's ideas croscope, the telescope, radiation is "one of the deepest teachings and methods are not always and chemistry, the mysteries of of the Word on sanctification. helpful. Often Africans who science, the supernatural, evolu- Sin remains in the body to the have come in contact with the end. The deeds of the body, each new environment of the cities, tion and the "ascent or fall of sin, as it seeks to rise up, can be far from the restraints of vil- man." They are interesting and put to death. It is the presence lage life and tribal connections, of Christ, through the Holy Spirfind it difficult to withstand the clear, scientific and reverent, it that does this." temptations and are greatly de- sane and honest. The most emimoralized by influences which nent and up-to-date scientists Holy living is emphasized they do not understand and to are freely quoted. Many of them throughout the book. Chapter which they cannot adjust them- seven on "Be filled with the Spirselves. honestly admit that "science is it" should be noted as outstand- completely baffled" to explain ing. The author's use of the The effectiveness of Christ in such things as whence came phrase "Bringing in the Kingchanging the lives of men is dis- dom," is post-millennia1. closed when Mr. Hotchkiss says: matter, motion, life, and man. "One conviction alone has re- His view of miracles is that they A. H. PERPETUO. mained not only unaltered, but confirmed with cumulative force are not contrary to nature but Men of the Outposts. The Romance throughout the years, and that transcend our knowledge. He of the Modern Christian Movement. is that the Cross of Christ is the views Christ as unique, "a By Herbert Welch. 8vo. 261 pp. all-sufficient answer to the prob- veritable incarnation of God." $2.00. The Abingdon Press. New lems of Africa, as to the rest of York. 1937. the world." He believes that evolution is only a theory and has been very There is no more stimulating CLARA L. BENTLEY. much overworked, is often mis- reading than good biographies- history teaching by examp~e. Christian Faith and the Science of understood and takes too much The life stories of great and Today. By J. H. Morrison. 8vo. for granted. "Redemption, not godly men and women reveal 228 pp. $2.00. Cokesbury Press. God working in human life. Nashville. 1936. evolution, is the Christian watch- Here are twelve fascinating sketches and interpretations of Here is a book that will repay word." He holds that the "Chris- nine men and three women who any intelligent man or woman tian doctrine of the fall of man gave their lives and used their for reading. Ministers, teach- is not necessarily in conflict with talents sacrificially to advance ers, missionaries, and others who the findings of modern science. the cause of Christ among manare sometimes disturbed by the kind, especially in mission lands. claims of modern science, or ill- . . . When man sinned he fell, They include pioneers – Xavier informed or half-baked expon- and suffered a permanent moral and Livingstone; evangelistsents of scientific theories, will disablement. . . . Christian op- John Wesley and William Tayfind here a scientific but sane lor; educators·- Wm. Clark of . and reverent study of the facts timism is based on redemption, Japan and Isabella Thoburn of not on development; on the di- vine grace that sends help from above, not on any power in man to evolve."
This volume would be a good antidote to the false and hasty conclusions of science (falsely so-called) as taught in many of our schools and colleges. Ex- tremists on both sides will no doubt disagree with some con- clusions but they cannot dispute
India; doctors-C h r i s tie of 000 Negroes out of 11,800,000 dently writes with the Lutheran Manchuria and Schweitzer of (or about 50 per cent) are not constituency especially in·mind.
Africa; Christian soc i a 1 re- members of any church." The The book, however, has a timely formers-Verbeck of Japan and percentage is larger in urban message for evangelicals of Mary Slessor of Calabar.; and centers. "This constitutes a every name. The pOSition of the home base leaders-Bishop Wm. challenge to the churches for a author will be regarded by many M. McDowell and John'R. Mott. united march against sin and as extremely conservative, but Only two of the twelve'tare still for the salvation of souls." it is temperate and scholarly. living and working on ·'earth. Among the religious sects re- He does not contend that the The least known is William S. ported are "Black Jews," Mos- writers of the Bible were mere Clark; all are worthy of more lems, "Faith Eternal" (Father amanuenses whose personalities intimate acquaintance. There is Divine), and Moorish sects. The were submerged in the commu- variety in their characters, their largest ,number of Negroes are nication of the divine message.
fields of service, their types of members :of the Negro Baptist What is insisted upon is that the work; all were actuated by de- Church (1,950,296 members). writers were preserved from er- votion to Chrisf"imd by a desire Other churches with over 100,- ror of statement and that no to help theiriellow men and to 000 each are African Methodist view of inspired communication bring them into harmony with (6 branches) and white Meth- can be intellectually sound in the will of Goo. odist Episcopal. which inspiration does not ex- Dr. Welch is a bishop of the The section on "The Negro in tend to words which correctly Methodist Episcopal Church and Poetry and Fine Arts" is very express the truth. To hold that was for sixteen years in Japan. interesting – including "the ori- only the thought is inspired These studies, given as lectures gin of the tango." raises the serious difficulty as to at Drew University, are well More might be said to advan- whether the mind is capable of written; they offer valuable il- tage on the Negroes' missionary entertaining any intelligent conlustrative material for sermons work at home and abroad. as well as interesting half-hour ception which does not take form in words. .
fireside readings. The index re- Mann of the Border. By D. Emmett The most valuable portion of Alter. 188 pp. $1.00. Wm. B. veals a wealth of topics and per- Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand the book, however, is not the dis" sonalities that have contributed Rapids, Mich. 1937. to the onward march of Chris- cussion of varied positions touchtianity. This story of a medical mis- sionary on the Northwest Fron- ing the question of inspiration, Negro Year Book. An Annual En- tier of India, among the wild cyclopedia of the Negro. 1937-8. tribes of the Afghan borders, is but the author's careful exam- Edited by Monroe N. Work. 8vo. written by a missionary of the 575 pages. $2.00. Tuskegee In- United Presbyterian Church. ination of the internal evidence stitute, Alabama. He does not make clear whether the stirring incidents described which the Scripture itself af- This ninth edition of the year are based on fact or whether book is exceedingly valuable be- they are oniy fiction. The cham- fords. We could hardly suggest cause of its comprehensive and pion for Islam, a fanatic Mullah, up-to-date information on the meets the Doctor at first by open a more painstaking and satissubject and the arrangement of opposition and violent words and topics which make it easy for threats; then they meet at a factory digest of this evidence, reference. wrestling bout where American dash and jiu-jitsu overcome the unless it be found in the large Both students and general readers will find it good reading volume by Gaussen bearing the title "Theopneustia." In the light of powerful evidence the open-minded reader will realize how much more consistent and logical is the author's view than are any of the prevailing alter- natives. HUGH R. MONRO.
and worth owning. For example, brawn and weight of the stal- Scripture Calendars for 1938. Pick- wart Afghan. Finally the Mul- ering & Inglis. London. the section on "Some: Achievements of the American Negro" lah's followers are won by Each of these calendars carry a daily Bible message and some shows their ec9nomic progress, Christlike love and service. The of them have also helpful comtheir intellectua] and cultural ac- story is well told but the miscomplishments, their inventions sionary approach is not ideal. S. M. Z. ments by s u c h well-known and standing in the field of preachers and authors as Bishop sports, as well as in business, The Foundations Must Stand. By P. Moule, C. H. Spurgeon, D. L. E. Kretzmann, Ph.D., D.D. 123 pp. politics and religion. On the Concordia Publishing House, St. Moody, Arthur T. Pie r son, other hand, the Negroes' crime record is not ignored. The Louis, Mo. – James Stalker, C. I. Scofield, F.
famous "Scottsboro Case" is This small volume dealing R. Havergal, J. R. Miller, Adolph dealt with impartially and' its with the inspiration of the Bible Sophir and Alexander McLaren. is a veritable arsenal for the de- They are mounted on attractive, significance is indicated.
In the section on the "Church fender of the faith. Its author lithographed picture cards made Among the Negrot!s" (30 pages) is a professor in a seminary of for hanging on the wall. They we read that "more than 6,000.- the Lutheran Church and evi- make very acceptable gifts, rang-
ing in price from 1 shilling to 2 life and progress of the people Hallock Johnson suggests in his shillings, 6 pence. each. of India. Reports on cholera, introduction, in the manner by smallpox and plague show an in- which the argument in each There are also almanacs with crease. Leprosy, venereal dis- chapter is turned into an appeal. Scripture texts and "Golden eases and tuberculosis are also Grain Diaries (Is. to 6s. 6d. studied. The information on J. WESLEY INGLES. each), and Christmas cards 15 Government education is meager. for Is. 9d.). Ali Lives in Iran. By Caroline Singer The Heart of the Christian Faith. and Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge. Illus. A Mighty Winner of Souls: The Life By Francis Shunk Downs. 209 pp. 72 pp. $1.75. Holiday House. of Charles G. Finney: A Study in $1.50. American Tract Society. New York. 1937. Evangelism. By Frank Grenville New York. 1937. Beardsley, Ph.D. 192 pp. $1.50. This fascinating story of a American Tract Society, New York. This little volume deals with little boy and girl (Fatima) who the cardinal verities of the lived in Iran, as Persia is now ~…. 1937. Christian faith, making its ap- called, is based on firsthand ob- No man was more used of God peal to the heart more than to servations made during a motor journey of 5,000 miles in Iran. in his day and generation than the head. The book is most attractively the subject of this biography. Dr. Downs, as a preacher in printed, and illustrated with Tens of thousands of people marginal drawings. Children throughout the United States the First Presbyterian Church who read will be captivated by were brought to Christ through of Berkeley, California, minis- it and will learn to understand his preaching. He reminds one ters to large bodies of university their Iranian brothers and sisof the Scripture that says: "His students, and gives here a series ters better through their lives ministers a flame of fire." The of sermons on doctrinal themes. pictured here. Jewish Isaac, author was Professor of The- His chapter on "The Inspired Zoroastrian Cyrus' and Chrisology and is now Chaplain of the Book" dismi,sses apparent dis- tian Luke are also introduced Missouri Society S. A. R. His crepancies as due to errors in with good effect. knowledge of Church History is translation or errors in transadequate for a proper presenta- mission, and meets not at all the Full Assurance. H. A. Ironside, D.D. tion of this life and its back- problem of an inspired and in- .125 pp. 75 cents. The Bible Instiground. He portrays Finney as fallible Canon without an in- tute Colportage Assn. Chicago. a winner of souls, as an evan- fallible Church to select it. The gelistic leader, as pastor of a book moves into a much stronger 1937. church and also tells of his con- position in the second chapter nection with the founding of on "The Person of Our Lord One of the largest Protestant Oberlin College. In the words Jesus Christ," where Dr. Downs congregations i n America – of the Preface: "Nothing will lays his finger correctly on "the more than three thousand-regserve to promote an interest in central issue of controversy in ularly attend the ministry of the evangelism more than a study of our generation." Here is a the lives and measures of the cogent array of testimony to the author of this book at the Moody men who were successful in win- deity of Christ. Memorial church, Chicago. This ning souls in the past, not that we may attempt to reproduce It is both the strength and small volume of sermons extheir methods, but that we may weakness of the book that it is plains this remarkable interest; catch something of their spirit filled with quotations, many of it deals with a vital truth in and discover those principles them marked by vigor, beauty, terms which are readily underwhich underlie all true evan- and truth. In some places the stood. Dr. Ironside is an able gelism." Well worth reading, frequent selections are like and full of inspiration. pearls gathered from many expository preacher and the wide sources and strung on the thread influence of his sermons sug- S. M. Z. of the author's argument. gests that this type of preaching has sustained interest beyond India 1934-35. 8vo. 145 pp. 50 cents. In the midst of an unoriginal Government Press. Delhi, India; treatment of great Biblical other more "modern" types. British Library, 270 Madison Ave., themes, 'are found illustrations New York. 1937. that hav~ne11ing force or clarify- The aim of the auth{i'1"'iri the ing power. Dr. Downs shows present volume is to le'M:Chris- This official report, presented his homiletical gift and ability to to the Indian Parliament, deals organize his material. tians into an experience of enwith agriculture and industry, t ire assurance of salvation commerce, finance, communica- Laymen who have had little through Christ-a high objections, defence, politics, health evangelical teaching and young tive. Each of the ten chapters and education, and scientific sur- people who need aW'arm and is founded on one of the great veys. The wealth of information concise antidote to the popular assuring promises of Scripture gathered is especially important and superficial lectures of some and there is pointed illustration for the Government and those iconoclastic professors that tend and searching comment to bring engaged in education. Nothing to weaken faith. will find much is said about religion but all the help in this little volume. Its the truth home with power. The topics are closely related to the chief virtue lies, as Dr. Wm. popular essays on ethics and so- cial behavior are shallow sub- stitutes for the satisfying spir- itual realities presented in this book. H. R. MONRO.
The Parables of the Gospels: And Those Who Would Enjoy the Their Meaning for Today. By Hugh More Abundant Spiritual Martin, M.A. 251 pp. $2.00. Life Must Seek It Daily Abingdon Press, New York. 'Cb¢ Upp¢r Room This interesting interpretation of the Parables, by a leader in JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH, 1938 the Student Christian Movement Now Ready for Distribution of Great Britain, approaches the subject from the standpoint of Jesus taught his disciples to ask only a daily portion from present-day needs and issues. Heaven's inexhaustible store-"daily bread"-"daily forgive- His purpose is to furnish a book ness from sin"-"daily deliverance from temptation." suitable for teachers in the classroom and the pulpit, and not to It has been the sole purpose of THE UPPER ROOM from supplant larger standard works the beginning to endeavor to re-establish in the minds of on the Parables. An introduc- Christians, regardless of faith or creed, the necessity of some tion, on the character of the form of daily devotions, out of which will most surely come Parables is followed by a treat- a new spiritual vitality for both individuals and church conment based on the translation of gregations. Dr. Moffatt which is used as the text. It is always reverent, Many pastors and group leaders will want to use copies of sometimes incisive and fre- the January, February, March issue of THE UPPER quently portrays a canny insight ROOM as a Christmas gift to members of Bible Classes, into the application of the Par- Young People's Groups, Missionary Societies, and to inables to our own day; for ex- dividual members of the congregation. Special Christmas ample: "Weare still building on envelopes, in two colors, will be furnished at one cent each, sand. The Great War saw the postpaid, in quantities of ten or more j plain, unprinted, at collapse of the imposing edifice fifty cents per hundred, postpaid. of nineteen centuries of 'Progress.' And so little have we Use one of the order forms below. learned the lesson that the few slender gains we thought we had CONSIGNMENT ORDER INDIVIDUAL SUBSCRIPTION' wrested from the wreck, are now disappearing." Issue for January, February, March THB UPPBR ROOM, Our chief criticism is due to (For use of Pastor or Group Leader. Doctors' Building, the brevity of some chapters. Nashville, Tenn. Only three pages are given to the Order ten or more copies.) Gentlemen: Unjust Steward and seven pages to the Prodigal Son. This means THB UPPBR ROOM, I am inclosing herewith thirty cents (foreign, a very inadequate treatment of forty cents) for which please send me T he Up· the greatest of all our Lord's Dodors' Building, peT Room for one year, postpaid, beginning with Parables. On the other hand, Nashville, Tenn. the book abounds in careful Gentlemen: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _~quarterly is.uc. exegesis. The parable of the Name _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ____ leaven is held to refer, not to Please send me copies of T"e evil, but to the Kingdom of God. Street or Route _______________ Upper Room, postpaid. I will sell these for five S. M. ZWEMER. Post·office __________-"State'_ __ cents per copy and pay for same when sold. It Twelve Clever Girls Who Became *A sin~le copy by mail anywhere 10 cents. Famous Women. By H. A. W. is understood that I have the privilege of return- Hamilton. Illus. 12mo. 95 pp. 1s. Pickering & Inglis. London & ing at your expense Bny unsold copies. Glasgow. 1937. Name _____________________ Some of these women are widely known-like Queen Vic- Street or Route ________________ toria, Frances Ridley Havergal, Post·office _ _ _ _ _ _State'_ __ Mary SIessor, Mrs. Ann H. Judson, and Florence Nightingale. Others, not well known in America, will also repay closer acquaintance. They were all remarkable for their nobility of character and for their useful service. Their life stories will be especially inspiring to young girls.
Books A Christmas Present FOR SALE-3l new white
$2.00 each; 19 new black pleated choir Apostle of Japan, Samuel Isaac . for Your Minister Joseph Schereschewsky. James gowns, $3.75 each. all or part. L. J. Arthur Miller. 264 pp. $2.50. Give a subscription to Morehouse Pub. Co. Milwaukee. LINDNER, 42S-MRvV Seventh Ave., New CHURCH MANAGEMENT York City. Daily Guidance. Fairlie Thornton. 31 pp. 6d. Pickering & Inglis. "Found in Prosperous Churches" Orient-three in India, three in China London. and one in Japan. This is perhaps 1 year, $2.50; 2 years, $4.00 women's greatest and most practical Everyday Life in Burma. Pictures enterprise in Christian international- to be colored. Is. S. P. G. London. CHURCH MANAGEMENT ism.
India in 1934-35. 50 cents. 145 pp. Auditorium Building Now, after twenty years, Mrs. Pea- British Library of Information. body goes to the Orient again as an New York. Cleveland, Ohio ambassador of friendship. This is a great work for the emancipation of Japan in American Public Opinion. Year Book of the Society for Propa- women, begun under the "Treaty of Eleanor Tupper and George E. gating the Gospel Among the Bethlehem" through the Saviour of Reynolds. 465 pp. $3.75. Mac- Heathen. 120 pp. S. P. G. London. women. One hundred million women millan. New York. of India are still without expert med- Personal Items ical aid. The demand for graduates Japan Today. T. T. Brumbaugh. of Vellore Medical College make Mrs. 500 pp. Kyo Bun Kwan. Tokyo. Rev. Irwin W. Underhill, Jr., the Peabody's trip of special importance. only Negro missionary in the foreign Men of the Outposts. Herbert Welch. service of the Presbyterian Church, *** $2.00. 261 pp. Abingdon Press. was recently elected a fellow of the New York. Royal Geographical Society for his Dr. E. Stanley Jones will be back splendid work among the pygmies in in India at the end of this year and Miracles in a Doctor's Life. Walter Africa. He is a graduate of the will be available for service in the Lewis Wilson. 122 pp. B. 1. C. School of Finance of the University Indian churches from the beginning Assn. Chicago. of Pennsylvania and of Princeton of 1938. On account of the trouble Theological Seminary. He received between China and Japan it is not The Nevius Plan for Mission Work. the degree of doctor of divinity from possible for him to continue his work Charles Allen Clark. 372 pp. $2.00. Lincoln University recently. in China. Christian Literature Society, Seoul, Korea, or E. C. Heinz, 3645 5th Dr. James K*elly*, s*ecretary of the *** Ave., South, Minneapolis. World's Sunday School Association, Dr. and Mrs. Fred H. Hope, mis- Negro Year Book-1937-38. Monroe recently visited Bulgaria in the in- sionaries of the Presbyterian Church N. Work. 575 pp. Negro Year terests of religious education. He in Cameroun, West Africa, have re- Book Publishing Co. Tuskegee, Ala. also visited Jugoslavia t;) confer on cently returned to Elat where they the reorganization of Christian youth have been engaged in missionary work On the Holy Mount. Joseph Pearce. work so as to place it on a more stable for over twenty-five years. Dr. Hope 95 pp. Is. Pickering & Inglis. basis. is superintendent of the Frank James London. Industrial School, a very effective *** mission enterprise. Twelve Clever Girls Who Became Famous Women. J. A. W. Hamil- Dr. John H. Finley, editor of the The Presbyterian ton. mus. 96 pp. Is. Pickering New York Times, and Dr. Arthur H. & Inglis. London. Compton, winner of the Nobel prize A weekly religious newspaper in for physics in 1927, and professor of its lo6th year of continuous pub- Under New Management. Raymond physics at the University of Chicago, Iication under the same name. H. Benton. 128 pp. Is. 3d. Pick- have been appointed co-chairmen of ering & Inglis. London. the laymen's committee of the $10,- It is conservative and evangel- 000,000 sesquicentennial fund for The W orId from a Window Garden. Christian Education. This fund is to ical, gets its news by telegraph Grace E. Pulling. mus. 90 pp. stabilize the financial situation of 54 S. P. G. London. Presbyterian colleges and 52 univer- and keeps abreast of the times. sity centers where the Presbyterian John Wesley's Awakening. James Church through its Board of Chris- It goes into every state of the Richard Joy. 50 cents. 124 pp. tian Education maintains pastors. Methodist Book Concern. New Union, the District of Columbia, York. *** and U. S. possessions.
Ali Lives in Iran. Caroline Singer Mrs. Henry W. Peabody, formerly It goes to Asia and Africa, South and Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge. mus. a missionary to India and of recent 72 pp. $1.75. Holiday House. years well known for her effective America, Canada and New Zealand New York. activity in behalf of peace, temper- and into twelve countries of Eu- ance and missions has been requested rope. Religion on the American Frontier. by the directors of Madras Christian Vol. II, The Presbyterians, 1783- College for Women, Madras, and the Subscription Price, – 1840. William Warren Sweet. 939 directors of the Women's Christian Ministerial Rate, pp. $3.50. Harpers. New York. Medical College, Vellore, South India, to go to India for the celebration of 50e. extra—Canadian postage The Study of the Bible. Ernest Cad- the twentieth anniversary of Vellore man Colwell. 184 pp. $2.00. Uni- Medical College of which Dr. Ida $1.00 extra—foreign postage versity of Chicago Press. Chicago. Scudder is president. In 1920 Mrs. Peabody was chairman of the Promo- THE PRESBYTERIAN Stocking Tales. Stories for Children. tion Committee for securing buildings J. T. Stocking. $1.25. 119 pp. and equipment for seven union Chris- 1217 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Pilgrim Press. Boston. tian colleges for the women of the Three Typical Beliefs. 115 pp. $1.50. University of Chicago Press. Chicago.
Why Worship. Muriel Lester. 25 cents. 43 pp. Cokesbury Press. Nashville.
LIFE OF GEORGE W
By ROBERT E. SPEER This is the biography of a very remarkable Christian missionary to India and for twenty years the influential and able editor of the Bombay GlIardian. Dr. J. Sumner Stone called him, "The White Yogi."
When George Bowen died in 1888 there was call for a worthy biography but its preparation was delayed. Later all the biographical material-including his diaries, letters, reminiscences, and the books and pamphlets of which he was author-was turned over to Dr. Speer. This material has now been put into shape for publication and the result is a frank and stimulating picture of the man,-his experiences, unique character, forceful views and methods of work. Here is a life story that is of absorbing interest and will richly reward the thoughtful reader.
CONTENTS I. Family of George Bowen. XI. A Decisive Year, 1849. II. Boyhood and Youth. XII. From 1850 to 1855. III. Three Years Abroad. XIII. Ten Years of Independent Work. IV. Life in New York, 1840·1844. XIV. The Bombay GlIardian. V. Illumination of a Hopeless Love. Relations with the American Board. VI. Conversion to Christianity. XV. Association with the Methodist Church. VII. At Union Theological Seminary. XVI. Bowen as a Writer. VIII. His Missionary Appointment. XVII. Correspondence with Henry W. Rankin. IX. The Voyage to India, 1847. XVIII. Closing Testimony. X. Beginning Missionary Work. XIX.
This latest work by Dr. Speer may be ordered at $2.50 per copy from THE MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY 156 Fifth Avenue, New York fI abrf~tma~ 6fft @uggt~tfon Remember at Christmas time, with a gift that comes every month, some Missionary, Pastor, Teacher, Sunday School Teacher or other Christian Worker. You cannot do better than to send each one a year's subscription to THE MISSIONARY ~~WORID This illustrated evangelical missionary monthly will keep them in touch with the need of men for the Gospel and the progress of missionary work in all lands. $2.50 a year.
OUR SPECIAL CHRISTMAS OFFER is good only until December 25th. We will send two annual subscriptions-both new or one new and one renewal-for one year for $4.00. (Regular price $2.50 each.) Among the coming articles are papers on these topics by How CAN WE IMPROVE MISSIONARY ADMINISTRATION? . . . . . . . . . . . . William Paton THE OUTLOOK FOR CHRISTIANITY TO-DAY …………………… Julius Richter THE PLACE OF CHRIST IN HISTORY …………… " ……. Kenneth S. Latourette ENCOURAGEMENTS IN THE EVANGELIZATION OF MOSLEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . George Swan How MAKE EFFECTIVE MISSIONARY ApPEALS? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cleland B. McAfee Is THE DAY OF PIONEERING OVER? . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kenneth G. Grubb S-a-v-e-$-1-.0-0-.–Ta-ke-a-dv-an-ta-ge-o-f -thi-s -of-fe-r N-O-W–. -T-w-o -Tw-el-ve–M-on-th-S-ub-sc-ri-pti-on-s -fo-r -$4-.0-0 MIssIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING CO., Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa.
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The Missionary Review of the World — July 1933
1933
Youth's Need of Christ Harry N. Holmes Missions in the Solomon Islands W. Mallis Missionaries Re,-Thinking Missions Extracts /rom Letters and Magazines Communism, Socialism and Christianity John McDowell Influence of the Church in the World Worth M. Tippy A Venture in Christian. Cooperation Edward D. Kohlstedt
to Remember Personal Items evangelistic campaigns in Great Brit-
ain. He has been working in Amer- June I-Nov. I-World's Fair, Chicago, Rev. John A. Mackay, Litt.D., ica with the First Century Christian Ill. Ph.D.; .authority on Latin America, Fellowship. writer, educator and recognized on June 24-September 4-Victorious Life three continents as a leading exponent *** Conferences, Keswick, N. J. of Christianity, is making a six months' tour of South America. He Mr. Basil Mathews, author of a July 1-30–Institute of Race Relations, is a secretary of the Presbyterian large number of excellent missionary Swarthmore College. ~oardof Foreign Missions, U. S. A. books and missionary lecturer at Bos- and will visit Peru, Chile, Brazil, Ar- ton University, has recently returned July 3-l4-Missionary Education Con- gentina and Uruguay, not only as a to England for the summer. He is at ferences, Blairstown, N. J. Board member, but will take part in present engaged in preparing the life evangelistic. work..' of Dr. John R.M:ott. Mr. Mathews July 5-7-Association of W 0 men expects to return' to America in the Preachers, Milwaukee, Wis. *** autumn. Mrs. William J. McClure a veteran July 7-lS-Summer Schools of Mis- missionary of Bangkok has retired Obituary Notes sions, Northfield, Mass. from Presbyterian missionary service in Siam after 48 years. Rev. John McNeill, D.D., famous July S-13-International Christian Scotch evangelist, died April 19th. Endeavor Convention. Milwaukee, *** Dr. McNeill first came into promi- Wis. Dr. H. H. Kung, Christian leader nence in America in 1893, when he in Chinese affairs, has been made gov- came by invitation of D. L. Moody to July S"l4-Conference of the Associa- ernor of the central bank of China. speak at the Chicago World's Fair. tion for the Reemphasis of New Dr. Kung is a graduate of Oberlin Testament Missions, Silver Bay, N. and Yale, has introduced many re- *** forms in the Chinese Republic and Y. has held a number of important posts. Miss Belle M. Brain, author and authority on the history and litera- July 8-28–Eight Seminars in Mex- *** ture of missions, died May 26th, at ico under the auspices of the Com- The Rev. Gilbert Laws has been Schenectady, N. Y. She was born in mittee on Cultural Relations with chosen vice-president of the British Springfield, Ohio, in 1859. Latin America. Baptist Union, which means that he will alltomatically succeed to the presi- She was the author of fourteen July 30-August S-Christian Workers dency next year. Mr. Laws is known books and a contributor to many pa- Conference, Stony Brook, Long Is- as the author of devotional booklets pers and magazines. Her first book land, N. Y. which are in demand outside his own was "Fuel for Missionary Fires," country, and some have been trans- which was in circulation for more August 5-12 – Missionary Education lated into several languages. than thirty years. For several years Conference. Asilomar, Calif. Miss Brain was associate editor of *** THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE August 10-17 – School of Missions, Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer of Prince- WORLD and originated the Best Meth- Kerville, Texas. ton, N. J., and a member of the Board ods Department in that magazine. of Directors of the REVIEW, sailed Miss Brain was at work on an ex- August 13-l8–School of Home Mis- from San Francisco on May 26th, to haustive study of missionary history sions, Chautauqua, N. Y. give a series of addresses in China. and dates when her eyesight fajJed He went at the invitation of the Ku- four years ago. August 20-26-School of. Foreign Mis- ling Conference and the Society of sions, Chautauqua, N. Y. Friends of Moslems in China. He ex- Printin pects to visit various Moslem centers Pastors' Conferences are listed page and to speak at conferences in Peitai- When You Require It 281 in June REVIEW. Other summer ho, Mokansan and Kuling, sailing schools of missions are listed on page from Shanghai for the United States We wish to eztend to you an invi- 268 of May REVIEW. on August 19th. tation to hecome acquainted with CAMP-OF-THE-WOODS *** THE EVANGELICAL PRESS 01 Dr. Ethan T. Colton, formerly as- Hamshurg, Pennsylvania. on Like Plelllnt sociate general secretary of the Y. in the Adirondlck Plrk, N. Y. M. C. A., is in Germany gathering Thousands of institutions and individ- lecture material. His courses on cur- Recreation at Its Best rent Russian conditions have been uals have accepted a similar invitation, rated among the most illuminating ACOMFORTABLE tent and cabin col- expositions that have reached the pub- and have enjoyed a profitable printing ony; thirty-third season; Christian lic. Dr. Colton is a graduate of Da- fellowship; 20 divisions for adults. kota Wesleyan University. association lor years. ' families, young men and women, teachers and students; ocean-like beach; wonder- *** Our specialty is Boob. Magazines and ful swimming; elevation 2,000 feet; sun Dr. John McDowell, a secretary of Booklets. We have modem equipment baths; setting-up exercises for young the Board of National Missions of to meet all the requirement. of, you and old; short and long hikes over moun- the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., particular joh. Our service is quiok, tain trails; orchestra of 50 musicians; has been unanimously elected Moder- delightful Gospel services; concerts; en- ator of the Presbyterian General As- ClUeiul and courteous. tertainments; outdoor games; tennis; sembly. Dr. McDowell has given golf; ,baseball. ,Dining-hail, seats 625; thirty-five years to the Christian min- Why not allow us to estimate on your tables for two, f6ilr, 01' more in parties; istry and has served the Church ef- nezt printing? You will he delighted best eats; first-class cooks. A . restful fectively as a missionary secretary with our product. price. and servioe. haven for those ,who enjoy a quiet re- for nearly fifteen years. treat; the canoeist's paradise; conven- The Evangelical Press ient center for motor trips; state high- *** ways to historical and picturesque regions. Bishop J. H. Linton, Church Mis, Printer. 01 Hundreds of testimonies from teachers, sionary Society missionary in Isfa- The Missionary Review of the World ministers, parents, young men and women. han, Persia, has recently been in Ameriea and returned to England on PLANT AND MAIN OFFICE: Beautifully Illustrated Booklet Mailed Free June 7th. Bishop Linton has had re- 'l'hircl ancl Ren,. Sueet. Bantu….", P.. Rates to Suit Your Needs markable success in winning Moslems to Christ in Persia and in conducting Address: George F. TlBBITIS SPECULATOR, HAMILTON COUNTY NEW YORk
Chat THE
REVIEW OF THE WORLD The difficulty of securing the pro- posed articles on "Christ and the Mod- DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor ern World," as the mission study topic relates to America, has necessi- VOL. LVI JULY, 1933 No. 7– tated a change of program. Some of the articles appear in this number of PAGE the REVIEW and others are promised Frontispiece – Missionary for later issues. Cartoons ………….. . *** Topics of the Times ……. 347 Among the topics on Home Mis- Some Encouraging Signs sions-or "Christ in America Today," The Child-Movies-Mlssions we plan to publish one by Commander A Diagnosis of Germany's Evangeline Booth on "Christ Among Condition the Outcasts," one on "Christ in the Rei I g ion in Conservation Southern Mountains," by Helen Ding- Camps man of Berea, and others on "Christ and the Unemployed," "Among the Communism, Socialism and Foreign B{lrn," and "The Gospel for Christianity ………… 351 Migrant Workers." By Dr. John McDowell *** The Infiuence of the Church Reason 1 … Record size. Reason 2 in the World ……….. 354 " . Record speed. Reason 3 .,. Luxury The Foreign Mission topics are By Dr. Worth M. Tippy rivalling anything on the Seven Seas. shaping up for our October number. More Reasons? … Ask anyone who In fact each issue of the REVIEW deals A Mission in the Solomon has gone "Empress!" with the mission study for the year I~ands ……………. 357 Fastest to Orient • .• 10 days from showing the need for Christ, how He By Pastor W. Mallis Vancouver to Yokohama, by Empress is working and some results of His of Asia, Empress of Russia, via Direct life and teachings today. Yo~th's Need of Christ …. 361 Express Route. By Harry N. Holmes Five Days to Honolulu . .. by Em- *** press of Japan (largest and fastest liner A Bible SOCiety in Spain in on Pacific) and Empress of Canada. 8 The readers of the REVIEW continue days, Honolulu to Yokohama. to express their sense of the value of the Sixteenth Century 363 Reduced Summer Round-Trip the magazine to them and to the cause Fares ..• emphasizing the economy of for Christ. Read what some of them By A. Araujo Garcia "Empress"travel.For luxury,"Empress" say: First Class is unsurpassed. Tourist Class Korean Zeal ………….. 366 is very comfortable, very inexpensive. "I am not surprised that the cir- By the Rev. Walter C. E"rdman culation of y{lur valuable magazine Sailings from Vancouver (trains direct has increased, while many publica- Missionary Reactions to "Re- to ship-side) and Victoria … to Honolulu tions have been forced to suspend … I Thinking Missions" … 369 Yokohama, Kobe, Nagasaki, Shanghai, want to express my deep appreciation Hong Kong, Manila. Fast, convenient of the articles recently published. Moving Pictures of the Cam- trains to Vancouver. Connections at paign in Burma …….. 379 Honolulu with San Francisco and Los "MRS. WARREN GOFF, By the Rev. R. B. Buker Angeles sailings. Orient fares include "Cambria, Wis." passage from Seattle. Information from A Venture in Christian Co- anyCanadianPacificagent; officesin New *** operation … , ……. , .. 384 York, Chicago, Montreal and 32 other By Dr. E. D. Kohlstedt cities in United States "I wish to thank most heartily the and Canada. very kind, but as yet unknown friend, Presbyterian Foreign Miswho has been sending THE REVIEW sions ……………… 386 for the last few years. It is a most welcome gift. .. I consider it the best Effective Ways of Working . 388 missionary magazine that I know. Edited by Mrs. Estella S. Aitchison "S. C. FARRIOR, "Chunking, Cluina." Women"s Home Mission Bul- letin ………….•…• 391 *** Edited by Miss Anne SeeshoItz "I recently subscribed for the RE- Our World-Wide IOutlook … 393 VIEW and I shaH try to get others to subscribe. It is the best magazine I Our Missionary Bookshelf .. 406 have ever seen. It is inspiring, intensely interesting, and I feel sure Publication and Business Office that its circulation will greatly help Third and Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. the cause of missions. Editorial and Executive Office "DR. JOHN A. SILSBY, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City "Berkeley, Calif." Entered as second-class matter at Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under *** Act of March 3, 1879.
"The magazine declares itself as 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year reaHy necessary to me and so I am Foreign Postage, 50 cents a year enclosing my check to cover price {If Published monthly, except August. subscription for a year. I am adding the price of an extra copy to be sent Copyrighted 1933 by the to Mrs. C.– of Rochester. MISSIONARY REVIEW PUB- "I need hardly add that I am LISHING CO., INC. strongly impressed by the quality of the magazine. BOARD OF DIRECTORS ROBERT E. SPEER, President "MRS. JOHN H. MASON, WM. I. CHAMBERLAIN, Vice-President "Oak Knoll, Danvers, Mass." WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary What *Do *Yo*u Say? SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT MRS. ORRIN R. JUDD Can you increase the circulation? . WM. B. LIPPHARD ERIc. M. NORTH MILTON T. STAUFFER A. L. WARNSHUIS SAMUEL M. ZWEMER [345 ]
OURSELVES 'An archit"tU'AI
at!>is., for tht'
~ chur(h .
NORIr,Hrs 1?E:URVUJ· 6 .-a1I'SUS (,dlls u.s from the worship THE LITTLE END OF THE HORH W@fthevdinworld.,goldenstor..; No one ever saw a vision of the man of Macedonia from l'dL'h idol that would keep us, by looking in a mirror, $"yin,gJhristidll,lo'e lOt'more:'
NO TROUBLE TO CONVINCE HIMSELF MISSIONARY CARTOONS BY E. J. PACE These and a very large number of other Biblical and missionary cartoons can now be had in posters and lantern slides. Dr. Pace has also prepared some excellent cartoons in Spanish which can be had in posters for missionary work. Address Box 824, Orlando, Florida. The above cartoons were originally drawn for The Sunday-School Times.
NARY
REVIB ORLD VOLUME LVI AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER SEVEN JULY, 1933 Topics of the Times SOME ENCOURAGING SIGNS gelical Christianity and the mIssIOnary spirit Anyone can find causes for discouragement in are living and active in the Church.
these days of economic depression, u.nemploy- We also note the growing strength and devo- ment, racketeering, banditry, warfare, youthful tion of the churches in foreign lands and their revolt against conventions and control, decreas- . readiness to take up the responsibility for evan- ing church attendance, decline in missionary gifts, gelizing their own people. There are signs of international misunderstandings and racial prej- promise, for example, in such enterprises as the udice. These conditions are difficult but they are Kingdom of God Movement in Japan; the Evan- not new. They are recurring symptoms of human gelistic Movement in Korea; the China for Christ failings. But there are remedies or one great Movement, and the evangelistic work of the Na- Remedy-if men are eager for a cure. tional Missionary Society of India.
There are many encouraging signs that the At home, in spite of the falling incomes, sac- sovereign Remedy is working. In the missionary rificial gifts for the missionary cause continue to situation there are spiritual awakenings in many pour into the treasuries. We cannot wonder that lands-as in China and Korea; among the gifts have decreased in amount but many are giv- Papuans in South Sea lands; in India among the ing more largely in proportion to their incomes caste Hindus of the Deccan; among the Moham- than they did in times of prosperity. Some mismedans of Persia; also in the Camerouns and sions have had practically no falling off in re- other parts of Africa, and in some fields in Latin ceipts; others have had much less decline than America. If we could see what is going on in is reported by commercial corporations. If we thousands of places throughout the world, we could see the inside of mission offices we could see would realize how powerfully God is working to how Board secretaries, church members at home transform lives. These facts are not always re- and missionaries abroad, have been making great ported in print but there are more wonderful sacrifices to continue the work with as little loss things taking place every day than anyone can in efficiency as possible.
know. There are also among the students and young It is encouraging to note the unselfish devotion people in America and England very encouragto Christ and the missionary cause shown by ing signs of a new religious and missionary awakthousands of humble Christians in America and ening. Many of these young people are out of Europe. The reaction to the Laymen's Commis- patience with some features of organized Chris- sion Report and the rejection of its theology, is tianity and are critical of the failures of the an encouraging sign. In every land earnest, in- Church and of Christians to carry out the Spirit telligent Christians have come out against these and teachings of Christ in political, economic and views of God and His missionary program. Note social life ; but they are ready for a real challenge the quotations from the mission fields, printed on to sacrificial devotion in a service that is worthanother page, in reference to "Re-Thinking Mis- while and under leaders that truly follow Christ sions." and inspire confidence.
Again we find strongly emphasized the su- A negative ground for encouragement is the premacy of Christ and the absolute need of all failure of false. ideals, erroneous philosophies and men for salvation through Him. Testimonies materialism on which many have relied. Chriscome from many fields to show the vital and last- tians are more and more coming to the conclusion ing results of Christian missionary work. Evan- that intellectual, financial, political and social [347 ]
strength and reforms are not sufficient; that men of Livingstone, Moffat, Judson, Duff, Hudson of all nations and classes need new life and light Taylor, Grenfell or Isabella Thoburn?
from the Spirit of God. There is today a new em- British parents of, education and character ap- phasis on the need for an unadulterated Gospel parently give more careful oversight to their of Christ, for evangelism-not shallow and tem- children's recreation than most American par- porary, but deep-rooted and lasting-an evangel- ents. The British Weekly publishes a list of chil- ism that means such a transformation of indi- dren's answers to the question, "What are the viduals as will transform their environment. loveliest things you know, persons not included?"
The problems, difficulties and disappointments The girls mention such things as the following: that we face each have a lesson to teach, so that Cool wind on a hot day; the scrunch of dry our dependence may be more completely on God, leaves underfoot; looking down from a hill; the our obedience to His laws may be more perfect, smell of rain; an organ playing; the moon in our estimate of values may be more clear and our the clouds. Boys' lists include: The feel of runsurrender to Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord ning; a swallow flying; a mounted policeman's may be absolute. horse; the feel of a dive; a thrush singing.
Evidently it is possible to develop in children THE CHILD-MOVI.ES-MISSIONS an appreciation of beauty, power, heroic service and a sense of reverence for God. They have We may know what our children are taught at imaginations, shall they be used for good or for home and in Sunday school, and even what they evil? Boys who have been detected in crime and learn in day school, but what are they absorbing degenerate habits have acknowledged that their in the movies, in the literature they read, in the· impulse to steal, to kill, to impurity, and to vancontacts they make on the street, in other homes, dalism have been stimulated. by movies. In clasand during the summer? Are they learning re- sifying some 1,500 pictures Dr. Dale reports that spect for parents, regard for the rights of others, their chief emphasis is largely on crime, sex, reverence for God, the importance of self-control murder mysteries, and detective stuff. Over and the nobility of truth and life and purity, un- seventy per cent of these movies centered on selfish interest in other boys and girls, or are they crime, illicit love and drink. Boys report that in coming to covet free license, self-indulgence and the movies they have learned how to "make love," money, without regard for law, justice or true how to "get the drop" on a rival, and how to stage love? a hold up. Is it any wonder that property rights Children can be taught and inspired to admire are disregarded, that true love and fidelity are high ideals and loving service, or they can be left discredited and temperance is held up to ridicule? to drift on the rocks-to their own destruction Shall our children learn to imitate the criminal and that of others. A recent study has been made and the debauched or to admire missionary heroes by the Motion Picture Research Council as to the and heroines? influence of popular movies on children. These studies are being published by the Macmillan What changes would Christ make in amuse- Company with a summary by Henry James For- ments? Christian parents cannot reform the man. non-Christian stage, motion pictures or the dance; they cannot drive out crime or enforce chastity Many do not seem to realize the tremendous or honesty or total abstinence from strong drink; importance of early training or the influence of but they can surround their children with high the imagination on health of body, mind, morals ideals; by precept and example they can teach and religion. It is estimated that in the average obedience to the laws of God and man; they can weekly attendance of 77,000,000 at motion pic- uphold the noble characters and can endeavor to ture theaters in the United States, at least fill the lives of their children with the most 23,000,000 are under the age of twenty-one and wholesome education and recreation. The safe 12,000,000 are under the age of fourteen. Dr. and sane course-one that has proved its effec- Edgar Dale of Ohio State University.says that tiveness-is to lead children to Christ while they children of all ages attend the movies for two are young, to help them make contacts with hours on an average of once a week, about twice worthwhile people-personally or in books-and the time they spend in church or Sunday school, to enlist their interest in worthwhile pleasures if they go at all. Many attend movies two or and service-in partnership with their parents.
three times a week, or more, if they can beg, bor- An excellent opportunity is offered in mission- row or steal the money. This is a menace to ary hero stories. It would be interesting and in- health as well as to morals and interferes with structive to study the early training of some of other more beneficial recreations and with read- the outstanding Christian leaders of the world to ing. What would have been the result if modern· see what influences have moulded their ideals, movies had be~n a domjnant influence in the lives thejr choices, th~ir talents, their characters. The
1933J TOPICS OF THE TIMES
best Christian education is related to Jesus Christ tion, conciliation and international cooperation and His teachings and life, and to the work of but without its getting his country anywhere. It advancing His Kingdom. now takes something as extreme as Communism on the one hand or Nationalism on the other to A DIAGNOSIS OF GERMANY'S CONDITION appeal to him. German youth responds with ardor to Hitler's dramatic call: "Germany awake!" If Germany is passing through revolution. When, the nations had been willing to make a peace that therefore, one learns of atrocious suppression of bore any resemblance to the Sermon on the Mount, freedom or the high-handed abrogation of exist- there would be no menace of a Hitlerite movement ing forms of constitutional law, he should look to today. either Russia or Italy – not to England or the Some evil aspects of the Nazi movement even United States – for any adequate comparisons. the best friend of Germany cannot deny. The What the nature of the revolution will turn out to three worst features are an exaggerated psycholbe it is now impossible to predict, for it is still far ogy of nationalism, grounded in the absurdly naive from complete. In general, the men in power- notion of a "pure Germanic race"; a resulting with the exception of Hugenberg's conservative campaign of deliberate discrimination against the Nationalists-envisage a reconstruction of Ger- Jews; and a relentless attempt to crush all opmany in terms of a united people and a coopera- position through denial of freedom. tive social system which is very different from the The treatment of the Jews in Germany is un- Junker-aristocracy of pre-war Germany and at deniably a scandal. Occasional cases of physical the same time bitterly hostile to communism. The violence have been due, not to the action of the Nazi regime finds its strength in a popular mass Government, but to irresponsible groups of the movement of the lower middle class, a class im- Nazi "storm troops" who take matters more or poverished by the inflation of the post-war period. less into their own hands. Jews generally have The Nazis, however, are divided among them- been in a state 'of anxiety and uncertainty, feeling selves. Hitler and some of his friends are be- that they are living on the edge of a precipice. lieved to want a more moderate and conciliatory policy than is represented by Goring and Goeb- Far more serious, however, is the official policy of bels. The Nazi revolution means a pronounced ousting Jews from positions in public life, in the rebirth of German patriotism and a revival of universities, in the courts of law and in hospitals. This cold-blooded procedure is taking place on a hope in the country. Even liberals hope that it may be a blessing through arousing the spirit of large scale, including some of the most eminent the people. The basic appeal of Hitler lies in the scientists, musicians and other leaders. fact that millions of Germans, despairing of accomplishing anything by the democratic processes The defense which thoughtful Germans make for the anti-Jewish policy is that great numbers of Jews have flocked into Germany from Poland that have been followed since 1918, frightened by and Galicia and have overrun certain professions, the prospect of either national disintegration of a especially law and medicine. Three-quarters of communist revolution, have been eager for a the lawyers in Berlin are said to be Jews. As a leader who might save the nation from complete result of such competition, many of the young collapse. non-Jews who have been graduating from the We should also reflect that the Nazi movement universities have been unable to find professional is largely the outgrowth of the policies of the openings. The Germans further feel that Jews Western nations toward Germany since the war. represent an alien influence on the Germanic cul- A young German, who has just finished his edu~ ture and through their strong position in the cation, cannot find any place to work. He bitterly press, the movies, the theatre and literature, repudiates the implication that Germany was ex- make it difficult to preserve a clear consciousness clusively responsible for the war. He resents the of the distinct worth of Germany's historic loss of German territory, especially the erection of heritage. the Polish corridor, dividing Eastern Germany While the Jews and the communists suffer most, from the rest of the country. He perceives his the Nazis' iron policy of stamping out all dissentown nation forcibly disarmed while the other na- ing opinion falls heavily on many others, especialtions, instead of fulfilling their assurance that lyon Socialists and pacifists who have ever said a they would reduce their armaments correspond- word against the Nazi program. The complete ingly, keep on piling them up bigger and bigger. suppression of the trades unions throughout Ger- The reparations keep him smarting under the de- many is the latest example of the blind determinamand that both he and his children must pay toll tion to tolerate nothing that may prove an ob- for sixty years because of a war in which he had stacle to Nazi absolutism.
no part. He sees his government as having for The one institution in Germany today that has fifteen years tried to follow a policy of modera- not passed under the direct dominance of the Gov-
. ernment is the Church. The preservation of a lains, which is composed of representatives of the considerable measure of freedom for the Church communions in the Federal Council of Churches . appears to be due to the action of the present and others, under the chairmanship of Bishop Church leadership. When in Mecklenburg- James E. Freeman of the Protestant Episcopal Schwerirt the civil authority appointed a "commis- Church in Washington, D. C.
sioner of religion" to supersede the bishop and the The Chief of Chaplains has written to 1,400 church council in the administration of the Reserve Chaplains, in the hope that at least 150 Church, the leaders made a firm protest. The re- of them will offer to serve for six months. The sult was a revocation of the appointment. How . plan provides that one Reserve or Regular Chap- the churches will use the freedom from external lain will be attached to the staff of the commander control that they have thus far maintained re- of each of the nine corps areas which are divided mains to be seen. Within the Church a struggle into districts and groups comprised of ten of the to keep it from being completely identified with conservation camps. The chaplains in charge of the Nazi party is now going on. But it can at these camps will give personal religious ministry least be said that at the most critical moment, in such camps as his time will permit; will main- when it would have been easy to capitulate com- tain contact with all the camps in this group, ar- pletely, the Church had enough spiritual vitality range schedules of religious worship and act in to insist that it is something more than a mere advisory capacity to his district commander. The arm of the State. religious work will be carried on by volunteer Germany today is like a sick man with a high civilian agencies supplied either from churches in fever. In such a condition a certain amount of the vicinity or from more distant agencies.
delirium must be expected. Whether the delirium In addition to the service by the Reserve Chapis a passing phase which will cease with a return lains, it is expected that much volunteer service to a more normal temperature, or whether it will will be rendered by the ministers and the churches go from bad to worse is a question one cannot an- situated near these camps. The gratuitous servswer with any assurance. But for those of us ice of these volunteer clergymen and other rewho are outside of Germany it is important to ligious workers will be accepted for the camps as realize that her present abnormal conduct is not the requirements of such religious faiths not the mark of criminality but of a mental illness due otherwise provided for may arise. No approprito causes for which Germany is not solely respon- ation is available for this purpose, but transsible. One must not treat a patient as if he were portation to and from camp and board and lodga criminal. If one is in any measure to play a ing while at camps will be provided. healing role or even be a helpful friend, he must The General Committee on Army and Navy make a careful diagnosis of the illness and not Chaplains hopes that clergymen near the con- servation camps will take the initiative in offerjump to misleading conclusions on the basis of ing their services. * Dr. William R. King, General surface symptoms. That is supremely our duty Secretary of the Home Missions Council, is to as Christians in our attitude toward Germany to- cooperate with the Chaplain in Chief, the Reserve day. SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT.
Chaplains and with the General Committee on RELIGION IN CONSERVATION CAMPS Army and Navy Chaplains, in securing such help Unemployment is a serious matter to indi- from the home missionary executives throughout viduals and a menace to society. It is therefore the country.
an important movement that has led to the plan Provision is also being made for camp recrea- for mobilizing 275,000 men in 1,200 Civilian tions. Various social welfare organizations and Conservation Camps in the United States. It fs the Young Men's Christian Association are en- also an important step to care for the spiritual gaged in working out plans for civilian cooper~ nourishment of these men. The General Com- tion in the interests of the physical and social mittee on Army and Navy Chaplains has offered welfare of the men.
its services in helping to provide such a religious While the camps cannot be used for sectarian ministry. The War Department, which has these or other propaganda they offer a real opportunity camps in charge, is deeply concerned with the re- for Christlike service and for personal work in ligious welfare of the members.· The Welfare winning these men to a higher life and to a real Regulations contemplate the use of Reserve Chap- religious experience in the name and spirit of lains on duty with this Corps and of volunteer Jesus Christ. civilian clergymen in the vicinity of the various camps. The Chief of Chaplains, Colonel J. E. * Information concerning th-e location of the camps in a state and Yates, has been in frequent conference with the General Committee on Army and Navy Chap- the name of the commander in charge of the area can be secured by writing to the General Committee on Army and Navy Chaplains, 815 Woodward Building, Washington, D. C.
Socialism and
-~ I By tho REV. JOHN Mcl)OWELL, D.D., Now y",k I Moderator of the General Assembly of the Ja.- Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
I N THIS article I am dealing with communism declare that the time has come for a new attempt and socialism as forms of religious thought. to organize human relations on a fairer and They mean many things. The words are used sounder basis-to lift mankind from the methods in many senses but the communism and socialism of a mob to the methods of an army. The comof which I am thinking are more than political munist and the socialist desire to see national and platforms or economic theories; each stands for a international life organized to another principle, creed, an inspiration, a program. To millions of namely, the principle of equality of opportunity, people, communism and socialism today are what Christian- "to every man his chance, to every man his work, to every ity is to the Christian-ways of Some believe that the great man his reward."
life, gospels of hope. struggle of the near future It is obvious that in all this Socialism and communism will be between Communism the communist and socialist are have made great progress in and Christianity. Both have seeking ends that are essen- recent years in all nations. a missionary passion. Both tially Christian. When St. Paul Their specific solution for the call for devotion of time, tal- saw human society as a body labor problem and the collective Bwenuotstrl,dCwoaminddme uinlniifsetmh. e,irwBipotrhtohgmraaamnrye. having many members, each ownership of land and capital performing its office for the is still in the process of doubt excellent features, is a human, life of the whole, when St. John , and debate, but the idea that social and economic theory, saw the new earth, wherein the service of society is better which promotes class hatred dwelt righteousness, what did than the service of self and that and is linked up with mate- they mean but just this – or- those interests which affect the rialism and atheism. Chris- ganization of human lives into welfare of all should be admin- tianity is a divine Way of Life an organic society where each istered not for private gain but that controls also human re- should be for all and all for for public good, and that the lationships under the motive each, and where the common welfare of the State is the of righteousness and love, and good should be the supreme 'health and happiness of people irsevdeeaflienditeinlyJreesluasteCdhtroisGt. odDars. motive of human action? -this ideal, which is the heart McDowell has made a life So far, the ends that com- of these theories, gains ground study of this subject. What munism and socialism seek are steadily. In dealing with any he says is illuminating and is ends that Christ came to make systems of thought we must based on experience of "Christ possible. As Christians we learn to look at them from two in the Modern World!' ought to judge every system of points of view: from the point thought by its wisest and not of view of the ends they seek, by its wildest. It is as unfair aI1-.d the methods by which they seek to reach these to judge communism and socialism by the reck- ends. lessness and foolishness of some of its advocates as Applying this, let us ask, first of all, what are it would be to judge Christianity by the utterances the ends sought? The communist and the social- of some of its unqualified representatives. Any ist look out on the modern social and industrial great cause is nobler than those who advocate it.
world and see it not as an effectively organized Many of the ideals of communism and socialism system but as a chaotic struggle that constantly are similar to the ideals of the Christianity of the tends to lapse back to the law of the beast. They New Testament. The communist and the socialist see men acting as though rivalry and enmity ex- claim to be the friend of the poor-does anyone pressed the natural relations of man to man, as deny that title to our Lord, Jesus Christ? The though it was a definite law that the prosperity communist and the socialist is the enemy of irre- of the few should only be purchased by the sacri- sponsible and predatory wealth – can they' say fice of the many. And seeing these things they anything stronger than such words of Christ as [351 ]
these: "How hardly shall they that have riches pounded by men and women who do sincerely beenter into the Kingdom of God ?" The communist lieve what they ?dvocate. As Christians we ought and the socialist believe that men are meant to be at least to treat their proposals with fairness and brothers, not enemi'es. Christ habitually empha- respect. sized brotherhood. We cannot in loyalty to our Master fail to ac- In view of these facts, and many others that cept as our ideal a society organized on the basis might be stated, why are we not all communists of love and service, or refuse to condemn the and socialists? To find an answer to this question ghastly alternative-a society based on force and we must look from the ends to the means. How greed. But what are we, as the representatives does communism and socialism expect to achieve of Christ, to say to the advocates of these other these ends? The answer to this is the reconstruc- theories? This we must say, if we are true to the tion of the machinery of social and industrial life teachings of the Scriptures, our textbook: ,that by appealing from the selfishness of the individual the evil that lies at the heart of the human race to the moral instincts of the whole body. is a moral and spiritual evil and will only be driven out by a moral and spiritual Conqueror. So Chris- Why Christians Are Not Communists tianity meets the social and economic evils of our time not with the prayer, "Renew right institu- While communism and socialism and Christian- tions about me" but with the prayer: "Create in ity are alike in that they are laboring for a new me a clean heart, 0 God, and renew a right spirit and higher social life in which all men and women within me." From the Christian point of view aJ)d children shall live better and happier lives, reconciliation of the individual soul with God, they are unlike in the position taken by each as to through the work and influence of the Holy Spirit, the relation of these individuals to society. Com- is the foundation upon which any effective transmunism and socialism expect society to make good formation of the individual or the nation or the individuals; Christianity expects good individuals, world must be built. This does not imply that by Christ's indwelling power, to make a good so- Christianity is indifferent to right living condiciety. Christianity assumes that it is impossible tons but that we have learned from experience to have a good sodal order composed of bad men. that right conditions are impossible without a Thus the point of attack, so to speak, in the case clean heart and a right spirit. Regeneration, of communism and socialism, is environment; in therefore, of the individual from the point of view the case of Christianity, it is the individual. It is of the Christianity of the New Testament is the always easier to attempt reformation by legisla- basis of all moral progress and enlightenment, the tion than by education and individual conversion. necessary first step toward every good, whether Communism and socialism say: "Make the eco- personal or public, social or political, commercial nomic man prosperous and the moral, the altruis- or religious. tic, the intellectual, the resthetic will inevitably be prosperous." History and experience prove that The Indivivdual and the Race good economic surroundings in themselves are in no way a guarantee of good or even contented Though communism and socialism get their men; as a working theory of life the teachings of Christ are not only more philosophical but more will programs translated into universal law, still the practical; "seek first the Kingdom of God and His social problem be found unsolved. Human righteousness" is the fundamental law for any social order that is to function effectively. It may' nature must be changed. It can be changed in the well be that a truly Christian social order will be -partially-socialistic. It is by no means clear case of the individual; that is the verdict of that a socialistic order would be Christian. But if not it will be a failure. abundant experience. It can be changed also in In a reconstructive system of social and indus- the nation and in the race; that is the verdict of trial life, by which the control of national industry is taken over by the State, every man will, it history. Until that is accomplished, little is done. is asserted, have his chance. Passions of greed and selfishness and envy are expected to have no The regeneration of society still waits on the rescope for exercise and to die out of human society. Now, it is futile for us to meet carefully consid- generation of the individual. The Kingdom of ered schemes like these with mere declamatory outbreaks. We must remember that calling names God comes only when men come into the Kingdom. is not argument. Here, at least, are suggested solutions for the diseases of the body politic, pro- The soul, not outward conditions, makes the man.
There cannot be a brotherhood without brothers, and there cannot be brothers apart from common Fatherhood through Jesus Christ.
History and experience prove that to feed the roots of life with the Gospel of Christ is the most effective preventive work, making the journey of life safest wherever men may go. Experience has proven that a heart made new through the love of Christ is the greatest preventive of crime and
COMMUNISM, SOCIALISM AND CHRISTIANITY
the chief assurance of adequate help wherever it Putting ten or ten thousand imperfect individ- may be needed. Philosophic and practical ma- uals side by side in a new communistic or social- terialism, touched with social enthusiasm today istic experiment will not necessarily free anyone contends that all that is needed to change the of them from his imperfections. Although we re- whole structure of human society – its domestic locate them in the social order or rearrange the conditions, its moral happiness, its civil institu- profits of their labor, the inherent personal defects tions and even its religious beliefs-is a reorgani- of everyone of them will remain to work havoc zation of its economic groundwork. The implica- as before. Social salvation does not lie in the re- tion is that circumstances make the Kingdom of arrangement of human units but in the regenera- Heaven; that manhood is the product of physical tion of human hearts. No one will deny that a conditions; that if we properly distribute material true human life must have an adequate material comforts, spiritual blessedness will become uni- basis, and worldly comforts enter largely into the versal; that if we effectively discourage large for- purpose and structure of civilization. But the ad- tunes, we shall make the misfortunes of the masses vance already made, even along these lines, has impossible; that to abolish poverty will create not been so much the result of any form of social holiness and happiness; and that a just division order or tendency to nationalism as it has been the of property would be the pledge of universal peace outcome of intellectual liberty and industrial and the source of infinite progress. freedom.
This contention is the dominant note of all com- Two things are everywhere needed today in munistic and socialistic literature which pours order to foster and hasten the progress of man- upon us in an ever widening stream. We have kind: a larger opportunity and a nobler incentive.
here not so much a narrow, selfish materialism as A chance to learn and to labor on the one hand, a socialized materialism. With the ardent de- and this the State must provide; on the other mands of the communist and the socialist, in gen- hand, a yearning for holiness, an ambition for eral, for the improvement of the conditions of excellence, a desire for perfection which carries human life, their impassioned condemnation of with it a joy in work and the habit of thrift, and numberless wrongs and endless inequalities; their these nobler incentives Christ must help to create.
loud and urgent protests against the havoc of With economic programs of all sorts the Church, war; their deep sympathies for those who toil- as an organization, should have nothing to do, but for these things every Christian must cherish a with the demands of communism and socialism hearty appreciation but many of us cannot accept for economic justice and its unquenchable deter- the remedies that they advocate or adopt their mination to secure for all, however humble, the philosophy of human life. In a large part of the rights and enjoyments of common humanity, the literature on these radical theories of the present Church should be profoundly concerned.
day, no account is taken of the real power and "I am ready to admit," says George Bernard glory of true individualism. There is no adequate Shaw (at one time a Socialist and at another a appreciation of the part played in historic evolu- Communist), "that after contemplating the world tion by individual motive and individual initiative. and human nature for almost sixty years, I see no A perfect human society can come into existence way out of the world's misery but the way which only as we have perfect individuals of whom it is would have been found by Christ's will if He had made, and to improve the individual by the reac- undertaken the work of a modern, practical states- tive operation of the grace of God in his heart is man. . . . Though we crucified Christ on a stick, the special task and the special glory of the Chris- He somehow managed to get hold of the right end tian Church, which so many earnest communists of it, and if we were better men we might try His and socialists do not see. plan."
CHRIST A NECESSITY Albert Schweitzer, physician, philosopher, theologian, author, composer and formerly organist of the Paris Bach Society, writing "On the Edge of the Primeval Forest," in his fever-ridden parish in Africa, says that daily, at noontime, when his comrades are sleeping, he nourishes his soul by studying in the field of civilization, philosophy, and ethics, seeking to find the mind of Christ for our age, or by playing some of the difficult fugues of Bach. He tells us that all experienced African travelers carry with them some solid reading and that the only men who can live under tropical conditions are those who feed the inner life. For Dr. Schweitzer, as for all questing, achieving souls, Christ is a necessity; He is no less nec- essary for those who live in the wilderness of civilization, with its whirring wheels and the awful pressure of its demands.-JoSEPH FORT NEWTON. .
Influence of the Church in the
By the REV. WORTH MARION TIPPY, D.D., New York Department of the Church and Social Service, Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America THE Church needs to ask searching questions control of the evils that surround them and the with reference to its relations to the social development of social opportunities in which they order and the larger life of the world. may find opportunity and joy. If we are good The point of departure in thinking on the prob- parents, and know God ourselves, we care also lem is absolutely fundamental. Shall we begin by supremely for the awakening of eternal life withasking, "How comprehensive is God's concern for in them.
human life and human society, and therefore, God created the heavens and the earth and sus- What is in His mind and pur- tains everything to the minutpose for the socia~ order? Or est detail by his inconceivable shall we ask, What is the point Does the world have more goodness and power. He feeds of view of the theology we have influence on the Church or the birds of the air and not one inherited?" A further question the Church on the world? All falls to the ground without His is more significant than may with Christian ideals realize knowledge; He clothes the seem at first consideration: that the Church is far from grass of the field; the very "Shall we expect to be guided the standards set by Christ. hairs of our heads are num- History makes clear that men ,wholly by the concrete patterns by wisdom have notdiscov- bered; He knows that we need of social thinking and social ac- ered God. It is the Christian food, clothing and shelter. tion which are found in the belief that God has revealed What could be plainer? Our New Testament, which were Himself and His Way of Life Lord himself did not limit His adjusted to ways and needs of to men. The Church is ideally concern to the soul. He spoke a far distant and primarily made up of men who have the parables of the Sheep and agricultural and monarchical been made new by the Spirit the Goats, and the Good Shepsociety, or shall we expect fresh of God and who are revealing herd. He fed the multitudes. guidance in the changed condi- God and are putting His ideals He conducted the first unprecetions of a present-day indus- for man into practice in all dented and passionate attack trheleactihoinesfhriepsspoonf sliifbei.lityWohfatthies trial civilization from the ever- Church in the world today- upon disease? Did He not in present Spirit of God, who, as in politics, business, industry, his insistence upon the dedicathe Apostle Peter said at Pente- amusements and moral train- tion of life to the more abuncost, is now 'poured out upon ing? Read what Dr. Tippy dant life of the masses, as exall flesh'?" says on this phase of "Christ pressed in the Good Shepherd, in the Modern World.." the washing of the Disciple's To ask these questions seri- feet, and the child in the midst, ously, and in the quiet of a dis- passionate mind from which the lay the foundations for the sozeal of controversial thinking ciety of the future which will has been cleared, will be for most people to answer inevitably make that object its supreme endeavor? them. In the first place it will settle, or ought to One may therefore speak positively, and with settle, the amazing controversy which has so long the confidence that it is a demonstrated fact as agitated the Church, to its immense discredit both plain as anything can be demonstrated, that God to God and man, as to whether the Gospel is a is concerned about every aspect of human life, message to the individual soul alone. That can- and is intimately involved in what is taking place not be the only concern of God for human life. around us in society-in honest government, in Our heavenly Father is infinitely better than we the correctioll of the vices which devastate huwho are fathers and mothers and who care for man life, in the mignificent conquest of disease by every aspect of the lives of our children-their medicine and public health organization, in popgrowth, their health, their food, clothing and ular education, in the understanding and control shelter, their play, their education, their mating, of natural forces and resources by science and intheir training for citizenship, their vocation, the vention, in the present breakdown of our acquisi- [354 ] tive society and the gradual building of a more dustries. It cannot and should not desire to take Christiim society, which has for its object the over education in a modern state. It has not the larger opportunity and true happiness of the resources for so vital an undertaking. The world masses, a society in which the strong and gifted plainly does not want these interests under the become good shepherds, after the pattern of the control of its ecclesiastics. Even in social work Master. the major undertakings in America have gone The answer to the third question, which was not over to the community-wide agencies and to public clear to most Christians fifty years ago, is now control. Under the stress of the economic depres- also clear. We have in the teaching and ministry sion private agencies, supported by private gifts, of Christ a timeless revelation of the principles have been shown to be inadequate, and the mu- and powers of the spiritual order of the world. nicipality, the State and the Federal Government In the New Testament these ideals were partially have been obliged to take up the tasks of relief.
interpreted to the world as it was, as men were What then can the Church do in the reconstruc- then thinking. The social imagery of the New tion of the social order, and what will be its place Testament was necessarily expressed in terms of in the future social order? As to the long future, kingly rule. They could have understood nothing nobody can know. Doubtless the future effective- else. Christ's metaphors and parables were drawn ness of the Church will depend upon the reality, from the field and the open sky, and not from fac- the unselfishness and the wisdom of the service tories and great cities. He did not touch specif- which it renders. In America it has still a large ically upon evils around him, such as slavery and measure of public confidence and regard; but it the aspects of current religious and social think- also has the handicap of its divisions, a disquiet- ing which they had no basis for understanding ing sense of unreality and futility in much of what and which would but drive men away, but He it says and does, and a growing impatience in the promised that the Spirit would lead His followers public mind over its theological controversies.
into all truth. On the Church's present function and oppor- The Imperative Need of ;the Hour tunity in the social order, and in barest outline, I offer the following conclusions.
A clear guidance by the Spirit of God in rela- After pastorates during a period of twenty-five tion to the problems of modern society is now the years in Indiana, Ohio and New York, in which I great and imperative need of the Church. We always organized the social teaching and minis- shall learn God's will in the present hour, not by tries of my churches as carefully as the spiritual turning to the theological thinking, even so recent work, and now after sixteen years in the field of as a generati.on ago, but by going directly to Christ the social relations of the Protestant churches in in the New Testament for a way of life and for the Federal Council's Department of the Church the secret of power, and then by studying what and Social Service, I say with the strongest pos- God is actually doing about us, and listening for sible conviction, that the Church's greatest pos- what He has to say to us in regard to the intense sible contribution to social well being, and to the movement of our time. revolutionary changes which are needed and are What then is now stirring the heart of the in progress about us, is the spiritual awakening world? That is a question of great importance. and nurture of each succeeding generation. What A few supreme objectives are: to make an end of the world most needs in its citizens is a conscious- wars; to lift the economic and social status of the ness of the presence of God in the life of the na- masses; to use the natural resources of the earth tion, the achievement of individual life lived under and the forces of the new technology in the inter- His eye and by His strength, the consecration of est of the common welfare; to recognize acquisi- personality to tasks of human welfare, and the tiveness and the selfish use of power as manifestly faith of great endeavor.
un-Christian, anti-social and shameful; to break Inseparably bound up with this. spiritual min- down racial and sectarian isolation and preju- istry is the need for moral teaching and discipline, dices; to bind the nations closer together in eco- which must begin in childhood but which must nomic, political and cultural understanding and never cease, and must be strong enough to give to sympathy; to break through theological and insti- society in each generation a controlling body of tutional unrealities and racketeering of religions unselfish, honest and public spirited leaders and into the pure air of the eternal Kingdom of God rank and file. This means not only a spiritual which, as Christ said, is free to all, like God's rain Church but a teaching Church, which sees clearly and His sunshine. and teaches faithfully the social implications of The problem of the Church is to find its rightful the Christian Gospel.
and effective place in the great undertakings of There follows a third function which grows out the hour. The Church cannot do everything. It of the fact that the Church is a great and univer- cannot run the government nor can it direct in- sally distributed agency: namely, that of cooper-
ating unselfishly in social effort. Everywhere and pitals, old people's homes, colleges or primary and in all lands the churches through their leaders secondary schools, without first surveying the should be actively working with the schools, the field and making sure that they are needed. Colaw, medicine, social work, organized labor and operation between our Protestant denominations the State itself, at the problems of social organiza- has advanced so far that such institutions should tion. I can see no sufficient reason why the be financed and used in common, unless a study Church should not enter freely into such collabora- makes it clear in a particular instance that this tion, at least in this land, or why it should not offer is not practicable. Parish social work should be its experience and points of view to public officials greatly developed. Every strong church having and legislative bodies; but it should never intrigue a staff should have a trained social worker to suor attempt to control candidates for public office. pervise the relations of the church to the social agencies and to develop the church's ministry of As to forms of social service, such as schools, kindness to the young, to the sick, to struggling hospitals, old people's homes, child caring agen- families, to the unemployed. Every Protestant cies, Christian centers among needy populations, church that has a right to exist should be deand parish social ministries, a few things can be veloped strongly as a seven-day-a-week neighborsaid with confidence. Church social work should hood center of religious service, friendship and everywhere be brought up to the standards of the social ministries. community agencies. The Church should understand and work with these agencies. It should Beyond these primary undertakings, guided lend its spiritual resources to them for the re- by these simple principles, and led by the Spirit habilitation of individuals and families. The of God, the Church will know what to do as the churches should not start new orphanages, hos- years pass, and new situations emerge.
THE CHALLENGING WORLD FACTS PRESENTED BY MISSIONARIES IN MANY LANDS "We have never had such opportunity to present Christ as Lord and Saviour as we have now. The Scriptures sell readily anywhere, any time, and high caste and low caste listen to the Gospel."-PREsIDENT A. A. PARKER, Leonard Theological College, Jubbulpore, India.
*** "I wish I could make America see the challenge in the Philippines! One converted Mo- hammedan in the Southern Islands said he could have one hundred Mohammedan children in every village in a Christian school if he had the teachers. We must not fail in this great opportunity!"-MRS. H. E. LYONS, Manila.
*** "We have a splendid opportunity for work among the neglected Batak people. The en- tire country of the Simahunguns, about 120,000 souls, is still deep in the darkness of heathen- ism. Until the Dutch Government took control of this district, cannibalism was practiced openly, so that human flesh could be bought in the markets. The chiefs are opposing Chris- tianity because the old heathenism formed the foundation of their power…. A woman in the village of one of the biggest chiefs said, 'We are tired of the ways of spirit worship.' Through the influence of missionaries, the people are beginning to be critical of their own customs. The time is here when this entire territory could be taken for Christ."-REV. A. H. PRUSS- NER, Sumatra.
*** "The evangelistic campaign was tremendously enthusiastic, and of those who came to the Street Chapel, at least 3,500, or one-fourth of the total attendance, stayed for a further dis- cussion of Christianity. Over one thousand registered as interested enough to ask for follow- up calls from the workers. Already thirty have joined on probation as a result of these meetings."-Report from Chu-Shihkou, China.
*** "The results (of the evangelistic campaign) are very encouraging, both as to the evangelistic enthusiasm of our workers and members, and as to the willingness of the non- Christian Chinese to listen attentively to the Christian message…. The Chinese are begin- ning to realize that the fundamental weakness of China is not so much a matter of organ- ization, but rather a lack of moral qualities on the part of the people as a whole, and that such moral forces can be supplied only through Christianity."-DR. WALTER W. DAVIS, Peiping.
A Mission in the Solomon
A New Testament Work Among Former Cannibals By PASTOR W. MALLIS, Sydney, N. S. W.
General Director of the South Sea Evangelical Mission T IKE most effective spiritual movements, this When the Australian Government ruled that L mission, now operating in the Solomon this form of labor on the sugar plantations of Islands, had its birth in a heart moved by Queensland should cease, Miss Young and her the Spirit of God, and yearning that the dark helpers followed the "Pillar of Cloud" as it moved places of the earth should to the Islands, and took up have the light of the Gospel. work on the Eastern Solo~ This yearning found expres~ mons where no evangelical sion in the life of Miss Flor~ mission was operating.
ence S. H. Young, who was In the year 1904 the Mis~ later ably seconded by Miss sion was reorganized, and Deck, and Dr. Northcote called the South Sea Evan~ Deck. gelical Mission with its head~ The thousands of South quarters in Sydney. Some of Sea Islanders had bee n the men converted in Queens~ brought into Queensland to land returned to their Islands open up the great sugar lands to lay the foundation of the of that State and the Holy Church there.
Spirit who laid the burden on The work is conducted on the heart of Miss Young also three large islands, namely, gave the plan that would Malaita with a population of meet the need and bring spir~ 60,000 ; Guadalcanar wit h itual results. 40,000, and Makira with The plan was to put first 12,000. Sin, ignorance, su~ things first-salvation before perstition, and cannibalism education or outward civiliza~ reigned supreme on these tion. The Word of God, with islands at that time and a dependence upon the Holy white man landed at the risk Spirit was the means used to of his life. It was virgin soil present Jesus Christ, cruci~ for the Gospel.
fied for human sin, and a The plan given to the Gos~ risen living Saviour able to pel pioneers was to attack save to the uttermost. this almost unbroken line of Those mixed multitudes of heathenism with the Word of laborers from the Pacific God, in dependence on the Islands spoke many different Holy Spirit. From the first languages, so that it was nec~ A HEATHEN WARRIOR OF MALAITA it was recognized that the essary to make use of the church should be self~sup~ widely spoken "Pidgin English." The Bible was porting and self~propagating. This was the prin~ the only textbook. Like a tiny rivulet, the work ciple adopted from its inception.
started with a small beginning and gathered The Solomon Islanders are extremely poor and power and volume as it went on its way until, in their heathen state are practically naked. They like a wide~flowing river, the work developed and live in miserable huts and their food consists grew to larger proportions. The result has been chiefly of taro, yam, and fish.
a large body of Christians, gathered from those After twenty-six years' labor 5,372 have been Pacific Islands, and there are "added daily such added to the church on the Islands, in addition as should be saved." to 2,484 baptized in Queensland. The converts [357 ]
A VILLAGE ON MALAITA standing of the use of tools, and inculcates the spirit of independence, helping to provide for are shepherded by three hundred unpaid native their support while in training. They purchase teachers who work under the oversight of a small their own Bibles and hymn books. All goes toband of missionaries. The Christians me_et for ward the building up of an independent church. worship and Bible instruction in hundreds of schools, erected and kept in repair by themselves. Teachers are not paid by the Mission so that our only hold over them is spiritual. The main- A central training school is conducted at One- taining of a high standard of spirituality creates pusu on the Island of Malaita, where there are an atmosphere where spiritual decisions can be usually 180 trainees undergoing a two years' made and where God can make His will known. course of Bible study. The object of the school is mainly threefold: 1. To teach the native to read When calls for teachers come from various the Bible; 2. To instruct them to teach others; parts of the Islands, these calls are laid before 3. To help them gather spiritual messages from the trainees for prayer. Since the Mission acthe Word. cepts no responsibility for their support, the Holy Spirit is free to guide the trainees in their re- They are taught to read by the simple "look sponse. A man will come and say: "God, He and say method," in the unit class system. One speak strong 'long heart belong me about this man teaches the other. Once a pupil has mastered thing-me go." On the next round of the Mission a lesson he begins to instruct another beginner. schooner, The Evangel, this man, with his wife In this way the teacher becomes more fluent, and acquires the art of imparting knowledge, so that MISSION SCHOOLBOYS DRILLING IN SOLOMON ISLANDS he is prepared to teach when he returns to his village. While in the training school all are re- and family, will be landed on the beach of the quired each day to do a certain amount of manual island from which the Macedonian call has come, labor, such as caring for the small coconut plan- and will find their way back into the bush and tation belonging to the school; building, and re- there begin their new labors. pairing houses, and making boats. This helps to keep them physically fit, gives them an under- It is not easy work. Food is short at first; fever often lays hold of them; they are intensely MISS JOA!N DECK ANiD NATIVES IN A CANOE OFF lonely away from their own people. Great is the NONOSILA. A SMALL ISLAND NEAR MALAITA heroism of those native workers! This system produces spiritual leaders who are accepted by the people. They are encouraged to handle diffi- culties, examine converts, and to take over the burden of church affairs.
The chief work of the missionaries is to encour- age native leadership and personal responsibility. Western money is not relied upon for the support and development of the native church. The ad- herence to this plan is sometimes difficult, but by prayer, and kindly explanation of the reason, we find that the church rises to meet this responsibil- ity. At times it would be easier to supply the money from foreign funds but the other method
ISLAND NATIVES HOLDfNG UP THEIR
SOME OI<' THE FOONDO CHILDREN OOMING FOR INSPEGTI'ON
produces much better results, with an independ- with them, and erecting little leaf huts for thement, aggressive, and happy people. selves and their families. The local church soon became too small for the crowds so that the peo- Native teachers, like the other Islanders, sup- ple pooled their resources and spent weeks in port themselves by cultivating gardens, while erecting a new meeting place to seat 1,400 people. they give morning and evening to Bible teaching. All this was contributed out of their great pov- erty, and in a district that has no resident mis- This plan for developing self-support needs sionary. The "big fella" church as they call it constant watchfulness, lest financial help from was planned and erected by themselves entirely outside, insignificant at first, shall produce fatal of material gathered on the Island, and without consequences. any supervision from the missionaries. It is an indigenous, self-supporting church! Conventions for the deepening of spiritual life are conducted annually, with teaching of what is The Mission Headquarters is "South Sea," Newington Rd., Stangenerally known as "Keswick teaching." It is re- more, Sydney, Australia. The Mission paper, Not in Vain, can be markable to see how responsible these Islanders secured from the secretary at the above address for one shilling, six are to these messages. At one center 1,200 peo- pence (50 cents) per annum. ple gathered for three days, bringing their food How They Preach in "Pidgin English"
T HE following lesson was given by a Solomon RICHES Island native of about seventeen years of age, who, six months previously had been "1. Riches no savey give life. No matter man steeped in the darkness of heathenism. get every kind something long this ground, they can't give him eternal life. They can't give man * * … blessing. You savey long this thing finish. "2. We can't take riches go with us time we Parable of the Rich Fool. Luke 12: 15-21 finish long this ground. Job say in .Job 1: 21, 'Time me born long this ground, me come naked, "Verse 15, the Lord Jesus say, 'Take heed and no anything me takeim come with me; and time beware of covetousness.' This mean, Look out, me die, me can't take anything go with me.' watch, so you no put money, feast and garden more high long heart belong you. And so to make "Riches belong to God; He want us to use you me everyone savey good fella long this thing, them for Him. Haggai 2: 8.
the Lord Jesus tell about one fella man. THE RICH MAN.
"16. One fella rich man have big fella garden "1. He work hard too much. This not wrong, where he carry too much fruit. because God been make garden belong him grow, "17. He think long heart belong him, 'Which but he sin because he keep everything for himway me do now? No more room he stop, yam self. He never think about giving to God-he house belong me full up finish. Where me putim never think to help nother man. yam, and fana, and altogether fruit belong gar- "2. He think he very wise; he think he savey den belong me?' more than nother man, but God say, 'you fool.' "18. Now he say, 'Me savey what something me do. Me pull down yam house belong me, and WHY HE WAS A FOOL me build one where he more big, and me put in- "1. Because he never think about God. He for- side fruit belong me.' get God been make garden belong him grow, and "19. And by and by me say, 'Too much tucker he talk all same man where he savey make somebelong me stop, for fitim plenty year; more bet- thing grow himself. He say, fruit belong me; ter me laze now, me eat plenty, me have good yam house (barns) belong me; goods belong me; soul belong me. (vs. 17-19.) time.' "20. But God say long tMs fella· man, 'You "2. He was a fool because he think he stop fool, tonight me ask you for soul belong you. long this ground plenty year, but God say, this night me wantim soul belong you. He think he N ow everything belong you, who he takeim?' "21. And everyone where he heap up every- need plenty yam house where they big fella too thing long this ground for himself, and he no much, but he only need a small fella grave. You me no savey what time God He say long you me, heapim up for God, he all same this man." 'This night me wantim soul belong you.' (v. 20.) *** "3. This lesson teach us we not think about "Now we think about meaning for heart belong riches and everything long this ground, but we you me long this lesson. live so we rich in good works. (1 Tim. 6: 18.)"
Youth'sjNeed of
By HARRY N. HOLMES, New York City Field Secretary, World Alliance for International Friendship Through the Churches," President of New York State Christian Endeavor Union C ONFIDENCE has always been character- bearings seem to have been lost; help, sympathy istic of Youth. Eager-hearted young life is and understanding must be given if they are to conscious that in some way it can abolish find deliverance. A college president declared the evils, eliminate the mistakes and build a world that in thirty years' experience in education no at once more beautiful and just. finer group of idealistic life had ever peopled the campuses of American universities. This is a It is exceedingly rare, however, for Youth in great tribute but the youth of today need help. any period of history to be brought faGe to face with such demoralization as There is need, in the first inexists today. It is growing up stance, of a fixed moral base.
to witness a colossal upheaval The fu!ture offers little hope In the confusion and perpleXiin the economic processes of the unless the present-day Youth ties, Youth needs to be reworld. They certainly had no -the leaders of tomorrow- minded of the abiding and perhand in creating the disastrous are won for Christ and pre- manent values of spiritual hismoral and financial heritage pare to carry out His pro- tory. Superficial things may now passed on to them. Glit- gram. The Youth of today change but great realities live tering promises were made to are out of patience with the on unchanged. When the life Youth for their sacrifices in the hefdaaiivelu~e.rceasuHsooefdwtyhecesatnperrdewaseeynctwotrhrraiecgch-t of men and nations is hurled these failures and prepare for war – and they have been un- a better world in which to into a welter of chaotic strife fulfilled. The generation suc- live and work? The answer a moral base is essential. There ceeding the Youth of the World is a better Youth-more in- is increasing hunger and yearn- War are plagued with post- telligent, more idealistic, more ing for something that will not poned hopes, unsolved prob- self-sacrificing, more virile. yield. This urge has led Youth lems and life commercialized to But Christians believe that in many lands to devote theman extent unknown in previous this·· can be attained only as selves to Nationalism as the years. A straight, clear path youth is brought into living thing that has not broken in for them seems impossible. fthelaltowHsehipcanwictharryChoriustt, Hsios their broken environment. Is They are a disillusioned army good purposes through them. there anywhere in the world a "clinging desperately," as one Read what Dr. Holmes says moral order that does not of the present-day need of writer suggests, "to the frag- Youth and how to satisfy change? What is a sure thing ments of their shattered dreams that need. on which to bank in a shaking with a gnawing hurt of defeat world? Is there a light that and an increasing sense of never grows dim? When gold futility." standards and moral standards Miss Margaret Bondfield, the are receiving terrible blowsfirst woman member of the what is the standard? Is there British Cabinet, speaking recently in London, a magnetic pole to correct the compass of life? used words of discerning power in picturing this Nineteen hundred years of history point to the sad story: "There is one section of the com- figure of One around whom all moral expediencies munity which needs our help more than any other were focused and who survived every conflict and -that large group of young unwanted life, those emerged the perfect and universal Redeemed. The verdict of the Jerusalem Conference deserves to who have left school and have not found a place be recalled, "Christ stands before men as plainly in the labor market." They are in danger of lo~- greater than western civilization, greater than the ing heart. It is small wonder that sometimes~·y Christianity the world has come to know. Men are rebellious, scrapping compasses and c rts who hitherto have not been won to His Church and even unshipping the rudder. The shad w of great realities is constantly upon them, ./stable find in Him their hero and ideal."
[361 ]
When life is adrift from moorings and storms can learn as it picks up the threads of world gov- crash, faith runs low or hope grows dim, the ex- ernment than the blazing words of Christ, "They perience of the centuries and of the present is that that live by the sword shall perish by the sword."
He holds steady and certain. He is an anchorage For the herculean task of making a brotherhood that has never failed. "He speaks the final word on this planet, Youth needs the assistance of Him about God and redeems my disordered life," says who is called "The Prince of Peace."
Dr. James Black of Edinburgh. To commend the It is unthinkable to imagine that the guidance faith of the years to the mind and heart of Youth of Christ cannot lead through the unchartered is the supreme contribution of maturity. Jean seas in front of Youth today. He is needed in Paul Richter sums it up in a thrilling sentence, 1933 as he was needed by that gallant band of "Christ, who being holiest among the mighty and Youth in the year 33. He did not fail them then.
mightiest among the holy, lifted with His pierced He will not fail us now. He brings conviction of hands empires off their hinges, turned the stream ultimate victory. The verdict of history coincides of centuries, and still governs the ages." with the verdict of experience that to know Him There is need 01 a herQ. Youth always responds is the gr·eatest need of the time-yes, of all time. To know Him is to find satisfying life and a blue to a call that is heroic. It always needs a leader print and a power for the service flowing out of who is able to inspire. Youth always makes its that life. hero its pilot. We agree with Principal Jacks that the greatest appeal to the heroic in history is' the figure of Jesus Christ. The chivalric in Jesus is POWER THROUGH PRAYER needed by Youth. Not to give Youth of our time this Christ is to rob them of the personality who We kneel how weak, we rise how full of power. when known personifies all their dreams of the Why, therefore, should we do ourselves this heroic. It was an American boy who penned the demand, "Give us a virile Christ for these rough wrong days." Or others-that we are not always strong; There is need 21 discQvery. Youth contacted That we are ever overborne with care; with Christ finds life crashing forth in music and That we should ever weak or heartless be, power. Only one illustration of this is necessary. Anxious or troubled, when with us is prayer, Follow the long and weary trail of David Livingstone as it crossed and recrossed Africa and then Such joy and strength and courage are with stand in respectful silence before his grave in Thee? Westminster Abbey and repeat the immortal tribute of Punch: *** The invisible bond of union between God and man, which is freighted with such wonderful pos- sibilities, and which brings to the suppliant such Open the Abbey doors and bear him in spiritual power, is what the Church needs today To sleep with kings and statesmen, chief and sage; more than anything else, if it would accomplish The missionary come of weaver kin, its divine mission in the world. But great by work that brooks no lower wage.
He needs no epitaph to guard a name *** Which men shall prize while worthy work is done. Power with men means first, power with God, He lived and died for good – be that his fame; and implies an intimacy of relationship only pos- Let marble crumble – this is Livingstone. sible to those who often seek His presence, and confide to Him their joys and sorrows, their That superb eulogy and the character it en- doubts and perplexities, their desires and their shrined was possible only because a youth discov- needs.
ered Christ. There is somewhere in the United *** States or elsewhere a youth who needs Christ that he may save our generation. If half our working time were spent in prayer, we might look for results more than double their There is need of Christ for guidance in the present value. In the bustle and hurry of life, larger relationships of life. He gave a flaming we might find it hard to drop our tasks and with- and vivid emphasis to the fact that God was our draw for a quiet hour in "the secret of His pres- Father. The result of this interpretation was to ence"; and yet we read that Luther, in the very disclose that all men are brothers. Life is to be busiest period of his busy life, said, "I have so hallowed by the filial spirit and become powerful much to do, that I cannot get on without three in the consciousness of a universal fraternity. hours a day in prayer." Christ thought it not Brotherly love is instinctive with Him. He has lost time to spend whole nights in prayer, and if set before the world enduring peace as a goal of prayer were necessary for Him, how much more history. There is no more important lesson Youth is it for us?
A Bible Society in Spain in the
Century* -'~1l==11 ===-o!I11~ =BY=AAR.AU=GJAORC=IA I T SEEMS quite natural that in England, a This purpose of realizing the impossible is the country well known for its love of the Bible, most salient trait of the work of translation in many Bible Societies should have originated. all times. From a Morrison in China, or a George But could there have been in Spain a Biblical Eliot among the Redskins, all translators have press, altruistic and generous, long before Bible struggled with almost insurmountable difficulties.
Societies originated in other countries? Hostile peoples, lack of dictionaries, unjust preju- In Spain, we are forcibly impressed' with the dices, ignorance and savagery, even to the point three centuries of religious darkness in which of forcing the translators to create an alphabet our native culture, the love for the Book of books and to teach the people to read, all this was con- and other good qualities of our race, perished al- quered by the same faith as was practised by most completely. Casiodoro de Reina. How happy he would be to Jumping over this ominous period, as Fray see that one society today has on its lists 655 lan- Luis de Leon used to jump over that of his incar- guages and dialects of which the Holy Scriptures ceration, repeating his classic phrase, "Let us say have taken possession.
… yesterday," we may link up the present work *** of the Bible Societies with some details given by They also had "revisions" in those times of our Cipriano de Valera, in the Prologue of his edi- Spanish evangelical heroes. Cipriano de Valera tion of the "Reina Bible" of 1602. Here we meet was the very discreet reviser of Casiodoro's trans- the characteristic traits, on a small scale, of a lation. To this he chiefly owes his imperishable modern Bible Society. Phrases of the illustrious fame, as editor and reviser of Reina's Bible.
reformer may serve us as texts for the different Editing and revising is not an easy job. Let us parts of a review of the work of today. hear Valera: "Casiodoro de Reina, moved by a pious zeal to "The labor which I have undergone in order advance the glory of God and of doing an out- to bring to light this work has been very great standing service to his nation, and coming into and has taken a long time. . . . I was fifty years the land of liberty to speak and treat of the things old when I began this work and in this year 1602 of God, commenced to undertake the translation in which God granted me to print it, I am seventy, of the Bible which he finished." an age in which the natural strength diminishes, With Reina, Encinas and Juan Perez, we have memory grows sluggish and the eyes become dim.
the body of the translators of the embryonic So that I have spent twenty years upon it. I con- Spanish Bible Society. Although Encinas and sider this time and effort was well spent. My in- Juan Perez showed an ardent faith in making tention was to serve my God and to do good to my their translations for Spain, it was a movement nation."
of "hope against hope," which induced Casiodoro To print in a foreign tongue a voluminous work de Reina to busy himself with so great a labor without any cooperation from a Spaniard at an as the translation of the Bible after the principal advanced age, required patient and slow labor.
autos de Ie of Sevilla and Valladolid (in 1559 and How many times divine aid was absolutely neces- 1MO), which destroyed all likelihood of religious sary to complete some editions of the Bible which reform in Spain. His faith was more than re- the public receives as achievements that might paid, not only in the use subsequently made of almost have been done of themselves! The nam~ his translation, but in the thousands of copies of Valera, as reviser, should be associated with the which have been printed in modern times for the names of Lucena, Palmer, Jameson, Pratt, Rule, whole world of Castilian speech. Cabrera, Tornos, Fliedner and others whose works adopt the form of new translations. All • Translated from Espano Evangelica by Dr. C. Theodore Benze, have contributed to the ideal Castilian version of Philadelphia.
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whose original will ever be the work of our resent. In 1932, the twenty colporteurs of the brethren of the sixteenth century. The Commis- British Society sold 7,624 Bibles, 6,621 Testa- sion of South Americans and Spaniards, meeting ments and 139,122 portions. The Society has in Puerto de Santa Maria and in Madrid, have some 1,000 colporteurs in the world. As the hu- given us the Spanish-American version of the man heart is very much the same everywhere, we New Testament, which is daily being more ap- are sure that if these colporteurs could speak with preciated. each other without the barrier of language even In Valera's Prologue we read: "Thus in the the most distant countries could understand each year 1569 he (Casiodoro de Reina) printed 2,600 other and find much in common as to their ex- copies, which by the grace of God, have been car- periences.
ried into many regions, so that today there are *** hardly any copies left, if anyone should wish to Likewise in the Prologue of Valera we meet buy." the review of spiritual results, proper to the These 02,600 copies of the Bible, together with memories of a Bible Society. How great, how some thousands of copies of the Testaments of noble are the words of the reformer!
Juan Perez and Reina, form the whole circulation "In our Spain very many scholars, very many of the Scriptures in Castilian for forty or fifty nobles and illustrious people have gone for the years. Today in the same country which drove same reason to the auto-da-fe. There is no city, out Reina and Valera by its intolerance there have and no town nor place, there is no noble house been sold in one year alone (1932) 14,791 Bibles, in Spain which has not one or more whom God 18,173 Testaments and 225,849 portions. in His infinite mercy has enlightened with the The data of the British and Foreign Bible So- light of the GospeL"
ciety raises the total number published to 1,889,- We feel compassion for those who suffered so 000 complete Bibles, 2,000,000 New Testaments, much. Valera sees principally the privilege and 11,000,000 portions, to a total of 15,000,000 which they enjoyed from knowing the Word, the copies in Castilian. "infinite mercy" of God toward them.
A Colporteur and Martyr At present the result of reading the Bible is great. To it the evangelical churches scattered There was also a colporteur, and what a col- over Spain owe their being. The Bible has en- porteur! If we were to name a patron saint of tered in many places before the missionary, the colporteurs, it would be Saint Julian Hernandez, evangelist, the pastor, the teacher. The Bible has the martyr. remained in the hands of those who cannot keep "Julian Hernandez, moved by the zeal of doing with them either a pastor or any guide. But it good to his nation, carried very many of these has perhaps also the invisible fruits which are Testaments and distributed them in Seville in the greater. How many in Spain have been consoled year 1557." by the reading of God's Word! How many have All the characteristic traits of the ideal colpor- seen a Christian faith strengthened which vacil- teur were found in him. Love for the Bible, pa- lated under the attacks of unbelief or under the tience, skill, genius, perseverance, heroism, self- censure of those called religious! How many have abnegation even unto death. The cleric, who found moral strength to resist temptation, when pretended to hear his confession, pronounced in- they could find help nowhere else! Who knows voluntarily the greatest praise of the brave Julian if Spain has not escaped more promptly the lean- when he said, "0 Spain, ruler and mistress of the ing toward scepticism on account of the three nations, but in this moment perturbed on account million Biblical volumes circulated in the second of one single little man! Let him die! Let him half of the past century! The work of the Bible die !" This cleric did not remember that of the has been great among those who are not openly Apostles too it was said, "They disturb the evangelical. The colporteurs have found many world." 0 volumes in permanent use and preserved with a Julianillo has some 20 successors in the Spanish singular reverence.
Agency of the British and Foreign Bible Society, Enemies of the Bible and perhaps as many others among the other per- sons and missions in Spain. Year by year the Valera also speaks of the enemies of the Bible.
Spanish Agency publishes a leaflet telling of its There have always been such, and always will be, adventures, struggles and victories. since it is the Book of God.
Julianillo, whose capture by the Inquisition was "Our adversaries have done as much as they due to his zeal for the extension of the Word, could to quench this light of the Gospel and have since he gave a New Testament to a blacksmith offended with deprivation of property, life and without the precaution then necessary, might honor very much in Spain. It must be noted that understand what these figures of colportage rep- the more they insult, the more they flog, the more
A BIBLE SOCIETY IN SPAIN IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
they dress up as penitents in the Inquisition, printing the Word of God. Others also collabo- force to the galleys or into perpetual prison, or rated. Today this want is reflected in the present burn, so many more multiply, since the blood of evangelical Christians of Spain, who have con- the martyrs is the seed of the Church." tributed during the last few years about 10,000 This paragraph is mysterious for having been pesetas annually to the Bible work.
written or published in 1602 when the groups of Although it should not be so, since the Society Reformed in Spain seem to have entirely disap- works to the advantage of the most general Chris- peared. The last auto-da-fe, in which "Luther- tian interests of the nation, there can be expected ans" appear, was in 1561, forty-one years before only from the Evangelicals today the sympathy this paragraph appeared. Without doubt the and collaboration which such a work necessitates.
evangelical movement was buried but· not dead; The smallest gift of no one will be refused, if it and when the Reformed congregations disap- is the evidence that it is given by him who loves peared in Spain, others, composed of migrated or the Word of God and desires it spread. God make fugitive Spaniards, formed in foreign lands. In us worthy of a past so evangelical and so glorious!
1622 and 1625 there were still published editions NOTE: of the Bible or the New Testament for the use of EARLY SPANISH TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE the Reformed, and then came the great period of 1. Castilian Version of 1543, by Paul de Enzinas. Has been silence, hardly interrupted, by an edition in 1807 printed by the British Bible SOGiety. and not finished until well along in the nineteenth 2. Juan Perez, New Testament, 1556. The Old Testament transcentury. lation was made by Jewish scholars and revised and published by In the Prologue we have also a passionate ap- Cassiodoro de Reina in 1569.
peal to Spaniards to read the Bible. 3. The preceding revised by the Reformed theologian, Cyprian "Do you see here, Spaniards, how our Spanish de Valera, 1602. This became the authoritative version for Spanish Protestants. have kindled two torches of evangelical light? (the Polyglot Bible of Cisneros and its second edi- 4. Felille Scio de San Miguel. This was relleatedly llrinted by the British Society ever since 1828. It did not prefa,ce the one of Valera. which remained until a few years ago the most accepted version and was regularly printed by the British Society.
5. Revision of Valera, published in 1916 by the British Bible So- Ciety for the American Bible Society.
6. Revision by Spanish Protestants, mentioned in the article.
tion produced by Benito Arias Montano). Now there is another of your Spaniard's lights, the FACTS ABOUT THE BIBLE third (the Bible of Casiodoro), which while it will not enlighten the whole world will at least The first book printed from movable metal enlighten our Spain. Therefore do not resist the type was the Latin Bible in the year 1455. Holy Spirit. Do not extinguish the light with which God wants to enlighten us. Make use of The first Bible printed in America was in the this work for the glory of God and the salvation Indian language in 1663 by John Eliot. of your souls." The first English Bible printed in America was In this same spirit the Bible Societies exert in 1782. themselves today, not to do a foreign work, but to preserve to the Spanish their own version and The Bible is now printed in 900 different lanto promote others which they themselves prepare. guages and dialects, representing the speech of With anntmncements in the press, with special nine-tenths of the population of the world. efforts in the Week of the Book, with splendid campaigns by the colporteurs, the Bible is recom- In the thirteenth century a Bible cost as much mended to our people as their greatest treasure, as the earnings of a laboring man for fifteen as the Light with which God wishes to enlighten years. Today the entire Bible may be obtained for sixteen cents, and the New Testament for six them. cents.
*** The Bible contains 3,536,489 letters, 773,093 words, 31,173 verses, 1,189 chapters, and 66 The Prologue of Valera does not lack the part books. The 66 books were written by about 40 which is usually devoted to the material resources men during a period of about 1,600 years. necessary for every work. The 39 books of the Old Testament are classed as: Law, 5; History, 12; Poetry, 5; Prophecy, 17. The 27 books of the New Testament are "This Bible was printed with the aid and as- classed as: History, 5; Epistles, 21; Prophecy, 1.
sistance of pious people. I have stated this in Ezra 7: 21 contains all the letters of the alpha- order that the remembrance of them might be bet except "j." eternat and that others following their example The middle verse of the Bible is Psalm 97: 8.
might be busy with similar works of piety." About 30,000,000 copies of the Bible or New Surely English and Flemish money was put Testament are printed and distributed every year.
into this undertaking, which we might name the The Bible is. a divine Book and from its pages Spanish and Foreign Bible Society, but a large God speaks to man.
part of the outlay came from Spaniards. We Christ is the center of Scripture, its one central know that Juan Perez and Casiodoro had help in preeminent theme.-Exchange.
Zeal
By the REV. WALTER C. ERDMAN, Germantown, Pa.
CERTAINLY Pak Bright Stone was a Chris- down the dipper, the rope of braided straw was tian. Very clearly could be remember the stiff with frost and slipped from her fingers. first time when he heard the preaching of Lurching forward to grasp it she slipped on the the "Jesus Doctrine" as he sat on the smooth ice and slid feet forward into the well. It was wooden planks of the narrow shelf-like platform not deep and the water reached only to her waist which served as a verandah in front of the vis- but it was cold and uncomfortable. itors' room in the two-roomed thatched house of Kim the miller. Some foreigner from beyond the "Father of Bright Stone! Father of Bright sea had told of the coming of a Saviour into the Stone!" she yelled shrilly. "I have fallen into the world. Peace had come into Bright Stone's heart water and am about to drown. Save me! Save as he listened and believed. He couldn't explain me!" why, but it gave him peace to believe. So he went again to the miller's house on worship days Bright Stone's father dropped the fork with -once in seven-and on the midweek Fourth Day which he was mixing fodder-mash for the family too, even though the miller's house was in an- ox and came running across the courtyard. He other village ten li from his own home. could not locate the cry at first.
Pak Bright Stone obeyed the teachings as he "Where have you died?" he shouted. learned them. He kept the Lord's Day free from "In the well. In the well. I shall die," came unnecessary work. He learned to sing from the the muffled answer. Praise Book. He learned to pray. He tried to Bright Stone's father rushed to the well and live a life of love and service. He was kind to a peered down. Then he lay on the flagstones and leper waif whom the village boys were pelting leaned over the edge but suddenly losing his balwith turnip ends. He was eager to pass on the ance he slipped on the brink of the wide-mouthed Word to others. The young man was only eight- well and splashed down into the water beside his een but his father and mother depended upon him wife. Thrashing about in the water he scrambled for the future. He was an only son and dutiful to his feet and tried to climb out but the stones as only sons were dutiful in the days before the were too slippery. tides of youthful independence swept around the "Bright Stone! Bright Stone! You fellow! Where are you?" he shouted. Bright Stone hearing the cry pushed open the world and weakened the bonds of filial piety even door of the room and leaped into the courtyard. in Confucian communities. He was dutiful to his Finding a roll of straw rope in the ox shed he parents not merely because of Confucius' five ran to the brink of the well to let it down. Then rules of propriety but because "Honor thy par- he paused and if you had judged merely by his ents" was a Christian teaching too. And yet words you might have thought that his filial piety Bright Stone was worried about one thing. His had suddenly deserted him. Leaning carefully parents refused to join the growing group of over the mouth of the well until he could see his Jesus' believers that met at Kim the miller's parents' heads about six feet below the edge he house. Exhortation failed; argument was use- called down, "If I pull you out will you become less; pleading brought no result. The old way Jesus-believers ?" had served them through the years, they said. Why should they change now? "You boy! What kind of business is this! You rascal. See your father drowning and your Winter came with its frosty mornings. A mother freezing to death and stop to preach! sprinkle of snow was on the yellow thatch where Since the world began was there anything like it? the scarlet peppers had been drying. The pools Pull us out you rascal!" in the rice fields were frozen and ice formed when water spilled on the flagstones around the mouth "You have fallen into a well and can't get out of the courtyard well. There was no curb to the without help. It's the same way with sin. Only well and its mouth was open and treacherous. Jesus can get us out of it. Will you please be- Bright Stone's mother came in the early morning lieve?" said Bright Stone politely. to draw water for the rice kettle. When she let "Believe! Believe! If I could get my hands on you, you low fellow! You whelp without par- [366 ]
PRESENTING CHRIST TO THE JEWS
ents!" roared the elder Pak, not intending to be "If I don't drown and freeze first," she said literal and forgetting in his rage that under the through chattering teeth. "Now pull us out." circumstances the Korean phrase or vilification might seem to backfire! So Bright Stone pulled his parents from the well, and they kept to their agreement. This was "I am greatly ashamed of myself," said Bright the beginning of their Christian life, for they be- Stone with becoming humility, "but it appears to came true believers in Jesus' way. me that you can understand now, that men do need to be saved sometimes. Will you go to *** church with me next Lord's Day? Hurry up and decide before I slip and fall in too." "I don't like your evangelistic methods," said a critic to a well-known preacher in America. His father gazed upward in amazement, suddenly realizing that the boy was in earnest. "I don't like them either," was the unexpected reply, "What methods do you use?" "I will believe," he said sullenly. "You too, mother," said Bright Stone, "will "I have none," said the critic. you go along with father?" "Then I like mine better than yours," said the evangelist whose name might have been Bright Stone.
Presenting Christ to the Jews By the REV. DAN B. BRAVIN, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Superintendent of the John Legum Memorial (Lutheran) T HE Duke of Wellington was once asked as (2) Moral Obligation. The philosophy of to the advisability of Christian missionary ethics teaches that if one believes that he has light enterprise. Soldier-like, the Duke tersely re- that another has not, he is under moral obligation plied: "What does your Marching Orders say?" to make that light known. He has no right to Noone can read the New Testament without force his views on another, nor is the other under being impressed with the directness of the com- obligation to accept them, but he must place the mand of giving the Gospel to the Jews. In all information he claims to have at the disposal of the activities of the Master and His disciples the his fellow men. On that principle, we are morally Jew came first. It took the disciples some time responsible to make the Gospel known to the Jews to discover that the Gospel was also for the Gen- in our midst.
tiles. With the Saviour born of a Jewish maiden, (3) An All-Inclusive Gospel Must Be Devoid the Apostles men of the Jewish race, the Bible of Discrimination. Who are we to limit our written by Jews, the sweet singers of the Psalms Master's Command? There is no spiritual or Jewish poets, and the Jew of today recklessly dis- moral warrant for such action. There was a time inherited of all this precious heritage, how can when Christians excluded the Jews from God's there be any serious question as to what the redemption plan because they were considered too Christian duty is to the Jew! bad. Now there are some Christians who would There are other reasons why the Gospel should exclude them because they are "as good as we be given to the Jews. are." So, the Jew suffers either way. The (1) Loyalty to Christ. No one has forced us Christian way is to discriminate against none in to be His followers. We might have rejected the presentation of the Gospel.
Him; but we did not; we chose to be His follow- (4) The Jew Needs Christ. As a Jew ers. We even pretend to love Him. Loyalty, then, acquainted with the "inside" of Jewish life, I demands that we obey His command that we state unhesitatingly that the Jew today is in should make every effort to tell the Jews of the greater need of Christ than he is of Palestine or Good News, to win them to Christ. If that is any other material advantage. His mental facul- proselytizing it is the glorious privilege of the ties have outraced his spiritual assets. He is Christian Church to teach and proselytize all na- clever, sharp, shrewd, but lacks the Christian tions. The work of the Church is not finished grace that tempers mental shrewdness. And that until that is done. Proselytism, rightly under- causes the Jew inestimable suffering. He is stood, is one of the most beautiful words in the shunned even. by those who profit from his Christian vocabulary. It is the glory of the shrewdness. Judaism does not possess the spir- Church, despite the statement of "liberal fanat- itual power Christianity offers the Jew; it has ics" to the contrary. lost its hold on the Jew. Judaism, as understood
by the masses of Jewry, is a relic of the past. The Bishop of China. He was a remarkable Christian.
voice of its ancient rabbis has lost its clarity; it There is a whole galaxy of names that might sounds to the modern Jew like the voice of an old be mentioned of preachers, teachers, authors, heavily-used gramophone record. It is an an- singers, missionaries. Men whose worth was rec- achronism. ognized by their respective denominations by hon- Rabbi So-and-so and Mr. – – may seem to be oring them with moderatorships, bishoprics, to famous religious leaders in Jewry. Yes; there say nothing of honorary degrees. There is no are a few, but they are the fruit of Christianity other mission field that yields such Jjch fruitage rather than Judaism. They are men who drank as does the Jewish mission field.
at the fountain of Christian civilization and en- (7) Communal Responsibility. As it is impor- vironment. They have accepted the fruit of tant for members of a family living under one Christianity without accepting the Root. roof to have similar standards of life, so it is for (5) The Church Needs the Jew. If it is true members of a community living under one flag.
that the Jew needs the Christ it is equally true In a land where Jews and Gentiles have equal that the Christ needs the Jew. The reason why rights it is important that they also have an equal after 1,900 years we still have the vast Moham- appreciation of the religious values. Where such medan and heathen fields is because the Church values differ it often leads to misunderstanding, chang~d the order "to the Jew first and also to animosities and clashes. The Name of Jesus, holy the Gentile" to the Gentile first and also–some- to Christians, is unholy to Jews. The Sunday- times only as an afterthought-to the Jew. The Sabbath, cherished by orthodox Christians is pro- Church needs the zeal, the oriental mind, the per- faned by orthodox Jews. Bible reading in schools, sistence, the wealth, the solidarity of the Jew. advocated by Protestant Christians is fought This powerful group in our midst should be for against by "protestant" Jews. Are the Jews bad us instead of having it against us. What a citizens? No, indeed not! But they are non- strength, what a blessing Israel can be, and yet Christian and often anti-Christian. And the will be, to humanity when it is touched with the solution to this problem is in evangelization of Spirit of Jesus! the Jews. When they receive an equal apprecia- (6) Some of the Greatest Converts to Chris- tion of our religious values they will become tianity Are Jews. We need not go back to the guardians over the things we cherish. Surely days of Saul of Tarsus who became the mighty 500,000,000 adherents of Christ ought to have Apostle to the Gentiles. We shall take for our some influence over 4,500,000 Jews. If our example Jewish converts of the immediate past. Christianity is false, let us get rid of it; if it is (We advisedly avoid mentioning names of Jewish true, let us propagate it.
Christians still living.) Here are some giants of As to how Christians should give the Gospel the Church who have made rich contributions to to the Jews, it is not easy to state. The best way our Christian faith by their acceptance of Christ: is the natural way. Let each Christian witness Theologian and Author, Alfred Edersheim. to his Jewish friends and neighbors. Then in- There is hardly a pastor's library without the vite them to church or Sunday school. Have a books of Edersheim. Someone said, "If one were spiritual conversation with him concerning the to own but one 'Life of Jesus,' it should be Eder- claims of Christ. Present him with aNew Testa- sheim's." ment and Christian literature if he does not al- Church Historian, Johann Neander. Of him it ready possess it. Prayerfully and persuasively is said that "He was the father of modern Church they can be won for Christ and His Kingdom.
history, a child in spirit, a man in intellect, a I especially urge churches to include the Jew in giant in learning, and a saint in spirit." their program. The church is not a club of Chris- Composer of Sacred Music, Felix Mendelssohn. tians; it is a spiritual hospital for the maimed When we enter our churches and the organist and wounded and spiritually undernourished. The plays a prelude to prepare us for the atmosphere Jew in the parish comes under those categories.
of worship, is there anything to equal Men- A special invitation and an evidence of welcome delssohn's works, his psalm, his Oratorios of St. will bring him to church.
Paul and Elijah? Lastly, there should be intensive and extensive Painter of Biblical Subjects, Edward Bende- work done through missions sponsored and di- mann. His "Three Wise Men," "Fall of Jerusa- rected by some accredited church body. The mis- lem," and "The Jews Led Into Captivity," are sion should have as its aim the presentation of world famous. Christ to the Jews in a dignified way. Buildings, Missionary, Isaac Schereschewsky. This man· staff and literature should be of such type as to spent a lifetime in China. Translated the Bible command attention and respect from the Jews in into the Mandarin language, established a college the neighborhood. Where there is a will to do and seminary in Shanghai and became Episcopal the work the way to do it will soon be discovered.
Reactions to "Re–Thinking
Missions"
Quotations from Letters and Periodicals from the Foreign Mission Fields, Relating to the Laymen's Appraisal Report HUNDREDS of letters, reviews, articles and Gospel so as to lead all who will to accept and follow editorials are coming from the foreign mis- Him as Lord and Saviour. sion fields, concerning the Report of the Laymen's Appraisal Commission. Some of these 2. Disregard for the finality of Christ as the reveare even more valuable than the Report itself for they reveal the real heart of the missionaries, lation of God and the authority of the Christian mestheir ideals, their devotion to Christ and the ac- sage. tual results of the missionary enterprise. All of these missionary writers wel- 3. Departure from the Bible teachings as to sin and its results, the Cross, the atonement, and eternal life and death.
4. The omission of reference to the Holy Spirit and His relation to regeneration, guid- come the constructive sugges- ance and power.
tions and many of them point It is worth while to read these 5. Approval of sympathetic fel- varied missionary views of lowship with non-Christian reout the helpful recommenda- the Laymen's Report. Some ligions in the search for truth. few mission'aries accept it al~ tions. Among these are the most as it stands; others are 6. Subordination of the evan- strongly opposed to its basic gelistic purpose in educational and following: ideas as to the aim, message medical work. and methods of Christian 1. The need for closer coopera- missions. All welcome candid 7. The organic union of mistion among missionary agencies, criticism, acknowledge many sionary agencies at home into one for less emphasis on sectarian weaknesses and failures and great superboard. differences, and the elimination of pray for better results. It is overlapping and "overlooking." wonderfully encouraging to This Appraisal Commission's note the general loyalty of 2. The selection of the best Report has been so subsidized possible men and women as missionaries. There is, however, a as to make it available to studeference of view as to the most dents in a 25-cent paper ediimportant qualifications. tion and to missionaries either 3. The building up of stronger, more independent Nat ion a I the missionaries to Christ and free or at a greatly reduced Churches, with more equality be- the Bible as the heart and price. Efforts are being made tween National Christians and charter of Christian missions. to present the findings to missionaries. Many pamphlets have ap~ 4. The union of some educa- peared to show the funda~ groups in all churches, educa- mental weaknesses of "Re~ tional institutions and mistional and other institutional sions. It has thus become a work, and centralization with a Thinking Mission&/' These propaganda for the philosophy view io improved standards and quotations will help make and missionary ideas presented better central training schools. clear the issues. by the Appraisers. Without 5. The further development of rural work, 1Vith industrial or this intensive promotion the other features that will minister Report would not be of sufto the needs of each community in the Spirit of Christ. ficient general interest to attract the attention of those not already deeply interested in foreign 6. A larger use of Christian literature, with a better missions. It is therefore important to note what type of indigenous literature adapted to the needs of real experts, the missionaries, have to say about the people.
7. The need for a clearer understanding of the cultures and religions of the people among whom mis- it. The following are extracts from letters and sionaries are working; also a strong united front articles, some favorable but generally unfavor- against materialism, social evils and atheism. able to the basic ideas of Christian missions as On the other hand there has been a general presented in "Re-Thinking Missions."
chorus of disapproval of several features of the Some British Reactions Report, especially in such points as: 1. The cultural aim of missions as contrasted with There are some phrases in this book which sug- a definite and primary aim to present Christ and His gest that its title ought not to be "Re-Thinking [369 ]
Missions," but rather "Re-Placing Christianity truths proclaimed by living humbly, unselfishly, by a Sentimental Humanism." and even sacrificially; by bearing the Cross of REV. E. W. THOMPSON, of London. For Christ as well as teaching the necessity of it. over 20 years a missionary in India; The Commission on landing in India seemed to now Chairman of the Methodist Mis- sionary Society of Great Britain. have a very real fear that Christian missions and missionaries had made themselves "unpopular" *** with the people by proclaiming and standing for certain truths and principles which India's non- The Laymen's Appraisal Report does not em- Christian people were not prepared to accept.
phasize the one thing for which Christianity Missionaries rather expect to be unpopular with stands-the truth that God is seeking men and radical proponents of Hinduism and Islam, bethat in Christ He redeems man and reconciles cause Christ's teachings are directly opposed to him to Himself. some of the fundamental teachings of these faiths.
PRINCIPAL GARVIE-the British Weekly. Ten years ago, Mahatma Gandhi, speaking be- *** fore a missionary body, said: "Do not tone down your message." He is no longer saying that, but ALEXANDER McLEISH, editor of "The Indian the missionary's attitude and activities are in no Directory of Christian Missions," survey editor way dependent on a Mahatma's advice, or on the of the "World Dominion Movement," and former- preferences of any man of any religion, anyly an active missionary, writes in the April World where in the world…. Dominion: Incidentally, it might be remarked that if a The Appraisers describe the content of the mis- commission of experts from Cairo or even Mecca sionary message and the motive of the missionary should come to India and advise the seventy milenterprise in terms which are not those of the lions of Mohammedans of this land to stop offerevangelical faith or of the New Testament. It is ing the Koran and Islamic brotherhood to people indeed "another" Gospel. . . . It is not without of other faiths, and cease to hold the motto, significance that for the most part the Report "Every Moslem a missionary," there would be names the Son of God as Jesus, nowhere mentions such universal protest, and such immediate and the Holy Spirit, and only once uses the word complete repUdiation of any such advice as to "sin." In spite of a free use of familiar theo- leave no one in India, or Egypt or Arabia, in logical language its outlook is distinctly unita- doubt as to how Mohammedans feel about their rian. Its description of Christian missions as an religion, and what they intend to do to spread the exhibition of love to men, altruism, and goodwill, Faith of the Prophet. point to a humanistic world-regarding philosophy Let us not abate our zeal, but in the spirit of rather than to a Christian outlook. love and in the light of truth let us reason to- Views of a Bishop in India gether about these deep things, and seek God. No reasonable man in India will misunderstand or BISHOP BENTON T. BADLEY, of the Methodist resent th&t! No Hindu objected when, a decade Episcopal Church, Bombay, India, says in The In- ago, Mahatma Gandhi, drawing closer to "The dian Witness: Light of the World," exhorted Christian mission- The apparent broadmindedness and tolerance aries not to "tone down" the Gospel message; and of a report, 'such as this Commission has made, today when, on the contrary, he says that unless must not be taken as evidence of a deeper inter- the missionaries cease to do anything but "hu- est in India's people than shown by those who manitarian" service, such as purely educational, lovingly seek to guide them to a place nearer God medical and "uplift" work, he would ask us to and more fully in line with His will. For the withdraw from India, there is no' great public missionary, not Hinduism but the Hindu, not sentiment back of him. When he first made the Islam but the Moslem, is the main concern. statement, in a much stronger way, public opin- The Report says that the Christian missionary ion in this land caused him to modify it twice should not "attack" the non-Christian systems of over, and leave it as just quoted.
religion. My belief is that it is the duty of all India is deeply religious, and despite even the Christ's true followers to oppose all systems of menace of communistic atheism, the great reli- thought, philosophy or religion that are contrary gions of this land, including Christianity, will to the Truth; but in doing this, there is no continue to press their claims upon the people. As thought of belittling or attacking the people who long as this can be done in a spirit of fairness hold them. Our concern, friendship and love are and tolerance, with freedom of conscience granted the only sufficient explanation of our being will- to every man to believe and worship as he is con- ing to reason with them, to run the risk of being vinced is right, we have a good situation. In misunderstood, to demonstrate the spiritual such a case, Christianity has nothing to fear: its
MISSIONARY REACTIONS TO "RE-THINKING MISSIONS"
safety demands no new "alignment," no arti- sion," yet it exercises unusual influence for ficial buttresses, no modern wisdom of men, no good. . . . counsels taken of our fears, no caution that cuts the roots of a holy daring for our Lord. The glorious, though incomplete, structure of Christianity must be completed on the original The missionary in India believes that Christ is foundations by workmen following the original to rule in India, as throughout the world. His plan. The preaching of the Divine Message was Kingdom is coming, and we can see the signs of the foundation of the original plan; it has been it. He is drawing, and "will draw all men" unto followed by all great missionaries, whether St. Himself. His cause may suffer temporarily Xavier in Malabar, Christian Frederick Schwartz through the lack of faith and timidity of men, in Palamcottah, or St. Thomas in Madras. but is in no danger of defeat or collapse. "He shall reign," "King of Kings and Lord of Lords," Ignores the Divine Message for He is "The Mighty God." We follow not with fears, but gladly herald His Evangel, and boldly The REV. J. P. EDWARDS, editor of Dnyanodaya claim for Him, in India and all the world, the (Poona), writes as follows: throne. We give place to no one in admiration for the Not Valid as a Missionary Basis ability with which the Appraisal Report is writ- ten and in gratitude for hosts of fruitful sugges- The following is from the Rev. J. A. CURTIS, in tions, yet the ideal and goal of Christian missions the Madras Mail, and expresses the thoughts of set forth by the Appraisers appear to us to be in many other American Baptist missionaries in a different climate from those set forth in that India: charter and textbook of missions, the New Testa- ment. In the latter it is the Holy Spirit who is The significant passages in the Report … are the Initiator, Energizer, Organizer and Director not valid for any missionary enterprise based on of Christian missions. . . . But from their pubthe Great Commission of our Lord…. Mission- lished Report, which (let us gratefully emphaaries reject with all their might the assumption size) scintillates with constructive ideas, we that modernism is the prevailing religion of those should be led to infer that the Appraisers "never that send us out. Ninety per cent or more are even heard of the existence" of the Holy Spirit, Bible-loving evangelical believers. Evangelism is any more than did the twelve Ephesians…. Simithe driving power of missionary effort, and the larly absent are the Cross, the supernatural power stimulus to the support of missions by the Chris- of prayer and other vital Christian truths. Whom, tions of the West. then, shall present-day Christian missions and churches follow? … We must all of us be in favor The progress of the Anglican Church in Tin- of "re-thinking" the whole philosophy of Chris- .nevelly is a concrete example of the triumph of tian missions, but surely their biggest need is simple evangelism. The founders of the Church their reshaping and reenergizing by the Divine in Tinnevelly did not seek, as the Appraisal Com- Power that initiated them. For important as are mission would have missionaries seek today, for a the philosophy and methods of Christian missions synthesis of all religions. They preached the which need readjustment with every age in which Gospel pure and simple, obeying the instructions missions work, still more important is it to reof the Great Teacher. Their harvest was a rich member that Christian missions are ordained of one. Today the diocese of Tinnevelly, which God to convey a Divine message and to transmit sprang from humble beginnings, is one of the the Divine "life abundant," and what that meslargest and most soundly constituted dioceses in sage is and how that life is to be imparted we are India. It is not merely self-supporting, but also shown in the missionary's New Testament charassists the work of the Church in other dioceses. ter, from which the Appraisers' Report appears to us to depart in certain essentials…. The point at issue is whether missionaries should be inspired evangelists or "well-trained In a thoughtful and most sympathetic review minds" engaged in the work of "constructive in- of "Re-Thinking Missions" in the Indian Social terpretation." Is the Christian message to be de- Reformer the editor concludes: "The attitude livered in the simple language of the parable or which Dr. Hocking and his colleagues are anxious in the complicated phrases of the textbook? The for Christian missionaries to adopt is, in our great Schwartz of Palamcottah must have seemed opinion, the central teaching which Christian misan odd figure to the stranger passing through sionaries have drawn from Hinduism." If we that town, but his name lives forever in the his- rightly understand this sentence of Mr. Natara- tory of South India. The Salvation Army, which jan, it serves to confirm our conclusion. That today occupies an unrivaled position, uses all conclusion is: from the theological standpoint sorts and conditions of men in its great work. It (the standpoint Dr. Hocking says is central to does not employ only the professionally efficient, the whole) "Re-Thinking Missions" is a B. C. or "vivid personalities endowed with social pas-
book written in the A. D. era, and despite many I deprecate the idea of syncretism found in the useful suggestions on details it can afford no es- Report. The non-Christian religions have not the sential Christian help either to the Christian mis- Word of Life. They can never take the place of sionary or to the Indian minister or to those In- Jesus Christ. The Report is very weak in its dian theological students for whom the present presentation of Christ. We believe that He has writer has a peculiar responsibility. the sovereign redemptive word…. But it will be *** a tragedy if the good in the Appraisal Report is lost in controversy over some of its opinions. It is a remarkable document for its open honesty and candid criticism; for its depth of DR. E. STANLEY JONES, Methodist Episthought and inspiring reach of vision; for its copal Mission, India. compelling challenge and the excellent literary quality of its pages…. *** I do not find it possible to accept the Commis- The REV. VICTOR HUGO SWORD of the American Baptist Mission in Assam writes: sion's interpretation of the Christian message as The Laymen's Commission Report has enough an adequate basis either for launching or main- truth in it to make it vicious and yet it is falsely taining the missionary program. It lacks the ring based. All of us missionaries welcome construc- of authority and insurance. tive criticism, but we have to know the foundation DR. MURRAY T. TITUS, Methodist Epis- material before we can do much building. The copal Mission, India, in The Indian Commission had little time to devote to study of the actual conditions among the churches in this Witness.
*** district, as these are after all the foundation upon which we have to build. I see no hope for Chris- The Report will be received differently by those tianity if it has to be shrouded in a saffran robe whose interests in the missionary undertaking or a fez in order to be accepted by the Oriental. differ. For the most part the falling off in mis- … There is only one thing that could keep me in sionary support has come from those who have India and that is the Great Commission of Jesus had merely a general interest in missions. It is Christ. I will preach in season and out of season, not likely that this sort of interest will be stimu- in bazaars, in villages, in churches that Jesus is lated by reading the book. … We do not believe the Christ, that He is the Door and the only true that those who are vitally interested in Christian Way of salvation for all mankind. missions will be greatly disturbed by the criti- cisms for their interest rests upon something *** deeper than a demand for perfection in the mis- What a China Missionary Thinks I have read "Re-Thinking Missions" wit h sionary. Editorial in The Indian Witness.
*** amazement. The premises on which the Report considers mission work should be grounded are We missionaries do not object to being called so utterly at variance with the New Testament, "bone-heads," but we do object to giving up Cal- that we do not even talk the same language. The vary and the Resurrection. We must have more Creeds are "theories"; the Church nonexistent. than a "grave under the barren Syrian sky," or The primary aim of missions should be social there is no hope for sinners and for the world. service not the founding of a Church. Mission- aries should go about exuding sweetness and light. A. L. WILEY, American Presbyterian (Shades of Henry James!) We should be broad- Mission, Ratnagiri, India.
*** minded, like a box with no ends or sides.
Candor compels us to say that the Commission's No wonder Protestanism is felt to be failing at definition of the aim of Christian missions will home and in heathen lands. Their Christology is not do. The search we pursue begins in the great warped or undeveloped. Christ's humanity is discovery that God is revealed in Jesus Christ, stressed almost to the total exclusion of His Di- who is the True and Living Way. vinity. The salvation of men's souls (according India-National Christian Council Review. to them) lies in the recognition that Jesus was the best of good men. *** The Report says that we should not ram Chris- This book, in spite of its limitations and omissions, opens the door to a wider field of service tianity down the throats of the heathen. They and Christian opportunity. It sounds an advance fail to see that you cannot ram anything down and not a retreat. the throats of the Chinese, much less a Christian- ity that is real belief, if they don't want it. Nor W. S. DEMING, American Board Mission, is salvation by good works alone.
Ahmednagar, in The Guardian (Madras). Most of the good things that the Report recom-
MISSIONARY REACTIONS TO "RE-THINKING MISSIONS"
mends we have been trying to do for years. Our The Council desires to express its conviction schools and hospitals are the best in the land. But that the presentation of the full Gospel of the love the primary aim is, and should be, evangelistic. of God as revealed in Jesus Christ to every pa- All else is secondary-not in respect of efficiency tient in a mission hospital is part of the work of but in respect of motive. When they cease to be the missionary physician and that so far from run primarily for the winning of people to Christ, imposing on the sick in doing this he is seeking then they should be closed. Let those who wish to lead them to the Way of Life which contains to do so carryon only with social service. in it the promise of both physical and spiritual For instance the story of the "one-man hos- health….
pital." … Personally, I am firmly convinced that Finally, the Council acknowledges that opinions the one-man hospital, or glorified clinic, is what may differ on many points of policy and it claims is needed most right now in many places. We no infallibility for its own views, but it firmly have well equipped, well run and expensive hos- holds that the essential motive in medical mis- pitals (although none of them have million (gold) sions is the spiritual one dependent on personal dollar roofs) to take care of bad cases, all with- relationships to Christ and that this should and in travel distance of most of our work. But a must be the incentive behind all true missionary man who would be able to take care of ordinary effort. It is greatly disappointed at failing to find cases in an expert way would go far towards help- any recognition of this as the one sufficient call to ing build the Church. mission work….
REV. HOLLIS S. SMITH, American Epis- Lack of Purpose and Power copal Church, Changshu. ' The REV. EDMUND L. SOUDER, Priest-in-charge, *** Episcopal Church of St. John Baptist, Hankow, writes: On Medical Missions The China Medical Association, which is com- What a group of earnest Christian laymen have posed of Chinese and foreign medical workers, to say regarding missions should receive the re- both non-missionary and missionary, has a Coun- spectful consideration of every missionary. . . .
cil on Medical Missions. After a careful con- The Report gives expression to a conception of sideration of the section on medical missions in the meaning and method of Christian missions the Laymen's Foreign Missions Inquiry, this which I am convinced not many missionaries of Council unanimously adopted a report from which the Church in the field nor the majority of de- the following extracts are taken: vout Church people at home will accept. The The Council heartily agrees to the necessity for viewpoint appears to be that of a Modernist, a high professional standard in the work of mis- whose interpretation of the Gospel is so "broad"
sion hospitals and that no evangelistic fervor will that it has lost most of its depth. The preaching excuse slipshod methods in the treatment of the of "the glorious Gospel of the blessed God" has patients. In China the Council is satisfied that become little more than a program of humani- there is little danger of this except possibly in one tarian endeavor, an emasculated thing over which or two isolated cases…. a man is not likely to throw his hat in the air, or The Council approves the finding that compul- proclaim at the expense of getting cooked on a sory attendance of patients at services in hos- gridiron! It has very little "punch." …
pitals or undue pressure on the patients to alter The lesson of today, that rejection of Christian their religious opinions is wholly undesirable but life follows hard on the rejection of Christian believes that such compUlsion is rarely if ever truth, has not been learned. Indeed, the Commis- found in mission hospitals in China. sion seems much less exercised that non-Chris- The Council feels, however, that in its findings tians should remain such than that mission hos- the Commission has failed to realize that the pitals and schools should be used as "bait" to tendency of modern medicine is to stress the inter- draw the unwary into the net of the Church.
relation of physical, mental and spiritual, and is When the missionary goes fo the ends of the surprised to find it harking back to a view rapidly earth, what should be his hope? To reveal, becoming discredited, that healing methods should through love in action, by word and deed, Him in most cases be purely physical. who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; The Council desires to emphasize its conviction no man cometh unto the Father but by me"? No!
that the duty of a missionary physician to the pa- The Commission says, "The Christian will look tients under his care is a duty to the whole man forward, not to the destruction of these religions, and not merely to the physical side of his being; but to their continued coexistence with Christian- and it believes that he will feel it his duty and ity, each stimulating the other in growth toward privilege to minister to the spiritual needs as well the ultimate goal, unity in the completest religious as the physical ailments of those under his charge. truth." This may be good theosophy, but to my
mind it is very poor Christianity! That the mis- Presumably every missionary is such "because sionary should study sympathetically the religions he is a Christian," and humbly wants to serve his and culture of the people to whom he would re- fellows on the basis of the "Inasmuch" principle; veal God in Christ is profoundly true…. I know but since when has it been considered something of no member of our mission who ridicules the to boast of that they do not "want to make Chris- faith of the non-Christian Chinese. It sounds as tians"? Imagine a disciple of Karl Marx doing though the Commission were advocating some agricultural work "because he was a Communist,"
kind of syncretic faith in place of the Christian but not "wanting to make Communists"! To be religion…. sure, mISSIOn doctors, teachers, rural workers, The vague conception of missions as a mere et al., should be professionally qualified, but to civilizing agency is clearly shown when the Com- treat medical and educational mission work as mission expresses itself regarding the function of ends in themselves, rather than as being funda- mentally aids in the Church's supreme task of remission schools. With reference to the general vealing the Father of Love to all His children, problem of Christian colleges in the Orient the seems to me inadequate. Commission directs attention to "a grave danger -that of subordinating the educational to the re- Let the Christian give to the Red Cross conligious objective, particularly in appointments to tributions for the "disinterested relief of sufferfaculties." I have heard of mission institutions ing" and leave to governments the handling of where religion was subordinated to education, education that has been "set free" from responsibut I had never supposed that that constituted a bility for "conscious and direct evangelization," recommendation from the point of view of those and let him save his missionary gifts for agencies at home who had contributed their dollars for which are Christian unashamed. The Gospel com- missions! In a mission institution, of which I mitted to us is not only for all people, but for the was a member of the faculty, we had one Modern- whole life of man. Body, mind, and spirit are all ist, with salary paid from mission funds, who to share in the glorious salvation wrought by our publicly stated, "I am not a missionary; I'm an Redeemer upon the Cross.
educationalist!" What I have thought of as a *** "horrible example" of the subordination of religion to education in a mission school is apparent- From Jonathan Goforth, of Manchuria ly to be commended as the ideal! A personal letter to the editor of the "Sunday School "We believe," the Commission says, "the time Times" from the veteran missionary in China is a mission- ary document of importance.
has come to set educational and other philan- DR. GOFORTH, a missionary of the Presbyterian thropic aspects of mission work free from organ- Church of Canada, says in part: ized responsibility to the work of conscious or direct evangelization," and they make a recom- The Laymen's Foreign Missions Inquiry is mendation "that where missions are conducting sending abroad a misleading report over the schools, the aim of these schools should be pri- world. The Gospel of the grace of God, which marily education, not evangelization, and that gained divine results this month, is the same that teachers and administrators should be chosen I have been preaching in China for forty-five with this standard in view." years. I glance back over the years to find that fourteen of the men who became evangelists and I cannot believe that the great body of faithful pastors in Honan were opium sots. With the ut- laymen in the Church, who support mission work, most emphasis we assured them that "neither is would be willing to carryon mission schools on there salvation in any other: for there is none any such basis. Noone questions the need for other Name under heaven given among men high academic standards in such schools. It is whereby we must be saved." Through faith in quite possible for Christian schools to have the the Lord Jesus Christ as God the Son they were highest educational standards combined with lifted out of "the horrible pit." … lofty devotional life. The Appraisal Commission admits that the mis- The present world situation would seem to offer sionary motive which prevailed in the past came appalling evidence of what happens when you get from the conviction that the souls of the heathen education divorced from religion. Ours is an age could only be saved from eternal death through of tremendous scientific achievement, but our con- the Gospel of Christ. However, they affirm that quest of self has lagged far behind our conquest during the last century the theological outlook has of nature. The well-nigh godless education most changed….
Western children are receiving is beginning to Sincere and aspiring seekers after God in other produce some alarming results. Education with- religions are not to be condemned, according to out religion is as likely to invent a new poison this Commission. For forty-five years I have had gas as a new anesthetic. large opportunity to come into contact with these
MISSIONARY REACTIONS TO "RE-THINKING MISSIONS"
"sincere and aspiring seekers after God," but I darkness, and that prayer is absolutely essential have not found one…. to victory. Through prayer in the Name of the Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today Lord Jesus I have seen opium sots set free in soul and forever. His last act on earth was to issue and body from the domination of Satan. The uni- His great Commission…. That urgency of mis- versal testimony is that those who use pills, etc., sion motive at the beginning must hold the same invariably go back to the drug.
paramount place today. And it does, with all The Laymen's Report should be met by a perloyal servants of Jesus Christ. sonal humbling on tEe part of all who love the I believe with the utmost conviction, based on Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and with a renewed a wide knowledge, that the cause of Christ would devotion to His great commission.
be much farther advanced today had no "Modern- REV. MATTHEW B. BIRREL.
ist" ever reached these shores. *** *** The absence of any reference to prayer or to' T.he Report of the Inquiry issued by the Ap- the Holy Spirit, in fact to anything which we can pralsers offers I?lenty of !ood for thought. We conceive as being the real heart and motive of may agree or dlsag~ee Wlt? the Rep?rt: but we Christian missions, is prominent in "Re-Thinking can hardly afford to 19nore !t. That mlSSlon work Missions." That we have a Divine Commission needs restudy and revaluatIon few can deny.
to "disciple all the nations," and that "neither is DR. CHENG CHING-YI, General Secretary there salvation in any other" is naively ignored. of the National Christian Council, I naturally take exception particularly to that Shanghai.
part of the Report which deals with evangelism *** in medical missions. I am in charge of the largest Presbyterian hospital in China. Weare doing These laymen's conceptions are poles apart our work with as high a medical and scientific from those of the Apostle Paul, and their recomstandard as possible but I see no reason why good mendation that Christian missionaries should susmedical work should interfere with strong evan- pend their work of evangelism and align themgelistic work in the hospital. In fact I find more selves with non-Christian religionists in an effort interest in the evangelistic message than ever to combat atheism is surely incompatible with before. loyalty to Christ and His great commission. Some of these laymen's conclusions, so far as China is N. BERCOVITZ, M.D., Presbyterian Hos- concerned, find no support in the reports which pital, Hainan, China. reach us from our wide field. Had they spent less time in the educational centers and more in visit- *' * * ing some of the two million villages in which they tell us eighty per cent of the population of China I see in this whole investigation idea an effort live, I am persuaded their sweeping generalizaon the part of the adversary to discredit the cause tions would have been modified. Hostility to all of world evangelism. But there is no need to fear, religion certainly does not characterize the attiif only we are faithful, God can overrule every tude of the people generally; on the contrary attack and make it work out to the furtherance of there is almost everywhere among the common His own purposes. . people an unprecedented readiness to give a re- spectful and interested hearing to the Gospel. J. E. SHOEMAKER, Yuyao, Chekiang, China. For forty years an American Presby- terian missionary.
*** JAMES STARK, Secretary of the China From over thirty years' experience in China, I Inland Mission Council, Shanghai.
have had my faith confirmed in the Bible as be- *** ing the Living Word of God. I have found the Chinese readily admit that Those who look upon foreign missions largely they know that they ought to do right but lack as an international socializing agency cannot be the power to do so. While they believe in a hell . expected to look sympathetically upon the work and have plans (vegetarianism, pilgrimages and of a group who regard themselves primarly as purgatory payments) to escape it, they have no preachers Of Christ and Him crucified. Those assurance that their plans are trustworthy. who consider Christianity as merely one of many Hence they need to know Christ, the new and liv- religions, all seeking the same end in ultimate ing Way, who is the propitiation for the sins of truth, must be expected to seem somewhat impa- tient with those who look upon Christ as God Inthe world. I have found missionary work to be a: real con- carnate, and 'His Gospel as a Divine Revelation. Tlie Bible for China. flict between the power of God and the powers of
In reference to what the Commission says non-Christian religions, especially the supersti- should be our "message" in the future, one is tious religion of the masses. . . .
somewhat depressed and feels that the life and While we agree that the Church in any narrow vitality which one needs as one approaches the sense is not an end in itself we still believe that non-Christian peoples has been almost smothered. it is the best means by which the fundamental Emphasis is laid mainly on spreading truth in the aims of the mission can be carried out and to that abstract rather than upon the bringing of a new extent the development of the ideal church must life. One looks in vain for the fundamental living always be a primary aim of missions. While we truth, "Ye must be born again." … Christianity recognize that preaching is not always the first is not only different in degree from other reli- way of making the Christian message known and gions but in kind…. As the missionaries come to that the living of a life is the first essential, we the Orient they believe that they are carrying a still feel that the Report tends to underestimate new message of life and grace through Jesus the importance of public expression of the faith Christ. that issues in life. In the matter of subsidies to GEO. W. SPARLING, United Church of churches, we heartily approve the principle of progressively decreasing support. The movement Canada Mission, Chengtu, China. in this direction is already well advanced. We *** also cordially agree with the principle that "all Thirteen Missionaries from Six Missions new churches should, so far as humanly possible, in Japan be indigenous and self-supporting from the start" (p. 108) …. We regard the publication of "Re-Thinking Missions" as one of the most significant events As a matter of fact, we cannot but feel that in modern missionary history. We ourselves in the Commission on Christian Education is much our group study have been profoundly stirred by nearer to the actual situation than is the Layits sincerity, its courage, and its vision…. men's Commission. This may be due to the fact that there was a majority of Japanese educators The Commission showed a fine appreciation of on the former Commission….
the permanent values in the great cultures of *** Oriental peoples and a due concern about the danger of such values being lost as a result of the Japan Missionaries of the American Board changes that are now taking place…. DR. DWIGHT W. LEARNED, who perhaps is bet- We feel however that the Commission at times ter acquainted with the Kumiai Church of Japan passes over too lightly the fundamental differ- than any other living man, writes: ences which exist between Christianity and the We are told that a profound transformation of other religions of the Orient. . . . Such expres- the Church in the mission field of the Orient is sions as "Universal religion has not to be estab- needed, away from sectarianism toward unity and lished, it exists," "the common ground of all re- cooperation, and away from a religion focused ligion," "this treasury of thought" (from which upon doctrine toward a religion focused upon the each religion makes its selection) and similar ex- vital issues of life, putting an end to sectarianism pressions are peculiarly misleading. They seem and denominational rivalry. to imply that Christianity and other religions Our Japan Mission in no way controls or dihave at their core the essentials of this "universal rects the Kumiai churches and has no power to and absolute religion"; and that they differ from transform them. When, many years ago, there each other only in the form in which they express was a hopeful movement toward union of the this or in the degree of "clarity and certainty" Kumiai body with another, most of the mission which they achieve in their expression of this favored it but our Japanese brethren rejected.it common element…. The fundamental differences because it involved giving up a custom, not (between Christianity and other religions) are learned from the missionaries, which they re- garded as important. Although there seems to not clearly defined…. be little prospect of organic unity there is hearty Christianity and the other religions are not fellowship and cooperation between the various sufficiently in agreement in their fundamental denominations. doctrines about God and human life. The non- Christian religion still stands for much which is *** a serious obstacle to all religion. . . . After all, DR. A. D. WOODWORTH, of Tokyo, wrote: Christianity has much more in common with the To some of us it [the Report] is "another forces of our common world culture-science, Gospel" which neither Jesus taught nor Paul modern education, the spirit of democracy, the preached. . . . It may be that some are seeking passion for social justice-than it has with the truth by the philosophic route, but we think we
MISSIONARY REACTIONS TO "RE-THINKING MISSIONS"
have found it by faith in Jesus Christ…. If Jesus Christianity to a religion which is only relatively was the divine Son of God, as the Scriptures more adequate than others…. We, the Oriental teach, then it is my business to be just as broad religions, would prefer to struggle manfully to as He was and just as narrow. determine which is truth; we would prefer to *** decide the issue of the final truth in the combat of principle…. Now this group of American mis- The REV. FRANK CARY, of Otaru, Hokkaido, sionaries has declared an armistice in this battle Japan, writes: of truth and is trying to open missionary work on such a so-called new principle with worldly The Laymen's Inquiry Report has been like a methods. We cannot welcome them at all, not mustard gas or tear bomb to many of the mis- only that, but we express our regret for their sionaries. I can see that it is going to hurt giving elusive obscurity. to mission causes on the part of those of liberal mind (theologically) who have been waiting for Editorial in a Japanese (non-Chrisan excuse. Perhaps most of them stopped giving tian) newspaper, Yomisura. before! But it is a great boon-to missions to have a liberal statement flung out for everyone to read *** and mull over. In view of the fact that there are stilI more *** than 60,000,000 non-Christians in Japan we are unwilling to consider any permanent retrench- REV. WILLIAM WOODARD, of the Japan Mission, ment policy in our work, though we are not unbut living in Korea, writes: mindful of the financial difficulties of our Boards…. The Report is positively the most' important event in missions in two decades, if not in the half We appreciate the ·new interest of the home century. . . . The thing that seems to have hurt Church in Oriental history and religions and most is that we have been measured by the ideal realize our responsibility to help interpret the of perfection, and the shortcomings, instead of thought of the East in so far as it contains those being presented quietly to the mission Boards, values such as Jesus said "He came not to destroy have been spread upon the daily news sheets for but to fulfill." At the same time we feel in the the unsympathetic to gloat upon. Oriental religions a distinct lack of (1) a clear *** idea of God, (2) an adequate concept of person- ality and its eternal values, (3) a redeeming If ever the term "epoch making" was deserved by a book, "Re-Thinking Missions" should be that power from a sinful life, and (4) a developed conbook. . . . If its principal recommendations are science regarding social responsibility-all of put into effect, it will cause a resurrection in the which the Christian message does supply. moribund Church both abroad and at home…. The missionary needs, as never before, to pre- I cannot say that I agree with every statement in sent Jesus Christ witHout certain historical ac- cretions which through centuries have gathered the book…. But the Commission itself, being a super- around him and which may not be adaptable to efficient human agency, seems at some points to Japanese psychology, and to have an intelligent have forgotten that God should have anything to and definite and joyous assurance of what is es- sential in Christian faith and teaching and to do with missions. demonstrate the simple Christian life in daily work and sacrificial living. WM. M. VORIES, Omi Mission, Japan. Resolution of the Federated Council of * * tI< Japan.
We in Japan have been rather embarrassed be- *** cause the advanced Report of the Commission's Findings was released to the press before it was Close perusal shows the book to be distressing, published through proper official channels. As a disappointing, sadly lacking in initiative, and enresult newspapers have attached news values to it tirely devoid of any worthwhile information. with strong emphasis and sensational headlines. On the other side there is such alarming ig- The REV. A. KIRA EBISAWA, General norance shown of conditions in this country that Secretary of the National Christian one wonders if what the Bishop of India said does Council of Japan. not apply all round-"a visitors' book" he called View of a Non-Christian Japanese it. We are sadly familiar with that class. For an example of the incompetency of the The American Christians represented by the Commission to judge conditions in Japan, read Appraisers have forgotten the finality of Chris- the Report under the heading "Rural Church"
tianity. They have lost the sense of the super- (especially on page 101) where New England and natural, revealed religion, and have degraded Massachusetts are given as examples to follow.
Think of Massachusetts with its wonderful or- From Presbyterians in Other Fields ganization of men and money, its comparative sparsely populated area; then turn to Japan with The results won by the life blood of missiona rural population of forty millions raising two aries who went forth in obedience to the Lord and three crops a year; people working twelve to to whom they consecrated their lives, would never fourteen hours a day; mothers with their babies have been won by such men and women as the on their back toiling with the husband from early Appraisers recommend that we send forth today, morn to late evening; read again the advice about because the Gospel they would have us teach is "productivity of the soil, etc." and you under- not the Gospel which is "the power of God unto stand this Commission either did not study rural salvation." … To have a volume published ("Reconditions in Japan, which indeed is so, or else Thinking Missions") to teach the Church how to the schoolboy could have done better…. carryon her divine mission, say that we must stop believing in "the superstition of prayer"- There is also a very dangerous side to the Re- that is too much…. Any criticism of the methport. Christianity must be boiled down, must be ods and teachings of Christ should be thrown out taught only as a means of world culture and its of court. ability to attract the man in the street. There is no finality about the ideal religion, it must be PROF. R. F. LEMINGTON, Campinas, synthetic. Christianity must cease its attempt to Brazil. control, men of all faiths must unite in a common quest, and by implication the Incarnation, Resur- *** rection, and Atonement must be thrown to the scrapheap…. The laymen have tried to be fair … they have revealed some sore spots, known to us all the The REV. R. W. ANDREWS, of Tochigi time…. On the other hand, there are aspects of Machi, Japan, in The Living Church. the Report which arouse decided protest…. One does not get a very clear impression as to just *** what the Appraisers regard as Christianity, but it is clear that they think it should not be pre- Some Korean Mission Comments sented as final and should fraternize with other faiths…. Such eclecticism has always been ster- If Christianity is anything it is distinctive and ile…. One can appreciate the efforts of other reto throw it into the melting-pot with all other re- ligions to know God and still assert with conligions and take up and preach the resulting mix- fidence and without bigotry that Jesus Christ is ture would be to preach another gospel which the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no man would be no gospel at all. We would not be in- cometh to the Father but by Him. terested to proclaim such a religion. It takes all the power of the pure Gospel to pull men out of DR. PAUL BURGESS, Guatemala, C. A. the pit into which they have fallen. A diluted mixture might have some cultural strength and *** promote international goodwill but the drawing power of the Cross of Christ would be enervated I have just come from conducting a meeting at to the point of impotence. Massin Institute, an outgrowth of Silliman In- stitute (Philippine Islands). In the w.eek I was C. F. BERNHEISEL, Presbyterian Mission, there 52 stood up to confess their faith in Christ Pyengyang, Korea. in a vital way. I take it from the Appraisal Re- port that I should not urge the Filipinos to defi- *** nitely align themselves with Christ so that they may serve the Master in the finest and truest The thing that has hurt us most out here is the way. releasing of the radical sections of the Report to foreign language newspapers in the Far East. DR. Roy H. BROWN, President of Silli- One would hate to say that this was done with man Institute, Dumaguete, P. I. intention of discrediting missionaries in the eyes of governments and the general public of Eastern * * countries, but that was the natural result, if the Our endeavor is all too human on the mission Report was taken seriously, as it no doubt was by those out here who dislike all our evangelistic fields, as elsewhere, but when the power of God work…. We are not here merely to make living conditions better, though we are glad to do all we in Christ Jesus our Lord is revealed on the forcan, but we are here because we believe that men are desperately in need of the saving power of eign field, it is as effective as in the life of a Jesus Christ, both for this life and the next. "river rat" in New York. … I've seen and pre- DR. WM. M. BLAIR, Pyengyang, Korea. scribed for more than 300,000 patients in Persia and have performed more than 20,000 surgical operations, but this effort is worthless without Christ, both in my life and in the lives of others.
H. P. PACKARD, M.D., F.A.C.S., Ker- manshah, Persia.
IN KENGMA
Mr. Gowman, China Inland Mission, and Dorothy Buker stand in center. On the right are bamboo baskets, and baked earthen pots, much used in this country.
Pictures of the Campaign in Burma By the REV. R. B. BUKER, Loimwe, Kengtung State, Burma ~- Missionary of the American Baptist Missionary Society MISSIONARY work may well be likened to Picture I a campaign that takes years and decades to complete. Those who take the lead gain Here is a Lahu farmer, between forty and fifty valuable experiences for those who follow. Since years of age, and partiCUlarly well-to-do for a I belong to the younger group I cannot speak as Lahu. Besides his rice fields he owns ten or a an experienced general. In the next two or three dozen water buffaloes. He has three brothers and decades new ways of advance must be devised as one sister. One brother, who has returned from many formerly effective methods have lost much advanced work in Lower Burma, is now a teacher of their effectiveness. Some hopeful suggestions in our central school. Another brother is taking have been weighed and found wanting. The un- advanced work in lower Burma. The family is derbrush has been cleared and we thank the outstanding for their Christian witness among the unflinching laborers who have done pioneer work. Lahu. Last summer this elder brother developed We survey conditions, the lay of the land, the most some abdominal trouble and after two weeks of likely lines of procedure. But we must be most treatment the doctor held out hope of a slow recareful to keep that Banner of the Gospel, which covery. has waved so steadily in the hands of our fathers, unsullied by stains. "By faith they . . ." One day this Lahu farmer asked permission to return home to sell a buffalo or two to provide the funds for the prolonged medical treatment. A My own work has fortunately been associated few weeks later I received this report: The Lahu with one of the mass movements or the front line. man went home and talked with some heathen I have also followed the surrounding work mainly Raws who persuaded him to try some of their in Burma and generally in China and India. "evil spirit ways" to cure his trouble. He seemed [379 ]
to feel a slight improvement and was persuaded The next Sunday came but no Wa boys were in to call in a Shan witch doctor. This "doctor's" church. first prescription was "Throwaway all your new Christian doctrines and put up a nat altar; per- "Why do you not come to church?" I asked. form all the old heathen witcheries that I pre- "There are no places for us to sit where we will scribe." be inconspicuous," was the reply. That these boys did not attend the Christian The sick man followed directions. "If any of service did not worry me so much as did their my relatives come to stop me from doing this, I evident lack of a desire to worship. Why was not shall shoot them with poisoned arrows," said the the Gospel which they professed sufficient to out- Lahu man as he shook his cross-bow. weigh superficial reasonings and bring them to church for the love and joy of it? Why was not Why did not this Lahu farmer have sufficient the Gospel which the Lahu school boys professed faith in Christ to uphold him in the hour of trial? sufficient to insure a welcome to workers with hair unkempt, boys of another race? Is not the Gospel Picture II of Christ a sufficient bond to make all Christians happy and at home together? A Shan public-works official, about thirty years of age, because of exceptional educational attain- Picture IV ments has risen to a high position in government employ. He is a Buddhist, and has carefully A Chinese who could read and write, and was studied the claims of Christianity. far and above the average Chinese of this area in training and ability, became a Christian. A year As we sat before my open fire he said, "I be- later he had to be urged each Sunday to attend lieve in Jesus Christ; I believe He is the Son of church worship. We noticed that deceit and lies God; I believe He saves men from sin." were common in his life. "Why did you become a Christian?" we asked. As he rose to go I said, "When will you step out and publicly take Christ for your Saviour. When "The Christian way is very good," he replied, will you give up Buddhism?" "I want very good way, so I glad to be Christian."
"Wait a little," he replied, "I want to think If he were speaking with, a New Testament about it a little more." background this might seem to be a fine testimony. But alas, he has been brought up in Confucianism. If I were swimming in a sea of destruction and Christianity to him is merely a few sets of rules daily found myself getting weaker, what would and ideas to add to his vast store. How can I keep me from grasping at the first opportunity cause him to see the vitality in the Way of Christ? for deliverance? There must be something under the surface that holds this man. Picture V A few days later a group of us went to this A Hindu Punjab trader between forty and fifty man's home for a chat before dinner. His Bud- years of age, is a most enthusiastic salesman. dhist wife, a relative of the Shan royalty, was a "By all means, fair or foul make a sale, make gracious hostess though she could not speak a money" is his short creed of life. Once at the cost word of English. I was the only one in the party of his standing among his friends, and with who did not participate in the whiskeys and sodas. threats against his life, he entertained Sadhu Aside from our host we were all "Christians." Sundar Singh. Now he is out on the frontiers of On little things like this depends this Buddhist's civilization, and for some months has been spendpresent position in society and in his official posi- ing an hour each morning with the Bible. It has tion. How could I present the Gospel in such a its effect. He has become an able colporteur for way as to make this Shan man happy to cut the the Word of God among his friends. One woman ties that bind him to Buddhism, brave the ridi- has been accepted and baptized through the incule, and follow Christ? fluence he has set up with his Bible work. He is the only qualified worker for the increasing num- Picture III bers of Indians in the vicinity. He comes and asks for baptism. He is most regular at the serv- A group of Wa boys in their teens were work- ices, and begs to be taken into the membership. ing for me on the Lahu Central School Compound. Our reply is: When Sunday came they did not attend church though they were all Christians from the Wa Mass "We want to do this but what about your liquor Movement. selling business?"
"Why do you not to come to church?" was the "Yes, I know," he answers, "but a man must word sent by a trusted messenger. live and this is the only business that keeps my head above water. Besides Christians (the offi- "Our hair is not cut and we are ashamed to come," was the reply.
School boys are very particular about the neat appearance of their heads. That afternoon some of the Wa boys were at church.
PICTURES OF THE CAMPAIGN IN BURMA
cials) buy this liquor and in Europe Christians sell it. Why cannot I?"
Why does not our Christian Gospel so impress this Chinese that he is willing to abandon all else in order that he might possess this priceless Treasure, whatever the cost?
Picture VI A Lahu young man over twenty years of age was my friend and companion. For three years I have worked, traveled, played with him, and loved him. A steadier character, more reliable in carrying out his duties, I have not met in Lahu land. We have plans for his future training. Then the ubiquitous problem of the need of a wife took possession of his imagination. It did not work in what we would consider a rational way. He slipped his leash as it were. So far as the girl was concerned his liberties were mild, but his views of life became colored and warped. No longer does he desire to prepare for a life of exceptional service. He is ready to turn back to the leeks and garlic of Egypt. Why, Oh why, could not this glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ be a rudder and an anchor to this brother's soul in this storm that beats on every young man?
*** NATIVE BOYS As we look at these six pictures many will say, Many missionaries today share the Gospel with "These cases are exceptions to the general condi- the folks of the country where they are working, tions among our native Christians." But these as a messenger might give the news that a new experiences were all in the last month. Every king had been proclaimed over the land. We do month of every year throws pictures like this on not make real the significance of the Message by the screen of my life. We cannot call these cases living before the people the life the new king "exceptional." would have his subjects live.
Someone may say, "Yes, we have the same kind Consider two definite phases of this missionof problems in America." True, but that is to beg ary's relation to the folk of the land. the question. Whether in America or in Asia, if the problem exists, it should be solved. Mission Look at the pictures of the two houses printed problems among these other races are after all here. The one is the missionary's home, the other the same as among Christians at home. Human is the house of a villager on this frontier. When nature and temptations and trials are the same the missionary goes to call on one of his parishthe world over. But praise God, so is He under ioners, he nearly falls off and through the prewhose banner we are serving. carious steps of the native house. He mushes his solar-topee into one of the rafters. When he re- What are we going to do about it? The Mes- moves his topee he gets a smart crack on the top sage that we present is very important. But by of the head as he passes through the low door. the time one has learned a new language, and has In the dusky interior he looks for a place to sit. come into contact with new modes of thought any Around the fire are some two inch high "seats" message must first be boiled down into very simple but when he tries to sit he loses his balance. statements. Modernistic s tat e men t s – when Finally, all out of gear mentally, he endeavors to boiled down to a subject, verb, and object-are carryon a coherent conversation. So one might not a convincing Gospel. Those who lack convic- go on; in every detail of the visit the new missiontion concerning the Gospel of Christ and His atonement soon find themselves swallowed up in committee work and social service. The Message given on these frontier lines must ring true to the Bible, and must be presented in a way that will bring its life-giving power to these thirsty, needy folks.
ary feels, looks and acts out of joint. The inmates A missionary is ready to set out on tour in the of the house sit oddly silent while he is present jungle. On his head is a solar-topee, the cheapest though he heard a lot of friendly jabbering before costing the wages of a man for ten days in Kenghe arrived. Bumping and slipping he returns to tung State; better topees cost a month's wages. the outside world. Kahki shirt, kahki coat, kahki trousers cost about two months' wages. Those leather puttees, a Turn the picture around. The native parish- never ending source of wonder to the villages, cost ioner decides to pay a call on the missionary. He about twenty days' labor, and good hiking shoes reaches the house and the stone steps cause a feel- would take another month of which to buy. Being of awe at the grandeur of the place. As he side the missionary we see a pony, the price of slowly mounts these steps his head comes on a which is six months of work, and two months' level with the glass window. It is closed but he wages more for the saddle. can see right through it. Such a marvel demands investigation and he touches it with his finger, Is it to be wondered at ·that the villager, who leaving a huge smudge. Then the visitor creeps sees this man with his personal traveling equipslowly across the porch, wondering if he has gone ment equal to a year's wages for the better class as far as he should. The missionary comes out- villager, thinks that the missionary has one hand side and discovers him waiting patiently; invites in a river of gold? Moreover, the bundles and him to come in through the mysterious door and boxes in the background contain the traveler's stands or sits quickly on the edge of the room. It blankets, enough to keep a hill-family of six warm is almost unheard of for one person to have the in the coldest weather; a bed, actually carried around and put up each night for him; a pony A HOME OF A NATIVE OF KENGTUNG STATE, BURMA load of special food for this one man to eat; an- other box or two of books; spare clothes, and courage to come alone from his or her village what not. Then consider the servants, a pony home to the dwelling place of the missionary. boy, a cook, and a private carrier to help with The missionary waits for the guest to tell his making camp. Then a tent is put up each night business but is met by complete silence. The visi- for this man to sleep in. tor is too engrossed in looking at the pictures on the wall, the chairs, tables, couches, etc. Table Another picture is that of a villager ready to runners, couch covers are gingerly fingered by ad- start on a journey of two weeks or more. On his miring hands. Varnished wood work is caressed head is a dilapidated slouch hat or a cloth turban. with incoherent expressions. He seems to be A jacket of blue home-spun, and trousers of the thinking, "This man tells of a place called heaven same cloth, cover his body. Usually he has nothwhere everything is wonderful and now he is ing on his feet, unless he is fortunate enough to bringing a part of heaven down here to show us have a pair of cloth sandals. Over one shoulder about it." is swung a dah, or long knife, and on one end of a pole over his shoulder is a cloth bag which holds Great chasms and terrible barriers exist be- a couple of quarts of uncooked rice, a few vegetween the missionary and his would-be learner. tables and two small cooking utensils. On the How many, many times has the missionary been other end of the pole is one blanket, a change of through this ordeal with a heart burning to ex- clothing and any other odds and ends. The whole plain the Love, the Suffering, the Joy, the Victory equipment has a value that does not exceed one of a life with Christ. Barriers such as these pre- month's labor. vent our voice from being heard. Is it any wonder that after a night's visit at a Let me describe two more pictures to illustrate village, as the missionary pushes on, he wonders the same point. if this village will understand the love of God any better for his visit. To be sure the old men agreed after the service to all that was said, but no "con- viction" was written on their faces.
Our modes of living and traveling are barriers too many, too forboding for us to have heart fel- lowship. We want to share, we need to share, we must share this Gospel with them. But such phys- ical barriers prevent the simple humble minds of these unprivileged folks from understanding what we are striving to do? Do we hinder the Holy Spirit by our sophistication?
Our marvelous mission institutions, buttressed by hospitals and schools and wonderful buildings,
prayer, unending prayer. The groups of a dozen or more are the easiest to use, but a group of two can do this with the proper amount of prayer and with the help of the Holy Spirit. This Life is "caught and not taught." Our work has been far too much along the teaching· ways, regardless whether or not the Life had been caught. After Life has been "caught" then we must "teach.'.'
Our mistake has been in supposing that those who mentally learn these things had received "salvation." Once they catch the real Life in this Gospel, the abiding presence of Christ Himself, then indeed the anchor, the guide, the hope is as- HOME OF A MISSIONARY IN KENGTUNG STATE, BURMA sured. Third, keep every Christian, new and old, at have done much good. But this good has been for work. He or she must be radiating this joy and the most part in proportion as individuals have love of Christ to others. Gospel Teams pr.,vide risen toward our standards of life. Our native a universal opportunity such as no other method teachers and preachers, because of superior train- so far has demonstrated. After a Christian has ing and circumstances often tend to develop a new been with the Gospel Teams, giving his or her type of caste which makes it difficult to share the testimony a few times, the habit of evangelism Gospel in all its contents with the rest of the folks. should have been started and then at or under This is probably due to their inherent oriental every condition, witnessing for Christ will be a nature, and to their desire to follow in our foot- habit. steps. These three suggestions check with the ap- How are we going to share the Gospel with proved methods of science and psychology. But those of the six pictures given in the first of this article? These people belong to the groups who cannot hope fully to adopt our ways and modes of living. What can we do to vindicate the fact that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is sufficient to act as the rudder, the hope, the power to meet any and every trouble, doubt and need of life? .
I can only suggest possibilities. These sugges- tions have been tried out and found workable.
First, we occidentals must become within rea- sonable limits, orientals along materia.} lines. In some places it will be most desirable to dress in the costumes of the country. In some places our homes should be similar to their homes. We must SCHO'JL BUIl,DING try to approximate living conditions of the groups Three rooms, made under supervision of Mr. Buker, 60 feet by for whom we work. In this way the bridge of 24 feet; tile roof; lime plaster walls on bamboo aproach for social intercourse back and forth best of all they check with the words and life of will be made. At present we have to jump across, Christ and the early apostles. They fulfil the last there is no bridge. command of Jesus; "Go and make disciples."
Second, we must live a life of love and joy that of itself invites sharing. Traveling, at home, in The story is told of Gordon Maxwell, mission- public, in meetings, in private, we must live as ary to India, that he went to a Hindu Pundit and though we honestly believed that our Way of Life asked him if he would teach him the language.
is the only true Way and a gloriously happy, love- The Hindu replied: ful, victorious Way. Group evangelism, like the "N0, Sahib, I will not teach you my language.
Gospel Teams, is a very good illustration of a very You would make me a Christian."
successful method. Groups radiating this joy of Gordon Maxwell replied: "You misunderstand Christian life help to strengthen the weaker souls me. I am simply asking you to teach me your already in the walk of Life, and to bring forward language."
those who decide to follow the new Way. The Hindu 'replied again: "N0, Sahib, I will The main cornerstone of all this radiation of not teach you. No man can live with you and not the Gospel of Joy and Love in Christ Jesus is become a Christian."
A Venture in Christian
The Story of Achievement in Boulder City By the REV. E. D. KOHLSTEDT, D.D., Philadelphia Secretary of the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension, Methodist Episcopal Church W ASHINGTON'S Birthday, February 22, church membership of 130 and a church school 1933, witnessed an interdenominational enrollment of 322, is practically assured. achievement of far-reaching significance A Cooperative Religious and Social Center to H~me Missions: a convincing exhibit of pos- Committee was organized in Boulder City on sibilities in Christian cooperation. With Secre- March 2, 1931. By October 1, general plans and tary W. R. King of the Home Missions Council, policies had been agreed upon, definite procedures Pastor Thomas E. Stevenson and several local outlined, a $3,900 budget for all purposes adopted, denominational representatives an interdenominational pastor it was my priceless privilege, secured, and the work was that memorable day, to par- under way with the good will ticipate in the dedication of and sympathetic support of all our attractive Grace Commu- concerned. During the first nity church in Boulder City, year, inadequate social service Nevada, most of whose 6,000 facilities and unsatisfactory people are directly or indirect- housing provisions for worship ly identified with the Hoover and church school exercises, Dam project. Despite the hampered the pastor's pro- efforts of extremist groups to gram. However, notwith- secure a foothold that would standing the characteristic have created competitive con- handicaps that hinder the ditions, Boulder City has only stabilization of pioneer proj- three other churches: as might ects, essential adaptations en- be expected, a Roman Catholic sured measurable progress: church; also, a modest Mormon Sunday services were held in church; and a struggling little one corner of the Anderson Episcopal church, thrust into Mess Hall, a courtesy that was that situation by an indi~idu- graciously granted; a varied alistic administrator over the schedule of helpful social and joint protest of several de- boy scout activities was fos- nominational home missionary tered in accessible dormitories secretaries, who had hoped for and homes, as well as out the establishment of a United under starry skies.
Protestantism in Boulder. "PARSON TOM" The Rev. Thomas E. Steven- Grace Community church is son, affectionately known as a well equipped, fully financed interdenomina- "Parson Tom" throughout Boulder City's social tional project, representing a $10,000 property strata, has become a confidential counselor to all investment of which $3,000 was contributed by classes, from the "graveyard shift" muck worker Boulder City people, sponsored and maintained to prominent officials of the six companies that by the following seven home missionary agencies: have contracted with the Federal Government to Baptist, Congregational, Disciples of Christ, build Hoover Dam. Girls and boys bring their Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian U. S. A., personal problems to this big-hearted bachelor United Presbyterian and United Brethren. brother. During a brief period of fellowship in his Launched less than three years ago, located in modest bungalow home on dedication day, some the heart of a typical twentieth century city, the children actually called with a stray cat they had future of this "going concern," with a charter found, soliciting the advice of "Parson Tom" con- [384 ] cerning its disposition and finally urged him to the practice of infant baptism, there was no criticism adopt the forlorn kitten. With his background of those who do and availed themselves of the opporof World War religious work, plus a ten-year tunity to dedicate their children to Christ. fruitful pastorate in Burbank, California, where he specialized in youthful activities, it is safe to An Easter Cantata, entitled "Victory," rendered by assume that under this man's constructive lead- our chorus under the leadership of Mr. O. G. Patch, made a memorable evening service. A capacity audience of 429 crowded the church and many more, unable to get in, clustered around the building. Every department of work is prospering. The challenge of this great group, many of them chil- dren, makes me very thoughtful.
Seven Christian agencies and six commer- cial companies are engaged in an unprece- dented, tremendously significant twofold task at Hoover Dam and in Boulder City: the conservation of natural resources and the enrichment of human life. Both groups are positively committed to a cooperative program in the achievement of destiny de- termining objectives; interlocking interests are being capitalized ·to the decided advan- tage of related organizational units. The BOULDER CITY. NEVADA implications are prophetic of future service The capital of the Builders of the Hoover Dam possibilities in industry, as well as in the realm of religion, where interdenominational ership our Boulder City Interdenominational home missionary activities are increasing with Project, with its current budget of $3,200, will remarkable rapidity. This Boulder City and become self-supporting in a few years. . Hoover Dam dual experiment in Christian and A Recent Boulder City Pastoral Report shows commercial cooperation will be watched with in- SUbstantial progress in the development of our terest by thoughtful observers, and deserves to Grace Community church program. The follow- be studied by Christian leaders and statesmen.
ing items, culled from the Rev. Thomas E. Steven- Church comity pronouncements and practices son's April 19, 1933, summary statement, are are much more effective and continuous than par- suggestive: tially informed critics of Home Missions can con- A Christian Endeavor Society, with an enrollment ceive. Denominational board secretaries, with of twenty-seven, was organized among our high school age young people three weeks ago. The meetings are well attended.
Our Women's Bible Class overcrowded the church kitchen, so it was divided and we organ- ized a Young Matron',s Bible Class, with a mem- bership of forty interested women.
Passion Week was featured by the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper on Thursday evening, an impressive service with one hundred partici- pants. Several young people joined the church and three of my finest "Comrade Club" boys were baptized.
The Easter Sunrise Service (5: 30 a. m.) was a community matter. Only the Episcopalian church was unable to cooperate. The Roman Catholic church was represented by a layman who read the Scripture lesson. A Later Day GRACE COMMUNITY CHURCH, BOULDER CITY, NEVADA Saints' octette furnished ,special music and Elder Wortley spoke. The Rev. Sumner Reynolds of the very few exceptions, whole-heartedly endorse the Las Vegas Methodist Episcopal church, brought the Easter message. principle and practice of Christian cooperation. Pending proposals contemplate numerous inter- Twenty-four children were baptized at the Easter denomination'al project and personnel readjust- Sunday forenoon service. I know of nothing that ments in the interest of economy and efficiency; more effectively revealed the fine spirit of this church.
While many of our people do not personally approve scores of merger possibilities are under consider-
ation; and aggressive advances on organized nation, readiness to recognize and appreciate the Christianity's entire administrative and cultural spiritual assets of kindred agencies, and a sufront are planned. Unfaltering faith in the real- preme purpose to "seek first the Kingdom of God ity of moral and spiritual values, utter consecra- and His righteousness" constitute unalterable imtion to the task of developing a truly Christian peratives to genuine Christian progress.
Presbyterian Foreign Missions Important Action at the General Assembly I NTENSE interest centered about the report of .the Board to inquire carefully into the special fitness the standing Committee on Foreign Missions of all such candidates for their peculiar responsibility. . at the 145th General Assembly of the Presby- 2. Estimate of the Board of Foreign Missions terian Church, U. S. A., held in Columbus, Ohio The General Assembly is convinced that the work of (May 25-29), of which Dr. John McDowell was Dr. Robert E. Speer, our Senior Secretary, and his elected Moderator. The question of the attitude associates, and also the work of the missionaries in of the Presbyterian Church towards the Lay- the various foreign fields as a whole, deserves the men's Inquiry and related matters appeared to be whole-hearted, unequivocal, enthusiastic and affection- the one debatable issue. ate commendation of the church at large. We know Commissioners, as well as the pastors, in gen- that Dr. Speer stands absolutely true to the historic eral, had been provided with copies of a publica- doctrinal position of the Presbyterian Church, and we would be remiss if we did not testify to our recognition tion which contained an extended criticism of the that his entire life bears testimony to his supreme Board of Foreign Missions, its policies and its effort to extend the Gospel to humanity across the personnel. Some criticisms completely overshot· world. the mark and produced a reaction of protest. The Presbytery of Philadelphia overtured the As- The Assembly also expresses its thorough confidence sembly to elect only "orthodox" persons to mem- in the members of the Board of Foreign Missions and its belief that they have steadfastly endeavored, and bership and to insure "unswerving faithfulness" are endeavoring by every means within their power, in its candidates for missionary services and to support the secretaries and the missionaries of the warned of the "danger that lurks in union enter- Board in the Gospel enterprise.
prises." The larger majority of presbyteries, 3. The "Commission of Appraisal" of the "Laymen's however, commended the Board for its pro- Inquiry After One Hundred Years" nouncements and expressed warm confidence in its secretaries. The standing Committee on For- The General Assembly recognizes the profound ineign Missions, of which the Reverend Herbert terest in the foreign missions enterprise which is evi- Booth Smith, pastor of the Emmanuel church, denced in the painstaking and far-reaching enquiry, Los Angeles, was the chairman, presented a re- the results of which are stated in the volume entitled port which read (in part) as follows: "Re-Thinking Missions." The practical suggestions in- corporated in that volume have been considered by the After careful consideration of the Overtures pre- Board of Foreign Missions. The General Assembly sented, we submit the following recommendations as is content to leave the application of these suggestions the actions which we believe should be taken by this with the Board. The Assembly does, however, de-fi- General Assembly: nitely repudiate any and all theological statements 1. Doctrinal Statement and implications in that volume which are not in es- sential agreement with the doctrinal position of the The General Assembly reaffirms its loyal and com- Church. The Assembly cannot see its way clear to plete adherence to the doctrinal standards of the Pres- approve a complete centralized administration of byterian Church. We declare our belief that while Protestant foreign mission work.
certain truths may be found in other religions, com- 4. Method of Expressing Criticism plete and final truth is to be found in Jesus Christ alone through the religion of which He is the center. The General Assembly recognizes the right of any We recognize the necessity laid upon the Church as and all individuals in the Church to present criticisms His visible representative upon earth to bring His full of the program and work of any and all individuals or Gospel to the whole world as the final hope of men. agencies- which represent the Church in her various The Assembly lays upon the Presbyteries the duty enterprises. The Assembly, however, deplores the dis- of the most careful consideration .of the doctrinal posi- semination of propaganda calculated to break down tion of candidates ordained and presented to the Board faith in the sincerity of such representatives.
for missionary service, and at the same time instructs The Assembly would remind every constituent of
AT THE UNITED BRETHREN CONFERENCE
the Church that there are orderly methods of proce- into an ovation, the Assembly spontaneously risdure whereby through the established church courts ing to its feet and singing the hymn, "Blest Be all such representations ought to be made. The As- the Tie That Binds." Dr. Speer's address strongsembly disapproves all methods of approach which ly stirred the Assembly. would contravene such orderly methods, but would remind the Church that both in the common law of The irreconcilable editor of the periodical the land and certainly in Christian charity, a man which published the main attack on the Foreign must be held innocent until he is proven guilty of any Board afterwards issued a statement announcing charge; and that suspicion of motives is not adequate the formation of an independent Board of Forevidence against any man and certainly ought not to eign Missions, "by Bible believing Christians to be used in the Christian Church. promote truly Biblical and truly Presbyterian Mission work." This new Board seems to be in- 5. The Church's Responsibility Today tended to be a distributing agency for designated gifts to be sent only to "sound missionaries now The General Assembly recognizes that the need of in the field." The question arose whether the setthe world is supremely great and that the general un- ting up of such an independent organization by rest and flux of conditions demands supreme effort. pastors in the Church might not violate their or- The Assembly is highly gratified to have received many dination vows to seek the peace and unity of the earnest and whole-hearted commendations of the work Church. Without doubt, while there may be some of the Board, these commendations coming from prac- few Presbyterian missionaries who do not now tically every section of the Church. We, therefore, ap- stand four-square for the teachings of the Bible peal with all the power at our command for a loyal as accepted and interpreted by the Presbyterian sacrificial support of the work of foreign missions as Church, nevertheless their number is small and carried on by our Presbyterian Board. the missionaries as a whole stand firmly for the full authority and inspiration of the Scriptures The passages referring to the secretaries, the and the necessity of belief in the atoning work of confidence of the Church in the Board, and the de- Christ for personal salvation. The work of Presliverances of the Board with reference to the Lay- byterian missions is remarkable and reveals the men's Inquiry were vigorously applauded by the stamp of God's approval, as is witnessed by the Assembly. It was obvious that a minority report, reiterating criticism and offering nominees for the Board had very slight support. The majority report was carried overwhelmingly. When Dr. spiritual ingatherings and development of the Robert E. Speer rose to present the interpreta- Church in Korea, West Africa, Miraj (India), tion of the year's work, the applause developed North China, Persia and other missions.
. At the United Brethren Conference By DR. S. G. ZIEGLER General Secretary, Foreign Mission Society T HE quadrennial General Conference of the For the protection of the family by the single stand- United Brethren in Christ met in Akron, ard of purity, uniform marriage and divorce laws, and Ohio, .May 9-17. Growth in membership adequate housing. was reported as two and a half per cent, with a net gain of sixty-seven per cent in the past three For the abolition of child labor. decades. During that same period the average For the distribution of the products of industry as contribution per member has grown from $8.56 to eliminate extreme poverty and extreme wealth. to $15.58 for local expenses and benevolences, For social and economic planning that shall alleviate with 21,541 tithers. and tend to eliminate unemployment. For economic justice to the farmer that will provide The Home and Foreign Mission Departments for farm families and communities security and culyet carry almost a full staff of workers, but pres- tural opportunities. ent financial conditions threaten the detention of For the building of an economic order that is not missionaries now home on furlough. founded on the acquisitive instinct and the profit mo- tive, but on the service motive and the instinct of love. At a stirring missionary rally some thirty rep- For the changing of the hearts of men to fit them to resentatives from the home and foreign fields become citizens of this new Christian economic order. appeared on the platform. One field reported a We believe that war is contrary to the spirit of sixteen per cent growth in its work and several Christ and the Gospel of Love and Brotherhood which showed large progress in self-support. we profess. . . . .. We hold, therefore, that a citizen's loyalty to his country should not be based upon his The conference made the following declarations: willingness to bear arms contrary to his conscience or to take part in war as a combatant contrary to his We stand for equal rights and complete justice for moral convictions. all men in all stations of life.
Ways of
crested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home s. EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO ~=I==================—I~ OUR METHODS KALEIDO- jective – full Christian training (Farrington-Peery), and a club SCOPE for each child. At the first meet- ing half the children were given picture, Copping's "Hope of the It is the aim of this depart- bits torn from American news- World," a postcard size copy of ment to provide usable, attested papers and the other half bits in this painting being the memberplans for every line of church foreign tongues. Each was told missionary activity. Turn our to read aloud her clipping, ship card and a large framed kaleidoscope this month and see whether she could or not, and in copy the center of interest in the how many suggestions you can this way the "foreign" and "do- room. This club room is a spefind to meet your need for a more mestic" groups located their cial delight and affords opporeffective activation of the Great members, each group retiring to tunity not only for decoration Commission. a different corner of the room, which became its "field" there- with home touches such as cur- Laying the Foundations with after. In each group two of the tains and plants, but with pic- oldest girls were chosen to be re- tures, posters (affixed with the Children spectively "guide" and "assistant clamps to wires strung along the guide." The guide was made re- walls so they may be readily By FLORENCE GORDON sponsible for attendance, atten- tion and a certain amount of changed from time to time), and Grove Reformed Church, supervised instruction in her shelves holding a museum of New Durham, N. J. group, as well as passing on the missionary curios-objects from announcements, gathering up the For a year past a group of opinions and desires, etc. Thus all over the world, many of girls with a difficult age-range- she acquires leadership experi- which come to us by way of the from seven to seventeen – has ence, and the smaller girls-who been meeting voluntarily for al- look up to those of high school five- and ten-cent stores. The most three hours each Friday age – have the benefit of her home mission group decorated afternoon, winter and summer, helpfulness and assistance. A becoming acquainted with folk Christian family atmosphere of one-half, of our room and the forall over the world and truly en- older and younger sister cooper- eign the other. Flags of all lands joying the process. In a delib- ation is the result. add color, the Christian flag in a erate attempt to create in youth prominent place being saluted those friendly attitudes that will During the past year the domean interested, informed mem- mestic group paid especial atten- at each meeting. The club room bers of adult missionary groups tion to the American Indian and was formally dedicated in one of later on, the content and pres- the foreign to the Chinese; but those simple, impressive cereentation of subject matter at the each group was also interested weekly gatherings has had to be in the other's projects and all monies so dear to children, to modified to suit the ages of the united in imaginary trips to bring light, warmth and refreshchildren, methods of enlisting other fields at home and abroad. ment to all who enter. their interest opening up as the When friendly competition was children themselves pointed the employed in missionary games, The club pin is only the fiveway. Experience has shown the etc., it was never between indi- cent button provided by the deprime value of physical activity, viduals, as stars, but always beconstant variety, indirect in- tween groups. nomination, but it is cherished struction through purposeful because it was formally conplay, a certain amount of digni- A MISSIONARY CLUB ferred at an induction ceremony, fied, formal ceremonial, and free participation of all in a con- The boy wants his bunch or after a member had attended at certed, self-directed program. gang: to the girl there is magic least three meetings and had in the very word club; so this is come to appreciate the sig- The wide age-range presented termed a missionary club. It nificance of the watchword, a problem; but since it was a has a club song, "All the World" "Others," and the club promise: condition and not a theory, it "I am Number Three. I will try was made to serve the total ob- [388 ] to put Christ first in my life and other people second, and to think of myself last of all." As the guide brings forward the candi- date to make her promise and receive her pin, those already in- ducted, standing in the form of a cross, renew their own prom- ise, and then all join hands to
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
sing, "Blest Be the Tie That girls, one of the latter serving church perplexed and troubled Binds." as pianist. The motto of the us. Finally we concluded that leader in a children's group most of those who lacked inter- Music, pictures, dramatics, should be never to do anything est in missions were indifferent poetry, etc., are used to enrich herself which she can teach one because they were uninformed the program. Eyegate is so im- of the children to do. upon the subject (despite mis- sionary sermons and Sunday portant that newspapers and All-day meetings were held school lessons) and made very magazines must be searched con- during the summer. Inexpensive little effort to inform themselves. stantly for appropriate pictures trips were taken in the mornings With this in mind we decided to to be mounted on construction and a box luncheon eaten out of present a series of programs that paper and displayed prominently doors, with the regular meeting through the meeting. For a in the church in the afternoon. would make these indifferent Negro program, a spiritual may Some outings were purely rec- members see' the vital, human be learned, or an old English reational; others were trips to ballad for one on the Kentucky an Indian museum, etc. All elements in mission work. Mountaineers. Reading aloud in through the year attempt was made to enlarge the horizons of The plan we used was easy and school is a chore; but in a club the girls by tying up their proved very effective. The meeting girls volunteer eagerly groups to the work of other or- prayer-meeting hour each week, ganizations with world purposes. during the month of January, to read brief poems or clippings. Thus the girls joined in the cur- was our best time for the pres- Above all do they welcome "il- rent project of the Committee on entation of these programs. lustrated" stories, paper dolls or World Friendship among Chilother objects visualizing the ac- dren, sending a portfolio to Early in December, 30 of the China. On the World Day of young people of high school age tion and stories that they may Prayer the special service for act out themselves. Memorizing children was used and plans are were called together. The puris not needed, a few typewritten now laid for a peace observance pose of the meeting was exlines suggesting the speeches. on World Goodwill Day. plained, then each one present Much instruction and all re- NECESSARY INGREDIENTS was asked to impersonate a defiview is given in game form. nite missionary, a native worker Handwork is popular-building Something to do, something to or some other character from foreign homes and villages, look at, something to sing-these one of our mission fields. Each are necessary ingredients of chil- was then given a brief outline of coloring pictures, pasting posters dren's meetings. No one type of of all lands, making paper dolls activity may be maintained too the life of the person he or she in foreign costumes. The older long. Change to another before was to represent and a few facts the child is quite willing; for by descriptive of the country or girls do the more difficult tasks the time he is willing, he is place where his prototype had and help the smaller ones. This weary. At each meeting the aim handwork serves two purposes; is, "something new," nothing lived and worked. This inforfor not only do the girls develop "blue"; and for the "something mation he was asked to learn so a world feeling as they work, but old," the simple rituals gone that he could tell it in his own through regularly will give fa- words and in the first person. the finished products are placed miliarity that adds precious Usually one rehearsal was all in the kindergarten sand table weight to a meaningful cereor used to help decorate for the mony. The pledge of loyalty to that was required. Five or more Sunday school entertainment or the Christian flag, the marching of these characters were used with song into various signifi- each week. They were grouped sent to the tots in day nurseries cant formations to recite the according to the mission field or and hospital wards, thus teach- watchword, purpose, policy and enterprise which' they repreing the essence of missions- promise, the world-friendship sharing. symbolic circle in which the clos- sented. Each was dressed in ing benediction is said – these costume and told his story in five The offering is related to the set the tone for the more in- minutes or less. topic studied, even the collection formal parts of the afternoon and are the parts the club mem- Some of the programs were plate being varied each time. If bers would last relinquish. the offering is to help a little In- presented in an informal mandian girl in school, an Indian Missionary for One Night- ner, the characters sit tin g basket, a paper tepee or a small around among the people and a Plan for Pastors each in a conversational manner Indian cradle may stand under giving his experience, just as a the Christian flag. A Chinese How to arouse and keep alive visitor in one's home might tell tray or a straw shoe suggests a the missionary interest of the Chinese object. An empty milk of his work or travels. There was always special music to suit bottle is mute evidence that hungry children wait for pennies the occasion.
and nickels from the more for- Another year the plan was tunate. varied somewhat. We made ar- When a missionary hymn, a rangements with our missionary headquarters to send us a misnew offertory prayer or a bene- sionary speaker for each of the diction is to be learned, the four meetings during the month. guides are furnished with copies This speaker was to bring a of the words and teach their
message along human interest Where rewards at the end of your Mission Society of the VVorld was journey await. and inspirational lines, and was laid out in imagination upon a in no way to discuss the money (Business and Refreshments.) table, a section cut off for the side of missions. However, in Scrap Book Contest. Mrs. A. portion of it in this country, this order that the financial side of divided into branches (the demthe question should not be over- T. Mac Donel, of Lima, Ohio, onstration being given by the looked, we planned as a part of tells of the interest aroused by Cincinnati Branch), and the each program a ten-minute pag- running a contest on scrap books eant. This was given before the covering Indian pictures, items, branches into auxiliaries func- etc., the judges being selected tioning in individual churches. speaker delivered his address from outside the church (from The part played by each branch and dealt with the financing of the staff of the public library) is so small that it might have to the particular field to be dis- and the points being as follows: be put under the microscope to cussed. The preparation of the pageants gave us fUrther oppor- 1. Most interesting. become visible; but even one 2. Neatest. germ-infested part or one small tunity to enlist and hold the in- 3. Greatest number of clippings. non-functioning organ – how it terest of the young people. The 4. Best illustrations. will affect the vital activity of programs attracted wide atten- 5. Best arrangement. the whole body!
tion, had a splendid effect upon The first prize given as an VVe will now listen to Dr. Athose taking part, and without award was an Indian picture (the vice-president of the ordoubt stimulated a general inter- from Alaska, the second a vase ganization) tell how many memest in missions throughout the from Mexico, the third an idol bers (termed corpuscles) there church.* are in the blood stream of the and the fourth a little tray from VV. F. M. S., how many are ill Plans for the Young People a mission field. and in need of special treatment, A Missionary Treasure Hunt. The contest having been held how many are in need of a tonic, Mrs. C. E. Timberlake of Shady- among guild girls, the books are side, Ohio, tells how, on a pleas- to be taken to the VVorld VVide etc…… . ant summer evening, the follow- Guild State Convention and later Next we will hear the special ing clues were posted and fol- sent to the general convention. lowed out, beginning at the Mrs. Mac Donel adds: "The plan surgeons of Stewardship tell church, the plan being adapted went over big and will probably what treatment or operations from that used by Boy Scouts. be repeated next year." are necessary to bring in all the (The clues, herein adapted from the original, may be arranged to Summer Blossoms that Turn uninterested members ….. . suit any local conditions.) into Christmas Fruit. Not only Dr. B- will next read the re- young folk but their elders may profitably forget the heat of mid- port of the last clinic (secre- tary's report) and give sugges- tions for' improving the pa- tient ….. . summer while they celebrate an Dr. C- will now speak with TREASURES FOR THE SOUL early Christmas in the way of the decoration of a growing tree Where the road runs west and the the authority of a Dr. of Litera- lights hang low, on lawn or in woodland, using tUre (literature secretary) ….. durable articles of ascertained Stand three white houses all in a row. need for any definite mission Dr. D- (the treasurer) In the middle one an elder looks field or fields. Hang the gifts on knows more about heartbeats For this group to enter with its papers the tree or pile underneath: give than any other, since money lies a program of Christmas celebra- nearest the heart of many. She and books. tions on fields all around the will tell us what to do to bring (Devotions. ) world: render Christmas music up the subnormal temperature of and, if feasible, close with a suit- the patient. TREASURES FOR THE MIND able pageant. Packing the gifts attractively may well end the de- Similarly the extension secre- Go to the left a hundred paces; lightful afternoon. This makes tary talks about absent treat- Follow the path as its way it traces; an ideal project for a Sunday ment and dosage; the program Enter a cottage where an elm hangs school picnic. committee e x p I a ins whether ether is needed before adminis- low; For the Women's Society tering worthful programs, and Turn on the light – your hostess you shows how programs may aid digestion, etc. know. (Study Books.) The membership chairman, as TREASURES FROM LANDS FAR AWAY Leaving this home, go four blocks east, To a house where awaits you the pro- gram feast.
(Topical Program.) A plan for a Missionary Clinic Dr. H-, offers suggestions for TREASURES FOR BODY AND SOUL was given at a Methodist VVom- treatment of malnutrition, etc. an's Foreign Missionary Society Turn south as you leave this friendly meeting at Lakeside, Ohio, this The clinic finally adjourns door purporting to give all the latest after a prescription is written for daily doses of Bible read- And go to the place where the – – ' s lived of yore. "inside information" about the ing, prayer, missionary litera- Turn to your left and enter a gate, workings of that society. De- ture and the like. A diagram • From Church Business, Duplex Envelope spite the prejudice ag~inst vivi- will greatly aid in working up Co., Richmond, Va. Copyrighted. section, the VVomen's Foreign this project. The Council of Women for Home Missions ANNE SEESHOLTZ, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, 105 EAST TWENTY-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK ~,=,==========================I~ A REVEALING FORESIGHT A NATION'S FREEDOM purpose be asked by each of us, "And he showed me a river of Where the mind is without fear What am I doing today to set water of life bright as and the head is held high; our nation free from fear, from crystal. ….. ignorance, from false ideas, Where knowledge is free; ideals? Have we today one con- And on this side of the river Where the World has not been viction about life and its mean- and on that was the tree of ing which we against all hin- life ….. . broken up into fragments drances would carry "to the very by n a r row domestic And the leaves of the tree were walls; borders of death" and beyond? for the healing of the na- Where words come out from the tions. depth of truth; A CHALtENGE TO THE Where tireless striving stretches YOUTH OF AMERICA And there shall be no more any- its arms towards perfec- thing accursed …… " tion; The time is at hand for deter- Where the clear stream of rea- -John in Revelation. son has not lost its way mined as well as intelligent into the dreary sand of *** dead habit; peace action on the part of our- Where the mind is led forward ANOTHER SEER by Thee into ever-widen- selves as Christian leaders. The ing thought and action- "And the wolf shall dwell with Into that heaven of freedom, my Young People's Committee of the lamb, and the leopard shall Father, let my country lie down with the kid; and the awake. the Council is cooperating with calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little -Rabindranath Tagore. the Department of International child shall lead them." The prayer for "A Nation's Justice and Goodwill of the Fed- They shall not hurt nor de- Freedom" by the poet beloved by stroy in all my holy mountain; his people not only for his art eral Council of Churches to bring for the earth shall be full of the but also for his service to them, knowledge of Jehovah as the may well be the prayer of pa- about a determined will-to-peace waters cover the sea. triotic citizens of every nation. on the part of the young people -The Prophet Isaiah. At the present writing, in the poet's land there is another great of our churches and of our com- *** citizen who for the sake of his people (some of whom despise munities. PRAYER him) is enduring what the Christian Century (May 17) "Shall guns destroy men or Dear Lord of all mankind and calls "Gandhi's Ordeal." The our Father, cause us too to see editorial points out that "per- shall men conquer guns ?" is the river of water of life in our haps it may again prove that vicstreet. Help us all to recognize tory for a human ideal is most asked by Miss Woolley in the the tree of life and find the surely achieved by one who carleaves which will bring healing ries that ideal to the very borders first sentence of the Foreword to to the nations so that in our day of death. . . . .. For the Chrisin accordance with thy Will, we tian mind Gandhi's ordeal a booklet "Men Conquer Guns." shall fulfill the seer's vision that strongly suggests the cross of a child shall be in the midst of Christ." The Foreword was writen May the wolves and lambs and not be hurt or destroyed. Use each of You who read this may ob- 1, 1933. The booklet contains us to hasten the day when com- ject to the comparison between mon sense and thy Will shall pre- Gandhi and Jesus. Yet it may thirteen brief chapters of graphvail over all the earth. Increase in all seriousness of mind and our faith, we pray. Amen. ic accurate material useful in se- [391 ] curing intelligent participation of young people. The plan in- cludes "Two Minute Interview on Disarmament" to be secured by young people and then sum- marized thoughtfully by them- selves. Both the booklet (20 cents apiece or 15 cents in lots of ten or more) and additional interview cards and "A Chal- lenge to the Youth of America"
(,free with payment of postage) can be secured from the Depart- ment of International Justice and Goodwill at above address, or through our office. . 'indirect administration,' which in old times succeeded with the Cherokee Tribe and with the Pueblos, and which is now suc- ceeding among dependent peo- ples as widely distributed as Asia, Africa, Canada and Mex- ico, can be made effective in our Government's Indian work.
"The Indian task of the years STATEMENT ahead is a task of cooperation who are going out from the between the Government's of- larger schools this summer, but By JOHN COLLIER he is primarily concerned with ficers and the Indians of every what can be done to make these Commissioner of Indian Affairs tribe, and the many welfare as- sociations serving the Indian camps such as will contribute to In taking office, April 21, 1933, cause. The attitude of Congress the whole welfare and future life Mr. Collier stated his policy, of in Indian matters has been in- and training of the people. The which the following sentences creasingly generous and just are excerpts: J oint Indian Committee of the across recent years. But the Home Missions Council and "I conceive that our task is to paramount responsibility is with Council of Women for Home bring about liberty and positive the Indians themselves. Within Missions is now planning ways opportunity for the Indians the limits of a protecting guard- and means of cooperating with within an undiminished respon- ianship, the power should be the government in this entersibility by the United States for prise. In a later Bulletin the their welfare. theirs. The race to be run is project will be described more their race. I shall try to be use- fully. "The years ahead are going to be peculiarly difficult. The con- ful to them."
ditions which will create diffi- THE INDIANS ARE NOT THE AMERICAN INDIAN culty can also, I believe, be made favorable to needed reorganiza- "FORGOTTEN MEN" AND CHRISTIAN tions and to the emancipation and social betterment of the In- A government project for the MISSIONS dians. relief of unemployment through reforestation is under way. Re- By GEORGE WARREN HINMAN "The social, educational and forestation, in the sense used by health services of the States and the Forestry Division of the Gov- The Honorable Samuel A. counties can be made available ernment, will cover actual plant- Eliot, chairman of the United to the Indians, supplementing ing of trees, work on roads for States Board of Indian Commisthe Federal services, through fire protection, the conservation sioners, writes in the Introduccontracts between the Federal of water, protection from ero- tion to this book: Government and the States, sion, and the like. The Indian while preserving in t act the Office has asked Dr. Jay B. Nash, "This book should bring to guardianship which the United Professor of Education of New Americans the fact that within States owes to the Indians. York University, to take charge our own borders there are these of this work. Associated with considerable groups of peculiarly "I strongly believe that the re- him will be the head of the for- interesting people who need the sponsibility of the United States, estry, employment, and health help of Christian citizens. It as guardian of the. Indians, divisions of the Indian Bureau. should d iff use information, ought to be continued. Federal The present plan is to set up arouse sympathy, stimulate genresponsibility for the property- these camps in small units, sev- erosity. It should reassure the less or so-called non-ward Indi- eral on some of the larger reser- mission boards, and their repans should be reasserted. With- vations in order that there will resentatives in the field, of the in the continuing guardianship be not more than a hundred to significance and importance of it is possible to establish a the camp. This work must be their work. It should cause the framework of Indian rights and on tribal land and must come churches to see to it that their responsibilities, and of Indian under the term "reforestation." missionaries are furnIshed with self-help. Administrative reor- The Indians needing work may a more adequate training for the ganizations, and new legislation, have to be transported to neigh- special field of service to which will be required to this end. boring reservations where such they are commissioned; that work is possible. There will they are given the equipment "The constitutional guaran- probably be about two hundred necessary for efficient work, and tees, with all that they imply, of these camps. the facilities for establishing can be made a reality for the In- friendly personal relations with dians without any curtailment the people they want to help."
of the Federal responsibility for Dr. Nash is not only interested Published by Fleming H. Revell Company Indian welfare. The method in giving employment to the In- at $1.50 a copy. Orders for ten copies to dians, many of them young men one address for ten dollars can be secured which has come to be known as through Dr. Hinman, care of Commission on Missions, 287 Fourth Avenue, New York City.
AMERICA which stands in a congested sec- garding the cause and cure
tion with 70,000 people inside of Perils to Children seven minutes' walk-American war; to write an analysis of not people, once prosperous, and more than 800 words of the an- Grace Abbott, Chief of the now in need. Dr. Mecklenburg swers given. Children's Bureau of the De- over the radio first begged partment of Labor, says in her clothes, and helped to clothe To be efficient peace crusad- Annual Report: ers, young people must know the facts regarding world problems.
Child welfare workers everywhere 4,000 people. Then he appealed The s e facts, presented in a look to the coming year with much to the farmers and received unique and readable style, are anxiety. Multitudes of children today eighteen truck loads of surplus now available in a new ninetyare underfed, poorly clothed and bad- vegetables which he distributed. six-page pamphlet, en tit led ly housed. This means that their In August, 1932, he had three "Men Conquer Guns," issued by physical resistance is low and they thousand unemployed men ready the Federal Council of Churches. are subjected to many temptations to to offer work to farmers and This pamphlet deals with such obtain what they need by unlawful others in exchange for farm questions as disarmament, the means. Poverty of parents also de- products. Farmers within thirty Japan-China controversy, the prives the children of other privileges miles of Minneapolis had plenty new German situation, the in education and healthful amuse- League of Nations, the traffic in ments. Boys, whose homes are broken of work to do but were unable arms, the relations of the United up take to "the road" and fall in with to pay. They were glad to trade States to the world's peace maevil companions. The Children's Aid their products for help. So men chinery, international security, Society reports that 2,000 boys from went out to paint buildings, fix and the stake of Christianity in the East sought shelter and food in fences, dig potatoes, pick apples. the peace movement. Young Los Angeles last year and over 5,000 The Organized Unemployed paid boys came to New York City in search people are invited to organize of employment. The Church, the these men in scrip; the farmer State and social agencies must work hauled in produce he was unable study groups for a discussion of out some plan to prevent the de- to sell. This was stored until moralization of the youth. there were 100,000 bushels of these vital world issues. These eatables. The fuel problem was Salvation Army Relief Work tackled in the same way. Un- study groups can be formed in employed were sent out to the The annual yearbook of the young people's societies, schools, Salvation Army, recently issued, shows that during 1932, the colleges and elsewhere.
Army provided 12,147,299 beds farms to chop and clear land. Youth Interest Grows for the homeless and served Gasoline companies have do- 36,670,115 meals to the hungry. nated gasoline to pay for trans- The Congregational Yearbook Temporary or permanent work port. At the time of writing reports a gain in eleven years of was provided for 340,839, and the Organized Unemployed have 70,000 in the membership of 286,082 persons we replaced a thousand men in thirty-five young people's societies. Harry through the employment bu- wood camps, and the commis- Stock comments: sary is able to feed them on reaus. Never before, in the thirty cents a day. From small It is significant that there has been Army's activities, covering more beginnings has grown a great a gain each successive year and in than 50 years, has this organ- system of cooperative living in almost every state. This 70 per cent ization occupied such an out- which 17,000 families cooperate, increase cannot be explained away; standing place in helping those and 7,000 people actually receive it at least shows a one-way trend in distress. It ranks with the their sustenance through this free from downward dips. Anyone system of relief. acquainted with the field will grant Red Cross in relief work. There that this represents a healthy, normal is real need of spiritual relief Youth Peace Program growth which has been free from work also and the Army con- contests and other artificial stimuli. tinues its ministry to the souls It is due to summer conferences, an of those who have need of To aid youth in the development increasing number of aggressive state Christ. . of a public opinion against war, and district secretaries, the estab- lishment of a Young People's Depart- Church Helps Unemployed the Federal Council is launching ment in the Education Society, and a Three-Point Peace Project. the improvement in materials avail- The Christian Advocate tells Young people are invited to do able to local leaders. It is significant the story of relief work directed that in a depression year, such as by Dr. Mecklenburg, pastor of three things: to study the peace 1932, our forty summer conferences the Wesley church, Minneapolis, and war problem; to interview maintained their high peak of total their friends and neighbors re- enrolment.
[ 393 ]
Plans for Evangelism lished and distributed Christian meet July 25-28 at the Univer- The National Convention of literature in 181 languages. Up sity of Chicago, under the aus- Evangelists and C h r i s t ian to the present time, 849,000,000 pices of the Haskell Foundation Workers, recently held at In- pieces of Christian literature Institute, to consider the gendianapolis, was attended by have been circulated by the So- eral theme, "Modern Trends in 100,000 people during its eight ciety. In 1932 the Soc i ety World Religions," which will be days' session. Reports from printed and distributed over concerned with a critical survey every part of the United States 5,000,000 pieces of literature in of the impact of modern social indicates that pas tor sand forty languages. Two-thirds of and intellectual forces upon rechurches are preparing for new this number were supplied free ligions. Among the speakers emphasis on evangelism and are to meet the needs of groups that will be Dr. Hu Shi, a leader in arranging for revivals during have suffered severe financial educational reforms; Mr. K. losses. The records of the So- Natarajan, editor of the Indian the year. Many of these evan- ciety show that its colporteurs Social Reformer; Prof. Morgelists are engaged for months have, during its entire history, decai Kaplan, of the Jewish visited two and one-half million . Theological Seminary of Amerahead and some for over a year. homes and conducted 650,000 ica; Prof. Lewis Hodous, Hart- More than 2,000 decisions for religious meetings, and that ford Seminary; Bishop Francis Christ were reported by the pas- they and the various agencies of J. McConnell and others. They tors of Indianapolis and sur- the Society have sold 18,000,000 will together seek solutions to rounding towns through work religious books. Fifteen colpor- sue h problems as Poverty- teurs are now working in Great- Amidst-Plenty, Unemployment, of the evangelists in the various er New York and vicinity, and Racial and Religious Persecuchurches during the convention.
-United Presbyterian.
others are laboring in various tion, Fear, Prejudice, Disarma- Missionary Education at parts of the country among neg- ment, War. lected groups of all nationalities. Blairstown The Society makes a specialty Pennsylvania Federation For thirty years the Mission- of Americanization work. Here are a few achievements ary Education Movement has Cooperation in San Francisco of Church Federation in Pennheld missionary conferences at Silver Bay, N. Y., to study mis- Few American communities sylvania: sionary work in its ideals, pro- enjoy such a wide range of choice in the matter of religious It has practically united the gram, and methods. Missionary interpretation and expression as education is a vital part of the San Francisco's Chinatown, a Protestant churches of the program of the Church, and compact area with some 20,000 these are days when there is Chinese. The Presbyterians State. There are 2,800,000 great need for a higher type of operate two plants under the leadership for the Church. men's and women's boards, the Protestant church members. Of Methodists the same. One estab- This summer the missionary lishment each is maintained by these, 1,685,000 are officially education conference is to be the Episcopalians, Baptists, Distransferred to Blairstown, N. J., ciples and Cumberland Presby- connected with the Pennsylvania where it will be connected with terians. Several of these groups the School of Methods of the conduct educational and social Council of Churches and more New Jersey Council of Religious service activities in addition to Education (July 3-14). strictly religious propaganda. than 250,000 others are affil- There is also a large Y. M. C. A. The buildings of Blair Acad- The Roman Catholics maintain iated. emy for Boys are well equipped a large school and cburch. For for housing the conference, many years home mission execu- Denominations are united in which is open, at a moderate tives have sought to coordinate cost, to all over seventeen years all this work, but the net result a cooperative church program, of age in the area of New York, so far is only the Hip Wah New Jersey, New England, school in which the parent including Comity and MSisoscioinasi Pennsylvania, Delaware, Mary- boards of the Methodists, Pres- Religious Education, land, Washington, D. C. Full byterians and Congregationalinformation can be secured from ists have united. wSeirtvhiceev,aInngteelrinsmatioasnatlhRe eplraetvioainls~ Council of Women for Home ing motive. Missions, 105 East 22d St., New York. It has made possible a state- wide survey to show where are overchurching and underchurch- ing.
It has been cooperating with the Pennsylvania State Sabbath School Association in the sphere of religious education and has been successful in helping to co- ordinate most of the more prom- inent organizations of the State which are doing work among American Tract Socie1ty -Christian Century. the young people of konuorwndaay~ through a Committee At its 108th annual meeting, May 3, the American Tract So- Trends in World's Religions the Unified Staff. It has stood firmly for prociety reported that it had, since Representatives of the six hibition and law enforcement, its organization in 1825, pub- great religions of the world will and has not neglected to use
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
every opportunity in supporting represented the Christian and Alliance Missions in S.. A. and strengthening movements for a better observance of the Missionary Alliance in China, The Christian and Missionary Lord's Day. Alliance has missionary inter- Borneo and Bali, for many ests in five of the South Ameri- Negro Church Members years. -So S. Times. Five million American Ne- groes are communicant church LATIN AMERICA can Rep ubI i c s,-Argentina, . members, with m ore than Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Colom- 2,000,000 Sunday-school schol- ars. They have thousands of Young Cuban Christians bia. The total staff of mission- well organized parishes. It is aries on these fields is 74, exclu- impressive to visit the Abyssin- ian Baptist church in Harlem Dr. McCall, a Baptist mission- sive of a large native ministry. with a congregation filling not only its huge auditorium up- ary in Cuba, says that it is un- In Argentina and Chile there stairs, but its rooms below which are served by amplifiers; usual to find a young man in are thriving native churches, or St. Mark's or Mother Zion church with several thousand that island who is a faithful self-governing but not wholly worshippers on Sunday. St. Philip's Episcopal church has church member without a copy self-supporting. A Bible school every kind of organization for each age and sex. The Olivet of the New Testament in his has been opened in Peru. Work Baptist church in Chicago has a membership of ten thousand, pocket. Dr. McCall further says, . among jungle Indians is being probably the largest in the coun- try, and a budget of $50,000. "We could name any number of conducted in Peru and Ecuador, One of the best proofs of the genuine Christianity of the Ne- young fellows from whom you and an encouraging number gro Church in America is the active missionary work it· is could ask a Testament any time have accepted Christ. In Ecua- carrying on in the home country and Canada, in the West Indies, anywhere and not be disap- dor, Alliance work is in three in South America and in most parts of Africa, spending yearly pointed." They not only carry sections,-t h e Coastal Prov- $550,000. their New Testaments but they inces, the Quichua Indians of -The Living Church. use them when they find an op- the Sierras and those of the Famous Christian Daily portunity to discuss the Word jungle. -Alliance Weekly. The Toronto Globe is now of God with their associates in nearing a century of service. This daily of large circulation school, in business, on the Pushing Forward in Brazil and powerful influence is unique streets,-wherever they happen among metropolitan newspapers to be. -World Comrades. Southern Presbyterians report because of its uncompromising that their most conspicuous ad- Christian testimony. Not only does it give special attention to Interest in Guatemala vance of the year has been in church affairs and Christian ac- North Brazil, where evangelistic tivities, but for many years it has published every Wednesday Dr. L. P. Sullenberger, pastor work was begun in a hitherto on its editorial page a Christian message of t rue evangelical of Guatemala City church, re- unreached section of vast pro- character. The Globe's "Wed- nesday Sermon," as many affec- ports a noticeable growth of portions in the far interior of tionately term it, has been a spiritual interest during the the states of Pernambuco, Para- landmark in daily newspaper journalism for many years, and year. "Never have there been hyba and Ceara, un de r the continues without interruption. so many professed conversions, direction of Rev. Langton Hen- The president of the company nor so much interest among derlite. Associating with him- is a brother of R. A. Jaffray, one of the leading missionary states- older believers. Sunday-school self five evangelists and one men in the world today, having attendance has maintained an colporteur, and selecting a num- a verage of above 450; cottage ber of strategic centers along meetings have multiplied to five the frontier several hundred each week, with requests for miles inland, he has opened a two more; Bible classes and work that has gone forward workers' training classes have with an abundant fruitfulness been established by the young reminiscent of apostolic days.
people and there are requests He has found a population spir- for more. Several series of itually starved, hungry for the evangelistic meetings have been Gospel's message of hope and held with good results, a great salvation, out of which there deal of personal work is being have already been 149 conver- done and the city is becoming sions, despite the fact that the more and more evangelized. In work is only a year old.
the out-fields there has been Brazil is one of the most flour- good progress also. Native men ishing mission fields in the in the Presbytery are taking world. -Christian Observer.
more responsibility and initia- tive. In three fields there has Among Primitive Indians been commendable growth-El William M. Strong, of the Progreso, Sanarte and Cabanas. Soldiers' Gospel Mision in Chile, In El Rancho, El Progreso and writes of the opportunity to pre- Sanarate there are new prop- sent the Gospel to groups of In- erties and new chapels have dians who were alarmed over been constructed at the first two reports that the end of the world places." -Guatemala News. was near. Some of the chiefs
become so concerned that they Christ. . . . C h r i s t ian i t y is mains to be seen. The Thiirindecided to call their people to- neither a Sunday dress in which gen Christian Press Bureau gether to see what ought to be one forgets the sorows of life, states that the loss of religious done about it. The movement at nor a narcotic against suffering, belief at comparatively trifling first had nothing of a religious but on the contrary a power causes lead to suicide and that nature, but recognizing this as which in all difficulties of every- the example of others seems so an opportunity a messenger was day life helps us to achieve vic- infectious that it has become a tory." veritable epidemic. dispatched to tell them that someone was corning to town The movement is mainly Opportunities in Poland who knew quite a bit about the among students of colleges and secondary schools. There are The Rev. Gaither P. Warfield subject of the end of the world, now 2,200 members in sixty-five in the World Outlook reviews and also what to do about it; groups. There are Bible discus- the solid, encouraging growth of and inviting them to gather at sions, talks on vital problems the Polish Mission and then a certain large warehouse, pre- and class work for the younger strikingly describes the need groups. The watchword for and opportunity for the Gospel pared with seats for their ac- boys is "Purity, Temperance, in that land: commodation. On the day ap- Honesty," and for girls "Purity, pointed for the meeting they Loyalty, Service." Volumes could be written on the began to arrive long before the opportunities for Christ in Poland. appointed time, and when the -Christian Irishman. Under the influence of modern social trends the masses are turning away hour for the meeting came it The Bible in Spain from formalistic religion and clericalwas found that seven different ism. Dissatisfied with the old forlocalities were represented. The Since the Spanish Republic mulre, they are unconsciously looking message was simply giw;n, the declared for religious freedom, for an answer to their spiritual hun- Spaniards have taken to reading ger. Every Polish town or city coneffort being to show them how the Bible (says Reuter's Madrid tains a group of those seekers who to prepare for the coming of the Correspondent) . eagerly welcome and accept the un- King of kings. adulterated message of the Gospels. So many packets of Bibles When we turn to professional and -Moody Institute Monthly. now reach Madrid from Britain educational circles, we find an even that the small hand-cart in greater contempt for all forms of Baptisms Increase which they were carried from petrified religion. As a young psy- the local station to the offices of chologist said to me recently: "In The number of baptisms re- the Bible Society has had to be W-arsaw and most Polish cities over ported by the churches in the six replaced by a motor-van. The eight per cent of all educated Poles Latin-American Baptist Mission figures of 190,554 Bibles and are totally indifferent to religion fields, totaling 1,797, has not New Testaments sold in 1931 as as presented by the established been exceeded in any previous compared with 130,554 sold in churches." Yet these same individuyear. In 1930 the churches re- 1930 clearly shows the consider- als are intensely interested in life and ported 1,772 baptisms. A com- able increase in sales. all ethical and moral problems de- volving from it. We have found from parative table covering the past Two of Spain's present Cabi- experience that their hearts are open three years follows: net Ministers, it seems, were to any message that rings true. What educated in Protestant schools, rich possibilities among them the fu- 1930-31 1931-3~ 193~-33 and the Republican Government ture holds for us! In a wide measure is m 0 r e favorable towards it depends on the church at home Mexico …. 246 254 326 spreading the use of the Bible. whether we shall fulfil the task set Cuba 434 307 587 before us. 367 378 Learning that the film "Ben- . SPaulevratodorRico. 548 78 68 Hur" was being shown in Mol- Soviet Atheism NHiaciatirag.u.a… 55 50 93 let, a colporteur rushed to the 64 260 345 village with a big stock of Bibles A report published in Das 188 and took his stand outside the Evangelische Deutschland indi- door of the local cinema. Every cates the determination of So- 1,535 1,316 1,797 one of his copies was sold. viet Russia to wipe out religion. The Lutheran News Bulletin -Watchman-Examiner. -Evangelical-Messenger. translates this report: EUROPE Suicide Epidemic in Germany The objective of the periodical, The Godless, is to lay hold on the entire Glory to God Only No fewer than 17,880 persons mass of laborers in factories and col- committed suicide in Germany lective centers. Religion is the strong- The Soli Deo Gloria Move- during the year 1930. Germany, est brake to the building up of socialment in Hungary means "Glory with these figures, attains the ism, it is the weapon of the counterto God Alone," and is a youth highest death rate from suicide revolutionary fight of the kulaks movement to the end that all ac- in Europe. Whether this al- (farmers) and of world capitalism. tivity shall be to the glory of ready high figure has increased "The fighting Godless," through the God. since the national revolution, re- development of their anti-religious works, are striking a blow against the Herr Soos, one of the leaders, enemy of the classes, against religious states their leading principle festivals, against individualism and thus: "In the place of our against selfishness which is being prothoughts about Christ, the cen- tected by all shades of religion. The tral point of our evangelism must be the living power of
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
banner cry is "the quickest possible why do you send me to a Christian Pondering over these words he transformation of believing workers was shown into the waiting into fighting Godless." To this battle school? The Christians teach us to room where he found the very cry belongs also the watchword given do good to our enemies, and I might walls bore messages of hope, inby Jaroslawski, the leader of the Rus- as well stop school if you are not go- ing to let me do as they teach us sian Godless, that every effort be there." The mother relented. The cluding the invitation which inmade to complete the extermination child stayed in school. The effect on of religion in Soviet Russia by the the neighborhood was very pro- variably goes to the heart of a year 1937. Moslem, "Come unto me, all ye nounced. The latest edition is devoted to the -World Wide Sunday School that labor and are heavy laden, special obligation resting on "the and I will give you rest." Soon News. the evangelist appears and Ishfighting Godless" in connection with Christian Chinese in Cairo the execution of the second five-year mael and the others are listen- plan. "The fighting Godless," quot- ing to the old, old Story. Medi- Cairo has a group of about cal examination revealed that ing verbatim, wiII devote their full thirty Christian Chinese, under strength to this front in the fight to the leadership of one who keeps a small shop for the sale of lace carry out the second five-year plan. and various Chinese products. he needed the aid of surgery, The annihilation of the causes which and while lying between unaccreate class differences and profiteering is identical with the annihilation customed sheets, stared at the of the causes which create and nour- opposite wall where once again Twenty of them can read and some Gospel truth met his eye. ish faith in God.
Tyndale's Bible in Belgium write their own language. They Just before the operation a voice go about the city and country, was lifted in prayer for his re- carrying their products for sale. A reproduction of the Bibles covery. Health restored, the in use in William Tyndale's time One of their number became ill time came for him to leave the displayed in the shop window of and died, and the others wished hospital, but before doing so he a Christian funeral. The East- had a long talk with a missionthe Flemish Methodist Church in ern custom of an intermediary ary about the Lord Jesus; and Antwerp, has resulted in the was observed and a young Mos- professed his love for and belief sale of many new editions of Bi- in Him as his own Saviour. bles and New Testaments in lem business man acted as go- Weekly meetings are now held French, Flemish and other lan- between to secure the help of in his home. g u age s. The reproduction, the American Mission. The inchained to the pulpit, as was the -Egypt General Mission custom in the old days, attracts cident led to inquiries as to News. special attention in Antwerp, be- church connection and it was cause it was in Belgium that found that they know so little of Nubas Calling Tyndale was treacherously ar- any language but their own, rested and imprisoned for his Changes are taking place Protestant faith; at Vilvorde, that they have never identified among the Nubas as contacts twenty-three miles from Ant- themselves with any Christian with the outside world increase. werp, he was strangled and organization in Egypt. How- They are no longer isolated burned as a heretic, August 6, tribes hidden in the hills. The 1536. After nearly 400 years ever, they have the Bible in the former trend toward Islam has his prophecy has been fulfilled Wenli Chinese dialect, and meet been checked by something like that the day would come when occasionally to read and pray a Nuba renaissance, a new ap- "every ploughboy would have among themselves. They indi- preciation of tribal customs and cated that they would be glad if of the tribe as a unit. With the Word of God." services in very simple English could be held for them, and ex- pressed their love for the Bible.
-Alliance Weekly. these movements there has come A Responsive Moslem Patient a demand for education; up to AFRICA Ishmael was a typical Moslem now no scheme of education has living not far from Shebeen been developed for these pagan Christianity in Egypt Hospital, Egypt General Mis- tribes. All the chiefs of tribes sion. When he became ill, and now require clerks who can read Sheikh Metry S. Dewairy, found the uselessness of native and write for purposes of com- Egyptian Secretary for the remedies, he sought admittance munication and administration, World's Sunday School Associa- to the out-patients' department. and they are unable to employ tion, sends the following strik- He first of all had to give a few the sons of their own people being incident: particulars about himself which cause there are no schools where were written on a card, to be they can acquire the most simple A few days ago one of the little brought with him each time he girls returned from school and heard came for treatment. On turn- vernacular education. The gova woman with whom her own mother ing the card 0 v e r he read: had been quarreling constantly, call- ernment is therefore asking the ing her little girl. The first little one "Christ Jesus came into the said, "I will go and call her, auntie," world to save sinners," also; C. M. S. to open schools. No rewhich she did. When she reached "The wages of sin is death, but home her mother beat her and said, strictions are to be placed upon "Don't you know that that woman the gift of God is Eternal Life religious teaching. It is proand I fight all the time? Why do you through Jesus Christ our Lord." disgrace me by doing her a favor?" posed to seize this opportunity The little girl answered, "Well, by opening three schools, and it is hoped that some form of med-
ical service may be started. The Gold in Kavirondo the entire organization for the government is offering liberal prevention of leprosy in French grants for the project. The gold fields of Kavirondo Occidental Africa. are a challenge to Christian -C. M. S. Outlook. effort. Today, activities of the -Without the Camp. gold diggers extend over 700 A Missionary Exhibit square miles and larger areas WESTERN ASIA are to be thrown open. A town, Sierra Leone was first occu- complete with hotels and cine- Mosques Reclassified pied as a C. M. S. Mission in mas is planned and partly built. 1816, and the church which has The "benefits" which gold min- A new law of the Turkish Regrown up there has long been ing has brought are thus de- public limits the number of sending its own missionaries to scribed in the Daily Express: mosques within its boundaries the interior. In 1908 most of in the following ways: the white missionaries were Before the settlers came, these withdrawn for work elsewhere, tribesmen were little removed from 1. The classification of mosques and Africans were put in charge savages, living in a state of nakedof stations in the interior. In ness. Now the young men swagger will take place in each village and order to obtain adequate sup- about in gaudy-colored shirts and port for this missionary effort, shorts. Women of the tribe, used to town under the direction of an official a missionary exhibition was put scanty covering of sacking, are now on to stimulate the people's in- strutting about in gay petticoats. I of religious affairs or a high civil terest in the needs of their own have not seen natives so fat, so trucufield. Three district organizers lent, and so prosperous as the savages official. gathered information and ma- who swagger about the high street of terial, others planned a bazaar; the newly-built gold town of Kaka- 2. It will be considered whether the schoolboys prepared a play and mega. the college a pageant to illus- mosque is in the market place and trate the history of the Sierra The Christian Church is the Leone church and its missionary only agency to show him the whether there is an adequate attendwork. true way.-C. M. S. Outlook. ance. Large crowds attended during For West Africa Lepers the three days of the exhibition 3. The picturesque or grotesque apand about £80 was realized for The government of French missions, although no special West Africa is now organizing pearance of the Mosque, the form of appeal was made for money. a system for fighting leprosy along the lines of humane, scien- its minaret, its historical value and -C. M. S. Outlook. tific treatment, rather t han forcible detention. The new its present structural condition will A Busy Missionary code provides for the examina- tion of suspects, and their classi- be taken into account. At Kribi, West Africa, steam- fication into cases whose liberty ers discharge passengers and is not :restricted while undergo- 4. There must be, a distance not cargo for stations of the West ing treatment, and those with Africa Mission. As there is no open lesions who require hos- less than 500 meters between every hotel in Kribi, Mrs. Albert G. pitalization. Adams, missionary, opens her two mosques. home to travelers on the way A leper "at liberty" must into the interior. Passing trad- present himself weekly to a dis- 5. It must be a flourishing mosque. ers and missionaries of all de- pensary for treatment and obnominations are also accommo- servation; live in separate quar- 6. It must not be an obstacle to the dated. Mrs. Adams is assistant ters, and use separate dishes treasurer of the West Africa and utensils; and inform the plan of the town prepared by the Presbyterian Mission, the treas- administration if he desires to municipality. ' urer being Mr. Adams. She is leave the region. also engaged as evangelist -Turkish Translation Service. among the women. A lepE:;r with open lesions must reside in the leper ward of Changing Turkey Mrs. Adams says: a hospital close to his town or at the Central Leprosy Institute at A writer in Jarin, published As we have had no resident mis- Bakamo, which provides group in Thrace, dares to predict that sionary pastor, the oversight of our housing where the patients may in ten or fifteen years the new 38 outposts with evangelists and vil- live in the manner of their own Turkish generation will be perlage school-teachers, and the directing country and will be grouped ac- fectly free from Islam and the of the local school at Batanga, has cording to race. A home for teaching of the Koran. E. Max consumed no small part of my time.. well children and a research lab- Hoppe says that the Turkish Men, women and children with their oratory will also be maintained. Press a few years ago violently family troubles or physical ailments A specialist in leprosy will be in attacked him for sending Chriscame daily to our door for advice and charge of the Institute and of tian literature to Turkish schoolministrations, there being no doctor masters. Recently, however, the available. editor gave him the names of all his subscribers in order to send -Presbyterian Advance. them literature. Following this, other editors have done similar service, one writing with his own hand eight hundred ad- dresses, for which service he asked the gift of a Turkish family Bible and "Pilgrim's Progress." A development of this has been the sending of Christian literature to Moham- medan schools, of which there are two thousand throughout Bulgaria.
Union in the Near East The opening of the Near East School of Theology at Beirut, Syria, with thirty students from
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Syria, Turkey, Greece, and discourage all foreign influence cial subject and leader were ap- Egypt, represents a merger of the Persian government has for- pointed for each day. That leadthe facilities of the Presbyterian bidden the propagation of any- er was responsible for that day's Board and the American Board thing political or religious, and program. Some of the topics in the field of religious training. that this has meant a decrease used were: Father Love, Call Prof. Lootfy Levonian said: in missionary itineration. How- for Repentance, Christ's Sacri- "We Eastern peoples are strong- ever, this situation has led to a fice, His Resurrection, His ly religious, but this has not al- mar ked increase in Persian Teachings and Example, Christ ways been a blessing to us. Our itineration and leadership along in Daily Life. The following strong religiosity has often been evangelistic lines. A missionary are some of the results: the chief cause of hatred, fac- in Teheran writes of splendid tions and antagonisms among work being done by Persian 1. The Gospel of C h r i s twas us. The future of the peoples church members. Some of these preached to thousands of eager lisof the Near East will be deter- evangelists maintain that they teners. mined by whether they can never have had such a wide open bring forth a fresh and living field of opportunities for per- 2. The Christian life of hundreds conception of religion which will sonal work as they have had the of nominal Christians was strengthappeal to the minds of men, and last two years. ened. which will provide the basis for a new social order of peace and -The Presbyterian. 3. The spiritual life of all Christian reconciliation. Here lies the workers was improved. justification for a School of Palestine Prospers Theology in the Near East." 4. Some 500 portions were sold in It is reported that strife-rid- addition to one full Bible and one Aleppo College, Syria den Palestine of three religious New Testament, and several thousand faiths is the one country in the tracts were distributed. This "indigenous," interde- world now enj oying an aboundnominational and interracial ing prosperity. It is said that 5. A large number of Christian Christian college, established in it is the one country not suffer- laymen, especially those not connected 1872 under the auspices of the ing from depression-having no with the missions, helped in this ef- American Board, is the only col- unemployment, no dole, no in- fort. lege conducting work of college come tax and no deficit. Jewish grade in the interior of Syria. immigrants are reported as hav- 6. Although no baptisms took place It has American backing but the ing taken $200,000,000 of new during the week, a number of encollege management is repre- capital into the country-quite a quirers have been seeking more light. sentative of the native constitu- considerable amount for a counency and with a native Board of try of that size-which has been -Indian Witness. Managers since 1928. The col- invested in vineyards and citrus lege is a part of the local educa- fruit groves, all equipped in a As India Sees Jesus tional system and in this way modern way and having a good helps to establish and strengthen market for their products. In the Cultural World, Swami the whole school system. It is Dhivananda set s forth nonsupported in part by trust funds -Presbyterian Advance. Christian India's attitude toand contributions from America ward Jesus. and in part by student fees and INDIA-BURMA-CEYLON local gifts. Any student with- The majority among the intelliout financial resources can earn Evangelistic Week in gentsia of India take Jesus as a man his way as a part of college ac- who developed himself from point to tivities. The purpose of the col- Moradabad point through his own religious initilege is to strengthen the cul- ative and through the guidance of the tural and spiritual life of the A week of special evangelistic Great Spirit until he reached the country and people and to this effort was observed in Morada- highest spiritual perfection. They end the regl,llar curriculum in- bad, March 1-8, in which all de- believe that he was an incarnation of cludes not only the usual aca- nominations, the S. P. G. and the Spirit and potentially perfect, but demic studies but also courses S a I vat ion Army cooperated. that he reached actual perfection only in Bible, Life of Christ, Origins During the week a special serv- through intense inner struggle. India of Christianity, History of Re- ice of prayer was held each has always stressed renunciation, ligions and the Development of morning for Christians only. seeking God by leaving the luxuries Christian Thought. Dr. John E. These meetings were well at- of mind and body. So the picture of Merrill is the President. tended and helpful. A prayer Jesus preaching God, wandering from meeting was also held in the place to place, knowing no fixed she,l- Activity in Persia afternoon for Christian work- ter, caring not about food and drink, ers, after which bazaar preach- a gentle, serene soul, a beggar and Presbyterian missionaries in ing was conducted for non- giver of love, a healer of minds, a Persia report that in order to Christians in the evening. Bands rest to troubled hearts-that picture of workers went out each eve- is stimulating to the Indian imagina- ning to different Christian and tion. Jesus was a breaker of forms non-Christian mohallas. A spe- and a restorer of meanings. The so- cial code of the Sermon on the Mount is reconciliation with the opponent, combating evil with good, loving where hate is the usual reaction. The religion of Jesus seeks spiritual values before material values. That is why she honors him and claims him as one of the great incarnators of the Spirit. India accepts Christ and the New Testament, but finds grounds for criticism of Christianity, Christian evangelism and Christian interpreta- tion of the New Testament. The greatness of Jesus does not lie in his powers but in his life. He was im-
mersed in the life of God, was at the them the picture of the Ten Vir- Ceylon Baptist Council center of reality, and whatever he said or did proceeded from that cen- gins, the s tor y having been The new C e y Ion Baptist taught to them before. It was Council is now caring for all the ter. – Congregatw' nal1',St • a joy to have them begin imme- diately to tell the story and end work hitherto directed by the Fellowship in Mandalay it up by emphasizing the. fact B. M. S., the Ceylon Baptist Union and the Lanka Mission. There has been a "Fellowship that Jesus is coming again and Group" in Mandalay for about that we must be ready to meet Much readjustment has been two years. It includes not only Him. necessary, but the work is gopreachers and Bible women, but ing forward. Some schools have teachers and students. The -The Presbyterian Mission had to close and those retained at Saharanpur. have increased their enrolment.
group meets frequently, remem- A Christian Sweeper Over 4,500 pupils are under inbering especially Acts 1 : 14, struction. Fees paid by parents praying together, planning to- Rev. J. J. Lucas, D.D., of the and government grants have gether, working together, shar- American Presbyterian Mission enabled the t h r e e boarding ing experiences together, "all at Saharanpur, writes in the In- schools for girls in Colombo, dian Standard: with one mind." Ratnapura and Matale, and the A few months ago I arrived at a A young man from Myo- railway station at ten o'clock at night. one boarding school for boys in byingyi who had been in prison I heard, behind an enclosure at the Colombo, to carryon with little end of the platform, a voice, singing help from the Council. heard of Christ while a prisoner, a Christian Bhajan (Gospel song). I and when released asked the found the singer stretched on his back Evangelistic work has been group to come to his village. on the floor. Under the dim light of a vigorously maintained, in Singa- The team which went included lamp above him he held a book from lese chiefly, but also in Tamil three schoolboys, one schoolgirl, which he was spelling out and singing and in Eng lis h. Open-air two experienced teachers, one the Gospel songs. My heart was preaching services have been lady clerk, a pastor and a mis- touched to find at that hour of the unhindered, women evangelists sionary. The nine divided into night this poor sweeper singing the three groups; two groups visited praises of the Lord. He told me that have been able to visit the vil- he was a Christian, belonged to lage homesteads regularly, and the homes, in some of which "Padre Buck's Mission." Among magic-lantern services h a v e the r e was opportunity for other questions I asked him, "Where proved a never-failing attracprayer. The third group re- is the Lord Jesus?" and at once he tion. Large numbers of Scripmained behind and played games replied, putting his hand to his heart, with the children. They also "Why he is here in my heart," and ture portions have been sold. as he said it, a look such as is born There are 15 pastors and evan- taught these children to sing of the Holy Spirit, I verily believe, gelists altogether supported by suffused his face. That conversation who had never sung before, and of a few minutes was sufficient evi- Church funds, and there are 14 told them stories. The first dence to me that within was the spark honorary lay preachers. night about 290 people came to of life, and I would not have hesi- -Missionary Herald.
the meeting, and listened atten- tated to baptize him had he been an Church Growth in Indotively to the end. Many times enquirer.
Maung Shein, the young ex- Lee Memorial in Calcutta China prisoner, proclaimed his alle- This interdenominational mis- The Christian and Missionary sion was founded in 1894 by Alliance reports encouraging giance to Christ and said, "I am Rev. and Mrs. D. H. Lee. It growth in Indo-China: so happy." -Koinonia.
"Ten Virgins" was first called "Bengali Mis- Districts 0 c cup i e d by 1930 1932 sion," but after the six children missionaries ……. . 17 22 One day's work in the village of Mr. and Mrs. Lee were killed -the women saw us coming in DarjeeIing landslide in 1899, Self-supporting churches under Native Church and ran out to meet us. We the name was changed to Lee Government ……. . 19 36 salaamed to them, but they said Memorial. (Many nonself-supporting ch urchs are unde!" Misto us, "You honor us by coming; There is a Girls' Boarding sion government.) Workers wholly supportlet us salaam you first." As we School, with classrooms and dor- ed by churches …… . 20 34 walked with them through their mitories for 200 girls, and a Workers partially supvillage street, a narrow lane day school with an enrolment of ported by Mission '" 59 79 Outstations ………. . 85 83 with high mud walls on either 70. Two miles from this center Baptisms ………… . 1,247 1,462 side, each one asked us to come is a Boys' School and Commuin and sit on the bed in front of nity Playground of three acres. Church Members …. . 5,592 7,508 her house. It was thrilling to Ordained Native Pastors 21 28 This is the home of 50 boys. The hear these thirty non-Christian mission also carries on a Bible Need Among Burmese women singing Christian hymns. woman's work in Calcutta and Moslems We had them sing with us and villages. Temple children are without us. I am sure they go rescued. The workers also seek A Christian tract, translated about their work singing these to reach the pilgrims at Hindu into Burmese, is being distrib- Christian songs. We showed festivals. uted among Burmese Moslems,
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
of whom there are said to be nized in prayer about it and it girls who come into the school 400,000. So far as known, noth- was revealed that he was not from the country where there is ing has previously been pub- preaching about sin. Straight- little or nothing modern thus see lished in Burmese, intended for way he began and continued, these new and strange sights in Moslems. It is also planned to and since then souls have al- company with one who can exhave this tract translated into ways been saved. Every sermon plain them helpfully. Although Chinese for use among Chinese deals with sin. the school is lighted with elec- Moslems of Yunnan. Chinese tricity, the dormitories, wash- Moslems along the border of These are only a few of the rooms and heating facilities are Yunnan are as unevangelized as outstanding Chinese evangelists kept close to the country condiif they lived in Tibet. who are "bringing in the tions from which the students sheaves." -China's Millions. come. The buildings are typi- Buddhism in Siam cally Chinese in design, but have Prayers for China ample windows, giving light and Mr. Paul Gunther, of Eastern ventilation. Siam, calls attention to the lat- Dr. T. T. Yew has prepared a est Siamese census, which re- ritual for the "Service of Na- -Missionary Herald. cords 16,000 Buddhist temples, tional Humiliation" in China. 132,893 priests, with 77,483 Of two prayers for this service, Leprosy Program novices of student priests, mak- the following is quoted in part: ing a total of 210,376 Buddhist The first National Conference priests in that country. The In Time of National Sorrow . .. We of the Chinese Mission to lepers total population numbers eleven ignorant people fail to observe Thy was held last year. It marked and one-half millions. There laws in ordinary times…. Only when the beginning of scientific interare approximately 10,000 Prot- sufferings come upon us do we begin est in the leper problem in estant Christians in Siam. to turn to Thee for guidance. We China. Some outstanding con- deeply feel our own unworthiness…. clusions of the conference were: -Alliance Weekly. We earnestly beseech Thee to grant us Thy Holy Spirit that we may have 1. That uniform, modern, human CHINA intelligence and wisdom, ability and laws should be made for the super- resourcefulness, knowledge and piety vision and treatment of lepers in all Work That Counts and the constant realization that to parts of the republic. love and fear Thee is our supreme Kong Lao-teh, member of the joy. Thus, we can form right judg- 2. That the Chinese Mission to C. 1. M., at Kaifeng, Honan, ment when we face difficulties, en- Lepers and other organized bodies be manufactures a tape for wrap- dure hardship when we face suffer- encouraged to continue their activities ping parcels. He lives by faith ing; we will not blindly follow partial toward the eradication of leprosy, and in that he looks to God alone in views; we will not be downcast and that the government be petitioned to times of crisis. For example, we will not be filled with panic by un- lend its support to these ends. having claims to meet-wages to warranted fears. We pray that pay, perhaps-and no money, through every trial we may reach full- 3. That central leprosy institutions after prayer a I:emarkable sale ness of life, and that through us Thy should be established in all affected of his goods is made. For six will may be completely fulfilled. provinces, and that existing instituor more weeks he held nightly tions might be used and developed for preaching services in a room For the Unity of the Church.-O this purpose. about thirty feet by fourteen, Lord of Heaven and Earth, who with which was crowded night after wisdom ineffable hast founded Thy 4. That uniformity be the aim in night and many standing about Holy Church throughout the world, methods of treatment and of educathe door. bestow Thy blessing upon her that tion of the public. she may ever be holy, catholic and The son-in-law of the widely faithful. Hasten the day when Thy 5. That the aim should be toward known Pastor Ting Li-mei is broken body may be healed and all three types of institutions: the head of a Government Tax those who love Thee may be truly Bureau in Kaifeng. He has one. So that in this world of strife, (a) Settlements for advanced, disstarted a service for his staff on division, hatred and selfishness, Thy figured and "burnt-out" Sunday mornings at 9: 30 in the church may with the authority con- cases. office. He is out to win these ferred upon her by Thee, effectively men. One of them is a devout proclaim the message of universal (b) Hospitals for cases at an in- Buddhist. love and successfully fulfill the task fective stage and where rea- of reconciliation among all men. sonable hope for a cure ex- Dr. Sung cast his American Through Jesus Christ our Lord, ists. diplomas into the Pacific when coming home to China lest :he be Amen. -Missionary Link. (c) Dispensaries for early, noneftempted to forget God's call to fective cases and where hoshim to preach. He preached for Preaching and Practicing pitalization is impossible. two years without a conversion. At last he made up his mind to In an effort to bring home the ~Without the Camp. find out the reason. He ago- dignity of manual labor to his students, Principal Yang Sheng- Giving Out of Poverty wu of the T'ung J en Middle School, Paotingfu, North China, Last year, in spite of dire pov- personally helps the students re- erty and heavy taxes, gifts from pair the public roads near the one Chinese congregation for school. In addition, he conducts "foreign missions" amounted to weekly visits to factories and $3,600. Another church fol- public utility works. Boys and lowed a novel plan for raising money. A large map was dis- played, portraying in white the sections where Christian mis- sionaries were working and
Borneo, the one neglected place, budget for 1933 to approximate- to contribute from 12 to 15 per in black. A basket was placed ly $10,000. The larger part of cent of their salaries. There is in front of the last. Nearly the the amount to be used this year said to be untold suffering on en t ire membership of 700 is to be applied to the expenses the part of farmers and fishermarched past the basket and of two conferences: of writers men in this field. Economic condropped in an offering for this and others interested in a litera- ditions in the extreme north are needy field. When the contribu- ture for the educated classes; acute. All values have been tions were counted they were and of leaders producing a more falling steadily for years and found to amount to $546.59. adequate literature for use in unemployment i s increasing. the training of preachers. Other Under these conditions it is -United Presbyterian. projects which will be helped by proof of the influence of Chris- small grants include a Christian tianity that the Christians, few "Renewal of Vows" Movement paper for farmers, enlarging as they are, have raised many the usefulness of Dr. Timothy thousa,nds of yen to help feed Robert E. Chandler, Congre- Lew's magazine of worship, the hungry and clothe the shivgational missionary in Tientsin, known as "The Amethyst," and ering. One of the hopeful indiwrites of a hopeful form of so me special literature for cations is the increasing desire church effort, called a "Renewal women. of the churches to become selfof Vows" movement, which has supporting. There are now 21 been tried in two churches. North China Industrial stations, operated by the inde- Service Union pendent churches, the contribu- One was in the country and the tions of which amounted last other was the Hsiku Church in Tient- Under the leadership of Dr. year to $14,398.44. A Ten-Year sin. The method was one of thinking Chang Po-ling and Dr. J. Leigh- Plan has also been put into operback to the solemn vows taken at bap- ton Stuart, Presidents of Nan- ation, almost entirel); of J apatism, thinking down to the loyalties kai and Yenching Universities nese origin, looking towards the that moved one then and which should respectively, a group of persons self-support of twenty 0 the r hold one, now. The reminding was interested in China's pressing congregations. not done through big meetings and economic problems organized an much oratory, but just calling. The association with the above name. -Outlook of Missions. aim was to look up every member of Their action was taken in harthe church who could be found. One mony with the desire of the Na- Temperance Film or two invited guests from outside, tional Christian Council to see along with the pastor and lay leaders a group formed both to study Tokyo authorities have just of the church, did the calling. We what can be done along indus- or d ere d Kagawa's film, "A were not given any cold shoulders; trial lines to help the farmers in Grain of Barley," to be shown in rather it was a joyful time. At the North China economically, and every primary school in Tokyo. end of two weeks of concentrated ef- to promote experiments in rural This is the story of the converfort it headed up with a most reverent industry, believing that herein sion of a village youth and the Renewal of Vows worship service. is a field for constructive Chris- mill girl to whom he is en- After the members have thus pulled tian service. The Union will gaged, and the consequent great together and vowed together, there is h a v e a coordinating center change in the home which the plenty of church work ahead for them. through which experience can father has d rag g e d down be pooled and a common pro- through drink, and the whole -Congregationalist. gram pursued. The first step village. This Christian film will will be the organizing of indus- reach thousands where the mis- Literature Promotion Fund tries and serving them in busi- sion reaches one-working peo- ness ways until the organiza- ple, who are mostly Buddhists. For many years Dr. John R. tions so created are strong Mott has felt an urgent need for enough to function without such -Missionary Link. a wider distribution of Chris- aid. tian literature in China. He has Anti-Prostitution Drives therefore proposed the forma- JAPAN-CHOSEN tion of an independent body for Owing to the miserable conthis purpose, responsible only to Unselfish Christians ditions of farming communities, givers. As a test of the sound- especially in the Tohoku and ness of the plan he offered from In addition to a reduction of Hokkaido, the selling of girls to sources at his disposal a gift of 10 per cent in salary the Japan licensed quarters and to geisha $62,500, Shanghai currency, to missionaries of the Reformed houses continues on a large be placed in the hands of a small Church in the U. S., of their scale. To combat this evil the group of trustees, to be admin- own accord, voted to contribute Woman's Patriotic League has istered in the interests of the their December salary towards set aside 16,000 yen to be used production, distribution and use the deficit of 1932. It is also as loans to save such girls,-a of Christian literature in China. most deserving of note that the sum entirely inadequate since The name of the new organiza- Japanese associates volunteered the sale of g i r I s last year tion is: Literature Promotion. reached a total of nearly 5,000, Fund in China. The use of the about 33 times the average nummoney given through Dr. Mott is to be spread over a period of three years; the trustees have voted to limit their spending
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
ber. Buddhism has gone on rec- time later, obliged to keep watch was dark and the child became ord as favoring the abolition of over his crop of millet to guard despondent and when she was this evil. Twenty-three priests against the depredations of wild fifteen years old she tried to end of the Shingon Sect signed a boar, and having nothing to do, her misery by hanging herself memorial to the Home Depart- he remembered the little Gospel from the branch of a tree, but ment calling for an end of li- so far untouched. An ardent was saved. A year later she censed prostitution. Petition de m 0 n worshipper, he was tried to drown herself, but met drives have been made in Tokyo struck by the fact of the power an old man who cheered her and a number of the prefectures. of Jesus Christ over demons, in with the thought that there was -Japan Christian Quarterly. the Gospel of Mark. A con- hope of a cure. She heard of sciousness of sin came over him the Taiku Leper Hospital, was Christian Women Speak and he exclaimed, "What a sin- examined and admitted and ner I have been to worship the cured. Do you wonder that in "We, the Tokyo Christian devil! I must learn about this her Sunday-school tea chi n g Women's Federation, are today One who has conquered him." gratitude and thankfulness are uniting in prayer for love, peace He went on from that beginning frequently her theme?
and goodwill between our coun- and seems fairly out on the way tries." now, lifted out of the bondage ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC Such was the message cabled of a slave of Satan to the glori- to Shanghai by the Tokyo Chris- ous liberty of a son of God. Five Large Offerings from Small members of his household, all tian Women's Federation on but the old father, have followed Incomes March 3. It was also unani- him into the Kingdom of God. mously voted that a delegation In spite of small incomes, a be sent from the meeting to pro- -MARY HILL. number of churches in Tayabas, test against the radio being used Philippine Islands, h a v e re- Medical Work in Korea c e i ve d substantial offerings, to broadcast war news every amounting to 66 per cent of norevening. From Alexander Hospital in mal contributions. One member Soonchun comes the report that presented the congregation with On March 6 the following notwithstanding the fact that 20 additional hymn books and a the country is in a worse finan- pUlpit Bible. Another paid his memorandum was sent to the cial condition than it has been SUbscription for a year and then Japanese Premier: for years, the medical work has added another five per cent for prospered and grown, because "good measure." A former We, the Christian women of Tokyo the germ is no respecter of de- deaconess, and now a pastor's are praying for those who are re- pressions. The year 1931-1932 wife, was gravely ill. Church was the hospital's best in the members made up a purse so sponsible for the welfare of the coun- number of patients treated and that she might be brought to the try, and extend our hearty thanks for in the quality of work they have mission hospital, where she was been able to do. Of the 5,031 cured. A certain old lady gave all your efforts in looking after na- dispensary cases, 495 we r e her mite. She is a widow and tional and international affairs at this charity patients. No charity a member of the new congrega- case is ever turned away for tion at Candelaria. With her critical time when all the world seems lack of funds, although some- savings of five years the woman to be in confusion. We fully appreci- times there has not been enough bought a lot on which the church ate the fact that you have been carry- on hand to run for two or more may erect a chapel. ing a heavy burden through these days. The money always comes from somewhere, but usually -Presbyterian Advance. troublesome months which culminated not from the mission, as only in our country's retiring from the about 2,500 yen of the total ex- A Reborn Papuan League of Nations. On March 3d, penses of 32,215 yen come from Bokamani is a Papuan, conover 250 women representing about 180 churches in this city gathered to- victed of sin and born again gether and prayed specially for those who are in responsible positions that after attending a Gospel meetthey may have clear guidance. We ing. Returning to his own vilknow that what has been going on since September 18, 1931, is inevita- lage, where there was not a ble, yet we sincerely hope and pray sin g I e Christian, his first that the strife in Manchuria will soon be ended, because we believe that the day has come when all nations should resort to peaceful means to settle all international troubles. We pray that that source. Your Excellency, as well as all the -Christian Observer. members of the Cabinet, may enjoy special guidance and h e I p from A Transformed Life Heaven. -The Presbyterian.
Miss Pak Hak J oon is the thought was to tell his neigh- head teacher in the leper Sun- bors this great news. As he was A Demon Worshipper day school at Taiku. She be- praying about it, the Holy Spirit came a Christian in the Taiku guided him to say nothing, for Converted In the "Five Fundamental Leper Hospital and is now a at least a fortnight, but to live Virtues" village, in Korea, a very earnest believer. At five as nearly like Christ as he could. man bought a Gospel from the years of age she had developed An old man lived in his village , colporteur but with no intention the dread malady from which whose joints were painfully set of becoming a Christian. Some her mother died. The outlook and whose only means of getting
about was on his hands and It is 101 years since James and address of the organization, knees. Bokamani carried this Backhouse and George Wash- but the names of executive offiold man on his shoulders to the ington Walker landed in Tas- cers, budget, official periodical, river to bathe every morning mania. Their chief objective fields of work, and in many and evening. He also visited was to investigate conditions of cases an historical note. It the sick (who are often turned the convict settlement, adminis- shows the growth in indigenous out of their houses and shame- tering such spiritual comfort as Christian organizations in the fully neglected) and in many was open to them. They trav- various mission fields. In some others ways he "went about do- eled all over Tasmania, and ing good." Before the end of visited New South Wales, espe- cases, statistics of field situathe fortnight people began to cially prisoners and gangs. of tions are given; for example, question him-all this was so workers. They formed meetings China, Japan, Korea and India. foreign to them. The whole vil- of Friends in Hobart and Sydlage seemed to have been blessed ney, whose chief aim should be Under each mission field is also since his return-what did it all to continue the work after they given a list of all the foreign ormean? Bokamani's time had left. The first of these was come to testify. He gathered formed in Hobart in 1833, that ganizations that work there. the villagers together and told at Sydney two years later. They This directory was compiled at them how his own burden of sin were also the pioneers of the the request of the Protestant temperance movement. The sub- missionary societies which suphad been lifted, and how the love ject of peace and war, tradi- port the International Missionof God had come into his heart. tional with Friends, occupied a ary Council, and is obtainable He told them of the new Power large portion of the time at this over evil which he had experi- assembly, and a strong protest from the offices of the Council. enced. Because of this man's was made against the proposal -Presbyterian Advance. witness and the testimony of his to reintroduce compulsory mililife many came to know the tary training in Australia. Thirty Million Bibles a Year Lord. Fortunately Bokamani can read a little and now this -Christian Century. Impressive are the figures small group of Christians gather together to pray and read their GENERAL which show the number of vol- Suau Gospels. Where the Money Goes umes of Scripture being annual- -MARY ABEL, of Kwato. ly issued by the Protestant Bible Societies of America and Europe.
1931 AMERICA Volumes American Bible Society 9,745,356 Temperance Education The Church Missionary So- GREAT BRITAIN ciety issues a pamphlet, "How The Malaya Woman's Chris- the Money Is Spent." In the British and For e i g n tian Temperance Union spon- Near East the Society maintains Bible Society (1804) . 10,552,284 sors temperance e d u cat ion some four-fifths of the entire through contests in oratorical, Anglican work among Moslems National Bible Society essay, story and poster competi- in that area, and plans to expend of Scotland (1861) .. 4,615,109 tion. Eleven silver medals have upon it in 1933 £40,519. The been awarded first prize win- Society's share of the work in Scripture Gift Mission. 2,185,043 ners. In Methodist schools, the Tropical Africa for 1933 is esharmful effects of intoxicants timated at £66,085, in India GERMANY 20,500 upon the human body are taught £124,490, and in the Far East 10,951 in the physiology and hygiene £54,786. These sums, together Baden Bib I e Society, 74,270 classes as well as through post- with £15,000 belonging to spe- Karlsruhe ………. 86,727 ers, pamphlets and lectures. cial trust funds, show a total of 23,291 Pupils themselves sometimes ar- £300,880 to be expended in the Bavarian (or Central) 606,100 range temperance pro g ram s. field. Home payments amount- Bible Society (1823). Both alcohol and opium are also ing to £101,937 are applied to studied from the standpoint of the training of missionaries, Bergische Bible Society their disastrous economic and outfits and passages, pensions to (1814) …………. social effects upon human so- retired missionaries, interest on ciety. -Malaysia Message. loans, and the administration of Prussian Bible Society overseas work. (1806) …………. Quaker Centenary, Tasmania -C. M. S. Outlook. Saxony Bib I e Society One of the largest gatherings (1814) …………. of Friends ever assembled met Protestant Mission Directory at Hobart, Tasmania, early this Wurttemberg Bible Inyear, marking the centenary of The International Missionary stitution (1812) ….. Quakerism in Australia. Dele- Council has published a Direcgates were present from New tory of all the Protestant mis- FRANCE 3,313 Zealand, England, South Africa sionary societies of the world. 7,016 and America. It contains not only the name Bible Society of France (1864) ………….
Bible Society of Paris (1818) ………….
DENMARK 50,249 Danish Bible Society .. , HOLLAND 148,691 Netherlands Bible So- ciety (1815) ……..
NORWAY 76,071 Norwegian Bible Society (1816) ………….
SWEDEN 25,098 Swedish Bible Society (1809) ………….
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Added to this are the volumes logue of educational films- do to naturalize Christianity in issued by commercial firms and scientific, geographical, social India he answered, among other by Roman Catholics, bringing and dramatic. things: 'You must practice your the total number of Scriptures religion without adulterating it supplied to the world in one year This work has a very impor- or toning it down.' Rather reto 30,000,000. tant bearing on missionary markable that Dr. Hu Shih, the work, not only in the elimina- -Malaysia Message. tion of immoral films, but in father of the renaissance move- helping missionaries teach hy- ment and the greatest brain in Cinemas for Mission Lands giene, sanitation, international China at the present time, friendship, better race relations, should have said the same thing The International Institute of history, geography and science. to a group of Christians: 'Don't Ed u cat ion a I Cinemography, The Institute publishes a month- tone down your religion.' The which was established in 1928 to ly bulletin at Geneva. two outstanding non-Christians make motion pictures educa- in the East give us the same tional and uplifUng rather than "Toned Down Religion" counsel. Dr. Hu Shih, who calls degrading, is endeavoring to cir- himself an agnostic, said to a culate the better class of films Dr. E. Stanley Jones, who is group of missionaries, 'I do not through the abolition of tariffs at present in this country, is believe what you believe, but if on such producUons only. The quo ted as saying: "Several I believed half of what you say Bureau, which is affiliated with years ago when I asked Ma- you believe, I would be more the League of Nations; is pre- hatma Gandhi what we should earnest than you are.' " paring an international cata- -Watchman-Examiner.
Used by oourtesy of "Ohina's Millions" A PART OF THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA, DIVIDING MANCHURIA FROM CHINA PROPER This wall extends from Shanhaikwan, on the Gulf of Llaotung, 1,400 miles to the western border of Mongolia. It was begun over 2,000 years ago by the Emperor Chin Shih Huang Ti and is a masterpiece of engineering. It crOSSes high mountains and valleys, steep slopes, deserts, river beds and great cha,sms. In some places the wall is thirty feet wide and observation towers are built in the wall at distances approximately a third of a mile apart. It was built to protect China from 'invasion from the north.
Recently the wall has proved ineffective against the inroad.s of the Japanese, with the aid of huge guns, tanks and bombing alr- . planes. As one of the wonders of the world this wall should be preserved. Our Missionary B.ookshelf Recent Books Reviewed for the Readers' Information I~~~~=====================I~ The Christ of the Christian Faith. at home and therefore of course questions-the relation of Chris- By Dr. Douglas Mackenzie. 304 in the missionary enterprise tianity to non-Christian reli- pp. $2.00. Macmillan. New York. abroad, the fundamental ques- gions, the motive and aim of tions of the meaning and value foreign missions, the proper This is a noble book. It sets of Christ and of the nature of place of evangelistic effort in forth the historic faith of the Christianity. Is He only man missionary work, and the duty Church in the Deity of Christ with divinity not qualitatively of the Church and its individual with eloquence and learning, members. with a full knowledge of the different from that to which we critical questions of the New aspire, or is He man and God in The Stone Lectures at Prince- Testament literature and of a sense wholly unique? Are we ton which form the basis of modern psychology, and at the to think of Him as a great hu- this book, w~re prepared some same time with full and assured man leader classified with other time before the pUblication of faith in the real Deity of our great religious teachers, or as the Report of the Appraisal Lord. "Modern critical scholar- the only personality of His kind, Commission of the Laymen's ship," says Dr. Mackenzie, "by the Messiah of God promised in Foreign Missions Inquiry. But its very failures has proved that the reader cannot fail to note the true story of Jesus of Naza- the Old Testament, the Saviour that the conception of Christ reth cannot be told by an unbe- whose death atoned for sin and here presented so clearly and liever. The effort of the psy- who actually arose from the powerfully is radically different chology of religion to account from that which subtly pervades for the nature of the Christian dead and lives as the risen Lord "Re-Thinking Missions." Everylife, without accepting the Gos- and whose salvation must be of- one who has read the latter volpel story as essentially true, is fered to every man? And is the ume should read Dr. Speer's also a manifest failure." There faith of Christ essentially the scholarly and truely Christian are no doubt points in this book faith about Christ and wholly presentation of the unique charwhere we would diverge from different from other faiths, with acter and mission of Jesus or qualify the view expressed, a unique and universal mission, Christ. but the central thesis and the thorough and competent ex- so that its business is not to We believe that this is the planation and defense of it are reach a synthesis and adjust- ablest, clearest, most decisive a rich contribution, one of the ment with other religions but to and convincing statement of the very richest, to our present-day evangelical view of Christ that Christian apologetics. The book conquer and possess the earth in has recently appeared. It is a is especially valuable for its Christ's name and to set Him in tonic to faith. If every minister study of the consciousness of the sole and supreme place?" and layman would read it care- Jesus as evidence of the truth of fully, much of the current doubt, the New Testament narrative Dr. Speer's answer to these uncertainty and confused thinkand of the unique and divine questions is "unhesitating and ing would be dispelled. personality of our Lord. unqualified." He holds that Jesus Christ is unique, final, ab- A. J. B. ROBERT E. SPEER. solute and universal, the world's only Saviour and Redeemer, God Out of My Life and Thought-An The Finality of Jesus. Christ. By and the only Son of God. He Autobiograplhy. By Albert Schweit- Robert E. Speer. 386 pp. $3.00. maintains this thesis with co- zer. 288 pp. $2.50. Holt & Co. Fleming H. Revell Co. New York. gency of argument, and a wealth New York. 1932. of documentary proof of the his- Dr. Schweitzer is one of the This is a book that was ur- toric faith of the Church from remarkable personalities of this gently needed. It goes straight the Apostolic Age down to the generation. His range of acto the heart of present-day re- present time. The author does complishments is a m a z i n g. ligious thinking. "What think Theologian, philosopher, physiye of Christ?" is a question as not view Christianity as the re- cian, scientist, musician, aucrucial now as it was nineteen sult of a human search for God thor, lecturer and missionary, centuries ago. "We are facing or a quest for spiritual reality, he is eminent in every departtoday, in the Christian Church ment. He is the world's fore- but as God coming down to men, most interpreter of Bach, and a supernatural revelation incar- nated in Jesus Christ. This cen- tral fact, once accepted, settles a whole brood of subsidiary Any of the books noted in these columns will be sent by the REVIEW publishers on receipt of price.
[406 ]
OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF
his organ recitals have delighted ica. Beginning with the princi- The book has the literary charm fastidious audiences in many ples of unity in the teachings of of the author's former works countries, while some of his Jesus, he describes its vicissi- and gives a vivid cross section books on ethics, civilization, tudes in the Ecumenical Coun- of recent movements in religion.
Paul, the historical Jesus, the cils and the Reformation and It is carefully documented and Kingdom of God, the primeval post-Reformation periods, its indexed. A. J. B.
forest, missionary work, and gradual growth in the nine- other subjects, are just regarded teenth century as expressed in My Life in the Moslem East. By Emma Cochran Ponafidine. 320 as classics. The facts regarding the Evangelical Alliance and pp. $3.50. Bobbs-Merril. Indian- apolis. 1933. this extraordinary man are now other bodies, and its more high- T his beautifully illustrated well known. The world was ly developed forms as exempli- autobiographical book of travel and of venture gives the story thrilled when it was learned that fied in the Federal Council, the of Madame Ponafidine until she this gifted man had left a great Home Misions Council, the For- went to Russia. She is the daughter of the' well-known European university to found eign Missions Conference, the Presbyterian missionary, Dr.
and conduct a Christian hospital International Council of Reli- Joseph P. Cochrane of Persia. Her later life and the tragedy of for sick and suffering tribesmen gious Education, and the Stock- the Revolution is told in her other book, "Russia My Home." in an equatorial forest in Africa. holm Universal Christian Con- Many years ago I met the author in Baghdad at the British Resi- He did this unhesitatingly and ference on Life and Work. dency, where all were charmed by her unusual insight and symjoyously for the poor and igno- While the volume is mainly his- pathetic judgment of life in the Moslem East. She was born in rant people for whom Christ torical, it also attempts to be Persia during a Kurdish raid. As a young woman she married died. He tells the story in this prophetic and constructive so a Russian diplomat, himself a student of Moslem affairs and book, tells it modestly and with far as present conditions indi- for more than twenty years she no other purpose but to bear his cate present trends and ten- shared the hazards and hard- ships of life in the Near East testimony that "the essential dencies. It is a notable con- and traveled to its outposts. The picture of her childhood in the element in Christianity as it tribution to the literature of the mountains of Persia, the ro- mance of her marriage in Lonwas preached by Jesus and as it subject, comprehensive in its don, the journey to Baghdad, is comprehended by those who historical survey, progressive in and the descriptions of this ancient city holds the attention believe, that it is only through outlook and suggestions, and yet of the reader. Here we have Baghdad as it was thirty years love that we can attain to com- sympathetic in its recognition of ago, inconceivably hot in sum- mertime with no modern conmunion with God; all living denominational values. An ex- knowledge of God rests upon cellent index makes its rich this foundation: that we experi- store of material readily avail- ence Him in our lives as will to able for reference. The author love." has rendered a service to the This book comes as a current cause of unity in this thoughtful of cool, fresh air amid the murk study. A. J. B.
and heat of much of the current Religion in Our Times. By Gaius Glenn Atkins. 330 pp. $3.00. religious discussion of our day. Round Table Press. New York.
Here is a man who knows whom The author, who left the pas- torate a few years ago for a he believes, that He is able to professorship in Auburn Theo- logical Seminary, has already save unto the uttermost, and won a high place in religious lit- erature by his former volumes that He calls His followers to a life of self-sacrificing service which, after all, is the only life worth living. A. J. B.
Christian Unity in Practice and -"The Making of the Christian veniences, where pest and plague Prop'hecy. By Charles S. Macfar- Min d," "Procession 0 f the wrought havoc and sudden land. 396 pp. $2.75. The Mac- Gods," "Modern Religious Cults flames of fanaticism a r 0 s e millan Company. New York. and Movements," and "The Life among the people. The descrip- While theologians and eccle- of Cardinal Newman." In the tion of Moslem life, etiquette, siastical lawyers are debating present volume Dr. Atkins de- and religion is accurate. The organic union, many of the scribes the changes that have changes that have come since churches are steadily moving taken place in the life of the the World War have left a sense closer together in practical churches during the forty years of tragedy which the author ex- work. Dr. Macfarland deals from 1892 to 1932, the new presses as follows: "Whether it with the latter movement. He methods that have been intro- is approaching old age, or senti- has had exceptional- opportu- duced into religious work, and ment, I am not sure, but a nities to observe it for he was the conflict of new forces and strange lonely feeling often for twenty years the general old ideas in religious thinking. comes over me as I let my mind secretary of the largest and Many of the outstanding preach- roam about the past. I find with most successful of the coopera- ers of the period are char-' regret so few spots in all the tive movements of Protestant- acterized and the narrative is countries in which we have lived ism-the Federal Council of enriched by personal reminis- that would be recognizable and the Churches of Christ in Amer- cences and illustrative incidents. where my thoughts can rest as
on something still existing. Our rut, interested just in our own con- numerous and very explanatory. cerns and thinking our own country dear old home in Urumia (the was the only part of the world that The recipes (not omitting the very n a m e now changed to really mattered. And it took a lot to toothsome English preserves shake me out of my rut; but," with and jams) are appetizing. The Rizieh) has little left after the terrible massacres and revolu- a glance around the room, "I think suggestions for money-raising tions that followed the Bolshe- we're coming out nicely now." are as available in America as in vist catastrophies in Russia. Our Baghdad home has been The story affords good pro- England. turned into a hotel." gram material as a reading, a n a l' l' a t i v e or a homemade The plans submitted have SAMUEL M. ZWEMER. dramatization, to which last- named use the chapters easily been tried out on one and an- The People Next Door. By D. M. H. lend themselves. other group of children "a n d 8 vo. 40 pp. 3d. Highway Press. London. 1933. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON. the results have been saleable things," though the commercial This racy little story is a skill- Things to Make: Some Suggestions intent was only incidental, as ful bit of missionary enlighten- on Handwork for Boys and Girls. the primary object has been to ment and inspiration by indirec- Compiled by Margaret La Trobe Summon tion. It is more natural in style Martin. 8 vo. 62 pp. 1s. Illus. and structure than most pro- Church Missionary Society. Lon- CALVERT ductions of the sort; in narra- don. 1933. SCHOOL tive form down to date it introduces adroitly material on India Well-informed leaders among to and Africa and stimulates the young people are awake to the missionary imp u I s e toward value of handwork as a medium Your "sharing" with racial neighbors for mental and spiritual cul- Children the world over. Through true- ture, as well as an expression of to-life incidents narrated in six developing initiative. The puz- Th~ small children of sco.res of American parchapters-each appealing to a zling question is, where to get ents tn ChIn.a, Japan, Africa, India and many different interest or type of per- grist for the mill, namely, fresh other countnes are receiving their entire ele~ sonality-it reveals the shock- plans and materials. To such mentary education from Calvert School in Baltiing social conditions in non- workers this book is calculated more. This famous school sends attractive to prove a mine of wealth, espe- courses of study to children of missionaries, Christian lands, the evils and cially in these days of financial army and navy officers, officials in the diplomatic stress; it utilizes the greatest corps and others. With Calvert courses Ameri~ abuses of unchristianized com- variety of waste material and can children even though they be in' distant mercialism, the w 0 r 1d-w ide remnants-tin cans, meat skew- lands, need suffer no educational disadvantage, sources of supply for our indis- ers, old broom handles, fish b.ut can receive an excellent elementary educa· bones and the like, to make real- hon. pensable commodities, our de- ly charming things. The pospendance on overseas labor and sibilities of its range may be Thorough instruction is given from first the close interrelationship of all judged from its Table of Con- grade to high school by means of daily lessons members of God's widely dis- tents: "Inexpensive Work for persed family. Boys and Girls; Inexpensive in all fundamental subjects-arithmetic. his- A missionary pull, upon the Work for Boys; Needlework; tory, composition, grammar, etc. Also, an basis of simple human interests, abundantly rich background is provided in the is made on parents, agricultur- Raffia Work; Raffia and Canvas Calvert courses by the addition of subiects not Work; Raffia and Cork Mats; Designing with Colored Paper; taught by the average school. Fascinating les- sons in history of art-famous sculpture paint~ iugs, buildings; nature study; eleme'nts of astronomy, geology and physics; enlighten the course. Children delight in the interesting manner in which all the work is presented.
Later when Calvert pupils take their places with other children, they usually have advancer.
ists, business folk and social Leatherwork; T w i s ted Sea standing. Parents are naturally delighted with workers. In the course of the Grass Seating; Cane Chair Seatstory, an effective reply is made ing; Copper and Brass Foil Calvert courses. Ther provide real pleasure to Work; Beaten Metal Work; both teacher and pupi . Ways of Decorating; Household Recipes; Gifts for Mission The school furnIshes a year's lessons at once, for only $40 a year, with all books and com- plete ~quipment consisting of pencils, paper. to its initial inquiry as to Schools and Hospitals; Ways of attractive maps, charts and the most modern of Earning Money. educational devices. If extra assistance is de~ whether a talented, well-edu- sired by parent, the school gives a monthlY cated person is making the best A more ready reference hand- criticism service at a most reasonable cost. worth-while life-investment in Heads of missionary hoards have commented on for e i g n missionary service. There is also an appeal to the the very moderate cost of Calvert instructIon. In many places groups have been organized and are successfully taught by mothers with no teaching experience. All the courses, in· spirit of fair play: "Don't you eluding a splendid Kindergarten course, are suitable for either individual ($10.50) or group think it is up to us to see that instruction at a reduced price. more of them hear of Him? It Virgil M. Hillyer, originator of Calvert home instruction school courses wrote "A Child's His· book could scarcely be compiled. tory of the World" and "A Child's Geography," seems to me we are not playing The materials used are classified the game if we take all that they alphabetically-American Cloth, successful hooks lilled with the life and intere,t do for us without troubling to that brighten all Calvert Home lessons. Use the share our good things with them Blotting Paper, Cans, Fir Cones, in return." Spiritual dynamite· etc.-referring to the pages on coupon for full information including sample is employed in the last chapter which each article is exploited. tests, papers and lessons. to blast Christian people out of In each chapter the successive CALVERT SCHOOL 187 W. Tuscany Road. Baltimore, Md.
Please send me full information, including a sample lesson, their indifference: paragraphs are headed in bold Name ………………………………………………………………..
"It seems to me that we here had type and deal with distinct Address ……………………………………………………………. all of us got into a nice, comfortable items. The illustrations are Child's Age ……………………………………………………….
the handwork as a part of known, the various dervish or- JUST OFF THE
a missionary program. "Such ders are found everywhere in gatherings, linked with prayer Java; Sufism is the background Sovereignty and Grace and study, can be of immense of Moslem thought. The author value, seeking as they do to give is well acquainted with the lit- By Professor John B. Chempion, A.M.,Th.D. opportunity to each boy and girl erature of the subject. He to offer their best work as part quotes with approval the state- B.atem BapUat TbeololJcal Seminary of their share in making Jesus ment of Nicholson: "Notwith- Christ King in all the world." standing the breadth and depth I N this book, the long debated problem of of the gulf between full-blown Sovereignty and Grace Is reviewed and ESTELLA S. AITCHISON. Sufism and orthodox I s I a m Interpreted from the personal point of many, if not most Sufis, have view. Calvinism and Armlnlanlsm are re- Salting the Earth. A Story of Rural paid homage to the Prophet and stated In terms that eliminate the weakness Reconstruction. By H. and H. F. h a v e observed the outward of both. What a wealth of material students Topping. Paper. 38 pp. 20 cents. forms of devotion, which are, in- of th" Scriptures will find In the enfoldlngs Published by the Author. Tokyo. cumbent on all Moslems. They of law and liberty-the will which Is free to have invested· these rites and will as the eye Is free to see, and the ear to The order of Friends of Jesus, ceremonies with a new meaning. helLr; foreordillation and,th!! problem of evil! founded by Kagawa, enrolls they have allegorized them, but 1,300 members who advocate they have not abandoned them~" The author writes that Grace Is God's peace and brotherhood as essen- The book consists of three love for the sinner In spite of his Ingratitial elements of Christianity. parts: first, an account of mys- tUde, Injustice and guilt. Divine fulfillmellt The authors of this booklet ex- ticism as it exists in Java; took place when all that was In God was press the hope that their account second, its relation to faith, and fulfilled In relation to all that Is In sin. of one of the members may help a final chapter on the conclu- Sacrifice Is the sovereign ·source and secret Americans to realize that many sions that follow for the work of GOd's repossession of u's and our joy and of the common people of Japan of missions. The work is well fellowship In Christ forever and ever. desire peace and should have the documented and gives evidence sympathy of lovers of peace in of wide reading. The book abounds with epigrammatic senother lands. The story is excel- tences, revealing the logician, psychologist, lent material for mission study SAMUEL M. ZWEMER. philosopher and theologian. It gives us, In classes and missionary societies. modern thought and language, a new Inter- ~~Why I Lislen pretation and understanding of the most dif- A. J. B. ficult and the most Important of all subjects, 10 Minislers~~ –God and His sovereign grace In their Mystik Und Glaube: im Zusammen- relation to mankind. hang mit der Mission auf Java. By A 3i-page boolele,t which Dr. B. M. Schuurman. 125 pp. 3 eims to Melee thelulcewerm !$l4 pages. Cloth, $1.50 Guilders. Martinus Nijhoif, Pub- Hot, but not med FOll SALE By ,lishers. Hague, Netherlands. WISE folks are saying that if tem- THE EVANGELICAL PRESS The missionaries in Java have poral conditions are to improve Harrisburg, Pe. made notable contributions to we must generate more spiritual the science of missions. Some power. To hilve morefilith in spirit- The Christian Mission in America. years ago Dr. Bakker wrote a ual forces more people must hilve the HUgh T. Kerr. 184 pp. $1.00. thesis on the subject of Polyg- Loyal Layman's confidence in what Friendship Press. New York. amy in the native church which the minister hils to SilY. This booklet, deserved a much larger circula- by" layman of wide experience, in- Faith-An Historical Study. Stewart tion than it received. In the spires thilt confidence. Means. 334 pp. $2.50. Macmilstudy of Islam there have been lan. New York. several remarkable books. The Send" dime only, for your sample 'present treatise is for the spe- copy. Joseph Jac~son Fuller. Robert Glecialist working among Moham- nine. 65 pp. 6d. Carey Press. medans, rather than for the THE MAYWOOD PRESS London. general reader. It deals with the relationship of Islamic mys- Box i554 Sidney Center, N. Y. How Far to the Nearest Doctor? ticism and faith. As is well Edward M. Dodd. 163 pp. $1.00. New Books Friendship Press. New York.
A Self-Made Bishop. G. L. King. 58 India, Burma-Fact Finders' Reports pp. lB. S. P. G. House, London. of the Laymen's Foreign Missions, Inquiry. Orville A. Pitt, Editor. Bishop Montgomery-A Memoir. By 760 pp. $1.50. Harpers. New York. M. M. 109 pp. 28. .6d. S. P. G. Mai-dee of the Mountains. Mary London. Brewster Hollister. 153 pp. $1.50. Revell. New York. Broken Bonds. K. S. Malden. 101 pp. 28. S. P. G. House. London., The Press and the Gospel. W. H. Murray Walton. 160 pp. 28. 6d. Craftsmen All. Edward Shillito. Student Christian Movement. Lon- 159 pp. $1.00. Friendship Press. don. New York. Reminiscences of' Seventy Years. Hiromichi Kozaki. 404 pp. Chris- tian Literature Society of Japan. Tokyo.
The Word of the Cross to Hindus. Edgar W. Thompson. 327 pp. 78. 6t!. Epworth Press. London.
What Shall We Do About -Missions? John Leslie Lobinger. 44 pp. 25 cents. The Pilgrim Press. Boston.
Young American Makes Friends. Mary Alice Jones and Rebecca CandiIl. 122 pp. $1.00. Friend- ship Press. New York.
THE MOSLEM
SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, Editor SOME ARTICLES IN THE JULY NUMBER: The Pulpit in 1,lam (Frontispiece) …………………………S.muel M. Zwemer The Euentia(ity of the Crou…… . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. The lete W. H. Temple Gairdner Mohammed', Doctrine of Revelation (Tran.lated) …………………..Tor Andrae American Negro Mohammedan,…………………………….. Pierre Crabite. The Gypsie. of Modern Egypt ……………………………… John Walleer The MOilem Women of Algeria ……………………….. Millicent H. Roche Current TopiCi …… Boole Review•…… Survey of Periodical, SUBSCRIBE TODAY c Address THE MOSLEM WORLD 156 FIfth Aven.. Ne. Volle City Single copies, SOc.; Annu41 Subscription, $2.00 i in Combin4tion with the REVIEW, $3.50 MARSHALL, MORGAN a SCOTT, 11 P……OIter …1eI11I", LoIldOll PrIce III GreelIrIt8II, Ellhi ShllUn.., lIet THE KING'S BUSINESS Girdles the Globe Subscribers and Contributors in Every Country in the World St4rk pioneer Relds, isol4ted misssion st4tions, crowded, dise4se-infected, superstition-steeped sections-to till of these THE KING'S BUSINESS ministers. It is quite n4turdl that out From them there should come to the pages of THE KING'S BUSINESS missiondry 4rticles, R4shing with power 4nd luminous with dppedl.
Around-the-World Testimonies ….c… never do without it….SOuth Africa• ….V.lue it highly and keep every issue….Peru• ….Love it so much that I cannot do without it….lndi•• ….A blessin, .nd … inspir.tion to higher service….British West Indies• ….Most helpful. I Uti it. greet deel in Sund.y School work in this district….Chin•• The Bible F.mily M.g.zine for the World F.mily Something drre:sting, F4sciOdting, movins, in every issue for every member of the family! Striking editoridls dnd drticles of vit41 interest, hedrt to hedrt t41ks with young readers, notes on Christian Endeavor tepics, InternatioOdI SUnd4Y School Lesson Commentdry 4nd other valued Features 4re offered every month.
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The Missionary Review of the World — March 1932
1932
The Present Missionary Outlook Robert E. Speer How An African Preacher Preaches Mrs. John M. Springer Sotne Recent Changes in Mexico Ralph E. Diffendorfer .
The Dynatnic of Hotne Missions John McDowell
Items Dates to~Remember
Mr. James Frederick Talcott, the March 7 and 8-First Annual Meeting son of the late James Talcott, has of the COMMITTEE ON PROMOTION, been elected president of the American HOME MISSIONS COUNCIL and COUN- Bible Society, succeeding Mr. E. Fran- CIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME MISSIONS, cis Hyde, president for the last seven Fort Pitt Hotel, Pittsburgh, Pa.
years. Mr. Talcott comes to his new Rev. J. S. Stowell, Chairman.
position with a deep interest in the March 7-9-National Conference of work of the society. JEWS AND CHRISTIANS, Washington, D. C. ••• May 2-General Conference of the Rev. Robert O. Franklin, for 17 METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, At- years a missionary in Siam and for lantic City, New Jersey. five years president of Bangkok Chris- May 15-21-CHURCH CONFERENCE OF tian College, has been appointed sec- SOCIAL WORK, Philadelphia, Pa.
Direct Express . .. to retary of the American Bible Society May 18-Annual Conference, METH- in charge of the agency in Siam. He ODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH, Colum- JAPAN succeeds Rev. Robert Irwin, who re- AND tires after 20 years of service. bUB, Ohio.
CHINA • •• May 18-20-THE COMMUNITY CHURCH WOIUa:RS 01' U. S. A., Buffalo, N. Y. Direct because straight Dr. F. H. Otto Melle returned to across. Express because of Empress Germany in November after having May 24-28-A GENERAL SYNODICAL speed. Yokohama is only 10 days traveled through the United States MEETING 01' THE REFoRMED CHtTRCH from Vancouver. Shanghai a short effectively presenting the situation in IN THE U. S., Cleveland, Ohio. 4 days beyond! Germany, especially the interests of May 26-General Assembly, PRESBY- Empress of Russia and Empress TElUAN CHURCH IN THE U. S. A., of Asia are the largest and fastest the Theolopcal Seminary at Franlt- Denver, Colo. liners on this route. They offer new forl-on-Mam, of which he is the presireduced fares! May 26-General Assembly, PRESBY- dent. ••• TElUAN CHURCH IN THE, U. S., Mon- Want to go via Honolulu? Em. press ofJapan, the Pacific's largest Rev. Dr. L. Myron Boozer, of Iowa, treat, N. C. and fastest liner, and her speedy running mate, Empress of Canada, has been elected President of the June 2-General Synod of REFORMED tllke this route. The crossing is but CHURCH IN AMERICA, Kingston, ;J days longer. These Empresses Board of National Missions of the N.Y. connectatHonoluluwith San Fran. cisco and Los Angeles sailings. Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., suc- June 16-20-Annual Convention of the WOMEN'S GENERAL MISSIONARY SO- Sumptuous First OIlSS on all Em- ceeding the Rev. Joseph A. Vance, CIETY OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN presses ••• a Tourist Class of true "Empress" standard. D. D., of Detroit. Miss Ann Eliza- CHURCH, Columbus, Ohio.
All Empresses sail from Van- beth Taylor of New York was elected couver (where trains go to ship- Vice-president, succeeding Mrs. F. S. side.•• baggage checked through to Bennett. . state-room) and Victoria: ••• June 23-July 4:-COMMITTEE OF THE INTERNATIONAL MISSIONARY COUN- Direct Expr~ss Dr. W. W. Yen, the new Chinese Empress of Asia, Apr. 23, June 18 minister to the United States, has CIL, Herrnhut, Germany. Empress ofRussia, Mar. 26, May 21 been for a number Of years the chair- man of the Board of Managers of July 12-17-Annual Meeting, NORTH- Viii Hf»I(JiRiR Yenching University. Empress of Japan, Apr. 9, June 5 ERN BAPl'IST CONVENTION at San Empress ofCanada, Mar. 12,May7 ••• Francisco, Calif. .
Reduced Round Trip Fares. Gipsy Smith, "the world's foremost July ,25-31-WORLD~ SUNDAY SCHOOL Information, your agent, or any evangelist," has recently closed his CONVENTION, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Canadian Pacific office:NewYork, Philadelphia revival campaign of Philadelphia, Chicago. Montreal three weeks. August 23-28-General Conference of and 31 other cities in U. S. and Can. SEVENTH-DAY BAPl'IST CHURCH at (Continued on 3rd Cover) .Adams Center, N. Y. CANADIAN October 18-24:-FIVE YEARS MEETING PACIFIC OF THE FRIENDS, Richmond, Ind.
~ THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS ~ DEPARTMENT OF .ANNUITIES YOUR GIFT NOW WILL BRING TO YOU THE BLESSING OF GIVING WHILE UVING AND THE GUARANTEE OF THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS THA"r YOU WILL HAVE AN INCOME FOR LIFE ERNEST F. HALL, Secretary 156 FIFI'H AVENUE. NEW YORK.
~ PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE U. S.A. .~
Chat THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE
The February REvIEw received even a DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Editor warmer welcome than was given to the Janu- ary number. The list of enthusiastic readers Vol. LV March, 1932 No.3 and boosters for the REVIEW is increasing. Are you one of them? Page Does your pastor take the REVIEW? Is it FRONTISPIECE-Shanghai-and the Present Scenes of Conflict •••• 130 circulated in your missionary society? Are TOPICS OF THE TIMES ••• , ••• , •••• , ..• , ••••••• , .•.•.•• , ••• , ., 131 you taking advantage of the "Effective Ways of Working" so helpfully suggested by Mrs. Opposing Forces in China Mr. Gandhi and Christian Missions Aitchison for increasing missionary interest at home? Studying Foreign Mission Problems BE A BOOSTER ASPECTS OF THE PRESENT MISSIONARY OUTLOOK. . • • • • • •• 135 Here are some of the recent comments on By Dr. Robert E. Speer, Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions, our February number: Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
"We wish to congratulate you on the appear- HOW THE AFRICAN PREACHER PREACHES. " , ' •• , '" , •• , ' •• 140 ance of the REVIEW as well as upon its con- tents. The material it contains is very inter- By Mrs. John M. Springer, a missionary of the American Methodist esting indeed." Episcopal Church at Jadotville, Belgian Congo JAMES V. CLARKE, THE CHRISTIANS AND THE JEWS ••••••••.••• , ..•••. , • • • . • •• 144 Managing Editor of the By Max I. Reich of Morrisville, Pa, • • • Presbyterian Advamce. SOME RECENT CHANGES IN MEXICO., ••• , ••• " . " . " ••••••• 145 "You have wonderfully improved the RE- VIEW in its form and its articles." By the Rev. Ralph E. Diffendorfer, Secretary of the Board of Foreign • • • PROFESSOR HARLAN P. BEACH. Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church .
"I like the new form very much and think CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN PUERTO RICO •.• , •..• " .••••. ,… 147 you have improved the contents. The Febru- ary issue is splendid." By Jarvis S. Morris of San German, Puerto Rico WILUAM R. KING, THE DYNAMIC OF HOME MISSIONS .•••• , •••..• , , , , , , .• , . • • •• 149 Executive Secretary of the By the Rev. John McDowell, D.D., President of the Home Missions • • • Home Missions Council. Council and Secretary of the Board of National Missions of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. "The REVIEW in its new apparel arrested my attention at once and I think it is a very great WHAT PROGRESS IN HOME MISSIONS?,., ••• , .• " .• ,.,., ••• 155 improvement. The articles arrest attention." By the Rev. William R, King, D.D., Extracts from the Annual Report MRS. JOHN FERGUSON. of the Executive Secretary of the Home Missions Council President of the ADVENTURES AMONG THE AMAZON INDIANS •••.. , •• , .•••• 159 National Council of A review of "The Challenge of Amazon's Indians" by Mrs. Arthur F. • • • Federated Church Women. Tylee. Reviewea by Dr. Thomas C. Moffett, Secretary of the Com- mission on the Indians of Latin America "I congratulate you on the last two issues of the REVIEW. I like it very much better STUDENTS AND MISSIONARY INTEREST •••.•..•• , . . . . . . , .••• 161 in its new dress." By the Rev. William M. Miller, a Presbyterian Missionary on furlough MILLS J. TAYLOR. Associate Secretary, FACE TO FACE WITH HUMAN WRECKS .• " …• , ….•…•• ,. 163 Board of Foreign Missions, United Presbyterian Church By the Rev. Walter Amos Morgan, Pastor of the First Congregational Church, Chicago, Illinois of North America. WORLD FRIENDSHIP BOOKS FOR CHILDREN • . . . , • . . . , • • . • . .• 166 WHAT IS YOUR REACTION? By Hazel V. Orton, Secretary of Elementary Work, Missionary Educa- Most of the Author8 in the present number tion Movement need no introduction. Do not fail to read the article by Mrs. Springer who has been FAIR PLAY IN LATIN AMERICA ……………………….. 168 for over thirty years a Methodist missionary in Central Africa. American preachers and EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , 169 speakers will find some valuable suggestions on how to keep their audiences awake. Edited by Mrs. Estella S. Aitehison Mr. Max 1. Reich is a Hebrew Christian, WOMEN'S HOME AND FOREIGN BULLETIN, , , , ….• , ….•. , ., 173 a scholar, a man of unusual Christian spirit and a leader among the Hebrew Christians Edited by Helen M. Brickman and Florence G. Tyler of America. OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 The article by Dr. Thomas C. Moffett tells a thrilling and a heart-rending story of the A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events murder of two American missionaries and a little child by Indians in the Amazon valley. OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF, .•••…• , •••. , .•.. , .. , ….•• , 189 The Rev. Wm. M. Miller, a very effective Recent Books Reviewed for the Readers' Information Presbyterian missionary iR Persia, has been spending some months worki-'1g amollg the Publication Office 40 S. Meridian St., Indianapolis, Indiana students in North American colleges. He tells Editorial and Business Office 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City interesting facts that he has observed. Entered as second-class matter at Post-Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under Act of March WHICH ARTICLE DO YOU LIKE BEST? 3,1879.
Every month we are obliged to omit as good Application has been made to transfer to Indianapolis, Ind. papers as we have room to print. LO'Jk for Foreign Postage 50 cents a year these in the coming numbers-for example: 25 cents a copy-$2.50 a year "The Rural Situation in Canada." by the Published monthly-All rights reserved. Copyrighted 1932 by the Rev. J. R. Watts. MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBUSHING CO., INC, uA Tense Problem in Persia," by Bishop J. H. Linton, Board of Directors "The Effect of a Divided Church on Mis- ROBImT E. SPEER, President SAMUEL MCCREA CAVERT SAMUEL M, Z"'EMER sions," by Dr. Cleland B. McAfee. WM, I, CHAMBERLAIN, Vice-President MRS. ORRIN R. Juno MILTON J. STAUFFER WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer WM. B. LIPPHARO "Does Christ Approve of Institutional Mis- DELAVAN L, PmRSON, Secretary ERIc M. NORTH A. L. W ARNSHUIS sions 1ft , by Sam Higginbottom.
"Do Missionary Hymns Need Revision 1". by Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer.
"When Burmese Students Preach the Gos- pel," by H. I. Marshall of Rangoon.
"Gandhi and Christianity in India," by C. L. Sury of Simla.
"A Woman FighVng the Devil in San Francisco," a book review by Dr. Arthur J. Brown, WHAT SUBJECT WOTILD YOU LIKE TO SEE TREATED?
– –INTERNATIONAL
SETTLEMENT BOUNDARY – JAPANESE AREA ••••• 31'U U.S.IN~ . AREA 8P.ITISH A P.EA GPOO SCALE OF ~ MILE J"
The above map (adapted from the Herald-Tribune) shows the borders of the International Settlement. French Concession. devastated H Chinese section Chapei. and the old Chinese city. Japanese and other warships are stationed in the Whang Poo River. The Whang Poo forts are several miles to the east. down the river. The Japanese © and Chinese forces are intrenched on either side of Chapei. Hongkew. (Japanese area). is the section of Shanghai in which most of the Japanese reside.
M. (near the British Consulate). = Protestant Mission head- CHINESE- + Quarters. CITY == location of some of the Christian churches.
P location of former Presbyterian Mission Press. beyond which was the destroyed Commercial Press.
St. Johns University (Episcopal) is to the west and Shanghai Uni- versity (Baptist) to the east of Shanghai.
SHANGHAI-AND THE PRESENT SCENES OF THE SINO-JAPANESE CONFLICT
NARY
REVIB ORLD VOLUME LV AN INTERDENOMINATIONAL REVIEW OF WORLD-WIDE CHRISTIAN PROGRESS NUMBER THREE MARCH, 1932 Topics of the Times OPPOSING FORCES IN CHINA valuable library and club rooms for employees, A warless war is being fought in the Yangtze and on the presses were printed millions of pages Valley and in Manchuria. No war has been de- of Christian literature every year. The loss to the clared between China and Japan and yet fighting missionary enterprise alone cannot be measured. goes on between the forces of the two nations. The Chinese National Government has appealed The Japanese marines are reported to have into the League of Nations to help settle the dis- vaded and damaged the Chinese School and other pute by peaceful means-since both China and mission buildings of the Methodist Episcopal Japan are members of the League and have Church, South. War vessels proceeded up the signed the Kellogg~Briand Peace Pact and the Yangtze to Nanking where they bombarded Chi- Nine Power Treaty. But Japan seems to be nese forts and landed marines. In spite of apbent on settling matters in her own way-by force peals and warnings from the League of Nations of arms. Council gathered at Geneva, and in the face of strong protests from the American, British, Italian The Manchurian muddle is apparently due to and French governments, the Japanese refuse to Japan's demand for full protection of her subjects withdraw or to cease their military activities until and what she claims to be her rights in the three their purpose has been attained. Possibly they Eastern Provinces and to China's inability to are hoping to obtain a Japanese concession in guarantee such protection. Small mobs in vari- Shanghai, similar to that controlled by the French. ous centers of China have now and then attacked Recent press reports state that the Japanese pro- Japanese subjects and damaged some property. pose international control over five large Chinese Floods, bandits and civil strife have hindered the cities-Shanghai, Canton, Hankow, Tsingtao and maintenance of peace and order. The Chinese Tientsin. They refuse, however, to intrust their replied to Japanese aggression-not by force of nationals to the protection of an international arms-but by declaring a boycott against Japa- force and will not consent to submit the Manchunese goods. rian problem to the League of Nations Commis- This boycott has hit Japan harder than armed sion. resistance. It is an economic war that Japan is As a preliminary to peace Japan demands: not prepared to wage. As a result the Japanese 1. Japan and China shall mutually pledge themselves to non-aggression and guarantee each other's territory. are carrying the military conflict into the heart 2. All forms of anti-Japanism in China, including the of China, sending warships, marines and airplanes boycott, shall be called oft' permanently. to 'Shan~hai, bombarding Chinese forts, dropping 3. Asslirances to be given of the safety of Japanese destru~bve bombs on Chinese sections of the city, lives and property in China. patrollmg the streets, and killing Chinese, even 4. Payment for railways built in Manchuria with Japnon-combatants in the International Settlement. A ruthless and unnecessary piece of destruction anese money, and recognition of existing agreements for was the bombing and burning of the great Com- railway construction in Manchuria.
5. . Recognition of existing treaty rights, including the question of Japanese land leases in Manchuria.
mercial Press in the Chapei district of Shanghai. 6. The withdrawal of all Chinese military forces to a This modern Chinese and English press-owned dista~e of twenty miles from Shanghai.
and controlled by Christian Chinese-was prob- These demands are not extreme and have been ably the largest in Asia. It was equipped with accepted by China, but Japan is not satisfied with modern cylinder presses, linotype machines, bind- the assurances and continues her militarv activ- ers and other up-to-date machinery. It had a ity. In the meantime the lives and property of [131]
American and European nationals are threatened China to a speedy end. The League of Nations and there seems to be danger of embroiling many is itself on trial to test its efficiency and its cournations in this conflict. Meanwhile the Disarma- age in carrying out the provisions of its own Covement Conference sits in Geneva. nants.
Japan is proud and headstrong; her army and In the meantime Christians in Japan, in China, navy are large and efficient and have never yet in America and England are uniting in prayer that been defeated. Her military officers are imperi- God will point the way to right relations between ous and opposition to the forces under their con- men, and that men may have vision and courage trol are looked upon as an insult to their country. to follow His way. Now is the time to show the But Japan cannot afford to go to war with Europe effectiveness of a united movement for peaceor America or to disregard the rights and opin- which is better than disarmament. Best of all is ions of other nations. Already her course has the movement for international, interracial and wrought havoc with her trade, has caused her to national goodwill, based on justice and love under be suspected and to lose friends. China may be the banner of the Prince of Peace. weakened because of internal difficulties, but China is better as an ally than as an enemy. STUDYING FOREIGN MISSION PROBLEMS A force quietly and persistently working for For the past thirty-nine years the executives of peace and righteousness, both in China and Japan, is the body of Christian missionaries. Those in the leading foreign mission boards of the United each land love and serve the nationals among whom they are working. Shanghai alone con- States and Canada have been meeting annually to tains some five hundred Protestant missionaries with their children. They are non-combatants confer on their common task and problems. The and peace makers. These are connected with over fifty American and British missionary societies. churches they represent number about twenty- Most of them reside in the International and French settlements, for Shanghai is the mission- three million members and spend over thirty-five ary headquarters. The total American and European population of Shanghai is forty thousand. million dollars a year in foreign mission work.
Japan and the League The problems and methods have changed greatly Governments feel their responsibility for the in the past forty years; missionaries have insafety and rights of their citizens, even though protection requires recourse to arms. It is to be creased fivefold and expenditures sevenfold. Mishoped that diplomacy, justice and wisdom will prevail; love may be thought to set too idealistic sion boards have been brought into much closer a standard. An international commission-including Japanese and Chinese members-might cooperation through these conferences and the well be intrusted with the settlement of the present difficulties. Such a commission would lessen "science of missions" has developed. . the danger of injustice from prejudice, self-interest and injured pride. The League of Nations From January 12th to 15th this year about two Covenant provides that members of the League shall submit to the Council any dispute likely to hundred and sixty executives and missionaries lead to a rupture and the signers "agree in no case to resort to war until three months ·after the met in Atlantic City. They represented seven award by the arbitrators or the report by the Council." (Article 12.) The Covenant also pro- Canadian boards and eighty-three boards of the vides that "should any member of the League resort to war in disregard of its covenants under United States. In place of platform addresses, the Articles 12, 13 or 15, it shall ipso facto be deemed to have committed an act of war against all the conference resolved itself into a "platform roundother members of the League, which hereby undertake immediately to subject it to severance of table conference" to consider, first, the "Values all trade or financial relations." (Article 16.) and Problems in the Use of Foreign Money" on This very definite agreement is one which, if carried out promptly, would bring the invasion of the mission field; second, the "Problems and Pos- sibilities of Rural Missionary Work"; third, the "Important Qualifications of Missionaries Under Present Conditions"; and, fourth, the "Proposals of the Commission on Christian Higher Educa- tion" on the mission fields. These discussions were unusually fruitful. While the conferences do not legislate, the results of these round-table de- liberations will be reported to the several boards for their consideration and action.
Among the special features of the conference were addresses by Dr. Oscar M. Buck of Drew University on "Present Inescapable Issues"; by Dr. T. Z. Koo of China on "Spiritual Implications of These Issues"; and by Prof. D. D. T. Jabavu of South Africa and Dr. James H. Franklin of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society on "The Meaning of the Cross in the Life of the World Today."
Among the outstanding subjects that require
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
most careful and prayerful thought by missionary an hour. The International Missionary Council, leaders today are the following: through which the Foreign Missions Conference (1) How far shall national Christian churches cooperates with twenty-nine similar groups in mission lands be under foreign direction and throughout the world, also presented its printed assisted with foreign funds? All recognize the report calling attention to some important matters.
necessity for promoting their independence and Resolutions were adopted expressing deep sym- self-support and for developing strong, intelligent pathy with the Kingdom of God Movement in spiritual leadership. Many believe that too much Japan, the relief of suffering in China, the need financial aid has been given in the past and that for the abolition of traffic in narcotics and alco- this aid should be drastically reduced in order to holic drinks throughout the world, and for work promote independence from foreign control. in behalf of world peace and the reduction of (2) How can educational mission work, espe- armaments.
cially in higher education, be made more fruitful The conference appointed a committee of seven- in winning students to Christ and in training teen to study the future program and organization native evangelists and Christian teachers and of the conference. Some advocate the advisability preachers so as to build up strong national of meeting every two years, in place of annually, churches? This question involves the problem of and advise the selection of a less expensive resort non-Christian teachers and pupils in mission for these gatherings.
schools and colleges, government subsidies and The chairman of the conference this year was regulation of these Christian institutions~ and the Dr. A. E. Armstrong of the United Church of use of short-term missionary teachers, many of Canada. For next year the chairman selected is whom have no evangelistic purpose. Dr. P. H. J. Lerrigo, a secretary of the American (3) What type of missionary should be sent out Baptist Foreign Mission Society, who is also today to represent Christ and His Church among chairman of the committee on the future program non-Christian peoples? Shall they be more highly and organization. The chairman of the Committee trained for special tasks than formerly, or shall of Reference and Council is Miss Sarah S. Lyon, more emphasis be placed on spiritual equipment secretary of the Foreign Department of the Naand devotion? The general conviction is that it is tional Board of the Young Women's Christian a mistake to try to reproduce foreign churches Association. This year the Federation of Womand institutions in mission lands. The aim is an's Boards of Foreign Missions met separately rather so to present Christ and His message of at Yonkers.
life that the people of these lands will accept His claims and will follow His teachings in all their MR. GANDHI AND CHRISTIAN MISSIONS activities and relationships, as set forth in the At a meeting between Mr. Gandhi and repre- New Testament. sentatives of the British missionary societies held in London during the Nationalist leaders' attend- (4) Another problem, which is today greatly ance at the recent Round Table Conference, he hampering the work, is due to a decrease in mis- spoke frankly of the reports that have been cirsionary gifts. There is great need to stimulate culated in regard to his attitude toward Chris- Christians at home to deeper interest, more ear- tian missions. He said: nest prayer and more sacrificial giving to advance the cause of Christ throughout the world. The "From youth upwards I have enjoyed the subject of the present shortage of missionary friendliest relations with missionaries throughout funds, which is so embarrassing the work, was the world. In South Africa I came into close not upon the program and there was almost no touch with some of the finest of Christian misreference to it, but between the sessions many sionaries. I attended your churches most regugroups at Atlantic City discussed it seriously. larly and also private prayer meetings. . . . The recent report about my attitude to missions was In recent years this Foreign Missions Confer- an unconscious misrepresentation. I have had ence has been less and less an occasion for the letters from all parts of India and from Engtransaction of routine business or for the passage land and the U. S. A. asking if it was true that of resolutions having to do with interdenomina- I would prohibit all missionary enterprise and estional and international missionary cooperation. pecially proselytizing. What I meant was just Such business is now referred to the Committee of Reference and Counsel, which is highly organ- the contrary. Any suggestion that I should want ized with an Executive Committee and subcom- legislation to prohibit missionary enterprise or to mittees, and which holds several two-day meetings interfere with the beliefs of other people is unduring the year. Their report was presented to thinkable.
the conference and was disposed of in less than "The idea of converting people to one's faith
by speech and writings, by appeal to reason and word is the limitation of thought. There is room emotion and by suggesting that the faith of his for both writing and speech. Though my convic- forefathers is a bad faith, in my opinion, limits tion is strong enough in me for me to die for that the possibilities of serving humanity. I believe conviction, that force does not carry me to the that the great religions of the world are all more goal of believing that the same thing should be or less true and that they have descended to us believed by my fellowmen. I know how impertifrom God. Having come to us, however, through nent it is for an utter stranger to speak to those human media they have become adulterated. . . . to whom the message of the Bible is sacred as life itself. I am speaking to you as a seeker after God, "Whilst I criticise part of the missionary work just as you also are seekers after God. Religion I willingly admit that missions have done indirect is a personal matter, and I am not going to ask good to India. There is no doubt about this. But another man to become a Hindu or a Parsee. I for my having come under Christian influence, am sharing with you my own experience and trysome of my social work would not have been done. ing to show you as fellow workers that probably, My fierce hatred of child marriage and 'untouch- if you could see eye to eye with me, your work ability' is due to Christian influence. I have would flourish more and more. You have amazcome into contact with many splendid specimens ing self-sacrifice. You Christian missionaries of Christian missionaries." are good men. I want to multiply occasions for your service. I want to work closer with you, but The Rev. William Paton, editor of the Interna- I do not want you to get India to change her faith. tional Review oj Missions, read the resolution God is Father to the 'untouchable,' to all of us, passed in 1924 by the Delhi Unity Conference on but He appears to you in another garb. . . . I religious freedom, which Mr. Gandhi helped to adore the same Father though I may not adore draft and which he said still represent his views. him as 'God.' To me that name makes no appeal. The resolutions read: but when I think of Him as Rama, He thrills me. MY' forefathers have known him as Rama, and This Conference is emphatically of opinion that the when I take the name of Rama I arise with the utmost freedom of conscience and religion is essential, same energy. The name 'God', as it is written in and condemns any desecration of places Df worship to the Bible, is contrary to experience. My whole whatsoever faith they may belong, and any persecution soul rejects the teaching that Rama is not my or punishment of any person for adopting or reverting God. Go to the 'untouchables' ; give them schools. to any faith, and further condemns any attempt by com- If anyone were able to show me that God the Fapulsion to convert people to one's faith or to enforce one's ther had to be approached in one particular way own religious observance at the cost of the rights of I would not hesitate a moment, I would go to the others. . . . This Conference records its opinion: whole world, but my life would have to be re- written. My search is for peace and to show God That every individual or group shall have full liberty through the life I live. I give myself to my felto hold and give expression to his or their beliefs and lowmen. This is the secret of peace and happifollow any religious practice, with due regard to the feel- ness also." ings of others and without interfering with their rights. In no case may such individual or group revile the found- A member of the conference referred to the ers, holy persons or tenets of any other faith. command to Christians to go out to all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. Mr. That every individual is at liberty to follow any faith Gandhi's reply to this was that if the questioner and to change it whenever he so wills, and shall not by believed that these were the inspired words in reason of such change of faith render himself liable to the Bible then he was called upon to obey implicany punishment or persecution at the hands of the fol- itly. lowers of the faith renounced by him. Mr. Gandhi made it abundantly plain that the That every individual or group is at liberty to convert issue between himself and the Christian missionor reconvert another by argument or persuasion but must ary movement lies much deeper than is sometimes not attempt to do so, or prevent its being done, by force, supposed. Mr. Gandhi is desirous only that the fraud or other unfair means, such as the offering of missionaries should be courteous and self-effacing, material inducement. Persons under 16 years of age and should identify themselves with the people of should not be converted unless it be along with their par- the country, but is opposed to the effort to win disents or guardians. If any person under 16 years of age ciples to Christ-something which is fundamental is found stranded without his parent or guardian by a in Christianity. The content of the Christian person of another faith, he should be promptly handed message is not the superiority of a foreign civilover to a person of his own faith. There must be no ization, but is the Person, the Words, the Work secrecy about any conversion or reconversion. and the Power of Jesus Christ.
If Mr. Gandhi Were a Christian "If I were a Christian missionary (and I can enter into the hearts of Christian missionaries)," said Mr. Gandhi, "I would go and work among the 'untouchables,' establishing Christian ashrams among them, with a church in a mud, living among them as God may guide.
"Language fails to convey meaning; the uttered
of the Present
Outlook .-:( , By ROBERT E. SPEER, D. D., New York Secretary of the Board of Foreign Mi.~sions. Presbyterian Church, V. S. A.; author of "Some Living Issues", etc.
T HE clash of Japan and China in Manchuria provoked save as Japan herself manufactured the has turned the eyes of the world again to the provocation. Far East. It is illustrative of the new world The League of Nations has sought earnestly to unity which has come into being, that el;lch coun- find a solution of a problem whose complexity and try has striven to justify itself difficulty are known fully only before the conscience of man- to those who have knowledge kind and each has charged the The whole world is upset. which the general public does responsibility for fault upon Men's attitude toward religion not have. Fair-minded people the other. In the case of large and politics, toward social and must sympathize with 60th naelements in each nation the economical conditions have tions and wish for a just settlecharge is made with undoubted undergone a radical change in ment that will help each nation honesty. In China the student the past twenty years. Should to meet its grievous problems, class has been convinced that we conform our view of the so that both of them will live China was wholly innocent and mission of Christ and the together in friendship and good Japan the indisputable offend- Christian Church to fit some will. fixed standard? In this paper er, while in Japan groups which Dr. Speer deals with some of It is difficult to see how J a- have been clearly sympathetic the present problems in Asia pan's real interests are to be with China's struggle and which and their effect on the present met by military measures or have steadily opposed the mili- religious and missionary out- any territorial expansion won taristic temper, have neverthe- at the price of China's hatred less felt that in the present case look. There is a greater dan- and distrust. Dr. Harold Moulthe whole blame was not on ger that threatens than the ton, President of the Brookings Japan. danger of anti-religious in- Institute and recent adviser of fluences. There are dangers the Japanese Minister of Fi- Japan has contended that she that threaten the very roots nance, set forth this issue in a was only protecting her own of the missionary unde~ak speech last November before nationals and treaty rights in ing. These he deals with frankly and constructively. Manchuria, and that China was What is the need of the hour? the Chicago Council on Foreign seeking to use the present situ- Relations. He said: .
ation and the machinery of the League of Nations so to confuse the issue that she From 1920 to 1929 Japan had a period of extraordinary would escape from her treaty commitments. Japan expansion and was able to absorb and support her popucould quote a Chinese, P. C. Hsu, as saying, "China lation in a rising standard of living. The population is will never tolerate the treaty rights that have about 65,000,000 and the increase has been a million a year for the last decade. With the end of economic been based upon the notorious Twenty-one De- expansion the population problem became one of acute mands." concern. Under the present situation 500,000 new workers must be given employment each year in Japan. The popu- On the other side China has contended that these lation increase is one each 15 seconds, or faster than the treaty claims were iniquitous and that Japan has entire merchant marine could carry them away if given seized the present world situation, as she seized this task.
the opportunity of 1915, to take advantage of Dr. Moulton.then took up Japan's colonial his- China's weakness and to invade still further her tory. He showed that Formosa and Korea have integrity and sovereignty; she contends that not proved an outlet for population and that they Japan's present activity in Manchuria was un- are an economic burden. He continued: [135]
What of Manchuria? They have had twenty years of large industries and banking firms have done their share development there. It has not proved a population outlet. in bringing about these changes. There are only 200,000 Japanese there in a population .of thirty million. There is another side to this matter. The old family organization in China was a positive incu- Manchuria is like our middle and northwestern states, bus on individual initiative and social progress. largely a wheat growing country. Japan lives largely on The difficulty today is that the good of the insti- rice. There is coal in Manchuria but the Japanese have tution is going with the evil before any new form sufficient. of family life has been established to conserve this good and to displace this evil. The only form of My conclusion is that the possession of Manchuria by family life that can do this is the Christian, and Japan is of secondary economic importance. Japan w.ould the Christian form is fighting for its very exist- be at a permanent disadvantage through seizure and ence in the West. permanent occupation. Influence on Missions The Japanese people cannot migrate. They cannot com- pete with Chinese and Korean labor. Their great problem The excitement of the Manchurian situation has is to find employment for their people at home. This not apparently closed or constricted in any way cannot be in agriculture. It is only possible in an increase th~ Christian opportunity in either China or in manufactures. Her chief outlets for manufactured Japan. Mission schools and colleges in China are goods are in China and India. Her .only .opportunity is filled and evangelistic missionaries report audito manufacture finished products by skilled labor for sale ences everywhere. In Japan unprecedented ac- abroad. cessibilities are reported. The organ of the King- dom of God Movement reports: This is recognized by most of the members of the parliamentary government. Any possible gain in Manchuria Communism is making tremendous inrQads in student would be more than offset by losses in trade with the centres as well as in the industrial area and amQng the rest of China. The Chinese boycott is a very seriQUS peasant class. The doors, hQwever, are nQt closed to the thing. Christian message. Some weeks ago the writer partici- pated in a campaign in a rural town. Because the church The best interests of Japan, as of all the rest of of the town could not hold the crowds the local committee the world, require friendship and cooperation between Japan and China. arranged to hold the meetings in the auditorium of the public primary school. When I expressed concern as to And assuredly China needs peace and justice. It is an infinite pity that she cannot be let alone whether my message, in which I expected to major on the and wilL not be satisfied to deal with her own in- evangelistic note, would be welcomed in such a place, I ternal problems so as to establi~h unity and order was told that the Principal, although not a Christian, inand a just and prosperous national life. It is sisted that they wanted a religious message and the more tragic that she should have energies and resources Christian the better. and attention drawn away to straighten out foreign relationships when she needs all her thought At the close of the message the local pastor asked that and strength for the enormous tasks of her own decision cards be distributed and while he made a ringing development. The single problem of the family plea f.or decisions a good number .of the audience signed organization and life is tragic enough and it is cards as inquirers. only one of a score hardly less important. Mr. Chang, Chinese Consul General in San Francisco, The holding of a Christian evangelistic meeting, closing has written of this: with an appeal for decisions, in a Government Primary School is something which never could have happened Of the many changes in China. wrought by the forces anywhere in Japan a few years ago. It shows the turn which have been brought into play by the impact of .of the anti-religious tide which has been running with Western civilization, none has had such a far-reaching such tremendous force during the past fifty years among effect on the present Chinese social structure as the the intellectuals and educational leaders of the Empire. passing .of the family system. Admittedly, China is the last stronghold of the old family system, but even Two weeks later, the writer was asked to help in a camhere it must give way to the disintegrating force of the w.orld's industrial revolution. Its origin practically lost paign in two churches in an industrial centre. Never in the mist of antiquity, the Chinese family system has during almost thirty years in Japan have I seen so many been handed down through many centuries virtually in- laboring men in a Christian church, wearing their worktact. The reason for this is that Chinese civilization has ing garb marked with the emblem of their trade. At the been built on the basis of the family. All ancient records close, one-fifth of those present responded to the invitation of history give credit for the establishment of matrimonial and signed cards as inquirers. In the other church the rites to Fu Hsi, the legendary emperor who ruled China building was packed with y.oung people from a neighbormore than 5,000 years ago. The use of the family sur- ing factory. names came into existence at about the same time. It may therefore be said that patriarchal society in China, The Kingdom of God Movement reports meetas well as the Chinese family system, came into being ings in 1930 attended by 265,000 people, with during this period. The centralization of the chief in- 13,837 signing cards as inquirers. For the past dustries in the cities and towns has been the main cause six months of 1931 there were 157,942 in attendof the breaking up of the family system. Emigrations to ance at the meetings, and 8,842 cards signed. the less congested parts of China and even to other countries, the improved means of transportation, and the .or- The Manchurian incident, as already indicated, ganization of agencies in various parts of the country by has shown afresh the unity of interest which now binds together the whole world. The late Profes-
ASPECTS OF THE PRESENT MISSIONARY OUTLOOK
sor Giddings of Columbia contended that the fun- most vital to the world's life and to the cause of damental sociological principle was "conscious- human unity. This truth ought to be the clearest ness of kind." Kin-consciousness now takes in and the most welcomed truth, namely, the prin- not only one's own race or nation but all human- ciple of full religious liberty, of complete freedom ity. Ramsay Macdonald, in closing the debate on for the spirit of man. There are now more as- the speech from the throne when the new Parlia- saults on this principle than for many a year. It ment assembled on November 10, pointed out that has been flatly and tyrannically rejected in Russia.
the separatist economy of the nations was "crazy." It has been threatened and abridged in China.
He said that the only hope of Great Britain and Nationalism has limited it in Turkey. In the of the world lay in "the necessary international natural reaction against oppressive clericalism conferences and negotiations." New understand- some of the Latin American states have denied ings must be reached and "every nation in the basic religious rights, and even in India Mr.
world must be a party to the agreement." Even Gandhi and Mr. Natarajan have decried the lib- Senator Borah said, what is obvious now to all erty now permitted for free religious discussion rational men but what until recently only mis- and propaganda. Mr. Gandhi later took pains to sionary people declared, speaking in Carnegie Hall say that he would never wish to have his disap- on May 5, 1931: "Our country cannot escape from proval enacted as law, but Mr. Natarajan openly this deep trough of depression and at the same appealed for the prohibition by statute of all ef- time leave the balance of the human race behind. fort on the part of Christianity, at least, to divert We have our own immediate problems.. We have Hindus and Moslems from the ancient faiths of our own immediate work before us. But in a India. He forgot, however, as the Christians of larger sense the prosperity of the United States India have pointed out to him, that Christianity depends upon the prosperity of other peoples. was in India long before Mohammedanism, that Anything like general and durable prosperity it is as truly an ancient faith of India as Islam, must be had in connection with the rest of the or some sects of Hinduism, and that it has the world." third largest body of adherents in India, exceed- But this common interest of the world cannot ing the Sikhs and, in India proper, the Buddhists be expressed in mere commercial or economic as well.
terms. The new Ambassador of Peru to the There is no danger in India of the abridgment United States, Don Manuel de Freyre, spoke of by law of the right of religious liberty, both of this at an address to the Pan-American Society: worship and of proclamation. The Nehru Report It goes without saying that business is indeed a very gave assurance of that in its proposed constitu- important factor in uniting countries that live far apart. tion. And the agreement of the five minorities at . . . But to join men together does not necessarily mean that they will get on well together. . . . Friend- the recent Round Table Conference provided: ship stands on a higher plane. It would not be honest to deny that certain barriers between North and South Full religious liberty-that is, full liberty of belief, Americans do exist. . . • We should become acquainted worship, observances, propaganda, associations and educawith not only our material needs, but our spiritual needs tion-shall be guaranteed to all communities, subject to as well. The souls of our nations should come in touch the maintenance of public order and morality. No person one with another. Externals are quickly seized; the hidden shall merely by change of faith lose any civic' right or reactions of the mind and heart are more elusive elements. privilege or be subject to any penalty. The right shall be given to establish, manage and control, at their own Indeed, as has been often pointed out, our mate- expense, charitable, religious and social institutions, schools and other educational establishments, with the rial interests and the relations founded upon them right to exercise their religion therein. The Constitution are the most brittle of all bonds. Kipling's "Peace shall embody adequate safeguards for the protection of of Dives," embodying the idea of the irrefragable religion, culture and personal law and the promotion of value of economic relationships, was exploded with education, language and charitable institutions of the minority communities and for their due share in grants the other axioms of our materialistic civilization given by the State and by self-governing bodies.
in the World War. The only real unity of the But more important than any paper agreements world is biological and spiritual. The missionary are the facts of life. There is not and there never enterprise embodies it with the doctrine of inter- will be, unless India becomes Christian, a unity of racial respect and equality and its sanctions religions in India. So long as there is no unity springing from its conception of one God and the different groups will require and secure tole- Father of all and one Saviour for the common ration and freedom. And when Christianity beneed of mankind. comes the dominant religion, toleration and free- The Principle of ,Religious Liberty dom will be of necessity guaranteed. The missionary enterprise has more to fear It is a strange fact that there is increasing from other influences than from the threat of the blindness across the world to the truth which is abridgment of religious freedom. This threat is
a hopeless battle against God and time. The road it is because that is not believed; it is because the disto martyrdom is always open to those to whom tinctiveness and exclusiveness of the Christian religion has truth and freedom are more than life. The greater been allowed to fade to a certain extent .out .of men's dangers lie in ideas and attitudes that cut the minds, that the CDmpulsive attraction of the Christian faith is less felt at hDme, and that the men are not coming roots of the missionary undertaking, because they into the Church by whom the work of missions .ought to cut the very roots of Christianity. What are these be done. ideas and attitudes? The late Professor James These are things that need to be said in the Denney summed them up in his downright way in plainest way today against the adulation of Mr. his address at the Edinburgh Missionary Confer- Gandhi and his exaltation to a place with Christ and against the preparations that are even now ence in 1910: making in India for his apotheosis. The Hindu- First of all I would say that the Church must have stan Times of September 17, 1931, closes an edia revived and deepened sense that God has given us torial on "Gandhi-The World Teacher" with the something wonderful and incomparable in giving us His words: Son. A great part of the weakness .of the Church con- sists in or arises out of the diffusion in it .of a kind of If the manner in which he has captured the hearts of Christian secularism. There are large numbers of people the Western people is any indication .of the future, it is in the Church at home to whom the Church is something quite pDssible that while his present visit may mark the of-I was going to say exactly, but at all events .of very culminatiDn of his political career, it may als:o inaugurate much-the same kind as a great many other institutions the beginning of a greater and more gloriouR career, that exist fur the ameliDration of society. They can be- namely, of a saviDur not .only of the teeming milliDns .of long to a Church as they belong to any other society that India, but of the teeming millions of the world. Has not does the world good, but they dD nDt feel under any obli- the saint of Sabarmati much in commDn with the Saint gation to belong to it. of Galilee?
Very often the distinctive and specific things that ought The Allahabad Leade'f on August 12, 1931, to characterize the Church, that :ought to be prominent quoted from an Indian paper an article by Ramasin its testimony, that ought to be the testing things of its wanis Aiyar entitled "Gandhi and Christ–Each life-the forgiveness of sin and the presence .of God in Christ and the indwelling of His Spirit and the reality Is Practically the Other." A mass of such litera- .of eternal life-these things are nDt the things that are prominent, but they are dulled and in the background ture has appeared both in India and in the West. somehDw, and the sDuls of men do not live in these things, Mr. Gandhi is not Christ, nor is he a Christian, but in a kind of gODd wDrks such as they might dD any- though he is a good man and ought to be a Chris- where else in the world as well as there. tian. But he is no evidence that Denney's view of There is anDther thing that goes to weaken the Church Christianity is not true. It is the New Testament -and sometimes, strange tD say, it is supposed tD be a view. It is the historic Christian view. It is the reflex effect .of the wDrk .of fDreign missiDns themselves. 'true view. And the Christ of the Gospel is to be There are .other religions in the world beside .our .own, and made known to all men and all men are to be in- YDU are familiar with the idea that those other religiDns have a place and functiDn in the prDvidential gDvernment vited and entreated, "beseeched" as St. Paul said, of the world. The whole question of the existence of to become His disciples, to accept the redeeming other religi.ons and .of their relatiDns tD the Christian deed of God in the Gospel and to help build religion and .of their relative right tD exist and tD function Christ's Church and Kingdom in all the earth. in the life .of the world, is SD difficult a question in- tellectually that many peDple make it an excuse fDr Missionary Propaganda refusing tD interpDse in such a cDmplicated situatiDn, and even begin tD say to themselves sDmething like what If this is propaganda, then it is exactly the Ezekiel heard the Israelites say nearly six hundred years business for which the Christian Church was esbefDre Jesus came, "We will be like the heathen, like the tablished and exists in the world. There is a great families of the countries, to serve wood and stone." Peo- deal of loose and unexamined thinking and speakple say tD themselves, "Weare not going to interfere in ing today on this matter. "Propaganda" is dethis; we will leave the whole affair to PrDvidence tD work it out in its own way; we will not assert anything intDI- nounced and the whole missionary conception of erant .or exclusive in .our faith; we will take .our chance and sink Dr swim with mankind." That kind .of feeling the New Testament is decried as imperialism. We has tainted the mind .of Christendom, and even the mind are told that Christianity is no longer to be con- ceived as the final and absolute and exclusive reof the Christian Church. Now thDse two things have done a great deal to weaken ligion, but only as one of many, and that our busi- the Church, and I believe we need in the home church ness is to "share," not in the sense of sharing preaching directed against them bDth; preaching that will Christ, but in the sense of interchanging ideas bring out what is distinctive and peculiar in the revelatiDn with the non-Christian religions and setting up a that GDd has given us in His SDn, preaching that will pantheon which will contain Christ, to be sure, make men feel that we cannDt evade the responsibility .of that incomparable gift that God has given, preaching but also Buddha and Mohammed and all the that will make everybody feel that the difference between the Christian and the non-Christian attitude tD Jesus is "prophets." Men may hold this view now as they not the difference of mDre or less, or the difference of have held it before, but they may not call it Chrisbetter or worse, but the difference of life or death. And tianity, nor will they find in it the dynamic to
produce the "saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs" and Jerusalem reaffirmations of the historic belief whom the Church has known in the past. In his of the Church. And on those convictions they rest recent Yale Lectures on Preaching, entitled "Jesus the missionary movement today. The fact is that Came Preaching," Dr. Buttrick sets forth a differ- the great body of our Christian people in many of ent view. He said: our denominations distrust some of the leadership of today, because they think it would shift the To the apostles, Jesus, by their experience of Him, missionary enterprise away from its foundations was alone. Phrase it as you will: f.or them Jesus had on the New Testament conception of the Gospel. His .own relationship with God-and He was as far Those missionary agencies and activities will best above a pantheon as the heaven is ab.ove the earth. He weather the present storms and move out into came tQ have absolute value f.or them. . . . The Gos- larger things which satisfy their constituencies pel is an eternal Gospel, from everlasting to everlasting that they are holding fast to the faith of the the overture of God to men in Jesus Christ, and like Him fathers and that fearlessly bring that faith to bear who inscribed it in the ink of His blood, "the same yester- on new problems, new tasks and with ever new day, today and forever." and living adaptation.
William Newton Clark set forth in his "Study For this position today there is ever abiding of Christian Missions" this New Testament con- and ever enlarging need and opportunity. The ception in its bearing on the duty of the Church Church wants the real Gospel preached. And it frankly to go out and to win the world to a faith is the real Gospel that the world needs. Idolatry in Christ different from men's faith in other re- is not mere symbolism. It is the worship of idols ligious teachers, because Christ is different and and needs to be in part destroyed and in part subalone and His religion is different and unique. limated by the knowledge of the God who is Spirit and Truth. Suffering and want are real- in But the question is raised whether this faith is China with its famine, in India with its poverty, any longer held by the Church at home. Dr. Den- and in Africa with its disease. Let anyone read ney intimates that it was waning and that with its Albert Schweitzer's "The Forest Hospital at Lamwane the missionary passion goes out. A recent barene" and he will have a first-hand authentic publication of the Foreign Missions Conference of picture of human misery. There has been too North America asks: much glossing over the facts of the world's abys- mal need of what, in history past and present, The Jerusalem Conference postulated the Message as does not come into human lives or human society f.ormulated by the Lausanne Conference. In what meas- apart from Christ and His influence. ure, if any, is the difficulty today connected with the postulates of misswns? Is the future of missions tied up The present-day issue is whether the Church will continue to hold the Gospel which can meet with: this need, the Gospel of God's redeeming love and a. The continued emphasis and re-emphasis of the long- salvation, and build its missionary enterprise upon accepted bases of motivation as found in the inher- it. There will be some earnest men and women ited standards of faith? or, who will not do so, who will believe that the time b. A discovery of the pre-suppositions actually implicit has come to supersede or reconstruct this Gospel in the present-day thinking of the constituencies at and the world mission built on it. But there will home, and the implication of these positions with also be earnest men and women and Christian respect to efforts to meet human need abroad? Are churches and missionary agencies that will seek we to try to build missionary motivation on the pre- to meet the issues of the new time in new ways, sumptive .or on the actual faith .of church people? but with the same Gospel with which Paul went off across the Roman Empire, and with which In other words, were the Lausanne and J erusa- Cary and Duff laid the foundations in India and lem Conferences wrong in adhering to the historic David Livingstone lifted the sombre fringes of the and New Testament view of Christ and the Gos- night in Africa-the old and ever new, the everpel; ought we now frankly to recognize that these lasting Gospel. old postulates are forsaken and try to build the missionary enterprise on whatever attitudes and opinions we find now current in the Church? Some are seeking to do this. There are others who do not believe that the song about the "faith of our fathers" is to be mere words. They hold as their own the convictions embodied in the Lausanne THE TECHNIQUE OF BEING A CHRISTIAN Dr. Stanley Jones tells of a lady who became a Christian and asked: "Now what are you going to do with me? What is the technique of being a Christian?"
Dr. Jones was not prepared to answer at once, but now he feels that he can reply to such a searching question. India has taught him that .one must "disentangle Christ from the accretiQns which the centuries had gathered arQund Him" so that faith may be "simplified and centered in a persQn." A second .outstanding lesson he learned is that the SermQn on the Mount "constitutes the technique of being a Christian," that it must be made the Christian's working philoSQphy .of life. The goal that it sets befQre man is "tQ be perfect or complete as the Father in heaven is perfect .or cQmplete." Ho"W the African Preacher Preaches 🙁 By Mrs. J. M. SPRINGER, Jadotville, Belgian Congo j:: .• Missionary 0/ the American Methodist Episcopal Church •.
A T the recent Kassai-Katanga Sectional Mis- audience as well, by shouting munyayi. It was I"l.. sionary Conference held in Elisabethville, inexplicable to me, but it was perfectly evident that it had a particular significance to the natives, the discussion regarding the emerging who became instantly all attention. Native Church had a large place. There was no disagreement among the thirtY delegates from the "I knew," continued Mr. Fisher, "that munyayi eight different societies represented as to the was the name of a certain fungus growth on trees, progress that was being made among the Africans but what it had to do with sin in this sermon, I toward a self-sustaining church, and plans to could not imagine." bring about the consummation of that desirable state were discussed with intense interest. Later, when he had the evangelist alone, Mr. Fisher learned the whole story and wondered that Among these missionaries, one alone belonged he had never thought of its application before. In to the second generation. Mr. Singleton Fisher of their folk lore the munyayi, after it attaches itself the Garanganze Brethren Mission is the son of to the tree for a long time and has got its nutri- Dr. Walter Fisher, who pioneered this country as tion from the tree, becomes rotten at the heart a contemporary of Frederick Arnot, who married and loses its power to cling to the tree. Then it Dr. Fisher's sister. Arnot's strenuous pioneering cries out to the tree, "'See, I am falling, falling; experiences took heavy toll from him and he died don't push me off!" The tree replies, "I am not years ago, but Mrs. Arnot is still in Africa and pushing you off; it is your rotten heart that is the was present in May, 1931, at the jubilee commem- cause of your falling." orating the setting out of Mr. Arnot for Africa in 1881. On another occasion Mr. Fisher heard a native preaching to the people about their need of God Having been born in Africa, learning to speak and calling on them to love Him for His own sake. a native language before he learned his mother's Any native will acquiesce most cheerfully to this tongue, Mr. Singleton Fisher was able to make a outwardly, while inwardly making the mental valuable contribution to the discussion from his reservation that that is just a white man's notion own experience. and not pertaining to the life of himself at all. So they listened with their accustomed politeness "It is my profound conviction," he said, "that till suddenly they were startled into genuine inthere will be a strong African Church in the fu- terest by the word Sansembo. ture and that we are on the eve of tremendous things." He went on to say that though he was The preacher did not recount the story of Sanborn in this country and had lived among the sembo, for there was no need. The word itself Africans so many years, he had of late been sur- was enough for them to see the application to the prised to find the native evangelists launching out text. on new and independent lines, reaching the people with illustrations totally outside of his own ken. Sansembo, so runs the legend, was a mighty hunter. But one day while he was living far, far "The native still needs far, far more training from the land of his father's people, a plague than he has ever had up to the present – in the swept over the country-possibly smallpox-and Bible, in church history and in many other things. swept away all of his family, so that he was left But given those, with the native background so alone. This being the case, he thought he would familiar to him, he is able to present the Gospel go back to the tribe from which he sprang and message as no missionary can possibly do. hunt up some of the relatives there. A native especially wants his own kin with whom to live. "For example: We were having a service one day out in the villages and one of our evangelists But Sansembo was shrewd of wit as well as was preaching on sin. The natives were not par- clever with the gun, so he decided to test these ticularly interested, for the sense of sin is notably relatives and see who was who and which ones lacking in the native consciousness. All at once were worth cultivating. He took a small boy along the young man startled the missionary, and his who spoke two languages, the one of the distant [140]
HOW THE AFRICAN PREACHER PREACHES
PROTESTANT MISSIONARIES OF EIGHT SOCIETIES, IN CONFERENCE AT THE WALLACE MEMORIAL CHURCH ELISABETHVILLE, BELGIAN CONGO tribe where he had been living and also of his The boy ran ahead of them and toldSansembo father's tribe. The lad was to conceal the fact what the people had said. When they came to that he understood the latter language. Sansembo and the meat and found the gun intact, When he reached the first village of his father's people, he was greeted and welcomed most effu- they turned on the lad and berated him soundly sively, for the news had spread that he was a for having broken their hearts over the account mighty hunter. They begged him to settle among them, but he made no promises. of Sansembo's death. They told Sansembo how greatly they rejoiced that he was still alive and One day he said that he wanted to go hunting, but he had lost his gun on his long journey, and how they were his devoted relatives and they asked to borrow one of theirs. He wanted the best gun in the village. With some slight hesitation wanted him to live with them always. they let him have it and he went off and bagged his game. But Sansembo gave them back the gun and On his return, instead of entering the village, told them to cut up the meat for themselves. It he stopped some distance out on the veld and sent the small boy to tell the villagers that Sansembo was evident that all they wanted of him was the had shot an eland and a roanbuck. They shouted meat that he could get for them. So saying, he with joy at the news. "But," added the boy, "the pursued his search for more desirable relatives, gun burst." At that news the people began to following the same plan, and with the same regrumble irritably. "And Sansembo himself is sults, until at last one village was found where, dead," the boy concluded. when the lad told the people the story, tliey wept and cried, "What do we care for the gun? We can "Served him quite right," they retorted angrily never eat that meat because of our sorrow at losto one another, "for breaking the best gun in the ing Sansembo. Show us where the body is and we village. We will go out and get the meat and have will go and bury him like a chief and weep for that much, but we wish he had never come here." him for a month as he so deserves."
They were" in genuine grief over his loss. So Sansembo knew that he had found real kinsfolk who loved him for his own sake.
SINGLETON FISHER OF THE GARANGANZE MISSION, Then he went to Saveye, an evangelist-teacher, CENTR:AL AFRICA who called in some of the Christians and they prayed with him till he found forgiveness and The preacher proceeded to press the matter cleansing from sin. Ever since, Ndakala has been home on the people as to whether they had really an ardent witness for Christ and a very efficient ever loved God for His own sake, or were merely soul-winner. trying to get all the benefits they could from Him and wanted nothing more. Such an illustration Then there was Lucy. She had been converted was obvious to the dullest old heathen in the as a child in the Methodist Mission. According to village. Incidentally, it is also an illustration that custom, her parents had married her to a trader would not come amiss in some of our most exclu- when she was still scarcely more than a child. sive churches in America. The trader had once been a Christian, but had so backslidden that he hated the very name of Christ An illustration something like this pierced the and everything pertaining to religion. sodden brain of Ndakala, who was an addict of hemp-smoking till he had seemingly lost all moral Lucy and her husband travelled around from and human sense. He came upon a native who village to village, selling their wares. Lucy rarely had a New Testament, and as it was read to him saw a Christian and was much less able to attend he became strongly convicted of sin. He had church. Finally they drifted onto the railroad heard the missionary preach what was probably construction, where there was plenty of money in a much better sermon many times, but he had circulation, and Lucy's husband settled down for merely thought, "Oh, that is just the white man's a time. religion; it has nothing to do with me," Here Lucy found a woman by the name of Fo- After some days of agony over his sins, he toma, who used to call all the women together to sought out a devoted Christian and began to tell have meetings. As Lucy heard her speak, the him what a wicked man he had been. The native dying embers of her soul were quickened into a Christian went on calmly working at his job as a blaze of love for her Saviour. She had learned to carpenter and after awhile remarked laconically, read and write at the mission and now Fotoma "It is not your sins that is the matter with you, told her that the first thing she must do was to but sin." buy aNew Testament. When the native colporter came around, she bought a hymn book and a Tes- Ndakala went away more stricken than ever, tament, and as she read the Gospels her heart and for two weeks wept and prayed without any became so overcharged with joy that she had to relief. find an outlet and began to testify to those whom she met. This made her husband so furious that he gave up his flourishing trade and took Lucy far away from "that ranting crowd."
However, Lucy kept right on testifying and tell- ing about Jesus in the heathen villages where they were. Many reviled and jeered at her, but she was not dismayed. She worked hard every day in her garden, just like the other women, but she began to work early and finished early and then went forth evangelizing. Finally she ran across two young men who had also been at a mission and had backslidden after they returned to their vil- lages. As they heard Lucy they, too, were smitten and turned again to Christ. A large stream of converts has followed.
What the African Preacher Needs Mr. Fisher concludes his interesting story: "We must give the natives the best we have, especially of the Bible. We missionaries need to be saturated with the Bible.
"But we must not only give them a thorough introduction to the Bible, especially of the stories and facts, but we must teach them the facts of Christian history, notably the accounts of the martyrs and of devoted followers of Christ. They
need as much as we can give them of general A faint touch of white clay shows that it has knowledge, of elementary science, etc. It is not so come from a certain stream and is headed toward much that we should teach them all that is in the some feeding grounds on ahead. Further he reads Bible as that we must train them to get out of it that it is a female and that she has five little ones for themselves the nourishment it contains. with her, but the male was not with her. All this he gathers from a broken leaf or twig which first "You can trust the native to make deductions. caught his eye. He is well trained in that process. He is called on to draw his deductions from the slightest factors "The native pastor needs to be so inducted to that are wholly beyond the range of the white Bible study that he can draw his own illustrations man. first hand. He needs a good background of church history and he needs to learn many, many things DEMAS CHAMA. AN AFRICAN PREACHER. AND HIS FAMILY from the missionary by example as well as by word of mouth. It is the emerging native pastor "For example: A man is walking along the who must and will eventually lead his own people trail and sees a broken leaf on a shrub. To us it and head up the emerging Native Church." is only a broken leaf. To him there is the deduction that a wild pig has recently passed this way. There is, however, still a very pressing need and ample scope for all the missionaries now on the field and for many more in order that we may do this necessary training of evangelists for the great demand that is being made for them. The Christian Church is not keeping pace with the increasing population. There are actually more heathen in Central Africa today than there were fifty years ago when Arnot and Swan entered the country, in spite of the fact that then there was not a single native who had even heard the Gospel and now there are thousands of native Christians. The native pastor must truly increase, but he can not go forward unless he have the missionary be- hind him to prepare him for the work of getting his own deductions out of the Bible. The Word of God must first be put into his language by the missionary and then taught and the historical background given him.
God speed the day when the Church at home will realize this tremendous need for more mis- sionaries.
LORD IRWIN ON MISSIONS It is a common thing to hear the work of Christian missions disparaged. Generally the work of disparagement is done by those who have no knowledge of the facts, who probably never read a book on missionary work, never contributed a cent to the support of missions nor breathed a prayer for the extension of Christ's Kingdom throughout the world. It is those who are most vitally in contact with the work of missionaries who are the greatest supporters of them. They see the work of the Lord in heathen hearts, they see His arm bare in saving and redeeming power, they see lives changed, redeemed and sanctified, and souls saved for time and eternity. These facts are apparent to everyone who cares to take the trouble to investigate. It is the stay-at-home arm-chair critic who shuts his eyes blindly to the blessed results of the Gospel preaching around the world who "does not believe in missions."
Recently Lord Irwin, former Viceroy of India, addressed a gathering in London and paid a striking tribute to the work of the missionary in that great land. He said among other things– "While I was Viceroy I was able to see a good deal of their work, and appreciate not only its moral and social results, but the spirit in which it was conducted. Among outcasts and lepers, among criminal tribes, or aboriginal dwellers in jungle tracts, in crowded cities and remote places in the hills, I have seen men and women slaving devotedly to translate the message of Christ into the practical language of Him who went about doing good. In spite of the tragedy of disunity within the Christian ranks, they are doing work of quite incalculable value to India, and their most powerful sermons are in their' lives."
Evangelical Christian.
Christians and the Je-ws
..q! I By MAX I. REICH, Morrisville, Pa. J: ..
~~~~~~~~~==~~==~==~~~ C HRISTIANITY is a divinely instituted mis- Church is the daughter to the synagogue. Has she sionary religion. The Church of Christ be- always been a respectful daughter? The Church's lieves that she has been entrusted with a approach to the Jew must necessarily be different wonderful message to all peoples. To make an from her approach to the nations of the heathen exception of any particular nation is to be untrue world. For "salvation is of the Jews," and if sal- to her calling and to harm her deepest life. vation has come to the Gentiles, it is "to provoke Yet voices are heard today saying that the them to jealousy." So far Gentiles, professing Christian Church ought to make such an excep- that salvation, have failed to make the Jews tion with regard to the Jewish people. "jealous." They have given them the impression Time was when the attitude of the so-called that Christianity is a gentilish fabrication instead Christian world towards the Jews living within of the fulfilment of the deepest quest in the Jew- her borders was that of unfriendliness. Grave ish heart.
wrongs were committed against that people, The religion of Christ is not intended to be the wrongs that were sanctioned and even encouraged destruction of Judaism, but its glorious fulfilment by those claiming to represent the Christian and transfiguration. It should not detach Jewish Church. Is it to be wondered at that, as a result, believers in the Messiah, foretold in their own the Gospel message was prejudiced in Jewish Scriptures, from their people, but rather it should eyes? We may even say that during the dark make them Israelites indeed.
centuries, when the so-called Christian world It is far better to be a good Jew than a poor penned up the Jews in filthy ghettos, there was Christian. We have, perhaps, been too anxious to more real piety and purity of life inside the ghet- "convert" the Jew. Rather awaken the God- tos than outside. consciousness in his soul, so that he will seek to But should the Christian Church of today de- rediscover the secret of the prophets, the psalm- cide to withhold from the Jewish people the mes- ists, the saints, the seers and mystics of his won- sage of salvation in the Messiah, who is the true derful past. That will put him in the way that "Glory of Israel"? Even though Israel does not leads straight to the greatest self-revelation of the yet see that glory, Christians would commit a God of Israel-the Messiah.
greater wrong against the ancient People of God Many of the modern missionary methods, which than when the Church systematically persecuted our Jewish brethren so deeply resent, may hinder and oppressed them. rather than help forward the attainment of this What are the facts? The mass of the Jewish goal. Perhaps we may have to change our meth- people today are religiously adrift. Hundreds of ods. But should we also change the original char- thousands of them are either altogether irrelig- ter of our commission, to testify to both Jews and ious or are seeking to slake their spiritual thirst Greeks, repentance towards God and faith to- by turning to strange shrines and drinking of wards our Lord Jesus Christ?
alien streams. The synagogue no longer meets Let us rather hasten the day when it will be their need. Judaism is felt to be a misfit in our possible to have a Jewish-Christian community, modern world. inside the environment of Jewry, and in loving Is the Christian Church to be blamed or to be touch with everything Jewish, and recognizing all commended if she says to these Jews not only, the "good" there is in the synagogue, but a com- "Come and join our quest for God and truth," but, munity that is able to demonstrate by transfigured "Come and share our discovery"? lives the "better" things that are found only by There is another side to the question. The union with the living Christ.
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Recent Changes In
By the REV. RALPH E. DIFFENDORFER, D. D.
New York ):-.
Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church T REMENDOUS changes have taken place in long been teaching that human welfare is an es- the social, industrial, rural and educational sential part of the program of Jesus. life of the Mexican people. There are evi- Protestant churches have gained in leadership dences on every side of the practical working out and are growing in self-support. Most of the work of attempts to reconstruct Mexican life and to lay of the Church is now in the hands of Mexicans.
the foundations of a new, unified, progressive They lay emphasis on personal loyalty to Jesus state. Christ as Saviour and Lord, an evidence of sal- One cannot understand the deep significance of vation in personal living, and a deep interest in what is going on in Mexico without sOII1:e knowl- all social problems.
edge of her history and the social, rural and in- The increased emphasis on education by the dustrial heritage which nearly four hundred years government, so manifest throughout the Repub- of foreign influence-ecclesiastical, political and lic, will sooner or later make it necessary for the commercial- have left upon Mexico. evangelicals to define the purpose of the Church.
The revolution in Mexico has been essentially Schools in Mexico have the same problem which an effort to give the twelve or more millions of is appearing throughout the world. In both teach- peons or serfs the essentials of life. This means ing method and in character building, the church that they must have access to the soil and must schools have something very much better than be trained in responsible farming. Labor must no those controlled by the government.
longer be exploited. The people must be educated One cannot speak too highly of the Protestant and the health of every community must be safe- educational institutions. It is amazing what is guarded. being accomplished with such a small financial This revolution has involved the complete di- investment. Most of their income is from student vorcing of the Church from all political movements fees, but all of these schools must soon have some and civil institutions. These religious regulations endowment if their equipment and teaching staff were first being enforced five years ago. Those are to be kept in high order.
regulations forced a changed status upon all cleri- Out of these schools are coming not only the lay cal missionaries, the separation of all schools from and ministerial leaders of the evangelical churches Church control, the elimination of religious teach- but also many of the intelligent and sympatheti- ing from elementary schools, the confiscation of cally minded group of influential people in the Church property, and the registration of this social and educational and political life of Mexico property with the state, and the giving up of all who do not ally themselves with the Protestant civil rights by Church ministers. Naturally, those churches.
days brought much confusion, uncertainty, and New opportunities are arising in modern Mex- many difficult problems. ico which are a distinct challenge to the evangeli- The Evangelical Christian Movement has be- cal forces. Outstanding among these is a new come well adjusted to the new conditions. The approach to the young, educated Mexicans-the decision of the evangelical leaders quietly to ad- products of government schools, the rural and just themselves to the law, including all the regu- state normal schools for teachers, and the national lations regarding property, schools, registration, university. This group is increasing by thousands etc., contrasted with the attitude of the Roman each year. Many have long since lost interest in Catholic hierarchy and the so-called strike of .the the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico, and the Catholic clergy. The Evangelical Movement now coming generation of young Mexicans, educated, has an acknowledged place in the life of Mexico influential and modern in every respect, are likely and evangelicals have an increasing influence, as to grow up without any religious education what- is evidenced in the strength, initiative and sense ever. Some wili be antagonistic to all religion, for of responsibility shown by evangelical leaders, the influence from Russia and elsewhere has al- both ministers and laymen. The evangelicals have ready penetrated Mexico and is common talk in [145]
educated circles. This need can be met only by a Methodists, Presbyterians and Congregationalists, sympathetic approach outside the ordinary evan- but now there are other denominations repregelical church circles. sented. Anyone from the States may join this American church by bringing a letter of recom- Another opportunity of almost equal importance mendation without disturbing his active memberis the provision of good Christian literature for ship at home. children, boys and girls, young people, and educated adults. This' will vary in type, but the Still another cooperative Protestant organizachances now for this service will never again ap- tion is the Young Men's Christian Association, pear to quite the same degree. There is also the which was started thirty years ago and has beopportunity of creating a really indigenous cur- come a very large and influential Christian force riculum for religious instruction of children and in Mexico City and throughout the Republic. The youth. Two kinds of literature are needed: one association has over 4,000 paid members and has for the Christian nurture of the evangelical com- had a large influence in shaping Mexico's new recmunity and the other for the increasing thousands reational development. It has had a considerable who are able to read, but for whom little is to be influence upon the lives of present-day Mexican found in the Spanish language. Much that is leaders who have been members of the association. obtainable now is positively vicious, lustful and poisonous. The Committee on Cooperation in Latin Amer- ica, under the able secretaryship of Dr. Samuel Dr. Elisha A. King writes that today there are Guy Inman, is composed of representatives of the at least seventeen Protestant organizations at American Protestant groups serving in Mexico, work in Mexico. The American Baptist Home Central and South America. It has done much to Missionary Society entered in 1861. The Ameri- foster a better understanding and a more Chriscan Friends Board of Foreign Missions and the tian cooperation between the two continents, and Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the has promoted evangelization, Christian education, Protestant Episcopal Church began operations in and the production of Christian literature for 1870. The Presbyterian (U. S. A.), the Methodist these lands. It has also helped place the longings Episcopal (South) and the American Board (Con- and needs of the people of these southern repubgregational) entered in 1872. The Presbyterian lics upon the hearts and minds of North American Church South entered in 1874. The American friends. Bible Society began its activities in 1878 and the International Committee of the Y. M. C. A. started It is difficult to secure accurate statistics as to its work in 1902. The Southern Baptist Society how many Protestants there are in Mexico today. did not enter until 1880. The Christian (Disciples) The number is about 50,000, of whom 18,000 are Woman's Board of Missions began work in 1895. Presbyterians, 15,000 Methodists and 700 Congre- Other denominations, such as the Seventh-Day gationalists. The balance is divided amongnumer- Adventists, the Nazarenes, and the Church of ous other denominations. Very likely there are God, also carryon missionary work. 50,000 actual church members and a very large constituency of interested people. At first the missionaries carried on their activities anywhere they pleased, but a time came when The methods of work used are evangelistic it was felt that there ought to be some better way preaching, church services, Sunday schools, day of evangelizing the country. Consequently a con- schools, industrial schools, higher educational inference of denominational leaders was held in stitutions, social settlement work, hospitals and Cincinnati in 1914 and it was agreed to divide dispensaries, and, of course, the diversified activi- Mexico among the Congregationalists, Presbyte- ties of the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A. G. Baez rians, Methodist Episcopal (South) and Methodist Comargo, Secretary of the Mexican National Episcopal (North) and the Disciples and Friends. Christian Council, an outstanding religious leader The other denominations decided to continue to go of Latin America, has done wonderful service for .their own way and locate where they pleased. The Protestant Christianity in Mexico, especially in the plan has worked well so far as the denominations field of religious education. He has the support of accepting it have been concerned. all the Protestant bodies at work in Mexico.
One of the most interesting Protestant develop- Rev. Victoriano D. Baez, in "The Genius of ments is the Union Theological Seminary, organ- Mexico," says truly: "Protestantism in Mexico is ized in Mexico City in 1917, with Dr. John How- not fighting to impose its creeds on Catholicism land, a Congregational minister, as its first presi- or any other branch of religion, but is trying to dent. enter into cooperation with all the living forces in the country – social, philanthropic, cultural and Another interesting development of this co- religious – for the moral elevation, social betteroperative plan is the Union Evangelical Church ment and complete redemption of the Mexican in Mexico City. It was originally made up of people."
Progress In Puerto
..:J! By JARVIS S. MORRIS, San German, Puerto Rico J!:..
I N the matter of evangelism the Presbytery of They strive toward an evangelical code of morals, Puerto Rico is the most active presbytery for but feel that they cannot give themselves over to its size in the whole General Assembly. While the churches because of social, political or comthe whole Church won one member on confession mercial considerations. Large numbers of the of faith for every 20.4 members, the Puerto Rican men are Masons, despite the opposition of the Church added one for every 7.6 members. Only Roman Church. Probably less than five per cent four presbyteries made a better average than this: of the people who call themselves Catholics regu- North Arizona, Jonesboro (Ark.), Rendall (Cana- larly attend the confessional or the mass. Only dian Synod), and Birmingham (Tenn.). All of when the images of Christ, the Virgin, and the these are very small, the largest having 730 mem- saints are being carried through the streets at bel's, whereas the Island Presbytery has' 3,266. Christmas and Easter do the people attend the worship in any large numbers. Twenty-five presbyteries in the Church have between 3,000 and 4,000 church members, and If a Puerto Rican leader, with a personality reamong these the average number of new members sembling that of Gandhi or Kagawa, should arise received on confession was one in every 21.2. The to lead a movement of evangelical thought, couched record of the Island Presbytery is almost three in the aesthetic forms so dear to the Latin imagitimes as large; it actually received 428 on con- nation, he would no doubt find a large following fession. and could build a church on liberal lines some- thing like the Old Catholic Church. Would it be Admitting that the Kingdom of God cometh not called the Evangelical Catholic Church? with the counting of heads, we find cause for thanksgiving in the evangelistic leadership of this To this unchurched group the evangelical insular presbytery which is only a short genera- churches could appeal effectively if they would tion old. The rapid growth may be attributed to unite in one United Evangelical Church of Puerto a number of causes: Rico. Last year three of the nine denominations- the United Brethren, the Congregationalists, and 1. The ministry is distinctly Puerto Rican. the Christians-united to form a church by that There is only one continental American serving a name and invited the others to unite with them. church in the whole presbytery – the English- Thus far, however, the union is made up of only speaking church of the Polytechnic Institute at the three denominations. The Presbyterians have San German. There are only four American not accepted because they fear a lowering of the members of the presbytery. The chairman of the educational standards of the ministers, a decrease mission is a Puerto Rican, the Rev. Angel Archilla in ministerial salaries, and the loss of their fely Cabrera, D. D. A people can best be won to lowship with the church in the north. The Pres- Christ through its own leaders. byterians number as many as the three denomi- nations combined in the union. To enter the union 2. The presbytery is made up almost entirely of would mean sacrifice at a number of points, but young men. Nine-tenths of the churches are served the gains of presenting a united front to the by pastors under forty years 'Of age, and many people would far outweigh such a loss. pastors are under thirty. Whatever their other faults, young men are enthusiastic and active. Evangelical churches could further strengthen their effectiveness by placing more emphasis on 3. In spite of its ancient Roman Catholic tra- worship-form and ritual, pageantry and those dition and heritage, Puerto Rico is not Romanist beautiful forms in which God's truth glows. It is by conviction, but only by habit and sentiment. difficult to build a great Latin Evangelical Church Many of the people are beginning to think inde- upon the plain Anglo-Saxon lines. The religion of pendently and to search for a larger way of life. an artistic people must contain more aesthetic and Some who reject Roman Catholicism as a means emotional elements than that of a practical, workof salvation go into the evangelical churches. a-day people. Few of the Protestant Church edi- fices compare in beauty with those of the Roman Many educated and refined people are no longer tied to the old religious customs and yet have not found spiritual homes in the evangelical churches.
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Church. The evangelicals have been careful not to talk to her boy and lead him into the Church, but cause offense by having pictures, statues or other when the pastor asked if she wanted him to try to forms of adornment in the churches. They have persuade her daughter also, she replied: "Oh, no! certainly offended none, but they may have failed My girl must remain a Catholic." They fear that to inspire many. the girls cannot marry men of the better families if they become Cultistas. Even this distinction SAN GERMAN-THE OLDEST CHURCH IN THE WESTERN between the social requirements upon the different HEMISPHERE. BUILT IN 1530 sexes, however, is becoming less noticeable.
From the days of the "conquistadores" there At the beginning of the work the churches sufhave been in Puerto Rico the owning class and fered from the lack of trained leadership. The the laboring class. Even the rapid progress of first pastors were poorly trained, but now two democracy has not destroyed the line of demarka- growing institutions insure intellectual and spirtion, as it has scarcely done even in the United itual training-the Polytechnic Institute and the States. As the common people heard Jesus gladly, Union Theological Seminary at Rio Piedras, both it was the common people who heard gladly the interdenominational. The former offers a liberal first evangelical missionaries. The so-called upper arts course of four years with a distinct Christian classes, the old families, have held back, since the tone, granting the A. B. degree. An organized first cause of this holding back on the part of the student Presbyterian Church has in its memberwealthier and more socially elite was that the ship about sixty-five per cent of the student body. common people were there first. The officers of Bible and Christian education courses provide for the churches were shoemakers, share-croppers, a major, and twelve term hours are required of and the like. The aristocrats would have had to each student to receive the degree. Daily morning sit in the pews beside their servants, perhaps, for prayers, weekly Y. M. and Y. W. C. A. meetings, the young Church demanded democracy and would and Sunday school and church provide religious not provide two types of seats as the Catholic instruction, inspiration, and opportunity of exchurches did. So social barriers kept them out of pression. The Polytechnic Institute has graduated the churches. five classes of college-trained young men and women, who are taking their places of moral There is another reason: The common people leadership in their respective fields. heard the emotional without the aesthetic appeal, but the upper classes wanted the intellectual and MARQUIS SCIENCE HALL. POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE. aesthetic as well. SAN GERMAN Today the social barriers to the Gospel are The Evangelical Seminary offers a three-year breaking down slowly but steadily. Every year theological course. An increasing number of minsees an increasing number of the educational and isterial candidates are taking a full college course many political leaders of the island embracing either in the University of Puerto Rico or in the Protestantism. Polytechnic Institute before they take the theo- logical course. The struggle between the Gospel and social customs has brought forth a number of interesting The future of evangelicalism in Puerto Rico is developments. The women have accepted far more hopeful because of the growing spirit of unity, readily than the men, because of the moral stand- the vigor of the churches and ministers, and the ards upheld by the evangelicals. The old double developing equipment to train capable leadership. standard obtains to a marked degree in Puerto The Church will rise as her leaders encourage and Rico. Whereas these standards keep many work- lead her upward. ing men out of the Church, when their wives and daughters enter, the social customs keep the women and girls of the higher class out of the Church, whereas the men of the same group accept more readily. A mother urged a pastor to
Dynamic of Home Missions*
..:( By the REV. JOHN McDOWELL, D. D., New York J!: ..
President of the Home Missions Council and Secretary of the Board of National Missions of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.
I F WE define opportunity in terms of needs we have turned aside from the paths of joy, for and problems, the Christian Church in Amer- everywhere discontented, weary faces tell the tale. ica never had such an opportunity as it has Selfishness has born its unfailing harvest of grief today. Never were the needs of the home mission and wrong and injustice. One phase of evil suc- fields so great and the problems of administration ceeds another, or an outer evil changes to an so vital to the nation, to the inner, until it seems an endless, world, and to the Kingdom of hopeless task to reform our- God, as in this critical hour. This is an age when men selves or our nation or our w 0 r s hip power-political, The Master is saying again to world. His representatives: "Say not financial, mechanical, elec- This is a conclusion to which ye four months, and then trical power. They are tired cometh harvest." This is the of theories or methods that we are being gradually, slowly, word of agriculture, of indus- do not produce results. The unwillingly driven. If ever the try, of commerce, of govern- missionary cause is sometimes universe conspired to press any ment today, but it is not the criticised today for lack of truth upon the mind of man, it power to change conditions- is conspiring at this moment word of religion if by religion whatever may h a v e been to convince him that he is not we mean Christianity and by achieved in the past. sufficient unto himself, that he Christianity we mean Christ. Dr. McDowell, the Presi- was not meant to live and work dent of the Home Missions This is His word to us today: Council, delivered, at the re- apart from God; that human "Behold, I say unto you, lift up cent conference in Toronto, nature is so constituted as to be your eyes and look on the fields, an address that struck fire. dependent upon the transcendfor they are white already unto It gave the secret of power- ent God. harvest." the "Dynamic of Home Mis- It is well that these facts are The present is not only an sions"-and it is the same slowly finding their way into hour to look out, it is an hour the con sci 0 usn e s s of the that transforms churches and to look up; not only an hour to individuals. It is worth read- Church, the nation and the look up, but an hour to look ing. world. Practically, if not theo- within, within ourselves, our retically, we have repudiated churches and our Home Mis- our dependence upon God. As a sion organization, to discover not only our needs, result, our spiritual disaster has already come. We but our supreme need-the one thing without have banished joy, peace and order from our midst.
which we cannot fulfil our mission or realize our Despite increasing knowledge and more perfect purpose, namely, an adequate dynamic for our machinery, greater skill and larger expenditure work. in religious ministry, more thought and culture If ever Christianity in terms of home missions in the Church, nothing avails to put inward life had its chance, it is now. The present national and movement into the Christianity of today.
and international conditions are demonstrating Everywhere there is tentativeness and hesitation, conclusively that human resources at their best a want of initiative, of heartiness, and adventure.
are unequal to the demands of this tragiG and be- Pathetic withdrawals, retrenchments, and timid wildering hour. We see more clearly than ever compromises mark the track of missionary effort that with all our getting and planning, our doing and Christian service. The strong, positive, sus- and striving, we are never really happy, even in taining, inspiring, sacrificial, courageous note is the palmy days of prosperity. It is evident that lacking. The· power to produce a s·pontaneous and effective spiritual impulse does not seem to be at ;2~~~~~eg.a:!J~~Ja!~~:14~e~~rl. of the Home Missions Council available in this very challenging and critical time.
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Let us hope and pray that by our woes and Acts," that certain things did not make the Aposdisillusionments we are being made ready to re- tolic Church. turn to God; that we are beginning to desire that He should come and take the reins out of our Numbers did not make it; its membership was weak hands; that the time will come, and come never large. soon, when "the government shall be upon His shoulders." Society, pierced with a thousand Organization did not make it; it had little or wrongs, sees in this its cure. no organization.
At this great crisis in the moral and spiritual Equipment did not make it; the Apostolic history of our race, let us make no mistakes as to Church was not noted for its buildings and facilwhat we need. It certainly is not more science, ities. more knowledge, more machinery, more money, but a new spiritual power that this torn world of Wealth did not make it; its membership was ours-weary with efforts and struggles, with from the poor. methods and mechanics, with figures and facts, with pronouncements and programs-insistently Prestige did not make it; in all probability one and persistently demands. All religious organi- would have had great difficulty in locating the zations must face the fact that there is nothing Apostolic Church in anyone of the cities or this distracted and distressed world needs more, centers at that time. and would more heartily welcome today, than an influx of spiritual power. The supreme need of What, then, did make the Apostolic Church? the hour is spiritual power. Other needs, great as they are, sink into insignificance beside this 3. The Apostolic Church was made by the Aposurgent, vital and imperative need. tolic ministry.
In the consciousness of the unparalleled oppor- It is obvious from the record that the Apostles tunity offered to the home missionary enterprise were men captured by the reality of Christ's today, and the need of an adequate dynamic to claims, the beauty of His life, the adequacy of His meet this unparalleled opportunity, I soaked my- teaching, the value of His death, the power of His self last summer in the Book of "The Acts," the resurrection, and the supremacy of His Spirit. "Life of Dwight L. Moody," and the last Annual It is utterly impossible to explain the power and Report of the Home Missions Council. I wanted progress of the Apostolic Church apart from the to discover, first, the supreme need of the home Apostolic ministry. Here, again, the book of "The mission enterprise, and, second, an adequate Acts" makes it clear that certain things did not dynamic to meet this need. Out of this experience make the Apostolic ministry. the following convictions registered themselves relative to the dynamic of all missionary service. Learning did not make it; outside of the Apostle Paul, none of the Apostles were learned men. What Made the Apostolic Age Unique Official position did not make it; none of them held official positions in either the Church or State.
Money did not make it; they had no budget; they were numbered among the poor.
Influence did not make it; Peter and John did not have enough influence to keep out of prison.
What, then, did make the Apostolic ministry?
1. The Apostolic Age is the greatest age in the 4. The Apostolic ministry was made by cooperhistory of the Christian Church. ation with the Holy Spirit in making Jesus Christ a living reality to all men. Measured by whatsoever standards you please, the Apostolic Age stands unique in its task, its The Holy Spirit to the Apostolic ministry was difficulties, its achievements, and its influence. It more than a religious phrase or a theological term. was this age that gave us the Christian Church, When God promised the Holy Spirit to man, it the New Testament, the Christian Lord's Day, was the deepest, holiest reality of His being that and made Christendom possible. Apart from the He meant-not only His thought, His words, His Apostolic Age it is impossible to understand benefits, but the very ground of them. What He Christian civilization. What made the Apostolic has given to humanity in the Holy Spirit is His Age? heart and life and power. _ 2. The Apo,stolic Age was made by the Apos- Cooperation with the Holy Spirit made Christ tolic Church. a definite, personal experience in the life and work According to the Book of "The Acts," the Apos- of the Apostolic ministry. It made fellowship tolic Church was a converting, transforming, in- with Christ a transforming power. It also made spiring, conquering Church. It changed not only the Gospel of Christ "the power of God unto sal- individuals, but communities and ultimately na- vation to everyone who believeth"; it made the tions. It is clear, also from the book of "The . Great Commission of Christ an inescapable obli-
THE DYNAMIC OF HOME MISSIONS
gation, and self-sacrifice for Christ a privilege and and cultured; the moral life and intellectual a joy. Apart from cooperation with the Holy capacity of her membership are keyed to a higher Spirit, it is impossible to explain or understand pitch than ever before; her preaching is the best the life, work and power of the Apostolic ministry. the world has ever heard from an intellectual standpoint; her services are beautiful and at- Power for the Present Day tractive; her organization is well nigh perfect; 5. The only adequate dynamic for home mis- her equipment surpasses that of any other age; sions in our day is a spiritual dynamic that will but what of results? Are they not pitifully make Jesus Christ a living reality in the life of all meagre by comparison with the outlay? Are not men, regardless of creed, color or condition. many of our churches living on from year to year without any additions on confession of faith in Experience has shown conclusively that the Christ, and without any perceptible influence on scientific mind, the philosophic mind, the economic the communities in which they are located? mind, and the social mind, without the glow of spiritual truth and spiritual power, cannot save In lands like ours we rightly expect the Chrisman or regenerate the nation. Our age has more tian Church to be the all-potent influence concomforts, but it lacks satisfaction; it has more trolling in every department of life, shaping ease, but it lacks peace; it has more science, but ~olitics, guiding industry, molding society, swayit secretly hungers for Christ. mg commerce, commanding the loyal services of all intelligent persons and banishing all unchris- Organized Christianity has been shaken to its tian forces. But it is not so. Why? Because, foundations. The ordinary course of practical w~th all her equipment of wealth and machinery, experimental religion has been arrested and has wIth all her purity and culture, with all her separated into innumerable shallow streams that prestige and persistence, there is not sufficient meander aimlessly and feebly over wide tracks of spiritual power in the Church to make this efhuman life, but without power to fertilize and fective. Of what avail is the most perfect organirenew them. zation, the most complete equipment, the most ac- Experience has shown that it is not enough to curate knowledge, the most attractive service if there be no dynamic within to make them efbe occupied with the machinery of the home missionary enterprise, with the multiplication and improvement of home missionary organizations fectual? and institutions. These are not primarily the "In this world of shallow believers and weary means by which the new heart and a new state of workers," says Phillips Brooks, "how we need the society will come into being. They are rather the Holy Spirit. We may go on our way, ignoring instruments that will be used when it has come- all the time the very forces we need to help us the home in which it will dwell, the temple in do our work. These forces still may help us. which it will worship, the body in which it will The Holy Spirit may help us, will surely help us serve. Such agencies have a great function, but· as far as He can, even if we do not know His that function is not the creation of life itself. If name or ever call upon Him. But there is so much we ask them to create the living impulse, we are more He might do for us if we would only open imposing upon them a task of which they are in- our hearts and ask Him to come into them." capable. We shall be disappointed-finding again, We need, as representatives of the home missionas we have found in the past and are finding now, ary enterprise, to hold our faith in the Holy Spirit as the dynamic of our work, not as a form of that with every outward appliance and equipment in missionary service there is but little stir or words bu t as aeflfiovritnsgapnodwmera,kiinnsgpiursinignsoturrumlievnets~ movement; that while perfect organizations vitalizing our abound, the life that should fill and use them lags in the hands of God for the conversion and saving of souls. far behind.
We are more and more convinced that we can- What Is Required of Us not go on living as we have done in the past. If the future of North America is to be Christian, It is evident that the primary problem confront- we must recover the spiritual impulse that has ing home missions today is in the realm of been lost. Nay, it is not enough to recover it, we dynamics, rather than in the realm of mechanics.
must have a far mightier spiritual power in this The need of the hour is not more knowledge, but day of complex needs, multiplied problems, and more action; not more campaigns, but more con- challenging conditions than we have ever had in secration; not more statistics, but more spiritual- the past. ity; not more councils, but more cooperation with We have everything else. Never was the the Holy Spirit. What, then, does cooperation church so well equipped as today. She is wealthy with the Holy Spirit demand of us today in home
missions? Let us make it clear that it demands the thought of our lands, to proclaim that there at least the following things: is not a thought in philosophy, not an ideal in 1. Consecrated pers.onality. History shows ethics, not a principle in sociology, not a program that God has always worked through persons, per- in practical reform worth considering that is not sons who are possessed by His purpose, fired with implicit and explicit in Christianity. The most His principles, and filled with His spirit. Con- urgent appeal of our day to representatives of secrated personality in home missions is the only Christ is to bring every thought-social, political, thing that makes the goodness of God visible, the economic, intellectual, national and international forgiveness of God genuine, the sympathy of God -into captivity to Jesus Christ. A program of natural, and the love of God irresistible. The exclusively external betterment is often declared Spirit of God today is seeking for men and women to be synonymous with or a sufficient substitute in whom Christianity is more than a set of correct for essential Christianity. Such a claim is a conviews, more than a system of philosophy, to whom tradiction to the truth that "man shall not live by it is a way of life, of discipline, of service, and bread alone."
an utter self-committal to a career of unceasing If home missions is to bring every thought into service and unlimited sacrifice. Every problem captivity to Jesus Christ, home mission repre- confronting the nation today is waiting, in the sentatives must know the mind of Christ regard- last analysis, for consecrated personality. This ing the social problems of our day, such as the call has been nowhere more pointedly stated than problems of wealth, poverty, industry, unemploy- in the following excerpt from a letter recently ment, and insecurity of economic position in in- addressed to the members of the Clergy Club of dustry. These problems combine to create a New York by the Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst on strong demand for a social as well as an individual the occasion of the unveiling of his picture by the expression of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and this club: demand creates an obligation from which no in- I feel that this is an unusual occasion. I understand dividual or institution bearing the name of Jesus that you plan, first, to unveil me, and then to hang me. Christ can consistently escape. The hour is lt hardly seems right for me not to be around at such an calling, and calling loudly, for Christians who are intimate ceremony. The least I can do is to appear by not afraid to reason or ashamed to believe. The proxy, so I send you this affectionate greeting. ultimate foundation of every nation is a way of thinking. As a nation thinketh in its heart, so Seriously, there are not enough unveilings or enough hangings in New York City. The whole world knows that our politicians have degraded the word "corruption," but is it. we need chapter, verse and telephone numbers to prove it. There are charges aplenty, but not enough of the kind The home missionary enterprise cannot estab- that go in cannon. Our moral powder only makes a pretty lish the Kingdom of God in North America on bon-fire, unless we ram it down a pointed nozzle before hearsay, or convert the world by those who can igniting it. When shall our corrupt city put on incorrup- only tell what other people are thinking. It detion? When all of you, my dear friends, decide with your mands apostles, not reporters; men of convictions, whole soul that it shall do so. 'not echoes; original witnesses, not men who can sift and state the judgment of others; heroes by The personal touch is at the beginning of every the compulsions of the soul, not straws floating on new departure in individual and national life. the stream of current opinion. The home mis- Consecrated personality is the crowning wonder sionary enterprise can do nothing with mere of this wonderful universe. Men make history; traditionalists. It demands men who do their own men make home missions. It is personal char- thinking, toil through to their own conclusions, acter that counts. Nothing is so potent as soul and go to their work with the impact of a perforce in the establishment of the Kingdom of God. sonal conviction and the conquering energy of a The new man and the new nation are bought with personal character. A man's religion is not worth price-aye, with the price of consecrated person- much until it is more than an echo. It may begin ality. There is no substitute for consecrated with that. It often does so begin, but it must personality in home mission service and civic not stop there. It must not simply be held by service.
2. Creative thinking. Let it not be forgotten him; it must hold him, master him, sway him in that the home mission enterprise is primarily one all that he is and does in the city and in the state, of missionary thought. It is a philosophy before in the home and in the Church. Religion in the it is an activity. We cannot expect to have our home missionary enterprise is not a set of opin- nations based on Christian principles so long as ions, it is a life; not the recitation of a creed, but our social philosophy is made by anti-Christian the repeating of the work of Jesus; not the func- philosophers and materialistic socialists. The tion of a fingerpost, but a person becoming for times are appealing to home missions to capture others the "way" and "truth" and "life". We
must capture the thought of North America if menta The home mISSIOn enterprise, therefore, North America is to be genuinely christianized. should be satisfied with nothing less than a saved 3. Commanding obiectives. Reconciliation of soul in a saved body, living in a saved community. the individual soul with God through the work and Only as we make the nations of North America influence of the Holy Spirit is the foundation upon spiritually strong can they serve the world. which any effective christianization of the nation or the world must be built. Home missionary 4. Cooperative spirit. It has become obvious work is always the immediate duty of the Chris- that there must be something more than cultivated tian Church. The evil that lies at the heart of and saintly individuals in the home mission enterthe nation and the world is a moral evil, and it prise, valuable as they are, if the work of chriswill only be driven out by a moral conqueror. The tianizing the nations of North America is to be Gospel of Christ meets this evil with the prayer: successfully carried forward. Men must join "Create in me, 0 God, a clean heart, and renew a hands to inspire one another, and also to create right spirit within me." This does not imply that the volume of power needed to sweep obstacles Christianity is indifferent to right conditions, but from the path of progress and to conquer the that we have learned from experience that right enemies of truth and right. The emancipation of conditions are impossible without the clean heart the individual is a great gain, but the best part of and the right spirit. Regeneration, therefore, of his emancipation comes when he begins to work the individual is the basis of all moral. progress in common with and for others. Cooperation represents not simply addition, but multiplication.
and enlightenment, the necessary first step toward Team work always tells, a:nd especially in misevery good, whether personal or public, social or sionary work. Marching together, the distance is shorter; singing together, the cheer is louder; political, commercial or religious. standing together, the temptations are more The Christian Church has no right to abate one easily resisted; lifting together, the burden is jot of zeal or faith or effort in home missionary gladly borne; praying together, the victory is work so long as there remains in all the land one surely won. Cooperation both· multiplies and unchristian community, in the community one un- hallows the energies of men and organizations. christian household, in the household one unsaved soul; The hour has come in Protestant Christianity when we must heal our divisions, combine our re- The Good News for Society sources, and unite our forces if the Protestant Church is to bring the Kingdom of God into the The Christianity of the New Testament aims at life of North America. Competition may be the not only a perfect man, but a perfect society-the life of trade, but it is the death of morals and the Kingdom of God. While the Gospel of Christ ad- disgrace of religion. We must have a coopera- dresses itself to the conscience and affection of tion today not only in terms of spirit, but in terms the individual, it must not be forgotten that it of actual operation which will eliminate over- addresses him as a member of a social organism. lapping and overlooking, not only in mission fields, "God and one man," says Dr. Charles H. Park- but in all fields of work. The needs and claims hurst, "could make any other religion, but it re- of North America should lead the denominations quires God and two men to make Christianity." now to submerge all ecclesiastical animosities, and The entrance of the second man into Christianity non-essential demands. The time and strength makes necessary the social Gospel, and this fact spent in controversies are needed today for ag- was undoubtedly in the mind of Jesus Christ gressive and constructive work in the interest of throughout all His life and ministry. In the sum- the Kingdom. The time has come when we must mary of the law, Jesus combined the personal and end the waste of spiritual energy and consecrated social objectives of His Gospel. "Love the Lord, money.
thy God, and love thy neighbor." Obedience to Cooperation in missionary work multiplies the the first command saves the individual, and noth- power of each in the service of all, and therefore ing else can save him; obedience to the second should be welcomed by all churches bearing the saves society, and nothing else can save society. name of Jesus Christ. Bigotry, dogmatism and Such facts as these make it evident that Christ sectarianism cannot feed the soul of the nation.
intended His Gospel to be not only a way of life Nothing but conference, cooperation and combina- for the sinner, but a law of life for society. The tion will meet the needs of the nations now.
ministry of home missions must be to the whole Whatever may be our views about organic man, body, mind and soul; it must look to the unity, there certainly should be no difference betterment of his environment and make secure among those who believe in Christ about the need his opportunities for self realization and improve- and the wisdom of cooperation in every effort to
make men like Christ, earth like Heaven, and the fear of pressing the Gospel of Christ upon the kingdoms of this world the Kingdom of Christ. people, fear that has sealed our lips when every- thing around us is whispering of God, of the The gigantic iniquities of modern society are Cross, of redemption through sacrifice; when thoroughly organized and directed by able leaders. human hearts are softened and ears bent to listen To accomplish its purpose, the home missions and only our enlightening and confirming word enterprise, therefore, must excel all other organi- is needed to interpret and apply the great truths zations in the value of its objectives and the of Christianity to the souls of men and the life of wisdom and power of its representatives. No nations. Christian body should stand apart from any other followers of Christ today on account of differences Let us see to it that the hesitancy and halfof belief respecting non-essentials. No mere heartedness of our religious appeal is succeeded speculative dogma should separate our Christian now by a strong and positive call on all men to denominations from one another in the battle for seek God. Let us go forth throughout the land on righteousness. It is more necessary to help the an embassy of peace, saying to all sorts and consoul that sins and suffers than to assert our ditions of men: "Be ye reconciled to God" for peculiar notions about metaphysical subjects. "now is the accepted time," "now is the day of The various religious bodies in our nations ought salvation." We need not fear rebuff or indifferto appreciate one another more than at present, ence as the right spiritual note is struck in this and cooperate toward commol'l ends more than hour-that note which is in harmony with the they do. God's army today is marching in too elemental spiritual need of man and of society. many disconnected divisions and under too many There will be a ready response, men will flock petty flags. Denominations need not disband, but into the Kingdom, and a religious revival will they must work together if the Spirit of God is to break out that will go through the length and have an instrument through which North Amer- breadth of the land. The most urgent need of our ica is to be saved. Love for the Incarnate Christ day is not for service but for spirituality. A soul ought to be a sufficient passport for every soldier filled with the spirit of God will certainly bow of Christ. That, alone, ought to make him wel- down and lift the lowly. But a generation that come in every camp and at every altar. discounts the spirit of God and ceases to love Jesus Christ will not long serve humanity. What The Need of the Present Situation makes Christianity a triumphant religion is not the law of love, but its love of Christ. The heart This present situation constitutes a great of Christianity-what gives it creative power, trumpet call that is bidding all who care about the what sends out missionaries, what saves sinners, issues of the present world-wide crisis to rally to what builds churches, what produces character, the standard of Christ; bidding them renew their and enriches civilization-is not so much a prehope, enthusiasm and power at the one great cept as a personality, and that the personality of source, and then go forth and throw themselves Jesus Christ. The supreme thing in Christianity heart and soul into the spiritual service of their is not Christ's teachings, however superior, but country; recognizing that it is a national service the spirit of His life; not interest in an ethical of the highest order and calls for self-sacrifice and code, but loving, sacrificial discipleship; not a devotion that is on a par with the greatest demand system of doctrine about Christ, but a profound that any other branch of the Kingdom service can devotion to Him as the giver of eternal life. the make on men. only Saviour of the world.
It is the news of a transcendent God that our The home mission enterprise, in the last analyage supremely needs, the Gospel of a God who can sis, must depend not upon its pretentions, but and does break through into human affairs in a upon its performances; not upon its attitude, but supernatural way, bringing order, peace, power upon its activities; not upon its sacramental and abiding gladness into human life. This is holiness, but upon its spiritual helpfulness. Its preeminently a time for taking bold, strong, appeal will be effective in proportion to its ravigorous steps, for initiating positive action in the tionality, humanity and spirituality, and its augreat work of publishing the Christian evangel, thority will be recognized in proportion to its for seeing how to surround it with every circum- vision, inspiration, conviction, power and love. If stance of c(2)mpelling, constraining, and convicting we capture the present for Christ, the future of power. It is high time to overcome the nervous North America will be safe.
Progress In Home Missions?
..:( By REV. WILLIAM R. KING, D. D., New York ):..
Extracts from the Annual Report of the Executive Secretary of the Home Missions Council T HE North American Home Missions Con- Conferences should be followed up. The first Con- gress, which met at the close of 1930, was tinuation Conference scheduled for 1932 was most significant. Its power and influence held in Indianapolis, Ind., in connectiem with the is being proved and its findings are accepted as Ministers' Convocation and five other conferenees the best word on home missions. were set up for February in strategic centers in The follow-up of that Congress is most gratify- Ohio. It is our hope to hold twenty or thirty of ing. The Missionary Education Movement is them throughout the United States.
majoring this year on "The Challenge of Change," Several cooperative projects are under way, in- by Dr. John M. Moore, written cluding the Cooperative and Re- with the deliberate purpose of ligious Center at Boulder City, promoting the findings and Has the day for home mis. the new town which is to be the message of the Congress. It is sions passed? .What is being home of the people employed on being studied in thousands of done for the twenty million that great Hoover Dam in churches throughout the coun- foreign born in the United Southern California. Repre- try. In a Teachers' Manual on States? Are we overlooking sentatives of six denominations the Data Books and Findings or conducting rival missions met and set up a tentative or- Books of the Congress, Dr. for the Indians, the Negroes, ganization of the Hoover Dam Casselman of the Reformed the Spanish-speaking people, Interdenominational Religious Church in the U. S. Board has lEtuhumerobMpeeromarmnesno,,ntsth,heethmOeirgmireainnnteatrlwss oaarnnkdd- Council to present a program of made an exhaustive study of worship, religious education and this material and has arranged ers and dwellers in mountains social service. Later the South· it in shape for use in mission and in city slums? Dr. King ern California Superintendents'
study classes. tells the story of progress Council enthusiastically ap- A series of conferences and made by the united effort of proved the movement and other public meetings, looking to the mission boards cooperating in denominations expressed the enlistment of all the denomina- the Home Missions Council. desire to cooperate. As a re- tional groups in a great Home suIt of several conferences with Mission advance, is a joint government officials about this effort of the Home Missions Council, and the project, and visits to Hoover Dam, Las Vegas and Council of Women for Home Missions and the Los Angeles, the Cooperative Religious and Social Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in Center of Boulder City has been established and America to carry down to the local churches the is now well under way with the following denomi- message of the Congress, and the results of the nations cooperating: Presbyterian U. S. A., Meth- studies of the Five Year Program of Survey and odist Episcopal, Congregational, Baptist, Disciples, Adjustment. The first of this series was held in United Brethren, United Presbyterian. The Rev.
Cincinnati in November and was followed by the Thomas E. Stevenson, pastor of the Presbyterian Pacific Coast series in December to include Seat- Church of Burbank, California, has been elected tIe, Portland, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, pastor and director and began his work October 1, Sacramento, Los Angeles and Denver. In the 1931. Meetings are being held at present in the nine conferences held during November and De- mess hall of the six companies and the Sunday cember there was a total attendance of approxi- School of 127 is meeting in two bungalows. A mately 3,000. We heard in every place such re- movement is under way to secure a building for marks as "this is the best conference we have the religious program and for a parsonage for the had for years," and "you are bringing us fresh director, "Parson Tom," as he is called. There are and interesting information and making us see 300 children of school age in the town. Mr. Ste- home missions in a new light." The unanimous venson has attempted a difficult task but great judgment of the team is that these Continuation service can be rendered. The attendance at his [155]
first evening service was about 100 and at the a liaison committee between the Councils and the second evening service was 127. If some churches Indian Department of the Government. could donate hymn or travel slides for the stereopticon, this would help in his work. A joint committee representing the Interna- tional Missionary Council, the Federal Council, An Every Community Survey of Maine was the Home Missions Council, the Council of Women made under the auspices of the Interdenomina- for Home Missions and the Missionary Education tional Commission of Maine and the Home Mis- Movement has been formed "to make a careful sions Council, and was considered by various con- and comprehensive study of the Jewish situation ferences. The Interdenominational Commission in America in its relation to the Christian has proposed a Five Year Program of Inter- Church." The chairman is Dr. John S. Conning. denominational Christian Service "directed par- Other committees rendering valuable service to ticularly toward the areas unreached by any of the cause of Home Missions, under the auspices the Protestant mission agencies and designed of the Council, relate to the city and New Amerito do that most needed work which our present cans, General Promotion, Alaska, Spanish-speakmissionary agencies cannot do both because their ing Work, and Negro Work. resources are insufficient and because the work must be done interdenominationally." An at- Under the auspices of the Committee on Comity tempt is being made to raise from individuals ap- and Five Year Program of 'Survey and Adjustproximately $45,000 a year in addition to $50,000 ment, surveys have been made in about a score a year expended by denominational boards, to be of states. In some cases the entire state has been distributed among sixteen counties in Maine. surveyed, in some of the larger states only cross- This would be an outstanding demonstration on a sections. 'Surveys are now under way in six states state-wide basis of cooperative home missions in and conferences are held following the completion rural communities. of each state. This Five Year Program is vitally connected with all the work of the Council and Cooperative work has been promoted also in is closely related to the work of all other comother centers. In a remote valley of the 'Southern mittees. Meuntains, bordering northeast Georgia and the Carolinas, there is a large farm school which is One of the most active and efficient committees closely tied up with three small churches. The is that on "Town and Country," made up of repsuperintendent of this school asked for assistance resentatives of constituent boards. One of the oldin bringing about cooperation in this community. est and the most important activity is the Summer As a result it would seem as if the three churches Schools for rural pastors and last year the Comwill be placed on a cooperative community basis. mittee sponsored nine full standard schools and two partial standard schools, besides seven full The second annual conference of the Ozark In- standard schools of practical methods for Negro terdenominational Committee, held at Hollister, pastors. At least two new schools will be added Mo., last July, dealt with the situation in the to the list in 1932-Corvallis, Oregon, and Davis, Ozarks and the possibility of a cooperative pro- California. This Committee also promotes Rural gram for the region. It was later suggested that Life Sunday, the fifth Sunday after Easter, which there should be community visitation by field has been observed for the past three years. Some supervisors and county seat rallies in the interest governors of states have issued proclamations of a better rural religious life. calling upon people to observe Rural Life Sunday and 10,000 leaflets on the subject were distributed The Home Missions Council has taken over the last year. work of the Department of Building Fund Campaigns of the Board of National Missions, Pres- The Federal Council in appointing members byterian Church, U. S. A., to form an Inter- to the Town and County Committee has recogdenominational Church Building Campaigns nized this as its channel of operation in this field Bureau. This did not involve any increase in and has added to the efficiency of the Committee. budget or office space since the Bureau retained its office in Philadelphia for the present. The past year has been a trying one for Home Mission Boards. The depression is telling upon The Joint Committee on Indian Work, under budgets and programs. Most of the boards, if the leadership of Miss Helen Brickman, has not all, have had to reduce expenditures, eliminate worked out a curriculum of religious education work and workers, and cut down appropriations for our Religious Work Directors in the Govern- all along the line. New advances have been imment Indian Schools, and has rendered valuable possible, yet the needs were never greater and service in administrative work. Another outstand- the opportunities never more inviting. These are ing accomplishment of the Committee has been days that are surely trying the souls of board adthe setting up of a service committee to serve as ministrators as well as the endurance of faithful
WHAT PROGRESS IN HOME MISSIONS?
missionaries in all parts of North America. May them on appeal after local efforts for adjustment it not be that our extremity will be God's opportunity. We believe that in some way the home have failed, we recommend: mission cause wj]] come out of this trying experience triumphantly. We may have to make re- First, that the Joint Committee on Comity and adjustments and work out economies and "endure burdens as good soldiers" but out of it all will the Five Year Program be constituted a Sub-Comcome greater and better home missions. mittee on Comity, to which shall be referred all Would it not be wise to begin now to plan definitely for another national congress to be held cases of comity presented to the Councils. at the close of our Five Year Program in January, 1934, to review the results of this five year study Seoond, that this Sub-Committee arrange for and to consider advance steps? By that time, it is hoped, we will be emerging from the depres- three stated meetings a year, other meetings to be sion and will have learned "through the things we have suffered," as well as through the surveys held as needed. and studies, what changes, if any, should be made and what advance steps should be taken. Third, that this Sub-Committee prepare and PROPOSALS FOR THE COMING YEAR distribute a form indicating the information Extracts from the Report of the Findings which should be furnished it concerning any case Committ6e at the Toronto Conference brought before it for consideration. . A Christian world depends mightily upon a Christian America. America lives not to itself, Fourth, that this Sub-Committee, in passing but for China, Japan, Africa, India and the uttermost parts of the earth. If Christendom has be- upon cases, take into account not only such gentrayed Christianity, then it becomes imperative to christianize Christendom. That is our united eral principles as have been adopted by these task. For their sakes we must sanctify ourselves. Councils, but such principles as may have been Sitting, as in a reviewing stand, as the forces for christianizing America pass before us and adopted by the state or city organizations within make their reports, what have we discovered? whose jurisdiction the particular cases originated. The Committee on Comity and the Five Year Program brings before us the following recom- It is understood that the decision rendered in any mendations: case is to be advisory only. 1. In view of the response to the Continuation Conferences, this plan with some modifications The Councils urge that City, State and Regional should be developed widely during the coming year and if possible, such conferences should be Councils, through Comity Committees of their held in practically all of the major cities of the country. own creation, be prepared to deal with comity 2. The success of the Interdenominational cases arising within their respective bounds and Conference held now for two years in the Ozarks leads us to believe that in other states in the more only bring to these national Councils those cases distinctively mission areas there should be interdenominational gatherings of from two to four which fail of local adjustment. days duration for the consideration of the common problems of missionary work. In most cases Strictly speaking, the Five Year Program was these conferences would not be held annually. initiated at the Comity Conference in January, 3. We recommend that constituent boards consider the advisability of bringing to the at- 1928, and will come to an end at the time of the tention of their highest judicatories the comity resolutions adopted during the past year by the next annual meeting in January, 1933. Although Presbyterian General Assembly and the Congregational-Christian National Council. In order that much has been accomplished, it is still in its these Councils may be prepared to deal with the increasing number of comity cases brought to formative stage. It might be well to extend this period to cover five years dating from the Home Missions Congress, that is, to the end of 1935.
Before the end of that period, say in January, 1934, we should hold a "check-up conference" to do specifically four things: a. To review the results of the Five Year Pro- gram to that date.
b. To use the Findings of the Home Missions Congress on the various fields of missionary effort as the basis of an intensive study of practical pro- grams for these various fields of work.
c. To consider the cooperative relationships of home missions with other agencies which have become so essentially a part of our modern pro- gram of church work, as the religious education and social welfare agencies.
d. To propose plans .for the future work of these Councils.
For many years our Town and Country Church Committee has been carrying on its researches and has given us a fund of invaluable informa- tion. We therefore would especially call attention of the several boards to the importance of a pro- gram of adjustment that will enable our rural
churches to cope with the rapid changes that are tion is developing qualities of leadership. Student upon them. It is a matter of supreme importance churches and student councils, expressing the rethat some way be found to provide the children ligious needs of the young people, are promoting and youth of our rural areas with a teaching Christian living. ministry. Toward this end we would suggest that cooperative parishes be established where the The coming year of Missionary study centers several denominations would share in such a around the work among the Indians and we urge ministry. This, together with the re-organization on our churches these studies in their future proof rural areas into stronger units of life, consti- grams. tute imperative demands upon the mission boards at this time. It is evident that the future of the Christian Church, not only in the pulpit but in the pew, rests There has been a growing consciousness of re- in the hands of the youth of today. We therefore sponsibility toward Spanish-speaking neighbors urge upon the Councils that our programs shall in the West Indies. We therefore commend to the give full recognition to the importance and the boards at work in Cuba a fresh study of how to problems of the religious life and training of our cooperate more closely and especially in the organ- youth. We suggest that a session be set aside at ization there of a Union Theological Seminary the next Annual Meeting for the consideration of such as now exists in Puerto Rico. We commend our young people in relation to the Church and its to the boards a further study of their responsi- missionary work. bility in Santo Domingo and that those already working in Puerto Rico may well consider We cannot close without adding our influence whether their responsibilities do not also extend to those who are attempting to create a warless to Santo Domingo. world. We believe that war is wholly wrong; we believe that war and Christ travel opposite ways We commend the union which has been per- and stand at opposite poles in any possible moral fected between the Christian, the Congregational universe. The Christian Church must be the and United Brethren Missions into the United chief agency for abolishing war for to the Church Evangelical Church in Puerto Rico and urge other is committed the Gospel of love and brotherhood, denominations as speedily as possible to shape of peace on earth and goodwill. We call upon all their policies toward uniting in this movement. the churches to take an unequivocal and an un- apologetic opposition to the spirit of militarism We welcome the changes made in the national wherever it exists. government administration of Indian affairs which seeks the highest welfare of the Indian, We urge upon our governments the necessity thus enabling him to achieve an abundant and of immediate cooperation with and full memberwell balanced life in terms of his own racial re- ship in the World Court and the League of Nasources. We appreciate the cooperation of the tions and that every power be used to influence Indian administration in the task of religious edu- all the signatory nations to faithfully carry out cation in Government Indian schools. The in- their obligations in the Peace Pact. creased responsibility assumed by the Indian stu- The Christian Church must lead in the abolition dent for planning and carrying courses of instruc- of war or prove itself inadequate to the needs of the world today and tomorrow.
CHURCH BUILDINGS AND BENEVOLENCES Many churches in the United States have incurred very heavy indebtedness in their building enterprises and have thus hampered their philanthropic, evangelistic and missionary activities. In the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., out of a turnover of sixty-odd million dollars a year, about fourteen mil- lion have been reported under building enterprises. The denominational budget for missions and other benevolences calls for twelve million dollars, on which only about ten million are paid, and, in the depres- sion, less than nine million. In four years this church has spent over fifty-two million dollars for build- ing operations. This represents an annual load per Presbyterian of $25.35, while the annual load for benevolences has been less than five dollars.
In the Methodist Episcopal Church over fourteen million dollars was spent in 1929-1930 for build- ings and improvements and over seven million dollars paid on past indebtedness. This means that over twenty-one million dollars was involved in the improvement of the equipment of the churches for one year. This very heavy burden may account for the situation of diminished support which is baffling the World Service Commission.. The Methodists are apparently giving more than they gave under the Cen- tenary drive, but out of the eighty-five million dollars their reports seem to indicate that only ten million, as against twenty million in 1921, go to benevolences of all kinds. Presbyterians have held their benevo- lence contributions static at about ten millions.
Among the Amazon
A Review of "'The Challenge of Amazon's Indians" by Mrs. Arthur F. 'Tylee* ":JI 1 By the REV. THOMAS C. MOFFETT, New York 1 1=" Secretary of the Commission on the Indians of Latin America I T HE Indians of the Amazon Valley in North- okceceansisoen~sebuotf are often talkative and jolly. They have a ern Brazil are illiterate, untamed and isolated humor and enjoy a good joke even when it from civilization. Missionary work among them is a task of great difficulty because of the is on themselves. Although at times, some of them try distance from civilization and the character of the people. "The long journey to reach them is not one's patience as might a spoiled child, yet many of them dreaded as much as the isolation after the journey's end has been reached," writes Mrs. Tylee, are most lovable. who has recently returned to the United States after some thrilling and harrowing experiences. The pioneer expeditionary party which explored the territory, seeking a suitable location for the Seldom is the loneliness relieved by the visit from an mission station, consisted of Rev. Leonard L. Legters, Field Representative of the Pioneer Misexplorer and never, in some places, by a cOI?mercial .trav- sion Agency and of the Indian Mission of Amer- ica; Rev. Alex. R. Hay, Superintendent of the Ineller. But such isolation means more than Just lonehness. land South America Missionary Union, and Arthur F. Tylee. Their trials in penetrating the It means that the missionary has to trust God to bless interior country are suggested by this record.
and use the simple remedies he can carry for hi.mself a~d "After crossing the Sepotuba River the road lay through a strip of very dense jungle and bamftoaomiliy~ for no physician is within a thousand mIles. ThIS, boo thicket and came out at the foot of a bluff. a land of fevers and tropical diseases, to say It took three weeks to go the first thirty-two miles and the last half of this was taken with the cart nothing of the painful and often serious results from unloaded. Part of the time it was bad roads that hindered, again swollen streams, or a thick g~owth insect bites. of bamboo, and part of the time the oxen SImply refused to pull." It was in such isolation and among these wild Of another experience Mr. Tylee wrote: "The and savage Indians that Arthur F. Tylee and his past week has been a nightmare; the constant struggle, strain and despair over the perversity of two-year-old daughter, Miss Mildred P. Kratz, a the oxen having taxed our patience and sapped our strength. Twenty miles in one week! Workmissionary nurse, and three Brazilians were at- ing day and night in rain and heat, and this after the month of trial in the woods below the plateau." tacked and killed at the mission at J uruena, Brazil, In the loneliness of their first labors on the field on November 3, 1930. The crime was committed the two men hoped for the time when the small mission force would be increased. "For the first by a small group of illiterate, wild Indians of the time in several months Mr. Tylee received word from his fiance, whom he had left in Paraguay. Nhambiquara tribe in the state of Matto Grosso. Now he learned to his joy that she was in Co- rumba. They had been fellow-students at Moody This story of missionary adventure, of heroic dedi- Bible Institute, Chicago, and had gone together to South America. The lady remained in Paraguay cation to a task of unbelievable hardships and while her fiance went on to Brazil to explore the new field. It had now been almost two years since privation, endurance and sacrifice is told by Mrs. he had seen her and five months since he had been able to receive her letters." Tylee simply but graphically in a book which Mr. Arthur "Tylee was a graduate of Amherst . presents a succession of surprises, the greatest of College. After serving in Europe during the war he returned to enter Harvard Law School, but which was unsuspected hostility of these few Indians, led by their chief. ..
This primitive tribe of Indians is descnbed WIth admiration by Mrs. Tylee even after the savage onslaught of the massacre in which a few of their number participated.
The Nhambiquaras are of average height. They are very slender. They have the coarse, straight, black hair, dark brown eyes, and dark bronze skin char~cteristic of the Indian' but their features are not those whIch are considered tyPical of the North American Indian. Many of them have facial characteristics not unlike their white brothers while a few have slant eyes and flat noses like the peopie of Asia. They can be silent and taciturn upon • Published by The Inland South America Missionary Union. 113 Fulton Street, New York. Price 75 cents postpaid.
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A NHAMBIQUARA INDIAN FAMI.LY AT HOME the ingredients could be properly cleaned and not allowed to ferment in the tropical heat." during his studies there he grew dissatisfied with the prospect of giving his life to self-appointed The missionaries left their difficult field for a pursuits and the acquiring of fame or money. He brief furlough at the end of four years, and on felt the challenge to devote his energies to the their return met fresh assaults. Only prevailing biggest and noblest service of which he was prayer enabled them to reach their station. When capable,' and his love of the Bible led him to enter Mr. Tylee and Miss Kratz were both down with Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. While a stu- fever they had been allowed to occupy a room in dent there, Rev. Alex. R. Hay, Superintendent of one of the buildings belonging to the telegraph the Inland South America Missionary Union, vis- line. It was bare of furniture, except for their ited the Institute and told of the need for mes- packing boxes and trunks. Here Mrs. Tylee cared sengers of Christ in South America. This led to for them while the native helper cooked the beans Mr. .Tylee's decision for Indian service and the and rice in the shade of a tent. When they refollowing spring he went to Brazil. sumed their journey they were met by three friendly Nhambiquaras, who brought fruit, man- Mildred Kratz studied at Cae College, Iowa, and dioc and sweet potatoes. Finally they reached the later took her Bible courses at Moody Institute mission about ten o'clock at night, almost three and her nurse's training at Augustana Hospital, months after leaving New York. Chicago. "'She was strong and healthy, with a happy disposition and a buoyancy of spirit which "The first months in her new home following made her always a pleasant companion. She was our furlough were hard on baby Marian," writes not the shallow type of person, incapable of shar- Mrs. Tylee. ing the sufferings of another, but, on the contrary, was deeply sympathetic." She was not well and the insect pests made her very uncomfortable. Satan had found a new weapon with The romance and pathos of the intimate expe- which he tried to drive the missionaries from his terririences narrated by Mrs. Tylee with a rare tory. They had suffered much themselves and were ready literary gift are best portrayed in the diary from to suffer more if need be, but to see their precious baby which she freely quotes. An entry of July 12th girl tortured was the severest test their faith could know. reads: "Without all staple foods." From that date But in this as in all other tests that had come to them, until the latter part of October they were depend- He proved Himself as the One "Who giveth more grace." ent upon their own efforts and God's special pro- But if she was to suffer for some of the conditions that vision for their needs. No day passed without could not be changed nor avoided, life for her was not their being able to obtain food for at least one without its compensations. She loved the wild life that meal. Not once did the little group of new native she saw everywhere about her-woods, flowers, birds and Brazilian converts waver and there was no spirit animals of all kinds. She was not timid and fear was of fault-finding. The men spent much of their time hunting and fishing and thus brought in food ARTHUR F. TYLEE AND JOAQUIN ANTUNES. A which was shared with the whole community. BRAZILIAN CONVERT Later oxen arrived and, for a time, supplied meat if nothing more. Several times Indians came to the station bringing grated mandioc from which a sort of bread or flat cake could be made. This, as the narrative states, "was not unpalatable if
A NNF. f:::F.F.f:::HOT.T7. F.vP('ntivp f:::p('rph~Tv
STUDENTS AND MISSIONARY INTEREST
unknown to her. She went for long walks in the woods As for God His way is perfect. The work in Juruena is with Mr. McDowell and Candido, and always came back His work; the missionaries His workers; is not His the with her hands and pockets full of flowers and bright right to say whether they should continue at their post berries she found along the path. She was very fond or be called to higher service? May the grassy mounds of animals and many were the pets the Indians brought beneath the Ajusta Conta trees at Maloquinha be our her, besides the dogs and chickens with which she played solemn pledge to God that we shall carry on the work daily. they so courageously began, until the last tribe of Indians hidden in the depths of Amazon's forests has heard the The work went forward and progress seemed to good news of peace and eternal life. be made in winning the friendship of the Indians. The missionaries ministered to the sick and un- The tragic scene of the eventful morning when dertook to teach them of God, whom they knew six of the mission group lost their lives, and the not as He is revealed through His Son Jesus savage Indians as suddenly departed into the Christ. Then one day an Indian was brought into wastes and jungles, is briefly depicted in words the station seriously ill. In spite of all their care- which the reader can never forget. When the ful nursing he died. The Indians seemed to take story is perused in the quiet of one's own solitude, this matter very much to heart and some showed then heroism and the sacrifice of martyrs for the their belief that the missionaries were respon- faith is luminous and convincing. sible. Is it any wonder that this absorbing narrative Three months after the death of the Indian was no sooner issued from the press last October some members of his tribe from a distance came than a new edition was required'? Dr. Kenneth to the station and without warning fell upon the Mackenzie, President of the Missionary Union, little band. They murdered Mr. Tylee, Miss Kratz writes in the introduction: and the baby and three Brazilian Indian friends. After seriously beating Mrs. Tylee and leaving The martyrdom of these missionaries gave to them her for dead, they departed. Upon regaining con- marked distinction. They were ready for sacrifice, if only sciousness, Mrs. Tylee had to grope half blinded, life laid down might be translated into the salvation of dragging herself to the telegraph station to spread the lost whom they saw and yearned over. So, as we the word of the calamity. Here she lay for days, recall the many hours of prayer and striving which have hovering between life and death. Finally she was engaged our thoughts and purpose as we have pleaded able to make her way to the coast and sail for for the myriads of souls in darkened and long-neglected home. Her faith and courage never failed. South America, we cheer our hearts with the assurance that the future of the Inland South America Missionary The closing paragraph of her narrative reads: Union will justify their sacrifice and our profound hope that just where they so bravely fell, there shall spring a glorious harvest of redeemed men and women.
Students and Missionary Interest ..:( By the REV. WILLIAM M. MILLER J!: ..
Meshed, Persia T AST autumn I had the privilege of visiting most of the state schools I was not surprised to L nearly forty colleges of various types in dif- learn that there were almost no students prepar- ing for the Christian ministry or for missionary ferent p.arts of the United States in the in- work. But what profoundly troubled me was the terests of the Student Volunteer Movement. These discovery that in many of the church colleges also included large state universities and large de- there is no missionary spirit. In several flourish- ing denominational colleges I was not able to find nominational colleges, medical schools and theo- one student who expected to be a missionary in a logical seminaries. I spoke in classrooms, in foreign land. Several theological seminaries were chapel services, in college churches, to special almost as barren as the colleges. Some of these groups and with individuals. While my stay in educational institutions have had a great missionmost colleges was too brief to give me an oppor- ary past and have sent many of their sons and tunity to understand thoroughly the religious sit- daughters to the foreign field. uation among students, yet I was able to learn certain facts which I have been asked to share What has happened to cause the streams of miswith the readers of the REVIEW. sionary interest to dry up '?
The thing which impressed me most deeply was There are exceptions. I was occasionally rethe lack of missionary interest among students. In
freshed to find groups of devoted and eager young paucity of missionary candidates today is due in volunteers. In one college seventeen students are large measure to the failure of parents and pas- intending to become missionaries, and forty or tors of ten years ago to put this passion into the fifty others attended the Student Volunteer meet- hearts of their children.
ings. This is a college where chapel and church The third and most fundamental cause of all is attendance are required, and where every student the lack of vital Christianity in our colleges and is obliged to work a number of hours each week in our churches. Interest in world affairs is not to help pay for his education. If a healthy mis- enough. The appeal for world brotherhood or sionary spirit is possible in some schools to- world service will not prove a strong enough mo- day, why is it not possible in every Christian tive to send many students to the ends of the school? earth. There must be a sense of the constraining A few students appear to be hostile to the whole love of Christ, the passion to save the lost, and idea of foreign missions. They have been told that joyous obedience to the Great Commission.
all religions are equally good, and that Christians Too often we have depended on human devices, have no right to "force" others to accept their be- and cheap ones at that, to stir up missionary in- liefs, so they are opposed to missions. But there terest. We have trusted in pictures and plays and are few of this sort. The great majority of stu- popular appeals. Prayer and the spirit of sacri- dents are not opposed to foreign missions but they fice are needed to touch the heart and move the are absolutely unconcerned about the whole busi- will. An intimate knowledge of Christ and deep ness. They listened attentively to descriptions of devotion to Him is the motive which will lead social and economic and political conditions in young people to go to distant lands to tell men of Asia, but the thought of spending their lives there Christ. Therefore, if we wish to get more and as Christian missionaries seemed as remote and better missionaries, the only way is to pray and impossible to most of them as that of visiting the labor for a revival of faith and love in our home moon. churches. The decline in gifts to missions and in What are the causes of this decline in mission- the number of volunteers for missions is an indi- ary interest among students? Three things seem cation of a serious decline in the spiritual power to be in large measure responsible for the present of our American Christianity. When the fires of situation. real devotion to Christ begin to burn at whfte heat First, there is the failure of pastors and college again in our churches, missionaries with flaming preachers and professors to press upon the young hearts will go out in increasing numbers to other people who come under their influence the needs lands, kindling new fires everywhere they go.
of other lands and the obligation that rests on us In a recent letter to me Bishop Linton of Persia all to help meet those needs. One college pastor states his conviction that the ordinary type confessed that he never preached a missionary of missionary deputation work in England has sermon, except when the time came around for yielded very poor results of late because of the the missionary collection. A professor said that lack of spiritual foundation on which to build. He he did not feel he could ask his students to con- plans on his next furlough to stay in each place sider missionary work when his board was recall- he visits a week or ten days. The first three- ing missionaries from the field. Unless young fourths of the visit will be used to preach Christ people are challenged to overcome the difficulties, and to urge people to accept Him as their personal whatever they be, and press forward with the Saviour and Lord. Then in the ·closing days he message of Christ into every part of the world, will present to those who have been really con- very few will offer for foreign service. If the call verted the claims of missionary service.
for volunteers is sounded clearly and persistently Such a plan, followed in missionary promotion by men of conviction and passion, I believe there work, would bring us into touch with fewer might be a great response on the part of students churches and colleges, but we would touch them to the missionary appeal. more deeply and probably accomplish much more The second cause is the failure of parents to in the end.
dedicate their little children to the cause of Christ Students and young people today are more ready and to give them in childhood an interest in the to listen to a simple, sincere and courageous Gos- people of other lands. It is a well-known fact that pel message than they have been for years. Let most of those who go as missionar.ies first became us challenge them now to full obedience to Christ interested long before they went to college. Un- and to service in His Kingdom, not only at home, less students already have such an interest on but also abroad. We need to attempt greater which one can build, a missionary speaker will not things for God and expect greater things from be able to make much impression on them. The God.
to Face "With Human Wrecks*
..:{ By the Rev. WALTER AMOS MORGAN l!= ..
Pastor of the First Congregational Church, Chicago, Illinois T HE bum is a human problem. What shall I to preach to a drunken bum? Is my Gospel we do with him? To ignore him is im- for the welI-to-do and the social elite, matured possible. To kill him is illegal, even if through sixteen years of experience in pulpits there are times when it seems as though society where a bum is only a passing phenomenon, suffi- would be better off if he were out of the way. To cient for such a need? Is my modern interpreta- reform society so the bum will be impossible and tion of Christ gripping enough to reclaim a soul a fact of social history is a far-reaching necessity. that knows the fires of helI?"
To reform the individual as he presents himself When I arrived, the meeting was in full swing.
in his rags and full of bootleg McQueen, the superintendent liquor is a present obligation. of the mission, was behind the upon the Christian forces in so- If you were called upon to battered pulpit. "Sing to the ciety. Often this obligation speak before a crowd of home- Glory of Christ, men," he presents itself with all its less, hungry bums, what would calIed out, just as I entered.
tragic and pressing immediacy. you say? Such a question con- And how those men sang! I Not long ago I faced a mis- fronted Walter Morgan at the am minister of the church that sion room full of down-and- Chicago United Mission, which rejoices in having the largest outs and found that the experi- is maintained jointly by the choir in Chicago, and they sing ence was like unto a conversion Congregational Union and the the masterpieces of sacred to my own soul. Where Hal- Presbytery of Chicago. His music with beauty and ardor.
sted Street crosses Madison, on solution of this soul-searching But there was a difference.
the near west side of Chicago, problem reveals the real mes- These men sang the old hymns is the haunt of homeless men. sage of Christ. of the blood and the Lamb with Sprinkled among them are a fervor that was contagious.
many of the former crooks who Soon I was led to the plat- have lost their standing with the gangs or their form. McQueen greeted me briefly and with former initiative for singlehanded thuggery. warmth. His great palm grasped my hand and Some have been upon the line between life and 1 felt the thrill of strength and the warmth of a starvation ever since they can remember. Others devoted heart. "We shall be ready for you in have known better days and have sought this about an hour. Sit here," was all he said. He jungle of reeking woe to hide themselves and to had more urgent business than that of spending mingle with others of their kind. time with me. "Sing, men; sing When tke An Oasis in a Moral Desert trumpet of the Lord shall sound." They sang, and I heard the trumpet, sounding the call to The Christian missions in this area are oases something unsung in my own soul.
in a moral desert. Here consecrated men and McQueen kept the meeting in his own hands, women seek, with the aid of Christ, to perform never for a moment permitting the men to forget the ancient miracle in mending broken lives and that they were to receive a blessing in newness making the crooked straight. To preach in such of life. If they only were willing, Christ was a mission is an experience that sears into the able to save. The testimonies were voices out of very soul and probes the depths of life. the deeps. A few were formal, cold and pro- When the invitation came to me to preach upon fessional. But most of them were exclamations a certain evening in the Chicago United Mission, of joy out of former despair. Something had 1 accepted it with joy, mingled with the sense of happened to the men who testified, and they knew humiliation that 1 had not sought the opportunity it. "I thank God that Christ saved me and that long before. During the days preceding this he keeps me" was the oft-repeated refrain of their particular evening, 1 asked myself, "What have new song. I faced these men, sitting in an old • Condensed from The Congregatio'YWlist. chair, unobserved and forgotten by everybody.
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In the first place, I was terrified. My heart- in other lives. Selfishness in the breast of the beat was greatly accelerated and my courage was well-to-do frequently drives the wanderer back as greatly diminished. The sermon I had pre- again to his old companions. Society has a price pared seemed to be so inadequate and out of touch to pay for its lack of regard for the undernour- with the occasion. I gave it up and tried to recall ished and the poorly born. I sensed my guilt of another. For a few minutes my mind was in a neglect. My voice had been silent and my brain wild and panicky confusion. Sermons I could had been idle concerning this tide of human woe.
recall by the score, but not one came back with Could its source be found and the evil thing the joy of exclamation, "I am just what you need; changed at the beginning? Surely Jesus had take me." Soon I gave up in despair and said something to say concerning this problem that so to myself, "When the time comes, do your best. tragically affected so many of His brothers.
Perhaps the Lord will take pity and help you As I looked again at my dethroned king, and out." saw deep beneath the scraggly beard and pene- trated below the surface of his soul, I thought I Fallen Brother Men beheld the lineaments of the Son of Man. Here Then my heart went out to those men with a was my sermon. I would speak to the Christ great compassion. One was a young chap, who within that man. If my message could carry to sang as though he had gone to prayer meeting as where He was buried deep I knew that he would a boy with his mother, even ,as I had gone with respond, and life, like the dawning of a clear mine. Another was an old man with a face like morning after a stormy night, would come to the the sphinx. A third reminded me of a ne'er-do- king dethroned with new hope.
well I had known in Vermont. I glued my eyes The Tests of an Adequate Message upon the face of one whose head was as massive and as well shaped as the head of the old professor But was my modern Gospel adequate to the who patiently tried to teach me Hebrew. This need? I long had thought in social ways and, man had fallen from great heights. He might preached in modern terms. My liberalism had have been a king who through folly had been com- been almost a passion. True, I had prayed that I pelled to abdicate his throne and whose posses- might be spared the barrenness of a purely intel- sions had been confiscated, until he was forced to lectual appeal. In my own soul there was the joy beg his bread in a far and alien land. My heart of a divine fellowship and the warmth of personal went out to him. He had been the joy of some experience. But I had not developed the technique fond mother's heart. Some father had held him of making my own experiences live in the souls of in his arms with pride. Was he sitting on the men who knew nothing of the modern world with sacred hill of memory as he sang and as he looked its modern science and its new psychology. The up at McQueen? In him I saw the epitome of terms they used in their testimonies were not part broken humanity as it passed to and fro before of my working vocabulary, and my new interpre- the street door. In him I saw myself, had cir- tation of their age-old and vital experience and cumstances but shaped themselves in other ways. need was meaningless to them. My expressions to For one moment, at least, I caught a vision of win men to the old joy of salvation were colorless what Christ meant when He told His disciples that and impotent for the needs of the twenty-five all men were earthly children of a common Father. minutes that soon were to be mine to do my ut- My third emotion was that of rebellion. Were most for these my broken brothers.
these men the result of our civilization? Had they I was brought back to present and pressing been cast up from the wreck in order that others realities by McQueen announcing a hymn and say- might sail safely on? Were they human material, ing, "After we sing this hymn Dr. Morgan of the wasted and cast aw,ay, in order that our boasted New First Church will preach to us. Pray for progress might progress still further upon its re- him, men." The introduction stabbed me into a lentless way? Who was I that I might enjoy a full realization of my own insignificance and the beautiful home in the suburbs, with dollars in the supreme greatness of the task before me. Again bank and a place in society, while these men were I sought out the face of my new-found brother.
homeless, dollarless and with no place to lay their His eyes seemed to search mine, and behind them heads except what charity provided? Surely some- I read a sad and tragic story and found a small thing was wrong. I saw it tragically portrayed in but growing hope. Just before I arose to speak I human life before me and my heart rebelled. prayed: "Oh, God, help me to bring Thy Son to Where were the men, or women, who were to birth in this my new-found brother."
blame for many of these wrecks? The seed of What had I to offer in that high moment?
wickedness in the human heart often germinates Surely not my theology. That were a thing dead
F ACE TO FACE WITH HUMAN WRECKS
and helpless. They cared nothing about the Syn- Christ, living and struggling to live more fully in optic problem or the symbolism of the Apocalypse. all human souls. I saw Him stand again by Galilee What they needed, like their fathers before them, where Andrew heard Him call, and I saw Him look back to the dawn of man's first mistake in life's at me through the eyes of the bums who filled moral way, was help for the journey. This was to that barren mission room. be found, first of all, in the old and ever new fact of love. And for that hour, at least, love them I My cup of joy overflowed when I saw the former did. The Christ in them called to the Christ in me king kneeling in submission to another will at the and the response was a compassion I never had rail before the battered pulpit, and McQueen had known before. The dethroned king became a wan- his arm around him, talking with him as one dering brother of a common household and the brother talketh with another about the things Elder Brother had sent me to bring him home that are of supreme importance. again. So I rode back to my home in the lovely suburb, Then came the joy of a great discovery. My with the rain falling in torrents and the lightning Gospel was a living thing, not only for the well flashing in the streets. In my own heart there fed, but for these men who seldom knew the joy also was a mightier storm. Can our Gospel create of a full meal. Beneath my faith there was a a society that does not attain success at such a radiant center of life. Its passion was the love for frightful cost? How can Christ be brought to birth in our modern world?
How Ginling College Was Saved By the Rev. Clifford M. Drury, Moscow, Idaho Looting and destruction was the fate of many foreign buildings in Nanking when the Southern army drove out the Northerners in 1927. Ginling, the Christian college, escaped as by a miracle, and the members of the faculty were spared the dreadful experiences which fell to the lot of many of their fellow missionaries. The reason for this immunity may be traced to the good influence of a Bible class.
Thirteen years before, in 1914, Ray C. Roberts, a Y. M. C. A. secretary, began his work in Hunan Province, and following one of the Eddy evangelistic campaigns, a Bible class was started in Changsha. Among those enrolled was a Hunanese boy, Wu Ching Sing, who became a Christian and, two years later, was elected president of the Bible class. The young Chinese brought his sister to the missionaries, who placed her in one of the mission high schools. As a result she also accepted Christ.
When the Nationalist movement offered great promises of relief from many of China's ills, Wu went to Canton to cast in his lot with the Southerners. Miss Wu (Shou Ching) after her graduation from the high school entered Ginling College at Nanking and was a student there when the Southern army captured the city.
It is now well known that the soldiers, under Russian Communist influence, had received orders to loot, destroy and kill. After they had looted and burned many of the foreign houses a number of them appeared before the gates of Ginling College.
Since the soldiers were Hunanese, it was natural that Miss Wu should be sent to intercede for the College, since she could speak to the soldiers in their own dialect. While the soldiers were being served tea and cakes, Miss Wu was making frantic efforts to get into touch with her brother, an officer in the army which had just occupied the city. After a time he appeared and gave orders to the soldiers not to enter the compound. Instead of destroying the school, they were ordered to protect it.
Thus the foreigners and students and the buildings, worth at least a million dollars, were saved the fate which visited other parts of the foreign community. The College reopened a short time after the disturbance and continued its good work, the only mission school in Nanking able to do this for some months. The Changsha Bible class had borne fruit.
Friendship Books for
By HAZEL v. ORTON, New York ):- Secretary of Elementary Work, Missionary Education Movement N OT long ago a writer in a well-known simplicity and good taste which is characteristic magazine on race relationships made this of beautiful books. A high price is not always a statement: guar.antee of quality.
"When I was a baby my father had read me the There are a few mechanical points by which an story of Little Black Sambo, and I had concluded unskilled person can be guided in making wise that all black boys were silly and pathetically choices. Size of type, number and kind of illus- ugly." trations, relationship of illustrations to type page, How many well-meaning teachers and adults, binding, and the value of the book in developing because they were not sufficiently informed or the child's appreciation for the artistic and beau- have thought it unimportant, have exposed chil- tiful should be considered.
dren to harmful.attitudes toward children of other Perhaps the most essential point in the evalua- races through an unwise selection of a book. Much tion of the content of a book is judging whether care must be taken in the selection of books for it is within the range of ability and experience of children, especially when one is concerned with the child for whom it is chosen. Are the incidents the presentation of the Christian viewpoint of life. and the vocabulary within the understanding of Few local booksellers are competent guides to the child? From the standpoint of the world the selection of children's books. A short time friendship values to be gained, one must be care- ago, browsing in the children's book department ful that the content is free from ideas and sug- of a large store, I overheard a conversation be- gestions which may lead to undesirable attitudes.
tween a salesgirl and a physician interested in The following tests might be applied: children's books from the standpoint of health. 1. Are the facts about other racial and national groups The salesgirl was unable to grasp the situation true, or are they generalizations from which false deducand prattled much on the attractiveness and "cuteness" of a certain child's book printed in tions may be made? . small type and illustrated in lurid green. Half under his breath the physician remarked: "What 2. Are there statements or illustrations which hold any racial or national group up to ridicule, or portray them as stupid and incompetent?
3. Are there statements that ridicule and minimize the books! No wonder we doctors are always treating importance of great world issues, such as disarmament children for eye difficulties." and world peace, economic justice, racial equality, prohi- bition, etc. ? Almost any person with a degree of intelligence and knowledge of children can learn to discrimi- 4. Is the book sentimental and lacking in reality, or are the needs and accomplishments of other racial and na- nate between desirable and undesirable books. Two tional groups so presented that the reader will come to major questions should be kept in mind. understand and respect them, rather than develop pity and superiority? First, is it attractive and suitable in its mechanical make-up for the child? 5. Are there statements that foster bigoted intolerance, either racial, national or creedal? Second, is the content of the book inherently 6. Are there statements involving criminal offense by Christian? Are Christian attitudes, sympathies reason of which children might generalize and come to and conduct fundamental to the book, and are identify a certain racial or national group with smuggling, they treated as a natural and normal expression banditry, or lawlessness, for example? of life? 7. Is the book inherently Christian? This does not neces- Books which appeal to children must be at- sarily mean that it should talk about religion, but that it tractive to the eye as well as to the mind. Con- should picture a type of thought and conduct which is tent does not stand alone, for the way it is housed Christian.
8. Is the book well written from a literary standpoint?
between the covers is also quite fundamental. It is encouraging to know that there are on the Books by means of which we hope our· children market many children's books relating to world will develop Christian conduct must compare fa- friendship which fulfil these qualifications. Chil- vorably with the other books which they read and dren enjoy them and they are contributing factors love. Some of the less expensive books combine in the development of Christian conduct.
[166J Books for Children The Nursery Series. FriendShip Press. Uncle Sam's Family. By Dorothy F. 50 cents per volume. A series of McConnell. Council of Women for FIRST THROUGH THIRD GRADE missionary books similar in style to Home Missions, and Missionary Ed- the Peter Rabbit books; an endeavor ucation Movement. $1. Real live The Farmer in the Dell. By Berta to lay the foundation of that sym- boys and girls make up Uncle Sam's and Elmer Hader. Macmillan. $2.50. pathy which is the forerunner of a family. The stories in this volume An excellent picture book with brief true spirit of Christian world broth- are delightful, and grown people description of farm life and activi- erhood. Their titles are: Ah Fu: A seem to like them as well as chil- ties in northeastern United States. Chinese River Boy; Kembo: A Little dren. Girl of Africa; The Three Camels: The Singing Farmer. By James S. A Story of India; Esa: A Little Boy Under Many Flags. By Katharine Tippet. World Book Co. 68 cents. of Nazareth; Mitsu: A Little Girl Scherer Cronk and Elsie Singmas- A book of poetry about farm life for of Japan; and Babo: A South Seas ter. Missionary Education Move- boys and girls. Boy. ment. 65 cents. The many-sided enterprise of foreign missions will I Live in a City. By James S. Tippet. FROM FOURTH THROUGH SIXTH GRADE be made very real to boys and girls Harper. 75 cents. A book of poems through the stories of these men which helps city boys and girls to My Indian Boyhood. By Chief Stand- and women who serve one great understand better those who help to ing Bear. Houghton Mifflin. $1.75. purpose by doing well their widely make city life comfortable. This story written by a Sioux chief, different tasks. carries this dedication which is self- The Wishing Owl. By Idella Purnen. explanatory: "I write this book with Stories of Brotherhood. Missionary Macmillan. $2.25. A Mayan story the hope that the hearts of the white Education Movement. 75 cents. book. A collection of some of the boys and girls who read these pages The Adventures of Mr. Friend. children's favorite stories as they will be made kinder toward little Friendship Press. $1. Two books have been told for generations in Indian boys and girls." by Harold B. Hunting for older Yucatan. juniors. Each is a series of good North America. By Lucy Sprague stories of men and women whose Little Kin Chan. By Berthae Con- Mitchell. Macmillan. $3.50. A new lives have been spent in service to verse. Friendship Press. $1. The kind of geography which will live others. In the first book they work delightful story of a Japanese child, for boys and girls. In the words in both home and foreign lands, and Kin Chan, and her dog, "The Crab.' of the author the purpose of the in the second book in country com- They have many adventures and book is: "Trying to get children munities throughout America. much fun, in the course of which the to observe and to think in terms of missionary lady plays a prominent geographic relationships." Periodicals part. Cease Firing. By Winifred Hulbert. The number of denomination- The World in a Barn. By Gertrude Macmillan. $1.50. A very excellent al magazines and story papers Chandler Warner. Friendship Press. book for boys and girls dealing with published in America is legion. $1.25. A group of nine friendly chil- the subject of peace in an interest- Because there are so many, it dren, some of them American and ing and stimulating fashion. has seemed wise not to list them, some from other countries, also a but to make a few suggestions highly inventive uncle who has trav- Waterless Mountain. By Laura Adams in the light of which such publi- eled everywhere and knows how to Armer. Longmans, Green. $3. A cations may be evaluated. start things, make this book a real most charming story of the experi- adventure in world friendship. ences of a Navajo Indian boy. Beau- 1. Is the primary aim of this tifully written and illustrated. This periodical to educate children in The World on a Farm. By Gertrude book will do much to deepen the Christian world friendship or to Chandler Warner. Friendship Press. appreciation of the cultural values raise money? $1. A runaway pig and a swimming of Navajo life. race, ~ogether with delightful ex- 2. Is the material selected and periences in world friendship, com- Jumping Beans. (Story book edition.) written within the range of in- plete the adventures of the Friendly By Robert N. McLean. Friendship terest of the age group for which Farmers at Pleasant Valley Farm. Press. $1. This Mexican family it is intended? moved about so much that they said Children of the Chief. By Mary En- they were just like jumping beans. 3. Does it have literary value? twistle. Friendship Press. Paper, Could the stories and articles 40 cents. A book of delightful Porto Rican Neighbors. By Charles stand on their own merit7 stories about a family of African W. St. John. Friendship Press. $1. children. A collection of stories about the 4. How does it compare with children of Porto Rico. the other magazines which the Chinese Children of Woodcutters' child is reading? Lane. By Priscilla Holton. Friend- Open Windows. By Mary Entwistle. ship Press. The adventures of two Central Committee on the United 5. Is it a periodical for which Chinese children. Study of Foreign Missions. 75 cents. the children have respect? If you would like to know about Windows into Alaska. (Children's farm children in India, China, It is with real regret that one edition.) By Gertrude Chandler Africa, and many other places, just is compelled to say that there is Warner. Friendship Press. 75 cents. read these stories. now no splendid interdenomina- The story of Bobby and Virginia tional magazine in the United whose father is a missionary teacher Habeeb. By Mary Entwistle. An Eng- States for boys and girls on in Alaska. lish publication available through world friendship. Friendship Press. 80 cents. This Friends of Ours. By Elizabeth Col- is the story of a boy of Palestine. son. Friendship Press. $1. A charm- ing book for primary children, show- ing their dependence on the people of home and foreign lands.
Play In Latin
I. A Regular Heretic and the follow and learned their plans man, had caught the colporteurs Church Bell for the following day. It was with guile, and discovered their The missionary had arrived at good to see the interest such a plans. He wanted to merit the Santa Ana and invited people to man took in Bible work. praise of the priest the next time the evening service. At night Next morning, the well they drank wine together so he he was preaching to a crowd, dressed general mounted a had warned the people of some of whom were inside the spirited horse, and galloped Cumani not to buy Bibles. But big dark room, but most of away. About mid-day the two as Cumani is a liberal town, and whom were on the street. The colporteurs arrived at the town they had heard the priest concurious, the antagonistic, the in- of Cumani, hours later than the demn the Bible, he only stimuterested, all were there, but general, and were astonished to lated their curiosity, and they nearly all were men. The find a great demand for the resolved to buy. women, such of them as would Scriptures wherever they went. San Luis was different. It listen, would hear later what Sales were rapid. was fanatical, ,ignorant, priesthad been said, and might ask Next day they pushed on to dominated, and there the gallopthe Virgin to protect them after San Luis, hoping for a good re- ing horseman found everyone having heard such forbidden ception there also. What was ready to defend the Holy Virgin their surprise to find that they and Mother Church against the things. Suddenly, the big Roman Ca- were rejected at several little Biblemen. tholic church bell began to ring. inns. The priest had given Towns so different in spirit It kept on ringing, and meant strict orders that no one should exist side by side in Colombia to keep on until the voice of the give lodging to the heretics with because a state of constant feud the corrupt Lutheran Bibles. It exists between liberals and conheretic should be drowned. The preacher shouted, and was cold and wet and late in the servatives. Liberals cannot sell exhorted until he was hoarse. afternoon, and no door would goods easily in fanatical towns, The people crowded closer to open to them. Finally, a woman and conservatives are not happy catch part of what he was say- received them but hardly had in a liberal town, so each graviing. Suddenly the bell ceased they started to unpack, when tates, mainly for economical and and there was a great calm. two policemen came to the door. social reasons, to a town where People marvelled. The preacher The priest had sent orders to life is most agreeable. Both rejoiced and went on to finish the woman to refuse hospitality towns are Catholic, but one is to the Protestants, and she must tolerant and the other is persehis sermon in peace. Everyone understood why the comply. They started to pack cuting. In the first, the priest priest had ordered the bell to be up again, while the rain poured has to walk warily, or he may rung, but no one understood why down on the red-tile roofs. Sud- find himself a persona non it had so suddenly stopped. Next denly the woman came to their grata, in the second, he wields a day it was learned that a youth room and said, "You can stay. rod of iron. Both towns need of about sixteen, indignant at After all, the priest has never the Gospel. the treatment meted out to a done anything for me. I owe -Alexander M. Allan, stranger, had climbed into the him nothing. My house is my belfry, cut the rope, and shut own. He may rule on the street, Bogota, Colombia.
down the wooden trap door. In but here I am boss." Hardly was vain the bell ringer climbed up the big door shut and barred, and demanded that he open that than the policemen came to en- Missions Must Not Halt!
trap door; the little heretic quire why the two heretics had Whatever confusion may exist conwas adamant; he sat on it to not left. The woman replied: "I cerning the theory and method of mis- dare you to come in. This house sions, there must be no halting of mismake quite sure and the bell is private property. You have sionary 'effort. ringer below was powerless. no authority here." Christian missions are organized ef- Thus the Gospel message was The police went away, and the forts, motivated by good-will and di- rected by the best available judgment, heard in Santa Ana. colporteurs were left in peace. They were, however, unable to to give to all mankind the highest II. The Galloping Horseman good-God's revelations of the Way of and the Heretic8 sell Bibles in that town, and so Life through Christ. Release all the they slipped away at half-past guidance of trained intelligence. Re- Abel and Manuel were selling Bibles in the saddle-making four in the morning, trudging lease all the rapture of unselfish love. Release all possible effort to promote town of Choconta, on the high through the cold mud away on human welfare for time and eternity. road north of Bogota. A well Release increasing resources of spirdressed man affably enquired in the misty mountain road. itually competent manhood and womabout the route they intended to The explanation? The gallop- anhood for this work.
ing horseman, a bigoted church -Selected.
[168]
Ways of
'Tested Methods for Increasing Interest at Home EDITED BY MRS. ESTELLA S. AITCHISON, GRANVILLE, OHIO ~ THE COLLEGE COUNSELOR have pointed them to the way of midst of perplexing cam pus AT WORK intelligent Christian leadership problems.
By CLAIRE GOODSILL CHANDLER following college, through the The counselor in the home church tries to cultivate the feel- District Counselor for the Central simple medium of friendship, ing among its departing student District of Michigan, Illinois graciously bestowed and shared. members that they will repre- and Missouri Two years ago college coun- Every religious denomination selor work received a tremen- sent the home church in their feels responsible for the Chris- dous impetus by the authoriza- college environment. Many a tian nurture of its own young tion, on the part of the two counselor, when students return people and the large denomina- Women's Boards, of counselors from vacation periods, sees to it tions give especial attention to for every local church, whether that opportunity is given for the spiritual needs of their stu- or not that church was in a col- them to report what they have dent groups. Trained student lege community. This expansion done as church emissaries. pastors or secretaries direct ac- led at once to a new and broader tivities for students in the local conception of college counselor It is the custom of counselors church or follow boys and girls work. to arrange for some church recto the college campus to throw ognition of returning students. about them the protective arm A study of some of the meth- An evening in a church home, a of the Church. This service, ods now employed by counselors banquet at the church, the entergiven by specialists in the stu- will perhaps best indicate the tainment of individual students dent field, is usually of a high value of the expanded plan. in homes – any such interest order. It is especially evident at Methods mentioned have all been manifested in friendly spirit state universities and in educa- proved to be practical and many brings rewards out of all protional centers where the student are in common use by the ma- portion to the effort involved. body is large. jority of counselors. Some counselors bring together A Volunteer Worker In a Community Without a college and high school young College people of the church during the Christmas or spring vacation, so A few years ago the leaders of The counselor working in a that the younger group may the Woman's American Baptist community wit h 0 uta college judge of the value of higher ed- Home and Foreign Mission Soci- seeks to keep in friendly touch ucation, the choice of a school, eties instituted a plan for work with college students connected and such matters, from college among Baptist students, to be with the church. To this end she folk themselves. maintained by volunteer effort will know intimately the promisand to be carried out by college ing young people of the church In a College Community counselors in 10 c a I Baptist churches in college communities. and their educational plans. The counselor in a college com- The statement of purpose of the When they leave for college she munity also has for her first goal project reads: will inform counselors in their to keep in friendly touch with college churches of their new ad- college students connected with . The work of the College Counselor dresses. She will write and send the church. She receives letters IS to preserve and develop the link them church bulletins, if the from counselors in other places between the denomination and the stu- church itself does not make this telling her of incoming students.
dent, not only for the sake of se- a practice. She will see that the She secures also a list from the curing recruits for the mission fields church recognizes in some ap- college or university of students propriate way the departure of giving her particular church as or other forms of Christian service, students in the fall. One church their preference. but for the sake of developing an intelligent, able constituency filled with missionary consecration. holds a student prayer meeting She sees that early contact is In accordance with this ideal, before its young people leave. made with students. She makes counselors in large and small Another holds a special commu-· calls herself and has girls and college centers in various states nion service, the memory of men, preferably students themhave helped students to keep which often helps the student to selves from the local church, call their interest in the church and keep his spiritual poise in the upon new students and extend [169]
invitations to church activities. counselor asks each student to counselor. She keeps in touch Many churches h a v e student fill out an information sheet. memberships which students are with graduate students, she tells encouraged to take. Members of "What Is Your Hobby?" pastors in places to which grad- uates move, of their talents and the church may act as special Check things in the following list experience, and thus endeavors guardians of the religious inter- which you can do. (Sing; Tell Sto- to relate them quickly to their est of certain students for the ries; Teach; Make Posters; etc.) new churches and communities. entire year. They invite the stu- If you were to serve on a committee This service is especially valu- which of the following would you dent of their church adoption to prefer? able when removals are made to their homes, to share their pews These and other questions give large cities, where it is easy· for during church services, and in- a key to the interest and ability newcomers to lose their church troduce them to group activities of the student group. interest. such as the choir, Sunday School The counselor is provided with The Church of the future needs classes and the young people's useful missionary and Christian a generation of young people organizations. leadership information and in- eager to give to the work of the Usually the church as a whole spiration. From time to time she Kingdom of God their trained welcomes the students in some places this material in the hands and consecrated service. The social way. Many churches have of those who are choosing their mission work of the future will student committees, headed by life work. Most of all, in friend- be in their hands. College counthe counselor, and this group ly conversation, perhaps before selors represent one of many plans the fall welcome to the her own fireside, she is able to agencies whose effort is directed coIIege young people. In many say the guiding word which towards helping to develop that places a reception is the order of proves to be a lamp to the future promise of beauty and spiritual the day. Some churches arrange pathway of her young friend. force which lies latent in all for banquets, with members of The High School Group young persons so that it will find the church acting as individual splendid fruition in lives of servhosts and hostesses to their young guests. Sometimes affairs As a second objective, all coun- ice for Christ. of entirely informal character are desired and hikes, bacon bats selors encourage promising high ORIENTAL STUDENTS ON or visits to some country or sum- school students to go to college MODERN MISSIONS mer home are enjoyed. or to get further training along As the year progresses the lines of their special interest, not [Pastors, Sunday School teachers counselor comes to know her and mission study leaders may well students and her home becomes only for the sake of their own the mecca of girls and boys enrichment, but also as a natural ponder carefully these frank admoniwho are lonely, discouraged or . tions as indicating the method of aptroubled. She shows her interest part of their religious develop- proach necessary for a successful minand friendliness in many simple, gracious ways. One counselor ment and training for Christian istry among present day Orientals. In service and leadership. fact, does the matter not go deeper than mere methods into the realm of Counselors arrange for church recognition of the high school spiritual attitudes which represent most truly the mind of the Master in graduates through church Bac- his dealings with man?] calaureate Sundays, congratula- Thirty Chinese students at the takes to the dormitory a birth- tory notes to graduates, and the University of Pennsylvania were day cake whenever anyone of like. They also encourage church recently invited to dine with an her girls is celebrating her natal day. Flowers from her garden and individual scholarship funds outgoing missionary under ap- for ambitious high school stu- pointment as a nurse in their are shared with the girls. "I never knew how much I loved dents without means. It is im- native land. After a simple meal portant for the church to be vi- the gathering was turned into apple blossoms until Mrs. – – brought some to my room this tally interested in the educa- an informal round table of ad- tional equipment of its youth, vice. The twenty-two students spring," said one girl who was far from the orchard fragrance and for the young people to feel present were asked to prepare of her father's farm. the missionary for what she was the warmth of the church's in- soon to meet in China, as well as terest in practical ways as they One counselor, through the seek to train themselves for a to give her any advice or admostudent church s c h 0 0 I class fine type of leadership. which she teaches, arranges each . nitions they deemed desirable. year for a Home-coming Sunday The Graduate Group They were a mixture of Bud- dhists, Mohammedans, Chrisfor parents. The students vie As the counselor's encourage- tians and open-minded inquirers with each other in bringing their ment and help reaches down to of no declared faith. For more parents from afar to spend a the prospective college student, than two hours they held the day of happy fellowship with so she reaches forward to the floor and their admonitions were them as guests of the church. college graduate. To conserve his a symposium of practical sug- In seeking to find a place of or her interest and ability for gestions both for foreign workusefulness and activity for her the church's needs and opportu- ers and for their backers at students in the local church, one nities is the privilege of the home.
EFFECTIVE WAYS OF WORKING
Do not become high-hat, giving our rested on a paper ocean stretch- together. All efforts down to date people the feeling that you are supe- have, however, proved insufficient. ing down the expanse of white Every reform is born in an atmosrior to them and that your country cloth. Blue crepe paper was phere previously created, but the is greater than their country. stretched and then crumpled to Church of Jesus Christ is far behind Have an abundance of patience, for there will be many things to irritate. represent waves whose crests the leadership of her Master in shap- Do not go to our country feeling ing the atmosphere for a warless that just because you come from a were white-capped with touches world. Mental disarmament must abforeign country you can boss us of white paint or moistened raw solutely precede disarmament of any around. other sort. The creation of such an starch. An expansive mirror, The trouble with so many mission- laid flat and bordered with twigs attitude of mind among nations of aries in our country has been that the earth is peculiarly the task of they are not as well prepared as the for trees, is effective to repre- the Church, and of America in par- ticular. Chinese whom they try to win to their sent water. religion. A hostess in appropriate na- The central ship was named "America," as the flagship of the Rid yourself of all racial feeling; tional costume sat at one end of World Peace Fleet about to be for the Chinese folks to whom you each table and a toast speaker assembled to render obsolete the or singer at the other. Impro- war fleets of the earth. But minister will soon sense any feeling vised foreign costumes were welof racial superiority. comed, if guests could procure America must have cooperation. A spokesman from the Chinese Adapt yourself as soon as possible table was called upon to present her auxiliary cruiser "Friendto the absence of all United States conveniences, such as a bath tub in them. At each plate stood a tiny ship" and to give a ten-minute every home, running hot water in Christmas candle, imbedded in a 'talk on cultivation of friendly, large gum drop for stability; red confidence-filled, trustful relaabundance, etc., and do not constantly candles were used at the Jap- tions with all other nations of remind us that you are missing these c.onveniences.
Do not be overcome by discourage- anese . table to harmonize with earth. Acceptance of cruiser fol- the tiny Japanese flag on the lowed. ments. You will meet many more ship, and an alternation of red, than we have met as students in your white and blue candles stood on The spokesman for India (a country. young college man on whom a share of the fighting would fall Missionaries must show the real in the event of another war) was called upon to present his cruisspirit of America to China to offset the United States table. er, "Partnership," to represent the disillusionment of our people be- our cordial, cooperative relations No.1, the key-table, was American. with other nationalities, who are cause of the way foreign countries our equals in endowments if not Columbia, resplendent in white robe, always in opportunity. have treated us in the past. bunting cape with red and blue straps, Medical service makes friends much a gilt-star necklace and a coronet, act- Japan next presented her toast ing as hostess, the toastmistress serv- in the form of a solo, "My Task," more quickly because it is an easier ing as her vis-a-vis. From the mast as expressive of "Kinship." way to demonstrate friendship. of the central ship long lines of tiny U. S. flags extended to the ends of From the Philippine Island When you sail up the river to the table. Towed behind this "good world came the toast on "States- Shanghai, you will see the gunboats ship, America," was a captive war vessel whose flag of combat had been of so many nations anchored in the river. Ask yourself the question that replaced by the Christian flag. educated Chinese are always asking- Table No.2, representing China, "Why? Why? Why?" was centered by a Chinese junk made Learn to play with us, for it is the easiest way in every country to be- by the son of a returned missionary. come acquainted. No. 3 represented India. No.4, Japan. We ought to do away with the term No.5, the Philippine Islands. "missionary" which has come to have No.6, the Cosmopolitan aggregaan unpleasant significance. I do not know what to offer, but it ought to be tion of many other nations. something like "international friend."
AN INTERNATIONAL No.7, "The New World of Uni- manship," showing what our versal Peace and Goodwill"-a land men of affairs can do. DINNER as yet uncharted but plainly visible to the eye of faith. The Cosmopolitan table pre- This program, given at a large sented a speaker for the climax: gathering in Granville, Ohio, was Merriment for the young folk "Fellowship." This was a disan earnest effort to arouse Chris- in the way of home-made jingles, tinctively religious talk, putting set to familiar tunes, was pro- the matter specifically up to the tian people to their obligation to vided between courses. At the Christian Church if it would be close of the meal the toastmis- consistent in holding its teachcreate the spirit of friendship in tress gave the setting for the ing of the fatherhood of God and which all international disputes theme: man's brotherhood in Christ. may be settled by arbitration "The New World of Peace rather than by a resort to force. "Fourteen years since the jubilant and Goodwill" offered a soloist The program was planned and announcement of the close of 'The carried out in an earnest spirit War to End War.'''
of prayer and produced a pro- Quotations from current literature rendering "The Lord Is My found impression. were given, and reliable facts as to Tables were decorated with Strength," as a toast on "Lord- present armament burden, warlike at- ship." flags, doilies, curios, statuettes, titudes of mind, suspicions, hatred, The toastmistress then de- jeal.ousies among nations, etc. She etc., to represent different na- pointed out the foolishness of con- clared that the spiritual will to tions. A ship's model, such as demning efforts of statesmen and arbi- . decorates a mantelpiece, formed peace should be substituted for the centerpiece of each table and trators looking toward disarmament the war system of the nations, of nations, since reforms are usually the product of many factors working and that the ideals of the King-
dom of God could be brought to publicity. This is accepted as dergartens. Bring pieces of cloth, pass only through catching the fundamental in the business thimble and scissors, to cut and sew spirit of Him who said, "I am world, but religious workers blocks for quilts to be sent to orthe light of the world." In sym- often neglect or even discount phanages. These things sell the misbolism of this she lighted a can- advertising as s a v 0 r i n g 0 f sionary society and create interest. dle at the masthead of the flag- "worldliness," overlooking the When the folks are absent miss them ship before her. (This was the fact that the only culpability and tell them so. signal for turning off all electric would consist in failing to "delights in the room.) Two white- liver the goods" as advertised. Sell the Woman's Missionary Sorobed peace emissaries then ap- ciety to the prospective members by peared, bearing tall white can- Mrs. Bess Judd Doty, Pastor's personal letters and clever invitations. dles, which they kindled at the Assistant in the First Methodist (Picture of a zeppelin with the words Christ candle and carried in suc- Church of Cleveland, says: -"We're making a flying trip to the cession to each hostess in the new Brewster Hospital at Jacksonroom. As the hostess received Publicity is of value only as you ville, Florida. Leave First Church the light for her own tiny place- have something worth advertising and Wednesday afternoon at three o'clock. candle, she repeated: "The light we assume that your program has Gome along!") . . . Ask the church of World Peace is kindled in the been thoughtfully and prayerfully secretary for a list of prospective heart of China (or India, or prepared, that it is alive and worth members; divide the membership into Japan, etc.). It glows brightly while. Who knows that you have a groups and assign new names to each. and passes on" – lighting the Woman's Missionary Society? Speak- Ask each member to interest herself candles of her neighbor on the ing in business terms, you are to sell in a prospective member; to call for right and on the left. Each guest this organization-first, to yourself. these women and take them to the thus receiving a light,turned and You must yourself believe in the im- meeting. Use the telephone. Do not passed it on to her neighbor un- portance of the task before you can criticize the society, the officers .or the til every candle in the now dark- convince others. As Publicity Secre- workers. Never belittle the work of ened room was glowing. tary you should be a member of the any other organization to gain mem- program committee so that you may bers for your own. Talk it up, never A trio of women rose and sang catch the enthusiasm and know from down. . . • with deep expression three stan- the start what you are to advertise. zas of "The Light of the World Sell your auxiliary of the Woman's Is Jesus." At each repetition of Seoond, sell the Woman's Mission- Missionary Society to the world. Send this musical phrase, everyone in ary Society to your pastor. . . . notes of grateful appreciation to outthe room elevated his candle and Give him a written, detailed notice siders who serve in any way. Write sang the words, then lowered it for the church bulletin, do not rush up accounts of special meetings or again until the next recurrence. up after the morning worship serv- social affairs and send them to your The toastmistress rep eat e d ice and say: "Don't forget to put in local and denominational publications. reverentially: "As light begets a notice about our meeting next Any news and worthwhile suggestions light, so Friendship, Partner- week." If it is not important to you, for securing members, for unusual ship, Kinship, Statesmanship, it is not important to him. . . . programs or for raising money will Fellowship, Lordship are passed always find a place in the columns of from person to person until all Ask him as he calls to tell what church papers. "Sell your Woman's the world becomes a brother- fine work your society is doing. You'll Missionary Society!" hood and World Peace through cheer his heart by your enthusiasm. Christ, our Saviour, shall be AMERICA FIRST? realized upon earth." After a meeting report to him the number of new folks who attended. Bishop G. Ashton Oldham, in a ser- A prayer closed this service, Tell him that the budget is all mon preached at Washington, ma~e an whose devotional and consecra- pledged, and that the women packed impassioned appeal that Americans tional effect was very deep. a wonderful supply box, etc. . . . should secure for their country "first Invite him to the luncheons or din- This program may be used ners and invite his wife, giving them place"- without a dinner, though the as- complimentary tickets. . . . Not merely in matters material, but sembling power and decorative opportunities of the gathering Use the bulletin board and black- in things of the spirit. around the tables enhance the board. Use attractive posters and get Not merely in science, inventions, values. A similar program may them up early. . . . Send out mimbe prepared for expressing the eographed notices, cleverly illustrated. motors and skyscrapers, but also in need and the spread of the Gos- Throw out the challenge of the task. ideals, principles, character. pel of Christ throughout all the . . . Present information in an world. attractive form. Have a "Mission Not merely in the calm assertion of School" (send out the invitations in rights, but in the glad assumption of PUBLICITY POINTERS the shape of different states and write, "What state is this? Come pre- duties. The best programs, plans and pared to tell what missionary home or Not flaunting in her strength as a policies will fall short of their school is located in this state.") . . . possibilities without adequate Learn to use new members-assign giant, but bending over in helpfulness tasks. Make money raising a pleas- over a sick and wounded world like ure. Talk tithing. Lay a mile of a Good Samaritan. pennies-16 pennies to a foot, $844.80 in a mile. Give out "Rainy Day Not in splendid isolation, but in Bags" in which to drop a nickel every courageous cooperation. time it rains. Raise a certain sum for a salary by dividing the amount Not in pride, arrogance and dis- into small gifts per month, per week, dain of other races and peoples, but per day, etc., and ask pledges for in sympathy, love and understanding. these amounts. Make scrap books for hospitals. Save fancy envelope lin- Not in treading again the old worn, ings and send them to mission kin- bloody pathway which ends inevitably in chaos and disaster, but in blazing a new trail along which, please God, other nations will follow into the new Jerusalem where wars shall be no more.
Some day some nation must take that path-unless we are to lapse once again into utter barbarism-and that honor I covet for my beloved America.
Women's Home and Foreign
HELEN M. BruCKMAN, 105 EAST TWENTy-SECOND STREET, NEW YORK; COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME MISSIONS FLORENCE G. TYLER, 419 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK; FEDERATION OF WOMAN'S BOARDS OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF NORTH AMERICA PRESENT-DAY HOME Migrant Fellowship, made pos- s tor i e s and dramatizations, MISSIONS sible through the cooperation of han d w 0 r k, hom e nursery a grower, was completed. courses, infant care, carpentry, The Annual Meeting of the sewing, cooking, health educa- Council of Women for Home In the legislative field there tion and recreation were all a Missions held January 4-6,1932, have been marked advances. part of the activities in the difin Toronto, Canada, was a Delaware raised the working ferent centers. memorable occasion made so by age of children in canneries the true hospitality expressed in from twelve to fourteen years. International Relations many ways by the Canadian The canners of the state backed friends who gave the delegates this legislation. Pennsylvania The report of the Committee from the States a most hearty has made school attendance by on International ReI a t ion s welcome. showed that the Council has ANNE SEESHOLTZ, Executive Secretary, been particularly active during In the very opening session, Council of Women for Home Missions the past year in this field, carry- Miss Anne Seesholtz was elected ing on work in cooperation with Executive Secretary of the migrant children compulsory no the ten other national organiza- Council of Women for Home matter from what state they tions of women constituent to Mis s ion s, succeeding Miss come. New Jersey is now work- the National Committee on the Florence E. Quinlan. Miss See- ing on a plan of education Cause and Cure of War. Tosholtz comes to this position through special classes and also gether the Federation, Council with exceptional training and a housing code for migrant and National Council of Fedexperience in the religious and camps. erated Church Women secured educational fields. She assumed over 145,000 signatures to a her office on February 1 and will In the work on the field the petition addressed to the Interin future serve as one of the standards were raised. In the national Disarmament Congress editors of this "Bulletin." t wen t y fields in California, at Geneva, urging the Confer- Oregon, Washington, Colorado, ence to gratify the expectations Reports given at the meeting New York, New Jersey, Dela- and hopes of the world by puts howe d interesting develop- ware and Maryland where the ting into immediate and unhesiments in the home mission Council of Women for Home tating effect the pledges already realm. Missions has organized Chris- made for the reduction of na- tian social service work there tional armaments. We are re- Migrant Work was real achievement. Bible joicing that the church women were able to more than double The report of the Committee their quota of 60,000 signatures. on Migrant Work revealed the Altogether over 700,000 women grave effect of the economic situ- in the United States signed this ation upon the migrant group. petition. Work in cannery centers has been unsteady and local workers Indian Work out of regular employment have crowded out the migrant labor- The work with Indians in ers. Wages were reduced as Canada was presented by Mrs. much as 331/3 per cent in some H. A. Lavell and Mrs. D. T. L. places. McKerroll of Canada and in the States by Rev. Frank A. Smith, In spite of difficult times em- D. D., Chairman of the Joint ployers and groups in migrant Committee on Indian Work and areas have maintained their Miss Helen M. B ric k man, level of cooperation or exceeded former Director, Indian Work. it to such an extent that they contributed actually 37 per cent The statement was made that of the total expenditures in the Indian population of Canada, Migrant Work in 1931. now something over 108,000, is This year the work under the [173]
peaceful and happy and more superintendents and principals denominational agencies are acand more showing an interest in have meant changes in the whole tively supporting it. public affairs. The influence of school set-up, including the rethe Christian Church through ligious program. The young In- World Day of Prayer her missionary contacts and the processes of education and train- dians, too, during these last "One cannot but be impressed ing along many practical lines years have reflected the uneasi- wit h the significance of the have done much to develop in ness and uncertainty of the WorId Day of Prayer for such a these people a spirit of content- school employees; the increasing time as this," stated the report ment and a desire to make some- poverty and suffering of their of the Committee on World Day thing of their lives. History people has caused most of them of Prayer. "Every nation the shows that many Indians have the greatest distress, and one world around has been passing not only marked ability and must add to these factors the through times of unprecedented gifts beyond the average but are utter bewilderment which these distress. What a time is this for ambitious to contribute some- young people feel as they face Christians in all lands to bear thing to the world's work. In life and work in their country one another's burdens in united these types the Indian is seen at under conditions such as exist intercession – nation with nahis best with race tendencies today. Any religious program tion, race with race. well in control. All the churches in Canada have had a share in must take into account these "Prayer truly is dynamic. We the work of Indian missions. factors. In addition to these, have wit n e sse d this united The Roman Catholics were the however, the religious work di- prayer service fairly leap from first on the field and signs of rectors have faced the perplexity country to country until on Febtheir zeal as missionaries are of administering a program of ruary 20, 1931, Christians in evident in every province of the more than twoscore countries Dominion. Nearly half of the religious education which will had joined the fellowship of Indian population of Canada are meet the requirements of the united intercession." Roman Catholic. The Anglican school, which will be acceptable Church leads the Protestant de- to local churches, which will It was announced that Mrs. nominations in numbers, and it measure up to the standards de- C. C. Chen of China is the author is interesting to note that the sired by the Joint Indian Com- of the program for March 3, very first Anglican Church in mittee, and which will also meet 1933, and that the Call to Prayer Upper Canada was the one built their needs as the young Indian will be prepared by an American on the Mohawk Reserve near people themselves see them. Indian. Brantford in 1785. The Presbyterians, too, have a long record Certain definite objectives for Study Courses of splendid work, and the United the religious program have been Church of Canada, through one uppermost during the last few The report of the Committee of its constituent bodies, dates years, and definite progress on Study Courses revealed that its work for Indians back to although the sale of home mis- toward these goals made. In the sion study books has been affect- 1824. great effort to lead Indian boys ed this past year by the general and girls into a knowledge of depression, the record of sales is In its work of the year the and love for Jesus Christ, their slightly over last year. Joint Committee on Indian Lord and Master, church an·d Work has kept before it the The program for the coming definition of its task as accepted worship services, Sunday School year is as near completion as is by the Home Missions Congress, classes, denominational meet- possible at this time. The adult "Our task is preeminently spir- ings, religious clubs, and week- book, now ,in manuscript form, itual-the bringing of every In- day courses in religious educa- is a collaboration by Dr. Lewis dian into allegiance with our tion have been emphasized and Meriam and Dr. George W. Hin- Lord and Saviour for worship man, both of whom have a wide and service in His Kingdom, strengthened. acquaintance with Indian Work. that with Christians of other Dr. Meriam, whose survey for races they may interpret and ac- In order to develop religious the government has made him cept the full meaning of His leadership increasing responsi- an authority, has an exceeding- Lordship in their lives." bility for planning and assisting ly sympathetic attitude toward in the religious program has Indians. Dr. Hinman's relation- The report brought out the been given to the Indian young ships to the work of his own defact that the changes in the ad- people themselves and in several nomination and the Service Comministration of Indian affairs mittee on Indians has given him have had an effect upon the re-· of the schools real initiative has an equally broad knowledge from the standpoint of Christian ligious program in the Indian been shown. missions. schools. While there has been Eight denominations through splendid cooperation on the part Miss Winifred Hulbert spent of school authorities, changes in their ten mission boards now nearly five months visiting In- recognize the Service Committee dian schools and mission sta- on Indians, which serves as a tions on Indian fields and has the liaison agency between the mis- sion boards and tlie government, and have indicated their general willingness to work through it as occasion requires. Two inter-
WOMEN'S HOME AND FOREIGN BULLETIN
book for young people well in Honorable N. W. Rowell, K. C., national Relations, Race Relahand. She is also preparing a Vice-President of the Institute tions, and World Day of Prayer. unit course for intermediates on Pacific Relations. He pointed based on "Three Arrows" by E. out the necessity for a world out- With the Home Missions Coun- Ryerson Young, an intermediate look on problems and the need cil there are joint committees on reading book. for christianizing ecclesiastical, Alaska, City and New Ameri- social, economic and interna- cans, Com i t y and Five-Year A course book for juniors is tional relations. He urged the Program, Indian Work and Probeing written by Katharine Church to realize the importance motion. Gladfelter, while for primary of allaying racial prejudices and children stories are being fur- national antipathies, and to use Editor's Note: At the same time that the nished by Florence C. Means and its power to further public opin- Council of Women held its Annual Meeting, teacher's material by Frances ion in increasing international the Home Missions Council also met, joint Somers Riggs. An additional in- cooperation. sessions taking place in the afternoon and sert sheet of American Indian evening of each day. Report of joint work sketches will be prepared to ac- Officers and resolutions adopted by both bodies appear company the North American elsewhere in this issue. Picture Map already in print. The following officers and ex- ecutive officers were elected: THE ANNUAL INVENTORY Addresses Honorary President-Mrs. George W. The Annual Meeting of the Stirring addresses by promi- Federation of Woman's Boards nent men and women of the Coleman. of Foreign Missions of North United States and Canada were America was held at the Hotel heard. President-Mrs. Orrin R. Judd. Gramatan, Bronxville, N. Y., First Vice-President-Mrs. Philip M. January 9-11, 1932. This is the Mrs. Orrin R. Judd, President time when the Federation takes of the Council of Women, cited Rossman. inventory of stock, discovers the many instances of devoted serv- things which have been done ice on home mission fields. Second Vice-President – Mrs. May m 0 s t advantageously through the past year, and how they may Bishop Francis J. McConnell, Leonard Woodruff. be improved upon for the next President of the Federal Council Third Vice-President-Mrs. Fred S. year. of Churches, stoutly defended the Church's right to have a Bennett. . During this year the work of voice in all matters pertaining to Recording Secretary-Miss Julia Flor- many ofthe committees has been national and international wel- outstanding and has made a very fare. Speaking on "The Place of ance. real contribution to the missionthe Church in Democracy," he Treasurer-Mrs. Edwin W. Lentz. ary enterprise. The Committee said that the Church should not on Missionary Preparation has be muzzled in her attempt to Executive Secretary-Miss Anne See- been making a study of some of voice the Christian attitude with the problems of recruiting and regard to war, disarmament, sholtz. preparation of candidates and temperance and other social and Secretary for Migrant Work-Miss of the type of workers and trainindustrial problems. ing needed in specific cases. This Edith E. Lowry. committee recently assembled a Miss Mabel Cartwright, LL.D., Western Field Secretary and Super- group of twenty-five candidate President of the Women's Aux- visor for Migrant Work – Miss secretaries, members of candiiliary of the Ontario Diocese, date committees and mission- Church of England in Canada, Adela J. Ballard. aries together with such specialspoke on "The Adventure in Assistant Treasurer-Miss G. Evelyn ists as Dr. Carney and Dr. Case Life." She deplored the idea of of Teachers College and Dr. many that religion has left ad- Morse. Reisner of the Committee on Agventure outside, stating that the Office Secretary-Miss Virginia Kai- ricultural Missions. The group Christian religion was the great headed by Dr. Donohugh herself adventure of the ages. One of ser. had a most interesting conferthe great adventures of the ence on "Women Workers in present day, she pointed out, was Chairmen Rural Areas – Their Qualificato be found in helping to solve tions and Preparation." It is some of the problems of the com- The following chairmen 0 f hoped that there will be very munity such as unemployment, standing commi ttees were definite results from this conferdistribution of wealth, friendli- elected: ence. ness to the stranger in the neighborhood, and provision of whole- Administrative-Mrs. Orrin R. Judd. The Committee on Foreign some recreation. Chautauqua Home Missions Institute Students has been doing a very interesting piece of work this "Forced by the progress of -Mrs. Orrin R. Judd. year in cooperation with the events, we now live in a world, Finance-Miss Ann Elizabeth Taylor. Committee on Friendly Relanot a community," stated the Legislative Matters – Mrs. Samuel tions, the Foreign Student Com- Semple. Study Courses-Miss May Huston. Young People's Work- Miss Muriel Day.
As yet the Chairman of the Committee on Migrant Work has not been named. It was deeply regretted that Mrs. Kenneth Dexter Miller felt it necessary to relinquish the chairmanship of this committee.
There are joint committees with the Federation of Woman's Boards of Foreign Missions and National Council of Federated Church Women on Conferences and Schools of Missions, Inter-
mittee of the Y. W. C. A., and sire for this has been expressed Mrs. F. I. J ohns.on, that of the Committee of Refer- Mrs. H. A. Lavell, ence and Counsel. A limited sum by nationals speaking in this Mrs. James C. Colgate, of money has been made avail- country. It has already been Mrs. D. J. Fleming, able for cases of emergency need tried with success in the cases among foreign students and al- of union institutions and in the Mrs. William L. Darby, ready a goodly number of stu- union work in Mesopotamia and Mrs. Ernest A. Evans, dents have been helped in the in Santo Domingo. A committee Mrs. L. R. RQunds, solution of their problems. Plans will study possibilities, ways and means during this coming year. Mrs. L. L. Anewalt. Secretary-Mrs. John C. ShQver. Treasurer-Mrs. Frank GaylQrd Cook. Assistant Treasurer-Mrs. Philip M.
are going forward for two or On Sunday evening the Fed- Rossman. three conferences in foreign stu- eration enjoyed a family supper Executive Secretary-Miss FlQrence dent centers in different parts of the country, and the Committee with guests fro m Bronxville, G. Tyler. is also working to secure hospi- New York, and elsewhere. The tality for these students in Chris- following missionaries spoke: Chairmen Miss Olivia Lindsay from Japan, Chairmen of standing com- mittees are: tian hom e s , also to provide Dr. Hawthorne Darby from the Constitution and By-Laws-Miss Carspeaking engagements for them Philippines, Mrs. Arthur Harper rie M. Kerschner. from India, Miss Elsie Kittlitz which will bring some remuner- from China, and Miss Charlotte Home Base Cultivation-Miss Amelia ation. D. Kemp.
Industrial Missions' Products – Miss .The week-end at Bronxville Wyckoff from India, while the Lucy Kent. was a very profitable one, as the final messages of the evening Missionary Preparation-Mrs. Agnes program was most worthwhile. were from Ma Sa Tin of Burma C. L. Donohugh. The theme for the meeting was and Miss Carol Chen of China. Missions and Governments – Mrs.
William L. Darby. Nominations-Mrs. S. S. Hough. "Launch Out Into the Deep." The meeting continued through Interdenominational Institutions on Dr. D. J. Fleming of Union Sem- Monday with speeches from reinary spoke on Saturday evening cently returned travellers from the Foreign Field – Miss Minnie Sandberg. and laid before the delegates the Orient-Mrs. John MacGil- Finance Committee – Mrs. L. R. some of the problems which must livray and Mrs. Frank Gaylord Rounds.
be faced by mission boards in Cook-and a splendid presenta- THE UNKNOWN CHRISTIAN the near future in order to meet tion of home base interests led I the needs of a new day. Dr. by Miss Amelia D. Kemp of What was his name? I do not knQW his name: James H. Franklin, Administra- Philadelphia and followed by a I only kn.oW he heard GQd's voice and tive Secretary of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Soci- discussion. came. The message of this Annual Brought all he lQved across the sea, ety, spoke Sunday morning on Meeting is well voiced by the old . . . . To ·live a.nd wQrk fQ.r GQd-and me. "Christ's Perpetual Challenge- hymn which had been adapted And at the end, withQut memQrial for the occasion by Mrs. Amelia 'Launch Out Into the Deep' " – Josephine Burr Elmore and died; taking up the spiritual issues which was sung a number of No blaring trumpet sQunded .out his facing every Christian today in fame; making his own life tally up to times during the meetings: He lived, he died; I dQ nQt knQw his the Gospel he professes-in race relations, in industrial relations, The power of God is an ocean divine, name. in personal relations. Dr. Frank- A boundless and fathomless flood. lin told of many of the Chinese Launch out in the deep, n Christians with whom he had Cut away the shore line, had fellowship during his recent And buoyantly venture with God. NQ fQrm of brQnze and nQ mem.orial trip to the Orient and drew fur- Launch out into the deep, and let the stones shore line go. Sh.oW me the place where lie his · m.ouldering b.ones.
. .. ..
Only a thousand h.omes, Where every day the cheerful play ther illustration from Kagawa, Launch out, launch out .on the ocean Of l.ove and h.ope and courage c.omes. the great spiritual leader of S.o br.oad, These are his monument and these Japan. Out where the full tides flow. al.one: Sunday afternoon was given There is n.o form .of brQnze and nQ up to a forum hour led by Miss Officers Sarah Lyon of the Foreign De- memQrial stQne. partment of the Y. W. C. A. At Newly elected officers of the this time many of the problems Federation of Woman's Boards III of Foreign Missions are: Is there SQme desert .or SQme pathless of mission boards were brought out and it was decided that this President – Mrs. Howard Wayne sea forum hour would be continued Smith. Where ThQu, great God .of angels, wilt another year. One of the for- Honorary Vice-PresUl:ent-Mrs. Henry · se.nd me.? . . . . W. Peabody. TQ feed the waiting children .of my First Vice-President-Miss Margaret GQd?
E. Hodge. ShQW me the desert, Father, .or the sea. Vice-Presidents-Mrs. DeWitt Knox, Is it Thine enterprise? Great GQd, ward-looking projects discussed Mrs. William Edgar Geil, send me; was the possibility of sending Mrs. E. H. Silverthorn, And thQugh this bQdy lie where ocean missionaries to the field without denominational labels. The de- Mrs. Hume R. Steele, rQlls, CQunt me amQng All Faithful SQuls.
-E. E. HALE.
j" Our W orld;-wide
A Missionary Newspaper of Current Events ~~~~~I NORTH AMERICA and creep up the aisles. They bless Community Chest Receipts themselves when there is a storm. Religious Ignorance Among Children They put holy water on their beds at A grand total of $100,000,000 night, and when they are sick, they -a new record for community Even in privileged America use a lot of holy water. chests in a single fiscal yearchildren are surprisingly igno- As long as nothing is done to seems to be assured for 1932 acrant and prejudiced on religious get at the root of ignorance, we cording to a summary of' the matters. They know little of need expect nothing but intoler- ance. Propaganda for better campaigns already completed in their own religion and less of the understanding should be carried religion of their neighbors. on among the children as well 206 out of 391 cities. This sum- as among adults. mary was submitted to Walter An investigation made by Dr. Florida Missionary Assemblies S. Gifford, director of the Presi- Adelaide T. Case, Professor of dent's Organization on Unem- Education at Columbia Univer- "This Chain of Missionary sity, has undertaken to get the Assemblies is a unique experi- ployment Relief, by J. Herbert ment," writes Mrs. Henry W. Case, president of the National reactions of 1,000 children. Dr. Peabody, the advisory chairman. Association 0 f Community Case asked them (Leon Freeman says in The American He- For two years the committee Chests and Councils. The 206 brew) to write on religions other has arranged for great mission- campaigns already completed ary leaders, representing all than their own. evangelical denominations and have raised $67,865,808, com- nearly every field in the world, pared with aggregate goals of Most of the children have only to go through Florida with their $67,102,223, or 101.1 per cent of a vague association of external message. The effect has been practices of religion. They form beyond the hopes of the commit- their goals. For the normal generalizations from children tee. Forty-five states were rep- year of 1928 the entire group they happen to know. resented in the registration list of chests then in existence raised last year. It has proved a tre- Italian girls ten or eleven mendous help to Florida church- only $67,000,000. This total inyears old, writing "all they es and to the mission cause. creased each year of the depres- knew" about the Jews, said: This year two more cities were sion until $82,000,000 was ob- added, Palm Beach and J ackson- tained in 1931. With 185 cities They eat matzoths, cabbage, fish, ville. The Assemblies began in still to report or to hold their regular campaigns after Januaand pickles; they believe in Moses' ry 1, it is expected that when they eat from gold waonrdk;silsvoemreplJaetews~' the results are tabulated a recand don't like to ord of $100,000,000 will have been made. hate God; when they pray they touch their beards and say, "Baba la About 30 per cent of the sum Frisca," which means "We praise, thee, 0 Lord." raised last year by 391 Commu- nity Chests went for unemploy- Some Jewish boys wrote about Miami January 16, and went on ment relief. People who have Christians: been less affected by the depres- to Palm Beach, St. Petersburg, sion are giving generously. They eat bacon, ham and other Tampa, Clearwater, Orlando, things that are not kosher; they go to church on Sunday; Christmas is DeLand, and closed in J ackson- ville February 5.
their favorite holiday; they pray in The leaders included Dr. Rob- Relief for Coal Miners front of a cross and take their hats ert E. Speer, Rev. H. W. Myers, Starvation conditions, with off in church; the Prodisens made the of Japan; Mr. and Mrs. Swine- thousands of children under- Ku-Klux Klan; Jesus is their father, hart, of Korea; Dr. Lee Vroo- and the Christians copied the Bible from the Jews and translated it into man, of the International Col- nom:ished, lacking medical and English. lege, Turkey, and Princess Ata· hospital care and unable to go to S 0 m e Protestant children lea, of the Chickasaw Indian school because of lack of clothsummed up their knowledge of tribe. ing, and unsanitary and dilapi- the Catholics, thus: The forum had as its topic dated housing conditions, are Catholics say prayers with their "The Price of Safety," with found in the bituminous coal beads; the head of all the church IS daily periods: (1) National areas of West Virginia and Ken- the Pope, and he lives in a beautiful Safety; (2) International Safe.. tucky, according to the investipalace and people go from all over the ty; (3) Safeguards for Youth; gation made by the American world to kiss his hand. The Catholics worship idols. When they are in (4) Safeguards for the Church Friends Service Committee and chul'ch they get down on their knees and Its Missions. the Commission of the Federal [1'17]
Council of Churches. The severe were fr.om North Europe and they Mexicans Returning Home hardship is accentuated because brought an increase in Lutheran and of bank failures, low wages, un- Irish Catholic churches. Following a movement of the employment and over-developed Mexican people in Texas to reconditions of the coal industry The third period begins with 1890 turn to their native land, apwith cut-throat competition. The and c.ontinues to the World War. Dur- proximately 1,600 crossed the church investigators state that ing this period our immigrants were border at Laredo in one day of many well-meaning employers from southern and eastern Europe January. The Mexican governhave been caught and squeezed and they established an increased ment furnished transportation by this competition so that they, number of Italian, Polish and Bohe- to their homes on the other side. too, are unable to pay living mian Catholic churches and Jewish The reason is the same as that wages. Such conditions ought synagogues. which brought them into the not to exist in civilized America. S tat e s-economic conditions. The fourth period is from the World During the World War they Students for World Friendship War to the present time. The new- came by the hundreds to supply comers are from rural America, in- Sir Wilfred Grenfell an- cluding an increased number of Ne- the increased demand for labornounces the organization of a groes, Mexicans and rural whites. The ers at three times the wages society of college and secondary largest Protestant church is now a they were receiving at home. school students to study foreign Negro Baptist church of from twelve Now many prefer to face hunger affairs and promote interna- in their home land rather than tional goodwill. The new or- to fourteen thousand members. starve in the United States. In August last year only 139 Mexiganization is to be known as the The issue facing the Protest- cans entered the United States, all of them students or former North Atlantic Students League ant churches is "Can the Protof International Cooperation, estant churches by cooperative residents. and will embrace secondary planning accomplish what the Roman Catholics accomplish by centralized administration?" C h u r c h e s are succeeding which take account of the needs of their communitie&.
schools, high schools, colleges Color Lines in Methodism LATIN AMERICA and universities of the United States, Canada, Newfoundland An important move of the re- Liberal Movements in Colombia and England. It will function cent ecumenical conference of under the auspices of the Yale the Methodists in Atlanta, Geor- Many people are interested in Round Table of International gia, was the banishing of the the political situation in Colom- Relations and of the Connecticut color line from the sessions. bia, frequently referred to as Secondary Schools Society. Its The Southern Methodist Church "The New Liberal Movement." activity will be "studying for- acted as host and the delegates eign affairs and p'romoting in- were largely southern white peo- About seventy-five years ago telligent and friendly interna- ple, yet white and black dele- it was due to the temporary suc- gates sat together in the meet- cess of one of these movements tional relations between North ings on a basis of equality. "At- that citizens of Colombia invited American nations and all na- lanta made good in the matter of the Presbyterian Board of Fortions of the world." seeing to it that no discrimina- eign Missions to send missiona- tion was allowed," reports one ries with the Gospel. The move- Sir Wilfred recognizes a Negro Methodist leader. This is ment had to rest on illiteracy growing need that North Atlan- one of the most hopeful facts and superstition, as only a small tic nations shall work in har- noted in the South in recent percentage of the people were mony for world peace and years and is to the credit of literate. friendly international relation- Methodist leaders and the people ship. In the present situation it is quite different. There is now a . Chicago Religious Survey of Atlanta. One group of dele- public school system covering Dr. Arthur E. Holt, Professor gates discussed "Wider Human most of the territory of its fourof Social Ethics at Chicago Theological Seminary, has re- Relationships," and sought to in- teen states and even reaching cently completed a report of a clude in the convention's find- out into the larger municipaliunited religious survey of the ings provision for study of such ties of its six territories. Then city. Chicago, says this report, was settled in four epochs, color problems as exist in the there are the evangelical churchdominated by different racial East Indies, South Africa, the es with their numerous evangelistocks. Philippines and Haiti, as well as cal schools, including some of In the first epoch, from 1833 to in the United States. A resolu- the largest and best educational 1850, the old American stock came tion calling for action on these institutions on that continent, brin~ng Met hod.i s t, Presbyterian, giving instruction in secular and BaptIst, CongregatIOnal and Episco- issues was ruled out of order bv the chairman on the ground that Bible subjects to hundreds and palian churches. This stock is now thousands of children, young the findings could not include men and young women every found quite largely in the suburbs or reference to "specific evils." year. along the lake front. Thus the church seems con- The second settlement was from tent to denounce race discrimi- This new movement is based nation in the abstract but avoids on progress. It stands first for 1860 to 1890, when the newcomers dealing with "specific evils." international friendship, then
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
freedom of religion, freedom in to which the convicts have sunk. sickness, sin and superstition. education, freedom of the press Political influence and public Medical advice and treatment and freedom for the laboring apathy have proved too strong are given free to all who are unclass. But these very principles for humanitarian sentiment, and able to pay for them, irrespecset forth by the liberals are little has been done to alleviate tive of creed.
largely in the background of conditions. Now the Salvation Evangelistic services are con- the thinking and the desires of Army is to commence its work ducted during dispensary hours.
the leading conservatives. A and will bring the one remedial The vestibule and waiting room few days after President Olaya Force that can avail to lift these easily accommodates sixty per- was elected one of the leading men out of the fearful pit sons. Seated in the waiting conservative dailies said, "It is through the love and the grace room are those who have come time for the State Church to of God. The prayers of the in spite of opposition to seek adleave politics alone, let the gov- Christian public will go with vice and treatment.
ernment take care of material these soldiers who storm this Striking examples of the use- things, and let the church rule grim citadel of evil. fulness and abiding influence of in spiritual things." the mission have been met and A Negro Methodist Nurse for EUROPE testimonies from men, women and young people certify that Bolivia Young People in England the teaching was the means of Despite the slowing down in "In nearly forty years of leading them to fuller and more missionary activities, the Meth- Christian service," declared the scriptural knowledge of Christ. odist Episcopal Church has sent Rev. W. Charter Piggott of the out another missionary-Miss Congregational Union, "I have Scattered throughout the Lula Mae Allen-as a nurse to never been more attracted, chalengage in village nursing in In- lenged, quickened than by the world today there are many who dian communities near La Paz, young people who are round witness to the emancipating Bolivia. Miss Allen is a Negress about our churches today. I like power of the Gospel they learned and is the first member of her their independence and their race t(} be commissioned by a daring. And I am glad in the at the Medical Mission. Nor white church for missionary feeling that they are not to be are the activities of the Mission work in a part of the world . won by a religion which is cheap confined to the Dispensary, for a good work is being done in the homes of the people and in the surrounding districts.
other than Africa. In addition and easy, that does not answer Jesuits Expelled from Spain to her training as a nurse and their questions and their doubts experience as a supervising and make some real attempt to Pursuing her policy of putting nurse, Miss Allen has had spe- tackle the problems of life." an end to the activities of the cial preparation in a training Roman Catholic orders in Spain, school for Christian workers. A Scottish Forward Movement the government has now ordered the confiscation of the monas- The Salvation Army on Devil's The recent union of the two teries owned by the Society of Island leading Scottish Presbyterian Jesus, and will no longer permit churches is not to end with the the Jesuits to operate collective- Devil's Island is well named. ecclesiastical union. The new ly within the RepUblic. Found- In an interview with a corre- "Forward Movement" originally ed by Ignatius Loyola in 1534, spondent of The Tononto Globe, was for an advance in foreign the Society became the most General Higgins of the Salvation missions only, but its scope was powerful religious body in the Army revealed something of the widened later to include the world. They were expelled from plan for the amelioration of the home field. Twelve commissions Spain in 1767, but were allowed conditions in the colony. "Con- were appointed to consider the to return after a time. The orditions in French Guiana are be- responsibilities, opportunities, der is credited with having yond description," he said. "The and resources of the Church of about $100,000,000 of assets in rep 0 r t s which our officers Scotland. "The Call of the Spain, but the real property, brought back can never be pub- Church" gives the findings of which alone can be seized, is lished. If a hundredth part of these commissions which were rated at $30,000,000. The govwhat is said in the reports be reported to a Church Congress ernment action shows the extent true, French Guiana is nothing in Glasgow, where they were to which liberal forces have less than hell on earth." The discussed in addresses that made come into power. Salvation Army plans to open a profound impression on the work there and hopes to effect 2.500 delegates attending from Medical Missions in Portugal improvement. all parts of the country. Although there never was a Again and again the con- Limerick Medical Mission medical mission in Portugal unscience of France has been til last year, evangelical work stirred by reports from Guiana The Limerick Medical Mis- among the Portuguese began telling of conditions there, and sion of the Irish Church Mission with the efforts of a medical the unspeakable degradation in- continues to operate against missionary, Dr. Robert Reid
Kalley, who went to Madeira in were converted to Evangelical was the spirit of friendship and 1838 on account of his wife's health, learned Portuguese, un- faith. The authorities, unwill- desire to cooperate which chardertook medical missionary ing to recognize the new spirit acterized the meetings. Such a work and started Christian schools. Opposition of the of tolerance abroad in Italy, en- conference is certain to advance priests in 1846 compelled Dr. Kalley and several hundred deavored to get the law to sup- the cause of peace in this diffi- Evangelicals to flee, and for 21 years he served in Brazil. port the Claim the Papal Church cult part of Europe.
About one year ago the Lisbon makes that such persons must Medical Mission was founded by Dr. Alan G. Bodman of Great ever remain Romanists, and that AFRICA Britain. Dependence for all no change of religion shall be needs of the work is placed on prayer and the second year's recognized. When the case was Real Famine in Egypt work starts with twenty-five believers, several of whom are tak- called, these Evangelicals, some This is not a famine of bread ing a share in the work. such as was in the time of J 0- educated and some ignorant, re- seph, though poverty still Church Decline in Germany sponded to the charge with a public testimony of their faith, abounds in the Nile Valley. The During the last few years, leaving their accusers discom- serious poverty today is due to a church membership in Germany, especially in Berlin, has shown fited. The case had powerful re- famine of the Bread of Life. In a decline. The reason is chiefly the Delta of Egypt alone there the economic depression and verberations throughout Italy. the consequent poverty. The state claims twenty per cent of Awakening in Czechoslovakia are over 250 towns, besides hunevery income, and the church dreds of smaller villages, where another ten per cent. For many this is impossible. In 1927, 36,- One of the remarkable relig- there are none to tell of Christ's 700 members of the 3,000,000 ious movements of modern Way of Life-and where ignorbelonging to the Protestant Church in Berlin, laid down times was the revolution that ance, superstition, disease, povtheir membership. In 1928 the number increased to 46,000; in took place in Czechoslovakia in erty and demoralizing sin 1929 to 50,500, and in 1930 to 59,300. The Roman Catholic 1918, which has led to spiritual abound. church figures are in proportion. reformation and industrial re- When the first American mis- Of the 400,000 Roman Catholics in Berlin, 4,500 resigned mem- vival. In a few years over a sionaries, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas bership in 1927, 5,600 in 1928, 6,600 in 1929, and 6,800 in 1930. million Catholics left the Church McCayne, landed in Alexandria In Berlin, there are about 177,- 000 Jews, of whom about 560 of Rome and Czechoslovakia is seventy-seven years ago, they break their connection with the synagogue every year. During now one of the most vigorous met with fierce opposition from the last five years, 260,700 Protestants, 30,400 Rom a n and progressive of European the four million Moslems and Catholics, and 3,410 Jews have left their respective churches. nations. In 1914, its very name· half a million Copts. Now there Can Italians Change Faith? was unknown. In 1918, it had is a strong Evangelical Church Last October, four women and won international recognition in Egypt with 20,000 members. eight men from the Abruzzi district in Italy were called before and today its statesmen boast of But there are today in the Valthe chief magistrate to answer a national progress and prosper- ley of the Nile 13,000,000 Mosfor having described themselves as Protestant Christians instead ity which has not been sur- lems and 900,000 Copts-over of Roman Catholics in the re- passed. Its spiritual advance is three-fourths the number found cent national census. They had shown by the fact that the pow- there in 1860. Faced with this been baptized Catholics, but er of the priesthood has been growing problem Christians broken, and hundreds of priests need to throb with new life- themselves have seceded. The the life of the Spirit of God. awakening of the spirit of the Reformation has led to an ag- A Moslem Defends Christians gressive evangelism, not brought Ali Saif en Nasr, the son of about by any organized Protes- a wealthy and devout Moslem chief in the Fayoum Oasis, came tant propaganda, but the result of the spontaneous desire of the to the American University at people to bear witness to the Cairo in 1923, with the express reality of a new religion and a understanding on his part that determination to spread evan- he would not submit to Chris- gelical Christianity. tian "propaganda."
Balkan Friendship Conference Four years passed, with Ali becoming increasingly active in An important movement for dormitory social life, athletics international friendship and co- and college activities in general, operation is the second Balkan till he became the student cheer conference, held in Constantin- leader and a prophet of sports- ople in November. This brought manship. He had forgotten his together delegates from Al- hostile attitude in daily and Sun- bania, Bulgaria, Greece, Jugo- day chapel which are a part of slavia, Roumania and Turkey. the college life to which he was The principal positive ad- devoted. vance made by the conference In 1928 he wandered one eve-
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
ning into a downtown mass said that he too had been a very New Sahara Exploration meeting of 500 Sheikhs of the bad man, and at the time the Azhar and listened to an im- Bangwanas raided the country Dugald Campbell, F. R. G. S., passioned declaration of hate he had a brother killed. He of Scotland, a former co-misagainst Christianity followed by joined the Bangwanas and went sionary with the late Dan Crawa riotous clamor to persecute with them to other tribes and ford, recently completed a jourany and all converts to Chris- raided them. "We killed many ney of 5,000 miles from the Attianity. As the air grew heavy people, and divided their bodies lantic to the Red Sea. He has with imprecations and threats, amongst the women of the vil- now started upon another ex- Ali protested with his nearest lages," and he of course had his pedition which will probably neighbors against intolerance share. As I looked at these one occupy him for the next three and bigotry. He was threatened time cannibals, can you wonder years. From Tripoli he will go with canes and taunted with be- that my heart sang for joy that through a large number of the ing a Christian. He jumped to Christ can touch these folk and oases in Tripolitania, will visit his feet, proclaiming his name lift them from this awful degra- the Tibesti Mountains, and after and family, known well to all dation? scattering the Bible among and shouted: some of the wildest tribes of the -Mrs.llarrison. interior of the Sahara, he hopes "Are you animals to fight to reach Algeria. with your claws? Shame on New Station at Boyulu you. Cannot our religion per- A Century in Madagascar suade of its own self? If not, The Unevangelized Fields Mislet us be converted to anything sion" which carries on work in The Malagasy Church is 100 that will make us gentlemen. I Amazonia and Central Asia, years old. On June 5th, the am a Moslem, but there is no hopes soon to open work in Cen- centenary was observed. Numuse being a Moslem unless we tral Africa. Boyulu is a large bered among the first twenty can conduct ourselves with ordi- unevangelized field, and is unoc- baptized Christians was Rasanary Christian courtesy." cupied by any other evangelical lama, the first Christian martyr missionary society. Medical in Madagascar. On the site of He barely escaped assault and work has been started with the first church building, which his disgust and wrath found ex- gratifying results. The people became a prison during the long pression in words that had best show a keen desire to hear the persecution, stands the present be forgotten. But he had Word of God, which has already fine Martyr Memorial Church of learned the lesson of Gamaliel: been translated into the inter- Ambatonakanga. At one of the that truth and courtesy must tribal language. The people con- services of the commemoration rule though the heavens (Mos- tinually ask for more instruc- interesting mementos of early lem or Christian) fall. tion. days were shown, Rasalama's box in which she kept her Bible, -The Moslem World. Lovedale Activities the first Communion Plate and early copies of the first printed Cannibals Won to Christ Young Africans are being Malagasy scriptures. trained in many ways by Love- An old man with a white dale Institute. Work parties, or- Where one small wooden beard at a Christian meeting in ganized for afternoons, are en- building represented the early the Western Sudan is a very un- gaged in planting and rearing church, now hundreds of towusual sight. Later he said that trees, in orchard work, in road ers and spires all over Imerina while he was young his relations construction. One group built a testify to the power of the Gossent him to another tribe where suspension bridge across the pel, while the first twenty baphe learned to beat a call to war. river Tyumie, and also worked tized members have grown to They marched to a neighboring at a hall for wayfarers. Car- tens and even hundreds of thoutribe and overcame their en- pentry, blacksmithing, shoemak- sands. emies. When asked what he did ing, farming, forestry, domestic with those who were killed, he science, the training of nurses, WESTERN ASIA said, "I ate them"! are all carried on. The Institu- tion Church reports that the Turkey and the Mission Schools Sometime later he heard that number seeking admission to a white man had come to teach full church membership was the The Turkish newspaper Son them about God. This old man's highest in memory-no fewer Posta, September 29, 1931, pubface lit up when he said the than seventy-six were admitted lished an article which shows white man was Bwana Muku- in one day, while others who clearly that the attitude of the bwa (Mr. Charles Studd) who were considered worthy were re- Turkish Government to mission told him that if he repented and ferred to their home congrega- schools is definitely hostile: followed Jesus he would be tions for various reasons. saved. He believed and has nev- "According to the Lausanne er gone back since. A number The school draws its pupils Treaty the right of missionaries of people had gathered, and from many races-Xosa, Basuto, to carry on educational work in after the ex-cannibal had fin- Bechuana, Zulu and Indian. Turkey ended this year. The ished speaking another man government could have abol-
ished all these missionary insti- Turkestan, who have left their The marriage of a Persian woman tutions. But this would have homes because of religious and to a foreigner shall take place only brought a crisis, as there are not economic disabilities enforced with the permission of the governsufficient schools for all the chil- upon them by the Soviet regime. ment. Penalty for disobedience is imdren. In order to avoid this the About thirty of these Turkestan prisonment from one year to three Ministry of Education has de- Moslems are in Delhi. years. cided to act gradually toward this abolition. Religious restrictions began A Milestone in Persia with the banning of all religious "The Ministry has adopted teaching in schools and, as Mos- When Moore Science Hall two new measures against these cow's influence grew, spread was begun recently on the foreign schools. First, Turkish until Korans and other religious grounds of the American College children will not be allowed to books were seized. In order to at Teheran, within the cornerreceive their primary education prev~nt attendance at mosque, stone was deposited a copy of in these schools. Second, the the authorities imposed high the Bible in Persian. This siguniversity will not accept the taxes on all worshippers, while nifies the conviction of those rediplomas of these institutions preachers and leaders who re- sponsible for the college that the without examination. This will belled against these measures word of God and the principles lessen the number of students were imprisoned, shot or sent to and truths therein set forth are in the upper classes of the for- Moscow and never heard of the real foundations, the true eign institutions. The graduates again. cornerstone of the institution. of these institutions usually go This is the first building ever to Europe or America for ad- Moslem children are com- erected in Persia exclusively for vanced study. pelled to attend schools where the teaching of the sciences and atheism is preached, and they so it is a milestone in the de- "The harm of the missionary are taught to despise the faith of velopment of modern education schools is evident. These must their parents. Islamic marriages in this land. somehow be restricted. We ex- were declared illegal, and all pect the government will take wishing to be married must go Schools that Make Christians steps at least to limit the harm through a secular ceremony at done to our children." which a non-Moslem Soviet of- "Two Christians are on our ficial officiated. teaching staff," writes a Presby- -The Moslem World. terian missionary in Persia, Passports are refused to those "one of whom is in charge of re- Radio in a Mosque who wish to go on pilgrimages, ligious instruction in the first and fasting for religious r,easons four grades. The other, a more For the first time in Islamic is made a punishable offense. recent convert, has in times past history a radio microphone has been more of a problem than a been installed in a Turkish Christians and Jews are also help, but this year she has mosque–the Santa Sophia, one subjected to every conceivable shown such remarkable developof the most famous religious edi- form of indignity to make them ment in character that we look fices in Turkey. Mustapha forego their religion. to her as a strong future asset. Kemal has directed that the radio services be chanted from New Marriage Laws in Persia "A prominent Moslem ecclesithe newly adopted Turkish astic has been attacked bitterly Koran by twenty-five clergy- The following laws, passed by by a fellow Moslem for senumen. This is a notable depar- the Persian Parliament, con- ing his daughters to our school. ture from ancient custom in re- stitute the new law to be put into 'Don't you realjze they are foolligious service effected by the execution immediately: ing you? They are making progressive Turkish president Christians out of your children. this year. The Arabic Koran, Marriage shall not take place be- Is this worthy of a descendant always unintelligible to the lay- tween those who are not physically of the Prophet?' 'Well,' replied man, was replaced early in J an- fit to marry. the old father, 'perhaps. But at uary in some Istanbul mosque any rate the American School is by a Turkish translation. Penalty is imprisonment for from the only school in town that one year to three years. teaches my girls anything about The Soviet and Moslems in life.' " Turkestan If anybody deceives the one whom he or she wishes to marry, he or she INDIA AND BURMA The Statesman, Calcutta, In- will be imprisoned from six months dia, gives an account of religious to two years. An Ominous Situation persecutions carried on against the Mohammedans of Turke- Men who wish to marry shall in- Rioting in Delhi, disorders in stan. form the one in charge of ceremonies, Bengal, a Moslem split from the and those whom they want to marry, Hindu stand for independence Keen interest is being aroused about their previous wives. Deceit in and an uprising in Kashmir among North India Moslems by this matter is punishable by the above followed Gandhi's return to Inan influx into the Panjab and dia and his declaration that he Delhi of Moslems from Eastern mentioned punishment. Men shall support their wives. In case they refuse to give them food, clothing and shelter their wives may appeal to the courts.
A lady can use her own property without the permission of her hus- band.
A Moslem woman is forbidden to marry a non-Moslem man.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
would not flinch in sacrificing dred and fifty thousand a year, or a (11) Her greatest detestation the lives of a million people to steady unbroken addition of over and abhorrence is- (a) The purchase the liberty of India. twelve thousand every month of those who are publicly accepting Jesus Christian doctrine of God found- P rim e Minister MacDonald Christ as their Lord and Saviour. ed upon the life of the historic made a most outspoken statement concerning the Indian sit- Twenty years ago, the late Sir Christ. This is an offense to the Narayan Chandavarkar to I d philosophic Hindu, who holds uation, describing it as most de- Christian workers in India: plorable and denouncing Indian "The process of the conversion that eternal truth cannot be agitators in vigorous terms. He of India to Christ may not be based on an historical event. going on as rapidly as you hope, (b) The Christian doctrine of said that recent disorders on the nevertheless, I say, India is benorthwest frontier and in Ben- ing converted; the ideas that lie the Atonement is also a stumbgal did not represent a "baffled at the heart of the Gospel are ling bl?ck to Hindu thought, beand oppressed Indian struggling slowly, but surely, permeating cause It appears as a denial of every part of Hindu society, and the law o~ Karma whereby every to be "free," but "a mischievous modifying every phase of Hindu ~an receIves. the reward or punmovement trampling in its own thought." Ishment of hIS own actions. (c) self-will upon Indian progress." The idea of a suffering god is re- He was of the opinion that the There are veteran mission- pugnan! to. H~ndu thought, for people who had been working aries who say that if the politi- they thmk It mconceivable that cal questions now in turmoil are any ripple of emotion should dismany years for the enfranchise- successfully adjusted, so that ment of India must share in the the message of Jesus Christ is turb the serenity of eternal bliss. government's regret, and said no longer handicapped by the fact that He is so closely asso- College Not Boycotted . that every Indian who cares for ciated with Western ideas, the his motherland must see in these whole process of bringing India Rev. C. Herbert Rice, presi- to Him will go forward at an recent events the hand of a immensely accelerated pace. dent of Ewing Christian College spirit of mischief rather than Lahore, writes: ' that of a spirit of emancipation. An Array of Stumbling Blocks "I wish you could have been The arrest of Mr. Gandhi and A writer in The Indian Wit- ness offers a number of reasons here during the days of admis. other leaders of the Nationalist why India withholds allegiance Party, and the declaration by to Christ. sions to see the crowds of stuthe viceroy of a firm policy to (1) India has been hesitating dents seeking to be taken into maintain order, should lead In- because she thinks that if she acdians to seek a patient and cepts Christ she will have to ac- the college. It is haastatthisefacocltlioegn~ peaceful means of attaining cept Western civilization which at least, to know t self-government. she hates. (2) She has not wit- nessed the real life of Jesus in is not being boycotted after our His followers. (3) She proudly boasts of her past philosophy first year here! They swarmed intellectualism and ancestrai customs and traditions. (4) She all over the place, accompanied has been absorbing or assimilat- Encouragement from the Census ing and has lacked in elimina- by fathers, uncles, or guardians, tion. (5) Her method of accom- The official figures for the modation and the genius of ad- who came along to plead with dition. (6) From time immemonew government census will be rial India has been polytheistic the powers that be, to take in and now it is hard for her to be encouraging to those who are monotheistic. (7) Her pride in their sons. Many hundreds I the Vedas and the Rishis that making sacrifices for the spread she considers to be the oldest in should think-had to be turned the world. (8) Her imagination of Christianity. Although the has been fed purely on obscure away owing to lack of room and contemplation and mythological figures are not complete (Bur- deities. (9) She is satisfied with facilities. It is a strange sight a slight glimmering of God and mese Christians, Buddhists and is unwilling to witness fun effuI"" to see bearded fathers-some gence. (10) She judges Chris- Tribal Faiths are missing) the tianity through the British offi- ex-soldiers – actually weeping cers whom she calls despots. tabulation is as follows: tears, as they plead to have their Per Cent sons admitted, in spite of the 1931 1921 Increase verdict that 'there is absolutely Population tnhoismios rteherooonmly'!colTlehgeeywshaey~e'Bmuyt . . . . .• 352,986,876 318,942,480 10.6 Hindus 238,330,912 216,734,586 10 boy can get the moral training, Moslems 77,743,928 68,735,233 13.1 the excellent quality of scientific Sikhs .. 4,306,442 3,238,803 33 studies, and the personal atten- Christians 5,961,794 4,496,958 32.6 Jains .. 1,205,235 1,178,596 2 tion which I want him to have.
Parsees 106,973 101,778 5 I beseech you to let him in, for Jews. . . 20,984 21,778 you can do anything if you will!'
The Rev. J. F. Edwards, a Many had to be turned away, leading missionary, says: and we looked forward to the The figures mean that in a decade, day when we can accommodate when the increase in India's popula- more of these really earnest tion was unusually large, the rate of young fellows. As it is, we are increase in the number of Christians was more than three times the in- full to overflowing with about crease in the general population. The 650 here at the Intermediate increase of nearly a million and a half in ten years means nearly one hun- College, in addition to about 600 more in the High School on the
same campus-and more than resolution number five, the phrase, "A Christians in China to find a constitutional episcopate," is not used 100 advanced students are at the as a synonym for the historic epis- peaceful solution. The China University College Department." copate. Council promptly sent a sympa- thetic response. The Japanese Hopeful Signs in India India's Home Mission Society Fellowship of Reconciliation Rev. C. Stanley Vaughan The first organized mission- also communicated with the Felwrites from India: "We have a ary endeavor of the Anglo-In- lowship of Reconciliation in more hopeful outlook in the dian community is through the church. I have been in every Home Missionary Society. Its China. one of our local councils and objects are to help forward In- Japanese Christian leaders in have everywhere seen signs of dia's evangelization, and to progress. In one place a new promote the development of An- Tokyo called at the Foreign Ofcongregation is added, the fruit glo-Indian communities. Activof one of the Bates evangelists; ities sponsored by the society in- fice and on the political editors in another region, an effort is clude a Children's Home at and owners of leading newspabeing made to improve our vil- Coonoor where there are at pres- pers and requested editorials lage schools; in another an ent 39 destitute girls; Loan that would promote a friendly heroic response to the financial Scholarship Funds; a Magazine needs; in one the contributions Fund and evangelistic work settlement with China. A genof last year have been doubled. among non-Christians. It is eral meeting of Churchmen and To double their rupee contribu- hoped that a Boys' Home, simi- leaders in the peace organization'S means that they have quad- lar to the one for girls may soon rupled their contribution in be established. tion was also held in Tokyo, but grain and all sorts of farm produce." "Village of the New Day" the Japanese Government is evi- dently in control of the milita- An All-India United Church Ushagram in Bengali is an experiment in Methodist mis- rists. In the midst of the disturbed sions. It was begun in 1919 and The New York Times reported political situation, the move- represents a cooperative effort ment toward Christian unity in on the part of the Woman's For- that twenty-five Chinese and for- India is making progress and eign Society and the Board of eign Christian leaders, reprehas recently grown too large to Foreign Missions. It is an exbe limited to the formation of periment in human adjustments, senting all denominations of the a United Church of South India. an adaption of average possibili- Protestant churches in North ties to the business of living. Christian Church and including four Roman Catholics, partici- pated with General Chiang Kai- shek in one of the most unusual gatherings in the history of re- publican China when they con- ferred with him and joined in devotional services, praying for a settlement of the Manchurian dispute.
India have asked for a united Ushagram-"Village of the New Flood Affected 50,000,000 church for the entire country. Day"-is patterned on existing As a result, representatives of Indian villages, but introduces A map of the flooded regions features most essential to In- of China, part of which was the both north and south India met dia's future-the cooperative result of the aerial survey made in Nagpur in November and store, the savings bank, a water by Col. and Mrs. Lindbergh, system, cooperative industries shows that the total area of seriunanimously adopted a series of and cultural development. ously flooded regions is 34,000 resolutions to govern the future square miles, exclusive of lakes. Toward three ideals, the At least 8,000 square miles of writing of formal instruments workers in this "Village of the less seriously flooded areas have of union. These representa- New Day" are striving-Better not been indicated on the map. tives included Baptists, Quak- Homes, Better Villages, Better It is estimated that 50,000,000 Citizens. persons have been directly afers, W e s ley a n Methodists, fected, of whom millions are ut- American Methodists, members CHINA terly destitute., of the United Church of north- Oriental Attempts to Avert War The Nanking government ern India and the South India United Church and Anglicans, so that the importance of this achievement is clear. The cru- cial resolutions read: Christians in both China and asked leading medical schools in That, with regard to the type of Japan have made earnest efforts China to suspend their activities organization that may ultimately to promote a peaceful settlement for three months in order to reprove acceptable for a united church of the Far East controversy. The of India, this conference records its first move seems to have been lease their faculties and adopinion that this would be found taken by Mr. Ebisawa, secretary through the general adoption of a con- vanced students for work among the victims of the floods. . stitutional episcopate responsible to of the National Christian Coun- The present forces are not representative assemblies and synods, cil of Japan, who cabled at once in a form that would comprehend, so to the National Christian Coun- sufficient to cope with the giganfar as practicable, the advantages of tic task ahead of them. It is the the Episcopal, Presbyterian and Con- cil of China that Japanese Chris- conviction of Dr. J. Heng Liu gregational modes of government. In tians would cooperate with director of the Department of
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Hygiene and Sanitation, that the lieved of most of the possessions drew about 700 delegates repreexperience in such preventative they had with them. In Kansu, senting every province in China public health activity will be val- the Moslems have again been except one. At the same time uable both to staff and students. causing trouble in the north- a conference for Christian work- east of the province. They car- ers was being held in Soochow, New C. I. M. Headquarters ried out their threat and killed where the principal speaker was all the inhabitants they could Gen. Chang Tsi Kiang, prob- Last June dedicatory services find within thirteen miles of the ably the strongest Christian were held for the new head- city of Liangtang. On Septem- character in Chinese military quarters of the C. I. M. in ber 25 Miss Ivy Dix wrote that circles today, who has contrib- Shanghai. About three hundred the city of Hweihsien was at- uted about $10,000 toward the friends attended. The new build- tacked by brigands. The north- work of the American Bible Soing contains space for mission- ern section of the city, where ciety. aries, administrative headquar- the China Inland Mission premters, residential flats for the ises are situated, was the only He gave an impassioned apstaff, and hospital facilities. In part not looted. These incidents peal for the preaching of the addition there is a Chinese show how widespread banditry Gospel of salvation through chapel and a hostel for Chinese is, and how great is the need to Christ. The president of the guests. The old property had re-establish law and order college is an earnest Christian so increased in value since it throughout the country. and one of the graduates, who was built over forty years ago, plans to devote his life to Christhat the proceeds of its sale cov- -Ja'n'l.es Stark, Secretary of tian work, said that he did not ered the purchase of the greater the China Inland Mission. want any mission help because part of the new site and the he was a grown man with a erection of the main buildings. Hainan Anniversary good education and ought to be The Mission now has organized able to support himself. national centers in Great Bri- Hainan Mission celebrated the tain, the U. S. A., Canada and fiftieth anniversary of its be- Christian Martyrs Unafraid Australia, each with its auxili- ginning last autumn. It was in ary centers, in addition to eleven 1869 that a Danish sea captain Mr. and Mrs. R. W. Porteous Associate Mission centers in named Carl C. J eremiassen came of the China Inland Mission re- Germany, 'Switzerland, Sweden, to China to work for the Canton port the martyrdom of some Norway, Denmark and Finland. provincial authorities, pursuing Christians in one of their out- The Mission has also nearly pirates and smugglers. He came stations. When led out to be three hundred central stations in in contact with Christianity, executed, one of the leaders China. gave up his service with the called out to his brethren, "Don't government and started work as be afraid, I firmly believe that Bandit Activities in China an independent missionary in before the axe touches our necks Formosa. His experience there our spirits will be with the In Kiangsi bandit and com- showed him the need of medical Lord !" Some were offered life munist activity still prevents training, so he went to study un- if they would deny the Lord, but the reoccupation of our evac- der Dr. J. G. Kerr in Canton. they chose death. The remainuated stations. Miss H. M. His sea voyages having shown ing Christians in that outstation, Duncan, writing last November him the great need in the Island still occupied by the Reds, meet from Changshan in Chekiang of Hainan, he began to tell the secretly to worship God when- Province, just over the border message of his Lord and Mas- ever they can. Many other from northeast Kiangsi, says: ter, there alone, unaided except Christians in Kiangsi are living "The Red army is menacing the for his colporteur. Today the under the same conditions. station sixteen miles away. It Protestant churches of Hainan When Pastor Eo-yang wrote he is reported that the Reds are at- number n ear I y 5,000, with and five other brethren were tempting to get out of Kiangsi, churches, Sunday schools and starting out on an evangelistic where fighting, looting, and tak- hospitals. tour in an unevangelized secing captive is still their work. tion of the Yuanchow district. Owing to these conditions, and Encouraging Developments acting on the strong advice of Conditions in central and the Chinese, we are refraining The Rev. Charles W. Worth south Kiangsi Province are still from visiting these outstations." of the Southern Presbyterian far from satisfactory. Mission, Kiangyin, writes sever- In the province of Honan, Mr. al interesting and encouraging Traveling Christian Exhibit and Mrs. H. E. N. Ledgard 'have facts. Time was when all confound it necessary to retire to ferences were planned, led and During the past winter an ex- Yencheng owing to an attack by financed by missionaries, but hibit of books and posters on rebrigands on Shangtsai. In more and more the missionary ligious education and evangel- Shensi, Mr. and Mrs. W. J. has no other responsibility than ism to promote the Five-Year Michel, when traveling by boat, to attend, if he chooses. Recent- Movement has been shown in were held up by bandits and re- ly, a conference in 'Shanghai different cities, including Can- ton, Hangchow, Hankow and other important centers. The
exhibit is divided into twelve asm ran high, many regarding 11. There are problems of villages sections, and includes materials that meeting as the birthplace of with special clans or groups. on religious education in the the Japanese Student Christian home, the school and the church; movement. Since then every 12. There are frequent instances on religious art, religious pag- year has seen the crowd grow- where whole villages quarrel eantry and plays; church music, ing smaller, until this year in with other villages over the dithe thousand character move- Central Methodist Tabernacle vision of water rights. ment, Christian magazines, post- not more than 150 attended to ers and tracts. Wherever shown hear Dr. Yoshimune Abe, presi- 13. Occasionally we find traces of the exhibit has aroused keen in- dent of the National Y. M. C. A. old-fashioned sex customs beterest. Council, dean of Aoyama Theol- tween the young men and wom- ogical School. This marked de- en. JAPAN-CHOSEN cline in student interest in such a significant annual service is 14. The division of the population Youth and the Church causing leaders of youth in of the village into groups by Japan much serious thought. sex and age produces a pecu- The Christian Missionary liar atmosphere in the social Federation in Japan passed the The Rural-Social Problem life. following resolution regarding Youth and the C h r i s t ian The task of the religious 15. As a rule the social life is lack- Church: worker is the enlightenment of ing in all kinds of cultural fa- society. The religious worker cilities. Observing that large sections of the youth of Japan outside the Christian should take note of the social We do not agree with all the Church are turning to Communism in aspect of the rural probem. Dr. above points. After all the their eagerness for social reform, and Nasu has pointed out (in The greatest problems are moral and feeling that earnest effort should be Japanese Christian Quarterly) religious-in any community. made to bring them into contact with fifteen characteristics of the the church, we recommend: rural social p,roblem. A Prize Life of Christ 1. That, while repudiating their 1. It is difficult to make the The first life of Jesus of Nazmethods of violence and their mate- schemes for solving the social areth written by a Japanese on rialistic philosophy, we, as Christians, problem of a radical character. purely original lines has recentview these young people with sym- ly appeared. It won a prize of pathy; that we make special efforts to 2. Private ownership of the means Yen 500 in a competition open understand them and to appreciate of production is never abro- to all Japanese pastors and their zeal and self-sacrificing devo- gated. teachers, in which there were tion; that in so far as they are ready twelve contestants. The judges to labor and sacrifice on behalf of the 3. There are many quarrels rela- were unanimous in giving the victims of the present social order, tive to the means of production award. The author said: we recognize that they have qualities and conditions governing the which might well be turned into leasing of land, (the problem For a long time I yearned to give channels of Christian faith and serv- of tenancy). the Japanese the life of Jesus in their ice; that we make a serious attempt own tongue. Seventy years have to clarify the points of agreement and 4. Because of the involved nature passed since Protestantism came to disagreement between their theories of the class composition of the Japan, but I think that Christianity and practice and those of a Christian farm in Community population, is not truly Japan's own possession social order. there is no clear or deep rooted as long as they have to understand class-distinction. Jesus in terms of foreign thought. 2. That we endeavor to show so- They must have it through their own cially-minded youth that, instead of 5. When trouble breaks out, the mother-milk, the Japanese language, being" indifferent to the cause of the reaction to the quarrel perme- not merely translations. underprivileged and oppressed, which ates every aspect of daily life youth has championed, the church re- and spreads over the whole For a long time I was interested gards this as being in reality a part community. Moreover the na- only in the higher critical study of the of its own responsibility, which, ture of the struggle is more Bible, but latterly I have realized the through its prophets it has always emotional t han intellectual, need of evangelical earnestness, if the recognized, but as a whole has inade- which may lead to grave conse- Christian message is to win its way quately faced. quences. among our people.
3. That we seek to set forth more 6. The social movement is in gen- A Korean "Foreign" Missionary clearly to youth the challenge, ad- eral passive, and seeks immeventure and demand for heroic devo- iliate profit, so that it lacks The Women's Missionary Sotion, of Christian living and of loyalty permanence. ciety of the Korean Presbyterto Christ. ian Church met in September at 7. The pressure of the problem of Onseiri, amid the beautiful scen- Y Student Work in Decline over-p,opulation is felt without ery of the Diamond Mountains. having any connection with the There were about thirty dele- The Tokyo Student Christmas economic structure of society. gates, and as many others whose rally, held annually by the stu- zeal for the cause brought them dent departments of the Y. W. 8. There is an increase in extent as visitors. and the Y. M. C. A., was the of those regions where the masmallest last year since the cus- jority of the rural population Progress was shown in varitom of such a service was estab- are chronically half – unem- ous ways. Two new presbyterlished in 1925 when over 3,000 ployed. ials were admitted, making students were assembled in a eighteen in all. rented public hall and enthusi- 9. The problem of poverty, while it does not often take the form The climax of interest was which it does in the cities, is reached in the Dedication Serv- widespread and universal. ice of Miss Suno Kim, the first 10. To deal with the problem of rural labor special caution is required.
OUR WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Korean woman ever appointed mand. The day before the Sunday School are being conas a foreign missionary. She is Lieutenant left, he said, "I have ducted. to go with Korean missionaries noticed how you need more -The Missionary Review of in China, to join in the work charts and how slow the present Australia. that has been carried on in process is and have decided that Shantung Province for almost if you will give me a sample of Roman Catholic Missions twenty years by three Korean just what you want, I will make It is reported that 163,615 them on better paper and will workers-46,174 priests, brothmissionaries under the General send you a thousand." Dr. Lau- ers and sisters and 117,441 lay Assembly of the Korean Presby- bach said, "Lieutenant, this auxiliaries, catechists, teachers, terian Church. means that we shall win. This doctors, nurses, etc.-constitute will be the most literate province the force of Roman Catholic The missionary elect was in the Philippines in five years missions for which the Society from now-and perhaps the of the Propagation of the Faith, brought up in a Christian home most literate in the world." the main mission-aid organizaand is a graduate of the Presby- tion of the Church, appeals for Missionary Society in Fiji terian Academy in Seoul, and of funds. a Bible training School in Yoko- For many years the Methodist The vast missionary work Church of Australia has conhama. The Board decided to ducted work in the Fiji Islands. throughout the world includes: begin home mission work among 45,826 churches and chapels; Koreans in Manchuria, and Yen 400 was set aside for that purpose.
Saving the Babies Rece~tly a Christian Society was 309 seminaries with 9,971 stu- formed in Suva with the object dents; 31,418 schools with 1,- The Baby Clinic of the Pres- of carrying on Christian work 521,710 pupils; 691 hospitals with 283,503 patients a year; byterian Hospital in Taiku, Ko- by East Indians. rea, was two years old in Feb- Mr. John Bairagi, an earnest 1,848 dispensaries with 11,066,- ruary, the first venture of its and well-educated young man, 749 patients a year; 1,525 orkind in a city of some 80,000 was appointed pastor of the In- phanages with 81,240 orphans; people. The staff is composed of dian Church in Suva. Great 299 homes for the aged with three Americans and six Kore- success followed Mr. Bairagi's 11,332 inmates; 81 leper asyans. Lectures to mothers are work and he gathered round him lums with 14,060 lepers; 134 given by a young Korean doctor, a fine body of Indian Christians. other philanthropic institutions who makes sure that instruc- Recently dissatisfaction, which with 9,966 inmates.
tions are understood. Literature it now appears had been New Britain Training Institution on the care of children is circu- smouldering for some time, lated. Undernourishment is a broke out. The chairman of the George Brown College, Vuproblem, for little is known of district had acquainted the nairima, New Britain, which artificial feeding and cow's milk, Board with some of the diffi- was officially opened in October, either fresh or evaporated, is culties that had arisen, and his 1930, is providing equipment for prohibitive in price for the aver- letter was followed by a long and carrying forward the work of age family. A food laboratory ably-drawn-up Memorial, signed the Methodist Mission of Auis in operation. About 400 ba- by thirty-four Indian Christians stralasia. Last year it began bies have been registered since in Suva. the clinic was opened. with 205 students. A school for The main contention of the students' wives supplements the Memorial is that an undue em- work of the college, and here ISLANDS OF THE SEA phasis has been placed, and an over 50 women with their fam- unduly large proportion of the ilies assemble to improve their Lieutenant Lends a Hand funds spent, upon educational talents. Another valuable ad- and medical work, and that the junct is the Girls' School, which Dr. Frank C. Laubach, a mis- evangelization effort has been must be held in the open air for sionary of the American Board, allowed to suffer and they are lac~ of a building. Last year 95 is finding the demand for liter- desirous of carrying out a more per cent of the maintenance ature among the Moros so great vigorous evangelistic campaign. fund was subscribed by natives that the printing pTess cannot Efforts have been made to who have very meager re- keep up with it. Lieutenant bring about a reconciliation and sources. Carleton, of the United States to retain these people within the -The Missionary Review of Army, was visiting Lanao not Methodist Church, but without Australasia.
long .ago and became deeply in- success. They have now defi- What Joni Did terested in watching Dr. Laubach nitely cut themselves adrift, teach the Moros to read by his converted a house into a place Joni Uluibau was born at special new method. Lieutenant of worship, and appointed an- Matuka in the Lau group of the Carleton saw the missionaries other pastor, while Mr. Bairagi Fiji Islands, was trained in a trying to make enough of the has opened a secondary school. mission school, and at the age of large charts to serve the de- Regular Sunday services and a 21 went with a pioneer mission
party to Bougainville in the Sol- Contributions for Protestant and Australasia. No report was omon Islands. After six years Missions received from Russia. Africa and Central America show slight of fruitful service he recently In America, including Cana- losses. The figures from Asia, returned to Fiji on his first fur- da, contributions to the cause of in view of disturbed political lough, hoping to go back with a foreign missions during 1929 in- conditions, are peculiarly grati- fying. In China the churches wife to teach girls to sew, cook creased considerably, but the are substantially holding their and clean. Much of the progress continental contributions fell off. own; from India almost every In Germany, Sweden, Switzer- district reports advance. made in that part of the Solomons has been due to his effort land, France and Finland there Three World Conferences was an increase, but not large and influence. He has trans- Three great world conferlated enough hymns and pas- enough to equalize the decrease ences have come to be associated sages of Scripture to make the in Belgium, Denmark and Hol- with the official life of the churches: Stockholm. Lausanne, first book in the Teop tongue. land. America contributes 55.5 Jerusalem. The three move- The Sydney Daily Telegraph, per cent, England 22.04 per cent, ments are of universal reach and definite significance. The after Joni had stopped in that and the Continent 9.3 per cent of first represents a developing city on his way home, told his the total gifts recorded. Sums world-federation of churches on the basis of a common "life and story under the title "What Joni contributed in 1929 were as fol- work," with special attention to Did as a Christian." lows: the social application of Christ's teachings; the second, an ap- Smiling and fuzzy-headed, with America ……………• $28,525,939 proach by way of theological dis- cussion to the possible organic dark brown eyes, and over six feet Great Britain ……….. 11,172,525 unity of thought in Christen- dom; the third, an organization high, Joni Uluibau is a living example South America.. . . .. …. 3,700,184 devoted to the world missionary problem and composed of the of the work that Christian missions Germany …..•……… 1,448,517 missionary societies of the West, together with the new churches have accomplished in the South Seas. Australia …………… 1,390,292 in the East.
The simple pride of J oni in his life- Sweden …………..•.. 1,247,745 Plans are under way for the next World Conference in 1935 work; his calm native dignity; his South Africa ……….. . 681,275 after the order of Stockholm, but probably to be held in Lonfriendliness; his patience as he Denmark …………… 528,472 don. A program committee under the leadership of Dr. Wilwrestles with the intricacies of Eng- Norway ..•..•………. 481,328 liam Adams Brown suggests as general themes for consideralish, make a picture that impresses Holland ……………. 473,958 tion: itself forcibly upon the mind. New Zealand ..•……. . . 471,782 1. A survey of the more important developments in the field of Christian "I go there first when quite young," Switzerllmd …………. 292,890 life and work which have taken place since the last conference, together said J oni, "and they are dirty. They France ……..•…..•.. 155,935 with an analysis of the problems and tasks which grew out of them. do not know. Oh, how dirty. The Finland ………….•.. 118,235 2. A consideration of ways in pigs are everywhere, the houses fall Belgium •…………•.. 4,633 which the churches may cooperate down. more effectively for the purpose of realizing the aims set forth in the "I say, in Fiji we keep the pigs in a Total …•..•…….. $50,693,710 Stockholm Message of 1925. fence. It is cleaner. Get rid of the pigs. , 3. A further exploration of the Baptist World Strength basic convictions and experiences "At first they laugh at me, but I which motivate and inspire Christian The Baptist World Alliance service, both in its individual and sotalk and talk. The chiefs listen; they reports December 31, 1931, the cial aspects, with a view to: following world totals (excludsay, 'Perhaps J oni's way is right.''' ing Russia) : (a) Deepening the religious life of the members of our churches, J oni alone tamed those savages, re- Church Sunday Members School (b) Clarifying their understanding built their houses, built pig-sties, and EUrope ……… 662,410 629,332 of the moral issues which con- Asia ……….. 389,575 169,587 front the Church and the world today two sons of Teop headhunters Africa . . . . . . . . . . 85,182 32,893 today, and America: are learning to. be teachers. North …….. 9,402,007 5,536,938 (c) Promoting a spirit of self- Central and sacrifice and consecration in MISCELLANEOUS NEWS West Indies … 70,020 59,599 facing them. South …….. 42,643 39,719 Mathematics in Religion Australia and New Zealand .. 37,378 48,962 Logically-minded folk will be interested in Margaret Seebach's Total ….. 10,689,215 6,517,030 "Equations of the World's Religions." The most encouraging feature of the report is that the totals Every religion has in it some great of Sunday School pupils show truth, some fine quality; but all except an advance in every continent. one have some deficiency. We may in- The largest numerical increase dicate them by minus and plus signs, is in North America and the and the answer to the equation gives largest proportionate increase in the result in character. Only one South America. Church memshows the plus sign. bership shows an advance of ap- proximately 80,000, of which the Islam=zeal for God-love for man larger part is in North America, =Intolerance. though there is also advance in Europe, Asia, South America Confucianism = morality-compassion=Coldness.
Hinduism=search for God-service to man=Selfishness.
Buddhism=resignation-aspiration =Pessimism.
Animism=belief in the unseentrust=Superstition.
Christianity=love to God+love to man=Service.
Missionary
Recent Boo~s Reviewed for the Readers' Information Karl Barth-Prophet of a New Chris- we must find a more sympathet- hand his intellectualism and lib- tianity. By Wilhelm Pauck. 228 pp. ic interpreter. $2. Harpers. New York. 1931. eral traditions make it difficult Barth's position on certain Karl Barth at the age of for- points is too cloudy and uncer- to dissociate himself completely ty-five is beyond doubt the most tain to permit his being numchallenging figure in contempo- bered among conservative theo- from certain assumptions of the rary theology. He has been for logians; but on most of the great more than a decade the center of essentials of Christianity his critical school: on the other his a remarkable religious move- testimony seems to have the ment in Germany and recently ring of true conviction. It is candid inquiry has brought him his dynamic personality and Barth~s evangelical outlook to teaching have seized the atten- which Professor Pauck objects. face to face with the tremendous tion of religious leaders through- Here are a few of his comments : out the world. Unfortunately, realities of Christ and the Scripfew of his writings have thus "Barth's limitations are twofar been made available to Eng- fold. He speaks too bluntly in tures. The latter influence, we lish readers and this volume, supernatural terms. . . . The characterized by the publishers other limitation of his thought is should say, is clearly in the asas a "penetrating analysis," will closely connected with this: it is awaken the keen anticipation of his staunch Biblicalism. . . . He cendant. H. R. M. a wide circle. Analysis is hard- finally even declares that the ly the proper term, however, to Virgin Birth is a necessary part Seeing South America. By John T. describe the method of this au- of the creed of the Christian Faris. 223 pp. $2.50. Revell. New thor; the book is actually a criti- Church…. Barth believes that York. 1931. cism of the so-called Barthian the only possible way of thinkteaching. The sub-title is also ing about God is the way taken It used to be quite the thing misleading, since Barth is by no by the men of the Bible." He to make a swing around South means the "Prophet of aNew sums up his opinion of Barth in America and write a book about Christianity." As this volume this language : "We cannot one's trip. Dr. Faris is the only abundantly proves, his funda- avoid the conclusion that he is one we know who has done it remental appeal is to the Christi- guilty of a strange self-decep- cently. In setting down the anity of the first century. tion when he insists on pointing usual information desired by to the immediate revelation of tourists, he has fortunately done Those who have read Barth's God which is concealed in the it in a sympathetic way, not in "The Word of God and the Word biblical testimony on Jesus the old critical spirit, which of Man," recently translated by Christ. He operates with a con- showed disgust with our south- Douglas Horton, will at once ception of revelation which is ern neighbors because they did sense the unbalanced character antiquated, outlived, unreal. It not have as many bath tubs and of some of these chapters; but is the old supernaturalism, the fast express trains as we in the they will, nevertheless, find an old belief in the miraculous inarresting psychological study in tervention of an otherwise North. the 'effort of an avowedly liberal worldly, superhuman, anthropo- The traveler who wishes to theologian to deal fairly with the morphic God, which haunts positions of another brilliant him." It is clear, of course, that know a little South American leader holding contrary views. Pauck is incapable of compre- history, a few statistics, some Much of the discussion moves in hending how a brilliant theologi- geography and a few sayings of the realm of a terminology an, so thoroughly informed on important people will find this which only those versed in the the whole history of criticism as volume of interest as a guide intricacies of speculative theol- Barth, could hold to a belief in book. But frankness compels ogy would be able to follow. As the supernatural. one to express wonder at the aulight takes on the hues of the thor's failure to check historical medium through which it passes, The reader of this book will statements, one of which, for exso it is evident, if we are to real- hardly escape the impression ample, incorrectly refers to the ly know and understand Barth, outstanding Argentine patriot, that with Barth an internal con- San Martin, as follows: "In flict is in progress. On the one Peru, Jose de San Martin heard of the efforts made by the patri- [189] ots to the South, and he made up his mind to go to their as- sistance!" As to travel, the statement is made: "Even if you have but a month at your dis- posal this is sufficient to make the enticing sail to Rio de Ja- neiro, Montevideo and Buenos
Aires." Just how is this to be of one writer. While we cannot the West have confined our ataccomplished, if one is to get agree with the writer of the in- tention largely to the spread of back home, since more than six troduction that "it is the most Christianity in the Roman Emweeks are required for a round valuable and comprehensive pire and in Europe, and have trip from New York to Buenos work on religious liberty in the gained no adequate conception Aires? last hundred years", neverthe- of the progress of the Gospel less it has excellent and extend- eastward, nor of the vast Nes- The absence of any discussion ed treatments of such widely di- torian Church which by the of the political, social, education- vergent topics as Apostles of eighth century stretched from al or religious questions, which Religious Freedom, Juridical Baghdad to Peking and as far are so important to any visitor and Moral Problems of Religious south as Ceylon. Dr. Stewart to South America today, tends to Freedom, a comparison of Bud- has made it possible for us to fill a lack of flavor and human in- dhism and Christianity, An An- in part this gap in our knowlterest. alysis of the work of St. Francis edge, and to feel something of of Assisi, Constitutional Studies the original warmth and enthu- The list of reference books is regarding the Position of the curious, for out of thirty lines Vatican, and a defense of the siasm of the missionary passion given to this list over half the Jews Against Persecution. of this ancient church. He says: lines are given to Darwin's "Voy,age of the Beagle," which A supplement of 200 pages From hundreds of monasteries all is out of print. The well known contains some 35 articles on over Persia and in central and eastern volume "EI Supremo" is put various phases of religious lib- Asia, there poured forth a constant down as referring to Uruguay erty by such outstanding author- stream of ascetics, men and women, instead of Paraguay. No book ities as Cavour, Louis Marshall who had completed their three years' on either Brazil or Argentina is and William H. Taft. Papers in probationary trainIng and now went mentioned and none by a Latin connection with the One Hun- forth in obedience to our Lord's com- American author. dred and Fiftieth anniversary of mand, seeking to carry the Gospel to the Constitutional Establish- the end of the earth or to found new What might have been a help- ment of Religious Liberty in the monasteries which in turn would be ful up-to-date travel book has United States give a splendid ac- training schools for future generations been limited in usefulness by a count of the early debates on the of devotees. Some of them became too hasty preparation. relations between Church and "solitaries" or "anchorites," giving State and the way this question themselves over mostly to prayer and S.G.r. has been gradually worked out intercession. . . . Others taking in this country. The relation of thetr lives in their hands went forth, God in Freedom-Studies in the Rela- the League of Nations to Reli- not knowing whither they went, but tion between Church and State. gious Liberty is also discussed. content to follow where God might By Luigi Luzzatti. $5. Macmillan. lead . . . supporting themselves New York. 1931. Dr. Luzzatti (1841-1927) was by the labor of their hands Dr subsist- an Italian Jew, whose studies led ing on roots and fruits or on the grass Luigi Luzzatti was one of the him into the closest sympathy of the field. They counted no trouble chief citizens of Italy during the with Christianity and gave him too great, no hardship too severe, as last half century. The one great a great advantage as a neutral long as they might share in the cause to which he devoted his su- student. His admiration for St. spreading abroad of the message of perior talents as a scholar and Francis is significant of his full salvation for all mankind. statesman may be epitomized in broad culture and noble soul. this principle: all human prog- They penetrated into almost ress and happiness are derived S.G.r. every part of Asia and were able from liberty of thought and con- to make converts and found science. Nestorian Missionary Enterprise-A Church on Fire. By John Stewart. churches and establish bishop- This volume contains much in- Map. 323 pp. Rs. 4. Christian Lit- ries everywhere they went. teresting material never before erature Society. Madras. 1931. pub lis h e d. Included in its The author uses freely the resketches of champions of reli- Many years as a missionary cently published studies of Dr. gious liberty are distinguished of the United Free Church of Mingana of Manchester and the representatives of the cause be- Scotland in South India, brought other principal sources. In his longing to India, Persia, China, the author of this volume into effort to give the reader all the Japan, the Ottoman Empire, and contact with the Syrian Christhe early Church Fathers as well tians. He became interested in known facts he has made some as its great exponents in Euro- the history of the great "Church of his pages rather heavy, and pean and American his tor y. of the East" (the Nestorian one wishes that much of this ma- Adequate treatment is also given Church) of which they are a terial might have been included to the movements for the separa- branch, and in this interesting in appendices. In many places, tion of State and Church in our volume he has made available however, the story is told in a own day in France, Scotland, for English readers the results very interesting fashion. There Wales, and other lands. of his studies. Most of us who are several inaccuracies in de- have studied church history in tails, such as, the statement that This is a kind of encyclopedia the tomb of Esther is in Tabriz, on the subject of religious free- and that the medical school of dom, except that it is the opinion Gondisapor was in the Punjab (it is in Persia). One is inclined to feel that, in his enthusiasm for the glorious past of the
OUR MISSIONARY BOOKSHELF
Church of the East, Dr. Stewart that flow out to the mind of to- secular instruction is whether it has painted the picture of its is right to use missionary money character and achievements in day. Perhaps, therefore, there too vivid colors. But though the and Christian workers merely to Christians of Central Asia may are phases of thought and exnot have been as numerous or as teach arithmetic, geography, hisloyal as some of the records rep- pression which will be transi- tory, and similar subjects. It is resent them, still the fact re- true that the early church spent mains that the Nestorian Church tory. Perhaps there are some its time who II y in Christian was able to do what modern mis- preaching and teaching, wit h sions have not yet accomplished, enduring values and permanent some healing work. It is open to namely, to establish a living, question, however, whether misself-propagating church in al- notes lost for the time in the new sion work, if confined strictly to most every part of Asia. this apostolic method would pro- emphasis. How could it be oth- duce the per man e n t results The almost complete disap- sought in our complex modern pearance of this Church from erwise? But it would be hard to world. As a rule the Gospel of Asia some five hundred years Christ functions more effectiveago was due chiefly to persecu- find more glorious love of Christ ly in a cultured mind than in an tion, compromise with other re- ignorant one. ligions, and the Mongol invasion. or clearer recognition of His Dr. Stewart might have added It is generally conceded in the ignorance and corruption of glory and grace, His uniqueness missionary circles that Christian the clergy, as pictured in "Wil- evangelism should be the central liam Rubruck's Journey to Tar- and His sufficiency, His "alone- factor in all work on mission tary," and to the vast distances fields-whether through preachseparating the churches of the ness," His "absolute value." Dr. ing, class room activities, medi- Far East from their headquar- cal service, industrial work, or in ters in Mesopotamia. Buttrick knows that the Gospel the preparation of literature.
Two important f act s are is not a human aspiration or in- Missionaries deal not merely brought out in Dr. Stewart's with the ears of man but with book: (1) Many of the elements vention but "an eternal Gospel, their entire personalities. One in the non-Christian religions hundred years ago it was generwhich seem to resemble Chris- from everlasting to everlasting ally considered sufficient to protian ideas are really derived claim the good news of Christ; from Christianity, and can, in the overture of God to men in today we see how important it many instances, be traced back is to prepare the way for the to the time when the Nestorian Christ Jesus." "Jesus came Gospel and to train Christians Church was influential in India to assume responsibility of and the East. (2) When Chris- preaching." Dr. Buttrick sees leadership. The full message of tianity effected a compromise Christ must be applied in the with other religions in India and that the mission of the preacher classroom, the dispensary, the China, it ceased to be mission- today is to preach Jesus Christ, work shop, in social life, and in ary, and soon disappeared. The the home as well as in the fate of the Church of the East is and that no one will ever exhaust Church. a warning to all missionaries to lay a true foundation which this message or be able to do J.F. R. nothin!!, can overthrow. more than make a new attempt "Yes, But-" The Bankruptcy of W.M.M. Apologetics. By Willard L. Sperry. to open the riches of the glory Harper & Bros. New York. 185 Jesus Came Preaching. By George A. pp. $2.00. Buttrick. 8 vo. 239 pp. $2.50. of Christ to men. The lectures Scribners. New York. 1931. The title of the book is a clever are a fresh and sincere and able phrase coined by Johann Semler Those who heard the "Yale of Halle, who lived at the begin- Lectures on Preaching" for 1931 effort to set forth anew and for ning of the era of destructive and had heard many other lec- criticism of the G 0 s pel s. He tures in this famous series our time and especially for the feared the consequences for his thought that no lecturer had own faith. His type of mind permade a deeper impression than preachers in our time, the glory sists, and this book itself raises Dr. Buttrick since Sylvester questions but does not answer Horne. Dr. Buttrick, in trying of God as it shone in the face of them. The contents deal with reto speak to the mind of this day, ligion, theology, and truth, all of uses the vocabulary, the fashion Jesus Christ. R. E. S. which are considered as standof speech, the approach, the ing at the cross-roads. The auforms of statement and appeal Education and the Missionary Task. thor, who is Dean of the Theo- By a Mission Secretary. 33 pp. logical School at Harvard Uni- 6d. World Dominion Press. Lon- don. 1931.
This address, delivered at an annual conference in England, takes the position that we must get back to more direct evangel- ism in all missionary work. This is a world-wide issue and repre- sents a resurgence of feeling in some sections of the Church. Again and again evangelism has been stressed as the only way to win non-Christians to disciple- ship, and the only justification for soliciting funds for the sup- port of the work. Probably there would be a general agreement among the missionary-minded in putting evangelism first and, no doubt, it should be emphasized more than it has been. Mission- aries are sent forth to win dis- ciples to Christ by preaching the Gospel, and to build up a body of believers by gathering them into Christian churches.
The question raised regarding
versity, asks such questions as, the mingling with Hebrew re- tions, games, verses, stories and whence liberalism? whither lib- ligion of foreign s t rea m s of adventures offered in this ateralism? and what is the place thought, and especially of the tractive volume. The voyagers of Jesus in His own religion? speculations which had come in travel to Africa, India, the Med- The book contains frank and from Persia. It was due still iterranean I and s, Japan and courageous criticism, but its ten- more to the unfolding of great China, seeing strange sights, dency is against super-human ideas which had always been im- hearing new sounds, and becomreligion. The least satisfactory plicit in Hebrew religion itself." ing acquainted with children of chapter is the one dealing with The second part of the book, other races. The stories and the place of Jesus in Christian- d e a lin g specifically with the poems have no Christian tone or ity. e. g.: teaching of Jesus regarding the message. They have little mean- "Browning say s somewhere Kingdom, contains much that is ing and apparently no purpose that the acknowledgment of God excellent. Finally, the author except to amuse and awaken a in Christ solves for us all ques- traces the later development of sense of fellowship with children tions in the universe. That is a the kingdom and its mission in of other races. gross overstatement of the fact. the establishment of the church The acknowledgment of God in and the proclamation of a world- Escape. By Francesco Fausto Nitti. Christ may encourage us to place wide message. 8 vo. 267 pp. $2.50. Putnam. a particular interpretation upon S. M. Z. New York. 1931.
many of the processes of nature Charles Lewis Slattery. By Howard Opinions differ about Premier and history, but it simply does Chandler Robbins. 400 pp. $2.50. Mussolini. To some he is almost not answer countless questions Harpers. New York. 1931. a God; to others he is a demon. that the human mind must ask Francesco Fausto Nitti, the son and for which it must try to find As rector of Grace Protestant of a Methodist clergyman and an answer. I write down this the nephew of a former premier reversed doctrine of the divinity Episcopal Church, New York, of Italy, shares the latter opinof Christ, that God must be at ion. He entered the World War least as good as Jesus is, as too Bishop Slattery made a pro- when only fifteen. Later he bepatently apologetic and too com- came an ardent advocate of deplacently indifferent to the hon- found impression upon the re- mocracy and liberty. He was a est brain work of the world to be bank employee and student and of any permanent help." ligious life of that great city, was opposed to Mussolini's auto- cratic dictatorship and the forci- S. M.Z. and when Bishop Lawrence re- ble suppression of all opponents. He was not in politics but was The KingdOm of God in the New Tes- tired as Bishop of the Diocese of arrested and sentenced without tament. By Ernest F. Scott, D. D. hearing, trial or conviction to 197 pp. $1.75. Macmillan. New Massachusetts, Dr. Slattery was five years confinement in one of York. the many prison islands. After chosen as his successor. In this suffering many trials, indigni- This scholarly volume has only ties and inj ustices he, and two indirect bearing on the mission- wide field he showed gifts of companions, escaped from Liary enterprise. Its chief aim is pari, Italy'S "Devil's Island," to determine how Jesus con- leadership and qualities of and made their way to Paris. ceived of the Kingdom of God. The story of the experiences and The author, professor of New Christian character that won the the audacious flight for freedom Testament C r i tic ism in the is thrilling. The picture given Union Theological Seminary, ap- respect and affection of people of Mussolini and the reign of proaches the subject from the terror under his regime is that standpoint of liberal Christian- of all religious beliefs. He pub- of a ruthless machine that mows ity. He says, "Thus from the down all that opposes its progidea of J ahve as King of Israel lished more than a score of ress. Evidently there is no libarose that of the one God, who erty in Italy for those who are reigns over all nations and who books in the field of religion and not Fascisti. Mussolini is a powmade and governs the universe." erful autocrat who is determined He traces the historical back- biography, was fo:: many years to make Italy a powerful nation, ground of the conception of the but he rules by fear and force kingdom; emphasizes the influ- Chairman of the Church Conence on Jewish thought of Persian mythology and Rabbinical gress in the United States, Chairman of the Commission on the Revision of the Book of Com- mon Prayer, an Overseer of Harvard College, and a Trustee of Boston University, Andover, and Wellesley College.
Dr. Robbins has done much more than describe the external facts of Bishop Slattery's life.
His picture is that of a man with a genius for friendship, a devo- tion to his daily tasks, and an unaffected joyousness in living.
This kind of biography enriches the mental and spiritual life of the reader. A. J. B.
apocalyptic. Drawing the conclu- The Treasure Ship Sails East. IlIus. and not by love and justice. sion that "Jesus, then, fell heir 8 vo. 127 pp. $2. Macmillan. Many of the strongest, most into a conception which had passed New York. 1931. telligent, noblest Italians have through a long development in Boys and girls love adventure. been mercilessly imprisoned, the religion of Israel. . . . This Primary children will be at- banished or killed. The Fascisti development was partly due to tracted by the colorful illustra- need the Gospel of Christ.
Books Negroes of Afric:a–:.History and Cul-
ture. Maurice Delafasse. 313 pp. $3.15. Associated Publishers. Wash- Announcins I New Ind ~ to the FuIl.· Striking addresses ington. 1931. ThorouShly Reviled Edition of by John McNeill. 208 pp. 28., 6d. The Remaking of Man in Africa. J. The Progress of Pickering "Inglis. London. 1931. H. Oldham and B. D. Gibson. 84 The Centennial of the Western For- pp. 28., 6d. Oxford University eign Missionary Society. Edited by Press. London. 1931. World -Wide Missions James A. Kelso. 234 pp. Commit- Streams in the Desert. Mrs. Chas. E. tee of Pittsburgh Presbytery. Pitts- Cowman. 378 pp. $1.50. Oriental B, Ihe burgh. 1931. . Missionary Society. Los Angeles. Schoolgirls Together. Mrs. E. Weller. Rev. Robert HIli Glovw, M. D., F.R.G.S. Calendar-Jewish and Christian. The 18. China Inland Mission. Lon- Late S. B. Rohold. 110 pp. 40 don. 1931. Ho.e DIrector, Chlnelalencl MI…on cents. Mt. Carmel Bible School. A _preh..llye hlltory ad ….._ book Ihlt mould be In Ihe IIbr.., 01 "'err one Inl. . .eeI In .1…0…. A ……… ad • Hudson Taylor's Legacy. Marshall clllllle wrlllen b, • r..1.1"'0…, ……… Haifa. 1931. Curing the Inc u r a b I e. Winifred Bromhall. 167 pp. 28., 6d. China "For yed" there hdS been. growlns de…nd Combes. 35 pp. 6d. Church Mis- Inland Mission. London. 1931. for such d mlulon.ry text-book IS this. It Is an sionary Society. London. 1931. Under Seven Congo Kings. R. H. Indlspenwble work for dll deslrlns concl.c In- Carson Graham. 293 pp. 68. Carey formation on every PMse of mllSiolllry en- Chief Among the Brethren. Compiled Press. London. delYOr. It "/IRS true to the Gospel Mawsc," by H. Pickering. 223 pp. 38., 6d. -SUNDAY SCHOOL TIMES Pickering & Inglis. London. 1981. A Way of Escape. Raymond B. Fos- With Maps, Full Indices, Bibliography, Samuel Crowther of Nigeria. Jesse dick. 15 pp. Princeton University Etc., Octavo. 418 Pages, $2.50 Press. Prineeton. 1931. Page. 191 pp. 28. Pickering & RlY Long a Rlchlrd R. Smlth~ Inc. Inglis. London. 1931. Year Book of Miseions. 68 pp. 35c. The Christian Mission in Rural India. American Board of Commissioners 12 Eest 4hl Street. NC1II! YotIc Kenyon L. Butterfield. 160 pp. In- for Foreign Missions. Boston. 1931. ternational Missionary Council. New Persona' Items York. 1931. Annual Report of the Panjab Mission, Clever Country. Caroline Gardner. 158 1930-S1. Wesleyan Mission Press. Myscire. 1931.
pp. $1.50. Revell. New York. (Continued from Bd C01JM') 1931. Fanny Crosby. John Hawthorne. 64 pp. 18. Pickering" Inglis. Lon- Obituary Notes The Rev. James L. Kennedy, a mis- don. 1931. sionary of the Methodist Episcopal From Genesis to Revelation. S. Ridout. Mrs. J. J. Lucas, of India, for over Church, South, has rounded out a h81f . 261 pp. 28., 6d. Pickering" In- sixty years a missionary of the Amer- century of service in Brazil. His ican Presbyterian Church in India, range of activities includes that of glis. LondDn. 1931. died at the home of her son, Dr. E. J. evangelist, pastor, treasurer, schoo] His Bequest-The Believer's Riches in Lucas, in Lahore, on December 4th. president and author of A History of Her husband, Dr. J. J. Lucas, who Methodism in Brazil (in Portuguese). Trust. Norman B. Harrison. 48 survives, has had a similar long term pp. Art cover, 25 cents; gift edi- of service in India. Mrs. Lucas was … … … , tion, 40 cents. B. I. C. Assn. Chi- born in Vermont and in India served eago. 1931. successively in Mainpuri, Fatehgar, Dr. Kenyon L. Butterfield, who for How to Master the Bible. Martin Saharanpur and Allahabad. Since the past two years has served as coun- Anstey. 204 pp. 28., 6d. Picker- 1923, when they resigned after fifty selor on rural work for the inter- ing & Inglis. London. 1981. years of active service, Dr. and Mrs. national Missionary Council, and in Knowing the Bible. Raymond C. Knox. Lucas have lived in Landour, North that capacity has visij;ed India, China, 277 pp. $1.75. Macmillan. New India. Among their children, who call Korea and the Philippine Islands, has York. 1931. them blessed, are Dr. Wm. P. Lucas, been appointed for another year to .Missions in the Bible. J. B. Lawrence. of California; Mrs. Frances Hender- lecture and write. He plans to con- 186 pp. 75 cents, cloth; 50 eents, son of Ohio State University, and sult with mission boards regarding the paper. Southern Baptist Conven- Dr. Edmund D. Lucas, President of strengthening of rural work in mis- tion. Atlanta. 1932. Forman Christian College, Lahore. The Rural Mission of the Church in On her eightieth birthday Mrs. Lucas sion lands. … … … Eastern Asia. Kenyon L. Butter- took her first ride in an airplane at Beld. 222 pp. International Mission- Allahabad. The Rev. James W. Hawkes, on ary Council. New York. 1931. November 1, 1931, completed 50 years World Clock. A colored chart. Thomas of missionary service in Persia. He T. Smith. 25 cents each; $15 per is an outstanding scholar of Persian, 100. Thos. T. Smith. Marion, Ind. William Knowles Cooper, for twen- having assisted in a revision of the Missionary Heroines in Eastern Lands. ty years (1909-1929) the General Sec- Persian Bible, and is the author of a E. R. Pitman. 191 pp. 28. Pick- retary of the Y. M. C. A. in Wash- new Persian Bible Dictionary. ering & Inglis. London. 1931. ington, D. C., died at his home there … … … To Mother: Memory Blossoms. Caro- on January 19th at the age of sixty- four. Mr. Cooper was born in Phila- The Rev. Jesse M. Bader, D. D., is lyn Nicholson Payson. 48 pp. $1. delphia in 1867 and was at different the new Field Secretary for Evange- Wheelock Pub. Co. Boston. 1931. times secretary of the Y. M. C. A. Marches of the North. E. Alexander in Brooklyn, New York and in Spring- lism in the Federal Council of Powell. Illus. 311 pp. $4. Cen- Beld, Mass. He rendered valuable Churches. Dr. Bader's interest in tUry. New York. 1931. service on the Laymen's Council of evangelism has taken him to most of Missions Matching the Hour. Stephen Congregational Churches, with the the English-speaking world, including J. Corey. 184 pp. Cokesbury Press. Boy Scouts of America, the Federal Nashville. 1931. Council of Churches and other Chris- Great Britain, New Zealand and Aus- New Life Through God. Toyohiko tian organizations. tralia.· Kagawa. 210 pp. $1.50. Revell. … … … New York. 1931. Dr. W. T. Anderson, a veteran mis- Paterson of Hebron. W. Ewing. Illus. sionary of the United Presbyterian' The Rev. William S. Beard retired 2056 pp. 88., 6d. James Clarke " Mission in India, died January 21st February 1st as executive secretary at Sialkot, India. Mr. Anderson was of the Commission on Missions of o. London. preparing to return to America when the Congregational and Christian 'Jlae Pilgrim Church. E. H. Broad- he was called "home." Churches. In the last twelve years Mr. Beard has directed campaigns !urst. 406 pp. 78., 6d. Pickering which have collected large sums for ur; Inglis. London. 1931. foreign missions.
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The Missionary Review of the World — June 1931
ONARY
Nearly Seven MiDion LET YOUR GIfT Dollars in to Foreign Missions Annuity Agreements ·PAY YOU A LIFE INCOME Issued By You can make a generous gift to foreign mis- The Mission Boards of the sions and have a needed income for yourself Methodist Episcopal Church and others from the money you give by the WHY? Annuity Gift Plan Because the Annuity Plan Provides: This plan relieves you of uncertainty and worry caused by changing values of invested A sound investment funds and assures yoU a fixed income of A guaranteed income for life A gift to Home and Foreign Missions 4!% to 9% per year For further information write: for the rest of your life W. J. ELLIOTT, Treasurer, Board of A reserve fund of over $1,500.000 guarantees the prompt payment of annuities to you. Home Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1701 Arch Protect yourself against loss through St., Philadelphia, Pa., or un wise i"1vestmentsand at the same time MORRIS W. EHNES, Treasurer, Board help s~nd the gospel to all the wurld. of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 150 Fifth Avenue, New For full 1·n./ormation write York, N. Y. Erne.t F. Hall» Secretary.. Dept. of Annuiti•• BOARD -OF FOREIGN MISSIONS of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
IS6 Fifth Avenue, New York "No One Loves a Leper"
groaned the blind leper, Durdeshi, who had been cruelly driven from home by family and friends, and had traveled 60 weary miles in a rickety cart over rough roads, to reach a Leper Mission Hospital.
"There are many who love you-and God loves you, too," was the kind reply.
"Vho is this God and who are these people who can love a poor blind leper?"
he asked.
****** vVeeks passed; Durdeshi's pain-racked body was eased. He attended the Mission church services to find out about the strange God who had told his followers to "Cleanse the lepers."
Soon he decl..red his eagerness to be a fotIower of this loving Christ. Now his face shines -not alone with the bright tropical sun-but with joy and peace and health. All because Christ taught his followers to love and care for the 1 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – l lepers! At 150 Leper Colonies in 40 countries, the I AMERICAN MISSION TO LEPERS, Inc. Mission to Lepers is giving physical and Room 1119 K, 156 Fifth Ave., New York spiritual aid to these sufferers. But I I enclose $………… to show that some one I loves a leper.
BECAUSE OF LACK OF FUNDS I MANY MUST BE TURNED AWAY I Name …………………•.•…..••..•…..
-still believing as Durdeshi did, that "No I one loves a leper:' I Address ………….•………•….•••.••. I IJleasp IlWIltion THE lIISHIO~.RY IOJVIEW or.' THE ~ORL]) in writing- to uc1'~('rtisf'rs. COMING EVENTS REVIEW OF THE WORLD June 3-8-NoRTHERN BAPTIST CONVEN- TION, Kansas City, Mo. DELAYAN L. PIERSON, Editor June 4-GENERAL SYNOD, REFORMED CONTENTS-June, 1931 CHURCH IN AMERICA, Asbury Park, N. J. Page IS EVANGELISM OUT OF DATE ….. . June 8-20-INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. Under the joint auspices ………•……… ROBERT E. SPEER 405 of the American Friends Service Committee and one of the Friends' MEET THESE AFRICAN GRANNIES .. Colleges near Philadelphia. For in- formation write to American Friends . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . • MRS. DONAI,D h~RASER 409 Service Committee, 20 South 12th St., Philadelphia. ARE OUR MISSIONARY METHODS WRONG? …..•.. PAUL W. HARRISON 415 June 19-23–CONVENTION, WOMEN'S GEN- ERAL MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF THE WHEN CUBA "FELL AMONG THIEVES" UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH at …………… HUGH THOlllSON KERR 421 Everett, Wash.
FOLLOWING STANLEY AFTER FIFTY June 20-30-THE DECENNIAL CONFER- YEARS ….. MRS. .JOHN M. SPRINGER 426 ENCE OF FOREIGN MISSIONS, Hotch- kiss School, Lakeville, Connecticut. SIAM-THE LAND OF KING PRAJAD· HIPOK ….. : …… GEORGE T. SCOTT 431 June 22-25-INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AFRICAN CHILDREN, Geneva, THE PRESENT CRISIS IN MISSION Switzerland. LANDS …………….. THE EDITOR 435 June 22-26 – WORLD CONFERENCE ON AN UNHOLY FESTIVAL IN INDIA .,. STEWARDSHIP. For information com- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IVA M. FISH 444 municate with the Rev. John A. Ingham, D.D., Progress Council, 25 MISS SUSIE SORAB.JI OF POONA …. 445 East 22d Street, New York City. METHODS FOR WORKERS ……… . June 25-July 3-GENERAL CONVENTION, . . . . " EDITED RY MRS. F. I. JOHNSON 447 CONGREGATIONAL AND CHRISTIAN WOMAN'S HOME AND FOREIGN MIS- CHURCHES, Seattle, Wash• SI()N BULLETIN ……………… 455 June 26-July 6-M. E. M. CONFERENCE, Silver Bay, N. Y. WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK ………… 461 BOOKS WORTH READINC' ……….. 477 June 29-July 6 – GENEVA SUMMER •SCHOOL OF MISSIONS at Geneva, Wisc. For information address: Mrs. George P. Lottich, 3253 Wilson Ave., Chicago, ID.
TERMS.-$2.50 a year. ($2.00 in clubs 01 WANTED-AN ORGAN FOR TAIKU five.) Foreign postage, 50 cents. Single copies, 25 cents. Published monthly. Copyrighted, "Do you know of someone who can give an organ to the Nam San church 1931, by MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMp at Taiku 1" writes Rev. Henry M. Bruen, of the Presbyterian Mission in Korea. PANY, INC. All rights reserved. This congregation has recently completed a new church building and just before THE MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING Christmas raised 1,800 yen, which repre- COMPANY, INC. sents much sacrificial gi'ling, and they still need yen 1,700 to wipe out the defi- RonmaT E. SP:BlBlB} President cit. Pastor Yi and his people are very eager to have a good organ to help with 'WILLIAlII I. CHAMBERLAIN, Vlce-Pre.Ment the music-one that has been in use will be best as such a gift can be entered free DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Secretary of duty. If you can make such a gift or WALTER McDOUGALlJ, Treasurer know of someone who will, please write to the Rev. Henry M. Bruen, and send Publication Office. lid & Reily Sts., Harrisburg, the organ to The American Presbyterian Pa. 25c a copy. $2.50 a year. Mission, Taiku, Chosen. Mark "gift" and used, or not new. It may be for- Editorial and Business Omce, 156 Fifth Avenue, warded through The Presbyterian Board New York City of Foreign Missions, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York. Entered as second·class matter lit the Post Omce, Harrisburg, PII., under Act of March 3, 1879. PERSONALS time in Africa and in India, also making a brief visit to the Philippines, China, MRS. AIJA LEE, at the age of seventy- Korea and Japan. . five still carries on her loving work for * ,. .. the children of India. With her husband, the Rev. D. H. Lee, she established the MISS VICTORIA E. MACARTHUR, M.D., Lee Memorial Mission in Calcutta in memory of their six children who were Presbyterian missionary in India since killed when a mountainside gave way in 1899, has been awarded the Kaiser-I. Darjeling. Hind medal.· Dr. MacArthur is in charge *** of the Mary Wanless Hospital- MR. W. J. W. ROOME, recently left ,. * … London for Africa which he has crossed from east to west and back ten or twelve of RKEVr?.oACNDoaMstRDS.isWtrAicLtT, EaRreBr.eWtuIrLnLiInAgMtS~ times. He was born in Birmingilam, Amenca because of disturbed conditions England, on April 16, 1865, son of the in Liberia. Rev. W. J. B. Roome. Since he retired from business as an architect, at the * * .. age of fifty, he has made many mission- DR. RALPH E. DIFFENDORFER, correary journeys on behalf of the British sponding secretary of the Methodist and Foreign Bible Society. He has now gone out as an advance guard for a party Episcopal Board of Fmeign Missions, of missionary pioneers on behalf of the Heart of Africa Mission. who has been in Asia as consultant to the Laymen's Missionary Inquiry, re- turned to the United States on April 8.
OBITUARY *** MISS SUSIE SORABJI, Principal of the THE REV. WILLIAM H. MCCANCE, for- St. Helena High School, Poona, India, merly a missionary in India under the died on March 15th. She was the daugh- American Board of Commissioners, has been elected Associate Secretary of the ter of Rev. Sorabji Kharsedji, a famous Committee of Reference and Counsel of Christian converted Parsee. the Foreign Missions Conference. * .. * MISS EMILY N. FORMAN, a missionary of the Board of Missions of the Presby- *** terian Church in India, died on April MR. GEORGE AZARIAH, the second son of the Bishop of Dornakal, was one of 11th in Louisville, Ky. She was on furtwenty-one men who were ordained to the order of deacon recently in India. lough from the mission field and since He is going to work in the TinneveJly 1892 had been principal of the Presby- Diocese, where his grandfather lived and terian mission school at Fatehgarh, In- dia. .. ,. … .. .. worked some years ago. THE REV. F. A. STEVEN, who went to '" China in 1883 and had given forty-eight DR. J. H. RITSON, after 31 years as years of his life in service f{)r the evan- gelization of the Chinese, died recently. Secretary of the British and Foreign A few weeks before Mr. Steven passed Bible Society, has resigned because of away, the Rev. Stanley Smith, who went out to China in 1885 with Mr. D. E. illness. *~ * Hoste, W. W. Cassels and other members of the famous "Cambridge Seven," died. DR. IDA B. S. SCUDDER, niece of Dr. Mr. Smith had severed his connection with the China Inland Mission about Ida Scudder, has joined the staff of the twenty-five years ago.
Woman's Medical College at Vellore, India. This makes fifteen Scudders in the mission fields of India.
** *** Mit. J. MERLE DAVIS, Secretary of the MRS. FREDERICK G. BOWIE, of the Scotrecently created Department of Social tish Mission at Tangoa, New Hebrides, and Industrial Research and Counsel, died January 19th, as the result of blood under the International Missionary poisoning. Council, was pre!!ent at a meeting of the Committee on Reference and Counsel and * explained the work and plans of the Department in considerable detail. He has A CORRECTION returned to Geneva. Dr. Melvin Grove Kyle, the well-known archreologist, calls our attention to an *** error in our February number (pages 130 to 131) referring to an ancient lamp MR. LESLIE B. Moss, Secretary of the and an alleged discovery of a tablet with Committee of Reference and Counsel has an inscription to show that these were been authorized to visit some of the mis- foot lamps. Dr. Kyle says that this story sion fields. Suggestions regarding work is an absolute fabrication, containing no that ought to be studied on such a trip truth so far as he is concerned. The will be heartily welcomed. He anticipates spending a major portion of the statement was quoted from "The Banner."
"ORANNIES" AT HOME-(SEE PAGE
HET,PING TO MAKE RETTER AFUTCANS AT 'rHE I,QUnON MTSfHON HOSPTTAl,
LIV, No.6 June
THE'MISSIONARY 1f,eWO .. ~~ IS EVANGELISM OUT OF DATE BY ROBERT E. SPEER, D.D., New York Author of "Some Lit'ing Issucs/' Etc.
T HAT depends on what we pose of true open conversion as a mean by evangelism. If we definite part of the missionary aim mean some particular method but there are others who have no of making the Gospel known and zeal to do so. They say that it is of trying to win men to Christian no part of their effort to get Hill- faith, undoubtedly that method dus to give up Hinduism and to may become ineffective and anti- become Christians, or Buddhists to quated. But if we mean not some abandon Buddhism and become particular method but the thing it- Christians, but that their desire is self, then it will never become out to see men become better men and of date. Men who believe the Gos- to find God where they are. They pel will proclaim it, and will do so wish to see Hinduism and Budwith a view to leading other men dhism christianized and not to see deliberately to accept Jesus Christ Hindus and Buddhists made Chrisas their Lord and Saviour and to tians.
become His disciples. Mr. Gandhi has of late carried It is not to be denied, however, this idea to the limit. He declares that conversion from one religion that there are many in the church to another is wrong and he is esand out of the church today who pecially critical of Christian misdisavow or discredit the idea of sions and of their schools and evangelism and who do regard it hospitals because they are trying as out of date, meaning by evan- to convert men to the Christian gelism the effort to make men faith. The Indian Social Reformer Christian, to get them to accept has published a number of articles and confess Christ and to join the maintaining this position and its Christian church. A recent mis- editor, Mr. Natarajan, one of the sionary magazine article declares best men in India, has gone so far of missionary policy in India, "Our as to appeal for political prohibiprimary aim is not to bring Indians tion of religious proselytism. Here to outward conformity to a rite or to membership in the visible are his very words in his issue of church." Probably the writer of this particular article would give March 29, 1930: a meaning to the word "primary" The conception of sovereignty in a which would still retain the pur- monarchy is not a wholly secular one, 405
and there must be something in the cause all these religions had a beconditions attaching to it to indicate ginning. If there can be no cona spiritual contact between the sov- version from an old faith to a new, ereign and the subject. It is against what warrant was there for Islam the immemorial tradition of India to or Buddhism or all modern forms impose a disability on any religion. of Hinduism in the first instance? We cannot ask that the King of the Indian Dominion should not profess As a matter of fact the issue the Christian faith. But we think really turns on what we conceive India may and should ask that the Christianity to be and whether we Coronation Oath should contain a sol- believe that we have in Christ emn undertaking on the part of the something that every man ought sovereign to be the protector of the to have. If we conceive Christianancient religious faiths of this coun- ity to be the universal and unique try. The present principle of religious and indispensable message of the neutrality must be replaced by a prin- salvation wrought for the world in ciple of active and appreciative pro- Christ and in Him alone, and if we tection. The most important conse- see in Christ the only way to the quence of the change will be that Father, the only Light of the world, organized religious pro·selytism, hav- the Way, the Truth and the Life, ing for its purpose the seduction of then we cannot help ourselves. We his majesty's subjects from their an- must make Him known with the urgent desire to have Him accepted cestral faiths will be barred, as the by all men and to have all men King being the protector of all reli- unite themselves to Him and to gions, cannot let one of them wage one another in Him. war against another. This is the missionary aim. As But the principles involved in several of our foreign mission this view are untenable. In the boards have put it in their manfirst place such a view freezes hu- uals: man thought. There can be no change. What one has believed or The supreme and controlling aim of what one's fathers have believed Foreign Missions is to make the Lord we must continue to believe. In Jesus Christ known to all men as their the second place, if it is replied Divine Saviour and to persuade them that only religion is in mind, one to become His disciples; to gather answers that religious truth is not these disciples into Chri·stian churches different from other truth. If we which shall be self-propagating, selfare bound to give up what is er- supporting, self-governing; to cooproneous in our ideas of physics or erate, so long as neces·sary, with these geography or philosophy when we churches in the evangelizing of their find the truth, we are bound like- countrymen, and in bringing to bear wise to exchange error for truth in on all human life the spirit and prinreligion. In the third place, if it ciples of Christ. is said that religious truth is unattainable or unprovable, we reply And this ideal includes the defithat our conviction is otherwise, nite association of men in the open but that if it is so then there can and declared fellowship of the surely be no warrant for holding Christian church. All permeation fast to our old religion just be- of life and thought by the Chriscause it is old. In the fourth place tian spirit, all movement of the this view is self contradictory, be- national mind toward Christ and acceptance of His ideals is to the
IS EVANGELISM OUT OF DATE
good. All development of person- disembodied national influence.
alities Christward, whether they Well, it cannot. Alas! this kind separate themselves from old loy- of religious genius is not confined alties and follow Christ openly and to China. It has been one of the alone or not, is hopeful. But these hindrances and obstacles in the are not enough. Some think they way of the church always and are. In some mission fields one everywhere.
meets with the idea that Christian- Albert Schweitzer deals with ity can exist without any organized this idea of a partial evangelism in a striking passage in "On the Edge body and especially without any of the Primeval Forest." He is local congregational organization. contrasting the Protestant and Ro- There are some indeed who think man Catholic missionary policies that this idea is to be one of the and says: contributions of the "Chinese religious genius," which as one Chi- If I had to distinguish between the nese writer says, "insists that aims which the two keep before them, I should say the Protestant mission religion should be left to individual puts in the first place the building up inclination and achievement with- of Christian personalities, while the out organized propaganda and pub- Catholic has in mind before all else lic worship of any sort."" The the establishment on solid foundations preface to the "China Christian of a church. The former object is the Year Book" for 1926 calls atten- higher one, but it does not take suf· tion to this tendency in the Chi- nese Christian mind. Summariz- ficient account of realities. To make ing the main features of the the work of training permanently sucpresent situation in the survey of cessful, a firmly established church, the year, it says: which grows in a natural way with the increase in the number of Christian The chief note struck with re- families, is necessary. gards to Christianity, where there is articulation at least, is the desire to If we cannot be satisfied with a understand and follow Christ's way of conception of evangelism, which life. This includes another promising stops with open Christian personsign that, in spite of the comparative alities and does not go on to the lack of cohesion in the Christian Move- church, still less can we be satisment as a whole, there Is a slowly fied with a view which stops short growing desire and effort to promote of open Christian personalities and Christian fellowship as distinct from is content with the permeation of and above the claims and efforts of society with Christian ideals, deecclesiastical, denominational or the- ological unity. It is felt by some that sirable as that is. It is desirable this higher and freer Christian fel- but it is not first and it cannot be lowship is possible even though intel- enough.
lectual and ecclesiastical unity is It may indeed be that in some hardly a practical question at the pres- lands we shall have to wait for ent time. large open accessions to the church According to this view local self- until there has been a deeper seep- supporting churches are not nec- age of Christian truth into the naessary; the church can exist as a tional thought and life. Sir Charles .. The China Christian Year Book, 1926, p. Trevelyan, who lived long in In- 276. dia, thought that this would be the
method of India's evangelization. ments of evangelism which are di- He says: rected primarily at the winning of individuals to Christian faith and Many persons mistake the way in discipleship. These churches are which the conversion of India will be not content to remain in old nubrought about. I believe it will take merical trenches. On the other place at last wholesale, just as our own hand they are making it their priancestors were converted. The coun- mary aim to bring Chinese and try will have Christian instruction in- Japanese "to membership in the fused into it in every way by direct visible church." They are not conmissionary education, and indirectly tent to "pervade and transform by books of various sorts, through the present-day interpretations of Conpublic newspapers, through conversa- fucianism and Buddhism" or to tion with Europeans, and in all the pervade society with Christian conconceivable ways in which knowledge ceptions. These things indeed they is communicated. Then at last when rejoice to see. But they are drivsociety is completely saturated with ing straight at the conversion of Christian knowledge, and public opin- men and women to Christ, believion has taken a decided turn that way, ing that this will be the most efthey will come over by thousands. fective way to permeate and uplift the life and thought of the land. It may be so. But our approach is by person to person. Let all the Methods of evangelism come and general influences operate and be go. Whitefield and the Wesleys operated that can suffuse national found the methods that were ef- 'and racial minds with Christian fective in their time; Finney and truth and the Spirit of Christ. But Moody in theirs. We must find at the beginning and throughout those that are effective in our own the centuries and today the pri- time. But the essential thing is the mary and effective mIssIOnary same. And we need today in the method at home and abroad is the church at home, as well as in all contact of individual with indi- our missions at home and abroad, vidual. This is the evangelism of to see this, and to go after men and the New Testament and it never women, one by one, or in the has been and never will be out of groups and companies in which date. they are accessible, and to relate them to Christ and Christ to them On the contrary, this is the su- in the elemental reality of the Gospreme need everywhere today. The pel of the New Testament and of national churches in China and all time. Japan have discerned this and have launched their own move- THE MISSIONARY o matchless honor all unsought, High privilege surpassing thought, That Thou shouldst call me, Lord, to be Linked in work-fellowship with Thee; To carry out Thy wondrous plan, To bear Thy messages to man; In trust with Christ's own word of grace To every soul of the human race.
-Selected.
A WASHING LESSON IN A M01'TTJ1JR CTLT"l' SCHOOL, CJ1JNTRAI. AF'RfCA
MEET THESE AFRICAN GRANNIES BY MRS. DONALD FRASER, Edinburgh, Scotland /l or 'l'h irt /J l'Cu.r8 {I M-i8siunarl/ iu the {,i.1'inn~ to"i(l. M18Hion of the Ut1 itnl Free P-r p.shytt:ria tl. C hu rch of SCOtlWllU T HE sound of a gentle artificial ing; on mine, news of my children cough coming from the veran- in far away Scotland, with a gram- dah announces visitors. I go ophone entertainment possibly and out to greet two or three old ladies a parting gift of a handful of salt who have settled comfortably down to each. Then with friendly fareon the floor and announce that they wells we part. have come to gossip with their mother. The gossip is very inno- As I watch them going down the cent on their part, news of the path the memory comes of a day crops and their neighbors, of sick- when, as a newcomer, I sat on anness in the village and tax gather- other verandah in Central Africa and listened to a discussion going 40Q
on between two missionaries about Her native name being difficult to the difficulty of reforming some of waster, she was called and rethe tribal customs. The blame was mained through life, Mrs. Pettilaid at the doors of the older wom- grew, after a Scottish friend whom en. "You'll never get things she resembled. changed till you hang all the old women first!" emphatically an- Mrs. Pettigrew and a few others nounced one of the men. A vital formed the first women's class truth underlay the hyperbolic lan- taught by their dona (white womguage. None were so determined an). The dona's language was in their opposition to progress, doubtless very poor but so was the their rigid adherence to old cus- intelligence displayed by the class. toms and taboos. I had to admit A parable was carefully gone over how unlovely I had found it pos- each week but no trace of the lessible for old age to be, as I had son seemed to remain in their watched some unattractive faces minds by the following week. They upon which the passing years had cheerfully explained that they were left traces of stupidity and evil women and therefore stupid and mindedness, bestiality and cruelty. unable to learn or remember what In others, ·with less evidence of they were taught. Almost in deevil, the hopelessness and dejection spair one day I insisted that surely were almost as saddening. Least something had stuck to them "No, attractive of all I had found the mama," said Mrs. Pettigrew, shakgreedy begging heathen widows of ing her head "it's all gone. Satana chiefs, whose visits to the mission has come and picked up all the were actuated by the desire for seeds sown last week." This statesalt, soap and calico for which they ment brought unexpected cheer, shamelessly clamored. On the oth- for it revealed that something after hand some old friendless slave er all had been absorbed. The parwomen, pathetically grateful for able of the previous week having any little kindness shown, embar- been that of the sower who sowed rassed the white woman terribly by the wayside. by the way they rolled over and over in the dust at her feet in Their First Prayers thanks for some trifling gift. Old and past work and able to bring no That class was the nucleus of return present, it astonished them the Christian women's class which that they should receive anything. in later years was a regular part of the Sunday program. It always In delightful contrast to these contained a good proportion of old was the motherly friendliness of women, more free than the young an elderly Christian woman who mothers to attend, and their progused to turn up at the mission ress, collective and individual, house in time for family prayers on though slow, was interesting to Sunday. She used to kiss the white watch. When they first took part woman's hands in a way you never in prayer their words were strongsee done in Africa except to babies. ly reminiscent of prayers uttered She would admire her clothes, turn- in public worship by the men. One ing her round for inspection. She woman echoed faithfully her huswould taste a sample of European band's invariable beginning "0 cooking and smile benignantly. God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. You are the all-knowing.
MEET THESE AFRICAN GRANNIES
You know the things of the past, "But," I protested, "you yourand of the future, the things of selves all said this was clean and above and the things of earth," and white." "Ah, but mama, we hadn't so on. But gradually as their reli- seen the really beautiful white gion became better understood, a cloth then. Now we see that the simpler and a more personal thing, other one is dirty. Before, it looked their prayers developed the same clean because we had been looking note: at the very dirty one."
"Father God," prayed one of I pressed home the lesson and them, "we are surprised at ourselves. When we are here in the finally a woman prayed "Truly, a class we know quite well you are here too, and want to be with us all God, did we ever know before that the time. And then we go home we were so soiled? But we have after church and forget all about been looking at the whiteness of you in our village." J esu Kristu and we want you to wash us white like Him." Another used to pray for their teacher "that God would give her The women of the Gospel narrastrength to cook for them Sunday tive interested the Africans greatly by Sunday, that their souls might -Mary, Elizabeth and that home be fed." (strange to Africans) where two sisters lived with their brother and The lessons had to be very simple rejoiced in the friendship of Jesus. so that the old women, as well as We went over the women of the some of the more intelligent young- Old Testament too and one realized er ones, might take them in. We that they entered into and underused eye gate, as well as ear gate to stood their lives better perhaps impress on them the necessity for than we of more advanced civilizataking Jesus Christ as our stand- tion. Very human and deserving ard, and not be content to compare of sympathy to them were the ourselves with our heathen neigh- childless women, and over their bors. I went to the class with a faces passed expressions of relief dish cloth which an African table and delight when they heard that boy would assert to be clean, and at last a child came and the reanother which I had wet and proach of barrenness had been rerubbed in the dirt. I asked which moved. They knew all about the was clean. Everyone pointed to the scornful contempt of the rival wife first. "But is it really clean?" Oh with children and too rare were yes, mama and they drew my at- husbands, like Hannah'S, who tried tention to its contrast to the other. to comfort instead of neglecting her. That God should concern Him- Then you would call this a white self with the choice and manner of cloth ?" life of the woman chosen to become the mother of one of His great They all assented. servants astonished and encour- "Well now, what about this?" I aged them. asked, as I drew from my bag a square of spotless white nainsook. The old ladies were frequent at- "That! 0 that's a beautiful white tenders at hospital and knowing cloth." their poverty we often exempted "Like this?" I inquired holding them from the small fee patients up the dishcloth. "No, that's dirty. were supposed to pay. Yet, again This last is really white." and again, when they had been let
off fees-sometimes because of Changora," I would protest, "It is their protests-they would turn up my hospital. I am hostess, there- at our dwelling house with a fowl fore I should greet my guests."
or a basket of food and present it "No," she would patiently ex- to me-"a gift, not fees"-for the plain "You don't sleep here. I do, Africans' loyalty and gratitude therefore it is my house; therefore centers round persons rather than I greet. You-the guest. When I institutions. But as an institution come to your house then you can the hospital was popular with them greet me."
-where else could you get such I had frequent opportunities of luxuries as two meals a day regu- so doing. She used to arrive, ask lar and sufficient, a supply of salt, for the family, slip an egg into the and a blanket at night? The con- hands of each and present any that trast with their hand to mouth ex- were left to me. She would never istence in the village sometimes sell eggs to me-wherein she was made it a struggle to prevent the unconsciously wise, for I might hospital from becoming an old have tested and rejected them as ladies' home, especially in times of not fresh. As it was, I had always scarcity. What they saw and ex- to thank her politely and give a re- perienced there shook their faith turn present of salt. Sometimes in the old native regime. before our great communion gath- For several years an old woman erings she would arrive to consult named Changora acted as cook, me as to what she should wear. As mother or matron there. Engaged her entire wardrobe consisted of a first to attend to a friendless epi- tattered cloth she wore around her, leptic girl who was badly burned, the advice inevitably took the form she was later initiated into the of a present of a new cloth-given mysteries of bringing up a mother- with the injunction not to tell any- less grandchild by bottle feeding one where she had got it. Chan- and proudly she used to display gora would not and knowingly this miraculously reared Wendy to stuck her present securely out of admiring and almost incredulous sight, somewhere beneath her rags.
friends. Later she posed as an ex- She would turn up looking respec- pert on rearing orphan infants, table for the services but too often while superintending the efforts of afterwards I would see the new others who came for the same pur- cloth adorning one of the grand- pose. While the doctor tried to en- children to whom she was devoted.
lighten the ignorance of the people Still, an occasional cloth was a on medical matters, Changora cheap form of pension for a retired strove to improve the doctor's hospital matron.
shocking neglect of social etiquette. During the first great "Flu" epi- When I entered the hospital in the demic that penetrated into Central morning I distressed her by greet- Africa I heard that she was ill and ing my waiting patients. She went to see her, bringing bovril would follow me into my consulting and fruit and a warm flannel jack- room, shutting the door that her et. I found her lying on a mat on reproof might not be overheard, the floor and realized she was seri- and say to me, "It is not your place ously ill, but I refrained from to say good morning to us. You speaking till she opened her eyes wait till we greet you." "But, and greeted me and I half thought
there was a humorous twinkle in When I used to slip along from the her eyes at my having learned the hospital to her house to get a reetiquette prescribed in visiting. freshing cup of tea, Makachibene When I gave her the jacket she in- was often about. Occasionally quired (recognizing it as a hospital there would be an interval when one) whether it was a loan or a we heard she had an angry fit on. present. I assured her it was her But I think the sense of being loved own, knowing no one would after- and cared for by God and His peowards wear what had been worn ple brought peace and healing to by those who died. But she shook her spirit for these attacks became her head when I wanted to help milder and finally stopped, leaving her to put it on. "I am going to her affectionate and childlike with our Father God," she w~ispered. a shy, happy smile flitting across I suggested it might not be at that her face whenever one spoke to time and said I would return next her. day. But on the morrow I was met by a Christian woman who had When in the less busy time of been with her when she had passed the year we used to have a school away half an hour before. In the for women, this old lady was one village her little grandchild was of the most regular attendants. wearing the jacket (it reached to She sat in the lowest class-where his ankles, the sleeves engulfed his the pupils were mostly the oldest arms) which his unselfish granny -and never managed to learn her had put aside for him, considering syllables. When the teacher it too good to waste on a dying pointed to the board her eyes folwoman. lowed the pointer hopefully, but failing to recognize the mysterious As I left the village, I remem- sign it indicated, she would glance bered a time when the poor, tired round the class to see what sound cld woman had begged to be re- their lips were forming and just a lieved of the task of looking after perceptible interval after the othan orphan. But she was indispen- ers, she said it too and then glanced sable and it had to be pointed out at me for approbation. But though to her that her "holiday from nurs- years of attendance failed to make ing babies" might mean the death her a reader, she enjoyed the lesof the little one and in as much as sons in Bible stories, cooking, talks she was doing this service for it, about health and the upbringing of she was doing it for Christ. And children. loyalty to Him had won and she resumed her task, asking only for the Is It Worth While ~ assurance that when she died and passed beyond He would greet her A visitor to the mission school with the words "Come in Chan- once suggested that it was futile gora. It was you who looked after to spend time on these hopeless old babies for me at Loudon." women who would never learn to read. Why not concentrate on the Another Devoted Friend younger intelligent women? I re- member how it hurt to hear them Another friend was Makachi- called duds. Besides, they were bene, a wee thin slip of a woman really tremendously important. who conceived a great devotion for Attending the school meant that one of our women missionaries. they were allying themselves with
all the progress and reform that corncobs or some other simple gift.
the Christian teaching stood for What endless reminiscences one and when some young woman in could write of them,-the way they their village wanted to test some used to escort their dona home of the new suggestions about in- from church on Sunday, each so fant feeding or some such subject, anxious to carry something for her it would help her greatly that she that after distributing bag, Testa- was backed by one or two old wom- ment, hymn book, roll back she en instead of meeting unanimous sometimes had to eke out her lim- opposition. ited resources by handing over her And these old people were re- handkerchief too; of visits to their spected because of their Christian villages when she would return life and character. There was no ashamed of being laden with gifts class of women who showed such of foodstuffs she dare not offend evidence of the difference the Gos- them by refusing; of a time of pel had made in their lives as those famine when she doled them out old grannies. The world had al- scanty rations of rice barely suffi- tered for them and become a cient to keep them alive and so friendly, safe place full of love and won the delightful new name of help such, as they had had no ex- Msoro (honey bird) because she perience of in the old heathen days. found food for them; of a Christ- God as Father had brought them mas party for the grey haired only, into friendship with people of which ended in an impromptu whom they had never heard of dance "to show God how happy we when they were young-white peo- are"; of a time when the dona's ple over the seas who had sent life was in danger, and one of the help to their black sisters. The old bodies sat without moving from church was a society that did not the verandah for twelve hours till despise and neglect them, but rath- better news sent her home tired er honored and helped them. This and hungry but happy; of the won- was a day of good tidings which derful day when their first little had followed their long night of white sister arrived in their midst fear and their very faces, as well instead of coming like the other as lives, reflected the change. The Bazungu (white people) from old unlovely type with all that was across the sea, and the queues that human and kindly obliterated, is waited to get their first glimpse of giving place in many instances to her; of the last sad days when happy, kindly, more intelligent their white mother sometimes fled faces in which sometimes lines of out of the back door into the bush real beauty and refinement can be when she saw a mournful little traced. And the pastors and elders group of them coming up the road, of the church could tell that none because she COUldn't face their are more faithful in their attend- tears without breaking down her- ance at worship, or more liberal- self at the thought of the coming out of their great poverty-in their separation. These and many other regular contributions when the memories, tender and cheering, deacons make their village rounds, pass through my mind as I write and the people respond by produc- of our gossips-our God-rib-those ing a copper or two, a basket of to whom we have become related in flour or beans, or a little bundle of the service of God. BY PAUL W. HARRISON, M.D., Muscat, Arabia* Mi88ionary oJ the Reformed Church In America Men who have unselfishly devoted their lives to a great cause have a right to be heard as to their convictions on the principle on which the success of that cause is based. Dr. Paul W. Harrison has spent twenty years in Arabia as a medical missionary under the Reformed Church in America. His experience in medical and evangelistic work in Bahrein, Muscat and other stations has brought him into close contact with the needs of the people and the problems of the work. His studies and travels in India and his contacts with leaders in many lands have given him a wide range of sympathy and information. His study of the Bible and his service have formulated his ideals and given him the courage of his convictions.
In February Dr. Harrison delivered a series of five lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary which were so fresh, so earnest and so startling in some of their positions and recommendations that they have aroused much interest and some criticism. We have secured permission to print these lectures, slightly abbreviated, and will welcome the comments of other Christian workers on the amended missionary program suggested by Dr. Harrison.-EDITOR.
I N KALAMAZOO a few weeks sionaries are sent to Japan today ago my missionary talk had because Japan is able to take care been preceded by an address of that work herself. It would be by a mission convert who was a better if we should realize that our director in the educational enter- educational work is essentially as prise of India. He intimated that temporary as our medical mission- the missionary enterprise was ary work.
gradually evolving from the stage Let us remember the very wide- of evangelistic work and was right- spread, almost universal increase ly becoming more and more an edu- in the spirit of nationalism. China, cational enterprise to train the during the last few years, has been native church. That idea is wide- convulsed from one end to the spread, but, as I hope to show, is other because she has gained a new false and dangerous to the mission- spirit of racial self-consciousness.
ary cause. Her nationalistic spirit has extend- We all recognize that one branch ed until it includes all the different of our institutional work is essen- strata of society, and all the prov- tially temporary. No medical mis- inces, and it is perhaps now almost • I introduce these lectures with great dif· the major passion of the Chinese. fidence. on three accounts: First, because The significant fact is that this Princeton is known for its scholarship, and I do not pretend to be a scholar. Second, because particular phenomenon is practi- I expect to bring to your attention ideas that cally universal. In India the spirit are quite at variance with many of the con- of nationalism has penetrated from ventional ideas regarding missionary work and the top to the bottom. It has come behind such new ideas there fs no authority whatever except the impressions gained by one to include all sections, the native individual in twentf years of missionary work. states as well as British India. The r am especially anxIOUS that you do not ascribe same thing is true in Turkey and to what r say the authority of any commission in Persia. or church or board. The third reason is, of course, the importance of the group here as- Wherever we go we find that the sembled. It becomes a grave responsibility when one attempts to assert that the compass of tbe conrse ongbt to be replotted, and that we ought to be ruled by different ideas.
p, W. H.
415 spirit of racial self-consciousness culture. India is not primarily in- is strong, and is steadily growing. terested in financial or commercial And we ought to note that this is progress, but India is supremely a permanent change. There will be interested in her own racial self- no return to the situation of fifty development. She believes, and years ago. We have only seen the rightly, that she has certain pecu- beginning of this change in nation- liar racial endowments. The same al consciousness. From now on is true of China, and of Arabia, there is going to be a more and and of America. India has certain more intense patriotism. Here is a r a cia I endowments which are factor of very great importance unique, and, therefore, she is anx- that we must consider in relation ious to direct her destiny along the to the missionary enterprise. lines of those endowments. That The Educational Program is exactly the attitude that the In- dian leaders ought to take. The Now notice the effect that this only weapon that the leaders of has upon the national educational India possess for the accomplish- programs. In India, for example, ment of her supreme aim is educa- there are now in the colleges and tion. India, therefore, is coming to the professional schools, some 84,- ask, as China and Persia and Japan 000 students; there are 12,000,000 have asked, for the complete con- students in the secondary and ele- trol of all the schools.
mentary schools. The students in One of the most serious problems those schools are going to shape before every missionary board to- the future of India. We direct the day is the problem of adjusting the destinies of all our nations by missionary schools to this demand means of schools. of the national leaders. The Amer- It is not, therefore, remarkable ican Board is troubled because the to find that in all of these countries Turkish government has demanded where the spirit of national con- not only the control of general edu- sciousness has grown there has cation but of the religious instruc- also developed a determination to tion in Mission schools. Thesame control all the schools. That is in- demand has come from Persia and evitable and natural and should be China, and will probably come from welcomed by the missionary en- India as soon as the Indians gain terprise. control of the government.
This particular tendency has This thing is inevitable, it is nat- sometimes manifested itself in very ural, and it ought to be welcomed disagreeable ways. Turkey has de- because in all of these nations, a manded that she have complete large part of the educational pro- control of all the schools in Turkey. gram has been carried on by for- The same demand has come from eigners. The missionaries entered Persia. The only hope that the backward countries that had prac- leaders of a country have for build- tically no educational systems and, ing up the kind of nation they want as a matter of Christian charity is by control of the schools. they organized schools, just as hos- In India, where I have spent a pitals have been planted in these good deal of time, Mr. Gandhi and countries because they had no ade- the Indian people fear nothing so quate medical work. But now these much as the imposition of western nations, having attained racial selfconsciousness, wit h a national the enterprise and less to its edu- spirit, naturally demand the con- cational side.
trol of the whole educational enter- The prevailing view that mis- prise. sionary work is going to become In the past the missionary so- more educational is dangerous becieties have paid for these mission cause, in so far as we are obschools, assisted in some countries sessed with that false idea, we will more or less by native money. They find ourselves pitted against the have done a very creditable and irresistible current of the time. If outstanding piece of philanthropic we do not recognize the nationaliswork, but nevertheless, as sQon as tic demand for control of the the nation attains to national self- schools, we are doomed to hinder consciousness, it is inevitable that the whole enterprise. The surrenthe leaders shall demand the con- der of our general educational work trol of the education upon which is natural and inevitable.
rests the destiny of those countries. Some will say that this view of Since the spirit of nationalism educational work overlooks entireis here to stay, by the same token ly the evangelistic possibilities of this demand for control of all the the school, if we can include relischools is also going to grow until gious education. There is an incomplete control is secure. So}Ve creasing emphasis on religious come to this situation: The mis- education in America and it is right sionary enterprise is going to be- that we should stress religious educome less and less a general educa- cation abroad. The records of the tional enterprise, and many of us past are against that idea. I remay live to see the educational arm member two very interesting asof missions disappear in many of sistants that I had in the hospital these countries. work in Muttra twenty years ago. They were converted Afghans that When India attains to self-gov- resulted from Dr. Pennell's work ernment, the first thing she will in North India. We used to sit wish to do, When she can manage down and talk by the hour,and her finances well enough, is to from them I learned a great deal make elementary education com- about the missionary enterprise pulsory. When this is done, India that I had not known before. They will wish to take over all of the told me that in north India when elementary mission school work. they went out to do itinerary evan- gelistic work, the opponents whom Then, you see unquestionably the they dreaded most to meet were the whole missionary enterprise will graduates of mission schools who had been trained in compulsory become more and more purely Bible classes. Such graduates know evangelistic. That is not a criticism against the missionaries of the past, but it is recognizing the the Bible extraordinarily well, for significance of the movements of there is one thing that an Indian the present. The present form of can do, and that is he can rememmissionary work is now different ber what is taught him to a degree from the past to some extent, and that is simply uncanny. These mis- the future is going to be still more sion school gradUates had been different. The future undoubtedly compelled to take courses in the belongs to the evangelistic side of Bible but not more than one in 2 a thousand becomes a Christian. This is inevitable because of the These itiJlerant evangelists are ear- rise of the nationalistic spirit.
nest-minded and sincere Chris- An Individual or a Social Gospel tians, but they are not yet well educated and they rneet in these Conclusion number two, which I college graduates who. have been will state in advance, is that our trained in the Bible, men who can evangelistic enterprise must be the tie them up in knots when it comes carrying of an individual rather to religious controversy. than what we usually call the social I recognize that in saying this I Gospel. This is closely related to am a heretic of the very first order what I have been saying. In India and that most of the church boards are utterly at variance with what they are anxious to develop along I am saying; but in my opinion it the lines of their own peculiar racial endowment and, therefore, would be far better in Christian they do not want mission schools colleges in India, or China for all which embody our western civili- I know, if the Hindus and the Mo- zation. By the same token they hammedans were forbidden to do not want our western social come to the Bible classes, unless gospel. they are sincerely interested in I am a great believer in the really following Christ, once they Christian social gospel, because as can see their way clear. Sincere a citizen, it is the duty of every inquirers should be we1co.med but Christian to carry responsibility the average students should be for- for political and social and eco- bidden entry, to say nothing of nomic advance. But in so far as compelling them to come. the Arab or Indian mind works Educational work in the past along lines different from yours has not always been a great evan- and mine, by so much it is dangelistic agency but it has been gerous for us to attempt to carry necessary. By means of it we have over into Arabia or India our petrained the native church and by culiar civilization. When westernour mission scho.ols we have con- ers vociferously shout for a social tributed enormously to the advance gospel I marvel that they do not of the backward nations. It has realize the contradiction. In one been one of the finest things we breath they say, "Let us not carry have ever done, but it has not been our western civilization; let us as effective as we wish in evangel- only take Christ over there," and izing those people. In some cases in another breath they say, "Let us it has been carried on in a way that not carry an antiquated individualhas done actual damage. There istic gospel but let us carry the is no reason why we should hesi- finer message of the social gospel." tate to turn over our educational work to the native governments as The social gospel, as' we underrapidly as we can. stand it, is really nothing but an effort to carryover into Arabia or The first conclusion, then, to elsewhere some part of the civili- zation that we know, and that we which we come is that the mission- think will be good for those people. ary enterprise is to become more There are, unquestionably, many and more an evangelistic and less things in our western civilization and less an educational enterprise. that are splendid, and we think that it is the part of Christian com- astonished to see the splendid enpassion to teach them to the people tertainment that you would reover thel'e. ceive. There would be a roasted chicken for each separate guest, Perhaps we would say that the and a splendid outlay of boiled rice simplest and most fundamental and various condiments. Moreover, thing in our civilization, that would on feast days these people are be a universal boon to everyone, dressed in gorgeous clothes. Their is security of life and property. economic situation is so good that This might be said to characterize it is hard to believe that they are western civilization, as opposed to not the owners of those gardens the chaotic situation that we find but only tenants who cultivate in many places abroad. In our them. Christian message we will not only put in the roots but we will also Now let us visit ThaI, in another show some of the fruits of the so- part of Arabia. There we will be cial gospel. At least as Christians entertained by date cultivators we want security of life and prop- again, and the land around ThaI is erty. Is there anyone that would far richer than the date gardens of dispute that as a fundamental, uni- Hassa or Katif. The general sysversal and invariable boon? In tem is the same in that the land is Arabia I think I can show you that owned by one set of men and culthis is not always true. tivated by others. The men who entertain us at ThaI can set before Life and Property in Arabia us only a miserable little dish of boiled rice with a few tough pieces I could take you as a visitor to of meat-and that is the best meal Katif or Hassa, places under the they have had for a month. They rule of Ibn Saud. The characteris- have almost no clothes, are half tic of his rule is that life and prop- starved and one-third clothed, and erty are distinctly not sec u r e live a dog's life. The contrast is according to our western notions. painful. In this community the The chief of Katif, or Ibn Saud date cultivators have been ground himself, can cut off any man's down under the heel of the owners. head, and no cabinet, no legislature and no laws can stop him. A few What is the difference between years ago, the richest man in Katif, the Hassa people who cultivate a Bin J umaa, was arrested by Ibn comparatively barren strip of land Saud's agents and put in prison and are wonderfully well off, and and he has never been seen again. this group at ThaI who cultivate an His property was confiscated, and extraordinarily rich piece of land, thereby the royal exchequer was growing the same crop as our put into order again. In Katif and friends over here but are on the in Hassa, life and property are not ragged edge of starvation all the secure according to any western time? The difference is that life standards. Bin Jumaa's death was and property are more secure in not as a punishment for any crime Thal than in Hassa and Katif. he had committed, but it was the rulers' will that he should die. I will try in a word to show you that this is literally true. That man If we were entertained in the Bin Jumaa in Katif, who was exehome of one of the date cultivators cuted, was a high-handed pirate of in Hassa or Katif, you would be the first order and ought to have died years before he did. In that reduced to the last stage of human country they boil some of their misery. In this particular instance dates in enormous kettles. Bin the laws guaranteeing security of Jumaa came home one night and life and property are not a blessing found that his wife had not pre- to the community. pared supper quite on time, so he pitched her bodily into the boiling There is often an extraordinary kettle. He oppressed the date cul- amount of lip service given to the tivators under him. Debtors had idea that we must carry Christ, to pay their debts absolutely on the His message and His teaching to day. Beggars were not fed in his these people, and not carry our house. Thereby, he became so un- western civilizatio.n. That is true, popular that his death was wel- but that means that we cannot comed by the whole community, carry out what we term our social and his life expectancy sank down gospel-according to our western to zero. ideas. It is not for us to define the outworkings of eternal life in There is no way to replenish the the hearts and lives of all men. We royal treasury quite so easily as by cannot try to revise the social order assassinating a rich man and con- over in Arabia. That will have to fiscating his -property, but if the be revised, but it can only be recommunity still thinks highly of vised safely by the Arab. Every him, the ruler does not do that. If intelligent Indian knows that the he did that two or three times, the social order in India needs a great ruler would lose his head. He must deal of revision but he also knows, maintain his popularity in the com- what we are not so willing to conmunity; otherwise his life is in cede, that that revision is safe only danger. If he oppresses his date in Indian hands when they have cultivators, if he pinches every learned to apply the teachings of debtor, if he kicks beggars off the Christ to daily life. place, the community wishes he would die, and he does die. There- In the rise of nationalism we fore these Katif owners of gardens have a phenomenon that is groware, as a rule, extraordinarily gen- ing and that is going to be the erous in the contracts which they governing factor in practically all arrange with their cultivators. of these mission fields. This means that the missionary enterprise will Over in ThaI, there is security increasingly be evangelistic and of life and property. Nobody is less educational, and that the evangoing to confiscate a date land- gelistic message we carry must of owner's property and cut off his necessity be more and more of a personal Gospel, relating the inhead, no matter how much of a dividual to Christ, rather than a pirate he is. He can starve his date social gospel, as we in the West cultivators to death and nobody is interpret it. going to cut off his head or confiscate his property. Therefore, The second lecture deals with certain impliunder him the date cultivators are cations of the Evangelical Missionary Enter- prise.
"3ff I!!:fJri~t ba~ rtaIl!' taktn up .i~ abobt in a buman btad, ofttn JJt will bt Sttn looking out of tbt winbows!"
A PROTESTANT CHURCH SU NDAY SCHOOL. CAMAJIANI
WHEN CUBA "FELL AMONG THIEVES"
Th e Impressions of a Moderator of the Presbyterian Church BY THE REV. HUGH THOMSON KERR, D.D., Pittsburgh, Pa.
,If oaerator oj th e Presbyteda " Ohu reh. U. S. A.-1980- l 931 ASHORT visit may be better these unsympathetic dignitaries than a long one in leaving in belonged. Then came the Good one's mind clear cut impres- Samaritan-also easily r ecogniz- sions. The danger is that the im- able–who, after beating back the pressions may be too clear cut. thieves, carried the wounded man Certainly the week spent in Cuba to safety, nursed him back to health left in my mind certain well de- and promised "whatsoever thou fined pictures and one of the c1ear- spendest more, when I come again, est is the applicability of the I will repay thee." parable of the Good Samaritan to the past and present of that very It was one of the most gracious acts one nation ever did for an- near and very interesting people other-to set Cuba free, give to and land. her a charter of liberty and send Cuba is the man who fell among her on her way. That act is not forgotten. The anniversary of the thieves who wounded him, stripped blowing up of the "Maine" is still him, and left him half dead beside the roadway. The robbers can observed in Havana with flowers easily be identified. The priest and and music and messages of peace the Levite, who came and saw and goodwill. Yet there is much where he was and passed by on to be desired that is left undone. the other side, are not hard to In the minds of many Cubans the name. There is not much difficulty thought arises that her Good in giving the name of the ancient Samaritan has forgotten. They ecclesiastical organization to which think that the promise "whatso- 421
ever thou spendest more, when I concerned in the deeper issues income again, I will repay thee" has not been adequately fulfilled and volved. . was perhaps after all only an euphemism. The sense of contrast is every- where. The old and the new meet There is restlessness and agita- and mingle. We traveled over one tion in CUba. If there is business of the finest concrete highways in depression in America, there are the world, miles and miles of it, industrial and financial crises in and at the same time we saw men Cuba. The American tariff shut plowing with the ancient instruout Cuba's largest trade-sugar. ment of a far-away ancestry and "The Dance of the Millions" when driving, across soggy fields, wagsugar sold for more than twenty ons with high wheels drawn by cents a pound is now only a mem- oxen, great beasts of the field, two ory. Many sugar mills are silent teams, three teams, four teams. and there now is little sale for Cuba has three and a half million sugar even at one or one and one- people but it could have ten milhalf cents a pound; and "the lions if modern methods in inmourners go about the streets." dustry and agriculture were in use and if education were made a uni- The first impression of Cuba un- versal opportunity. der martial law is far from pleasant. To be asked on every street It was not, however, as an excorner and out in the villages to pert on transportation and sugar purchase a ticket for a lottery sup- and industry that led me to Cuba, ported by the government makes an easy and a pleasant trip only one catch his breath. Emerson two hours distance from America said, "Weak men believe in luck. by air and four or five hours by sea. Strong men believe in cause and effect." If the same law is applied Cuba is an important mission to government then it is a sign of field of the Presbyterian Church weakness on the part of Cuba to in the U. S. A. Its occupancy by distribute every month more than the Board of National Missions half a million dollars and it is a dates back to the freedom of .the sign of weakness in a people who island. If one wishes to have his are taught to think that a chance faith established, his hope inturn of the wheel, a lucky casting spired, and his love fed, let him of the lot, may turn poverty into visit the mission work which makes luxury. Little wonder that there glad the whole island. is social unrest and political agitation. An economic and govern- There is no race question in the mental situation that necessitates Cuban Church. One is soon conthe closing of the schools while new scious of this. Here the black and knowledge is knocking at the door white, the Spaniard and the Cuban, of youth is charged with some sort the Mexican and the Chinese meet of high explosive. America has and mingle, and the Lord is the some responsibility here and that maker of them all. A fine negro responsibility lies not merely in minister and his wife guide one of the economic realm. One can be our finest Spanish-speaking Sunamused in Cuba only if he is un- day-schools and churches. In a re- cent book of fiction it is stated that it takes nine thousand years to make a black man think white and
1931J WHEN CUBA "FELL AMONG THIEVES"
A PROTESTAN'f CUBAN PA!'TOR AND HI!' FAMILY ten thousand centuries to make a Cuban people what should have Chinese think in western terms. been done. That is nonsense. There may be no reason why a black man should Three things especially imthink white or a Chinese think in pressed me as I surveyed the work western terms but one can easily of evangelical Christianity in Hafind black and brown and yellow vana, Matanzas, Cardenas, Cabaifolk in Cuba thinking Christ and guan, Placetas, and Sancti Spirthat is far better. itus.
Christianity has a free field in First of all I was impressed by Cuba and that is all that the church the youth, the devotion, the earasks. Freedom in religion is guar- nestness, and the spiritual and moranteed and that offers a fine oppor- al passion of the Cuban ministry. tunity for evangelical Christianity. Late into the night, in conference The Roman Catholic Church had with these young men, one could centuries of opportunity among the not fail to be impressed with the Cuban people with all the field to seriousness and the spiritual initself. There should now be tensity of the leaders of this young throughout the island schools and church. They are facing a great colleges and hospitals, but the responsibility with a fine construc- Spanish Church gave Cuba no such tive program. The church means gifts and, as far as a fast traveling everything to them and their abidobserver can see, the long estab- ing loyalty to the evangelical Goslished church failed to do for the pel is a joy and a delight. The minister's home is the lighthouse
and the rendezvous of the village lem. It would seem the path of and is the center of light and life. wisdom to train students of the The minister's family mingles with ministry so that they may read the life of the community and cre- English readily and then make ates an atmosphere of cheer and available for the Cuban ministers hope. Here is a letter from the books that will enable them to sat- daughter of one of these pastors, isfy their intellectual cravings.
a young girl of sixteen: The mission boards would do well Many days ago I was thinking to to think out some way by which write to you but I did not know when pastors in isolated fields may be you were going to get home. I hope supplied with Christian literature. someday we can see you again. We Second, I was impressed with the never can forget you anymore and will multitude of children and youth in be very glad if you could come back all the congregations and schools and stay. We thanks the Lord He visited. One could almost say that gives so many blessings· to us and know all the members of the church the Cuban Church is a young peomeet together every night to pray and ple's church. This may be because we can see the Lord's presence with us. Our services are being better of the close association of the every day and' more people are learn- school and the Church. Perhaps it ing about our Lord Jesus Christ and grows out of the fact that many of be saved, Please remember us, always the ministers of the Cuban Church when you are in prair. Last Sunday we are yfuungand keep vitar"conhad in the principal church two hun- tacts with childhood and youth. Perhaps it grows out of the fact dred and ·sixty. In the Sunday-school that the Church offers an outlet of Mission we had two hundred and six, hope and joy for youth. Certainly so all together were fourth hundred one is impressed by the interested and sixty-six that heared the Sunday- multitudes of children and young school leesson just one time. Excuse people who look up from their my mistakes they are many but you places in the Church and school, know I can't do it very well, but you alert and eager and intensely recan't understand Spanish, and this is sponsive. This speaks well for the a practice for me too. Church. Already sufficient interest This speaks for itself regarding in these young people has been the spiritual atmosphere of the aroused that one of the churches minister's home out of which power at home has provided funds for a comes. Probably the most press- conference for young people after ing issue of these young men who the order of the summer confer- are laying the foundations of the ences which have meant so much evangelical Church in Cuba is their to the young people of the churches hunger for books. Many of them in North America. This confer- do not read English; some read it ence for young people ought to with difficulty and only a few with mark a forward step in the life and ease. The proper religious litera- training of the youth of the Chris- ature is hard to find in Spanish. tian Church in Cuba.
Translations are slow and expen- The third thing that lives in my sive and many of these young men memory is the radiancy of the re- long for the key that will open the ligion of the Christian people of door to a larger intellectual world. the Cuban Church. Youth has We must help them solve this prob- something to do with it. Perhaps
WHEN-CUBA "FELL AMONG THIEVES"
the singing soul of the people dis- There are some four thousand English-speaking people in the city covers a ready expression ·in the of Havana. . They come from all music of the Gospel but certainly parts of the world; from the one finds a sense of joy, or uplift, United States, Canada, Great Britof kindly humor that makes fellow- ain, Australia. A fine piece of land ship easy and worship a delight. has been bought on the boulevard I brought back from Cuba more and there is hope that when more than I took; pictures and photo- prosperous days return tha.t a suitgraphs, lizard skins and snake belts,flowers and memories and able new edifice will ·· be erected enduring friendships. If a singing thereon. Behind this Union .Church SOME MODERN CUBAN CHRTS'l'lANS-PRESBYTERIAN WORKERS army is a victorious army, then a there are consecrated men and singing Church also is a trium- women who not only help forward phant Church, and it would be well the Gospel message among the peofor the home Church to listen in ple of all denominations but who, to the Hallelujah Chorus of the by their contributions, prayers and young Church in Cuba. Well done, sympathy, undergird and support mission boards, arise and enter in- the splendid program of the misto a fuller occupancy! sion churches. To strengthen this Union Church will be to strengthen A word should be spoken con- the whole cause of Christ in Cuba. cerning the Union Church in Cuba.
Every mason in the quarry, every builder on the shore, Every woodman in the forest, every boatman at the oar, Hewing wood and drawing water, splitting stones and clearing sod; All the dusty ranks of labor in the regiment of God, March togetlier toward His temple, do the task His hands prepare; Honest toil is holy service; faithful work is praise and prayer.
-Henry Van Dyke.
STANLEY SAW AFRICAN WOUANHOOD AXD THE AFRICAN
FOLLOWING STANLEY AFTER FIFTY YEARS BY MRS. JOHN M. SPRINGER, Likasi, Central Africa ConfJO .Mission of th e .jffethodi~t Episcop(fl Ohurch STANLEYl Livingstone! Mag- intimate companionship with Liv- ic names. Stranger by far ingstone, "As to the report of his than the tales in Arabian African marriage, it is unneces- Nights, is Stanley's account of sary to say more than that it is "How I Found Livingstone." untrue, and it is utterly beneath a Stranger even than the fingers on gentleman even to hint of such a the wall in ancient Babylon was thing in connection with the name that interview of Stanley's with of Dr. Livingstone."
James Gordon Bennett. Who but That commission to find Livinga character like that of the great stone was the making of Stanley. journalist would have given such The crude war correspondent beterse instructions: "Find Uving- came another man from the day stone." that he stiffly removed his hat and How we used to thrill over Stan- greeted the man for whom he had ley's travels! We came across this been searching for more than two testimony of Stanley which ought years. Livingstone did not preach to be published widely owing to to Stanley in words but his life slander recently broadcasted in a changed Stanley's life completely.
popular volume. Stanley had heard We have read and reread those rumors and writes after weeks of heavy tomes: "How I found Liv- 426
FOLLOWING STANLEY AFTER FIFTY YEARS
ingstone," "Through Darkest Af- Stanley and Livingstone! The rica," "Through the Dark Conti- two names will always be coupled nent" and the accounts of his together. Those two men more founding the Congo Free State and than any others turned the eyes of the final search for Emin Pasha. the whole world to Central Africa We wept with him over the unnec- and through them was brought the essary death of Frank, brought on cure for "the open sore of the by his own daring and self-confi- world." It is not yet healed. The dence that refused the advice of a cure will not be in the governments native. The canoe carrying him which have done much, nor in the was swept into that caldron of large concessions to commercial boiling waters below the fatal falls. companies whose methods are of- We saw Stanley fighting .his way ten more irritating than soothing down to the mouth of the Congo and healing, but it is the Spirit and alone, a sallow, walking skeleton Gospel of Jesus Christ. and we have come to appreciate the shock of how ghastly the faces The Congo Jubilee Conference at of our own race can seem after Kinshasa in September, 1928, months of seeing only the rich, brought us to Stanley Pool for the chocolate faces of the natives. We first time. There we met men who can also understand how the sight had seen Stanley himself-men of his own white face struck terror like the Rev. Joseph Clark and the into the hearts of the brown- Rev. Ross Phillips. We sat one skinned Bantus. No wonder they day on the beautiful grounds of thought him a ghost. the Swedish Mission on the French side of the pool, and listened won- CHRISTIAN WOMANHOOD IN A~'RICA TODAY-AT LOVEDALE
deringly at the account by Dr. went to the conference, had been Clark of how Stanley first came to completed to their station. Until that very spot. We looked at the recently they had never dreamed gentle, refined face of the delicate of a motor road. Now it was done, man before us and tried to recast but alas! they had no car. A little the scene of forty-eight years pre- hand car that had been sent for viously, looking down on the beau- Mrs. Bowskill reminded us of the tiful pool and the magnificent rap- backaches we had had riding over ids roaring and surging into the many a hundred miles in the same narrow confines of the hills below. kind of pousse-pousse. It would take them two days of walking, so Youth today often imagines that we decided to offer to drive them heroism is born for the first time over. It was a rough road but it in them. But here was this intrep- only took us a little over two hours id youth surrounded by some of to drive there. the fiercest savages, with his life hanging in the balance. On the As we honked our way into the other side of the pool were the mission station which, with its white tents of Stanley's camp but Eucalyptus trees, looked like an it was no plan of the wicked chief oasis in the desert, crowds of Banto let these two white men meet tu boys and girls, young men and each other. It is evident that he maidens poured out of the buildplanned at first to kill the youth ings and surrounded the car, all who had corne into his territory. talking at once. What a contrast The young man saw the plotting of these students were to the savage the chief and felt that the end was hordes whose canoes shot from the near. He found all his own car- shore with the cannibal yell, "Nyriers taken over to the other side ama, Nyama" (meat, meat), when and himself surrounded by these Stanley came in sight. bloodthirsty men. Neither he nor anyone else wiH ever know why the It was worth the extra time and chief finally let him go. gas consumed to see the very wheels that Stanley had used for The Ground That Stanley Trod hauling his iron boats around the roaring rapids in the mighty river. Once more we stood on ground Stanley had an army of men with Stanley had trod when we visited him when he made those roads the English Baptist Mission Sta- through the jungle and it took two tion at Wathen. We had sent our hundred menta haul the bOats Ford car down by train to Thys- overland. ville as there was no motor Toad between Thysville and Kinshasa. Mr. Bowskill stood on tlie very A trainload of missionaries got off spot where the agreements were the train at Thysville to spend the signed that inaugurated the Congo night for that dinky little narrow Free State. Free ! Who was free? gauge road is dangerous for run- Not the natives for many years as ning in the dark. We got the car they slaved to supply Leopold's deoff the trucks and ready for the mand for rubber. Yet under all horne trip, and the Bowskills, who the cruelty of foreign domination, had followed closely in Stanley's there was another group of heroic steps, learned that the motor road men and women who brought to which had been started before they them the real freedom which
breaks the yoke of Satan and the ploit the natives. These same shackles of sin. young men and women, the mis- sionary youth of yesterday, neither Before the coming of the white feared the cannibals to whom they man these Africans had had free- went first nor the corrupt men of dom to fight and kill and eat each their own race who came next. other and had used that freedom to Fever stalked abroad hand in hand the limit. No life was safe. Witch- with dysentery but no one left his craft helped in the killing process. post on account of either, unless Terrors of men and devils kept the carried away by main force. unfortunates in a seething caldron of fear day and night. It was a welcome day for all when the government of that great After Stanley had left the coun- section of Central Africa, one of try and the Government was in the the richest spots in the world in hands of Leopold and his group, AFRICANS INSPECTING THE MISSION FORD AT THYSVILLIll another woe was sounded. Men indigenous resources, passed out of and women went to the swamps Leopold's hands into that of the and staggered over the mountain Belgian Government and became a trails either for or with red rub- Belgian Colony. It was a far call ber. I am inclined to believe, from from that spot where Stanley what I heard and saw myself that signed his agreements with the the pictures of suffering entailed chiefs and the Wathen Mission Stawere not overdrawn. tion and the Congo BeIge of today.
Now the missionary is no longer The Belgian Congo is not Utopia surrounded by hostile natives. even yet. The fight between right Sometimes the hostilities are now and wrong, between freedom and from those of his own race for he oppression, between the weak and is emphatically a meddling· nui- the strong, between sin and rightsance in the eyes of those who ex- eousness is still on and, while con-
ditions have changed outwardly, at Likasi by motor car, the first to the missionaries must battle with come through that way. The road and for their people. had only been finished two weeks before we passed over some sec- Wathen Station, with its hun- tions of it. But Africa will not be dreds of bright youths, can be dup- redeemed and freed by motor licated by hundreds of similar roads. The redemption must come centers all over the Congo today. from within through Jesus Christ and the knowledge of that redemp- In addition to them there are the tion is to come through the thouthousands of village schools and sands of little churches and schools churches under native teachers and preachers. Many of these churches ONE WAY Ole RF.T.TEVTNG THE SUFFERINGS OF AFRICAN TOILERS are already self-propagating, self- and from the larger training cengoverning and self-supporting. ters where the youth of Africa is in training for leadership. One of Those who have known the free- the greatest needs is for more misdom that is to be found in Christ sionaries to train these native men Jesus now number hundreds of and women so that larger numbers, thousands in the Congo. with far more effectiveness, may go out into the highways and by- The railroads and motor roads ways and bring their own people are a great help in opening Cen- to the feet of the Master. tral Africa. We traveled 2,000 miles and returned to our station The present difficult circumstance, which presses so hard against us (if surrendered to Christ), is the well shaped tool in the Father's hand to shape us for eternity. Let us trust him, then, and not push away the instrument lest we lose the glorious effect of His work.
– THE LAND OF KING
A TRAVEL LETTER BY DR. GEORGE T. SCOTT ASHooiute /·,'CCf·ctfWU I)f tile l'n'Hbyt('tian B(J(lr([ of Foreign iJli88iotl8 King Prajadhipok and Queen Ramabaibarni, the genial and enlightened rulers of Siam, are now visiting America, where the king has been successfully operated upon for the removal of a cataract. King Prajadhipok is a graduate of Oxford University, England, and has proved an efficient ruler of almost the only absolute monarchy left in the world. Dr. Scott visited Siam recently and has given his impressions here.-EDITOR.
T HIS little land of about eleven monarchy left in the world. For- million people seems simple, tunately the king, like hili two and yet it eludes definite char- predecessors, is a highly enlightacterization and analysis. The ened, progressive and benevolent Siamese may be described as pleas- ruler. He and his corps of apant, friendly, complacent or satis- pointed Ministers and Councilors fied, easy-going, relaxed or unam- of State (mostly princes of blood bitious. They impress a visitor as royal) are industrious, intelligent being contented. For this there are leaders of their loyal subjects. A many reasons, e. g., the warm sun typical tale is told of the king visitand rich soil; the ubiquitous, thor- ing in a foreign land. ough-going Buddhism seeking the annihilation of desire and avoiding "We have one of your princes liv- ing here," he was informed.'
all acts that might possibly retard "What does he do?" inquired the the individual's progress upward king. in the scale of reincarnations; the wide-spread malaria and hook- "Nothing!" was the reply. worm, which sap vitality, physical "Then he does not belong to us," His Majesty rejoined. "We work."
and mental. The Presbyterian All the royal family work for the Mission cooperated with the Gov- welfare and advancement of their ernment and the Rockefeller Foun- country. The heir-apparent, Prince dation in the study of hookworm, Songkla, brother of the king, over· looking toward its eradication. One worked at his medical studies in physician had one hundred persons America and untimely death preselected at random to test; ninety- vented his service in relieving hu- seven showed unmistakable hook- man suffering in Siam. worm and the other three de- "American mIsSIOnaries have camped! It is said that the army as a whole showed more than done more for the advancement of eighty-five per cent infected. The my people than any other foreign Government is trying to overcome influence," was the public statethe prevalent diseases (which ex- ment of King Chulalongkorn, the act a very heavy toll of infants and great leader of Siam's renaissance. children) and thus to counteract This is typical of the high regard the resultant defects in life and in which, from the early begincharacter, and to lead the nation nings a century ago, missionaries forward. have been held by both rulers and people. Probably in no other coun- Siam is about the only absolute try has there been such friendIi- 431
ness of feeling, intimacy of contact lined a course of training girls to and desire of cooperation between develop the finest kind of women government and mISSIOns. Al- to lead home and family and to though Siam is frankly a Buddhist make the highest sort of State. The land with no separation of religion government aims to avoid what from State, there is freedom of appears to be an excess of higher conscience with no official effort to education for both men and women make Buddhism the exclusive reli- in many other countries. Now the gion. Christianity is free to ex- Government is inaugurating two tend by every fair means. In many years of junior college work of a pieces of missionary educational, professional and pre-professional medical and welfare work, the nature. highest officials of the government generously cooperate with gifts and Through these and other chanenthusiastic commendation, and nels of meeting human needs the the institutions are unrestricted in religious instruction and worship. great message of Christ's spiritual Gospel is practised and proclaimed. The Government must realize Direct preaching is a very vital that the Christian missionaries are part of the mission program. The the best and truest foreign friends fruitage of evangelism in recent that the people have, and that to years, as measured by the common them is due much of the impetus but insufficient scale of church and program of the great national membership, has not been large. reforms. Not only has there been To become a Christian openly is the indirect influence of institu- not easy in a Buddhist family and tions and processes which serve as state, and in the eyes of the new suggestions and models but also nationalism, Christianity still apmissionaries and their sons have pears foreign and adherence to it acted frequently as unofficial or of- unpatriotic. The s e inhibitions ficial advisers of Government. would be largely removed if the Church were to become ecclesiasti- Among the many things intro- cally independent of the Church duced by the missionary, and which in America. While the numerical Siam is increasingly developing as strength of the Siamese Church is her own, are modern medicine and not large, it has well-trained public health in which the country younger leaders (lay and clerical) is making steady strides forward, who are coming into places of insegregation and care of lepers of fluence and are beginning to feel a whom there are a large number, group consciousness and responsiproper obstetrics and care of chil- bility which are moving them out dren, both .of which are sadly de- into an aggressive campaign for fective, the equality of women (to Christ. The future looks bright for whom Buddhism offers next to progress. nothing) who must build the new homes of a renewed nation, and Myriads of yellow-robed priests modern education in which the walk the streets and the hundreds Government is purposely proceed- of temples (called Wats) dot the ing slowly and carefully along lines landscape. The lands of the Orient suited to the needs of the people. are very religious and none more Prince Damrong, uncle of the king and his close counselor, has out- so than Siam. An occidental is amazed, appalled and shamed by the oriental's devotion to and sac-
SIAM-THE LAND 01<' KING PRAJADHIPOK
rifice for his spiritual belief. The from the present-day world of strenuous affairs. The great mass priests are noticeably young, par- of her people are blandly uncon- scious of the complexities and perticularly thase that walk the streets plexities of this twentieth century. Another reason may be that the at dawn with their bowls present- Government has placed prohibitive import duties upon movements that ing to the faithful the privilege of disturb other lands. There seems to be no trouble over capital and making an offering to the support labor, scale of living, over-produc- tion, collapse of markets, military of holy men, which offering will budgets, threats of war, unemploy- ment, partisan politics and similar "make merit" to offset sins and to commotions common in other coun- tries. The great question is Chiadvance along the almost endless nese immigration; almost half the people in Bangkok are Chinese and generations to "Enlightment." they form a large part of every city and town. They control Siam's They do not beg for food but commerce and trade, which they have patiently earned by intellimerely offer opportunity for im- gent, unremitting industry, work- ing early and late with a mental provement in the next transmigra- and physical vigor that defies com- petition by the nationals. tion. Most of these youths are Royalty and Missions in Siam neophytes under instruction in the King Prajadhipok, of Siam, who Wat schools and may remain in the is now visiting America, has be- stowed his favor upon the Presby- . priesthood only a few years. Thou- terian Mission work there. His predecessor on the throne gave his sands of priests walk or stand and own title to the Mission College at Chiengmai, naming it the Prince stare, chanting prayers in archaic Royal College. King Prajadhipok is not a Christian but he attendlanguage; but I could not find one ed the Centennial Celebration of Christian work in Siam in 1928 or learn of one who was doing any- and spoke appreciatively concern- ing it. This year the queen invited thing to help humanity in any the entire Jane Hays Memorial School of Bangkok (a branch of practical way; priests are above, the Presbyterian Mission) to join in her birthday celebration, prebeyond and outside of the mundane sented prizes to four of the girls, and gave a year's tuition to the one realm and think and live in the who won the highest number of points in the games. sphere of detached spirit. One's Prince Dhani, Minister of Eduheart goes out to those thousands of youths with their expressionless faces viewing the world as illusion but with their evident potentiality for constructive contact with the world of reality.
The temples a:re of all sorts and conditions. In the court of the Wat of the Emerald Buddha at the Royal Palace in Bangkok are ex- Quisite multi – colored structures glistening in iridescent sunlight.
Many, perhaps most, Wats show their age, with buildings in need of repair and grounds neglected.
This may be because the priests are indifferent to their physical surroundings.
The aloof separateness of the Wat, the indifferent complacency of the ever-present priest, the sheer other-worldiness of Bud- dhistic philosophy, may account at least in part for Siam's detachment 3 .
cation, has also visited several mis- Luke in every home that could be sion schools, and praised the work. reached. About 11,000 copies of An official visitor to the leper home Luke in Siamese and 1,000 in at Sritamarat made himself re- Malay and Chinese were distrib- sponsible for the complete furnish- uted. In another section 5,000 ing of the operating room in the copies of the Gospel of John were hospital. used. This was followed up by Large liberty is enjoyed in reli- mimeograph monthly let t e r s. gious teaching, though students are Bangkok workers report that not the least of the year's results was often from the princely classes. the revival of evangelism. At Chi- The now venerable Prince Dam- engrai Siamese leaders have organrong, the long-time friend of ized a Gospel Team. American missionaries, is continu- ing his kindly interest in the mis- The two advanced schools for sion. girls, Wattana Wittaya at Bang- No national Siam church exists kok and Dara Wittaya at Chiengas yet, but more national respon- mai, report a good year. Siam is sibility is being assumed by Sia- waking up to the fact that girls mese and Chinese. The semicen- need an education, hence the tennial celebration of the founding schools are crowded. Both schools of Lampang church was carried on report an active religious life solely by the Siamese believers. among the students.
Schools at Sritamarat, Pitsanuloke, Mission hospitals are operated Chiengmai, Nan and elsewhere re- at each of the 10 stations of the port excellent service from Siamese Presbyterian Mission. Tn Bangkok principals and the large majority other medical provision is avail- of teachers are nationals. able, but an important maternity An increasing number of nation- center is maintained, together with al Christians are accepting the re- a medical health service and a medsponsibility of governing and car- ical clinic. Two important leper inrying on the established work of stitutions are maintained with the Chiengmai. This gives the mis- cooperation of the American Missionary an opportunity to devote sion to Lepers. Both institutions time to advance phases of the work need further equipment, inexpeninstead of holding only that which sive but essential.
has already been won. In many The first meeting of the Nation- ways, the national constituency is al Christian Council of Siam brings showing not only its ability, but its this land into closer fellowship desire to assume more and more of with others. As a result of the vis- the financial responsibility. A true it of Dr. John R. Mott for the or- indigenous or national church is ganization of this Council, the Y.
well on its way to realization in M. C. A. has entered Bangkok.
Siam. The Presbyterian Mission is al- Touring evangelism was carried most the only Protestant Chrisian on dUring the past year from Srita- work among the 11,000,000 sub- marat by train, motor lorry, pa- jects of King Prajadhipok, who is nies, boats, coolies, on foot and one of the world's few remaining even by swimming flooded streams. absolute monarchs in this country The aim was to place a Gospel of of 200,000 square miles.
PRESENT CRISIS IN MISSION
BY THE EDITOR REMARKABLE changes have extend its life to the "uttermost taken place since the days part of the earth"; or would the when William Carey and infant enterprise languish and die twelve fellow ministers formed the for want of vitality and nourish- first English "Society for Propo- ment at home? Gradually the gating the Gospel Among the Church was aroused and responded Heathen." That was a time of feebly. Pioneers went forth in crisis for the Church and for the faith, like Abraham, not knowing world. Christ had come on His whither they went. They wrote life-giving mission nearly nineteen home stories that stirred the hearts hundred years before. He had of Christians – reports of adven- given the command to His disciples ture, of hardship, of ignorance and to evangelize the world; He had superstition, of dangers encoun- promised His presence and His tered and fierce opposition to their powers to those who obeyed. Still message. In those days practically five whole continents and the is- all of the nonChristian lands were lands of the sea were almost in not only unevangelized, but un- total ignorance of His message of occupied. Many representatives of life and love. A few Roman Cath- the Church of Rome had traveled olic missionaries had gone on the in distant fields, but almost no at- great adventure; the Dutch had tempt had been made by Protestant colonized South Africa; Christian Christians to reach Moslems, Hin- Europeans had settled in parts of dus, Buddhists, Shintoists, Taoists America; Moravians had opened and Animists. The Christians in stations in Greenland, Iceland and Europe and America were for the the West Indies; some Danish most part ignorant and indifferent Lutherans had founded a mission as to the condition and fate of these in India-but that was all. The millions whom Christ came to save.
world was far from evangelized. Some church leaders even argued The missionary enterprise was that it was not our business to born through the moving of the interfere with God's plans for the Spirit of God in the hearts of His heathen.
servants, but the infant enterprise It was a time of crisis. The faced many difficulties and dan- Church had come to a fork in the gers. In the Church there was road; the life of the missionary strong opposition to such a pre- enterprise was in the balance.
sumptuous and impossible under- Would the Church respond to the taking. There were also countless call? Would men volunteer to go?
enemies to be met in the fields Could missionaries gain a foot- where missionaries sought to win hold among these hostile heathen?
converts for their Master. Could Would they survive the dangers to the new-born project of the Church health? Could the pagans be truly survive such tests of vitality? converted and built up into a Here was the crisis of infancy. strong church? It waS a crisis due Could the Christian Church over- to apparently closed doors, to pre- come opposition and dangers and vailing ignorance at home, to un- 435
certainity and to inaction. History ized; the Laymen's and Young has shown how the Christians of People's missionary movements Europe and America responded followed. Missionary societies of and how the promise of Christ was all denominations came together to fulfilled-by the opening of doors, study the whole world problem and the enlistment of workers, the to cooperate in seeking a solution. breaking down of opposition, the The Ecumenical Conference in conversion of individuals and the 1900 gave the enterprise a new transformation of communities. standing and silenced many critics. Ten years later came the Edin- About a half century ago there burgh Conference that developed came another crisis in missionary the study of the science of mishistory. The infant enterprise had sions. The Jerusalem Conference survived and had grown. Much of followed to emphasize the developthe pioneering had been accom- ment of national churches in misplished. The Church at home had sion lands. International and ingiven evidence of new vitality and terdenominational cooperation has opportunities abroad had enlarged. been promoted by the International Women had entered the mission Missionary Council, and the Nafield to minister to women and chil- tional Christian Councils in the dren. The power of the Gospel to mission fields, to study problems transform people of every race and and policies and to advance with condition had been proved. But a united program. The crisis of the missionary work was largely youth has passed, with thanksgivindividualistic and wholly inade- ing to God for His direction and quate. There was danger lest the the evidence of His power to overgreatness of the opportunity might come. weaken the enterprise. Here was the crisis of youth. Would the The Crisis of Maturity Christians of Europe and America take advantage of the enlarged op- Today we face a new crisis in portunity? W 0 u I d unfriendly Nle history of the Church and in critics of missions discourage the the work of missions. It is the churches or would the critics be crisis of maturity. The adventures silenced ? Would Christians study of pioneering days have almost disthe fields and the methods of ap- appeared. All doors are openproach more earnestly and intellic with the exception of Tibet and gently so as to discover the needs Afghanistan. The unenlightened and how to meet them ? Would the critics have been put to shame and Christian youth volunteer with even nonChristian governments their lives and would Christian lay- have testified to the beneficial inmen respond with their substance fluence of Christianity on the inadequately to meet the situation? tellectual, social and moral life of their people. Mission hospitals and Again this crisis was success- schools have brought blessing to fully passed. The churches were millions that would otherwise have aroused and responded. The Stu- continued in ignorance and sufferdent Volunteer Movement was ing. Four million living converts formed that has enlisted for the are now enrolled in the churches in foreign fields over 12,000 workers. nonChristian lands and these in- Missionary literature grew; many clude some world renowned Ieadnew sending societies were organ-
THE PRJ<::SENT CRISIS IN MISSION LANDS
ers. Churches in the homelands 3. The Crisis in the Churches in have been brought together in a Mission Lands.
united missionary program; books 4. The Crisis in the Home Base and newspapers, students from Churches. abroad and travelers visiting mis- sion lands have made us familiar The Crisis in Mission Lands with world conditions and have de- Any traveler or student of world veloped an understanding of the conditions needs no argument to other man's point of view. The Christian Church has become in- prove that the world itself is at a diginous in the mission fields. crisis.
But today is a day of awakening 1. There is, today, a world-wide youth, a day of scientific investiga- awakening. The ignorance, lethtion, of realism, of skepticism, of argy, and subjection of the masses revision and revolt. The mission- to the favored few or to things as ary enterprise has survived the they have been, is a thing of the threatened dangers of infancy and past. Our recent world journey of youth. revealed everywhere this spirit of What are the dangers that unrest and a desire for change.
threaten its' further development, 1. This is almost universally perchance its very life, in this day true in the political world and is of maturity? The questions arise- no doubt traceable to the influence Shall we retreat or advance? Shall of the World War, to the progress we revise our misisonary ideals, of education, to the rising spirit of our main purpose, our policies, democarcy and to the desire of all our methods? Some are asking people to share in the benefits enanew if the world after all needs joyed in the most favored classes the Gospel of Christ. Is the Gos- or nations. In Egypt and the Sudan, pel effective as a world force to riots are suppressed only with a bring enlightenment, peace, justice strong hand; in Syria the spirit and satisfaction? The World War of revolt against French control has taken the scales from many s I urn be r s but is not quenched; eyes and has revised standards of Palestine is a caldron where Arab life. The crisis of maturity comes oil and Jewish water refuse to mix; from a temptation to complacency; Arabia is in revolt against the Sulfrom an inclination to question the tan, Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud; India need for such sacrifice. Men are is still seething with revolt against inclined to cast aside all beliefs and British rule and insistently destandards and to try new theories mands self-government; Moslems of life and liberty. and Hindus vie with each other for In this day of change and re- supremacy; Burma has recently vision we see Christian missions been the scene of riots and rebelfaced by a fourfold crisis. It is a lion; China is torn in all directions time when the enterprise is again by civil war and is the hotbed of in the balance, or at a fork in the pirates, bandits and communists; roads. Let us consider this four- revolution has recently changed fold crisis and how it is to be met. the governments of Turkey, Ger- 1. The Crisis in Mission Land.~. many, Italy, Greece, Serbia, Ire- 2. The Crisis in Missionary Pol· land and Spain. Russia is the icies. Esau among the nations-her hand
against every natioH and every na- cult. This is true in Japan and tion's hand against her. The Latin China, in India and Burma, in American republics are the scenes Persia and Europe. The financial of continued political revolution; depression in lands from which the seeds of rebellion are not ab- missionaries come increases the sent from the United States of problem of adequate support for America and are growing in Great the work. Australia is threatened Brit3,in and the nations of Europe. with bankruptcy, due largely to This universal political unrest prodigal spending. The unemploymay not be wholly evil, but it di- ment problems in England and verts attention from the pursuits North America have 'caused much of peace and makes missionary suffering and have helped to bring work more difficult. In China, for a great decrease in gifts to mis- example, the civil war, riots and sions. The economic depression banditry have resulted in the re- also offers opportunity for worldcent murder of ten or more mis- wide communistic propaganda.
sionaries, in the capture of some 3. The social upheaval in mis- twenty-five others held for ransom, sion lands is another element in the in the looting or destruction of crISIS. Not only has the revolu- churches, schools, and residences tion in Russia elevated the pro- and in the defiling of many of the letariat at the expense of the mission buildings by ruthless sol- intelligentsia but throughout Asia diers. The Chinese pastors, stu- the depressed classes are looking dents and other Christians have with disfavor on the unequal dis- been molested and some of them tribution of wealth and are de- have been killed. It is a critical manding their rights. The social time in every disturbed land. order in India that has for cen- World-Wide Depression turies prevailed, is being chal- lenged. While villages still observe 2. There is also a crisis in mis- caste restrictions, with the advance sion lands due to world-wide eco- of education and the increase of nomic depression. This is the intercommunication, these caste result of war and national debts, rules are difficult to enforce in of drought and floods, of over-pro- cities. At the Round Table Con- duction and selfish competition, of ference in London, caste was dis- unemployment and foolish extrava- regarded by Indian delegates who gance. Korea, for example, is be- agreed to work for its abolition ing materially developed by the when India obtains self-govern- Japanese while the Koreans are ment. This involves many difficul- being impoverished by taxation ties for education is required to and by the introduction of ma- train outcastes in habits of cleanli- chinery which makes hand labor ness and the present social system less in demand. This condition of India requires sweepers to clean makes the development of self- latrines and do similar disagree- supporting churches very difficult. able duties before modern sanita- In all Asiatic lands the masses are tion is generally introduced. Many held down under grinding poverty. social reforms have been intro- While the economic life of some is duced in all mission fields-includ- being raised, that of a still larger ing new marriage laws and the number is being made more diffi- rights of women. But with new
THE PRESENT CRISIS IN MISSION LANDS
liberty to women, without old so- "lose face." Youth is in the saddle.
cial restrictions, there come also Will the result be a dash for liberty many dangers. and a fall, or will the situation 4. The intellectual crisis in mis- come under wise control and evension lands is due to the growth of tuate in intelligent leadership?
education and the introduction of The Present Religious Crisis new ideas from the West. This increased enlightenment has led to 5. The religious crisis in these the breaking down of superstition, mission lands is even more immi- the acceptance of modern science, nent and important. With the in- and the growth of literacy with all troduction of modern education, that it involves. Children are be- the old religious superstitions and coming more sophisticated than customs are bound to go. Idolatry their parents and are breaking must be discarded. The obscene away from parental control. The symbolism and songs and the mor- growth and adoption of new ideas al evils associated with the temples is seen in every mission field, es- in India stand discredited; the pecially perhaps in such lands as ceremony of bathing in filthy Turkey where the whole order and temple tanks and rivers, is already ideal of education have changed. disapproved as breeding disease; Formerly it was illegal to translate the support of parasitic priests in the Koran which was the chief Hindu and Buddhist lands cannot textbook in the schools. N ow it is continue indefinitely. A Ire a d y discarded and the sacred Arabic many temples in India are losing script is replaced by the Roman patronage; hundreds of temples in alphabet, thus closing the door on China are falling into decay or are the past while opening wide the being used for secular purposes; door to modern literature-much in Japan, Shinto worship is being of which is corrupting and athe- accepted as a patriotic rite and istic. Buddhists are imitating Christian The effect of this 'intellectual songs and methods. Even among crisis is seen in a marked degree Moslems the old fanaticism is dein China, where the old Confucian creasing, confidence in the perfecstandards of education have been tion of Mohammed and in the final discarded in favor of modern phil- authority of the Koran is passing, osophy and science. As a result, and reform sects are declaring that everything old and formerly re- while Islam is supreme, all religions vered is being relegated to the are really one. In Africa and the scrap-heap. Students of modern- Pacific Isles, ignorant spirit worism have become self-confident and ship and witchcraft break down aggressive and take delight in under the influence of modern eduiconoclasm. Student strikes are cation.
common in both government and Not only are old beliefs dying mission schools. Resignations of out, and with them many evil cus- presidents and professors are de- toms, but there are passing also manded ; scholastic degrees are many safeguards and regulations considered more desirable than for conduct. There is danger that character or intelligence; faculties all religion may be discarded for are asked to pass students who do a rationalistic and materialistic not meet requirements, less they philosophy of life. This tendency
is seen in an extreme form in Rus- be laid in truth and will more abidsia where Communistic leaders ing and satisfactory superstruchave come out for atheism and tures be built according to "the anti-God societies h a v e bee n pattern in the mount"? Will the formed. Religion is declared to basis of the new structure be mire be a tool of imperialistic capitalism and quicksand rather than rock, and an "opiate of the people." Not and will buildings of wood, hay only is the teaching of religion to and stubble rise instead of stone children forbidden, but the youth and steel? are trained to break down faith in Christ and in all Christian beliefs II. This crisis in mission lands and customs. The results are is also affected by the new and shown in the disregard for truth more intimate contacts of all naand for parental authority, in the tions, races and religions. Isolalight value placed on life, in the tion is a thing of the past. breaking down of morality and the Whether we will or no, each man rejection of all ethical standards is, in some degree, his brother's for life other than those imposed keeper. Where one hundred years by the State. Russia proclaims ago it required seven months to itself a union of Soviet Socialist reach a distant field, today the Republics, but is in reality a des- whole globe can be circled in three potism, and anarchy is controlled weeks in a zeppelin. Where it only by force. In China, India, formerly took a year for letters to Japan, Moslem lands and else- travel, the radio and cable can where, the Christian missionary bring news to the most remote outtoday not only faces the antago- stations in a few minutes. Stanley nism of false religions, but must took three years to find Livingmeet the bitter attacks of anti-re- stone, but today a wireless is set ligious forces. Many young people up in Central Africa and a convereducated in modern colleges at sation is held with Chicago. As a home and in foreign lands have result we not only know what is discarded all religion and now use happening in remote lands almost their intellectual training to fight before it occurs, but the influence Christianity and the missionary of of a battle, a market depression, a Christ. China and Turkey have change in government or a disrequired the exclusion of all reli- aster is felt almost immediately gion from mission schools and col- around the world. If the women leges; Japan and Persia have in America stop wearing silk, it passed laws for the same purpose causes suffering in the villages of and In d i a may discriminate Japan. World-wide travel and disagainst Christianity when self-rule semination of news increases the senses of friendliness or of fricis established. tion. The exclusion law passed in All mission lands, and particu- Washington immediately c au sed anti-American demonstrations in larly the peoples of Asia and Africa, Japan while friendly acts, as in the time of the earthquake, open are in a state of unrest and trans- wide the doors. ition. New forces are coming into play. Old things are passing These closer contacts also help away; an things are becoming to spread disease. It is said that new. Will the new civilizations be the deadI;v influenza epidemic of ynstabl!, or will better foundations
THE PRESENT CRISIS IN MISSION LANDS
1918, which wrought such world- as painted. Books written to show wide havoc, started in central Asia. the b e aut i e s of nonChristian The spread of leprosy and plague faiths, and advocating eclecticism, must be guarded against by rigid have also had an effect of weaken- quarantine; atheistic or commu- ing the conviction of some as to the nistic propaganda e a s i I y and need for Christian missions. Many rapidly spreads from east to west books, magazine articles and lec- and north to south. As in days of tures, written to entertain, show old the same ship carried to Africa only the picturesque side of non- strong drink and Bibles, so today Christian peoples and overlook the the same post carries truth and sordid, the false elements in their falsehood, C h r i s t ian and anti- religions and their lack of power Christian influences. to save men from sin and death.
The Mixture of Faiths For those who accept this view, the nerve of missions is cut at home III. Another factor in this and the people in mission lands are crisis in mission lands, due to the often told that Americans and closer contacts and the interchange British are accepting Hinduism, of ideas, is the mingling of differ- Islam or other cults in place of ent faiths and philosophies and the Christianity. Many, like Mahatma breaking down of religious bar- Gandhi, attempt to add Jesus to riers. the Oriental Pantheon, as merely The people of China and India another honored teacher of morals no longer judge America by the and truth. The clearcut line of missionaries they meet. The World demarkation between the followers War, the coming of students and of Christ and those who reject other travelers to Europe and Him is becoming more faint and America, the spread of the cinema less distinguishable in many cases.
and the work of news gathering Truly there is a modern crisis agencies have raised the question: in mission lands due to the univer- Is the civilization of the Occident sal unrest, to the closer contact be- desirable for Oriental peoples? The tween Orient and Occident, to stories and pictures of murder, distorted views of Christianity and robbery, adultery, unbridled pas- of nonChristian religions, and to sion and other evils, exploited in the weakening of conviction as to the Orient, give as unsavory a view the unique and supreme place of of "Christian" lands from which Christ as the only Saviour of man they come, as does Miss Mayo's and the true revelation of God.
book of the life in India. Natur- Effects and Dangers ally the question is asked by these "heathen": Will we better our con- The effects of this crisis in mis- ditions by becoming Christians? sion lands is most evident today On the other hand, the propa- in an extreme form in Russia.
ganda of Mrs. Annie Besant, the There political unrest has resulted visits to America and Europe by in revolution and the establishment such men as Tagore and the lec- of the "dictatorship of the prole- tures of devotees of Hinduism, tariat"-in reality a despotism in Bahaism and other religions, have the hands of a small committee.
raised doubts in many Occidental Economic revolution has over- minps if these religions are as bad thrown private ownership and man-
agement of industries based on ex- a tory? Jesus Christ faced similar perience, has established nationalized enterprises and done away situation in Palestine in His day, with private ownership. The so- though there was then less power cial upheaval has submerged the in the revolutionary party. That bourgeoise (or upper classes) and was also a time of unrest and a has put the laborers in authority. desire for change. The Jews were Blood has given place to brawn as restive under the rule of Rome so a passport to preferment. Palaces that a class of patriots arose, called are turned into tenements and the zealots. Poverty and wealth were only privileged classes (theoreti- in severe contrast, as is seen in the cally) are those who submerge story of the rich man and Lazarus. individuality in the social mass This caused bitter enmity and disand submit absolutely to the Soviet satisfaction. Sharp social lines regime. The intellectual revolu- were drawn, even among the Jews tion has resulted in the deposition themselves, between pharisees and of intelligentsia, the discarding of publicans, between master and all tradition, the adoption of ma- slave. Intellectual awakening was terialism as the foundation of life, promoted through the influence of and rationalism as the philosophy Greek culture and philosophy. Heof the land. Prurient and blas- brew religious beliefs and practices phemous literature is given free were influenced by those of Egypt, circulation in Russia while the Greece, Babylonia and Rome. publication and distribution of the Bible is banned. The religious up- How did Christ and His apostles heaval has been expressed in icono- turn the unrest and the crisis of clasm and a persistent effort to that day into victory? destroy faith in God, in human responsibility to any power outside First, they made no compromise of the State and in a. denial of with evil or with political forces immortality. Liberty of conscience out of harmony with God and his and freedom to teach religion is program. They fearlesSly and denied. Class hatred is promoted rather than brotherly love. Perse- consistently preached the Kingdom cution and death is the· fate of of God and His righteousness. those who put God first. Man is God and his will came first in their conceived of as a transient and thought and program. intellectual animal without a soul, rather than as a spiritual being Second, they asked no special made in the image of God, with protection or privileges in the dis- Godlike possibilities and destiny. charge of their mission. Jesus In spite of the good elements in the Soviet program of social justice, suffered and died without resistnations that adopt the philosophy ance, though He might have called and program of atheistic commun- on the Father for twelve legions ism start on the road to destruc- of angels to defend Him against tion. His enemies. The apostles fol- lowed His example. How Meet This Crisis Third, they trusted the truth of How is this crisis in mission God, constantly and consistently lands to be met and turned to vic- proclaimed to work a revolution in men's minds and hearts, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Fourth, they manifested the life and power of God by pure living and loving service without thought
THE PRESENT CRISIS IN MISSION LANDS
of selfish gain or earthly reward. says in his recent book "China's They followed the way of the Cross Rev 0 I uti 0 n from the Inside,"
to victory. though "antiChristian movements We know the result. It required are popular among certain classes time and patience, fidelity and there are no attacks against the suffering, but a small united group person of Jesus" or against His of men and women under the teachings. Spiritua1 forces are leadership of Christ were used to greatest. Mahatma Gandhi, per- transform Europe – politically, haps the finest example of non- economically, socially, intellectually Christian leaders, acknowledges and religiously. Men of different the power of the principles of races came into closer contact and Christ and seeks to follow His ex- into a fuller understanding, but the ample and teachings. Toyohiko standards of the Word of God were Kagawa, the notable Japanese not lowered and the strength of Christian, has won a unique posi- pagan religions was not permitted tion of leadership by sacrificial to dilute the Gospel of Christ. The service and seeks to correct the sovereignty of God was put first evils of the day and to transform and the Spirit of God was the society by love as revealed in Jesus power on which the apostles de- Christ.
pended to carry out the program Spiritual forces must be de- af God. pended upon to turn the crisis in This method of meeting the mission lands into victory. The crisis in mission lands is not out of Church and the representatives of date. The power of God has not Christ must present united forces, waned and is manifest today. The not a divided army, we must ad- dead religion of the Czarist regime vance on our knees, bearing the caused faith to be discarded, but Cross, in the spirit of sacrificial evangelical Christians are exerting service, if the Kingdom of God is a strong influence in Russia in to come and the standard of Christ spite of persecution. Missionaries is to wave supreme over every in China and other lands have re- land. The day wi1l come when nounced protection and special "every knee shall bow and every privileges from secular govern- tongue confess that Jesus Christ is ments. The failure of Christians Lord to the glory of God the to follow fully the teachings of Father"-the day when Christ Christ has caused misunderstand- Himself will return in power to ing and has brought discredit on reign and will subdue all things the Church but, as Dr. R. Y. La unto Himself.
(Next Month-THE CRISIS IN MISSIONARY POLICY) THE WORLD'S NEED-It is not worth while to cross the street to give India a new religious philosophy. India already has more religions and more philosophy than its people can und,erstand.
It would be a waste {jf time to give China a new code of ethics. Confucius gave the Chinese a vastly better code than they have ever practiced.
There is no need to go across the sea to give Japan a better system of education for the Japanese have all that the West can give them.
But it is worth the sacrifice of money, of comforts, of life itself to carry to India, to China, to Japan, to Africa and other lands the Good News that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners and to reveal God, the Heavenly Father, and to make possible God's way of life for men.
UNHOLY "HOLI" FESTIVAL IN
FROM MISS IVA M. FISH The following private letter has recently come from a missionary friend in India with whom we stayed last year. It expresses a deep need.
T HIS is the big day of that Last Monday when I was visiting disgusting Hindu hoi ida y in one of the Hindu homes, the "Holi." Because of this re- women said, "Do you see the pic- ligious festival I am not able to go tures on that calendar in front of into the city to teach this week. you? They killed a Sahib." It Yesterday we went in a motor was a picture of two young Indian lorry to a small place about sixty men dressed in European clothes.
miles from here. In the jungle we "But why do you have the pic- ran out of gas and had to wait ture of murderers in your house?"
there for two hours. It was the I asked. The reply came smilingly night when Hindus light the big and rather proudly, "They killed a bonfire which is part of this cele- white man."
bration. Another woman and I had "Why'!" I asked.
to wait at a crossroads alone for a "Gandhi Ji," was all she would time and as we sat on a stone by say.
the wayside, people from the vil- One morning I was coming lage came into the jungle, hunting along a narrow city street, and anything that would burn. Their just ahead of me saw a young man, shouts, as they found cow-dung with his head turned in the other or other inflammable material, direction, just finishing his toilette sounded like a mob of fiends. It on the front verandah. He was made the chills run down my back tying his dhoties (loose trousers).
to hear them. He put his hand inside the door We were thankful to reach home and brought out a terrible looking safely, but since midnight crowds knife, full twelve inches long, of men, covered with red color, which he stuck in the side of his have passed our house beating dhoties at the waist. He pulled drums and singing vile songs. I down his long shirt and walked am told that at this festival time away. One, who had not seen what the women sing and repeat to one had hapened would have thought another such obscene things that he was an innocent, peaceful young if they did it at any other time of man. I wondered how many of the the year, their husbands would kill men whom I pass every day are them! The very beat of the drums thus prepared for eventualities.
indicate that the songs are evil. Poor India.
The educated young men claim Pray for the Indian Church.
that they do not take part in this Next week is a week of evangel- festival, but it seems impossible ism. From the indifference of that all are uneducated who are the many Indian Christians, it passing our house today, This is seems that unless missionaries do a horrible curse of Hinduism! most of the work, the week will not The religion of these people be very fruitful. The time has sanctions murder and obscenity. come when these Indian Christians 444
MISS SUSIE SORABJI, OF POONA
should evangelize their own coun- wasted in thinking of authority, try, but too often they seem to money and honors. Until foreign think most about the money which and Indian Christian ideals and the West sends to this land, and desires harmonize and are the who is to have the spending of it. same as those of our Master, to bring men and women out of dark- We all need to be fired by the ness into His glorious light, we Holy Spirit with a zeal for Christ. cannot walk together. Why should Last Sunday I felt intensely the not all the members of the Indian pain and burden of it all. The Church learn to look upon it as a Christian women in my Bible class duty and privilege to tell the story agreed that they should be wit- of the love of Christ? In my ears nesses for Christ, but they quite I hear, "Ye must be born again" calmly acknowledged they did not and I know that when we have a have enough love for the Lord. Church made up wholly of "born- How greatly we need a revival! If again Christians" then it will be Christians truly know their Sav- a witnessing Church and a Church iour there will be much more time with power. May God hasten the spent in bringing others to a day! knowledge of Him, and less time MISS SUSIE SORABJI, OF POONA T HE Rev. Sorabji Kharsedji Helena's is a co-educational and in- and his wife were pioneers of ternational school, meant chiefly progress and education in the Bombay Presidency. He was one of for Parsees, but in which seven difthat famous group of Parsee stu- ferent nationalities are repredents who many years ago became Christians in Bombay. Susie was sented. the sixth daughter, and the son was The children come as babies to a well-known barrister of North India. All the daughters were un- the Kindergarten and grow up tousually brilliant and their activi- gether, which has made co-educaties brought them into touch with tion a success. St. Helena's is a English and American life. One corporation of friends, and looks of them is a Christian woman bar- upon differences as new species of rister who recently toured Amer- gifts to be contributed to the servica, and another is Mrs. Pennell, ice of the world in the name of the the widow of the famous mission- "family." Some leave St. Helena's ary physician of the Afghan fron- for university or professional life tier. Susie Sorabji had travelled in India or overseas; some to sit extensively in England and Amer- on the gadis of some Hindu or Mosica. She was a very well educated lem State; many to marry and and capable teacher, giving un- send the second generation to regrudgingly honorary service, first vive old memories and uphold the to the Victoria High School, traditions of the school. founded by her mother, and later to St. Helena's, Poona, which is The Saint Helena High School her great gift to the world. St. was one of the great educational institutions in Poona, where there are seven colleges and the same number of high schools. The insti- tution ministers to a large number
of the higher classes-some of by ill-health; was almost blind due them the children of chiefs and to an operation for glaucoma in rajas. With the help of American 1909; she had a weak heart; had and Canadian friends Miss Sorabji four attacks of pneumonia in a purchased the valuable property, year, and in 1927 faced a major opand put up the buildings. The de- eration which few in her state of velopment of this work was in a health ever survive. Her faith was great measure due to the generos- unshakable, and she was a triumity of Miss Helen Gould (now Mrs. phant Christian. Finley J. Shepard) who met Miss Sorabji in America. This is why During her illness the people it is called the Saint Helena High who poured into her gates to say, School. "This and this she did for me," said also, "We have never seen such love Miss Sorabji was a wonderfully fine personality. There was some- and such nobility." "We love her thing queenly about her-a tal- and we want to do something for ented, gracious personality consecrated to the great work of bring- her." Old boys and girls came ing Christ to his Indian throne. from all distances to see her once more. N ow her pupils, past and Miss Sorabji not only shared in present, desire to enlarge the Scithe teaching of the High School, ence Building in her memory, and but she superintended also and con- to help carryon her work and her trolled two vernacular schools, one ideals as far as they may. for Hindu and one for Moslem children, to which schools also she Miss Sarabji was a member of gave appropriate buildings. And the Church of England and to that in addition the Women's Council, church the responsibility for mainthe Y. W. C. A., the Soldier's taining the school has been as- Home, the Women's Prison, the signed. Poor House, the Asylum, Scouts and Guides and Blue Birds, and min- Throughout her life Miss Sorabji istering to children, the Kaiser-i- exerted a decided Christian influ- Hind Chapter of the Canadian Daughters of the Empire, of which ence in her Bible classes, in her she was Regent-every kind of public addresses and in her perwork for women and children had sonal contacts. When Mrs. Naidu her cooperation and sympathy. was detained in the Poona jail, Miss Sorabji visited her several She was utterly unsparing of times, presented her with a Bible, herself. She poured out love on and evidently got near the heart of everyone around her. No one in that great Indian woman leader. trouble ever lacked sympathy when It was a thrilling moment at the she knew of the trouble. In the busiest of weeks, not long before funeral service when Canon she died, she found time to call and sympathize with a Parsee ex-pupil Butcher announced to the great about the death of a beloved dog. gathering of Parsees, Hindus, Mo- Miss Sorabji was handicapped hammedans and Christians that the fine cultured Parsee lady-Miss Sorabji's right hand and fellow worker in the Saint Helena School -had just resolved to give herself to Christ.
fTHODS fOR WO……_a
Edited BY MRS. F. I. JOHNSON, 150 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK The editor of this Department de- hands remain clasped on breast while sires to g;ve credit to Mrs. Frank face is lifted heavenward, but at the Rector of 80 Clyde St., Pawtucket, R. words "earthly night," droops again I., for the fine methods contributed by on breast through remainder of the her to the November and December stanza and remains so until the end issues. The devotional aervice in the of the line, "More than thy tongue can November issue is particularly usable. tell." At beginning of line, "To bring ALL FOR CHRIST my wandering sheep," the clasped hands are slowly stretched out to ex- By MAMIE GLASSBURNER OF CHINA treme front and unclasped, and palms (This is a very effective program for turned upward. With a sweeping mo- tion the hands move apart to extreme use either in home or foreign mission right and left, when the palms become fields. It can. be adapted to any church horizontal, and then with an enclosing audience.) On the platform should be erected gesture, cross handa upon the breast, either a large white or a large remaining to end of the stanza.
rustic cross, the crosspiece of which At words "And I have brought to should be at least a foot above the thee" face and eyes are lifted toward head of the tallest participant in the heaven. At "Salvation full and free,"
pageant. The background should be both arms are extended upward in a covered with dark blue hangings or receiving gesture. At "What hast with branches of trees. The "Disci- thou brought to me" hands are again ples" ·should be seated in various parts pressed upon the breast, while eyes of the audience and approach as continue to gaze heavenward.
though in spontaneous response to the At the words "I consecrate my life,"
appeal. the eyes rest upon the crosspiece and As the organist begins to play "I both hands are extended toward the gave my life for thee," Evangelist foot of the cross in a gesture of sur- takes her place on the plat:f'orm near render, which is held through the the cross. After the prelude the choir remainder of the stanza, when Evan- begins to sing. At the words, "I gave gelist clasps her hands upon her my life for thee," she clasps her hands breast, and lifts face and eyes toward on a level with her breast and about heaven and prays: a foot in front of her, lifts her head "Our Lord, how matchless is thy and gazes intently at the middle of grace! You were rich but for our the crosspiece, remaining in this at- sakes you became poor that we, titude until the end of the first stanza. through your poverty, might be made With the line "I labored many years rich. You left the glory of heaven; for thee" the clasped hands rest upon you toiled through weary years; you the breast. The head droops low and suffered scoffing and insult; you were moves slowly from straight front po- nailed to the cross to purchase for us sition to extreme left, then slowly to the gift unspeakable. Yet shall we extreme right, and again to straight take thy gifts and nothing to thee front, and droops on breast through bring? Awaken us! Forgive our cold- remainder of stanza. ness! Show us what we may bring At the words "My Father's house" to thee! Amen."
447
(Hands are dropped to sides and self involves much. The members of face is turned to audience.) one'·s body, one's thoughts, one's powers, and one's purposes are all in- "Fellow Christians, our Lord Jesus cluded and should all be fully yielded Christ came to earth to establish to His perfect will. Lips that are God's Kingdom of Righteousnes·s; to given to Him not only should refrain preach deliverance to the captives; from evil and untrue speaking; they and recovering of sight to the blind; should comfort the sad, encourage the to set at liberty them that are bruised. disheartened, and dissuade them bent on wrongdoing; and they should ever "To carry out this program, our be bearing witness to the goodness Lord depended on no other force than and power of God. Hands and feet the transforming power of sacificial that belong to Him should not only love. He himself loved and sacrificed keep themselves from actual sin; they to the uttermost and then turned over should labor to relieve the need of the accomplishment of his great pur- others; they should help the weak; pose to his followers, and that trust they should run on errands of mercy. has at last been passed on to you and to me. In Christ we have found for- "The disciple who has given himself giveness of sin; in Him we have wholly to Christ will not use his Godgained a peace and joy that the world given mental powers for selfish gain. can neither give nor take away. In His eloquence will be spent in explain- Him we have found true freedom. In ing the truth and exposing error and Him we have' found light upon our superstition; his memory will recall way and the hope of eternal life. But the labors and sufferings and necessihow many of our brothers and sisters ties of others; his imagination wiIl still are strangers to Him and to his find new ways to uplift society and to grace! Is this because of our careless- abolish its inj ustices and inequalities. ness and our selfishness? When on the His thoughts will not dwell on vain cross He cried, "I thirst," it was not ·sensualities but on whatsoever things the physical distress but the symbol are true, whatsoever things are honof His unquenchable yearning for the est, whatsoever things are just, whatsalvation of the world and for the con- soever things are lovely, whatsoever summation of the Kingdom of Right- things are of good report. eousness. "Are you willing to give yourself to "To be saved the world must believe Him?" on Him of whom they have not heard; how shall they hear without a First Disciple: "This is indeed my preacher; and how shall they preach purpose; but only as His Spirit a·ssists unle·ss they be sent? To go, to preach, me can 1 hope to reach the high ideal and to send, requirEs the sacrifice of which you have set before me." (Lays time, of money, and of life. Who then her flag at the foot of the cross and is willing to consecrate his service this kneels while the choir sings, "Take day unto the Lord?" my life and let it be consecrated Lord bo thee" first, second, fourth, and fifth (Choir again sings softly the first stanzas.) stanza of "I gave my life for thee." First Disciple approaches carrying the Evangel.ist: "Disciple arise!" (She red flag of personality.) hands back the flag) "Christ has ac- cepted your gift. He now gives it Evangelist greets her: "Disciple, back to you to use for Him as He shall what gift do you bring to our Lord 1" direct." (Gives her a lighted candle.) "This is the symbol of your consecra- First Disciple answers: "Evangel- tion. From henceforth your acts of ist, as I think of the grace of our kindness, your holy example, your Lord Jesu·s Christ 1 deeply desire to constructive thoughts, and the tes.tigive myself to Him; but I do not mony of your lips will be as a light to clearly apprehend how this is done."
Evangelist: "Consecration of one-
19311 M~THObs t6R W6RKERS
those about you. Guard your light enough to provide the necessities of and let it not grow dim." life, he will not enrich himself from profit 'on their toil. Moreover, as God (Choir sings first stanza and chorus has directed in His Word, He will of, "We'll walk in the Light." During give the tithe of his income to the supsinging second Disciple appear·s.) port of the church and its manifold forms of social service. Disciple, are Evangelist greets her: "Welcome you ready to accept this solemn refriend! Have you something to con- sponsibility?" secrate to the service of Jesus Christ?" Second Disr:iple: "I am ready. May God help me to be a faithful steward Second Disciple: "Once I craved the of that which He has given to me." wealth of the world. All my strength (Lays his golden treasure box at the and thought have gone to the acquisi- foot of the cross and kneels while the tion of silver and gold and the things choir sing·s, "Take my silver and my that silver and gold could purchase, gold: Not a mite would I withhold." houses, land, food, and clothes. Now, E1Jangelist lays his hand on the dissaved by His great love, I gladly bring ciple's shoulder, Disciple. arises. my wealth to Him. One thing however troubles me; the Lord whom we Evangelist hands him the golden worship is an unseen spirit. How can box and says: "Christ accepts the of- He use my wealth? How can I give it fering you have brought. He now to Him?" returns it to you, trusting you to re- member that it is no longer yours but Evangelist: "At the last great day, His. As you use it for Him it will the King of kings shall say to His bring joy toO the sad and hope to the faithful servants, 'Come, ye blessed of disheartened. It will enable those now my Father, inherit the kingdom pre- crushed in poverty to live a more pared for you from the foundation of abundant life, and it will bring the Gospel of Christ to those who have the world: for l was an hungered, and never heard it. So I give toO you this candle as the badge of your stewardye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ship. Now it is required of stewards ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, that a man be found faithful, so keep and ye took me in: naked, and ye your light burning." clothed me: I Was sick and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came (Second Disciple takes her place by unto me. the cross while the choir sings the second stanza and chorus of "We'll "'Then shall the righteous answer walk in the light." Third Disciple aphim, saying, Lord, when saw we thee proaches, carrying a small clock or a an hungered and fed thee? or thirsty large dial clearly marked, so as toO be and gave thee drink? … or naked and seen by the entire aUdience.) clothed thee? or when saw we thee sick or in prison, and came unto thee?' Evangelist: "Friend, what offering dD you bring to the cause .of Christ?" "'And the King shall answer and say unto them, "Verily I say unto you, Third Disciple: "I am naturally in- Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one dolent and fond of pleasure. I have of the least of these my brethren, ye wasted many hours, and days, and have done it unto me.'" years. Today I woOuld bring my time toO Christ. Will you tell me how I may "Disciple, do you not know that all offer it to Him?" of the poor of the earth, the helpless widows, the fatherless children, are Evangelist: "Friend, our Lord is the brothers and sisters of our Lord. indeed pleased with this offering of Therefore to give one's wealth to Him yours. His righteous kingdom has is to administer it for others. While been hindered in its progress nDt only others are hungry the true disciple by lack of men and money, but also cannot eat and drink extravagantly. because there are so many kinds of While others have no place of shelter, he cannot live in luxury. While the wages of the laboring man are not 4
kingdom services that no one has time other six days to glorify Christ and to perform. How many mothers work advance His Kingdom. all day al!d far into the night, they have no time to read their Bibles no "Disciple, do you renounce leisure opportunity to go to church, no time and vain pleasure to use your time for recreation, because the young peo- a-s your Lord shall direct?" ple 'of the family thoughtlessly spend their time for pleasure instead of us- Disciple: "I renounce them: my ing it to help lighten the burdens of God strengthen my purpose." (Lays others, which is one of the simplest the clock at the foot of the cross and ways of giving it to Christ. kneels.) "How many illiterate people there Choir sings: are! They have no money to enter school; and they cannot leave their "Take my moments and my days families or their daily tasks. If some- Let them flow in ceaseless praise one would give of his leisure to teach B~es.sing others as I go, them an hour each evening after the LIftmg loads, returning woe." day's work is done, they would in time become able to read and to write and Evangelist draws near and speaks: tQ gather truth for themselves from the Word of God which is now sealed "Disciple ari-se! Your prayer of conto them. A good way to give your time to Christ is to teach those who secration has been heard. Your time are untaught. is hencefonth His; but He trusts you "Think how many sick there are with no one to bring them a refresh- to use it for Him." (Hands her the ing draught when they are thirsty; no one to bathe them when they are in clock) "Used for Him it will bring fever; no .one to wash and change their clothes and bedding. To use cheer to the disconsolate, relief to the one's time to comfort and care for those who are suffering in weakness overburdened, and light to those who and pain is another way to give it to Christ. now sit in darkness. Therefore, I give "Again, the true disciple should you this lighted candle as the fitting strive for a constantly enriching personality. His learning and his knowl- emblem of your trust. His light will edge of the truth should be ever on the increase: so another method of shine upon your way, and as you consecrating one's time to the Master is to set apart a portion of it for the faithfully walk in its radiance it will study of the Bible and the reading of other helpful books. grow brighter and brighter unto the "The first step in the consecration perfect day." (Hands her the candle of time is the keeping of the Sabbath as Chri-st kept it; refraining from and choir sings "We'll walk in the one's ordinary tasks; meeting with other disciples for praise, prayer, and Ii g h t." The Fourth Disciple apinstruction in the things of the Spirit; and engaging in special acts proaches wearing a carpenter's apron 'of mercy and religious service. He, who thus sanctifies one day in seven, in the pocket of which is a plane and will not easily forget that all of his time is holy, and he will not fail to square. Evangelist greets her.) find guidance as to how to use the Fourth Disciple: "EvangeJi.s.t, I too, love the Lord and realize something of the depths of His grace. I, too, long for the coming of His Kingdom and of righteousness; but what have I to offer Him 1 I have no time no money, no learning." '
Evangelist: "Friend, what have you in your pocket?"
(Disciple draws out plane and square.) "These are my carpenter's plane and square,"
Evangelist: "Why do you not give them to Christ 1"
Disciple: "Do I dare offer such coarse and common things to Him?"
Evangelist: "The plane and square are the emblems of your toil. Do you not know that toil is honorable in the sight of God? Our Lord Jesus grew
METHODS FOR WORKERS
up in the family of a laborer. He nance will illumine your heart and Himself was a carpenter but His work life. Take then this light as the was good and true. symbol of your consecrated labor; keep it burning until you hear His "In establishing His KingdQm of final 'well done, gO<Jd and faithful Love, our Lord needs, not only the servant.' " (Disciple takes the plane personality, the wealth, and the time and square and the lighted candle.) of His followers, but also their fine, true labor. To give our labor to Him Choir sings: "We'!I walk in the not only means that we will not slight light." (lilr work nor seek for undue profit from it, it also means that we will Fifth Disciple advances bringing do it with His joy and with His heart with him his elderly mother, his of love. The house built by the Chris- grown-up son, his daughter-in-law, tian carpenter sh()uld be m<Jre endur- and his younger daughter. The daughmg than <Jthers, that men may dwell ter-in-Iaw should lead by the hand a in comfort. The field worked by the small granddaughter four or five years Christian farmer should yield more of age. than others, that the world's hunger may be fed. The home of the Chris- Evangelist greets Disciple and says: tian housekeeper should be cleaner "Disciple, who are these with you? Have you anything to consecrate to lie than others, that the health of the the ~ervice of the Lord?"
village may promoted. The burden Disciple: "This is my family" carried by the Christian loadman and (pointing to each) "my mother, my the boats rowed by the Christian boat- son, my daughter-in-law, my little men should reach their destination daughter, my grandchild. My family sooner than others, that the commu- is the m<Jst precious thing that I have. nications of the country may be mQre I would bring it to Christ." effective. Moreover, the Christian workman should be constantly finding Evangelist: "Disciple, your purpose new and better methods of work that gives me great joy. If all the folcivilization may be advanced. lowers of Christ had but brought their families to Him, His Kingdom would "Disciple will you consecrate your have come long ago. Since you have labor to the service <Jf Christ?" this thought in your heart, it is im- portant that you should understand Disciple: "I will," (Lays his im- the real character of the Christian plements at foot Qf cross and kneels home." in prayer.) Disciple: "Say on, Sir." Choir sings: Evangelist: "Marriage, which is "Take my work as done for Thee the foundation of the family, should May each task completed be, be, in the Christian home, a holy fel- Faithful, earnest, wrought in love. lowship. This young couple" (indicat- That Thy sway may onward move." ing) "should love, chefi.sh, and trust each other, through joy and sorrow, Evangelist: "Disciple arise and through life and death. The spiritual hear the word of the Lord! 'Whatso- life of the home should be carefully ever thy hand findeth to do, do it with nurtured; and each day the entire thy might, not slothful in business; family should gather for united fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.' prayer and study of God's Word. The Lord has accepted and sanctified This is indeed, the prerequisite of your plane and square. All the work true piety and virtue. All the memthat you do with them is to be His bers of the Christian family should work. It will make your fellow men be able to read. Is this true of happy; it will cause those who do not yours?" yet recognize Christ as Lord, to glorify Him on your account; and Disciple: "My son reads but my as you work the light of His counte- daughter-in-law does not."
Evan.rrelist: "Your mother?" represents labor, often inadequately Disciple: "She had no opportunity compensated, on the part of others, to study when she was young." and to be extravagant or wasteful of Evangelist: "Your little daughter?" food and clothing is a wrong against Disciple: "She has not yet begun to society as a whole. study." Evangelist: "Each evening, after "Moreover, the Christian family is the work is done you should all' as- not content to dwell in peace and love semble for an hour or two of study. itself. Its thought goes out to the Begin with this" (draws a book of weak and unfortunate, and out of its "Probationer's lessons" from his own thrift each member gives regupocket) "It is called the 'Learner's larly and systematically to missionary Handbook' and is just the thing for and philanthropic enterprises. beginners." (Disciple receives it with thanks.) "Disciple, the standard for a Chris- "The Christian home, should be tian home is high. It is not easily sanitary, clothing, food, floors, and reached, but those who determine to furniture should be clean; and every attain the goal not only gain a new room should be open to the fresh air joy and richness of life for themand sunlight. selves and their dear ones; they also "In the Christian home, the father mightily advance the Kingdom of and mother 'should be gentle and lov- God on earth. Are you fully pering and the children should be filial suaded?" and obedient. All should have times of play together, that no barriers of Disciple: "My decisi~n is made. misunderstanding may grow up be- May God assist my weakness and may tween parents and children. They His Spirit touch the heart of each of should go together to church and to these, my loved ones." (Turning to Sunday school to gain instruction in them.) "Will you come with me?" the truth and also to gain the benefit (Kneels while choir sings "The Home of fellowship with other Christians in Transfnrmed by Christ." As these prayer and praise. stanzas are sung, the daughter kneels "Have you any hired help in your on one side of the disciple, the son on the other side. Later the mother and home?" little granddaughter kneel at the side Disciple: "We have a young wom- of the son. Last of all the daughter- in-law speaks to the work woman, and an who helps my daughter-in-law with together they kneel beside the daugh- ter. At the words, "Filled with joy the housework." like that above," all stand and sing EvangeUst.· "Why did you not bring the chorus. At the close of the chorus EvangeUst gives a lighted candle to her with you?" Disciple.) Disciple: "I did not realize that she Evangelist: "The Christian Home should be included." is a lighthouse in the darkness of the Evangelist: "Of course she is in- present social order. Take this as a parable of your high calling in Christ cluded: In Christ there are no class Jesus and may each member of your distinctions; all should be treated as family circle be a light bearer to brothers and sisters. Her work neighbors and friends." (Gives Disshould not be too heavy and her hours ciple a candle for each member of the not too long." family. After Disciple has given each one his candle, each one lights Daughter-in-law: "I will call her." his from Disciple's candle, after which (Goes out and returns with work all sing with the choir, "We'll walk in woman. Evangelist greets her and the light.") The Sixth Disciple adcontinues.) vances carrying the banner of the Chinese Republic. "The Christian home should be thrifty. All should be taught to remember that each grain of rice, and each thread of cotton, wool, or silk,
Evangelist: "Welc'Ome, my y'Oung (Gives the flag back to Disciple and friend! What gift d'O you bring t'O continues.) our Christ?" "YDur l'Ove of country is a gift frDm Disciple: "My heart's desire and G'Od Himself. May its sacrificial prayer t'O G'Od f'Or my c'Ountrymen is flame, like the light 'Of this candle, that they might be saved. On every m'Ount higher and higher. Let it never side I see my own people in peril and grow dim." (Gives her the light.) distress. In what pr'Ovince is the Choir sings: "We'll Walk in the sound of battle not heard? In what Light." (Seventh Disciple comes f'Or- country is there not strife and oppres- ward with a large key in her hand.
siGn? In what city do~s not the terr'Or Evangelist welcDmes her: "Disciple, 'Of plague stalk rampant? In which what 'Offering dD Y'OU bring tD y'Our village are the larger part 'Of the Saviour?"
populace n'Ot illiterate and supersti- Disciple: "When I began tD f'OlI'Ow tious? A£ I have bro'Oded 'Over these Christ, He gave me this key with the things I have c'Ome t'O the realizati'On c'Ommand t'O use it 'Often and the that apart fr'Om Christ's law 'Of love, promise that as I did so I w'Ould find there is n'O hope for China. I w'Ould grace t'O help in time 'Of need, p'Ower bring my CDuntry to Christ, but I f'Or service, and blessing for 'Others: kn'Ow n'Ot h'Ow it is done. Can y'OU but as I was busy ab'Out many things help me?" I f'OrgDt the c'Ommand and the prom- Evangelist: "My friend, y'Our dream ise, and neglected the key till, as YDU is a noble 'One. China is the largest see, it has bec'Ome old and rusty and and m'Ost p'Opul'Ous c'Ountry in the difficult to use: yet, since He gave it w'Orld. China for Christ means the t'O me, it must be of value and I bring world for Christ. When the Kingdom it t'O find how I may c'Onsecrate it t'O 'Of G'Od is established in China it will His service." surely be quickly established in all the earth. But to save 'One's countrymen Evangelist takes the key, examines is n'Ot an easy task. He who cherishes it and says: "Ah! this is the key 'Of this ambition must ren'Ounce vain prayer. The p'Ower 'Of prayer is the pleasure and luxury. He must sacri- m'Ost mysteri'Ous and precious gift fice time and money and the comf'Orts granted to the Christians. Prayer is of h'Ome t'O proclaim Christ'£ way 'Of talking with G'Od. Prayer heals the life. He must be prepared to endure sick and casts out dem'Ons. Prayer scorn and persecution. Paul, t'O save brings the fullness of the Spirit. In his c'Ountrymen, suffered impris'On- 'Ourselves we have nD strength t'O help ment and death. Christ's passi'On for 'Our faculty and friends. We have n'O the salvati'On of his own nation led p'Ower t'O reform society 'Or save 'Our him to Calvary and the shameful c'Ountry. G'Od'·s grace and power are cr'Oss. If y'OU can walk in His £teps, limitless. He waits t'O give them t'O regardless 'Of pain and toil, He wi1l all who need: but that n'One may use use you t'O brlng China t'O Himself: them wr'Ongfully 'Or lightly, he has laid but remember that no man having put d'Own the simple restricti'On that they his hand to the pi'Ow and lo'Oking back are given only t'O thDse wh'O pray in is fit f'Or the Kingd'Om of G'Od." Jesus' name and f'Or His sake.
Disciple: "I have already put my "In all'Owing y'Our key 'Of prayer t'O hand to the plow, I d'O not intend t'O rest in idleness, y'Ou have l'Ost many turn back. My heart's desire and priceless blessings for y'Ourself and prayer is China for Christ." (He for 'Others. In establishing His Kingkneels and lays his flag at the f'O'Ot 'Of d'Om 'On earth, 'Our L'Ord must use the the crDss.) pers'Onality, the wealth, the time, and the lab'Or 'Of His f'OIlDwers. He needs Choir sings: "China f'Or Christ." their families and their l'Ove 'Of c'Oun- try. But if he has all 'Of these with- Evangelist: "D i sci pie arise!" 'Out their persistent, believing prayer,
He is ·still hindered and restricted in is still on the platform the pastor the carrying out of His great prog- should make a plea for consecration, ress. If you really plan to further and an opportunity should be given the interests of His Kingdom by your for those who are already Christians intercession, you must say farewell to manifest their purpose, and f'Or to worldliness and selfish desires, and nonChristians to decide f'Or Christ.
seek constantly to enter into His thought and plans. Begin by setting HYMNS USED apart an early morning hour for "Fr'Om Ocean Unto Ocean" and "0 prayer. Each day your key will be- Happy Home" will be found in come brighter and the door to His "Hymns for the Living Age." The storeroom of grace will open more two hymns "I Gave My Life for Thee" easily until you reach the goal of and "Take My Life" are familiar to all program builders. constant communion with Him so that no matter when or where, you can ask and receive whatever you and ALL FOR JESUS others need for the progress of His Kingdom." (Hands back the k€y,) All for Jesus, all for Jesus, all my be- "He waits and longs for intercessor·s. ing's ransomed power Will you be one?" All my thoughts and words and doings, Disciple: "I will. May he forgive all my dars and all my hours my indifference." (Disciple lays key at foot of cross and kneels while choir All for Jesus, al for Jesus, all for Jesus, sings "What various hindrances we all for Jesus meet.") All my being's ransomed p'Ower, all my Evangelist: "Disciple arise, Take days and all my hours.
up the key that He gave to you and Let my hands perform His bidding, let use it faithfully till His blessed King- my feet run in His ways dom come. Prayer is not only a key; Let my eyes see Jesus only. Let my lips it is an altar flame and a cloud of in- speak forth His praise cense rising heavenward. This candle All for Jesus, all for Jesus, all f'Or Jesus, all for Jesus Let my feet run in His ways, Let my lips speak forth His praise.
is the seal of your stewardship of JESUS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD intercession, guard it with zealous (Sing one stanza after each Disciple care." (Gives her the candle.) lights his candle.) Choir with disciples sing: "We'll walk in the light" after which Evan- Hark the herald angels sing, Jesus the gelist lifts face heavenward and prays: Light of the wDrld.
"Our Lord, Thy sacrificial love has Gl'Ory t'O the new-born King, Jesus the moved us to bring to Thee our all. Light 'Of the w'Orld.
We believe thou hast accepted the We'll walk in the light, beautiful light gift and made us stewards of thy manifold grace. Help us to be faith- Come where the dewdrops of mercy are ful, that, through the constant en- bright Shine all around us by day and by night Jesus the Light of the world.
richment of personality, through the J 'Oyful all ye nations rise, Jesus the Light unselfish administration of wealth and of the w'Orld time, through joyful and creative labor through unceasing intercession, Join the triumphs of the skies, Jesus the Light 'Of the world.
thY' Name may be glorified and thy Christ by highest heaven adored. Jesus righteous Kingdom may fully come. the Light 'Of the w'Orld Amen." Christ the everlasting Lord, .Jesus the (As E van gel i s t concludEs the Light of the world.
prayer, all turn slightly toward the Hail the heaven-born Prince 'Of Peace, cross and join the choir in singing. Jesus the Light of the w'Orld. "All for Jesus, all for Jesus.") Hail the Sun 'Of Righteousness, Jesus the At the close of this, while the group Light 'Of the world.
WOMAN'S HOME AND FOREIGN
EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN, 105 East 22nd Street, New York Council 01 Women lor Home Missions FLORENCE G. TYLER, 419 Fourth Avenue, New York Federation of Woman's Boards of Foreign Missions 01 North America PROMOTING WORLD PEAQE program meetings. This list is 5 cents. One of the methods for interesting A TRIP TO ALASKA people in World Peace is the small Books are keys to wisdom's treasure; stamp picturing a white dove hover- Books are gates to lands of pleasure; Books are paths that upward lead; ing in a blue sky over the earth, to be Books are friends. Come, let us read.
used on personal and official corre- If you cannot go in physical person to "The Great Country," let your mind spondence in the same way as the Red and spirit be refreshed and invigor- ated by reading the three breezy, Cross seals and World Day of Prayer graphic books by Mary Lee Davis that most delightfully take you there and seals. These W.arld Peace stamps are let you see the land and the people, and feel the general atmosphere. They 1 cent each and may be are full of interesting information charmingly presented and authenti- Ig procured from any wom- cally accurate. They ,should be read . en's denominatio'nal board in the following order; . or from the Council of . Women for Home Mis- "Uncle Sam's Attic."t About the land. : ~C 416 pages; 53 illustrations; $3.50. sions in sheets of 25 or "Alaska, the Great Bear's Cub."t 100. They have been About the wild life; 314 pages; 27 illus- gotten out by the Coun- trations; $2.00.
cil and that organization "We Are Alaskans."! About the peo- ple. Ready in July. will place the proceeds in the Eva The announcement t r u I y says; Clark Waid Memorial Fund for World "Here is an all Alaskan tour, person- ally conducted by an Alaskan 'Sour- Peace. dough' !
Besides the book, "The Turn To- "Alaska is not a fish pond but a colony -of Americans shaping with ward Peace," by Mr,s. Boeckel, spoken their bare hands a new empire over- seas for Uncle Sam. Alaska is not an about elsewhere in this BULLETIN, ice-land but a green-land-and not a land of cold and gold so much as a the r e is the printed program,* land of wheat and heat! This is the new dramatic picture drawn by Mary "Blessed Are the Peacemakers," pre- Lee Davis in telling of her own eight intimate years aloft in Uncle Sam's pared by the Federation and Council, Attic. Drawn to the High North by a love of great adventure, she has here in distribution of which the National drawn the High North as a land of great beauty-watomly, in pers-on, and Council of Federated Church Women with deep affection and understand- ing." also shares. This program takes an hour and a half and is suitable for a women's society, young people's group, or any denominational or interdenomi- national group interested in interna- tional relations. It is priced at 2 cents, $1.75 per 100 and is procurable from any women's denominational headquarters.
There is also the mimeographed, carefully selected bibliography and list of study coursest including short discussion courses (some in the form of questions and answers) suitable for •Appeared in Reptember. 1930, issue. t By ~lary L{)e Dayis. PulJlishNl h;y ,,~. A. tAppeared In February, 1931, Issue. Wilde Co., Boston.
455
MISSIONARY EDUCATION course offers suggestions for use of the report of the North American Home Missions Home Missions Congress, and a lim- ited number of other sources that will The home mi·ssion study program be valuable for reference in a study for 1931-32 includes two most inter- of the whole home mission enterprise. esting themes: "The Call to the Themes for devotional periods and Churches from the North American guides for discussion are included. Home Missions Congress" for adults and older young people; "Christianity God and the. Census,' by Robert N. and Rural Life in America" for In- McLean of the Board of National Mistermediates and children. sions, Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.; author of That Mexican, Jump- In preparation for the North Ameri- ing Beans, etc. In this interesting can Home Missions Congress which book Dr. McLean tells how the home met at Washington in December, 1930, missionaries for more than a century commissions were appointed which un- have been working at great cost in an dertook thoroughgoing studies of effort to make sure that God was beevery phase of home missions. The ing counted in the life of every dediscussions and findings of the con- veloping community on our advancing gress based on these studies have frontiers. The book is rich in stories brought before the churches a new of daring men and women who have outlook and a new challenge in regard been pioneers of the Gospel in every to the Christian task in America. part of America and in new and dif- ficult areas of our national life today. It has been the purpose of the au- In concrete terms Dr. McLean has thors treating this subject to bring shown what the home mission enterout some of the practical, outstanding prise has come to be and the many i·ssues which the congress faced in a phases of its task as revealed by the frank study of conditions in our coun- Washington Congress. try. Leader's Manual to Accompany God The home mission publications are and the Census: by Sue Weddell, Exprepared and published jointly by the ecutive Secretary, Young Women's Council of Women for Home Missions Department, Reformed Church in and the Missionary Education Move- America. This pamphlet presents ment. practical and interesting plans for ac- tivities in study, discussion, and serv- ADULTS AND YOUNG PEOPLE ice which will combine to make a well- rounded course on home missions. The Challenge of Change: What Is Happening in Home Missions,' by John MIGRANTS; PEACE Milton Moore, from 1926 to 1931 General Secretary of the Federal Council Roving with the Migrants: by Adela of the Churches of Christ in America; J. Ballard, Western Supervisor of Miauthor of Things that Matter Most. grant Work, Council of Women for Dr. Moore, who has had long experi- Home Missions. A short reading book ence in the pastorate, in home mis·sion which pictures the migrating procesadministration and in the cooperative sion roaming over the states, harvestagencies of the churches, has given in ing the crops and working in other this book a fresh and comprehensive seasonal labor fields. The presence of interpretation of the home mission these people is in many places the enterprise as it was reappraised and major home mission responsibility. restated at Washington. The Turn Toward Peace; by Flor- Leader's Manual to Accompany the ence Brewer Boeckel, Educational Sec- Challenge of Change,' by Arthur V. retary, National Council for the Pre- Casselman, Secretary for Missionary vention of War, author of Between Education, Reformed Church in the War and Peace, etc. A book for read- United States. While based primarily upon the book by Dr. Moore, this
WOMAN'S HOME AND FOREIGN BULLETIN
ing or for study by groups wishing test in their lives." The rural life of another topic in addition to the themes the world represents one of the of the year. A short and interesting greatest unoccupied opportunities for statement of the problems of world Christian missions. It presents a tre- peace by one of America's leading au- mendously challenging and vitally in- thorities. Written especially for use teresting study for Christian people by church groups and has been en- everywhere. "Not since Jesus Christ thusiastically received. There is a taught his first disciples to pray 'Thy Leader's Manual.' Kingdom come, thy will be done,' has Foreign Missions there been such an hour to voice and to help give answer to the prayer for The themes are "Christianity and a holy earth."
the Rural Life of the World" and Central Committee on the United "Korea." Study of Foreign Missions and the "The one inclusive purpose of the Missionary Education Movement have missionary enterprise is to present together worked out the program on Jesus Christ to men and women the the rural theme, each group being world over as their Redeemer and to responsible for the publication of spe- win them for entrance into the joy cific books. A complete program cov- of His discipleship …… We desire to ering all age groups is therefore bring home emphatically the neces- presented.
sity of a comprehensive program for ADULTS AND YOUNG PEOPLE those larger sections of the population …… who labor for mankind in field Christ Comes to the Village: edited and factory and who are without many by Mary SchaufHer Platt, author of of the conditions necessary for that The Child in the Midst and A Straight abundant life which our God and Fa- Way Toward Tomorrow. A study of ther desires for all His children."* the rural life of women and children This pronouncement of the Jeru-sa- in non-Christian lands. The different lem Conference has led to the careful chapters have been written by such consideration of the rural problems well-known author-s as Eleanor T. Calof the world by the Christian forces verley, M.D. (Arabia), Mabel Ruth and to the selection of this theme for Nowlin (China), Alice B. Van Doren the foreign mission study this year. (India), E. Stanley Jones, D.D. (In- Secular books, magazines, papers are dia). A fascinating study of the way full of consideration of rural prob- Christ is touching the life of village lems from every angle. Rural surveys women and bringing to them "full- are being made. Programs are being ness of life." Written especially for worked out for rural education, for women and young women for study, better health, for improved methods, for programs, for reading.t etc. The whole world is interested in The Rural Billion; by Charles M.
these village folk, a billion strong, McConnell, Professor of Town and who feed and clothe the whole world. Country Church, Boston University The church of Jesus Christ is vitally School of Theology and Newton The- interested in bringing His message of ological Institution. Of the world's fullness of life to the women as they total population of nearly two billion, gather at the village well, to the men more than one half are living on farms as they plow the fields, to the children and in villages. What are the condi- as they help to reap the harvests. tions of rural life today throughout Christ spent most of His earthly life the world and what are the churches in the villages, in the fields; "His re- and their missions doing to extend ligion you can take right among the and enrich Christian service among people of the earth and put it to the the rural peoples? Mr. McConnell has * Vul. VI. Missions and Rural Problems. t Published by Central Committee.
had long experience as a rural min- eral theme of Christian missions ister and teacher of rural church prob- among rural peoples. lems, and for a year he has served in Japan, Korea and China as advisor KOREA regarding the Christian mission program among rural peoples of the Ori- Korea is predominantly an agriculent. He has written a unique, stimu- tural country, her population is 80% lating book which brings together the rural. Therefore the study of Korea stories of men and women the world becomes a logical part of the rural over who are preaching and teaching program. Few books have been writthe Gospel as they help to remake ten of the thrilling development of rural life. Christianity in Korea; this new book is received with deep interest. Leade,r's Manual for Adult Groups Studying Christianity and the Rural Korea: Land of the Dawn,' by Life of the World,' by Ralph S. Adams, James D. Van Buskirk, M.D., Vicemember of the staff, Interseminary President, Severence Union Medical Commission for Training for the College, Seoul. A new and long-needed Rural Ministry in New England. Pri- book on a country which illustrates marily based on The Rural BiUion. better than any other country in the Mr. Adams has had long experience in world, perhaps, how Christianity is dealing with the problems of rural approaching a people living under pre- Christianity' and in teaching the sub- dominantly rural conditions. Dr. Van ject in the churches. His course sug- Buskirk has had many years of exgests practical methods and cites perience not only as a physician but helpful source material. as an outstanding leader in the Chris- tian movement. His book presents Agricultural Missions: by Benjamin vividly the backgrounds of contem- H. Hunnicutt, School of Agriculture, porary Korean life and interprets the Lavras, Brazil. A reading book by a Christian task among the Korean peopioneer in the field of agricultural ple to the North American churches. mISSIOns. The first comprehensive treatment of this comparatively recent For Children a.nd Youth phase of Christian missions. As a founder of the International Associa- The theme is "Christianity and tion of Agricultural Missions Mr. Rural Life Around the World." Ow- Hunnicutt has had a wide acquaintance ing to the very close interrelation beamong leaders of the movement in tween the home and foreign materials many countries and commands, as do for children and youth these publicafew men in the world, a knowledge of tions are here grouped in one section. conditions among rural peoples and The home mission books deal with the what Christian agencies have been do- work of Christian missions in rural ing to show the farmer a better way America; the foreign books with simof life and of work. ilar work in the Orient, Africa and Latin America.
A Young People's Course on Chris- INTERMEDIATE tianity and the Rural Life. of the World,' by Roy E. Burt, Secretary for Treasures in the Earth,' by Fred Epworth League and Young People's Hamlin, journalist and traveler. In- Work, Department of Missionary Edu- teresting stories about Christian leadcation, Methodist Episcopal Church. ers, both missionaries and nationals, Based primarily upon The Rural Bil- who have helped the rural peoples of lion, this course suggests methods, the Orient, Africa and Latin America discussion topics, reference materials, in improving conditions of their lands activities, and accompanying devo- and villages and who at the same time tional programs for young people's have brought them the Christian Gosclasses and societies studying the gen- pel.
The Church and the World's Farm- prises, comprise a very important part ers,' by Mary Jenness, author of Out of this course. of YesterdQ,y Into Tomorrow, Meet Your United States, etc. For leaders Out in the Country; by Hazel V. of intermediate groups studying Orton, Secretary of Elementary Work, Christianity and the rural life of the Missionary Education Movement. A world. Suggestions for six sessions, Friendship Press text on rural life in including topics and questions for dis- America. Stories dealing with some cussion, activities, devotional pro- of the problems of farm children. grams, and background material for Possible teaching procedures containthe leader. ing background material,' suggested activities and enterprises, will be help- The Adventures of Mr. Friend; by ful to the leader. The material and Harold B. Hunting, author of Pioneers activities forming the basis for this of Goodwin, Stories of Brotherhood, course were used with a group of The Story of Our Bible, etc. Short, country children who met in a farmengaging stories all based on the work house every day for a week in the of real persons who through the middle of winter. church and its allied agencies have brought happiness and larger oppor- PRIMARY tunities into the lives of country boys and girls an.d their families through- The World on a Farm: by Gertrude out America. Chandler Warner, author of The World in a Barn, Windows Into Alas- A Short Course for Leaders of In- ka, etc. A runaway pig and a swimte'fmediate Gmups studying Christi- ming race, together with delightful anity and rural life in America is be- experiences in world friendship, coming planned, detailed announcement plete the adventures of the Friendly to be made later. Farmers at Pleasant Valley Farm. A charming story book. Illustrations JUNIOR children will love. Attractively bound. Contains part of the stories used in Open Windows,' by Mary Entwistle, The Friendly Farmers and several adauthor of Children of the Chief, etc. ditional stories. Delightful stories by the well-loved English writer. Through Open Win- The Friendly Farmers; by Gertrude dows which look out into the world we Chandler Warner, teacher and author, see boys and girls in India, China, and Elizabeth Harris, Associate Pro- Equatorial Africa, Egypt, Afghan- fessor of Elementary Religious Eduistan, Japan and Borneo. Stories of cation, Boston University; formerly their lives and adventures are told so Secretary of Elementary Work, Misvividly that it is not hard to feel that sionary Education Movement. we really see them through Open Stories tell of Janet, Polly, and Ted Windows. * at Pleasant Valley Farm as they be- came friends with some other farmers Wheat Magic; by Marguerite Har- of the world. Possible teaching promon Bro, formerly a missionary in cedures containing background ma- China, Ruth E. Murphy, Director of terial and suggested activities make Religious Education, First Presbyte- this course book invaluable for the rian Church, Englewood, N. J., Adah leader. For use by both horne and Kieffer, specialist in Missionary Edu- foreign groups. cation, and associates. A Friendship Press text on rural life in other lands. BEGINNERS Contains stories of farm life in various countries. Practical suggestions Babo:' A South Seas Boy, by May to leaders, such as background ma- Pateman. The most recent addition terial, suggested activities and enter- to the very popular "Nursery Series." The other titles are Ah Fu: a Chinese … llultlished by Central CUlllmittee.
River Boy; Kembo: a Little Girl of Teaching Pictures, the first of a new Africa; The Three Came.ls: a Story series of pictures selected to accomof India; Esa: a Little Boy of Naza- pany the course books. A.set of eight reth; Mitsu: a Little Girl of Japan.' pic,tures averaging nine by twelve inches. MAPS AND PICTURES Friendship Paper DoUs.' Like real Picture Map of the World.' An- children of Korea, China, Japan and other of the Picture Map series. In India. Four dolls, eight inches high, outline form to be completed by the in three colors, with a change of coschildren. tume for each.
Farmers in Many Lands.' A picture 1 Cloth $1.00; paper 60 cents. ~ Cloth 75 cents; paper 50 cents. sheet folder containing twelve pages • Cloth $1.00; paper 75 cents. of pictures on farm life around the • Cloth $1.00. world. Invaluable for use with the li Paper 50 cents. course books. 6 Paper 35 cents, 7 Boards 50 cents each. Rural Life Amund the World.' s Paper 25 cents. I Paper 20 cents.
RELIGIOUS MEMBERSHIP OF THE WORLD Prom 'l'he 'World Almmwo, 1031 North I South I I!I Total America America I Europe I Asia. Africa: oceania, – – – I —(J-h,-r-is-t-ia-n-s– I- – – – – 1—–;—- —- Roman Catholics …….. 40,000,00061,000,0001220,000,0001 7,000,000 2,000,000 1,500,000 331,500,000 Orthodox O'atholic8 .. _.. 1,000,000 . ," ……. ! 120,000,000 20,000,000 3,000,000, ………. : 144:,000,000 Protestants ………….. _~, 000,000 900,0001_1_15_,_000_,0_00 _ _347_,'_000_000_,' 000000- 83 "0000000,'000001,' 76,,000 ,'000000 200, 9OIJ, 000 Total Christians …. 116,000,000 61,900,0001455,000,000 500 682,400,000 Non-Ohristians , !
Jews ……………. …… 4,000,0001 l00,OOO! 10,000,000: 1,000,000 500,000 80,000 15,630,000 Mohammedans …. _….. 20,000 ………. : 5,000,000 160,000,000 44,000,000 .. _…. __ 200,000,000 &ygg~!st~.. :::::::::.:. :::: i~::l&:I1::::::::: :[1::::::::::::11 ……… ~~g'~':l" 352~:'OOOOOO:,000000 ·1 ………. 1 150,180,000 2W,I50, 000 SChoinnftuocisiatsnis.t.s.,..'r.o..o.i.s.t.o.."……..6.0.0.'0..0.0 …………."……………"……….. " '.':.:.:.:. '.':.:••: '.':. :.1:..: .:.::.:.:.:..: :.1 350,000,000 20,000,000 Animists ……………. 50,000 ………. ………… 45,000,000 1)0,500,000 IGQ,()()o.1 1:35,650,000 Miscellaneous ….. ……. 25,000,000 2,000,000 5,000,000 18,000,000 ………… 1 870,0001 50,870,000 ——- —-1— Total Non Christian. _ 30,000,0001~()(),OOOI 20,000,000' 979,000,000 135,OOO,000:-.!:~~,OOO, 1,167,100,000 Grand Total ……… 146,000,000164,000,0001 475,000,000 1,013,000,000 143,000,000 8,000,00011,849,500,000 1 1 PRAYER FOR SPIRITUAL UNION Arouse in the whole body of the people an adventurous willingness, as they War has failed to end war; diplomacy sacrificed greatly for war, so, also, for has failed to end war; only ties of the international goodwill, to dare bravely, spirit infallibly unite; therefore we think wisely, decide resolutely and to pray for the divine alliance of nations, achieve triumphantly. Amen. for the spiritual union of mankind. -Harry Emerson Fosdick. Eternal God, Father of all souls, grant unto us such clear vision of the sin of TWELVE THINGS TO REMEMBER war, that we may earnestly seek that cooperation between nations which alone 1. The value of time. can make war impossible. As man by his 2. The pleasure of working. inventions has made the whole world into 3. The dignity of simplicity. one neighborhood, grant that he may, by 4. The success of perseverance. his cooperations, make the whole world 5. The worth of character. into one brotherhood. Help us to break 6. The power of kindness. down all race prejudice, stay the greed 7. The influence of example. of those who profit by war, and the am- 8, The obligation of duty. bitions of those who seek an imperialistic 9. The wisdom of economy. conquest, drenched in blood. Guide all 10. The virtue of patience. statesmen to seek a just basis for inter- 11. The improvement of talent. national action in the interests of Peace. 12. The joy of originating.
-Mar8hall Field.
DItto-WIDE
AFRICA The noi,se and the clattering, the clink- ing and the howling, suddenly ceased. Ethiopia Sends a Bible to America "Immediately I stepped out and ABible, covered with gold and silver, asked for one of the clattering gourds. and an elaborately fashioned cross, both of native craftsmanship, "Then picking up another one I have been sent by the emperor of handed them to my boy with an ex- Ethiopia to the Washington Cathedral. clamation of surprise that they should The Abyssinian ruler, who claims de- put them to such a use. The tinkling scent from Solomon, sends these as a bells then came off the poor man's leg thank offering for prayers at the ca- and were handed over as a sort of thedral at the time of his ooronation. trophy in our war to save these poor The Bible is in Amharic, court lan- people from their witchcraft. Then guage of Ethiopia. The text is hand came a cow's tail, securely fastened lettered in t:ed and black, on white to a strip of cowhide, which is supvellum, with illuminations in brilliant posed to be efficacious in drawing out colors at the beginning of each Gospel, disease. I was also permitted to take after the style of medireval manu- the 'king' ?f all the charms, hung scripts. The two gifts were forwarded about the slCk man's neck and comfrom Addis Ababa by the American posed of various odd coins and shells, Minister.-The Living Churck. supposed to possess great power in appeasing the spirit Jok. It was be- Witchcraft lieved that this superstitious practice would save the man from death by FRED LASSE, of the Africa Inland bronchial pneumonia." Mission, relates the following ex· perience of intimate contact with Modern Apostles witchcraft: WHEN a number of native evan- "One evening, as I was returning gelists in the Cameroun returned from a trip to the villages, I heard from a vacation, they were asked to strange sounds coming from an en- relate what they had done while away. closure just ahead. I asked my boys Here are a few of the replies: what it was about and they said it "I found a lame woman covered with was the song of Jok, the great evil spirit that they worship. We turned boils, just like Job. 1 helped her all 1 down the lantern and crept up to the house. on tiptoe, entering unobserved, could. 1 cut posts in the forest so the and lIstened to the fiendish music as work of building our new chapel could it rose and fell, accompanied by the rattle of dried gourd shells filled with gO"oInhefalpsetdero. ldIwvoimsietendbsyicckarpreyoinplge.w" ater beans, and the tinkling of rudely for them, and cutting firewood in the for- est and bringing it to them. I helped ;so~m~~en!!oildghtmebne to cut their gardens so cleared before the rains shaped bells tied on the legs of the "I bought twenty-five long nails to hold man for whom they were praying. down the split-log seats we are mak- "As I stood in the dim light of the itnhegmfotrootuhrenetewacchhearp. el Iscahlosool, haenldpegdavtoe fire smouldering in the center of the make thatch and put it on the roof of hut, a boy SUddenly said in a hoarse the chapel. I helped the teacher with fear-laden whisper, 'Bwana! Bwana!' hi~, meetings all dll;y ~nd in his work." (The White Man.1 The Wh1·te man.I) schoTohl,eyso wI ehreelpebdUIilndmthge wa ornke.w I cfhoaupnedl 461
an old widow and helped her with work, Every Sunday an average of 113,820 people gather to hear the Word of so she would know that we Christians God at the preaching services. help .with hands aud not only mouths."
"I 'helped a cripple. His roof was bad and leaky. I helped get leaves for 'mals'
Ithatch] from the raffia swamp and Good Roads and Missions T helped make roof-thatch for his house." HE opening of motor roads is "Each day I called together the people bringing about great changes in of my town and told them the things of God." . the Belgian Congo. Whereas only a few years ago, home-going mission- Out of Their Poverty aries had most difficult journeys, T HROUGHOUT the year that is through dense fvrests and often tak- past, 74,250 worshippers of Christ ing weeks to accomplish, the same in Cameroun opened their treasuries journeys can now be made in a few and presented unto Him gifts. In gold days. These roads also present tre- these amounted to $25,779, but trans- mendous opportunities. for evangel- lated into the terms of the jungle ism. The Government is gradually . they are: compelling the natives to leave the One egg ………………. $0.01 interior of the forest, and to build Seven ears of corn ………. .01 new villages along motor routes. Thus, not only can they be more easily Seven kank ……………. .01 supervised, but each village is respon- sible for the maintenance of a certain Pound of peanuts … . . . . . . . . .05 Two sugar .cane ………… .01 Bunch of bananas ………. .15 Bunch of platain ……….. .20 part of the road. Many chiefs have Chicken……………….. .80 constructed motor roads from their One goat ……………… 3.00 villages to the main roads, and many mission stations are connected in the An average day laborer receives same manner. Itinerating and week- $1.50 per month, while the highest end visits to outstations is made pospaid teacher receives $8.00 a month.
sible. Bicycles are in common use, A Century in West Africa and motor t rucks greatly facilitate the NOVEMBER 9, 1831, the Executive transportation of goods. Committee of the Western Foreign Mission Society, (the forerunner A Supl'eme Achievement A of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign T LUKUNGA, in the Congo, the recently completed church is a Missions, U. S. A.) approved of establishing a mission in Africa. In monument to the native Christians'
January, 1833, the first foreign mis- industry, and their interest in God's sionary of the church sailed for Li- work. Since the founding of the mis- beria. Later this mission was turned sion, meetings had been held in the over to the Methodists and a new open, but in 1927, a group of Chris- work was taken over from the Ameri- tians asked permission to erect, on can Board in French Gaboon, and mission property, a building for wor- was later transferred to French Prot- ship which would protect from the estants. In 1892, after years of sun's heat. The size of the building hardship, opposition, sacrifice and dis- needed, help in making plans, ma- couragement, a new mission was terials required and supervision of opened in Cameroun, West Africa, in. construction were serious problems.
entirely untouched territory filled with Rev. F. G. Leasure, of the A. B. F.
ignorant and degraded savages. To- M. S., visited Lukunga in 1927 and day this m1SSlon reports ninety drew a plan for the building. The American Presbyterian missionaries natives had then made 20,000 bricks with over 1,500 African Christian and had Frs. 12,000 in their treasury.
teachers and preachers, more than 30,- The following year was spent in mak- 000 communicant church members and ing brick and colIecting material for 31,000 children in mission schools. foundations. The sawing of timber
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK 46~
was divided among the villages. In classes of readers are represented: stu- 1929 the walls were erected, teachers dents of secondary schools, university and children spending free hours in students, officers, teachers, etc. carrying mortar and brick. The roof was added in 1930 and the church is Good Turkish literature in the new now complete. characters is one of the needs which the American Board would like to sup- T,o make 30,000 bricks by hand, cut ply in much larger measure, for an and plane all the timbers by hand, unquenchable thirst for reading is carryall materials on their heads or being created on a far wider scale backs for a church 39 feet by 52 feet than ever before.-MissionaTY Herald. means heroism. In four years 19,000 headloads of rock, mortar, bricks, tim- Changing Persia ber, cement, lime, galvanized iron and hardware, have been carried for dis- THE Persia of ten, or even of five, tances varying from 300 yards to three years ago, no longer exists, says days away (three days going and Miss E. N. Aidin, a C. M. S. missionthree returning). Not even a wheel- ary. The construction of roads has barrow was used. The work has had brought far-off villages into close cona vital part in their spiritual life and tact with the central Government in has provided much in the way of Teheran. The country has been flooded training for young and old who have with gramophones, and picture theahad a part in it.-Congo Mission ters are appearing everywhere. Islam News. is rapidly losing its hold in the larger towns and a new national conscious- WESTERN ASIA ness is all that is offered to take its place. The situation is full of both What Turks Are Reading dangers and possibilities, and as the mis·sionaries watch these changes they THE amazing exchange of the Ara- feel that the situation presents a mag- bic alphabet, used by Turkey for nificent challenge to go up and possess hundreds of years, to a romanized the land in the name of Christ. alphabet has in the two years so greatly simplified the task of learning Request for a Christian Doctor to read Turkish that many formerly illiterate are now no longer so. AMERCHANT prince of Per,sia, Haji Moeen-e-Tojar el Bouchiri The awakened interest in reading of Teheran, known far and wide as has led one of the leading dailies of an upright man and given to good Istanbul, the Vakit (Time), to make works, a ,sincere and devout Moslem, a study of the question, "What are has made an offer to the Presbyterian we reading?" A special writer ex- Mission in Persia to support, at his amined a few reading rooms and li- own expense, a Christian doctor in braries in the city and the results of Najaf, one of the "Holy Cities" of his observations were published. Islam in Mesopotamia. This merchant prince has supplied water to the city Of the reading room, which for of Najaf-free to all who come and several years has been one of the get it with their own jugs and for projects of the American Board, he one-half anna per skinful to profeswrote: sional water sellers-and the receipts from its sale amount to about 1,500 The American Reading Room today tomans (about $1,300) a month. He ranks second among all the Istanbul li- has conceived the idea of using the braries in point of daily average attend- receipts to pay for the support of a ance. Since it is one of the poorest in- small hospital and has asked that a stitutions in the number of books in the Christian doctor be found to take library, we found it necessary to discover charge of it.-Presbyterian Advance. the reason for the extraordinary use made of it. The books for the most part relate to modern literature, science, art, travel, history, fiction, etc. . The average daily attendance is 525. All
INDIA, BURMA, SIAM teamwork which should mean great things in days to come. We have Baptism of (laste Hindus been allowed to witness things for which decades of missionaries in this AMASS movement towards Chris- place have longed and prayed and tianity is developing among the WQrked.-W. E. S. Holland, in John's Bhils, an aboriginal tribe found in College. Western India. There is every hope that the whole of the Bhil community An All-India Women's College in this area will become Christian if the work among them can be de- T ADY IRWIN, the wife of the reveloped. L tiring vicerQY, was acting presi- On October 31, last year, eighty-six Bhil men, women, and children were dent of the All-India Women's Educabaptized in the C. M. S. Mission in tiQn Fund Association, which has been Western India. Never before in that considering the advisability .of estabmission had a group of caste Hindus lishing a central college for women at been received into the Church. The Agra. This will require thirteen lakhs baptisms took place in the River God- of rupees-abGut $450,000–a part of avari, at a spot where for centuries which has already been subscribed. millions of Hindu pilgrims had bathed It is proposed not toO duplicate fQreign to be ceremonially cleansed from their institutions of learning, but to offer sins. The -baptismal service lasted in this college the branches most esnearly two hours, and then the con- sential toO Indian women in their own verts marched in procession back to special sphere of life. One of the the village, and as they passed their principle branches suggested is Indian (lId Hindu temples they raised the Home Science, including sanitation, shout: "Christ Maharai ki iai" (Vic- health, cooking and care .of children. tory to Christ). Let us hope it will include lectures .on morals, ethic,s, sex relations, indus- Gospel Team at Agra College trial justice and sQcial service.
THE visit of the Burmese Gospel Disturbance in Burma Team to the College at Agra has opened a new chapter in our college FOR some months there has been a history. Throughout my thirty years serious uprising .of bandits, or dain India I have never yet witnessed coits, in the districts in Burma in such a manifest working of the Spirit which American Baptist mission staof ~d. Out of 420 stUdents, 100 are tions are lQcated. Tharrawaddy and Moslems and 220 are Hindus. The ThQnze, with lesser outbreaks in the Burmans gave both Christians and vicinity .of Pyapon, Pyinmana, HennGnChristians, .only one – eighth is zada, and ToungQo. These disturb- Christian by name, an entirely new ances have been the result .of the invision of what free, joyous, natural tense NatiQnalism and general unrest Christian devotion means, and .of prevalent in the East; in part, .of the what it is to be living in a Chris- general lawlessness in that sectiQn of tian fellowship. Every day since they Burma; and, in part, .of the eCQnQmic left, something fresh, something defi- pressure caused by general hard times nite, has happened. Many nonChris- and the slump in the price .of rice. tian students are coming privately to One British official has been killed, ask how they may knGw Jesus Christ several Karen Christian villages have for themselves. AmGng our Christian been wiped out, and many Burmans students there has been formed a and Karens have been killed· by the group of six .or seven who have bandits. The Burma Rifles, composed stepped Gut into quite a new life of principally .of Karen and Kachin ,sol- diers, have been sent to Tharrawaddy. Christian liberty and fellowship and and have taken a large part in the
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
capture of the leaders and the quell- the Karen. The villagers, in token of ing of the disturbance. appreciation, contributed towards our This uprising of bandits, involving Gospel Team funds Rs. 194, besides the destruction of one or two village entertaining all to the very best of churches, has made it difficult for mis- their ability. Sixteen young people sionaries to tour in the Tharrawaddy of the Insein church had their first and Thonze district. Gospel Team experience and it put new life into them and their Christian BurDla for Christ MoveDlent Endeavor. These young people are mostly clerks and business people. A NEW Forward Evangelistic Move- The greatest results were in the ment has been endorsed by the things not seen, renewed prayer life, Burma Baptist Missionary Conven- deepened consecration, fresh vision of tion. The Christian Council Evan- reality and an increased passion for gelistic Committee plans to make this winning others. Whenever the cama movement for a deepening of the paigns themselves are real spiritual spiritual life of all Christians, and events, then some people say that the through them of the churches. To greatest results are to be found in the accomplish this all must have a new campaigners themselves. – Saw Chit realization of what Christ means to Maung, in the News (Rangoon). them personally, and what Chris- tianity means to Burma. The Christian Council Evangelistic Committee Church for Lepers Dedicated A is planning special literature in Bur- FINE new church was dedicated on December 28th at the Moulmese and Karen and other languages. In spite of, or may be because of, mein Leper Home, Lower Burma.
rebellion, dacoities and hard times "It was very impressive to see the Burmans are especially susceptible to Lepers, more than 100 out of 110 in- the Gospel at present, but they will mates in the home with their new not become Christians until the Bur- clothing given them at Christmas man and Karen and other Christians time, in the body of the church, while are aroused to bring to them the the pulpit platform was crowded with blessings they themselves have re- friends; many others were sitting in ceived. motor buses because they could not get inside the church. Mr. J. J. An- Gospel Teallls in BurDla derson, a friend of the Lepers, pre- ONE hundred and eighty-eight, sided. seventeen of whom were mission- The Lepers themselves requested aries, formed themselves into seven- the privilege of having a part in the teen Gospel Teams for campaigns in service, and they sang in Telugu, Burfifty-three villages of Burma during mese and in English.
Christmas week. It was a real demon- It Was wonderful when one con- stration of what cooperation means in siders their condition, to hear them evangelism! If we can have enough sing: "Brighten the Corner Where of that kind of cooperation that they Y,ou Are"-to their fellow lepers.
had at Pentecost, we shall have in During the year they have been tak- Burma a Pentecost. For immediate re- ing offerings at their church service sults there were 436 public confessions and though they get only One Anna offaith in Jesus Christ. Nineteen were (2 cents) a day. Here is real sacri- baptized and many more will follow ficial giving and as a result for the later. <Among the participants were past year the Leper Church has made six high school teachers and twenty- contributions to the Mission Hospital, six students from school and college, Moulmein, whose doctors and nurses besides some Bible School girls. The have been caring for them; to the rest were from the seminaries, chiefly All-Burma Baptist Orphanage, Moul– 5
mein ; the MissiQn tQ the Blind 'Of "As it is the first time in the his- Burma; the MissiQn t'O Lepers in In- tQry 'Of China that educated men and dia; and alsQ tQ their new church WQmen have gone to live with and buiIding.-Wm. G. Evans. wQrk fGr the cDuntry people, we have arDused cDnsiderable comment among CHINA thDse who know 'Of 'Our WDrk. Even SDme educatDrs charge political mo- Captured Missionaries Released tives, but a steadily grDwing grGUp of -suppDrters believe that by identifying 1'HE Rev. Allie GQdfrey LindhQlm, 'Ourselves with the peDple, learning American Scandanavian Alliance their needs and the best ways 'Of meetmissiQnary 'Of Kalgan, whQ was cap- ing them, we are taking the essential tured by bandits last April and taken first steps fDr the recDnstructiQn 'Of tG the OrdGs district, was released a 'Our cDuntry. week later 'On the payment 'Of $2,500 Mexican (abGut $600) ranSQm. "While seeking tQ raise the stand- ards 'Of living.in rural districts, we The Rev. K. N. Tvedt, 'Of St. Paul, must aVQid the fatal errQr of assum- American Lutheran United MissiQn ing a patrDnizing! attitude tQwards missi'Onary 'Of KwangchDw, HDnan, the peDple, and secDnd, the danger, who had been held captive by Chinese as we say in Chinese, ''Of 'raising the CDmmunists since last October, was level of c'OnsumptiQn without raising released 'On April 19th 'On payment 'Of the level 'Of production.' We cannot, ranSQm. and would not if we could, lower 'Our standards tQ those of the backward The Rev. Bert NelsQn, 'Of Minne- villages and yet we want in every way apQlis, another Lutheran missiQnary possible to merge our life with the of Kwangshan, HDnan PrDvince, cap- village life, and avoid widening the turned last OctDber and detained at already existing gap between our- Hwangan with Mr. Tvedt, was held selves and the country people. A -sane fQr a ranSDm 'Of $10,000 Mexican sDlution to this problem is the key (abDut $2,400). He is repQrted tQ to the whDle reconstructiDn pr'Oject." have been released. The ten-year project is to be di- It is a rule that missions dQ nGt vided intD three units: Literacy and ranSQm their representatives, but the education; agriculture and eCDnomic rule was mGdified in the cases 'Of these reconstruction; and self-government missiQnaries at the request 'Of Ameri- and citizenship training. can 'Officials, as the tWQ men were being tortured. Threat to Close St. John's College Miss Esther NQrdlund, 'Of ChicagQ, ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY, EpisCG- Miss Augusta Nelson and Oscar An- pal college in Shanghai, has rederson, all of the Scandinavian Al- ceived an ultimatum frDm the gDvernliance MissiQn, were captured by ment 'Of Greater Shanghai (the CQmmunists at Kingchowfu, Hupeh Chinese city in which the missionary PrQvince, and were held fQr ranSGm school is situated) that it must combut Miss NelsQn and Miss NQrdlund plete its registration under the nawere repQrted released on April 23d. tional ministry 'Of education befDre September or it will not be permitted Uplifting the Masses to 'Open. This institution is the 'Only outstanding mission college in China A SIGNIFICANT educatiQnal move- that remains unregistered. Its stu- ment 'Of mQdern times is the 'One dents may nDt transfer to any regfQr mass educatiQn in China, made istered college or university and its possible by simplified methods of graduates do not receive government teaching. A recent development is an certificates with their diplomas. They intensive ten-year campaign fGr rural areas. Mr. James Yen, director of the mQvement, writes:
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
are therefore ineligible t'O take civil newcomer is taught to pray, and many service examinations or to receive ap- realize at once the powe'r of prayer. pointments to any institution under A large number marry, some have bethe control or supervision of the gov- come pastors' wives. Others remain ernment. A large proportion of its and enter the industrial department students have been sons of Shanghai and begin lives of financial independmerchants, wh'O enter their fathers' ence. business upon graduation. A Chinese General's Appeal The local authorities are now insisting that upon registration all re- GENERAL CHANG TSE-CHIANG, ligious activities upon the' campus a former ,subordinate of Marshal must cease. Other registered mission Feng Yu-hsiang, has been appointed colleges are prevented from requiring Commissioner for the Suppression of students to attend chapel and other Banditry and Communism in North services of worship, and from having Kiangsu. Recently, addressing a meetany required courses in religion. ing of over seven hundred persons in Yanchow, he pled with them to get It is reported that St. J.ohn's pro- rid of their prejudices and ignorance posed to the ministry that they be and to investigate Christianity sinpermitted to register under conditions cerely. He said that the Three Prinsimilar to those obtaining for mission ciples of Sun Yat-sen were intended schools in Japan,. namely, that they to make China a strong country, but have authority to require that every that 'Only Christianity could save her. student either attend Christian wor- He urged the Christians to witness ship or ethical lectures. Chinese edu- to the faith that was in them not cational authorities have admitted merely with their lips, but in consethat the serious weakness of their crated lives. present rules and regulations are that no provision is made for definite char- It is no small thing for such an acter-building activities in colleges important official to champion the and universities. Lord's cause so boldly in these days ·in China! But·it is an indication of For many months President Chiang a new turn of events in this land.- Kai-shek has been serving concurrently E. H. Foster. as acting minister of educati'On. His assumption of this portfoUo so soon Dr. T. T. Lew on the Bible after his conversion to Christianity naturally has caused a great deal of THE Bible is a living book in China. speculation. Dr. T. T. Lew, of Peking, address- ing the British and Foreign Bible So- "Door of Hope" ciety, said that Chinese authors use Bible terms freely and occasionally EACH year since its founding in use Biblical quotations as titles f'Or 1901, the "Door of Hope," a res- their writings. He expressed the cue home for women and girls in sentiment of Chinese Christians on Shanghai, has shown ,steady progress. the following three points: A children's home, sanitarium and preaching hall have been added, and (1) Chinese Christians are grateful in 1922 another work-the Children's for translations of the Bible; (2) Refuge, was opened, adding 65 more they accept the Bible as God's Word, to be cared for. At present, there are believing that it has more than lit- 240 in the Refuge and 116 in the erary value; and (3) they look for- Door of Hope. In the Sanitarium are ward to the day when Chinese Wy- 44 patients. To the Receiving Home cliffes, Tyndales and Luthers will give a day school is attached, with 75 boys the people versions peculiarly their in attendance. own.
Immediately upon arriving, the
JAPAN-CHOSEN ings and there were many decisions American Movies for Christ, or for a better Christian life. NINETY American residents of Tokyo appealed some months ago A Bible class in EngJi.sh was started to the United States Senate to control for the boys in the Government Midthe shipment of American films to J a- dle School in North Kyung Sung.- pan. Now the National Christian Coun- Korean Echoes.
cil of Japan-the body which coordi- The Printed Page nates the work of all the Protestant churches in the empire-has written ELEVEN thousand copies of the the Federal Council of Churches beg- Kingdom of God Newspaper have ging it to "take every step possible been used since its beginning. At the to prevent the continued influx of present time we are using 300 copies undesirable American films into J a- a week and have 232 paid subscrippan." The Japanese Council tells of tions. Holders have been placed in a visit by its social welfare commit- each of the fifty-eight barber shops in tee, composed entirely of Japanese, to Fukushima City and these papers the Tokyo police department, discuss- are being delivered to each shop by ing the destructive moral effects of members of the Barbers' Union who the movies in the Japanese capital. volunteered their services. Without The chief censor of the police, a non- exception the paper was welcomed in Christian, stated that their "greatest every shop and the results have justiproblem was with the films which fied the experiment which we hope to come from America. Many of these extend to hospitals, doctors' offices and films are highly detrimental to the other places where people have time morals of the Japanese." It is time to read while they wait.-Ira D. that the State Department is granted Crewdson.
power over such traffic.-The Chris- The Bible and a Shinto Priest tian Century. MR. ENDO, a Japanese Christian, who sells Bibles on the streets Revival in Pyengyang of Japan, recently approached a well ABOUT three hundred new believers dressed man to whom he quickly sold are reported attending the vari- an expensive copy. Surprised at theous churches in Pyengyang as a re- purchaser's readiness to buy, Mr.
sult of the recent revival meetings. Endo heard the following story: Immediately following the union meet- "I am the priest of the Shinto ings held in the College Auditorium, shrine here. Recently the young men's a series specially for students was con- and young women'.g associations de- ducted by the Asbury College Band, cided to call a speaker to address them three consecrated young graduates of on some helpful subjects. The Bud- Asbury College, California, with their dhist priest was first asked, but about former fellow-student, Mr. Robert two times finished him. The principal Chung, as interpreter. They carried of the high school, next invited, re- out a strenuous program in the high plied that he had nothing they would schools, the foreign school, college, care ror. Then they asked me. I was- and seminary, in addition to three nonplussed, but went for advice to a.
united meetings daily in the audito- relative of mine, a Christian. He sug- rium. Each evening, the large build- gested I read the Sermon on the- ing was packed with about five Mount and give them those teachings, thousand, mostly students and young not saying it was Christianity. He people, who listened with breathless gave me a portion containing those attention to strong, forceful presenta- words and I have since wished to have tions of the Gospel. Large numbers the complete Bible." – Woman's Mis- remained for prayer at the after meet- sionary Friend.
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Christianity in Ohosen of security, knowing that medical skill may be had within a few hours when BUDDHISM has prevailed in Korea necessity arises. With this relief for hundreds of years. Chris- work is a system for sending religious tianity came less than fifty years ago. and general literature to isolated set- tiers; and a few itinerant preachers Of Korea's twenty millions, less now travel by airplane. – AustraUan than four in every hundred are affili- Christian World. ated with the Christian Church, and yet the head of the Department of Youth Movement in the Philippines Religions of the Government-general recently said that Christianity oper- THE Third Biennial Convention of ates 82 per cent of the church schools, the Philippine Christian youth 90 per cent of the Sunday Schools, 87 Monument, was h e I d recently in per cent of the places of religious Union Seminary building, Manila. worship, and enrolls 85 per cent of all The convention theme was "Highways the religious workers. to National Righteousness." Stand- ards of profound spiritual value were Christianity preserved and made set forth in a responsive reading enpopular the native Korean script titled "The Decalogue of Protestant which the old type scholars looked up- Youth." Three statements are, on as too easy for a learned man. "We accept Jesus as the Son of the Christianity brought to Korea the living God and as our personal Savfirst school for girls, and at, present iour"; maintains the- only college for girls. "We believe the Holy Bible to be Christianity established the first the inspired word of God and the modern school for boys in Korea. supreme authority for all Christians in matters of faith and life"; Christianity has made it possible for the women of Korea to be freed "We believe Christ is calling to from the prison of the inner yard youth t·o lead in the building of His of the home. kingdom in these islands."
Christianity is the leader in the Thirty-two years ago there was not fight against the evils of drink, social a Protestant church or Sunday School vice, intemperance! in the Islands. Today, there are 100,- 000 in the 1,000 Sunday Schools. In Christianity is the religion that spite of the fact that the Philippine does things !-Charles A. Sauer. Legislature only a few months ago decided that the time had not arrived ISLANDS OF THE PAOIFIO for the national prohibition of the cockpit with its open gambling, the Aerial Medical Service Protestant Youth Movement voted, "We will enter into an aggressive FOUNDED by the Presbyterian struggle against all vice, ignorance, Church of Australia in 1912 for social wrong, including political corthe white population scattered over ruption, usury, the exploitation of the lonely places of the continent, the the poor, intolerance, superstition, Australia Inland Mission has become cockfighting, gambling, cabarets, the one of the most practical religious social evil, the double standard of forces in the Australian frontiers. morality, and the use of intoxicating beverages." These same youths will Twelve nursing homes are main- be elected to the Legislature in a comtained and staffed by twenty-four paratively few years, and will then nurses. These have become religious make the laws in accord with present and social, as well as healing centers. resolutions of' the Christian Youth An aerial ambulance service is now Movement. in operation and each year about 50 major calls are made. Twelve sets of wireless instruments are in constant use to summon a doctor when telegraph or telephone is not available. Thus the bushmen have a new -sense
Changes in New Guinea after my first visit, I returned to the NEAR the f·ormer mission station village Bogadjim and visited the an- of Bogadjim, New Guinea, back cient Asa place. The old giant tree of a large native village named Born, was still there, but it was grown around with underbrush. The hut stands a great wild rubber tree, about that used to be there was destroyed. 150 feet high. It overtops all other A good road led close to the former trees and exceeds them greatly in the terrible place, and now men, women spread of its branches. As recently and children walk there without fear. as twenty~s.ve years ago, the inhabi- The place has lost its terrors. Near tants of the near-by villages regarded by is a well-kept, Christian cemetery this old tree as tabu, (sacred). The and the graves are well cared for. space under its branches was kept On all there are neat crosses, on clean, since it was the place where which are the names of those buried all festivals were celebrated connected there, and Bible verses. The Gospel with the Asa, the secret cult of the has been victorious! Papuans. If a woman or child had approached the place during a fes- "The ancient magic is gone for ever.
tival, they would have been put to In the villages of this region there death. This secret cult of the Pap- were only two people left who were uans was related to spirit belief and still heathen while all the rest have the worship of ancestors. become Christian. The younger gen- At festivals weird music was played eration knew nothing of the mystery on strange instruments, long bamboo of the giant tree monster and the rods, calabashes and rattles made of older men were ashamed. Whenever hard shells. As soon as the music a new grave is dug in the cemetery a was heard, all the village folk knew native pastor gives joyful testimony that Asa had come and they were kept of the living hope of Christians.
in fear and trembling as long as the "Hundreds of thousands of Papuans celebrations lasted. in New Guinea still live in awe of Under this tree the ceremonies con- such terrors as are connected with their ancient religion. They still nected with circumcision took place practice the horrors of that ancient when the boys of the village reached religion. The Gospel will help to free the age of manhood. For months the them from such terrors !"-A. Hoffdull sound of the tom-toms and the mann, in Mi88ionsnachrichten. other nerve racking music resounded.
Magic articles were kept and the ma- gicians practiced their dark arts NORTH AMERICA there. Many a raid on di·stant villages was planned and natives anx- The Christian Endeavor'. Jubilee iously strove to guard the secrets of pFTY years of Christian Endeavor the tree. .l' service and growth will be cele- The Asa cult has been the greatest brated July 11 to 16 in the Interna- obstacle to the Gospel. Great orgies tional Christian Endeavor Convention, led to most shameless acts. If a in San Franciseo, Calif. Exposition missionary tried to raise his voice Auditorium, seating 14.000 persons, against these pra.ctices he was si- has been secured for the main seslenced by fierce threats. Many an sions and in the ·same building are older missionary wondered in sorrow, fourteen other halls in which meetwhether the time would ever come, ings will be held to consider all phases when the power of darkness would be of young people's religious activities broken. and interests.
Now Rev. A. Hoffman of the Dutch Dr. Daniel A. Poling, president of Mission, writes: the International Society of Christian "In 1929, a quarter of a century Endeavor, will give the keynote ad-
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
dress of the c'Onvention 'On Saturday Negro race in America is not far re- evening at the 'Opening sessi'On and moved from the centuries of their each n'O'On will speak over a nati'On- b'Ondage t'O pagan idolatry in Africa. wide network of radi'O stations. If his confidence in the white man and his religion is gone, he will drift Mrs. Francis E. Clark, wh'O joined rapidly from his faith. And when with Dr. Clark in f'Ounding the first the drift gains momentum, Negroes Christian Endeav'Or S'Ociety at Port- will turn upon their own Christian land, Maine, will be a guest speaker lealers as but imitators 'Of the "white in the San Francisc'O Conventi'On at man's" religion. It will then be tou some 'Of the main sessions and in the late tu talk about the "evangelizatiun junior c'Onvention of children under 'Of the Negr'Oes 'Of America." The thirteen. work Will be hard indeed.
Dr. William Hiram Foulkes, 'Of Secund, this drift fr'Om their Chris- Newark, New Jersey, vice-president tian faith comes from the leadership of the International S'Ociety 'Of Chris- 'Of those who have been· educated in tian Endeavor, will be another speak- large universities which are n'Ow sater and the music will be in charge urated with rationalism and with a of Homer R'Odeheaver and Percy S. pagan philosophy 'Of human life and F'Oster, America's f'Orem'Ost leaders 'Of human destiny. Pagan education in song, with a ch'Orus of 800 v'Oices. America is thus ruining the highest prospects 'Of the Negro in America President H'O'Over, who assisted in by setting him adrift and destroying 'Organizing a; Christian Endeavor S'O- the world objectives that were beciety in Oregon many years ago, may ginning to dawn bef'Ore him as an attend this c'Onvention in his h'Ome evangelical Christian people.-Charles state, provided his official responsi- T. Alexander. bilities make the trip possible. How Mormonism Grows N'Orth America counts 3,000,000 young people who are members of eeMORMONISM has become a dead Christian Endeavor Societies, and in issue," said one wh'O spent a addition the plans and activities of the youth of the churches at large few h'Ours in Salt Lake City. have frequently been guided by the "Mormonism is stronger and more objectives ad'Opted by Christian Endeavor. The 'Other c'Ontinents have a aggressive than ever," is another obt'Otal membership 'Of more than 1,000,- servation nearer the truth. Morm'Ons 000 young people, who are members puint with pride to a growth from 6 'Of the Society, making this the largest members in 1830 tu 600,000 in 1930. y'Oung pe'Ople's organizati'On in the By proselyting it keeps alive and world. It is significant that this grows, as well as by making family y'Outh movement for training and increase the greatest c'Ommand 'Of G'Od service is evangelically Christian. t'O man. It has usually about 2,100 emissaries 'Out fr'Om the Utah region, The Negro'. Religion t'O which number re'Organized M'Or- m'Onism adds perhaps 200 m'Ore. I N SOME places the American Mormons are knit t'Ogether by isola- Negr'O is drifting away fr'Om the ti'On, discipline, intermarriage and Christian religi'On. Many are bec'Om- cooperative interests. The organizaing Mohammedans. At present there ti'On is systematic. There is a duty are approximately 300,000 Moham- fur everyone. Visitation of the sick, medan Negroes in America. and relief 'Of the needy are carried 'On through well 'Organized agencies. He is breakin.g fr'Om the old moor- L'Oyalty to the church is fostered more ings of his hist'Oric Christian faith as effectively by a system 'Of thDr'Ough given him by evangelical people. It indDctrinati'On than thrDugh any 'Other took many centuries to free the He- single fact'Or. The meth'Od 'Of calling brew race from pagan idolatry. The
young men to serve the church at without fDOd. Sleeping in snowbanks their own expense, outside of the at night, he staved off severe frost home territory, for a period extend- bites. It was five days later that an ing over at least two years is un- Eskimo discovered him and took him paralleled. A force comprising about back to safety. 1,200 in the States and about 900 outside the States are continually work- This incident illustrates the dangers ing in the ir,terest of their cause. and the courage of those engaged in These missions are said to represent extending the KingdDm in the frozen an annual cost of two million dollars, north.-The Living Church. and the property is valued at two million more. Verm.ont Chnrch Union "Restoration Fund" AFEDERATION of churches in Vermont succeeded by close coop- THE United Presbyterian Foreign eratiDn between the officials .of the Board repDrts the success .of their three leading denDminatiDns, Baptist, "RestDration Fund," which makes it CDngregational and MethDd·ist, to propDssible for the Board to send back tD duce excellent results thrDugh nuthe field all .of the 20 missiDnaries WhD merDUS "exchanges .of fields" and had been retired from lack of funds, the cultivation .of fellowship amDng except thDse who were unable to re- these denDminations. A few years turn fDr one reason or another. Not ago leading laymen and ministers only is this return made possible, but gathered to hear the results of a support for these missiDnaries is guar- study of 15 years .of comity between anteed for five years. the Protestant denominations and to study every community in the state, Hardships in the Arctic where missiDnary money was spent. A motion was made by a Methodist SEVERE hardships were undergDne district superintendent, and adopted by the Rev. J. H. Webster, one of unanimously, that thDse present were the Church of England missionaries ready for organic union of the three among the Eskimos, WhD was lDst fDr denominatiDns. The effects of that almost a week in the CorDnatiDn Gulf meeting are still felt in the eliminaregiDn .of the Arctic. In weather that tion of cDmpetitiDn between the deranged from 30 to 40 degrees belDw nominations. zero, the missionary wandered, lost, until finally discovered by a native LATIN AMERICA Eskimo when he was nearly prostrated frDm starvation and exposure. For Baptist Work in Nica.ragna five days he had no fDDd; his dDgS had brDken lo.ose or had separated from MANAGUA, the capital of Nicarahim. He is recuperating at the gov- gua, recently destrDyed by an ernment radio station at Coronation earthquake, has bee n the head- Gulf, and is reported to be on the way quarters of the Baptist MissiDn in to recovery. Nicaragua since 1917. The Baptist church of two hundred and fifty mem- On January 24th, the missionary bers was led by an able Nicaraguan left Coronati.on Gulf, where he has a pastor, and the attendance at Sunday small church, tD visit scattered bands SChODl was over four hundred. There .of EskimDs in the sealing camps. was also a Baptist SChODl with an en- rDllment of about four hundred. The He missed the Eskimo camp and, Evelyn Briggs Cranska Memorial when his sled encountered particular- HDspital cDntained thirty beds. "Buildly rDugh ice on Sunday, his lead dog ings total lDSs; missionaries safe," broke IDose. He then set .out to catch was the message after the earthquake. the dog, but became lost. From then If the disaster had happened when until Thursday night he wandered the -school was in session, many chiI-
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
dren would probably have lost their sions, at least 50,000 children and lives. young people are receiving regular in- struction in the hundreds of Sunday The American Baptist Home Mis- Schools and Young People's Societies sion Society and the Woman's Ameri- scattered over Cuba. The Roman can Baptist Home Mission Society are Catholic Church in c.onsequence has taking steps to rebnild the school been stimulated to more efficient methbuildings and the hospital, but the ods in religious and secular instrucinsurance will be far from sufficient tion. The archbishop went so far as to provide new earthquake proof to issue a public statement urging buildings. their people to read the Bible.- American Friend. A large part of the population of Managua has taken refuge 'in neigh- Revolution in Honduras boring towns and cities. It is hoped that the same thing will happen as r ATIN American countries, like the is recorded in the eighth chapter of the Acts: "They that were scattered L Balkan States of Europe, are in abroad went everywhere preaching the Word." The next advance step the political volcanic belt. The defor the Baptist Mission ought toO be structive earthquake in Nicaragua the opening of work on the Atlantic has been followed (April 19th) by a Coast, where there is nD mission con- new revolution in Honduras, its cenducting work in Spanish. The Mo- tral American neighbor. The storm ravian Church of the United States centers seem to be Tela and Ceiba Dn for eighty years has evangelized the the north coast, where the Episcopal Indians here and has a membership of Diocese of British Honduras carries more than twelve thousand. Inasmuch on a small evangelical work. Blueas the Spanish-speaking population is fields, Nicaragua, where the Moincreasing the Moravians have urged ravians have a well established misthe Baptist Mission to extend its min- sion, is also the scene of revolutionary istry to the Atlantic Coast where some activity. Nicaraguan Baptists havesettled.- Chas. S. Detweiler. Missionary Murdered, Station Burned Children in Cuba ON MARCH 31st the Sandinistas attacked the Moravian Mission BEFORE the Spanish – American station .of Musawas, in the Wangks War there were no schools in River District of Nicaragua, mur- Cuba, except a very few for the boys dered the missionary, the Rev. Karl of the wealthier families. Later, a Bregenzer, and burned the new $4,000 public school system was inaugurated mission building. Mrs. Bregenzer, which, with all its weaknesses, re- with her two little children and her duced the percentage of illiteracy mother escaped. from 75 per cent to 27 per cent. Over half the first grade drop out before The Moravian missionaries care for the second grade, and ,successively 13,000 Creoles and Indians at 58 staeach grade is about one-half the pre- tions, outstations and preaching places ceding grade. in Nicaragua. They do not work among the Spanish-speaking people. The Government theoretically pro- They have nothing to fear from the vides elementary education for chil- Indians, all of whom are their friends, dren and has a compulsory attendance but any American Mis,sion is exposed law, although it cannot be enforced to the enmity of the Sandinistas. with the present facilities. In the c.ountry the provisions are meager, As the United States Government indeed. Secondary schools are largely has announced that it cannot underleft to private initiative. Since the take to protect American lives and coming of Protestant Christian mis- prDperty in the interior, where the majority of the Moravian mission sta-
tions are, these stations are at the the world. An Executive Committee mercy of the Sandinistas who consider has been selected to draft a constitu- the pronouncement practically an in- tion.
vitation to attack them. As the Nic- araguan National Guard cannot cope New Alllerican Church in Paris T with the situation, missionaries have HE first American institution in Paris was a church. It was founded been ordered to the port towns, where American warships are stationed. in 1857. The American Church of Paris will dedicate a new $800,000 Campaign in South Alllerica edifice this coming July. It is a Union REV. HARRY STRACHAN is visit- Church and "Jesus Hominum Salva- ing South America to confer with tor" is its only creed. All evangelical missionaries regarding future evan- denominations in Paris sink minor gelistic work. He will collaborate in differences in order to unite for hold- Peru with missionaries, of the Free ing high the Cross of Chri,st.
Church of Scotland. His first stop is When the Franco-Prussian War to be in Ecuador. The most neglected broke out, Dr. Josiah G. Holland, the part of Brazil is the state of Ceara. poet and essayist, was the superin- It has 1,500,000 inhabitants without tendent of the. Sunday Sch{)ol.
a single mis·sionary. Distinguished worshippers have in- cluded Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Mr. Strachan's journey will occupy Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, and Woodthe rest 'of' this year.-Latin Ameri- row Wilson. Each of these U. S. can Evangelist.
Presidents belonged to a different de- Chilean Leaders List Bible First nomination. Additional proof of unity I N SANITAGO, Chile, the editor of is to be found in the fifteen different a leading daily newspaper, El Mer- sects at the Thanksgiving dinner for curio, asked, from leaders of thought students.
in that country, a list of the twenty- Permission to conduct the American five books that a person ought to read Chapel was first granted provided that if he desired to be looked upon as edu- the services be held in the English cated. For two months, 'on alternate language only, but the French Gov- days, these lists were published. ernment later decided to ignore it Sometimes the Gospels were men- and forget it.
tioned and sometimes the New Testa- Dr. Joseph W. Cochran, the present ment, but in the majority of the lists pastor also aids Protestant mission the Bible took first place I-Alliance work among the French lower classes.
Weekly. The new church building on the Quai d'orsay is in modified Gothic; EUROPE it is also a practical, seven-day-a-week League of Colored People church, where every aspect of life will ALEAGUE of colored peoples has be touched for the Church House is been established in the central a modern community center, includ- Y. M. C. A. of London. The main ing a gymnasium, kindergarten, liobjects of the League are provision- brary, lecture hall, sociaf rooms.-J. ally stated as follows: 1. To promote R. Montague.
the economic, educational, civic and social interests of colored peoples; 2. Mussolini and the Waldenses To assist colored peoples in distress; 3. To improve relations between As THE Waldensians are the strong- est group of evangelicals in Italy, races; 4. To cooperate with organi- many have interpreted the Pope's re- zations sympathetic to colored people; cent comment on Protestant aggres- 5. To encourage interest in the wel- siveness in Rome as especially directed fare of colored people in all parts of against them. The pastor of the
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
largest Waldensian Church in Rome remarked that: "Spain was oppressed makes the following statement: by a dead body lying on her, and that is the Church of Rome."-The Chris- In February the Moderator of the tian. Waldensian Church of Italy, Dr. V. A. Costabel, was received by the Premier Religious Education in the Balkans of Italy in Rome. The Moderator wanted to inform the Duce concerning the schools DELEGATES representing the Or- of the Waldenses and the religious in- thodox Churches and Christian struction of their children. The Premier Youth Work in the Balkans met at a listened with great interest to all the conference to consider questions relat- Moderator told him about the work of ing to the religious education of the Waldensian Church in Italy, and youth. Several Protestant members several times expressed his profound of world Christian associations of personal admiration for the Waldenses, young people took part in the proceed- assuring the Moderator that they would ings. always enjoy liberty of conscience in Italy.-Presbyterian Advance. The conference reviewed the situa- tion among young people in Greece Protestant Revival in Flanders and Bulgaria, and in the Russian emi- grant circles in Central and Western THE xx Siecle reports that a group Europe. Youth has fallen away from of very active Fronters, with head- religious tradition and from the quarters in Dendermonde, is usefully Church but there has been a rekinengaged in creating a people'·s move- dling of spiritual life which has ment in favor of Protestantism. shown itself particularly among young Seven Protestant missions are travel- Russians of the exile. A delegate who ling from village to village and the sent his impressions to the Journal reports ·of the reception afforded are, de Geneve, writes: "One of the most as a rule, favorable. It is proposed striking things was the frankness of to build an Evangelical church at St. the discussion, the emphasi.s laid on Gilles, near Dendermonde. Some are modern methods of teaching, and the already speaking of a Flemish loose- frank admission of the Church that from-Rome movement. she had held herself aloof from the social, moral and intellectual life of Wayside Sowing in Spain those whose souls were committed to her." The conference recommended SOME years ago a Gospel tract was that groups of workers among youth dropped into a market basket car- should be formed in every Orthodox ried on a woman's head. The woman (Greek) country to study questions of could not read but her husband read religions education. the tract again and again and sought the Lord of whose love the tract spoke. A Christian College in Greeee Asking who had tossed the tract into his wife's basket, he was directed to ANATOLIA COLLEGE was forced Mr. Thomas Blamire's home in Marin. out of Turkey in the World War There the hungry soul was instructed and many students died in the strugand, returning home, preached Christ gle; othel's fled to different parts of to his household and neighbors. . the earth; a few reached Greece, who opened friendly doors. Sen. Jose Maria, of Arcade, soon became known as a valiant Protestant Dr. George E. White and his assobeliever, and a fearless follower of ciates began building the college anew Christ. He was a rich farmer, and in Greece. They had to start in a owned vineyards and lands. A little rambling, old building, formerly a church was formed, and there Jose gambling den. The work has not Maria shepherded a body of believers been easy; it has taken an amazing until his homecall in 1930. Over forty courage and persistency. Greece has years he faithfully followed Christ.
Spain cries out for liberty of conscience. One of her politi<:ians lately
not the money to give for the neces- President Paul von Hindenburg's desary buildings that will rise on this cree, issued under dictatorial powers new campus on the hill, but ,she is giVen him by Article 48 of the Constihelping. Recently the graduates gave tution, 'Of severe penalties fDr persons several hundred dollars; and two 'Or societies ridiculing the Church. gifts totalling $600 have been given by them toward a professorship. Throughout Holy Week police re- peatedly suppressed public meetings The new site for the college campus 'Of free thought organizations. Socommands a superb view of Salonika cialist free thinkers' associatiDns have and the JEgean Sea. 2,000 branches in Germany and 500,- 000 members. Similar organizations Greece is one of the chief countries among Communists have a memberof the Near East world. ship of 130,000 and carry 'On energetic anti-religious propaganda through 600 Anatolia College is an investment branches. The Socialists have slightly in youth. With a background of modified their anti-religious activities knowledge and experience this college recently in view of cDllaboration with will continue to give boys an oppor- the Catholic Party of Prussia. tunity for education and development, and will share in providing Christian It is estimated that 2,500,000 perleadership for the Near East.-The sons, including approximately 2,000,- Congregationalist. 000 Protestants, have abandoned their church affiliations in Germany since A New Seet·in Russia the World War. Government figures are not available, but reliable statis- T HE Ecclesia, published at Geneva, tics reveal that approximately 65,000 reports the appearance of a new residents 'Of Berlin withdrew from sect in Russia, known as the "Eu- churches during 1930, compared with nuchs," which is increasing rapidly. 31,000 in 1925. As the name implies, the sect bears the character of religious fanaticism Church taxes, collected by the Gerand the Soviets are taking measures man states, amount from 10 to 12 per to repress it. In 1930, thirty-nine cent of the state income taxes and the adherents were c'Ondemned at Lenin- churches derive large sums annually grad and another trial was held at from tax revenues. Reluctance to pay Saratov. Now a new center has been church taxes, especially during the discovered in the outskirts of Moscow. present econoOmic crisis, explains, in In this sect a veterinary surgeon and some measure, the mass exodus of his wife play the principle role and church members. perform the necessary operations. Twelve of this peculiar sect have been Agnostic grDups have enlarged their sent for trial but its adherents are following by combining membership said to number thousands. in free thinkers' societies with an in- surance scheme for free cremation. Germany Fights Atheists The anti-religious movement is con- sidered an outgrowth of the class ADRAST):C government campaign struggle and thus the actioOn of Presi- against anti-religious organiza- dent von Hindenburg and Chancellor tions believed responsible f·or a grow- Heinrich Bruening in shielding the ing exodus from German churches Church from agnostIc movements will coincided with the observance of bring the government indirectly int'O Easter in Germany. conflict with the Socialists and Com- munists, who are backing the free Decreasing attendance at churches thinkers.-The United Press. and a growing tendency to ridicule religion resulted in the inclusion in
WORTH
Any books mentioned i'n these columns will be forwarded by us O'n receipt of price.-THE REVIEW.
The Invisible Christ. By Ricardo Rojas. able, the adorable Christ. A strange 336 pp. $2.50. Abingdon Press, New but fascinating book. As Dr. Robert York. E. Speer remarks in the introduction. Doctor Rojas is an Argentinian, the "If one asks what kind of books Latinson of a senator and governor, lately American authors are producing, this rector of the University of Buenos volume will answer for the nobler and Aires, a historian and a distinguished higher mind of the Continent. The fasman of letters. His book consists of cination of the book to most readers will three dialogues between a Bishop and be its revelation of the reaction of the his guest on the greatest character of highest Latin culture of our day to the history, Jesus Christ. It is a que·at religious inheritance of Latin Anierica, for the true. image of Christ, the true to Christianity itself and its historical word of Christ, and the true spirit of and mystical elements."
Christ. The book has had a remarkable sale In the first dialogue the discussion in its original form. The translatilm centers on the Christ of art—–{)ften conflicting, fantastic and purely imagi- is forceful and attractive in style. nary portraits. "The corporeal reality of Jesus is not defined in the contra- Where there are so many striking dictory imagery which the Church reference·s to the art and literature of Europe, the reader will regret the absence of an index. S. M. Z.
allows to crowd its altars." Christ The Challenge of Russia. By Sherwood is beyond all human artistic concep- Eddy. 278 pp. $2.50. Farrar and tion, neither of the East nor the West, Rinehart, New York. 1931.
the Son of man and the Son of God. A great experiment is being tried "The Cross of Christ, distinct from out in Russia, an experiment affecting the Swastika and the Tau, which not only the political but the social, other religions worship, is the figure economic, industrial and religious life made by a shadow projected on the of a hundred and sixty millions of earth, beneath the light of heaven, by people, and of portentious significance the body of a Man with arms out- of many more millions in other lands. spread for the sacrifice of love." Such There is a confused welter of inforis the mystical conclusion of part one. mation about it. The enthusiastic ac- The second part discusses the Word counts of Soviet advocates are not to of Christ and His spiritual image. be trusted, and foreign observers dis- Here the discusston turns on the Gos- agree. Dr. Sherwood Eddy has had pel record as distinct from tradition an opportunity to study the subject and apocrypha. "Scientific criticism having visited Russia .six times, twice so far from invalidating the text of during the regime of the Czar and the Gospels has made them more hu- four times since the establishment of man and forceful." the Soviet Government. He travelled The third dialogue is the climax of widely, asked many questions and has the trilogy-art, music, the compara- studied the whole situation. In this tive study of other religions, the book he has given his experiences and Church, the Gospels all lead to the conclusions. He rightly says that transcendent, the mystical, the invisi- "both the friends and foes of the 477
Soviet Union will probably object to in a Person and in a life-in Jesus some of the statements here made." Christ …… Christianity, then, is not a We cannot take his sympathetic view law enforced but a Life …… and the of the Russian experiment but he has Life is the Light of men …… Where written clearly, evidently with a pur- that Life is present, there is the King- dom of God on earth.
pose to be fair. It is his conviction Mr. Mathews not only presents an that Russia constitutes a challenge important and arresting array of dis- turbing facts but reveals an equally to America and the world. The lack important and more reassuring harof an index is a defect, which should monizing Power to bring order and be remedied in any further printing. reconstruction out of "The Clash of A. J. B.
The Clash of World Forces. By Basil W-orld Forces."
Mathews. 8vo. 174 pp. $1.50. Abing- The Land of Behest. By Constance E. don Press, New York. 1931. Padwick. 145 pp. Is. 6d. Church Missionary Society, London. 1930. Any student of world conditions must recognize that there is going on Those who have followed the gifted today a fierce conflict that is both pen of this author will take up her national and international. We have little book with much pleasurable anthe conflict between imperialism and ticipation, and will not be disapdemocracy; between capital and la- pointed. bar; between advocates of war and the promoters of arbitration as a "The Lands of Behest," the lands means of settling disputes; there is a conflict between racketeers and busi- that we are commanded to enter and ness; between law and crime; between social order and communistic possess for the Master, are the mission dis-order; between ignorant prejudice and intelligent judgment; between fields of the Church Missionary Soselfish immorality and high social standards. All these are summed up ciety, – Africa, India, China, Japan in the conflict between good and evil, between the material and the spirit- and the Moslem World. The backual, the Satanic and the Christ way of life. ground is the Congress in London in Mr. Mathews here discusses, with 1930. This is not a history, neither intelligence and Christian idealism, some of the forces now in conflict in a description of that gathering. The' international relations as seen in the Russian program, in India's effort to Archbishop of Canterbury says in the secure self-rule, and in China's -struggle to establish a democracy. He con- Foreword: It is "a picture drawn by cludes his volume with a study of, "The Clash of Values," in which he a skilled hand and a vivid and glowing presents the Christian solution for these problems and for the way of imagination of the whole field now so wonderfully open to missionary en- terprise." Here and there are given a few living, stirring words from the hearts of leading workers in the sev- eral fields, followed and commented upon by the author in her own in- imitable way. When -our zeal for the coming of the kingdom weakens, when our enthusiasm in fulfilling our Lord's command lessens, then this book should be within reach. J. C.
peace. He says: Albert Schweitzer: The Man and His Every category of human life is not Work. John Dickinson Regester. 145 pp. $1.50. Abingdon, New York. 1931. simply challenged but is reshaping under our eyes …… It is, in an even deeper "On the Edge of the Primeval and more revolutionary sense, a crisis Forest," the story of Dr. Schweitzer's in the individual lives of men and women work in West Africa, will lead many of every race …… In Christianity we to read with deep interest this sketch have, we believe, the ultimate values of of the man and his work as musician, the universe, expressed not in rules, or law, or creed, or commandments but
BOOKS WORTH READING
theologian, philosopher, and mission- An English journalist describes pic- tures he saw in the parts of London ary. Abundant quotations from his where officers of the Salvation Army are working. Already the book has own writings makes this, in a sense, reached an edition of 150,000 in Eng- land and America. These stories, an autobiography. He was born in which remind us of "Twice Born Men" and "Down ill Water Street," 1875 in Upper Alsace. His father was tell of men and women, downtrodden and despoiled, shattered by evil and a minister and his home was a center by economic hardship; of women led astray by human demons, of men of culture and religion. His musical ruined by drink and sin, of devilish deeds and filthy hovels. Such rectalent seems to have been inherited ords are truly "Annals of Hell." But Mr. Redwood also reports wombut in his theology he wandered far en reclaimed and men redeemed; he describes angelic ministries and from the evangelical position, but cleansed homes. These are the "An- nals of Heaven." "the quest of the historical Jesus has Cold and formal Christians will be resulted in a mystical finding of his stirred to warmth and vitality as they read of the life and light and joy that Lord and Master." The story of his Christ brings through such ministries as those of the Salvation Army among love for and proficiency in music is the outcastes.
fascinating; that of his hospital work The Pacillc Islands. A Missionary Sur- vey by J. W. Burton, M.A. Two maps. in Africa is heroic. The brief biog- 8 vo. 124 pp. 3s. 6d. World Do- minion Press. London. 1930. raphy is a fitting introduction to one In spite -of the large number of of the most distinguished men of our islands that have been evangelized, there remains ·still a great unfinished day. S.M.Z. task. The total area of the Pacific Is- lands is estimated at 383,228 square Stewardship Parable of Jesus. By Ros- miles with a population of 2,009,784. The Christian population is only 627,- well C. Long'. 230 pp. $1.00. Cokes- 903, nearly one-half of whom are Ro- man Catholics (252,792). The wholly bury Press, Nashville. 1931. unevangelized section covers only one thirty-seventh of the whole but three- The need of immediate increase of fourths of the population (one and a half mill~on) are not Christiansstewardship study becomes more and largely in Papua and the New Hebri- des. more apparent as the returns from This illuminating survey describes the old methods of casual, emotional the general conditions, the problems, the questions affecting governments appeals for bene'l'olences continue to and comity of missions, and the mis- sionary situation. There are two exdecrease year by year. cellent maps and some useful tables of statistics. Some helpful sugges- The Stewardship Secretary of the tions for mission study groups are also included. Presbyterian Church in the United States has brought out in six very helpful Bible studies the stewardship content -of six parables – The Good Samaritan, The Talents, Ten Virgins, Rich Fool, Laborers in the Vineyard, The Tower and Waging War. They will be a practical help to those wish- ing to teach stewardship by present- ing a new approach to the principles and practice.
Dr. Long makes clear that the hope for mission support lies, not in more emotionalization of money appeals but in solid stewardship understanding and practice. G. L. M.
God in the Slums. By Hugh Redwood. 12 mo. 167 pp. $1.25. Revell. 1931.
One-half the world does not want to know how the other half lives, but it would be well if those who are slipping down the gilded way of sin could SE1e these pictures of the pit that lies beyond.
The Fellowship of Toil. By John Mc- The Vision or Light at Evening Time. By Adelaide Addison Pollard. Pamphlet, Dowell. lmo. 150 pp. $1.25. Revell. 1s. British Jews Society. London.
1930. This very excellent and stirring epic poem relates the story of a Jew Industrial relationships constitute who came into contact with Christ. the social foundation of national life. It is worth reading and circulating. If these relationships are according to Christian principles we will have no Helps for the Quiet Hour. By Wilson repetition of the atheistic communism Cash. Pamphlet, C. M. S. London. that is devastating Russia and threat- 1931. ening the world. These daily meditations for one Dr. McDowell has been intimately month, with Scripture verses and familiar with industrial conditions blank pages for prayer topics, are since his boyhood. As worker, pastor, compact. nourishing, practical and student, Home Mission secretary and stimulating. committee man, he has become familiar with the warp and the woof The Jesus I Know. English Edition of of the problem. He gives us the re- a Chinese book prepared by Y. T. sults of his studies and his conclu- Wu, T. Z. Koo and E. R. Hughes. sions as to work and workers; the Paper, 40 cents. Shanghai, China. mission .of the church in industry; 1930. Christ's commands and labors' needs; the road to economic emancipation. Nine Chinese writer,s present their This last Dr. McDowell finds in the personal views of Christ. The testiacceptance of Christ's ideals of broth- monies are intended particularly for erly love and justice, and service to unbelievers but Christians will find mankind. J eSlls' standard of values some faint light ani truth in them. is life not things; His purpose is The witnesses are teachers, students service of society not of self; His and Christian workers. Not all show motive is charity not greed; His prin- a clear knowledge of Jesus as Divine ciple is fraternal not individualistic; Lord and Saviour. He is presented democratic not autocratic; His power by them as an ideal tea<:her and leader is divine not human. Loyalty to these rather than as the Son of God. ideals will solve the industrial labor problem. We need stronger Christians than those presented here, if the Church Direotory of Protestant Missions in China in China is to remain true to New Testament teachings. -1930. Edited by Charles L. Boynton. Tailum J'an-A Christian Widow in the 8 vo. 217 pp. Kwang Hsueh Publish- Wild Mountains of Upper Burma. By ing House, Shanghai. 1930. A. T. Houghton. 114 pp. 28. 6d. Marshall, Morgan and Scott. London. This enlarged and improved directory contains a list of missionaries Miracles are not limited to one age and missionary societies arranged al- or one land or one race. Here is a phabetically, by stations and by so- true story of Tailum Jan, an ignorant cities. There is also a list of union Burmese woman, until she heard the and interdenominational officials, and Gospel of Christ and heard the call of medical schools and hospitaIs. Al- of God. She responded and the comtogether there are one hundred and pleteness of her transformation was eighty foreign missionary societies at as wonderful as any recorded in fairy work in China, and about 6,000 mis- tales-and more complete and permasionaries listed. Seventy-two stations nent. The sketch of Tailum Jan in- -out of I,lOO-are listed as vacant cludes a background of Burmese life and s.ome twenty – five others are and customs and beliefs. It shows the manned only by Chinese Christians. power of the Gospel among primitive people.
The Missionary Review of the World — October 1928
CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES IN
PERSONALS DR. JOSEPH C. ROBBINS, secretary of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Our Free Catalogue Saves Money for Missionaries Society, bas recently started, with his wife, to visit the Baptist Missions in India and Burma. They expect to be away from America about a year. MISSIONARIES everywhere have con- .. * * fidence in our Missionary Bureau as the most economical source for MR. W. REGINALD WHEELER, a secre- personal supplies and mission equip- ment of high quality. tary of the Presbyterian Board of FIELD SECRETARIES and Purchasing Foreign Missions, left in May, with Rev. Agents find that our free catalogue Robert M. Russell of Larchmont, New and special discount list enables them to save money for their stations. York, to visit the Presbyterian Missions MISSION BOARDS can economize by in West Africa and to attend the Con- selecting hardware, paints and other ference of Missions in the Belgian Congo. building materials from our catalogue.
*** MR. AND MRS. JOHN E. NORTON of the Christian Boys' Horne Mission, Poona, India, have recently returned to Amer- ica on furlough and are ready to give missionary addresses with or without the stereopticon. Their address is, Box 13, Findlay, Ohio.
** If you haven't a Montgomery Ward catalogue, write TODAY for MISS KATHERINE GARDNER, one of the a free copy.
promotion secretaries of the Presbyterian Board of National Missions, has recently become Associate Secretary of the Com- mission on Church and Race Relationa, Federal Council of .Churches. MONTGOMERY WARD &CO.
*** Chicago, U. S. A. ~ PASTOR HERMAN SCHNELLER has re- cently succeeded his father, Dr. Theodore Missionary Bureau Schneller, as director of the Philistean ~>——-(~'==="'~~ Orphanage, Jerusalem. This orphanage was recently reopened after it had been closed for fourteen years on account of the World War. Previous to that event Dr. Schneller had directed the orphanage for 43 years. * .. .. A Unique Testimony MISS MINNIE V. SANDBERG has recently CONCERNING entered upon her duties as foreign and Annuity Agreements candidate secretary of the Woman's Eighty-seven Agreements. One Hundred and Ninety Thousand Dollars Baptist Foreign Mission Society, at the This is the record of one individual with headquarters of the Society in New York. the two Methodist Milsion Boards. The Miss Sandberg fills the position made fint agreement was issued July 2, 1900, for $4,500. The last one, May 21, vacant by the resignation of Mrs. 1928, for $2,000. This devout Mabelle Rae McVeigh Le Grand. Miss Christian placed all of her funds except Sandberg is well qualified for her office, her home and about $1,500 on an- through her educational training, her nuity, thus practically administering all service as a missionary for five years in her estate during her lifetime. For the Mary L. Colby School in Japan, and information regarding annuities write on account of her experience as an execu- Moni. W. Ehnea, TreasurH of the Board of Foreign Mwions 01 the Metbodist Episcopal Cbureh, tive for the last three years in the re- 150 Filth Av.nue, New York, N. Y., or ligious education department of the W. J. Elliott, T..amrer of the Board 01 Home Missions and ChllI'<h Exten,io, Qf the Methodist Young Women's Christian Association in Episcopal Church. 1701 Arc h Slrret, Philadelphia, Pa.
Washington, District of Columbia.
*** MISS FAYE A. STEINMETZ, for seven years secretary for young people's work for the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, has resigned and will be suc- ceeded by Miss Mary E. Moore of San . .. .. Francisco.
REV. RALPH A. WARD, D.D., of Foochow Conference, China, has been elected by the secretaries of the several benevolent boards of the Methodist Episcopal Church executive secretary for World Service.
(Concluded on page 771.) Please mention THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD in writing to advertisers. DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Edito,'
OCTOBER TABLE OF CONTENTS Special Africa Number Page FRONTISPIECE–PIO~EEB CHRISTLN lIISSIOKARHjS I~ AFRICA MII,ESTONES IN AFRICA'S PROGRESS ………………….. ,TOHA"NES DU PLESSIS 773 A oraphia picture of the developmel1t oj Africa through e.xploratio1tJ commerac, edu· caHan and missionary effort.
ARE AFRICANS WORTH SAVING? .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,J OHN M. SPRINGER 7~1 Practica,l 6aJamples of A..jrica1lB '1t'ho hare provcd their intelUgellcc? Ohristian character «-tid usefulnes8.
IIINDRANCES TO CHRISTIANITY IN AFRICA ………………. GEORGE A. WILDER 789 A missionary with over forty yt:mrs' experiftW(' 'in Africa describe.'i Iwnte of the olJstar eles met in bringing light to the A-frica.JI.
EXPLORING THE AFRICAN'S SOI'L .EDWU W. SMITH 793 The weZl·known a,uthor of U']!he Gorden Stool" en tel's a nC1C field 0/ CiI'pZoration opening up dark recesses to the light.
GIVING THE BIBLE TO TIm A~'JtIC.N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A. W. BA"FIELD 799 The yo-ma.nce oJ Bible trnnslatiotJ, anti distribution mnung pa-ga1l8 as described by the Bible Som.ety agent in Central Africa.
AFRICAN WOMEN IN THE NEW DAY …………. ELIZAHETII )[AcDo"ALD WILKI"SO" 807 A remarku·ble picttwc oj the pJogrc88 made tnJ those who were formerly GhattdB a,tld slaves but have been libera,ted and enlioht(,lIl:'d by Ohr·istiOJl" missional'icB.
SPIRITUAL SELF-SUPPOR'l' IN .~FRIC. …… . . ……………….T. '1'. TUCKER 815 The missiona.ry to Uguna(t describ('s the pr()QJ'(,,'f.'t which thl' A/ricnn i.'t making in fceding himself with Rpirit1lnl fooll anll pllHsing Oil thl~ Gospel to othcl"f-l.
AFRICA WAITS …………. . . .. W .•T. W. ROOME S1n S(J1ne Dutstnnding facts in regw'd to the In-cNellt situnti(m in A_friaa mid the fields still unreachcd by the Gospel arc gln'11 b.lJ 01/i' 1rho hfll~ widely trarcllcd throuah tire continent.
now TO STUDY AFRICA ……….. . . . . . . . 'l'nO:LS R. DOXOHCGH 829 Some suggestions as to methods and lIwt(Tiul for mission study da.sus.
TOPICS OF THE TIMES …………………………………… . S34 AFRICA AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
WO~1AN'S FOREIGN MISSION BUr,I,BTIX . . . . . . . . EDITED DY I~LLA D. :IACL.CRIX 837 WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BULLETIN ………….. BOlTEn BY ~'LOHE"CE K QUIXL.'" 1'>40 WORLD·WIDE OUTLOOK………………………………………………… R43 BEST BOOKS ON AFRICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . CHARLES II. ~'.HIX Ml TERMS: $2.50 a year. ($2.00 in clubs of five.) Foreign postage, 50 cents. Single copies, 25 cents. Published monthly. Copyrighted, 1928, by MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. All rights reserved.
THE MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY, Inc.
ROBIIRT E. SPERR, President WM. t. CHAMBERLAIN, Vice-PreB'ident DELAVAN L. PIIIlRSON. Secretary WALTER McDOUGALL, Treasurer Publication Office, 3d & Reily Sts., Harrisburg, Pa. 211c a copy. $2.110 a year. Editorial and BUN~~s~.?r,:cad;6 Fifth Avenue.
Entered as second-ClaSS matter at the Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under Act or March 3, 1879. PERSONALS ROSE Diana Drew By ISABEL BROWN ROSE (Concluded from page 769.) :fr~. Rose's latc1't 110'('1. Ffl~('illatill,!.!' de!"eriptioll~ MISS HELEN THOBURN, a niece of th< late Bishop J. M. Thoburn of India, ha. of India. II ('harmln~ love MtOT)'. n tmlendill tale of been a secretary of the National Board of the Y. W. C. A. for several years, the missiollary devotion and service. $2.00 last eight years having been spent in Shanghai, China. On September lR' ZWEMER Across the World she became secretary of international of Islam education for the National Board, with headquarters in New York City. By SAMUEL M. ZWEMER. F. R. C. S.
** Story. tralofecty fllHj problem as witnessed hy Dr. Z"vemer from Cairo to Casablanca. from Capetown REV. WILLIAM FETLER, founder and to ('akutbl- lhe fa~('ination. desperate need lind general director of the Russian Mission· marvellous a'akenin r life of ]slam. ary Society, is now in the United States, for the purpose of raising a "$1,000,000 Abundantly Illustrated $4.00 Fund for the Evangelization of Russia." Mr. Fetler's station is at Riga, Latvia, BROWN Japan in the World as he is unable to carryon his work in —- of Today Soviet Russia. By ARTHUR J. BROWN. D.O. * Dr. SidJll'Y L. (:ulkk Slllo'l'!: "A work whkh 110 one ('an i:rnore who wishes to understand Japan as CHARLES E. VAIL, M.D., who went to she is today . . • 110 other single work compar~ to! India in 1909, is now in charge of the with it in fullness, accuracy and fairness." Miraj Hospital and Medical School. . He succeeds Sir William J. Wanless, M.D. Illustrated $3.75 who, after nearly forty y'ears of service, has been honorably retired by the Board SPEER Sir James Ewing of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian – – – – – A Bioguphy of Sir James C. R. Ewin, Church in the U. S. A. By RODERT Eo SPEER OBITUARY A vivid nnd ('offiprehensive biography of an Amer- jean statesman : lid It"ader of religious thought in MRS. FLORENCE ANDERSON GILBERT, for Indiaduring nearly half a centur~·. Illustrated $2.75 over ten years associated with the RE- VIEW as Editor of the News Department SOUTH0NA Yellow Napoleon and as proof reader, died at her home in A Rom.nce of West Africa White Plains, on August 27th. Mrs. Gilbert had given her life to missionary By ARTHUR Eo SOUTHON and other religious work and was very capable and devoted in her Christian Tn this thri1ling missionary tale of the wilds of service. She was formerly in India where her husband, Mr. F. M. Gilbert, Africa Mr. Southon surpa!'ses even the fascin<ltioll was in Y. M.' C. A. work and was later stationed in China. The REVIEW will of "God of Gold." $1 •• 5 greatly feel the loss of Mrs. Gilbert's effective cooperation. HAY The Indians of South – – America and the Gospel * By ALEX. RATTRAY HAY BISHOP JOSEPH C. HARTZELL, a retired Missionary Bishop of the Methodist Mr. Hay write~ from personal knowled~e. 3!01 a EpiscoJlal Church, died at Christ Hos- longo-time m:ssionary c.of the Inland South America pital, Cincinnati, on September 6th at Missionary l:nion. Illustrated $J,'; 5 the age of eighty-six. Bishop Hartzell's death was directly due to an atrocious ROBINSON A .{;irl of an attack by burglars at his country home Indian Gardp.n near Cincinnati on June 1st. For twenty years Bishop Hartzell was the Mission- RUTH E. ROBINSON (Editor: ary Bishop for Africa where he travelled extensively until his retirement in 1914. Letters of Flora Robinson Howells, in India to ** her Iriendlilo. lntroduetion by Bishop William F.
Joseph Addison Richards, a member of McDo'Teli and Clotilde L. McDowell. $1.00 the Board of Directors of the National THAT MEXICAN! Bible Insti1;ute and the author of many often quoted poems, died at Clifton A Study of America's Ned-Door Neighbor Springs, N. Y., on August 18th. For many years he was connected with the By ROBERT N. McLEAN. D.O. Methodist Church, Montclair, N. J., and later with Saint Andrew's and Saint "The ('omnietp. story of Dresent–daY situations Paul's Churches in New York City. He under the tla,!l of our southern neighbor in an was a graduate of Wesleyan University intensely intere::;ting IH'W book." — .'Pokane and the head of the Joseph Richards Cluwucfe. Illustrated $2.00 Advertising Agency of New York. FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY NEW YORK: 158 FHth AYe. CHICAGO: 851 CUI SL Please mention THE MrSSlONARY REVIElW OF THE WORLD In writing to advertisers. electro nic fil e created by cafis.org
LI, No. 10 October
MILESTONES IN AFRICA'S PROGRESS BY PROF. JOHANNES DU PLESSIS. Stellenbosch. Cape Colony F OR age after age Africa was ception of the progress of its dis- regarded as the continent of covery. In 1800 not much more impenetrable mystery. The was known about the interior than nineteenth century awoke with a was known to the geographer Ptostart to the fact that it was a conti- lemy in the second century of our nent of immense opportunity. A era. Since ptolemy's day the outsuccession of intrepid explorers, line of the coast had been beginning with Mungo Park and determined, and the extreme south ending with Henry M. Stanley, of the continent had been coloopened up the heart of the conti- nized. But that was all. None of nent and made it accessible to the great rivers had been explored; civilization and Christianity. The none of the great lakes had been end of the geographical feat, as discovered; none of the snow-clad Livingstone said, was the begin- equatorial mountains had been dening of the missionary enterprise. fined. There was much hearsay In fact, the progress of geograph- but no sure knowledge. In 1900 ical discovery and mIssiOnary the interior of Africa was pracpenetration went on concurrently. tically as well known to geograph- Many of the earlier missionaries ers as the continent of Europe or were themselves explorers. In the the United States of America. The case of Livingstone himself the chief dates in the fascinating hismissionary was gradually merged tory of African discovery are in the explorer; but other mission- these: In 1830 the brothers Landaries, like Krapf and Rebmann in er determined the course of the East Africa, Grenfell and Arnot in Niger; in 1849 Krapf and Reb- West Africa, while remammg mann discovered Kilimanjaro and faithful to their calling, rendered Kenya; in 1856 Livingstone comeminent services to the science of pleted his first transcontinental discovery. journey; in 1858 Lakes Tangan- yika and Victoria yielded up their The Discovery of Africa secret to Burton and Speke; in We shall not understand the 1864 Baker discovered Lake Alstory of the evangelization of bert and cleared up the last mys- Africa unless we have a clear con- tery about the sources of the Nile; 773
and in 1877 Stanley traversed the The rest of Africa, in 1800, was continent from east to west and terra incognita and even terra non traced the course of the Congo. desiderata. These ddscoveries laid down the main physical features of the Af- Almost the only wealth which rican continent and later discov- Africa was supposed to possess eries only filled in the details. was an unlimited supply of slaves, and the slave trade was for Afri- Political Partition can merchants far and away the Nor again shall we understand most remunerative commercial the tale of missionary enterprise enterprise. But the end of this in Africa unless we know some- nefarious traffic was already in thing of its political vicissitudes. sight. In 1807 William Wilber- force, one of the greatest benefac- IN'l'ERNA'l'10NAL BOllNDARIES AND MAIN tors of the African race, after POLITICAL DIVISIONS OF AFRICA eleven failures secured the passage of his Bill for the Abolition of the (Liberia and Abyssinia are now the only Slave Trade through the British African 8tates not under control of European legislature. The signatories to the governments.) Treaty of Vienna in 1815 followed suit, and declared the commerce in In 1800 no great power gave much human beings to be an illegal purthought to Africa. The attention suit. But it was many years beof Europe was wholly engrossed fore what had been legally secured by the Homeric conflicts of the could be practically enforced. Napoleonic age. North Africa, When Livingstone lay dying in bordering on the Mediterranean, 1873 he could still write: "All I is to all intents and purposes a can say in my solitude is, may part of EUrope, and has been such Heaven's rich blessing come down from time immemorial. It may on everyone, American, English therefore be left out of account in or Turk, who will help to heal this our review of African political his- open sore of the world." The suptory. South Africa, which had pression, if not the complete exbeen settled by the Dutch in the tinction, of the slave traffic is the seventeenth century, passed into most signal benefit which the English hands in the opening nineteenth century has conferred years of the nineteenth century. upon the tribes of Africa.
Still more important for African humanity, though by no means so frankly beneficial, was the annexa- tion of the continent by the great European powers. South Africa was already a European colony, and Portugal had established her claim to portions of the western and eastern seaboard. But the rest of the continent was no man's land. The consumation of Stan- ley's traverse in 1877 focussed the attention of statesmen on Africa. The first to act was Leopold, King
MILESTONES IN AFRICA'S PROGRESS
of Belgium, one of the astutest ment. Let us take it by sections: monarchs of the nineteenth cen- first West Africa, the field of tury. In 1879 he founded his "In- tragedy; next West Central Aiternational Association of the rica, the field of romance; then Congo." The first word of this South Africa, the field of conflict; title was merely a blind. The "As- finally East Africa, the field of ensociation" was Leopold himself, terprise. This is a geographical and its name and style was soon division: chronologically South altered to "The Congo Free State." Africa should come first. But any The founding of the Congo Asso- order will do, that enables us to ciation was the signal for the com- cover the whole territory. mencement of a game of grab on an unprecedented scale, with near- Under West Africa are inly all Africa as prize. The Con- cluded Sierra Leone, the Gold ference of Berlin assembled in Coast, Nigeria, Calabar and the 1885 to draw up the rules of the contest. In no time Africa was S I : RVIVI:-1 G HE.THE~m)I IX AFRI CA parcelled out, France, Germany, Britain and .Belgium being the Cameroons. Sierra Leone has the fortunate participants, with con- honor of being the first spot in solation prizes for Italy and Spain. Africa in which Christian missions set foot in modern days. It owes European rule has not proved an this honor to the "Abolitionists," unmixed blessing to the primitive who sought to establish here an African. True, it has brought him asylum for freed slaves. In spite many benefits, such as settled gov- of the pestilential climate a flourernment, ease of communication, ishing church was built up, and adan increase of material wealth, vanced educational work carried education and Christianity. But on, culminating in the Fourah Bay European civilization has brought College, which is now affiliated also many evils in its train, such as with the university of Durham the exploitation of the black man (England). In Sierra Leone the for the enrichment of the white, missions at work are chiefly Enginfectious diseases previously un- lish, in Liberia chiefly American. known in Africa, an infamous trade in spirits on the West Coast, and many acts of oppression and misgovernment in various forms. The results flowing from these evils are in many cases irremediable. But since the Great War a better spirit seems to be abroad, and we may hope that the humanitarian attitude which finds expression in the mandatory system will effectually check every attempt to coerce or maltreat the natives of Africa. The Missionary Enterprise We are now ready for a bird'seye view of the missionary move-
The difficult Gold Coast was fluential tribes of the French and effectively occupied by German so- British Sudan have embraced the cieties, especially by the German- teachings of the Prophet. The re- Swiss Basel Mission, which also ligious appeal of Islam is unques- built up a fruitful mission-work in tionably a powerful one. It has the Cameroons. Here the Ameri- the shortest and simplest credo in can Presbyterians have also an the world. The native African re- extensive field of work. Nigeria is gards it as the religion of races the venue of the Church of Eng- which like himself are black, while land and Methodist missions, while Christianity is "the White Man's Calabar is the scene of Scotch religion." Mohammedanism he Presbyterian successes. considers to be more conciliatory I have called West Africa the and less rigoroUS in its ethical de- field of tragedy. Words fail to tell mands. One can be a good Moham- of the stupendous sacrifices de- medan and still practice polygamy, manded for the redemption of still use charms and grigris, still Africa on the fatal West Coast. indulge the weakness of the natu- That dreadful scourge, yellow ral man. Mohammedanism, too, fever, mowed down missionaries enjoys exceptional prestige in po- and government officials like a field litical circles, and to the African, of ripe corn before the scythe. Lis- who pays lip-service to authority, ten to the poignant tale of the this is no mean advantage. In fact, schoolmaster, writing in June, considering all the chances which 1823: "The following is the num- Islam has had in Africa, the won- ber of Europeans who have died der is that it has not gained a since my arrival on December 3d greater hold on the races of the last year: in the month of continent.
December 7, in January 2, in About the future of paganism in February 9, in ~arch 11, in Africa there can be no two opin- April 12, in May 24, and up ions: Pan, great Pan is dead. Af- to date in this month of June rica is destined to become either 12: total 77." Before the Christian or Mohammedan. Islam end of the year the schoolmaster is in no sense a stepping-stone to himself had been borne to his last Christianity. Tribes once islam- resting place. And the experiences ized are incredibly difficult to of Sierra Leone were paraIled by win for the religion of Jesus similar experiences on the Gold Christ. Still there is no need to Coast and elsewhere. The mar.vel turn back discouraged from walls is that men could still be found to which flaunt the Crescent. On the offer for a field which was known contrary, the contest must be con- under the ominous title of "The tinued with undiminished ardor White Man's Grave." and faith. There are three ways of The Challenge of Islam approach. The first is that of peaceful invasion. Governments The chief problem to be faced in are strangely averse to allowing this field is the emphatic challenge Christian missionaries to enter of Islam. In the countries border- Mohammedan areas. But pressure ing on the Sahara, Mohammedan- should be brought to bear upon ism has been for many centuries them to permit the same rights to strongly entrenched. The most in- the Christian as are permitted to
MILESTONES IN AFRICA'S PROGRESS
the Mohammedan, who may freely founded by that enthusiastic but enter any territory. The second unpractical man, Bishop William approach is that of medical enter- Taylor. The Canadian Presbyprise. The doctor is welcome in terians are firmly established on every home or hovel, and the ef- the Angolan highlands. All these ficacy of the medical approach has missions have to cope with excepbeen proved in many fields. The tional difficulties in the intransithird approach is that of educa- gent attitude of the Portuguese tional propaganda. The thirst for government, which will not permit knowledge is spreading in all Mo- the employment of the vernacular hammedan lands. Christianity can in mission schools and insists on provide infinitely better schools Portuguese as medium. than Mohammedanism, and the sign upon the door of this opportu- Though the glamor of romance nity reads Push! lies over this field, it has also known the shadow of tragedy. A Sphere of Romance and Tragedy During the years when King Leo- pold was the sole disposer of the West Central Africa, comprising fortunes of Congoland, crying the Congo and Angolan fields, evils arose in the treatment of the forms a sphere of romance. What natives. This was because Leocan be more entrancing than the poldian officialdom tried to engross story of the advance of the mis- the trade as well as direct the adsionary forces along the riverine ministration of the colony. The highways provided by the mighty result was the so-called Congo Congo and its affiuents, and the atrocities. Natives were coerced, discovery, day after day, of new oppressed and maltreated to make places, new peoples, new tongues, them scour the woods for rubber and new openings on every hand? and other natural products. The In this advance the Baptists of missionaries protested. The Congo England and the Baptists of Amer- Reform Association was estabica, ably seconded by American lished, with E. D. Morel, the most Presbyterians, American Method- indefatigable critic of Leopoldian ists and numerous other bodies, methods, as secretary. At length, have rendered yeoman service. T.he in 1905, a committee of enquiry names of Grenfell the explorer, was appointed, which, though Richards the evangelist, Sims the nominated by Leopold himself, beloved physician, Bentley and gave judgment against his policy. Laman the linguists, and Morri- Its report led to the eventual disson the missionary statesman, are solution of the Congo Free State written in imperishable script on as a private venture and its the Christian record of Congoland. emergence as Belgian Congo. Angola, too, has been well served Since then "atrocities" are a thing by devoted men and women. The of the past. The government now pioneering work of Frederick is exceptionally favorable to mis- Arnot has left its traces in the sionary enterprise and to the rights chain of stations which he suc- and claims of the native tribes. ceeded in building between the coast and the interior. The Meth- The Field of Conflict odist Episcopal mISSIOn, now a flourishing enterprise, was South Africa constitutes the oldest and most extensive field of
missionary operations in the whole discipline grows feeble and the continent. The first missionary decay of true religion sets in.
of recent times to set foot on South Africa is the field of con- African soil was George Schmidt, flict. To the antagonism of race. the Moravian, who landed at Cape as between European and native, there has been added the antag- Town in 1737. After a few years onism of nationality, as between labor among the Hottentots he Briton and Boer. These antagwas compelled to withdraw, on ac- onisms have given rise to procount of the unfriendly attitude of longed conflicts. On the succession the Dutch Reformed clergymen of Kaffir Wars followed a succestowards a man who was not of the sion of collisions between the mon- Reformed faith. The mission was archical British and the republican recommenced towards the close of Boer states. All this strife created the eighteenth century. Then, with an atmosphere of suspicion and the opening of the new century, bitterness, and reacted very detricame the London, the Wes]eyan, mentally upon the mISSIOnary the Scottish, the Paris, the Rhen- enterprise. Time and again the ish, the Berlin, the Anglican and missionaries were driven from their the American Board societies, as fields and their homes were re- well as a host of smaller bodies, duced to ashes. But they returner} that have spread themselves all with dauntless courage, to lay over South Africa, from the Cape. more stable foundations than be- to the Zambesi. Many eminent fore, and in due time their patience names adorn the missionary annals and their faith were richly re- of South Africa-Vanderkemp, warded. Heathenism has been Moffat and Philip of the London vanquished in South Africa. There Mission; William Shaw of the are no doubt many millions of Wes]eyans; Schreuder the Nor- natives who still live under primi- wegian; Lindley and Grout, the tive conditions and profess heathen Americans; CasaIis, Mabille and beliefs. But that is chiefly because Coillard, the Frenchmen; Hahn, they believe that they will lose Kronlein and Merensky, the Ger- national caste if they adopt "the mans. The southern portion of White Man's religion." The leaders the Dark Continent enjoys a most of the native races all call them- salubrious climate, and mission selves Christians, have adopted work is conducted under the most European dress and habits of life.
favorable physical conditions. An and are trying to uplift their race incredibly large number of by claiming larger economic and churches and societies have ac- political rights.
cordingly selected it as a suitable The Field of Enterprise field for missionary operations.
The result is congestion: the In East Africa we have the field societies are treading on one an- of enterprise. The earlier missions other's toes. And to make con- entered the country before fusion worse confounded, numbers European protectorates had been of native sects are springing up established and settled government on every hand like mushrooms. introduced. The mISSIOnaries With the multiplication of sects existed and worked by the good and the spread of propagandism, will of the ruling potentate. This
MILESTONES IN AFRICA'S PROGRESS
required no small endowment of Crawford, the scholarly Pilking- courage and enterprise. Krapf, the ton, the saintly Mackay, discoverer of Mount Kenya, had The missionary enterprise in some very narrow escapes. Han- Africa, for all its glorious past, nington fell a victim to the cruelty is only in its beginnings. It is of Mwanga, and Mackay's life bound to gather momentum as the trembled in the balance. After the years roll on. There is good reason commencement of the Colonial Era to expect that, in Central Africa as in 1884 matters changed for the better. The spirit of enterprise now animated the British, the Ger- mans and the Boers, who emi- grated to East Africa and are attempting to colonize those re- gions. The highlands of Kenya, Tanganyika and Nyasaland are in- deed more suitable for coloniza- tion than any other part of tropical Africa, and the attempt to develop the rich natural re- sources of these territories may be accounted in great part successful.
Here, too, the three-cornered problem of Government, Colonists, Natives, and their respective and often irreconcilable interests, has become acute.
The missions are in a flourish- ing state. The Church of England, entering Uganda in response to Stanley's appeal in the Daily Tele- graph, has become the national church of the land, and the story of its establishment is a romance unsurpassed in the chronicles of modern missions. The tragic tale of Bishop Mackenzie and his fail- ure to found a mission in Nyasa- land, and the'happier chapter of the YOUNG AFRICA WAITING FOR CHRIST success of the Universities' Mis- sion on the island of Zanzibar and in South Africa, heathenism will adjoining seacoast; as well as the be overcome within measurable sturdy advance of the Scotch and time. But nice arithmetical calcu- Dutch Reformed missions on the lations do not apply to the King- shores of Lake Nyasa, form an in- dom of God, which "cometh not spiring record. On the monument with observation." Our faith in erected to the workers in East the future of our enterprise re- Africa we read the names of the poses on nothing less than the im- noble Krapf, the patient Steere, mutability of God's purposes and the far-seeing Laws, the ingenious the mighty influences of His grace.
SOME NOTABLE AFRICAN CHRISTIAN LEADERS (1) Khama, the Christian chief of the Bamangwato (died in 1!l23). (2) Canon Apolo Kiyebulaya, missionary from the Buganda to pygmies of the Belgian Congo. (3) Daundl Chwa, the present ChrIstian King of Uganda. (4-, .Tames E. K. Aggrpy, Vice~principal of Achimota College, Gold Coast (died Ju1y 30,1927). (5) Samuel A. Crowthlf'r, slave boy who became Bishop of Niger 'I'erritory (died 1891).
LISTENING-RAW AFRICA!' RECltUI'l'S IN CA)IP HEARING CHRIWI'IAN
FOR THE FIRS'j' 'rIME ARE AFRICANS WORTH SAVING?
BY REV. JOHN M. SPRINGER, D.D., CENTRAL AFRICA Mu,BiofiUA'Y oj the Jiethodist Episeopa·l Churel.
I s MAN worth saving? The of his natural physical and menta! Cross of Christ was God's vigor, the African has survived, answer to that question. multiplied and thrived on a conti- The man who took the Cross nent that is not hospitable to from the shoulders of the physical- human life but abounds with nat- ly overburdened Son of God and ural enemies of man, with deadly carried it to the place of cruci- insects that carry malaria, sleeping fixion, was a man from Africa. sickness and other diseases, with Was his soul worth saving? No venomous serpents and wild beasts.
other race has given more convinc- Yet armed with only the simple il1g evidence of participation in tools, fashioned by himself, the Afredeeming service than have multi- rican has been able not only to tudes of God's dark-skinned chil- exist but to develop many of Af- dren, when once they have learned rica's natural resources in a very to know and love Him. creditable way.
If we take the term African to Industrially each African tribe designate the Negroes of all the supplied its own needs. Smelting 3,000 or more tribes living in Af- ore and making hoes, axes, spears, rica, we note that, as an evidence etc., was a trade followed by cer- 781 electronic file created by cafis. org
tain families, but aside from this boasted of two hundred wives, the African was beholden to no one. He tilled his own gardens, built his threatened to commit suicide unown hut, wove his own cloth out of grass, platted the mat that consti- less she were brought back. tuted his bed, moulded his own pottery and provided himself with The African is a very sociable meat from the chase or by raising his own cattle and goats. When he being. He loves at eventide to sit lived alongside of the rivers, he fared largely on fish. For his di- around the fire in the palaver house version he fashioned ingenious musical instruments. For orna- or in the open and to gossip over mentation, he made copper and gold ornaments and necklaces of the day's doings. He must have shells, seeds and other things. So its needs were easily met, each vil- companionship. Men of other races lage unto itself. may be content and eager to work Governmentally, the African tribe had a well worked out system overtime for extra pay but not so on the patriarchal order. There were the local or village headmen, the African. In daily life, he the chiefs over large and small districts, and over all was the practically says: "What shall it paramount national chief, or king. Each grade of chief had his council profit a man though he earns much in which centered both legislative and judicial functions. The king gold but loses sociability." He and his council constituted the supreme court. But in spite of this never voluntarily lives alone or orderly arrangement, history and tradition reveal a bloody record of works alone. cruel tyranny on the part of the leaders, of assassinations, intrigue, Marriage is a recognized instituslavery, turmoil and endless war throughout the continent. tion. In a heathen society where Yet there is a very -tender, af- continuous inter-tribal warfare fectionate side to the African's character. The most savage war- obtained, naturally polygamy was rior might have been seen dandling his baby in the few intervals of practised; and some things may be peace, and he usually shows a strong love for his kin and a strong said in favor of the custom under attachment to members of his tribe. Though big chiefs had and still which every, woman belonged to have scores or even hundreds of women in their harems, there is some man who was responsible for usually one in each to whom the king is particularly devoted. When her and to whom she was accounthis favorite wife eloped with a courtier Mwata Yamvo, who able.
While high ideals of morals are lacking, vice was not commercial- ized before the advent of the white man. Both sexes were admitted to full membership of the tribe only after a period of stern training in circumcision and initiation camps in which were entailed hard tests of endurance and no little physical pain. While some of the training was vile and obnoxious, yet there was also valuable instruction re- garding the traditions of the tribe and the duties and responsibilities involved. • Musically, the African has ex- ceptional gifts. He sings as naturally as the birds. He paddles his great war canoes to the rythm of chanting. He works and dances to the music of his own voice and the beat of the booming drum.
When not heavily loaded he whiles away the tedium of the trail to the
ARE AFRICANS WORTH SAVING?
TIlE WITCH DOCTOR'S TEST According tu cllstom, lIwata Ynm'~J caned in thp. witch doctor to find wbo Iwwitched Nfama. his favorite wife, and causeo her death. 1'hey have their powerful "medicines" before them. The sllspect€':d pur-ties are to drink a cup of deadly poison. If It kJl1s thrm, thr,y nre guilty. but if they vomit it, they are guiltless.
tinkling melody of his little hand was accordingly called illiterate. piano which he calls mbila. yet he was far from being ignorant. His wits have had to While the language of the Af- serve him in every relation and rican had not been written, and he
contact of life. His language, itual conversion and consequent which is superior in quality and notable Christian living and serv- in grammatical construction and ice take the following: which is magnificently adapted to Kayeka was born in the very oratory, has been handed down heart of Africa, of the Luunda with wonderful accuracy through tribe, and was the son of a district the centuries. Practically every chief. When about twelve years tribe has a wealth of historical old, he was caught by slave raiders, tales, folk lore, puns and riddles. taken to Angola and sold as a slave.
The children in Africa, as else- Being permitted to go to a school where, may be classified as normal, of the American Board, he was con- supernormal, subnormal and de- verted and became greatly burficient. There are many instances dened for his tribe. He prayed of the children of the so-called twelve years that the Gospel might "raw heathen" who have found be sent to them. their way to European and America universities and have When the Portuguese law was graduated with marked honors, enacted freeing the slaves, he was notably the late Prof. J. E. Kweg- prompted by the Spirit to go back yir Aggrey of Achimota College, to the interior and see for himself Gold Coast, West Africa, holder of if his missionaries had arrived. ten degrees from American Univer- When he had gone about 800 miles, sities; and Prof. Diana McNeil he came to where the writer and Pierson who was brought to his wife and another had just set- America when a very little girl by tled and in response to his inquiry Bishop Wm. Taylor and later was learned that we were missionaries graduated with high honors from to the Luunda tribe. There is no the University of Southern Cali- question but what this ex-sla;ve had fornia, and has been professor of prayed us across Africa in 1907, English Literature in Rust Uni- and back to the Luunda tribe in versity, of Holly Springs, Missis- 1910. Kayeka brought in his wife and family in 1912 and has ever siPlli. since been a powerful witness for Religiously, it can be said as of Christ among his own people.
the Athenians, that the Africans Kaluwashi was a Luba porter are very superstitious. Their re- who went to the west coast with a ligion is animism and fetishism. caravan to carry a load of rubber. They live under the constant dread He settled near the same mission of evil spirits which they believe station as Kayeka and with the cause an the calamities of life such same result; he became a Chrisas sickness, death, deformities, tian. When Kayeka returned there drought, etc., and who must there- with the news that he had found fore be propitiated. This they seek his missionaries in the interior and to do through the departed mem- was going back himself with his bers of the tribe for whom they family to preach to his own people, build fetish huts and to whom they the Baluba ex-slaves asked Kalmake votive offerings of meal, beer, uwashi to go in and see if there and other materia1 things. could not be a missionary for them The African is capable of be- so they could return. They knew coming an enlightened Christian. that they dared not go up into that For particular instances of spir- cannibal country even though it
ARE AFRICANS WORTH SAVING?
was to their own tribe if there The African is willing to make was no missionary there. That great material sacrifice for Jesus, man not only walked 5,000 miles as is to be seen in the case of Jacob at his own charges in order to Mawene, a Mutebele, who worked for ten years on the Cape-to-Cairo get a missionary for his tribe but Railroad and left a good job at prayed $2,000 a year out of a $20 a month to walk 1,500 miles in wealthy man in the U. S. A. for a order to go to school and study to term of five years, and the mission be "a teacher for God" at $5.00 a station at Kabongo right in' the month. "It isn't the money I center of the cannibal country was want," he told us, "but my heart the result. Here hundreds have al- tells me that I must be a teacher ready been turned to Jesus Christ. for God." So he took a load on his There are now a score or more of back, he who had not carried a out-stations there manned by the load for years, and slogged over converts who have been trained in the rough trail with us those 1,500 the school at Kabongo and while miles. Then he -went back, helped there is still cannibalism to be in translating the first book into found in that tribe it is disappear- the Luunda language, the Gospel ing as the (i()spel work spreads.
THE MODERN CHRISTIAN DOC'J'()It'~ '!hl'H In contrast tn tlH' witch doctor scene, we find Ngoya. a trained l1ative Inp<1ical helper, in this same town of Mwata Yamvo, five Yl'ars later, examining with a micro- .sCI 'e to }puru the enuse of sickness.
2
of Mark, and won many to his he was a brave and brilliant soldier Master before he died of the flu in and when the tribe was attacked 1919. "And verily, he being dead by the fierce Metabele (offshoot of yet speaketh." the Zulus), his father called him back to fight their much-dreaded Joseph Jutu was a convert from foes. When he led his army on to the Free Church of Scotland under victory, the tribe demanded that Rev. Robert Laws, M.D., whose he be restored to favor. And work of nearly fifty years in though an avowed Christian, he Nyasaland has just come to a close eventually succeeded to the throne. as far as his bodily presence is During his long reign, he ruled his concerned. Joseph was a capable, people justly, ably and with great devoted lay worker like many acceptability. He insisted on keepothers from that same Mission. He ing his territory closed to foreign was a trained hospital orderly who alcoholic liquors and was effective later learned type-setting and in reducing the use of domestic printing and became engaged in beers and liquors. Khama was held that work on the new daily news- in the highest esteem by both Eupaper in Elisabethville in the ropeans and natives throughout South Africa and was highly mineral fields. Finding no evan- honored by the king and nation on gelical missionary there, he started his several visits to England. holding meetings in his own hut. Hearing of our arrival at Kambove, The conversion of the terrorizone hundred miles away, he wrote ing outlaw, Africander, under and begged us to come down and Robert Moffat and his subsequent organize a church, which we did. exemplary Christian life, is one of But as there was no missionary to the most notable facts in the hisplace in charge, Joseph Jutu cared tory of South Africa. for that infant church and night school for two years assuming the The story of how the Gospel of financial care of it also, all in ad- Jesus Christ changed the blooddition to his heavy work as fore- thirsty and incredibly cruel and man on the daily L'Etoile du savage Lewanika into one of the Kongo. It seemed an irreparable most respected and ablest Chrisloss to our Mission when he was tian rulers of the Barotse, reads likewise carried off by the flu. far stranger than any fiction. And But the seed that he sowed is bear- equally fascinating is that of King ing much fruit for there are 5,000 Mtesa of Stanley fame and the adherents of that church in Elisa- Prince, Siruano Kulubya, who atbethville today. tended the recent world missionary gathering at Jerusalem. Khama, the Christian king of the Bamangwato is an outstanding In practically every phase of life, instance of statesmanlike qualities the African is just as capable of in the African. The heir apparent development as any other human was converted in his youth. being. We also see how the Gospel When his father demanded that he of Jesus Christ works the same follow the custom of the tribe miracles in the lives of the Afwhich required the King to offer ricans as in those of other nations. sacrifices to the ancestral spirits, For history shows us that the he quietly and firmly refused. His peoples of Europe prior to the infather disinherited him and he be- troduction of the Bible and Chriscame an exile from his tribe. Rut tianity were on about the same
ARE AFRICANS WORTH SAVING?
level as were the Africans in the and trade and are recognized as able competitors in every sphere. middle of the nineteenth century. They are keen to acquire better education and better living condi- While the destructive agencies tions for themselves and their families and are willing to work of intoxicants, of commercialized hard and make sacrifices to attain these ends. They are naturally vice, of materialism and of greedy deeply religious and in their church life give ample proof of a vital commercialism are having their faith and close fellowship with God. A larger percentage of them, lamentable effects upon multitudes probably, are tithers than among Christians here in America. in Africa, yet the Africans are giv- . Are Afti,cf!,ns· worth saving? With abundant proof of human ing a good account of themselves ability, of 'worthy aspirations, of true -worth, of eagerly improving whenever they have even half a their opportunities and of notable mental and spiritual achievements, chance and especially when they how can the verdict be other than in the affirmative? Emphatically, receive Jesus Christ into their they ARE worth saving.
hearts. ,"0 ine: UnlikE) the ~baiif!ines of some other countri~, Afrie&ns are not.pying out wheIi' brought into contti,ct' with Ill<Jdern civilization but~re rapidly increasing in num- bers;· and are showing to a re- markable degree an adaptability to new livirig and working conditions.
The Africans have made a place for themselves in every occupation THE AFRICAN WORD FOR GOD "" There was n() equivSllent word.in Bulu if:tr /'God".. 'rlJe isolate4 . ~ive did not know ,enough to swear-bl~~ed ignorance! .YeA'rs paSsed before this foreign art of "civilization" reached him. "Iti their animism the Bulus had a word-Zam.nyamebe'e-which llU,,' ,- . ~ered to their instinct of a Higher Being ; and there was but one slich. He always existeo and never died. He created man and the .;"gprilla and, the chimpanzee;<cThe man became many and started village life, while the gOl'iUa and chimpanzee went to the woogs t.o live. This Zamnyamebe'e is far off and leaves man to shift for hiw.;:" self. He was also called.Zambe; and this is the name used for "God" in the translation. It had. to be rescued from its age-long isolation. and poverty of meaning, and invested with a new and larger pet'- ' sonality. We put into it deity, trinity and the divine attributes, as wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth, and the·Bulu soon came to recognize and appropriate a new spiritual entity under the old name, and to see the propriety of spelling it with a capital Z and of thinking of this new Zambe as having no equal or lawful rival. Thus the difficulty of getting a name for God w~s fortunately solved by the unearthing of an indigenous word-Zambe. We did not have to go into the heavens above to bring a word down, nor into the depths below to bring one up. Lo, it was with us, and needed only to be divested of sensUOUS lImitations, and properly in- stalled.-MELVINFRASER.
OLD AND NEW IN NORTHERN .U'RICA The Arllb's "ship of the desert" find the French "caterpillar" have met in the Sahara Desert NEW MID'J'nODS ADAI"l'ED '1'0 CHILD WELFARE IN SOU'I'H AFRICA In touch with the Heart- of New Africa-Baby Clinic at .Tohannesburg
TO CHRISTIANITY IN
BY REV. GEORGE A. WILDER, BLOOMFIELD, N. J.
Fo-r Over ]i'orty Y13a,t"8 a AHss,zonary oj the America-n BO(trd in South Africa T HE first missionaries, Jesuits tribes are revealed in her whole or whoever they were that length and breath. Her lowlands took the Gospel to the West and highlands, her lakes and her Coast of Africa, must have thought rivers, her forests and her moun- they had struck a summer resort tains are all known-with grand of the Devil and his angels! Kilimanjaro right on the Equator, The heat was almost beyond en- towering high, with her snow- durance; the swamps immense; capped head!
the endless forests dense, the Politically, the whole continent, malarial fevers deadly; with aside from Egypt, Abyssinia, and clouds of mosquitoes and millions Liberia, has come under the ruleof of other poisonous insects; with the white man. And while Africa droves of monkeys chattering the today is still teeming with pagans, live-long day; with howling and slavery is, at least, nominally, abollaughing hyenas making the nights ished, tribal wars stopped, the cruel hideous; with unsightly croco- poison ordeal done away with and diles; leaping leopards; and roar- cannibalism frowned upon. There ing lions and hissing serpents; hid- are tens of thousand of Europeans den game pits; flying, poisonous ar- in Africa today. The moment a rows, frightful devil dancers; black man meets a white man the cruel killing of the men in a con- black man's education begins. quered tribe, and the keeping of Daily lessons of variety, of degree, the women for polygamy and the and tendency, are being taught, fiendish feasting of cannibals on and these are moulding the African human flesh-here was a country of the future. In general, inwhere death stalked through the dividualism is asserting its power land! Here was a people who ap- over the ancient communalism. parently had no sense of obligation Industrially and commercially to moral law. Certainly, these Africa has emerged from her iso- Africans were not stretching out lation. Instead of supplying the their hands to God! Moreover, the world with slaves, she is sending missionaries there "died like flies," to, and receiving from the world, and the natives named their own that which makes her a most neces- land "The White Man's Grave." sary member in the family of the Animism, totemism, witchcraft, most modern races of the world.
magic and other characteristics of She has more than thirty thousand this primitive folk were also miles of railroad in operation, and serious hindrances to the progress regular communication has been of the Gospel; but we shall deal established overland, between only with present-day Africa. Cairo and Cape Town. She also After baffling both Asiatics and has regular airplanes flying be- Europeans for many ages, Africa tween her large centers. On the has ceased geographically to be a West Coast, certain of the aborig- mysterious continent. Today her ines are so developed, that, today, 789
they export palm oil, rubber, coffee the civilized law, which professes and cocoa to the extent of three to be Christian.
billion dollars' worth annually. On Again, the difficulty the native the eastern side of the continent, Christian has in obtaining individ- we find that the people of Uganda ual title to landed property, is a have made a similar development. great hindrance to the native con- They, in 1925, produced eighty mil- vert, who has broken away from lion pounds' weight of cotton, and communalism. Again, there are there were imported into that land especial laws passed to protect for native consumption twenty mil- the white laborer, which prove a lion dollars worth of European and serious hindrance to the develop- American goods. The combined ment of a strong character. Re- trade of British Tropical Africa stricted in so many directions by alone has multiplied six and one these objectionable laws, the native half times in the last twenty years. Christian finds the field of religion In spite of the great good ac- the only one in which he may at- complished by schools, medical tempt to express his new-found missions and Christian literature, freedom. The results are generally some of the modern civilizing in- grotesque, to say the least. Gen- fluences have made the task more erally they are foolish in the ex- difficult for the Christian worker. treme. Denominationalism has in a The very education, which is so measure produced these results. In needful for the follower of Jesus any case they form a difficult Christ in these modern times, pro- problem for the missionary to duces, at times, unexpected results. handle. It is stated that there are Prof. Brooks tells of a lad, stand- already over one hundred different ing near as the professor was at- sects in the native churches in tempting to move a trunk, who, Africa!
when asked to lend a helping hand, Other kinds of hindrances per- excused himself with the remark: sist in spite of civilization. For "Oh Sir, I am not a laborer, but a instance, the missionary is still in brain worker." danger from wild animals. Many VVrong Ideas of ][oney years ago Mr. Butler was crunched by a hungry crocodile in the colony Again, the white man's eager- of Natal. He was a missionary.
ness for money, has given the David Livingstone was mauled by native a very wrong idea of the a lion. The writer of this article value of that article. was struck senseless by an angry One of the most serious hi,n- leopard and narrowly escaped with drances in the way of the develop- his life. Another missionary, a ment of the Christian native is the friend in Rhodesia, has recently fact that the white man's govern- suffered a similar attack and a ment persists in keeping the native young Dutch neighbor has lost the under the native code of law, fear- use of one arm froni the cruel ing to place him under the same leopard.
code of law as governs the white So far as I can learn, only one colonist. As a result the native missionary ever suffered bodily Christian is under terrific tempta- harm from the savages in Africa.
tion to revert to heathenism, since An ever-recurring hindrance, he has little encouragement from that is met by every missionary, is
HINDRANCES TO CHRISTIANITY IN AFRICA
the multiplicity of the languages of and believe, to love God and his the country. In spite of the fact neighbors as himself, than were the that the missionaries have reduced Scribes and Pharisees. hundreds of these tongues to writing, each new missionary must Christ's audiences did not like master the dialect in which he is to admit their guilt, and so cried, to teach the people. The enthusi- "Away with him! Crucify him!" astic young messenger, perhaps But the heathen, who is ignorant of learned in the Hebrew, Latin and revelation, dead in trespass and Greek and able to speak one or two sin, appears to be wholly indif- European modern tongues, finds ferent to the accusation in the to his amazement that not one Gospel and replies, "Why should I person in the African crowd before repent? What have I done that is him understands one word of any wrong?" Gradually the messenger tongue he can speak. It dawns on realizes that his task is not only to the would-be preacher, that he "preach the Gospel," but, also, to must learn the language of the "teach all nations." He learns natives, if he hopes to influence that the greatest hindrance to the them. What a task is this! He sets acceptance of the Gospel by the at work looking for a grammar pagans is their lack of sense of and dictionary, often to be con- obligation to moral law. He finds founded with the'information that that the situation is almost identithis language has never been re- cal with that which presents itself duced to writing! Addressing him- to the minister in America. The self to the task of transcribing the heathen is different, however, in words, he is faced at once with the that he has such an astonishing fact that the new sounds have not ignorance of moral law, and true been provided for in the phonetic spiritual life, such an unreasonable system! He is next puzzled to fear of departed spirits, such a learn the correct meaning of the persistent unwillingness to admit words he has collected. At last personal guilt and such a desperate having at his service a few words, fondness for lustful life and easy he makes disastrous mistakes by indolent existence. not distinguishing the different sounds of the vowels. His wife, for When the Power of God has instance, sends her cook to "Kill brought results, the missionary is two men for dinner," when she in- again disappointed to find how tended to say "two ducks"! (She easily the new converts are satisused amadoda for amadada.) The fied with a low standard of life; cook-boy runs into the back yard how easily they fall back into their to have a good laugh at the can- heathen customs. nibalistic tendencies of his mistress! At times the missionary himself stands in his own way. He tries to The African and His Gods tell the heathen how to die, for- getting the equally important duty It is not an easy matter to induce of learning how to live. When a the heathen African to desert his man has learned how to live he is gods, even when entreated by the ready to die any day. best of linguists. The pagan African is no more ready to repent Another difficulty comes from the belief that the pagan does not need to be denationalized-that is to say separated entirely from hi::!
old heathen life. It is astonishing Another phase of this same how unanimous governments, wri- thought is seen in the "superiority ters, and many missionaries are complex" shown in the attitude of on this matter. In point of fact, some missionaries as they come in- the only thing about a pagan to close contact with the African.
African that need not and cannot This attitude hinders the Gospel.
be denationalized is his color! His Some workers seem to be unable political life cannot exist in contact to say to this little devil "Get thee with civilized governments. His behind me Satan," but some seem economic undertakings must be to think that this superior attitude boosted by civilization to succeed is an angel of light!
at all. His social customs cannot Some Other Hindrances be tolerated in connection with a Christian civilization. Possibly, Finally, I think it no exaggera- Dr. Loram admitted more, the tion to claim that one of the most other day, than he intended, when discouraging and serious hin- he stated that there cannot be two drances to the spread of the Gospel civilizations in South Africa. The in Africa, is the apathy of the fact is, that if an African is to be- churches in the civilized lands to- come civilized at all under Euro- wards the need of the African pean tutelage, he will become so continent. Financial support is only by adopting European civiliza- woefully inadequate. The money tion . for necessary new ventures is no- . Among the early missionaries in where to be had, and the workers Rhodesia, at Mt. Silinda, it had for this great field, where are they?
been decided, that the natives In addition to the hindrances to should be taught to use a form of missions found in all pioneer work dress more adapted to the ordinary -the diseases, the ignorance, the costume of the natives, more sensi- vice, the superstition, the antagble than the trousers etc., worn by onism of pagan rulers and teachers Europeans. So, when the boys ap- we find then these new hindrances plied for clothing, they were to missions in Africa today: presented with a sort of kilt uniform, which had been devised by (1) The license which the the ladies of the mission. When African feels when the tribal the missionary handed these cos- restraints are weakened by contumes to the boys they examined tact with the white man.
them carefully, then turning to the (2) The danger that education missionary said, "Why do not you and industrialism may take the place of, instead of becoming the wear them?" hand-maids of religion. The fact of it is, that whatever (3) The false position, so genthe holders of this idea may mean erally taken, that the African must by it, the African interprets the not become civilized but must be position to mean that the Euro- allowed to evolve his own African pean, yes, the missionary, does not method of life. want him to become the white man's equal. This, then, becomes (4) The inadequate support in a serious obstacle in the way of the prayer, gifts and workers from missionary worker. the churches at home.
A SACRED AFRICAN CIIlRlIlllONY-A FUKERAL DAKCIil IN CENTRAL AF
EXPLORING THE AFRICAN'S SOUL BY EDWIN W. SMITH, LONDON, ENGLAND Author oj THE GOLDEX STOQL. eto.
I N THE course of centuries the faith and practice, but we can cort- continent of Africa has been fidently assert that these are much discovered and explored. Now more respectable than used to be we are engaged upon another thought. We have discovered the enterprise, not less arduous and indubitable fact that the African absorbing: the discovery and ex- is eminently a religious person. ploration of the African's soul. The limits of this article will not Surprises await us in this field, allow me to enter upon a detailed even as they awaited us in the description of African religion. It former. Our forefathers imagined may be said, in brief, to comprise that the continent would prove to three elements: Dynamism, Spirbe little more than a waste, howl- itism, and Theism. Our purpose ing wilderness; we now know it to is to determine what there is of be one of the wealthiest quarters of strength, and what of weakness, the globe, if not the wealthiest, in in those elements. If there is anyits economic resources. We do not thing in them of value to the yet know all the content of the Africans, we want to know what African's soul, but we know enough that value is. And if in any reto be sure that it is infinitely rich spect the religion is lacking in real in its possibilities. It used to be worth, is indeed deleterious, insaid that Africans had no religion, imical to their life and progress, but plenty of superstition. Some let us state what we find, frankly, writers who admitted the presence but always in a sympathetic spirit. of rudimentary religion supposed In estimating the value of any it to consist of no more than a mass religion we may ask at least three of entangled fears and irrational questions about it. Does it kindle taboos. They talked obscurely of and nourish the highest emotions? Satanism, devil-worship, fetishism. Does it rest upon a rational basis We are as yet very far from a com- which our trained intelligence applete understanding of African prove~? Does it issue in nobleliv- 793 electronic file created by cafis. org
ing? We demand an affirmative Magic to describe it, but that is a answer to these questions when we question-begging term which it is examine the religion which a Euro- best to avoid. I think it right to pean or American professes. I think we should apply the same in speak of Dynamism as religion. criteria to the African's religion. Religion should be a full-orbed It knows no god, the proper system, taking into itself the emotional, rational, and practical ele- sense of the word, but it.is directed ments of human nature. Any to a power that in many respects species of it that appeals merely to is superior to man; and that power the emotions is a flabby, senti- is regarded with the, 'awe that is mental thing; one that appeals the proper religious response to only to the reason and lacks the the supernatural. What value do warmth and driving power de- the Africans find in it? rived from emotion, is no more than a barren philosophy; and a It is this belief that underlies religion that appeals only to the the use of talismans and amulets practical side of our being, to the -the "mascots" of our emanciexclusion of feeling and of pated present-day civilization. strenuous pursuit of ultimate They take many forms and are emtruth, very easily develops into a ployed in diverse ways, but always pitiful pharisaism and is really not their virtue resides in the mystic religion in the true sense of the powers of which they are the ve- hicle. word. The value of a religion de- An African warrior, like some pends upon the degree to which it others, may be afraid of being afraid; so, to strengthen his satisfies all our needs, emotional, courage and to ensure that he shall not fail in the test of battle, he rational and practical. Let us then secures from the medicine-man apply these tests to the three ele- certain talismans which convey to ments which compose the African's him, for that special purpose, some of the all-pervasive energies that faith. are wrapped up in them. They give to him a loftiness of spirit 1. Dynamism that carries him through the ordeal. Wearing them upon his The Africans are aware of the person he charges into the enemy's presence of mysterious powers ranks fully confident of playing working in the world around them. the man. From our superior They may not define these powers scientific point of view we may but they recognize their existence. question the intrinsic value of the These are impersonal, all-pervad- warrior's talisman, but we cannot ing; a kind of mystical energy, deny its subjective operation upon concentrated in individual persons his mind. He feels himself to be and things, but actually spread a stronger and braver man because through all things; something of it. which can be tapped and put to certain uses. The belief in this Mr. Frank Worthington, formermystical energy, the practices as- ly Secretary of Native Affairs in sociated with the belief and the Northern Rhodesia, tells of an emotions evoked by it, constitute African messenger who was orwhat we name Dynamism. Some dered by him to go unarmed and authorities would prefer the word arrest a "witch-doctor" of whom
EXPLORING THE AFRICAN'S SOUL
the whole community stood in mystical energy can be tapped and dread. The man was by no means a put to use for evj] purposes as well coward, but he shrank from the as for noble purposes. By virtue task. Seeing his dark face pale of them, a man may from a diswith apprehension, Mr. Worthing- tance encompass the death of his ton picked an object off his office- fellows. The horrors of witchcraft table-a paper-weight, I think it are to be placed to the discredit of was–and said firmly and authori- the belief in Dynamism. tatively: "Clap this medicine under your arm and hold it tight, Three axioms of primitive menand I guarantee that so long as tality form the basis of this form you keep it there all the sorcery of belief. They are: (1) that like of this renowned doctor will avail acts upon like and produces like; nothing against you." That was a (2) that the part acts upon the powerful suggestion and the man's whole; and (3) that the desire of a man's heart produces the effect SOME OF THE " MEDICINES" o~' AN A~'RICAN DOCTOR mind accepted it. Holding the in- that is expressed in his words. nocent paper-weight, and assuring These are the ways in which the himself that it was there by press- mystic powers work. It is evident ing it between his arm and his to our more logical minds that body, he went off and accomplished these axioms rest upon a wronga dangerous errand which other- headed kind of reasoning. wise he would not have dared to attempt. Take the first, that like acts upon like and produces like. Here Dynamism thus evokes certain is the tuberous root of a shrub. Its emotions which are admirable and peculiar shape suggests to the useful: that is its value in this re- African that it is a manifestation gard. On the other hand, it of the mystical energies in their ministers also to some of the lowest particular quality as a swellingemotions of human nature, those producer. Because it bulges, is which lie at the root of sorcery and swollen, it will cause to swell and witchcraft, such as jealousy and grow. He therefore makes a decocmalice. For the all-pervading tion from the root and administers electro nic fil e created by cafis.org
it to his child in order to make it to understanding them unless we grow big. When, again, Africans fully recognize the degree to which want rain some of them slaughter the spirit world attracts and a black ox, with the idea that the dominates their minds. The veil blackness of its hide will produce drawn between the seen and the something like itself-black, rain- unseen is very thin-so diapha- bearing clouds. We say, and are nous, indeed, that it can hardly be justified in saying, that all the said to exist. The realm of the black oxen in the world, if killed at spirit is very real and present to the same time, could not possibly them. The community which we bring a rain-cloud upon the hori- can see and C()UT't, the men and zon. We deny that these axioms women and children with whom we have any rational basis. converse daily, is only a part, a Dynamism is also an ethic which small part, of the actual African can be summed up in one word: community. The other members taboo. Anything is taboo, not of it are unseen; at least they do when it is prohibited by the chief not appear to our eyes every day, or by the chief's council, or by the their voices are not audible to our law of God; but when its result ears every moment; but they are automatically follows upon the per- always present. The living, and formance. You do or say some- those we call the dead, form tothing which, as it were, springs gether a closely interdependent back and punishes you. It is an community. This is one of the ethic that has many excellent cardinal points in the African resocial effects in protecting life and ligious experience.
property. They.are quite wrong who im- The weakness of Dynamism is agine that Africans feel nothing shown when Africans are brought but a shrinking dread in the near into contact with Europeans. The presence of the spirit world. It education which they are receiving is true that it is in part inhabited inevitably saps this form of be- by evil spirits who seek to molest lief; it cannot withstand elemen- and harm the living. But that is tary scientific knowledge. Its not all. There are good spirits as rational basis is too slender. The well as bad, and to these good sophisticated young African spirits prayers are offered in full realizes that many of the taboos confidence that they can help and that restricted the actions of his bless. In communion with their fathers are devoid of real founda- departed beloved, who have not tion. Unless the restraint of an gone to some far distant bourne but enlightened conscience replaces are always near, Africans find the old dynamistic controls, the strength and comfort. The belief youth falls into the danger of be- provides the strongest social bond they know. The whole tribal coming morally an anarchist.
2. Spiritism system is based upon it. Their attachment to their land rests upon Africans are very sure that a the conviction that it is still the human being is compact of body abode of their ancestors, whose and soul; a part that perishes in bodies were buried in the soil, and the grave, and a part that survives whose spirits hover about it even death. We shall never come near yet. The strong hold which the
tribal customs have upon them is Creator. They are not all sure that chiefly due to the fact that these the Creator is a Person, and many were handed down to them by of those who seem to be sure on revered forebears, who will be of- this point do not think of Him as fended by any breach of customary a God who is present and active in usage. Here'is to be found the root all human affairs. They are not of the intense conservatism of the convinced that He is good; that Africans. God is Love is a strange and al- most incredible doctrine to many There is therefore both strength of them. Their theism (if theism and weakness in this element of is the word) lacks what was most their religion. Like their Dynam- characteristic in the conviction of ism, it is assailed by the innova- the prophets of Israel: that God tions which accompany the advent was not only One, but One to whom of European civilization. The tribe ethical distinctions were very real is held together not only by as- and who was always on the side of sociation of its living members the good. As a general rule under the control of their chiefs, Africans do not associate morality but even more by association with with their belief in God; men are the unseen members who in a very not more honest, truthful and virreal degree are the guardians of tuous because of their awareness the tribal morality. Anything that of His existence. The Creator tends to separate the living from rules in the cosmical sphere and is the dead is inimical to the social the Supreme Arbiter of human structure. In these days, thou- destiny, but he does not bring men sands of Africans leave their homes for long periods to work for into judgment now or hereafter. Europeans. They who go are He does not mind whether a man absent not only from their tangible is good or bad. fellow-tribesmen; they depart also from the presence of the ancestors, The African believes, however for these remain attached to their vaguely, in God, and in the survival homes. They do not travel. The man on a European mine or of human personality after death. plantation is therefore cut off from He seeks communion with the unthe restraints which the presence seen. He practises prayer; he of his ancestors exercises on his is ready to be guided by powers conduct, and almost inevitably de- outside himself; he can, and does, terioration sets in. Almost every- give up to the service of his where this element of African divinities things which are valureligion is in process of decay. Un- able to himself. He is, in brief, less something stronger is put in religious. He dwells in the twiits place the future is full of peril light, it is true, but he has the for the Africans. capacity of being led forward into the light of day. Will his ancestral 3. Theism faith withstand the shock of con- tact with the materialism of Not all Africans but perhaps Western civilization? I see no hope most of them had, independently for him apart from the acceptance of Mohammedan or Christian in- of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, both fluence, reached the conviction that by the African himself and by the this world owes its existence to a people who are bringing the weight of their influence upon him.
WAITING IN LINE TO BUY BIBLES AT NGORA, UGANDA Joh" 3:16 in BULU Fr £q. A/riclJ Joim 3 :16 ill LUItAGOLI KtftYIJ Me abele fo'o ane me aJo mla na, Moo esae a nJl Nyasaye ya yanza avomkivaJa ndi, ya va ha Mwana dail esa we; naM ie m6t a ke nl6mon te dane mGt. wewe muderwa, ku vosi u mu Suuvira a ta diva mba, nga 16me nye, navutswa a ve neliva mwoyo 11 ta hera mba.
JQ/r. 3 -16 in SHEETSWA S"","- A/ric. Joh. 3:16 in GREDO Libn-i• .
H~uba ~ungunguJu i 10 ranza tiko 1..0, hakuba i Kare kre Nyesoa nuna kona lb nowilnena, ~ 10 nytkela Nwana wakwe a tralneko yece, bsi nl wihi hnyina 10 siyA lih koklt.yn donb, be ny~ be a.
loYi a kolwako kakwe a ngafi, kanile.ri a hi ni kuha. po nt. hohte, 1 neb to wanb, nema .. mu kona- nya kala ku kupinzuka. se-bonbnonh kA.
loll,. 3 :16 in TONGA Sou,. Africa JDh. J:16 ,. LUBA·LULUA Bdgilll Ct1ft!Jt1 Kolu Nungungulu a di halala litigo karati, kakuba Bnalu bua Nzambl wakatamba ku.ua ba ha buloba. a di ningel. Mwamana waye na belegidwe ek&, kaku· bo uyo a kolwago kwaye 0 ngafi, abolu a na mane yeye wakabaha Muan'andi -umuehele mulela De, wakubanya nya ku pinduke. rnuitabusha, kena ufua, neikale ne muoyo wa tshen.
delele.
l ob 3 :16 itl MPONGWE F,.. Eq. AJriclI K.JohM 3:16 in SIDLLUK Anglo·Eg. S.d"ft KAnde AnyaolbiG anludl ntye ylnle. nil nte.· piil mar yi J WQk ki men dWQD, abAIi miijo nd.inli m~ aven1i~ 0lJwanli yA wikika, intA om' Willi. ay~to akiel, kipa iIan byie ki en, pli lail. de edu 0 bekeH~ avere ndo e be doanla nl'eiii~n:.l o)'it i Diln milg git a~. zake.nllli<a.
Iob,3 :16 iff BENGA WI.'sr Africo Jolt" 3 :16 in OtUNYORE KeraJ(J Kakul. ndi AllyamM IllAndaki he, ka MA·. Okhnba .Nyasaye yayanza buyaoz. abomuaibala, vh Mwan' 'oj….mMkll, ns, u~h~pi • ka k&IDid~ yahana Omwana uwe owebulwa omutelwa, omundu MA, a nyange, ndi a na em~1I1o yo .egembe omuaubiranga aratiba, nehutawa abe nobulamu obu· yebept rahwa.
John 3 :16 ill ARABIC Nort" Africa.
AS JOHN 3: 16 I.OOKS IN gr.EVEN AlmrCAN LANGUAnF.S
KI!lV. A. W. BANFIELD TRANSLATING ST. MATTHEW'S GOSPEL IN
In 1902 Mr. Banfield lived in this house for over a year. His teaeher did not know a word of English.
GIVING THE BIBLE TO THE AFRICAN BY REV. A. W. BANFIELD, F.R.G.S., Lagos, Nigeria lrest African Secretary oj the British a.nd Foreign Bible SocietJj YEAR by year Africa is moving scarcely imagine the feelings of a up to the front; she is coming primitive man watching an aero- more and more before the plane flying over his village for the eyes of the world. Not many first time, or the more thrilling exyears ago there were no railways perience of being taken up and f1yon the continent Travelers walked ing through the clouds, which he whither they would, and many always believed were solid. What thousands of miles did the itiner- tales he will tell to his eager Iistenant missionary walk on his rounds ers round the camp fires! Then of the villages. Then railways comes wireless telegraphy. Towers were proposed, surveyed and built are being erected all over the conin many directions. Motor cars tinent, and men living in midappeared and roads had to be made Africa are listening to concerts for them-roads over hills and given in London and Paris. Primsandy plains; roads through dense itive man in the past ten years has forest and boggy swamps, till to- seen more wonderful things than day there are thousands of miles of were dreamed of by a hundred genmotor roads stretching in all direc- erations of his grandfathers. tions. Then the "birdman" came But it is undeniable that true to Africa and has already flown. light and understanding have come from north to south and from east to Africa, as to other countries, to west. What changes! One can through the reading of the Bible.
799
Africa struggled for centuries to Nigeria, who numbers more than get light and understanding by six millions, have for many years other means, but today is finding written their own language. They out that there is no hope from did not however, invent new char- within: her only hope is from acters, they simply employed the above. A thousand years of heath- Arabic, as the Koran and other enism and idolatry have not books in -that langu~ge have been brought Africa any closer to God. in circulation in Hausa country for Africa, a Great Mission Field many years. The Vais, who live in Liberia, might also be quoted as Today, Africa has become 'the another possible exception, for a greatest mission field in the world, system of writing Vai has been and reports many converts to evolved by them. We have never Christ. FUrthermore, it is the heard, however, of a book being greatest language field, and sends published in the Vai characters. to the different Bible Societies for publication more translations of It is generally true that, prior to the Scriptures in new languages the coming of the white man withthan any other field. Already more in recent years, African languages than two hundred African lan- remained unwritten. Since that guages have the Bible complete, or event ijowever, more than three in part, translated into them. hundred of these languages have now been reduced to writing, and The exact number of languageS- at least one book published in most and dialects spoken in Africa .if; of them.
perhaps not known today. Sucha The task of reducing to charac- list would contain the names of ters hitherto unwritten languages thousands of different forms of and providing the people with a speech, and most likely could not literature, and education, has up be published, for many of the to the present time been left al- smaller and weaker dialects are be- most entirely to the missionary so- ing lost. Even the well-defined lan- cieties, whose share has been about guages of small tribes are dying ninety-five per cent.
out before they have been put into Among Primitive Peoples writing and a book published in Comparatively few persons from them. This state is being brought about by the wholesale opening up among the so-called civilized naof Africa; the reduction to writ- tions are ever permitted to live ing of the predominating lan- among primitive peoples and study guages; and the absorbing influ- their customs, religions, history, ence of the larger tribes extensive- folklore, etc. Fewer still are lucky ly engaged in trading in the areas enough to get a chance to study a of smaller tribes, such as the Man- hitherto unstudied, unwritten Af- rican language in its own environdingos, the Ashantis, the Yorubas, ment. Most of these special priv- Ibos, Hausas, Zulus, Swahilis, etc. ileges are granted to pioneer mis- sionaries only; not because they Unwritten African Languages Negro Africa as a whole never are a talented or favored class, but invented a system of writing. for the simple reason that they are There are, however, exceptions to often the first white people to settle this. The great Hausa people of among such primitive folks, and
GIVING THE BIBLE TO THE AFRICAN
daring and persevering enough to come to your house: why you "laid accept the challenge and undertake hold on" him and not on another. the stupendous task. Such a life If you begin talking English to him and work has a lure and romance he will most likely look at you with all its own. great fear and suspicion, and pre- pare to leave your presence sud- Try to picture yourself choosing denly the moment you take your a "teacher" from among a group eyes off him. Just how then would of men who cannot read or write you make a start? their own language. Men who have never heard the word for Learning an African Language school, pen or paper, and have never seen a book or writing of any I went to West Africa in 1901 kind. Furthermore, these men with a pioneer mission party and .~~ AFRI CAN CHRISTIAN TEA C HING IVORY COAST BOYS FRO~[ TIlE BIBr.E have no knowledge of your lan- lived in a grass house for a year, guage. Try to imagine your ex- and later on in a mud house, while perience in working to overcome I learned the Nupe language, reyour teacher's fears of you: of per- duced it to writing, and translated suading him to come to your house; the entire Bible and other books. of teaching him how to sit on a It may be of interest to know just chair sO as not to fall off. Then how I learned this language. The after you have accomplished these Nupe people, who number half a and many other strange things, million, live in the vicinity of the Middle Niger River in Nigeria. how would you begin to learn his language? He has yet to discover I first secured the services of a why you have "compelled" him to man who was to "teach" me his 'J
language. However, I soon saw EUropeans are able to make them.
that all I would ever get from him For instance, the labial ba means had to be extracted. The very first "to cut," the explosive "ba (writ- thing I did was to hold up my fin- ten gba) means "to follow." The gers one by one before my teacher. labial "pa" means "to remember"; This had two effects; it allayed his the explosive "pa" (written kpa) fears and started a conversation. means "to feed."
He understood that I wanted the The language is full of these and numerals and gave them to me as other strange and weird sound's "nini, guba, guta," etc. We were such as nyi, tsa, dzu, wun, etc., to now well on the way. For higher say nothing about nasalized vowels.
numbers I used cowry shells, the These sounds can be learned only currency of the country, valued at by hearing a native make them.
one thousand for six cents. After The greatest difficulty of all, per- that I pointed to my head, my arm, haps, in studying most African my leg, and to the different objects languages, is to be able to detect in the room. He gave me the the very fine shades of difference names for these,' and so we pro- in tone given to words spelled ex- gressed. actly the same but toned differ- I soon found, however, that I ently. Each word has its own corcould not form a sentence using rect tone, and the slightest varianouns only; I must have other tion from that changes completely parts of speech. I first set out to the meaning of the word. Let me look for verbs. These I was able take one word as an example. to secure by acting them, such as "Eye" said with a level voice, laughing, walking, eating, jump- means "the chest": "eyiY' said ing and going through strange an- with the voice dropped on the last tics. The task was intensely inter- vowel means "the nose." Now let esting and fascinating. I had to us raise the voice on the last vowel fight for every word and ferret as "eye" and we have a word that means "the eye." Lower the voice out its meaning; I lost the trail for days, to pick it up again in a on both vowels as "eye" and the strange sentence. Such words word means "a hole." Now begin burned themselves into my mem- on low and end up on high as "eye"
ory and have never been forgotten. and you have said "No." Reverse I have often said since then that if this order and say "eye" and the I had no more than these two word means "Oh." Now these are simple sentences "What do you call not isolated exceptions, they are it" and "Say it again" I would at- the rule of the language. A word tempt any language. may be said in only one way. Little Difficult African Sounds wonder then that the Europeans remark that the Africans sing their The peculiar explosive sounds of language. In this way it resembles the language are most difficult to the Chinese.
learn. These are made in the One might think that the lan- throat and force the lips apart and guage has been developed along emit an explosive sound. One al- this line because of a lack of words.
most requires the thick lips and This is certainly not true of the flat nose of the native to produce Nupe language as the following these sounds perfectly. Very few facts will prove. In my "Diction-
GIVING THE BIBLE TO THE AFRICAN
ary of the Nupe Language" I have Systems Based on Heathenism tabulated nearly fifteen thousand words. The language is particu- When referring to interior Nelarly rich in adjectives and ad- gro Africa one must remember that verbs, there being one hundred and in most instances the judicial sysforty words to express bulkiness, tems, social and religious life, are ninety to express diminutiveness, based almost entirely on paganism, sixty to express thinness, sixty for idolatry and superstition. This stubbyness, sixty for quickness, makes it very difficult at times to thirty-five for completeness, thirty find suitable words b use in transfor quantity, etc., etc. The lan- lating the Scriptures-words that guage has a most elaborate system will convey, lofty, holy, and true of rank', and titles numbering Christian ideas. It must not be over a hundred, each with a num- overlooked that the Name and ber of different salutations pecul- teaching of Jesus Christ are uniar to that rank. It also contains known to millions of people. Simnames for more than one hundred ilarly it is not always easy to find different species of trees, different a suitable word for God. In many species of .grasses, of animals, tribes the devil, or a powerful birds, and fishes. Such a language fetich, is the one most feared and can hardly be. described as worshipped. "starved." On one occasion, when traveling Translating the Bible in the interior of Central Africa, I came across a tribe that had no Very few people indeed are per- word for God in their language. mitted to have any part whatsoever They had forgotten God entirely. in translating a book into an Af- True, they had many idols and rican language. Still fewer have fetiches and the suchlike, but none been called to translate even a of the names given to these could small portion of the Bible into a properly be applied to God. Their primitive language; and perhaps local or patron spirit was one by not more than one in a thousand of the name of Chid, who resided in such translators has been granted a near-by grove. As Chid was certhe great honor and responsibility tainly not God, and as the people of not only reducing the language were anxious to have a name for to writing, coining and discovering God, they suggested that the mishundreds of words and Scriptural sionary living among them, should phrases and terms, thus greatly in- coin them a name for God, which creasing and enriching the vocabu- he did while I was there. The peolary, but also of translating the en- ple had told him that they considtire Bible into such a language, ered the sun the greatest power in thus giving the Word of God to a the universe; that Chid had not nation in its own mother tongue. made the sun, nor did they know Who can estimate the amount of who had made it; but that the One labor, patience and love required who created the sun should be to learn an African language, re- caned God. Since that time transduce it to writing, and translate lations of the Gospels have been the Scriptures into it? Eternity published in the Burum language, alone will answer that. and Dagwi, the Creator of the sun, is spoken of by them as God. Later
on I learned that the people had more than twenty-five years of lancut down the grove in which Chid guage work, I have found no word lived and were now coming to the for "soul" or "conscience." It is mission station to learn more about not because the African does not Dagwi. Wonderful! possess these, he has not separated them as we have. He attributes all Often a very long time may such feelings to his "stomach." elapse before the translator is able Thus one may hear his servant sayto decide definitely just what word ing "My stomach is talking to me," he will use for God. After that has and he may not be so very far been done he begins to build round wrong. There is no word for "holithat Name all that the Bible ness," "Spirit," "sin," "repent- ance," "unbeliever," and many other ideas. African languages, however, are not alone in this re- spect. We must not overlook the fact that the English language owes much to Greek and Latin.
"A HARRIS CHRISTIAN" The Power of the :Bible French Ivory Coast, praying before tl Bible What amazes one most, is not though unabie to read a single word of it. the difficulties encountered in translating the Bible into a primiteaches us of God-His love, His tive language-these would be inpower, His justice, His eternity; creased ten times translating any until the old name, once so closely other book-but the ease with associated with heathen ideas and which the Bible lends itself to such fears begins to take on an entirely languages. The gospel story is new meaning: the Christian inter- made so plain that a man though pretation of God. "See" said an fool will not err therein. There old chief to me one day "you have cannot be the slightest doubt as to made our language beautiful." I whether the unskilled African had simply introduced Christ and reader understands the love of God His teaching into it. declared therein. Thousands of living proofs could be produced to Untranslatable Words show the regenerating power of the Gospel. Men whose lives have The translator finds a number of been changed from worshipping Bible words that cannot be trans- idols and evil spirits to worshiplated into the language. After ping the true God. Men once slaves of the Devil now saints of God, through the reading of the Inspired Book in a crude African language.
Where the entire Bible has been translated there is little demand for the New Testament, or, "half the Bible," as they call it. They insist on having the whole Bible,
GIVING THE BIBLE TO THE AFRICAN
affirming that it alone can bring thousand years!" Immediately he them all the blessings of God. broke away from me and was off again giving vent to his joy. Primitive peoples dearly love the historical and narrative books of A few years ago Dani, a Yagba the Bible. They find so much in man from the interior, journeyed common with these old writings: to the coast on business. There he in fact millions of them are living saw Christianity for the first time. today under conditions closely re- He became an inquirer, learned to sembling the times of Abraham.
African Triumphs of Grace AN lvory CvUtU LhrilUuUl rluy whu teaches a class of one hundred and is the only one One day while travelling in the bush country I met a man with a of the class who can read. Bible under his arm going out into the fields to read, meditate and read the Yoruba Bible, and was pray. I inquired why he chose the baptized. Later on he returned to shad~ of a tr~~ in th~ fields to read his native village with his newlyhis Bible. He replied, "There is too found faith and a Bible, which he much noise and confusion in the made known to his people. Very village to concentrate on the Word soon he gathered about him a numand to shut myself in with God." ber of young men who had become Three times a day he went to his dissatisfied with the pagan religion "sanctuary" in the bush to pour out of their fathers. Periods of great his soul to God. I was told that persecutions followed and all were the village people came to him expelled from the town. Their inwhen in trouble, seeking his prayers and advice. Such shall prevail with God and do exploits.
One day I was translating in the 20th chapter of Revelation, with my native teacher sitting beside me. When we came to the second verse I read there that "the angel laid hold on Satan and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up." My teacher who all the while had been listening spellbound as I read, suddenly sprang to his feet, made one leap for the door, rushed outside, and there ran up and down the yard like a mad man. Not knowing just what had happened I went out, caught him by the arm, and inquired what was wrong with him. He replied "Master, is the Devil to be bound for a thousand years, cast into the bottomless pit, and locked there. Won't that be grand, no Devil for a
fluence and numbers still continued ever, it was the silent witness of to grow and in a few years the the Presence of God. whole district was changed, and thousands had become Christians. Not many years ago it used to The missionary society that fol- be said of Benin City in Nigeria, lowed up Dani's work has today more than fifty stations there. The Benin, Benin, bloody Benin, full story of the triumphs of the Where few come out though many go Gospel in that tribe, the work of one spirit-filled man and his Bible, in. would fill a book. Today the teaching of Christ is The Christian Church today is changing even "Bloody Benin." intensely interested in the story of Flourishing and self-supporting the Prophet Harris Movement of churches are established throughthe French Ivory Coast, where as out the country, and the Bible a result of his preaching close on speaks words of life and hope to to one hundred thousand people the people in their own mother left their idols and turned to God. tongue. With a Bible in one hand and a simple eros's in the other this re- Recently I returned from Aromarkable man toured through the chuku, once the scene of the famous West African bush proclaiming "Long Juju," which decided death One God and One Saviour. When or slavery for thousands of people. Harris baptized a man he always So powerful and terrible was this placed the Bible on his head and fetich that the British Governbade him lay hold on the cross. ment was compelled to send an The two are inseparable. After armed expedition to destroy it. Harris left, the people built little One of the greatest triumphs of grass or mud churches, where they the Gospel in those parts today can gathered to wait and pray for mis- be seen in the changed lives of sionaries. They sent to England three elders of the Arochuku for Bibles which they laid open church. A few years ago these upon a table in the church, though very men were priests of the not one among them was able to dreaded "Long Juju." read a word of it. To them, how- The work of the Holy Spirit and the triumphs of the Gospel of Jesus Christ do not end with the twenty- eighth chapter of the Acts.
THE PRIME MINISTER OF GREAT BRITAIN ON THE BIBLE T HE BIBLE is a high explosive; but it works in strange ways, and no living man can tell or know how that book, in its journeyings throughout the world, has started the individual soul in ten thousand different places into a new life, a new belief, a new conception, a new faith. Those things are hidden until some man, some people, is touched beyond all others by the divine fire, and the result is one of those great revivals of religion which repeatedly through the centuries have startled the world and stimulated mankind; and which will recur again.-From an address by the Rt. Han. Stanley Baldwin, at the Annual Meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society, Queen's Hall, London, May 2,1928.
WOMEN IN THE NEW
BY ELIZABETH MACDONALD WILKINSON, ONITSHA, SOUTHERN NIGERIA 11f1Rsionnr!J oj the Ohurch Missiollllry Socifty EUROPEAN enterprise, Euro- mad unless by some means con- pean invention, European structive forces have been brought ideas of government and of to bear upon. these lives before the religion have been at work for destructive work is completed. decades creating new types of Africa. Few realize how varied In some measure this is coming these types are, the general concep- to pass, for in every Bush village, tion being that there are two kinds among these untouched women of of African-the civilized who the ancient way are others, their wears clothes, and the savage who sisters, born in the same shadow, partakers of the same heritage, does not. who have seen within the shadow The Bush w.omen, still untouched a newly kindled fire, and have crept up one by one to read their book of by civilization, education, or Chris- life anew by its wavering light. tianity, bound by every custom and These are the Christian women of superstition of their ancestors, a the Bush churches, and they-far prey to all the fears, the cruelty, away from direct European inthe bestiality of savage conditions, fluence, untaught except in the are protected also by the very laws little learning of the church, unand customs of which they are the disciplined except by the fearful victims. The tragedy of these wom- effort that little learning requires en, and it will be far more the -they are making a new life in tragedy of their daughters and their granddaughters, is that little the midst of the old. True, this by little their present security is life is being clumsily and ignorantbeing undermined, the sanctions of ly fashioned after an ideal only custom are crumbling while the dimly comprehended and often sadbondage and the ignorance re- ly misinterpreted, but it is a wonmains. Twentieth century prog- derful beginning for all that. What ress is battering at the very it will become must depend largely foundations of their house of life, upon the leadership of a third and the roots of ancient custom group of African women, those are being inexorably cut through. who have been trained in mission The tree remains unwithered, but schools and who take their training the time is approaching when mil- back into the villages. lions of half-awakened souls, who now find shelter in its tremendous In hundreds of schools throughshade, will look up to find their out the continent thousands of Afshelter gone, its marvelous leafage rican girls are being trained to a withered to the smallest twig, and new life. Sometimes it is a life so they in their nakedness exposed to disassociated from the old that they the intolerable brightness of become foreigners in their own Africa's New Day. When that land. More often, it is a life time comes half Africa must go founded on all that is best in the old; it can be transplanted back 807
THE PASSING DAY-HEATHEN WOMEN DANCING IN THE MARKET PLACE into the Bush villages to take root For women such as these, civiliand grow. These schoolgirls be- zation implies Christian education, come the wives of pastors and and it has brought them an almost teachers, of government employees, unmixed blessing. It has meant deand of those few trained craftsmen liverance from the thousand terwho are people of consequence in rors of a universe infested with every town. Their influence is malignant spirits; from customs great, for the rank and file of Af- harmful to the body and deadening rican women are still so ignorant to the spirit; from the miseries of that education of necessity implies too early marriage and its high inleadership. Even the most limited fant mortality; from a life of doses produce far-reaching effects. drudgery and a degrading type of It is these women who are called marital slavery. It has demanded to be the architects of the African from them the exercise of dormant home, of a home-life deeply enough will power and stimulated the rooted to bear the continuous growth of mental and moral pershocks of an alien civilization, pure ception. Christian marriage laws and happy enough to satisfy fund- have given them a position of digamental desires which find per- nity and security in their homes, verted expression in nearly every and the instructed African woman heathen custom and which, left un- as I know her is well able to sustain fulfilled, will inevitably destroy our such a position. most hopeful structures of church and state. Shall I ever forget my first three months in Nigeria? The nearest
AFRICAN WOMEN IN THE NEW DAY 80ll
'l'IIE NEW DAY-CHRISTIAN WO:lEN-HOME MAKEHS AND TEACIIEHS white woman was fifteen miles as the Christian, and whenever away. The wife of the native possible she gently and firmly pastor was my one feminine neigh- shepherded them to church, secure bor who could speak English, and in the conviction that this would in her I took much joy. She was be good for them. She managed three times my size and very everyone with a tact and grace comely; her voice like honey, and that were irresistible, and I was her laugh like the chuckle of a as putty in her hands. There is no stream. Her family of five was telling what she might have made augmented by a shifting population of me in the course of time, but she of waifs and strays to whom she and her husband were moved to was mother and mistress in one. another station and I was left in In her three-roomed house, over- an unfinished condition. When I flowing with humanity, she lived consider my dissolving personality with a dignity and serenity that after three months of 1iving up to many fail dismally to achieve on my neighbor's conception of the an income of ten thousand, dollars complete missionary, I am not sure a year. Her house and garden were that I wish she had stayed. But I always clean, her children were missed her sadly, and I am eternalclean once a day. She herself was ly in her debt for the vision she seldom idle and never hurried. As gave me of Christ's power to transthe wife of an ordained clergyman, form life without distorting it. she was a great lady among her own people, but there was no one Christianity offers to the women too insignificant to be her friend. of Africa a fullness of life impos- The heathen came to her as readily sible to the heathen. It also brings dangers to which no heathen wom-
an is exposed, for there is no period -the prostitute of the coast cities in a heathen woman's life when is far far removed from the un- she is not the possession and under taught women of the interior. She the protection of some man. As a has climbed a little way, and grown girl she belongs to her father or in the climbing, and has fallen to eldest brother, and even if she does a deeper place than that from not marry she is expected to pro- which she came.
duce children to the increase of her There are still others to whom father's household. As soon as her civilization has come in a measure, dowry is paid she becomes the taking away old faiths and giving property of her husband, and if he dies she is automatically trans- no new or better one; taking away ferred to her husband's brother or old conditions of life dignified by next of kin. If he does not want long custom, and giving little in reher for himself, she is free to con- turn save the flimsy glories of silks sort with any other man who does, and calico, and the painful magbut her citildren belong to her nificence of imported shoes. These owner and the father has no right women belong to the households of in them. ,Adultery is the only educated and civilized polygamists. sexual sin recognized and punished Their husbands go forth in imby native law, though in practice maculate European garments to it is often condoned. their work as clerks to the Euro- pean administrator or trader.
No heathen woman can be ex- They speak fluent English and posed to the fierce temptations amass considerable fortunes. They which undoubtedly assail unmar- buy many wives, taking them as ried Christian girls and Christian children to be trained and reared widows. The professional prosti- by the older members of the harem.
tute is a result of those temptations These girls are taught to be clever combined with the inherited weak- marketers, and some are allowed ness of generations of unrestraint. to go to church and learn to read, She is one sad by-product of a but more often marketing is their great clash of custom, one of the sole education. (Marketing in Af- thousand sacrifices to Africa's New rica means trading for profit, not Day. the mere buying of household sup- There are then the Bush women plies.) The husband lives in a big to whom civilization means nothing house full of tawdry finery, but at present, though it is menacing the wives have mud huts in the the very structure of their lives; back-ground. There is no need for and there are the Bush women to the household arts of the Bush whom civilization means the woman, for everything can be church, and a new, perplexing, bought or traded for in the market.
wonderful, and difficult way of life. Many children are born in such an There are the girls, many of them establishment, eagerly welcomed, from these same Bush villages, ignorantly and indolently cared who are in training to be leaders in for, frantically mourned when this new way, to whom civilization their precarious grasp on life is is bringing developnemt and a broken. Few live to grow up. Life great responsibility. There are is easy for these women, sociable, those others to whom it has and deadening to the spirit. There 'brought development too, of a kind is nothing to awaken the smallest
AFRICAN WOMEN IN THE NEW DAY
effort of mind or will. Its moral I have been trying to think and atmosphere may readily sink to to write of African women in gen- the level of a brothel, but it can eral, but I find myself thinking of never rise to that of a home. certain women in particular, and Such women are the rather piti- groups of women, and girls, whom ful half-breeds of that strange I know. Pictures come into my marriage between enlightened gov- mind full of a significance that is ernment and native law which has easier to understand than to ex- taken place in many African pro- press. They tell a story but they tectorates. They have all the weak- point no moral, for a moral is al- ness and instability of such a ways for the end, and this story is birth-right, and fortunately they only beginning. Look, if you will, seldom reproduce their kind. The at some of my pictures, and you daughters of the house are general- may forecast the moral for your- ly sent away to be educated in mis- selves.
sion schools, and to marry, if '" '" '" possible after another fashion. It is night in a great coast town: The New Day in Africa means a night in the European quarter, great destruction and a great flower scented, breeze haunted, building up. In the past these wave enchanted. Candle-light forces have been fairly evenly bal- shines out from houses where late anced, and both proceeded slow- diners are still sipping their li- ly. Now we are wondering queurs ; smooth running motors whether the constructive education bear smoothly dressed people to offered by mISSIOns and gov- their clubs for dancing or for ernment, proceeding from the bridge. Groups of young white churches and from Christian men stroll by the lagoon after a homes, can possibly keep pace with torrid day behind counters and in the gathering speed and penetra- ware-houses. African girls linger tive power of those impulses of in the shadows-young girls, quiet- trade and development which are ly dressed in a too perfect imita- cutting away the foundations of tion of European fashion, quietly the old social structure. That Af- talking together, quietly watching, rican women can be led from the quietly waiting in the shadow un- petty slavery and spiritual dead- til the moment comes for a swift ness of a heathen compound into gesture and a low word. Thus do the life and dignity of a Christian some women of Africa accommo- home is certain. Christ's words date themselves to the New Day, were never more manifest than in exchanging the crowded market- Africa today: "I am come that places where their mothers sit hour they might have life, and have it after hour behind little piles of more abundantly." That it is an yam, little heaps of glowing enterprise worthy of any sacrifice peppers, little rolls of printed is equally certain to those who live cloth-all for the gain of a few in Africa and see Christ's words pennies and the love of gossip and coming true in the lives of those the zest of bargaining-exchang- around them; Whether it will be ing the daylight market-place for done widely enough and swiftly this dingy traffic of the night. For enough is a question which only the centuries African women have home churches can answer. been bought and sold. Small won-
der then if too much freedom clot of dark blood into the bowl.
means only the freedom to sell The girl sits dumbly, showing no themselves. interest in my arrival. She is suf- *** fering like an animal, without It is afternoon in the mazes of understanding and without com- Onitsha town, and though I do not plaint. This is Aku-eke (Sunday know it, I am standing near the Fruit), and her baby is two days door of Aku-eke, at the entrance to old. A younger girl holds up the a new friendship. I have lost my baby by one arm for me to inspect. way among the labyrinthine paths In spite of the mother's illness the and passages of this great Interior baby has not been neglected. It is settlement, and I know no better carefully rubbed all over with soot, course than to wander about until with special attention to the hair I find it again. An old man comes and eyes. The cord has been out of a gateway and beckons me to smeared with thick red palm-oil, come in. I follow through the low and is collecting every available door and find myself in a court- particle of dust and dirt. It will yard surrounded by high mud not be allowed to touch the walls. A ,roof had been built in- mother's breast for another ward from the wall and the shelter twenty-four hours, but its nurse thus provided partitioned oft' in- will frequently pour down its proto open cells for the chief's family. testing throat a deluge of doubt- He himself lives in a house of fully clean water, desisting only several rooms blocking the court- when the babe chokes violently yard at the rear. He has thus only enough to convince her of its satis- to recline on his front veranda in faction. The mother's face order to see into the private ap- brightens for a moment when I partment of each of his wives, and take the baby to admire. The old to see anyone entering or leaving father is delighted. He remarks the compound. This is a common many times that God has done design and its advantages are well. I beg him to let me take the obvious. A strategic position is es- mother and child to a mission hos- sential to the head of a polygamous pital five miles away, but Aku-eke household. The old man leads me rouses enough to protest in terror to one of the cells and points to its that she will not go. As I leave I occupants, asking me if I have any ask the father to take care of his medicine for his wife who is ill. A newest daughter and see that cer- girl is sitting on the floor, one leg tain things are done for her that I stretched out to the ministrations have suggested. He replies serious- of an ancient woman who crouches ly that that is the work of God. If beside her. The thigh is badly God wills that the baby should live swollen and gashed in several it will live. It is not in man's places with shallow festering knife power to protect a child. I go away cuts. A small horn is being used wondering if it might not be in in one place for cupping. A bowl woman's power to give the poor of thick dark blood stands near by mite a bath, and coming next day on the floor. As I watch, the old with soap and boiled water, I prove woman sets her mouth to the born to my own satisfaction that it is.
and after a few moments of suc- But God does more. He arouses an tion removes it and shakes another intense interest in my operations
in the hearts of its relatives-so lows and blues are enchanting. much so that this baby is being Never have I seen a house so exregularly bathed to this day, and pressive of gaiety and good humor. flourishes exceedingly. Yet I think the old man was right. Surely no Next door to it is the school human power could have saved a where Margaret's husband, as child alive in the midst of the in- bead-master, rules the destinies of describable dirt, ignorance, and about two hundred boys, nine girls, zeal with which it was being and half a dozen young assistant tended. teachers. They are short of teachers, and Margaret is trying *** to make up her mind to take one of the infant classes. We talk about It is morning at Margaret's this bold project and encourage her house. Early morning and no time as much as we dare. Margaret is a for visitors, but Margaret's house slim girl with shining eyes and a is already in order and ready to pioneering spirit. She taught inreceive us, though she did not know fants very successfully when she we were coming. The house is a herself was at school, and would three-roomed mud building with like to do so again, but no woman two long, narrow rooms at each in the Ibo country has ever taught side, a veranda between them and school after marriage before. Her a shallow central room at the back. husband comes to greet us, and sits The roof is thatched and neatly on the veranda wall while we talk. ceiled with grass mats. Margaret He is actually encouraging her to is an inovator: instead of having do this unheard of thing. Only she her house rubbed with clay-water must be free to give up her work until its rich red walls and floors in time for the next baby. The shine like old glazed pottery-and present baby is nine months old this is very beautiful-she has and very lovely. His mother spread stained the floors and a 12-inch a mat for him on the floor when we border around the walls jet black. arrived and he has been sitting Above that the walls are chalked there ever since, looking into the to a snowy whiteness, and finished matter of a woolen ball very at the top with another border of seriously for minutes on end, and black. Cherry and white curtains then suddenly clapping his hands flap gaily at Margaret's windows, and going into ecstasies of and she has taken the same mate- chuckles. We cannot wonder that rial to make cushions for her his parents feel another baby after chairs. The home-made deck chair this pattern is essential. frames are slung with native woven cloth, so white that it must It is time for us to go, and they have been washed yesterday. The are grieved because there is no many tables are spread with white "cola" to offer us. "But I have crocheted cloths of intricate pat- corn in my garden," .says Marterns, and bear an incredible number of neatly framed photographs. garet. "Won't you take some of There is also on each table a vase the new ears for your dinner toof artificial flowers. These flowers night?" In front of the house are ought to be deplorable, but against neat little farm patches of corn that dazzling back-ground of black and yam and beans, with borders and white their clear reds and yel- of pineapples and bright cratons. Part of this is Margaret's, part of
it belongs to the teachers, and a where the stillness is being broken large patch is the school garden by something more than these where the children work. Mar- small and casual noises. There is garet goes to her own plot and rhythm in the air-a young and raises her slim round arms to light-footed rhythm, bewitching pluck the highest ear from a tall the quiet evening into the gaiety stalk. Her dress is a medley of of a dance. We wander down the orange and brown and gold; the hill towards the farthest house, and cloth bound round her head is rose watch a dozen unconscious children and dull blue. The sun pours down skipping through the measures of upon her, and as she stands there a country dance. The gramaphone in the brightness, her small head from which they have learned this thrown back, her smiling face up- game is far away at the Principal's raised, her dark eyes opening fear- house, silent in its box, but no lessly upon the full glory of the African has any difficulty in re- morning, she seems to me the per- producing a tune to his own satis- fect picture of all our hopes. Here faction at least. They dance, and in the heart of a bush town-a as they dance they sing a wordless town famous for its revolting tune, an ancient innocent tune-a practices and shunned even by its play-tune from the childhood of heathen neighbors-youth and another race. Their bare feet lilt honest joy and simple faith and through the measures, their young serviceable knowledge are build- bodies sway and drift in the cur- ing a home: a home so simple that rent of their song. Delight is in the wildest bush man comes with- their faces and in the freedom of out hesitation to sit sociably on its their tread. However close the doorsteps; a home so gay and rhythm, however perfect the time, cleanly that the dullest bush girl these dancers are free. No single must look upon it with wonder and soul beats through their separate with hope. bodies; no hypnotic rapture welds *** them into one. A moment, two It is a golden afternoon in the moments, three precious moments early rains. Sunlight falters down left before the bell. The bell rings; through bright floods of air, and the dancers fall apart like scatterthe trees on St. Monica's hilltop. ing leaves. Two moments more and Six-o'clock quiet is upon the they are all standing with bowed compound, for chattering crowds heads around their table. As we of girls have already returned up walk back up the hill there breaks the water-path from their evening forth, first from one house, then bath and are now scattered to their from another, a song of blessing: various "houses" for the half hour "Father of gifts and all things good, before supPer. They will be sitting We thank Thee for our daily food; in little groups on the ground or in Giver of life to all that live, the verandas of their houses, sew- 0, bless the lives that Thou dost ing, talking, laughing, after a day give."
full every moment with lessons or work or games. A few busy ones .:- of(': rI'he writt'l"'S only experience of Africa are preparing the food for supper, has been in Southern Nigeria. Many general and laying out plates on the tables statf'm(>nts made above, may not, therefore, be in each dining room. Yet some- true of other parts of the continf'Ilt. Condi- tions in Nigeria are spe~ially favorable to native development, as it is a regi(JIl wIdell will nev{'r attract white cOlonists.-E. M. 'V.
UNTOUCHED AFRICAN TRIRF.-SO~[E LUIMBI P~]OPLE. N E AR THE
SPIRITUAL SELF SUPPORT IN AFRICA BY REV. J. T. TUCKER, D.D., Bela Vista, Angola AUTHOR OF "DRUMS IN THE DARKNESS"
Pripcipal of Currie Institute) DQ'1ldi) Central Schools oJ th e ..ilIissions oj the A'/nc1'i can Boa,nl (uul the United Ohurch oj CWlUtda. in Angola SPREADING sycamores sur- mallets until a certain pliableness round the native head village is secured. which nestles on the hillside The village is partitioned off into from which flows a spring, the sections each having its headman source of a growing river. The esteemed for his leadership and pointed stick fence links tree to wisdom. Every house has its tree, thus encircling the whole vil- group of fetishes to guard the lage within which are the huts of heart, for houses like human bodies men, thatched pens for sheep or need special protection from unpigs or goats and a cattle kraal or seen hosts of evil. To ward off two. Long irregular and sinuous demons holy water for ceremonial paths lead to the "elombe" (chief's washings is guarded in painted quarters) and the stage of civiliza- pots placed on stout sticks by the tion reached by the inhabitants lies side of the house. To the right of revealed to the visitor as he wends the door may be seen a tiny seat of his way thither. Clothing is scant twigs on which the familiar friendand consists of a covering for the ly family spirits rest with refreshloins made either of the skins of ment available in beer poured out animals snared or taken in the on the ground, for the spirits dwell chase or of a coarse loin wrap pro- near the house underground and duced from the bark of trees thrive on beer. Suspended from soaked in water and beaten with the lintel of the door frame is a 815
hoop-like fetish of wood, such a deceased child) is eating the soul shape permitting the ingress and of the sick one and must be apegress of favorable spirits but ef- peased. A goat is named as the fectually preventing the entrance needed sacrifice and the animal is of hostile ones. forthcoming.
What should be the ideal of The inference seems plain. If a Christian work among a commu- non-Christian native can find the nity with such· an environment? wherewithal to meet his supposed For the individual, Christ-like spiritual necessities arising from character alone is adequate. On the fetish beliefs, support of the work collective side nothing less than a of the Gospel is not an impossibilvigorous self-directing church suf- ity. Such material self-support fices. These principles involve two does not exclude the need for forkinds of self-support neither of eign help in the work of evangelizwhich is first in order of time for in~ Africa. The whole Dark Conthey move together like the two tinent.is in flux, and native. life is sides of a door. Material self- being' changed by the advent of support on a higher scale for him- white invaders with such rapidity self and family and spiritual self- that it is difficult for newlysupport in his new soul venture awakened peoples to adjust themand worship must be sought. Can selves to the situation thus thrust these be attained? Is it reasonable upon them. The period of transithat a native, the value of whose tion brought about by external property including house, gardens, forces demands outside guidance fields and animals may not exceed and help. twenty dollars should be expected to support and propagate the new Offerings are relatively large in Word which has come to him? The many native Christian villages. Government head-tax like a sword Buildings of adobe and thatch of Damocles, hangs over his head. which serve as school and chapel -Can he scrape up another penny accommodating from sixty to six for the good of his soul? hundred, are erected by native Christians themselves without help An answer is ready, coming from the central missions. Of through native religious customs. equal importance in the life of the A baby is sick and the magic doc- church is the disposition of the tor is bidden. The divining basket weekly offerings made by the nais produced, the animal skin is tive church itself without veto or placed on the ground and divining direction by the missionary. rattles are handed to three or four helpers sitting among the crowd But material self-support is only which forms a circle with the a part of the task. Spiritual selfwitch doctor, who has donned his support is a deeper and more professional paraphernalia. Pay- searching test. The living forces ment for the ceremony is made on of the Gospel in touch with dying the spot; a chicken perhaps or heathenism, produce perplexing "fingers" of rubber or a ball of problems of conduct. Is the nawax, or if the case be an important tive church spiritually equal to the one a small pig or a goat is test? Decisions imposed by misbrought. The divination reveals sionaries are external to the native that an "okapokopoko" (spirit of mind and hence partake of an arbitrary nature. The native
SPIRITUAL SELF SUPPORT IN AFRICA
Christian must apprehend the counsel. Ngandi is "put to one underlying reason for all decisions side" ; the catechumens class is and make such decisions himself. forbidden him until he shall re- This is a crucial test for the native pent. "Have no fellowship with church. Is the church to be a tot- the unfruitful works of darkness" tering structure propped up by is quoted. Here is a church memmissionary spiritual support, or is ber who secretly secured a fetish; it to be a living native tree which, he is forbidden access to the Lord's though enriched by contributions Table. "Ye cannot drink the cup from outside forces, yet sends its of the Lord and the cup of deroots deep down into the native soil mons," is remembered. Or here is A STOCKADE VILLAGE-RECENTLY OPENED TO CH[{I~'l'IAN ~CHOOI,S (Chief at Right) from which it draws its suste- a case wherein a business deal leads nance? to over-reaching a brother. "De- fraud not" is quoted. Apostolic The church among the Ovim- precepts all and precepts written bundu in Angola, offers a field for as if for the African Church today. observation. Here is a church Such living precepts leap up bemeeting presided over by the na- fore the community of the newly tive pastor with no missionary redeemed for the New Testament present. Representatives are pres- throbs with spiritual vitality and ent from all branch schools. A is life-giving to the church bringconversation on the work of God is ing it into touch with the Living initiated and each several elder Christ without which contact, all reports on his Christian village or else is vain. The Living Christ on the general work of the district. guides His Church. Then come acts of discipline and 4
Mohammed's truth lay in a holy Book, the Holy Spirit sets a new standard Christ's in a sacred life. of sin and righteousness and dis- places unmoral elements in the old So while the world rolls on from tribal life, abolishing also evil change to change, practices which are an integral part of fetish worship. And realms of thought expand, Evangelism, the reaching out The letter stands without expanse or after new communities flows from range, the spiritual urge to share with others the priceless treasure re- Stiff as a dead man's hand; ceived in the Gospel. Herein is expressed the desire to deliver While as the life-blood fills the glow- other souls from the bondage of ing form, The Spirit Christ has shed Flows through the ripening ages fresh and warm More felt than heard or read.
TEACHERS AND PREACHFlRS IN 'rITE GRADUA'l'ING CLASS, 1928, AT DANDI INS~'ll'lI 'l'J'J, UGANDA With the acceptance of Christ as fear, a fear not confined to this life Saviour and Lord "the expulsive only, but one which goes on after power of a new affection" comes death; for spirit-ridden natives into play. The soul is set free and dread a second death in the great with spiritual self-support faith in unknown beyond, a gradual pining God abolishes the fear of demons: away into nothingness, a loss of the Heavenly Father's care becom- existence hateful to contemplate. ing a reality with deliverance from fear as a result. Faith in Christ as For spiritual self-support let a Saviour counteracts faith in prayer be offered asking that the fetish and guidance by divination native church may be "enriched in is supplanted by the sense of the all wisdom and utterance" and that Continual Presence. The new the "eyes of the heart may be en- Christian ethic under the power of lightened." (See also "Drums in the Darkness.")
W AITS*
BY W. J. W. ROOME, F.R.G.S., Kampala, Uganda Agent of the British and Poreign Bible Society tor East Central A fricn, J" Author of "Can Africa Be lVon)'> N EARLY two centuries of equatorial regions of the third en- evangelical missionary ef- tity. fort have made known the North Africa-The southern Gospel of our Lord and Saviour, line of the northern area may be Jesus Christ to multitudes of Af- taken as starting in the east from rica's one hundred and thirty-five the northern frontiers of Eritrea millions. Yet it is probably true and Abyssinia along the boundary that not one in twenty-five has line of the brown and the black ever heard this message in a lan- races, say about Renk on the Nile, guage they could comprehend. 400 miles south of Khartoun, The measure of the response of across to EI Fasher, Abecher, Lake the African, the pagan as distinct Chad, the northern frontier of from the Mohammedan, is greater Nigeria across to Timbuktu and than in any other continent or along the Niger and Senegal among any other races, save per- Rivers.
haps a few of the Pacific Islanders. In this area, Christianity is Judging from the statistics of one faced by Islam and has been ever of the larger societies a few years since the fall of the great North ago, with mission fields in many African Church, before the sword lands, we find that out of the total of Islam in the seventh and eighth expenditure of that mission for one centuries. Many trophies have year, twenty-five per cent was been won from the old Coptic spent on the African field and Church of Egypt and some from seventy-five per cent for the rest the non-Moslem races such as the of the world. In converts over the Kabyles of the Berber Family, but same period, the African field gave the actual living converts from nearly seventy-five per cent, leav- Islam to Christianity do not num- ing only twenty-five per cent for ber probably more than four hun- the rest of the mission fields. This dred between Cairo and Fez.
is a striking testimony to the value In Egypt with a population of of the African evangelization. 13,000,000 and a missionary force The continent of Africa natural- of over 350, the actual figure is ly divides into three sections for only about 150 out of a total evan- the purposes of missionary effort. gelical Christian community of The northern area from Egypt to 17,000. The proportion for Morocco; the southern area from Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria and Moroc- the Cape to the Zambezi and the co is considerably less-only some Cunune Rivers; leaving the great 250.
Much of the most successful • In the following statements, statistics are evangelistic effort in North Africa given in round figures based on the latest es- is amongst the non-indigenous timates available. In spenking of the "Chris- races, such as the various Eurotian Community" only those members who have pean immigrants and the Africans hf'come Christians us the result of missionary effort are given. This doE'S not include members of tht;;' Roman, or Eastern churches.
819
who come from the Southern tribes. ary for every 50,000 of the people, In North Africa the total popu- and the Christian community num- lation, that is for the lands from bers one in each 1,750.
Egy,pt to Senegal and including the In South Africa there is a mis- Northern (Islamic) Sudan and the sionary for every 4,250 and the Sahara, is about 35,000,000. Christian community numbers one The American and European in each twelve of the African peo- missionary force numbers some ples.
600 and the Christian community In Equatorial Africa there is a less than 20,000. missionary for every 25,000 of the In South Africa we find a land African people, and the Christian almost covered with missionary community numbers one in each effort. Overlapping is evident in 70 of the people.
many directions. The clash of de- We therefore find that there are nominationalism is bewildering to in South Africa six times as many the young convert from heathen- missionaries in proportion to pop- ism. In addition to the various ulation as there are in Equatorial societies from America and Europe Africa, and twelve times as many the native C)1ristian community is as in North Africa!
organizing societies and churches In addition to the "Foreign on its own. Ethiopianism adds to Staff" there is a "Native Staff" of the complexity of the situation. 1,250 for North Africa, of 20,000 Notwithstanding t his apparent for Equatorial Africa and no less competition, there are still many than 24,000 for South Africa.
areas with considerable population These figures give the ratio of one almost untouched. Specially is native Christian worker to each this true in Portuguese Territory. 28,000 of the inhabitants of North In the lands south of the Zam- Africa; of one to 4,500 in Equa- bezi and Cllnune Rivers, the native torial Africa, while in South population amounts to nearly ·10,- Africa there is a native Christian 000,000; the missionary force to worker for every 400 of the people.
2,300; and the Christian commu- Thus South Africa has eleven nity to 775,000. times as many native workers in IN EQUATORIAL AFRICA we find proportion to population as Equa- the regions where Christianity has torial Africa, and actually seventy been later in arriving, but also times as many as North Africa.
those areas where it has made Another feature worthy of note some of its most glorious triumphs. is that while in South Africa, the One of the greatest obstacles to the easiest field, men and women mis- onward march has been the lin- sionaries are about equal in num- guistic tangle-the confusion of bers; in Equatorial Africa there Babel. are five women to four men; while In Equatorial Africa, including in North Africa, probably the all the lands between the foregoing hardest mission field in the world, and Madagascar, there is a popula- women outnumber men by more tion of 90,000,000 with a mission- than two to one!
ary force of 3,500 and a Christian How rapid has been the progress community of 1,250,000. of the evangel in Equatorial Af- From these figures we find that rica during the last half century in North Africa there is a mission- may be gathered from a few statis-
AFRICA WAITS
.tics. In 1875, Stanley, after his kay started for Uganda. Eight stay with King Mtesa in Uganda, years later the first band of Bagansent horne an appeal for some mis- da Christians numbered 38. Tosionary. "Here, gentlemen, is your day, in the whole Protectorate of opportunity!" The appeal was Uganda there are 500,000 Chrispublished by the Daily Telegraph tians, Protestant and Catholic. on November 15, 1875, and in The Anglicans have 400 schools, April next year, Alexandar Mac- with 170,000 pupils; 2,870 places NOMR .AILAHTIC OCEAN SOU T H A TLANTI OCEAN Reference IK.DlAN ArM orEst4/Jlls/J8d AflSSlLllts.-.a OCEAN Area tJliJt lI11Qllt /)4 EJ::f/~s::. r::::J Waiting L1n~___ ….._._.?
~nSSIONARY DEVELOPME NT I N AFRICA-F R OM "CA:>I AFRICA BE WON" BY W. J. W. R OOME
of worship and 70 native clergy- on a Sanitary Board, and takes the canons and rural deans among chair at missionary meetings in them. the Wesleyan Church. Then a In October, 1875, the pioneers Wesleyan chapel was built under of the Livingstonia Mission the shadow of the "execution tree".
steamed into Lake Nyasa. When N ow a great college solidly. built the jubilee was celebrated in 1925, of stone, has been erected by the the mission reported a EUropean Wesleyans on land given by the staff of 77, a native staff of 1,120, Ashanti Chiefs, and with money not including 1,551 teachers, a largely contributed by the people.
Christian community of 58,861. The total extent of the Christian There were 772 schools, 43,492 church in Africa, including Mada- primary and middle school pupils, gascar and the outlying islands, at besides 126 college and high school the present time, may be gathered students. One member of the from the following. * original band-Dr. Robert Laws- Missionary force, 6,289. Resident Stahas recently retired after 52 years tions, 1,403. Native Staff, 43,181. (Of of service. Few living men have these 2,021 are ordained and 2,656 are witnessed such changes as he has women.) Organized churches, 10,592. seen in the life of a people. Communicants added during the year, The Nyasaland Mission of the 67,946. Christian Community, 2,629,437. Church of Scotland, started a year Communicants, 1,015,683. Baptised nonlater, now numbers 15,000 baptised Christians, 300 schools with 15,000 communicants, 812,723. Total baptised, pupils. A few years later (1878), the English Baptists commenced 1,830,582. Others under Christian in- struction, 721,421. Sunday-schools, 8,- 892. Sunday-school teachers and pupils, 540,896. Native contributions to church work over £.300,000. Elementary schol- ars, 900,000.
their mission near the mouth of We thus find that the present the Congo. Subsequently, they Christian Church represents 2 per carried that work for nearly 2,000 cent of the total population, and miles along that mighty river and one in thirty of the possible schol- now they report 102 foreign ars is under Christian instruction.
agents; 914 African workers (679 From this we must take courage of them paid by the Native and press forward to the unevan- Church) a Christian community gelized peoples. About 195 mis- of 33,889; 992 elementary and sionary soc i e tie s are active other schools, (including four throughout the continent or a ratio training and eleven industrial in- of one society for each 700,000 of stitutions) with 28,335 pupils. the population. Again to take In 1896 British officers saw the these ratios for our three divisions grove at Kunasi where the remains of Africa we find that North of human sacrifices were flung; Africa has one society for each "the ground here was found cov- 925,000 people, Equatorial Africa, ered with skulls and bones of hun- one society for each 750,000 and dreds of victims". King Prempeh, South Africa a separate society for exiled after the war of 1895-6, re- each 140,000.
turned in 1925 as a private citizen Most societies have recognized and a Christian to the city which spheres that extend far beyond the no longer deserves the epithet power of their present forces to "bloody". He who once presided over human sacrifices now serves '" Ii'"i,gut'ps are from the lVarld J1issio-nary A Hus, ID25.
AFRICA WAITS
adequately reach. When we seek Given a sufficiently wide vision to find the areas in Africa still be- and generous consideration of comyond the bounds of prospective parative needs, the present mismissionary effort, we find they are sionary force in Africa could excomparatively few compared with tend its frontier enormously. the whole continent and of limited extent. In using the word "plethora" one cannot but think of the many Africa's Future small organizations that are crowd·· ing into fields already planned for, Africa is being rapidly mapped if not at the moment actually occuout for future evangelization, and pied, while vast areas remain unprobably all the unreached areas thought of and uncared for. could be incorporated within the spheres of existing missionary so- In order to clear our vision and cieties. so enable us to see something of the comparative needs of the dif- Africa is suffering, one uses the ferent countries of Africa, let us word advisedly, from a plethora of look at a table of figures for the missionary societies. With all the mission fields of Uganda, Nyasaurgent need for re-inforcements, land, the Congo and Madagascar it is not new societies, but the and compare them in ratio with strengthening of existing agencies Africa as a whole for the year that is needed. Also we need a 1925, the last year for which commore equitable distribution of the plete figures are available. societies. In Nyasaland for 1,120,- 000 inhabitants there are nine so- We also give a table for ratio to cieties. In Northern Rhodesia population. To find a proportional there are thirteen societies for basis for estimating the compar- 900,000 people, while in Uganda, ative advance of missionary work excluding the small area of the in each area we need to take a ratio West Nile in association with the to population. In the attached Africa Inland Mission in the Con- schedule Table C, we can see this go, there is only one society, The comparison at a glance. To illus- Church Missionary Society, for trate this, take the items giving the 2,275,000 people. That society, "parish" of each missionary; in however, has already reached about ten to twelve per cent of the total Nyasa this would be 3,800; in population. In Ruanda and Ur- Madagascar, 12,000; in the Congo, undi, under Belgian Mandate, 18,000 and in Uganda 27,000. We there is a total population of some see also that Nyasa has seven times 4,500,000 and only three small so- as many missionaries in proporcieties with lot combined missionary tion to population as Uganda has. force of fifteen! From these tables we find the There are tribes numbering less following results for Uganda. Tothan 50,000 to which the whole ef- tal population, 23 per 1,000 for the fort of a society is devoted, while whole of Africa, missionaries 17, away in West Africa, on the stra- resident stations 13, Christian tegic line of the Moslem Menace, community 55, communicants 46 there is a tribe-the Mosse-num- (during the year 230), churches bering 1,550,000 to whom the first 21, Sunday-Schools 0, pupils 0, out- Christian missionary has only re- stations 132, native staff 111, orcently gone. dained natives 34, unordained 118,
TABLE A Missionary Statistics for Total of Africa, and for Uganda, Nwyiatshalsaonmd~ and Congo. Figures based on World Miss ionary Atlas 1925 revision for the several countries. '
Population …………….. . Africa Uganda Nyasaland Congo Missionaries (total staff') … . Stations ………………. . 135,000,000 3,000,000 1,120,000 12,000,000 Christian Community ……. . 6,289 112 295 653 Communicants …………. . 1,403 19 40 121 Communicants Added During 2,629,437 145,617 107,388 100,000 year ……………… . 1,015,683 46,963 55,000 58,639 Churches ……………… . 67,946 15,616 7,000 9,259 Sunday-Schools ………… . 10,952 232 85 326 .988 Pupils in Sunday-Schools … . 8,982 o 105 Outstations other than Churches 540,896 o 15,575 59,802 Native Staff' …………… . 2,744 Native Ordained Men ……. . 18,232 2,414 2,000 4,528 Native Unordained Men ….. . 43,181 4,825 1,750 5 Native Women …………. . 4,300 Schools ……………….. . 2,021 70 21 223 Total under instruction ….. . 38,126 '4,505 1,723 2,540 2,656 16,938 250 6 74,632 926,793 2,639 1,904 137,000 100,000 TABLE B Showing Ratio per Thousand of the African Totals Population ………… . Africa Uganda Nyasaland Congo ltladagascar Missionaries (total staff) Stations …………… . 1,~00 23 8 90 26 Christian Community … . 17 47 104 47 Communicants ……… . 13 29 53 Communicants During Year 55 41 85 136 46 54 38 143 Churches ………….. . 230 102 57 86 Sunday-Schools ……… . 136 Pupils in Sunday-Schools . 21o 8 28 240 Outstations …………. . o 12 110 270 28 110 135 Native Staff' ………. .. 132 109 150 16 Ordained Men ………. . 111 42 125 Unordained Men ……. . 10 105 351 Women ……………. . 34 45 Schools ……………. . 118 2 2 114 Total under Instruction 113 28 94 108 113 21 156 84 31 148 150 80 TABLE C Showing Ratio to Population for the Respective Countries.
Uganda Nyasaland Congo Madagascar Missionaries ………………… . 27,000 3,800 18,370 12,000 Stations ……………………. . 158,000 28,000 100,000 48,000 Christian Community …………. . Communicants ………………. . 21 10 120 10 Communicants Received During Year 64 25 Churches ……………… . 190 20 205 600 Sunday-Schools .. 12,900 1,400 Pupils ……………… . 160 1.300 1,500 Outstations …………. . o o 13,175 37,000 48 Native Staff ………… . 10,666 1,200 12,500 Native Ordained Men …….. . 1,243 Native Unordained Men …… . 621 70 200 660 Native Women …………… . 5,000 ~chools …………………. . 43,000 560 4,400 665 826 Total under Instruction ……….. . 633 2,650 47.000 12,000 10,000 1,137 53,300 2,400.000 22 120 650 2,790 186,000 53,000 588 4,700 11 160
AFRICA WAITS
women 94, schools 156, total under against a 1,000 for Africa as a instruction 148. whole, so that actually more than For Nyasaland we have the fol- one third of the total churches of lowing ratio per thousand of the Africa are to be found in the Island African totals. With 8 per 1,000 of Madagascar.
of the population for Africa, there From the tables we also see that are 47 missionaries, 29 stations, 41 with reference to native staff there Christian communities, 54 com- is a remarkably similar proportion municants, 102 baptized during in Uganda, Nyasa and Madagascar the year, 8 churches, 12 schools, 25 of one native worker to 620, 633, pupils, 109 out-stations, 42 native and 660 of the people, with the staff, 10 ordained men, 45 unor- Congo rising to 2,750. In the pro- dained, 2 women, 113 schools and vision of churches, we find Mada- 108 per 1,000 under instruction. gascar has one for each 1,400 of the In the Congo we find that with total population and in Uganda one ninety per 1,000 of the African for 12,900, Nyasa 13,175, and the population there are 104 per 1,000 Congo one for each 37,000. In Sun- of the missionaries and eighty-five day-Schools, Madagascar has a of the mission stations, 150 out- pupil for each 48 of the people, stations and 150 of the schools, while Uganda has none officially with eighty per thousand under in- recognized as such. Here we see struction. the effect of administrative policy.
The figures for Madagascar are In Uganda all the week-day in- twenty-six per 1,000 of the total struction is based on religious population of Africa, 47 mission- teaching. In Madagascar that is aries, 53 stations, 136 Christian prohibited, hence the necessity for communities, 86 members received the Sunday-School.
during the year, 240 churches, 270 If it is impossible for existing Sunday-Schools, 135 pupils in Sun- organizations to reach the outlying day-Schools, 16 out-stations, 125 areas in a reasonable time, others native staff, 351 ordained natives, of course who can do so, should 114 unordained, 28 women, 21 hasten forward for their evangel- schools, with 31 per 1,000 under in- ization. struction. In comparing these three coun- Unreached Peoples tries, we find the following inter- We now give the main locations esting items: Uganda has 148 of the unreached peoples of Africa scholars out of every 1,000 in in a brief summary. Naturally Africa, or one seventh of the whole the boundaries of such areas cannumber for the entire continent, not be clearly defined as some diswhile Nyasaland has 108 per 1,000. tricts may already be under in- In Sunday-Schools, Madagascar, vestigation by missionary societies.
has no less than 270 to the 1,000 for In North Africa we find that Africa and 240 churches, so that present missionary effort scarcely practically a quarter of the whole reaches beyond a hundred miles number of churches in Africa are from the coast, except in a few to be found in Madagascar, and isolated instances. This leaves a when we consider the ordained na- solid block of 1,000 miles east and tive staff, we have the remarkable west, from the Gulf of Gables in figure of 351 for Madagascar Tunis to Cape Ghir in Morocco and
about 250 miles north and south. Kondoa Irangi. In the southeast Tripoli also is practically an un- there is a large area centering reached land. In Egypt, the cita- around Mahenge, and on to Songea. In the west, the area west of longdel of Islam, there are some 500 itude 32 East to the shores of Lake towns with a population .of over Tanganyika is quite unreached by 5,000 that have never yet had a Protestant, but Roman missions resident evangelist, either white or are in force. brown. In the Northern Sudan and the Sahara are over 3,000,000 In Belgian Congo there are four of the most fanatical Moslems that waiting areas. The eastern area constitute a challenge to the Chris- from the present work of the Baptian Church. tist Missionary Society in Maganga to the boundary of the Uganda Di- In Eritrea the northern area is ocese and south to the missions in largely unevangelized. the Kivu, Lowa area. The central area embraces 20 to 24 east long- In Abys~inia we find a largely itude, and 1 to 4 south latitude unreached land with ten million to centering around Lisolka. Also eleven million. Existing missions the small area south of the river are stretching out from the capital Ubangi and east of 26 east longimainly to .the southwest, leaving tude and south to the sphere of the most of the northern, northwest- Baptist Missionary Society; from ern and southeastern sections the Lualaba River to Lake Tanquite without a gospel messenger. ganyika and south of the Albert- ville Kabalo Railway on to the Somaliland. The three Soma- sphere of the Garanganze Mission. lilands, French, Italian and British are quite unreached except for the In French Chari-Chad Territory, Swedish Mission in the Kismaya east of the main trade route from District in the extreme south. Fort Possel on the River Ubangi on to Fort Archambault and along Kenya. The northern section the River Shari, there is a limited from the Tana River and Lake population waiting. Rudolf to the Abyssinian frontier is still waiting. In this area are In Kamerun, all the area east of many virile tribes, partly nomadic, 12 east longitude, except prospec- tive spheres of Swedish Mission, and inhabiting a difficult country. and the Christian and Missionary The Government of Kenya has re- Alliance to the south. cently issued a call to the missionary societies to go in and occupy Nigeria North. The Northern Frontier from Lake Chad to the Marsabit District. Sokoto, if permission can be ob- Uganda. All the area is pros- tained for work amongst Moslems. The four Northern Provinces, alpectively planned for, but so far no most entirely Islamic, are Bornu, one has been able to reach the wild, with 760,000 people, Kano with semi-nomadic tribes in the north- 3,440,000, Sokoto with 1,695,000 east corner of the country. The and Kontagora with 187,000. For area between Mount Elgon and this solid block of over 6,000,000 Lake Rudolf and on to the north there are only a dozen missionaries along the western frOntier of in a few isolated spots. Abyssinia. Gold Coast. The Northern Ter- In Tanganyika there are three large waiting sections. The northern from the Masai Steppe down to Gogol and centering around
AFRICA WAITS
ritories of the Gold Coast and Islam or Rome. Within the spheres Togoland, including the bend of the of the existing missionary societies River Niger. there are probably over 50,000,000 to whom the Gospel story has never Dahomey. Almost un reached. yet been given in a language in- Ivory Coast. Almost unreached. telligently understood by the peo- Guinea Coasts-French and Portugese. Almost unreached. APOLO AND HIS PIG)IY ~'RIENDS Liberia. Missionary effort only penetrates a short distance from pie. Within these still waiting the coast. The great hinterland is areas there may be 30,000,000 peoa waiting area. ple absolutely beyond the reach of Senegal and the Niger Territory prospective missionary effort. If and on to Mauritania are mostly America, and Protestant Europe waiting lands. with England, will awake to their Sierra Leone. There are still needs, the Story of the Cross may waiting lands on the northeastern yet reach them in this generation. frontier. Rio de Oro is quite unreached. In the meanwhile it is all too Angolo.The northeast and sadly true-AFRIcA WAITS! southern regions still wait. Portuguese East Africa. The Mozambique and Tete areas, except for the few openings on the west from Nyasaland, are largely unreached. Nyasaland and Rhodesia are both practically occupied, though there are still some isolated areas in the latter.
Madagascar. The territory in the north between Mandritsara and Diego-Suarez. Both of these stations are occupied, but the central lands between, still wait; also the west central area around Milaya District is still waiting.
Comoro Islands. A small but important community. on four small islands quite cut off from evangelistic effort.
In some of the foregoing areas, Protestant Missions are now prospecting. In others it may be found that the way is blocked by Here is the experience of an old African woman: "I am an old, old woman, too old to learn anything, but I know I am a sinful woman before God. and that Jesus died to save me from my sins. I believe this." This woman walked from her town six miles away on four different days so as to be sure to be present when candidates for baptism were examined – forty-eight miles on her poor old feet.
TEACHING WAITING AFRICANS THE GOSPEl.
fOR WORK!
HOW TO STUDY AFRICA mance and adventure, of exploration and discovery; learn the names of the By REV. THOMAS S. DONOHUGH, N. Y. noble men and women who have given themselves to the solution of the prob- Roa.rd 01 Fareign i}Iission8 oj the j[ethodi.'ft lems of the great Dark Continent.
Rpiscopal, Chu~'ch Lest you be overwhelmed, start very simply-you may prefer to take the One would go far to find a subject new mission study books with the of more fascinating variety. Consider collateral reading, and form a group the immense size of Africa, its stra- to study Africa. There is no better tegic location, its sweep from the way to begin, with authors, texts, Mediterranean clear across the equa- maps and helps carefully selected on tor to the South Temperate Zone. Or broad lines for those who are interthink of its vast wealth in raw mate- ested in Africa from the Christian or rial, the range of its beauty, the diver- missionary point of view. But you sity and interest of its amazing animal may want to go deeper and do somelife, the unsolved mysteries, absorbing thing individual. We have seen nothproblems, and pathos of its primitive ing better as an introduction than peoples, the challenge of its racial "The Partition & Colonization of antagonisms, its devastating and Africa," a series of talks to teachers, grievous diseases. Africa, also fur- by Sir Charles Lucas, published by the nishes what many believe is the sever- Clarendon Press, Oxford. It would be est test of the values of the religions difficult to improve upon this clear, and civilizations which have converged succinct presentation of the major upon it, and perhaps the final test of facts about Africa. the power and universality of Christianity. A ml..n or woman must study Africa to be well informed upon some of the greatest questions which en- Along with it read "The Opening gage the attention of thinking people Up of Africa," by another great autoday. thority, Sir Harry H. Johnston, one How shall one approach a subject of the Home University Library so comprehensive, so complicated'! It series, published by Henry Holt & seems presumptuous to suggest solu- Company. In the same series, "The tions, but those who have done a little Negro," by DuBois, the well-known exploring in the wilderness may report editor of The Crisis, will be of special some promising trails which may be interest because written by a man of of help to the new adventurer. African descent, and one of the ablest By all means start with a good map writers of the day.
such as that in the "World Atlas of If these three little books do not Christian Missions," and keep it be- "open up Africa" and make you eager fore you as you read. Locate the places referred to until Africa is as to go on, you are quite hopeless and familiar as the United States or Eu- might as well stop I Let me warn rope and you no longer confuse Cala- you-you are starting on a long, long bar and Malabar, Guinea, New trail which grows in fascination as Guinea and Guiana! Then look over you get deeper and deeper into the the books in some good library and mystery, the struggle, the challenge see the wealth of literature, of ro- of this great land and its abused, de- pendent, lovable, capable, people.
829
Now a maze of paths confront us. made by the Educational Commission Which shall we take? of the Phelps-Stokes Fund, led by Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones, whose reports Those who wish to investigate the on "Education in Africa" and "Edurelation and responsibility of Chris· cation in East Africa" present contianity to Africa, will appreciate ditions and suggest solutions which Donald Fraser's "Future of Africa," are commanding the closest attention (a mission study book published in of Government and mission boards. London in 1911) and Miss Mac· The publication of these reports has Kenzie's charming studies, "An Af· led to a series of conferences on rican Trail" and "African Adven- Africa culminating in the one held at turers." It is no wonder that Dr. LeZoute, Belgium, in 1926, under the Fraser and Miss MacKenzie have been auspices of the International Missionchosen to write the new mission study ary Council. The report of this conbooks for the current year. ference is of unusual value. These will open up new fields. We Lest we become involved in too deep must consider Africa's relation to the a study, try a new approach. One of Great War, the big unsolved questions the most fascinating ways to 'know which emerge as a result and which Africa is through missionary biwe ought to know as citizens of the ography. "The Personal Life of David world and of the Kingdom of God. Livingstone," by Blaikie has been the lighted pathway for many a life right Nowhere is the race problem so into the heart of Africa. Others have acute as in South and East Africa. entered with "The Mofi'ats," with Read Prof. Willoughby's "Race Prob- "Stewart of Lovedale," "Coillard of lems in the New Africa," and Dr. Leys the Zambezi," "Grenfell of the Congo," "Kenya" as illustrations. "Africa, with "Mary Slessor of Calabar," Slave or Free" by Harris, shows how "Mackay of Uganda," and "Pilkingslavery has been succeeded by forced ton," "Laws of Livingstonia," or labor, and the two great volumes by "Mackenzie of South Africa." Why Buell (just issued) reveal how Africa have so many of the great, thrilling looks to a representative of the De- missionary biographies come out of partment of Government at Harvard Africa? That is worth studying. University. Of course you will want to know From the missionary point of view more about Prince Henry and a most notable contribution has been da Gama, who first adventured along the coast, Mungo Park, Bruce, Barth, and Stanley and many others who braved the hardships of the unknown interior. Then came Cecil Rhodes in the South, and Gordon, Kitchen and Cromer in the North, and other giants whose names spell the growth of Em- pire in Africa, as well as 'those of Johnston, Lugard, Guggisburg, Lyau- try, and other great men who have served nobly to bring peace, order and justice in the trusteeship of African dominion.
This is all romantic, and also real study. If you want some delightful entertainment on the side try "Prester John" by John Buchan, and see what that does to you. If you too want to be deceived, like the gifted authoress,
METHODS FOR WORKERS
borrow "Trader Horn" but for the through great works like Junod's real thing read Naussau's "Fetichism "Life of a South African Tribe," in West Africa" and see the differ- Roscoe's "Baganda" or Smith's "Ila ence. Speaking Peoples." A tlemendous literature opens up, much of it the Of course you know "Beau Geste," -work of missionaries and colonial ad- and other stories by Wren, marvelous ministrators who have spent their pictures of the French Foreign Legion lives among the people of whom they write so absorbingly. Among the AFRICA most fascinating are the studies in West Africa by Mary H. Kingsley, and AREA,IZ,OOO.OOO SQ H. the works of Ellis and Kidd; the re- cent "Golden Stool" by E. W. Smith, and the Desert, another realm of this and "Liberia, Old and New" by Sibley wonderful Africa. Wallace's "Man and Westermann. Wherever you wish from Morocco" and Mason's "The to wander you will find these illumi- Winding Stair" are other thrillers. nating studies essential to an under- Of course there is also all of Egypt standing of the people of Africa, their and Tutankhamen, the explorations past, their present and their future. around Carthage, and the mystery of Zimbabwe farther south, Kano and There is very much more that one Timbuctoo on the West, and on and on must leave to the encyclopedia or into the sunset and dreamland, as government reports to which we refer Africa grows and grows. these who want figures. Still we are on the outside looking in. Who are these marvelous people anyway! Johnston and DuBois have No books, no pictures even as fine opened the way into this greatest as "Simba" or the records of modern theme of African study, the very heart explorers, can satisfy those who want of the continent. to study deeply into Africa. You must listen to the soft voices and the Begin at the bottom if you wish, with the pygmies, and come up with AFRICA the Bushmen and the Hottentots until you meet the Bantus who chased them mJ=l~W into the woods and nearly into obliv- ~ ion. You will learn that the Bantu is not a tribe, but a great language throb of the drums from across the group, using some 300 allied tongues. seas and crown your study with a real You are meeting some of the strongest African tour or many of them, or best races on earth when you are intro- of all enlist in the noble company of duced to big chiefs like Chaka, Loben- those who have given themselves for gula, and Khama. There is no better the Master's sake that Africa might way to study the people of Africa than be redeemed.
ABOUT AFRICA'
North Africa (including Egypt), has forty million people, mostly Mo- hammedans. South Africa has ten million people, many of them nom- inally at least, Christian. Between them is the great mass of ninety million blacks of pagan Africa.
Africa, has an area of 11,500,000 square miles, one-fourth the ter- ritory of the globe, almost four times the area of the United States.
Africa has three times the area of China, one-third her population, and a far greater wealth of raw material.
The coast line of Africa is equal to the earth's circumference.
Liberia, a Negro Republic, with 2,000,000 people, is three times the size of Holland.
Portuguese East Africa is eight times the size of Portugal; the French Congo is three times the size of France; the Belgian Congo is seventy-nine times the size of Belgium and has twice the population; British East Africa is five times the size of England.
Cairo, Africa's greatest city, has a population of 791,000 and contains 430 Mohammedan mosques.
Half the gold in the world is thought to lie buried in Africa.
The annual output of the Kimberley diamond mines is about $25,000,- 000, ninety per cent of the world's output of diamonds.
The copper fields of Africa are greater than those of North America and Europe combined and its iron ore exceeds that of North America.
Africa has 800,000 square miles of coal fields hardly touched as yet.
In 1882 the export of cocoa from the Gold Coast was valued at $20; today it is valued at $15,000,000.
Before the Moslem invasion, North Africa had 40.000 Christian churches but in 696 A.D., Moslem Arabs overran the country.
The Berbers, who comprise 75 per cent of the people of North Africa, still have in their folklore stories of the cross and the Christ of their an- cestors. They are therefore more easily reached than other Moslems.
In Egypt, only three women on an average, out of 1,000 can read or write. The deaths of infants under one year of age in Egypt are 31 per cent of the total native deaths. One person in every ninety in Egypt is totally blind.
Ignorance, superstition, poverty, neglect, are the inheritance of the pagan African. .
Hundreds of thousands of natives are 100 to 200 miles from the nearest trained physician. The "witch doctor" is both physician and priest to the African.
Every Mohammedan trader from the north is a potential missionary for his religion among the Central Africa blacks.
The white man is in Africa seeking gold, diamonds, ivory, rubber, cotton, hides, oils, copper, tin, wool.
Rum and commercialized prostitution are the two blights that the white man has brought to Africa; the latter is far more dangerous than native polygamy.
… Interesting information on the country and significant facts of foreign mission progress. Revised from a leaflet prepared by the Methodist Episcopal Church, Committee on Const'rvation and Advance, Chicago, Ill.
832
main railroad lines penetrate the heart of Africa: the Cape-to-
Cairo, one from the Indian Ocean on the east, one from the Atlantic by the Congo River route. Three great missionary problems claim the attention and resources of Christianity in Africa. (1) There is the vast Mohammedan population in the north, extremely difficult to reach with the message of Christ. (2) In Central Africa is the vast Negro population, with 800 languages and in thousands of tribes and hundreds of thousands of villages. They live in ignorance, superstition and poverty. (3) In the great mining regions of South Africa the Negroes come into closest contact with the worst representatives of so-called European and Christian civilization, and many become physical and moral wrecks. The solution of these problems is to be found in the acceptance of Christ and the application of his principles in the every-day life.
Despite the years of work and noble sacrifice of lives, less than 2 per cent of the vast millions in Africa are members of evangelical churches.
GROWTH OF PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN AFRICA-1914 TO 1924 Total ~o(·i{-'th·s at work, . . . 122 150 Native Stall' …….. 2{.599 4a.1~1 54 Organized Churches .. Auwric'ull Hocirtie8 …. 37 6.5H6 10,512 British " …. 3f) 3U African C'OIlUllUllicllllts 645,U5S 1,015,6"';3 Oth,-r …. 411 51 Christian COll1mullIt:v . 1.73k.201 2,62U,437 In :[ission SchooI8·.. 6S0,755 1)26.793 6,2,'-9 Pl'otet5tallt )lissionnrit·s 4,629 Medical Treatment8 .. 224),427 1.800,31)1 t'HE FRUIT OF THIRTY YEARS IN ONE MISSION In UW6, Ellsworth Faris and Dr. Harry N. Biddle w{'l'r uvpointed Inissiollarirs to Afrieu, the tirst workers selected by tht:' Disciples of Christ to take the gOt'lH'I to the Durk COlltinent. rrhe "thirty years between" show the followiJ~g frultnge: 1896 1926 Two missionaries appointed. A tropical jungle. Fifty missionaries at work. Five stations developed. Unknown territory. 461 outstations. Countless hostile neighbors. 844 preaching points. 774 native workers. A million cannibals. 2,834 baptisms last year. Children trained in evil. 14,829 Christians. 32 organized churches. Slaves of fear through ignorance. 282 Sunday-Schools. 370 Christian Endeavor Societies. Ravages of disease unimpeded. 448 day schools. 7,128 pupils. Tribute of terror to witch doctors. 4 hospitals. 73,723 treatments last year. Language never reduced to writing. $10,860 contributed last year for missionary work. 30,920 books and pamphlets printed and bound on native press in fifteen months.
833
OF THE
PRAY FOR AFRICA That those in territory still unoccupied for Christ may soon hear the Gospel and may have a mission established in their midst; That the missionaries and the native Christian workers may be faith- ful in prayer and in their Christian testimony by life and by lips; That a supernatural power of God may be given to all missionaries to penetrate beyond the barriers of race and that they may learn to think with their people, to know their spiritual needs and how to minister to them; That the loving sympathy of Christ Himself may be given to each worker in meeting the problems of superstition and ignorance which bind the soul of the animist and paralyze reason and will; and for power of the Holy Spirit to break those shackles, freeing the African for a life of service to Christ; That in all departments of missionary service, church, school, medical, and industrial, the spiritual needs of the people may always be kept in the foreground; That there may be more dependence upon divine ordination and power and less upon human organization and idealism; That the Christian spiritual forces may progress with such power that Africa may be Christian rather than Mohammedan; That the translation of the whole Bible may be continued and that funds may be supplied so that it will speedily be finished and given to the people; That more adequately prepared men and women who have "an eye single to His glory" may hear the call of God to give themselves for service in Africa to help meet the need for teachers to slake the spiritual thirst of the multitudes who are dying and who need more knowledge of God as He is revealed in Jesus Christ.
"PRAY YE THE LORD."
AFRICA AND THE KINGDOM tion of how all these materialistic OF GOD and human problems relate to God's M ULTITUDES of men and purpose and plan for man in the world. women are devoting time and They recognize the threefold relation thought to the study of ma- of man to God, to his fellow men and terial things—-ehemistry, aeronautics, to the material world in which he electricity, minerology and agricul- lives. Those who devote their efforts ture. Others are making a specialty to the promotion of Christian missions of geographical, social and economic have the broadest outlook and the most problems-exploration, hygiene, poli- vital interest in all important problems tics, finance, education· and industry; and elements of progress. They are some are giving attention to the ques- interested in exploration as a means 834
TOPICS OF THE TIMES
of discovering new fields where Christ "On the Edge of Native Mentality," by should be made known; in science as Rev. Herbert Smith, Disciples of Christ, a study of God's world and the ma- Congo Mission. terial forces and laws that may benefit mankind; in politics as the science "African Youth Today and Tomorof government and the relation of row," by Rev. Max Yergan, of the Y. men to their fellows; in hygiene and M. C. A., South Africa. education to discover the way in which men, women and children may "Secrets of Success in Central Africa," be brought nearer to God's ideal and by Rev. Charles E. Pugh, of the English may be made more useful. Baptist Mission, Equatorial Africa.
This year we study Africa in its "Is the Modern African Woman an relation to God and God's plan for Asset or Liability?" by Mrs. John M. man. It is a field of vast importance Springer of the Methodist Episcopal and unique interest because of Mission, Central Africa.
1. Its vast territory populated by "Some Characteristics of African Edumillions of ignorant, Buffering people, cation," by Seymour E. Moon of the still untouched by the light and life Congo Evangelical Training Institute, of Christ. Congo BeIge.
2. Its new unclaimed fields that call "Studying Africa with Juniors," by for exploration in God's world, and Mrs. A. W. Rider. the study of humanity and religion. The literature published on Africa, 3. Its rich resources that may be as noted in our Book Department, is claimed for God and His service- unusually rich and offers a feast for the agricultural and mineral wealth, any who are interested in God's world and above all, the human lives that and the progress of His Kingdom may be, and are being, transformed among men. by the power of Jesus Christ. "GOD SAVE THE HEATHEN!" 4. The future possibilities that lie in Africa and the transformed "God save the heathen!" so they pray Africans as servants of God and of On bended knees in many a shrine, humanity. And cast their eyes beyond the seas This number of the REVIEW is de- To peoples they would claim for voted almost wholly to Africa, viewed Thine. from this angle. Men and women who have devoted their lives to God and the "God save the heathen!" echo we, Africans describe the field, the people In all the realms of Christendom and the work as they have seen them. Other papers of equal interest and As well as India or Cathay. value could not be included for lack "In every heart, Thy Kingdom come. of space but will appear later. Among them are "Where human life is less than gold, Where truth is sacrificed to gain, "Fifty-three Years in Africa-A Contrast," by Rev. Robert Laws, M.D., one Where lust would still corrupt the pure, of the founders of the Livingstonia Mis- Where hearts are hardened against sion of the United Free Church of Scot- pain, land. "Where war goes on its crimson way, "Christian Training in South Africa," Where might is right and knows no by Rev. A. J. Haile, of Tiger Kloof Na- Godtive Institution, Cape Province. In Christendom or in Cathay- "Native Leadership for Africa," by Save them, 0 Lord, at home, abroad. Rev. John E. Geil of the American Baptist Mission, Congo BeIge. "Nor dare we pray for them alone; In our own lives, purge thou and "After Slavery in Africa-What?" by clean, Theodore Burtt, Friends' Industrial Mis- 3ion, Zanzibar. Till in us without stain or dross The Christ of Nazareth may be seen."
Lord, save the heathen in my heart The will that will not follow Thine'
All selfish pride, unworthy though~ Do Thou, through me, in glory .~ine.
-BY WYNN C. FAIRFIELD, Oberlin-Shansi lI!emorial ~cademy, Tatku, Ska'l!.8t, China.
PROTESTANT AND CATHOLIC MISSIONARY WORK IN AFRICA Fl."om RAYMOND LESLIE BUELL'S "NATIVE PROBLEMS IN AFRICA"
States and l'ossessions- European Missionaries Baptized Natives I. Independent States: Protestant Catholic Protestant Catholic Egypt …………. , …….. . 354 1,642 16,883 173,751 Ethiopia ………. , …….. " 34 128 211 8,896 Liberia ………………… . 108 13 18,654 2,282 II. French Possessions: Algeria and Tunis …… " … . 135 297 245 321,117 Morocco ………………… . 66 467 116,000 French West Africa: Senegal ………….. '… . 2 121 35 22,380 Sudan and Upper Volta .. 14 77 5,856 French Guinea ………. . 26 47 596 6,136 Ivory Coast …………. . 6 44 } 13,081 { 13,183 Dahomey …………… . 62 17,226 French Equatorial Africa …. . 104 210 3,084 46,909 French Somaliland ……….. . 11 387 Cameroons (French) …….. . 110 30 86,310 75,490 Togo (French) ………….. . 299 44 267,907 40,096 Madagascar …………….. . 581 336,219 III. British Possessions: Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ……. . 80 152 244 9,973 Basutoland ……………… . 60 142 96,855 38,894 Gambia ………………… . 3 1,582 Sierra Leone ………. '…. " , 108 37 35,139 6,150 Gold Coast., … , …… , ….. , 81 35 134,583 36,342 Nigeria and British Cameroo:ls 464 142 165,998 68,958 Bechuanaland Protectorate .. ,. 12 16,290 Southern Rhodesia ……….. . 202 241 15,641 24,399 Northern Rhodesia ……….. . 194 45 14,518 31,501 Nyasaland Protectorate .. . 245 82 65,917 23,800 Kenya Colony ………. ' 252 135 19,717 10,000 Uganda ……………. . 112 389 131,209 296,451 South West Africa …… . 105 112 52,282 7,722 Tanganyika Territory … , 176 295 30,544 91,716 IV. Belgian Possessions: Belgian Congo ……… . 900 1,013 59,486 376,980 V. Portuguese Possessions: Portuguese East Africa … , 109 58 24,044 40,000 Angola (with Cabinda) , … , … 186 308 3,906 215,467 VI. Italian Possessions: 173 19,500 Libya ……………. " .. , .. . 2 Eritrea …… , …….. ' …… . 39 237 2,679 32,800 Italian Somaliland . , ……. , .. , 11 9 210 630 VII. Spanish possessions: 108 15,500 Rio Muni and Fernando Po….. 15 2,390 The figures in regard to European missionaries may be taken as approximately correct at the time when they were compiled. It seems that the figures for baptized Christians is much less accurate. In addition to baptized Christians both Catholic and Protestant missions have a large number of natives as "catechumens" who are under some form of religious instruction. For the Protestants this figure reaches 721,421 in Africa, and for the Catholic 1,350,782. The Protestant and Catholic work on the continent of Africa may be sum- marized as follows: EU1'opeon Baptized Others Total Missionaries Native Under Native Christians Instruction Christians Roman Catholic …………. . 8,5812 4,015,332 1,350.782 5,366,114 Protestant …………… , .. 6,590" 1,830,582 721,421 2,552,003 Total Missionaries ……. . 15,171 Total Native Christians 7,918,117 lApparpntly lTIPmbers of the Ab;o'ssinian 3This includes 1,999 ordained men. 1,993 Chlll'ch are excludpd. wives, 2.348 others.
'This include~ 2.501 priests. 543 lay brothers, f'i,537 sisters.
WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION
EDITED BY ELLA D. MACLAURIN, 419 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK IS YOUR NAME WRITTEN THEREl 11 ISSIONARY women! Doubtless when the roll is called up yonder you'll be there! But when the poll is counted in November-will you be there? It is your privilege to help effectuate the prayer "Thy will be done on earth"-if your name is written in your voting precinct. In many states voters must register early in August. Have you registered?
The charge is justly made that one half of the women voters of the United States do not discharge their civic responsibilities at the polls.
They do not "keep out of politics" by refraining from the use of the franchise. On the contrary, they help elect bad men and enact unright- eous measures by withholding votes and influence.
A recent letter from Europe asks what the Christian women of America are doing about the coming elections? The eyes of the world are on us.
There are, approximately, 20,000,000 Protestant church women in the United States. They are a force to be reckoned with. In their various corporate capacities, as mission boards, club members and fed- erations they have passed ringing resolutions on law enforcement and world peace. But law breakers and war makers do not abdicate merely at the ring of resolutions. The Kingdom doesn't come because we piously say, "Lord, Lord," but because, in addition, we do the things He com- mands. Now comes the test of our sincerity. .
The issues are clear cut. They have become international and affect our missionary work at home and abroad. The society opposed to J!ro- hibition defiantly announces that it is backed by organizations represent- ing $40,000,000,000. They are not all in the United States. The forces of evil are leagued together. Shall we supinely sit and watch the im- pending struggle?
We are not presuming to suggest candidates. There is not much chance for error. Choose ye, but register this day!
EVELYN RILEY NICHOLSON, Detroit, Michigan.
A CHINESE GIRL'S MESSAGE TO There was one little girl and after a short time another child, a girl, was AMERICA born. In those days girls were not loved quite so much as boys and the By MISS MARY CARLETON idea about girls was very different from what it is now after Christianity An address delivered at the Annual Meet- has been in China a longer time. The ing of the Federation of Woman's father said that they would give the Boards of Foreign Missions, girl baby away. Mothers' hearts are Atlantic City, JanuarY,1928 the same the world over, and so this young Christian mother was very sad A number of years ago in Foochow because she did not want to give her there was a young Chinese married little girl to anyone. The missionary couple. The young woman, an earnest doctor in charge of the hospital noticed Christian, was taking a doctor's de- that the mother was very sad and gree in a mission hospital; the young man was serving in a hospital for the business people in the port.
837
asked why it was. When she knew next morning startled by a terrific what was the trouble, the missionary wind storm. He called his companion doctor said, "I am sure there must be and said, "Wake up, I am sure the some people in America who would be world is coming to an end." "Oh, no," willing to help you keep your little girl said his friend, "that is just dawn on in your home." the Pyrenees." That is the way it seems to me about China; all these Not long after that this doctor be- things that are sweeping through came seriously ill and had to leave for China today are the forerunners of America, and a new doctor came to the wonderful day that is coming to take charge of the hospital. She had China. Many people reading the pato work through an interpreter, and I pers are thinking the Chinese people am sure that she was often homesick are anti-Christian and anti-foreign, and felt the great responsibility of this and yet you who have a great love for hospital. She became interested in the America, who know what it is to go baby girl and came to love her. One through a revolution for liberty, can day, after some time, she said to the understand that I feel China is not so mother, "I would like to have your much anti-foreign or anti-Christian as litUe girl to be my little girl." After it is pro-Chinese. Everything is for consulting the father the baby girl China today and it seems to me a very was legally adopted by this medical wonderful thing that China has at missionary and since that time she has last come to have a national conscious·· had the privilege of a Christian home, ness. China is awakening and what a the advantages of Christian education, wonderful awakening it is going to be! the opportunity of coming to America I wonder how we are going to help and of studying in your American in- China meet that awakening. We shall stitutions. Tonight she is glad to be have many problems. here to tell you what Christianity means to her and that she is very Second: Christianity in China. In happy to be in Christian work. My spite of the unrest, of wars, in spite father in later years became a local of the suffering of our people, last preacher and all the children grew up year, the Bible Society reports, more as Christians. I go home soon because Bibles were sold in China than in I feel that China needs every Chris- any other previous year. That means tian worker that is ready for service. more people are studying the Bible, are interested in Christianity than Great things are happening in ever before. If we can help our young China. It thrills me and I am sure it people and all our people to under must thrill the hearts of those of you stand that the Bible and Christianity who have had a share in advancing the are for the Chinese as well as for standards of womanhood in China. Americans and for the whole world; There are a few things that I feel are that the Bible and Christianity can very important and encourging in our solve our problems and meet our needs, work in China: then we need have no fear of China not accepting Christianity or of be- First: Our revo~ution. If we go coming anti-Christian. back into history we find no country where so ,many revolutions took plaee It is a wonderful thing that many simultaneously; political, industrial, of our educated men and thinking peoeducational, economic, social and re- ple are interested in Christianity and ligious revolutions. The wonder to me their criticisms are very constructive. is not that China is confused and that A gentleman, not a Christian, said to there is unrest there-the wonder is a missionary, "You are discouraged' that it is not far worse. There is a you think Christianity is spreading story of two men who climbed the very slowly. Give it ten years and Pyrenees; one had been there before Christianity will spread over China and the other had not. The one who like wildfire." I would not have the had not been there before woke up the
WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN
faith to say that in ten years Chris- God has used these things for His tianity would have spread over China. glory.
I would say that in twenty-five years Fourth: The Missionaries in China. it might. But here is a non-Christian The missionaries that we need in the saying to a Christian that in ten years coming years will be those who can this thing would happen. overcome any barrier of nationality or There are three things that I would race. They will be missionaries who suggest as necessary if we are to look will feel the love of Jesus Christ so forward to this: that they will try to understand our 1. Christians must not live in Chris- people and bring to them the things tian compounds; they must stay in Christ Himself would want to bring to their homes and live their Christian us. And so it seems to me we have a lives among their own people. great deal to be thankful for in the 2. Christians must talk more about things that are going on in China the teaching, must not compromise, We need your help and prayers and but tell people about it. 3. Christians must support the cooperation more than ever before.
Christian Church as though they really In the 15th century when the secdid believe in Christianity. ond emperor of the Ming dynasty How will we meet these develop- moved from Nanking to Peking, he ments? ordered that a bell be ,cast of gold and Third: The Church in China. An- silver and bronze. He gave the task other great thing is our indigenous to a particular man aria that man put Chinese Church. It has taken perhaps a very long time to s'trike roots, but I all the metals together, and tried to feel it has struck roots in Chinese soil cast the bell but the metals would not and we have a real Chinese Church. blend. The man tried a second time There are sixteen denominations in and again did ll~riSiicceed. He had a China that have united as the Church daughter. W~she saw that her of Christian China, but there are manv problems that we shall have to meet father was not succeeding, she was in our Church and we need your help grieved and she feared if he did not and prayers. succeed the third time his life might Christianity has been in China not be in danger. So she went to ask of a quite 130 years. A great many people fortune-teller what the trouble was, here say "Missionaries have been working in China so long, why not let and the fortune-teller said there was them all go home and let Chinese Christians carry on their own work?" needed the blood of a maiden to cause I wonder if they realize that there are the metals to blend. This girl perat most only 400,000 Christians in China-and not all these are leaders suaded her father to try again and -and there are 400,000,000 people in when the gold and silv~r and bronze' China. You will realize when you think of those figures how much we were put into the furnace, she leaped need as a young church and why we are not able to meet alone the needs win~sancdastth, eanmdettahlse blended and the bell of the present day. legend relateJ! that Many things are happening in China the tonM of the bell were very.·beauwhich are hard for us to understand. Many Christians are being tested, tiful. many have lost material things, and God needs not only gold and silver and, bronze, but the sacrifice of our lives to be used wherever He wants us to be. If we realize that by our sac- rifice the Gospel message is going to reverberate not only throughout China but throughout the world, surely there is no sacrifice too great for us to make.
yet it is a very wonderful thing that "Were the whole realm of nature mine That were a present far too small, out of all this has come a strong Love so amazing, so divine leadership in the Chinese Church. Demands my heart, my soul, my all." EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN, 105 EAST 22ND ST., NEW YORK ANOTHER PIONEER UNION set to work to increase the knowledge of our women and it has paid. Illin ois spoke In the May issue, Missouri in June; now CnHfornia speaks. We are We have never made it an object ",rateful to Miss Emma C. NeumillE'r, a for- to raise money, with the exception iner President of the Union nt Stockton for the of three years ago, when we helped followlng.- EDITOR. financially to launch the Filipino Cen- ter. Stockton is situated in a very The Women's City Missionary strategic position in San Joaquin Val- Union of Stockton, California, was or- ley. It is a city of 56,000 population, ganized thirty-two years ago by Eliz- surrounded by large farm lands and abeth Stephen Thomas (Mrs. William orchards, so there are many foreign- Thomas), wife of the Baptist pastor. ers working in and around Stockton. It is a strong union composed of over· The asparagus fields seem to call the Filipino and there are 3,000 of them here. One of our fine women saw the need of helping these Filipinos, especially the children, so she started a Filipino center and opened a Sun- day schQol where each Sunday about forty little dark-faced children aTe being taught. They are now hoping to have a Filipino pastor and so be enabled to do even greater work. This is entirely an independent work Ull- del' no denomination. Although the Union is not helping in this now as an organization, many of our women are giving individually and are help- ing in the Sunday school.
~IKS. ELIZABETH STEPHEN THO~I A~, We have also about 4,000 Mexicans I·'OUNDER OF 'rUE UN I ON I N in Stockton. A strong mission with STOCKTON. CALIFORNIA a regular pastor is directly under the Methodist Church but some of the twenty churches and missions. The women of our Union are helping in Union was formed entirely for fellow- the Sunday school, and it has almost ship and to increase interest in the been a community interest.
We have a Chinese Mission, also under the Methodist Board. About 3,000 Chinese are registered in Stock- ton. Some of the women in our Union are helping here also.
great missionary work of the Church. The Japanese work is under the The churches at that time in Stock- Presbyterian Board. There are about ton were not hearing about the great 4,000 of them in Stockton. things being done on our missionary We frequently have the leaders of fields. In fact, some of the churches these various missions give a talk at did not have women's organizations. our Union meetings, have the children Mrs. Thomas, recognizing this fact, there, and ever keep before us the 840 necessity of helping the foreigner then, for over ten years, she has within our gates. served the Young Women's Christian Association in various capacities: as We recognize the Day of Prayer Girl Reserve Secretary in Detroit, with good attendance and a fine spirit. Michigan; placement secretary and of- The object of the organization has fice executive with the National Board paid well, for there is a fine spirit in New York; 1922-1924, General of missions among the women of our Secretary in Dorpat, Esthonia; 1924churches and our Women's City Mis- 1927, General Secretary in Riga, Latsionary Union has been the great fac- via. She has had considerable travel tor in promoting this spirit. in Europe in addition to her residence in the Baltic States. RELIGIOUS WORK FOR INDIAN The Councils welcome Miss Brick- SCHOOLS man with utmost heartiness, and with gratitude that this advance step is Eight years ago the Home Missions now possible. Her headquarters are Council and Council of Women for the office of the Council of Women for Home Missions, realizing the need and Home Missions, 105 East 22nd Street, opportunity for an adequate program New York City. of religious education in the government schools for Indians, especially THE CIVIC COMMITTEE the large non-reservation boarding schools, started to place in them Reli- ]orthern Baptist women nave taken a fine gious Work Directors serving inter- forward stev, setting up a Civic Committee of denominationally. There are at present the Voman's Home and .B"oreign 1Iissio11 Sosix such Directors serving eight cieties amI similar C'OllllHittf'(,8 in district, staff" schools. :u;sociation and local socif:'ties along the follow- The general program includes Bible in~ liuf's.-EDITOR. instruction, meetings of groups and classes, constructive social relation- WHAT IT IS NOT: ships, and student service activities with a world outreach. It is not a political organization. It is not a form of partisan politics. Until now administration of this It is not a channel for political work has been one of the responsi- propaganda. bilities of the executive charged with numerous lines of activity. Neces- WHAT IT IS: sarily this specific project has received but a small portion of his time. It It is a committee to emphasize the is with real rejoicing that it has been fact that casting an intelligent, conpossible now to appoint an executive scientious vote at every election is a to devote her entire time and energy Christian duty. to this service. Miss Helen M. Brickman started work this fall as this Na- It is a group of women who believe tional Director, Religious Work for that Christians can and should use Indian Schools. the vote to help make wrong condi- tions right. Miss Brickman has come with most evident enthusiasm for the task, a It is a committee to secure and cirvision of the great possibilities, and culate information concerning the a background of training and experi- integrity and fitness for office of indience which make her eminently quali- vidual candidates, local, state and nafied. She holds an A.B. from Cornell tional. The important thing about a University. For four years she taught candidate is his personal character English in the Woman's College at rather than his party affiliation. Due West, South Carolina, going from there to the Michigan State Normal It is a committee through which College as Student Secretary. Since Northern Baptist women unite in sup- port of righteousness, law observance, justice and universal peace and good will.
It is a factor for righteousness in our own land and, consequently, in all lands wi.th whi.ch we come in contact_ WHO SHOULD BE MEMBERS OF THE CIVIC COMMITTEE: Women who believe unconditionally in law observance and in punishment for law violation.
Women who will seek out and re- The very center of Civic Activity is port to their organizations the facts the VOTE~our vote. concerning those who are candidates for office. On each side of the vote is an I. One I is your Independent Investigation of Women who believe that every the merits and fitness of the candidates. Christian has a direct responsibility for improving the conditions under The other I is your Intelligent Inter- which our Government functions. pretation of news items which are often intentionally misleading. Women who will use their influence to interest other women in the civic Your Eyes should both be wide open, life of the community and of the na- that they may C. Then there will be tion. Conviction that you have a civic duty, and Courage to perform that duty your- WHAT THE CIVIC COMMITTEE self and to share your Conviction with WILL DO: others.
It will keep its constituency in- Would You? formed concerning the moral issues involved in elections. Would you be content that none should vote It will urge every Baptist woman to realize that her influence is important Who know what the vote is about? and her vote increases her influence. Then you've not much to lose If, holding those views, Each Civic Committee will keep in At the polls you do not turn out. close touch with the Civic Committee in the next smaller unit; i. e., Dis- Would you be content that none should trict with State, State with Associa- vote tion, etc. . Who distinguish the false from the true? Likewise each Civic Committee will Then you need not bother confer with and report regularly to To learn one from the other the Civic Committee in the next larger And you'll be a slacker, too. unit; i. e., Local with Association, Association with State, etc. Thus the Would you be content that none should chain will be complete from the na- vote tional to the local, and each committee will be a strong link in the chain. Save those whose votes are for sale? Then you may stay STANDARDS FOR THE LOCAL From the polls away WOMAN'S SOCIETY: And help honest votes to fail.
I. A Standing Committee of the For the ignorant vote' and the careless Society whose duty it is: vote (a) To promote interest in such And the vote for sale will be there; subjects as Law Observance, Temper- But how fearful the cost ance, Child Welfare, Public Health When the battle is lost and Public Morals, and in questions By the Christians who do not care! of national and international concern; CIVIC COMMITTEE (b) To endeavor to create in the women of the church a feeling of re- WOMAN'S AMERICAN BAPTIST FOREIGN sponsibility for the election of the right kind of public officials to local, MISSION SOCIETY state, and national offices. WOMAN'S AMERICAN BAPTIST HOME II. At least three programs a year, arranged by the Civic Committee on MISSION SOCIETY civic subjects, and given as a part of the regular meetings of the Woman's 276, Fifth Avenue, New York. Society. EMANCIPATIONS III. A definite purpose to lead every woman in the church to realize Clinton Howard's list of five great her responsibility, as a Christian citi- zen, for using her influence by regis- emancipations covering the last five tration and by vote. centuries: Your Vote "The great event of the 16th century C-onviction was discovery,-geographic emancipa- I-ndependent Investigation tion. V-ote I-ntelligent Interl)retation "The great event of the 17th century C-ourage. was the Reformation,-spiritual emanci- pation.
"The great event of the 18th century was democracy,-political emancipation.
"The great event of the 19th century was abolition,-physical emancipation.
"The great event of the 20th century thus far has been prohibition,-moral emancipation."
ORLD..WIDE
AFRICA dox, the Coptic Orthodox, and the Armenian Orthodox. The Veni Cre- "Old Message, New Methods" ator was first sung in English, and after that the Gloria in Greek. Then THIS is the motto of the Nile Mis- every man, as at Lausanne, recited the sion Press, which distributed 480,- Lord's Prayer in his own tongue, and 000 in 1927 as against 160,000 in 1923. after that a Prayer for Unity, in Dr. Upson describes as follows four Arabic. Then came a Coptic hymn ways the Press has of "carrying the and the lesson from St. John, "When good news": (1) The Egyptian donkey He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He is a very sturdy animal and most re- will guide you into all truth," was read liable. Several of our colporteurs in Armenian. It was also read again have donkeys; two, named "Galilee" in the Arabic and Greek. Bishop and "Samaria," were specially donated Gwynne's address was read in English for Palestine. (2) Our central book and afterward translated into the other depot sends out every year well over languages.-The Living Church. one thousand parcels of Arabic gospel books, and these are mostly carried by A Modern Paul in Abyssinia rail in the first instance. But to our Algeria branch we ship cases of our I N AN article about the new Abysbooks, say half a ton at a time. (3) Our sinian Frontiers Mission, Thomas automobile "The Messenger of Peace" A. Lambie, M.D., tells the story of (Rasoul-es-Sa1aam) , as it has been "Abba Paolos," or Father Paul: "He named, goes several times a week to was an Abyssinian monk who thought carry, not only the local colporteur, that if he made the pilgrimage to but several of our clerical staff, on the Jerusalem he would find peace, but principle that "'Twill do your soul he met some Swedish missionaries good to get out and preach and dis- who brought him to a real knowledge tribute." (4) Aeroplanes have also of Christ and he did not go to Jerubeen impressed into the service of the salem. He went back to Abyssinia King of Kings. Practically every and everywhere proclaimed his new Monday air-mail packets arrive from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He either Iraq or Persia, the former be- has earned his name Paul. He has ing orders for books from our cooper- been imprisoned and beaten and stoned ating agents at Baghdad and Basra, for the sake of Jesus, and yet he the latter consisting of fat packets of keeps his faith pure and sweet and printers' proofs from the Rev. W. N. strong. Recently he has been doing a Wysham, secretary of Persia Inter- great service here in Addis Ababa. Mission Council. The people seem to have softened a little toward him, and he is permitted A United Service in Khartoum FOR four years the various Chris- to speak of his Master even in the tian bodies in the Sudan have been Queen's palace. We love to have t1is accustomed to holding an annual old Christian hero come to see us. I united service in Khartoum Cathedral. even love his old staff and sandals and At this year's service, the fifth, there sheepskin cape. He is so kindly and were present besides the Anglicans true, and yet so firm in proclaiming with Bishop Gwynne, the Greek Ortho- the truth as it is in Jesus Christ."
843
Subdivided Africa thinking so that he firmly refused to become a Moslem. After leaving the T HE journey down the West Coast regiment he was a court messenger of Africa gives an insight into the for a time, and then was urged to benumber of subdivisions of African ter- come chief in his district. While he ritory and islands along the way. Be- was pondering over the wonders of tween Gibraltar and Cameroun, we sun, moon and stars, he went te talk stopped at ten ports in six different to the African catechist, who was areas, and we passed in all fourteen working in the neighborhood, and he different colonies, protectorates and led the chief to Christ. The Bishop political entities. Only one of these adds: fourteen divisions of African territories is independent; all the other "What a joy to be in a Christian are colonies or protectorates or man- chief's compound, to see his shining dates of some European power. face and to hear his children singing Christian hymns. There is real re- Liberia is the only country in all vival here, and we must do our best Africa which has its own nationalist to enter into possession of the towns government, Egypt and Abyssinia be- which are waiting. On October 2 being the only other countries with semi- tween 200 and 300 people came to independent powers. American in- church in the morning, and the servfluence is evident in Liberia. ice was entirely in Mendi, by request. The chief brought a calf and two and W. REGINALD WHEELER. a half bushels of rice as a thankoffer- ing. He had refused to have heathen A Wireless froln Africa sacrifices at planting time, and instead had prayers on his farm. He says T HE progress of modern science that even the birds have no power and its relation to missionary over his rice now!"-The Church Miswork, is illustrated by a wireless mes- sionary Gleaner. sage received by Mrs. Robert M. Russell of Larchmont, N. Y., whose hus- The Open Book band left America last May to visit the Presbyterian missions in West ~~OUR Yakusu district with its five Africa. On July 11th, Mrs. Russell, hundred village schools defiwho was at Northfield, Mass., received a message from her husband in nitely stands for the Open Book," Africa, transmitted over Mr. Edwin writes the Rev. W. H. Ennals, of Cozzen's radio, at Elat, 5,000 {uiles Yakusu, West Africa. away and received by Mr. F. M. Whitaker of Durham, N. C. From "The educational standard even of him it was transmitted to Mr. Henry many of the teachers is not high, but C. Wing, of Greenfield, Mass., who they are opening the Book to thouhas a summer station at the top of the sands of young people by teaching Mohawk Trail in the Berkshires. He them how to read, and by placing in in turn transmitted the message to their hands the Book of Books. Writ- Mrs. Russell. Thus a space that re- ing and other subjects are taught, but quires six weeks or more for a letter reading takes precedence, the ability was traversed in less than twenty-four to read makes them susceptible to the hours by radio. Life-giving Message. Our people here often refer to God as being the 'God A Chief's Conversion of Books,' in contrast with the often unintelligible recitations of Catholic THE Anglican Bishop of Sierra catechists and Moslem mullahs. The Leone writes of a Christian chief African has missed the ages of slow whom he met lately, a man formerly and patient development by which his a soldier in the West African Regi- big white brother has reached his ment. While stationed at Freetown present position. This very month he used to attend the cathedral serv- we have been able to place in the ices and what he learned there set him
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
hands of our people the new edition of now enclosed by a SUbstantial fence the Lokele New Testament. and appropriately marked with a slab "In the interests of the Open Bible bearing the inscription: we labor to deliver these people from STANLEY LIVINGSTONE, 1871 superstition and vice by sending to them men endued by the Spirit of What a privilege to stand in the God to break the chains of ignorance shadow of the same tree that had shel- and indifference."-The Bible in the tered the two great missionary-explor- World. ers! And how challenged they were by the vivid memory of that life con- Congo Women Work for Church sumed by zeal for the evangelization LUKOLELA is a station of the Eng- of the great "Dark Continent"! The lish Baptist Missionary Society, missionaries learned from natives which was without a resident Euro- that, as yet, no missionary has settled pean missionary for several years, but in this town or in the surrounding diswhich has been occupied for nearly trict. One feeble old man in the group two years by Rev. and Mrs. Alfred was a boy when the notable meeting Stonelake. The latter writes: "To between Livingstone and Stanley took the women belongs the honor of doing place. Since that day, nearly two genthe first bit of work for the new erations have passed into eternity unchurch. Mantala organized the wom- warned, and Christ is still unknown to en to clear the site. This was begun these people.
by an early morning prayer meeting on the telegraph road alongside the A Centenary Among the Kafllrs T site. Lukolela is on the slope of a hill, HE centennial of the mission to the Kaffirs of the Moravians of so the site had to be leveled. Again the women came to the rescue, and a Germany was recently celebrated at tough job they had, for the soil is very Silo, South Africa. During these hard to work. The ground was di- hundred years the Moravian Church vided into three sections, and the sent out to this mission 60 mission- women Christians, inquirers, and aries. The beginnings were uncom- school children divided into three monly difficult. In 1851 the station groups, so that each would be re- was destroyed in war by British sponsible for a given part of the work. troops, after the ten missionaries who They all gave a morning a week for were stationed there had fled with three weeks until the task was suc- about 150 natives. The reason for the cessfully accomplished." war was the fact that Silo was the center of an uprising which had been Fifty-seven Years_nd Stin Waiting started by the medicine-man Umlan- T HE first party of missionaries of jeni. During the severe trials of the the Unevangelized Africa Mission, World War, the number of Christians a new independent mission started by increased by 1,700. Now there are in Rev. Charles E. Hurlburt, founder of all about 12,000 souls.
the Africa Inland Mission, has re- cently sailed for Africa. While at Unpossessed Territory Kigoma, on the eastern short of Lake ~~SEVERAL evangelistic trips have Tanganyika awaiting a steamer, they been made to remote parts of went about four miles south on the our Kitui district (Central Africa), lake to the town of Ujiji, the historic and in some places a real interest in meeting place of Stanley and Living- the Word has been shown," writes the stone. On arriving in the town they Rev. Charles W. Teasdale of the Af- were directed through uneven streets, rican Inland Mission. "From March between rows of thatch-roofed houses. 21st to 26th, a trip covering nearly Curious natives followed and a "meet- two hundred fifty miles was made, of ing" took place under a tree which is which about fifty miles were on foot.
In that time we talked to nearly a cerns itself with local native condi- thousand people about the salvation in tions such as native rescue work, rec- Christ Jesus. We visited a place reation grounds, native dietary, etc., where over twenty years ago German while the council at Pietersburg missionaries had camped for nine (Transvaal) has made efforts to cope months, preaching the Word. Since with a large amount of immorality that time no missionary had been among native women and girls. among them, and only very seldom a native Christian went among them "Nothing," says the Outlook, "could carrying the Gospel. That place is be more helpful than the awakening seventy-nine miles from Mulango, and of young South Africa to the needs of near the border of another tribe, the this great matter." Atharaka, who are still within our district, but to whom no missionary has THE NEAR EAST yet gone.-Inland Africa. Modernizing Turks Inter-Racial Councils in South Africa ALL members of the Turkish Parlia- THE South African Outlook reports the valuable work of the Joint l'l. ment and of the Cabinet, includ- Councils of Europeans and Natives in various centers of the Union. Kim- ing Ismet Pasha, the Premier, must berley is one of the towns which has follow the example of Mustapha recently formed such a Society, which Kemal, President of the Republic, and will find active work in the direction become schoolmasters of the Latin alof housing and hygiene subjects which phabet, which is to replace Arabic have been energetically taken up by characters in Turkey, according to a the present Town Council. recent dispatch from Constantinople.
On the Rand interesting recent de- An order was issued that the 200 velopments are reported, such as the Deputies who attended the recent lesestablishment of a Refuge for desti- sons in the new ABC at the Dolma tute native children and aged persons, Bagthche palace must visit their electhe Bridgman Memorial Native Hos- toral districts and teach the new alphapital, shortly to be opened, and a Na- bet to their constituents before tive Health Committee. Parliament opens. When Parliament votes in November, it probably will The Pretoria Joint Council ap- make the old Arabic characters taboo pointed a sub-committee to investigate after one year instead of fifteen as the condition of native juveniles, originally planned. which has lately issued an informing report showing, inter alia, that about Eastern Church Progress 40 per cent of the 5,500 juveniles may be classed as loafers, constituting a THE progressive influences at work source of annoyance to the republic, in the Eastern Orthodox Churches and a potential danger to the commun- offer a great opportunity for Evanity. The report made a number of gelical Christianity. A new generapractical recommendations, including tion of priests and students has a new the provision of compulsory education, outlook on the world. An increasing of a Juvenile Court, of suitable recre- number of the leaders of these ation, etc., in order to remove many churches are becoming informed about of the causes of juvenile delinquency. and interested in the churches of the West. They have much to contribute Blremfontein has formed a commit- to our common Christian spirit and tee of twelve European and twelve life. They have an opportunity to Native members the former including render mediatorial service in those a good proportion of younger men of countries where Protestant churches culture. are among political minorities and there are instances of the desire of The Pietermaritzburg Council con- their leaders to fulfill it.-The Chris- tian Intelligencer.
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Moslem and Atheist governments of Lebanon, Syria, Pales- THE LONDON CHRISTIAN sug- tine, Trans-Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and gests that the disestablishment of the Sudan; 721 graduates are physi- Islam will be found to be synonymous cians either in government service or with the enthronement of Atheism in private practice, 271 are in business Moslem lands. It adds that "Those and the remainder are engaged in eduwho are in a position to speak with cational, religious, journalistic and the advantage of first-hand knowledge legal work. These men are raising of present-day conditions in Turkey, the standards of professional and confirm this. An aggressive spirit of business ethics, fighting disease and godlessness is rampant among the ignorance and promoting principles of Turkish leaders under the Angora peace and accord among the diverse ?'egime, and morality and right living nationalities and many sects of the are at a low ebb. With Bolshevik Near East."
Russia, Turkey stands as a bulwark of atheism between the West and the Persian Christian Literature East. But there remains the view ACKNOWLEDGING on behalf of the that, from the Christian missionary fl. Inter-Mission Literature Commit- standpoint, atheism is probably more tee in Persia:, a gift from the Ameri- vulnerable, than is Mohammedanism in can Christian Literature Society for its hide-bound self-satisfaction and Moslems, J. D. Payne writes of the conservatism. Whatever view is value to the Persian Christian con- taken of the present state of religious vert from Islam of the Bible diction- life in the Near East, it seems clear ary which that gift will make possible.
that there is a challenge to those who He continues: "In America there are would carry the banner of Christ in many Christian periodicals, so to the forefront of the fight against evil. say that your gifts have enabled us -The Alliance Weekly. to start in Persia a Christian period- ical means little; to the Persian Beirut University Graduates Christian it means that at last he may PRESIDENT BAYARD DODGE have a periodical containing inspira- of the American University in tional and devotional articles for the Beirut, known for so many years to strengthening of his Christian life the Christian world as the Syrian and in his mother tongue. The list Protestant Colleges, writes: "At the might be extended by the mention of present time King Feisal's secretary, commentaries, Sunday-school lessons the director of medical services, the and devotional books now in preparasecretary of the council of ministers, tion to give the Persian Christian in and the inspector of education in Iraq the language he knows, the help which are graduates of the University. The will bring him in perfect union with head of the Bahai religion in Haifa, Him who is our Master. In short, it the leading judge of Palestine, the means an interest in pUblication and Governor of Tiberias, the director of circulation of literature in the work the Ministry of Interior in Cairo, the of evangelizing Persia such as we have editor of the leading newspaper in not had since the first messengers of Cairo and in the Arabic world, the the Gospel first set foot on her soi!."
civil judge of Khartoum, the Minister of Interior and Public Health in the INDIA AND SIAM Lebanon Republic, and the medical of- "Victory to Jesus Christ"
A ficer of the government of Syria, are FINE new brick church, accom- modating at least 600, with a high all graduates of the University. In sixty-two years the University has square tower which is a landmark to graduated 1,328 students. Of these the 'surrounding district, has been 151 physicians, pharmacists, dentists, built at Batemanabad, India, and was and nurses are in the employ of the dedicated by the Bishop of the Church
of England Mission on March lOth. Afghanistan will no longer submit to The foundations were dug December the domination of bigoted and ignor- 15th, so that to finish the building by ant priests. The influence of progress March was something of an achieve- in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, ment, involving as it did the laying Persia, Turkey and India has peneof 225,000 bricks. The cost was £600, trated their country and the emergence practically the whole of which was of women from the purdah will take contributed by Indians. On the fol- place in a steadily-increasing volume lowing Sunday there were 300 com- until all Moslem women, in both Afmunicants. ghanistan and India, are as free as are their Christian sisters of India The dedication was attended by and the Occident. eight clergy and a large congregation. As the service proceeded, the meaning 'Work Am.ong Benares Pilgrims of each part of it was explained to the people. At the end all stood up To THE missionary staff of Benand shouted: "Yigu Masih ki jai" ares the huge crowds of pilgrims (Victory to Jesus Christ) three times. offer an opportunity for special serv- Canon Force-Jones, says: "This was ice. For the period of the festival the only time during the service that many of the missionaries put all other the congregation stood up; and it was duties aside and stand, with extra fortunate that it was so, for if they large supplies of Gospels and other had risen before they would have been Christian books in the various vernaunable to sit down again! The build- culars, on the thoroughfares of the ing was packed from end to end."- city where the pilgrims must pass on The Church Missionary Gleaner. their way to the river. The pilgrims are usually quite serious and devout, A Call to Moslem W om.en and intent on the spiritual quest. The offer of attractively printed and bound WHILE Hindu women are emanci- books is sufficient to sell a dozen or pating themselves, with the en- so straight off. It is a great time, and couragement of enlightened men of hundreds of books are sold mainly to their community, a resounding call to visitors who will carry them away to their Moslem neighbors to do the same their distant villages, where they will thing comes from Queen Surayya and be read and re-read. It is a "broad- King Amanullah of Afghanistan. casting" effort of which we do not see When Queen Surayya discarded the any immediate result, but we believe purdah upon embarking for Europe it is well worth while to sow the Word a considerable sensation was caused, of God in this way. not only in her own country, but among Moslems in India. It was then There is great need for more defifreely suggested that she would volun- nite systematic Christian work among tarily return to its slavery upon her these pilgrims, both the regular return to her home-land. stream and the occasional multitude. There are many openings for service The Queen and her husband learned in Benares, in addition to temperance many lessons during their tour and one and social service work for the outof them was that life is too precious caste, pastoral work for the Christian to throwaway behind the purdah. Church and occasional meetings for Since her return to Kabul the Queen the English educated students, numappears unveiled at public functions hering 2,000 in the great Hindu Uniand calls to Moslem women to follow versity alone.-The L. M. S. Chronicle. her example, which in her present circumstances, is mighty. Selling Gospels in Kedgaon The moulvies of the capital are WRITING from Kedgaon, India, greatly disturbed over what they re- Miss L. Couch, associated with gard as a menace to morals and re- the Mission founded by the late Panligion. Their day of power is passing.
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK S49
dita Ramabai, says: "God is blessing groups so widely scattered, holds a the work at the railway station. We position of great advantage for the are giving Gospels and tracts in three work of permeating the population languages to the passengers, and many with Christian ideas and the contagion take them eagerly. Strange to say, of Christian hope. Means should be Mohammedans seldom refuse to take taken to bring these facts strikingly Urdu gospels. One man almost lost before the mind of the church groups his train after coming to me for a in each district and, by prayer and book. Sometimes we come across girls faith, to strengthen and encourage who are able to read these days. them on their own ground." Widows, too, take the Gospels to their homes. A short time ago a mission- Centen!1ia.l for Sia.m ary called me to see a guard who was travelling with him, quite a young THE hundredth anniversary of man. He said I had given him an Christian work in Siam will be English New Test.ament and other celebrated in December of this year. books, which had been blessed to him. In December, 1828, Rev. Karl Gutzlaff, The guards all speak English, and are the famous pioneer missionary of the always pleased to take New Testa- Netherlands Missionary Society, and ments, magazines, etc. When read, Rev. Jacob Tomlin of the London Misthey take them home to their wives. sionary Society, reached Siam. An- Pandita Ramabai put up posters on other picturesque early character was the main road, with Marathi gospel Rev. Dan Bradley, who introduced texts printed on them. Numbers of vaccination and the printing press into passers-by read them and even copy Siam. The first permanent work by them down. When we happen to see Presbyterians was inaugurated by them, we call them to our compound, Stephen Mattoon and Dr. Samuel where stands a cupboard packed with House, who came in 1847. The Combooks. Three well-educated Indian mittee preparing for the anniversary young men came in one day and each of Christian work represents English asked for a Marathi Bible. They were and American missionary societies, the given to them, with an English New American Bible Society, the Chinese Testament." Christians, and two organized Siamese presbyteries.
Christian Forces in Bengal "Rice Christians" in Siam REV WILLIAM CAREY, of Dacca, I N NORTH SIAM there are great has prepared a pamphlet with the stretches of hilly jungle where it above title, published by the National is impossible to work the ordinary Christian Council of India. He speaks paddy fields that must be flooded, so of the density of the population in the people cut down the jungle on the Bengal, and of the fact that govern- hillsides and when dry burn it, the ment statistics show only three Chris- ashes making a good fertilizer. Then tians per thousand, but he goes on to the hill rice is planted. In one of say: "While the total population in- these hill-rice districts Christianity creased during the last decade by only has taken hold and is growing. 2.8 per cent, the Christians increased by 14.8 per cent and an increased ratio Not long ago a young man was reis constant. The number of Chris- ceived into one of the country tians in Bengal has more than doubled churches and not long after moved to during the last forty years. They are this new district. He didn't know found in all the twenty-eight British much about the Gospel story but what districts and two Bengal States of the he knew he told. He knew that Province, as well as in Sikkim. They Christ had power to deliver men from are sown through the land. The sin and the fear of evil spirits and he Church in Bengal, composed of those spread the story about the district. His message was received with inter- 6
est and soon came a request to send a be a tenant in the village unless his teacher to them and after a few monthly income is under $15 (Amermonths' instruction a small group was ican) a month. The monthly rent is baptized and received into the church. $3, and the tenant must pay the taxes. Two village headmen were received Each house (which is very small) is and the group grew until it was too limited to one family, and cannot be large to meet in a house. Then there sublet. Opium-smoking and gambling was talk of building a chapel, which and immoral practices are strictly protalk developed into offerings and ac- hibited. tion. Bamboo shingles were made, boards sawed, and posts bought and Higher Education in Ohina gradually the little chapel was erected. The dedication took place this spring REV. A. R. KEPLER, Executive and no city congregation was ever Secretary of the General Council more proud of its house of worship. of the recently established Church of There are now five chapels in the Prae Christ in China, writes of the annual field and several other groups where meeting of the Council on Christian the Christian people meet in houses. Higher Education, held in Shanghai: There is a membership of over seven "The Council is composed of two or hundred persons who with their chil- three representatives from each of the dren make a parish of more than a colleg'e!s and universities of China. thousand.-J. L. Hartzell. There were about thirty in attendance. This gathering was unique because of OHINA AND TIBET the leadership, which has so evidently transferred itself from the missionary Model Village in Shanghai to the Chinese. A very significant for- ward step had been taken by the ma- ABOUT two years ago the American jority of the colleges during the past Friends Service Committee made twelve months. Practically everyone an appropriation of $1,000 toward the of the colleges and universities a year building of a model village in one of ago were still headed up by missionary the congested suburbs of Shanghai, administrators. Now five of the fore- China. Mr. Eugene E. Barrett, one of most colleges already have Chinese as the "Y" Secretaries in Shanghai, Presidents. Two or three others have writes that the whole enterprise is Chinese as administrative heads, creating a tremendous amount of in- though not yet officially elected as terest in not only the village and the President of their institution. Those hut connected with it, but in many of us who were privileged to attend other parts of the city. The Shanghai the meeting of the Council on Higher Y. M. C. A. has undertaken to raise Education and see these men attack $15,000 to construct forty-two addi- the problem of Christian higher edutional houses in the model village. The ction could not fail to have born within Y. M. C. A. has been able to promote us a scene of deep satisfaction and educational work in the village by confidence in the future leadership of founding an industrial school for Christian higher education in China." laborers' children; an English evening school for workmen; an evening Loyal Christians in Hunan school for women, with an enrollment of 124, mostly laborers; and a read- AFTER attending in Hankow the aning room that is open daily. In addition there is regular playground work; ft nual meeting of a divisional a free dispensary for prevention of infectious diseases; health lectures; council of the new Church of Christ music clubs; and motion picture in China, Rev. A. R. Kepler, general shows. Some of the model village secretary of the church's General Asregulations are interesting to an sembly. writes: "It is most encourag- American. For instance. no one can ing to note the loyalty of the Hunan Christians in the face of the most
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
bitter persecution. In those districts 000; Annam, 120,000; Macao, 71,000; where 30,000 were killed and entire Cuba, 60,000; Peru, 45,000; Siberia, towns and villages destroyed . . . not 27,000; Ceylon, 2,500. Scattered only has there been a most encourag- throughout other countries are esti- ing conservation of our Christian mated to be 82,000 Chinese emigrants.
constituency, but there has been note- worthy progress as well." He tells of Chinese Famine Relief A a new Christian community of eighty CABLE from Shanghai, under date of July 23d, says that Dr. believers with sixty in regular attendance at the Sunday service, which C. T. Wang, foreign minister of the community is the fruitage of an evan- Nationalist government, says that his gelistic band which visited their lo- government is unable to approve ef- cality. These eighty Christians have forts in America to raise $10,000,000 provided their own place of worship. under the program for famine relief They themselves made their church calling for road building and other furniture and have assumed responsi- items of reconstruction. The cable bility for their religious leadership. dispatch says that Dr. Wang told Mr.
"This incident," he says, "would be Earl Baker, representative of the noteworthy under normal circum- Famine Relief Fund, that the attitude stances. Fralped as it is in the lurid of the Nanking government was highenvironment of revolution and perse- ly favorable to any move purely to aid cution, it is a challenge for greater the famine-stricken Chinese. Dr. faith and sacrifice to Christians Wang's statement is quoted as foleverywhere." lows: "However, I understand the project Chinese Away from Home calls for a program of road building and general reconstruction. This ACCORDING to figures just pub- would take scores of millions of dol- 1". lished by the Peking Foreign Of- lars, and I believe it would be an impractical project for foreign philanfice after a check with diplomatic and thropists. Furthermore, reconstrucconsular missions in foreign countries, tion is the duty of the Chinese 8,000,000 Chinese live outside of their Government, and acceptance of such an native land. Chinese living under offer of charity is certainly beneath our dignity. We are not beggars." American protection number 200,000, of whom only 150,000 are in the Dr. Wang praised the famine relief United States proper. The balance re- work done by Americans in the past, side in the Philippine Islands. "This and said he would highly welcome simofficial Chinese estimate" says The ilar projects in the future, but con- American Missionary "is interesting, sidered the scope of the present since the United States Census for project, as outlined by Mr. Baker, as 1920 gives only 61,639 for continental impractical and likely to be unpopular United States and 23,507 for Hawaii, among the Chinese. a total of only 85,000 instead of the 150,000 which Chinese consuls report."
Excluding Australia and Hongkong, JAPAN-KOREA more than 1,500,000 Chinese emigrants Wanted to Hear About Jesus have taken up their homes under the REV. A. P. HASSELL, D.D., of British flag in various quarters of the Tokushima, Japan, speaks of world. The Chinese population of visiting a town thirty-five miles away Hongkong is 444,648, and of Aus- and of telling the Sunday-school chiltralia 25,772. In the Dutch Indies it dren there the story of Naaman and is computed to be 2,825,000. French the little girl from Israel. Says Dr.
Indo-China has 1,020,000 Chinese set· Hassell : tlers. Other countries in order of "After I finished telling that story I numbers are as follows: Malaya, 903,- saw a girl about eighteen years old
who had been paying very close atten- Chosen. The Sendai program is espetion. She came up and told me that she cially interesting. It will last five days. had gotten up at about daylight at her Pastors and lay representatives will be home and had walked a long distance brought in from the country. and gotten on the train and come all the way because she wanted to hear Perhaps of more far reaching imabout Jesus. I asked if she was a portance is the new attitude of the Christian. She said she had not been students graduating from our theobaptized. Then I asked if she had ever logical colleges. They belong to a new heard a Christian sermon before. She generation and realize that the indihad not, but said that several of her vidual Christian is a citizen as well as friends in the same silk factory had a church member. This new interest Bibles and hymn books and that they is developing rapidly and is not due to sang hymns a great deal. She said any conscious movement within the she was praying every morning and church. The great dapger is that this that she loved Jesus. There are people new interest which is most healthy everywhere who want to know Jesus. and timely should learn to depend You can help us by praying that ~d upon Marx and Russia for nourishwill enable us to find them and them ment. The danger is very real because to find us."-The Christian Observer. no Christian solution is being put for- ward today with anything like the Social Interest in Japan vigor of militant communism.
~~ACHANGE is coming over the Temperance Lectnre Wins Prize Japan Methodist Church in its LAST winter all the guilds in Seoul social outlook," says the Rev. P. G. held a joint meeting in the Y. M. Price, Director of the Social Bureau C. A. auditorium to discuss the quesof the Japan Methodist Church. "For tions, "What should we Korean people years it has been conscious of the evils do in order to become like other naof intemperance and public prostitu- tions and how can we accomplish it?" tion but not of the inequality, the suf- Six different people with wide expefering and exploitation of the working rience were invited to answer this classes in.this industrial age. The question, and first, second and third church did not get to know these prizes were offered, the audience bethings because it was located in a ing the judges. Miss Cordelia Erwin, quiet street near the middle school or a Southern Methodist missionary, university-away from the hum of the writes: "Mrs. Mary Son, Korean Nabusy factory. tional W. C. T. U. lecturer and organ- izer, was among those invited to speak. There are today abundant signs that She pointed out the appalling waste this period of isolation from the life in time, money, resources, efficiency of the common people is passing. In and human lives, caused by the con- Tokyo the Methodist pastors are meet- sumption of alcoholic liquors. She ing periodically for the study of mod- reviewed facts and figures recently ern problems. The Tokyo district gathered at the government revenue meeting has a very active committee offices. Korea's population is esticonsisting of representatives from all mated at 10,000,000. Recently a man, the churches. This committee has with some education, who had a wife itself met for study and also arranged and six children, was glad to get a a very successful two day's meeting job with a salary of thirty yen a for all Methodist members of Tokyo. month; yet the ~vernment receives The condition of the poor was one of taxes, to say nothing of bootleggers, the chief topics on the program. Dur- on a drink bill of 83,429,170 yen. She ing this year special meetings for the gave them a rousing temperance leceducation of our church in a social ture and was awarded the first prize way are being held in four centers,- with great applause." Sendai, Shizuoka, Okayama and
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
Japanese Leper Hospitals of practical teachers to the young men around them–consultants ready and A OLTMANS, secretary for Japan willing at all times to consult with the • of the American Mission to Korean colleagues. In short the for- Lepers, reports the existence of twelve eign physician is in one, leader, teachhospitals for lepers in Japan, seven er, friend and all 'for Christ's sake.' of them under private auspices. The The foreign physician came to Korea five government hospitals house over for the Koreans and not for himself." two thousand patients, about twothirds of the total number. He says: ISLANDS OF THE SEA "During the past year the government authorities at their five hospitals have The Bible for the Filipinos continued to show themselves friendly and helpful toward the Christian work THE Converted Catholic informs us carried on in these several places and that "during the 200 years under a large number of patients have con- Spanish rule the Philippine Islands fessed Christ as their Saviour and did not receive the Bible in one Philip- Lord. These nuclei of Christian be- pine tongue. The American Bible lievers at the government hospitals Society put the Scriptures into eight are in many cases earnest in trying to chief languages of the islands in the commend Christianity to the other pa- first two decades after the islands betients and it.is largely due to these came the wards of the United States. earnest endeavors that the growth in Other translations have followed. Renumbers takes place. The same privi- vision in some of the dialects will be leges are granted in these hospitals to done this year." Buddhism and Shintoism as to the Christian religion, and all three have New Zealand Volunteers their stated meetings." I N THE New Zealand Methodist Medical Missions in Korea Theological College there are six students who have volunteered for T HE position of the mission hos- foreign mission work. These men pital in Korea today, as summar- feel that if their own church cannot ized by Z. Bercovitz, M.D., Ph.D., employ them in its missions, they may Presbyterian missionary in Andong, be compelled to offer themselves to Korea, "is that of leader in all things some other missionary society. They medical, scientific, evangelistic, and have formed a missionary group, and in all efforts at public health and chosen as their motto, "The world is hygiene. The scope of the mission my parish." They propose thus to hospital is first, to preach the Gospel maintain the missionary spirit in of Jesus Christ to the Koreans; second, their college, and they aim to induce to cooperate with and help the young every student in the college to become Korean doctors who are opening priv- a world outlook man, to inspire every ate hospitals; third, to spread infor- student with a zealous missionary mation about health and hygiene to all spirit, and to take a personal interest possible people; fourth, to do the best in the staff on the field. Every alterpossible medical and surgical prac- nate Thursday morning, from 6: 45 tice." Dr. Bercovitz continues: "The to 7: 15, the group holds a devotional foreign missionary physician finds one meeting. A fortnightly evening meetof his greatest opportunities is to be ing is also held for mission study. friendly to the young Korean doctors These men are also seeking to form who are attempting to start private groups in other colleges. Since the hospitals. The position is difficult and formation of this group "the students calls for the greatest demonstration of have decided each to seek a day's work Christian grace, brotherhood and will- at gardening or some other useful ingness to help. The foreign phy- occupation, and to devote the wages sicians should be here in the position earned to the foreign mission fund." – The Open Door.•
The Pan-Pacific Women's Conference "5. To secure and collate accurate in- formation concerning the material re- THE first Pan-Pacific Women's Con- sources of Pacific lands; to study the ference was held August 9th-18th ideas and opinions that mould public in Honolulu. Delegates from each opinion among the peoples of the sevcountry around the Pacific partici- eral Pacific races, and to bring men topated and, in addition, two non-voting gether who can understandingly discuss associate delegates from each impor- these in a spirt of fairness. tant women's organization. The conference is held under the auspices of "6. To bring together in round table the Pan-Pacific Union, of which the discussion in every Pacific land those of Hon. Wallace R. Farrington, Governor all races resident therein who desire to of the Territory of Hawaii, is presi- bring about better understanding and codent. operative effort among the peoples and races of the Pacific. Delegates from the 'United States were chosen by an international com- "7. To bring all nations and peoples about the Pacific Ocean into closer friendly commercial contact and relation- ship."
mittee in Hawaii, representing the NORTH AMERICA five sections on the program-Health, Education, Women in Industry and New Hom.e Missions Councils the Professions, Women in Government, Social Service. Miss Jane Ad- DENOMINATIONAL leaders in dams, of Chicago, was the honorary both Kentucky and Tennessee chairman of the conference. have recently organized State Home Missions Councils. In Kentucky a Two years ago the committees of the state-wide conference of home misvarious sections first began their task sion representatives is to be held at of finding out what subjects would be Lexington this fall. The President of of greatest interest. the Kentucky Council is Rev. E. C. Lucas. The President of the Tennes- The Bulletin of the Pan-Pacific see organization is Bishop H. M. Du- Union states that the Union is "an Bose of the Methodist Episcopal unofficial organization, the agent of Church South. The organization exno government, but with the good-will pects to give special attention to preof all in bringing the peoples of the venting church competition and to Pacific together into better under- meeting the needs of rural areas. standing and cooperative effort for the advancement of the interests common A Massachusetts '"'Copec"
to the Pacific area." UNDER the leadership of the Massa- chusetts Federation of Chu rbcehiens~ The following are the chief aims a project of adult education is and objects of the Pan-Pacific Union: carried forward which is popularly "1. To bring together, in friendly conference, leaders in all lines of thought known as the Massachusetts COPEC. and action in the Pacific area; to assist in pointing them toward cooperative ef- Its purpose is "to seek for the fort for the advancement of those interests that are common to all the peoples. churches of Massachusetts that force "2. To bring together ethical leaders which comes from frequent discussion from every Pacific land who will meet for the study of problems of fair dealings and consequent united information on and ways to advance international justice in the Pacific area, that misunderstand- great social issues." The plan includes ing may be cleared. the preparation of materialg for dis- "3. To bring together from time to time scientific and other leaders from cussion groups to be held in the Pacific lands Who will present the great vital Pan-Pacific scientific problems in- churches during the next two years on cluding those of race and population. the basis of the findings of these local "4. To follow out the recommendations of the scientific and other leaders in the groups. State-wide findings are to be encouragement of all scientific research work of value to Pacific peoples. prepared and in 1930 a "Conference on Christianity, Politics, Economics and Citizenship" will be held.
The Discussion Outlines cover the following topics:
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
(1) The Social Function of the Church. the College of Missions of the Dis- (2) Family Problems. ciples of Christ at Indianapolis, the (3) Christian Citizenship. students were sent last year to the (4) Personality, Property and Social Kennedy School of Missions at Hart- Order. ford Connecticut, together with a (5) Economic Problems (Industrial group of furloughed missionaries. The and Rural). year's experiment there was so en- (6) International Problems. couraging that it has led to a decision (7) Religious Education. to affiliate the College of Missions with the Hartford school for three years. Protestants in Chicago The terms of the effected affiliation, T HE Chicago Church Federation briefly stated, are as follows: through its Young People's Commission has recently brought out the (1) The College of Missions preserves fourth edition of "The Official Direc- its full legal and institutional identity, tory of the Protestant Churches of with power to grant degrees. Metropolitan Chicago." It is a compendious volume of 228 pages, con- (2) Disciple students, though registaining exhaustive information con- tered in the College of Missions, have cerning the organized church life of access to all the courses, residential acthe city. Every Protestant church to- commodations, and other facilities offered gether with a complete list .of ·its by the Hartford Foundation, on equal officers is listed, along with much sup- terms with the students of the Hartford plementary information about the va- Schools. rious denominations in the city. (3) Hartford students, likewise, have Clinic for Theological Students equal access to courses provided by the College of Missions. WILLIAM S. KELLER, M.D., an Episcopal layman in Cincinnati, (4) The courses contributed by the spent the summer helping eighteen College of Missions will be supplementary students from the various divinity to those already existing in the regplar schools of the Protestant Episcopal schools of the Foundation, so that there Church to supplement their theological will be no duplication of work. education by a summer course in social work. He calls his experiment "A (5) The College of Missions will issue Clinic in Life Problems." The method a separate catalogue. is for each student to ally himself to one of the social work agencies in Cin- (6) The College of Missions Library cinnati, and for all the students to will cooperate by loans to the Hartford meet together in seminaries to discuss Library. their experience. Cooperation in California. Dr. Keller says: "Seminaries must find some way to retain all of their T HE principal religious bodies of spiritual value, continue to educate Los Angeles are making an effort clergy with the much-needed back- to cooperate in spiritual education for ground that the present-prescribed the students at the University of Calcourses assure and such additional ifornia. Representatives of Jewish, supervision as will make them scien- Protestant, Episcopalian and Catholic tific leaders of men, social diagnosti- groups, after discussing with the utcians and social engineers."-Federal most frankness the problem and need Council Bulletin. for religious education of some kind in institutions of higher learning, The College of Missions, Hartford came to a realization that cooperation was possible and desirable, without in- BECAUSE of the small group of fringing upon or attacking the doc- students in training, and the trinal positions of participating large expense in attempting to conduct churches. The consensus of opinion among the participating members of the various groups was throughout that religion must re-enter the educa- tional field formally or lose its in- fluence. As a result, articles of incorporation were filed at the end of July by which the University -Re-
ligious Conference was set up. In the spiritual preparation be made that hands of this organization will be those won may come into vital rela- placed the general control of various tion with Jesus Christ before they be- religious activities at the State Uni- come church members, as also that versity. There will be an effort to es- Christian growth necessitates the tablish a school of religion which will wisest Christian nurture. The read- offer courses in religious subjects and ing of the Bible received due emphasis.
philosophical studies for students. The simultaneous reading of the Bible Mr. Thomas S. Evans, formerly Gen- by scores of thousands of Christians eral Secretary of the Daily Vacation is exceedingly helpful and is rapidly Bible Schools, has been called as Gen- growing. The books to be read next eral Secretary of this student work at January and February are the Epis- the University. tles to the Corinthians and St. Mark, to be followed by the Fellowship of A "Retreat" on Evangelism Prayer. Plans are already well under T HE Commission on Evangelism way for a united celebration of the and Life Service of the Federal nineteen hundredth anniversary of Council of the Churches of Christ in Pentecost in 1930. '
America held a "retreat" of three days during June at the Gramaton Hotel, Fe.deration of Protestant Charities Bronxville, .New York. The member- ,..S THE general field of philanthropy ship of the company is made up of the tl. is surveyed there are three broad Secretaries of Evangelism in the va- divisions which it is believed can be rious churches represented in the Fed- regarded as. reasonably permanent; era.l Council and invited guests. namely, Catholic, Jewish and Protes- According to the "Findings" it was tant.
deemed wise that more thought should If one wishes to make contributions be given to the matter of "integrating to Jewish or Catholic institutions, new members into the life and work without specifying definite organiza- of the Church," and now effective tions, there are vehicles already in methods must be found whereby this existence in the Federation of Jewish can be done successfully. It was felt Charities, and the Catholic Charities.
that in "all classes preparatory to Hitherto no similar vehicle has existed church membership due emphasis for Protestant Charities, with. the re- should be placed on the fact that en- sult that Protestant donors have been listment in the church was for life obliged to select specific institutions and for a life of service. The vital without assurance that in the course relationship between evangelism and of time these institutions may not education was clearly brought out. cease to function.
Religious education must be evangel- With this in view the Directors of ism before it can meet the needs of the Federation of Agencies Caring for an age so largely dominated by a Protestants considered it wise to en- materialistic, mechanistic and human- large the scope of the Federation to istic philosophy of life. Religious provide a Foundation for Protestant education must look toward the full charitable bequests on a permanent development of personality, through basis. It is hoped that the Protes- an unreserved commitment to Christ tant Federation will become a vehicle and His cause, a consciousness of God through which those who wish to give and a knowledge of those things which or bequeath money for the benefit of make for the unfolding of Christian Protestant institutions may do so with character. confidence that their gifts will be per- The conference recommended that manently and wisely used. Among the the positive values of Home Visitation Directors are Ancell H. Ball, William Evangelism be conserved and that Evarts Benjamin, Edmund Dwight, ministers and laymen see to it that all Walter E. Frew, Edwin Gould, Wil-
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
liam H. Gratwick, Charles D. Hilles, schools. Less than one third of the Alfred E. Marling, James H. Post, Indians in the United States are re- George W. Wickersham and William lated to Christian communions. Many H. Woodin. Full information will be thousands are "neglected by all Chris- gladly supplied by any of the Directors tian agencies, and a large percentag~ or by Miss Cutter, Executive Secre- of the old Indians on the reservations tary, 151 Fifth Avenue, New York. cling to their Indian religions. In many communities there is no Chris- Ministers' Conference at Hampton tian ministry. The Board of Home Missions of the Methodist Episcopal SELDOM do we have a better illus- Church, which is authority for these .tration of the vitality of present statements, asks the question: "Is this day religious interest than through not a challenge to the Church and to the fifteenth session of the Ministers' us who make up the church member- Conference at Hampton Institute. ship?" Fourteen years ago when Reverend Laurence Fenninger came to Hampton Few Chinese WODlen in the U. S. as chaplain, Dr. Frissell related his interest in doing something that would A GREAT deal of the missionary give the ministry the advantages of work for Chinese in the United more experienced leadership in re- States has overlooked their social segligion. The result was a conference regation and practical celibacy as obat which twenty-three ministers stacles to the work. This statement gathered to think together upon their is quoted from an editorial in The task. Congregationalist, which goes on to say: "Of the Chinese immigrant in In fourteen years, under the con- continental United States, there are tinuous guidance of Mr. Fenninger, sixteen men to every woman, accordthe conference has grown to be one ing to the last census. The proporof the largest in the country, staffed tion of men to women was very much with the ablest leaders in all the de- larger in the earlier years of Chinominations. The attendance of 445 nese immigration. The inadequacy of ministers this year, and the wide rep- Christian work among the Chinese in resentation from sixteen States and the United States is partly explained fifteen denominations, indicates the by this abnormal social condition. resentation from sixteen states and Strong Chinese churches have been ing. built up only where there was a nor- mal family life. And the children of Unchrutianized Indians Chinese families in America provide the greatest promise and the greatest T HE Indian is not a vanishing race. opportunity. The hope of Christian Anthropologists believe there are Americanization for the Chinese comas many Indians in the United States munities is in the American-born Chinow as there were when Columbus dis- nese. Nearly one third of the Chinese covered America. There are 346,000 listed by the census are American in continental United States, and 37,- citizens by right of birth. In San 000 in Alaska. Practically all of the Francisco, there is a Chinese chapter young Indians speak English-owing of the Native Sons. These Chinese to schools, travel, and contact with Americans are not, however, free from whites. There are about 233 govern- the social and economic restrictions m~nt Indian schools. Of these, 154 imposed upon their parents. The Chiare reservation day schools, 54 are nese young men suffer a special hardreservation boarding schools, 25 are ship in not being permitted to seek non-reservation boarding schools (5 wives from China." of which offer high school work). There are also 37 Roman Catholic mission schools and 20 Protestant mission
LATIN AMERICA the distribution of the Bags will take place throughout the country. On this Porto Ricans Value Hospital Committee are two representatives of the Department of Education, one for By AN official act of the Porto the University Women, one for the Rican legislature, the Presby- Association of Catholic Schools, one terian Hospital at San Juan has been for the Federation of Christian Workdeclared tax-exempt for a ten-year ers, one from the Journalists' Union, period. This exemption comes as a and one from the Parents and Teachdefinite expression of appreciation for ers Association. the services of the hospital, which has been called by a business man in San It is estimated that there will be be- Juan "the hardest-used and best-kept- tween 25,000 and 26,000 Bags to be up building in the city." Senator L. distributed among 15,000 primary Sanchez Morales, largely responsible schools, having 1,250,000 pupils. for the introduction of the bill, says: "I did it complying with my duty as Training Guatemalan Youth a legislator and a Porto Rican, because your institution is lending a great T HE activities of the American service, specially to the poor. The Presbyterian Mission in Guatemala Presbyterian Hospital is one of the City include a boys' and a girls' school, greatest American institutions in our a hospital and nurses' training school, island. I .am its neighbor, and I work among the churches, and a printknow." The resolution recommending ing press and publishing plant. In the the exemption notes that the total boys' school, which has been projected number of pay patients treated in the along self-help and industrial lines, hospital during the year 1927 was there has been an enrollment of only 1,326 while the total number of twenty-two boys. The course of study non-paying patients treated in the dis- prepares the students to meet the regpensary was 47,485; and also that of ular government examinations. All of the sixty-five beds in the hospital only the students have contracted to pay, fourteen are pay beds. It further pointed out that of the $250,000 needed or earn by extra work, enough to for the new home for nurses only $30,000 is given by the people of Porto cover the cost of their meals. Such Rico, the rest being raised from work is done in a mechanical shop, a charitable sources in the United carpenter shop or the dairy depart- States by the efforts of the Board. ment. All work must be of a grade This new home will increase the capa- which not only is worth the specified city of the hospital fifty per cent. amount to the school, but would pay for itself in the commercial world as Mexican Friendship Project well. Thus the students from the be- ginning must do work which will I N FURTHERANCE of the Friend- stand the test of comparison with that ship School Bag project, Mrs. of regular workers in a given trade. Jeannette W. Emrich went to Mexico The hospital is full, and in one recent to represent the Committee on World letter Dr. C. A. Ainslie reported that Friendship Among Children at the the operating room was booked for public presentation of the Bags on eleven days ahead. Miss Genevieve Mexico's Independence Day, Septem- Chapin writes that it has been most ber 16th.. Dr. Moises Saenz, Assistant interesting to watch the nurses de- Secretary of Education, reports great velop as workers and as Christian interest among adults as well as chil- characters. Though coming from bare dren of Mexico in anticipation of the adobe huts, they soon learn intelligent distribution of the Bags. Dr. Saenz use of modern nursing supplies, and, reports the formation of a Mexican even more surprising, soon learn to Committee on World Friendship take the lead in helping to better conamong Children, under whose auspices ditions-a new venture for Guate- malan women. This year there are
WORLD-WIDE OUTLOOK
nineteen nurses in training, and nine- apply with equality, gives preference teen others are on the application list. to the Orthodox Church and allows too much state interference in religion." EUROPE Summarizing the situation as a whole, it is described as "implicit in the Rhenish Mission whole political problem, in which it is to be hoped the League of Nations may I N SEPTEMBER this society will have increasing influence. The stupid- celebrate its centennial. The soc- ity of conquering nations in their atciety enters upon its centennial with titude toward alien minority subjects 391,826 native Christians. Since the is a sad fact of history and is being War there have been 160,000 acces- repeated."-The Christian Intellisions notwithstanding the fact that gencer. Borneo and New Guinea have been separated from its field of labor. All Russian Evangelical Union There are at present 75 chief stations, and 707 out-stations, with 782 organ- ON THE basis of a resolution of the ized congregations. Last year alone Tenth All Russian Evangelical 12,181 candidates were baptized. There Christian Conference, held at Leninwere in active service 89 ordained grad, Russia, Nov. 30th to Dec. 6, missionaries, and 2,123 other helpers. 1926, supplemented by further resolu- tions passed by the Plenary Council ,teligious Conditions in Europe of the All Russian Evangelical Chris- tian Union at Leningrad, Sept. 27th to T HE condition of religious minor- Oct. 4, 1927, a permanent office of the ities in several parts of Europe is All Russian Evangelical Christian still grave, according to a report made Union has been opened at 156 Fifth at the July meeting of the Adminis- Avenue, New York City, replacing the trative Committee of the Federal provisional organization established in Council of the Churches of Christ in Chicago, IlL, in November, 1926, un- America by Dr. Charles S. Macfar- der the name of American Council of land, General Secretary of the Council. Representatives of the All Russian The report is based upon an extended Evangelical Christian Union. itinerary this spring and early summer, which included most of the coun- The Council of the All Russian tries on the Continent of Europe, Evangelical Christian Union has except Russia. adopted the following details of opera- tion of the American Offices of the "Violent attacks on minority groups Union. seem to have ceased," Dr. Macfarland reports, "except the anti-Semitic out- 1. The purpose of establishing the breaks. The most difficult situation American Offices of the A. R. E. C. U. is appears still to be in Roumania. The to create knowledge of the past accom- Lutherans are declared to be unable plishments of this sixty-year-old moveto supply their pastorates because only ment of Russian Christians; to create, those of Roumanian nationality are strengthen and maintain ties of spiritual allowed to serve, and Roumanian citi- fellowship between the churches and zenship is hard to acquire. The law membership of the A. R. E. C. U. and all limiting the existence of minority American Christians and to invite spiritchurches to those of a certain size de- ual, moral and financial support for the prives many small communities of any spread of the Gospel of our Lord and church life. The repression of their Saviour Jesus Christ in the greatest school still continues. One main present-day mission field of the world. school, legally restored to the Reformed Church three years ago, is still 2. An American Secretary, a Russian held back." Secretary, with such other aides as may be necessary, will be appointed by the "Although the new Law of Cults Council of the A. R. E. C. U., to receive has been passed," the report explains, their authority from and be responsible "it is not yet in operation. It does not to the Council.
3. An American Christian of known integrity and spiritual standing will be
invited to serve as Treasurer of the unity, mutual understanding and Chris- American Offices of the A. R. E. C. U. tian Fellowship.
4. For the spiritual, moral and ad- h. The work of the A. R. E. C. U. in America will be purely spiritual, as visory support of the American offices, it has always been in U. S. S. R., and the A. R. E. C. U. will name a number absolutely free from any political bias or of American Christian friends of Russia, activity, being faithful solely to Jesus not to exceed fifty, as members of the Christ and true to the traditional good will and friendship between all Chris- American Advisory Council. tian brothers. 5. The general plan of work of the Since the return to Russia of Mr. American Offices of the A. R. E. C. U. I. S. Prokhanofi', President of the A. for the next ten years will be;- R. E. C. U., in 1926, the following publication work has been accom- a. In addition to the funds raised an- plished out of gifts of American nually in Russia by the Council of the Christians :-Russian Bibles, 35,000; New Testament and Psalms, 25,000; A. R. E. C. U., American Christians Russian Hymn Books (Spiritual will be asked to provide $105,000 an- Songs), 45,000; The Gospel Adviser (almanac), 2 years, 30,000: Russian nually for the next ten years, to be Bible Concordance 15,000. expended for Missionary Support, Scrip- The officers of the "Union" in ture production, publication work and America are: Alwyn Ball, Jr., Treas- urer, Norman J. Smith, American maintenance of Leningrad Bible College. Secretary, and John Johnson, Russian Also a Building Fund for the erection of Secretary. new buildings for the Bible College, a central building for the various branches COMING EVENTS of the work of the A. R. E. C. U. at COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME MIS- Leningrad, and model Prayer Houses in SIONS, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, NEW the two largest cities of Russia, Lenin- York, N. Y…………….. Oct. 2-3 grad and Moscow. FEDERATION OF WOMAN'S BOARDS OF b. The monthly magazine The Gospel FOREIGN MISSIONS, EXECUTIVE CoM- MITTEE, New York, N. Y….. Oct. 4-5 in RU8sia will be continued in New York: circulars, letters, pamphlets and books CONVENTION OF THE UNITED LUTHERAN will be printed: meetings will be held, CHURCH, Erie, Pa. . ……… Oct. 9- and all good Christian methods of pre- NEW YORK STATE SUNDAY SCHOOL senting this opportunity to aid in the CONVENTION, Schenectady, .. Oct. 9-12 spread of the Gospel throughout Russia GENERAL CONVENTION OF THE PROTESwill be used. TANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH, Washing- c. The Council of the A. R. E. C. U. ton, D. C. …… . ……… Oct. 10- will originate and carryon through its AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISIONERS FOR Secretaries the general program of work FOREIGN MISSIONS, ANNUAL MEET- ING, Bridgeport, Conn….. Oct. 16-18 of the American Offices. The Council will also supply necessary information DAY OF PRAYER FOR WORLD-WIDE REregarding the work of the A. R. E. Co U. LIGIOUS REVIVAL, Armistice Day …. in Russia, and will provide the general ………………………. Nov. 11 contents of printed matter, books, etc. INTERNATIONAL GOODWILL CONGRESS, d. The American Offices will make New York, N. Y………. Nov. 11-13 monthly General and Financial Reports NATIONAL INTERRACIAL CONFERENCE, Washington, D. C……… Nov. 18-21 to the Council of the A. R. E. ·C. U. in Leningrad, which will reciprocate with UNITED STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL, Rofinancial reports and information to aid chester, N. Y…………… Dec. 3-4 the American Offices in spreading a FEDERAL COUNCIL OF THE CHURCHES, knowledge of the work and needs in QUADRENNIAL MEETING, Rochester, Russia. Every member of the Advisory N. Y…………………. Dec. 5-12 Council will be supplied with all reports, that they may be fully informed of con- CONFERENCE ON THE CAUSE AND CURE OF WAR, Washington, D. C.. Jan. 14-18 ditions at the offices and on the field. f. All information sent from the Coun- cil of the A. R. E. C. U. at Leningrad to the American Offices, as well as all letters, articles, photographs, etc., being the property flf the A. R. E. C. U., can- not be used for any other purpose than those indicated by the Council of the A. R. E. C. U., for which the Secretaries will be held responsible.
g. The work of the A. R. E. C. U. in America is based-as it has always been in Russia-on fundamental principles of the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Glorious Gospel. fostering brotherly relations with all Evangelical Christian denominations, and promoting a spirit of
~E OOKS WORTH READIN ~~
Any books mentioned in these columns will be forwarded by us on receipt of price.-THE REVIEW.
RECOMMENDED BOOKS ON PopUlar Volumes AFRICA Can Africa Be Won? W. J. W. Roome. General 786d. Black. London. 1927. No man in this generation has trav- The Native Problem in Africa. Raymond L. Buell. 2 vo. $15.00. Macmillan, eled over Africa as widely and as con- New York. 1928. tinuously as Mr. Roome. Based on An exhaustive and powerful survey, wide reading, and large experience and observation, this book gives a compremade with the aim of determining the hensive view of Africa with its fareconomic and political effect of the im- reaching problems and possibilities. pact of western civilization upon the African native. The Christian Mission in Africa. Edwin W. Smith. $1.00. International Mis- Geographical Divisions sionary Council. New York. 1926.
The New Africa. Donald Fraser. 28. A study based on the proceedings of Church Missionary Society. London. the notable international conference 1927. Missionary Education Move- on Africa held at Le Zoute, Belgium, ment. $1.00. New York. 1928. September 14-21, 1926. Shows the effect of Western civiliza- The Golden Stool. Edwin W. Smith. 58. tion in building a literally new Africa Holborn Publishing House. London. out of primitive social and religious 1926. Doubleday, Doran & Co. $1.50. life. New York. 1928.
The Land of the Vanished Church; a Sur- Reviews the complex problems fac- vey of North Africa. J. J. Cooksey. 28. ing the administrator and the mission- World Dominion Press. London. ary. Broad of view and with rare in- 1926. sight, the author indicates where in Attempts to describe briefly and his judgment the solution of these problems is to be found. clearly the situation in Tunisia, Tripoli, Algeria and Morocco as viewed The Religion of the Lower Races as Illusfrom the standpoint of Protestant trated by the African Bantu. Edwin W. Christianity. Smith. 75 cents. Macmillan. New York. 1923. Thinking Black. Daniel Crawford. 2s 6d. Morgan & Scott. London. 1912. Vol. 1 of "The World's Living Re- ligions" series, prepared under the A picturesque interpretation of the direction of the Board of Missionary Central African. This book is out of Preparation of North America. The print in America. Dan Crawford of writer was for many years a mission- Luanza by James J. Ellis (28. Hulbert ary in Northern Rhodesia. Pub. Co., London) might be substituted.
Liberia-Old and New. James L. Sibley B'iographical and D. Westermann. $3.00. Double- day, Doran. Garden City, N. Y. 1928. Anatomy of African Misery. Lord Olivier. 68. Hogarth Press. London. 1927. A study of the social and economic A penetrating study of the burdens background of the country, particUlar emphasis being placed on educational born by Africans in Africa in their conditions and problems. contacts with the white races.
861
Thinking with Africa. Milton Stauffer. The Life of Robert Laws of Livingstonia.
75 cents. Missionary Education Move- W. P. Livingstone. 15s. Hodder & ment. New York. 1927. Stoughton. London. 1921.
One of the six volumes of the A fascinating biography, written in "Christian Voices Around the World" view of the jubilee of the Livingstonh~ series. Ten writers, four of them Mission, and emphasizing particularly African Negroes and one an American the pioneer work of Dr. Laws.
Negro, deal with varied aspects of the Livingstone, the Pathfinder. Basil Mathews. 60 cents. Missionary Edu- Christian approach to Central and cation Movement. New York. 1912. South Africa.
Africa and Her Peoples. F. Deaville Fascinating in style, this biography, Walker. 2s. Edinburgh House Press. intended for young people, brings out London. 1924. Missionary Education the adventure and significance of Liv- Movement. SOc. New York. 1928. ingstone's explorations with telling ef- fect. A bird's-eye view of the continent. Mackay of Uganda. Mary Yule. 38 6d. Is practically limited to the Africa of Hodder & Stoughton. London. n. d. Doubleday, Doran & Co. $1.50. New the black races, and only incidentally York. "In the heart of savage Africa, in touches the brown peoples of the northern countries or the whites of the South.
Sons of Africa. Georgina A. Gollock. 5s. the face of unparalleled difficulties, Student Christian Movement. London. the missionary engineer presented an Friendship Press. $1.50. New York. example of fearless courage, nobility 1928. of mind, and unfaltering faith." This Biographical sketches of notable Af- latest life of Mackay contains much new material. rican natives. These life stories are given with marked appreciation, ac- Francois Coillard, A Wayfaring Man. curate detail and literary distinction. Edward Shillito. 5s. Student Chris- tian Movement. London. 1923. George Grenfell; Pioneer in Congo. H. L. A restatement, in modern language Hemmens. 58. Student Christian Movement. London. 1927. and from the present-day point of Grenfell was "one of the first two view, of the life of one of the great modern missionary apostles. missionaries to enter the country, and for thirty years was leader of a group of Christian Adventurers." The Molfats. Ethel D. Hubbard. 60 cents. Missionary Education Move- Mary Slessor of Calabar. W. P. Living- ment. New York. 1917. stone. 38 6d. Hodder & Stoughton. London. Doubleday, Doran & Co. $2.00. A well-told story of the life of Rob- New York. ert and Mary Moffat, early missionary A woman of unique and inspiring pioneers in South Africa.
personality, and a truly heroic figure; MISCELLANEOUS few have possessed such moral and physical courage, or exercised such African Clearings. Jean Kenyon Mcimperious power over savage peoples. kenzie. $2.50. Houghton. Boston. 1924.
Robert Molfat; One of God's Gardeners. Inimitable word pictures of life in Edwin W. Smith. 58. Student Chris- the forests of Africa. Many of the tian Movement. London. 1925. chapters have appeared in different periodicals. The object has been "to place Mof~ fat in the historical and ethrological Friends of Africa. Jean Kenyon Macsetting of South Africa-a country kenzie. 75 cents. Central Committee that has changed so much during the on the United Study of Foreign Mislast hundred years that it is difficult sions. Cambridge, Mass. 1928.
for the present generation to realize Modern conditions in Africa, and the conditions under which he worked." the part Christian friends may hope
BOOKS WORTH READING
to play in meeting them, written for Junior Mission Study classes on the women in America who have not Africa.
access to the great mass of source Christ in Africa. W. Y. Fullerton. Stewmaterial. art of Lovedale, and Mary Slessor. Cuth- NOTE: An excellent graded bibli- bert McEvoy. 6d. each. Edinburgh. ography appears in volume. 1928. Those who prefer short sketches to Drums In the Darkness. John T. Tucker. longer biographies will find the kernel $1.75. Doran. New York. 1927. of heroic life stories in these stimu- A simple, but valuable account of lating monographs.
missionary work in Angola, its his- Across Africa with Livingstone. A game. tory, its problems, and its possibilities, London. 1928. by the Principal of Currie Institute at Juniors and their teachers will find Dondi. this game and the handwork a most The Man from an African Jungle. W. entertaining way to learn something C. Wilcox. $2.00. Macmillan. New of the Dark Continent and its great York. 1925. missionary explorer. A picture of Tizora, a native Ton- gan, the dominant figure in this story Africa. The Journal of the Internationof the establishing of an American al Institute of African Languages and mission in East Africa. Cultures. Edited by Diedrich Wester- man. Oxford University Press. Lon- AFRICA BOOKLETS don. 1928. Here is the first number of a new The Races Beyond. The Negro by J. K. journal that will be welcomed by all MacGregor; The Bantu by Robert H. students of Africa. Sir F. D. Lugard W. Shepherd. 12 mo. 96 pp. Is. each. describes the character and purpose of Edinburgh. 1928. the "Institute." Other articles discuss The first of these booklets relates Negro music, anthropology, African literature and various topics. One to the Africans around the Gold Coast paper is in German (by Prof. Meinand West Central Africa. The sec- hof) and two are in French. ond refers to the great South Central people. They are sketches for adults but are concise and reliable. The Lowland Indians of Amazonia. A Everyland Children. David and Susi- Survey of the Location and Religious Black and White. Lucy W. Peabody. Condition of the Indians of Colombia, Illustrated by Marjorie Woodbury Venezuela, the Guianas, Ecuador, Smith. 16 mo. 57 pp. 25c. North Peru, Brazil and Bolivia. By K. G. Cambridge, Mass. 1928. Grubb, F. R. G. S. 14 maps, 159 pp. Little people will learn, in this London. 58. 1927. .
charming little story, about David "The World Dominion Series de- Livingstone, the boy who grew up in Scotland and went to Africa, and scribes briefly the situation in various about Susi, the boy who grew up in Africa and through the Scotch boy, countries as viewed from the standlearned to love him and his God. point of the Kingdom of God," and this volume deals with the little known and neglected lowland Indians of northern South America.
Talks on David Livingstone. Talks on The Indian population of the coun- Africa Today. M. Monica Sharp. 8 vo. tries considered is estimated at 5,213,- 31 pp. Is. Edinburgh. 1928. 100, most of them being in the Andean section, where they constitute nearly Junior children, and those even 56 per cent of the population. The younger, will enjoy making the map of Africa, the model of the African Indians included here are those who village and other scrapbook work sug- have come partially under the influence gested in these booklets. Each has of Catholicism but have preserved the six talks and six maps, pictures and Indian tongue and can be effectually diagrams. They are excellent for reached only through these languages.
In the Andean section they average a Wm. A. Brown, Dr. Garvie, The little over ten per square mile while in Metropolitan of Thyatira, Bishop Dr.
the lowlands one per eleven square Ihmels, the Bishop of Manchester, and miles. Peru and Ecuador have the Prof. Harnack. The rest of the num- largest number per square mile, ber contains leading articles on all while the average for the entire region manner of ethical and social problems is only 1.28 per cent. Though the in their relation to the Church of Catholic pioneer, Anchieta, "won their Christ.
hearts by his long prayers, his purity It is the result of the work of the of life, his prophecies and his miracu- Continuation Committee of the Stock- lous powers," their great Apostle, Las holm Conference and has for its aim Casas, said later that "Christianity to give practical application to the for them was the surest road to the presentations of the Conference.
loss of liberty and slavery to Euro- C. T. BENZE.
peans." Cruel treatment from the settlers and later the inroads of tuber- Christian Essentials. John McDowell. culosis and entire lack of sanitation is New York. 1928. 184 pp. $1.75.
leading to their disintegration. As might be expected, this book from While the first Protestant work for the pen of one of the secretaries of them was begun by the Huguenot set- the Board of National Missions of the tlers of 1588, it really began with the Presbyterian Church, deals with some Moravians in 1738 and Dr. Kidder great Christian truths we believe and (Northern Methodist) in 1836. To- why we believe them. The chapters day nine Protestant missions at nine are characteristic of the author-full centers with 37 foreign workers are of the virility and rugged search for carrying on a varied ministry, with reality. only Gospel portions in seven languages to aid them. Twenty-four By training and experience Dr. Catholic Missions are also doing some- McDowell knows not only what Christhing for the lowland Indians. This tianity teaches, but why it is true. carefully prepared volume for the first To this end he has written these chapters, which include-The Essen- time gives detailed information as to tial Record-The New Testament; The what the Church faces in Indian work. Essential Factor-Jesus Christ; The Essential Claim-The Incarnation; H. P. B. The Essential Fact – The Resurrec- International Review for the Social Activi- tion. ties of the Churches. Issued under the authority of the International Institute Dr. McDowell does not write for the Commission by Dr. Adolf Keller. Edi- scholar, learned in textual criticism, tor of the British Section, Principal but for the average Christian who Alfred E. Garvie, D.D., of the Ger- wishes to know the evidences of his man, Prof. Dr. A. Titus, of the French, faith. Elie Gounelle, Pastor at St. Etienne. Quarterly 96 pp. 75 cents each. The Men's Clubs, Bible Classes, and University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Young Peoples' groups, may study this 1928. volume with profit. For the pastor A unique feature of this review is seeking a guide for mid-week studies that the articles are written in one of for his church night, this work should three languages, (English, German, fill an important place.
French) and is followed by a resume The attitude throughout is eminent- or abstract in the other two. The first ly fair and undogmatic. But no one number starts with introductory can question the loyalty of the writer words by men prominent at the Stock- to the truths of the New Testament, holm Conference, such as the Bishop and his strong personal allegiance to of Winchester, Dr. S. Parkes Cadman, the Christ. Those who seek for reality Dr. Nathan Soderblom, Dr. Kapler, will do well to study this book.
Mr. Gounelle, Mr. Wilfred Monod, Dr. JAMES F. RIGGS.
The Missionary Review of the World — July 1926
OF THE MOUNTAIN PARISH: AT BUCKHORN
A Gratifying Assured Income Bonds Income ISSUED BY Some years ago the executors of a will American Sunday-School Union which directed the payment of an AN- PHILADELPHIA NUITY of $lO,OOO.1JO to the widow of the decedent were inclined to purchase the I., IllC4IfJIOIIted ••d,r law••f ~ Sla', of PeJUIS}'IVIlIia ANNUITY from a life insurance ('Offi- Assure pany. But as the entire estate was ultimately to go to various charitable and 1. The greatest possible safety in investment.
missionary objeds, they decided, on the 2. The return of a high rate of income duradvice of attorneys, to divide among four ing life. missionary organizations, one of which 3. The definite distribution of your money was The American Baptist Home Mission while you live. Society, '~ amount required for the purchase of the annuity. 4. The satisfaction of knowing that your money will aid, after your death, in the Our Finan('e Committee ('onsists of very estahlishment of Sunday Schools in rural able business men. and the investments di~tricts otherwise unreached by religious of our ANNUITY FUNDS are now being influencE'; and in providing a moral and largely ",ade in guaranteed mortgages. religious literature true to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our ANNUITIES yield a very gratifying income and there are many advantages in For information about this form 0/ in'lJcstment, our ANNUITY PLAN whieh I will be and income to he deri~ed the,.ejrom, addruJ glad to explain. Kindly address: Secretary CHARLES L. WHITE AMERICAN SUNDAY·SCHOOL UNION THE AMERICAN BAPTIST JOHN H. TALLEY1 A ••i.tant Tre"aurer HOME MISSION SOCIETY 23 Ealt 26th Street New York City 1816 Cheat.."t Street PHILADELPHIA. PA.
PERSONALS MISS ELLA D. MACLAURIN, Executive Sec- DR. RoBEIT E. SPEEa, Rev. Hugh J. Kerr, retary of the Federation of Woman's Boards D.D., Shadyside Church, Pittsburgh, Mrs. Charles K. Roys and Miss Gertrude Schultz, of Foreign Missions, Bailed for Europe on plan to visit China this autumn at the request of the Presbyterian China Council. June 22d for two months' study of condi· Visits will also be made by one or more of the party to Japan, Korea, Siam and the tions in France, England, Germany, and Philippines. Anstria.
""
DR. W. W. PEET, so long the leading mis· siona~y statesman in Constantinople, has heen made "Ambassador of Good Will" by DR. WILLJAM 1. CHAMBERLAIN, Secretary the Federal Council of Ohurches of Chr~t of the Foreign Mission Board of the Re· formed Church in America, is leaving July in America to the Christian Ohurches in the third to attend the meeting of the Cl<Jmmit· too of the International Missionary Cl<Jnncil Near East. ". to be held in Rattik, Sweden, July 17th to 24th. OBITUARY REV. E. ,C. CRONK, D.D., secretary of the MRS. MARGARET R. TROWllRIDGE, widow of the founder and first president of Central Laymen's Missionary M,ovement of the Turkey College, and daughter of Elias Riggs, D.D., LL.D., the famous missionary United Lutheran Church, has been appointed linguist and translator of Constantinople, died in Aleppo, Syria, January 25th in her secretary of the Eastern Division of the eighty·fifth year. She had spent fifty·eight years in active missionary service and three Evangelical Lutheran Orient Mission So· of her children are now missiollaTieB.
. . ciety whi~h conducts work in Persia and Kurdistan. * MRS. FRANKLIN WARNER, President of the ** Woman's Board of Missions of the Con· Mas. ARTtHm. H. SMITH, who, with heT distinguished husband, had spent fifty·three gregational Chnrch, is also to serve as As- years in the service of the American Board in North China, died in TunghBien January sociate Secretary of the reorganized Amer- 28th, in her seventy-eighth year.
ican Board in charge of educational and promotional work. wroRll, *t h e" "
.. * * famons MRS. ANNA R. ATWATER has recently reo DAN CRA missionary to signed her office as vice·president of the Central Africa :for nearly half a century, United Christian Missionary Society (Dis· died in Elizabethville, Belgian Congo, On ciples) of St. Louis. June 3d.
Please mention TIm MIBsroNARY REVIEW OF TIlE WORLD In writing to advertisers. THE MISSIONARY Review 0 f the World DELAVAN L. PIERSON, Etlltor CONTENTS FOR JULY. 1926 J<"RONTISPIECE ………… 'fHE PARlSH CmIMUNITY AT BUOKHOR.N, KENTUCKY Page 485 EDITORIALS …………………………………………………….. 489 THE CHUR.CH IN THE COUN-fRY THE CoMPLEX TASK JN AMERlC'" 492 HUMAN IMPOR.TS AND SPIR.I'fUAL Ex· THE PRESENT:DAY MISSIONAR.Y Mo· 493 PORTS TIVE 500 THE SOIL AND THE SPIRITUAL LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J. SCOTT KING 504 A thoughtful study of the natural relatwnahip between the environment and oc· cupatwn of the farmer and his religwus natme. . 509 A CHRISTIAN pROGRAM FOR A RURAL CHURCH; . . . . . . . . RALPH A.. FirurON 520 CHANGES IN RURAL L,IFE DURiING THE PAST TWENTY·FIVE YEARB 523 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . WARREN H. WILSON 529 A strilaing presentation of the outstanding contrasts between life in rural dis· tricts a 'quarter of a century ago and today with its modern machinery, inven· 533 tions and opportunities. 539 THE GOSPEL AND THE SOIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A. B. PARSON 544 A study of facts brought out in connectwn with the recent conference held under 551 the aU&pices of the lnternatwnal Associatwn of Agricultural Misswns. 554 557 THE REAL JOB OJ;' THE RURAL CHURCH ……………. JOHN McDoWELL 573 Passing over the superficial and secondary responaibilities of pastors and churches in country d'f,stricts, Dr. McDowell points out the fundamental and most essential work that neeas to be done in thesepamhes.
RELIGIOUS ADVENTURE IN RURAL AMERICA : . . . . . . . . . . . M1I.LCOLM DANA Some extremely interesting and inspiring examples of what pastors have actually accomplished in their rural pamhes.
QUALIFICATIONS OF THE COUNTRY PR;EAOHER ……. C. M. MOUoNNELL A word picture of Ifhe kind of men most needed to ."in farmm-s and their fam· ilies to their rightful place in too Church of Christ.
RELIGIOUS NEEDS OF OLDER RURAL DISTRICTS . . . . . . . . . . . R A. ADAMS A descriptio'1l. of conditwns in the eastern stateR that have been deserted by farmers or by Protestant, chuTche•.
PIONEER WORK IN NEiWER COMMUNITIES …. ANDREW J. MONTOOMEB.Y A survey of the westB'ffl and southwe8tern fields of America and their religious needs.
IjNITED CHURCHES IN RURAL COMMUNTTIES …… ELIZABI!7I'H R. HOOKER A study of the camparati"e value and effectiveness of denominafwna! and !Ln· denominatwnal community churehes.
THE STOR.Y OF BUOKHORN, KEN'fUCKY ………………………….. BEST METHODS, IN RURAL COMMUNITIES … EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BULLE,TIN …………………………….. WOMAN '8 FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN …………………………..
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS ……………………………………….
THE MISSIONARY LIBEARlY ………………………………………
T./<JRMS: $2.50 Ii year. ($2.00 in clubs of five.) Foreign postage, 50 cents. Single eopies, 25 cents. Published monthly. Copyrighted, 1926, by MISSIONARY REVlEW PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC. AU rights reserved.
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DReloabvearnt Jt ~Peieerrs,onP, reSseidcreenttaI'1 Wm' a1It,.CrhaMmcbDerolugaina",ViTcer·.Pasr"uriedrent L. W II ;:cbl~ca:~~; office, 3d & Reily Sts., Ha$~~~~u~,y~:; F;ditorial and Bu~~:sY~:l:C~;t~56 Fifth Avenue, ,8". F;ntered as second·class matter at the Post Office, Harrisburg, P••, under Act of March 3, ROBERT E. SPEER'S Important New Book The Unfinished Task of Foreign Missions • JAMES SPRUNT LECTURES, 1926 Cloth, $2.75 q lProfessor Harlan P. Beach says, "The reading of Dr. Speer's last book, only continues and strengthens my opinion that he is the one man in America, if not the world, who has had almost unequaled opportunities to visualize and investigate questions such as are treated in his volume . . . . . . It certainly is a most impressive volume upon a very important theme. It should awaken a deep interest in world evangelizati0!I. "
Missions says, '"A new book by Robert Nashville Christian Advocate says "Here Speer is always eagerly welcomed b'y those is a book for every' student of the progress who know how sane and strong and clean is of Christianity to read, study, and lay close his thought. This book will not prove dis- by for reference. Dr. Speer is the man to appointing; it is one of his best." have written it. He is as thoroughly equipped for the task as any living person." The World Call says, "Mr. Speer asks and answers the questions 'Is the missionary International Review of Missions says, enterprise still necessary? Is its work done? "These lectures add a worthy volume to Dr. If not, why not?' etc. In doing so he presents Speer's loug list of books. Into them the facts and figures in logical array, but in author has poured not only the choice coninteresting and helpful fashion, furnishing tents of his notebooks, with their vivid recolfood for thought and material for missionary lections of travel and rich results of wide and addresses. The book will be read by pastors, varied reading, but also clear and penetrating professors and missionary administrators, but thought expressed in forceful language." just as eagerly and helpfully by laymen generally."
TWO OTHER IMPORTANT WORKS ON MISSIONS The Task in Japan Chinese Culture and Christianity By James Livingstone Stewart By August Karl Reischauer, D.D. p'f'()fessor of Philosophy and Comparative Re- Professor at }.!e'J.ii Gakuin, Tokyo ligions, West China University} Chengtu. Szech· wan. Authtw of '~The Laughing B1tddha/' etc. "'~ pttidi1if~~ern,Mis;ionary Impera- Does China need Christianity today? tiv~S4!d on twenty years of first-hand study, made by its author on the mission This book,gives the answer. Dr. Stewart fields of the Orient. . has spent twenty-four years in China, and during that entire period has been furnish- Missionary Review of World: A If pene- ing his mind with what he now puts fortratingly accurate analysis of the real work of ward in the pages of this book. missions, not only in Japan, but in other fieldsa strong plea {or the type of missionary work Dr. Stewart during his quarter of a century necessary if Christianity is to hold the field.'" ,1.60. ~ou~i~o:a:h/t~dfdChfn~~:ti~:;~'led lfn t~~ thought life, then read this comnrehensive re- view of h~r:' present-day system. ,2.50'.
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 158 Fifth Avenue, New York 17 N. Wabash Avenue, Chicago Please mention THE MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD in writing to advertisers. (See page 539)
JULY, 1926
XLIX SEVEN THE OHUROH IN THE OOUNTRY MANY people today are inclined to confuse bigness with great- ness, to think that stentorian tones indicate an important utterance, to conclude that. the larger and more flaring the electrical sign, the more valuable is the merchandise it advertises.
In the same way, some believe that the power of a church is indicated by the size of its membership, that the importance of a community is proportionate to its population and that effectiveness depends on organization. Size is a factor in greatness-other things being equal –and numbers do count in the Ohurch and in the Kingdom of God as truly as in earthly warfare and in politics. But the most intensively powerful factors in God's universe are not necessarily the most ex- tensive, or the most easily recogni2ed. A microbe that can not be perceived by the senses may defy and bring to naught the strength of a giant; a small electric wire may carry light and power to oper- ate a huge factory. – The importance of a parish is not dependent on its size; a preacher is not powerful in proportion to the length of his life, the amount of his salary or the advertising space devoted to him in the press; the vitality of a church cannot be judged chiefly by the num- ber of its members, the cost of its structure or the completeness of its organization.
The small church in the rural community, the topic for this year's home mission study course, is of tremendous importance, not only to the individuals in the community but to the nation at large.
The country is a feeder of the city and the vigor of city life depends largely on the quality of blood flowing into it from the country.
Some of the greatest forces for good (like Abraham Lincoln) and for evil (like Joseph Smith, the Mormon) have come from rural districts.
While the results of rural church work are frequently inconspicuous or discouraging, the importance of such work is increasingly recog- 485
nized. There is all the more reason, therefore, for avoiding any course that saps the life of these small churches-through rivalry, through stressing non-essentials or through failure to keep in contact with the Source of all Power. After all, the real secret of life and of effective service is the same for country and for city.
Today the country parish is being restudied and reappraised as to its real needs, its resources, its importance and its program of life and service. While streams of country youth flow into the cities and supply fresh blood to colleges, a counter stream of business and professional men and women of mature age is flowing back into rural districts-occupying farms, estates and suburban homes. This transfer makes a complicated problem of financing, supplying leaders and maintaining a constructive program.
The articles by specialists in this and in subsequent issues of the REVIEW deal with many phases of this problem: the changes that have taken place in the last qnarter of a century, the characteristics of a successful rural pastor, the type of country church that has proved most efficient; the neglected rural populations of today, the religious educational problem in the country, and the real job of the rural church. The books and articles on this subject are worthy of study and the way this problem is dealt with today will largely determine the character of the individual, the Church and the nation tomorrow.
THE COMPLEX TASK IN AMERICA T HE immensity and complexity of the undertaking to reach all classes in America is revealed in the different nationalities one meets in the narrow circle of his daily round. A Rumanian takes the ashes from the cellar of his home and a Pole whitewashes its walls. A Hollander prunes the vines or works in the garden; a GermaIi 'plumber comes to stop a leak and his }Jelper is a Dane. The man who mends his rugs is a Syrian, the cook is a Swede and the waitress a Norwegian. His wife's seamstress is a Belgian and the man painting the fence is a Swiss. A Chinaman does his laundry, a Russian is his tailor; his groceries eome from a "Velshman, meat from a Scotchman, fish from a ~"rench man and vegetables from an Italian. The policeman who patrols his street is Irish, the milkman is a Lapp and his cobbler is a Hungarian; the bell-boy in the hotel where he spends a night is a Filipino and among the waiters are Slovaks, Greeks, and Serbians. He takes his lunch in a Turkish restaurant where he meets a college classmate who is a Bulgarian, with a friend who is a Montenegrin. The Austrian Consul lives in the house opposite. In the Men's Bible Class that he attends are a Cuban Protestant, a Mexican, a Brazilian, a Lithuanian, a Peruvian and a Haitian, while a Japanese merchant and his family attend services in the church of which the sexton is
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
a Portuguese. The janitor of his office building is a Canadian. The man who washes his office windows is a Spaniard, and his scrub woman is an Austrian. In an early morning train, among twentyeight passengers in the car, four are reading German papers, twelve .Jewish, six Italian, and the only American-born man in the car beside himself is a Negro.
Verily, the task of interpreting the Gospel of Christ to the mixed multitudes in America is not an easy one.
HUMAN IMPORTS AND SPIRITUAL EXPORTS n .AMERICA'S greatest imports are not the material riches from other lands but they are the human raw material that comes to our shores. The diseased and tainted are supposed to be excluded at the ports of entry while the residue is fashioned into uReful and beautiful citizenship in American schools and churches.
America's greatest exports are not her grain and manufactures, hut they are the ripened spiritual products-men and women transformed by education and freedom and transfigured by the Gospel of Christ. These redeemed and transformed souls carrv America's best business methods, ideals of liberty, equality, frate;nity, neighborliness, community spirit, initiative, brotherhood; they carry the Ohristian evangel and the best methods for taking Christ and for expressing Christian service to all-the nations of the world. East, west, north and south, American men and women trained in Christian churches are scattered over the world as the living seed of the Kingdom of God. The Gospel of Christ alone can save men from their sins and can give to them the individual, social, national and international salvation that all need-without distinction as to race, nationality or social position.
THE PRESENT-DAY MISSIONARY MOTIVE H AS ANY radical and important change taken place in the motive that leads young men and young women to offer them- selves for missionary work in non-Ohristian lands ~ Ninetytwo of these young volunteers have recently been accepted and assigned to their fields by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. Others are going out under the Baptist, Oongregational, Disciples, Protestant Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal, Lutheran, Reformed and other Boards. They have heard the call to leave home and kindred and to go to these other lands. What has been the motive that has led them to respond "Here am I, send me'"
There are those who would have us believe that not only religious ideas are changing but that the very foundation of religion is changing. 'l'hey say that the original motive for religious worship and obedience was fear, as it is today with African spirit worshippers. Gradually, they tell us, there developed the idea of "loyalty to
tribal or national gods, as with the followers of Shinto. Another step is shown in the desire for religious world conquest, exemplified in Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. 'l'he personal motive may be merit-seeking, love of conquest or fanatical faith. Such conceptions, we are told, have led to foreign missions.
Does this explain the Christian religion or the motive that leads Christians to proclaim the teachings of Christ~ Such was the central theme discussed at the annual week-end c(lnference of the International Missionary Union, held in New York City (April 30th to May 1st). Nearly one hundred missionaries on furlough and former missionaries came together, representing twelve fields and over twenty mission boards. They discussed the questions" What change has taken place in the missionary motive1" "What is the Gospel today~" and "How should the Christian message be adjusted because of national judgments and attitudes f"
The missionaries recognized that the modern missionary motive is more complex than formerly. Today many Christians not only feel the urge to go out to other lands because of their faith in Christ as the Son of God and the Revealer of the Way of Eternal Life, but they go because they know the ignorance that exists concerning the highest ideals of the life that now is. They go out hoping, by personal contact, understanding and influence, to help promote world peace, interracial brotherhood, social and industrial betterment and intellectual advancement.
There is no question but that with many the missionary motive has changed from that emphasi'zed in the New Testament. Some missionary speakers lay such stress on the need to promote brotherhood, or industrial betterment, on the sympathetic study of other religions, and on the benefits of modern education, that students are led to volunteer from no higher motives than those that might lead them to go out as agents for modern machinery or prepared food or in the interest of politics, science or s~cial service.
From a humanitarian standpoint, there are many good motives that might lead one to become a foreign missionary. None of these are adequate when we consider the difficulties and the issues involved. From a Christian viewpoint, however much one may be impelled by a desire to help his fellowmen to better their ideals and environment, the supreme missionary motive must be loyalty to Jesus Christ as Divine Lord and Saviour, a sense of the need of men for a way out of failure and sin and a conviction that He alone shows the Way of Life, here and hereafter. Most of the outgoing missionaries are actuated by such loyalty to Christ and by the desire to present Him to those who do not know Him, but they need, also, to be thoroughly grounded in faith and knowledge, and able to give the reasons for their conviction that the Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes on Him.
Soil and the Spiritual
BY REV. JOHN SOOTT KING, LITTLE BRITAIN, NEW YORK F ROM the mythologies of ancient peoples and from the folk- lore of those not so ancient we seem safe in assuming that a spiritual contact existed between nature and man through long periods of his development. Field, forest and mountain were believed to be alive with unseen beings whose good or ill will was potent. In many of the Psalms and Old Testament prophecies these ideas are lifted into an everyday experience of God who is not very far from anyone of us. If the starry silences of Oriental deserts impressed men with ideas ab()ut Him who inhabits eternity, the lowing herds on succulent hillsides and the teeming vegetation in fertile valleys impressed men with ideas of God's closeness, and of His thoughtfulness for the lives of beast and man.
When ,Lot pitched his tent toward the city of Sodom, the deterioration of Lot began. Somewhat like Lot's story has been the taking from rural life of a spirituality which seemingly and atavistically ought to have been permanent. 'l'he grare of city life, which is sulphurous at times, has blinded the eyes of many who have found pleasure and comfort in the open country. The maJ;erial conveniences and exciting pleasures of a city make strong appeal to thoughtless minds and weary bodies. There is a kind of intoxication in the whirl and rush of the city. Discontent soon overtakes country life by comparison. The city has no clear message for the deeper longings of life. Having eyes and seeing not and having ears and hearing not the realities of the country near him, the countryman, whose tent is pitched cityward, grows blind and deaf to the intimations of immortality surrounding him.
The economic struggle in agriculture, which tends toward cooperative enterprise, has created a class spirit against present business conditions. A sense of injustice in the scheme of t.hings prevails. Unconsciously an inferiority complex develops. Even in the cooperatives suspicion and envy arise. Some will not enter the cooperative attempts to better conditions. Division, where solidarity is necessary, grows. Where good will among independent conditions obtained, ill will obtains in cooperative conditions. If in it all one hecomes soured and discouraged then there is an inclination to an independency which is atheistic in thought and antisocial in habit.. "He that loveth not knoweth not God."
The unconscious struggle going on between cultures tends to blunt spiritual tendencies. The necessary neighborliness of the rural dweller makes the cultural question more serious in the country than in the city where racial groups can keep together. The Slavic, Latin, 489 ,
Teutonic and Anglo-Saxon stocks all have their own peculiar mode of thought and reason and of conduct, religious and moral. Alone each might carryon to perfectness, but each is affected by the other so that there arises a hybrid culture which lacks the basic beauty and zest of any of them. The mystical Slav, the reverential Latin, the God-militant Teuton and the God-law Anglo-Saxon mingled together in their absolute integrities would make for the final man, but alas, they mingle together in their worn ofi or lost integrities and the composite tends to produce the poorest of each.
The old idea of land tenure is passing away under the assault of the land speculator. Farms are less held for their ancestral meaning than for a high price. The hold is tenuous. Instead of inherited acres representing a. great love and devotion on the part of pioneers who cleared forests, blasted out rocks and underdrained meadows, they merely stand for the highest price to be obtained from a buying public. The tent is pitched toward Sodom.
Some or all of these things may be but transitory conditions. However they are very real while they last and very damaging to that spiritual contact which man should get out of God's creations.
The open country must still have messages for the souls of men, and the souls of men must still be capable of hearing them. The great religions of the world .had their birthplaces in the open country. The great poets 'have found their virile messages out of forest and mountain, singing bird and bursting bud. Jesus based His approach to man's sleeping soul upon pictures of falling sparrows, blossoming meadows, sun-caressed and rain-kissed fields in which men sowed and from which they reaped. An ancestral hall is the figure of a loving Father whose son returns from the feeding of swine. The gospels of Jesus have hallowed in a peculiar way the soil.
Nor will we believe that men's souls are dead to the messages of the open country. They are only dormant. A plowing of the environment with a new economic policy toward agriculture may loosen up the soil around the sleeping seed. A rain of sympathy on the part of urban business and culture, shown in respect for rural la bor as as high as any trade or even profession, may cause the seed to swell. But most of all we must believe that prophets whose hearts are full of love for the country and its people will do most :in stirring into life the sleeping good. There still linger traces of the older order of things. The country is not all sordid, nor all animal as in Zola's La Terre. A crude righteousness, crude: senses of justice, crude longings for beauty and culture abound everywhere in the country. Timid and unspoken may be these virtues, but they exist and only await some clarion voice to cause them to put their grave clothes aside and come forth. Brotherliness is just around the corner inmost lives awaiting the temptation to come out in front.
THE SOIL AND THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
Religion is not very deeply buried in any man, especially not in the ones we can foreigners, were we to get down to it with a loving not prying cordiality.
Because the rural dweller is by necessity an individualist, the only approach to him is individual. The weakness of much Christian work in country places lies in the lack of individual approach in sympathetic neighborliness. Pastoral work, not only by minister but by layman also, with a pastoral knGwledge of the one pastored is the Church '8 hope of holding the country and of bringing it back to its prophetic place amid the material tendencies of urban life which is fast becoming major in our civilization. To interpret the speech of the country side as did our Lord, to make men feel the nearness of God as did He, will require perhaps abnegation and surrender of what seems more worthwhile. Abraham left Ur of Chaldea. Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom. There is a wide difference in what an Israelite and the Ammonite and Moabite connote to the world by way of religion, law and morality.
CHRISTl!AN STEWARDSHIP SENTIMENTS T 0 HAVE is to owe-not to own. ·When a man acquires riches, God gets a partner or the man loses his soul. I II will place no value on anything I have except in its relation to the Kingdom of Christ."
A wise man will not hesitate to give away what he cannot keep, obtaining thereby riches that he will never lose.
Systematic earning makes an industrious man; wise spending a well-furnished man; thoughtful saving a prepared man; conscientious giving a blessed man.
Unconsecrated wealth in the hands of Christians is one of the greatest hindrances to the progress of the Church.
The Kingdom of God can never be established merely by the raising and expending of money, but money is greatly needed for its world-wide extension.
Stewardship puts the Golden Rule into business in place of the Rule of Gold.
Jesus Christ teaches that a man's attitude toward God and His Kingdom is revealed by his attitude to the property com- . mitted to his trust.
A Christian Program for a Rural Church BY PROF. RALPH A. FELTON IN "OUR TEMPLED HILLS"
1. Help to strengthen family ties in the midst of all the pres" ent-day forces that tend to tear them apart. Stress the sacred- ness of family life.
2. Keep the children as the center of the home and com- munity life, thus using the stones to build parish houses, in place of reformatories; using the rope to construct play- ground swings, instead of for hanging people; giving at least as much space to parks as to cemeteries; having school- houses as fine as barns; providing as much furniture for the children as for guests; giving as much time for the bedtime story-hour as for the radio and the newspaper.
3: Emphasize both bodily health and spiritual holiness, both sanitation and saintliness, before Him who tells us that we are the temples of the living God!
4. Put more emphasis upon true worship, but also recog- nize the fact that religious obligation is not exhausted by go- ing to church; neither is the church's task completed by simply persuading people to come to meetings.
5. Develop a Christian atmosphere in which a clean and wholesome social life can be lived in this day when commer- cial agencies are bidding for the control of all recreation.
6. Christianize all relationships in such a way that, as we are drawn closer together by improved methods of commu- nication and by cooperative economic agencies, we may build that world-wide brotherhood that has been talked about for so long.
7. Help make this earth beautiful which God has made holy, and conserve its fertility as well as its beauty for future generations.
8. Teach respect for law. Look upon government and laws as the best judgment of the best people, and develop the in- dividual conscience to obey and to enforce the law.
9. Put the spirit of Christ into everyday life, so large a portion of which consists in earning a living; placing service above profits, ideals above dividends, and human relation- ships above material wealth.
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. .. P'I"..a. … oow. ftI …"l' . . {- ) dIow ……pIdodJ~ PERCEN'I'AGE OF INCREASE IN POPULATION OF TERRITORY RURAL IN 1920, BY STATES: 1910-1920 Changes in Rural Life In the Past Twenty-Five Years BY REV. Wl..RREN H . WILSON, D.D., NEW YORK ])ireetor of Town and Country Department, Board of National Missions, Presbyterian Ohurch, U. S. A.
RURAL life had its crises in the years near to 1870, when the great migration to new land began; in 1890 when, the new land being all settled, we began to exploit the settled acres; in 1910 when the Country Commission aroused the world, and in 1920 when world forces took possession of farm and village life. Between the changes of fifty-five years past and those of twenty-five years past is this difference: the earlier were American and continental; the later are international and world-wide. . This paper has to do with processes in which the American countrymen have a share ill the same experience of all lands.
At the beginning of the twentieth century we were made aware of what we called "rural decadence." The terms "hill towns" of New England, "paganism," "abandoned churches" were on the lips of church leaders. They appeared with increasing frequency in serious prints. Religious people were troubled over the decline of the country church, but they did not know its meaning. Every religious society that had rural congregations had the experience of closing some of them, avoiding as long as possible the recognition that many others were practically dead. In 1909 Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed by means of a famous "Report on Country Life"
493
that the causes of this decline were economic. His formula, trans- ported across the Atlantic by Sir Horace Plunkett, was "better farming, better business, better living." This connection between the life of the spirit and the toil of the hands had beim known to many individual church workers, but was not proclaimed until Roosevelt's famous Commission cleared the atmosphere and opened a vista of understanding.
There followed five years of "Conservation Movements" and "Country Life Movements." 1, was called at that time into the serv- ice of the Presbyterian Home Board as Superintendent of the Coun- try Life Department, and it was my duty to attend conferences in which religion, education, better farming, cooperative purchase, proc- ess and sale, were all discussed as parts of a common process. Theodore Roosevelt and Liberty Hyde Bailey had shown the way to consecrating the soil and harnessing the forces of religion with the task of honoring the Lord in material things. How different that time with its high hopes and its recognition of the spiritual value of material things, from the present in which farmers are demanding. better economic conditions without regard to the spir- itual use, which we then hoped would follow from the improvement of the industry!
In this quarter century we have seen a great socializing of morals, of health and education. The Prohibition Movement is the highest expression of a moral standard put into a social propaganda. It may have run away from its original idea, as some believe it has, in its legal forms, but at the beginning it was a movement for indi- vidual abstinence from intoxicating liquor. Among farmers it he- came a social movement for the community in the interest of temperance. It is originally an agrarian reform. Somewhat more slowly and by the same path has come the transformation of bedside health service into public health nursing in the community.
At the beginning of this century education was content with the little red schoolhouse. Now country people are. generally converted to a socialized form of education either in the consolidated school .or in intelligent, skilled supervision of schools. The agrarian ad- vance has changed the farmers' desire to be taught only what their fathers learned into an eagerness for teaching in agriculture and home economics as well. While there are some objectors and somo states are reluctant, yet the extension of social education among villagers and country people is natural, and like other changes of this period it follows international experience.
But the most striking change in rural life is the nationalization of agriculture. It began, I suppose, in the earlier period when the Department of Agriculture was formed and the colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts in every state were launched about sixty years ago. But in this quarter century of world influence we are
RURAL LIFE IN THE PAST TWEiN'.rY-FIVE YEARS
confronted with problems our fathers did not know. The boll weevil taught us to employ the county agent. Seaman Knapp, sent into the South by the Secretary of Agriculture to combat this pest, devised a series of demonstration farms supervised by the county agent. In the Administration of Woodrow Wilson during the war this system was made national. The Farm Bureau grew up around the county agent's office at the county seat, and now we have agriculture pivoted upon the action of the National Government. We have the Farm Bloc in Washington and many state capitals. Farmers are demanding that the Government help the industry which twentyfive years ago regarded itself as the one independent occupation in the world.
Corresponding to this change is the denominational care of the country church. All Protestant communions before that time had what the Presbyterians call "presbyterial administration." Even the Methodists care for their weaker country churches through the conference. With the Roosevelt Country L,ife Commission Report in 1909 a new era began and now at least ten of the greater communions, including the Roman Catholic, have Departments of the Country Church, usually under their Board of Home Missions, which endeavor to use national resources and national experience in the interest of the local country congregation. In doing so they seek for international models and assemble the wisdom of centuries and of other lands as best they may to help the country church. Already the American experience is used in China and India, and the community church, as well as the "demonstration parish," is studied and imitated by missionaries. Evidently this religious movement which seemed national is in reality international.
One may well contrast the rural life of 1925 with that of 19QO. rroday country people are concerned with collective action in their farming and in their industry. They have heard of agricultural cooperation in Germany and consumers' cooperation in England. Cooperation has a definite meaning to farmers. The word refers to a mode of collective borrowing of money, collective processing of meat or milk, collective breeding of cattle, collective selling of farm products, and collective purchase of the goods farmers and villagers want. In 1910 farmers and residents in small towns were engaged in individual struggle, under low prices, for survival. In 1925-1926 country people are cooperating, in a time of high prices, for survival, with even more alarm in their expressions.
Another strong contrast between the extremes of this quarter century is expressed in urbanization. Villages and dwellers of the open country are getting hold of comforts and conveniences which are bought, not hand-made. It would seem that a good angel had looked upon the bleak slavery of farmers in the former century and planned for them enjoyment as wen as release; for the automobile,
COMING TO CHURCH BY OARRIAGES AND ON FOOT IN TEXAS the telephone, the radio, and in the background the rural free delivery of mail, are devices that seem to be suited to the need of the farm family living upon their lonely acres. 'l'hese devices, wllich were at first reluctantly used by farmers, though that reluctance has diminished with each successive year, have completely changed the social process of the farm house. Every day letters come and the paper comes to the door; every hour the telephone jingles with news of the neighborhood and reliable information of the markets. Every evening the radio sounds from its corner and every Sunday it preaches; while the automobile stands crouched in the barn or the garage ready for a dash to the nearest or the farthest point, in less time than it used to take to put a bridle on the farmer's mare. It would seem that these changes would make the country so attractive that Ntlfthecity people would. move out there to live, but in fact theY have simply stirred the mixture of country life more vigorously; or to change the figure, they have speeded up the separator by -which the cream and the milk are separated. The selection of those who live in the country and those who are impelled to leave the country is hastene4 by these wonderful facilities.
The social facilities are not the only ones given the farmer and the villager. New tools have come for his trade and new devices to save the steps of his burdened wife in the kitchen. The tractor is the rival of the horse, which the automobile has driven from the public roads. Many devices for doing the labor of the farm have come with it. But better still are the manifold facilities for making the house attractive within and the labor of the kitchen easier. Some of them are intended for health improvement but others have to do with the heating and lighting of the house. The old-fashioned farm of our grandfather's was self-sustaining in that it produced what
RURAL LIFE IN THE PAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS
it consumed: but the modern farm, equally prosperous, is self-sufficing as an electric plant, as a heating plant, as a unit of dairying or of canning fruits j though it is by this fact all the more dependent upon the manufacturer and the salesman.
Twenty-five years ago the farmer took pride in the skill of his hands to provide for his wants. He did not think of himself at that time except as an independent producer. But now the farmer is a consumer and he knows it. Therefore, he is concerned about his income. Even in India and China and Africa the quest of the dollar, the rupee and the shilling, is molding rural life. Reports from missionaries and travelers tell of the modification of village and family life for the purpose of making money, and the invasion of those lands by European and American goods that must be bought with cash. The studies made in Cornell University upon the problem of the income of the farmer, which resulted in the new word "labor income" with its peculiar meaning, have been memorable. We used to think about farm profits in a vague way. Since 1911 we have had a measurement of the pay a farmer gets for labor and management. 'l'his measure is used in China and India as well as in Montana.
Another striking change in the quarter century is the accelerated selection of those who may dwell in the country by reason of intensified industry. Farm life and village life are now thoroughly industralized. Generally speaking, none dwell in the country except those who can give an industrial reason for living there. The surplus of our populations is in our cities, with few exceptional areas. During the period following the war, immigrants have been drastically excluded from this country and the industries to which they were accustomed to attach themselves in the manufacturing centers have raised their wages, thus calling in many men and some women and children from the farms. By this the one-time exodus from the country has become a lamentable procession, and the announcements 2
of the Department of Agriculture, concerning especially the great industrial states east of Chicago and north of Washington, have tended greatly to discourage the people of the country and to give the impression that farm industry is a failure.
Another rural change in the spirit of recent years has been caused by the extended propaganda on behalf of moral reform, as on behalf of prohibition and of those domestic moralities which are . exalted by the Ku Klux Klan, and in the interest of the so-called Nordic stock. Whatever the cause of these agitations they have greatly disturbed country people. It may be that they are part of a racial discussion in which we are at the beginning. Their effects are already written in legislation and recorded in a complete change of the atmosphere and tone of rural communities in such states as Indiana and Texas. Everyone who knows these states appreciates that the old days of friendly, easy intercourse have gone and a new time with strong aversions or conflicts and not a little fear has arrived. The future is obscured for thoughful people in these small towns, whi~h are iarming centers, and the present is not as agree- able as the past.
The bitter cup of disillusionment, too, has been pint to our lips by the writers of the time. Until the past decade we were able to idealize the people that live in the country. We had fears and we were challenged to remedy abuses but we did not doubt the goodness of the structure and the beauty of the ideals of the village and the farm until "Main Street" was written and "TeeftaUow." These books and others like them slashed the portrait of our ancestors . with a ruthless dagger and robbed those who love the country of their pride in the life of small communities. That they told truth is evidenced by the wide reading they had among country people themselves,but they have left us without the ideals in which we clothed the farmer and the mountaineer.
Last of all, in the quarter century has come the proclamation of the city supremacy. In the Census of 1920 the city crossed the line for the first time ahead of the country. Fifty-one per cent of our people were found to live on the city side of that arbitrary line of 2500 population and less.· The newspapers and those who read them are all convinced that America has become an urban order of life and say it daily. Strange to say, at this very time, owing to other causes, notably the sales program in the interest of the auto- mobile and the radio, people are moving out of the city into the open country. .Families are touring out into the country and the resi- dential section of the bigger cities is forever being pushed farther and farth(lr from the city hall. . ..
It would be in vain to close this brie~:recital'with any indication of finality, but it may be worth saying that the changes of the past twenty-fi,ve years are generally superficial. No change has come in
1926J RURAL LIFE IN THE PAST TWENTY-FIVE YE,ARS
the source of our food, cotton, wool, lumber, ores and petroleum. 'Po produce these, people live in the country. So long as we have to tend dairy cows in order to get milk and cream, which are necessities of life, and so long as we have to plant and reap wheat in order to make bread; so long as we must have petroleum to lubricate the machines of the world, we will have people living in the small communities. The changes of the past twenty-five years are striking and picturesque indeed, but the family farm is still the unit of agriculture, the greatest industry of them all, in which is engaged sixty per cent of the rural population. This is the largest population engaged in any single industry in any part of the world under like conditions 'of cOmfort and prosperity.
THE IJIIDRCH' IN THE CHANGING COUNTRY Times in the country have changed. Jnstead of lamenting "the good old days,"
it were better to try to keep the rural church up-to-date_ Improved farm machinery means that fewer people are needed in the country; therefore, fewer people are left to support the rural church; therefore, small churches should be consolidated. Automobiles and good roads have en~rged the rural neighborhood, making it possible for scattered farm people to attend strong central churches. The little rural neighborhood nnit has largely given place to the country unit for agricultural organizations. The small neighborhood church must likewise be enlarged, both geographically and in its program of activities. The cunsolidation of rural schools is paving the way for a consolidation of rural churchoo.
The radio, like the telephone and the rural free delivery, has decreased isolation and puts farmers in touch with world movements_ Religion in the country must be adapted to the needs of this new rural life and must give the farmer a wider horizon. R. F.
Changes in Rural Standards of Living BY PROF. RALPH A. FELTON, ITHACA, NEW YORK T HE changes that have taken place in rural life are revealed by a study of the cost of living of two families_ ~'he first entries are those of the father who kept strict account of his expenditures; and the second, those' of his son who, forty-five years later, kept an equally strict account_ Both father and son lived on the same farm, and in each family there were three adults and three children. They illustrate the difference in the standard of living today on American farms from that which prevailed forty-five years ago.
FATHER'S SoN'S EXPENSES, 1880 EXPENSES, 1924 $1. 73 Light, including up-keep $99.00 52.00 Food 447.73 93.68 Clothing 280.15 Three children 411.43 61.81 Church 95.07 Doetor and medicine 167.30 72.20 Papers and books 161. 70 6.40 Trips and vacations 22.26 Z_50 Amusements Z7.65 691.65 .00 159.82 _00 14_96 General operation (COAl, gasoline, auto, labor) 16 .17 Miscellaneous $321.45 $2,563.76 -From II Our Templed Hills.
Gospel and the
BY THE REV. A. B. PARSON, NEW YORK CITY Assistant Foreign Secretary, Protestant Episcopal Ohnrch CHRISTIAN forces at work in many lands have in one respect been neglecting the majority of the human race. We have forgotten that the masses live as tillers of the soil and cannot understand the refinements of an urban evangel, a message that seldom carries outside of the bounds of city life. A distinctly new note is being sounded to preach the Kingdom of God in the great rural regions of the earth. "If the world is to be Ohristian," says Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones, "then Ohristianity must broaden its conception of mission possibilities."
Our attack on the evils of the world has too often centered on individuals in cities and we have offered a Gospel powerful and transforming so far as it went. We built schools and hospitals by the side of churches and magnificently the enterprise has gone forward-except in the great, cleared spaces where the world's farmers care for the world's needs. There we did not go, because for the most part the missionary enterprise was born among literary folk, the product of refinement in city and college.
This expanding world movement has yet to learn the Gospel of the soil: that God's purpose must surely be to redeem the basis of all existence, which is the agricultural ground work of our world economic life. A great proportion of the earth-family live in the eountry and their viewpoint is determined by the conditions of rural life. A place must be claimed! for rural missions in the programs of all mission boards. The work of any communion will be incomplete if it evangelizes, educates, does medical and' other social work, but omits agricultural missions.
Oonsider some of the confessions of missionary leaders. In India much of the unrest is said to be due to the fact that schools have too exclnsively prepared young Indians for literary and clerical occupations to the neglect of the activities that are more fundamental in the life of their millions near to the soil, since 90% of the people live in some 700,000 villages. A leader in Ohina writes: "Our education as at present conducted is of an exclusively literary type and seems to me to foster in the pupils an exaggerated idea of the excellence of books ….. " And yet Ohina is the center of that bursting Far E{tst wherein one half of the world's population lives; and four fifths of these live on the land and secure their living from the land. The African Educational Oommissions* found that though the "See reports "Education in Africa." and "Education in East Africa." Phelps-Stokes Fund, 101 ,Park Ave., New York.
500 work of missions has had profound effects on the general life of the continent, "we have contributed only a small beginning toward the training that is required to prepare the native to make effective use of the soiL"
Benja;min H. Hunnicutt, of Lavras, Brazil, the first agricultural missionary (and yet appointed as late as 1907), says: "Agricultural missions are still in their infancy, and their status with the boards at home, the missions on the field, policies of development, and work are all matters of very grave study."
THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AGRICULTURAL MISSIONS This group seeks to keep before mission boards the serious import of our still incomplete world missionary enterprise. Its purpose is to associate all those interested in agricultural and rural l11issions throughout the world for the development and exchange of ideas in order to improve agriculture and create a rural Ohristian eivilization.
'1'he Association's outlook on rural life includes all organized efforts for economic, social and religious development such as: increased production per acre and per capita, conservation of natural resources, good roads, cooperative markets, community centers, recreation, household arts and economy, public health service, improved churches and schools.
The Association was organized on January 1st, 1920, by missionaries and others interested in agricultural development at home and abroad. Twenty-five mission boards and other agencies are represented on the Executive Committee of the Association. Important investigations are being made by fiv'e committees as follows: Methods in Agricultural Missions at Home and Abroad. The Agricultural Community at Home and Abroad. Cooperative Organization of Agriculture. Women and the Family in Rural Life. The Rural Message and the Students of America.
The year past has been notable for two important conferences: the first (the fifth annual meeting) in New York in December and the second a regional conference in April at the School of Agriculhue, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
EXAMPI,ES OF AGRICULTURAL WORK In present-day annals of mission lands no projects carry more weight than that of the quiet work of the American Presbyterian mission at Moga, Punjab. Rev. W. J. McKee and his associates are heeding the saying of the Governor of India's United Provinces that "India must prepare for the rule of her masters-the farmers!" Mr. McKee emphasrzes the village as the unit of work and the children are trained to meet all the conditions of their lives. Chief
among the things that are taught is gardening. Each child is given a plot of ground which he learns to cultivate. This agricultural w-ork is simple, but in view of the fact that millions in India must work on small plots, the effect will be far reaching. Group living and mutual aid are values that Christian teaching can add to Indian life.
China, similarly, presents the village as the unit of the community. The leaders of the New China are thinking seriously and constructively about rural China. This transformation of a people in a few years is bringing baffling complexities and underneath all questions is the agricultural. President Kenyon h Butterfield says: Half of the world's population lives in the Far East. Four fifths of these eight hundred million human beings live on the land and secure their living directly from the land. In these two facts lies the significance of the Far East in the problem of agriculture viewed as a world question. The process of industrializing the Far East is well begun though by no means half done. Now industrialization means urbanization and both together mean new drafts upon agriculture. More mouths to feed, fewer hands to produce food, higher standards of urban living, will once again crowd the soil of the Far East to its fullest possibilities. It is not alone food that is wanted in the Far East. This region is especially adapted to certain raw materials for manufacture that are in constant and growing demand. Silk and cotton are the most important of these; but beans and other plants are also important, being wanted in rapidly increasJng amounts for their oils and similar extracts. A long list of these products can even now be made and will be increased as transportation becomes easier. It follows therefore that the world interest in Far Eastern Agriculture is two-fold; first, the capacity of the region to feed half the world's people-its own half-the half which will soon be two thirds; and, second, its ability, iu addition to growing food, to grow raw material for industry.
The valuable counsel of the U. S. Department of Agriculture has been increasingly at the service of missionaries and boards. The Hon. William M. Jardine, Secretary of Agriculture, says: Our religion has its roots in a rural society, and it will lose much if it does not keep those country foundations sound and secure. Religion must keep its touch with the soil if it is to be deep and· vital. Religion is one of the deepest and most vital instincts of the human race and it should reach its highest fruition when it is associated with other deep and ancient instincts. One of the most conspicuous of these is love of the soil and of natm:al things which owe their life to the soil. Religion which is founded on the reverence and understanding of country people has a strength which it could never obtain from urban sources. This is the type of religion that needs to be presented more and more in our rural communities-a religion that does not speak in general terms, but that ties up religion with all that is good in farming and rural life. Religion can in this way make a genuine contribution to farming and the Inrmer, and they in their turn, inspired by this new religious con- ception, will give their fundamental solidity and strength to the re- ligious life of the nation.
THE ,GOSPEL AND THE SOIL
The Spring Conference of boards and missionaries, students and faculty members in Ohio could have had no more fitting setting than Ohio State University since this state is 94% farm land and of its total area 78% is devoted to cultivation and improved farm land. This conference combined to bring together expert knowledge of the needs of farmer folk the world around. One is deeply moved at the sweep of the forces represented by the followers of a Galilean village Youth, the Incarnate Love shown in an Oriental whose life was lived in the countryside. His teachings were illustrated mainly by allusions to homely farm life: the seed, the plow, the wheat, the tares, the soil.
The quiet transformation taking place was unostentatiously reported by a worker in South Africa, in making famine non-existent among Christian natives due to their knowledge of improved agriculture. Pagan peoples in the very same locations are still suffering from periodic famines. In other words, the scientific farmer, the product of Christian missions, constantly has a residue of his crops over against the day of need; while the native unschooled farmer faces constantly recurring starvation.
The non-Christian world stands in jeopardy without an inclusive Gospel that will save the whole of our human processes. God in Christ reveals to us new realms to be conquered before we can claim that we have the completer truth. The missionary enterprise, send· ing out modern agricultural apostles, proclaims a science friendly and transforming and humane for the most numerous of the classes of the world's workers.
To be secure in the proclamation of such a daringly comprehensive message we need an extension of our home labors. Our present danger is that the joyful possession of and working of the soil will give place to the tide that already has turned to the city and to an industrial society eager for a too comfortable de-agriculturalized urban life.
It will not do to try to take to non-Christians something we have not first experienced. It is for us to build a more Christian rural America. We have had a first era of the rural church, one of criticism, analysis and intellectual grasp of the problem. The seeond stage is one of hope, fervor and passion. If the rural church is to be cleansed of dry rot, the American farmer saved from peasantry, the city saved from an influx of pagan youth, a prophet must arise who will build upon the insight of this intellectual era, bringing together the forces of religion under a single battle cry against the devil and the sin of a false aristocracy and a false superiority, in order that the whole land may be Christian and strong. The whole man, the whole land, the whole world is to be redeemed. Then let us rise up to an unfinished work and give to earth 'speoples a finer life as the fruit of faith in a God who loves the whole world.
Real Job of the Rural
BY REIV. JOHN McDOWELL, D.D., NEW YORK Secretary of the Board of National Missions, Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
"And He went round about the villages teaching"-Mark 6: 6.
O BVIOUSLY the real job of the Church of Christ cannot be determined by its location or its environment. Whenever its work has been thus defined, the rural church has been long on program and short on dynamic, long on statistics and short on spirituality, long on stimulus and short on impulse. Noone will question for a moment that the religious condition of those who till the soil, who drive the plow, who delve in mine and who dwell remote from the marts of trade should never cease to be of serious concern to all Christians. Of course, the rural church must not be insensible to the needs of the people, old and young, nor indifferent to the pressing problems of the community. It must be wide awake to all these things and always close to the business and hearts of the men and women, boys and girls for whose well being and welfare it exists. If the rural church is to fulfil its place and do its work, survive and succeed, it must have at least two things: First, a clear idea of the mission to which Christ, the Founder, has appointed it.
Second, a firm purpose to fulfil that mission and not to die while there is work to do.
-What, then, is the real job of the rural church 7 For an answer to this question, Christians should go to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments rather than to modern sociology and modern surveys. Surveys will prove a help in projecting the program of the rural church but they are not authoritative in defining its real job and its supreme purpose. The final court of appeal on this momentous question to which we should willingly submit is the teaching of the Scriptures, especially the teaching of the New Testament.
The rural church's mission is nowhere else authoritatively defined. Definitions from other sources are of value only in so far as they are in harmony with the teachings of the New Testament. Before these teachings, pre-conception and prejudice and pride should willingly bow and, to the full limits of the truth as revealed in the records of the New Testament, the rural church and every other church bearing the name of Jesus Christ is in duty bound to conform.
What, then, according to the teaching of the New Testament, is the real job of the rural church7 Choosing the Book of the Acts as a purposeful chronicle of the origin and growth of the Church and closely studying its narrative, we discover the answer it supplies to 504 be as simple as its implications are startling. The real job of the Church, according to the New Testament, is to witness to and for Jesus, the Christ. "Ye shall be my witnesses" (Acts 1: 8), said .Jesus to His followers on the day of His Ascension. That was their sole responsibility, a responsibility which each according to his several ability must discharge. It was to this end that "power" was promised, "when the Holy Spirit is come upon you."
Beginning with their native land, Judea, their witness was to extend to the uttermost part of the earth. "Weare witnesses," said Peter and his companions, harking back to the significant term again and again. Each act of the Apostles was a witness bearing, whether an interpretation of national history in the light of the grace and truth which came by this Christ, the healing of the sick, like the lame man at the beautiful door of the temple, or the ceaseless proclamation of Jesus crucified and risen. All such evidence as this is clear. "To witness for Jesus Christ!" That is the Church's real job everywhere throughout the world without discrimination and without discount.
In these modern days when the Church is called upon to do so many things and to be so many things for the community, all of which have their place and all of which are important in their place, we do well to go back to these early records and remind ourselves that, according to the constitution and charter of Christianity, the real job of any church bearing the name of Jesus Christ is not vague and indefinite but real and definite and that job is to be a living witness in every community to Christ and for Christ.
It is true that the Church has other functions, functions which are of great value to the community, but even these apart from the primary function of the Church will sooner or later disappoint the community and be discounted by the people. We heartily agree with Rev. Fred Eastman when he says: Let us keep constantly before us our historic ideals of religious and political freedom, education and Christian service. More important yet, let us bear in mind that these great ideals are the product of such religious conceptions as our faith in a Sovereign God dwelling in the human soul. Fundamental in all our "Unfinished Business," therefore, is evangelism, or getting individuals into fellowship with God. If the Church were to forget its history and become so blinded as not to see the religious roots of its passion for freedom, its desire for education and its devotion to human service, and were to set about working for these things simply through laws and movements whose object is the change of social environment, it would be a useful institution but it would cease to be a Christian Church.
The ideal for the rural church ought to be a saved soul in a saved body, living in a saved community. It is becoming clearer every day that the men and women and children in the rural districts need and want religion, and the religion they want and" need is the religion that means peace and purity and joy, the sense of God's nearness, the comfort of Christ's love, the strength that comes from spiritual
food and fellowship. They want the rural church to be a house of prayer and praise for all people, the place where divine truth seems clearer and human brotherhood dearer and heaven nearer than anywhere else in the world.
The rural church will succeed in proportion as it wins the affection, confidence, support and loyalty of the people by doing its own work, namely, that of witnessing to and for Jesus Christ. Apparent success on any other basis-especially political, financial, agricultural, educational, social or sensational-means for the rural church a living death. The rural church must be a minister to life, personal and social, and in its ministry to life it will respond to the two deepest and most universal desires of mankind, namely, the desire for peace and the desire for power. The rural church that is a witness to Jesus Christ will soon reveal the fact that the secret of social well being is the individual life and the secret of all individual life is acquaintance with God and the supreme source of acquaintance with God is Jesus Christ.
If the rural church is to be true to its primary task, it must be unflinchingly loyal to its divine commission and close to the needs that call it into existence. It must attend strictly to its own specific job. So far as it attempts to duplicate the work of other institutions, to that extent it will fail. There must be a deepening within the rural church of the conviction that it exists because man has a soul that needs to be saved and needs nurture-worship, sympathy, love, hope and the cultivation of the spiritual life. The rural church does not primarily exist to provide workshops, soup-kitchens, farm schools and medical clinics. All of these are necessary and have a very real value to the community, but this is not the need that creates the rural church. Scripture, history and experience unite in saying that the Church exists primarily to lead men to repentance, to give them faith in God, teach them high ideals, to equip them with motive power; in a word, to make them open and loyal disciples of Jesus Christ.
Through the Gospel of Christ, the rural church ought to offer every man, woman and child the abundant life that Christ came to give. If it fails to do this, it is not the Church of Jesus Christ and the people will go unsaved, unserved and unblessed. It is becoming clearer every day that the rural church that will fill a soul with the love of Christ through its services will soon discover that through such a soul the community will be served and the diseases and disorders that disturb the community will be eliminated. The rural church that makes the heart clean by its regenerating Gospel and glad by its uplifting worship will do more to bring the Kingdom of God into the neighborhood than many free lectures, free concerts and free lunches.
"No improvement of environment," says the Rev. Paul Douglas
THE REAL JOB OF THE RURAL CHURCH
in his book, "The New Home Missions," "will make the human soul commensurate with its largest visions. In its profoundest reaches life will ever need a redeeming touch deeper than. any social ministry. There are many things and they are mostly fundamental which law and education cannot do because they are weak through the flesh. "
There is always a danger that the rural church under the pressure of its immediate and urgent needs will forget the Master's fundamental teachings respecting the application of His Gospel to men. Make the heart right and then righteousness will abound. "Oleanse first that which is within the cup." .Put love into the breast and then it will shine in the eye, speak from the lips and work through the hands. The feet will run on errands of mercy if the soul is merciful. The rural church, like the Apostle Paul, must "become all things to all men" that it "may by all means save some." (1 Cor. 9: 22.) It is with this motive that the rural church should worship and work. It is not to please men but to save men that its program should be projected, not to win their favor and applause but to win their souls. This is the 'first great objective of all the work of the rural church. It is evident from the teaching of the New Testament that the supreme desire and effort of tlie rural church should be the conversion of men. That is its real job, this not as an after-result to be attained by method of gradual approach but as its direct goal and its immediate objective. The Gospel of Christ begins at the right end. Convert a man, a family, a tribe first; educate, cultivate, stimulate afterwards. Was this not exactly what Christ Himself meant when he IT, said: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6: 33.) Whenever conversion is genuinely Christian it will be followed by thoroughgoing changes of habits and conduct and, manner. These are the "things that accompany salvation." History shows that where an individual or a family or a tribe has been brought to a saving belief in Christ the result is never mere salvation in the sense of an inner change of heart and such an outward change of life as affects only the clearly moral relations and practices. There always follows a rapid succession of changes more or less radical in every sphere of His life and thought, changes which not seldom make a deeper impression upon the minds of an observing world than the essential spiritual change which is the source of it.
The new birth is the basis of all moral progress and enlightenment, the first necessary step toward every good, whether personal or public, whether social or political, commercial or religious. Christianity seeks to regenerate the heart and thus transform character and ultimately the community. Whoever has experienced this spiritual transformation of change of heart-whoever has been vitally renewed in motive and aspiration by the power of Christ is counted a
citizen of the Heavenly Kingdom, a genuine product of saving grace even though his outward circumstances have not yet felt the full effect of that change.
When the rural church is true to her commission she will aim always and only at one result, spiritual regeneration. But this re- suit will affect all the rest of human life. There is no part of life so material, so secular or so superficial but is modified and influenced by the regenerating power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The right kind of a church for the rural life is one which, how- ever simple in its worship, however small in its membership, is mani- festly filled with the spirit of Christ, which is always the spirit of service, sacrifice and love. The rural church must seek to make every one who enters it feel at once-"these people are glad to be Chris- tians and glad to have me with them, and truly it is good to be here." Such a church will survive and in the best sense of the word will succeed.
To s'um up, we affirm, first, that the real job of the rural church when true to her commission, as given by Jesus Christ and described in the New Testament, is that of witnessing to and for Jesus Christ; second, that the content of this witness is at least fivefold: (1) To witness to the saving power of Jesus Christ-evangelism. (2) To witness to the developing power of Christ-education. (3) To witness to the healing power of Christ-medical service. (4) To witness to the transforming power of Christ-character-build- ing. (5) To witness to the reconstructing power of Christ-community- building.
Let the rural church trust God and believe in the value of the human soul and let this' faith send her forth with the glad message, "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Yes, "whosoever," irrespective of doctrines, creeds and sacraments i "whosoever shall call"-albeit ignorantly, feebly, foolishly-the call and not the manner of it being the sale condition-"Whosoever shall call shall be saved." Let heragain sound forth in every village of our land the Gospel of Christ in terms of its democracy: "Whosoever will may come," and the rural church will soon convince the people that it is a supreme necessity in human life. Let the rural church speak the gospel of good cheer as the Master did, not to the farmer but to the man who farms, not to the workingman but to the man who works, and it will win its way into the hearts and homes of the people. Let the rural church in the name of Christ offer a program that is as deep as human nature and as wide as human need and it will be what it was intended to be, "The Body of Christ"-not an end in itself but a means to an end, not an institution to be built up out of the community, but an instrument for building up the community in thtl truth, in the life and Spirit of Christ.
Adventure in Rural
BY REV. MALCOLM DAriA, D.D., NEW YORK CITY Director, Town and Country Department, Congregatiunal Church Extension Boards PHILLIPS Brooks once said that "being a minister is fun." The average rural minister would doubtless be inclined' to make some mental reservations before admitting the truth of that statement. He would not, however, deny that the rural min- istry offers adventure, and, as to its being fun, a man makes his ministry a lugubrious or happy experience by what he puts into it.
n is the minister who conditions the success of any work. It is quite – frequently said, "Make the jobs big enough and men will go into the rural ministry." There is a good deal of truth in the statement. But after all, the need is everywhere for men who will go into the country and create their own jobs and make them truly big. Someone has said: "Many a church is languishing for a big task." 'L"rue! The churches are ready and waiting to be chal- lenged.
'L'he first man who comes to my mind is Wilbur I. Bull, recently of Ashland, Me., and now gone to an- other part of the same state to re- peat himself. When I first saw him he was something of a curiosity to me, for he is one of very few men WILBUR 1. BULL OF MAINE with whom I am acquainted who ac- tually prepared for the ntml ministry. The Ashland region is some- what remote, in Aroostook Co unty, famous for its seed potatoes, and only fifty miles south of the Canadian border. Wilbur Bull went there thirteen years ago and has been eternally at it ever since. He is more than a preacher. He made himself an "institu- tion" all over the country. Until 1922 there was a region of perhaps two hundred and fifty square miles with only a Catholic priest, now and then an Episcopal minister, and Mr. Bull himself, as resident pastors. Of course, to the shame of Protestantism, where the open country is neglected by the Church, all sorts of "bootleg cults"
thrive. The region had its share. For years this sky-pilot of the Aroostook had been cherishing visions of bigger things commen- S09
surate with the needs and opportunity. But he worked while he dreamed, and "spread himself" in a really wonderful way. I am glad that I was allowed the privilege of helping to promote the really big thing that is up there now.
Aaron Sapiro had come in to the county to organize the potato growers. I heard him speak to a thousand farmers over at Caribou. If he had only substituted church or religion for every mention of sun-kissed oranges, prunes, tobacco, etc.-industries he has organized-it would have been the best description I have ever heard given of a much-needed rural church technic. We tried the same arguments for cooperation and pooling of interests in religion that he did with potatoes. And it went across. Ashland is the only place large enough to support a minister of its own. The three other little vil· lages, and the eight or ten school districts, have never had the high 0«/ACIf; PASnlRAL la-.-~ ~ ~ IIERIA'I1ONAL DEMRJM:In' ".~ _ _ _ aIIIIIIS – – – _a:HDIU -……. ………… M.8.~1IIC'mR- ~S£IM:ES 1I_IIIRl-_ OLL _ -.-.-…–_':r~ –M_OI_ 'IIIIA.!IlIIMVCIIEISIU lWIIIRlRMK IllCAllIIIMIIIIJIIIII, –..~ …S..C..T- .-.1.H..iI.'I.I.D- .t, ATIlCI1R1t1S. BIBLI_II UIIII MIIEH &LiIGrr ——"""""'" lWUIIiI!IIiM CIllRJtll,A LDfIIII SIIIW:t _'l'llllt'RAMB _~IIIMCI sams nTDXY awiIIl JlIS'PlRAL IIlMIIlIMllIOHS 'RAIlIDLESSOIIS atR~~ltll OWAI"llMf'U.
THE PROGRAM AND STAFF OF THE LARGER PARISH, ASHLAND, MAINE
RELIGIOUS ADVENTURE IN RURAL AMERIOA
SUPT. W. 1. BULL THE LARGER PARISH COUNCIL OF THE AROOSTOOK CHURCH grade ministry needed tQ get results. They are too poor, and, as in potatoes, they have never learned the game of cooperation. Mr. Bull gathered together a group of us men who had been to college, and who had not forgotten the stunts we put on there, and we visited some thirteen points-usually farm houses- where we had afternoon games, a big supper, and then a good time" saying our pieces." ,life really evolved a first-class vaudeville troupe before we had done. Better still, we "sold" them the idea of the .Aroostook Larger Parish. Each cooperating unit sent in a delegate to discuss possibilities, and pool resources.
In 1921 they had only Mr. Bull. The illustrations show the Larger Parish and the Program which were there by 1924. The Parish Council still functions. It meets every six weeks and the people themselves make the plans used in Aroostook, a "practice of pure democracy in religion" that should obtain everywhere. The staff included three men, all college trained, and two of them seminary graduates. The finest departmentized work I know of anywhere is being wrought out. Results of such work cannot be tabulated. Sapiro told the farmers never to let a potato get out of the region without the name Aroostook appearing somewhere, so that when people said potato folks would think Aroostook, and when .Aroostook was mentioned folks would think potatoes. So we conjured with the· name Aroostook to develop a community spirit co-extensive with the entire parish of two hundred and fifty square miles. Town and country antagonisms, village jealousies, and neighborhood feuds exist pretty much everywhere in rural America. They are forgotten up in .Aroostook. The Council, the ministers, the equipment, belong
to everyone, and all boost for the thing as a whole. Dean Bosworth defines the Kingdom of God as "a society of friendly folks. " The Kingdom is coming throughout the Larger Parish. On the vorst possible Sunday for the purpose, in 1924, sixty men (not women) got on their snowshoes, skiis, sleds and horses and canvassed' for the annual budget. They raised $3,100 in cash and pledges against $1,800 the year before, and despite the fact that potatoes were not selling for enough to pay for the fertilizers used in raising them.
One of the most serious tasks facing America today is the maintain- ing of a high grade population upon the soil. Rural religion and the Church have much t.o ~o with it. BothaL'e functionillg suc~~s- fully in Aroostook. .' , . ' . " . … " ' C ( Now take a long leap out to Colorado: About two hundred and fifty miles west of Denver, tventy- six miles from the nearest rail- road station, and six thousand feet up in the air, is Plateau Val- ley or "the Hidden Arcadia of the West." vVhy do men covet city parishes hemmed in by ugly build- ings, buried in smoke, with no sky- line or far glimpses of God's open ~ Consider what is in this little valley. To the north, running east and west for miles, are the Battle- ment Mesa oil-shale hills. rfo the A RURAL PARISH IN COLORADO south is Grand Mesa rising four- teen thousand feet into the air and snow crowned most of the year. Through the fertile valley runs the Plateau Creek, rising eight thousand feet up in the mountains to the east, fed by melting snows all along its eighteen-mile course, and giv- ing perfect irrigation privileges on every side. Alfalfa is the chief industry of the Valley to feed the fifty-five thousand cattle grazing on the Battlement Mesa National Range. Forty-five hundred people live in the four little villages, and "the neighborhoods" scattered through the hills. Two thousand of these are young people, six hun- dred of them being school children. Six churches have been minister- ing religiously to these people for some thirty years.
An old college friend first invited me to come into the valley.
James F. Walker, called the "Sky-pilot of the Rockies" had, like Bull, of Ashland, been doing pioneer work there. He also had dreamed of what might some day be made to be. Walker is a man's man, as well as a man of God, and had done most all of the ,things the local inhabitants have ever attempted-except to "sit Mc- Oarthy's mule. " Next, I think of 'William D. Barnes, who came after.
R.EL:tGtOUS ADVENTURE lN RuRAL AMER1CA
BUS SERVICE FOR A DAILY VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL IN COLORADO He was of a different type but, as the cowboys put it, "a he-man and a regular feller." I heard Barnes tell the kind of minister required in the Rockies. He said, "The cowboys always suspect a streak of yellow in a preacher. There was one man I simply could not get next to. I finally concluded that to win him I must put on the gloves with him. So, one night, we drew the chairs in the little church, donned the mitts and went at it. He was a better boxer than I was but I managed to get in a few punches for the glory of the IJord. Both of us were rather soft, and at the end of fifteen minutes my opponent suggested that we had had enough. He has been my best friend ever since. A few days later the cowboys told me that I was expected to ride a wild steer at a rodeo. I wondered how the Lord would get me out of that fix. He did it. On· Saturday afternoon I' was playing ball with the Scouts and sliding in On the home plate 🙁 ,broke my leg-and thus saved my neck."
The people were prosperous at the time of my first visit to the Valley but had no money for religious enterprises. The latter simply did not register, and the church was not considered a "going concern." Just as it is ·most everywhere in rural America the methods of the church were not comparable to those on ranch and farm- and so were not respected. Not one tenth of either the old folks or the young folks were in any way connected with the churches and Sunday-schools. And yet, people buy what they want now-adays! Our job was to put up something in the name of religion that these people did want. And it was done. The church at the center, Collbran, had been talking a $5000 investment in that anathema of church building possibilities-a cement basement under the wee 3
church. Folks were languishing for a bigger job than that! Realizing that "the needs of the community must be the law of the church" we began to study, tabulate and vision those needs. Finally a $20,000 Community House, with eVenT facility of a modern Y. M. C. A. building, a seven-day-a-week religio-social program, and a multiple ministry, was proposed. The ranchers could not afford to hire "hands" and parents wanted to hold their children on the farms. We suggested that people who went over the top in Liberty Loans and War Drives of every sort for children overseas might do the same by those children spared and returned to them. The people decided that" the best is none too good for us" and went to it. And the thing was done. Due partly to an "inferiority complex" country folks often say, "It is part of the fate of living in the country that we cannot have the alluring attractions and conveniences of the larger centers." This was utterly disproved. Look at the Community House, bought by the entire Valley, owned and administered by its representatives. They have every club in Plateau Valley that exists anywhere, except a policemen's club, which they do not need. The peopie have gotten religion enough so that bootlegging is not tolerated as "fashionable" and "smart" but is dealt with in true western style. There is a Plateau Valley Larger Parish now! The things enjoyed at the center are taken to the far circumferences of the parish. One minister cares particularly for Collbran village and its community house activities. The other is big brother to everyone outside. "Fords" and a Reo speed wagon, with movies, library books, athletic supplies, etc., visit some eight outstations. When summer comes, the children are brought in to the Daily Vacation Bible School held at the big plant. Other such schools are held at different points in the Valley. Those 'who prefer to come in to the center for church and Sunday-school are also brought in the year round.
A regular circuit of preaching appointments, Sunday-schools, social occasions, children's hours, parish visitations, is maintained, and summer student work done during the summer months. Music, and even Bibles, have been introduced in some of the school districts that request them.
Once again, the story cannot be told in figures, although every good activity has doubled and trebled its patronage. The proof of the worth-whileness of this religious adventure is the changed social f1nd religious atmosphere throughout the entire Valley. Everyhody is getting to know everybody else and all that believe are working together. There is an entirely new attitude toward religion and the church. I,n the beginning five organizations competed more or less. They represented four different sects. Now four of the churches have entered the "big drive" forgetful of their particular brand of religion and content to be really Christian. The
RELIGIOUS ADVENTURE IN RURAL AMERICA
cowboys will get on their broncos when the Sunday for the every m~mber canvass comes round, and will visit every home in the Parish. They will return with the Valley's share of the budget raised; including the" apportionment" and the refund to the Church Building Society which has helped them so generously. They do not throng the churches yet. Not many have entered the ministry. But they say it is "fun." Religion and the church are beginning to "hit us where we live."
For the next successful parish, church and minister, let us drop back eastward to the sand-hills of Nebraska. At Hyannis, on the Burlington Line running from Lincoln to Billings, Mont., lives as fine a put-up minister as anyone wants to see, Ernest Larson: He is at work single-handed, but with the help of "Lizzie" Ford, he is YOUNG PEOPLE'S COi-rI'ERENCE IN THE BLACK HILLS covering miles of territory in his ministry a~d getting a real kick out of it. One risks life and limb to run an automobile out in the Rockies. The test in the sand-hills is one's temper and vocabulary. The roads are sand, inches deep. Your machine smokes and balks on a very slight rise, and you must set your wheel some little time before you negotiate the turns in the serpentine trails winding through the clefts in the hills. But there are folks to be reached in the sand-hills, and Larson goes after them. Every rural minister has his ordinary work to do, the ordinary things that must be done well to be successful. He can afford to find effective specialties. [,arson is a young people's man. In the summers, when schools close, the young folks all go back from the little villages along the railroad to work on the ranches scattered everywhere. That spells Larson's job. He goes after them, visits them on the ranches (get-
ting his board and lodging free for weeks at a time), pitches-in and helps in the farm work if necessary, and all the time he is busy promoting open country activities of social, athletic and religious sorts_ And such farmstead visitation pays, proving that a house-going minister makes a church-going parish.. When the schools open in the fall the churches Larson ministers to all fill up as a matter of course. The young people take their places at church and Sundayschool, in the Christian Endeavor and in the choir. It is the correct thing to do, the thing people like to do. The only trouble is that Larson ought to be twins or triplets. He does not spend his time lamenting or bemoaning what he is not, however, but he uses what he is fast and furiously_ The church at Hyannis is a successful one_ The parish is. It is a cattle country where folks are busy raising stock. Larson is bettering humans, and the people know it. They are for him.
If you want to look in on another real man of God, take the train at Hyannis and ride north and westward for a few hours, over the South Dakota line, to Edgemont. Alan M. Fairbank lives there, of the famous foreign missionary Fairbank family. Alan wanted to be a foreign missionary but is proving a real missionary in the homeland. It is rather interesting to note that in picking our successful churches thus far, and with no such intention, every minister we have taken as an example has been ambitious to serve over an area as well as a church. Some rural ministers have small ideas of their job, thinking of themselves as called to one church, one people and one little place. That is their idea of "parish" and, "community." It is not the idea of the successful ministers, as I know them. Alan Fairbank is bound that the Lord's business shall match "big business." Like the foreign missionary he thinks of himself as sent to take large stretches of country in the name of the Most High. As far out as business solicits trade from IDdgemont so far out he considers that the church owes pastoral oversight and religious fellowship. And he is no less a man of God because he is many more kinds of a man than one-a social engineer, a local statesman and a community builder. Alan Fairbank has been building a church, i.e., getting his people to do it. A local man drew the plans, the people had sand-hauling bees, brick-making bees, and lots of other kinds. They got three dollars for everyone invested. Later on, as there was no public hall in town, the church was put at the service of the community. The church in the country has a large social mission it cannot evade. The Edgemont church is a successful one most largely because its young minister is interested in every side of the community life.
Now we will take the train for northern Minnesota where I had heard of a minister with another specialty. I wanted to see what it really amounted to. The man's name is J. C. Cadwell. This
RELIGIOUS ADVENTURE IN RURAL AMERICA li17
rural minister believes that it is part of his work to help keep the boys and girls on the farms. I heard Cadwell give a novel sermon. The occasion was a Sunday meeting of a farm club, the church was a barn, the pulpit was a stall, and the text was a young calf. The substance of the sermon was something like this: "It pays financially to raise registered stock. This calf is worth only ten dollarii1 on the market because its registry is known only on one side. Were both parents known, it would probably bring seventy-five dollars. God Almighty does not want 'scrubs' in your herds. More than that, he desires only pllre-breds in your families."
This reminds me of a letter from a successful young minister down in the Ozarks-a returned soldier and a real man. He is building what might be termed a church over a region, as well as local ones. He has some novel ideas of pastoral duty. "The outstanding thing we have accomplished in eight months has been the getting of an agricultural program under way. There is an agricultural committee of the Carter County Chamber of Commerce but it has no program. I pleaded for one and they made me a member of the committee and its secretary. We have things well under way by which three counties will have the use of a county agent. Twice we have had a poultry expert spend a week in the county. It has resulted in having a number of hen houses built and others will be built soon. December 11 we took two auto loads of men and women to Mountain Grove to visit the Poultry Experiment Station. Now we are trying to create an interest in the growing of strawberries. Most of the people here have no vision of what can be done in these hills. If any forward progress is to be made socially, materially, spiritually and educationally, we must find new ways for these people to earn money. This we are trying to do."
The church, like almost every other good thing, is supported by profits. If there are no profits the people cannot have lithe worthwhile things of life." Fred Wangelin is making his people economically so that life, and life more abundantly, can be supported. He is preaching all the time by what he is in the midst. The people are more than ready to listen to him when he takes a text and speaks to them out of the Bible during services of worship.
If religion is a .life rather than a creed, these ministers and churches are promoting it by serving their communities in every kind of helpful way, and in the Master's name. I must close with a word about Hilda I ves. She is not ordained, but she can preach. A member of one of the largest churches in New England, she came to feel that she was not getting or giving much by religion manifested there. She craved actually working in Christ's name. She must' have heard of John Frederick Oberlin. She wanted a hard job, or as he put it, "no easy parish, but a work no one else would do, which would not be done unless he did it. " She began work with
a church long closed, a people scattered, poor but proud. They needed a minister and they got one. Hilda I ves is beloved through- out the entire region and her story has gone all through New England. I have heard her tell it. And the strange thing is that although she is not a trained minister she has arrived at the best possible rural minister's method and technic. In Christ's name always, she has gone about doing anything and everything needing to be done for every last man, woman and child amongst the hills.
I have come across a large number of laymen, even college students, who are serving rural communities far better than ordained min- isters. The reason is not hard to guess. They are not trained to think that certain things are ministerial, or belong to the ministry, but are ready to do any last thing that appears to be needed for the welfare of the people about them. Let me close this article by quoting from Hilda lves. She was as successful in her ministry and her" church amongst the hills," as any church or minister that I know about.
A minister who has won by a spirit of Christian friendliness and love the confidence and heart of his farmer friends, can point the way to financial gain and economic team work. For the past year and a half, I have been minister of a little church in a town of five hundred people, children counted and included. Nine miles from markets, with farms rocky and none too fertile, the farmers had wrenched from the soil a bare living. There had been no money to keep the farm buildings in repair. Investment in modern machinery had been out of the question. Every man was going it alone, and pretty severe going it was. Proud, self-respecting and of amazing endurance were these people, but they needed help. I announced that on every Sunday afternoon, after the three services of the day, I would collect for the whole· sale markets of the city in which I lived, sixty-two miles away, any surplus crops that my parishioners might have. Certain church members, fortunately very few in number, were distressed by the announcement. They had never really believed that Christ wanted them to take the ox out of the pit on Sunday, for fear that it might disturb the rather rigid worship of their day of church services, and the "Thou shalt not" atmosphere of their homes. In making this comment, I would not in any way belittle a passionate devotion to a Sabbath of quietness, rest and meditation. So every Sunday afternoon my F:ord sedan never failed to be crammed to its creaky top. A typical load might be: apples, potatoes, beets, eggs, chickens, cottage cheese, a braided rug. Or again, I would find beets, lettuce, eggs, preserved raspberries and a rooster with its feathers still on. Checks for sixty cents, a dollar twenty-nine, four dollars and sixty-three cents, or sometimes as high as thirteen or twenty dollars, I bro)lght back from the sale of the produce. I found Christian wholesale and retail dealers who were glad to help those who were having a hard time in life, and I asked it of them as a distinct Christian service. I found the need of small loans a real financial problem. Fifty dollars for seeds and fertilizers or supplies might be the means of much gain, but the farmer did not want the loan at the price of mortgaging his farm. Loans were secured of Christian friends who had means, on my assurance of worthy character, who desired to ease such burdens in Christ's name. A lily pond in the town was next capitalized by selling the lilies at city florists' shops for twenty-five cents a dozen. One young couple earned sixteen dollars in this way. Another young woman who
RELIGIOUS ADVENTURE IN RURAL AMERIOA
had been deserted by her husband immediately after her marriage, and who was ill from worry, derives twenty-two dollars from her aster bed. This she used for her little boy's education. The making of both hooked and braided rugs was established, and the preserving of blueberries, raspberries and other fruits was encouraged.
Health conditions in the town were deplorable. Early diagnosis of disease and preventive health work did not exist. In one lonely farm house, with six windows open to the winds, I found a woman who had had six bones of her ankle broken. Seven years had passed and the bones had never been set. I took her at once to an eminent physician, who did not advise the rebreaking of the distorted' bones because of her age. The day must soon come when Christianity will be so alive in the hearts of jealous, passionate followers of Christ, that such human lives and their need cannot be overlooked. There were many cases of cancer, and some were way beyond surgicalor medical aid. One doctor said, "I have never served the church as I should. Bring to me any patients who need me, and I will gladly give my services and procure free beds at the hospitals, and x-ray pictures if necessary, as my contribution to Christ's work in your town."
A traveling dental clinic was brought to town and set up in one of the rural schoolhouses. The mouths of thirty-nine children were put in perfect condition. Most of the children knew no more about a dentist than they did about an alienist. The result was a joyful clinic. The children took delight in the whirr of the machines, the mixing of fillings, and the variation of square and round holes in their little teeth. It was a living demonstration of the power of the mind to create pain and apprehension where they should not exist. All the extractions were saved for the morning. Forty-nine teeth in quick succession were antiseptically removed, amid an interested group of mothers and children. No estimate can be made of the amount of good accomplished by such a far-reaching health measure for these little children. One little tot four years old had ten fillings in her baby teeth, while one family, with no mentality and accustomed to very raw food, had hardly a cavity in their teeth. No money had been in that home for sweets, with good results. A fear of hospitals exists in the country, because no one goes to a hospital until disease is so severe that death generally occurs. Death is then attributed to the hospital, instead of to neglect. Quack doctors are resorted to in superstitious ignorance. All our health work was done in Christ's name. Patients were prayed for at all services, as well as their doctors and nurses. Christ as the great physician, with the healing touch of love, lived in that village, and as a physician, many first followed him and came to His house of prayer. So did men come to Him in days of old.
r have given an account of a very few among the many ministers and churches r happen to know about which are really successful- and also a story of "Religious Adventure in Rural America." And it is high time that religion did adventure some in the name of the Jfost High! The ministers cited are successful because they are fwerlastingly going about doing good and are in the midst as those who serve. Their churches are successful because they are really serving-serving all of the people, all of their interests, and all the time. It is this kind of minister and church that rural America needs to bring in the Kingdom of God.
Qualifications of the Country
BY REV. C. M. McCONNELL, CmCAGO, ILLINOIS Board of Home Missions and Church Extension, Methodist Episcopal Church T HE country church is simply the church in the open country, or in the village or town of twenty-five hundred people. 1'here is nothing peculiar about it, and it is not in a class by itself. Farmers are just folk who live and work in the country and till the soil. In all essential things, they are like other folk.
The country preacher, therefore, is a preacher who is the pastor of one or more of these churches in open country, village or town. He is called upon to preach, conduct funerals, perform marriage ceremonies, call upon the people and minister to the community in a wide variety of activities. In summing up the qualifications of a country preacher, we must keep these general considerations in mind. We take these for granted and will simply call attention to some special features which stand out in the qualifications of the country preacher.
In the small town and open country community, life is lived in full view of all. It is like a clear running brook, with the pebbles on the bottom plainly visible.. Daily papers are not necessary to spread the local news of the day's events, for the back yard radio is always operating. The so.:called private life of the preacher is public property and his life is read by all. The preacher. cannot step out of his character as a preacher and do and say things as a detached person. If his work is to count, he must, therefore, be of good character. His goodness cannot be purely conventional but must be genuine. "He reminds me of God," was the remark of a neighbor about a preacher in a village.
The man who lives his life in a small community where life is open and intimate must not be only good but have a certain attractive goodness. Some righteous folks are so repellent and hard that their influence is positively against the church. They keep the letter of the law and it is the letter that killeth. "How do you like the preacher~" is a common query in the country. This has a great deal of meaning. Back of this is the question of the attractiveness of the personality of the preacher. Austere, repellent characteristics may be endured once a week, but they are not relished as a steady diet.
"He is a live wire" is a common remark about a certain type of country minister. The country is alive, .and growing things abound. There is no place in this environment for "dead ones." A certain vitality or alertness is necessary if one is to succeed ill the country as a preacher. One needs to be alive and responsive to 520 nature. The great human interests of the community need to be recognized and taken into account. A dull, listless individual who does not respond to the life of a country community will not accom- plish much. The opportunities for service generally come to those who are alive and alert. Perhaps this is what Jesus had in mind when he said "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." In a still larger sense it was what Jesus meant when He said "I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly."
In the country, with all its natural life, there are apt to be many dull, uninteresting lives. A vigorous, full living, alert, forceful person- ality can infuse life into one of these dying communities.
The country preacher should be an idealist. He needs power to see green grass in a brown, barren field, or a wholesome life in a dull, unpromising clod of a person. In a community which is reeking with gossip, sordid with a slavery tothings-{lows, pigs, chickens and barnyard smells-one needs to have ability to idealize the reality. There is a reality in the country which cannot be escaped in person but only in imagination. If a man is borne down and overcome by these realistic surroundings in the country, he will have little happiness and satisfaction in his ministry. It will be difficult for him to stay in the country unless he can idealize some of the stern realities. , In one of the ancient ceremonies by which candidates for the priesthood were tested, there was a custom of asking each candidate the question "Art thou a human being?" This should be asked every candidate for the country ministry. Unless he is human enough to attend a public sale and discuss the good points of a cow with a farmer he will be out of place in th~ country. If a ball game on the back pasture between two teams from the rival crossroads annoys him, he would better move to a more populous center where he can hide in the crowd. If he preaches in the country he must live with and among the people.
In all of this, he will not forget his task of preaching, .if he is a real country preacher. There are some who can preach only to crowds. They must have the thrill of a big audience. A few empty pews seem to cool off. their oratorical heat. To the average country church, there comes a small group of people-some old, others young. They come from hard, physical toil, weary with early. rising and long hours of wrestling with nature. Mother Nature exacts a heavy toll of muscle and brain. To interpret the Gospel of Christ to such a group is no easy task. Any wordy blacksmith with a gift of bellowing lungs can make an impression on a few easily stirred souls, but only a Christian interpreter can really preach.
Into this realistic situation, the preacher must bring idealism.
From the slavery of things, the preacher must bring release. The great natural forces which operate in the natural world must be
interpreted to those who work with them. In all of this, the preacher must make clear the message of Jesus to farm folk. Jesus taught in the synagogues of the Jews and preached on the hillsides to a handful of fishermen, farmers and shepherds. He knew their language and their manner of life. Jesus was the ideal country preacher.
The preacher who lives in a country community moves among men, women and children as no other man. He has their confidence and carries the keys to the homes and institutions of the community. In this, he can render a great service as a man of brotherhood and good will. He will find feuds, factions, racial hatreds, property and class distinctions and a wide range of interests, many of which are antagonistic. Wherever he goes, he can carry peace and harmony and good will. In some instances, he is perhaps the only one who can perform this service, and, if he does, he is a rare soul doing a task which can be done only by the grace of God.
Just now we are facing a very subtle, deadening situation in regard to rural churches. Country life is not very highly valued. The farmer has been scorned and his life minimized. The country church has been despised and rejected of men. The man entering the country ministry must set himself against this purely vicious tendency. For a long time, he will have to furnish his own morale and find his rewards within his own soul. Hence, he needs a calla conviction, a settled, given determination-to serve God in the open country, in village or in town, as his field of human service. Without this, he will, for a time, run well, and then run out to a larger field of service.
Some of the characteristics we have mentioned can be acquired while others can not. The training of the country preacher differs little from that of any other minister. If he will take the long, slow processes by which other ministers are developed, he can learn most of the essential things necessary in his profession. The theory that the country preacher should be trained in an agricultural college has its supporters, but the minister is not called upon to teach agriculture to farmers, and, if he masters the use of remedies for the soul, the agricultural expert will take care of the soil. The point we are trying to make is that the minister who expects to preach in a cOl1ntry church should be as thoroughly trained as the one 'who expects to become a bishop or moderator. The technique of the country minister may differ somewhat from that of a minister in the industrial section of a large city, but, at present, there is little hope to get this technique :from any course of study in a college or theological seminary. The great fundamental principles of the ministry are necessary for success in any field of the ministry, and, once we admit that the country church is worthy of the best, we shall be able to secure a reasonable share of the best preachers.
CONDITTONS-THE MIGRANT WORKER'S
Religious Needs of Older Rural Districts BY RALPH S, ADAMS, LANSDALE, PA. Rural Church Field 'Worker, Reformed Church in the United States SOME very interesting studies of rural church conditions throughout the country have been made by denominational, in- ter-denominational and non-denominational bodies, and have aroused many from the prevailing complacency and satisfaction as to church conditions of this day. The impression was quite general that the rural areas of the" Thirteen Original Colonies" were well churched, in fact too well churched, and that no new congregations were called for in these states. That impression did not, however, prevent denominational boards from granting sustentation to competing churches within this area, mostly for the purpose of maintaining a particular denomination in that field, regardless of the real need of the people.
In a study made by the IlI1stitute of Social and Religious Research it was discovered that about 95% of the aided churches in their study within these states were in competition with churches of other Protestant denominations. Only under very exceptional circumstances could such expenditure of missionary funds be considered worthy of a Christian church, and this practice should be speedily abandoned and the funds used in fields which present a special missionary challenge.
Other surveys have emphasized this same condition and problem, and church boards are gradually making the necessary adjustments. These surveys have rendered a splendid service in this way 523
and have also revealed the fact that local congregations are failing to perform much-needed missionary services within their own communities, to areas and groups consistently neglected by church people. This phase of the Plissionary responsibility of the local congregation will be considered here rather than an attempt to locate fields for new congregations, although such need still exists.
SOME NEGLECTED AREAS 1. Unchurched communities are to be found throughout these states, enough to warrant special attention. Particularly is this true in the mountain areas where transportation is difficult, and population is sparse and impoverished. Nevertheless these people have souls and deserve the gospel message. The church that will support a religious program in one of these isolated communities, even though there is no hope of the congregation ever becoming se1£- supporting, will perform a service more in harmony with Christ's teaching and example than by supporting a competitive church. In the coal fields of the Appalachian Mountains are numerous unchurched communities of coal miners and their families. Because most of these people are aliens, the Protestant churches have too often assumed that they are of the Catholic faith. But recent investigations have revealed the fact that many were members of a Protestant church in Europe, but are not provided with Protestant services in "The Land of Promise." Some inter-denominational effort should be made to locate these neglected communities in the eastern states, and to agree upon a constructive missionary program of occupation.
2. Neglected areas within the community represent one of the most common mission fields in the East. The over-churched community-and most of our communities in the East are over-churched -usually has a center of concentration of church buildings in the village or town, or on the good roads leading to this town. The respective parishes of these churches overlap to a great extent and no one church assumes the entire responsibility. All are rather sensitive to the accusation of proselyting for members, therefore, the parish boundaries are pretty well understood. All the parishes include the community center and much of the richest farm land as their legitimate field for "enlisting membership "-the service idea is either lacking or decidedly in the background. Each may include some territory in the community not occupied by any other parish, but there is no systematic effort to assign all the territory to one or other of the churches. Consequently there are areas along the outer edges of the community, in the foothills or on the mountain slopes in mountainous areas, for wJ1ich no church claims a responsibility. These areas frequently are occupied by poorer families not able to pay much toward the support of the church. This condition is one product of denominational competition.
RELIGIOUS NEEDS OF OLDER RURAL DISTRICTS
The responsibility of a church is for the entire community, and it must be actively concerned with the welfare and problems of all people within that community. If this causes denominational friction, it is high time that ~1I concerned allow the spirit of Christ to prevail, and that some agreement of cooperation and consolidation be made so as to promote the welfare of the community rather than to advance anyone denomination.
3. Rural areas surrounding cities and lawns present a challenging missionary problem. The inhabitants of these rural areas in increasing numbers are employed in city industries and occupations, and many attend city churches. As a consequence, the country churches lose considerable of their membership and support until finally many are forced to close their doors. If all the people of these areas would transfer their membership to the city churches, and if the city or town churches in turn would assume the pastoral responsibility and spiritual oversight of these neighboring rural areas, they would not be neglected. But, unfortunately, the city pastor does not assume responsibility for the people in these areas, and many of the older families do not transfer their membership to the city church. The result is that the spiritual life in these surrounding rural areas is at a very low ebb. This is the area frequently where road-houses and other vice dens spring up to cater to the less scrupulous inhabitants of the nearby city. This situation prevails about most cities and large towns throughout the East; only a few city churches have begun to recognrze their rural responsibility.
SOME NEGLECTED GROUPS.
In the rural studies of the Interchurch World Movement, continued by the Institute of Social and Religious Research, it was discovered that only 16% of the town and country population of the United States are church members, and that 28% of these are either inactive or non-resident. There are areas of course within the Eastern states where such figures do not apply, but church people have been too willing in the past to assume that a much larger number of the citizens of their own communities are connected with some church than is actually the case. House-to-house surveys in many of our Eastern communities have revealed startling conditions of unchurched families and individuals, and life-long residents of communities were amazed to learn the large numbers of such within their midst. Fortunately, these studies also revealed the neglected groups within the community so that the churches have the facts clearly before them, which facts are necessary for the organization of a constructive home missions program. These groups are listed below in order that you may test the situation within your own community.
1. Alien gronps :-In this day of .organized hatred, even in the
name of the Church, it is not surprising that alien groups within our communities are neglected. Reference has been made to the aliens in mining communities. ·While they could well be included here also, special reference is made here to the large number of alien families engaged in business in the villages, and to the increasing number of alien farmers. It is apparently easier for some to con- tribute to the support of missions than to extend a welcoming hand to the alien within their own community. Usually" foreigners" are not wanted as neighbors, or in our church or social functions. But we expect them to! mend our shoes, clean our clothes, dig our ditches and build our buildings. The result is an alien settlement in 0UI'
midst, out of harmony with our American customs and laws, and resentful of the treatment received. The foreigner may become a bootlegger or a law- breaker of some other stamp, but in our eyes he b e com e s unsocial and, therefore, "cannot . become Americanized and assimilated."
Does such an atti- tude stand the test of Ohristianity~ Alt, no.
We must put aside our prejudices and give him and his wife and INTERIOR OF MIGRANT'S HOME his children a chance.
Our forefathers too were "foreigners," but they did not become Americanized by such treatment. One third of the alien population of the United States is found in rural America, so that the problem of this group needs consideration.
2. The t enant farmer :-Over 38% of all farmers in the United States are tenant farmers, and the proportion is increasing. Have you welcomed the tenant farmers of your community into the church and made them feel at home T If not, the chances are they are not attending church. If we allow poverty and lack of good clothes to stand in the way of extending to them the blessings of the Church of Jesus Christ, we are not deserving of the name Ohristian.
3. Su,rnrner popu,lation :-This group presents a problem in the mountain, lake and river resorts-a problem which fewcountrv churches located in those areas have successfully solved. .
4. Migrant work ers :-'L'here are many thousands of these workers engaged for only a few months in the summer time to harvest fruit and vegetables and to help operate the canneries in the Atlantic states. Entire families leave their homes for these harvest fields,
RELIGIOUS NEEDS OF 'OLDER RURAL DISTRICTS
and live in shacks or barns under very unsanitary and often unfavorable moral conditions. The men, women and older children work in the fields or factories, and the younger children are largely neglected. Most of these workers are aliens or Negroes, and are generally not received into the community life by social or religious organizations. An Eastern state agricultural extension director replied to my inquiry as to whether or not these people present a menace to the communities in which they work, that the communities are rather a menace to these migrant families, with their intolerant and unsocial treatment of these workers. This conclusion is quite general among students of migrant groups, and places a considerable indictment upon our rural churches.
5. Rtlml youth:-iVith great regret I refrain from discussing t his much-neglected group in the country. The foregoing groups represent a considerable challenge in many rural communities, but this group is present in every rural community, and the writer has yet to find one where the churches are d 0 i n g what they can and ought to do for their youth. In a study of THE nAY NURSERY HELPS MOTHERS AND BABIES the rural churches of fifty-three counties, Dr. Paul Douglass, of the Institute of Social and Religious Research, found that only 5.3% of these churches had any organization for girls, other than Sundayschool, and only 3..7'}'o had an organi<zation for boys. And yet our boys and girls are the greatest asset the country produces! In his book, "How Shall Country Youth be Served ~," Dr. Douglass says: "The conclusion of the rural studies of the Institute is 'the greatest untouched field of Christian effort in rural America is the work for boys and girls.''' Think this over and apply it to your church and your community.
WHAT SHALL WE Do ABOUT IT?
The writer ventures to suggest a few things which the local rural congregation can do now to serve the neglected areas and groups in your community, and to undertake a real program of home missionary endeavor. This can be done through your missionary society, your organized church school classes, young people's organizations, or all working together, in cooperation with similar groups from other churches, if such cooperation is possible.
The city church can serve the rural areas surrounding the city by increasing the staff of workeTS to supplement the efforts of the pastor, and launching the program of survey, study, visitation and organization of these neglected areas. Volunteer workers could do this with less expense and with perhaps greater benefit to the volun- teers. The country church could send out service teams regularly to remote areas in the community or in the mountains, to conduct Sunday-school services, for visitation, to direct the social and recre- ational life of these people, to teach English and Americanization lessons to aliens, and generally to establish R'bond of friendship be- tween these people ·and the church and commttriity.
You can challenge the poor families to membership even though they can support the church but little; you can organize auto squads to transport them to services and 0 the r church functions, or you can hire the school bus on Sunday for such service. Some country churches h a V e pur- chased the i row n busses for this purpose and by th~s method· have very effectively extended their service and their influence.
You can welcome DRAMATIZING THE STORY OF MIRIAM AND MOSES the newcomer in the community, w h e the r alien or tenant, by means of a church or community reception, visi- tation and general friendliness. You can assist in Daily Vacation Bible School for the children of migrant families in your commu- nity, or you can help to support it. Perhaps your church is in a position to establish a day nursery and playground for these chil- dren where they can be cared for and taught during the day, and to which the parents can be invited in the evening for recreation, entertainment and good fellowship.
You can organize your boys and girls into organized church school classes, give them definite responsibilities of importance and various activities furnishing them with a means of expressing the Christiariity which they have been taught to profess. Through Ii survey you can locate the neglected groups in your community, and theh6rganize a definite and constructive program of home mission- af'yendeavor which will make Christianity mean more to you, to the groups served, and to the community as a whole. 'rhese, and many others, are the missionary opportunities of the rural churches.
IN A BAPTIST CHAPEL CAR FOR MEXICANS IN THE UNI1'ED
Pioneer Work in Newer Communities BY REV. ANDREW J . MOJ'TGOMJ')RY, D.D., NEW YORK Town nnd Country Department, Board of Na tional Missions, Presbyterian G"burch, U. 8 . A.
O N a recent trip, it was the writer's pleasure to meet an en- tertaining gentleman who proved to be an inventor. He had with him a working model of an appliance for automatic control of railway trains. The model train, should it run into a block with 'signal set against it, would come to an immediate stop. The inventor also could intervene at any time and bring his train to a dead rest.
Whenever the subject of overlapping in rural areas is mentioned in certain groups of home mission experts, discussion comes to a prompt stop. Furthermore, when a present need for pioneer work in rural areas is suggested, there is again a loss of interest. All this shows that the campaign against competition among churches in small communities has succeeded- possibly succeeded too well. At any rate, it is exceedingly difficult, ill some quarters, to secure a fair hearing on the subject of the need for pioneer work.
The old romantic, spectacular frontier line of home missions is a thing of the past, but there yet remains a margin of unchurched and unevangelized territory in our country, with reference to which Christians cannot be indifferent. The changes being wrought by economic conditions in rural districts are rapidly creating new needs. The nationwide movement cityward is depleting the rural 529 4
530 [Ju11 church, making it more and more unable to carryon. At the same time, there is an alarming increase in tenancy farming. Parallel with this is the growing movement of migrancy occasioned by season- allabor. We are without exact information as to the extent of this movement in its broad aspects but certainly little is being done for those who are embraced within it.
Perhaps definitely localized instances of neglected communities may be of far more value than statistics, so far as this study is con- cerned. The statistics, if anyone is interested, are, of course, easily available.
Begin with Arizona. A seasoned observer reports a score of communities made up of pioneers from everywhere, struggling to get a home, without any religious privileges whatever so far as a settled, permanent ministry is concerned.
Southern California has a Denominational Superintendents' Council in affiliation with the State Church Federation. At its monthly meetings, this Council has assigned about four score com- munities t.o individual denominations, the other affiliated denomina- tions agreeing not to enter such communities until, in the judgment of the Council, they are large enough for more than one church. The Executive Secretary of this Council states that there are still a large number of churchless communities that should be served by some denomination. In the San Joaquin Valley the rural need is very evident. There are possibly a half dozen different racial groups, none of them large, which ought to have Protestant ministry. In one county of this Valley, the need was so great that, outside of the incorporated towns, a rural parish was formed. The pastor of this parish has a territory 90 miles long and 20 to 30 miles broad. On his letterhead he carries the names of 14 towns and communities. 'Chis is a striking instance of need, but it is not the only instance of such need and in many smaller territories similar neglect exists. On the slopes of the Sierras are many lumber-jacks, for some of whom provision is made but most of them are without any religious privileges. In the oil fields located on the rim of this great valley are many people living on the "leases," who do not have the benefit of any church.
The whole state of Nevada is an example of unmet rural need. The larger towns and cities are provided for, as usual. There are 200 school districts with 15 or less pupils, 150 districts with less than 10 and 100 districts with less than 8. To reach these scattered com- munities is a mighty task. Most of them are entirely destitute of church privileges. From "One community a girl of eighteen wrote, "I have never seen a preacher, a priest or a church in my life." The . analysis made by one of the workers in Nevada of the population applies not only to Nevada but to many other rural communities outside of that state as well. There are about three. generations
PIONEER WORK IN NE,W'ER COMMUNITIES
covered in any statement of need. The grandparents came from the East on the heels of the gold excitement. They had the usual religious background. The parents have succumbed to the lack of religious environment and have little, if any, religion. The children do not have even as much religion as their parents. They are growing up with practically pagan ideals. In such overlooked communities in Nevada there are from 3,000 to 5,000 boys and girls under twenty.
In western Vashington a study was made of 573 communities outside of the cities and towns having a population under one thousand. In this list were 379 communities without churches. In most of them the population is very small. In all of the communities mentioned above which do have churches 78% have only one church.
This study was made about three years ago and should now be qualified by certain changes, but these changes are not radical enough nor extensive enough to vitiate the appalling need. It would thus appear that about two-thirds of these communities are churchless. Observers know that what is true of the rural areas of western Washington, is true of the northern tier of states ranging eastward to the Mississippi River.
Idaho is essentially a rural state. A recent study there shows that about 24% of the population is Mormon and about 12% is Christian, including Protestants and Roman Catholics. The need of missionary work is pathetically revealed by such a statement as this.
Utah has been held up as the one bright example of eliminated competition. There is no competition outside of the cities, and yet whole counties like Morgan, Rich, Wayne, etc. are without any Christian church whateTer. The Mormons with their pagan conceptions are the only sect that attempts to carry a message of religion.
In Wyoming, somewhat the same need exists in its rural areas. The Star Valley in Lincoln County has 2,000 population and is without the service of the Christian ministry.
In Colorado a community or rather four communities are reported along the line of the extension of the Moffat Railroad with a population of from 1500 to 2500 without regular service. No one except an itinerant missionary cares for this field.
In West Texas, the large ranches are being broken up and sold to farmers. There is here a rapidly developing territory that has a purely pioneer mission character. There are in the state 750,000 Mexicans of whom a goodly number are located in rural communities. Little or nothing is being done for them.
Generally speaking, the South is so well provided for in the way of service that little need be said, but in Florida, growing rapidly as it is, there are smaller communities and rural settlements that should be reached by the Church at an early date. It is estimated that during the 1925 season, there were 600,000 "tin can tourists"
in this state. They cannot be classed as rural, but on the other hand many of them were found distributed during the winter months in the smaller communities throughout the state.
That there is a large need for pioneer mission work is evident so far as unchurched communities are concerned. As appears from the above, these communities are largely marginal but they are not to be overlooked for that reason. The Church should revise its creed to the effect that while overlapping is a sin, overlooking is also a sin.
A recent study of the whole rural problem has revealed that, speaking by and large, it is clear that few church members in the open country travel farther than four miles to at- tend church. More than one half of them do not travel over two miles. That raises the question where the people who live over two miles and are not included among the church goers inside the four-mile limit go to church.
While there is no exact data on this particular subject, there is much ground for believing that a considerable number of farmers and their families living over two miles from an open country church, neither join nor attend BIBLE COLPORTEURS any church. Here is developing then a new margin of unmet need. The coming of good WalkIng across the continent roads evidently has done little to change the distributing ScriPtures to those habits of people living outside of the two- in neglected communities.
mile radius. Thus, all over the country there is growing up this new need for reaching such people.
In conclusion, two reflections may be stated: One is that the best known method of reaching an entire territory is by one of the great denominational bodies concentrating its energies on that territory with some kind of a guarantee from an inter-denominational body, such as a State Home Mission Council, that it will be protected from invasion.
The other reflection is that, much as it has been anathematized, it begins to appear that in unreached areas we should return to the itinerant system of ministry if these marginal fringes are to be evangelized.
Churches in Rural
.A Study of the Relative Value of Denominational and Undenominational lVOTk BY ELIZABETH R. HOOKER, NE,W YORK Institute of Social and Religious Research T HE only church in a small rural community has several re- sponsibilities that are either peculiar to itself, or that its position renders peculiarly binding upon it. These responsibilities include the following: To enlist in a single fellowship all the religious elements of the community.
To provide religious education for the youth of the community. To afford leadership. To serve as part of the base of supplies for the world-wide Christian program. To continue to perform these functions.
Can these functions be. fulfilled better by a church connected with a denominational body, or by one without such a connection 1* COMPARATIVE NUMBERS OF RURAL UNITED CHURCHES Denominational 1111 11111 11111111111 1111 1II1lI11I1I11U 11111 III I1111 1111 IIJ 11111 III 1111 1111 1111 1111 !III IIII I1111 1111 Itil 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 528 UndenominationalllllllllllllllllllUlIUllltllllllllllllll1 137 AVERAGE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE UNITED CHUR,CHES De-nominational $419 tlIlil 1II11fI1I1I1II1 1111 1II11tI1l1t11ll 11111 till 1111 IrII 1111 1111 fII IIII IIII I1111 ml 1111 IIIIJllIIIIIIIIIIHIl11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 Undenom.inational $260 lIilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllli PER CAPITA GIFTS OF THE UNITED CHURCHES Denominational $3.98 1I1f11l1 11II11111111111f1ll1 1II1J111H11H11111 1111 1III 1lit 1111 111111111111111111111111111111111 1111 1111 1111 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 Undenominational $2.17 1II111111fllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll1l1l11ll11ll11ll1llUIII ENLISTING ALL RELIGIOUS ELEMENTS: The inhabitants of many small rural comllmnities include persons of very different religious traditions, the adherents of no one denomination being sufficiently numerous to support a church of their own kind. In such places, if there is to be a church at all, it must be one in which many different religious elements can unite.
Persons of diverse religious origins were found in 1924 in the membership of many united churches both denominational and undenominational, there having been discovered by the Institute in the town and country area of the northern and western parts of the .*The answ~r to this ~u~stion will be b~ed u.pon facts .revea;led by a study c~nducted by tbe Institute of Soclal and RehglOus Research, the results of which wlll shortly be PUblIshed in a book entitled "United Churches."
533
United States l37 undenominational churches and 528 denominational united churches.
The lists of denominational elements combined in the membership were obtained through mail questionnaires for 48 of the undenominational churches and for 100 of the denominational united churches. The undenominational churches reported forty-two different denominational origins; the denominational united churches reported thirty-five. The different origins represented in one church ranged from two to twenty-four. Most of the undenominational churches were composed of many elements; and of the 100 rlenominational united churches, nearly half consisted of five or more plements and over one fourth were composed of six or more. The denominational origins included not only denominations from which interdenominational cooperation has come to be expected, such as the Congregational, Presbyterian, and Methodist Episcopal, but individuals from immersionist denominations like the Northern Baptist Convention and the Disciples of Christ; members of liturgical churches, such as Lutheran and Episcopal; and representatives of more emotional groups, as for example the Na'Zarenes. Some churches even reported individual Jews or Mormons; and a few had enlisted one or more Catholics.
The first function of such a church in small rural communitiesto enlist in membership persons of diverse denominational originshas therefore been fulfilled by many churches both denominational and undenominational. But in 1924 there were nearly four times as many denominational united churches as undenominational churches.
Moreover, a larger proportion of denominational united churches in small communities than of undenominational churches similarly placed, served their respective communities as the only church. The facts were ascertained for half the denominational united churches, and for more than half the undenominational churches. Of the denominational united churches one half were alone in their respective communities; of the undenominational churches, only one third. Because the denominational united churches were so much the more numerous, the number of denominational united churches serving their communities as the only church, was five times as great as the corresponding number of undenominational churches.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION :-The fact that small rural communities form, to a considerable degree, the nursery of the nation, renders particuilarly important the religious education of their children. Efforts in this direction were being made by all the churches investigated, both denominational and undenominational. Progressive methods were in use by individual churches of both types. In this matter, however, the undenominational church was under a serious
UNITED OHURCHES IN RURAL COMMUNITIES
handicap. This was described from his own experience by the minister of one undenominational church, in the following extract from a letter: " . . .. As an organ of religious education the independent church has no program for progressive work …. The Sunday school, for instance, has been conducted according to certain methods for years. . Few of the people ever attend conventions and gatherings where advance methods are discussed and new ideas are set forth. The pastor cannot go before the church with a progressive program of religious education and secure its adoption unless the people are of a type who personally desire such new methods. That has been one of my greatest trials in my service here. Our work in religious education is woefully antiquated. I have tried and tried to introduce new methods but the answer is that they have always done that way …. In a denominational church there is a general program of religious education ….
Efforts are always being made to bring as many schools as possible to conform with that standard. The pastor may go before his people and hold up this standard as the denominational ideal and, as part of the larger group, the local church should at least strive to conform to it."
Many other religious leaders agreed with this minister that in regard to r.eligious education the denominational united church has a 'great advantage over the undenominational church in that it has systematically presented to it both expert advice and stimulus to effort.
LEADERSHIP :-United churches alone in their communities, both denominational and undenominational, were found to assume more responsibility of leadership in public welfare than does the average denominational church, especially if the latter is in the presence of one or more competing churches.
In regard to the professional church leader, the minister, the denominational united church has the advantage over the undenominational church. Because regular denominational agencies are at its service, it obtains a minister more easily. 'l'he minister chosen or appointed is less likely to be inefficient or unworthy; for he is sponsored by the denominational body, and in the rare cases when a minister is guilty of misconduct denominational agencies may discipline or remove him. The March Community Ch7~rchman reports: "There is no denying that here and there a church gets taken in by a bad man. We know one man who has left two denominations without credentials and with charges over his head. He is a trouble-maker everywhere he goes and there is a trail of moral scandal. But he continues to find a church, though he usually makes a long jump."
In view of the need, the Community Church INorkers have established a Service Bureau; but time must elapse before it can perform service comparable to that rendered by long-established denominational agencies. Under the circumstances, it is not surprising that although some undenominational churches were served by noble and powerful ministers, many others reported difficulty in finding pastors and frequent interregnums between pastorates.
A few have had experiences with undesirable ministers. Not a few undenominational ichurches declared that their whole future depended upon securing the right sort of pastor.
The difficulties of undenominational churches regarding ministerial supply, combined with their lack of supervision from denominational superintendents, renders especially important the quality of the lay leadership. Where this was strong, sustained, and noble in character, united churches were securing good ministers, and through them and in conjunction with them were leading their communities. But since the small rural community with such lay leaders is the exception, in respect to community leadership also, the advantage was usually with the denominational united church.
BENEVOLENCES :-In the great program of the Christian Church throughout the world, every small rural church is an essential factor as part of the base of supplies. '1.'0 denominational churches their duty and privilege iil this matter is brought home by publicity regarding the missions of their own boards, by denominational apportionments and by other forms of overhead education and incentive. – Undenominational churches. lacking any such stim-: ulus, contributed comparatively little to objects outside the local community and, in many cases, to philanthropic causes rather than to missions. The average annual contribution to benevolences in 1923-24 of the undenominational churches for which data could be obtained was $260, while that of denominational united churches was $417; and the average contribution per member, which for denominational united churches was $3.98, for undenominational churches was only $2.17. The weakness of undenominational churches in benevolences was forcibly expressed by the minister of such a church as follows: "Where a part of the church has no passion for missions and no vision beyond self-support, it is more difficult for the pastor and those who have the vision to push a large program through. In the denominational church there is always more or less opposition to the program from headquarters, but it is rather easier to combat it when the church knows that Presbytery-or Conference is going to call for an accounting and the church be compared to others."
PERMANENCE:-Which is more likely to render enduring service as the only church in a small rural community, the denominational united church, or the undenominational church 1 From communities in which the existence of an undenominational church had been reported to the Institute of Social and Religious Research, inquiries frequently brought such answers as these, from different states: "Enthusiasm six months or a year. Does- not seem to fllnction." "Built a fine building. Did not last long." "Continued for a few months. Chaos." "Wcnt up in smoke." Reports like these came from every part of the field studied.-
UNITED CHURCHES IN RURAL COMMUNITIES
Without the help regularly furnished to deuominational churches by their overhead bodies, in the way of expert supervision, steady ministerial supply, and home-mission aid in emergencies, undenominational churches, unless they enjoyed exceptional circumstances and unusually strong local leadership, frequently fell into inactivity or even died out completely.
.Denominational churches alone in their communities sometimes pass out of existence; but the efforts of overhead officials make this fate for them comparatively rare. A denominational united church, moreover, is frequently upheld in the position of sole church in a small community by a home missions councilor other interdenominational agency, which prevents threatened encroachment by another church.
Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that a considerable number of undenominational churches have connected themselves with some denominational body. Thirty-one churches that in 1924 were listed as denominational united churches, had formerly been undenominational churches.
CONCLUSION :-This comparison of the respective advantages, as the sole church of a small rural community, of a united church with denominational connection and a united church without denominational connection, may be summarized in five statements: In the town and country area of the northern and western parts of the United States, denominational united churches were in 1924 nearly four times as numerous as undenominational churches; and of united churches ascertained to be alone in their respective communities, those connected with denomi~tions were five times as numerous as those not so connected. ~, Denominational united churches had in general systems of religious education that were more modern.
Denominational united churches obtained ministers more readily, and in spite of notable exceptions on the whole secured better ministers.
Denominational united churches made larger contributions to the Christian program throughout the world, both in proportion to the number of churches and in proportion to total membership.
The service rendered by united churches was in general more enduring.
The inevitable conclusions would appear to be these: Undenominational churches seem likely to be serviceable as the only churches in small rural communities of two kinds: those much divided in religious adherence, and those with strong and sustained lay leadership. For small rural communities of other kinds, the information gathered in 1924 seems to favor the choice of united churches connected with some denominational body.
81l!
A GENERAL VIEW OF THE PARISH CENTER AT BUCKHORN. KENTUCKY
Story of Buckhorn, Kentucky *
'fHE A MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY WHERE THE CHURCH Is EVERYTHING Southern Appalachian mountains were settled by a purely American white population of English and Scotch ancestry. This primitive region with heavily forested mountains teem- ing in coal and mineral riches that await development, is incongru- ously described as "the backyard of the South." The neglect im- plied in this phrase is largely due to the fact that these scattered settlements along the banks of creeks and rivers and among precipitous mountains have no political significance. Until the treasures of their mountains, the timber and minerals, are made accessible, "backyard" citizens they will remain.
Meanwhile their history and customs, their primitive and secluded life, their folklore and ballads, and especially the fervor and tenacity of their Protestant faith, compel admiration. It is this primitive American civilization, rather than the human passions and feuds which have given this region publicity and obscured the sterling qualities of the people, that commends the Southern Highlander to our attention. Our social and religious traditions have been so profoundly modified that it is good to rediscover their original flavor.
Buckhorn, in Perry County, Kentucky, is close to the conjunction of Perry, Clay, Leslie, Owsley and Brethitt counties, one hundred and thirteen miles southeast of Lexington. The journey from Altro, the nearest railway station, is one of eight miles in the saddle over the mountain trails and precipitous valleys with their rushing alpine streams. I;t is a surprise to find at Buckhorn a struggling valley settlement at the junction of the Middle Fork of the Kentucky River and Squabble Creek, lighted by electricity, with many houses furnished with baths and running water, a modern group of buildings whose saw- and grist-mills and barns are so much better than any others encountered in the region.
Buckhorn was a trade center, with water-power, an unusual amount of arable land, which is a prime factor in this mountainous country, timber and coal in abundance. The chief advantage lay in the fact that as the valleys are the travel routes, they converged npon Buckhorn and made it one of the most accessible points in a difficult region.
Twenty-four years ago Rev. Harvey S. Murdock first came into the region to investigate some mission work that needed funds. He had completed his college and seminary courses and was serving his apprenticeship in a branch of the Lafayette Avenue Presby- .From "Churches Of DiBtinction in. Town. a.nd Country.JJ Goo. H. Doran Co. 53£)
terian Church, of Brooklyn, New York. His report on this field was so favorable that the necessary funds were granted and the young pastor accepted the call to his life work. Today Buckhorn church has a membership of eight hundred and four, a group of buildings that are rendering a great service to the far-flung mountain com- munity, a valuable tract of land for agricultural demonstration purposes and recreation, a loyal group of supporters and workers, and· a growing army, whose numbers unfortunately have not been recorded, of those who have passed through its school and church influence and are spreading it in less favored communities.
The social and religious conditions of the people among whom ~ir. Murdock began his life work were primitive. More than 20 per cent of the voting males were illiterate and a much higher propor- tion of the women and children. The local schools were of the most primitive character, and even now, as then, the children are kept from school for seasonal harvests or labor.
Necessity and close contact with a relentless nature have given these people an elemental wisdom in the use of their natural resources. Coal crops out on four levels. The highlanders have learned to satisfy their wants and needs as far as possible from their environment, and while their environment has at the same time closed them in from the progressive world, it has compensated for this by developing a sturdy character that is instinct with self- reliance. They have, however, for so long done things for them- selves that theory, when applied to such problems as their unsani- tary conditions, their physical and mental disabilities, is not always cordially received. .
In their isolation they have for so long waged warfare in order to survive against the laws of a relentless, prodigal nature that, having triumphed and successfully controlled them, they are not readily amenable to the laws of man. They have for so long been a law to themselves in the course of their long isolation in- these mountain fastnesses that the slow and distant machinery of law and justice irks their sensitive and passionate temperament. Crimes of violence and feuds are common in so primitive and individualistic a society. When the whole mountain population is so closely inter- related that the accused must of necessity be tried by a jury con- sisting of his own or his victim's relations, there is little prospect of obtaining justice from a court. The same condition has led to their reputation as "moonshiners."
At present these people subsist on farming; corn, potatoes, sorghum and garden vegetables, with very little fruit, constitute their entire output. Sheep furnish them with food and clothing. In these homes the spinning wheel is still in use for blankets and articles of domestic use. 'Their quilts are elaborately made and together with baskets have become articles of export trade. Manu-
1926J THE STORY OF BUCK:HORN, KENTUCKY
factured clothing is preferred to the homespun garments of their forefathers, but at Buckhorn efforts are being made to encourage the weaving of tweeds as the fireside industry for which their Scottish ancestors are still famous. Besides sheep, which thrive among their mountains, the small amount of low-lying land available for cultivation and grazing limits their stock to mules, pigs and a few cattle. Slender agricultural resources keep the people povertystricken, especially as families average six and one-half persons.
Through the long years of their isolation these mountaineers have made their religious beliefs an important part of their narrow intellectual and emotional life. What forms of worship they brought into these mountains, or such as have found their way into their fastness to modify profoundly the original belief and practice, are now jealously guarded. The old toiler-preacher was their only pastoral experience. Being of their own soil and tradition he brought them nothing that would lift them out of themselves.
For the type of Christian service required in such communities the :worker. must possess special qualifications. The pioneers of the Buckhorn work were people who loved nature and the simple people who lived so close to nature. They learned to appreciate the silence of the great mountains and little valleys or bottom lands along the creeks and rivers where the settlements lay, the trees, birds and flowers. A few years ago Newell Buck, the author of "The Call of the Cumberlands," visited this littl~ community center, and wrote: "I found at Buckhorn a company of idealists who were attempting the impossible, and the strangest thing about it is that they are succeeding." How well they have been succeeding the Buckhorn of 1926 must answer, if only in part.
These workers relied upon the deep religious conviction of the people and their response to the Gospel of Christ as preached by the Protestant Church, in whose traditions they and their ancestors are steeped. With this common Christian understanding the workers at Buckhorn have slowly gained the confidence of this shy, suspicious, individualistic people by their economic, social and religious services to Buckhorn as well as those communities in the vicinity. They have created a new center out of Buckhorn, grinding corn and sawing lumber, caring for the sick folk and educating the young people. But the church has been the real center of all these services and activities. The ideal of Christian brotherhood and service is the only one wherewith to combat the religious and social demarcations, that begin with religious dissension and narrow sectarianism and end in family feuds and a non-moral atmosphere of law-breaking and prejudice against all forms of enlightenment.
The church school at Buckhorn is independent of the state, but the state avails itself of the efficient staff and modern equipment by paying Buckhorn school $1,000 to $1,190 a year for taking over
the pupils of the district school for Seven months. Buckhorn has its own permanent educational program interpreted by a staff of twelve to fifteen teachers, with buildings that house teachers and pupils. In this school pupils of both sexes are taught from kinder- garten through high school and prepared for college. The natural aptitude of the children of this independent, self-reliant race schooled in adversity, is exploited by Buckhorn to the utmost.
The children, like their parents, are accustomed to make nearly all the implements of daily life, and full scope is given to this genius under expert teachers in the technical courses of the' Manual Train· ing School, equipped with tools and simple machinery. The g~rls also receive technical training in the Domestic Science Hall. There are also a Primary Hall, a kindergarten equipped with the latest educational devices; a two-story home for small boys orphaned .and stranded in the mountains; a three-story 'dormitory for seventy-five older boys, with a two-story addition; a tW6-and-one-half story home for little girls; a three-story dormitory for seventy-five older girls; and a two-story building used as a dining-hall.
The children of these mountaineers, doing their share of labor from an early age, l'TIOW how to work, but they must learn to play. The school plant now includes a gymnasium, with basketball for the girls and young boys and other organized games. The pastor is an old college "fan," and it is natural to find a good baseball team whose prowess is known in Lexington and other urban and mountain centers. The pastor has personal charge of its training, and it is in the difficult role of umpire that his associate is spreading the code of sportsmanship among the children who did not.know how to play, and to whom the idea of competition or rivalry raised the latent passion of family feud.
Not everyone reached by Buckhorn parish is a worshiper, but wherever the church has had a preaching point for five or six years, practically everyone attends church. This is chiefly a tribute to the deep religious sentiment that is one of the marked characteristics of these mountaineers. Buckhorn's church auditorium comfortably seats about three hundred and fifty people, but it is a common thing to find seats for an overflow amounting to about four hundred and seventy-five. The regular attendance averages three hundred and fifty out of a membership of seven hundred and four. Besides the Wednesday evening service, with an attendance of two hundred and fifty, Buckhorn church conducts a series of evangelistic meet- ~ngs which last for a week or more in every preaching point of the parish. Its Sunday-school, however, has the phenomenal total membership of one thousand and thirty. This is due to the fact that the adults attend Sunday-school and remain for the church service which follows. Buckhorn has a Christian Endeavor Society meeting with a membership of about two hundred.
THE STORY OF BUCKHORJN
Buckhorn village has increased about 100 per cent in the twentyfour years of parochial work. Every neighborhood in the vicinity is served by the two Ininisters, aided by teachers from the school. Nearly a dozen preaching points are in active operation, and the total Buckhorn parish enrolls nearly a thousand members, with eighty-nine added during the past year. This is in a community of about two thousand people.
The evangelistic services conducted by Buckhorn at these various points are not through imported evangelists but by the ministers of the parish, of whom two are stationed at Buckhorn and one at Cow Creek.
At Buckhorn all the pupils in school attend chapel services at eight 0 'clock in the school hall before the classes begin for the day. In each class the teacher has a period for the study of religion and the Bible. This religious training is in the mountain tradition where the daily life of the people is full of Biblical maxims and texts. rrhus the school avails itself of this tradition and relates the religious training to all the subjects, especially in domestic and social science. Hundreds of graduates have passed, during twenty years, through the school and church influence of Buckhorn, going as preachers, teachers or home makers to the farthest recesses of the region and beyond. During these twenty years more than four hundred of these pupils became teachers. Moreover, the Vice-president of Buckhorn, the heads of the departments of manual training, agriculture, math· ematics, English and history are all mountain boys graduated at Buckhorn. Not such a large proportion of women teachers are so trained, but all have a sympathetic understanding of the people. It has been found necessary to decline pupils owing to lack of accommodation. At present about four hundred students are educated annually from kindergarten through high school.
The best evidence of the work and its influence in the region is the social and religious spirit that is a precious Christian leaven in a great wilderness. But it should be remembered that these people have long preserved a religious spirit, through years of isolation, which was their only solace and comfort in a hard life of adversity. One has merely to hear the angelus which calls the parish to prayer every day to understand this fervor. There is no fixed time for the angelus, but an elderly woman for many years has rung the bell, and as its first stroke echoes up and down the wooded valleys every man, womap. and child for a few moments bows the head in reverence. There may be a clatter of dishes and a babble of conversation in the dining hall, or cries of children in the playground, or a lonely man or boy working in a patch on the mountainside. But all heed the angelus and cease for a moment's prayer. It is a beautiful custom, and one that is naturally and essentially the outward sign of the soul of these Southern mountaineers.
MBTHODS
:: EDITED BY MRS. E. C. CRONK, 721lfuHLENBURG BLDG. PRII,ADELPHJA, PA.
Since the days when" My Country ing the following suggestions by Mr.
'tis of Thee" was first sung publicly Adams for a community survey.
by a group, of Boston school girls Map Your Community. and boys we have continued en- thusiastically to proclaim, PURPosE.-To discover and visual- "I love thy rocks and rills ize the bounds of your community; Thy woods and templed hills," to. locate homes, institutions, roads, but never until this year of 1926 raIlroads, and other items of interest have the Protestant churches of in the community; to furnish a back- America together ,turned their at- ground for further study and survey _ of the community's resources. tention so seriously to the actual problems and possibilities of our MATERIALS.-Country road map or ., templed hHIs." geological survey map of the area including your community. The A dilapidated, neglected country former may be procured upon rechurch is often the prose of the poetie quest sent to your State Highway "templed hills." • Department and the latter from the Director of Surveys. U. S. Geological This year praetically all of the Survey, Washington, D. C. Sheets churches of American Protestantism of drawing paper, about 20 x 30 will study the rural church. inches or larger. Pentagraph, which may be purchased for about sixty For some of the methods here sug- cents from any art supply store. gested, and for the pietures we are Straight-edge ruler. Drawing penespecially indebted to Ralph S. cil. Fine-point pen. Pazant pens. Adams, Director of Rural Work of Compass. India ink. the Reformed Church in the United States. Mr. Adams is also author PROCEDURE.-Procure a map of of .." Project and Study Manual for your area from one of the above Rural Churches" to accompany the sources. Mark upon it the boundacourse, "Our Templed Hills." In it ries of your community, lightly in pencil .first and then with ink later are !l'iven exceptionally practical suggestIOns.
KNOW THY COMMUNITY when dbey.fitnhietelyfoleloswtaibnlgishemd~thdoedte!r- mined If knowledge is power there is no occasion for inquiry as to the ex- Approximate on each road leading planation of the powerlessness of our efforts to meet the present-day out from the community center the situation in the rural church. We do not know our rural churches and possible boundary of the community. the communities in which they are located. Any rural church will be Mark lightly in penciL Visit several able to meet its problems and possibilities more effectively after study- families on either side of that mark, on each road, asking them in what village or town they purchase their supplies, market their products, do their banking and secure their great- est social contacts. By their answers *Projeet and Stul1y Manual. B1./ Ra.lph S. determine more accurately the place Adams, 15 cents. 01lr TC'mpled· Hills. By where the interest is directed more Ralp" A. Felton. 60 cents, paper; $1.00. toward some other community center cloth. Pubhshed by Missionary Education Movement.
544 From farm ta-mllies have come the men and women who bave be]ped to makeADlerica great. Most undervo.lu<:d of all farm crops are the bright~eyed boys and girls of the open country, who are frequently un<terprivileged.
than toward your own. Mark def- er on by means of a Pazant pen. Fill initely this boundary on each road. in the symbols with a fine-point pen Draw lines connecting the bounda- and carefully letter the map to reries on these roads and you have the veal its identity. Place the key to bounds of your community. Locate the symbols used, in the left hand each household of the community on lower corner of the map for conventhe map by means of an unshaded ient reference. circle. Indicate all church buildings by means of. a circle with a cross This map will furnish the ground over it, and all school houses by a work for the religious census survey circle with a cross inside. Indicate described in project two. shops, stores, banks, and other places Take a Religious Census of business, .theatres, libraries, community buiidings, roads, railroads PURPOSE.-To learn the religiou!, and other places of importance by affiliations, past and present, of every' means of convenient symbols and an family in the community, to locate' appropriate key. the unchurched, to learn the reason for their present lack of church af- By means of the pentagraph (di- :filiation, and to discover their church rections for its use will accompany preference, if any. the instrument) transfer the community from the original map to a MATERIALs.-Map of community. large sheet of drawing paper on an Colored crayons. Household survey enlarged scale of two or four inches blanks for each household in the COllto the mile. It may be neces- munity. (Write to the Rural Church sary to transfer the community Department of your denomination center (village or town) on a for such blanks). sheet of paper separate from the rest of the community and on an PROcEDuRE.-Divide your comeven larger scale in order to enter munity into convenient districts and conveniently the many necessary mark them clearly on the map. Disymbols. This should be done in pen- vide your class or group undertaking cil first, to be inked permanently lat- this survey into teams of two and assign each team to a certain di.strict. S If undertaken on a cooperative basis,
place members of different denomina- (h) List the households of ten- tions on each team. Visit every ants, indicating their church and household in the community and se- Sunday-school affiliation, if any.
cure the information required. Num- (i) Make any other significant ber every household blank and mark lists which may occur to any mem- the corresponding number on your bers of the class.
community map in the position oc- (j) Duplicate an of these lists for cupied by the home of this family. each of the cooperating churches in UTILIZING THE RESULTs.-(a) By this study. These should be turned checking the information on the over to the pastor, together with the household cards, mark on the com- map and the original household munity map with different colored blanks, for his constant reference and crayons the households affiliated with guidance.
various denominations, leaving the (Quoted from" Project and Study Man· unchurched households uncolored ual.") until such time as they shall have CORNER 1¥ALL AND FLOOR affiliated themselves with Some SPA'()E.
church. Where there are members The rural church should be given of more than one church in the same right of way for a wall program for household, mark these with equal a specified period. portions of the colors representing said denominations. This map will Engage all available talent in chart visualize the religious opportunity in and poster making. Quotations from your community. the book Or from other sources may be printed on charts and hung on (b) List the name of all the indi- walls of Sunday-school buildings. vidual church members by denominations. Rural America's greatest need is not more churches but the enlarge- (c) List the names of all indio ment of the work of each church ln viduals over twelve years of age its local parish: in the community, who are members of no church. There are more than 101,000 rural churches in the United States for a (d) List the names of individuals rural popUlation of about fifty milholding membership in churches out- lions. If these churches were evenly side the community. distributed there would be .one for (e) List the names of all children .. about every 493 members. from one to twenty-one years of age, .. .. dividing them in groups of the same age, and indicating, in columns fol- If people work and play together; lowing each name, the number of the buy and sell cooperatively; why household of which he is a member, should they worship competitively~ .. * * th~ name of the denomination of which he is a member (mark- Many rural church problems which ing with an X if he is no mem- cannot be solved by local communi- ber), of what Sunday-school he ties demand a nation-wide policy of is a member (marking with an X thE) denominations.
if he is no member), and indicating his church preference. Four fifths of our rural population (f) List the names of all adults. are not members of any church. .
giving the same information for each .. 41< ..
as indicated in item (e) grouping Thirty-eight per cent of the farms them, however, into groups of 22 to in the United States are operated by 30, 31 to 40, 41 to 50, 51 to 60, etc. tenants on one year leases. +*+ (g) List the alien families in the community indicating whether or not A> million farmers in the United they are affiliated with any local States move to new homes every church or Sunday-school. year.
BEST METHODS
Every fifth family in rural Ameri- church who have no way to ride, as ca is foreign born. well as those who may be able to furnish transportation for others. " " A Christian "program for the new COMMUNITY GROVES. – Lutheran, rural life includes the teaching of Reformed and Dunkard churches in health as well as the care of the sick. the Rocky Ridge Community in Maryland purchased in 1919 a beau- . One of the best sources of mission- tiful grove, and dedicated it to the physieal, social, edueational, moral ary supply is the rural church. and spiritual development of the eommunity. It is owned by the "" ehurches, and supervised and con- trolled by a Park Board of represent- Other forms of charts, with maps atives of the churches. and pictures may be helpful in keeping facts before the people of the church.
THE THOMPSON TOWNSHIP COMMUNITY ORCHESTRA OF CLYDE, OH'IO A demonstrafion of the possibilities of m~usica.l cooperation in a rural community. The dire-croT and nine players are members of the Reformed Church, one of the Evangelical Church, four I.. utherans; the two teaobers who began tho work were Metbodlsts. This community orchestra furnished music for Parent-Teacher Ass()Ciation meetings and other community ai'fairs. Many of them belonged. also, to a Community nand of twenty-two pieces which played for Memorial Day. Field Day and otber out-door occaslons.
Bulletins may be placed on stand- The people of the community ards, if wall space is not available. cleared the park, erected a pavilion, placed stands and tables, and in- PRACTICAL PLANS. stalled playground apparatus-see- saws, swings, sandboxes and slides. TRAINED LEADERSHIP.-One church, in five years, has paid the expenses Two years later outdoor evening of 4000 pastors of its rural churches services were held in the pavilion and to attend summer training schools have been continued for five years for rural pastors. with an average attendanee of 500.
AUTOMOBILE AID SocIETY.-In one An annual community pienic is one ehureh a number of automobile own- of the outstanding events of the year. ers agreed to gather up children who The common interest in the grove and could not otherwise attend mission the eooperation in its maintenance study meetings, and to return them and in the aims and efforts :for which to their homes. it stands have helped to eliminate petty strife and jealousy and to unite A study of the eommunity will re- the entire community in work for the veal those who are unable to walk to
physical, social, educational, moral entire summer in hospitable rural and spiritual development of the homes. community. 'l'RAVELING MISSIONARY LIBRARIES. qOMMUNITY CENTERS.-No longer do Community Houses belong exclus- -Ten books began it. A committee ively to city centers. Scores of them selected them and individuals doare being built on our templed hills. nated them to start the plan. They In some instances they are built and were loaned without any charge to a owned by one church. In others a missionary society in a rural comnumber of denominations cooperate munity, for thirty days. During in their building and maintenance. that time they were circulated among the members. Some members read Often they contain in addition to every book. At the end of the thirty a general assembly room, a gymnasi- days they were passed on to another um with apparatus for games and society, the address and shipping inphysical training, a reading room or structions being furnished by headlibrary, and a kitchen. quarters. The only cost .to each so- The young folks of the rural church delight to present plays and pagea.nts. A gr(jup may go to a number ot communities or theJ':J may be an exchange presentation.
GUESTS FROM ALL NATIONs.-"I ciety was the price of one new book long for a summer in the open coun- to be added to the library and the try in America," wrote a Japanese postage for forwarding. The new Christian kindergarten teacher who books were selected by the committee was spending a year in America. "Do and not by individuals. However, you know of some Christian family individuals who had books they who would let me be a member of wished to donate were asked to send their family for a few weeks 1" them to the committee and if they were judged suitable they were Usually we think of hospitality to added. When there were enough foreign students as the concern of volumes they were divided and two city churches alone. Missionary libraries were sent out. leaders in rural churches might do an exceptional service by arranging, CHuRCH NIGHT.-Mid-week servthrough correspondence with their ices in rural churches usually do not Mission Board or Student Secre- have a large attendance. taries, for foreign students or furloughed missionaries to receive invi- Most churches are burdened with tations to spend several weeks or an a multiplicity of meetings. One night must be held as choir night,
another as Sunday School Teacher mISSIOnary messages. If a committee Training Night, and yet another for or an individual in each community the meeting of the official board. plans carefully several months in ad- Seven nights a week are not sufficient vance, missionary news items and for all of them. stories may be scheduled in county papers with current weekly items. In many places Church Night with Leaflets may be circulated by mail. a combination of meetings is helping The circulation of the MISSIONARY to solve some of the problems. A REVIEW OF THE WORLD as well as desuggested schedule is: nominational magazines may' be in- creased by careful attention, and 6:00 to 7:00 P. M. Fellowship Supper for Everyland may be introduced into Everybody. .almost every family in which there are boys and girls. 7:00 to 7:45 P. M. Church Council or Official Board meeting; Home Projects THE UNUSUAL MEETINGs.-In ad- Class for Parent.; Supervised Play for dition to the "usual meeting" of the Children. women's or young people's societies there may be some unusual meetings. 7:45 to 8:00 P. M. Worship. Once a year a rural society may in- 8:00 to 8:40 P. M. Teacher Training vite a city society to hold a meeting in the country. The city society- in Class; Leadership Training Class; Bible turn may invite the rural church Study-adults and young people; Re- members for a guest meeting in their ligious Education–ehildren. church. 8:40 to 9 :15 P. M. Business meetings of various organizations; Home and Com- THE COUNTY FAIR.-In ali increas- munity Study Classes; Religious Educa- ing number of county fairs mission- tion for Children. ary booths are attracting much at- 9: 15 to 9 :45 P. M. Games, Songs, Recre- tention and offering a large oppor- ation. tunity for the distribution of leaflets !l: 45 P. M. Doxology and Benediction. and the display of maps, charts and posters together with other materials This schedule provides something of missionary education. for every age and every group during all periods. SIXTY-TWO VARIETIES No waste of time is allowed. The Possibilities for Service in Rural fellowship supper at the beginning and the recreation period at the end Chureh giye opportunity for exchange of greetings. Inasmuch as some of the By RALPH S. ADAMS groups will need monthly meetings only this schedule is merely sug- 1. Organize a mission study program for gestive. all groups in the church. 2. Organize a program for local mission- HOME NIGHT.-Since the days of ary endeavor for the whole church. automobiles someone is going some- 3. Provide charitable relief where neceswhere all the time. In a number of sary. communities home night is being 4. Teach or arrange for classes of farm given a regular place in the schedule women and girls in~ hygiene, nursing, of engagements. Everyone knows sewing, cooking, etc., cooperating with there is no use in trying to schedule the county home agent or the community outside meetings for that night. Fam- nurse. ilies plan to have one evening to- 5. Consolidate the women's organizations gether, with time for an unhurried in the church or the charge. dinner or supper, conversation, 6. Declare a "farm woman '. year" for games and family worship. the church, and organize the church pro· gram for the year around the needs of MISSIONS BY MAIL.-Every mail farm women. box is a missionary opportunity. 7. Lead yonng people's meeting. Alert leaders will see that leaflets, 8. Teach a Sunday·school class. paper and magazines carry mission- ,9. Organize a Junior Congregation and ary messages into every rural com- serviee. munity. The county newspaper office offers unusual opportunity for
HI. Organize a story hour for children and 39. Organize anwng the Sunday-schools in prepare stories for that purpose. a convenient area, a base-ball league basket-ball league, or tennis tournament: 11. Prepare a program or course on voca- tional guidance for the young people. 40. Secure and equip a, playground for the community. 12. Organize a choir. 41. Conduct a community play day with 13. Organize a junior choir for instruc- games and fun for young and old. tion in singing. 42. Lead church and community socials 14. Prepare and render cantatas and re- citals from time to time. and all kinds of group games. '
15. Conduct an occasional community sing, 43. Conduct a community picnic, fair or or lead community singing in conjunction pageant. with some other community event. 44. Arrange a program and menu for a 16. Encourage parents to buy musical in· Father-and-Son's banquet. struments for their boys and girls and provide for their instruction through the 45. Do the same for a Mother-and-Daugh- church. ter's banquet for the entire community.
17. Organize an orchestra for Sunday- 46. Observe Boys' Week by means of an school and community purpn8es. educational and recreational program for the boys and their parents. 18. Organize a community band. 19. Observe music week and prepare a 47. Start a movement iu the community musical program for the week. for the erection and operation of a com- 20. Support and edit a parish paper for munity hall, or a parish house. your charge. 48. Distribute church papers and litera- 21. Organize in the congregation a system ture. of family visitation to assist the pastor. 49. Make posters and signs for coming 22. Do the same for visitation of the sick. 23. Do person8.l work in winning souls to eveuts.
the church imd Sunday-schooL 50. Care for church property and equip· 24. Assist your pastor in evangelistic ment, keeping it in order and good re- pair. efforts. 51. Provide new equipment where needed. 25. Assist your church board in making ,the every-member financial canvass. 52. Dig out the church basement and make it suitable for purposes of religious edu- 26. Conduct a Sunday-school and young cation, and socials. people'8 organization conference for workers regularly. S3_ Provide and equip one room in the 21. Prepare a program and conduct an in- ehnreh building for a nursery and arrange stitute for the chnrch or the charge on for someone to be in charge of the babies religious education and young people '. whHe the mothers attend services. work_ 54. If the church is in the village or town 28. Organize a teacher training class aud which serves as a community center, pro- teach it or study the course yourself. vide a rest room with conveniences for 29. Conduct a leadership training course tired farm mothers, who come to town for young people, using this or some on shopping trips. other suitable course. 55. Cooperate in organizing and conduct- 30. ,Cooperate with other churches in the community in organizing and conducting ing .a community health campaigu, in· a community training schooL cludmg lectures, demonstrations, exhibits 31. Attend' religious conferences and clinics, health dinners, better families: camps. contest, etc. 32. Dramatize Bible stories. 5<). Start a movement to bring the ser· 33. Organize and put on a community vices of a community nurse to your com- products exhibit. munity.
34. Bring a "good pictures" exhibit to 57. ,gecure lectures on important church your community. Write the Perry Pic- ture Company, or the Copley Prints_ and community matters, and follow these with the open forum method of discus- 35. Put on an educational exhibit for the community, with the help of the school, sion. the county agents, and the State Depart- 58. Secure the support of a :first-class ly- ment of Public Instruction. ceum course for the community. 36. Make and encourage the makiug of 59. Do the same for bringing a Chautau- collections of insects, flowers, leaves, dif- ferent kinds of wood, birds' nests in the qua Company to the community. winter time, out-door photographs, and 60. Cooperate with the farm and home stamps. This has great educational val- ue. bureaus in bringing a farmers' institute to the community. 37.' Lead a hike of young people for pur- pose of nature study and wood-craft_ 61. Observe Education Week in the fall, by means of programs and activities 38. Organize a camping party with a pur- pose. throull'h the schools, churches and other organiza,tions.
62. Cooperate with other community agencies, through leadership and service; in bringing the right type of community life and services to the community.
From "Study and Project Manual for Rural Churches·' by permission.
Woman's Home Mission
EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN, 156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK THE LITERATURE PROGRAM A second conference of the year From the report of the Committee on Study likely to influence the kind of publi- Courses and Literature of the Coullcil of Women for Home Missions, E. Jessie Ogg, Chairman. cations issued, was one held in De- cember composed of the educational For six years the Council of Women secretaries of the mission boards and for Home Missions and the Missionary the educational committee of the Education Movement have been part- Council of Christian Associations to ners in the pUblication of home mis- which the officers of the Joint Com- sion literatUJI'e. The joint committee mittees on Home Mission Literature having this in charge is ever striving were invited. A. full day was given to keep abreast of the times in the to consideration of the character of theory and practice of education and missionary education best suited to in missionary statesmanship. One of and desired by college students and the significant events of the past year consideration of where the responsi- was a conference held under the aus- bility for promotion rests.
pices of the Missionary Education 1926-1927 Literature Movement at Wallace Lodge, Yonkers, New York, in January, 1925,-for the The Committee is publishing this pUJI'pose of studying the needs for year only one book for adult and new methods and new types of ma- young people's groups, Our Templed terials. The joint committee partici- Hills, a study of the Church and pated in this conference, and has been Rural Life, by Rev. Ralph A. Felton, devoting much of its time and Professor of Rural Social Organiza- thought through the rest of the year tions at Cornell University and for- to the problem of broadening the. merly a member of the staff of the scope of home missionary education Country Life Department of the in accordance with the plans outlined Methodist Episcopal "Board of Home by the Conference, the principal re- Missions. Mr. Felton's book is ac- suIt of which was to initiate prOGCSSCS companied by a comprehensive pam- leading to an enriched cUl'll'iculum phlet for study class leaders and by for all grades. In order to provide special material for the use of rural for the sustained study necessary for churches.
the planning of the materials required The first volume in a new inter- for the several grades, a series of mediate series of three books, Fron- standing sub-committees has been tiersmen of the Faith, is by Rev. Ed- formed, corresponding to a parallel win E. White, until recently one of series named by the Missionary Edu- the Presbyterian U. S. A. missionary cation Movement for the foreign mis- education secretaries. Mr. White's sion program. These sub-committees book is historical in chara.ter· and have found it mutually advantageous tells in a style suitable for early to meet frequently in joint session to 'teen-age readers the stories of the discuss their common problems and pioneers of home missions with the to outline materials of general char- aim of giving the background neces- acter that are needed by all groups sary to a later understanding of the regardless of home or foreign eonnec- part home mi~ions has played in the tions. Such materials are required development of the nation and its particularly for younger children, task today. A separate manual for and special emphasis has been given leaders has been prepared by Mr.
to this phase of work during the year. White.
551
No new junior book is being issued. TOWN AND OOUNTRY The Better America Series of three volumes is now complete, and it is the From the report of the Committee of the earnest hope of the committee th~t Home Missions Council and Council of Women leaders will adopt one of the books III for Home Missions, Edmund deS. Brunner, that course that they have not hitherto Chalrman. used. Junior groups that have had all three of these books will, in normal During 1925 correspondence was circumstances, be ready for the first entered into with boards that have volume of the intermediate series de· organized departments of rural work, scribed above. with a view to ascertaining what sort of rural work was being undertaken, 1927-1928 Literature what the objectives were, how the rural program was channeled down There was unanimous agreement to the field. at the Wallace Lodge Oonference that several general courses on missions This correspondence produced some were needed for adult classes and interesting replies, a sUIIlllllary of that these books should be kept avail- which follows. able over a period of years for the use of those groups that desire to The work of organized departments study such subjects, rather than of rural work divides itself into two specific fields or particular problems. general heads, according to the policy It was deci"ded that the immediate de- of the denomination, and the power of mand was for studies of the essen- the department, board, or commission tially missionary character of Chris- handling rural work. tianity itself and a summary and reinterpretation of the task of t~e 1. One of these functions is com- Church in the world today. As dIS- mon to all bodies. This is interpretcussions of these proposals went for- ing the rural problem to the denomiward it became clear that this was a nation and advising with individual theme which ought to be treated in churches or ecclesiastical units as to the broadest possible manner and that possible programs of rural work. it should deal in the large with mis- This work, through various avenues, sions their motive, aim, and expres- places the resources of the rural exsion 'rather than with the home mis- perience of Protestantism at. the comsion or the foreign mission enterprise. mand of the local church.. In its Therefore a new era has dawned larger aspects, it is a task of propawhen study bookS are to be planned ganda and education. and published jointly and promoted by both home and foreign agencies. 2. Some of the denominational rural departments go beyond this and The Joint Committee will also co- have specific, administrative duties. operate with the Missionary Educa- As such, they handle or are influention Movement in publishing in 1927 tial in apportioning missionary funds, a book for young people on the sub- and they employ missionaries and ject, "What it means to be a Chris- field workers. This brings them tian in the light of the world purpose sharply into contact with the probof Christ." lems of over-churching and over- looking. The chief aim of the committee has been to keep sensitive to the demand Briefly stated, the administrative of home missions, to interpret mis- objectives were: sions as the task of the Christian Church for all of life and to serve The elimination of competition in fields ihe constituent bodies in every way where cooperation is possible. in making this task of the Church real to the most obscure person in the Secnring a more (lhristian and economic most remote corner of the country. distribution of home mission funds: i. e., as between city and country, and as between opportunity and competitive points.
Setting up of higher standards as a basis for receiving aid.
Procuring good stipends for high-grade home missionaries.
Aiding churehes in developing efficient program of work.
Training of leadership.
WOMAN '8 HOME MISSION BULLETIN
In at least two of the denomina- outlined in some states a year's tions, Methodist Episcopal and Pres- course in reading and survey, under byterian, U. S. A., these objectives supervision. A two-foot country-life are in the way of being achieved. In book shelf of about twenty titles is other denominations, some of thesc made available. things can be done only unofficially and by conference and moral suasion. There is some valuable work in leadership training by the use of Various means are adopted for students for surveying and serving achieving the objectives. Courses are parishes during summer vacations. being given, or are in prospect, in The Baptists have employed rural theological semina,ries of almost all secretaries in six states to train, suof the denominations with employed pervise and help rural pastors. The rural officers. All of these officers Methodists have a number of socooperated in summer schools. Oon- called rural leadership professors in ferences of various kinds were held. all their theological seminaries and in Some covered a minor unit of the de- some colleges. nomination and were held in connection with another meeting; some in The Par Standard has been revised local churches for the church and its and simplified. There are three community, Such conferences were Standards, the simplest of ten points definitely promoted by one denomi. for' use in uncomplicated, opennation. Others held schools for country situations; t~ fifty point church, community, and religious Standard for use in the exceptional educational methods, using the minor church and comprehensive condition. unit next above the .local church. A pamphlet detailing these Standards will probably be printed. Rural committees or commissions were organized in each minor unit of An endeavor has been made to coseveral denominations. These were ordinate the efforts of the various to keep the rural subject before the church boards that are interested in authorities of the churches, District, promoting summer schools for rural Association, or Presbytery, to study workers, and to bring this united supneeds, and to cooperate with the na- port to the State Colleges of Agritional department in channeling culture and other institutions interdown its material. ested in such schools. In more than one instance all that the authorities Demonstration parishes were used of the Agricultural Colleges' Sumby a number. These are taking on mer Schools are waiting for to estabbroader programs than in the early lish a Rural Pastors' Summer School days, and are experimenting with is assurance of the support of various many of the newer ideas. The older church boards. type of demonstration is all but gone, its program being now the accepted The Federal Department of Agrithing for the country church, no mat- culture has promised that it would ter how far short of it the average issue a booklet setting forth the recongregation may fall. sources which federal and state gov- ernments can place behind the in.di- Promotional literature was issued vidual rural community. It is felt in some communities. Therc is not as that this book will be of value to. every much of this as formerly and it is rural pastor. used most where the work is newest. A few of the denominations issue de- Mrs. John C. Campbell, of the Ruspartmental publications. sell Sage Foundation, desires to es- tablish a training school for mountain Loan libraries of v!ll1'ious sorts were missionaries in Knoxville, Tennessee, utilized and publicity given to these. or other center. Dr. William J. A valuable expansion of this idea is Hutchins, President of Berea College. that of the Congregationalists who has the same idea in mind. EDITED BY MISS ELLA D. MACLAURIN, 25 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY We know the readers of our Bulletin will be delighted and thrilled with this wonderful message from our own Mrs. E. C. Cronk. She is one of the few outstanding women who are working to bring up a generation of boys and girls who will make a "warless world" possible. Give this message the widest possible pUblicity.
'rhe Report of the significant Conference on "Law Enforcement" is now ready. ana can be had from 129 East 52d St., New York City. Fifteen cents per copy, or ten copies for one dollar. Send for it. You will find it priceless. E. D. M.
THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE IN first missionary, eight are devoted to RELATION TO WORLD PEACE world peace. Next to "Glory to God K~THAI<INE SCHERER CRoNK, Philadelphia in the highest" stand "peace on earth, good will toward men." Excerpts from an address delivered at the anmtal meeting of the Federation of Wom· In the face of this announcement an'3 Boards of Foreign Mi.•.•wns of North made by the angels or heaven, dare America, in Atlantio City, January, 1926. we claim today that war and peace The begiiming of the missionary are matters for the consideration of enterprise was the coming of Christ to earth. Of such importancE) is the other organizations and conventions but not for the Church and her mis- sionary councils1 After thousands of years of war, hatred and bloodshed throughout Old Testament days came the angels' song of peace, love and disarmament. The Lord Christ sent out His disciples not only to a nation-wide but to a world-wide bloodless conquest.
Scoffers today, as in the past, charge that "The Church is impo- tent. What has the Church done"1 "Eyes have they, but they see not. "
Darwin also scoffed in his day until he saw what the Church was accom- plishing through missions. Then he testified. "The lesson of the mission- ary is the magician's wand," and ac- cepted with appreciation an invita- tion to honorary membership in the South American Missionary Society.
Among the many accomplishments of the missionary enterprise for world peace let us consider six.
1. It has helped to make the world a neighborhood. It's an old story for MRS. E. C. CRONK speakers nowadays to draw from their pockets a daiIy paper published relation of the missionary enterprise in some 'Oriental city and show us the to world peace that of the fourteen football score of American colleges, words recorded in the message of the the latest market quotations from angels heralding the coming of the New York, and even "Jiggs and 554 Maggie. " Who pioneered the way than upon the presence of British for world neighb-orliness T Some troops. " time ago the London Times conceded, "We owe it to the missionaries that General Crowder: "Missionaries the whole region of South Africa has can do more than diplomats or busibeen opened up." ness men to maintain international peace and promote harmonious rela· Similar statements have been made tionships between the United States regarding other countries by voices as and the Far East." far from domination by a board of missionary direction as is the Times. General Charles Warren, when gov- ernor of Natal: "For the preserva- 2. The missionary enterprise has tion of peace between colonists and played an important part in estab- natives one missionary is worth a lishing the schools and making the battalion of soldiers." textbooks of the world. Domingo Sacramento, elected President of the America's first treaty with China Republie of Argentina while he was was negotiated in 1844 by the Hon. representing his eountry at Wash- Caleb Cushing and Dr. Peter Parker, ington, went back with the slogan: pioneer medical missionary.
"THE MORE SCHOOLS THE FEWER Missionaries have been the victims REVOLUTIONS.' , rather than the cause of uprisings due to the unwarranted aggression of And straightway appointed a mis- the countries they represented. sionary as his Minister of Education. John W. Barrett, former United Ziegenbalg, Schwartz and Carey in States Minister to Siam, declared India, Moffat and Livingstone in Af- that, during his five years of service, rica; Gale in Korea and Hepburn in one hundred and fifteen missionaries Japan, helped to reduce to writing gave him less trouble than fifteen the languages of nations, and together business men. with their pupils helped to make the textbooks of the world. 5. The missionary enterprise" llas established friendships not only 3. The missionary enterprise has among nations but also among indio helped to establish the world's busi- vidua,!!.'!. aere lies one of the most ness relationships. Sir W. Mack- active and' effective means of world worth Young, returning> to Great peaee. Those first friendships be· Britain after his Lieutenant Govern- tween nationals of different countries ship of the Punjab testified: "As a were brought about in almost every business man, I am prepared to say instance by missionaries. that the work which has been done by missionary agency in India exceeds in 6. The missionary enterprise has importance all that has been done made known throughout the world (and much has been done), by the Jesus Christ, the only hope for a British Government in India since its world of peace and good will. commencement. Thus viewing the relationship of the 4. The missionary enterprise has missionary enterprise to world peace helped to establish diplomatic rela- through the perspective of history we tions and to make peace programs. recognize its value. With "hats off In more than one country, mission- to the past" there comes a call for aries have been in tjJ.e receiving line "coats off to the future." when the first officially appointed government representatives arrived. Five suggestions for ways of work- ing are offered: The testimony of three prominent diplomats is to the point. Maitland, 1. First of all we must know. Even when governor of Cape Colony, said: before we can pray intelligently we must know. "Knowledge is power." "I have always relied more upon the labors of missionaries for the A brilliant young student said repeaceful government of the natives cently: "The trouble with the mis· sionary women is that most, of them read nothing, know nothing and talk
nothing except their own specific ternational Houses, so individually work." there must be established an interna- Now I am persuaded that among tional house in our hearts. " Thou magazines there is none of greater shalt make unto thee friends of other value than the MISSIONARY REVIEW OF THE WORLD, but it is not the only nations and be to them a friend" is" an unwritten code of a warless world.
magazine for the enlightenment of Notwithstandi~g all the really good women who want to be world citizens. literature published by our mission- All over our land tnere should be ary agencies, there is enough of misstudy classes and discussion groups interpretation and misrepresentation using such books as ' , On Earth and "superiority complex" on our shelves to incite a world war. Peace."· 2. We should pray. "More things No publications should be counteare wrought by prayer than this nanced which are not fair and world dreams of." Prayer for world friendly. An unvarying requirement peace should be made in every mis- in missionary literature should be sionary group and by every miss.ion- careful criticism before publication ary worker. At this time of crisis by missionaries and nationals of the Boards issuing Prayer Calendars countries dealt with.
might well sound tlte call for daily 5. We should train our boys and prayer for peace. girls in ways of world friendship and 3. We should vote. The old slogan world peace. True internationalism "Vote as you pray," which originally does not spring full clothed from a carried only masculine implication, resolution adopted in convention of suggests also feminine responsibility federation meetings. There was a in our day. Many of us women have ·generation between the first Female a feeling of modest virtue if we Mite Society and the Student Volun- shrink from the polls. The indiffer- teer Movement. Even though mothers ent good citizen is a menace. We no longer rock the condemned and un- cannot be honest and fair with our- sanitary cradles, mother hands still selves and with the world if we sit in rule the world. There was a genera- comfortable and sheltered rocking tion between the first appearance of cbairs while agencies of evil are elect- tiny bows of white ribbon pinned to ing to responsible office men and mothers' dresses before strong young women who will make and further voters passed the 18th Amendment.
policies of unrighteousness and in- There is a sort of hopelessness justice which will lead to hatred and about changing the attitudes of age. bloodshed. We have no right to glory Youth is the only hope of human in the missionary achievements of the agency for a warless world. past, in a present which tolerates unrighteous aggression and forces on Why are we so laggard in teaching another nation harmful narcotics, un- principles and practices of world less we are doing everything in our friendship to our boys and girls? power to right the wrongs. Why do we satiate their omnivorous hunger for reading with questionable 4. We should practice friendship. books and periodicals while our one No binding friendship of legislation magazine for world friendship and can be passed by congresses and parliaments, but even as collectively we world peace is at hand Y Would that meet the international opportunity in we could place Everyland in the our cosmopolitan cities through In- hands of every jUl'lior and intermedi- ate boy and girl in the world.
""On Earth Peace" is one result of the Con- Would that we could properly estiference on the Cause and CUre of War, he'd in mate the strategic value of boys and Washington, D. C., in January, 1925. Price 30 cents. Order from Miss May H. Leavis. girls in making and maintaining P. O. Box 4, North Cambridge, Mass., or from peace in the earth. your own Home or Foreign Mission Boards.'
FROM .MANY
NORTH AMERICA run bakeries; you find them in the real estate business; many of them are e~· Mormons Ask to Hear the Gospel ployed in banks and some of them a.re ~n the professions. .They seem to fit In ill REV. E. W. HALLOWELL, Sun- day-school missionary in Idaho, any line of work. The poorer classes work under the Presbyterian Board of Na- in the fields, in d~iries, as day .laborers .on tional Missions, writes of a recent ex- the railroad and hIghways, and In factorIes, perience: "The people had asked me and in the south as fishermen.
to come to the Emerson district to A Conference on Rural Work hold the revival because the mothers and fathers were beginning to feel THREE interdenomina~i~nal meet- the effect of the Mormon lethargy on ings of State Home MISSIOn execu- their children and they were anxious tives were held at Utica, Rochester to do all they could to overcome its and Ithaca on May 7, 10, and 11, for influence. The people went around the promotion of some plan whereby the work of the churches may be so themselves, 'Supplementing my per- coordinated as to provide more satis- sonal work with their own efforts. As factory religious. work in town and . a result, the entire community was country sections. Dr. Charles E. V~r milya, Secretary of the Home Mls- stirred, so that even the Mormon sions Council, Dr. Ralph A. Felton of bishop came to me and asked us to Cornell University, who has made an come into their larger room on the extensive study of rural church con- last night of the service and give their ditions in the state, and Dr. U. L. people a chance to hear the sermon. Mackey were among those present. There were over one hundred at the The committee on. more permanent service, thirty being Mormons. At plans arranged to meet on June 1st in the close the bishop came to me and, Syracuse, to perfect arrangements I think honestly, thanked me for the whereby the relieving of overchurched services of the week."
Portuguese in America and underchurched situations may be undertaken in a more definite and ex- THERE are about 100,000 :foreign- tensive way. born Portuguese people in the United States for whom practically CouneU'. Prohibition Co_ittee nothing is being done by the. evan- IN ORDER to give effect to the ac- gelicai denominations, accordmg to tion of the Executive Committee Rev. Henry J. McCall, San Leandro, of the Federal Council which referred Cal. They have come from Portugal, to the Administrative Committee the tIhsleanAdzsoreas~dMtahdeeirHa,awthaeiiCanapeIsVlaenrddse. question of further activity in behalf of temperance and prohibifion, the Mr. McCall writes of those in Cali- following special committee has been fornia: appointed on this subject: Rev. Frank Mason North, Honorable Carl E. They make good American e.itizens,. and it Milliken, Bishop James CannJohn, JMr., Mrs. John Ferguson, Rev. 0 n . is not uncommon for Amerwan girls to Moore, Rev. Charles E. Burton, and marry Portuguese boys. In the San Lean· Dr. Robert E. Speer. Its aims have dro district they are chiefly dairymen. been outlm' ed as f 0IIows: (1) "To They are good fruit growers; they make good truck gardeners; they ?wn groce~y stores (a Portuguese grocer m. San LUIS Obispo is practically a millionaIre); they 557
give early attention to the prepara- The present enrollment in the regular tion and circulation of pamphlet lit- school term is 3,673, with an additional erature designed to continue with in- enrollment of 3,595 for the summer creasing emphasis the education of the schools and conferences, a total of over people as to the fundamental reasons 7,000. These schools give a common for prohibition. (2) To consider education, they prepare students for college, they fit girls and boys to be whether the need for speeial study home-makers, and they give training courses of discussion outlines on pro- in trades and industries, which ill! the hibition, for use in Sunday-schools, largest school number fifteen. . Dr. young people's groups and student Thomas Jesse Jones, Educational Diorganizations, is adequately met at rector of the Phelps Stokes Fund, the present time, and, if not, take says: steps, in cooperation with the proper organizations, to provide such educa- The aim, policy and organization of The American Church Institute for Negroes tional materials. (3) To inquire into constitute one of the most effective agencies the question of temperance instruc- in the South for the development of the tion in the public schools, with a view Negroes as well as for the cultivation of to seeing whether anything could be helpful relationships between the white ani! done to reinforce such a program." colored people.
Presbyterian Work for Indians Methodid Service Program T A HE annual report of the Presby- COMMITTEE of seven Bishops to terian Board of National Missions conduct a two-year campaign in says that several tribal groups and behalf of the world service program communities of Indians which have was named by the Board of Bishops been served for one or two generations of the Methodist Episcopal Church at have been practically evangelized and their recent meeting in Washington, won from their old worship and the D. C. The committee consists of dominance of the medicine man. The Bishops Birney of China, Blake of Dakota Sioux, the Choctaws, the Nez Paris, Miller of Mexico City, Fisher Perces, the Umatillas, the Pimas and of India, Hughes of Chicago, Nich- Spokanes belong in this classification. olson of Detroit and Henderson of The Sioux Indian churches in four Cincinnati.
states, numbering thirty-six organized The committee will endeavor to congregations, exemplify the new arouse renewed interest in America order of affairs in·a country most in foreign mission work and to inhostile and most dangerous to the white population a generation ago. crease the revenues of the denomina- The large governmen~ boarding schools tion for this work.
now systematically provided for, Presbyterian Foreign Missions either by Presbyterian missionaries THE Board of Foreign Missions of or in cooperation with other denomi- the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. reports that at the close of nations in support of Protestant re- the church year, March 31, 1926, ligi()us work directors, are the fields there were engaged in the evangelistic of most recent notable advance in side of work 409 ordained mission- effort and in results.
Church Institute for Negroes aries, working with the native forces of 584 ordained ministers, and 2,725 THIS organization, founded in unordained men and women workers. 1906, is one of the agencies of the These were in charge of 5,830 organ- National Council of the Protestant ized churches and other groups of Episcopal Church. In these twenty Christians, with a total church mem- years about 36,000 students have been bership of 217,857. All missionaries enrolled, and the number of schools do more or less direct evangelistic under the Institute has grown to ten. work, and many of them who are not
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
ordained ministers are devoting all As a Missionary Board, we have a g,·.."t their time to this type of work. There interest in the development of ChriBtiau were 2,533 Foreign Board schools of ideals in China. Even though we have only all grades, including colleges and a small work there, we believe that 'Iil technical schools connected with Pres- missionary interests should entirely repudi byterian Foreign Mission work, in ate all extraterritorial privileges and all which 117,400 students were being protection from the military arm of the trained under Christian instruction. Government. In the medical field of service, in 85 hospitals doctors and nurses minis- We believe that missionaries should go to tered to the needs of 49,916 in-pa- proclaim Christ's way of Life, Loye, tients, while in 115 dispensaries they Friendship, Goodwill and Brotherhood,to all treated almost 1,000,000 out-patients. mankind. We believe that His way of The seven printing presses produced Life is the very antithesis of force. 125,193,474 pages of the Bible and other literature. The total number of In any new treaties which are made we missionaries was 1,579 and the amount want to record our conviction that no of money spent $4,774,000. special toleration clauses for the protect~on of missionaries should be included whiCh Quaker Approach to Japan give special privileges beyond those which the ,chinese Government is willing to offer. WHAT is characterized by the Christian Century as "one of the Ohinese in San Francisco most imaginative enterprises to be announced by an American religious DISTINCT changes are noticeable organization in recent years" is that in the Chinese attitude to the of the American Friends Service Com- problems of Chinatown. The whole mittee. In an effort to allay the pres- Chinese community, Christian and ent suspicions between Japan and this non-Christian alike, is accepting a new country the committee has made an responsibility for its ()wn people. appeal for funds whereby one hun- There has been built a first-class Chidred mature Japanese students-ap- nese hospital with scientific equipment proximately the same number of Jap- in all departments. A Chinese Y. M. anese as are excluded from the C. A. building has been erected. A United States by the working of the new printing offtce has been estabpresent immigration law-are to be lished which has the only Christian brought to this country annually for editor of a Chinese paper edited in the postgraduate study. At the same community. A forward-looking protime, approximately a like number of gram must increasingly develop the American students are to be given an Chinese themselves to carry as much opportunity for study in the universi- as possible of the responsibility for ties of Japan. their own people.
American Friend. and Ohina Alaskan Progress THE American Friends Board of AT BARROW, in the Arctic section, Foreign Missions in its annual ses- practically every resident adult sion, Richmond, Indiana, May 10-12, Eskimo is a member of the church. expressed deep sympathy with the The Eskimos were only one generation difficulties through which the Chinese removed from the stone age, yet they nation is passing. A minute adopted are merging rapidly into modern at the meeting says: civilization. The work of the Presby- terian hospital at Point Barrow, the We deplore the un· Christian methods, "farthest north" hospital in the practices and policies which have been in· world, was carried on with a smaller flicted on China by so·called Christian na· number of patients than usual because tions. We especially deplore the use of of the fact that the sanitary teachings military force in order to perpetuate in· of the doctor and the. nurse have bedefensible political privileges in China. gun to register their effect in the lives of the people. The homes of the Alaskan natives are clean and well- kept. They are taking advantage of the splendid school maintained by the
Government. They have organized I was just ooIning into J. that Sunday native cooperative stores in nine morning from a trip higher up in the monnpoints north of the Arctic, and the tains and found the people full of exciteonly thing that prevents their achiev- ment. Many had taken their saints (inutgl's) ing of a high degree of economic in- out into their yards and were kneeling bedependence is their inability to trans- fore them and reeiting their prayel·s. News port reindeer meat to markets. had flown from door to door that the , 'Ghrist of the Evangelicals" was coming LA·TIN AMERICA in the clouds. One wOlIUln who had once made a profession of faith in one of our Friendly Vbitora to :Medco meetings was heard to cry out: "0 Lord, thou knowest that I am one of those who ACONFERENCE on Friendly Re- believed, and that I fell away, but forgive lations Between the United States me, Lord." and Mexico, which met in Mexico City, April 10th to 20th, was organized by Brave Workers in Nicaragua Hubert C. Herring of the Congregational Education Society, and Miss REV. W. F. ABERLE, of the Cen- Caroline Duval Smith of the Y. W. tral American Mission in Nicara- C. A. of Mexico. The members of the gua, whose workers recently met with group–twenty-two ministers, laymen, such violent opposition, writes: educators and editors-provided their own expenses, and the overhead ex- "The Granada situation is much pense was met by special gifts from improved. The Government insures interested donors. During the course our protection and peace and there is of the ten days, the group met with much to encourage our hearts." representatives of the Mexican Government, including President Calles, He describes a meeting held by the and listened to addresses from repre- mission, and says: sentatives of various points of view, business, political, educational, re- The woman on the opposite eorner thought ligious, and cultural. It made trips she would molest us a lot by having the to near-by villages, studying at first drums come and play in her house, bllt we hand the land question, the religious simpJy shut the door and went on without issue, and public education. The any trouble at all. When some of the peo· group was cordially received by all pIe began throwing stones at the door and elements in Mexico City, govern- on the roof, the Jefe Politico sent more mental and otherwise. They have re- policemen, who guarded the doors of Dona turned with a deep sense of obligation Isabel's house until her drunken drummers to contribute something towards the went home after eleven 0 'clock. In their understanding between the two coun- drunken fury they would beat their drums tries. "t a terrmc rate, yelling "0, sweetest Virgin, take away these Protestant.s." They An Airplane in Guatemala had a procession thanking the Virgin for getting us out of Granada, and now that THERE are many places in Guate- we have not really gone, but have returned mala where the automobile has after a few days in Managua, the men tease never yet gone. There are even said the women, telling them the Virgin fooled to be many Indians who look on the them. railroad as a thing of the devil and who will not risk their lives on so Dominican "Endeavorers" diabolical a contraption as a train. One may well imagine, then, the con- AT HATO MAYOR, in the Dominsternation caused by two airplanes ican Republic, some genuine that flew over the north part of the Christian work is being done, which country a few months ago on their is described in the Christian Endeavor return trip to Colombia. A Presby- World: "Julio Filomeno became a terian native preacher tells the story Christian and also a Christian En- deavorer at San Pedro de Macoris. as follows: He is a barber by trade, and a happy Christian by habit. He secured the Singer Sewing Machine agency at Hato Mayor, and moved with his family to that former center of ban- ditry. About the same time Jose A. Manana, an Endeavorer from San Cristobal, became postmaster at Hato
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
Mayor. The two families undertook people, and then one or two of them the formation of a Christian En- come down to Lima and make indeavor society, and in November of quiries, and so it goes on." 1923 the society, with twenty-two members, elected its first officers. Buenos Aires Boys' School "These Endeavorers got a room and THE Colegio Americano, conducted began work, Julio doing most of the by the Christian Missionary Sopreaching. The result is that Hato ciety (Disciples) at Buenos Aires, Mayor has a really native church, and Argentina, graduated seven from the it is the only church in the republic commercial department and one from which approaches self-support. It re- the high school at the annual comceives no money from the Board for mencement. Certificates were also Christian Work in Santo Domingo, granted to fifteen boys who had comand its only outside aid is an allow- pleted the work of the grades. The ance of about ten dollars a month diplomas and certificates were prefrom the conference of native sented by the U. S. Ambassador, Peter churches, for help toward the rent of Augustus Jay. Colegio Americano a building. The present building is enrolled 250 boys in the various denct large enough for the work. The partments during the past schcol year. influence of the church is shown by Bible study is a part of the curricthe fact that recently the mayor of the ulum and Sunday-school and church town told Julio that if the Evan- services are held weekly for the fifty gelicos would like a church, and boys who live in the school dormiwould ask for it, the town would deed tories. Athletics and a Boy Scout them a good lot acrcss the street from troop are among the extra-curricular their present location, on condition activities. that they would start building within a year." EUROPE "A Seed of God'. Planting" Britioh Missionary De:ll.cits REV. JOHN RITCHIE, a repre- T HE following statement of the fi- sentative of the Evangelical nancial condition of six British Union of South America in Lima, missionary societies is being quoted. Peru, in describing the little groups No report is given of either the of believers won on his evangelistic Church Missionary or the London tours, says: "We get them to organ- Missionary Society, both of which are ize a committee from among them- said to have very large deficits: selves that they may see to it that meetings are regularly held. We say The Church of Scotland spent £79,- to them, 'You do not need a priest. 657 last year, while its income was but .Gather and worship God, He is your £69,996. Its total accumulated deficit Father. Ccme to Him, read His word for missionary work now stands at in His Book, learn His will, sing His £20,532. The Friends 'Foreign Mispraises. ' And so they gather-not sionary Association received last year in what you would call church wor- £28,499, which was £10,275 below ship, although to them it is. To help its expenditure. The Presbyterian them we circulate among them various Church of England had an income of books, such as the sermons of Mcody, £43,593, and an expenditure of £47,- Spurgeon, and Wesley. If they have 218. The accumulated missionary defno preacher they can read a sermon, icit of this church is now £7,453. The and so the thing grows-the wonder Society for the Propagation of the is to see it grow. And how this seed Gospel had a total income of £342,50l. of God's planting gets blown over the While this represents an increase over hills! One man tells another and he the previcus year, it failed to reach gets interested, and interests other the expenditures of £363,026. The United Free Church of Scotland re- 6 ceived for work over-seas £185,215,
while the expenditure was £190,830. which is another new thing. For The accumulated deficit in this church evangelical books, hitherto published has now become £15,506. The Meth- only by evangelical publishing houses, odist F'oreign Missionary Society had have scarcely ever been sold by any an income of £316,388, to meet a agencies outside their own circles. budget of £3i36,779. The translation of "The Meaning of Faith" was made by the Committee English Methodist Union on Cooperation in 1;..atin America, which also a.rranged for the publica- T HE hope of union between the tion of this book and a number of three branches of the Methodist others by Sr. Jono, during a recent Church in England, the Wesleyan, visit of the Secretary, Samuel G. In- Primitive, and United, has been so man, to Madrid. strong that in the REVIEW of June, 1925, the union was spoken of as al- Russian Interest in Buddhism. most an accomplished fact. The lates!; reports state that the. plans for unit- T HE Russian Academy of Science ing the three churches have been con- is arranging for a Buddhist Considerably advanced by a decision gress in Leningrad this fall. Dr. which "indicates agreement over Tedor Scherbitsky, the great Orienquestions that have hitherto proved a talist and a member of a very eminent barrier to llnity." Difficulties which family of the old regime, will have had arisen between two conflicting charge of the meeting. He has long sections in the Wesleyan Church, as enjoyed the personal friendship of to doctrinal standards and the ad- some of the great lamas of Tibet and ministration of the Lord's Supper, Mongolia. "Why," asks Christian have at length been harmoniously ar- W ark, "do the Russians plan the ranged. After the plans now con- congress ~ At any rate, it brings templated are finally approved by a them into friendly touch with Asia. majority of the three churches, it will Mongolia already has a_ Soviet form be necessary to promote a bill in Par- of government. Report has it that in liament, in o.rder to give legal au- Moscow the Bolshevists have opened a thority to the union. It is thought university exclusively for Chinese that the bill, already in draft, may be- students. The Russians publish a come law by the spring of 1928. weekly and a monthly periodical ex- clusively in the interests of the Orien- Protestant Books in Spanish tals. The proposed congress lies along the line of their past work. In AN EVENT of unusual significance former days St. Petersburg produced ft to Spanish-speaking Protestant- the world's greatest Orientalists. The Russian Academy is keeping up ism is the publishing by Jorro, one of the tradition. Its interest did much the biggest publishing houses in to enable the Oriental scholars of var- Madrid, of a translation of "The ious countries to translate the ancient Meaning of Faith," by Fosdick. It is sacred books of Asia and even helped probably the first time that a large make possible the Sansrit-English secular publishing house in the dictionary. The Ethnography Mu- Spanish-speaking wodd has deliber- seum, one of the products of the ately disregarded the criticism that Academy, has the greatest collection will be brought on it by reactionary illustrating Oriental culture in the forces and put its imprint on a Prot- world." estant book, so distinctly religious that it contains Scriptures and pray- Ukrainian Protestant Movem.ent ers for daily study. The publication of this book by the house of J orro T HE Ukrainian Evangelical Almeans that it will automatically be liance of North America is apput on sale in the large book stores all pealing for help for a religious moveover the Spanish-speaking world,
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
ment which started among the Ukrain- of North America recently sent a ians in Europe two years ago. It has memorandum to President Coolidge, made itself felt in the Ukraine proper, Secretary of State Kellogg and Sen- a semi-independent state of the Soviet ator Borah, recommending that the Federation, in Ruthenia, a province of United States cooperate with the Czechoslovakia largely inhabited by League of Nations in adopting a new Ukrainians, and among the Ukrainian international convention which would refugees, exiles and students who are free tens or hundreds of thousands of congregated in large numbers in such persons from conditions which closely centers as Prague and Paris. But the resemble slavery.
movement has been especially significant in Galicia and Volhyn, provinces Ohrist in Old Cairo Hospital O of Poland populated by Ukrainians. F THE hospital conducted by the C. M. S. in Old Cairo, Miss Con- With the cooperation of the Central Bureau for the Relief of the Evan- stance Padwick writes: "It is won- derful enough as an object lesson for gelical Churches of Europe, the active the people of a thousand villages, who, assistance of a number of American in coming into the compound see, gencongregations and with the enthusias- erally for the first time, a community tic backing of the Ukrainian Evan- which has the spirit of a home, where gelical Alliance, seven missionaries no one demands baksheesh for every are now at work in this field. But so service, and where there is kindliness many thousands of people are mani- for the very stupid and the humble. festing their interest in the Protestant 'Dr. Harpur,' said a Syrian lady in faith, by attendance at services, by trying to account for the influence of asking for Bibles and religious litera- the hospital, 'treats all the fellaheen ture that the few men now on the field as if they were great people, and all are overwhelmed by the demands Egypt loves him. ' The patients know made upon them. that Christ is in that compound and AFRIOA they carry the news. Little Hamida, E:rlsting Forms of Slavery aged ten, after a dream in which the Christ had lifted up the bedclothes THE Foreign Policy Association and the cradle and touched her tuber- announces that slavery in the man- cular knee, said next morning, 'I dated areas of Africa has been legally know it will be healed now. He is not abolished. This does not imply that like your pictures, but one thousand slavery in " frica has disappeared, for times better. When I go I am going domestic slavery and very oppressive to tell my brother about Him. He can enforced labor is still practiced in tell the boys and I'll tell the girls.'
many parts of Africa (especially So the news of that Person spreads."
Portuguese Colonies). Flogging is permitted and the forced labor al- Heroic Village Teachers T lowed for public works is given the HE story of Kadisha, a Congo elder, whom his enemies had manbroadest interpretation so that practically, slavery still exists. In French aged to have imprisoned for two Togoland and the Cameroons natives weeks, is told by J. Sayles in The are said to have fied to Spanish Christian Observer. He says: "When and Portuguese territory to escape the fortnight was over and he had abuses. been released, quite simply he went The League of Nations, in 1920, back to hiS! work, although he knew appointed a commission to investigate that his enemies would laugh at him slavery, and is now proposing to all and hurl insults. Again he walks nations, including the United States, from village to village preaching the an international agreement on the Word, and we learn that the pagans subject which is full of loopholes. wonder and say, 'Where does this The Foreign Missions Conference strength come from ¥' Great souls arB-
found among these African village well as his wife, and with his conteachers. It is hard to understand version the little village has become what it means to these babes in Christ entirely Christian. to be living in the midst of an indifferent or hostile population, to be New Opening in the Sudan witnesses for Christ amongst Satan worshipers, to preach often to empty BRITISH Government officials in a benches, to be laughed at, to be in- province in northern Nigeria sulted, to! be threatened and beaten, have offered to open a "closed" tribe to have to struggle with the igno- to the workers of the Sudan United rance, the doubts, the temptations of Mission. This tribe has been closed their own hearts; all this by them- until now because of the frequency of selves without comfort and compan- murder. Murder seems to be rather ionship in the far-away villages of the like a pastime to them, but possibly African jungle; knowing that if they there may be a religious or fetish sigwent to other concerns they would nificance at the bottom of some of have an easier life and earn bigger their apparent crime. Christian mismoney. Yet they stick to their work, sionary influence has often done more and do it to the best of their ability to counteract the tendency to kill than for just one reason: They love our all the punishment which has been Lord Jesus .Christ." meted out by the Government. In the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan the S. U. M. A Wife'. Knowledge missionaries in the Nuba Mountains Province, inhabited by pagan hill A MAN in one of the small African tribes, have been asked by the Gov- villages not far f,rom Elat was ernment to occupy another district, in the subject of much earnest prayer the hope that their presence may have and effort on the part of his friends. a beneficial effect. The admission of because he was so stubborn in his re- missionaries to their first station in fusal to accept Christianity. Every- that province resulted, after a time, in body else in his village was a Chris- the Government being able to withtian, his wife being a faithful fol- draw the garrison they had in the dislower of the "Jesus teaching." This trict. man would not tell his friends why he was so set in his determination, but Conference on Africa in Belgium one day, when Mrs. Lippert was visiting his village, she found him in the AN INTERNATIONAL Conference meeting she was conducting and on the Christian Mission in Aftalked to him. In the course of con- rica is being convened by the Internaversation he revealed his secret. tional Missionary Council at Le Zoute, Belgium, from September 14th to 21st "I just feel bad in my heart," he next. Membership will be restricted said. " You see, my wife confessed to 250 persons, 200 of whom will be God a long time ago, and she started nominated by the missionary societies to school and has learned the book. of Great Britain, North Ameriea, and .soon I shall have the shame of having the Continent of Europe, and fifty a wife that knows more than I do. So places will be left for government I try to make her much trouble." offi~ials, educational speeialists, and African guests. The chairman will be When he had once put his objection Dr. Donald Fraser, late of Nyasaland, into words, the man was compelled to and now one of the Secretaries of the laugh at it himself, and it didn't take United Free Church of Scotland Mislong then for the missionary to bring sions. The main headings of the prohim to a right understanding of both ceedings are "The Specific Task of himself and the God he was trying Christian Missions in Africa" and not to know. He promised to begin " The Relation between Christian to go to school the very next day, so Missions and Other Forces Impinging that he could "learn the book" as on,Afriean Life." Among those who
NEWS FRiOM MANY LANDS
are expected to take part are Mr. J. costly features whieh have been part H. Oldham, Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones, of the Turkish weddings for ages. Dr. Anson Phelps-Stokes, Dr. D. The law forbids the transportation of Westermann of Berlin, Bishop Camp- the bride's goods to the home of he;r bell of Liberia, and Dr. W. C. Wil- prospective husband, which hitherto loughby, formerly of Tigerkloof and has been the occasion of great. "pomp now of the Kennedy School of Mis- and parade. The marriage feast must sions, U. S. A. not last more than a day, whereas formerly such celebrations frequently THE NEAR EAST continued for a week, and the bride's father kept open h()Use, not only for The Hospita.l in Tiberias relatives and friends, but also for en- tire neighborhoods or villages and for AFTER describing the rapid mod- any passer-by who wanted a free meal. ernization of Tiberias, so that The feast may be attended only by "it would be hard for Herod Antipas relatives and those formally invited. to recognize his old town again," Dr. Most drastic of all from the bride's Herbert W. Torrance, of the United standpoint, there must be no wedding F'ree Church of Scotland, writes of gifts. " the mission hospital, in which he says there have been as many as fourteen Turkish Colonel Buys a Bible nationalities at one time; "In-patients .have varied from a Jewish rabbi from F LYMAN MacCOLLUM relates in . Jerusalem to Jewish refugees from • the Record of the American Bible Bagdad and ·Mosul; from an Italian Society the following experience of a Mother Superior of a convent to a colporteur: "I would like a copy of Persian woman of the Bahai religion; the Holy Book in a good binding, to from a plucky little boy wounded on keep on my desk opposite this Kothe slopes of Mount Hermon by a ran, " said the 1'urkish colonel. French aeroplane bomb to a British " Don't be afraid of me," he smiled. officer who was thrown from his horse "See, I haven't even got my sword and fractured a limb; from a hardy with me this morning." Then he con- Druze warrior with a portion of shell tinued more gravely, "I know little in his abdomen to a Jewish sergeant about your religion, but I admire some of the Palestinian Gendarmerie suffer- of the Christian customs. I am told ing agony from an abscess in his ear; that Christian families gather tofrom a Bethsaida fisherman to a fine gether morning and evening to pray old Moroccan Jew; from a Transjor- and sing. I wish we had such a cusdanian shepherd in a pelisse of curly tom. But with us, as you know, a white goatskin, wounded in the legs man's family is like his stove or any by porcupine quills, to an engineer in other necessary sort of furniture. We blue dungarees with an oxacetylene- have no such religious intimacy in our lamp burn of the eyes. Out-patients homes. And on the third day of our made a grand total of 12,892 attend- week I see you all, book in hand, go- ing to your places of worship, each ances." man with his family. The signt al- ways fills me with regret that we Mo- Turkish Rules for Weddings hammedans may not do likewise. I shall read your book often and glad- THE following Associated Press ly." With glowing heart the colpor- cable from Constantinople shows teur moved on. another step that is being taken by the new Turkish Government: "Fath- Report of Near Ea.st Relief ers of marriageable daughters have found a ;real friend in the governor of BECAUSE it was by an Act of Con- Constantinople province. He has gress in 1919 that Near East Re- promulgated a law restricting in great lief was incorporated, it presents an detail expenditures allowed in connection with weddings, and forbid- ding ml'Uy of the picturesque but
annual report to that body. The one Eager Lutenera in Aden recently submitted, which covers the activities of the organization for the REV. CARL J. RASMUSSEN repyear ending December 31, 1925, states resents the Danish Church Misthat the total income from all sources ~~on in the strategic town of Aden, was $4,752,239.25. Since the beginning of the WDrk 132,,532 children the gateway and stronghold," as he have been cared for. The record for calls it, of the province of Yemen in the past year shows that a total of Arabia. He writes of his work: 68,159 children were served: 21,907 in orphanages of Near East Relief; "Many barriers which prevented 8,769 supported or subsidized in other the Gospel's entrance to the people '8 orphanages or homes; 1,428 aided in hearts have been broken down. When special native schools; 5,519 super- missionaries first came the people vised and aided in homes; 17,414 fed looked upon them with suspicion. in hospitals, refugee camps or through Few wanted to have anything to' do industrial relief; and 13,122 served with them, and the schools were an in clinics. Throughout the year the abomination in their eyes. All this policy has been continued of getting passed away; the people now seek the the children out of the orphanages mission doctor and dispensaries for and into homes or apprenticed in help and advice before they go anytrades as rapidly as possible. Orphan- where else. The schools are filled with age graduates are now providing the students eager to learn English. They larger part of the teaching and med- willingly attend the daily Bible-readical nursing staff in various areas. ings and prayers. Three years ago we started a Sunday service. This Arab. Prize Kuweit Hospital branch of the work has given us far more joy than I can telL In the be- APROOF of the strong position in ginning very few people would come Kuweit, Arabia, of the mission of to listen to the Gospel; those who the Reformed Church in America is came were laughed at by their given by Rev. Edwin E. Calverley, friends; but now we get our church who writes: "A preacher in the chief hall packed every Sunday, besides mDsque had been urging his hearers to many shy and passing listeners outimitate the Christians in their relig- side the doors and windows. In our ious zeal by establishing a Moslem congregation we have seen people hospital. The idea was welcomed and from Mecca, Medina, Hadramout, and a plan made to ask for capital contri- points in the interior." butions to build the hospital, and to guarantee its continued support by Schools in Afghanistan putting a voluntary charity tax on all goods imported into the town. Over AWRITER in a Moslem newspaper three hundred signatures of mer- published in Capetown, South chants accepting the plan were se- Africa, says that future historians of cured. The Sheikh, however, refused Afghanistan will date its modern pehis support, saying he wDuld continue riod from 1919, the beginning of the to patronize the American Mission for l'eJign of the present Amir, Aman himself, his family and his retainers. IDlah. "When the Amir," says the Moreover, he declared that if the author, "began to reorganize the charity tax were collected from any country after the European model, he one through any compulsion he would turned his eye to the schools also. Acfine the collectors heavily. The enter- cordingly he introduced general eduprise was dropped and I was assured cation and founded a large number. that the mDtive that actuated most of The enterprising ambition of the those who had supported it was not so Amir led him also to inaugurate femuch hostility to us as shame that the male education in Kabul. Seminaries Moslems had nothing like our work for girls were opened. He was the to express their religious zeal. " first ruler of Mghanistan to found a Maktab Masturat-rather an unfor- tunate designation, since Masturat it-
NEWS FROM MANY UNDS
self means 'the veiled. ' Although the fectly cured. Meanwhile, Mr. Archigirls' school was a success, it was bald says he could daily baptize many more or less closed on the resolve of people who come under Boijnath's the National Assembly in 1924. For ministry. They include not only the mullas set their face against it Hindus, but Bengali and Santali peoand protested that such an institution ples, hundreds of whom are seeking ran counter to the spirit of the Koran to join the church. and that it would lower the moral level of Afghan maidens. According Moslem Soldier.. Say "Amen" to the latest information from Afghanistan, the school has been re- I N THE autumn a young Tamil opened amidst rejoicings." had his baby baptized in church," writes a missionary of the Church INDIA, SIAM AND MALAYSIA Missionary Society in the far north of India, "and asked me to go to his Outcastes Now Church Elders house for prayer that evening. When I arrived I found that he had in his REV. H. A. WHITLOCK, of the house the havildar (Indian sergeant) American Presbyterian Mission and three big, tall Punjabis of the in Lahore, India, writes of the or- regiment to which he is attached as ganization of a church in the village clerk and schoolmaster. When he of Merh and the ordination of elders: called for prayer we all stood up, "It made one thank God and take Christian and Moslem alike, and asked courage to see these men who belonged God's blessing on the house. I ended to the outcastes, who had never been the petition in the name of Christ, and anybody, now being inducted into the a loud 'Amen' came from the Mosmost sacred office in our church. It lems. When I recited the grace in the also gave one pause to think and to name of the Trinity, again the Mospray, for none of them would be cap- lems said' Amen.' It was an astonishable of reading the Word of God for ing experience. We had some good himself or of giving it to others save as he had committed it to memory. talk. " The hope of the community really lies in the children, some of whom are in S. K. Datta Refused Adllliuion our schools and can come home during the vacation and read God 's Word to THE National Christian Council of their own parents and elders! So the India, Burma and Ceylon decided Session was formed, and a sermon was to send its chairman, the Bishop of preached to them about their office, in Calcutta, and its Vice-Chairman, Dcr. the simple words which would give S. K. Datta, on a friendly visit to the them the rudiments of their duties." churches in South Africa with a view to getting into personal conference Baptisms in a COWllhed with the Christian leaders on the In- dian situation. The Government of T HE municipal cowshed serving as South Africa, has refused to allow a church and the manger serving Dr. Datta, because he is an Indian, as a pulpit, because the community to enter the country. The South Afhad no other meeting place, twenty- rican Outlook comments: eight outcaste Hindu sweepers were recently baptized Christians in the Does the Government know that Dr. Datta villagi. of Dhanbaid, Bengal, by the is one of the outstanding men of India, a Rev. C. H. Archibald, Methodist Epis- member of the Legislative Assembly of the copal missionary, according to report Government of India and the General Secrereceived by the Board of Foreign Mis- tal'-' of the Y. M. C. A. in India; that he sions. An Indian evangelist, Boij- is eld in very high regard there by all nath, recovering from leprosy, has ~I. ses of people, European, Indian, Chrisbeen traveling about the villages near :'-llian and non-Christian; that he went on a the mission leper asylum, preachin!!'. similar mission two years ago to Australia The' iloctors say he will /loon be per- and Fiji and created a most favorable im- pression' If these facts were not known, the Government has taken action with in- sufficient information and its prohibition
ought to be cancelled forthwith. If, with a After the successful completion of her full knowledge of the facts, it has for· studies in Manila, Princess Phon will bidden Dr. Datta's visit, we blnsh for be sent to the United States for post- South Africa. It is difficult to think of this graduate work. She was awarded a action a8 other than inept, short·sighted, scholarship in the Siamese Red Cross and "peninsular" to a degree. To refuse a short time ago. such a man permission to enter the Union is an attitude intelligent people cannot Siamese National Missions understand. T HE Siamese are attempting to or- School for Burmelle Girls ganize and carryon home mis- sionary work themselves, so all em- ANEW building has ;recently been phasis possible is placed on it, and opened for the Methodist high every encouragement is given the school for English-speaking girls in young people to be strong enough and Rangoon, Burma. The three hundred willing to be home missionaries, and girls at present enrolled represent a carry the Gospel to millions not yet cross-section of Rangoon's cosmopoli- reached. For a year or more this work tan population – Scotch, English, has been upon the hearts of the Chris- Eurasian, Persian, Indian, Burmese tians of Bangkok. The ancient city and Chinese. The new building, de- of Lopburee has been selected as a scribed by the Rangoon p;ress as "one suitable place for the effort. Two or of the finest school buildings in three times this place has been visited Burma," is of modern fireproof con- by a company of evangelistic workers. struction, three stories high, and con- In April an eight-day campaign was forms to all the requirements of a undertaken by a company of five men modern sanitary school building. In and one woman. In two different addition to well-lighted classrooms, places they held open-air meetings there are dormitories and kitchens for each day. Singing was used to ata number of resident students and tract. The Christian religion was exliving quarters for the two mission- pounded, morality and the Gospel aries in charge. Through the resale were preached. Interested ones were to Government of a valuable plot of received in personal interviews. Colland originally granted free in 1882, porteur work was done. A temperwhen the school was founded, a sum ance lecture was given. People were of $100,000 was realized. Two thirds well mannered and there was no opof this has gone into the new school position, but there were no marked for girls, and one third is being held results. The workers felt that the soil for use in the erection of a school for was just prepared. The work calls for boys. a family to settle there. A Christian school will be required and it may be Slamese Princess a Nurse medical work. The four Siamese churches are making regular contrib- PRINCESS PHON DISKUL of utions to the National Missions Fund. Siam, a daughter of His Royai Highness Prince Damrong, an uncle "Wild Men of Borneo" of the present ruler of that country, has just entered the training school T HE missions of the Methodist for nurses at St. Luke's Episcopal Episcopal Church in Malaysia Hospital, Manila, according to the reach many different groups of people. Living Churoh, This marks the first Rev. A. V. Klaus writes of the work time that a princess of the royal in Borneo: "In Pontianak, the capfamily has ever been permitted to ital of West Borneo, a group of Chistudy abroad. The Princess is taking nese (many of whom are not yet proup this course of study in line with fessing Christians) have raised $4,000 the policy of the King, Parajaditok, for a combined school and church whose policy is to have members of building. This amount will doubtless the royal family trained to take soon be doubled. Schools for the Chicharge of all the institutions in Siam.
1926J "NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
nese are all self-supporting. In addi- Episcopal Church in Tzechow, have tion to the Chinese work, we are try- undertaken to finance a share in proing to do our share toward the civiliza- viding an additional $3,000 within the tion of the Dyaks, the 'Wild Men of next four years. It is expected that Borneo. ' These people are being other members of the association will taught in our schools to till the soil do the same thing and so make the and work with their hands, as well finances more nearly adequate to the as to read and write. Many of our needs of the school. In addition to people in West Borneo walk as much this financial aid, several educated as ten miles in order to be able to Chinese gentry volunteered their servattend a service. II ices to teach in this school. This year there will be a faculty of nineteen; CHINA two are American missionaries, six others will receive salaries, eleven Root. of the Chinese Church volunteered their services.
REV. F. J. WHITE, D.D., of the Notable Chinese Oftl."ial American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society, says of the present PROFESSOR JOHN STEWART situation in China: BURGESS writes from "Princeton in Peking" of the administration of "The anti-Christian movement has eighteen counties around Peking, strengthened the Christian cause which, he says, constitute a sort of more than anything that has hap- District of Columbia, by Hsueh Tu pened in the whole history of Chris- Pi, one of Marshal Feng's generals, tianity in Ohina. It has sifted out who was civil governor of Kansu some unworthy adherents; it has kept Province during Feng's contr91: ."In out of the Christian ranks all but the his first six months of office in Peking, thoroughly convinced; but, best of Mayor Hsueh organized a 'model vilall, it has compelled Christians to re- lage' immediately around his yamen evaluate their religion and to take a as a demonstration for the benefit of firmer hold on God. Heretofore, it the head men of the villages in the would seem as though a sudden metropolitan, area. The streets are in tempest might sweep away the whole good order; small public parks have Christian organization. But, during been put in; every child in the area this year, while it has not been mak- goes to school; a modern playground ing new branches, it has been striking has been initiated; a health center new roots. This process has been go- with a visiting nurse has been organing on before our eyes. Many branches are unfruitful, but the root ized. " is there and will remain until the tree will blossom forth and hang The Words on the Lantern heavy with the fruits of the Spirit." R A. TORREY, JR., writes in Word Gentry Aid Mission School • and Work: "Today is one of the largest festivals of the year and I wish WHEN it was proposed to close the you could go out on the streets of this Middle School in Tzechow, Szech- dusty little walled town of Lin I wan Province, or reduce it to a junior Hsien, called a city because it is the high school grade, because of lack of county seat. The streets are jammed funds to carryon the institution with people in a holiday mood. For properly, Chinese gentry of the city two full weeks business has been at a disapproved. They organized to form standstill; stores have been closed, a "Cooperative Loan Society," with few people have been to market either the school as the chief beneficiary, in to buy or sell, little work has been order to provide" a productive endow- done in the homes, and everyone has ment of $3,000, the interest to begin been taking a vacation and spending the latter part of this year. Rev. the days visiting friends and relatives. Lewis Ravermale and Mrs. Haver- In the temples are piles of ashes where male, missionaries of the Methodist
paper and fragrant incense have been spellbound, with faces expectant and burned before the silent dusty gods, ears and eyes drinking in every smallwho sit on their thrones staring out est detail. Such touches of local color over the worshippers' heads. Little as the foreigner never could put in oil lamps flicker before these gloomy make the story vivid and real. The idols and cast a wavering glow down Japanese version of 'The Prodigal on the bowls of food set before them, Son' parable is not' Bring out the best to grow cold until some crafty-faced robe and kill the fatted calf.' Fatted priest carries them off to nourish his calves are not generally served on lean body. As they trudge past the such occasions in this land. But the entrance of the Christian chapel their father's command 'Bring out the best eyes will be greeted by a lantern three kimono and heat the bath,' is quite the feet high. It is white and luminous, proper thing to say, and quite underspeaking of peace and purity. On standable. However, what American it are the beautiful Chinese characters would think of putting it quite that in red that invite; 'Come unto me all wayY" ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' " Buddhist Prince Y. M. C. A. Patron Bolshevism in Mongolia PRINCE TOKUGAWA, descendant of a line of powerful Buddhist A F. ALMBL.AD, sub·agent of the nobles, who drove the Christians from • British and Foreign Bible So- Japan 250 years ago, illustrated the ciety for Mongolia, writes: "We em- modern liberal attitude of Buddhism ploy thirty-one colporteurs, who, de- toward Christianity when he recently spite all the unrest, have continued urged the support of the Tokyo Y. their work steadily. During 1924, M. C. A. by every "right-minded they sold over 363,000 copies of the man." The prince, himself a Bud- Scriptures. Most of these were Chi- dhist, is president of the Japanese nese gospels and were bought by Chi- House of Peers, former chief of nese people on the borders of Mon- Japan's commissioners at the Disarm.' golia. Over 11,000 volumes were ament Conference in Washington, and gospels in the Mongolian and Tibetan one of the most influential men in his languages. The billows resulting country today. His speech before the from the political storms that have re- executive committee of the Patrons' cently swep1J over the world are being Association of the Tokyo Y. M. C. A. felt even in Mongolia. Bolshevism is included the following statement; spreading in that country, and the young Bolshevik Government in Urga My ancestors excluded Christianity from has expelled the Swedish missionaries .Japan. Today I am heartily supporting the there. Outer Mongolia is for the time Patrons' Association for the T'okyo Y. M. being closed to missionary work. In C. A., essentially a Clll'istian organizatioll. Inner, or Southern, Mongolia evan- It is a strange contrast, yet my ancestors gelization of the Mongols went on last acted according to the conditions and year as usual. " exigencies of their times, and so do we. T am not going to discuss religion, but 1 JAPAN-KOREA know this much, that Christianity is a good religion and the Y. M. C. A. is an organiza- The Prodigal Son in Japanese tion recogni£ed as a splendid gnide for young men. That is the reason why I ac THE Japanese as a nation are cepted the offer to act as one of the ad· famous at story-telling, and there visers of the Patrons' Association. It is are many. professional story-tellers, my conviction that any right-minded man who make a living entertaining with should support such a movement. their tales-both historical and fictitious. Miss Evelyn Oltmans tells how The Patrons' Association is comsome of the Christian women use this posed chiefly of leading business men gift in their work; "As the teacher who, while all do not profess to be tells a Bible story, the children listen 0hristians, are so deeply concerned about the welfare of young men and boys that they are supporting the plan
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
to raise yen 600,000 in Japan which, mense ten- and thirty-day classes for with the yen 1,000,000 already raised Bible _study, and their evangelistic in America, will make possible the zeal. There were added last year on erection of a modern building in place . confession of faith nearly 1,400 new of the one destroyed by the earth- members. Our missionaries are fac- quake and :fire. ing new and very difficult conditio.ns.
The old Korean seclusio.n is gone and Witness of a. Patient's Lite the last few years have seen flooding WHEN a Japanese clergyman into Korea, Bolshevism, Marxism, about four years ago took his Tolstoism, naturalism, agnosticism, nineteen-year-old son, who was rap- atheism and various other' isms '. idly dying of tuberculosis, to a city Books teaching these things are enterhospital in Kyoto, Japan, the authori- ing the country by thousands. Young ties were reluctant to admit a Chris- Korea, torn from the o.ld anchorage, is tian. They said, "We want it plainly being dashed hither and thither by understood that he is not to talk to waves of new tho.ught. It is not a others about his faith or distribute time for pessimism or fear, but for Christian literature." However, they earnest prayer, for vigorous evanomitted one stipulation – they neg- gelism, and for Christian educatio.n."
lected to forbid the boy to live his Christianity. Doctors and nurses soon Korean Missions in Manchuria T noticed that he was never impatient HE missionary activities of Kor- ean Christians have been referred nor quarrelsome. He was not deor spondent like the others. In his asso- to often ip. the REVIEWl. Rev. J. D.
ciation with the others he was always Buskirk, the Methodist Episcopal kind and sympathetic. Although his Mission in Seoul, reports that Korean burden was as heavy as any of theirs, Metho.dists raised last year $1,748 for he was helping them. They would ask missionary work in Manchuria, in ad- him, "How can you be so happy, suf- dition to the grant from the Board of fering as you do in the midst of all Foreign Missions. He writes: "The this T Do you not fear death?" His district superintendent, Rev. Pai answer was, "I know the true God." Hyung Sik, is a true missio.nary with One day the authorities told the mis- missionary vision for the fields be- sionary who came to visit him how' yond and with leadership to inspire much they had been impressed by the his co-workers. Four members of the boy's life and they said, "If this be Annual Conference and two supply Christianity, we want more of it." pastors work with him. They labo.r Not long after that the boy died, but under real difficulties in that diso.r- through him the way was opened for ganized, bandit-infested region. Mr.
all the patients to hear the Gospel. Sik reports that one of his pastors has The hospital is now visited by the to keep track of the movements of the missionaries and by the girls' choir bandits at all times to avoid meeting from St. Agnes' School. them. _When he learns they have left a certain village he goes to that village New Tendencies in Korea to. visit the Christians. Beside the THE Southern Presbyterian Church preachers, the Korean Woman's Mis- is responsible in Korea for a pop- sionary Society has sent a Bible wom- an to Manchuria, one of the- strongest ulation of 3,000,000, "among whom, " graduates of the Woman's Bible School. The work has made definite says the Ohristian Observer, "we have progress the past year." 92 missionaries, 5 main stations, 5 hospitals, 111 organized co~grega tions, 500 other places of worshIp, and a communicant membership of over Trained Christian Women T 10000. The Korean Christians are HE; W o.men 's Higher Bible Schoo.l of the Northern Presbyterian Misnoted for their prayerfulness, their devotion to God's Word, their im- e sion in Pyengyang, Korea, graduated
in February four bright young wom- served reputation for savagery, " en who are the first to complete the which the Fiji Islanders had in three years' course of the school, and former days, he says of them: "For who now go out to meet a long-felt many years now there has not been a need for more highly-trained Chris- professed heathen in the Fijian comtian workers. Such is the demand for munity. Today they are a Christian these graduates that the young women felt some difficulty in deciding which people, with church, pastor, school of their many offers to accept. One and teacher in every village. These is Bible teacher in a school in Pyeng- children of cannibals contribute year yang, one has become hospital evan- by year sufficient to support their own gelist, another accepted the position native workers and send, in addition, of Bible woman with the Australian contributions for the work of God in Mission, and the fourth will remain in other lands; and what is vastly more Pyengyang to teach in the Higher important, they have sent their Sons Bible School, and be secretary to the and daughters-hundreds of themprincipal. Those admitted to this to work and die in. New Britain, Papua and the Solomon Islands, school must be women of proved where heathenism still exists." Of Christian character under forty years one of these Fijians, who has comof age, and graduates of either an pleted six years' of service in Kabaacademy or a Bible Institute course. kada, New Britain, the missionary in Twenty-eight are enrolled this year. charge says: "He has endeared him- In addition to their studies the young self to the hearts of the people to an women are aSsigned regular duties in extent he might well be proud of, but various churches on Sundays, and in a characteristic way he lays the during the week do personal work tribute at his Master's feet with the among the women. words, 'It is not mine.' "
ISLANDS OF THE SEA Filipino Day of Prayer D RIBUTE was paid in the March, South Seas Gift for Near East M. AMBROSIO, a Filipino, • writes in The Christian Century T1925, REVIEW, to those "two mis- that on Washington's Birthday "the sionary heroines," the Misses Bald- Filipino people as a whole, through- win, who, under the Woman's Board out every barrio, town" and province of the Congregational Church, have of the nation, prayed to the Father of spent so many years in their remark- all mankind and Author of all liber- able work at Kusaie in the Caroline ties that 'America might fulfill her Islands. The ,spirit of the Christians sacred pledge of giving freedom to the whom they have trained there is Philippines.''' He speaks of the oc- shown in a recent report of a gift of casion as a "national day of prayer,"
$250 from the Kusaie Church and though he does not state by what au- Christian Endeavor Society, for the thority it was so designated, and con- benefit of orphans in the Near East. tinues: From every point of view this is a All religious sects an.d <1ellominationR, remarkable piece of generosity, espe- Protestants, Aglipayanos and Roman Cath- cially when we consider the extreme olics participated, as well as all clasBeR, -poverty of these islanders. The money students, laborers, professionals, and offi· has been sent to Miss Shane in Greece cials. All the Protestant deuominations for the benefit of the large number joined in a union prayer service at the boo 'tanical gardens; all the IWman Catholics of refugee orphans in her care. held a public mass and prayer service at the Luneta; and the Aglipayanos, the third Fijians as Missionaries religious sect, which is a nationalistic refor· mation of the Catholic Church, also held I N CONTRAST to what Rev. J. W. their services at their cathedral. Although Burton, General Secretary of the the national prayer was written· by a Prot· estant layman, Dean Jorge Bocobo of the Methodist Missionary Society of Aus- College of Law of the University of the tralasia,caU~ "an all-too-well de- Philippines, it was used by all the churches,
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
religious and social institutions, and schools vide Christendom today. The followand colleges that took part in the celebra- ing subjects have been suggested by tion. the committee for discussion: The Call to Unity; the Nature of the New Lives in the New Hebrides Church; the Church's Common Con- fession of Faith in God; the Church's CONTRIBUTIONS from certain Ministry; the Sacraments; and the Christians in Chicago made pos- Unity of Christendom and the Place sible the purchase of a new motor boat of Different Churches within It. The for the work of Dr. Maurice Frater churches are now being asked to in the New Hebrides. Dr. Frater choose their representatives, on an ap: writes in the magazine published by portionment that will total five hunthe Moody Bible Institute of a meet- dred members for the Conference. ing at which "a native brother, who was formerly a notorious cannibal, Jews Acce"dble to Go"pel voiced in earnest tones the petition of the class for God's rich blessing upon DR. J. MACDONALD WEBSTER the saints in Chicago." Continuing, of Budapest, a Scottish mission~ Dr. Frater writes: ary working among Jews, is quoted by the Missionary Herald as having em- A few Snndays ago we had a baptismal phasized at recent meeting of the Forserviee, which llI1lde a red·letter day in the eign Missions Conference of North history of the native church. Fifty-three America the accessibility of the Jews men and women came forward to acknowl- to the gospel message, when the mesedge by baptism Jesus Christ as Saviour sage is dissociated from crude eschaand Lord. The feature that specially im- tological ideas and the vagaries of pressed me was the courage and confidence "queer" Christian sects. "Nothing with which timid women accepted this chal- less than a revolution," he said, "has lenge of their faith. A New Hebrides taken place in Jewry in recent years. woman is the shyest of mortals and shrinks The removal of legal restrictions and keenly from any place of prominence. Yet discrimination in Russia, Rumania, when the names of the thirty-eight women and elsewhere has brought a sense of were called, not one was dismayed, hut with- religious as well as political deliverout the slightest evidence of fear or shrink· ance. Millions of Jews for the first ing they all came forward to confess Christ. time are coming into contact with other social ideals than their own. GENEltAL Many of them are revolting from the rule of the rabbi; to multitudes of Conference on Faith and Order them religion has no meaning. In large numbers they are leaving the ACOMMITTEE representing the synagogues. A new national con- Anglican, Baptist, Congrega- sciousness is developing." While the tional, Disciples, Eastern Orthodox, liberal movement is awar from Chris- Quaker, Lutheran, Methodist, and tianity and often anti-Christian, there Presbyterian communions, coming are many elements of hope. The from Australia, Japan, India, Greece, Christian preacher of the right 80rt Czechoslovakia, Germany, Norway, is welcomed in the ghetto. Dr. Web- Sweden, England, Scotland, and the ster has preached in over a hundred United States, met in Stockholm last such places. He has found them op- August, during the Conference on posed to certain forms of Christianity, Christian Life and Work. to issue a such as Roman and Greek orthodoxy, call in the name of their several but not to the Christ of the New Testachurches for a World Conference on ment. questions of Faith and Order to meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, in August, 1927. The World Conference will attempt to make a diagnosis of the problems of faith and order that di-
MESSJ(ONARY
Any books mentioned in tbese columns will be forwarded by us on receipt of price.- THE REVIEW.
Best Books on the Church and Rural life SELECTED BY DR. EDMUND DES. BRUNNER, NEW YORK Director of Town and country Surveys, Institute of Social and Religious Research- Tested Methods in Town and Country Surveying Your Community. By Edmund Churches. By Edmund deS. Brunner. deS. Brunner. 109 pp. $1.25. New York. 173 pp. $1.25. New York. A manual of survey method, show- A handbook of methods based on an ing sample schedules, prepared with intensive field study of forty out- special reference to the rural church. standingly. successful churches. Diagnosing the RUral Church. By C. Churches of Distinction in Town and Coun- Luther Fry. 234 pp. $1.75. New York. try. Edited by Edmund deS. Brunner. 198 pp. $1.50. New York. A penetrating critique of present administrative methods of evaluating Individual stories of fifteen of the churches which also develops signifimost successful town and country cant methods for improved diagnosis. churches of America, representing many types of conditions. United Churches. By Elizabeth Hooker.
The Story of John Frederick Oberlin. By This book, now on the press, pre- A. F. Beard. 50 cents. Boston. sents the first scientific, nation-wide study of the movement for church The classic story of the great coun- union in local rural communities. try life minister. A book of genuine and abiding inspiration. The Evolution of the Country Community. By W. H. Wilson. 254 pp. $2.50. The Country Church and Rural Problem, Boston. By K. L. Butterfield. 153 pp. $1.25. Chicago. A revised edition of a standard book tracing the development of the A scholar's analysis of the relation country community through its variof the country church to the whole ous stages and discussing the main question of rural welfare. outlines of its concern.
A Christian, Program for the Rural Com- Church Cooperation in Community Life. munity. By Kenyon L. Butterfield. 88 By Paul L. Vogt. 171 pp. $1.25. New pp. $1.50. New York. York.
The first attempt to state in terms A practical discussion of the basis of economics and sociology a suitable for inter-church cooperation within Christian program for the rural com- the community. munity.
The Farmer's Church. By Warren H. WH· Rural Religious Organization. By J. H.
son. 264 pp. $2.25. New York. Kolb and C. J. Bornman. 63 pp. 15 The matured convictions and judg- cents.
ments of the dean of country church A story of the origin and develop- leaders. Stimulating, vigorous and ment of religious groups in a Wis- thoroughly worth while in every way. consin county. Very suggestive.
574
THE MISSIONARY LIBRARY
How Shall Country Youth Be Served t By Our Debt and Duty to the Fanner. By Henry C. Wallace. 232, Pl'. $1.75. New H. Paul Douglass. 259 pp. $2.50. New York. York.
This book, too, is a pioneer work A popular presentation of the and discusses the rural work of such serious agricultural situation of 1920character-building agencies as the Y. 24 with its implications for the social M. C. A., the Y. W. C. A., and the and economic welfare of the nation.
Scouts. Rural Education. By O. G. Brim. 302 Pl'· $1.40. New York. fhe Town and Country Church in the United States. By H. H. Morse and E,d· The most recent general survey of IDund deS. Brunner. 180 pp. $1.75. the topic. New York.
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tions are discussed against the back- ground of economic and social life. Springfield Church Survey. H. Paul Doug- lass. 8vo. 445 pp. $4.00. New York. The Farmer. and His Community. By 1926. Dwight Sanderson. 254 Pl'. $1.25. New York. This is a thorough-going, painstak- ing survey of the religious conditions The latest and best discussion of the and religious forces of Springfield, community idea; defines the commu- Massachusetts. The city was selected nity and discusses its relation to each by the Committee on Social and Reof the main topics of social interest; ligious Surveys as a typical American by the Professor of Rural Social Or- city between fifty and one hundred ganization in Cornell University. and fifty thousand population, with Introduction to Rural Sociology. By Paul characteristic American background. L. Vogt. 451 pp. $3.00. New York. It presents the problems frequently found in a middle-size city of the At- Revised edition of the best textbook lantic seaboard such as rapid growth, available in the general study of sudden influx of alien population and rural sociology. other typical features of industrial Rural Life. By C. J. Galpin. 386 pp. communities. All the factors in the $3 ..00. New York. religious life of the community are Discusses the fundamental bases of presented so far as they can be anarural life. Chapters on social anat- lyzed and set down in print and the omy are of importance. mass of carefully digested material will prove extremely helpful in the The Little Town. By H. Paul Douglass. building of constructive programs. 258 pp. $1.75. New York. (Out of print.) The history of the 'City and its geo- graphical and economic features have An analysis of the average Amer- all been taken into account, with speican village; its ambitions, limitations cial attention to the development of and opportunities, both for the de- the churches and the way in which velopment of its own" clustered life" they have adapted themselves to an and in relation to its contiguous farm environment that is changing rapidly. territory. Graphs, charts, tabulated statistics, Report of the' Country Life Commission. eight copious appendices and a com- 150 pp. $1.00. New York. plete index, make the book useful for thorough study of the problems with An historic document from which which it deals. The closing chapter dates the birth of the modern country presents a Protestant church program life movement. for Springfield based upon the facts growt~ of the church in numbers; and findings. Among the striking things which are brought to light are but the church exists for a far deeper the large percentage of unchurched population (no less than 34.05% be- purpose than mere numerical ining put down as having no religious connections whatsoever), the relative crease. The fact that records have slowness of the churches to keep pace with the growth of the city, and the not been properly kept, and that they utter inadequacy of their program of religious education. have often proved inaccurate, is not The question always arises in such necessarily ali evidence of spiritual a survey as to how one will find accurate measurements for a spiritual inefficiency; nor is the fact that there enterprise. One of the charges brought against the churches of is a considerable difference in the Springfield is their lack of efficiency. But what constitutes efficiency in a number of hours which each member church Y The survey seems to imply that it is to be measured by the devotes to the service of his church per month, and the cost per member for the operation of the several churches. When our efficiency ex- perts have said the last word there is still much to be taken into account from the standpoint of an enterprise whose chief object IS advancing the Kingdom of God. J. B. R.
Do You Know?
The Christ of the In what book of the Bible the Sermon on the Mount appear.?
Who commanded the Sun and Moon to .land .till?
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The Missionary Review of the World — August 1922
~orbon Two Remarkable Lea8ets
o Encouraging Bible Memorizing I~EOLOGJCAL, Missionary, Re- By HELEN GOULD SHEPARD ~igious – Educational College course of 4 years, college degree 1.-"Passagesto Memorize" (4 pages, em- of Th.B. Graduateachool of Theol- phasizing the authority of the Bible and ogy, 3 year COUI'!Ie, graduate degree the Deity of Christ), tOe per 100, $5 of B. D. Two year collegiate train- per lOOO, 15e per dozen, or 2c each, ing course. InterdenominationaL postpaid. Of full college and graduate grade, with a wide range of studies, per- 2.-"0IdTestament Selections: Particularly meated by a remarkable evangelical Messianic Propheeies Foretelling the spirit. Notable faculty and student Coming of our Saviour" (6 pp.), 90c body. New and beautiful fireproof per 100, $8.50 per 1000, 20c per dozen, buildings, with dormitories. Organ- or 2c each, postpaid. ized religious work. Self-support. For catalog and correspondence For widespread distribution in the family address circle Sunday-schooldasses,Young People's Societies, and to drop into letters to mis- GORDON COLLECE OF THEOLOGY sionaries, Christian workers, and other AND MISSIONS friends in the home field. Little pamphlets thatwill bring great blessingI NATHAN R. WOOD. Preoident. Boote", Mua. THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TIMES COMPANY 1031 Walnut Street. Philadelphia lit .
PERSONALS DR. S. K. DATTA, well·known :rndian STEWART B. NICHOLS, of Elkhart, In· Christian, has been appointed private seilre· diana, has been selected as the man to represent Amherst College at Doshisha Uni· tary to Lord Lytton, the new governor of Bengal.
. versity, Japan, next year. He will cooper· MR. PHILIP E. HOWARD, JR., and his bride ate with the faculty of the college in Kyoto _ have recently sailed to take- up work witj!
and take up some advance' studies. the Belgian Gospel Mission of which Mr: **• and Mrs. Ralph Norton are directors. The ME. SAM HIGGINBOTTOM, of the Agricul· father,. Mr. Philip E. Howard, presiq,ent of tural Institute and Superintendent of the leper asylum at Allahabad, India, has also the Sunday School Times Company, haa heen asked to take charge of the blind asylum at that station. He reports that sailed with them to study the work at l1rst hand. "
*** there are 105,000 people in the neighboriug DR. SAMUEL M. ZWEMER, the well·known provinces who are blind in both eyes, but missionary to Moslems, is visiting the mis· there are accommodations for less. than 300 sion fields in Sumatra, Java and the Philip· in three mission asylums. pines, holding conferences with the mission· • ** aries.
Bn;HoP JOSEPH C. fuRTZELL, of the *** Methodist Episcopal Church, well known for his long service in America and Africa, REV. HERVEY WOOD, Secretary of the celebrated his eightieth birthday on June Native Races Anti-Liquor Traffic Organiza- 1st in his home at Blue Ash, Ohio. tion, celebrated his eightieth birthday on May 8th. He is still active in the cauB~ of ** temperance.
MRs. CATHERINE BRADFORD EWING, the *** widow of Dr. Samuel C. Ewing of the Ameri(,an Mission in Egypt, died at Cairo on DR. AND ]lilliS. F. HOWARD TAYLOR, who were released recently after being captured June 9th in her niuety·first year. by bandits in China, are spending the sum· mer in America. One of the brigands was *** so impressed by Dr. Taylor's Christian tes'
REV. DAVlD BARON, of the Christian Tes- timony that he sent word to his wife and timony to Israel, London, England, is spend- children to go and be baptized at the nearest mission station. ing the summer in America. THE MISSIONARY Review of the- World DELAVAN L PIERSON, Edit.,.
CONTENTS FOR AUGUST, 1922 Page FRONTISPIECE …………….. A CHINESE CHltISTIAN CONFERENCE IN SESSION EDITORIALS •••……………………………………………•……. 597 ANTI,CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT IN CHINA CHINA'S GB-EATEST NEED SIGNS OF SPffiITUAL HUNGER IN ITALY REMEDY FOR DISCONTENT IN INDIA NATIONALOH&ISTIANCOUNOILOFCHINA RELIGIOUS SELF·GOVERNMENT IN INDIA THE NATIONAL BAPTIST CONVENTION MISSIONS IN CHINATOWN, SAN FRANCISCO •..• ',' …•. BY GEORGE L. CADY 607 A graphio presentation of the results of a lack of comity and cooperation among Protestant Christian workers j illustrated with a map and photographs.
THE NATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE OF CHINA •….•…•.•..••….
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By CHARLES R. ERDMAN 613 The story of an epoch making convention at which the Chinese Christians e",· pressed their desire for unity and for an opportunity to mold the Christian Church under Chinese leadership.
FEEDING HUNGRY SOULS IN BELGIUM …………. . BY EDITH Fox NOB-TON 627 The remarkable work of the Belgian Gospel Mission described by one of the launder8 and illustrated from photographs an,d personal letters.
THE GROWTH OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN PERSIA-I •• BY ROBERT E. SPEER 632 A striking statement of tke progress made during the past twenty-fiw years in development 01 tke spirit of tolerance and religious liberty among Persian Mohammedans, as noted in Dr. Speer '8 r'ecent visit to tke Orient; ETIYANI AND HIS WIVES …. , ..•….. BY THE LATE RoBERT HAMILL NASSAU 639 A concrete e",ample of one of the difficulties met in building up a Christian Church among tke polygamous people of Africa.
ROBERT HAMILL NASSAU, A PIONEER IN AFRICA .. BY WILLIAM POB-TER LEE 640 A sketch of one of the great missionaries who died recently after spending half a century in missipnary work in West Africa.
MISSIONS BY MOTORTRUCK IN INDIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . BY DAVI]} R. GOWON 641 An account of the way in which a motor truck was aaaptea to IUl many needs and was the means of muitip!ying:tke missionary's usefulness in a large field in Centra! India., BEST METHODS FOR FURLOUGHED MISSIONARIES …. BY Mal>. E. C. CWNK 643 Suggestions as to how furloughs may be made an asset or liability in the lives of missionaries and for missionary work.
WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN .. EDITED BY MRS. HENB-Y W. PEABODY 649 The Fina! Opportunity 'to help the Women's CoUeges of th'e Orient.
WOMAN'S HOME MISSION BULLETlN …•.•• EDITED BY FLORENCE E. QUINLAN 651 NEWS FROM MANY LANDS … . . . . . . • . . . . • . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . • . . • . . . . . . • . • . . . . 654 MISSIONARY LIBRARY ….•..•.. ,…………………………………. 669 TERMS: $2.50 a year. ($2.00 in clubs of five.) Foreign postage, 50 cents. Single copies, 25 cents. Published Monthly. Copyrighted, 1921, by Missionary Review Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved. Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office at Harrisburg, Pa., nnder the Act of March 3, 1879.
THE MISSIONARY REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY, Inc.
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Entered as second-class matter at the Post Office, Harrisburg, Pa., under Act of March 3, [879. Copyrighted, 19.21 It tells you how you may secure an income that cannot shrink; how you may execute your own will; howyou may createa trust fund; how you may give generously without hardship.
It describes the Annuity Bond, a safe, convenient, and productive investment which promotes a fun- damental Christian _enterprise. Endorsed by all denominations. .
Write for Booklet 52 AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY YORK PERSONALS " South India, was the nearly ,.' on!, )~undred' passengers their lives DR. G. B. F. HALLOCK, Associate Pastor .::tn,'J:~ going down of the **" . of the Brick Presbyterian Church, Roches- -';;.c./, , ter, New York, has succeeded the late F. N. T;'"'ALBERT SOHWEITZER, the author of a well- Barton, of Cleveland, as editor of 'tha–known work on theology and 11 brilliant Expositor. *** musician, who became in 191? a m.edical REV. J. C.. R. EWING, D.D., and' Mrs_ missionary to Africa, has wrItten a _!ery Ewing, for forty-three years missionaries interesting book, ' , On the Edge of .4e of thl Presbyterian Church, U.S.A" re- Primeval Forest," which tells his o:,,n storyturned to America recently. Dr. Ewing was and describes his work in French Gaboon.
formerly principal of Forman Chriatian DR.. MARION LAWRANCE, who has been de- College, vice-.chancellor of Punjab Univer- scribed as "probably the best knowu man sity, vice-chairman of the National Mia- in Sunday-school work in the United States" sionary Council of India and the president resigned at the convention in Kansas City of the British and Foreign Society. from the position of Consulting General Secretary of the International Sunday *** School Association.
DR. L. W_ CRONKHITE, a Baptist missionary of Burma, who went out from America in 1881, has recently returned on furlough DR. CLARENCE D. USSHER, the well-known after forty years of service. missionary of the American Board at Van, *** Asia Minor, and author of "An American MRS. M. L. SIBLEY, for thirty-five years a Physician in Turkey," returned to Amer- member of the Mar.athi Mission of the lea on April 13th to recuperate after his American Board, on her way back to her three years of arduous relief. work in the station in Wai, India, was among those Caucasus. * * .. drowned in the wreck of the P. & O. steam- ship Egypt, which was sunk off the island DR. ALLEN R. BARTHOLOMEW, Secretary of Ushant in May, after a 6011ision in the of the Board of Foreign Missions of the fog with a French vessel. Reformed Church in the United States, re- **• cently completed twenty years of service as MISS V. M. BOYER, a newly-appointed SecretRl'Y and thirty-five years as a member Lutheran miasionary on her way out to take of the Board of Foreign Missions. He has charge of the Kodai Kanal Mission School, sailed to visit missions in Japan and China.
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NATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE OF CHINA IN SESSION AT SHANGHAI (May 2 to 11
AUGUST, 1922
XLV. EIGHT ANTI-CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT IN CHINA ANTI-CHRISTIAN outbreaks have been less frequent in China .L1. recently. The non-Christian societies are still in existence and are endeavoring to persuade. the Chinese that Christianity is a foreign religion and is a political move; that Christian missionaries are the tools of capitalists; that converts are paid to become traitors to their country, and that religion obstructs progress. Propagandists of Buddhism are also especially active in some parts of the country.
Sensational outbursts of anti-Christian propaganda on the part of several Chinese student bodies occurred in connection with the World's Student Christian Federation at Peking, April 4-9. Many of the cities of China were flooded with bitter attacks on Christianity, which was branded as a "public enemy of mankind," working hand in glove with imperialism and capitalism "to exploit the weak countries. " The bodies behind this attack were the non-Christian Student Federation of the National University of Peking, the non-Christian Student Federation of the Peking Teachers' College for Women, and a third body that styles itself the Young China Society.
The bitterness of the attack can be judged from its manifestos. One, emanating from a group in the National University, reads as follows: The sins of religion are too numerous to mention.
Speaking of its moral side, we find that it teaches men obedience, which is the moral code of slaves. .
Speaking of. its intellectual side, we find that it propagates superstitions, which hinder the search for truth.
Speaking of its material side, we find that it asks its believers to despise temporal things and dream of the kingdom of heaven, which would end in the destruction of human life.
Its teachings are absolutely valueless, while its evils are incalculable. Yet its influence is growing every day. This is due to the fact that those who are doing evil (that is, the Christians), have an organization, while we who are opposed to religion have not.
597
Of all religions, Christianity is, we believe, the most detestable. One sin which Christianity is guilty of, and which particularly makes our hair stand on end, is its collusion with militarism and capitalism. So the influence of Christianity is growing stronger day by day when force becomes more triumphant and the methods of capitalism are more drastic.
Christianity is the public enemy of mankind, just as capitalism and imperialism are, since they have one thing in common, to exploit the weak countries. Realizing that China has long been an object of exploration of the capitalistic and imperialistic countries of the world, Christianity is utilizing the opportunity to extend its influence.
Christianity is the intelligence officer of the capitalists and the hireling of the imperialistic countries. Everything that may aid its spread Christianity is willing to utilize. If no effort is made to exterminate this evil in time, it is impossible to tell its dangers in the future. We who have long had a deep hatred of Christianity are unanimous in our opposition, and have just united to help similar organizations to exterminate this evil fiend until China gets rid of it.
The non-Christian Students' Federation issued a proclamation in which were these charges: We know that Christianity and the Christian Church have created many evils and committed milllY sins in the history of mankind. This we are not concerned with for the present, but they are now. still creating evils and committing sins and will create evils and commit sins. All of us who have blood in us and who have conscience· and who are not willing to be degraded can never forgive them and can never tolerate them.
We know that the organization of modern society is an organization of capitalistic society, which has on the one hand the property-holding classes who eat without work, and on the other hand there are non-property-holding classes who work but cannot get anything to eat. Present-day Christianity and the Christian Church is the very evil devil who helps the former class to rob the latter class, who upholds the former class to oppress the latter class.
Oh, students I Oh, young men! Oh, workmen! Who of us fails to know the sin of the capitalist? Who among us fails to know the heartless cruelty of the capitalist. How can we not rise and oppose them when we see with our eyes these bloodhounds of the capitalists holding a conference to discuss 'how to decide our fateY Rise! Rise! Rise! !!
Several explanations of this anti-Christian outburst have been given by Paul Hutchinson in the Christian Advocate. Some have laid it to the machinations of Bolshevist agents; others have seen in it the result of a year of lecturing before Chinese students by a radical British thinker, Bertrand Russell, and the non-Christian attitude of an American college professor who visited China; still others have. interpreted this as a reaction from the insistence during the last two years by a part of the missionary body upon a dogmatic type of Christian message.
This antagonism to Christianity is a form of self-assertive radicalism and ignores the facts of history. The agitators pay no attention to the indebtedness of China to Christian education, to the Christian work in famine relief, to medical aid and to the development of
1922J EDI'J'ORIAL COMMENT
Christian leaders. The new movement is, in part, a reaction from the tendency, after the formation of the Republic, for men in political office to openly avow their Christianity and to put "Member of the Y. M. C. A." on their cards. Ther.e is also naturally opposition on the part of many to the plans that proposed making the Bible teachings a part of the public school curriculum. But the active opposi. tion cannot last long.
The W orId 's Student Christian Federation, which met in Peking, instead of denials, published a list of four questions that the attack forced it to ask: 1. Are we as Christians and the members or the Federation living a life that will leave any ground upon which such charges can be legitimately based 1 2. Are the churches of which we are members being supported by or in collusion with anything that deserves this summary charge Y 3. Has the World's Student Christian Federation done anything to right the economic wrongs of the world T 4. Can we as Christians do anything to help to right the economic wrongs of the world in which we live!
The best way to meet such attacks at home or abroad is to "let our light shine," to practice unselfishly the principles of Christ in private and in public life and to suffer if need be for well doing. The truth of Christ will ultimately win in the face of all opposition from the forces of evil.
THE NATIONAL CHRISTIAN COUNCIL OF CHINA C HRISTIAN unity and the need for developing an indigenous Church in China were points strongly emphasized in the Na- tional Christian Conference held at Shanghai and reported in this number of the REVIEW. At first it seemed a hopeless task to secure unity among the diverse elements that made up the delegates. There were" Conservatives," and' 'Liberals," from city and country, from denominational missions and independent societies, foreigners and Chinese. Strict limits were put upon general discussions and the free expression of opinion by adherence to the rule that all speakers and topics must be passed upon by the Business Committee of which Mr. David Yui of the Chinese Y. M. C. A. was chairman. Prof. T. T. Lew voiced the motto "The Church of Christ must teach her members to agree to differ but to resolve to love."
When resolutions were presented calling for the appointment of the new National Christian Council, it was moved that members of this Council be required to assent to certain fundamentals of faith. After extended conferences, however, it was agreed that since the Council is not an ecclesiastical, but a representative body, this would not be advisable. Instead, the Conference itself, after a masterly address by Mr. D. E. Hoste, director of the China Inland Mission, . adopted the following statement as to Christian belief, the interpre-
tation and application of which is left with the individuals and their churches: '
We the members of the Conference joyfully confess our faith in, and renew our allegiance to, God the Father Almighty, Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord and Saviour, Who loved us and gave Himself for our sins, and the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life ; and acknowledge our loyalty to the Holy Scriptures as the supreme guide of faith and conduct, and to the fundamental Christian beliefs held by the churches to which we severally belong.
The Conference, however, is not constituted as a Church council with authority to pass upon questions of doctrine and o'f Church polity or to draw up a credal or doctrinal statement of any kind. While the Conference believes it to be a matter of vital importance that the Church of Christ in China should be established on a basis of true faith and sound doctrine; it recognizes that the authority to determine what the essential affirmations of the Christian faith are, lies with the several Churches of which those attending this Conference are members. Any National Christian Council appointed by this Confer- . ence will not in any sense be a Church council, and therefore will not be competent to exercise ecclesiastical functions. It will be an advisory body which will seek to carry forward the work of this Conference and to bring the representatives of the different churches and missions in China together, in' order that they may mutually enrich one another through common counsel, and will take action in matters of common interest only when it has reason to believe that the action taken will be in accordance with the wishes of the cooperating bodies.
Since this new National Christian Council is to have a very responsible position in the future of Ohristianity in China it is important to note what its functions are to be: 1. To foster and express the fellowship and unity of the Christian Church in China and the realization of its oneness with the Church throughout the world, and to provide an opportunity for united prayer and corporate thought toward this end.
2. To help make the central position of the Church in the Christian movement more generally recognized and accepted; to watch and study the development of the Church in self-support, self-government, and self-propagation; to suggest methods and a course of action whereby the desired end may be more. speedily and completely gained; to encourage every healthy move· ment of the Church that leads to full autonomy; and to seek and work for the adaptation of the Church to its environment and for its naturalization in China at as early a date as practicable.
3. To consider the needs of China on a nationwide basis and plan for the evangelization and uplift of the whole nation.
4. To help promote such mutual acquaintance between the leaders, both Chinese and missionary, from all over China and from all denominations as will create an atmosphere of respect and confidence and make cooperative work of all kinds, and union, where possible, seem natural, feasible and desirable.
5. To assist in developing a leadership in both churches and missions, experienced in dealing with nationwide problems and with both a national and an international viewpoint.
6. To provide a platform upon whicli representatives of churches, missions, departmental organizations and other Christian agencies may discuss and plan for the correlation of the activities of the Christian forces throughout China.
7. To arrange for special seasons of prayer, organize forward evangelistic movements, plan for conventions and generally foster the spiritual life and missionary spirit of the churches.
EDITORIAL COMMENT
8. To provide a bureau of information and to conduct and publish the results of surveys for the guidance of churches, missions and mission boards.
9. To provide an agency in which such departmental national organizations as the China Christian Educational Association, the China Medical Missionary Association, etc., may be coordinated.
10. To represent the Christian forces of China in their relation with national Christian organizations in other countries.
11. 'To serve as a means by which the Christian forces in China may express themselves unitedly when they so desire upon great moral or other issues.
12. To undertake such other work as may be committed to it by the national conference.
13. To provide for the calling of the next National Conference.
Ninety-four members of the new Council were appointed on May 10th. The list includes fifty-two Chinese and forty-two foreigners. The members are drawn from Anglican (5), Baptist (4), Con- gregational (4), Presbyterian (8), Lutheran (6), and Methodist (10) churches; also from the China Inland Mission (8), Young Men's Christian Association (4), Young Women's Christian Association (2), Christian Colleges (4), National Organizations (3), Independent workers and churches (5), Christian and Missionary Alliance (1), Literary organizations (2), and general (24). This Council has before it a great opportunity and a difficult task. Christiahs every- .
where should unite in prayer that God will guide their counsels and make the Church in China truly responsive to Christ the Head.
CHINA'S PRESENT NEED C HINA needs two things: more of the true life of Christ and more of prayer. The Hon. Joseph Buffington, Senior United States Circuit Judge, who has recently returned from a six months' visit to China, says in answer to questions as to the value of Confucianism as a moral force: The Confucianism of China, of which I have been a deep a.dmirer, has failed to build up the one thing that is vital to China today, and that is a trusted Chinese officialdom. Some men in official life have ideals of service and integrity, and are of a personal character all they should be; but I found everywhere a widespread mistrust in China of-their officials, highest and lowest -a disbelief in their honesty-and this conviction is so widespread that one cannot but believe it has foundation. Coupled with their disbelief in the fruitage of ages of Confucianism, I found a deep-seated trust in the fruitage of character-building which a few decades of Christian school, college, university, and church had produced in Christian-trained Chinese. Coupled with this confidence in such men, I found in the thoughtful Chinese mind the belief that there must be for China, some help from outside herself and her old·time beliefs, and that nothing but Christianity and the character based on . Christian teaching and Christian environment was the thing that would answer China's need.
In The Chinese Recorder the following requests for prayer are made: That to every Christian, missionary and Chinese, there may come the full realization of the absolute necessity for efficient and genuinely Christian
cooperation between missionaries and Chinese Christians; for Christlike love toward all fellow-workers and Christlike devotion to the Father's business. T. T. Lew. . That leaders of prophetic type may be discovered. That the Chinese Christians as a whole may be thoroughly awakened to their special responsibility to guide the nation to fulfil that for which God has permitted her to exist, and that she may be ready to pay the price. C. S. Chang.
That we, missionaries of China, may take time to give God some adequate chance of showing us his opinions of the work we have done in the past and his plans for our work in the future. That the Church in China may feel its real need, face its whole task, shoulder its whole responsibility, and enter into its full resources in Christ Jesns its Head.
These statements show the convictions of hoth foreigners and Chinese as to China's supreme needs. There is much that American and British Christians can do to supply them.
SIGNS OF SPIRITUAL HUNGER IN ITALY ALL through the "Dark Ages" when the Church became gennerally corrupt, little bands of Christians in Europe remained true to Christ and showed evidence that they belonged to His Body. One of these bai,tds was the Waldensian Church in Northern Italy, a group of Christians who never acknowledged the authority of the Pope. Since the Reformation, the number of evangelical Christians has increased and the spirit of religious liberty has grown. Rev. Giovanni Luzzi, a member of the l!}vangelical Church in Florence, gives the following facts that show the increasing interest in Evangelical Christianity and the readiness of the people to read the Bible and other Christian literature: "The Society "Fides et Amor" started in Italy on the 27th April, 1909, as a Christian .and Catholic association in the widest sense of the word, inasmuch at it does not limit its membership to a particular Christian Communion, but, making no difference whatever, inscribes on its roll members of the Roman, of the Greek orthodox and of the Reformed Evangelical Communions: that is to say, of the three great branches into which Christ's Catholic Church is divided. By suggestion of the General Director of the State prisons, we wrote to all the Directors of the Prisons and, Reformatories; and from them also, with the exception of two or three only, we received warm answers full of heartfelt gratitude.
. "At Perugia, there is a large institution for the orphans of the medical men who died in the war. The President of it, a Roman Catholic priest, asked for a copy of our booklet of Bible quotations bearing on different practical topics for each of his 150 orphans. The booklet has made the orphans ask for the whole of the New Testament.
" A large College in Rome, where Directors and Professors are all Roman Catholic priests, applied for copies of the booklet for all the students. Professors, senators, members of Parliament, pastors, evangelists, colporteurs, Salvation Army officers, parish priests, monks in convents, and teachers in private and public schools all eagerly ask for the booklet, and write letters which show how the blessing of God is accompanying the good seed everywhere.
"We sent these booklets to the Directors of the great Penitentiary of Volterra, where hundreds of men condemned to thirty years prison or life are kept. I received a most impressive letter of thanks from the Director; and the invitation to go to Volterra to take 'an Evangelical message to his inmates.' This is a great contrast to the time when in May, 1851, several men were arrested in Florence for having been found reading a chapter of the New Testament in a private house and were condemned and sent to Volterra's prison. Today, the Roman Catholic Direator of that same prison accepts for his prisoners that very New Testament, and asks an Evangelical Pastor to go and preach the Gospel to them! Such are the wonderful ways of God!"
Naturally many leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Italy have become greatly disturbed because of the successful work of the Methodists, Baptists, Young Men's Christian Associations and other Evangelical agencies who are interpreting Christ to the Italians and who are distributing the Bible to those who have never before been encouraged to read and" interpret it for themselves. The secret of Christian progress is to bring the living and the written Word of God into vital contact with men.
A REMEDY FOR DISCONTENT IN INDIA ALTHOUGH outwardly India is comparatively quiet since the .tl… arrest of Mr. Gandhi and his successors, Indian journals still reflect signs of deep discontent. Over 200,000 Indian citizens are now in prison for political offenses and their relatives and friends are naturally dissatisfied with any government that is responsible for this. Another ground for dissatisfaction is the fact that while the British" government claims to be based on righteousness, progress and high ethical ideals, they still sanction traffic in alcoholic liquors, the manufacture and sale of opium and commercializing of immorality. These weaknessess destroy confidence in the British and foster discontent. This spirit of dissatisfaction has at present no safetyvalve and there is danger from its suppression.
While Mr. Gandhi is revered by the people because of his sacrifices for India and his courageous stand for independence, the mass of non-Brahmans are opposed to non-cooperation methods and to his idea"of reverting to primitive conditions. Their leaders believe that the best method of self-government is through the National Congress. There is also a tendency on the part of caste leaders. to ignore Mr. Gandhi's laudable demand for the recognition of the sixty million "untouchables" of India. The out-castes themselves are urging their right to enter temples, to draw water from public wells and the other common privileges which have been denied them. It will be a day of triumph for liberty when these wrongs are righted. Among the signs of progress are the recent election of a Mahar "untouchable" to the municipality "of Trimlak, a Hindu stronghold near Wasik.
India's women are making their voice heard more and more in demands for reform. They are forming political societies and are holding crowded meetings. Outrages committed by British officers on Indian women in the Punjab in 1919 and never adequately punished have added fuel to the flame.
There is need of righteousness in the government of India; there is need of cooperation between British and Indian leaders; there is need of a conference of Indian and governmental representatives to discuss political problems and with power to adopt policies; there is need for more friendliness and courtesy and for a stronger feeling of confidence; there is need for better education; above all, there is need for the uplifting of Christ as the Christian standard and one hope of India. Christians have a great opportunity to reach multitudes who are inclined to accept Him. The greatest hindrance to the spread of Christ's Kingdom in India is reported to be the un-Christlike spirit of many who are called by His name.
THE NATIONAL BAPTIST CONVENTION .nA.N effort was made at the Indianapolis Convention of the North- ern Baptists in June (presided over by Mrs. Helen Barrett Montgomery), to persuade that body of Christians to adopt a creed. The convention voted, however, to acknowledge the New Testament as its declaration of faith and principles. It is to be hoped that this will be taken to mean the acceptance of the whole New Testament, including its teaching as to authority of the Old Testa- ment, the Virgin Birth of Christ, the miracles, the atonement on the Cross, the bodily resurrection of Christ and believers and the per- sonal Second Coming.
The "Fundamentalists," as they are called, held a conference preceding the convention in order to emphasize the need for adher- ence to the essential elements of Christian faith but the action of the convention put the Baptists on record as desiring unity. The Fun- damentalists have organized to continue the contest for what they hold to be the true Baptist faith.
Baptist finances are not in a satisfactory condition though the income of the societies has been increased by the Five Year Cam- paign. The Board of Promotion is to continue its work for the next two years but the plan to complete the one hundred million fund has practically been abandoned. For next year, the budget for benevo- . lences will be only $10,000,000,. which is fifty per cent less than was asked for during the past year. There is hope that the reduced budget will not necessitate the curtailment of work and that it will be possible to payoff some back debts.
The convention passed resolutions in favor of the abolition of war, the deliverance of Armenia from Turkish oppression, the sup-
EDITORIAL COMMENT v05
port of relief work in the Near East and in Europe, obedience to law (including the Volstead Act), the adoption of Christian principles in industrial relations, racial justice, the Bible in public schools and increased activity in missionary work at home and abroad.
The President of the convention for the coming year is Rev. Frederick E. Taylor, D.D., of Indianapolis; the President of the Foreign Mission Society is Dr. W. S. Abernethy, of Washington; of the the Women's Society, Mrs. Helen Barrett Montgomery; of the Home Mission Society, F. W. Freeman, of Colorado; and of the Women's Home Mission Society, Mrs. George W. Coleman, of Boston.
RELIGIOUS SELF-GOVERNMENT IN INDIA M ISSIONARIES are iIicreasingly recognizing the wisdom and justice of making the native Indian church rather than the foreign mission the centre and medium of Christian activity, trusting more fully Indian brethren and according them wider responsibilities. Just as in th!3 political sphere, so here the great and clamant need of the present and the future is a spirit of frank and friendly cooperation.
The early history of the church in Travancore covers a period when the church had found no self-expression and when the missionary who established a station, and financed it, stood out more prominently in its affairs than any of its members. The missionary was the rallying-point of the church, and dominated all its activities; he- was its counsellor and adviser; he alone administered the sacraments and admitted into or dismissed from the church. As numbers increased and self-reliance grew, however, the germ of independence crept in, imperceptibly at first, but gathering force and momentum as education spread and social life improved. In course of time Indian ministers were ordained over the larger churches. which in turn were set free to develop along their own lines.
Tired of disunion, a movement began which had as its object the gathering together of the divided units into one. A United Church Council was formed, which linked the separate churches together. This Church Council for the past fifteen years has busied itself with consolidation. As the governing body of the Council has been elected by all the uniting churches, and is therefore representative of them, the Council has slowly won its way into the confidence of the people, and now commands general respect.
The final step has now been taken, and the London Missionary S(1)ciety has handed over its authority and the funds formerly administered by its missionaries to the governing Council of the Travancore Church. By this action the Board sets an example which other missionary societies must take into consideration.
OF THE FIFTEEN CHRISTIAN ENTERPRISES IN CHINATOWN, SAN
The numbers refer to the similar numbers on the map on Page 611. All are located – In a amall district 606
in Chinatown, San
BY REV. GEORGE LUTHER CADY, D.D., NEW YORK Secret.ary of the American Missionary Association T HE discovery of gold at Sutter's Mills, California in 1848 would seem to be an episode entirely u;nrelated to the Asiatic problem. But it was that discovery which prompted the early Californian to import Chinese labor, for the white man never works as long as he can work some one else. They came to build the sluiceways, to dig out the ore, to cook the food, to wash the clothes and later to build the railroads. As the subways of New York are the gift of cheap Italian labor, so the railroads of the west were largely built and maintained by Chinese labor. They came in large numbers, made what to them were fortunes and many went back to China while others stayed an.d sent across the Pacific their earnings from the new Eldorado of the Golden West. Owing to their language and customs and to that spirit of clannishness which has always kept the Orientals more or less hermits, they began to congregate in the cities until Chinatown in San Francisco became a city of 30,000 Chinese-a unique, fasci~ n:;:tting a.nd mysterious block of Orientals-set down in the very IDidst of the Occident. Of course, they brought with them their vices, and that s~me taste for the; mysterious and bizarre, which lures the Anglo-Saxon to Cairo and to the haunts of Paris, attracted many visitors and put a commercial value on sin in Chinatown until it be.: came one of the black spots in America.
Two influences have materially affected Chinatown so as to" qecease its fame. One is the shrinkage of the Chinese popUlation" in America. In 1910 there were about 71,000 Chinese in America and in 1920 they were fewer by ten thousand. Chinatown in San Francisco has shrunk from 30,000 to about 7,500 today. The other influence was the fire which swept the old Chinatown out and helped to make it today, externally at least, as safe and as respectable as any other portion of the city. Internally, opium joints still thrive, gambling places can be found by the initiated, and the Tongs carryon their old feuds with much loss of life. It seems an almost hopeless task to introduce this clannish, retired and stolid Oriental to the American spirit, but it is doubtful if segregation is more the result of his own choosing than of our thrusting him back from American life into his own corner. People with whom we do not associate are not likely to be easily assimilated. Unless it be the Jews in Russia, no people have been more plainly told that they were not wanted in America. It will do Anglo-Saxon egotism good to recall the outbreaks of the Anti-Chinese pogroms in the late eighties and early 607
nineties, when they were mobbed and killed in the streets, when Americans burned their houses and tore up their gardens and passed .the Chinese Exclusion Act. After such polite reminders that he is . persona non grata, it is not surprising if the Chinese is reluctant to intrude any further into our life.
The only welcomiIlg hand held out to the Oriental in America was that of the Christian Church. The oldest continuous mission among the Chinese'iu Chinatowil is the Presbyterian which was begun in 1852. From the annals of the American Missionary Association we find that "At the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Association, held in Bangor, Me., September, 1852, the following entry was made.
"It is reported that sinc.e January 1, 1852, twenty-nine vessels, conveying 7,537 Chinese emigrants, have been dispatched from Hong Kong, Macao and Whompoa. On the 27th of March, the vessels yet to sail numbered thirtyone, to convey 9,270 passengers. Considerable numbers of Japanese and Persians have found their way to California. These people are, in general, active; intelligent and enterprising. Many of them understand mechanical trades. Recent accounts state that the tide of emigration from foreign countries to California has greatly increased. As has been said, the Lord, instead of suggesting to Christians to go to these heathen countries, as heretofore, to be instrumental in the conversion of the natives,seemto be bringing the heathen to our shores 'that they may .learn the arts of civilization, become acquainted with our institutions, and, by Christian culture and the converting power of the Holy Spirit, be brought into the kingdom of Christ."
The following resolution was passed : "Voted: That the Executive Committee be authorized and encouraged to establish a mission in California to labor. among the Chinese, Japanese and other emigrants who are rapidly swelling the population of that new and important state." The mission was actually opened in 1853.
Other denominations followed imm~diately'and the Chinese were thus· stipplied with missions enough and to spare. In those years there was no interdenominational comity but plenty of denominational competition. It was romantic, near at hand, and made a splendid talking point and the sectarian missions thrived. They were thoroughly entrenched before the great fire, and the appeal of that spectacular catastrophe was used in every denomination to secure funds for costly edifices, crowding in upon one another as the accompanying map graphically shows.
These missions were built for a possible Chinese population of 30,000 but they are still there with their costly investments and maintenance although today the Chinese in San Francisco number only 7,747 and only 80% .of those live in Chinatown. In face of these facts the following table is interesting if not startling. The figures have been compiled by the Dr. George W. Hinman for the Oriental Missions Council of the coast states.
MISSIONS IN CffiNATOWN, SAN FRANCISCO
ORIENTAL MISSIONS COUNCIL Statement of Protestant Mission Work in San FTancisco Chinese Quarter. Finances and Employed Personnel fOT 1921 (Prelbninary report. Subject to correction) ,~- —– a~ h ~. +' ~ .'P'""< 0 .P< .~… ~ 0 0 ~" 1;'; Denomination P< Po. 0 0 ~ 0 I ""..0 .. ", ! 0 ".;.:.l "P'0."<" ~ ,,~ "a +' ""'0; ~O Z'" I il< ;:l I <l ~ ~ … Baptist ………….. ' Church and School …….. $8,000 11 $9,000 $39,000 Independent Baptist Church and School . ……. …….. 2 2,000 t3,000 Christian .•………… Church and School …….. 5,684 8 U7,000 Independent Christian .. Church and School …….. …….. 1 5,880 65,000 Church and School …….. 1,146 *4 1,000 40,000 Congregational 4,952 40,000 Cumbo Presbytel"iau ….. Church and School …….. 4,020 *5 5,020 30,000 Episcopal …………. Church and School . ……. 2,578 *7 2,718 15,000 Methodist …………. Church and School 1,800 3 2,180 40,000 Methodist …………. SchllOls, Woman's Board … 2,160 3 Methodist ………….. Girls' Home ………….. 2,264 7 2,160 35,000 Presbyterian ………. Church and School 8,770 50,000 3,400 9 4,060 55,000 Presbyterian ………. School, Woman's Board …. 2,040 2 Presbyterian ………. Girls' Home ………….. 9,600 7 2,040 45,000 Salvation Army …….. Church and School …….. 2,000 II 11,100 . . .5.3.,.0.0.0 3,000 Y. M. C. A. ……….. …………………….. 1,000 *,3 :1:30,000 7,000 tI3,000 Y. W. C.A. ……….. …………………….. 2,317 " *3 +200,000 4,637 . …….
Total appropriations, including local American gifts ………..'. . . . . . . . . . . . . $48,009 Total cost, including all receipts from Chinese ……•………………… 75,517 Total cost of land and buildings now owned ……………………….. Cost of buildings proposed and being erected ………………………… 550,000 Paid workers, American and Chinese, full or part time ….••.••..•…….•• ) 247,000 71 This sinful waste of missionary 'money and strength in such competitive work remained unnoticed until the meeting of the Home Missions Council in January, 1919, when the Committee on Orientals made its report. It analyzed the facts and challenged the Home Mission Boards responsible for the condition to remedy the situation. The report was attacked and portions were stricken out. The Council was requested to call a conference of Oriental Missions and workers. As early as possible a large number convened, visited the missions and then met in San Francisco for action. Recommendations were made which were more drastic than the report of the Oriental Committee and were carried to the next meeting of the Council in January, 1920. These were adopted by the Council and passed on to the Boards. Little was accomplished-even a resolution condemning the ·1?art time. tLano. l Building proposed. NOTE.-The Chinese population of San Francisco In 1920 was 7,747, 27% less than In 1910, 44'h% less than In 1900, 70% less than In 1890. Perhaps 80% of the Chinese In San Francisco live In the section 01 Ies. than a dozen block. where these missions are located.
2
addition of another costly mission by the Cumberland Presbyterians -was ignored. In the meantime, various secretaries of Boards car- rying on this competitive work visited Chinatown and came back ap- palled at (to quote Dr. Charles A. Brooks, Secretary of the Baptist Home Missionary Society), "the competitive armaments (ecclesiasti- cally speaking), of San Francisco community, which has received a larger amount of missionary money than any similar spot on the globe. " The folly of this non-cooperative and divided Protestant work is revealed by the Roman Catholic Church. They have built a new mis- sion, costing $150,000 or more, within a stone's throw of the Protes- tantmissions. The Catholics are quick to point out that theirs is the only united mission and that the other Christians can not agree among themselves. The Catholic work is thoroughly financed and they boast that they will soon empty all the other missions since their building is large enough to accommodate all who are likely to come. Their program is well planned, four-fifths of the teachers in the Chinese public schools are Catholics. If the Protestant missions do not make radical changes, the Catholic boast will not be an empty one.
.What is needed'! First, a complete change from the competi- tive to a cooperative missionary program. M,issionary work must be tested by what it does for the Chinese, not what it may do for a denomination. Consciously or unconscio;usly, tbe denominational glory ha~ dominated. Let the.'.Ch1;lrch Boards with much heart- searching ask only: How may we render the highest possible Chris- tia.rl. service to the Chinese 1 The acid test will reveal many b,idden things. The result will be some combined or cooperative mission. The ideal would be the uniting of. all the sepittate mis13itinS' and putting them under the control of a united committee. One build- ing could be used for a school, another for a dormitory, and one co.uld be enlarged for a Federated Church, or one large building might be erected to house all the educatioual, social, .recreational and religious work carried on by the Protestant churches and Chris- . tian associations. Is it necessary to wait for another fire to raze the present edifices before Christians will be ready to unite on a prograrri1 A solemn referendum may yet be held by the people who are furnish- ing the money so wasted here and so sadly needed elsewhere. The whole mission work of the district should be put into the hands of a local interdenominational committee entrusted with the largest free- dom possible. As a beginning, the,day and night schools should be immediately combined under a common supervising superintendent and f.aculty. The need of such combined work is also evident in the Plaza section of Los Angeles.
Second, the true missionary idea is to bring help in order to bring people to the quickest and highest degree of self-help. That man is no friend who insists on doing for another what he can do for
MISSIONS IN CIDNATOWN, SAN FRANCISCO
CHINATOWN SECTION o~ 6)1.I'(FRANC/SCO '——', 'L-___—<, , Street I L – – 1 1-1_ _ _ l@:~L'~OO'" • •'r 1~L——–'~ !@:6 _ ~~~-,,-"~a~.v.-..:;"r~l,,-,y-=–=–=-~~ Phce ., :~ 'r———————-.-lJr—G–"r-anU..c;t'—-.~OI~,;~"~I l ~ : I I: ,,,~- ,,~.
r I PortslllOlth Squ~r•. ' – – – – – – _ – 1 1-1- – – – – – , I I r- KEY TO THE LOCATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN CHINATOWN, SAN FRANCISCO (1) Chinese Presbv. Mission Home. (11a) R. C. Church property for hospital pur· (2) Christian Institute. poses. (llb) New property of R. (3) "True Sunshine" (Episcopal) Mis· sion. C. Church.
(4) Chinese Presby. Church. (12) "Independent Baptist" Church (Chi- (5) "Oriental" Mission Home. (5a) nese). _ Methodist land. (6) Chinese Methodist Episcopal Church. (13) Y. M. C. A. Playground.' (7) Cumberland Presby. Chinese Church. (8) Chinese Y. W. C. A. (14) Chinese Baptist ~urch. (9) Chinese Y. M. C. A. (10) "First Chinese Christian" Church. (15) Salvation Army Hal! for Chinese. (11). Roman Catholic Church. (16) Chinese Congrllgational Mission.
(17) Building of the " Six Companies."
(18) Building of the "Morning Bell."
(19) Oriental Pnblic School.
(20) Dispensary for Chinese.
himself. The curse of philanthropy is the pauperism it may engender -the pauperization of character. It is a wise father who knows when to take his hands from under a child learning to walk. The wisest mission worker is the one who knows when to let go. There are three stages in all missionary work-working for a people-working with a people-and letting people work for themselves and for others. The boards may well ask if they have not held on too long and if independence of character has not been denied. Unwillingness to throw off responsibility and trust to the individual and racial initiative has too long been an expression of the white man's egotism. Of course, we want them to swim but we keep them on dry land. The consecrated. Chinese Sunday-school teacher who is always talking about "my
boys" ought not to' be surprised that they are slow to become men. Scan the table above and note how large a part of the mission work is still financed by benevolent Boards. Sixty years of investment should have resulted in larger independence. The Chinese in San Francisco are by no means poor and a larger requisition should be mad,e upon the Chinese men and women trained in the missions and in public schools.
We do not mean to say that the investment has failed to pay dividends. Noone can measure the good which has resulted. The contribution which this Home Missionary work has made to the Foreign Missionary work is amazing. A steady stream of Chinese, transformed by the missions in California, has been going back to help Christianize China itself. They have been supporting a magnificent system of missions in the homeland and their influence has been immeasurable. The story of souls saved and of lives transformed is hot the least of the chapters written in the triumph of the gospel of Christ. Let one suffice. A young Chinese boy, Benjamin Wong, was converted in one of the missions. Today he is a teacher of higher mathematics in the State University in Berkeley and is also the head of one of the Chinese missions there. A more refined Christian gentleman or a more refined Christian lady than his wife, it would be hard to find. He is only a type of that splendid Chinese brain and manhood which will yet startle the world when China shall cease to be the helpless object'of internatiomli profiteers and shall make her contribution of almost untouched and well-nigh inexhaustible resources in material and men. With both China and Japan the result may be determined by the type of practical Christianity they come into contact with in America.
What the Negro Wants BY DR. EMMETT J. SCOTT, OF HOWARD UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, D. c.
What the Negro wants with aU his heart,ana what America; will proudly concede him, I do believe, can be stated very easBy: In substitution for lynchings, he wants justice in the courts, he wants.. the privilege of serving on juries; the right to vote; the right to hold office, like other citizens. He wants better educational facilities, abolition of the "Jim Crow" car and of discrimination and segregation in the Government service; the same military training and j:lhance for promotion in the United States army that other men enjoy; destruction of the peonage system, an equal wage, better sanitary conditions and reforms in those penal institutions where men and women of his race have suffered grievous wrongs. That is the Negro problem; that is America's problem. Does it impose too much upon the greatest democracy in the world' I cannot believe that it does.
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PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA DURING ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN YEARS In 1807-one Missionary; In 1814-two Missionaries and ODe Christian Chinese: in 1922- 6,500 MiSSionaries, 30,000 Chinese Christian employed leaders and 400.000 Protestant Chinese The National Christian Conference of China BY REV. CHARLES R. ERDMAN, D.D. A Member of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyteri~, Church, U.S.A.
SHANGHAI, the Gateway to Ohina, is also the center from which radiate most of the organized Ohristian activities of the land. Furthermore, from the river Shanghai has the appearance in many respects of a Western city. The fact is, however, that only one out of seventy-five residents is a foreigner. For these and other reasons it was manifestly the fitting place for holding a National Oonference which was composed in equal numbers of Ohinese and foreign Ohristian leaders. Other national Ohristian gatherings have been held;' but these have been missionary assemblies made up chiefly of representatives of foreign agencies. Such was the notable Oentenary Oonference of 1907 which celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of missionary effort in Ohina.
. In 1913, the Oontinuation Oommittee, appointed by the Edinburgh Oonference, called a Oonvention in which prominent Ohinese Ohristians were asked to deliberate with the foreign missionary leaders. This resulted in the appointment of what was termed the Ohina Oontinuation Oommittee, to which was allotted the task of acting for the various boards and agencies and churches in matters pertaining to cooperation in work and of gathering statistics relative to missionary activity in Ohina. This committee has rendered valuable service, and its culminating work was arranging for the National 613
A PANORAMIC VIEW OF SHANGHAI HARBOR AND -r:HE Christian Conference which met in Shanghai, May 2-11, of the pres- ent year.
An outstanding feature of this Conference was the fact that its personnel was composed of equal numbers of Chinese and foreigners; in fact, subtracting the 45 representatives of Western boards and agencies, there were 488 foreign delegates and 565 Chinese. Among these were one hundred and twenty-seven foreign and sixty-three Chinese women. The principal denominations and societies repre- sented were the Anglican, Baptist, Congregationalist, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and the China Inland Mission.
Among the prominent foreign leaders might be mentioned the Rev. E. C. Lobenstine, Secretary of the China Continuation Com- mittee; Bishop Roots, of Hankow; Mr. D. E. Hoste, of the China Inland Mission; the Rev. J . 'Walter Lowrie, D.D., Chairman of the China Council of the Presbyterian Mission, U. S. A.; Mr. J. H. Oldham, Secretary of the International Missionary Council; Dr. John It. Mott, and the Rev. P. Frank Price, D.D. The feature of special interest was, however, the group of strong Chinese leaders, most conspicuous of whom was the Rev. C. Y. Cheng, D.D., who served as chairman of the Conference. His dignity, decision, cour- tesy and ability accorded with the high place he holds in the con- fidence and esteem of all the Christian forces of China.
The genera,l theme of the Conference was, "THE CHINESE CHURCH." This phrase must not be misunderstood. There is corres- ponding to it no visible reality in the sense of an organized society. 'fhe Chinese Church is a spiritual body, and its future outward ex- pression is a glorious ideal. At present, however, Chinese Chris· tians are divided into a large number of different denominations which derive their name and characteristics from the separate Churches of the vVest. That such a condition should have existed . for a time was inevitable. Noone'Western Church was equal to the
THE NATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONFERENCE OF CHINA
"BUND" OR WATER FRONT OF THE FOREIGN CONCESSIONS task of evangelising so large a country, and as the Christian societies were divided in the home lands, it was natural that their missionary representatives should at first train converts along the exact lines of faith and order which they themselves held. More recently, how- ever, there has been an evident endeavor toward closer union, at least, within denominational groups. The Episcopal Churches have one national organization of Chinese Christians. The various branches of the Presbyterian Church recently formed a provisional Assembly; and the week preceding the National Christian Confer- . ence, there was held in Shanghai, the first regular General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in China. Immediately after its forma- tion steps were taken to unite this Presbyterian Church with the Congregational, under the title of "THE CHURCH OF CHRIST IN CHINA."
To further such movements toward union, in fact to advance the project of one National Church for all Chinese Christians, was one of the prime purposes of the National Conference. The further and more definite aim was to establish an organization which would co- ordinate the work of missions with that of the existing churches or with that of such a National Church should the latter come into being.
In preparation for the work of the Conference, five commissions were appointed to deal with the following subjects: (1) THE PRESENT STATE OF CHRISTIANITY IN CUINA. (2) THE FUTURE TASK OF THE CHURCH. (3) THE MESSAGE OF THE CHURCH.
(4) THE DEVELOPMENT OF LEADERSHIP FOR THE 'VORK OF THE CHURCH. (5) COORDINATION AND COOPERATION IN THE WORK OF THE Cm1RcH. The chairman of two of these committees were Chinese, the others were foreigners. The members of the committees consulted with hnn-
dreds of the most experienced Christjan workers, both Chinese and foreign; so that the findings and recommendations represented the mature thought of a very large number of specialists in the subjects under consideration.
While these committees were framing their reports, there were placed in their hands two documents of· extraordinary character, which proved to be of incalculable aid. The first was the report of the China Educational Commission of 1921-1922, which has since been published under the title, "Ohristian Education in China."
This commission, composed of leading educationalists from America, England and China, had spent four months in making a survey of the whole field of missionary education in China, and their recom- mendations and suggestions, in connection with the serious work of the Commission, offer to China what may prove to be the outline of the most perfectly graded and coordinated system of Christian education existing in any modern nation.
The other document was "TheOhristian Occupation of China," a general survey of the numerical strength and geographical distribution of the Christian forces in China, made by a special com- mittee on survey and occupation appointed by the China Continuation Committee, 1918-1921. "This monumental work, produced under the leadership of the Rev. Milton T. Stauffer, comprises some 600 quarto _pages, and is probably the most elaborate and careful survey ever made of a great missionary field. .
Thus aided the Commissions were able to present to the delegates of the Conference, reports which were full of invaluable information, and which contained most serious and important findings and recommendations. Owing to limitation of time, none of these reports could be considered at length nor fully discussed, and the Confer- ence therefore did not feel justified in voting upon any considerable number of resolutions. One action of the Conference, however, which met with unanimous approval might be recorded: In view of the importance of industrial problems and of the present state of public opinion in China, Be it resolved that this Conference expresses its endorsement .:If the following standards for industrial labor: a. No employment of children under twelve years of age. h. One day's rest in seven. c. The safeguarding of the health of the workers, by limiting hours, by the improvement of sanitary conditions, by the installing of safety devices. That this Conference directs the National Christian Council to give these standards the widest publicity. And that this Conference calls upon Christian organizations throughout the country to endorse these standards and to take action to see that they are brought into force in China as soon as possible.
A part of the resolution commending the report of the Educational Committee may also be of interest:
THE NATIONAL CHRISTI,AN CONFERENCE OF CHINA
Without attempting to express a judgment on matters of detail or on anyone of the various proposed readjustments in existing arrangements, we would heartily endorse the central organizing idea of the report-the co- ordination and correlation of all the Christian educational work in China into a nation-wide Christian educational programme. We also agree with the commission as to the necessity of exercising all care and thoroughness iIi effecting such changes and improvements as the present great opportunity and critical position of Christian education in China demand.
The report of the Commission on the Present State of Christianity in China, presented by. Bishop Roots, and the report of the Commission on the Future Task of the Church, presented by the Rev. C. E. Patton, will prove of deep concern to all who are inter- ested in the evangelization of China. They both contain notes of encouragement, but they also sound a stern and imperative call to service and sacrifice. The numerical strength of the Protestant Church in China is now approximately 375,000, which is more than a four-fold increase within the short period since the Boxer uprising of 1900; and to this statement as to church members must be added the great increase in native leadership, the large Christian . institutions and the widened influence of the Christian community. However, it is obvious that the work of evangelizing China has only been commenced. Even 375,000 out of 400,000,000, is less than one in one thousand) less than one-tenth of one per cent. Surely there is need of giving heed to every suggestion made by these Commissions as to methods of work, as to the demand for workers, and supremely, as to the duty of laying new stress and emphasis upon the specific work of preaching the Gospel of Christ.
The results of the Conference are difficult to estimate. During its continuance it soon became evident that the time is not ripe for any movement towards the organization of a united national Church; yet aU the influences of the Conference tended toward union and a spirit of cooperation in service. The Chinese delegates realized anew their spiritual oneness and expressed their earnest desire for ecclesiastical self control and independence. No motion towards the establishment of a visible church was made, yet the sense of spiritual unity was so great that the chairman could declare with fervor, "This meeting is the birthplace of the Chinese Church." Such self-consciousness must eventually result in some form of self-expression and of corporate life. Nor were the results of the Conference, in the matter of the re- lation between missions and churches, any more concrete. No new definition of this' relation was attempted. It was clearly realized, however, that we have entered upon a new era in the development of Christianity in China. In the past the missions have dominated the religious situation, and the Chinese churches have depended upon foreign support and leadership. The burden of the work and its control must now be shifted from the foreigners to the Chinese. The
Chinese churches must be delivered froin the incubus of being regarded as adhering to a foreign religion, and must not be hampered by any unnecessary denominational divisions which have been imported from Western Christianity. There was evidenced, however, a strong desire that during this period of transition there should be no separation between the churches and the missions, but that wholehearted and sympathetic cooperation should be maintained.
The definite achievement of the Conference was the organization of a National Christian Council, to which has been committed the work of more perfectly coordinating the various Christian forces in China, and of summoning in the future another National Christian Conference.
The need for such a National Council was expressed with a unanimity and earnestness which were even surprising. The only question debated at any length was as to whetlier in outlining the character of the Council it should be supplied with a credal basis. Since it was to perform the flllctions of a committee representing t.he National Conference, it was agreed that it would be sufficient for the Conference to declare its acceptance of the deity of Christ, of the necessity of His atoning work, of the authority of the Bible, and of the absolute maintenance of its own standards of faith and order by each cooperating church and society.
The Council was composed of one hundred members, seventyfive of whom were nominated by the denominational groups represented in the Conference, and twenty-five to be proposed by these nominees. The Council is to meet annually and to continue until the next National Conference, which will be convened some time within the next teny~ars. The Council is to elect its own officers' and to appoint an executive committee of not more than twenty-one members, a majority of whom, as in the case of the Council, shall be Chinese.
On the adjournment of the National Conference, this new National Christian Council was at once organized. Obviously its work is experimental and no one can predict exactly the form which Christian cooperation in China will assume in the future; but in case this Council realizes the hopes with which it has come into being, it will surely receive the cordial support of the missionary societies and of the churches. All who are laboring for the evangelization of the Chinese will eagerly further the work of any agency which proves effective in uniting the Christian forces, in developing a self-supporting and self-propagating church, and in hasten,ing the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ to all the unreached millions of China.
NOTE.-Nuggets from the Conference reports and addresses, selected by Mr. M. T. StauffeT", .will be printed in our September number.-Eflitor.
Christian Occupation of
A Monumental Missionary Survey BY PROFESSOR HARLAN P. BEACH, F.R.G.S., NEW HAVEN, CONN.
This folio volume, as large as oue of the great atlases, has just been published in Shanghai under the auspices of the China Continuation Committee. Ii has 593 pages of letterpress, 320 maps and 125 diagrams or graphs which make visual the leading facts under discussion. Cooperation of the highest sort is clearly manifest; and everywhere are evident the master minds of the special Committee on "Survey and Occupation," the Rev. E. C. Lobenstine, its Chairman, and Secretary M. T. Stauffer, upon whose broad shoulders tbe burden of nearly four years strenuous and versatile labor have fallen. Besides an office force of fifteen, and scores of patient correspondents from the provinces, there is a list of forty-seven specialists whose important contributions are published almost verbatim. To treble its usefulness, a Chinese edition, somewhat different from the English original, has been printed in a volume of the same size, but of 403 pages.
T HIS most notable volume, presenting a full conspectus of the missionary situation of any country, gives" A general survey of the numerical strength and geographical distribution of the Christian forces in China." But it is a great deal more. Dr.
Arthur H. Smith, perhaps the highest missionary authority upon the country, says of it in a personal letter: "The survey is some- thing tremendous in range and thoroughness, and will furnish the raw material, if you want it, for another decade!" The editor of the REVIEW has requested the writer to give a few of the outstanding features of this magnttm opus of missionary literature, so that scores of less important topics must go unrecorded as also a critique.
Quite properly Part I provides the general "background of the Survey. The geography of China Proper is interestingly described (with its 1,532,420 square miles), in the three transverse areas trav- ersed by the Yellow, the Yangtze and the Vvest Rivers, with popula- tions having an average density of 236 per square mile in the northern basin, 359 for the middle basin, and only 191 for the south- ern basin. They are an index of the conditions of life and the de- velopment of economic resources in the three areas.
"A great part of the northern basin is still only slightly in advance of the pastoral stage, and the industrial development of the eastern provinces is too recent to have modified the distribution of population to any appreciable extent. There is, however, a dearth of easy commu:nications natural or artificial. The middle basin is very highly favored in respect of natural means of communication and has a climate that favors agriculture much more emphatically than does that of the northern basin. Its natural resources, only just beginning to be tapped on a grand scale, have always, however, beel). greatly more abundant than those of the northern basin. In the southern basin there is a very Jarge percentage of mountainous country, the mineral resources of which are believed to be very con- siderable, but their exploitation has been of the most primitive kind, " 619
so that they have not given rise to large populations, and the considerable elevations affect agriculture adversely; and these deficiencies have not been connterbalanced by the rich agricultural resources of the remaining portion of the basin."
In a similar way Mr. Ridge proceeds to differentiate between THE PROTESTANT MISSIONARY OCCUPATION OF CHINA iN I.uu The white indicates territory within ten miles of a mission at the time of the Boxer uprislog the Chinese types of the three basins-the northerner with his greater stature and stronger physique, due to an infusion of the Tartar stock, just as his language is modified by racial intermingling; the southerner, with the purest Chinese stock and a language nearest the original spoken tongue, little changed by the northern process of attrition. This section, though criticised by specialists in China, for practical purposes is most satisfactory.
The language question of this great mission field is dealt with in an interesting way by Rev. H. K. Wright. The Mandarin dialect,
THE CHRISTIAN OCCUPATION OF CHINA
most common, is spoken by some three-fourths of the entire population, or 300,000,000 people. The northern, southern and western variations" are enough alike so that the speaker of one understands and is understood, after a little experience, in the districts of the others." The coast qialects from Shanghai southward constitute THE PRESENT PROTESTANT MISSIONARY OCCUPATION OF CHINA The white indicates territory wi~bin ten miles of a Protestant miSSion the linguistic problem of the Republic, since many of the eighteen most important ones are spoken by relatively few, making the preparation of local literatures financially wasteful. Yet the new National Phonetic Script and also the rise of the National LanO"uaO"e centered in Pekm. g, are eI ements 0 f hope for ' the fut" ure. While t"h'e, complicated ideographs of the past cannot be abandoned, Prof. Hu's National Language movement will make it vastly simpler and quicker to be mastered.
Dr. Henry K. Hodgkin's prefatory note to U. S. Commercial
Attache, Julean Arnold's "Changes in the Economic Life of the Chinese People," shows how vital in missions is so apparently un- related a theme. Christian business men will especially delight in this section; and the introductory paragraph upon" An Apprecia- tion of Old China" is the finest appreciation of the sort known to the writer. The article is an epitome of germane material, based upon Mr. Arnold's two volume work printed by our Government. It is surprising to read, in Miss Harrison's article on a kindred subject, this quotation from a customs official: "There are few foreign type articles of domestic consumption that are not now manufactured in China by factories on modern lines, the majority without foreign assistance."
Professor Louis F. Hodous shows, in a fresh article upon an unusual subject, the new forces which Christianity must meet in Chinese non-Christian religious movements. Animism and ancestral worship, even, show stirrings within them which cannot be ignored. Apparently Taoism would please Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in its modern phase.
"Photographs of the soul of the departed are foisted on the relatives, and the genuineness of the likeness is taken for granted by the educated men of the community, and the pictures are published in the magazines. Sitting in meditation is now quite extensively practiced in various societies and also privately. Many students have taken it up "-not a bad idea for American students, perhaps. In Confucian groups, the military governors have revived the worship of Kuan Ti, a model of loyalty and sincerity of our third century and deified less than seventy-five years ago; while the famous progressive Governor Yen of Shansi is powerfully promoting "a movement tolerant of Christianity and other religions, and often Christians are invited to address meetings of the society." Bnddhism in the eastern coastal regions is reviving, as it 1ts sporadically elsewhere. Evidently a Christ.ian movement to win Buddhists, like Professor Reichelt's, is needed.
Part II of tJais volume is made up wholly of Dr. Rawlinson's wonderfully comprehensive article upon "Change and Progress in the Christian Movement in China During the Past Two Decades"- occupying a section as large as this issue of this Review, if similarly printed. "The main result of this twenty years is the opening of the door of a new era of nation-wide opportunity. The Christian movement is not now excluded from any province or city, though it has far from entered them all. The whole country is really open. The Chinese Church is much better understood and has a deeper understanding of itself. From the days of the Boxer Movement the Church has been gaining in influence through steady-if still incomplete-progress in becoming indigenous. We hope that 1922 will stamp it for all time as a Chinese Church! There is also a growing
19221 THE CHRISTIAN OCCUPATION OF CHINA
consciousness of the supremacy' of Christianity. During these twenty years we have been forging public opinions regarding the value and place of Christianity. Our contributions in education, medicine and religion are wanted more and more. . . One especially encouraging feature of this time is the cooperation with national Chinese leaders in education, medicine, and the promotion of the phonetic system. This is true even of the National University at Peking; it is due in large part to the growing influence of Western trained leaders in the Church and the nation."
Part III, "The Christian Occupation of the Provinces," is by far the most important section of the volume; though its very meticulousness, which is its crowning virtue for the missionary on the ground and for board secretaries having work there, makes it wearisome for the American reader. Province by province the varying conditions and methods followed are stated and evaluated; Christian efficiency is discussed; steps in further enlargement of the work are suggested; provincial statistics are given a:v.d graphically illustrated; and maps beyond all precedent m~ke the field luminous and intelligible. The following part points out unclaimed areas and special districts-a section which home Bciards contem- plating entry. into China wiII appreciate. '. Parts V-VIII are somewhat repetitious, as they :tJr~~nt in com- parative forms much that has been already given: – Yet here the home denominational leader will find some of his best campaign material, both in the way of stinuilus and of reproach. The last of these com- parative studies has to-'do with the diffeJ;ent nationalities engaged in Chinese missions, in terms of American, British and Continental workers, with a few others omitted. America leads, with 3,305 mis- sionaries, 13,936 Chinese fellow-workers, and 172,437 communicants; British returns are second, showing 2,218 missionaries, 8,064 Chinese assistants, and 123,891 church members; and the figures for Con- tinental societies are 758 missionaries, 2,081 Chinese coworkers and 36,508 communicants. The grand total, including other figures not nationally allocated, shows 6,636 missionaries, 24,732 Chinese workers, and 345,853 communicants.
Part IX is fascinating, as it describes operations among special classes, such as the Aborigines, the Hakkas, the Moslems-with superb maps of prevalence and meager· occupation; work among Chinese abroad in twelve countries; Chinese government students and Chris- tianity; work for China's hundreds of thousands of blind, only about 1,000 of whom are under Christian instruction; missions to boat dwelling people and rickshaw pullers; the versatile labors of the Young Men's and Young "Vomen 's Christian Associations; and the cooperative helpfulness of the Stewart Evangelistic Fund.
"The Chinese Church," which was the general theme of the National Conference in Shanghai in May, is the subject discussed
lit,.:!! f:lI;t 7:1lI~ f:~1t ..,lIIlI: 1:*~ jH~1"o~!J.II~ THE PROTESTANT MISSION FIELDS IN CHINA TODAY from many angles in Part X. It is a diversified exhibit showing that Chinese missionaries and their constituency are as keen to avail themselves of the latest ideas of churches at. home, as our advanced congregations are. Yet the reader should understand that some of the experiments described are exceptional rather than usual.
American teachers of every shade of belief will enjoy Part XI, dealing with Government Education, as well as with that conducted by missionaries. Just now governmental bankruptcy, almost, accounts for relative failure of their institutions;. though the reduction of non-teaching officers would partly remove the difficulty. Thus in 1910 the teaching force was about 90,000, with an administrative body of 96,000; while in 1918 the administrative staff constituted
THE CHRISTIAN OCCUPATION OF CIDNA
DISTRIBUTION OF PROTESTANT COMMUNICANTS PER 10,000 BY DISTRICTS about 157,000 out of a total staff of 326,000. Though mission schools and colleges are mainly cultural, there are many which give vocational courses. Some of these are agriculture, commerce, dentistry, forestry, industrial chemistry, law, leather tanning, political science, sociology, stenography, and medicine. It is hearteuing to note that forty missionary societies do union educational work in forty-two higher institutions, twelve of which are theological. The 5,649 students, studying together for years as great families, are the foundation upon which the unity of China's future Church is to be built.
The doctors have right of way-and a most glorious one, tooin Part XII, with its keystone in the wonderful accomplishment of the China Medical Board, Rockefeller Foundation, so largely car- 3
ried on by medical missionaries and so generously cooperating with missions in various ways. But unfamiliar topics also are discussed, like ~prosy, the illegal trade in narcotics, the scientific efficiency of mistnon hospitals-so often inefficiency, with only one mission hospital bed to every 20,370 people in China, and ever so many other lacks-and the final one, so deeply connected with the investment in missionary life, "The Health of Missionary Families in China," contributed by the Peking School of the Foundation as a specimen of their careful and catholic work. Here is its final and awakening paragraph: "In certain sections of China, or among certain groups, children of missionaries have as good a chance for life and health; as children at home. Taking the missionary body as a whole, however, there has been an excessive loss of life among both children and adults. Much of the loss may in future be prevented. For such prevention, both intelligent vigilance on the part of the individual and a large cooperative health program on the part of the churches is needed. Increased expenditure, if based on facts, would result in great money saving, and would aid in bringing nearer the longed for coming of the New Day in China."
Christian literature and its publication and distribution, newspapers and newspaper evangelism and Roman Catholic literature, in Part XIII, are followed by "Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches" as the. final Part, except the "Corrigenda" section. The Protestant reader should realize that his missionaries are working side by side with more than 2,000 foreign and almost 1,000 Chinese Romanist priests, who, after a Catholic·· occupation of more than three centuries, now have a Christian body of 1,971,189 Chinese converts, more than three times as numerous as the Protestants. Communicants of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1916 numbered only 5,587. . As a conclusion of this notable volume, we find nine appendixes, malnly statistical and cartographical; though the final one is devoted to an interesting account of missionary operations in Indo-China.
While this Survey is a special volume, not intended for continuous reading, yet Parts I, II, IV, IX-XIV, if reprinted with some necessary changes, would be a readable and most authoritative volume of perhaps 500 pages. It is unfortunate that only 1,200 copies of this great work are printed. When the edition has been sold, as one great university librarian has said, many an unsupplied library' would give $100 a copy for it. Mr. Lobenstine, and especially Mr. Stauffer, will find this to be their monument, both among contemporaries and later when the history of the Church in China is written.
A STREET MEETING IN FI,ANDERS CONDUCTED BY THE BELGIAN GOSPEL
Feeding Hungry Souls)n Belgium BY MRS. RALPH C. NORTON, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM La Mission BeIge Evangelique APICTURE that one often sees in Protestant homes in Belgium shows a venerable father, his hands clasped over a great Bible, while his exaltation of spirit, as he drinks from this living source, is visible on his features. Back of him stands his daughter, terror and solicitude painfully evident on her face, 'as she listens for the footfall of inquisitors that may mean arrest, imprisonment or death at the stake for reading that Book. In those days, many in Belgium loved the Book and died for it with a song on their lips. They have been deprived of it for hundreds of years, but today they have it restored to them and love it as did the martyrs of old, though reading it does not now involve death; Ever since those early days there has been a Gospel witness in Belgium. It has never been (~xtinguished. But the number of men and women who have uphel(1 the torch of evangelical truth has been small in comparison with the millions without the Word of Life.
During the war every soldier in the Belgian army had an opportunity to possess a copy of the Word of God, so many returned to their homes believing and others came back still cherishing the ideals which came to them during the war. After the armistice we received a call to come to Belgium, although only dimly sensing the reason for the call-to give to the Belgian people the Word of God. The thirst for 627
His Word, so evident among the Belgian soldiers, is co~tinually and increasingly evidenced by multitudes of the Belgian civil population.
The Belgian Gospel Mission (La Mission BeIge Evangelique), is three years old, and since our arrival in Belgium on December 19, 1918, fifteen stations have been founded where regular Gospel work is going forward. In four of these centers, Dour, Warquignies, Antwerp and Bruges, the Mission owns its own property and many have rallied to help forward this work of evangelization, and of the distribution of God's Word. Men and women 'of seven different nationalities are helping in the work, the most recent recruits being Mr. and Mrs. Philip E. Howard, Jr., of Philadelphia.
The Bible school, now in its third year, with Pastor H. K. Bentley as its head, is training a score of young men and women to evangelize their own and foreign lands, and on January 1st, we opened a second Bible school in which the teaching is in Flemish.
Perhaps the most joyous-and fruitful service of the Mission is that in the open air, the colportage meetings in fairs and markets, and the summer work in tents~ One hot day last summer my husband and I arrived in the Mission car at the town of Selzalte, in Occidental Flanders, where a population of seven thousand has had no Gospel witness. Hundreds of people thronged the tent and heard the Gospel in song and story. Inside the tent the temperature was very high, but 350 children with all the power of their lusty Flemish lungs were singing, Kom gord uw lenden, neem den reistaf op, ("Come, gird your loins, take up your pilgrim's staff.") When the series of tent meetings came to a close the people of Selzalt~ gathered around Mr. P–, the leader, saying, "What shall we do now, the tent is going away, and no more shall. we hear the Gospel story, no more can we sing these songs 7"The Mission representative in Bruges, Mr. A. Mietes was happily able to promise aid later on, and, with helpers, is seeking to hold regular services there. At Ecloo, likewise, Mr. Mietes is holding regular services.
The work of the colporteurs is also bringing forth abundant fruit. Here is the report of one man, a convert of the war, who today is finishing his second year in the Bible school: "When I first joined the Belgian Gospel Mission, a little more than a year ago, I felt impelled to begin testifying for the Lord, so I shouldered my valise filled with Bibles, New Testaments, and tracts, and went from place to place proclaiming the Savior. I wanted to do colportage work in a certain street in Brussels, not far from the Mission, but I did not seem to have an opportunity. One day, not thinking about that particular street, I took my valise with five or ~ix Bibles, about ten New Testaments and some tracts and, before I realized it, found myself in the large offices of the Ministry of Finance. I had opened the door and was obliged to make some explanation for my entry. I told the porter that I was a worker for
1922J FEEDING HUNGRY SOULS IN BELGIUM
Jesus Christ, and was offering the Word of God. He went to the clerks and asked them if they would like to hear the Gospel and buy some books I The clerks surrounded me and I explained to them, in a simple way, that Jesus was my Savior and He could also be theirs, but I did not say much as they were all looking into the Bibles that I had handed them. In less than half an hour I had sold all the Bibles and Testaments I had brought with me and was so happy that I did not know how to express my joy and gratitude to my Heavenly Father.
"More than three months ago I began to pray that the Lord would open the way for me to go and preach the Gospel in Coudroz, A CHILDREN'S MEETING AT SELZALTE, UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE BELGIAN GOSPEL MISSION a part of Belgium which had not yet heard the good news. As we had eight days' holiday after the close of. school, I invited two friends to accompany me and we started out with 200 New Testaments, about 20 Bibles and some thousands of tracts. The Lord had prepared the ground for us, for in less than three days we had sold them all ! We have worked through eight villages of about two to three thousand inhabitants each. The results were good, and I believe that several people were ·interested."
During June in one district 800 New Testaments and twentythree Bibles were sold and thousands of tracts and Gospels and song sheets were distributed. One of the workers reported having sold 3,400 New Testaments in twelve weeks. These Testaments are sold at ('fraction of their cost, and we are face to face with the necessity of purchasing a hundred thousand copies.
Here in Brussels our assembly has overflowed the original hall and a large, new hall has been constructed with a seating capacity of 600. On the day of dedication, last October, Pastor Reuben Saillens, of Paris, and Mr. J. Kennedy Maclean, the editor of the Life of Faith were the speakers. The latter voiced his astonishment, "But it surprises me to see what kind of people you have at these meetings. They are not at all a typical Mission crowd." He was looking into the faces of men alid women, intelligent, well-dressed, keen on the message that was to be given to them, and we knew that there were thousands and thonsands more in Belgium who were longing to hear a similar message. Out on the street the students of the Bible school were' doing personal work during the service.
For many months there has been coming to the Mission services a young man, slipping in quietly and unobtrusively like many others. We never knew how first he learned of the services, whether by printed announcement or personal invitation. Now we have come to know him and one of the young men in the Bible school who has been fellowshipping with him gave me two letters, the first written by the young man's cure to him, and the second his answer: This young man, as far as we know, has not had a personal interview with us, but has been listening to those who have spoken the Word publicly, and, by the study of the Bible, has come to a perception of the divine verities. The following is the cure's letter: ~ What have I just learned 1 You have apostasised in order to become a Protestant! I have surely been deceived, haven't H You would not do such a thing just when England is coming back to Catholicism. During 1920 thirty Protestant ministers have recognized that Protestantism is an error and have become Catholics. Mr. Manning was a Protestant and became a Catholic bishop and there are many others whom I could cite. It is in the face of the testimony of these men, among the most intellectual of Protestants, that you abandon your religion, You must know that the Catholic religion dates from the time of Jesus Christ, the year 1 of the first century. Protestantism has for its author, Luther, an unfrocked monk who-contracted a civil marriage with a nun, and that in the year 1553-1500 years after Christ. If you knew the true history of this religion, you would soon see that it is a gross error. The Bible which you ha.ve now in your hands is not the true one for the principal passages which prove this have been cnt out.
, Your parents are in ,despair. You who were such a good Christian and took the communion every Sunday. When the people who know you hear this news they are stupefied. "What," they say, "he so good and pious– No it is not possible." Weare praying for -you. Come, my dear, give up the one who has led you astray and come back to the religion of your youth. The pope! Oh yes, much evil is spoken of the pope, but all these stories are just calumnies. _ Look at the governments, those even which are directed, as in France, by free-masons, all regard the pope with deep veneration and send ambas-
FEEDING HUNGRY. SOULS IN BELGIUM
sadol'S to his court. But this is enough for the moment. You are too good, and that is the reason you allow yourself to be led away.
We are going to pray for you and I beg you come back to God. Signed.
THE REPLY Cure.
Sir, Your esteemed letter reached me safely. First of all I must reassure you on the news you have just learned-that I had apostasised in order to become a Protestant. That is not so; on the contrary I have become more united than ever before to the person of Jesus Christ, for I have accepted Him, without reserve, as Master and Saviour. I must tell you that this experience has filled my soul with deep joy and with an absolute certainty concerning my eternal salvation. The fact that Protestant ministers become Catholics or that priests become Protestants, leaves me quite indifferent. The only thing that matters to God is that one should become a new creature in Jesus Christ. (Galatians 6: 15.) With regard to Luther, I am not worrying about his teachings. I have read in the encyclopedia that he protested principally against indulgeneps and purgatory. One teaching alone is right and true-that of Jesus Christ. ("The Word is truth," John XVII. 17.) He did not come to establish Catholicism or Protestantism, or any other religion, but He came into the world to save sinners. (1 Timothy 1: 15.) "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John III. 16.) He came also to build His ehureh, which is composed of His redeemed ones, called elsewhere, living stones, of whieh Jesus Christ Himself is the Chief. (1 Pet. II. 4-8.) In the Bible there is no question of the pope of Rome, or any such thing, but on the other hand it is said: "But be not ye called Masters; for One is your Master, even Christ." (Matt. XXIII. 8, 9, 10.) I like to believe that if you had known Who was my Master, you would never have invited me to leave Him, and still more, you would not invite me to return to the religion of my youth, for we are not saved by the vain manner of living which we have inherited from our fathers but by the precious blood of Christ (1 Pet. I. 18-19), who said, "Ye must be born again." (John III. 3-7.) You see, Sir, it is not by the more or less religious practices of this or that religion that we obtain salvation, but by faith in Jesus Christ, "for by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast." (Eph.II.8-9.) He also has said: "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." (John XIV. 6.) This word would seem to exclude all the worship you render to the saints and Mary, hoping thereby to obtain large blessings. "There is one mediator between God and men," said the apostle Paul, "the man Christ Jesus." I could give you many other passages from God's Word to whieh you would be as greatly in opposition as to those I have just quoted. I trust these will be enough to show you the regrettable contrast which exists between the teachings of the pope and those of Jesus Christ.
You use as a pretext for your defense the argument that my Bible is not true; I leave it to you to examine the texts quoted. above and see if they are not in accord with your Bible. Signed, T—.
So goes forward the Word of God in this thirsty land, and it will go forward more quickly and more surely yet, if those at home will pray and do all they can to cooperate with God.
of Religious Liberty in
BY ROBERT E. SPEER Secretary. of the Pres~yterian Board of Foreign Missions, U.S.A.
T WENTY-FIVE years ago, in November, 1896, Dr. F. G. Coan, of Urumia, and I made a chappar journey from Ramadan to visit the missionaries in Teheran. We rode post horses eastward from Ramadan as long as they were obtainable, changing horses at the end of each three hours and covering between seventy and a hundred miles a day. We covered the last stage to Saveh in a rough cart drawn by one big horse between the shafts and a little horse hitched outside the shaft by ropes. The driver assured us that our troubles would be at an end when we reached Saveh at noon, for there the post diligence from the south to the capitol would be waiting for us. ".And once you are on board," said he, "it will travel like a flame." The flame-like diligence was not waiting, but it toiled in at midnight. It was a covered Russian forgan very much like the prairie schooner of the old days in the West. It was loaded with bags and mail parcels, leaving but a scanty space between the cargo and the wooden ribs over which the canvas top was spread. It had already a good complement of passengers, including three Sayids (descendants of Mohammed). They were somewhat dandified young men, wearing, beside the green sashes that marked their order, nice camel hair abbas and rather dainty heelless slippers. They made it plain that we were no welcome addition to their company, and set up a barrier of luggage across the wagon, leaving Dr. Coan and me an isolated section at the rear.
The next day we encountered snow and heavy storms, which almost blocked the road. I remember our finding one poor traveler dead by the roadside, lying cold and stiff in the snow. For hours we trudged along in the cold and wet, stopping in the roadside tea honses as we came to them for a few moments of warmth and shelter. We were all caught in one common misery, but our Mohammedan friends made it plain that even in misery there was to be no community with ns. We were bad enough dry, but our wet infidelity was doubly contaminating. They would touch no tea glasses out of which we had drunk, and by the tea house fires drew their cloaks about them that they might not be defiled by our touch. Neither food nor fellowship would they share with us, and not one human courtesy did they show us. Perhaps they had less of the natural kindness of the Persian heart than was usual in those days even among the Sayids and Mollahs, but in general their attitude of intolerance was characteristic a quarter of a century ago. No doubt there were many exceptions and even then Persian Mohammedanism was far more kindly and 632 accessible than the Sunni Mohammedans of Turkey, but the day of toleration had not come.
Last February on our return journey from Meshed to Teheran we had a very different experience. For a week we had as a fellow traveler on the post wagon a Mohammedan merchant from Meshed on his way to Teheran. He was a very devout man. Morning, afternoon, and evening when we stopped to change horses, he would bathe his feet and wash his arms from elbow to fingers, after the Shiah fashion, and then before us all without either shame or ostentation, would say his prayers. We sat together day after day in friendly fellowship, sharing our food and wrapping him in our own blankets when the weather was too cold for the insufficient cloaks he had brought. One long afternoon and evening we were all drenched together by a heavy rain which ended in a fierce wind and sleet, so that even the dogged old post courier, whom nothing could daunt, was forced to order the wagon to lay up at the next caravanserai un~il the storm should abate. It turned out to be no caravanserai at all, however, but only a desolate chappar station with no accommodations. The wagon was sheltered in a roofed passage way, and the old courier and Dr. McDowell, of Teheran, who was with us, wrapped themselves in their blankets and slept on the load. The three of us, however, and the merchant set out in the night to find, if we could, a tea house in which to dry out and rest. Through the whistling wind and rain and the mud and a little running stream we made our way to a closed tea house, which {he merchant got open for us. Then he had fires built, at which he helped us to dry out our wet clothes, arranged places where we could lie down for a little sleep, got tea for us with his own hands, and then insisted on carrying a pot of tea out through the stormy night to Dr. McDowell. No mother could have been more solicitous for her children, more fun of tender and loving care than the good man was of us. He was as devout a Moslem as we had met, and he lived in the most sacred city of Persia. The whole week that we were together he treated us as brothers, and we s~id good-bye to him at last with what, I am sure, was genuine mutual affection and sincere regret that we would never meet again. As we sat together in our wet clothes around the little brazier fire in the tea house at Mehman Dust, I recalled the experience of twenty-five years ago in the post wagon on the Kum road. No doubt some of the difference between that experience and this was due to differences in personal character, hut unquestionably also the two experiences are representative of a great change which has taken place in Persia.
FREEDOM OF WOMEN.
There could be no more notable indication of this change than is found in the increased freedom of women. For a long time the influence of the moUahs resisted the education of girls, b1}.t within
the last few years mollahs who undertook to resist the movement have been openly flouted. A large .proportion of the girls ill- our mission girls' schools are now from Moslem homes, incluqing the homes of the most prominent officials and ecclesiastics. They are all openly taught the Bible, in many cases by well known Moslem women who have become Christians. The old limitations of woman's dress have not been thrown aside, but they have been greatly relaxed, and the women are increasingly careless in covering their faces. Mrs. Boyce has written the following short statement regarding .some. of the most recent changes in the life and interest of Persian women: "Since Persia adopted constitutional government in 1906, there has been a great awakening among the Mohammedan Wfjmen of this country. This has found expression in the opening of many girls' schools in the larger cities, notably in Teheran. Three years ago the Government opened ten free schools for girls in Teheran and in a number of other places. These schools )ifer a four-years' course which a child would naturall:y complete at the age of ten. The private schools give two years more. In connection with two private schools the Government has established an additional three-years'
course, designed to train girls for teaching. A signi.ficant fact about the higher courses is that men are teaching some of them, for up toi now men have not been employed in Persian schools for girls, except in our Mission schools.
About fifty girls are taking the advanced courses which a girl would ordinarily complete at the ago of fifteen or sixteen. French is taught in many of the private schools but only as a language, not as a medium of instruction.
There is no demand in these schools for English. The only other training open to girls is a course in midwifery, given in French by a French woman doctor connected with one of the government hospitals.. Judging by the wonderful progress in the last fifteen years, we can be very sure that the Persian schools for girls are going to increase in numbers and in standard of work done.
"Another sign of awakening has been the pUblication of four papers for women,-the first in Isfahan, three years ago, the second in Teheran, the third by the alumnre of our girls' school in Teheran, the fourth appearing in Meshed and then moving to Teheran. The Isfahan paper was suppressed because the bright woman who published it could not keep her pen out of politics. The Meshed paper was sensationally suppressed because it spoke too frankly on the subject of freedom for women and aroused the opposition of the mollahs. The second on the list moved to Tabriz and probably stopped for lack of funds, so that the magazine our alumnre are publishing is the only surviving member of the quartette. .
" A third sign of the times could be discerned in the anjomans or societies, several of which existed in Teheran last year and there were said to be some in other cities. These societies were short-lived, as a change in the Govern- ment forbade all kinds of meetings for several months. Their purpose was to work for the freedom of women, especially for their unveiling. The society I knew best had about 50 members; men and women met together with open faces, the only condition being that every man who attended should be accompanied by wife or sister as his chaperon! This year a group of young men, graduates of our boys' school, have formed a similar society among themselves to work for the freedom 01 women.
"The unveiling of Mohammedan women in Constantinople is bound to have a great effect on the Mohammedan women of Persia. With the unveiling of Persian women there will come tremendous changes in the whole state of
1922] GROWTH OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN PERSIA
society and a demand for the kind of education which wilI fit women to :fill many positions which women cannot now occupy."
The work at everv one of the mission stations in Persia is a witness to the new f;eedom. The very existence of the Meshed station would not have been possible twenty-five years ago. At least one of those who undertook missionary work there in the early days had to be sheltered from harm in the British consulate. Noone would have dared then to rent us property for missionary use. Today leading ecclesiastics connected with the Shrine itself are ready to facilitate the purchase of property for the Mission. Some thirty years ago the Persian Government demanded the removal from Urumia of a German missionary who had come for direct work among Moslems. Today we have "been urged by Persian officials and Moslem ecclesiastics not to let anything interfere with the return of our Mission to Urumia to work there both for Christians and for Mohammedans. Some thirty years ago when it was reported to the Shah that Moslems were attending the Mission services in Teheran, Nasr-i-din replied, "I cannot prevent their hearing, but if they apostatize let them beware." When the Teheran hospital was built, the Shah conditioned his permission for its building, declaring, "all tile workmen and servants must be Mohammedans. A Mohammedan chaplain must be supported from Mission funds, and the call to prayer must be regularly sounded in accordance with the customs of Islam." It is needless to say that nothing of the sort was ever done, but the significant thing is that the very idea of such conditions as these would never enter anyone's mind today.
In Tabriz the change that has taken place is perhaps even more notable. In 1874, the Armenian priests stirred up the Moslem mujtahids, or ecclesiastics, and a number of Moslems attending the Ohristian services on Sunday were seized and beaten, one of them to death. In consequence more Moslems than ever came to hear the missionaries, and to learn what so offended t.he priests. In 1885 fanat.icism again broke out, and the city was in an uproar against a Moslem, Mirza Ali, who proclaimed belief in Christianity, and who had to flee from the country: In 1892 the Government wit.hout. ;:tny notification locked the doors of the church and school, and put red sealing wax over the keyholes. The reasons assigned were, "lack of proper permission to build a church, having the Ten Commandments written in the interior of the church in a Mohammedan language and in the sacred blue color, having a water tank under the church in which to baptize converts, having a tower in which it was intended to put a bell, baptizing Mussulmans, one of whom (Mirza Ibrahim) was now in prison, receiving Mussulman boys into our school and women to the church, having Dr. Bradford's dispensary near the church." After explanations and a long delay, the seals were removed, the Government issuing the following order to be
missionaries: "That we must not receive Mussulman women and children to our schools or church, that we must not take photographs of Mussulman women, that we must not conduct ourselves contrary to custom."
Over all work for Mohammedans at that time hung the black shadow of the remembrance of the fate of Mirza Ibrahim. He was a Mohammedan of Khoi who found peace in Christ for his troubled heart, and was publicly baptized in 1890. The mollahs reasoned with him, and tried to bribe him, his wife and children left him, and took all his property according.to Moslem law. While he was going about villages preaching, he was arrested and taken before the governor in Urumia. When he spoke for Christ, saying, "He is my Saviour," they cried, "Beat him." He was beaten and reviled, but he only replied, as his face shone, "So was my Saviour beaten. H After a short imprisonment he was removed to Tabriz. As he was led away from the prison, he solemnly called his fellow prisoners to witness that he was free from their blood if they should reject the way of life, and "they all rose with heavy chains on their necks and bade him go in peace, while they prayed that his God and the Saviour whom he trusted would protect him." One of the Mohammedan officers who had watched him, said to the Mohammedan crowd in the yard: "This is a wonderful man. He is as brave as a lion. A mollah has just been trying to convince him of his error, but he replies to everything, and the mollah has gone away with his head hanging down. He says that Mohammed is not a prophet, and that unless they can prove that he is, from the holy books, he will not give up his faith in Christ, even if they cut off his head. " His last request as he set out for the capital of the province was: "Pray for me that I may be a witness for Christ before the great of my people. I have no fear though I know that I shall die. Good-by." Some of the officials in Tabriz and Urumia seemed to be in real sympathy with the prisoner, but he was cast into the dark dungeon at Tabriz, chained to vile criminals, beaten, stunned and deprived of his clothes and bedding. One night when he witnessed for Christ to his fellow prisoners, they fell upon him, kicked him, and took turns in choking him. His throat swelled so that he .could scarcely swallow or speak, and on Sunday May 14, 1893, he died from his injuries. When the Crown Prince was informed of his death he asked, "How did he die?" The jailor answered, "He died like a Christian."
"He through fiery trials trod, And from great affiiction came; Now before the throne of God, Sealed with His almighty name, Clad in raiment pure and white, Victor palms within his hands, Through his dear Redeemer's might More than conqueror he stands."
1922J GROWTH OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN PERSIA
He was buried by night in th~ grave of a rich Moslem, whose body had been removed. All the conditions are changed today.
Twenty-six years ago I went to see the dungeon in which Mirza Ibrahim had been imprisoned and where he died, but his grave it was said, was secret, and I could not be taken to it lest the betrayal of the place might lead to some fanatical riot. On the present visit the dungeon was no longer in existence, but there was now no concealment of the grave, and the Mohammedan who had buried Mirza Ibrahim in it, now a Christian, offered to take me to the spot.
We attended large gatherings of Moslem converts and inquirers who came and went without hindrance and fear. We visited the tea houses in the central bazaars where the Scriptures were sold and the Gospel was preached without opposition, and so long as the work was tactfully done, with the thorough good will of the people. A policeman came into one of the tea houses while we were there, and with a smile of friendy greeting, bought ibis bread and sat down while Mr. Wilson and Rabbi Ephraim, the agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, sold Scriptures, read the story of our Lord's temptation, talked about the Saviour and offered prayer. Not long A PERSIAN MOSLEM IN THE MESHED DISTRICT ago one of the Moslem converts was called up by the the police. "There is nothing secret," he replied. "Come and hear what is said and see what is done."
In what was formerly an inaccessible Mohammedan quarter of the city, there is now a flourishing school for girls from Moslem homes. We visited it, and the coming of four men to a Mohammedan girls' school instantly aroused questioning. A deputation of ecclesiastics called to order the suppression of the school, but when it was known that we had requested the girls, according to their own custom, to draw their chudders over their faces before we came in a favorable murmur went about the city, and the school continued undisturbed. "The city is greatly pleased with Mr. Speer's visit," one of the leading men told Dr. Vanneman, "because he told the Mohammedan girls to cover their faces before he spoke to them at the. Kheaban school." There are eight other requests for similar school~
in other districts of Tabriz which the Mission could establish if it were able to do so.
The doors are still wider open, if that be possible, in the villages. Garabed, the evangelist who worked for so many years with Miss Holliday, told us of calls that had come for village schools from twenty-three Moslem villages in the district of Garadag. A.1I these calls were sealed by the Moslem village masters. 'He had a list of . several hundred Moslem families who wanted to moVe to some Chris- tian village and join the Christian community as soon as they had reaped their present harvest. He was meeting with no opposition either from the M.oslem village owners or from the mollahs. ,In all the villages they were treating him as a friend, entertaining him and providing for his transportation from village to village. .
A new freedom of speech has come in Persia, as regards teli'gibn, but in politics the censorship is still rigid enoug-h. When we were in Tabriz, every newspaper had been suppressed~ They will emerge again, however, and no doubt will be many more times suppressed before the day of complete liberty of political discussion comes. So far as religion is concerned no one who behaves prudently and tem- perately need fear. One hears the frankest talk about Islam'from all classes of the people high and low. One of the most influential publications is the Kaveh, a monthly magazine published by young Persians living in Berlin, but widely circulated in Persia. Recently it has printed a series of articles en- titled, "Famous Men of the East and West." The number for October 3, 1921, contained the life of Martin Luther. Mr. Donald- son, of Meshed, showed us the article, and summarized its translation.
"It starts out by saying that it is generally recognized by European thinkers that if Martin Luther had not broken the power and bigotry of the Catholic priesthood Europe would not have reached the modern degree of civilization and enlightenment. He showed that there must be freedom of thought in religion and that religion in itself is not contrary to reason. His work was in the beginning of the reign of reason, when science and philosophy were taking new life, and with the new freedom of thought, the Christian religion made rapid progress. A.ccordingly science, civilization, and the reli- gion of Christendom, owe an everlasting debt of gratitude to Martin Luther.
, 'The article goes on to point out that in Mohammedan countries today there are reforms needed in many lines, among which are the following: 1. Considering others than Moslems unclean. 2. The imprisonment of women by the purdah system. 3. The legalizing of polygamy. 4. The ease of divorce. 5. Deeming -those of religions other than al-i-kitab infidels and worthy of death. 6. The restriction of religious teaching to the A.rabic language. "The story of the life of Martin Luther is then narrated, and through- out there is emphasis on the necessity for freedom of thought in order that .civilization may advance and intellectual progress may be made possible."
(To be concluded in September.)
and His
(By the late Robert Hamill Nassau, M.D., D.D. For half a century a missionary of the Presbyterian Board in West Africa. Author of "Fetishism" and other books.) ETIYANI, son of Nyenye, a young man in Cameroon, West Africa, became a Christian. He had been a polygamist to the extent that besides his young wife, Mabito, he had bought a little girl, Aka, as a prospective wife, but on his conversion he left the child in charge of his family. Simultaneously with his conversion, he was seized with a strong desire for an education, and had llsked to be allowed to become a pupil at Elongo, the mission school on the island of Corisco.
It was a test for him, a grown man, to sit with little boys and be ' subject to the rules governing them. He placed his young wife in the Corisco Girls' School, where she also became a Christian. A year later she and Etiyani were formally married with Ohristian ceremony. Then he was sent to his tribe on the mainland as an evangelist and later was made a ruling elder.
But Etiyani's wife died, and resuming possession of young Aka, he placed her in Mrs. Nassau's care for education and training so that Aka also became a Ohristian and a lovely character. Then there happened a sad romance. The young woman had no interest in Etiyani, other than that he "owned" her. Those were days when the only way for even a Christian to obtain a wife was to buy one. With the new freedom of thought learned in the mission home, Aka's eyes and heart had turned toward a young man of her own choice. One night she eloped with him. A hard task was laid on me. She was brought back to me; for she wa's "property" that had been entrusted to my hands. Her young lover had done wrong in abducting her without first ba,rgaining with her owner. It was possible for me to retain her only by actual confinement; I had to compel Aka to enter the boat with me for a sea journey down the coast to Aje, where Etiyani has his new station.
She sullenly walked with me to the village, where I summoned Etiyani, and told him the circumstances. I asked him whether he still desired to exercise his claim on her. He said that he did. Here was a most trying position. If I left Aka as his wife without a ceremony, both he andl would be breaking a rule of the Presbytery which required a formal marriage. But, would she consent ~ Probably not. What should I do? I believed that her infatuation for her young lover was a fancy that would pass. So I performed a ceremony in which he said " Yes" and she said " No. " And I left them to the healing in1luence of time.
Those were days when the only qualification expected in a native 639
woman was submission. All my pity and sympathy went out to her. But law prevailed. Very unwillingly she accepted Etiyani as her husband. He was not personally attractive to her young fancy. But he was kind and ju,st and patient. She made him a faithful wife and bore him a number of children. She carried herself, to the end of her life, as a good Christian, a wise mother, and a woman of dignity.
Dr. Robert Hamill Nassau, Pioneer BY REV. WILLIAM PORTER LEE, D.D. in the Presbyterian Dr. Nassau was born in Montgomery Square, Pa., on October 11, 1835. For a time his father, Rev. Charles William Nassau,· D.D., was president of Lafayette College, and later principal of Lawrenceville School. From the latter institution, Dr. Nassau graduated as valedictorian, in 1851, and entered the sophomore class of Princeton University, from which he was graduated sixteenth, in a class of eighty, in June, 1854. Hei died in Philadelphia on May 6, 1921.
While in the sophomore year at Prhiceton, Dr. Nassau publicly confessed his faith in Jesus Christ. To quote his ·own words: "Then there came a fearful day in my seventeenth year when I realized that failing to acknowledge Christ publicly I had practically denied Him. The Saviour lovingly laid His hand on me, as I sank at the foot of a tree in Princeton, and said: 'Here, Lord, I give myself away, 'tis all that I can do.' It was then a joyous privilege to profess publicly my trust in him. "
It was not easy for him to become a missionary, or even to become a minister of the Gospel. He wished to become a soldier and to enter West Point. Finally, however, the surrender was complete and when he offered himself to the Foreign Board in 1859, he requested to be sent to the most difficult and dangerous post in foreign service. He was assigned to· tropical West Airica, then considered the severest climate in all mission countries. As a precaution and that he might be better fitted to render service to the natives there, Dr. Nassau took a course in the Medical DepartJnent of the University of Pennsylvania, with the degree of M.D., in May, 1859. He was ordained and went to the Island of Corisco, West Africa, to begin 11 life of service and adventure seldom equaled over a period of more than half a century. He saw splendid fruitage as the result of his labors, and in many respects he was ahead of his time in his thinking upon missionary methods. He was in the habit of saying he could help evangelize with a hoe, or a saw-mill. His requests for such appliances were not looked upon with favor, and he was reminded that he was "sent to preach the gospel." In the present day, with developments in medical, educational and printing agencies, and even with agriculture, we see the realization of what Dr. Nassau desired.
Not long ago he wrote what may be considered his valedictory, as follows: "It is with a deep satisfaction that I look back on the privilege and honor that God gave me of service in his foreign missionary work. Whatever failures or errors there may have been in my life on a foreign field, I rejoice that I could go to one of the most difficult fields, and that I was enabled, by careful hygiene, under God's directing hand, to live in a hostile climate longer than any of my associates and to bear trials and dangers equal to those that had fallen on them. I look back with gratitude on the fact that the Master allowed me to share, if in the pain, also, in the honor of His Cross."
INTERIOR OF MR. GORDON'S MISSION MOTOR TRUCK IN
Motor Truck Mission Work in India BY DAVID R. GORDON, PUN.TAB, INDIA Missionary of the United Presbyterian Mission W HEN missionary work was begun in Gurdaspur, in the Pun- jab, North India, fifty years ago, the Gospel had never before been preached in that region. Rev. Andrew Gordon, with his wife and three children, made the first missionary tour of the district in 1875, camping for three months in a large tent that was car- ried on an oxcart. Every winter after that year, missionaries have made these tours so that the 700 villages and towns of Gurdaspm have heard the Gospel message, some of them many times.
About the year 1884, with God's blessing on this ten years of seed sowing, a mass-movement among the Chuhras, or low-castt people, began to manifest itself, and little Christian communities sprang up all over the district. These communities are now found in 120 of the 700 towns and villages, and the work of organizing them into regular congregations with settled pastors; and starting, main- taining and superintending village schools for their children, constitutes a part of the task of the district missionary. For this task, 4 Nl
itinerating work throughout the five winter months from November to March inclusive is very essential.
Transportation by ox-carts is exceedingly slow and clumsy. Under the most favorable circumstances, on good roads, the rate of speed is only abont two miles per hour. Camels are more satisfactory, for they can go across fields, taking a bee-line for the new camp. But there are many draw-backs to both ox-carts and camels. They are very expensive to hire and when a camel takes a notion, after being loaded, to prance around, the load may fall off and the contents of the medicine box spreads itself over clothes, books, etc.; the kerosene oil tin may spread its contents over potatoes, vegetables and other provisions and the tent-poles, tables, chairs, etc., are apt to be candidates for the repair shop.
In due time, with the help of friends during a trip to America on furlough in 1912, the long cherished dream of the missionary- "better transportation facilities"-was realized in the form of a one-ton truck. The chassis came from America but the body was constructed according to my own plan in the Boys' Industrial Home in Gujranwala. The bed is nine feet long by five feet wide. On moving days, I put my Indian motorcycle, our boxes, bedding, bed, small bureau, camp table, chairs and large water-can, made out of an old hundred-pound zinc carbide tin; five or six small tents, with their poles, etc., for the Indian helpers, their small boxes, bedding, etc. and themselves, into this capacious truck and transport it to our new camp.
The body of the truck is so constructed as to enable us by letting down the two sides and end onto supporting arms, raising the top on its four sliding corner posts so as to be high enough for us to walk about inside, letting the side and end curtains down and buttoning them securely to the floor, to transform it in a few minutes from a transporting truck to a delightful little room in which my wife and I live and work each winter season in Gurdaspur district.
For eight years this truck has proved one of the most useful adjuncts in my mission work. There is almost no end to the useful purposes which it has served. Besides comprising our transporting vehicle and living quarters in camp, it has given the exhilarating pleasure of the first motor ride to thousands of people, it has drawn together crowds of hundreds and sometimes thousands of people and given us the opportunity of preaching the Gospel to them, it has proved invaluable in the Evangelistic Campaigns carried on from year to year. It has helped out in numerous ways at the annual Sialkot Convention both in transporting people· as well as tents, goods and provisions. It has transported almost the whole Presbytery at times both for regular stated meetings and in organizing new congregations in Gurdaspur district. It has done duty as a hearse and in many other ways it has proved its wonderful. utility.
BY MRS. E. C. CRONK, 1612 GROVE AVENUE, RICHMOND
COMING BACK HOME H AVE you ever come from the train or the boat and faced the long line of eager faces looking for expected friends'
Have you watched one face after another light up with joy as those friends were recognized among the incoming throng!
Have you noted the spontaneous efforts of the incoming passengers to disentangle hands from baggage complications in order to wave enthusiastic response to the welcon;e?
Have you known the sudden ache that comes when yo~ realize that not one in that waiting throng is looking for you Y Have you felt that you 'would be willing to payout your last cent to see some face light up expectantly for you and that you would drop all of your bags to acknowledge even a slight sign of welcome sent in your direction'
Suppose you had been away for seven years, until the country to which you were returning was new and strange.
Suppose you were coming home and had no home to which to come.
Suppose you had one short year to spend at home-one year in which to build up physically, mentally and spiritually; to rest; to study; to travel; to speak; to plan; to give out information and inspiration so that the home Church would rally more faithfully to the support of your work; one .year to get information and inspiration to carry you through seven more years.
Suppose the home Church really understood the necessities and the possibilities of the missionary furlough. During war days we learned the supreme importance of keeping our overseas forces fit. We sent them players and singers and entertainers. Comfort kits, letters and boxes from home cheered them. We quickly comprehended that unless men had courage and cheer and hope in their hearts they would never win a war.
Yet how frequently and how constantly we take the heart out of our missionary expeditionary forces. Missionaries require no pampering. They want no pity. They are men and women with a great work to do and all they want is a fair chance to do it.
The furlough year is a year of opportunity for the home Church as well as for the missionary. We do well to learn methods for making the most of it. .
643
TO THE FURLOUGHED and mind ~nd spirit should be strengthened. MISSIONARY These perIOds are necessary in order that Here's to the furloughed mission- the missionary may keep in touch WIth home conditions and the church of which he ary! is a representative. Reunion with friends Tired out and worn on the field and relatives, special study' in preparation for particular work in the :field and the he comes back, and 10, he fires to fresh cultivation of interest and sympathy for flame the enthusiasm and zeal of the the cause of missions are also proper fur· home Church! He comes to' receive longh objectives."
yet is a giver to others. Men and Nothing can more admirably epitowomen deaf to other calls stand still m~ze. the uses of a furlough to the and listen, challenged by the consecra- mIssIOnary. tion of the life behind the words he speaks. Millions of donars have been Medical departments arrange for given in answer to his appeal. Thou- the careful physical examination by sands of lives have "followed in his a~pr:oved .physicians of all returning train." Little children have listened mISSIOnarIeS, that means may be and have answered "Send me," and promptly taken to correct health dehave kept the determination in their fects. Only after such a period of hearts until they were sent. Women rest and recuperation, as may be have given their jewels, men have re- necessary in the judgment of the sponded with wealth of gold and of medical department, are missionaries life. expected to place themselves at the disposal of the Board for field work Down through' all the years we look or for further preparation, as may at that long line of men and women seem best. who have come back from facing the dangers and difficulties of the foreign This furlough policy is sane and field to face the dangers and diffi- progressive. It is characteristic of culties of an indifferent home church. statesmanship found in all efficient Only a few have faltered and failed. Boards today. In almost unbroken line they have stood, themselves the testimony to the Preparation for a Furlough.-While cause they plead. recognizing the emergencies and un- foreseen occurrences which so often Here's to the furloughed mission- dislocate the best made human plans, nevertheless a program, anticipating MY! the normal furloughs of missionaries THE USE AND MISUSE OF THE in any given field, distributed over five or more years contributes greatly MISSIONARY FURLOUGH to the constructive policy of that field and motivates the plans and ideals of OHAS. B. HILL, of the Bombay Oonference the individual missionaries. It pre- vents the exodus of too many experi- of the Methodist Episcopal Church. enced missionaries from the same area in anyone year-a circumstance Policy in respect to a missionary's which often conduces to the breakfurlough is as interesting as it has down of those who remain on the field been progressive. In the early years and who endeavor to "carryon." of m?dern missions, pioneers leaving for dIstant fields bade a final farewell It distributes more evenly the finanto their native land. Even in the cial outlay, occasioned by necessary Illosing decades of the nineteenth cen- travel expense. It helps the missiontury, a furlough was viewed as a ary concerned to plan and arrange necessary evil. Today the attitude of more adequately for his work on the most Foreign Mission Boards is typically represented in the following: "The missionary furlough is a period of field and, as the furlough period apre~ease frpm mission work on the :field. The proaches, to give careful considera· prImary purpose of the furlough is that of tion to the ends he desires to achieve the better preparation of the missionary for his work. Weakened nerves should be rested when at home.
BEST METHODS
The Problem of Location.-In all more economies than the family antici- departments of human interest and pated when coming on furlough, and, culture rapid advances are being made unfortunately, makes the task of possible, owing to modern facilities housekeeping no small undertaking for research and experimentation, for the wife. This strain is danger- and, nowhere, more conspicuously is ously near to being a possible abuse this characteristically true than in of a furlough.
America. The missionary, living Not wholly unrelated to this matter largely in static civilizations, and of location is that of providing ac- recognizing from his reading that commodation for missionaries in tran- there has been much progress in all sit when arriving or departing, at the fields of thought and social endeavor, great ports of the country. Most mis- is naturally keen to utilize the fur- sionaries at such times prefer to be in lough period, to catch up in a personal the city rather than at some distance way with the findings and practices from the center of business, and, of modern usage. He is keenly aware would prefer a more home-like and that the intelligent minds of the Christian atmosphere as well las a Orient and other lands are coming in more simple life than the average city increasing numbers to American in- hotel provides.
Iltitutions, and in returning to their The Furlough Period.-The mis- native countries are bringing with sionary has returned to America, and them knowledge and methods with finds that the problems of his per- which he must compete at a disad- sonal and family life are being as vantage unless, when opportunity is carefully provided for as circum- afforded, he uses it to the largest pos- stances will permit.
sible extent. Very early, after arrival, expert In an increasing degree the prob- medical opinion indicates just what lem of the modern missionary is to physical recuperation and repairs are find a suitable furlough location. Not necessary and usually indicates what only must his children have educa- length of rest is essential. This, apart tional facilities, but he also should se- from any pathological recommenda- cure opportunities for post-graduate tion, will give the missionary an ~tudies in theology, medicine, peda- opportunity to get his bearings, tci un- gogy, industrial arts, etc. derstand with greater appreciation The problem is poorly met by the policy of his Board in its broad breaking up the family, so that the implications of appeal and presenta- wife and children, to save expense, tion of missionary news and need, and remain in the quieter atmosphere of a will help him to adjust his personal country town, while the husband and field experience so as to make it most father finds lodging in some large city fruitful when the opportunity for because of the university there and deputation work is afforded.
its affiliated schools. The separation To conserve the wisest use of a fur- from some of the children is inevit- lough so far as deputation and serv- able and will probably come soon ice among the churches are concerned, enough when he leaves them to return a training conference of a few days, is to his field for several years. It does most valuable. The best and most 'Seem, however, that an earlier separa- experienced missionaries in deputation tion is an abuse of the furlough. work have mnch to learn as to effec- , How to meet the rent of a modest tive methods. Apart from its value apartment in a large city or even in as a school of methods such a gather- its immediate vicinity is one of the ing brings, the missionary into con- first harassing financial problems of tact with the denominational leaders the furloughed missionary, since it is of his church, and gives him delight- an item far beyond the allowance ful association with missionaries from made for that purpose. It entails far other fie'lds.
Perhaps, the most important use of MAKING FURLOUGHS WORTH a furlough is that which is related to WHILE the spiritual life of the missionary. By ERNEST F. HALL, D.D. As an experience this is always personal and sacred, but it is so intrin- Field Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of sically the impelling motive of all his Foreign Missions work that it may safely be taken for The furlough of the missionary has granted that any furlough which has been arranged by his Board so as to not made provision for this refreshing give him a much-needed rest from the and replenishing of the. soul has been '3trenuous life on the mission field, misused. The more so when in the every few years, to prepare himself office of leader and prophet on the for- more thoroughly to carry on his work eign field, the missionary is daily ex- effectively, and to stimulate the pected to give of the abundance of his churches in the homeland by fresh heart's spiritual resources, when he is information. It is often difficult for only too conscious that he himself is a missionary to know how his fur- in need. Lough time should be divided to ac- Opportunities to attend the great complish best all of these objects. The conventions and gatherings of his maximum time he usually spends in Church should be utilized, where the United States is one year, unless forces for spiritual conquest are gen- , some emergency requires an extension ~rated and higher planes of Christian of the time. Sometimes he remains service are reached. Herein, many a only six months.
missionary is heartened and spiritu- The three furlough objectives, ally invigorated, so that the uplift his health, better preparation, and help to soul receives carries him forward long the home churches, will be considered marches in the contest with supersti- in the order of their importance. tion, sin and false religions and enables him to face old and trying 1. Health of the Missionary.:-This situations with larger faith and vision. is the most important furlough objec- tive, because the mission fields and the Preparation for Return.-It is evi- homeland have too many graves of dent that preparation for return is young missionaries, and some retired the dominating motive of a mission- missionaries might still be on the field ary furlough-preparation of body, had their health abroad and at home mind and soul. Intention to retire been more carefully guarded. "Over" from the mission field should be in- worked," "nerves," etc., may be dicated, whenever possible, before the arrival of the missionary. Failure in written of many broken-down missionthis constitutes an outstanding abuse aries. Some mission boards have of the furlough privilege. appointed medical secretaries at head- quarters to study the health conditions Apart from the joy and uplift of family reunions and the renewal of missionary service, with a view to of social contacts, the opportunity of prolonging the life and conserving the looking at the completed period of service in perspective constrains strength of thei'r missionaries. Boards every earnest missionary so to utilize usually require all missionaries to his furlough, that his return to the field may be characteFized by larger make the first part of their furlough. usefulness. This feature in itself is a a complete rest, with no speaking apstrong incentive to the right use and a pointments, whether they are ill or '3trenuous purpose to eliminate the tired or not. Of course there are some "incorrigibles," on whom such re- quirements rest very ligh.tly. They chances of misuse of a furlough. In /lre apt to gratify their strenuous nathe attainment of its helpful purpose tures by reporting at the end of a the Board arid the missionary con- very busy furlough that they have cerned .can happily cooperate. traveled so many thousands of miles
BEST METHODS
and delivered so many hundreds of Some missionaries have traveled ex- addresses. tensively among the home churches, as The lack of workers in all mission a missionary for China who spent fields causes severe strain on t4e mis- several months in visiting all the '>ionaries, and their living conditions churches in Montana, large and small, • are sometimes such as to lower their which could plan for him. Another vitality and make them victims of the missionary spent his furlough as as- diseases prevalent in foreign lands. sistant pastor in the city church The home churches should know this which supports him, the church thus and should not interpret the refusal coming to know him better and to feel of missionaries to do constant speak- that he is really one of the pastors of ing as laziness or indifference. The the church, serving in their foreign missionary needs relaxation and rec- parish. Another missionary took the reation. My estimate of a certain place of a pastor who was overseas missionary went up several points during the war, occupied the manse when he took me off to a baseball game with his family, and was active pastor in New York and showed himself to of the church for a year. His inftu- be a real" fan" at the game. He was ance in the community was very being recreated by forgetting his marked in many ways. The mission work for the time and living in a dif- boards frequently .use furloughed ferent world. At about seventy he is missionaries for special work. During still doing very active mission work. the past year a medical missionary 2. Better preparation.-No mission- has been engaged in organizing ary can expect to keep efficient the medical department of one of the without constant study. The opportu- boards, and another missionary of the nities for advanced study are exceed- same denomination has been assigned ingly limited on the mission field, and to recruiting new missionaries among his furlough affords an opportunity the colleges and seminaries. Higher for such study. Some boards believe institutions of learning frequently that the first furlough, aside from the have furloughed missionaries in resi- time needed for rest, should be spent dence on the campus for one or more in special study, and that the mission- months, and provide accommodations ary should do very little public speak- for a missionary alone or with his ing. Missionary work has become so family while he pursues special study, highly specialized, in the departments realizing that the institution gets of church work, healing, teaching, and value received in the influence on the 'Social reconstruction, that the mis- faculty and students.
'Sionary, like leaders in America, must The missionary's salary is not large, as far as possible keep abreast of thc his house and household possessions are latest developments in his depart- in a foreign country, which produces ment, else he will be out-distanced by financial embarrassment while he is those who go to study in America and on furlough with his family. Some Europe from the country where he churches provide a furnished house or works, and thus be in danger of fail- apartment for their missionaries while ing to carry out successfully his in the homeland, and thus help to mission. . make the furlough of greater value by relieving the strain caused by lack 3. He~ping Home Churches.-The· of funds. If the missionary is ex- pected to help the churches, the Home Base of missions must con- stantly be strengthened by fresh in- formation concerning the success of the enterprise. Clearer vision, deeper churches ought to provide for the comconviction, new inspiration and larger fort of their missionaries on furlough. giving of life and possessions come The Church does not provide the with the' knowledge of progress as Board with sufficient funds to do this. given personally by a missionary. The value of the furlough depends in /
part on what the churches do for the are now as I look back over the past missionaries. year. One thing is the perpetual rush To sum it all up, the missionary in which Americans seem to live. I must "keep fit" physically, intellec- was rushed so in the first few months tually and spiritually, help the at home in the efforts to get informachurches to "keep fit, " and the tion about my field to as many people churches must help· him to "keep fit. " as possible that several weeks in a hospital were the result. A sedan WHAT THE MISSIONARIES SAY chair or houseboat was my speed limit and 35 miles an hour in an auto "Of course, the best part about the stage was too fast for me! The time furlough time is seeing and being with spent in the hospital was substituted the home folks from whom I was sep- for study I had long planned. I got arated six years. The dear grand- the rest of body but not the rest of parents were not here to greet me but mind needed. The rush has also prein their places were small nieces and vented quiet visits at. art galleries, nephews whom I had heard much museums, concerts and parks, which about but had never seen. It has been would have furnished mental food good to be back on American soil, to for a long time to come. I have wonfeel the protection and trust among dered if a few months longer at home the general mass of citizens. I have might help but no doubt it would be enjoyed again the bracing air, the the same and would be hard to arexpanse of fields and orchards, the range on the field in accordance with clean smell of grass and flowers. a school year. Some things in the way of fruits, vegetables and meats that were im- Be assured that I do not want to possibilities on the mission field have complain for everyone has been so been much appreciated. As I have kind to me and I am enjoying my furbeen in the cities or even smaller lough very much. I am glad you are towns I have liked to see the store windows and have gone into book, ready to help us to know the wisest music, and other kinds of stores getc ting new ideas and purchasing little . way to spend a furlough and will be things to add to our meager school glad to' see the result of your in- vestigation.' , .. ..
supplies or to take to my school girls. I would say that there are three I have been able to visit schools where main furlough aims: the teachers have been most kind in. 1. Necessary rest and building up. offering me the use of their books, Varies completely with the inpatterns and music. One of the big dividual.
things of the whole furlough has been 2. Deputation work. Have been at being able to know personally some it steadily for the past four of the leaders of the churches, soci- months, and enjoy it more all eties and the denomination which the time. The audiences are insends me out, ones whose names I have terested in the concrete work of often seen in papers and magazines or Missions in a way that far surat the bottom of letters sent out to me.. passes my expectations. This In several gatherings I have also met applies to congregations, socileaders of other denominations and eties, and educational institumissionaries in countries other than tions. Illustrated lectures are the one where I work and this has popular. I am inclined to think been a wonderful inspiration. I have that the average audience does been able to get a home viewpoint bet· not care so much for the theory ter than ever before. of missions, but wants to know There are a few things that will the amou.nt of success, the ever be a disappointment to me and causes of relative. failure,
BEST METHODS
the difficulties, the setting of the faces and the necessity for the co- whole thing. They also like to ordination of the work.
hear of the methods of evan- "Following Northfield I had several gelization and how they are ap- months at the Bible Teachers Trainplied to varying conditions. The ing School in New York which were present is a bad time to raise wonderfully refreshing. special funds, but. apparently that has not clipped the down- "3. Then visits to the churches right interest in the least. have been of great help. Sometimes I confess I have been shocked by the 3. Study in preparation for future indifference but more frequently I work. Most Boards now have a have been encouraged with the re- liberal and far-sighted policy in sponses. In almost every place I this respect. The studies chosen have found people who ·:have been depend on the bent of the in- praying for me by name. The young dividual missionary, and the best people have been especially respon- institutions are chosen. sive both with gifts of money and con- A most unfortunate abuse of the secration of life."
furlough is to atteI(lpt to combine The Other Side of the Question any two of the above three, at anyone time. They will not mix to an extent "Will you suggest how furloughed that is worth while. missionaries may be more effective in No experiences have yet wearied their work in the home churches f "
me, I am happy to say. The secre- The question was asked of mission- -taries of the Board have been kind ary leaders in the local churches. and considerate, and people have liked to hear the accounts of the work. Here are some of the answers. , 'Most missionaries make the mis- What more could one want! Furloughs could be made more valu- take of speaking too much on general themes. I suppose they feel they able to the home church, by a more must prepare and preach sermons. systematic routing of the mission- Our ministers at home can do that. aries. Frequently the individual missionary is left to decide whether he "If a man has been in India for goes about or not, and no check is ten years what we want to hear from available as to -how often any con- him is India: the progress of the gregation is visited. Gospel there; the needs and the op- portunities of India. The things that * * *' are commonplace, everyday affairs for him are of intense interest to us." "Three things especially have made my furlough helpful: *' *' * "1. A thorough physical examina- "There should' be more coordina- tion followed by correction of some tion. Following the appeal of a mis- minor troubles and a month's abso- sionary we secured large contributions lute rest. I protested against the rest and a very lively interest in an in- but now I see the wisdom of it. I 3titution in one of our fields. Along was rejuvenated when I started out to came another missionary and threw visit the churches. cold water on the whole proposition "2. Two weeks at the Home and by saying she wished we had held our Foreign Mission Conferences at gifts since the cause that she was Northfield. Few people realize the presenting was vastly more impor- necessity for a foreign missionary to tant. Both causes had been duly au- attend a Home Mission Conference. thorized by the Board, and both were Possibly this is why some foreign entitled to the support not only of the missionaries are 'lop-sided.' I under- home church but of all the mission- stand as I never understood before aries. "
the tremendous problems America (To be continued.)
Woman's Home Mission
EDITED BY MISS FLORENCE E. QUINLAN, NEW YORK WORK AMONG AMERICAN The franchise in the hand of the INDIANS Indian is helping to broaden his hori- The .American Indian is awakening zon. It affords him a sense of citizen- ship .tha~ is. con~ucive to loyalty. to a new racial and social consciousness. His horizon' is broadening be- t.A~emefrrIac:an~IhSisheISinrahCaInald hhoemie~ and with yond the narrow bounds of mere tribal making it and racial interests. His progress has hIs polItIcal home, feeling that he has not been with spectacular strides, and recognition, not as a ward to be yet, with tremendous odds against watched and supported, and not as a him, it has been and is more marked savage to be shut away at safe distance than commonly supposed. "Why, the from civilization, but as a citizen with Indians are not at all as I expected rights and privileges common to all to find them," was the surprised com- .American citizens. Given the franment of a school teacher who, unfa- chise, he will not feel himself an alien miliar with Indian life, had come to a in his own land, but a fellow cbietihzaevn~ reservation to teach the youth of the and will be more inclined to First .American. "I expected to find himself as such. .About two thirds of them as I have seen them pictured on the Indians are already citizens and calendars and in the movies, and as I the leavening influence of this' com- have seen them at carnivals and coun- pany is proving wholesome.
ty fairs. I am surprised to find them .Another cause contributing to the dressed as white folks dress and doing new uplift and outlook of the red man as white folks do." The mistaken has been the broadening experienced notion of the school teacher is not and the lessons learned, incident to unusual with many who yet think of the world war. Ten thousand Indian the Indian as of painted face and at- lads served in one branch or another tired in grotesque garb and gaily be- of Uncle Sam's army and navy.
decked with feathers and other fan- Whether seeing service on the battle tastic ornamentations. Such regalia fields of France, sailing the waters of has very largely given way to the or- " Gitche-Gume," guiding the war dinary dress of the white man. eagles, or training in the cantonments Various causes have been and are of. the ~omeland, these boys, by fellow- now operative in .promoting Indian ShIP WIth their comrades, by what they welfare, and giving promise of further learned of world events and by what and speedier progress. Favorable to they saw in travel, are no longer the Indian's uplift is the Govern- tribal-minded; they are nation- ment's policy of putting him on an minded and world-minded. Return- equal citizenship basis with the white ing to their homes, they have been an man as early and as speedily as ex- influence in developing a new social pediency warrants. Reservation board- consciousness among their people.
ing schools for Indian children are . More than that, these boys had congiving way to the public day schools tmually before them in the service an in which white and red children meet object lesson as to the value and im- on common grounds. The .American- portance of trained leadership. .Ap.
izing influence of this movement vyill preciating its benefits, they seek now have a marked effect on the commg for themselves opportunities for such generation of IJ;ldian life. training, and consequently are giving 650 a needed impulse to the matter of In- is a Christian gentleman in full sym- dian education. pathy with efforts for Indian evan- With the broadening of the Indian's gelism. His interest in and appre- horizon and the enlarging of his ciation of what is being done by Chris- civic and social responsibilities, he tian missions has clear statement in is coming into a better and more the following paragraph from a letter enlightened appreciation of the Chris- written by him: tian religion. His earlier contact "The progress that has been made in the with the white man and the Chris- civilization of the Indians and their present tian religion was unfortunate. His development would have been impossible if opinions were formed from his con- it had not been for the missionaries that tact with borders of our earlier were the pioneers in laying the foundations civilization. On these borders, not for the religious and educational welfare infrequently, were individuals wl).o of these people, and it is my hope that we may have the assistance and cooperation of in their eastern homes had had a all missionary societies in our endeavor to hasten the time when all the Indians in the set-to with the Ten Commandments, country may become respeetable, self-sup. and who found the protection of the porting, Christian citizens."
remote border or Indian reservation • more conducive to their peace of mind than the localities where a sheriff's Indian Population warrant gave them no comfort. Many The Indian pepulation of the counof these sought and found protection try is on the increase, though the among the Indians, and in one way recent United States Census report apand another made them the victims of pears to indicate otherwise. The exploitation. In his simple reasoning, United States census of 1920 gives the Indian judged the white man's re- "the Indian popUlation of the country ligion from what he knew of the white as 242, 959. The Government census man. of ten years ago gave the population This false impression has been and as 265,683. This would indicate a is undergoing change. He is learning decrease of 22,727. On the other hand, to discriminate between the true and the report of the Ex-Commissioner of the false, and his sense of justice is Indian Affairs, Hon. Cato Sells, in his leading him to appraise more fairly last published report, places the pop- the white man '8 religion. ulation of 1920 at 336,337. This dis- These changing conditions in the crepancy between the figures of the life of the Indians make opportune at Census Bureau and those of the Com- the present time more extensive and missioner's report is to be accounted intensive missionary work among for largely by the fact that many In- them. It is time for the churches to dians in the enumeration of 1910 were take most seriously to heart the task counted as whites in the census of Of Indian evangelism, and to adapt 1920. This applies more particularly their missionary appropriations and where there were only slight strains activities to meet the new missionary of Indian blood. In Oklahoma alone opportunity and needs. 18,876 were counted as whites in the Fortunate for the red man is the census of 1920 who in 19!10 were fact that the Indian Commissioner is enumerated as Indians. Thus in this one who well understands Indians, is one state the discrepancy is almost deeply interested in them and is in accounted for. The Indian Bureau in bearty accord with all noble move- its records counts as Indians all those ments and missionary efforts in their who possess Indian blood. According behalf. Churches and missionary or- to the enumeration of this Bureau, the ganizations at work among' the In- Indian population for more than dians are to be feliciated on the fact thirty years has been on the increase.
that the Commissioner of Indian Af- There are more Indians today than at fairs, the Honorable Charles H. Burke, any other time in the past fifty years.
Items of Interest has been one of the most influential .A notable achievement has been the Sioux leaders of his generation and transfer of work ·among the Crows in has represented the realities of noble Montana by the American Mission- Christian character among Indians as ary Association (Congregational), to well as the values of native leadership the American Baptist Home Mission among his own people. Society. The first Protestant work The survey of Christian work among characterized by singular consecration the American Indians has been conwas begun among the Crows by tinued under the personal direction the devoted James G. Burgess for the of G. E. E. Lindquist, Student Secre- tary for Indian Work of the Inter- Congregationalists in 1900. The national Committee of the Young center of this work remained at the agency, and with its cliurch and two Men's Christian Association. The remission day schools served about one sults and conclusions of this survey fifth of the 1,700 Crows. The Baptists will be in printed form for circulation entered the reservation in 1903, and during the present year.
with thorough interdenominational co- The following conferences have been operation have pushed their work so as held: (a) For the New York Indians, to serve the other four fifths. In the at New York City, October 21, 1921. • interests of the kingdom it was alto- (b) For the Five Civilized Tribes, at gether best to have one rather than Muskogee, Oklahoma, October 25-26, 1921. Cc) For the Indians of Westtwo white superintendents. At a ern and Central Oklahom~ at EI most striking service of Christian co- Reno, Oklahoma, October 27-28, 1921, operation on Easter Sunday, 1921, the and a further series of conferences in transfer of work was made. March-April, 1922, at the following places: (1) Albuquerque, New Mex- Mention should be made of the ag- ico; (2) Holbrook, Arizona; (3) gressive work conducted by Rev. Lewis Bruce among the St. Regis Mohawks in Northern New York. The Phoeniz, Arizona; (4) Sacramento, strong Christian leadership of Mr. California; (5) Seattle, Washington; Bruce in' his fight against white boot- (6) Billings, Montana; (7) Minneleggers on the reservation and against apolis, Minnesota; (8) Sioux Falls, the immoral tendencies of organized South Dakota.
pagan Indians represents the possi- Of the 86,000 Indian children of bilities for Christian service of a thor- school age mentioned in the last re- oughly trained Indian of strong char- port of the Indian Bureau, Congress acter. provide school privileges I for 30,000 Commissioner Charles H. Burke, and the public schools enroll 30,000 under date of December 5, 1921, has more. This leaves 26,000 Indian boys confirmed the request for the setting and girls without school provision of aside of 32.5 acres to the Presbytery any kind. Navajo boys and girls num- of Northern Arizona for work at Chin bering 6,857 have no chances for even Lee on the Navajo Reservation. The elementary education. Entirely aside significance of this decision rests in from the fact that in the Navajo the fact that it was made in the face treaty of 1868 the United SLates en- of strong Roman Catholic opposition tered into an obligation to provide and that it recognizes the right of re- schools for these children, an obliga- ligious minorities to hold property for tion which the Government has never the conduct of missionary work. fulfilled, the inherent right of every In the death of its faithful, efficient child in this country to an opportu- and devoted superintendent, Rev. nity to get an education makes it the John Eastman, the Indian Presbytery imperative duty of the Government to of South Dakota has suffered severe provide enough schools to meet the Toss. Less known than his more fa- unique situation presented by these mous brother, Charles A. Eastman, he nomadic Navajo children.
Woman's Foreign Mission
EDITED BY MRS. HENRY W. PEABODY, BEVERLY, MASS.
THE WOMEN'S UNION CHRISTIAN leaders of various denominations, COLLEGES IN THE ORIENT members of the American Association "Last Call"-The Fall Campaign of University Women, College Clubs, Women's Clubs, and others. These There certainly must be a cam- state committees are now planning in paign. It must be a quick, intensive each state a succession of meetings in movement into which all our women the fall, luncheons, mass meetings, will enter most h~artily, if we are to conferences or drawing room gathersecure the second million required for ings. The National Committee is enthe building of the seven Oriental deavoring to place in each state for a Colleges. They are waiting, eagerly limited time and a rapid series of listening for the news that we have meetings a strong speaker. In many completed our task and have secured of the larger states the National Comthe million dollars from the Laura mittee is also providing a worker who Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fund. will go through the state helping to The :first million has come to us in organize committees in the various three groups of gifts. centers.
1. Those from the following co- The plan in general is to secure a operating Boards: date in a leading town and to draw Baptist North into that center people from all the Christian surrounding towns or adjacent dis- Congregationalist tricts. These centers are chosen and Canadian Methodist the plans are made by the State Com- Canadian, Presbyterian mittee and where a promotional worker Lutheran Methodist Episcopal is available the worker visits the Presbyterian in U.S.A. Reformed Church in America town in advance. The time is chosen Methodist Episcopal South and three weeks will be necessary in most cases to work up the meetings. These Boards have borne the entire Literature may be had in advance expense of the maintenance of the col- from the National Committee and leges and have taken a very large every assistance will be given. Sev- part in the actual building fund. ural excellent speakers are available 2. Special pledges from a few in- who will be assigned for a week to two dividuals who have given amounts weeks in each state. This inspira- covering the cost of buildings, small tional work, however, will not enable or large. us to reach our goal.
3. Many small gifts which have We must have thousands oj! women come from women interested in mis- who will offer their services aa col- sions, in education and in medical lectors of small amounts if we are to work. secure the second million and ao ae- Now we have only three or four cure the third million offered by the months more of active effort before Rockefeller Memorial Fund.
we reach the time when Mr. Rocke- With the heavy demands of our feller's gift must be secured or lost. Mission Boards and denominational We are fortunate in noW having, in organizations our only hope for suc- addition to the publicity already cess apparently lies in securing thou- given, fine state committees in nearly sands of small gifts which will not every state. These are made up of affect denominat:ij)nal returns. To do 653
A Student in Tokyo A Senior at Yenching First Graduate of Lucknow LIGHTED TO LIGHTEN.
this we mllst have these thousands of sign your name on the attached cou- women. in every staLe who will give a pon, tear off and give to your local.
day or two to soliciting these gifts. . treasurer, or send direct to our Na- Above are representative students tional Treasurer, Miss Hilda h Olson.
and graduates of the Women 's Union We have already tried this plan Christian Colleges in the Orient. Will in certain places with good success.
you .give · or secure five gifts before Even if a woman can not give $50 she becember 1st? We will return to you knows five pcople in her community on receipt of the money, beautiful or among her friends who can each cards which are given as r:ceipts and givc a $10 gift. If she is a good will make attractive birthday or worker she can secure also from them Christmas gifts. There are sets of a promise to secure .gifts of equal or illuminated cards for One Dollar, less amounts from five friends and so Five Dollar and Ten Dollar gifts. the work will pass on from one to The grE)atest educational movement another until, with a mighty volume in the world today is touching the lives of women and gifts, we shall aecom- of four hundred million women in plish our aim without too heavy a Asia, through the seven Union Chris· demand on any. , tian Colleges for Women. All are in Women in certain sections, who may desperate need of buildings. Land think they cannot secure five $10 gifts has been secured. We are promised (although few eould not do this if one million dollars if we will secure they felt it would mean life or death two million dollars before January 1, to their missionary work for the fu- 1923. We must not fail to complete ture), would gladly attempt to obtain our quota and secure the remainder five $5 gifts. These may be solicited of this generous gift. To do this we from men or women, young or old, or shall require thousands of small gifts. they may be given by one woman who Will you help us by giviug yourself will pledge $25, and who will receiv~ or collecting from your friends five the five Christmas acknowledgment $1.00 gifts, or five $5.00 gifts, or five cards to be used among her friends.
$10.00 gifts for this worthy cause? A third class, much larger than Missiou Boards having work in Asia these, consists of those who feel that, are sending their students to these col· owing to previous obligations and less.
leges since they are almost the only ened incomes, they can only give or ones. You are thus aiding your own secure five $1 gifts. This will prove Mission in the training of Christian a very easy task within twelve hours.
Jeaders. For these we suggest a "Dollar Day. "
I nstructionsJor You If one hUndred thousand women in the United States (which means a com- On request to the central office, 300 paratively small number from each Ford Building, Boston, Mass., a spe- of our forty-nine states), could bring cial illustrated folder will be sent to in five $1 gifts, half of the million you. If you will secure five givers which we are aiming for would be for any or all of the "amounts please secured. Have we love enough and
WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSION BULLETIN
understanding enough to attempt this in addition to securing these funds, to task? If a few begin and pass the make fureign missions real by giving word on the work will be done. Try it. them a position of dignity in many circles where they have been hitherto The objective of the luncheons is to despised as the work of fanatical and secure large pledges from those who small-minded women. Over and over are abundantly able to give far be- in this campaign we have been met by yond any of these small gifts. Many the statements of those who have conhave pledged in the luncheons tributed for the first time, "I had no amounts from $100 to $1,000 and idea that foreign missions did this sort more, and we still feel it necessary of work-this great united Christo make the ea~nest appeal for very tian movement for training Christian large and generous gifts. For in- leaders. Of course we want to take stance, many women are giving $1,000 our part. " The attitude of thc A.mer· for a memorial room in one of the col- ican Association of University ·Women leges.• This is a great opportunity to throughout the country has been must make permanent memorials and there helpful and encouraging. They say, are certainly five hundred men and in so many cases, "Of course, colwomen in this country who could do lege women must have a part" [md this. Some are taking buildings and are pledging small and large &ums. this should be urged most earnestly The National Society of King's upon individuals as well as upon State Daughters is also cooperating finely. Committees. With every personal ef- It offers a great opportunity to rtaclt fort put forth to secure these larger our undergraduate student body with gifts we would not begin to approach a definite appeal. Have you seen the what is being done in this country tittle student slip, "Students for for one college alone. Students, 10 cents to $10" and have you read the wonderful little College Women of America, we cannot Bulletin? Write for information and through any committee accomplish help to the chairman of the Student this task. It is absolutely necessary Committee, Mrs. D. J. Fleming, Booth that every woman who loves foreign Avenue, Englewood, N. J., who will missions, whether her church is be delighted to recommend speakers pledged to this definite college work and s()nd literature and do anything or not, should assume her individual in her power to secure gifts from all responsibility for securing this fund. colleges and preparatory schools. Only in this way have we any hope Ogontz, one of the girls' schools near at all of completing our task. To Philadelphia, raised in a few hours those churches which say: "We are $1,000 for the" Ogontz Room" in the not supporting the colleges, therefore Tokyo College. Other girls' schools we will not do anything toward this could do this. campaign," may I say that since Shall we have a glorious success these are, with very few exceptions, through this fall campaign due to the only Christian colleges for women your cooperation, men and women, in Asia, your missions are sending who read this, or shall we fail of our their girls to them for education. goal, disappoint our growing colleges Have you any right to decline to do and our equally expectant missionyour part since you are using the col- aries and lose the wonderful gift leges maintained by these other which has been promised only con- ditionally on our securing the full Boards without expense to you? amount by January 1, 1923. We rejoice that some of the Societies To the question: Are these colleges which have not been able, through de- Christian T we would say that if your nominational rulings, to enter actively Mission Boards are Christian then into the support of the colleges, have these colleges are also. been among the most efficient and enthusiastic workers on our local committees. Here is a great opportunity,
FROM ,.MANY
EUROPE SaXOn Government at the age of Christian Industrial Order twenty-one. When the Protestant sect WITH the purpose of bringing was driven out from Moravia in June, .about a definite advance toward 1722, Count Zinzendorf gave them a the realization of a Christian order in place of refuge in Berthelsdorf, industry, representatives of all the Saxony. They built' a town which Churches in Great Britain (including they called Herrnhut ("Watch of the the Roman Catholic), are preparing Lord"). The Moravians have always to hold a conference in Birmingham been noted for their missionary. zeal, next year, when the relation of Chris- their loyalty to Christian truth and tianity to economics, politics, and their generous gifts to Christian work.
citizenship will be discussed. The promoters of the conference Methodists in Rome N have submitted for examination the EARLY fifty acres on the slopes and summit of Monte Mario, the following ten measures which they believe are practicable and would lead highest of all the hills in the imme- to the Christianization of industry: diate vicinity of Rome, has been pur- 1., Establishment by law of a minimnm chased recently by the Methodist wage and of security for adequate leisnre. Episcopal Church. Last October, the 2. Prevention of casual employment and, Methodist Collegio for boys, long esso far as possible, of unemployment. tablished, and located at the church's Central Building in Rome, was trans- 3. Adequate maintenance of the worker ferred to Monte Mario. Buildings during periods of involuntary unemploy· ment.
4. Abolition of the labor of children under already on the property are being sixteen. utilized for this purpose. Already ground has been broken for some of 5. Establishment in all industries of the the buildings projected, and it is greatest possible publicity as to costs and hoped that in the near future it will profits. be able to accommodate fifteen hun- dred pupils. 6. Use of taxation to establish greater eqnality, particnlarly in the adequate main· Elsewhere throughout Southern tenance of mothers and children, to correct Europe also multitude<! of young men the present inequalities from dependence without any good religious influence, upon parental wages. are drifting into materialism. It is to help to counteract the modern in- 7. Administration of foundation indus· difference and irreligion and to edutries and monopolies as pnblic services, as cate the youth for the leadership of requisite organizations can be created. the Christian forces of Southern Eu- rope that the Methodist Episcopal 8. Elimination, in so far as practicable, of payments to able-bodied adults which are not for service.
9. Control of industry by all engaged iu it. 10. Establishment of a just price (consumer paying only the true economic cost of what he gets).
Church is laboring in Italy.
Moravian Bicentenary T THE HE bicentenary of the Moravian Fellowship with Italy Church was celebrated on June 18 World's Evangelical Alliance in Germany, Great Britain, America, has been strengthening its inter- Australia and other Moravian centers. national relationships by a series of Count Zinzendorf was born in Dres- foreign deputations, in which France, den, Germany, on May 26, 1700. He Czecho-Slovakia, Denmark, Sweden, entered the judicial service of the and Italy figure prominently. A mem- 656 ber of the British deputation to Italy, nonite communities. Some of the Mr. Henry Martyn Gooch, describes most effective work of the society is in The Life of Faith their successful being done in Germany, first, in car- program of meetings and interviews rying on relief activities among Rus- in Rome, Florence, Naples, Milan, and sian refugees, and second, through a Genoa. The primary object of the Bible school in Wernigerode, a town deputation was to meet the leaders in the Harz Mountains, where Rus- and people of the Italian Churches, sians have been trained as evangelists with whom for seventy-six years the to go back to their own people.
World's Evangelical Alliance has maintained cordial fellowship, but the Light from Siberia T visit has enabled additional meetings HE new Far Eastern Rep.llblic (Siberia) has instituted some with the British and American churches and residents. striking social reforms, says a recent article in Asia, which states that the Swedish Missions courts contain a novel feature in the T HE Swedish Church Missionary use of citizen judges. On small cases Society in 1920 sent out 14 new the regular judge is assisted by two mIssIOnaries. It has now 89 Euro- laymen, and on large cases by six.
pean missionaries, of whom 44 are These citizens have the power not of working in Africa, 37 in India and jurymen, but of judges. Various 8 in China. There were 867 acces- forms of social insurance are in foree; sions by baptism and the number of child labor is forbidden; eight hours Christians in their missions now totals is the standard working day; wages 21,244 in India and 8,686 in Africa. are fixed by the state, and the state The work in China is very new. In has to pay its own employees the August, 1921, the American Augus- wages thus fixed for private employ- tana Synod, the Finnish Missionary ers. Private ownership of land is Society, the Norwegian Missionary recognized, dependent on the actual Society, the United Norwegian Church use of the property; land, forests, of America and the China Mission of mines,' or other real estate cannot be the Swedish Church united to form held for speCUlation. When the first the "Lutheran Church of China." A Assembly gathered, seventy per cent college of this united Church is to be of the delegates were found to be not erected near the town of Yiyang. Communists or Socialist Revolution- The Evangelical Fosterland Foun- aries, Bolsheviki or Mensheviki, but dation carries on work in India and "just plain Siberians" without any Africa with 93 Swedish and 294 fixed and labeled political theory.
native workers. It enrolls 4,557 native Christians. MOSLEM LANDS The Swedish Mission Alliance A Fruitful Year in Syria (Missionsforbundet) reports an ex- AT the winter meetings of the Syria tensive home mission work and for- Mission of the Presbyterian eign work by 85 missionaries and 538 Church, reports Dr. H. R. Boyes, a native workers in the Congo, China medical missionary in Lebanon, the and East Turkestan.-B. mission secretary presented an inter- esting summary of statistics of the Bible School for Rnssians work in pre-war and post-war days: ~~LIGHT to the East" is an organ- "Comparing our present state with ization which seeks to carry the that of 1914, the best year we had Gospel to Russi!l and which has known as a mission, we find that every branches in Germany, Sweden, Nor- institution under the Mission that was way, Switzerland, Esthonia, and the in operation then is now in operation, United States, the supporters in this and in addition we have opened a sta- country being found chiefly in Men- tion in Aleppo, and have one mission-
ary at Mardin, on the other side of the ject them to the domination of the Euphrates. This last st!tion, how- incoming Jews. The British admin- ever, is still mostly relief work. This istration in Palestine has shown itself record has been made in spite of the very weak in dealing with the situa- loss of ten of the older and more ex- tion. Some of its elements are perienced missionaries who were in strongly anti-Zionistic, and would like active work. The actual church mem- to see the home government abandon bership is larger now than in 1914, in the Balfour Declaration and the Zion- spite of the inroads caused by the war, ist cause altogether. In the midst of famine and emigration; 1921 has been such lukewarmness or opposition in the most fruitful year the Syrian the Palestine administration and fac- Protestant Church has known. The ing the venomous Arabs and the dis- Syrians themselves are taking on satisfied Jews, Sir Herbert Samuel, more of the responsibilities. This is the High Commissioner, has had an the only way in which this or any unenviable position. For a while im- land cab really be evangelized." migration was suspended, but has been resumed. It has been difficult to Turks Oppose Y. M. C. A. supply work for thes~ incoming thou- sands, yet roads were built and other A RECENT proclamation by the rough work done, affording employ- Turk nationalist commissioner of ment for the time to large numbers of education at Angora, circulated in university trained men and women. Constantinople, denounced all Turks With the cessation of this work other visiting the Young Men's Christian forms of labor must be found, and the Association clubs and threatened all way is opening for building houses who visit them with punishment as and factories on a large scale. With "traitors. " The proclamation asserts the new funds being supplied by tbe that the Y. M. C. A. brings together present great drives and by private young men and women, with bad re- enterprise, new openings for labor are sults; that it encourages European being found and the outlook begins to dress, and that it strikes at the Mo- appear brighter." hammedan religion. Ultra-national- istic feeling is largely responsible for Missions and the Kemalists the opposition to all foreign work. It is charged that in financing the Y. M. ~~THE situation in Turkey does not C. A. in Turkey, America has an improve with time. Mustapha economic motive, and that the organ- ization is merely another method of Kemal broke the united front of the "peaceful penetration." Allies a year ago when he signed with the French a secret treaty, under The Continent. which the French were to withdraw from Cilicia, and the Kemalists were Zionist Position in Palestine to recognize French authority in Syria. At present the Kemalists seem T HE Sunday School Times de- to hold the balance of power with the scribes a state of affairs in the Allies, who are unable to establish an Holy Land which is discouraging for understanding between Turkey and the Jews. It says: "The unfortunate Greece or to agree upon a policy that delay in confirming the British man- will protect the Armenians and the .date has given a handle to the Arabs, -who have opposed the Jews in every Greeks or satisfy the Turks. * * * possible way, even to riots and mur- .der. Life has been very uncertain in "There are indications that Kemal '8 various Jewish colonies owing to this Government is not friendly to misdeep-seated ill feeling of the Arabs, sionaries. On one pretense or anwho are convinced that it is the pur- other the majority 0'£ the missionaries pose of Great Britain to drive them in Anatolia two years ago are now out of the country or at least to sub- out of the country. Requests for per- mission for these expelled missionaries
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
to return to their interior stations tianity has made us neither un-Indian have met either with silence or with nor un-national. The highest ideal refusal. The three missionaries who that dominates us is 'Love thy neighwere at Harpoot six months ago, Miss bor as thyself.' With this as the Harley, Dr. Parmelee, and Dr. Ward, dominating- principle of our life, can have been forced to withdraw, leaving it be for a llloment conceived that we no missionary of the American Board as a community shall dissociate ourat the present time within the bounds selves from our brethren-Hindus of the old Eastern Turkey Mission. and Mohammedans-whatever differ- In the meantime the missionary work ences there may be in our religious in Smyrna and Constantinople, with convictions ~ We must demonstrate its wide environs, is being pressed that we are as much interested as they with unexpected encouragement." are in the social and political eman- cipation of our motherland. At the Missionary Herald. same time we must fully demonstrate that we stand for constitutional agi- Request from Gregorians tation and peaceful evolution, and that under no circumstances can.}He A MOST interesting development is lend countenance to anything that reported from Constantinople, re- may be legitimately construed as an lating to the cooperation of the mis- open defiance of law and order, or any sionaries with the Gregorian Church thing that contemplates revolution. in the matter of training the clergy. Let us also demonstrate that we are The leaders of the new missionary perfectly prepared to criticise governschool of religious education, which ment measures severely if we think was described in the July REVIEW, they are nnjust and unnecessary. We have been approached unofficially, to stand for evolution and not revolusee whether they could not help the tion; we stand for cooperation and clergy when the time comes for the not non-cooperation. ·We stand for latter's resumption of their work. The law, eqnity, and justice fop each and need for able religious leadership among the Gregorians is very great, all. " because of their having suffered so terribly from atrocities; they must The Indian Church and Missionaries now rehabilitate their work. Such a request shows how conditions have T HE All-India Christian Conferchanged. Here is an opportunity for ence, which met for its eighth ses- Americans to take a part in training the leaders of the Gregorian Church. sion in Lahore during the closing days There may be Bome puzzling details, however, to be worked out before such of December, 1921, adopted the fola plan can be consummated. lowing resolutions on the subject, INDIA "Foreign Missions and the Indian Indian Christian Vie….s on Politics Church": __ P ROFESSOR S. C. MUKERJI, of Serampore College, in his opening "This Conference is of the opinion address as President of the All-India Christian Conference at Lahore, ex- that the time has come:' pressed these striking convictions on the right relations of the Indian Chris- , '1. When Protestant missions as such tians to the present political situa- should be completely merged in the Indian tion: Church, and that in future all foreign mis- sionaries shonld be related to it. "Our primary duty is to make ourselves vocal and make our presence "2. In the meantime £hat missions should felt in the country. We must demon- appoint Indians of ability and character on strate by words and deeds that Chris- an increasing scale as their lay and or- dained missionaries.
"3. In view of the complaints made by the various missions that educated young Indian Christians of character are not avail- able to take np positions of trnst .and re- sponsibility, this Conference recommends that the policy of finding .yonng men who are suitable from other missions, be adopted
by all missions, instead of allowing de· to see the memorial arch erected by nominational barriers to stand between such men and responsible positions." the Chinese of this province under the leadership of Mr Liu Tze-heng, in A Maharajah's Tribute recognition of the friendship of the United States. THE late Maharajah of Kolhapur, who died a few months ago, gave "Mr. Liu was present, and was concrete expression shortly before highly pleased at the Minister's interhis death to his interest in the boys' est and words of appreciation. After high school conducted by the American visiting the temple of the Pearly Em- Presbyterian Mission at Kolhapur, peror above,-from which we pointnoW known as the Irwin Christian ed out to him our mission institutions High School. His gift of a site made and residences-we took him down to possible this fine memorial to the late the Hunter Corbett School, the Dr. Irwin, and when the new build- Chinese officials accompanying. The students had been lined up on both ing was completed, the opening cere- sides of the road and Boy Scouts led the way. After the students had mony was conducted by the Heir Ap· gathered in the large school hall Dr. parent to the Kolhapur throll;). In Schurman made a stirring address, view of the fact that the latter is now which I translated so that every boy Maharajah, the following quotation would get the benefit of it. Dr. from his speech, taken from the Schurman dwelt on the splendid work Dnyanodaya, has special interest: American missionaries were doing for China and his pride in being the rep- "I feel special pleasure in taking resentative of such men and women as part in today's function, because you one found in China. He made a stirall know that I was brought up under ring appeal to the students to make Christian guidance, and Mrs. Irwin was a second mother to me. The noble qualities of head and heart of use of the privileges they were enthat lady have, I confess, made me joying in this school and fit thempartial to Christian education, and selves to become leaders of their peowhen I saw that a splendid oppor- ple. Dr. Schurman's visit was highly tunity for the spread of that educa- appreciated by the Chinese and has tion has been offered to Kolhapur by also given us a lot of prestige in their the opening of this school, I had no eyes which will be helpful to us in hesitation to seize the opportunity, so our work. kindly given by you, to take part in today's function, and through it once A Heart Cleaning Society again publicly to give vent to the T HE Governor of Shansi Province, genuine feelings of admiration and China, has instituted a "Heart reverence that I feel toward Mrs. Ir- Cleaning Society" which has meetings win, my ideal of a Christian lady." throughout the province under official direction on Sunday mornings, the CHINA attendance of local officials being ob- A Visit from a Diplomat ligatory. In Tai-yuan (the capital) he NOT long after his arrival in has built a large "Self-Examination Peking, Dr. Jacob Gould Schur- Hall" seating 3,000 people, looking vmisaint~tdhethAemeArimcaenriMcainnisPterrestobyCtehriinaan, like a church both within and with- out.
Mission in Chefoo. Rev. W. O. Elter- A service held there has been de- bicek~n who for thirty-three years has scribed as follows: "Organ music and a missionary in Shantung Prov- a sort of adjuration by the leader were ince reports that Dr. Schurman was followed by a few moments of silence, greeted on his arrival by var!ous when the audience sat with bowed ChineBe officials and the AmerIcan heads. After that the speaker ad- Consul, and escorted to Temple Hill, dresSed them on 'China's Strength
i922] NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
and Weakness,' the latter being a ShJin Hsien (god)." In the school, wholly moral. when the girls think of God, Mr. Sev- erance is often reverently mentioned. Post-Famine Facta in Shantung One of the girls who was looking at Mr. Severance's photograph in the A SPE CIAL evangelistic band is Assembly Hall, said in English, "He holding tent meetings through looks like he wished to talk to me, 1;lnd different sections of the area in which his face looks like he loves all peoples most of the famine relief work of last and Teng~chou fu School girls. When season was done. The unused con- I saw his picture I was sorry because tributions of last year which reached I do not love mv relations 3Jld all Shantung after the harvest came on that. I hope that from this time I are helping many of the most dis- shall be able to love all things and my tressed, where the general funds that relations and the peoples of the are being distributed this year can earth. " not reach. Fifty or more children of destitute Christian families have been Mission School and Modern lIouse placed in Christian schools, thus relieving the family of the expense of T HE new home of General Hsii at the child's board, enabling the child 'l'sinanfu, China, is a most up~to to be well fed during this sad year, date residence. Equipped with hotand also affording it Christian train- air furnace, running water and elecing and schooling. Reuben A. Torrey, trie lights, it is a marvel to many of Jr., reports that throughout the field the general's Chinese friends. But schools have been organized for the it should he modern and up-to-date, famine children, where they will be for all the plans and specifications instructed in the national phonetic were drawn bv the architectural descript and given one full meal a day partment of the hoys' school at the for four months. These schools will Presbyterian mission at Yi-hsien, and form new evangelistic starting points the industrial department of the and through them not only the parents school furnished furniture and rugs. and the children will be reached, but also many of the more fortunate peo- It is worthy or note that the larger ple of the communities, whose respect part of the expenses of this sellOol are will be secured by such work. In the paid by the sale of school products. schools, now running, nearly 1,500 Most of the boys are Christians, children are being taught and fed. and there is always a long waiting Some of the little girls are also being list of applicants for admission. A taught to make hair nets, so that they few years ago a, Chinese boy of any will have a source of income. It is of the upper .grades in society looked proposed to station "medical senti- down with scorn upon the boys who nels" throughout the famine districts did manual labor. But now a lad in to carryon an educational campaign the Yihsien school who cannot do his along sanitary and medical lines and manual work well is scorned by the also watch for and check any outbreak other lads.-The Continent. of plague or epidemic. A Highway to Tibet An Unselfish Philanthropist A MISSIONARY of the Church O NE day in the city of Teng-chou, Missionary Society at Sintu, in China, a Chinese woman heard Szechwan province, paid a visit last the story of the late Louis H. Sev- summer to these Chiang people-a erance's gift of the dormitory build- trihe within the C. M. S. area in Westings to the girls' school. She said, ern China, and inhabiting valleys "Do you mean to tell me that he went through which much of the trade behome to America and left all of that tween China and Tibet passes. This money behind him Y Why, he must be tribe has its own language (not yet re- duced to writing) and its own religion.
The people do not worship idols, but Pyeng-Yang. The present enrollment they do offer sacrifices before a white is about 135. This coming year there stone in some secluded grove. The is every reason to believe that Gospel has never reached them, but there will be more applicants than they would probably make no objec- there were last year. This awakening tion to a missionary going among of a desire for an education is what them. Chinese opium traders and we have been hoping for for many other merchants are already making years and now that the opportunity hI their way into these valleys, and it in our hands we must make special may not be long before the Chiang efforts to meet it. The Korean youths tribe passes under the rule of the should get their education in their Szechwan provincial government. own land but unless we do our duty as a Christian institution they will JAPAN-CHOSEN turn more and more to the government schools of Japan, or China …. There Doubling Church Membership are very few colleges in the mission field in which all the students are HE Synod of Japan in Kobe has Christians. Everyone of the students T inaugurated a movement to double here is a Christian. In the academy the membership of the Church of connected with the college also there Christ. in Japan in five years. "On are 360 students and all are Chris- September 25th," writes Rev. J. B. tians."
Hall, 'JM ~Wakayama, "the ~vangelist AFRICA at Nataka'sent for me to baptize four The Africa Inland Mis.ion young men. After the baptisms we communed together. This addition to LEADERS of the Africa Inland its, numbers greatly encouraged the Mission enumerate the following church at that place. On September facts as some of the special reasons 30th and October 1st we held our in their work for praising God: "On workers' meeting at Kokawa. As we the newest station in the Belgian were discussing the work of the for- Congo, opened about a year ago, over ward evangelistic movement, Rev. one hundred natives are learning the Kawamura, of Shingu, reported that way of salvation ……While several the membership of the Shingu church years ago it seemed almost impossible' had already doubled since he had be- to win the girls and women to Christ, gun hj~,work there, but that he would now at some of the mission centers '.ow work to double the double mem- they are coming faster than we have bership. He told us how the company been able to provide ways and means of believers at Takashiba, whose pastor of caring for them; and prayer is had to resign and leave on account of being answered for the salvation of sickness, had taken up the work and many …. At Kijabe there is great were pushing it without the presence spiritual interest. During special and aid of the pastor. He said that services which were held, one hundred they were holding daily morning confessed Christ in one month, quite . prayer-meetings on the top of the hill a number of whom were old people. . overlooking the town." Then one Sunday twenty-five were baptized, most of whom had been Every<~~nt. a Christian trained in the things of God for two years. Soon another class of twenty- "THREE years ago," writes Rev. five are to be baptized." George A. Winn, of the Presby- Senuss! Order Destroyed terian Mission at Taiku, Korea, "there was a great impulse to new education FACTS which have recently come to and the lower schools from that time light indicate that in 1915-16 Great have been crowded. We had for a few Britain was engaged in a serious con- years about seventy to eighty students in the Union Christian College at
1922J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
fiict with the Senussi, the most fa- real repentance: against Thee and natical and resourceful of the Moham- Thee only have I sinned. So to God medan orders in Africa. Sayed she went, and with God she continued Ahmed es Sherif, their leader at that all those subsequent years."
time, responded to the call of the Sultan for a Jehad against the Allies, Sunday-schools in South Africa M and declared war against Egypt. R. John G. Birch, secretary of the South African National Sunday- Arms, ammunition, and money were provided by Turkish and German school Association, in presenting the agents, and Sayed was promised the seventh annual report of that Associrulership of Egypt. A series of en- ation, states that during the past three gagements in the Egyptian section of years the membership has increased the Libyan Desert followed, the Brit- from 143 schools with 22,250 officers, ish troops being led by Col. Snow teachers and scholars, to 246 schools Bey and the Duke of Westminster, with an enrollment of 32,250. Most of all ending disastrously to the Senussi. the work is carried on among the Eu- In February, 1916, Sayed Ahmed's ropeans, though a special request has general, Jaafer Pasha, was captured, come to the World's Sunday-school and Sayed himself became a refugee. Association for a field secretary who After wandering for a year and a will work with the large native popu- half, in 1918 he escaped to Constan- lation. tinople in a German submarine. It A new type of work called the appears that this campaign has re- "Country Scholars Department" is sulted in the dissolution of the Senussi akin to home department methods, entity. A son of Sidi Mohammed, except that the studying is done by grandson of the founder of the order, groups rather than as individuals. A who was pro-British during the war, number of local Sunday-schools have is now the Sidi; and having formed formed a Country Scholars Depart- an alliance with Italy, he accepts a ment as the result of which hundreds handsome annual allowance, with the of children on farms and in other iso- title of Emir.-Dr. James L. Barton. lated places are studying the weekly Bible lessons. Usually the department An African Christian Lady begins with four or five scholars but it ONE of the Christian women at invariably grows as the members bring l.luanza, Dan Crawford's station . in their friends, and in a number of in the Congo, died recently, and he cases groups have been formed which writes of her: "Then there was the have eventually become well-estabdeath of ' Lady, ' a great Christian lished Sunday-schools.
burial, the whole lakeside mourning her. She was not 'Lady this' or 'Lady ISLANDS OF THE SEA that, ' but a real Christian mother who An Appeal frOlD Australia T held a class every evening, this class HE new settlements and the in- creasing stream of immigrants in having a sort of Methodist implication. In her youth she sinned the great sin various parts of Australia add both of arson and this steadied her in after to the opportunities and the difficul- years, making her humble, polite and ties before the churches. From a so accessible that they all called her newly opened station in Western Aus- by consensus 'Lady,' the name fitting tralia one trip entails on the minister her like a cloak of comeliness. With a journey of one hundred and twenty another young girl she burned down miles by car; and from another, the a mission house long ago, and but for home missionary covers an area of the Christian grace of forbearance, the seventy miles by forty with a horse punishment would have been as and trap. To serve the needs of 'the prompt as the provocation. Yet, even still vaster territories of the Austra- here, she learned the basic truth of all lian inland, aeroplanes are in contem-
plation, and one of the Prime Minis- structed my way. I wanted to get out ters has promised to see whether one and so I looked around and tried many can be set apart. Wherever minister ways but found there was only one or missionary goes the people'welcome way out. Are you caught in a tight the services, and respond well to the place? God shows the way of escape efforts made on their behalf. They in His Word. Accept God's Word may be in small townships with mixed and you will find your way out of the populations. in mining districts with jungle. " many Scottish miners, in the wheat belts, in fruit-growing districts, on At another service a man took a dairy farms, or at pastoral homesteads, long vine and tied one end to the feet The services may be held any day of the missionary. Then he told his in the week, for in many places the bearers to start at the other end and people do not "observe days;" to follow along the vine till they came them it is Sunday whenever the mis- to the missionalry. Then he said: sionary arrives, and the service will "You want to tell God's Word to be as well attended as if it were held your people and you ought to do so. on the first day of the week. But as yet you haven't it yourselves. Here are God's servants. Yo~ must -Australtan Christian World. come to them if you wish to find the Word of God. "-B. Picture Preaching in Papua NORTH AMERICA A MONG the Papuans in New Sunday-school Convention , Guinea the native preachers like to use anegorical illustrations in their THE Sixteenth International Sunpreaching, Mr, Moilander, the mis- day Convention, which was held sionary, gives the following example. in Kansas City, Missouri, June 21st The native preacher brought two parcels, one very plain, but containing to 27th, brought together over seven some luscious fruit or useful vegetable, The other was very attractively thousand delegates. Among the wrapped, but contained only rubbish. The preacher passed them around and speakers whose messages brought inthen said: "Most likely you prefer the attractive looking parcel. Now open spiration to the convention were both and see. This means us. We like to dress up and put on the paint, but Bishop Edwin H. Hughes, Miss Marinside we are only rubbish, and wickedness, At first we may not like the garet Slattery, Dr. Charles M. Shelplain package in which God 's Word comes to us. At first we may think don, Dr. W. E. Raffety, and Dr. it is of no value to us; but when we open it, we find that it contains the David G. Downey. A number of Bread of Life. " foreign missionaries on furlough, as In another place an elderly native mounted the platform. At first he well as Sunday-school leaders from said nothing, but moved around trying to find a place where he could squeeze Japan and several Latin American through the boards inclosing the sides. Finally he reached the proper opening countries, were also present. The and easily stepped down through it. Then he came back and said: "My dear pageants and music, which constituted friends, do you know what I meant 1 I had become lost in the woods; the a notable feature of the program, were wild vines entangled my feet and the sago swamp and the sago bushes ob- under the direction of Professor H.
Augustine Smith of Boston Univer- sity. .
The merger of the Sunday-school Council and the International Sun- day-school Association in a new or- ganization, to be called the Interna- tional Sunday-school Council of Re- ligious Education, which was an- nounced in the J nne REVIEW as the most important business likely to come before the convention, was ratified. Thus the Protestant Sunday-school' forces of the United States and Can-
NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
ada are united in a great national for the ehildren of the missionaries program. have also been inereased, and this Children Not in Sunday-school will add $197,000 to the budget. A still more important aetion was the A STEREOPTICON survey of the provision for retirement of mission- field of religious education by Dr. aries from service at the age of seventy Ralph E. Diffendorfer, at the Inter- with an allowanee equal to their field national Sunday-school Convention salary or to their home allowanee portrayed the vast areas of American when residing off the field. Hitherto life as yet untouched by Sunday- the Board had no retiring provision school teaching. The speaker said: with an allowance and all it could do "In hundreds of communities in the was to commend its worn-out veterans United States children grow up to to the Board of Relief. These three maturity without ever seeing a min- items together will add to the annual ister or knowing what a Sunday-school expenses of the Board $405,000.
is. The names of God and Jesus Christ are known only in curses. In New Churches in Needy Places the State of Washington are rural T HE report of the Joint Committee seetions where public schools flourish, on Church Building of the Home but no teaching about God. In the Missions Council and the Council of mountains of Tennessee some children Women for Home MIssions contains know nothing of religion except the the following interesting statement 'arousements' of the oecasional visit with reference to helping build of an illiterate preacher. In many churches in the needy communities of ruining camps and fishing villages pa- the United States: As an indication ganism thrives. The sons and daugh- of the great work which has been ac- ters of new Americans are neglected complished in the nearly seventy years because they are 'foreigners.' …. In since the Societies and Boards of the congested sections of our great . Church Erection began to be organcities where the churches have moved out because no longer self-supporting, ized, the report of twenty two of these no Sunday-school agency has moved denominations shows that in that perin to save tomorrow. No end of Negro iod they have helped to complete 62,841 church buildings and 4,835 villages are without religious training, and seldom is there adequate pro- parsonage buildings. There ha~ been vision made for the colored boys and raised for the purpose of carrymg on girls in the South." this work $59,523,609. This is cer- tainly an understatement inasmuch as Better Care of Missionaries the eight denominations, including neary fifty thousand churches, which T HE Board of Foreign Missions of have not reported, would undoubtedly the Presbyterian Church in the U. han carried the figures much higher, S. A. has recently taken important both as regards the number of action, modifying its policy toward its churches and parsonages built and the missionaries. This relates first to the funds raised for the purpose if their terms of service on the foreign fields, reports had been sent in. Seventeen fixing the first term at five years, ex- boards and societies reporting show cept in Africa, Mexico and Colombia that they have permanent funds where it is three years, and a modified amounting to $24,195,834. A part sehedule was adopted for the subse- of these funds is used constantly as quent terms on the field. During their loans to churches, going out and com- travel to and from their field~, mis- ing back again as a revolving fund, siomiries now will each be allowed to be used over and over again. Part $1.50 a day besides traveling expenses, of them, however, are invested and the and this will add upwards of $50,000 income only is used for church and to the Board'8 budget. The allowanees parsonage building.
Fellowship of Christian Social Order pared and should be sent. The num- ber of volunteers is short! . . . . I won- THE new organization, known as der if here is not one cause of our "The Fellowship for a Christian failure to raise enough money for our work during the last year. Maybe if Social Order," proposes to work out we would raise more missionaries we its social ideals in a "fellowship of would raise more money. The same kindred minds" and to test proposed spiritual atmosphere that will prosolutions of social problems by group duce new missionaries will bring forth thinking. It aims to "associate per- the money to send them. " sons to whom the Christian way of life, as distinguished from mere creed, -Home and Foreign Field. ritual and organization, is mandatory and paramount; people who take the The Moody Bible Institute teachings of Jesus seriously with reference to concrete life situations. It T HE records of the Moody Bible will study how to remove every ob- Institute in Chicago, as far as such stacle in our present industrial and economic order to the progress of fel- data can be secured, show that 1,056 lowship in the world." of its students have gone to the for- eign mission field, and 741 of these At the Mohonk conference an ex- are at work today, under fifty-five ecutive committee of twenty-one was different missionary agencies. These appointed, of which Dr. Sherwood figures, of course, do not include the Eddy is chairman, to have authority many who are laboring in all parts to formulate plans for action. A na- of the United States and Canada in tional committee of fifty-three, whose home mission work among such classes members represent every section of the as mountaineers, lumbermen, Indians, country, will act as interpreters of the Negroes, and Mormons. Thus, through movement and as conveners of local the lives and labors of these hundreds groups. The fellowship will especially of living witnesses, not to speak of seek a way to end all conflict between the many who have gone before, has nations, races and classes. The Sec- the work which D.· L. Moody began retary of the new Fellowship is Mr. for God extended to earth's utmost Kirby Page, Hasbrouck Heights, New bounds. Jersey. Anti-Papal Organization More Recruits Needed " ' T HE Evangelical Protestant So- SOUTHERN Baptists are sending ciety, " recently organized in out this year forty-nine new missionaries to the following fields: Af- New York City, states its objects to be, rica, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, as quoted in the New York Times, "to Japan, Mexico, and Palestine. En- defend and promote evangelical Chriscouraged as both the workers on the tianity in cooperation with evangelical field and the members of the home churches, and to defend American dechurches may be to learn of these re- mocracy against the encroachments of inforcements, Rev. T. B. Ray, D.D., Papal Rome. This movement is de- Secretary of the Foreign Mission signed to be nation-wide and interna- Board, points out that this number is tional. It is to be a fight absolutely in "pitifully below" the number that the open, and its work will be conshould be sent out this year. He says: structive rather than destructive. It "There is most critical and long-de- is to be a sustained and permanent nied need for over a hundred more effort, working through the various that should go out by all means at evangelical bodies of this country." once …. The saddest thing about it is The need for such an organization that we have not had the volunteers. its founders find in the foHowing We have accepted for appointment facts: "It is well known that the practically everyone that was pre- Roman Catholics have determined to 'make America Catholic,' if possible;
1922J NEWS FROM MANY LANDS
to create hostility between the United Alaska. Presbyterians, Methodists, States and Great Britain, in order to Disciples, Baptists, Friends, Swedish prevent the close cooperation of Prot- Evangelicals, Lutherans, Moravians, estant countries; to undermine our Episcopalians, Congregationalists and public school system in the interest Independents engage in the work.
of parochial schools, where Romanism Greek Catholics and Roman Catholic3 may be taught; to rewrite American also maintain missions. There ar3 history in the interest of the papacy, still six large areas unoccupied by and thus to poison the minds of even missionary workers. Three of these Protestant children; to secure stra- have been assigned by mutual agree- tegic positions in our Government for ment to different denominations, and the increase of Roman power and the it is expected will soon be cared for.
furtherance of Roman designs. ' , In 1918 an association known as Among those whose names are given the Associated Evangelical Churches as charter members are Bishop Wil- of Alaska, which includes all of the liam Burt, Dr. David J. Burrell, Dr. Protestant churches at work in Robert S. MacArthur, and Dr. Curtis Alaska, was formed by the Home Mis- Lee Laws. sions Council of North America for conference and cooperation. Under Blow to the Narcotic Trame the auspices of the central committee CONGRESS, by passa!;"e on May exchanges of territory have been twentieth of The Narcotic Drugs made, responsibility for definite areas Import and Export Act, has decreed allocated, over-lapping and competithat the United States shall no longer tion prevented, and practical cooperbe a party to the debauching of an- ation secured, so that today from the other country by opium exported to point of view of mutual understandthat country from the United States, ing and cooperative action Alaska is or transshipped through the United one of the best prepared fields for ef- States, or any territory under its con- ficient Christian service, if each of the trol, from one country to any other denominations does its part.
country. The purpose of this Act is to make effective the agreement ar- LATIN AMERICA , rived at in the International Opium Sentenced to Hear a Sermon Convention held at The Hague in "MISSION outwork in Guatemala 1912, and also to curb the well-known is not yet without its thrills," illicit traffic in narcotic drugs within our own country by restricting im- report the evangelical workers there. Not long since a faithful native portation to the crude material for preacher and a group of Christian legitimate uses, especially for medical who accompanied him were ambushed use. The Act creates a Federal Nar- . in a lonely place in the road, and a cotics Board, consisting of the Secre- volley of revolver bullets went singing tary of State, Secretary of the Treas- through the company, but not one of ury and Secretary of Commerce. The them was wounded. In general, howterm "narcotic drug," when used in this Act, means opium, coca leaves, ever, there is less fanatical persecucocaine, or any salt or derivative or tion under the present government preparation of opium, coca leaves or than there was' under the previous cocaine. one, because present rulers are very active in guaranteeing religious lib- erty. Act of flagrant intolerance Christian Cooperation in Alaska were getting common before, but for- MISSIONARY work is carried on eigners are comparatively safe now. in Alaska in 113 stations, with The other day Mr. Townsend of the 171 missionaries, at an annual ex- Central American Mission was at- pense of over $200,000, in addition to tacked and manhandled by the In- money contributed by people in dians of San Juan, but the authorities
promptly interfered, captured the comments, quoted in the Continent, ringleader, and asked Mr. Townsend are the following: to pronounce sentence. The sentence was characteristic of the man. He "When I went to Korea and China, condemned the Indian to stand on the I had the opinion of many others that public street and listen to the Gospel missionary efforts, like charity, should till Townsend got tired preaching it to begin at home. Then too I thought him. It drew a big crowd, and when that messing up with another fellow's the sermon was over the public was religion wasn't good religion on my won, and the chief rioter was prob- part. But I have completely changed ably the most unpopular Indian in my mind, at least when it comes to town. China and Korea.
American Interest in Cuba "When you go into a Korean or Chinese village and find the mission- WRITING in the Continent of the aries teaching the natives how to live, Protestant missionary work in how to correct their horrible sanitary Cuba, Robert C. Hallock says: "Here conditions, giving medicine to the sick, is a neighbor nation-our friend and teaching the children things that will ward-a nation 'by the grace of God make their lives happier and more free and independent, ' yet a nation in prosperous, and making those places its formative stage, needing above all safer to live in-you just take off your else the guiding and helping hand of hat to those hard-working mission- Anglo-Saxon Christian civilization. aries and thank God that there are How much active interest has the men and women in the world willing American Christian Church in Cuba's to give their lives for such a task." welfare T At the annual meeting of the Presbytery of Havana at Caiba- War Money rien, some 200 miles eastward on the coast, I was amazed at the high grade THE money cost of the World War of intelligence, devotion, spirituality has been estimated at $350,000,- and general efficiency of the native 000,000, and the following summary has been made of what one fourth of presbyters of Cuba and at the work that amount would accomplish: that is being accomplished. "One million Christian missionaries ,'A theological seminary is already could be put in the field, and main- " tained for ten years; a $40,000 school started. It is a necessity if we are and a $1,000 church could be built in to train an efficient native ministry. 1,000,000 towns and villages; 10,000 And while others are asking for mil- colleges costing $100,000 could be lions, cannot Cuba have the little ten erected; in 1,000 cities, universities thousand dollars to put up the one costing $1,000,000 each could be built; building necessary to assure the life 100,000 social settlements costing each and growth of this future great the- of them $50,000 could be established; ologi~al seminary for a nation f" 100,000 model tenements at a cost of $100,000 each could be set in the midst MISCELLANEOUS of heathen squalor; 20,000 hospitals costing $500,000 could be placed close Seeing for HiDlllelf to heart-breaking human needs; and 10,000,000 little children could be FRANKLIN H. CHASE, who maintained in Christian orphanages writes frequently for the Syracuse at a cost of $500 each for five years. Journal, made a tour of the Orient We cannot afford to do without a some time ago, and came back much Christian world." impressed by what he saw of missionaries and their work. Among his
Awakened. By Min-ch'ien T. Z. and social reforms are epochal in
effect upon ~he foundation stone of Tyau, LL.D. Illus. xviii. 475 pp. New Chinese society, the family, and upon a nation whose old village life was so y o~k: The Macmillan Company. 1922.
Endorsing forewords by ministers of the United States. and of Great characteristic, with the clan rather Britain are hardly needed for such a than the public primary; industrial wQrk as this. Dr. Tyau is one of the revolution is usurping the place of leading New Chinese, having been the staid old house-industries and educated in London and now acting trades; improved communications as a professor in the Indemnity .Col- make glad the heart of Chinese whose lege, Peking. This is undoubtedly the forebears knew no conveyance going best apologetic and exposition of the faster than ten miles an hour, more new regime, written in English, by a commonly four miles; and the day Chinese. It is not the work of a tyro, laborer of the past is becoming the as his previous volumes and editorial operative and artisan of today, with a productions have proved. labor movement and strikes that are The 120 pages of Appendix ma- ominous for the future.
terial will not interest the reader, But Dr. Tyau makes more of other unless he is keen on Japan's Twenty- items affecting the public weal than one Demands and the misdoings of the of mere material progress. The "New nations at the Paris Peace Conference, Patriotism" is explained in its origin but in the body of the book there is a and wonderful emergence-with May plethora of varied material showing 4, 1919, and the Student Movement concretely how far China has ad- action of that date, the Declaration vanced on her pathway of renaissance. of Independence, bringing into being Dr. Tyau does not make it plain" something to awaken true patriotism.
enough that the conditions presented Less evident than this surface expres- are by no means prevalent in China sion and the previous internal devel- as a whole. He writes of China of opment is what the author calls "The advanced thought and political as- Voice of the People," expressing it- pirations and of nascent industries self in united action and pronuncia- and the new sociology. Yet it is won- mentos and most forcibly through the derful to know that an Empire with National Students Union, which was milleniums of history behind her, easily the foremost of scores of uniting which thirty years ago was a mon- organizations. Their antipodes, the archy built upon the teachings of an- Anfu Club, is rightly anathematized, cient" sages, is today a republic with General Wu Pei-fu as its execu- wherein the changes recorded here are tioner. Judicial reforms, so sorely actualities. Except "New Thought," needed, a self-respecting national at- which is six years' old in China, and titude, so conspicuously displayed at the" Non-Christian Students Federa- Versailles, and the entry into the tion," stimulated into life by the world war are other marks of progress Peking Conference of the World's well discussed. Missionaries and their Student Christian Federation last work-" a blessing in disguise "-and April, one finds here a full exposi- especially eminent Chinese Christians tion of Chinese modernity. The new are not omitted in this survey of ap.- education is Minerva-like in its com- vance movements. A thousand inter- iug into being; the new woman is a esting and interpretative facts fill the mushroom growth sprung up in a pages. The volume wil1 be enjoyed night to remain forever; marriage by those who read it.
669
Building With India. By D. J. Fleming. Jungle Tales. By Howard Anderson Mus- 12 mo. 228 pp. 50 and 75 cents. Cen- ser. 141 pp. $1.50. George H .. Doran tral Committee on the United Study of Co., New York. 1922. Foreign Missions, West Medford, Mass. 1922. With vivacity and in fascinating India is the subject for foreign mis- style, Mr. Musser, for some years a sion study 1922-1923. Dr. Fleming writes this study book from personal Methodist missionary in the Central experience and from wide reading. He appreciates India's strength and sees Provinces of India, tells some thrilling her handicaps. He tells of the struggle between light and darkness, good stories of adventure in connection with and evil; describes various phases of Christian work and the signs of prom- his work. The experiences with wild ise. The volume contains a vast amount of information but much of it boeldasats~dwiylodumngenaanndd boys will delight too condensed to· be satisfactory ex- are excellent .for cept as a book of reference or to suggest further reading. The general impres- reading aloud. sion given is one of a great task in which we are called to be co-workers The Trend of the Races_ By George E. Haynes. Illustrated. 12mo_ 205 pp. 75c. with God. (cloth), 50c (paper).
The Vanguard of a Race. By L. H. Hammond. Illustrated. 12mo. 176 pp. 75c (cloth), 50c (paper).
The Magic Box. By Anita B. Ferris. Illustrated. 12mo. 102 pp_ 65c (cloth), 40c (paper). Missionary Education Movement and the Council of Women for Home Missions. New York. 1922.
Stories from Foreign Lands. By Cora The Negro in America is the sub- Banks Pierce and Hazel Northrop_ 12 mo. ject for Home Mission study during 159 pp. $1.25 net. Fleming H. Revell the coming autumn and winter. These Co., New York. 1922_ volumes will make the study fascinat- ing and profitable. Dr_ Haynes, a The odd _customs and experiences Neo'ro with an M. A. from Yale, deof children in other lands furnish the scribes the racial conditions, the progmaterial for these stories concerning ress since emancipation, the mental the boys and girls of China, Afric~, and spiritual trend of the Negro race, Japan, Persia, Moslem lands, IndIa the contribution of the Negro to and the Philippines. They have no American advancement, the attitude literary merit and are not of special of the white race and the prospect for interest as stories, but they give cooperation and understanding. It is glimpses of life in these other lands a study that reveals clear thinking from a Christian point of view. and high Christian ideals.
Lives of Great Missionaries. By Jeanne The second book is more popular in M. Serrell. Illus. 12 mo. 197 pp. $1.25 style and consists of biographical net_ Fleming H. Revell Co., New York. sketches of twelve prominent Negro 1922. leaders, such as Booker Washington, Nannie Burroughs, Wm. DeBerry What would we do without the and Joseph S. Cotter. They include familiar stories of Livingstone, Paton, educators, phy~ician, pastor, social Carey, Judson and others as materi~l workers banker, merchant, poet, etc. for missionary biography 7 In thIS All hav'e accomplished things worth volume for young people there are while and their stories are well told. added the sketches of a few slightly less known missionaries such as Hud- Miss Ferris'. story for young folks son Taylor, FranQois Coillard and tells of a colored boy who worked hard Mary Slessor. They lived wonderful for an opportunity to go to Hampton lives and their stories are told in a Institute. Young folks, and older way that holds the attention and im- folks too, will be stirred by the story presses useful lessons. of the struggles by which he attained his ambition. Race Grit. By Coe Hayne. 12mo. 209 pp. dicap of slavery and to secure an The Judson Press, Philadelphia. 1922. education. The book will be of"more value in the hands of a teacher than These stories of Negroes in America as a junior textbook. are pictures from life. They are largely gathered from the Southland .The :Bells o~ the Blue Pagoda. By Jean and bring us into sympathetic touch Carter Cochran. Illustrated. 12mo. 281 with Negro problems and Negro prog- pp. $1.75. The Westminster Press. ressan over the United States. The Philadelphia. 1922. author has not taken stories of wellknown Negroes but has delved into Good missionary fiction is as rare as the experiences of inconspicuous police when needed. Many have esmembers of the race whose lives are myed to write novels with missionary worth knowing. He shows the influ- heroes and scenes of action but the ences that shaped their characters and successful ventures do not exceed a destinies and the service they are giv- score. Here is one describing "The ing to their fellowmen and women. Strange Enchantment of a Chinese The story of Hunter Winters, the Doctor. " The atmosphere of China Negro boy who became a professor in is here, the Oriental scenes and char- Anthony College is of compelling in- acter, and the achievements of misterest and the lines of other of Baptist sionaries and Chinese Christians. The preachers, missionaries, teachers and story has action and literary merit as public men, each contributing his well as Christian purpose and will be share to Negro American progress, especially relished by young women furnish material for stories with pe- and their mothers.
culiar fascination and value. The Shorter Bible Plays. By Rita Benton. stories are well told and are worth Illustrated. 8yo. 134pp. Abingdon reading. They are especially adapted Press. New York. 1922. to use in connection with the coming study classes, in missionary programs Bible stories of ~oah, Abraham, Moses, Samuel, DavId, Solomon, the and for reading circles. Good Samaritan and the Nativity are The Negro; An American Asset. A here given in dramatic prose and study by S. J. Fisher. Paper. 12mo. 186 pp. 50 cents. verse for children. Ideas for cos- The Negro Boy and Girl. A Study Book tumes, scenery and other directions for Juniors. Pamphlet. 33 pp. Board of Missions for Freedmen, Presbyteriau are included. The work is carefully Church, U.S.A. Pittsburgh, Pa. done but some scenes fail to convey the Bible lesson. .
This year's Home Mission study In the Land of the Salaam.' By Bert Wil- book for adults deals with the Negro Sall. Illustrated. 2mo. 328 pp. Powell of the past and present home life, re- and White. Cincinnati. 1921. ligious nature, environment, educa- A missionary society secretary tells tion, political relationships, the Negro in a chatty way about what he saw, and the European War, and closes and describes the people he met on a with a look into the future. Mr. tour of India. The descriptions are Fisher's book is well written and is of special interest to those connected full of interesting facts. The subject with the Disciples but they contain is treated with sympathy and sound much of interest and value to every judgment. The Negro work of the student of missions in India. We are Presbyterian Church (North) is em- introduced to noble missionaries, to phasized. Indian Christians of many types, and The Presbyterian study book for see the work as it is to·day. Mr. Wilson is inaccurate in his statistics juniors is not so well written for that giving the popUlation of India a~ grade but it gives young people in the north a glimpse of life among 340,000,000 and the Christians as southern Negroes in the story of boys . 5,000,000. The latest government and girls trying to overcome the han- census reports 322,000,000 inhabitants. Protestant adherents are esti- stories are fascinatingly and sympa- mated at. 2,520,000 and non-Protes- thetically told under such captivating tant adherents at 2,870,000. titles as: Our Glorious Hope. By J. J. Ross, 12mo., , I The Land of the Pot of Gold." Hop·o '.my-Thumb. 160 pp., $1.25 net. Fleming H. Revell. Co., New York. . Tessa Goes through the Keyhole. Slant Eyes and Pigtails. Daniel's Half Week. By J. J. ROBS, 12mo., Brown Betty and the Chocolate Baby. 115 pp., $1.00 net. Fleming H. Revell Little Squaw Laughs-At-The-Sky. Co., New York, 1922. The Fairy with Whiskers.
These prophetic studies of the $ing a $ong of $ixpence.
Second Coming and of Daniel's Juniors will delight in these tales prophecy are especially interesting in and will be benefited by them. Moth- view of modern events which many ers and teachers of junior age chil- interpret as indicating the fulfilment dren will find here excellent material of prophecy and the approaching end for the story hour.
of the age. The author does not deal in dates but believes in the truth of The Reconstruction of Religion. By Charles the Biblical predictions as to the per- A. E!1wood. 8vo. 323 pp. $2.25. The sonal second coming of Christ. Macmillan Co. New York. 1922.
It is first important to define reli- Old Trails and New Borders. By Edward gion. Professor Ellwood, of the Uni- A. Steiner. 12mo. 208 pp. $1.50. Fleming H. Revell. New York. 1921. versity of Missouri, defines it as participation in the ideal values of For an intimate look inside of social.life-a form of social control- European minds and life choose as a consecration of the individual life a guide Professor E. A. Steiner, who to social ends-and an affirmation of came over to America as an immi- the reality of the "spiritual." He acgrant, and has repeatedly traveled cepts the statement that "religion is with the Europeans of all classes, man's attitude toward the universe such as immigrants, professors and regarded as a social and ethical politicians. This new volume is a force. " book of sketches, describing Europeans. at home and in America; men The author's ideas are philosophical and women of many types living and depend on human evolution rather under many conditions. In Dr. than on revelation from God. There Steiner's picturesque style each story is much more of man than of God in is told with a purpose other than to the volume but the spirit is Chrisinterest the reader-chiefly. They tian. There is need for emphasis on make us acquainted with folks, their the social obligations but there must haunts, thoughts and habits. It is be no diminution of emphasis on God interesting to meet many classes of as the Primary Cause, Ruler and people and to see Europe since the Eternal Father.
war through Dr. Steiner's eyes. The Promise of His Coming. By C. C. Mc- Next Door Neighbors. By Margaret T. Cown. 12mo. 256 pp. $2.00. The Applegarth. 12mo. 160 pp. $1.25. Macmillan Co. 1922.
Revell. New York. 1921. This is an attempt at a historical A .new book from Miss Applegarth presentation of the conceptions of the is always a noteworthy event in the Second Advent, without any positive Junior mission world. These" thumb- interpretation of the Bible teaching in nail sketches" picture the thoughts regard to the Second Coming. Dr.
and acts of Jewish, Polish, Italian, McCown, a professor in Pacific School Bohemian, Chinese, Japanese and of of Religion, studies the facts and sees other branches of the human family the value in the belief but does not living in America. The twenty-six reach any very definite ~onclusion.